Memoir of Marshal Keith

THE TWO BROTHERS. 1 1
would allow, — for the younger was soon deeply immersed
in the troubles of a very troublous period. And, at last,
when a permanent home seemed to be obtained for the
one, he hastened to acquaint the other with the fact, and
it required very little to prevail upon either to form the
resolution of spending the remainder of their days together.
Under the able tutorship of William Meston, and their
relation the celebrated Bishop Keith, the boys continued
till they went to Marischal College, founded, as we have
already said, by their great-grandfather. The younger
was intended for the law, but his own inclination was for
arms, which the influence of his mother, and the rebellion
of 1715* helped to foster. When only eighteen years of
age, he was called upon to decide as to his future life, and
to take an active part in a contest the most unfortunate
that our history presents, — a contest which never deserved
the support of so many noble families, and which was too
dearly purchased by the death and banishment of those
whose ancestors had borne the brunt of the battle around
the forms of the departed Stuarts, of whom the then
representative was an unfortunate specimen.
Induced by their mother (for their father had died
when the Earl was nineteen years of age), who was a
fierce Jacobite, they entered upon a cause from which
their more mature judgment would have dissuaded them.
The Earl, on the accession of George I., before giving up
the appointment of Captain of the Guard, which he had
held under Queen Anne, is said to have offered to proclaim
the Pretender King of England at the head of his troop,