s
of devout and popular men; and so the cause of the Establishment was
particularly strong in both town and parish. At the beginning of the
present century Cromarty had not its single Dissenter; and though a few
of what were known as "Haldane's people" might be found in it, some
eight or ten years later they failed in effecting a lodgment, and
ultimately quitted it for a neighbouring town. Almost all the Dissent
that has arisen in Scotland since the Revolution has been an effect of
Moderatism and forced settlements; and as the place had known neither,
its people continued to harbour within the Church of their fathers, nor
wished to change. A vacancy had occurred in the incumbency, during my
sojourn in the south, through the death of the incumbent, the respected
minister of my childhood and youth; and I found, on my return, a new
face in the pulpit. It was that of a remarkable man--the late Mr.
Stewart of Cromarty--one of at once the most original thinkers and
profound theologians I ever knew; though he has, alas! left as little
mark of his exquisite talent behind him, as those sweet singers of
former ages, the memory of whose enchanting notes has died, save as a
doubtful echo, with the generation that heard them. I sat, with few
interruptions, for sixteen years under his ministry; and for nearly
twelve of these enjoyed his confidence and friendship.

I never could press myself on the notice of superior men, however
desirous of forming their acquaintance; and have, in consequence, missed
opportunities innumerable of coming in friendly contact with persons
whom it would be at once a pleasure and an honour to know. And so, for
the first two years, or rather more, I was content to listen with
profound attention to the pulpit addresses of my new minister, and to
appear as a catechumen, when my turn came, at his diets of catechising.
He had been struck, however, as he afterwards told me, by my sustained
attention when at church; and, on making inquiry regarding me among his
friends, he was informed that I was a great reader, and, it was
believed, a writer of verse. And coming unwittingly out upon him one day
as he was passing, when quitting my work-place for the street, he
addressed me "Well, lad," he said, "it is your dinner hour: I hear I
have a poet among my people?" "I doubt it much," I replied. "Well," he
rejoined, "one may fall short of being a poet, and yet gain by
exercising one's tastes and talents in the poetic walk