Introduction
Early in the Jacobite Rising of 1715, Rob Roy MacGregor and his band of rebels marched into Aberdeen, and Rob called to see Professor Gregory, a kinsman and a distinguished Professor of Medicine. He hoped to enlist his support for a cause which, whatever its merits, was open treason — and to enlist his little son, James, too.
THE Professor had a son about eight or nine years old, — a lively, stout boy of his age, — with whose appearance our Highland Robin Hood was much taken.* On the day before his departure from the house of his learned relative, Rob Roy took Dr Gregory aside, and addressed him to this purport:— “My dear kinsman, I have been thinking what I could do to show my sense of your hospitality. Now, here you have a fine spirited boy of a son, whom you are ruining by cramming him with your useless book-learning, and I am determined, by way of manifesting my great good-will to you and yours, to take him with me and make a man of him.”*
There might have been considerable danger in suffering Rob Roy to perceive that the promotion with which he threatened the son was, in the father’s eyes, the ready road to the gallows.*
Professor James Gregory (1674-1733) was elected Professor of Medicine at King's College, Aberdeen in 1725, and held the post until 1732 when his son James Gregory (1707-1755), the little boy in this story, succeeded him. The younger James had a very distinguished brother named John (1724-1773), whose son James (1753-1821) told Sir Walter this story.
In the immediate circumstances, this meant joining the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. The rebellion, backed by Louis XIV of France with money and ships, failed at Sheriffmuir on November 13th, and Rob, a veteran of the 1689 rebellion, was subsequently excluded from the general amnesty of 1717. He took up arms again at The Battle of Glen Shiel in 1719, this time with support from Spain. See The Jacobite Rebellions.
Rob’s career had already been one of repeated acts of treason. In 1722, he was then declared an outlaw after defaulting on a debt to James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose — Rob had borrowed heavily to enlarge his cattle herd (unscrupulously acquired, it should be said), and his chief herdsman had made off with the money. After a spell in gaol Rob was pardoned in 1727, and died seven years later at his home in Inverlochlarig Beg, Balquhidder, Stirlingshire.
Précis
During the Jacobite Rising on 1715, Rob Roy came to Aberdeen, and looked up a fellow clansman, Professor Gregory. Rob judged that the Professor’s young son James would make a fine recruit, and offered to take him away; but the anxious father wished only to find some graceful way to refuse, foreseeing otherwise a life of crime for his boy. (60 / 60 words)
During the Jacobite Rising on 1715, Rob Roy came to Aberdeen, and looked up a fellow clansman, Professor Gregory. Rob judged that the Professor’s young son James would make a fine recruit, and offered to take him away; but the anxious father wished only to find some graceful way to refuse, foreseeing otherwise a life of crime for his boy.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, besides, or, since, unless, until, whereas, whether.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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