This is a change wrought in men's feelings, which all must hail with great pleasure.

Putting out of sight for a moment the sin of such a practice, and the bad influence it must have had upon all emotions of reverence for the name and attributes of the Divine Being, and the natural effect of profane swearing, to "harden a' within," we might marvel at the utter folly and incongruity of making swearing accompany every expression of anger or surprise, or of using oaths as mere expletives in common discourse.

A quaint anecdote, descriptive of such senseless ebullition, I have from a friend who mentioned the names of parties concerned:--A late Duke of Athole had invited a well-known character, a writer of Perth, to come up and meet him at Dunkeld for the transaction of some business.

The Duke mentioned the day and hour when he should receive the man of law, who accordingly came punctually at the appointed time and place.

But the Duke had forgotten the appointment, and gone to the hill, from which he could not return for some hours.