Lairds of Glenlyon

THE LAIRDS OF GLENLYON. 103
ment to the General's labours ; the executive was now
strong enough to dispense with vicarious factorships, to
protect and punish every individual in the Highlands ; and
the resumption of heritable jurisdictions was the earnest of
its power and determination to do so. Wade, notwith-
standing the escapade of Ossian's grave, and two or three
similar exploits, knew well how to humour the Highlanders,
and respect sentiments so different from his own. In a letter
to Mr. Forbes of Culloden, then Lord-Advocate, the
General describes an entertainment given him by Cearuaich
or " cattle lifters " in the following terms : —
" The knight and I travelled in my carriage with great ease and
pleasure to the feast of the oxen which the highwaymen had prepared
for us opposite Lochgarry, where we found four oxen roasting at the
same time, in great order and solemnity. We dined in a tent pitched for
that purpose. The beef was excellent ; and we had plenty of bumpers,
not forgetting your Lordship's and Culloden's health ; and, after three
hours' stay, took leave of our benefactors the highwaymen, and arrived
at the hut at Dalnacardoch before it was dark."
Here was easy conduct with a vengeance for the
Commander-in-Chief of the forces in North Britain; but it
was chiefly thus he obtained the love and respect of the
Highlanders. Except in the prosecution of his engineer-
ing plans, which he allowed no obstacle to oppose or
turn aside, Wade was indeed so just and accommodating
as to win the goodwill of all parties. M'Donald the Bard,
a stiff Jacobite, thus " salutes " Wade — the translation is
Struan's : —
" Hail ! fav'rite of Great Britain's throne,
Prime executor of her law ;
Whose skill and forward zeal alone
Could fierceness to submission draw.