by Walter Scott
NOTE TO CHAPTER XXXIII
Note I.--Hedge-Priests.
It is curious to observe, that in every state of society, some sort ofghostly consolation is provided for the members of the community, thoughassembled for purposes diametrically opposite to religion. A gang ofbeggars have their Patrico, and the banditti of the Apennines have amongthem persons acting as monks and priests, by whom they are confessed,and who perform mass before them. Unquestionably, such reverend persons,in such a society, must accommodate their manners and their morals tothe community in which they live; and if they can occasionally obtaina degree of reverence for their supposed spiritual gifts, are, on mostoccasions, loaded with unmerciful ridicule, as possessing a characterinconsistent with all around them.
Hence the fighting parson in the old play of Sir John Oldcastle, and thefamous friar of Robin Hood's band. Nor were such characters ideal. Thereexists a monition of the Bishop of Durham against irregular churchmenof this class, who associated themselves with Border robbers, anddesecrated the holiest offices of the priestly function, by celebratingthem for the benefit of thieves, robbers, and murderers, amongst ruinsand in caverns of the earth, without regard to canonical form, and withtorn and dirty attire, and maimed rites, altogether improper for theoccasion.
