from Inverness, on the occasion of meeting Queen Mary there, to
have retired very much into private life, for, on Mary's escape
from Lochleven Castle he sent his son Colin, then quite a youth
attending his studies at Aberdeen, at the head of his vassals, to
join the Earl of Huntly, by whom Colin was sent, according to the
Laird of Applecross, "as one whose prudence he confided, to advise
the Queen's retreat to Stirling, where she might stay in security
till all her friends were convocate, but by an unhappy council
she refused this advice and fought at Langside, where Colin was
present, and when by the Regent's [The Earl of Moray, appointed
to the office after Mary's defeat.] insolence, after that victory,
all the loyal subjects were forced to take remissions for their
duty, as if it were a crime. Amongst the rest Mackenzie takes one,
the only one that ever any of his family had and this is rather
a mark of his fidelity than evidence of failure, and an honour,
not a task of his posterity." It would have been already seen
that another remission had been received at an earlier date, for
the imprisonment and murder of John Glassich, son and successor
to Hector Roy Mackenzie of Gairloch, in Ellandonnan Castle. Dr
George Mackenzie says that Kenneth apprehended John Glassich and
sent him prisoner to the Castle, where he was poisoned by the
constable's lady, [This lady was Nighean Iamhair, and was spouse
to John MacMhurchaidh Dhuibh, the Priest of Kintail, who was then
chosen constable of Ellandonnan for the following reason: A great
debate arose between the Maclennans and the Macraes about this
important and honourable post, and the laird finding them
irreconcilable, lest they should kill one another, and he being a
stranger in the country himself, Mackenzie, on the advice of the
Lord of Fairburn, elected the priest constable of the castle.
This did not suit the Maclennans, and, as soon as Mackenzie left