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V

which were still more unusual and more arbitrary.

The law enacted against conventicles, hadcalled them seminaries of rebellion. This ex-pression ,, which was nothing but a flourish ofrhetoric, Lauderdale and the privy council werewilling to understand in a literal sense; andbecause the western counties abounded in con-venticles , though otherwise in profound peace,they pretended that these counties were in a stateof actual war and rebellion. They made there-fore an agreement with some highland chieftainsto call out their clans , to the number of 8000men : To these they joined the guards, and themilitia of Angus : And they sent the whole tolive at free quarters upon the lands of such ashad refused the bonds illegally required of them.The obnoxious counties were the most populousand most industrious in Scotland. The highlanderswere the people the most disorderly and the leastcivilized. It is easy to imagine the havoc anddestruction which ensued. A multitude , notaccustomed to discipline , averse to the restraintof laws, trained up in rapine and violence, werelet loose amidst those whom they were taughtto regard as enemies to their prince and to theirreligion. Nothing escaped their ravenous hands :By menaces, by violence, and sometimes bytortures, men were obliged to discover theirconcealed wealth. Neither age , nor sex, norinnocence afforded protection: And the gentry,finding that even those who had been most com-pliant, and who had subscribed the bonds, were

HIP

LXVI.

lf'7S.