DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

(¢ 10 -) and commoners who had joined them and served in inferior offices. Savage and rude as the com- moners may have been, the gentlemen and, above them, the chiefs, were well matched with the nobility of England in culture and civilisation. The chief was the leader in war, the judge and protector in peace, and the whole income of the tribe, paid into his purse, served to maintain that rude but generous hospitality which was meted out to the poorest of the clan. The value of an estate was never esti- mated according to its rental, but according to the number of men it could raise. The story is told of Macdonald of Keppoch, who, entertaining some Lowland gentry with profuse hospitality at his Highland seat, was asked by one of the guests with blunt curiosity, what was the rent of his estate, ‘I can raise 500 men,’ was the answer. At Borrodaile Charles was joined already by an important follower, Cameron of Lochiel, whose ex- ample was soon followed by others. Conscious that his hopes of success depended entirely on the support of the Highlands, Charles did everything in his power to ingratiate himself with the people. He was affable to all and denied his presence to none. He joined in their sports, and delighted them by trying to talk Gaelic. Taking up his abode in the very centre of those tribes which had ever been loyal to his house, his frank dis-