134 SALMONIA. 



peculiar habits of the Scotch Church, and 

 therefore may complain. Once in the north 

 of Ireland, when a very young man, I ven- 

 tured after the time of Divine Service, to 

 put together my rods, as I had been used to 

 do in the Catholic districts of Ireland, and 

 fish for white trout in the river at Rathmel- 

 ton, in pure innocence of heart, unconscious 

 of wrong, when I found a crowd collect 

 round me — at first I thought from mere 

 curiosity, but I soon discovered I was mis- 

 taken ; anger was their motive and vengeance 

 their object. A man soon came up exceed- 

 ingly drunk, and began to abuse me by 

 various indecent terms: such as a Sabbath 

 breaking papist, &c. It was in vain I as- 

 sured him I was no papist, and no inten- 

 tional Sabbath breaker; he seized my rod 

 and carried it off with imprecations ; and it 

 was only with great difficulty, and by rousing 

 by my eloquence some women who were 

 present, and who thought I was an ill-used 

 stranger, that I recovered my property. 

 Another time I was walking on Arthur's 

 Seat, with some of the most distinguished 



