--'For Seneca I have a double
reverence, both for his own worth, and because he was the heathen sage
whom my grandfather constantly studied.'

[808] 'Very near the house of Maclean stands the castle of Col, which
was the mansion of the Laird till the house was built.... On the wall
was, not long ago, a stone with an inscription, importing, that if any
man of the clan of Maclonich shall appear before this castle, though he
come at midnight, with a man's head in his hand, he shall there find
safety and protection against all but the king. This is an old Highland
treaty made upon a very memorable occasion. Maclean, the son of John
Gerves, who recovered Col, and conquered Barra, had obtained, it is
said, from James the Second, a grant of the lands of Lochiel, forfeited,
I suppose, by some offence against the state. Forfeited estates were not
in those days quietly resigned; Maclean, therefore, went with an armed
force to seize his new possessions, and, I know not for what reason,
took his wife with him. The Camerons rose in defence of their chief, and
a battle was fought at Loch Ness, near the place where Fort Augustus now
stands, in which Lochiel obtained the victory, and Maclean, with his
followers, was defeated and destroyed. The lady fell into the hands of
the conquerors, and, being found pregnant, was placed in the custody of
Maclonich, one of a tribe or family branched from Cameron, with orders,
if she brought a boy, to destroy him, if a girl, to spare her.
Maclonich's wife, who was with child likewise, had a girl about the same
time at which Lady Maclean brought a boy; and Maclonich, with more
generosity to his captive than fidelity to his trust, contrived that the
children should be changed. Maclean, being thus preserved from death, in
time recovered his original patrimony; and, in gratitude to his friend,
made his castle a place of refuge to any of the clan that should think
himself in danger; and, as a proof of reciprocal confidence, Maclean
took upon himself and his posterity the care of educating the heir of
Maclonich.' Johnson's _Works,_ ix. 130.

[809] 'Mr. Croker tells us that the great Marquis of Montrose was
beheaded at Edinburgh in 1650. There is not a forward boy at any school
in England who does not know that the Marquis was hanged.' Macaulay's
_Essays_, ed. 1843, i. 357

[810] It is observable that men of the first rank spelt very ill in the
last century. In the first of these letters I have preserved