60 Transactions. 



Strange as it may seem, we have heard of a preacher him- 

 self falling asleep in the pulpit while delivering his sermon. 

 On the previous day he had been dining with a nobleman in 

 the parish, and had afterwards played at cards with him till a 

 late hour, when he returned home. Next day in the pulpit 

 towards the end of his discourse, a drowsy stupor suddenly 

 fell upon him, and he called out, " Hearts is trumps, my 

 Lord," to the great amazement of the congregation, but im- 

 mediately recovering himself, he exclaimed, " I say, let our 

 hearts triumph in the Lord !" and thus adroitly got out of 

 his awkward position. Sleeping in the pew is bad, but sleep- 

 ing in the pulpit is worse ; and when there is drowsiness in 

 the one it is natural to expect nodding heads in the other. 



As clocks and watches were not so common then as now, 

 and as sermons were not read, the preacher had no idea how 

 the time was going ; a sand-glass was therefore erected on a 

 stand in front of the precentor, whose duty it was when run 

 out to hold it up before the minister as a hint that his ser- 

 mon should come to a close. Though this piece of antiquity 

 is not now found in our churches, a representation of it is 

 occasionally met with in our churchyards on the gravestone 

 of some forgotten worthy, where, along with pick and spade, 

 it symbolizes the end of life and the grave. 



After the blessing was pronounced the minister bowed 

 from the pulpit to the principal heritors according to the 

 right of precedence. Two heritors in the parish of Lanark 

 so keenly disjDuted about the right to the first bow that the 

 matter was referred to the presbytery, who forbade the min- 

 ister to bow any more in the church, and admonished the two 

 heritors with regard to their conduct for the future. Dr. 

 Wightman of Kirkmahoe paid a very complimentary remark 

 to Miss Miller of Dalswinton, who was greatly noted for her 

 beauty, and who rallied the minister one day for not bowing 

 towards her on the previous Sunday when she alone was in 

 the family pew. " I beg your pardon," he replied, " but you 

 surely know that angel worship is forbidden in the Church of 

 Scotland ;" and, lifting his hat, passed on. 



