"
Messages of respectful adieus he sent to Isabella, Lady Ruthven, and
the sage of Ercildown; and then kneeling down in that posture, he wrote
his last invocations for the prosperity and happiness of Bruce.
This letter finished, with a more tranquil mind he addressed Lord
Ruthven; detailing to him his reasons for leaving such faithful friends
so clandestinely; and after mentioning his purpose of proceeding to
France, he ended with those expressions of gratitude which the worthy
chief so well deserved; and exhorting him to transfer his public zeal
for him to the maguanimous and royal Bruce, closed the letter with
begging him, for the sake of his friend, his king, and his country, to
return immediately with all his followers to Huntingtower, and there to
rally round their prince. His letter to Scrymgeour spoke nearly the
same language. But when he began to write to Bothwell, to bid him that
farewell which his heart foreboded would be forever in this world--to
part from this, his steady companion in arms, his dauntless champion!
he lost some of his composure; and his handwriting testified the
emotion of his mind. How, then, was he shaken when he addressed the
young and devoted Edwin, the brother of his soul? He dropped the pen
from his hand.
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