I have no animosity to Highlanders, as a body; there are many brave and intelligent men amongst them, who would disdain to seek any adventitious aid from the mania of the day, and I willingly allow them credit for what they deserve in common with the rest of the army; but the behaviour of a regiment is so much influenced by the officers, or officer, commanding, and the men who compose it are so often changed during war or foreign service, that a judgment formed of them at one time would be erroneous at another. I have never seen any difference worth observing between the courage of English, Irish, or Scotch; and in a profession like ours, where the natives of the three kingdoms are so intimately mixed, any comparison of the bravery of either country must be artificial in the extreme. The following is a specimen of the mode in which the _gallant Highland Watch_ acted towards us:— They wore long frills to their shirts, that reached to the first or second button of their jackets, which were on all occasions ostentatiously drawn out; but these, in compliance with the regulation, our regiment did not wear. This having been remarked by the inhabitants, they asked the reason, and the one currently alleged by the forty-second was, ‘O! she’ll lose her frill for rinnin’ awa’,’ and this _lie_ was propagated by them at the time they were pretending the greatest friendship for us, and expressing their hope that (should we go abroad) we might be in the same division with them. Any comparison of the merits of the two corps might appear invidious; but I believe we had no reason to shrink from it. Had it been the reply of an individual, it would have been unworthy of remark; but those regiments who have been quartered with the forty-second must be well acquainted with their boasting illiberal manner.