THE SABBATH DAY. 153 



temple of nature, whose canopy is the sky ; 

 and where all the beings and elements around 

 us are, as it were, proclaiming the power and 

 wisdom of Deity. 



Hal. — I cannot see how the exercise of 

 fishing can add to your devotional feelings ; 

 but, independent of this, you employ a servant 

 to carry your net and gaff, and he, at least, 

 has a right to rest on this one day. But even 

 if you could perfectly satisfy yourself as to the 

 abstracted correctness of the practice, the 

 habits of the country in which we now are form 

 an insurmountable obstacle to the pursuit of 

 the amusement : by indulging in it, you would 

 excite the indignation of the Highland pea- 

 sants, and might, perhaps, expiate the offence 

 by a compulsory ablution in the river. 



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

 rule never to shock the prejudices of any per- 

 son, even when they appear to me ridiculous , 

 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 



