and screwing his leg against the opposite wall, that secured the
court as well as himself in their places on the principle of a
compressed spring. When this operation was completed, Burnbrae used
to say to the minister, who sat in the middle on a cane chair before
the tiniest of tables--the living was small, and the ministers never
grew fat till they left--

"We're fine and comfortable noo, Moderator, and ye can begin
business as sune as ye like."

As there were only six elders they could sit in state, besides
leaving a vacant space for any penitents who came to confess their
sins and receive absolution, or some catechumen who wished to be
admitted to the sacrament. Carmichael used to say that a meeting of
Session affected his imagination, and would have made an interior
for Rembrandt. On one side of the table sat the men who represented
the piety of the district, and were supposed to be "far ben" in the
Divine fellowship, and on the other some young girl in her
loneliness, who wrung her handkerchief in terror of this dreaded
spiritual court, and hoped within her heart that no elder would ask
her "effectual calling" from the Shorter Catechism; while the little
lamp, hanging from the ceiling, and swinging gently in the wind that
had free access from every airt, cast a fitful light on the fresh,
tearful face of the girl and the hard, weather-beaten countenances
of the elders, composed into a serious gravity not untouched by
tenderness. They were little else than labouring men, but no one was
elected to that court unless he had given pledges of godliness, and
they bore themselves as men who had the charge of souls.

The little Sanhedrim had within it the school of Hillel, which was