There is nothing to prove that Scott was acquainted with this adventure.

Scott's own experience, as usual, supplied him with hints for his characters.

The phrase of Dominie Sampson's father, "Please God, my bairn may live to wag his pow in a pulpit," was uttered in his own hearing.

There was a Bluegown, or Bedesman, like Edie Ochiltree, who had a son at Edinburgh College.

Scott was kind to the son, the Bluegown asked him to dinner, and at this meal the old man made the remark about the pulpit and the pow.' A similar tale is told by Scott in the Introduction to "The Antiquary" (1830).