But his crime is not the less
that of murder, gentlemen, and, in your high and
important office, it is your duty so to find. Englishmen
have their angry passions as well as Scots;
and should this man's action remain unpunished,
you may unsheath, under various pretences, a
thousand daggers betwixt the Land's-end and the
Orkneys.''
The venerable Judge thus ended what, to judge
by his apparent emotion, and by the tears which
filled his eyes, was really a painful task. The jury,
according to his instructions, brought in a verdict
of Guilty; and Robin Oig M`Combich, _alias_
McGregor, was sentenced to death, and left for execution,
which took place accordingly. He met
his fate with great firmness, and acknowledged the
justice of his sentence. But he repelled indignantly
the observations of those who accused him
of attacking an unarmed man. ``I give a life
for the life I took,'' he said, ``and what can I do
more?''*
* Note A. Robert Donn's Poems
[9. The Two Drovers Notes]
NOTE TO CHAPTER II.
Note A.---Robert Donn's Poems.
I cannot dismiss this story without resting attention for a
moment on the light which has been thrown on the character
of the Highland Drover since the time of its first appearance,
by the account of a drover poet, by name Robert Mackay, or,
as he was commonly called, Rob Donn, i.
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