Introduction
In 1803, William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy and their friend Samuel Coleridge travelled to Scotland, taking in beautiful Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. They begged bed and board from a startled Scottish farmer, and at breakfast the following morning (it was Saturday August 27th) the Macfarlanes told them in their slow English about Rob Roy.
Speaking of another neighbouring laird, they said he had gone, like the rest of them, to Edinburgh, left his lands and his own people, spending his money where it brought him not any esteem, so that he was of no value either at home or abroad. We mentioned Rob Roy,* and the eyes of all glistened; even the lady of the house,* who was very diffident, and no great talker, exclaimed, “He was a good man, Rob Roy! he had been dead only about eighty years, had lived in the next farm, which belonged to him, and there his bones were laid.”* He was a famous swordsman. Having an arm much longer than other men, he had a greater command with his sword. As a proof of the length of his arm, they told us that he could garter his tartan stockings below the knee without stooping, and added a dozen different stories of single combats, which he had fought, all in perfect good-humour, merely to prove his prowess.
Précis
In the summer of 1803, Dorothy Wordsworth, her brother William and Samuel Coleridge stayed with the Macfarlanes, farmers living near Loch Lomond. Over breakfast, Mrs Macfarlane spoke glowingly of Rob Roy, his struggles against the abuse of power, his prodigious reach, the advantage it gave him in swordplay, and her pride that, as she supposed, he lay buried nearby.
(59 / 60 words)
In the summer of 1803, Dorothy Wordsworth, her brother William and Samuel Coleridge stayed with the Macfarlanes, farmers living near Loch Lomond. Over breakfast, Mrs Macfarlane spoke glowingly of Rob Roy, his struggles against the abuse of power, his prodigious reach, the advantage it gave him in swordplay, and her pride that, as she supposed, he lay buried nearby.
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