The eldest son of Hamilton had declared for James, and the eldest son of Athol for William, so that, in any event, both coronets and both estates were safe.
But in Scotland the fashionable notions touching political morality were lax; and the aristocratical sentiment was strong.

The Whigs were therefore willing to forget that Hamilton had lately sate in the council of James.

The Jacobites were equally willing to forget that Athol had lately fawned on William.

In political inconsistency those two great lords were far indeed from standing by themselves; but in dignity and power they had scarcely an equal in the assembly.

Their descent was eminently illustrious: their influence was immense: one of them could raise the Western Lowlands: the other could bring into the field an army of northern mountaineers.