ness the rancour of these mountain feuds and the degraded
condition of the general government of the country; and it was fixed
upon accordingly as the point on which the main incidents of a romantic
narrative might be made to hinge. The characters of Robert III,
his ambitious brother, and his dissolute son seemed to offer some
opportunities of interesting contrast; and the tragic fate of the heir
of the throne, with its immediate consequences, might serve to complete
the picture of cruelty and lawlessness.

Two features of the story of this barrier battle on the Inch of
Perth--the flight of one of the appointed champions, and the reckless
heroism of a townsman, that voluntarily offered for a small piece
of coin to supply his place in the mortal encounter--suggested the
imaginary persons, on whom much of the novel is expended. The fugitive
Celt might have been easily dealt with, had a ludicrous style of
colouring been adopted; but it appeared to the Author that there would
be more of novelty, as well as of serious interest, if he could succeed
in gaining for him something of that sympathy which is incompatible with
the total absence of respect. Miss Baillie had drawn a coward by
nature capable of acting as a hero under the strong impulse of filial
affection. It seemed not impossible to conceive the case of one
constitutionally weak of nerve being supported by feelings of honour and
of jealousy up to a certain point, and then suddenly giving way, under
circumstances to which the bravest heart could hardly refuse compassion.

The controversy as to who really were the clans that figured in the
barbarous conflict of the Inch has been revived since the publication of
the Fair Maid of Perth, and treated in particular at great length by Mr.
Robert Mackay of Thurso, in his very curious History of the House and
Clan of Mackay. Without pretending to say that he has settled any part
of the question in the affirmative, this gentleman certainly seems to
have quite succeeded in proving that his own worthy sept had no part in
the transaction. The Mackays were in that age seated, as they have since
continued to be, in the extreme north of the island; and their chief at
the time was a personage of such importance, that his name and proper
designation could not have been omitted in the early narratives of the
occurrence. He on one occasion brought four thousand of his clan to the
aid of the royal banner against the Lord of the Isles. This