Highland Honors

“At most of the festive meetings now held in the North,” says a writer, “ certain toasts are drunk with Highland Honors; and as it may not be generally known how this style of giving the time was introduced, I may mention that it was given for the first time at one of the early meetings of the Celtic Society, by the late accomplished Ronald Macdonald of Staffa, then sheriff of Stirlingshire, who was a very enthusiastic Highlander. It was on the occasion of drinking to Sir Walter Scott, who, on returning thanks, said:

“ There is not between this and Jaffa,
A warmer heart than is in Staffa? “

Staffa was the son of Macdonald of Boisdale, a family now extinct as proprietors but who, at one time, held a
high place among the clan.

Return To More Scottish Anecdotes