e, when it is tossed, falls to the ground!

Of the ancestors of Macquarry, who thus lies hid in his unfrequented
Island, I have found memorials in all places where they could be
expected.

Inquiring after the reliques of former manners, I found that in Ulva,
and, I think, no where else, is continued the payment of the Mercheta
Mulierum; a fine in old times due to the Laird at the marriage of a
virgin. The original of this claim, as of our tenure of Borough English,
is variously delivered. It is pleasant to find ancient customs in old
families. This payment, like others, was, for want of money, made
anciently in the produce of the land. Macquarry was used to demand a
sheep, for which he now takes a crown, by that inattention to the
uncertain proportion between the value and the denomination of money,
which has brought much disorder into Europe. A sheep has always the same
power of supplying human wants, but a crown will bring at one time more,
at another less.

Ulva was not neglected by the piety of ardent times: it has still to show
what was once a church.

INCH KENNETH

In the morning we went again into the boat, and were landed on Inch
Kenneth, an Island about a mile long, and perhaps half a mile broad,
remarkable for pleasantness and fertility. It is verdant and grassy, and
fit both for pasture and tillage; but it has no trees. Its only
inhabitants were Sir Allan Maclean and two young ladies, his daughters,
with their servants.

Romance does not often exhibit a scene that strikes the imagination more
than this little desert in these depths of Western obscurity, occupied
not by a gross herdsman, or amphibious fisherman, but by a gentleman and
two ladies, of high birth, polished manners and elegant conversation,
who, in a habitation raised not very far above the ground, but furnished
with unexpected neatness and convenience, practised all the kindness of
hospitality, and refinement of courtesy.

Sir Allan is the Chieftain of the great clan of Maclean, which is said to
claim the second place among the Highland families, yielding only to
Macdonald. Though by the misconduct of his ancestors, most of the
extensive territory, which would have descended to him, has been
alienated, he still retains much of the dignity and authority of his
birth. When soldiers were lately wanting for the American war,
application was made to Sir Allan, and he nominated a hundred men for the
service, who obeyed the sum