The monastery; The abbot.

THE ABBOT. 523
such mistimed confidence. We shall be encountered, and that to the purpose "
"And so much the better," replied Roland; "the field of battle was my
cradle."
"Beware it be not thy dying bed," said the Abbot. " But what avails ib
whispering to young wolves the dangers of the chase? You will know,
perchance, ere this day is out, what yonder men are, whom you hold in
rash contempt."
" Why, what are they?" said Henry Seyton, who now joined them: "have
they sinews of wire, and flesh of iron? —Will lead pierce and steel cut
them?-If so, reverend father, we have little to fear."
"They are evil men," said the Abbot, "but the trade of war demands
no saints.-Murray and Morton are known to be the best generals in Scotland. No one ever saw Lindesay's or Ruthven's back-Kirkaldy of Grange
was named by the Constable Montmorency the first soldier in Europe-My
brother, too good a name for such a cause, has been far and wide known for
a soldier."
"The better, the better!" said Seyton, triumphantly; "we shall have all
these traitors of rank and name in a fair field before us. Our cause is the
best, our numbers are the strongest, our hearts and limbs match theirsSaint Bennet, and set on!"
The Abbot made no reply, but seemed lost in reflection; and his anxiety
in some measure communicated itself to Roland Avenel, who ever, as their
line of march led over a ridge or an eminence, cast an anxious look towards
the towers of Glasgow, as if he expected to see symptoms of the enemy
issuing forth. It was not that he feared the fight, but the issue was of such
deep import to his country, and to himself, that the natural fire of his spirit
burned with a less lively, though with a more intense glow. Love, honour,
fame, fortune, all seemed to depend on the issue of one field, rashly hazarded
perhaps, but now likely to become unavoidable and decisive.
When, at length, their march came to be nearly parallel with the city of
Glasgow, Roland became sensible that the high. grounds before them were
already in part occupied by a force, showing, like their own, the royal banner of Scotland, and on the point of being supported by columns of infantry and squadrons of horse, which the city gates had poured forth, and
which hastily advanced to sustain those troops who already possessed the
ground in front of the Queen's forces. Horseman after horseman galloped
in from the advanced guard, with tidings that Murray had taken the field
with his whole army; that his object was to intercept the Queen's march,
and his purpose unquestionable to hazard a battle. It was now that the
tempers of men were subjected to a sudden and a severe trial; and that
those who had too presumptuously concluded that they would pass without
combat, were something disconcerted, when, at once, and with little time
to deliberate, they found themselves placed in fiont of a resolute enemy.Their chiefs immediately assembled around the Queen, and held a hasty
council of war. Mary's quivering lip confessed the fear which she endea-,oured to conceal under a bold and dignified demeanour. But her efforts
were overcome by painful recollections of the disastrous issue of her last
appearance in arms at Carberry-hill; and when she meant to have asked
them their advice for ordering the battle, she involuntarily inquired whether
there were no means of escaping without an engagement?
"Escaping?" answered the Lord Seyton; "when I stand as one to ten of
your Highness's enemies, I may think of escape -but never while I stand
waith three to two!"
"Battle! battle!" exclaimed the assembled lords; "we will drive the
rebels from their vantage ground, as the hound turns the hare on the hill
side."
"Methinks, my noble lords," said the Abbot, "it were as well to prevent