Scotland/Scots > Reminiscences of a Highland parish

THE HIGHLAND PEASANTRY.
153
Lochiel family, of which Fassifern was a younger
branch.*
It must, however, be frankly admitted that there
is no man more easily offended, more thin-skinnedt
who cherishes longer the memory of an insult, or
keeps up with more freshness a personal, family,
or party feud than the genuine Highlander. Woe
be to the man who offends his pride or vanity!
“ I may forgive, but I cannot forget!” is a favour¬
ite saying. He will stand by a friend till the last,
but let a breach be once made, and it is most
difficult ever again to repair it as it once was. The
“ grudge” is immortal. There is no man who can
fight and shake hands like the genuine English¬
man.
It is difficult to pass any judgment on the state
of religion past or present in the Highlands. From
the natural curiosity of the Highlanders, their de¬
sire to obtain instruction, the reading of the Bible
in the schools, they are on the whole better informed
in respect to religion than the poorer peasantry of
* A very interesting memoir of Fassifem, from which these facts
are taken, has been written by the Rev. A. Clerk, the minister of
the parish in which the Colonel is interred. It is published by
Murray & Son, Glasgow.