Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/42

388 for having declared head of the clan Fraser. The first part of his plan was not difficult to have been executed; but the latter part, for which the first was alone contemplated, was not of so easy a character, being opposed to the spirit of Highland clanship. A considerable time, however, was spent in attempting to bring it to bear. A few Erasers only could be brought to engage in it; whose treachery no sooner came to the ears of the lord and the master of Lovat, than orders were issued to apprehend and punish them according to their deserts; and it was only by a timely and well-concerted flight that they escaped being hanged. A letter was, at the same time, sent to lord Salton, signed by the principal men of the clan, begging him not to attempt forcing himself upon them, and thus destroying their tranquillity, and endangering his own life. Salton returned a soft answer; but, confident in the power of the marquis of Athol, and, at any rate, in love with the consequence attached to the fair estate of Lovat, whether he was in love with the heiress or not, persevered in following out his plan, and with a considerable train of retainers came to Beaufort, at that time the residence of the dowager of Lovat, whose son-in-law he intended to be. Thomas, lord Lovat, happened to be at this time on the Stratherrick estate, a district which stretches along the south bank of Lochness, and was requested by his son Simon, to cross the lake by the nearest way to Lovat, which is only three miles from Beaufort, in order to meet with lord Salton, while he himself hastened to the same place by the way of Inverness. At Inverness the master learned that lord Salton, persevering in his original design, had fully matured his plans at the house of the dowager lady Lovat, whence he intended next day to return into his own country, calling at Athol, and marrying the heiress of Lovat by the way, without waiting to see either the lord or the master of Lovat. Irritated, as well as alarmed by this intelligence, he wrote by a special messenger to lord Salton, calling upon him to adhere to his word "passed both to his father and himself, and to meet him next day at two o'clock in the afternoon, three miles from Beaufort, either like a friend, or with sword and pistols, as he pleased." This letter lord Salton received at six o'clock in the evening, and returned for answer that he would meet the master of Lovat at the time and place appointed, as his good friend and humble servant. In the meantime it was concluded by him and his followers to break up from their present quarters, and to pass the bridge of Inverness before the master of Lovat could have any suspicion of their being in motion, and thus escape a meeting with him for the present. The master, however, was too good a calculator of probabilities in this sort of intercourse to be thus taken in, especially as his messenger to lord Salton, from what he had observed at Beaufort, had strong suspicions of what was intended. He was, accordingly, at the road very early in the morning, attended by six gentlemen and two servants, all well mounted and armed, and meeting lord Salton, lord Mungo Murray, and their followers, to the number of forty, issuing from a defile in the wood of Bunchrive, about five miles from Inverness, disarmed and dismounted them; first lord Mungo Murray, then lord Salton, and the rest singly as they came forward, without stroke of sword or the firing of a single musket. Though the party of the master of Lovat was so inconsiderable at the outset, lord Salton and his party soon found themselves surrounded by some hundreds of enraged enemies, by whom; under the direction of the master, they were carried prisoners to the castle of Fanellan, where they were closely shut up under a certification that they should be all hanged for their attempt to intrude themselves into the inheritance, and to deprive the owner of his lawful and hereditary rights. Nor had they any right to consider this as a mere bravado: the history