 the fashion of the times, seven of the reverend guests were
allotted to one large barrack-room, which was used on such occasions of extended
hospitality. The butler took care that the divines were presented, according to
custom, each with a Bible and a bottle of ale. But after a little consultation
among themselves, they are said to have recalled the domestic as he was leaving
the apartment. »My friend,« said one of the venerable guests, »you must know,
when we meet together, as brethren, the youngest minister reads aloud a portion
of Scripture to the rest; - only one Bible, therefore, is necessary; take away
the other six, and in their place bring six more bottles of ale.«
This synod would have suited the »hermit-sage« of Johnson, who answered a pupil
who inquired for the real road to happiness, with the celebrated line,
»Come, my lad, and drink some beer!«
 
21 The power of appeal from the Court of Session, the supreme Judges of
Scotland, to the Scottish Parliament, in cases of civil right, was fiercely
debated before the Union. It was a privilege highly desirable for the subject,
as the examination and occasional reversal of their sentences in Parliament,
might serve as a check upon the Judges, which they greatly required at a time
when they were much more distinguished for legal knowledge than for uprightness
and integrity.
The members of the Faculty of Advocates (so the Scottish barristers are termed),
in the year 1674, incurred the violent displeasure of the Court of Session, on
account of their refusal to renounce the right of appeal to Parliament; and, by
a very arbitrary procedure, the majority of the number were banished from
Edinburgh, and consequently deprived of their professional practice for several
sessions, or terms. But by the articles of the Union, an appeal to the British
House of Peers has been secured to the Scottish subject; and that right has, no
doubt, had its influence in forming the impartial and independent character,
which, much contrary to the practice of their predecessors, the Judges of the
Court of Session have since displayed.
It is easy to conceive, that an old lawyer, like the Lord Keeper in the text,
should feel alarm at the judgments given in his favour, upon grounds of strict
penal law, being brought to appeal under a new and dreaded procedure in a Court
eminently impartial, and peculiarly moved by considerations of equity.
In earlier editions of this Work, this legal distinction was not sufficiently
explained.
 
22 i.e. They are
