112 THE CRUISE OF THE BETSEY ; OR, 



was quite sure of that, zealous in behalf of the Establish- 

 ment, though previous to the Disruption they had not cared 

 for it a pin's point, and prepared to justify the virtual sup- 

 pression of the toleration laws in the case of the Free Church. 

 I was thus decidedly guilty of what old Dr More calls a pro- 

 sopolepsia, 4. e. of the crime of judging men by their looks. 

 At dinner, however, we gradually ate ourselves into conver- 

 sation : we differed, and disputed, and agreed, and then dif- 

 fered, disputed, and agreed again. I found first, that my 

 chance companions were really not very high Tories ; and 

 then, that they were not Tories at all ; and then, that the 

 younger of the two was very much a Whig, and the more ad- 

 vanced in life, strange as the fact might seem, very con- 

 siderably a Presbyterian Whig ; and finally, that this latter 

 gentleman, whom I had set down as an intolerant Highland 

 proprietor, was a respected writer to the signet, a Free Church 

 elder in Edinburgh ; and that the other, his equally intolerant 

 nephew, was an Edinburgh advocate, of vigorous talent, nmch 

 an enemy of all oppression, and a brother contributor of my 

 own to one of the Quarterlies. Of all my surmisings regard- 

 ing the stranger gentlemen, only two points held true, they 

 were both gentlemen of the law, and both had Celtic blood 

 in their veins. The evening passed pleasantly ; and I can 

 now recommend from experience, to the hapless traveller who 

 gets thoroughly wet thirty miles from a change of dress, that 

 some of the best things he can resort to in the circumstances 

 are. a warm room, a warm glass, and agreeable companions. 

 On the morrow I behoved to return to Isle Ornsay, to set 

 out on the following day, with my friend the minister, for 

 Rum, where he purposed preaching on the Sabbath. To have 

 lost a day would have been to lose the opportunity of explor- 

 ing the island, perhaps for ever ; and, to make all sure, I had 

 taken a seat in the mail gig, from the postman who drives 

 it, ere going to bed, on the morning of my arrival ; and now, 



