102 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



5th August, 1545, he describes himself as having been 

 captured in materno uteris, which is sufficiently conclusive 

 in bearing out the statement of MacVurich, the only 

 obvious error in his account being Donald's age on his 

 escape from captivity, a detail of minor importance. It is 

 very probable, therefore, that MacVurich is also correct 

 in stating that Donald Dubh was born after the murder of 

 his father. Assuming, therefore, that Angus Og was killed 

 about 1485, Donald Dubh would have been a lad of about 

 sixteen years of age on his escape from prison in 1501, 

 a very likely supposition. He died in 1545-6, and thus 

 would have been about sixty years of age at the time 

 of his death. 



In view of the hypothesis that Donald himself was 

 captured by the Earl of Atholl and imprisoned by the 

 Earl of Argyll, it has been found difficult by the supporters 

 of this theory to assign a likely reason for the abduction. 

 It is supposed by them that the Earl of Argyll schemed to 

 secure the Lordship of the Isles for himself, and it is con- 

 fidently affirmed that the alleged kidnapping of Donald 

 Dubh was the outcome of a plot to keep him out of his 

 inheritance. The Earl of Argyll is called hard names for 

 his supposed greed and treachery, but although he was 

 probably no better than most of his compeers, the charges 

 against him in the present instance must be held as " not 

 proven." 



The most reasonable view to take of the matter is, that 

 on the death of Angus Og, the Earl of Argyll took charge 

 of his daughter, the widow of Angus ; that on the birth of 

 her son, the Earl naturally became the child's guardian, 

 and that he kept him in close confinement, fearing, for 

 political reasons, lest he should get into the hands of the 

 Hebridean chiefs. It is idle to speculate what his ultimate 

 intentions were with respect to his grandson ; his death, 

 which occurred in 1493, left the boy in the care of his son 

 Archibald, second Earl of Argyll. That the policy of 

 Donald's uncle was not favourable to his future assumption 

 of the Lordship of the Isles, may be inferred from the fact 



