tenance. Others, who had not yet attained to such venerable years, had adopted the more recent fashion of hats, and one could see more easily beneath their scantier margins the keen and piercing eyes with which these surveyed every person as he passed-scrutinizing with a dragon-like glance the quantum of his contribution to the heap of guarded copper before them. As for passing their capacious plates without putting in something, that is a thing of which the meanest Scottish peasant, that supports himself by the labour of his hands, would never dream for a moment. To be obliged to enter the house of God empty-handed, is the very hardest item which enters into the iron lot of their parish paupersand of these paupers there are so few in such rural places as this, that they scarcely need to be talked of as furnishing an exception to the general rule. Even the youngest children who came, and I saw many who could do little more than totter on their little legs-would think it alike a sin and a shame to put no offering into the Elders' plate. And yet there was no small degree of self-importance, I thought, in the way in which some of these little creatures dropped their half pence upon the board-not hiding their candlestick under a bushel, but ringing metal against metal as loudly as they could, in order to attract the notice of the staid superintenders of the collection. By and by, the minister and his assistants came down the hill from the Manse, he being distinguished from the rest by his Geneva cloak, while they wore no badge of their office but their bands. They were preceded by the beadle of the kirk, carrying with difficulty (for he was very ancient) a huge folio Bible clothed in black skin, and a psalm-book of corresponding dimensions. As the clerical groupe passed the Elders, a scene of cordial greeting occurred which it was delightful to witness-all shaking hands as they passed with those old men, and receiving from them looks and words of encouragement, as if to support and sustain them during the approaching exertions of the day. The minister of the place was a singularly primitive figure, with a long pale face, in which it was easy to trace the workings of anxious meditatoin, and eyes which I suspected had not been closed during

the preceding night. His friends were about six in number, and most of them younger men than himself, and they all entered the church along with him save one, who took the way to the Tent, there to commence the service out of doors at the same moment when it should be commenced within. Mr. P introduced me to the minister's wife, who made her appearance almost immediately afterwards-a seemly matron, who received me with infinite kindness in her way, and conducted me to her pew. When we entered, the old men were all sitting in the church with their bonnets on, and they did not uncover themselves until the minister began to read aloud the psalm-which was then sung, in a style of earnestness that was at least abundantly impressive, by them all-not one voice in the whole congregation, I firmly believe, being silent,

The impression that I first received on hearing the singing in the Scottish churches was by no means an agreeable one, at least in regard to musical effect. After the psalm has been read by the clergyman, (which is often extremely well done,) no solemn instrumental symphony opens the concert with that sure and exact harmony which proceeds from an organ, but a solitary clerk, (they call him precentor,) who is commonly a grotesque enough figure, utters the first notes of the tune in a way that is extremely mechanical and disagreeable. The rest of the congregation having heard one line sung to an end, and having ascertained the pitch, then strike in. Most of them sing the air in unison with the precentor, without attempting to take any other part, or to form concords. This is certainly the safest way for them; but even among those who sing along with the clerk, there are generally so many with bad ears, that the effect on the whole is dissonant. To introduce organs into the Scottish churches, has been proposed at different times by some of the clergymen, but the majority both of clergy and laity have always disapproved of that innovation. I have not heard what was the nature of the arguments employed against it; but I can easily understand that the aversion might not be in all cases the result of mere inconsiderate bigotry or blind prejudice. The modes of public worship are matters of such solemn usage, that they seldom

undergo any sober, considerate, or partial alterations. They are left untouched, except in times when the passions of mankind are very deeply and terribly stirred, or when great revolutions of opinion take place—and then they are changed with a mad and headlong zeal-and certainly there would be something very like indecent quackery, in rashly shifting about the forms of worshipping God, according to the mutable tastes of each successive generation.

The prayers and sermons of the old minister were very good in their style, but I waited with greater curiosity to witness the Scottish method of distributing the sacred symbols of the day. I used the word altar--but this you would easily see was a lapsus. They have no altar in the churches of Scotland—and, indeed, you know we had no altars, such as we have them now, in the east end of the churches in England, till that fashion was brought back by Archbishop Laud. Here the sacramental symbols were set forth at the upper extremity of a long table covered with a white cloth, which extended the whole length of the church, from the pulpit to the gate. At the head of this table, around which as many were already seated as it could at once accommodate, the minister of the place took his seat also; after his sermon was concluded, and he had read aloud several chapters of the Bible, which are pointed out for this purpose in the Directory of the Scottish Church, as containing words suitable to the occasion-words of encouragement to the worthy, and of warning to the presumptuous communicant. He then craved a blessing, and having broken a single piece of bread, and given of it to those immediately beside him, large loaves, cut into slices, were carried around the table, and distributed to all who sat at it by two or three of the lay-elders. The cup, in like manner, was sent round shortly afterwards—and during the time which elapsed in the distribution of these symbols, the minister delivered an address to those who were partaking in them-an address which I think had much better be spared-for silence surely is the only proper accompaniment to so awful a solemnity, but in which, notwithstanding, he displayed a noble warmth and tenderness of feeling, which seemed to produce a very powerful effect

upon those for whom it was intended, and which could not fail to excite a feeling of much respect for the person by whom it was delivered.

After the address was terminated, those who had been its immediate objects withdrew, and left their seats free for the occupation of another company, and so in the same manner did company succeed company throughout the whole of the day— minister succeeding minister in the duty of addressing them,which is called in their language serving the tables. Without pretending to approve of this method so much as of our own -nay, without attempting to disguise my opinion, that it is in many respects a highly improper method-it would be in vain for me to deny that there was something extremely affecting even in its extreme simplicity, and still more so in the deep and overwhelming seriousness which seemed to fill the spirits of the partakers. I have seldom been present at any scene so impressive; but I think the effect of the whole is much weakened by the length of time to which the service is protracted.

Out of doors, in the meantime, there was carried on, in all the alehouses of the village, and in many of the neighbouring fields, a scene of a very different nature. After sitting for an hour or two, I walked out to breathe the fresh air, and in passing through the place, was quite scandalized to find such a deal of racketting and mirth going on so near the celebration of such a ceremony, regarded and conducted by those engaged in it with a feeling of reverence so profound and exemplary. Here, indeed, I doubt not, might not a little of what Burns has described be found going on among the thoughtless and unworthy idlers, who had flocked from every part of the surrounding country to be present at the sacrament of Mr.. I was overtaken in my walk by a little girl, whom the minister's wife had sent after me to invite me to come and refresh myself in the Manse. I went accordingly, and partook of a huge round of beef, which seemed to be intended to satisfy half the congregation, and then, at the request of my hostess, resumed my walk in her garden.-"Do not be seen strolling about the toon," said she; "there's enough o' ill example without a friend o' Mr. P's coming out of

the Manse to set it to them. If ye will walk on the Sabbath -walk where naebody will see you."

LETTER LXXVI.

::

TO THE SAME.

BUT the concluding evening scene was, without doubt, by far the most impressive of the whole. I have told you that a tent had been erected at the foot of the church-yard, and that from it different ministers preached to the multitude which overflowed after the church itself was filled, during the whole of the day but now, after the sacrament had been dispensed to all who were admitted to that privilege, the kirk was shut up, and the whole of the thousands who had assembled, were summoned to hear one parting sermon at the tent together. The minister's wife and I came down the hill from the Manse just as this part of the service was about to commence, and ere we had come within sight of the place, the sounds of the preparatory psalm they were all singing together, came to us wafted over the intervening bean-fields on a gale of perfume, and softened into the balmiest melody by the space over which they travelled, in the rich stillness of the evening air.

There could not be a finer sight than that which presented itself to us when we came to the brink of the ravine which overhung, on the one side, the rustic amphitheatre now filled by this mighty congregation. All up the face of the opposite hill, which swept in a gentle curve before us-the little brook I have mentioned flowing brightly between in the gleam of sunset-the soft turf of those simple sepulchres, rising row above row, and the little flat tomb-stones scattered more sparingly among them, were covered with one massy cluster of the listening peasantry. Near to the tent on one side were drawn up some of the carriages of the neighbouring gentry, in which, the horses being taken away, the ancient ladies were seen sitting protected from the dews of the twilight