The Black Watch in Canada. P. 267
LEGENDS
OF
THE BLACK WATCH:
OR,
Forty-second Highlanders.
BY
JAMES GRANT,
AUTHOR OF
"THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "HOLLYWOOD HALL," ETC., ETC.
NEW EDITION.
LONDON:
ROUTLEDGE, WARNE, AND ROUTLEDGE,
FARRINGDON STREET,
NEW YORK: 66, WALKER STREET.
1860.
[The Author reserves the right of translation.]
LONDON
SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS,
CHANDOS STREET.
PREFACE.
Woven up with an occasional legend or superstitiongleaned among the mountains from whence itssoldiers came, the warlike details and many of thenames which occur in the following pages, belong tothe military history of the country and of the braveRegiment whose title is given to our Book.
It is generally acknowledged that but for theretention of the kilt in the British service, and for thehigh character of those regiments who wear it> themilitary name of Scotland had been long sinceforgotten in Europe, and her national existence had beenas completely ignored during the Wars of Wellingtonas in those of Marlborough; nor in times more recenthad the electric wire announced that, when the cloudof Russian horse came on at Balaclava and our alliesfled, "the Scots stood firm."
The kilt alone indicated their country, as ourScots Lowland regiments are clad like the rest ofthe Line. The martial and picturesque costume ofthe ancient clans which is now so completelyidentified with modern Scotland, is one of the fewremnants of the past that remain to her; and it isremarkable that it has survived so long; for it wasthe garb of those adventurous Greeks who foughtunder Xenophon, and of those hardy warriors whospread the terror of the Roman name from theshores of the Euphrates on the east, to those of theCaledonian Firths upon the west.
It was the best public service of the great Pittwhen he first rallied round the British throne, assoldiers of the Highland Regiments, the men of thatwarlike race, who had been so long inimical to theHouse of Hanover.
"I sought for merit wherever it was to be found,"said he; "it is my boast that I was the first ministerwho looked for it and found it on the mountains ofthe north. I called it forth, and drew into yourservice a hardy and intrepid race of men, who, whenleft by your jealousy, became a prey to the artifice ofyour enemies, and who, in the war before the last,had well nigh gone to have overturned the State.These men in the last war were brought to combatby your side; they served with fidelity as they foughtwith honour, and conquered for you in every part ofthe world."
Highlander and Lowlander are now so mingled byintermarriage that there is scarcely a subject in thenorthern kingdom without more or less Celtic bloodin his or her veins; and to this mixture of race,which unites the fire and impatience of the former tothe steady perseverance of the latter, Scotland owesher present prosperity.
The Clans are passing away, and