28d §, No 17., Apriu 26.’56.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
327 
* Sir Robert Walpole. — “ Saturday, March 4, 
1732, S* Robt owned his marriage with Miss 
Skerret, a person he kept long; he brought her 
to his house at Whitehall, dined with his family, 
was carried to court, and received most graciously, 
and visited by all the ladies of quality, gentle 
and simple. S‘ Robt had 2 daughters by Mrs. 
Skerret ; one now alive, and was at a boarding 
school, and now lives with St Rob‘, 1738.” 
Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. —“ Peter Went- 
worths [brother of Thomas, Earl of Strafford] 
wife died suddenly [1737], playing at picket with 
his daughter Arundel. Peter died Janu. 2, 1738; 
he was a great sot. Peter’s eldest son was in the 
Emperor’s army, 1738; gave account of Gen. 
Dexau death; wrote several good accounts.” 
The preceding memoranda are copied from the Har- 
leian MS. 7654., formerly MS. Add. 5005. [|e 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACAULAY, 
The Clan Macdonald and the Burghers of Inver- 
ness.— Mr. Macaulay describes Inverness in 1689 
as “a Saxon colony among the Celts.” This is 
correct, for the town was early peopled by the 
Flemish and other traders who settled on the east 
coast of Scotland. ‘The municipal records, in 
broad Scotch, show the dread that was entertained 
by the quiet burghers of incursions from their 
wild marauding neighbours. Gradually, how- 
ever, Frasers and Mackintoshes took up their 
abode in the town, and became “ merchants,” a 
term which then bore, and still bears in most 
Scottish towns, the signification of the French 
marchands, or general dealers. Some of the 
neighbouring chiefs and lairds had town resi- 
dences in Inverness, and resorted to it as to a 
capital. Social reunions, balls, and sports re- 
lieved the gloom of a northern winter, and in 
1662, as we read in a local-chronicler, “the horse- 
race at Inverness, which had turned into desue- 
tude for many years before, was now restored, 
and brought to its pristine consistency!” The Earl 
of Moray, the Earl of Seaforth, Lord Lovat, the 
Lairds of Grant, Mackintosh, Fowlis, Lord Moray, 
Lord Macdonell, and the English officers from 
Fort William, were present on this great occa- 
sion. The provost and magistrates walked in pro- 
cession to the race-course, and hung the silver 
cup with blue ribbons on the painted post, on the 
top of which were a saddle and sword, also run 
for. These were gay days; and as wine was 
cheap (claret being then sold at about a shilling a 
bottle), and all provisions exceedingly low-priced, 
there was no lack of-good cheer and liberal hospi- 
tality. Mr. Macaulay adds: 
“Tt is not strange that the haughty and warlike Mac- 
‘donalds, despising peaceful industry, yet envying the 
fruits of that industry, should have fastened a succession 
of quarrels on the people of Inverness. In the reign of 
Charles the Second, it had been apprehended that the 
town would be stormed and plundered by those rude 
neighbours. The terms of peace which they offered 
showed how little they regarded the authority of the 
prince and the law. Their demand was that a heavy 
tribute should be paid to them, that the municipal ma- 
gistrates should bind themselves by an oath to deliver 
up to the vengeance of the clan every burgher who 
should shed the blood of a Macdonald, and that every 
burgher who should anywhere meet a person wearing the 
Macdonald tartan should ground arms in token of sub- 
mission.” 
The origin of this feud in the reign of Charles 
II. was so trivial as to be ludicrously dispropor- 
tioned to the result. It is traditionally known as 
the Battle of the Kebbock, or cheese. At a fair in 
Inverness, on August 18, 1665, one Finlay Dhu, 
or Black Finlay, while pricing a small cheese on 
the Dun Hill, or Market Brae, let it drop out of 
his hand, and the cheese ran down the hill into 
the river. The woman who kept the stall insisted 
on payment, Black Finlay resisted, and a scuftle 
ensued, till at length the whole market was in 
confusion, and a general medée ensued. ‘The local 
chronicler already quoted —a minister of Kirk- 
hill, whose very curious History of the Frasers, 
with all the “contingents” of the north country, 
still remains in manuscript — describes the com- 
motion as if it were a Homeric battle: 
“This alarms the whole town,” he says; “the guards 
are called, who come in arms, and Joe Reid, a pretty 
man, their captain, runs in betwixt the parties to sepa- 
rate them.~ Several other gentlemen present offer their 
mediation, but no hearing. Swords are drawn, guns pre- 
sented, and some wounds given. Provost Alexander 
Cuthbert is told that his guards are not regarded; he 
puts on a steel cap, sword, and targe, causes to ring the 
alarm-bell, and comes straight to the hill, and many 
pretty fellows with him. The people cry for justice; 
the guards, being oppressed and abused, let off some 
shot, and two men are killed outright, and above ten 
wounded. The noise is hushed and matters examined ; 
the guard is blamed. The provost, in a fury, said he al- 
lowed and avowed what was done, for who durst disturb 
the king’s free borough at a market time? ‘The High- 
landers keep a-brooding. Two Macdonells were killed: 
one Cameron and one Philan died of their wounds. The 
open rupture was closed on both sides with a punctilio of 
honour, but a revenge was promised and vowed.” 
The Macdonells (the Glengarry branch of the 
clan Colla, or Macdonald, spell the name in this 
way) would not be pacified, and the following are 
the terms proposed by them as the basis of a 
treaty of peace with the town authorities. They 
are certainly characterised, as Mr. Macaulay says, 
by “despotic insolence :” 
“1mo. A Covenant or Bond to pass for entertaining 
Offensive and Defensive Leagues, by which, if the town 
be invaded, the Macdonalds should come to assist, and, 
€ contra, the town to send 100 men to assist them. 
“2do. The town to become liable presently in 100,000 
merks Scots to them. 
“ $tio. The town to quit their superiority of Drakies, 
