THE SABBATH DAY. 131 



to the pursuit of the amusement: by in- 

 dulging in it, you would excite the indigna- 

 tion of the Highland peasants, and might 

 perhaps expiate the offence by a compul- 

 sory ablution in the river. 



Poiet. — I give up the point: I make it a 

 rule never to shock the prejudices of any 

 person, even when they appear to me ridi- 

 culous; and I shall still less do so in a case 

 where your authority is against me; and I 

 have no taste for undergoing persecution, 

 when the cause is a better one. I now 

 remember that I have often heard of the 

 extreme severity with which the sabbath 

 discipline is kept in Scotland. Can you 

 give us the reason of this? 



Hal. — I am not sufficiently read in the 

 Church History of Scotland to give the 

 cause historically; but I think it can hardly 

 be doubted that it is connected with the in- 

 tense feelings of the early Covenanters, and 

 their hatred with respect to all the forms 

 and institutes of the Church of Rome, the 

 ritual of which makes the Sunday more a 



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