Memoir of Marshal Keith

IO THE TWO BROTHERS.
when the future Marshal had been particularly mad in his
pranks, and overstepped all the old man's bounds of
propriety, he cried out, shaking his head, "Oh, laddie,
laddie ! gin ever ye mak' a puddin', I'll eat the prick !"
meaning a small piece of wood inserted at the end of
Scotch white puddings for the purpose of keeping in the
meat. In after years, when the wild boy had become a
man, and risen to high rank in the country of his adoption,
he is said to have sent the old man a "prick," and something
more substantial, to remind him of the old days when he
used to tease him by his pranks.
Traditions, handed down from generation to generation,
speak of the love of the two brothers as something remark-
able, and of the power of the elder and more staid over
the more impulsive and mischievously-disposed Field-
Marshal, as an uncommon thing. The latter was well
known in the village as the ringleader in every wild freak
and boyish trick ; and when he got into disgrace, as was
often the case, the former, by the gentleness of his
disposition, the kindness of his heart, the appealingness of
his words and looks, the extreme love shown for his
brother in spite of his repeated delinquencies, and his
ready guarantee for his future good behaviour, invariably
managed to beg him off.
This love they never lost ; for, when in exile, and often
reduced to great straits, they kept as long as possible in
each other's company ; and, when at last compelled to
separate, a correspondence was sustained as close as the
circumstances of the time and their varied engagements