The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

332 T H E H I G H L A N D E R S [part ii
IMacnabs, and ]\Iacaulays, and they have at all times claimed
the distinction of being the noblest and most ancient of the
Highland clans.
"
S'rioghail mo dhream," my race is royal, was
the proud motto of the Macgregors, and although the other
Highland clans have for centuries acquiesced in the justice of
that motto, yet this lofty boast must fall before a rigid examina-
tion into its truth. For the authofity of the manuscript of 1450
puts it beyond all doubt that that origin was altogether unknown
at that period, and that these clans in reality formed a part of
the tribe of Ross.
The
differed
clans which formed the Siol Alpine seem
from all others in this — respect that, so far
to have
back as
they can be traced, they were always disunited, and although
they acknowledged a common descent, yet at no time do they
appear united under the authority of a common chief But the
principal tribe was always admitted to be that of clan Gregor,
who, in the words of a late illustrious writer, are described to
have been a race " famous for their misfortunes and the indomit-
able spirit with which they maintained themselves as a clan,
linked and banded together in spite of the most severe laws,
executed with unheard-of rigour against those who bore this
forbidden surname."
Clan Gregor.
A great deal of romantic interest has of late years been
attached to the history of this clan from the conspicuous part
which it performs in many of the productions of the inimitable
author of the Waverley novels, by which their proscription and
one. But
consequent sufferings have become familiar to every
in the following short sketch I shall only attempt to throw
together as many authentic facts regarding their early history
as are still to be traced. The earliest possession of this family
appears to have been the district of Glenurchy in Lorn, and
from that district all the other septs of clan Gregor proceeded,
for the common ancestor of all these clans is in tradition styled
Ey Urchaych, or Hugh of Glenurch}% and his urchy apparently points him out as the first
epithet of Glen-
of the clan who
took possession of that district. Glenurchy forms a part of
those territories in Argyll which were forfeited by Alexander