for his
school exercises, and acquired, under the tuition of _Roaring Jock_, the
dominie of the parish, a tolerable proficiency in the rudiments of
literature. The guidman, being an elder of the kirk, was often at the
minister's manse, and the bairns from Mains were occasionally invited to
tea on the Saturdays and play-days; and Paplay, the minister, (was so
denominated, from the name of a small estate of which he was the laird),
showed great favour to the "auldest callant," and often conversed with
him about the subject of his reading. In these circumstances, and
considering the religious character of the Mains family, it was almost
a matter of course that Willie should be destined by his parents, and
prompted by his own predilections, to "the ministry." And, by the advice
of Paplay and Roaring Jock, Willie was sent to the Marischal College at
Aberdeen, where he gained a bursary at the competition, and prosecuted
his studies with assiduity, until, at length, in the fulness of time, he
became a licentiate of the church.

The only thing I remember to have heard connected with this period of my
father's life, was his anecdotes of Paplay's eccentricities, which were
numerous--some of them personal, and some of them the peculiarities of
the old school of clergy in Scotland. He was a pious and orthodox man;
but withal had a tincture of the Covenanter about him, blended with
the aristocratic and chivalrous feeling of a country gentleman of old
family. In the troubled times, about the years 1745-6, he was a staunch
Whig; and so very decided in his politics, that, when "Prince Charlie's
men" had the ascendancy in Scotland, he was either in arms or in hiding;
and when he ventured to preach, he wore his sword in the pulpit, and a
blue coat, girt with a belt, in which a pair of pistols were hung--more
like a man of war than a preacher of peace! Even after the defeat at
Culloden, the Jacobitism of the north was so strong, and Paplay was so
obnoxious, by reason of his vehement preaching against popery, and
prelacy, and the Pretender, that he continued long after to wear his
sword (in the pulpit and elsewhere), which was rather a formidable
concern to the nonjurors about him, in the hand of a brave and athletic
champion of true Whiggery. He assigned three reasons for wearing his
sword after it seemed to some of his friends to be unnecessary:--"First,
because I am a gentleman; secondly, because I can use it; and, thirdly,
because, if