ded. 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
repurchased for a small price in the name of the young proprietor, who in
consequence came to reside upon his native domains. [Footnote: See Note
18.] 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 would in all
probability have wanted the polished manner and knowledge of the world
which he now possessed; and had he lived Sixty Years later, his ambition
and love of rule would have lacked the fuel which his situation now
afforded. He was indeed, within his little circle, as perfect a
politician as Castruccio Castracani himself. He applied himself with
great earnestness to appease all the feuds and dissensions which often
arose among other clans in his neighbourhood, so that he became a
frequent umpire in their quarrels. His own patriarchal power he
strengthened at every expense which his fortune would permit, and indeed
stretched his means to the uttermost to maintain the rude and pl