Letter

Dr Sir

I received Yours Last week only for it came by Dunvegan. Sconser is the Next Office to me And when you are pleased to write me Again pray address it by Sonser. I return you thanks for the view of Inveraray house which is prettily executed. I shall be glad to receive the views in Sky of which I am a better Judge.¹ It is right you mention MacLeod for his own Sake and for that Sake of Others but your are not to Mention Me on that Occassion. The remains of Chieftancy Might be turned to good Account on Every Estate where the Spirit of it, is so faint that by Any Management it cannot be applyed to bad purposes.

I shall be glad to hear from you when you Are at Leasure for I am with Much Esteem, Dr Sir,
Your Most Obedient
&
Most humble Servt

Don: Macqueen

Kilmuir Nov. 20^th
1773

I coud Only mean by the poor's multure that the Millars generally Grind their gleanings on the field And their Contributions from Among the Tennants without paying multure.

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Enclosure

p.1^st.

Notes –––––

Two Vessels went from Sky, Uist and Kintail a part of Lord Seaford's Estate on the opposite continent And two more from Lewis with men, women & Children to America. The Proprietors took the Alarm, reduced their rents And passed from Services & Small taxes to Which their people were formerly bound. Lord Seaford hath Shewn a good disposition but found cause not to dismiss his Factor. This conduct, if persisted in, will Surely break the Spirit of Emigration — some of Alexander Macdonald's people, After signing with the rest, Stoped short but Whether the remains of the former Spirit combined with fears And small disappointments, may not spring up into a flame is still Uncertain, for if there is Any Early attempt made to mend the rent-role, the tumult which is now nearly Laid will rouse itself with greater violence. The Laird of MacLeod a young man under Age So full of good Sense, Humanity & Condescension, that tho he is burdened with an Immense Load of debt, he hath reduced his Rent-role to the abilities of the people And made a full conquest of their hearts. A Numerous Clan Acknowledge him for their friend and Protector, who if he persists in the present Measures, will soon stretch Every Nerve to relieve him from his difficulties. I shall be Extremely glad that you mention him in Some Such Light in your Publication, that he might be Led by it, to preserve the Character he So Early attempts to acquire, And that you may not Suppose that I am guided by any of the partial affections, from which I am intirely free as being on another Estate, Dr Samuel Johnson will, I am Sure, confirm this Truth, for he hath been Much in his company while he remained in Sky.

Sir Alexander Macdonald of Macdonald, Norman MacLeod of MacLeod, John MacLeod of Rasay and Charles Mackinnon of Mackinnon are the only proprietors in Sky. Sir Alexander Macdonald is Lineally descended of the Lords of the Isles, the three Last of Whom were Earls of Ross, the Heirs & Successors of SumerLed, the famous Thane or Depute Sovereign of Argyle, who on

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2^d

Account of his being marryed to a Daughter of Olave King of Man, assumed the Superiority of the Isles; his power And distance from the Seat of Royalty tempted him as well as Eight or more of his Successors, to Assert something like An Independancy on the Crown of Scotland, Untill John the Last of them by Entering into a Treaty with Edward King of England against his Rightful Sovereign James the 3^d., of which there is a Coppy in Rimer's fœdera, forefeited titles And all, When the Earldom of Ross was Unalienably annexed to the Crown in the year 1476. And he at the Mediation of the Queen a Daughter of Denmark's, was afterwards restored to the Lordship of the Isles. This John gave to his brother Hugh a Charter of by much the greater part of the Estate now possessed by Sir Alexander Macdonald, dated at Aros in Mull in the year 1495. And as the Line of John Lord of the Isles is long since Extinct, the descendants of his brother Hugh seem to bid fairest for the Right of Representation.

The Families of MacLeod of Harris and Rasay a branch of the Family of the MacLeods of Lewis who were very considerable in their day are according to an Uncontradicted Tradition descended of the Kings of Man, for when a Cession was made of the Kingdom of the Isles by Magnus the 4^th of Norway to Alexander the 3^d of Scotland, a provision ^was made for Securing the Rights And Possessions of Such of the Norvegian Subjects as inclined to remain where they were. Several made choice of keeping their possession in the Isles, rather than throw themselves Upon the dice of Fortune in Norway, whose posterity are now Existing, the many of them have been brought Low, by the revolutions which are frequent Among Military tribes, yet the MacLeods of Harris And Rasay Also, preserved an honourable rank, without Loseing or Acquiring a Single Acre of ground for time Immemorial And tho the present MacLeod's Situation Seems very distressful his parts firmness & perseverance promise, in time to Extricate Him from Every Incumberance.

The Clan Mackinnon As well as the Grants & Macgregors call themselves Clan Alpin, that is the descendants of Alpin, who was ^a King of the Scots

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3^d.

In the 9^th Century. Mackinnon possesses an Estate in Sky & Mull down from the time of the Lordship of the Isles.

Who is Chief of a Highland Clan When it hath been Split into different And independant families before we had Any great knowledge or Letters, is a question of more Curiosity than Use And ill to Solve. The former Importance of the Chief, when his Clan wou'd fly to his banners in the days of Military prowess, is in our days of Peace utterly cancelled. The calmer Arts of Industry And the more violent passion for Money than Renown, have pulled it Up from the roots. Countenance, recommendation And protection from Injuries, Some Shreds of them, in some places ^is all that remain of the old Spirit And Whoever is most capable & willing to Serve the Clan in these respects, is Chief for the time, While the true Representative According to the present Laws of Succession, May be Lurking Unheeded in a Corner. Among a Variety of Tribes of the same Clan Each have their pretensions which hath frequently given Occassion to Disputes Among themselves. It is now Scarce worth their While, Surely not worth the pains of a disinterested person to Setle the difference, tho the Case were more clear than it is. In a Line Where Every degree is not Ascertained by Charters, Sasines, contracts of Marriage, Untill you Arrive at the first founder of a Family, you are but groping in the dark. Tho' one Assumes the original Motto and a great part of the Arms of a Family More than a Century ago, can this pass for Any proof When all who Lay their Claims have not been called to the Lyon's Office for their Interest? The determination of the question is an Invidious task, And in the Main impossible to Answer.

The Bag-pipe was known to the Romans (Nero had one) who woud very probably introduce the Use of it into Gaul, where it was As Necessary As the pipe or flute was among the Lacedemonians to keep them to a Regular March and Moderate their Ardour & Impetuosity in Batle. It is the Character of the Gauls that in their first onset they were more than men and if the Enemy coud bear their first Impressions they were Less than

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4^th

Women, for their wild Unrestrained violence woud Soon Exhaust their Vigour and Spirit. The bag-pipe, then, woud be an Important War-like implement, on account of the Loudness & regularity of it's Music And the Romans cou'd scarce miss to furnish them with it when they took them into their Armies, to keep them to order and discipline. We have had the harp And the pipe from Irland, where our Great men too the grand tour of former days when it was the Kingdom of Saints & Geneologies And I find by an Antient Song that they had some of the Belgæ among them perhaps from those of South Brittain, who or some other Warlike tribe of Gauls might have furnished them with the Bag-pipe. Be that how it will, MacLeod, for time Immemorial kept a College of pipers Upon his Estate by the Mackrūmens who Enjoyed an Appointment in Lands And were resorted to by apprentices from the Neighbourhing Chieftans. Macdonald had also his Mackarters and Irish tribe in the Same Employment, one whom, it is said, played a Lively tempestuous tūne, still on the finger-Ends of the pipers, at the batle of Harlaw fought by Donald Lord of the Isles against Robert Duke of Albany in the year 14ii [sic].

The Danish forts Are called Dūns in Erse, but originally they were called by the builders Būrrows, which word is still preserved in the names of the places where they stand. Dun answers to the Latin word arx and means a fort or a high round hill Such as Dun-canna at Rasay. I am not surprised tho there may be few traces of these Duns in Norway or Denmark, for people who put Up in a conquered coūntrey among their Enemies will stand more in need of a Fortification than Where they Are at home among their friends. At the Same time our Norvegian Duns are so regularly built; that I am sure they were not novices in Masonry who put them up And ^if building in Stone was introduced to Brittain & Irland by these Northern Adventurers, I am apt to believe that some even of these old forts woud be found particularly in Norway. Nature woud soon point out the Art of Fortification, for Security

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5^th.

In time of fewer Numbers or of a defeat, Sometimes by opening up ^a deep broad ditch And throwing the Earth to the Inside, Sometimes, by felling trees in the heart of a thick wood And Piling them over One Another & at Other times by raising a stout Stone Wall round the Town As they called it. We have a few traces of the Ditch-fortification and Several of the Duns which are Surely Norvegian.

The Urns Are found in Large cairns within a stone chest composed of four stone ^standing on Edge & one below another Above standing on the Lowest Stone covered with a thin flat stone of small weight. This Chest And Sometimes more than One are found in the Same Cairn under a prodigious heap of Stones.

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answered Dec^r 21^st 1773.

M^r Macqueen
on the clans of Skie

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Editorial notes

1. Pennant's A tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides (1774) would contain a number of Moses Griffith's views of Skye: 'Women at the Quern, and at the Luagh, with a view of TALYSKIR', plate XXXIV, p.328; 'View from Beinn-na-caillich, in Skie', plate XXXV, p.329; 'View of DUNVEGAN castle, and the loch beyond', plate XXXVII, p.338, and 'DUN-TUILM castle', plate XXXVIII, p.350.