ROB ROY'S HOME.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 168, 17 July 1926, Page 23

ROB ROY'S HOME.

ON THE PERTHSHIRE BORDER. SCOURGE OF THE HIGHLANDS. LEGENDS OF A PICTURESQUE FIGURE. The idea of electric lights in the haven of an eighteenth century outlaw may seem an anachronism, but exactly that improvement is being contemplated for the ancient house of the famous Rob Roy on the borders of Perthshire and Stirlingshire. For two centuries the legends surrounding the scourge of the Highlands have held sway; Rob Roy Macgregor is still as picturesque a figure as when he raided the well-to-do on dark nights, and gave his loot to the poor. The modernising of his home is not likely to dispel the romantic glamour that has gathered about the man Sir Walter Scott embodied in a classic. Certain it is that he retains a hold on the imagination of the countryside where he defied his foes for so many years, and the verdict of history appears to be tnat he was no worse than any other outlaw chieftain of his time. Rob Roy MacgTegor had many reasons for turning against the law, which had declared his entire clan beyond the pale. Grasping lords on either side of the Macgregor country had done their best to take hij family's lands away from them, and succeeded. After a series of cruel misfortunes Rob Roy at last arose to lead the clan of Macgregor against avaricious enemies and the organised forces than had hounded his kin with fire and sword. His name became a terror for many miles around. His skill at wielding the broadsword in combat won him a reputation that travelled as far as London. Innumerable attempts were made to capture him, but he avoided imprisonment time and again, while exhibiting a positive genius for turning the tables on his pursuers. "He is a man of a prodigious strength and of such an uncommon stature that he approaches even to a gigantic size; he wears a beard about a foot long and not only his face but his whole body is covered over with red hair, which is the reason that he is commonly called Rob Roy; for that in the Highland dialect signifies Red Robert, it being usual there to give people nicknames from their hair or complexion." One Against Twenty. Thus wrote on.' imaginative scribe in a pamphlet entitled "The Highland Rogue," which had a wide circulation at the time. There were plenty of exploits for an able pen to describe when Rob Roy made one of his periodical descents on the plains for purposes of cattle driving and of taking prisoners for ransom. Numerous tales have grown up about his achievements, all tending to portray him as a gigantic figure. Twenty men of the Earl of Athol, his bitter foe, once trapped him in a lonely glen. Rob Roy drew »his broadsword and dared them to attack, but they held off in terror. "Tell your master if he sends any more of his pigmy race to disturb mc, I shall hang them up for the eagles to feed on!" he shouted. Later on the Earl of Athol in person at the head of an armed force descended on Rob Roy while the funeral of his mother was being held. The Highland outlaw scattered his would-be captors with a few sweeps of his sword while his redoubtable sister, clad in man's armour, flung herself upon the unhappy Earl and almost chocked him to death before she could be pulled off. After that the Earl, like many another pursurer of Rob Roy, withdrew with all due speed, There is the tale also ot the bold bailiff who boasted that he would penetrate to the castle of the outlaw and collect a sum of money due his creditors. Pleasantly received, the bailiff was shown to a chamber for the night, and on looking out in the morning discovered a gruesome sight—the body of a man hanging from a tree.

"A rascally bailiff who called an hour ago," the visitor was told, '"That is the way Rob Roy treats such animals " Without waiting to don his hat or coat the bailiff fled from the castle, leaving behind him a roaring chieftain. The "corpse" was a dummy stuffed with straw. Rob Roy Mace His Own Laws. In extenuation of Rob Roy's raiding proclivities it should be recalled that at that period cattle driving was regarded as an honourable means of adding to the income, and also that the.law had decreed the entire clan to be without its limits. Anyone could shoot or'cut down a Macgregor with impunity," an_. a bounty of no less than £iOOO was on rtob Roy's head. In consequence Rob Roy made his own laws and levied his own tributes as his fancy dictated. Many a Scottish chieftain, nevertheless, had occasion to think kindly of Rob Roy. At a great gathering of the heads of clans at Breadalbane, a bond was signed pledging allegiance to the house of Stuart. The boiid fell into the hands of Captain Campbell at Fort William, and chieftains' heads began to feel uncertain on their shoulders. In disguise Rob Roy penetrated to the fort and learned that the Governor was sending the bond to the Privy Council with an officer and armed escort. Three days' march away Roy Roy and his men surrounded the party and captured the bond. A garrison of soldiers sent to Inversnait to put an end to the Macgregor cattle driving found themselves dispossessed in no uncertain fashion. Rob Roy persuaded a woman of his clan to provide the soldiers with plentiful potions of mountain dew, and as soon as the sentinels slept he entered the fort and, set fire to it. For a time, however, he was so closely pursued by soldiery that he was forced to abandon his home and live the life of a wanderer in the caves and woods. During the Earl of Marr_ rebellion, the Macgregor clan was aligned with the forces of discontent, and Macgregors were the only rebels left out of the general pardon following the collapse of the movement. Once an outlaw, always an outlaw was the fate that;-followed picturesque Rob Roy all his life. At his death in 1734 the Government forces breathed a long sigh of relief, and the land-holding Earls of the vicinity felt safer behind their castle walls. The humble folk, however, mourned the passing of a chieftain who, despite his depredations elsewhere, had often been their friend..