_Old Song_.
Elspat had enjoyed happy days, though her age
had sunk into hopeless and inconsolable sorrow and
distress. She was once the beautiful and happy
wife of Hamish MacTavish, for whom his strength
and feats of prowess had gained the title of MacTavish
Mhor. His life was turbulent and dangerous,
his habits being of the old Highland stamp,
which esteemed it shame to want any thing that
could be had for the taking. Those in the Lowland
line who lay near him, and desired to enjoy
their lives and property in quiet, were contented to
pay him a small composition, in name of protection
money, and comforted themselves with the old proverb,
that it was better to ``fleech the deil than
fight him.'' Others, who accounted such composition
dishonourable, were often surprised by MacTavish
Mhor, and his associates and followers, who
usually inflicted an adequate penalty, either in person
or property, or both. The creagh is yet remembered,
in which he swept one hundred and fifty
cows from Monteith in one drove; and how be
placed the laird of Ballybught naked in a slough,
for having threatened to send for a party of the
Highland Watch to protect his property.
Whatever were occasionally the triumphs of
this daring cateran, they were often exchanged for
reverses; and his narrow escapes, rapid flights, and
the ingenious stratagems with which he extricated
himself from imminent danger, were no less remembered
and admired than the exploits in which
he had been successful.
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