Crime & punishment > Times of Claverhouse, or, Sketches of the persecution

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THE TIMES OF CLAVERHOUSE.
there were no newspapers, they were the only per¬
sons who communicated to the peasantry the intel¬
ligence of what was going on in the country gene¬
rally. They told all they knew, and that with a
frankness that begat confidence on the part of the
simple-hearted people, who as readily communi¬
cated what they knew. As it was the chief design
of these persons to gather all the news about the
covenanting people, their ears were open to receive
every thing with avidity that was stated respecting
them. By this means they found out their names,
and their haunts, with an accuracy that was well¬
pleasing to their employers.
At other times they appeared in the garb of
shepherds traversing the lonely mountains, and
seeking, in the character of wanderers, the hospi¬
tality of the lowly cottages among the hills. In
this way they mingled with the inhabitants of the
moorlands and remote deserts, where discoveries
were likely to he made. The doors of no class of
persons were more readily opened to the wanderers
than those of the residents in the wilderness, and
hence these disguised shepherds found an easy ad¬
mittance into their humble abodes. This was to
them of the greatest consequence, as it was in these
solitary retreats that a vast number of the witnesses
were to be found. They had fled to the solitudes
for safety, and here they often congregated for
prayer and social intercourse; and it was to find out
their places of resort that these spies had penetrated
so far into the wilds. They resided for a season
among the moorland people, pretending they were
under hiding, and rendering themselves as service¬
able as possible to the shepherds, till they had ac-