Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

of his own he was equally indifferent to that of the
two palsies between whom he now undertook to
mediate. Nature had endowed Lauderdale with
great talents, but with nothing else. He was coarse,
mean, selfish, without a spark of honor or
generosity, greedy of power, yet greedier of
money, arrogant to those beneath him, and cringing
and abject to his superiors. His bloated features
were the index of the vile passions to which he
often gave way, and the low excesses in which he
habitually indulged. It was easy to see that should
he fail in his project of reconciling the two parties,
and, on the basis of their union, of managing the
country, his violent temper and unprincipled
ambition would hurry him into cruelties not less
great than those which had made his predecessor
infamous.
The new policy bore fruit at last in an
Indulgence. In 1669 a letter arrived from the king,
granting a qualified liberty to the outed ministers.
If willing to receive collation from the bishop, the
ministers were to be inducted into vacant parishes
and to enjoy the whole benefice; if unwilling to
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