ness, seized upon the castle, took the Governor prisoner, and proclaimed himself King of the Isles. He sent forth edicts into the neighbouring countries, that the inhabitants should pay tribute to none but himself, and that they should acknowledge no other lord or master, denouncing a great penalty to those that did otherwise." He then marched southward to Athole, his route being marked by the usual accompaniments of the times, pillage, fire, and sword; he attacked the Castle of Blair Athole, burnt the church of St Brides, seized on much valuable property lodged there as a sanctuary, took the Earl of Atholl, who was uncle to the King, (James III.) with his Countess, prisoners, and carried them north. He entered Athole so unexpectedly, and with such rapidity, that the Earl, taken by surprise, left the Castle of Blair, and flew to the church as a sanctuary. Macdonald having accomplished his object, retreated with as much expedition as he had advanced, and was beyond reach before the Athole men could assemble in sufficient numbers to attack him. But he met with a worse enemy when he embarked on the west coast for Islay. A fierce tempest immediately arose, which scattered and destroyed a number of his light and frail galleys, while his captives and himself narrowly escaped the same fate. He landed in Islay, but, struck with remorse of conscience for his sacrilegious destruction of the church of Blair Athole, and believing that the losses he sustained in the tempest were a judgment upon him, it so affected his mind, that he lost his reason, and died soon afterwards. The Earl and Countess of Atholl were released, and restitution made for burning and plundering the church. But the impression was not lasting; for John Lord of the Isles, who succeeded him, forgetting his father's misfortunes, entered into a new treaty with Edward King of England, who appointed the Earl of Worcester and the Bishop of Durham to "treat with his most dear cousin John of Islay, Earl of Ross, Lord of the Isles." This treaty was finally settled at Westminster the 13th of February 1462, Ronald, cousin to the Earl of Ross,

and Duncan, Archdean of the Isles, being appointed to meet the Bishop and the Earl of Worcester. Encouraged by the friendship of such a powerful ally, the Lord of the Isles invaded and plundered the western parts of Inverness-shire. Incensed at these proceedings, the King (James III.) ordered his uncle, John Stewart, Earl of Atholl, then appointed Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, to assemble a sufficient force and proceed against the Earl of Ross, to follow him to his Islands, attack him in his stronghold, reduce his power, compel him to submit to the King's authority, and renounce his alliance with England. This was a commission which Atholl would perhaps execute with the more zeal, from the remembrance of the treatment he had experienced from the last Lord of the Isles; and, according to the custom of the times, take ample revenge, and recompense himself for the captivity, affront, and loss he had sustained. His expedition was attended with complete success. He quickly overpowered his antagonist, and carried him and his chief councillors captives to Perth. For this service the King made, as an addition to the armorial bearings of Atholl, a man with his feet in fetters of iron, connected with a chain held in his left hand, as a supporter, along with a lion on the dexter side; and a crest of a demi-savage, with a wreath round his head, a key in his left hand, and a sword in the right, in allusion to the Earl of Atholl having opened the way by the sword to the strongholds of the Lords of the Isles; the whole being confirmed by a motto of "Furth, Fortune, and fill the Fetters," which have ever since been part of the heraldic achievements of the Earls and Dukes of Atholl. The Earldom of Ross was annexed to the Crown; but Macdonald, having made full submission to the King, he was allowed to keep his estates and title of Lord of the Isles. The new grant of his estates in Inverness-shire and in the Isles was confirmed by a charter from James III. dated at Edinburgh, December 1478. But the Lord of the Isles dying without legitimate children, his great estate came into the hands of different proprietors, a

very considerable portion of it descending, as I have already noticed, to different branches of the family; the greatest portion in the Islands to the ancestors of Lord Macdonald. I shall now conclude this hasty and unsatisfactory sketch of these celebrated Chiefs in the words of Abercromby, in his Martial Achievements of Scotland. "Whatever may

be said for or against the pretensions and conduct of these noble and potent lords, I must own that I have a vast respect for, and a feeling sense of the exemplary and untainted loyalty, as well as prowess of their posterity,—I mean the clan and surname of Macdonald,—a clan to this day so numerous, so brave, and so generally well affected to the monarchy, that in all those respects it is equalled by few, and surpassed perhaps by none in the nation." After describing the feuds and forays which caused one clan to march with fire and sword into the country of a rival, when government was too weak, and when, during the captivity of James I. the laws were unable to reach or punish the guilty; the same author concludes: "I relate these barbarities with much reluctancy, the rather because I have a very great esteem for the often tried valour, and undaunted loyalty of our Highland clans. They preserved themselves and us from conquest and slavery, in the days both of King Robert and King David Bruce; and, as they have ever been the last who laid down their arms as often as the nation has either been cheated or defeated out of their liberties, so they are always the first that took them up in opposition to domestic iniquity, or foreign encroachments. But the exorbitant power of the Earl of Ross, and Lord of the Isles, the independency pretended to by the last, and the impunity which they met with during the absence or minority of our king, had debauched them from all the principles of honour, humanity, and justice." The melancholy consequences of weak laws, and the absence of a strong and efficient government, were felt at different times over the

Abercromby's Martial Achievements. Edinburgh, printed 1710.

whole kingdom. In a note, page 45, Volume I. is a view of the state of Scotland in the minority of James II., when "great cruelty of nobles among themselves for slaughters, thefts, and murders, was their patent, and so continually, day by day, that he was esteemed the greatest man of renown and fame that was the greatest brigand, thief, and murderer."

From these times of turbulence, of feuds and rebellion, we now descend to later periods, not perhaps more peaceful, nor with less thirst of revenge; but as our wars were carried on against foreign enemies, when the blood of the youthful and the brave was spilt at a distance, and where redress and revenge were obtained by legal process, instead of resorting to the sword, the effects were less felt, and a vindictive spirit less visible. Of the many descendants of the Lords of the Isles, the Macdonalds of Sleate, now Lords Macdonald, (or, as the chieftain is called in Gaelic, Macconnell,) have always possessed the greatest and most populous portion of the insular domains. Along with these territorial possessions, the chieftains of this family have ever held a high station in the respect and consideration of the Highlanders. This feeling was not without While the chiefs lived on their estates, surrounded by their people, the latter were treated with a patriarchal kindness which met with a grateful return. The last of this family who made Skye his constant residence was Sir Alexander Macdonald, who died in the year 1746. The power and popularity of this chieftain was seen in the year 1745, when he was surrounded by upwards of 1,300 men in arms, anxious to be led to the field under his command. Living with the hospitality of a chief, his personal influence and character received no small addition from his marriage with Lady Margaret Montgomery,-a lady whose virtues and condescending kindness made her so adored in Skye, “that

cause.

*It was said that a hogshead of claret was the weekly consumption of his table.

I

when she travelled through the island, the people ran in crowds before and took the stones off the road, lest her horse should stumble and she be hurt."* One of the misfortunes which has befallen the Highlands was the premature death, at the age of thirty-six, of Sir Alexander Macdonald, and of his son and heir, Sir James Macdonald, one of the most accomplished men of his own or almost of any other country. He died of a consumption at Rome in 1766, where his character stood so high that the Pope (Clement XIII. who sent to inquire for him daily during his long illness) ordered that he should have a public funeral, and be interred in consecrated ground;-an unprecedented concession to a Protestant. Cardinal Picolomini wrote an elegant Latin poem to his memory. But his character,talents, and accomplishments, will be best understood by the elegant inscription, written by his intimate friend Lord Lyttleton, and placed on a monument executed in Rome, and erected in the church of Sleate, in Skye.

"To the Memory of SIR JAMES MACDONALD, Bart. who, in the flower of youth, had attained to so eminent a degree of knowledge in Mathematics, Philosophy, Languages, and in every other branch of useful and polite Learning, as few have acquired in a long life wholly devoted to study. Yet to this erudition he joined what can rarely be found with it, great talents for business, great propriety of behaviour, great politeness of manners. His eloquence was sweet, correct, and flowing; his memory vast and exact; his judgment strong and acute. All which endowments, united with the most amiable temper and every private virtue, procured him, not only in his own country, but also from foreign nations, the highest marks of esteem. In the year of our Lord 1766, the 25th of his life, after a long and extremely painful illness, which he supported with

Boswell's Tour with Dr Johnson.