young nobleman, though he loſt the the eſtate of Qchiltry, lived to acquire a great eſtate in Ireland, and was lord Caſtleſtewart, and a man of ſuch excellent part, that he was courted by the earl of Stafford, to be a counſellor in Ireland, which he refuſed to be until the godly ſilenced Scottiſh miniſters, who ſuffered under the bſhops in the north of Ireland; were reſtored to the exerciſe of their miniſtery and then he engaged, and ſo continued for all his life, not only in honour and power but in the profeſſion and practice of godlineſs, to the great comfort of the country where he lived. This ſtory the nobleman communicated to his friends in Ireland, and from them I had it.
While Mr. Welch was miniſter in one of the French villages, upon an evening a certain popiſh friar travelling through the conntry, becauſe he could not find lodging in the village, addreſt himſelf to Mr. Welch's houſe for one night. The ſervants accquainted their maſter and he was content to receive this gueſt. The family had ſupt before he came, and ſo the ſervants convayed the friar to his chamber, and after they had made his ſupper, they left him to his reſt. There was but a timber partition betwixt him and Mr. Welch, and after the friar had ſlept his firſt ſleep, he was ſurpriſed with the hearing of a ſilent, but conſtant whiſpering noiſe, at which he wondered very much, and was not a little troubled with it.
The next morning he walked in the fields, where he chanced to meet with a country man, who ſaluted him becauſe of his habit, aſked him where he had lodged that night? The friar anſwered he had lodged with the hugenot miniſter. then the country man aſked him what entertainment he had? The friar anſwered, Very bad; for, ſaid he, I alway held that there were devils haunting theſe miniſters houſes, and I am purſuaded there was one with me laſt night, for I heard a continual whiſper all the night over, which I believe was no other thing, than the miniſter and the devil converſing together. The country man told him, he was much miſtaken, and that it was nothing elſe, but the miniſter at his night prayer. O, ſaid the friar does the miniſter pray any? Yes, more ⟨than⟩ any man in France, anſwered the country man,
