ABSTRACT
Many of the difficulties which beset the Highlands in early times were due to the fact that their laws were different from the laws prevailing in the Lowlands. The feudal system had spread over all the east and south of Europe, but it did not extend to the mountainous districts of Wales, Ireland, the Western and Middle borders of Scotland, and above all the Highlands where the patriarchial system of government was universal. Under the feudal system the children other than the heir had to make their fortunes as best they could as mercenaries, churchmen, or administrators. While it is impractical to examine in detail all the feuds great and small which took place in the Scotland of the sixteenth century, there are some which give a general idea of the state into which the country had fallen. Apparently in Gaelic the toast ‘An honourable death!’ is regarded as a friendly wish.
