EXECUTION OF NEIL MACLEOD. 257 



argued that Ruari had to yield to circumstances, for the 

 Tutor of Kintail had apprised the Council of the departure 

 of the pair for the South, and the lord of Harris was 

 ordered, on his arrival in Glasgow, to hand over his com- 

 panion. But what are we to make of Ruari's petition to 

 the Council, claiming that he had fulfilled his commission 

 by capturing Neil ? Or what of his parade of the service 

 he had rendered, and of his journey to the King? He 

 cannot have gone to intercede for Neil, for his acceptance 

 of a knighthood appears to preclude that idea, and suggests 

 the real object of his visit to Court. Viewed in the most 

 favourable light, it is impossible to relieve Macleod of the 

 odium which attaches to the delivery of the famous outlaw, 

 to trial and certain death at Edinburgh. 



Incidentally, it may be noticed that on i6th September, 

 1613, Rory Mor was served heir to his uncle in the lands 

 of Trotternish, Sleat, and North Uist. Ruari was in high 

 favour with the King in that year : his visit to London 

 was productive of good results. In the orders, dated 

 1 5th September, 1613, to the Macers of the Sherififdoms of 

 Inverness, Tarbat, and Perth, to proceed to the service of 

 the briefs proclaimed by Roderick Macleod to serve him 

 heir to his uncle's estates, it is significantly added that the 

 privilege was granted to him on account of the " guid, trew, 

 and thankfull service " rendered by him, notwithstanding 

 the unrelaxed hornings against his predecessors. 



The rest of Neil Macleod's story is soon told. On 3Oth 

 March, 1613, he was tried in Edinburgh on a series of 

 charges, any one of which was sufficient to hang him. 

 Neil, who was examined through an interpreter, pled 

 guilty. The verdict was a foregone conclusion. The 

 prisoner was condemned to be taken to the market cross 

 at Edinburgh, and there to be hanged ; his head to be 

 struck from his body, and placed above the Nether-Bow 

 Port of the town ; and all his possessions to be forfeited 

 to the King.* The sentence was carried out accordingly. 



* Pitcairn's Criminal Trials^ Vol. III., pp. 244-7. 



