Note 868 — Chapter XXX

“In the interior of the Highlands absolute submission seems to have been easily exacted; but in the outskirts, where, perhaps, there was a slight mingling of Lowland population, and where the people were not too blind to see that their leaders alone had an interest in the rising, considerable opposition was offered to the commands of the chief. This was conspicuously visible in the Athole territory. The chivalrous Tullibardine was much provoked by the obstinacy of the retainers of his house in the valleys round Dunkeld. They had to be repeatedly threatened with coercive measures, and appear to have been literally forced into the service by press-gangs from the other clans. He had been absent from the country during the whole interval between the rebellions, and his brother, who adopted the interest of the government, enjoyed his estate. He could not see that this affected his divine right as chief any more than it affected that of his royal master; but the clan appear to have imperfectly participated in such a principle, and to have abandoned, as he expressed it, the virtues of their ancestors.”—Burton’s Scotland after Revolution, vol. ii. p. 414.