"We could do it, perhaps, if we were one to ten; but we shall certainly not do so when we are three to two.

You speak a strange tongue, my young master," continued he, with some contempt; "and you forget, it seems to me, that you are a Douglas and that you speak to a Seyton." "My lord," returned George calmly, "when we only hazard the lives of Douglases and Seytons, you will find me, I hope, as ready to fight as you, be it one to ten, be it three to two; but we are now answerable for an existence dearer to Scotland than that of all the Seytons and all the Douglases.

My advice is then to avoid battle." "Battle! battle!" cried all the chieftains.
"You hear, madam ?" said Lord Seyton to Mary Stuart: "I believe that to wish to act against such unanimity would be dangerous.

In Scotland, madam, there is an ancient proverb which has it that 'there is most prudence in courage.'" "But have you not heard that the regent has taken up an advantageous position ?" the queen said.
"The greyhound hunts the hare on the hillside as well as in the plain," replied Seyton: "we will drive him out, wherever he is." "Let it be as you desire, then, my lords.

It shall not be said that Mary Stuart returned to the scabbard the sword her defenders had drawn for her." Then, turning round to Douglas "George," she said to him, "choose a guard of twenty men for me, and take command of them: you will not quit me." George bent low in obedience, chose twenty from among the bravest men, placed the queen in their midst, and put himself at their head; then the troops, which had halted, received the order to continue their road.