heless been gradual; and,
like those who drift down the stream of a deep and smooth river, we are
not aware of the progress we have made until we fix our eye on the now
distant point from which we have been drifted. Such of the present
generation as can recollect the last twenty or twenty-five years of the
eighteenth century will be fully sensible of the truth of this statement;
especially if their acquaintance and connexions lay among those who in my
younger time were facetiously called 'folks of the old leaven,' who still
cherished a lingering, though hopeless, attachment to the house of
Stuart.

This race has now almost entirely vanished from the land, and with it,
doubtless, much absurd political prejudice; but also many living examples
of singular and disinterested attachment to the principles of loyalty
which they received from their fathers, and of old Scottish faith,
hospitality, worth, and honour.

It was my accidental lot, though not born a Highlander (which may be an
apology for much bad Gaelic), to reside during my childhood and youth
among persons of the above description; and now, for the purpose of
preserving some idea of the ancient manners of which I have witnessed the
almost total extinction, I have embodied in imaginary scenes, and
ascribed to fictitious characters, a part of the incidents which I then
received from those who were actors in them. Indeed, the most romantic
parts of this narrative are precisely those which have a foundation in
fact.

The exchange of mutual protection between a Highland gentleman and an
officer of rank in the king's service, together with the spirited manner
in which the latter asserted his right to return the favour he had
received, is literally true. The accident by a musket shot, and the
heroic reply imputed to Flora, relate to a lady of rank not long
deceased. And scarce a gentleman who was 'in hiding' after the battle of
Culloden but could tell a tale of strange concealments and of wild and
hair'sbreadth'scapes as extraordinary as any which I have ascribed to my
heroes. Of this, the escape of Charles Edward himself, as the most
prominent, is the most striking example. The accounts of the battle of
Preston and skirmish at Clifton are taken from the narrative of
intelligent eye-witnesses, and corrected from the 'History of the
Rebellion' by the late venerable author of 'Douglas.' The Lowland
Scottish gentlemen and the subordinate characters are not given as
indivi