CHAPTER III.

Once more upon the waters! yet once more!
And the waves bound beneath me as a steed
That knows his rider.

LORD BYRON.

THE Earl de Winton accompanied Paul and Franklin on their way from the palace. "My gallant Scotsman,” said the old Earl, “give me your hand. I admire valour, be it of high or of low descent. Providence, when he works for the salvation of a state, chooses the fittest instruments for the labour."-" It is a pleasure indeed," replied "It Paul, returning the pressure of his countryman's hand, "to obtain the notice of the wise and the brave when I war well in behalf of mankind; and it comes closer still to my heart when a Scottish man of old descent, esteemed for prudence and valour, welcomes me thus, and thinks that the hand of a peasant shames not his nobility."

"O valiant enough," answered the veteran with a smile; "a man who fought at Preston and Falkirk, and stood to the last on the moor of Drumossie, cannot be well deemed a coward. But prudence !— God wot, young man, there was a marvellous lack of that, else my sword had slept as brightly in its scabbard as if it had graced the thigh of a discreet Englishman, who promised, but came not. So prudence, Chevalier, is not patronised by me,—a plague upon the word! The coronet of the Setons had still sat straight on my brow had Prudence been worshipped as she ought. But what has called your sword into your hand? Do you imagine that, where the hands and hearts of so many gallant men failed, your one weapon will suf fice? No, no, young man, the tree that is once cut down shoots not into a stately tree again. The tree, alas! that should have sheltered me is broken, hewn down, and decayed. Seek not to shade thee beneath its faded boughs. Dost thou understand me?"

Paul looked steadfastly in de Winton's face, and said, "I understand you, Lord Earl, only so far as to see that you misapprehend the nature of my quarrel with Scotland. Let the tree, if it be the royal tree of the Stuarts of which you speak, wither unwatered. Whilst it grew and flourished, human freedom drooped and decayed, and the island was flooded with men's blood shed for liberty and for conscience' sake. I draw my sword

in a purer and a worthier cause.”. "Purer and worthier!" exclaimed de Winton colouring; "by the soul of the Setons, I know not what you mean!—I shall cast away all figures of speech, and in plain words tell a plain story :-A true Scottish man can have only two causes to unsheathe his sword for,-in honour of the man on the British throne, or in aid of the prince who is off it. Of noble and ancient blood myself, I have unsheathed my sword for the Stuart, because by right of blood the throne is his. Now, though his ancestor gave three crowns for a mass, the deserving son should not lose his right, nor tamely yield it up. I own that many millions of men think otherwise, and have placed a line of princes on the throne, who, inheriting the blood of the Bruce, have warred gloriously for the fame and happiness of Britain. For what other cause a Scottish man can, with honour and honesty, draw his sword, as far as regards his native country, remains for Chevalier Paul Jones to show."

"Listen, then, Earl de Winton," replied Paul; "it is soon told. You have described the greater and the lesser tyranny,-the thraldom of body and soul by a domineering and superstitious line of kings, and the more moderate oppression of nobles and merchants, who make a slave of their king and degrade the people. There is yet a cause unnamed, in which the sword of virtue and honesty may be drawn,-that of freedom

human freedom. Well has the minstrel of the

Bruce sung,

Ah! freedom is a noble thing.""

"Now, by the splendour of heaven, peasant," said de Winton, "thou deservest both curse and blow, for daring to name the brute and insensate liberty claimed by a vulgar and howling multitude in the same breath with the cause which has unthroned so many princes, and made martyrs of so many heroes. What! and presumest thou to rebel against thy country,-to throw thy slavish sword into the balance of her enemies,―to conduct the armed ships of her deadliest foes into her havens to destroy them with fire,-to set thyself in battle-array against her conquering vessels,―rob her daughters, and kidnap her nobles, and all for the vulgar guerdon of doing what is right in thine own eyes? Out upon thee !—the curse of thy country will cling to thee from the Seine to Siberia. The very man in whose cause thou warrest will scorn thee while the battle lasts, and spurn thee when it is over; and the selfish American will

say through his nose, 'That Scot eats his own blood."" He turned hastily round, and paced, muttering, away, "He's a gallant fellow, and 'tis a pity of him; but to fight for brute liberty-was ever the like heard of !”

Paul was moved by the bitter words of the ancient Jacobite, and felt a rising determination to

VOL. III.

E

resent the bold language he had used. But the calm temperate look of Franklin, which he saw intently fixed upon him, watching, as it seemed, his growing resentment, soothed his impetuosity, and the remembrance of the kind interposition of Seton in his favour at court restored him to tranquillity of temper. "My brave old countryman," said Paul," scorns all who do not draw their swords in a kingly cause. I forgive his warmth. Disappointment in the path which his own ambition chose has soured and goaded his temper, and, grown grey in the service of tyranny, he thinks all other servitude mean and degrading.

"He thinks as millions think," replied Franklin, "and, probably for himself, he feels what is just. It is not for every lip that the pure cup of liberty is filled; her draught of heaven will stimulate one nation to deeds of honesty and honour; another it will inebriate, fill with animal ferocity, and drive into deeds that make the world wonder. To the men of America, sprung from a sober, a prudent, and devout people, the cup will bring refreshment, domestic happiness, and national prosperity. To the people of France, a vain, a giddy, and a heartless race, the draught will be as that poison which maddens before it destroys." He paused-a flush came to his brow and an unusual brightness to his eye-he shook his grey locks, and said, "Paul Jones, I am old, and may not live to see it; you are young, and may live, if the sword or