EEMINISCENCES OF THE LEWS. 207 



Ireland, and invited all the respectability of 

 tlie town — the doctors, the lawyers, the hotel- 

 keepers, and the exciseman, together with the 

 chief of the respectable shopkeepers — to a ball, 

 and gave them before supper plenty of the 

 refreshments I have elsewhere spoken of, an 

 excellent supper, plenty of champagne, and all 

 sorts of liquor — I rather think after supper the 

 dancing would be uproarious, and many of the 

 company decidedly the worse for drink. Indeed 

 I have seen very fine balls of this description 

 in fine English provincial towns, where some of 

 the company had to be ejected ; but I never 

 saw anything disagreeable occur at any of these 

 Stornoway balls. Though they liquored hand- 

 somely, they carried it like gentlemen, and 

 only danced the harder and the better. It is 

 this quality that enables the Highlander, 

 wherever he is, and whatever his success in 

 life, to rise to it. There is a quiet sort of 

 dignity about him that always sets him at his 

 ease. He may be pompous — he may swell 

 about in his tartan hose and philabeg, as if the 

 room was not large enough for him ; but he is 

 never vulgar. "II ne vous agace pas les 

 nerfs," like your genuine English snob ; or the 

 clipping-the-King's-English Hibernian. The 

 Stornowegian ladies are exceedingly well- 



