Chapter I (2)

[37] Even Perth ceased to be the capital of Scotland, because 'its
vicinity to the Highlands' made it dangerous for the sovereign to
reside there. _Lawson's Book of Perth_, p. xxxi.

[38] On the prevalence of barter and lack of specie, in Scotland, see the
_Spalding Club Miscellany_, vol. iv. pp. lvii.-lx., Aberdeen, 1849,
4to. In 1492, the treasury of Aberdeen was obliged to borrow 4_l._
16_s._ Scots. _Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. 61.
Compare _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. x. p.
542. Fynes Moryson, who was in Scotland late in the sixteenth
century, says, 'the gentlemen reckon their revenues not by rents of
money, but by chauldrons of victuals.' _Moryson's Itinerary_, part
iii. p. 155, London, folio, 1617; a rare and extremely curious
book, which ought to be reprinted. A hundred years after Moryson
wrote, it was observed that, 'in England, the rents are paid in
money; in Scotland, they are, generally speaking, paid in kind, or
victual, as they call it.' _De Foe's History of the Union_, p. 130.

[39] In the reign of James I. (1424-1436), 'It appears that armour, nay
spears, and bows and arrows, were chiefly imported.' ... 'In
particular, the heads of arrows and of spears seem to have been
entirely imported from Flanders,' _Pinkerton's History of
Scotland_, vol. i. p. 163. We learn from Rymer's _F[oe]dera_, that,
in 1368, two Scotchmen having occasion to fight a duel, got their
armour from London. _Macpherson's Annals of Commerce_, vol. i.
p. 575.

[40] From the _Bibel of English Policy_, supposed to have been written in
the reign of Edward IV., we learn that 'the Scotish imports from
Flanders were mercery, but more haberdashery, cart-wheels, and
wheel-barrows,' _Pinkerton's History of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 408.
In _Mercer's History of Dunfermline_, p. 61, we are told that, in
the fifteenth century, 'Even in the best parts of Scotland, the
inhabitants could not manufacture the most necessary articles.
Flanders was the great mart in those times, and from Bruges
chiefly, the Scots imported even horse-shoes, harness, saddles,
bridles, cart-wheels, and wheel-barrows, besides all their mercery
and haberdashery.'

[41] Aberdeen was, for a long period, one of the most wealthy,
and, in some respects, the most advanced, of all the Scotch cities.
But it appears, from the council-registers of Aberdeen, that, 'in
the beginning of the sixteenth century, there was not a mechanic in
the town capable to execute the ordinary repairs of a clock,'
_Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. 99. On the Scotch clocks
in the middle of the sixteenth century, compare Mr. Morley's
interesting _Life of Cardan_, London, 1854, vol. ii. p. 128. Cardan
was in Scotland in 1552.

[42] About 1619, Sir George Hay 'set up at the village of Wemyss, in
Fife, a small glass-work, being the first known to have existed
amongst us.' _Chambers' Annals_, vol. i. p. 506. See also p. 428.

[43] 'Before this time, soap was imported into Scotland from foreign
countries, chiefly from Flanders.' _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 507, under
the year 1619, where mention is made of the manufactory set up at
Leith. 'The sope-workes of Leith' are noticed in 1650, in
_Balfour's Annales_, vol. iv. p. 68.

[44] Ray, who visited Scotland in 1661, says, 'In the best Scottish
houses, even the king's palaces, the windows are not glazed
throughout, but the upper part only; the lower have two wooden
shuts or folds to open at pleasure and admit the fresh air.' ...
'The ordinary country-houses are pitiful cots, built of stone, and
covered with turves, having in them but one room, many of them no
chimneys, the windows very small holes and not glazed.' _Ray's
Itineraries_, p. 153, edited by Dr. Lankester, London, 1846. 'About
1752, the glass window was beginning to make its appearance in the
small farm-houses.' _Brown's History of Glasgow_, vol. ii. p. 265,
Edinburgh, 1797.

[45] In 1650, it was stated of the Scotch, that 'many of their women are
so sluttish, that they do not wash their linen above once a month,
nor their hands and faces above once a year.' _Whitelock's
Memorials_, p. 468, London, 1732, folio. Six or seven years after
this, a traveller in Scotland says, 'the linen they supplied us
with, were it not to boast of, was little or nothing different from
those female complexions that never washed their faces to retain
their christendom.' _Franck's Northern Memoirs_, edit. Edinburgh,
1821, p. 94. A celebrated Scotchman notices, in 1698, the uncleanly
habits of his countrymen, but gives a comical reason for them;
since, according to him, they were in a great measure caused by the
position of the capital. 'As the happy situation of London has been
the principal cause of the glory and riches of England, so the bad
situation of Edinburgh has been one great occasion of the poverty
and uncleanliness in which the greater part of the people of
Scotland live.' _Second Discourse on the Affairs of Scotland_, in
_Fletcher of Saltoun's Political Works_, p. 119, Glasgow, 1749.
Another Scotchman, among his reminiscences of the early part of the
eighteenth century, says, that 'table and body linen [were] seldom
shifted.' _Memoires by Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk_, in
_Spalding Club Miscellany_, vol. ii. p. 100, Aberdeen, 1842, 4to.
Finally, we have positive proof that in some parts of Scotland,
even at the end of the eighteenth century, the people used, instead
of soap, a substitute too disgusting to mention. See the account
communicated by the Rev. William Leslie to Sir John Sinclair, in
_Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. ix. p. 177,
Edinburgh, 1793.

[46] _Chambers' Annals_, vol. i. p. 512.

[47] A paper-mill was established near Edinburgh in 1675; but 'there is
reason to conclude this paper-mill was not continued, and that
paper-making was not successfully introduced into Scotland till the
middle of the succeeding century.' _Chambers' Annals_, vol. ii. p.
399. I have met with so many proofs of the great accuracy of this
valuable work, that I should be loath to question any statement
made by Mr. Chambers, when, as in this case, I have only my memory
to trust to. But I think that I have seen evidence of paper being
successfully manufactured in Scotland late in the seventeenth
century, though I cannot recall the passages. However, Arnot, in
his _History of Edinburgh_, p. 599, edit. 4to, says, 'About forty
years ago, printing or writing paper began to be manufactured in
Scotland. Before that, papers were imported from Holland, or
brought from England,' As Arnot's work was printed in 1788, this
coincides with Mr. Chambers' statement. I may add, that, at the end
of the eighteenth century, there were 'two paper-mills near Perth.'
_Heron's Journey through Scotland_, vol. i. p. 117, Perth, 1799;
and that, in 1751 and 1763, the two first paper-mills were erected
north of the Forth. _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_,
vol. ix. p. 593, vol. xvi. p. 373. Compare _Lettice's Letters from
Scotland in 1792_, p. 420.

In the midst of such general stagnation, the most flourishing towns were, as may be easily supposed, very thinly peopled. Indeed, men had so little to do, that if they had collected in large numbers, they must have starved. Glasgow is one of the oldest cities in Scotland, and is said to have been founded about the sixth century.[48] At all events, in the twelfth century, it was, according to the measure of that age, a rich and prosperous place, enjoying the privilege of holding both a market and a fair.[49] It had also a municipal organization, and was governed by its own provosts and baillies.[50] Yet, even this famous town had no kind of trade before the fifteenth century, when the inhabitants began to cure salmon, and export it.[51] That was the only branch of industry with which Glasgow was acquainted. We need not, therefore, be surprised at hearing, that so late as the middle of the fifteenth century, the entire population did not exceed fifteen hundred persons, whose wealth consisted of some small cattle, and a few acres of ill-cultivated land.[52]

[48] 'This city was founded about the sixth century.' _M'Ure's History of
Glasgow_, edit. 1830, p. 120. Compare _Denholm's History of
Glasgow_, p. 2, Glasgow, 1804.

[49] In 1172, a market was granted to Glasgow; and in 1190, a fair. See
the charters in the Appendix to _Gibson's History of Glasgow_, pp.
299, 302, Glasgow, 1777.

[50] 'By the sale of land made by Robert de Mythyngby to Mr. Reginald de
Irewyne, A.D. 1268, it is evident that the town was then governed
by provosts, aldermen, or wardens, and baillies, who seem to have
been independent of the bishop, and were possessed of a common
seal, distinct from the one made use of by the bishop and chapter.'
_Gibson's History of Glasgow_, p. 72.

[51] 'A Mr. William Elphinston is made mention of as the first promoter
of trade in Glasgow, so early as the year 1420; the trade which he
promoted was, in all probability, the curing and exporting of
salmon.' _Gibson's History of Glasgow_, p. 203. See also _M'Ure's
History of Glasgow_, p. 93.

[52] Gibson (_History of Glasgow_, p. 74), with every desire to take a
sanguine view of the early state of his own city, says, that, in
1450, the inhabitants 'might perhaps amount to fifteen hundred;'
and that 'their wealth consisted in a few burrow-roods very
ill-cultivated, and in some small cattle, which fed on their
commons.'

Other cities, though bearing a celebrated name, were equally backward at a still more recent period. Dunfermline is associated with many historic reminiscences; it was a favourite residence of Scotch kings, and many Scotch parliaments have been held there.[53] Such events are supposed to confer distinction; but the illusion vanishes, when we inquire more minutely into the condition of the place where they happened. In spite of the pomp of princes and legislators, Dunfermline, which at the end of the fourteenth century was still a poor village, composed of wooden huts,[54] had, by the beginning of the seventeenth century, advanced so slowly that its whole population, including that of its wretched suburbs, did not exceed one thousand persons.[55] For a Scotch town, that was a considerable number. About the same time, Greenock, we are assured, was a village consisting of a single row of cottages, tenanted by poor fishermen.[56] Kilmarnock, which is now a great emporium of industry and of wealth, contained, in 1668, between five and six hundred inhabitants.[57] And, to come down still lower, even Paisley itself, in the year 1700, possessed a population which, according to the highest estimate, did not amount to three thousand.[58]

[53] 'Dunfermline continued to be a favourite royal residence as long as
the Scottish dynasty existed. Charles I. was born here; as also his
sister Elizabeth, afterwards Queen of Bohemia, from whom her
present Majesty is descended; and Charles II. paid a visit to this
ancient seat of royalty in 1650. The Scottish parliament was often
held in it.' _M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary_, London, 1849,
vol. i. p. 723. Compare _Mercer's History of Dunfermline_, 1828,
pp. 56, 58, and _Chalmers' History of Dunfermline_, 1844, p. 264.

[54] In 1385, it was 'only a sorry wooden village, belonging to the
monastery.' _Mercer's History of Dunfermline_, p. 62.

[55] See 'Ms. Annals,' in _Chalmers' History of Dunfermline_, p. 327. In
1624, we learn from _Balfour's Annales_, edit. 1825, vol. ii. p.
99, that 'the quholl bodey of the towne, which did consist of 120
tenements, and 287 families was brunt and consumed.'

[56] 'Greenock, which is now one of the largest shipping towns in
Scotland, was, in the end of the sixteenth century, a mean fishing
village, consisting of a single row of thatched cottages, which was
inhabited by poor fishermen.' _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. iii.
p. 806, 4to, 1824.

[57] In May 1668, Kilmarnock was burnt; and 'the event is chiefly worthy
of notice as marking the smallness of Kilmarnock in those days,
when as yet, there was no such thing as manufacturing industry in
the country. A hundred and twenty families speaks to a population
of between five and six hundred.' _Chambers' Annals_, Edinburgh,
1858, vol. ii. p. 320. In 1658, their houses are described by an
eye-witness as 'little better than huts.' _Franck's Northern
Memoirs_, reprinted Edinburgh, 1821, p. 101.

[58] 'Betwixt two and three thousand souls,' _Denholm's History of
Glasgow_, p. 542, edit. Glasgow, 1804.

Aberdeen, the metropolis of the north, was looked up to as one of the most influential of the Scotch towns, and was not a little envied during the Middle Ages, for its power and importance. These, however, like all other words, are relative, and mean different things at different periods. Certainly, we shall not be much struck by the magnitude of that city, when we learn, from calculations made from its tables of mortality, that so late as 1572, it could only boast of about two thousand nine hundred inhabitants.[59] Such a fact will dispel many a dream respecting the old Scotch towns, particularly if we call to mind that it refers to a date, when the anarchy of the Middle Ages was passing away, and Aberdeen had for some time been improving. That city--if so miserable a collection of persons deserves to be termed a city--was, nevertheless, one of the most densely peopled places in Scotland. From the thirteenth century to the close of the sixteenth, no where else were so many Scotchmen assembled together, except in Perth, Edinburgh, and possibly in Saint Andrews.[60] Respecting Saint Andrews, I have been unable to meet with any precise information;[61] but of Perth and Edinburgh, some particulars are preserved. Perth was long the capital of Scotland, and after losing that preëminence, it was still reputed to be the second city in the kingdom.[62] Its wealth was supposed to be astonishing; and every good Scotchman was proud of it, as one of the chief ornaments of his country.[63] But, according to an estimate recently made by a considerable authority in these matters, its entire population, in the year 1585, was under nine thousand.[64] This will surprise many readers; though, considering the state of society at that time, the real wonder is, not that there were so few, but that there were so many. For, Edinburgh itself, notwithstanding the officials and numerous hangers-on, which the presence of a court always brings, did not contain, late in the fourteenth century, more than sixteen thousand persons.[65] Of their general condition, a contemporary observer has left us some account. Froissart, who visited Scotland, and records what he saw, as well as what he heard, gives a lamentable picture of the state of affairs. The houses in Edinburgh were mere huts, thatched with boughs; and were so slightly put together, that when one of them was destroyed, it only took three days to rebuild it. As to the people who inhabited these wretched hovels, Froissart, who was by no means given to exaggeration, assures us, that the French, unless they had seen them, could not have believed that such destitution existed, and that now, for the first time, they understood what poverty really was.[66]

[59] In 1572, the registers of Aberdeen show that seventy-two deaths
occurred in the year. An annual mortality of 1 in 40 would be a
very favourable estimate; indeed, rather too favourable,
considering the habits of the people at that time. However,
supposing it to be 1 in 40, the population would be 2880; and if,
as I make no doubt, the mortality was more than 1 in 40, the
population must of course have been less. Kennedy, in his valuable,
but very uncritical, work, conjectures that 'one fiftieth part of
the inhabitants had died annually;' though it is certain that there
was no town in Europe any thing like so healthy as that. On this
hypothesis, which is contradicted by every sort of statistical
evidence that has come down to us, the number would be 72 × 50 =
3600. See _Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. 103, London,
1818, 4to.

[60] 'St. Andrews, Perth, and Aberdeen, appear to have been the three
most populous cities before the Reformation.' _Lawson's Roman
Catholic Church in Scotland_, 1836, p. 26. The same assertion is
made in _Lyon's History of St. Andrews_, 1843, vol. i. p. 2. But
neither of these writers appear to have made many researches on the
subject, or else they would not have supposed that Aberdeen was
larger than Edinburgh.

[61] I have carefully read the two histories of St. Andrews, by Dr.
Grierson and by Mr. Lyon, but have found nothing in them of any
value concerning the early history of that city. Mr. Lyon's work,
which is in two thick volumes, is unusually superficial, even for a
local history; and that is saying much.

[62] 'Of the thirteen parliaments held in the reign of King James I.,
eleven were held at Perth, one at Stirling, and one at Edinburgh.
The National Councils of the Scottish clergy were held there
uniformly till 1459. Though losing its pre-eminence by the
selection of Edinburgh as a capital, Perth has uniformly and
constantly maintained the second place in the order of burghs, and
its right to do so has been repeatedly and solemnly acknowledged.'
_Penny's Traditions of Perth_, Perth, 1836, p. 231. See also p.
305. It appears, however, from Froissart, that Edinburgh was deemed
the capital in the latter half of the fourteenth century.

[63] I find one instance of its being praised by a man who was not a
Scotchman. Alexander Necham 'takes notice of Perth in the following
distich, quoted in Camden's Britannia:

Transis ample Tai, per rura, per oppida, per Perth:
Regnum sustentant illius urbis opes.

Thus Englished in Bishop Gibson's Translations of Camden's Book:

'Great Tay, through Perth, through towns, through country flies:
Perth the whole kingdom with her wealth supplies.'

_Sinclair's Scotland_, vol. xviii. p. 511.

[64] 1427 × 6 = 8562, the computed population in 1584 and 1585, exclusive
of the extraordinary mortality caused by the plague. _Chambers'
Annals of Scotland_, 1858, vol. i. p. 158.

[65] 'The inhabitants of the capital, in the reign of Robert II., hardly
exceeded sixteen thousand.' _Pinkerton's History of Scotland_,
vol. i. p. 152.

[66] When the French arrived in Edinburgh, the Scotch said, '"Quel diable
les a mandés? Ne savons-nous pas bien faire notre guerre sans eux
aux Anglois? Nous ne ferons jà bonne besogne tant comme ils soient
avec nous. On leur dise que ils s'en revoisent, et que nous sommes
gens assez en Escosse pour parmaintenir notre guerre, et que point
nous ne voulons leur compagnie. Ils ne nous entendent point, ni
nous eux; nous ne savons parler ensemble; ils auront tantôt riflé
et mangé tout ce qui est en ce pays: ils nous feront plus de
contraires, de dépits, et de dommages, si nous les laissons
convenir, que les Anglois ne feroient si ils s'étoient embattus
entre nous sans ardoir. Et si les Anglois ardent nos maisons, que
peut il chaloir? Nous les aurons tantôt refaites à bon marché, nous
n'y mettons au refaire que trois jours, mais que nous ayons quatre
ou six estaches et de la ramée pour lier par dessus."'

'Ainsi disoient les Escots en Escosse à la venue des seigneurs de
France,' ... 'Et quand les Anglois y chevauchent ou que ils y vont,
ainsi que ils y ont été plusieurs fois, il convient que leurs
pourvéances, si ils veulent vivre, les suivent toujours au dos; car
on ne trouve rien sur le pays: à grand'peine y recuevre-l'en du fer
pour serrer les chevaux, ni du cuir pour faire harnois, selles ni
brides. Les choses toutes faites leur viennent par mer de Flandre,
et quand cela leur défaut, ils n'ont nulle chose. Quand ces barons
et ces chevaliers de France qui avoient appris ces beaux hôtels à
trouver, ces salles parées, ces chasteaux et ces bons mols lits
pour reposer, se virent et trouvèrent en celle povreté, si
commencèrent à rire et à dire: "En quel pays nous a ci amenés
l'amiral? Nous ne sçumes oncques que ce fût de povreté ni de dureté
fors maintenant."' _Les Chroniques de Froissart_, edit. Buchon,
Paris, 1835, vol. ii. pp. 314, 315. 'The hovels of the common
people were slight erections of turf, or twigs, which, as they were
often laid waste by war, were built merely for temporary
accommodation. Their towns consisted chiefly of wooden cottages,'
... 'Even as late as 1600, the houses of Edinburgh were chiefly
built of wood.' _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. i. p. 802. Another
account, written in 1670, says, 'The houses of the commonalty are
very mean, mudwall and thatch, the best; but the poorer sort live
in such miserable huts as never eye beheld.' ... 'In some parts,
where turf is plentiful, they build up little cabbins thereof, with
arched roofs of turf, without a stick of timber in it; when the
house is dry enough to burn, it serves them for fuel, and they
remove to another.' _Harleian Miscellany_, vol. vi. p. 139, 4to,
1810.

After this period, there was, no doubt, considerable improvement; but it was very slow, and even late in the sixteenth century, skilled labour was hardly known, and honest industry was universally despised.[67] It is not, therefore, surprising, that the citizens, poor, miserable, and ignorant, should frequently purchase the protection of some powerful noble by yielding to him the little independence that they might have retained.[68] Few of the Scotch towns ventured to elect their chief magistrate from among their own people; but the usual course was, to choose a neighbouring peer as provost or baillie.[69] Indeed, it often happened that his office became hereditary, and was looked upon as the vested right of some aristocratic family.[70] To the head of that family, every thing gave way. His authority was so incontestable, that an injury done even to one of his retainers was resented, as if it had been done to himself.[71] The burgesses who were sent to parliament, were completely dependent on the noble who ruled the town. Down to quite modern times, there was in Scotland no real popular representation. The so-called representatives were obliged to vote as they were ordered; they were, in fact, delegates of the aristocracy; and as they possessed no chamber of their own, they sat and deliberated in the midst of their powerful masters, by whom they were openly intimidated.[72]

[67] 'Our manufactures were carried on by the meanest of the people, who
had small stocks, and were of no reputation. These were, for the
most part, workmen for home-consumpt, such as masons,
house-carpenters, armourers, blacksmiths, taylors, shoemakers, and
the like. Our weavers were few in number, and in the greatest
contempt, as their employments were more sedentary, and themselves
reckoned less fit for war, in which all were obliged to serve, when
the exigencies of the country demanded their attendance.' _The
Interest of Scotland Considered_, Edinburgh, 1733, p. 82. Pinkerton
(_History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 392), referring to the Sloane
manuscripts, says, 'The author of an interesting memoir concerning
the state of Scotland about 1590, observes, that the husbandmen
were a kind of slaves, only holding their lands from year to year;
that the nobility being too numerous for the extent of the country,
there arose too great an inequality of rank and revenue; and there
was no middle station between a proud landholder and those who,
having no property to lose, were ready for any tumult. A rich
yeomanry, numerous merchants and tradesmen of property, and all the
denominations of the middle class, so important in a flourishing
society, were long to be confined to England.' Thirteen years
later, we are told that the manufactures of Scotland 'were confined
to a few of the coarsest nature, without which the poorest nations
are unable to subsist.' _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. p.
7, under the year 1603.

[68] Thus, for instance, 'the town of Dunbar naturally grew up under the
shelter of the castle of the same name.' ... 'Dunbar became the
town, in demesn, of the successive Earls of Dunbar and March,
partaking of their influences, whether unfortunate or happy.'
_Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. ii. p. 416. 'But when the regal
government became at any time feeble, these towns, unequal to their
own protection, placed themselves under the shelter of the most
powerful lord in their neighbourhood. Thus, the town of Elgyn found
it necessary, at various periods between the years 1389 and 1452,
to accept of many charters of protection, and discharges of taxes,
from the Earls of Moray, who held it in some species of vassalage.'
_Sinclair's Scotland_, vol. v. p. 3. Compare _Pinkerton's History
of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 396; and two letters, written in 1543 and
1544, by the magistrates of Aberdeen, to the Earl of Huntly, and
printed in the _Council Register of Aberdeen_, vol. i. pp. 190,
201, Aberdeen, 1844, 4to. They say to him, 'Ye haf our band as
protectour to wss.'

[69] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 225. See also p. 131;
and _Pinkerton's History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 179. Sometimes
the nobles did not leave to the citizens even the appearance of a
free election, but fought it out among themselves. An instance of
this happened at Perth, in 1544, 'where a claim for the office of
provost was decided by arms, between Lord Ruthven on the one side,
supported by a numerous train of his vassals, and Lord Gray, with
Norman Leslie, master of Rothes, and Charteris of Kinfauns, on the
other.' _Tytler_, vol. iv. p. 323.

[70] For illustrations of this custom, see _Hollinshead's Scottish
Chronicle_, vol. ii. p. 230. _Brown's History of Glasgow_, vol. ii.
p. 154. _Denholm's History of Glasgow_, p. 249. _Mercer's History
of Dunfermline_, p. 83.

[71] 'An injury inflicted on the "man" of a nobleman was resented as
much as if he himself had been the injured party.' _Preface to the
Council Register of Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. xii.

[72] See, in _Macaulay's History of England_, vol. i. p. 93, 1st edit., a
spirited description of Scotland in 1639. 'The parliament of the
northern kingdom was a very different body from that which bore the
same name in England.' ... 'The three estates sat in one house. The
commissioners of the burghs were considered merely as retainers of
the great nobles,' &c. To come down much later, Lord Cockburn gives
a terrible account of the state of things in Scotland in 1794, the
year in which Jeffrey was called to the bar. 'There was then, in
this country, no popular representation, no emancipated burghs, no
effective rival of the established church, no independent press, no
free public meetings, and no better trial by jury, even in
political cases (except high treason), than what was consistent
with the circumstances, that the jurors were not sent into court
under any impartial rule, and that, when in court, those who were
to try the case were named by the presiding judge. The Scotch
representatives were only forty-five, of whom thirty were elected
for counties, and fifteen for towns. Both from its price and its
nature (being enveloped in feudal and technical absurdities), the
elective franchise in counties, where alone it existed, was far
above the reach of the whole lower, and of a great majority of the
middle, and of many even of the higher, ranks. There were probably
not above 1500 or 2000 county electors in all Scotland; a body not
too large to be held, hope included, in government's hands. The
return, therefore, of a single opposition member was never to be
expected.' ... 'Of the fifteen town members, Edinburgh returned
one. The other fourteen were produced by clusters of four or five
unconnected burghs electing each one delegate, and these four or
five delegates electing the representative. Whatever this system
may have been originally, it had grown, in reference to the people,
into as complete a mockery as if it had been invented for their
degradation. The people had nothing to do with it. It was all
managed by town-councils, of never more than thirty-three members;
and every town-council was self-elected, and consequently
perpetuated its own interests. The election of either the town or
the county member was a matter of such utter indifference to the
people, that they often only knew of it by the ringing of a bell,
or by seeing it mentioned next day in a newspaper; for the farce
was generally performed in an apartment from which, if convenient,
the public could be excluded, and never in the open air.'
_Cockburn's Life of Jeffrey_, Edinburgh, 1852, vol. i. pp. 74-76.
On the state of Scotch representation between this and the Reform
Bill, compare _Irving's History of Dumbartonshire_, 4to, 1860, pp.
275, 276, with _Moore's Memoirs_, edited by Lord John Russell, vol.
iv. p. 268, vol. vi. p. 163, London, 1853-4.

Under these circumstances, it would have been idle for the crown to have expected aid from a body of men who themselves had no influence, and whose scanty privileges existed only on sufferance. But there was another class, which was extremely powerful, and to which the Scotch kings naturally turned. That class was the clergy; and the interest which both parties had in weakening the nobles, caused a coalition between the church and the throne, against the aristocracy. During a long period, and indeed until the latter half of the sixteenth century, the kings almost invariably favoured the clergy, and increased their privileges in every way they could. The Reformation dissolved this alliance, and gave rise to new combinations, which I shall presently indicate. But while the alliance lasted, it was of great use to the clergy, by imparting to their claims a legitimate sanction, and making them appear the supporters of order and of regular government. The result, however, clearly proved that the nobles were more than equal to the confederacy which opposed them. Indeed, looking at their enormous power, the only wonder is, that the clergy could have prolonged the contest as they did; since they were not actually overthrown until the year 1560. That the struggle should have been so arduous, and should have extended over so considerable a period, is what, on a superficial view, no one could have expected. The reason of this, I shall now endeavour to explain; and I shall, I trust, succeed in proving, that in Scotland there was a long train of general causes, which secured to the spiritual classes immense influence, and which enabled them, not only to do battle with the most powerful aristocracy in Europe, but to rise up, after what seemed their final defeat, fresh and vigorous as ever, and eventually to exercise, as Protestant preachers, an authority nowise inferior to that which they had wielded as Catholic priests.

Of all Protestant countries, Scotland is certainly the one where the course of affairs has for the longest period been most favourable to the interests of superstition. How these interests were encouraged during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, I shall hereafter relate. At present, I purpose to examine the causes of their early growth, and to show the way in which they were not only connected with the Reformation, but gave to that great event some peculiarities which are extremely remarkable, and are diametrically opposed to what happened in England.

If the reader will bear in mind what I have elsewhere stated,[73] he will remember that the two principal sources of superstition are ignorance and danger; ignorance keeping men unacquainted with natural causes, and danger making them recur to supernatural ones. Or, to express the same proposition in other words, the feeling of veneration, which, under one of its aspects, takes the form of superstition, is a product of wonder and of fear;[74] and it is obvious that wonder is connected with ignorance, and that fear is connected with danger.[75] Hence it is, that whatever in any country increases the total amount of amazement, or whatever in any country increases the total amount of peril, has a direct tendency to increase the total amount of superstition, and therefore to strengthen the hands of the priesthood.

[73] _History of Civilization_, vol. i. pp. 125-129, 373-380.

[74] _History of Civilization_, vol. ii. p. 171.

[75] We must discriminate between wonder and admiration. Wonder is the
product of ignorance; admiration is the product of knowledge.
Ignorance wonders at the supposed irregularities of nature; science
admires its uniformities. The earlier writers rarely attended to
this distinction, because they were misled by the etymology of the
word 'admiration.' The Romans were very superficial thinkers upon
all matters except jurisprudence; and their blundering use of
'admirari' gave rise to the error, so common among our old writers,
of 'I admire,' instead of 'I wonder.'

By applying these principles to Scotland, we shall be able to explain several facts in the history of that country. In the first place the features of its scenery offer a mark contrast to those of England, and are much more likely, among an ignorant people, to suggest effective and permanent superstitions. The storms and the mists, the darkened sky flashed by frequent lightning, the peals of thunder reverberating from mountain to mountain, and echoing on every side, the dangerous hurricanes, the gusts sweeping the innumerable lakes with which the country is studded, the rolling and impetuous torrent flooding the path of the traveller and stopping his progress, are strangely different to those safer and milder phenomena, among which the English people have developed their prosperity, and built up their mighty cities. Even the belief in witchcraft, one of the blackest superstitions which has ever defaced the human mind, has been affected by these peculiarities; and it has been well observed, that while, according to the old English creed, the witch was a miserable and decrepit hag, the slave rather than the mistress of the demons which haunted her, she, in Scotland, rose to the dignity of a potent sorcerer, who mastered the evil spirit, and, forcing it to do her will, spread among the people a far deeper and more lasting terror.[76]

[76] 'Our Scottish witch is a far more frightful being than her
supernatural coadjutor on the south side of the Tweed. She
sometimes seems to rise from the proper sphere of the witch, who is
only the slave, into that of the sorcerer, who is master of the
demon.' ... 'In a people so far behind their neighbours in domestic
organization, poor and hardy, inhabiting a country of mountains,
torrents, and rocks, where cultivation was scanty, accustomed to
gloomy mists and wild storms, every impression must necessarily
assume a corresponding character. Superstitions, like funguses and
vermin, are existences peculiar to the spot where they appear, and
are governed by its physical accidents.' ... 'And thus it is that
the indications of witchcraft in Scotland are as different from
those of the superstition which in England receives the same name,
as the Grampian Mountains from Shooter's Hill or Kennington
Common.' _Burton's Criminal Trials in Scotland_, vol. i. pp.
240-243. This is admirably expressed, and exhausts the general view
of the subject. The relation between the superstition of the Scotch
and the physical aspects of their country is also touched upon,
though with much inferior ability, in _Brown's History of the
Highlands_, vol. i. p. 106, and in _Sinclair's Scotland_, vol. iv.
p. 560. Hume, in his _Commentaries on the Laws of Scotland_, vol.
ii. p. 556, has an interesting passage on the high pretensions of
Scotch witchcraft, which never degenerated, as in other countries,
into a mere attempt at deception, but always remained a sturdy and
deep-rooted belief. He says, 'For among the many trials for
witchcraft which fill the record, I have not observed that there is
even one which proceeds upon the notion of a vain or cheating art,
falsely used by an impostor to deceive the weak and credulous.'
Further information respecting Scotch witchcraft will be found in
_Mackenzie's Criminal Laws of Scotland_, Edinburgh, folio, 1699,
pp. 42-56; _Correspondence of Mrs. Grant of Laggan_, London, 1844,
vol. iii. pp. 186, 187; _Southey's Life of Bell_, London, 1844,
vol. i. p. 52; _Vernon Correspondence_, edited by James, London,
1841, vol. ii. p. 301; _Weld's History of the Royal Society_,
London, 1848, vol. i. p. 89; _Letters from a Gentleman in the North
of Scotland_, edit. 1815, vol. i. pp. 220, 221; _The Spottiswoode
Miscellany_, vol. ii. p. 41, Edinburgh, 1845; _Lyon's History of
St. Andrews_, Edinburgh, 1843, vol. ii. pp. 56, 57. The work of
James I., and that of Sir Walter Scott, need hardly be referred to,
as they are well known to every one who is interested in the
history of witchcraft; but Pitcairn's _Criminal Trials_, though
less read, are, in every respect, more valuable, on account of the
materials they contain for a study of this department of Scotch
superstition.

Similar results were produced by the incessant and sanguinary wars to which Scotland was exposed, and especially by the cruel ravages of the English in the fourteenth century. Whatever religion may be in the ascendant, the influence of its ministers is invariably strengthened by a long and dangerous war, the uncertainties of which perplex the minds of men, and induce them, when natural resources are failing, to call on the supernatural for help. On such occasions, the clergy rise in importance; the churches are more than usually filled; and the priest, putting himself forward as the exponent of the wishes of God, assumes the language of authority, and either comforts the people under their losses in a righteous cause, or else explains to them that those losses are sent as a visitation for their sins, and as a warning that they have not been sufficiently attentive to their religious duties; in other words, that they have neglected rites and ceremonies, in the performance of which the priest himself has a personal interest.

No wonder, therefore, that in the fourteenth century, when the sufferings of Scotland were at their height, the clergy flourished more than ever; so that as the country became poorer, the spiritual classes became richer in proportion to the rest of the nation. Even in the fifteenth, and first half of the sixteenth century, when industry began somewhat to advance, we are assured that notwithstanding the improvement in the position of laymen, the whole of their wealth put together, and including the possessions of all ranks, was barely equal to the wealth of the Church.[77] If the hierarchy were so rapacious and so successful during a period of comparative security, it would be difficult to overrate the enormous harvest they must have reaped in those earlier days, when danger being much more imminent, hardly any one died without leaving something to them; all being anxious to testify their respect towards those who knew more than their fellows, and whose prayers could either avert present evil, or secure future happiness.[78]

[77] Pinkerton (_History of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 414) says that, in the
reigns of James II. and James III., 'the wealth of the Church was
at least equivalent to that of all the lay interest.' See also
_Life of Spottiswoode_, p. liii., in vol. i. of his _History of the
Church of Scotland_. 'The numerous devices employed by
ecclesiastics, both secular and regular, for enriching the several
Foundations to which they were attached, had transferred into their
hands more than half of the territorial property of Scotland, or of
its annual produce.'

In regard to the first half of the sixteenth century, it is stated
by a high authority, that, just before the Reformation, 'the full
half of the wealth of the nation belonged to the clergy.' _M'Crie's
Life of Knox_, p. 10. And another writer says, 'If we take into
account the annual value of all these abbeys and monasteries, in
conjunction with the bishoprics, it will appear at once that the
Scottish Catholic hierarchy was more munificently endowed,
considering the extent and resources of the kingdom, than it was in
any other country in Europe.' _Lawson's Roman Catholic Church in
Scotland_, p. 22. See also, respecting the incomes of the Scotch
bishops, which, considering the poverty of the country, were truly
enormous, _Lyon's History of St. Andrews_, Edinburgh, 1843, vol. i.
pp. 97, 125.

[78] 'They could employ all the motives of fear and of hope, of terror
and of consolation, which operate most powerfully on the human
mind. They haunted the weak and the credulous; they besieged the
beds of the sick and of the dying; they suffered few to go out of
the world without leaving marks of their liberality to the Church,
and taught them to compound with the Almighty for their sins, by
bestowing riches upon those who called themselves his servants.'
_History of Scotland_, book ii. p. 89, in _Robertson's Works_,
London, 1831. It is interesting to observe the eagerness with which
the clergy of one persuasion expose the artifices of those of
another. By comparing their different statements, laymen gain an
insight into the entire scheme.

Another consequence of these protracted wars was, that a more than ordinary proportion of the population embraced the ecclesiastical profession, because in it alone there was some chance of safety: and the monasteries in particular were crowded with persons who hoped, though frequently in vain, to escape from the burnings and slaughterings to which Scotland was exposed. When the country, in the fifteenth century, began to recover from the effects of these ravages, the absence of manufactures and of commerce, made the Church the best avenue to wealth;[79] so that it was entered by peaceful men for the purpose of security, and by ambitious men as the surest means of achieving distinction.

[79] Pinkerton observes, under the year 1514, that 'ecclesiastical
dignities presented almost the only path to opulence.' _History of
Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 123.

Thus it was, that the want of great cities, and of that form of industry which belongs to them, made the spiritual classes more numerous than they would otherwise have been; and what is very observable is, that it not only increased their number, but also increased the disposition of the people to obey them. Agriculturists are naturally, and by the very circumstances of their daily life, more superstitious than manufacturers, because the events with which they deal are more mysterious, that is to say, more difficult to generalize and predict.[80] Hence it is, that, as a body, the inhabitants of agricultural districts pay greater respect to the teachings of their clergy than the inhabitants of manufacturing districts. The growth of cities has, therefore, been a main cause of the decline of ecclesiastical power; and the fact that, until the eighteenth century, Scotland had nothing worthy of being called a city, is one of many circumstances which explain the prevalence of Scotch superstition, and the inordinate influence of the Scotch clergy.

[80] _Buckle's History of Civilization_, vol. i. pp. 376-380.

To this, we must add another consideration of great moment. Partly from the structure of the country, partly from the weakness of the Crown, and partly from the necessity of being constantly in arms to repel foreign invaders, the predatory habits incidental to an early state of society were encouraged, and consequently the reign of ignorance was prolonged. Little was studied, and nothing was known. Until the fifteenth century, there was not even an university in Scotland, the first having been founded at St. Andrews in 1412.[81] The nobles, when they were not making war upon the enemy, occupied themselves in cutting each other's throats, and stealing each other's cattle.[82] Such was their ignorance, that, even late in the fourteenth century, there is said to be no instance of a Scotch baron being able to sign his own name.[83] And as nothing approaching to a middle class had been yet formed, we may from this gain some idea of the amount of knowledge possessed by the people at large.[84] Their minds must have been immersed in a darkness which we can now barely conceive. No trades, or arts, being practised which required skill, or dexterity, there was nothing to exercise their intellects. They consequently remained so stupid and brutal, that an intelligent observer, who visited Scotland in the year 1360, likens them to savages, so much was he struck by their barbarism and their unsocial manners.[85] Another writer, early in the fifteenth century, uses the same expression; and classing them with the animals which they tended, he declares that Scotland is fuller of savages than of cattle.[86]

[81] Arnot (_History of Edinburgh_, p. 386) says, that the University of
St. Andrews was founded in 1412; and the same thing is stated in
_Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen_, vol. ii. p. 83. Grierson, in his
_History of St. Andrews_, Cupar, 1838, p. 14, says, 'In 1410, the
city of St. Andrews first saw the establishment of its famous
university, the most ancient institution of the kind that exists in
Scotland;' but, at p. 144 of the same work, we are told, that the
charter, 'constituting and declaring it to be a university,' is
'dated at St. Andrews, the 27th of February, 1411.' See also
_Lyon's History of St. Andrews_, vol. i. pp. 203-206, vol. ii. p.
223. At all events, 'at the commencement of the fifteenth century,
no university existed in Scotland; and the youth who were desirous
of a liberal education were under the necessity of seeking it
abroad.' _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. i. p. 211. The charter
granted by the Pope, confirming the university, reached Scotland in
1413. _Lawson's Roman Catholic Church in Scotland_, Edinburgh,
1836, p. 12.

[82] Those were times, when, as a Scotch lawyer delicately expresses
himself, 'thieving was not the peculiar habit of the low and
indigent, but often common to them with persons of rank and landed
estate.' _Hume's Commentaries on the Law of Scotland_, 4to, 1797,
vol. i. p. 126. The usual form of robbery being cattle-stealing, a
particular name was invented for it; see p. 148, where we learn
that it 'was distinguished by the name of Hership or Herdship,
being the driving away of numbers of cattle, or other bestial, by
the masterful force of armed people.'

[83] Tytler, who was a great patriot, and disposed to exaggerate the
merit of everything which was Scotch, does nevertheless allow that,
"from the accession of Alexander III. to the death of David II.
(_i.e._ in 1370), it would be impossible, I believe, to produce a
single instance of a Scottish baron who could sign his own name."
_Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 239, 240. Early in the
sixteenth century, I find it casually mentioned, that 'David
Straiton, a cadet of the house of Laureston,' ... 'could not read.'
_Wodrow's Collections_, vol. i. pp. 5, 6. The famous chief, Walter
Scott of Harden, was married in 1567; and 'his marriage contract is
signed by a notary, because none of the parties could write their
names.' _Chambers' Annals_, vol. i. p. 46. Crawfurd (_History of
Renfrew_, part iii. p. 313) says: 'The modern practice of
subscribing names to writes of moment was not used in Scotland till
about the year 1540;' but he forgets to tell us why it was not
used. In 1564, Robert Scot of Thirlstane, 'ancestor of Lord
Napier,' could not sign his name. See _Pitcairn's Criminal Trials
in Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 394.

[84] A Scotchman, of considerable learning, says: 'Scotland was no less
ignorant and superstitious at the beginning of the fifteenth
century, than it was towards the close of the twelfth.'
_Dalrymple's Annals of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 428.

[85] 'Et sont ainsi comme gens sauvages qui ne se savent avoir ni de
nulli accointer.' _Les Chroniques de Froissart_, edit. Buchon,
Paris, 1835, vol. ii. p. 315.

[86] 'Plus pleine de sauvagine que de bestail.' _Hist. de Charles VI, par
Le Laboureur_, quoted in _Pinkerton's History of Scotland_, vol. i.
p. 149.

By this combination of events, and by this union of ignorance with danger, the clergy had, in the fifteenth century, obtained more influence in Scotland than in any other European country, Spain alone excepted. And as the power of the nobles had increased quite as rapidly, it was natural that the Crown, completely overshadowed by the great barons, should turn for aid to the Church. During the fifteenth century, and part of the sixteenth, this alliance was strictly preserved;[87] and the political history of Scotland is the history of a struggle by the kings and the clergy against the enormous authority of the nobles. The contest, after lasting about a hundred and sixty years, was brought to a close in 1560, by the triumph of the aristocracy, and the overthrow of the Church. With such force, however, had the circumstance just narrated, engrained superstition into the Scotch character, that the spiritual classes quickly rallied, and, under their new name of Protestants, they became as formidable as under their old name of Catholics. Forty-three years after the establishment of the Reformation in Scotland, James VI. ascended the throne of England, and was able to array the force of the southern country against the refractory barons of the northern. From that moment the Scotch aristocracy began to decline; and the equipoise to the clergy being removed, the Church became so powerful, that, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was the most effectual obstacle to the progress of Scotland; and even now it exercises a sway which is incomprehensible to those who have not carefully studied the whole chain of its antecedents. To trace with minuteness the long course of affairs which has led to this unfortunate result, would be incompatible with the object of an Introduction, whose only aim it is to establish broad and general principles. But, to bring the question clearly before the mind of the reader, it will be necessary that I should give a slight sketch of the relation which the nobles bore to the clergy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and of the way in which their relative positions, and their implacable hatred of each other, brought about the Reformation. By this means, we shall perceive, that the great Protestant movement, which, in other countries, was democratic, was in Scotland aristocratic. We shall also see, that, in Scotland, the Reformation, not being the work of the people, has never produced the effects which might have been expected from it, and which it did produce in England. It is, indeed, but too evident, that, while in England Protestantism has diminished superstition, has weakened the clergy, has increased toleration, and, in a word, has secured the triumph of secular interests over ecclesiastical ones, its result in Scotland has been entirely different; and that, in that country, the Church, changing its form, without altering its spirit, not only cherished its ancient pretensions, but unhappily retained its ancient power; and that, although that power is now dwindling away, the Scotch preachers still exhibit, whenever they dare, an insolent and domineering spirit, which shows how much real weakness there yet lurks in the nation, where such extravagant claims are not immediately silenced by the voice of loud and general ridicule.

[87] Occasionally, we find evidence of it earlier, but it was hardly
systematic. Compare _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 66,
with _Dalrymple's Annals_, vol. i. pp. 72, 110, 111, 194, vol. iii.
p. 296; _Nimmo's History of Stirlingshire_, p. 88; _Chalmers'
History of Dunfermline_, pp. 133, 134.