giving an account of a Highlander, his pedigree is first to be
considered. That of Rob Roy was deduced from Ciar Mhor, the great
mouse-coloured man, who is accused by tradition of having slain the young
students at the battle of Glenfruin.

Without puzzling ourselves and our readers with the intricacies of
Highland genealogy, it is enough to say, that after the death of Allaster
MacGregor of Glenstrae, the clan, discouraged by the unremitting
persecution of their enemies, seem not to have had the means of placing
themselves under the command of a single chief. According to their places
of residence and immediate descent, the several families were led and
directed by _Chieftains,_ which, in the Highland acceptation, signifies
the head of a particular branch of a tribe, in opposition to _Chief,_ who
is the leader and commander of the whole name.

The family and descendants of Dugald Ciar Mhor lived chiefly in the
mountains between Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine, and occupied a good deal
of property there--whether by sufferance, by the right of the sword,
which it was never safe to dispute with them, or by legal titles of
various kinds, it would be useless to inquire and unnecessary to detail.
Enough;--there they certainly were--a people whom their most powerful
neighbours were desirous to conciliate, their friendship in peace being
very necessary to the quiet of the vicinage, and their assistance in war
equally prompt and effectual.

Rob Roy MacGregor Campbell, which last name he bore in consequence of the
Acts of Parliament abolishing his own, was the younger son of Donald
MacGregor of Glengyle, said to have been a Lieutenant-Colonel (probably
in the service of James II.), by his wife, a daughter of Campbell of
Glenfalloch. Rob's own designation was of Inversnaid; but he appears to
have acquired a right of some kind or other to the property or possession
of Craig Royston, a domain of rock and forest, lying on the east side of
Loch Lomond, where that beautiful lake stretches into the dusky mountains
of Glenfalloch.

The time of his birth is uncertain. But he is said to have been active in
the scenes of war and plunder which succeeded the Revolution; and
tradition affirms him to have been the leader in a predatory incursion
into the parish of Kippen, in the Lennox, which took place in the year
1691. It was of almost a bloodless character, only one person losing his
life; but from the extent of the depredation, it was lon