[103] This question has been recently discussed by the Rev. Archibald Clerk of Kilmallie, in his elegant edition of the _Poems of Ossian_, published since the above was written, under the auspices of the Marquis of Bute. We refer our readers to Mr Clerk’s treatise for a great deal of varied and interesting information on this subject. [104] Logan on the _Scottish Gael_, vol. ii. 252-3. [105] Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland on the Poems of Ossian, App. No. xix., p. 290. [106] It is, therefore, probable that these genealogies were written about the middle of the sixteenth century. A fac simile of the writing is to be found in the Report of the Committee of the Highland Society on the authenticity of Ossian, Plate II. [107] Report of the Committee of the Highland Society on Ossian, App. No. xix., p. 291. [108] Ogyg., p. 275. [109] Appendix, _ut supra_, No. xix. [110] Report of the Highland Society on Ossian. p. 92. [111] Appendix to the Highland Society’s Report, p. 300-1. [112] Report on Ossian, Appendix, p. 312. [113] Report on Ossian, pp. 108-9. PART SECOND. HISTORY OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. CHAPTER I. Clanship--Principle of _kin_--Mormaordoms--Traditions as to origin of Clans--Distinction between Feudalism and Clanship--Peculiarities of Clanship--Consequences of Clanship--_Manrent_--Customs of Succession--Tanistry and Gavel--Highland Marriage Customs--Hand-fasting--Highland gradation of ranks--_Calpe_--Native-men--Righ or King--Mormaor, Tighern, Thane--Tanist--_Ceantighes_--Toshach--“Captain” of a Clan--Ogtiern--Duine-wassels, Tacksmen, or Goodmen--Brehon--Position and power of Chief--Influence of Clanship on the people--Chiefs sometimes abandoned by the people--Number and Distribution of Clans. The term _clan_, now applied almost exclusively to the tribes into which the Scottish Highlanders were formerly, and still to some extent are divided, was also applied to those large and powerful septs into which the Irish people were at one time divided, as well as to the communities of freebooters that inhabited the Scottish borders, each of which, like the Highland clans, had a common surname. Indeed, in an Act of the Scottish Parliament for 1587, the Highlanders and Borderers are classed together as being alike “dependents on chieftains or captains of clans.” The border clans, however, were at a comparatively early period broken up and weaned from their predatory and warlike habits, whereas the system of clanship in the Highlands continued to flourish in almost full vigour down to the middle of last century. As there is so much of romance surrounding the system, especially in its later manifestations, and as it was the cause of much annoyance to Britain, it has become a subject of interest to antiquarians and students of mankind generally; and as it flourished so far into the historical period, curiosity can, to a great extent, be gratified as to its details and working.