Rob Roy | Page 8

and many a bang, Hard crabtree and cold iron
rang.
A slash or two, or a broken head, was easily accommodated, and as the
trade was of benefit to both parties, trifling skirmishes were not
allowed to interrupt its harmony. Indeed it was of vital interest to the
Highlanders, whose income, so far as derived from their estates,
depended entirely on the sale of black cattle; and a sagacious and
experienced dealer benefited not only himself, but his friends and
neighbours, by his speculations. Those of Rob Roy were for several

years so successful as to inspire general confidence, and raise him in
the estimation of the country in which he resided.
His importance was increased by the death of his father, in
consequence of which he succeeded to the management of his nephew
Gregor MacGregor of Glengyle's property, and, as his tutor, to such
influence with the clan and following as was due to the representative
of Dugald Ciar. Such influence was the more uncontrolled, that this
family of the MacGregors seemed to have refused adherence to
MacGregor of Glencarnock, the ancestor of the present Sir Ewan
MacGregor, and asserted a kind of independence.
It was at this time that Rob Roy acquired an interest by purchase,
wadset, or otherwise, to the property of Craig Royston already
mentioned. He was in particular favour, during this prosperous period
of his life, with his nearest and most powerful neighbour, James, first
Duke of Montrose, from whom he received many marks of regard. His
Grace consented to give his nephew and himself a right of property on
the estates of Glengyle and Inversnaid, which they had till then only
held as kindly tenants. The Duke also, with a view to the interest of the
country and his own estate, supported our adventurer by loans of
money to a considerable amount, to enable him to carry on his
speculations in the cattle trade.
Unfortunately that species of commerce was and is liable to sudden
fluctuations; and Rob Roy was, by a sudden depression of markets, and,
as a friendly tradition adds, by the bad faith of a partner named
MacDonald, whom he had imprudently received into his confidence,
and intrusted with a considerable sum of money, rendered totally
insolvent. He absconded, of course--not empty-handed, if it be true, as
stated in an advertisement for his apprehension, that he had in his
possession sums to the amount of L1000 sterling, obtained from several
noblemen and gentlemen under pretence of purchasing cows for them
in the Highlands. This advertisement appeared in June 1712, and was
several times repeated. It fixes the period when Rob Roy exchanged his
commercial adventures for speculations of a very different
complexion.*

* See Appendix, No. I.
He appears at this period first to have removed from his ordinary
dwelling at Inversnaid, ten or twelve Scots miles (which is double the
number of English) farther into the Highlands, and commenced the
lawless sort of life which he afterwards followed. The Duke of
Montrose, who conceived himself deceived and cheated by
MacGregor's conduct, employed legal means to recover the money lent
to him. Rob Roy's landed property was attached by the regular form of
legal procedure, and his stock and furniture made the subject of arrest
and sale.
It is said that this diligence of the law, as it is called in Scotland, which
the English more bluntly term distress, was used in this case with
uncommon severity, and that the legal satellites, not usually the gentlest
persons in the world, had insulted MacGregor's wife, in a manner
which would have aroused a milder man than he to thoughts of
unbounded vengeance. She was a woman of fierce and haughty temper,
and is not unlikely to have disturbed the officers in the execution of
their duty, and thus to have incurred ill treatment, though, for the sake
of humanity, it is to be hoped that the story sometimes told is a popular
exaggeration. It is certain that she felt extreme anguish at being
expelled from the banks of Loch Lomond, and gave vent to her feelings
in a fine piece of pipe-music, still well known to amateurs by the name
of "Rob Roy's Lament."
The fugitive is thought to have found his first place of refuge in Glen
Dochart, under the Earl of Breadalbane's protection; for, though that
family had been active agents in the destruction of the MacGregors in
former times, they had of late years sheltered a great many of the name
in their old possessions. The Duke of Argyle was also one of Rob Roy's
protectors, so far as to afford him, according to the Highland phrase,
wood and water--the shelter, namely, that is afforded by the forests and
lakes of an inaccessible country.
The great men of the Highlands in