Nor, conscious of his own powers and
confident in the royal favour, is it probable that he was always at much
pains to avoid offence, for, though neither a quarrelsome nor a wilful
man, he had his own opinions, and was not shy of expressing them when he
saw fit to do so. With all his constitutional regard for authority and
his soldier's respect for discipline, Claverhouse would suffer himself
to be browbeaten by no one. In those jealous intriguing days a man who
could not fight for his own hand was bound to go down in the struggle.
Claverhouse was now to give a signal proof that he both could and would
fight for his when the need came.
The Dalrymples of Stair had been settled in Galloway for many
generations. Sir James, the head of the house, was one of the first
lawyers of the day, and had held the Chair of Philosophy in the
University of Glasgow: the son, Sir John (afterwards to earn an undying
name in history as prime mover in the Massacre of Glencoe), was
heritable Baillie in the regality of Glenluce. There had been bad blood
between them and Claverhouse for some time past. The father had not
profited sufficiently by his studies either in law or philosophy to
recognise the folly of a man in disgrace venturing to measure swords
with one of fortune's favourites. And Sir James at the time of his
quarrel with Claverhouse was in disgrace.
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