e, had set
up a claim to be recognized as chief of the numerous and powerful clan
to which he belonged, the name of which it is unnecessary to mention.
Being defeated by an opponent who had more justice, or at least more
force, on his side, he moved southwards, with those who adhered to him,
in quest of new settlements, like a second Aeneas. The state of the
Perthshire Highlands favoured his purpose. A great baron in that country
had lately become traitor to the crown; Ian, which was the name of our
adventurer, united himself with those who were commissioned by the king
to chastise him, and did such good service, that he obtained a grant
of the property, upon which he and his posterity afterwards resided. He
followed the king also in war to the fertile regions of England, where
he employed his leisure hours so actively in raising subsidies among the
boors of Northumberland and Durham, that upon his return he was enabled
to erect a stone tower, or fortalice, so much admired by his dependants
and neighbours, that he, who had hitherto been called Ian Mac-Ivor, or
John the son of Ivor, was thereafter distinguished, both in song and
genealogy, by the high title of IAN NAN CHAISTEL, or John of the Tower.
The descendants of this worthy were so proud of him, that the reigning
chief always bore the patronymic title of Vich Ian Vohr, i.e. the son of
John the Great; while the clan at large, to distinguish them from that
from which they had seceded, were denominated SLIOCHD NAN IVOR, the race
of Ivor.

The father of Fergus, the tenth in direct descent from John of the
Tower, engaged heart and hand in the insurrection of 1715, and was
forced to fly to France, after the attempt of that year in favour of the
Stuarts had proved unsuccessful. More fortunate than other fugitives, he
obtained employment in the French service, and married a lady of rank in
that kingdom, by whom he had two children, Fergus and his sister Flora.
The Scottish estate had been forfeited and exposed to sale, but was
re-purchased for a small price in the name of the young proprietor, who
in consequence came to reside upon his native domains. [14] It
was soon perceived that he possessed a character of uncommon acuteness,
fire, and ambition, which, as he became acquainted with the state of the
country, gradually assumed a mixed and peculiar tone, that could only
have been acquired Sixty Years since.

Had Fergus Mac-Ivor lived Sixty Years sooner than he did, he wou