never been correctly stated in any history
of the period in which it took place, I am induced, in consequence of
your having, in the second series of your admirable Tales on the History
of Scotland, adopted Wishart's version of the transaction, and being
aware that your having done so will stamp it with an authenticity which
it does not merit, and with a view, as far as possible, to do justice to
the memory of my unfortunate ancestor, to send you the account of this
affair as it has been handed down in the family.

"James Stewart of Ardvoirlich, who lived in the early part of the 17th
century, and who was the unlucky cause of the slaughter of Lord Kilpont,
as before mentioned, was appointed to the command of one of several
independent companies raised in the Highlands at the commencement of
the troubles in the reign of Charles I.; another of these companies was
under the command of Lord Kilpont, and a strong intimacy, strengthened
by a distant relationship, subsisted between them. When Montrose raised
the royal standard, Ardvoirlich was one of the first to declare for him,
and is said to have been a principal means of bringing over Lord Kilpont
to the same cause; and they accordingly, along with Sir John Drummond
and their respective followers, joined Montrose, as recorded by Wishart,
at Buchanty. While they served together, so strong was their intimacy,
that they lived and slept in the same tent.

"In the meantime, Montrose had been joined by the Irish under the
command of Alexander Macdonald; these, on their march to join Montrose,
had committed some excesses on lands belonging to Ardvoirlich, which
lay in the line of their march from the west coast. Of this Ardvoirlich
complained to Montrose, who, probably wishing as much as possible to
conciliate his new allies, treated it in rather an evasive manner.
Ardvoirlich, who was a man of violent passions, having failed to receive
such satisfaction as he required, challenged Macdonald to single combat.
Before they met, however, Montrose, on the information and by advice,
as it is said, of Kilpont, laid them both under arrest. Montrose, seeing
the evils of such a feud at such a critical time, effected a sort of
reconciliation between them, and forced them to shake hands in his
presence; when, it was said, that Ardvoirlich, who was a very powerful
man, took such a hold of Macdonald's hand as to make the blood start
from his fingers. Still, it would appear, Ardvoirlich was by