CHANGES IN THE PROPRIETARY. 491 



titles of Lord Seaforth and Baron Mackenzie of Kintail. 

 He was also appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the County of 

 Ross, and from 1800 to 1806, he administered the affairs 

 of Barbadoes, subsequently serving in Demerara and 

 Berbice. In 1808, he was made a Lieutenant-General. 



The closing years of this distinguished man were shrouded 

 in gloom. One after the other, his four sons were snatched 

 away from him by the hand of Death. The West India 

 plantations in which he had sunk a considerable sum were 

 ruinously mismanaged ; he unfortunately fell a victim to 

 the gambling propensities of the times ; and he was finally 

 compelled to dispose, successively, of Lochalsh, Kintail, and 

 the best portion of Glenshiel. The affectionate regard of 

 his tenantry for Lord Seaforth was shown both in pros- 

 perity and adversity. While the Highlanders on other 

 estates were holding sullenly aloof from the army, filled 

 with suspicion of their chiefs, Seaforth's tenants flocked 

 with alacrity to the standard of the man whom they trusted 

 and loved. When the reverses of fortune overtook their 

 proprietor, they besought him to " reside amongst us and 

 we shall pay your debts." All too literally, the prophecies 

 of Coinneach Odhar, the Lewis seer, were fulfilled.* Poetic 

 license must be allowed to Sir Walter Scott when he asks, 

 " And who in the land of the Saxon or Gael, could match 

 with Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail ? " The reverse 

 side of the picture is literally true : " Of the line of Mac- 

 kenneth remains not a male, to bear the proud name of the 

 Chief of Kintail." 



Lord Seaforth died at Warriston, near Edinburgh, in 

 1815. Lady Seaforth, who was a daughter of Dr. Baptist 

 Proby, Dean of Lichfield, survived him until 1829. The 

 estates, in virtue of an entail executed by Lord Seaforth, 

 devolved upon his eldest daughter, Mary, the young widow 

 of Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, M.P. for Westminster, 

 who died at Madras, in 1814, without issue. In 1817, Lady 



* In The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer by the late Mr. Alexander Mac- 

 kenzie, the Clan historian, will be found full particulars of this remarkable 

 instance of second sight. 



