THE
POPULAR
SUPERSTITIONS
AND
FESTIVE AMUSEMENTS
OF THE
HIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND.
BY
WILLIAM GRANT STEWART.
NEW EDITION.
“Of Brownyis and of Bogilis full is this Beuk.”
Gawin Douglas.
LONDON:
AYLOTT AND JONES, 8, PATERNOSTER, ROW.
EDINBURGH: OLIVER AND BOYD. GLASGOW:
MUCKLEHOSE. DUBLIN: McGLASHAN. INVERNESS:
SMITH DOUGLAS. ELGIN: RUSSELL.
LONDON:
JOHN KING, PRINTER, 120, FLEET STREET.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE COUNTESS OF SEAFIELD.
This new Edition of the Popular Superstitionsand Festive Amusements of theHighlanders of Scotland is humbly andappropriately dedicated:—as being theLady Patroness of the Brave and IntelligentHighlanders of Strathspey, and itsTributaries, into whom her Ladyship’sgenuine benevolence and condescensionhave infused the most devoted attachment,
By her Ladyship’s
Grateful humble servant,
THE AUTHOR.
Viewville, Glen Urquhart,
June, 1851.
ADVERTISEMENT.
A new and revised Edition of the following Treatiseon the superstitions and amusements of the Highlanders,which was very favourably received by thePublic on its original publication, has often beencalled for; but the Author’s urgent professional avocationsdid not permit of earlier attention to thematter. At the request of many friends and countrymen,the Author has now, however, been induced toreprint the present Edition, in order to record morefully the fast-fading Tales and Traditions which latelyformed, and still to a certain extent form, the Winter’sEvening Entertainments of the happy HighlandHomes.
Viewville, Glen Urquhart,
July, 1851.
PREFACE.
No part of the United Kingdom has of late yearsattracted a greater portion of public attention than theHighlands of Scotland. Formerly isolated as the inhabitantswere from their fellow subjects, by a differentlanguage and separate interests, their characterwas but little known and less admired. Devoted totheir chiefs and feudal institutions, they entertained asovereign contempt for their neighbours; and, in theiroccasional intercours