The Seaforth News, 1939-05-04, Page 6PAGE SIX
THE SEAFORTH NEWS
The
Legen..�
CHAPTER VVII
When Albin her claymore indignantly
draws, draws,
When her bonneted chieftains around
her shall crowd,
Clan-Rana•1•d the dauntless, and (Moray
the proud,
All plaided and plumed in their tartan
array----
Lochiel's Warning.
Whoever saw that morning the
Castle of Darnlinvarach, .beheld a
busy and a gallant sight,
The various Chiefs, arriving with
their different retinues, which, not
withstanding their numbers, formed
no more than their usual equipage
and body -guard upon occasions of
solemnity, saluted the lord of the
castle .and each other with overflow-
ing kindness, or with haughty and
distant politeness, according to the
circumstances of 'friendship or hostil-
ity in which their clans had recently
stood to each other. Each Chief, how-
ever small his comparative import-
ance, showed the full disposition to
exact from the rest the deference due
to a separate and independent prince;
while the stronger and more powerful,
divided emeng themselves by recent
contentions or ancient feuds, were
constrained in policy to use great def-
erence to the feelings of their less
powerful brethren in order, in case of
need, to attach as many well-wishers
as might be to their own interest and
standard. Thus the meeting of Chiefs
resembled not a little those ancient
Diets of the Empire, where the small-
est Frey-graf, who possessed a castle
perched upon a barren crag, with a
few hundred acres around it, claimed
the state and honors of a sovereign
prince, and a seat .according to his
rank among the dignitaries of the
Empire.
The followers of the different lead-
ers were separately arranged and ac-
commodated, as room and circum-
stances best permitted, each retaining
however his henchman, who waited,
close as the shadow, upon his person,
to execute whatever might be requir-
ed by his patron.
The exterior of the castle afforded
a singular scene. The Highlanders,
from different islands, glens, and
stratus, eyed each other at a distance
with looks of emulation, inquisitive
curiosity, or hostile malevolence; but
the most astounding part of the as-
sembly, at least to a Lowland ear,
was the rival performance of the bag-
pipers, These warlike minstrels, who
had the highest opinion each of the
superiority of his own tribe, joined to
the most overweening idea of the im-
portance connected with his profes-
sion, at :first performed their various
pibrochs in front each of his own
clan. .At length, however, as the
blackcocks toward the end of the
season, when, in sportsmen's langu-
age, they are said to flock or crowd,
attracted together :by the sound of
each ether's triumphant 'crow, even so
did the pipers, swelling their plaids
and tartans in the same triumphant
manner in which the birds ruffle up
their feathers, begin to approach each
other within such distance as might
give to their 'brethren a sample of
their skin. Walking ,within a short
interval, and eyeing each other with
loos in which self-importance and
defiance might be traced, they strut-
ted, puffed, and plied their screaming
instruments, each playing his ,own
favorite tune with such a din, that if
an Italian musician bad lain 'buried
within ten miles of them, he must
have risen from the dead to run out
of hearing,
The Chieftains meanwhile bad as-
sembled in close conclave in the great
hall of the castle. Among then were
the persons of the .greatest consequ-
ence in the Highlands, some of them
attracted by zeal fo'r the royal cause,
many by aversion to that severe and
general, domination, which. 'fhe Mar-
quis of Argyle, since his rising to
such influence in the •state, had exer-
cised over his Highland neighbors.
That statesman, indeed, though Pos-
sessed of considerable abilities, and
•great power, had'feinngs, which rend-
ered him unpopular among the High-
land chiefs. The devotion which he
professed was of a morose and 'famed -
cal character; his ambition appeared
to be insatiable, and inferior Chiefs
complained of his want of bounty
and liberality. Add to this, that al-
though a Highlander, and of a family
distinguished for valor 'before and
since, Gillespie Grumaeb (•which,
from an obliquity in his eyes, was
the personal distinction he bore in
the Highlands, where titles of rank
are unknown) was suspected of !being
a 'better man in the 'cabi