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According to Sir Walter Scott, Boswell misapprehended Lochbuy's meaning.

I have little doubt, however, that whatever Lochbuy was thinking of he pronounced the name Johnston. In this both Boswell and Johnson agree. This too was the name which I commonly found given to the great man in the Highlands and Lowlands alike.

Up to the year 1747 "in the Highlands," to quote Johnson's words, "some great lords had an hereditary jurisdiction over counties, and some chieftains over their own lands." This subjection of the people to their chiefs was rightly regarded as one of the main sources of the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. He who by law was privileged to keep a pit, a dungeon, and a gallows, was not likely to meet with much resistance when he summoned his people to follow him to the field. Advantage was therefore taken of the