NEIL MACLEOD AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 255 



about 1620, makes no reference to the incident. It simply 

 states that Neil was " wearied " of remaining on Birsay, 

 and at length abandoned the stronghold and dispersed his 

 followers, he himself going to Harris.* Gordon's MS- 

 was not completed until 1630, and his account of the 

 Lewis troubles appears to be an amplification of the earlier 

 MS., the author of which is unknown. The fact that the 

 latter makes no reference to the Birsay episode related 

 by Gordon, suggests that the story about the wives and 

 children may be apocryphal. Certain it is, that Neil gave 

 himself up to Ruari Macleod. As far back as 1610, Mac- 

 leod had been commanded, in a letter written by the King, 

 and transmitted to Ruari through the then Earl of Dunbar, 

 to assist the Earl in effecting the capture of Neil in Lewis ; 

 and on his own showing, he had undertaken the com- 

 mission. The delay which had taken place in discharging 

 this duty was due to the fact to quote Ruari's own words 

 that Neil had " keepit himselff so warlie," although it is 

 not difficult to conceive that reasons other than the wariness 

 of Neil had contributed to his want of success. But Neil 

 was at length actually in his hands. If, as appears to have 

 been the case, the notorious outlaw sought refuge with his 

 namesake of Harris, and if, as Sir Robert Gordon affirms, 

 Macleod undertook to conduct Neil to England, where the 

 latter apparently had the notion of throwing himself on the 

 mercy of the King, then an indelible stain rests on the 

 name of Rory Mor. For, on 2nd March, he appeared 

 before the Council; and made them the welcome present of 

 Neil and his son Donald, t both of whom were promptly 

 lodged in the Tolbooth. On 4th March, Ruari Macleod 

 presented a petition to the Council, craving for a declaration 

 by Act of Council that he had fully executed his com- 

 mission in respect of the capture of Neil. The petition 

 was readily granted, and Macleod was protected during his 



* Miscellanea Scotica, Vol. II., p. 75. 



t Donald Macleod was soon set at liberty, but his sentence of banish- 

 ment seems to have weighed lightly on his shoulders, for he soon re-appeared 

 in Lewis, as defiant and troublesome as ever. 



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