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Rh at home, and respect abroad, these are the first-fruits of Cromwell's sway. The miserable state of the country around, the consequence of the late rising, sufficiently shows its folly."

"Was Mr. Johnstone's house then destroyed?"

"No, long before; that was the cause of my taking up arms. It is foolishness to say, that no private feelings shall actuate us in a public cause. I had resolved on a neutral position; I deemed that what influence I might possess would be best exerted in mediation: but this outrage put aside all my cooler plans. Johnstone's relatives were more puritanically given than himself; and one of them, a preacher, was residing with him, when a detachment of Goring's dragoons demanded, or rather took shelter there for the night. Their profane jesting and loud oaths called forth a rebuke from the saint, which was received with the utmost contumely. Johnstone deemed he was called upon to resent the insults offered to his guest; one word led to others; swords were drawn, and a fierce contest ensued. Ere morning, his house was burnt to the ground; his two children perished in the flames, and his own life was only preserved by the fidelity of a servant, who bore him insensible to a hovel near. The next day he was brought hither, and that very evening,