Scotland/Scots > Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

po A JOURNEY TO THE
den it has pad; away, is again bright in its
proper Ration. Tradition is but a meteor,
which, if once it falls, cannot be rekindled.
It feems to be univerfally fuppofed, that
much of the local hi Rory was preferved by
the Bards, of whom one is faid to have
been retained by every great family. After
thefe Bards were fome of my firR inquiries;
and I received fuch anfwers as, for a while,
made me pleafe myfelfwith my increafe of
knowledge ; for I had not then learned
how to eRimate the narration of a High¬
lander.
They faid that a great family had a Bard
and a Scnachi, who were the poet and hiRo-
rian of the ho'ufe ; and an old gentleman
told me that he remembered one of each.
Here was a dawn of intelligence. Of
men that had lived within memory fome
certain knowledge might be attained.
Though the office had ceafed, its effedfs
n might