THE ISLESMEN IN ULSTER. 163 



instrumental in preventing further accessions of Islesmen 

 to the ranks of the Irish rebels. Donald Gorm Mor, who 

 is called in the English records the " Lord of the Isles," 

 offered in 1598 to disclose to the Queen of England, for a 

 consideration, the "secret courses" of Tyrone, and of 

 the lately restored Earls of Huntly, Angus, and Errol.* 

 The expedition to Ulster was a fiasco, and brought neither 

 honour to the Macdonalds and Macleods themselves, nor 

 material assistance to their Irish allies. The vigorous 

 policy of England successfully frustrated the object of 

 the campaign. 



It needs no great stretch of the imagination to realise 

 that Lewis was not at this time the abode of tranquillity. 

 Ruari Macleod appears to have died about the year 1595, 

 having reached, according to a Lewis tradition, the great 

 age of 94.t His son, Torquil Dubh, who seems to have 

 been, during the last few years of his father's life, the 

 acting chief of the Siol Torquil, succeeded him with the 

 consent of the clan. His bastard brother, Rory Og, having 

 quarrelled with him, was banished from Lewis, and con- 

 signed to the tender mercies of Torquil's uncle, Maclean 

 of Duart, from whom, however, he escaped, only to perish 

 miserably in a snowstorm. Thus did Black Torquil rid 

 himself of troublesome relatives. The succession of 

 Torquil Dubh was naturally not regarded with equanimity 

 by his rival, Torquil Conanach, who, so far as charters 

 and agreements with his reputed father could legalise his 

 claims, was the undoubted heir to the estates. 



In 1 594, an Act of Parliament was passed, having as its 

 object, the punishment of "thift, reif, oppressioun, and 

 sorning." Among the clans concerned are found the 



* Donald Gormson, the predecessor of Donald Gorm Mor, had long main- 

 tained friendly relations with England. On one occasion, when on a visit to 

 Queen Mary of England, he was presented with some garments which had 

 belonged to Edward VI. In 1572 (about twenty years later), he told Queen 

 Elizabeth that he was still wearing them ! He was ready in 1572 to give 

 his services to England " with all his power." (Cal. of State Papers (Foreign 

 Series, 1572-4), pp. 48-9.) 



t According to an official statement dated 1595, he was alive in that year. 

 The same statement calls Torquil Dubh (Og) a bastard and usurper. (See 

 Appendix A.) 



