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 BX 9225 .M45 W5 1897 
 Willcock, John, 
 A Shetland minister of the 
 eighteenth century, being 
 
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A SHETLAND MINISTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 
 
 BY 
 
 Rev. JOHN WILLCOCK, B.D., 
 LERWICK. 
 
Printed by T. & J. Man son, Lerwick. 
 
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CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 PREFACE - - - - ix 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY LIFE — SETTLEMENT IN DUNROSSNESS — 
 
 MARRIAGE— HIS WIFES DEATH 13 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 MINISTERIAL LABOURS 35 
 
 CHAPTER ni. 
 
 MEETING WITH WHITFIELD — PERILOUS SEA-VOYAGE 
 
 — SECOND MARRIAGE - . . ^4 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PUBLICATION OF' "THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURC« " 
 
 —FAMILY LIFE 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 RELATIONS WITH CO-PRESBYTERS — VIEWS ON 
 
 PATRONAGE— SUPPOSED GIFTS AS AN EXORCIST 79 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS ENTRIES IN "THE DIARY" - . - I03 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 VISIT OF MR HALDANE TO DUNROSSNESS— CLOSING 
 
 YEARS 117 
 
 APPENDICES 137 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 NO one can say that there has been any- 
 undue haste in pubh'shing a life of the 
 Rev. John Mill, formerly minister of Dun- 
 rossness, Sandwick, and Cunningsburgh. 
 It was not until 1887 that his Diary, 
 which contains the greater part of the 
 materials for his biography, was published 
 to the world. All who have read it must 
 have discovered that he was a man of great 
 strength of character, and of strongly mark- 
 ed individuality, and one who was calcu- 
 lated to leave a deep impression upon the 
 society amid which his long life was passed. 
 In the following short biography I have 
 drawn freely upon the Diary, and the notes 
 with which it is accompanied, Presbytery- 
 
X. Preface. 
 
 minutes, Session-minutes, etc., and have 
 also incorporated some of the numerous 
 traditions which are connected with Mr 
 Mill's name. Some of these may seem to 
 be rather trivial, and unworthy of a place 
 in a serious biography. But as such tradi- 
 tions are current in connection with his 
 memory I could scarcely omit them. They 
 serve to illustrate the superstitious beliefs 
 of a past generation, and also to remind us 
 of a now vanished time when a minister 
 was looked upon as a being of almost 
 supernatural authority and powers. 
 
 My thanks are due to a number of 
 friends who have kindly assisted me in 
 gathering together materials for my book. 
 The Rev. W. M'Vicar, Ordiquhill, Banff, 
 supplied me with interesting extracts from 
 the records of the Fordyce Presbytery; 
 and the Rev. Alex. Bayne, Tingwall, did 
 me the same kind office by searching 
 through the minutes of the Shetland Pres- 
 
Preface. xi. 
 
 bytery. From the Rev. W. Brand, Dun- 
 rossness, I have received a number of de- 
 tails drawn from Session-minutes in the 
 writing of his venerated predecessor. John 
 Bruce, Esq., of Sumburgh, was also good 
 enough to entrust to my care a MS. volume 
 containing sermons by Mr Mill, of which I 
 have made use. Gilbert Goudie, Esq., 
 Edinburgh, lent me the only known copy 
 extant of Mr Mill's published work, entitled 
 The Holy Catholic Church. The Rev. Geo. 
 Clark, Cunningsburgh, has helped me in 
 many ways. I am also indebted to J. M. 
 Goudie, Esq., Montfield, Lerwick, and A. 
 J. Tedder, Esq., Lerwick, for many sugges- 
 tions, and for help in correcting proofs ; 
 and to R. G. Sykes, Esq., Liverpool, for 
 the design of the title-page, which is pre- 
 fixed to this volume. I may say that the 
 little engraving on the title-page is from 
 Holbein's "Dance of Death," and is the 
 one entitled " Death and the Preacher." 
 
xii. Preface. 
 
 The scene depicted is probably something 
 like an interior of the Cross-Kirk of Dun- 
 rossness in the early part of Mr Mill's 
 ministry, when the Church was still un- 
 furnished with seats or pews. 
 
 In the Appendices I have given a quan- 
 tity of antiquarian details, many of which 
 may only be of interest to some of my 
 Shetland readers. I hope that others will 
 not find fault with me for encumbering my 
 pages with them, for I have acted on the 
 sound principle expressed in the words, 
 " Gather up the fragments that nothing be 
 
 lost." 
 
 JOHN WILLCOCK. 
 
 St. Ringan's Manse, 
 
 Lerwick, June 1897. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY LIFE— SETTLEMENT IN DUNROSSNESS— 
 MARRIAGE — HIS WIFE's DEATH. 
 
 NE of the most interesting vol- 
 umes published by the Scottish 
 History Society is the Diary of 
 of the Rev. John Mill, who for sixty-two 
 years was minister of the joint parishes of 
 Dunrossness, Sandwick, and Cunnings- 
 burgh, in the south of Shetland. Through 
 it we get curious glimpses of life in a re- 
 mote corner of the British Isles during the 
 period from the Rebellion of '45 down to 
 the French Revolution. A page or two in 
 the Diary has evidently been lost, as it 
 begins with a broken sentence ; but it has 
 suffered no other mutilation, and gives with 
 more or less fulness a narrative of the 
 
14 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 events in the writer's life from his twenty- 
 seventh year down to his ninety-first, to- 
 gether with many notices of interesting 
 occurrences in the h'ttle world about him, 
 as well as in that greater world outside 
 from which he was so isolated. I propose 
 to tell the story of his life, and to use as 
 materials for this purpose his Diary, sup- 
 plemented by information drawn from other 
 sources. 
 
 John Mill was born at Lerwick on the 
 23rd of February, 17 12. His father was 
 the Rev. James Milne, who was the first 
 minister of Lerwick after its separation 
 from the parish of Tingwall in 1701. (See 
 App. I.) He was the fifth of a family of 
 nine — two brothers and two sisters being 
 older, and two brothers and two sisters 
 younger than himself The eldest son, 
 James, died in infancy ; Andrew entered 
 " the service of government," and died in 
 London ; Margaret married a Mr John 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 15 
 
 Davidson, a Lerwick merchant (see App. 
 II.) ; Isabel died unmarried in Edinburgh ; 
 another James and a Laurence died, the 
 one in the East, and the other in the West 
 Indies ; Elizabeth married a Mr Farquhar, 
 a pilot in Lerwick, a trace of whom still 
 lingers in the name of a small property — 
 Glenfarquhar — on the south side of the 
 town ; while the name and fate of the re- 
 maining sister are unrecorded. The Rev. 
 James Milne died in 171 8, when John was 
 only six years of age ; but a merciful Provi- 
 dence saved the widow and orphans from 
 many of the hardships which so often fall 
 upon those who are thus bereaved. " My 
 father," says the writer of the Diary, " left 
 8 of us on a kind and gracious God, who 
 provided for us all, and his relict also." 
 
 It is probable that John Mill attended the 
 University of Aberdeen, though he himself 
 makes no mention of the fact, and though 
 the Matriculation Registers of King's and 
 
16 A Shetland Ministe?' of 
 
 Marischal Colleges do not contain his 
 name. The Registers of that period, how- 
 ever, are by no means perfect. His father 
 had many friends and connections in Aber- 
 deen and in the north of Scotland, so that 
 it is more likely that he went to that 
 University than to one more distant. After 
 he had completed his course in Arts and 
 Divinity, he was for seven years a school- 
 master at Cullen, and on the 14th Novem- 
 ber, 1739, he was licensed by the Presbytery 
 of Fordyce as " a preacher of the Gospel." 
 (See App. III.) The incumbency of Ler- 
 wick was vacant at this time, and Mr Mill 
 was very anxious to be nominated for it, but 
 his plans miscarried. The Earl of Morton, 
 who was lord superior of the islands and 
 patron of all the parishes in them, had pro- 
 mised to give him the living, but gave it 
 to Mr Thomas Miller, who was on the spot 
 at the time. Mr Mill reminded the Earl 
 of his promise, " but," he says, " he put 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 17 
 
 it ofif with this, that as I was not present 
 the Parish must be suppHed with a minis- 
 ter, and I should have the next settlement. 
 I looked upon it then as a great disappoint- 
 ment, but found afterwards it was rather a 
 kind Providence." This was not the only 
 disappointment Mr Mill had to undergo as 
 a probationer, as is evident from the fol- 
 lowing somewhat melo-dramatic story : — 
 "In my way from my friend's house from 
 Aberdeen, I called at a minister's house, 
 who proposed my being assistant to the 
 minister of Pitsligo in Buchan, who was 
 then thought to be in a dying condition. 
 My friends relished the offer, expecting to 
 get me settled in the minister's place if he 
 died ; and the gentleman who had some 
 connexion with my friends and nephew to 
 the patron being on his journey from Edin- 
 bro to the north, was addressed by the 
 Gordons of Old Aberdeen proferring him 
 a sinecure of £^o Ster. p. an. in their gift 
 
18 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 provided he obtained a presentation in 
 favours of a friend of theirs, which he em- 
 braced and gave his promise, not knowing 
 of the design formed in my favours. The 
 minister recovered by means of a receipt I 
 obtained from the Countess of Findlater, 
 and lived many years after, whereby they 
 met likewise with a disappointment." It 
 would seem as if it was after these under- 
 hand, not to say simoniacal, proceedings 
 came to light that the Countess's " receipt" 
 was employed with such a happy result ; 
 but no doubt this, if it were so, was only a 
 mere coincidence. 
 
 Mr Mill's friends got the promise of em- 
 ployment for him in connection with the 
 religious work carried on in the Highlands 
 and Islands, for supporting which, the 
 General Assembly received a royal grant 
 of ;^iooo each year. (See App. IV.) 
 This meant an itinerant life with the 
 modest salary of ^25 a year. But even this 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 19 
 
 post was forestalled ; for just when he had 
 got ready his testimonials for sending 
 south, " the Dutchess of Gordon prevailed 
 on the managers to grant it in favours of 
 another." With a touch of self-satisfaction, 
 for which, in the present imperfect con- 
 dition of human nature, none of us are 
 likely to blame him severely, he remarks 
 that " Providence so ordered that he was 
 settled before either of these young men," 
 — meaning both the young man whom 
 Mr Mercer, the minister of Pitsligo, foiled 
 by an unexpected recovery from illness, and 
 the other who succeeded in getting the 
 " itineracy." 
 
 For sixteen months, Mr Mill laboured in 
 Pitsligo, having full charge of the parish, 
 and though he found the work heavy, he 
 comforted himself with the thought that it 
 was a good thing for a man to bear the 
 yoke in his youth. At last he received 
 word from the Earl of Findlater husband 
 
20 A /Shetland Minister of 
 
 of the Countess, who possessed the wonder- 
 working " receipt," that he had obtained 
 from the Earl of Morton a grant of a living 
 for him in Shetland. It was that of the 
 joint parishes of Dunrossness, Sandwick, 
 and Cunningsburgh, a tract of country some 
 sixteen miles in length. To this charge 
 was added that of the Fair Isle, divided 
 from the mainland by twenty-four miles of 
 a dangerous sea. (See App. V.) The in- 
 timation of the appointment was accom- 
 panied with the suggestion that he should 
 repair thither with all convenient speed, 
 but Mr Mill was at first somewhat loath to 
 obey. The outgoing incumbent, Mr Max- 
 well (See App. VI.) was only too glad to 
 get away from Shetland. He had pre- • 
 sented a lamentable story of his grievances 
 to the General Assembly a short time be- 
 fore, and told of "the ruinous state of the 
 kirk, want of manse, glebe, grass, and non- 
 payment of stipend," and had regarded him- 
 
tlie Eighteenth Century. 21 
 
 self as fortunate in getting an appointment 
 to Rutherglen ; while his predecessor in 
 Dunrossness, Mr Hugens, who began his 
 ministry by being ordained in the church- 
 yard of Sandwick, for lack of a building, 
 had in like manner embraced the oppor- 
 tunity of removing from the district, and 
 had found shelter in more genial quarters. 
 Mr Mill thought, reasonably enough, that 
 these things had to be taken into account 
 before coming to a decision in the matter. 
 " As I understood," he says, '' the Laird 
 that paid the stipend out of the tithes up- 
 lifted by him was such a tyrant and 
 oppressor as obliged two ministers to re- 
 move to other parishes by transportation 
 (translation ?), and glad to be rid of him 
 through bad usage. I wrote the Earl by 
 post that I did not chuse to go there, and 
 would rather put up with a less income to 
 live in peace." The principal proprietor in 
 the parish was Robert Sinclair of Quendale, 
 
22 A Shetland Ministei' of 
 
 who was " disaffected to Church and State," 
 and as he collected the tithes out of which 
 the minister's stipend was paid, Mr Mill 
 had only too good reason to dread the dis- 
 comfort which had been the lot of his two 
 immediate predecessors. He was assured, 
 however, by the Earl of Morton's factor that 
 matters were now placed on a different foot- 
 ing, and that the management of the estate 
 of Quendale was in the hands of the pro- 
 prietor's son, John Sinclair, a young man 
 of good character. Mr Mill's friends in 
 Aberdeenshire, advised him to go to Shet- 
 land in the meantime, and held out to him 
 hopes of being " transported " later on to 
 some better living on the mainland. This, 
 probably, would have been effected, but for 
 the confusion into which affairs in Scot- 
 land were thrown by the Rebellion of '45. 
 When peace was restored, the project of 
 " transportation " was not revived, and Mr 
 Mill remained incumbent in Dunrossness to 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 23 
 
 the end of his days. 
 
 It was in June of 1742 that he arrived in 
 Shetland, but, though he had charge of the 
 parish from that time, he was not ordained 
 until the April of the following year. The 
 church of Dunrossness was in a dilapi- 
 dated state and had no seats in it, (see 
 App. VII.) ; that of Sandwick, where he 
 officiated as a rule every third Sunday, was 
 in ruins, and he had no manse ; and, to add 
 to his discomfort, the only house in which 
 he could be accommodated was that- of the 
 proprietor, a man, as already indicated, of 
 disloyal and anti - Presbyterian leanings. 
 The leading families in Shetland were, 
 indeed, at this time strongly inclined to 
 Jacobitism and Episcopacy, and preferred 
 the services of itinerating clergymen of 
 their own communion to those of ministers 
 of the Established Church. One of these 
 Episcopal clergymen, the Rev. John Hunter, 
 was a neighbour of Mr Mill's during the 
 
24 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 first eighteen years of his residence in 
 Dunrossness, but, curiously enough, we 
 find no mention of him in the Diary. (See 
 App. VIII). The overthrow of the hopes 
 of the Jacobite party is recorded in the 
 following terms. " In the latter part of 
 the year 1745, the rebellion broke out in 
 favours of a Popish Pretender. They got 
 the better of a small number of troops at 
 Preston Pans. The action at Falkirk 
 seemed a drawn battle. In the beginning 
 of 1746 they went to England, and took 
 in their way the town and Castle of Car- 
 lisle, which success in the beginning so 
 flushed the Jacobite party, and drew many 
 forth to their ruin (that otherwise would 
 not have joined their army) ; their strong 
 confidence everywhere boasting as if it 
 were a gained cause gave me strong hopes 
 that God would blast their designs, which 
 was done in the Battle of CuUoden, by 
 means of the Duke of Cumberland in 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 25 
 
 April thereafter ; for 'tis the glory of the 
 Most High to pour contempt on vain men 
 who speak as they would have it without 
 regard or submission to His sovereign 
 pleasure, letting them know that wherein 
 they dealt proudly He was above them ; 
 and instead of overthrowing our happy 
 Constitution in Church and State (as they 
 designed) served only to settle it on a 
 surer basis." During the Rebellion, Mr 
 Mill had to undergo a measure of perse- 
 cution. He was forbidden the use of his 
 church, and was obliged to preach in the 
 open air, as Sinclair of Ouendale wished 
 to prevent prayers being offered against 
 his king James HI. 
 
 Five years after, another illustration of 
 the working of Providence in punishing 
 evil-doers was offered Mr Mill in the dis- 
 asters that came upon the house of Quen- 
 dale. The estate went into sequestration, 
 and a lawyer in Lerwick, named Mr 
 
26 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 Horrie, had the management of it for 
 some years. Mr Mill had to take strong 
 measures for securing his own rights in 
 the matter of stipend, and was quite equal 
 to the occasion. He relates the circum- 
 stances in a vigorous and graphic manner. 
 " For his (Sinclair's) further mortification, 
 one Horrie whom he had oft employed to 
 keep off his creditors from getting their 
 just debts, etc., being appointed as factor 
 on his sequestrated estate by the Lords of 
 Ses.sion, this occasioned a bitter enmity 
 and bone of contention. My stipend had 
 been poorly paid before, and little better 
 now by his factor, who had on many 
 occasions discovered a malignant temper 
 and hatred of Gospel. My sister told me 
 he was going through Lerwick with com- 
 pany, drinking the rents and tythes, and 
 that if I didn't go to him I would get 
 nothing. I told her I would make him 
 come to me ; and having called a mes- 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 27 
 
 senger to give him a charge of horning,' 
 he came in all haste, and paid a good sum ; 
 and being assured that if he did not pay 
 me pointedly at every term, I would give 
 him a charge, and cause him to pay 
 interest for the same, which made him 
 more tame and friendly ever after, accord- 
 ing to the nature of the spaniel tribe, that 
 are more acted on from a principle of fear 
 than conscience or fear of God." 
 
 The process of " horning " was exe- 
 cuted by Mr Mill's orders against the 
 
 "• It is well-known that in Scotland, there was no 
 such thing as imprisonment for debt, except in 
 royal burghs. An admirable substitute for it, however, 
 existed in the process of "horning." "Horning," or 
 "putting to the horn," was the method of enforcing the 
 decrees of the civil courts. It was a public warning to 
 the debtor and all concerned, that failure to obtemper the 
 order of the king's court would be regarded as an act of 
 rebellion, on which imprisonment might follow, as for 
 treason. The process might be put in operation in some 
 cases without a decree : e.g.. The Act 1597, c. 232, 
 authorised the issue of "letters of horning" against 
 parishioners for building churchyard walls. So " horn- 
 ing " might be directed against heritors, to compel pay- 
 ment of stipend, and this was probably the nature of the 
 legal process above referred to by Mr Mill. 
 
28 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 heritors or proprietors of the parish, in 
 order to compel them to fulfil their obli- 
 gations, and erect a church at Sandwick, 
 and a manse at Dunrossness. Both were 
 built, and wood for this purpose, as well as 
 for seats for the church of Dunrossness, 
 was provided from the wreck in Quen- 
 dale Bay, of a Norwegian vessel laden 
 with timber. The new manse, however, was 
 accidentally burned to the ground shortly 
 after its erection, and this entailed a heavy 
 loss on Mr Mill, as all his books, furniture, 
 etc., were destroyed. A new manse was 
 built at his own expense, and he notes in 
 his Diary, that it cost him more than ;^20o 
 Sterling. 
 
 Having at last got a house, his next 
 care was to provide himself with a wife, an 
 undertaking which he found a considerable 
 difficulty in carrying out. His account of 
 his matrimonial adventures is very naive 
 He says he felt in duty bound to give the 
 
the Eightee7ith Century. 29 
 
 first chance to natives of his own country, 
 and made suit to some of those that 
 seemed most eh'gible, but was mistaken 
 in them. One of the young ladies pre- 
 ferred the addresses of a member of the 
 local aristrocacy, " who drew her to balls 
 and daft mirth." He warned her of her 
 danger, but finding her resolute, said " she 
 might take her swing." After this and 
 another disappointment, he began to dis- 
 trust his own judgment, and resolved to 
 commit himself to the guidance of Pro- 
 vidence. He was patient enough to bear 
 with equanimity the refusals he met with 
 in the North of Scotland, in Edinburgh, 
 and in Glasgow, especially as the objec- 
 tions, in most cases, were on the ground 
 of the great distance of Shetland from 
 home and friends. At last the difficulty 
 was solved. He went with another minis- 
 ter as Commissioner to the General As- 
 sembly, and was best man at his marriage. 
 
30 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 A few days after, a Miss Thompson, daugh- 
 ter of an Edinburgh bailie, came to call on 
 the new bride. The rest of the story let 
 Mr Mill himself tell. " We conveyed her 
 home, and had an invitation to drink tea 
 with her in the afternoon, which we ac- 
 cepted, and by frequent converse together 
 discovered such a tincture of real piety, 
 and finding that she had one of the best 
 characters from well disposed people who 
 knew her, I condescended at length that 
 my brother's (i.e. brother-minister's) wife 
 should make the proposal, which she was 
 so eager for, and gave her the preference 
 to her own friends, who were indeed well- 
 looked ladies ; but she said they were too 
 much set upon the gaities of the Town, and 
 would not suit my temper and manner of 
 life so well as Miss Thompson. This ap- 
 peared so ingenuous and disinterested as 
 served to confirm me in the choice, and 
 soon found to experience, blessed be His 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 31 
 
 worthy name, I was not disappointed. Be- 
 sides, this match proved a means of bring- 
 ing me into acquaintance with several pious 
 and judicious christians of different states 
 and conditions in Hfe, which has been a 
 great confort to me since, and of great use 
 in the common concerns of life, as none but 
 those of this stamp are much to be trusted 
 where the world is concerned." 
 
 The account he gives of his home-com- 
 ing and of the cares which he found were 
 not wanting, even in a married estate, is 
 worth quoting. " We had long waited an 
 opportunity of returning home. At last a 
 small vessel offered, and as I was anxious 
 to be at my charge, determined to risk all. 
 My dear wife would by no means stay be- 
 hind, though her friends were adverse to 
 her going at this season of the year, and 
 though her comrades and friends seemed 
 resolute against her going at first, yet, 
 when it came to the push they proved the 
 
32 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 reverse. We set out in the end of Decem- 
 ber, 1754, and had as fine a passage as if it 
 had been in the height of summer ; and O, 
 what a signal mercy it was, considering the 
 poor women were unaccustomed to sea 
 voyages. While others were talking of 
 risk and danger, I was not only serene and 
 composed, but enabled to look with con- 
 tempt on winds and waves as being per- 
 suaded they had no power over me, but 
 what was given from above. I left my 
 wife at Lerwick till the manse was got in 
 order for her reception ; supposing a mar- 
 ried state would ease me in a great measure 
 of worldly care. But I now found it rather 
 increased them. The charge of repairing 
 the manse straitened [us] a little, but we 
 soon got over it. The greatest plague was 
 with cross-grained naughty servants, being 
 thievish and mischievous, and liker wild 
 beasts than Christians. My wife being of 
 a delicate constitution couldn't bear the 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 33 
 
 fatigues of a labouring, and obstinacy of 
 such wretches as neither feared God or 
 regarded man." 
 
 The happiness which Mr Mill promised 
 himself at his marriage, and which, indeed, 
 he admits having enjoyed, though in a 
 modified degree, did not long continne. 
 In four years his wife's health gave way, 
 after the birth of her second child, and she 
 died in Lerwick on her way to Edinburgh, 
 where she had hoped to get more skilful 
 medical treatment than was to be had in 
 Shetland at that time. In a small MS. 
 volume' among "Addresses for Sacramental 
 occasions," prayers and lists of communi- 
 cants, &c., are to be found some verses com- 
 posed by him in commemoration of her. 
 
 The entry is as follows : — 
 
 Epitaph on Mrs Mill, who died 
 February 9th, 1758. 
 
 Eliz. Thompson, 3rd Daughter of Baillie 
 Thompson, Edinburgh. 
 
 In her was Christ the hope of glory form'd 
 
 1 In the possession of John Bruce, Esq., of Sumburgh. 
 
34 
 
 And Love to Jesus all her Bosom warm'd 
 Fair as the Morn, her bright Example shone 
 It's force Attractive as the Magnet Stone 
 In Each Relation of her Mortal Life 
 Tine Duteous Daughter and the Lovely wife 
 The tender Mother and the misstress kind, 
 The obliging neighbour and the Stedfast ffriend 
 To Social Graces all her Soul was turn'd 
 And Social Actions all her Life adorn 'd 
 If humble Souls, and those of heart Contrite 
 If patient Souls, and those to Christ unite 
 If Souls that follow peace and Sanctity 
 If Souls that Mercy love and Charity 
 If such Dear vSouls Commence Eternal Rest 
 "When loos'd from flesh, then hers is ever blest. 
 Sic mihi contingat vivere, sicque mori. ^ 
 [So may I live, so may I die.] 
 
 ^ Mrs Mill was buried at Lerwick, as is shown by 
 the following item, which appears in the "Acct. of fees 
 received for the New Velvet Mort Cloth, from 24th Feb., 
 1757, to 23rd Feb., 1758," by Magnus Fea, Kirk 
 Treasurer : — " Feb. 13th, at the Interment of Mrs 
 Millne, £ Scots 3," and a further item — "For the Bell 
 at Mrs Millne's interrment 8d." 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 
 
 N his settlement in the parish, 
 Mr Mill says, he found the 
 people generally rude and 
 ignorant ; but after a time, " by the hear- 
 ing of sermons, and examination, both 
 young men and maids were brought to 
 such a degree of knowledge that they 
 could scarce be put out upon any practical 
 question of divinity, in whatever shape it 
 was proposed"; and he charitably hoped 
 that some, at any rate, lived in an 
 habitual practice of these truths. Immedi- 
 ately after his ordination in 1743, he wrote 
 
36 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 a series of twenty-four addresses, or as 
 he calls them, " Speeches," to be delivered 
 at the Lord's Table ; and these are still 
 extant in the small volume already re- 
 ferred to. On the first page he appends 
 the note : " Tho' the Speeches were then 
 intended for the Sacramt, yet was it not 
 celebrated until 1749, by reason of the 
 unfitness of the people for that solemnity, 
 and want of Utensils, (fee." 
 
 Some idea of his faithfulness in deal- 
 ing with national and individual short- 
 comings is given us by an entry in his 
 Diary at a later date — '' In Septr., Octr., &c., 
 we had fine weather, and the best crop we 
 have had for 7 years past. But the peo- 
 ple were publickly warned to beware of 
 abusing it to God's dishonour, as they had 
 done before, by fidling and Ranting, glut- 
 tony, Drunkeness, and all unclean abomi- 
 nations, the usual concomitants there- 
 of, and thereby provoke a just and holy 
 
the Eighteenth Century., 37 
 
 God to send sore judgements on the land, 
 by famine and a plague, to sweep such 
 obstinate vermin off the earth into the pit 
 of destruction. The General Assembly- 
 having appointed a day of thanksgiving 
 on the 5th of Novr., in memory of the 
 Glorious Revolution in 1688, after 28 years 
 of most dreadful persecution under Charles 
 II. and James II. and their abettors, a 
 cursed malignant crew as ever was any- 
 where, I took the occasion on said day, 
 from text Exodus 13 and 3, to put the 
 congregation also in mind of the mar- 
 vellous interposition of Providence in 
 blasting the Spanish Armada, which they 
 called Invincible, and confident to make a 
 full conquest of our happy isle, and there- 
 by reduce the Kingdom again to Popery, 
 Arbitrary Power and Slavery ; and also of 
 the Gunpowder Plot which was laid by 
 Jesuit villains for the same mischievous 
 end, and to thank a good God, also, for 
 
38 A /Shetland Minister of 
 
 the good crop, &c., all which seems to make 
 little impression on the generality, who are 
 as obstinately bent on their evil courses as 
 ever." 
 
 In addition to the stated services in 
 his church at Dunrossness, Mr Mill, as has 
 been already said, officiated at Sandwick 
 every third Sunday, in the building which 
 he had forced the heritors to erect there. 
 The inhabitants of Cunningsburgh, the 
 most northerly of the parishes under his 
 care, repaired thither on the days when 
 Divine service was held there. The 
 Church at Cunningsburgh, which was 
 situated in the grave-yard still in use, has 
 long disappeared. The only notice of it 
 which survives dates from 7th July, 1603, 
 when, at a district court held in Dunross- 
 ness, one David Leslie was tried and 
 punished for having made use of it as a 
 byre for cattle. "It is try it that David 
 Leslie hes maist schamefuUie misusit the 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 39 
 
 Kirk of Cunnisburghe, and placeit his guidis 
 [i.e. cattle and other property] theirinto, 
 making the samen ane kow byre, for the 
 quhilk he is decernit to mak his repent- 
 ance in presence of the Minister and haill 
 congregatioune on Sunday nixt in sack- 
 clayth, and farder to pay XLs. to the King 
 for his offence." This district, including 
 Sandwick and Cunningsburgh, which Mr 
 Mill calls his "north parish," gave him 
 more trouble than the other part of his 
 diocese, and showed less results of his la- 
 bours. Thus he says in 1776, after thirty- 
 four years of pastoral work : " In October 
 14, I set out for examination of the north 
 parish, where gross ignorance and wicked- 
 ness abound, notwithstanding all the pains 
 taken on them, which shows that nothing 
 will effectually polish the rugged nature of 
 man except divine grace." The Cunnings- 
 burghers are still distinguished among the 
 Shetland crofters for the sturdiness and 
 
40 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 tenacity with which they claim and main- 
 tain their rights, and down-trodden land- 
 lords might easily be pardoned for think- 
 ing that very little change has taken place 
 in the " rugged nature " of the inhabitants 
 of that district since the worthy minister's 
 time. 
 
 The Fair Isle, which lies halfway be- 
 tween Shetland and Orkney, was also under 
 Mr Mill's charge, but his visits to it were 
 necessarily but occasional. It was then 
 the property of an Orkney proprietor, 
 Stewart of Brough, as, indeed, it continued 
 to be until 1866, when it was purchased by 
 Mr Bruce of Sumburgh. The lack of a 
 resident minister was to a certain extent 
 supplied by the services of itinerant 
 preachers, in connection with the scheme 
 already referred to for providing religious 
 ordinances in outlying and necessitous dis- 
 tricts, and by the schoolmasters in the is- 
 land, who, from time to time, acted as 
 
the Eiyhteenth Century. 41 
 
 catechists. Some of the visits which Mr 
 Mill paid to it are thus recorded. " I 
 went for Fair Isle, May 1753, in order 
 to administer the sacrament to that people, 
 which I could never get the itinerant minis- 
 ter to undertake. A Dutch fishing vessel 
 took us on board, together with our boat, 
 in Quendal Bay, and brought us within a 
 few miles of the Isle, and then put out our 
 boat, &c. The wind and tide was contrary, 
 the night coming on, and a mist forming on 
 the top of the Isle. I was seized with a 
 strong fear, as if the Lord was going to 
 cast us away, which made me entertain 
 constant discourse with the boatsmen on 
 pious subjects ; and growing cold, I desired 
 them to put me ashore at the north har- 
 bour, which lay nearest Upon landing I 
 began to muse, on my way to the houses, 
 and was suddenly filled with a rapture of 
 heavenly joy, which made me cry out in 
 praise to my kind and gracious Saviour, 
 
42 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 the sweet and lovely Jesus, who had here- 
 by dispelled all my doubts and fears, and 
 given such courage and strong confidence 
 in Him. After walking almost the length 
 of the Isle, I came to the largest Vill- 
 age, and finding the people in bed, knocked 
 at one of the doors where smoke ascended 
 from the fire, which to my great surprise 
 proved the Kirk Officer's house, who got up 
 in all haste, and conveyed me to the baillie's 
 house, where I lodged. I first examined 
 all the people, and then the communicants, 
 and preached about 19 times during the 
 twenty days I remained there, yet was 
 wonderfully upheld and carried through — 
 blessed be His worthy name who increases 
 strength to them that have no might." 
 Again, " in 1769," he says, " I went for Fair 
 Isle in the beginning of June, and having 
 examined the whole youth of the isle, and 
 also young communicants, the Sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper was celebrated on 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 43 
 
 June the nth, and Providence favoured 
 with a proper opportunity of returning once 
 and again, upon the morrow after the 
 Thanksgiving Day,^ thanks to God for all 
 His mercies, especially for His unspeakable 
 gift, for of Him, and through Him, and to 
 Him are all things : to whom be glory for 
 ever and ever. Amen. There seemed to be 
 some good Christians there. One woman, 
 ifl particular, told me something of her 
 experiences, and a considerable number of 
 them accompanied me to the boat, at my 
 departure, with singular expressions of 
 affection." In May, 1778, amid many de- 
 pressing circumstances connected with his 
 own family and with public affairs that he 
 places on record, he has sad news to tell of 
 matters in the Fair Isle. " Wickedness," he 
 says, "abounded there also ; 'tis said Brough 
 the proprietor brought in a [person of bad 
 
 1 The service an Monday after the Communion 
 Sunday. 
 
44 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 character] who set him up against the best 
 people of the isle, for discountenancing 
 their wickedness, which prompted him to 
 give them warnings for removal : — the Sab- 
 bath was profaned, the kirk fallen. Shall 
 I not visit for these things etc." This last 
 sentence is of course an adumbration of 
 divine judgments upon evil-doers. 
 
 On his visit on July 2nd of the following 
 year he found that matters were as bad as 
 rumour had described them, and his narra- 
 tive of his proceedings there is painted in 
 somewhat sombre colours. " I repaired," he 
 says to the Fair Isle, where I preached two 
 Sabbath days successively, joined two pairs 
 in marriage, baptized 5 children, and re- 
 buked two couples for [misconduct] publicly, 
 and several others for Sabbath profanation 
 for which reason I read from the pulpit the 
 present King George the 3rd's proclamation 
 against profanity and immorality. God had 
 blasted their crops for the two preceding 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 45 
 
 years, yet did they not return to Him. 
 Severals of the best Christians in the Isle 
 had left it, and therefore [I] had not free- 
 dom to celebrate the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper among them as formerly I 
 was wont to do. I found a considerable 
 decrease of the number of inhabitants : 
 four families were ruined, their houses 
 lying desolate, and three of the heads 
 thereof were drowned carrying into the isle 
 supplys for their families. I returned July 
 14th and found my family in their ordinary 
 — praise to His worthy name who also 
 afforded good weather for passage ; though 
 in my return under the isle, a blast of wind 
 filled the boat's sail, whereby the mast was 
 like to give way, and made one cry out of 
 returning back ; yet, having bound an oar 
 to the place affected, they ventured for- 
 ward, and it pleased a good God to grant 
 fair and easy weather all the way to our 
 designed landing-place. Soli Deo gloria." 
 
46 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 Mr Mill's last visit to the Fair Isle was paid 
 in the year 1793, when he was eighty-one 
 years of age. Stewart of Brough appears 
 in a more favourable light in the notice now 
 given of him. " July i ith Brough sent out 
 his bigg boat for me to Fair Isle, where I 
 spent two weeks, during which time I ex- 
 amined the Charity School, and all the 
 young people of the isle, on the principles 
 of religion — preached twice every Sabbath 
 day — ordained four elders — rebuked and 
 dismissed from discipline, two delinquents, 
 and distributed to the poor the money 
 collected on these two Lord's days. 9 
 children were likewise baptized there." It 
 was six years before the inhabitants of the 
 Fair Isle heard another sermon from a 
 regular minister — the Rev. James Haldane, 
 concerning whose visit to Shetland I shall 
 have something to say further on.^ 
 
 1 In App. IX I print an extract from the Presbytery 
 minutes containing a petition from the minister of Walls, 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 47 
 
 It seemed to Mr Mill that mankind at 
 large, and the inhabitants of his part of 
 Shetland in particular, were, as a rule, sunk 
 in a deep spiritual lethargy, from which it 
 was scarcely possible for them to be aroused 
 by the most vehement exhortations or by 
 the most appalling visitations of Providence. 
 Thus he says : " It grieved me much to 
 find so little stir among the dry bones, the 
 generality here and elsewhere being so im- 
 mersed in the body and world that the 
 most rousing sermons and awful alarming 
 providences make no impression on their 
 blind heads and obstinate hearts, though a 
 pestilential fever that began in 1758 raged 
 for several years, which, together with the 
 small-pox in 1761, carried off upwards of 
 
 in which he complains that Mr Mill monopolises the 
 services of the itinerant missionary, whose services should 
 have been equally divided among the inhabitants of 
 Foula, Fair Isle, and the Skerries. Mr Mill's reply 
 to the petition is also given. The documents are interest- 
 ing as containing accounts of the condition of matters in 
 these isolated districts and also some characteristic utter- 
 ances of Mr Mill's, 
 
48 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 200 young and old ; yet alas made but 
 little impression. In February and March 
 said year by a long tract of snow and severe 
 weather numbers also were cut off, horses 
 sheep and cattle. Great scarcity of victual 
 ensued, while the sea yielded no fish ; and 
 by reason of a great drought, the cows 
 yielded little milk, whereby the inhabitants 
 were generally brought to great straits, as 
 a just judgement for abuse of plentiful 
 seasons by gluttony and drunkenness, which 
 oft broke out in scandalous uncleanness of 
 all sorts. Nor was any suitable improve- 
 ment made of such awful dispensations in 
 any serious and hearty concern for salva- 
 tion and preparation for the Day of Judg- 
 ment and Eternity — every one looking 
 about them how breaches might be made 
 up in the loss of husband, wife or child 
 etc." A philosophical observer might have 
 been moved to admire the tenacity of 
 human life in such conditions. 
 
tJte Eighteenth Century. 49 
 
 One piece of good work in the way of 
 defending the right of some poor widows 
 against the greed of an oppressor, was done 
 by Mr Mill. The rent of a small piece of 
 land had been devoted by one of his pre- 
 decessors to help to maintain the four 
 widows in the parish of Dunrossness who 
 were in most necessitous circumstances. 
 After many years, during which the money 
 had been used for the purpose for which it 
 was bequeathed, a descendant of the donor 
 seized upon it on the ground that he was 
 rightful heir to the property. The energetic 
 proceedings taken by Mr Mill to foil this 
 iniquitous proceeding are thus described by 
 him in the Diary. " After my settlement, 
 being informed of a piece land that had been 
 mortified for behoof of four poorest widows 
 in the parish, and that one James Forbes, 
 a shipmaster, had seized the said fund for 
 his own behoof, I gave in a complaint to 
 the Sheriff, Sir Andrew Mitchell, in a court 
 
50 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 held at Ness Kirk, where Forbes foresaid 
 compeiring pretended he was nearest heir 
 to Mr James Forbes, minister, whose relict 
 (who left that deed of mortification) was 
 only a liferentrix and had no power to do 
 so. To this I replied that the deed was 
 legally done, and never quarrelled before, 
 which supposed she was invested with full 
 powers, and that the nomination of the 
 widows, and payment of the fund had been 
 in the Session's possession time immemorial. 
 Notwithstanding this, the Court members 
 joined with him and looked on it as a gained 
 cause. Nay, and some of the elders con- 
 nected with his friends sided with him, but 
 soon repented of this, as he took both lands 
 and moss [i.e., peats] over their heads, and 
 put the poors' money in his own pocket. 
 But noways daunted or discouraged with 
 these puffs and blasts, I was determined to 
 prosecute the affair to the utmost, rather 
 than suffer the poor widows to be^ deprived 
 
tJie Eighteenth Century. 51 
 
 of what they had such a good title to ; and 
 therefore laid the matter as it stood before 
 the Procurator of the Church, who wrote 
 me in return that I was in the right. The 
 Knight, seeing this letter, said — Advocates 
 would be of different minds ; whereupon 
 I called for the Messenger, and desired him 
 to prosecute the affair before the Sheriff 
 Court, till it came to an Interloquitur, and 
 then I would write for an advocation, and 
 bring it before the Lords of Session, who I 
 hoped would do justice. Forbes, being in- 
 formed of my design, and suspecting it would 
 go against him came in all haste willing to 
 agree upon any terms I pleased, which, for 
 peace sake I granted, upon the old footing 
 of uplifting the yearly rent of 7 pounds 
 Scot's money from the tenant and paying 
 in the same at Candlemass to be distributed 
 by the Session. Otherwise, he should have 
 no further concern with it ; and though he 
 has oft failed yet I can't get it out of his 
 
52 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 hands for want of right magistrates." It is 
 gratifying to know that this * mortification ' 
 still exists and is applied to the charitable 
 purposes for which it was left. One cannot 
 help wishing for the sake of the four poorest 
 widows that the amount appointed for 
 their livelihood were larger, for £y Scots is 
 only IIS 8d. Ster. In an appendix (X) I 
 have printed a petition presented by Mr 
 Mill to the Presbytery in connection with 
 the case. 
 
 Mr Mill was in the habit, as the Session- 
 minutes indicate, of preaching for lengthen- 
 ed periods on the same text, Sunday after 
 Sunday.* Thus in one year he began on 
 April nth to preach from John VI-27, and 
 the Session-minutes testify that he continued 
 
 ^ This perhaps was a common custom in old days. 
 The last survival of it with which I am acquainted, was 
 that of a Shetland minister of this century, who is said 
 to have preached for about a year and a half on "the 
 twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees 
 at Elim " (Exod. XV-27), devoting a Sunday to each 
 well and tree. 
 
tJie Eighteenth Century. 53 
 
 to deliver sermons on that passage until 
 Oct. loth, when he " finished the subject." 
 On Nov. 14th of the same year he took up 
 Hag. II-7, and it was only on the 15th of 
 the following May that he was able to 
 record that he had " finished " that subject 
 also. It is difficult even for those who are 
 behind the scenes to understand what he 
 found to say on some of the later Sundays 
 of such periods. In the second part of this 
 volume (App. XI) I give part of a Com- 
 munion address by Mr Mill as a specimen 
 of his pulpit-style. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 MEETING WITH WHITFIELD — PERILOUS SEA- 
 VOYAGE — SECOND MARRIAGE. 
 
 HE year 1762 was a memorable 
 one in Mr Mill's life, though he 
 spent most of it out of Shetland, 
 as he then had the pleasure of hearing 
 Whitfield preach and of making his 
 acquaintance, began overtures with a view 
 of filling up the vacancy in his home caused 
 by the death of his wife, and had a most 
 perilous sea-journey from Leith to Lerwick. 
 In that year he was chosen as Commis- 
 sioner to the General Assembly and went 
 south to be present at its meetings. The 
 General Assembly is held at Edinburgh in 
 the month of May ; but Mr Mill must have 
 left home early in February, for he speaks 
 
A Shetland Minister. 55 
 
 of preaching for ten consecutive Sundays 
 " to the universal satisfaction of the hearers" 
 in various places in the north of Scotland 
 before he reached Edinburgh. Probably 
 he had taken advantage of some chance 
 vessel from Shetland to the mainland of 
 Scotland, for in those days there was no 
 regular communication between the two. 
 On this particular occasion he seems to 
 have been equally leisurely in journeying 
 home — whether from choice or from 
 necessity we are not informed. At the 
 beginning of September, he went to Dysart 
 and joined a vessel in which he expected 
 to get a passage home, but, after they had 
 started, contrary winds compelled her to 
 put back to Leith. The delay afforded 
 him the opportunity, which he gladly em- 
 braced, of hearing and meeting the cele- 
 brated English preacher. " Whereby," [i.e.f 
 by the return to Leith], he says, " very 
 providentially I had access to converse with 
 
56 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 and hear publickly the famous Mr Whitfield 
 four different times, first on these words 
 And they that were ready went in to the 
 marriage, and the doors were shut ; second 
 And we know that we are passed from 
 death to life ; the third The Scribes and 
 Pharisees murmured saying, This man 
 receiveth sinners and eateth with them : 
 and 4th Genesis ist and 2nd, And the 
 Earth was without form and void — the 
 drift of all tending to lead sinners to Christ 
 and promote pure and undefiled religion, 
 without regard to party notions, that so 
 many lay stress upon and shew a mighty 
 zeal for. He is a plain and affectionate 
 preacher, and discovers a singular talent in 
 keeping up the attention of the hearers 
 and moving their passions. As I had a 
 strong desire to see, hear and converse with 
 such a worthy man, so have reason to bless 
 God who ordered it to my great comfort 
 and satisfaction. Good people esteem, love 
 
the Eighteenth Century, 57 
 
 and speak well of him as they do of all 
 God's faithful ministers ; but the profane 
 herd of all sorts hate, ridicule, bely, and 
 slander him, and such like out of mere 
 enmity and malice. Thus the promise is 
 fulfilled in all ages, I will put enmity be- 
 twixt thy seed and her seed etc." There 
 was a strong vein of evangelical piety in 
 Mr Mill's religious life that disposed him 
 to welcome all manifestations of genuine 
 Christianity and to sympathize with every 
 attempt to do good to the souls of men. 
 At no period of his life does he seem to 
 have come under the influence of the cold, 
 latitudinarian spirit which was so prevalent 
 in England and Scotland during the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 The narrative of the perils he experienced 
 on his voyage home is very vividly told 
 and is worth repeating in his own words. 
 '* Upon the fourth day of September, on our 
 return, the sailors gave out early in the 
 
58 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 morning that they were off Mousa ; and 
 thus, when we were thinking of being soon 
 in our desired haven, I was suddenly roused 
 by a sea which broke through the cabin 
 window, and poured upon my head, which 
 J took up as a warning to get up and con- 
 sider our danger. When I came upon 
 deck, the mariners were calling to one 
 another to get the ship off shore and save 
 our lives. By the moonlight I supposed a 
 little cloud to be a rock at first, and so nigh 
 that we were in danger of going ashore 
 forthwith ; which made me dart up sudden 
 ejaculations to the Lord to save us, and 
 thereupon called upon the rest of the crew 
 below to come upon deck ; but the hellish 
 blasphemies of the cursed tars damning 
 one another put me in greater fear than the 
 danger we were in, and had it been dark, 
 as it was very providentially moon and 
 morning light, they had all perished in the 
 tideway of North Ronaldshay, and pro- 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 59 
 
 bably none of our lives had been saved, 
 and these had gone to hell with its langu- 
 age in their mouths. The main-sail was 
 entangled and couldn't be got hoisted, till 
 some got up the shrouds and set it to rights 
 again, which had occasioned so much stir 
 among them. Then I perceived to lie off 
 the quarter-deck, a good way off, the north- 
 most isle of Orkney, lying low in the water. 
 The tideway made a foul sea, and might 
 have broke a weaker vessel ; the wind 
 shifting at same time we got clear of both 
 North Ronaldshay and Sanday, and got a 
 safe harbour in the isle of Stronsay before 
 breakfast ; and this deliverance was the 
 more remarkable that, though we had 
 several shipmasters and a double crew on 
 board, they were so infatuate as to mistake 
 their reckoning, and ignorant of the place 
 we were in till clear daylight discovered it. 
 Besides, the wind soon rose so high that 
 we might have missed both countries for 
 
60 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 some time at least. After four days' stay 
 among a kind and hospitable people, we 
 loosed again, and reached Lerwick in 
 seventeen hours time. O that men would 
 praise the Lord for his kindness and 
 wonderful deliverances to the sons of men." 
 The desire to have his children carefully 
 brought up induced Mr Mill to look out for 
 a second wife, and he took advantage of his 
 visit to Edinburgh in 1762 to try to discover 
 a help meet for him. " Before I left Edin- 
 burgh," he says, " I was engaged in court- 
 ship with a Knight's daughter,^ who had the 
 character of a pious young lady ; but as our 
 acquaintance was short, we agreed to delay 
 the marriage till next spring, but before 
 that time another minister nigh Edinburgh 
 made offers of the same nature, which were 
 accepted of purely on this account to be 
 
 I Apparently Ann, third daughter of Sir John Jardine, 
 of Applegarth, Bart., who married the Rev. Robert 
 Fisher, minister of Hailes (Colinton), 29th Mar. 1763. 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 61 
 
 nigh her friends. Two other young ladies 
 equally agreeable were proposed by my 
 friends, then, but I chuse to be true to my 
 engagements." Eventually " Providence 
 furnished one suitable to my tastes. June 
 29, 1765 I was married for the second time 
 to Miss Ann Young, daughter to Mr 
 Robert Young, portioner^ at the Water 
 of Leith, by Mr John Erskine, minister of 
 New Greyfriars, Edinburgh. Tis remark- 
 able that she was proposed to me in 1754, 
 before I was first married ; and with this 
 view, one unknown to me desired her 
 mother to admit a visit, but she said she 
 would rather bury her daughter at home 
 than let her go at such distance ; therefore 
 keeped her in close dependence that she 
 might stay with her till death ; but now 
 when it came to the push in good earnest 
 
 1 i.e., proprietor of a small feu or portion of land. 
 The Water of Leith is a village near the Dean Bridge, 
 Edinburgh. 
 
62 A Shetland Minister. 
 
 by my own addresses Providence over- 
 ruled her by the unanimous concurrence of 
 some friends she most confided in. It was 
 further noticeable that she and another 
 agreeable young lady were proposed three 
 years before, and I was urged by my 
 friends at Edinburgh to make my addresses 
 to her, which I could not do then, being 
 engaged with another. But Providence 
 made a better choice for me in reserving 
 her to this time, giving a stronger proof of 
 her affection which was founded on better 
 grounds than the former [i.e., the affection 
 of the Knight's daughter], of no less worldly 
 advantages as to friends and means, and, 
 what I valued most, a person of substantial 
 piety." She survived her husband, and 
 died at Prestonpans, the 29th June, 18 16. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PUBLICATION OF ** THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH"— 
 FAMILY LIFE. 
 
 ;T is interesting to find that this 
 country minister, living in such 
 a remote district, was enterpris- 
 ing enough to write and publish a theo- 
 logical work. " Having some time ago," 
 he says, " formed a scheme of leaving some- 
 thing that might prove beneficial to the 
 souls of men after my decease, I took some 
 pains to write my sentiments on the 
 principles of religion and Christian liberty, 
 as to faith and practice founded both on 
 Sound Reason as well as on the Scriptures 
 of truth, confining the same to as narrow 
 limits as possible, to make it easy of pur- 
 chase, and for promoting a Catholick spirit 
 
64 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 of true Christianity, which is confined to 
 no party. Having thus completed my 
 design in two or three years, 1 carried the 
 manuscript to Edinburgh last year, and 
 put it into a judicious minister's hand for 
 perusal ; and after exchanging some letters 
 on the subject, he committed it to a printer, 
 a sensible good sort of man, who undertook 
 to put it in a proper dress, and accordingly 
 printed a thousand copies thereof for ;^50 
 ster. Jan. 1773, which I reckon the best 
 bestowed money that ever I laid out, if 
 through God's blessing (to whose good 
 Providence I do heartily commit it) the 
 little book shall prove a mean of gaining 
 but one soul to Christ Jesus, Amen." 
 
 The book was entitled " The Holy 
 Catholic Church," and was an octavo vol- 
 ume of some 341 pages. It was published 
 anonymously (see App. XH), and does not 
 seem to have had a very large circulation, 
 so that it is to be feared that the number 
 
tlie Eighteenth Century. ^^ 
 
 of copies sold did not repay him the ^50 
 he spent upon it. Only one complete copy 
 of it is now known to be in existence, — 
 that in the possession of Gilbert Goudie, 
 Esq., Edinburgh, who edited the Diajy. 
 It contains a summary of Christian doctrine 
 and practice, the latter being conveyed in 
 the form of an elaborate description of the 
 duties implied in the Ten Commandments. 
 To it are added a few forms of prayer for 
 week-days and Sundays, together with 
 graces to be said before and after meat. 
 At the end of each chapter there are por- 
 tions of hymns and sacred poetry, most of 
 which are " copied from Dr Watt's hymns, 
 Milton's paradise lost. Young's last day 
 and night-thoughts, Blair's grave, a poem, 
 and other celebrated authors." Some of 
 them are Mr Mill's own compositions, but 
 as the authors' names are never attached 
 to the pieces, it would be a work of con- 
 siderable difficulty to discover which are 
 
Q^ A Shetland Minister of 
 
 his. The use to be made of this part of 
 the work is suggested in the preface. 
 " Perhaps it would not be improper, nay 
 might be attended with no small advantage, 
 if the reader would be pleased, after a care- 
 ful perusal of each head, to commit the 
 poems to memory, the meditation and 
 repetition of which would be an agreeable 
 entertainment to him, even when engaged 
 in his employment, or in the evening before 
 he falls asleep, and in the morning when 
 he awakes. Surely it would tend to keep 
 fresh in the mind a sense of divine things, 
 and contribute to keep one in the fear of 
 the Lord all the day long." 
 
 Though it is written in a vigorous style, 
 and is pervaded by a very commendable 
 spirit of affectionate solicitude for the high- 
 est welfare of those into whose hands it 
 may fall, the book cannot be said to have 
 great theological or literary value. The 
 following extract, which contains the sec- 
 
tlie Eighteenth Century, 67 
 
 tion dealing with " the particular Duties 
 incumbent on Husband and Wife," gives a 
 fair illustration of its general character. In 
 these days, when in many quarters some- 
 what revolutionary ideas of the relation- 
 ship in question have taken root, Mr Mill's 
 exhortations may seem out of date. His 
 words, however, may have at least an anti- 
 quarian interest attaching to them. " i . 
 Though the husband is privileged with 
 authority over the wife, derived from God 
 himself, therefore called her lord and master, 
 her head and guide (a) ; yet the best way 
 to maintain his authority in honour and 
 comfort, as becomes a good husband, is to 
 shew a tender regard to his wife, as her 
 companion and yoke-fellow, by a kind, 
 familiar, and amiable carriage, intrusting 
 her with the management of his household 
 affairs, which most properly belongs to her, 
 
 {a) Gen. III., i6 ; I Pet. III., 6; Est. L., 22 
 I Cor. XL, 3; Prov. II., 17. 
 
68 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 as mistress of the family, for giving meat 
 to her household, and stretching forth her 
 hands to the poor and needy, commending 
 and rewarding what is well done by her 
 {b.) Nay, all his counsels and commands, 
 directions and reproofs also, when necessary, 
 and however just and reasonable in them- 
 selves, should be mixed with mildness ; de- 
 fending her to the utmost of his power 
 from all injurious treatment of every kind, 
 and securing her in a livelihood propor-' 
 tioned to her wealth or income, after his 
 death ; showing hereby a ready disposition 
 of mind to do her all the good offices in 
 his power ; which will have a natural tend- 
 ency to work in his wife a reverent and 
 dutiful respect to him. Whereas, on the 
 contrary, a rough and stern, a cruel and 
 bitter carriage, studying by violence and 
 tyranny to maintain his authority, and put- 
 ting her under unlawful restraints, as if she 
 
 {b) Prov. XXX., II, 28, 29. 
 
tlie Eighteenth Century. 69 
 
 was his slave, and not his wife, has a natural 
 tendency to breed inward hatred and con- 
 tempt. 
 
 2. Though the man is by the woman, as 
 well as the woman is of the man, as the 
 apostle speaks (c) ; yet being created after 
 him, and for her good, she ought to be in 
 subjection to him, as God has expressly 
 appointed (^), esteeming him worthy of 
 double honour, when he acts' for her good, 
 as above related, and evidencing her respect 
 by a readiness to obey his commands, and 
 redress what is done amiss, and justly re- 
 proved by him. In short, she should study 
 to please him in all things that are lawful, 
 and not displeasing to God ; carrying her- 
 self in a sober and sincere, a mild and 
 modest, a courteous and obliging manner, 
 which is also the best method to reduce a 
 husband to reason when he offends. The 
 contrary of this conduct is that of proud, 
 
 (cj I Cor. XI-I2. (dj I Pet. III-i. 
 
70 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 imperious wives, who usurp authority over 
 their husbands, and must have their will 
 humoured, whether right or wrong ; other- 
 wise they behave in a sullen, frowning 
 manner, shewing a contempt of their hus- 
 bands authority by words or deeds, either 
 to their faces or behind their backs, thereby 
 perverting the very order of nature, and 
 overturning the foundations of all family 
 duties ; and proving bad patterns to chil- 
 dren and servants," (pp. 170, 171). 
 
 Naturally enough, Mr Mill formed a more 
 favourable opinion of the piety of those who 
 bought his book, than he otherwise might 
 have done ; thus, he says of three whaling- 
 captains, who had each taken a copy from 
 his sister in Lerwick, that " they savoured 
 much of real piety, which shews that God 
 has his remnant sometimes among the worst 
 of people, as these rough tarrs seem to be." 
 Another purchaser, one George Tocher, a 
 wandering " merchant" from Aberdeen, who 
 
the Eighteenth Century. ' 71 
 
 took a hundred copies to seU again, would 
 probably have remained in the author's 
 good graces, if he had not been discovered 
 to be at the same time secretly making love 
 to one of his daughters. 
 
 Mr Mill does not seem to have been very 
 happy in his family life. Evidently he was 
 a man of somewhat rigid and stern demean- 
 our, as he, unconsciously perhaps, gives us to 
 understand from his remark that a young 
 man, whom he had checked for offering to 
 take a dram without first asking a blessing, 
 "gave loose reins to daft mirth" immediately 
 after leaving his presence. But in carrying 
 out the education of his two daughters — 
 his only children — he was laxer in practice 
 than in theory. For in addition to " sewing, 
 and the working of stockings, writing and 
 arithmetic" (it is instructive to notice the 
 order in which the subjects are named), 
 they got lessons in dancing (!). Perhaps 
 he afterwards thought that his weakness in 
 
72 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 allowing them to learn this worldly accom- 
 plishment was to blame for the frivolity 
 which he regretted to notice in them. The 
 poor girls were indeed to be pitied. They 
 could not help coming under the influence of 
 their father's genuine, but narrow and 
 puritanical piety ; and yet, at the same 
 time, they could not sever themselves from 
 the light-heartedness and love of pleasure, 
 which they felt were irreconcilable with it, 
 but which were only natural to their youth 
 and sex. There is something pathetic in 
 this unhappy conflict of feelings, which 
 appears in the following notice of his 
 elder daughter, when she was about twenty 
 years of age. "In said month I met with 
 a very agreeable surprise from my eldest 
 daughter Nell's putting into my hand a 
 written account of her conversion, which 
 seemed to be genuine and true ; and it was 
 the more remarkable that not long before 
 she was much given to dress, diversions, 
 
tJie Eighteenth Century. 73 
 
 and encouragement of young frothy men 
 to make suit to her, which she seems now 
 to be grieved for, and to look down upon 
 with a holy contempt and disdain." Not 
 long after she incurred his serious dis- 
 pleasure by her marriage with the George 
 Tocher above named. Mr Mill was very 
 indignant when he found out that they were 
 secretly engaged, but was unable to pre- 
 vent their marriage. When all his efforts 
 proved to be in vain, he concluded that 
 there was a hand of Providence in it, and 
 decided to submit to the inevitable ; but 
 he was neither present at the marriage, nor 
 allowed it to take place in his house. The 
 event and his feelings in connection with it 
 are recorded in the Diary in the following 
 terms : " November 20th, 1777, My daugh- 
 ter Nell, the eldest, was married at Cullea- 
 ster, [in Sandwick], by the minister of Ler- 
 wick, to George Tocher, Merchant in Aber- 
 deen, contrary to my inclinations. He 
 
74 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 came here under a pretence of settling a 
 correspondence for traffick with this coun- 
 trey, June 1776. It appears they had then 
 been mutually engaged, and were carrying 
 on a secret correspondence by letters, and 
 she had the impudence to desire him to 
 come over at this dangerous season to be 
 joined to her in marriage ; and no means 
 essayed could dissuade them from it, 
 which made me passive in the affair, as 
 there seemed to be a hand of Providence 
 in it ; and though he could afford her no 
 settlement for life, yet as he appears to be 
 a sincere Christian I was afraid she might 
 do worse." His deep feeling of resentment 
 is indicated in a sentence he wrote in his 
 Diary at this point, but afterwards erased, 
 but which, unfortunately for poor NeU, is 
 still legible : " she was too forward in draw- 
 ing up with young men." 
 
 The only recorded objection to George 
 Tocher is that he was in poor circum- 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 75 
 
 stances. Mr Mill says, indeed, that 'he 
 appeared to be a sincere Christian '; but 
 this fact did not weigh with him so much 
 as one might have expected. Such a re- 
 mark, as generally used, is more akin to 
 censure than to panegyric, as it is common- 
 ly employed when nothing else can be said 
 in a man's favour. 
 
 Mr Mill's gloomy forebodings were only 
 too literally verified, for, eight years after 
 the marriage, we find this melancholy 
 paragraph in the Diary. " Though my 
 eldest daughter got 25 £ Ster. at Edin. 
 when she came to meet with me, having 
 two of her children with her, for relief in 
 her present straits, whereof she was fore- 
 warned, and now found to sad experience, 
 yet I had letters lately signifying their 
 family was in danger of perishing for want, 
 if not seasonably supplied. Whereupon I 
 ordered 60 £ Ster. more as her portion by 
 her mother, or in lieu of that, to give them 
 
76 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 jCi$ Ster. per annum for 5 years to come 
 for family support. They have a boy and 
 girl dead and two boys alive." In Feb., 
 1786, he writes — " Said month, had a letter 
 from Peterhead giving accounts that George 
 Tocher died at New Bythe the 29th of 
 December and had left my eldest daughter 
 Nell a poor destitute widow, with a son 
 seven years old called John — the other two 
 sons and a daughter, all younger, were dead 
 some time before. A loud call to die daily 
 to sin, &c., and make ready for departing 
 hence." 
 
 The only other notices that remain of 
 Mrs Tocher is that she was her father's 
 executrix and evidently inherited the bulk 
 of his property — over ^2000 in value — and 
 that she was for long a member of the con- 
 gregation meeting in the Tabernacle, Leith 
 Walk, Edinburgh, of which the Rev. Jas. 
 Haldane was founder and first minister. 
 
 The references he makes to his younger 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 77 
 
 daughter, Bell, are briefer, but equally un- 
 satisfactory. In July 1780 he says: "I 
 received the best news I have heard of a 
 long time, that my youngest daughter Bell 
 was under deep convictions of Sin, both 
 original and actual, and as attended with 
 several hainous aggravations. May the 
 Lord of his infinite mercy for Christ Jesus 
 his sake, bring this law work to a happy 
 issue in his good time, that she may glorify 
 His great name in time and through 
 Eternity, Amen." He afterwards added 
 the remark, " I was afraid that these con- 
 victions would wear off, which alas, seems 
 to be the case, as no good effects yet 
 appear." She died unmarried at the age 
 of forty-two, on the 27th of April, 1798. 
 
 It is often said that priests who live a 
 celibate life are all the more efficient 
 servants of God and of their congregations 
 because of their freedom from family ties. 
 But a story, which a respected correspond- 
 
78 A Shetland Minister. 
 
 ent^ has sent me, strikingly shows that Mr 
 Mill did not allow the claims of natural 
 affection to interfere with the discharge of 
 his sacred duties. " It was," he says, " a 
 tradition in our family in Dunrossness that 
 my grandfather had arranged with Mill to 
 baptize my father's oldest sister, his eldest 
 child, the first Sunday after she was born. 
 As Mill's daughter Bell died during the 
 week and the funeral had not taken place, 
 my grandfather thought that Mill would 
 not be at church, and therefore did not 
 come forward with his child. The next 
 time that Mill conducted service in our 
 parish my grandfather took the child to 
 church, and the minister enquired why he 
 had not kept his engagement. On learn- 
 ing the reason he chided my grandfather, 
 and said, ' Did ye think that the death of 
 my daughter was going to prevent me 
 from doing my duty at church ?' " 
 
 1 W. P. Goudie, Esq., Derby. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 RELATIONS WITH CO-PRESBYTERS— VIEWS ON PATRON- 
 AGE— SUPPOSED GIFTS AS AN EXORCIST. 
 
 R MILL'S relations with his 
 brethren in the ministry may 
 be described as those of per- 
 manent misunderstanding ; and, as we have 
 only his account of disputes with them in 
 which he was involved, it might be rash to 
 conclude that he was always in the right. 
 He declares more than once in his Diary 
 that he was a lover of peace ; but in some 
 respects he was like a native of a sister-isle, 
 who said " that peace he would have, if he 
 had to fight for it" His utterances about 
 his brethren may be branded as uncharit- 
 able by some, yet one cannot help feeling 
 
80 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 that there is something refreshing in his 
 vigorous denunciations, especially when 
 they are contrasted with the unreal, and 
 greasy phraseology which is now so much 
 in vogue. " Three of my nearest neigh- 
 bours among the clergy," he writes in 1770, 
 " moved with enmity, malignity, and wrath 
 against me for reproving some things that 
 were scandalous in their conduct etc. being 
 met in Presbytery, they shewed their teeth 
 and enmity by appointing me to supply in 
 a vacant parish [Sandsting] about 23 miles 
 distance, in the month of January, when it 
 was with difficulty that I could supply my 
 own people, tho' one of these members was 
 within three or four miles of said parish 
 Kirk, and the other two ministers about as 
 much more from Sandsting ; but I wouldn't 
 go till they all went first." A sad state of 
 matters is disclosed in a paragraph dated 
 iyyt^\ — "August 27th, the Sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper was celebrated at Sand- 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 81 
 
 wick, which I was obliged to set about 
 alone,^ being disappointed of two of the 
 nearest clergymen who dreamed that I 
 could not do without them, and thereupon 
 turned very saucy, under a groundless pre- 
 tence that I showed not such respect to 
 their wives as they deserved. But like 
 draws to like. They supposed they would 
 get their bellies stuffed nearer home, and 
 go on with an empty form^ while the blind 
 lead the blind, and is the main drift (sie). 
 But blessed be his worthy name who carried 
 me as well through without them as with 
 them. My people thought themselves at 
 no loss, and [I] had more peace in my own 
 mind, as their conversation was rather 
 nauseous and stumbling than edifying on 
 such occasions. ... A young pro- 
 bationer was present who gave me no 
 
 1 In consequence of the numerous services on such 
 occasions the help of ministers from other parishes was 
 almost always sought. 
 
 2 Except, of course, in the matter of eating. 
 
82 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 assistance, and told me I would kill myself 
 with so much work, having preached six 
 times and served seven tables. I replied 
 that, in this event, I would die in a good 
 cause."' 
 
 A more serious conflict is recorded in 
 June, 1777. " Mr Mitchell, minister at 
 Tingwall, having told in the Presbytery 
 that Mr James Finlayson, minister at 
 Sandsting, had cried out in his congregation 
 at a Sacrament occasion — Away with that 
 false doctrine of original sin. Messieurs 
 Mair, Minister at Bressay, and Sands, 
 Minister at Lerwick, were present, and 
 heard the same ; and when I threatened a 
 prosecution, Mr Mair said he would join 
 me, and yet when I petitioned the Presby- 
 tery at this June meeting, to call him to 
 their barr, these three denied they heard 
 
 1 In our degenerate days the heart of a compassion- 
 ate spectator would be more likely to be wrung for the 
 hearers, 
 
tJie Eighteenth Century. 83 
 
 such expression, and Mr Sands said he 
 cried only — Away with all false teachers — 
 which greatly surprised me to find any, 
 especially men of their character, so double 
 and deceitful, so great a scandal and dis- 
 grace to their function, that I would be 
 loath to admit people of such dispositions 
 to a Sacrament or to the office of a lay 
 elder. As there were none present save 
 these three and the Clerk, they seemed to 
 have all connived together to prevent a re- 
 buke, which was all I intended at present, 
 to guard against the spreading of such in- 
 fectious doctrine ; which emboldened the 
 criminal to turn the chase, and threaten to 
 prosecute me as a slanderer, which did no 
 way intimidate me ; for had he made such 
 an attempt, I should not only have insist- 
 ed for these corrupt clergy being put on 
 oath, but many of the most sensible in 
 Tingwall parish etc." 
 
 On a subsequent page of the Diary, Mr 
 
84 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 Mill has a sad story to tell of the fate of 
 the Mr Jas. Finlayson whom he had pro- 
 posed to censure for speaking disrespect- 
 fully of the doctrine of original sin. 
 " Here," he says, " the clergy are generally 
 lax in principle and practice. . . '. . 
 They have laid aside examinations of their 
 youth and Communicants, and admit 
 scandalous persons to Sacraments, and 
 joined with rogues against me, in protect- 
 ing an erroneous member, one Finlayson, 
 formerly mentioned, who soon left the 
 countrey, in expectation of a great legacy 
 left by a brother of his wife's, wherein he 
 was disappointed, but having procured a 
 settlement in the Presbytery of Biggar of 
 50 £ Ster. per annum, was soon reduced to 
 such straits, through luxery,^ that he was 
 
 1 The folly of attempting to live a luxurious life on a 
 salary of ^^50 a year, especially when a numerous family 
 of children has to be provided for, scarcely needs to be 
 pointed out. A good old woman in Lerwick, who had 
 managed to provide things honest in the sight of all men 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 85 
 
 oblidged to apply for collections to the 
 support of a numerous family of children." 
 On one point Mr Mill was distinctly in 
 advance of his age, and that was in his 
 views on the matter of Patronage. He was 
 strongly in favour of the abolition of Pat- 
 ronage — a measure which was only carried 
 in the year 1874. In order to judge this 
 question fairly, we need to keep in mind 
 the fact that the existence of Patronage 
 was a violation of Presbyterian order and 
 constitution. From the Reformation on- 
 ward for three hundred years, the Church 
 struggled to get rid of this incubus. Her 
 view of matters was set forth in 1 560 in the 
 First Book of Discipline : " It appertain- 
 eth to the people and to every several 
 conereeation to elect their minister." The 
 
 out of a very meagre and precarious income, once re- 
 marked to her minister that ' she had not spent her mite 
 riotously.' Poor Mr Finlayson, it seems, succeeded for a 
 time in the difficult task of maintaining the r6le of the 
 Prodigal on an income not much in excess of that of the 
 Poor Widow, 
 
86 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 decision of the State is recorded in the 
 statutes of 1567, by which the Reformed 
 religion was established ; then it was or- 
 dained " that the examination and admis- 
 sion of ministers within this realm be only 
 in the power of the Kirk now openly and 
 publickly professed within the same — the 
 presentation of laick patronages always 
 reserved to the just and auncient patrones." 
 In 1649, during the Protectorate, Patronage 
 was abolished, and ministers of parishes 
 were directed to be called with the consent 
 of the congregation, but, in 1660, this liberty 
 was taken away. Again, in 1690, under 
 what is called the Revolution Settlement 
 of the Church, Patronage was abolished, 
 only to be restored in 171 2. There can be 
 little doubt that this last legal enactment 
 was due to the reactionary policy of the 
 Tory party, who were then very strong in 
 England, and who, as Jacobites and High 
 Churchmen, were anxious to curtail the 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 87 
 
 liberties of Presbyterians, and that it was 
 one of the acts of a conspiracy for the pur- 
 pose of bringing back the Stuart dynasty 
 to the throne. "It violated the Treaty of 
 Union, changed the Constitution of the 
 Church of Scotland against the remon- 
 strance of the Church itself, and has been 
 the cause or occasion of all the secessions 
 from the Church which have since occurr- 
 ed?" Of course every system of election of 
 ministers, including popular election, has 
 its drawbacks, but the system of Patronage, 
 as exercised in Scotland during the eight- 
 eenth century, was as bad as one could 
 conceive. It was made the means of for- 
 cing incompetent men, and often men of 
 doubtful character, into livings. So great 
 was the scandal, that, time after time, con- 
 gregations rose up in rebellion against the 
 settlement of the man whom the patron 
 had presented, and it was not at all un- 
 common for the Presbytery to be protected 
 
88 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 ^ a troop of soldiers, while they were en- 
 gaged in the sacred rite of ordaining a 
 minister, and appointing him to the charge 
 of a congregation. In 1785 an attempt 
 was made to have Patronage abolished, but 
 it fell through. Mr Mill says, under date 
 1787 : " Sad experience teaches how much 
 the Ministers of the Church of Scotland are 
 degenerate and fallen from the strictness of 
 former times, owing mostly to worldly 
 minded men •creeping in yearly by forced 
 settlements ; for which reason, in the year 
 1785, a Society at Edinburgh made an 
 attempt to get the Patronage Act rescind- 
 ed, and said year sent me over here a 
 bundle of printed papers with proposal and 
 Pamphlets written on the subject, in order 
 to scatter the same among our clergy and 
 gentry, for obtaining their Concurrence ; 
 but found they were so immersed in the 
 world and the flesh, that, Gallio like, they 
 cared for none of these things. However I 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 89 
 
 wrote out reasons and arguments at full 
 length showing the absurdity of obtruding 
 men on Parishes, that it was not only con- 
 trary to Christian liberty, but of dangerous 
 consequence to the souls of all concerned ; 
 and likewise the advantages attending a 
 contrary course ; which the whole members 
 of our Kirk Session approved of, and it was 
 signed and sent as from them. But when 
 it came before the General Assembly the 
 Patrons had got such a majority of friends 
 there that the design was dropped." Again, 
 in 1797, he says : " In Sept. 'tis very re- 
 markable that a gentleman, Alex. Spiers of 
 Elderslie, nominated 5 young men of good 
 characters to the parishioners. Heritors, 
 Elders, etc. of the Parish of Neilston, that 
 after a hearing of each of these young men, 
 assured them he would present the man 
 they should choose, and accordingly they 
 choosed Mr William Hood, Preacher of the 
 Gospel at Tarbolton. Happy would it be 
 
90 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 for Scotland and all Patrons that this ex- 
 ample was followed, and thereby avoid that 
 aggravated sin and guilt they bring on 
 their own souls by intruding nministers into 
 Parishes over the bellies of a reclaiming 
 people." 
 
 On one point, the venerable Shetland 
 minister seems to have been more in sym- 
 pathy with the superstition of the middle 
 ages than with modern thought, and that 
 is in his belief in demoniacal possession. 
 In the early part of his Diary he relates 
 several instances of the kind, which show 
 his credulity on this point. One of these is 
 so very curious as to deserve to be quoted 
 at full length. It comes in under the year 
 1755. " Meantime Satan raged exceeding- 
 ly, and got actual possession of two poor 
 women and a man. One of the women 
 was mute, and made no answer to what I 
 said ; and a friend asking her quietly the 
 reason, she said Satan would not suffer her 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 91 
 
 to speak, which indeed I suspected.' Then 
 Satan seemed to make use of her tongue 
 and said — The pulpit was upon the South 
 Side of the Kirk. I said it would continue 
 
 1 " Which indeed I suspected." An ordinary reader 
 would probably be curious to know how Mr Mill came to 
 suspect, as afterwards turned out to be the case, that he 
 had to do with Satanic operations. His phrase reminds 
 us of a similar case of subtle insight into supernatural pro- 
 cesses recorded in a strange tale told in Burton's 
 "Anatomy of Melancholy," " Philostratus, in his 
 fourth book, de Vita Apollonii, hath a memorable instance 
 in this kmd, which I may not omit, of one Menippus 
 Lycius, a young man twenty-five years of age, that going 
 between Cenchreas and Corinth, met such a phantasm in 
 the habit of a gentlewoman, which, taking him by the 
 hand, carried him home to her house, in the suburbs of 
 Corinth and told him she was a Phoenicean by birth, and 
 if he would tarry with her, he should hear her sing and 
 play, and drink such wine as never any drank, and no 
 man should molest him ; but she being fair and lovely, 
 would die with him, that was fair and lovely to behold. 
 The young man, a Philosopher, otherwise staid and 
 discreet, able to moderate his passions, though not this of 
 love, tarried with her awhile to his great content, and at 
 last married her, to whose wedding, amongst other guests, 
 came Apollonius ; who, by some probable conjectures, 
 found her out to be a serpent, a Lamia ; and that all her 
 furniture was like Tantalus' gold, described by Homer, 
 no substance, but mere illusions. When she saw herself 
 descried she wept, and desired Apollonius to be silent, 
 but he would not be moved, and thereupon she, plate, 
 house, and all that was in it, vanished in an instant ; 
 many thousands took notice of this fact, for it was done in 
 the midst of Greece." 
 
92 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 there as long as God pleased. He said I 
 made lies upon him, for which I called him 
 (as indeed he was) a damned rascal for his 
 lying impudence, and that I spoke the 
 truth which he cared not for. While I 
 spoke to the poor woman, he said I had no 
 business with her, — that she was Satan's. 
 I told him he could be assured of none till 
 they were actually damned. While I was 
 praying, he contradicted, saying — Grant 
 not that. But at last became mute after a 
 few sentences. The poor woman came to 
 her senses and was much concerned when 
 they told her she had spoken rudely to me, 
 not being aware that it was more the speech 
 of the enemy of souls than hers. Another 
 poor woman was much in the same case, 
 and during the possession brought forth a 
 child without any sense of pain." 
 
 In popular tradition exaggerated stories 
 have come down to us of his conflicts with 
 the Arch-enemy of mankind in bodily shape, 
 
tlte Eighteenth Century. 93 
 
 and of the power which he possessed over 
 his spiritual adversary. Thus, it is said, that 
 on one occasion Satan came into the Church 
 of Dunrossness, and took his seat at the 
 Communion table. The minister recog- 
 nized him, " and began to speak in all the 
 deep languages, and last of all in what was 
 guessed to be Gaelic, and that beat him 
 altogether. He went off like a flock of 
 ' doos ' {i.e. pigeons), over the heads of the 
 folk, out at the west door. Many of the 
 people swooned." At other times the Evil 
 Being took the form of black sheep or 
 swine, and tried to lure or drive persons 
 to destruction, usually by falling or throw- 
 ing themselves over the cliffs. Mr Mill 
 was always able, when at hand, to detect 
 the fiend, and deliver his victims. 
 
 The following story illustrates his skill 
 in foiling the devices of the Evil One. One 
 night, as Mr Mill was taking a walk in the 
 neighbourhood of Lerwick, he saw a woman 
 
94 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 among the rocks at the sea-shore holding a 
 lighted candle in her hand. At once sus- 
 pecting that Satan was at work, he clam- 
 bered down, and found a young woman, 
 who was evidently in great distress of 
 mind. When he enquired what she was 
 doing there at that time of night, she told 
 him that she was going to "cast hersel 
 away upo' da sea," for she had sold, herself 
 to the Devil, and that when the candle she 
 held was burned out, the Devil would come 
 to claim her. Quickly blowing out the 
 flame, Mr Mill seized the remaining stump 
 of the candle, and, putting it into his pocket, 
 he told her that he would dispose of it in 
 such a manner that it would never be 
 burned out. The young woman, being 
 satisfied by the assurance of the minister 
 that she was thus delivered from the power 
 of the fiend, willingly returned with him to 
 the town. Stories similar to this have been 
 related of others than Mr Mill, but the 
 
tJte Eighteenth Century. 95 
 
 following seems to be unique in its charac- 
 ter.' One day, it is said, a very respectable- 
 looking gentleman entered the house of a 
 tailor in Channervvick, and ordered a suit 
 of clothes, to be made out of cloth which 
 he brought with him. The order was taken, 
 and the day fixed when the clothes were to 
 be ready. The tailor's delight at having 
 such a fine gentleman for a customer was, 
 however, turned into perplexity and fear, 
 as he opened up the cloth, and found that 
 the colour kept constantly changing. He 
 at once sent for the minister, and laid the 
 matter before him. He was advised to 
 spread a sheet on the floor, and cut the 
 cloth upon it, so that none of the clippings 
 should be scattered about the room, and the 
 minister said that he would be present to 
 meet the stranger when he called to get the 
 clothes. The day came, and when the 
 
 1 See Life of the Rev. R. S. Hawker of Mo7imistow, 
 by S. Baring-Gould, p. 189. 
 
96 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 stranger entered the house, Mr Mill stepped 
 forward to meet him. A terrible contro- 
 versy ensued, and the respectable-looking 
 gentleman was swept out of the house in a 
 cloud of blue, sulphurous flame. It is not 
 recorded if he took the new suit with him. 
 A clue to his identification was furnished 
 by his accidentally striking his foot against 
 the door-step as he departed. The result 
 of the collision was that a mark as of a 
 cloven hoof, was imprinted on the stone. 
 
 As a permanent reminder of the hostility 
 cherished against him by the Arch-enemy, 
 it was said that Mr Mill always had the 
 wind in his face. One day he came up to 
 officiate at Sandwick, in the teeth, as usual, 
 of a pretty stiff breeze. An ordinary per- 
 son would naturally have expected the 
 wind to be in his back on the return journey. 
 But during the service the wind veered 
 round. Mr Mill's sole comment, as he 
 started for home, was, " It's all he can do." 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 97 
 
 In one respect, Mr Mill benefitted by the 
 penalty of always having the wind in his 
 face, for on his very numerous sea-journeys 
 he could always secure a favourable breeze 
 by sitting with his back to the head of the 
 boat. An old proverb says that " the Devil 
 is an ass." Certainly it seems as if, on this 
 occasion at any rate, he had overreached 
 himself 
 
 Something almost akin to vanity was ex- 
 cited in his mind by this standing warfare, 
 if the following story be true. On one 
 occasion, as he rode through the parish on 
 a native pony, followed by his man Hector, 
 a little black dog kept close behind them. 
 Hector got rather alarmed, but was re- 
 assured by his master's saying, " Tuts, man, 
 du needna fear : it's me he wants, no dee." 
 
 On one occasion, however, Mr Mill dis- 
 covered that his power of delivering the 
 " possessed " was but limited, and that the 
 evil spirit of self-righteousness was not 
 
98 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 amenable to it. " A schoolmaster in the 
 parish," he says, " came to me with a 
 written account of his conversion, as he 
 supposed ; and indeed it looked so like the 
 thing, and being of a regular walk and 
 seemingly tender conscience, that I took it 
 for granted, till such time as he called for 
 me at a countrey house where I was cate- 
 chising the people, among whom he stood 
 some time, and then retired and lay down 
 upon a bed, where I found him ; and asking 
 how matters stood, he spoke of a great 
 weight of heavenly joy. I said he was one 
 of the happiest people on earth, if that was 
 true, for it was a rare attainment, and that 
 only of some of the most eminent saints. 
 Then he said the Spirit made a second 
 attempt to enter in at his mouth, which, if 
 he had done, he could not have borne it. 
 Here I perceived a delusion and that Satan 
 had all the while been deceiving the poor 
 man, by transforming himself into an angel 
 
tlie Eighteenth Century. 99 
 
 of light I asked him how he could im- 
 agine that the Spirit of God behoved to 
 make His way in at our mouths, and 
 warned him to guard against such de- 
 lusions. Some days after he came to my 
 room in a great fright ; with his Bible 
 under his arm, and told me he could get no 
 rest in the night season, and heard one 
 walking on the roof of the house above his 
 head ; that he heard the report of a gun 
 fired at his ear and saw a black swine be- 
 hind that attempted to take hold of his 
 heels. Whereupon I advised him to watch 
 and pray, for that Satan was seeking ad- 
 vantage against him ; — that the Bible was 
 not a charm to keep him away, but of itself 
 only a dead letter ; 'tis not Christ in the 
 Word, but in the heart, that destroys his 
 works. The evil spirit at last got posses- 
 sion, and that to such a degree that he was 
 like to do mischief to his poor wife and 
 children, which obliged the people to take 
 
100 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 and bind him, yet would he then reprove, 
 swearing ; and when it pleased God to re- 
 move the Evil Spirit, he came again to his 
 senses, and was sensible how grossly he had 
 been abused. I told him pride and self- 
 conceit lay at the bottom ; that Providence 
 had let loose the Enemy to humble him, 
 and would be a great mercy if it had this 
 effect upon him. Yet notwithstanding of 
 several repeated checks of this nature, 
 Satan seemed still to keep possession, and 
 he goes on in his self-righteous manner." 
 There is something quaint in the idea of 
 the Enemy being * let loose by Providence 
 to humble the self-righteous,' but it is to be 
 feared that there is nothing in it. To use 
 Mr Mill's own phrase it does not look " like 
 the thing." His theory that self- righteous- 
 ness may be followed by " possession," and 
 that it is itself an evil spirit of exceptional 
 strength, has some merit as a parable, if not 
 as an explanation of observed facts. 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 101 
 
 Mr Mill, as parish minister, had of course 
 a good deal to do with the heritors, or pro- 
 prietors of land, who in Scotland are re- 
 sponsible for the payment of stipend, and 
 the keeping up of the church and manse. 
 Some of them gave him a good deal of 
 trouble, and compelled him to use strong 
 measures for keeping them under some 
 measure of control. In one case, tradition 
 says, the ghost of one of them, whose life 
 had been none of the best " revisited the 
 glimpses of the moon," and Mr Mill was 
 under the necessity of putting a stop to his 
 proceedings. The story goes that, on a 
 Sunday evening, Mr Mill was riding home 
 from Sandwick to Dunrossness, attended 
 on foot by a parishioner, who came as com- 
 pany upon the road. Suddenly, a man on 
 horseback joined them, and the minister 
 began a conversation with him* in some un- 
 known tongue. Mr Mill's companion grew 
 alarmed, and gave expression to his feel- 
 
102 A Shetlcmd Minister. 
 
 ings, but was told to take a tight hold of 
 the horse's reins. After some time, the 
 stranger on horseback rode away. In 
 reply to an enquiry as to who he was, Mr 
 Mill replied, using great plainness of speech, 
 and said that he was " a roaring devil from 
 hell," and gave the name which he had 
 borne while resident in Dunrossness. The 
 man, naturally enough, declared that he was 
 afraid to go back to Sandwick on a road 
 haunted by such a visitant. Mr Mill, how- 
 ever, assured him that he would be quite 
 safe ; and, it is said that a light accompanied 
 him all the way home. The same ghost 
 now began to give trouble by coming about 
 the manse, but was soon suppressed. One 
 night Mr Mill got up with a start, and 
 instantly went out bare headed into the 
 darkness. After some time he returned 
 and said, " That old sinner will trouble us 
 no more." It was believed that he had 
 effectually " laid " the restless spirit. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS ENTRIES IN THE DIARY. 
 
 HROUGHOUT the Diary fre- 
 quent mention is made of Ler- 
 wick, which was then the 
 chief town in Shetland, though Scalloway 
 was still the nominal capital, but too few 
 particulars are given to enable us to make 
 out clearly what it and its inhabitants were 
 like in the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. A description of the town as it was 
 in Mr Mill's boyhood, has been given by 
 the Rev. John Brand, a commissioner from 
 the General Assembly, who visited the is- 
 lands in 1700 (See App. XIII). Probably 
 it remained pretty much the same in out- 
 ward aspect during most of the time that 
 Mr Mill knew it, as the greater part of the 
 
104 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 present dwelling-houses, and almost all the 
 public buildings are later than his day. 
 
 He speaks somewhat severely of the in- 
 habitants of the town in his time. Thus 
 he says : "In 1767 I preached at Lerwick 
 on Rev. 16 and 15, after the death of their 
 minister Mr Millar (See App. XIV.), 
 which they seemed very well pleased with, 
 though formerly they had been much dis- 
 pleased when preaching on Psalm 24 and 4 ■ 
 [the text which speaks of " clean hands and 
 a pure heart"], the application making their 
 consciences reel and fall on them. But I 
 was not much moved by their frowns or 
 smiles, it being my highest ambition to 
 please God." The collection on this acca- 
 sion amounted to ;£'2 is Scots. (?>., 3s 5d, 
 sterling) ; an amount which points either to 
 the fact that money was not very plentiful 
 in Lerwick in those days, or that the 
 Voluntary principle was still in its infancy 
 in that congregation. A gratifying im- 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 105 
 
 provement in this state of matters was, 
 however, noticeable in the course of that 
 same year ; for when Mr Mill preached on 
 the occasion of the ordination of the Rev. 
 James Sands, the collection amounted to 
 ;^3 I OS Scots (i.e., 5s lod sterling). 
 
 Mr Mill had but a poor opinion of the 
 stability of the principles according to 
 which some of the business houses in Ler- 
 wick were carried on ; for, in a sermon, he 
 pointed some remarks on the mutability of 
 mundane things by the illustration of 
 " Lerwick merchants, who went up with a 
 rattle and came down with a rumble." 
 The connection of some of their number 
 with smuggling enterprises is more than 
 once alluded to. Thus, in 1774, he writes : 
 " Some time before a considerable quantity 
 of Hollands gin, etc., was found lodged in 
 the Church of Nesting and carried off by 
 the Custom House yatch (yacht), and the 
 vessel, belonging to Lerwick merchants, 
 
106 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 that brought the liquor run the risk of 
 being condemned and burnt ; and though 
 they smarted formerly in a severe manner 
 for this clandestine trade, yet so strong is 
 the greed of gain, notwithstanding it drains 
 the money and debauches the country, 
 they know no measure in bringing home 
 more tho' the yatch soon returned and 
 took much more from severals in Lerwick. 
 Some was retaken from the Custom House." 
 This last sentence probably alludes to some 
 such incident as that described under Aug. 
 1 2th of the following year. " Some days 
 before this, the Collector of Customs being 
 in this parish made a seizure of gin, which 
 being transported to Lerwick, and lodged 
 in a house, the Greenlanders [/>., men be- 
 longing to whaling ships] then in the har- 
 bour, instigated by the owners, broke open 
 the door, and carrying it away, the Col- 
 lector, attended with other Custom House 
 officers, came upon them, and stabbed one 
 
tlie Eighteenth Century. 107 
 
 of them in the thigh, which obliged them 
 to drop their prey ; so hot are people upon 
 their lusts and idols that they fly in the 
 face of Government itself and stick at 
 nothing for gain." These " Greenlanders '* 
 were sometimes a source of danger to the 
 town; for, in 1787, Mr Mill writes, "In 
 April, were 30 Greenland ships in Bressay 
 Sound, and a man of war to keep these 
 rough people in aw and order, least when 
 drunk and mad with gin they should set 
 the town of Lerwick on fire." The fate of 
 some of these very ships is alluded to in a 
 paragraph a little later on : " 'Tis said that 
 many of our Greenland ships are lost 
 among the ice — 12 at least. 'Tis a wonder 
 of mercy that so many of these cursed 
 ruffians are preserved." Another visit paid 
 by him to the town on a Communion 
 occasion is mentioned under Nov., 1778 : 
 " I was called to assist at the Sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper in September at Ler- 
 
108 A Shetlcmd Minister of 
 
 wick, and one Miss Eliz. Grierson, one of 
 the most accomplished and virtuous young 
 ladies in the country, was a communicant 
 there. Her wedding was soon after fixed, 
 preparations made for it, and about the 
 same time she was suddenly cutt off, and 
 the provisions served for the funeral — an 
 awful warning to those of her sex whose 
 daft heads are soon laid in the dust." (See 
 App. XV.) 
 
 There is an interesting notice, under 
 Mar., 1 78 1, of the presence of a compara- 
 tively large body of troops in the fort at 
 Lerwick, which had been repaired at this 
 time and named Fort Charlotte, after the 
 Queen of George III. "270 soldiers, etc., 
 of the Earl of Sutherland's regiment were 
 sent to Lerwick by Government, under the 
 command of a Major, 3 Captains, 4 lieuten- 
 ants, and 7 Ensigns, with 12 guns, for 
 erecting batteries etc. to keep off the 
 Dutch." Two years later Mr Mill takes 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 109 
 
 notice of their being superseded by other 
 British soldiers, and gratefully welcomes 
 evidence of the fact that in the army, as in 
 the Greenland whaling fleet, there was a 
 pious "remnant" to be found. "The 
 Sutherland Fencibles at Lerwick were suc- 
 ceeded by a like number of Gordons. 
 Among the Sutherland soldiers I found 
 one James McKay, a Sergeant, who com- 
 municated at the Sacrament here in Aug. 
 last, a serious and judicious christian ; and 
 blessed be a gracious God, who still keeps 
 up a remnant e'en among the worst and in 
 the worst of times." 
 
 It may be interesting to quote some of 
 Mr Mill's references to events of the day, 
 the significance and importance of which 
 are, in some cases, more apparent to us 
 than they were to him. The following is 
 the notice of the war with the revolted 
 colonists in North America, which led to 
 the establishment of the independence of 
 
110 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 the United States. It is dated May, 1776. 
 " The rebelHon which kindled in our Ameri- 
 can Colonies about a year ago at length 
 broke out into a flame in June last, when 
 1400 were slain *tis said on both sides,' 
 and still goes on. The Disposer of all 
 events knows what will be the issue. They 
 say they will rather die sword in hand than 
 submit to Slavery, which such a good king 
 and Government never intended, but only 
 wanted they should pay their equal pro- 
 portion of taxes with fellow-subjects, and 
 therefore may justly meet with that slavery 
 they so groundlessly dreaded. In midst of 
 this awful judgment we read that some of 
 their ringleaders are marrying and giving 
 in marriage. O the awful security and 
 stupidity of mankind. Luxury and wicked- 
 ness occasion of all." In July of the follow- 
 ing year, he deplores the reluctance of his 
 
 1 Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17th, 1775. 
 
the Eighteenth Century. Ill 
 
 fellow-countrymen to satisfy the demands 
 of the press-gang for men to assist in put- 
 ting down that rebellion. " In July," he 
 writes, " the people being apprised that the 
 Government had sent over a tender, with a 
 demand of a hundred men for their ser- 
 vice, they fled from their houses and be- 
 took themselves to their hills and skulking- 
 places, which made me take notice of this 
 on the Sabbath from the pulpit, saying 
 they made great haste in running away 
 for fear of the Pressgang, who did not want 
 to hang them or put them in prison, but 
 only to serve their King and Country in the 
 suppression of Rebells in America, who 
 had risen up against their lawful superiors, 
 without any just grounds, and might be 
 better employed for a year or two than at 
 home ; for when the rebellion was over, 
 they might return again with their pockets 
 full of money." And he expressed the 
 desire that they could show the same 
 
112 * A Shetland Minister of 
 
 eagerness in " fleeing from the wrath to 
 come," as they had shown in fleeing from 
 the press-gang. 
 
 Here is a notice of the Influenza in June, 
 1782, with a remedy for it. " Ther.e's a 
 strange distemper called Influenza rages 
 through Brittain, in the same manner as it 
 did in the east countries of Russia, Denmark 
 etc., though as yet has not proved so mor- 
 tal. People are variously aflected with it, 
 with swelled faces, sore throats, breasts and 
 stomachs, dizzy heads, coughs, violent pains 
 and feverishness ; for remedy is prescribed 
 a decoction of 2 oz. lint seed, 2 do. of 
 Liquorish-stick bruised and boiled over a 
 slow fire in a pint water to half do., then 
 strained and mixed with 4 oz. powdered 
 suggar candy, also some lemon juice, 
 brandy or rum ; take frequently a spoon- 
 full thereofif, etc." 
 
 In Sept., 1785, he takes notice of the 
 excitement connected with Lunardi's bal- 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 113 
 
 loon experiments. " A Frenchman called 
 Lunardi fled over the Firth of Forth in a 
 Balloon, and lighted in Ceres parish, not 
 far from Cupar in Fife ; and O ! how much 
 are the thoughtless multitude set on these 
 and like foolish vanities to the neglect of 
 the one thing needful. Afterwards, 'tis said, 
 when soaring upwards in the foresaid 
 machine, he was driven by the wind down 
 the Firth of Forth, and tumbled down into 
 the sea near the little Isle of May, where 
 he had perished had not a boat been near 
 who saved him and his machine." 
 
 In 1789, we have a notice of a new settle- 
 ment in the Southern Hemisphere, which 
 had for many years after a painful interest 
 for a section of our population — Botany 
 Bay. " The convicts are," he writes, " now, 
 in great numbers, sent from Great Brittain 
 to New Holland, called by us New Wales, 
 an island reckoned as large as all Europe, 
 to a place called Botany Bay ; but as they 
 
114 A SJietland Minister of 
 
 could not find plenty of good water there 
 they removed about a dozen miles thence 
 to a place called Jackson's Bay, where they 
 get excellent water in abundance, and a 
 better and more convenient place for 
 settling, where they cleared the ground, 
 and sowed wheat, ry, and barley, which 
 thrives well, but 'tis said that peas and 
 beans did not answer so well with the soil. 
 They found a creature there shaped like a 
 hare, with short fore-legs, the hind-legs 
 much longer, as big as a sheep, called Kan- 
 gouras, and eats like mutton. The inhabi- 
 tants were naked savages of a copper colour 
 running through the woods, as in America, 
 when it was discovered. They have one 
 Philips for their Governor, and finding pro- 
 per earth for making bricks, had built an 
 elegant house of the same for him, and 
 have formed a city of several streets, but 
 their houses are little hutts, made of wood 
 branches," 
 
the Eiyhteenth Century. 115 
 
 In the notice of the marriage of the 
 Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., we 
 have an indication that the ongoings of 
 that celebrated personage had subjected 
 Mr Mill's loyalty to a severe strain. " The 
 Prince of Wales being married to his 
 Cousin-German of Brunswick had 125,000 
 Lbs. Ster. settled per ann. besides payment 
 of his debts of 100,000 £ Ster. by the 
 house of Commons. The Nation pays for 
 alV etc." 
 
 There is abundance of local colouring 
 in the Diary. On every other page, 
 almost, we hear of deaths by drown- 
 ing, of shipwrecks on the wild, rocky coasts 
 of Shetland, of the smuggling carried on in 
 connection with the visits of Dutch fishing- 
 vessels, of the alarm caused by privateers, 
 hovering from time to time about the 
 
 * Mr Mill has the habit of often concluding his 
 paragraphs with the word, "etc." It often implies 
 that his feelings are aroused, and that he would say much 
 more on the point in question, if he cared to do so. 
 
116 A Shetland Minister. 
 
 islands, and of periodical bad harvests, 
 when a large section of the population were 
 dependent upon supplies of meal sent from 
 the south. On the whole it is not very 
 cheerful reading. One cannot help feeling 
 that, but for his deep interest in his parish- 
 ioners, the worthy minister's life would have 
 been a very melancholy one. He had con- 
 flicts time after time with proprietors, co- 
 presbyters, and neighbours, some of the 
 latter being so rude and troublesome that 
 as he says, " he could scarcely get a hen 
 chicken keeped for them." In all these cir- 
 cumstances, therefore, it was fortunate for 
 Mr Mill's peace of mind that he had a fair 
 measure of satisfaction with himself, and 
 rarely felt the need of confessing, even to 
 himself, that he had been in the wrong. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 VISIT OF MR HALDANE TO DUNROSSNESS — CLOSING 
 YEARS. 
 
 HE religious movement in Scot- 
 land with which the names of 
 the Haldanes are connected 
 extended to the far-off islands of Shetland, 
 and Mr Mill near the close of his life had 
 the pleasure of meeting the chief promoter 
 of it, and of manifesting towards him the 
 same enthusiastic sympathy which he had 
 shown to Whitfield nearly forty years be- 
 fore. The brothers, Robert and James A. 
 Haldane, belonged to a distinguished Perth- 
 shire family, and had, before they under- 
 took their evangelistic labours, been en- 
 gaged in a sea-faring life — the one being a 
 
118 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 captain in the navy, and the other in the 
 East India merchant service. The religious 
 condition of Scotland during the latter half 
 of the eighteenth century was, from all 
 accounts, very unsatisfactory to those who 
 retained a hold upon " evangelical " doc- 
 trines. The " Moderates " were then in 
 power, and the name was, and until lately 
 continued to be, a synonym for Socinian 
 opinions, and a Laodicean lukewarmness 
 of spirit. As might have been expected, 
 they have found defenders in the present 
 age, in which Judas Iscariot has been dis- 
 covered to have been a misguided patriot, 
 and Nero a much maligned, though perhaps 
 not wholly blameless young man. No 
 doubt the " Moderates " have often been 
 criticised in a pharisaical spirit, but the fact 
 can scarcely be doubted that the main and 
 characteristic doctrines of Christianity were, 
 as a rule, absent from their teaching, that 
 they were lacking in sympathy with any- 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 119 
 
 thing that savoured of " enthusiasm," and 
 that they often applied that name to much 
 that might have been more accurately des- 
 cribed as " faith and religious zeal." They 
 strenuously opposed lay-preaching, the 
 founding of Sunday Schools, missionary 
 enterprise, and all attempts to urge the 
 Church to enter on new paths of benefi- 
 cence and usefulness. 
 
 The Haldanes and others who were like- 
 minded with them entered with great 
 earnestness into a scheme for preaching 
 the "Gospel," as they understood it, through 
 the length and breadth of Scotland, and 
 were very successful both in carrying it out, 
 and in awakening a deep interest in " evan- 
 gelical " religion. They had the sympathy 
 of many prominent ministers of the same 
 school in the Church of England, and one 
 of them, the celebrated John Newton, 
 suggested that they might include the 
 Islands of the North Sea within their 
 
120 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 sphere of operations. " Why," he wrote, 
 " should not the Orkney and Shetland 
 Islands deserve attention as much as the 
 Islands of the South Sea ? I hope Gospel 
 zeal will, in due time, sail northward to 
 Shetland, and westward to St. Kilda, and 
 all the intermediate islands." 
 
 This visitation was effected in the sum- 
 mer of the year 1799. At the General 
 Assembly in May of the same year, a 
 Pastoral Admonition, which was in every- 
 thing but form like a Papal Bull, had been 
 issued against the proceedings in connec- 
 tion with the " Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel at Home " — under which name the 
 evangelistic work in question was being 
 carried on (See App. XVI). But very 
 little effect followed from this strong 
 measure, for numbers of ministers in the 
 Established Church refused to read the 
 document from their pulpits. Mr James 
 A. Haldane and a Mr Innes, afterwards a 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 121 
 
 Baptist minister in Edinburgh, were the 
 evangeh'sts who visited Shetland. They 
 came north by Inverness, (where they heard 
 the Assembly's Admonition read in the 
 church on Sunday), and by Wick and 
 Thurso. After a short delay in Orkney, 
 they proceeded on their way to Shetland. 
 The first place they landed at was the Fair 
 Isle, and the}' record the fact that the 
 people heard with thankfulness the first 
 sermon that had been preached there for 
 six years. From the Fair Isle they em- 
 barked in an open boat and were out all 
 night, " most of the time in heavy rain." 
 They were hospitably received on the 
 mainland of Shetland " by a gentleman of 
 the name of Ogilvie," and began their 
 labours by preaching in a barn. 
 
 Mr Mill's account of their visit runs as 
 follows : " Two ministers from the Mis- 
 sionary Society in Scotland, viz., Mr James 
 Haldane and Mr Wm. Innes came here 
 
122 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 July 1st, who preached to a crowded con- 
 gregation at the manse upon a very short 
 advertisement. Text, Ecclesiastes 9 and 
 10, Whatsoever thy hand findeth thee to 
 do, etc. 'Tis remarkable that the scope 
 agreed exactly with the text, Heb. 3 and 7 
 etc., I was then preaching upon — To-day if 
 ye will hear his voice harden not your 
 hearts, etc. They fraughted a boat next 
 day for Lerwick where they preached, and 
 in the opposite isle of Bressay on the 
 Sabbath day. From thence they preached 
 in every parish of the Countrey, each of 
 them for most part twice every day, distri- 
 buting very edifying tracts among the 
 people for religious instruction. They 
 visited not only the larger isles of Yell, 
 Unst, and Fetlar, but Foula, 16 miles from 
 Walls, and a smaller isle called Skerries 
 that lies 12 miles from Whalsey — all which 
 they accomplished in four weeks' time, and 
 preaching gradually on their return to this 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 123 
 
 parish, where, being providentially stopped 
 a whole week, they preached every day 
 to a crowded congregation ; the people 
 gladly leaving their work to hear them. 
 As their consciences bore witness that 
 they preached the true spirit of the 
 Gospel, and though they did not lay down a 
 method, as I commonly do, to make the 
 people understand and remember what they 
 hear the better, yet to Brand their Doctrine 
 with the epithet of loose Harangues^ is a 
 gross falsehood, for they never lost sight of 
 their text either in the illustration or appli- 
 cation. Moreover to suppose that such 
 men would undertake such a vast circuit, 
 and waste their persons and properties with 
 an eye only to a shadow of vain glory, is 
 ridiculous to suppose. Tis much more 
 reasonable to conclude that those who bely 
 and slander their characters and conduct, 
 
 ^ Alluding to a phrase used in the Assembly's Admonition. 
 
124 ^ A Shetland Minister of 
 
 which throw shame and contempt upon 
 false, unfaithful ministers, who neither 
 understand, preach nor practice according 
 to the true spirit of the gospel ; who, like 
 the malignant Jews, when they saw the 
 multitude who assembled to hear Paul, 
 were moved with envy, contradicting and 
 Blaspheming ; and to publish lies upon the 
 members of such a society of excellent 
 men, whose chief study and endeavours 
 are to promote the glory of the Redeemer, 
 in the eternal salvation of sinners ready to 
 perish for lake [lack] of christian knowledge, 
 as 'tis said is done by an act of a late General 
 Assembly, and appointing the same to be 
 read by every minister, which no con- 
 scientious man would or can do, without 
 involving himself in a gross absurdity to 
 read falsehoods from the chair of verity." 
 
 Some interesting particulars concerning 
 this tour are given in T/ie Lives of Robert 
 and James Haldane. At Unst they found 
 
tite Eighteenth Century. 125 
 
 that the minister, the Rev. John Nicolson, 
 had been captured by a French vessel on 
 his voyage from Leith and carried to Berg- 
 en, whence he returned, however, a short 
 time later. In their account of their 
 journey, they mention the great kindness 
 they received from a gentleman in Lerwick, 
 to whom they had no introduction, and 
 who insisted on their making his house 
 their home. This was the more worthy of 
 notice, they say, as Mr Hay was not him- 
 self, at that time, much interested in the 
 truths of the Gospel, but he appreciated 
 their motives and enjoyed their society. 
 They express the highest sense of gratitude 
 for the hospitality they uniformly received 
 in Shetland. "They laid their account," 
 they say, " with no other accommodation 
 than the cottages afforded, instead of which 
 they were kindly received, and frequently 
 urged to accept the best accommodation in 
 the gentlemen's and ministers' houses." 
 
126 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 The account Mr Mill gives of their visit to 
 Dunrossness is thus supplemented by them, 
 " The Rev. Mr Mill, a venerable clergyman 
 eighty-eight years of age, gave Mr James 
 Haldane his church to preach in ; and after 
 the service stood up and, in a commanding 
 tone, warned the people to take heed of the 
 words they had heard, more especially as 
 this visit was a new and unheard of occur- 
 rence in their history." It is said, pro- 
 bably in reference to this occasion, that, as 
 Mr Mill went up to the pulpit to speak to 
 the people and Mr Haldane came down, 
 the two ministers met upon the stairs 
 and embraced each other affectionately 
 with many tears, and that this sight pro- 
 duced a profound impression upon the 
 congregation. During the delivery of his 
 sermon Mr Haldane had broken one of 
 the brackets supporting the book-board of 
 the pulpit by a vigorous blow ; but Mr 
 Mill refused to allow it to be mended, in 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 127 
 
 order that it might remain as a memorial 
 of the visit of the great evangelist to Dun- 
 rossness. The breakage has not been re- 
 paired to the present day. 
 
 On the Sunday evening, after preaching 
 at Dunrossness, Mr Haldane and Mr Innes 
 embarked in a " sixern," hoping to reach 
 Fair Isle before dark, and cross over to 
 Orkney in the morning, so as to arrive in 
 Kirkwall in time for the great fair. " They 
 could not," says Mr James Haldane, "but 
 feel regret in parting with their kind host 
 and his family. Mr Mill took leave as one 
 who was to meet us no more below, but ex- 
 pressed his joy in the prospect of meeting 
 in the presence of Jesus, no more to part." 
 The voyage was a somewhat perilous one. 
 The night overtook them before they 
 reached the Fair Isle, and they missed it in 
 the dark. The men themselves became 
 uneasy, but were encouraged to proceed, 
 whilst Mr Haldane, whose skill as a sea- 
 
128 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 man was now very serviceable to him, took 
 the helm and steered for North Ronaldshay 
 in Orkney. In the grey of the morning 
 they saw land, and soon afterwards landed 
 on the island of Sanday, after a run of fifty- 
 four miles. The boat was more unfortu- 
 nate on the return journey, the weather be- 
 ing unfavourable, and was carried out of 
 its course away to the north-east of Scot- 
 land. A coasting vessel came to its rescue 
 at the mouth of the Moray Firth. The 
 men being unaccustomed to any but fishing 
 excursions, and doubtful as to their course, 
 lost all presence of mind, and such was 
 their panic, that in their haste to get on 
 board the friendly ship which picked them 
 up, they forgot to make fast their boat, so 
 that it drifted away and was lost. 
 
 There is abundant evidence that much 
 good was done by this evangelistic work in 
 Shetland. The devotion and eloquence of 
 the preachers, together with the unusual 
 
the Eighteenth Century. * 129 
 
 freshness with which the most important 
 spiritual truths were presented, produced a 
 deep impression on their hearers, and were 
 blessed by God ; so that there were many 
 who dated the beginning of their religious 
 life from this time. 
 
 Mr Mill continued in the exercise of his 
 ministerial duties up to the very close of 
 his life. Some three or four years before 
 his death he engaged in a somewhat 
 dangerous experiment in the matter of diet. 
 As a protest against undue indulgence in 
 meat and drink, he attempted to live upon 
 water alone, having a perhaps exaggerated 
 idea of the nutritious qualities of that liquid. 
 The result was that one Sunday he fainted 
 in the pulpit. He speaks of this as 
 remarkable, but probably he was alone in 
 that opinion. " It is remarkable," he says, 
 " that while I was lecturing upon one of the 
 15 Psalms of Degrees so called,' I was 
 1 i.e., Psa. CXX-CXXXIV, 
 
130 * A Shetland Minister of 
 
 suddenly seized with a sudden slowness in 
 the Circulation of Blood, whereby my sight 
 and strength beginning to fail, I concluded, 
 and sat down, which the people perceiving, 
 and, imagining I was gone, broke out 
 suddenly with the most lamentable outcries, 
 weeping and wailing, and some fell into 
 convulsion fits. The Precentor and one of 
 the Elders came to me, and proposed to 
 sing part of a psalm. But, soon recovering, 
 I stood up and called the congregation to 
 compose themselves, and concluded with 
 prayer etc. as well as ever. It seems to re- 
 semble an apoplexy, as I had several times 
 fallen down as dead, but soon recovered." 
 Tradition says that the stern old man 
 stilled the outcries of the congregation by 
 suggesting to them a topic calculated to 
 excite still greater alarm — " reminding them 
 that there was greater reason for crying 
 that day in a certain place they wot of" 
 After this attack he was apparently still 
 
tJie Eighteenth Century. 131 
 
 able to officiate in Dunrossness until the 
 3rd of Feby., 1805. For some four months 
 or so he had been unable to travel to his 
 northern parish of Sandwick. He died on 
 the 1 3th of Feby. of the same year ; but no 
 record remains of the circumstances of his 
 death or burial, and no tomb-stone in the 
 churchyard of Dunrossness marks out his 
 last resting-place. 
 
 His personal appearance is thus described 
 by one who saw him in 1804. " He seemed 
 to be upwards of eighty years of age. He was 
 tall, slender, straight, and healthy-looking. 
 Hair still dark. Dressed in knee-breeches 
 and black silk stockings. Wore a broad- 
 brimmed cocked hat. His manner of 
 addressing the people was direct and un- 
 compromising — " Ye sinners of Cunnings- 
 burgh," etc. He had a fine sonorous voice. 
 From another source we learn that it was 
 customary for him to mount the pulpit 
 with his cocked hat tied under his chin, 
 
132 A Shetland Minister of 
 
 and a bunch of flowers in his hand. 
 
 The reputation he won for himself in the 
 district in which he lived, after his sixty- 
 two years of ministerial labours, was a very 
 high one. No one could doubt his con- 
 scientiousness and integrity ; and so the 
 title of "holy Mr Mill" is often applied 
 to him at the present day. A Spanish 
 writer says that a parish-priest who has 
 acquired a reputation for sanctity in a 
 little, tattling country-village, must be a 
 man of genuine and exalted piety — his 
 words and actions being subjected to such 
 continuous and searching criticism. Mr 
 Mill passed unscathed through the ordeal. 
 No doubt his piety was of an austere cast, 
 but it was none the less likely on that 
 account to secure for him a high place in 
 the respect of his parishioners. A person 
 now living in the district tells the following 
 story which illustrates this trait in his 
 character. His father was a member of Mr 
 
the Eighteenth Century. 133 
 
 Mill's congregation ; as he went to Church 
 one Sunday he stopped to save a piece of 
 wood floating in the sea. Mr Mill heard 
 of it, and reproved him for it, saying. " It 
 was sent there to try you, and you have 
 yielded to the temptation." On the next 
 occasion when the man brought a child to 
 receive baptism, the minister treated him as 
 unfit to take upon himself the vows usually 
 imposed on such an occasion, and " Mam " 
 (the child's mother) " had to hold it up." 
 We are afraid that it could be said of him 
 as of the Sompnour in Chaucer (though for 
 a different reason) that 
 
 OX bi6 visage cbilDrcn were aferD, 
 for it is said that they were very much 
 afraid of him, and fled at the very sight of 
 him ; and that great solemnity prevailed 
 wherever he was. But for all that, there 
 can be no doubt that, when children grew 
 to years of discretion, they saw much in Mr 
 Mill's life and character that convinced 
 
134 
 
 A Shetland Minister. 
 
 them that goodness was a quality full of 
 beauty as well as of awe. 
 
 There is no portrait of Mr Mill extant, 
 but in his writings he has given us a vivid 
 picture of his own mental and moral char- 
 acteristics, as well as of the time in which 
 he lived. He has thus, perhaps, left a more 
 enduring memorial of himself than a 
 painter or a sculptor could have given. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
AFPCNDICES. 
 
 I. MinL«t«i^ of the Parish of Lerwick during Mr 
 
 Mill's time, p. U. 
 II. Stray notices of variou-s members of the family 
 of the Rev, James Milne, p. 15. 
 
 III. Extracts from the minutes of the Presbytery 
 
 of Fordyce, Aug. 9th, 1738, to Nov. .5th, 
 1740, p. '16. 
 
 IV. The King -J Bounty, p. 18. 
 
 V. Account of the Parish of Dtinrosivness in 1701, 
 
 p. 20. 
 VI. Mr Mill's predecessors in Dunrossness, p. 20. 
 VII. Description of the Cros^^-Kirk of Dunrossness 
 
 in 1711, and in 1774, p. 23. 
 VIII. The Rev. John Hunter, Episcopal Minister in 
 Shetland, p. 24. 
 IX. Petition to the Presbytery from the Minister 
 
 of Walls, and Mr Mill's reply to it, p. 46. 
 X- Petition to the Presbytery by Mr Mill re the 
 Forbes' Mortification, p. 52. 
 XI. Extract from a Communion address by Mr 
 
 Mill, p. 53. 
 XII. Title-page of Mr Mill's book, p. 64. 
 
 XIII. Description of Lerwick in 1701, p. 103. 
 
 XIV. Epitaph on the grave-stone erected in memory 
 
 of the Rev. Thomas Miller, Minister of Ler- 
 wick, p. 104. 
 XV. Epitaph on the monument erected to the 
 memory of Miss E. Grierson, Lerwick, p. 
 108. 
 XV r. "Pa-storal Admonition" addressed by the General 
 Assembly to the people of Scotland in 1799, 
 p. 120. 
 
138 Appendices. 
 
 APPENDIX I-p. 14. 
 
 MINISTERS OF THE PARISH OF LERWICK DURING 
 MR mill's time. 
 
 Lerwick was disjoined from Ting wall and erected 
 
 in 1701, after 6th March, with a stipend of viijc 
 
 merks (£44 8 10§), vc being granted from the 
 
 Bishop's rents by his Majesty William III, and iijc 
 
 from the Town. 
 A further disjunction was made in 1722 of Sound 
 
 and Gulberwick, which were also annexed. 
 
 1704. James Milne attended Marischal College, 
 Aberdeen, 1682-6, called in 1703, and ord., 
 6th April, 1704 ; died in Feb., 1718. 
 
 1721. Thomas Waldie, M.A. (Edin.), licen. by the 
 Presby. of Jedburgh, 12th Feb., 1718, called 
 in 1720, and ord. 27th April, 1721 : died 24th 
 March, 1739, aged about 44. 
 
 1740. Thomas Miller, M.A. (Glasgow), son of 
 Thos. M., notary -public, Alyth : licen. by 
 the Presb. of Meigle, 13th July, 1726 : called 
 7th Nov., 1739, and ord. 30th April, 1740: 
 died 25th Oct., 1766, in 67th year of his age. 
 
 1767. James Sands, son of Mr Robert S., minister 
 of Hoy and Graemsay, Orkney : born 28th 
 Sept., 1742 : licen. by the Presb. of Cairston : 
 presented by Sir Laurence Dundas of Kerse, 
 and ord. 9th Sept., 1767: demitted his 
 charge, 13th Feb., 1793, on being called to 
 Tingwall. 
 
 1793. .John M'Leod, M.A, (Aberdeen), son of Rev. 
 Donald Macleod, Glenelg : born 30th Nov., 
 1763 : ord. by the Presb. of Lochcarron, 31st 
 July, 1786, as missionary at Knoydart and 
 Morar, was presented to Lochalsh, 7th Aug., 
 1790, but resigned his presentation : was 
 
Appendices. 139 
 
 presented to this parish by Sir Thomas 
 Dundas of Kerse, and inducted 14th May, 
 1793: was deposed, 19th Aug., 1797, and 
 went subsequently to America. 
 1799. John Menzies, schoohnaster of Leslie, Keen, 
 by the Presb. of Kirkcaldy, 15th Jan., 1783 : 
 was presented by Sir Thos. Dundas to parish 
 of Bressay, Burra, antl Quarff, and ord. 3rd 
 May, 1792: transl. to this parish in Dec, 
 1798, and inducted 28th Feb., 1799: died 
 17th May, 1827, in his 73rd year. 
 
 APPENDIX II.— p. 15. 
 
 STRAY NOTICES OF VARIOUS MEMBERS OF THE 
 FAMILY OF THE REV. JAMES MILNE. 
 
 In the Old Churchyard, Queen's Lane, Lerwick, 
 there is a handsome monument in memory of John 
 Davi<lson, wiio married Mar«,^aret, the eldest daughter 
 of Mr Milne. The inscription upon it is partly in 
 Latin and partly in English, and runs as follows. 
 
 [sub hoc MONUMJENTO JACENT CINERES J0HAN[NIS] 
 [DAVIDSON] PROBI ET HONESTI QUONDAM MERCA 
 [TORIS HAC in URBE] : DUXIT MARGARETAM MILNE 
 [FILIAM] MAXIMAM REVe'rENDI DOMINI JACOBI 
 
 [MILNE SA]CR0SANCTI EVANGELII HAC IN URBE 
 
 PASTOKIS: EX QUA QUATUOR LIBEROS HABUIT QUORUM 
 BVJE PATRI SUPERVIXERUNT : NATUS TRIGINTA TRES 
 ANNOS 16T0 JANUARII ANNO 1751 FATI8 CONCESSIT. 
 
 £ PIT A PH. 
 
 HERE -RESTS 'THE "DUST -WHICH -STROVE 'BY -LAND "AND 'SEA* 
 TO - RAISE - HIS - STOCK ' BY - LAWFULL - INDUSTRY - 
 FRUGAL • NO - CHURL * BUT • OF * A ' GENEROUS - MIND - 
 TO * HELP • HIS • NEIGHBOUR - OR * OBLIGE * A * FRIEND * 
 
140 Appendices. 
 
 CONTENT -HE 'LIV'D 'WITH "HER 'WHOM 'HEAVEN 'HAD ' MADE* 
 THE • CAREFULL ' PARTNER *. OF ' HIS * HOUSE ' AND BED ' 
 WHO • FAIRLY ' VENTUR'D * O'ER ' THE * LIQUID * MAIN * 
 TO • SAVE • HIS • CREDITE ' NOT * FOR ' SORDID ' GAIN * 
 THROUGH -RAGING 'WAVES 'WHERE 'FOAMING 'BILLOWS 'ROAR- 
 YET • LOST - HIS LIFE * CLOSE - BY ' HIS - NATIVE ' SHORE * 
 OUR • DAYS - ARE - NUMBRED - HOW ' OR ' WHEN ' WE ' DIE ' 
 NO ' MAN ' CAN • TELL ' OR ' WHERE ' HIS ' BONES ' MAY ' LIE ' 
 STILL • LET • US ' THEN ' OUR ' FUTURE ' BLESS ' SECURE ' 
 BY • STEADFAST ' FAITH ' AND * DOING ' GOOD ' WHILE - HERB * 
 
 IN MEMORIAM DILECTI MARITI MARGARETA MILLE UXOR 
 
 ADAMATA HOC MONUMENTUM POSUIT ANNO 1752 
 
 MEMENTO MORI FUQIT HORA. 
 
 On the monument are two shields, surmounted by 
 a helmet, and a scroll bearing the motto " Gradatim," 
 (by degrees). The dexter shield bears on a Fesse 
 between three Darts a Buck coucJmnt. On the other 
 shield is a Cross Moline pierced Lozengeways between 
 three Mullets^ within a Border nebule. The surname 
 of the husband has been effaced from the stone by the 
 action of the weather, and the figure of the Buck 
 has been rendered very indistinct, but the arms have 
 been identified by F. J. Grant, Esq., Carrick Pursui- 
 vant, as those of the family of Davidson, viz. Azure : 
 on a Fesse argent, between three Pheons, Or : a Buck 
 couchant, Gules. The arms of the wife are those 
 assigned by Nisbet to Robert Milne, Writer in Edin- 
 burgh, — Or : a Cross Moline, azure, pierced Lozenge- 
 ivays, between three Mullets of the Last, within a 
 Bordure nehid6 of the Second, — and are engraved in the 
 first edition of Nisbet's '' System of Heraldry " (Plate 
 21) published in Edinburgh, 1722. For the benefit of 
 those who ' occupy the room of the unlearned ' the 
 Latin portions of the above inscription may be trans- 
 lated as follow : — 
 
 " Beneath this monument lies the dust of John 
 Davidson, who was an upright and honest merchant 
 
Apieiidices. 141 
 
 in this city : he married Margaret Milne, the eldest 
 daughter of the Kev. Mr James Milne, minister of 
 the holy Gospel in this city : by her he had four 
 cliildren, two of whom, daughters, survived their 
 father : he died at the age of thirty-three on the 16th 
 Jan, 1751." 
 
 " In memory of a beloved husband, Margaret 
 Milne, his dearly beloved wife, erected this monument 
 in the year 1752. Be mindful of death : time flies." 
 
 Tliese last words of exhortation are enforced by 
 the representation, so common on old tombstones, of 
 cross-bones, skull, and hour-glass. 
 
 It would seem from the above epitaph that John 
 Davidson lost his life by drowning on the coast of 
 Shetland, but I have not been able to discover any 
 other allusion to the fact. 
 
 At John Davidson's funeral the " new velvet mort- 
 cloth " was used for the second time. The charges 
 for the use of same were fixed at a meeting of a 
 Committee of the Kirk-Session and a quorum of the 
 Heritors, Stentors of the town of Lerwick, held on 
 the 6th Jan. 1751 — ten days prior to the death of 
 John Davidson. It was agreed tliat certain " Dues 
 sliould be paid for the use of a New Velvet Mort 
 Cloth purchased by Authority of said Session out of 
 the poors' Box, for Belioof of fclie said town, and 
 Interest of tlie poor of the said Parish. Tliere sliall 
 be paid by all and Sundry of the Inhabitants of the 
 Town of Lerwick, who shall call for and use the said 
 Mortcloth, the sum of live shillings sterling each 
 time in full of all Demands." 
 
 In the accounts for 1751-2 a note that " the Mort 
 Cloth Fees for the said Seven Interments Extending 
 in liaill to twenty one pounds Scots money (£1 15s 
 sterling) were all paid witliin the compass of the year 
 1751." 
 
 The cost of the New Mortcloth is stated to have 
 
142 Appetidices. 
 
 been 121 pounds Scots or £10 Is 8cl sterling : and 
 the fees received for the use of it were applied for 
 "behoof of the Poor." 
 
 The Kev. Jas. Milne's son, Andrew, was still living 
 in 1771, as is shown by the following entry in the 
 Records of the Kirk-Session of Lerwick. 
 
 Oct. 7th, 1771. " This day compeared James 
 McLellan merchant in Lerwick, and presented a 
 Disposition dated at London the 26th day of April 
 1771 in his favour by Mr Andrew Mill Eldest son to 
 Mr James Mill minister of the Gospel at Lerwick, to 
 a Table Seat in the South Side of the West end of 
 the Church of Lerwick bounded by the single pew 
 belonging to the heirs of John Davidson Late Mer- 
 chant in Lerwick on the East side, and on the West 
 by the Church Wall, and craved that the said 
 Disposition might be recorded, and an Act of Session 
 given to him in common Form. 
 
 "There also compeared William Farquhar Ship 
 master in Lerwick and gave in Objections against 
 the said request and Disposition, The Tenor whereof 
 follows." [No particulars, however, are given, and 
 the minute continues.] "The Session having con- 
 sidered the premisses did and hereby do Unanimously 
 agree to remitt this affair to the Determination of the 
 civil Magistrate, in regard they do not think them- 
 selves competent judges either of the Validity of the 
 Disposition, or Import of the Objections against it, 
 Kecommending at the same time an Amicable agree- 
 ment to tlie parties and appoint Extracts." 
 
 It will be seen from the above that the name of the 
 first minister of Lerwick was spelt Milne or Mill : 
 the latter form of the name is that followed by his 
 son John. Probably the n in the longer form of the 
 name was not pronounced. 
 
 The two daughters of John Davidson, who are 
 mentioned in the epitaph given above, appear in the 
 
Ajypendices. 143 
 
 " Rental! and Stent Koll " for 1792 as his representa- 
 tives, and are described as Agnes Isobel Davidson 
 (Mrs (rittbrd of Urafirth) and Barbara Davidson (Mrs 
 Robertson. ) 
 
 APPENDIX III. - p. 16. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE PRESBY- 
 TERY OF FORDYCE, AUG. DtH, 1738, TO NOV. 
 
 5th, 1740. 
 
 Fordice, August 9th 1738. 
 After praj'er. Sederunt etc., etc. Inter alia: 
 " Mr Jolin Mill, Schoolmaster, at Cullen having 
 attended the profession of Divinity for some years 
 the presl)yterie thought proper to appoint him a Dis- 
 course by way of specimen upon Rom. 6-12 to be 
 delivered at said Mr Mill his conveniency." 
 
 Fordice, April 25. 1739. 
 
 After prayer, Sederunt etc., etc. Inter alia : 
 " Mr Irvine reported that Mr John Mill a student in 
 this bounds, was recommended to last meeting of the 
 Synod and his name to be listed to continue in their 
 minutes to their next meeting in October that if no 
 objection be found against him, he may be admitted 
 to pass Tryal." 
 
 Fordice, July 4th 1739. 
 
 After prayer, Sederunt etc., etc. Inter alia: 
 " Mr John Mill delivered his Lecture and was 
 approv'n. The Presbyterie appointed he should have 
 an Exercise and Addition from Heb. 3 chap. 6 v." 
 
 Fordice, September 12th 1739. 
 After prayer, Sederunt etc., etc. Inter alia : 
 " Mr John Mill delivered his Exercise and Addition 
 from Heb. 3-6, and the same was approv'n. The Pres- 
 
144 Ajjpendices. 
 
 bytery delays prescribing any further discourses to 
 said Mr Mill till after the Synod." 
 
 Fordice, October 24. 1739. 
 After prayer, Sederunt etc., etc. hite?' alia : 
 ' ' The Presbytery finding that the Synod of Aberdeen 
 had allowed this Presbytery to take Mr John Mill 
 upon tryals with a view to be licens'd to preach the 
 Gospel, They did nominate a Committee of Messrs 
 Ker and Irvine to withdraw and take said Mr Mill 
 upon a questionary tryal and to report ; and the said 
 members having done accordingly they after some 
 time returned and made report that in their Judge- 
 ment Mr Mill might be admitted to publick tryal 
 before the presbytery. Accordingly he was admitted 
 and sustained a questionary tryal : and he having 
 acquitted himself to the presbyteries satisfaction 
 they thought proper to sustain what Discourses he 
 had delivered formerly as parts of his tryals : and 
 now appointed him as subject of popular sermon Ps. 
 19. 11 V. 'In keeping of them there is' etc. : and 
 further recommended to Mr Mill to be in readiness 
 that the rest of his tryals may be finished at next 
 meeting." 
 
 Fordice, November 14. 1739. 
 
 After prayer, Sederunt etc., etc. Inter alia: 
 " Mr John Mill deliver'd his popular sermon. There- 
 after the presbytery proceeded to expede the rest of 
 his tryals and he having defended his thesis, expon'd 
 a portion of the Original languages from the Old and 
 New testaments, and afterwards answerVl some 
 Questions in Divinity he was afterwards removed, 
 and the mind of the presbytery having been ask'd 
 upon the whole of said Mr Mill his tryals and if they 
 were satisfied he should now be licens'd. The Pres- 
 bytery unawimously declar'd their satisfaction that 
 Mr Mill should be licens'd. Accordingly he was 
 
Appendices. 145 
 
 callVl in and this intimated to him, and the ordinary 
 questions prescribed by Acts of Assembly having 
 been propos'd to him and lie having given satisfjing 
 answers thereto, as likewise to the Questions pre- 
 scrib'd by the Sjniod in relation to patrons, and he 
 having subscribed the Formula, The Moderator, 
 after a grave and serious discourse on the nature of 
 the great work he was entering upon, and advices 
 proper tender'd unto him, he did in the name of this 
 presbytery authorise and license the said Mr John 
 Mill to preach the Gospel, and he was appointed to 
 preach next Sabbath at Deskford, the 2d Sabbath at 
 Cullen and the 3d Sabbath at Boyndie." 
 
 Fordice, January 16th 1740. 
 
 After prayer. Sederunt etc., etc. Iiiter alia : 
 " Anent Mr John Mill, The members present in 
 whose pulpits he had preached according to former 
 appointment having reported their satisfaction with 
 said Mr Mill his method of preaching in their con- 
 gregations. The Presbytery appointed Extract of 
 said Mr Mills License to be given him when called 
 for." 
 
 At same meeting, but in another part of the 
 minutes, " The Presbytery appoints their clerk to 
 draw a Letter of recommendation in favour of Mr 
 John Mill to the committee of Reformation entreat- 
 ing they would nominate him to be employed on the 
 King's Bounty upon the first vacancy." 
 
 Fordice, February 20th 1740. 
 
 After prayer, Sederunt etc., etc. Inte?' alia : 
 '* Mr Morrison reported that he wrote to the com- 
 Hiittee of Reformation in favours of Mr John Mill in 
 terms of last appointment ; and Mr Morrison further 
 reported that he and Mr Mill had supplied at Ordiqu- 
 hiil as recommended," 
 
146 Appendices. 
 
 Fordice, November 5th 1740. * 
 
 After prayer, Sederunt etc. , etc. Inter alia : 
 
 ♦' The Presbytery finding that upon a vacancie of the 
 
 School of Cullen," a Mr John Cook is appointed by 
 
 the Earl of Findlater, etc. 
 
 N.B. — Since the first chapter of this volume was 
 set up in type I have been informed by Gilbert 
 Goudie, Esq., that Mr Mill graduated at Marischal 
 College and University, Aberdeen, in 1732, and that 
 he held the Milne bursary there, 1728-32. 
 
 APPENDIX IV.— p. 18. 
 
 THE king's bounty. 
 
 The origin of this fund, and the conditions con- 
 nected with the management of it, are recorded in the 
 "Acts of the General Assembly," May 17th, 1725. 
 Commission to some Ministers and Ruling Elders for 
 Reformation of the Highlands and Islands of Scot- 
 land, and for Managemeyit of the King's Bounty for 
 that end. 
 
 "The General Assembly, taking into their con- 
 sideration that his Majesty, upon its being repre- 
 sented to him, by the General Assemblies of this 
 Church, that Popery and ignorance did increase and 
 prevail in several places in the Highlands and Islands, 
 had, out of his great concern for the glory of God and 
 good of souls, signified his gracious inclination to 
 contribute yearly the sum of £1000 sterling, to en- 
 courage itinerant preachers and catechists to go to 
 these parts," appoint a committee to employ the said 
 sum. The instructions to the committee are that 
 "they are carefully to inform themselves of the lit 
 places where the said itinerant preachers are to be 
 
Appendices. 147 
 
 sent and employed, and of persons duly qualified for 
 that service, of good abilities for the same, of a pious 
 life and conversation, prudent, of undoubted loyalty 
 to his Majesty, and competently skilled in the 
 principles of divinity, and in Popish controversies.'' 
 '* The said preachers are also appointed to catechise, 
 both they and the catechists are to instruct the people 
 from house to house, and visit the sick ; and, in all 
 their labours among the people, to be careful to teach 
 them the principles and duties of the true Christian 
 Protestant religion, and the obligation they are under 
 to duty and loyalty to our Sovereign King George, 
 and obedience to the laws." A royal grant, now of 
 £2000, is still made annually for promoting religious 
 work in the Highlands and Islands. An increase in 
 the amount was suggested by the General Assembly 
 in 1765. 
 
 APPENDIX V.-p. 20. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE PARISH OF DUNROSSNESS 
 IN 1701. 
 
 The following is the description of Dunrossness 
 given by the Rev. John Brand in 1701. He had visited 
 Orkney and Shetland, in 1700, as one of a Commis- 
 sion of seven ministers and an elder, appointed by the 
 General Assembly to examine into the condition of 
 the Churches there. Our readers will obtain from 
 it some idea of the kind of parish in which Mr Mill 
 was located : for, although Mr Brand speaks of how 
 matters were in that part of the country at the veiy 
 beginning of the century, it is not likely that there 
 were many changes in the interval between his visit 
 and Mr Mill's settlement. " The 1st is the Parish of 
 Dunrossness on the Mainland to the South, and is the 
 Parish which lyes next to Orkney and Scotland^ 
 
148 Appendices. 
 
 wherein are 3 Churches, in which their Minister per- 
 formeth divine service, Cross-Kirk, Sanivich, and Fair 
 Isle ; in this Parish are several very j]rood Voes or 
 Harbours commodious for Ships to ride in. In this 
 there is also much Corn-Land, ther ground bearing 
 the Richest Grain, in many places not so Mossy and 
 covered over with Heatli, as other Parishes are, which 
 makes them to have less fewel, tho more corn. "Much 
 of the Land here is sanded, and the Sea almost Yearly 
 gaineth something on the lower parts thereof ; the 
 Land lying so low and sandy in many places, is con- 
 venient for Conies, which abound here about the 
 Ness or southermost point of Land. In this Parish 
 there is a great Fishing. This southermost point 
 hath two Heads, Swinbnrgh [Sumburgh] Head, and 
 Fitwalls [Fitful] Head, two high rocks seen by 
 Mariners coming from the South at a great distance, 
 which when discovered, they direct their Course 
 towards them. 
 
 "To the North -West of the Ness lyes ,S^^. Nlnians 
 Isle, very pleasant ; wherein there is a Chappel 
 and one Altar in it, where on some superstitious 
 People do burn Candles to this Day. Some take 
 this Isle rather to be a kind of Peninsula, joyned 
 to the Main by a Bank of Sand, by which in an Ebb 
 People may go into the Isle, tho sometimes not with- 
 out danger. 
 
 " The Fair Isle belongeth to tins Parish, lying 8 
 leagues or 24 Miles to the South or South and by 
 East of Sioinhurgh Head, by Buchanan it is called 
 Insula Bella the pleasant or pretty Isle. . . This 
 Fair Isle riseth high above the Waters, and is seen 
 by Mariners at a great distance ; it is about a Mile 
 and a half long from south to North, and nigh to a 
 Mile in breadth, the side thereof towards the West is 
 a continued ragged rock from one end to another, 
 always beat upon by the Impetuous currents of a 
 
Ajipendices. 149 
 
 swelling? Sea, al)ove this West-side is the Craig which 
 they call the ShecjJ-Craig, whereon there are no 
 Houses nor Corn-Land, hut Sheep use to feed : The 
 side, lying to the East is lower, declining towards the 
 Sea ; There are in it two Harbours, one upon the 
 Northern-End, looking to Zetland, and another to- 
 Avards the Southern point, but Ships or Boats do not 
 ordinarily resort thereunto, if not put to it, and 
 better cannot do, for so it hath been a safe shelter 
 and refuge to many. 
 
 *' There use to be about 10. or 12. Families in it, but 
 now they say Death hath almost depopulate the Isle, 
 the small Pox having lately raged there, and swept 
 away two thirds of the Inhabitants, so that there Is 
 not a sufficient number spared to manage their Fish. 
 Boats. . . They have good Pasturage for Sheep 
 and Kine, and some Corn -Land, and are very hospital 
 and kind. Their Minister useth to visite them once 
 in the Year, in the Summer time, and staying with 
 them about a Month, Preaching, Baptizing their 
 Children and doing other parts of his Pastoral Work ; 
 after which he returning to Zetland, they are without 
 publick Ordinances till the next Years Revolution. 
 
 ** The HaAvks, they say, which are to be liad in the 
 Fair Isle, are the best in Britain, which use to flee 
 to Zetland, or Orkney for their prey, these being the 
 nearest Lands, and sometimes they'le find Moor 
 Fowls in their Nests, which they behoved to bring 
 from Orkney, seeing there are none in Zetland, and 
 the nearest isle they could have them in, was Stronsa 
 or Westra, which is between 40. and 50. Miles of Sea, 
 over which at one flight they must carry these Fowls 
 to their Nests. 
 
 '* ^lany Ships use to cruise about this Fair Isle, in 
 the Summer time, and by it the Holland's Fleet 
 going to or coming from the East-Indies use to pass, 
 tho sometimes as in the late AVars they sailed by the 
 North of Zetland^ that they might be more free of 
 
150 Appendices. 
 
 danger. Ships also going to or coming from Norway 
 or the East Sea frequently pass this way, when Wind 
 serveth them so to do ; and this Fair Isle being seen 
 by them at 14. or 16. leagues distance, in a clear Day 
 it is as a Myth or Mark for directing their courses." 
 
 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY, ZETLAND, 
 PIGHTLAND FIRTH, AND CAITHNESS, by the 
 
 Rev. John Brand, 1701. 
 
 APPENDIX VI.-p. 20. 
 
 MR mill's predecessors IN DUNROSSNESS. 
 
 1567. John Crab, reader, died in Nov., 1571. 
 
 1571. John Kingsone, or Kingstoun : removed to 
 Sand wick prior to 1574. 
 
 1575. Malcolm Sinclair, reader : presented to the 
 Vicarage by James VI. , 29th Dec. : continued 
 in 1601. 
 
 1610. Laurence Sinclair. 
 
 1640. NicoL Quhyte, A.m., Edinburgh : continued 
 in 1648. 
 
 1662. James Forbes, A.M., (St Andrews). 
 
 1682. James Kay, A.M., translated from Kirkwall. 
 He petitioned the Gen. Assembly, with five 
 others, in Jan., 1698, that he might be re- 
 ceived into the communion ; and having 
 disclaimed Episcopacy, and stated that he 
 never had any hand in the late persecutions, 
 he was received : died 15th Sept., 1716. 
 
 1720. Walter Hugens, A.M., (Edinburgh) : pre- 
 sented by the Earl of Morton in 1717 : 
 ordained in the Kirkyard of Sandwick, 4th 
 Aug., 1720: translated to Sandsting and 
 Aithsting, 1733. He had a family of four- 
 teen sons and six daughters. 
 
 1735. William Maxwell, A.M., (Glasgow): was 
 
Appendices. 151 
 
 minister at Charlesijton, South Carolina, for 
 six years : was translated to Rutherglen, 
 1742. 
 
 (Taken from Fasti Ecdesice Scoticamc: Dr 
 Hew Scott). 
 
 APPENDIX VII.-p. 23. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE CROSS-KIRK OF DUNROSSNESS 
 IN 1711 AND 1744. 
 
 In Sir Robert Sibbald's '* Description of Orkney and 
 Shetland," published in 1711, we have a verj^ full 
 account of the district in which Mr Mill was minister 
 and of the Church in which he officiated for nearly 
 fifty years." *' In the midst of the Sand, [at the end 
 of Quendale Bay] stands the South Kirk of Dunross- 
 ness, called the Cross-Kirk, a Church prettie large 
 and well replenished, but of no Magnificent structure, 
 yet equall to (if not exceeding) the rest of the 
 Countrey. This Church is surrounded with Banks of 
 Sand, two or three paces distant from the Water, 
 consequently no good Burial place, for, if it blow but 
 an ordinarj' gale, many of the Coffins are discovered, 
 and sometimes naked Corpses ; for all have not coffins. 
 To the South wall of this Church, are affixed two 
 Monuments, one very Large, and very curiously cut, 
 at the Expences of Hector Bruce of Moivaness : 
 another (not so large nor so fine) belonging to 
 Laurence Sinclair of Qiiendale ; there are other two, 
 within the Church, standing upon Pillars, one per- 
 taining to Robert Bruce of Soumburgh, another to 
 Quendale ; besides these are no graved Stone Inscrip- 
 tions or Monuments within Dunrossness." 
 
 It is evident from Mr Mill's remark that up to 
 1750 there had been no seats in the Church, that 
 the phrase above used— "well replenished "—has 
 
152 Appendices. I 
 
 no reference to comfortable pews. Probably those 
 who were unable to stand all the time of Divine 
 service brought stools with them on which to sit, 
 and the scene within the church was something like 
 that represented on our title-page. 
 
 In 1774, Mr George Low, a Divinity student, and 
 afterwards minister of Birsay and Harray in Orkney, 
 visited Shetland, and afterwards wrote liis " Tottr thro' 
 Orkney and Shetland." He thus describes the district 
 about the Cross-Kirk and the state of the building | 
 itself. '* Entered Dunrossness Parish, by far the best 
 inhabited and cultivated part of the island. The soil 
 either a thin moor, or a deep shifting sand. Here 
 lay the estate of Brow, once worth 3000 merks (near 
 £200 Ster.) ayear, now a mere wilderness ; occasioned 
 by the blowing of a small dusty kind of sand, which 
 never possibly can rest, as the least puff of wind 
 sets it all in motion, in the same manner as the 
 drifting snows in winter. We still see the founda- 
 tions of the farm houses, but the ridges, etc., have 
 entirely disappeared. In a windy day this spot 
 is an Arabian desert in miniature, here the clouds 
 of sand flying as far as the eye can reach, there 
 the crowds of travellers, scarce to be seen for the 
 drifting sand, riding to church ; near the sea, the 
 church, with the foundations almost blown away, the 
 corpses entirely bare, in many instances the bones 
 bleached white ; farther inland the ruins of scattered 
 buildings, both ancient and modern, all contribute to 
 render the scene more distressing, and add to the 
 depression of spirits occasioned by this drearj'^ view. 
 The sand penetrates eveiywhere ; when I stept into 
 the Kirk, observed it found its way thro' the minutest 
 cranies, covering the whole pews, and this becomes 
 very troublesome in time of divine service, especially 
 if the wind blows from the sea, whence the sand 
 shower seems to proceed." 
 
Ippendices. 153 
 
 The Cross Kirk has now completely vanished from 
 J, the site on which it stood, the stones of it having 
 
 been made use of for the erection of modern buildings 
 h in the neighbourhood. It must have become ruinous 
 i and unsafe for occupation at the time wnen the 
 
 building of the new church at Brew was begun, for a 
 
 month after the foundations of the latter were 
 I marked out the congregation met and services were 
 ' held in the tent on the adjoining ground. The new 
 j church was begun on the 2nd of June, 1790, by Aug. 
 / 22nd the walls were completed and the congregation 
 I met within them, though it was not until Nov. 14th 
 
 of the same year that the whole building was finished. 
 
 APPENDIX VIII.-p. 24. 
 
 THE REV. JOHJ^ HUNTER EPISCOPAL MINISTER IN 
 SHETLAND. 
 
 The last Episcopal minister in Shetland, before the 
 re-introduction of Episcopacy in 1861, Avas the Rev. 
 John Hunter. He resided at Sumragarth in Dunross- 
 ness, about a quarter of a mile from Mr Mill's manse 
 at Skelberry, and had a small chapel, probably in the 
 same parish, but it is uncertain Avliere it was situated. 
 He came to Shetland some time after 1715, but was 
 not admitted to Deacon's orders until Aug. 28th, 1734. 
 From that date down to 1761, he continued the 
 exercise of his ministerial duties among the members 
 of his communion in the islands, A diary kept by 
 him from 1734 to 1745 is still extant, and Mas pub- 
 lished in the "Scottish Antiquary " for Deer. 1891. 
 It contains merely j)articulars concerning marriages 
 and baptisms performed by him during the above- 
 mentioned period, together with private accounts of 
 income and expenditure. From the diary it would 
 
154 Appendices 
 
 appear that his leading patrons each guaranteed hin. 
 a certain sum every year in the way of salary, or 
 " encouragement," as he calls it, and that he was 
 paid the greater part of it in kind. A daugliter of his 
 named Grizell, married Mr John Skinner, who was 
 then tutor to the family of Sinclair of Scalloway, and 
 who is well known as the author of " Tullochgorum " 
 and other poems. Their son and their grandson were 
 afterwards Bishops of Aberdeen. A singularly un- 
 edifying poem entitled Laxo's Lines, dealing with 
 certain local scandals, is ascribed to Mr Hunter. It 
 has never been published, but a sufficient number of 
 manuscript coi^ies exist to satisfy the exceedingly 
 limited demand for it. 
 
 A stained window in the east end of the Episcopal 
 Church in Lerwick was erected in meniory of Mr 
 Hunter. 
 
 APPENDIX IX.— p. 46. 
 
 PETITION TO THE PRESBYTERY FROM THE MINISTER 
 OF WALLS AND MR MILL's REPLY. 
 
 "The representation and petition of Mr James 
 Buchan, minister of the Gospel in Walls, for himself 
 and in name of the inhabitants of the island of Foula, 
 humbly sheweth, that whereas the venerable Com- 
 mission of the General Assembly of the Church of 
 Scotland have thought proper to employ a missionary 
 minister for a great many years past upon the fund 
 of his Majesty's Royal Bounty for supplying the 
 three remotest isles of this country with Gospel 
 ordinances, and for the relief of the established 
 ministers to whose charge the said islands belong, 
 and whereas the island of Foula (which is 18 miles 
 distant from the nearest part of the mainland of 
 Zetland) is the largest and most populous of the said 
 
Appendices. 155 
 
 three islands, and makes one of the four united 
 parishes of your petitioner's charge : yet, so it is, that 
 neither your petitioner, nor the inhabitants of the 
 said island have had anything near a proportionable 
 share of the missionary's assistance during the space of 
 the 26 years of your petitioner's incumbency, the said 
 missionary having scarce ever stayed in Foula above 
 a mouth in the whole year, and very oft not above a 
 fortnight. Therefore your petitioner and the inhabi- 
 tants of the said isle cannot but think this a griev- 
 ance worthy the wisdom and authority of the 
 Presbytery to redress, and that they will judge it 
 needful and reasonable that the inhabitants of Foula 
 should have the benefit of the missionary's labours as 
 long yearly, for the future, as tliose of the Fair Isle, 
 and nmch longer than the Isle called the Skerries : 
 and that for the following weighty reasons. 
 
 " Primo : That the Presbytery will find by compar- 
 ing the visitation and examination rolls of the people 
 in these islands, that the number of persons in Foula 
 is a little superior to those in Fair Isle, and a great 
 deal to those of the Skerries. 
 
 '■^Secundo: That tlie established minister of Dunross- 
 ness, to whose charge the Fair Isle belongs, has had 
 so much relief by the long stay of the missionary in 
 Fair Isle every year, tliat he has not found it 
 necessary to visit that isle above twice or thrice 
 during his incumbency : whereas your petitioner has 
 had so very small a share of the missionary's yearly 
 assistance, that he found himself obliged (out of com- 
 passion for the destitute condition of the souls of that 
 people) to repair to Foula every year to make up the 
 deficiency of the Missionary's labours there, and to 
 stay two or three weeks among them, constantly 
 employed on the week-days, as well as on Sabbaths, 
 either in preaching, or visitation, or examination, or 
 keeping of sessions, Ijesides three several times that 
 
156 Appendices. « 
 
 he has celebrated the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 
 in that place. 
 
 " Tertio : That your petitioner is now so broke in liis 
 strength by the fatiguing travels of his extended 
 charge, besides other troubles, and a late accident of 
 a strain in his side, that he is ill able to supply the 3 
 kirks he has to attend any longer : but quite incap- 
 able to perform his ministerial work at these places 
 and Foula too. 
 
 " Quarto : That albeit his dear brother, the minister 
 of Dunrossness has a greater number of iJarishioners 
 on the mainland part of his charge than your peti- 
 tioners has, and six miles furtlier to the Fair Isle 
 than your petitioner has to Foula, yet your petitioner 
 deems it sufficient to balance this account, that where- 
 as your petitioner has 3 kirks to supply besides 
 Foula, the minister of Dunrossness has only two 
 besides Fair Isle, and whereas your petitioner has 
 6 miles to travel to one of these 3 kirks, and nine 
 to the other besides his nearest kirk, his said 
 brother has but two miles to one of his kirks, and 
 six to the other, and that of road that is ridable 
 winter as well as summer, whereas your petitioners' 
 road by land is scarce ridable from the autumnal to 
 the vernal equinox, and he has a most dangerous 
 sound to cross and recross everytime he goes to 
 his 3rd Kirk, which is tliree miles broad — not to 
 add that his brother being considerably younger 
 than he, and less broken in constitution, is more 
 able to endure the fatigue of travel, and liaving a 
 benefice considerably larger, is more able to bear tlie 
 charges of travelling to the remote isle belonging to 
 his ministry. Upon the whole your petitioner humb- 
 ly hopes and craves the Reverend Presbytery to take 
 tlie Premises to their serious consideration, and to 
 appoint the missionary minister to supply Foula as 
 long a time yearly as he does the Fair Isle, and to 
 
Appendices. 157 
 
 remain in Foula through the next a\ inter as he [had] 
 done in Fair Isle last winter, and your petitioner shall 
 ever pray," etc. Signed : "James Buchan, minister 
 of Walls." 
 
 The Presbytery delays the final decision of the 
 matter referred to in the petition " till the itinerant 
 return from Foula, who is appointed to lay before the 
 Presbytery a true state of that island as to the 
 number of inhabitants and acconmiodation, that so 
 the clear representation of the affair may be trans- 
 mitted to the Committee." 
 
 On Nov. 26th, 1761, Mr Mill gave in his answers 
 to Mr Buchan's petition. 
 
 " Primo: Whether Foula or Fair Isle be largest is 
 of no consequence in the present case but wherein 
 Mr Buchan asserts that Foula is the most populous of 
 the two I must beg leave to deny till it is proven, 
 especially as several missionaries has assured me 
 they are much upon a parr : That my dear brother, 
 the minister of Walls, should have a proportionable 
 share of the missionary^ assistance is what I shall 
 not dispute, but readily com}>ly, that the missionary 
 continue with the people of Foula as long as possible 
 during the summer season. 
 
 ^^ Secnndo : Wherein the minister of Walls alleges 
 ' that the minister of Dunrossnesn has visited the 
 [Fair] Isle only twice or thrice during his incumbency, 
 whereas he himself has repaired every year to make 
 up the deficiency of the missionary's labours' etc : 
 To this I answer, that had Fair Isle been of as easy 
 access as Foula, I would certainly have visited it 
 oftener than I have done, but as it lys 24 miles 
 distant, and rapid currents or tide-ways 'twixt it and 
 the Main Isle as will water a stout ship's deck some- 
 thing even in the summer season, and besides 'tis not 
 reasonable to leave often about 2600 souls and up- 
 wards, running the risk at the same time of being 
 
158 Appendices. 
 
 blocked uj) in a small isle for some weeks or months 
 together for the sake of 160 souls only, who may have 
 as much of the means of grace by the missionary's 
 endeavours as those on the Main Isle, and on which 
 account they have also a title preferable to either of 
 the other two islands of Foula or Skerries. Yet I 
 have given the sacrament there as oft in proportion 
 to my time, and more tlian the minister of Walls has 
 done in Foula, visiting and examining at the same 
 time, and preaching, I may venture to affirm, more 
 oftener, even to 19 times in three weeks time, to 
 which the Session records there bear witness, and 
 which my own vindication compels me to mention : 
 and thd' I wont say that 'tis the minister of Walls' 
 Tiiain 7)iotive, yet [I] believe, atid he icill not deny tJmt 
 it has its own iveight, that unless he go in to FoiUa 
 every year the people scruple to pay his tithes. 
 
 " Tertio : That the minister of Walls preaches in two 
 kirks on the Main Isle at the distance he mentions 
 from his own house may be true, but that it is 
 noticeable that his third kirk stands at his door, 
 where he preaches two successive Sabbaths, and the 
 other tAvo Sabbaths by tuins fall to the farthest kirks, 
 which ly in the same way almost in a line, and tho' 
 the way is indeed worse than mine, yet mine is hill- 
 way as well as his, and he is not obliged to go there, 
 but when the weather allows with convenience and 
 without risk of his person. If much bad weather 
 should intervene he can make up deficiences to them 
 at a more proper season : whereas in my case besides 
 the number of parishioners as mentioned above and 
 double probably to his, this parish is computed 14 
 [miles] long and during the winter season I'm obliged 
 to catechise in the northmost part within six miles 
 of Lerwick, reckoned about 10 or 11 miles from the 
 Manse, being the fittest time for their attendance 
 from the throng of worldly business. 
 
Appendices. 159 
 
 " Quarto : That the minister of Dunrossness at pre- 
 sent is younger than the minister of Walls and his 
 constitution in better plight may be true, but this 
 depends on the sovereign will of the Most High, and 
 age and inhrmity are creeping upon the one as well 
 as upon the other. As to the charges the minister of 
 Walls speaks of, the freight of a boat once a year is 
 not worth mention, and I'm persuaded his people 
 would not refuse to carry him out and in without 
 costing him one farthing. 
 
 " Ultimo : Tliat Fair Isle is the preferable residence 
 for the missionary during winter at least, will 'tis 
 hoped appear evident to the Presbytery and Commit- 
 tee, from the consideration above mentioned : besides 
 that the missionary can be served of necessaries for 
 his own or family's use better than in Foula, and 
 considering the great inconveniences that behoved to 
 attend the frequent transport of himself and 
 necessaries from islands at such a considerable dis- 
 tance, being more than the whole length of the 
 country in a coasting way, all which speaks strongly 
 against the minister of W alls his scheme : Meantime 
 if the Presbytery shall judge it proper' to lay Mr 
 Buchan's petition and my answers before the reverend 
 Committee for managing the Royal Bounty, I'm of 
 the mind that the minister of Nesting's reasons re- 
 specting hmiself and these three islands should be 
 considered and likewise transmitted, that the rever- 
 end Committee may have the whole affair set before 
 them in as clear a light as i)0ssible and do therein as 
 shall seem to them most just and reasonable." 
 (Signed) "John Mill." 
 
 The Presbytery decided to wait until they had 
 ascertained the opinions of the itinerant missionary 
 also. 
 
160 Appendices. 
 
 APPENDIX X.-p. 52. 
 
 PETITION TO THE PRESBYTERY BY MR MILL Ve 
 THE FORBES MORTIFICATION. 
 
 On tlie 4tli ISIarch, 1752, Mr Mill presented to the 
 Presbytery the following petition. " That whereas 
 Barbara Stewart, relict of Mr James Forbes, some- 
 time minister ef Dunrossness, had legated and be- 
 queathed a piece of land called ' The Breeks,' of 
 seven pounds Scots yearly rent, in favour of four of 
 the poorest widows in said parish, impowering the 
 minister and elders of the kirk-session of Dunrossness 
 to nominate the widows, to uplift and distribute among 
 them the yearly rent of the said land, exclusive of 
 all others intermeddling with the same any manner 
 of way, as the said mortification bears at full length 
 to my certain knowledge, which mortification lies in 
 the custody of James Forbes, shipmaster, living in 
 Rerwick, in the parish of Dunrossness, who refuses 
 to deliver up said paper, unless compelled by law. 
 The tenor of said paper runs in favour of the kirk- 
 session of said parish as administrators thereof all 
 and oidy, and accordingly took place for upM'ards of 
 forty years past, without being ever called in ques- 
 tion, as your petitioner is capable to instruct from 
 good and suthcient documents under the hands of Mr 
 Walter Hugens, who was thirteen years incumbent 
 in said parish and now in Sandsting, as also by the 
 joint testimony of all the elders of said parish, which 
 is marked in our minutes ; and particularly by an 
 attestation under the hands of two of the oldest 
 members. Yet truth and verity it is that the foresaid 
 James Forbes, ship-master, had taken upon him to 
 uplift and do what he pleased with the rent of said 
 land, under pretence of his being heir and successor 
 to the said Mr James Forbes, minister, without the 
 least regard to the session's advice, and of late has 
 
Appendices. 161 
 
 abstracted aud withdrawn it alto<,^ether, claiming 
 it as his property, which conduct your petitioner 
 looks ui)on witii the utmost indij^nation and al)hor- 
 rence, as not only a manifest infringement of our 
 kirk-session privilege, hut as a notorious piece of 
 sacrilege, and therefore earnestly entreats and ex- 
 pects the reverend Preshytery would take the atlair 
 into their serious consideration, and from a compas- 
 sionate regard of the clamant case of the poor 
 widows, who can neither work nor want, and also to 
 the just rights of one of the church judicatories here- 
 by assaulted and struck at in a violent and daring 
 manner, would be pleased at the same time, as our 
 kirk-session have no fund for prosecuting said James 
 Forbes, shipmaster, Viefore the civil court, to instruct 
 your memljers to the ensuing assembly to lay the 
 said afltair before that venerable judicatory, for 
 ol »taining their orders to cause it to be prosecute before 
 the Lords of Session, anent the most speedy and 
 etlectual way for carrying it on, and your petitioners 
 shall ever pray," etc. " Given at Lerwick this 4th 
 day of March, 1752, sic svb. John Mill." 
 
 The Presbytery granted the desire thereof and 
 agreed to instruct their commissioners to address the 
 ensuing General Assembly, " that they may be 
 pleased to instruct the agent of the Church to cany 
 on the said process, in regard the kirk-box of Dun- 
 rossness cannot defray the charge of prosecution, 
 either at Edinburgh or in Zetland, the latter of which 
 is very chargeable here." 
 
 APPENDIX XI.— p. 53. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM A COMMUNION ADDRESS BY 
 MR MILL. 
 
 We may get some idea of the character of Mr 
 Mill's preaching from the following extract taken 
 
162 Appendices 
 
 from one of the Communion addresses contained ii. 
 the MS. volume referred to on page 36. The preaclier 
 is " fencing the Table," or, in other words, formally 
 debarring those of evil life from participation in the 
 Sacrament. 
 
 " I come now in the Name and Authority of my 
 great Lord and Master, as one of the meanest and 
 most unworthy of His servants, in virtue of the Keys 
 of His kingdom committed to His faithful ministers, 
 to set a fence reund His holy Table, and thereby ex- 
 communicate and debar from the holy Table of the 
 Lord all swine from these precious pearls, and doggs 
 from partaking of the children's bread. 
 
 ** 1st. More generally : all such as deny and oppose 
 the way of Salvation by Christ Jesus only, and seek 
 to be saved any other way — all such as won't submitt 
 their necks to Christ's yoke to be taught, ruled, and 
 governed by His Spirit and Laws, nor adhere to His 
 Kingdom, and interests, and as His disciples indeed 
 follow the Lamb whei'esoever He goes. 
 
 " 2nd. Particnlarly : according to the Duties pre- 
 scribed and sins forbidden in the ten commandments 
 as expressed in our catechisms. 
 
 "1. All Atheists who deny the true and living God, 
 and the not having and worshipping Him as God 
 and their God, inordinately setting their hearts, 
 wills, and affections on other things which take them 
 of from God either in part or whole. 
 
 *' 2. All Idolators and Superstitious persons, who 
 worship God by images, or any other way not 
 appointed and mixing fictitious and human inven- 
 tions with God's pure institutions. 
 
 " 3. All profaners and a1)users of God's names etc. 
 in an irreverent, superstitious, and wicked mention- 
 ing them by oaths, curses, vows, covenants, etc : all 
 hereticks and corrupters of the word of God by 
 damnable doctrines etc. : all apostates and back- 
 
Appendices. 163 
 
 sliders from tlie truth, tliat are either ashamed of it, 
 or a shame and reproacli to it, by unwise, unfruitful, 
 offensive, and scandalous walkin«^. 
 
 "4, All Sabbatli-lireakers, as neglect the public, 
 private, and secret worship of (xod on His holy day, 
 as seek not to worship (4od in spirit and truth, or 
 carelessly loiter away their precious time in the 
 houses and fields, emploj^ed in vain, foolish thoughts 
 and Avords, or doing what is sinful. 
 
 " 5. All wilful Dissobeyers of Parents, Magistrates, 
 ministers and others in Authority over them in their 
 lawful commands, or not doing to others as they 
 would have others do to them. 
 
 " 6. All murtherers and manslayers, except in law- 
 ful war, public justice, and necessary self-defence ; all 
 tyrants and oppressors, brawlers, quarrelsome and 
 contentious persons, who live in hatred, and malice, 
 and a heart burning towards their neighbour. 
 
 "7. All Adulterers, Fornicaters, and Incestuous 
 persons, who indulge themselves in the lusts of un- 
 cleanness, and delight in filthy, impure imaginations 
 and obscene talk. 
 
 *' 8, All Thieves, Robbers, and Extortioners, especi- 
 ally of the poor and needy, those who cheat, deceive, 
 and overreach their neighliours, purloin their goods, 
 and are unfaithful to their trust. 
 
 " 9. All Lyars, Slanderers, and Backbiters, such as 
 suborn others to give false evidence to the prejudice 
 of their neighbours, in their reputation, body, or 
 estate, etc. 
 
 " 10. All Covetous Wordlings, whose God is their 
 belly, who mind earthly things more than heavenly : 
 such as are discontent with their lot and condition, 
 fretting, murmuring, and repining at the providence 
 of God, envying and grie\dng at their neighbour's 
 good in mind, body, reputation and estate, and hav- 
 
164 Appendices, 
 
 ing inordinate desires to anything that belongs to 
 him. 
 
 *' In the same Name and Authority I am to set open 
 a Door for all penitent, broken hearted sinners, who 
 have many anxious looks, earnest desires, ardent 
 breathings, and a languor after Christ and His 
 Righteousness. All ye poor, blind and naked, lame, 
 dumb and deaf, avIio are holding up your hearts to 
 Christ this day that He may write His laws there, 
 stamp His image, and make you like Him, holy as 
 He is holj^ resolving in His strength, to cleave fast 
 to Him all your days, and never turn to folly, I 
 charge and command you in the King's Name, that 
 ye approach and take your sacrament upon it, and 
 that ye abitle by these things in defiance of princi- 
 palities and powers, etc. Let neither the pride of 
 any worthiness bring you, nor a scruple of any un- 
 worthiness keep you back from this holy ordinance : 
 only beware of rushing into His presence in a rude, 
 presumptuous manner, the manifest indication of a 
 vain, regardless mind, as if He was a man like our- 
 selves, or approaching Him with a base, slavish fear. 
 See you aA'oid both extremes : for as a presumptuous 
 rudeness is a great provocation to the Master of the 
 Feast, so a distressful shyness is displeasing to Him 
 also, as questioning either the sincerity of the invita- 
 tion, or the sufficiency of the provision. O come 
 thereto, with the qualifications requisite, with clean 
 hands and pure hearts, becoming the presence of so 
 great and thrice holy a God. Come with an eye to 
 Christ Jesus, as to a merciful High Priest who is 
 touched with a feeling of our Infirmities. Then, and 
 then only, you may expect a gracious and welcome 
 reception at His Table. Behold ! Now all things are 
 ready in the Gospel Feast for the soul that desires 
 unfeignedly to be truly and eternally happy in the 
 love and favour of his Creator and Redeemer. The 
 
Appendices. 165 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ is ready — this Kin^ of Glory is 
 seeking admission into the everlasting; doors of your 
 hearts. ' Behold I stand at the door and knock,' etc. 
 The Angels of God are ready on the Aving to attend 
 you. The Ministers of the Gospel are ready to 
 attend you and break tlie bread of life. All things 
 are ready ; O be j^e not unready ! Gonsidei you 
 have to do with a holy and heart-searching God who 
 knows you better than you know yourselves. O 
 come then with reverence and godly fear, as children 
 to a Father, who deals not [with us] in strict justice, 
 but in tender mercy : and though, out of Christ, He 
 is a consuming fire, yet in Christ Jesus He is a re- 
 conciled God and a gracious Father. Let us come 
 boldly to the Table of the Lord, and draw near with 
 true hearts, etc — chiding ourselves for amazing feais. 
 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul,' etc. If the 
 Spirit of God undertake to work all my works in me, 
 as the Son of God has done for me, then all shall be 
 well and effectually done. Remember ye stand on 
 holy ground." 
 
166 Appendices. 
 
 APPENDIX XII.-p. 64. 
 
 TITLE-PAGE OF MR MILL's BOOK. 
 
 The 
 
 HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 of 
 
 CHRIST 
 
 Delineated 
 
 In her FAITH and PRACTICE 
 
 Agreeable to 
 
 The WORD OF GOD and Sound reason, 
 
 or, 
 
 A VIEW 
 
 of 
 
 The leading DOCTRINES and duties of 
 
 CHRISTIANITY; digested under projier 
 
 Heads, 
 
 With 
 
 A sacred HYMN annexed to each ARTICLE, 
 
 By a MINISTER of the established church. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 Printed hij John RElD,/or the Autfior. 
 Sold by William Gray, and vther Booksellers. 
 
 MDCCLXXIII. 
 
Appendices. 167 
 
 APPENDIX XIII.-p. 103. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF LERWICK IN 1701. 
 
 " The 2n(l is tlie Parish of Thigwall lying on the 
 East of the Main[land] to the North of Dunrossncss, 
 wherein are 4 Churches, Tiuijwrdl, Whiteness, Wise- 
 dale [Weisdale] and Lerwirk, but the Minister useth 
 not to Preach by turns at Lcrwiek, as he doth at his 
 other 3. Churches, lie not finding himself obliged so to 
 do, it being but built lately at the expence of the 
 Inhabitants, however sometimes he hath sermon 
 there, and Baptizeth their Children. Lerwick in this 
 Parish is now become the principal Town in the 
 Country, lying on the East of the Main at Brassa 
 [Bressay] Sound, over against the Isle of Brassa 
 [Bressay . ] 
 
 " Lcrwiek is more then half a mile in length, lying 
 South and North upon the side of the Sound, and 
 will consist of between 2. and 300. Families, it is but 
 within these few years, that it hath arrived to such a 
 number of Houses and Inhabitants. It is become so 
 considerable because of the many Ships which do 
 Yearly frequent the Sound, whereby Merchants and 
 Trades-men are encouraged to come and dwell in this 
 place, and not for the pleasantness of its situation, 
 or the fertility of the Countrj^ about, for it is built 
 upon a Rocky piece of Ground, wherein they can 
 have no street, but a kind of a narrow passage before 
 their doors, betwixt them and the Sound, which in 
 some places will not admit of two mens going in a 
 breast, and at the back of the Town there is a Hill 
 of black Moss, wherein they cast their Pites [peats], 
 which in some places cometh to their very doors, and 
 no Corn-Land is there about it, save a little within 
 the Castle, for near a mile of way. 
 
 "Many of their Houses are very Commodious to 
 dwell in, most of them being two stories high, and 
 
168 Appendices. 
 
 well furnished within, their Inhabitants consist of 
 Merchants, Tradesmen, and Fishers, wlio keep up a 
 good Trade with Foreigners, from wliom they buy 
 niucli of their doniestick provisions, some of them 
 are Persons of a Considerable Stock, which they 
 have many ways to improve for their advantage. 
 They are very Civil and kind, of an obliging temi)er, 
 which we had the Experience of, during our abode 
 among them ; tliere are but few l)egging poor to be 
 seen here, or in any place of tlie Countrey, where we 
 had occasion to be .; there being a great store of small 
 Fishes, for the supply of their necessity. 
 
 " They have upon their own Charges Built a con- 
 venient Cliurch, at the batrk of the middle of the 
 Town, and furnished it with good seats liigh and low, 
 they are at present a part of the Parish of Tinrfwal, 
 but very desireous to be disjoined, and erected into a 
 Parish l)y themselves, that so they may enjoy a 
 Minister of their own.. For the promoting of which 
 good Work, they are most willing according to their 
 ability to contribute for the settling of a Fond for a 
 Stipend to a Minister, but not being in a Capacity to 
 give all, they resolved to make application to the 
 Government, for to have some allowance out of the 
 Kevenues of the Bishoprick of Orkney, or otherwise 
 as the Wisdom of the Government should see meet, 
 that so there may be a competency made up. 
 
 " Upon their application to us, we judging it most 
 convenient, yea necessary, that the Town with some 
 of the adjacent Countrey, should be Erected into a 
 Paroch, cherished this their pious design ; Telling 
 them, that we intended, to recommend it, to the 
 Commission of the General Assembly : That they 
 may interpose, with the Lords, and other Honourable 
 Members of the respective Judicatories, before whom 
 this affair shall come, for the better efiectuating the 
 same. For the Town itself is considerable, and the 
 
Ajipendices. 169 
 
 principal one in the Countrey, much freqiientefl by 
 the Gentry ; As also, by strangers, in the Summer 
 time. And their Minister Preaching seldom here, 
 they are ordinarly destitute of (rospel Ordinances ; 
 The People scarce being able, in the Summer season, 
 and all most impossible for them in the Winter, to 
 travel to the next Church, where their minister 
 Preaclieth : It being about 4 miles distance from 
 them, of exceeding bad way. As we knew, when we 
 di<l perambulate the bounds. Wliich want of Ordin- 
 ances, maketh tiieir Case very sa<l and deplorable ; 
 It nurseth ignorance ; Occasioneth much sin, espec- 
 ially horrid prophanation of the Lords-Day, by 
 strangers, as well as by inhabitants ; And doth 
 efiectually obstruct the conversion of Souls ; Preach- 
 ing of the Word being a special mean of convincing 
 and converting Sinners, and building them up in 
 Holiness, and comfort through Faith, unto Salva- 
 tion. 
 
 "At the. North end of the Town, is the Castle or 
 Citadel, of Lerwick, begun to be built in the time, 
 of the Dutch War anno 1665. By Workmen sent by 
 Aidlwrity from Scotland, for that end, but the Work 
 was never perfected, the Work-men returning home, 
 anno 1667. At that time also 300 Souldiers were 
 sent over for the Defence of the Countrey, against 
 the hostile Incursions of the Hollanders, and were 
 quartered in places nigh to the Fort, who likewise 
 returned home about the same time, with the Work- 
 men ; The Garrison could do much to command the 
 Sound (for then there was no Town here) so that 
 none durst Land nigli unto them ; The Avails are yet 
 in a good condition, high in some [daces without, but 
 filled up with Earth within, wliereon they raised 
 their Cannon ; in the weakest part of the Wall to- 
 wards the North, there hath been a Sally, port, 
 dangerous to attack, by reason of a deep Ditch before 
 
170 Appendices. 
 
 it, fed by a Spring, into which the Garison by 
 cunning Artifices might endeavour to draw the 
 Enemy, who by the Stratagems of War thus being 
 brought on, antl ensnared, did [wouhl ?] incontinently 
 sink down into the Sound below them at the foot of 
 the Hill, whereupon the Castle is, situated ; Within 
 the W^alls is a House of Guard, which hath been two 
 Stories high, burnt by the Butch, after that our 
 Souldiers had left the Fort. Upon the W^alls to- 
 wards the Sound, are standing 3 Iron Cannons, one a 
 6. another a 7. , and a 3d. a 10. Founder not left by 
 these who kept Garrison, but since that time within 
 these 30 years taken out of the Sea nigh to Whalsay, 
 a Ship of Force there being cast away, about 80. 
 years before : Which Guns the Inhabitants of Lerwick 
 lately mounted upon the Walls of the Castle, where- 
 by they might be in a Capacity to Defend themselves 
 against the French Privateers, who at any time 
 should come up the Sound an<l assault tliem. 
 
 " Between Lerwick and the Isle of Brassa [Bressay] 
 on the East lyeth a pleasant Bay or Sound, com- 
 monly called Brassa Sound, Famous for its being so 
 safe a Road for Ships to Anchor and Ride in, and 
 that in the greatest Storm, being enclosed with Land 
 on every side, except the Entry thereunto from the 
 South, which is half a mile broad, but within the 
 SouikI as at Lerwick its a mile, it hath another 
 narrow passage at the North end of it, but dangerous 
 to go out or in at, because of some blind Rocks 
 therein. This Sound is the ordinary place to which 
 the Holland Bushes [busses] do resort in time of 
 Herring Fishiug, who before they put out their nets, 
 (which must not be, according to a Law they have 
 among themselves, before the 24th June,) use to 
 come here and put themselves, Ships, and Nets in 
 order, and the time by them appointed being come, 
 they all go to Sea together. Fishing near to the 
 
Appendices. ^'^ 
 
 Land : Sometimes there have been seen in the Sound 
 2000. or 2200. Sail at once, and every Year some Hun- 
 dreds as 5. G. or 700. Yea sometimes so thick do the 
 Ships ly in the Sound, that they say Men mi^dit go 
 from one side of the Soun«l to the other, stepping 
 from Ship to Ship ; and during their Fishing they 
 will come into the Sound for fresh Water, or other 
 necessary Provision, and return to Sea again."— 
 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY, ZETLAND, 
 PICxHTLxVND FIRTH AND CAITHNESS, blj the Rev. 
 J. Brand, 1701. 
 
 APPENDIX XIV.— p. 104. 
 
 EPITAPH ON THE GRAVESTONE OF THE REV. THOS. 
 MILLER, MINISTER OF LERWICK FROM 1740 
 TO 1766 : IN THE OLD CHURCHYARD LER- 
 WICK. 
 
 " In the hope of a glorious reserection 
 
 here lies interr'd 
 
 the body of the Keverend Thomas Miller 
 
 IVIinister of the Gospel 
 
 at Lerwick in Zetland. 
 
 He departed this life on the 25 of October 1766 
 
 aged 67 years. 
 
 His examplary piety unfeigned zeal 
 
 for the glory of God. 
 
 His candour & uprightness among men 
 
 His diligence & fidelity in the Work of the Ministry 
 
 His approving himself at all times 
 
 A faithful servant of the Lord Jesus 
 
 Join'd to a meek c^' benevolent disposition of soul, 
 
 [Made him ve]ry dear to eveiy acquaintance 
 
 [And his dea]th lamented by every friend of 
 
 Jesus." 
 
172 Appendices. 
 
 APPENDIX XV.-p. 108. 
 
 EPITAPH ON THE MONUMENT ERECTED TO THE 
 MEMORY OF MISS E. GRIERSON IN THE OLD 
 CHURCHYARD, LERWICK. 
 
 (Monogram of initials of the parents' names, 
 A.J.G. and E.K.) 
 
 " This Monument is erected to the Memory of Miss 
 Betty Grierson who departed this transitory life 26th 
 Sept. 1778 aged 20 years : by her mother Elizabeth 
 Kelday, Relict of Andrew John Grierson, Merchant 
 in Lerwick, as the last testimony of her inflexible re- 
 gard for an affectionate Daughter, Avhose dis- 
 tinguished behaviour as a Child, Sister, Friend, and 
 Acquaintance claims more in justice than this or 
 Marble can convey. 
 
 Beneath this stone, in sleeping dust dotli lie, 
 A form once lovely, pleasing to the eye, 
 A pattern of true Innocence ; 
 Adorn'd with Virtue, Piety, and Sense : 
 Cropt in the bloom by Death's subduing hand 
 Exchanges Time's pleasures for Emanuel's Land. 
 Who's much lov'd Memory like the rose when dead 
 Reflects a sweetness, when its bloom is fled. 
 
 APPENDIX XVI.-p. 120. 
 
 " PASTORAL ADMONITION " ADDRESSED BY THE 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOT- 
 LAND, MAY 23rd, 1799 " TO ALL THE PEOPLE 
 UNDER THEIR CHARGE." 
 
 "It is much to be lamented, that while we are 
 assaulted by false principles imported to us from 
 abroad, there should of late have arisen among our- 
 selves a set of men, whose proceedings threaten no 
 
Appendices. 173 
 
 small disorder to the country. We mean those who, 
 assuming the name of missionaries from what tliey 
 call the Society for Propa<,'ating the CJospel at Home, 
 as if they had some special commis.sion from Heaven, 
 are at present going through the land, not confining 
 themselves to particular stations, but acting as 
 universal itinerant teachers, and as superintendents 
 of those who are established the teachers of religion 
 by the Church ; intruding themselves into their 
 parishes without any call ; erecting in several places 
 Sunday schools, without any countenance from the 
 Presbytery of the bounds, the minister or heritors of 
 the parish ; committing in those schools the religious 
 instruction of youth to ignorant persons, altogether 
 unfit for such an important charge, who presume not 
 only to catechise, but also to expound the Scriptures ; 
 or to persons notoriously disaffected to the civil con- 
 stitution of the country ; and connecting those schools 
 with certain secret meetings, in which, as we are in- 
 formed, every person is bound not to spread abroad 
 anj^thing that is said or done in the meeting, to the 
 preju<lice of any of the members ; into which no per- 
 son is admitted without the consent of the whole of 
 the members ; and which keep a correspondence with 
 other societies in the neighbourhood. You see the 
 men, who by themselves, or their associates, conduct 
 those Sunday schools and secret meetings, bringing 
 together assemblies of people in the fields, or in places 
 not intended for public worship ; where, pouring 
 forth their loose harangues, they frequently take the 
 liberty of censuring the doctrine or the character of 
 the minister of the parish ; studying to alienate the 
 affections of the people from their own pastors ; and 
 engaging them to join this new sect, as if they alone 
 were possessed of some secret and novel method of 
 bringing men to heaven. 
 
 " We wish to judge charitably of all men. We are 
 h 
 
174 Appendices. 
 
 willing to hope that amongst these missionaries there 
 are several worthy, well-meaning people, who have 
 been led astray by men more artful and designing 
 tlian themselves. But it is impossible not to perceive 
 that the whole scheme, and the manner in which it 
 is conducted, discover more of a spirit of ambition 
 and vanity, and of a desire to claim a lordly dominion 
 over your faith, than of the spirit of the Gospel, 
 which is a meek, an humble and a peaceable spirit, 
 and a spirit of order, not of confusion ; and whatever 
 may be the intentions of some who have engaged in 
 this scheme, the manifest tendency of their proceed- 
 ings is to foster the violence of a blind intemperate 
 zeal ; to unsettle the minds of many ; to throw their 
 principles loose, by distracting them with novelties, 
 and to make them become like '* clouds without 
 water, carried about of winds. " 
 
 '* You may have been led by curiosity to listen for a 
 little to what these strange and self-authorised 
 teachers of religion have to say. But that any of 
 you will give them lasting countenance, or adhere to 
 them as guides, forsaking upon that account the 
 Established Church, in whose principles you were 
 baptized, and under whose wings you have been bred 
 up, we are persuaded better things of you than to 
 believe or suspect. For, is it to be imagined, that 
 any well-disposed and sober-minded Christians could 
 think of deserting those houses of God, in which 
 their fathers have so often worshipped, and which 
 have so often resounded with their own songs of 
 praise, in order to follow up and down a sect of men, 
 whom you know not whence they be. . . 
 
 Subscribed, in name of the Assembly, by 
 William Moodie, D.D., Moderator"