[1] _Cæsar_ says, that several brothers, or a father and his sons, would have but one wife among them. _Solinus_, indeed, says that the women in Thule were common, the king having a free choice; and _Dio_ says the Caledonians had wives in common; yet these assertions may well be disputed. _Strabo_ describes the Irish as extremely gross in this matter; _O'Conner_ says polygamy was permitted; and _Derrick_ tells us they exchanged wives once or twice a year; while _Campion_ says they only married for a year and a day, sending their wives home again for any slight offense.--_Logan's Scottish Gael_, 5th Am. ed., p. 472. [2] _A History of the Highlands, and of the Highland Clans_, etc. (Jas. Browne, LL.D., Advocate, 4 vols. London, 1853), IV, 398. "The law of marriage observed in the Highlands has frequently been as little understood as that of succession, and similar misconceptions have prevailed regarding it. This was, perhaps, to be expected. In a country where a bastard son was often found in undisturbed possession of the chiefship or property of a clan, and where such bastard generally received the support of the clansmen against the claims of the feudal heir, it was natural to suppose that very loose notions of succession were entertained by the people; that legitimacy conferred no exclusive rights; and that the title founded on birth alone might be set aside in favor of one having no other claim than that of election. But this, although a plausible, would nevertheless be an erroneous supposition. The person here considered as a bastard, and described as such, was by no means viewed in the same light by the Highlanders, because, according to their law of marriage, which was originally very different from the feudal system in this matter, his claim to legitimacy was as undoubted as that of the feudal heir afterward became. It is well known that the notions of the Highlanders were peculiarly strict in regard to matters of hereditary succession, and that no people on earth was less likely to sanction any flagrant deviation from what they believed to be the right and true line of descent. All their peculiar habits, feelings and prejudices were in direct opposition to a practice which, had it been really acted upon, must have introduced endless disorder and confusion, and hence the natural explanation of this apparent anomaly seems to be, what Mr. Skene has stated, namely, that a person who was feudally a bastard might in their view be considered as legitimate, and therefore entitled to be supported in accordance with their strict ideas of hereditary right, and their habitual tenacity of whatever belonged to their ancient usages. Nor is this mere conjecture or hypothesis. A singular custom regarding marriage, retained till a late period amongst the Highlanders, and clearly indicating that their law of marriage originally differed in some essential points from that established under