Minstrelsy of the Scottish border - National Library of Scotland

THE SCOTT18H EOKDEU. 407
who was son to Kenneth, the son of Colin Fitzgerald,
received the patronimic appellation of Mac Kenneth, or
Mac Kennye, which descended from him to his poste-
rity, as the sirname of the family. John, Baron of Kin-
tail, took a very active part in tlie general affairs of the
kingdom. He fought gallantly at the battle of Flodden,
under the banners of King James the Fourth ;
was a
member of the privy council in the reign of his son,
and, at an advanced age, supported the standard of the
unfortunate Mary, at the battle of Pinkie.
In the sixth generation from John, Baron of Kintail,
the clan was, by his lineal descendant, William, fifth Earl
of Seaforth, summoned, in 1715, to take up arms in the
cause of the house of Stuart. On the failure of that spi-
rited, but ill-fated enterprize, the Earl made his escape
to the continent, where he lived for about eleven years.
Meantime his estate and honours were forfeited to the
crown, and his castle was burnt. A steward was ap-
pointed to levy the rents of Kintail, on the King's be-
half; but the vassals spurned at his demands, and, while
they carried on a successful defensive war, against a
body of troops sent to subdue their obstinacy, in the
course of which the unlucky steward had the misfortune
to be slain, one of their number made a faithful collec-
tion of what Avas due, and carried the money to the Earl
himself, who was at that time in Spain. The descend-
ants of the man, to whom it was entrusted to convey to
his lord this unequivocal proof of the honour, fidelity,