stories of Rob Roy Macgregor, and Sergeant Alan
Mhor Cameron, have served to paint them in still more sable colours to
his imagination. [Of Rob Roy we have had more than enough. Alan Cameron,
commonly called Sergeant Mhor, a freebooter of the same period, was
equally remarkable for strength, courage, and generosity.]

Now, from all I can understand, these ideas, as applied to the present
state of the country, are absolutely chimerical. The Pretender is
no more remembered in the Highlands than if the poor gentleman were
gathered to his hundred and eight fathers, whose portraits adorn the
ancient walls of Holyrood; the broadswords have passed into other hands;
the targets are used to cover the butter churns; and the race has sunk,
or is fast sinking, from ruffling bullies into tame cheaters. Indeed, it
was partly my conviction that there is little to be seen in the north,
which, arriving at your father's conclusions, though from different
premisses, inclined my course in this direction, where perhaps I shall
see as little.

One thing, however, I HAVE seen; and it was with pleasure the more
indescribable, that I was debarred from treading the land which my eyes
were permitted to gaze upon, like those of the dying prophet from top
of Mount Pisgah,--I have seen, in a word, the fruitful shores of merry
England; merry England! of which I boast myself a native, and on which
I gaze, even while raging floods and unstable quicksands divide us, with
the filial affection of a dutiful son.

Thou canst not have forgotten, Alan--for when didst thou ever forget
what was interesting to thy friend?--that the same letter from my friend
Griffiths, which doubled my income, and placed my motions at my own
free disposal, contained a prohibitory clause, by which, reason none
assigned, I was prohibited, as I respected my present safety and
future fortunes, from visiting England; every other part of the British
dominions, and a tour, if I pleased, on the Continent, being left to my
own choice.--Where is the tale, Alan, of a covered dish in the midst
of a royal banquet, upon which the eyes of every guest were immediately
fixed, neglecting all the dainties with which the table was loaded? This
cause of banishment from England--from my native country--from the land
of the brave, and the wise, and the free--affects me more than I am
rejoiced by the freedom and independence assigned to me in all other
respects. Thus, in seeking this extreme boundary