Matheson Collection > Macleods of Dunvegan from the time of Leod to the end of the seventeenth century

CHAPTER XVIII
SOME LATER EVENTS
After the death of Ian Breac some events occurred in
our clan history which call for notice, and I shall deal
with these in the present chapter.
I. ' The 'Forty-Five '
The most romantic episode in the history of some
clans such as the Camerons, the Clan Ranalds, or the
MacPhersons, is the Rising of 1745, and we must all admire
the loyalty and heroism of those Chiefs who followed the
Prince in that wonderful adventure.
But this was not the case with the MacLeods or the
MacDonalds of Sleat. The Chiefs of these two clans did
not join in the Rising — possibly owing to the influence of
the Lord President Forbes of Culloden — and actually
called their clans out to fight for King George. Their
action brought them neither credit nor profit. The
one interesting fact about MacLeod's action is that
MacCrimmon, the hereditary piper of the clan, when
leaving Dunvegan, composed the lament which bears
his name, and uttered the prophecy which Scott has
immortalised, ' MacLeod shall return, but MacCrimmon
shall never,' a prediction which was only too sadly ful-
filled. He was the only man killed in the inglorious
' Rout of Moy.'
Murray of Broughton declared that MacLeod had given
the Prince the most solemn promises that when he came