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Extracts from the Session-Book of Hutton Parish, a.d. 

 1649-1677. By James Hardy. 



The oldest Session-Book of Hutton is a thin, small quarto, 

 commencing 13th May, 1649, and closing 8th April, 1677. 

 There is a leaf wanting, containing from March 24th to 

 May 30th, 1650; and a blank from May 29th, 1653, to 

 January 1st, 1654, and there are two leaves misplaced in 

 the binding. It is in a very small compact character of 

 writing, and can be all deciphered except places where the 

 bottom and top of the pages are blemished by damp. This 

 book, kept during the ministry of Mr. Patrick Home, was 

 written by David Home, schoolmaster and session clerk, up 

 to May 14th, 1676, at which elate another takes up the pen 

 and contributes a leaf and a half. The entries are brief, 

 cases of church discipline being most detailed, the writer 

 apparently being interested in those petty processes, in 

 which evidence was led. Little incidental information can 

 be elicited relative to the public transactions of that troubled 

 period of national history. The interval experienced several 

 momentous changes — Cromwell's conquest of Scotland — 

 Charles II. crowned, dethroned, and finally restored — epis- 

 copacy introduced against the general will — rebellion of the 

 westland Presbyterians — and an undergrowth of discontent 

 constantly fermenting ; — but all the while the parish peace 

 continued unbroken. 



I shall present the notices under separate heads, with 

 such explanatory remarks as lie within immediate reach. 

 Further extracts may be given on a future occasion. Some 

 dates of local occurrences and public works are here sup- 

 plied, hitherto unknown to topographers ; now and then 

 glimpses are obtained of the state of the country and the 

 misfortunes to which it had been subjected ; and we have 

 some manifestations of rural manners two hundred years 

 ago, that we look for in vain in the pages of the historian. 

 Hutton was a model parish, strictly kept in order by an 

 earnest minister and a diligent eldership, and few cases of 

 open misconduct shew their head ; although it is far from 

 being free from that crop of private delinquencies, that form 

 the staple of such documents as this. In the early part of 

 the book there had been a session-meeting every first day 

 of the week, to take cognizance of offences among the 

 parishioners, and to reckon the day's collection. In the 

 the latter years the entries of the church collections prepon- 



