HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

VOL. V.

CHAPTER XIH.

( continued .)

1 ho Highlanders, while they continued to be a nation livingunder a peculiar polity, were in one sense better and in anothersense worse fitted for military purposes than any other nation inEurope. The individual Celt was morally and physically wellqualified for war, and especially for war in so wild and ruggeda country as his own. He was intrepid, strong, fleet, patientof cold, of hunger, and of fatigue. Up steep crags, and overtreacherous morasses, he moved as easily as the French house-hold troops paced along the great road from Versailles to Marly.He w'as accustomed to the use of weapons and to the sight ofblood: he was a fencer; he was a marksman; and, before hehad ever stood in the ranks, he was already more than half asoldier.

As the individual Celt was easily turned into a soldier, so atribe of Celts was easily turned into a battalion of soldiers. Allthat was necessary was that the military organization should beconformed to the patriarchal organization. The Chief must beColonel: his uncle or his brother must be Major: the tacksmen,who formed what may be called the peerage of the little com-munity, must be the Captains: the company of each Captainmust consist of those peasants who lived on his land, and whoseMacaulay } History . V. 1

CiUP.

xm.

J6SD.Militarycharacterof theHigh-landers.