Granting it to
have been so, one would have thought that the laird, owing to his
retiring situation, would have been the one that inclined to the
stern doctrines of the reformers; and that the young and gay dame
from the city would have adhered to the free principles cherished
by the court party, and indulged in rather to extremity, in
opposition to their severe and carping contemporaries.
The contrary, however, happened to be the case. The laird was
what his country neighbours called "a droll, careless chap", with a
very limited proportion of the fear of God in his heart, and very
nearly as little of the fear of man. The laird had not intentionally
wronged or offended either of the parties, and perceived not the
necessity of deprecating their vengeance. He had hitherto
believed that he was living in most cordial terms with the greater
part of the inhabitants of the earth, and with the powers above in
particular: but woe be unto him if he was not soon convinced of
the fallacy of such damning security! for his lady was the most
severe and gloomy of all bigots to the principles of the
Reformation. Hers were not the tenets of the great reformers, but
theirs mightily overstrained and deformed.
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