For why? Because the good old rule 44 страница

of the expedition, with directions to see that the messenger discharged

his duty fully, and that the gallant sergeant did not exceed his part by

committing violence or plunder. And thus it happened, oddly enough, that

the Author first entered the romantic scenery of Loch Katrine, of which

he may perhaps say he has somewhat extended the reputation, riding in all

the dignity of danger, with a front and rear guard, and loaded arms. The

sergeant was absolutely a Highland Sergeant Kite, full of stories of Rob

Roy and of himself, and a very good companion. We experienced no

interruption whatever, and when we came to Invernenty, found the house

deserted. We took up our quarters for the night, and used some of the

victuals which we found there. On the morning we returned as unmolested

as we came.

The MacLarens, who probably never thought of any serious opposition,

received their money and went to America, where, having had some slight

share in removing them from their _paupera regna,_ I sincerely hope they

prospered.

The rent of Invernenty instantly rose from L10 to L70 or L80; and when

sold, the farm was purchased (I think by the late Laird of MacNab) at a

price higher in proportion than what even the modern rent authorised the

parties interested to hope for.

Note E.--Allan Breck Stewart.

Allan Breck Stewart was a man likely in such a matter to keep his word.

James Drummond MacGregor and he, like Katherine and Petruchio, were well

matched "for a couple of quiet ones." Allan Breck lived till the

beginning of the French Revolution. About 1789, a friend of mine, then

residing at Paris, was invited to see some procession which was supposed

likely to interest him, from the windows of an apartment occupied by a

Scottish Benedictine priest. He found, sitting by the fire, a tall, thin,

raw-boned, grim-looking, old man, with the petit croix of St. Louis. His

visage was strongly marked by the irregular projections of the

cheek-bones and chin. His eyes were grey. His grizzled hair exhibited

marks of having been red, and his complexion was weather-beaten, and

remarkably freckled. Some civilities in French passed between the old man

and my friend, in the course of which they talked of the streets and

squares of Paris, till at length the old soldier, for such he seemed, and

such he was, said with a sigh, in a sharp Highland accent, "Deil ane o'

them a' is worth the Hie Street of Edinburgh!" On inquiry, this admirer

of Auld Reekie, which he was never to see again, proved to be Allan Breck

Stewart. He lived decently on his little pension, and had, in no

subsequent period of his life, shown anything of the savage mood in which

he is generally believed to have assassinated the enemy and oppressor, as

he supposed him, of his family and clan.

Note F.--The Abbess of Wilton.

The nunnery of Wilton was granted to the Earl of Pembroke upon its

dissolution, by the magisterial authority of Henry VIII., or his son

Edward VI. On the accession of Queen Mary, of Catholic memory, the Earl

found it necessary to reinstate the Abbess and her fair recluses, which

he did with many expressions of his remorse, kneeling humbly to the

vestals, and inducting them into the convent and possessions from which

he had expelled them. With the accession of Elizabeth, the accommodating

Earl again resumed his Protestant faith, and a second time drove the nuns

from their sanctuary. The remonstrances of the Abbess, who reminded him

of his penitent expressions on the former occasion, could wring from him

no other answer than that in the text--"Go spin, you jade!--Go spin!"

Note G.--Mons Meg.

Mons Meg was a large old-fashioned piece of ordnance, a great favourite

with the Scottish common people; she was fabricated at Mons, in Flanders,

in the reign of James IV. or V. of Scotland. This gun figures frequently

in the public accounts of the time, where we find charges for grease, to

grease Meg's mouth withal (to increase, as every schoolboy knows, the

loudness of the report), ribands to deck her carriage, and pipes to play

before her when she was brought from the Castle to accompany the Scottish

army on any distant expedition. After the Union, there was much popular

apprehension that the Regalia of Scotland, and the subordinate Palladium,

Mons Meg, would be carried to England to complete the odious surrender of

national independence. The Regalia, sequestered from the sight of the

public, were generally supposed to have been abstracted in this manner.

As for Mons Meg, she remained in the Castle of Edinburgh, till, by order

of the Board of Ordnance, she was actually removed to Woolwich about

1757. The Regalia, by his Majesty's special command, have been brought

forth from their place of concealment in 1818, and exposed to the view of

the people, by whom they must be looked upon with deep associations; and,

in this very winter of 1828-9, Mons Meg has been restored to the country,

where that, which in every other place or situation was a mere mass of

rusty iron, becomes once more a curious monument of antiquity.

Note H.---Fairy Superstition.

The lakes and precipices amidst which the Avon-Dhu, or River Forth, has

its birth, are still, according to popular tradition, haunted by the

Elfin people, the most peculiar, but most pleasing, of the creations of

Celtic superstitions. The opinions entertained about these beings are

much the same with those of the Irish, so exquisitely well narrated by

Mr. Crofton Croker. An eminently beautiful little conical hill, near the

eastern extremity of the valley of Aberfoil, is supposed to be one of

their peculiar haunts, and is the scene which awakens, in Andrew

Fairservice, the terror of their power. It is remarkable, that two

successive clergymen of this parish of Aberfoil have employed themselves

in writing about this fairy superstition. The eldest of these was Robert

Kirke, a man of some talents, who translated the Psalms into Gaelic

verse. He had formerly been minister at the neighbouring parish of

Balquhidder, and died at Aberfoil in 1688, at the early age of forty-two.

He was author of the Secret Commonwealth, which was printed after his

death in 1691--(an edition which I have never seen)--and was reprinted in

Edinburgh, 1815. This is a work concerning the fairy people, in whose

existence Mr. Kirke appears to have been a devout believer. He describes

them with the usual powers and qualities ascribed to such beings in

Highland tradition.

But what is sufficiently singular, the Rev. Robert Kirke, author of the

said treatise, is believed himself to have been taken away by the

fairies,--in revenge, perhaps, for having let in too much light upon the

secrets of their commonwealth. We learn this catastrophe from the

information of his successor, the late amiable and learned Dr. Patrick

Grahame, also minister at Aberfoil, who, in his Sketches of Perthshire,

has not forgotten to touch upon the _Daoine Schie,_ or men of peace.

The Rev. Robert Kirke was, it seems, walking upon a little eminence to

the west of the present manse, which is still held a _Dun Shie,_ or fairy

mound, when he sunk down, in what seemed to mortals a fit, and was

supposed to be dead. This, however, was not his real fate.

"Mr. Kirke was the near relation of Graham of Duchray, the ancestor of

the present General Graham Stirling. Shortly after his funeral, he

appeared, in the dress in which he had sunk down, to a medical relation

of his own, and of Duchray. 'Go,' said he to him, 'to my cousin Duchray,

and tell him that I am not dead. I fell down in a swoon, and was carried

into Fairyland, where I now am. Tell him, that when he and my friends are

assembled at the baptism of my child (for he had left his wife pregnant),

I will appear in the room, and that if he throws the knife which he holds

in his hand over my head, I will be released and restored to human

society.' The man, it seems, neglected, for some time, to deliver the

message. Mr. Kirke appeared to him a second time, threatening to haunt

him night and day till he executed his commission, which at length he

did. The time of the baptism arrived. They were seated at table; the

figure of Mr. Kirke entered, but the Laird of Duchray, by some

unaccountable fatality, neglected to perform the prescribed ceremony. Mr.

Kirke retired by another door, and was seen no wore. It is firmly

believed that he is, at this day, in Fairyland."--(_Sketches of

Perthshire,_ p. 254.)

[The treatise by Robert Kirke, here mentioned, was written in the year

1691, but not printed till 1815.]

Note I.--Clachan of Aberfoil.

I do not know how this might stand in Mr. Osbaldistone's day, but I can

assure the reader, whose curiosity may lead him to visit the scenes of

these romantic adventures, that the Clachan of Aberfoil now affords a

very comfortable little inn. If he chances to be a Scottish antiquary, it

will be an additional recommendation to him, that he will find himself in

the vicinity of the Rev. Dr. Patrick Grahame, minister of the gospel at

Aberfoil, whose urbanity in communicating information on the subject of

national antiquities, is scarce exceeded even by the stores of legendary

lore which he has accumulated.--_Original Note._ The respectable

clergyman alluded to has been dead for some years. [See note H.]

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