An excerpt from Chronicles of Canongate
by Sir Walter Scott
1827
|
|
"Dearest mother," answered Hamish, "how shall I convince you that you live in this land of our fathers as if our fathers were yet living?
You walk as it were in a dream, surrounded by the phantoms of those
who have been long with the dead. When my father lived and fought,
the great respected the man of the strong right hand, and the rich feared
him. He had protection from Macallum Mhor, and from Caberfae,
and tribute from meaner men. [Caberfae--ANGLICE, the Stag's-head, the Celtic
designation for the arms of the family of the high Chief of Seaforth.]
That is ended, and his son would only earn a disgraceful and
unpitied death by the practices which gave his father credit and power among
those who wear the breacan. The land is conquered; its lights are
quenched--Glengarry, Lochiel, Perth, Lord Lewis, all the high chiefs are
dead or in exile. We may mourn for it, but we cannot help it.
Bonnet, broadsword, and sporran--power, strength, and wealth, were
all lost on Drummossie Muir."
|
Editor's Note:
Drummossie Muir, otherwise known as Culloden. |
|