the influence assumed by
secular persons in exercising the rights of patronage, which they termed a rape
upon the chastity of the Church. They censured and condemned as Erastian many of
the measures by which Government after the Revolution showed an inclination to
interfere with the management of the Church, and they positively refused to take
the oath of allegiance to King William and Queen Mary until they should on their
part, have sworn to the Solemn League and Covenant, - the Magna Charta, as they
termed it, of the Presbyterian Church.
    This party, therefore, remained grumbling and dissatisfied, and made
repeated declarations against defections and causes of wrath, which, had they
been prosecuted as in the two former reigns, would have led to the same
consequence of open rebellion. But as the murmurers were allowed to hold their
meetings un-interrupted, and to testify as much as they pleased against
Socinianism, Erastianism, and all the compliances and defections of the time,
their zeal, unfanned by persecution, died gradually away, their numbers became
diminished, and they sank into the scattered remnant of serious, scrupulous, and
harmless enthusiasts, of whom Old Mortality, whose legends have afforded the
groundwork of my tale, may be taken as no bad representative. But in the years
which immediately succeeded the Revolution, the Cameronians continued a sect
strong in numbers and vehement in their political opinions, whom Government
wished to discourage, while they prudently temporised with them. These men
formed one violent party in the state; and the Episcopalian and Jacobite
interest, notwithstanding their ancient and national animosity, yet repeatedly
endeavoured to intrigue among them, and avail themselves of their discontents,
to obtain their assistance in recalling the Stuart family. The Revolutionary
Government, in the meanwhile, was supported by the great bulk of the Lowland
interest, who were chiefly disposed to a moderate Presbytery, and formed in a
great measure the party, who, in the former oppressive reigns, were stigmatised
by the Cameronians for having exercised that form of worship under the
declaration of Indulgence issued by Charles II. Such was the state of parties in
Scotland immediately subsequent to the Revolution.
    It was on a delightful summer evening, that a stranger, well mounted, and
having the appearance of a military man of rank, rode down a winding descent
which terminated in view of the romantic ruins of Bothwell Castle and the river
Clyde, which winds so beautifully between rocks and woods to sweep around the
towers formerly built by Aymer de Valence. Bothwell Bridge was at a little
distance, and also in sight. The opposite field, once the scene of slaughter and
conflict, now lay as