The history of England V. (töredék) [antikvár]

HISTORY OF ENGLAND. VOL. V. CHAPTEE Xm. (continued.) The Highlanders, -while they continued to be a nation living chap. under a peculiar polity, were in one sense better and in another XIII. 1689. sense worse fitted for military purposes than any other nation in Military Europe. The individual Celt was morally and physically well of the qualified for war, and especially for war in so wild and rugged lande'rs. a country as his own. He was intrepid," strong, fleet, patient of cold, of hunger, and of fatigue. Up steep crags, and over treacherous morasses, he moved as easily as the French household troops paced along the great road from Versailles to Marli. He was accustomed to the use of weapons and to the sight of blood: he was a fencer; he was a marksman; and, before he had ever stood in the ranks, he was already more than half a soldier. As the individual Celt was easily turned into a soldier, so a tribe of Celts was easily turned into a battalion of soldiers. All that was necessary was that the military organization should be conformed to the patriarchal organization. The Chief must be Colonel: his uncle or his brother must be Major: the tacksmen, who formed what may be called the peerage of the little community, must be the Captains: the company of each Captain must consist of those peasants who lived on his land, and whose Macaulay, History. V. 1