Sketcher. Prophecies by a Highland Seer. (continued )

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1985, 28 March 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

Sketcher. Prophecies by a Highland Seer. (continued )

But how to descend was quite another matter, for such stairs would puzzle any cow, under any circumstances, and this particular cow was not in condition for acrobatic feat<* ! So finding a plentiful store of straw, all ready for her use, she deoided on remaining where she was, and there, a few days later, she gave birth to a fine c»lf. The rumour of this unexpected fulfilment of Coinneacb. Oro'a wellknown prophecy spread far and wide and various persons, still living, took tne trouble to go from Inverness and elsewhere to see this aspiring cow and her calf in their exalted byre, which has now become " the show room " of the Old Tower I Innumerable predictions, of purely local interest, have been recorded, but those which have most established the fame of " The Seer of Brah&n" had reference, like the last quoted, to the fortunes of the Lord of Brahan Castle, Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, whose grandfather had in 1623 been created first Earl of Seaforth. He married Isabella Mackenzie, Bister of the first Earl of Cromartie, a proud, vindictive woman, whose cruelty to the seer called forth that prophetic sentence of doom which (as in several other cases well known in the history of Scottish families who have taken part in some deed of blood, and thus goaded the sufferers to invoke curses worthy of the Psalmist of Israel on their unborn descendants) has been so strangely and minutely fulfilled. This Kenneth Mackenzie, third Earl of Seaforth, was a devoted adherent of King Charles the second, fought manfully in the ltoyalist cause, and paid the penalty for his loyulty, by being subject to several years imprisonment under the Commonwealth, till the Restoration enabled King Charles to release him. Sjon afterwards, he had occasion to visit Paris, and seems to have found so many attractions in that gay capital that he wa3 in no hurry to return to his stern countess. Months slipp d away, without even bringing her a letter from her absent lord. At last she determined to call in the seer, whose fame had already spread throughout the district. So she sent mesßengers to Strathpeffer, summoning him to Brahan Castle. On his arrival, instead of granting him a private interview, she received him in her ball, in presence of many of her

retainers, who crowded round to hear his revelations, for many feared that the earl must be dead. Then she bade Coinncaoh prove hn mysterious power by giving her tidings of Seaforth. He produced the precious divining stone and, looJiinß through it, he laughed aloud and announced that the truant earl was well and merry. The neglected lady desired further details, which at first Kenneth refused to Rive. But when Bhe very unwisely urged — nay, commanded—him to speak freely, the seer revealed that he beheld S-^aforth in a richly furnished room, kneeling beside a beautiful woman, who suffered lug aim to encircle her waist unchidden. Pale and trembling with anger, Lady Seaforth heard these worda, spoken in the hearing of all her people. She heeded not that she had compelled their utterance, and that in her own heart she believed them true. Her own dignity required that she should discredit them, and that the calumniator of her lord should be disgraced. Carried away by mortification and passion, she suddenly resolved that nothing shoit of the death of the hapless seer should atone for his scandalous revelations, so, to his unspeakable amazement, she then and there turned upon him and pronounced sentence of doom. She appears in the first instance to have condemned him to be immediately hanged, but on second thoughts, she determined to obtain the sanction of the Church and have him burnt a 9 a wizard. Some days, therefore, elapsed ere the cruel sentence was carried out. Then the poor seer was bound hand and foot and carried to Chanonry Point, where, with full sanction of the Church— the Canons of Fortrose Cathedral doubtlesa standing by to witness the hideous punishment of a wizard — he was thrown head foremost in a barrel of j burning tar— a barrel which, moreover, bristled with long sharp spikes, driven in from outso as to tranßfix the wretched victim. On this very day the long-absent earl returned to Brahan, and, finding the castle wellnigh deserted, he learnt that his wife and his retainers had all gone to tho Ness of Chanonry to attend the burning of Coinneach Ore. Horror-stricken, Seaforth etarted instantly in pursuit, hoping still to Bave the unhappy man. Spurring his good steed to its utmost pace, he galloped without drawing rein till ho reached Fortrose, and there, looking towards the isthmus, he beheld a dark column of dense smoke rising heavily. With renewed energy he tried to increase his pace, but the willing horse could do no more— it staggered and fell, never to rise again. Hushing forward on foot, Seaforth shouted aloud, trusting that tho assembled people, hearing his cry, might delay the terrible deed. But it was too late. Already the tar-barrrl had received its victim, and the prophetic voice was silenced for ever. Among those who stood by, to witness the horrid scene, was the cruel Lady Seaforth, who, as he was led past her, could not resist a last shaft, so she cried out that he was even then on his way to hell. Coinneach turned, and, looking upon her, said " Nay ! for that he was bound for that heaven where she should never enter," and m token that his words were true she should see that after his death a raven and a dove, flying swiftly from east and west, should meet above the funeral pyre, and thereon alight. If the raven should be the first to decend, then might her words be true, but, if the dove was foremost, she might rest assured that he had not spoken without cause. And so it proved, for ere the smouldering ashes had wholly cooled, a raven and a dove did thus alight on the embers, and the dove was the first to alight, even as Coinneach had foretold. But this was not the sole prophecy of Mture - il which he bequeathed to the proud lady. ■M-vlding Gg^e brink of Lock Uasie, a rnouuI i,.id tarn which lies cradled in the hills above ! 13nihftn Castle, just before he was carried a^f*y to Fortrose to meet his cruel fate, he gazed for the last iime on his magic ston<\ and then uttered the worda of prophetic doom which' in every detail, were so strangely fulfilled only two generations ago. He foretold how, ere many generations had passed, the line of Seaforth should become extinct ; and that when the time came when there should be a buck-toothed Gairloch, a hare lipped, Chisholm, a stammering laird of Iliasay, and a half-witted laird of Grant, then all men might know that the day of doom was at hand. That the last Lord of Kintail should be deaf and dumb, that the gift lands of Kintail bestowed on his ancestors by King David 11. should pass away from him, that he should be the father of stalwart sons, all of whom should pre-decease him, and that he should go dewn in sorrow to the grave, knowing that no heir male survived to bear hu name and honours as Chief of the Mackenzies of Brahan and Kintail. Then a woman with snow on her cap (or a snow-white cap) should come from the East across the sea to sit in Soaforth's chair, but the broad lands of the Mackenzies should pass to other families. Aa a crowning agony, he added that this whitehooded woman should cause the death of her own sister. Having uttered the3e wordB of doom, he cast his magic white stone into the looh, whence the Highlanders believe that it will one day be recovered inside of a pike, and its fortunate finder will forthwith be endowed with the gift of prophecy. (To ha Continued.)