History of the Macleods

SIR RODERICK MACLEOD OF DUNVEGAN. yj
enactments for enforcing obedience to the preceding-
Acts.
Such were the Statutes of Icolmkill, for the better observ-
ance of which, and of the Laws of the Realm and Acts of
Parliament in general, the Bishop took from the assembled
Chiefs a very strict bond. This bond, moreover, contained
a sort of confession of faith on the part of the subscribers,
and an unconditional acknowledgment of His Majesty's
supreme authority in all matters both spiritual and temporal,
according to his " most loveable Act of Supremacy."
The first of these Statutes agreed to by the Island
Chiefs is an instructive document and deserves to be
given at length. It is in the following terms : —
" For remedy whereof [the ignorance, etc., of the
people], they have all agreed in one voice, Like as it is
presently concluded and enacted, That the ministers, as
well planted as to be planted within the parishes of the
said Isles, shall be reverently obeyed ; their stipends
dutifully paid them ; the ruinous kirks with reasonable
diligence repaired ; the Sabbaths solemnly kept ; adulteries,
fornications, incest, and such other vile slanders severely
punished ; marriages contracted for certain years, simpliciter
discharged, and the committers thereof repute and punished
as fornicators — and that conform to the loveable acts of
Parliament of this realm and discipline of the Reformed
Kirk ; the which the foresaids persons and every one of
them within their own bounds faithfully promise to see
put to due execution."
The Bond which the Bishop took from the nine Hebridean
Lairds on this occasion, Roderick Macleod of Dunvegan's
being the fifth signature to it, is an extraordinary confession.
It is as follows : —
" We, and every one of us, principal gentlemen, indwellers
within the West and North Isles of Scotland, under-sub-
cribers, acknowledging, and now by experience finding,
that the special cause of the great misery, barbarity, and
poverty, unto the which for the present our barren country
is subject, has proceeded of the unnatural deadly feuds
which have been fostered among us in this last age : in
respect that thereby not only the fear of God and all
religion, but also the care of keeping any duty and giving