scendants of the latter are still in existence. But, even when they did not resort to such severe measures, their chiefs were often successfully opposed.* About the year 1520, the head of the family of Stewart of Garth was not only stript of his authority by his friends and kindred, but confined for life on account of his ungovernable passions and ferocious disposition. The cell in the castle of Garth in which he was imprisoned, was till lately regarded by the people with a kind of superstitious terror. Thispetty tyrant was nicknamed the " Fierce Wolf;" and if the traditionary stories related of him have any claim to belief, the appellation was both deserved and characteristic. The clan McKenzie possessed such an influence over their confirmed their independence by victory. The hereditary chief was killed, together with his friend Lord Lovat, and a great number of followers of each party. The next in succession, who was considered more deserving, was appointed to head the clan. In this battle, which took place in July 1544, the combatants threw off their jackets and vests and fought in their shirts. From this circumstance it has been called Blar-na-Lein, the "Battle of the Shirts." * A son of a former Laird of Grant, known in tradition by the name of Laird Humphry, presented, in his conduct and fate, a striking illustration of the power occasionally exerted by the Elders of a clan. He was, in some respects, what the Highlanders admire, handsome, courageous, open-hearted, and open-handed. But, by the indulgence of a weak and fond father, and the influence of violent and unrestrained passions, he became licentious and depraved, lost all respect for his father, and used to go about with a number of idle young men, trained up to unbounded licentiousness. These dissolute youths visited in families, and remained until every thing was consumed, and, after every kind of riotous insult, removed to treat another in the same manner, till they became the pest and annoyance of the whole country. Laird Humphry had, in the meantime, incurred many heavy debts. The Elders of the clan bought up these debts, which gave them full power over him; they then put him in prison in Elgin, and kept him there during the remainder of his life, leaving the management of the estate in the hands of his younger brother. The debts were made a pretext for confining him, the Elders not choosing to accuse him of various crimes of which he had been guilty, and the consciousness of which made him submit more quietly to the restraint. chief, the Earl of Scaforth, that they prevented him from demolishing Brahan Castle, the principal seat of the family. Some time previous to the year 1570 the Laird of Glenorchy, ancestor of the Earl of Breadalbane, resolved to build a castle on a hill on the side of Lochtay, and accordingly laid the foundation, which is still to be seen. This situation was not agreeable to his advisers, who interfered, and induced him to change his plan, and build the Castle of Balloch, or Taymouth. It must be confessed that the clan showed more taste than the Laird in fixing on a situation for the family mansion. * *This fact vindicates the taste of the chief from the reflections thrown out against it by all tourists, pretending to that faculty, who have uniformly blamed his choice of so low a situation. His memory would have escaped these reflections, had it been known that the choice was made in due respect to the will of the " Sovereign people," who said, that if he built his castle on the edge of his estate, which was the site they proposed, his successors must of necessity exert themselves to extend their property eastward among the Menzies and Stewarts of Athole. This extension, however, was slow, for it was not till one hundred and seventy years after that period that the late Lord Breadalbane got possession of the lands close to Taymouth; but the present Earl has fulfilled the wishes of his ancient clan, by extending his estate eight miles to the eastward. Previously to this extension, so circumscribed was Lord Breadalbane, that the pleasure-grounds on the north bank of the Tay, as likewise those to the eastward of the castle, were the property of gentlemen of the name of Menzies. The son of Sir Colin Campbell, who built the Castle of Taymouth, possessed seven castles, viz. Balloch, or Taymouth, Finlarig, Edinample, Lochdochart, Culchurn, Achallader, and Barcaldine. Except Lochdochart, these were handsome edifices, and gave the name of Donach na Caistail, or Duncan of the Castles," to Sir Duncan Campbell, the Laird of Glenorchy. He was also distinguished by the name of Duncan Du-na-curic, from his dark complexion, and the cap or cowl he constantly wore, instead of the bonnet, to which only the eyes of the people were in those days accustomed. His picture, now in Taymouth, painted by Jamieson, the Scottish Vandyke, represents him in this black cap. He was a liberal patron of this artist, the most eminent of his day in Scotland. There are several specimens of his art in Taymouth. Sir Duncan Campbell also planted and laid out several of those noble avenues at Taymouth and Finlarig, which are now so ornamental, and show to how great a size trees grow even in those elevated glens. In this manner it required much kindness and condescension on the part of the chief in order to maintain his influence with his clan, who all expected to be treated with the affability and courtesy due to gentlemen. "And as the meanest among them," says the author of Letters before mentioned, "pretended to be his relations by consanguinity, they insisted on the privilege of taking him by the hand wherever they met him. Concerning this last I once saw a number of very discontented countenances when a certain lord, one of the chiefs, endeavoured to evade this ceremony. It was in the presence of an English gentleman, of high station, from whom he would willingly have concealed the knowledge of such seeming familiarity with slaves of wretched appearance; and thinking it, I suppose, a kind of contradiction to what he had often boasted at other times, viz. his despotic power in his clan.” This condescension on the part of the chiefs gave a feeling of self-respect to the people, and contributed to produce that honourable principle of fidelity to superiors and to their trust which I have already noticed, and which was so generally and so forcibly imbibed, that the man who betrayed his trust was considered unworthy of the name which he bore, or of the kindred to which he belonged. This interesting feature in the character of the Scotch Mountaineers is well known, but it may be gratifying to notice a few more examples of the exercise of such an honourable principle amongst a race which has often been considered as ferocious and uncivilized. Honour and firmness sufficient to withstand temptation may in general be expected in the higher classes of society, but the voluntary sacrifice of life and fortune is a species of selfdevotion and heroism not often displayed even in the best societies. All who are acquainted with the events of the unhappy insurrection of 1745, must have heard of a young gentleman of the name of M'Kenzie, who had so remarkable a resemblance to Prince Charles Stuart, as to give rise to the mistake to which he cheerfully sacrificed his life, con tinuing the heroic deception to the last, and exclaiming, with his expiring breath, "Villains, you have killed your Prince." Such an instance of generous devotion would perhaps appear extravagant even in poetry and fiction." The late Macpherson of Cluny, father of Colonel Macpherson, chief of that clan, was engaged in the rebellion of 1745. His life was, of course, forfeited to the laws, and much diligence was exerted to bring him to justice. But neither the hope of reward, nor the fear of danger, could induce any one of his people to betray him, or to remit their faithful services. He lived nine years in a cave, at a short distance from his house which was burnt to the ground by the king's troops. This cave was in the front of a woody precipice, the trees and shelving rocks com * The similarity of personal appearance was said to be quite remarkable. The young gentleman was sensible of this, and at different times endeavoured to divert the attention of the troops in pursuit of the fugitive prince, to an opposite quarter of the mountains to that in which he knew Charles Edward was concealed after the battle of Culloden. This he effected by showing his person in such a way as that he could be seen, and then escaping by the passes or woods, through which he could not be quickly followed. On one occasion, he unexpectedly met with a party of troops, and immediately retired, and as he fled intimated by his manner that he was the object of their search; but his usual good fortune forsook him. The soldiers pursued with eagerness, anxious to secure the promised reward of L. 30,000. M'Kenzie was overtaken and shot, exclaiming, as he fell, in the words noticed above; and it was not till the head was produced at the next garrison, for the purpose of claiming the reward, that the mistake was discovered. † It is honourable to the memory of a respectable lady to record the circumstances of Cluny's defection, which exaggerated his faults in the eyes of government, and furnished a motive for pursuing him with more hostility. He was, in that year, appointed to a company in Lord Loudon's Highlanders, and had taken the oaths to government. His clan were, however, impatient to join the adventurous descendant of their ancient sovereigns, when he came to claim what they supposed his right. While he hesitated between duty and inclination, his wife, a daughter of Lord Lovat, and a staunch Jacobite, earnestly dissuaded him from breaking his oath, assuring him that nothing could end well that began with perjury. His friends reproached her with interfering, and hurried on the husband to his ruin. pletely concealing the entrance. It was dug out by his own people, who worked by night, and conveyed the stones and rubbish into a lake in the neighbourhood, in order that no vestige of their labour might betray the retreat of their master. In this sanctuary he lived secure, occasionally visiting his friends by night, or when time had slackened the rigour of the search. Upwards of one hundred persons knew where he was concealed, and a reward of L.1000 was offered to any one who should give information against him; and, as it was known that he was concealed on his estate, eighty men were constantly stationed there, besides the parties occasionally marching into the country, to intimidate his tenantry, and thereby induce them to disclose the place of his concealment. Though the soldiers were animated with the hope of the reward, and though a step of promotion to the officer who should apprehend him was super-added, yet so true were his people, so prudent in their conversation, and so dexterous in conveying to him the necessaries he required in his long confinement, that not a trace could be discovered, nor an individual found base enough to give **The late Sir Hector Monro, then a lieutenant in the 34th regiment, and, from his zeal, and knowledge of the country and the people, intrusted with the command of a large party, continued two whole years in Badenoch, for the purpose of discovering the chief's retreat. The unwearied vigilance of the clan could alone have saved him from the diligence of this party. At night Cluny came from his retreat to vary the monotony of his existence by spending a few of the dark hours convivially with his friends. On one occasion, he had been suspected, and got out of a back window just as the military were breaking open the door. At another time, seeing the windows of a house kept close, and several persons going to visit the family after dark, the commander broke in at the window of the suspected chamber, with two loaded pistols, and thus endangered the life of a lady newly delivered of a child, on account of whose confinement these suspicious circumstances had taken place. This shows that there was no want of diligence on the part of the pursuers. Cluny himself became so cautious while living the life of an outlaw, that, on parting with his wife, or his most attached friends, he never told them to which of his concealments he was going, or suffered any one to accompany him ;-thus enabling them when questioned, to answer, that they knew not where he was |