[The voices of the SERGEANT and QUENTIN are heard ascending behind the Scenes.

QUE. One effort more, we stand upon the level.

me struggle through it—

For in your comrade, though he, hath forgot me,

I spy a friend whom I have known in school-days,

And gladly wait return of Niel Mac

Lellan,

To clasp his hand, and wish him happiness.

Than in the hall fill'd with disbanded

soldiers,

And fools and fiddlers gather'd on the highway,

I can wish others joy and happiness, Though I must ne'er partake them. MAR. But if it grieve you

crowds my hall with,

And with them spends his evening.

GIF. But think you not, my friend,

that your son Philip

Should be participant of these our councils,

Being so deeply mingled in the danger

and knighthood,

The wreck of the fair fabric we have

built,

By a degenerate heir. Philip has that Of inborn meanness in him, that he loves not

The company of betters, nor of equals; Never at ease, unless he bears the bell, And crows the loudest in the company. He's mesh'd, too, in the snares of

every female

Who deigns to cast a passing glance on him

Licentious, disrespectful, rash, and profligate.

GIF. Come, my good coz, think we too have been young,

And I will swear that in your father's lifetime

You have yourself been trapp'd by toys like these.

AUCH. A fool I may have beenbut not a madman;

I never play'd the rake among my followers,

Pursuing this man's sister, that man's wife;

And therefore never saw I man of mine,

When summon'd to obey my hest, grow restive,

Talk of his honour, of his peace destroy'd,

And, while obeying, mutter threats of vengeance.

But now the humour of an idle youth, Disgusting trusted followers, sworn dependants,

Plays football with his honour and my safety.

GIF. I'm sorry to find discord in your house,

take such semblance.

I've heard of many a loud-mouth'd,

noisy braggart,

manded us

Henceforth to live in peace, made us clasp hands too.

There is no terror in the tale for me: Go speak of ghosts to children! This

Earl Gilbert

(God sain him) loved Heaven's peace

as well as I did,

And we were wondrous friends whene'er we met

At church or market, or in burrows

town.

'Midst this, our good Lord Gilbert, Earl of Cassilis,

Takes purpose he would journey forth to Edinburgh.

The King was doling gifts of abbey. lands,

Good things that thrifty house was

wont to fish for.

Our mighty Earl forsakes his seawash'd castle,

Passes our borders some four miles

from hence;

And, holding it unwholesome to be fasters

Long after sunrise, lo! the Earl and train

Dismount to rest their nags and eat

their breakfast.

The morning rose, the small birds caroll'd sweetly,

The corks were drawn, the pasty

brooks incision,

His lordship jests, his train are choked

with laughter,

When, wondrous change of cheer, and most unlook'd for! Strange epilogue to bottle and to baked

meat!

Flash'd from the greenwood half a

score of carabines,

And the good Earl of Cassilis, in his breakfast,

Had nooning, dinner, supper, all at once, Even in the morning that he closed

his journey:

And the grim sexton, for his chamberlain, Made him the bed which rests the

head for ever.

GIF. Told with much spirit, cousin.
Some there are

Would add and in a tone resembling triumph.

And would that with these long establish'd facts

My tale began and ended! I must tell you

That evil-deeming censures of the events,

Both at the time and now, throw blame on thee.

Time, place, and circumstance, they say, proclaim thee,

Alike, the author of that morning's ambush.

AUCH. Ay, 'tis an old belief in
Carrick here,

Where natives do not always die in bed,

That if a Kennedy shall not attain Methuselah's last span, a Mure has

slain him.

Such is the general creed of all their clan.

Thank Heaven that they're bound to prove the charge

They are so prompt in making. They have clamour'd

Enough of this before, to show their malice.

But what said these coward pickthanks when I came

Before the King, before the Justicers, Rebutting all their calumnies, and daring them

To show that I knew aught of Cassilis' journey,

Which way he meant to travel, where to halt ?

Without which knowledge I possess'd

no means

To dress an ambush for him. Did I not Defy the assembled clan of Kennedys To show, by proof direct or inferential, Wherefore they slander'd me with this foul charge?