[The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter]@TWC D-Link bookThe Scottish Chiefs CHAPTER XII 6/9
But the old man could not approve of a nobleman of his rank running himself, his fortune, and his friends into peril, to pay any debt of gratitude; and, as to patriotic sentiments being a stimulus, he treated the idea with contempt.
"Trust me, Andrew," said he, "nobody profits by these notions but thieves and desperate fellows ready to become thieves!" "I do not understand you, sir!" "Not understand me ?" replied the knight, rather impatiently.
"Who suffers in these contests for liberty, as you choose to call them, but such men as Lord Mar and your father? Betrayed by artful declamation, they rush into conspiracies against the existing government, are detected, ruined, and perhaps finally lose their lives! Who gains by rebellion, but a few penniless wretches, that embrace these vaunted principles from the urgency of their necessities? They acquire plunder, under the mask of extraordinary disinterestedness; and hazarding nothing of themselves but their worthless lives, they would make tools of the first men in the realm; and throw the whole country into flames, that they may catch a few brands from the fire!" Young Murray felt his anger rise with this speech.
"You do not speak to my point, sir! I do not come here to dispute the general evil of revolt, but to ask your assistance to snatch two of the bravest men in Scotland from the fangs of the tyrant who has made you a slave!" "Nephew!" cried the knight, starting from his couch; and darting a fierce look at him, "if any man but one of my own blood had uttered that word, this hour should have been his last." "Every man, sir," continued Murray, "who acts upon your principles, must know himself to be a slave;-and to resent being called so, is to affront his conscience.
A name is nothing, the fact ought to knock upon your heart, and there arouse the indignation of a Scot and a Murray.
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