OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.

291

CHAPTER XVI.

1746—1747.

The Government’s Treatment of Ludovick Grant.—Glen-Urquhart
Harried by the English Cavalry.—The Blanket Raid.—
Invermoriston House Burnt, and the Glenmoriston People
Plundered.—Cumberland at Fort-Augustus.—Atrocities in
Glenmoriston.—A Reign of Terror.—The Story of Roderick
Mackenzie.—Cattle Dealing between English Soldiers and
Southern Drovers.—Gay Life in the English Camp.—Horse­
Racing Extraordinary.—The Seven Men of Glenmoriston.—
The Wanderings of Prince Charles.—The Prince in Glen-
moriston.—His Three Weeks’ Life with the Seven Men.—An
Oath of Secrecy and Fidelity.—The Prince’s Movements.—
His Escape.—His Appearance and Habits.—Devotion of the
Seven Men.—The English leave Fort-Augustus.—Famine and
Pestilence in the Parish.—The Use of Arms and the Wearing
of the Highland Dress Prohibited.—A Terrible Oath.—
Results of Culloden.—Close of the Olden Times.

Ludovick Grant’s zeal in connection with the
bringing in of the men of Urquhart and Glen-
moriston did not secure him the consideration
which he expected from the Government and mili­
tary authorities. His uncle was tried by court-
martial for surrendering Inverness Castle, and
somewhat harshly dismissed from the army. Young
Shewglie and the Reverend John Grant, whose
punishment he had urged, were, as we have seen,
released ; while the men who were unfortunate
enough to be the objects of his intercession were
banished to Barbadoes, without trial. His request

292              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

to be refunded his outlays while rebel-hunting—
amounting to £494 8s—was treated with contempt.
Early in July his estate of Urquhart was over­run
by Kingston’s Light Horse, who gave his tenants’
houses to the flames,¹ and carried away their horses,
cattle, and household effects.²

In October a levy of one hundred blankets was
made out of Urquhart for the King’s troops, and
enforced by a company of soldiers ; while a similar
demand for one hundred and fifty blankets was in
January following made on his people of Strath­
spey.³ For these losses and exactions Ludovick and
his tenants in vain sought redress.

¹  The houses of Divach and Clunemore were burnt. An officer of the
name of Ogilvie was sent to destroy Corrimony house, but he spared it on
account of Corrimony’s wife, Jane Ogilvie ; and it still stands.

² See Appendix I. for details of the spoil. Kingston’s Horse, who
were raised by the Duke of Kingston at the outbreak of the war, left Fort-
Augustus on 27th July for their native Nottinghamshire, where they
astonished the people of that county with their wonderful accounts of their
prowess and exploits in the Highlands. According to one report of the time,
“ three butchers of Nottingham, who had been of Kingston’s Horse, killed
fourteen men each at the battle of Culloden ”—(Scots Magazine, 1746). The
regiment was disbanded in September, when their standards were placed in
the town-hall of Nottingham, with an inscription in the following terms :—
“ These Military Standards, lately belonging to the Light Horse commanded
by the Most Noble and Most Puissant Prince, Evelin, Duke of Kingston,
raised among the first by the County of Nottingham out of Love to
their Country and Loyalty to the Best of Kings, in the year 1745, are
here dedicated to the perpetual Fame and immortal Memory of their invin­
cible Bravery in the Skirmish of Clifton Moor, the Siege of the city of Carlisle,
but especially at the memorable Battle fought at Culloden, in the Highlands
of Scotland, on the 16th day of April, 1746, where, amongst others, they per­
formed many and glorious Exploits in Routing and entirely Subduing the
Perfidious Rebels, stirred up and supported by the French King, an implacable
Enemy of the Protestant Religion and Publick Liberty. God save our ever
August King ! Long may the County of Nottingham Flourish !”

³ Memorial by Ludovick Grant to the Duke of Newcastle—copy at Castle
Grant.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                 293

The district of Glenmoriston suffered even more
than Urquhart. The Earl of Loudon, who had
found shelter in Skye after his retreat from Inver­
ness, returned as soon as tidings of Culloden reached
him, accompanied by Sir Alexander Macdonald of
Sleat, Macleod of Macleod, and the “ militia of the
Isle of Skye.” In passing through Glenmoriston
the Earl and his companions lodged for a night in
Invermoriston House. Next day, according to the
testimony of an eye-witness, Patrick Grant, tenant
of Craskie, they “ burnt it to the ground, destroying
at the same time all the ploughs, harrows, and other
such like utensils they could find.” The Skyernen,
continues Grant, “ dividing themselves into three
parties, went a-rummaging up and down the Glen,
destroying all the ploughs, harrows, &c., pots, pans,
and all household furniture, not excepting the stone
querns, with which they [the people] grind their
corn, breaking them to pieces ; and driving along
with them such cattle as (in their then hurry) they
found in the Glen. Our country blame the Laird of
Macleod more than any other for this piece of mili­
tary execution, that Lord Loudon was against it,
but that Macleod should have insisted upon it as a
meritorious piece of service, fit to recommend them
to the good graces of the Duke of Cumberland.”¹
Loudon was a keen and consistent Whig who would
not have been without excuse even had he been the
instigator of these measures ; but there can be no
excuse for the two Island chiefs, who, if they did

¹ Lyon in Mourning—MS. in Advocates’ Library.

294              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

not “ insist” on them, took part without compunction
in carrying them into effect against a people whose
only crime was the espousal of a cause which they
themselves had at one time had serious thoughts of
joining.

The Duke of Cumberland left Inverness on 23rd
May, and arrived next day at Fort-Augustus, which
he made his headquarters till his departure for
England on 18th July. During his stay, and
indeed until the last remnant of the English army
left in August, the district of Glenmoriston, lying
within a few miles of the Fort, suffered much.
Officers and men forgot their humanity, and revelled
in blood, plunder, lust, and brutal horse­play. The
truth of the charges against them has been denied ;
but without relying on the tradition of the country,
which tells in words of fire of the enormities of the
time, many deeds of violence and shame are but
too well authenticated in the pages of the Lyon
in Mourning, a manuscript collection of letters,
journals, and narratives made by Bishop Robert
Forbes immediately after the close of the war.¹ The
following examples may be given from that col­
lection.

Colonel Cornwallis, marching through Glen-
moriston with a body of soldiers, observed two men
“ leading” dung to their land, and shouted to them
to come to him. Instead of obeying, the men, who,

¹ The Lyon in Mourning was preserved in the family of Stewart of
Allanton, by whom it was given to the late Robert Chambers, who made it
over to the Advocates’ Library, where it now is.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                295

knowing only Gaelic, probably did not understand
his request, turned their faces away from him.
They were instantly shot dead.

Major James Lockhart, of Cholmondeley’s Regi­
ment, an officer who was taken prisoner by the
Highlanders at Falkirk, and bribed his guard to let
him free, made discreditable use of the liberty which
he had thus gained, and his name has come down
to us as the most notorious of Cumberland’s lieu­
tenants.¹ Six or seven weeks after the battle of
Culloden he was in command of a company in the
Braes of Glenmoriston, when he saw two old men,
Hugh Fraser and John Macdonald, and the former’s
son, James Fraser, harrowing in a field. He shot
the three down without a word of warning. On the
same day he ordered Grant of Duldreggan, a peace­
able man who had taken no part in the insurrection,
and on whose advice the Glenmoriston men sur­
rendered to Ludovick Grant, to gather together the
Duldreggan cattle while he and his men harried and
burned another district. Finding on his return
next day that the cattle had not all arrived from
the remote glens, he stripped Grant naked, bound
him hand and foot, and in that condition made him

¹ Lockhart is referred to in the following lines by a woman whom he had
robbed :—

Tha ’n crodh agam ann an Sasunn ;
Cha d’ fhag iad beathach agam air pairce ;
Thug iad uam brigh mo thochradh—
’S e Maidsear Lockhart an t-aireach !
(All my cattle are in England ; they have not left a beast with me on a
field ; they have deprived me of the substance of my dower—and Major
Lockhart is the cow-keeper !)

296              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

witness the hanging by the feet of the bodies of the
three men who had been murdered on the previous
day. Grant’s life was spared at the request of
Captain Grant of Loudon’s Regiment ; but Lockhart
carried away his cattle, set fire to his house, robbed
his wife of her rings, and stripped her of her clothes.
Of these scenes the aged Lady of Glenmoriston,¹
whose own house and effects were also given to the
flames, and who was forcibly deprived of her “ plaid
and napkin,” was an unwilling witness.

Another man of the name of Fraser was shot by
Lockhart as he was wading a stream—notwith­
standing that he held in his hand a “ protection ”
from the Whig minister of Kilmorack.

But the most tragic event that happened in
Glenmoriston was the death of Roderick Mackenzie.
This young man was probably a son of Colin
Mackenzie, an Edinburgh jeweller who interested
himself in the cause of the Stewarts in The Fifteen.
Roderick, who followed Colin’s politics as well as
his trade, joined Prince Charles, to whom he bore
some personal resemblance, and became one of his
body­guard. After Culloden, he wandered through
the Highlands, and happened to be in our Parish
when it became known that Charles had escaped
from the Western Isles, and was lurking among
the mountains of the mainland of Inverness-shire.
Unfortunately, a party of the King’s soldiers, who
were eager to win the £30,000 placed on the
Prince’s head, came upon him in Glenmoriston, and,

¹ Daughter of Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, and widow of Iain a’ Chragain.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                297

taking him for the royal fugitive, endeavoured to
seize him. He made no attempt to undeceive them,
but, drawing his sword, refused to be taken alive.
They thereupon riddled him with bullets, and he
expired with the words on his lips—“ You have
murdered your Prince.”¹ The head of the hero was
carried in triumph to Fort­Augustus, where Mac-
donald of Kingsburgh was questioned as to its
identity.² His evidence was unsatisfactory, and
when Cumberland left for England, he took
the head with him to be submitted to other
witnesses. Richard Morison, who had been the
Prince’s valet, and now lay under sentence of death
at Carlisle, was summoned to London to identify
the head ; but he was delayed through illness, and
before he arrived it was beyond recognition. The
Government were, however, soon satisfied that
Charles was still alive ; but Mackenzie’s self-sacrifice
slackened for a time the exertions of the troops, and
probably saved the Prince. It certainly saved his
valet, who was granted a pardon and allowed to
cross to France.³

¹  These are the words given in the Lyon in Mourning. They are given
somewhat differently by the Chevalier Johnstone and others.

² Lyon in Mourning ; Scots Magazine.

³  Chevalier Johnstone’s Memoirs. Mackenzie fell by the side of the
public highway, opposite the lands of Ceanacroc. A cairn marks the spot.
The grave in which the headless body was hastily buried lies on the opposite side
of the road, and by the side of a small stream called, after Mackenzie, Caochan
a Cheannaich—the Merchant’s Streamlet. Near it was recently found a sword,
probably Mackenzie’s. Without any good reason, doubt has been cast on the
story by Mr Robert Chambers and Lord Mahon, neither of whom, probably,
ever visited the scene of his death. The story is related by Johnstone
(Memoirs) and in the Lyon in Mourning by Macpherson of Cluny, and Mrs

298             URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

The soldiers roamed up and down Glenmoriston
shooting down men, burning homesteads to the
ground, stripping women of their clothes, and
driving to Fort­Augustus every four-footed animal
they could find. Maids and matrons were seized
and violated under circumstances of gross brutality.¹
The terror-stricken people fled to the mountains,
where many of them succumbed to hunger and
exposure.² Such of them as ventured to the Fort
to beg for food were denied the crumbs that fell
from the soldiers’ table, and were sent away empty-

Cameron, wife of Dr Archibald Cameron—the last Jacobite executed. These
all lived at the time of the event. Another contemporary, Dugald
Graham, the rhyming historian of The Forty-Five, gives it in the following
lines :—

“ Rod’rick Mackenzie, a merchant­man,

At Ed’nburgh town had join’d the Clan,

Had in the expedition been,

And at this time durst not be seen.

Being skulking in Glen-Morriston,

Him the soldiers lighted on.

Near about the Prince’s age and size,

Genteely drest, in no disguise,

In ev’ry feature, for’s very face

Might well be taken in any case,

And lest he’d like a dog be hang’d,

He chose to die with sword in hand,

And round him like a madman struck,

Vowing alive he’d ne’er be took,

Deep wounds he got, and wounds he gave ;

At last a shot he did receive,

And as he fell, them to convince,

Cry’d, Ah I Alas ! You've hilled your Prince ;

Ye murderers and bloody crew,

You had no orders thus to do.”

¹ See Appendix J.

² Lyon in Mourning ; Scots Magazine, 1746 ; Glenaladale’s Account of
Prince Charles’ Escape, in Lockhart Papers, II., 556.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.               299

handed by order of Duke William.¹ Even the dead
were not allowed peaceful burial. “As the Glen-
moriston people were forced to keep the hills,” says
Patrick Grant,² “ so when any of them died, they
would have been kept three or four days, because of
the parties then scouring up and down the country,
and when they could they would have carried the
dead bodies privately, in the night-time, to the
kirk-yards to bury them. Hereby the Glenmoriston
people, having suffered much both by hunger and
cold, so in the ensuing winter, 1746, a great
mortality happened among them.”

While the wretched people thus suffered and
died, their oppressors fared sumptuously, and ate,
drank, and were merry. The large sum of £4000—
equal in value to three or four times that amount in
the present day—was sent to Fort-Augustus by the
city of London for division among the non-com­
missioned officers and soldiers.³ The horses, cattle,
sheep, and goats which were brought in thousands
into the camp were sold to dealers from England
and the south of Scotland, and the proceeds divided
as prize-money. “ Most of the soldiers,” writes one
who served with them as a volunteer,⁴ “ had horses,

¹ The following order was issued by the Duke on 8th July :—“There is no
meal to be sold to any persons but soldiers, there wives are not alow’d to buy
it—if any soldier, soldier’s wife, or any other persons belonging to the Army,
is known to sell or give any meal to any Highlander, or any person of the
country, they shall be first whipd severely, for disobeying this order, and then
put upon meal and water in the Provost for a fourthnight.” (Maclachlan’s Life
of Cumberland, 324).

² Narrative, in Lyon in Mourning.

³ Maclaehlan’s Life of Cumberland, 325.

⁴ Ray’s History of Rebellion, 372.

300              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

which they bought and sold with one another at a
low price, and on which they rode about, neglecting
their duty ; which made it necessary to publish an
order to part with them, otherwise they were all to
be shot. I saw a soldier riding one of these horses,
when, being met by a comrade, he asked him, ‘ Tom,
what hast thou given for the galloway ?' Tom
answered, ‘ Half­a­crown.’ To which the other
replied, with an oath, ‘ He is too dear ; I saw a
better bought for eighteen pence.’ Notwithstanding
the low price, the vast quantities of cattle, such as
oxen, horses, sheep, and goats, taken from the rebels
and bought up by the lump by the jockeys and
farmers from Yorkshire and the south of Scotland,
came to a great deal of money; all which was
divided amongst the men that brought them in,
who were sent out in parties in search of the Pre­
tender ; and they frequently came to rebels’ houses
that had left them and would not be reduced to
obedience. These sort our soldiers commonly
plundered and burnt, so that many of them grew
rich by their share of spoil.” ¹

One would have thought that, in such circum­
stances, and placed as they were in summer in the
midst of magnificent scenery, the English soldiers
would have greatly enjoyed their life in the High­
lands. But the Southrons had not yet learned to
appreciate the beauties of Highland scenery, and

¹ There were 8000 cattle at Fort­Augustus on 26th July—all taken from
the “rebels” (Scots Magazine, August, 1746). “If some of your Nor­
thumberland graziers were here,” writes an officer from the Fort on that date,
“ they might make their fortunes.”

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                 301

the unwonted landscape had a depressing effect
upon their souls. The sight “ of the black barren
mountains, covered with snow and streams of water
rolling down them,” says Ray, the Volunteer, “ was
sufficient to give a well-bred dog the vapours, and
occasioned numbers to fall sick daily as well in their
minds as in their bodies.” With the desire of
mending their minds if not their morals, the Duke
initiated sports of a most diverting character.
“Last Wednesday,” writes a gentleman on 17th June,¹
“ the Duke gave two prizes to the soldiers to run
heats for, on bare-backed galloways taken from the
rebels, when eight started for the first, and ten for
the second prize. These galloways are little larger
than a good tup, and there was excellent sport.
Yesterday His Royal Highness gave a fine holland
smock to the soldiers’ wives, to be run for on these
galloways, also bare-backed, and riding with their
limbs on each side the horse, like men. Eight
started, and there were three of the finest heats
ever seen. The prize was won with great difficulty
by one of the Old Buffs ladies. In the evening
General Hawley”—the gallant commander who
made such a rapid flight from Falkirk — “ and
Colonel Howard ran a match for twenty guineas on
two of the above shalties ; which General Hawley
won by about four inches.” “ There were also,”
says Ray, “many foot races performed by both
sexes, which afforded many droll scenes. It was
necessary to entertain life in this manner, otherwise

¹ Scots Magazine, June l746,

302              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

the people were in danger of being affected with
hypochondriacal melancholy.” These races were said
to have been attended with circumstances of even
grosser indecency than is acknowledged by these
Whig writers. According to the gossip of the time,
the female camp-followers who took part in them
were as destitute of raiment as was Godiva of
Coventry during her famous ride. It is fair, how­
ever, to add that the Reverend James Hay of
Inverness, to whom Bishop Forbes addressed
enquiries on the point, replied—“ Though the
running naked be commonly reported, I have not
got an account of the certainty.”¹

Among those who sought refuge in the mountains
were Patrick Grant, tenant of Craskie, to whose nar­
rative reference has in this chapter been repeatedly
made ; Hugh, Alexander, and Donald Chisholm,
sons of Paul Chisholm, tenant in Blame ; Alexander
Macdonald in Aonach ; John Macdonald, alias
Campbell, in Craskie ; and Grigor Macgregor.
These Seven Men of Glenmoriston, having witnessed
the betrayal and slaughter of their friends and
relatives, the burning of their homes, and the loss
of their property, bound themselves by a solemn

¹ The races—horse and foot—had the personal attention of the Duke.
On 17th June the following appears in his General Order Book :—“H.R.H.
gives six plates to be run for this afternoon at 5 o’clock by the sheltys
belonging to the Army, viz., four the line, one to be run for by the Wimen, all
to ride without sadles, Every Body has a Right to run, they are to be at
H.R.H. Quarters at half an hour after four.” On 23rd June the order
appears :—“ There is a plate of guinea value to be run for on foot by the
wimen of the line this afternoon. N.B.—The Ladies are desired to be on the
Course by five o’clock.”

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.               303

oath never to surrender themselves or their arms to
the English, but to stand by each other to the last
drop of their blood.¹ They were stalwart men who
had been trained in the Highland Independent
Companies. Macgregor had also been in Lord
Loudon’s Regiment, from which he deserted on the
landing of the Prince ; and they had all served with
Charles.² They now made their home in Uamh
Ruaraidh na Seilg—the Cave of Roderick the
Hunter—in Corri-Sgrainge, one of the two small
corries into which Corri-Dho branches out in its
upper reaches ; and from there they went forth in
search of food and adventure. In a small way they
waged war against the devastators of their country,
making the Whig Highlanders who accompanied
the English soldiers as Gaelic-speaking guides and
informers the special objects of their animosity.

About the beginning of July the two Macdonalds
and Alexander and Donald Chisholm observed a
party of seven red­coats, under the guidance of
Archibald Macpherson, a native of Skye, making
their way from Fort­Augustus to Glenelg with two
horses bearing wine, wheaten bread, and other pro­
visions. They fired from behind some boulder-rocks,
and two of the soldiers fell dead. The others,
alarmed at the unexpected attack, fled towards Fort-
Augustus, leaving their horses behind them. The
Glenmoriston men buried the dead where they fell,
took possession of the provisions, and drove the
horses three miles further into the mountains, and

¹ Lyon in Mourning.

² Ibid.

304              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

there let them loose. “ The wine,” said Patrick
Grant, who related the incident to Bishop Forbes
in 1751, “being contained in square hampers of
leather with padlocks, we fell to breaking up the
hampers with stones, whereby (woe be to the
stones !) we break some of the bottles ; and when
we got them opened we were very angry we found
no money in the hampers.” They, however, saved
sufficient wine to enable them to live “ like princes ”
for about five days.¹

Some days after this incident, the Seven Men
met Robert Grant, a native of Strathspey, at a
place ever since called Feith Rob—Roberts Bog—
and shot him through the heart. Cutting off his
head, they fixed it high in a tree near the high road
at Blairie, where the skull remained till far into
the present century. Another native of the same
Strath—An Spèach Ruadh, or the Red Strathspey-
man—was cut down by them, and buried in the
wilds.²

Three days after the death of Robert Grant,
Patrick Grant and his companions received tidings
to the effect that a party of soldiers had taken
cattle belonging to Patrick Grant’s uncle, and were
driving them towards the West Coast, by General
Wade’s road through Glenmoriston. The Seven
Men followed the soldiers, and overtook them near
the Hill of Lundie, by Loch-Cluanie-side, and from
some little distance called upon them to give up the

¹ Lyon in Mourning.
Ibid., and tradition in Glenmoriston,

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                305

cattle. The officers in command placed their men
in order for resistance, and sent Donald Fraser, a
militiaman, to enquire what the Glenmoriston men
wanted, and to invite them to surrender and take
advantage of the royal clemency. Patrick replied
that they were resolved to recover the cattle, and
that rather than surrender they would fight to their
last breath, indicating at the same time that com­
panions were near who would help them in the
struggle. The officers refused to give up the
cattle, and ordered them to be driven on. “The
Seven Men then made a lateral movement, and
commenced a running fire, two by two, with some
effect. Still the cattle and the soldiers moved on.
The assailants then went forward to a narrow and
dangerous pass, where, taking up a strong position,
they gave their fire with such effect that the men,
terrified at this unusual kind of warfare, fell into
confusion, and many fled. The officers then sent a
second message, but with the same result, and,
strange to say, the affair ended by the men being
allowed to carry off the cattle, together with a horse
laden with provisions.”¹

The three Chisholms, who made themselves con­
spicuous in these adventures, occasionally visited
their mother at Blairie. This became known at
Fort-Augustus, and a small party of soldiers was
sent out to capture them. The young men, how-

¹ Patrick Grant’s Narrative, corroborated by Donald Fraser, the militia­
man. (Lyon in Mourning).

20

306              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

ever, stoutly resisted, and put the red­coats to
flight.¹

While the men of Glenmoriston were thus leading
the lives of outlaws, the Prince, for whose sake they
suffered, was himself hunted from island to island,
and from glen to glen, by the soldiers of King
George. After Culloden, he proceeded by Strath-
nairn, Stratherrick, and Glengarry to Arisaig, and
thence crossed the Minch to Benbecula. For
two months he eluded his pursuers in the Outer
Hebrides, and at last escaped from their grasp
through the heroic devotion of Flora Macdonald,
under whose guidance he crossed to Skye in
female attire. On 5th July he landed in Morar.
His presence there became known to the warships
which scoured the Western Sea, and to the troops
at Fort-William and Fort-Augustus. The ships
closed in upon the coast, and a cordon of
soldiers was drawn from Loch Shiel to the head of
Loch Hourn, the men being placed within sight
of one another, with fires burning at night,
between which they passed and repassed contin­
ually. Charles was now completely surrounded,
and escape appeared almost impossible. He, how­
ever, resolved to make an attempt, and placed
himself unreservedly in the hands of three gentle­
men who had served in his army—Major Macdonald
of Glenaladale, Lieutenant John Macdonald, Glen-

¹ Tradition communicated to the Author by the late Duncan Macdonell,
Torgoil Inn, who saw and remembered Hugh Chisholm, one of the Seven Men
—the same Hugh whom Sir Walter Scott, when a young man, knew in Edin­
burgh (Tales of a Grandfather).

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                307

aladale’s brother, and Lieutenant John Macdonald,
son of Angus Macdonald of Borodale. With these
as his guides, and travelling only by night, he
gradually made his way northward—passing more
than once so near to the soldiers that the sound of
their voices reached his ears. Early on the morning
of the 27th the party arrived at Glenshiel, where
they met a Glengarryman whom Glenaladale recog­
nised as one who had served in the Highland army.
Led by him they that night pushed forward to
Strath-Cluanie, where they rested till the afternoon
of the 28th, when, alarmed by the sound of fire-
arms, they made for the high mountain range that
looks down upon Glenmoriston’s lands of Corri-
Dho on the one side, and upon Glen-Affaric on the
other. There they passed a most miserable night,
“ the only shelter His Royal Highness had being an
open cave where he could neither lean nor sleep,
being wet to the skin with the rain that had fallen
all that day ; and having no fuel to make a fire
with, his only way to make himself warm being by
smoking a pipe.”¹

Some time before, the Prince heard that
French vessels had put in at Poolewe, and he was
anxious to push forward in their direction. The
Glengarry guide did not know the country beyond
Strathglass, and he suggested that the Seven Men
of Glenmoriston, whose cave was in the corrie which
lay at their feet, should be asked to conduct the
party towards Poolewe. His suggestion was agreed

¹ Glenaladale’s Account, in Lockhart Papers, II., 556.

308              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

to, and about three o’clock in the morning of the
29th, he and Glenaladale’s brother went forth in
search of the proposed guides. They soon found
the two Macdonalds and Alexander Chisholm, who
readily undertook to shelter Glenaladale and his
companions, among whom, they were informed, was
a young gentleman whose name was not mentioned,
but whom they took to be young Clanranald ; and
it was arranged that the whole party should come
to the cave, where food was to be prepared for them.

The two messengers having returned and reported
the result of their search, Charles and his com­
panions immediately set out for the cave. They
were met on the way by the three men, who at
once recognised the Prince, and welcomed him with
the greatest enthusiasm. Leading him to the cave,
they offered him such “ cheer as the exigency of the
time afforded.”¹ They had no bread to give him,
but of their mutton and butter and cheese and
whisky he partook heartily, for he had not tasted
food for forty-eight hours. His hunger being thus
appeased, he lay down on a bed of heather, and
“ was soon lulled to sleep with the sweet murmurs
of the gliding stream that ran through the grotto
just by his bed side.”²

When he awoke he expressed his desire not to
increase the number of those to whom he entrusted
himself, and proposed to the three men, through
Glenaladale as interpreter, that they should remove
to another place without waiting for their companions,

¹ Lyon in Mourning.         ² Glenaladale’s Account.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                309

who were absent on a foraging expedition. The men
replied that they and their comrades were bound by
a solemn oath to stand by one another, and that they
must refuse to forsake them. Charles did not press
his wish, but suggested that they should solemnly
swear to fidelity and secrecy. This they at once
agreed to do, and the following oath was admin­
istered to them by Glenaladale :—“ That their backs
should be to God and their faces to the Devil, and
that all the curses the Scriptures did pronounce
might come upon them and all their posterity if
they did not stand firm by the Prince in the
greatest dangers, and if they did discover to any
person—man, woman or child—that the Prince was
in their keeping, till once his person should be out
of danger.”¹ This obligation they observed so care-
fully that for a year after Charles’ escape to France
it was not known that he had been among them.²

On their part Charles and Glenaladale proposed
to swear—“ That if danger should come upon them
they should stand by one another to the last drop of
their blood ;” but the men would take no oath from
the Prince and his friend. Charles remarked that
they were the first Privy Council that had been
sworn to him since the battle of Culloden, and he
promised never to forget them or theirs if ever he
should come to his own. One of them replied that a
certain priest who “used to come among them in
their own country frequently had told them that
King Charles the Second, after his restoration, was

¹ Lyon in Mourning.            ² Ibid.

310 URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

not very mindful of his friends ;” to which plain
speaking the poor Prince answered that “ he was
very heartily sorry for that, and that he hoped he
himself would not follow the same measures, and
that they might depend upon his word as the word
of a Prince.”¹

Next day the absent men returned with a live
ox and a dead deer, and took the oath which their
companions had already sworn. The ox was
slaughtered in the Prince’s presence ; and, although
there was no bread and but little salt, Charles
enjoyed a better meal than he had done for weeks.
One of the men afterwards ventured to Fort-
Augustus and purchased bread for him, and for
three days he rested in the cave, with the result
that “ he was so well refreshed that he thought
himself able to encounter any hardships.”²

Deeming it inexpedient to continue too long in
one place, the party removed on 2nd August to
Corri-Mheadhain, the second small corrie which
branches off Corri-Dho, and there “ took up their
habitation in a grotto no less romantic than the
former.”³ In this new retreat they remained for
four days, at the end of which they received intelli­
gence that Lieutenant Campbell, the Whig cham-

¹ Lyon in Mourning.

²  Glenaladale’s Account. “ Sometimes,” says Lord Mahon (History of
England), “they [the Seven Men] used singly and in various disguises to
repair to the neighbouring Fort-Augustus, and obtain for Charles a newspaper
or the current reports of the day. On one occasion they brought back to the
Prince, with much exultation, the choicest dainty they had ever heard of—a
pennyworth of gingerbread !”

³ Lyon in Mourning.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                 311

berlain of Kintail, was within four miles of them
with a large spoil of cattle.¹ The Prince had no
desire to make the chamberlain’s acquaintance, and
leaving Alexander Macdonald and Alexander Chis-
holm to watch his movements, he started on the 6th
with the rest of his party, and, travelling by night,
reached the heights of Strathglass early on the 7th.
He was there overtaken by Macdonald and Chis-
holm, who expressed the opinion that Campbell
was not likely to give trouble. Despatching two
messengers in the direction of Poolewe for intelli­
gence regarding the French ships, Charles remained
for two days in an unoccupied shieling-hut, sleeping
soundly at night on a bed of turf—“ a long
divot or fail ”—laid on the earth with the
grass side uppermost. Early on the 9th he
started again, and, having rested that night in
another shieling, entered Glen-Cannich on the
10th, and remained concealed there till about
two o’clock in the morning of the 11th, when he
betook himself to the mountains lying on the north
of the glen, to await the return of the messengers.
These arrived on the 13th with the news that a
French ship had indeed put in at Poolewe, but had
again sailed after landing two gentlemen who were

¹ Campbell took Patrick Grant’s cattle about 7th July (Lyon in Mourning).
He is the person described in a song of the period as—
“ An Caimbeulach Dubh a Cinn-taile,
Iar-ogh’ ’mhortair, ’s ogh’ a’ mheirlich ;
’Am Braid-Albainn fhuair e arach—
Siol na ceilge, ’s meirleach a’ ehruidh.’
(The Black Campbell from Kintail, great-grandson of the murderer, and
grandson of the thief. It was in Breadalbane that he was brought up—the
seed of deceit, and the stealer of cattle).

312              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

making their way to Lochiers country in quest of
the Prince. Anxious to meet these strangers and
receive any despatches which they might have for
him, Charles at once retraced his steps. Passing
by Comar, where the young Chisholm resided, he
reached a wood near Fasnakyle at two o’clock next
morning, and hid there till he should ascertain
whether the soldiers were still in Glenmoriston
and Glengarry. In three days his scouts reported
that the way was clear.¹ Resuming his journey at

¹ At Fasnakyle the party was joined by Hugh Macmillan, a Glenmoriston
man, who had been in the Prince’s army. “ When at Fassanacoill, the farmer
there, John Chissolm, used to furnish Patrick Grant and the other Provisors
with Meat and Drink for themselves and their Company, John Chissolm in
the meantime knowing nothing at all about the Prince. When the Prince
heard that John Chissolm had furnished him with Provisions, he desired that
John might be brought to him, and accordingly Patrick Grant and Hugh
Macmillan were dispatched to John Chissolm with that Intent. They
desired John to come along with them to see a Friend, whom he would like
very well to see, without telling who the Friend was. John answered, ‘ I
believe there is some Person of Consequence amongest you, and, as I have one
Bottle of Wine (the Property of a Priest, with whom I am in very good
Friendship), I will venture to take it along with me.’ Patrick Grant said,
‘ What, John ! have you had a Bottle of Wine all this Time, and not given it
to us before this Time ?’ Away they went to the Prince, whom John Chissolm
knew at first sight, having been in his Army. Upon delivering the Bottle of
Wine to the Prince, Patrick Grant desired the Favour of his Royal Highness
to drink to him [Patrick Grant] ; for (added he) ‘ I do not remember that
your Royal Highness had drunken to me since you came among our Hands.’
Accordingly the Prince put the Bottle of Wine to his Mouth, and drank a
Health to Patrick Grant and all Friends. John Chissolm having received
good payment for any Provisions he had furnished, and finding they had been
purchased for the use of his Prince, immediately offered to return the whole
Price, and pressed the Thing much ; but the Prince would not hear of that at
all, and ordered him to keep the Money. John Chissolm took the same Oath
of Secrecy with that before mentioned as taken by the Glenmoriston Men
who were so lucky that the Prince was in absolute Safety during the Time he
was in their hands, and (under God) they would have provided for his Safety
to this very Day, had he thought fit to have continued amongst them.”—
Patrick Grant’s Narrative, in Lyon in Mourning.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.

313

six o’clock on the morning of the 17th, he passed
into Glenmoriston, whence he sent one man to
Glengarry, and two others to Lochaber to arrange a
meeting between Cameron of Clunes and Glenala-
dale. The Glengarry messenger returned on the
19th with a favourable report, and Charles and his
companions proceeded by Glen-Loyne, towards the
West. Wading the River Garry in high flood,
they made their way to Achnasoul, near the east
end of Loch­Arkaig, where they were met on the
20th by the other two men, bearing a message from
Clunes to the effect that he would meet Glenaladale
next morning. Charles and his companions had
no food that day till late in the evening, when
they feasted royally on a hart which had fallen to
the gun of Patrick Grant. They were also cheered
by the arrival of the loyal Macdonald of Lochgarry.
Next morning they were joined by Clunes, who
conducted them to a wood at the foot of Loch-
Arkaig, whence Charles was able to communicate
with Lochiel. He was now in the midst of his
Western friends, and the Glenmoriston men pre­
pared to return to their own country. The Prince
desired to make them a small gift of money in
acknowledgment of their devotion and fidelity, and
requested Patrick Grant to remain with him until
he was placed in funds. In a few days Patrick
rejoined his companions, the proud bearer—not of
the £30,000 which he and they might have won by
betraying the Prince—but of three guineas for
himself and three for each of his companions.¹

¹ Glenaladale’s Account ; and Patrick Grant’s Narrative,

314              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

For a month longer Charles wandered in the
Western Highlands. He was finally taken on
board by a French vessel, and safely conveyed to
France.

PATRICK GRANT—FROM A MINIATURE IN GLENM)RISTON’S POSSESSION.

We learn something from the Lyon in Mourning
of the Prince’s appearance and manner of life during
the three weeks which he passed with the men of
Glenmoriston. The Reverend John Cameron of
Fort­William, who saw him at Loch-Arkaig, records
that “ he was then bare­footed, had an old black
kilt-coat on, a plaid, philibeg, and waistcoat, a dirty
shirt, and a long red beard, a gun in his hand, a
pistol and dirk by his side.” This description is
corroborated by Patrick Grant, who adds that the
Prince possessed but four shirts, which it was not
always convenient to get washed, and that the
discomfort which he consequently experienced was

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                 315

increased by his having to sleep in his clothes, and
plaid, and wig, and bonnet. He required but little
rest. He stepped nimbly over the moors by day, but
in the dark floundered awkwardly into pits and bogs.
His hopefulness and cheerfulness never forsook him.
He used “ to declare,” says Patrick Grant, “ that he
had great confidence in the King of France as a true
and fast friend, and that the King (his Father) and
his own brother, Henry, would risk all to save him.”
He called the Seven Men his Privy Council, per­
mitted them to address him by the name of Dugald
MacCullony,¹ ate and drank with them as one of
themselves, and forbade them to take off their
bonnets in his presence. He was the cook of the
party, and took pains to convey to his companions
some little knowledge of his art.² He even spoke to
them of his love affairs. “ In Glen-Cannich, upon
Lammas day,” says Patrick Grant, “ the Prince
spoke much to the praise of one of the daughters of
the King of France, and drank her health, and made
all the company do so likewise. . . . The Prince
told them that her hair was as black as a raven,
that she was a mighty fine, agreeable lady, being
sweet-natured and humble ; that he could not fail
to love her, as he was very sure she entertained a

¹  MacCullony, more correctly Mac 'Ill Domhnaich—Son of the Servant of
the Lord. The surname was at one time common in our Parish and Kiltarlity.

²  “ The Prince had a good Appetite, and we all sate in a Circle when
eating and drinking, every one having his Morsel on his own knee and the
Prince would never allow us to keep off our Bonnets in his Company. The
Prince used sometimes to roast his own Meat, and sometimes to give
Directions about the homely Cookery, taking a Bit now and then from off the
Speet while roasting.”—(Patrick Grant, in Lyon in Mourning).

316              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

great regard for him, as did likewise the Dauphin,
whom the Prince commended much.” . . . “ As
that Lady is so good-natured, agreeable and humble,”
exclaimed John Macdonald, “ would to God we had
her here, for we would take the best care of her in
our power, and, if possible, be kinder to her than to
Your Royal Highness.” “ This,” continues Patrick,
“ made them all laugh very heartily, and the Prince
answered, ‘ God forbid, for were she here and seized,
to ransom her person would make peace over all
Europe upon any terms the Elector of Hanover
would propose.’ ”

The fatigues which the Prince endured, and
the coarse food on which he subsisted, made him
a martyr to dysentery ; but, says Grant, “ he
bore up under all his misfortunes with great
resolution and cheerfulness, never murmuring or
complaining of the hardness and severity of
his condition.” His religious duties were not
neglected. “ The Prince,” continues the same
devoted adherent, “ upon rising in the morning,
used to retire for some time by himself to say his
prayers. I believe he is a very good Christian,
indeed. . . . The Prince discovered that we
were much addicted to common swearing in our
conversation ; for which he caused Glenaladale
reprove us in his name ; and at last the Prince, by
his repeated reproofs, prevailed on us so far that we
gave that custom of swearing quite up.”

Charles, indeed, was at this time—and before
his temper was soured by cruel disappointments

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                 317

and shattered hopes—a man of a most pleasant
disposition. His kindly manner and gallant bearing
inspired the men of Glenmoriston with feelings of
unbounded affection towards him ; and after grasping
his hand in the last farewell, one of them at least
never again gave his right hand to man or woman.¹

The bulk of the English troops left Fort­Augustus
on 12th July, and, a month later, Lord Loudon
marched southward, leaving only a small garrison
behind: Thereafter, with the exception of the
blanket raid in October, the people of our Parish
were left in peace. Grant of Glenmoriston and The
Chisholm were excepted from the benefits of the
Act of Indemnity ; but, nevertheless, their lives and
their lands were spared. Grant of Corrimony was
also allowed to go unpunished. Mackay of Achmonie
had the honour of being the only person in the
Parish who found a place in a great list of
“ rebels ” prepared by the officers of excise for the
information of the Government ;² but no evil con­
sequences followed the prominence thus given to
him. Cumberland and his lieutenants had done
enough, and the Government was satisfied. The
sufferings of the people were, however, not yet over.
The little corn they had sown during the distractions

¹ Hugh Chisholm, whom Sir Walter Scott knew in Edinburgh (Tales of a
Grandfather). Hugh was remembered by Glenmoriston people, who told the
Author how as children they used to tease him by endeavouring to seize his
right hand. James Chisholm, in Balmacaan, also never gave his right hand to
another after shaking hands with the Prince. (See Appendix K for further
notices of the Seven Men of Glenmoriston).

² List of Persons concerned in the Rebellion (Scottish History Society).

318              URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

of the spring was left unprotected and unsecured, and
winter found them without bread. Their cattle,
too, had been seized and sold by the English
soldiers. Famine and Pestilence strode side by
side through the glens, and there fell before them
more than fell at Culloden.¹ The men who survived
were taken bound by a shameful oath to discontinue
the use of arms and their ancient dress :—“ I do
swear as I shall answer to God at the great day of
judgment, that I have not, nor shall have, in my
possession any gun, sword, pistol, or arm whatsoever,
and that I never use tartan, plaid, or any part of
the Highland garb : and if I do so may I be cursed
in my undertakings, family, and property ; may I
never see my wife and children, father, mother, or
relations ; may I be killed in battle as a coward,
and lie without Christian burial in a strange land,
far from the graves of my forefathers and kindred :
may all this come across me if I break my oath.”

And so ended the last of the many “ troubles ”
in which the men of Urquhart and Glenmoriston
took part for their old Royal Line ; and so also may
be said to have ended the Olden Times in the
Parish. Culloden and the outrages and legislation
that followed destroyed many a pleasant feature in
the lives and customs of the people ; but they
also closed the wars and the strifes and the spoli­
ations that marked the course of centuries of trouble

¹ One effect of the Rising, and the troubles that followed it, was to
greatly reduce the birthrate in the Parish. The register of baptisms shows
that 32 children were baptised in 1744 ; 30 in 1745 ; 18 in 1746 ; and only 12
in 1747.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                 3l9

and turbulence. Since The Forty-Five change has
followed change in rapid succession ; and now,
almost literally, old things are passed away, and all
things are become new. Some of these changes
will fall to be considered in connection with the
ecclesiastical and educational history of the Parish,
and the social condition of its inhabitants.¹

¹ See Appendix L for notices of the principal families of the Parish, from
the earliest time to the present day.

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