perhaps they have no
pecuniary wages, or none but in very wealthy families. The state of
life, which has hitherto been purely pastoral, begins now to be a little
variegated with commerce; but novelties enter by degrees, and till one
mode has fully prevailed over the other, no settled notion can be formed.

Such is the system of insular subordination, which, having little
variety, cannot afford much delight in the view, nor long detain the mind
in contemplation. The inhabitants were for a long time perhaps not
unhappy; but their content was a muddy mixture of pride and ignorance, an
indifference for pleasures which they did not know, a blind veneration
for their chiefs, and a strong conviction of their own importance.

Their pride has been crushed by the heavy hand of a vindictive conqueror,
whose seventies have been followed by laws, which, though they cannot be
called cruel, have produced much discontent, because they operate upon
the surface of life, and make every eye bear witness to subjection. To
be compelled to a new dress has always been found painful.

Their Chiefs being now deprived of their jurisdiction, have already lost
much of their influence; and as they gradually degenerate from
patriarchal rulers to rapacious landlords, they will divest themselves of
the little that remains.

That dignity which they derived from an opinion of their military
importance, the law, which disarmed them, has abated. An old gentleman,
delighting himself with the recollection of better days, related, that
forty years ago, a Chieftain walked out attended by ten or twelve
followers, with their arms rattling. That animating rabble has now
ceased. The Chief has lost his formidable retinue; and the Highlander
walks his heath unarmed and defenceless, with the peaceable submission of
a French peasant or English cottager.

Their ignorance grows every day less, but their knowledge is yet of
little other use than to shew them their wants. They are now in the
period of education, and feel the uneasiness of discipline, without yet
perceiving the benefit of instruction.

The last law, by which the Highlanders are deprived of their arms, has
operated with efficacy beyond expectation. Of former statutes made with
the same design, the execution had been feeble, and the effect
inconsiderable. Concealment was undoubtedly practised, and perhaps often
with connivance. There was tenderness, or partiality, on one side, and
obstinacy o