[5] Dr. Norman Macleod, writing in 1867, stated that since the beginning of the last wars of the French Revolution the island of Skye alone had sent forth 21 lieutenant-generals and major-generals; 48 lieutenant-colonels; 600 commissioned officers; 10,000 soldiers; 4 governors of colonies; 1 governor-general; 1 adjutant-general; 1 chief baron of England; and 1 judge of the Supreme Court of Scotland. The martial tide is now but feeble, though some additions could still be made to the list.
[6] It will be remembered what a high opinion Johnson formed of the learning and breeding of the West Highland clergy. There is no reason to think they have deteriorated since his time, though possibly their learning would not now be singled out for special eulogium.
[7] Life of Chalmers, vol. iv., p. 450. The catastrophe of the last ladleful is not given by Dr. Hanna.
[8] Primitiæ et Ultima, or the Early Labours and Last Remains that will meet the public eye, etc., etc., of the late Rev. and learned Mr. Thomas Boston, minister of the Gospel at Ettrick, now first published from his MSS. In three volumes. Edinburgh, 1800.
[9] Many years ago I told this story to my friend Mr. Thomas Constable (son of Scott’s publisher), and a few days thereafter received a note from him asking if I would write it down. This I did, and he told me afterwards that for a time he carried my MS. in his pocket and read from it to his friends, but that the paper becoming tender with frequent use, he had the manuscript thrown into type, struck off a number of copies, and circulated them among his acquaintance. One of these copies must have fallen into the hands of Mr. Mark Boyd, who, in his Social Gleanings, London, 1875, p. 57, printed the story as here given.
[10] A. Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica (1900), vol. i. p. 163.
[11] Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, collected entirely from oral sources, 1900, and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, 1902.
[12] Horae Sabbaticae, by Godfrey Higgins, 1833, p. 2.
[13] Higgins, Horae Sabbaticae, p. 53.
[14] English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, l. 632.