128 N1M ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



character almost at first sight. This is eminently conspicuous 

 in Mr. Adam Hay, and your readers will give me credit for the 

 assertion from the relation of one little anecdote. I forget what 

 led to the remark, but it must have been something in allusion 

 to gentlemen leaving town for the country, when the session of 

 Parliament is at an end. " When / was in Parliament/' said he, 

 " I read in the Morning Post, that Adam Hay, Esq., had left 

 town for his seat in Scotland. They ought to have said For 

 his three-legg'd stool in the Bank." 



In a sportsman's diary Sunday is generally a dies non : but 

 this was not the case with me to-day. For the first time in my 

 life, I submitted myself to the discipline of the Scottish kirk. 

 It appeared like putting the cart before the horse, instead of the 

 horse before the cart, to hear the sermon precede the prayers ; 

 and the men all with their hats on looked queer to me \ but this 

 matters little, provided the end be answered. I must say I never 

 saw a congregation more devout than this, or a country church 

 more full. The style of the sermon, as well as the prayers, was 

 extemporary and declamatory, all very well now and then, and 

 always well if accompanied with the touching eloquence of a 

 Chalmers, but I cannot help thinking, that if a clergyman can 

 preach a tolerable sermon out of book, as the saying is, he would 

 preach a much better in one. The subject this day was one I 

 have heard discussed before namely, that poverty is better than 

 riches, a doctrine that always reminds me of Seneca, with his 

 belly-full (no man I believe had a better cook than he had), 

 preaching against the good things of this world, and showing us 

 the distinction between precept and example. But " Credat 

 Judseus non ego? nor do I imagine the incumbent of Oxenford 

 to be exactly of this opinion, as I was given to understand that 

 if a living becomes vacant within two days' journey of the 

 mi-nis-ter's mare, a hint is given to the patron, that it would not 

 be unacceptable to this would-be Diogenes. But, as Shake- 

 speare says, 



" Lowliness is young Ambition's ladder, 

 Whereto the climber upwards turns his face : 

 And when he once attains the upmost round, 

 He then unto the ladder turns his back, 

 Looks at the clouds, scorning the base degrees, 

 By which he did ascend." 



All I can add is, if anyone is inclined to swap riches for poverty, 

 I am his man for a deal. 



After the service, Captain Keith, Mr. Hay, and myself, walked 

 round the noble domains of Oxenford Castle (General Sir John 



