One of the more interesting passages from Lecky's books on the Laggan concern worship during the Siege: " The Presbyterians of Derry were not permitted to have a place of worship within the walls for many years; till after the days of the siege they had to go outside the walls when they worshipped God in public. During the siege they were permitted as a favour to hold their meetings for worship in the Cathedral, at an hour when it was not required by the Episcopal congregation. In a pamphlet published shortly after by Mr. Boyse it is stated, "In the Cathedral in the forenoon, when the conformists preached, there was but comparatively a thin auditory; in the afternoon it was full, and there were four or five meetings of dissenters in the town besides." The intolerance of the bigotry that would not allow the voice of Presbyterian praise or prayer to be lifted up within the precincts of the city may be inferred from the following account of the inhabitants of Derry, given by the surveyor-general of customs, in the report of an official visit that he paid to Derry in the year 1637. He says, "I find that the English there are but weak and few in number, there being not forty houses in Londonderry of English of any note, who for the most part only live; the Scots, being many in number and twenty to one for the English, having prime trade in town and country, thrive and grow rich; but the Irish for the most part beg, being the reward of their idleness." Regards, Robert Cowan Merchant