Are sure soon to recover from their terrour enough to solicit
for re-admission; which, for the honour of poetry, is not to be
obtained but by repeating a verse, with which those that are
knowing and provident take care to be furnished.
Very near the house of Maclean stands the castle of Col, which was
the mansion of the Laird, till the house was built. It is built
upon a rock, as Mr. Boswell remarked, that it might not be mined.
It is very strong, and having been not long uninhabited, is yet in
repair. On the wall was, not long ago, a stone with an
inscription, importing, that 'if any man of the clan of Maclonich
shall appear before this castle, though he come at midnight, with a
man's head in his hand, he shall there find safety and protection
against all but the King.'
This is an old Highland treaty made upon a very memorable occasion.
Maclean, the son of John Gerves, who recovered Col, and conquered
Barra, had obtained, it is said, from James the Second, a grant of
the lands of Lochiel, forfeited, I suppose, by some offence against
the state.
Forfeited estates were not in those days quietly resigned; Maclean,
therefore, went with an armed force to seize his new possessions,
and, I know not for what reason, took his wife with him.
