Excerpt from Memoirs of Scottish Catholics During the Xviith and Xviiith Centuries, Vol. 1: Selected From Hitherto Inedited Mss A very homely proverb tells us that no man knows where the shoe pinches, better than he who wears it. However soft to the touch the leather is shown to be, however high the repute of the maker, no argument derived from the evidence of others can outweigh the statement based on personal experience. We have heard the history of religion in Scotland from many a friend of the Covenant, from many an admirer of the Royalists, but a personal narrative of the sufferings endured by the members of the ancient faith has not been put before the world. The letters here printed were written from Scotland during the worst times, by men who were bearing the extremity of the persecution. We hear at first hand of the courage, patience, resource, and religious forti tude, with which large numbers of Scots bore for generations trials which are Without a parallel for severity and protraction, even in the annals of our strong and long enduring nation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.