XIV. HUGH, tenth Lord Lovat, had already a large family when he succeeded to the estates. Three years after his accession his wife died, leaving him with nine children, six sons and three daughters. Her death cast a gloom over his life, and, practically retiring from business, the management of the estates for a time fell on his son Simon, Master of Lovat, a young man of the brightest promise, whose untimely death was a second severe blow to his father. His dying address is a remarkable production. His next elder brother, Hugh, became Master of Lovat, and Sir James Fraser, of Brea, became tutor. The Master of Lovat married Lady Anne Leslie, and died a year afterwards, during his father's lifetime, leaving a son, Hugh, who succeeded to the titles and estates. Hugh the tenth Lord Lovat's issue were: Simon and Hugh, to whom reference has just been made; Alexander, who became tutor; Thomas of Beaufort, father of the celebrated Simon; William, who died young; James, who died without issue, and Mary, Anne and Catherine. XV. HUGH, grandson of the tenth Lord Lovat, succeeded as eleventh Lord Lovat, when only three years old. At sixteen he was, to use the words of the chronicler, "decoyed into a match" with Anne, sister of Sir George Mackenzie of Tarbat, the famous lawyer, the lady being at the time of the marriage, about thirty years of age. There were born to them a son, named Hugh, who, from a black spot on his upper lip, was nick-named "Mac-Shimi, Ball Dubh," "Black-spotted Mackimmie;" and three daughters. XVI. Hugh, "The Black-spotted," succeeded as twelfth Lord Lovat. He married a daughter of Murray, Marquis of Athole, a connection in which the pretensions of the Murrays, thwarted by Simon of Beaufort, find their source. This chief left four daughters, but no son, and having had no brothers or uncles on the father's side, the succession went to Thomas of Beaufort, surviving son of Hugh, the tenth Lord Lovat, and grand-uncle of Hugh, "The Black-spotted." XVII. Thomas of Beaufort assumed the title as thirteenth Lord Lovat, and would probably have been left in undisputed possession but for the marriage contract made by the twelfth Lord, at the instance of the Athols, settling the estates on his eldest daughter, failing male heirs of his body. It is true that afterwards he revoked this settlement in favor of the nearest male heir, viz., Thomas of Beaufort, but the validity of the later document was contested, and it was only after a long and extraordinary struggle, in which plot, intrigue and violence played a part, as well as protracted litigation, that his son's title to the estates was confirmed.