Search just our sites by using our customised search engine

Unique Cottages | Electric Scotland's Classified Directory

Click here to get a Printer Friendly PageSmiley

Glimpses of Church and Social Life in the Highlands in Olden Times and Other Papers
Appendix


“THE CLAN FARSONS BAND,”
Dated May 16, 1591.

From ‘The Spalding Club Miscellany,’ IV. 246.

Be it kend to all men be thir presentis, that we quhais nameis are heir onder wretin hes maist voluntarlie bund and sworne, and be the tenour heirof bindis and sweiris theme selfis upone the sacrat euangell, in presence of the witness heir onderwretin, lealalie, faithfullie, and treulie to serue in all actioun and causs aganis quhat-sumeuer ane noble and potent lord George erll of Huntlie, lord Gordoun and Badzenocht, &c., onder the danger of treuthe and lautie, and tinsell of all richtis and takis of our rowmis and possessionis presentlie to expyr, efter we faill in our faithfull seruice; in faithe and witness quharof, we haue sworne and subscryuit thir presentis witht our handis, at Huntlie the xvi. of May, 1591, befoir thir witness.

Androw Makfersone in Cluny, Jhone Makfersone in Brakaucht, James Mak-fersone, Pawll Makfersone, Donald Makallester Roy, William Mak ane wic William Kynache Makconald wic Nele, with our handis at the pen led be Jhone Makfersone in Brakauche at our command, becauss our selfis culd nocht wryt. Alester Mor M'Farquhar M'Thomas with my hand at the pen, Allester M'Farquhar with my hand led, and Thomas M'Farquhar with my hand at the pen led be Allester Oig M'Farquhar at their command.

COVENANT BY MEMBERS OF THE CLAN,
Dated May 28, 1628.

From Stewart’s ‘Highlands and Highlanders,’ second series, pp. 216-218.

We, under subscribers, being sensible of the bad consequences and effects of discord, animosities, and jealousies, amongst relatives, and neighbours, against the law of God and man, have thought fit for prevention of that and the like evil, to give our oaths each of us to other, and hereby do swear that we shall behave to one another as brethren, maintaining, supporting, and defending one another’s interests, and the one of us not encroaching upon the other in his means, fame, interest, or reputation, but to the contrary behaving to one another in brotherly love and unity, as God’s Word and nature do require at our hands; and in further preservation of the unity and amity amongst ourselves, it is conditioned betwixt us that in case of any contravertible debates arising betwixt any two or more of us about marches, controvertible debts or any delict or wrong done by one of us to another, that the same and all such cases as may fall in controversie (excepting heritable rights whereon infeffment has followed), shall be submitted to the decision of two friends of each side, and an oversman in case of variance to be chosen by the Arbiters, and in case of variance betwixt the arbiters in the choosing of the oversman our chief Cluny to be oversman ; and if the matter be so intricate that it cannot be decided by untried men, that it shall be referred to one or two lawyers, with power to them, in case of variance, to choose an oversman; and for the more security we consent to the registration hereof in the Books of Council and Session or others competent therein to remain for preservation, and if need be that all execution necessary may pass hereupon in form as effeirs, and to that effect constitute our pro’rs. In witness whereof these presents (written by John Macpherson of Strathmashie) are subscribed by us at Cluny, the Twenty-eighth day of May Sixteen hundred and Twenty-eight, Sic SubscribituA La. Macpherson of Clune; Jo. Macpherson of Strathmashie; Paul Macpherson of Clune; And. Macpherson of Noide; Don. Macpherson of Cullenlin; Don. Macpherson of Pitcherine; Jo. Macpherson of Ovie; Jo. Macpherson, Benchar, yr.; Jo. Macpherson, Killihuntly; Mai. Macpherson of Phoiness; Mai. Macpherson of Ardbrylach ; Jo. Macpherson of Crathie; James Macpherson of Invernahavon; Alex. Macpherson of Ordhumore; Murdo Macpherson of Eterish; Jo. Macpherson of Invernahavon; Jo. Macpherson, yr. of Clune; Tho. Macpherson in Pitoure; Evan Macpherson of Press; Angus Macpherson of Garvabeg; Chas. Macpherson of Coraldine; La. Macpherson of Lagan ; Danl. Macpherson of Midcoul; Don. Macpherson of Midcoul; Jo. Macpherson, yr. of Eterish; Don. Macpherson in Strathmashie; Evan Macpherson in Balidbeg; Jo. Macpherson of Gaskmore; Jo. Macpherson, elder of Benchar; Angus Macpherson of Killihuntly; Mai. Macpherson, Gargask; Alex. Macpherson of Crager; Jo. Macpherson in Dullanich; Don. Macpherson in Phoness; Malcolm Macpherson in Nessintulech; Duncan Macpherson, broyr. to Phoiness; Jo. Macpherson in Nessintullich; Andrew Macpherson in Noidmore; Mai. Macpherson, son to Mai. in Nessintullich; Tho. Macpherson in Dalreach ; Alex. Macpherson of Crubinebeg; Duncan Macpherson, Dumtallolach; Alex. Macpherson in Lagan; Murdo Macpherson of Shiramore; Jo. Macpherson of Crubine; Ro. Macpherson of Blarbulorey.1

BOND OF COMBINATION BETWEEN THE LAIRD OF GRANT AND THE MEN OF BADENOCH, Etc.,
Dated 30th March 1645.

From the ‘The Chiefs of Grant,’ iii. 238, 239.

“We wndir subscryweris, in respect of eminent dangeris vhiche is lyk to ensue wnto ws be the crueltie of theis our enemeis now joned against his Majestie, our dread Sowerane, haw, be the tenour heiroff, solemlie wowed and suorne, lyk as be the tenour heirof, solemlie wowes and suearis, as we mone ansuer to the great God at the day of judgment, quhen the secreittis of all hairtis salbe discloisit, that we all and eweri ilk ane of ws, with our assistaris, forces, freindis, and followeris, as hawing burding for them, sail ryise in armes wpon suche adwertisment as may or can possiblie be send from ather of ws to wtheris wpon anye occasione that sail happine to ather of ws, offensiwe or defensiwe, against our enemies; and alse, that quhatewer injurie or harme salbe done hinc inde to ane of ws, salbe reput and holdin be ws all wndirsubscryweris as done to ws all and our forsaidis; And lykwayis that we sail extend our selfis and our forsaidis for reparatioune therof with the haisaird of our lywes and estaitis, according to our powaris wnder the paine of perjurie, defamatioune, tinsell of credit and honour, and newer to be holdin famous therafter, bot to be estemed as enemie to the keiperis of this combina-tioune; as also that we all eweri ane of ws sail stand in armes at ane head at quhatewer tyme we happin to be conwenit, aie and quhill they be disbandit be commone consent of ws wndersubscryweris wnder the painis abow mentioned. In witnes quherof, we haw subscrywit thir presenttis, at Muchrache, the penult day of Merche jm vie fourtie and fyw zeires. Wreittin be Ferquherd Cuming, notar publict.”

The first signature to this bond is “ James Grant of Freuquhye,” and the second is “M'Phersone of Clynie.” The other twenty-one Macphersons signing the bond are the following :—

“Donald M'Phersone of Nuid; James M'Pherson of Ardbrylach ; Williame M'Phersoune in Beandagar; James M'Phersone, Dellradie; Wm. M'Phersone in Dalradie; Lachlan M'Pherson in Dalradie; James Mackpherson in Miltoune; Angus M'Pherson in Inwereschey; Allexr. M'Phersone of Pitcherine ; Hugo M'Phersone in Breackachie; Donald M'Phersone, his brother; Sorlle M'Phersone in Essintullich; James M'Phersone in Inwermarkie; Thomas M'Phersone, his brother; Malcolme M'Phersone of Phones ; Jhone M'James Dui of Inwernahawin ; Jhone M'Phersone of Crathie; Donald M'Pherson in Stramasie ; Donald M'Pherson in Tiersodon; Jhone M'Phersone in Pitindine; Wm. M'Angus M'lnla in Bellide.”

BOND AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT BY LAUCHLIN MTNTOSH OF TORECASTLE TO CLUNY, dated Sept. 12, 1665; SIR CHARLES ARASKINE, LYON’S CONFIRMATION OF CLUNY’S ARMS IN 1672; and THE LORDS OF PRIVY COUNCIL’S DELIVERANCE ON CHIEFSHIP.

From the Cluny Charter-Chest.

“I Lauchlin M‘Intosh of Torecastle doe declare, That Andrew M'Pherson of Clunee, Lauchlin M'Pherson of Pitmeans and John M‘Pherson of Invereshie, and their friends and followers, have out of their meer good will and pleasure joyned with me at this time for recovering of my lands of Glenlay and Locharkag from the Clan Chameron and other violent possessors thereof (according to the King’s commission granted for that effect), and therefor I bind and obledge me and my friends and followers to assist fortifie and joyn with the said Andrew, Lauchlin and John M'Phersons in all their lawful and necessar adoes (being thereto required) by the saids. Subscribed at Kyair the twelth day of Sept. jajoj and sixtie-fyve years by me before these witnesses, Alex. MTntosh of Cannodge, and Alex. MTntosh, notar publick in Inverness, and William MTntosh of Carrybrough. Sic subscribitur.

(Sigd) L. Macintosh of Tore Castle.
Alex. M'Intosh, witness.
Alex. M'Intosh, witness.
William M'Intosh, witness.”

This is a just double of a declaration granted by the laite Macintosh to the laite Andrew Macpherson of Clunie when he joyned for recovery of Glaslay and Locharkag from Locheall.

Here follows the writ subjoyned to the Coat of armes.

“This is the Coat armour apertaining to the laird of Clunie MTherson, the only and true representer of that ancient and honorable familie of the Clanchattan, extracted and confirmed id infra.

“The antient baron above named his atchievement is this blazoned: he bears parte per fesse, or and azure, ane Lumfad or Gallie of the first, mast, oares, and tackling proper flaged, betwixt ane hand cupd fess ways holding a dagger pale ways, and in the sinister Canton a Cross Croslet fitchie Gules; above the sheild and helmet befitting his degris Gules doubled argent next it placed on ane Towe or wreath of his Coulers, ane Catt sejant proper, and for his motto in ane Escrole above, ‘Tutch not the catt but a glove,’ aproven of and confirmed unto said bearer by Sir Charles Areskine of Cambo, Knight Baronet, Lyon King-att-arms, as witnes our hands and seals of office appoynted hereto att Edr the twelth day of March 1672. Sic subscribitur. Joseph Story, Herauld & herauld painter.

Ch. Areskine.”

The deliverance of the Lords upon the debait betwixt the Laird of M'Intosh and Clunie M'Pherson anent the securing of the peace as follows :—

“Edr the 2 %th of November 1672.—The Lords of Privie Counsell upon consideration of a Petition presented by Duncan M'Pherson of Clunie and the laird of M'Intosh doe ordain M'Intosh to give bond in these terms, vizt. those of his clan his vassales these descendit of his familie, his men tenants and servants or dwelling upon his ground, and ordain Clunie to give bond for these of his name of M'Pherson, descendit of his familie and his men tenants and servants but prejudice allways to the Laird of M'Intosh to have letters of releif off such of the name of M'Pherson, who are his Vassals.

(Subscribed) “ Rothes, Cancell I.P.De."

Here follows the Lyon’s confirmations of the said Coats armour posterior and contrar to the Lyon’s declaration in favours of M'Intosh :—

“To all and sundry whom it effairsI Sir Charles Araskine of Cambo, Lyon king of arms, testifie and make known that the Coatt armour appertaining and belonging to Duncan M'Pherson of Clunie approven off and confirmed be me to him is matriculat in My publick Register upon the day and dait of this presents and is Blazoned as follows, vizt. : The said Duncan M'Pherson of Clunie for his armorial and ensigne bears perte per fesse, or and azur, ane Lumfad or Gallie of the first, mast, oares, and tacklings proper flaged, betwixt ane hand cupd fess ways holding a dagger pale ways, and in the Senister Canton a Cross Crosslet fitche gules, and for his Crest a Catt Sejant proper. The Motto is (‘Tutch not the Catt but a Glove ’) which Coatt above Blazoned I ordain to be the said Duncan M'Pherson his true and unreapeallable Coatt, and bearing in all tyme comeing. In testimony whereoff I have subscribed this extract with my hand and have caused append my seal of office Yr. to. Given at Edr the 26 day November of the Reigne of our Sovereign Lord Charles the second, be the Grace of God King of Scotland, Ingland, France, and Ireland the twentee-fourth year 1672. Sic subscribitur.

“Ch. Araskine, Lyon.”

LETTERS FROM LORD HUNTLY TO THE MACPHERSONS.
From the Cluny Charter-Chest.

Gentlemen our very good Friends,—

Last of March 1674.

The Laird of M'Intosh his arrogant demeanors in severall affairs wherein my Lord Huntly is concerned, and particularly of the Teinds of Badenoch has brought us to a clear understanding of these differences been betwixt the Laird of Cluny and him anent the Chieftenry and what endeavours have been used be him to frusterat Cluny of the Benefide of the Counsells just determination; and seeing we now understand that most sureptitiously M'Intosh did borrow our names not only in the prosecution of that action, but always since when occasion offered as a mean, to rent yourselves and devyde you ; we have therefore upon Consideration of the justness of Cluny’s cause (whereof the emptiness of M'lntoshs arguments does sufficiently convince us) Cluny’s and his predecessors constant fidelity to the famely of Huntly, thought fitt to make known both to you and him our dislike to his proceedings togeder with the resolutions we have now (on just grounds) put on to espouse your quarrell against him and whatever may emargin upon that point, and that these may be the more manifest we desire this to be communicat to all your friends of your severall famelies wishing hereby all the name of M'Pherson and all others called the old Clanchattan, and whatsomever name and designation within my Lord Huntlys Bounds or ours to follow our faith herein and the said Laird of Cluny as Chieffe and to pay the same respect and defference to him that becomes kinsmen ; Certefieing any lieving within the bounds above specified that does in the contrary they shall be looked upon not only as unnatural to their chieffe, but likewise as Complyers with those who have no kyndnes for the famely of Huntly (judged unworthy to hold of or depend upon the same) and assuredly taken notice of as such by my Lord Huntly, and Gentlemen, your reall and most asured friend (Signed) Aboyn.

Hel. Urquhart.

Directed to John M'Pherson of Invereshy, Lachline M'Pherson of Pittmean, Donald M'Pherson of Nied and the rest of the surname of M'Pherson.

Last of March 1674.

Sir,—You will find by the enclosed and your Cousine Mr Angus Information our inclination to doe you all the favour we Can ; whereto we expect a continuation of that faithfull service your predecessors have shoen to the famely of Huntly, which will be the greatest obligation you can put upon, Sir, your most reall friend to serve you. (Signed) Aboyn.

Hel. Urquhart.

Directed to Duncan M'Pherson of Cluny, Esq.

FROM THE MS. GENEALOGY OF THE MACPHERSONS IN THE CLUNY CHARTER-CHEST.

There is one manuscript written in the year 1680 (which partly treats of the Clan Vurich), wherein the author designs himselfe ane impartiall hand; but by reading of several passages thereof it will evidently appear to be written be one of the name of M'Intoshe; for that manuscript wrytes seldom or never good of any family but of the family of M'Intoshe.

And forasmuch as the author gives himself the designation of ane impartiall hand, I think it not amiss to set down here one instance of his partiality, which upon ane consideration will make any man give the less credite to severall other passages of the said manuscript of greater concernment. His partiality extends so high, that in plain terms, one part thereof contradicts the other, which will appear in the following discourse, &c., &c.

Said Andrew of Cluny in 1644 to Macintosh :—

First, In the year ijyo (1386?), my predecessor Kenneth did disown your predecessor at Invernahaun.

Secondly, My predecessor Donald More was with my Lord Marr against MacDonald at the batall of Harlaw anno 1411, when your predecessor, said he, was with MacDonald.

Thirdly, My predecessor Donald Oig, was with the Marquis of Huntly at the batall of Corrichie anno 1562, and was killed upon the spott; but, said he, your predecessor was against the Marquis of Huntly at that time.

Fourthly, said he, My grandfather Andrew held out at the Castle of Ruthven anno 1594, when Argyll with 10,000 beseidged it, and your predecessor, said he, was with Argyll at the seidge; and

Lastly, said he, My father Ewan was constantile with Alexander M'Donald alias M'Coll, and with the Marquis of Montrose with 200 of his kinsmen, and never deserted Montrose till at the King’s command he laid down arms, and thereafter my father joined the Marquis of Huntlie in the King’s cause, &c., &c. And this showes clearly, said he, that my predecessors joined with yours, but voluntarly and at pleasure.

DECLARATION AND OBLIGATION BY THE CLAN REGARDING THE CHIEFSHIP,

Dated in 1689.

From ‘The Chiefs of Grant,’ iii. 358, 359.

Wee, undersub[scr]ivers, considering that Duncan M'Pherson of Cluny, our present cheife, is of full purpose and resolution to talzie not onlie his whole estate, but also the representation of us, and all others our kinsmen, by his ryteous air maill, with his daughter to a stranger, and that without all peradventure our ruine is thereby threatened, if God Almytie by ane inteir union amongst our selves doe not prevent the same, doe heirby declair and swear vpon our great oath, that we shall not own nor countenance any person as the said Duncan M'Pherson his representative, and falyieing aires maill of his bodie, excepting William M'Pherson of Nuid, who is his true lineall successor, and the aires maill of his bodie, quhilks falyieing, the aires maill quhatsomever, and sua forth suc-cessivelie, and that we shall to the outmost of our power assist and mantain the said William and his forsaids in attaining and possesseing the said estate by all just means imaginable; and furder, that we, the saids undersub[scr]ivers, and in particular, I, the said William M'Pherson, shall second, assist, and mantain one ane other in all our just and ryteous interests against all mortall, his Majestie and witnes quhairof, we have subscrivit thir writer in Edinburgh) with our hands, at teen dayes of

Wm. M'Phersone of Noid.

his auctoritie and our respective superioris being excepted. And we bind and obleidge us to fullfill and perform the premisses, under the paine of infamie. In

D. M'Phersone, yor- of Invertromie. A. M'Pherson, Pitmean.

Ja. M'Phersone in Raits.

Ja. M'Pherson of Balachroan. Alexr. M'Pherson of Phones. Mur. M'Pherson of Clun.

James M'Pherson, Invernahaine. John M'Pherson of Cronach.

presents (writtin be John M'Pherson, Beanchar and the four-

jmvjc and eightie nyne years

Jo. M'Phersone of Bencher. M'Phersone, yor- of Kyllihuntly.

John M'Phersone in Strone.

J. M'Pherson in Beille.

Will. M'Phersone, brother to Invereshie.

E. M'Phersone, brother to Benchar. Will. M'Pherson in Cloon.3

GENEALOGY OF THE MACPHERSONS.

From Jeremy Collier’s ‘Great Historical, Geographical, Genealogical, and Poetical Dictionary,’

London, 1701.

Mcpherson.—The name of a Scotch Highland Clan commonly called the Clan-Chattan, fam’d for antiquity and valour. They draw their original from the Chatti, or Catti, the antient inhabitants of Hessia and Thuringia, in Germany, whence they were expelled by the Hermondures, with the assistance of the Romans, in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. Cattorum Castellum, one of the Landtgrave of Hesse’s Palaces, and Cattorum Meliboeci or Catzenellebogen, which is one of the family’s Titles, do still preserve the memory of the antient Catti, who being forced to leave their Country, came lower down upon the Rhine into Battavia, now Holland, where Catwick, &c., still bears their name ; thence a colony of them came for Scotland, and landing in the North of that Kingdom were kindly received by the King of Scots, who gave them that part of the Country, where they landed, which from them was called Caithnesse—i.e., the Catti’s Corner : Being settled here, they did many eminent services against the Piets, and other enemies of the Scots, till the time of king Alphinus, when the Chief of the Catti, called Gilly Catton Moir—i.e., the great— for his extraordinary conduct and valour, being married to a sister of Brudus, King of the Piets, he was in a streight how to behave himself betwixt both Kings, who in a little time after fell out, and as the best expedient resolves upon a Neutrality. In the reign of Kennethus II., who also had war with the Picts, this Gilly Catton Moir, amongst others of the Scotch nobility, was summoned to attend the King’s Standard: he excused himself by reason of his age; but to evidence his loyalty, though allied to the Picts, he sent one of his sons, with half of his clan, to join the Scots, which did not a little contribute to that fatal blow that issued in the utter ruin of the Picts. Most of the Clan Chattan, with their valiant leader, falling in the battle, the old man died for grief, and the remaining part were, by the advice of their enemies, prosecuted as favourers of the Picts, expelled Caithness, and, with much ado, obtained leave to settle in Lochaber, where they remain to this day ; and the son of the Captain of the clan, who fell in the battle against the Picts, was in consideration of his father’s merit created Knight Marshal, from whom the illustrious family of Keith, now great Earl Marshal of Scotland, are said to be descended. The chief of those who settled in Lochaber was, in a little time after, made Hereditary steward of that Country, and the family, for some ages, had a standing Commission from the crown to suppress rebellions, by virtue of which, they ruined the family of the Cummins, one of the greatest in the Kingdom, but engaged in an incurable rebellion in the time of Bruce. Muirach M'Gilly Chattan, called Albanach abroad, where he travelled, because of his Country, was second son to Dermond M'Gillychattan, Chief of the Clan, and for his extraordinary piety had a church preferment, and was made Prior of Kinguishy. Celibacy having not then obtained amongst the Scotch Clergy, he married the Thane of Calder’s daughter, by whom he had Dugal Ovir, or the swarthy, his eldest son, afterwards Captain of the clan; Evan Bane, or the fair, from whom comes Clunie M'Pherson; Niel Cromb, or the stooping Smith, so called from his round shoulders and the curious works which he made in Iron and Brass, from whom comes the family of Breakoe-Smith and others. Farchard Gillybrae, so called from his swiftness and expedition, of whom are the family of M'Gillybrayes of Dunmaglash on the river of Nairn, and David Dow, or the black, from whom are descended the Davidsons of Invernahavine. These, and some others, were all Muirach’s sons, and besides their petty nicknames from complexions or temper, and the Patronymicks derived by their posterity, from their several sects, they were always called Clan Wirich in memory of their father, and clan Pherson or M'Pherson from his Office. This Muirach’s eldest brother dying, he succeeded as chief of the clan, and having settled his affairs, left his eldest son, Dugal Ovir above-named, in possession of the Estate, and went in Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and arriving there on the third of May, he kept that day ever after, and bound his family in a curse to do the like, which they observe to this day. In his return he took Rome, Spain, and Ireland in his way, and happening to come thither, when there was a contest for the crown of Leinster, and being in great reputation for his quality and piety, he was applied to, for reconciling the differing factions, in which he behaved himself with such extraordinary Conduct, that though neither of them would yield to one another, they unanimously chose him a little after, being, by this time a widower and well stricken in years, he married the daughter of O’Neal, one of the Competitors, and gained so much love from the people, that they made the Succession Hereditary to his family. He died in the 23rd of his reign, and was buried in the Cathedral of Dublin. His son Evar M'Muirach succeeded, governed well, and died in the 49th of his reign. His son Dermond M'Wirich succeeded, who for his Tyranny, and particularly ravishing the wife of Maurice O’rock,1 King of Meath, was expelled his Kingdom, and restored again by Henry II., king of England, who laid claim to the crown of Ireland afterward ; so that Muirach’s progeny were outed of the soveraignty, but the family of the McMuirachs, still remaining in Ireland, derive their pedigree from him. Dugal Ovir above-mentioned, who was left Chief of the Clan in Scotland, had only one son, and he an only daughter, who marrying a stranger called M'Kintosh—i.e., the Thane’s son, being son or grandson to the Thane of Fife,—the estate was transferred into another family, whence the Laird of M'Kintosh is lineally descended, and that family pretended to be chief of the clan Chattan as marrying the Heiress; but the M'Donalds, who were superiour to all the Clans, determined it often in favour of the Laird of Cluny’s predecessors, and it was finally determined on his side, by the Council of Scotland, in the reign of Charles II., who declared the M'Kintoshes and M'Phersons different families, because M'Kintosh did not take the name and bearing of the Heiress’s family. Evan Bane, before-mentioned, had for his Lady a daughter of M'Leans, by whom he had Kenneth, the eldest Cluny’s predecessor; and Gilly’s, II., of whom the family of Inveressie, and one John, by another woman, of whom the family of Pitmean. This family has had many fewds with neighbouring clans, but more especially with the Clan Cameron’s, having in one battle killed their chief, the Laird of Lochzell, with about 600 of his clan, and taking the rest, brought them to Cluny’s house, where some were for cutting them off, but he generously set them at liberty, saying that his family would grow effeminate if they wanted an enemy to exercise their valour. It was also the M'Phersons who fought that bloody combat of thirty on a side in the Inch of Perth, in presence of the King, and came off with the Victory; and it was that clan who held out the Castle of Ruthven for the Earl of Huntly against the Earl of Argile in Queen Mary’s time. This family appeared in the field for King Charles I., with 600 Men, under the Marquis of Montrose, and Wm. M'Pherson, Laird of Inveressie, was killed under their command at the Battle of Old Earn [Auldearn]. They also declared for King James, under the Viscount of Dundee, and six-and-twenty of them were killed at Crombdale by Sir Thomas Levingston, Commander of King William and Queen Mary’s Forces; but since that time they have submitted to the Government, and their chief hath been ordered to raise men for its service. This clan can bring a regiment of well-armed men to the Field. In time of peace they are said to be as courteous and industrious as the lowlanders, and in time of war, can endure the fatigue of the rudest Highlanders. Their ancient bearing was a ship, in memory of their voyage by sea; and the cross Croslet, in memory of the above-mentioned pilgrimage, and the bloody hand, in remembrance of Exterminating the Cummins. Their Chief’s coat is now party par pale or and aztire, in the Dexter Canton, a hand holding a dagger Saltirewise, and in the sinister a cross croslet, fitche Gules, and the supporters are two Highlanders with their slit doublets, naked from the Girdle downwards, with their shirts tied betwixt their thighs, their swords, Durks and Helmets proper, and for his crest a cat Rampant proper, with this motto, “Touch not the Cat but a Glove.”

Collier adds: “This narrative was collected by a person of quality of the family, and one of its principal branches.”

BOND OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE FRASERS, THE CAMERONS, AND THE MACPHERSONS, EMBRACING A REVOCATION, Etc., BY THE MACPHERSONS OF THE MINUTE OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THEM AND THE MACKINTOSHES IN 1724.

Dated 19th April, 17th June, and 7h July 1744.

From the Cluny Charter-Chest.

Wee, Simon Lord Fraser of Lovat and Simon Master of Lovat, with the special advice and Consent of the said Simon Lord ffraser of Lovat my ffather, Donald Cameron of Locheil and Lauchlan M'Pherson Elder, and Evan M'Pherson Younger of Cluny, Taking into serious Consideration that faithfull friendship and amity which did of old subsist betwixt our respective families, kindreds and followings, and we being all exceedingly desirous to revive, confirm and perpetuate the same reciprocall friendship and connection with each other, not only during our own Lifetimes But even to the latest posterity, Have resolved for the further Corroboration thereof To become and engag’d for ourselves, our respective successors and kindreds in manner underwritten, That is to say, we have entered and hereby enter, and engage ourselves and our foresaids In a most strict and solemn friendship and alliance with one another, and mutually bind and tye down ourselves, our respective successors, kindreds and followings by all the Tyes of honour, conscience and friendship, Truely and faithfully from this time forward To stand by and support each other and our foresaids in all and every honourable Contraversie, undertaking and Dispute which may at any time hereafter fall out or arise betwixt either of us the Covenanting Partys and any of the neighbouring Clanns or any other party or person whatsomever, except our naturall and lawfull King and superior, and shall forever henceforward look upon ourselves and our severall Tribes and followings to be all so strictly Unite and Cemented, That the honour and Interest of any one shall be the Common Cause of the whole, and which we hereby Engage for us and our foresaids faithfully and strenuously to support and defend with all our might and skill: And further, we, the said Lauchlan and Evan M'Phersons, Elder and Younger of Cluny, with the speciall advice, consent and approbation of our Clann, and particularly of the severall Cadents of our family afternamed, seriously considering that we were sometime ago most unjustly and insidiously induced To own and declare by a Writing under our hands That our family of Cluny and the Clann M'Pherson are Cadents of the family of M'Intosh, and on that account to bind and engage ourselves and our following and Clann forever after to recognize and acknowledge the Lairds of M'Intosh to be our Chief, and to act the part of dutifull Kinsmen to them and to their family, as the said writing more fully bears. But as we, the said Lauchlan and Evan M'Phersons, Elder and Younger of Cluny, do now see and perceive how dishonourable and injurious this Deed and Transaction is and must be to us, our family and kindred, who never descended from the family of MTntosh and have no manner of dependence upon it, But, on the contrary, are the true and lineall male descendents of the head of Clan Chattan, and consequently their real Chief, Therefore, and in support and mantainence of our just and naturall Rights, We, the said Lauchlan and Evan M'Phersons, with the speciall advice, consent and approbation of George M'Pherson of Inverishie, James M'Pherson of Killyhuntley, John and Donald M'Phersons, Elder and Younger of Crubin, John M'Pherson of Stramashie, Malcom M'Pherson of Phoyniss, John and Andrew M'Phersons, Elder and Younger of Banchar, Donald M'Pherson of Culline, John M'Pherson of Garvamore, Janies M'Pherson of Invernahaven, James M'Pherson of Crathie Croy, and William M'Pherson in Killarchile, Have resolved and be the Tenor hereof Revoke, rescind and annull the Deed and writing above mentioned Elicite from us by the family of MTntosh In manner foresaid, and hereby renounce and abjure all manner of Dependence on or Cadency from the said family, and all attachment, deference and respect which they may anyways claim or demand as pretended Captain of Clan Chattan, or in consequence of the Deed and Writing already mentioned. And we hereby promise and solemnly engage that we will have no connection with them hereafter, Nor look upon them in any other view than as kindly neighbours upon an equall footing with ourselves, And we, the hail forenamed persons, bind and oblige us and our foresaids upon honour, soul and conscience, To implement, perform and fullfill the premises Ilk one to another as we stand severally engaged In manner foresaid : And we consent to the Registration hereof In the Books of Councill and Session, or in any other competent Register within this Kingdom, therein to remain for preservation, and to that effect Constitute our, &c.

In Witness Whereof, written upon stamped paper by Hugh ffraser, Secretary to the said Simon Lord ffraser of Lovat, We have subscribed this presents, consisting of this and the three preceding pages, in manner underwritten, vizt.: We, the said Simon Lord ffraser of Lovat, Donald Cameron of Locheil, and Evan M'Pherson, Yongr- of Cluny, at Beaufort this nyneteenth day of April, One thousand seven hundred and forty-two years, Before Witnesses Thomas ffraser of Gortuly and the said Hugh ffraser, Writer hereof, Witnesses also to the marginal note on the second page, which is signd- by the said Lauchlan and Evan M'Phersons for and in name of the haill other partys as above; And we, the saids Lauchlan M'Pherson, Elder of Cluny, Donald M'Pherson of Breckachie, designed above Younger of Crubine, Andrew M'Pherson of Benchar, Donald M'Pherson of Cullinline, John M'Pherson of Garvamore, James M'Pherson of Crathiecroy, and William M'Pherson of Kyllerchile, at Cluny the seventeenth day of June and year of God above written, before Witnesses Andrew M'Pherson, Tacksman of Auch-more of Ovie, and Patrick M'Pherson, Grieve to the said Evan M'Pherson of Cluny. As also I, the said Simon Master of Lovat, at Beaufort, this seventh day of July and year of God above written, Before Witnesses the said Thomas Fraser of Gortuly and Hugh ffraser, Writter hereof.

(Signed)

La. M'Pherson.
EN- M'Pherson.

Don. M'Pherson, Breakachie. James M'Pherson of Crathie Croy. John M'Pherson of Garvamor.

Donald Cameron. Lovat. Don. M'Pherson of Culline. And. M'Pherson of Benchar. Will. M'Pherson of Kylerchil. Simon Fraser, Master of Lovatt.

LETTER ADDRESSED BY JAMES MACPHERSON OF KILLIHUNTLY

TO LORD LOVAT,

Dated April 1742.

From the Cluny Charter-Chest.

My Lord,—After an offer of my most sincere and dutifull respects to your L°p- and lovely family, I beg leave to inform you that I have had the perusal of a Bond of friendship entered into by your L°p- & Donald Cameron of Locheill and Lauchlan and Evan M'Pherson, Elder and Younger of Cluny, of the date the nyneteenth day of Aprile last, upon honourable and equitable grounds, as the said Bond itself bears, To which is subjoined a Desclaimation by the said Cluny Elder and Younger of a Transaction sometime ago entered into by the Deceast Lauchlan M'Intosh of that ilk and the said Lauchlan M'Pherson of Cluny Elder, wherein the said Lauchlan M'Pherson has been so far circumveened and imposed upon as to have acknowledged the said Lauchlan M'Intosh to have been his Chief and that of the whole Clan Chattan as descendents of the said Lauchlan M'Intosh’s family, and promising for himself and successors to act the part of dutifull kinsmen to the said Lauchlan M'Intosh and the Representatives of his family in time coming, which Transaction and Write Cluny certainly has all the reason in the world to disclaim as dishonourable, disadvantageous, falsely and circumveeningly founded. It being evident and never contraverted that the family of Cluny were and still are the reall Lineall Representatives of the Heir Male of the Head of Clanchattan, and consequently Chief of the whole Clan. I say, my Lord, this being the fact, I not only agree, but also approve of and consent to Cluny’s Disclaiming the said Transaction and Write to all intents and purposes so as he may still be esteemed as Independent of the Family of MTntosh, at least as they are of him, and I assure your L°p- that I will not be wanting to support him in this his just right, as that is certainly my Indispensible and unavoidable duty. And nothing in time can be more agreeable to me than that Cluny and we all should be united in the strongest Terms and tyes of amity to your L°p- and Clann to latest posterity, as also to the honourable Donald Cameron of Locheill and his Clann in like manner being by repeated former good offices and Demonstrations of friendship to us all besides the principall one now intended from your L°p-, fully convinced of your sincerity and unalterable good wishes toward us, and particularly towards, My Lord, Your L°ps- most obliged, most faithful and obedient humble servant (Signed) James Macpherson.

Killihuntly, Aprile 1742.

Directed on the back, “To the Right Honourable Simon Lord ffraser of Lovat.”

A BRIEF ACCOUNT of the Rise and Progress of the Watch undertaken by Evan Macpherson of Cluny, Esquire, in the Year 1744, for the Security of severall Countrys in the North of Scotland

FROM THIFTS AND DEPREDATIONS.

From ‘The Miscellany of the Spalding Club,’ ii. 87-89.

As the generality of the Highlands of Scotland, and of the countries adjacent to them, have for severall years past been greatly oprest by many wicked ganges of lawless thives and robbers, inhabitants of the remote Highlands, who steal, or most audaciously rob, ther horses and cows; and as the countrie of Bedenoch, in particullar, lyes adjacent to the severall countries where these ruffians have there residence, great numbers of its inhabitants have by them been intyrly ruened and reduced to beggarie. The gentlemen of that countrie made severall attemps to obviat this evil, by a watch at there own expence; but as that countrie was not able of itself to raise such a fund as would support a sufficient number of men for its protection, these watches turned out to be of litle or no service.

Therupon they did frequently in by-past years apply to Cluny, on whoes inclination and capacity to protect them they greatly relyed, offering him for doing his endeavour to save them as much encouradgement as they could afford to give any other who would becom lyable for ther losses; to which Cluny honestly answered, that as he had no reasonable prospect of protecting them with the small funds the country of Bedenoch could afford, he would not pick ther pockets by pretending to do them that service he was not capable of.

That country therafter suffered most incredible losses ; some possessions who did not exceed ^15 sterling yearly rent, haveing been damnadged by theft no less than ^100 sterling. Nor was ther any prospect of reliefe, till at a generall meeting of the gentlemen of that countrie, in March last, Cluny was most strongly and earnestly pressed to undertake ther reliefe; they fully evidenceing to him that unless they were imediately supported, they would be quite ruened, and there countrie layd west, and that his friends and neighbours in severall of the adjacent countries were like to rune much the same fate. Cluny, deeply affected with the miserable circumstances of the countries, told the gentlemen that without his Majesty would protect them, he could see no mean for there relief but one—viz., a conjunction of all the neighbowring opprist countries towards makeing a sufficient fund for setting up a strong watch for the mutuall security of them all; and that if after the proper intimation were made for finding ane undertaker in the neighbowring countries, who would becom layable for the losses of all such as would contribute, no other person would be found to undertak, on whoes security the countries could depend; in that case (and that only), for the want of another proper undertaker, he would himself becom bound and undergoe the payment of what losses these of the conjunction would happen to sustaine : the gentlemen did unanimously aprove of the proposall, and caused mak this intimation; yet as a multitude can never be got of 011 mind, and have allways different byasses wherby they will not unite in any thing, though tending wastly to all there interests, severall considderable persons who were used to suffer by thefts and depredations abstracted themselves and ther people from the sckame. However, as no other person was found for the relief of the countries, Cluny, in persuance of his generous intention, gave his oblidgation to pay the contributers whatever damnadges they would happen to sustaine during his undertaking, though the funds were evidently so small as that he behoved to be out of pocket, without the least prospect of advantage, other than the generall wellfare of his distrest countrymen. He set out his men on the tunty- second of May last, 1744, whom he pickd out honest, and everie way adapted to there chairge, and regularly stationd them on such passes and inlets through which the thievish sett used to make there incursions, giveing them most strict orders that these passes should be punctually travelled and watched night and day, for keeping of, intercepting, seiseing, and imprisoning the villans, as occasion offered, and as strictly forbiding and dischargeing them to act less or more in the ordinary way of other undertakers, who instade of suppressing thieft, do greatly suport it, by currying the favour of the thieves, and gratifying them for there diverting of the weight of thieft from such parts of the countrys as pay the undertaker for there protection, to such parts as doe not pay them.

This most wicked though constant practise of other undertakers, differs from Cluny’s method, who cuts at the root, and studies the intyre extirpation of the hellish trade, not suffering the thieves on any pretext to pass or repass even to or from those he’s not bound to protect.

The thieves finding themselves so strictly hemd in, that though they were starveing at home, they durst not adventire abroad to rob or steall in any way formerly practised, divised a new way against which they knew Cluny could not have been guarded. They stoll a parcell of cows from a town in Strathnairn, and, instead of driveing them by land as useuely, they ferried them over Lochness by boats; however, Cluny hase in this detected them, whereby the goods may be recovered, and the villains prosecuted. But this new device of the thieves subjects Cluny, who was formerly too much out of pocket in his generous undertakeing, to the additionall and unexpected expence of guarding the many boats of Lochness, which is tunty-four miles longe.

The danger of thift is now over for this season; and, except the few cows above mentioned, which will be recovered, there has not been, since Cluny’s undertakeing, one cow or hors stolen in the bound of his district; whereas in former years some thousand pound sterling woud not pay ther yearly losses. There has, indeed, been severall attempts of carieing off of cows and horses from bounds which Cluny has not undertaken to protect; but he generosly caused his watch intercept them, and restored them to the owners. For instance, he recovered and restored a sett of horeses blonging to the Laird of Grant’s tenants in Strathspey; at another time, he intercepted and restored som horses belonging to some persons in the shire of Banff; and did the like with respect to cows belonging to persons in Strathallan, near Stirling; as he did also with respect to horses belonging to the Laird of Luss his tenants, about Dumbartan. These instances may suffice to show what a generous part Cluny acts in favour of all the countries, without the least notice or resentments against such as have not acceded to the conjunction. The thieves being this reduced to the greatis straits by Cluny’s undertakeing, found means, by second hands, to propose to him that if he would give up being concerned for the protection of any other countrys but that of Bedonach, where he dwells, ther woud be security given him for the safeaty for his own and that country’s goods. This proposition Cluny hasc generously rejected, and not only has intyrly stoped ther wicked trade, but has committed the persons of severalls of them to prison, whereby they may be tryed for ther detestable practises.

MANUSCRIPTS IN THE CLUNY CHARTER - CHEST RELATING TO THE CLAN CHATTAN AND CLUNY OF THE ’45.

Note.—The three following documents appear to have been all written in France about the year 1760, but the writer’s name is not known. The first two are narratives relating to the Cluny family, and of what Cluny of the ’45 did and suffered for Prince Charles Edward. The third document appears to be a petition to the King of France for the royal bounty on behalf of Cluny.

The Publisher’s Preface.

Having often heard of the Scots Highlanders as a people remarkablie brave and singular in their way; that I read also in our Histories of France, and in most of the Histories of Europe, that the Scots were always esteemed brave, and that no longer than ten years agoe a handful of them performed actions which surprised Europe, I acknowledge I have long had a great desire to learn something more particular concerning these Highlanders, who had not only drawn on themselves the observation of the world, but had likeways raised the apprehensions of the Brittish Government so far as to oblige them to make several Acts of Parliament expressly with intention to disarm them, and afterwards several other Acts in order to change their dress and their customs. But my curiosity in that respect was never in any degree satisfyed untill I happened to become acquainted with the Sieur Macpherson, Siegneur de Cluny, chieff of one of their tribs, who, in many different conversations, informed me that they inhabite the large tract of mountains in the north of Scotland, which run from the west to the east seas, which surround the island, and likeways inhabite the small islands which ly on the west and north of Scotland, which, in all, may be computed about a third part of the extent of that kingdom; That their language, which has always been termed Gaulick, and which has no other name amongst them to this day, was once the language of the whole kingdom, untill the course of time, and the immediate connections many of the Scots in low countries with England, by degrees introduced the English language into the lower parts of the kingdom. They have a tradition among them that their origine was from Sihithia. Sir William Temple, a very distinct English writer, who was embassador from King Charles the Second to the States Generali, is of that oppinion, and says that an island in the north of Scotland wher they first landed from Schithia took thence the name of Schitland, which it retains to this day; and that wher they advanced further and took possession of the larger continent, it, for distinction, and by an easie transition, got the name of Scotland. Chevalier Temple’s oppinion is further supported by an observation that patre-nimicks were from the beginning in use amongst them, and continues still to be so, most tribes having no way to distinguish one person from another but by the name of his father, such as MacDonald, the son of Donald, MacGrigor the son of Grigor, MacPherson, the son of Pherson, &c. So in Russia and Poland, parts of ancient Schithia, these patrenimicks still continue, such as Peter Alexoivitz, Alexander Petroivitz, Ike., which is not knewon to have been the custom in any other countries of the World. Yet others are of oppinion their origine is from the ancient Gauls, by reason that there language was always termed Gaulick, and that many of their original words have an affinity to the ancient Gaulois. But whatever their origine may happen to have been, it is certain they have posses’d that part of the World for so long a time, and without any mixture of foreigners, that few countries can, in that point, compare with them. For when the Romans invaded and overran most of Brittain, they found the resistance of the Highlanders so formidable that they judged it prudent to leave them in the manner they found them. Ever since that time, and how long before non can tell, they have been divided into clans or tribes, each tribe governed by its respective chieff or head of family, and make in all such a body that, if they cou’d be united under one head, from thirty to fourty thousand men might be brought together in a few weeks, and are so formidable a militia, that few, if any, regular troops in Europe could withstand their shock, supposing numbers equall. Their dress, which, as well as their language, continues the same from the beginning, is all woollen, of party colours, consisting in a surtout and vest under it, both reaching only down to near the tope of the thygh. Hose of the same, which reach no further up than below the joint of the knee, without any breeches, which are supplied by a plaid girded by a belt round the waste, the lower part whereof surrounds their thyghs, in some manner like a woman’s pettycoat, but reach only down to the knee, which is always left bare; the upper part of the same plaid is fastened to the shoulder, and waves floating round in some resemblance to the Roman mantle. Their arms are a pistold, and often two, fixed in their belt, a durk or poignard, which they never incline to want, a large sabre slung in the horseman manner from the shoulder, and a fusil, which they generally wear under their arm.

I wou’d have been extremely pleas’d to have had a distinct account of all the tribes of a people so remarkable, but Mons. de Cluny found himself in no condition to afford me it, yet he entertained me very agreeablie, often with many circumstances of his own tribe, and indeed of his own life, which I found so singular, and even so curious, while they were told by him without any ostentation or vanity on his part, that after every conversation I took notts of it in writing, which when all were put together, I found would bear printing; accordingly I resolved to put it in the press as an entertainment for the curiosity of many, without asking his consent or even communicating to him my intention; and I hope that when it shall come to his knowledge he will forgive me, having intended no offence to him or to any person. I hope, at same time, no other person can take offence at it, for I’m certain he intended non. I am persuaded that he will find likeways that I have not deviated from the truth of his narration, for I shou’d be greatly concern’d if the publishing of it should even happen to give any shock to his modesty.

The Sieur Macpherson, Signeur de Cluny, Chieff of one of the most remarkable clans of Scotland, is male representative of the Clan-chattan or Clan-cattan, the most distinguished and most numberous clan that ever was in Scotland, and which tradition, handed down from father to son, and well knowen over all that kingdom, says came hither from Shithia in a considerable body, others say more probablie from Germany, and landed in the north of Scotland, where two extensive provinces took their names from them, that of Cathness, or the cat’s nest or bay where they first landed, and that of Catto, where they afterwards extended them selves ; which last-mentioned province, in more modern times gote the name of Southerland, to distinguish it from Cathness, as lying to the south of it, but still retains the name of Catto in the Galick language, which is to this day the language of the Highlands, and happened during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar.

In these times, and long after, no sirnames were in use, so the clan went by the name of the chieff or leader, and of consequence were named Clan Caten. After having settled in the country, they interchanged marriages with the first houses in the kingdom, and several very considerable houses there are of that origine, particularly the honourable and ancient house of Keith, the present representatives whereof are the two illustrious brothers, well knowen in Europe, Signeur George Keith, Hereditary Earle Marishal of Scotland, late Envoye Extraordinary from the King of Prussia to the King of France, and now Governour of the town and Province of Neuffchatel in Suisse, with Signeur James Keith, Felt-Mareschal of his Prussian Majestie’s forces and Governour of Berlin, whose predecessor, a son of the chieff of Clan Caton, had distinguished himself in the year 839, when King Kenneth the Second of Scotland conquered the kingdom of the Picks, for his valour on which occasion King Kenneth gave him lands, and dismissed him with the rank of one of the great barrons of Scotland, about which time, by a very small transition, either by accident or with intention to distinguish themselves, their name changed from Chatan to Keith, and their barrony took the name of the family. The representatives of that house of Keith farther distinguished themselves several ages after, about the year 1020, in the reign of Malcolm the Second, by defeating the Danes upon an invasion they made in Scotland, and by killing Camus, their king or leader, at the battle of Barry, in the province of Angus, where the burying monument of Camus is still to be seen, and a village there takes the name of Camustown from it, for which brave action they deservedly obtained farther dignities from the kings of Scotland. So have ever since those times continued to enjoy very extensive lands and possessions in Scotland, and have been always considered a house of great dignity and honour. The house of Sutherland, Earls of Sutherland, whose family name and title are from the provinces, is likeways very ancient, springs from the same clan, and is term’d in the Gallick language the Earle of Catto, besides several other houses which would be too tedious to mention.

In the year 1291, the chieff of the Clan Catan hapened to have no son, so his only dayghter married a son of Macduff, Thane or Earl of Fife, the then most powerfull signeur in the kingdom, and made use of his power to carry off the family lands of Clan Caton in favor of his son, who had married the daughter, and in prejudice of the male heir, who by some accident had gote the name of Pherson; various reasons are assigned for its being given him, but non of them with such certainty as can be relyed on at this distance of time. But however it happened, haveing continued to his death, of consequence his descendants and followers were named Macpherson, which in that language signifies the son of Pherson, and which name, thus gote by accident, the clan still retains. The son of Macduff, who had married the daughter and gote possession of the family fortune, was likewise ambitious, and considered it his greatest honour that the clan Caton should acknowledge him for chieff, so with that intention dropt the name of Macduff, and would willingly have taken that of Catan. But in those times it was no easie matter to assume or change a name at pleasure, for people then were in use to term a son by the name or some distinguished tittle of the ffather, so even against his inclination they continued to name him son of the Thane, which in the language of the country is Machk in Dochich, which name of Macintosh his descendants and followers keep to this day. In this manner was the number-ous and ancient tribe of Caten divided into two great branches, and afterwards suffered still further subdivisions in smaller trybs of Davidsons, Farquharsons, MacGillivrays, Murdochs, Smiths, and others, non of whom bearing the ancient name of Chattan, it is now almost entirely lost, yet the houses of both MacPher-son and Macintosh bear a catt for the cryst of their coats of arms, with the moto “Touch not the catt but a glove,” which was the cryst and moto of the ancient house of Caton. Those two houses had a dispute for many ages which shou’d be the chieff of the whole Clan Catan, and the matter was warmly debated before the Privie Councill of Scotland, at no small expense to both, and no longer ago than the reign of Charles the Second; but the Council wisely reflecting that the name of Chattan being lost, and the clan divided in so many branches carrying many different names, it might make any single house too powerfull to be esteemed the head, and have the direction of the whole, so disappointed both, and determined that each should keep his own name, and be chieff of his .own clan. But no family ever made any pretensions to be chieff save those of Macpherson and Macintosh. Yet the house of Macpherson Signeur de Cluny is by all the World acknowledged to be the male representative, and the house of Macintosh only the female line of the ancient Catan.

The Sieur Evan Macpherson de Cluny, and reall representative of the ancient line of Catan, was born at Cluny in 1707, from his earliest years lait to heart the well-being of his country, and regreted much that it was not improv’d to the degree that it might easily bear. He had long observed that Industrie and diligence were greatly discouraged by incursions of louse ungovernable people from different parts of the mountains, who carryed off in droves the cattle of people of all ranks in the lower and better cultivated provinces. The too general calamity gave him real uneasiness, and he was shocked to see those pernicious remains of ancient barbarism reach down to modern times; he was certain it proceeded only from the remains of barbarism, for he had many convincing proofs that in other respects the disposition of the people in those parts were generally as benevolent, humain, and even generous, as those of any country whatever; but agriculture having been at all times neglected in those parts, the almost only employment of the common people were in attending their flocks, in hunting, and in fishing, which too naturally gave them habits of irregularity and idleness, handed down from father to son, and not easie to be checqued, so he often regreted that earlier pains had not been taken to turn their minds to agriculture, and other usefull Industrie. He had observed that mankind are generally the same in all countries, too susceptable of being led into bad practices by custom and example, that even in the most civilized governments, besides the precepts of the preacher and the authority of the magistrate, the whipe, the gibet, and the rack, must be too frequently made use of, and even come short in regulating the morals of many, whereas these countries were too far removed from the lash of any of these checks. He had likeways observed that in vice opportunity and conveniency are great temptations, and so great were these in their favours by vast unfrequented mountains, reaching almost in ridges from the west to the east sea, and by their dispersed lonely habitations, that he is convinced if the most civilized society in Europe were established in that country and disengaged from any check on their morals, their descendants vvou’d in time be infected and tempted to make use of the conveniences and opportunities the natural situation affords. The affection he bore his country in general often suggested to him these and such reflections, and prompted him to lay the abuse earnest to. heart. But it still affected him more sensiblie when he too frequently observed his own herds, and those of his friends, followers, and dependants, become the prey, which generally landed in the entire ruin of the poorer sort, and in the no small loss of those who were better able to bear it. He determined, therefore, that he wou’d endeavour to put a stop to so pernicious a practice in so far as concern’d his own lands, and the possessions of his clan; accordingly he rais’d and established a watch or safeguard of his own trustee followers, and at his own and their expense, which for several years had a remarkably good effect over that part of the country where he or his friends and descendants had any possessions. The neighbouring signeurs, and noblesse, and even many at a greater distance, such as the Duke of Gordon, Ogilvie Earle of Airly, Stewart Earle of Murray, Gordon Earle of Aboyne, Gordon Earle of Aberdeen, Fraser Lord Lovat, Duff Lord Braco, Brodie Lord Lyon ; Forbes of Culloden, Lord President of the Session ; Campbell of Calder, Barron Farquharson of Invercald, Sir Ludovic Grant of Grant, The Barron Macintosh of Macintosh ; The Barron Albert of Castlehill, at that time Sherrif of Inverness-shire ; Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown, Barron Rose of Kilravock, Barron Brodie of Lethen, and Campbell Duke of Argyle, his vassals in the province of Angus, being either all chieffs of their respective clans, or of very distinguishing rank in the country, with innumerable others too* tedious to repeat; but however high their rank was, they laboured still under the hardship of haveing their cattle and those of their farmers carried off. They were surpris’d at Cluny’s success, and enveyed so much his happiness that they applyed to him with one accord to take them under his protection, and cheerfully offered to join in a voluntary subscription towards the support and augmentation of his scheme, and in acknowledgment for his own labour and industrie in a work so laudable and so universally beneficiall. He listened, and in consequence doubled his diligence, and his success was in proportion. He never failed to find out, and bring back, even from the most distant parts, all cattle which from that period happened to be carried off, in so much that not one single person in the provinces which he had undertaken to protect suffered in a sixpence, and he also very effectually serv’d on many occasions even those who had never applyed to him. The Farmers then followed their industrie in peace and tranquillity, blessing him in their hearts for the happiness they enjoyed, and every day brought letters full of grateful acknowledgements from the signeurs and noblesse for the remarkable and surprizing change he had so speedily and so effectually made over the whole country. The subscriptions towards so good a work amounted at that time in his favours to above twentie thousand livres yearly, yet so many were the contributors, that it was next to nothing to any particular, and would soon have been very considerablie more by the addition of the Dukes of Athol and Perth, with the noblesse to the southward, and by the addition of the Earle of Seaforth and his clan of Mackenzie’s with the Monros and Rosses, and the noblesse to the northward. Yet altho’ his success gave general pleasure to most people, it did not fail to draw upon him the jealousie and envy of some particulars, all whom, however, he in a short time reconciled by reason, and by a steady firm conduct, so that those who had been his most inveterate enemies soon became his firmest friends, gaining the goodwill of all, nor was his name ever mentioned on any occasion but with esteem ; neither does he omitt doing justice to all the clans of Scotland in general, for he affirms, that not a single chieff or leading man amongst them but cheerfully and readily gave him their assistance in curbing these lawless practices, so dis-tructive as well as dishonourable; and such was his success in it that the whole kingdom were witnesses of his doing, more alone in the course of a few years towards polishing and civilizing the Highlanders in that respect, than all the power and endeavours of the Government had ever been able to do by their repeated tryalls, at very great expense, for many generations back, in so much that he had the agreeable satisfaction to see the agriculture of his own country, which had in all former times been neglected, augment at least two-thirds in his own. It may not be amiss to take notice of a pleasant enough occurrence which happened about this period, and which afterward became a common saying in the country. A preacher in the Highlands haranging a numberous auditorie of the common people in their own language, reproved them for, and exhorted them warmly against, their too well-known practices, when to his surprise he was interrupted by a gray-hair’d reverend-looking veterane, and an old transgressor, who rose up in the midle of the assembly and desired him to save his labour upon that point, for Mons. de Cluny alone wou’d gain more souls to heaven in one year than all the priests in the highlands cou’d ever do in fifty. This reputation in that respect reach’d the ears of the ministrie, who to his great surprise, having never once thought of engaging in military or government matters, sent him, to his own house, unask’d for a commission to command a company in the regiment my Lord le Comte de Loudin, the same who presently goes to America charg’d with the general command of all the colonies, had at that time authority to raise, and which company wou’d by its advantages have produc’d him at least six thousand livres a year. At same time the most remarkable signeurs in the country agreed among themselves, without his knowledge, to solicite the Government that he and his company might have liberty to stay at home in order to protect the country, so that he had reasonable well-founded prospects to have enjoyed betwixt thirty-and-six thousand livres yearly, besides the whole yearly produce of his own fortune, which he found daily improve under his own eye, and whereof neither he nor his predecessors would either know or reap the full value untill the regulations he had lately made enabled him by degrees to do both.

This was his situation, living in peace, in affluence, and in esteem at his own house, at the period the Prince landed in Scotland. The Prince sent him an invitation to join him with his followers; and as his principles, and those of his household at all times led them towards a faithfull attachment to the rightfull royall line of Stewarts, he did not hesitate in sending back his captain’s commission to the Government in six weeks after he received it, rais’d his clan, left all, and followed his Prince, who received him with a hearty welcome, and with a due sense of his merit. He from that time accompanied the Prince through all his fatigues, during the long course of a severe winter campagne, during which he had frequent opportunities to observe, and be much pleased with, many great quallities in so young a Prince. In deliberations he found him ready, and his oppinion generally best; in their execution firm, and in secrecy impenetrable; his humanity and consideration show’d itself in strong light even to his enemies, whom he cou’d not help still to consider subjects, and, as he us’d to say, his countrymen. In application and fatigues non cou’d exceed him. Dress’d like a highlander, he march’d on foot at the head of his army from Edr to Derby, at least 300 miles by the root taken, sometimes 20 miles a day, often over mountains of heath in snow and rain ; nor was any single person in his army so alert, never failing to be on foot in the morning before the appointed hour, and by his own example giving life and motion to the whole, in so much that Mons. de Cluny’s attachment to the house of Stewart was very soon augmented by a personal veneration and esteem ; and in the return of the army from England, Cluny at the head of his own single clan attack’d the Duke of Cumberland and his cavalrie at Clifton near Penrith, and repuls’d them with great loss, on which occasion my Lord George Murray, lieutenant-general, who had the command off, and brought up the rear of, the army, gave the orders, went on with Cluny, and fought sword in hand on foot as keenly as a common soldier. The other actions of the Prince and his army are well knowen to the World. Cluny never failed his share in all of them, untill the fatal battle of Culloden, on the 16th April 1746, dispers’d the whole, and obliged every single man in it to shift for himself. The Prince then retired privately to the Western Islands, where he dayly ran great risques of being discovered and apprehended by those who earnestly sought his life. But Cluny, trusting to the faithfull attachment of his people, went directly to his own country, where he found means to conceal himself in safety, as well as Donald Baron Cameron, Lord Locheil, who had been severely wounded at Culloden, and believing himself far from safe in his own country, which was too open to the enemy, came to Cluny for protection, accompanied by Sir Stewart Threpland, who with great attention acted both the part of a phisitian and surgeon to him, as did severall others of the Prince’s faithfull friends, who happened to be strangers in that part of the World, to all whom Cluny afforded entertainment and security in their greatest distresses. Soon after he had the mortification to see his own house of Cluny, which he had not long before built from the ground with great attention, care, and expense, as a seat for his family, and was by much the best in these parts of Scotland, all in flames by Cumberland’s orders. Nor was that his only mortification, for his Lady, only daughter of Lord Lovat, who lost his head the year after on Tower Hill for the same cause, with his young family were thereby turn’d out to the inclemency of the weather without knowing where to put their heads in safety; and a worthy father, who in the 1715 had acted the same part the son did in the 1745, unable to bear at his years the misfortunes of his royall master, of his country, and of his own family, grieff brought his gray hairs to the grave in a month after. Those melancholly circumstances were soon followed by others of the same kind, for he had the grieff to be spectator from the mountains and woods of his country being ravaged more than once by the military, many of his own farms and those of his friends reduced to ashes by fire, their cattle and other effects carried off beyond a possibility of being recovered. Yet still he was far from being discouraged, nor ever lost hopes, believing firmly that providence wou’d sooner or later send relieff, and put an end to oppression. But forseeing at same time that no relieff cou’d happen soon, he thought of regulating his manner of living. He had a certain number of a faithfull watch who always attended him, and waited

his orders; by their means he and such as were with him were supplied in provisions, by their means he kept a correspondence with his friends, and by their means he had dayly intelligence of what passed even in the enemie’s camps which lay round him in the neighbourhood. In this manner he spent the summer, and about the beginning of August, to the great satisfaction of all who wish’d the cause well, he was again joined by the Prince, who from the time they had parted had undergone innumerable hardships, had been almost dayly traced and pursued from place to place, often faint with hunger and fatigue, often without sufficient cloaths to defend him from the cold damps, and still oftener without a shoe on his foot. But after many miraculous escapes having at last reach’d Cluny, who had Lord Lochiel with him, he then found a retreat which might be considered safe, a comfortable bed, and plentie of provisions, which made so great a difference from his late uncomfortable way of life, that he chearfully used to say Cluny made him live like a Prince. In this manner he pass’d the time in ease, or at least in quietness. No surmise or notice was ever so much as hinted of the place of his retreat, nor a single person ever appeared to disturb him. In so much that the Government, who never slackened their earnestness to find him out, having quite lost the least information, were making keen searches and enquiries about him in countries, and at places hundreds of miles distant from where he then happened to be. The season, however, advanced, the nights became long and cold, so Cluny became anxious for a more comfortable residence for the Prince during the winter, in the event that no better fate shou’d befall him. He accordingly laid a plan for that purpose, which he directly caused execute, and communicated to the Prince; who haveing long entertained earnest thoughts of means to get beyond sea, pleasantly answered that his plan would do very well for a last resource. But happily about the middle of September notice came to Cluny that some ships were arrived from France in search of the Prince; he urg’d his speedy departure, afforded him guids, provisions, and everything necessary for a considerable land journey he had to make on foot towards the place where the ships attended, and which he reached on the, 19th day of September. Lord Locheil; his broyr, Archibald Cameron, colonel of Infantrie in the Spanish service, who was executed at London in June 1753; Macdonell of Lochgarrie, present lieutenant-colloncl to the Scots Regiment of Ogilvie, in the service of France, with several others, attended the Prince beyond the seas, and were thereby relieved of their fatigues and dangers. But on Cluny he laid his commands to stay in Scotland, both by word and in writing, as the only person in whom he cou’d repose the greatest confidence; assureing him that he should pay him a visit soon in a way better supported than formerly, and that at no rate he shou’d leave the country to such time as he shou’d see himself, or at least have orders to that purpose under his own hand. Cluny, who well knew the dangerous situation, wou’d willingly have excused himself, and have accompanied him along with the others to France. But the Prince being urgent he obeyed, trusting to providence and a good cause, and was willing to risque everything rather than fail in his duty. The Prince took accordingly his departure and arrived safely in France, whereof Cluny had the agreeable nottice by the voice of fame soon after. Long afterwards did he impatiently look for the promised visit, but to his great grieff it never happened j at last he had messages from the Prince that he had been disappointed in his intended return to Brittain, and that, being entirely sensible of his faithfull attachment, it gave him real concern that it was not in his power to provide for him in the manner he wished, but that in the meantime, haveing obtained a regiment from the King of France in favours of Lord Locheil and his family, he had named him Lieutenant-collonel, which wou’d afford him about five thousand livres a year as small bread for him and his family to such time as it might be in his power to do more for him. But still that he behooved to remain in Scotland, and that his appointments wou’d be paid him from the establishing of the regiment as faithfully and punctually as if he were in France. Cluny complyed with no small reluctance, and in consequence of his obedience underwent innumerable hardships for a course of nine tedious melancholly years : woods, mountains, and caves were generally his best lodgings, and the depth of night the only time of his movements. The Government were solicitous to find him out, and for that purpose troops were dayly employed in keen warm searches after him ; garrisons continually lay in his country, using every means to obtain informations about him both by threats and promises; even large sums and high preferments were repeatedly offered to any person who wou’d make the least discovery; yet so remarkable was the attachment of his people, and the great good will of his other countrymen, together with his own prudent conduct and directions, that it never was in the power of the Government for any premium to trace him so much as one single step, or to discover where he lodged one single night, which affords an instance of a private person standing out against the violent resentment of an enrag’d power-full Government for so long a course of time as no historie or tradition can paralel. In this manner time passed lonly on from year to year during the uncomfortable severity of every tedious winter he consol’d himself with hopes of relieff in the spring or summer, but to his grieff he even then found his hopes disappointed, and another melancholly winter overtake him. Here justly may be observed the effects of habite on the humane constitution, for during the course of nine years in a remarkablie cold climate, Cluny never once put on a pair of breetches, or a pair of gloves on his hands, nor scarce ever found he had use for them, while at the same time he scarce cou’d ever have the conveniency of a fire.

His family fortune had been taken possession of by the Government from the fatal day of Culoden, but as estates of that kind had always upon such former occasions been by time brought to a publick sale, his friends encourag’d him with hopes that it shou’d be purchased for account of his family. Yet beyond all precedent, and to his lasting concern, resolutions were taken by Parliament to annex it unalienably to the crown, and he thereby deprived of all prospects of recovering it, even his relations who possessed part of it were severely oppress’d from no other motive than the heat of the Government’s resentment against him, and altho’ he has now been ten months in France, yet twenty-four gerrisons still lie in that country in the houses of gentlemen of his blood and name, where they use all the hienuous liberties of a revengefull enemy and command as masters. At last, in the beginning of May 1755, the Prince’s orders to come abroad, wrote by his own hand, reach’d him, which tho’ they mortified him in one respect, by convincing him that the hopes of a restoration were at a greater distance than he wished, yet he obeyed with pleasure, in regard that continued fatigues and hardships had greatly impaired his health, and an advancing age made him less quallified to suffer more. He accordingly sett out directly, happly made his way, and arrived in France the beginning of June. He then never doubted but that his lieutenant-colonel’s appointments would afford him and his family some reasonable subsistence, and that the punctual payment of the arrears which were due him upon it wou’d put him in condition to cleer some debts he had been obliged to contract, and provide him and them in becoming necessaries suiting their rank. But his surprise and mortification cannot easily be imagined when he was inform’d that the only regiment which had been rais’d at the Prince’s request had been referm’d immediately after the Prince left France, a regiment which had been granted by the King at the earnest desire of the Prince in favours of the family of Donald Cameron, Lord Locheil, who was the first who sett footing, made figure, and showed example in the Prince’s expedition in Scotland, and without whoes particular active endeavours, and appearing directly in his favours with nine hunder of his followers, it wou’d never have deserv’d the name of an expedition, and the Prince behooved to have return’d directly to France. Yet he finds this regiment referm’d, and John, the present Lord Locheil, the extremely promising son of a worthy father, and who is well quallified to act the same part in Scotland his father had done, in some respects even better quallified by haveing earlier knowen the world and languages, not only deprived of all hopes of recovering the seat, and large, extensive, and improveable lands of his ansesters, which can be trac’d back at least 800 years in their family, besides the following of a very numberous clan, but likeways deprived of the very regiment that had been expressly rais’d for the family, and to which his pretentions are but too well founded, and be reduced to act as Captain referm’d in the regiment of Royall Scots. By the reduction of the said regiment Cluny finds himself likeways deprived of the far larger part of the bread the Prince believed he had provided for him and his family, and gave him full grounds to depend on. This unexpected stroke bore harder on him than all he had ever hitherto suffered, and made him almost ballance in his own heart whether he had not better suffered death in Brittain than live in France, and see his family and friends in want. Reason, however, and patience by degrees took place, and the school of sufferings which he had so long been prov’d in quallified him to suffer more. He then did not in the least question but the arrears of his appointments of 1800 livres a year as lieutenant-colonel en suite of the regiment of Royall Scots, to which regiment he was told he had been annexed upon the reduction of Locheil’s regiment, wou’d be ordered him upon asking it. Accordingly he made out a memoire of his request, Lord Lewis Drummond of Melfort, colonel of the Royall Scots, presented him and it to the minister, who received both with goodness and affability, and gave such assurances that he wou’d soon consider the case as left Cluny no room to think there wou’d be the least hesitation in a matter where justice appear’d so much in his favours that there could be no grounds for hesitating. He waited an answer for some considerable time with patience, but his patience, tho’ it had been so often tryed, began at last to wear out j so he then followed the Court, renewed and continued his solicitations for several months with no better success, during the intervalls whereof he found so much time on his hands that many anxious reflections intruded on his mind, even against his inclinations.

He cou’d not help comparing his present with his former situation ; he saw himself reduced to solicite low bread at a foreign court; whereas the time had but lately been that he wou’d not have moved a step from his own house for the best regiment France cou’d afford him, and that no nation in Europe could put him at the head of a better regiment than that which his birth and the custom of the country had given him an unquestionable right to command. These mortifying reflections were soon after augmented by nottice being given him that the minister had all the inclination in the world to do him service, but that he found his hands tyed up by rules which admitted of no claim to arrears by any person, who had never join’d his regiment. He then found himself worse than ever; and altho’ he did not doubt but these rules might be right in their foundation, and very applicable to such as out of folly or wantoness forbore to join their regiments, yet that being far from his case, he cou’d not conceive by what rule, either in reason or in justice, these rules cou’d be applyed to him, who had been made lieutenant-colonel of Lord Locheil’s regiment, for no other reason than in consequence of his ready obedience to his Prince’s commands. In consequence of his obedience to the same commands he stayed in Scotland, and was thereby absolutely debar’d from haveing it in his power to join the regiment, and in obeying these commands underwent a continued nine years’ compagne of hardships and sufferings beyond comparison severer than any officer in the French service cou’d possibly have occasion to undergo even during the warmest war; so that it may easily be conceived his stay was no choice in him, for so obnoxious are he and his followers to the Government that to this hour they continue their searches for and resentment against him, scarce allowing themselves to believe that he has left the country, or that, if he has, he may not still return during these times of disturbance, and give them more trouble than ever. He is conscious that the Prince well knows his zeall, and that of his followers, as well as their sufferings, and that if it were in his power to provide for them he wou’d allow non of them to be in want. He readily agrees that disobedience to commands deserves punishment; but to his surprise his punishment comes from giveing a ready obedience to the person who he believes had the best and only right to command him, particularly while he remained in Scotland. At last, however, after eight months’ attendance and almost daily solicitations, notice was given him by my Lord Clare that the minister had condescended to give him 6000 livres by way of gratification out of the extraordinarries of war, but even that not to be payed him to such time as he shall join the regiment; from which time, and not till then, was to have acess to the course of his pension of 1800 livres. He acknowledges himself under so great obligations to my Lord Clare that he never mentions his name without all the warmness of gratitude, believing he ows even the 6000 livres to his sympathysing disposition and endeavours, tho’ at same time it scarce exceeds a third part of his well founded claim, and still its not being payed him while at Paris leaves him in as great straits as ever. By a nine months’ stay and solicitations he had contracted debt to near the value, and is still obliged to contract more before it can be in his power to put himself in a condition to join the regiment. But yet necessity behooved to be complyed with, and fate submitted to, however hard ; so by the assistance of friends he is equipt and gone to the regiment, where he is sorrie to find himself tyed down to an inactive melancholly life, haveing no command nor the least thing to do; much the reverse of what has always been his practice. But what affects him most is the present situation of a deserving lady with whom he has long lived affectionately in great ease, in plentie, and in honour, with perhaps a hundred servants attending their commands, now reduced to live in a cottage in Scotland with her young family continually disturb’d with a captain’s command of the military, one of the 24 garrisons before mentioned, as speys on her, and he so far from being in a condition to bring her or them hither, or to support them if brought, that he finds 1800 livres of appointments, which by retentions scarce exceeds 1600, with difficultie will allow himself bread, without affording a single servant to clean his shoes.

Before concluding, perhaps the reader would be anxious to have some short account of Badenach, the country in which Clunie’s estate lies, and in what manner the Prince lived while there. Its name, Badenach, signifies, in the language of the country, bushes of wood, by which the face of it in former times was mostly covered. It lies in the province of Inverness, about midway betwixt the east and west seas, by which the island of Brittain is surrounded. It is computed from 28 to 30 miles in length east and west, and in some places 18 to 20 in breadth south and north, mountains and valleys included, each of which computed miles may be considered near a league in France. It is inhabited mostly by his clan and followers, who are generall observed by strangers to be the talest and most robust men in Scotland. Somewhat to the westward of the centre of this country was the seat of the family, the Chateau de Cluny, now reduced to ruins by Cumberland, is situated in an agreeable manner on a rising ground on the north bank of the river Spey, which traverses the country from west to east, the south front of the chateau overlooks the river, makeing many delightfull serpentine windings along severall miles of the largest beautifull meadows that are to be found in these parts. The river afforded salmond and other fishes for his table, the neighbouring mountains and forests afforded him venison and game of all kinds, and his own flocks and heards boucherie meat at command. Round this chateau at different distances were the seats and habitations of his friends and followers, who respected and rever’d him as their common father; with pleasure they received his commands, which from the ties of affection and from a personal esteem they obeyed as a duty. In points of property his decisions were acquiesced in with chearfullness; he was the arbiter of their differences, the reconciler of their animosities, nor was there any one marriage or a death-bed settlement believed valid without his approbation.

About five miles to the south-westward of his chateau commenc’d his forrest of Benalder, plentifully stock’d with dear—red—hares, moorfoul, and other game of all kinds, beside which it affords fine pasture for his numberous flocks and heards. There also he keeps a harras of some hundred mares, all which after the fatal day of Culoden became the pray of his enemies. It contains an extent of many mountains and small valleys, in all computed about 1 2 miles long east and west, and from 8 to 10 miles in breadth, without a single house in the whole excepting the necessary lodges for the shepherds who were charg’d with his flocks. It was in this forrest where the Prince found Cluny with Locheill in his wounds and other friends under his care. Cluny observed on this occasion an instance of the Prince’s never-failing prudent caution and presence of mind. Lord Locheill, he, and the others advanced to receive him in the respectfull manner justly due his Royal Highness; “ My dear Locheill,” says he immediately, “ no ill-plac’d ceremony at present I beg of you, for it is hard to say who may at this moment eye us from these surrounding mountains.”

How soon the joy conceived on seeing the Prince in safety and in health gave room for cooler reflections. Cluny became anxious about his future health and safety. He was afraid that his constitution might not suit with lying on the ground or in caves, so was solicitous to contrive a more comfortable habitation 'for him upon the south front of one of these mountains, overlooking a beautifull lake of 12 miles long. He observed a thicket of hollywood; he went, viewed, and found it fit for his purpose 3 he caused immediately wave the thicket round with boughs, made a first and second floor in it, and covered it with moss to defend the rain. The uper room serv’d for salle a manger and bed-chamber, while the lower serv’d for a cave to contain liquors and other necessaries3 at the back part was a proper hearth for cook and baiker, and the face of the mountain had so much the colour and resemblance of smock, no person cou’d ever discover that there was either fire or habitation in the place. Round this lodge were placed their sentinels at proper stations, some nearer and some at greater distances, who dayly brought them notice of what happened in the country, and even in the enemie’s camps, bringing them likewise the necessary provisions, while a neighbouring fountain supplied the society with the rural refreshment of pure rock water. As, therefore, an oak-tree is to this day rever’d in Brittain for having happily sav’d the grand-uncle, Charles the Second, from the pursuits of Cromwell, so this holly thicket will probablie in future times be likeways rever’d for having saved Prince Charles the nephew from the still more dangerous pursuits of Cumberland, who show’d himself on all occasions a much more inveterate enemy. In this romantick humble habitation the Prince dwelt. When news of the ships being arrived reached him, Cluny convoyed him to them with joy, happy in having so safely plac’d so valuable a charge3 then return’d with contentment, alone to commence his pilgrimage, which continued for nine years more. And now notwithstanding the very great difference of his present situation and circumstances to what they once were, he is always gay and chearfull3 consious of having done his duty, he defys fortune to make him express his mind unhappy, or so much as make him think of any action below his honour.

This not being intended as a historie of the Prince’s expedition, the small beginning it arose from, the two surprising battles he gain’d, the taking the city of Edinburgh, capitale of Scotland, the taking the city and citadale of Carlisle, those of Inverness, and Fort-Augustus, besides many oyr smaller advantages, and marching on foot from the north parts of Scotland carrying all before him to the city of Derby, a short way of London, where he made the Ministrie and Government tremble, the publick funds fall, for non wou’d buy them, the Bank of England stop payments, and his rival shake upon the throne, in so much that terror seis’d the whole and shipping was prepared to carry the Prince and Princess of Wales with their young family to Hanover, and kept the field for near nine months against all the powers of Great Brittain, which was assisted even by a considerable foreign force both of Hessians and Hollanders, while he was supported only by so few that at no time his army exceeded six thousand men ; and money, the sinnows of war, was even wanting to pay these, while at sametime his rival had the whole treasure of England at command. Glorious as these facts are, both for the Prince and those who assisted him in performing them, I shall leave them to some other hand who is better provided in materials, so shall only mention one action in which Mons. de Cluny and his tribe haveing been the only performers, and being a remarkable instance of what the Highlanders are capable off, sufficiently answers my present purpose.

In the Prince’s return from Derby back towards Scotland, my Lord George Murray, lieutenant-general, chearfully charg’d himself with the command of the rear, a post which, altho’ honourable, was attended with great danger, many difficulties, and no small fatigue; for the Prince being apprehensive that his retreat to Scotland might be cut off by Marischal Wade, who lay to the northward of him with an armie much supperiour to what H.R.H. had, while the Duke of Cumberland, with his whole cavalrie, followed hard in the rear, was obliged to hasten his marches. It was not therefore possible for the artillerie to march so fast as the Prince’s army in the depth of winter, extremely bad weather and the worst roads in England, so mi Lord George was obliged often to continue his marches long after it was dark almost every night, while at the same time he had frequent allarms and disturbances from the Duke of Cumberland’s advanc’d parties. Towards the evening of the 28th December 1745 the Prince entered the town of Penrith, in the province of Cumberland. But as Lord George Murray could not bring up the artilrie so fast as he wou’d have wished, was obliged to pass the night six miles short of that town together with the regiment of Mons. MacDonel, Baron de Glengarrie, which that day happened to have the arrear gaurd. The Prince, in order to refresh his army, and to give mi Lord George and the artilerie time to come up, resolved a sejour the 29th at Penrith, so ordered his little army to appear in the morning under arms, in order to be reviewed, and to know in what manner the numbers stood from his having entered England. It did not at that time amount to 5000 foot in all, with about 400 cavalrie compos’d of the noblesse, who serv’d as volunteers; part of whom formed a first troop of guards for the Prince, under the command of mi Lord Elchoe, now Comte de Weems, who being proscribed is presently in France. Another part formed a second troup of gaurds, under the command of mi Lord Balmirino who was beheaded at the Tower of London. A third part serv’d under mi Lord le Comte de Kilmarnock, who was likeways beheaded at the Tower. A fourth part served under mi Lord Pitsligo, who is also proscribed; which cavalrie, tho’ very few in numbers, being all noblesse, were very brave, and of infinite advantage to the foot, not only in the day of battle, but in serving as advanced gaurds on the several marches, and in patrolling dureing the night on the different roads which led towards the towns where the army happened to quarter. While this small army was out in a body on the 29th December upon a rising ground to the northward of Penrith passing review, Mons. de Cluny, with his tribe, were ordered to the Bridge of Clifton, about a mile to the southward of Penrith, where, after haveing pass’d in review before Mons. Pattullo, who was charged with the inspection of the troops, and was likeways quartermaster-general of the army, and is now in France, they remained under arms waiting the arrival of mi Lord George Murray with the artilirie, whom Mons. de Cluny had orders to cover in passing the bridge. They arrived about sunsett, closely pursued by the Duke of Cumberland with the whole body of his cavalrie, reckoned upwards of 3000 strong, about a thousand of whom, as near as might be computed, dismounted in order to cut off the passage of the artillirie towards the bridge, while the Duke and the others remained on horseback in order to attack the rear; mi Lord George Murray advanced, and altho’ he found Mons. de Cluny and his tribe in good spirits under arms, yet the circumstance appeared extremely delicate. The numbers were vastly unequall, and the attack seem’d very dangerous, so mi Lord George declined giving orders to such time as he ask’d Mons. de Cluny’s oppinion. “I will attack them with all my heart,” says Mons. de Cluny, “if you order me,” “I do order it then,” answered mi Lord George, and immediately went on himself along with Mons. de Cluny, and fought sword in hand on foot at the head of the single tribe of Macphersons. They in a moment made their way through a strong hedge of thorns under the cover whereof the cavalrie had taken their station ; in the struggle of passing which hedge mi Lord George Murray, being dress en Montagnard, as all the army were, lost his bonet and wig, so continued to fight bareheaded during the action. They at first made a brisk discharge of their firearms on the enemy, then attacked them with their sabres, and made a great slaughter a considerable time, which obliged Cumberland and his cavalrie to fly with precipitation, and in great confusion, in so much that if the Prince had been provided in a sufficient number of cavalrie to have taken advantage of the disorder, it is beyond question that the Duke of Cumberland and the bulk of his cavalrie had been taken prisoners. By this time it was so dark that it was not possible to view or number the slain who filled all the ditches which happened be on the ground where they stood, but it was computed that, besides those who went off wounded, upwards of a hundred at least were left on the spot, among whom was Colonel Honywood, who commanded the dismounted cavalrie, whose sabre, of considerable value, Mons. de Cluny brought off, and still preserves, and his tribe likewise brought off many arms; the colonel was afterwards taken up, and his wounds being dress’d, with great difficultie recovered. Mons. de Cluny lost only in the action men, of whom haveing been only wounded, fell afterwards into the hands of the enemy, and were sent as slaves to America, whence severals of them returned, and one of them is now a sergeant in the regiment of Royal Scots. Here soon the accounts of the enemie’s approach had reach’d the Prince. H.R.H. had immediately ordered mi Lord le Comte de Nairne, Brigadier, who, being proscribed, is now in France, with the three batalions of the Duke of Athol, the batalion of the Duke of Perth, and some other troups under his command, in order to support Cluny, and bring off the artilirie. But the action was entirely over before the Comte de Nairn with his command cou’d reach nigh to the place. They therefore return’d all to Penrith, and the artilirie march’d up in good order. Nor did the Duke of Cumberland ever afterwards dare to come within a day’s march of the Prince and his army during the course of all that retreat, which was conducted with great prudence and safety when in some manner surrounded by enemies.

Altho’ the Prince, however, acted wonders which astonished all Europe, and thereby had drawen against him the whole British troups from their campagnes in Flanders, also the Hessians and Hollanders above-mentioned, yet it was not possible for him to resist so great a force with his small army, and whom he had not even money to pay, nor sufficient arms to put in their hands, neither was he supported by any foreign troups, excepting a very few from France, which joined him towards the end of the expedition—viz., the batalion of Royal Scots commanded by mi Lord John Drummond, which did not consist of full five hundred men, and which, haveing been form’d only that season, cou’d scarce be so good as his own militia, or at least no better, and a few picquetts from the Irish brigade, many of whom had been intercepted and taken prisoners by the British fleet in their passage. So it need be no surprise that the fatal day of Culloden put a period to the whole, and obliged every single man to shift in the best manner he cou’d for himself.

Mr Macpherson, Baron of Cluny, a Scotsman, Chief of the clan of his name, is so bold as to implore the king’s favours, beseeching him to vouchsafe to hear the relation of what he has done and what he has suffered in the sight, and to the knowledge of all those of his nation.

He received from his predecessors an inviolable attachment to the Royal house of Stewart, and having despis’d very advantageous offers which were made him by the Government for himself, his family, and his clan, before Prince Edward’s arrivall in Scotland in 1745, he took arms and accompanied him at the head of his clan during all his expedition.

His R.H., who had advanc’d the length of Derby, within thirty leagues of London, having at that time General Wade behind him in the County of York, and the Duke of Cumberland coming down to meet him, both with forces infinitely superior to his, was oblig’d to retire. This Duke pursued him with all his cavalry, and had overtaken his rear guard at Clifton, when the Baron of Cluny fell in upon him sword in hand at the head of his Highlanders and entirely routed him, which was the Preservation of the Prince’s army, and enabled him to make a safe retrait into Scotland.

After the unfortunate day of Culloden, the 27th Aprill 1746, which was so fatall to the just hopes of the Prince, the Baron of Cluny retired to his mountains of Badenoich, from the top of which he soon had the displeasure to see his country cruelly ravaged, the houses of his kindred and vassals reduced to ashes, their effects and their cattle plundered and carried off, the castle of his predecessors totally committed to the flames.

His wife, and children in the cradle, were reduced to wander from cottage to cottage, scarcely finding a place to shelter themselves from the injurie of the weather, his aged father, venerable and respected throughout the whole country, soon sunk under the weight of so many misfortunes, and he was deprived of this so valuable a comforter in his adversities.

His R.H. had wandered a long time in the mountains and desarts of the western isles of Scotland, almost always alone or accompyed with some common Highlanders, without cloaths or shoes, often lacking even the most homely sub-sistance, and in continual danger of falling into the hands of his enemies. At length having got back to the continent of Scotland, he with much difficulty in the month of August joined the Baron of Cluny in his Badenoch hills. He found there at least the necessaries that he had for a long time stood in need of, and especially a secure azilum into a hutt of water willows which was made up for him, and where he stayed several weeks in so great secrecy that he was suppos’d to be at the same time eighty miles from thence, and where the soldiers made the most diligent searches for his person.

The Baron of Cluny form’d even then a plan by which his R.H. might be kept in safety all winter in his mountains, secure from being surpris’d by those who sought after him, and having propos’d it to him, he answered, in a tone which denoted his satisfaction, that he reserv’d that for his last resource.

Happyly it was not necessary; the Prince got intelligence that two French ships were arrived upon the coast for to transport him, whereupon the Baron of Cluny sent immediately to advertize the Prince’s scattered partisans, such as my Lord Locheill, Colonel Cameron, his brother, and other gentlemen of note, that he had concealed amongst his kinsmen in divers places of his mountains in eighteen or twenty miles round. He got them together again about his R.H. in 24 hours time, and having provided himself with provisions and guides, he accompany him on foot for the space of sixty miles—that is to say, near to sixty leagues French— to the place of his embarkation, the 30th September 1746.

He himself would have wished to attend his R.H. into France, but he commanded him to stay in Scotland, and to wait there till he shou’d hear from him ; he obeyed his commands, altho’ he foresaw all the dangers and inconveniences to which he exposed himself, and he return’d to his Badenoch mountains.

About a year after his R.H. found means to send him word to remain still in Scotland untill he himself shou’d write to him; that in the meantime, for to help to support himself and his family till he could procure him a more suitable situation, he had caused him to be appointed lieut.-colonel of his cousin my Lord Lochiel’s regiment in France, which salary shou’d be punctually payed him.

He remained then exposed, both he and his family, to the most horrid miseries, in perpetual danger of falling into the hands of the troups, of whom there were many detachments night and day in search of him, with positive orders to bring him in dead or alive, and great rewards were promised to any one who shou’d discover the place of his retreat, and at length finding no other means to make themselves easie in regard to him, the officiers of the troups caused proposals of accommodation to be conveyed him, which his loyalty made him always reject with disdain.

He lived wandering in the mountains, lying in the woods, in the caves, and in the rocks, amongst the wild beasts his fellow inhabitants of those savage places, receiving provisions by some of the most affectionate of his own clan, who found means in the night from time to time to steal away from the soldiers to succour; he struggled thus for nine years consecutively without almost ever setting his foot within a house, without fire, in the hard winters in the north of Scotland, not changing his place of refuge, but in the night time, and always afoot, it being impossible to conceal a horse in his places of retreat, during which time his wife dayly suffered all sorts of hard usage and reproaches from the troups.

Perhaps it will be thought that this recital is exaggerated; nevertheless, his fellow countrymen, and even his enemies, know that it comes much short of what he really suffered, and the extraordinary accidents that he has escaped in the course of these nine years wou’d be subject for a whole volum. There is perhaps no example to be found of a man who has been able to remain so long in a country in spite of all the means that a powerfull and incensed Government cou’d employ for to catch him, and at the same time always in a capacity of rendering important services to his R.H. if the occasion had offered.

In the autumn of 1752, Colonel Archibald Cameron, who was executed at London the year after, and Mr MacDonell of Lochgarry, now lieut.-colonel of my Lord Ogilvie’s regiment, arrived secretely in Scotland charg’d with particular orders from his R.H. directed positively to the Baron of Cluny, by which he recommended to him over again to remain in Scotland.

At length, in the month of May 1755, he received a letter from his R.H., wherein he signified to him his concern for the dangers and sufferings to which he had expos’d him for so many years, and enjoined him to take all imaginable measures and precautions for to endeavour to escape and get into France; he complyed with his orders; found the means to arrive here in the month of June.

But at his arrivall he found that his long absence had made him lose the small resource that his Royall Highnous’ bounty had procured for him in this country. The Albany regiment, which was supposed to have been kept on foot, both in time of peace and war, by the capitulation granted to my Lord Lochiel at Fontainebleau the 30th October 1747, had been reform’d after the death of the said lord; and perhaps his Majesty might have kept it up for his family if the Baron of Cluny, his cousin germain, had not then happened to be absent, conform to the Prince’s orders, and at the continual peril of his head in Scotland, and consequently at too great a distance, and perhaps unknown to this Court, for to represent their misfortunes and their services. The king, indeed, granted a pension to my Lady Locheil, and to her children, but nothing to the baron of Clunie’s lady or children, of whom there was no mention made by anybody.

He hoped at least, as his R.H. had assured him, to be entirely clear’d off for the bygones of his appointments as lieut.-colonel a la suite of the Royal Scots. Notwithstanding, and after having followed the Court for nine months, at the end of which all the favour he obtained was a gratification of six thousand livres, the most part of which he could not but have spent beforehand, and that perhaps after what he had lost, and what he had suffered, he might have expected to receive from the king’s bounty, independent of his bygone appointments, what his Majestie had been pleased to grant to almost all those who had served in his R.H. expedition; he therefore flatters himself his Majesty will not despise his singular misfortunes.

He is personally outlawed; and having entirely lost all the lands and possessions that he had of his ancestors, he has no other resource but in his Majestie’s bounty, his salary as lieut.-colonel reform’d being too small and insufficient to subsist him and his family.

The foresaid detachments were continued in the manner formerly mentioned amongst his kinsmen and vassals after the Government knew that the Baron of Cluny was in France, ravaging them with the utmost cruelty and eagerness ; being more exasperated against him than any other of his R. H. party, and being bitterly stung that after having dar’d them so very long he has at last been able to escape them. In revenge of which they so inveterately harass’d and persecuted his wife that she was forced to apply to the most affectionate of her friends, by whose assistance she has found means to get out of their hands, and arrived with her family at Dunkerque in May 1757.

She deserves some attention on her own account, if there is any granted to the memorie of those who have been martyrs of their loyaltie, she being only daughter to the late Lord Lovat, beheaded in the tower of London in the year 1746. So she is in the singular case of seeing her father’s family, and her husband’s both ruined for one and the same cause, and nobody of her name, nor of her clan, no more than of the Baron of Cluny’s, have since these sorrowful adventures sued for any favour at his Majestie’s hands.

Note.—From the terms of the following letter in the Cluny Charter-Chest, addressed to Cluny of the ’45 by Mr 'James Edgar, “Secretary to the Chevalier de St George,” it would appear Cluny’s Petition or Memorial to the Court of France was quite unavailing :—

Rome, Dccemr. 12th 1758.

Sr,—The King commands me to acknowlege the receipt of your letter to him of the 2d Noveinr., and of a Memorial inclosed in it, and, in making you a kind compliment in his name, to let you know in return that, being well acquainted with your merit and sufferings, he would be very glad did he think he could obtain for you at present, by his good offices at the Court of France, such a pension as you want, but M. is much affraycd that they would have no effect at this time when the affairs of their Finances are in so bad a condition. As M., however, would willingly befriend you in this particular, he would take it into his consideration, and if anything can be done in it in your behalf I shall do myself the honour to inform you of it. I beg you would do me the justice to be well persuaded that I shall be always glad of occasions where I can serve you, and where I can, and that I am with great respect, Sr> your most obedient and most humble Servant,

(Signed) James Edgar.

LETTER INTIMATING THE DEATH OF CLUNY OF THE ’45 AT DUNKIRK ON 30TH January 1764, and his Burial in the Garden of the Carmelites

THERE.

From the Cluny Charter-Chest.

Note.—The following letter communicating particulars of the closing scene in the life of the brave and devoted Chief—worn out by his terrible sufferings in the cause of “the hapless Stuart line,” and “sick unto death” of the long and weary exile from his native hills—is very touching, indicating, as it does, his dying solicitude for his wife and daughter, and his anxiety as to the payment of any debts he might be owing at Dunkirk. The letter is addressed to “Archibald Campbell Frazer, Esqre-’ Craven Street, London,” of the family of Abertarff, and an intimate friend of the Cluny family. The letter was found among the Abertarff papers, and transmitted by the late Mr Fraser of Abertarff to “Old Cluny” (the father of the present Chief), on 12th June 1869, “to remain, where it should be, at Cluny Castle:”—

Dunkerque, 3\stjanry. 1764.

Dear Sir,—Ever since I wrote you last, your frind Cluny has been gradually declining, till, quite attenuated, he at lenth breathed his last yesterday morning between 8 and 9 o’clock. Some days before his death he sent for Mr Haliburton, Mr Blair, and me, and recommended his Lady and Daughter to our care, begging

as his last request that we would send them over to London, as soon as could decently be done after his decease, and that we should, after their departure, dispose of the Houshold furniture in order to pay any debts he may be owing on this side. The lady' seems resolved to follow this injunction, and will probably set out in about 14/d. hence, but shall let you know more exactly when once the time is settled. 1 need not diseribe to you how disconsolate both she and her daughter are upon this melancholy occasion. I regret ’tis not in my power to be of such use to them as I could wish, being still confined with my legg, but both Mr Haliburton and Mr Blair are acting the part of reall friends towards them. The Corps is to be hurried this evening in a private manner in the Garden of the Carmelites, which the Lady prefers to a Publiek buriall attended with the honours of War. Be assured nothing in my power shall be wanting to assist your distressed frinds, and that I am with great Sincerity, Dear Sir, your most obedt. and humb. Servt., (Signed) David Gregorie.

THE CLAN CHATTAN.

From Skene’s ‘Highlanders of Scotland,’ published in 1837.

When the almost universal extinction of the Highland earls threw the Highland clans into the independent and disunited state in which they latterly existed, we find few of them in possession of such extensive territories as the clan Chattan. The whole of Badenoch, with greater part of Lochaber, and the districts of Strathnairn and Strathdearn, were inhabited by the various septs of this clan, and previous to the grant made to Cornyn these districts were held of the crown by the chief of the clan.

From the earliest period, this clan has been divided into two great branches, respectively following as leaders Macpherson of Cluny and Macintosh of Macintosh, both of whom claim the chiefship of the whole tribe. The descent of the former family from the old chiefs of the clan, has never been doubted, but the latter family has hitherto considered itself as possessing a different descent from the rest of the clan Chattan. The earl of Fife, of the name of Macduff, is claimed as its ancestor, alleging that the chiefship of the clan Chattan was obtained about the end of the thirteenth century by marriage with Eva, the daughter and heiress of Gillepatrick, the son of Dugall dall, son of Gillichattan, the chief of the clan.

But independently of the manifest unlikelihood of a tale so clearly opposed to the Highland principles of succession and clanship, the mere fact of this family styling themselves captains of the clan, claiming a foreign origin, and asserting a marriage with the heiress of its chief, leads to the strong presumption that they were the oldest cadets of the clan by whom the chiefship had been usurped, while the manuscript of 1450 puts it beyond doubt that this story is not only an invention, but one subsequent to the date of the MS., and that the Macintoshes are as radically a branch of the clan Chattan as the Macphersons; for that invaluable record of Highland genealogies deduces the Macphersons and the Macintoshes from two brothers, sons of Gillecattan Mor, the great founder of the clan Chattan. That there has long existed a keen dispute with regard to the chiefship of the clan Chattan between the Macphersons and Macintoshes is certain, and while the Macphersons have hitherto rested their claims upon tradition alone, the Macintoshes have triumphantly brought forward charters and documents of every description in support of their alleged title. But the case is now altered, and the investigations which we have made into the history of the tribe of Moray, as well as into the history and nature of Highland tradition, show that the fact of the Macphersons being the lineal and feudal representatives of the ancient chiefs of clan Chattan rests upon historic authority, and that they possess that right by blood to the chiefship, of which no charters from the crown, and no usurpation, however successful and continued, can deprive them.

The MS. of 1450 puts it beyond all doubt that the Macphersons and the Macintoshes are descended from Neachtan and Neill, the two sons of Gillechattan Mor, the founder of the race; while the title of captain, the assertion of a foreign origin, and of a marriage with the heiress of the former chiefs, as certainly point out that the Macintoshes were a usurping branch, and that the Macphersons, whose descent from the old chiefs is not denied, alone possessed the right of blood to that hereditary dignity. The history of the earls of Moray is equally conclusive that the descendants of Neachtan, from whom the Macphersons deduce their origin, were the eldest branch and chiefs of the clan. The son of Neachtan is Head, or Heth, and although he married the sister of the last Maormor of Moray, yet that in his own person he possessed a right to the earldom, independently of his marriage, appears from the fact that he must have succeeded in 1085, before the title of earl or the feudal succession was introduced. His grandson, by his eldest son Angus, was Malcolm Macheth, whose title to the earldom, and consequently to the chiefship of his clan, was acknowledged by all the Gaelic part of the population of Scotland, and even by the Norwegian earl of Orkney, while his grandson by his younger son Suibne, was Muirich, from whom the Macphersons take their name of the clan Vuirich. On the death of the last descendant of Angus, his claims were taken up by Gillespie, and as he unquestionably possessed the districts of Badenoch and Lochaber before the feudal barons acquired possession of it, he must have been chief of the clan Chattan, the ancient possessors of these districts. This is singularly corroborated by the fact that the oldest traditions styled Gillichattan, the grandfather of Gillipatrick, whose daughter is said to have married Macintosh,

Alexander Mackenzie of Inverness, the editor of ‘ The Celtic Magazine ’ and of ‘ The Scottish Highlander,’ so well known as the author of so many clan histories, and intimately conversant with the subject, gives similar testimony. “There has been,” he says, “a long and warm controversy between the Chiefs of Mackintosh and the Chiefs of Macpherson, and others interested in them, regarding the Chiefship of the great Clan Chattan, with the result that it is allowed by all disinterested parties that Cluny is undoubtedly the Chief and male heir of that powerful and numerous clan, while the Mackintoshes were for centuries its actual leaders or 1 Captains,’ in virtue of the marriage of Angus Mackintosh, sixth Chief of that Ilk, with Eva, daughter and only child of Dugall Dali, the undoubted and acknowledged Chief of Clan Chattan in his day. There are various instances in Highland history where the husband of the heiress of the Chief became the leader or ‘ Captain ’ of the clan, but we are not acquainted with a single instance where the Chiefship descended through a female.”— Vide ‘Celtic Magazine.’ iii. 1878, 202.

For Skene’s latest views as to the descent of the Mackintoshes, see his ‘ Celtic Scotland,’ vol. iii., second edition, 1S90, pp. 356-358.

MacGillespic, or son of Gillespie, while he must have lived at that very time. Gillespie was certainly not a descendant of Angus, Earl of Moray, but his claim to the earldom proves that he must have been a descendant of Head. The identity of the Machcth family with the ehiefs of the clan Chattan is therefore clearly established, and at the same time the descent of the clan Vuirich or Mac-phcrsons from these chiefs is proved by the MS. of 1450.

This statement, supported as it is by the MS., and by documentary evidence of an antiquity far greater than any which the Macintoshes can produce, at once establishes the hereditary title of the Macphersons of Cluny to the chiefship of clan Chattan, and that of the Macintoshes to their original position of oldest eadets of the clan.

The circumstances which led to the establishment of the Macintoshes as captains of clan Chattan can likewise be traced, and tend still more strongly to confirm the position which has been adopted.

As the whole territory of Moray was at this period in the possession of different Lowland barons, in virtue of their feudal rights only, we know but little of the history of the various clans inhabiting that district till the fourteenth century; nevertheless, it is certain that the clan Chattan, with its different clans, continued to acknowledge the rule of one common chief as late as that period, for the historian, John Major, after mentioning that the two tribes of the clan Chattan and clan Cameron had deserted Alexander of the Isles after his defeat by King James I., in the year 1429, adds, “These two tribes are of the same stock, and followed one head of their race as chief.” From other sourees we know that these clans were at this time separate from each other, and were actually engaged in mutual hostilities. But, notwithstanding, the passage distinctly proves that these clans had very shortly before followed one chief as head of their respective raees.

It appears, therefore, that some event must have oecurred about this time to oceasion disunion among the different branches of the clan, and it is impossible to avoid being struck with the remarkable coincidence in point of time between this rupture and the singular conflict between the chosen ehampions of the two clans upon the North Inch of Perth in the year 1396, which the works of Sir Walter Scott have recently made so generally familiar, but which has nevertheless baffled every enquirer into its cause or as to the lineage of its actors.

According to the oldest authorities, the names of these clans were clan Yha and the clan Quhele, not the clan Kay and the clan Chattan, as they have generally been called. At the end of the contest it was found that only one of the clan Yha had survived, while eleven of the clan Quhele were still existing although severely wounded, upon which it was determined by the king that the clan Quhele were the victors. Now there are but three clans in which any tradition of this conflict is to be found, that of the Camerons, the Macphersons, and the Macintoshes, and it is obvious that the memory of so remarkable a circumstance could never have been suffered to escape the enduring character of Highland tradition. The circumstance which attended the conflict, however, clearly indicate the Macphersons and Macintoshes as the actors. From the brief but contemporary accounts which have reached us, we can only learn two facts connected with its cause : first, that the dispute had broken out very shortly before; and secondly, that the singular mode of determining it was carried into effect by Sir David Lindsay and the earl of Moray. In ascertaining who the clans were who were engaged in this conflict, we must therefore look for some change in their situation immediately before the conflict, and for some especial connexion with the two noblemen who were principally interested in it. These are to be found in the clan Chattan only; for first, by the death of the Wolfe of Badenoch, in 1394, that district, which was nearly equally inhabited by the Macphersons and the Macintoshes came into the crown, and thus those clans were suddenly relieved, but two years before the conflict, from the oppressive Government of that ferocious baron; and the attention of the clan would be at once turned from the necessity of defending themselves from the tyranny of their feudal superior, to their own dissensions, which, if such existed among them, would then break out; and secondly, it so happens that at that very period the remaining possessions of these two families were held of these two barons as their feudal superiors, the Macphersons holding the greater part of Strathnairn under Sir David Lindsay, and the Macintoshes being vassals of the earl of Moray, in Strathdearn. Every circumstance, therefore, leads us to suppose the Macphersons and Macintoshes to have been the parties engaged in that celebrated conflict. Soon after this period the chief of the Macintoshes assumes the title of Captain of clan Chattan, but the Macphersons have always resisted that claim of precedence, and at this period also the Camerons seem to have separated from the clan Chattan. I am inclined to assume from these circumstances that the Macintoshes were the clan Quhele. In the MS. of 1450 the Macphersons are stated to be descended of a son of Heth, and brother of Angus, earl of Moray, and it will be observed that the name Heth is a corruption of the same Gaelic name which has been changed by these historians to Yha. Clan Heth must have been the most ancient name of the Macphersons, and it follows that they were the clan Yha of the conflict. The leader of the clan Yha is styled by the old authorities Sha Fercharson, that of the clan Quhele Gilchrist Johnsone, and in the old MS. histories of the Macintoshes we find Gilchrist Mac Jan, at the period, while according to the MS. of 1450, the chief of the Macphersons was Shaw, and his great - grandfather’s name is Ferchar, from whom he probably took the patronymic of Fercharson. From all this we may reasonably deduce, that previous to the fifteenth century the various tribes forming the clan Chattan obeyed the rule of one chief, the lineal descendant and representative of Gillecattan Mor, the founder of the clan Chattan; that in consequence of the rebellion of Gillespie, then chief of that race, territories of the principal branch were forfeited and given to the Comyn, and consequently that the family of the chief gradually sunk in power while that of the oldest cadet of the clan,— i.e., Mackintosh, who was in consequence, after the chief, the most powerful, and whose principal lands were held under the easy tenure of the bishop of Moray and the good earl of Moray—gradually rose in power, until at length they claimed the ehiefship, and from this cause arose the first disunion among the branches of this extensive tribe.

They became divided into distinct factions; on the one side there was ranged the Macphersons and their dependants, together with the Camerons; on the other side were the Macintoshes, with the numerous families who had sprung from that branch of the Clan Chattan; and they were about to settle their difference by open war when the interference of Sir David Lindsay and the earl of Moray produced the extraordinary conflict which resulted in the defeat of the faction adhering to the family of the ancient chiefs, and to the establishment of the Macintoshes as captains of clan Chattan.

In this manner the Macintoshes became the de facto chiefs of the clan, and consequently acquired the title of Captain, a title which at once indicates the absence of any right by blood to the chiefship, and from this very circumstance is their name derived; Toshoch being unquestionably the title anciently applied to the oldest cadets of the different clans, and having no connexion whatever with the Saxon title of Thane, as has generally been asserted.

The conflict by which they finally established themselves in the power and dignity of head of the clan Chattan took place in 1396. From this period until the latter part of the sixteenth century, they remained as leader of the clan, willingly followed by the cadets of their own house, and exacting obedience from the other branches of the clan, often refused, and only given when they were in no condition to resist. Soon after this period they appear to have become dependent upon the Lords of the Isles, and to have followed them in all their expeditions.

The first of the Macintoshes who appears in the records is Malcolm Macintosh, who obtained from the Lord of the Isles in 1447 a grant of the office of baillie or steward of the lordship of Lochaber, and the same office was given to his son, Duncan Macintosh, in 1466, along with the lands of Keppoch and others in Lochaber.

It is probable that he likewise obtained from the same lord that part of Loch-abcr lying between Keppoch and Lochaber, for on the forfeiture of the lord of the Isles in 1475 he obtained a charter from James III.: “Duncano Macintosh, capitano de clan Chattan, terrarum de Moymore, Fern, Chamglassen, Stroneroy, Auchen-heroy, &c.,” dated 4th July 1476; and afterwards, in 1493, he obtained a charter from James IV., “terrarum de Keppoch, Innerorgan, &c., cum officio Ballivatus earundem.”

Macintosh having probably rendered the government considerable assistance on that occasion, these grants were the cause of long and bitter feuds between the Macintoshes and the Camerons and the Macdonalds of Keppoch, the actual occupiers of the land.

From this period may be dated the commencement of the rise of the Macintoshes to the great influence and consideration which they afterwards possessed. Two causes, however, combined to render their progress to power slow and difficult, and at times even to reduce the clan to considerable apparent difficulties. These causes were, first, the dissensions among the Macintoshes themselves ; and secondly, the continued feud which they had with Huntly in consequence of their strict adherence to the earl of Moray. The dissensions in the clan commenced in the early part of the sixteenth century, with the accession of William Macintosh of Dunachton to the chiefship. His title to that dignity appears to have been opposed by John Roy Macintosh, the head of another branch of the family; and after having in vain attempted to wrest the chiefship by force from William, John Roy at length murdered him at Inverness in the year 1515. The perpetrator of this treacherous deed did not, however, attain his object, for having been closely pursued by the followers of William Macintosh, he was overtaken at Glenesk and slain, while Lachlan, the brother of the murdered chief, was placed in possession of the Government of the clan. But Lachlan was doomed to experience the same fate as his brother, for, according to Lesly, “sum wicked persones being impatient of vertuous leving, stirrit up ane of his awn principal kynnesmen, callit James Malcolmsone, quha cruellie and treasonablie slew his said chief.” On Lachlan’s death his son was under age, and therefore the clan, in accordance with the ancient system of succession, chose Hector, a bastard brother, to be their chief.

The earl of Moray, who was the young chief’s uncle, became alarmed for his safety, and in order to secure him against his brother’s ambition, he carried him off to be brought up by his mother’s relations. But Hector was determined to repossess himself of the person of the young heir, and with that view invaded the lands of the earl of Moray at the head of the clan; he besieged the castle of Petty, which he took, and put the Ogilvies, to whom it belonged, to the sword. Upon this the earl obtained a commission from the king, and having raised his retainers, he attacked the Macintoshes and seized 300 of them, whom he instantly executed. Hector escaped and fled to the king, to whom he surrendered himself, and received from him a remission of his former offences, but he was soon after slain in St Andrew’s; and the young heir, William Macintosh, after having been brought up by the earl of Moray, was put in possession of his inheritance.

According to Leslie, “William wes sua well braught up be the meanes of the earl of Murray and the laird of Phindlater in vertue, honestie, and civil policye, that after he had received the government of his countrie, he was a mirrour of vertue to all the Heiland Captains in Scotland; bot fortune did envye his felicite, and the wicket practises of the dissoluit lives of his awne kin sufferit him nocht to remaine long amang them; but the same factious companie that raise againis his fader wes the cause of his destructionne.”

Soon after the accession of William Macintosh to the chiefship, the feud between the Macintoshes and the earls of Huntly commenced, and it appears to have been instigated by the acts of Lachlan Macintosh, the son of the murderer of the last chief, who had heen received into favour, but who was still bent on the destruction of the family of the chief. But however the feud may have originated, a subject upon which the accounts given in the different families are much at variance, it would appear that Macintosh commenced the hostilities by surprising and burning the castle of Auchindoun. Huntly immediately moved against the clan, with all the retainers which his extensive territories could furnish, and a fierce, though short struggle ensued, in which any clan less powerful than the Macintoshes would have been completely crushed; as it was, Macintosh found himself so unequal to sustain the conflict, that despairing of obtaining any mercy from Huntly, he determined to apply to his lady, and for that purpose presented himself before her at a time when Huntly was absent and surrendered himself to her will. The marchioness, however, was as inexorable as her husband could have been, and no sooner saw Macintosh within her power than she caused his head to be struck off.

The death of William Macintosh occasioned 110 further loss to the clan, but, 011 the contrary, relieved them from the continuance of the prosecution of the feud with Huntly; for that nobleman found himself immediately opposed by so strong a party of the nobility who were related to Macintosh that he was obliged to cease from farther hostilities against them, and also to place the son of the murdered chief in possession of the whole of his father’s territories. The government afterwards found the advantage of restoring Macintosh to his patrimony, and preserving so powerful an opponent to Huntly in the north; for when the queen nearly fell into Huntly’s hands at Inverness in 1562, when that ambitious nobleman wished to compel her majesty to marry his second son, John Gordon of Findlater, the timely assistance of Macintosh assisted in defeating this plan. Soon after this the feud between Huntly and Macintosh once more broke out, and this circumstance was the cause of the final separation of the Macphersons from the Macintoshes, and the loud assertion by the former of their right to the chiefship, which they have ever since maintained; for Huntly, unable to meet the united force of the clan Chattan, took advantage of the claims of the Macphersons to cause a division in the clan ; and in consequence of the support of this powerful nobleman the Macphersons were enabled to assert their right to the ehiefship, and to declare themselves independent of the Macintoshes, if they could not compel the latter to acknowledge them as their chief. The history of the Macphersons posterior to the unfortunate conflict on the north Inch of Perth becomes exceedingly obscure. As they hold their lands of subject superiors, we lose the assistance of the records to guide us, neither do they appear in history independently of the rest of the clan. And it is only when at a late period they began to assert their claims to the chiefship, that they again emerge from the darkness by which their previous history was obscured. Previous to this period, finding themselves in point of strength altogether unable to offer any opposition to the Macintoshes, they had yielded an unwilling submission to the head of that family, and had followed him as the leader of the clan ; but even during this period they endeavoured to give to that submission as much as might be of the character of a league, and as if their adherence was in the capacity of an ally, and not as a dependent branch of the clan. In consequence of Huntly’s support they now declared themselves independent, and refused all further obedience to the Captain of clan Chattan, as Macintosh had been styled.

In this they succeeded as long as the feud continued between Huntly and Macintosh, but when at length Huntly became reconciled to his adversary, and consequently gave up his unfortunate ally Macpherson when he could derive no farther benefit from him, the Macphersons found themselves unable to withstand Macintosh, and many of them were obliged in 1609 to sign a bond along with all the other branches of the clan Chattan acknowledging Macintosh as their chief. But the long-continued hostilities in which Macintosh soon after became engaged with the Camerons and other Lochaber clans enabled Macpherson again to separate from him; and during the whole of these wars Macintosh was obliged to accept of his assistance as of that of an ally merely, until at length in 1672 Duncan Macpherson of Cluny threw off all connexion with Macintosh, refused to acknowledge his authority as chieftain of the clan, and applied to Lyon office to have his arms matriculated as “Laird of Clunie Macphersone, and the only and true representer of the ancient and honorable familie of the clan Chattane,” which he obtained; and soon after, when the privy council required all the Highland chiefs to give security for the peaceable behaviour of their respective clans, Macpherson obtained himself bound for his clan under the designation of Lord of Cluny and chief of the Macphersons ; but his legal proceedings were not so fortunate as his resistance by arms had been, for no sooner was Macintosh aware of what had taken place, than he applied to the privy council and the Lyon office to have his own title declared, and those titles given to Macpherson recalled.

Both parties were now called upon to produce evidence of their assertions, but while Macintosh could produce deeds during a long course of years in which he was designated captain of clan Chattan, and also the unfortunate bond of Manrent which had been given in 1609, Macpherson had nothing to bring forward but tradition, and the argument arising from his representation of the ancient chiefs, which was but little understood by the feudalists of those days. The council at length gave a decision, which perhaps was as just a one as in the circumstances of the case could be expected from them. The judgment was in the following terms: “The lords of privy council, upon consideration of a petition presented by Duncan Macpherson of Cluny, and the laird of Macintosh, doe ordain McIntosh to give bond in these terms, viz.:—for those of his clan, his vassals, those descendit of his family, his men, tenants and servants, or dwelling upon his ground; and ordaine Cluny to give bond for those of his name of Macpherson descendit of his family, and his men, tenants and servants, but prejudice always to the Laird of McIntosh, bonds of relief against such of the name of Macpherson who are his vassals. (Subd) Rothes.” Upon this decision the arms were likewise recalled, and those of the Macphersons again matriculated as those of Macpherson of Cluny.

After this the Macintoshes remained in quiet possession of their hereditary territories, frequently at feud with Huntly and at other times at peace, and they appear to have constantly maintained the high station which they had acquired among the Highland clans with respect to power and extent of territory. Their feuds with the Camerons, with the accounts of which the earlier parts of their traditionary history abound, terminated by the place of that clan becoming supplied by another whose possessions in the Braes of Lochaber placed them too near to the Macintoshes to avoid collision, and their natural disposition was of too turbulent a character not to give speedy cause of feud betwixt them. This clan was that of the Macdonalds of Keppoch, and the circumstance which gave rise to the feud was this, the Macdonalds had no other right to the lands they inhabited than that of long possession, while the Macintoshes held a feudal title to the property which they had obtained from the lord of the Isles, and which had been confirmed by the crown on their forfeiture. This feud continued for several years with various success, but was finally brought to a close by the last considerable clan battle which was fought in the Highlands. Macintosh had come to the determination of making an effort to obtain something more than a mere feudal title to these lands, and with that view if possible to dispossess the Macdonalds. He accordingly raised as many of the clan as still adhered to him, notwithstanding the separation which had taken place not long before between the Macintoshes and the Macphersons, and marched towards Keppoch with the assistance of an independent company of soldiers furnished him by the Government.

On his arrival at Keppoch he found the place deserted, and he was engaged in constructing a fort in Glenroy, in order to leave a garrison behind him, believing himself secure from any opposition in the meantime, when he learnt that the Macdonalds of Keppoch had assembled together with their kindred tribes of Glengarry and Glenco, and were stationed in great numbers at a place called Mulroy for the purpose of attacking him at daybreak. Macintosh immediately resolved upon anticipating this design, and forthwith marched upon the enemy, whom he found prepared for the conflict. The Macdonalds were stationed on the upper ridge under Coll. Macdonald of Keppoch, and the Macintoshes had nearly surmounted the height of Mullroy when the battle began. The contest though fierce, and maintained with great obstinacy on both sides, was not of long duration, and ended in the defeat of the Macintoshes, the capture of their chief and the death of the commander of the independent company. 15ut the battle had not been long closed when a large body of the Macphersons, who considering that the honour of clan Chattan was compromised, had forgotten all former feelings of rivalry, suddenly appeared and prepared to assail the victors. Keppoch, although victorious, was in no condition to renew the contest with a fresh party, and he therefore agreed to surrender Macintosh to them, who accordingly had the double humiliation of having been captured by the Macdonalds, whom he despised as mere refractory tenants, and rescued by the Macphersons, whom he had treated with so little forbearance or consideration.

The Macphersons did not take any advantage of the chance which had placed Macintosh in their hands, but escorted him safely to his own estates, and from that time forward Keppoch remained undisturbed in his possessions, while the Macintoshes and Macphersons continued as separate and independent clans, the one possessing the title of captain, and the other claiming that of chief of clan Chattan; for, notwithstanding the decision of the privy council, the Macphersons have ever since maintained themselves altogether distinct from the Macintoshes, and took an active share in the insurrections of 1715 and 1745 as a separate clan, refusing to acknowledge the title of Macintosh to be either chief or captain of clan Chattan, and asserting their own preferable title. In the latter insurrection the name of Macpherson has become celebrated for the distinguished part which their chief took in that ill-fated expedition, but perhaps still more so for the conduct of the clan to their chief after the defeat of Culloden had terminated the hopes of the Stuarts, and exposed Cluny to the vengeance of the government.

There is perhaps no instance in which the attachment of the clan to their chief was so very strikingly manifested as in the case of the Macphersons of Cluny after the disaster of “ the forty-five.” The chief having been deeply engaged in that insurrection, his life became of course forfeited to the laws, but neither the hope of reward nor the fear of danger could induce any one of his people to betray him. For tiine years he lived concealed in a cave at a short distance from his own house ; it was situated in the front of a woody precipice of which the trees and shelving rocks completely concealed the entrance. This cave had been dug out by his own people, who worked by night, and conveyed the stones and rubbish into a neighbouring lake in order that no vestige of their labour might appear, and lead to the discovery of the retreat.

In this asylum he continued to live secure, receiving by night the occasional visits of his friends, and sometimes by day when time had begun to slacken the rigour of pursuit.

Upwards of one hundred persons were privy to his concealment, and a reward of one thousand pounds sterling was offered to any one who should give information against him ; and besides, as it was known that he was somewhere concealed upon his own estate, a detachment of eighty men was constantly stationed there independent of the occasional parties that traversed the country throughout with a view to intimidate his tenantry and induce them by force or persuasion to disclose the place of his concealment, but although the soldiers were animated by the hope of reward, and their officers by the promise of promotion for the apprehension of this proscribed individual, yet so true were his people, so inflexibly strict to their promise of secrecy, and so dexterous in conveying to him the necessaries he required in his long confinement, that not a trace of him could be discovered, nor an individual base enough to give a hint to his detriment. Many anecdotes are still related in the country of the narrow escapes he made in eluding the vigilance of the soldiery, and of the fidelity and diligence displayed by his clan in concealing him, until after ten years of this dreary existence he escaped to France, and there died in the following year.

After his death the estate was restored to the present family, in whose possession it remains, and who are the lineal representatives of the ancient chiefs of the clan Chattan.

Arms.—Parted per fess, or, and azure, a lymphad or galley, her sails furled, her oars in action, of the first j in the dexter chief point a hand coupee, grasping a dagger pointed upwards, gules, for killing Cummine, Lord Badenoch; in the sinister point a cross croslet, fitchee, gules.

Badge.—Boxwood.6

Principal Seat.—Strathnairn and Badenoch.

Oldest Cadet.—Macintosh of Macintosh is oldest cadet, and was captain of the clan for a period of two centuries.

Chief.—Cluny Macpherson.

Force.—In 1704, 1400; in 17 1 5, 1020; in 1745, 1700.

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MACKINTOSH AND CLUNY OF THE ’45 REGARDING THE COMMAND OF THE CLAN CHATTAN.

When Cluny of the ’45 joined the forces of Prince Charlie, the Prince nominated him to the command of the Clan Chattan. That appointment appears to have roused the jealousy of Mackintosh of the time to such an extent that on 1st October 1745 he wrote Cluny the following letter :—

Dear Sir,—As I am now fully determined to command my own people and run the same fate with them, having yesterday reced a letter from the Prince and another from the Duke of Atholl, I hope, notwithstanding of the order you have obtained from the Prince, you will not offer to meddle with any of my men, as wee are booth designed on the same errand. I am resolved to maintain the rank due to my family, and if you think proper to accept the nixt rank to me youl be very Wellcome. If you judge otherwise, act as you have a mind. But do not put me to the necessity of requiring my men of you in a more publick maner, the consequence of which may be disagreeable to booth. My kind compliments to Lady Cluny and Miss Fraser, and I am, Dear Sir, your most humble Serv7 and affectionate cousine (Signed) 7Eneas Macintosh.

Inverness, 1st October.

To that letter Cluny made a vigorous but courteous reply by way of protest. The original of that reply is in possession of Sir George Macpherson-Grant, Bart., at Ballindalloch Castle, and so far as I am aware has not hitherto been published. It is in the following terms :—

10th October 1745.

Dear Sir,—It is my intention to undertake the command of the Clan in terms of the order received from the Prince, and as the custom has been heretofore. I know nought of the respect due to your family beyond that which has been customary among the Chattans, and I know that it is not my duty to accept the rank second to you, notwithstanding the commands of Athole. The Clunies have ever held the foremost position, and I as the head of the family cannot see my way to withdraw from the customary privileges.—I wish all respect to yourself privately and also to your family, and the public manner to which you refer in the letter now under answer of resorting to the choice in public of the clan is not outwith my own ideas. I therefore send you this protest that you may not pleade ignorance when the time has arrived for a settlement. I send this letter by your own kinsman, the bearer of the letter to me.

(Signed) Evan Macpherson.

/Eneas Macintosh, Esq., Inverness.

Whether in consequence of this decisive rebuff, or, as suggested by Mr Mackintosh Shaw, of the “somewhat weak and vacillating character” of Mackintosh, the latter would appear to have subsequently considered “discretion the better part of valour,” and to have held aloof from the Rising. His famous wife, however (a daughter of Farquharson of Invercauld), exerted all her influence in aid of the Jacobite cause. While the brave and noble conduct of this heroic lady on behalf of Prince Charlie excited general admiration, Mackintosh himself, by “sitting on the fence” more guardedly than “his friend Lord Lovat” did, “preserved his estates,” and escaped the sad fate which ultimately overtook Cluny in the cause in which the latter so devotedly risked life and fortune.

THE BATTLE OF INVERNAHAVEN IN 1386, AND THE CONFLICT ON THE NORTH INCH OF PERTH IN 1396.

From ‘Lays and Traditions of the Clans,’ &c., by the Sobieski Stuarts. Published in 1848.

The rout of the Camerons through the hills of Loch-Laggan followed that action of the clans which gave origin to the. desperate and mortal feud decided by the ordeal of battle on the Inch of Perth in the year 1396. The chroniclers who have recorded this event, though they have amplified the horrors of the civil war by which it was preceded, have given no hint of its cause; and by their barbarous orthography have so far disguised even the names of the conflicting clans, that to those otherwise unacquainted with their identity they are entirely equivocal, or wholly unintelligible. By Wyntoun they are named the “C/ahymike- Qwhewyl,” and the “Clachinyha." These words are confused compounds, in which the appellations of the tribes are blended with their general designation, “Claim" and should be thus divided—“Clahynn-he-Qwhewyl" and “Clachin-y-ha”—meaning those names pronounced by the Highlanders, “Clann-ic-Kul,” and “Claniiic-Kdi,” but written in Gaelic “Clann- ic-Dhughaill" and “Claim-ic-Dhaidh”— “The Clan-Dugaldson,” and the “Clan-Davidson.” The transition in the false orthography is sufficiently natural to an ear ignorant of Gaelic; for the final “c” of “ ic” in both patronymics being blended with the aspirated sound of the same letter in the initials of the succeeding names pronounced almost as “Kul,” and “Kai”—according to the Gaelic articulation, and the value of letters in the days of Wyntoun, should leave to the preceding vowel “i” a sound nearly expressed either by the synonymous letter “y” or the aspirated vowel “h-e,” irregularly used by Wyntoun. This reading is corroborated by the universal tradition of the mid Highlands, according to which the belligerent tribes were the “Clann-’ic-Dhaidh,” or Davidsons of Badenoch, and the neighbouring “Clann-a-Pherson,” or male and chief branch of the “Clann-Chattan.” This is confirmed by the history of Boethius, and the Chartulary of Moray : The first of which gives the names as the “Clan-Kay” and the “ Clan-Chattan,” and the last the “ Clan-Hay ” and the “ Clan-Qwhwle.” In both these authorities the names for the first party are evidently the same with the “Clann-y-Ha” of Wyntoun, and all are visibly errata from the oral communication of the Gaelic appellation pronounced “Clann-’ic-Kai”: for the letter “c” in the word “’ic,” and the similar initial sound in the name by which it is followed, are so blended, that to unfamiliar ears they would seem indifferently “’ic-Kai” or “’ic-Ai,” which accidental modification in the organs of the hearer reconciles to an identity the different modes of expressing the sound used by Wyntoun, Boethius, and the Chartulary of Moray. The various names given for the second clan are equally deducible from the traditionary original; for while by Boethius it is designated after the general blood-title of the race through all its branches, by the others it is given in its own local patronymic ; when, at an early period, the “Clann-a-Pharsoin” bore for a time the appellation of the “Clann-’ic-Dhughail” from one of its chiefs named “Dughall.” The oral transmission of this title, “Clann-’ic-Cul,” is—for middle-age orthography— expressed rather more accurately than usual in the names “Clann-he-Qwhewyl ” and “Clan-Qwhwle,” pronounced in the old Scots “Clan-’ich-Kuil,” and “Clan-Kcile.” The repetition of the letter “w,” equivalent to “u,” having been used to represent the long accent of that vowel in the Gaelic “Dhughaill.”

Without, however, discussing these details, in which none but Highland genealogists will take any interest, we will relate the tradition of the first event which gave origin to the celebrated and sanguinary feud so fatal to the central clans.

When the direct line of the great Clan-Chattan had terminated in the daughter of Dugald-dall, the estate was conveyed by marriage to the Cean-tigh of the Macintoshes, the eldest cadet of the race, and consequently the farthest removed from the succession of the chieftainship. The clan being thus left without a head in the lineal male line, was divided into several cadet branches, of which the principals were the Macphersons, the Davidsons, and the Macgillivrays, three septs descended from three brothers, the nearest male branches from the stem antecedent to the last direct chief, and of whom, as well as of the whole race and name of the Clan-Chattan, the head of the Siol-Pherson, coming from the elder brother, by all the laws and usages of clanship was the indisputable chief. Macintosh, however, as possessor of the great body of the clan territory, acquired by his ancestor through marriage with the heiress, being much more powerful in estate, was ambitious to be acknowledged chieftain of the blood as well as of the land; but this assumption being wholly repugnant to the salique law of the clans, was repelled as an untenable usurpation, and appears to have lain dormant for a considerable time. All those, however, who adhered to the just superiority of the Clan-a-Pherson, were by degrees expelled from the domains of the pretender, and upon the ruins of the Cummings in Badenoch the Macphersons and the Davidsons acquired a large portion of their territory in that lordship, where they' finally established themselves. By these desertions, however, the lands of Macintosh became so much depopulated, that to recruit his tenants he transplanted from Brae-Mar and the adjoining country a considerable number of Camerons, whom he settled on the lands of Loch-Eil, Loch-Lochie, and Loch-Arcaig, and who there laid the foundation of the present Clan-Cameron. In the course of time, however, these feudatories desired to acquire independence, and resisting the superiority of Macintosh, refused to continue the payment of their rents and services. In the period which had followed their colonisation, they had become so numerous and powerful that their “ owr-lord,” deserted as he was by the juale branches of the Clan-Chattan, was unable to reduce them ; and in his apprehension of losing both his tenants and their lands, he was compelled to seek assistance from the “Clann-a’-Pharsoin” and the “Clann-’ic-Dhaidh.” These clans, prompted by the strong claims of their blood, would not refuse aid to the oldest cadet of their tribe, against a race entirely stranger, and an unjust insurrection; and, having promised the junction of their forces, a plan was formed for a united expedition into Loch-Aber. Upon intelligence of this coalition Mac Dhomhnull-duibh resolved to anticipate the invasion, and, assembling his clan, marched into Badenoch. Before his arrival, however, the allied tribes had united, and awaited his approach at “ Inver-na-h-Amhann,” a small plain at the junction of the Truim and the Spey, and immediately in front of the residence of the chief of the Clann-’ic-Dhaidh,, When the Camerons appeared, and the order of battle was forming, it was the universal understanding that the chieftain of the Clann-a’-Pharsoin should take the general command, as the undoubted male-heir and blood-chief of the whole race of the Clan-Chattan. By an artful policy, however, Macintosh defeated this acknowledgment of his rival. Without provoking his defection by the unseasonable advancement of his own pretensions, to compromise the supremacy of Macpherson, and maintain the appearance of an arbitrating superiority in himself, he prompted the Ceann-tigh of the Clann-’ic-Dhaidh to claim the command in the battle, not on account of personal title, for, being descended from a younger brother to the ancestor of Mac-a’-Pharsoin, that could not be proposed, but as an appointment from Macintosh. The chieftain of the Davidsons, flattered by this precedence, without perceiving the policy of his adviser, advanced his claim, which, as might have been expected, was indignantly repelled by the Mac-a’-Pharsoins. Macintosh endeavoured to compromise the question by citing his own concession in yielding the command of his own people to MacDhaidh, adding, that, as principal in the quarrel, it was reasonable that he should have choice of the leader of the forces assembled for his aid. The MacPhersons, however, penetrating his views towards the chieftainship, insisted upon the blood-right of their own head; and, upon the obstinate combination of the two “ pretenders,” the Clann-a’-Pharsoin abandoned the line of battle, crossed the Spey at its confluence with the Truim, and retired to a small eminence about four hundred yards from the field, where they remained during the ensuing action. The conflict was short, but very sanguinary; the Macintoshes and Davidsons were routed with great slaughter. MacDhaidh and seven of his sons were killed within two hundred yards of his own house, and the defeated party only escaped a greater loss by crossing the Spey under command of the hill occupied by the Macphersons, where the Camerons did not think it prudent to pursue. Immediately after the battle the victors passed the Truim, advanced along the right bank of the Spey as far as Beann-Bhreachd; and, with the evident intention of invading Macintosh’s country, crossed the Spey below Ballachroan, and halted for the night, in a fine position, upon the height of Briagach. Meanwhile, Macintosh, having collected his broken followers, retreated by the west side of Craig-dhubh, and established his bivouac in the glen between Clunie and Dalnashalg, at a place called ever since “ Reidh an Toiseaich,” “ Macintosh’s plain.” Burning with revenge both against the Macphersons and the Camerons, and perceiving, by the march of the last, their intention of invading his country, he conceived a design for embroiling them with each other, and checking the advance of the enemy into his territories. For this end he summoned a bard, and, instructing him to compose a villanous verse against the Macphersons, directed him to proceed immediately to their head-quarters, and repeat it to their chief as a message from Mac-Dhomhnull-duibhe. The bard departed on his mission, and, having reached the gathering of the Macphersons, and obtained access to the chief, announced that he had something to deliver from the Clan-Cameron, and claimed freedom and personal safeguard whatever he might have to repeat. Having received an assurance of full license, he pronounced the following verse :—

"Bha luchd na foille air an torn
’Sam balg-shuileach do na draip,
Cha b’e bhur cairdeas a bha rium
Ach bhur lamh bhi gu tais.”

“The traytors stood on the knoll
While the dismayed were in jeopardie—
It was not your friendship for me,
But your cowardice which restrained you.”

These lines had the desired effect. The chief and his clan were exasperated in the highest degree at the wanton insult and challenge thus thrown in their face, and immediately determined to pursue and attack the Camerons before daylight. According to the customary respect for the inspired order, the bard was not only protected but hospitably entertained, and dismissed with sufficient evidence that the stratagem of his master was about to take effect. The hours of darkness being short—for it was in the month of May—immediate preparations were made for pursuit, and about midnight the Macphersons set forward in silence and with great speed. They arrived at Briagach before daylight, but when they reached the position which had been occupied by the Clan-Cameron, they found it deserted, and soon obtained intelligence that they had suddenly abandoned the height and were in full retreat towards the west. The cause of this abrupt decampment has never been understood. By some it has been supposed that the Camerons had received exaggerated intelligence of a reunion of all the septs of the Clan-Chattan, and a combined movement to surprise them ; by others, that they feared to penetrate into a hostile country, leaving the whole Clan-Chattan assembled on their rear, and that, disagreeing among themselves, they fell into discordance, and broke up for their return home. As soon as the Macphersons ascertained the route which they had taken, they pursued them with all possible speed, marching by the south of Phoiness, Etrage, and Dalanach. They overtook their rear above the latter place, and immediately attacked them. The Camerons appear to have been seized with one of those sudden panics which sometimes accompany a night retreat, and their loss was great in the first onset. The death of one of their remarkable leaders, named Charles, is still commemorated in the name of the place where he fell, and which is yet called “ Coire-Thearlaich ”—Charles’ Coire. From this place a running fight was maintained for about fifteen miles through the mountains to Loch Patag, where the pursuit was discontinued from the weariness of the pursuers and the entire dispersion of the pursued. Along the whole line of the flight from Dalanach to Loch Patag there is scarcely a burn or a coire which is not distinguished by the name of some remarkable individual there killed in the chase. The last distinguished person who fell was the chief of the Camerons himself. He was remarkable for his skill in archery, and to the last continued in the rear of his flying people, picking off the pursuers with his arrows, and protecting the retreat of the fugitives at every burn and ravine. He was thus engaged when they were overtaken by a celebrated Ceann-tighe of the Macphersons called Mac Iain Ceann-dubh, the best bowman of that clan, and perhaps, in some degree, from their common propensity for the same art, an intimate friend of Mac Dhomh-null-duibhe. In the pursuit he had severely harassed the fugitives, and killed several of their best men ; but, when he saw his friend before him, as he drew the bow he cried—“Tluir am, ’us tharad a Thearlaich” “Over me—and over you, Charles!” Cameron, seeing the arrow fall beyond him, immediately understood the signal, and returned his shot with the same forbearance. A few arrows were then interchanged, but with deadly effect at indifferent persons; when Mac-a’-Pharsoin coming up, and seeing the fatal shots of the chief, and the misdirected shafts of Mac Iain, cried out indignantly—“Where is your old hand, Ceann-dubh? Had you a Cameron to your mother?” Stung with that sarcasm from his chief, Mac Iain called to his friend—“Uinam, ’us umad a Thearlaich/” “For me— and for you, Charles!”—and both fell transfixed by the next arrows. Not far from Loch Patag, at Dal-an-Luncart, by Loch-Errach side, the place where the chief of the Camerons fell, is still marked by a cairn, called “Carn-Mhic-Dhomh-nuill-duibhe.”

Such was the origin of the deadly and sanguinary feud, which, afterwards engaging all the neighbouring clans in its animosity, involved the central Highlands in an exterminating war. According to the traditions which we have gathered, upon the discovery of the treachery practised by Macintosh, and executed by his bard, a reconciliation was effected between the Macphersons and the Camerons; but the insult offered to the former by the Clan-Daidh was immediately followed by hostilities of the most desperate nature, in which Macintosh assisted the Davidson; and the Camerons, to advance their own quarrel against their superior, joined with the Macphersons. In the deadly contest of these four clans, all their inferiors, kindred, and allies were soon associated, and a period of vindictive conflicts and fierce devastation spread desolation through the mid Highlands, until terminated by camp-fight or ordeal of battle on the Inch of Perth. During the progress of the feud, the Davidsons, then a very powerful race, were almost exterminated, and ever since that period they have ceased to exist as a clan ; while the Macphersons were so reduced that for many generations they were unable to make any considerable head among their neighbours. Meanwhile, the strength of the great auxiliaries having been mueh less impaired, Macintosh availed himself of the reduction of the two principal male branches of the Clan-Chattan to advance his pretensions to the chieftainship, which have since been maintained by his descendants —a claim contrary to the laws, usages, and genius of the Highland clans, and never assumed but in usurpation—precisely similar to that of Edward the Third to the crown of France, and as justly repudiated by the male lines of the Clan-Chattan as the dominion of the English by the people of Philippe de Valois.

PRINCE CHARLIE’S RETREATS IN BADENOCH WITH LOCHEIL AND CLUNY OF THE ’45 AFTER CULLODEN.

From Chambers’s ‘ History of the Rebellion,’ 1745-46. First published in 1840.

[After the battle of Culloden, Prinee Charlie, while in a fastness in the fir-wood of Auchnacarry, belonging to Locheil] received a message from that Chieftain and Macpherson of Cluny, informing him of their retreat in Badenoch, and that the latter gentleman would meet him on a eertain day at the place where he was, in order to conduct him to their habitation, which they judged the safest plaee for him. Impatient to see these dear friends, he would not wait for the arrival of Cluny at Auchnacarry, but set out for Badenoch immediately, trusting to meet the coming chief by the way, and take him back. Of the journey into Badenoch, a long and dangerous one, no particulars have been preserved, execpting that, as the Prince was entering the district, he received from Mr Macdonald of Tullochcroam (a place on the side of Loch Laggan) a coarse brown short coat, a shirt, and a pair of shoes—articles of which he stood in great need. It was on this occasion, and to this gentleman, that he said he had come to know what a quarter of a peck of meal was, as he had once lived on such a quantity for nearly a week. He arrived in Badenoch on the 29th of August, and spent the first night at a place called Corineuir, at the foot of the great mountain Benalder. This is a point considerably to the east of any district he had as yet haunted. On the opposite side of Benalder, Loch Ericht divides Badenoch from Athole. It is one of the roughest and wildest parts of the Highlands, and therefore little apt to be intruded upon, although the great road between Edinburgh and Inverness passes at a distance of a few miles. The country was destitute of wood; but it made up for this deficiency as a place of concealment by the rockiness of its hills and glens. The country was part of the estate of Macpherson of Cluny, and was used in summer for grazing his cattle; but it was considered as the remotest of his grassmgs.

Cluny and Locheil, who were cousins-german, and much attached to each other, had lived here in sequestered huts or sheilings for several months with various friends, and attended by servants, being chiefly supplied with provisions by Macpherson, younger of Breakachie, who was married to a sister of Cluny. Their residence in the district was known to many persons, whose fidelity, however, was such, that the Earl of Loudoun, who had a military post at Sherowmore, not many miles distant, never all the time had the slightest knowledge or suspicion of the fact. The Highlanders did, indeed, during this summer exemplify the virtue of secrecy in an extraordinary manner. Many of the principal persons concerned in the insurrection had been concealed and supported ever since Culloden in those very districts which were the most thoroughly beset with troops, and which had been most ravaged and plundered. After the escape of the Prince through the cordon between Loch Hourn and Loch Shiel in the latter part of July, the military powers at Fort Augustus seem to have scarcely ever got a ray of genuine intelligence respecting his motions. His friends, all except the very few who attended him, were equally at a loss to imagine where he was, or how he contrived to keep himself concealed. His enemies “sometimes thought he had got himself removed to the east coast through the hills of Athole, and laid an embargo upon all the shipping from that quarter. At other times they had information that he lurked in the shires of Angus or Mearns, and a search was made for him in the most suspected places of those shires; and particularly the house of Mr Barclay of Urie in Mearns, whose lady was aunt to Locheil by the father, and to Cluny by the mother, was most narrowly searched; while he was quite safe and unconcerned in Benalder.”

Next day, August 30, Charles was conducted to a place called Mellaneuir, also on Benalder, where Locheil was now living in a small hut with Macpherson, younger of Breakachie, his principal servant Allan Cameron, and two servants of Cluny. When Locheil saw five men approaching under arms—namely, the Prince, Lochgarry, Dr Archibald Cameron, and two servants—he imagined that they must be a military party, who, learning his retreat, had come to seize him. It was in vain to think of flying, even though the supposed military party had been more numerous, for he was still a cripple, in consequence of the wounds in his ankles, fie therefore resolved to defend himself as well as circumstances would permit. Twelve firelocks and some pistols were prepared; the chief and his four companions had taken up positions, and levelled each his piece, and all was ready for saluting the approaching party with a carefully aimed volley, when Locheil distinguished the figures of his friends. Then, hobbling out as well as he could, he received the Prince with an enthusiastic welcome, and attempted to pay his duty to him on his knees. This ceremony Charles forbade. “My dear Locheil,” said he, “you don’t know who may be looking from the tops of yonder hills; if any be there, and if they see such motions, they will conclude that I am here, which may prove of bad consequence.” Locheil then ushered him into his hovel, which, though small, was well furnished with viands and liquOrs. Young Breakachie had helped his friends to a sufficiency of newly killed mutton, some cured beef sausages, plenty of butter and cheese, a large well-cured bacon ham, and an anker of whisky. The Prince, “upon his entry, took a hearty dram, which he pretty often called for thereafter, to drink his friends’ healths ; and when there were some minced collops dressed with butter for him in a large saucepan that Locheil and Cluny carried always about with them, and which was the only fire-vessel they had, he ate heartily, and said, with a very cheerful and lively countenance, ‘Now, gentleman, I live like a prince,’ ”though at the same time he was no otherwise served than by eating the collops out of the saucepan, only that he had a silver spoon. After dinner, he asked Locheil if he had still lived, during his skulking in that place, in such a good way; to which Locheil answered, “Yes, sir, I have, for now near three months that I have been here with my cousin Cluny and Breakachie, who has so provided for me, that I have still had plenty of such as you see, and I thank heaven that your royal highness has come safe through so many dangers to take a part.”

Cluny, on reaching Auchnacarry, and finding Charles gone, immediately returned to Badenoch, and he arrived at Mellaneuir two days after the Prince. On entering the hut he would have knelt; but Charles prevented him, and taking him in his arms, kissed him affectionately. He soon after said, “I'm sorry, Cluny, that you and your regiment were not at Culloden; I did not. hear till lately that you were so near us that day.”

Cluny, finding that the Prince had not a change of linen, caused his three sisters 8 to set about making some shirts for him. They did so with good-will, and soon furnished him with what was wanted. The gentlemen whom Charles here met for the first time in his wanderings were, like all those he had met previously, astonished at the elasticity of mind which he displayed in circumstances of so much discomfort and danger, and under prospects, to say the least of them, so much less brilliant than what had recently been before him.

The day after Cluny’s arrival, it was thought expedient that there should be a change of quarters. They therefore removed two Highland miles farther into the recesses of Benalder, to a sheiling called Uiskchilra, “superlatively bad and smoky,” as Donald Macpherson has described it, but which the Prince never once complained of. It may here be remarked, that the precautions which Locheil and Cluny had formerly taken for their safety were much increased after the Prince had joined them. Breakachie had formerly been intrusted with the power of bringing any one to them in whom he could trust; but no one was now introduced till after a council had been held, and formal permission given. Trusty watchmen were planted on the neighbouring hills, to give notice of the approach of any strangers or military; and Cluny even contrived to have spies in the Earl of Loudoun’s camp.

After spending two or three uncomfortable days in the smoky sheiling, they removed to “a very romantic and comical habitation, made by Cluny, at two miles’ farther distance into Benalder, called the Cage. It was really a curiosity,” says Donald Macpherson, “and can scarcely be described to perfection. It was situate in the face of a very rough, high, rocky mountain called Letternilichk, which is still a part of Benalder, full of great stones and crevices, and some scattered wood interspersed. The habitation called the Cage, in the face of that mountain, was within a small thick bush of wood. There were first some rows of trees laid down, in order to level a floor for the habitation, and as the place was steep, this raised the lower side to equal height with the other, and these trees, in the way of joists or planks, were entirely well levelled with earth and gravel. There were betwixt the trees, growing naturally on their own roots, some stakes fixed in the earth, which, with the trees, were interwoven with ropes made of heath and birch twigs all to the top of the Cage, it being of a round, or rather oval shape, and the whole thatched and covered over with fog. This whole fabric hung, as it were, by a large tree which reclined from the one end all along the roof to the other, and which gave it the name of the Cage; and by chance there happened to be two stones, at a small distance from [each] other, next the precipice, resembling the pillars of a bosom chimney, and here was the fire placed. The smoke had its vent out there, all along a very stony part of the rock, which and the smoke were so much of a colour, that no one could have distinguished the one from the other in the clearest day. The Cage was only large enough to contain six or seven persons, four of which number were frequently employed in playing at cards, one idle looking on, one baking, and another firing bread and cooking.”

The hopes of the Prince for an escape from the country were still resting in the prospect of the arrival of some French vessel in the lonely estuaries of the west coast of Inverness-shire. He knew that Colonel Warren was exerting himself to fit out a small armament for this purpose; but still many accidents might occur to mar the consummation of the design. It would appear that two other plans were formed for getting him shipped away from Scotland. The Rev. John Cameron was despatched by his brother to Edinburgh, there to exert himself to get a vessel hired, to come to some appointed station on the east coast, and there lie in readiness to take the party on board. Such a vessel actually was provided; it went to the station ; and Mr Cameron returned to Benalder to bring away the party, but found them gone. Breakachie was also sent from Uiskchilra to find out John Roy Stuart, who was skulking somewhere in the country, with orders to go in company with John directly to the east coast, and there hire a vessel. Lest both schemes should fail, and the Prince be obliged to spend the winter in the Highlands, Cluny, who seems to have had a constructive genius, fitted up a subterranean retreat, boarded thickly all round, and otherwise provided against the severity of the season. But all of these precautions, though wisely taken, proved useless, in consequence of the arrival of Colonel Warren’s expedition.

“All about his royal highness, during his abode in Benalder of Badenoch, were Locheil, Cluny, Lochgarry, Dr Cameron, and Breakachie; one Allan Cameron, a young genteel lad of Calard’s family, who was principal servant to Locheil; and four servants belonging to Cluny, particularly James Macpherson, his piper, Paul Macpherson, his horse-kccper, Murdoch and Duncan

Macphersons. This Murdoch the Prince generally called Murick, who, and Paul, could speak no English, and were commonly employed in carrying provisions from Breakachie.”—Donald Mac-pherson’s Narrative MS.

Two vessels of force, PHcrcux and La Princesse de Conti, had been fitted out by the exertions of this gentleman, who was promised a baronetcy by the old Chevalier in the event of his bringing off the Prince. Setting sail from St Malo in the latter part of August, they arrived in Lochnanuagh on the 6th of September. Next day four gentlemen, including Captain Sheridan, son of Sir Thomas, and a Mr O’Beirne, a lieutenant in the French service, landed to make inquiry about the Prince, and were received by Macdonald of Glenaladale, who had taken his station in that part of the country, for the purpose of communicating to Charles any intelligence of the arrival of French vessels. He now lost no time in setting out to the neighbourhood of Auchnacarry, expecting there to find Cameron of Clunes, who was appointed to be a medium for forwarding the intelligence to the Prince wherever he might then be. When Glenaladale arrived at the place where he expected to see Clunes, he found that gentleman removed he knew not whither, in consequence of some alarm from the military, who had destroyed his hut. Being himself altogether ignorant of Charles’s present hiding-place, Glenaladale was thrown by this accident into a state of great perplexity and distress, for he reflected that, if the Prince did not quickly come to Lochnanuagh, the vessels might be obliged to sail without him. He was wandering about in this state of mind when he encountered an old woman, who chanced to know the place to which Clunes had withdrawn. Having obtained from her this information, he immediately communicated with Clunes, who instantly despatched the faithful Mac-coilveen to convey the intelligence to Cluny, that it might be by him imparted to the Prince. Glenaladale then returned to inform the French officers that they might expect ere long to be joined by the royal wanderer.

Charles, meanwhile, had despatched Cluny and Dr Cameron on some private business to Loch Arkaig. Travelling in a very dark night through the outskirts of Badenoch, these two gentlemen, by great good fortune, met and recognised Maccoilveen, as he was proceeding with his message. Had they missed him, they would have gone on to Loch Arkaig, and as Maccoilveen would have communicated with none but Cluny, it would not have been till after their return, and probably then too late, that Charles would have heard of the arrival of the vessels. It thus appears that he was favoured by two remarkable chances in obtaining this important information, without either of which the design of his embarkation would have probably been defeated.

Cluny, though he now turned back with Dr Cameron, was so anxious to forward the good news to the Prince, that he immediately procured a trusty man, one Alexander Macpherson, son of Benjamin Macpherson in Gallovie, to run express with it to the Cage. He and Cameron arrived there about one in the morning, September 13, when they found the Prince already prepared to start on his journey. They immediately started, and before daylight, had reached their former habitation in Uiskchilra.

From the place where he met Maccoilveen, Cluny had also sent off a messenger, one Murdoch Macpherson, a near relation of Macpherson of Invereshie, to stop young Breakachie on his mission to the cast coast, and to desire him to return to the Prince’s quarters . “The said Murdoch came to Breakachie when going to bed j1 and then Breakachie’s lady, one of Cluny’s sisters, finding out the matter, began to talk of her dismal situation, of having so many children, and being then big with child. Upon which Breakachie said: ‘I put no value upon you or your bairns, unless you can bring me forth immediately thirty thousand men in arms ready to serve my master!’

“Instantly Breakachie set out on his return to the Prince, and took along with him John Roy Stuart (whom the Prince used to call the Body), but did not allow John Roy to know that the Prince was in Badenoch, but only that they were going to see Locheil, &c. When the Prince heard that Breakachie and John Roy Stuart were coming near the hut Uiskchilra, he wrapped himself up in a plaid and lay down, in order to surprise John Roy the more when he should enter the hut. In the door of the hut there was a pool or puddle, and when John Roy Stuart just was entering, the Prince peeped out of the plaid, which so surprised John Roy, that he cried out, ‘O Lord! my master!’ and fell down in the puddle in a faint.

“Breakachie likewise brought along with him to Uiskchilra three fusees, one mounted with gold, a second with silver, and the third half-mounted, all belonging to the Prince himself, who had desired Breakachie to fetch him these pieces at some convenient time. When the Prince saw the fusees, he expressed great joy, saying, ‘It is remarkable that my enemies have not discovered one farthing of my money, a rag of my clothes, or one piece of my arms ’—an event which the Prince himself did not know till he came to Benalder, where he was particularly informed that all the above things were still preserved from the hands of his enemies.

“The Prince (as is already observed) arrived at his old quarters in Uiskchilra, in his way to the ships, against daylight, on the morning of September 13, where he remained till near night, and then set off, and was by daylight, the 14th, at Corvoy, where he slept some time. Upon his being refreshed with sleep, he, being at a sufficient distance from any country, did spend the day by diverting himself and his company with throwing up of bonnets in the air, and shooting at them, to try the three foresaid favourite fusees, and to try who was the best marksman ; in which diversion his royal highness by far exceeded. In the evening of the 14th he set forward, and went on as far as Uisknifichit, on the confines of Glenroy, which marches with a part of the Braes of Badenoch, in which last place he refreshed himself some hours with sleep ; and, before it was daylight, got over Glenroy, the 15th, and kept themselves private all day. As they were approaching towards Locheil’s seat, Auchnacarry, they came to the river Lochy at night, being fine moonshine. The difficulty was how to get over. Upon this Clunes Cameron met them on the water-side, at whom Locheil asked how they would get over the river. He said: ‘Very well; for I have an old boat carried from Loch Arkaig, that the enemy left unburned of all the boats you had, Locheil.’ Locheil asked to see the boat. Upon seeing it, he said: ‘I am afraid we will not be safe with it.’ Quoth Clunes: ‘I shall cross first, and show you the way.’ The matter was agreed upon. Clunes, upon reflection, said: ‘I have six bottles of brandy, and I believe all of you will be the better of a dram.’ This brandy was brought from Fort Augustus, where the enemy lay in garrison, about nine miles from that part of Lochy where they were about to cross. Locheil went to the Prince, and said : ‘ Will your royal highness take a dram?’ ‘Oh,’ said the Prince, ‘can you have a dram here?’ ‘Yes,’ replied Locheil, ‘and that from Fort Augustus too; which pleased the Prince much, that he should have provisions from his enemies. He said: ‘Come, let us have it.’ Upon this, three of the bottles were drunk. Then they passed the river Lochy by three crossings: Clunes Cameron in the first with so many; then the Prince in the seeond with so many; and in the last Locheil with so many. In the third and last ferrying, the crazy boat leaked so much, that there would be four or five pints of water in the bottom, and in hurrying over, the three remaining bottles of brandy were all broken. When the Prince called for a dram, he was told that the bottles were broken, and that the common fellows had drunk all that was in the bottom of the boat, as being good punch, which had made the fellows so merry, that they made great diversion to the company as they marched along.

“After the morning of the 16th, the Prince arrived in Auchnacarry, Locheil’s seat, where he was as ill-off as anywhere else for accommodation, as the enemy had burned and demolished the place. All the 16th he stayed there, and set out at night, and arrived, the 17th, at a place called Glencamger, in the head of Loch Arkaig, where he found Cluny and Dr Cameron, who had prepared for him, expecting him. By a very great good chance, Cluny, understanding that he himself and others of them would be necessarily obliged to travel often betwixt Badenoch and Locheil’s country, and knowing that it was scaree possible for people travelling that way—even those that could be seen, and much less they that could not—to find provisions in their passage, as all was rummaged and plundered by the enemy, planted a small store of meal, carried from Badenoch, in the house of one Murdoch Macpherson, in Coilerig of Glenroy, a trusty man, and tenant to Keppoch, in the road and about half-way, to be still a ready supply in case of need; from which secret small magazine he and Mr Cameron brought some with them as they went forward from Benalder, and had it made into bannocks against the Prince’s coming to Glencamger; and when he and his company arrived, there was a cow killed; on which bannocks and beef, his royal highness, with his whole retinue, were regaled and feasted plentifully1 that night. On the 18th he set out from Glencamger with daylight, and upon the 19th arrived at the shipping; what was extant of the Glencamger bannoeks and beef having been all the provisions till then.”

Cluny and Breakaehie now took leave of the Prince, and returned to Badenoch, for it was the inclination of this chief to remain eoncealed in his own fastnesses, rather than seek a refuge on a foreign soil.

Before the arrival of the Prince, a considerable number of skulking gentlemen and others had assembled, in order to proeeed in the vessels to France. Amongst these were young Clanranald, Glenaladale, Macdonald of Dalely and his two brothers. They had seized Macdonald of Barrisdale on the suspicion of his having made a paction with the enemy to deliver up the Prince; and this gentleman was actually carried to France, and there kept for a considerable time as a prisoner. Charles waited upwards of a day, to allow of a few more assembling, and he then (Saturday, September 20) went on board Ellercux, accompanied by Loeheil, Lochgarry, John Roy Stuart, and Dr Cameron. From the vessel he wrote a letter to Cluny, informing him of his embarkation, and of the excellent state in which he found the vessels. Twenty-three gentlemen, and a hundred and seven men of common rank, are said to have sailed with him in the two ships. “ The gentlemen, as well as eommons, were seen to zveep, though they boasted of being soon baek with an irresistible foree.”

GENEALOGY OF THE MACPHERSONS.

From ‘Douglas’s Baronage of Scotland,’ published in 1798.

MACPHERSON OF CLUNIE.

The head or chief of this family appears to be the male representative and real chieftain of that brave and antient race of Highlanders, well known by the name of the Clan Chattan.

They deduce their descent from a warlike people in Germany called the Chatti, who long resisted the Roman power; but being at last forced from their habitations by the Emperor Tiberius Caesar, they embarked for Britain, and, by stress of weather, were driven to the north of Seotland, where they landed at a place called, after themselves, Chatti’s-ness or Point, which afterwards gave the name of Caithness to all that part of the country. This is said to have happened in the reign of king Corbred II., about the 76th year of the christian era.

These foreigners greatly increased and multiplied, and soon overspread the north of Scotland.

The inhabitants of the more southern parts were called South Chatti, and the country they possessed was called Sutherland, which name it retains to this day.

The Chatti, or clan Chattan, continued several ages in both these countries (Caithness and Sutherland). Some of them joined the Picts and some the Scots.

From these last, those of the names of Keith and Sutherland deduce their origin.

After the decisive battle gained by king Kenneth II. over the Picts, the inhabitants of Caithness were forced to leave their country, and by the mediation of friends, got liberty to settle in Lochaber, where some of their posterity (still called the clan Chattan) now subsist.

That they were a race of brave and gallant people, sufficiently appears from all our Scots histories.

There is a curious MS. account of this family, collected from the bards and senachies, who were faithful repeaters of the transactions of their chieftains and forefathers, which may be as much depended on as any other traditional history, as they were particularly careful and exact in their genealogies.

This colleetion was put into order by the ingenious Sir /Eneas Macpherson, advocate in the reign of king Charles II., is looked upon as a most authentic account of this great clan, and is still preserved in the family.

Though in this history their descent is deduced as far back as the reign of king Kenneth II., yet we shall here begin with

I. Gillicattan Mor, head or chief of the clan Chattan, who, on account of his large stature, rare military genius, and other accomplishments, had the epithet Mor assigned him.

Sir vEneas Macpherson's history of the family, penes M. Macpherson de Clunie.

Ibidem.

Ibidem.

Ibidem.

Ibidem, and Nisbet, vol. i. p. 424.

He lived in the reign of king Malcolm Canmore, and left a son,

II. Diarmed or Dormund, captain of the clan Chattan, who succeeded his father about the year 1090, and was father of

III. Gillicattan, the second of that name, captain of the clan Chattan.

He flourished and made a considerable figure in the reign of King David I., and left issue two sons.

1. Diarmed.

2. Muriach.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

IV. Diarmed, captain of the clan Chattan, who did not long survive his father; but dying without issue, anno 1153, was succeeded by his brother,

IV. Muriach or Murdoch, who being born a younger brother, was bred to the church; and was parson of Kingousie, then a large and honourable benefice ; but, upon the death of his elder brother without issue, be became head of his family and captain of the clan Chattan.

He thereupon obtained a dispensation from the Pope, anno 1173, and married a daughter of the thane of Cawdor, by whom he had five sons.

1. Gillicattan, his heir.

2. Ewan or Eugine Baan, of whom the present Duncan Macpherson, now of Clunie, Esq., is lineally descended, as will be shown hereafter.

3. Neill Cromb, so called from his stooping and round shoulders. He had a rare mechanical genius, applied himself to the business of a smith, and made and contrived several utensils of iron, of very curious workmanship, is said to have taken his sirname from his trade, and was progenitor of all of the name of Smith in Scotland.

4. Ferquhard Gilliriach, or the Swift, of whom the Macgillivrays of Drumnaglash in Inverness-shire, and those of Pennygoit in the isle of Mull, &c., &c., are descended.

5. David Dow, or the Black, from his swarthy complexion. Of him the old Davidsons of Invernahaven, &c., &c., are said to be descended.

Muriach died in the end of the reign of King William the Lion, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

V. Gillicattan, third of that name, captain of the clan Chattan.

Hist, of the family, and Nisbet, p. 424.

Ibidem, and history of the family of Macintosh.

He lived in the reign of King Alexander II. (who succeeded to the crown of Scotland anno 1214) and left issue only one son,

He died in the reign of king Alexander III., leaving issue a daughter,

Eva, his only child and sole heiress, who, anno 1291 or 1292, was

married to Angus Macintosh of that ilk, head or chieftain of the clan Macintosh, who, with her, got a good part of the clan Chattan estate, as has been already fully shewn under the title Macintosh of that ilk.

Dougal Phaol dying without sons, as above, in him ended the whole male line of Gillicattan the third, eldest son of Muriach, No. IV. of these memoirs. The representation, therefore, devolved upon his cousin and heir-male—viz., Kenneth, son of his uncle Ewan, before mentioned, to whom we now return.

V. Ewan or Eugine, called Baan, from his fair complexion, was second son of the said Muriach the parson.

He lived in the reign of king Alexander II., and, as sirnames about that time were become hereditary, he was called Macparson, or the son of the parson, and

Sir /Eneas

Macpherson’s history.

from hence the sirname of the family, which his posterity have enjoyed ever since, and his clan hath been promiscuously designed Macpherson, Macurichs [Mac-mhurichs], and clan Chattan.

This Eugine left issue three sons.

1. Kenneth, his heir.

2. John, progenitor of the Macphersons of Pitmean, &c.

3. Gillies, ancestor of the Macphersons of Inneressic, &c.

The cadets and descendants of these two brothers will be mentioned under their proper titles.

Eugine was succeeded by his eldest son, the reign of king Alexander III. married Isabel, daughter of Ferquhard Macintosh of that ilk, by whom he had two sons.

1. Duncan, his heir.

Ibidem, and history of the clan Macintosh.

Writs of the family, and in pub. archiv. and Nisbet, p. 424.

2. Bean or Benjamin, of whom the Macphersons of Brin and several others arc descended; and captain Alexander Macpherson, late secretary to Admiral Boscawen, appears to be the heir-male and representative of the family of Brin, &e.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

VII. Duncan Macpherson of Clunie, who, with his posterity of Clunie, have always been designed captains of the elan Chattan. He lived in the reign of king Robert Bruce ; and being a man of a noble spirit, a steady loyalist, and particularly known to king Robert, obtained a commission from that great prince (as head of his clan) to reduce the Cumings, and others his rebel subjects in Badenoch, to his obedience, which he performed so effectually, that he got a grant of several of these lands to himself, which were long enjoyed by his posterity; and had also for his special services against the Cumings, a hand and dagger added to his armorial bearing, &e.

He was succeeded by his son,

VIII. Donald Phaol Macpherson of Clunie, who adhered always firmly to the interest of king David Bruce against the enemies of his country, and was father of another,

History of the family.

Ibidem.

We must here observe, that the family of Clunie, with good reason, contends that the thirty combatants of the clan Chattan were all Macphersons; because (say they) their antagonists, the clan Kay, were followers of the Cumings of Badenoch, and envied the Macphersons the possession of their lands, which was the cause of their constant feuds.

The Macintoshes also alledge, that these thirty were of their part of the clan Chattan, and all Macintoshes. Vide title Macintosh, &c.

Donald Moir married a daughter of Macintosh of Mammore in Lochaber,

History of the family.

Ibidem.

by whom he had two sons.

1. Donald Oig, his heir.

2. Gillicattan-Beg or Little Malcolm, of whom the Macphersons of Essich, Breakachie, &c., Szc., are descended. For which vide their proper titles.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

X. Donald-Oig Macpherson of Clunie, who, in the reign of king James I. married a daughter of Gordon of Buckie, by whom he had two sons.

1. Ewan or Eugine, his heir.

2. Paul, of whom the Macphersons of Dallifour, &c., &ci, are descended : Ensign John Macpherson of Colonel Fraser’s regiment of Highlanders, is of Dallifour.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

XI. Eugine Macpherson of Clunie, who died in the end of the reign of king James III., leaving issue a son,

Ibidem.

Chart, in pub. archiv.

History of the family, penes Clunie.

XII. Dormund, who succeeded him, was captain of the clan Chattan, and got a charter under the great seal from king James IV., Dormundo Macpherson, terrarum de Strantheaune, Garnamuck, &c., Szc., dated 6th of February 1509.

He died in the reign of king James V. and was succeeded by his son,

XIII. Ewan Macpherson of Clunie, a man of singular merit, and a firm friend of the unfortunate queen Mary.

He married a daughter of-Macintosh of Strone, by whom he had two sons.

1. Andrew.

2. John.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

XIV. Andrew Macpherson of Clunie, Szc., who dying soon after his father without issue, was succeeded by his brother,

XIV. John of Clunie, captain of the clan Chattan, who got a charter under the great seal from king James VI. Johanni Macphersoii villarum et terrarum de Tullich, Elrich, &’c., in vicecomitatu de Inverness, dated anno 1594.

Chart, in pub. archiv.

Writs of the family.

In October that same year, he was with the earl of Huntly at the battle of Glenlivet, where the king’s troops were defeated under the command of the earl of Argyle; but he suffered nothing on that account, for Huntly and all his adherents were soon thereafter received into the king’s favour.

He married a daughter of Gordon of Auchanassie, and died about the

year 1600, leaving issue a son,

3

XV. John Macpherson of Clunie, &c., who succeeded him, and got a charter under the great seal, Johanni Macpherson filio Johann is, arc., terrarum de Tullich, Elrick, arc., in Inverness-shire, dated anno 1613.

He was succeeded by his son,

Chart, in pub. archiv.

Ibidem.

XVI. Ewan of Clunie, who got a charter under the great seal, Eugenio Macpherson terrarum et villarum de Tullich, Elrick, arc., tore., dated anno 1623.

He married a daughter of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, by whom he had three sons and one daughter.

1. Donald, his heir.

2. Andrew, who succeeded his brother.

3. John of Nuid, who carried on the line of this family, of whom afterwards.

His daughter, , was married to John Macpherson of Inneressie,

Esq.; and had issue.

Ewan died about the year 1640, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

XVII. Donald Macpherson of Clunie, &c., who got a charter under the great seal, Donaldo Macpherson, arc., of the lands of Middle-Moir, Middle-beg, arc., dated anno 1643.

Ibidem.

Minutes of parliament in pub. archiv.

Writs of the family.

Ibidem.

Ibidem.


He was a steady friend of king Charles I., and suffered much on account of his sincere attachment to the interest of the royal family, but dying without issue, was succeeded by his brother,

XVII. Andrew Macpherson of Clunie, &c., who married a daughter of-

Gordon of Erradoul, by whom he had a son.

Ewan or Eugene, his heir.

This Andrew was also a great loyalist both to king Charles I. and II.

He succeeded to the estate of Brin as heir of entail, anno 1666, and dying soon thereafter, was succeeded by his only son,

XVIII. Eugene Macpherson of Clunie, &c., who in the reign of king Charles

II. married a daughter of Donald Macpherson of Nuid, a cousin of his own, by whom he had two sons.

1. Andrew.

2. Duncan.

Andrew, the eldest son, died unmarried, and was succeeded by his brother,

XIX. Duncan Macpherson of Clunie, &c., second son of the said Eugene,

who was captain of the clan Chattan, and married, 1st, a daughter of Rose,

provost of Inverness, by whom he had a son, who died in infancy, and a daughter.

Anne Macpherson, married to sir Duncan Campbell, knight, uncle to John Campbell of Calder, Esq., to whom she had a numerous issue.

He married, 2dly, a daughter of - Gordon of , by whom he had

another son, who also died unmarried.

Duncan died in an advanced age in the year 1721 or 22, without surviving male issue, and in him ended the whole male line of Donald and Andrew, the two eldest sons of Ewan Macpherson of Clunie, No. XVI. of this genealogy; the representation therefore devolved upon Lauchlan of Nuid, the next heir-male, being lineally descended of John, the third son before mentioned, to whom we now return.

XVII. John Macpherson of Nuid, third son of Ewan Macpherson of Clunie by a daughter of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, in the reign of king Charles I.

married a daughter of Farquharson of Monaltrie, by whom he had four sons

and two daughters.

1. Donald, his heir.

2. William, who married twice, and of him there are a great many descendants, particularly the celebrated Mr James Macpherson who translated Ossian’s poems, &c., and is now secretary to the province of West Florida, &c. Of this William are also descended several officers of the name of Macpherson both in the sea and land service, too numerous to be here inserted.

3. Andrew, ancestor of the Macphersons of Crathy-Croy, and many others.

4. Murdoch, of whom there are no male descendants.

1st daughter, Janet, married, 1st, to Fraser of Fouirs in Strather-

rick; 2dly, to Angus Macpherson of Dalraddie; 3dly, to - Grant;

4thly, to Angus Macpherson of Inneressie; 5thly, to - Macqueen,

and had issue to them all.

2. Bessie, married to Donald Macpherson of Phoness, to whom she had five sons and one daughter.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

XVIII. Donald Macpherson of Nuid, who in the reign of king Charles II. married, 1st, a daughter of Hugh Rose of Kilravock, by whom he had three sons and seven daughters.

1. William, his heir.

2. James, who married and had two sons, Andrew and Peter, who both married, and had several sons and daughters.

3. John, of whom Donald Macpherson of Cullenlian, and Lauchlan Macpherson of Rawliah, &c., &c., are descended.

1 st daughter, -, married to Grant of Laggan.

2. -, married to- Macgregor of-.

3. -, married to-Macintosh.

4 .--, married to Robert Macintosh.

5. -, married to Ewan Macpherson of Clunie.

6. -, married to John, son of Malcolm Macpherson of Phoness.

7. -, married to Robert Innes of Midkeith.

Donald of Nuid married, 2dly, a daughter of Gordon of Knockspeck, by

whom he had no issue.

He was succeeded by his eldest son.

XIX1. William Macpherson of Nuid, who in the reign of King James VII. married Isabel, daughter of Lauchlan Macintosh, Esq., by whom he had four sons and six daughters.

1 There appears to be some confusion as regards the consecutive numbering from XVII. onwards, but the genealogy, including the numbering, is reproduced exactly as given in 1 Douglas’s Baronage.’ —A. M.

1. Lauchlan, his heir, afterwards of Clunie, Szc.

2. James, who died unmarried.

3. Andrew, of whom James Macpherson of Crath-Croy, Szc., are descended.

4. William, bred a writer in Edinburgh, and an agent before the court of session, who married Jean, daughter of James Adamson, merchant in Edinburgh, whose surviving sons are all mentioned below.9

1 st daughter, Isabel, married to Angus Macpherson of Killiehuntly.

2. Margaret, married to Macintosh of Linvulg.

3. Jean, married to Ewan Macpherson of Pittourie.

4. -, married to-Macdonald of Keyltierie.

5. -, married to-Macintosh of Pharr.

6. Mary, married to Donald, son of Malcolm Macpherson of Brakachie.

William of Nuid died in the end of the reign of queen Anne, and was succeeded by his eldest son.

XX. Lauchlan Macpherson of Nuid, who upon the death of his cousin, Duncan of Clunie, without issue-male, succeeded to the chieftainship, Szc., Szc., anno 1722, and was ever afterwards designed by the title of Clunie, as head of the family, and chief of the clan.

He married Jean, daughter of the brave Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochyell, chief of the Clan Cameron, by whom he had seven sons and three daughters.

1. Ewan, his heir.

2. John, major to the 78th regiment of foot, commanded by Simon

Fraser, Esq., eldest son of Simon, late lord Lovat, tutor and guardian to his

nephew, Duncan of Clunie, during his minority.

3. James, vtois a lieutenant in the army, but died unmarried.

4. Alan, died in Jamaica, also unmarried.

5. Lauchlan, a lieutenant in the army, is married, and hath two sons.

6. Andrew, a lieutenant in the queen’s royal regiment of Highlanders, commanded by general Graham of Gorthy, is married, and hath issue.

7. Donald, died in the East Indies, unmarried.

1st daughter, Isabel, married to William Macintosh of Aberarder.

2. Christian, married to Donald Macpherson of Brakachie.

3. Unah, married to Lewis Macpherson of Dalraddie.

They all had issue.

Lauchlan of Clunie died anno 17—, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

XXL Ewan Macpherson of Clunie, captain of the clan Chattan, who married Janet, daughter of Simon, eleventh lord Fraser of Lovat, by whom he had a son, Duncan, his heir,—and a daughter,

Margaret.

He died anno 176-, and was succeeded by his only son,

XXII. Duncan Macpherson, now of Clunie, descended from Gillicattan Moir (the first of these memoirs) in a direct male line, as above deduced, and undoubted captain of the clan Chattan.

He is now a captain on half-pay in the queen’s royal regiment of Highlanders, commanded by general David Graham of Gorthy, Esq.

Arms.—Parted per fess, or and azure, a lymphad or galley with her sails furl’d up, her oars in action, of the first. In the dexter chief point a hand coup’d, grasping a dagger, point upwards, gules (for killing Cuming), and, in the sinister chief point, a cross crosslet fitched of the last.

Crest; a cat sejant proper.

Motto ; Touch not a cat but a glove.

Supporters; two Highlandmen with steel helmets on their heads, thighs bare, their shirt tied between them, and round targets on their arms.

Chief Seat.—At Clunie in Badenoch, Inverness-shire.

Follow such of the cadets of the clan Macpherson as have come to our knowledge.

MACPHERSON OF PITMEAN, &c.

According to sir /Eneas Macpherson’s history of this clan, Ewan Baan Macpherson, the fifth generation of the preceding title, was the immediate ancestor of this family, &c.

He left issue three sons.

1. Kenneth Macpherson of Clunie.

Sir /Eneas Macpherson, and Nisbet, p. 424.

History of the family.

Ibidem.


2. John, progenitor of Pitmean.

3. Gillies, ancestor of the Macphersons of Inneressie. Vide next title.

also the Macphersons of Balladheg, now represented by Duncan Macpherson of Balladbeg, who is married and hath four sons 3 and of Balladbeg are descended the Macphersons of Inneraven, Carnbeg, &c. Of the said John Macewan are also descended the Macphersons of Craigarnell, the Macphersons in Banchor, and many others.

John of Pitmean was succeeded by his eldest son,

II. Alexander Macpherson of Pitmean, who lived in the reigns of king Robert Bruce and his son king David.

He was a brave and gallant man, and was assisting in expelling a lawless tribe called MacGillimores, out of that part of the country. They were followers of the Cumings, and had been very troublesome to the Macphersons.

Ibidem.


He left issue two sons.

1. John, his heir.

2. Paul, progenitor of the Macphersons of Strathmassie. Vide that title.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

III. John Macpherson of Pitmean, who lived in the reigns of king Robert

II. and III., of whom was lineally descended,

Thomas Macpherson of Pitmean, who lived in the reign of king James V., and left issue several sons.

1. Donald Macpherson of Pitmean, whose male line failed in the reign of king Geo. II.

2. Ferquhard, progenitor of the Macphersons of Invertromeny, of whom several families of the name of Macpherson are descended. Alexander Macpherson, the present representative of this family, married Anne Macintosh, by whom he had several children. Ferquhard, his eldest son, is an officer in the royal Americans, &c.

3. Donald, who was progenitor of the Macphersons of Pitchern, Clune, Pitgowan, and many others. The present representative of the family of Pitchern is John Macpherson of Pitchern, Esq., &c., &c.

The Macphersons of Garvamore are also descended of the house of Pitmean, whose representative in the male line is Angus Macpherson, manufacturer in Berwickshire, who is married and hath issue.

MACPHERSON OF INNERESSIE.

Gillies or Elias Macpherson, third son of Ewan Baan, as in the preceding title, was the first of the family of Inneressie, and lived in the reign of king Alexander III.

Nisbet, vol. i. p. 424, and Sir tineas’ history of the family.

Ibidem


His posterity were designed Slioch Gillies, or the offspring of Gillies, &c.

Tho’ there are many considerable tribes of the clan Macpherson descended of the family of Inneressie, yet we cannot exactly deduce their succession 3 but of this Gillies was lineally descended,

History of the family, and Nisbet.

Mary and king James VI., and married, ist, a daughter of Troup of that ilk,

by whom he had no surviving issue.

He married, 2dly, a daughter of John Stewart of Appenby, by whom he had a son.

II. John Macpherson of Inneressie, who succeeded him, and married a ibidem, daughter of - Shaw of Dalivert, by whom he had a son and successor,

III. Angus or H£neas Macpherson of Inneressie, who got a charter under Chart, in the great seal, Angusio Macpherson de Inneressie, terrarum de Inneressie, &rc., putl' archiv-

crc., anno 1643.

He married a daughter of Ferquharson of Bruickderg, by whom he had

three sons.

1. William, his heir.

2. John of Dalraddie, whose posterity and succession will be mentioned in the next title.

3. Thomas, of whom the Macphersons of Killihuntly, &c., are descended.

William of Killihuntly, now representative of that family, has the command of a battalion of seapoys in the East Indies.

Angus of Inneressie married, 2dly, a daughter of Ferquhardson of Monal

trie, by whom he had two sons.

1. William, father of Mr John Macpherson, who married Christian, daughter of John Rollo of Muirtown, by whom he had a son, William Macpherson, who married Jean, daughter of John Kincaid of Saltcoats, by whom he had a son, John, residenter in Edinburgh, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Spens of Lathallan in the county of Fife, by whom he hath a daughter, Janet.

2. Angus, the other son, also married and had issue.

Angus of Inneressie was succeeded by his eldest son,

IV. William Macpherson of Inneressie, who married Margaret, daughter of Ferquhardson of Wardes, by whom he had three sons.

1. John, his heir.

2. /Eneas, afterwards Sir /Eneas, a man of great parts and learning, and highly esteemed both by king Charles II. and king James VII. He collected the materials for the history of the clan Macpherson, which is thought a valuable MS., is much esteemed, and is still preserved in the family.

He was made sheriff of Aberdeen by a charter under the great seal from king Charles II., dated in 1684. His only son died a colonel in Spain, without issue.

3. William, who carried on the line of this family, of whom afterwards.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

V. John Macpherson of Inneressie, who married, ist, Marjory, daughter of Ewan Macpherson of Clunie by a daughter of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, and by her he had a son,

uncle’s son, as will be further mentioned in the next title, and having betaken himself to a military life, was an officer in the service of the states general, and died in Holland, unmarried, anno 1697. His uncle, sir 4Eneas, having no surviving issue, the representation of the family devolved upon the descendants of his uncle William before-mentioned, to whom we now return.

V. William Macpherson, Esq., third son of William Macpherson of Inner-essie, No. IV. of this genealogy, married Janet, daughter of Alexander Macintosh of Kinrara, by whom he had only one surviving son—viz.,

Attestations from the ministers and justices of the peace in the neighbourhood.

Ibidem.

Ibidem.


VI. Thomas Macpherson, Esq., who married Elizabeth, daughter of John Grant of Culquhoich, by whom he had a son,

VII. John Macpherson of Inverhall, Esq., undoubted male representative of the ancient family of Inneressie, and is now barrack-master at Ruthven in Badnenoch.

He married Anne, daughter of Hugh Macpherson of Ovie, by whom he hath two sons and one daughter.

1. yEneas, his apparent heir.

2. John.

His daughter Margaret.

MACPHERSON OF DALRADDIE, afterwards of INNERESSIE.

IV. John Macpherson, second son of Angus Macpherson of Inneressie, No.

III. of the preceding title, was the first of this family.

He acquired the lands of Dalraddie, and was designed by that title.

He married a daughter of Grant of Garviemore, by whom he had two

sons and four daughters.

1. John, his heir.

2. Robert, father of Lewis, the present wadsetter of Dalraddie, who is married and hath a numerous issue.

1st daughter, Elizabeth, married to John Macpherson of Banchor.

2. Marjory, married to Malcolm Macpherson of Breakachie.

3. Anne, married to Kenneth Mackenzie of Delnamorc.

4. Isabel, married to Alexander Macpherson of Pitmean.

They all had issue, and he was succeeded by his eldest son,

2. Elizabeth, married to Robert Rose, merchant in Inverness. Both had issue.

3. Magdalene, married, 1st, to Malcolm Macpherson of Nessintilloch, and had issue; 2dly, to Mr William Gordon, alias Macgregor, minister of the Gospel at Alvie, without issue.

4. Isabel, married to Thomas Gordon of Fetherletter, and has issue.

He was succeeded by his son,

VI. George Macpherson of Inneressie and Dalraddie, who married Grace, daughter of colonel William Grant of Ballindalloch, by whom he hath two sons and four daughters.

1. William, his heir.

2. John.

1 st daughter, Isabel, married to Andrew Macpherson of Banchor.

2. Anne, married to Dr John Mackenzie of Woodstock.

3. Jean, married to William Grant of Burnside; and all had issue.

4. Magdalene.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

VII. William Macpherson, now of Inneressie, who is an officer in the British service.

MACPHERSON OF PHONESS.

This is an ancient cadet of the house of Inneressie.

We find Malcolm Macpherson of Phoness, in the reign of king James II., of whom was lineally descended another,

I. Malcolm Macpherson of Phoness, who was father of

II. Donald Macpherson of Phoness, who left issue three sons.

1. Malcolm, his heir.

2. Thomas Roy Macpherson of Edress, who had two sons—1. Malcolm ;

2. John Macpherson of Lininallan. Malcolm of Edress, the eldest son, was father of John Macpherson of Edress, who is married and hath issue.

Donald of Phoness’s third son, Alexander Macpherson, settled in Jamaica, where he acquired a handsome estate, married, and had issue two sons, Malcolm and William Macphersons.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

III. Malcolm Macpherson of Phoness, who married Anne, daughter of Angus Macpherson of Killihuntly, by whom he had two sons.

1. Donald, his heir.

2. Angus Macpherson, of whom afterwards.

Malcolm was succeeded by his eldest son,

IV. Donald Macpherson of Phoness, who married, 1st, Isabel, daughter of

3 R

Ludovick Grant of Knockando, without issue. He married, 2dly, a daughter of John Macpherson in Lininallan, by whom he had only one daughter, and dying without issue male, anno 1766, the representation devolved upon his brother,

IV. Angus Macpherson, before-mentioned, who is an officer in general Mar-joribanks’s regiment in Holland.

He married Elizabeth, daughter of James Macpherson of Killihuntly, by whom he hath a son,

William, and two daughters, Townshend and Grace.

Lieutenant John Macpherson in major Johnston’s Highland regiment, and Donald Macpherson, his brother, who is married and hath issue, are descended of Phoness.

MACPHERSON OF BRIN.

Benjamin Macpherson, second son of Kenneth, the 6th generation of the house of Clunie, was progenitor of the Macphersons of Brin.

Though we cannot deduce the succession of this family, yet ’tis certain they made a good figure in the north of Scotland from the reign of king David Bruce to that of king Charles II., when Ewan Macpherson, the last laird of Brin, having no male issue, made an entail of his estate (failing heirs-male of his own body) in favours of Andrew Macpherson of Clunie his chief, who succeeded thereto accordingly, anno 1666.

Chart, in pub. archiv.


Captain Alexander Macpherson of London, late secretary to admiral Boscawen, was a cadet of the house of Brin, &c.

MACPHERSON OF STRATHMASSIE.

I. Paul, second son of Alexander Macpherson of Pitmean, eldest son of the first John of Pitmean, called John Macewan, was the first of this family.

Sir /Eneas Macpherson’s history of the family.

Ibidem.

Ibidem.

Ibidem.


He lived in the reigns of king Robert II. and III., and married a daughter of Kennedy of Lininallan in Lochaber, by whom he had a son,

II. Neil Macpherson of Strathmassie, who succeeded him and left a son and successor,

III. Donald Macpherson of Strathmassie, who left issue three sons.

1. John, his heir.

2. Kenneth.

3. Donald.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

Paul Macpherson, the last representative of that family, was married at St Christopher’s, and left issue two sons.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

V. John Macpherson of Strathmassie.

He married, ist, a daughter of Macintosh of Strone, by whom he had

a son.

Benjamin, his heir.

He married, 2dly, a daughter of Macintosh of Killacie, by whom he

had no issue.

He was succeeded by his son,

VI. Ben or Benjamin Macpherson of Strathmassie, who married a daughter of Macqueen of Clunie, by whom he had four sons.

Sir ^Eneas Macpherson’s history of the family.


1. Donald, his heir.

2. John—without succession.

3. Angus, of whom the present Angus Macpherson of Drummanard, Pittounie, &c., are descended.

4. Murdoch, of whom there are also male descendants.

Benjamin died in the reign of king Charles I., and was succeeded by his eldest son,

VII. Donald Macpherson of Strathmassie, who was engaged with his chiefs Donald and Andrew Macphersons of Clunie in the service both of king Charles

Ibidem.


I. and II.

He married Anne, daughter of Mr Lauchlan Grant, minister of the gospel at Kinguissie, by whom he had two sons and one daughter.

1. Alexander, his heir.

2. Benjamin, grandfather of Donald Macpherson of Kinlochlagan, &c., who hath issue two sons and five daughters, &c.

His daughter, Christian, was married to William Macpherson, brother to Inneressie, and had issue.

Donald died in the reign of king Charles II., and was succeeded by his eldest son, •

VIII. Alexander Macpherson of Strathmassie, who married Catharine, daughter of Archibald Macdonald of Keppoch, by whom he had a son,

IX. John Macpherson of Strathmassie, who succeeded him, and married Jean, daughter of Lauchlan Macintosh of that ilk, by whom he had a son.

Lauchlan, his heir, and four daughters.

1. Catharine, married to John Campbell of Auchmaddie in Lochaber, and has issue.

2. Anne, married to John Macpherson, wadsetter of Maccoul, who left issue three sons and three daughters.

3. Florence, married to Alexander Macpherson in Strathmassie, and hath issue.

4. Rachel, married to James Macpherson, schoolmaster in Knoydart, and hath issue.

He was succeeded by his only son,

X. Lauchlan Macpherson of Strathmassie, who married Mary, daughter of Archibald Butter of Pitlochrie in Athole, by Helen his wife, daughter of sir Alexander Ogilvie of Forglen, baronet, one of the senators of the college of justice, by whom he has two sons and two daughters.

1. Alexander.

2. Henry.

i st daughter, Agnes.

2. Jean.

MACPHERSON OF BREAKACHIE.

IX. Donald More Macpherson of Clunie, No IX. of the memoirs of that family, had two sons.

Sir ."Eneas Macpherson’s history of the family.

Ibidem.


1. Donald-Oig of Clunie, his successor.

2. Gillicallum-Beg, or Little Malcolm, progenitor of the Macphersons of Breakachie, Essich, &c.

I. Gillicallum-Beg Macpherson lived in the reign of king James I. and married a daughter of Macdonald of Shian, by whom he had three sons.

1. Gillicallum More, or Beg Malcolm, progenitor of the Macphersons of Breakachie.

2. Dougal Derg, or Red Dougal, of whom the Macphersons of Essich are descended.

3. Ewan, ancestor of the Macphersons in Breadalbane or Argyleshire.

Though the descendants of Gillicallum More and Dougal Derg contend for

precedency; yet we here, from the traditional history of the family, begin with

II. Gillicallum More Macpherson, who appears to have been eldest son of Gillicallum-Beg, second son of Donald of Clunie, was designed by the title of

Ibidem.

MS. history of the family.


Breakachie, and married a daughter of Robertson of Aulich in Rannach, an

ancient cadet of the family of Strowan, chief of the name, by whom he had six sons and seven daughters.

1. John, his heir.

2. Soirl or Samuel.

3. Donald.

4. Huiston or Hutcheon.

5. Dougal.

6. Gillicallum Oig.

1st daughter, married to Donald, brother to - Cameron of Little

Finlay.

2. -, married to-Macpherson of Pitmean.

3. -, married to-Macpherson of Drummanard.

4. -, married to - Macpherson of Balladmore.

5. -, married to Donald Macpherson of Phoness.

6. -, married to-Macgregor of Liaraygach in Rannach in Athole.

7. -, married to-Gordon, a son of Abergeldie.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

III. John Macpherson of Breakachie, who in the reign of king Janies VI.

M.S. hist, of the family.

Ibidem.

Ibidem.


married a daughter of - Macpherson of Phoness, by whom he had two

sons. .

1. Donald, his heir.

2. Ewan, whose posterity are extinct. .

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

IV. Donald Macpherson of Breakachie, who married a daughter of-

Stewart of Drumchan in Athole, by whom he had two sons.

1. Hugh or Hutcheon, who married, but left no surviving issue.

2. Donald Oig, who carried on the line of the family.

V. Donald Macpherson of Breakachie, married a daughter of - Macpherson of Pitowrie, by whom he had four sons.

1. Malcolm, his heir.

2. Alexander.

3. Soirl or Samuel.

4. John of Ovie.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

VI. Malcolm Macpherson of Breakachie, who married, ist, a daughter of Donald Macpherson of Phoness, by whom he had four sons.

1. John, his heir.

2. Alexander, married and had issue.

3. Donald, married a sister of Lauchlan Macpherson of Clunie, and had issue.

4. Duncan—no succession. .

He married, 2dly, Marjory, daughter of John Macpherson of Dalraddie, by whom he had two sons.

1. Malcolm of Crubin-more, who married Isabel, daughter of James Macpherson of Invernahaven, by whom he has a daughter, married to Donald, second son of Donald Macpherson of Kinlochlaggan.

- 2. Thomas Macpherson of Messintullich, who married Elizabeth,

daughter of John Macpherson of Banchor, by whom he has sons and daughters.

Malcolm was succeeded by his eldest son,

daughter of William Beatie, an officer in the British dragoons, by whom he has a son and a daughter.

4. Hugh of Ovie, who married Margaret, daughter of John Macpherson of Banchor, by whom he has two sons and three daughters.

1st daughter, Isabel, married to Macintosh of Linvulg, and has issue.

2. Helen, married to John Macpherson of Invernahaven, and has issue.

3. married to a son of Macpherson of Phoness, and has issue.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

VIII. Donald Macpherson of Breakachie, who married Christian, daughter of Lauchlan Macpherson of Clunie, by Jean his wife, daughter of Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochyell. By her he had four sons and one daughter.

1. Duncan, his heir.

2. Lauchlan, who was bred a surgeon, is now a lieutenant in one of the British independent companies in Senegal in Africa.

3. John, a merchant in North America.

4. Ewan.

Marjory, only daughter.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

IX. Duncan Macpherson of Breakachie, who went a captain in colonel Morris’s regiment of foot to the East Indies, anno 1760, and returned to Breakachie 1766, and is still unmarried.

There are several considerable families of the name of Macpherson descended of Breakachie—viz., the Macphersons in Glenorchy, and Glenfine, in Argyleshire; the Macphersons in Larig, &c.; the Macphersons of Culcherine, Bockaird, &c.

Alexander Macpherson, wadsetter of Culcherine, who acquired the estate of Gartincaber, &c., married Isabel, daughter of Hugh Campbell, Esq., a cadet of the family of Ardkinlass, by whom he had four sons.

1. Gilbert, who was bred to the law at Edinburgh.

2. James, a captain on half-pay in the queen’s royal regiment of Highlanders, is married, and hath issue.

3. Colin, who died young.

4. Ewan, a captain in lord John Murray’s regiment, was killed in Ticonderago, anno 1758.

MACPHERSON OF ESSICH.

The first of this family was,

I. Dougal Derg, so called from his being a brave and gallant man, and often engaged in warlike exploits. He was the son of Gillicallum-Beg, and brother of Gillicallum-More, first of the family of Breakachie.

Though this was long a considerable, numerous, and flourishing family, yet as we are not furnished with materials whereby we can deduce their genealogy, we shall here briefly mention such of their cadets as have come to our knowledge.

The Macphersons of Ballichroan in Badenoch, and of Powrie in Forfarshire, are of the family of Essich.

You can download the whole book here in pdf format


Return to Book Index Page


 


This comment system requires you to be logged in through either a Disqus account or an account you already have with Google, Twitter, Facebook or Yahoo. In the event you don't have an account with any of these companies then you can create an account with Disqus. All comments are moderated so they won't display until the moderator has approved your comment.

comments powered by Disqus

Quantcast