Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 4, 1896

206
tHE CELTIC MONTHLY.
Coliu Campbell and Sir D. A. Camerou re
commended that he should stick to his position
as surgeon, Sir Colin saying, " A good soldier
was spoiled when they made you a doctor."
Of his father's numerous family, there only
survive, besides Sir William, one brother,
Godfrej', now in Austraha, and two sisters.
Miss Flora MacKinnon and Mrs. Lydiard, who
at Duisdale, in Sleat, keep up the traditional
MacKinnon hospitality and culture.
Sir WiUiam has a good service pension of
£100 a year for his distinguished service, is an
Honorary Surgeon to the Queen, and LL.D. of
the University of Glasgow, where he matricula-
ted. With all these honours Sir WiUiam is a man
of unassuming manner and modest disposition,
an Islander to the back bone, proud of his
origin, as his countrymen have every reason to
be of him.
Lochardill, Inverness. C. FrASER- MACKINTOSH.
TRADITIONS OF THE COLQUHOUN
COUNTRY.
By F. Mary Colquhoun.
[Continued from pa/je 176.)
Robert Colquhoiw, A Veteran of the Clan —
The Fair Maid of Luss — Sir William Murray
and his Seventeen Stalwart Sons.
THE LATK IlOIlKliT COUJUIIOL'N.
:f.M N Edinburgh paper on May 27th, 1843
i-r^^ had the following notice of the subject
£f'^ of these remarks: —
"Died on Inch lonaig, Loch Lomond, in the
house in which he was born, nearly a century
before, Robert Colquhoun. When seven years old
he was taken into the service of Sir James and
Lady Helen Colquhoun of Luss, and for the last
few years of his life it used to be his proudest boast
that he had served four of the Chieftains of
Colquhoun, his fealty descending unimpaired from
sire to son. When the suns and snows of 70 years
had rendered him less able for active duty, he
requested to be allowed to end his days in the
rugged and romantic island of his birth. Dear to
the old Highlander's heart was this lone isle. Its
rocks are shadowed by the finest yew trees, which
in ancient times supplied the country with bows;
the loch around it is deeper and more blue.
The island is also celebrated amongst the clan as
having been the scene of an interview between the
Chief and Rob Roy, which ended in their being on
the best terms ever after.
The funeral of the old man, sublime in its very
simplicity, was truly characteristic of himself.
The little fleet of boats all abreast, keeping solemn
time with their oars on their way to the church-
yard of the picturesque village of Luss, where
surrounded by the mountains he so often
climbed, quietly reposes this faithful clansman of
the ' Chiefs of Cohiuhoun.' "
The Fair Maid of Luss.
We may perhaps be allowed to notice several
of the " Ladyes " of Luss of foregone genera-
tions, beginning with the "Fair Maid of Luss,"
who succeeded her father as the seventh
inheritor of the estates. She married Sir J.
Colquhoun, and the four sons of that marriage
all took the surname of Colquhoun, and the
family of Luss was thus merged in that of
Colquhoun.
In a bond of " manrent," dated Inchmoryne,
5th April, 1406, by Ai-thore of Ardenagappil to
Duncan, 7th Earl of Lennox, the granter, as he
had no seal of his own, borrowed the seal of
" ane nobil mane and a michti, Wmfray of
Culqwone, Lord of Luss," "to set thir presentis
letteris."
" On this seal was engraved a shield, and in
the middle of the shield was engraved the
likeness of a cross, and in the top of the shield
was engraved the likeness of a helmet, and to
it was annexed above the form of the head of a
stag, and in the circumference of the seal was
written ' Vmfridus de Culqwone.' "
The death of Sir Humphrey most likely took
place soon after this incident.
One of the daughters of Sir Humphrey was
Mary, who married Sir Patrick Houston of
that ilk, and their son and heir, Sir Peter, fell
at Flodden field, 9th September, 1513, with
James IV. and the "llower of the nobility and