Life and diary of Lieut. Col. J. Blackader

478 LIFE OF COL. BLACKADER.
CHAPTER XX.
MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS, 1716— 1721.
Colonel Blackader's private pursuits— His Speeches in the General
Assembly— Is appointed Deputy Governor of Stirling Castle —
His observations on Legal and Evangelical Preaching— Speech at
the Synod of Ayr— Ormond's Invasion— Oath of Abjuration en-
forced—Visiting, Amusements, &c.
The time from the suppression of the Rebellion, until
his appointment as Deputy Governor of Stirling Castle,
the Colonel spent in his usual retired manner, enjoy-
ing the recreations of the country, and the society of
his friends. Many of his leisure hours he devoted to
benevolent purposes, in doing offices of kindness and
charity to the poor in his neighbourhood, or to the
cultivation of his own mind in reading and study, for
which he had always a predilection. In the Greek
and Roman classics he took great delight, and had
made considerable attainments in several of the bran-
ches of Natural Philosophy. The General Assembly
of this year, to which he was returned a member,
furnished him with some occasions of trying his talents
as a public speaker ; and if we may judge from the