been an unknown and savage country, to a number
of Lowland gentlemen, called undertakers, chiefly natives of the shire
of Fife, that they might colonize and settle there. The enterprise
was at first successful, but the natives of the island, MacLeods and
MacKenzies, rose on the Lowland adventurers, and put most of them to
the sword.] "And yet," he continued, addressing Allan, "it is for
the purpose of giving despotic authority to the monarch by whom these
designs have been nursed, that so many Highland Chiefs are upon
the point of quarrelling with, and drawing the sword against, their
neighbours, allies, and ancient confederates." "It is to my brother,"
said Allan, "it is to the eldest son of my father's house, that the
Knight of Ardenvohr must address these remonstrances. I am, indeed, the
brother of Angus; but in being so, I am only the first of his clansmen,
and bound to show an example to the others by my cheerful and ready
obedience to his commands."

"The cause also," said Lord Menteith, interposing, "is far more general
than Sir Duncan Campbell seems to suppose it. It is neither limited
to Saxon nor to Gael, to mountain nor to strath, to Highlands nor to
Lowlands. The question is, if we will continue to be governed by the
unlimited authority assumed by a set of persons in no respect superior
to ourselves, instead of returning to the natural government of the
Prince against whom they have rebelled. And respecting the interest of
the Highlands in particular," he added, "I crave Sir Duncan Campbell's
pardon for my plainness; but it seems very clear to me, that the only
effect produced by the present usurpation, will be the aggrandisement
of one overgrown clan at the expense of every independent Chief in the
Highlands."

"I will not reply to you, my lord," said Sir Duncan Campbell, "because
I know your prejudices, and from whom they are borrowed; yet you will
pardon my saying, that being at the head of a rival branch of the House
of Graham, I have both read of and known an Earl of Menteith, who
would have disdained to have been tutored in politics, or to have been
commanded in war, by an Earl of Montrose."

"You will find it in vain, Sir Duncan," said Lord Menteith, haughtily,
"to set my vanity in arms against my principles. The King gave my
ancestors their title and rank; and these shall never prevent my acting,
in the royal cause, under any one who is better qualified than myself
to be a commander-in-chief. Leas