As We Sat At Sir Alexander's Table, We Were Entertained, According
To The Ancient Usage Of The North, With The Melody Of The Bagpipe.
Everything In Those Countries Has Its History.
As the bagpiper was
playing, an elderly Gentleman informed us, that in some remote
time, the Macdonalds of Glengary
Having been injured, or offended
by the inhabitants of Culloden, and resolving to have justice or
vengeance, came to Culloden on a Sunday, where finding their
enemies at worship, they shut them up in the church, which they set
on fire; and this, said he, is the tune that the piper played while
they were burning.
Narrations like this, however uncertain, deserve the notice of the
traveller, because they are the only records of a nation that has
no historians, and afford the most genuine representation of the
life and character of the ancient Highlanders.
Under the denomination of Highlander are comprehended in Scotland
all that now speak the Erse language, or retain the primitive
manners, whether they live among the mountains or in the islands;
and in that sense I use the name, when there is not some apparent
reason for making a distinction.
In Sky I first observed the use of Brogues, a kind of artless
shoes, stitched with thongs so loosely, that though they defend the
foot from stones, they do not exclude water. Brogues were formerly
made of raw hides, with the hair inwards, and such are perhaps
still used in rude and remote parts; but they are said not to last
above two days.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 59 of 212
Words from 15612 to 15870
of 56696
