Ossian Collection > Life and letters of James Macpherson

PARENTAGE. 31
the Council, recognising each branch as indepen-
dent, bound over the chiefs for the peaceable be-
havioiu' of their followers — a decision which was
regarded by the Macphersons as a victory. Dun-
can died without issue in 1722, and was succeeded
by Lachlan Macpherson, a descendant of John of
Nuid, the youngest brother of the chiefs Donald
and Andrew.^
Such were the men of whom James Mac-
pherson came ; and if most of them found their
distinction more in the arts of war than in the
arts of peace, their harsh life, while it made
them rough, made them also a proud, sensitive,
and spirited race. It was to William, the second
son of this same John of Nuid, that he traced
his descent. In an account published when he
was at the height of his reputation, and probably
written by one of his friends, it was stated that
he was a cousin to the chief of the clan ; and
the statement was no more than the truth.
His family is there described, with a pardonable
flourish, as one of the most ancient in the
north of Scotland. Macpherson's parents, how-
ever, were not able to hold their heads very
^ See Keltie's Hisfoi-y of the Scottish Highlands, ii. 211 ;
and Wm. Anderson's The Scottish Nation, iii. 60-66.