Rob Roy | Page 4

for clerical orders, who had imprudently come to see
the battle. Some doubt is thrown on this fact, from the indictment
against the chief of the clan Gregor being silent on the subject, as is the
historian Johnston, and a Professor Ross, who wrote an account of the
battle twenty-nine years after it was fought. It is, however, constantly
averred by the tradition of the country, and a stone where the deed was
done is called Leck-a-Mhinisteir, the Minister or Clerk's Flagstone. The
MacGregors, by a tradition which is now found to be inaccurate,
impute this cruel action to the ferocity of a single man of their tribe,
renowned for size and strength, called Dugald, Ciar Mhor, or the great
Mouse-coloured Man. He was MacGregor's foster-brother, and the
chief committed the youths to his charge, with directions to keep them
safely till the affray was over. Whether fearful of their escape, or
incensed by some sarcasms which they threw on his tribe, or whether
out of mere thirst of blood, this savage, while the other MacGregors
were engaged in the pursuit, poniarded his helpless and defenceless
prisoners. When the chieftain, on his return, demanded where the
youths were, the Ciar (pronounced Kiar) Mhor drew out his bloody
dirk, saying in Gaelic, "Ask that, and God save me!" The latter words
allude to the exclamation which his victims used when he was

murdering them. It would seem, therefore, that this horrible part of the
story is founded on fact, though the number of the youths so slain is
probably exaggerated in the Lowland accounts. The common people
say that the blood of the Ciar Mhor's victims can never be washed off
the stone. When MacGregor learnt their fate, he expressed the utmost
horror at the deed, and upbraided his foster-brother with having done
that which would occasion the destruction of him and his clan. This
supposed homicide was the ancestor of Rob Roy, and the tribe from
which he was descended. He lies buried at the church of Fortingal,
where his sepulchre, covered with a large stone,* is still shown, and
where his great strength and courage are the theme of many traditions.*
* Note A. The Grey Stone of MacGregor.
** Note B. Dugald Ciar Mhor.
MacGregor's brother was one of the very few of the tribe who was slain.
He was buried near the field of battle, and the place is marked by a rude
stone, called the Grey Stone of MacGregor.
Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, being well mounted, escaped for the time to
the castle of Banochar, or Benechra. It proved no sure defence,
however, for he was shortly after murdered in a vault of the
castle,---the family annals say by the MacGregors, though other
accounts charge the deed upon the MacFarlanes.
This battle of Glenfruin, and the severity which the victors exercised in
the pursuit, was reported to King James VI. in a manner the most
unfavourable to the clan Gregor, whose general character, being that of
lawless though brave men, could not much avail them in such a case.
That James might fully understand the extent of the slaughter, the
widows of the slain, to the number of eleven score, in deep mourning,
riding upon white palfreys, and each bearing her husband's bloody shirt
on a spear, appeared at Stirling, in presence of a monarch peculiarly
accessible to such sights of fear and sorrow, to demand vengeance for
the death of their husbands, upon those by whom they had been made
desolate.

The remedy resorted to was at least as severe as the cruelties which it
was designed to punish. By an Act of the Privy Council, dated 3d April
1603, the name of MacGregor was expressly abolished, and those who
had hitherto borne it were commanded to change it for other surnames,
the pain of death being denounced against those who should call
themselves Gregor or MacGregor, the names of their fathers. Under the
same penalty, all who had been at the conflict of Glenfruin, or
accessory to other marauding parties charged in the act, were prohibited
from carrying weapons, except a pointless knife to eat their victuals. By
a subsequent act of Council, 24th June 1613, death was denounced
against any persons of the tribe formerly called MacGregor, who
should presume to assemble in greater numbers than four. Again, by an
Act of Parliament, 1617, chap. 26, these laws were continued, and
extended to the rising generation, in respect that great numbers of the
children of those against whom the acts of Privy Council had been
directed, were stated to be then approaching to maturity, who, if
permitted to resume the name of their parents, would render the clan as
strong as it was before.
The execution of those severe acts was chiefly intrusted in the west