ion of this branch of learning was not, indeed, expensive.
Latin was taught for two shillings and sixpence the quarter, and English
and writing for one shilling. Indeed it is scarcely more now. The people
seldom quitted their insular homes, except when on service; and, to the
silence of their wild secluded scenes, the romance of poetry and the
composition of song gave a relief and a charm.

The education of Flora Macdonald received probably little aid from the
classical teacher; but her mind was formed, not among the rude and
uncultured, but among those who appreciated letters; and the influence
of such an advantage in elevating and strengthening the character must
be taken into account in forming a due estimation of her heroic
qualities. Thus situated, Flora passed her life in obscurity, until, at
the age of twenty-four, the events which succeeded the battle of
Culloden brought those energies, which had been nurtured in retirement,
into active exertion. Indeed, until about a year before she engaged in
that enterprise which has rendered her name so celebrated, she had never
quitted the islands of South Uist and Skye; she had, at that time,
passed about nine months in the family of Macdonald of Largoe in
Argyleshire, and this was the only change of scene, or of sphere, which
she had ever witnessed.[276]

Her step-father was an enemy to the cause which, from her earliest
years, her heart espoused. A company of militia had been formed to
assist the British Government by Sir Alexander Macdonald, the chieftain
of one division of the clan, and in this regiment Macdonald of Armadale
held a commission as captain, at the time when the Duke of Cumberland
was "making inquisition for blood" throughout the western Highlands. But
the prepossessions of Flora were unalienably engaged in favour of the
exiled Stuarts; and they were not, perhaps, the less likely to glow from
being necessarily suppressed. Her disposition, notwithstanding all her
subsequent display of courage, was extremely mild; and her manners
corresponded to her temper. Her complexion was fair; and her figure,
though small, well-proportioned. In more advanced life Boswell, who with
Dr. Johnson visited her, characterized her person and deportment as
"genteel." There was nothing unfeminine, either in her form or in her
manners, to detract from the charm of her great natural vivacity, or
give a tone of hardness to her strong good sense, calm judgment, and
power of decision