Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series, vol. 4 - 1819.djvu/16

 whom the Knight of Ardenvohr, as well as the M'Aulays, had a deadly and irreconcilable feud. Sir Duncan, however, speedily endeavoured to lead back the conversation to the subject of his present errand to the castle of Darnlinvarach.

"It grieved him to the very heart," he said, "to see that friends and neighbours, who should stand shoulder to shoulder, were likely to be engaged hand to hand in a cause which so little concerned them. What signifies it," he said, "to the Highland chiefs, whether King or Parliament got uppermost? Were it not better to let them settle their own differences without interference, while the chiefs in the mean time took the opportunity of establishing their own authority in a manner not to be called in question hereafter by either King or Parliament? He reminded Allan M'Aulay that the measures taken in the last reign to settle the peace, as was alleged of the Highlands, were in fact levelled at the patriarchal power of the chieftains,—and he