by the man who had resolved to exterminate him and his
family, were cherished recollections--cherished by the determined spirit
of hate and revenge which contemplated future retribution.

Sir Ewan Dhu therefore rejected these dazzling offers; he neither
recalled his son from France, nor accepted the command offered to him,
but busied himself in schemes which eventually swayed the destinies of
the Camerons.

Not many miles from Achnacarry, the seat of Lochiel, rose, on the border
of Loch Oich, the castle of Alaster Dhu, or Dusk Alexander, of
Glengarry. The territories of this chieftain were contiguous to those of
Lochiel; and his character, which was of acknowledged valour, wisdom,
and magnanimity, formed a still stronger bond of union than their
relative position. Glengarry was the head of a very powerful clan,
called Macdonnells, in contradistinction to the Macdonalds of the Isles,
whose claim to superiority they always resisted; declaring, by the voice
of their bards and family historians, that the house of Antrim, from
whom the Macdonalds of the Isles were descended, owed its origin to the
Macdonnells of Glengarry.

The clan Glengarry was now at its height of power under the heroic
Alaster Dhu, its chieftain, whose immediate predecessor had risen to be
a Lord of Session, at a time when that office brought no little power
and influence to its possessors: he had gained both wealth and credit in
his high seat; and, upon retiring, had visited Italy, had brought back a
taste for architecture to his native country, and the castle of
Invergarrie, part of the walls of which remain undemolished, rose as a
memento of his architectural taste.

The Lord of Session had cherished sentiments of loyalty for the exiled
family; these were transmitted to Alaster Dhu. The gallant Lochiel and
the chief of Glengarry were therefore disposed to smother in their
feelings of loyalty the feuds which too often raged between clans nearly
approximate. They therefore formed a compact to promote, in every way,
the interest of the royal exiles; and in this vain attempt at
restoration which ensued, the fate of their clansmen was sealed.[250]
That of the Camerons is yet to be told; a slight digression respecting
their gallant allies may here be excused.

When the feudal system which subsisted between the Highland chieftains
and their clansmen was dissolved, it became the plan of many of the
landholders to rid themselves of their poor tenantry, a