2 THE AUTHOR'S ANCESTORS. Introd. 



My grandfather could give particulars of his ancestors for 

 six generations before him ; and the only point of the tradi- 

 tion I feel proud of is this. One of these poor islanders was 

 renowned in the district for great wisdom ; and when he was 

 on his deathbed, he called his children around him and said, 

 "I have searched carefully through all the traditions of our 

 family, and I never could discover that there was a dishonest 

 man among our forefathers. If therefore any of you should take 

 to dishonest ways, it will not be because it runs in our blood. 

 I leave this precept with you : Be honest." Should I in the 

 following pages perchance fall into errors, I hope they will be 

 regarded as unintentional, 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 could escape punishment 

 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 who 

 carried a yellow staff, and the new religion went long after- 

 wards, perhaps 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, who had received the best education the Hebrides 

 afforded, were gladly taken as clerks by the proprietors, 

 Monteith and Co. He himself was highly esteemed for his 

 unflinching honesty, and was employed in the conveyance of 

 large sums of money from Glasgow to the works. In his old 

 age, according to the custom of that company, he was pensioned 

 off, so as to spend his declining years in ease and comfort. 



My uncles all entered His Majesty's service during the last 

 French war, either as soldiers or sailors ; but my father re- 

 mained at home, and, though too conscientious ever to grow rich 

 as a small tea-dealer, yet by his winning ways he made the 

 heartstrings of his children twine around him as firmly as if 

 he could have bestowed upon them every worldly advantage. 

 He reared us in connection with the Kirk of Scotland — an 

 establishment which has been an incalculable blessing to that 

 country * but he afterwards left it, and for the last twenty 



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