[4] This article incorporates text from A history of the clan Mac Lean from its first settlement at Duard Castle, in the Isle of Mull, to the present period: including a genealogical account of some of the principal families together with their heraldry, legends, superstitions, etc, by John Patterson MacLean, a publication from 1889, now in the public domain in the United States.

With such a man at the head of affairs, and the deplorable condition into which the country had fallen, what good could befall the young chief of Duard?

His clan and dependents, actuated by his own desires, began to harass and provoke the MacLeans of Morvern by continued aggressions upon their property.In the battle of Inverkeithing, between the Royalists and Oliver Cromwell's troops, five hundred of the followers of the Laird of M'Lean were left dead on the field.

In the heat of the conflict, seven brothers of the clan sacrificed their lives in defence of their leader, Sir Hector Maclean.

This phrase has continued ever since as a proverb or watch-word when a man encounters any sudden danger that requires instant succour.