inform the reader with certainty; but
it is alleged that the Highlanders used to touch their bonnets as they passed a
place which had been fatal to many of their countrymen, with the ejaculation -
»God bless her nain sell, and the Teil tamn you!« It may therefore have been
called kind, as being a sort of native or kindred place of doom to those who
suffered there, as in fulfilment of a natural destiny.
 
39 The story of the bridegroom, carried off by Caterans, on his bridal-day, is
taken from one which was told to the author by the late Laird of Mac-Nab, many
years since. To carry off persons from the Lowlands, and to put them to ransom,
was a common practice with the wild Highlanders, as it is said to be at the
present day with the banditti in the south of Italy. Upon the occasion alluded
to, a party of Caterans carried off the bridegroom, and secreted him in some
cave near the mountain of Schehallion. The young man caught the small-pox before
his ransom could be agreed on; and whether it was the fine cool air of the
place, or the want of medical attendance, Mac-Nab did not pretend to be
positive; but so it was, that the prisoner recovered, his ransom was paid, and
he was restored to his friends and bride, but always considered the Highland
robbers as having saved his life, by their treatment of his malady.
 
40 The Scotch are liberal in computing their land and liquor; the Scottish pint
corresponds to two English quarts. As for their coin, every one knows the
couplet-
 
»How can the rogues pretend to sense?
Their pound is only twenty pence.«
 
41 This happened on many occasions. Indeed, it was not till after the total
destruction of the clan influence, after 1745, that purchasers could be found
who offered a fair price for the estates forfeited in 1715, which were then
brought to sale by the creditors of the York-Buildings Company, who had
purchased the whole, or greater part, from Government at a very small price.
Even so late as the period first mentioned, the prejudices of the public in
favour of the heirs of the forfeited families threw various impediments in the
way of intending purchasers of such property.
 
42 This sort of political game ascribed to Mac-Ivor was in reality played by
several Highland chiefs, the celebrated Lord Lovat in particular, who used that
kind of finesse to the uttermost. The Laird of Mac-- was also captain of an
independent company, but valued the sweets