4 i6 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



under which she was infeft in the estates for payment of 

 her annuity. This annuity, after the death of Kenneth Og, 

 formed the subject of tedious litigation, but the Countess 

 Frances ultimately prevailed in her suit. As we have seen, 

 an amicable arrangement was made in 1717, between the 

 Countess and Colonel Alexander Mackenzie, in respect of 

 the annuity. 



The Countess Isobel made a disposition, or conveyance, 

 of the nine apprizings to Kenneth, son of John Mackenzie 

 of Gruinard " a Scots gentleman living abroad," who after- 

 wards married the Countess Frances. Under cover of these 

 deeds, Kenneth Og, the fourth Earl, kept the creditors out 

 of the estates till his death in 1701 ; and under the same 

 cover, his son, William, likewise retained possession until he 

 was attainted in 1715. The attainder introduced a new 

 element into the question, and called for renewed ingenuity 

 on the part of the Mackenzies to keep the property in the 

 Seaforth family. 



Accordingly, advantage was taken of an Act passed by 

 the Parliament of Scotland in 1700, entitled "An Act for 

 Preventing the Growth of Popery." By this Act a pecu- 

 liarly stupid piece of legislation, which had the effect of 

 sending the Roman Catholics in a body over to the 

 Stuarts it was enacted that no Papist over fifteen years 

 of age should be capable of succeeding as heir to an estate, 

 unless and until he renounced his religion. William, Earl 

 of Seaforth, was a Catholic ; he married a Catholic wife ; 

 and he remained true to his religious convictions. Here 

 was an opportunity for making a bold move to prevent the 

 Government from grabbing the property. 



According to an enactment for extending the time to 

 determine claims to forfeited estates, the date fixed as the 

 time-limit within which such claims had to be presented to 

 the Court of Session, was ist August, 1719. Two sets of 

 claimants appeared for the Seaforth estates. The first 

 petition, in the names of Kenneth Mackenzie of Assynt 

 and Colonel Alexander Mackenzie, his guardian, set forth 

 that the estates belonged to Kenneth, as the nearest Pro- 



