Reginald
Scott, in his work on Witchcraft.
 
57 On the morrow they made their biers,
Of birch and hazel grey. - Chevy Chase.
 
58 The Author has been sometimes accused of confounding fiction with reality. He
therefore thinks it necessary to state, that the circumstances of the hunting
described in the text as preparatory to the insurrection of 1745, is, so far as
he knows, entirely imaginary. But it is well known such a great hunting was held
in the Forest of Braemar, under the auspices of the Earl of Mar, as preparatory
to the Rebellion of 1715; and most of the Highland Chieftains who afterwards
engaged in that civil commotion were present on this occasion.
 
59 Corresponding to the Lowland saying, »Mony ane speirs the gate they ken fu'
weel.«
 
60 See Don Quixota.
 
61 These lines form the burden of an old song to which Burns wrote additional
verses.
 
62 These lines are also ancient, and I believe to the tune of
 
»We'll never hae peace till Jamie comes hame.«
 
to which Burns likewise wrote some verses.
 
63 A Highland rhyme on Glencairn's Expedition, in 1650, has these lines -
 
We'll bide a while among ta crows,
We'll wiske ta sword and bend ta bows
 
64 The Oggam is a species of the old Irish character. The idea of the
correspondence betwixt the Celtic and Punic, founded on a scene in Plautus, was
not started till General Vallancey set up his theory, long after the date of
Fergus Mac-Ivor.
 
65 The sanguine Jacobites, during the eventful years 1745-6, kept up the spirits
of their party by the rumour of descents from France on behalf of the Chevalier
St. George.
 
66 The Highlander, in former times, had always a high idea of his own gentility,
and was anxious to impress the same upon those with whom he conversed. His
language abounded in the phrases of courtesy and compliment; and the habit of
carrying arms, and mixing with those who did so, made it particularly desirable
they should use cautious politeness in their intercourse with each other.
 
67 The Rev. John Erskine, D.D., an eminent Scottish divine, and a most excellent
man, headed the Evangelical party in the Church of Scotland at the time when the
celebrated Dr. Robertson, the historian, was the leader of the Moderate party.
These two distinguished persons were colleagues in the Old Grey-Friars' Church,
Edinburgh; and, however much they differed in church politics, preserved the
most perfect harmony as private friends, and as clergymen serving the