Thus I have heard of an old bachelor clergyman whose landlady declared he used to express an opinion of his dinner by the grace which he made to follow.

When he had had a good dinner which pleased him, and a good glass of beer with it, he poured forth the grace, "For the riches of thy bounty and its blessings we offer our thanks." When he had had poor fare and poor beer, his grace was, "The least of these thy mercies." Many examples of the dry, quaint humour of the class occur in these pages, but there could not be a finer specimen than the instance recorded in the "Annals of the Parish" of the account given by the minister of his own ordination.

The ministers were all assembled for the occasion; prayers had been offered, discourses delivered, and the time for the actual ordination had come.

The form is for the candidate to kneel down and receive his sacred office by the imposition of hands, _i.e._ the laying on of hands by the whole Presbytery.

As the attendance of ministers was large, a number of hands were stretched forth, more than could quite conveniently come up to the candidate.