It is related of an honest farmer’s wife in Glenlyon, that one wet morning, as the decent matron was in the act of making the porridge for the family breakfast, she had an unexpected visit from an “uruisg,” who came in unceremoniously, cold, dripping with rain, and squatted herself close by the cheering fire. There the huge, slippery-skinned, uncouth monster lay, enjoying the genial warmth, but awkwardly impeding the worthy good-wife from cooking the family meal. Sadly annoyed at the monster’s impertinence, the good old lady lifted a ladleful of the boiling beverage from the pot on the fire, and poured it on the sides and thighs of her unwelcome guest, on which, the creature arose suddenly, darted off in a moment, upsetting tables and chairs, and exclaiming in pure Gaelic:— Ochan! loisg thu mi, chràidh thu mi, Led’ bhrochan teth, tana, gu’n stà; Ach fhad’s bhios uisg’ ann an Liobhain, Cha chriochnaich do pheanas gu bràth. A’ Chaillich gu’n mhodh, is gu’n nair ’S tu chiurr mi gu goirt, is gu searbh, Ach thig mi le armachd gu’n dàil, Is cuiream gu bàs thu gu dearbh! We ought to learn one lesson from this subject—gratitude to the Great Ruler, because we live in more favourable circumstances, and under the light and liberty of a preached Gospel. The press and the pulpit have now opened the eyes of men; the schoolmaster is abroad; and many superstitions by which past ages have been deluded have greatly vanished before the pure light of evangelic truth. In many quarters of the world they have disappeared before the lustre of that revelation which has brought the truth of immortality to light, and which impresses the imagination of man with truer notions and simpler imagery. We cannot but admire the dauntless courage of Paul when he boldly faced the Epicurean and stoic philosophers—when “he stood in the midst of Mars’ Hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious”. There he met a people, the most distinguished for the wisdom of their political constitution, for the brilliancy of their achievements, for the extent and variety of their learning, and for the refinement of their manners; yet a people who, amid all their glory and renown, were ignorant of the true God, and lived the blind and deluded victims of the grossest idolatry and superstition. [Illustration] FOOTNOTES [1] In corroboration of the main facts here stated, we quote the following from “Walford’s County Families of the United Kingdom”:—“FLETCHER, JAMES, Esq. of Rosehaugh, Ross-shire, son of the late Wm. Jack, Esq., by Isabel, dau. of the late Charles Fletcher, Esq., and brother of J. C. Fletcher, Esq.; _b._ 18—; _m._ 1852, Frederica Mary, dau. of John Stephen, Esq., niece of Sir Alfred Stephen, C.B., Chief Justice of New South Wales, and widow of Alexander Hay, Esq., of the 58th Regt.… He assumed the name of Fletcher in lieu of his patronymic on the death of his mother in 1856.”