My legend has to do with that very Castle of Eilean Donan with which yours has already made us so well acquainted. The time of the action was about the early part of the seventeenth century, and the great actor in it was a very celebrated¹ MacDonell of Glengarry, whose name I have forgotten, but who is said to have been remarkable² for his gigantic figure and Herculean strength. The Lord Kintail of that period was a great favourite with the Court, so that he thereby³ rose to great power and influence, which he very naturally employed, according to the laudable custom of those days, in humbling⁵ his enemies. Amongst these, none bore him a larger share of animosity than his hereditary⁶ foes⁷, the MacDonells of Glengarry. It was not in their nature tamely to submit to the dominion⁹ which Kintail was permitted to exercise, with comparative impunity¹⁰, over some of the other clans¹². On the contrary, they were frequently disposed not only to resist themselves, but they also very often found means to stir up others to resistance, and in this way they sometimes furnished Kintail with specious¹³ grounds for accusing them, when all apology for doing so might have been otherwise wanting.