J. F. Campbell Collection > Prophecies of the Brahan seer (Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche)

THE PROPHECrES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 69
husband of the heiress of Seaforth, after being for many
years a distinguished member of the House of Commons
and a Privy Councillor, held several high appointments
in the Colonial Dominions of the British Crown. He
was successively Governor of Ceylon and Lord High
Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, and died, univer-
sally beloved and lamented, in the year 1843.
Lockhart in his Life of Scott, in reference to the
Seaforth prediction, says:— "Mr Morrit can testify
thus far — that he heard the prophecy quoted in the
Highlands at a time when Lord Seaforth had two sons
alive, and in good health, and that it certainly was not
made after the event "; and he goes on to tell us that
Scott and iSir Humphrey Davy were most certainly
convinced of its truth, as also many others who had
watched the latter days of Seaforth in the light of those
wonderful predictions.
An attempt was recently made to sell the remaining
possessions of the family, but fortunately, for the pre-
sent, this attempt has been defeated by the interposi-
tion of the Marchioness of Tweeddale and Mrs Colonel
Stanley, daughters of the present nominal possessor of
the property. At the time a leading article appeared
in the Edinburgh Daily Review giving an outline of the
family history of the Seaforths. After describing how
the fifth Earl, with the fidelity characteristic of his
house, " true as the dial to the sun," embraced the
losing side in "the Fifteen"; fought at the head of his
clan at Sherififmuir; how in 1719 he, along with the
Marquis of Tullibardine, and the Earl Marischal, made
a final attempt to bring the " auld Stewarts back
again " j how he was dangerously wounded in an ea-