my lord—­Liberty, roars another chield from the other side of the strath—­the King, shouts one war-cry—­the Parliament, roars another—­Montrose, for ever, cries Donald, waving his bonnet—­Argyle and Leven, cries a south-country Saunders, vapouring with his hat and feather.  Fight for the bishops, says a priest, with his gown and rochet—­Stand stout for the Kirk, cries a minister, in a Geneva cap and band.—­Good watchwords all—­excellent watchwords.  Whilk cause is the best I cannot say.  But sure am I, that I have fought knee-deep in blood many a day for one that was ten degrees worse than the worst of them all.”

“And pray, Captain Dalgetty,” said his lordship, “since the pretensions of both parties seem to you so equal, will you please to inform us by what circumstances your preference will be determined?”

“Simply upon two considerations, my lord,” answered the soldier.  “Being, first, on which side my services would be in most honourable request;—­And, secondly, whilk is a corollary of the first, by whilk party they are likely to be most gratefully requited.  And, to deal plainly with you, my lord, my opinion at present doth on both points rather incline to the side of the Parliament.”

“Your reasons, if you please,” said Lord Menteith, “and perhaps I may be able to meet them with some others which are more powerful.”

“Sir, I shall be amenable to reason,” said Captain Dalgetty, “supposing it addresses itself to my honour and my interest.  Well, then, my lord, here is a sort of Highland host assembled, or expected to assemble, in these wild hills, in the King’s behalf.  Now, sir, you know the nature of our Highlanders.  I will not deny them to be a people stout in body and valiant in heart, and courageous enough in their own wild way of fighting, which is as remote from the usages and discipline of war as ever was that of the ancient Scythians, or of the salvage Indians of America that now is, They havena sae mickle as a German whistle, or a drum, to beat a march, an alarm, a charge, a retreat, a reveille, or the tattoo, or any other point of war; and their damnable skirlin’ pipes, whilk they themselves pretend to understand, are unintelligible to the ears of any cavaliero accustomed to civilised warfare.  So that, were I undertaking to discipline such a breechless mob, it were impossible for me to be understood; and if I were understood, judge ye, my lord, what chance I had of being obeyed among a band of half salvages, who are accustomed to pay to their own lairds and chiefs, allenarly, that respect and obedience whilk ought to be paid to commissionate officers.  If I were teaching them to form battalia by extracting the square root, that is, by forming your square battalion of equal number of men of rank and file, corresponding to the square root of the full number present, what return could I expect for communicating this golden secret of military tactic, except it may be a dirk in my wame, on placing some M’Alister More M’Shemei or Capperfae, in the flank or rear, when he claimed to be in the van?—­Truly, well saith holy writ, ’if ye cast pearls before swine, they will turn again and rend ye.’”