Page:Life and exploits of Rob Roy MacGregor.pdf/4

 was sufficient for the sphere of life he was destined to occupy. In his early years, it would have required very uncommon penetration to discover those indications of sagacity and prudence which he afterwards exhibited. In youth he evinced strong natural parts, and soon excelled his compeers in the rude accomplishments of the age. He was active, bold, and possessed of great bodily powers; he has been known to seize a deer by the horns, and hold him fast. In the use of the broad sword, few could equal him. But although his fame was so singularly robust and his disposition daring and resolute, yet his manners were polite, his address insinuating, his faculties acute, his conclusions prompt, and his resolution determined.

In his youth he studied the ancient history, and recited the impressive poetry of his country; and these were eminently calculated to inspire sentiments that cherished a warlike and enterprising spirit. Rob in his boyhood, delighted in the reveries of a romantic imagination, contemplating the sublime grandeur of his native wilds—"The rocky mountain, whose summits were often bid in the clouds that floated around them; the dark valley, encircled.