urch; and, after the lapse of a few
months, he and Miss Jane Malcolm thought--although no other person
thought--that they might venture to enter into the holy bands of
wedlock, and, with frugality and mutual love in their household, look
forward to happiness in their humble and unambitious sphere of life.
This thought ended in deed--and they were married.

The tenor of a clergyman's life is, in general, even and unvaried,
consisting of a faithful and regular discharge of his peculiar duties.
Such, for some years, was the fate of William Douglas. He acquired the
confidence and affections of his humble flock--the esteem of his
brethren--the countenance of the neighbouring gentry--and even the
patronage of the great man, at whose table he was a frequent and
welcomed guest. Mrs. Douglas had presented him with two sons: and his
parents, advanced in years, were gathered to their fathers. This
bereavement was not unlooked for; but the first trial of life which
wrung his heart to the core, was a fatal illness which, in a few days,
snatched the object of his most tender affection from him.

Time passed on, and "brought healing on its wings." After the lapse of
several years, my father felt that it was not meet for man to be alone;
and, whilst he cherished the fondest remembrance of his first domestic
companion, he had too much good sense to go into the affectation of
continuing single during the rest of his life "for her sake;" more
especially as he had no female relative to whom he could confide the
maternal charge of his boys in their nursery days. He accordingly
discerned, in the daughter of one of his flock, a respectable farmer in
the neighbourhood, those personal attractions and amiable dispositions
which awakened his manly sympathies; and, too high-minded to stoop to
mercenary considerations, he married a second time, without hunting for
a _tocher_, as is sometimes imputed sarcastically to the Scottish
clergy. Isobel Wilson was lovely and virtuous.

About the time the American war ended, I came into this earthly part of
the universe; but nothing occurred for several years of my father's life
to diversify the peaceful enjoyments of his domestic life, or to
interrupt the conscientious and zealous discharge of his pastoral
duties. At length, however, a cloud gathered in the firmament, which
ere long burst on his head, in the wrath of his patron, the Earl of
Bellersdale.

Local, rather than general politics agitated the d