nd there was a heaviness in the tread,
and a solemnity in the looks of every one, that showed how widely the
shadows of coming woes were darkening the minds of men.

But though the Court of Commission, which the apostate James Sharp
procured to be established for the cognisance of those who refused to
acknowledge the prelatic usurpation, was, in its proceedings, guided by
as little truth or principle as the Spanish inquisition, the violence
and tyranny of its awards fell less on those of my degree than on the
gentry; and it was not till the drunkard Turner was appointed general of
the West Country that our personal sufferings began.

The curates furnished him with lists of recusants; and power having been
given unto him to torment men for many days, he was as remorseless as
James Sharp's own Court in the fines which he levied, and in eating the
people up, by sending his men to live upon them at free quarters, till
the fines were paid.

In our neighbourhood we were for some time gently dealt with; for the
colonel who, at Ayr, had the command under Turner, was of a humane
spirit, and for a season, though the rumour of the oppressions in
Dumfries-shire and Galloway, where the drunkard himself reigned and
ruled, dismayed and troubled us beyond utterance, we were still
permitted to taste of the Gospel pastures with our own faithful
shepherd.

But this was a blessing too great in those days to be of a continuance
to any flock. The mild and considerate gentleman, who had softened the
rigour of the prelatic rage, was removed from his command, and in his
place came certain cruel officers, who, like the serpents that were sent
among the children of Israel in the desert, defiled our dwellings, and
afflicted many of us even unto death. The change was the more bitterly
felt, because it was sudden, and came upon us in an unexpected manner,
of which I will here set down some of the circumstantials.

According to the usage among us, from the time when Mr Swinton was
thrust from the ministry, the parish had assembled, on the third Lord's
Day of May, in the year 1665, under the big sycamore-tree at Zachariah
Smylie's gable, and which has ever since been reverenced by the name of
the Poopit Tree. A cart served him for the place of lecture and
exhortation; and Zachariah Smylie's daughter, Rebecca Armour, a godly
widow, who resided with him, had, as her custom was in fine weather,
ordered and arranged all the stools and chairs in the h