Note 513 — Chapter XVIII · [465]

General Stewart observes, that the Marshal had not at this period been long enough in the Highlands to distinguish a cearnach, or “lifter of cattle,” from a highwayman. “No such character as the latter then existed in the country; and it may be presumed he did not consider these men in the light which the word would indicate,—for certainly the Commander-in-chief would neither have associated with men whom he supposed to be really highwaymen, nor partaken of their hospitality.”