ly this is generally
known for a truth, that justice, loyaltie, and prudence, which have been
but incident virtues and qualities in others, are all three as inherent
ornaments, and hereditary in yours."[207]

Such praise far exceeds in value the mere homage to ancient lineage.
With these noble qualities, the race of Drummond combined the courage to
defend their rights, and the magnanimity to protect the feeble. This
last characteristic is beautifully described in the following words:

"For justice, as a poor stranger, often thrust out of doors from great
houses, where grandeur and utility are commonly the idolls that's
worshipped,--_quid non mortalia pectora cogis?_--has always found
sanctuary in yours, which has ever been ane encouragement to the good, a
terror to the bad, and free from the oppression of either."

To this magnanimous spirit were added loyalty to the sovereign, and
prudence in the management of private affairs; a virtue of no small
price, for it rendered the House of Drummond independent of Court
favour, and gave to its prosperity a solid basis. "The chiefs of this
family lived," says their historian, "handsomely, like themselves; and
still improved or preserved their fortunes since the first founder."

The origin of this race is, perhaps, as interesting as that of any of
the Scottish nobility, and has the additional merit of being well
ascertained.

After the death of Edward the Confessor, the next claimant to the Crown,
Edgar Atheling, alarmed for his safety after the Norman Conquest, took
shipping with his mother Agatha, and with his two sisters, Margaret and
Christiana, intended to escape to Hungary; but owing to a violent storm,
or, as the noble historian of the Drummonds well expresses it, "through
Divine Providence," he was driven upon the Scottish coast, and forced to
land upon the north side of the Firth of Forth. He took shelter in a
little harbour west of the Queen's Ferry, ever since called St.
Margaret's Hook, from Edgar's sister Margaret, who, for the "rare
perfectiones of her body and mind," was afterwards chosen by Malcolm
Canmore, to the great satisfaction of the nation, for his Queen.
Margaret was therefore married to the Scottish monarch at Dunfermline in
the year 1066.

This alliance was not the only advantage derived by the young and exiled
English King from his accidental landing in Scotland. Penetrated with
gratitude for former services conferred upon himself by Edward the