isoned by
the Campbells, [327] Even before William and Mary had been proclaimed
at Edinburgh, a Maclean, deputed doubtless by the head of his tribe, had
crossed the sea to Dublin, and had assured James that, if two or three
battalions from Ireland were landed in Argyleshire, they would be
immediately joined by four thousand four hundred claymores, [328]

A similar spirit animated the Camerons. Their ruler, Sir Ewan Cameron,
of Lochiel, surnamed the Black, was in personal qualities unrivalled
among the Celtic princes. He was a gracious master, a trusty ally, a
terrible enemy. His countenance and bearing were singularly noble.
Some persons who had been at Versailles, and among them the shrewd and
observant Simon Lord Lovat, said that there was, in person and manner, a
most striking resemblance between Lewis the Fourteenth and Lochiel;
and whoever compares the portraits of the two will perceive that there
really was some likeness. In stature the difference was great. Lewis, in
spite of highheeled shoes and a towering wig, hardly reached the middle
size. Lochiel was tall and strongly built. In agility and skill at his
weapons he had few equals among the inhabitants of the hills. He had
repeatedly been victorious in single combat. He was a hunter of great
fame. He made vigorous war on the wolves which, down to his time, preyed
on the red deer of the Grampians; and by his hand perished the last
of the ferocious breed which is known to have wandered at large in
our island. Nor was Lochiel less distinguished by intellectual than
by bodily vigour. He might indeed have seemed ignorant to educated
and travelled Englishmen, who had studied the classics under Busby at
Westminster and under Aldrich at Oxford, who had learned something about
the sciences among Fellows of the Royal Society, and something about the
fine arts in the galleries of Florence and Rome. But though Lochiel
had very little knowledge of books, he was eminently wise in council,
eloquent in debate, ready in devising expedients, and skilful in
managing the minds of men. His understanding preserved him from those
follies into which pride and anger frequently hurried his brother
chieftains. Many, therefore, who regarded his brother chieftains as mere
barbarians, mentioned him with respect. Even at the Dutch Embassy in St.
James's Square he was spoken of as a man of such capacity and courage
that it would not be easy to find his equal. As a patron of literature
he rank