Series 1 > Loyall dissuasive

INTRODUCTION
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must have been the most ancient name of the Macphersons.
From the date of this combat the Clan Vurich, or old Clan
Chattan, diminished in power. Though it could fight as well as
ever, it was yet a clan with an ecclesiastical side, and the blood
of Diarmid, the chancellor, tended naturally to those historical
studies to which a series of senachies of the name gave much
impetus. Murdach Albanach, whom J5neas confuses with a
king of Leinster, was only a prince in literature, and the
leader of a long line of Murdach senachies. This tendency
to the paths of peace may have aided the change of Murich
into Macpherson on the part of the chief family of the clan.
The ancient motto of the clan, nevertheless, continued to have
its significance among the sons of the Parson. Its meaning,
often misunderstood, is ‘ Touch not the cat when it is without
its glove.’ There is nothing softer than a cat’s paw when
its glove is on, but nothing sharper than its claw when the
glove is off". The Loycdl Dissuasive manifests both the paw
and the claw of the Macphersons of his time.
The later history of the clan we cannot follow here, but
some points must be noted.
The genealogies of the Macpherson are greatly confused.
Jeremy Collier gives one, no doubt supplied by iEneas. Sir
Robert Farquharson varies this in the Dissuasive. Douglas,
in his Baronage, has a different one. Those printed in
Glimpses of Life in the Highlands are more curious than useful.
The manuscript collections of the late Mr. James Macpherson
(of the Union Bank) are valuable, but skill, time, and temper
will be needed to arrange the materials, to verify the refer¬
ences, and supply the dates.
I have said nothing of Eva and the marriage with the
Mackintosh or M‘Duff. In Highland families there is always
an Eva, who has to account for things unaccountable. No
doubt ASneas is right when he refuses to the lady the power
of conveying the chiefship to her husband. She might, as
heiress, have conveyed a great inheritance, but chiefship never,