lated into English, it would not have been a bit more intelligible to an English reader; but yet so well were they adapted to those to whom they were addressed, that when, on the demise of his predecessor, he got to the pinnacle of his ambition, he was accounted the star of the presbytery. Such, indeed, were his piety and renown, that the only daughter and heiress of the former incumbent surrendered at the first summons ; and the Reverend successor was beneficed, wived, and housed all in the same year. No sooner was he thus settled than he began to project reforms in the kirk establishment, which, in the end, led to a change in the economy and manners of the whole glen. The kirk itself was, at the time of his appointment, a singular structure; and stood, sadly rebuked by the ruins of the old catholic chapel, that were hard by. The chapel had been of stone, and from the part that remained had been elegant for the situation. The kirk, on the other hand, had walls of turf, and a roof of heather. Such of the people as were not more than two miles distant came, stick in hand, to the service; and they, from the more remote part of the glen, were accommodated upon the trunks of two or three unhewn pieces, raised a little above the mud floor upon stones. As the roof was seldom water-tight, the floor was always a few inches deep of mire in rainy weather; but that, instead of being an inconvenience to the highlanders, was an advantage. It saved them the trouble of wading into a brook, without which lubrication, the brogues of untanned hide which they then wore were as hard as iron *.

Though the ministers of the Scottish kirk have been denuded of many of those powers and privileges, which were in full enjoyment and exercise among the priesthood whom they succeeded, they have retained, with much pertinacity, judicial powers in certain infractions of the law. Various modes of expiation for these infractions are established by custom in different places; and in the parish of Inverdonhuil, the onus of keeping the kirk thatched with heather lay upon them. Not that they did the business by contract, but that the offender was amerced in so many burdens, together with a fine of a marc Scots, or thirteenpence one-third of a penny, in addition to each burden. The pecuniary mulcts went nominally to the poor; but as there was nobody in the parish that ever thought of applying for, or even accepting any part of them, they came ultimately to the minister, as also did the heather from the roof of the kirk, when it had served its time as thatch, and was dry enough for being conveniently and profitably used as fuel. The predecessor of Mr. M'Cra was an easy and indulgent man, and fined each offender only in one marc, and one burden of heather; and so well did matters thrive under his indulgent care, that the kirk, though not water-tight, as we have said, was in better condition than at any time since its first erection. When Donald came into office he wished to play the Phineus in this way; and accordingly, though against the remonstrances of some of the elders, caused proclamation to be made, that the penalties were to be doubled-two marcs and two burdens of heather, per sinner. Good actions are

* Time has worked great changes. The Commissioners for building Highland Churches are erecting them at an expense of 15007. each, for church and manse.

sometimes attributed to bad motives, and, by thus getting bad names, fail in their effects. So it fared in the case before us: the godly said, that the order came from vain-glory, as to the heather-and avarice, as touching the money; and the erring abstained from their errors-not from any new-born love of virtue-but that they might starve the minister, and drench the congregation. Donald saw his error, or rather he felt it, in a threadbare coat, to the replacing of which the marcs were devoted, and in having some difficulty in taking up such a position in the pulpit as enabled him to avoid the autumnal rain. The minister saw his error; and knowing that it was vain to wrestle with the prejudices of the people, he caused proclamation to be made, that the "O. P.'s" of Inverdonhuil were triumphant. The termination was more felicitous than that of the "O. P." row in London; and not twelve months elapsed before the kirk, which was rather deserted in the struggle, was thronged, and well thatched, while there was a visible, and, in the eyes of those by whom it was effected, a gratifying improvement in the costume of the minister.

Having thus found that little was to be done in the way of what the illuminati of the north are accustomed to call "barren morality," and declaim against as a matter which ought to be kept apart from faith, the minister took the opposite tack. He established prayermeetings, and doubled the number of annual assemblages for public examination. Those matters were highly gratifying to the people. The old showed off their knowledge, and wrangled about their points of mystery, and their cases of conscience; and the young found a vast increase of those "walks and conversations," which to them always have been, and always will be, the principal charms of such assemblings. The Minister of Inverdonhuil acquired prudence by experience, confining his present objurgations to general subjects, such as "the beast and the false prophet," and humanely casting a veil over any failings of a flock who were so attentive to the ordinances of religion, and so respectful to its minister. Sabbath-breaking, indeed, got no quarter; for a girl, of not more than ten years old, was made to stand before the congregation and be rebuked, for inadvertently humming a verse of one of the minister's own songs on a sabbath-morning. Sleeping during the service, which those who walk twenty miles are apt to do during a two hours' sermon, upon a warm day, was a grievous sin; and when it threatened to be very general, the elders and beadle moved about, plying the drowsy with snuff. One mountaineer, who came from a very great distance, and on whose nasal organs the mundungus had lost its power, persevered in sleeping one day, right in front of the minister, and responded to the sermon with a sound as loud as that of a bagpipe. A storm rose on the visage of the preacher, who ever and anon darted his eye at the sleeper. The elders saw the storm, and shook and pinched Neil M'Cubbin, but all to no purpose. The choler of the minister would not be restrained; he raised himself, grasped the Bible in his right hand, swung it round his head like a man half frantic, and exclaiming, "If you will not hear the word of God, you shall feel it," hurled it from him with all his might. As has been the case with other bolts, physical and metaphysical, discharged in ire, the Bible did not take effect where intended, but, glancing by DECEMBER, 1828. 2 X

the ear of the mountaineer, it came full in the face of an old woman, who sat, drinking in the word, at mouth, eyes, and ears, on the tree behind. Overpowered by the "awakening dispensation," Elspeth was driven backwards, and in her fall upset not only the tree on which she had been sitting, but the one in front and that in the rear; and the lapse was propagated from tree to tree, and from stool to stool, till a full half of the congregation of Inverdonhuil were sprawling on the floor. This occurrence not only restrained the zeal of the minister for the future, but made him cast about for the means of obtaining a place where the admonition of one could not, even by accident, be productive of confusion to the whole. It also taught the reverend gentleman to temper his zeal, and, if at all within the range of his invention, find out an excuse for any error that might arise. Of this an instance occurred soon after the projection of the Bible. The minister had his people assembled in the kirk, for the purpose of examination on the catechism, which, in that part of the country, consists not only in repeating all the answers set down in the formulary, but in replying to such inferential ones as shall be put viva voce by the minister, in order that the catechumen may have a reason for the faith that is in him. Donald Chisholm, purveyor of whiskey for the district, and for the minister among the rest, to whom the supplies were alleged to be partly in the way of business, and partly in that of expiation, was, like most of his calling, not over nice in his language. It came to Donald's turn to be catechised; the minister called him, and put to him the question, "What doth every sin deserve?" In making an effort to get a little nearer to a friend, who had kindly promised to assist him with his answers, Donald lost his balance, and in recovering that, hit his shin a very sharp bang upon one of the knags of the tree. "God's curse *!" vociferated Donald in the agony of his broken shin, and fumbled for his dirk, thinking some one had pushed him. "Very well answered, indeed, Donald-correct to the sense, though strange in the manner," said the minister; "but do not be so violent about it. His name be praised, we have no need to take the carnal weapon in defence of the cause now."

The increasing celebrity of the minister, who found that popularity is both more certain and more durable, if mixed with a little covert glee and humour, rendered two changes necessary—an additional accommodation for the regular attendance; and the celebration of "the occasion," or annual dispensation of the Eucharist, wholly in the open air. The former was obtained by the erection of a gallery in one end of the kirk. That was soon done; two pines, with the branches lopped, that only about six inches of each remained to serve as stairs, were let into holes in the floor; another was laid across for a breast beam; the tops served as joists; the branches as wattles; and the whole being covered with turf, the gallery was complete. The costume of the people rendered some of the ascents and descents a little picturesque; but as they were met in the kirk, and for religious purposes, harm and humour would have been equally sin. "The occasion" was of a

*The answer in the Catechism is, "God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come."

different character. There was a good deal of the picturesque in it; but there was still more of the sublime.

Though one would have thought there were few of the elements of wealth about him, yet the minister waxed warm, not merely in the glen, but as among his brethren in the presbytery. His glebe was of considerable size, both in arable and in sheep-walk, and he rented a good deal of both in addition. In the management of these farms he was imitated by many of his parishioners, and was really the means of altering the whole appearance of the glen. The hovels were replaced by cottages; the national grey clothes gave place to tartan; a few artisans came to reside in the glen; a general shop was opened; English began to be spoken; a few religious tracts were sold and read; and, though not without some crying of "Shame" at this innovation, the minister's wife appeared at church in a cloak and bonnet of black silk.

Parsimony, no doubt, aided industry much in increasing the goods of the minister. His meals were frugal; the every day costume of all his family was homely; and though he was not without his potation himself, or at all a niggard of it to strangers, Donald Chisholm could best tell how far the procuring of that wasted his means. Though he had horses, and even after some years a saddle and a bridle (which were a twelvemonth's wonder in the glen), he used them very seldom, upon the plea that "it was sinful to waste the legs of a beast for the purpose of encouraging idleness in those of a man." Accordingly, when he wended to the presbytery, which usually met in a little town on the coast, about fifteen miles distant, he set out staff in hand, and took a short cut across the mountains. But he was at length cured of that saving by a waggish brother. The Reverend Walter Morrison, of the adjoining parish, had the misfortune to be a wit, and thus did not thrive so well, although he was by a dozen years at least the older man, and had the better living. But Wattie fished and fiddled, while Donald bred sheep and sold barley to the smugglers; and Wattie applied caustic, where Donald was in the habit of administering oil. In one thing they were alike: Donald walked to the presbytery from parsimony, and Wattie because he had no horse. The parishes were in glens that lay opposite, so that though the extremities were more than forty miles asunder, the manses were not two miles; and they were within view of each other. Watty had a spy-glass, with which he used occasionally to make observations on the manse of Inverdonhuil. One day, just as he was about to set out for the meeting of presbytery, he saw Donald leave his house, and toil up the foot-path on the hill. Watty instantly posted off to the manse of Inverdonhuil; acted lameness a little; mentioned where the white horse, the saddle, and the bridle were; and assured Mrs. M'Cra that her husband had kindly lent them to him for the day. The evidence was too circumstantial for being doubted; the horse was got, saddled, bridled, mounted, and off Watty rode. About half-way he met his reverend brother, broiling in the heat of a day in July, which is often very ardent in that district. Watty smiled and nodded, but, without speaking, switched the horse and rode on. Donald was in high chafe ; but what with the action of his limbs, what with the evaporation from

his body, it was fought down, and he began to think of the luxury of riding home.

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When Wattie reached the village, he rode to the blacksmith, told him to put a set of new shoes upon the minister of Inverdonhuil's horse, for which the minister would pay; and, as the horse was so skittish, from under-working, that the minister was afraid to ride him, a little exercise in a cart or harrow would be very desirable. The blacksmith took the hint, and, by the time that Donald came, he found his horse tugging and stumbling among the clods in the blacksmith's field. The cup of Donald's indignation was now brimming, and, but for his holy calling, he would doubtless have doomed his annoyer to ruin. He strode to the church where the presbytery met, but the doors were closed. The fact is, that Wattie, who was moderator," or chairman for the day, had got to the village two hours in advance, accelerated both the business and the dinner, upon some plea or other, and poor Donald reaching the inn after the cloth had been removed, was greeted, by Wattie and the rest, amid peals of sacerdotal glee, with full bumpers to the standing presbytery, preserving, to wit, "The memory of our late brother." Donald, finding Wattie throned in office, and knowing the danger of attacking him there, fought down his anger and his appetite in gnawing at the drumsticks of that goose of which he had hoped to taste the daintiest slice; while he had afterwards to pay his "fine," and submit to the jeers of the party, as to what sort of "lion in the path" might have delayed his coming, while the cruel Wattie became his crocodile defender, and, after some time, invited him to the chair, upon pretence of having a will to make. Donald took the bait, forgave his tormentor in his heart, and proposed his health to the company, with an eulogium upon his talents. Wattie did not return to give thanks, but, calling for the horse, intimated that Mr. M'Cra would call and pay for the shoeing, and so rode home. The minister, assured of his ride home, remained longer than usual; but his company getting thin, and his patience thinner, he went for his horse, and found that he had to walk home, which occupied him the greater part of the night.

The doors of conciliation were, of course, shut against Wattie; and, as his health soon gave way, Mr. M'Cra had interest to effect the "annexation of the two parishes," which bettered his living, and even led to the erection of a new kirk and manse, and the honour of a D.D. from the Senatus Academicus of the King's, in which the stipulated fee was dispensed with. From this time he became a new man; did the state some service in 1793; saw a vista opened for his sons in consequence; and when, in the fulness of years, he was gathered to his fathers, a marble tablet on the church wall recorded his virtues.