Then, Oh! it is a grand prize for him, an' a proud Deil he
is, when he gangs hame to his ain ha', wi' a batch o' the souls o'
sic strenuous professors on his back. Aye, I trow, auld Ingleby,
the Liverpool packman, never came up Glasco street wi' prouder
pomp when he had ten horse-laids afore him o' Flanders lace, an'
Hollin lawn, an' silks an' satins frae the eastern Indians, than
Satan wad strodge into Hell with a packlaid o' the souls o' proud
professors on his braid shoulders. Ha, ha, ha! I think I see how
the auld thief wad be gaun through his gizened dominions, crying
his wares, in derision, "Wha will buy a fresh, cauler divine, a
bouzy bishop, a fasting zealot, or a piping priest?" For a' their
prayers an' their praises, their aumuses, an' their penances, their
whinings, their howlings, their rantings, an' their ravings, here
they come at last! Behold the end! Here go the rare and precious
wares! A fat professor for a bodle, an' a lean ane for half a merk!'
I declare I trembled at the auld hag's ravings, but the lave o' the
kimmers applauded the sayings as sacred truths. An' then Lucky
went on: 'There are many wolves in sheep's claithing, among us,
my man; mony deils aneath the masks o' zealous professors,
roaming about in kirks and meetinghouses o' the land.
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