l8 AI^XANDER WIIvSON: POE^T-NATURALIST 



avoided when possible and endured when necessary, 

 A church service could not be missed without the 

 apprehension of seeing the peeking faces of the eld- 

 ers, and perhaps the minister also, at one's window, 

 and the fear of enduring the penalties of such dis- 

 covery. It was not strange under these conditions 

 that religion with many persons was a synonym for 

 much that was disagreeable. The rigid parental 

 regulations which were in vogue allowed little visit- 

 ing and few gaieties among the youths, and then, 

 as will always happen when youthful spirits are de- 

 nied their innocent channels of amusement, they 

 found some forbidden ways of outlet which were 

 not always so innocent. "Whistle an' I'll come to 

 you, my lad," became the accepted order of the day. 

 Such clandestine meetings, combined with the 

 Scotch law that an open avowal of marriage is all 

 that is necessary to make the bonds legal, naturally 

 resulted in a loose morality, and the troubles of poor 

 Bobbie Burns were indicative of the conditions that 

 frequently obtained. One has only to read the let- 

 ters and journals of the day to become convinced 

 of the vast extent of this immorality both in the 

 cities and in the country. 



"The English," said a Scotch lady to Capt. Ed- 

 ward Birt, "often take liberties after they are mar- 

 ried and seldom before; whereas the Scots women, 

 when they make a trip, it is while they are single, 

 and very rarely afterwards."* It was customary 

 in most parts of Scotland to require persons guilty 

 of immoral conduct to do penance by standing in 



* "Letters from a Gentleman in North of Scotland," by Captain 

 Edward Birt, 1759, I, p. 123. 



