under his appellation of John dhu Mhor. This John was with his father at the time, and of course was a witness of the whole transaction; he lived till a considerable time after the Revolution, and it was from him that my father's informant, who was a man before his grandfather, John dhu Mhor's death,received the information as above stated.

"I have many apologies to offer for trespassing so long on your patience; but I felt a natural desire, if possible, to correct what I conceive to be a groundless imputation on the memory of my ancestor, before it shall come to be considered as a matter of history. That he was a man of violent passions and singular temper, I do not pretend to deny, as many traditions still current in this country amply verify; but that he was capable of forming a design to assassinate Montrose, the whole tenor of his former conduct and principles contradict. That he was obliged to join the opposite party, was merely a matter of safety, while Kilpont had so many powerful friends and connexions able and ready to avenge

his death.

"I have only to add, that you have my full permission to make what use of this communication you please, and either to reject it altogether, or allow it such credit as you think it deserves; and I shall be ready at all times to furnish you with any further information on this subject which you may require and which it may be in my power to afford.

"ARDVOIRLICH.

15th January, 1830.

The publication of a statement so particular, and probably so correct, is a debt due to the memory of James Stewart; the victim it would seem, of his own violent passions, but perhaps incapable of an act of premeditated treachery.

ABBOTSFORD. 1st August, 1830.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

NOVELS AND TALES. VOL. XV.

A LEGEND OF MONTROSE.

HIGHLAND PASS.-P. 326, 1. 6.

The beautiful pass of Leny, near Callender, in Monteith, would in some respects answer the description.

THE WAGER.-P. 370, 1. 10.

Such a bet as that mentioned in the text is said to have been taken by MacDonald of Keppoch, who extricated himself in the manner there narrated.

NOVELS AND TALES. VOL. XVI.

A LEGEND OF MONTROSE.

CIVILISATION OF the Highlands.—P. 80, l. 6. (foot).

In the reign of James VI., an attempt of rather an extraordinary kind was made to civilize the extreme northern part of the Hebridean Archipelago. That monarch granted the property of the Island of Lewis, as if it had been an unknown and savage country, to a number of Lowland gentlemen, called undertakers, chiefly natives of the shire of Fife, that they might colonize and settle there. The enterprise was at first successful, but the natives of the Island, MacLeods and MacKenzies, rose on the Lowland adventurers, and put most of them to the sword.

INTERPOLATED PASSAGE; after the paragraph in the text ending "when the fellow had approached within a few paces of him. "—P. 115, 1. 10.

It is very well, thought the Ritt-master to himself; he annuls my parole by putting guards upon me, for, as we used to say at Mareschal-College, fides et fiducia sunt relativa; and if he does not trust my word, I do not see how I am bound to keep it, if any motive should occur for my desiring to depart from it. Surely the mo

ral obligation of the parole is relaxed, in so far as physical force is substituted instead thereof?

Thus comforting himself in the metaphysical immunities which he deduced from the vigilance of his sentinel, Ritt-master Dalgetty retired to his apartment.

NOTE. The military men of the times argued upon dependencies of honour, as they called them, with all the metaphysical argumentation of civilians, or school di

vines.

The English officer, to whom Sir James Turner was prisoner after the rout at Uttoxeter, demanded his parole of honour not to go beyond the walls of Hull without liberty." He brought me the message himself,I told him, I was ready to do so, provided he removed his guards from me, for fides et fiducia sunt relativa; and, if he took my word for my fidelity, he was obliged to trust it, otherwise, it was needless for him to seek it, and in vain for me to give it; and therefore I beseeched him either to give trust to my word, which I would not break, or his own guards, who I supposed would not deceive him. In this manner I dealt with him, because I knew him to be a scholar. Turner's Memoirs, p. 80. The English officer allowed the strength of the reasoning; but that concise reasoner, Cromwell, soon put an end to the dilemma; "Sir James Turner must give his parole, or be laid in irons.

SEIZED AND WEDDED.-P. 148, 1. 1.

Such a story is told of the heiress of the clan of Calder, who was made prisoner in the manner described, and afterwards wedded to Sir Duncan Campbell, from which union the Campbells of Cawdor have their descent.

DALGETTY'S ESCAPE, END OF CHAP. IX.-P. 160.

The precarious state of the feudal nobles introduced a

great deal of espionage into their castles. Sir Robert Carey mentions his having put on the cloak of one of his own wardens to obtain a confession from the mouth of Geordie Bourne, his prisoner, whom he caused presently to be hanged in return for the frankness of his communication. The fine old Border castle of Naworth contains a private stair from the apartment of the Lord William Howard, by which he could visit the dungeon, as is alleged in the preceding chapter to have been practised by the Marquis of Argyle.

HIGHLAND WEAPONS.-P. 207, 1. 1.

In fact, for the admirers of archery it may be stated, not only that many of the Highlanders in Montrose's army used these antique missiles, but even in England the bow and quiver, once the glory of the bold yeoman of that land, were occasionally used during the Great Civil Wars.

WRAITHS.-P. 223, 1. 9.

A species of apparition, similar to what the Germans call a Double-Ganger, was believed in by the Celtic tribes, and is still considered as an emblem of misfortune or death. Mr Kirke, (See Note to Rob Roy, p. 206,) the minister of Aberfoil, who will no doubt be able to tell us more of the matter should he ever come back from Fairyland, gives us the following:

"Some men of that exalted sight, either by art or nature, have told me they have seen at these meetings a double man, or the shape of some man in two places, that is, a superterranean and a subterranean inhabitant perfectly resembling one another in all points, whom he, notwithstanding, could easily distinguish one from another by some secret tokens and operations, and so go speak to the man his neighbour and familiar, passing by the apparition or resemblance of him. They avouch that every element and every state of being have animals re