'I did what I thought my duty,' said the good old man, 'and questionless
they are doing what they think theirs. It grieves me sometimes to look
upon these blackened walls of the house of my ancestors; but doubtless
officers cannot always keep the soldier's hand from depredation and
spuilzie, and Gustavus Adolphus himself, as ye may read in Colonel Munro
his "Expedition with the Worthy Scotch Regiment called Mackay's Regiment"
did often permit it. Indeed I have myself seen as sad sights as
Tully-Veolan now is when I served with the Marechal Duke of Berwick. To
be sure we may say with Virgilius Maro, Fuimus Troes--and there's the end
of an auld sang. But houses and families and men have a' stood lang
eneugh when they have stood till they fall with honour; and now I hae
gotten a house that is not unlike a domus ultima'--they were now standing
below a steep rock. 'We poor Jacobites,' continued the Baron, looking up,
'are now like the conies in Holy Scripture (which the great traveller
Pococke calleth Jerboa), a feeble people, that make our abode in the
rocks. So, fare you well, my good lad, till we meet at Janet's in the
even; for I must get into my Patmos, which is no easy matter for my auld
stiff limbs.
Pages:
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823