Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE INCONTINENCE OF KINGS Treating of the redness of the blood; the for-tunes of William, seventh Earl of Menteith; of the incontinence of a king, and other things; the slaughter of Lord Kilpont; and how the body of Stewart of Ardvoirlich was "shoughed" at the Point of Coilmore. The misfortunes which from the beginning of their history had always pursued the holders of the title of Menteith, so thickened in the reign of Charles I. that they eventually overwhelmed the earls entirely. In countries like England and Scotland, where there is no idea of abstract dignity or essential worth in any one who does not keep a carriage, the position of a poor peer has always been most painful. Many a bill for a suit of armour from Milan, or an overdue account from Toledo for swords, must have disturbed the slumbers of the Earls of Menteith from the days of David Earl of Stratherne downwards. Still they were a cheerful as well as an unfortunate race, not apparently humourists, but of a sanguine temperament. When they were exiled, or forfeited, or forced to attend parliaments, or scour the country in pursuit of "phanatickes" or " Hfelande rogues," it was all one to them; they relied on their descent from a royal prince, and fought manfully against the dreary climate of their native land and the assaults of their own and the king's enemies. At the age of forty-eight we find William, eighth Earl of Menteith, writing to the Marquis of Moiitrose from the "Yle of Menteith," under date of 4th January, 1680, "Ther is nothing on earth I love so well as to be in a just war for my King and Prince." A mighty pretty sentiment, and one that does his lordship's loyalty much credit. Most of us even now would like to be engaged in a just...
