Extravagance
Mackenzie did not aim at economy and spent vast sums in securing his superiority over Moidart and Arisaig in a legal dispute with the Earl of Argyll. He added greatly to the castle of Chanonry and also built Brahan Castle. The Reverend John Macrae (d. 1704) recorded that he "lived most of his time at Chanonry in great state and very magnificently. He annually imported his wines from the Continent, and kept a store for his wines, beers, and other liquors, from which he replenished his fleet on his voyages round the West Coast and the Lewis, when he made a circular voyage every year or at least every two years round his own estates … It is scarcely credible what allowance was made for his table of Scotch and French wines during these trips amongst his people … I have heard my grandfather, Mr Farquhar MacRa (then Constable of the Castle) say that the Earl never came to his house with less than 300 and sometimes 500 men.”
Read more about this topic: Colin Mackenzie, 1st Earl Of Seaforth
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