1st Duke of Gordon

78
Cameron was troublesome; but it is significant of
the change that had come over the spirit of the
time that the Court attempted to smooth over the
trouble rather than punish the captain, for though
he was reprimanded, the King took occasion
to remark on the "great inconvenience resulting
to the service from bringing before general Courts
Martial charges which, after a long and solemn
investigation, turn out to be light and frivolous."
A few months later Lochiel emphasised the com-
plete individuality of his house by raising a
regiment of his own. The Duke allowed him 30
men from hi© company in the Fencibles, but
Lochiel wanted 33, and wrote on July 24, 1798: —
"I shall consider what you have already done as
being the forerunner of that friendship that
ought to subsist between your Grace's family and
mine." His Grace, however, declined the request,
answering Cameron (September 8): — "It really
gives me pain to be a third time under the neces-
sity of refusing your request."
Another family tihatb the Duke trenched on
during hie life was the Farquharsons of Inver-
cauld, for in 1711 he raised a dispute over certain
lands in Cromar which had been bought by John
Farquharson of Invercauld, and in 1721 his eon
claimed the same over Braiohley and Aucholzie
(Mio'hie's ''Records of Invercauld," pp. 289-291,
356-7). This was all the more inexcusable as he
had borrowed money about 1680 from Alexnder
Farquharson of Invercauld, wadsetting several
properties in Banffshire. On May 12, 1712, the
Duke's son, the Marquis of Huntly, discharged
the sum (11,000 merks), and ordered the wadset
(ibid. 290). No 'wonder that Invercauld's agent
describes the 1st Duke as "a troublesome person."
The antagonism between the Gordons and the
Mackintoshes is the subject of a novel by Grace
Aguilar, written in 1833, but published only in
1908, entitled "Mackintosh, the Highland Chief:
A Story of the Civil War." It is built up round
George, Lord Gordon (eon of the 2nd Marquis of
Huntly), who was killed at the battle of Alford,
1646. Miss Aguilar, who calls him Ernest, kills
him at Kilsyth. She makes out that he had a
sor, Edgar, who was kidnapped by the Mackin-
toshes in childhood, and fought a duel at Alford
with his father when he was suddenly recognised
ae Gordon's long lost son. Edgar ultimately
marries Mary Mackintosh, his foster bister.