Keppoch song

134 ADDENDA.
with great cruelty, neither sparing- old nor
young, without regard to wives, old, feeble,
or decripped women, &c." Such are the
excuses preferred by these writers, in vin-
dication of the attacks made by the house
of Stuart, presently after its accession to
the throne, upon the old nobility, some of
whom were of much higher antiquity than
the name of Stuart. The ruin of the name
of Comyn, instead of satiating, seems only
to haye raised the royal appetite; and James
the First, Second, and Third, appear to
have been desirous of ruining and abolish-
ing every thing that did not immediately
ilow from themselves, the allegation that
they were in possession of crown lands
serving as the pretext. Accordingly, says
Dr. Robertson, " James the First, during
the sitting of parliament, seized the Earls
of Douglas, Lenox, March, and above
twenty other peers and barons of prime
rank. Among them was Alexander, Earl
of Ross (Lord of the Isles), whom he im-
prisoned, and deprived of his earldom, but
soon released him, and restored the earl-
dom." This necessarily obliged them to