[1244] Macleod’s Narrative.
[1245] Genuine and True Journal, p. 16.
[1246] O’Neil’s, Burke’s, and Macleod’s Narratives, in Jacobite Memoirs. Macleod was taken prisoner a few days afterwards in Benbecula, by Lieutenant Allan Macdonald, of Knock, in Sleat, in the island of Skye. He was put on board the Furnace, and brought down to the cabin before General Campbell, who examined him most minutely. The general asked him if he had been along with the Pretender? “Yes,” said Donald, “I was along with that young gentleman, and I winna deny it.” “Do you know,” said the general, “what money was upon that gentleman’s head?—No less a sum than thirty thousand pounds sterling, which would have made you and your family happy for ever.” “What then?” replied Donald, “what though I had gotten it? I could not have enjoyed it for two days. Conscience would have gotten the better of me; and although I could have gotten all England and Scotland for my pains, I would not have allowed a hair of his body to be touched if I could hinder it, since he threw himself upon my care.” Campbell observed that he could not much blame him. Donald was sent to London, but released on the 10th of June, 1747. When he arrived in Leith from London, on his return to Skye, he had no money to carry him thither; but his wants were supplied by the Rev. Robert (afterwards bishop) Forbes, an episcopal clergyman in Leith, who set a subscription on foot in that town, and in Edinburgh, “to make out,” as the bishop says, “for honest Palinurus, if possible, a pound sterling, for every week he had served the prince in distress; and,” continues the worthy bishop, “I thank God I was so happy as to accomplish my design directly.” In acknowledgment of his fidelity, Donald was presented by Mr. John Walkinshaw of London, with a large silver snuff-box, handsomely chased, and doubly gilt in the inside. Upon the lid of this box there was the representation of an eight-oared boat, with Donald at the helm, and the eight rowers making their way through a very rough and tempestuous sea. The Long island is seen in the distance upon one of the extremities of the lid, and the boat appears to be just steering into Rossinish, the point of Benbecula where Charles landed after leaving Lochnanuagh. On the other end of the lid there was a landscape of the end of the isle of Skye, as it appears opposite to the Long island, on which the sites of Dunvegan and Gualtergill are marked. The clouds were represented as heavy and lowering, and the rain descending; and above the clouds, i.e., near the hinge, the following motto was engraved:—“Olim hæc meminisse juvabit. Aprilis 26to, 1746.” Upon the bottom, and near the edge of the lid, was this inscription,—“Quid Neptune, paras? Fatis agitamur iniquis.” The following words were engraved on the bottom of the box:—“Donald Macleod of Gualtergill, in the isle of Skye, the faithful Palinurus, æt. 68, 1746.” Below which there was a representation of a dove with an olive branch in its bill. Donald never put any snuff into this box, and when asked the cause by Mr. Forbes, he exclaimed, “Sneeshin in that box! Na, the diel a pickle sneeshin shall ever go into it till the King be restored; and then, I trust in God, I’ll go to London, and then I will put sneeshin in the box, and go to the Prince, and say, ‘Sir, will you take a sneeshin out o’ my box?’”—Jacobite Memoirs.
Burke, the other trust-worthy individual, who was a native of North Uist, skulked about the hill of Eval, in his native island, for seven weeks, living part of the time on sea-weed and limpets. He afterwards took refuge in a cave, and, when the troubles had subsided, went to Edinburgh, where, unheeded, he spent the remainder of his days as a sedan-carrier or chairman.
[1247] Flora Macdonald’s Narrative. Home’s Works, vol. iii. App. No. 45.
[1248] Father of the well-known Marshal Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum.
[1249] The letter by Armadale to his wife, was as follows:—“I have sent your daughter from this country lest she should be any way frightened with the troops lying here. She has got one Betty Burke, an Irish girl, who, as she tells me, is a good spinster. If her spinning pleases you, you may keep her till she spin all your lint; or, if you have any wool to spin, you may employ her. I have sent Neil Mackechan along with your daughter, and Betty Burke to take care of them.—I am your dutiful husband,
“HUGH MACDONALD.”
“June 22, 1746.”
It has been suspected that Armadale was privy to his step-daughter’s design.