Highland Legends

Chapter 24: FRESH LIGHT UPON THE SUBJECT.

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About This Book

A series of picturesque sketches of moorland scenery and traditional Highland legends combines travel writing, folklore, and antiquarian commentary. Vivid landscape descriptions set the scene for tales of clan feuds, haunted islets, heroic and tragic figures, and episodes of natural and human destruction such as forest fires. Anecdotes mix oral tradition with local history, legal and genealogical notes, and reflections on customs, producing a varied anthology that moves between romantic narrative, moral observation, and occasional scholarly discussion of origins and antiquities.

FRESH LIGHT UPON THE SUBJECT.

Grant.—Stop for one moment, Clifford, till we ring for fresh candles, or we shall be in darkness before you have uttered five sentences more.

Dominie.—Stay, sir, I’ll run to the kitchen for them myself. Preserve me! the less time we keep Mr. Clifford’s poor lassie in such misery the better.

Mr. Macpherson soon returned with the new lights, set them down on the table, and drawing in his chair, put his elbows upon his knees, placed his cheeks firmly in the palms of his hands, and sat with his eyes eagerly fixed upon Clifford’s countenance, with the most ludicrous expression of earnestness. Clifford resumed as follows.