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PREFACE
No part of the United.
Kingdom has of late years attracted a greater portion of public
attention than the Highlands of Scotland. Formerly isolated as the
inhabitants were from their fellow subjects, by a different language and
separate interests, their character was but little known and less
admired. Devoted to their chiefs and feudal institutions, they
entertained a sovereign contempt for their neighbours; and, in their
occasional intercourse with them, displayed feelings and manners little
calculated to gain confidence or secure esteem.
But when the Rebellion in 1745, and its consequences, nearly annihilated
feudal power, and broke down the wall of partition, by which the
mountaineer was so long divided from the inhabitant of the plain, a new
light was reflected upon his manners and habits. The gradual
establishment of commercial and friendly relations with the inhabitants
of other countries, accelerated the decay of mutual prejudices; and the
virtues of the Highlander, which were previously reserved for home
consumption, were now duly appreciated by the world. He no longer
appeared the rude and unprincipled depredator, but the generous and
disinterested character, whose romantic and chivalrous habits were
rendered peculiarly interesting, as the remains of those boldly defined
virtues which distinguished our primitive ancestors. Accordingly, the
genius of the age became speedily alive to the importance of so novel
and interesting a character. Shaping its course to the Highland
monntains, it discovered among their unexplored recesses, those
plentiful materials, on which are founded some of the most splendid
works which adorn the circle of British literature.
Nor have all those superstructures yet exhausted so fertile a mine.
Notwithstanding all the research that has been employed in tracing the
origin, and delineating the manners of the inhabitants, and the many
ingenious descriptions we have had of their local scenery, there are
still many hidden treasures left for discovery, which presently languish
in obscurity. This observation applies with great truth to those more
remote and romantic regions, which, from their secluded situations, had
been long inaccessible to the approach of learning and genius; and where
the native inhabitants, from want of intercourse with1 their more
refined and effeminate countrymen, are the true representatives of our
ancient forefathers in their various feelings and habits.
Of the manners and character of this noble and poetic race of
mountaineers, little was known further than what may be collected from
the manners of their contemporaries, in more accessible parts of the
country. The great defect which especially exists in the delineation of
the Highlander’s superstitions, becomes peculiarly apparent to one, who
had an opportunity of investigating those relics of the less polished
ages of the world, as they are still exhibited in the habits of the
people of whom we are writing. Many of the more prominent and common
features of this branch of our national peculiarities have, indeed, been
long ago celebrated by the pens of the immortal Burns, Ramsay, Sir
Walter Scott, and others of less note, while much light has been thrown
on the general character of the Scottish Highlander, by the ingenious
Mrs. Grant of Laggan, and the gallant General Stewart of Garth; but the
more interesting and latent peculiarities have been left to expire in
the dark. The want of a complete and systematic account of the Highland
and Scottish Superstitions, is a desideratum in our national literature,
which the philosophic mind will readily regret; and this regret will be
the more sincere on reflecting, that, from the fading aspects those
interesting relics have now assumed, it is a desideratum which, in the
course of a few years, cannot be supplied. The decline of popular
romance is keeping pace with the progress of knowledge. and
civilization,—which, as they illumine the unenlightened mind, open it to
the folly of its prejudices; and thus the time is hastening its
approach, when the natives of our remotest glens shall be no longer
inspired with reverence for the fairy turret, nor shall their social
circle be contracted by the frightful tale.
Far be it, however, from the writer of these pages to wish the reign of
superstition prolonged. But, while he would hail with delight, the total
extirpation of every prejudice tending to enslave the mental energy of
the noble Gael, he would as ardently desire their perpetuation on the
page of history, as his ancient peculiarities. Divested as they will
soon be of their formidable character, we would preserve them as the
most ancient relics we could transmit to our posterity, to whom, in the
course of a few centuries, they may appear as preposterous and
incredible, as the Poems of Ossian do now to the more sceptical part of
the present generation.
It was not, however, the writer’s conviction of the utility of such a
work as this alone, that induced him to undertake a task for which, he
is afraid, he will be found to have been ill qualified. A considerable
time ago, and at a very early period of life, an impaired state of
health rendered it necessary for him to abandon his professional labom-s
for a time, and to retire from the metropolis to the place of his
nativity. The lassitude of mind consequent on a total remission from all
employment, induced him to seek some rational source of amusement; and
the idea of investigating the opinions and. customs of Ids countrymen,
was suggested to him by various circumstances, as likely to afford
instruction as well as entertainment. His opportunities were most ample,
and his task of course, comparatively easy. Surrounded by the most
original, brave, and ingenious class of Highlanders existing, and
possessing considerable knowledge of their language and manners, the
writer found it no difficult matter to become completely acquainted
-with their prejudices and habits. By visiting the most celebrated
professors of traditional lore in the district, he speedily acquired not
only a fundamental knowledge of the reigning principles of superstition
but likewise an inexhaustible store of tales and traditions. And by
mingling occasionally with the peasantry in their public and private
festivities, he was enabled, from personal observation, to draw faithful
portraits of those scenes of mirth and festivity, for which the
inhabitants are so eminently distinguished. The result of his
observations afforded him so much satisfaction that he thought it worth
while from time to time, to commit the particulars to paper,—not with
the view of urging them on the public, but for his own private
amusement. But the increasing avidity with which traits of the Highland
Superstitions have been received as developed in the tales of the day,
suggested to him the idea of submitting his gleanings to the public, in
the form of a detailed account of the Superstitions and Festivities of
the Highlanders of Scotland; and he hopes, however defective may be its
execution, the design is not altogether unworthy of public patronage.
To arrange his gleanings in a connected and systematic order, was an
undertaking far more tedious than the collection of them. The traits of
Highland superstition are of so various and heterogeneous a character,
that it appeared almost wholly impracticable to connect and digest them
into the form of a connected narrative; and yet in any other shape they
would necessarily lose much of the interest which they possess in their
present form. Sensible of this he has endeavoured to the best of his
ability, to arrange the different traits under their proper heads, in
the most systematic and connected manner practicable, without
introducing extraneous matter, which would not only destroy the native
complexion of the subject, but also swell the limits of the work. By
excluding solemn dissertation from such ludicrous relations as the
following, he has been enabled to compress many particulars into little
space, while his delineations possess a greater degree of truth and
fidelity. To illustrate the various traits set forth, the writer has
interspersed his delineations with a collection of the most popular
tales of the day. These tales, whether they be the creation of the
imagination, or the offspring of the credulity of their own original
authors, cannot now fail to interest the philosopher or the antiquary,
while they may amuse the less profound. For, utterly destitute of all
probability, and broadly ludicrous as they may appear to the polished
reader, they are, nevertheless, those interesting channels, by which the
feelings and habits of our earliest forefathers have been kept alive and
transmitted down, through so many changeful ages, to their posterity of
the present day.
The length of those primitive relations is necessarily much abridged,
but a strict regard has been had to their original style and
phraseology. The language is almost entirely borrowed from the mouth of
the Highland narrator, and translated, it is hoped, in a manner so
simple and unvarnished, as to be perfectly intelligible to the capacity
of the peasant, for whose fire-side entertainment this little volume
may, perhaps, be peculiarly adapted.
The Popular Superstitions and
Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland
By William Grant Stewart (New Edition) (1851) (pdf) |
