of the profane custom of promiscuous dancing, that is, of men and women
dancing together in the same party (for I believe they admitted that
the exercise might be inoffensive if practised by the parties
separately)--distinguishing those who professed a more than ordinary
share of sanctity, they discouraged, as far as lay in their power, even
the ancient wappen-schaws, as they were termed, when the feudal array of
the county was called out, and each crown-vassal was required to appear
with such muster of men and armour as he was bound to make by his fief,
and that under high statutory penalties. The Covenanters were the more
jealous of those assemblies, as the lord lieutenants and sheriffs under
whom they were held had instructions from the government to spare no
pains which might render them agreeable to the young men who were thus
summoned together, upon whom the military exercise of the morning, and
the sports which usually closed the evening, might naturally be supposed
to have a seductive effect.

The preachers and proselytes of the more rigid presbyterians laboured,
therefore, by caution, remonstrance, and authority, to diminish the
attendance upon these summonses, conscious that in doing so, they
lessened not only the apparent, but the actual strength of the
government, by impeding the extension of that esprit de corps which soon
unites young men who are in the habit of meeting together for manly
sport, or military exercise. They, therefore, exerted themselves
earnestly to prevent attendance on these occasions by those who could
find any possible excuse for absence, and were especially severe upon
such of their hearers as mere curiosity led to be spectators, or love of
exercise to be partakers, of the array and the sports which took place.
Such of the gentry as acceded to these doctrines were not always,
however, in a situation to be ruled by them. The commands of the law were
imperative; and the privy council, who administered the executive power