Historical and genealogical account of the Clan Maclean

28 HISTORICAL NOTICES.
were it not that his character, both public and
private, is such as not to admit of a single
palliative.
A circumstance in the life of this worthless
chief of Macleans, though already rendered suf-
ficiently familiar, as having been made the subject
of a modern dramatic piece, The Family Legend,
is ratherin its proper place by being recorded here.
Lachlan Cattanach was married to the Lady
Elizabeth Campbell*, daughter of Archibald
second Earl of Argyle, and scarcely had two
years elapsed ere he evinced the most brutal
hatred against his amiable wife, and to such
a length that nothing seemed to satisfy the
tyrant but her final destruction. No other cause
is assigned for this dislike except that he enter-
tained a violent passion for a young daughter of
a vassal chieftain, Maclean of Treshnish, and the
onlv hope he had of obtaining her was by getting
rid of his present lady. The better to accom-
plish his end, and to lull suspicion, on the eve of
his infamous attempt, he for some time bestowed
more than his usual attentions on his unsuspect-
ing victim, and proposed that on a certain
evening they should make an excursion on the
water in the neighbourhood of Duart castle ; to
this his confiding lady consented, and on the
proposed evening he had one of his galleys in
readiness, manned by a few tools whom he had
* Crawford's Peerage. Sub titul. — Campbell Duke of
Argyle.