Scotland/Scots > Reminiscences of a Highland parish

THE HIGHLAND PEASANTRY.
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glen, what a commissionnaire in a hotel at Inn-
spruck is to Hofer and his confederates.
The real Highland peasantry are, 1 hesitate
not to affirm, by far the most intelligent in the
world. I say this advisedly, after having com¬
pared them with those of many countries. Their
good-breeding must strike every one who is
familiar with them. Let a Highland shepherd
from the most remote glen be brought into the
dining-room of the laird, as is often done, and
he will converse with ladies and gentlemen,
partake of any hospitality which may be shown
him with ease and grace, and never say or do
anything gauche or offensive to the strictest pro¬
priety. This may arise in some degree from
what really seems to be an instinct in the race,
but more probably it comes from the familiar
intercourse which, springing out of the old
family and clan feeling, subsisted of old between
the upper and lower classes. The Highland
gentleman never meets the most humble peasant
whom he knows without chatting with him as
with an acquaintance, even shaking hands with
him ; and each man in the district, with all his