To a young and vigorous man such an accident would have been a trifle.

But the frame of William was not in a condition to bear even the slightest shock.

He felt that his time was short, and grieved, with a grief such as only noble spirits feel, to think that he must leave his work but half finished.

It was possible that he might still live until one of his plans should be carried into execution.

He had long known that the relation in which England and Scotland stood to each other was at best precarious, and often unfriendly, and that it might be doubted whether, in an estimate of the British power, the resources of the smaller country ought not to be deducted from those of the larger.