5. Exciting Years at Dunderave

To UNDERSTAND life in the Highlands as it was really lived in the sixteenth century we must take account of neighborhood feuds. John MacNauchtan could hardly have completed the new castle of Dunderave in 1596 when on August 8^th, with his younger brother Duncan, he appears to have engaged in a rough prank in company with a mob of Campbells.

John Campbell of Ardkinglas, whose stronghold stood diagonally across Loch Fyne from Dunderave and about two miles distant, was at feud with the Earl of Argyll and a number of others of the Clan Campbell. The Earl was "hounding" the Ardkinglas family when he instigated a punitive raid that August day to show dislike for his kinsman. We find the story under date of October 15, 1596, in RPC (ist series, Vol. v, p.322):

Complaint of Johnne Campbell of Ardkinglas, and Dame Jeane Hammiltoun, his spouse, as follows: Upon 8^th August last, while the said lady was passing in peaceable manner to the place of Ardkinglas, Mr. Donald Campbell, servitor to Archibald, Erie of Ergyle, Johnne MacNauchtane of Dundarrow, Duncane MacNauchtane, his brother, Alexander Campbell, prior of Ardchattan, Johnne Campbell, his brother, Coline Campbell, son of the Bishop of the Isles, Duncane Garve McDonquhy, servitor to the said Earl, Alexander Campbell of Torrence [and twelve more] with their accomplices to the number of fifty persons, armed with weapons, of the special sending and hounding of the said Earl, "umbesett the said Dame Jeane within tua pair of butt lenthis to the said place of Ardkinglas," and there violently spuilyied from her and her servants their horses, habiliments, her own chain, the purses of her and her servants, and certain gold and silver being therein; "maist shamefullie tirvit [tore] the claithis of thair servandis, and compellit every ane of thame to scourge uthiris with belts and brydillis, in maist barbarous and cruell maner; and reft fra thame the keys of the said place, and forceit the said Dame Jeane to returne bak again on hir feit; lyke as they tuke and keipit in captivitie Johnne McGregour, ane of the said complenaris servandis, within the place of Inuerarae [Inveraray], quhairin he was haldin be the space of three or foure dayis." The said lady appearing personally for herself and her said husband, the accused, for not appearing, are to be denounced rebels.

It was Dame Jean herself who journeyed to Edinburgh to appear before the Privy Council and press the complaint against the harum-scarum crew.

Four years later the MacNauchtans, Campbells, and others were engaged in another exploit worthy of Robin Hood and his merry men, that found its way to a hearing before the Privy Council in Edinburgh. Under date of 9th December, 1600, we find in RPC, 1st series, Vol. VI, p. 183, the complaint of Ludovic, Duke of Lennox, and Aula McCaula of Ardincaple, and what came of it. Their incensed story ran as follows:

In the preceding month John MacNauchtan of Dunderave, Duncan and Allaster, his brothers, abetted by thirty or more Campbells, MacGregors, Maclntyres, Mac Vicars, and MacNeills, with their lieges, "broken Highland men" to the number of 100 persons, armed with hagbuts, pistolets, bows, dorlochs, and habershons, had come at night to the woods of Ardincaple, where they "plantit thcmselffis and remanit dernit [dormant] and quyet quhill [until] the morning, awaiting quhill the said Aula sould have cummit furth of his hous, that then they mycht have persewit him of his lyfe....

"At last, persaveing Patrick Campbell, servitour to the Earle of Ergyll, ryding upoun ane horse, and suspecting that he had bene the said Laird of Ardincaple, they all ruscheit out of the wood and with hacquebuttis and bowis maist feirslie persewit him of his lyfe, and had not faillit to have slaine him wer not he discoverit himself to them."

Then they "depairtit" after spoiling [pilfering] the houses of John Dow McAula in Garlocheid and Patrick McCaula in Aldonit. Later in the month, the complaint continued, the feudists returned to the Duke’s lands of Strone and Archmgaith, and reft from his tenants "thirty-two horses and mares and twenty-four kye, and barbarously houghed [slashed] eight kye." The defendants had not taken the trouble to appear before the Council to explain, and were "denounced rebels." The name McCaula is known to moderns as Macaulay. The middle name "Dow," frequently encountered in the Highlands, is the same as "Dhu" and means "the dark one."

If we knew the grievance held by the MacNauchtans and their neighbors against the Duke of Lennox and his tenants we might be able to judge the real merits of the complaint, but we shall never know their side of the story.

John the castle-builder and his wife Anna had three sons: Alexander, Malcolm, and John. The first may have married but he left no heir, and the chiefship passed to Malcolm. Here was a man of many braw adventures; to him we shall return. The third son was the John MacNauchtan so handsome and so endowed with gracious manners that he was chosen by James vi as a Page of Honor to accompany him to his court in London in 1603 after his accession to the throne as James I following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Evidently John did very well for himself; opportunities were placed in his way and he gathered a small fortune.

He bought lands in Kintyre and was appointed sheriff-depute of Argyll. His wife was Agnes Moncrieff, a daughter of the Laird of Mornipee of Fife; there were no children.

Major Macnaghten has a dim view of the Page of Honor: "In the light of what is known of James VI it is no great credit for a member of the family to have been chosen for his good looks as the King’s page."

We return to Alexander, eldest of the three brothers, who left no heir. In 1596 Archibald Earl of Argyll appointed him to be keeper of the forest of Benbuie for a term of nineteen years at the annual wage of 80 pounds. A stipulation was made that he must not keep livestock in the forests in greater numbers than agreed upon. MacNauchtans had been hereditary grant rangers of Benbuie under the Crown before they accepted the post from the Earl of Argyll. Because of this responsibility they had been assigned the right long before 1596 to carry as supporters two roebucks on the coat of arms of the chief.

The Great Seal Register shows Alexander twice as a witness to charters: one dated September 4, 1612 from Archibald, Earl of Argyll to Colin McLauchlane; the other dated July 18, 1614 from the Earl to Ronald Campbell of Barichboyne.

The Reformation had long been established in Scotland, and the Abbey of Inchaffray presumably had lost control of the parishes of Kilmorich and Inishail, of which we learned in an earlier chapter. Gilchrist MacNauchtan, we remember, granted the parish church of Kilmorich at the head of Loch Fyne to the Abbey in two charters of ca. 1246 and 1247. On March 4, 1622, 371 years afterward, Lord Madertie, Commendator of Inchaffray, farmed out the tithes of this parish to Alexander MacNauchtan at an annual rent of £ 8. The revenues brought him considerably more than that. In 1630, according to Alexander Carmichael, they were valued at £ 166:13:4.

The year 1627 was a memorable one for Alexander MacNauchtan. At this distance in time it is hard to appraise accurately the consequences for the fortunes of his clan of his grand gesture in raising a force of 200 Highland bowmen to serve with the Duke of Buckingham’s expedition for the relief of an English garrison at La Rochelle, France. James I had died and Charles I was King. Alexander may have regarded the call for archers as an opportunity for distinguished service, worth whatever it might cost.

He began the year by borrowing £15,000 Scots. While we lack evidence he used all the proceeds of two loans for raising and equipping his force of bowmen, we are bound to suspect his purpose in mortgaging a number of his properties. His contracts for raising the money are recorded at great length in the General Register of Sasines, Vol. XX, at folios 344 and 350. The abstracts follow:

Contract, dated at Edinburgh 3 Feb. 1627, between Alexander MacNachtane of Dundaraw heritable proprietor of the lands aftermentoned, on the one part, and William Stirling of Auchyle, on the other part, whereby for the sum of £7,500 paid by said William, the said Alexander sold [i.e., mortgaged] to him the two-merkland of Dreissage and Conrigan, the one-merkland of Craig, the twenty-shilling-land of Ardgawnaban, the one-merkland of Cowill, the twenty-shilling-land of Stuk, the two-merkland of Drumnamuckloch, the one-merkland of Innerchamletter, the one-merkland of Stroneberg, the two-merkland of Innerkerochan, the one-merkland of Kilbeg, and the one-merkland of Coremekenane, with houses and pertinents belonging thereto, lying in the earldom of Argyll and sheriffdom thereof, reserving always to Anna MacLean, his mother, her liferent of the two-merkland of Drumnamuckloch and one-merkland of Cowill, together with ten stones of cheese yearly furth of the lands of Innerkerochan during all the days of her life. Said Alexander MacNachtane binds and obliges himself to infeft and sease the said William Stirling in the above-mentioned lands, and if the said William should desire repayment of above sum, said Alexander binds himself to repay that amount on sixty days’ warning for redemption of the lands.

Contract, dated at Stirling 15 Feb. 1627, between Alexander MacNachtane of Dundaraw, on the one part, and Donald Murray, indweller in Inveraray,, on the other part, whereby for £7,500 paid by said Donald, said Alexander sold to him the four-merkland of Dundaraif, with the manor and place thereof, the three-merkland of Auchnecray, the three-merkland of Ellerrigbeg, the six-merkland of Ellorigmoir, with houses and pertinents thereof, lying in the earldom of Argyll and sheriffdom of the same, reserving always to Anna MacLean, his mother, her liferent of the rents of the six-merkland of Ellorigmoir during all the days of her life. Said Alexander binds and obliges himself to infeft and sease the said Donald Murray, in the above lands; and it is also agreed between the parties that Alexander MacNachtane may lawfully redeem the whole of the foresaid lands on repayment of above sum, and if the said Donald Murray desires repayment Alexander binds and obliges himself to repay the same on sixty days’ warning.

Thus Alexander mortgaged no fewer than fifteen farms and manors, including the castle of Dunderave, to borrow £15,000, giving what amounted to notes running sixty days from date of demand for repayment. The annual tax on Dunderave, we discover, was four merks or marks; we observe also that another property, Ellorigmoir, was taxed in the greater sum of six merks, or £4. Just how many of these properties Alexander and his successors were able to redeem it might take years to learn. Dunderave, seat of the chiefs of the clan, was not lost in the transaction with Donald Murray, but some of the others may not have been recovered.

We cannot escape wondering what the shrewd Anna MacLean, widow of John MacNauchtan, thought of her son’s venture in financing! Alexander may have explained to her that he was merely advancing the borrowed money to the King’s use, and that when repaid by the Crown, he would quickly extinguish both debts and get rid of the mortgages. That is to say, if he was borrowing to equip his force of Highland archers. We are not sure about that. At any rate, he mollified her by undertaking to supply cheese for life.

Crawford took special notice of Alexander’s expedition, and his account gives "the names of the soldieris schipped by the Laird of MacNachtane in george massones schip at Loch Kilcherane [in Argyll], beginning the nth day of December 1627." Not all the archers were steadfast: Patrick MacLachie "stole away be nycht out of ye schip." The muster roll is worth a glance because of a number of good Scottish surnames that are still familiar.

Alexander MacNauchtan’s name appears first on the roll as captain. Hector MacAllester was a lieutenant, Malcolm MacNeill was an ensign, equivalent to a second lieutenant, and Dougall Campbell was "scriver" or company clerk. Other names: Fraser, Sutherland, Murray, Forbes, Chisholm, Reid, Houston, Cameron, MacArthur, Gordon, Calhoun, MacMillan, Maclntyre, MacKay, and MacKellar. Besides the pipers, the roll includes the name of Harie McGra, "harper fra Larg."

Companies of archers raised for service on the Continent often rated as corps d’elite, and in medieval Spain such bands were arrayed in brave, bright costumes. Remembering that in a period as late as 1627 bows were obsolete as weapons, we may surmise that Alexander’s archers were intended for decorative and ceremonial functions; nothing less in short than an elite corps, a company of tall, handsome guardsmen.

So we may imagine Alexander’s consternation when the sassenachs in the War Office in London informed him that his bowmen must be uniformed in trews. The Highlands were not unfamiliar with trews: a garment that originated there, and is still worn on occasion by Scottish regiments. In their early form a pair of trews consisted of tight trousers and stockings, all in one piece. Even though they were made of tartan material, the idea of putting such cozy garments on the brawny legs of his men was abhorrent to Alexander MacNauchtan.

A good Highlander, he had conceived marching to the music of the pipes at the head of his archers, 200 strong, with heads erect and kilts swinging jauntily. Trews indeed! With a sore heart Alexander complained of the poor figure his men must cut in garments that in his Argyll eyes at least looked like fancy drawers. "Your Lordship knows," he wrote spiritedly to the Earl of Morton, Secretary of State for War, "that although they be men of personages, they cannot muster before your Lordship in their trews."

His letter is quoted in an article published September 28, 1929 in "The Sphere", a London magazine. From the same source it is learned that "george massones schip" narrowly escaped disaster: it was twice driven into Falmouth, "hetlie followit by ane man of warr" of France. Donald Gregory in "Archaeologica Scotica". says the Frenchmen were deterred from attacking by the awe-inspiring sound and sight of the "bag-pypperis and marlit plaidis." By this time it was too late to be of service at La Rochelle; the siege was over.

We hear no more of the expedition or of Alexander MacNauchtan. It was a gallant effort and a colorful one, at any rate, and we may hope that even though the expedition failed of results, its organizer was not neglected and left unrewarded. We have seen to it here that he is not to be forgotten.

The second son of John of Dunderave and next chief was Malcolm MacNauchtan who, according to Crawford and Douglas, married Elizabeth, daughter of Donald Murray of Ochtertyre. Malcolm appeared in the records in February 1622 when, as shown in Argyll Sasines, (Vol. I, folio 202), there was a registration of sasine in his favor of lands in the barony of Glenara, together with the office of bailiary of the lands of Glenara, with the liferent reserved to Marion MacNachtane. This indicates he was first established on lands in Glenara (or Glenaray) while his older brother Alexander was chief at Dunderave.

In 1623 he appears to have given some alarm to a neighbor. A bond of caution was required from "Malcolm MacNauchtane of Stronseir" at Inveraray on September 24^th, that he will "not molest Gorrie McAlester, fiar of Tarbett." (RPC,Vol.XIII,pp. 365-6.)

Like preceding MacNauchtan chiefs, Malcolm was chamberlain of the Earl of Argyll’s lands in Kintyre, and kept a house in Skipnish (now Skipness) for convenience in administration. The civil wars in the 1640s that attended the Parliamentary revolt against Charles I brought Malcolm a great deal of trouble. Part of it must have been an inner conflict, for he was in duty bound to protect the property of Argyll, whose ideas of loyalty to the King were not always in accord with his own.

Archibald, eighth Earl of Argyll, was a professed Covenanter who affected great piety; "a solemn sort of man" with a sour visage, who was one of the foremost leaders in Scotland in the uprising against Charles I. The King came to Edinburgh to appease his foes in 1641, and one of his measures was to elevate Argyll to the dignity of Marquis of Argyll, Lord Campbell and Lorne. Archibald did not remain appeased. Presently, as we read in "The Scots Peerage" (edited by Sir James Balfour Paul, Vol. I, p. 353), "the Marquis of Antrim sent over a body of Irish Catholics, under the command of Alexander Macdonald, called MacColkitto, who cruelly ravaged Argyllshire, destroying and wasting Argyll’s estates. The Marquis of Montrose [a former Covenanter joined them, and they continued their devastations." Argyll raised all the men he could to resist these invasions. He was attacked by Montrose at Inverlochy on February 2, 1645, and with a dislocated arm he watched from his galley at a safe distance on Loch Fyne while Montrose destroyed his forces and slew 1,500 of his family and name. Then he escaped.

Meanwhile, Malcolm MacNauchtan had a grievous time with the ravaging horde from Antrim. The forces of "Old Colketto" and his son raided the Kintyre estates of which Malcolm was chamberlain, burning and destroying. His own house at Skipnish was badly battered. The ordeal of standing siege wore him out.

"Malcolme MacNachton of Dundarrow" had been made a member of "the Committee of the Shyre" in consequence of acts of the Scottish Parliament in 1643 and 1644 "for putting the kingdom in a posture of defence," His remote kinsman, Roger McNaught of Kilquhanity in Galloway, served on a similar War Committee. Thus Malcolm was identified with the rebellion; though undoubtedly a Royalist he had no liking for marauders.

In 1645 the Marquis borrowed 17,000 merks from a Campbell kinsman to meet his pressing expenses, and Malcolm indorsed the bond as (cautioner or surety. How could the chamberlain refuse the trifling favor of an indorsement when his employer so greatly needed money?

All of this turned out rather badly. Not very long afterward Malcolm’s widow filed a petition with the Scottish Parliament, appealing for compensation for damage to the Skipnish house and property at the hands of the Macdonalds. She described herself as "Elizabeth Murray, relict of Captain Malcoime Macnachtone of downedarrawe," and asked payment of 100 pounds to her and her sons "Johne and Alexander Macnachtouns." Her husband had petitioned for relief in August 1646; the

money had not been paid to him and he had since died. The house in Skipnish in Kintyre had been destroyed by rebels, and Malcolm had never recovered his health after the "long and hard seidge." "His fidelitie to the cause" and "the extraordinar distress he sufferit" in defending his house were pointed out, and the petition stressed the fact that the widow and "hir bairns haue bein left in necessitie throwe the rebelles thair burning his landis and taking away his goods." We may hope she got the money, while gravely doubting. Considering the moderate nature of her request for only £100 we must suspect the house was not actually destroyed. More moving is the fact Malcolm had given up his life in fighting to defend the property of the Marquis of Argyle, after indorsing his bond for a heavy sum.

Succeeding his father as chief, Alexander MacNauchtan became in many respects the most colorful representative of his clan in the entire period of the Stewart dynasty. His wife was Anne Campbell. Presumed to have been the daughter of Sir Colin Campbell; Douglas says unconvincingly that her father was Sir James of Ardkinglas. Alexander Nisbet in his System of Heraldry describes Alexander as "one of the bravest and best accomplished gentlemen of his age, and a very close adherent to the interest of King Charles I and II in all their difficulties."

Following in his father’s steps he became chamberlain for the Campbell lands in Kintyre, and the Act of 1648 relating to "the Committees of Warr in the Shyres" included the name of "Alexander MacNauchtan of drumdarrow." The young chief must have accepted these responsibilities with mixed emotions, for while the drive of immediate considerations prompted him to go along with the dominant interest in Argyll, his heart certainly was with the royal house.

Whigs of the Argyll party, bent upon imposing an ecclesiastical tyranny upon England as well as Scotland, corresponded with Oliver Cromwell with the idea of forming an alliance with him to establish Puritanism in the country. No more serious harm could have been done to the Presbyterian cause; the moderate Covenanters were at the time helpless against Argyll’s fanatics. Cromwell invaded Scotland with his Ironsides in September 1648 and gained almost complete mastery. If he accepted the Marquis of Argyll as a kind of ally it was for reasons of expediency; he hated "canting hypocrites" and used them craftily, knowing their design was to use him if they could to establish their own power.

Now Alexander MacNauchtan reached an hour of decision. The execution of Charles I in 1649 had moved him as it had so many other horrified Scots. He made a final break with the Marquis when in 1653 the "Laird of Macnaughten" was numbered with Lord Lorne (son of the Marquis), Viscount Kenmure and others in the Earl of Glencairn’s rising against the Commonwealth. Cromwell had the rebellion in the Highlands suppressed within a year. Thereafter he kept his heel firmly upon Scotland until 1658, taxing the people for the cost of maintaining his army of occupation.

Alexander MacNauchtan waited, and when Charles II ascended the throne in 1660 he came into good fortune. He was destined to receive continued favors at the Restoration court, but those of us who have Covenanting ancestry will be pleased to know his name never was associated with the oppressive cruelties practiced by the King’s more aggressive hatchetmen bent upon destroying Presbyterianism and lining their pockets. The beginning of 1661 "was a mad, roaring time," says Bishop Burnett, "full of extravagance. And no wonder it was so, when the men of affairs were almost perpetually drunk." They paused in their drinking long enough to chop off the head of the Marquis of Argyll, convicted of treason.

In 1661 "Alexander MacNaughtoun of Dundarare" was appointed to be one of the Commissioners of Excise required to raise the annuity of 40,000 pounds granted by Parliament to the King. "John Macknaughtoun" undoubtedly his younger brother, is recorded in the same year as having served as a witness in the process of forfeiture against the properties of the unfortunate Marquis. It may be remarked that the Campbells ultimately recovered all their forfeited lands and goods, including those of the succeeding Earl, who after playing the role of oppressor for years as a follower of the King, eventually rebelled against James II because he was a Catholic, and lost his head on the chopping block.

The financial pace in the Restoration period was rather too swift for Alexander MacNauchtan, it appears. On October 3, 1663 he gave a bond at Westminster to "Nicoll Yull, younger, burges of Inveraray" for £2,118, no doubt to get money to settle his debts. (Register of Deeds [Durie], Vol. XII, folio 299.) He had been borrowing before that and giving bonds or notes; one for 6,000 merks to his brother John, dated 22d June 1659 at Tullibardin; one dated 24^th February 1660 at Inveraray for £1,000 to George Campbell, and another to the same George Campbell for 1,140 merks, dated at Edinburgh 2 ist May 1660. We are indebted to Major Macnaghten for discovering these transac-tions. It should be remembered that the Scots pound was equal in value only to one-twelfth of the English pound sterling, and that a merk was worth two-thirds a Scots pound. Thus the 6,000 merks Alexander borrowed from his brother amounted, to the same as £4000 Scots or £333:6:8 sterling. But when we recollect that £1 Scots of those days would buy considerably more than £1 sterling will buy today, we are ready to admit that Alexander was getting into serious debts chargeable against his estates.

Alexander must have had some association with the practice of law. On November 3, 1670, a protestation was made by John Yool or Yuill "in the name and behalf of the Earl of Argyll against Alexander MacNachtan of Dundaraw, and against the Admiralty Court held by him, that the same should not be prejudicial to the Earl anent his right and possession of the assize-hearings and holding courts upon the Fleet." Alexander may have had a commission to serve as a judge or justiciar, and the current Earl, for the time in royal favor, was insisting that he had been going too far in trying admiralty cases.

One week after this complaint, Thomas Ogilvie, one of the fishermen at Greenock, entered a protestation against Alexander "that he should be liable for all damage sustained through the poinding [impounding] of their fish." These items appear in the sixth report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission that examined the manuscripts of the Duke of Argyll.

As to Alexander MacNauchtan’s aptness for the law we find a hint of the King’s opinion in Wodrow’s "History of the Sufferings of the Church in Scotland", Vol. III, p. 168. Charles II conducted a session of the Privy Council lasting eight hours at Windsor Castle on July 8, 1679, and among those present was Alexander. A group of able Covenanters had come to complain against abuses: the use of Highland soldiers to subdue Lowlanders, the free quartering of these men upon poor Covenanters, and the requirement upon lairds to be responsible for the acts of their families, servants and tenants lest they attend forbidden Presbyterian meetings in the fields. The lairds were to be punished for infractions by any who were dependent upon them.

The debate lasted for hours, Wodrow says. Crown lawyers urged the King’s prerogative to impose the royal displeasure in any manner he chose; that is, they invoked the Divine Right of Kings. Various members of the Privy Council spoke, "and at length the Laird of Macnaughtan." Wodrow does not quote Alexander, unfortunately, but at the end of his remarks "the King was pleased to say: ‘You are indeed a great lawyer, and a Highland man.’"

It is hardly necessary to add that the Privy Council upheld the King’s prerogative to do or allow to be done whatever pleased him.

Two of Alexander’s letters to an unidentified friend, found in the manuscript collections of the Duke of Argyll, give us an account of a shooting affray on the night of March 31-April 1, 1671 at Inveraray. Members of the Campbell clan were so stirred that Alexander feared a lynching; this he was endeavoring to prevent. The two letters follow:

Dundurav, Apryll 1 [1671].

Much honored, I fynd it my deutie to advertyse youe of ane sad accident that is latlie falline out at Inveraray. Your coussine, Collonell Meinzies, was yesternight drinking with the Laird of Lochineall and young Lochbuy. Being eftir cups, Lochbuy offered to beat the Collonell. The candill went out, ther was ane pistoll discharged, and Lochineall was shott deid through the heide. When the candill was lighted, Lochbuy and Inchonnell, being Lochineall’s sons in laue, thought to have killed the Collonell, but Inerliver and other Gentellmen who were present did not permitt theme. My Lord (Ear] of Argyll ] was advertysed, who cam presentlie and apprehended all the company: Collonell Meinzies denyes the fact, but it is geiven out that he is the actor, the most pairt of the name of Campbell ar to be att Inveraray this night. I feire the Collonell will gett hearde measure if ther be not ane tymlie prevcntione. I sent twyce this morncing to try iff any might have accesse to hime, but all to noe purpose. I wish ye wold presentlie obtaine ane ordour from my Lord Chanclor to bring Collonell Meinzies to Edinburgh for his tryall; for iff lie suffer ane jury att Inveraray youe may conclude him lost. And in the meane tyme it wer goode that sume advocatt were sent hither in all heast to see faire play; possiblie my Lord may not prove wiolent, yeite I feire the worst. I beg ane thousand pardones for presuming to prescryve rules to your Lordship; my interest makes me committ such impertinences. I have not advertysed his Lady but I wish youe cause sume friende doe it. I shall add no more, but that I ame, much honored,

Your most humble servant, A. MACNACHTANE.

Dundarab, Apryll 1, Att ten acloak at night.

,Much honored, Since the wryting of my last I have I thank God receaved good newis. Ane servant of Collonell Meinzies called McGrigor, I is found to be the actor. He hes confest the slaughter, and declares that he did it without the advyce of any persone; but being drunk, as they wer all, and seeing Lochbuy offering to abuse his master, he shot att him with ane littill short peice he caryed loadined with draps. He missed Lochbuy and killed Lochineall. The yung mane being informed that his master was accused for the slaughter did most ingenouslie, without examinatione, acknowledg the guilt, whereupon he was taken out of the tolbuith wher he was prissoner to the [Earl’s] castell and putt in irones. Howevir I wish Coilonell Meinzies wer gottine out upon bale, leist he be wronged, but I hop being my Lords prissoner he will protect hime. I will as yeit indeavor to fynd out sume way to heire frome the Collonell, and will advertyse yowe of all he desyres; but it is requisit yowe send doune sume understanding mane who may have accesse to hime.

I shall add noe mor, but that I ame,

Your most humble servant, A. MACNACHTANE.

One of the original letters is now in the collections at Dunderave. The two throw more light on the character of Alexander MacNauchtan than anything else that has been discovered about him. They show a civilized man with active compassion for a friend in danger, hurrying to advise a cousin to retain counsel and to intervene with the Lord Chancellor to get the innocent imprisoned man removed to Edinburgh, at a safe distance from the whims of an unpredictable Earl. The ingenuous confession of the loyal servant MacGregor he did not depend upon to save Colonel Menzies from the wrath of infuriated Campbells.

Alexander long was addressed as Colonel, and at some time we cannot fix upon, Charles II knighted him. We do not know how much time he spent at court in London, or whether he was close to the intimate circle of profligates that surrounded the King. He was much in Argyll, and his name does not appear among those of courtiers who reveled and played at the palace. We may surmise that he was of a more serious and sober type.

Toward the end of his life, Charles II moved to reward Sir Alexander for his long service, so costly to his private interest, by appointing him heritable sheriff of Argyll. The Duke of Lauderdale, the King’s Commissioner in Scotland at the time, was unfriendly to Sir Alexander; considering the Duke’s mean nature and record for treachery, this fact in itself recommends MacNauchtan to posterity. Lauderdale blocked confirmation of the appointment.

Sir Alexander could not have been present when John Evelyn paid a visit one evening within a week of the King’s death in February 1685. Evelyn kept a diary second in interest only to that of Samuel Pepys, and in it he wrote a graphic account of what he had seen:

"I can never forget the inexpressible luxury and profaneness, gaming and all dissoluteness, and as it were total forgetfulness of God (it being Sunday evening) which this day sennight I was witness of; the King sitting and toying with his concubines, Portsmouth, Cleveland and Mazarin, etc., a French boy singing love-songs in that glorious gallery, while about twenty of the great courtiers and other dissolute persons were at basset round a large table, a bank of at least 2,000 pounds in gold before them; upon which two gentlemen who were with me made reflections with astonishment. Six days later, was all in the dust."

Sir Alexander must have come to the end of his life only a short while before the death of the King in 1685. On September 23, 1684 a process of "horning" was issued against him for non-payment of a bond for 1,000 merks. (Argyll Hornings, Vol. II.) Charles II, it is related in clan histories, gave an order for his burial in the Chapel Royal at Crown expense. The burden of debt pressed hard upon Sir Alexander in his final years at Dunderave, but it did not rob him of honor.