160 FORAYS AMONG SALMON AND DEER. 



The third individual whom I shall mention, as 

 bearing upon a circumstance almost peculiar to Scot- 

 land and the Scotch, was a man of a fine open 

 countenance, beaming with intelligence as well as good- 

 nature. Though himself only a shepherd, his father 

 had been a worthy minister of the established Church, 

 who, dying at an early age, had left his children totally 

 unprovided for, and they accordingly, forced to shift 

 for themselves as best they could, were content with 

 such vocations as were honest and respectable, though 

 not elevated. 



It seems one of the peculiar features of the Scotch 

 as a nation, that you constantly meet even in the 

 lowest ranks, with persons whose relatives, and fre- 

 quently near relatives, are or have been in a con- 

 siderably higher walk in life. The causes of this are 

 not difficult to trace. The old feelings of clanship, 

 though now for the most part quite in abeyance, have 

 not only stamped their impression on the face of 

 society, but wormed their way deep into its innermost 

 workings. High and low have always been closely 

 knit together. The lowest retainer once called his 

 chief his kinsman ; and not unfrequently the future 

 chieftain was brought up as foster-brother with the son 

 of one of the humblest among his father's followers. 

 Thus it came to pass that there did not exist that im- 

 measurable distance, that insuperable barrier, between 

 those of gentle blood and the low-born which obtains 

 in England. Thrown together in their daily sports 

 and occupations, taught by constant warfare mutually 

 to value each other's goodwill and services, the highest 

 and the lowest might be seen mixing freely together, 

 and even bound by the strongest ties of friendship and 

 affection. Now all this could not be without its effect ; 

 and, though as English manners and English feelings 



