best apartments, the neatest cells, the humble but only beds, were all resigned to the march-worn officers and men, with undisguised cheerfulness. It is with pain I am compelled to confess, that the manners of my strange but well-meaning countrymen, soon wrought a change in the kind dispositions of the people.-When they saw many assume as a right all which they had accorded from politeness, and receive their respectful attentions and cordial services, as expressions of homage due to the courage, wealth, and power of the British nation-when the simplicity of their manners, their frugality, the spareness of their diet, the peculiarities of their dress, and their religious prejudices, were made the subjects of derision and ridicule-when they witnessed scenes of brutal intoxication, and were occasionally exposed to vulgar insult from uneducated and overbearing Englishmen :—when, I say, all this occurred, they began to examine our individual titles to their esteem; and the spirit which we had awakened in them, manifested itself in various acts of neglect, rudeness, and even resentment. The English are admired not only in Portugal, but over all Europe, as a free, an enlightened, and a brave people, but they cannot make themselves beloved; they are not content with being great, they must be thought so and told so. They will not bend with good humour to the customs of other nations, nor will they condescend to sooth (flatter they never do) the harmless self-love of friendly foreigners. No; wher ever they march or travel, they bear with them a haughty air of conscious superiority; and expect that their customs, habits, and opinions, should supersede, or at least suspend, those of all the countries through which they pass." When the army could no longer avail itself of the assistance of the Tagus, it pursued its way, on account of the heat, in night marches. At one place our soldier arrived "just as the early matin-bell was summoning the inhabitants to prayers. The attendance on public worship throughout Spain and Portugal is extremely regular, and no occupation or manner of life is suffered to interfere with this sacred duty. To mass go the muleteers before they load their train; and from the door of the chapel, the peasants sally forth to their daily labours.". Surely every reflecting mind and feeling heart must strongly wish that such a people could be emancipated from the shackles of formal superstition, and yet retain their devotional habits. Their way sometimes led by the banks of the Tagus. One of these marches our author thus describes. "A clear bright silver moon lighted our silent path; not a lamp burning in any of the cottages; not a human voice to be heard; not a sound, save the dull tread of our weary men, and the gentle tone in which the waters told their ceaseless flow. The moonbeams which played upon the bright arms of our gallant soldiers, shone also on the glistening nets of the peaceful fisherman, which hung spread upon the rocks near his deserted bark. All within these humble dwellings was repose, and their happy inmates slumbered sweetly, unconscious that the tide of war (harmless and friendly indeed to them, yet bearing on its waves not only youth, ambition, and courage, but perhaps even ferocity and crime) rolled, in the dead of night, past the vine-clad walls of their defenceless cots. "It is a pleasing sight to see a column arrive at its halting ground. The camp is generally marked out, if circumstances allow of it, on the edge of some wood, and near a river or stream. The troops are halted in open columns, arms piled, picquets and guards paraded and posted, and in two minutes all appear at home. Some fetch large stones to form fire-places; other hurry off with canteens and kettles for water; while the wood resounds with the blows of the bill-hook. Dispersed under the more distant trees, you see the officers: some dressing; some arranging a few boughs to shelter them by night; others kindling their own fires; while the most active are seen returning from the village laden with bread, or from some flock of goats feeding near us with a supply of new milk. How often, under some spreading cork-stree, which of fered shade, shelter, and fuel, have I taken up my lodging for the night; and here, fanned by whatever air was stirring, made or by some gurgling stream, my bosom my careless toilet; and sat down with men I both liked and esteemed, to a coarse, but wholesome meal, seasoned by hunger and life I found most pleasing. An enthusiastic cheerfulness. The rude simplicity of this admirer of nature, I was glad to move and dwell amidst her grandest scenes, remote from cities, and unconnected with what is called society. Her mountains, her forests, and sometimes her bare and bladeless plains, yielded me a passing home; her rivers, streams, and springs, cooled my brow and allayed my thirst. The inconve nience of one camp taught me to enjoy the the thoughtless,) that wood and water, next; and I learned, (a strange lesson for shade and grass, were luxuries. I saw the sun set every evening; I saw him rise again each morning in all his majesty; and I felt that my very existence was a blessing.Strange, indeed, to observe how soon men delicately brought up can inure themselves to any thing. Wrapped in a blanket or a cloak, the head reclining on a stone or a napsack, covered by the dews of night, or drenched perhaps by the thunder-shower, sleeps many a youth, to whom the carpeted chamber, the curtained couch, and the bed of down, have been from youth familiar." Speaking of a mean looking Spanish village at which they halted, and which was formed by a collection of mud cottages, he says "We were however, very agreeably surprised on entering it. The dwelling of the Spanish peasant is very clean, and, owing to the extreme thickness of the walls and the smallness of the windows, delightfully cool. I got a comfortable little room, with a good bed, two or three of the little low chairs, and the small low table of the country. The poorer Spaniards sit very low, and their food is spread on a table still lower, a custom very ancient and very inconvenient. I however thought myself in high luck to be lord of this little sanctum, and generally retired to rest too much fatigued to find fault with my thick, hard mattress, and my coarse, tho' white, sheets. "The life of the Spanish villager is simple, and not without its pleasures. He rises early, and after mass goes forth to labour. A bit of dry bread, and a few grapes, or a slice of the water melon, supply his breakfast: a plain dish of vegetables, generally a sort of bean boiled with the smallest morsel of bacon to flavor it, forms the dinner; and their drink is water,or the weak common wine of the country. They invariably, whether in their houses or in their fields, take their siesta after dinner, and themselves to smoke their "How often have I stood apart and gazed on these happy groups! how often have I listened to their pleasing ditties, the pauses and cadences of which they mark so feelingly yet so simply with the light guitar! "Oftentimes too, when the moon shines brightly, their youth will meet together,and by that soft light, dance to the cheerful sound of the merry castanets, the rude but sprightly fandango, or the more graceful bolero of their country. "Some of their customs in husbandry are very ancient; among others, the treading out of their corn with cattle, instead of threshing it. This is all done in the open air, where the grain is afterwards spread to dry and harden; oxen or mares are used for this purpose, and you may see five or six at a time trotting round in a circle up on the outspread wheat in the straw." After a diligent survey of the Roman and Moorish ruins still to be found at Merida, he wandered from his com panions, and fell into a train of thought, "at once," he says, "solemn and delightful." "Here, on this very spot, had the Ro man eagle been displayed in the day of its pride and glory: here Roman knights and soldiers, men born perhaps on the banks of the Tiber, and educated in imperial Rome, whose familiar language was that in which a Cicero wrote and a Virgil sung, and who had served and fought in Greece and Asia, laid down their helm and their cuirass, and claimed their hardly earned reward. "Over the same plain had the rude and unlettered Goths moved as conquerors, till, in turn, the haughty and glittering crescent rose o'er their drooping banner, and countless Moors, known by their snowy turbans and silken vests, borne on the fleet coursers of Africa, and brandishing their curved falchions in all the insolence of triumph, rode shouting to those walls which an Augustus had built, and over which a Trajan had held sway. "There is something infinitely affecting in having such scenes forced upon our imagination by the presence of monuments, which, though crumbling before the ceaseless and consuming power of time, have yet survived for so many centuries the perishable hands of the mortals who raised them." A remark which our author makes in this part of his journal, among many others which are scattered throughout the work, tends to exhibit war in its true colours; and that not merely as it respects the vanquished, but even the conquerors. "As we passed out of the town, (Merida,) we saw several officers, men and horses of the heavy brigade of British cavalry stationed there. The cattle were in wretched condition, and the men looked sickly.— Both officers and privates were very illdressed; and their brown and shapeless hats had a most unmilitary appearance.— Whoever had seen these regiments in England, in pale sallow-looking men, and skeleton horses, would hardly have recognized the third Dragoon Guards and fourth Dragoons, two corps enjoying, and deservedly, a well-earned name. Thus, oftentimes, on actual service, vanishes all that brilliancy which has won the heart and fixed the choice of so many a youth, and which appeared so gay and attractive on crowded esplanades at home." In the return from Merida the party lost their way, and fell in with a party of Spanish shepherds, whose appear ance is thus described.- "After wandering for some time, we descried a fire on the plain at a considerable distance, and made towards it. Three shep herds were standing near and restraining, with difficulty, two enormous wolf-dogs, whom our approach had alarmed and irritated. The shepherds of these immense plains wear an upper dress of sheepskin, with the wooly side outwards, which covers the breast and back, and protects the thighs. These are made of white or black skin, as may be; two of the present party had white, the other black; two of them were armed with long Spanish guns, for the protection of their flocks, and the other had the ancient crook. Their dogs were of a dun or mouse colour, smooth haired, partaking in the form of their heads, both of the bull and the mastiff, and both taller and every way larger, than any I ever saw in England." THIS (Lond. Lit. Gaz.) Traditions of the Western Highlands. ALLAN NA SOHP. HIS notable person was the youngest son of Lachlan Maclean, of Duart, and was born about the beginning of the sixteenth century. He distinguished himself for courage and activity at an early age; and as his father had made no provision for him, he resolved to avail himself of the means then too often resorted to in that country by soldiers of fortune for acquiring an independency, that is, seizing on the property of the most defenceless. A gentleman of his own name and family, who was possessed of a considerable estate in Mull, was then very far advanced in life, and Allan paid him a visit. The young adventurer had not been received with all the courtesy that he expected, but of this he took no notice at the time. He consulted the old man as to the most advisable way of improving his fortune ;— and the advice he received was in deed very discreditable to the giver.His neighbour Mac Quarie, of Ulva, was then old, and had no children ;the other advised Allan to put him to death and seize on his property. It seems that Allan had once been treated by Mac Quarie with great kindness when he stood much in need of it, and he declared his abhorrence of this base counsel. But he was not satisfied alone with expressing these sentiments, he retaliated on his ungenerous host his own perfidious advice; despatched him, and took possession of his lands. It were well if he had been satisfied with this usurpation, but that was by no means the case; he afterwards became a very troublesome man, and the greatest freebooter of that age and country. He was well known over 44 ATHENEUM VOL. 1. new series. No. VI. the west of Scotland and the north of Ireland under the appellation of Allan na Sohp, (or the Wisp,) which he obtained from the frequent use he made of straw in setting fire to houses and barnyards in his marauding expeditions. He was a man of considerable ability and of much address. Notwithstanding his numerous acts of violence, he contrived means to acquire very extensive landed estates, and procured charters or gifts of non-entries of more than one of them from the reigning princes. In some of these, which we have seen, dated 1539, he is designated" of Gigha and Tarbert." His favourite residence was the castle of Tarbert, still standing on the shore of the bay of that name, which cuts deep into the isthmus that connects the great peninsula of Kintyre with Knapdale, in Argyleshire. This was a station indeed admirably adapted to his purpose, for in an October night, with moonlight, he would make a descent on the fertile district of lower Cowal, or the island of Bute and the adjacent islands to the east, and return to his stronghold before day-light. Or he could extend his depredations to Hay, on the west, with the same advantages. Ireland was also very convenient to him. He had, besides, the command of the communication between the two seas, which for open boats was then, and still in some degree continues to be carried on, by dragging them across the narrow neck of Tarbert, a distance not more than four hundred yards. There is no doubt that Allan made good use of this favourable situation. He even directed his course to the vicinity of Rothsay, (the capital of Bute, and a royal residence,) for the purpose of carrying away cattle; and the sheriff of the island having had intelligence of his arrival, he collected some men for the purpose of protecting the property of the people. It was in October, the time selected for such purposes, and the women and children followed the Bute men at some distance. Several shots were fired, and the women found some dead bodies among the corn. They supposed them to be those of the plunderers, and they were very liberal in praise of the sheriff's warlike exploits; but unfortunately, on procuring light, they turned out to be the bodies of their friends. Some of Allan's party lay concealed, and heard the remarks, which are still repeated in Mull in ridicule of the corrupt dialect spoken in Bute, and the disappointment of the poor women. He extended his depredations sometimes to a much greater distance; and we find that Abercromby, in his Martial Achievements of the Scots, states that a hero who is there styled " Allan Maclean the robber," in company with another person, of whom we have given an account under the designation of Murdoch Gair, had made an irruption into the lands of the Colquhouns, and others on the banks of Lochlomond, where they are stated to have done much mischief "with their reef and sorners." Murdoch is there surnamed Gibson, because in the provincial dialect of that district of Dumbartonshire, the word Gair, which signifies short, active, and snug, is converted into the word Gibboch, and this Abercromby very naturally conceived to mean Gib son. Allan and his associates had very easy access to Lochlomond, by dragging their boats across the low isthmus from Arokar to the Lake, and they could attack any part of the country around that beautiful and extensive sheet of water at pleasure. Tradition says that these two powerful marauders left sad memorials of their visit on this expedition, and that they deprived of their ears more than one laird. It is worthy of remark that Haco, king of Norway, in his expedition to Scotland in 1263,sent a division of his forces by this route to ravage the same country. Maclean, of Coll, had often been known to express high disapprobation of the conduct of Allan na Sohp; and Allan, who frequently resided on his estate in Mull, was determined to have his revenge. Coll was very studious, and was in the habit of retiring frequently in the evenings to walk in a solitary place near the sea, for contemplation. Allan had information of this, and took his measures accordingly. He very easily got the laird into his hands, and having bound him with a rope, he conveyed him to his boat.— He set sail for the south, and it may be conceived that the prisoner did not feel much at ease in the power of such a man. Coll was a poet, and he made the best use he could of his talents.Under circumstances certainly not favourable to the Muses, he made a shift to compose Allan na Sohp's March, which is still preserved. He sung it with the best grace his situation would permit ; and the stern heart of the marauder was not proof against the charms of music and verse united. He released the captive laird, and after advising him to speak of him with more respect thereafter, he returned to the island of Coll, and landed his prisoner in safety where he had found him. When Allan advanced in years he was not so often employed in acquiring booty, and some of his followsrs were by no means pleased with the change in his habits. One day at dinner one of his associates had some trouble in picking a rib of beef, and he remarked that times were indeed altered when Allan's house was so scantily supplied with that article. The landlord heard the remark, and was determined to show that his vigour had not decreased. He ordered all his people to attend him, and proceeded to the river Clyde, where he penetrated as far as Erskine ferry, near Renfrew. He carried off cattle, and levied contributions to a large amount, and returned home in triumph. This was the richest creach or hership he had ever made; and it was afterwards denominated Creach an Aisne, after the rib, from which it originated. Allan na Sohp died in peace at an old age; and having made the best compromise in his power with the holy Church for as speedy an escape from purgatory as circumstances would admit, he was buried with his ancestors in the sacred cemetery of St. Oran, in Jona. He left one son, but he was not permitted to become so celebrated as his father. He was accused of having conspired against his chief, and was put to death for that crime at an early age, and without children. His estate of Torloisk reverted to his chief, as superior. Allan had a daughter, who was married to the son of his friend Murdoch Gair, of Lockbuy. The late General Allan Maclean, IN who was so much distinguished for the gallant defence of Quebec when it was attacked by Arnold, was in the Gaelic language denominated Allan na Sohp, and has, with singular absurdity, been already confounded by some with the former. The General's father possessed the same estate, and resided in the same place,but there was no other connexion between them; and the appellation was fancifully bestowed on him when a boy, in consequence of his name, and the courage and activity he showed. in other respects no two characters were more unlike. THE DREAM OF BORRERAY. N the 15th century, Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, invaded the isl and of Mull with a large force; and Maclean, the chief of that clan, being taken by surprise, was not prepared to resist his powerful enemy in the field. He therefore retired, and took up a very strong position near a place called Leckalee, on the western side of Benmore, the loftiest mountain of that mountainous island. The Lord of the Isles encamped by the sea-side, below the men of Mull. Maclean, of Borreray, was a vassal of Macdonald, and attended his superior on this expedition with all his people. He was a man of great prudence, and stood very high in the esteem of his Lord, who was accustomed to consult him on all important occasions.Every attempt to compromise the feud having failed, the Lord of the Isles announced his resolution to attack the Macleans on the following morning. His men were brave and numerous, but the advantage of the ground which his enemies occupied, gave them every chance of success; and there could be no doubt that the Macdonalds must suffer severe loss, whatever the ultimate result might be. Situated as Borreray was, it did not become him directly to oppose the attack; but availing himself of the credulity and superstition so prevalent in that age, he adopted a more effectual means of preventing the destruction of his mutual friends, and it deserves to be recorded to his honour. On the morning of the intended But battle, Borreray was summoned to council at a very early hour, and he appeared extremely dejected. Macdonald observed this, and remarking that it must naturally be distressing to his feelings to be engaged against his own clan, he kindly entreated that Borreray should take charge of a body of men intended for a reserve. The other thanked the Lord of the Isles, but declined the favour; and assured his superior that though he felt much reluctance to spill the blood of his clansmen, that was by no means the chief cause of his sorrow. The Lord of the Isles requested to know what other cause he could have, and Maclean appeared very averse from disclosing it; but he at last informed Macdonald that he had a dream the preceding night, which gave him great alarm. In his sleep he had been visited by a supernatural being which chanted to him some verses, which may be translated as follows: "Thou dark and dismal Leckalee, Shall yield the eagles plenteons food; These words are much more expressive in the original Gaelic. When Borreray had told this story and recited these lines in the presence of the leaders of the Macdonalds, they all declared their determination not to attack the enemy. Thus Maclean of Borreray, with great satisfaction, effected his judicious and humane purpose; and the Lord of the Isles left Mull without bloodshed. |