A
meeting for this purpose was held at Aross Castle, one of the seats of
Maclean, in Mull, at which the principal barons and heads of houses
attended.
The regulations contemplated had for their object the introduction of an
additional number of pious divines, who were to be provided for out of
the lands of the great island proprietors; the abolishing a certain
remarkable custom which till then prevailed, namely, that of taking a
wife on approbation, or, in plain intelligible terms, _on trial_!
The following are two examples recorded of this singular custom.
John Mac-Vic Ewen, fourth laird of Ardgour, had _handfasted_ (as it was
called) with a daughter of Mac Ian of Ardnamurchan, whom he had taken on
a promise of marriage, if she pleased him. At the expiration of two
years he sent her home to her father; but his son by her, the gallant
John of Invorscaddel, a son of Maclean of Ardgour, celebrated in the
history of the Isles, was held to be an illegitimate offspring by virtue
of the "handfast ceremony."
Another instance is recorded of a Macneil of Borra having for several
years enjoyed the society of a lady of the name of Maclean on the same
principle; but his offspring by her were deprived {152} of their
inheritance by the issue of his subsequent marriage with a lady of the
Clanrannald family.
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