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these inclosures will be shot; and, if again found trespassing, will be prosecuted with the utmost rigour of law."

A PRAYER ON THE CHANGE OF MINISTRY.

A Scottish clergyman used the following expressions in his prayer on a change of ministry: Sic hirdum dirdum, an' sic din,

Sic turnin' out, sic turnin' in,

Gude Lord we kenna what to do,
Nor yet whilk hand to turn us to.

REVEREND MR GUTHRIE.

As a contrast to the reception which his present Majesty has experienced from the clergy in the metropolis of Scotland, we shall present our readers with a specimen of that hospitality which Charles II. experienced when he came to this country in 1650. The King, upon his arrival in Scotland, was advised to pay great attention to the ministers, who had much more power in the kingdom than himself. Paying a visit to Mr James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, who was confined by indisposition, Mrs Guthrie rose to give his Majesty a chair: « Sit down, gude-wife," said Mr Guthrie," the King is a young man, an' can take a chair for himself." Ten years afterwards, Guthrie was promoted to the honour of martyrdom,

on no very clear evidence of guilt, to which this freedom contibuted, perhaps, not a little. His chair, and a few of his books, are still preserved by the town, as a kind of sacred relic.

THE SIGN-BOARD.

Some fifty years ago, a poor student who lodged. in the High Street of Glasgow, was miserably ill off for firing, and equally scarce of cash. One night, when out late, he fell in with a large signboard, which he thought would suit his purpose; this he made love to, and carried it home to his apartment. Next day, the owner of the sign was looking about for it, having conceived some suspicion of the real thief; but it was entirely removed when they came to his chamber door, he was overheard saying, "Behold, au evil and perverse generation are looking for a sign, but no sign shall be given them." By this time it was nearly burnt.

CAPITULATION.

Some time ago, a gentleman in Galloway, when walking on his estate, observed a country boy rapidly mounting to the top of a very high tree, in search, no doubt, of a crow, or pyet's nest. Being concerned for the little fellow's safety, as well as anxious to banish such mischievous intruders from his plantations, bawled out, "Ho, you little scoun

drel, what are you about there, come down immediately, and never let me see your face in this place again." The climber, nowise alarmed at this address, rested himself upon a branch, and answered very laconically," Na, if I was to come doon you would lick me."-"No," said the gentleman, " although you well deserve to be punished, I won't beat you for this offence, so come down immediately."-" Say as sure's death ye'll no lick me,” rejoined the culprit, " and I'll come doon." "What, you impudent rogue, do you presume to doubt my word, and treat me like one of your school-fellows." “I dinna ken,” whimpered the pertinacious boy, "but unless you say as sure's death, I'll no come doon the day." The gentleman, who is a distinguished humourist, and is a member of the present parliament, had now great difficulty in preserving his gravity, and finding farther remonstrance vain, he at last fairly capitulated with the enemy, and agreed to let him march off with all the honours of

war.

LOSS OF THE GREAT O.

About thirty years ago, there lived in Glasgow, an Irish doctor, of the name of Hugh Donolly, who had taken his medical diploma from that respectable school of physic, the turf-cutters in the bog of Allan, and could cure all manner of diseases by charms, by relics, and by invocation of saints, and other means equally efficacious. One day

Hughie was in company with some of the townsmen, and holding furth on the great antiquity and high birth of his family, he said, "Anciently they call'd us O'Donolly, but we lost the great O at the battle of the Boyne !" One present observed, "That if he had lost the small o, it would not signified much, but to loss the great O, was the devil and all !"

A PURGE FOR THE CONSCIENCE,

[From the Session Records of Torry burn.]

I Robert Currie, being accused of adultery with C. D. and of attempting the same wickedness with E. F., G. H., and J. S., and being obliged to vindicate my innocence before the world, and purge myself of these alleged scandals, do lift up my hand before the congregation, and, in presence of the Elect Angels of Light, I swear by the Holy and Righteous Majestie of the God of Glory, the heart searching and sin revenging God, before whom all the powers of the kingdom of darkness do quake and tremble, that I lay not with C. D. on the 12th of January last at night, nor was I found with her in a house in Newmills, by C. D., and for the truth of this, in the singleness of my heart, without all guile, equivocation, or mental reservation, or any evasion whatsoever, I attest his Omniscience, who is the judge of men and angels, that liveth and reigneth for ever and ever; and if I lie or dissemble in this my oath, or prevaricate in the least, I imprecate his just vengeance upon

me, and his fierce and burning jealousy to be revealed against me in such a way as he shall find meetest for his own glory.-If ever I attempted to commit adultery with E. F., the Lord make me a curse and execration, and let his wrath and anger pursue me from this moment throughout ETERNITY. If I sought to commit adultery with G. H. about the beginning of January 1700, as I convoyed her from L. M's. house-if I threw her down once and again that night, and attempted to force her, let me be adjudged among devils and ungodly men, to the burning lake of fire and brimstone, which is called Tophet and the second death. If I attempted to force J. S. in her own house, if I bolted the door and took the distaff out of her bosom, and cast her on the ground till she cryed out, let me wander a vagabond through the earth like Cain, and be my own executioner like Judas; let me never thrive in body or goods, but let both sensibly decay, to the observation of all that know me. If all or any of these particulars charged upon me be true, let me never enter into God's rest, let my name be blotted out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, let God plague me dreadfully, let the torments of hell, and the heaviest horrors of a guilty conscience seize upon me instantly, to make me a monument of God's indignation against the sin of adultery in all succeeding ages; let the hand I lift up to heaven be dried up like the hand of Jeroboam, and let all the curses of the book of God from the beginning to the end thereof, come upon me. So let it be.AMEN.

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