The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

28 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
an ordinary person; her ordinances, dry bran and sapless pottage* unfitted
for the spiritualized palates of the saints, and the prayer, an address to
Heaven, to which each acceded or not as in his too critical judgment he con.
ceived fit.
The elder amongst them sate or lay on the benches, with their high steeplecrowned hats pulled over their severe and knitted brows, waiting for the
Presbyterian parson, as mastiffs sit in dumb expectation of the bull that is
to be brought to the stake. The younger mixed, some of them, a bolder
license of manners with their heresies; they gazed round on the women,
yawned, coughed, and whispered, eat apples, and cracked nuts, as if in the
gallery of a theatre ere the piece commences.
Besides all these, the congregation contained a few soldiers, some in
corslets and steel caps, some in buff, and others in red coats. These men
of war had their bandeliers, with ammunition, slung around them, and
rested on their pikes and muskets. They, too, had their peculiar doctrines
on the most difficult points of religion, and united the extravagances of enthusiasm with the most determined courage and resolution in the field. The
burghers of Woodstock looked on these military saints with no small degree
of awe; for though not often sullied with deeds of plunder or cruelty, they
had the power of both absolutely in their hands, and the peaceful citizen
had no alternative, save submission to whatever the ill-regulated and enthusiastic imaginations of their martial guides might suggest.
After some time spent in waiting for him, Mr. Holdenough began to walk
up the aisles of the chapel, not with the slow and dignified carriage with
which the old Rector was of yore wont to maintain the dignity of the surplice, but with a hasty step, like one who arrives too late at an appointment, and bustles forward to make the best use of his time. He was a tall
thin man, with an adust complexion, and the vivacity of his eye indicated
some irascibility of temperament. His dress was brown, not black, and
over his other vestments he wore, in honour of Calvin, a Geneva cloak of a
blue colour, which fell backwards from his shoulders as he posted on to the
pulpit. His grizzled hair was cut as short as shears could perform the feat,
and covered with a black silk scull-cap, which stuck so close to his head,
that the two ears expanded from under it as if they had been intended as
handles by which to lift the whole person. Moreover, the worthy divine
wore spectacles, and a long grizzled peaked beard, and he carried in his
hand a small pocket-bible with silver clasps. Upon arriving at the pulpit,
he paused a moment to take breath, then began to ascend the steps by two
at a time.
But his course was arrested by a strong hand, which seized his cloak.
It was that of one who had detached himself from the group of soldiery.
He was a stout man of middle stature, with a quick eye, and a countenance,
which, though plain, had yet an expression that fixed the attention. His
dress, though not strictly military, partook of that character. He wore
large hose made of calves-leather, and a tuck, as it was then called, or rapier,
of tremendous length, balanced on the other side by a dagger. The belt
was morocco, garnished with pistols.
The minister, thus intercepted in his duty, faced round upon the party
who had seized him, and demanded, in no gentle tone, the meaning of the
interruption.
"Friend," quoth the intruder, "is it thy purpose to hold forth to these
good people?"
"Ay, marry is it," said the clergyman, " and such is my bounden duty.
Woe to me if I preach not the gospel - Prithee, friend, let me not in my
labour -
"Nay," said the man of warlike mien, "I am myself minded to hold
* See a curious vindication of this indecent simile here for the Common Prayer, in Note, p. 30.