that, in their hands, it would do no good; for Mr Pittle, the
minister, was a vain sort of a body, and easy to be fleeched, and
the bold and the bardy with him would be sure to come in for a
better share than the meek and the modest, who might be in greater
want. So I set myself to consider what was the best way of
proceeding; and truly upon reflection, there are few events in my
history that I look back upon with more satisfaction than the part I
performed in this matter; for, before going into any division of the
money, I proposed that we should allot it to three classes--those
who were destitute; those who had some help, but large families; and
those to whom a temporality would be sufficient--and that we should
make a visitation to the houses of all the sufferers, in order to
class them under their proper heads aright. By this method, and
together with what I had done personally in the tempest, I got great
praise and laud from all reflecting people; and it is not now to be
told what a consolation was brought to many a sorrowful widow and
orphan's heart, by the patience and temperance with which the fund
of liberality was distributed; yet because a small sum was reserved
to help some of the more helpless at another time, and the same was
put out to interest in the town's books, there were not wanting
evil-minded persons who went about whispering calumnious innuendos
to my disadvantage; but I know, by this time, the nature of the
world, and how impossible it is to reason with such a seven-headed
and ten-horned beast as the multitude. So I said nothing; only I
got the town-clerk's young man, who acted as clerk to the committee
of the subscription, to make out a fair account of the distribution
of the money, and to what intent the residue had been placed in the
town-treasurer's hand; and this I sent unto a friend in Glasgow to
get printed for me, the which he did; and when I got the copies, I
directed one to every individual subscriber, and sent the town-