Ossian Collection > Journey to the western islands of Scotland

8 A JOURNEY TO THE
had workmen employed in improving its
fortifications at the time when he was mur-
dered by the ruffians of reformation, in the
manner of which Knox has given what
he himfelf calls a merry narrative.
The change of religion in Scotland,
eager and vehement as it was, raifed an
epidemical enthufiafm, compounded of fal-
len fcrupuloufnefs and warlike ferocity,
which, in a people whom idlenefs refigned
to their own thoughts, and who converfing
only with each other, fufFered no dilution
of their zeal from the gradual influx of
new opinions, was long tranfmitted in its
full ftrength from the old to the young,
but by trade and intercourfe with Eng-
land, is now vifibly abating, and giving
way too faft to their laxity of pradice
and indifference of opinion, in which men,
not fufficiently inflruded to find the middle
point, too eafily fhelter themfelves from
rigour and conftraint.
The