and could not get one request, but "Lord pity," "Lord help"; this I
came over frequently; at length the terror of Satan fell on me in a
high degree, and all I could say even then was--"Lord help." I
continued in the duty for some time, notwithstanding of this
terror. At length I got up to my feet, and the terror still
increased; then the enemy took me by the arm-pits, and seemed to
lift me up by my arms. I saw a loch just before me, and I
concluded he designed to throw me there by force; and had he got
leave to do so, it might have brought a great reproach upon
religion. {7a} But it was otherwise ordered, and the cause of
piety escaped that danger. {7b}

On the whole, the Stevensons may be described as decent, reputable
folk, following honest trades--millers, maltsters, and doctors,
playing the character parts in the Waverley Novels with propriety,
if without distinction; and to an orphan looking about him in the
world for a potential ancestry, offering a plain and quite
unadorned refuge, equally free from shame and glory. John, the
land-labourer, is the one living and memorable figure, and he,
alas! cannot possibly be more near than a collateral. It was on
August 12, 1678, that he heard Mr. John Welsh on the Craigdowhill,
and 'took the heavens, earth, and sun in the firmament that was
shining on us, as also the ambassador who made the offer, and THE
CLERK WHO RAISED THE PSALMS, to witness that I did give myself away
to the Lord in a personal and perpetual covenant never to be
forgotten'; and already, in 1675, the birth of my direct ascendant
was registered in Glasgow. So that I have been pursuing ancestors
too far down; and John the land-labourer is debarred me, and I must
relinquish from the trophies of my house his RARE SOUL-
STRENGTHENING AND COMFORTING CORDIAL. It is the same case with the