2 THE AUTHOR'S ANCESTORS. 



the " Tales of a Grandfather" and other works. As a boy I re- 

 member listening to him with delight, for his memory was stored 

 with a never-ending stock of stories, many of which were wonder- 

 fully like those I have since heard while sitting by the African 

 evening fires. Our grandmother, too, used to sing Gaelic songs, 

 some of which, as she believed, had been composed by captive 

 islanders languishing hopelessly among the Turks. 



Grandfather could give particulars of the lives of his ancestors 

 for six generations of the family before him ; and the only point 

 of the tradition I feel proud of is this : One of these poor hardy 

 islanders was renowned in the district for great wisdom and 

 prudence ; and it is related that, when he was on his death-bed, 

 he called all his children around him and said, "Now, in my 

 lifetime, I have searched most carefully through all the traditions 

 I could find of our family, and I never could discover that there 

 was a dishonest man among our forefathers. If, therefore, any 

 of you or any of your children should take to dishonest ways, 

 it will not be because it runs in our blood: it does not belong- 

 to you. I leave this precept with you: Be honest." If, there- 

 fore, in the following pages I fall into any errors, I hope they 

 will be dealt with as honest mistakes, and not as indicating that 

 I have forgotten our ancient motto. This event took place at a 

 time when the Highlanders, according to Macaulay, were much 

 like the Cape Caffres, and any one, it was said, could escape pun- 

 ishment for cattle-stealing by presenting a share of the plunder to 

 his chieftain. Our ancestors were Roman Catholics ; they were 

 made Protestants by the laird coming round with a man having 

 a yellow staff, which would seem to have attracted more attention 

 than his teaching, for the new religion went long afterward, per- 

 haps it does so still, by the name of " the religion of the yellow 

 stick." 



Finding his farm in Ulva insufficient to support a numerous 

 family, my grandfather removed to Blantyre Works, a large 

 cotton manufactory on the beautiful Clyde, above Glasgow ; and 

 his sons, having had the best education the Hebrides afforded, 

 were gladly received as clerks by the proprietors, Monteith and 

 Co. He himself, highly esteemed for his unflinching honesty, 

 was employed in the conveyance of large sums of money from 

 Glasgow to the works, and in old age was, according to the 



OSf 



