independent prince; while the stronger and more powerful, divided among
themselves by recent contentions or ancient feuds, were constrained in
policy to use great deference to the feelings of their less powerful
brethren, in order, in case of need, to attach as many well-wishers as
might be to their own interest and standard. Thus the meeting of Chiefs
resembled not a little those ancient Diets of the Empire, where the
smallest FREY-GRAF, who possessed a castle perched upon a barren crag,
with a few hundred acres around it, claimed the state and honours of a
sovereign prince, and a seat according to his rank among the dignitaries
of the Empire.

The followers of the different leaders were separately arranged and
accommodated, as room and circumstances best permitted, each retaining
however his henchman, who waited, close as the shadow, upon his person,
to execute whatever might be required by his patron.

The exterior of the castle afforded a singular scene. The Highlanders,
from different islands, glens, and straths, eyed each other at a
distance with looks of emulation, inquisitive curiosity, or hostile
malevolence; but the most astounding part of the assembly, at least to
a Lowland ear, was the rival performance of the bagpipers. These warlike
minstrels, who had the highest opinion, each, of the superiority of
his own tribe, joined to the most overweening idea of the importance
connected with his profession, at first, performed their various
pibrochs in front each of his own clan. At length, however, as the
black-cocks towards the end of the season, when, in sportsman's
language, they are said to flock or crowd, attracted together by the
sound of each others' triumphant crow, even so did the pipers, swelling
their plaids and tartans in the same triumphant manner in which the
birds ruffle up their feathers, begin to approach each other within