Page:Caledonia (Defoe).djvu/66

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PART III.

THeir Forreign Deeds are trac'd, and now we come,
To ſearch the Fund of Fame that's left at Home;
A Thouſand ^[1] Kings the mighty Land poſſeſs,
In Merit greater, tho' in Title leſs.
Kings in Command and in ſuperiour Race,
And Virtue Ripens ſuch for Crowns a pace.
Nobility of Blood, their Actions ſuit,
And Action here indents the Attribute;
Here Families in Lines of Virtue run,
The Father's Merit doubling in the Son.
The growing Honour forms a juſt Encreaſe,
Firſt Crowns in War, and then Rewards in Peace.

Illuſtrious Blood with more illuſtrious Hand,

In proper Channels has been here retain'd:

↑ Kings. Alluding here to the ancient Figure, in which the Iſle of Britain is generally ſuppoſed to be, when every Nobleman was a Sovereign upon his own Eſtate, ſome Marks of which Sovereignty are yet remaining, and within few Years paſt, were very viſible in ſeveral of the Noble Families of Scotland, particularly in the Family of Douglaſs, who Purſued, fought, took Priſoner of War Sir William Hairis of Terriglis, for having withdrawn himſelf from his Vaſſalage or Dependence, & eſteeming him as his own Servant, taken in Arms, where his Juriſdiction or Regality extended, upon his own Authority put him to Death. Godſcroſs's Hiſtory of the Houſe of Douglaſs page 187. The ſame Earl of Douglaſs executed Juſtice upon Macklalane Tutor of Bumbee, Chief of his Name, & one of the Principal Houſes in Galloway for Murdering one of his Servants, King James himſelf interceeded for him in vain.

[1] Kings. Alluding here to the ancient Figure, in which the Iſle of Britain is generally ſuppoſed to be, when every Nobleman was a Sovereign upon his own Eſtate, ſome Marks of which Sovereignty are yet remaining, and within few Years paſt, were very viſible in ſeveral of the Noble Families of Scotland, particularly in the Family of Douglaſs, who Purſued, fought, took Priſoner of War Sir William Hairis of Terriglis, for having withdrawn himſelf from his Vaſſalage or Dependence, & eſteeming him as his own Servant, taken in Arms, where his Juriſdiction or Regality extended, upon his own Authority put him to Death. Godſcroſs's Hiſtory of the Houſe of Douglaſs page 187. The ſame Earl of Douglaſs executed Juſtice upon Macklalane Tutor of Bumbee, Chief of his Name, & one of the Principal Houſes in Galloway for Murdering one of his Servants, King James himſelf interceeded for him in vain.

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