At last the suffering spirit was released. Lochiel is conjectured to
have died about the year 1760, and is generally thought to have sunk
under the pressure of hopeless sorrow, or, to use the words of one who
spoke from tradition, "of a broken heart." His daughter Donalda, who was
about fourteen at the time of his death, had attached herself so fondly
to her father, that after his decease she pined away, and never
recovered. She died soon after her father, and the mother did not long
survive her daughter. Never, perhaps, did a brave and unfortunate man
sink to rest more honoured by society at large, more admired and
respected by his friends, more revered by his vassals, than the gentle
Lochiel. The beauty of his character showed itself also in the close
ties of domestic life: and in some of these, more particularly as a
brother, his warm and constant affections were destined to be severely
wounded. He felt deeply the banishment of his brother Cameron of
Fassefern; and still more severely the cruel fate of another brother,
Dr. Archibald Cameron. The fate of that young man, who attended Charles
Edward in most of his wanderings, presents, indeed, one of the saddest
episodes of this melancholy period. Dr. Cameron, after sharing the
dangers which the Prince ran, and following him to France, returned to
Scotland in 1749. Charles Edward had left a large sum of money in the
charge of Macpherson of Clunie, upon leaving Scotland; and Dr. Cameron
was privy to the concealment of the money. He visited Clunie, and
obtained from him six thousand louis-d'ors, for which, however, Clunie
took Dr. Cameron's receipt. In 1753, Dr. Cameron made another visit,
which is conjectured to have had a similar object. The money was
concealed near Loch Arkeg, to the amount of twenty-two thousand
louis-d'ors. Some degree of obscurity rests upon this transaction, which
undoubtedly throws a degree of discredit on the memory of Dr. Cameron.
Among the Stuart papers there is a letter from Mr. Ludovick Cameron to
Prince Charles, alluding to the "misfortune" of his nephew, Dr. Cameron,
in taking away a good round sum of his Highness's money, and clearing
himself from the imputation. This proves that there was no commission,
as it has been suggested,[298] to Dr. Cameron, but that the transaction
was regarded in a disgraceful light, even by the relative of the
unfortunate young man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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