What the Judge Saw: Being Twenty-Five Years in Manchester by One Who Has Done It

by Sir Edward Abbott Parry

CHAPTER XV

PHARISEES AND PUBLICANS

Oh Lord! Thou kens what zeal I bear,

When drinkers drink, and swearers swear,

And singing there, and dancing here,

Wi’ great and sma’;

For I am keepit by thy fear,

Free frae them a’.

Burns: “Holy Willie’s Prayer.”

When I was a small boy I liked above all things the stories about Pharisees and Publicans. Pharisees, I think, were connoted in my mind with schoolmasters. Publicans, on the other hand, were a mysterious, jovial people given to gluttony and wine-bibbing. The latter I knew nothing about, but the gluttony I forgave. I remember a pang of disappointment when I discovered in older years that Publicans were connected with the Inland Revenue.