 Scotland a class
of beings as different from their grandfathers as the existing English are from
those of Queen Elizabeth's time. The political and economical effects of these
changes have been traced by Lord Selkirk with great precision and accuracy. But
the change, though steadily and rapidly progressive, has, nevertheless, been
gradual; and like those who drift down the stream of a deep and smooth river, we
are not aware of the progress we have made, until we fix our eye on the now
distant point from which we have been drifted. - Such of the present generation
as can recollect the last twenty or twenty-five years of the eighteenth century,
will be fully sensible of the truth of this statement; - especially if their
acquaintance and connexions lay among those who, in my younger time, were
facetiously called »folks of the old leaven,« who still cherished a lingering,
though hopeless, attachment to the house of Stuart. This race has now almost
entirely vanished from the land, and with it, doubtless, much absurd political
prejudice - but also many living examples of singular and disinterested
attachment to the principles of loyalty which they received from their fathers,
and of old Scottish faith, hospitality, worth, and honour.
    It was my accidental lot, though not born a Highlander (which may be an
apology for much bad Gaelic), to reside during my childhood and youth among
persons of the above description; - and now, for the purpose of preserving some
idea of the ancient manners of which I have witnessed the almost total
extinction, I have embodied in imaginary scenes, and ascribed to fictitious
characters, a part of the incidents which I then received from those who were
actors in them. Indeed, the most romantic parts of this narrative are precisely
those which have a foundation in fact. The exchange of mutual protection between
a Highland gentleman and an officer of rank in the king's service, together with
the spirited manner in which the latter asserted his right to return the favour
he had received, is literally true. The accident by a musket-shot, and the
heroic reply imputed to Flora, relate to a lady of rank not long deceased. And
scarce a gentleman who was »in hiding« after the battle of Culloden but could
tell a tale of strange concealments, and of wild and hair's-breadth 'scapes, as
extraordinary as any which I have ascribed to my heroes. Of this, the escape of
Charles Edward himself, as the most prominent, is the most striking example. The
accounts of the battle of Preston and skirmish at Clifton
