“ Rofsjhire,” faith one neighbour by way of news to another,
“ O ho !” replies he, “ if God doth not flop it, you will fooJ
“ have it nearer home.” Much after this manner hath the pro-!
grefs of civilization been carried on in all the countries of j j
rope ; for fimilar caufes produce fimilar efFedts. '
All the time preceding the beginning of the fifteenth century!
and fomewhat later, the government of the Ifles and of the neigh-]
bouring continent was of the military kind. The people were made!
up of different clans, each of which was under the direction of a|
chief or leader of their own, and as their fecurity and honour con-f
filled in the number and ftrength of the clan, no political engine]
was negledted, that could be thought of, to increafe their numbers!
or inflame their courage. The children of the principal people!
were given out to nurfes : the fofter-brothers, or coalts, as they!
called them, with their children and connections for many ge-|
nerations, were firmly attached to their will and intereft. This]
fort of relation was carefully traced out, and the memory of it]
preferved, being efteemed a ftronger bond of friendfhip than]
blood or alliance. It was to increafe their numbers that baftardy |
was under no fort ofdifhonour : befides that the children got out ]
of wedlock, to remove the uncertainty of their birth, expreffed]
more love, and underwent more hazards on account of the clan, I
than the lawful children, by which they generally acquired a I
higher degree of ftrength both of mind and body, and therefore
were fometimes called to the fucceffion by a heroical tribe, in preference
of thofe who by the prefent laws ihould enjoy it. Such a |
breach in the lineage of a family is difavowed as being a dif- ]
honourable blot by the prefent race, though the feveral branches are I
apt
apt to charge it upon one another, when debating upon the ideal
chieftainry of a clan. It was however reckoned no difcredit in
the days of military prowefs. Abimelech, King of Sichem, was begot
by Gideon, on a concubine, and preferred to the feventy children
he had by his married wives. William the Conqueror was not
alhamed to call himfelf the Baftard of Normandy ; as little was XJlyf-
fa to acknowledge that he was the fon of a concubine. The fafety
of the community is the fupreme law, to which every political con-
fideration muft occafionally yield.
It would be aftonifhing to hear that theft and plundering, inftead
of being infamous, were reckoned the rnoft wholefome exèrcife of
youth, when they went without the limits of their own community,
and were not taken in the fa<ft, if it were not commonly known to
have been the cale every where. From this fource, the chieftains
derived rewards for their numerous followers, and dowries fometimes
for their daughters. It is known that one of them engaged
ia a contract of marriage to give his fon-in-law the purchafe of three
Michaelmafs moons, at a feafon of the-year when the nights were
long, and the cattle ftrong enough to bear hard driving. This
tranfaftion happened on the main land, where dark woods, extenfive
waftes, high-forked mountains, and a coaft indented with long winding
branches of the fea, favoured the trade. Thefe were ftrono-
holds, little frequented by ftrangers, where the antient practice's
andprejudices might be preferved to thelaft periods of time, without
fome fuch violent ihock as that of the year 1745. The iilanders
yielded much earlier to the arts of peace and civility, for the Dean
¡a the year 1549 mentions only fome petty piracies from a few of
IH the