History Of The Mackenzies [173]
only by a small fine of ?5. In consequence of his humane proceedings in this matter he became obnoxious to many of the colonists, and, in 1806, he finally left the island.
In 1808 he was made a Lieutenant-General.
These were singular incidents in the life of a man who may be said to have been deaf and dumb from his youth but who, in spite of these physical defects--sufficient to crush any ordinary man--had been able, by the force of his natural abilities and the favour of fortune, to overcome them sufficiently to raise himself to such a high and important position in the world. He took a lively interest in all questions of art and science, especially in natural history, and displayed at once his liberality and his love of art by his munificence to Sir Thomas Lawrence, in the youth and struggles of that great artist and famous painter, and by his patronage of others. On this point a recent writer says-- "The last baron of Kintail, Francis. Lord Seaforth, was, as Sir Walter Scott has said, `a nobleman of extraordinary talents, who must have made for himself a lasting reputation had not his political exertions been checked by painful natural infirmities.'
Though deaf from his sixteenth year and though labouring under a partial impediment of speech, he held high and important appointments, and was distinguished for his intellectual activities and attainments. His case seems to contradict the opinion held by Kitto and others, that in all that relates to the culture of the mind, and the cheerful exercise of the mental faculties, the blind have the advantage of the deaf. The loss of the ear, that `vestibule of the soul,' was to him compensated by gifts and endowments rarely united in the same individual. One instance of the chief's liberality and love of art may be mentioned. In 1796 he advanced a sum of ?000 to Sir Thomas Lawrence to relieve him from pecuniary difficulties. Lawrence was then a young man of twenty-seven. His career from a boy upwards was one of brilliant success, but he was careless and generous as to money matters, and some speculations by his father embarassed and distressed the young artist. In his trouble he applied to the Chief of Kintail. `Will you,' he said in that theatrical style common to Lawrence, `will you be the Antonio to a Bassanio?' He promised to pay the ?000 in four years, but the money was given on terms the most agreeable to the feelings and complimentary to the talents of the artist.
He was to repay it with his pencil, and the chief sat to him for his portrait.
Lord Seaforth also commissioned from West one of those immense sheets of canvas on which the old Academician delighted to work in his latter years. The subject of the picture was the traditionary story of the Royal hunt, in which Alexander the Third was saved from the assault of a fierce stag by Colin Fitzgerald, a wandering knight unknown to authentic history.
West considered it one of his best productions, charged ?00 for it, and was willing some years afterwards, with a view to the exhibition of his works, to purchase back the picture at its original cost. In one instance Lord Seaforth did not evince artistic taste. He dismantled Brahan Castle removing its castellated features and completely modernising its general appearance. The house, with its large modern additions, is a tall, massive pile of building, the older portion covered to the roof with ivy. It occupies a commanding site on a bank midway between the river Conon and a range of picturesque rocks. This bank extends for miles, sloping in successive terraces, all richly wooded or cultivated, and commanding a magnificent view that terminates with the Moray Firth." [The Seaforth Papers, in the North British Review, 1863, by Robert Carruthers, LL.D.]
The remarkable prediction of the extinction of this highly distinguished and ancient family is so well known that it need not be recapitulated here, and its literal fulfilment is one of the most curious instances of the kind on record. There is no doubt that the
In 1808 he was made a Lieutenant-General.
These were singular incidents in the life of a man who may be said to have been deaf and dumb from his youth but who, in spite of these physical defects--sufficient to crush any ordinary man--had been able, by the force of his natural abilities and the favour of fortune, to overcome them sufficiently to raise himself to such a high and important position in the world. He took a lively interest in all questions of art and science, especially in natural history, and displayed at once his liberality and his love of art by his munificence to Sir Thomas Lawrence, in the youth and struggles of that great artist and famous painter, and by his patronage of others. On this point a recent writer says-- "The last baron of Kintail, Francis. Lord Seaforth, was, as Sir Walter Scott has said, `a nobleman of extraordinary talents, who must have made for himself a lasting reputation had not his political exertions been checked by painful natural infirmities.'
Though deaf from his sixteenth year and though labouring under a partial impediment of speech, he held high and important appointments, and was distinguished for his intellectual activities and attainments. His case seems to contradict the opinion held by Kitto and others, that in all that relates to the culture of the mind, and the cheerful exercise of the mental faculties, the blind have the advantage of the deaf. The loss of the ear, that `vestibule of the soul,' was to him compensated by gifts and endowments rarely united in the same individual. One instance of the chief's liberality and love of art may be mentioned. In 1796 he advanced a sum of ?000 to Sir Thomas Lawrence to relieve him from pecuniary difficulties. Lawrence was then a young man of twenty-seven. His career from a boy upwards was one of brilliant success, but he was careless and generous as to money matters, and some speculations by his father embarassed and distressed the young artist. In his trouble he applied to the Chief of Kintail. `Will you,' he said in that theatrical style common to Lawrence, `will you be the Antonio to a Bassanio?' He promised to pay the ?000 in four years, but the money was given on terms the most agreeable to the feelings and complimentary to the talents of the artist.
He was to repay it with his pencil, and the chief sat to him for his portrait.
Lord Seaforth also commissioned from West one of those immense sheets of canvas on which the old Academician delighted to work in his latter years. The subject of the picture was the traditionary story of the Royal hunt, in which Alexander the Third was saved from the assault of a fierce stag by Colin Fitzgerald, a wandering knight unknown to authentic history.
West considered it one of his best productions, charged ?00 for it, and was willing some years afterwards, with a view to the exhibition of his works, to purchase back the picture at its original cost. In one instance Lord Seaforth did not evince artistic taste. He dismantled Brahan Castle removing its castellated features and completely modernising its general appearance. The house, with its large modern additions, is a tall, massive pile of building, the older portion covered to the roof with ivy. It occupies a commanding site on a bank midway between the river Conon and a range of picturesque rocks. This bank extends for miles, sloping in successive terraces, all richly wooded or cultivated, and commanding a magnificent view that terminates with the Moray Firth." [The Seaforth Papers, in the North British Review, 1863, by Robert Carruthers, LL.D.]
The remarkable prediction of the extinction of this highly distinguished and ancient family is so well known that it need not be recapitulated here, and its literal fulfilment is one of the most curious instances of the kind on record. There is no doubt that the