d; by another that fact is doubted, since, when Sir John Maclean's
guardians investigated it, no receipts for sums alleged to have been
paid on account were to be found.[75] But this is again accounted for by
the seneachie or family historian.

Sir Hector Maclean fell in the battle of Inverkeithing, where, out of
eight hundred of his clan who fought against General Lambert, only forty
escaped. He was succeeded by his brother Allan, a child, subject to the
management of guardians. By their good care, a great portion of the debt
to Argyle was paid, but there still remained sufficient to afford the
insatiable enemy of his house a fair pretext of aggression. The case was
again brought before the Scottish Council; it was even referred to
Charles the Second; but, by the representations of the Duke of
Lauderdale, the Argyle influence prevailed. The famous Marquis of Argyle
was, indeed, no longer in existence; he had perished on the scaffold:
but his son still grasped at the possessions of his neighbour; and,
although King Charles desired that Lauderdale "should see that Maclean
had justice," the Duke, who was then Scottish Lord Commissioner, on his
return to Scotland, decided that the rents of the estates should be made
payable to Argyle on account of the bond, a certain portion of them
being reserved for the maintenance of the chief.

Sir Allan died a little more than a year after this decision had been
made, ignorant of the decree; and left, to bear the buffeting of the
storm, his son, Sir John Maclean, a child only four years of age, who
succeeded his father in 1677.[76] His estates had been placed under the
care of two of his nearest kinsmen, Lachlan Maclean of Brolas, and
Lachlan Maclean of Torloisk, men of profound judgment and of firm
character, from whose guardianship much was expected by the clan. But
the minor possessed a friend as true as any kinsman could be, and one of
undoubted influence and sagacity, in the celebrated Sir Ewan Cameron of
Lochiel. Against his interest, in despite of Argyle, that brave and
noble man espoused the cause of the weak and of the fatherless,
notwithstanding that he was himself a debtor to Argyle, of whose power
and will to injure he had shortly a proof. Finding that Lochiel was
resolved to protect and assist the young Maclean, the Earl of Argyle[77]
sent to demand from Sir Ewan the payment of the debt he owed, assuring
him that it was his intention to follow out the law with the greates