Nowhere else had he seen four or five hundred houses, two churches, twelve maltkilns, crowded close together.

Nowhere else had he been dazzled by the splendour of rows of booths, where knives, horn spoons, tin kettles, and gaudy ribands were exposed to sale.

Nowhere else had he been on board of one of those huge ships which brought sugar and wine over the sea from countries far beyond the limits of his geography, [331] It is not strange that the haughty and warlike Macdonalds, despising peaceful industry, yet envying the fruits of that industry, should have fastened a succession of quarrels on the people of Inverness.

In the reign of Charles the Second, it had been apprehended that the town would be stormed and plundered by those rude neighbours.
The terms of peace which they offered showed how little they regarded the authority of the prince and of the law.

Their demand was that a heavy tribute should be paid to them, that the municipal magistrates should bind themselves by an oath to deliver tip to the vengeance of the clan every burgher who should shed the blood of a Macdonald, and that every burgher who should anywhere meet a person wearing the Macdonald tartan should ground arms in token of submission.