But not so Henry Smith, who, seeing the consultation at a stand, took up the speech in his usual downright manner.
"I am neither the oldest nor the richest among you, neighbours, and I am not sorry for it.

Years will come, if one lives to see them; and I can win and spend my penny like another, by the blaze of the furnace and the wind of the bellows.

But no man ever saw me sit down with wrong done in word or deed to our fair town, if man's tongue and man's hand could right it.

Neither will I sit down with this outrage, if I can help it.
I will go to the provost myself, if no one will go with me; he is a knight, it is true, and a gentleman of free and true born blood, as we all know, since Wallace's time, who settled his great grandsire amongst us.

But if he were the proudest nobleman in the land, he is the Provost of Perth, and for his own honour must see the freedoms and immunities of the burgh preserved--ay, and I know he will.