Ohon! that I suld live to be ca'd sae," she continued, bursting into tears, "and me a born servant o' the house o' Tillietudlem! I am sure they belie baith Cuddie and me sair, if they said he wadna fight ower the boots in blude for your leddyship and Miss Edith, and the auld Tower--ay suld he, and I would rather see him buried beneath it, than he suld gie way--but thir ridings and wappenschawings, my leddy, I hae nae broo o' them ava.

I can find nae warrant for them whatsoever." "Nae warrant for them ?" cried the high-born dame.

"Do ye na ken, woman, that ye are bound to be liege vassals in all hunting, hosting, watching, and warding, when lawfully summoned thereto in my name?
Your service is not gratuitous.

I trow ye hae land for it .-- Ye're kindly tenants; hae a cot-house, a kale-yard, and a cow's grass on the common .-- Few hae been brought farther ben, and ye grudge your son suld gie me a day's service in the field ?" "Na, my leddy--na, my leddy, it's no that," exclaimed Mause, greatly embarrassed, "but ane canna serve twa maisters; and, if the truth maun e'en come out, there's Ane abune whase commands I maun obey before your leddyship's.

I am sure I would put neither king's nor kaisar's, nor ony earthly creature's, afore them." "How mean ye by that, ye auld fule woman ?--D'ye think that I order ony thing against conscience ?" "I dinna pretend to say that, my leddy, in regard o' your leddyship's conscience, which has been brought up, as it were, wi' prelatic principles; but ilka ane maun walk by the light o' their ain; and mine," said Mause, waxing bolder as the conference became animated, "tells me that I suld leave a'-- cot, kale-yard, and cow's grass--and suffer a', rather than that I or mine should put on harness in an unlawfu' cause," "Unlawfu'!" exclaimed her mistress; "the cause to which you are called by your lawful leddy and mistress--by the command of the king--by the writ of the privy council--by the order of the lordlieutenant--by the warrant of the sheriff ?" "Ay, my leddy, nae doubt; but no to displeasure your leddyship, ye'll mind that there was ance a king in Scripture they ca'd Nebuchadnezzar, and he set up a golden image in the plain o' Dura, as it might be in the haugh yonder by the water-side, where the array were warned to meet yesterday; and the princes, and the governors, and the captains, and the judges themsells, forby the treasurers, the counsellors, and the sheriffs, were warned to the dedication thereof, and commanded to fall down and worship at the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music." "And what o' a' this, ye fule wife?
Or what had Nebuchadnezzar to do with the wappen-schaw of the Upper Ward of Clydesdale ?" "Only just thus far, my leddy," continued Mause, firmly, "that prelacy is like the great golden image in the plain of Dura, and that as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were borne out in refusing to bow down and worship, so neither shall Cuddy Headrigg, your leddyship's poor pleughman, at least wi' his auld mither's consent, make murgeons or Jenny-flections, as they ca' them, in the house of the prelates and curates, nor gird him wi' armour to fight in their cause, either at the sound of kettle-drums, organs, bagpipes, or ony other kind of music whatever." Lady Margaret Bellenden heard this exposition of Scripture with the greatest possible indignation, as well as surprise.
"I see which way the wind blaws," she exclaimed, after a pause of astonishment; "the evil spirit of the year sixteen hundred and forty-twa is at wark again as merrily as ever, and ilka auld wife in the chimley-neuck will be for knapping doctrine wi' doctors o' divinity and the godly fathers o' the church." "If your leddyship means the bishops and curates, I'm sure they hae been but stepfathers to the Kirk o' Scotland.