316

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

XIII.

JGS9.

TheStew-nrls andMacnagh-Icus.

the head of that House had perished, when his children were-fugitives, when strangers garrisoned the Castle of Inverary,and when the whole shore of Loch Fyne was laid waste by fireand sword. It was said that the terrible precedent which hadbeen set in the case of the Macgregors ought to be followed,and that it ought to be made a crime to bear the odious name ofCampbell.

On a sudden all was changed. The Revolution came. Theheir of Argyle returned in triumph. He was, as his predeces-sors had been, the head, not only of a tribe, but of aparty.The sentence which had deprived him of his estate and of hishonours was treated by the majority of the Convention as a nul-lity. The doors of the Parliament House were thrown open tohim: he was selected from the whole body of Scottish nobles toadminister the oath of office to the new Sovereigns; and hewas authorised to raise an army on his domains for the serviceof the Crown. He would now, doubtless, be as powerful asthe most powerful of his ancestors. Backed by the strength ofthe Government, he would demand all the long and heavy ar-rears of rent and tribute which were due to him from his neigh-bours, and would exact revenge for all the injuries and insultswhich his family had suffered. There was terror and agitationin the castles of twenty petty kings. The uneasiness was greatamong the Stewarts of Appin, whose territory was close pressedby the sea on one side, and by the race of Diarmid on the other.The Macnaghtens were still more alarmed. Once they hadbeen the masters of those beautiful valleys through which theAra and the Shira flow into Loch Fyne. But the Campbellshad prevailed. The Macnaghtens had been reduced to subjec-tion, and had, generation after generation, looked up withawe and detestation to the neighbouring Castle of Inverary.They had recently been promised a complete emancipation. Agrant, by virtue of which their chief would have held his estate