THE ISLES AND THE COMMONWEALTH. 357 



to Cromwell some months previously. Pluscardine had 

 become Seaforth's cautioner, and had acquired an infeft- 

 ment upon a portion of his nephew's estates as security. 

 In a letter dated loth December to the Commissioner at 

 Leith, Lilburn instructed that official to respect Plus- 

 cardine's rights in the process of sequestration. The laird 

 being one of the chiefs of " a great clan," it was politic not 

 to drive him to extremities, and his security was therefore 

 to be allowed to remain intact.* 



The mind of Cromwell being still exercised about the 

 security of Lewis against attack by the Dutch, he desired 

 Lilburn to send him certain particulars about the island, 

 which the Commander-in-Chief, after a conversation with 

 Cobbet, duly supplied. He took occasion to point out to 

 the Protector that the bays to the north of Stornoway 

 were "very convenient places for landing men," and com- 

 menting upon the absence of a sufficiency of fresh water 

 for the garrison, stated that he had sunk a well at 

 Stornoway, " which proved very well."f He again re- 

 assured Cromwell on the subject of a Dutch invasion, 

 asserting that the Hollanders rarely touched at Lewis, but 

 were constantly calling at the Shetlands, from which fact 

 he inferred that it was more important to have the latter 

 group fortified during the war with the States.J Soon 

 afterwards, Lilburn had occasion to feel alarmed for the 

 safety of Lewis, against an attack from a totally unexpected 

 quarter. 



A man of Seaforth's temperament could hardly view 

 with equanimity his great island-territory in the hands of 

 the English, and he only awaited a suitable opportunity for 

 making an attempt to wrest it from their possession. When 

 he returned to the North after his adventures in the South, 

 he set about planning the re-capture of Lewis, with the help 

 of his sympathetic neighbours. News of these prepara- 



* Scott. Hist. Soc., Vol. XVIII., pp. 294-5. 



t This well may still be seen ; it is situated near the junction of South 

 Beach and Kenneth Street, 

 t Scott. Hist. Soc., Vol. XVIII., p. 275. 



