Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-05-09

Scottish Tt aditioEs.
Mr. Hugh Miller, in hls recent WORK en',''eu
aNv Scbools aud Schoona stcrs, says: Il nave
.ren at least two men who fought at Culloden-
one on the side Of the King, the other on that "i
tie Prince-and with these not few VINO VII
messed the battle from distance. have con
xersed with an nged woman that had conVersed'
i, tnrn. with nm aped man who had attained to
mature manhood when the persec atlons OF Charles
and james were at their height ami remembered
the ,,eneral regret excited by the death Of Ken
wick Nv eldest maternal aunt-the mother 81
cousin Grorpa-rrmemhercd old John Feddes,
turned of ninety at the times and Johns bacca-
neering expedition could not have dated later IMAM
the year 1867. | have known many who reinem
hrred the abolition Of the hereditary Juri' detonS;
and have listened to stories Of executions whlch
took place on the gallows hills of barghS and sher-
iffdoms, aud of witch burnngs prrpctrated on
town links and baronial lawns. And hWefelt n
strange interest in these gmpses OF past 50 I'M
Ike the present, when thus presented to the mind
NJ personal "reminiscences, or we lattcstcd ira
ditlons, removed from the original witnasse but
by "A single stage. All, for insance,whch have
vet read of ch-burnings has faed TO impress
me 50 strongly as the recollections of an
old lady who in l722 was carried in her nurses
nrms-for she was almost an infant at the time
to witness n witch execution in the neighborhood
of Dormoeh-the last which took place i'll Scot
land
.sThe lady well remembered the awe struck vet
excited crowd, the lightning of the fire, and mis-
cradle appearance Of the poor fatnous creature
whom it was kinded to consume, and who seem
ed To be 50 little aware of her situation, that she
held out her tin shriveed hands to warm them
at the blaze. have heard described, too, by Il
nan whose father had witnessed the scene, an eX-
ccuton which took place, after II brlef and mad
cquate trial on the burgh ga lows OF Tain. The
supposed culprit a Strathcnrron Highlander. had
been found lurking about the place, noting,as was
supposed where the burglars kept their cattle,
AID was hung as spy; but they all, after the ex-
ceuton came to deem him innocent, from the cir
cumstance that, when his body was dangling in
the wind,a white pigeon had come flying that way
and, as it passed over, half nncirced the gibhet.
My grandfather's recOec'ions of Cullodon
were merely those of an observant boy offourteen
who had witnessed the battle from distance
Tie day, he has to, me, was drizzly and thick
and on reaching the brow of the Hill of Cromarty
where he found many of his towns folks already
assembled. he could scarce see the opposite land.
But the fog gradually cleared away; first one hill
GENE into view, and then another, till at length
the long range of coast, from the opening of the
great Called 'nian valley to the promontory of
Burghea !. was dimly visible through the haze,
a little aftern on there suddenly rose round
white cloud from the Moor of Culloden, and then
second round white cloud beside It. And then
the two clouds mingled togethcr,and went rolling
slant ways ON the wind toward the west; and he
could hear the rattle of the smaller fire arms
mingling with Il G roar of the artillery. And
then in what seemed an exceedingly brief space
OF time, the cloud dssipated and disappcared,the
boom of the greater guns ceased, and sharp
intermittent patter Of musketry passed on TO In
yernesS. But the battle presented to the
imagina ion in these old personal narratives. in
many diverse form. have been told by an
ancient woman, who, on the day of the fght,was
engaged in tending some sheep on IA solitary
common near Munlochy, separated from the
Moor of Culloden by the Firth, and screened by
by lofty hill, that She sat listening in terror to
the boom of the cannon; but that she was even
still more scared by the continuous bowling of
her dog, who sat upright on its launches all the
time the firing lasted, with his neck stretched
out towards the battle. and looking as if he saw
! Il spirit