Page:Life and exploits of Rob Roy M'Gregor (3).pdf/17

 liberty, received from Rob a prudent admonition as to his future conduct.

Rob Roy was always the friend and protector of the weak and oppressed.— The disorders which prevailed in the nation during the reign of Charles II. became still more dreadful on the accession of his brother James, whose bigotry permitted the most odious crimes, and authorized such cruelly as the mind shudders to contemplate. At these scenes of horror, Rob had often been present, whose soul burned with indignation at their wickedness, regretting that he was not vigorous enough to crush the bands of human wretches who executed the bloody commands of the king. After he had been expelled from his estate he went to Carlisle, to recover a sum of money due to him. Returning by Moffat, he fell in with a party of soldiers hanging four peasants, whom they called fanatics. A young woman, who was also bound to the same tree, bewailed the fate of her father and brother, two of those who suffered. The deadly work being completed, four of the soldiers seized the young woman, tied her hands and feet, and were carrying her towards the river to drown her, regardless of her tears and entreaties to save her. Our hero’s heart being wrung with sympathy, and shocked