the king, in a clear and manly voice, received, as it were, the kingdom
from his hands, and swore to govern according to the laws of his
ancestors; to defend the liberties of his people alike from the foreign
and the civil foe; to dispense justice; to devote life itself to
restoring Scotland to her former station in the scale of kingdoms.
Solemnly, energetically, he took the required vows; his cheek flushed,
his eye glistened, and ere he rose he bent his brow upon his spread
hands, as if his spirit supplicated strength, and the primate, standing
over him, blessed him, in a loud voice, in the name of Him whose lowly
minister he was.

A few minutes, and the king was again seated on his throne, and from the
hands of the Bishop of Glasgow, the Countess of Buchan received the
simple coronet of gold, which had been hastily made to supply the place
of that which Edward had removed. It was a moment of intense interest:
every eye was directed towards the king and the dauntless woman by his
side, who, rather than the descendant of Malcolm Cean Mohr should demand
in vain the service from the descendants of the brave Macduff, exposed
herself to all the wrath of a fierce and cruel king, the fury of an
incensed husband and brother, and in her own noble person represented
that ancient and most loyal line. Were any other circumstance needed to
enhance the excitement of the patriots of Scotland, they would have
found it in this. As it was, a sudden, irrepressible burst of applause
broke from many eager voices as the bishop placed the coronet in her
hands, but one glance from those dark, eloquent eyes sufficed to hush
it on the instant into stillness.

Simultaneously all within the church stood up, and gracefully and
steadily, with a hand which trembled not, even to the observant and
anxious eyes of her son, Isabella of Buchan placed the sacred symbol of