144 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



Donald Dubh and his followers. He re-opened negotia- 

 tions with the Lord of the Isles, but the latter was 

 apparently powerless to stimulate anew the enthusiasm of 

 the chiefs, who sulked in their castles. He died soon after- 

 wards : according to Tytler, he found " an obscure grave 

 in his own dominions," but according to MacVurich, who 

 probably knew better, he went to Ireland to raise men, 

 but died on his way to Dublin, at Drogheda, of a fever. 

 He left one illegitimate son whom, on his death-bed, he 

 commended to the care of his patron, Henry of England. 

 Donald Dubh is one of the most pathetic figures in 

 Highland history. From his birth to his death, his foot- 

 steps were dogged by misfortune. The last representative 

 of the Lords of the Isles, in the main line, spent his declining 

 years in prison, and died a pensioner of Henry VIII., who 

 paid 400 for his funeral expenses.* 



The succession to the Lordship of the Isles the in- 

 alienable annexation of that title to the Crown in 1540 

 did not weigh with the Islesmen now devolved upon 

 James Macdonald of Dunyveg. The male representation 

 of the forfeited Lordship and the forfeited Earldom of 

 Ross centred in the Clan Huistein, but its chief, Donald 

 Gormson, was a minor, and the influence of the family was 

 less considerable than that of Islay. James Macdonald 

 had hitherto posed as a partisan of the Regent and the 

 national cause, but as Mr. Gregory put it, his " patriotism 

 seems to have evaporated on his perceiving a possibility 

 of obtaining the pension of 2,000 crowns promised to his 

 predecessor." He appears to have received the support of 

 the various branches of Clan Donald, but his pretensions 

 were opposed by the majority of the other chiefs, par- 

 ticularly by the Macleods both of Lewis and Harris, and 

 among the minor clans, by Macneill of Barra. The mal- 



* As for Lennox, he continued to have a chequered career in the service of 

 England. Queen Mary petted him. She sent the Dean of Durham to him on 

 one occasion when he was ill "to comfort him by godly and learned counsel." 

 Good Queen Bess sent him to the Tower. He ultimately returned to Scotland, 

 and his son, Lord Darnley, became the unfortunate husband of Mary Queen of 

 Scots. 



