his clan, and to prevent encroachments on his property, formed the best guarantee of a permanent peace.

Lochiel joined the standard of King James in 1689, although General Mackay offered him, by orders of King William, a title and a large sum of money; and at the battle of Renrorie, or Killiecrankie, as it is called in English, he had a conspicuous share in the success of the day. Before the battle, he spoke to each of his men individually, and took their promise that they would conquer or die. When General Mackay's army shouted at the commencement of the action, Lochiel cried out, "Gentlemen, the day is our own; I am the oldest commander in the army, and I have always observed something ominous or fatal on such a dull, heavy, feeble noise as the enemy made in their shout." These words spreading quickly through the army, animated the troops: they rushed on the enemy, and the battle was finished, as has been already noticed, in half an hour. After this battle, Lochiel, disgusted with the want of capacity of Colonel Cannon, who succeeded Lord Dundee, retired to Lochaber, and left the command of his men to his son. This chivalrous hero, and honourable chief, died in 1718, in the 89th year of his age.*

He was thrice married-first to a daughter of Macdonald of Sleate, a second time to a daughter of Maclean of Dowart, and a third time to a daughter of Barclay of Urie; and, as it is an honour to be descended from such a man, and as I have so much of what is called Highland superstition about me, as to wish that his descendants, like the ancient Gael, would believe themselves bound to support the honourable character of their ancestor, and be, like him, loyal, high-spirited, and independent-disdaining to submit to oppression, or to accept of dishonourable terms. I now subjoin the names of the gentlemen to whom the daughters were married. By his three wives he had four

* Energetic and active as was the mind of Sir Ewen Cameron, it yielded to the inroads of age. Some years before his death he became a perfect child, and was rocked to sleep in a kind of hammock, or cradle.

sons and eleven daughters. The eldest of the daughters was married to Macgregor Drummond of Balhaldie, the second to Maclean of Ardgour, the third to a brother of Sir Donald Macdonald of Sleate, the fourth to Grant of Glenmoriston, the fifth to Cameron of Glendessary, the sixth to Macpherson of Clunie, the seventh to Cameron of Dungallon, the eighth to Campbell of Barcaldine, the ninth to Campbell of Achallader, the tenth to Barclay of Urie, and the eleventh to Macdonald of Morer. His four sons also married and had families, and as each of his daughters had also several sons and daughters, his progeny must have been numerous at his death.

A narrative, such as the foregoing, may, as I have already said, appear somewhat out of place in filling up the service of a fencible regiment; but as few corps can boast of a service displaying such courage and enterprise, I cannot, at least it appears to me that I cannot, produce any example more worthy the imitation of the clan. Various causes and circumstances, which have had too great prevalence in the Highlands, have contributed to thin the name of Cameron, in the glens where this spirit of independence originated, and was cherished and preserved till a very late period. Should the circumstances of the times, at any future period, render it necessary to arm this clan, and should there be so many left as would furnish a body of them, sufficiently numerous to establish for themselves a distinct character-that character, whether good or the reverse, will be their own. But they should remember, that the undaunted courage of their ancestors was productive of peace to their district, restitution of all their losses, and security and happiness for a long succession of years.

Part of the account of Lochiel's campaigns is taken from a manuscript preserved by Mr Pennant, and the rest from tradition; but tradition so uniformly and so fully confirmed, that there cannot be a doubt of the correctness of the details. Lord Glencairn's and General Middleton's letters, General Monk's frequent attempts to enter into a

friendly alliance with Lochiel, and his last letter, dated at Dalkeith, stating the terms of the treaty, are sufficient proofs of the facts. The treaty itself, with a great number of curious family papers, was unfortunately destroyed when Lochiel's castle was burnt in 1746.

The military duty of the last Lochaber regiment was short. In 1800, the corps was removed to Ireland, and remaining there till 1802, returned to Scotland that year, and was reduced in the month of July at Linlithgow.

CLAN ALPINE.

1799.

THIS regiment was commanded by Colonel Alexander Macgregor Murray. As the clan of Macgregor are supposed to be descendants of the ancient Alpine kings, who, for so many centuries, ruled the mountains of Scotland, the "Clan Alpine" was an appropriate name for a corps commanded by a Macgregor, and having a great proportion both of officers and men who bore that name. The history of this unfortunate clan is pretty generally known, as well as the acts of Parliament passed for suppressing the name; and the proscriptions and oppressions they suffered in consequence, form a part, and not an uninstructive part, of the history of Scotland. If" oppression maketh a wise man mad," no wonder that the relentless ferocity, with which this unfortunate race were for so many ages pursued, should have rendered them desperate. Even the patient inoffensive steer may be driven to madness by frequent goading; and as the descendants of this race of ancient Albion are not supposed to have had more patience than was necessary, under their sufferings, the law of retaliation was not forgotten, and being a brave and warlike race, with arms in their hands, and with hearts not afraid to use them, they were not slow in taking their revenge. It has been said by friends

of the clan, that many of their misfortunes originated from the circumstance of their being surrounded by powerful and ambitious neighbours, not always over scrupulous about the means by which they accomplished their purposes, or increased their property; and hence the encroachments which rendered the Macgregors desperate, and led to those acts of violence which caused the interference of the legislature, and the suppression of the name. In turbulent times, when law sometimes confirmed what the sword had acquired, it acted as an encouragement to spoliations, and to the hopes of obtaining permanent possession of a neighbour's property; but it should be observed, that there were many other clans and families similarly situated with the Macgregors, possessing estates in the heart of the territories of powerful neighbours, who yet neither suffered from their oppressions nor from legal proscriptions, but retained their estates entire through a succession of centuries sufficiently turbulent. Thus the family of Stewart of Appin preserved their estate entire for four centuries, although nearly surrounded on all sides by the lands of the great Clan Campbell."

The

* In this case there was more than common incitement to rivalry. The first Laird of Appin was a natural son of Lord Lorn, the last of the name of Stewart who possessed that title and estate. Lord Lorn having no legitimate son, his estate went to his three daughters, as coheiresses. The eldest daughter married the Earl of Argyle, who by her got the lordship and estate of Lorn. The second daughter inarried Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, uncle to Argyle, and ancestor of the Breadalbane family, who by her got the lands on the north side of Lochowe, and part of Nether Lorn. The third married Campbell of Ottar, and dying without children, her share of the Stewarts' estate went to the children of her sister, the Countess of Argyle.

It was said that Lord Lorn intended to marry the mother of his son, and thus legitimate him, but the marriage was prevented by his sudden death; not without suspicions that it was hurried to prevent the proposed marriage. The son, seeing his hopes destroyed, seized on a portion of his father's estate, and, as disputes were not in those times often referred to legal decisions, he resorted to the law of the sword, and being supported by some of his father's tenants, sent for assistance to his mother's friends. She was of the Maclarens, a tribe at that time numerous in Balquhidder, in Perthshire. They joined Stewart their

Clans of Maclachlan and Macnaughton, also, quite in the neighbourhood of Inveraray, suffered nothing from feudal. turbulence and rapacity. In the same manner the Clan Macnab have preserved what remained of their estates since the reign of Robert Bruce, although completely surrounded by the lands of the Campbells of Glenorchy, to whom the Macnab estates would have been a great and tempting acquisition; but the thing was never tried. * From these

kinsman in Argyleshire, and in a pitched battle beat off the forces of his brothers-in-law, and thus established his right by the sword to the lands he claimed, and settled them on his posterity, who kept possession of them till sold by the last Laird of Appin, in the year 1765. Tradition says that the Maclarens lost 130 men killed in this battle, besides the loss among Stewart's own men. It was fought at the foot of Bendouran, at a short distance from the present high road passing through Glenorchy.

cause.

* The estates of this family were greatly reduced from another The Macnabs joined the party of John Balliol against Robert Bruce, and were with Macdougal of Lorn when he fought and vanquished Robert Bruce at Dalree, in Breadalbane, in 1306. Having thus supported the views of Edward the First, who wished to usurp the crown of Scotland, it is rather matter of surprise that either Macdougal or Macnab should have been allowed to retain any part of their lands, and that the whole were not forfeited as after the Rebellions of 1715 and 1745. In the retreat from Dalree, the king was hotly pursued by one of the Macdougals, who got hold of his cloak, or plaid, which was fixed across his breast by a large broach. The king turned round and killed the man with his battle-axe, but in his haste left the mantle and broach, which were torn off by the dying grasp of Macdougal. This highly prized trophy was preserved till destroyed when the castle of Dunolly, the family residence, was burnt in the seventeenth century. But a remarkable piece of antiquity still remains. This is a small bronze equestrian figure of a Chief of Macdougal. It is of elegant workmanship, and both figures, particularly the horse, are executed with great spirit and taste; and, if the tradition be correct as to the period, with skill altogether extraordinary. The Chief is called by the country people Ian Bachach, or John the Lame. He is represented in the statue as affected with a remarkable degree of lameness, his leg and thigh being apparently without bones, or locomotive power, and instead of hanging down the horse's side, are laid across, and fixed on the pommel of the saddle. The exact period when this Chief lived cannot now be ascertained, as the family papers, and all the ancient records and documents, were destroyed by fire. This figure being of bronze, and lying in a small press, or recess in the wall,