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The Annals of the Parish-Part17_John Galt(1779-1839)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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time past, grew a lordliness on their part, that was an ill return

for the years that I had endured no little inconveniency for their



sake. It was not in my heart or principles to harm the hair of a

dog; but when I discerned the austerity with which they were



disposed to treat their minister, I bethought me that, for the

preservation of what was due to the establishment and the upholding



of the decentadministration of religion, I ought to set my face

against the sordid intolerance by which they were actuated. This



notion I weighed well before divulging it to any person; but when I

had assured myself as to the rectitude thereof, I rode over one day



to Mr Kibbock's, and broke my mind to him about claiming out of the

teinds an augmentation of my stipend, not because I needed it, but



in case, after me, some bare and hungry gorbie of the Lord should be

sent upon the parish, in no such condition to plea with the heritors



as I was. Mr Kibbock highly approved of my intent; and by his help,

after much tribulation, I got an augmentation both in glebe and



income; and to mark my reason for what I did, I took upon me to keep

and clothe the wives and orphans of the parish, who lost their



breadwinners in the American war. But for all that, the heritors

spoke of me as an avaricious Jew, and made the hard-won fruits of



Mrs Balwhidder's great thrift and good management a matter of

reproach against me. Few of them would come to the church, but



stayed away, to the detriment of their own souls hereafter, in

order, as they thought, to punish me; so that, in the course of this



year, there was a visible decay of the sense of religion among the

better orders of the parish, and, as will be seen in the sequel,



their evil example infected the minds of many of the rising

generation.



It was in this year that Mr Cayenne bought the mailing of the

Wheatrigs, but did not begin to build his house till the following



spring; for being ill to please with a plan, he fell out with the

builders, and on one occasion got into such a passion with Mr



Trowel, the mason, that he struck him a blow on the face, for which

he was obligated to make atonement. It was thought the matter would



have been carried before the Lords; but, by the mediation of Mr

Kibbock, with my helping hand, a reconciliation was brought about,



Mr Cayenne indemnifying the mason with a sum of money to say no more

anent it; after which, he employed him to build his house, a thing



that no man could have thought possible, who reflected on the enmity

between them.



CHAPTER XXVIII YEAR 1787

There had been, as I have frequently observed, a visibleimprovement



going on in the parish. From the time of the making of the toll-

road, every new house that was built in the clachan was built along



that road. Among other changes hereby caused, the Lady Macadam's

jointure-house that was, which stood in a pleasant parterre,



inclosed within a stone wall and an iron gate, having a pillar with

a pineapple head on each side, came to be in the middle of the town.



While Mr Cayenne inhabited the same, it was maintained in good

order; but on his flitting to his own new house on the Wheatrigs,



the parterre was soon overrun with weeds, and it began to wear the

look of a waste place. Robert Toddy, who then kept the change-



house, and who had, from the lady's death, rented the coach-house

for stabling, in this juncture thought of it for an inn; so he set



his own house to Thomas Treddles the weaver, whose son, William, is

now the great Glasgow manufacturer, that has cotton-mills and steam-



engines, and took, "the Place," as it was called, and had a fine

sign, THE CROSS-KEYS, painted and put up in golden characters, by



which it became one of the most noted inns anywhere to be seen; and

the civility of Mrs Toddy was commended by all strangers. But



although this transmutation from a change-house to an inn was a vast

amendment, in a manner, to the parish, there was little amendment of



manners thereby; for the farmer lads began to hold dancings and

other riotous proceedings there, and to bring, as it were, the evil



practices of towns into the heart of the country. All sort of

licence was allowed as to drink and hours; and the edifying example



of Mr Mutchkins and his pious family, was no longer held up to the

imitation of the wayfaring man.



Saving the mutation of "the Place" into an inn, nothing very

remarkable happened in this year. We got into our new manse about






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