o' Rob, and he's doubtfu' o' them.--And he's been weel friended wi' the
Argyle family, wha stand for the present model of government. If he was
freed o' his hornings and captions, he would rather be on Argyle's side
than he wad be on Breadalbane's, for there's auld ill-will between the
Breadalbane family and his kin and name. The truth is, that Rob is for
his ain hand, as Henry Wynd feught*--he'll take the side that suits him
best; if the deil was laird, Rob wad be for being tenant; and ye canna
blame him, puir fallow, considering his circumstances.

* Two great clans fought out a quarrel with thirty men of a side, in
presence ot the king, on the North Inch of Perth, on or about the year
1392; a man was amissing on one side, whose room was filled by a little
bandy-legged citizen of Perth. This substitute, Henry Wynd--or, as the
Highlanders called him, _Gow Chrom,_ that is, the bandy-legged
smith--fought well, and contributed greatly to the fate of the battle,
without knowing which side he fought on;--so, "To fight for your own
hand, like Henry Wynd," passed into a proverb. [This incident forms a
conspicuous part of the subsequent novel, "The Fair Maid of Perth."]

But there's ae thing sair again ye--Rob has a grey mear in his stable at
hame."

"A grey mare?" said I. "What is that to the purpose?"

"The wife, man--the wife,--an awfu' wife she is. She downa bide the sight
o' a kindly Scot, if he come frae the Lowlands, far less of an Inglisher,
and she'll be keen for a' that can set up King James, and ding down King
George."

"It is very singular," I replied, "that the mercantile transactions of