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they were treacherously beset near Glenfruin, by their inveterate enemy, Colquhoun, with eight hundred of his retainers and neighbours. Macgregor, however, having been secretly apprised of this treacherous design, kept his men on the alert. Colquhoun, confident in his superiority of numbers-four to one-began the assault with a vehemence which, for a moment, appeared to carry every thing before him. This, however, was speedily checked by the characteristic firmness and desperation with which the Macgregors stood the onslaught. As the latter gained ground, their aggressors began to waver, and at length took to a precipitate flight, leaving two hundred of the name of Colquhoun, besides others, dead on the field, and many prisoners in the hands of the Macgregors.

Besides the mortification of this signal defeat, the Colquhouns had to deplore a catastrophe far more painful than the loss of battle, and which converted their wounded pride into agony and despair. The principal part of the youth of the adjoining district being then at school in Dunbarton, and hearing of the conflict which was to take place on that day between their friends-many of them family connexions—and the Macgregors, had stolen off to witness the combat, and assist in the triumph in which it was confidently expected to end. Before the action commenced, however, their parents and friends judged it proper to confine them, amounting to about eighty, in a barn, till the conflict was decided. But the result being very different from what they anticipated, the barn was taken by the Macgregors, who, in the heat of pursuit, left a guard in charge of it. Either from accident, however, or the inhuman act of the party there stationed for its preservation, the barn caught fire, and the unhappy children were suffered to perish in the flames. To this tragical occurrence, or atrocious cruelty, may be attributed the numberless calamities with which the clan Gregor were afterwards visited. A partial statement of all these occurrences was drawn up and presented to James VI. A procession of sixty widows, whose husbands had fallen on that day, mounted on white palfreys, and bearing on long poles, upwards of two hundred bloody shirts-tokens of the slaughtered Colquhouns-gave effect to the representation, and succeeded so well with the king, that from that hour the clan Gregor was outlawed, their lands confiscated, and their very name doomed to extermination.* Driven to

• As early as 1563, the parliament of Scotland passed an act of attainder and forfeiture against the laird of Macgregor, then in possession of the estate of Glenstrae, in Glenorchy. Other severe enactments succeeded the first; and in 1633 an act was passed, declaring it "unlawful for any man to bear the name of Macgregor; that no signature under that name, no act or agreement entered into with a Macgregor, was legal. That, to take the life of a man of that clan, was not an act of felony, nor any way punishable; and that no minister or preacher should at any time baptize or christen any male child of the Macgregors." And, the better to facilitate their extirpation, they were hunted with blood-hounds, trained to follow on the track, and thus discover the haunts and hiding-places of the unfortunate clan. These were measures

acts of desperation by this treatment—unmerited as it certainly was-they became notorious for acts of daring reprisal, and famous as systematic leviers of black-mail. Among these, it may be superfluous to mention "Rob Roy Macgregor," whose life and exploits have been so ably depicted in the novel of that name. The sound of the bagpipe in these glens fully corroborates what has been observed by Gibbon, in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."—" Experience," says he, "has proved that the mechanical operation of sounds, by quickening the circulation of the blood and spirits, will act on the human machine more forcibly than the eloquence of reason and honour." Of this, the annexed anecdote offers a remarkable illustration: *-Beyond all memory or tradition, the favourite instrument of the Scottish musicians is the bagpipe-introduced, as some have supposed, from the ancient Norwegians. The large bagpipe is the instrument of the Highlanders employed in war, in funeral processions, for marriages, and other great occasions. The smaller pipes are more generally used for dancing tunes. A certain species of the wind music called pibrochs,

which throw almost into shade the terrible system of persecution by which the inhabitants of Piedmont and Dauphiny were hunted from cave to cave, and from rock to rock; and with whom-forgetting what has been done and suffered in our own country-we so keenly sympathize. Theirs was religious, this political persecution. "And yet," says General Stewart, "this species of Algerine law did not destroy, nor apparently influence in any manner, that spirit of loyalty, so characteristic of the Highlanders, which the Macgregors evinced in the Great Rebellion. All of them who could carry arms—although under assumed names-joined Montrose, and through his whole campaigns proved themselves loyal and true, always ready to bear a part in the execution of his most daring attempts. Of the value of their services to his father and himself, Charles II. was fully sensible; and one of the first acts of parliament, after his restoration, was to rescind that of 1633, and re-establish the name of Macgregor with all its natural and legal rights....But this relief was of only brief duration; for, only five years after the Revolution, the original act was renewed, under King William, and the Macgregors placed in the same state as in 1633; and which, though not enforced, was allowed to remain a blot on the statute-books till the parliamentary session of 1774-5." -History of the CLAN GREGOR, STEWART'S SKETCHES, &c.

As a contrast to the preceding, we refer to the high office they were called on to fill at the memorable epoch of 1822, when his late majesty George IV. visited his Scottish dominions. "We saw with particular interest," says the historian of that day," the clan of the Macgregors-whose sufferings and proscriptions are so well known-come forth so gallantly to attend the crown of Scotland, which still they love, because their fathers wore.'" The tartan of the clan is red, with a sprig of mountain fir in the bonnet. The high office of depositing the regalia in the castle, to which the Macgregors are hereditarily entitled, we have already alluded to in a former part of this work. This clan, who trace their descent to the Alpine kings, and thence called Clan-alpine, was once numerous in Balquhidder, Monteith, and Glenorchy; and they are still in great numbers in the district of Fearnon, on the north side of Loch-Tay, on the south side of Glenlyon, in Fortingall, and on the north side of Loch-Rannach.

• At the battle of Quebec, in April 1760, while the British troops were retreating in great confusion, the general officer complained to a field officer of Fraser's regiment of the bad behaviour of his corps. "Sir," answered the latter with some warmth, "you did very wrong in forbidding the pipes to play: nothing encourages Highlanders so much in a day of action-nay, even now, they would be of use." "Let them blow then like the devil," replied the general, "if that will bring back the men." The next instant the pipes struck up a favourite martial air: the Highlanders no sooner heard their native pibroch, than they faced round, and formed with alacrity in the rear.-The SCOTTISH GAEL, &c.

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rouses the native Highlander in the same manner that the sound of the trumpet rouses the war-horse, and even produces effects little less marvellous than those recorded of the ancient music. But to return to our subject.

Rob Roy, or the red, the reputed chief of Clan-alpine, or the Macgregors, and pourtrayed with such remarkable fidelity by Sir Walter Scott, was the second son of Donald Macgregor of the Glengyle family, formerly a lieutenant-colonel in the king's service. His mother was a daughter of Campbell of Glenlyon, and, consequently, Rob was a gentleman by birth. He received an education at that time considered liberal, or at least suitable for the line of life in which he was destined to appear. Being of strong natural parts, he soon acquired the necessary but rude accomplishments of the age; and with a degree of native hardihood, favoured by a robust and muscular frame, he wielded the broadsword with such irresistible dexterity, as few or none of his countrymen could equal. When unruffled by opposition, his manners were complacent; but where danger appeared, he was resolute and daring; and became no less remarkable for his knowledge of human nature, than for the boldness of his achievements. Many of his earliest and happiest days were spent in cattle dealing-a business in which many Highland gentlemen, as well as their tenants, engaged. On succeeding to his paternal estate, however, he began to have higher views in life; and being invested with unlimited command over a few faithful vassals, he exercised his authority in levying the tax of black-mail in the adjoining counties. The purpose of the exaction and payment of black-mail resembles, in some degree, the reciprocal advantages of a modern insurance office. Rob Roy extorted this tribute from the farmers and small lairds around; and in return, not only insured their property from the plunder of his own clan-which would otherwise have been unavoidable-but also engaged to employ his power and influence in protecting it from other predatory incursions, and in restoring it when taken away, to the losers, at his own risk. This impost,-which was in some degree necessary in such a country, and not without its peculiar benefits-had long been suffered to prevail in the Highlands, and, having the sanction of many ages, was considered neither unjust nor dishonourable. The custom of carrying off the cattle of other clans was still kept up; and Rob Roy engaged so deeply in the practice, that in a short time he became obnoxious, not only to his neighbours, but to the government. His predatory excursions were for the most part directed against the Lowlanders, whom he considered as his natural enemies, and who were opulent and less inclined to military resistance. By the severe enactment which, as above mentioned, rendered it capital to bear the name of Macgregor, Rob Roy assumed that of Campbell, the maiden name of his mother; and, accordingly,