Ossian Collection > Waifs and strays of Celtic tradition > Volume 1

Introduction.
had been treated — namely, struck over the
head on landing. The answer of the
Marquis was significant enough. Whether
he felt the same irritation that exasperated
his retainers or not is uncertain ; but, for all
answer, " he left the room, banging the door
violently after him." Now that is not poetic,
but probably exceedingly true to the life,
and it may well have given Scott an invaluable
clue to the manner of dealing affected by the
great Marquis. So rough did this messenger
consider the inhabitants that he got into the
boat, grateful enough to receive no more blows!
When a man could be thus treated when acting
as a messenger to the great Marquis of Argyll,
small as the incident may seem, it throws a flood
of light on the unceremonious ways of those
days.
Modern research in the Highlands leads
us to give episodes as they happened, without
gilding and varnishing the picture at all. When
the Athol people " made a stable of Inverary",
as Islay used to say, what is the first episode we
know of? Sixteen gentlemen are hanged as
a beginning, and the famous list of " Depre-
dations" committed is a continuation. Not
a cow or a' horse remains, nor a shawl or a
petticoat is left, clocks, all disappear into Athol ;