2 EEMINISCENCES OF THE LEWS. 



bitants. But, then, I could not afford the 

 vastly increased rent demanded for my own 

 creation; and so I vacated my quarters for 

 some more opulent successor. And sorrowful 

 indeed was my departure, and the parting with 

 the friends of those twenty years. The com- 

 panions of the wild sports of those outlandish 

 countries become your friends and associates ; 

 and you can venture to make them so, for the 

 Highlander is a gentleman at heart, and never 

 forgets his respect for you, so long as you 

 respect yourself. Besides this, if you have 

 ever killed a stag, a salmon, or an otter in his 

 company, you stand well with him for the rest 

 of your days. There were also other remem- 

 brances that bound us much to one another, 

 which, though nothing to the world, were 

 much to ourselves. As, then, keepers, and 

 stalkers, and gillies wrung my hand as we 

 drank the parting "morning" together, I felt 

 there was truth in that grasp — ^nay, even in 

 the tear that stood in the eye of some, and 

 certainly in my own. It was agony, I own, 

 to leave that desolate home; and when I 

 reached the hill-top, from which I caught the 

 first glimpse of that long-loved cottage, like 

 the Highland woman, I sat me down and cried. 

 But, as I said, it is over ; and what is to be 



