284 THE COUNTRY CLERGYMAN. 



hovel peeping out, its props made of the white 

 wood of the birch, and thatched with ling from a 

 neighbouring henth, in which his hardy cow found 

 shelter during the rigour of a winter's night. There 

 might also be seen the children of the woodcutter 

 in all their wild simplicity. They were strange 

 little beings, looking puzzled and alarmed when a 

 stranger approached them. They would then run 

 to their mother for protection, and it was not till 

 sheltered by her side, that they ventured to look 

 at the object of their dread. 



There had long existed among the less enlight- 

 ened portion of its neighbourhood, a superstitious 

 feeling in regard to the rocky wilds amidst which 

 our anglers were now rambling. Unfortunately for 

 the removal of the prejudice against " the rocks," 

 it was never a matter of necessity to cross them, as 

 they did not lie immediately in the road between 

 any two frequented spots. Had not this been the 

 case, custom would soon have done its work, and 

 fear would no longer have lurked in the breasts of 

 those peasants, who, with cautious step, passed 

 along this sequestered spot. Dr. Hastings was well 

 acquainted with it, and also with a curious being 

 who dwelt, and had done so for many long years, 

 in the most secluded part of this secluded region. 

 To the mysterious habits of old Judith Duncan, 

 the insulated Inhabitant of the rock, might perhaps 

 be attributed the greater part of the superstitious 



