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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Civilization in England, Vol. 3
+of 3, by Henry Thomas Buckle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: History of Civilization in England, Vol. 3 of 3
+
+Author: Henry Thomas Buckle
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2013 [EBook #44495]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND, III ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Clarke, Jens Nordmann and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ HISTORY
+ OF
+ CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.
+
+
+ BY
+ HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE.
+
+
+ IN THREE VOLUMES.
+ VOL. III.
+
+
+ _NEW EDITION._
+
+
+ TORONTO:
+ ROSE-BELFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY,
+ 60 YORK STREET.
+ 1878.
+
+
+
+
+ ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ CONDITION OF SCOTLAND TO THE END OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+ PAGE
+
+ Scotland and Spain are very dissimilar in regard to loyalty 1
+
+ But are very similar in regard to superstition 4
+
+ The Scotch unite liberality in politics with illiberality in
+ religion. This is the largest and most important fact in their
+ history; and the rest of the Volume will be occupied in
+ investigating its causes 5
+
+ Influence of physical geography 5-7
+
+ Roman invasion of Scotland 7-9
+
+ Irish invasion of Scotland 9
+
+ Norwegian invasion of Scotland 11-12
+
+ English invasion of Scotland 12-17
+
+ The injury which these invasions inflicted upon Scotland
+ stopped the growth of towns, and thereby favoured the power of
+ the nobles 18
+
+ The power of the nobles was still further favoured by the
+ physical structure of the country 19-20
+
+ And by the weakness of the Crown 20-21
+
+ Hence their authority had, before the close of the fourteenth
+ century, become enormous. The Crown, completely overshadowed
+ by them, could derive no aid from the citizens, because, owing
+ to the circumstances just mentioned, there were no cities 21-23
+
+ For, industry was impossible, and the commonest arts were
+ unknown 23-26
+
+ Evidence of the scanty population of the Scotch towns 26-30
+
+ They were too feeble and insignificant to elect their own
+ magistrates 32-33
+
+ The municipal element being thus imperfect, the only ally,
+ which the Crown could possibly find, was the Church 34-35
+
+ Hence, a coalition between the kings and the clergy against
+ the nobles 34
+
+ The clergy were the only body who could withstand the nobles.
+ Causes of the great influence of the clergy 35-44
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ CONDITION OF SCOTLAND IN THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES.
+
+ Early in the fifteenth century, the alliance between the Crown
+ and the Church against the nobles, became obvious 45
+
+ James I. attacked the nobles, and favoured the Church; hoping
+ thereby to establish the supremacy of the throne 46-47
+
+ But his policy failed, because it was opposed by the operation
+ of general causes 47-48
+
+ Besides failing, it produced his own destruction 49
+
+ Power of the Douglases, who were at the head of the southern
+ nobility 49-50
+
+ James II. murdered the chiefs of that family 51-52
+
+ The Crown, in its efforts against the nobles, was encouraged
+ by the clergy; and before the middle of the fifteenth century,
+ the Church and the aristocracy were completely estranged from
+ each other 52-54
+
+ James III., like James II. and James I., allied himself with
+ the clergy against the nobles 55-56
+
+ Their power, however, was too deeply rooted to be shaken; and
+ in 1488, they put the king to death 55
+
+ Still, and notwithstanding these successive failures,
+ James IV. followed the same policy as his predecessors 56
+
+ So did James V. Consequently the nobles imprisoned him, and
+ ejected the clergy from all offices in the state 57
+
+ In 1528, James V. escaped; the Crown and the Church regained
+ the ascendant, and the principal nobles were banished 58
+
+ From this moment, the nobles hated the Church more than ever.
+ Their hatred brought about the Reformation 58-59
+
+ Active measures of the government against the nobles 60-61
+
+ The nobles revenged themselves by becoming Reformers 62
+
+ James V., on the other hand, threw himself entirely into the
+ arms of the Church 62-63
+
+ As the nobles took the opposite side, and as the people had no
+ influence, the success or failure of the Reformation in
+ Scotland was simply a question of the success or failure of
+ the aristocratic power 65-68
+
+ In 1542, the nobles openly refused obedience to James V.; and
+ their treatment of him at this critical period of his life,
+ broke his heart 68-69
+
+ Directly he died, they regained authority. The clergy were
+ displaced, and measures favourable to Protestantism were
+ adopted 69-72
+
+ In 1546, Cardinal Beaton was assassinated, and Knox began
+ his career 74-75
+
+ Subsequent proceedings of Knox 76-77
+
+ While Knox was abroad, the nobles established the Reformation 78
+
+ He returned to Scotland in 1559, by which time the struggle
+ was nearly over 79
+
+ In 1559, the queen regent was deposed; the nobles became
+ supreme; and, in 1560, the Church was destroyed 80-84
+
+ Immediately this revolution was completed, the nobles and the
+ preachers began to quarrel about the wealth of the Church 84
+
+ The nobles, thinking that they ought to have it, took it into
+ their own hands 85-88
+
+ Thereupon, the Protestant preachers said that the nobles were
+ instigated by the devil 88-90
+
+ Morton, who was at the head of the nobility, became enraged at
+ the proceedings of the new clergy, and persecuted them 91-92
+
+ A complete rupture between the two classes 93
+
+ The clergy, finding themselves despised by the governing
+ class, united themselves heartily with the people, and
+ advocated democratic principles 93
+
+ In 1574, Melville became their leader. Under his auspices, that
+ great struggle began, which never stopped until, sixty years
+ later, it produced the rebellion against Charles I. 94
+
+ The first manifestations of this rebellious spirit was the
+ attack on the bishops 94
+
+ In 1575, the attack began. In 1580, episcopacy was abolished 96-97
+
+ But the nobles upheld that institution, because they loved
+ inequality for the same reasons which made the clergy love
+ equality 97-100
+
+ Struggle between the upper classes and the clergy respecting
+ episcopacy 100-103
+
+ In 1582, James VI. was imprisoned; and his captivity was
+ justified by the clergy, whose democratic principles were now
+ openly proclaimed 103-104
+
+ Violent language used by the clergy against the king and
+ against the nobles 104-109
+
+ Their leader, Melville, personally insulted the king, and they
+ were probably privy to the Gowrie conspiracy in 1600 110
+
+ Still, the clergy, notwithstanding the indecency of their
+ conduct, conferred the greatest of all boons upon Scotland, by
+ keeping alive and nurturing the spirit of liberty 111-114
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ CONDITION OF SCOTLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES.
+
+ In 1603, the King of Scotland became also King of England, and
+ determined to use his new resources in curbing and chastising
+ the Scotch clergy 115-122
+
+ His cruel treatment of them 122-124
+
+ In 1610, James, backed by the power of England, forced
+ episcopacy upon Scotland. Courts of High Commission were also
+ set up 125-127
+
+ Tyrannical conduct of the bishops 127-129
+
+ Meanwhile, a reaction was preparing 129-132
+
+ In 1637, the reaction declared itself, and, in 1638, the
+ bishops were overthrown 132-133
+
+ The movement being essentially democratic, could not stop
+ there, but quickly spread from the Church to the State. In
+ 1639, war was made upon Charles I. by the Scotch, who, having
+ defeated the king, sold him to the English, who executed him 134-136
+
+ The Scotch, before they would crown Charles II., compelled him
+ to humble himself, and to confess his own errors and the
+ errors of his family 136-137
+
+ But, after Charles II. mounted the throne of England, he
+ became powerful enough to triumph over the Scotch. He availed
+ himself of that power to oppress Scotland even more
+ grievously than his two predecessors had done 137-140
+
+ Happily, however, the spirit of liberty was strong enough to
+ baffle his attempts to establish a permanent despotism 140
+
+ Still, the crisis was terrible, and the people and their
+ clergy were exposed to every sort of outrage 141-146
+
+ Now, as before, the bishops aided the government in its
+ efforts to enslave Scotland. Being hated by the people, they
+ allied themselves with the Crown, and displayed the warmest
+ affection towards James II., during whose reign cruelties
+ were perpetrated worse than any previously known 147-150
+
+ In 1688, another reaction, in which the Scotch again freed
+ themselves from their oppressors 151
+
+ The only powerful friends of this bad government were the
+ Highlanders 151
+
+ Reasons which induced the Highlanders to rebel in favour of
+ the Stuarts 151-153
+
+ The Highland rebellions of 1715 and 1745 were not the result
+ of loyalty 153-159
+
+ After 1745, the Highlanders sank into complete insignificance,
+ and the progress of Scotland was uninterrupted 159
+
+ Beginning of the trading spirit 160-161
+
+ Connexion between the rising of the trading spirit and the
+ abolition, in 1748, of hereditary jurisdictions 161-162
+
+ The abolition of these jurisdictions was a symptom of the
+ declining power of the Scotch nobles, but not a cause of it 161
+
+ One cause of the decline of their power was the union with
+ England, in 1707 162-167
+
+ Another cause was the failure of the Rebellion of 1745 167
+
+ The nobles being thus weakened, were, in 1748, easily deprived
+ of their right of jurisdiction. In this way, they lost the
+ last emblem of their old authority 169-170
+
+ This great democratic and liberating movement was aided by the
+ growth of the mercantile and manufacturing classes 171-172
+
+ And their growth was itself assisted by the Union with England 172
+
+ Evidence of the rapid progress of the industrious classes in
+ the first half of the eighteenth century 173-183
+
+ During the same period, a new and splendid literature arose in
+ Scotland 183-184
+
+ But, unfortunately, this literature, notwithstanding its bold
+ and inquisitive spirit, was unable to diminish national
+ superstition 184-186
+
+ It is the business of the historian to ascertain the causes of
+ its failure. If he cannot do this, he cannot understand the
+ history of Scotland 186
+
+ The first and most essential quality of an historian, is a
+ clear perception of the great scientific doctrine of Law. But
+ whoever seeks to apply this doctrine to the whole course of
+ history, and to elucidate, by its aid, the march and theory of
+ affairs, is met by obstacles which no single mind can remove 186-190
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ AN EXAMINATION OF THE SCOTCH INTELLECT DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+ The rest of the Volume will be occupied with a still closer
+ investigation of the double paradox presented by the history
+ of Scotland; namely, 1st, that the same people should be
+ liberal in politics, and illiberal in religion; and, 2nd, that
+ the free and sceptical literature which they produced in the
+ eighteenth century, should have been unable to lessen their
+ religious illiberality 191
+
+ Their religious illiberality was the result of the immense
+ power possessed by their clergy in the seventeenth century.
+ The causes of that power will be examined in the present
+ chapter 192
+
+ The failure of their literature in diminishing this
+ illiberality during the eighteenth century, was the result of
+ the peculiar method of the inquiry adopted by the Scotch
+ philosophers. The causes of the universal diffusion of that
+ method, the nature of the method, and the consequences of it,
+ will be examined in the next chapter, which will conclude the
+ Volume 192-193
+
+ Circumstances in the seventeenth century favourable to the
+ influence of the Scotch clergy 193-197
+
+ While the English war against Charles I. was essentially
+ political, the Scotch war against him was essentially
+ religious 197-200
+
+ Though this was the effect of Scotch superstition, it was also
+ a cause of its further progress 201-202
+
+ Hence, in the seventeenth century, secular interests were
+ neglected, and theological ones became supreme. Illustration
+ of this, from the zeal of the people to hear sermons of
+ inordinate frequency and of terrible length; so that they
+ passed the greater part of their lives in what were
+ erroneously termed religious exercises 203-206
+
+ The clergy availed themselves of these habits to extend and
+ consolidate their own authority 205-206
+
+ Their great engine of power was the Kirk-Session. Tyranny of
+ the Kirk-Sessions 206-210
+
+ Monstrous pretensions of the clergy 210-212
+
+ Cases in which it was believed that these pretensions were
+ upheld and vindicated by miracles 212-220
+
+ The clergy, becoming elated, indulge in language of
+ extraordinary arrogance 221-227
+
+ They asserted that miracles were wrought in their behalf, and
+ often on their persons 228-229
+
+ Effect of these proceedings upon the Scotch mind 230-232
+
+ The clergy, to intimidate the people, and bring them
+ completely under control, advocated horrible notions
+ concerning evil spirits and future punishments 232-243
+
+ With the same object they propounded notions more horrible
+ still, respecting the Deity, whom they represented as a cruel,
+ passionate, and sanguinary Being 245-252
+
+ They moreover declared that harmless and even praiseworthy
+ actions were sinful, and would provoke the Divine wrath 251-262
+
+ To prevent such imaginary sins, the clergy made arbitrary
+ regulations, and punished those who disobeyed them, sometimes
+ by flogging, and sometimes by branding with hot irons, and
+ sometimes in other ways 262-263
+
+ Specimens of the sins which the clergy invented 264-268
+
+ The result was, that all mirth, all innocent gaiety, all
+ demonstrations of happiness, and nearly all physical
+ enjoyments, were destroyed in Scotland 268-269
+
+ Hence, the national character was mutilated. For, the
+ pleasures of the body are, in our actual condition, as
+ essential a part of the great scheme of life, and are as
+ necessary to human affairs, as are the pleasures of the mind 269-271
+
+ But the clergy, by denouncing these pleasures of the senses,
+ do what they can, in every country, to diminish the total
+ amount of happiness of which humanity is susceptible, and
+ which it has a right to enjoy 271-275
+
+ In no Protestant country have the clergy pushed these narrow
+ and unsocial tenets so far as in Scotland 275-276
+
+ Indeed, in some respects, the Scotch clergy were more ascetic
+ than those of any branch of the Catholic Church, except the
+ Spanish; since they attempted to destroy the affections, and
+ to sever the holiest ties of domestic love 276-279
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ AN EXAMINATION OF THE SCOTCH INTELLECT DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+ The Scotch philosophical literature of the eighteenth century,
+ was a reaction against the theological spirit of the
+ seventeenth 281
+
+ But the peculiarity of the philosophy which now arose, is
+ that, instead of being an inductive philosophy, it was a
+ deductive one 281-282
+
+ This is well worthy of notice; because the inductive method
+ being essentially anti-theological, it might have been
+ expected that the opponents of the theological spirit would
+ have followed that method 282-284
+
+ The truth, however, was, that the theological spirit had taken
+ such hold of the Scotch mind, that it was impossible for the
+ inductive method to gain a hearing 284-289
+
+ Hence, the secular philosophy of the eighteenth century,
+ though new in its results, was not new in the method by which
+ those results were obtained 289
+
+ In this respect, Scotland is similar to Germany, but
+ dissimilar to England 289-290
+
+ Summary of the most important distinctions between induction
+ and deduction 291
+
+ The whole of the Scotch philosophy, physical as well as
+ metaphysical, is deductive 291
+
+ Hutcheson's philosophy 292-304
+
+ Its results and tendency 292-299
+
+ Its method 299-304
+
+ Adam Smith's philosophy 304-330
+
+ His _Theory of Moral Sentiments_ and his _Wealth of
+ Nations_ are different parts of one subject. To understand
+ either, we must study both 304-305
+
+ His deductive method depended upon a suppression of premisses 304-309
+
+ Account of his _Theory of Moral Sentiments_ 309-314
+
+ Account of his _Wealth of Nations_ 314-330
+
+ Hume's philosophy 331-349
+
+ His want of imagination 331-332
+
+ Importance and novelty of his doctrines 333-337
+
+ His method was eminently deductive; and he, like Adam Smith,
+ cared little for experience 337-341
+
+ Hence, his injustice to Bacon, whose method was diametrically
+ opposed to his own 338-339
+
+ His _Natural History of Religion_ 342-348
+
+ Comparison between the method of this work, and the method
+ employed by Cudworth 348
+
+ Reid's philosophy 349-361
+
+ His timidity made him look at the practical tendency of
+ speculative doctrines, instead of confining himself to the
+ question of their truth or falsehood 349-354
+
+ But a philosopher should deem it his business to ascertain
+ new truths, without regard to their consequences 349-350
+
+ Reid attacked Hume's method, because he disliked the results
+ to which that method had led 354-355
+
+ And yet, in raising his own philosophy, he followed the very
+ same method himself 355-359
+
+ Estimate of the value of what Reid effected 359-360
+
+ Opposition between the method of Reid and that of Bacon 360-361
+
+ In physical philosophy, the deductive method was equally
+ prevalent in Scotland 361-seq.
+
+ The laws of heat 362
+
+ Indestructibility of force. Interchange of forces 362-365
+
+ Black's philosophy 367-377
+
+ His theory of latent heat prepared the way for subsequent
+ discoveries 367-371
+
+ His method was deductive, and does not come under any of the
+ rules of the Baconian philosophy 371-372
+
+ He reasoned from his principles speculatively, instead of
+ occupying himself with a long course of experiments 372-377
+
+ To do this was to indulge the imagination, which is deemed
+ dangerous by the inductive school of English physicists. But,
+ in the pursuit of truth, we need all our powers; and the
+ advance of physical science is retarded by our neglect of the
+ imaginative and emotional faculties 377-382
+
+ Black, therefore, did immense service by giving free scope, to
+ the imagination. The same plan was pursued by his successor,
+ Leslie 383
+
+ Leslie's philosophy of heat 383-388
+
+ He derived great aid from poetry 385
+
+ And was unjust to Bacon, whose inductive views he disliked 388
+
+ Hutton's geological philosophy 388-402
+
+ Fire and water are the two causes which have altered, and are
+ still altering, the crust of the earth. The supposition that
+ volcanic action was formerly more powerful than at present, is
+ quite consistent with the doctrines of an unbroken sequence of
+ events, and of the uniformity of natural laws 388-390
+
+ The action of fire and water on the crust of the earth, may be
+ studied deductively, by computing separately the probable
+ operation of each. Or they maybe studied inductively, by
+ observing their united effects, and rising from the effects to
+ the causes; while the deductive plan is to descend from the
+ causes to the effects 390-391
+
+ Of these two methods, the English followed the inductive; the
+ Scotch and Germans followed the deductive 391
+
+ English geology founded by William Smith 391-393
+
+ German geology founded by Werner 393-395
+
+ Scotch geology founded by Hutton 396
+
+ The English observed effects in order to ascertain causes. The
+ Germans, assuming water to be the cause, reasoned from it to
+ the effects. The Scotch, assuming heat to be the cause, made
+ its principles the first step in their argument 391-396
+
+ Reasons which made the Scotch geologists argue from the
+ principles of heat, instead of, like the German geologists,
+ arguing from the principles of water 396
+
+ Though Hutton founded the theory of metamorphic rocks, and
+ ascribed such immense importance to heat, he would not take
+ the trouble of examining a single region of active volcanos,
+ where he might have seen those very operations of nature,
+ respecting which he speculated 398
+
+ But, by a deductive application of the principles unfolded by
+ Black, he arrived at a conclusion concerning the consolidation
+ of strata by heat 399-400
+
+ That conclusion was entirely speculative, and unsupported by
+ experience 399
+
+ Though experiment might perhaps verify it, no one had yet made
+ the trial; and Hutton was too averse to the inductive method
+ to undertake the investigation himself 400-401
+
+ Sir James Hall afterwards took the matter up, and empirically
+ verified the great idea which Hutton had propounded 401-402
+
+ Watt's invention of the steam-engine, and discovery of the
+ composition of water 402-406
+
+ Contrast between the method by which he, as a Scotchman,
+ discovered the composition of water, and the opposite method
+ by which the Englishman, Cavendish, made the same discovery at
+ the same time 404-406
+
+ Nature of the evidence of the supposed difference between the
+ organic and inorganic world. Life is probably a property of
+ all matter 406-410
+
+ Assuming, however, for the purposes of classification, that
+ the organic world is fundamentally different from the
+ inorganic, we may divide organic science into physiology and
+ pathology 410-412
+
+ The two great Scotch pathologists are Cullen and John Hunter.
+ Hunter, having a larger mind than Cullen, was also a
+ physiologist 412
+
+ Account of Cullen's philosophy 413-427
+
+ His love of theory 413
+
+ Theory, though necessary in science, is dangerous in practice 414-416
+
+ Difference between the science of pathology and the art of
+ therapeutics 417-418
+
+ Comparison between the method of Cullen's pathology and the
+ method employed by Adam Smith 417-419
+
+ Cullen's theory of the solids 420-seq.
+
+ He refused to inquire into the truth of the principles from
+ which he argued 421-422
+
+ His conclusions, like his premisses, represent only a part of
+ the truth, and were extremely one-sided. Still, their value
+ is unquestionable, forming, as they did, a necessary part of
+ the general progress 423-424
+
+ His theory of fever 424-426
+
+ His nosology 426-427
+
+ The philosophy of John Hunter 428-458
+
+ His grandeur, and, unfortunately, his obscurity of language 428-430
+
+ In his mind, the inductive and deductive methods struggled for
+ mastery. Their conflict oppressed him. This is one of the
+ causes of the darkness of his thoughts and consequently of his
+ style 429-432
+
+ His natural disposition was towards deduction 432
+
+ But circumstances made him inductive, and he collected facts
+ with untiring industry 432-434
+
+ By this means he made a large number of curious physiological
+ discoveries 434-436
+
+ He traced the history of the red globules of the blood, and
+ arrived at the conclusion that their function is to strengthen
+ the system rather than to repair it 436-437
+
+ Long after his death, this inference was corroborated by the
+ progress of miscroscopical and chemical researches. It was
+ especially corroborated by Lecanu's comparison of the blood in
+ different sexes, and in different temperaments. 439
+
+ Hunter's inquiries concerning the movements of animals and
+ vegetables 439-441
+
+ He recognized the great truth that the sciences of the
+ inorganic world must be the foundation of those of the organic 443
+
+ His object was, to unite all the physical sciences, in order
+ to show that, the operations of nature being always uniform,
+ regularity prevails even amidst the greatest apparent
+ irregularity 443-444
+
+ Hence, aiming chiefly at a generalization of irregularities,
+ his favourite study was pathology 444
+
+ In his pathological inquiries, he took into account the
+ malformations of crystals 445
+
+ As a physiologist, he was equalled or excelled by Aristotle;
+ but as a pathologist, he is unrivalled for the grandeur of his
+ views 446-447
+
+ In pathology, his love of deduction was more obvious than in
+ physiology 447
+
+ His pathological speculations respecting the principles of
+ action and the principles of sympathy 448-452
+
+ But his English contemporaries, being eminently inductive, so
+ disliked his method, that he exercised scarcely any influence
+ over them 453
+
+ This is the more observable, because his discoveries
+ respecting disease have caused him to be recognized as the
+ founder of modern surgery, and the principal author of the
+ doctrines now taught in the medical profession 454-457
+
+ Such were the great results achieved by Scotchmen in the
+ eighteenth century. Difference between this splendid
+ literature and the wretched productions of the Scotch mind in
+ the seventeenth century. 458-460
+
+ Notwithstanding this difference, the deductive method was
+ supreme in both centuries 461
+
+ The deductive method strikes the senses less than the
+ inductive. Hence, induction being more accessible to average
+ understandings, is more popular than deduction. Hence, too,
+ the teachings of an inductive philosophy are more likely to
+ affect national character than the teaching of a deductive
+ philosophy 461-464
+
+ Theology forms the only exception to this rule 464-465
+
+ The Scotch literature of the eighteenth century, being
+ essentially deductive, was, on that account, unable to affect
+ the nation. It was, therefore, unable to weaken national
+ superstition 465-469
+
+ Superstition and religious illiberality still existing in
+ Scotland 469-471
+
+ The notions countenanced there respecting the origin of
+ epidemics. Correspondence which, in consequence of those
+ notions, took place, in 1853, between the Scotch Church and
+ the English Government 471-476
+
+ These superstitions are eminently irreligious, and are
+ everywhere becoming effaced, as physical science advances.
+ Nothing else can touch them. Hence the gradual liberation of
+ the human mind from the slavish and unmanly fears by which it
+ has long been oppressed 476-482
+
+
+
+
+ HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ CONDITION OF SCOTLAND TO THE END OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+
+In the preceding view of the rise and decay of Spain, I have sought to
+exhibit the successive steps by which what was formerly one of the
+greatest nations of the earth, was broken, and cast down from its high
+estate. As we look back on that scene, the picture is, indeed, striking.
+A country rich in all natural productions, inhabited by a brave, a loyal,
+and a religious people, removed, too, by its geographical position from
+the hazards of European revolutions, did, by the operation of those
+general causes which I have indicated, suddenly rise to unparalleled
+grandeur; and then, without the occurrence of any new combination, but by
+a mere continuance of the same causes, fall with an equal velocity. Yet,
+these vicissitudes, strange and startling as they appear, were perfectly
+regular. They were the legitimate consequence of a state of society, in
+which the spirit of protection had reached its highest point, and in
+which, every thing being done for the people, nothing was done by the
+people. Whenever this happens, there may be great political progress, but
+there can be no really national progress. There may be accessions of
+territory, and vast increase of fame and of power. There may be
+improvements in the practice of administration, in the management of
+finances, in the organization of armies, in the art and theory of war, in
+the tricks of diplomacy, and in those various contrivances by which one
+nation is able to outwit and insult another. So far, however, from this
+benefiting the people, it will injure them in two different ways. In the
+first place, by increasing the reputation of the ruling classes, it
+encourages that blind and servile respect which men are too apt to feel
+for those who are above them, and which, wherever it has been generally
+practised, has been found fatal to the highest qualities of the citizen,
+and therefore to the permanent grandeur of the nation. And, in the second
+place, it multiplies the resources of the executive government, and thus
+renders the country unable, as well as unwilling, to correct the errors
+of those who are at the head of affairs. Hence, in Spain, as in all
+countries similarly circumstanced, it was at the very moment when things
+were most prosperous at the surface, that they were most rotten at the
+foundation. In presence of the most splendid political success, the
+nation hastened to its downfall, and the crisis was fast approaching, in
+which, the whole edifice being overturned, nothing would be left, except
+a memorable warning of the consequences which must ensue, when the
+people, giving themselves up to the passions of superstition and loyalty,
+abdicate their own proper functions, forego their own responsibility,
+renounce their highest duties, and degrade themselves into passive
+instruments to serve the will of the Church and the throne.
+
+Such is the great lesson taught by the history of Spain. From the history
+of Scotland, we may gather another lesson, of a different, and yet of a
+similar, kind. In Scotland, the progress of the nation has been very
+slow, but, on the whole, very sure. The country is extremely barren; the
+executive government has, with rare exceptions, been always weak; and the
+people have never been burdened with those feelings of loyalty which
+circumstances had forced upon the Spaniards. Certainly, the last charge
+that will be brought against the Scotch, is that of superstitious
+attachment to their princes.[1] We, in England, have not always been very
+tender of the persons of our sovereigns, and we have occasionally
+punished them with what some consider excessive severity. With this, we
+have been frequently taunted by the more loyal nations of the Continent;
+and, in Spain in particular, our conduct has excited the greatest
+abhorrence. But, if we compare our history with that of our northern
+neighbours, we must pronounce ourselves a meek and submissive people.[2]
+There have been more rebellions in Scotland than in any other country;
+and the rebellions have been very sanguinary, as well as very numerous.
+The Scotch have made war upon most of their kings, and put to death many.
+To mention their treatment of a single dynasty, they murdered James I.
+and James III. They rebelled against James II. and James VII. They laid
+hold of James V., and placed him in confinement. Mary, they immured in a
+castle, and afterwards deposed. Her successor, James VI., they
+imprisoned; they led him captive about the country, and on one occasion
+attempted his life. Towards Charles I., they showed the greatest
+animosity, and they were the first to restrain his mad career. Three
+years before the English ventured to rise against that despotic prince,
+the Scotch boldly took up arms, and made war on him. The service which
+they then rendered to the cause of liberty it would be hard to overrate;
+but the singular part of the transaction was, that having afterwards got
+possession of the person of Charles, they sold him to the English for a
+large sum of money, of which they, being very poor, had pressing need.
+Such a sale is unparalleled in history; and although the Scotch might
+have plausibly alleged that this was the only gain they had derived, or
+ever could derive, from the existence of their hereditary prince, still
+the event is one which stands alone; it was unprecedented; it has never
+been imitated; and its occurrence is a striking symptom of the state of
+public opinion, and of the feelings of the country in which it was
+permitted.
+
+ [1] One of their own historians complacently says, 'but the Scots were
+ seldom distinguished for loyalty.' _Laing's History of Scotland_,
+ vol. iii. p. 199, edit. 1819. See also p. 366. To the same effect,
+ Brodie (_History of the British Empire_, Edinburgh, 1822, vol. i. p.
+ 388): 'The little respect paid to royalty is conspicuous in every
+ page of Scottish history.' Or, as Wilkes expressed himself in the
+ House of Commons, 'Scotland seems, indeed, the natural _foyer_ of
+ rebellion, as Egypt is of the plague.' _Parliamentary History_, vol.
+ xix. p. 810, London, 1814; and Nimmo (_History of Stirlingshire_,
+ Edinburgh, 1777, p. 219): 'Never was any race of monarchs more
+ unfortunate than the Scottish. Their reigns were generally turbulent
+ and disastrous, and their own end often tragical.'
+
+ [2] Indeed, a well-known Scotchman of the seventeenth century,
+ scornfully says of the English, 'such is the obsequiousness, and
+ almost superstitious devotion of that nation towards their prince.'
+ _Baillie's Letters_, vol. i. p. 204, edit. Laing, Edinburgh, 1841.
+ This, however, was written in 1639, since which we have effectually
+ wiped off that reproach. On the other hand, an English writer of
+ the seventeenth century, indignantly, though with evident
+ exaggeration, imputes to the Scotch that 'forty of their kings have
+ been barbarously murdered by them; and half as many more have
+ either made away with themselves, for fear of their torturing of
+ them, or have died miserably in strait imprisonment.' _Account of
+ Scotland in_ 1670, in _Harleian Miscellany_, vol. vi. p. 140, edit.
+ Park, 4to, 1810. Compare two curious passages in _Shields' Hind let
+ loose_, 1687, pp. 8, 9, 15.
+
+While, however, in regard to loyalty, the opposition between Scotland and
+Spain is complete, there is, strange to say, the most striking similarity
+between those countries in regard to superstition. Both nations have
+allowed their clergy to exercise immense sway, and both have submitted
+their actions, as well as their consciences, to the authority of the
+Church. As a natural consequence, in both countries, intolerance has
+been, and still is, a crying evil; and in matters of religion, a bigotry
+is habitually displayed, discreditable indeed to Spain, but far more
+discreditable to Scotland, which has produced many philosophers of the
+highest eminence, who would willingly have taught the people better
+things, but who have vainly attempted to remove from the national mind
+that serious blemish which mars its beauty, and tends to neutralize its
+many other admirable qualities.
+
+Herein lies the apparent paradox, and the real difficulty, of Scotch
+history. That knowledge should not have produced the effects which have
+elsewhere followed it; that a bold and inquisitive literature should be
+found in a grossly superstitious country, without diminishing its
+superstition; that the people should constantly withstand their kings,
+and as constantly succumb to their clergy; that while they are liberal in
+politics, they should be illiberal in religion; and that, as a natural
+consequence of all this, men who, in the visible and external department
+of facts and of practical life, display a shrewdness and a boldness
+rarely equalled, should nevertheless, in speculative life, and in matters
+of theory, tremble like sheep before their pastors, and yield assent to
+every absurdity they hear, provided their Church has sanctioned it; that
+these discrepancies should coexist, seems at first sight a strange
+contradiction, and is surely a phenomenon worthy of our careful study. To
+indicate the causes of this anomaly, and to trace the results to which
+the anomaly has led, will be the business of the remaining part of this
+volume; and although the investigation will be somewhat lengthy, it will
+not, I hope, be considered prolix, by those who recognise the importance
+of the inquiry, and are aware how completely it has been neglected, even
+by those who have written most fully on the history of the Scottish
+nation.
+
+In Scotland, as elsewhere, the course of events has been influenced by
+its physical geography; and by this I mean, not only its own immediate
+peculiarities, but also its relation to adjoining countries. It is close
+to Ireland; it touches England; and by the contiguity of the Orkney and
+Shetland Isles, it was eminently exposed to the attacks of that great
+nation of pirates, which for centuries inhabited the Scandinavian
+peninsula. Considered merely by itself, it is mountainous and sterile;
+nature has interposed such obstacles, that it was long impossible to open
+regular communications between its different parts, which, indeed, in
+regard to the Highlands, was not effected till after the middle of the
+eighteenth century.[3] Finally, and this, as we shall presently see, was
+a matter of great importance, the most fertile land in Scotland is in the
+south, and was, therefore, constantly ravaged by the English borderers.
+Hence, the accumulation of wealth was hindered; the growth of towns was
+discouraged, by the serious hazards to which they were liable; and it was
+impossible to develop that municipal spirit, which might have existed, if
+the districts most favoured by nature had been situated in the north of
+Scotland, instead of in the south. If the actual state of things had been
+reversed, so that the Highlands were in the south,[4] and the Lowlands in
+the north, it can hardly be doubted, that, after the cessation in the
+thirteenth century of the great Scandinavian invasions, the most fertile
+parts of Scotland, being comparatively secure, would have been the seat
+of towns, which the active spirit of the people would have caused to
+prosper, and the prosperity of which would have introduced a new element
+into Scotch affairs, and changed the course of Scotch history. This,
+however, was not to be; and, as we have to deal with events as they
+actually are, I will now endeavour to trace the consequences of the
+physical peculiarities which have just been noticed; and by cooerdinating
+their results, I will, so far as I am able, show their general meaning,
+and the way in which they have shaped the national character.
+
+ [3] In England, the travelling was bad enough; in Scotland, it was far
+ worse. Morer, stating what he saw in 1689, says 'Stage-coaches they
+ have none; yet there are a few Hackney's at Edinburgh, which they
+ may hire into the country upon urgent occasions. The truth is, the
+ roads will hardly allow 'em those conveniences, which is the reason
+ that their gentry, men and women, chuse rather to use their horses.'
+ _Morer's Account of Scotland_, London, 1702, p. 24.
+
+ As to the northern parts, we have the following account, written in
+ Inverness, between 1726 and 1730. 'The Highlands are but little
+ known even to the inhabitants of the low country of Scotland, for
+ they have ever dreaded the difficulties and dangers of travelling
+ among the mountains; and, when some extraordinary occasion has
+ obliged any one of them to such a progress, he has, generally
+ speaking, made his testament before he set out, as though he were
+ entering upon a long and dangerous sea-voyage, wherein it was very
+ doubtful if he should ever return.' _Letters from a Gentleman in the
+ North of Scotland_, edit. London, 1815, vol. i. p. 4. Between 1720
+ and 1730, military roads were cut through parts of the Highlands,
+ but they were 'laid down by a practical soldier, and destined for
+ warlike purposes, with scarcely any view towards the ends for which
+ free and peaceful citizens open up a system of internal transit,'
+ _Burton's History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 255. See also _Chalmers'
+ Caledonia_, vol. ii. p. 36. This is confirmed by the fact, that even
+ between Inverness and Edinburgh, 'until 1755, the mail was conveyed
+ by men on foot.' Account of Inverness-shire, in _M^cCulloch's
+ British Empire_, London, 1847, vol. i. p. 299; to which I may add,
+ that in _Anderson's Essay on the Highlands_, Edinburgh, 1827, pp.
+ 119, 120, it is stated, that 'A postchaise was first seen in
+ Inverness itself in 1760, and was, for a considerable time, the only
+ four-wheeled carriage in the district.' As to the communications in
+ the country about Perth, see _Penny's Traditions of Perth_, pp. 131,
+ 132, Perth, 1836; and as to those from Aberdeen to Inverness, and
+ from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, see _Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen_, vol.
+ ii. pp. 269, 270, London, 4to, 1818.
+
+ The history of the improvement of the roads during the latter half
+ of the eighteenth century, has never been written; but it is of the
+ greatest importance for its intellectual results, in causing
+ national fusion, as well as for its economical results, in helping
+ trade. Some idea may be formed of the extraordinary energy displayed
+ by Scotland in this matter, by comparing the following passages:
+ _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. ii. pp. 494, 865, 939, vol. iii. pp.
+ 599, 799; _Crawfurd's History of the Shire of Renfrew_, part ii. pp.
+ 128, 160; _Irving's History of Dumbartonshire_, pp. 245, 246;
+ _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 109, 210,
+ 367, 430, 496; vol. ii. p. 498; vol. iii. pp. 331, 352, 353; vol.
+ iv. p. 313; vol. v. pp. 128, 234, 235, 315, 364, 365; vol. vi.
+ pp. 107, 154, 180, 458; vol. vii. pp. 135, 251, 275, 299, 417; vol.
+ viii. pp. 81, 243, 344, 345, 541; vol. ix. pp. 414, 530; vol. x.
+ pp. 221, 237, 238, 466, 618; vol. xi. pp. 127, 380, 418, 432, 522,
+ 541; vol. xii. p. 59; vol. xiii. pp. 42, 141, 488, 542, 663; vol.
+ xiv. pp. 217, 227, 413, 443, 466, 506; vol. xv. pp. 54, 88, 276;
+ vol. xvi. p. 120; vol. xvii. pp. 5, 267, 297, 377, 533; vol. xviii.
+ p. 309; vol. xx. p. 156.
+
+ [4] I use the word Highlands, in the common, though improper, sense of
+ including all Scotland from the Pentland Firth to the beginning of
+ the mountains, a few miles north of Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, and
+ Dundee. All such distinctions are necessarily somewhat vague,
+ because the boundaries of nature are never clearly marked. Compare
+ _Macky's Scotland_, p. 124, London, 1732, with _Anderson's Guide to
+ the Highlands_, Edinburgh, 1847, pp. 17, 18.
+
+The earliest fact with which we are acquainted respecting the history of
+Scotland, is the Roman invasion under Agricola, late in the first
+century. But neither his conquests, nor those of his successors, made
+any permanent impression. The country was never really subjugated, and
+nothing was effected except a military occupation, which, in spite of the
+erection of numerous forts, walls, and ramparts, left the spirit of the
+inhabitants unbroken. Even Severus, who, in the year 209, undertook the
+last and most important expedition against Scotland, does not appear to
+have penetrated beyond the Firth of Moray;[5] and directly he retired,
+the natives were again in arms, and again independent. After this,
+nothing was attempted upon a scale large enough to give a chance of
+success. Indeed, the Romans, far from being equal to such an effort, were
+themselves deteriorating. In their best days, their virtues were the
+virtues of barbarians, and even those they were now about to lose. From
+the beginning, their scheme of life was so one-sided and imperfect, that
+the increase of wealth, which improves the civilization of really
+civilized countries, was to the Romans an irreparable mischief; and they
+were corrupted by luxury, instead of being refined by it. In our time, if
+we compare the different nations of Europe, we find that the richest are
+also the most powerful, the most humane, and the most happy. We live in
+that advanced state of society, in which wealth is both the cause and the
+effect of progress, while poverty is the fruitful parent of weakness, of
+misery, and of crime. But the Romans, when they ceased to be poor, began
+to be vicious. So unstable was the foundation of their greatness, that
+the very results which their power produced, were fatal to the power
+itself. Their empire gave them wealth, and their wealth overthrew their
+empire. Their national character, notwithstanding its apparent strength,
+was in truth of so frail a texture, that it was ruined by its own
+development. As it grew, it dwarfed. Hence it was, that, in the third and
+fourth centuries, their hold on mankind visibly slackened. Their
+authority being undermined, other nations, of course, stepped in; so that
+the inroads of those strange tribes which came pouring from the north,
+and to whose appearance the final catastrophe is often ascribed, were at
+best the occasion, but by no means the cause, of the fall of the Roman
+Empire. Towards that great and salutary event, every thing had long been
+pointing. The scourgers and oppressors of the world, whom a false and
+ignorant sympathy has invested with noble qualities which they never
+possessed, had now to look to themselves; and when, after receding on all
+sides, they, in the middle of the fifth century, withdrew their forces
+from the whole of Britain, they merely executed a movement, which a train
+of circumstances, continued through several generations, had made
+inevitable.
+
+ [5] Browne (_History of the Highlands_, vol. i. p. 33) says that 'he
+ traversed the whole of North Britain, from the wall of Antoninus to
+ the very extremity of the island.' The same thing is stated in
+ _Pennant's Scotland_, vol. i. p. 90. Neither of these writers quote
+ their authority for this; but they probably relied on a passage in
+ _Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia_, lib. iv. p. 94. 'Neque tamen
+ desideratis quinquaginta millibus (ut scribit Dion) prius ab
+ inc[oe]pto destiterunt, quam ad finem insulae penetrassent.' I
+ believe, however, that Scotch antiquaries are now agreed that this
+ is wrong, as Chalmers was one of the first to perceive. See his
+ _Caledonia_, vol. i. p. 187; a very valuable and learned, but
+ unhappily ill-arranged, book, and written in a style which is
+ absolutely afflicting. See also _Irving's History of
+ Dumbartonshire_, 4to, 1860, p. 14.
+
+It is at this point that we begin to discern the operation of those
+physical and geographical peculiarities which I have mentioned as
+influencing the fortunes of Scotland. The Romans, gradually losing
+ground, the proximity of Ireland caused repeated attacks from that
+fertile island, whose rich soil and great natural advantages gave rise to
+an exuberant, and therefore a restless, population. An overflow, which,
+in civilized times, is an emigration, is, in barbarous times, an
+invasion. Hence the Irish, or Scotti as they were termed, established
+themselves by force of arms in the west of Scotland, and came into
+collision with the Picts, who occupied the eastern part. A deadly
+struggle ensued, which lasted four centuries after the withdrawal of the
+Romans, and plunged the country into the greatest confusion. At length,
+in the middle of the ninth century, Kenneth M'Alpine, king of the
+Scotti, gained the upper hand, and reduced the Picts to complete
+submission.[6] The country was now united under one rule; and the
+conquerors, slowly absorbing the conquered, gave their name to the whole,
+which, in the tenth century, received the appellation of Scotland.[7]
+
+ [6] The history of Scotland, in this period, is in great confusion, and
+ perhaps will never be recovered. For the statements made in the
+ text, I have chiefly used the following authorities: _Fordun's
+ Scotichronicon_, vol. i.; _Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia_,
+ lib. v. pp. 121-132, and the beginning of the sixth book. Also
+ various parts of _Bede_; _Pinkerton's Enquiry into the Early History
+ of Scotland_; _Chalmers' Caledonia_; the first volume of _Browne's
+ History of the Highlands_; and, above all, Mr. Skene's acute and
+ learned work on the Highlanders. In the last-named book, the western
+ boundary of the Picts is traced with great ingenuity, though perhaps
+ with some uncertainty. _Skene's Highlanders of Scotland_, vol. i.
+ pp. 26-33, London, 1837.
+
+ [7] Here, again, we are involved in doubt; it being uncertain when the
+ name Scotia was first applied to Scotland. The date, therefore,
+ which I have given, is only intended as an approximative truth. In
+ arriving at it, I have compared the following different, and often
+ conflicting, passages: _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. i. p. 339.
+ _Browne's History of the Highlands_, vol. i. p. 34. _Pinkerton's
+ Enquiry into the Early History of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 253, 254,
+ vol. ii. pp. 151, 228, 237, 240. _Spottiswoode's History of the
+ Church of Scotland_, edit. Russell, 1851, vol. i. p. 16, note,
+ where, however, Pinkerton's authority is appealed to for an
+ assertion which he did not make. _Skene's Highlanders_, vol. i. pp.
+ 45, 61, 244. _Anderson's Prize Essay on the Highlands_, p. 34.
+
+But the kingdom was to have no rest. For, in the mean time,
+circumstances, which it would be tedious to relate, had raised the
+inhabitants of Norway to be the greatest maritime power in Europe. The
+use which that nation of pirates made of their strength, forms another
+and a very important link in the history of Scotland, and moreover
+illustrates the immense weight, which, in an early period of society,
+should be assigned to mere geographical considerations. The nearest land
+to the centre of the long coast of Norway is the Shetland Isles, whence
+it is an easy sail to the Orkneys. The northern pirates naturally seized
+these small, but, to them, most useful islands, and, as naturally, made
+them intermediate stations, from which they could conveniently pillage
+the coasts of Scotland. Being constantly reinforced from Norway, they, in
+the ninth and tenth centuries, advanced from the Orkneys, made permanent
+settlements in Scotland itself, and occupied not only Caithness, but also
+great part of Sutherland. Another body of them got possession of the
+Western Islands; and as Skye is only separated from the mainland by a
+very narrow channel, these pirates easily crossed over, and fixed
+themselves in Western Ross.[8] From their new abodes, they waged
+incessant and destructive war against every district within their reach;
+and, keeping a large part of Scotland in constant alarm, they, for about
+three centuries, prevented the possibility of its social improvement.
+Indeed, that unhappy country was never free from the dangers of Norwegian
+invasion, until the failure of the last great attack, in 1263, when Haco
+left Norway with a prodigious armament, which he further strengthened by
+reinforcements from the Orkneys and Hebrides. Scotland could offer but
+little resistance. Haco, with his allies, sailed along the western coast
+to the Mull of Kentire, wasted the country with fire and sword, took
+Arran and Bute, entered the Firth of Clyde, suddenly fell upon Loch
+Lomond, destroyed all the property on its shores and on its islands,
+ravaged the whole county of Stirling, and threatened to descend with all
+his force upon Ayrshire. Fortunately, the inclemency of the weather broke
+up this great expedition, and scattered or destroyed the entire fleet.[9]
+After its dispersal, the course of affairs in Norway prevented the
+attempt from being renewed; and danger from that quarter being over, it
+might have been hoped that Scotland would now enjoy peace, and would have
+leisure to develop the natural resources which she possessed,
+particularly those in the southern and more favoured districts.
+
+ [8] _Pinkerton's Enquiry into the Early History of Scotland_, vol. i.
+ pp. 136, 317, vol. ii. pp. 179, 298. _Skene's Highlanders_, vol. i.
+ pp. 90, 91, 94, 106, 114, 258, 259. _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. i.
+ pp. 340-347.
+
+ [9] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 38-54. The account in
+ _Hollinshead's Scottish Chronicle_, vol. i. pp. 399-403, ascribes
+ too much to the prowess of the Scotch, and too little to the
+ elements which dispersed the fleet. Compare _Irving's History of
+ Dumbartonshire_, second edition, 4to, 1860, pp. 48, 49.
+
+This, however, was not to be. For, scarcely were the attacks from Norway
+at an end, when those from England began. Early in the thirteenth
+century, the lines of demarcation which separated Normans from Saxons,
+were, in our country, becoming so obliterated, that in many cases it was
+impossible to distinguish them.[10] By the middle of the same century,
+the two races were fused into one powerful nation; and, as that nation
+had a comparatively feeble neighbour, it was certain that the stronger
+people would try to oppress the weaker.[11] In an ignorant and barbarous
+age, military success is preferred to all other kinds of fame; and the
+English, greedy for conquest, set their eyes upon Scotland, which they
+were sure to invade at the first opportunity. That Scotland was near,
+made it tempting; that it was believed to be defenceless, made the
+temptation irresistible. In 1290, Edward I. determined to avail himself
+of the confusion into which Scotland was thrown by disputes respecting
+the succession of the crown. The intrigues which followed, need not be
+related; it is enough to say, that, in 1296, the sword was drawn, and
+Edward invaded a country which he had long desired to conquer. But he
+little recked of the millions of treasure, and the hundreds of thousands
+of lives, which were to be squandered, before that war was over.[12] The
+contest that ensued was of unexampled length and severity; and in its sad
+course, the Scotch, notwithstanding their heroic resistance, and the
+victories they occasionally gained, had to endure every evil which could
+be inflicted by their proud and insolent neighbour. The darling object of
+the English, was to subjugate the Scotch; and if anything could increase
+the disgrace of so base an enterprise, it would be that, having
+undertaken it, they ignominiously failed.[13] The suffering, however, was
+incalculable, and was aggravated by the important fact, that it was
+precisely the most fertile part of Scotland which was most exposed to the
+English ravages. This, as we shall presently see, produced some very
+curious results on the national character; and for that reason, I will,
+without entering into many details, give a slight summary of the more
+immediate consequences of this long and sanguinary struggle.
+
+ [10] _Buckle's History of Civilization_, vol. ii. pp. 116, 117.
+
+ [11] In _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 18, 'the early part
+ of the reign' of Alexander III. is indicated as the period in which
+ 'the first approaches were made towards the great plan for the
+ reduction of Scotland, by the English.' Alexander III. came to the
+ throne in 1249. Earlier, the feeling was very different. Thus, late
+ in the twelfth century, 'the two nations, according to Fordun,
+ seemed one people; Englishmen travelling at pleasure through all
+ the corners of Scotland (?); and Scotchmen in like manner through
+ England.' _Ridpath's Border History_, p. 76. Compare _Dalrymple's
+ Annals of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 158. At that time, England, being
+ weak, was peaceably disposed.
+
+ [12] An old Scotch writer says, with some exaggeration, 'The year 1296,
+ at which tyme, the bloodyest and longest warr that ever was betwixt
+ two nationes fell out, and continued two hundreth and sextie years,
+ to the undoeing and ruineing of many noble families, with the
+ slaughter of a million of men.' _Somerville's Memorie of the
+ Somervilles_, vol. i. p. 61.
+
+ [13] See some just and biting remarks in _Hume's History of the House
+ of Douglas_, vol. i. p. 85.
+
+In 1296, the English entered Berwick, the richest town Scotland
+possessed, and not only destroyed all the property, but slew nearly all
+the inhabitants.[14] They then marched on to Aberdeen and Elgin; and so
+completely desolated the country, that the Scotch, flying to the
+mountains, and stripped of their all, had no resource left but to wage
+from their native fastnesses a war similar to that which their savage
+ancestors, twelve centuries earlier, had conducted against the
+Romans.[15] In 1298, the English again broke in, burnt Perth and St.
+Andrews, and ravaged the whole territory south and west.[16] In 1310,
+they invaded Scotland by the eastern march, and carrying off such
+provisions as were left, caused so terrible a dearth, that the people
+were forced to feed on horses and other carrion.[17] All over southern
+Scotland, both east and west, the inhabitants were now reduced to a
+horrible condition, being for the most part houseless and starved. In
+1314, made desperate by their state, they rallied for a moment, and, in
+the battle of Bannockburn, gloriously defeated their oppressors. But
+their unrelenting enemy was at hand, and pressed them so hard, that, in
+1322, Bruce, in order to baffle an English invasion, was obliged to lay
+waste all the districts south of the Firth of Forth; the people taking
+refuge, as before, in the mountains.[18] This time, therefore, when
+Edward II. reached Edinburgh, he plundered nothing, because, the country
+being a desert, there was nothing to plunder; but, on his return, he did
+what he could, and meeting with some convents, which were the only signs
+of life that he encountered, he fell upon them, robbed the monasteries of
+Melrose and Holyrood, burnt the abbey of Dryburgh, and slew those monks
+who, from age or disease, were unable to escape.[19] In 1336, the next
+king, Edward III., equipped a numerous army, devastated the Lowlands,
+and great part of the Highlands, and destroyed every thing he could find,
+as far as Inverness.[20] In 1346, the English overran the districts of
+Tweeddale, the Merse, Ettrick, Annandale, and Galloway;[21] and in 1355,
+Edward, in a still more barbarous inroad, burnt every church, every
+village, and every town he approached.[22] And scarcely were these
+frightful losses somewhat repaired, when another storm burst upon the
+devoted land. In 1385, Richard II. traversed the southern counties to
+Aberdeen, scattering destruction on every side, and reducing to ashes the
+cities of Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Perth, and Dundee.[23]
+
+ [14] 'Anno gratiae MCCXCVI. tertio kalendas Aprilis, villa et castro de
+ Berevvico, per magnificum regem Angliae Eadvvardum captis, omnes
+ ibidem inuentos Angli gladio occiderunt, paucis exceptis, qui ipsam
+ villam postmodum abiurar[=u]t.' _Flores Historiarum per Matthaeum
+ Westmonasteriensem collecti_, Lond. 1570, folio, lib. ii. p. 403.
+ 'Atque modo praedicto villa capta, civibus prostratis, rex Angliae
+ praedictus nulli aetati parcens aut sexui, duobus diebus rivulis de
+ cruore occisorum fluentibus, septem millia et quingentas animas
+ promiscui sexus jusserat, in sua tyrannide desaeviens, trucidari.'
+ _Fordun's Scotichronicon, cura Goodall_, Edinb. 1775, folio, vol.
+ ii. pp. 159, 160. 'Secutus Rex cum peditum copiis miserabilem omnis
+ generis caedem edit.' _Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia_,
+ Abredoniae, 1762, lib. viii. p. 200. 'They left not one creature
+ alive of the Scotish blood within all that toune.' _Hollinshead's
+ Scottish Chronicle_, Arbroath, 1805, 4to, vol. i. p. 418. In 1286,
+ that is, only ten years earlier, 'No other part of Scotland, in
+ point of commercial importance, came near to a comparison with
+ Berwick.' _Macpherson's Annals of Commerce_, London, 4to, 1805,
+ vol. i. p. 446. Such were the brutal crimes of our wretched and
+ ignorant ancestors.
+
+ [15] 'The Scots assembled in troops and companies, and betaking
+ themselves to the woods, mountains, and morasses, in which their
+ fathers had defended themselves against the Romans, prepared for a
+ general insurrection against the English power.' _Scott's History
+ of Scotland_, London, 1830, vol. i. p. 70. Elgin appears to have
+ been the most northern point of this expedition. See _Tytler's
+ History of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 119, and _Chalmers' Caledonia_,
+ vol. i. p. 657. The general results are summed up by Buchanan:
+ 'Hanc stragem ex agrorum incultu consecuta est fames, et famem
+ pestis, unde major quam e bello clades timebatur.' _Rerum
+ Scoticarum Historia_, lib. viii. p. 203.
+
+ [16] 'The army then advanced into Scotland by moderate marches, wasting
+ and destroying every thing on their way.' ... 'A party of Edward's
+ army, sent northwards, wasted the country, and burnt Perth and
+ Saint Andrews.' _Ridpath's Border History_, pp. 146, 147.
+
+ [17] 'The king entered Scotland by the eastern march with a great army.'
+ ... 'There was this year so terrible a dearth and scarcity of
+ provisions in Scotland, arising from the havoc of war, that many
+ were obliged to feed on the flesh of horses and other carrion.'
+ _Ibid._ pp. 164, 165. See also _Fordun's Scotichronicon_, vol. ii.
+ pp. 242, 243. 'Quo anno, propter guerrarum discrimina, tanta erat
+ panis inopia et victualium caristia in Scotia, quod in plerisque
+ locis, compellente famis necessitate, multi carnibus equorum et
+ aliorum pecorum immundorum vescebantur.'
+
+ [18] Bruce 'carefully laid the whole borders waste as far as the Firth
+ of Forth, removing the inhabitants to the mountains, with all their
+ effects of any value. When the English army entered, they found a
+ land of desolation, which famine seemed to guard.' _Scott's History
+ of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 145. See also _Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum
+ Historia_, lib. viii. p. 218.
+
+ [19] 'Eadwardus, rex Angliae, intravit Scotiam cum magno exercitu equitum
+ et peditum, ac navium multitudine copiosa, duodecimo die mensis
+ Augusti, et usque villam de Edinburgh pervenit.' ... 'Spoliatis
+ tamen tunc in reditu Anglorum et praedatis monasteriis Sanctae Crucis
+ de Edinburgh et de Melros, atque ad magnam desolationem perductis.
+ In ipso namque monasterio de Melros dominus Willelmus de Peblis,
+ ejusdem monasterii Prior, unus etiam monachus tunc infirmus, et duo
+ conversi caeci effecti, in dormitorio eorundem ab eisdem Anglis sunt
+ interfecti, et plures monachi lethaliter vulnerati. Corpus
+ Dominicum super magnum altare fuit projectum, ablata pixide
+ argentea in qua erat repositum. Monasterium de Driburgh igne
+ penitus consumptum est et in pulverem redactum. Ac _alia pia loca
+ quamplurima_ per praedicti regis violentiam ignis flamma consumpsit:
+ quod, Deo retribuente, eisdem in prosperum non cessit.' _Fordun's
+ Scotichronicon_, vol. ii. p. 278. 'In redeundo sacra juxta ac
+ prophana spoliata. Monasteria Driburgum et Mulrossia etiam caesis
+ monachis infirmioribus, qui vel defectu virium, vel senectutis
+ fiducia soli remanserant, incensa,' _Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum
+ Historia_, lib. viii. p. 219.
+
+ [20] _Fordun's Scotichronicon_, vol. ii. pp. 322, 323. _Dalrymple's
+ Annals_, vol. ii. pp. 232, 447. _Scott's History of Scotland_,
+ vol. i. pp. 187, 188.
+
+ [21] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 451.
+
+ [22] _Dalrymple's Annals_, vol. ii. p. 288. _Fordun's Scotichronicon_,
+ vol. ii. pp. 352-354.
+
+ [23] 'Rex Angliae, Richardus secundus aegre ferens Scotos et Francos tam
+ atrociter terram suam depraedare, et municipia sua assilire et ad
+ terram prosternere, exercitum collegit grandem, et intravit
+ Scotiam, aetate tunc novemdecim annorum, in multitudine superba
+ progrediens, omnia circumquaque perdens, et nihil salvans; templa
+ Dei et sanctuaria religiosorum monasteria viz. Driburgh, Melros et
+ Newbottel, ac nobilem villam de Edinburgh, cum ecclesia Sancti
+ AEgidii ejusdem, voraci flamma incineravit; et, destructione
+ permaxima facta per eum in Laudonia, ad propria sine damno
+ repatriavit' _Fordun's Scotichronicon_, vol. ii. p. 401. 'En ce
+ sejour que le roi Richard fit en Haindebourch les Anglois coururent
+ tout le pays d'environ et y firent moult de desrois; mais nullui
+ n'y trouverent; car tout avoient retrait ens es forts, et ens es
+ grands bois, et la chasse tout leur betail.' ... 'Et ardirent les
+ Anglois la ville de Saint-Jean-Ston en Ecosse, ou la riviere du Tay
+ cuert, et y a un bon port pour aller partout le monde; et puis la
+ ville de Dondie; et n'epargnoient abbayes ni moutiers; tout
+ mettoient les Anglois en feu et en flambe; et coururent jusques a
+ Abredane les coureurs et l'avant-garde.' _Les Chroniques de
+ Froissart_, edit. Buchon, vol. ii. pp. 334, 335, Paris, 1835. See
+ also, on this ruffianly expedition, _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. ii.
+ pp. 592, 593, and _Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia_, lib. ix.
+ p. 253: 'Nulli loco, neque sacro, neque profano, nulli homini, qui
+ modo militari esset aetate, parcebat.'
+
+By these disasters, the practice of agriculture was every where
+interrupted, and in many places ceased for several generations.[24] The
+labourers either fled, or were murdered; and there being no one to till
+the ground, some of the fairest parts of Scotland were turned into a
+wilderness, overgrown with briers and thickets. Between the invasions, a
+few of the inhabitants, taking courage, issued from the mountains, and
+raised wretched huts in the place of their former abodes. But, even then,
+they were pursued to their very doors by wolves, searching for food, and
+maddened with hunger. If they escaped from these famished and ferocious
+animals, they and their families were exposed to a danger still more
+horrible. For, in those terrible days, when famine stalked abroad,
+despair perverted the souls of men, and drove them to new crime. There
+were cannibals in the land; and we have it on contemporary authority,
+that a man and his wife, who were at length brought to justice, subsisted
+during a considerable period on the bodies of children, whom they caught
+alive in traps, devouring their flesh, and drinking their blood.[25]
+
+ [24] 'Agriculture was ruined; and the very necessaries of life were lost,
+ when the principal lords had scarcely a bed to lye on.' _Chalmers'
+ Caledonia_, vol. ii. p. 142. See also, in p. 867 of the same volume
+ of this learned work, some curious extracts from Scotch charters
+ and other sources, illustrating the horrible condition of the
+ country. And on the difficulty of obtaining food, compare _Fordun's
+ Scotichronicon_, vol. ii. pp. 242, 324; _Dalrymple's Annals_, vol.
+ i. p. 307, vol. ii. pp. 238, 330; and _Tytler's History of
+ Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 94.
+
+ [25] Notices of Scotch cannibals will be found in _Lindsay of
+ Pitscottie's Chronicles of Scotland_, edit. 1814, vol. i. p. 163;
+ and in _Hollinshead's Scottish Chronicle_, 4to, 1805, vol. ii. pp.
+ 16, 99. In _Fordun's Scotichronicon_, vol. ii. p. 331, the
+ following horrible account is given: it refers to the neighbourhood
+ of Perth in the year 1339: 'Tota illa patria circumvicina eo
+ tempore in tantum fuit vastata, quod non remansit quasi domus
+ inhabitata, sed ferae et cervi de montanis descendentes circa villam
+ saepius venabantur. Tanta tunc temporis facta est caristia, et
+ victualium inopia, ut passim plebicula deficeret, et tanquam oves
+ herbas depascentes, in foveis mortua reperirentur. Prope illinc in
+ abditis latitabat quidam robustus rusticus, Crysticleik nomine, cum
+ viragine sua, qui mulierculis et pueris ac juvenibus insidiabantur,
+ et, tanquam lupi eos strangulantes, de ipsorum carnibus
+ victitabant.'
+
+Thus the fourteenth century passed away. In the fifteenth century, the
+devastations of the English became comparatively rare; and although the
+borders were the scene of constant hostilities,[26] there is no instance,
+since the year 1400, of any of our kings invading Scotland.[27] An end
+being put to those murderous expeditions, which reduced the country to a
+desert, Scotland drew breath, and began to recover her strength.[28] But,
+though the material losses were gradually repaired; though the fields
+were again cultivated, and the towns rebuilt, there were other
+consequences, which were less easy to remedy, and from whose effects the
+people long smarted. These were inordinate power of the nobles, and the
+absence of the municipal spirit. The strength of the nobles, and the
+weakness of the citizens, are the most important peculiarities of
+Scotland during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; and they, as I am
+about to show, were directly encouraged by the ravages committed by the
+English troops. We shall, moreover, see that this combination of events
+increased the authority of the clergy, weakened the influence of the
+intellectual classes, and made superstition more prevalent than it would
+otherwise have been. It is in this way, that in Scotland, as in all other
+countries, every thing is linked together; nothing is casual or
+accidental; and the whole march of affairs is governed by general causes,
+which, owing to their largeness and remoteness, often escape attention,
+but which, when once recognized, are found to be marked by a simplicity
+and uniformity, which are the invariable characteristics of the highest
+truths that the mind of man has reached.
+
+ [26] Even when the two nations were at peace, the borderers were at war.
+ See _Ridpath's Border History_, pp. 240, 308, 394; and for other
+ evidence of this chronic anarchy, compare _Hollinshead's Scottish
+ Chronicle_, vol. ii. p. 30. _Lesley's History of Scotland_, pp. 40,
+ 52, 67. _Sadler's State Papers_, vol. i. pp. 300, 301, 444, 449.
+ _State Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._, 4to, 1836, vol. iv. pp.
+ 366, 370, 569, 570, vol. v. pp. 17, 18, 161. _Historie of James the
+ Sext_, pp. 21, 91, 146.
+
+ [27] In 1400, Henry IV. made 'the last invasion which an English monarch
+ ever conducted into Scotland.' _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol.
+ ii. p. 406. It is said, however, that it was not till the reign of
+ Elizabeth than an English sovereign 'had the policy to disavow any
+ claim of sovereignty over Scotland.' _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. i.
+ p. 650.
+
+ [28] But very slowly. Pinkerton (_History of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 166,
+ 167) says: 'The frequent wars between Scotland and England, since
+ the death of Alexander III., had occasioned to the former country
+ the loss of more than a century in the progress of civilization.
+ While in England, only the northern provinces were exposed to the
+ Scotish incursions, Scotland suffered in its most civilized
+ departments. It is apparent that in the reign of Alexander III.,
+ the kingdom was more abundant in the useful arts and manufactures,
+ than it was in the time of Robert III.'
+
+The first circumstance favourable to the authority of the nobles, was the
+structure of the country. Mountains, fens, lakes, and morasses, which
+even the resources of modern art have only recently made accessible
+supplied the great Scottish chieftains with retreats, in which they could
+with impunity defy the power of the crown.[29] The poverty of the soil
+also, made it difficult for armies to find means of subsistence; and from
+this cause alone, the royal troops were often unable to pursue the
+lawless and refractory barons.[30] During the fourteenth century,
+Scotland was constantly ravaged by the English; and in the intervals of
+their absence, it would have been a hopeless undertaking for any king to
+try to repress such powerful subjects, since he would have had to march
+through districts so devastated by the enemy, that they no longer yielded
+the common necessaries of life. Besides this, the war with the English
+lessened the authority of the crown, absolutely as well as relatively.
+Its patrimony, lying in the south, was incessantly wasted by the
+borderers, and before the middle of the fourteenth century, greatly
+deteriorated in value.[31] In 1346, David II. fell into the hands of the
+English, and during his captivity of eleven years, the nobles carried all
+before them, and affected, says an historian, the style and title of
+princes.[32] The longer the war with England continued, the more these
+consequences were felt; so that before the close of the fourteenth
+century, a few of the leading Scotch families had raised themselves to
+such preeminence, that it was evident, either that a deadly struggle must
+ensue between them and the crown, or else that the executive government
+would have to abdicate its most essential functions, and leave the
+country a prey to these headstrong and ferocious chiefs.[33]
+
+ [29] Owing to this, their castles were, by position, the strongest in
+ Europe; Germany alone excepted. Respecting their sites, which were
+ such as to make them in many instances almost unassailable, see
+ _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. ii. pp. 122, 406, 407, 918, 919, vol.
+ iii. pp. 268, 269, 356-359, 864; _Pennant's Scotland_, vol. i. pp.
+ 175, 177; _Sinclair's Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 169, vol. vii. p.
+ 510, vol. xi. pp. 102, 212, 407, 408, vol. xii. pp. 25, 58, vol.
+ xiii. p. 598, vol. xv. p. 187, vol. xvi. p. 554, vol. xviii. p.
+ 579, vol. xix. p. 474, vol. xx. pp. 56, 312; _Macky's Scotland_,
+ pp. 183, 297; and some good remarks in _Nimmo's History of
+ Stirlingshire_, p. 56. Neither England, nor France, nor Italy, nor
+ Spain, afforded such immense natural advantages to their
+ aristocracy.
+
+ [30] 'By retiring to his own castle, a mutinous baron could defy the
+ power of his sovereign, it being almost impracticable to lead an
+ army through a barren country, to places of difficult access to a
+ single man.' _History of Scotland_, book i. p. 59, in _Robertson's
+ Works_, edit. London, 1831. Notwithstanding the immense materials
+ which have been brought to light since the time of Robertson, his
+ _History of Scotland_ is still valuable; because he possessed a
+ grasp of mind which enabled him to embrace general views, that
+ escape ordinary compilers, however industrious they may be.
+
+ [31] 'The patrimony of the Crown had been seriously dilapidated during
+ the period of confusion which succeeded the battle of Durham,'
+ _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 86.
+
+ [32] 'During the long captivity of David,' the nobles had been completely
+ insubordinate, and 'affected the style and title of princes,'
+ _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 85. See also, on the
+ state of the barons under David II., _Skene's Highlanders_,
+ vol. ii. pp. 63-67.
+
+ [33] In 1299, 'a superior baron was in every respect a king in
+ miniature.' _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 150. In
+ 1377, 'the power of the barons had been decidedly increasing since
+ the days of Robert the First,' p. 332. And, by 1398, it had risen
+ still higher, p. 392.
+
+At this crisis, the natural allies of the throne would have been the
+citizens and free burgesses, who in most European countries were the
+eager and resolute opponents of the nobles, whose licentious habits
+interfered not only with their trade and manufactures, but also with
+their personal liberty. Here again, however, the long war with England
+was favourable to the aristocracy of Scotland. For, as the invaders
+ravaged the southern parts of Scotland, which were also the only
+tolerably fertile parts, it was impossible that towns should flourish in
+the places which nature had appointed for them. There being no large
+cities, there was no asylum for the citizens, and there could be no
+municipal spirit. There being no municipal spirit, the crown was deprived
+of that great resource, which enabled the English kings to curtail the
+power of the nobles, and to punish a lawlessness which long impeded the
+progress of society.
+
+During the middle ages, the Scotch towns were so utterly insignificant,
+that but few notices have been preserved of them; contemporary writers
+concentrating their attention upon the proceedings of the nobles and
+clergy. Respecting the people, who found shelter in such miserable cities
+as then existed, our best accounts are very imperfect; it is, however,
+certain that, during the long English wars, the inhabitants usually fled
+at the approach of the invaders, and the wretched hovels in which they
+lived were burned to the ground.[34] Hence the population acquired a
+fluctuating and vagabond character, which prevented the formation of
+settled habits of industry, and thus took away one reason which men have
+for congregating together. This applied more especially to the southern
+Lowlands; for the north, there were other evils equally threatening. The
+ferocious Highlanders, who lived entirely by plunder, were constantly at
+hand; and to them were not unfrequently added the freebooters of the
+Western Isles. Any thing which bore even the semblance of wealth, was an
+irresistible excitement to their cupidity. They could not know that a man
+had property, without longing to steal it; and, next to stealing, their
+greatest pleasure was to destroy.[35] Aberdeen and Inverness were
+particularly exposed to their assaults; and twice during the fifteenth
+century, Inverness was totally consumed by fire, besides having to pay at
+other times a heavy ransom, to save itself from a similar fate.[36]
+
+ [34] On this burning of Scotch towns, which appears to have been the
+ invariable practice of our humane forefathers, see _Chalmers'
+ Caledonia_, vol. ii. pp. 592, 593; _Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen_,
+ vol. i. pp. 18, 27, 375, vol. ii. p. 304; _Mercer's History of
+ Dunfermline_, pp. 55, 66; _Sinclair's Scotland_, vol. v. p. 485,
+ vol. x. p. 584, vol. xix. p. 161; _Ridpath's Border History_,
+ pp. 147, 221, 265.
+
+ [35] A curious description of them is given in a Scotch statute, of the
+ year 1597. 'They hawe lykwayis throche thair barbarus inhumunitie
+ maid and presentlie makis the saidis hielandis and Iles qlk are
+ maist c[=o]modious in thame selwes alsueill be the ferteillitie of
+ the ground as be riche fischeingis altogidder vnproffitabill baithe
+ to thame selffis and to all vthuris his hienes liegis within this
+ realme; Thay nathair intertening onie ciuill or honest societie
+ amangis thame selffis neyther, zit admittit vtheris his hienesse
+ lieges to trafficque within thair boundis vithe saiftie of thair
+ liues and gudes; for remeid quhairof and that the saidis
+ inhabitantis of the saidis hilandeis and Iles may the better be
+ reduced to ane godlie, honest, and ciuill maner of living, it is
+ statute and ordanit,' &c. _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_,
+ vol. iv. p. 138, edit. folio, 1816.
+
+ These little peculiarities of the Highlanders remained in full
+ force until about the middle of the eighteenth century, as will
+ appear in the course of this history. But without anticipating what
+ will be narrated in a subsequent chapter, I will merely refer the
+ reader to two interesting passages in _Pennant's Scotland_, vol. i.
+ p. 154, and in _Heron's Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 218, 219; both of
+ which illustrate the state of things a little before 1745.
+
+ [36] Inverness was burned in 1429. _Gregory's History of the Western
+ Highlands_, p. 36; and again in 1455, _Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum
+ Historia_, lib. xi. p. 322. 'The greatest part' of it was also
+ burned in 1411. See _Anderson on the Highlands_, Edinb. 1827,
+ p. 82.
+
+ Aberdeen, being richer, was more tempting, but was likewise more
+ able to defend itself. Still, its burgh records supply curious
+ evidence of the constant fear in which the citizens lived, and of
+ the precautions which they took to ward off the attacks, sometimes
+ of the English, and sometimes of the clans. See the _Council
+ Register of Aberdeen_ (published by the Spalding Club, Aberdeen,
+ 1844-1848, 4to), vol. i. pp. 8, 19, 60, 83, 197, 219, 232, 268,
+ vol. ii. p. 82. The last entry, which is dated July 31, 1593,
+ mentions 'the disordourit and lawles helandmen in Birss,
+ Glentanner, and their about, nocht onlie in the onmerciful
+ murthering of men and bairnis, bot in the maisterfull and violent
+ robbing and spulzeing of all the bestiall, guidis, and geir of a
+ gryt pairt of the inhabitantis of theas boundis, rasing of gryt
+ hairschip furth of the samen, being committit to ewous and nar this
+ burgh, within xx mylis theirunto, deuysit and ordanit for
+ preservation of this burgh and inhabitantis theirof, fra the
+ tyrannous invasion of the saidis hieland men, quha has na respect
+ to God nor man; that the haill inhabitantis of this burgh,
+ fensiball persones als weill onfrie as frie, salbe in reddiness
+ weill armit for the defence of this burgh, thair awin lyvis, gudis,
+ and geir, and resisting and repressing of the said heland men, as
+ occasioun salbe offered, at all tymes and houris as thay salbe
+ requirt and chargit.'
+
+ Even in 1668 we find complaints that Highlanders had forcibly
+ carried off women from Aberdeen or from its neighbourhood. _Records
+ of the Synod of Aberdeen_, p. 290. Other evidence of their attacks
+ in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, may be seen in
+ _Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. 133; _Spalding's History
+ of the Troubles_, vol. i. pp. 25, 217; _Extracts from the
+ Presbytery Book of Strathbogie_, pp. 62, 73.
+
+Such insecurity[37] both on the north and on the south, made peaceful
+industry impossible in any part of Scotland. No where could a town be
+built, without being in danger of immediate destruction. The consequence
+was, that, during many centuries, there were no manufactures; there was
+hardly any trade; and nearly all business was conducted by barter.[38]
+Some of the commonest arts were unknown. The Scotch were unable to make
+even the arms with which they fought. This, among such a warlike people,
+would have been a very profitable labour; but they were so ignorant of
+it, that, early in the fifteenth century, most of the armour which they
+wore was manufactured abroad, as also were their spears, and even their
+bows and arrows; and the heads of these weapons were entirely imported
+from Flanders.[39] Indeed, the Flemish artizans supplied the Scotch with
+ordinary farming implements, such as cart-wheels and wheel-barrows,
+which, about the year 1475, used to be regularly shipped from the Low
+Countries.[40] As to the arts which indicate a certain degree of
+refinement, they were then, and long afterwards, quite out of the
+question.[41] Until the seventeenth century, no glass was manufactured in
+Scotland,[42] neither was any soap made there.[43] Even the higher class
+of citizens would have deemed windows absurd in their wretched
+abodes;[44] and as they were alike filthy in their persons as in their
+houses, the demand for soap was too small to induce any one to attempt
+its manufacture.[45] Other branches of industry were equally backward. In
+1620, the art of tanning leather was for the first time introduced into
+Scotland;[46] and it is stated, on apparently good authority, that no
+paper was made there until about the middle of the eighteenth
+century.[47]
+
+ [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 preeminence, 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 x 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 x 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 mandes? Ne savons-nous pas bien faire notre guerre sans eux
+ aux Anglois? Nous ne ferons ja 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 tantot rifle
+ et mange tout ce qui est en ce pays: ils nous feront plus de
+ contraires, de depits, et de dommages, si nous les laissons
+ convenir, que les Anglois ne feroient si ils s'etoient embattus
+ entre nous sans ardoir. Et si les Anglois ardent nos maisons, que
+ peut il chaloir? Nous les aurons tantot refaites a bon marche, nous
+ n'y mettons au refaire que trois jours, mais que nous ayons quatre
+ ou six estaches et de la ramee pour lier par dessus."'
+
+ 'Ainsi disoient les Escots en Escosse a la venue des seigneurs de
+ France,' ... 'Et quand les Anglois y chevauchent ou que ils y vont,
+ ainsi que ils y ont ete plusieurs fois, il convient que leurs
+ pourveances, si ils veulent vivre, les suivent toujours au dos; car
+ on ne trouve rien sur le pays: a 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 defaut, ils n'ont nulle chose. Quand ces barons
+ et ces chevaliers de France qui avoient appris ces beaux hotels a
+ trouver, ces salles parees, ces chasteaux et ces bons mols lits
+ pour reposer, se virent et trouverent en celle povrete, si
+ commencerent a rire et a dire: "En quel pays nous a ci amenes
+ l'amiral? Nous ne scumes oncques que ce fut de povrete ni de durete
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ CONDITION OF SCOTLAND IN THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES.
+
+
+Early in the fifteenth century, the alliance between the Crown and the
+Church, and the determination of that alliance to overthrow the nobles,
+became manifest. Indications of this may be traced in the policy of
+Albany, who was Regent from 1406 to 1419, and who made it his principal
+object to encourage and strengthen the clergy.[88] He also dealt the
+first great blow upon which any government had ventured against the
+aristocracy. Donald, who was one of the most powerful of the Scottish
+chieftains, and who, indeed, by the possession of the Western Isles, was
+almost an independent prince, had seized the earldom of Ross, which, if
+he could have retained, would have enabled him to set the Crown at
+defiance. Albany, backed by the Church, marched into his territories, in
+1411, forced him to renounce the earldom, to make personal submission,
+and to give hostages for his future conduct.[89] So vigorous a proceeding
+on the part of the executive, was extremely unusual in Scotland;[90] and
+it was the first of a series of aggressions, which ended in the Crown
+obtaining for itself, not only Ross, but also the Western Isles.[91] The
+policy inaugurated by Albany, was followed up with still greater energy
+by James I. In 1424, this bold and active prince procured an enactment,
+obliging many of the nobles to show their charters, in order that it
+might be ascertained what lands they held, which had formerly belonged to
+the Crown.[92] And, to conciliate the affections of the clergy, he, in
+1425, issued a commission, authorizing the Bishop of Saint Andrews to
+restore to the Church whatever had been alienated from it; while he at
+the same time directed that the justiciaries should assist in enforcing
+execution of the decree.[93] This occurred in June; and what shows that
+it was part of a general scheme is, that in the preceding spring, the
+king suddenly arrested, in the parliament assembled at Perth, upwards of
+twenty of the principal nobles, put four of them to death, and
+confiscated several of their estates.[94] Two years afterwards, he, with
+equal perfidy, summoned the Highland chiefs to meet him at Inverness,
+laid hands on them also, executed three, and imprisoned more than forty,
+in different parts of the kingdom.[95]
+
+ [88] 'The Church was eminently favoured by Albany.' _Pinkerton's History
+ of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 86. But Pinkerton misunderstands his
+ policy in regard to the nobles.
+
+ [89] _Skene's Highlanders_, vol. ii. pp. 72-74; _Browne's History of the
+ Highlands_, vol. i. p. 162, vol. iv. pp. 435, 436.
+
+ [90] Chalmers (_Caledonia_, vol. i. pp. 826, 827), referring to the state
+ of things before Albany, says, 'There is not a trace of any attempt
+ by Robert II. to limit the power of the nobles, whatever he may
+ have added, by his improvident grants, to their independence. He
+ appears not to have attempted to raise the royal prerogative from
+ the debasement in which the imprudence and misfortunes of David II.
+ had left it.' And, of his successor, Robert III., 'So mild a
+ prince, and so weak a man, was not very likely to make any attempt
+ upon the power of others, when he could scarcely support his own.'
+
+ [91] In 1476, 'the Earldom of Ross was inalienably annexed to the Crown;
+ and a great blow was thus struck at the power and grandeur of a
+ family which had so repeatedly disturbed the tranquillity of
+ Scotland.' _Gregory's History of the Western Highlands_, Edinburgh,
+ 1836, p. 50. In 1493, 'John, fourth and last Lord of the Isles, was
+ forfeited, and deprived of his title and estates.' _Ibid._ p. 58.
+
+ [92] As those who held crown lands were legally, though not in reality,
+ the king's tenants, the act declared, that 'gif it like the king,
+ he may ger s[=u]monde all and sindry his tenand at lauchfull day
+ and place to schawe thar chartis.' _The Acts of the Parliament of
+ Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 4, Sec. 9, edit. folio, 1814.
+
+ [93] 'On the 8th June, 1425, James issued a commission to Henry, bishop
+ of St. Andrews, authorising him to resume all alienations from the
+ Church, with power of anathema, and orders to all justiciaries to
+ assist.' This curious paper is preserved in Harl. Ms. 4637, vol.
+ iii. f. 189. _Pinkerton's History of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 116.
+ Archbishop Spottiswoode, delighted with his policy, calls him a
+ 'good king,' and says that he built for the Carthusians 'a
+ beautiful monastery at Perth, bestowing large revenues upon the
+ same.' _Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i.
+ p. 113. And Keith assures us that, on one occasion, James I. went
+ so far as to give to one of the bishops 'a silver cross, in which
+ was contained a bit of the wooden cross on which the apostle St.
+ Andrew had been crucified.' _Keith's Catalogue of Scotch Bishops_,
+ Edinburgh, 1755, 4to, p. 67.
+
+ [94] Compare _Balfour's Annales_, vol. i. pp. 153-156, with _Pinkerton's
+ History_, vol. i. pp. 113-115. Between these two authorities there
+ is a slight, but unimportant, discrepancy.
+
+ [95] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. pp. 95-98; _Skene's
+ Highlanders_, vol. ii. p. 75; and an imperfect narrative in
+ _Gregory's History of the Western Highlands_, p. 35.
+
+By these measures, and by supporting the Church with the same zeal that
+he attacked the nobles, the king thought to reverse the order of affairs
+hitherto established, and to secure the supremacy of the throne over the
+aristocracy.[96] But herein, he overrated his own power. Like nearly all
+politicians, he exaggerated the value of political remedies. The
+legislator and the magistrate may, for a moment, palliate an evil; they
+can never work a cure. General mischiefs depend upon general causes, and
+these are beyond their art. The symptoms of the disease they can touch,
+while the disease itself baffles their efforts, and is too often
+exasperated by their treatment. In Scotland, the power of the nobles was
+a cruel malady, which preyed on the vitals of the nation; but it had long
+been preparing; it was a chronic disorder; and, having worked into the
+general habit, it might be removed by time, it could never be diminished
+by violence. On the contrary, in this, as in all matters, whenever
+politicians attempt great good, they invariably inflict great harm.
+Over-action on one side produces reaction on the other, and the balance
+of the fabric is disturbed. By the shock of conflicting interests, the
+scheme of life is made insecure. New animosities are kindled, old ones
+are embittered, and the natural jar and discordance are aggravated,
+simply because the rulers of mankind cannot be brought to understand,
+that, in dealing with a great country, they have to do with an
+organization so subtle, so extremely complex, and withal so obscure, as
+to make it highly probable, that whatever they alter in it, they will
+alter wrongly, and that while their efforts to protect or to strengthen
+its particular parts are extremely hazardous, it does undoubtedly possess
+within itself a capacity of repairing its injuries, and that to bring
+such capacity into play, there is merely required that time and freedom
+which the interference of powerful men too often prevents it from
+enjoying.
+
+ [96] Tytler (_History of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 126), under the year
+ 1433, says: 'In the midst of his labours for the pacification of
+ his northern dominions, and his anxiety for the suppression of
+ heresy, the king never forgot his great plan for the diminution of
+ the exorbitant power of the nobles.' See also p. 84. 'It was a
+ principle of this enterprising monarch, in his schemes for the
+ recovery and consolidation of his own power, to cultivate the
+ friendship of the clergy, whom he regarded as a counterpoise to the
+ nobles.' Lord Somerville (_Memorie of the Somervilles_, vol. i. p.
+ 173) says, that the superior nobility were 'never or seldome called
+ to counsell dureing this king's reign.'
+
+Thus it was in Scotland, in the fifteenth century. The attempts of James
+I. failed, because they were particular measures directed against general
+evils. Ideas and associations, generated by a long course of events, and
+deeply seated in the public mind, had given to the aristocracy immense
+power; and if every noble in Scotland had been put to death, if all their
+castles had been razed to the ground, and all their estates confiscated,
+the time would unquestionably have come, when their successors would have
+been more influential than ever, because the affection of their retainers
+and dependents would be increased by the injustice that had been
+perpetrated. For, every passion excites its opposite. Cruelty to-day,
+produces sympathy to-morrow. A hatred of injustice contributes more than
+any other principle to correct the inequalities of life, and to maintain
+the balance of affairs. It is this loathing at tyranny, which, by
+stirring to their inmost depth the warmest feelings of the heart, makes
+it impossible that tyranny should ever finally succeed. This, in sooth,
+is the noble side of our nature. This is that part of us, which, stamped
+with a godlike beauty, reveals its divine origin, and, providing for the
+most distant contingencies, is our surest guarantee that violence shall
+never ultimately triumph; that, sooner or later, despotism shall always
+be overthrown; and that the great and permanent interests of the human
+race shall never be injured by the wicked counsels of unjust men.
+
+In the case of James I., the reaction came sooner than might have been
+expected; and, as it happened in his lifetime, it was a retribution, as
+well as a reaction. For some years, he continued to oppress the nobles
+with impunity;[97] but, in 1436, they turned upon him, and put him to
+death, in revenge for the treatment to which he had subjected many of
+them.[98] Their power now rose as suddenly as it had fallen. In the south
+of Scotland, the Douglases were supreme,[99] and the earl of that family
+possessed revenues about equal to those of the Crown.[100] And, to show
+that his authority was equal to his wealth, he, on the marriage of James
+II., in 1449, appeared at the nuptials with a train composed of five
+thousand followers.[101] These were his own retainers, armed and resolute
+men, bound to obey any command he might issue to them. Not, indeed, that
+compulsion was needed on the part of a Scotch noble to secure the
+obedience of his own people. The servitude was a willing one, and was
+essential to the national manners. Then, and long afterwards, it was
+discreditable, as well as unsafe, not to belong to a great clan; and
+those who were so unfortunate as to be unconnected with any leading
+family, were accustomed to take the name of some chief, and to secure his
+protection by devoting themselves to his service.[102]
+
+ [97] Compare _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. ii. p. 263, with _Buchanan's
+ Rerum Scoticarum Historia_, lib. x. p. 286.
+
+ [98] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. pp. 157, 158.
+
+ [99] Lindsay of Pitscottie (_Chronicles_, vol. i. p. 2) says, that
+ directly after the death of James I., 'Alexander, Earle of Douglas,
+ being uerie potent in kine and friendis, contemned all the kingis
+ officeris, in respect of his great puissance.' The best account I
+ have seen of the rise of the Douglases is in Chalmers' learned, but
+ ill-digested, work, _Caledonia_, vol. i. pp. 579-583.
+
+ [100] In 1440, 'the chief of that family had revenues perhaps equivalent
+ to those of the Scottish monarch.' _Pinkerton's History of
+ Scotland_, vol. i. p. 192.
+
+ [101] 'It may give us some idea of the immense power possessed at this
+ period by the Earl of Douglas, when we mention, that on this
+ chivalrous occasion, the military suite by which he was
+ surrounded, and at the head of which he conducted the Scottish
+ champions to the lists, consisted of a force amounting to five
+ thousand men.' _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 215.
+ The old historian of his family says: 'He is not easy to be dealt
+ with; they must have mufles that would catch such a cat. Indeed,
+ he behaved himself as one that thought he would not be in danger
+ of them; he entertained a great family; he rode ever well
+ accompanied when he came in publick; 1000 or 2000 horse were his
+ ordinary train.' _Hume's History of the House of Douglas_, vol. i.
+ pp. 273, 274, reprinted Edinburgh, 1743.
+
+ [102] In the seventeenth century, 'To be without a chief, involved a kind
+ of disrepute; and those who had no distinct personal position of
+ their own, would find it necessary to become a Gordon or a
+ Crichton, as prudence or inclination might point out.' _Burton's
+ Criminal Trials in Scotland_, vol. i. p. 207. Compare _Pitcairn's
+ Criminal Trials in Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 250, on 'the protective
+ surname of Douglas;' and _Skene's Highlanders_, vol. ii. p. 252,
+ on the extreme importance attached to the name of Macgregor.
+
+What the Earl of Douglas was in the south of Scotland, that were the
+Earls of Crawford and of Ross in the north.[103] Singly they were
+formidable; united they seemed irresistible. When, therefore, in the
+middle of the fifteenth century, they actually leagued together, and
+formed a strict compact against all their common enemies, it was hard to
+say what limit could be set to their power, or what resource remained to
+the government, except that of sowing disunion among them.[104]
+
+ [103] 'Men of the greatest puissance and force next the Douglases that
+ were in Scotland in their times.' _Hume's History of the House of
+ Douglas_, vol. i. p. 344. The great power of the Earls of Ross in
+ the north, dates from the thirteenth century. See _Skene's
+ Highlanders_, vol. i. pp. 133, 134, vol. ii. p. 52.
+
+ [104] In 1445, the Earl of Douglas concluded 'ane offensiue and defensiue
+ league and combinatione aganist all, none excepted, (not the king
+ himselue), with the Earle of Crawfurd, and Donald, Lord of the
+ Isles; wich was mutually sealled and subscriued by them three, the
+ 7 day of Marche.' _Balfour's Annales_, vol. i. p. 173. This
+ comprised the alliance of other noble families. 'He maid bandis
+ with the Erle of Craufurd, and with Donald lorde of the Ylis, and
+ Erle of Ross, to take part every ane with other, and with dyvers
+ uther noble men also.' _Lesley's History of Scotland_, from 1436
+ to 1561, p. 18.
+
+But, in the mean time, the disposition of the nobles to use force against
+the Crown, had been increased by fresh violence. Government, instead of
+being warned by the fate of James I., imitated his unscrupulous acts, and
+pursued the very policy which had caused his destruction. Because the
+Douglases were the most powerful of all the great families, it was
+determined that their chiefs should be put to death; and because they
+could not be slain by force, they were to be murdered by treachery. In
+1440, the Earl of Douglas, a boy of fifteen, and his brother, who was
+still younger than he, were invited to Edinburgh on a friendly visit to
+the king. Scarcely had they arrived, when they were seized by order of
+the chancellor, subjected to a mock trial, declared guilty, dragged to
+the castle-yard, and the heads of the poor children cut off.[105]
+
+ [105] An interesting account of this dastardly crime is given in _Hume's
+ History of the House of Douglas_, vol. i. pp. 274-288, where
+ great, but natural, indignation is expressed. On the other hand,
+ Lesley, bishop of Ross, narrates it with a cold-blooded
+ indifference, characteristic of the ill-will which existed between
+ the nobles and the clergy, and which prevented him from regarding
+ the murder of two children as an offence. 'And eftir he was set
+ doun to the burd with the governour, chancellour, and otheris
+ noble men present, the meit was sudantlie removed, and ane bullis
+ heid presented, quhilk in thay daies was ane signe of executione;
+ and incontinent the said erle, David his broder, and Malcolme
+ Fleming of Cummernald, wer heidit before the castell yett of
+ Edenburgh.' _Lesley's History_, p. 16.
+
+Considering the warm feelings of attachment which the Scotch entertained
+for their chiefs, it is difficult to overrate the consequences of this
+barbarous murder, in strengthening a class it was hoped to intimidate.
+But this horrible crime was committed by the government only, and it
+occurred during the king's minority: the next assassination was the work
+of the king himself. In 1452, the Earl of Douglas[106] was, with great
+show of civility, requested by James II. to repair to the court then
+assembled at Stirling. The Earl hesitated, but James overcame his
+reluctance by sending to him a safeconduct with the royal signature, and
+issued under the great seal.[107] The honour of the king being pledged,
+the fears of Douglas were removed. He hastened to Stirling, where he was
+received with every distinction. The evening of his arrival, the king,
+after supper was over, broke out into reproaches against him, and,
+suddenly drawing his dagger, stabbed him. Gray then struck him with a
+battle-axe, and he fell dead on the floor, in presence of his sovereign,
+who had lured him to court, that he might murder him with impunity.[108]
+
+ [106] The cousin of the boys who were murdered in 1440. See _Hume's
+ History of the House of Douglas_, vol. i. pp. 297, 816.
+
+ [107] 'With assurance under the broad seal.' _Hume's House of Douglas_,
+ vol. i. p. 351. See also _Nimmo's History of Stirlingshire_,
+ Edinb. 1777, pp. 246, 322, 323.
+
+ [108] _Hume's House of Douglas_, vol. i. pp. 351-353. The king 'stabbed
+ him in the breast with a dagger. At the same instant Patrick Gray
+ struck him on the head with a pole-ax. The rest that were
+ attending at the door, hearing the noise, entred, and fell also
+ upon him; and, to show their affection to the king, gave him every
+ man his blow after he was dead.' _Compare Lindsay of Pitscottie's
+ Chronicles of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 103. 'He strak him throw the
+ bodie thairwith; and thairefter the guard, hearing the tumult
+ within the chamber, rusched in and slew the earle out of hand.'
+
+The ferocity of the Scotch character, which was the natural result of the
+ignorance and poverty of the nation, was, no doubt, one cause, and a very
+important one, of the commission of such crimes as these, not secretly,
+but in the open light of day, and by the highest men in the State. It
+cannot, however, be denied, that another cause was, the influence of the
+clergy, whose interest it was to humble the nobles, and who were by no
+means scrupulous as to the means that they employed.[109] As the Crown
+became more alienated from the aristocracy, it united itself still closer
+with the Church. In 1443, a statute was enacted, the object of which was,
+to secure ecclesiastical property from the attacks made upon it by the
+nobles.[110] And although, in that state of society, it was easier to
+pass laws than to execute them, such a measure indicated the general
+policy of the government, and the union between it and the Church.
+Indeed, as to this, no one could be mistaken.[111] For nearly twenty
+years, the avowed and confidential adviser of the Crown was Kennedy,
+bishop of Saint Andrews, who retained power until his death, in 1466,
+during the minority of James III.[112] He was the bitter enemy of the
+nobles, against whom he displayed an unrelenting spirit, which was
+sharpened by personal injuries; for the Earl of Crawford had plundered
+his lands, and the Earl of Douglas had attempted to seize him, and had
+threatened to put him into irons.[113] The mildest spirit might well have
+been roused by this; and as James II., when he assassinated Douglas, was
+more influenced by Kennedy than by any one else, it is probable that the
+bishop was privy to that foul transaction. At all events, he expressed no
+disapprobation of it; and when, in consequence of the murder, the
+Douglases and their friends rose in open rebellion, Kennedy gave to the
+king a crafty and insidious counsel, highly characteristic of the cunning
+of his profession. Taking up a bundle of arrows, he showed James, that
+when they were together, they were not to be broken; but that, if
+separated, they were easily destroyed. Hence he inferred, that the
+aristocracy should be overthrown by disuniting the nobles, and ruining
+them one by one.[114]
+
+ [109] In _Nimmo's History of Stirlingshire_, pp. 99, 100, the alienation
+ of the nobles from the Church is dated 'from the middle of the
+ fifteenth century;' and this is perhaps correct in regard to
+ general dislike, though the movement may be clearly traced fifty
+ years earlier.
+
+ [110] See _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 33, edit.
+ folio, 1814; respecting the 'statute of haly kirk quhilk is
+ oppressit and hurt.'
+
+ [111] In 1449, James II., 'with that affectionate respect for the clergy,
+ which could not fail to be experienced by a prince who had
+ successfully employed their support and advice to escape from the
+ tyranny of his nobles, granted to them some important privileges.'
+ _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 226. See also p. 309.
+ Among many similar measures, he conceded to the monks of Paisley
+ some important powers of jurisdiction that belonged to the Crown.
+ Charter, 13th January, 1451-2, in _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. iii.
+ p. 823.
+
+ [112] _Pinkerton's History of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 188, 209, 247, 254.
+ _Keith's Catalogue of Scotch Bishops_, p. 19. _Ridpath's Border
+ History_, p. 298. _Hollinshead's Scottish Chronicle_, vol. ii. p.
+ 101. In _Somerville's Memorie of the Somervilles_, vol. i. p. 213,
+ it is stated, under the year 1452, that fear of the great nobles
+ 'had once possest his majestie with some thoughts of going out of
+ the countrey; but that he was perswaded to the contrary by Bishop
+ Kennedie, then Archbishop of Saint Andrewes, whose counsell at
+ that tyme and eftirward, in most things he followed, which at
+ length proved to his majesties great advantage.' See also
+ _Lesley's History_, p. 23. 'The king wes put to sic a sharp point,
+ that he wes determinit to haif left the realme, and to haif passit
+ in Fraunce by sey, were not that bischop James Kennedy of St.
+ Androis causit him to tarrye.'
+
+ [113] 'His lands were plundered by the Earl of Crawford and Alexander
+ Ogilvie of Inveraritie, at the instigation of the Earl of Douglas,
+ who had farther instructed them to seize, if possible, the person
+ of the bishop, and to put him in irons.' Memoir of Kennedy, in
+ _Chambers' Lives of Scotchmen_, vol. iii. p. 307, Glasgow, 1834.
+ 'Sed Kennedus et aetate, et consilio, ac proinde auctoritate
+ caeteros anteibat. In eum potissimum ira est versa. Crafordiae comes
+ et Alexander Ogilvius conflato satis magno exercitu, agros ejus in
+ Fifa late populati, dum praedam magis, quam causam sequuntur, omni
+ genere cladis in vicina etiam praedia grassati, nemine congredi
+ auso pleni praedarum in Angusiam revertuntar. Kennedus ad sua arma
+ conversus comitem Crafordiae disceptationem juris fugientem diris
+ ecclesiasticis est prosecutus.' _Buchanan_, _Rerum Scoticarum
+ Historia_, lib. xi. p. 306.
+
+ [114] 'This holie bischop schew ane similitud to the king, quhilk might
+ bring him to experience how he might invaid againes the Douglass,
+ and the rest of the conspiratouris. This bischop tuik furth ane
+ great scheife of arrowes knitt togidder werrie fast, and desired
+ him to put thame to his knie, and break thame. The king said it
+ was not possible, becaus they war so many, and so weill fastened
+ togidder. The bischop answeired, it was werrie true, bot yitt he
+ wold latt the king sea how to break thame: and pulled out on be
+ on, and tua be tua, quhill he had brokin thame all; then said to
+ the king, "Yea most doe with the conspiratouris in this manner,
+ and thair complices that are risen againes yow, quho are so many
+ in number, and so hard knit togidder in conspiracie againes yow,
+ that yea cannot gett thame brokin togidder. Butt be sick pratick
+ as I have schowin yow be the similitud of thir arrowes, that is to
+ say, yea must conqueis and break lord by lord be thamselffis, for
+ yea may not deall with thame all at once."' _Lindsay of
+ Pitscottie's Chronicles of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 172, 173.
+
+In this he was right, so far as the interests of his own order were
+concerned; but, looking at the interest of the nation, it is evident that
+the power of the nobles, notwithstanding their gross abuse of it, was, on
+the whole, beneficial, since it was the only barrier against despotism.
+The evil they actually engendered, was indeed immense. But they kept off
+other evils, which would have been worse. By causing present anarchy,
+they secured future liberty. For, as there was no middle class, there
+were only three orders in the commonwealth; namely, government, clergy,
+and nobles. The two first being united against the last, it is certain
+that if they had won the day, Scotland would have been oppressed by the
+worst of all yokes, to which a country can be subjected. It would have
+been ruled by an absolute king and an absolute Church, who, playing into
+each other's hands, would have tyrannized over a people, who, though
+coarse and ignorant, still loved a certain rude and barbarous liberty,
+which it was good for them to possess, but which, in the face of such a
+combination, they would most assuredly have forfeited.
+
+Happily, however, the power of the nobles was too deeply rooted in the
+popular mind to allow of this catastrophe. In vain did James III. exert
+himself to discourage them,[115] and to elevate their rivals, the
+clergy.[116] Nothing could shake their authority; and, in 1482, they,
+seeing the determination of the king, assembled together, and such was
+their influence over their followers, that they had no difficulty in
+seizing his person, and imprisoning him in the Castle of Edinburgh.[117]
+After his liberation, fresh quarrels arose;[118] and in 1488, the
+principal nobles collected troops, met him in the field, defeated him,
+and put him to death.[119] He was succeeded by James IV., under whom the
+course of affairs was exactly the same; that is to say, on one side the
+nobles, and on the other side the Crown and the Church. Every thing that
+the king could do to uphold the clergy, he did cheerfully. In 1493, he
+obtained an act to secure the immunities of the sees of Saint Andrews and
+of Glasgow, the two most important in Scotland.[120] In 1503, he procured
+a general revocation of all grants and gifts prejudicial to the Church,
+whether they had been made by the Parliament or by the Council.[121] And,
+in 1508, he, by the advice of Elphinston, bishop of Aberdeen, ventured on
+a measure of still greater boldness. That able and ambitious prelate
+induced James to revive against the nobility several obsolete claims, by
+virtue of which the king could, under certain circumstances, take
+possession of their estates, and could, in every instance in which the
+owner held of the Crown, receive nearly the whole of the proceeds during
+the minority of the proprietor.[122]
+
+ [115] 'He wald nocht suffer the noblemen to come to his presence, and to
+ governe the realme be thair counsell.' _Lesley's History of
+ Scotland_, p. 48. 'Wald nocht use the counsall of his nobilis.' p.
+ 55. 'Excluding the nobility.' _Hume's History of the House of
+ Douglas_, vol. ii. p. 33. 'The nobility seeing his resolution to
+ ruin them.' p. 46. 'Hes conteming his nobility.' _Balfour's
+ Annales_, vol. i. p. 206.
+
+ [116] Also to aggrandize them. See, for instance, what 'has obtained the
+ name of the golden charter, from the ample privileges it contains,
+ confirmed to Archbishop Shevez by James III. on 9th July 1480.'
+ _Grierson's History of Saint Andrews_, p. 58, Cupar, 1838.
+
+ [117] 'Such was the influence of the aristocracy over their warlike
+ followers, that the king was conveyed to the castle of Edinburgh,
+ without commotion or murmur.' _Pinkerton's History of Scotland_,
+ vol. i. p. 308.
+
+ [118] 'The king and his ministers multiplied the insults which they
+ offered to the nobility.' ... 'A proclamation was issued,
+ forbidding any person to appear in arms within the precincts of
+ the court; which, at a time when no man of rank left his own house
+ without a numerous retinue of armed followers, was, in effect,
+ debarring the nobles from all access to the king.' ... 'His
+ neglect of the nobles irritated, but did not weaken them.'
+ _History of Scotland_, book i. p. 68, in _Robertson's Works_,
+ edit. London, 1831.
+
+ [119] _Balfour's Annales_, vol. i. pp. 213, 214; Buchanan, _Rerum
+ Scoticarum Historia_, lib. xii. p. 358. Lindsay of Pitscottie
+ (_Chronicles_, vol. i. p. 222) says: 'This may be ane example to
+ all kingis that cumes heirefter, not to fall from God.' ... 'For,
+ if he had vsed the counsall of his wyse lordis and barrones, he
+ had not cum to sick disparatioun.'
+
+ [120] _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, folio, 1814, vol. ii.
+ p. 232. 'That the said abbaceis confirmit be thame sall neid na
+ prouisioun of the court of Rome.'
+
+ [121] _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 240; and the
+ summary of the statute (p. 21), 'Revocation of donations,
+ statutis, and all uthir thingis hurtand the croune or hali kirk.'
+ In the next year (1504), the king 'greatly augmented' the revenues
+ of the bishoprick of Galloway. _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. iii. p.
+ 417.
+
+ [122] _Pinkerton's History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 63; _Calderwood's
+ History of the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. viii. p. 135, edit. Wodrow
+ Society, Edinburgh, 1849. The latter authority states, that 'The
+ bishop devysed wayes to King James the Fourth, how he might
+ attaine to great gaine and profit. He advised him to call his
+ barons and all those that held any lands within the realme, to
+ show their evidents by way of recognition; and, if they had not
+ sufficient writings for their warrant, to dispone upon their lands
+ at his pleasure; for the which advice he was greatlie hated. But
+ the king, perceaving the countrie to grudge, agreed easilie with
+ the possessors.'
+
+To make such claims was easy; to enforce them was impossible. Indeed, the
+nobles were at this time rather gaining ground than losing it; and,
+after the death of James IV., in 1513, they, during the minority of James
+V., became so powerful, that the regent, Albany, twice threw up the
+government in despair, and at length abandoned it altogether.[123] He
+finally quitted Scotland in 1524, and with him the authority of the
+executive seemed to have vanished. The Douglases soon obtained possession
+of the person of the king, and compelled Beaton, archbishop of Saint
+Andrews, the most influential man in the Church, to resign the office of
+chancellor.[124] The whole command now fell into their hands; they or
+their adherents filled every office; secular interests predominated, and
+the clergy were thrown completely into the shade.[125] In 1528, however,
+an event occurred by which the spiritual classes not only recovered
+their former position, but gained a preeminence, which, as it turned out,
+was eventually fatal to themselves. Archbishop Beaton, impatient at
+proceedings so unfavourable to the Church, organized a conspiracy, by
+means of which James effected his escape from the Douglases, and took
+refuge in the castle of Stirling.[126] This sudden reaction was not the
+real and controlling cause, but it was undoubtedly the proximate cause,
+of the establishment of Protestantism in Scotland. For, the reins of
+government now passed into the hands of the Church; and the most
+influential of the nobles were consequently persecuted, and some of them
+driven from the country. But, though their political power was gone,
+their social power remained. They were stripped of their honours and
+their wealth. They became outcasts, traitors, and beggars. Still, the
+real foundation of their authority was unshaken, because that authority
+was the result of a long train of circumstances, and was based on the
+affections of the people. Therefore it was, that the nobles, even those
+who were exiled and attainted, were able to conduct an arduous, but
+eventually a successful, struggle against their enemies. The desire of
+revenge whetted their exertions, and gave rise to a deadly contest
+between the Scotch aristocracy and the Scotch Church. This most
+remarkable conflict was, in some degree, a continuation of that which
+began early in the fifteenth century. But it was far more bitter; it
+lasted, without interruption, for thirty-two years; and it was only
+concluded by the triumph of the nobles, who, in 1560, completely
+overthrew the Church, and destroyed, almost at a blow, the whole of the
+Scotch hierarchy.
+
+ [123] The Regency of Albany, little understood by the earlier
+ historians, has been carefully examined by Mr. Tytler, in whose
+ valuable, though too prolix, work, the best account of it will be
+ found. _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 98-160,
+ Edinburgh, 1845. On the hostility between Albany and the nobles,
+ see _Irving's History of Dumbartonshire_, p. 99; and, on the
+ revival of their power in the north, after the death of James IV.,
+ see _Gregory's History of the Western Highlands_, pp. 114, 115.
+
+ [124] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 180-182: 'Within a
+ few months, there was not an office of trust or emolument in the
+ kingdom, which was not filled by a Douglas, or by a creature of
+ that house.' See also pp. 187, 194; and _Keith's Catalogue of
+ Scotch Bishops_, pp. 22, 23. Beaton, who was so rudely
+ dispossessed of the chancellorship, that, according to Keith, he
+ was, in 1525, obliged 'to lurk among his friends for fear of his
+ life,' is mentioned, in the preceding year, as having been the
+ main supporter of Albany's government; 'that most hath favoured
+ the Duke of Albany.' _State Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._,
+ vol. iv. p. 97, 4to, 1836.
+
+ [125] The complete power of the Douglases lasted from the cessation of
+ Albany's regency to the escape of the king, in 1528. _Keith's
+ History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland_, edit.
+ Edinburgh, 1835, vol. i. pp. 33-35. Compare _Balfour's Annales_,
+ vol. i. p. 257. 'The Earle of Angus violentley takes one him the
+ gouerniment, and retanes the king in effecte a prisoner with him;
+ during wich tyme he, the Earle of Lennox, and George Douglas, his
+ auen brother, frely disposses vpone all affaires both of churche
+ and staite.'
+
+ [126] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 195, 196. The curious
+ work, entitled _A Diurnal of Occurrents_, p. 10, says, 'In the
+ zeir of God 1500, tuantie aucht zeiris, the kingis grace by slicht
+ wan away fra the Douglassis.' From Stirling, he repaired to
+ Edinburgh, on 6th July 1528, and went to 'the busshop of Sainct
+ Andros loegeing.' See a letter written on the 18th of July 1528,
+ by Lord Dacre to Wolsey, in _State Papers of Henry VIII._, vol.
+ iv. p. 501, 4to, 1836. Compare a proclamation on 10th September
+ 1528, in _Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in Scotland_, vol. i. part i.
+ pp. 138*, 139*, Edinburgh, 4to, 1833. I particularly indicate
+ these documents, because Lindsay of Pitscottie (in his _Chronicles
+ of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 335) erroneously places the flight of
+ James in 1527; and he is generally one of the most accurate of the
+ old writers, if indeed he be the author of the work which bears
+ his name.
+
+The events of this struggle, and the vicissitudes to which, during its
+continuance, both parties were exposed, are related, though somewhat
+confusedly, in our common histories: it will be sufficient if I indicate
+the salient points, and, avoiding needless detail, endeavour to throw
+light on the general movement. The unity of the entire scheme will thus
+be brought before our minds, and we shall see, that the destruction of
+the Catholic Church was its natural consummation, and that the last act
+of that gorgeous drama, so far from being a strained and irregular
+sequence, was in fit keeping with the whole train of the preceding plot.
+
+When James effected his escape in 1528, he was a boy of sixteen, and his
+policy, so far as he can be said to have had any mind of his own, was of
+course determined by the clergy, to whom he owed his liberty, and who
+were his natural protectors. His principal adviser was the Archbishop of
+Saint Andrews; and the important post of chancellor, which, under the
+Douglases, had been held by a layman, was now conferred on the Archbishop
+of Glasgow.[127] These two prelates were supreme; while, at the same
+time, the Abbot of Holyrood was made treasurer, and the Bishop of Dunkeld
+was made privy seal.[128] All nobles, and even all followers, of the
+house of Douglas, were forbidden to approach within twelve miles of the
+court, under pain of treason.[129] An expedition was fitted out, and sent
+against the Earl of Caithness, who was defeated and slain.[130] Just
+before this occurred, the Earl of Angus was driven out of Scotland, and
+his estates confiscated.[131] An act of attainder was passed against the
+Douglases.[132] The government, moreover, seized, and threw into prison,
+the Earl of Bothwell, Home, Maxwell, and two Kerrs, and the barons of
+Buccleuch, Johnston, and Polwarth.[133]
+
+ [127] _State Papers of Henry VIII._, vol. iv. p. 501.
+
+ [128] 'Archibald was depryvit of the thesaurarie, and placit thairin
+ Robert Cairncorse, abbot of Halyrudhous. And als was tane fra the
+ said Archibald the privie seill, and was givin to the bischope of
+ Dunkell.' _A Diurnal of Occurrents_, p. 11.
+
+ [129] Tytler (_History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 196) says: 'His first
+ act was to summon a council, and issue a proclamation, that no
+ lord or follower of the house of Douglas should dare to approach
+ within _six_ miles of the court, under pain of treason.' For this,
+ no authority is cited; and the historian of the Douglas family
+ distinctly states, 'within _twelve_ miles of the king, under pain
+ of death.' _Hume's House of Douglas_, vol. ii. p. 99. See also
+ _Diurnal of Occurrents_, p. 10: 'that nane of thame nor thair
+ familiaris cum neir the king be tuelf myllis.' The reason was,
+ that 'the said kingis grace haid greit suspicioun of the temporall
+ lordis, becaus thaj favourit sum pairt the Douglassis.' _Diurnal_,
+ p. 12.
+
+ [130] 'The Erle of Caithnes and fyve hundreth of his men wes slayne and
+ drownit in the see.' _Lesley's History of Scotland_, p. 141.
+
+ [131] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 203, 204.
+
+ [132] _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 324, edit.
+ folio, 1814.
+
+ [133] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 207.
+
+All this was vigorous enough, and was the consequence of the Church
+recovering her power. Other measures, equally decisive, were preparing.
+In 1531, the king deprived the Earl of Crawford of most of his estates,
+and threw the Earl of Argyle into prison.[134] Even those nobles who had
+been inclined to follow him, he now discouraged. He took every
+opportunity of treating them with coldness, while he filled the highest
+offices with their rivals, the clergy.[135] Finally, he, in 1532, aimed
+a deadly blow at their order, by depriving them of a large part of the
+jurisdiction which they were wont to exercise in their own country, and
+to the possession of which they owed much of their power. At the
+instigation of the Archbishop of Glasgow, he established what was called
+the College of Justice, in which suits were to be decided, instead of
+being tried, as heretofore, by the barons, at home, in their castles. It
+was ordered that this new tribunal should consist of fifteen judges,
+eight of whom must be ecclesiastics; and to make the intention still more
+clear, it was provided that the president should invariably be a
+clergyman.[136]
+
+ [134] _Tytler_, vol. iv. p. 212.
+
+ [135] 'His preference of the clergy to the temporal lords disgusted these
+ proud chiefs.' _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 230.
+ See also p. 236. His reasons are stated by himself, in a curious
+ letter, which he wrote so late as 1541, to Henry VIII. 'We
+ persaif,' writes James, 'be zoure saidis writingis yat Ze ar
+ informyt yat yair suld be sum thingis laitlie attemptat be oure
+ kirkmen to oure hurte and skaith, and contrar oure mynde and
+ plesure. We can nocht understand, quhat suld move Zou to beleif
+ the samyn, assuring Zou _We have nevir fund bot faithfull and trew
+ obedience of yame at all tymes_, nor yai seik nor attemptis
+ nouthir jurisdictioun nor previlegijs, forthir nor yai have usit
+ sen the first institutioun of the Kirk of Scotland, quhilk We may
+ nocht apoun oure conscience alter nor change in the respect We
+ have to the honour and faith of God and Halikirk, and douttis na
+ inconvenient be yame to come to Ws and oure realme yerthrou; for
+ sen the Kirk wes first institute in our realme, the stait yairof
+ hes nevir failzeit, bot _hes remanyt evir obedient to oure
+ progenitouris, and in our tyme mair thankefull to Ws, nor evir yai
+ wer of before_.' This letter, which, in several points of view, is
+ worth reading, will be found in _State Papers of Henry VIII._,
+ vol. v. pp. 188-190, 4to, 1836.
+
+ [136] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 212, 213, and _Arnot's
+ History of Edinburgh_, 4to, 1788, p. 468: 'fifteen ordinary
+ judges, seven churchmen, seven laymen, and a president, whom it
+ behoved to be a churchman.' The statute, as printed in the folio
+ edition of 1814 (_Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. ii.
+ p. 335) says 'xiiij psouns half sp[=u]ale half temporall wt ane
+ president.' Mr. Lawson (_Roman Catholic Church in Scotland_,
+ Edinburgh, 1836, p. 81) supposes that it was the Archbishop of St.
+ Andrews who advised the erection of this tribunal.
+
+This gave the finishing touch to the whole, and it, taken in connexion
+with previous measures, exasperated the nobles almost to madness. Their
+hatred of the clergy became uncontrollable; and, in their eagerness for
+revenge, they not only threw themselves into the arms of England, and
+maintained a secret understanding with Henry VIII., but many of them went
+even further, and showed a decided leaning towards the principles of the
+Reformation. As the enmity between the aristocracy and the Church grew
+more bitter, just in the same proportion did the desire to reform the
+Church become more marked. The love of innovation was encouraged by
+interested motives, until, in the course of a few years, an immense
+majority of the nobles adopted extreme Protestant opinions; hardly caring
+what heresy they embraced, so long as they were able, by its aid, to
+damage a Church from which they had recently received the greatest
+injuries, and with which they and their progenitors had been engaged in a
+contest of nearly a hundred and fifty years.[137]
+
+ [137] Keith, who evidently does not admire this part of the history of
+ his country, says, under the year 1546, 'Several of our nobility
+ found it their temporal interest, as much as their spiritual, to
+ sway with the new opinions as to religious matters.' _Keith's
+ Affairs of Church and State_, vol. i. pp. 112, 113. Later, and
+ with still more bluntness: 'The noblemen wanted to finger the
+ patrimony of the kirkmen.' vol. iii. p. 11.
+
+In the mean time, James V. united himself closer than ever with the
+hierarchy. In 1534, he gratified the Church, by personally assisting at
+the trial of some heretics, who were brought before the bishops and
+burned.[138] The next year, he was offered, and he willingly accepted,
+the title of Defender of the Faith, which was transferred to him from
+Henry VIII.; that king being supposed to have forfeited it by his
+impiety.[139] At all events, James well deserved it. He was a stanch
+supporter of the Church, and his privy-council was chiefly composed of
+ecclesiastics, as he deemed it dangerous to admit laymen to too large a
+share in the government.[140] And, in 1538, he still further signalized
+his policy, by taking for his second wife Mary of Guise; thus
+establishing an intimate relation with the most powerful Catholic family
+in Europe, whose ambition, too, was equal to their power, and who made it
+their avowed object to uphold the Catholic faith, and to protect it from
+those rude and unmannerly invasions which were now directed against it in
+most parts of Europe.[141]
+
+ [138] 'In the month of August (1534), the bishops having gotten fitt
+ opportunitie, renewed their battell aganest Jesus Christ. David
+ Stratilon, a gentelman of the House of Lawrestoune, and Mr. Norman
+ Gowrlay, was brought to judgement in the Abby of Halyrudhouse. The
+ king himself, all cloathed with reid, being present, grait pains
+ war taken upon David Stratoun to move him to recant and burn his
+ bill; bot he, ever standing to his defence, was in end adjudged to
+ the fire. He asked grace at the king. The bishops answred
+ proudlie, that "the king's hands war bound, and that he had no
+ grace to give to such as were by law condemned." So was he, with
+ Mr. Norman, after dinner, upon the 27th day of Agust, led to a
+ place beside the Rude of Greenside, between Leth and Edinbrug, to
+ the intent that the inhabitants of Fife, seeing the fire, might be
+ striken with terrour and feare.' _Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in
+ Scotland_, vol. i. part i. p. 210*. Also _Calderwood's History of
+ the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 106, 107.
+
+ [139] 'It appears, by a letter in the State-paper Office, that Henry
+ remonstrated against this title being given to James.' _Tytler's
+ History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 223. See also p. 258.
+
+ [140] In 1535, 'his privy council were mostly ecclesiastics.' _Ibid._
+ vol. iv. p. 222. And Sir Ralph Sadler, during his embassy to
+ Scotland in 1539-40, writes: 'So that the king, as far as I can
+ perceive, is of force driven to use the bishops and his clergy as
+ his only ministers for the direction of his realm. They be the men
+ of wit and policy that I see here; they be never out of the king's
+ ear. And if they smell any thing that in the least point may touch
+ them, or that the king seem to be content with any such thing,
+ straight they inculk to him, how catholic a prince his father was,
+ and feed him both with fair words and many, in such wise as by
+ those policies they lead him (having also the whole governance of
+ his affairs) as they will.' _State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph
+ Sadler_, Edinb., 1809, 4to, vol. i. p. 47.
+
+ [141] _State Papers of Henry VIII._, vol. v. p. 128. _A Diurnal of
+ Occurrents_, p. 22. The Reverend Mr. Kirkton pronounces that the
+ new queen was 'ane egge of the bloody nest of Guise.' _Kirkton's
+ History of the Church of Scotland_, edited by Sharpe, Edinburgh,
+ 1817, 4to, p. 7.
+
+This was hailed by the Church as a guarantee for the intentions of the
+king. And so indeed it proved to be. David Beaton, who negotiated the
+marriage, became the chief adviser of James during the rest of his reign.
+He was made Archbishop of Saint Andrews in 1539,[142] and, by his
+influence, a persecution hotter than any yet known, was directed against
+the Protestants. Many of them escaped into England,[143] where they
+swelled the number of the exiles, who were waiting till the time was ripe
+to take a deadly revenge. They, and their adherents at home, coalesced
+with the disaffected nobles, particularly with the Douglases,[144] who
+were by far the most powerful of the Scotch aristocracy, and who were
+connected with most of the great families, either by old associations, or
+by the still closer bond of the interest which they all had in reducing
+the power of the Church.[145]
+
+ [142] 'At his return home, he was made coadjutor, and declared future
+ successor to his uncle in the primacy of St. Andrews, in which see
+ he came to be fully invested upon the death of his uncle the next
+ year, 1539.' _Keith's Catalogue of Scotch Bishops_, pp. 23, 24.
+
+ [143] _M'Crie's Life of Knox_, p. 20. _Spottiswoode's History of the
+ Church of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 139. _Lawson's Roman Catholic
+ Church in Scotland_, p. 178. _Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives
+ of the Reformers_, vol. i. p. 100.
+
+ [144] Tytler (_History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 241) says, that the
+ cruelties of 1539 forced 'many of the persecuted families to
+ embrace the interests of the Douglases.'
+
+ [145] It is asserted of the Douglases, that, early in the sixteenth
+ century, their 'alliances and power were equal to one-half of the
+ nobility of Scotland.' _Brown's History of Glasgow_, vol. i. p. 8.
+ See also, on their connexions, _Hume's House of Douglas_, vol. i.
+ pp. xix. 252, 298, vol. ii. p. 293.
+
+At this juncture, the eyes of men were turned towards the Douglases, whom
+Henry VIII. harboured at his court, and who were now maturing their
+plans.[146] Though they did not yet dare to return to Scotland, their
+spies and agents reported to them all that was done, and preserved their
+connexions at home. Feudal covenants, bonds of manrent, and other
+arrangements, which, even if illegal, it would have been held disgraceful
+to renounce, were in full force; and enabled the Douglases to rely with
+confidence on many of the most powerful nobles, who were, moreover,
+disgusted at the predominance of the clergy, and who welcomed the
+prospect of any change which was likely to lessen the authority of the
+Church.[147]
+
+ [146] Henry VIII., 'in the year 1532, sought it directly, among the
+ conditions of peace, that the Douglas, according to his promise,
+ should be restored. For King Henry's own part, he entertained them
+ with all kind of beneficence and honour, and made both the Earl
+ and Sir George of his Privy Council.' _Hume's History of the House
+ of Douglas_, vol. ii. pp. 105, 106. James was very jealous of any
+ communication taking place between the Douglases and his other
+ subjects; but it was impossible for him to prevent it. See a
+ letter which he wrote to Sir Thomas Erskine (in _Miscellany of the
+ Spalding Club_, vol. ii. p. 193, Aberdeen, 1842, 4to), beginning,
+ 'I commend me rycht hartly to yow, and weit ye that it is murmuryt
+ hyr that ye sould a spolkyn with Gorge and Archebald Dougles in
+ Ingland, quhylk wase again my command and your promys quhan we
+ departyt.' See also the cases of Lady Trakware, John Mathesone,
+ John Hume, and others, in _Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in
+ Scotland_, vol. i. part i. pp. 161*, 177*, 202*, 243*, 247*.
+
+ [147] 'The Douglases were still maintained with high favour and generous
+ allowances in England; their power, although nominally extinct,
+ was still far from being destroyed; their spies penetrated into
+ every quarter, followed the king to France, and gave information
+ of his most private motions; their feudal covenants and bands of
+ manrent still existed, and bound many of the most potent nobility
+ to their interest; whilst the vigour of the king's government, and
+ his preference of the clergy to the temporal lords, disgusted
+ these proud chiefs, and disposed them to hope for a recovery of
+ their influence from any change which might take place.' _Tytler's
+ History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 229, 230. These bonds of
+ manrent, noticed by Tytler, were among the most effective means by
+ which the Scotch nobles secured their power. Without them, it
+ would have been difficult for the aristocracy to have resisted the
+ united force of the Crown and the Church. On this account, they
+ deserve special attention. Chalmers (_Caledonia_, vol. i. p. 824)
+ could find no bond of manrent earlier than 1354; but in Lord
+ Somerville's _Memorie of the Somervilles_, edit. Edinburgh, 1815,
+ vol. i. p. 74, one is mentioned in 1281. This is the earliest
+ instance I have met with; and they did not become very common till
+ the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Compare _Hume's History of
+ the House of Douglas_, vol. ii. p. 19. _Somerville's Memorie of
+ the Somervilles_, vol. i. p. 234. _Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in
+ Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 83. _Irving's History of Dumbartonshire_,
+ pp. 142, 143. _Skene's Highlanders_, vol. ii. p. 186. _Gregory's
+ History of the Western Highlands_, p. 126. _Kennedy's Annals of
+ Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. 55. _Miscellany of the Spalding Club_, vol.
+ ii. pp. cvi. 93, 251, vol. iv. pp. xlviii. 179. As these covenants
+ were extremely useful in maintaining the balance of power, and
+ preventing the Scotch monarchy from becoming despotic, acts of
+ parliament were of course passed against them. See one in 1457,
+ and another in 1555, respecting 'lige' and 'bandis of manrent and
+ mantenance,' in _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, folio,
+ 1814, vol. ii. pp. 50, 495. Such enactments being opposed to the
+ spirit of the age, and adverse to the exigencies of society,
+ produced no effect upon the general practice, though they caused
+ the punishment of several individuals. Manrent was still frequent
+ until about 1620 or 1630, when the great social revolution was
+ completed, by which the power of the aristocracy was subordinated
+ to that of the Church. Then, the change of affairs effected,
+ without difficulty, and indeed spontaneously, what the legislature
+ had vainly attempted to achieve. The nobles, gradually sinking
+ into insignificance, lost their spirit, and ceased to resort to
+ those contrivances by which they had long upheld their order.
+ Bonds of manrent became every year less common, and it is doubtful
+ if there is any instance of them after 1661. See _Chalmers'
+ Caledonia_, vol. iii. pp. 32, 33. It is, however, so dangerous to
+ assert a negative, that I do not wish to rely on this date, and
+ some few cases may exist later; but if so, they are very few, and
+ it is certain that, speaking generally, the middle of the
+ seventeenth century is the epoch of their extinction.
+
+With such a combination of parties, in a country where, there being no
+middle class, the people counted for nothing, but followed wherever they
+were led, it is evident that the success or failure of the Reformation in
+Scotland was simply a question of the success or failure of the nobles.
+They were bent on revenge. The only doubt was, as to their being strong
+enough to gratify it. Against them, they had the Crown and the Church. On
+their side they had the feudal traditions, the spirit of clanship, the
+devoted obedience of their innumerable retainers, and, what was equally
+important, that love of names, and of family associations, for which
+Scotland is still remarkable, but which, in the sixteenth century,
+possessed an influence difficult to exaggerate.
+
+The moment for action was now at hand. In 1540, the government,
+completely under the control of the clergy, caused fresh laws to be
+enacted against the Protestants, whose interests were by this time
+identical with those of the nobles. By these statutes, no one, even
+suspected of heresy, could for the future hold any office; and all
+Catholics were forbidden to harbour, or to show favour to, persons who
+professed the new opinions.[148] The clergy, now flushed with conquest,
+and greedy for the destruction of their ancient rivals, proceeded to
+still farther extremities. So unrelenting was their malice, that, in that
+same year, they presented to James a list containing the names of upwards
+of three hundred members of the Scotch aristocracy, whom they formally
+accused as heretics, who ought to be put to death, and whose estates they
+recommended the king to confiscate.[149]
+
+ [148] _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 370, 371. 'That
+ na man quhats[=u]euir stait or conditioun he be luge
+ ressauve cherish nor favor ony heretike.' ... 'And alswa that na
+ persoun that hes bene suspectit of heresie howbeit thai be
+ ressauit to p[=e]nance and grace sall in this realme exers haif
+ nor brouk ony honest estait degre office nor judicato^r sp[=u]all
+ nor t[=e]porale in burgh nor w^tout nor na salbe admittit to be
+ of ou[/r] counsale.'
+
+ [149] Lindsay of Pitscottie (_Chronicles_, vol. ii. p. 383) says, that
+ they 'devysed to put ane discord and variance betwixt the lordis
+ and gentlmen with thair prince; for they delaited, and gave vp to
+ the king in writt, to the number of thrittie scoir of earles,
+ lordis, and barrones, gentlmen and craftismen, that is, as thei
+ alledgit, wer all heretickis, and leived not after the Pope's
+ lawis, and ordinance of the hollie kirk; quhilk his grace sould
+ esteme as ane capitall cryme, to ony man that did the same' ...
+ 'all thair landis, rentes, guidis, and geir apperteanis propperlie
+ to your grace, for thair contempt of our hollie father the Pope,
+ and his lawis, and high contempt of your grace's authoritie.' This
+ document was found among the king's papers after his death, when
+ it appeared that, of the six hundred names on the list, more than
+ three hundred belonged to the principal nobility: 'Eum timorem
+ auxerunt codicilli post regis interitum reperti, e quibus supra
+ trecentorum e prima nobilitate nomina continebantur.' _Buchanan_,
+ _Rerum Scoticarum Historia_, lib. xv. p. 424. Compare _Sadler's
+ State Papers_, 1809, vol. i. p. 94; and _Watson's Historicall
+ Collections of Ecclesiastick Affairs in Scotland_, 1657, p. 22.
+ According to Watson, it 'was called the bloudy scroll.'
+
+These hot and vindictive men little knew of the storm which they were
+evoking, and which was about to burst on their heads, and cover them and
+their Church with confusion. Not that we have reason to believe that a
+wiser conduct would have ultimately saved the Scotch hierarchy. On the
+contrary, the probability is, that their fate was sealed; for the general
+causes which governed the entire movement had been so long at work, that,
+at this period, it would have been hardly possible to have baffled them.
+But, even if we admit as certain, that the Scotch clergy were doomed, it
+is also certain that their violence made their fall more grievous, by
+exasperating the passions of their adversaries. The train, indeed, was
+laid; their enemies had supplied the materials, and all was ready to
+explode; but it was themselves who at last applied the match, and sprung
+the mine to their own destruction.
+
+In 1542, the nobles, seeing that the Church and the Crown were bent on
+their ruin, took the most decisive step on which they had yet ventured,
+and peremptorily refused to obey James in making war upon the English.
+They knew that the war in which they were desired to participate had been
+fomented by the clergy, with the twofold object of stopping all
+communication with the exiles, and of checking the introduction of
+heretical opinions.[150] Both these intentions they resolved to
+frustrate, and, being assembled on the field, they declared with one
+voice that they would not invade England. Threats and persuasions were
+equally useless. James, stung with vexation, returned home, and ordered
+the army to be disbanded. Scarcely had he retired, when the clergy
+attempted to rally the troops, and to induce them to act against the
+enemy. A few of the peers, ashamed at what seemed a cowardly desertion of
+the king, appeared willing to march. The rest, however, refused; and,
+while they were in this state of doubt and confusion, the English, taking
+them unawares, suddenly fell upon their disorderly ranks, utterly routed
+them, and made a large number prisoners. In this disgraceful action, ten
+thousand Scotch troops fled before three hundred English cavalry.[151]
+The news being brought to James, while he was still smarting from the
+disobedience of the nobles, was too much for his proud and sensitive
+mind. He reeled under the double shock; a slow fever wasted his strength;
+he sunk into a long stupor; and, refusing all comfort, he died in
+December 1542, leaving the Crown to his infant daughter, Mary, during
+whose reign the great contest between the aristocracy and the Church was
+to be finally decided.[152]
+
+ [150] In the autumn of 1542, James 'was encouraged by the clergy to
+ engage in a war against King Henry, who both assured him of
+ victory, since he fought against an heretical prince, and advanced
+ an annuity of 50,000 crowns for prosecuting the war.' _Crawfurd's
+ History of the Shire of Renfrew_, 1782, 4to, part i. p. 48.
+ Compare, in _State Papers of Henry VIII._, vol. v. p. 154, a
+ letter written, in 1539, by Norfolk to Cromwell: 'By diverse other
+ waies I am advertised that the clergie of Scotlande be in such
+ feare that their king shold do theire, as the kinges highnes hath
+ done in this realme, that they do their best to bring their master
+ to the warr; and by many waies I am advertised that a great parte
+ of the temporaltie there wold their king shold followe our
+ insample, wich I pray God yeve hym grace to come unto.' Even after
+ the battle of Solway, the policy of the clergy was notoriously the
+ same. 'And undoubtedlie, the kyrkemen labor, by all the meanes
+ they can, to empeche the unitie and establishment of thiese two
+ realmes; uppon what groundes ye can easelie conjecture.' Letter
+ from Sadler to Parr, dated Edinburgh, 27th March 1543, in _State
+ Papers of Henry VIII._, vol. v. p. 271, 4to, 1836.
+
+ [151] 'Ten thousand Scottish troops fled at the sight of three hundred
+ English cavalry, with scarce a momentary resistance.' _Tytler's
+ History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 264.
+
+ [152] The best account of these events will be found in _Tytler's
+ History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 260-267. I have also consulted
+ _Ridpath's Border History_, pp. 372, 373. _Hollinshead's Scottish
+ Chronicle_, vol. ii. pp. 207-209. _Lesley's History_, pp. 163-166.
+ _Lindsay of Pitscottie's Chronicles_, vol. ii. pp. 399-406.
+ _Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. i. pp.
+ 145-152. _Buchanan_, _Rerum Scoticarum Historia_, lib. xiv. pp.
+ 420, 421.
+
+The influence of the nobles was increased by the death of James V., and
+yet more by the bad repute into which the clergy fell for having
+instigated a war, of which the result was so disgraceful.[153] Their
+party was still further strengthened by the exiles, who, as soon as they
+heard the glad tidings, prepared to leave England.[154] Early in 1543,
+Angus and Douglas returned to Scotland,[155] and were soon followed by
+other nobles, most of whom professed to be Protestants, though, as the
+result clearly proved, their Protestantism was inspired by a love of
+plunder and of revenge. The late king had, in his will, appointed
+Cardinal Beaton to be guardian of the queen, and governor of the
+realm.[156] Beaton, though an unprincipled man, was very able, and was
+respected as the head of the national church; he being Archbishop of St.
+Andrews, and primate of Scotland. The nobles, however, at once arrested
+him,[157] deprived him of his regency, and put in his place the Earl of
+Arran, who, at this time, affected to be a zealous Protestant, though, on
+a fitting occasion, he afterwards changed his opinions.[158] Among the
+supporters of the new creed, the most powerful were the Earl of Angus
+and the Douglases. They were now freed from a prescription of fifteen
+years; their attainder was reversed, and their estates and honours were
+restored to them.[159] It was evident that not only the executive
+authority, but also the legislative, had passed from the Church to the
+aristocracy. And they, who had the power, were not sparing in the use of
+it. Lord Maxwell, one of the most active of their party, had, like most
+of them, in their zeal against the hierarchy, embraced the principles of
+the Reformation.[160] In the spring of 1543, he obtained the sanction of
+the Earl of Arran, the governor of Scotland, for a proposal which he made
+to the Lords of the Articles, whose business it was to digest the
+measures to be brought before Parliament. The proposal was, that the
+people should be allowed to read the Bible in a Scotch or English
+translation. The clergy arrayed all their force against what they
+rightly deemed a step full of danger to themselves, as conceding a
+fundamental principle of Protestantism. But all was in vain. The tide had
+set in, and was not to be turned. The proposition was adopted by the
+Lords of the Articles. On their authority, it was introduced into
+Parliament. It was passed. It received the assent of the government; and,
+amid the lamentations of the Church, it was proclaimed, with every
+formality, at the market-cross of Edinburgh.[161]
+
+ [153] 'This defeat being so very dishonourable, especially to the
+ clergy, who stirred up the king to that attempt, and promised him
+ great success from it; and there being such a visible evidence of
+ the anger of God, fighting by his providence against them, all men
+ were struck with fear and astonishment; the bishops were ashamed
+ to show their faces for a time.' _Stevenson's History of the
+ Church of Scotland_, reprinted, Edinburgh, 1840, p. 30.
+
+ [154] We may readily believe the assertion of an old chronicler, that
+ 'the nobilitie did not greatlie take his death grievouslie,
+ because he had fined manie, imprisoned more, and caused no small
+ few (for avoiding his displeasure) to flie into England, and
+ rather to commit themselves to the enemie than to his anger.'
+ _Hollinshead's Scottish Chronicle_, vol. ii. p. 210.
+
+ [155] _Hume's History of the House of Douglas_, vol. ii. p. 111.
+
+ [156] It has been often said, that this will was forged; but for such an
+ assertion I cannot find the slightest evidence, except the
+ declaration of Arran (_Sadler's State Papers_, Edinburgh, 1809,
+ vol. i. p. 138), and the testimony, if testimony it can be called,
+ of Scotch historians, who do not profess to have examined the
+ handwriting, and who, being themselves Protestants, seem to
+ suppose that the fact of a man being a cardinal, qualifies him for
+ every crime. There is no doubt that Beaton was thoroughly
+ unprincipled, and therefore was capable of the forgery. Still, we
+ have no proof; and the will is such as we might have expected from
+ the king. In regard to Arran, his affirmation is not worth the
+ paper it is written on: for he hated Beaton; he was himself very
+ unscrupulous; and he succeeded to the post which Beaton had to
+ vacate on the ground that the will was forged. If such
+ circumstances do not disqualify a witness, some of the
+ best-established principles of evidence are false. The reader who
+ cares to look further into this subject, may compare, in favour of
+ the will being forged, _Buchanan_, _Rerum Scoticarum Historia_,
+ lib. xv. p. 422, Abredoniae, 1762; _Knox's History of the
+ Reformation_, edit. Laing, Edinburgh, 1846, vol. i. pp. 91, 92;
+ _Irving's History of Dumbartonshire_, second edition, 4to, 1860,
+ p. 102; and, in favour of its being genuine, _Lyon's History of
+ St. Andrews_, Edinburgh, 1843, vol. i. pp. 304, 305. Some other
+ writers on the subject leave it doubtful: _Tytler's History of
+ Scotland_, 1845, vol. iv. p. 274; _Lawson's Roman Church in
+ Scotland_, 1836, p. 99; and a note in _Keith's Church and State in
+ Scotland_, 1844, vol. i. p. 63.
+
+ [157] On the 26th of January 1542-3, 'the said cardinall was put in
+ pressoune in Dalkeith.' _A Diurnal of Occurrents_, p. 26. See
+ also, respecting his imprisonment, a letter written, on the 16th
+ of March, by Angus and Douglas, in _State Papers of Henry VIII._,
+ vol. v. p. 263. He was then in 'firmance.'
+
+ [158] His appointment was confirmed by Parliament on the 12th of March.
+ _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 411: 'tuto^r
+ lau^tfull to the quenis grace and gounour of this realme.' He
+ excluded the clergy from power. On 20th March, in the same year,
+ Sir Ralph Sadler writes to Henry VIII., that Sir George Douglas
+ 'brought me into the council-chamber, where I found a great number
+ of noblemen and others at a long board, and divers standing, but
+ _not one bishop nor priest among them_. At the upper end of the
+ board sat the governour.' _Sadler's State Papers_, vol. i. p. 78.
+
+ [159] _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 415, 419, 424,
+ 423*; and _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 285.
+
+ [160] 'Had become a convert to its doctrines.' _Tytler's Hist. of
+ Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 286. But he, as well as the other nobles,
+ neither knew nor cared much about doctrines; and he was, moreover,
+ very venal. In April 1543, Sir Ralph Sadler writes to Henry VIII.:
+ 'And the lord Maxwell told me apart, "That, indeed, he lacked
+ silver, and had no way of relief but to your majesty;" which he
+ prayed me to signify unto the same. I asked him what would relieve
+ him? and he said, 300_l._; "for the which," he said, "as your
+ majesty seemed, when he was with your grace, to have him in more
+ trust and credit than the rest of your majesty's prisoners, so he
+ trusted to do you as good service as any of them; and amongst them
+ they will do you such service, as, if the war succeed, ye shall
+ make an easy conquest of this realm; as _for his part he shall
+ deliver into your hands, at the entry of your army, the keys of
+ the same on the west marches, being all the strongholds there in
+ his custody_." I offered him presently to write to my lord of
+ Suffolk for 100_l._ for him if he would; but he said, "he would
+ stay till he heard again from your majesty in that behalf."'
+ _Sadler's State Papers_, vol. i. p. 165.
+
+ [161] _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 415, 425.
+ _Sadler's State Papers_, vol. i. p. 83. Knox, in his _History of
+ the Reformation_ (edit. Laing, vol. i p. 100), archly says, 'The
+ cleargy hearto long repugned; butt in the end, convicted by
+ reassonis, _and by multitud of votes in thare contrare_, thei also
+ condiscended; and so, by Act of Parliament, it was maid free to
+ all man and woman to reid the Scriptures in thair awin toung, or
+ in the Engliss toung; and so war all Actes maid in the contrair
+ abolished.'
+
+Scarcely had the nobles thus attained the upper hand, when they began to
+quarrel among themselves. They were resolved to plunder the Church; but
+they could not agree as to how the spoil should be shared. Neither could
+they determine as to the best mode of proceeding; some being in favour of
+an open and immediate schism, while others wished to advance cautiously,
+and to temporize with their opponents, that they might weaken the
+hierarchy by degrees. The more active and zealous section of the nobles
+were known as the English party,[162] owing to their intimate connexion
+with Henry VIII., from whom many of them received supplies of money. But,
+in 1544, war broke out between the two countries, and the clergy, headed
+by Archbishop Beaton, roused, with such success, the old feelings of
+national hatred against the English, that the nobles were compelled for a
+moment to bend before the storm, and to advocate an alliance with France.
+Indeed, it seemed for a few months as if the Church and aristocracy had
+forgotten their old and inveterate hostility, and were about to unite
+their strength in one common cause.[163]
+
+ [162] Or, as Keith calls them, 'English Lords.' _History of the Affairs
+ of Church and State in Scotland_, vol. i. p. 80.
+
+ [163] In May 1544 the English attacked Scotland, _Tytler's History_,
+ vol. iv. p. 316; and in that same month, the 'Anglo-Scottish
+ party' consisted only of the Earls of Lennox and of Glencairn,
+ since even 'Angus, George Douglas, and their numerous and powerful
+ adherents, joined the cardinal.' p. 319. As to the part taken by
+ the Scotch clergy, see, in _Sadler's State Papers_, vol. i. p.
+ 173, a letter to Henry VIII., written on the 1st of May 1543: 'And
+ as to the kirk-men, I assure your majesty they seek the war by all
+ the means they can, and do daily entertain the noblemen with money
+ and rewards to sustain the wars, rather than there should be any
+ agreement with your majesty; thinking, verily, that if peace and
+ unity succeed, that they shall be reformed, and lose their glory,
+ which they had rather die, and put all this realm in hazard, than
+ they would forego.' See also p. 184, note.
+
+This, however, was but a passing delusion. The antagonism between the two
+classes was irreconcilable.[164] In the spring of 1545, the leading
+Protestant nobles formed a conspiracy to assassinate Archbishop
+Beaton,[165] whom they hated more than any one else, partly because he
+was the head of the Church, and partly because he was the ablest and most
+unscrupulous of their opponents. A year, however, elapsed before their
+purpose could be effected; and it was not till May 1546, that Lesley, a
+young baron, accompanied by the Laird of Grange, and a few others, burst
+into Saint Andrews, and murdered the primate in his own castle.[166]
+
+ [164] Buchanan records a very curious conversation between the regent and
+ Douglas, which, as I do not remember to have met with elsewhere, I
+ shall transcribe. The exact date of it is not mentioned, but, from
+ the context, it evidently took place in 1544 or 1545. 'Ibi cum
+ Prorex suam deploraret solitudinem, et se a nobilitate derelictum
+ quereretur, Duglassius ostendit "id ipsius culpa fieri, non
+ nobilium, qui et fortunas omnes et vitam ad publicam salutem
+ tuendam conferrent, quorum consilio contempto ad sacrificulorum
+ nutum circumageretur, qui foris imbelles, domi seditiosi,
+ omniumque periculorum expertes alieni laboris fructu ad suas
+ voluptates abuterentur. Ex hoc fonte inter te et proceres facta
+ est suspitio, quae (quod neutri alteris fidatis) rebus gerendis
+ maxime est impedimento."' _Rerum Scoticarum Historia_, lib. xv. p.
+ 435. Buchanan was, at this time, about thirty-eight years old; and
+ that some such conversation as that which he narrates actually
+ took place, is, I think, highly probable, though the historian may
+ have thrown in some touches of his own. At all events, he was too
+ great a rhetorician to invent what his contemporaries would deem
+ unlikely to happen; so that, from either point of view, the
+ passage is valuable as an evidence of the deep-rooted hostility
+ which the nobles bore towards the Church.
+
+ [165] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 337. 'The plot is
+ entirely unknown either to our Scottish or English historians; and
+ now, after the lapse of nearly three centuries, has been
+ discovered in the secret correspondence of the State-paper
+ Office.' The first suggestion of the murder was in April 1544. See
+ _State Papers of Henry VIII._, vol. v. p. 377, and the end of the
+ Preface to vol. iv. But Mr. Tytler and the editor of the _State
+ Papers_ appear to have overlooked a still earlier indication of
+ the coming crime, in _Sadler's Papers_. See, in that collection,
+ vol. i. p. 77, a conversation, held in March 1543, between Sir
+ Ralph Sadler and the Earl of Arran; Sadler being conducted by the
+ Earl of Glencairn. On that occasion, the Earl of Arran used an
+ expression concerning Beaton, the meaning of which Sir Ralph
+ evidently understood. '"By God," quoth he, "he shall never come
+ out of prison whilst I may have mine own will, _except it be to
+ his farther mischief_." I allowed the same well' (replied Sadler),
+ 'and said, "It were pity, but he should receive such reward as his
+ merits did require."'
+
+ [166] _State Papers of Henry VIII._, vol. v. p. 560. _A Diurnal of
+ Occurrents_, p. 42. _Calderwood's History of the Kirk of
+ Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 221-223. Lindsay of Pitscottie
+ (_Chronicles_, vol. ii. p. 484) relates a circumstance respecting
+ the murder, which is too horrible to mention, and of which it is
+ enough to say, that it consisted of an obscene outrage committed
+ on the corpse of the victim. Though such facts cannot now be
+ published, they are so characteristic of the age, that they ought
+ not to be passed over in complete silence.
+
+The horror with which the Church heard of this foul and barbarous
+deed,[167] maybe easily imagined. But the conspirators, nothing daunted,
+and relying on the support of a powerful party, justified their act,
+seized the castle of Saint Andrews, and prepared to defend it to the
+last. And in this resolution they were upheld by a most remarkable man,
+who now first appeared to public view, and who, being admirably suited to
+the age in which he lived, was destined to become the most conspicuous
+character of those troublous times.
+
+ [167] Respecting which, two Scotch Protestant historians have expressed
+ themselves in the following terms: 'God admonished men, by this
+ judgement, that he will in end be avenged upon tyranns for their
+ crueltie, howsoever they strenthen themselves.' _Calderwood's
+ History of the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 224. And, whoever
+ considers all the circumstances, 'must acknowledge it was a
+ stupendous act of the judgment of the Lord, and that the whole was
+ overruled and guided by Divine Providence.' _Stevenson's History
+ of the Church and State of Scotland_, p. 38.
+
+That man was John Knox. To say that he was fearless and incorruptible,
+that he advocated with unflinching zeal what he believed to be the truth,
+and that he devoted himself with untiring energy to what he deemed the
+highest of all objects, is only to render common justice to the many
+noble attributes which he undoubtedly possessed. But, on the other hand,
+he was stern, unrelenting, and frequently brutal; he was not only callous
+to human suffering, but he could turn it into a jest, and employ on it
+the resources of his coarse, though exuberant, humour;[168] and he loved
+power so inordinately, that, unable to brook the slightest opposition, he
+trampled on all who crossed his path, or stood even for a moment in the
+way of his ulterior designs.
+
+ [168] Even the editor of _M'Crie's Life of Knox_, Edinburgh, 1841,
+ p. xxxv., notices 'the ill-timed merriment he displays in relating
+ the foul deed' of Beaton's murder.
+
+The influence of Knox in promoting the Reformation, has indeed been
+grossly exaggerated by historians, who are too apt to ascribe vast
+results to individual exertions; overlooking those large and general
+causes, in the absence of which the individual exertion would be
+fruitless. Still, he effected more than any single man;[169] although the
+really important period of his life, in regard to Scotland, was in and
+after 1559, when the triumph of Protestantism was already secure, and
+when he reaped the benefit of what had been effected during his long
+absence from his own country. His first effort was a complete failure,
+and, more than any one of his actions, has injured his reputation. This
+was the sanction which he gave to the cruel murder of Archbishop Beaton,
+in 1546. He repaired to the Castle of Saint Andrews; he shut himself up
+with the assassins; he prepared to share their fate; and, in a work which
+he afterwards wrote, openly justified what they had done.[170] For this,
+nothing can excuse him; and it is with a certain sense of satisfied
+justice that we learn, that, in 1547, the castle being taken by the
+French, Knox was treated with great severity, and was made to work at the
+galleys, from which he was not liberated till 1549.[171]
+
+ [169] Shortly before his death, he said, with honest and justifiable
+ pride, 'What I have bene to my countrie, albeit, this vnthankfull
+ aige will not knowe, yet the aiges to come wilbe compelled to bear
+ witnes to the treuth.' _Bannatyne's Journal_, Edinburgh, 1806. p.
+ 119. Bannatyne was Knox's secretary. It is to be regretted that no
+ good life of Knox should have yet been published. That by M'Crie
+ is an undistinguishing and injudicious panegyric, which, by
+ provoking a reaction of opinion, has damaged the reputation of the
+ great reformer. On the other hand, the sect of Episcopalians in
+ Scotland are utterly blind to the real grandeur of the man, and
+ unable to discern his intense love of truth, and the noble
+ fearlessness of his nature.
+
+ [170] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 374, 375. _M'Crie's
+ Life of Knox_, pp. 27, 28. _Lawson's Roman Catholic Church in
+ Scotland_, p. 154. _Presbytery Displayed_, 1663, 4to, p. 28.
+ _Shields' Hind let loose_, 1687, pp. 14, 39, 638. In his _History
+ of the Reformation_, edit. Laing, vol. i. pp. 177, 180, he calls
+ it a 'godly fact,' and says, 'These ar the workis of our God;'
+ which, in plain language, is terming the Deity an assassin. But,
+ bad as this is, I agree with M'Crie, that there is no trustworthy
+ evidence for deeming him privy to the murder. Compare, however, _A
+ Diurnal of Occurrents_ p. 42, with _Lyon's History of St.
+ Andrews_, vol. ii. p. 364.
+
+ [171] _M'Crie's Life of Knox_, pp. 38, 43, 350. _Argyll's Presbytery
+ Examined_, 1848, p. 19.
+
+During the next five years, Knox remained in England, which he quitted in
+1554, and arrived at Dieppe.[172] He then travelled abroad; and did not
+revisit Scotland till the autumn of 1555, when he was eagerly welcomed by
+the principal nobles and their adherents.[173] From some cause, however,
+which has not been sufficiently explained, but probably from an
+unwillingness to play a subordinate part among those proud chiefs, he, in
+July 1556, again left Scotland, and repaired to Geneva, where he had been
+invited to take charge of a congregation.[174] He stayed abroad till
+1559, by which time the real struggle was almost over; so completely had
+the nobles succeeded in sapping the foundations of the Church.
+
+ [172] _M'Crie's Life of Knox_, pp. 44, 71.
+
+ [173] _Ibid._ p. 99. As to the nobles, who received him, and heard him
+ preach, see p. 102.
+
+ [174] 'Influenced by motives which have never been fully comprehended, he
+ departed to Geneva, where, for a time, he became pastor of a
+ Protestant congregation.' _Russell's History of the Church in
+ Scotland_, 1834, vol. i. p. 193. M'Crie, who sees no difficulty,
+ simply says, 'In the month of July 1556, he left Scotland, and,
+ having arrived at Dieppe, he proceeded with his family to Geneva.'
+ _Life of Knox_, p. 107.
+
+For, the course of events having been long prepared, was now rapid
+indeed. In 1554, the queen dowager had succeeded Arran as regent.[175]
+She was that Mary of Guise whose marriage with James V. we have noticed
+as one of the indications of the policy then prevailing. If left alone,
+she would probably have done little harm;[176] but her powerful and
+intolerant family exhorted her to suppress the heretics, and, as a
+natural part of the same scheme, to put down the nobles. By the advice of
+her brothers, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, she, in
+1555, proposed to establish a standing army, to supply the place of the
+troops, which consisted of the feudal barons and their retainers. Such a
+force, being paid by the Crown, would have been entirely under its
+control; but the nobles saw the ulterior design, and compelled Mary to
+abandon it, on the ground that they and their vassals were able to defend
+Scotland, without further aid.[177] Her next attempt was to consolidate
+the interests of the Catholic party, which she effected, in 1558, by
+marrying her daughter to the dauphin. This increased the influence of the
+Guises,[178] whose niece, already queen of Scotland, would now, in the
+ordinary course of affairs, become queen of France. They urged their
+sister to extreme measures, and promised to assist her with French
+troops. On the other hand, the nobles remained firm, and prepared for the
+struggle. In December 1557, several of them had drawn up a covenant,
+agreeing to stand by each other, and to resist the tyranny with which
+they were threatened.[179] They now took the name of Lords of the
+Congregation, and sent forth their agents to secure the subscriptions of
+those who wished for a reformation of the Church.[180] They, moreover,
+wrote to Knox, whose style of preaching, being very popular, would, they
+thought, be useful in stirring up the people to rebellion.[181] He was
+then in Geneva, and did not arrive in Scotland till May 1559,[182] by
+which time the result of the impending contest was hardly doubtful, so
+successful had the nobles been in strengthening their party, and so much
+reason had they to expect the support of Elizabeth.
+
+ [175] Knox, in his savoury diction, likens her appointment to putting a
+ saddle on the back of a cow. 'She maid Regent in the year of God
+ 1554; and a croune putt upone hir head, als seimlye a sight (yf
+ men had eis), as to putt a sadill upone the back of ane unrewly
+ kow.' I copy this passage from Mr. Laing's excellent edition of
+ _Knox's History of the Reformation_, vol. i. p. 242; but in
+ _Watson's Historicall Collections of Ecclesiastick Affairs in
+ Scotland_, 1657, p. 73, there is a slightly different version.
+ '"As seemly a sight," saith John Knox, in the new gospel language,
+ "as to put the saddle upon the back of an unruly _sow_."'
+
+ [176] The Duke of Argyll, in his _Presbytery Examined_, p. 9, calls her
+ 'ambitious and intriguing.' Not only, however, is she praised by
+ Lesley (_History_, pp. 289, 290), which might have been expected,
+ but even Buchanan does justice to her, in a passage unusually
+ gracious for so Protestant and democratic a writer. 'Mors ejus
+ varie mentes hominum affecit. Nam et apud quosdam eorum, quibuscum
+ armis contendit, non mediocre sui desiderium reliquit. Erat enim
+ singulari ingenio praedita, et animo ad aequitatem admodum
+ propenso.' _Buchanan_, _Rerum Scoticarum Historia_, lib. xvi. p.
+ 487.
+
+ [177] _History of Scotland_, book ii. p. 91, in Robertson's Works, 1831.
+ _Tytler's History_, vol. v. pp. 22, 23. It appears, from Lesley
+ (_History_, pp. 254, 255), that some of the nobles were in favour
+ of this scheme, hoping thereby to gain favour. 'Albeit sum of the
+ lordis of the nobilitie for pleasour of the quene seamed to aggre
+ thairto for the tyme, yit the barronis and gentill men was nathing
+ content thairwith' ... 'affirming that thair foirfatheris and
+ predicessouris had defendit the samyn' (_i.e._ the realm) 'mony
+ hundreth yeris, vailyeantlie with thair awin handis.'
+
+ [178] 'It completed the almost despotic power of the house of Guise.'
+ _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. v. p. 27.
+
+ [179] This covenant, which marks an important epoch in the history of
+ Scotland, is dated 3rd of December 1557. It is printed in
+ _Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland_, p. 47; in
+ _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. i. pp. 326, 327; and in
+ _Knox's History of the Reformation_, vol. i. pp. 273, 274.
+
+ [180] In 1558, 'the lords of the congregation had sent agents through
+ the kingdom to solicit the subscriptions of those who were
+ friendly to a reformation.' _Stephen's History of the Church of
+ Scotland_, London, 1848, vol. i. p. 58.
+
+ [181] Keith (_Affairs of Church and State in Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 82)
+ calls him 'a trumpeter of rebellion,' which he undoubtedly was,
+ and very much to his credit too, though the courtly bishop imputes
+ it to him as a fault. The Scotch, if it had not been for their
+ rebellious spirit, would long since have lost their liberties.
+
+ [182] 'He sailed from Dieppe on the 22nd of April 1559, and landed
+ safely at Leith in the beginning of May.' _M'Crie's Life of Knox_,
+ p. 139. Knox himself says, 'the secound of Maij.' _History of the
+ Reformation_, edit. Laing, vol. i. p. 318. 'He was called home by
+ the noblemen that enterprised the Reformation.' _Spottiswoode's
+ History of the Church of Scotland_, edit. Russell, vol. ii.
+ p. 180.
+
+Nine days after Knox entered Scotland, the first blow was struck. On the
+11th of May 1559, he preached in Perth. After the sermon, a tumult arose,
+and the people plundered the churches and pulled down the
+monasteries.[183] The queen-regent, hastily assembling troops, marched
+towards the town. But the nobles were on the alert. The Earl of Glencairn
+joined the congregation with two thousand five hundred men; and a treaty
+was concluded, by which both sides agreed to disarm, on condition that no
+one should be punished for what had already happened.[184] Such, however,
+was the state of the public mind, that peace was impossible. In a few
+days, war again broke out; and this time the result was more decisive.
+The Lords of the Congregation mustered in great force. Perth, Stirling,
+and Linlithgow, fell into their hands. The queen-regent retreated before
+them. She evacuated Edinburgh; and, on the 29th of June, the Protestants
+entered the capital in triumph.[185]
+
+ [183] _Penny's Traditions of Perth_, p. 310. _Knox's History of the
+ Reformation_, vol. i. pp. 321-323. _Lyon's History of St.
+ Andrews_, vol. i. p. 329; and a spirited narrative in _Buchanan's
+ Rerum Scoticarum Historia_, lib. xvi. pp. 471, 472. Some
+ interesting circumstances are also preserved in _Lesley's
+ History_, pp. 271, 272; but, though Lesley was a contemporary, he
+ erroneously places the riot in 1558. He, moreover, ascribes to
+ Knox language more inflammatory than that which he really used.
+
+ [184] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. v. pp. 59, 62, 63. Of the
+ Earl of Glencairn, Chalmers (_Caledonia_, vol. iii. p. 485) says,
+ that he was a 'religious ruffian, who enjoyed pensions from Henry
+ VIII., for injuring the country of his birth, and benefits.' This,
+ besides being ungrammatical, is foolish. Glencairn, like the other
+ aristocratic leaders of the Reformation, was, no doubt, influenced
+ by sordid motives; but, so far from injuring his country, he
+ rendered it great service.
+
+ [185] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. v. pp. 64-73.
+
+All this was done in seven weeks from the breaking out of the first riot.
+Both parties were now willing to negotiate, with the view of gaining
+time; the queen-regent expecting aid from France, the Lords expecting it
+from England.[186] But the proceedings of Elizabeth being tardy, the
+Protestants, after waiting for some months, determined to strike a
+decisive blow before the reinforcements arrived. In October, the
+principal peers, headed by the Duke of Chastelherault, the Earl of Arran,
+the Earl of Argyle, and the Earl of Glencairn, assembled at Edinburgh. A
+great meeting was held, of which Lord Ruthven was appointed president,
+and in which the queen-regent was solemnly suspended from the government,
+on the ground that she was opposed to 'the glory of God, to the liberty
+of the realm, and to the welfare of the nobles.'[187]
+
+ [186] It is stated of the queen-regent, that, in July 1559, 'shee had
+ sent alreadie to France for more men of warr.' See the curious
+ pamphlet entitled 'A Historie of the Estate of Scotland, from July
+ 1558 to April 1560,' in _Miscellany of the Wodrow Society_, p. 63,
+ Edinburgh, 1844. All sorts of rumours were circulated; and a
+ letter, dated 12th October 1559, says, 'Summe thinke the regent
+ will departe secretlie. Summe that she will to Ynchkeith, for that
+ three shippes are a preparing. Summe saye that she is verie sicke.
+ Summe saye the devill cannot kill her.' _Sadler's State Papers_,
+ vol. i. p. 499.
+
+ [187] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. v. p. 104. This was on the
+ 22nd of October 1559. Compare _Sadler's State Papers_, vol. i. p.
+ 512. 'This Mondaye, the 22 of October, was the douagier deprived
+ from her authoritie by commen consent of all lords and barons here
+ present.' On this occasion, 'Johne Willocke,' the preacher,
+ delivered himself of a discourse in favour of her deposition.
+ Among other arguments, he said, 'that in deposing of princes, and
+ these that have beene in authoritie, God did not alwayes use his
+ immediat power, but sometimes he used other meanes, which his
+ wisdome thought good, and justice approved. As by Asa, He removed
+ Maacha, his owne mother, from honour and authoritie, which before
+ she had used; by Jehu He destroyed Joram, and the whole posteritie
+ of Achab.' _Therefore_ 'he (the orator) could see no reasoun why
+ they, the borne counsellers, the nobilitie and barons of the
+ realme, might not justlie deprive her from all regiment.'
+ _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. i. pp. 540, 541; and
+ _Knox's History of the Reformation_, vol. i. pp. 442, 443.
+
+In the winter, an English fleet sailed into the Frith, and anchored near
+Edinburgh.[188] In January 1560, the Duke of Norfolk arrived at Berwick,
+and concluded, on the part of Elizabeth, a treaty with the Lords of the
+Congregation, by virtue of which the English army entered Scotland on the
+2nd of April.[189] Against this combination, the government could effect
+nothing, and in July, was glad to sign a peace, by which the French
+troops were to evacuate Scotland, and the whole power of administration
+was virtually consigned to the Protestant Lords.[190]
+
+ [188] The _Diurnal of Occurrents_, pp. 55, 272, says, that the fleet
+ arrived on 24th of January, 1559-60; 'aucht greit schippis of
+ Ingland in the raid of Leith.' And a letter (in _Sadler's State
+ Papers_, vol. i. p. 697) dated the 23rd of January, says, 'the
+ shippes arrived yesterdaye in the Frythe to the nomber of ix. or
+ x., as yet, and the remanent followith.' The date, therefore, of
+ the 10th of January, given in a note to _Keith's Church and State
+ in Scotland_, vol. i. p. 255, is evidently erroneous. Important as
+ the event was, its exact date is not mentioned either by Tytler
+ (_History of Scotland_, vol. v. pp. 114, 115), or by Chalmers
+ (_Caledonia_, vol. ii. p. 631).
+
+ [189] _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. ii. p. 632. _Knox's History of the
+ Reformation_, vol. ii. p. 57. The Berwick treaty, in February, is
+ printed in _Keith's Church and State in Scotland_, vol. i. pp.
+ 258-262. So great was the influence of the nobles, that the
+ English troops were well received by the people, in spite of the
+ old and bitter animosity between the two nations. 'Especially in
+ Fyfe they were thankfully receaved, and well entreated, with such
+ quietnes and gentle entertainement betwixt our nation and them, as
+ no man would have thought that ever there had beine any variance.'
+ _A Historie of the Estate of Scotland_, from 1558 to 1560, in
+ _Miscellany of the Wodrow Society_, p. 78.
+
+ [190] 'Vpoun the vi. day of Julij, it wes concludit and finallie endit
+ betuix the saids ambassatouris, tuitching all debaittis,
+ contraversies and materis concernyng the asseiging of Leith,
+ depairting of the Frenchemen thairfra, and randering of the same;
+ and the said peax daitit this said day.' _A Diurnal of
+ Occurrents_, pp. 277, 278. See also p. 60; and _Keith's Affairs of
+ Church and State in Scotland_, vol. i. p. 295.
+
+The complete success of this great revolution, and the speed with which
+it was effected, are of themselves a decisive proof of the energy of
+those general causes by which the whole movement was controlled. For more
+than a hundred and fifty years, there had been a deadly struggle between
+the nobles and the Church: and the issue of that struggle, was the
+establishment of the Reformation, and the triumph of the aristocracy.
+They had, at last, carried their point. The hierarchy was overthrown, and
+replaced by new and untried men. All the old notions of apostolic
+succession, of the imposition of hands, and of the divine right of
+ordination, were suddenly discarded. The offices of the Church were
+performed by heretics, the majority of whom had not even been
+ordained.[191] Finally, and to crown the whole, in the summer of the same
+year, 1560, the Scotch parliament passed two laws, which utterly
+subverted the ancient scheme. By one of these laws, every statute which
+had ever been enacted in favour of the Church, was at once repealed.[192]
+By the other law, it was declared that whoever either said mass, or was
+present while it was said, should, for the first offence, lose his goods;
+for the second offence be exiled; and, for the third offence, be put to
+death.[193]
+
+ [191] 'That Knox himself was in priest's orders, is a fact which his
+ biographer, the late Dr. M'Crie, has placed beyond dispute; and
+ some of the other leaders were also priests; but the greater
+ number of the preachers, and all those who subsequently became
+ ministers, were totally without any orders whatever, not even such
+ as the superintendents could have given them; for their own
+ supposed call, the election of the people, and the _civil_
+ ceremony of induction to the living, was all that was then "judged
+ necessary."' _Stephen's History of the Church of Scotland_, 1848,
+ vol. i. pp. 145, 146. 'A new-fashioned sort of ministry, unknown
+ in the Christian Church for all preceding generations.' _Keith's
+ Church and State in Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 204. Compare _Argyll's
+ Presbytery Examined_, pp. 34-36.
+
+ [192] 'The thre estaitis of parliament hes [=a]nullit and declarit all
+ sik actes maid in tymes bipast not aggreing w^t goddis word and
+ now contrair to the confessioun of oure fay^t according to the
+ said word publist in this parliament. Tobe of nane avale force nor
+ effect. And decornis the said actis and every ane of thame tu haue
+ na effect nor strenth in tyme to cum.' _Acts of the Parliament of
+ Scotland_, 1814, folio, vol. ii. p. 535. This was on 24th August
+ 1560.
+
+ [193] 'That na maner of person nor personis say mess nor zit heir mess
+ nor be pnt thairat vnder the pane of confiscatioun of all
+ thair gud movable and vnmovable and pvneissing of thair bodeis at
+ the discretioun of the magistrat within quhais jurisdictioun
+ sik personis happ[=y]nis to be apprehendit ffor the first falt:
+ Banissing of the Realme for the secund falt, and justifying to the
+ deid for the thrid falt.' _Ibid._, 24th August 1560, vol. ii. p.
+ 525.
+
+Thus it was, that an institution, which had borne the brunt of more than
+a thousand years, was shivered, and fell to pieces. And, from its fall,
+great things were augured. It was believed, that the people would be
+enlightened, that their eyes were opening to their former follies, and
+that the reign of superstition was about to end. But what was forgotten
+then, and what is too often forgotten now, is, that in these affairs
+there is an order and a natural sequence, which can never be reversed.
+This is, that every institution, as it actually exists, no matter what
+its name or pretences may be, is the effect of public opinion far more
+than the cause; and that it will avail nothing to attack the institution,
+unless you can first change the opinion. In Scotland, the Church was
+grossly superstitious; but it did not, therefore, follow, that to
+overthrow the establishment, would lessen the evil. They who think that
+superstition can be weakened in this way, do not know the vitality of
+that dark and ill-omened principle. Against it, there is only one weapon,
+and that weapon is knowledge. When men are ignorant, they must be
+superstitious; and wherever superstition exists, it is sure to organize
+itself into some kind of system, which it makes its home. If you drive it
+from that home, it will find another. The spirit transmigrates; it
+assumes a new form; but still it lives. How idle, then, is that warfare
+which reformers are too apt to wage, in which they slay the carcass, and
+spare the life! The husk, forsooth, they seek out and destroy; but within
+that husk is a seed of deadly poison, whose vitality they are unable to
+impair, and which, shifted from its place, bears fruit in another
+direction, and shoots up with a fresh, and often a more fatal,
+exuberance.
+
+The truth is, that every institution, whether political or religious,
+represents, in its actual working, the form and pressure of the age. It
+may be very old; it may bear a venerated name; it may aim at the highest
+objects: but whoever carefully studies its history, will find that, in
+practice, it is successively modified by successive generations, and
+that, instead of controlling society, it is controlled by it. When the
+Protestant Reformation was effected, the Scotch were excessively
+ignorant, and, therefore, in spite of the Reformation, they remained
+excessively superstitious. How long that ignorance continued, and what
+its results were, we shall presently see; but before entering into that
+inquiry, it will be advisable to trace the immediate consequences of the
+Reformation itself, in connexion with the powerful class by whose
+authority it was established.
+
+The nobles, having overthrown the Church, and stripped it of a large part
+of its wealth, thought that they were to reap the benefit of their own
+labour. They had slain the enemy, and they wished to divide the
+spoil.[194] But this did not suit the views of the Protestant preachers.
+In their opinion, it was impious to secularize ecclesiastical property,
+and turn it aside to profane purposes. They held, that it was right,
+indeed, for the lords to plunder the Church; but they took for granted
+that the proceeds of the robbery were to enrich themselves. They were the
+godly men; and it was the business of the ruling classes to endow them
+with benefices, from which the old and idolatrous clergy were to be
+expelled.[195]
+
+ [194] As Robertson says, in his measured, and somewhat feeble, style,
+ 'Among the Scottish nobility, some hated the persons, and others
+ coveted the wealth, of the dignified clergy; and by abolishing
+ that order of men, the former indulged their resentment, and the
+ latter hoped to gratify their avarice.' _History of Scotland_,
+ book iii. p. 116, in _Robertson's Works_, edit. 1831. The
+ contemporary narrative, in _A Diurnal of Occurrents_, p. 269,
+ sounds much more vigorous to my ear. 'In all this tyme' (1559),
+ 'all kirkmennis goodis and geir wer spoulzeit and reft fra thame,
+ in euerie place quhair the samyne culd be apprehendit; for euerie
+ man for the maist pairt that culd get any thing pertenyng to any
+ kirkmen, thocht the same as wele won geir.'
+
+ [195] 'Knox never dreamed that the revenues of the Church were to be
+ secularized; but that he and his colleagues were simply to remove
+ the old incumbents, and then take possession of their benefices.'
+ _Stephen's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 106.
+ 'The ecclesiastical revenues, which they never contemplated for a
+ moment were to be seized by the Protestant nobility.' _Lawson's
+ Roman Catholic Church in Scotland_, p. 233.
+
+In accordance with these opinions, Knox and his colleagues, in August
+1560, presented a petition to Parliament, calling on the nobles to
+restore the Church property which they had seized, and to have it
+properly applied to the support of the new ministers.[196] To this
+request, those powerful chiefs did not even vouchsafe a reply.[197] They
+were content with matters as they actually stood, and were, therefore,
+unwilling to disturb the existing arrangement. They had fought the fight;
+they had gained the victory, and shared the spoil. It was not to be
+supposed that they would peaceably relinquish what they had won with
+infinite difficulty. Nor was it likely that, after being engaged in an
+arduous struggle with the Church for a hundred and fifty years, and
+having at length conquered their inveterate enemy, they should forego the
+fruits of their triumph for the sake of a few preachers, whom they had
+but recently called to their aid; low-born and obscure men, who should
+rather deem it an honour that they were permitted to associate with their
+superiors in a common enterprise, but were not to presume on that
+circumstance, nor to suppose that they, who only entered the field at the
+eleventh hour, were to share the booty on anything approaching to terms
+of equality.[198]
+
+ [196] Compare _Knox's History of the Reformation_, vol. ii. pp. 89-92,
+ with _M'Crie's Life of Knox_, p. 179. Of this document, M'Crie
+ says, 'There can be no doubt that it received the sanction, if it
+ was not the composition, of the Reformer.' ... 'It called upon
+ them' (the nobles) 'to restore the patrimony of the Church, of
+ which they had unjustly possessed themselves.'
+
+ [197] 'Making no answer to the last point.' _Spottiswoode's History of
+ the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 327. 'Without taking any
+ notice.' _Keith's Affairs of Church and State_, vol. i. p. 321.
+
+ [198] 'They viewed the Protestant preachers as low-born individuals, not
+ far raised above the condition of mechanics or tradesmen, without
+ influence, authority, or importance.' _Lawson's Roman Catholic
+ Church in Scotland_, p. 251. 'None were more unmercifull to the
+ poore ministers than they that had the greatest share of the kirk
+ rents.' _Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. ii.
+ p. 42.
+
+But the aristocracy of Scotland little knew the men with whom they had to
+deal. Still less, did they understand the character of their own age.
+They did not see that, in the state of society in which they lived,
+superstition was inevitable, and that, therefore, the spiritual classes,
+though depressed for a moment, were sure speedily to rise again. The
+nobles had overturned the Church; but the principles on which Church
+authority is based, remained intact. All that was done, was to change the
+name and the form. A new hierarchy was quickly organized, which succeeded
+the old one in the affections of the people. Indeed, it did more. For,
+the Protestant clergy, neglected by the nobles, and unendowed by the
+state, had only a miserable pittance whereupon to live, and they
+necessarily threw themselves into the arms of the people, where alone
+they could find support and sympathy.[199] Hence, a closer and more
+intimate union than would otherwise have been possible. Hence, too, as we
+shall presently see, the Presbyterian clergy, smarting under the
+injustice with which they were treated, displayed that hatred of the
+upper classes, and that peculiar detestation of monarchical government,
+which they showed whenever they dared. In their pulpits, in their
+presbyteries, and in their General Assemblies, they encouraged a
+democratic and insubordinate tone, which eventually produced the happiest
+results, by keeping alive, at a critical moment, the spirit of liberty;
+but which, for that very reason, made the higher ranks rue the day, when,
+by their ill-timed and selfish parsimony, they roused the wrath of so
+powerful and implacable a class.
+
+ [199] In 1561, 'Notwithstanding the full establishment of the
+ Reformation, the Protestant ministers were in a state of extreme
+ poverty, and dependent upon the precarious assistance of their
+ flocks.' _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. v. p. 207. Compare a
+ letter, written by Knox, in 1566, 'on the extreame povertie
+ wherein our ministers are brought.' _Knox's History of the
+ Reformation_, vol. ii. p. 542.
+
+The withdrawal of the French troops, in 1560, had left the nobles in
+possession of the government;[200] and it was for them to decide to what
+extent the Reformed clergy should be endowed. The first petition,
+presented by Knox and his brethren, was passed over in contemptuous
+silence. But the ministers were not so easily put aside. Their next step
+was, to present to the Privy Council what is known as the First Book of
+Discipline, in which they again urged their request.[201] To the tenets
+contained in this book, the council had no objection; but they refused to
+ratify it, because, by doing so, they would have sanctioned the principle
+that the new church had a right to the revenues of the old one.[202] A
+certain share, indeed, they were willing to concede. What the share
+should be, was a matter of serious dispute, and caused the greatest
+ill-will between the two parties. At length, the nobles broke silence,
+and, in December 1561, they declared that the Reformed clergy should only
+receive one-sixth of the property of the Church; the remaining
+five-sixths being divided between the government and the Catholic
+priesthood.[203] The meaning of this was easily understood, since the
+Catholics were now entirely dependent on the government, and the
+government was, in fact, the nobles themselves, who were, at that period,
+the monopolizers of political power.
+
+ [200] 'The limited authority which the Crown had hitherto possessed, was
+ almost entirely annihilated, and the aristocratical power, which
+ always predominated in the Scottish Government (?), became supreme
+ and incontrollable.' _Russell's History of the Church in
+ Scotland_, 1834, vol. i. p. 223.
+
+ [201] See the _First Book of Discipline_, reprinted in _A Compendium of
+ the Laws of the Church of Scotland_, part i., second edition,
+ Edinburgh, 1837. They summed up their requests in one
+ comprehensive passage (p. 119), that 'the haill rentis of the Kirk
+ abusit in Papistrie sal be referrit againe to the Kirk.' In
+ another part (p. 106), they frankly admit that, 'we doubt not but
+ some of our petitions shall appeare strange unto you at the first
+ sight.'
+
+ [202] 'The form of polity recommended in the First Book of Discipline
+ never obtained the proper sanction of the State, chiefly in
+ consequence of the avarice of the nobility and gentry, who were
+ desirous of securing to themselves the revenues of the Church.'
+ _Miscellany of the Wodrow Society_, p. 324. See also _Argyll's
+ Presbytery Examined_, p. 26. Many of the nobles, however, did sign
+ it (_Knox's History of the Reformation_, vol. ii. p. 129); but,
+ says Spottiswoode (_History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. p.
+ 373), 'Most of those that subscribed, getting into their hands the
+ possessions of the Church, could never be induced to part
+ therewith, and turned greater enemies in that point of church
+ patrimony than were the papists, or any other whatsoever.'
+
+ [203] _M'Crie's Life of Knox_, p. 204. _Knox's History of the
+ Reformation_, vol. ii. pp. 298-301, 307-309. _Buchanan's Rerum
+ Scoticarum Historia_, lib. xvii. p. 500. The nominal arrangement,
+ which was contrived with considerable art, was, that one-third of
+ the church revenues should be divided into two parts; one part for
+ the government, and another part for the preachers. The remaining
+ two-thirds were gravely assigned to the Catholic priesthood, who,
+ at that very moment, were liable, by Act of Parliament, to the
+ penalty of death, if they performed the rites of their religion.
+ Men, whose lives were in the hands of the government, were not
+ likely to quarrel with the government about money matters; and the
+ result was, that nearly every thing fell into the possession of
+ the nobles.
+
+Such being the case, it naturally happened, that, when the arrangement
+was made known, the preachers were greatly moved. They saw how
+unfavourable it was to their own interests, and, therefore, they held
+that it was unfavourable to the interests of religion. Hence, in their
+opinion, it was contrived by the devil, whose purposes it was calculated
+to serve.[204] For, now, they who travailed in the vineyard of the Lord,
+were to be discouraged, and were to suffer, in order that what rightly
+belonged to them might be devoured by idle bellies.[205] The nobles might
+benefit for a time, but the vengeance of God was swift, and would most
+assuredly overtake them.[206] From the beginning to the end, it was
+nothing but spoliation. In a really Christian land, the patrimony of the
+Church would be left untouched.[207] But, in Scotland, alas! Satan had
+prevailed,[208] and Christian charity had waxen cold.[209] In Scotland,
+property, which should be regarded as sacred, had been broken up and
+divided; and the division was of the worst kind, since, by it, said Knox,
+two-thirds are given to the devil, and the other third is shared between
+God and the devil. It was as if Joseph, when governor of Egypt, had
+refused food to his brethren, and sent them back to their families with
+empty sacks.[210] Or, as another preacher suggested, the Church was now,
+like the Maccabees of old, being oppressed, sometimes by the Assyrians,
+and sometimes by the Egyptians.[211]
+
+ [204] 'The Ministeris, evin in the begynnyng, in publict Sermonis
+ opponed thame selves to suche corruptioun, for thei foir saw the
+ purpose of the Devill.' _Knox's History of the Reformation_,
+ vol. ii. p. 310.
+
+ [205] 'For it seemeth altogether unreasonable that idle belleis sail
+ devoure and consume the patrimonie of the Kirk, whill the
+ faithfull travellers in the Lord's vineyarde suffer extreme
+ povertie, and the needie members of Christ's bodie are altogether
+ neglected.' _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. ii. pp. 484,
+ 485. This was in 1569; and, in 1571, the celebrated Ferguson, in
+ one of his sermons, declared that the holders of church property,
+ most of whom were the nobility, were 'ruffians.' See an extract
+ from his sermon, in _Chalmers' History of Dunfermline_, p. 309,
+ Edinburgh, 1844. 'For this day Christ is spuilzeit amang us, quhil
+ y^t quhilk aucht to mantene the Ministerie of the Kirk and the
+ pure, is geuin to prophane men, flattereris in court, ruffianes,
+ and hyrelingis.'
+
+ [206] In September 1571, John Row 'preiched, wha in plane pulpet
+ pronounced to the lordis, for thair covetusnes, and becaus they
+ wold not grant the just petitiones of the Kirk, Godis heastie
+ vengeance to fall upon them; and said, moreover, "I cair not, my
+ lordis, your displeasour; for I speik my conscience befoir God,
+ wha will not suffer sic wickitnes and contempt vnpunished."'
+ _Bannatyne's Journal_, edit. Edinburgh, 1806, p. 257.
+
+ [207] In 1576, the General Assembly declared, that their right to 'the
+ patrimonie of the Kirk' was 'ex jure divino.' _Acts of the General
+ Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 360, Edinburgh,
+ 1839, 4to. More than a hundred years later, a Scotch divine
+ evinces how deeply the members of his profession felt this
+ spoliation of the Church, by going out of his way to mention it.
+ See _Jacob's Vow, by Dr. John Cockburn_, Edinburgh, 1696, pp. 422,
+ 423, 425. But this is nothing in comparison to a recent writer,
+ the Reverend Mr. Lyon, who deliberately asserts that, because
+ these and similar acts occurred in the reign of Mary, therefore
+ the queen came to a violent end; such being the just punishment of
+ sacrilege. 'The practice' (of saying masses for the dead) 'ceased,
+ of course, at the Reformation; and the money was transferred by
+ Queen Mary to the civil authorities of the town. This was,
+ undoubtedly, an act of sacrilege; for, though sacrificial masses
+ for the dead was an error, yet the guardians of the money so
+ bequeathed, were under an obligation to apply it to a sacred
+ purpose. This, and other sacrilegious acts on the part of Mary, of
+ a still more decided and extensive character, have been justly
+ considered as the cause of all the calamities which subsequently
+ befell her.' _History of St. Andrews, by the Rev. C. J. Lyon,
+ M.A., Presbyter of the Episcopal Church, St. Andrews_, Edinburgh,
+ 1843, vol. i. p. 54. Elsewhere (vol. ii. p. 400) the same divine
+ mentions, that the usual punishment for sacrilege is a failure of
+ male issue. 'The following examples, selected from the diocese of
+ St. Andrews, according to its boundaries before the Reformation,
+ will corroborate the general doctrine contended for throughout
+ this work, that sacrilege has ever been punished in the present
+ life, and _chiefly_ by the failure of male issue.' The italics are
+ in the text. See also vol. i. p. 118. For the sake of the future
+ historian of public opinion, it may be well to observe, that the
+ work containing these sentiments is not a reprint of an older
+ book, but was published for the first time in 1843, having
+ apparently been just written.
+
+ [208] 'The General Assemblie of the Kirk of Scotland, convenit at
+ Edinburgh the 25 of December 1566, to the Nobilitie of this Realme
+ that professes the Lord Jesus with them, and hes renouncit that
+ Roman Antichryst, desyre constancie in faith, and the spirit of
+ righteous judgement. Seeing that Sathan, be all our negligence,
+ Right Honourable, hes so farre prevailit within this Realme within
+ these late dayes, that we doe stand in extream danger, not only
+ _to lose our temporall possessions_, but also to be depryvit of
+ the glorious Evangell,' &c. _Keith's Church and State_, vol. iii.
+ pp. 154, 155.
+
+ [209] In 1566, in their piteous communication to the English bishops and
+ clergy, they said 'The days are ill; iniquitie abounds; Christian
+ charity, alas, is waxen cold.' _Acts and Proceedings of the
+ General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 87,
+ Edinburgh, 1839, 4to.
+
+ [210] 'I see twa partis freely gevin to the Devill, and the thrid maun be
+ devided betwix God and the Devill: Weill, bear witnes to me, that
+ this day I say it, or it be long the Devill shall have three
+ partis of the thrid; and judge you then what Goddis portioun
+ shallbe.' ... 'Who wold have thought, that when Joseph reulled
+ Egypt, that his brethren should have travailled for vittallis, and
+ have returned with empty seckis unto thair families? Men wold
+ rather have thought that Pharao's pose, treasure, and garnallis
+ should have bene diminished, or that the houshold of Jacob should
+ stand in danger to sterve for hungar.' _Knox's History of the
+ Reformation_, vol. ii. pp. 310, 311.
+
+ [211] In May 1571, 'This Sonday, Mr. Craig teiched the 130 Psalme; and,
+ in his sermond, he compared the steat of the Kirk of God in this
+ tovne vnto the steat of the Maccabeis; wha were oppressed sumtymes
+ by the Assyrianis and sumtymes by the Egiptianis.' _Bannatyne's
+ Journal_, p. 150.
+
+But neither persuasions nor threats[212] produced any effect on the
+obdurate minds of the Scotch nobles. Indeed, their hearts, instead of
+being softened, became harder. Even the small stipends, which were
+allotted to the Protestant clergy, were not regularly paid, but were
+mostly employed for other purposes.[213] When the ministers complained,
+they were laughed at, and insulted, by the nobles, who, having gained
+their own ends, thought that they could dispense with their former
+allies.[214] The Earl of Morton, whose ability, as well as connexions,
+made him the most powerful man in Scotland, was especially virulent
+against them; and two of the preachers, who offended him, he put to
+death, under circumstances of great cruelty.[215] The nobles, regarding
+him as their chief, elected him Regent in 1572;[216] and, being now
+possessed of supreme power, he employed it against the Church. He seized
+upon all the benefices which became vacant, and retained their profits in
+his own hands.[217] His hatred of the preachers passed all bounds. He
+publicly declared, that there would be neither peace nor order in the
+country, until some of them were hung.[218] He refused to sanction the
+General Assemblies by his presence; he wished to do away with their
+privileges, and even with their name; and with such determination did he
+pursue his measures, that, in the opinion of the historian of the Scotch
+Kirk, nothing but the special interference of the Deity could have
+maintained its existing polity.[219]
+
+ [212] The first instance I have observed of any thing like menace, is in
+ 1567, when 'the Assembly of the Church being convened at
+ Edinburgh,' admonished all persons 'as well noblemen as barons,
+ and those of the other Estates, to meet and give their personal
+ appearance at Edinburgh on the 20th of July, for giving their
+ advice, counsel, and concurrence in matters then to be proponed;
+ especially for purging the realm of popery, the establishing of
+ the policy of the Church, and _restoring the patrimony thereof to
+ the just possessors_. Assuring those that should happen to absent
+ themselves at the time, due and lawful advertisement being made,
+ that they should be reputed hinderers of the good work intended,
+ and as _dissimulate professors be esteemed unworthy of the
+ fellowship of Christ's flock.' Spottiswoode's History of the
+ Church of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 64. This evidently alludes to the
+ possibility of excommunicating those who would not surrender to
+ the Protestant preachers, the property stolen from the Catholic
+ Church; and, in 1570, we find another step taken in the same
+ direction. Under that year, the following passage occurs in _Acts
+ and Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of
+ Scotland_, vol. i. p. 181. 'Q. If those that withold the duty of
+ the Kirk, _wherethrough Ministers want their stipends_, may be
+ excommunicate? A. All things beand done that the civill ordour
+ requyres of them that withhaldis the duetie of the Kirk, quherby
+ Ministers wants their stipends; _the Kirk may proceed to
+ excommunication, for their contempt_.'
+
+ [213] In 1526, 'the poore ministers, exhorters, and readers, compleaned
+ at church assembleis, that neither were they able to live upon the
+ stipends allowed, nor gett payment of that small portioun which
+ was allowed.' _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. ii. p. 172.
+ Compare _Acts of the General Assemblies_, 1839, 4to, vol. i. p.
+ 53; 'To requyre payment to ministers of there stipends for the
+ tyme by past, according to the promise made.' This was in December
+ 1564. In December 1565, the General Assembly said (p. 71), 'that
+ wher oft and divers tymes promise hes bein made to us, that our
+ saids brethren, travelers and preachers in the Kirk of God, sould
+ not be defraudit of their appointit stipends, neither zet in any
+ wayes sould be molestit in their functioun; zet nottheless
+ universallie they want ther stipends appointit for diverse tymes
+ by past.' On the state of things in 1566, see 'The Supplication of
+ the Ministers to the Queen,' in _Knox's History of the
+ Reformation_, vol. ii. p. 529. See also, in the _Miscellany of the
+ Spalding Club_, vol. iv. pp. 92-101, Aberdeen, 1849, 4to, a letter
+ written by John Erskine in December 1571, especially p. 97; 'the
+ gretest of the nobilitie haifing gretest rentis in possessione,
+ and plaicet of God in maist hie honouris, ceasis nocht, maist
+ wiolentlie blindit with awarice, to spoilye and draw to thame
+ selfis the possessiones of the Kirk.'
+
+ [214] 'The ministers were called proud knaves, and receaved manie
+ injurious words from the lords, speciallie from Morton, who ruled
+ all. He said, he sould lay their pride, and putt order to them.'
+ _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. iii. pp. 137, 138. This
+ was in 1571.
+
+ [215] _Chambers' Annals of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 79, 80.
+
+ [216] 'The nobilitie wnderwrittin convenit in Edinburgh, and chesit and
+ electit James erle of Mortoun regent.' _A Diurnal of Occurrents_,
+ p. 320.
+
+ [217] In 1573, 'when any benefeces of Kirk vaikit, he keapit the proffet
+ of thair rents sa lang in his awin hand, till he was urgit be the
+ Kirk to mak donatioun tharof, and that was not gevin but proffeit
+ for all that.' _The Historie and Life of King James the Sext_,
+ edit. Edinburgh, 1825, 4to, p. 147. Even in 1570, when Lennox was
+ regent, 'the Earle of Mortoun was the chiefe manager of every
+ thing under him;' and was 'master of the church rents,' and made
+ 'gifts of them to the nobility.' _Wodrow's Collections upon the
+ Lives of the Reformers of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. part i.
+ pp. 27, 126, Glasgow, 1834, 4to.
+
+ [218] 'During all these Assembleis and earnest endeavoures of the
+ brethrein, the regent was often required to give his presence to
+ the Assemblie, and further the caus of God. He not onlie refused,
+ but threatned some of the most zealous with hanging, alledging,
+ that otherwise there could be no peace nor order in the countrie.'
+ _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. iii. pp. 393, 394. 'Uses
+ grait thretning against the maist zelus breithring, schoring to
+ hang of thame, utherwayes ther could be na peace nor ordour in the
+ countrey.' _The Autobiography and Diary of James Melvill_, edited
+ by R. Pitcairn, Edinburgh, 1842, pp. 59, 60.
+
+ [219] 'He mislyked the Generall Assembleis, and would have had the name
+ changed, that he might take away the force and priviledge thereof;
+ and no questioun he had stayed the work of policie that was
+ presentlie in hands, if God had not stirred up a factioun against
+ him.' _Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. iii. p.
+ 396. See also _The Autobiography of James Melvill_, p. 61.
+
+The rupture between Church and State was now complete. It remained to be
+seen, which was the stronger side. Every year, the clergy became more
+democratic; and, after the death of Knox, in 1572, they ventured upon a
+course which even he would hardly have recommended, and which, during the
+earlier period of the Reformation, would have been impracticable.[220]
+But, by this time, they had secured the support of the people; and the
+treatment they were receiving from the government, and from the nobles,
+embittered their minds, and drove them into desperate counsels. While
+their plans were yet immature, and while the future was looming darkly
+before them, a new man arose, who was well qualified to be their chief,
+and who at once stepped into the place which the death of Knox left
+vacant. This was Andrew Melville, who, by his great ability, his boldness
+of character, and his fertility of resource, was admirably suited to be
+the leader of the Scottish Church in that arduous struggle in which it
+was about to embark.[221]
+
+ [220] 'During the two years following the death of Knox, each day was
+ ripening the more determined opposition of the Church. The breach
+ between the clergy with the great body of the people, and the
+ government or higher nobility, was widening rapidly.' _Argyll's
+ Presbytery Examined_, p. 70.
+
+ [221] 'Next to her Reformer, who, under God, emancipated her from the
+ degrading shackles of papal superstition and tyranny, I know no
+ individual from whom Scotland has received such important
+ services, or to whom she continues to owe so deep a debt of
+ national respect and gratitude, as Andrew Melville.' _M'Crie's
+ Life of Andrew Melville_, vol. ii. p. 473, Edinburgh, 1819. His
+ nephew, himself a considerable person, says, 'Scotland receavit
+ never a graitter benefit at the hands of God nor this man.' _The
+ Autobiography of James Melvill_, p. 38.
+
+In 1574, Melville, having completed his education abroad, arrived in
+Scotland.[222] He quickly rallied round him the choicest spirits in the
+Church; and, under his auspices, a struggle began with the civil power,
+which continued, with many fluctuations, until it culminated, sixty years
+later, in open rebellion against Charles I. To narrate all the details of
+the contest, would be inconsistent with the plan of this Introduction;
+and, notwithstanding the extreme interest of the events which now ensued,
+the greater part of them must be omitted; but I will endeavour to
+indicate the general march, and to put the reader in possession of such
+facts as are most characteristic of the age in which they occurred.
+
+ [222] He left Scotland in 1564, at the age of nineteen, and returned 'in
+ the beginning of July 1574, after an absence of ten years from his
+ native country.' _M'Crie's Life of Andrew Melville_, vol. i. pp.
+ 17, 57. See also _Scot's Apologetical Narration of the State of
+ the Kirk of Scotland_, edit. Wodrow Society, p. 34; and _Howie's
+ Biographia Scoticana_, p. 111, Glasgow, 1781.
+
+Melville had not been in Scotland many months, before he began his
+opposition, at first by secret intrigues, afterwards with open and avowed
+hostility.[223] In the time of Knox, episcopacy had been recognized as
+part of the Protestant Church, and had received the sanction of the
+leading Reformers.[224] But that institution did not harmonize with the
+democratic spirit which was now growing up. The difference of ranks
+between the bishops and the inferior clergy was unpleasant, and the
+ministers determined to put an end to it.[225] In 1575, one of them,
+named John Dury, was instigated, by Melville, to bring the subject before
+the General Assembly at Edinburgh.[226] After he had spoken, Melville
+also expressed himself against episcopacy; but, not being yet sure of the
+temper of the audience, his first proceedings were somewhat cautious.
+Such hesitation was, however, hardly necessary; for, owing to the schism
+between the Church and the upper classes, the ministers were becoming the
+eager enemies of those maxims of obedience, and of subordination, which
+they would have upheld, had the higher ranks been on their side. As it
+was, the clergy were only favoured by the people; they, therefore, sought
+to organize a system of equality, and were ripe for the bold measures
+proposed by Melville and his followers. This was clearly shown, by the
+rapidity of the subsequent movement. In 1575, the first attack was made
+in the General Assembly at Edinburgh. In April 1578, another General
+Assembly resolved, that, for the future, bishops should be called by
+their own names, and not by their titles.[227] The same body also
+declared, that no see should be filled up, until the next Assembly.[228]
+Two months afterwards, it was announced that this arrangement was to be
+perpetual, and that no new bishop should ever be made.[229] And, in 1580,
+the Assembly of the Church at Dundee, pulling the whole fabric to the
+ground, unanimously resolved that the office of bishop was a mere human
+invention; that it was unlawful; that it must be immediately done away
+with; and that every bishop should at once resign his office, or be
+excommunicated if he refuse to do so.[230]
+
+ [223] He appears to have first set to work in November 1574. See
+ _Stephen's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 261,
+ London, 1848.
+
+ [224] 'The compilers of the Book of Discipline' (_i.e._ the First Book,
+ in 1560) 'were distinguished by prelatical principles to the end
+ of their days.' ... 'That Knox himself was no enemy to prelacy,
+ considered as an ancient and apostolical institution, is rendered
+ clear by his "Exhortation to England for the speedy embracing of
+ Christ's Gospel."' _Russell's History of the Church in Scotland_,
+ 1834, vol. i. p. 240. 'The associates of Knox, it is obvious, were
+ not Presbyterians, and had no intention of setting up a system of
+ parity among the ministers of their new establishment.' p. 243.
+ See also p. 332. Even in 1572, the year of Knox's death, I find it
+ stated that 'the whole Diocie of Sanct Andrews is decerned be the
+ Assembly to pertain to the Bishop of the same.' _Acts and
+ Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland_,
+ vol. i. p. 264, 4to. 1839. The Scotch Presbyterians have dealt
+ very unfairly with this part of the history of their Church.
+
+ [225] Some little time after this, David Fergusson, who died in 1598,
+ and was minister at Dunfermline, said very frankly to James VI.,
+ 'Yes, Sir, ye may have Bishops here, but _ye must remember to make
+ us all equall_; make us all Bishops, els will ye never content
+ us.' _Row's History of the Kirk of Scotland from 1558 to 1637_,
+ edit. Wodrow Society, p. 418. Compare _Calderwood's History of the
+ Kirk_, vol. iv. p. 214: in 1584 'these monstruous titles of
+ superioritie.' In 1586, 'that tyrannicall supremacie of bishops
+ and archbishops over ministers.' p. 604.
+
+ [226] 'He stirred up John Dury, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, in an
+ Assembly which was then convened, to propound a question touching
+ the lawfulness of the episcopal function, and the authority of
+ chapters in their election. He himself, as though he had not been
+ acquainted with the motion, after he had commended the speaker's
+ zeal, and seconded the purpose with a long discourse of the
+ flourishing estate of the church of Geneva, and the opinions of
+ Calvin and Theodore Beza concerning church government, came to
+ affirm, "That none ought to be esteemed office-bearers in the
+ Church whose titles were not found in the book of God. And, for
+ the title of bishops, albeit the same was found in Scripture, yet
+ was it not to be taken in the sense that the common sort did
+ conceive, there being no superiority allowed by Christ amongst
+ ministers,"' &c. _Spottiswoode's History of the Church of
+ Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 200. See also _Acts of the General
+ Assemblies_, vol. i. p. 331, where it appears that six bishops
+ were present on this memorable occasion. The question raised was,
+ 'Whither if the Bischops, as they are now in the Kirk of Scotland,
+ hes thair function of the word of God or not, or if the Chapiter
+ appointit for creating of them aucht to be tollerated in this
+ reformed Kirk.' p. 340.
+
+ [227] 'It was ordained, That Bischops and all vthers bearand
+ Ecclesiasticall functioun, be callit bethair awin names, or
+ Brethren, in tyme comeing.' _Acts of the General Assemblies of the
+ Kirk of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 404.
+
+ [228] 'Therfor the Kirk hes concludit, That no Bischops salbe electit or
+ made heirafter, befor the nixt Generall Assemblie.' _Ibid._
+ vol. ii. p. 408.
+
+ [229] 'Anent the Act made in the last Assemblie, the 28 of Aprile 1578,
+ concerning the electioun of Bischops, suspendit quhill this
+ present Assemblie, and the farther ordour reservit thereto: The
+ General Assemblie, all in ane voyce, hes concludit, That the said
+ act salbe extendit for all tymes to come, ay and quhill the
+ corruptioun of the Estate of Bischops be alluterlie tane away.'
+ _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 413.
+
+ [230] 'Forsameikle as the office of a Bischop, as it is now vsit, and
+ commounly takin within this realme, hes no sure warrand,
+ auctoritie, nor good ground out of the (Book and) Scriptures of
+ God; but is brocht in by the folie and corruptions of (men's)
+ invention, to the great overthrow of the Kirk of God: The haill
+ Assemblie of the Kirk, in ane voyce, after libertie givin to all
+ men to reason in the matter, _none opponing themselves in
+ defending the said pretendit office_, Finds and declares the
+ samein pretendit office, vseit and termeit, as is above said,
+ vnlaufull in the selfe, as haveand neither fundament, ground nor
+ warrant within the word of God: and ordaines, that all sick
+ persons as bruiks, or sall bruik heirafter the said office, salbe
+ chargeit simpliciter to demitt, quyt and leave of the samein, as
+ ane office quhervnto they are not callit be God; and siclyke to
+ desist and cease from all preaching, ministration of the
+ sacraments, or vsing any way the office of pastors, quhill they
+ receive _de novo_ admission from the Generall Assemblie, vnder the
+ paine of excommunicatioun to be denuncit agains them; quherin if
+ they be found dissobedient, or contraveine this act in any point,
+ the sentence of excommunicatioun, after dew admonitions, to be
+ execute agains them.' _Acts of the General Assemblies_, vol. ii.
+ p. 453.
+
+The minister and the people had now done their work, and, so far as they
+were concerned, had done it well.[231] But the same circumstances which
+made them desire equality, made the upper classes desire inequality.[232]
+A collision, therefore, was inevitable, and was hastened by this bold
+proceeding of the Church. Indeed, the preachers, supported by the people,
+rather courted a contest, than avoided it. They used the most
+inflammatory language against episcopacy; and, shortly before abolishing
+it, they completed, and presented to Parliament, the Second Book of
+Discipline, in which they flatly contradicted what they had asserted in
+their First Book of Discipline.[233] For this, they are often taunted
+with inconsistency.[234] But the charge is unjust. They were perfectly
+consistent; and they merely changed their maxims, that they might
+preserve their principles. Like every corporation, which has ever
+existed, whether spiritual or temporal, their supreme and paramount
+principle was to maintain their own power. Whether or not this is a good
+principle, is another matter; but all history proves that it is an
+universal one. And when the leaders of the Scotch Church found that it
+was at stake, and that the question at issue was, who should possess
+authority, they, with perfect consistency, abandoned opinions that they
+had formerly held, because they now perceived that those opinions were
+unfavourable to their existence as an independent body.
+
+ [231] As Calderwood triumphantly says, 'the office of bishops was
+ damned.' _History of the Kirk_, vol. iii. p. 469. 'Their whole
+ estat, both the spirituall and civill part, was damned.' p. 526.
+ James Melville (_Autobiography_, p. 52) says that, in consequence
+ of this achievement, his uncle Andrew 'gatt the nam of [Greek:
+ episkopomastix], _Episcoporum exactor_, the flinger out of
+ Bischopes.'
+
+ [232] Tytler (_History of Scotland_, vol. vi. p. 302) observes that,
+ while 'the great body of the burghers, and middle and lower
+ classes of the people,' were Presbyterians, 'a large proportion of
+ the nobility supported episcopacy.' Instead of 'a large
+ proportion,' he would not have been far wrong, if he had said
+ 'all.' Indeed, 'Melville himself says the whole peerage was
+ against him.' _Stephen's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol.
+ i. p. 269. Forbes ascribes the aristocratic movement against
+ presbytery to 'godles atheists,' who insisted 'that there could be
+ nothing so contrair to the nature of a monarchie,' &c., 'than that
+ paritie of authoritie in pastours.' _Forbes_, _Certaine Records
+ touching the Estate of the Kirk_, p. 349, edit. Wodrow Society.
+ See also p. 355. 'That Democratie (as they called it) whilk
+ allwayes behoved to be full of sedition and troubble to ane
+ Aristocratie, and so in end to a Monarchie.' The reader will
+ observe this important change in the attitude of classes in
+ Scotland. Formerly, the clergy had been the allies of the crown
+ against the nobles. Now, the nobles allied themselves with the
+ crown against the clergy. The clergy, in self-defence, had to ally
+ themselves with the people.
+
+ [233] On the difference between the two productions, there are some
+ remarks worth looking at, in _Argyll's Presbytery Examined_, 1848,
+ pp. 38-43. But this writer, though much freer from prejudice than
+ most Presbyterian authors, is unwilling to admit how completely
+ the Second Book of Discipline contradicts the First.
+
+ [234] By the Scotch episcopalians.
+
+When the First Book of Discipline appeared, in 1560, the government was
+in the hands of the nobles, who had just fought on the side of the
+Protestant preachers, and were ready to fight again on their side. When
+the Second Book of Discipline appeared, in 1578, the government was still
+held by the nobles; but those ambitious men had now thrown off the mask,
+and, having effected their purpose in destroying the old hierarchy, had
+actually turned round, and attacked the new one. The circumstances having
+changed, the Church changed with them; but in the change there was
+nothing inconsistent. On the contrary, it would have been the height of
+inconsistency for the ministers to have retained their former notions of
+obedience and of subordination; and it was perfectly natural that, at
+this crisis, they should advocate the democratic idea of equality, just
+as before they had advanced the aristocratic idea of inequality.
+
+Hence it was, that, in their First Book of Discipline, they established a
+regularly ascending hierarchy, according to which the general clergy owed
+obedience to their ecclesiastical superiors, to whom the name of
+superintendents was given.[235] But, in the Second Book of Discipline,
+every vestige of this was swept away; and it was laid down in the
+broadest terms, that all the preachers being fellow-labourers, all were
+equal in power; that none had authority over others; and that, to claim
+such authority, or to assert preeminence, was a contrivance of man, not
+to be permitted in a divinely constituted Church.[236]
+
+ [235] See the _First Book of Discipline_, reprinted in the first volume
+ of _A Compendium of the Laws of the Church of Scotland_, 2d edit.,
+ Edinburgh, 1837. The superintendents were 'to set, order, and
+ appoint ministers,' p. 61; and it would seem (p. 88) that no
+ minister could be deposed without the consent of his
+ superintendent; but this could hardly be intended to interfere
+ with the supreme authority of the General Assembly. See also the
+ summary, p. 114, where it is said of the superintendents, that 'in
+ thair visitatioun thei sal not onlie preiche, but als examine the
+ doctrine, life, diligence, and behavior of the ministeris,
+ reideris, elderis, and deaconis.' According to Spottiswoode
+ (_History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 167), 'the
+ superintendents held their office during life, and their power was
+ episcopal; for they did elect and ordain ministers, they presided
+ in synods, and directed all church censures, neither was any
+ excommunication pronounced without their warrant.' See further, on
+ their authority, _Knox's History of the Reformation_, vol. ii. p.
+ 161. 'That punyschment suld be appointed for suche as dissobeyid
+ or contemned the superintendentes in thair functioun.' This was in
+ 1561; and, in 1562, 'It was ordained, that if ministers be
+ disobedient to superintendents in anything belonging to
+ edification, they must be subject to correction.' _Acts of the
+ General Assemblies of the Kirk_, vol. i. p. 14. Compare p. 131:
+ 'sick things as superintendents may and aught decyde in their
+ synodall conventiouns.'
+
+ [236] 'For albeit the Kirk of God be rewlit and governit be Jesus Christ,
+ who is the onlie King, hie Priest, and Heid thereof, yit he useis
+ the ministry of men, as the most necessar middis for this
+ purpose.' ... 'And to take away all occasion of tyrannie, he
+ willis that they sould rewl with mutuall consent of brether and
+ _equality of power_, every one according to thair functiones.'
+ _Second Book of Discipline_, in _A Compendium of the Laws of the
+ Church of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 126, 127. 'As to Bischops, if the
+ name [Greek: episkopos] be properly taken, _they ar all ane with
+ the ministers_, as befoir was declairit. For it is _not a name of
+ superioritie and lordschip_, bot of office and watching.' p. 142.
+ To understand the full meaning of this, it should be mentioned,
+ that the superintendents, established by the Kirk in 1560, not
+ unfrequently assumed the title of 'Lordship,' as an ornament to
+ the extensive powers conferred upon them. See, for instance, the
+ notes to _Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives of the Reformers of
+ the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. part ii. p. 461. But, in the
+ Second Book of Discipline, in 1578, the superintendents are, if I
+ rightly remember, not even once named.
+
+The government, as may be supposed, took a very different view. Such
+doctrines were deemed, by the upper classes, to be anti-social, and to be
+subversive of all order.[237] So far from sanctioning them, they
+resolved, if possible, to overthrow them; and, the year after the General
+Assembly had abolished episcopacy, it was determined that, upon that very
+point, a trial of strength should be made between the two parties.
+
+ [237] Just as in England, we find that the upper classes are mostly
+ Episcopalians; their minds being influenced, often unconsciously,
+ by the, to them, pleasing spectacle of an inequality of rank,
+ which is conventional, and does not depend upon ability. On the
+ other hand, the strength of the Dissenters lies among the middle
+ and lower classes, where energy and intellect are held in higher
+ respect, and where a contempt naturally arises for a system,
+ which, at the mere will of the sovereign or minister of the day,
+ concedes titles and wealth to persons whom nature did not intend
+ for greatness, but who, to the surprise of their contemporaries,
+ have greatness thrust upon them. On this difference of opinion in
+ Scotland, corresponding to the difference of social position, see
+ the remarks on the seventeenth century, in _Hume's Commentaries on
+ the Law of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 544, Edinburgh, 1797, 4to.
+
+In 1581, Robert Montgomery was appointed archbishop of Glasgow. The
+ministers who composed the chapter of Glasgow refused to elect him;
+whereupon the Privy Council declared that the King, by virtue of his
+prerogative, had the right of nomination.[238] All was now confusion and
+uproar. The General Assembly forbad the archbishop to enter
+Glasgow.[239] He refused to obey their order, and threw himself upon the
+support of the Duke of Lennox, who had obtained the appointment for him,
+and to whom he, in return, had surrendered nearly all the revenues of the
+see, reserving for himself only a small stipend.[240] This was a custom
+which had grown up within the last few years, and was one of many
+contrivances by which the nobles plundered the Church of her
+property.[241]
+
+ [238] Record of Privy Council, in _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. i.
+ p. 267. 'The brethrein of Glasgow were charged, under paine of
+ horning, to admitt Mr. Robert Montgomrie.' _Calderwood's History
+ of the Kirk_, vol. iii. p. 596.
+
+ [239] 'Charges the said Mr. Robert to continue in the ministrie of the
+ Kirk of Striveling,' &c. _Acts of the General Assemblies_, vol.
+ ii. p. 547. This was in October 1581; the Record of the Privy
+ Council was in April 1582. Moysie, who was a contemporary, says
+ that, in March 1581, 2, not only the dean and chapter, but all the
+ clergy (the 'haill ministrie') declared from the pulpit that
+ Montgomery's appointment 'had the warrand of the deuill and not of
+ the word of God, bot wes damnit thairby.' _Moysie's Memoirs_,
+ Edinburgh, 1830, 4to, p. 36.
+
+ [240] 'The title whereof the said duke had procured to him, that he,
+ having the name of bishop, and eight hundred merks money for his
+ living and sustentatioun, the whole rents, and other duteis of the
+ said benefice, might come to the duke's utilitie and behove.'
+ _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. iv. p. 111. See also p.
+ 401.
+
+ [241] _Scot's Apologetical Narration of the State of the Kirk_, pp. 24,
+ 25. _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. iii. p. 302.
+ _Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives of the Reformers_, vol. i.
+ part i. p. 206. _Lyon's History of St. Andrews_, vol. i. p. 379.
+ _Gibson's History of Glasgow_, p. 59. _Hume's History of the House
+ of Douglas_, vol. ii. pp. 216, 217. _Chalmers' Caledonia_,
+ vol. iii. p. 624.
+
+This, however, was not the question now at issue.[242] The point to be
+decided was one, not of revenue, but of power. For the clergy knew full
+well, that if they established their power, the revenue would quickly
+follow. They, therefore, adopted the most energetic proceedings. In April
+1582, the General Assembly met at St. Andrews, and appointed Melville as
+Moderator.[243] The government, fearing the worst, ordered the members,
+on pain of rebellion, to take no steps respecting the archbishopric.[244]
+But the representatives of the Church were undaunted. They summoned
+Montgomery before them; they ratified the sentence by which he had been
+suspended from the ministry; and they declared that he had incurred the
+penalties of despotism and of excommunication.[245]
+
+ [242] 'But the Church passing this point' (_i.e._ the simony) 'made
+ quarrel to him for accepting the bishopric.' _Spottiswoode's
+ History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 282.
+
+ [243] _Acts of the General Assemblies of the Kirk_, vol. ii. p. 548.
+
+ [244] 'A messenger-at-arms entered the house, and charged the moderator
+ and members of the assembly, on the pain of rebellion, to desist
+ from the process.' _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. i. p. 268.
+
+ [245] 'The Assemblie and brether present, after voteing in the said
+ matter, depryvit the said Mr. Robert from all functioun of the
+ Ministrie in the Kirk of God, dureing the will of the Kirk of God;
+ and farther, descernit the fearefull sentence of excommunicatioun
+ to be pronuncit against him in the face of the haill Assemblie, be
+ the voyce and mouth of the Moderatour present; to the effect,
+ that, _his proud flesh being cast into the hands of Satan_, he may
+ be win againe, if it be possible, to God; and the said sentence
+ (to) be intimat be every particular minister, at his awin
+ particular kirk, solemnelie in the first sermoun to be made be
+ them, after thair returning.' _Acts of the General Assemblies of
+ the Kirk_, vol. ii. p. 562.
+
+A sentence of excommunication was, in those days, so ruinous, that
+Montgomery was struck with terror at the prospect before him. To avoid
+the consequences, he appeared before the Assembly, and solemnly promised
+that he would make no further attempt to possess himself of the
+archbishopric.[246] By doing this, he probably saved his life; for the
+people, siding with their clergy, were ripe for mischief, and were
+determined, at all hazards, to maintain what they considered to be the
+rights of the Church, in opposition to the encroachments of the State.
+
+ [246] _Ibid._, vol. ii. p. 565. Calderwood (_History of the Kirk_,
+ vol. iii. p. 604) says, 'After long reluctatioun, at lenth he
+ condescended.'
+
+The government, on the other hand, was equally resolute.[247] The Privy
+Council called several of the ministers before them; and Dury, one of the
+most active, they banished from Edinburgh.[248] Measures still more
+violent were about to be taken, when they were interrupted by one of
+those singular events which not unfrequently occurred in Scotland, and
+which strikingly evince the inherent weakness of the Crown,
+notwithstanding the inordinate pretensions it commonly assumed.
+
+ [247] M'Crie (_Life of Melville_, vol. i. p. 274) says, 'In all these
+ contendings, the ministers had no countenance or support from any
+ of the nobility.' It would have been strange if they had, seeing
+ that the whole movement was essentially democratic.
+
+ [248] Melville's _Autobiography_, p. 129. _Calderwood's History of the
+ Kirk_, vol. iii. p. 620. _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. i.
+ p. 270.
+
+This was the Raid of Ruthven, which happened in 1582, and in consequence
+of which the person of James VI. was held in durance for ten months.[249]
+The clergy, true to the policy which now governed them, loudly approved
+of the captivity of the king, and pronounced it to be a godly act.[250]
+Dury, who had been driven from his pulpit, was brought back to the
+capital in triumph;[251] and the General Assembly, meeting at Edinburgh,
+ordered that the imprisonment of James should be justified by every
+minister to his own congregation.[252]
+
+ [249] He was seized in August 1582, and was let loose again in June 1583.
+ _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. vi. pp. 321, 360. It is a
+ pity that this valuable, and really able, work should be so
+ superficial in regard to the ecclesiastical affairs of Scotland.
+ Mr. Tytler appears not to have studied at all the proceedings of
+ the presbyteries, or even of the General Assemblies; neither does
+ he display any acquaintance with the theological literature of his
+ country. And yet, from the year 1560 to about 1700, these sources
+ disclose more of the genuine history of the Scotch people than all
+ other sources put together.
+
+ [250] 'The pulpit resounded with applauses of the godly deed.' _Arnot's
+ History of Edinburgh_, p. 37.
+
+ [251] 'As he is comming from Leith to Edinburgh, upon Tuisday the 4th of
+ September, there mett him at the Gallow Greene two hundreth men of
+ the inhabitants of Edinburgh. Their number still increased, till
+ he came within the Neather Bow. There they beganne to sing the 124
+ Psalme, "Now may Israel say," &c, and sang in foure parts, knowne
+ to the most part of the people. They came up the street till they
+ came to the Great Kirk, singing thus all the way, to the number of
+ two thowsand. They were muche moved themselves, and so were all
+ the beholders. The duke was astonished, and more affrayed at that
+ sight than at anie thing that ever he had seene before in
+ Scotland, and rave his beard for anger.' _Calderwood's History of
+ the Kirk_, vol. iii. pp. 646, 647.
+
+ [252] _Acts of the General Assemblies_, vol. ii. pp. 595, 596. This was
+ ordered by the General Assembly which met at Edinburgh on the 9th
+ of October 1582, p. 585. See also _Watson's Historicall
+ Collections of Ecclesiastick Affairs in Scotland_, p. 192,
+ 'requiring the ministers in all their churches to commend it unto
+ the people.'
+
+In 1583, the king recovered his liberty, and the struggle became more
+deadly than ever; the passions of both parties being exasperated by the
+injuries each had inflicted on the other. The Ruthven conspiracy, having
+been declared treason, as it undoubtedly was, Dury preached in its
+favour, and openly defended it; and although, under the influence of
+momentary fear, he afterwards withdrew what he had said,[253] it was
+evident, from other circumstances, that his feelings were shared by his
+brethren.[254] A number of them being summoned before the king for their
+seditious language, bad him take heed what he was about, and reminded him
+that no occupant of the throne had ever prospered after the ministers had
+begun to threaten him.[255] Melville, who exercised immense influence
+over both clergy and people, bearded the king to his face, refused to
+account for what he had delivered in the pulpit, and told James that he
+perverted the laws both of God and of man.[256] Simpson likened him to
+Cain, and warned him to beware of the wrath of God.[257] Indeed, the
+spirit now displayed by the Church was so implacable, that it seemed to
+delight in venting itself in the most repulsive manner. In 1585, a
+clergyman, named Gibson, in a sermon which he preached in Edinburgh,
+denounced against the king the curse of Jeroboam, that he should die
+childless, and that his race should end with him.[258] The year after
+this happened, James, finding that Elizabeth was evidently determined to
+take his mother's life, bethought him of what was valued in that age as
+an unfailing resource, and desired the clergy to offer up prayers on
+behalf of Mary. This, they almost unanimously refused.[259] And not only
+did they abstain from supplication themselves, but they resolved that no
+one else should do what they had declined. The archbishop of Saint
+Andrews being about to officiate before the king, they induced a certain
+John Cowper to station himself in the pulpit beforehand, so as to exclude
+the prelate. Nor was it until the captain of the guard threatened to pull
+Cowper from the place he had usurped, that the service could go on, and
+the king be allowed to hear his own mother prayed for, in this sad crisis
+of her fate, when it was still uncertain whether she would be publicly
+executed, or whether, as was more generally believed, she would be
+secretly poisoned.[260]
+
+ [253] _Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. ii.
+ p. 308.
+
+ [254] James, after his escape, 'convocat all his peaceabill Prelatis and
+ Nobles, and thair he notefeit unto thayme the greif that he
+ consavit of his unlaughfull detentioun the yeir bygayne, and
+ tharefore desyrit thame to acknawlege the same; and thay be thair
+ generall voittis decernit the rayd of Ruthven to be manifest
+ treasoun. The Ministers on the uther part, perswadit the people
+ that it was a godly fact, and that whasoever wald not allow
+ thareof in his hart, was not worthie to be estemit a Christien.'
+ _The Historie of King James the Sext_, p. 202, published by the
+ Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, 1825, 4to.
+
+ [255] 'Disregard not our threatening; for there was never one yet in this
+ realm, in the place where your grace is, who prospered after the
+ ministers began to threaten him.' _Tytler's History of Scotland_,
+ vol. vi. p. 364. See also, in _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_,
+ vol. v. pp. 540, 541, a letter from one of the clergy in Fife,
+ addressed to the king, in 1597. 'And now, Sir, lett me be free
+ with you in writting other men's reports, and that of the wisest
+ politicians. They say, our bygane historeis report, and experience
+ teacheth, that _raro et fere nunquam_ has a king and a prince
+ continued long together in this realme; for _Filius ante diem
+ patrios inquirit in annos_. And they say, Sir, farther, that
+ whatsoever they were of your Majestie's predecessors in
+ governement that oppouned themselves directlie or indirectlie to
+ God's ordinance in his Kirk, it has beene their wracke and
+ subversioun in the end. I might herein be more particular; but I
+ leave it to your Majestie's owne grave and modest consideratioun,
+ for it concerneth you most neere.'
+
+ [256] 'Saying, "He perverted the laws both of God and man."'
+ _Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. ii.
+ p. 309. Also _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. vi. p. 371.
+
+ [257] 'Mr. Patrick Simson, preaching before the king upon Gen. iv. 9,
+ "The Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel, thy brother?" said to the
+ king, before the congregation, "Sir, I assure you, in God's name,
+ the Lord will ask at you where is the Earl of Moray, your
+ brother?" The king replyed, before all the congregation, "Mr.
+ Patrik, my chalmer doore wes never steeked upon you: ye might have
+ told me anything ye thought in secret." He replyed, "Sir, the
+ scandall is publict."' _Row's History of the Kirk_, p. 144.
+ 'Having occasion, _anno_ 1593, to preach before the king, he
+ publicly exhorted him to beware that he drew not the wrath of God
+ upon himself in patronizing a manifest breach of divine laws.'
+ _Howie's Biographia Scoticana_, p. 120.
+
+ [258] 'Saying, "That Captain James, with his lady Jesabel, and William
+ Stewart (meaning the colonel), were taken to be the persecutors of
+ the Church; but that now it was seen to be the king himself,
+ against whom he denounced the curse that fell on Jeroboam--that he
+ would die childless, and be the last of his race."'
+ _Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. ii.
+ p. 335.
+
+ [259] 'The king, perceiving by all these letters, that the death of his
+ mother was determined, called back his ambassadors, and at home
+ gave order to the ministers to remember her in their public
+ prayers, which they denied to do.' ... 'Upon their denial, charges
+ were directed to command all bishops, ministers, and other
+ office-bearers in the Church to make mention of her distress in
+ their public prayers, and commend her to God in the form
+ appointed. But of all the number only Mr. David Lindsay at Leith
+ and the king's own ministers gave obedience.' _Spottiswoode's
+ History of the Church_, vol. ii. pp. 355, 356. 'They, with only
+ one exception, refused to comply.' _Russell's History of the
+ Church in Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 23. Compare _Watson's Historicall
+ Collections of Ecclesiastick Affairs in Scotland_, p. 208; and
+ _Historie of James the Sext_, p. 225.
+
+ [260] 'They stirred up Mr. John Cowper, a young man not entered as yet in
+ the function, to take the pulpit before the time, and exclude the
+ bishop. The king coming at the hour appointed, and seeing him in
+ the place, called to him from his seat, and said, "Mr. John, that
+ place is destined for another; yet since you are there, if you
+ will obey the charge that is given, and remember my mother in your
+ prayers, you shall go on." He replying, "that he would do as the
+ Spirit of God should direct him," was commanded to leave the
+ place: and making as though he would stay, the captain of the
+ guard went to pull him out; whereupon he burst forth in these
+ speeches: "This day shall be a witness against the king in the
+ great day of the Lord:" and then denouncing a wo to the
+ inhabitants of Edinburgh, he went down, and the bishop of St.
+ Andrews entering the pulpit did perform the duty required.'
+ _Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. ii. p.
+ 356. 'The Kingis Majestie, to testifie his earnest and naturall
+ affection to his mother, causit pray for hir oppinly efter him
+ selff; quhairvpone arrose a great dissensioun betuix sum of the
+ ministrie and his Majestie, namely the ministrie of Edinburgh.
+ Quhairvpone the king appoynted Patrik, archbischop of St. Androis
+ to teache, bot he wes preuented be Mr. John Covpar minister, quho
+ come befoir and filled the pulpit. And as the said Mr. John wes
+ beginnand the prayer, the Kingis Majestie commandit him to stay:
+ so as Mr. John raschit michtely vpone the pulpit, saying, "This
+ day sail bear witnes aganis yow in the day of the lord: woe be to
+ ye Edinburgh, for the last of xi plaiges salbe the worst."'
+ _Moysie's Memoirs_, p. 59.
+
+In 1594, John Ross stated in the pulpit, that the advisers of the king
+were all traitors, and that the king himself was likewise a traitor. He
+was also a rebel and a reprobate. That such should be the case, was not
+surprising, considering the parentage of James. For, his mother was a
+Guise, and a persecutor of the saints. He avoided open persecution, and
+spoke them fair; but his deeds did not correspond to his words; and, so
+great was his dissimulation, that he was the most arrant hypocrite then
+living in Scotland.[261]
+
+ [261] See _The Historie of King James the Sext_, pp. 316-318, from 'a
+ just copie of his sermon' supplied by Ross himself. 'His text was
+ upon the 6 chapter of the Prophet Jeremias, verse 28. "Brethren,
+ we have manie, and almaist innumerable enormiteis in this cuntrie
+ to be lamentit, as the misgovernement of our king be sinistrous
+ counsall of sum particular men. They ar all rebellious traitors,
+ evin the king the maist singular person, and particularlie everie
+ estait of the land." ... "Our king in sindrie poyntis hes bene
+ rebellious aganis the Majestie of God." ... "To this howre, we gat
+ never gude of the Guysien blude, for Queyne Marie his mother was
+ an oppin persecutor of the sanctis of God, and althoght the king
+ be not an oppin persecutor, we have had many of his fayre wordis,
+ wharein he is myghtie aneugh, bot for his gude deiddis, I commend
+ me to thayme." ... "Admit, that our king be a Christien king, yit
+ but amen dement, he is a reprobat king. Of all the men in this
+ nation, the king himself is the maist fynest, and maist
+ dissembling hypocreit."' A very short notice of this sermon is
+ given by Calderwood (_History of the Kirk_, vol. v. p. 299), who
+ probably had not seen the original notes.
+
+In 1596, David Black, one of the most influential of the Protestant
+ministers, delivered a sermon, which made much noise. He said, in his
+discourse, that all kings were children of the devil; but that in
+Scotland the head of the court was Satan himself. The members of the
+council, he added, were cormorants, and the lords of the session
+miscreants. The nobility had degenerated: they were godless; they were
+dissemblers; they were the enemies of the Church. As to the queen of
+England, she was nothing but an atheist. And as to the queen of Scotland,
+all he would say was, that they might pray for her if they list, and
+because it was the fashion to do so; but that there was no reason for
+it, inasmuch as no good would ever come from her to them.[262]
+
+ [262] The accusation, which was fully proved, was, that 'he had
+ publictlie sayd in pulpit, that the papist erles wes come home be
+ the kingis knavledge and consent, quhairin his Hienes treacherie
+ wes detectit; that all kingis war deuilis and come of deuilis;
+ that the deuill wes the head of the court and in the court; that
+ he pray it for the Queine of Scotland for the faschione, because
+ he saw na appearance of guid in hir tyme,' _Moysie's Memoirs_, p.
+ 128. 'Having been heard to affirm, that the popish lords had
+ returned into the country by the king's permission, and that
+ thereby the king had discovered the "treacherous hypocrisy of his
+ heart" that "all kings were the devil's bairns, and that the devil
+ was in the court, and the guiders of it." He was proved to have
+ used in his prayer these indecent words, when speaking of the
+ queen, "We must pray for her for fashion's sake; but we might as
+ well not, for she will never do us any good," He called the queen
+ of England an atheist, and the Lords of Session _bribers_; and
+ said that the nobility at large "were degenerate, godless,
+ dissemblers, and enemies to the church."' _Grierson's History of
+ Saint Andrews_, p. 30, Cupar, 1838. Among the charges against him
+ were, 'Fourthly, that he had called the queen of England an
+ atheist. Fifthly, that he had discussed a suspension granted by
+ the lords of session in pulpit, and called them miscreants and
+ bribers. Sixthly, that, speaking of the nobility, he said they
+ were "degenerated, godless, dissemblers, and enemies to the
+ church." Likewise, speaking of the council, that he had called
+ them "holiglasses, cormorants, and men of no religion."'
+ _Spottiswoode's History of the Church_, vol. iii. p. 21.
+
+For preaching this sermon, Black was summoned by the privy-council. He
+refused to attend, because it was for a spiritual tribunal, and not for a
+temporal one, to take notice of what was uttered in the pulpit. The
+Church, to be sure, he would obey; but, having received his message from
+God, he was bound to deliver it, and it would be a dereliction of duty,
+if he were to allow the civil power to judge such matters.[263] The
+king, greatly enraged, ordered Black to be cast into prison; and it is
+difficult to see what other course was open to him; though it was certain
+that neither this, nor any measure he could adopt, would tame the
+indomitable spirit of the Scotch Church.[264]
+
+ [263] See the original papers on 'The Declinatour of the King and
+ Counsel's Judicatour in Maters Spirituall, namelie in Preaching of
+ the Word,' in _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. v. pp.
+ 457-459, 475-480. Tytler (_History of Scotland_, vol. vii. pp.
+ 326-332) has given extracts from them, and made some remarks on
+ their obvious tendency. See also on the Declinature of
+ Jurisdiction claimed by the Scotch Church, _Hallam's
+ Constitutional History_, 4th edit. 1842, vol. ii. p. 461; and
+ _Mackenzie's Laws and Customs of Scotland in Matters Criminal_,
+ Edinburgh, 1699, folio, pp. 181, 182.
+
+ [264] M'Crie, in his _Life of Melville_, vol. ii. pp. 70 seq., has given
+ an account of the punishment of Black, but, as usual, conceals the
+ provocation; or, at least, softens it down until it hardly becomes
+ a provocation. According to him, 'David Black had been served with
+ a summons to answer before the privy council for certain
+ expressions used by him in his sermons.' Certain expressions,
+ indeed! But why name the penalty, and suppress the offence? This
+ learned writer knew perfectly well what Black had done, and yet
+ all the information bestowed on the reader is a note at p. 72,
+ containing a mutilated extract from Spottiswoode.
+
+In December the same year, the Church proclaimed a fast; and Welsh
+preached in Edinburgh a sermon, with the view of rousing the people
+against their rulers. The king, he told his audience, had formerly been
+possessed by a devil, and that devil being put out, seven worse ones had
+come in its place. It was, therefore, evident that James was demented,
+and it became lawful to take the sword of justice from his hands; just as
+it would be lawful for servants or children to seize the head of their
+family, if it had pleased heaven to afflict him with madness. In such
+case, the preacher observed, it would be right to lay hold of the madman,
+and to tie him hand and foot, that he might do no further harm.[265]
+
+ [265] 'Saying, "He was possessed with a devil; that one devil being put
+ out, seven worse were entered in place; and that the subjects
+ might lawfully rise, and take the sword out of his hand:" which he
+ confirmed by the example of a father that falling into a frenzy,
+ might be taken by the children and servants of the family, and
+ tied hand and foot from doing violence.' _Spottiswoode's History
+ of the Church of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 34. See also _Arnot's
+ History of Edinburgh_, pp. 46, 47.
+
+The hatred felt by the clergy was at this period so bitter, and the
+democratic spirit in them so strong,[266] that they seemed unable to
+restrain themselves; and Andrew Melville, in an audience with the king,
+in 1596, proceeded to personal insults, and, seizing him by the sleeve,
+called him God's silly vassal.[267] The large amount of truth contained
+in this bitter taunt, increased its pungency. But the ministers did not
+always confine themselves to words.[268] Their participation in the
+Ruthven conspiracy is unquestionable; and it is probable that they were
+privy to the last great peril to which James was exposed, before he
+escaped from that turbulent land, which he was believed to govern.
+Certain it is, that the Earl of Gowrie, who, in 1600, entrapped the king
+into his castle in order to murder him, was the hope and the mainstay of
+the Presbyterian clergy, and was intimately associated with their
+ambitious schemes.[269] Such, indeed, was their infatuation on behalf of
+the assassin, that, when his conspiracy was defeated, and he himself
+slain, several of the ministers propagated a report that Gowrie had
+fallen a victim to the royal perfidy, and that, in point of fact, the
+only plot which ever existed was one concocted by the king, with fatal
+art, against his mild and innocent host.[270]
+
+ [266] This did not escape the attention of the English government; and
+ Elizabeth, who was remarkably well informed respecting Scotch
+ affairs, wrote to James, in 1590, a warning, which was hardly
+ necessary, but which must have added to his fears. 'And lest fayre
+ semblance, that easely may begile, do not brede your ignorance of
+ suche persons as ether pretend religion or dissemble deuotion, let
+ me warne you that ther is risen, bothe in your realme and myne, a
+ secte of perilous consequence, suche as wold have no kings but a
+ presbitrye, and take our place while the inioy our privilege, with
+ a shade of Godes word, wiche none is juged to folow right without
+ by ther censure the be so demed. Yea, looke we wel unto them.'
+ _Letters of Elizabeth and James VI._, edited by John Bruce, Camden
+ Society, 1849, 4to, p. 63.
+
+ [267] The Reverend James Melville, who was present at the scene,
+ describes it with exuberant delight. 'To the quhilk, I beginning
+ to reply, in my maner, Mr. Andro doucht nocht abyd it, bot brak af
+ upon the king in sa zealus, powerfull, and unresistable a maner,
+ that whowbeit the king used his authoritie in maist crabbit and
+ colerik maner, yit Mr. Andro bure him down, and outtered the
+ Commission as from the mightie God, calling the king bot "God's
+ sillie vassall:" and taking him be the sleive,' &c. _Autobiography
+ and Diary of James Melvill_, p. 370. See also _Shields' Hind let
+ loose_, 1687, p. 52; and _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. ii.
+ p. 66.
+
+ [268] In 1593, 4, some of them formed a plot to seize him. See the
+ evidence from the State-paper Office, in _Tytler's History of
+ Scotland_, vol. vii. p. 249, edit. Edinburgh, 1845.
+
+ [269] 'He was the darling hope of the Presbyterian party.' _Ibid._,
+ vol. vii. p. 410.
+
+ [270] 'Gowry's conspiracy was by them charged on the king, as a
+ contrivance of his to get rid of that earl.' _Burnet's History of
+ his own Time_, edit. Oxford, 1823, vol. i. p. 31. See also
+ _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. vii. pp. 439, 440; and on the
+ diffusion of 'this absurd hallucination,' see The _Spottiswoode
+ Miscellany_, vol. ii. p. 320, Edinburgh, 1845.
+
+An absurdity of this sort[271] was easily believed in an ignorant, and,
+therefore, a credulous, age. That the clergy should have propagated it,
+and that in this, as in many other cases, they should have laboured with
+malignant industry to defame the character of their prince,[272] will
+astonish no one who knows how quickly the wrath of the Church can be
+roused, and how ready the spiritual classes always are to cover, even
+with the foulest calumny, those who stand in their way. The evidence
+which has been collected, proves that the Presbyterian ministers carried
+their violence against the constituted authorities of the state, to an
+indecent, if not to a criminal, length; and we cannot absolve them from
+the charge of being a restless and unscrupulous body, greedy after power,
+and grossly intolerant of whatever opposed their own views. Still, the
+real cause of their conduct was, the spirit of their age, and the
+peculiarities of their position. None of us can be sure that, if we were
+placed exactly as they were placed, we should have acted differently.
+Now, indeed, we cannot read of their proceedings, as they are recorded in
+their own Assemblies, and by the historians of their own Church, without
+an uneasy feeling of dislike, I had almost said of disgust, at finding
+ourselves in presence of so much of superstition, of chicanery, of low,
+sordid arts, and yet, withal, of arrogant and unbridled insolence. The
+truth, however, is, that in Scotland, the age was evil, and the evil
+rose to the surface. The times were out of joint, and it was hard to set
+them right. The long prevalence of anarchy, of ignorance, of poverty, of
+force, of fraud, of domestic tumult, and of foreign invasion, had reduced
+Scotland to a state which is scarcely possible for us to realize.
+Hereafter, I shall give some evidence of the effect which this produced
+on the national character, and of the serious mischief which it wrought.
+In the mean time, we should, in fairness to the Scotch clergy, admit that
+the condition of their country affords the best explanation of their
+conduct. Everything around them was low and coarse; the habits of men, in
+their daily life, were violent, brutal, and utterly regardless of common
+decency; and, as a natural consequence, the standard of human actions was
+so depressed, that upright and well-meaning persons did not shrink from
+doing what to us, in our advanced state of society, seems incredible. Let
+us, then, not be too rash in this matter. Let us not be too forward in
+censuring the leading actors in that great crisis through which Scotland
+passed, during the latter half of the sixteenth century. Much they did,
+which excites our strongest aversion. But one thing they achieved, which
+should make us honour their memory, and repute them benefactors of their
+species. At a most hazardous moment, they kept alive the spirit of
+national liberty.[273] What the nobles and the crown had put in peril,
+that did the clergy save. By their care, the dying spark was kindled into
+a blaze. When the light grew dim, and flickered on the altar, their hands
+trimmed the lamp, and fed the sacred flame. This is their real glory, and
+on this they may well repose. They were the guardians of Scotch freedom,
+and they stood to their post. Where danger was, they were foremost. By
+their sermons, by their conduct, both public and private, by the
+proceedings of their Assemblies, by their bold and frequent attacks upon
+persons, without regard to their rank, nay, even by the very insolence
+with which they treated their superiors, they stirred up the minds of
+men, woke them from their lethargy, formed them to habits of discussion,
+and excited that inquisitive and democratic spirit, which is the only
+effectual guarantee the people can ever possess against the tyranny of
+those who are set over them. This was the work of the Scotch clergy; and
+all hail to them who did it. It was they who taught their countrymen to
+scrutinize, with a fearless eye, the policy of their rulers. It was they
+who pointed the finger of scorn at kings and nobles, and laid bare the
+hollowness of their pretensions. They ridiculed their claims, and jeered
+at their mysteries. They tore the veil, and exposed the tricks of the
+scene which lay behind. The great ones of the earth, they covered with
+contempt; and those who were above them, they cast down. Herein, they did
+a deed which should compensate for all their offences, even were their
+offences ten times as great. By discountenancing that pernicious and
+degrading respect which men are too apt to pay to those whom accident,
+and not merit, has raised above them, they facilitated the growth of a
+proud and sturdy independence, which was sure to do good service at a
+time of need. And that time came quicker than any one had expected.
+Within a very few years, James became master of the resources of England,
+and attempted, by their aid, to subvert the liberties of Scotland. The
+shameful enterprise, which he began, was continued by his cruel and
+superstitious son. How their attempts failed; how Charles I., in the
+effort, shipwrecked his fortune, and provoked a rebellion, which brought
+to the scaffold that great criminal, who dared to conspire against the
+people, and who, as the common enemy and oppressor of all, was at length
+visited with the just punishment of his sins, is known to every reader of
+our history. It is also well known, that, in conducting the struggle, the
+English were greatly indebted to the Scotch, who had, moreover, the merit
+of being the first to lift their hand against the tyrant. What, however,
+is less known, but is undoubtedly true, is, that both nations owe a debt
+they can never repay to those bold men who, during the latter part of the
+sixteenth century, disseminated, from their pulpits and Assemblies,
+sentiments which the people cherished in their hearts, and which, at a
+fitting moment, they reproduced, to the dismay, and eventually to the
+destruction, of those who threatened their liberties.
+
+ [271] See a good note in _Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in Scotland_,
+ vol. ii. p. 179, Edinburgh, 1833, 4to. Compare _Lawson's Book of
+ Perth_, Edinburgh, 1847, p. xxxix.
+
+ [272] Their language, and their general bearing, so enraged James, as to
+ extort from him a passionate declaration, in 1592, that 'it would
+ not be weill till noblemen and gentlemen gott licence to breake
+ ministers' heads.' _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. v.
+ p. 148.
+
+ [273] 'At the period of which we speak' (about the year 1584) 'the
+ pulpit was, in fact, the only organ by which public opinion was,
+ or could be, expressed; and the ecclesiastical courts were the
+ only assemblies in the nation which possessed anything that was
+ entitled to the name of liberty or independence. Parliament had
+ its business prepared to its hand, and laid before it in the shape
+ of acts which required only its assent. Discussion and freedom of
+ speech were unknown in its meetings. The courts of justice were
+ dependent on the will of the sovereign, and frequently had their
+ proceedings regulated, and their decisions dictated, by letters or
+ messages from the throne. It was the preachers who first taught
+ the people to express an opinion on the conduct of their rulers;
+ and the assemblies of the Church set the earliest example of a
+ regular and firm opposition to the arbitrary and unconstitutional
+ measures of the court.' _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. i.
+ p. 302.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ CONDITION OF SCOTLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES.
+
+
+Scarcely had James mounted the throne of England, when he began
+seriously, and on a large scale, to attempt to subjugate the Scotch
+Church, which, as he clearly saw, was the principal obstacle that stood
+between him and despotic power. While he was merely King of Scotland, he
+made several efforts, which were constantly baffled; but now that he
+wielded the vast resources of England, the victory seemed easy.[274] As
+early as 1584, he had gained a temporary triumph, by forcing many of the
+clergy to recognize episcopacy.[275] But that institution was so
+repugnant to their levelling and democratic principles, that nothing
+could overcome their abhorrence of it;[276] and, completely overawing the
+king, they compelled him to give way, and to retrace his steps. The
+result was, that, in 1592, an Act of Parliament was passed, which
+subverted the authority of the bishops, and established Presbyterianism;
+a scheme based on the idea of equality, and, therefore, suited to the
+wants of the Scotch Church.[277]
+
+ [274] Lord Dartmouth says (Note in _Burnet's History of his own Time_,
+ vol. i. p. 15): 'The Earl of Seafield told me that King James
+ frequently declared that he never looked upon himself to be more
+ than King of Scotland in name, till he came to be King of England;
+ but now, he said, one kingdom would help him to govern the other,
+ or he had studied kingcraft to very little purpose from his cradle
+ to that time.' Compare _Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of
+ Hamilton_, Oxford, 1852, p. 36. 'No sooner was he happily settled
+ on the throne of England, but he went more roundly to work.'
+
+ [275] Compare _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. vi. p. 430, with
+ _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 303, Sec. 20;
+ also the Act (p. 293, Sec. 4), likewise in 1584, limiting the power
+ of the General Assemblies. James, who flattered himself that he
+ had now settled everything, signalized his triumph by personally
+ abusing the clergy; 'calling them lownes, smaicks, seditious
+ knaves, and so furth.' See a letter, dated 2nd of January 1585-6,
+ in _Miscellany of the Wodrow Society_, p. 438, Edinburgh, 1844.
+
+ [276] 'Bishops were alwayes looked at with a frown.' _Kirkton's History
+ of the Church of Scotland_, p. 129.
+
+ [277] See this remarkable statute, in _Acts of the Parliaments of
+ Scotland_, vol. iii. pp. 541, 2. As some of the historians of the
+ Scotch Church have greatly misrepresented it, I will quote that
+ part which expressly repeals the Act of 1584, in favour of the
+ bishops. 'Item oure said souerane lord and estaittis of Parliament
+ foirsaid, abrogatis cass and anullis the xx act of the same
+ pliam[=e]t haldin at Edinburgh the said zeir 1584 zeiris granting
+ c[=o]missioun to bishoppis and vtheris iuges constitute in
+ ecclesiastical causs To ressaue his hienes presentatioun to
+ benefices, To gif collatioun thairvpoun and to put ordo^r in all
+ causs ecclesiasticall qlk his Maiestie and estaittis foirsaid
+ declairis to be expyrit in the self and to be null in tyme cuming
+ and of nane availl force nor effect.'
+
+To this statute, James had assented with the greatest reluctance.[278]
+Indeed, his feeling respecting it was so strong, that he determined, on
+the first opportunity, to procure its repeal, even if he used force to
+effect his purpose. The course he adopted, was characteristic both of the
+man and of the age. In December 1596, one of those popular tumults arose
+in Edinburgh, which are natural in barbarous times, and which, under
+ordinary circumstances, would have been quelled, and nothing more thought
+of it.[279] But James availed himself of this, to strike what he deemed a
+decisive blow. His plan was nothing less than to turn into the capital of
+his own monarchy, large bodies of armed and licensed banditti, who, by
+threatening to plunder the city, should oblige the clergy and their
+flocks to agree to whatever terms he chose to dictate. This magnanimous
+scheme was well worthy of the mind of James, and it was strictly
+executed. From the north, he summoned the Highland nobles, and from the
+south, the border barons, who were to be accompanied by their fierce
+retainers,--men who lived by pillage, and whose delight it was to imbrue
+their hands in blood. At the express command of James, these ferocious
+brigands, on the 1st of January 1597, appeared in the streets of
+Edinburgh, gloating over the prospect before them, and ready, when their
+sovereign gave the word, to sack the capital, and raze it to the
+ground.[280] Resistance was hopeless. Whatever the king demanded, was
+conceded; and James supposed that the time was now come, in which he
+could firmly establish the authority of the bishops, and, by their aid,
+control the clergy, and break their refractory spirit.[281]
+
+ [278] 'The King repented after that he had agreed unto it.' _Calderwood's
+ History of the Kirk_, vol. v. p. 162. But this gives a faint idea
+ of his real feelings. It is perhaps hardly necessary to adduce
+ evidence of the opinions entertained on this point, by a prince,
+ one of whose favourite sayings was, 'No Bishop, no King.' The
+ reader will, however, find, in the _Clarendon State Papers_ (vol.
+ ii. p. 260 Oxford, 1773, folio), a letter from Charles I., which
+ is worth looking at, because it frankly avows that James, in
+ loving episcopacy and hating presbyterianism, was actuated rather
+ by political motives than by religious ones. Charles writes: 'The
+ prudentiall part of any consideration will never be found opposit
+ to the conscientious, nay heere, they go hand in hand; for
+ (according to lawyers lodgique) show me any president where ever
+ Presbiteriall government and Regall was together, without
+ perpetuall rebellions. _Which was the cause that necessitated the
+ King, my Father, to change that governement in Scotland._' Compare
+ what is said by a Scotch Presbyterian of the seventeenth century,
+ in _Biographies edited for the Wodrow Society_ by the Rev. W. K.
+ Tweedie, Edinburgh, 1845, vol. i. p. 13. 'The reason why King
+ James was so violent for bishops was neither their divine
+ institution (which he denied they had), nor yet the profit the
+ Church should reap by them (for he knew well both the men and
+ their communications), but merely because he believed they were
+ useful instruments to turn a limited monarchy into absolute
+ dominion, and subjects into slaves, the design in the world he
+ minded most.'
+
+ [279] 'Had it not been laid hold of by designing politicians as a handle
+ for accomplishing their measures, it would not now have been known
+ that such an event had ever occurred.' _M'Crie's Life of
+ Melville_, vol. ii. p. 85. 'Harmless as this uproar was, it
+ afforded the court a pretext for carrying into execution its
+ designs against the liberties and government of the Church.'
+ p. 89.
+
+ [280] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. vii. pp. 342-345.
+ _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. v. pp. 514, 515, 530,
+ 531.
+
+ [281] 'Intimidated by these menaces, and distressed at the loss of the
+ courts of justice, they came to the resolution of making surrender
+ of their political and religious liberties to the king.' _M'Crie's
+ Life of Melville_, vol. ii. p. 92. This is said of the magistrates
+ of Edinburgh. Among other threats, one was, the 'razing and
+ ploughing of Edinburgh, and sowing it with salt.' _Wodrow's Life
+ of Bruce_, p. 48, prefixed to _Bruce's Sermons_, edited by the
+ Rev. William Cunningham, Edinburgh, 1843. On this occasion,
+ Elizabeth wrote a letter to James, which is printed in _Letters of
+ Queen Elizabeth and James VI._, 1849, 4to, pp. 120, 121.
+
+In this undertaking, three years were consumed. To insure its success,
+the king, supported by the nobles, relied, not only on force, but also on
+an artifice, which now seems to have been employed for the first time.
+This was, to pack the General Assemblies, by inundating them with
+clergymen drawn from the north of Scotland, where, the old clannish and
+aristocratic spirit being supreme, the democratic spirit, found in the
+south, was unknown. Hitherto, these northern ministers had rarely
+attended at the great meetings of the Church; but James, in 1597, sent
+Sir Patrick Murray on a special mission to them, urging them to be
+present, in order that they might vote on his side.[282] They, being a
+very ignorant body, knowing little or nothing of the questions really at
+issue, and being, moreover, accustomed to a state of society in which
+men, notwithstanding their lawlessness, paid the most servile obedience
+to their immediate superiors, were easily worked upon, and induced to do
+what they were bid. By their help, the crown and the nobles so
+strengthened their party in the General Assembly, as to obtain in many
+instances a majority; and innovations were gradually introduced,
+calculated to destroy the democratic character of the Scotch Church.[283]
+
+ [282] _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. ii. p. 100. Scot (_Apologetical
+ Narration of the State of the Kirk_, p. 88) says, 'Sir Patrick
+ Murray, the diligent apostle of the North, made their acquaintance
+ with the King.' Also, _The Autobiography and Diary of James
+ Melville_, p. 403.
+
+ [283] _Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. vii. pp. 350, 359. But by far
+ the best account of the influence of these northern clergy will be
+ found in _M'Crie's Life of Melville_ (vol. ii. pp. 100-105, 109,
+ 131, 152), drawn, in several instances, from manuscript
+ authorities. Compare _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. v.
+ p. 625.
+
+In 1597, the movement began. From then, until 1600, successive Assemblies
+sanctioned different changes, all of which were marked by that
+aristocratic tendency which seemed about to carry everything before it.
+In 1600, the General Assembly met at Montrose; and government determined
+on making a final effort to compel the Church to establish an episcopal
+polity. Andrew Melville, by far the most influential man in the Church,
+and the leader of the democratic party, had been elected, as usual, a
+member of the Assembly; but the king, arbitrarily interposing, refused to
+allow him to take his seat.[284] Still, neither by threats, nor by force,
+nor by promises, could the court carry their point. All that they
+obtained was, that certain ecclesiastics should be allowed to sit in
+parliament; but it was ordered that such persons should every year lay
+their commissions at the feet of the General Assembly, and render an
+account of their conduct. The Assembly was to have the power of deposing
+them; and, to keep them in greater subjection, they were forbidden to
+call themselves bishops, but were to be content with the inferior title
+of Commissioners of the Church.[285]
+
+ [284] This is related by his nephew, James Melville. 'Mr. Andro Melvill
+ come to the Assembly, by Commissoune of his Presbytrie, but wes
+ commandit to keip his ludgeing; quho, being callit to the King in
+ private, and demandit, Quhy he wes so trublesume as to come to the
+ Assembly being dischairgit? He answerit, He had a calling in the
+ Kirk of God, and of Jesus Chryst, the King of kings, quhilk he
+ behovit to dischairge at all occasiounes, being orderlie callit
+ thairto, as he wes at this tyme; and that for feir of a grytter
+ punischment then could any earthly King inflict.' _The
+ Autobiography and Diary of James Melvill_, p. 542.
+
+ [285] As, owing to the passions of the rival classes, every step of this
+ part of Scotch history is the subject of angry controversy, and as
+ even Mr. Tytler (_History of Scotland_, vol. vii. p. 360) asserts
+ that 'the final establishment of Episcopacy' took place at the
+ Assembly of Montrose, in 1600. I subjoin a few extracts from the
+ enactments of that Assembly, in order that the reader may judge
+ for himself, and may test the accuracy of what I have stated in
+ the text. 'Concerning the maner of choosing of him that sall have
+ vote in Parliament in name of the Kirk: It is condiscendit vpon,
+ that _he sall first be recommendit be the Kirk to his Majestie_;
+ and that the Kirk sall nominat sixe for every place that sall have
+ neid to be filled, of quhom his Majestie sall choose ane, of quhom
+ he best lykes; and his Majestie promises, obleises, and binds
+ himselfe to choose no vther but ane of that number: And in cace
+ his Majestie refuses the haill vpon ane just reason of ane
+ insufficiency, and of greater sufficiencie of vthers that are not
+ recommendit, the Kirk sall make ane new recommendatioun of men
+ according to the first number, of the quhilk, ane salbe chosin be
+ his Majestie without any farther refuisall or new nominatioun; and
+ he that salbe chosin be his Majestie, salbe admittit be the
+ Synods.' _Acts of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland_,
+ vol. iii. p. 954. 'As to the cautions to keip him, that sall have
+ vote in Parliament, from corruptiouns: They be these following:
+ 1. _That he presume not, at any tyme, to propone at Parliament,
+ Counsell or Conventioun, in name of the Kirk, any thing without
+ expresse warrand and directioun from the Kirk_, and sick things as
+ he sall answer (for) to be for the weill of the Kirk, vnder the
+ paine of depositioun from his office.' ... 2. 'He sall be bound at
+ every Generall Assemblie, to give ane accompt anent the discharge
+ of his commissioun sen the Assemblie gangand befor; _and sall
+ submitt himselfe to thair censure, and stand at thair
+ determinatioun quhatsumever, without appellatioun; and sall seik
+ and obtain ratificatioun of his doings at the said Assemblie,
+ vnder the paine of infamie and excommunicatioun_.' ... 6. 'In the
+ administration of discipline, collatioun of benefices,
+ visitatioun, and all vther points of ecclesiasticall government,
+ he sall neither vsurpe nor acclaime to himselfe _any power or
+ jurisdictioun farther than any vther of the rest of his breither_,
+ unlesse he be imployit be his breither, vnder the paine of
+ deprivatioun.' p. 955. 'Anent his name that for the Kirk sall
+ (have) vote in Parliament: It is advyseit, be vniforme consent of
+ the haill brether, that he salbe callit Commissioner of such a
+ place.' p. 956. 'Therfor the Generall Assemblie having reasonit at
+ length the said questioun, tuiching the continuance of him that
+ sall have vote in Parliament, after votting of the same, finds and
+ decernes, that _he sall annuatim give count of his commission
+ obtainit from the Assemblie, and lay downe the samein at thair
+ feitt_, to be continuit or alterit therfra be his Maiestie and the
+ Assemblie, as the Assemblie, with consent of his Maiestie, sall
+ think most expedient for the weill of the Kirk.' p. 959.
+
+After sustaining this repulse, James seems to have been disheartened; as
+he made no further effort, though he still laboured underhand at the
+restoration of episcopacy.[286] If he had persevered, it might have cost
+him his crown. For, his resources were few; he was extremely poor;[287]
+and recent events had shown that the clergy were stronger than he had
+supposed. When he thought himself most sure of success, they had
+subjected him to a mortifying defeat; and this was the more remarkable,
+as it was entirely their own work; they being by this time so completely
+separated from the nobles, that they could not rely upon even a single
+member of that powerful body.
+
+ [286] 'While James remained in Scotland, the scheme of introducing
+ episcopacy, though never lost sight of, was cautiously
+ prosecuted.' _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. ii. p. 178.
+
+ [287] James, during the whole of his reign, was chiefly dependent on the
+ money which Elizabeth gave him, and which she dealt out rather
+ niggardly. Such were his necessities, that he was forced to pawn
+ his plate, and, even then, he was often unable to defray his
+ ordinary household expenses. See _Tytler's History of Scotland_,
+ vol. vi. pp. 265, 266, 272, vol. vii. pp. 158, 378-380.
+ _Miscellany of the Spalding Club_, vol. ii. pp. xlv. 114.
+ _Gregory's History of the Western Highlands_, pp. 241, 277. See
+ also a clamorous begging-letter from James to Elizabeth, written
+ in 1591, in _Letters of Queen Elizabeth and James VI._, 1849, 4to,
+ pp. 68, 69. In 1593, she apologizes for sending him only a small
+ sum: 'The small token you shall receave from me I desire yt may
+ serve to make you remember the tyme and my many weighty affaires,
+ wich makes it les than else I would, and I dowt nothing but when
+ you heare all, yow will beare with this.' p. 84. A letter from
+ James Hudson, written about the year 1591, states that 'both the
+ king's table and queen's had like to have been unserved by want;
+ and that the king had nothing he accounted certain to come into
+ his purse, but what he had from the Queen of England.' _Ridpath's
+ Border History_, p. 465, Berwick, 1848, 4to.
+
+While affairs were in this state, and while the liberties of Scotland, of
+which the Church was the guardian, were trembling in the balance,
+Elizabeth died, and the King of Scotland became also King of England.
+James at once determined to employ the resources of his new kingdom to
+curb his old one. In 1604, that is, only the year after his accession to
+the English throne, he aimed a deadly blow at the Scotch Church, by
+attacking the independence of their Assemblies; and, by his own
+authority, he prorogued the General Assembly of Aberdeen.[288] In 1605,
+he again prorogued it; and, to make his intentions clear, he, this time,
+refused to fix a day for its future meeting.[289] Hereupon, some of the
+ministers, deputed by presbyteries, took upon themselves to convene it,
+which they had an undoubted right to do, as the act of the king was
+manifestly illegal. On the day appointed, they met in the session-house
+of Aberdeen. They were ordered to disperse. Having, as they conceived, by
+the mere fact of assembling, sufficiently asserted their privileges, they
+obeyed. But James, now backed by the power of England, resolved that they
+should feel the change of his position, and, therefore, of theirs. In
+consequence of orders which he sent from London, fourteen of the clergy
+were committed to prison.[290] Six of them, who denied the authority of
+the privy-council, were indicted for high treason. They were at once put
+upon their trial. They were convicted. And sentence of death was only
+deferred, that the pleasure of the king might first be taken, as to
+whether he would not be satisfied with some punishment that fell short of
+sacrificing the lives of these unhappy men.[291]
+
+ [288] _Laing's History of Scotland_, edit. 1819, vol. iii. p. 28.
+ _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. vi. pp. 264, 323.
+ _Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh_, vol. i. p. 175,
+ Edinburgh, 1817. _Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland_,
+ p. 88.
+
+ [289] 'Adde thereunto, that the letter of the commissioner and last
+ moderator, conteaned no certane tyme nor day whereto the said
+ Assemblie sould be prorogued; so that it imported a casting loose
+ and deserting, yea, and tyning of the possessioun of our
+ Assemblie; than the which what could be more dangerous to the
+ libertie and freedom of the Kirk of Jesus Christ, at suche a tyme,
+ namelie of the treatie of the Unioun, when all the estates of the
+ realme, and everie particular are zealous and carefull of their
+ rights and possessiouns?' _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_,
+ vol. vi. pp. 309, 310.
+
+ [290] See a list of them in _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. vi.
+ p. 347, where the fourteen names are preserved with pious care.
+
+ [291] _Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 494-502.
+ _Forbes' Certaine Records touching the Estate of the Kirk_, edit.
+ Wodrow Society, Edinburgh, 1846, pp. 463-496. 'Delayed the giving
+ forth of the sentence of condemnation till the King's mind were
+ further knowne.' See also _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol.
+ vi. pp. 434, 449. When they were found guilty, 'the peiple said,
+ "Certainely this wes a worke of darknes, to mak Chrystis faithfull
+ Ministeres tratouris to the King! God grant he be niver in greater
+ dangeris nor off sic traitouris."' _Melvill's Autobiography and
+ Diary_, p. 626.
+
+Their lives, indeed, were spared; but they were subjected to a close
+imprisonment, and then condemned to perpetual exile.[292] In other parts
+of the country, similar measures were adopted. Nearly all over Scotland,
+numbers of the clergy were either imprisoned or forced to fly.[293]
+Terror and proscription were universal. Such was the panic, that it was
+generally believed that nothing could prevent the permanent establishment
+of despotism, unless there were some immediate and providential
+interference on behalf of the Church and the people.[294]
+
+ [292] _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. ii. pp. 207, 208. _Pitcairn's
+ Criminal Trials_, vol. ii. p. 504. In connexion with these
+ transactions, a letter is preserved in the Winwood Papers, which
+ is much too curious to be passed over in silence. It is addressed
+ by the Earl of Salisbury to Sir Charles Cornwallis, and is dated
+ 12th September 1605. Salisbury, who was then at the head of
+ affairs, writes, 'True it is that his Majestie seeking to _adorne
+ that kingdome of Scotland with Prelates as they are in England_,
+ some of the Ministers have spurned against it; and althouge his
+ Majestie had ever warranted their calling of General Assemblies
+ upon no other condition, then that they should make him
+ acquainted, receive his warrant, and a commissioner for his
+ Majestie resident in their councells, yet have they (followed with
+ some poor plebecall numbers) presumed to hold their General
+ Assemblies in some parte of the Realme contrarie to his
+ commandement. Whereupon his Majestie hath shewed himself
+ displeased, and cyted divers of them before his councell,' &c.
+ _Memorials of Affairs of State, from the Papers of Sir Ralph
+ Winwood_, London, 1725, folio, vol. ii. p. 132. And yet the man
+ who could write such nonsense as this, and who could only see, in
+ the great democratic movement of the Scotch mind, a disinclination
+ to the _adornment_ of episcopacy, was deemed one of the most
+ eminent statesmen of his time, and his reputation has survived
+ him. If great statesmen discern so little of what is before them
+ and around them, we are tempted to inquire, how much confidence
+ ought to be placed in the opinions of those average statesmen by
+ whom countries are ruled. For my own part, I can only say, that I
+ have had occasion to read many thousand letters written by
+ diplomatists and politicians, and I have hardly ever found an
+ instance of one of them who understood the spirit and tendency of
+ the age in which he lived.
+
+ [293] 'Ministers in all parts of the country were thrown into prison, or
+ declared rebels, and forced to abscond.' _M'Crie's Life of
+ Melville_, vol. ii. p. 250. Liberty of speech was so completely
+ suppressed, that, in 1605, when the most zealous and intelligent
+ clergy were banished, 'a strait command' (was) 'gevin to
+ magistrats, and uther officiers of burrowis, that in cace any
+ preacher sould speik opinlie aganis that baneisment, or for
+ defence or mentenence of that assemblie, or pray publiklie for
+ ther saiftie, that they sould be noted and manifested to the
+ secret counsell, and corrected for their fault.' _The Historie of
+ King James the Sext_, p. 380.
+
+ [294] See an eloquent and touching passage, in _Calderwood's History of
+ the Kirk_, vol. vi. pp. 696, 697.
+
+Nor can it be denied that there were plausible grounds for these
+apprehensions. The people had no friends except among the clergy, and the
+ablest of the clergy were either in prison or in exile.[295] To deprive
+the Church entirely of her leaders, James, in 1606, summoned to London,
+Melville and seven of his colleagues, under pretence of needing their
+advice.[296] Having got possession of their persons, he detained them in
+England.[297] They were forbidden to return to Scotland; and Melville,
+who was most feared, was committed to custody. He was then imprisoned in
+the Tower, where he remained four years, and from which he was only
+liberated on condition of living abroad, and abandoning altogether his
+native country.[298] The seven ministers who had accompanied him to
+London were also imprisoned; but, being considered less dangerous than
+their leader, they, after a time, were allowed to return home. The nephew
+of Melville was, however, ordered not to travel more than two miles from
+Newcastle; and his six companions were confined in different parts of
+Scotland.[299]
+
+ [295] 'The godliest, wisest, learnedest, and most zealous men of the
+ ministrie in Scotland, were either banished, warded, or detained
+ in Ingland, of purpose that they might not be a lett to the grand
+ designe in hand.' _Row's History of the Kirk_, p. 238.
+
+ [296] _Scot's Apologetical Narration of the State of the Kirk_, pp. 164,
+ 165. Compare _The Autobiography and Diary of James Melvill_,
+ pp. 642-645.
+
+ [297] 'Quhen we wer gone out of the Palice a lytle way towards
+ Kingstoune, Mr. Alexander Hay sendis back for us, and withall, in
+ the Uttir Court, reidis to us a chairge from the King not to
+ returne to Scotland, nor to com neire the King, Quein, nor Prince
+ their Courtis, without a speciall calling for and licence.'
+ _Melvill's Autobiography_, p. 661.
+
+ [298] _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. ii. pp. 246, 252, 260, 337-339,
+ 403, 407-411, 414. This truly great and fearless man died in
+ exile, in 1622. p. 458.
+
+ [299] _Melvill's Autobiography and Diary_, p. 709. _Scot's Apologetical
+ Narration_, p. 194. _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. ii. pp. 252,
+ 253, 267, 268.
+
+Everything now seemed ripe for the destruction of those ideas of equality
+of which, in Scotland, the Church was the sole representative. In 1610, a
+General Assembly was held at Glasgow; and, as the members of it were
+nominated by the crown,[300] whatever the government wished was conceded.
+By their vote, episcopacy was established, and the authority of the
+bishops over the ministers was fully recognized.[301] A little earlier,
+but in the same year, two courts of High Commission were erected, one at
+Saint Andrews, and one at Glasgow. To them, all ecclesiastical courts
+were subordinate. They were armed with such immense power, that they
+could cite any one they pleased before them, could examine him respecting
+his religious opinions, could have him excommunicated, and could fine or
+imprison him, just as they thought proper.[302] Finally, and to complete
+the humiliation of Scotland, the establishment of episcopacy was not
+considered complete, until an act was performed, which nothing but its
+being very ignominious, could have saved from being ridiculed as an idle
+and childish farce. The archbishop of Glasgow, the bishop of Brechin, and
+the bishop of Galloway, had to travel all the way to London, in order
+that they might be touched by some English bishops. Incredible as it may
+appear, it was actually supposed that there was no power in Scotland
+sufficiently spiritual to turn a Scotchman into a prelate. Therefore it
+was, that the archbishop of Glasgow and his companions performed what was
+then an arduous journey to a strange and distant capital, for the sake of
+receiving some hidden virtue, which, on their return home, they might
+communicate to their brethren. To the grief and astonishment of their
+country, these unworthy priests, abandoning the traditions of their
+native land, and forgetting the proud spirit which animated their
+fathers, consented to abjure their own independence, to humble themselves
+before the English Church, and to submit to mummeries, which, in their
+hearts, they must have despised, but which were now inflicted upon them
+by their ancient and inveterate foes.[303]
+
+ [300] 'Royal missives were sent to the presbyteries, nominating the
+ individuals whom they should chuse as their representatives to
+ it.' _M'Crie's Life of Melville_, vol. ii. pp. 387, 388. On the
+ character of its members, compare _Wodrow's History of the
+ Sufferings of the Church of Scotland_, edit. Glasgow, 1838, vol.
+ i. p. 256. _Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland_, pp.
+ 320, 321. _Crookshank's Church of Scotland_, Edinburgh, 1812, vol.
+ i. p. 28; and _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. vii.
+ pp. 97, 98.
+
+ [301] _Acts of the General Assemblies of the Kirk_, vol. iii. pp. 1096,
+ 1097. The Assembly even forbad the democratic notion of equality
+ to be advocated. See p. 1101. 'Because it is vncivill that laws
+ and constitutiouns, either Civill or Ecclesiasticall, being anes
+ establischit and in force, by publick and opin consent, sould be
+ controllit and callit in questioun by any person: therfor, it is
+ statute by vniforme consent of this haill Assemblie, that none of
+ the Ministrie either in pulpitt in his preaching, or in the
+ publick exercise, speake and reason against the acts of this
+ present Assemblie, nor dissobey the same, vnder the paine of
+ deprivatioun, being tryit and convict thereof; and _speciallie,
+ that the questioun of equalitie and inequalitie in the Kirk, be
+ not treattit in pulpitt vnder the said paine_.'
+
+ [302] Mr. Russell (_History of the Church in Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 88),
+ misled, probably, by a passage in _Spottiswoode's History of the
+ Church_, vol. iii. p. 210, says, 'A Court of High Commission was
+ instituted.' But it is certain that there were two such courts;
+ one for the diocese of Saint Andrews, and one for that of Glasgow.
+ See the 'commissioun givin under the great seale to the two
+ archbishops,' dated 15th of February 1610, in _Calderwood's
+ History of the Kirk_, vol. vii. pp. 57-62. See also p. 210. They
+ were not united till December 1615. See _Scot's Apologetical
+ Narration of the State of the Kirk_, pp. 218, 239; and
+ _Crookshank's History of the Sufferings of the Church of
+ Scotland_, vol. i. p. 28. By the royal commission, these despotic
+ tribunals were authorized (_Calderwood_, vol. vii. p. 59) 'to call
+ before them at suche tymes and places as they salle thinke meete,
+ anie person or persons dwelling and remaining within their
+ provinces respective above writtin of St. Andrews or Glasgow, or
+ within anie dioceis of the same, being offenders ather in life or
+ religioun, whom they hold anie way to be scandalous, and that they
+ take tryell of the same; and if they find them guiltie and
+ impenitent, refusing to acknowledge their offence, they sall give
+ command to the preacher of that parish where they dwell, to
+ proceed with sentence of excommunication against them; which, if
+ it be protracted, and their command by that minister be not
+ presentlie obeyed, they sall conveene anie suche minister before
+ them, and proceed in censuring of him for his disobedience, ather
+ by suspensioun, deprivatioun, or wairding, according as in their
+ discretioun they sall hold his obstinacie and refuse of their
+ directioun to have deserved. And further, to fyne at their
+ discretiouns, imprisoun, or warde anie suche persoun, who being
+ convicted before them, they sall find upon tryell to have deserved
+ anie suche punishment.' Hereupon, Calderwood justly remarks, p.
+ 62: 'This commissioun and executioun thereof, as it exalted the
+ aspyring bishops farre above any prelat that ever was in Scotland,
+ so it putt the king in possessioun of that which he had long tyme
+ hunted for; to witt, of the royall prerogative, and absolute power
+ to use the bodeis and goods of the subjects at pleasure, without
+ forme or processe of the commoun law, even then when the Lower
+ Hous in England was compleaning in their parliament upon the
+ injurie therof. So our bishops were fitt instruments to overthrow
+ the liberteis both of the Kirk and countrie.'
+
+ [303] See _Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland_, p. 93, and
+ _Kirkton's History_, p. 15. Kirkton indignantly says, that James
+ 'perswaded a few unworthy men to perjure themselves, and after
+ their episcopall consecration by the English bishops in England,
+ to exercise that odious office in Scotland against their own oath
+ and the consciences of their brethren.' Compare the contemptuous
+ notice, in _Row's History of the Kirk_, p. 283, on the 'anoynting
+ of oyle and other ceremonies,' and on 'the foolish guyses in it.'
+ Indeed, on this subject, every Scotch writer who cared for the
+ liberty of his country, expressed himself either with contempt or
+ indignation.
+
+We may easily imagine what would be the future conduct of men, who,
+merely for their own aggrandizement, and to please their prince, could
+thus renounce the cherished independence of the Scotch Church. They who
+crouch to those who are above them always trample on those who are below
+them. Directly they returned to Scotland, they communicated the
+consecration they had received in England to their fellow-bishops,[304]
+who were of the like mould to themselves, in so far as all of them aided
+James in his attempt to subjugate the liberties of their native country.
+Being now properly ordained, their spiritual life was complete; it
+remained for them to secure the happiness of their temporal life. This
+they did, by gradually monopolizing all authority, and treating with
+unsparing severity those who opposed them. The fall triumph of the
+bishops was reserved for the reign of Charles I., when a number of them
+obtained seats in the privy-council, where they behaved with such
+overbearing insolence, that even Clarendon, notwithstanding his
+notorious partiality for their order, censures their conduct.[305] In the
+time, however, of James I., they carried nearly everything before
+them.[306] They deprived the towns of their privileges, and forced them
+to receive magistrates of their own choosing.[307] They accumulated
+wealth, and made an ostentatious display of it; which was the more
+disgraceful, as the country was miserably poor, and their fellow-subjects
+were starving around them.[308] The Lords of the Articles, without whose
+sanction no measure could be presented to parliament, had been hitherto
+elected by laymen; but the bishops now effected a change, by virtue of
+which the right of nomination devolved on themselves.[309] Having thus
+gained possession of the legislature, they obtained the enactment of
+fresh penalties against their countrymen. Great numbers of the clergy
+they suspended; others they deprived of their benefices; others they
+imprisoned. The city of Edinburgh, being opposed to the rites and
+ceremonies lately introduced, and being, like the rest of the country,
+hostile to episcopacy, the bishops fell on it also, displaced several of
+its magistrates, seized some of the principal citizens, and threatened to
+deprive it of the courts of justice, and of the honour of being the seat
+of government.[310]
+
+ [304] Calderwood, with ill-suppressed bitterness, says, 'efter the same
+ maner that they were consecrated themselfs, _als neere as they
+ could imitate_.' _History of the Kirk_, vol. vii. p. 152. Compare
+ _Wodrow's Collections_, vol. i. part i. p. 293. 'The Bishops
+ ordeaned in England keeped as near the manner taken with
+ themselves there as they could.'
+
+ [305] 'Some of them, by want of temper, or want of breeding, did not
+ behave themselves with that decency in their debates, towards the
+ greatest men of the kingdom, as in discretion they ought to have
+ done, and as the others reasonably expected from them.'
+ _Clarendon's History of the Rebellion_, edit. Oxford, 1843, p. 35.
+ In 1633, 'nine of them were privy councillors;' and 'their pride
+ was cried out upon as unsupportable.' _Burnet's Memoirs of the
+ Dukes of Hamilton_, p. 38. Sir John Scot imputes to them
+ 'insolence, pride, and avarice.' _Scot's Staggering State of the
+ Scots Statesmen_, Edinburgh, 1754, p. 41. See also _Spalding's
+ History of the Troubles_, vol. i. pp. 46, 47, Edinburgh,
+ 1828, 4to.
+
+ [306] So early as 1613, a letter from James Inglish (preserved in
+ _Wodrow's Collections_, vol. ii. part i. p. 110, Glasgow, 1845,
+ 4to) complains that 'the libertys of the Lord's Kirk are greatly
+ abridged by the pride of Bishops, and their power daily increases
+ over her.' Civil rights were equally set at nought by the bishops;
+ and, among other enactments which they obtained, one was, 'that no
+ man should be permitted to practise or profess any physic, unless
+ he had first satisfied the bishop of the diocese touching his
+ religion.' _Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland_,
+ vol. iii. p. 236. This at once gave them the control of the whole
+ medical profession.
+
+ [307] 'Not satisfied with ruling the church-courts, they claimed an
+ extensive civil authority within their dioceses. The burghs were
+ deprived of their privileges, and forced to receive such
+ magistrates as their episcopal superiors, in concert with the
+ court, were pleased to nominate.' ... 'Archbishop Gladstanes, in a
+ letter to the King, June the 9th 1611, says: "It was your pleasure
+ and direction, that I sould be possessed with the like privileges
+ in the electione of the magistrats there (in St. Andrews), as my
+ lord of Glasgow is endued with in that his city. Sir, whereas they
+ are troublesome, I will be answerable to your Majesty and Counsell
+ for them, after that I be possessed of my right." Ms. in Bibl.
+ Jurid. Edin. M. 6, 9. n^o. 72.' _M'Crie's Life of Melville_,
+ vol. ii. p. 422.
+
+ [308] And their prodigality was equal to their rapacity. When Archbishop
+ Gladstanes died, in 1615, it was ascertained that,
+ 'notwithstanding of the great rent of his bishoprick, he died in
+ the debt of twentie thowsand pounds.' _Calderwood's History of the
+ Kirk_, vol. vii. p. 197. See also p. 303. Also the case of the
+ Bishop of Galloway, who died in 1619, and of whom Calderwood says
+ (_History of the Kirk_, vol. vii. p. 350), 'It is thought, that if
+ just calculation were made of the commoditie extorted by him
+ through his diocie, by advice of his two covetous counsellours,
+ Andro Couper, his brother, and Johne Grilmour, wrytter in
+ Edinburgh, for his use and theirs, by racting of rents, getting of
+ grassoumes, setting of tacks, of teithes, and other like meanes,
+ wold surmount the soume of an hundreth thousand merks, or, in the
+ opinion of others, almost the double; so that manie within that
+ diocie, and the annexed prelacies, sall hardlie recover their
+ estates in their time.' Compare _Stevenson's History of the
+ Church_, pp. 212, 392.
+
+ [309] On this change, which was completed in 1621, see _Laing's History
+ of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 88; _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_,
+ vol. vii. p. 490; and _Baillie's Letters and Journals_, vol. i.
+ p. 486, edit. Laing, Edinburgh, 1841.
+
+ [310] _Calderwood's History of the Kirk_, vol. vii. pp. 472-474, 507,
+ 509, 511, 517-520, 530-543, 549-553, 566, 567, 614, 621. _Laing's
+ History of Scotland_, vol. iii. pp. 90, 91. Laing, very unjustly,
+ accuses the bishops of being so merciful as to disapprove of some
+ of these transactions. But whoever has read much of the Scotch
+ literature of the seventeenth century, will cheerfully exonerate
+ the bishops from a charge, which they would themselves have
+ repelled, and to which they are nowise amenable.
+
+In the midst of all this, and while things seemed to be at their worst, a
+great reaction was preparing. And the explanation of the reaction is to
+be found in that vast and pregnant principle, on which I have often
+insisted, but which our common historians are unable to understand;
+namely, that a bad government, bad laws, or laws badly administered, are,
+indeed, extremely injurious at the time, but can produce no permanent
+mischief; in other words, they may harm a country, but can never ruin it.
+As long as the people are sound, there is life, and while there is life,
+there will be reaction. In such case, tyranny provokes rebellion, and
+despotism causes freedom. But if the people are unsound, all hope is
+gone, and the nation perishes. In both instances, government is, in the
+long run, inoperative, and is nowise responsible for the ultimate result.
+The ruling classes have, for the moment, immense power, which they
+invariably abuse, except when they are restrained, either by fear, or by
+shame. The people may inspire them with fear; public opinion may inspire
+them with shame. But whether or not that shall happen, depends on the
+spirit of the people, and on the state of opinion. These two
+circumstances are themselves governed by a long chain of antecedents,
+stretching back to a period, always very distant, and sometimes so remote
+as to baffle observation. When the evidence is sufficiently abundant,
+those antecedents may be generalized; and their generalization conducts
+us to certain large and powerful causes, on which the whole movement
+depends. In short periods, the operation of these causes is
+imperceptible, but in long periods, it is conspicuous and supreme; it
+colours the national character; it controls the great sweep and average
+of affairs. In Scotland, as I have already shown, general causes made the
+people love their clergy, and made the clergy love liberty. As long as
+these two facts coexisted, the destiny of the nation was safe. It might
+be injured, insulted, and trampled upon. It might be harmed in various
+ways; but the greater the harm, the surer the remedy, because the higher
+the spirit of the country would be roused. All that was needed was, a
+little more time, and a little more provocation. We, who, standing at a
+distance, can contemplate these matters from an elevation, and see how
+events pressed on and thickened, cannot mistake the regularity of their
+sequence. Notwithstanding the apparent confusion, all was orderly and
+methodical. To us, the scheme is revealed. There is the fabric, and it is
+of one hue, and one make. The pattern is plainly marked, and fortunately
+it was worked into a texture, whose mighty web was not to be broken,
+either by the arts, or the violence, of designing men.
+
+It was, therefore, of no avail that tyranny did her utmost. It was of no
+avail that the throne was occupied by a despotic and unscrupulous king,
+who was succeeded by another, more despotic and more unscrupulous than
+himself. It was of no avail that a handful of meddling and intrusive
+bishops, deriving their consecration from London, and supported by the
+authority of the English church, took counsel together, and conspired
+against the liberties of their native land. They played the part of spies
+and of traitors, but they played it in vain. Yet, everything that
+government could give them, it gave. They had the law on their side, and
+they had the right of administering the law. They were legislators,
+councillors, and judges. They had wealth; they had high-sounding titles;
+they had all the pomp and attributes for which they bartered their
+independence, and with which they hoped to dazzle the eyes of the vulgar.
+Still, they could not turn back the stream; they could not even stop it;
+they could not prevent it from coming on, and swallowing them up in its
+course. Before that generation passed away, these little men, big though
+they were in their own conceit, succumbed, and fell. The hand of the age
+was upon them, and they were unable to resist. They were struck down, and
+humbled; they were stripped of their offices, their honours, and their
+splendour: they lost all which minds like theirs hold most dear. Their
+fate is an instructive lesson. It is a lesson, both to the rulers of
+nations, and to those who write the history of nations. To rulers, in so
+far as it is one of many proofs how little they can do, and how
+insignificant is the part which they play in the great drama of the
+world. To historians, the result should be especially instructive, as
+convincing them that the events on which they concentrate their
+attention, and which they believe to be of supreme importance, are in
+reality of trifling value, and, so far from holding the first rank, ought
+to be made subservient to those large and comprehensive studies, by whose
+aid alone, we can ascertain the conditions which determine the tread and
+destiny of nations.
+
+The events that now happened in Scotland, may be quickly told. The
+patience of the country was well-nigh exhausted, and the day of reckoning
+was at hand.[311] In 1637, the people began to rise. In the summer of
+that year, the first great riot broke out in Edinburgh.[312] The flame
+quickly spread, and nothing could stop it. By October, the whole nation
+was up, and an accusation was preferred against the bishops, which was
+signed by nearly every corporation, and by men of all ranks.[313] In
+November, the Scotch, in defiance of the Crown, organized a system of
+representation of their own, in which every class had a share.[314] Early
+in 1638, the National Covenant was framed; and the eagerness with which
+it was sworn to, showed that the people were determined, at all hazards,
+to vindicate their rights.[315] It was now evident that all was over.
+During the summer of 1638, preparations were made, and, in the autumn,
+the storm broke. In November, the first General Assembly seen in Scotland
+for twenty years, met at Glasgow.[316] The Marquis of Hamilton, the
+king's commissioner, ordered the members to separate.[317] They
+refused.[318] Nor would they disband, until they had done the work
+expected from them.[319] By their vote, the democratic institution of
+presbyteries was restored to its old power; the forms of consecration
+were done away with; the bishops were degraded from their functions, and
+episcopacy was abolished.[320]
+
+ [311] In October 1637, Baillie, who was carefully watching the course of
+ affairs, writes, 'No man may speak any thing in publick for the
+ king's part, except he would have himself marked for a sacrifice
+ to be killed one day. I think our people possessed with a bloody
+ devill, farr above any thing that ever I could have imagined,
+ though the masse in Latine had been presented.' And, in a
+ postscript, dated 3rd October, he adds: 'My fears in my former
+ went no farther then to ane ecclesiastik separation, but now I am
+ more affrayit for a bloudie civill warr.' _Baillie's Letters and
+ Journals_, edit. Laing, Edinburgh, 1841, vol. i. pp. 23, 25.
+
+ [312] _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 131. _Chambers'
+ Annals_, vol. ii. pp. 101-104. _Spalding's History of the Troubles
+ in Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 47, 48.
+
+ [313] 'The accusation, among themselves a bond of union, and to their
+ enemies a signal of hostility, was subscribed by the nobility, the
+ gentry, the clergy, and afterwards by all ranks, and almost by
+ every corporation in the kingdom.' _Laing's History of Scotland_,
+ vol. iii. p. 137.
+
+ [314] _Ibid._, vol. iii. p. 138.
+
+ [315] 'It was signed by a large majority of the people, in a paroxysm of
+ enthusiasm beyond all example in our history.' _Chambers' Annals_,
+ vol. ii. p. 105. Kirkton, who was a contemporary, says, 'And
+ though only eleven private men (and some of them very
+ inconsiderable) had the boldness first to begin this work, without
+ ever asking leave of king or council, yet was it very quickly
+ taken by all the people of Scotland, with hands lifted up in most
+ solemn manner.' _Kirkton's History of the Church of Scotland_, p.
+ 33. Lord Somerville, taking a somewhat different view of affairs,
+ remarks, that 'the generalitie of the natione entered into a
+ hellish covenant, wherein they mutually obleidged themselves to
+ extirpate episcopacy, and to defend each other against all
+ persones whatsoever, noe not excepting the persone of his sacred
+ majestie; but upon conditiones of ther oune frameing.'
+ _Somerville's Memorie of the Somervilles_, vol. ii. p. 187.
+
+ [316] There had been no General Assembly since 1618. _Argyll's
+ Presbytery Examined_, p. 102; and the _Spottiswoode Miscellany_,
+ vol. i. p. 88. But 'the provincial synods, presbyteries, and
+ sessions still remained, and in these, good men mutually comforted
+ one another.' _Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland_,
+ p. 162.
+
+ [317] 'The assembly went on at such a rate, that the marquis judged it
+ no longer fit to bear with their courses.' _Burnet's Memoirs of
+ the Dukes of Hamilton_, p. 128. 'In end, seeing nothing said in
+ reason did prevail, he, in his majesty's name, dissolved the
+ assembly, and discharged their further proceeding under pain of
+ treason.' p. 135.
+
+ [318] _Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland_, p. 310.
+
+ [319] 'Notwithstanding the Proclamation, the Assembly presently
+ thereafter met, and sat daily for divers weeks, until they had
+ done their affairs, and were themselves pleas'd to dissolve.'
+ _Guthry's Memoirs_, p. 41, edit. London, 1702.
+
+ [320] _Acts of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland_, from
+ 1638 to 1842, Edinburgh, 1843, pp. 9-18. _Stevenson's History of
+ the Church of Scotland_, pp. 332, 338.
+
+Thus, the bishops fell, even more rapidly than they had risen.[321] As,
+however, their fall was merely a part of the democratic movement,
+matters could not stop there.[322] Scarcely had the Scotch expelled their
+bishops, when they made war upon their king. In 1639, they took up arms
+against Charles. In 1640, they invaded England. In 1641, the king, with
+the hope of appeasing them, visited Scotland, and agreed to most of their
+demands. It was too late. The people were hot, and a cry for blood had
+gone forth. War again broke out. The Scotch united with the English, and
+Charles was every where defeated. As a last chance, he threw himself upon
+the mercy of his northern subjects,[323] But his offences were of that
+rank and luxuriant growth, that it was impossible to forgive them.
+Indeed, the Scotch, instead of pardoning him, turned him to profit. He
+had not only trampled on their liberties, he had also put them to an
+enormous expense. For the injury, he could offer no adequate atonement;
+but the expense they had incurred, might be defrayed. And as it is an old
+and recognized maxim, that he who cannot pay with his purse, shall pay
+with his body, the Scotch saw no reason why they should not derive some
+advantage from the person of their sovereign, particularly as, hitherto,
+he had caused them nothing but loss and annoyance. They, therefore, gave
+him up to the English, and, in return, received a large sum of money,
+which they claimed as arrears due to them for the cost of making war on
+him.[324] By this arrangement, both of the contracting parties benefited.
+The Scotch, being very poor, obtained what they most lacked. The
+English, a wealthy people, had indeed to pay the money, but they were
+recompensed by getting hold of their oppressor, against whom they
+thirsted for revenge; and they took good care never to let him loose,
+until they had exacted the last penalty of his great and manifold
+crimes.[325]
+
+ [321] See, on their fall, some highly characteristic remarks in
+ _Baillie's Letters and Journals_, vol. i. p. 168. In 1639, Howell
+ writes from Edinburgh, 'The Bishops are all gone to wrack, and
+ they have had but a sorry funeral; the very name is grown so
+ contemptible, that a black dog, if he hath any white marks about
+ him, is called _Bishop_. Our Lord of Canterbury is grown here so
+ odious, that they call him commonly in the pulpit, the Priest of
+ Baal, and the Son of Belial.' _Howell's Letters_, edit. London,
+ 1754, p. 276.
+
+ [322] 'That people, after they had once begun, pursued the business
+ vigorously, and with all imaginable contempt of the government.'
+ _Clarendon's History of the Rebellion_, p. 45. Now, for the first
+ time, the English government began to tremble. On 13th December
+ 1639, Secretary Windebank writes, 'His Majesty near these six
+ weeks last past hath been in continual consultations with a select
+ Committee of some of his Council (of which I have had the honour
+ to be one), how to redress his affairs in Scotland, the fire
+ continuing there, and growing to that danger, that _it threatens
+ not only the Monarchical Government there, but even that of this
+ kingdom_.' _Clarendon State Papers_, vol. ii. p. 81, Oxford, 1773,
+ folio. This is the earliest intimation I have met with of Charles
+ and his advisers being aware of their real peril. But though the
+ king was capable of fear, he was incapable of compunction. There
+ is no evidence on record, to show that he even felt remorse for
+ having planned and executed those arbitrary and unprincipled
+ measures, by which he inflicted immense misery upon Scotland and
+ England, but more especially upon Scotland.
+
+ [323] 'The kinge was now so waik, haueing nether toune, fort, nor armie,
+ and Oxford being a waik and onfortified toune, from whence he
+ looked daylie to be taken perforce, he therefor resolues to cast
+ himself into the arms of the Scots; who, being his natine people,
+ and of late so ongratfullie dealt with by the Inglish, he hoped
+ their particular credit, and the credit of the wholl natione
+ depending thereupon, they would not baslie rander him to the
+ Inglish.' _Gordon's Britane's Distemper_, p. 193, published by the
+ Spalding Club, Aberdeen, 1844, 4to.
+
+ [324] That it may not be supposed, that, as an Englishman, I
+ misrepresent this transaction by looking at it from an English
+ point of view, I will merely quote what Scotch writers have said
+ respecting it. 'Giveing up the king to the will and pleasure of
+ the English parliament, that soe they might come by ther money.'
+ _Somerville's Memorie of the Somervilles_, vol. ii. p. 366. 'The
+ Scots sold their unfortunate king, who had fled to them for
+ protection, to the commissioners of the English Parliament, for
+ 200,000_l._ sterling.' _Lyon's History of St. Andrews_, vol. ii.
+ p. 38. 'The incident itself was evidence of a bargain with a _quid
+ pro quo_.' _Burton's History of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 493. 'The
+ sale of the king to the parliament.' _Napier's Life of Montrose_,
+ Edinburgh, 1840, p. 448. 'The king was delivered up, or rather
+ sold, to the parliament's commissioners.' _Brown's History of
+ Glasgow_, vol. i. p. 91. 'Their arrears were undoubtedly due; the
+ amount was ascertained before the dispute concerning the disposal
+ of his person, and the payment was undertaken by the English
+ parliament, five months previous to the delivery, or surrender of
+ the king. But the coincidence, however unavoidable, between that
+ event and the actual discharge and departure of their army, still
+ affords a presumptive proof of the disgraceful imputation of
+ having sold their king; "as the English, unless previously assured
+ of receiving his person, would never have relinquished a sum so
+ considerable as to weaken themselves, while it strengthened a
+ people with whom such a material question remained to be
+ discussed."' _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. pp. 369,
+ 370.
+
+ [325] A letter from Sir Edw. Hyde to Lord Hatton, dated April 12, 1649
+ (in the _Clarendon State Papers_, vol. ii. p. 479, Oxf. 1773,
+ fol.), says of Charles II., that the Scotch 'sold his father to
+ those who murdered him.' But this is not true. Charles I., though
+ certainly bought by the English, was not murdered by them. He was
+ tried in the face of day; he was found guilty; he was executed.
+ And most assuredly never did a year pass, without men far less
+ criminal than he, suffering the same fate. Possibly, they are
+ right who deem all capital punishment needless. That, however, has
+ never been proved; and if this last and most terrible penalty is
+ ever to be exacted, I cannot tell where we should find a more
+ fitting subject to undergo it, than a despot who seeks to
+ subjugate the liberties of the people over whom he is called to
+ rule, inflicts cruel and illegal punishment on those who oppose
+ him, and, sooner than renounce his designs, engages in a civil
+ war, setting fathers against their children, disorganizing
+ society, and causing the land to run with blood. Such men are
+ outlaws; they are the enemies of the human race; who shall wonder
+ if they fall, or, having fallen, who shall pity them?
+
+After the execution of Charles I., the Scotch recognized his son as his
+successor. But before they would crown the new king, they subjected him
+to a treatment which hereditary sovereigns are not much accustomed to
+receive. They made him sign a public declaration, expressing his regret
+for what had happened, and acknowledging that his father, moved by evil
+counsels, had unjustly shed the blood of his subjects. He was also
+obliged to declare, that by these things he felt humbled in spirit. He
+had, moreover, to apologize for his own errors, which he ascribed partly
+to his inexperience, and partly to the badness of his education.[326] To
+evince the sincerity of this confession, and in order that the confession
+might be generally known, he was commanded to keep a day of fasting and
+humiliation, in which the whole nation would weep and pray for him, in
+the hope that he might escape the consequences of the sins committed by
+his family.[327]
+
+ [326] The declaration was signed by Charles on the 16th August 1650. An
+ abridgment of it is given in _Balfour's Annales of Scotland_, vol.
+ iv. pp. 92-94; but the entire document is preserved by Sir Edward
+ Walker. See _Journal of Affairs in Scotland_, in _Walker's
+ Historical Discourses_, London, folio, 1705, pp. 170-176. In it
+ Charles is made to state that, 'though his Majesty as a dutiful
+ son be obliged to honour the memory of his Royal Father, and have
+ in estimation the person of his Mother; yet doth he desire to be
+ deeply humbled and afflicted in spirit before God, because of his
+ Father's hearkening unto and following evil councils, and his
+ opposition to the work of reformation, and to the solemn league
+ and covenant by which so much of the blood of the Lord's people
+ hath been shed in these kingdoms.' He went on to say, that though
+ he might palliate his own misconduct by pleading 'his education
+ and age,' he thinks it better to 'ingeniously acknowledge all his
+ own sins and the sins of his father's house.' Burnet (_History of
+ his own Time_, vol. i. p. 97) says of this declaration: 'In it
+ there were many hard things. The king owned the sin of his father
+ in marrying into an idolatrous family: he acknowledged the
+ bloodshed in the late wars lay at his father's door: he expressed
+ a deep sense of his own ill education,' &c.
+
+ [327] In reference to this event the following entry occurs in Lamont's
+ Journal: '1650, Dec. 22.--The fast appointed by the commission of
+ the kirke to be keiped througe the kingdome before the
+ coronatione, was keiped att Largo the forsaide day by Mr. Ja.
+ Magill; his lecture, Reu. 3. from v. 14 to the end of the chapt.;
+ his text Reu. 2. 4, 5. Vpon the Thursday following, the 26 of this
+ instant, the fast was keiped in likemaner; his lecture 2. Chro. 29
+ to v. 12; his text 2. Chron. 12, 12. The causes of the first day
+ (not read) was, the great contempt of the gospell, holden forth in
+ its branches; of the second day (which were read), the sinns of
+ the king, and of his father's house, where sundry offences of K.
+ James the 6 were aknowledged, and of K. Charles the 1, and of K.
+ Ch. the 2, nowe king.' _The Diary of Mr. John Lamont of Newton_,
+ p. 25, Edinburgh, 1830, 4to. See also _Baillie's Letters and
+ Journals_, vol. iii. p. 107; _Nicoll's Diary_, Edinburgh, 4to,
+ 1836, p. 38; _Row's Continuation of Blair's Autobiography_, edit.
+ Wodrow Society, p. 255; _Bower's History of the University of
+ Edinburgh_, vol. i. p. 253; _Presbytery Book of Strathbogie_,
+ edit. Spalding Club, p. 169; and, above all, the _Registers of the
+ Presbytery of Lanark_, published by the Abbotsford Club,
+ Edinburgh, 1839, 4to, pp. 88, 89.
+
+The spirit, of which acts like these are but symptoms, continued to
+animate the Scotch during the rest of the seventeenth century. And
+fortunately for them it did so. For, the reigns of Charles II. and James
+II. were but repetitions of the reigns of James I. and Charles I. From
+1660 to 1688, Scotland was again subjected to a tyranny, so cruel, and
+so exhausting, that it would have broken the energy of almost any other
+nation.[328] The nobles, whose power had been slowly but constantly
+declining,[329] were unable to resist the English, with whom, indeed,
+they rather seemed willing to combine, in order that they might have a
+share in plundering and oppressing their own country.[330] In this, the
+most unhappy period through which Scotland had passed since the
+fourteenth century, the government was extremely powerful; the upper
+classes, crouching before it, thought only of securing their own safety;
+the judges were so corrupt, that justice, instead of being badly
+administered, was not administered at all;[331] and the parliament,
+completely overawed, consented to what was termed the recissory act, by
+which, at a single stroke, all laws were repealed which had been enacted
+since 1633; it being considered that those twenty-eight years formed an
+epoch of which the memory should, if possible, be effaced.[332]
+
+ [328] Wodrow, who had before him the records of the Privy Council,
+ besides other evidence now lost, says, that the period from 1660
+ to 1688 was 'a very horrid scene of oppression, hardships, and
+ cruelty, which, were it not incontestably true, and well vouched
+ and supported, could not be credited in after ages.' _Wodrow's
+ History of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the
+ Revolution_, vol. i. p. 57. And the Reverend Alexander Shields,
+ quaintly, but truly, observes, 'that the said Government was the
+ most untender, unpeaceable, tyrannical, arbitrary and wicked, that
+ ever was in Scotland in any age or period.' _Shields' Scots
+ Inquisition_, Edinburgh, 1745, p. 24.
+
+ [329] When James I. ascended the throne of England, 'the principal
+ native nobility' accompanied him; and 'the very peace which ensued
+ upon the union of the crowns, may be considered as the
+ commencement of an era in which many of our national strongholds
+ were either transformed into simple residences or utterly
+ deserted.' _Irving's History of Dumbartonshire_, 4to, 1860, pp.
+ 137, 166. The nobles 'had no further occasion to make a figure in
+ war, their power in vassalage was of little use, and their
+ influence of course decayed. They knew little of the arts of
+ peace, and had no disposition to cultivate them.' _The Interest of
+ Scotland Considered_, Edinburgh, 1733, p. 85. Under Charles I.,
+ the movement continued; 'which fell out, partly through the
+ giddiness of the times, but more by the way his Majesty had taken
+ at the beginning of his reign; at which time he did recover from
+ divers of them their hereditary offices, and also pressed them to
+ quit their tithes (which formerly had kept the gentry in a
+ dependance upon them), whereby they were so weaken'd that now when
+ he stood most in need of them (except the chief of the clans) they
+ could command none but their vassals.' _Guthry's Memoirs_, edit.
+ 1702, pp. 127, 128. Then came the civil wars, and the rule of
+ Cromwell, during which they suffered both in person and in
+ property. Compare _Chambers' Annals_, vol. ii. p. 225, with
+ _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. pp. 515, 516. In 1654,
+ Baillie writes (_Letters and Journals_, vol. iii. p. 249): 'Our
+ nobilitie, weell near all, are wracked.' In 1656, 'Our nobles
+ lying up in prisons, and under forfaultries, or debts, private or
+ publict, are for the most part either broken or breaking.'
+ _Ibid._, p. 317. And, in 1658, the same observer writes (vol. iii.
+ p. 387): 'Our noble families are almost gone: Lennox hes little in
+ Scotland unsold; Hamilton's estate, except Arran and the Baronrie
+ of Hamilton, is sold; Argyle can pay little annuelrent for seven
+ or eight hundred thousand merks; and he is no more drowned in debt
+ than publict hatred, almost of all, both Scottish and English; the
+ Gordons are gone; the Douglasses little better; Eglintoun and
+ Glencairn on the brink of breaking; many of our chief families
+ estates are cracking; nor is there any appearance of any human
+ relief for the tyme.'
+
+ The result of all this is thus described by Wodrow, under the year
+ 1661: 'Our nobility and gentry were remarkably changed to the
+ worst: it was but few of such, who had been active in the former
+ years, were now alive, and those few were marked out for ruin. A
+ young generation had sprung up under the English government,
+ educated under penury and oppression; their estates were under
+ burden, and many of them had little other prospect of mending
+ their fortunes, but by the king's favour, and so were ready to act
+ that part he was best pleased with.' _Wodrow's History of the
+ Church of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 89.
+
+ [330] 'At the Restoration, Charles II. regained full possession of the
+ royal prerogative in Scotland; and the nobles, whose estates were
+ wasted, or their spirit broken, by the calamities to which they
+ have been exposed, were less able and less willing than ever to
+ resist the power of the crown. During his reign, and that of James
+ VII., the dictates of the monarch were received in Scotland with
+ most abject submission. The poverty to which many of the nobles
+ were reduced, rendered them meaner slaves and more intolerable
+ tyrants than ever. The people, always neglected, were now odious,
+ and loaded with every injury, on account of their attachment to
+ religious and political principles, extremely repugnant to those
+ adopted by their princes.' _Robertson's History of Scotland_, book
+ viii. pp. 257, 258.
+
+ [331] A writer of great authority, speaking of the time of William III.,
+ says: 'It is scarcely possible to conceive how utterly polluted
+ the fountain of justice had become during the two preceding
+ reigns. The Scottish bench had been profligate and subservient to
+ the utmost conceivable extent of profligacy and subserviency.'
+ _Burton's History of Scotland_, from 1689 to 1748, London, 1853,
+ vol. i p. 72. See also vol. ii. p. 37; and _Brown's History of
+ Glasgow_, vol. i. p. 194, Glasgow, 1795.
+
+ [332] _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 10. _Baillie's Letters
+ and Journals_, vol. iii. p. 458. As few persons take the trouble
+ to read Scotch Acts of Parliament, I will extract from this one,
+ its most argumentative passage. 'And forasmuch as now it hath
+ pleased Almighty God, by the power of his oune right hand, so
+ miracoulously to restore the Kings Maiestie to the Government of
+ his Kingdomes, and to the exercise of his Royall power and
+ Soveranity over the same: The estates of Parlia^t doe conceave
+ themselffs obleidged in dischairge of ther duetie and conscience
+ to God and the Kings Maiestie, to imploy all their power and
+ interest for vindicateing his Maiesties Authority from all these
+ violent invasions that have been made upon it; And so far as is
+ possible to _remove out of the way every thing that may retaine
+ any remembrance of these things_ which have been so enjurious to
+ his Matie and his Authority, so prejudiciall and dishonourable to
+ the kingdome, and distructive to all just and true interests
+ within the same.' ... 'Not to retaine any remembrance thairof, but
+ that the same shall be held in _everlasting oblivion_.' _Acts of
+ the Parliaments of Scotland_, vol. vii. p. 87, edit. folio, 1820.
+ The date of this Act is 28th March 1661.
+
+But, though the higher ranks ignominiously deserted their post, and
+destroyed the laws which upheld the liberties of Scotland, the result
+proved that the liberties themselves were indestructible. This was
+because the spirit remained, by which the liberties had been won. The
+nation was sound at the core; and while that was the case, legislators
+could, indeed, abolish the external manifestations of freedom, but could
+by no means touch the causes on which the freedom depended. Liberty was
+prostrate, but yet it lived. And the time would surely come, when a
+people, who loved it so dearly, would vindicate their rights. The time
+would come, when, in the words of the great poet of English liberty, the
+nation would rouse herself like a strong man after sleep, and, shaking
+her invincible locks, would be as an eagle muing her mighty youth,
+kindling her undazzled eyes at the midday beam, and purging and unscaling
+her sight at the heavenly fountain; while the timorous birds of her evil
+destiny, loving the twilight, should flutter about, amazed at what she
+meant.
+
+Still, the crisis was sad and dangerous. The people, deserted by every
+one except their clergy, were ruthlessly plundered, murdered, and hunted,
+like wild-beasts, from place to place. From the tyranny of the bishops,
+they had so recently smarted, that they abhorred episcopacy more than
+ever; and yet that institution was not only forced upon them, but
+government put at its head Sharp, a cruel and rapacious man, who, in
+1661, was raised to the archbishopric of St. Andrews.[333] He set up a
+court of ecclesiastical commission, which filled the prisons to
+overflowing; and when they would hold no more, the victims were
+transported to Barbadoes, and other unhealthy settlements.[334] The
+people, being determined not to submit to the dictation of government
+respecting their religious worship, met together in private houses; and,
+when that was declared illegal, they fled from their houses to the
+fields. But there, too, the bishops were upon them.[335] Lauderdale, who,
+for many years, was at the head of affairs, was greatly influenced by the
+new prelates, and aided them with the authority of the executive.[336]
+Under their united auspices, a new contrivance was hit upon; and a body
+of soldiers, commanded by Turner, a drunken and ferocious soldier, was
+let loose upon the people.[337] The sufferers, galled to madness, rose
+in arms. This was made the pretence, in 1667, for fresh military
+executions, by which some of the fairest parts of western Scotland were
+devastated, houses burned, men tortured, women ravished.[338] In 1670, an
+act of parliament was passed, declaring that whoever preached in the
+fields without permission should be put to death.[339] Some lawyers were
+found bold enough to defend innocent men, when they were tried for their
+lives; it was therefore determined to silence them also, and, in 1674, a
+great part of the Faculty of Advocates was expelled from Edinburgh.[340]
+In 1678, by the express command of government, the Highlanders were
+brought down from their mountains, and, during three months, were
+encouraged to slay, plunder, and burn at their pleasure, the inhabitants
+of the most populous and industrious parts of Scotland. For centuries,
+the bitterest animosity had existed between the Highlanders and
+Lowlanders; and now these savage mountaineers were called from their
+homes, that they might take full revenge. And well they glutted their
+ire. During three months, they enjoyed every license. Eight thousand[341]
+armed Highlanders, invited by the English government, and receiving
+beforehand an indemnity for every excess,[342] were left to work their
+will upon the towns and villages of Western Scotland. They spared neither
+age nor sex. They deprived the people of their property; they even
+stripped them of their clothes, and sent them out naked to die in the
+fields. Upon many, they inflicted the most horrible tortures. Children,
+torn from their mothers, were foully abused; while both mothers and
+daughters were subjected to a fate, compared to which death would have
+been a joyful alternative.[343]
+
+ [333] He was made 'primate' in 1661, but did not arrive in Scotland till
+ April 1662. _Wodrow's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i.
+ pp. 236, 247; and _Nicoll's Diary_, pp. 363, 364. 'That he was
+ decent, if not regular, in his deportment, endued with the most
+ industrious diligence, and not illiterate, was never disputed;
+ that he was vain, vindictive, perfidious, at once haughty and
+ servile, rapacious and cruel, his friends have never attempted to
+ disown.' _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 98, 99. The
+ formal establishment of episcopacy was in the autumn of 1661, as
+ we learn from an entry in Lamont's Diary. '1661. Sept. 5 being
+ Thursday, (the chancelour, Glencairne, and the E. of Rothes,
+ haueing come downe from court some dayes before,) the cownsell of
+ state satt att Edb., and the nixt day, being Fryday, they caused
+ emitte and be proclaimed ouer the Crosse, a proclamation in his
+ Maj. name, for establishing Episcopacie againe in the church of
+ Scotlande; which was done with great solemnitie, and was
+ afterwarde printed. _All persons, wither men or weomen, were
+ discharged to speake against that office, under the paine of
+ treason._' _The Diary of Mr. John Lamont_, p. 140. This, as we
+ learn from another contemporary, was on account of 'the Kinges
+ Majestie having stedfastlie resolvit to promove the estait, power,
+ and dignitie of Bischops, and to _remove all impedimentes contrary
+ thairto_.' _Nicoll's Diary_, 4to, p. 353; on 21st November 1661.
+ This curious diary, written by John Nicoll, and extending from
+ 1650 to 1667, was printed at Edinburgh, in 1836, by the Bannatyne
+ Club, and is now not often met with.
+
+ [334] _Wodrow's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 383,
+ 390-395. _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 38: 'A court
+ of ecclesiastical commission was procured by Sharp.' See also p.
+ 41: 'Under the influence of Sharp and the prelates, which
+ Lauderdale's friends were unable to resist, the government seemed
+ to be actuated by a blind resentment against its own subjects.'
+ Compare _Burnet's History of his own Time_, vol. i. p. 365. 'The
+ truth is, the whole face of the government looked liker the
+ proceedings of an inquisition than of legal courts; and yet Sharp
+ was never satisfied.' Another contemporary, Kirkton, says of these
+ Commissioners: 'For ought I could hear, never one appeared before
+ them that escapt without punishment. Their custom was without
+ premonition or lybell, to ask a man a question, and judge him
+ presently, either upon his silence or his answer.' ... 'They many
+ times doubled the legal punishment; and not being satisfied with
+ the fyne appointed by law, they used to add religation to some
+ remote places, or deportation to Barbadoes, or selling into
+ slavery.' _Kirkton's History of the Church of Scotland_, p. 206.
+ See also _Naphtali, or the Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland_,
+ 1667, pp. 126-130. But as particular cases bring such matters more
+ clearly before the mind, I will transcribe, from _Crookshank's
+ History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 154, the sentences
+ pronounced on a single occasion by this episcopal court. 'The
+ treatment of some of the parishioners of Ancrum is not to be
+ omitted. When their excellent minister, Mr. Livingstone, was taken
+ from them, one Mr. James Scot, who was under the sentence of
+ excommunication, was presented to that charge. On the day fixed
+ for his settlement, several people did meet together to oppose it;
+ and particularly a country woman, desiring to speak with him in
+ order to dissuade him from intruding himself upon a reclaiming
+ people, pulled him by the cloak, intreating him to hear her a
+ little; whereupon he turned and beat her with his staff. This
+ provoked two or three boys to throw a few stones, which neither
+ touched him nor any of his company. However, it was presently
+ looked upon as a treasonable tumult, and therefore the sheriff and
+ justices of the peace in that bounds fined and imprisoned some of
+ these people, which, one would think, might atone for a crime of
+ this nature. But the high-commission, not thinking that
+ sufficient, ordered those criminals to be brought before them.
+ Accordingly, the four boys and this woman, with two brothers of
+ hers of the name of Turnbull, were brought prisoners to Edinburgh.
+ The four boys confessed, that, upon Scot's beating the woman, they
+ had thrown each his stone. The commissioner told them that hanging
+ was too good for them. However, the sentence of this merciless
+ court only was, that they should be scourged through the city of
+ Edinburgh, burnt in the face with a hot iron, and then sold as
+ slaves to Barbadoes. The boys endured their punishment like men
+ and Christians, to the admiration of multitudes. The two brothers
+ were banished to Virginia; and the woman was ordered to be whipped
+ through the town of Jedburgh. Burnet, bishop of Glasgow, when
+ applied to that she might be spared lest she should be with child,
+ mildly answered, That he would make them claw the itch out of her
+ shoulders.'
+
+ [335] They were invested with such immense power, that 'the old set of
+ bishops made by the parliament, 1612, were but pigmies to the
+ present high and mighty lords.' _Wodrow's History of the Church of
+ Scotland_, vol. i. p. 262. See also, at p. 286, the remarks of
+ Douglas: 'It is no wonder then the complaint against their bishops
+ be, that their little finger is thicker than the loins of the
+ former.'
+
+ [336] In 1663, Middleton was dismissed; and was succeeded by Lauderdale,
+ who 'was dependent upon the prelates, and was compelled to yield
+ to their most furious demands.' _Laing's History of Scotland_,
+ vol. iv. p. 33. 'The influence, or rather the tyranny, which was
+ thus at the discretion of the prelates, was unlimited; and they
+ exercised it with an unsparing hand.' _Bower's History of the
+ University of Edinburgh_, vol. i. p. 284.
+
+ [337] 'Sir James Turner, that commanded them, was naturally fierce, but
+ was mad when he was drunk; and that was very often.' _Burnet's
+ History of his own Time_, vol. i. p. 364. Kirkton (_History of the
+ Church_, p. 221) says: 'Sir James Turner hade made ane expedition
+ to the west countrey _to subdue it to the bishops_, in the year
+ 1664; another in the year 1665; and a third in the year 1666; and
+ this was the worst.' Full particulars will be found in _Wodrow's
+ History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 373-375, 411, vol.
+ ii. pp. 8, 17, vol. iii. pp. 264, 265. 'This method of dragooning
+ people to the church, as it is contrary to the spirit of
+ Christianity, so it was a stranger in Scotland, till Bishop Sharpe
+ and the prelates brought it in.' vol. i. p. 401.
+
+ Sir James Turner, whose Memoirs, written by himself, were not
+ published till thirty years ago, relates an anecdote of his own
+ drunkenness in a strain of maudlin piety well worthy of his
+ career. _Turner's Memoirs of his own Life_, Edinburgh, 1829, 4to,
+ pp. 42, 43. At p. 206, this impudent man writes: 'And yet I
+ confesse, my humour never was, nor is not yet, one of the calmest;
+ when it will be, God onlie knoues; yet by many sad passages of my
+ life, I know that _it hath beene good for me to be afflicted_.'
+ Perhaps, however, he may take the benefit of his assertion (p.
+ 144), 'that I was so farre from exceeding or transgressing my
+ commission and instructions, that I never came the full length of
+ them.' Considering the cruelties he committed, what sort of
+ instructions could his superiors have given to him?
+
+ [338] 'Sir James Turner lately had forced Galloway to rise in arms, by
+ his cruelty the last and former years; but he was an easy master,
+ compared with General Dalziel, his ruffians, and Sir William
+ Bannatyne, this year.' _Wodrow's Church of Scotland_, vol. ii. p.
+ 62. Dalziel 'cruelly tortured whom he would.' p. 63. One woman 'is
+ brought prisoner to Kilmarnock, where she was sentenced to be let
+ down to a deep pit, under the house of the dean, full of toads and
+ other vile creatures. Her shrieks thence were heard at a great
+ distance.' p. 64. Two countrymen were 'bound together with cords,
+ and hanged up by their thumbs to a tree, there to hang all night.'
+ _Ibid._ Sir William Bannatyne's soldiers seized a woman, 'and
+ bound her, and put lighted matches betwixt her fingers for several
+ hours; the torture and pain made her almost distracted; she lost
+ one of her hands, and in a few days she died.' _Ibid._
+ 'Oppressions, murders, robberies, rapes.' p. 65. 'He made great
+ fires, and laid down men to roast before them, when they would
+ not, or could not, give him the money he required, or the
+ information he was seeking.' p. 104. See also _Crookshank's
+ History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 204-207. The
+ History is based upon Wodrow's great work, but contains many facts
+ with which Wodrow was unacquainted. See _Crookshank_, vol. i. p.
+ 11. Respecting the outrages in 1667, there are some horrible
+ details in a book published in that very year, under the title of
+ _Naphtali, or the Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland_. See,
+ especially, the summary at p. 174: 'wounding, beating, stripping
+ and imprisoning mens persons, violent breaking of their houses
+ both by day and night, and beating and wounding of wives and
+ children, ravishing and deflowring of women, forcing wives and
+ other persons by fired matches and other tortures to discover
+ their husbands and nearest relations, although it be not within
+ the compass of their knowledge, and driving and spoiling all their
+ goods that can be carried away, without respect to guilt or
+ innocency.'
+
+ [339] 'That whosoever without licence or authoritie forsaid shall preach,
+ expound Scripture, or pray at any of these meetings in the ffeild,
+ or in any house wher ther be moe persons nor the house contains,
+ so as some of them be without doors (which is hereby declared to
+ be a feild conventicle), or who shall convocat any number of
+ people to these meetings, shall be punished with death and
+ confiscation of ther goods.' _Acts of the Parliaments of
+ Scotland_, vol. viii. p. 9, edit. 1820, folio. This was on the
+ 13th August 1670.
+
+ [340] The immediate pretence being, to do away with appeals. See
+ _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 72-74.
+
+ [341] 'Savage hosts of Highlanders were sent down to depopulate the
+ western shires, to the number of ten or eleven thousand, who acted
+ most outrageous barbarities, even almost to the laying some
+ counties desolate.' _A Cloud of Witnesses for the Royal
+ Prerogatives of Jesus Christ_, edit. Glasgow, 1779, p. 18. But
+ most authorities state the number to have been eight thousand. See
+ _Kirkton's History_, p. 386; _Arnot's History of Edinburgh_, p.
+ 154; _Burnet's History of his own Time_, vol. ii. p. 134;
+ _Denholm's History of Glasgow_, p. 67; and _Life and Sufferings of
+ John Nisbet_, in _Select Biographies_, published by the Wodrow
+ Society, vol. ii. p. 381. Chalmers, however, in his _Caledonia_,
+ vol. iii. p. 592, says 10,000.
+
+ [342] 'They were indemnified against all pursuits, civil and criminal,
+ on account of killing, wounding, apprehending, or imprisoning,
+ such as should oppose them.' _Crookshank's History of the Church
+ of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 337, 338.
+
+ [343] Short and imperfect notices of this 'Highland Host,' as it was
+ called at the time, may be found in _Kirkton's History_, pp.
+ 385-390, and in _Crookshank's History_, vol. i. pp. 354, 355. But
+ the fullest account of the enormities committed by these
+ barbarians, is in Wodrow's great work, collected from authentic
+ and official documents. See his _History of the Church of
+ Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 375-413, 421-432, vol. iii. pp. 76, 79,
+ 486. They were provided beforehand with implements of torture.
+ 'They had good store of iron shackles, as if they were to lead
+ back vast numbers of slaves, and thumb-locks, as they call them'
+ (_i.e._ thumb-screws), 'to make their examinations and trials
+ with.' vol. ii. p. 389. 'In some places they tortured people, by
+ scorching their bodies at vast fires, and other wise,' vol. ii. p.
+ 422. Compare _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 88.
+ 'Neither age nor sex was exempt from outrage, and torture was
+ freely employed to extort a confession of hidden wealth.' And, at
+ p. 91, 'The Highlanders, after exacting free quarters, and wasting
+ the country for three months, were dismissed to their hills with
+ impunity and wealth.'
+
+It was in this way, that the English government sought to break the
+spirit, and to change the opinions, of the Scotch people. The nobles
+looked on in silence, and, so far from resisting, had not even the
+courage to remonstrate. The parliament was equally servile, and
+sanctioned whatever the government demanded. Still, the people were firm.
+Their clergy, drawn from the middle classes, clung to them; they clung to
+their clergy, and both were unchanged. The bishops were hated as allies
+of the government, and were with reason regarded as public enemies. They
+were known to have favoured, and often to have suggested, the atrocities
+which had been committed;[344] and they were so pleased with the
+punishment inflicted upon their opponents, that no one was surprised,
+when, a few years later, they, in an address to James II., the most cruel
+of all the Stuarts, declared that he was the darling of heaven, and hoped
+that God might give him the hearts of his subjects, and the necks of his
+enemies.[345]
+
+ [344] 'Indeed, the whole of the severity, hardships, and bloodshed from
+ this year' (1661), 'until the revolution, was either actually
+ brought on by the bishops, procured by them, or done for their
+ support.' _Wodrow's History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. p.
+ 223. 'It was our prelates who pushed the council to most of their
+ severities.' p. 247. 'The bishops, indeed, violently pushed
+ prosecutions.' _Crookshank's History of the Church_, vol. i.
+ p. 298. In 1666, 'As to the prelates, they resolved to use all
+ severities, and to take all imaginable cruel and rigorous ways and
+ courses, first against the rest of the prisoners, and then against
+ the whole west of Scotland.' _Row's Continuation of Blair's
+ Autobiography_, pp. 505, 506, edit. Edinburgh, 1848. This
+ interesting work is edited by Dr. M'Crie, and published by the
+ Wodrow Society.
+
+ [345] In 1688, 'the bishops concurred in a pious and convivial address to
+ James, as the darling of heaven, that God might give him the
+ hearts of his subjects and the necks of his enemies.' _Laing's
+ History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 193.
+
+The character of the prince, whom the bishops thus delighted to honour,
+is now well understood. Horrible as were the crimes which had been
+perpetrated, they were surpassed by what occurred, when he, in 1680,
+assumed the direction of affairs.[346] He had worked himself to that
+pitch of iniquity, as to derive actual enjoyment from witnessing the
+agonies of his fellow-creatures. This is an abyss of wickedness, into
+which even the most corrupt natures rarely fall. There have been, and
+always will be, many men who care nothing for human suffering, and who
+will inflict any amount of pain, in order to gain certain ends. But to
+take delight in the spectacle, is a peculiar and hideous abomination.
+James, however, was so dead to shame, that he did not care even to
+conceal his horrible tastes. Whenever torture was inflicted, he was sure
+to be present, feasting his eyes, and revelling with a fiendish joy.[347]
+It makes our flesh creep to think that such a man should have been the
+ruler of millions. But what shall we say to the Scotch bishops, who
+applauded him, of whose conduct they were daily witnesses? Where can we
+find language strong enough to stigmatize those recreant priests, who,
+having passed years in attempting to subjugate the liberties of their
+country, did, towards the close of their career, and just before their
+final fall, band together, and employ their united authority, as
+ministers of a holy and peaceful religion, to stamp with public approval,
+a prince, whose malignant cruelty made him loathed by his contemporaries,
+and whose revolting predilections, unless we ascribe them to a diseased
+brain, are not only a slur upon the age which tolerated them, but a
+disgrace to the higher instincts of our common nature?
+
+ [346] 'After the Duke of York came down in October'(1680), 'the
+ persecution turned yet more severe.' _Wodrow's History of the
+ Church of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 225. 'Persecution and tyranny,
+ mainly promoted by the Duke of York's instigation.' _Shields' Hind
+ let loose_, p. 147. 'Immediately upon his mounting the throne, the
+ executions and acts prosecuting the persecution of the poor
+ wanderers, were more cruel than ever.' p. 200.
+
+ [347] This was well known in Scotland; and is evidently alluded to by a
+ writer of that time, the Rev. Alexander Shields, who calls James,
+ not a man, but a monster. See _Shields' Hind let loose_, 1687, p.
+ 365. 'This man, or monster rather, that is now mounted the
+ throne.' And a monster surely he was. Compare _Crookshank's
+ History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 66, where it is
+ mentioned that, when Spreul was tortured, 'the Duke of York was
+ pleased to gratify his eyes with this delightful scene.' Also,
+ _Wodrow's History_, vol. iii. p. 253, and _Laing's History of
+ Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 116. According to Burnet, 'the duke's
+ pleasure at witnessing human agony was a cold, and, as it were, a
+ speculative pleasure, as if he were present for the purpose of
+ contemplating some curious experiment. But James was so excitable
+ a man, that this is hardly likely. At all events, the remarks of
+ Burnet have a painful interest for those who study these dark,
+ and, as we may rejoice to think, these very rare, forms of human
+ malignity.' 'When any are to be struck in the boots, it is done in
+ the presence of the council; and upon that occasion, almost all
+ offer to run away. The sight is so dreadful, that without an order
+ restraining such a number to stay, the board would be forsaken.
+ But the duke, while he had been in Scotland, was so far from
+ withdrawing, that he looked on all the while with an unmoved
+ indifference, and _with an attention, as if he had been to look on
+ some curious experiment_. This gave a terrible idea of him to all
+ that observed it, as of a man that had no bowels nor humanity in
+ him.' _Burnet's History of his own Time_, vol. ii. pp. 416, 417.
+
+So utterly corrupt, however, were the ruling classes in Scotland, that
+such crimes seem hardly to have excited indignation. The sufferers were
+refractory subjects, and against them every thing was lawful. The usual
+torture, which was called the torture of the boots, was to place the leg
+in a frame, into which wedges were driven, until the bones were
+broken.[348] But when James visited Scotland, an opinion began to grow
+up, that this was too lenient, and that other means must be devised. The
+spirit which he communicated to his subordinates, animated his immediate
+successors, and, in 1684, during his absence, a new instrument was
+introduced, termed the thumbikins. This was composed of small steel
+screws, arranged with such diabolical art, that not only the thumb, but
+also the whole hand, could be compressed by them, producing pain more
+exquisite than any hitherto known, and having, moreover, the advantage of
+not endangering life; so that the torture could be frequently repeated on
+the same person.[349]
+
+ [348] Shields (_A Hind let loose_, p. 186) describes the boots, as 'a
+ cruel engine of iron, whereby, with wedges, the leg is tortured,
+ until the marrow come out of the bone.' Compare _Naphtali, or the
+ Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland_, 1667, p. 268: 'the
+ extraordinary compression both of flesh, sinews, and bones, by the
+ force of timber wedges and hammer.'
+
+ [349] In 1684, Carstairs was subjected to this torture. See his own
+ account, in a letter printed in _Wodrow's History of the Church of
+ Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 96-100. He writes (p. 99): 'After this
+ communing, the king's smith was called in, to bring in a new
+ instrument to torture by the thumbkins, that had never been used
+ before. For whereas the former was only to screw on two pieces of
+ iron above and below with finger and thumb, these were made to
+ turn about the screw with the whole hand. And under this torture,
+ I continued near an hour and a half.' See also the case of Spence,
+ in the same year, in _Burnet's History of his own Time_, vol. ii.
+ p. 418. 'Little screws of steel were made use of, that screwed the
+ thumbs with so exquisite a torment, that he sunk under this; for
+ Lord Perth told him, they would screw every joint of his whole
+ body, one after another, till he took the oath.' Laing (_History
+ of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 143) says, 'the thumbikins; small screws
+ of steel that compressed the thumb and the whole hand with an
+ exquisite torture;' an invention brought by Drummond and Dalziel
+ from Russia. For other notices, see _Fountainhall's Notes of
+ Scottish Affairs_ from 1680 till 1701, Edinburgh, 4to, 1822, pp.
+ 41, 97, 101; _Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh_,
+ vol. ii. p. 30; _Crookshank's History of the Church of Scotland_,
+ vol. ii. p. 192; _A Cloud of Witnesses for the Royal Prerogatives
+ of Jesus Christ_, edit. Glasgow, 1779, p. 371; and _Life of Walter
+ Smith_, p. 85, in the second volume of _Walker's Biographia
+ Presbyteriana_, Edinburgh, 1827.
+
+After this, little more need be said.[350] From the mere mention of such
+things, the mind recoils with disgust. The reader of the history of that
+time sickens and faints at the contrivances by which these abject
+creatures sought to stifle public opinion, and to ruin, for ever, a
+gallant and high-spirited people. But now, as before, they laboured in
+vain. More yet was, however, to be borne. The short reign of James II.
+was ushered in by an act of singular barbarity. A few weeks after this
+bad man came to the throne, all the children in Annandale and Nithsdale,
+between the ages of six and ten, were seized by the soldiers, separated
+from their parents, and threatened with immediate death.[351] The next
+step was, to banish, by wholesale, large numbers of adults, who were
+shipped off to unhealthy settlements; many of the men first losing their
+ears, and the women being branded, some on the hand, some on the
+cheek.[352] Those, however, who remained behind, were equal to the
+emergency, and were ready to do what remained to be done. In 1688, as in
+1642, the Scotch people and the English people united against their
+common oppressor, who saved himself by sudden and ignominious flight. He
+was a coward as well as a despot, and from him there was no further
+danger. The bishops, indeed, loved him; but they were an insignificant
+body, and had enough to do to look to themselves. His only powerful
+friends were the Highlanders. That barbarous race thought, with regret,
+of those bygone days when the government had not only allowed them, but
+had ordered them, to plunder and oppress their southern neighbours. For
+this purpose, Charles II. had availed himself of their services; and it
+could hardly be doubted, that if the Stuart dynasty were restored, they
+would be again employed, and would again enrich themselves by pillaging
+the Lowlanders.[353] War was their chief amusement; it was also their
+livelihood; and it was the only thing that they understood.[354] Besides
+this, the mere fact that James no longer possessed authority,
+wonderfully increased their loyalty towards him. The Highlanders
+flourished by rapine, and traded in anarchy.[355] They, therefore, hated
+any government which was strong enough to punish crime; and the Stuarts
+being now far away, this nation of thieves loved them with an ardour
+which nothing but their absence could have caused. From William III.,
+they feared restraint; but the exiled prince could do them no hurt, and
+would look on their excesses as the natural result of their zeal. Not
+that they cared about the principle of monarchical succession, or
+speculated on the doctrine of divine right.[356] The only succession that
+interested them, was that of their chiefs. Their only notion of right,
+was to do what those chiefs commanded. Being miserably poor,[357] they,
+in raising a rebellion, risked nothing except their lives, of which, in
+that state of society, men are always reckless. If they failed, they
+encountered a speedy, and, as they deemed it, an honourable death. If
+they succeeded, they gained fame and wealth. In either case, they were
+sure of many enjoyments. They were sure of being able, for a time at
+least, to indulge in pillage and murder, and to practise, without
+restraint, those excesses which they regarded as the choicest guerdon of
+a soldier's career.
+
+ [350] 'In 1684, the Scottish nation was in the most distressing and
+ pitiable situation that can be imagined.' ... 'The state of
+ society had now become such, that, in Edinburgh, attention to
+ ordinary business was neglected, and every one was jealous of his
+ neighbour.' _Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh_,
+ vol. i. p. 307.
+
+ [351] 'Upon the 10th of March, all freeholders, heritors, and gentlemen
+ in Nithsdale and Annandale, and, I suppose, in most other shires
+ of the kingdom, but I name those as being the scene of the
+ severities now used, were summoned to attend the king's standard;
+ and the militia in the several shires were raised. Wherever
+ Claverhouse came, he resolved upon narrow and universal work. He
+ used to set his horse upon the hills and eminences, and that in
+ different parties, that none might escape; and there his foot went
+ through the lower, marshy, and mossy places, where the horse could
+ not do so well. The shire he parcelled out in so many divisions,
+ and six or eight miles square would be taken in at once. In every
+ division, the whole inhabitants, men and women, young and old,
+ without distinction, were all driven into one convenient place.'
+ ... 'All the children in the division were gathered together by
+ themselves, under ten years, and above six years of age, and a
+ party of soldiers were drawn out before them. Then they were bid
+ pray, for they were going to be shot. Some of them would answer,
+ Sir, we cannot pray.' ... 'At other times, they treated them most
+ inhumanly, threatening them with death, and at some little
+ distance would fire pistols without ball in their face. Some of
+ the poor children were frighted almost out of their wits, and
+ others of them stood all out with a courage perfectly above their
+ age. These accounts are so far out of the ordinary way of mankind,
+ that I would not have insert them, had I not before me several
+ informations agreeing in all these circumstances, written at this
+ time by people who knew the truth of them.' _Wodrow's History of
+ the Church of Scotland_, vol. iv. pp. 255, 256.
+
+ [352] 'Numbers were transported to Jamaica, Barbadoes, and the North
+ American settlements; but the women were not unfrequently burnt in
+ the cheek, and the ears of the men were lopt off, to prevent, or
+ to detect, their return,' _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iv.
+ p. 162. 'Great multitudes banished,' _Wodrow's History of the
+ Church_, vol. iv. p. 211. In July 1685, 'the men are ordered to
+ have their ears cropt, and the women to be marked in their hand.'
+ p. 217. 'To have the following stigma and mark, that they may be
+ known as banished persons if they shall return to this kingdom,
+ _viz._ that the men have one of their ears cut off by the hand of
+ the hangman, and that the women be burnt by the same hand on the
+ cheek with a burned iron.' p. 218. These are extracts from the
+ proceedings of the privy-council.
+
+ [353] 'James II. favoured the Highland clans,' Note in _Fountainhall's
+ Scottish Affairs_ from 1680 till 1701, p. 100. He could hardly do
+ otherwise. The alliance was natural, and ready-made for him.
+
+ [354] Except robbing, which, however, in one form or other, is always a
+ part of war. In this, they were very apt. Burnet (_History of his
+ own Time_, vol. i. p. 67) pithily describes them as 'good at
+ robbing;' and Burton (_Lives of Lovat and Forbes_, p. 47) says,
+ 'To steal even vestments was considerably more creditable than to
+ make them.' Otherwise, they were completely absorbed by their
+ passion for war. See _Thomson's Memoirs of the Jacobites_,
+ vol. ii. pp. 175, 176, London, 1845.
+
+ [355] 'Revenge was accounted a duty, the destruction of a neighbour a
+ meritorious exploit, and rapine an honourable employment.'
+ _Browne's History of the Highlands_, vol. iv. p. 395. 'The spirit
+ of rivalry between the clans kept up a taste for hostility, and
+ converted rapine into a service of honour.' _Thomson's Memoirs of
+ the Jacobites_, vol. ii. p. 229.
+
+ [356] Hence, looking, as they did, merely at the physical qualities of
+ individuals, the appearance of the Pretender in 1715 disgusted
+ them, notwithstanding his splendid lineage. See some excellent
+ remarks in _Burton's History of Scotland_, from 1689 to 1748,
+ London, 1853, vol. ii. pp. 198, 199. At p. 383, Mr. Burton justly
+ observes, that 'those who really knew the Highlanders were aware
+ that the followers were no more innate supporters of King James's
+ claim to the throne of Britain, than of Maria Theresa's to the
+ throne of Hungary. They went with the policy of the head of the
+ clan, whatever that might be; and though upwards of half a
+ century's advocacy of the exiled house' (this refers to the last
+ rebellion in 1745) 'had made Jacobitism appear a political creed
+ in some clans, it was among the followers, high and low, little
+ better than a nomenclature, which might be changed with
+ circumstances.' Since Robertson, Mr. Burton and Mr. Chambers are,
+ I will venture to say, the two writers who have taken the most
+ accurate and comprehensive views of the history of Scotland.
+ Robertson's History stops short where the most important period
+ begins; and his materials were scanty. But what he effected with
+ those materials was wonderful. To my mind, his History of Scotland
+ is much the greatest of his works.
+
+ [357] A curious description of their appearance, given by the _Derby
+ Mercury_ in 1746 (in _Thomson's Memoirs of the Jacobites_, vol.
+ iii. p. 115), may be compared with the more general statement in
+ _Anderson's Prize Essay on the Highlands_, Edinburgh, 1827, p.
+ 128. 'Cattle were the main resources of the tribe--the acquisition
+ of these the great object of their hostile forrays. The precarious
+ crops gave them wherewithal to bake their oaten cakes, or distil
+ their ale or whisky. When these failed, the crowded population
+ suffered every extreme of misery and want. At one time in
+ particular, in Sutherland, they were compelled to subsist on broth
+ made of nettles, thickened with a little oatmeal. At another,
+ those who had cattle, to have recourse to the expedient of
+ bleeding them, and mixing the blood with oatmeal, which they
+ afterwards cut into slices and fried.'
+
+So far, therefore, from wondering at the rebellions of 1715 and
+1745,[358] the only wonder is, that they did not break out sooner, and
+that they were not better supported. In 1745, when the sudden appearance
+of the rebels struck England with terror, and when they penetrated even
+to the heart of the kingdom, their numbers, even at their height,
+including Lowland and English recruits, never reached six thousand men.
+The ordinary amount was five thousand;[359] and they cared so little
+about the cause for which they professed to fight, that, in 1715, when
+they numbered much stronger than in 1745, they refused to enter England,
+and make head against the government, until they were bribed by the
+promise of additional pay.[360] So, too, in 1745, after they had won the
+battle of Preston-pans, the only result of that great victory was, that
+the Highlanders, instead of striking a fresh blow, deserted in large
+bodies, that they might secure the booty they had obtained, and which
+alone they valued. They heeded not whether Stuart or Hanoverian gained
+the day; and at this critical moment, they were unable, says the
+historian, to resist their desire to return to their glens, and decorate
+their huts with the spoil.[361]
+
+ [358] Several writers erroneously term them 'unnatural.' See, for
+ instance, _Rae's History of the Rebellion_, London, 1746, pp. 158,
+ 169: and _Home's History of the Rebellion_, London, 1802, 4to,
+ p. 347.
+
+ [359] 'When the rebels began their march to the southward, they were not
+ 6000 men complete,' _Home's History of the Rebellion in the Year
+ 1745_, 4to, p. 137. At Stirling, the army, 'after the junction was
+ made, amounted to somewhat more than 9000 men, the greatest number
+ that Charles ever had under his command,' p. 164. But the actual
+ invaders of England were much fewer. 'The number of the rebels
+ when they began their march into England was a few above 5000
+ foot, with about 500 on horseback.' _Home_, p. 331. Browne
+ (_History of the Highlands_, vol. iii. p. 140) says: 'When
+ mustered at Carlisle, the prince's army amounted only to about
+ 4500 men;' and Lord George Murray states that, at Derby, 'we were
+ not above five thousand fighting men, if so many.' _Jacobite
+ Memoirs of the Rebellion of 1745_, edited by Robert Chambers,
+ Edinburgh, 1834, p. 54. Another writer, relying mainly on
+ traditional evidence, says, 'Charles, at the head of 4000
+ Highlanders, marched as far as Derby.' _Brown's History of
+ Glasgow_, vol. ii. p. 41, Edinburgh, 1797. Compare _Johnstone's
+ Memoirs of the Rebellion_, 3rd edit., London, 1822, pp. xxxvii.
+ xxxviii. 30-32, 52. Johnstone says, p. 60, 'M. Patullo, our
+ muster-master, reviewed our army at Carlisle, when it did not
+ exceed four thousand five hundred men.' Afterwards, returning to
+ Scotland, 'our army was suddenly increased to eight thousand men,
+ the double of what it was when we were in England.' p. 111.
+
+ [360] 'Orders were given to proceed in the direction of Carlisle, and
+ recall the detachment sent forward to Dumfries. The Highlanders,
+ still true to their stagnant principles, refused obedience.' ...
+ 'Pecuniary negotiations were now commenced, and they were offered
+ sixpence a day of regular pay--reasonable remuneration at that
+ period to ordinary troops, but to the wild children of the
+ mountain a glittering bribe, which the most steady obstinacy would
+ alone resist. It was partly effective.' _Burton's History of
+ Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 168. 'And from this day, the Highlanders
+ had sixpence a head per day payed them to keep them in good order
+ and under command.' _Patten's History of the late Rebellion_,
+ London, 1717, p. 73. See also, on the unwillingness of the
+ Highlanders to enter England, _Rae's History of the Rebellion_,
+ London, 1746, 2d edit. pp. 270, 271. Browne says (_History of the
+ Highlands_, vol. ii. pp. 300, 304): 'The aversion of the
+ Highlanders, from different considerations, to a campaign in
+ England, was almost insuperable;' but 'by the aid of great
+ promises and money, the greater part of the Highlanders were
+ prevailed upon to follow the fortunes of their commander.'
+
+ [361] 'Few victories have been more entire. It is said that scarcely two
+ hundred of the infantry escaped.' ... 'The Highlanders obtained a
+ glorious booty in arms and clothes, besides self-moving watches,
+ and other products of civilisation, which surprised and puzzled
+ them. Excited by such acquisitions, a considerable number could
+ not resist the old practice of their people to return to their
+ glens, and decorate their huts with their spoil.' _Burton's
+ History of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 465. Compare _Home's History of
+ the Rebellion_, p. 123. This was an old practice of theirs, as
+ Montrose found out, a century earlier, 'when many of the
+ Highlanders, being loaded with spoil, deserted privately, and soon
+ after returned to their own country.' _Wishart's Memoirs of the
+ Marquis of Montrose_, Edinburgh, 1819, p. 189. So, too, Burnet
+ (_Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton_, p. 272): 'Besides, any
+ companies could be brought down from the Highlands might do well
+ enough for a while, but no order could be expected from them, for
+ as soon as they were loaded with plunder and spoil, they would run
+ away home to their lurking holes, and desert those who had trusted
+ them.' See also p. 354. A more recent writer, drawing a veil over
+ this little infirmity, remarks, with much delicacy, that 'the
+ Highlanders, brave as they were, had a custom of returning home
+ after a battle.' _Thomson's Memoirs of the Jacobites_, London,
+ 1845, vol. i. p. 122. Not unfrequently they first robbed their
+ fellow-soldiers. In 1746, Bisset writes: 'The Highlanders, who
+ went off after the battel, carried off horses and baggage from
+ their own men, the Lowlanders.' _Diary of the Reverend John
+ Bisset_, in _Miscellany of the Spalding Club_, vol. i. p. 377,
+ Aberdeen, 1841, 4to.
+
+There are, indeed, few things more absurd than that lying spirit of
+romance, which represents the rising of the Highlanders as the outburst
+of a devoted loyalty. Nothing was further from their minds than this. The
+Highlanders have crimes enough to account for, without being burdened by
+needless reproach. They were thieves and murderers; but that was in their
+way of life, and they felt not the stigma. Though they were ignorant and
+ferocious, they were not so foolish as to be personally attached to that
+degraded family, which, before the accession of William III., occupied
+the throne of Scotland. To love such men as Charles II. and James II.,
+may, perhaps, be excused as one of those peculiarities of taste of which
+one sometimes hears. But to love all their descendants; to feel an
+affection so comprehensive as to take in the whole dynasty, and, for the
+sake of gratifying that eccentric passion, not only to undergo great
+hardships, but to inflict enormous evil upon two kingdoms, would have
+been a folly as well as a wickedness, and would convict the Highlanders
+of a species of insanity alien to their nature. They burst into
+insurrection, because insurrection suited their habits, and because they
+hated all government and all order.[362] But, so far from caring for a
+monarch, the very institution of monarchy was repulsive to them. It was
+contrary to that spirit of clanship to which they were devoted; and, from
+their earliest childhood, they were accustomed to respect none but their
+chiefs, to whom they paid a willing obedience, and whom they considered
+far superior to all the potentates of the earth.[363] No one, indeed, who
+is really acquainted with their history, will think them capable of
+having spilt their blood on behalf of any sovereign, be he whom he might;
+still less can we believe that they would quit their native land, and
+undertake long and hazardous marches, with the object of restoring that
+corrupt and tyrannical dynasty, whose offences smelt to heaven, and whose
+cruelties had, at length, kindled the anger even of humble and
+meek-minded men.
+
+ [362] 'Whoever desired, with the sword, to disturb or overturn a fixed
+ government, was sure of the aid of the chiefs, because a settled
+ government was ruinous to their power, and almost inimical to
+ their existence. The more it cultivated the arts of peace, and
+ throve on industrially created well-being, the more did it drive
+ into an antagonist position a people who did not change their
+ nature, who made no industrial progress, and who lived by the
+ swords which acquired for them the fruits of other men's industry.
+ With their interests, a peaceful, strong government was as
+ inconsistent as a well-guarded sheepfold with the interest of
+ wolves.' _Burton's History of Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 105, 106.
+ 'The Highlanders, in all reigns, have been remarkable for
+ disturbing the established government of Scotland by taking up
+ arms on every invasion for the invaders.' _Marchant's History of
+ the present Rebellion_, London, 1746, p. 18. See also _Macky's
+ Journey through Scotland_, London, 1732, p. 129; and a short, but
+ very curious, account of the Highlanders, in 1744, in _The
+ Miscellany of the Spalding Club_, vol. ii. pp. 87-89.
+
+ [363] An observer, who had excellent opportunities of studying their
+ character between the rebellion of 1715 and that of 1745, writes,
+ 'The ordinary Highlanders esteem it the most sublime degree of
+ virtue to love their chief, and pay him a blind obedience,
+ although it be in opposition to the government, the laws of the
+ kingdom, or even to the law of God. He is their idol; and as _they
+ profess to know no king but him_ (I was going farther), so will
+ they say, they ought to do whatever he commands, without inquiry.'
+ _Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland_, edit. London,
+ 1815, vol. ii. pp. 83, 84. 'The Highlanders in Scotland are, of
+ all men in the world, the soonest wrought upon to follow their
+ leaders or chiefs into the field, having a wonderful veneration
+ for their Lords and Chieftains, as they are called there: _Nor do
+ these people ever consider the validity of the engaging cause_,
+ but blindly follow their chiefs into what mischief they please,
+ and that with the greatest precipitation imaginable.' _Patten's
+ History of the Rebellion_, London, 1717, p. 151. 'The power of the
+ chiefs over their clans was the true source of the two rebellions.
+ The clansmen cared no more about the legitimate race of the
+ Stuarts, than they did about the war of the Spanish succession.'
+ ... 'The Jacobite Highland chiefs ranged their followers on the
+ Jacobite side--the Hanoverians ranged theirs on the side of
+ government. Lovat's conduct was a sort of _experimentum crucis_;
+ he made his clan Hanoverian in one rebellion, and Jacobite in
+ another.' _Burton's Lives of Lovat and Forbes_, p. 150. Compare
+ the change of side of the Mackintoshes, in _Browne's History of
+ the Highlands_, vol. ii. p. 285. Even so late as the American war,
+ the sovereign was deemed subordinate to the chief. 'One Captain
+ Frazer from the northern district, brought down a hundred of his
+ clan, all of the name of Frazer. Few of them could understand a
+ word of English; and the only distinct idea they had of all the
+ mustering of forces which they saw around them, was that they were
+ going to fight for King Frazer and George ta Three.' _Penny's
+ Traditions of Perth_, pp. 49, 50, Perth, 1836.
+
+The simple fact is, that the outbreaks of 1715 and 1745 were, in our
+country, the last struggle of barbarism against civilization. On the one
+side, war and confusion. On the other side, peace and prosperity. These
+were the interests for which men really fought; and neither party cared
+for Stuarts or for Hanoverians. The result of such a contest in the
+eighteenth century, could hardly be doubtful. At the time, the
+rebellions caused great alarm, both from their suddenness, and from the
+strange and ferocious appearance of the Highland invaders.[364] But the
+knowledge we now possess, enables us to see, that, from the beginning,
+success was impossible. Though the government was extremely remiss, and,
+notwithstanding the information it received, allowed itself on both
+occasions to be taken by surprise, there was no real danger.[365] The
+English, not being particularly enamoured either with the Highlanders or
+with the Stuarts, refused to rise;[366] and it cannot be seriously
+supposed, that a few thousand half-naked banditti had it in their power
+to prescribe to the people of England what sovereign they should obey,
+and under what sort of government they should live.
+
+ [364] Which gave rise to a report that they were cannibals. 'The late
+ Mr. Halkston of Rathillet, who had been in this expedition' (the
+ Rebellion of 1745), 'told Mr. Young that the belief was general
+ among the people of England, that the Highlanders ate children.'
+ _Johnstone's Memoirs of the Rebellion_, 3rd edit. London, 1822,
+ p. 101. Such a rumour, notwithstanding its absurdity, was made
+ somewhat plausible by the revolting conduct of the Highlanders in
+ the first rebellion of 1715, when they committed, in the Lowlands,
+ horrible outrages on corpses which they dug up. See the
+ contemporary evidence, in _Correspondence of the Rev. Robert
+ Wodrow_, published by the Wodrow Society, vol. ii. pp. 86, 87, 93.
+ 'They have even raised up some of my Lord Rothes's children and
+ mangled their dead bodies' ... 'till the stench put them away.' In
+ 1745, they signalized their entrance into England in the following
+ manner. 'The rebels, during their stay in Carlisle, committed the
+ most shocking detestable villanies; for, not contented with
+ robbing families of their most valuable effects, they scrupled not
+ to act their brutal insolence on the persons of some young ladies,
+ even in the presence of their parents. A gentleman, in a letter to
+ his friend in London, writes thus: "That, after being in a manner
+ stripped of every thing, he had the misery to see three of his
+ daughters treated in such a manner that he could not relate it."'
+ _Marchant's History of the present Rebellion_, London, 1746,
+ pp. 181, 182.
+
+ [365] Even when they had penetrated to Derby, the best informed of their
+ own party despaired of success. See the Jacobitical account in
+ _The Lockhart Papers_, London, 4to, 1817, vol. ii. p. 458: 'The
+ next thing to be considered of, was what was now to be done; they
+ were now at Derby, with an army not half the number of what they
+ were reported to be, surrounded in a manner with regular troops
+ on all sides, and more than double their number. To go forward,
+ there was no encouragement, for their friends (if they had any)
+ had kept little or no correspondence with them from the time they
+ entered England.' The Chevalier de Johnstone, who took an active
+ part in the Rebellion, frankly says, 'If we had continued to
+ advance to London, and had encountered all the troops of England,
+ with the Hessians and Swiss in its pay, there was every
+ appearance of our being immediately exterminated, without the
+ chance of a single man escaping.' _Johnstone's Memoirs of the
+ Rebellion in 1745 and 1746_, p. 79.
+
+ [366] Lord George Murray, the commander-in-chief in 1745, was unwilling
+ to advance far south of Carlisle, 'without more encouragement from
+ the country than we had hitherto got.' See his own account, in
+ _The Jacobite Memoirs of the Rebellion of 1745_, edited by R.
+ Chambers, Edinburgh, 1834, p. 48. But his prudent advice was
+ overruled. The Highlanders pressed on; and that happened, which
+ any one, tolerably acquainted with England, might have foreseen.
+ Johnstone (_Memoirs of the Rebellion_, p. 70) says, 'In case of a
+ defeat in England, no one in our army could by any possibility
+ escape destruction, as the _English peasants were hostile towards
+ us in the highest degree_; and, besides, the army of Marshal Wade
+ was in our rear, to cut us off from all communication with
+ Scotland.' And at p. 81, 'In every place we passed through, we
+ found the English very ill disposed towards us, except at
+ Manchester, where there appeared some remains of attachment to the
+ house of Stuart.' The champion of arbitrary power would find a
+ different reception now, in that magnificent specimen of English
+ prosperity, and of true, open-mouthed, English fearlessness. But a
+ century ago, the men of Manchester were poor and ignorant; and the
+ statement of Johnstone respecting them is confirmed by Home, who
+ says, 'At Manchester, several gentlemen, and about 200 or 300 of
+ the common people, joined the rebel army; _these were the only
+ Englishmen (a few individuals excepted) who joined Charles in his
+ march through the country of England_.' _Home's History of the
+ Rebellion in 1745_, London, 1802, 4to, p. 145. In 1715, the
+ English equally held back, except at Manchester. See _Patten's
+ History of the late Rebellion_, London, 1717, pp. 89, 108.
+
+After 1745, there was no further interruption. The interests of
+civilization, that is, the interests of knowledge, of liberty, and of
+wealth, gradually assumed the upper hand, and reduced men like the
+Highlanders to utter insignificance. Roads were cut through their
+country; and, for the first time, travellers from the south began to
+mingle with them in their hitherto inaccessible wilds.[367] In those
+parts, the movement was, indeed, very slow; but, in the Lowlands, it was
+much more rapid. For, the traders and inhabitants of towns were now
+becoming prominent, and their authority helped to neutralize the old
+warlike and anarchical habits. Towards the end of the seventeenth
+century, a taste for commercial speculation sprung up, and a large amount
+of the energy of Scotland was turned into this new channel.[368] Early in
+the eighteenth century, the same tendency was displayed in literature;
+and works on mercantile and economical subjects became common.[369] A
+change in manners was also perceptible. About this period, the Scotch
+began to lose something of that rugged ferocity which had distinguished
+them of old. This improvement was evinced in several ways; one of the
+most remarkable being an alteration, which was first observed in 1710,
+when it was noticed that men were leaving off armour, which had hitherto
+been worn by every one who could afford it, as a useful precaution in a
+barbarous, and therefore a warlike society.[370]
+
+ [367] The establishment of roads caused great displeasure. Pennant, who
+ visited Scotland in 1769, says, 'These publick works were at first
+ very disagreeable to the old chieftains, and lessened their
+ influence greatly: for by admitting strangers among them, their
+ clans were taught that the Lairds were not the first of men.'
+ _Pennant's Tour in Scotland_, 4th edit. Dublin, 1775, vol. i.
+ p. 204. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, this feeling
+ began to die away. 'Till of late, the people of Kintail, as well
+ as other Highlands, had a strong aversion to roads. The more
+ inaccessible, the more secure, was their maxim.' _Sinclair's
+ Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. vi. p. 244, Edinburgh,
+ 1793.
+
+ [368] 'Soon after the establishment of the revolution settlement, the
+ ardent feelings of the Scottish people were turned out of their
+ old channels of religious controversy and war in the direction of
+ commercial enterprise.' _Burton's Criminal Trials in Scotland_,
+ vol. i. p. 104. Compare _Burnet's History of his own Time_, vol.
+ iv. pp. 286, 287, 418; and the note (at p. 419): 'The lords and
+ commons of Scotland were then desirous of getting into trade.'
+ This is under the year 1699. In 1698, Fletcher of Saltoun writes:
+ 'by no contrivance of any man, but by an unforeseen and unexpected
+ change of the genius of this nation, all their thoughts and
+ inclinations, as if united and directed by a higher power, seemed
+ to be turned upon trade, and to conspire together for its
+ advancement.' _First Discourse on the Affairs of Scotland_, in
+ _Fletcher of Saltoun's Political Works_, Glasgow, 1749, p. 57. At
+ this, the clergy were uneasy. In 1709, the Reverend Robert Wodrow
+ expresses an opinion, in one of his letters, that 'the sin of our
+ too great fondness for trade, to the neglecting of our more
+ valuable interests, I humbly think will be written upon our
+ judgment.' _Wodrow's Correspondence_, Edinburgh, 1842, 8vo, vol.
+ i. p. 67. In the same year, some ships being taken by the French,
+ part of the loss fell upon Glasgow. Thereupon, Wodrow writes:
+ 'It's said that in all there is about eighty thousand pound
+ sterling lost there, whereof Glasgow has lost ten thousand pound.
+ I wish trading persons may see the language of such a Providence.
+ I am sure the Lord is remarkably frouning upon our trade, in more
+ respects than one, since it was put in the room of religion, in
+ the late alteration of our constitution.' _Wodrow's Analecta_,
+ vol. i. p. 218, 4to, published by the Maitland Club.
+
+ [369] Laing (_History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 296), under the year
+ 1703, says: 'Ever since the projected settlement at Darien, the
+ genius of the nation had acquired a new direction; and as the
+ press is the true criterion of the spirit of the times, the
+ numerous productions on political and commercial subjects, with
+ which it daily teemed, had supplanted the religious disputes of
+ the former age.' Unfortunately for Scotland, they were by no means
+ supplanted. Still, the movement was great, and not to be mistaken.
+
+ [370] 'It was only in 1710, that they began to throw off their armour,
+ and allow the soldier to merge into the quiet and industrious
+ craftsman.' _Penny's Traditions of Perth_, p. 335, Perth, 1836.
+ This particularly applies to the citizens of Perth.
+
+To trace the general progress in its various parts, or even to indicate
+the immediate consequences, would require a separate volume. One of the
+results is, however, too conspicuous to be passed over in silence, though
+it does not deserve all the importance that has been attached to it. This
+is, the abolition of hereditary jurisdictions, which, after all, was but
+a symptom of the great movement, and not a cause of it; being itself due,
+partly to the growth of the industrial spirit, and partly to that
+diminution of the power of the aristocracy, which had been visible as
+early as the beginning of the seventeenth century. During many ages,
+certain persons of noble birth had enjoyed the privilege of trying
+offences, and even of inflicting capital punishment, simply because their
+ancestors had done so before them; the judicial power being, in fact,
+part of their patrimony, and descending to them like the rest of their
+property.[371] An institution of this sort, which made a man a judge,
+not because he was apt for the office, but because he was born under
+particular circumstances, was a folly which the revolutionary temper of
+the eighteenth century was not likely to spare. The innovating spirit for
+which that age was remarkable, could hardly fail to attack so
+preposterous a custom; and its extinction was facilitated, both by the
+decline of the nobles who possessed the privilege, and by the rise of
+their natural opponents, the trading and commercial classes. The decay of
+the Scotch nobility, in the eighteenth century, may be traced to two
+special causes, in addition to those general causes, which were weakening
+the aristocracy nearly all over Europe. With the general causes, which
+were common to England and to most parts of the Continent, we are not now
+concerned. It is enough to say, that they were entirely dependent on that
+advance of knowledge, which, by increasing the authority of the
+intellectual class, undermines, and must eventually overthrow, mere
+hereditary and accidental distinctions. But those causes which were
+confined to Scotland, had a more political character, and though they
+were purely local, they harmonized with the whole train of events, and
+ought to be noticed, as links of a vast chain, which connects the present
+state of that singular country with its past history.
+
+ [371] On these 'hereditary or proprietary jurisdictions,' which conferred
+ the right, or, I would rather say, the power, of putting people to
+ death, see _Burton's History of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 425, vol.
+ ii. p. 402. The technical term for so monstrous a privilege, was
+ the right 'of pit and gallows.' _Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in
+ Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 94; and _Mackenzie's Laws and Customs of
+ Scotland in Matters Criminal_, pp. 70, 100, 187, 210. This meant,
+ that men were to be hung, and women to be drowned. See also
+ _Arnot's History of Edinburgh_, p. 224; _Fountainhall's Notes of
+ Scottish Affairs_, p. 139; _Hume's History of the House of
+ Douglas_, vol. i. p. 346; _Lettice's Scotland_, p. 271;
+ _Sinclair's Scotland_, vol. i. p. 417, vol. iv. p. 478, vol. vi.
+ pp. 195, 258, vol. viii. pp. 129, 348, vol. xiii. p. 563,
+ vol. xiv. p. 34, vol. xvii. pp. 442, 600, vol. xviii. p. 473.
+
+The first cause was the union of Scotland with England, in 1707, which
+struck a heavy blow at the Scotch aristocracy. By it, the legislature of
+the smaller country was absorbed in that of the larger, and the
+hereditary legislators suddenly sunk into insignificance. In the Scotch
+parliament, there were a hundred and forty-five peers, all of whom,
+except sixteen, were, by the Act of Union, deprived of the power of
+making laws.[372] These sixteen were sent off to London, and took their
+seats in the House of Lords, of which they formed a small and miserable
+fraction. On every subject, however important to their own country, they
+were easily outvoted; their manners, their gesticulations, and
+particularly their comical mode of pronouncing English, were openly
+ridiculed;[373] and the chiefs of this old and powerful aristocracy found
+themselves, to their utter amazement, looked on as men of no account, and
+they were often obliged to fawn and cringe at the levee of the minister,
+in order to procure a place for some needy dependent. Their friends and
+relations applied to them for offices, and generally applied in vain.
+Indeed, the Scotch nobles, being very poor, wanted for themselves more
+than the English government was inclined to give, and, in the eagerness
+of their clamour, they lost both dignity and reputation.[374] They were
+exposed to mortifying rebuffs, and their true position being soon known,
+weakened their influence at home, among a people already prepared to
+throw off their authority. To this, however, they were comparatively
+indifferent, as they looked for future fortune, not to Scotland, but to
+England. London became the centre of their intrigues and their
+hopes.[375] Those who had no seat in the House of Lords, longed to have
+one, and it was notorious, that the darling object of nearly every Scotch
+noble was to be made an English peer.[376] The scene of their ambition
+being shifted, they were gradually weaned from their old associations.
+Directly this was apparent, the foundation of their power was gone. From
+that moment, their real nationality vanished. It became evident that
+their patriotism was but a selfish passion. They ceased to love a country
+which could give them nothing, and, as a natural consequence, their
+country ceased to love them.
+
+ [372] Laing (_History of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 345) says, that in 1706,
+ 'the commons in the Scottish parliament were 160; the peers 145.'
+ Of these peers, the Treaty of Union declared that 'sixteen shall
+ be the number to sit and vote in the House of Lords.' _De Foe's
+ History of the Union between England and Scotland_, London, 1786,
+ 4to, pp. 205, 538. The English House of Lords consisted of 179
+ members. See _The Lockhart Papers_, London, 1817, 4to, vol. i. pp.
+ 343, 547. It was impossible to mistake the result of this sweeping
+ measure, by which, as was said at the time, 'Scotland was to
+ retrench her nobility.' _De Foe's History of the Union_, p. 495.
+ Compare p. 471: 'The nobility being thereby, as it were, degraded
+ of their characters.' In 1710, a Scotchman writes in his journal:
+ 'It was one of the melancholyest sights to any that have any sense
+ of our antient Nobility, to see them going throu for votes, and
+ making partys, and giving their votes to others who once had their
+ oun vote; and I suspect many of them reu the bargain they made, in
+ giving their oun pouer away.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. i. p. 308.
+
+ [373] The Scotch, consequently, became so eager to do away with this
+ source of mirth, that even as late as the year 1761, when the
+ notorious lecturer, Sheridan, visited Edinburgh, 'such was the
+ rage for speaking with an English accent, that more than three
+ hundred gentlemen, among whom were the most eminent in the country
+ for rank and learning, attended him.' _Ritchie's Life of Hume_,
+ London, 1807, p. 94. It was, however, during about twenty years
+ immediately after the Union, that the Scotch members of
+ Parliament, both Lords and Commons, were most jeered at in London,
+ and were treated with marked disrespect, socially and politically.
+ Not only were they mocked and lampooned, but they were also made
+ tools of. In September 1711, Wodrow writes (_Analecta_, vol. i. p.
+ 348, 4to, 1842): 'In the beginning of this (month), I hear a
+ generall dissatisfaction our Nobility, that wer at last
+ Parliament, have at their treatment at London. They complean they
+ are only made use of as tools among the English, and cast by when
+ their party designes are over.' The next year (1712), the Scotch
+ members of the House of Commons met together, and expressed their
+ 'high resentment of the uncivil, haughty treatment they mett with
+ from the English.' _The Lockhart Papers_, London, 1817, 4to, vol.
+ i. p. 417. See, further, _Burton's History of Scotland_, vol. ii.
+ p. 27. 'Without descending to rudeness, the polished
+ contemporaries of Wharton and St. John could madden the sensitive
+ and haughty Scots by light shafts of raillery, about their
+ pronunciation or knowledge of parliamentary etiquette.' Some
+ curious observations upon the way in which the Scotch pronounced
+ English, late in the seventeenth century, will be found in
+ _Morer's Short Account of Scotland_, London, 1702, pp. 13, 14. The
+ author of this book was chaplain to a Scotch regiment.
+
+ [374] Among many illustrations with which contemporary memoirs abound,
+ the following is by no means the worst. Burnet, as a Scotchman,
+ thinks proper to say that those of his countrymen who were sent to
+ parliament, 'were persons of such distinction, that they very well
+ deserved' the respect and esteem with which they were treated. To
+ which, Lord Dartmouth adds: 'and were very importunate to have
+ their deserts rewarded. A Scotch earl pressed Lord Godolphin
+ extremely for a place. He said there was none vacant. The other
+ said, his lordship could soon make one so, if he pleased. Lord
+ Godolphin asked him, if he expected to have any body killed to
+ make room? He said, No; but Lord Dartmouth commonly voted against
+ the court, and every body wondered that he had not been turned out
+ before now. Lord Godolphin told him, he hoped his lordship did not
+ expect that he should be the person to propose it; and advised him
+ never to mention it any more, for fear the queen should come to
+ hear of it; for if she did, his lordship would run great risk
+ never to have a place as long as she lived. But he could not
+ forbear telling every where, how ill the lord treasurer had used
+ him.' _Burnet's History of his own Time_, vol. v. p. 349, Oxford,
+ 1823. Compare the account, in 1710, in _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol.
+ i. p. 293. 'Argyle is both picked (_i.e._ piqued) at Marlburrou,
+ and his brother Yla, for refusing him a regiment; and Godolphin
+ should have said to the queen that my Lord Yla was not to be
+ trusted with a regiment! The Earl of Marr was one of the greatest
+ cronnies Godolphine had, till the matter of his pension, after the
+ Secretary office was taken from him, came about. Godolphine caused
+ draw it during pleasure; Marr expected it during life, which the
+ Treasurer would not yield to, and therefore they brake.' The
+ history of the time is full of these wretched squabbles, which
+ show what the Scotch nobles were made of. Indeed, their rapacity
+ was so shameless, that, in 1711, several of them refused to
+ perform their legislative duties in London, unless they received
+ some offices which they expected. 'About the midle of this moneth,
+ I hear ther was a meeting of severall of our Scots Peers, at the
+ Viscount of Kilsyth's, where they concerted not to goe up to this
+ parliament till peremptorly writ for; and (also) some assurance be
+ given of the places they were made to hope for last session and
+ have missed.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. i. p. 365. In 1712, the
+ same Scotchman writes (_Analecta_, vol. ii. p. 8): 'Our Scots
+ Peers' secession from the House of Peers makes much noise; but
+ they doe not hold by it. They sometimes come and sometimes goe,
+ and _they render themselves base in the eyes of the English_.' See
+ also a letter 'concerning the Scots Peerage,' in _Somers' Tracts_,
+ vol. xii. p. 607, edit. Scott, London, 1814, 4to.
+
+ [375] A Scotch writer, twenty years after the Union, says: 'Most of our
+ gentlemen and people of quality, who have the best estates in our
+ country, live for the most part at London.' _Reasons for improving
+ the Fisheries and Linen Manufacture of Scotland_, London, 1727, p.
+ 22. I do not know who wrote this curious little treatise; but the
+ author was evidently a native of Scotland. See p. 25. I have,
+ however, still earlier evidence to adduce. A letter from Wodrow,
+ dated 9th of August 1725, complains of 'the general sending our
+ youth of quality to England:' and a letter to him, in 1716,
+ describes the Anglicizing process going on among the Scotch
+ aristocracy, only nine years after the Union. 'Most of our Lords
+ and others here do so much depend on the English for their posts,
+ and _seeking somewhat or other_, that their mouths are almost
+ quite stopped; and really _most of them go into the English way in
+ all things_.' _Wodrow's Correspondence_, vol. ii. p. 196, vol.
+ iii. p. 224. The Earl of Mar lost popularity in Scotland, on
+ account of the court he paid to Lord Godolphin; for, he 'appears
+ to have passed much more time in intrigues in London than among
+ the gardens of Alloa.' _Thomson's Memoirs of the Jacobites_, vol.
+ i. p. 36. Even Earl Ilay, in his anxiety to advance himself at the
+ English court, 'used to regret his being a Scots peer, and to wish
+ earnestly he was a commoner.' _Letters of Lord Grange_, in _The
+ Miscellany of the Spalding Club_, vol. iii. p. 39, Aberdeen, 4to,
+ 1846.
+
+ [376] Indeed, their expectation ran so high, as to induce a hope, not
+ only that those Commissioners of the Union who were Scotch peers
+ should be made English ones, but that 'the whole nobility of
+ Scotland might in time be admitted.' _Laing's History of
+ Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 346. Compare _The Lockhart Papers_, vol. i.
+ pp. 298, 343: 'the Scots Peerage, many of whom had been bubled
+ with the hopes of being themselves created British Peers.' Also
+ _The Gordon Letters_, in _The Miscellany of the Spalding Club_,
+ vol. iii. pp. 227, 228.
+
+Thus it was that this great tie was severed. In this, as in all similar
+movements, there were, of course, exceptions. Some of the nobles were
+disinterested, and some of their dependents were faithful. But, looking
+at the Lowlands as a whole, there can be no doubt that, before the middle
+of the eighteenth century, that bond of affection was gone, which, in
+former times, made tens of thousands of Scotchmen ready to follow their
+superiors in any cause, and to sacrifice their lives at a nod. That
+spirit, which was once deemed ardent and generous, but which a deeper
+analysis shows to be mean and servile, was now almost extinct, except
+among the barbarous Highlanders, whose ignorance of affairs long
+prevented them from being influenced by the stream of events. That the
+proximate cause of this change was the Union, will probably be denied by
+no one who has minutely studied the history of the period. And that the
+change was beneficial, can only be questioned by those sentimental
+dreamers, with whom life is a matter rather of feeling than of judgment,
+and who, despising real and tangible interests, reproach their own age
+with its material prosperity, and with its love of luxury, as if they
+were the result of low and sordid desires unknown to the loftier temper
+of bygone days. To visionaries of this sort, it may well appear that the
+barbarous and ignorant noble, surrounded by a host of devoted retainers,
+and living with rude simplicity in his own dull and wretched castle,
+forms a beautiful picture of those unmercenary and uncalculating times,
+when men, instead of seeking for knowledge, or for wealth, or for
+comfort, were content with the frugal innocence of their fathers, and
+when, protection being accorded by one class, and gratitude felt by the
+other, the subordination of society was maintained, and its different
+parts were knit together by sympathy, and by the force of common
+emotions, instead of, as now, by the coarse maxims of a vulgar and
+selfish utility.
+
+Those, however, whose knowledge gives them some acquaintance with the
+real course of human affairs, will see that in Scotland, as in all
+civilized countries, the decline of aristocratic power forms an essential
+part of the general progress. It must, therefore, be esteemed a fortunate
+circumstance, that, among the Scotch, where that power had long been
+enormous, it was weakened in the eighteenth century, not only by general
+causes, which were operating elsewhere, but also by two smaller and more
+special causes. The first of these minor causes was, as we have just
+seen, the Union with England. The other cause was, comparatively
+speaking, insignificant, but still it produced decided effect,
+particularly in the northern districts. It consisted in the fact, that
+some of the oldest Highland nobles were concerned in the rebellion of
+1745, and that, when that rebellion was put down, those who escaped from
+the sword were glad to save their lives by flying abroad, leaving their
+dependents to shift for themselves.[377] They became attached to the
+court of the Pretender, or, at all events, intrigued for him. That,
+indeed, was their only chance, their estates at home being forfeited. For
+nearly forty years, several great families were in exile, and although,
+about 1784, they began to return,[378] other associations had been formed
+during their absence, and new ideas had arisen, both in their own minds,
+and in the minds of their retainers. A fresh generation had grown up, and
+fresh influences had been brought to bear. Strangers, with whom the
+people had no sympathy, had intruded upon the estates of the nobles, and
+though they might receive obedience, it was an obedience unaccompanied by
+deference. The real reverence was gone; the homage of the heart was no
+more. And as this state of things lasted for about forty years, it
+interrupted the whole train of thought; and the former habits were so
+completely broken, that, even when the chiefs were restored to their
+forfeited honours, they found that there was another part of their
+inheritance which they were unable to recover, and that they had lost for
+ever that unreserved submission, which, in times of yore, had been
+willingly paid to their fathers.[379]
+
+ [377] The Chevalier de Johnstone, in his plaintive remarks on the battle
+ of Culloden, says: 'The ruin of many of the most illustrious
+ families in Scotland immediately followed our defeat.'
+ _Johnstone's Memoirs of the Rebellion in 1745_, p. 211. He, of
+ course, could not perceive that, sad as such ruin was to the
+ individual sufferers, it was an immense benefit to the nation. Mr.
+ Skene, referring to the year 1748, says of the Highlanders: 'their
+ long-cherished ideas of clanship gradually gave way under the
+ absence and ruin of so many of their chiefs.' _Skene's
+ Highlanders_, vol. i. p. 147.
+
+ [378] 'About 1784, the exiled families began to return.' _Penny's
+ Traditions of Perth_, p. 41. See also _Macpherson's Annals of
+ Commerce_, vol. iv. p. 53. In 1784, 'a bill passed the Commons
+ without opposition,' to restore the 'Forfeited Estates' in the
+ north of Scotland. See _Parliamentary History_, vol. xxiv. pp.
+ 1316-1322. On that occasion, Fox said (p. 1321) the proprietors
+ 'had been sufficiently punished by forty years' deprivation of
+ their fortunes for the faults of their ancestors.'
+
+ [379] Dean Ramsay, in his _Reminiscences_ (5th edit. Edinburgh, 1859,
+ p. 57), notices that, owing to 'transfers of property and
+ extinction of old families in the Highlands, as well as from more
+ general causes,' the old clannish affection 'is passing away.' But
+ this intelligent observer has not indicated the connexion between
+ so important a fact and the Rebellion of 1745. In 1792, Heron
+ writes: 'The prejudices of clanship have almost died away.' ...
+ 'The dependents of the family of Kenmure are still attached to its
+ representative with much of that affection and respect with which
+ the tribes of the Highlands have _till lately_ been accustomed to
+ adhere to their lord.' _Heron's Journey through the Western
+ Counties of Scotland_, 2nd edit. Perth, 1799, vol. i. p. 248,
+ vol. ii. p. 154. See also the remarks made, in the same year, in
+ _Lettice's Letters on a Tour through various parts of Scotland_,
+ London, 1794, p. 340. To trace the movement back still further,
+ Pennant writes, in 1769: 'But in many parts of the Highlands,
+ their character begins to be more faintly marked; they mix more
+ with the world; and _become daily less attached to their chiefs_.'
+ ... 'During the feudal reign, their love for their chieftain
+ induced them to bear many things, at _present intolerable_.' These
+ two important passages are in the 4th edition of _Pennant's Tour
+ in Scotland_, vol. i. p. 194, vol. ii. p. 307, Dublin, 1775. They
+ prove that, twenty-four years after the Rebellion of 1745, the
+ decay of affection was so manifest, as to strike a candid and
+ careful, but by no means philosophic, observer. For Pennant to
+ have discerned these changes, they must already have risen to the
+ surface. Other and corroborative evidence will be found in
+ _Sinclair's Account of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 545, Edinburgh,
+ 1792; and vol. iii. pp. 377, 437, vol. xiii. p. 310, vol. xv.
+ p. 592, vol. xx. p. 33.
+
+Owing to these circumstances, the course of affairs in Scotland, during
+the eighteenth century, and especially during the first half of it, was
+marked by a more rapid decline of the influence of the higher ranks than
+was seen in any other country. It was, therefore, an easy task for the
+English government to procure a law, which, by abolishing hereditary
+jurisdictions, deprived the Scotch aristocracy, in 1748, of the last
+great ensign of their power.[380] The law, being suited to the spirit of
+the times, worked well; and in the Highlands, in particular, it was one
+immediate cause of the establishment of something like the order of a
+settled state.[381] But in this instance, as in every other, the real
+and overruling cause is to be found in the condition of the surrounding
+society. A few generations earlier, hardly any one would have thought of
+abolishing these mischievous jurisdictions, which were then deemed
+beneficial, and were respected, as belonging to the great families by
+natural and inalienable right. Such an opinion was the inevitable result
+of the state of things then existing. This being the case, it is certain
+that, if the legislature had, at that time, been so rash as to lay its
+hand on what the nation respected, popular sympathy would have been
+aroused, and the nobles would have been strengthened by what was intended
+to weaken them.[382] In 1748, however, matters were very different.
+Public opinion had changed; and this change of opinion was not only the
+cause of the new law, but was the reason of the new law being effective.
+And so it always is. They, indeed, whose knowledge is almost confined to
+what they see passing around them, and who, on account of their
+ignorance, are termed practical men, may talk as they will about the
+reforms which government has introduced, and the improvement to be
+expected from legislation. But whoever will take a wider and more
+commanding view of affairs, will soon discover that such hopes are
+chimerical. They will learn that lawgivers are nearly always the
+obstructors of society, instead of its helpers; and that, in the
+extremely few cases in which their measures have turned out well, their
+success has been owing to the fact, that, contrary to their usual custom,
+they have implicitly obeyed the spirit of their time, and have been, as
+they always should be, the mere servants of the people, to whose wishes
+they are bound to give a public and legal sanction.
+
+ [380] _Burton's History of Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 535-537. _Struthers'
+ History of Scotland_, Glasgow, 1828, vol. ii. pp. 519-525.
+
+ [381] Macpherson (_Annals of Commerce_, vol. iii. p. 259) says, 'This
+ excellent statute may not unfitly be termed a new magna charta to
+ the free people of Scotland.'
+
+ [382] I cannot, therefore, agree with Macpherson, who asserts, in his
+ valuable work, that the abolition of these jurisdictions 'should
+ undoubtedly have been made an essential preliminary of the
+ consolidating union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland,
+ concluded forty years before.' _Macpherson's Annals of Commerce_,
+ vol. iii. p. 257. Compare _De Foe's History of the Union between
+ England and Scotland_, pp. 458, 459, London, 1786, 4to.
+
+Another striking peculiarity of Scotland, during the remarkable period
+we are now considering, was the sudden rise of trading and manufacturing
+interests. This preceded, by a whole generation, the celebrated statute
+of 1748, and was one of the causes of it, in so far as it weakened the
+great families, against whom that statute was directed. The movement may
+be traced back, as I have already noticed, to the end of the seventeenth
+century, and it was in active operation before the first twenty years of
+the eighteenth century had passed away. A mercantile and money-making
+spirit was diffused to an extent formerly unknown, and men becoming
+valued for their wealth as well as for their birth, a new standard of
+excellence was introduced, and new actors appeared on the scene.
+Heretofore, persons were respected solely for their parentage; now they
+were also respected for their riches. The old aristocracy, made uneasy by
+the change, did every thing they could to thwart and discourage these
+young and dangerous rivals.[383] Nor can we wonder at their feeling
+somewhat sore. The tendency which was exhibited, was, indeed, fatal to
+their pretensions. Instead of asking who was a man's father, the question
+became, how much he had got. And certainly, if either question is to be
+put, the latter is the more rational. Wealth is a real and substantial
+thing, which ministers to our pleasures, increases our comfort,
+multiplies our resources, and not unfrequently alleviates our pains. But
+birth is a dream and a shadow, which, so far from benefiting either body
+or mind, only puffs up its possessor with an imaginary excellence, and
+teaches him to despise those whom nature has made his superiors, and who,
+whether engaged in adding to our knowledge or to our wealth, are, in
+either case, ameliorating the condition of society, and rendering to it
+true and valuable service.
+
+ [383] In 1740, 'the rising manufacturing and trading interests of the
+ country' were 'looked down upon and discouraged by the feudal
+ aristocracy.' _Burton's Lives of Lovat and Forbes_, p. 361.
+
+This antagonism between the aristocratic and trading spirit, lies in the
+nature of things, and is essential, however it may be disguised at
+particular periods. Therefore it is, that the history of trade has a
+philosophic importance in reference to the progress of society, quite
+independent of practical considerations. On this account I have called
+the attention of the reader to what otherwise would be foreign to the
+objects of the present Introduction; and I will now trace, as briefly as
+possible, the beginning of that great industrial movement, to the
+extension of which the overthrow of the Scotch aristocracy is to be
+partly ascribed.
+
+The Union with England, which was completed in 1707, produced immediate
+and striking effects on trade. Its first effect was, to throw open to the
+Scotch a new and extensive commerce with the English colonies in America.
+Before the Union, no goods of any kind could be landed in Scotland from
+the American plantations, unless they had first been landed in England,
+and paid duty there; nor even, in that case, might they be conveyed by
+any Scotch vessel.[384] This was one of many foolish regulations by which
+our legislators interfered with the natural course of affairs, and
+injured the interests of their own country, as well as those of their
+neighbours. Formerly, however, such laws were considered to be extremely
+sagacious, and politicians were constantly contriving protective schemes
+of this sort, which, with the best intentions, inflicted incalculable
+harm. But if, as seems probable, one of their objects, in this instance,
+was to retard the improvement of Scotland, they were more than usually
+successful in effecting the purpose at which they aimed. For, the whole
+of the western coast, being cut off from direct intercourse with the
+American colonies, was debarred from the only foreign trade it could
+advantageously follow; since the European ports lay to the east, and
+could not be reached by the inhabitants of Western Scotland without a
+long circumnavigation, which prevented them from competing, on equal
+terms, with their countrymen, who, sailing from the other side, were
+already near the chief seats of commerce. The consequence was, that
+Glasgow and the other western ports remained almost stationary; having
+comparatively few means of gratifying that enterprising spirit, which
+rose among them late in the seventeenth century, and not daring to trade
+with those prosperous colonies which were just before them across the
+Atlantic, but from which they were entirely excluded by the jealous
+precautions of the English parliament.[385]
+
+ [384] 'Whereas Scotland had, before this, prohibited all the English
+ woollen manufactures, under severe penalties, and England, on the
+ other hand, had excluded the Scots from trading with Scots ships
+ to their colonies in America, directly from Scotland, and had
+ confiscated even their own English ships trading to the said
+ colonies from England, if navigated or manned with above one-third
+ Scots seamen,' &c. _De Foe's History of the Union_, p. 603. In
+ 1696, the wise men in our English Parliament passed a law, 'that
+ on no pretence whatever any kind of goods from the English
+ American plantations should hereafter be put on shore, either in
+ the kingdoms of Ireland or Scotland, without being first landed in
+ England, and having also paid the duties there, under forfeiture
+ of ship and cargo.' _Macpherson's Annals of Commerce_, vol. ii.
+ p. 684. Certainly, the more a man knows of the history of
+ legislation, the more he will wonder that nations should have been
+ able to advance in the face of the formidable impediments which
+ legislators have thrown in their way.
+
+ [385] 'A spirit for commerce appears to have been raised among the
+ inhabitants of Glasgow between the periods of 1660 and 1707, when
+ the union with England took place.' ... But, 'whatever their trade
+ was, at this time, it could not be considerable; the ports to
+ which they were obliged to trade, lay all to the eastward; the
+ circumnavigation of the island would, therefore, prove an almost
+ insurmountable bar to the commerce of Glasgow; the people upon the
+ east coast, from their situation, would be in possession of almost
+ the whole commerce of Scotland.' _Gibson's History of Glasgow_,
+ p. 205, Glasgow, 1777.
+
+When, however, by the Act of Union, the two countries became one, these
+precautions were discontinued, and Scotland was allowed to hold direct
+intercourse with America and the West India Islands. The result which
+this produced on the national industry, was almost instantaneous, because
+it gave vent to a spirit which had begun to appear among the people late
+in the seventeenth century, and because it was aided by those still more
+general causes, which, in most parts of Europe, predisposed that age to
+increased industry. The west of Scotland, being nearest to America, was
+the first to feel the movement. In 1707, the inhabitants of Greenock,
+without the interference of government, imposed on themselves a voluntary
+assessment, with the object of constructing a harbour. In this
+undertaking, they displayed so much zeal, that, by the year 1710, the
+whole of the works were completed; a pier and capacious harbour were
+erected, and Greenock was suddenly raised from insignificance to take an
+important part in the trade of the Atlantic.[386] For a while, the
+merchants were content to carry on their traffic with ships hired from
+the English. Soon, however, they became bolder; they began to build on
+their own account; and, in 1719, the first vessel belonging to Greenock
+sailed for America.[387] From that moment, their commerce increased so
+rapidly, that, by the year 1740, the tax which the citizens had laid on
+themselves sufficed, not only to wipe off the debt which had been
+incurred, but also to leave a considerable surplus available for
+municipal purposes.[388] At the same time, and by the action of the same
+causes, Glasgow emerged from obscurity. In 1718, its enterprising
+inhabitants launched in the Clyde the first Scotch vessel which ever
+crossed the Atlantic; thus anticipating the people of Greenock by one
+year.[389] Glasgow and Greenock became the two great commercial outlets
+of Scotland, and the chief centres of activity.[390] Comforts, and,
+indeed, luxuries, hitherto only attainable at enormous cost, began to be
+diffused through the country. The productions of the tropics could now be
+procured direct from the New World, which, in return, offered a rich and
+abundant market for manufactured goods. This was a further stimulus to
+Scotch industry, and its effects were immediately apparent. The
+inhabitants of Glasgow, finding a great demand among the Americans for
+linen, introduced its manufacture into their city in 1725, whence it
+extended to other places, and, in a short time, gave employment to
+thousands of workmen.[391] It is also from the year 1725, that Paisley
+dates its rise. So late as the beginning of the eighteenth century, this
+rich and prosperous city was still a straggling village, containing only
+a single street.[392] But, after the Union, its poor, and hitherto idle,
+inhabitants began to be moved by the activity which they saw on every
+side. Gradually, their views expanded; and the introduction among them,
+in 1725, of the manufacture of thread, was the first step in that great
+career in which they never stopped, until they had raised Paisley to be a
+vast emporium of industry, and a successful promoter of every art by
+which industry is nurtured.[393]
+
+ [386] 'The importance of the measure induced the inhabitants of Greenock
+ to make a contract with the superior, by which they agreed to an
+ assessment of 1_s._ 4_d._ sterling on every sack of malt, brewed
+ into ale, within the limits of the town; the money so levied to be
+ applied in liquidating the expence of forming a proper harbour at
+ Greenock. The work was begun at the epoch of the Union, in 1707;
+ and a capacious harbour, containing upwards of ten Scottish acres,
+ was formed by building an extensive circular pier, with a straight
+ pier, or tongue, in the middle, by which the harbour was divided
+ into two parts. This formidable work, the greatest of the kind, at
+ that time, in Scotland, incurred an expence of more than 100,000
+ marks Scots.' _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. iii. p. 807, London,
+ 1824, 4to. _In M'Culloch's Geographical and Statistical
+ Dictionary_, London, 1849, vol. i. p. 930, it is stated, that 'the
+ inhabitants took the matter (1707) into their own hands, and
+ agreed with their superior to assess themselves at a certain rate,
+ to build a proper pier and harbour. The work was finished in 1710,
+ at an expence of 5,555_l._'
+
+ [387] 'The trade of Greenock has kept pace with the improvements made on
+ its harbour. The union of the kingdoms (1707) opened the colonies
+ to the enterprising inhabitants of this town, and generally of the
+ west of Scotland; but it was not till 1719 that the first vessel
+ belonging to Greenock crossed the Atlantic.' _M'Culloch's
+ Geographical and Statistical Dictionary_, vol. i. p. 930.
+
+ [388] 'Such was the effect of the new harbour in increasing the trade,
+ and the population, of the town, that the assessment, and port
+ dues, cleared off the whole debt before 1740, and left, in that
+ year, a clear surplus of 27,000 marks Scots, or 1,500_l._
+ sterling.' _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. iii. p. 807. 'After the
+ Union, however, the trade of the port increased so rapidly, that,
+ in the year 1740, the whole debt was extinguished, and there
+ remained a surplus, the foundation of the present town's funds, of
+ 27,000 marks.' _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol.
+ v. p. 576, Edinburgh, 1793.
+
+ [389] 'By the Union, however, new views were opened up to the merchants
+ of the city; they thereby obtained the liberty of a free commerce
+ to America and the West Indies, from which they had been before
+ shut out; they chartered English vessels for these voyages, having
+ none at first fit for the purpose; sent out cargoes of goods for
+ the use of the colonies, and returned home laden with tobacco. The
+ business doing well, vessels were built belonging to the city, and
+ in the year 1718, the first ship, the property of Glasgow, crossed
+ the Atlantic.' _Denholm's History of Glasgow_, p. 405, 3rd edit.
+ Glasgow, 1804. Brown (_History of Glasgow_, vol. ii. p. 330,
+ Edinburgh, 1797) says, that the Glasgow merchants 'chartered
+ Whitehaven ships for many years:' but that, 'in 1716, a vessel of
+ sixty tons burden was launched at Crawford's dike, being the first
+ Clyde ship that went to the British Settlements in America with
+ goods and a supercargo.' But this date is probably two years too
+ early. Mr. M'Culloch, in his excellent _Geographical and
+ Statistical Dictionary_, London, 1849, vol. ii. p. 659, says: 'But
+ for a while, the merchants of Glasgow, who first embarked in the
+ trade to America, carried it on by means of vessels belonging to
+ English ports; and it was not till 1718 that a ship built in
+ Scotland (in the Clyde), the property of Scotch owners, sailed for
+ the American colonies.' Gibson, also (_History of Glasgow_, 1777,
+ p. 206), says: 'In 1718, the first vessel of the property of
+ Glasgow crossed the Atlantic.' And, to the same effect,
+ _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. v. p. 498,
+ Edinburgh, 1793.
+
+ [390] The progress was so rapid, that, in a work printed in 1732, it is
+ stated, that 'this city of Glasgow is a place of the greatest
+ trade in the kingdom, especially to the Plantations; from whence
+ they have twenty or thirty sail of ships every year, laden with
+ tobacco and sugar; an advantage this kingdom never enjoyed till
+ the Union. They are purchasing a harbour on the Frith, near
+ Alloway, to which they have but twelve miles by land; and then
+ they can re-ship their sugars and tobacco, for Holland, Germany,
+ and the Baltick Sea, without being at the trouble of sailing round
+ England or Scotland.' _Macky's Journey through Scotland_, pp. 294,
+ 295, 2nd edit. London, 1732. The first edition of this book was
+ also printed in 1732. See _Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica_, vol. i.
+ p. 631 m., Edinburgh, 1824, 4to.
+
+ [391] Gibson, who was a Glasgow merchant, says, in his _History of
+ Glasgow_, p. 236, 'that the commerce to America first suggested
+ the idea of introducing manufactures into Glasgow, is to me very
+ evident; and that they were only attempted to be introduced about
+ the year 1725 is apparent.' Denholm (_History of Glasgow_, p. 412)
+ says: 'The linen manufacture, which began here in the year 1725,
+ was, for a long time, the staple, not only of this city, but of
+ the west of Scotland.' Compare _Heron's Journey through the
+ Western Counties of Scotland_, Perth, 1799, vol. ii. p. 412.
+
+ [392] 'Consisting only of one principal street about half a mile in
+ length.' _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. vii.
+ p. 62. But the local historian mentions, with evident pride, that
+ this one street contained 'handsome houses.' _Crawfurd's History
+ of the Shire of Renfrew_, part iii. p. 305, edit. Paisley, 1782,
+ 4to.
+
+ [393] _Denholm's History of Glasgow_, pp. 546, 547; and _Sinclair's
+ Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. vii. pp. 62-64. See also,
+ on the rise of Paisley, _Heron's Journey through the Western
+ Counties of Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 399, 400; _Pennant's Tour in
+ Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 144; and _Crawfurd's History of the Shire
+ of Renfrew_, part iii. p. 321. At an earlier period, Paisley was
+ famous in a different way. In the middle ages it swarmed with
+ monks. Keith (_Catalogue of Scotch Bishops_, p. 252, Edinburgh,
+ 1755, 4to) tells us that, 'it formerly was a Priory, and
+ afterwards changed into an Abbey of Black Monks.'
+
+Nor was it merely in the west, that this movement was displayed. In
+Scotland generally, the spirit of trade became so rife, that it began to
+encroach on the old theological spirit, which had long been supreme.
+Hitherto, the Scotch had cared for little except religious polemics. In
+every society, these had been the chief subjects of conversation; and on
+them, men had wasted their energies, without the least benefit either to
+themselves or to others. But, about this time it was observed, that the
+improvement of manufactures became a common topic of discourse.[394] Such
+a statement, made by a well-informed writer, who witnessed what he
+relates, is a curious proof of the change which was beginning, though
+very faintly, to steal over the Scotch mind. It shows that there was, at
+all events, a tendency to turn aside from subjects which are inaccessible
+to our understanding, and the discussion of which has no effect except to
+exasperate those who dispute, and to make them more intolerant than ever
+of theological opinions different from their own. Unhappily, there were,
+as I shall presently point out, other causes at work, which prevented
+this tendency from producing all the good that might have been expected.
+Still, so far as it went, it was a clear gain. It was a blow to
+superstition, inasmuch as it was an attempt to occupy the human mind with
+mere secular considerations. In a country like Scotland, this alone was
+extremely important. We must also add, that, though it was the effect of
+increased industry, it, as often happens, reacted upon, and
+strengthened, its cause. For, by diminishing, however little, the
+inordinate respect formerly paid to theological pursuits, it was, in the
+same proportion, an inducement to ambitious and enterprising men to
+abstain from those pursuits, and to engage in temporal matters, where
+ability, being less fettered by prejudice, has more scope, and enjoys
+more freedom of action. Of those men, some rose to the first rank in
+literature; while others, taking a different but equally useful turn,
+became as eminent in trade. Hence, Scotland, during the eighteenth
+century, possessed, for the first time, two powerful and active classes,
+whose aim was essentially secular--the intellectual class, and the
+industrial class. Before the eighteenth century, neither of these classes
+exercised an independent sway, or could, indeed, be said to have a
+separate existence. The intellect of the country was absorbed by the
+church; the industry of the country was controlled by the nobles. The
+effect which this change produced on the literature of Scotland will be
+traced in the last chapter of the present volume. Its effect on industry
+was equally remarkable, and, for the well-being of the nation, was
+equally valuable. But it does not possess that general scientific
+interest which belongs to the intellectual movement; and I shall,
+therefore, in addition to the evidence already given, confine myself to a
+few more facts illustrative of the history of Scotch industry down to the
+middle of the eighteenth century, by which time there was no longer any
+doubt that the flood of material prosperity had fairly set in.
+
+ [394] The author of _The Interest of Scotland Considered_, Edinburgh,
+ 1733, says (p. xvi.) that since 1727, 'we have happily turned our
+ eyes upon the improvement of our manufactures, which is now a
+ common subject in discourse, and this contributes not a little to
+ its success.'
+
+During the seventeenth century, the only Scotch manufacture of any
+importance was that of linen, which, however, like every other branch of
+industry, was very backward, and was exposed to all sorts of
+discouragement.[395] But, after the Union, it received a sudden impetus,
+from two causes. One of these causes, as I have already noticed, was the
+demand from America, consequent upon the trade of the Atlantic being
+thrown open. The other cause was, the removal of the duty which England
+had imposed upon the importation of Scotch linen. These two
+circumstances, occurring nearly at the same time, produced such effect on
+the national industry, that De Foe, who had a wider knowledge of the
+details of trade than any man of that age, said that it seemed as if, for
+the future, the Scotch poor could never lack employment.[396]
+Unfortunately, this was not the case, and never will be, until society is
+radically changed. But the movement which provoked so bold a remark from
+so cautious an observer as De Foe, must have been very striking; and we
+know, from other sources, that, between 1728 and 1738, the manufacture of
+linen for exportation alone was more than doubled.[397] After that
+period, this and other departments of Scotch industry advanced with a
+constantly accelerating speed. It is mentioned, by a contemporary who was
+likely to be well informed, that, between 1715 and 1745, the trade and
+manufactures of Scotland increased more than they had done for ages
+before.[398] Such a statement, though valuable as corroborating other
+evidence, is too vague to be entirely relied on; and historians, who
+usually occupy themselves with insignificant details about courts and
+princes and statesmen, desert us in matters which are really important,
+so that it is now hardly possible to reconstruct the history of the
+Scotch people during this, the first epoch of their material prosperity.
+I have, however, gathered a few facts, which appear to rest on good
+authority, and which supply us with something like precise information as
+to dates. In 1739, the manufacture of linen was introduced into
+Kilbarchan,[399] and, in 1740, into Arbroath.[400] From the year 1742,
+the manufactures of Kilmarnock date their rise.[401] In 1748, the first
+linen was manufactured in Cullen;[402] and in the same year in
+Inverary.[403] In 1749, this great branch of industry and source of
+wealth was established, on a large scale, in Aberdeen;[404] while, about
+1750, it began to diffuse itself in Wemyss, in the county of Fife.[405]
+These things happening, within eleven years, in parts of the country so
+distant from each other, and so totally unconnected, indicate the
+existence of general causes, which governed the whole movement; though in
+this, as in all instances, every thing is popularly ascribed to the
+influence of a few powerful individuals. We have, however, other proofs
+that the progress was essentially national. Even in Edinburgh, where
+hitherto no claims had been respected except those of the nobles or
+clergy, the voice of this new trading interest began to be heard. In that
+poor and warlike capital, a society was now first established for the
+encouragement of manufactures; and we are assured that this was but a
+single manifestation of the enthusiasm which was generally felt on the
+subject.[406] Coinciding with this movement, and indeed forming part of
+it, we can discern the earliest symptoms of a monied class, properly so
+called. In 1749, there was established, at Aberdeen, the first county
+bank ever seen in Scotland; and, in the very same year, a similar
+establishment was formed at Glasgow.[407] These represented the east and
+the west, and, by the advances which they were able to make, each
+assisted the trade of its own district. Between eastern and western
+Scotland, the intercourse, as yet, was difficult and costly. But this
+likewise was about to be remedied by an enterprise, the mere conception
+of which would formerly have excited ridicule. After the Union, the idea
+arose of uniting the east with the west by a canal, which should join the
+Forth to the Clyde. The plan was deemed chimerical, and was abandoned. As
+soon, however, as the manufacturing and commercial classes had gained
+sufficient influence they adopted it, with that energy which is
+characteristic of their order, and which is more common among them than
+among any other rank of society. The result was, that, in 1768, the great
+work was fairly begun;[408] and the first step was taken towards what, in
+a material point of view, was an enterprise of vast importance, but, in a
+social and intellectual point of view, was of still superior value,
+inasmuch as, by supplying a cheap and easy transit through the heart of
+the most populous part of Scotland, it had a direct tendency to make
+different districts and different places feel that each had need of
+others, and thus encouraging the notion that all belonged to one common
+scheme, it assisted in diminishing local prejudice and assuaging local
+jealousy; while, in the same proportion, by enticing men to move out of
+the narrow circle in which they had habitually lived, it prepared them
+for a certain enlargement of mind, which is the natural consequence of
+seeing affairs under various aspects, and which is never found in any
+country in which the means of travelling are either very hazardous or
+very expensive.
+
+ [395] Morer, who was in Scotland in 1688 and 1689, says: 'But that which
+ employs great part of their land is hemp, of which they have
+ mighty burdens, and on which they bestow much care and pains to
+ dress and prepare it for making their linen, the most noted and
+ beneficial manufacture of the kingdom.' _Morer's Short Account of
+ Scotland_, London, 1702, pp. 3, 4.
+
+ [396] 'The duties upon linen from Scotland being taken off in England,
+ made so great a demand for Scots linen more than usual, that it
+ seemed the poor could want no employment.' _De Foe's History of
+ the Union between England and Scotland_, p. 604. Compare
+ _Macpherson's Annals of Commerce_, vol. ii. p. 736: 'a prodigious
+ vent, not only in England, but for the American plantations.' This
+ concerns a later period.
+
+ [397] 'The surplus of linen made above the consumption, was, in 1728,
+ 2,183,978 yards; in 1738, 4,666,011.' _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol.
+ i. p. 873. On the increase between 1728 and 1732, see the Table in
+ _The Interest of Scotland Considered_, Edinburgh, 1733, p. 97. In
+ a work published in 1732, it is stated that 'they make a great
+ deal of linnen all over the kingdom, not only for their own use,
+ but export it to England, and to the Plantations. In short, the
+ women are all kept employ'd, from the highest to the lowest of
+ them.' _Macky's Journey through Scotland_, London, 1732, p. 271.
+ This refers merely to the women of Scotland, whom Macky represents
+ as much more industrious than the men.
+
+ [398] In 1745, Craik writes to Lord Nithisdale, 'The present family have
+ now reigned over us these thirty years, and though during so long
+ a time they may have fallen into errors, or may have committed
+ faults, (as what Government is without?) yett I will defy the most
+ sanguine zealot to find in history a period equal to this in which
+ Scotland possessed so uninterrupted a felicity, in which liberty,
+ civil and religious, was so universally enjoyed by all people of
+ whatever denomination--nay, by the open and avowed ennemys of the
+ family and constitution, or a period in which all ranks of men
+ have been so effectually secured in their property. Have not
+ trade, manufactures, agriculture, and the spirit of industry in
+ our country extended themselves further during this period and
+ under this family than for ages before?' _Thomson's Memoirs of the
+ Jacobites_, London, 1845, vol. ii. pp. 60, 61.
+
+ [399] _Crawfurd's History of the Shire of Renfrew_, part ii. p. 114.
+
+ [400] _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. vii. p. 341,
+ compared with vol. xii. pp. 176, 177.
+
+ [401] _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol. iii. p. 483.
+
+ [402] _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. xii. p. 145.
+
+ [403] _Ibid._ vol. v. p. 297.
+
+ [404] _Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen_, vol. ii. pp. 199, 200.
+
+ [405] _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. xvi. p. 520:
+ 'About the year 1750.' I need hardly say, that some of these
+ dates, depending upon tradition, are given by the authors
+ approximatively.
+
+ [406] 'Betwixt the year 1750 and 1760, a great degree of patriotic
+ enthusiasm arose in Scotland to encourage arts and manufactures;
+ and the _Edinburgh Society_ was established in 1755 for the
+ express purpose of improving these.' _Bower's History of the
+ University of Edinburgh_, vol. iii. pp. 126, 7.
+
+ [407] 'The first county-bank that anywhere appeared, was the Aberdeen
+ Bank, which was settled in 1749: it was immediately followed by a
+ similar establishment in Glasgow during the same year.' _Chalmers'
+ Caledonia_, vol. iii. p. 9, 4to, 1824. Kennedy (_Annals of
+ Aberdeen_, 4to, 1818, vol. ii. p. 195) says: 'Banking was
+ originally projected in Aberdeen about the year 1752, by a few of
+ the principal citizens who were engaged in commerce and
+ manufactures. They commenced business, upon a limited scale, in an
+ office on the north side of the Castle Street, issued notes of
+ hand, of five pounds and of twenty shillings sterling, and
+ discounted bills and promissory notes, for the accommodation of
+ the public.' It is uncertain if Chalmers knew of this passage; but
+ he was a more accurate writer than Kennedy, and I, therefore,
+ prefer his authority. Besides, Kennedy vaguely says, 'about the
+ year 1752.'
+
+ [408] 'After having been frequently proposed, since the Union, this
+ canal was at length begun in 1768, and finished in 1790. The trade
+ upon it is already great, and is rapidly increasing.' _Sinclair's
+ Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 279, 280,
+ Edinburgh, 1792. See also vol. xii. p. 125; _Irving's History of
+ Dumbartonshire_, 1860, 4to, p. 247; and an interesting
+ contemporary notice in _Nimmo's History of Stirlingshire_,
+ Edinburgh, 1777, pp. 468-481. In 1767, Watt was employed as a
+ surveyor. See _Muirhead's Life of Watt_, 2nd edit. London, 1859,
+ p. 167.
+
+Such was the state of Scotland towards the middle of the eighteenth
+century; and surely a fairer prospect was never opened to any country.
+The land was at peace. It had nothing to fear, either from foreign
+invasion, or from domestic tyranny. The arts, which increase the comfort
+of man, and minister to his happiness, were sedulously cultivated; wealth
+was being created with unexampled speed, and the blessings which follow
+in the train of wealth were being widely diffused; while the insolence of
+the nobility was so effectually curbed, that industrious citizens could,
+for the first time, feel their own independence, could know that what
+they earned, that likewise they should enjoy, and could hold themselves
+erect, and with a manly brow, in the presence of a class before whom they
+had long crouched in abject submission.
+
+Besides this, a great literature now arose, a literature of rare and
+surpassing beauty. To narrate the intellectual achievements of the Scotch
+during the eighteenth century, in a manner at all commensurate with their
+importance, would require a separate treatise, and I cannot now stop even
+to mention what all educated persons are at least partly acquainted with;
+each student recognizing the value of what was done in his own pursuit.
+In the last chapter of this volume, I shall, however, attempt to give
+some idea of the general results considered as a whole; at present, it is
+enough to say, that in every branch of knowledge this once poor and
+ignorant people produced original and successful thinkers. What makes
+this the more remarkable, is its complete contrast to their former state.
+Down even to the beginning of the eighteenth century, Scotland could only
+boast of two authors whose works have benefited mankind. They were
+Buchanan and Napier. Buchanan was the first political writer who held
+accurate views respecting government, and who clearly defined the true
+relation between the people and their rulers. He placed popular rights on
+a solid basis, and vindicated, by anticipation, all subsequent
+revolutions. Napier, equally bold in another department, succeeded, by a
+mighty effort of genius, in detecting, and pushing to its extreme
+consequence, a law of the progression of numbers, which is so simple and
+yet so potent, that it unravels the most tedious and intricate
+calculations, and, thus economizing the labours of the brain, has saved
+an enormous and incalculable waste. These two men were, indeed, great
+benefactors of their species; but they stand alone, and if all the other
+authors Scotland produced down to the close of the seventeenth century
+had never been born, or if, being born, they had never written, society
+would have lost nothing, but would be in exactly the same position as it
+now is.
+
+Early, however, in the eighteenth century, a movement was felt all over
+Europe, and in that movement Scotland participated. A spirit of inquiry
+was abroad, so general and so searching, that no country could entirely
+escape from its action. Sanguine men were excited, and even grave men
+were stirred. It seemed as if a long night were about to close. Light
+broke forth where before there was nothing but darkness. Opinions which
+had stood the test of ages were suddenly questioned; and in every
+direction doubts sprung up, and proofs were demanded. The human mind,
+waxing bold, would not be satisfied with the old evidence. Things were
+examined at their foundation, and the basis of every belief was jealously
+scrutinized. For a time, this was confined to the higher intellects; but
+soon the movement spread, and, in the most advanced countries, worked
+upon nearly all classes. In England and in France, the result was
+extremely beneficial. It might have been hoped, that in Scotland
+likewise, the popular mind would gradually have become enlightened. But
+not so. Time rolled on; one generation succeeded another; the eighteenth
+century passed away; the nineteenth century came; and still the people
+made no sign. The gloom of the middle ages was yet upon them. While all
+around was light, the Scotch, enveloped in mist, crept on, groping their
+way, dismally and with fear. While other nations were shaking off their
+old superstitions, this singular people clung to theirs with undiminished
+tenacity. Now, indeed, their grasp is gradually slackening, but with
+extreme slowness, and threatening reactions frequently appear. This, as
+it always has been, and still is, the curse of Scotland, so also is it
+the chief difficulty with which the historian of Scotland has to contend.
+Everywhere else, when the rise of the intellectual classes, and that of
+the trading and manufacturing classes, have accompanied each other, the
+invariable result has been, a diminution of the power of the clergy, and,
+consequently, a diminution of the influence of superstition. The
+peculiarity of Scotland is, that, during the eighteenth century, and even
+down to the middle of the nineteenth century, the industrial and
+intellectual progress has continued without materially shaking the
+authority of the priesthood.[409] Strange and unequal combination! The
+country of bold and enterprising merchants, of shrewd manufacturers, of
+far-seeing men of business, and of cunning artificers; the country, too,
+of such fearless thinkers as George Buchanan, David Hume, and Adam Smith,
+is awed by a few noisy and ignorant preachers, to whom it allows a
+license, and yields a submission, disgraceful to the age, and
+incompatible with the commonest notions of liberty. A people, in many
+respects very advanced, and holding upon political subjects enlightened
+views, do, upon all religious subjects, display a littleness of mind, an
+illiberality of sentiment, a heat of temper, and a love of persecuting
+others, which shows that the Protestantism of which they boast has done
+them no good; that, in the most important matters, it has left them as
+narrow as it found them; and that it has been unable to free them from
+prejudices which make them the laughing-stock of Europe, and which have
+turned the very name of the Scotch Kirk into a by-word and a reproach
+among educated men.
+
+ [409] I will quote, in a single passage, the opinions of an eminent
+ German and of an eminent Scotchman. 'Dr. Spurzheim, when he last
+ visited Scotland, remarked that the Scotch appeared to him to be
+ the most priest-ridden nation in Europe; Spain and Portugal not
+ excepted. _After having seen other countries, I can understand the
+ force of this observation._' _Notes on the United States of North
+ America by George Combe_, vol. iii. p. 32, Edinburgh, 1841.
+
+I shall now endeavour to explain how all this arose, and how such
+apparent inconsistencies are to be reconciled. That they may be
+reconciled, and that the inconsistencies are merely apparent and not
+real, will be at once admitted by whoever is capable of a scientific
+conception of history. For, in the moral world, as in the physical world,
+nothing is anomalous; nothing is unnatural; nothing is strange. All is
+order, symmetry, and law. There are opposites, but there are no
+contradictions. In the character of a nation, inconsistency is
+impossible. Such, however, is still the backward condition of the human
+mind, and with so evil and jaundiced an eye do we approach the greatest
+problems, that not only common writers, but even men from whom better
+things might be hoped, are on this point involved in constant confusion,
+perplexing themselves and their readers by speaking of inconsistency, as
+if it were a quality belonging to the subject which they investigate,
+instead of being, as it really is, a measure of their own ignorance. It
+is the business of the historian to remove this ignorance, by showing
+that the movements of nations are perfectly regular, and that, like all
+other movements, they are solely determined by their antecedents. If he
+cannot do this, he is no historian. He may be an annalist, or a
+biographer, or a chronicler, but higher than that he cannot rise, unless
+he is imbued with that spirit of science which teaches, as an article of
+faith, the doctrine of uniform sequence; in other words, the doctrine
+that certain events having already happened, certain other events
+corresponding to them will also happen. To seize this idea with firmness,
+and to apply it on all occasions, without listening to any exceptions, is
+extremely difficult, but it must be done by whoever wishes to elevate the
+study of history from its present crude and informal state, and do what
+he may towards placing it in its proper rank, as the head and chief of
+all the sciences. Even then, he cannot perform his task unless his
+materials are ample, and derived from sources of unquestioned
+credibility. But if his facts are sufficiently numerous; if they are very
+diversified; if they have been collected from such various quarters that
+they can check and confront each other, so as to do away with all
+suspicion of their testimony being garbled; and if he who uses them
+possesses that faculty of generalization, without which nothing great can
+be achieved, he will hardly fail in bringing some part of his labours to
+a prosperous issue, provided he devotes all his strength to that one
+enterprise, postponing to it every other object of ambition, and
+sacrificing to it many interests which men hold dear. Some of the most
+pleasurable incentives to action, he must disregard. Not for him, are
+those rewards which, in other pursuits, the same energy would have
+earned; not for him, the sweets of popular applause; not for him, the
+luxury of power; not for him, a share in the councils of his country; not
+for him, a conspicuous and honoured place before the public eye. Albeit
+conscious of what he could do, he may not compete in the great contest;
+he cannot hope to win the prize; he cannot even enjoy the excitement of
+the struggle. To him, the arena is closed. His recompense lies within
+himself, and he must learn to care little for the sympathy of his
+fellow-creatures, or for such honours as they are able to bestow. So far
+from looking for these things, he should rather be prepared for that
+obloquy which always awaits those, who, by opening up new veins of
+thought, disturb the prejudices of their contemporaries. While ignorance,
+and worse than ignorance, is imputed to him, while his motives are
+misrepresented, and his integrity impeached, while he is accused of
+denying the value of moral principles, and of attacking the foundation of
+all religion, as if he were some public enemy, who made it his business
+to corrupt society, and whose delight it was to see what evil he could
+do; while these charges are brought forward, and repeated from mouth to
+mouth, he must be capable of pursuing in silence the even tenor of his
+way, without swerving, without pausing, and without stepping from his
+path to notice the angry outcries which he cannot but hear, and which he
+is more than human if he does not long to rebuke. These are the
+qualities, and these the high resolves, indispensable to him, who, on the
+most important of all subjects, believing that the old road is worn out
+and useless, seeks to strike out a new one for himself, and, in the
+effort, not only perhaps exhausts his strength, but is sure to incur the
+enmity of those who are bent on maintaining the ancient scheme
+unimpaired. To solve the great problem of affairs; to detect those
+hidden circumstances which determine the march and destiny of nations;
+and to find, in the events of the past, a key to the proceedings of the
+future, is nothing less than to unite into a single science all the laws
+of the moral and physical world. Whoever does this, will build up afresh
+the fabric of our knowledge, re-arrange its various parts, and harmonize
+its apparent discrepancies. Perchance, the human mind is hardly ready for
+so vast an enterprise. At all events, he who undertakes it will meet with
+little sympathy, and will find few to help him. And let him toil as he
+may, the sun and noontide of his life shall pass by, the evening of his
+days shall overtake him, and he himself have to quit the scene, leaving
+that unfinished which he had vainly hoped to complete. He may lay the
+foundation; it will be for his successors to raise the edifice. Their
+hands will give the last touch; they will reap the glory; their names
+will be remembered when he is forgotten. It is, indeed, too true, that
+such a work requires, not only several minds, but also the successive
+experience of several generations. Once, I own, I thought otherwise.
+Once, when I first caught sight of the whole field of knowledge, and
+seemed, however dimly, to discern its various parts and the relation they
+bore to each other, I was so entranced with its surpassing beauty, that
+the judgment was beguiled, and I deemed myself able, not only to cover
+the surface, but also to master the details. Little did I know how the
+horizon enlarges as well as recedes, and how vainly we grasp at the
+fleeting forms, which melt away and elude us in the distance. Of all that
+I had hoped to do, I now find but too surely how small a part I shall
+accomplish. In those early aspirations, there was much that was fanciful;
+perhaps there was much that was foolish. Perhaps, too, they contained a
+moral defect, and savoured of an arrogance which belongs to a strength
+that refuses to recognize its own weakness. Still, even now that they are
+defeated and brought to nought, I cannot repent having indulged in them,
+but, on the contrary, I would willingly recall them, if I could. For,
+such hopes belong to that joyous and sanguine period of life, when alone
+we are really happy; when the emotions are more active than the judgment;
+when experience has not yet hardened our nature; when the affections are
+not yet blighted and nipped to the core; and when the bitterness of
+disappointment not having yet been felt, difficulties are unheeded,
+obstacles are unseen, ambition is a pleasure instead of a pang, and the
+blood coursing swiftly through the veins, the pulse beats high, while the
+heart throbs at the prospect of the future. Those are glorious days; but
+they go from us, and nothing can compensate their absence. To me, they
+now seem more like the visions of a disordered fancy, than the sober
+realities of things that were, and are not. It is painful to make this
+confession; but I owe it to the reader, because I would not have him to
+suppose that either in this, or in the future volumes of my History, I
+shall be able to redeem my pledge, and to perform all that I promised.
+Something, I hope to achieve, which will interest the thinkers of this
+age; and something, perhaps, on which posterity may build. It will,
+however, only be a fragment of my original design. In the two last
+chapters I have attempted, and in the two next chapters I shall still
+further attempt, to solve a curious problem in the history of Scotland,
+which is intimately connected with other problems of a yet graver import:
+but though the solution will, I believe, be complete, the evidence of the
+solution will, most assuredly, be imperfect. I regret to add, that such
+imperfection is henceforth an essential part of my plan. It is essential,
+because I despair of supplying those deficiencies in my knowledge, of
+which I grow more sensible in proportion as my views become more
+extensive. It is also essential, because, after a fair estimate of my own
+strength, of the probable duration of my life, and of the limits to which
+industry can safely be pushed, I have been driven to the conclusion, that
+this Introduction, which I had projected as a solid foundation on which
+the history of England might subsequently be raised, must either be
+greatly curtailed, and consequently shorn of its force, or that, if not
+curtailed, there will hardly be a chance of my being able to narrate,
+with the amplitude and fulness of detail which they richly deserve, the
+deeds of that great and splendid nation with which I am best acquainted,
+and of which it is my pride to count myself a member. It is with the
+free, the noble, and the high-minded English people, that my sympathies
+are most closely connected; on them my affections naturally centre; from
+their literature, and from their example, my best lessons have been
+learnt; and it is now the most cherished and the most sacred desire of my
+heart, that I may succeed in writing their history, and in unfolding the
+successive phases of their mighty career, while I am yet somewhat equal
+to the task, and before my faculties have begun to dwindle, or the power
+of continuous attention has begun to decay.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ AN EXAMINATION OF THE SCOTCH INTELLECT DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+
+The remaining part of this volume, I purpose to devote to an attempt to
+unravel still further that two-fold paradox, which forms the prominent
+peculiarity of the history of Scotland. The paradox consists, as we have
+seen, in the fact, first, that the same people have long been liberal in
+politics, and illiberal in religion; and, secondly, that the brilliant,
+inquisitive, and sceptical literature which they produced in the
+eighteenth century, was unable to weaken their superstition, or to instil
+into them wiser and larger maxims on religious matters. From an early
+period, there were, as I have endeavoured to show, many circumstances
+which predisposed the Scotch to superstition, and, so far, had a general
+connexion with the subject before us. But the remarkable phenomenon with
+which we are immediately concerned, may, I think, be traced to two
+distinct causes. The first cause was, that, for a hundred and twenty
+years after the establishment of Protestantism, the rulers of Scotland
+either neglected the Church or persecuted it, thereby driving the clergy
+into the arms of the people, from whom alone they could obtain sympathy
+and support. Hence an alliance between the two parties, more intimate
+than would otherwise have been possible; and hence, too, the rise of that
+democratic spirit which was the necessary consequence of such an union,
+and which the clergy encouraged, because they were opposed and thwarted
+by the upper classes. So far, the result was extremely beneficial, as it
+produced a love of independence and a hatred of tyranny, which, twice
+during the seventeenth century, saved the country from the yoke of a
+cruel despotism. But these very circumstances, which guarded the people
+against political despotism, exposed them all the more to ecclesiastical
+despotism. For, having no one to trust except their preachers, they
+trusted them entirely and upon all subjects. The clergy gradually became
+supreme, not only in spiritual matters, but also in temporal ones. Late
+in the sixteenth century, they had been glad to take refuge among the
+people; before the middle of the seventeenth century, they ruled the
+people. How shamefully they abused their power, and how, by encouraging
+the worst kind of superstition, they prolonged the reign of ignorance,
+and stopped the march of society, will be related in the course of this
+chapter; but, in fairness to them, we ought to acknowledge, that the
+religious servitude into which the Scotch fell during the seventeenth
+century, was, on the whole, a willing one, and that, mischievous as it
+was, it had at least a noble origin, inasmuch as the influence of the
+Protestant clergy is mainly to be ascribed to the fearlessness with which
+they came forward as leaders of the people, at a period when that post
+was full of danger, and when the upper classes were ready to unite with
+the crown in destroying the last vestiges of national liberty.
+
+To trace the operation of this cause of Scotch superstition, will be the
+business of the present chapter; while, in the next and concluding
+chapter, I shall examine the other cause, which I have as yet hardly
+mentioned. This latter inquiry will involve some considerations
+respecting the philosophy of method, still imperfectly appreciated among
+us, and on which the history of the Scotch mind will throw considerable
+light. For, it will appear, that, during the eighteenth century, the
+ablest Scotchmen, with hardly an exception, adopted a method of
+investigating truth, which cut them off from the sympathies of their
+countrymen, and prevented their works from producing the effect which
+they might otherwise have done. The result was, that though a very
+sceptical literature was produced, scepticism made no progress, and
+therefore superstition was undiminished. The highly-educated minds,
+indeed, were affected; but they formed a class apart, and there were no
+means of communication between them and the people. That this was owing
+to the method which literary men employed, I hope to prove in the next
+chapter; and if I succeed in doing so, it will be evident, that I have
+been guilty of no exaggeration in terming this the second great cause of
+the prolongation of Scotch superstition, since it was sufficiently
+powerful to prevent the intellectual classes from exercising their
+natural functions as the disturbers of old opinions.
+
+We have already seen, that almost immediately after the Reformation,
+ill-feeling arose between the upper classes and the spiritual leaders of
+the Protestant church, and that this ill-feeling increased until, in
+1580, it vented itself by the abolition of episcopacy. This bold and
+decisive measure made the breach irreparable. The preachers had now
+committed themselves too far to recede, even if they had desired to do
+so; and from that moment, uniting themselves heartily with the people,
+they took up a position which they have never since abandoned. During the
+remaining twenty-three years that James was in Scotland, they were
+occupied in exciting the people against their rulers; and as they became
+more democratic, so did the crown and nobles grow more hostile, and
+display, for the first time, a disposition to combine together in defence
+of their common interests. In 1603, James ascended the throne of England,
+and the struggle began in earnest. It lasted, with few interruptions,
+eighty-five years, and, during its continuance, the Presbyterian clergy
+never wavered; they were always steady to the good cause; always on the
+side of the people. This greatly increased their influence; and what
+favoured it still more was, that, besides being the champions of popular
+liberty, they were also the champions of national independence. When
+James I. and the two Charles's attempted to force episcopacy upon
+Scotland, the Scotch rejected it, not only because they hated the
+institution, but also because they looked on it as the mark of a foreign
+domination, which they were determined to resist. Their nearest and most
+dangerous enemy was England; and they spurned the idea of receiving
+bishops who must, in the first instance, be consecrated in London, and
+who, it was certain, would never have been admitted into Scotland unless
+England had been the stronger country. It was, therefore, on patriotic,
+as well as religious, grounds, that the Scotch clergy, during the
+seventeenth century, struggled against episcopacy;[410] and when they
+overthrew it, in 1638, their bold and determined conduct associated, in
+the popular mind, the love of country with the love of the church.
+Subsequent events strengthened this association.[411] In 1650, Cromwell
+invaded Scotland, overthrew the Scotch in the battle of Dunbar, and
+intrusted to Monk the task of curbing their spirit, by building
+fortresses, and establishing a long chain of military posts.[412] The
+nation, cowed and broken, gave way, and, for the first time for three
+centuries, felt the pressure of a foreign yoke. The clergy alone remained
+firm.[413] Cromwell, who knew that they were the chief obstacle to
+completing his conquest, hated them, and did every thing he could to ruin
+them.[414] But their power was too deeply seated to be shaken. From their
+pulpits, they continued to influence and animate the people. In face of
+the invaders, and in spite of them, the Scotch church continued to hold
+its General Assemblies, until the summer of 1653. Then, indeed, they had
+to yield to brute force; and the people, to their unutterable grief,
+beheld the venerated representatives of the Scotch kirk driven from their
+place of meeting by English soldiers, and led like criminals through the
+streets of Edinburgh.[415]
+
+ [410] In 1638, one of the most eminent of the Scotch clergy writes: 'Our
+ maine feare' is 'to have our religion lost, our throats cutted,
+ our poore countrey made ane English province, to be disposed upon
+ for ever hereafter at the will of a Bishope of Canterburie.'
+ _Baillie's Letters and Journals_, vol. i. p. 66. Compare p. 450.
+ 'This kirk is a free and independant kirk, no less then the
+ kingdom is a free and independant kingdom; and as our own Patriots
+ can best judge what is for the good of the kingdom, so our own
+ Pastors should be most able to judge what form of worship
+ beseemeth our Reformation, and what serveth most for the good of
+ the People.' Two generations later, one of the most popular
+ arguments against the Union was, that it might enable the English
+ to force episcopacy upon Scotland. See _De Foe's History of the
+ Union between England and Scotland_, pp. 222, 284, 359. 'The
+ danger of the Church of Scotland, from the suffrages of English
+ bishops,' &c.
+
+ [411] The hatred which the Scotch naturally felt against the English for
+ having inflicted so much suffering upon them, was intense about
+ the middle of the seventeenth century, notwithstanding the
+ temporary union of the two nations against Charles. In 1652, 'the
+ criminal record is full of cases of murder of English soldiers.
+ They were cut off by the people whenever a fitting opportunity
+ occurred, and were as much detested in Scotland as the French
+ soldiers were in Spain during the Peninsular war.' _The
+ Spottiswoode Miscellany_, vol. ii. p. 98, Edinburgh, 1845. See
+ also p. 167: 'a nationall quarrell, and not for the Stuarts.'
+
+ [412] _Browne's History of the Highlands_, vol. ii. pp. 75-77: 'the
+ English army was augmented to twenty thousand men, and citadels
+ erected in several towns, and a long train of military stations
+ drawn across the country to curb the inhabitants.'
+
+ [413] Clarendon, under the year 1655, says, 'Though Scotland was
+ vanquished, and subdued, to that degree, that there was no place
+ nor person who made the least show of opposing Cromwell; who, by
+ the administration of Monk, made the yoke very grievous to the
+ whole nation; yet the preachers kept their pulpit license; and,
+ more for the affront that was offered to presbytery, than the
+ conscience of what was due to majesty, many of them presumed to
+ pray for the king; and generally, though secretly, exasperated the
+ minds of the people against the present government.' _Clarendon's
+ History of the Rebellion_, p. 803.
+
+ [414] And, what they must have felt very acutely, he would not go to hear
+ them preach. A writer of that time informs us that, even in 1648,
+ when Cromwell was in Edinburgh, 'he went not to their churches;
+ but it is constantle reported that ewerie day he had sermons in
+ his oune ludginge, himself being the preacher, whensoewer the
+ spirit came upon him; which took him lyk the fitts of an ague,
+ somtyms twise, sometyms thryse in a day.' _Gordon's Britane's
+ Distemper_, p. 212. In 1650, according to another contemporary,
+ 'he made stables of all the churches for hes horsses quhersoeuer
+ he came, and burned all the seatts and pewes in them; riffled the
+ ministers housses, and distrayed ther cornes.' _Balfour's Annales
+ of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 88. The clergy, on the other hand,
+ employing a resource with which their profession has always been
+ familiar, represented Cromwell as opposing Providence, because he
+ was opposing them. Rutherford (_Religious Letters_, reprinted
+ Glasgow, 1824, p. 346) says, that he fought 'against the Lord's
+ secret ones;' and Row (_Continuation of Blair's Autobiography_, p.
+ 335), under the year 1658, triumphantly observes: 'In the
+ beginning of September this year, the Protector, that old fox,
+ died. It was observed, as a remarkable cast of divine providence,
+ that he died upon the 3d of September, which he, glorying of
+ routing of our armies at Dunbar and Worcester on that day, used to
+ call _his day_. On that same very day the Just Judge called him to
+ an account,' &c.
+
+ [415] See contemporary notices of this, in _Nicoll's Diary_, p. 110; and
+ in _The Diary of Mr. John Lamont of Newton_, pp. 56, 57. But the
+ best account is that given by Baillie, in a letter to Calamy,
+ dated Glasgow, 27th July 1653. He writes: 'That on the 20th of
+ July last, when our Generall Assemblie was sett in the ordinarie
+ tyme and place, Lieutenant-Colonell Cotterall besett the church
+ with some rattes of musqueteirs and a troup of horse; himself
+ (after our fast, wherein Mr. Dickson and Mr. Dowglas had two
+ gracious sermons) entered the Assemblie-house, and immediately
+ after Mr. Dickson the Moderator his prayer, required audience;
+ wherein he inquired, If we did sitt there by the authority of the
+ Parliament of the Commonwealth of England? or of the
+ Commanders-in-chiefe of the English forces? or of the English
+ Judges in Scotland? The Moderator replyed, That we were ane
+ Ecclesiasticall synod, ane Spirituall court of Jesus Christ, which
+ medled not with anything Civile; that our authoritie wes from God,
+ and established by the lawes of the land yet standing unrepealed;
+ that, by the Solemn League and Covenant, the most of the English
+ army stood obliedged to defend our Generall Assemblie. When some
+ speeches of this kind had passed, the Lieutenant-Colonell told us,
+ his order was to dissolve us; whereupon he commanded all of us to
+ follow him, else he would drag us out of the rowme. When we had
+ entered a Protestation of this unheard-of and unexampled violence,
+ we did ryse and follow him; he ledd us all through the whole
+ streets a myle out of the towne, encompassing us with
+ foot-companies of musqueteirs, and horsemen without; all the
+ people gazing and mourning as at the saddest spectacle they had
+ ever seen. When he had ledd us a myle without the towne, he then
+ declared what further he had in commission, That we should not
+ dare to meet any more above three in number; and that against
+ eight o'clock to-morrow, we should depart the towne, under paine
+ of being guiltie of breaking the publick peace: And the day
+ following, by sound of trumpet, we were commanded off towne under
+ the paine of present imprisonment. Thus our Generall Assemblie,
+ the glory and strength of our Church upon earth, is, by your
+ souldiarie, crushed and trod under foot, without the least
+ provocatione from us, at this time, either in word or deed.'
+ _Baillie's Letters and Journals_, vol. iii. pp. 225, 226.
+
+Thus it was that in Scotland, after the latter part of the sixteenth
+century, every thing tended to increase the reputation of the clergy, by
+raising them to the foremost rank among the defenders of their country.
+And it was but natural that the spiritual classes, finding themselves in
+the ascendant, should conduct the contest according to views habitual to
+their profession, and should be anxious for religious advantages, rather
+than for temporal benefits. The war which the Scotch waged against
+Charles I. partook more of the character of a crusade than any war ever
+carried on by a Protestant nation.[416] The main object was, to raise up
+presbyters, and to destroy bishops. Prelacy was the accursed thing, and
+that must be rooted out at every hazard. To this, all other
+considerations were subordinate.[417] The Scotch loved liberty, and hated
+England. Yet, even these two passions, notwithstanding their strength,
+were as nothing, in comparison with their intense desire to extend and to
+propagate, if need be at the point of the sword, their own Presbyterian
+polity. This was their first and paramount duty. They fought, indeed, for
+freedom, but, above all, they fought for religion. In their eyes, Charles
+was the idolatrous head of an idolatrous church, and that church they
+were resolved to destroy. They felt that their cause was holy, and they
+went forth full of confidence, convinced that the sword of Gideon was
+drawn on their side, and that their enemies would be delivered up to
+them.
+
+ [416] In August 1640, the army marched into England; and 'it was very
+ refreshfull to remark, that after we came to ane quarter at night,
+ there was nothing almost to be heard throughout the whole army but
+ singing of Psalms, prayer, and reading of Scripture by the
+ souldiers in their severall hutts.' _Select Biographies_, edited
+ by Mr. Tweedie for the Wodrow Society, vol. i. p. 163. 'The most
+ zealous among them boasted, they should carry the triumphant
+ banners of the covenant to Rome itself.' _Arnot's History of
+ Edinburgh_, p. 124. In 1644, the celebrated divine, Andrew Cant,
+ was appointed by the Commissioners of the General Assembly, 'to
+ preach at the opening of the Parliament, wherein he satisfied
+ their expectation fully. For, the main point he drove at in his
+ sermon, was to state an opposition betwixt King Charles and King
+ Jesus (as he was pleased to speak) and upon that account to press
+ resistance to King Charles for the interest of King Jesus. It may
+ be wondered that such doctrine should have relish'd with men
+ brought up in the knowledge of the Scriptures; and yet, such was
+ the madness of the times, that none who preach'd in public since
+ the beginning of the Troubles, had been so cried up as he was for
+ that sermon.' _Guthry's Memoirs_, pp. 136, 137.
+
+ [417] 'The rooting out of prelacy and the wicked hierarchy therein so
+ obviously described, is the main duty.' _Naphtali, or the
+ Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland_, pp. 53, 54. This refers to
+ the Covenant of 1643. So, too, the continuator of _Row's History
+ of the Kirk_, p. 521, says, under the year 1639, that the object
+ of the war was, 'to withstand the prelaticall faction and
+ malignant, countenanced by the kinge in his owne persone.' Compare
+ the outbreak of the Reverend Samuel Rutherford, against 'the
+ accursed and wretched prelates, the Antichrist's first-born, and
+ the first fruit of his foul womb.' _Rutherford's Religious
+ Letters_, p. 179.
+
+The rebellion, therefore, against Charles, which, on the part of the
+English, was essentially secular,[418] was, on the part of the Scotch,
+essentially religious. This was because with us, the laymen were stronger
+than the clergy; while with them, the clergy were stronger than the
+laymen. In 1643, both nations having united against the king, it was
+thought advisable that an intimate alliance should be concluded; but, in
+the negotiations which followed, it is noticed, by a contemporary
+observer, that though the English merely wished for a civil league, the
+Scotch demanded a religious covenant.[419] And as they would only
+continue the war on condition that this was granted, the English were
+obliged to give way. The result was the Solemn League and Covenant, by
+which what seemed a cordial union was effected between the two
+countries.[420] Such a compact was, however, sure to be short-lived, as
+each party had different objects; the aim of the English being
+political, while that of the Scotch was religious. The consequences of
+this difference were soon apparent. In January 1645, negotiations having
+been opened with the king, commissioners met at Uxbridge, with the view
+of concluding a peace. The attempt failed, as might have been expected,
+seeing that, not only were the pretensions of the king irreconcilable
+with those of his opponents, but that the pretensions of his opponents
+were irreconcilable with each other. At Uxbridge, during the conferences,
+the Scotch expressed their readiness to concede to him what he required,
+if he would gratify them in regard to the Church; while the English,
+occupying themselves with civil and political questions, cared less, says
+Clarendon, for what concerned the Church than for anything else.[421] A
+better illustration could hardly be found of the secular character of the
+English rebellion, as compared with the spiritual character of the Scotch
+rebellion. Indeed, the Scotch, so far from concealing this, boasted of
+it, and evidently thought that it proved how superior they were to their
+worldly-minded neighbours. In February 1645, the General Assembly issued
+an address to the nation, including not only those who were at home, but
+also those who served in armies out of Scotland. In this document, which,
+proceeding from such a quarter, necessarily exercised great influence,
+political considerations, as having to do merely with the temporal
+happiness of men, are treated as insignificant, and almost despicable.
+That Rupert was defeated, and that York and Newcastle were taken, were
+but trifling matters. They were only the means of accomplishing an end,
+and that end was the reformation of religion in England, and the
+establishment there of the pure Presbyterian polity.[422]
+
+ [418] Our civil war was not religious; but was a struggle between the
+ Crown and the Parliament. See a note in _Buckle's History of
+ Civilization_, vol. i. p. 359.
+
+ [419] In September 1643, Baillie, writing an account of the proceedings
+ of the Westminster Assembly in the preceding month, says, 'In our
+ committees also we had hard enough debates. The English were for a
+ civill League, we for a religious Covenant.' Letter to Mr. William
+ Spang, dated 22nd September 1643, in _Baillie's Letters and
+ Journals_, vol. ii. p. 90.
+
+ [420] 'The Solemn League and Covenant,' which 'is memorable as the first
+ approach towards an intimate union between the kingdoms, but,
+ according to the intolerant principles of the age, a federal
+ alliance was constructed on the frail and narrow basis of
+ religious communion.' _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. pp.
+ 258, 259. The passage, however, which I have quoted, in the last
+ note, from Baillie, shows that England was not responsible for the
+ intolerant principles, or, consequently, for the narrow basis.
+
+ [421] The Chancellor of Scotland 'did as good as conclude "that if the
+ king would satisfy them in the business of the Church, they would
+ not concern themselves in any of the other demands."' ... 'And it
+ was manifest enough, by the private conferences with other of the
+ commissioners, that the parliament took none of the points in
+ controversy less to heart, or were less united in, than in what
+ concerned the Church.' _Clarendon's History of the Rebellion_,
+ edit. Oxford, 1843, p. 522. See also p. 527: 'that the Scots would
+ insist upon the whole government of the Church, and in all other
+ matters would defer to the king.'
+
+ [422] See this extraordinary document in _Acts of the General Assembly of
+ the Church of Scotland from 1638 to 1842_, pp. 122-128, Edinburgh,
+ 1843. It is entitled 'A solemne and seasonable warning to the
+ noblemen, barons, gentlemen, burrows, ministers, and commons of
+ Scotland; as also to armies without and within this kingdom.' In
+ it (p. 123) occurs the following passage: 'And for our part, our
+ forces sent into that kingdom, in pursuance of that Covenant, have
+ been so mercifully and manifestly assisted and blessed from heaven
+ (though in the mids of many dangers and distresses, and much want
+ and hardship), and have been so farre instrumentall to the foyling
+ and scattering of two principall armies; first, the Marquesse of
+ Newcastle his army; and afterwards Prince Rupert's and his
+ together; and to the reducing of two strong cities, York and
+ Newcastle, that we have what to answer the enemy that reproacheth
+ us concerning that businesse, and that which may make iniquitie it
+ self to stop her mouth. But which _is more unto us than all
+ victories or whatsomever temporall blessing_, the reformation of
+ religion in England, and uniformity therein between both kingdoms
+ (a principal end of that Covenant), is so far advanced, that the
+ English Service-Book with the Holy-Dayes and many other ceremonies
+ contained in it, together with the Prelacy, the fountain of all
+ these, are abolished and taken away by ordinance of parliament,
+ and a directory for the worship of God in all the three kingdoms
+ agreed upon in the Assemblies, and in the Parliaments of both
+ kingdoms, without a contrary voice in either; the government of
+ the kirk by congregational elderships, classical presbyteries,
+ provincial and national assemblies, is agreed upon by the Assembly
+ of Divines at Westminster, which is also voted and concluded in
+ both Houses of the Parliament of England.'
+
+A war, undertaken with such holy objects, and conceived in so elevated a
+spirit, was supposed to be placed under the immediate protection of the
+Deity, on whose behalf it was carried on. In the language of the time, it
+was a war for God, and for God's church. Every victory that was obtained,
+was the result, not of the skill of the general, nor of the valour of
+the troops, but was an answer to prayer.[423] When a battle was lost, it
+was either because God was vexed at the sins of the people,[424] or else
+to show them that they must not trust to the arms of the flesh.[425]
+Nothing was natural; all was supernatural. The entire course of affairs
+was governed, not by their own antecedents, but by a series of miracles.
+To assist the Scotch, winds were changed, and storms were lulled. Such
+intelligence as was important for them to receive, was often brought by
+sea; and, on those occasions, it was expected that, if the wind were
+unfavourable, Providence would interfere, would shift it from one quarter
+to another, and, when the news had safely arrived, would allow it to
+return to its former direction.[426]
+
+ [423] In 1644, 'God ansuered our Wednesday's prayers: Balfour and Waller
+ had gotten a glorious victorie over Forth and Hopton, and routed
+ them totallie, horse and foot.' _Baillie's Letters and Journals_,
+ vol. ii. p. 155. In the same year, thanksgivings being offered at
+ Aberdeen for the victory of Leslie over Rupert, 'oure minister Mr.
+ William Strathauchin declairit out of pulpit that this victory wes
+ miraculous, wrocht by the fynger of God.' _Spalding's History of
+ the Troubles_, vol. ii. p. 254. In 1648, the Commissioners of the
+ General Assembly, in an address to the Prince of Wales, stated
+ that the Deity had been 'fighting for his people;' meaning by his
+ people, the Scotch people. They added, that the fact of their
+ enemies having been repulsed, was a proof of 'how sore the Lord
+ hath been displeased with their way.' _Clarendon State Papers_,
+ vol. ii. p. 424, Oxford, 1773, folio.
+
+ [424] Two Scotch notices are now before me of the fatal battle of Dunbar.
+ According to one, the defeat was intended to testify against 'the
+ great sin and wickedness' of the people. _Naphtali, or the
+ Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland_, p. 75. According to the
+ other, it was owing to the anger of the Deity at the Scotch
+ showing any favour to the partizans of Charles. For, says the
+ Reverend Alexander Shields, 'both at that time, and since that
+ time, the Lord never countenanced an expedition where that
+ malignant interest was taken in unto the state of the quarrel.
+ Upon this, our land was invaded by Oliver Cromwell, who defeat our
+ army at Dunbar, where the anger of the Lord was evidently seen to
+ smoke against us, for espousing that interest.' _Shields' Hind let
+ loose_, p. 75. These opinions were formed after the battle. Before
+ the battle, a different hypothesis was broached. Sir Edward
+ Walker, who was in Scotland at the time, tells us, that the clergy
+ assured the people that 'they had an army of saints, and that they
+ could not be beaten.' _Journal of Affairs in Scotland in 1650_, in
+ _Walker's Historical Discourses_, London, 1705, folio, p. 165.
+
+ [425] 'Each new victory of Montrose was expressly attributed to the
+ admonitory "indignation of the Lord" against his chosen people for
+ their sin, in "trusting too much to the arm of flesh."' _Napier's
+ Life of Montrose_, Edinburgh, 1840, p. 283. Compare _Guthrie's
+ Considerations contributing unto the Discovery of the Dangers that
+ threaten Religion_, pp. 274, 275, reprinted Edinburgh, 1846.
+ Guthrie was at the height of his reputation in the middle of the
+ seventeenth century. Lord Somerville says of the Scotch, when they
+ were making war against Charles I., that it was 'ordinary for
+ them, dureing the wholl tyme of this warre, to attribute ther
+ great successe to the goodnesse and justice of their cause, untill
+ Divyne Justice trysted them with some crosse dispensatione, and
+ then you might have heard this language from them, that it pleased
+ the Lord to give his oune the heavyest end of the tree to bear,
+ that the saints and people of God must still be sufferers while
+ they are here away; that that malignant party was God's rod to
+ punish them for their unthankfullnesse,' &c. _Somerville's Memorie
+ of the Somervilles_, vol. ii. pp. 351, 352.
+
+ [426] Baillie mentions, in 1644, an instance of these expectations being
+ fulfilled. He says (_Letters and Journals_, vol. ii. p. 138),
+ 'These things were brought in at a very important nick of time, by
+ God's gracious providence: Never a more quick passage from Holy
+ Island to Yarmouth in thirtie houres; they had not cast anchor
+ halfe an houre till the wind turned contrare.' Compare p. 142: 'If
+ this were past, we look for a new lyfe and vigoure in all
+ affaires, especiallie if it please God to send a sweet northwind,
+ carrying the certain news of the taking of Newcastle, which we
+ dailie expect.'
+
+It was in this way that, in Scotland, every thing conspired to strengthen
+that religious element which the force of circumstances had, at an early
+period, made prominent, and which now threatened to absorb all the other
+elements of the national character. The clergy were supreme; and habits
+of mind natural and becoming to themselves, were diffused among all
+classes. The theories of a single profession outweighed those of all
+other professions; and not only war, but also trade, literature, science,
+and art, were held of no account unless they ministered to the general
+feeling. A state of society so narrow and so one-sided, has never been
+seen in any other country equally civilized. Nor did there appear much
+chance of abating this strange monopoly. As the seventeenth century
+advanced, the same train of events was continued; the clergy and the
+people always making common cause against the crown, and being, by the
+necessity of self-preservation, forced into the most intimate union with
+each other. Of this, the preachers availed themselves to strengthen their
+own influence; and for upwards of a century their exertions stopped all
+intellectual culture, discouraged all independent inquiry, made men in
+religious matters fearful and austere, and coloured the whole national
+character with that dark hue, which, though now gradually softening, it
+still retains.
+
+The Scotch, during the seventeenth century, instead of cultivating the
+arts of life, improving their minds, or adding to their wealth, passed
+the greater part of their time in what were called religious exercises.
+The sermons were so long and so frequent, that they absorbed all leisure,
+and yet the people were never weary of hearing them. When a preacher was
+once in the pulpit, the only limit to his loquacity was his strength.
+Being sure of a patient and reverential audience, he went on as long as
+he could. If he discoursed for two hours without intermission, he was
+valued as a zealous pastor, who had the good of his flock at heart; and
+this was about as much as an ordinary clergyman could perform, because,
+in uttering his sentiments, he was expected to display great vehemence,
+and to evince his earnestness by toiling and sweating abundantly.[427]
+This boundary was, however, often passed by those who were equal to the
+labour; and Forbes, who was vigorous as well as voluble, thought nothing
+of preaching for five or six hours.[428] But, in the ordinary course of
+nature, such feats were rare; and, as the people were in these matters
+extremely eager, an ingenious contrivance was hit upon whereby their
+desires might be satisfied. On great occasions, several clergymen were
+present in the same church, in order that, when one was fatigued, he
+might leave the pulpit, and be succeeded by another, who, in his turn,
+was followed by a third; the patience of the hearers being apparently
+inexhaustible.[429] Indeed, the Scotch, by the middle of the seventeenth
+century, had grown accustomed to look up to their minister as if he were
+a god, and to dwell with rapture upon every word that dropt from his
+lips. To hear a favourite preacher, they would incur any fatigue, and
+would undertake long journeys without sleep or food.[430] Their power of
+attention was marvellous. The same congregation would sometimes remain
+together for ten hours, listening to sermons and prayers, interspersed
+with singings and readings.[431] In an account of Scotland in 1670, it is
+stated that, in a single church in Edinburgh, thirty sermons were
+delivered every week.[432] Nor is this at all unlikely, considering the
+religious enthusiasm of the age. For, in those times, the people
+delighted in the most harassing and ascetic devotions. Thus, for
+instance, in 1653, when the sacrament was administered, they pursued the
+following course. On Wednesday, they fasted, and listened to prayers and
+sermons for more than eight hours. On Saturday they heard two or three
+sermons; and on Sunday, the number of sermons was so great that they
+stayed in church more than twelve hours; while, to conclude the whole,
+three or four additional ones were preached on Monday by way of
+thanksgiving.[433]
+
+ [427] No one, perhaps, carried this further than John Menzies, the
+ celebrated professor of divinity at Aberdeen. 'Such was his
+ uncommon fervour in the pulpit, that, we are informed, he "used to
+ change his shirt always after preaching, and to wet two or three
+ napkins with tears every sermon."' Note in _Wodrow's
+ Correspondence_, vol. ii. p. 222. James Forbes, also, was 'an able
+ and zealous preacher, who after every sermon behooved to change
+ his shirt, he spoke with such vehemency and sweating.' _Select
+ Biographies_, published by the Wodrow Society, vol. i. p. 333.
+ Lord Somerville, who wrote in 1679, mentions 'their thundering
+ preachings.' _Memorie of the Somervilles_, vol. ii. p. 388. A
+ traditionary anecdote, related by the Dean of Edinburgh, refers to
+ a later period, but is characteristic of the class. 'Another
+ description I have heard of an energetic preacher more forcible
+ than delicate--"Eh, our minister had a great power o' watter, for
+ he grat, and spat, and swat like mischeef."' _Reminiscences of
+ Scottish Life and Character_, by E. B. Ramsay, Dean of Edinburgh,
+ p. 201.
+
+ [428] He 'was a very learned and pious man; he had a strange faculty of
+ preaching five or six hours at a time.' _Burnet's History of his
+ own Time_, vol. i. p. 38. Even early in the eighteenth century,
+ when theological fervour was beginning to decline, and sermons
+ were consequently shorter, Hugh Thomson came near to Forbes. 'He
+ was the longest preacher ever I heard, and would have preached
+ four (or) five hours, and was not generally under two hours; that
+ almost every body expected.' ... 'He was a piouse good man, and a
+ fervent affectionat preacher, and, when I heard him, he had a vast
+ deal of heads, and a great deal of matter, and generally very good
+ and practicall, but very long.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. iv.
+ p. 203.
+
+ [429] In 1653, Lamont casually mentions, in his journal, that 'the one
+ came doune from the pulpit and the other went vp, in the tyme that
+ the psalme after the first sermon was singing, so that ther was no
+ intermission of the exercise, nether were the peopell dismissed
+ till both sermons were ended.' _The Diary of Mr. John Lamont of
+ Newton_, p. 58. Burnet (_History of his own Time_, vol. i. p. 92)
+ says, 'I remember in one fast day there were six sermons preached
+ without intermission. I was there myself, and not a little weary
+ of so tedious a service.'
+
+ [430] When Guthrie preached at Fenwick, 'his church, although a large
+ country one, was overlaid and crowded every Sabbath-day, and very
+ many, without doors, from distant parishes, such as Glasgow,
+ Paisley, Hamilton, Lanerk, Kilbryde, Glasford, Strathaven,
+ Newmills, Egelsham and many other places, who hungered for the
+ pure gospel preached, and got a meal by the word of his ministry.
+ It was their usual practice to come to Fenwick on Saturday, and to
+ spend the greatest part of the night in prayer to God, and
+ conversation about the great concerns of their souls, to attend
+ the public worship on the Sabbath, to dedicate the remainder of
+ that holy day in religious exercises, and then to go home on
+ Monday the length of ten, twelve or twenty miles without grudging
+ in the least at the long way, want of sleep or other refreshments;
+ neither did they find themselves the less prepared for any other
+ business through the week.' _Howie's Biographia Scoticana_, 2nd
+ edit., Glasgow, 1781, p. 311. One woman went forty miles to hear
+ Livingstone preach. See her own statement, in _Wodrow's Analecta_,
+ vol. ii. p. 249.
+
+ [431] Spalding gives the following account of what happened at Aberdeen
+ in 1644. 'So heir in Old Abirdene, upone the sevint of July, we
+ had ane fast, entering the churche be nyne houris, and continewit
+ praying and preiching whill tua houris. Efter sermon, the people
+ sat still heiring reiding whill efternone's sermon began and
+ endit, whiche continewit till half hour to sex. Then the prayer
+ bell rang to the evening prayeris, and continewit whill seven.'
+ _Spalding's History of the Troubles_, vol. ii. p. 244, edit.
+ Edinburgh, 1829, 4to. See also p. 42: 'the people keipit churche
+ all day.' This was also at Aberdeen, in 1642.
+
+ [432] 'Out of one pulpit now they have thirty sermons per week, all
+ under one roof.' _A Modern Account of Scotland_, in _The Harleian
+ Miscellany_, vol. vi. p. 138, edit. Park, London, 1810, 4to.
+
+ [433] 'But where the greatest part was more sound, they gave the
+ sacrament with a new and unusual solemnity. On the Wednesday
+ before, they held a fast day, with prayers and sermons for about
+ eight or ten hours together: on the Saturday they had two or three
+ preparation sermons: and on the Lord's day they had so very many,
+ that the action continued above twelve hours in some places: and
+ all ended with three or four sermons on Monday for thanksgiving.'
+ _Burnet's History of his own Time_, vol. i. p. 108.
+
+Such eagerness, and yet such patience, indicate a state of society
+altogether peculiar, and for which we find no parallel in the history of
+any civilized country. This intense desire to hear whatever the preachers
+had to say, was, in itself, a homage of the most flattering kind, and was
+naturally accompanied by a belief that they were endowed with a light
+which was withheld from their less gifted countrymen. It is not
+surprising that the clergy, who, at no period, and in no nation, have
+been remarkable for their meekness, or for a want of confidence in
+themselves, should, under circumstances so eminently favourable to their
+pretensions, have been somewhat elated, and should have claimed an
+authority even greater than that which was conceded to them. And as this
+is intimately connected with the subsequent history of Scotland, it will
+be necessary to collect some evidence respecting their conduct, which
+will have the further advantage of exhibiting the true character of
+spiritual domination, and of showing how it works, not only on the
+intellectual, but also on the practical, life of a people.
+
+According to the Presbyterian polity, which reached its height in the
+seventeenth century, the clergyman of the parish selected a certain
+number of laymen on whom he could depend, and who, under the name of
+elders, were his councillors, or rather the ministers of his authority.
+They, when assembled together, formed what was called the Kirk-Session,
+and this little court, which enforced the decisions uttered in the
+pulpit, was so supported by the superstitious reverence of the people,
+that it was far more powerful than any civil tribunal. By its aid, the
+minister became supreme. For, whoever presumed to disobey him was
+excommunicated, was deprived of his property, and was believed to have
+incurred the penalty of eternal perdition.[434] Against such weapons, in
+such a state of society, resistance was impossible. The clergy interfered
+with every man's private concerns, ordered how he should govern his
+family, and often took upon themselves the personal control of his
+household.[435] Their minions, the elders, were everywhere; for each
+parish was divided into several quarters, and to each quarter one of
+these officials was allotted, in order that he might take special notice
+of what was done in his own district.[436] Besides this, spies were
+appointed, so that nothing could escape their supervision.[437] Not only
+the streets, but even private houses, were searched, and ransacked, to
+see if any one was absent from church while the minister was
+preaching.[438] To him, all must listen, and him all must obey. Without
+the consent of his tribunal, no person might engage himself, either as a
+domestic servant, or as a field labourer.[439] If any one incurred the
+displeasure of the clergy, they did not scruple to summon his servants
+and force them to state whatever they knew respecting him, and whatever
+they had seen done in his house.[440] To speak disrespectfully of a
+preacher was a grievous offence;[441] to differ from him was a
+heresy;[442] even to pass him in the streets without saluting him, was
+punished as a crime.[443] His very name was regarded as sacred, and not
+to be taken in vain. And that it might be properly protected, and held in
+due honour, an Assembly of the Church, in 1642, forbad it to be used in
+any public paper unless the consent of the holy man had been previously
+obtained.[444]
+
+ [434] 'The power of those kirk-sessions, which are now private
+ assemblages, in whose meetings and proceedings the public take no
+ interest whatever, is defined to be the cognizance of parochial
+ matters and cases of scandal; but in the sixteenth and seventeenth
+ centuries, especially during the Covenanting reign of terror after
+ the outbreak of the Civil War against Charles I., the
+ kirk-sessions of Scotland were the sources of excessive tyranny
+ and oppression--were arbitrary, inquisitorial, and revengeful, to
+ an extent which exceeds all belief. It is truly stated by the
+ author of the "Memoirs of Locheill"--"Every parish had a tyrant,
+ who made the greatest Lord in his district stoop to his authority.
+ The kirk was the place where he kept his court; the pulpit his
+ throne or tribunal from whence he issued out his terrible decrees;
+ and twelve or fourteen sour ignorant enthusiasts, under the title
+ of Elders, composed his council. If any, of what quality soever,
+ had the assurance to disobey his orders, the dreadful sentence of
+ excommunication was immediately thundered out against him, his
+ goods and chattels confiscated and seized, and he himself being
+ looked upon as actually in the possession of the devil, and
+ irretrievably doomed to eternal perdition."' Introduction to _The
+ Kirk-Session Register of Perth_, in _The Spottiswoode Miscellany_,
+ vol. ii. pp. 229-230, Edinburgh, 1845. In regard to the perdition
+ which the sentence of excommunication was supposed to involve, one
+ of the most influential Scotch divines of that time merely
+ expresses the prevailing notion, when he asserts, that whoever was
+ excommunicated was thereby given up to Satan. 'That he who is
+ excommunicated may be truly said to be delivered to Sathan is
+ undeniable.' _Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming, or the Divine
+ Ordinance of Church Government Vindicated_, 1646, 4to, p. 239.
+ 'Excommunication, which is a shutting out of a Church-member from
+ the Church, whereby Sathan commeth to get dominion and power over
+ him.' _Ibid._ p. 297. 'Sure I am an excommunicate person may truly
+ be said to be delivered to Sathan.' p. 424.
+
+ [435] Clarendon, under the year 1640, emphatically says (_History of the
+ Rebellion_, p. 67), 'The preacher reprehended the husband,
+ governed the wife, chastised the children, and insulted over the
+ servants, in the houses of the greatest men.' The theory was, that
+ 'ministers and elders must be submitted unto us as fathers.'
+ _Shields' Enquiry into Church Communion_, 2nd edit., Edinburgh,
+ 1747, p. 66. In the middle of the seventeenth century, one of the
+ most famous of the Scotch preachers openly asserted the right of
+ his profession to interfere in family matters, on the ground that
+ such was the custom in the time of Joshua. 'The Ministers of God's
+ house have not only the ministry of holy things, as Word and
+ Sacraments, committed to their charge, but also the power of
+ ecclesiastical government to take order with scandalous offences
+ within the familie; both these are here promised to Joshua and the
+ Priests.' _Hutchison's Exposition of the Minor Prophets_, vol.
+ iii. p. 72, London, 1654. In 1603, the Presbytery of Aberdeen took
+ upon themselves to order that every master of a house should keep
+ a rod, that his family, including his servants, might be beaten if
+ they used improper language. 'It is concludit that thair salbe in
+ ewerie houss a palmar.' _Selections from the Records of the Kirk
+ Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_, printed for the
+ Spalding Club, 4to, Aberdeen, 1846, p. 194. It also appears
+ (p. 303) that, in 1674, the clergyman was expected to exercise
+ supervision over all visitors to private houses; since he ought to
+ be informed, 'iff ther be anie persone receaved in the familie
+ without testimoniall presented to the minister.'
+
+ [436] In 1650, it was ordered, 'That everie paroche be divydit in
+ severall quarteris, and each elder his owne quarter, over which he
+ is to have speciall inspectioun, and that everie elder visit his
+ quarter once everie month at least, according to the act of the
+ Generall Assemblie, 1649, and in thair visitatioun tak notice of
+ all disorderlie walkeris, especiallie neglectouris of God's
+ worship in thair families, sueareris, haunteris of aill houses,
+ especiallie at vnseasonable tymes, and long sitteris thair, and
+ drinkeris of healthis; and that he dilate these to the Sessioun.'
+ _Selections from the Minutes of the Synod of Fife_, printed for
+ the Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1837, 4to, p. 168. 'The elders
+ each one in his own quarter, for trying the manners of the
+ people.' _The Government and Order of the Church of Scotland_,
+ Edinburgh, 1690, p. 14. This scarce little volume is reprinted
+ from the edition of 1641. See the advertisement at the beginning.
+
+ [437] In 1652, the Kirk-Session of Glasgow 'brot boyes and servants
+ before them, for breaking the Sabbath, and other faults. They had
+ clandestine censors, and gave money to some for this end.'
+ _Wodrow's Collections_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 74, Glasgow, 1848,
+ 4to.
+
+ [438] 'It is thocht expedient that ane baillie with tua of the sessioun
+ pas throw the towne everie Sabboth day, and nott sic as thay find
+ absent fra the sermones ather afoir or efter none; and for that
+ effect that thay pas and _sersche sic houss as they think maist
+ meit_, and pas athort the streittis.' _Selections from the Records
+ of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_, p. 26.
+ 'To pas throw the towne to caus the people resort to the hering of
+ the sermones.' p. 59. 'Ganging throw the towne on the ordinar
+ preiching dayes in the weik, als weill as on the Saboth day, to
+ caus the people resort to the sermones.' p. 77. See also p. 94;
+ and _Wodrow's Collections_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 37: 'the Session
+ allous the searchers to go into houses and apprehend absents from
+ the kirk.'
+
+ [439] 'Another peculiarity was the supervision wielded over the movements
+ of people to such a degree that they could neither _obtain lodging
+ nor employment_ except by a licence from the Kirk-Session, or, by
+ defying this police court, expose themselves to fine and
+ imprisonment.' _Lawson's Book of Perth_, p. xxxvii. Edinburgh,
+ 1847.
+
+ [440] In 1652, Sir Alexander Irvine indignantly writes, that the
+ presbytery of Aberdeen, 'when they had tried many wayes, bot in
+ vaine, to mak probable this their vaine imaginatione, they, at
+ lenthe, when all other meanes failed thame, by ane unparalelled
+ barbaritie, enforced my serwandis to reweall upon oathe what they
+ sawe, herd, or knewe done within my house, beyond which no
+ Turkische inquisitione could pase.' _The Miscellany of the
+ Spalding Club_, vol. iii. p. 206, Aberdeen, 1846, 4to.
+
+ [441] In 1656, a servant was ordered to be brought before the
+ Kirk-Session of Aberdeen 'for her rayleing againest Mr. Andrew
+ Cant, minister, in saying that becaus the said Mr. Andrew spak
+ againest Yuill, he spak lyke ane old fool.' _Selections from the
+ Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_,
+ p. 138. In 1642, the Presbytery of Lanark had up a certain James
+ Baillie, because he stated the extremely probable circumstance,
+ 'that two fooles mett togither, when the Minister and his sone
+ mett togither.' _Selections from the Registers of the Presbytery
+ of Lanark_, printed for the Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1839, 4to,
+ p. 30.
+
+ [442] In 1644, 'If you dissent from them in a theological tenet, it is
+ heresy.' _Presbytery Displayed_, 1644, p. 39, reprinted London,
+ 1663, 4to. In 1637, 'If ye depart from _what I taught you in a
+ hair-breadth_ for fear or favour of men, or desire of ease in this
+ world, I take heaven and earth to witness, that ill shall come
+ upon you in end.' _Rutherford's Religious Letters_, p. 116. In
+ 1607, 'Mr. William Cowper, Minister, complained upon Robert Keir
+ that he had disdainfully spoken of his doctrine. The (Kirk)
+ Session ordained him to be warned to the morrow.' _Lawson's Book
+ of Perth_, p. 247.
+
+ [443] In 1619, a man was summoned before the Kirk-Session of Perth,
+ because, among other things, he would not perform 'that civil duty
+ of salutation, as becomes him to his pastor;' but 'passed by him
+ without using any kind of reverence.' _The Chronicle of Perth_,
+ Edinburgh, 1831, 4to, p. 80. The complaint was preferred by the
+ minister himself. Indeed, the Scotch clergy took these things so
+ much to heart, that they set up a theory to the effect that
+ whoever showed them any disrespect, was prompted thereto by Satan.
+ 'It is Satan's great engine to draw men to contemne God and his
+ word, under pretext of disrespect and prejudice against the
+ Messengers only.' ... 'It may let us see their guilt who despise
+ most eminent ordinary Messengers.' _Hutcheson's Exposition of the
+ Minor Prophets_, vol. i. pp. 205, 233.
+
+ [444] The General Assembly of Saint Andrews, in 1642, passed 'an act
+ against using ministers' names in any of the public papers,
+ without their own consent.' _Stevenson's History of the Church of
+ Scotland_, p. 503.
+
+These and similar proceedings, being upheld by public opinion, were
+completely successful. Indeed, they could hardly have been otherwise,
+seeing that it was generally believed that whoever gainsaid the clergy,
+would be visited, not only with temporal penalties, but also with
+spiritual ones. For such a crime, there was punishment here, and there
+was punishment hereafter. The preachers willingly fostered a delusion by
+which they benefited. They told their hearers, that what was spoken in
+the pulpit was binding upon all believers, and was to be regarded as
+immediately proceeding from the Deity.[445] This proposition being
+established, other propositions naturally followed. The clergy believed
+that they alone were privy to the counsels of the Almighty, and that, by
+virtue of this knowledge, they could determine what any man's future
+state would be.[446] Going still further, they claimed the power, not
+only of foretelling his future state, but also of controlling it; and
+they did not scruple to affirm that, by their censures, they could open
+and shut the kingdom of heaven.[447] As if this were not enough, they
+also gave out that a word of theirs could hasten the moment of death, and
+by cutting off the sinner in his prime, could bring him at once before
+the judgment-seat of God.[448]
+
+ [445] 'Directions for a believer's walk, given by Christ's ministers from
+ his word, are his own, and are accounted by him as if he did
+ immediately speak them himself.' _Durham's Exposition of the Song
+ of Solomon_, p. 102. I quote from the Glasgow reprint of 1788.
+ That my references may be easily verified, and any error, if error
+ there be, detected, I mention that the exact edition used will, in
+ every case, be found specified in the List of Authors at the
+ beginning of this work. But, if it will give the reader any
+ additional confidence, I will venture to observe, that I am always
+ scrupulously careful in reference to quotations, having looked out
+ each passage afresh, as the sheets came from the printers hands.
+ Some of the circumstances narrated in this chapter are so
+ monstrous, that I hope to be excused in saying that I have taken
+ all possible pains to secure their literal accuracy.
+
+ [446] 'Yea, such was their arrogance, that, as if they had been privy to
+ the councils of God, or the dispensers of his vengeance to the
+ world, they presumed to pronounce upon their future state, and
+ doomed them, both body and soul, to eternal torments.' _Wishart's
+ Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose_, p. 237. 'Ye heard of me the
+ whole counsel of God. _Rutherford's Religious Letters_, p. 16. 'I
+ am free from the blood of all men; for I have communicated to you
+ the whole counsel of God.' _Ibid._ p. 191. 'This is the great
+ business of Gospel Ministers, to declare the whole counsel of
+ God.' _Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_, p. 4. 'Asserting
+ that he had declared the whole counsel of God, and had keeped
+ nothing back.' _Life of the Rev. A. Peden_, p. 41, in vol. i. of
+ _Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana_.
+
+ [447] 'The power of the keys is given to the Ministers of the church,
+ wherewith not only by the preaching of the word, but also to
+ church censures (sic) they open and shut the kingdom of heaven.'
+ _Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error_, p. 282. 'To preach the
+ Word, impugne, rebuik, admonishe, exhort and correct, and that
+ under no less paine then casting both bodie and soull into
+ eternall hell's fire.' _Forbes' Certaine Records touching the
+ Estate of the Kirk_, p. 519. 'The next words, "Whatsoever ye shall
+ bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven," being spoken to the
+ Apostles, and in them to other Ministers of Jesus Christ.'
+ _Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming_, p. 366. 'The keys of the
+ kingdom of Heaven' ... 'are committed and intrusted to the pastors
+ and other ruling officers of the Church.' _Ibid._ p. 260.
+
+ [448] 'Gird up the loins of your mind, and make you ready for meeting
+ the Lord; I have often summoned you, and now I summon you again,
+ to compear before your Judge, to make a reckoning of your life.'
+ _Rutherford's Religious Letters_, p. 235. 'Mr. Cameron, musing a
+ little, said, "You, and all who do not know my God in mercy, shall
+ know him in his judgments, which shall be sudden and surprising in
+ a few days upon you; and I, as a sent servant of Jesus Christ,
+ whose commission I bear, and whose badge I wear upon my breast,
+ give you warning, and leave you to the justice of God."
+ Accordingly, in a few days after, the said Andrew, being in
+ perfect health, took his breakfast plentifully, and before he rose
+ fell a-vomiting, and vomited his heart's blood in the very vessel
+ out of which he had taken his breakfast; and died in a most
+ frightful manner.' _Howie's Biographia Scoticana_, p. 406.
+
+Utterly horrible as such a pretension now appears, it was made, not only
+with impunity, but with advantage; and numerous instances are recorded,
+in which the people believed that it was strictly enforced. The
+celebrated John Welsh, sitting one night at table, round which a party
+were assembled at supper, began to discourse to the company respecting
+the state of their souls. Those who were present listened with humility;
+but to this general feeling there was one exception. For, it so happened
+that a Roman Catholic was in the room, and he, of course, disagreed with
+the opinions expressed by the Presbyterian divine. If he had been a
+cautious man, he would have kept his disagreement to himself; but being a
+hot-headed youth, and being impatient at seeing a single person engross
+the conversation, he lost his temper, and not only ridiculed Welsh, but
+actually made faces at him. Thereupon, Welsh charged the company to take
+heed, and see what the Lord was about to do to him who mocked. Scarcely
+had this threat been uttered, when it was carried into execution. He who
+had dared to jest at the minister, suddenly fell, sank under the table,
+and died there in presence of the whole party.[449]
+
+ [449] 'Sitting at supper with the Lord Ochiltree (who was uncle to
+ Mr. Welsh's wife), as his manner was, he entertained the company
+ with godly and edifying discourse, which was well received by all
+ the company save only one debauched Popish young gentleman, who
+ sometimes laughed, and sometimes mocked and made faces; whereupon
+ Mr. Welsh brake out into a sad abrupt charge upon all the company
+ to be silent, and observe the work of the Lord upon that profane
+ mocker, which they should presently behold; upon which immediately
+ the profane wretch sunk down and died beneath the table, but never
+ returned to life again, to the great astonishment of all the
+ company.' _History of Mr. John Welsh, Minister of the Gospel at
+ Ayr_, in _Select Biographies_, vol. i. p. 29. 'Mr. Welsh being by
+ the Captaine, set at the upper end, intertained the company with
+ grave and edifying discourse which all delighted to hear, save
+ this young Papist, who, with laughter and derision, laboured to
+ silence him, which was little regarded by Mr. Welsh. But after
+ supper, while the guests sate a little, this youth stood up at the
+ lower end of the table, and while Mr. Welsh proceeded from grave
+ to gracious entertainment of his company, the youth came to that
+ height of insolence as with the finger to point at him and with
+ the face to make flouting grimaces, whereby he grieved the holy
+ man, so as on a suddain he was forced to a silence. The whole
+ company, who had heard him with delight, were silent with him.
+ Within a little, Mr. Welsh, as moved by the spirit of God, broke
+ forth into these words: "Gentlemen, the spirit of God is provoked
+ against us, and I shall intreat you not to be afraid to see what
+ God shall do among you before you rise from the table, for he will
+ smite some of you with death before you go hence." All were
+ silently astonished, waiting to see the issue with fear. And while
+ every man feared himselfe, except the insolent youth, he fel down
+ dead suddenly at the foot of the table to shew the power of God's
+ jealousie against the mockers of his Spirit and the offers of his
+ grace.' _Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture_, pp. 374, 375.
+
+This happened early in the seventeenth century, and being bruited abroad,
+it became a great terror to all evil-doers. But, after a time, its effect
+appears to have been weakened; since another man was equally rash some
+forty or fifty years afterwards. It seems that a Scotch clergyman of
+considerable repute, Mr. Thomas Hog, was, like Welsh, sitting at supper,
+when it so chanced that the servants forgot to lay the knives. Mr. Hog,
+thinking the opportunity a favourable one, observed that such
+forgetfulness was of little moment, and that, while we thought so much of
+our comforts here, it was far more necessary to consider our condition
+hereafter. A gentleman present, amused, either by the manner of Mr. Hog,
+or by the skill with which he introduced the topics of his own
+profession, was unable to restrain himself, and burst out into a violent
+fit of laughter. The minister, however, was not to be checked, and he
+continued after such a fashion, that the laughter was repeated louder
+than ever. At length Mr. Hog turned round, and told his merry comrade
+that very shortly he should seek for mercy, but find it not. That same
+night, the scoffer was taken ill, and in great alarm sent for Mr. Hog. It
+was, however, useless. Before the clergyman could reach his room, the
+sinner was lying dead, a lost and ruined man.[450]
+
+ [450] 'When they sat doun to supper, it seems, knives were forgote; and
+ when the servant was rebuked, Mr. Hogg said, there was noe matter,
+ for he had one in his pocket, and it was a necessary companion for
+ a travailer; and, as his use was upon evry thing, he took occasion
+ to raise a spirituall discourse from it: "If we wer soe carefull
+ about accommodations in our way here, what care should we take in
+ our spirituall journey!" and the like; at which the factour takes
+ a kink of laughing. Mr. Hogg looked at him with a frown, and went
+ on in his discourse. Within a little, at somewhat or other, he
+ laughed out yet louder, and Mr. Hogg stoped a litle, and looked
+ him very stern in the face, and went on in his discourse, upon the
+ free grace of God; and, at some expression or other, the man fell
+ a laughing and flouting very loud: Upon which Mr. Hogg stoped, and
+ directed his discourse to him, to this purpose: "Alace!" sayes he,
+ "my soul is afflicted to say what I must say to you, sir, and I am
+ constrained and pressed in spirit to say it, and cannot help it.
+ Sir, you nou dispise the grace of God, and mock at it; but I tell
+ you, in the name of the Lord, that the time is coming, and that
+ very shortly, when you (will) seek ane offer of grace, but shall
+ not find it!" Upon which the man arose, laughing and flouting, and
+ went to his room. After he was away, the lady asked Mr. Hogg, What
+ he thought would come upon him? He answered, he kneu noe more then
+ he had said, and that he was constrained and oblidged to say it
+ against his inclination; and he could not accompt for some of
+ these impressions he sometimes felt, and after Providences would
+ clear, and that shortly; but what it was, when, or where, he kneu
+ not. The man told some of the servants that a phanatick Minister
+ had been pronouncing a curse on him, but he did not value him nor
+ it either. After Mr. Hogg had been somtime with the lady, he went
+ to his room; and after he had, as he used to doe, spent some time
+ in prayer, he putt off his cloaths, and just as he was stepping
+ into his bedd, a servant comes and knocks at the dore and cryes,
+ "For the Lord's sake, Mr. Hogg, come doun staires, presently, to
+ the factour's room!" He put on his cloaths, as quickly as
+ possible, and came doun, but the wretch was dead before he reached
+ him!' _Analecta, or Materials for a History of Remarkable
+ Providences, mostly relating to Scotch Ministers and Christians_,
+ by the Rev. Robert Wodrow, vol. i. pp. 265, 266. Compare _The Life
+ of Mr. Thomas Hog_, in _Howie's Biographia_, p. 543, where a
+ version is given, slightly different, but essentially the same.
+
+Nor was it merely in private houses that such examples were made.
+Sometimes the clergyman denounced the offender from the pulpit, and the
+punishment was as public as the offence. It is said that Gabriel Semple,
+when preaching, had a strange habit of putting out his tongue, and that
+this excited the mirth of a drunken man, who went into the church, and,
+by way of derision, put out his tongue also. But, to his horror, he
+found that, though he could put it out, he could not draw it in again.
+The result was, that the tongue stiffened; it lost all sensibility;
+and, paralysis coming on, the man died a few days after his
+transgression.[451]
+
+ [451] 'He tells me, that when in the South country, he heard this story,
+ which was not doubted about Geddart' (i.e. Jedburgh): 'Mr. Gabriel
+ Semple had gote a habite, when speaking and preaching, of putting
+ out his tongue, and licking his lipps very frequently. Ther was a
+ fellou that used to ape him, in a way of mock; and one day, in a
+ druken caball, he was aping him and putting out his tongue; and it
+ turned stiffe and sensless, and he could not drau it in again, but
+ in a feu dayes dyed. This accompt is soe odd, that I wish I may
+ have it confirmed from other hands.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. ii.
+ p. 187.
+
+Occasionally, the penalty was less severe, though the miracle was equally
+conspicuous. In 1682, a certain woman took upon herself to scold the
+famous divine, Peden, who was justly regarded as one of the great lights
+of the Scotch Church. 'I wonder,' said that eminent man, 'I wonder your
+tongue is not sore with so much idle clatter.' She indignantly replied,
+that she had never suffered, either from a sore tongue, or from a sore
+mouth. He told her that she soon would. And the consequence of his saying
+so was, that her tongue and gums swelled to that degree, that for some
+days she was unable to take her usual food.[452]
+
+ [452] 'About the same time, wading Douglas-water very deep,' (he) 'came
+ to a house there; the good wife of the house insisted (as most
+ part of women do not keep a bridle-hand) in chiding of him; which
+ made him to fret, and said, I wonder that your tongue is not sore
+ with so much idle clatter. She said, I never had a sore tongue nor
+ mouth all my days. He said, It will not be long so. Accordingly,
+ her tongue and gooms swelled so, that she could get no meat taken
+ for some days.' _Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Walter
+ Smith_, p. 93, in vol. ii. of _Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana_.
+
+She escaped with her life; others were more sharply handled. A clergyman
+was interrupted in the midst of his sermon by three gentlemen leaving the
+church. It is not stated that there was any thing offensive in their
+manner; but their object in going was to amuse themselves at some fair or
+race, and the minister, no doubt, thought that they should have been
+content with the gratification of hearing him. At all events, he was
+dissatisfied, and, after the sermon was over, he censured their conduct,
+and threatened them with the divine displeasure. His words were
+remembered, and, to the awe of his parishioners, every tittle was
+fulfilled. Of the three gentlemen, all died violent deaths; one of them
+broke his neck by falling from his horse, and another was found in his
+room with his throat cut.[453]
+
+ [453] 'I hear from Lady Henriett Campbell, who was present at a
+ Communion at Jeddart (Jedburgh), some years before Mr. Gabriel
+ Semple's death, that, either on the fast day, or Saturnday, ther
+ wer three gentlmen either in the parish or noturely knouen
+ thereabout, who rose in the time of the last sermon, and with
+ their servants went out of (the church), either to some fair or
+ some race, not farr off. After sermon, when Mr. Semple rose to
+ give the ordinary advertisments, he began with taking nottice of
+ this, and said, he had remarked three gentlmen rise in time of
+ sermon, and contemptuously and boldly leave God's service to goe
+ to a fair, or race, as he supposed; but sayes, "It's born in upon
+ me, and I am perswaded of it, the Lord will not suffer them to goe
+ off time, without some remarkable judgment, and I am much mistaken
+ if the most part that have seen them committ the sin, will not
+ hear of the punishment of such open despite to the ordinances of
+ Christ." This peremptoryness did very much surprize Lady
+ H(enriett), and coming home from sermon with my Lord Lothian and
+ his Lady, in coach, she expressed her surprize at it. My Lord
+ Lothian said, "The Minister is a man of God, and I am perswaded
+ not one word of his will fall to the ground!" Within some feu
+ moneths, my Lord or my Lady, writing to Lady H(enriett), signifyed
+ to her, that one of these gentlmen was found in his room, (if I
+ forgett not), with his throat cutt; and a second, being drunk,
+ fell off his horse, and broke his neck; and some while after, shee
+ heard the third had dyed some violent death.' _Wodrow's Analecta_,
+ vol. i. pp. 344, 345.
+
+Cases of this sort were frequent during the seventeenth century; and as
+in that credulous age they were firmly believed and widely circulated,
+the power of the clergy was consolidated by them. The Laird of Hilton
+once ventured to pull a minister out of a pulpit which was not his own,
+and into which he had unlawfully intruded. 'For the injury you have done
+to the servant of God,' cried the enraged preacher, 'you shall be brought
+into this church like a sticked sow.' And so indeed he was. Yet a little
+while, and Hilton became entangled in a quarrel, was run through the
+body, and his corpse, still bleeding, was carried into the very church
+where the outrage had been committed.[454]
+
+ [454] 'In the time of sermon, the Laird of Hiltoun comes in, and charges
+ him in the midst of his work, to come out of (the) pulpite, in the
+ king's name. Mr. Douglasse refused; whereupon the Laird comes to
+ the pulpit, and pulls him out by force! When he sau he behoved to
+ yeild, he said, "Hiltoun, for this injury you have done to the
+ servant of God, knou what you are to meet with! In a litle time
+ you shall be brought into this very church, like a sticked sou!"
+ And in some litle time after, Hilton was run throu the body, and
+ dyed by, if I mistake not, Annandale's brother, either in a douell
+ or a drunken toilzie, and his corpes wer brought in, all bleeding,
+ into that church. "Touch not mine annoynted, and doe my prophets
+ noe harm!"' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. ii. p. 154. In the same work
+ (vol. iv. p. 268) the Reverend Mr. Wodrow writes, that he had been
+ subsequently informed, 'that the story is very true about the
+ denuntiation upon the Laird of Hiltoun, as I have (I think)
+ published it; and ther is a man yet alive who was witness to it,
+ and in the church at the time.'
+
+Even when a clergyman was in prison, he retained the same power. His
+authority was delegated to him from on high, and no temporal misfortune
+could curtail it. In 1673, the Reverend Alexander Peden, when in
+confinement, heard a young girl laughing at him outside the door of his
+room, while he was engaged in those vociferous devotions for which he was
+celebrated. The mirth of the poor child cost her dear. Peden denounced
+against her the judgment of God. In consequence of that denunciation, the
+wind blew her from a rock on which she was walking, and swept her into
+the sea, where she was quickly drowned.[455]
+
+ [455] 'While prisoner in the Bass, one Sabbath morning, being about the
+ publick worship of God, a young lass, about the age of thirteen or
+ fourteen years, came to the chamber-door, mocking with loud
+ laughter: He said, Poor thing, thou mocks and laughs at the
+ worship of God; but ere long, God shall write such a sudden,
+ surprising judgment on thee, that shall stay thy laughing, and
+ thou shalt not escape it. Very shortly thereafter, she was walking
+ upon the rock, and there came a blast of wind, and sweeped her off
+ the rock into the sea, where she was lost.' _Life and Death of Mr.
+ Alexander Peden_, p. 43, in vol. i. of _Walker's Biographia
+ Presbyteriana_. See also _Howie's Biographia Presbyteriana_,
+ p. 487.
+
+Sometimes the vengeance of the clergy extended to the innocent offspring
+of the man who had offended them. A certain minister, whose name has not
+been preserved, met with opposition in his parish, and fell into
+pecuniary and other difficulties. He applied for aid to a trader, who,
+being wealthy, ought, he thought, to afford him assistance. The trader,
+however, thought otherwise, and refused. Upon this, the clergyman
+declared that God would visit him. The result was, that his business not
+only declined, but his mind became impaired, and he died an idiot. He had
+two sons and two daughters. Both his sons went mad. One of his daughters,
+likewise, lost her reason. The other daughter being married, even her
+husband became destitute, and the children of that marriage became
+beggars, that the heinous crime might be visited to the third
+generation.[456]
+
+ [456] 'He (Mr. Fordyce, in Aberdeen) tells me this following accompt,
+ which he had from personall observation: When he lived near
+ Frazerburge, in the North, there was a minister settled there,
+ _jure devoluto_, the toun being biggotted against Presbytery to a
+ pitch, and only two or three that had any seeming liking that way.
+ After the Minister is setled, he expected much encouragement from
+ one Ougstoun, I think his name was, who had professed much respect
+ for him in that way. A while after, in some difficulty, the
+ Minister came to him, and desired his countenance and assistance
+ in the difficulty. He at first put the Minister off with delay:
+ and within a litle plainly mocked him, and would doe nothing. The
+ Minister came from him to my informer, who lived a litle from the
+ place, and gave him ane account (of) what had befallen him, and
+ said, "I expected much from that man, and reaconed upon his help
+ and assistance, in soe comfortless a setlement as I have ventured
+ on; and he has not only disappointed me, but mocked me!" And the
+ Minister was like to sink under the thoughts of this carriage; and
+ after some silence, he said, very peremptorly, "I am much
+ mistaken, yea, I'le say it, God hath sent me, and spoken by me.
+ God will visite that man, and something more than ordinary will
+ befall him and his!" My informer was very much stunned and greived
+ at such a peremptory declaration. However, it was accomplished, to
+ my informer's personall knowledge. The man was a trader, who was
+ very rich, worth near four or five thousand pounds sterling in
+ stock. He had two sons and two daughters. Within some litle time,
+ one of his sons turned distracted, and I think continues soe
+ still. The other son, in some distemper, turned silly, and litle
+ better, and dyed. His daughters, one was maryed, and her husband
+ lost all his stock at sea, twice or thrice; his goodfather stocked
+ him once or twice, and all was still lost, and they and their
+ children are miserable. The other daughter fell into a distemper,
+ wherein she lost her reason. The man himself, after that time,
+ never throve; his means wasted away insensibly; and throu all
+ things, he fell under melancholy, and turned silly, and dyed
+ stupide. All this fell out in some feu years after what passed
+ above; and my relator kneu all this particularly, and had occasion
+ to be upon the man's bussiness and affairs.' _Wodrow's Analecta_,
+ vol. ii. pp. 175, 176. See also, in another work by this eminent
+ Scotch divine, an account of what happened, when 'a rash young
+ man' having destroyed the property of a clergyman, named Boyd, 'it
+ was observed that that family did never thrive afterwards, but
+ were in a decaying condition till they are reduced almost to
+ nothing.' _Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives of Ministers of the
+ Church of Scotland_, vol. ii. part. i. p. 215.
+
+To prosecute a minister, or even to assert one's rights against him
+before a civil tribunal, was not only a hazard, but a certain ruin. About
+the year 1665, James Fraser was sued in a court of law for a large sum of
+money, said to be due from his father's estate. As usually happens in
+these cases, the party sued, considered that he was unjustly treated, and
+that his opponent had no right to make the claim. So far, all was
+natural. But the peculiarity was, that Fraser, against whom the action
+was brought, was a young man preparing for the ministry, and, therefore,
+under the immediate protection of Providence. Such an one was not to be
+vexed with impunity; and we are assured by Fraser himself that God
+specially interposed to prevent his ruin; that one of his opponents was
+made unable to appear in court, and that the Lord, laying his hand upon
+the others, put them to death, in order that every obstacle might be at
+once removed.[457]
+
+ [457] See Fraser's Life of Himself, in vol. ii. of _Select Biographies_,
+ edited by the Rev. W. K. Tweedie. 'Nothing now remained of all my
+ father's great fortune but a small wadset of sixteen chalders,
+ liferented likewise by my mother. And about the same time a new
+ (though an unjust) adversary charges both her and me for 36,000
+ merks, and a reduction of our rights; so that our whole livelihood
+ was either gone or at the stake. For four years did this adversary
+ vex us, and was like to have undone us as to our temporal
+ condition, had not the Lord prevented.' p. 196. 'I, ignorant what
+ defences to make, had in my company a registrate horning, which I
+ accidentally and without premeditation (God putting it in my mind
+ at the same time) did cast in, by which he, being the king's
+ rebel, was incapacitate from pursuing me. And the Lord so ordered
+ it that he never after compeared to trouble me, by which means I
+ was delivered from a loss and a fashery, and had but one court to
+ wait upon.' p. 202. 'My condition during this time was a wrestling
+ condition with the sons of Zeruiah that were too strong for me;
+ little or no overcoming, yet violent wrestling.' ... 'For I
+ humbled myself under the sense of the calamities of our family,
+ and my own particular wants; I besought him to keep us from utter
+ destruction. And the Lord was pleased to hear; _he destroyed by
+ death my chief adversaries_, I found shifts to pay my many petty
+ debts, gained our law-action, and was restored to some of my
+ ancient possessions again.' pp. 227, 228.
+
+While stories of this sort were generally believed, it was but natural
+that an opinion should grow up that it was dangerous to meddle with a
+minister, or in any way to interfere with his conduct.[458] The clergy,
+intoxicated by the possession of power, reached to such a pitch of
+arrogance, that they did not scruple to declare, that whoever respected
+Christ, was bound, on that very account, to respect them.[459] They
+denounced the judgments of God upon all who refused to hear the opinions
+they propounded in their pulpits.[460] Nor did this apply merely to
+persons who usually formed their audience. Such was their conceit, and so
+greedy were they after applause, that they would not allow even a
+stranger to remain in their parish, unless he, too, came to listen to
+what they chose to say.[461] Because they had adopted the Presbyterian
+polity, they asserted that the Almighty had never failed to punish every
+one who tried to supersede it;[462] and as this was the perfection of the
+church, those who were blind to its merits, were given over to wrath, and
+were, indeed, the slaves of Satan.[463] The clergy, who held this
+language respecting their opponents, exhausted the choicest epithets of
+praise on themselves, and on their own pursuits. When one of them got
+into the pulpit, or took a pen in his hand, he seemed as if he could not
+find words strong enough to express his sense of the surpassing
+importance of that class of which he was himself a member.[464] They
+alone knew the truth; they alone were able to inform and enlighten
+mankind. They had their instruction direct from heaven; they were, in
+fact, the ambassadors of Christ; from him they received their
+appointment; and since no one else could reward them, so no one else had
+a right to rule them.[465] As they were messengers sent by the Almighty,
+they were rightly termed angels, and it was the duty of the people to
+listen to their minister, as if he really were an angel who had descended
+upon earth.[466] His parishioners, therefore, were bound, not only to
+acknowledge him and provide for him, but also to submit to him.[467]
+Indeed, no one could refuse obedience, who considered who the clergy
+were, and what functions they performed. Besides being ambassadors and
+angels, they were watchmen, who spied out every danger, and whose
+sleepless vigilance protected the faithful.[468] They were the joy and
+delight of the earth. They were musicians, singing the songs of
+sweetness; nay, they were sirens, who sought to allure men from the evil
+path, and save them from perishing.[469] They were chosen arrows, stored
+up in the quiver of God.[470] They were burning lights and shining
+torches. Without them, darkness would prevail; but their presence
+illumined the world, and made things clear.[471] Hence they were called
+stars, which title also expressed the eminence of their office, and its
+superiority over all others.[472] To make this still more apparent,
+prodigies were vouchsafed, and strange lights might occasionally be seen,
+which, hovering round the form of the minister, confirmed his
+supernatural mission.[473] The profane wished to jest at these things,
+but they were too notorious to be denied; and there was a well-known
+case, in which, at the death of a clergyman, a star was miraculously
+exhibited in the firmament, and was seen by many persons, although it was
+then midday.[474]
+
+ [458] 'So hazardous a thing it is to meddle with Christ's sent
+ servants.' _Life of Mr. William Guthrie, Minister at Fenwick_, by
+ the Rev. William Dunlop, reprinted in _Select Biographies_, vol.
+ ii. p. 62. To arrest a clergyman on a civil or criminal process,
+ was an act full of danger, inasmuch as the Deity would hardly fail
+ to avenge it. This applied even to the officers who executed the
+ arrest, as well as to him by whom it was ordered. See, for
+ instance, _Some Remarkable Passages of the Life and Death of Mr.
+ John Semple, Minister of the Gospel_, p. 171 (in _Walker's
+ Biographia Presbyteriana_, vol. i.). 'Some time thereafter, he gat
+ orders to apprehend Mr. Semple; he intreated to excuse him, for
+ Mr. Semple was the minister and man he would not meddle with; for
+ he was sure, if he did that, some terrible mischief would suddenly
+ befal him. Mr. Arthur Coupar, who was Mr. Semple's precentor, told
+ these passages to a Reverend Minister in the church, yet alive,
+ worthy of all credit, who told me.' Durham boasts that, 'when
+ Ministers have most to do, and _meet with most opposition_, God
+ often furnisheth them accordingly with more boldnesse, gifts, and
+ assistance than ordinary. Christ's witnesses are a terrible party;
+ for as few as these witnesses are, none of their opposits do gain
+ at their hand; _whoever hurteth them shall in this manner be
+ killed_. Though they be despicable in sackcloth, yet _better
+ oppose a king in his strength, and giving orders from his throne
+ covered in cloath of state, than them_: though they may burn some
+ and imprison others, yet their opposers will pay sickerly for it.
+ This is not because of any worth that is in them, or for their own
+ sake; But 1. for His sake and for His authority that sendeth them.
+ 2. for the event of their word, which will certainly come to
+ passe, and that more terribly, and as certainly, as ever any
+ temporall judgement was brought on by Moses or Elias.' _Durham's
+ Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 416.
+
+ [459] 'These who are trusted by Christ to be keepers of the vineyard,
+ and his ministers, ought also to be respected by the people over
+ whom they are set; and Christ allows this on them. Where Christ is
+ respected and gets his due, there the keepers will be respected
+ and get their due.' _Durham's Exposition of the Song of Solomon_,
+ pp. 450, 451. Fergusson complacently says, that to affront a
+ clergyman by not believing his statement, or 'message,' as he
+ terms it, is a 'dishonour done to God.' _Fergusson's Exposition of
+ the Epistles of Paul_, p. 422.
+
+ [460] 'As it is true concerning vs, that necessitie lyeth vpon vs to
+ preach, and woe will bee to vs if wee preach not; so it is true
+ concerning you, that a necessitie lyeth vpon you to heare, and
+ _woe will be to you if you heare not_.' _Cowper's Heaven Opened_,
+ p. 156.
+
+ [461] The following order was promulgated by the Kirk-Session of Aberdeen
+ on the 12th July 1607. 'The said day, in respect it wes delatit to
+ the sessioun that thair is sindrie landvart gentillmen and vtheris
+ cum to this towne, quha mackis thair residence thairin, and
+ resortis not to the preching nather on Saboth nor vlk dayes;
+ thairfor, it is ordanit that thrie elderis of everie quarter
+ convene with the ministrie in the sessioun hous, immediatlie efter
+ the ending of the sermone on Tuysday nixt, and thair tak vp the
+ names of the gentillmen and vtheris skipperis duelling in this
+ burgh, quha kepis nocht the Kirk, nor resortis not to the hering
+ of Godis word; and thair names being taken vp, ordains ane off the
+ ministeris, with a baillie, to pas vnto thame and admoneis thame
+ to cum to the preichingis, and keip the Kirk, vthervayes to remowe
+ thame aff the towne.' _Selections from the Records of the Kirk
+ Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_, p. 58. It was not
+ enough to go occasionally to church; the attendance must be
+ regular; otherwise the clergy were dissatisfied, and punished the
+ delinquents. In the Presbytery Book of Strathbogie it is recorded
+ that, on the 29th September 1649, 'Mr. Johne Reidfurd being posed
+ quhat diligence he had vsed to the Lady Frendraught, reported,
+ shoe had hard three sermons, and so, as he thought, shoe intended
+ to continow ane hearer. The bretheren, considering her long
+ continowed contumacie and delay of her process, by _heiring a
+ sermon now and then_, thought not _that kind of heiring
+ satufactorie_, quherfor Mr. Robert Watson, and Mr. Robert Irving,
+ ver ordained to goe with Mr. Johne Reidfurd, and requyre the said
+ Lady to subscryv the Covenant, quherby shoe might testifie her
+ conformitie vith the Kirk of Scotland, quhilk, if shoe refused,
+ the said Mr. Johne vas ordained to pronounce the sentence of
+ excommunicatioun against hir before the Provinciall Assemblie, as
+ he vold be answerable therto.' _Extracts from the Presbytery Book
+ of Strathbogie_, p. 115. Neither distance, nor illness, might be
+ pleaded as a valid excuse. Under no circumstances, would the
+ preachers tolerate the affront of any one displaying an
+ unwillingness to hear their sermons. In 1650, 'compeired the Lord
+ Oliphant, being summondit for not keeping his parish kirk of
+ Abercherdour, vho declared his inabilitie of bodie many tymes, and
+ the want of houses for accommodating him and his familie so farr
+ distant from the same, vas the onlie caus, quhilk he promised to
+ amend in tym comming. Mr. John Reidfurd ordained to report the
+ same to the presbytrie, and vpon his continowed absence, to
+ processe him.' _Presbytery Book of Strathbogie_, p. 149. See more
+ on this subject in _Registers of the Presbytery of Lanark_, pp. 5,
+ 33, 67; _Minutes of the Presbyteries of St. Andrews and Cupar_,
+ pp. 67, 68, 90, 153; _Minutes of the Synod of Fife_, pp. 18, 55,
+ 132; and _Spalding's History of the Troubles_, vol. ii. p. 57.
+ Spalding also mentions (p. 114) that at Aberdeen, in 1643, the
+ clergy discoursed every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, in the
+ afternoon; on which occasions, 'the people is compellit to attend
+ their Lectureis, or ther cryit out against.'
+
+ [462] 'And it may be truly said, as the Church of Scotland hath had no
+ detractors, but such as were ignorant of her, or misinformed about
+ her, or whom faction, partiality, prejudice, wickedness, or love
+ of unlawful liberty did inspire; so no person or party hath
+ endeavoured hithertil to root out Presbytery, but the Lord hath
+ made it a burdensome stone unto them.' _Naphtali_, sig. B 2 rev.
+ 'The Lord's wrath shall so meet his enemies in the teeth,
+ wheresoever they turn, that they shall be forced to forsake their
+ pursuing of the Church.' _Dickson's Explication of the First Fifty
+ Psalms_, p. 115.
+
+ [463] 'The true children of the Kirk are indeed the excellent ones of
+ the earth, and princes indeed, wherever they live, in comparison
+ of all other men who are but the beastly slaves of Satan.'
+ _Dickson's Explication of the First Fifty Psalms_, p. 312. Another
+ high authority carefully identifies 'the true religion' with 'the
+ true presbyterial profession.' See _An Enquiry into Church
+ Communion by Mr. Alexander Shields, Minister of the Gospel at
+ Saint Andrews_, p. 126. His remark applies to the 'Burgess-oaths.'
+
+ [464] Fergusson gives an ingenious turn to this, and says that it was
+ their duty to praise their own profession, not for their own sake,
+ but for the sake of others. 'It is the duty of Christ's ministers
+ to commend and magnify their office, not for gaining praise and
+ esteem to themselves, 2 Cor. iii. 1, but that the malice of Satan
+ and his instruments may be hereby frustrated, 2 Cor. xi. 12, who
+ labours to bring that sacred calling into contempt; that so it may
+ have the less of success upon people's hearts.' _Fergusson's
+ Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, p. 180.
+
+ [465] 'Neither is there any mediate authoritie betweene the Lord and his
+ ambassadours, in the affaires of their message; he only sendeth
+ them; he alone gives them to be pastors and doctors, etc.; he
+ alone shall judge them; he alone shall reward them; to him alone
+ they must give an accompt of their dispensation; and he himselfe
+ alone doth immediatlie rule them by his spirit and word.' _Forbes'
+ Certaine Records touching the Estate of the Kirk_, p. 435. In
+ reference to these amazing pretensions, the Scotch clergy were
+ constantly terming themselves the ambassadors of the Deity;
+ thereby placing themselves infinitely above all other men. See,
+ for instance, _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the
+ Revelation_, pp. 86, 100, 160. _Durham's Law Unsealed_, pp. 85,
+ 96. _Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_, p. 402.
+ _Fergusson's Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, pp. 17, 273.
+ _Shields' Enquiry into Church Communion_, p. 72. _Binning's
+ Sermons_, vol. ii. p. 118, vol. iii. p. 178. _Abernethy's Physicke
+ for the Soule_, p. 122. _Monro's Sermons_, p. 207. _Gillespie's
+ Aaron's Rod Blossoming_, pp. 240, 413. _Cowper's Heaven Opened_,
+ p. 166. _Rutherford's Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty
+ of Conscience_, p. 41. _Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error_, p.
+ 274. _Gray's Great and Precious Promises_, pp. 50, 74. _Fleming's
+ Fulfilling of the Scripture_, p. 429. _Cockburn's Jacob's Vow, or
+ Man's Felicity and Duty_, p. 401. _Hutcheson's Exposition of the
+ Book of Job_, pp. 461, 479.
+
+ [466] 'Ministers are called Angels, because they are God's Messengers,
+ intrusted by Him with a high and heavenly imployment; and it is a
+ title that should put Ministers in mind of their duty, to do God's
+ will on earth as the Angels do it in heaven, in a spiritual and
+ heavenly way, cheerfully, willingly and readily: and it _should
+ put people in mind of their duty, to take this word off Ministers
+ hands, as from Angels_.' _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the
+ Revelation_, p. 496. 'Therefore are Ministers called Angels, and
+ Angels, Ministers,' p. 596. Cockburn says that this is the reason
+ why 'we should behave ourselves decently and reverently' in
+ church; 'for if the presence of Kings overawe us, how much more
+ should the presence of God and Angels.' _Cockburn's Jacob's Vow,
+ or Man's Felicity and Duty_, p. 356. Another Scotch divine asserts
+ that he and his brethren are able to instruct the angels, and free
+ them from their ignorance. See the audacious passage in
+ _Fergusson's Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, p. 180: '_This
+ may commend the ministers of the gospel not a little unto men_,
+ and beget reverence in them towards the same, that even the
+ blessed angels are in some sort bettered by it, and that it is
+ therefore respected by them: for Paul commendeth his office from
+ this, that by occasion thereof "unto the principalities and
+ powers, was made known the manifold wisdom of God." Though angels
+ be most knowing creatures, as enjoying the immediate sight and
+ presence of God, Matt. xviii. 10, yet _they are ignorant of some
+ things, which, by God's way of dispensing the Gospel to his
+ church, they come to a more full knowledge off_.' After this, it
+ is a slight matter to find Monro insisting that 'the people should
+ consider our character as the most difficult and most sacred.'
+ _Monro's Sermons_, p. 202.
+
+ [467] 'He is obliged to minister unto them in the gospel; and they are
+ obliged to submit to him, strengthen him, acknowledge him,
+ communicate to him in all good things, and to provide for him,'
+ &c. _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 90.
+ That the clergy are 'rulers and governors,' and that their
+ business is 'ruling and watching over the flock,' is likewise
+ affirmed in _Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming_, pp. 172, 313.
+ Compare _The Correspondence of the Rev. Robert Wodrow_, vol. i. p.
+ 181: 'rule over the people and speak the word;' and _Rutherford's
+ Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience_, p. 41:
+ 'the commanding power in the Ambassadour of Christ.' See also the
+ 'reverential estimation' inculcated in _Boston's Sermons_, p. 186.
+
+ [468] 'Called watchmen by a name borrowed from the practice of centinels
+ in armies or cities.' They are 'Satan's greatest eyesores.'
+ _Hutcheson's Exposition of the Minor Prophets_, vol. ii. p. 158,
+ vol. iii. p. 208. 'They being made watchmen, do thereby become the
+ butt of Satan's malice.' ... 'The Enemy's principal design is sure
+ to be against the watchman, because he prevents the surprising of
+ his people by Satan,' at least 'tis his business to do so.'
+ _Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_, p. 24. Compare
+ _Guthrie's Considerations contributing unto the Discovery of the
+ Dangers that threaten Religion_, p. 259; _Fergusson's Exposition
+ of the Epistles of Paul_, pp. 97, 106; _Durham's Exposition of the
+ Song of Solomon_, pp. 278, 443, and _Wodrow's Correspondence_,
+ vol. i. pp. 84, 244.
+
+ [469] One of the most popular of the Scotch preachers in the seventeenth
+ century, actually ranks himself, in this respect, as doing the
+ same work as the Son of God. 'Christ and his ministers are the
+ musicians that do apply their songs to catch men's ears and
+ hearts, if so be they may stop their course and not perish. These
+ are blessed syrens that do so.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. iii. p.
+ 265.
+
+ [470] Rutherford terms himself, 'a chosen arrow hid in his quiver.'
+ _Howie's Biographia Scoticana_, p. 230. To read the coarse
+ materialism contained in this and other extracts, will, I know,
+ shock, and so far offend, many pure and refined minds, whose
+ feelings I would not needlessly wound. But no one can understand
+ the history of the Scotch intellect, who refuses to enter into
+ these matters; and it is for the reader to choose whether or not
+ he will remain ignorant of what I, as an historian, am bound to
+ disclose. His remedy is easy. He has only either to shut the book,
+ or else to pass on at once to the next chapter.
+
+ [471] 'The Lord calleth men to be preachers, and hath them in his hand
+ as starres, holding them out sometime to one part of the world,
+ and sometime to another, that we may communicate light to them
+ that are sitting in darkness.' _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 360.
+
+ [472] 'Ministers are called Stars, for these reasons: I. To signifie and
+ point out the eminence and dignity of the office, that it is a
+ glorious and shineing office. II. To point out what is the
+ especiall end of this office; It is to give light: as the use of
+ Stars is to give light to the world; so it's Ministers main
+ imployment to shine and give light to others; to make the world,
+ which is a dark night, to be lightsome.' _Durham's Commentarie
+ upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 43. See also pp. 151, 368;
+ and _Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error_, p. 176.
+
+ [473] The Rev. James Kirton says of the Rev. John Welsh, that some one
+ who observed him walking, 'saw clearly a strange light surround
+ him, and heard him speak strange words about his spiritual joy.'
+ _Select Biographies_, edited by the Rev. W. K. Tweedie, vol. i.
+ p. 12. But more than this remains to be told. The hearts of the
+ Scotch clergy were so lifted up with pride, that they
+ believed--horrible to relate--that they had audible and verbal
+ communications from the Almighty God, which bystanders could hear.
+ One of these stories, relating also to Welsh, will be found, as
+ tradition handed it down, in _Howie's Biographia Scoticana_,
+ p. 148. I cannot quote such blasphemy; and those who doubt my
+ statement had better refer to the second edition of Howie's work,
+ published at Glasgow in 1781. It may probably be met with in the
+ British Museum.
+
+ [474] 'Mr. Johne M'Birnie at Aberdeen, (but first at the South Ferrie,
+ over aganis the Castell of Broughtie,) a most zealous and painfull
+ pastor, a great opposer of hierarchie. He was a shyning torch and
+ a burning starre; wherefore the Lord miraculouslie made, at his
+ death, a starre to appeare in heaven at the noonetyde of the day;
+ whilk many yit alive testifies that they did evidentlie see it (at
+ Whitsunday 1609).' _Row's History of the Kirk of Scotland_,
+ p. 421.
+
+Nor was this to be regarded as a solitary occurrence. On the contrary, it
+usually happened, that when a Scotch minister departed from this life,
+the event was accompanied by portents, in order that the people might
+understand that something terrible was going on, and that they were
+incurring a serious, perhaps an irretrievable, loss. Sometimes the
+candles would be mysteriously extinguished, without any wind, and without
+any one touching them.[475] Sometimes, even when the clergyman was
+preaching, the supernatural appearance of an animal would announce his
+approaching end in face of the congregation, who might vainly mourn what
+they were unable to avert.[476] Sometimes the body of the holy man would
+remain for years unchanged and undecayed; death not having the power over
+it which it would have had over the corpse of a common person.[477] On
+other occasions, notice was given to him of his death, years before it
+occurred;[478] and, to strike greater awe into the public mind, it was
+remarked, that when one minister died, others were taken away at the same
+time, so that, the bereavement being more widely felt, men might, by the
+magnitude of the shock, be rendered sensible of the inestimable value of
+those preachers whose lives were happily spared.[479]
+
+ [475] Mr. James Stirling, minister of Barony, Glasgow, writes respecting
+ his father, Mr. John Stirling, minister at Kilbarchan, that the
+ 'day he was burryed ther wer two great candles burning in the
+ chamber, and they did go out most surprisingly without any wind
+ causing them to go out.' _Analecta, or Materials for a History of
+ Remarkable Providences_, by the Rev. Robert Wodrow, vol. iii.
+ p. 37.
+
+ [476] 'This night, Glanderston told me, that it was reported for a truth
+ at Burroustoness, that about six weeks since Mr. David Williamson
+ was preaching in his own church in Edinburgh, and in the midle of
+ the sermon, a ratton came and sat doun on his Bible. This made him
+ stope; and after a little pause, he told the congregation that
+ this was a message of God to him, and broke off his sermon, and
+ took a formall fareweel of his people, and went home, and
+ continoues sick.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. i. p. 12.
+
+ [477] 'The same person' (_i.e._ the Rev. Mr. White) 'adds, that some
+ years ago, when Mr. Bruce's grave was opened, to lay in his
+ grandchild, his body was almost fresh and uncorrupted, to the
+ great wonder of many; and if I right remember, the grave was again
+ filled up, and another made. The fresh body had no noisome smell.
+ It was then nearly eighty years after he was buried. My informer
+ was minister of Larbert when this happened.' _Wodrow's Life of
+ Bruce_, p. 150, prefixed to _Bruce's Sermons_.
+
+ [478] 'He' (John Lockhart) 'tells me Mr. Robert Paton, minister at
+ Barnweel, his father-in-lau, had a particular for-notice, seven or
+ eight years before, of his death: That he signifyed so much to my
+ informer.' ... 'When my informer came, he did not apprehend any
+ hazard, and signifyed so much to his father-in-lau, Mr. Paton. He
+ answered, 'John, John, I am to dye at this time; and this is the
+ time God warned me of, as I told you.' In eight or ten dayes he
+ dyed. Mr. Paton was a man very much (beloved) and mighty in
+ prayer.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. iii. p. 451. Compare the case
+ of Henderson (in _Wodrow's Correspondence_, vol. iii. p. 33),
+ where the notice was much shorter, but 'all fell out as he had
+ foretold.'
+
+ [479] 'Generally, I observe that Ministers' deaths are not single, but
+ severall of them together.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. iii. p. 275.
+
+It was, moreover, generally understood, that a minister, during his abode
+in this world, was miraculously watched over and protected. He was
+peculiarly favoured by angels, who, though they did good offices to all
+members of the true church, were especially kind to the clergy;[480] and
+it was well known, that the celebrated Rutherford, when only four years
+old, having fallen into a well, was pulled out by an angel, who came
+there for the purpose of saving his life.[481] Another clergyman, who was
+in the habit of oversleeping himself, used to be roused to his duty in
+the morning, by three mysterious knocks at his door, which, if they did
+not produce a proper effect, were repeated close to his bed. These knocks
+never failed on Sunday, and on days when he had to administer the
+communion; and they lasted during the whole of his ministry, until he
+became old and infirm, when they entirely ceased.[482]
+
+ [480] The Rev. William Row (in his _Continuation of Blair's
+ Autobiography_, p. 153) says, 'Without all doubt, though it cannot
+ be proven from Scripture, that every one has a tutelar angel, yet
+ it is certain that the good angels do many good offices to the
+ people of God, _especially to his ministers and ambassadors_,
+ which we do not see, and do not remark or know.'
+
+ [481] 'Mr. James Stirling, and Mr. Robert Muir, and severall others in
+ the company, agreed on this accompt of Mr. Rutherford. When about
+ four years old, he was playing about his father's house, and a
+ sister of his, somewhat older than he, with him. Mr. Rutherford
+ fell into a well severall fathoms deep, and not full, but faced
+ about with heuen stone, soe that it was not possible for any body
+ to get up almost, far less a child. When he fell in, his sister
+ ran into the house near by, and told that Samuell was fallen into
+ the well; upon which his father and mother ran out, and found him
+ sitting on the grasse beside the well; and when they asked him,
+ Hou he gote out? he said, after he was once at the bottome, he
+ came up to the tope, and ther was a bonny young man pulled him out
+ by the hand. Ther was noe body near by at the time; and soe they
+ concluded it was noe doubt ane angell. The Lord had much to doe
+ with him.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. i. p. 57. See also vol. iii.
+ pp. 88, 89, where this circumstance is again mentioned as 'a
+ tradition anent him' in the place of his birth.
+
+ [482] 'Mr. William Trail, minister at ****, tells me that his father,
+ Mr. William Trail, minister at Borthwick, used every morning, when
+ he had publick work on his hand, to hear three knocks at his
+ chamber dore; and if, throu wearynes, or heaviness, he did sitt
+ these, ther wer ordinarily three knocks at his bed-head, which he
+ never durst sitt, but gott up to his work. This was ordinarily
+ about three in the morning. This, at first, in his youth, frighted
+ him; but at lenth it turned easy to him, and he believed these
+ knocks and awaknings proceed from a good art. That these never
+ failed him on Sabbaths and at Communions, when he was obliged to
+ rise early: That when he turned old and infirm, towards the close
+ of his dayes, they intirely ceased and left him.' _Wodrow's
+ Analecta_, vol. ii. p. 307. This work, in four quarto volumes, is
+ invaluable for the history of the Scotch mind; being a vast
+ repertory of the opinions and traditions of the clergy, during the
+ seventeenth, and early part of the eighteenth, century. Wodrow was
+ a man of ability, certainly above the average; his honesty is
+ unimpeachable, as the jealous scrutiny which the episcopalians
+ have made of his great work on the History of the Church of
+ Scotland, decisively proves; and he was in the constant habit of
+ personal and epistolary communication with the leading characters
+ of his age. I have, therefore, freely used his _Analecta_; also
+ his _Collections upon the Lives of Ministers_, which is likewise
+ in four quarto volumes; and his _Correspondence_, in three thick
+ octavo volumes. It would be difficult to find a more competent
+ witness respecting the sentiments of his ecclesiastical brethren.
+ It would be impossible to find a more candid one.
+
+By the propagation of these and similar stories, in a country already
+prepared for their reception, the Scotch mind became imbued with a belief
+in miraculous interposition, to an extent which would be utterly
+incredible if it were not attested by a host of contemporary and
+unimpeachable witnesses. The clergy, partly because they shared in the
+general delusion, and partly because they derived benefit from it, did
+every thing they could to increase the superstition of their countrymen,
+and to familiarize them with notions of the supernatural world, such as
+can only be paralleled in the monastic legends of the middle ages.[483]
+How they laboured to corrupt the national intellect, and how successful
+they were in that base vocation, has been hitherto known to no modern
+reader; because no one has had the patience to peruse their interminable
+discourses, commentaries, and the other religious literature in which
+their sentiments are preserved. As, however, the preachers were, in
+Scotland, more influential than all other classes put together, it is
+only by comparing their statements with what is to be found in the
+general memoirs and correspondence of the time, that we can at all
+succeed in reconstructing the history of a period, which, to the
+philosophic student of the human mind, is full of great, though
+melancholy, interest. I shall, therefore, make no apology for entering
+into still further details respecting these matters; and I hope to put
+the reader in possession of such facts as will connect the past history
+of Scotland with its present state, and will enable him to understand why
+it is, that so great a people are, in many respects, still struggling in
+darkness, simply because they still live under the shadow of that long
+and terrible night, which for more than a century, covered the land. It
+will also appear, that their hardness and moroseness of character, their
+want of gaiety, and their indifference to many of the enjoyments of life,
+are traceable to the same cause, and are the natural product of the
+gloomy and ascetic opinions inculcated by their religious teachers. For,
+in that age, as in every other, the clergy, once possessed of power,
+showed themselves harsh and unfeeling masters. They kept the people in a
+worse than Egyptian bondage, inasmuch as they enslaved mind as well as
+body, and not only deprived men of innocent amusements, but taught them
+that those amusements were sinful. And so thoroughly did they do their
+work, that, though a hundred and fifty years have elapsed since their
+supremacy began to wane, the imprint of their hands is everywhere
+discernible. The people still bear the marks of the lash; the memory of
+their former servitude lives among them; and they crouch before their
+clergy as they did of old, abandoning their rights, sacrificing their
+independence, and yielding up their consciences, to the dictates of an
+intolerant and ambitious priesthood.
+
+ [483] In illustration of this, a volume might be filled with extracts
+ from the writings of the Scotch divines of the seventeenth
+ century. The following passage is, perhaps, as good as any. 'Yea,
+ it can hardly be instanced any great change, or revolution in the
+ earth, which hath not had some such extraordinary herald going
+ before. Can the world deny how sometimes these prodigious signes
+ have been shaped out to point at the very nature of the stroke
+ then imminent, by a strange resemblance to the same, such as a
+ flaming sword in the air, the appearance of armies fighting even
+ sometimes upon the earth, to the view of many most sober and
+ judicious onlookers, also showers of blood, the noise of drummes,
+ and such like, which are known usually to go before warr and
+ commotions.' _Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture_, 1681,
+ p. 216.
+
+Of all the means of intimidation employed by the Scotch clergy, none was
+more efficacious than the doctrines they propounded respecting evil
+spirits and future punishment. On these subjects they constantly uttered
+the most appalling threats. The language, which they used, was calculated
+to madden men with fear, and to drive them to the depths of despair. That
+it often had this consequence, and produced most fatal results, we shall
+presently see. And, what made it more effectual was, that it completely
+harmonized with those other gloomy and ascetic notions which the clergy
+inculcated, and according to which, pleasures being regarded as sinful,
+sufferings were regarded as religious. Hence that love of inflicting
+pain, and that delight in horrible and revolting ideas, which
+characterized the Scotch mind during the seventeenth century. A few
+specimens of the prevailing opinions will enable the reader to understand
+the temper of the time, and to appreciate the resources which the Scotch
+clergy could wield, and the materials with which they built up the fabric
+of their power.
+
+It was generally believed, that the world was overrun by evil spirits,
+who not only went up and down the earth, but also lived in the air, and
+whose business it was to tempt and hurt mankind.[484] Their number was
+infinite, and they were to be found at all places and in all seasons. At
+their head was Satan himself, whose delight it was to appear in person,
+ensnaring or terrifying every one he met.[485] With this object, he
+assumed various forms. One day, he would visit the earth as a black
+dog;[486] on another day, as a raven;[487] on another, he would be heard
+in the distance, roaring like a bull.[488] He appeared sometimes as a
+white man in black clothes;[489] and sometimes he came as a black man in
+black clothes, when it was remarked that his voice was ghastly, that he
+wore no shoes, and that one of his feet was cloven.[490] His stratagems
+were endless. For, in the opinion of divines, his cunning increased with
+his age; and having been studying for more than five thousand years, he
+had now attained to unexampled dexterity.[491] He could, and he did,
+seize both men and women, and carry them away through the air.[492]
+Usually, he wore the garb of laymen, but it was said, that, on more than
+one occasion, he had impudently attired himself as a minister of the
+gospel.[493] At all events, in one dress or other, he frequently appeared
+to the clergy, and tried to coax them over to his side.[494] In that, of
+course, he failed; but, out of the ministry, few, indeed, could withstand
+him. He could raise storms and tempests; he could work, not only on the
+mind, but also on the organs of the body, making men hear and see
+whatever he chose.[495] Of his victims, some he prompted to commit
+suicide,[496] others to commit murder.[497] Still, formidable as he was,
+no Christian was considered to have attained to a full religious
+experience, unless he had literally seen him, talked to him, and fought
+with him.[498] The clergy were constantly preaching about him, and
+preparing their audience for an interview with their great enemy. The
+consequence was, that the people became almost crazed with fear. Whenever
+the preacher mentioned Satan, the consternation was so great, that the
+church resounded with sighs and groans.[499] The aspect of a Scotch
+congregation in those days, is, indeed, hard for us to conceive. Not
+unfrequently the people, benumbed and stupefied with awe, were rooted to
+their seats by the horrible fascination exercised over them, which
+compelled them to listen, though they are described as gasping for
+breath, and with their hair standing on end.[500] Such impressions were
+not easily effaced. Images of terror were left on the mind, and followed
+the people to their homes, and in their daily pursuits. They believed
+that the devil was always, and literally, at hand; that he was haunting
+them, speaking to them, and tempting them. There was no escape. Go where
+they would, he was there. A sudden noise, nay, even the sight of an
+inanimate object, such as a stone, was capable of reviving the
+association of ideas, and of bringing back to the memory the language
+uttered from the pulpit.[501]
+
+ [484] Durham, after mentioning 'old abbacies or monasteries, or castles
+ when walls stand and none dwelleth in them,' adds, 'If it be
+ asked, If there be such a thing, as the haunting of evill spirits
+ in these desolate places? We answer 1. That there are evill
+ spirits rangeing up and down through the earth is certain, even
+ though hell be their prison properly, yet have they a sort of
+ dominion and abode both in the earth and air; partly, as a piece
+ of their curse, this is laid on them to wander; partly as their
+ exercise to tempt men, or bring spirituall or temporall hurt to
+ them,' &c. _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation_,
+ p. 582. So, too, Hutcheson (_Exposition of the Book of Job_, p.
+ 9): 'We should remember that we sojourn in a world where Devils
+ are, and do haunt among us;' and Fleming (_Fulfilling of the
+ Scripture_, p. 217): 'But the truth itself is sure, that such a
+ party is at this day, encompassing the earth, and trafficking up
+ and down there, to prove which by arguments were to light a candle
+ to let men see that it is day, while it is known what _ordinary
+ familiar converse many have therewith_.' One of their favourite
+ abodes was the Shetland Islands, where, in the middle of the
+ seventeenth century, 'almost every family had a Brouny or evil
+ spirit so called.' See the account given by the Rev. John Brand,
+ in his work entitled _A Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland,
+ Pightland-Firth, and Caithness_, pp. 111, 112, Edinburgh, 1701.
+
+ [485] 'There is not one whom he assaulteth not.' _Abernethy's Physicke
+ for the Soule_, p. 101. 'On the right hand and on the left.'
+ _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 273. Even early in the eighteenth
+ century, the 'most popular divines' in Scotland, affirmed that
+ Satan 'frequently appears clothed in a corporeal substance.'
+ _Memoirs of Charles Lee Lewes, written by Himself_, vol. iii.
+ pp. 29, 30, London, 1805.
+
+ [486] 'This night James Lochheid told me, that last year, if I mistake
+ not, at the Communion of Bafrou, he was much helped all day. At
+ night, when dark somewhat, he went out to the feilds to pray; and
+ a terrible slavish fear came on him, that he almost lost his
+ senses. Houever, he resolved to goe on to his duty. By (the time)
+ he was at the place, his fear was off him; and lying on a
+ knou-side, a black dogg came to his head and stood. He said he
+ kneu it to be Satan, and shooke his hand, but found nothing, it
+ evanishing.' ... 'Lord help against his devices, and strenthen
+ against them!' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. i. p. 24. The _Registers
+ of the Presbytery of Lanark_, p. 77, contain a declaration, in
+ 1650, that 'the devill appeared like a little whelpe,' and
+ afterwards, 'like a brown whelpe.'
+
+ [487] The celebrated Peden was present when 'there came down the
+ appearance of a raven, and sat upon one man's head.' ...
+ Thereupon, 'going home, Mr. Peden said to his land-lord, I always
+ thought there was Devilry among you, but I never thought that he
+ did appear visibly among you, till now I have seen it. O, for the
+ Lord's sake quit this way,' _The Life and Death of Mr. Alexander
+ Peden, late Minister of the Gospel at New Glenluce in Galloway_,
+ pp. 111, 112, in vol. i. of _Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana_.
+
+ [488] 'I heard a voice just before me on the other side of the hedge,
+ and it seemed to be like the groaning of an aged man. It continued
+ so some time. I knew no man could be there; for, on the other side
+ of the hedge, where I heard the groaning, there was a great stank
+ or pool. I nothing doubted but it was Satan, and I guessed his
+ design; but still I went on to beg the child's life. At length he
+ roared and made a noise like a bull, and that very loud. From all
+ this I concluded, that I had been provoking God some way or other
+ in the duty, and that he was angry with me, and had let the enemy
+ loose on me, and might give him leave to tear me in pieces. This
+ made me intreat of God, to shew me wherefore he contended, and
+ begged he would rebuke Satan. The enemy continued to make a noise
+ like a bull, and seemed to be coming about the hedge towards the
+ door of the summer-seat, bellowing as he came along.' _Stevenson's
+ Rare, Soul-Strengthening, and Comforting Cordial for Old and Young
+ Christians_, p. 29. This book was published, and prepared for the
+ press, by the Rev. William Cupples. See Mr. Cupples' letter at the
+ beginning.
+
+ [489] In 1684, with 'black cloaths, and a blue band, and white
+ handcuffs.' _Sinclair's Satan's Invisible World Discovered_, p. 8.
+
+ [490] 'He observed one of the black man's feet to be cloven, and that the
+ black man's apparel was black, and that he had a blue band about
+ his neck, and white hand-cuffs, and that he had hoggers upon his
+ legs without shoes; and that the black man's voice was hollow and
+ ghastly.' _Satan's Invisible World Discovered_, p. 9. 'The devil
+ appeared in the shape of a black man,' p. 31. See also _Brand's
+ Description of Orkney_, p. 126: 'all in black.'
+
+ [491] 'The acquired knowledge of the Devill is great, hee being an
+ advancing student, and still learning now above five thousand
+ yeares.' _Rutherford's Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to
+ Himselfe_, p. 204. 'He knowes very well, partly by the quicknesse
+ of his nature, and partly by long experience, being now very neere
+ six thousand yeeres old.' _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 219. 'Hee,
+ being compared with vs, hath many vantages; as that he is more
+ subtill in nature, being of greater experience, and more ancient,
+ being now almost sixe thousand yeeres old.' _Ibid._ p. 403. 'The
+ diuell here is both diligent and cunning, and (now almost of sixe
+ thousand yeeres) of great experience.' _Abernethy's Physicke for
+ the Soule_, p. 142. 'Satan, such an ingenious and experimented
+ spirit.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. i. p. 67. 'His great sleight
+ and cunning.' _Ibid._ p. 110. Other eulogies of his skill may be
+ seen in _Fergusson's Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, p. 475;
+ and in _Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture_, p. 45. A
+ 'minister,' whose name is not mentioned, states that he is 'of an
+ excellent substance, of great natural parts, long experience, and
+ deep understanding.' _Sinclair's Satan's Invisible World
+ Discovered_, p. 78.
+
+ [492] In Professor Sinclair's work (_Satan's Invisible World
+ Discovered_, p. 141), we find, in 1684, 'an evident instance, that
+ the devil can transport the bodies of men and women through the
+ air. It is true, he did not carry her far off, but not for want of
+ skill and power.' Late in the seventeenth century, it was
+ generally believed that one of Satan's accomplices was literally
+ 'strangled in his chair by the devil, least he should make a
+ confession to the detriment of the service.' _Crawfurd's History
+ of the Shire of Renfrew_, part iii. p. 319.
+
+ [493] See the account of a young preacher being deceived in this way, in
+ _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. i. pp. 103, 104. The Rev. Robert Blair
+ detected the cheat, and 'with ane awful seriousness appearing in
+ his countenance, began to tell the youth his hazard, and that the
+ man whom he took for a Minister was the Divel, who had trepanned
+ him, and brought him into his net; advised him to be earnest with
+ God in prayer, and likewise not to give way to dispair, for ther
+ was yet hope.' The preacher had, on this occasion, been so far
+ duped as to give the devil 'a written promise' to do whatever he
+ was requested. As soon as the Rev. Mr. Blair ascertained this
+ fact, he took the young man before the Presbytery, and narrated
+ the circumstance to the members. 'They were all strangely affected
+ with it, and resolved unanimously to dispatch the Presbitry
+ business presently, and to stay all night in town, and on the
+ morrow to meet for prayer in one of the most retired churches of
+ the Presbitry, acquainting none with their business, (but) taking
+ the youth alongst with them, whom they keeped alwise close by
+ them. Which was done, and after the Ministers had prayed all of
+ them round, except Mr. Blair, who prayed last, in time of his
+ prayer there came a violent rushing of wind upon the church, so
+ great that they thought the church should have fallen down about
+ their ears, and with that the youth's paper and covenant' (_i.e._
+ the covenant which he had signed at the request of Satan) 'droops
+ down from the roof of the church among the Ministers.'
+
+ [494] 'The devil strikes at them, that in them he may strike at the
+ whole congregation.' _Boston's Sermons_, p. 186. Fleming
+ (_Fulfilling of the Scripture_, p. 379) gives an account of his
+ appearing to one of the Scotch clergy. Compare _Wodrow's
+ Analecta_, vol. iv. p. 110. In 1624, Bruce writes, 'I heard his
+ voice as vively as ever I heard any thing, not being sleeping, but
+ waking.' _Life of Bruce_, p. 8, prefixed to _Bruce's Sermons_. The
+ only remedy was immediate resistance. 'It is the duty of called
+ ministers to go on with courage in the work of the Lord,
+ notwithstanding of any discouragement of that kind, receiving
+ manfully the first onset chiefly of Satan's fury, as knowing their
+ ceding to him will make him more cruel.' _Fergusson's Exposition
+ of the Epistles of Paul_, p. 74. In the seventeenth century, the
+ Scotch clergy often complimented each other on having baffled him,
+ and thereby put him in a passion. Thus, in 1626, Dickson writes to
+ Boyd: 'The devil is mad against you, he fears his kingdom.' _Life
+ of Robert Boyd, in Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives of
+ Ministers_, vol. ii. part i. p. 238. See also pp. 165, 236.
+
+ [495] 'He can delude ears, eyes, &c., either by misrepresenting external
+ objects, or by inward disturbing of the faculties and organes,
+ whereby men and women may, and do often, apprehend that they hear,
+ see, &c. such and such things, which, indeed, they do not.'
+ _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 128.
+ 'Raise tempests.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. i. p. 122. 'His power
+ and might, whereby through God's permission, he doth raise up
+ storms, commove the elements, destroy cattle,' &c. _Fergusson's
+ Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, p. 264. 'Hee can work
+ curiously and strongly on the walls of bodily organs, on the shop
+ that the understanding soule lodgeth in, and on the necessary
+ tooles, organs, and powers of fancie, imagination, memory,
+ humours, senses, spirits, bloud,' &c. _Rutherford's Christ Dying_,
+ p. 212. Semple, giving notice of his intention to administer the
+ sacrament, told the congregation 'that the Devil would be so
+ envious about the good work they were to go about, that he was
+ afraid he would be permitted to raise a storm in the air with a
+ speat of rain, to raise the waters, designing to drown some of
+ them; but it will not be within the compass of his power to drown
+ any of you, no not so much as a dog.' _Remarkable Passages of the
+ Life and Death of Mr. John Semple_, _Minister of the Gospel_, pp.
+ 168, 169, in vol. i. of _Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana_.
+
+ [496] _Sinclair's Satan's Invisible World Discovered_, p. 137. _Memoirs
+ of the Life and Experiences of Marion Laird of Greenock, with a
+ Preface by the Rev. Mr. Cock_, pp. 43, 44, 45, 84, 85, 172, 222,
+ 223.
+
+ [497] 'I shall next show how the murderer Satan visibly appeared to a
+ wicked man, stirred him up to stab me, and how mercifully I was
+ delivered therefrom.' _The Autobiography of Mr. Robert Blair,
+ Minister of St. Andrews_, p. 65. See also _Fleming's Fulfilling of
+ the Scripture_, pp. 379, 380.
+
+ [498] 'One Mr. Thomas Hogg, a very popular presbyterian preacher in the
+ North, asked a person of great learning, in a religious
+ conference, whether or not he had seen the Devil? It was answered
+ him, "That he had never seen him in any visible appearance."
+ "Then, I assure you," saith Mr. Hogg, "that you can never be happy
+ till you see him in that manner; that is, until you have both a
+ personal converse and combat with him."' _Scotch Presbyterian
+ Eloquence_, pp. 28, 29.
+
+ [499] 'Ye go to the kirk, and when ye hear the devil or hell named in
+ the preaching, ye sigh and make a noise.' _The Last and Heavenly
+ Speeches of John, Viscount Kenmure_, in _Select Biographies_,
+ vol. i. p. 405.
+
+ [500] Andrew Gray, who died in 1656, used such language, 'that his
+ contemporary, the foresaid Mr. Durham, observed, That many times
+ he caused the very hairs of their head to stand up.' _Howie's
+ Biographia Scoticana_, p. 217. James Hutcheson boasted of this
+ sort of success. 'As he expressed it, "I was not a quarter of ane
+ hour in upon it, till I sau a dozen of them all gasping before
+ me." He preached with great freedome _all day_, and fourteen or
+ twenty dated their conversion from that sermon.' _Wodrow's
+ Analecta_, vol. i. p. 131. When Dickson preached, 'many were so
+ choaked and taken by the heart, that through terrour, the spirit
+ in such a measure convincing them of sin, in hearing of the word
+ they have been made to fall over, and thus carried out of the
+ church.' _Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture_, p. 347. There
+ was hardly any kind of resource which these men disdained.
+ Alexander Dunlop 'entered into the ministry at Paislay, about the
+ year 1643 or 1644.' ... 'He used in the pulpit, to have a kind of
+ a groan at the end of some sentences. Mr. Peebles called it a holy
+ groan.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. iii. pp. 16, 21.
+
+ [501] A schoolmaster, recording his religious experiences (_Wodrow's
+ Analecta_, vol. i. p. 246), says: 'If any thing had given a knock,
+ I would start and shiver, the seeing of a dogg made me affrayed,
+ the seeing of a stone in the feild made me affrayed, and as I
+ thought a voice in my head saying, "It's Satan."'
+
+Nor is it strange that this should be the case. All over Scotland, the
+sermons were, with hardly an exception, formed after the same plan, and
+directed to the same end. To excite fear, was the paramount object.[502]
+The clergy boasted, that it was their special mission to thunder out the
+wrath and curses of the Lord.[503] In their eyes, the Deity was not a
+beneficent being, but a cruel and remorseless tyrant. They declared that
+all mankind, a very small portion only excepted, were doomed to eternal
+misery. And when they came to describe what that misery was, their dark
+imaginations revelled and gloated at the prospect. In the pictures which
+they drew, they reproduced and heightened the barbarous imagery of a
+barbarous age. They delighted in telling their hearers, that they would
+be roasted in great fires, and hung up by their tongues.[504] They were
+to be lashed with scorpions, and see their companions writhing and
+howling around them.[505] They were to be thrown into boiling oil and
+scalding lead.[506] A river of fire and brimstone, broader than the
+earth, was prepared for them;[507] in that, they were to be immersed;
+their bones, their lungs, and their liver, were to boil, but never be
+consumed.[508] At the same time, worms were to prey upon them; and while
+these were gnawing at their bodies, they were to be surrounded by devils,
+mocking and making pastime of their pains.[509] Such were the first
+stages of suffering, and they were only the first. For the torture,
+besides being unceasing, was to become gradually worse. So refined was
+the cruelty, that one hell was succeeded by another; and, lest the
+sufferer should grow callous, he was, after a time, moved on, that he
+might undergo fresh agonies in fresh places, provision being made that
+the torment should not pall on the sense, but should be varied in its
+character, as well as eternal in its duration.[510]
+
+ [502] Only those who are extensively read in the theological literature
+ of that time, can form an idea of this, its almost universal
+ tendency. During about a hundred and twenty years, the Scotch
+ pulpits resounded with the most frightful denunciations. The sins
+ of the people, the vengeance of God, the activity of Satan, and
+ the pains of hell, were the leading topics. In this world,
+ calamities of every kind were announced as inevitable; they were
+ immediately at hand; that generation, perhaps that year, should
+ not pass away without the worst evils which could be conceived,
+ falling on the whole country. I will merely quote the opening of a
+ sermon which is now lying before me, and which was preached, in
+ 1682, by no less a man than Alexander Peden. 'There is three or
+ four things that I have to tell you this day; and the first is
+ this, A bloody sword, a bloody sword, a bloody sword, for thee, O
+ Scotland, that shall reach the most part of you to the very heart.
+ And the second is this, Many a mile shall ye travel in thee, O
+ Scotland! and shall see nothing but waste places. The third is
+ this, The most fertile places in thee, O Scotland! shall be waste
+ as the mountain tops. And fourthly, The women with child in thee,
+ O Scotland! shall be dashed in pieces. And fifthly, There hath
+ been many conventicles in thee, O Scotland! but ere it be long,
+ God shall have a conventicle in thee, that shall make thee
+ Scotland tremble. Many a preaching hath God wared on thee, O
+ Scotland! but ere it be long God's judgments shall be as frequent
+ in Scotland as these precious meetings, wherein he sent forth his
+ faithful servants to give faithful warning in his name of their
+ hazard in apostatizing from God, and in breaking all his noble
+ vows. God sent out a Welsh, a Cameron, a Cargill, and a Semple to
+ preach to thee; but ere long God shall preach to thee by a bloody
+ sword.' _Sermons by Eminent Divines_, pp. 47, 48.
+
+ [503] To 'thunder out the Lord's wrath and curse.' _Durham's Commentarie
+ upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 191. 'It is the duty of
+ Ministers to preach judgments.' _Hutcheson's Exposition on the
+ Minor Prophets_, vol. i. p. 93. 'If ministers when they threaten
+ be not the more serious and fervent, the most terrible threatening
+ will but little affect the most part of hearers.' _Fergusson's
+ Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, p. 421.
+
+ [504] The clergy were not ashamed to propagate a story of a boy who, in
+ a trance, had been mysteriously conveyed to hell, and thence
+ permitted to revisit the earth. His account, which is carefully
+ preserved by the Rev. Robert Wodrow (_Analecta_, vol. i. p. 51)
+ was, that 'ther wer great fires and men roasted in them, and then
+ cast into rivers of cold water, and then into boyling water;
+ others hung up by the tongue.'
+
+ [505] 'Scortched in hell-fire and hear the howling of their
+ fellow-prisoners, and see the ugly devils, the bloody scorpions
+ with which Satan lasheth miserable soules.' _Rutherford's Christ
+ Dying_, pp. 491, 492.
+
+ [506] 'Boiling oil, burning brimstone, scalding lead.' _Sermons by
+ Eminent Divines_, p. 362.
+
+ [507] 'A river of fire and brimstone broader than the earth.'
+ _Rutherford's Religious Letters_, p. 35. 'See the poor wretches
+ lying in bundles, boiling eternally in that stream of brimstone.'
+ _Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_, p. 53.
+
+ [508] 'Tongue, lungs, and liver, bones and all, shall boil and fry in a
+ torturing fire.' _Rutherford's Religious Letters_, p. 17. 'They
+ will be universal torments, every part of the creature being
+ tormented in that flame. When one is cast into a fiery furnace,
+ the fire makes its way into the very bowels, and leaves no member
+ untouched: what part then can have ease, when the damned swim in a
+ lake of fire burning with brimstone?' _Boston's Human Nature in
+ its Four-fold State_, p. 458.
+
+ [509] 'While wormes are sporting with thy bones, the devils shall make
+ pastime of thy paines.' _Abernethy's Physicke for the Soule_, p.
+ 97. 'They will have the society of devils in their torments, being
+ shut up with them in hell.' _Boston's Human Nature in its
+ Four-fold State_, p. 442. 'Their ears filled with frightful
+ yellings of the infernal crew.' _Ibid._ p. 460.
+
+ [510] This fundamental doctrine of the Scotch divines is tersely summed
+ up in _Binning's Sermons_, vol. iii. p. 130: 'You shall go out of
+ one hell into a worse; eternity is the measure of its continuance,
+ and the degrees of itself are answerable to its duration.' The
+ author of these sermons died in 1653.
+
+All this was the work of the God of the Scotch clergy.[511] It was not
+only his work, it was his joy and his pride. For, according to them, hell
+was created before man came into the world; the Almighty, they did not
+scruple to say, having spent his previous leisure in preparing and
+completing this place of torture, so that, when the human race appeared,
+it might be ready for their reception.[512] Ample, however, as the
+arrangements were, they were insufficient; and hell, not being big enough
+to contain the countless victims incessantly poured into it, had, in
+these latter days, been enlarged.[513] There was now sufficient room. But
+in that vast expanse there was no void, for the whole of it reverberated
+with the shrieks and yells of undying agony.[514] They rent the air with
+horrid sound, and, amid their pauses, other scenes occurred, if possible,
+still more excruciating. Loud reproaches filled the ear: children
+reproaching their parents, and servants reproaching their masters. Then,
+indeed, terror was rife, and abounded on every side. For, while the child
+cursed his father, the father, consumed by remorse, felt his own guilt;
+and both children and fathers made hell echo with their piercing screams,
+writhing in convulsive agony at the torments which they suffered, and
+knowing that other torments more grievous still were reserved for
+them.[515]
+
+ [511] And, according to them, the barbarous cruelty was the natural
+ result of His Omniscience. It is with pain, that I transcribe the
+ following impious passage. 'Consider, Who is the contriver of
+ these torments. There have been some very exquisite torments
+ contrived by the wit of men, the naming of which, if ye understood
+ their nature, were enough to fill your hearts with horror; but
+ _all these fall as far short of the torments ye are to endure, as
+ the wisdom of man falls short of that of God_.' ... '_Infinite
+ wisdom has contrived that evil_.' _The Great Concern of Salvation,
+ by the late Reverend Mr. Thomas Halyburton_, edit. Edinburgh,
+ 1722, p. 154.
+
+ [512] 'Men wonder what he could be doing all that time, if we may call
+ it time which hath no beginning, and how he was employed.' ...
+ 'Remember that which a godly man answered some wanton curious wit,
+ who, in scorn, demanded the same of him--"He was preparing hell
+ for curious and proud fools," said he.' _Binning's Sermons_,
+ vol. i. p. 194.
+
+ [513] 'Hell hath inlarged itselfe.' _Abernethy's Physicke for the
+ Soule_, p. 146.
+
+ [514] 'Eternal shriekings.' _Sermons by Eminent Divines_, p. 394.
+ 'Screakings and howlings.' _Gray's Great and Precious Promises_,
+ p. 20. 'O! the screechs and yels that will be in hell.' _Durham's
+ Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 654. 'The
+ horrible scrieches of them who are burnt in it.' _Cowper's Heaven
+ Opened_, p. 175.
+
+ [515] 'When children and servants shall go, as it were, in sholes to the
+ Pit, cursing their parents and their masters who brought them
+ there. And parents and masters of families shall be in multitudes
+ plunged headlong in endless destruction, because they have not
+ only murdered their own souls, but also imbrued their hands in the
+ blood of their children and servants. O how doleful will the
+ reckoning be amongst them at that day! When the children and
+ servants shall upbraid their parents and masters. "Now, now, we
+ must to the Pit, and we have you to blame for it; your cursed
+ example and lamentable negligence has brought us to the Pit."' ...
+ 'And on the other hand, how will the shrieks of parents fill every
+ ear? "I have damn'd myself, I have damn'd my children, I have
+ damn'd my servants. While I fed their bodies, and clothed their
+ backs, I have ruined their souls, and brought double damnation on
+ myself."' _Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_, pp. 527, 528.
+ See this further worked out in _Boston's Human Nature in its
+ Four-fold State_, pp. 378, 379: 'curses instead of salutations,
+ and tearing of themselves, and raging against one another, instead
+ of the wonted embraces.'
+
+Even now such language freezes the blood, when we consider what must have
+passed through the minds of those who could bring themselves to utter it.
+The enunciation of such ideas unfolds the character of the men, and lays
+bare their inmost spirit. We shudder, when we think of the dark and
+corrupted fancy, the vindictive musings, the wild, lawless, and uncertain
+thoughts which must have been harboured by those who could combine and
+arrange the different parts of this hideous scheme. No hesitation, no
+compunction, no feelings of mercy, ever seem to have entered their
+breasts. It is evident, that their notions were well matured; it is
+equally evident, that they delighted in them. They were marked by a unity
+of conception, and were enforced with a freshness and vigour of language,
+which shows that their heart was in their work. But before this could
+have happened, they must have been dead to every emotion of pity and
+tenderness. Yet, they were the teachers of a great nation, and were, in
+every respect, the most influential persons in that nation. The people,
+credulous and grossly ignorant, listened and believed. We, at this
+distance of time, and living in another realm of thought, can form but a
+faint conception of the effect which these horrible conceits produced
+upon them. They were convinced that, in this world, they were incessantly
+pursued by the devil, and that he, and other evil spirits, were
+constantly hovering around them, in bodily and visible shape, tempting
+them, and luring them on to destruction. In the next world, the most
+frightful and unheard-of punishments awaited them; while both this world
+and the next were governed by an avenging Deity, whose wrath it was
+impossible to propitiate. No wonder that, with these ideas before them,
+their reason should often give way, and that a religious mania should set
+in, under whose influence they, in black despair, put an end to their
+lives.[516]
+
+ [516] William Vetch, 'preaching in the town of Jedburg to a great
+ congregation, said, "There are two thousand of you here to day,
+ but I am sure fourscore of you will not be saved;" upon which,
+ three of his ignorant hearers being in despair, despatch'd
+ themselves soon after.' _Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence_, p. 23.
+ See also the life, or rather panegyric, of Vetch in _Howie's
+ Biographia Scoticana_, where this circumstance is not denied, but,
+ on the contrary, stated to be no 'disparagement to him,' p. 606.
+ The frame of mind which the teachings of the clergy encouraged,
+ and which provoked self-murder, is vividly depicted by Samuel
+ Rutherford, the most popular of all the Scotch divines of the
+ seventeenth century. 'Oh! hee lieth down, and hell beddeth with
+ him; hee sleepeth, and hell and hee dreame together; hee riseth,
+ and hell goeth to the fields with him; hee goes to his garden,
+ there is hell.' ... 'The man goes to his table, O! hee dare not
+ eat, hee hath no right to the creature; to eat is sin and hell; so
+ hell is in every dish. To live is sinne, _hee would faine chuse
+ strangling_; every act of breathing is sin and hell. Hee goes to
+ church, there is a dog as great as a mountaine before his eye:
+ Here be terrors.' _Rutherford's Christ Dying_, 1647, 4to, pp. 41,
+ 42. Now, listen to the confessions of two of the tortured victims
+ of the doctrines enunciated by the clergy; victims who, after
+ undergoing ineffable agony, were more than once, according to
+ their own account, tempted to put an end to their lives. 'The
+ cloud lasted for two years and some months.' ... 'The arrows of
+ the Almighty did drink up my spirits; night and day his hand lay
+ heavy upon me, so that even my bodily moisture was turned into the
+ drought of summer. When I said sometimes that my couch would ease
+ my complaint, I was filled with tossings to the dawning of the
+ day.' ... 'Amidst all my downcastings, I had the roaring lion to
+ grapple with, who likes well to fish in muddy waters. He strongly
+ suggested to me that I should not eat, because I had no right to
+ food; or if I ventured to do it, the enemy assured me, that the
+ wrath of God would go down with my morsel; and that I had
+ forfeited a right to the divine favour, and, therefore, had
+ nothing to do with any of God's creatures.' ... 'However, so
+ violent were the temptations of the strong enemy, that I
+ frequently forgot to eat my bread, and durst not attempt it; and
+ when, through the persuasion of my wife, I at any time did it, the
+ enemy through the day did buffet me in a violent way, assuring me
+ that the wrath of God had gone over with what I had taken.' ...
+ 'The enemy after all did so pursue me, that he violently suggested
+ to my soul, that, some time or other, God would suddenly destroy
+ me as with a thunderclap: which so filled my soul with fear and
+ pain, that, every now and then, I looked about me, to receive the
+ divine blow, still expecting it was a coming; yea, many a night I
+ durst not sleep, lest I had awakened in everlasting flames.'
+ _Stevenson's Rare Cordial_, pp. 11-13. Another poor creature,
+ after hearing one of Smiton's sermons, in 1740, says, 'Now, I saw
+ myself to be a condemned criminal; but I knew not the day of my
+ execution. I thought that there was nothing between me and hell,
+ but the brittle thread of natural life.' ... 'And in this dreadful
+ confusion, I durst not sleep, lest I had awakened in everlasting
+ flames.' ... 'And Satan violently assaulted me to take away my own
+ life, seeing there was no mercy for me.' ... 'Soon after this, I
+ was again violently assaulted by the tempter to take away my own
+ life; he presented to me a knife therewith to do it; no person
+ being in the house but myself. The enemy pursued me so close, that
+ I could not endure so much as to see the knife in my sight, but
+ laid it away.' ... 'One evening, as I was upon the street, Satan
+ violently assaulted me to go into the sea and drown myself; it
+ would be the easiest death. Such a fear of Satan then fell upon
+ me, as made my joints to shake, so that it was much for me to walk
+ home; and when I came to the door, I found nobody within; I was
+ afraid to go into the house, lest Satan should get power over me.'
+ _Memoirs of the Life and Experiences of Marion Laird of Greenock_,
+ pp. 13, 14, 19, 45, 223, 224.
+
+Little comfort, indeed, could men then gain from their religion. Not only
+the devil, as the author of all evil, but even He whom we recognise as
+the author of all good, was, in the eyes of the Scotch clergy, a cruel
+and vindictive being, moved with anger like themselves. They looked into
+their own hearts, and there they found the picture of their God.
+According to them, He was a God of terror, instead of a God of love.[517]
+To Him they imputed the worst passions of their own peevish and irritable
+nature. They ascribed to Him, revenge, cunning, and a constant
+disposition to inflict pain. While they declared that nearly all mankind
+were sinners beyond the chance of redemption, and were, indeed,
+predestined to eternal ruin, they did not scruple to accuse the Deity of
+resorting to artifice against these unhappy victims; lying in wait for
+them, that He might catch them unawares.[518] The Scotch clergy taught
+their hearers, that the Almighty was so sanguinary, and so prone to
+anger, that He raged even against walls and houses and senseless
+creatures, wreaking His fury more than ever, and scattering desolation on
+every side.[519] Sooner than miss His fell and malignant purpose, He
+would, they said, let loose avenging angels, to fall upon men and upon
+their families.[520] Independently of this resource, He had various ways
+whereby He could at once content Himself and plague His creatures, as was
+particularly shown in the devices which He employed to bring famine on a
+people.[521] When a country was starving, it was because God, in His
+anger, had smitten the soil, had stopped the clouds from yielding their
+moisture, and thus made the fruits of the earth to wither.[522] All the
+intolerable sufferings caused by a want of food, the slow deaths, the
+agony, the general misery, the crimes which that misery produced, the
+anguish of the mother as she saw her children wasting away and could give
+them no bread, all this was His act, and the work of His hands.[523] In
+His anger, He would sometimes injure the crops by making the spring so
+backward, and the weather so cold and rainy, as to insure a deficiency in
+the coming harvest.[524] Or else, he would deceive men, by sending them a
+favourable season, and, after letting them toil and sweat in the hope of
+an abundant supply, He would, at the last moment, suddenly step in, and
+destroy the corn just as it was fit to be reaped.[525] For, the God of
+the Scotch Kirk was a God who tantalized His creatures as well as
+punished them; and when He was provoked, He would first allure men by
+encouraging their expectations, in order that their subsequent misery
+might be more poignant.[526]
+
+ [517] Binning says, that 'since the first rebellion' (that is, the fall
+ of Adam), 'there is nothing to be seen but the terrible
+ countenance of an angry God.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. iii.
+ p. 254.
+
+ [518] 'He will, as it were, lie in wait to take all advantages of
+ sinners to undo them.' _Hutcheson's Exposition on the Minor
+ Prophets_, vol. i. p. 247.
+
+ [519] 'His wrath rages against walls, and houses, and senselesse
+ creatures more now then at that time' (_i.e._ at the time when the
+ Old Testament was written). 'See what desolation he hath wrought
+ in Ireland, what eating of horses, of infants, and of killed
+ souldiers, hath beene in that land, and in Germany.' _Rutherford's
+ Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience_,
+ pp. 244, 245.
+
+ [520] 'Albeit there were no earthly man to pursue Christ's enemies; yet
+ avenging angels, or evil spirits shall be let forth upon them and
+ their families to trouble them.' _Dickson's Explication of the
+ First Fifty Psalms_, p. 229.
+
+ [521] 'God hath many wayes and meanes whereby to plague man, and _reach
+ his contentments_.' _Hutcheson's Exposition on the Minor
+ Prophets_, vol. i. p. 286. 'God hath variety of means whereby to
+ plague men, and to bring upon them any affliction he intendeth
+ against them; and particularly he hath several wayes whereby to
+ bring on famine. He can arme all his creatures to cut off men's
+ provision, one of them after another; he can make the change of
+ aire, and small insects do that worke when he pleaseth.' _Ibid._,
+ vol. i. p. 422. The same divine, in another elaborate treatise,
+ distinctly imputes to the Deity a sensation of pleasure in
+ injuring even the innocent. 'When God sends out a scourge, of
+ sword, famine, or pestilence, suddenly to overthrow and cut people
+ off, not only are the wicked reached thereby (which is here
+ supposed), but even the innocent, that is such as are righteous
+ and free of gross provocations; for, in any other sense, none are
+ innocent, or free of sin, in this life. Yea, further, in trying of
+ the innocent by these scourges, _the Lord seems to act as one
+ delighted with it_, and little resenting the great extremities
+ wherewith they are pressed.' _Hutcheson's Exposition of the Book
+ of Job_, 1669, folio, p. 123. Compare p. 359. 'It pleaseth the
+ Lord to exercise great variety in afflicting the children of men,'
+ &c. But, after all, mere extracts can give but a faint idea of the
+ dark and malignant spirit which pervades these writings.
+
+ [522] 'The present dearth and famine quhilk seases vpon many, quhairby
+ God his heavie wrath is evidentlie perceaved to be kindlit against
+ vs.' _Selections from the Minutes of the Synod of Fife_, p. 98.
+ 'Smiting of the fruits of the ground.' _Hutcheson's Exposition on
+ the Minor Prophets_, vol. i. p. 277. 'Makes fruits to wither.'
+ _Ibid._, vol. ii. p. 183. 'Hee restraines the clouds, and bindeth
+ up the wombe of heaven, in extreme drought.' _Rutherford's Christ
+ Dying_, p. 52. 'Sometime hee maketh tho heauen aboue as brasse,
+ and the earth beneath as iron; so that albeit men labour and sow,
+ yet they receiue no increase: sometime againe hee giues in due
+ season the first and latter raine, so that the earth renders
+ abundance, but the Lord by blasting windes, or by the caterpillar,
+ canker-worme and grasse-hopper doth consume them, who come out as
+ exacters and officers sent from God to poind men in their goods.'
+ _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 433.
+
+ [523] 'Under the late dearth this people suffered greatly, the poor were
+ numerous, and many, especially about the town of Kilsyth, were at
+ the point of starving; yet, as I frequently observed to them, I
+ could not see any one turning to _the Lord who smote them_, or
+ crying to him because of their sins, while _they howled upon their
+ beds for bread_.' _Robe's Narratives of the Extraordinary Work of
+ the Spirit of God_, p. 68.
+
+ [524] _Nicoll's Diary_, pp. 152, 153. Much rain in the autumn, was 'the
+ Lord's displeasure upon the land.' _Minutes of the Presbyteries of
+ Saint Andrews and Cupar_, p. 179.
+
+ [525] 'Men sweat, till, sow much, and the sun and summer, and clouds,
+ warme dewes and raines smile upon cornes and meddowes, yet God
+ steppeth in betweene the mouth of the husbandman and the sickle,
+ and blasteth all.' _Rutherford's Christ Dying_, p. 87. Compare
+ _Baillie's Letters_, vol. iii. p. 52, on the 'continuance of very
+ intemperate rain upon the corns,' as one of the 'great signs of
+ the wrath of God.'
+
+ [526] 'When the Lord is provoked, he can not only send an affliction,
+ but so order it, by faire appearances of a better lot, and
+ heightening of the sinners expectation and desire, as may make it
+ most sad.' _Hutcheson's Exposition on the Minor Prophets_,
+ vol. iii. pp. 9, 10.
+
+Under the influence of this horrible creed, and from the unbounded sway
+exercised by the clergy who advocated it, the Scotch mind was thrown into
+such a state, that, during the seventeenth, and part of the eighteenth,
+century, some of the noblest feelings of which our nature is capable, the
+feelings of hope, of love, and of gratitude, were set aside, and were
+replaced by the dictates of a servile and ignominous fear. The physical
+sufferings to which the human frame is liable, nay, even the very
+accidents to which we are casually exposed, were believed to proceed, not
+from our ignorance, nor from our carelessness, but from the rage of the
+Deity. If a fire chanced to break out in Edinburgh, the greatest alarm
+was excited, because it was the voice of God crying out against a
+luxurious and dissolute city.[527] If a boil or a sore appeared on your
+body, that, too, was a divine punishment, and it was more than doubtful
+whether it might lawfully be cured.[528] The small-pox, being one of the
+most fatal as well as one of the most loathsome of all diseases, was
+especially sent by God; and, on that account, the remedy of inoculation
+was scouted as a profane attempt to frustrate His intentions.[529] Other
+disorders, which, though less terrible, were very painful, proceeded from
+the same source, and all owed their origin to the anger of the
+Almighty.[530] In every thing, His power was displayed, not by increasing
+the happiness of men, nor by adding to their comforts, but by hurting and
+vexing them in all possible ways. His hand, always raised against the
+people, would sometimes deprive them of wine by causing the vintage to
+fail;[531] sometimes, would destroy their cattle in a storm;[532] and
+sometimes, would even make dogs bite their legs when they least expected
+it.[533] Sometimes, He would display His wrath by making the weather
+excessively dry;[534] sometimes, by making it equally wet.[535] He was
+always punishing; always busy in increasing the general suffering, or, to
+use the language of the time, making the creature smart under the
+rod.[536] Every fresh war was the result of His special interference; it
+was not caused by the meddling folly or insensate ambition of statesmen,
+but it was the immediate work of the Deity, who was thus made responsible
+for all the devastations, the murders, and other crimes more horrible
+still, which war produces.[537] In the intervals of peace, which, at that
+period, were very rare, He had other means of vexing mankind. The shock
+of an earthquake was a mark of His displeasure;[538] a comet was a sign
+of coming tribulation;[539] and when an eclipse appeared, the panic was
+so universal, that persons of all ranks hastened to church to deprecate
+His wrath.[540] What they heard there, would increase their fear, instead
+of allaying it. For the clergy taught their hearers, that even so
+ordinary an event as thunder, was meant to excite awe, and was sent for
+the purpose of showing to men with how terrible a master they had to
+deal.[541] Not to tremble at thunder, was, therefore, a mark of impiety;
+and, in this respect, man was unfavourably contrasted with the lower
+animals, since they were invariably moved by this symptom of divine
+power.[542]
+
+ [527] In 1696, there was a fire in Edinburgh; whereupon Moncrief, in his
+ sermon next day, 'told us, "That God's voice was crying to this
+ city, and that he was come to the very ports, and was crying over
+ the walls to us; that we should amend our ways, lest he should
+ come to our city, and consume us in a terrible manner." I cannot
+ tell what this Dispensation of Providence wrought on me,' &c.
+ _Memoirs or Spiritual Exercises of Elizabeth West, written by her
+ own Hand_, pp. 41, 42. See also, at pp. 122, 123, the account of
+ another conflagration, where it is said, 'there was much of God to
+ be seen in this fire.' Compare a curious passage in _Calderwood's
+ History of the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. vii. pp. 455, 456.
+
+ [528] The Rev. James Fraser had a boil, and afterwards a fever. 'During
+ this sickness he miraculously allayed the pain of my boil, and
+ speedily, and that without means, cured it; for however I bought
+ some things to prevent it, yet, looking on it as a punishment from
+ God, I knew not if I could be free to take the rod out of his
+ hand, and to counterwork him.' _Memoirs of the Rev. James Fraser
+ of Brea, Minister of the Gospel at Culross, written by Himself_,
+ in _Select Biographies_, vol. ii. p. 223. Durham declaims against
+ 'Sinful shunning and shifting off suffering;' and Rutherford says,
+ 'No man should rejoice at weakness and diseases; but I think we
+ may have a sort of gladness at boils and sores, because, without
+ them, Christ's fingers, as a slain Lord, should never have touched
+ our skin.' _Durham's Law Unsealed_, p. 160; _Rutherford's
+ Religious Letters_, p. 265. I do not know what effect these
+ passages may produce upon the reader; but it makes my flesh creep
+ to quote them. Compare _Stevenson's Rare, Soul-strengthening, and
+ Comforting Cordial_, p. 35.
+
+ [529] It was not until late in the eighteenth century, that the Scotch
+ clergy gave up this notion. At last, even they became influenced
+ by the ridicule to which their superstition exposed them, and
+ which produced more effect than any argument could have done. The
+ doctrines, however, which they and their predecessors had long
+ inculcated, had so corrupted the popular mind, that instances
+ will, I believe, be found even in the nineteenth century, of the
+ Scotch deeming precautions against small-pox to be criminal, or,
+ as they called it, flying in the face of Providence. The latest
+ evidence I can at this moment put my hand on, is in a volume
+ published in 1797. It is stated by the Rev. John Paterson, that,
+ in the parish of Auldearn, in the county of Nairn, 'Very few have
+ fallen a sacrifice to the small-pox, though the people are in
+ general averse to inoculation, from the general gloominess of
+ their faith, which teaches them, that all diseases which afflict
+ the human frame are instances of the Divine interposition, for the
+ punishment of sin; any interference, therefore, on their part,
+ they deem an usurpation of the prerogative of the Almighty.'
+ _Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. xix. p. 618,
+ Edinburgh, 1797. See also vol. xiv. p. 52, Edinburgh, 1795. This
+ is well said. No doubt, so abject, and so pernicious, a
+ superstition among the people, was the result of 'the general
+ gloominess of their faith.' But the Rev. John Paterson has
+ forgotten to add, that the gloominess of which he complains, was
+ in strict conformity with the teachings of the most able, the most
+ energetic, and the most venerated of the Scotch clergy. Mr.
+ Paterson renders scant justice to his countrymen, and should
+ rather have praised the tenacity with which they adhered to the
+ instructions they had long been accustomed to receive.
+
+ [530] The Rev. John Welsh, when suffering from a painful disorder, and
+ also from other troubles, writes: 'My douleurs ar impossible to
+ expresse.' ... 'It is the Lord's indignation.' See his letter, in
+ _Miscellany of the Wodrow Society_, vol. i. p. 558. See also
+ _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 128. A pain in one's side was the
+ work of 'the Lord' (_Memoirs of Marion Laird_, p. 95); so was a
+ sore throat (_Wast's Memoirs_, p. 203); and so was the fever in
+ pleurisy. _Robe's Narratives of the Extraordinary Work of the
+ Spirit of God_, p. 66.
+
+ [531] In January 1653, 'This tyme, and mony monethis befoir, thair wes
+ great skairshtie of wynes. In this also appered Godis justice
+ toward this natioun for abusing of that blissing many yeiris
+ befoir.' _Nicoll's Diary_, p. 105.
+
+ [532] This idea was so deeply rooted, that we actually find a public
+ fast and humiliation ordered, on account of 'this present uncouth
+ storme of frost and snaw, quhilk hes continewit sa lang that the
+ bestiall ar dieing thik fauld.' _Records of the Kirk Session,
+ Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_, p. 82.
+
+ [533] 'There was a dog bit my leg most desperately. I no sooner received
+ this, but I saw the hand of God in it.' _Wast's Memoirs_, p. 114.
+
+ [534] 'The evident documentis of Goddis wrath aganes the land, be the
+ extraordinarie drouth.' _Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery,
+ and Synod of Aberdeen_, p. 78.
+
+ [535] 'The hynous synnes of the land produced much takines of Godis
+ wraith; namelie, in this spring tyme, for all Februar and a great
+ pairt of Marche wer full of havie weittis.' _Nicoll's Diary_,
+ p. 152.
+
+ [536] _Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_, p. 85. _Fleming's
+ Fulfilling of the Scripture_, pp. 101, 149, 176. _Balfour's _,
+ vol. i. p. 169. _Boston's Sermons_, p. 52. _Boston's Human Nature
+ in its Four-fold State_, pp. 67, 136. _Memoirs of Marion Laird_,
+ pp. 63, 90, 113, 163. _Hutcheson's Exposition of the Book of Job_,
+ pp. 62, 91, 140, 187, 242, 310, 449, 471, 476, 527, 528.
+
+ [537] 'War is one of the sharp scourges whereby God punisheth wicked
+ nations; and it cometh upon a people, not accidentally, but _by
+ the especial providence of God_, who hath peace and war in his own
+ hand.' _Hutcheson's Exposition on the Minor Prophets_, vol. ii.
+ p. 3. In 1644, 'Civill war wracks Spaine, and lately wracked
+ Italie: it is coming by appearance shortlie upon France. The just
+ Lord, who beholds with patience the wickednesse of nations, at
+ last _arises in furie_.' ... 'The Swedish and Danish fleets, after
+ a hott fight, are making for a new onsett: great blood is feared
+ shall be shortly shed there, both by sea and land. The _anger of
+ the Lord_ against all christendome is great.' _Baillie's Letters
+ and Journals_, vol. ii. pp. 190, 223.
+
+ [538] 'Earthquakes, whereby God, when he is angry, overthrows and
+ overturns very mountains.' _Hutcheson's Exposition of the Book of
+ Job_, p. 114. 'The ministris and sessioun convening in the
+ sessioun hous, considdering the fearfull erthquak that wes
+ yisternicht, the aucht of this instant, throughout this haill
+ citie about nine houris at evin, to be a document that God is
+ angrie aganes the land and aganes this citie in particular, for
+ the manifauld sinnis of the people,' &c. _Records of the Kirk
+ Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_, p. 64.
+
+ [539] 'Whatever natural causes may be adduced for those alarming
+ appearances, the system of comets is yet so uncertain, and they
+ have so frequently preceded desolating strokes and turns in public
+ affairs, that they seem designed in providence to stir up sinners
+ to seriousness. Those preachers from heaven, when God's messengers
+ were silenced, neither prince nor prelate could stop.' _Wodrow's
+ History of the Church of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 421.
+
+ [540] 'People of all sortes rane to the churches to deprecat God's
+ wrath.' _Balfour's Annales_, vol. i. p. 403. This was in 1598.
+
+ [541] 'By it, he manifests his power and shows himself terrible.'
+ _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 33.
+ Compare _Row's History of the Kirk_, p. 333; and a passage in
+ _Laird's Memoirs_, p. 69, which shows how greedily their credulous
+ hearers imbibed such notions: 'There were several signal evidences
+ that the Lord's righteous judgments were abroad in the earth;
+ great claps of thunder,' &c.
+
+ [542] 'The stupidity and senselessnesse of man is greater than that of
+ the brute creatures, which are all more moved with the thunder,
+ then the hearts of men for the most part.' _Dickson's Explication
+ of the First Fifty Psalms_, p. 193. Hutcheson makes a similar
+ remark concerning earthquakes. 'The shaking and trembling of
+ insensible creatures, when God is angry, serves to condemn men,
+ who are not sensible of it, nor will stoop under his hand.'
+ _Hutcheson's Exposition of the Book of Job_, p. 115.
+
+These visitations, eclipses, comets, earthquakes, thunder, famine,
+pestilence, war, disease, blights in the air, failures in the crops, cold
+winters, dry summers, these, and the like, were, in the opinion of the
+Scotch divines, outbreaks of the anger of the Almighty against the sins
+of men; and that such outbreaks were incessant is not surprising, when we
+consider that, in the same age, and according to the same creed, the most
+innocent, and even praiseworthy, actions were deemed sinful, and worthy
+of chastisement. The opinions held on this subject are not only curious,
+but extremely instructive. Besides forming an important part of the
+history of the human mind, they supply decisive proof of the danger of
+allowing a single profession to exalt itself above all other professions.
+For, in Scotland, as elsewhere, directly the clergy succeeded in
+occupying a more than ordinary amount of public attention, they availed
+themselves of that circumstance to propagate those ascetic doctrines,
+which, while they strike at the root of human happiness, benefit no one
+except the class which advocates them. That class, indeed, can hardly
+fail to reap advantage from a policy, which, by increasing the
+apprehensions to which the ignorance and timidity of men make them too
+liable, does also increase their eagerness to fly for support to their
+spiritual advisers. And the greater the apprehension, the greater the
+eagerness. Of this, the Scotch clergy, who were perfect masters of their
+own art, were well aware. Under their influence, a system of morals was
+established, which, representing nearly every act as sinful, kept the
+people in perpetual dread, lest unwittingly they were committing some
+enormous offence, which would bring upon their heads a signal and
+overwhelming punishment.
+
+According to this code, all the natural affections, all social pleasures,
+all amusements, and all the joyous instincts of the human heart were
+sinful, and were to be rooted out. It was sinful for a mother to wish to
+have sons;[543] and, if she had any, it was sinful to be anxious about
+their welfare.[544] It was a sin to please yourself, or to please others;
+for, by adopting either course, you were sure to displease God.[545] All
+pleasures, therefore, however slight in themselves, or however lawful
+they might appear, must be carefully avoided.[546] When mixing in
+society, we should edify the company, if the gift of edification had been
+bestowed upon us; but we should by no means attempt to amuse them.[547]
+Cheerfulness, especially when it rose to laughter, was to be guarded
+against; and we should choose for our associates grave and sorrowful men,
+who were not likely to indulge in so foolish a practice.[548] Smiling,
+provided it stopped short of laughter, might occasionally be allowed;
+still, being a carnal pastime, it was a sin to smile on Sunday.[549] Even
+on week-days, those who were most imbued with religious principles hardly
+ever smiled, but sighed, groaned, and wept.[550] A true Christian would
+be careful, in his movements, to preserve invariable gravity, never
+running, but walking soberly, and not treading out in a brisk and lively
+manner, as unbelievers are wont to do.[551] So, too, if he wrote to a
+friend, he must beware lest his letter should contain any thing like
+jocoseness; since jesting is incompatible with a holy and serious
+life.[552]
+
+ [543] Lady Colsfeild 'had born two or three daughters, and was sinfully
+ anxious after a son, to heir the estate of Colsfeild.' _Wodrow's
+ Analecta_, vol. iii. p. 293.
+
+ [544] Under the influence of this terrible creed, the amiable mother of
+ Duncan Forbes, writing to him respecting his own health and that
+ of his brother, speaks 'of my sinful God-provoking anxiety, both
+ for your souls and bodies.' _Burton's Lives of Lovat and Forbes_,
+ p. 724. The theological theory, underlying and suggesting this,
+ was, that 'grace bridles these affections.' _Boston's Human Nature
+ in its Four-fold State_, p. 184. Hence its rigid application on
+ days set apart for religious purposes. The Rev. Mr. Lyon (_History
+ of Saint Andrews_, vol. i. p. 458) mentions that some of the
+ Scotch clergy, in drawing up regulations for the government of a
+ colony, inserted the following clause: 'No husband shall kiss his
+ wife, and no mother shall kiss her child on the Sabbath day.'
+
+ [545] 'The more you please yourselves and the world, the further you are
+ from pleasing God.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. ii. p. 55. Elsewhere
+ (vol. ii. p. 45): 'Amity to ourselves is enmity to God.'
+
+ [546] 'Pleasures are most carefully to be auoided: because they both
+ harme and deceiue.' _Abernethy's Physicke for the Soule_, p. 251.
+ At p. 268, the same authority says, 'Beate downe thy body, and
+ bring it to subiection by abstaining, not only from vnlawfull
+ pleasures, but also from lawfull and indifferent delights.'
+
+ [547] According to _Hutcheson's Exposition of Job_, p. 6, 'there is no
+ time wherein men are more ready to miscarry, and discover any
+ bitter root in them, then when they are about the liberal use of
+ the creatures, and amidst occasions of mirth and cheerfulness.'
+ How this doctrine ripened, cannot be better illustrated than from
+ the sentiments entertained, so late as the early part of the
+ eighteenth century, by Colonel Blackader, a Scotch officer, who
+ was also an educated man, who had seen much of the world, and
+ might, to some degree, be called a man of the world. In December
+ 1714, he went to a wedding, and, on his return home, he writes: 'I
+ was cheerful, and perhaps gave too great a swing to raillery, but
+ I hope not light or vain in conversation. I desire always to have
+ my speech seasoned with salt, and ministering profit to the
+ hearers. Sitting up late, and merry enough, though I hope
+ innocent; but I will not justify myself.' _The Life and Diary of
+ Lieut.-Col. J. Blackader, by Andrew Crichton_, p. 453. On another
+ occasion (p. 511), in 1720, he was at an evening party. 'The young
+ people were merry. I laid a restraint upon myself for fear of
+ going too far, and joined but little, only so as not to show
+ moroseness or ill-breeding. We sat late, but the conversation was
+ innocent, and no drinking but as we pleased. However, much time is
+ spent; which I dare not justify. _In all things we offend._' At p.
+ 159, he writes, 'I should always be mixing something that may
+ edify in my discourse;' and, says his biographer (p. 437),
+ 'Conversation, when it ceased to accomplish this object, he
+ regarded as _degenerating into idle entertainment_, which ought to
+ be checked rather than encouraged.'
+
+ [548] 'Frequent the gravest company, and the fellowship of those that are
+ sorrowfull.' _Abernethy's Physicke for the Soule_, p. 416. Compare
+ the attacks on 'too much carnal mirth and laughter,' in _Durham's
+ Law Unsealed_, p. 323; in _Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture_,
+ p. 226; and in _Fergusson's Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_,
+ p. 227. See also _Gray's Spiritual Warfare_, p. 42. Cowper says,
+ 'Woe be unto them that now laugh, for assuredly they shall weepe,
+ the end of their joy shall be endleese mourning and gnashing of
+ teeth, they shall shed tears abundantly with Esau, but shall find
+ no place for mercy.' _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 271. Hutcheson,
+ in a train of unusual liberality, permits occasional laughter. He
+ says, 'There is a faculty of laughing given to men, which
+ certainly is given for use, at least at sometimes; and diversions
+ are sometime needfull for men who are serious and employed in
+ weighty affairs.' ... 'And particularly, laughter is sometimes
+ lawful for magistrates and others in publick charge, not only that
+ they may recreate themselves, but that, thereby, and by the like
+ insinuating carriage, they may gain the affection of the people.'
+ _Hutcheson's Exposition of the Book of Job_, edit. folio, 1669,
+ pp. 389, 390.
+
+ [549] In 1650, when Charles II. was in Scotland, 'the clergy reprehended
+ him very sharply, if he smiled on those days' (Sundays).
+ _Clarendon's History of the Rebellion_, book xiii. p. 747, edit.
+ Oxford, 1843.
+
+ [550] It is said of Donald Cargill, that, 'his very countenance was
+ edifying to beholders; often sighing with deep groans.' _A Cloud
+ of Witnesses for the Royal Prerogatives of Jesus Christ_, p. 423.
+ The celebrated James Durham was 'a person of the utmost gravity,
+ and scarce smiled at anything.' _Howie's Biographia Scoticana_, p.
+ 226. Of Livingston, we are told 'that he was a very affectionate
+ person, and weeped much; that it was his ordinary way, and might
+ be observed almost every Sabbath, that when he came into the
+ pulpite he sate doun a litle, and looked first to the one end of
+ the kirk, and then to the other; and then, ordinarly, the tear
+ shott in his eye, and he weeped, and oftimes he began his preface
+ and his work weeping.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. ii. p. 249. James
+ Alexander 'used to weep much in prayer and preaching; he was every
+ way most savoury.' _Ibid._, vol. iii. p. 39. As to the Rev. John
+ Carstairs, 'his band in the Sabbath would have been all wett, as
+ if it had been douked, with tears, before he was done with his
+ first prayer.' p. 48. Aird, minister of Dalserf, 'weeping much'
+ (_Ibid._, vol. iii. p. 56), 'Mr. James Stirling tells me he was a
+ most fervent, affectionat, weeping preacher.' p. 172; and the Rev.
+ Alexander Dunlop was noted for what was termed 'a holy groan,'
+ vol. iii. p. 21. See also, on weeping as a mark of religion,
+ _Wast's Memoirs_, pp. 83, 84; and _Robe's Narrative of the
+ Extraordinary Work of the Spirit of God_, pp. 21, 31, 75, 150. One
+ passage from the most popular of the Scotch preachers, I hesitate
+ as to the propriety of quoting; but it is essential that their
+ ideas should be known, if the history of Scotland is to be
+ understood. Rutherford, after stating whom it is that we should
+ seek to imitate, adds: 'Christ did never laugh on earth that we
+ read of, but he wept.' _Rutherford's Christ Dying_, 1647, 4to, p.
+ 525. I publish this with no irreverent spirit; God forbid that I
+ should. But I will not be deterred from letting this age see the
+ real character of a system which aimed at destroying all human
+ happiness, exciting slavish and abject fear, and turning this
+ glorious world into one vast theatre of woe.
+
+ [551] 'Walk with a sober pace, not "tinkling with your feet."' _Memoirs
+ of the Rev. James Fraser, written by Himself_, in _Select
+ Biographies_, vol. ii. p. 280. 'It is somewhat like this, or less
+ than this, which the Lord condemneth, _Isa._ iii. 16, 'Walking
+ and mincing, or tripping and making a tinkling with their feet.'
+ What is that but disdaining the grave way of walking, to affect
+ an art in it? as many do now in our days; and shall this be
+ displeasing to the Lord, and not the other? seeing he loveth, and
+ is best pleased with, the native way of carrying the body.'
+ _Durham's Law Unsealed_, p. 324. 'The believer hath, or at least
+ ought to have, and, if he be like himself, will have, a well
+ ordered walk, and will be in his carriage stately and princely.'
+ _Durham's Exposition of the Song of Solomon_, p. 365.
+
+ [552] 'At home, writing letters to a friend. My vein is inclined to jest
+ and humour. The letter was too comical and jocose; and after I had
+ sent it away, I had a check that it was too light, and jesting
+ foolishly. I sent and got it back, and destroyed it. My temper
+ goes too far that way, and I ought to check it, and be more on my
+ guard, and study edification in every thing.' _Crichton's Life and
+ Diary of Blackader_, pp. 536, 537. Even amongst young children,
+ from eight years old and upwards, toys and games were bad; and it
+ was a good sign when they were discarded. 'Some very young, of
+ eight and nine years of age, some twelve and thirteen. They still
+ inclined more and more to their duty, so that they meet three
+ times a day, in the morning, at night, and at noon. Also they have
+ forsaken all their childish fancies and plays; so these that have
+ been awakened are known by their countenance and conversation,
+ their walk and behaviour.' _Robe's Narratives of the Extraordinary
+ Work of the Spirit of God_, pp. 79, 80.
+
+It was, moreover, wrong to take pleasure in beautiful scenery; for a
+pious man had no concern with such matters, which were beneath him, and
+the admiration of which should be left to the unconverted.[553] The
+unregenerate might delight in these vanities, but they who were properly
+instructed, saw Nature as she really was, and knew that as she, for about
+five thousand years, had been constantly on the move, her vigour was
+well-nigh spent, and her pristine energy had departed.[554] To the eye
+of ignorance, she still seemed fair and fresh; the fact, however, was,
+that she was worn out and decrepit; she was suffering from extreme old
+age; her frame, no longer elastic, was leaning on one side, and she soon
+would perish.[555] Owing to the sin of man, all things were getting
+worse, and nature was degenerating so fast, that already the lilies were
+losing their whiteness, and the roses their smell.[556] The heavens were
+waxing old;[557] the very sun, which lighted the earth, was becoming
+feeble.[558] This universal degeneracy was sad to think of; but the
+profane knew it not. Their ungodly eyes were still pleased by what they
+saw. Such was the result of their obstinate determination to indulge the
+senses, all of which were evil; the eye being, beyond comparison, the
+most wicked. Hence, it was especially marked out for divine punishment;
+and, being constantly sinning, it was afflicted with fifty-two different
+diseases, that is, one disease for each week in the year.[559]
+
+ [553] 'To the unmortified man, the world smelleth like the garden of
+ God' ... 'the world is not to him an ill-smelled stinking corps.'
+ _Rutherford's Christ Dying_, p. 498. But those who were properly
+ mortified, knew that 'the earth is but a potter's house' (_Ibid._,
+ p. 286); 'an old thred-bare-worn case' (_Ibid._, p. 530); a 'smoky
+ house' (_Rutherford's Religious Letters_, p. 100); a 'plaistered,
+ rotten world' (_Ibid._, p. 132); and 'an ashy and dirty earth'
+ (_Ibid._, p. 169). 'The earth also is spotted (like the face of a
+ woman once beautifull, but now deformed with scabs of leprosie)
+ with thistles, thornes, and much barren wilderness.' _Cowper's
+ Heaven Opened_, p. 255.
+
+ [554] 'Wearinesse and motion is laid on Moon and Sunne, and all
+ creatures on this side of the Moon. Seas ebbe and flow, and that's
+ trouble; winds blow, rivers move, heavens and stars these five
+ thousand yeares, except one time, have not had sixe minutes rest.'
+ ... 'The Sunne that never rests, but moves as swiftly in the night
+ as in the day.' _Rutherford's Christ Dying_, pp. 12, 157. 'This is
+ the world's old age; it is declining; albeit it seem a fair and
+ beautiful thing in the eyes of them who know no better, and unto
+ them who are of yesterday and know nothing, it looks as if it had
+ been created yesterday; yet the truth is, and a believer knows, it
+ is near the grave.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. iii. p. 372.
+
+ [555] 'This, then, I say, is the state all things ye see are in,--it is
+ their old age. The creation now is an old rotten house that is all
+ dropping through and leaning to the one side.' _Binning's
+ Sermons_, vol. iii. p. 398.
+
+ [556] 'The lilies and roses, which, no doubt, had more sweetnesse of
+ beauty and smell, before the sin of man made them vanity-sick.'
+ _Rutherford's Christ Dying_, p. 185.
+
+ [557] 'The heavens that are supposed to be incorruptible, yet they wax
+ old as doth a garment.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. i. p. 95.
+
+ [558] 'The neerer the sun drawes to the end of his daily course, the
+ lesse is his strength, for we see the Sunne in the evening decayes
+ in heat; so it is, the longer by reuolution he turnes about in his
+ sphere, he waxes alway the weaker; and, to vse the similitude of
+ the holy spirit, as a garment the older it groweth becomes the
+ lesse beautifull.' _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 255.
+
+ [559] 'It is so delicate by nature, that since it was the first sense
+ that offended, it is, aboue all the rest, made subject (as a
+ condigne punishment) to as many maladies, as there are weekes in a
+ yeere.' _Abernethy's Physicke for the Soule_, p. 501. The Scotch
+ divines were extremely displeased with our eyes. Rutherford
+ contemptuously calls them 'two clay windows.' _Rutherford's Christ
+ Dying_, p. 570. Gray, going still further, says, 'these cursed
+ eyes of ours.' _Gray's Great and Precious Promises_, p. 53.
+
+On this account, it was improper to care for beauty of any kind; or, to
+speak more accurately, there was no real beauty. The world afforded
+nothing worth looking at, save and except the Scotch Kirk, which was
+incomparably the most beautiful thing under heaven.[560] To look at that
+was a lawful enjoyment, but every other pleasure was sinful. To write
+poetry, for instance, was a grievous offence, and worthy of especial
+condemnation.[561] To listen to music was equally wrong; for men had no
+right to disport themselves in such idle recreation. Hence the clergy
+forbade music to be introduced even during the festivities of a
+marriage;[562] neither would they permit, on any occasion, the national
+entertainment of pipers.[563] Indeed, it was sinful to look at any
+exhibition in the streets, even though you only looked at it from your
+own window.[564] Dancing was so extremely sinful, that an edict,
+expressly prohibiting it, was enacted by the General Assembly, and read
+in every church in Edinburgh.[565] New Year's Eve had long been a period
+of rejoicing in Scotland, as in other parts of Europe. The Church laid
+her hands on this also, and ordered that no one should sing the songs
+usual on that day, or should admit such singers into his own private
+house.[566]
+
+ [560] 'The true visible Kirk where God's ordinances are set up, as he
+ hath appointed, where his word is purely preached, is the most
+ beautifull thing under heaven.' _Dickson's Explication of the
+ First Fifty Psalms_, p. 341.
+
+ [561] I have one very late, and, on that account, very curious, instance
+ of the diffusion of this feeling in Scotland. In 1767, a vacancy
+ occurred in the mastership of the grammar-school of Greenock. It
+ was offered to John Wilson, the author of 'Clyde.' But, says his
+ biographer, 'the magistrates and minister of Greenock thought fit,
+ before they would admit Mr. Wilson to the superintendance of the
+ grammar school, to stipulate that he should abandon "the profane
+ and unprofitable art of poem-making."' _Lives of Eminent Scotsmen
+ by the Society of Ancient Scots_, 1821, vol. v. p. 169.
+
+ [562] 'Sept. 22. 1649.--The quhilk day the Sessioune caused mak this
+ act, that ther sould be no pypers at brydels, and who ever sould
+ have a pyper playing at their brydell on their mariage day, sall
+ loose their consigned money, and be farder punisched as the
+ Sessioune thinks fitt.' _Extracts from the Registers of the
+ Presbytery of Glasgow, and of the Kirk Sessions of the Parishes of
+ Cambusnethan Humbie and Stirling_, p. 34. This curious volume is a
+ quarto, and without date; unless, indeed, one of the title-pages
+ is wanting in my copy.
+
+ [563] See the Minutes of the Kirk Session of Glasgow, in _Wodrow's
+ Collections upon the Lives of Ministers_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 76;
+ also the case of 'Mure, pyper,' in _Selections from the Minutes of
+ the Presbyteries of Saint Andrews and Cupar_, p. 72.
+
+ [564] This notion lingered on, probably to the beginning of this
+ century; certainly to late in the last. In a work published in
+ Scotland in 1836, it is stated, that a clergyman was still alive,
+ who was 'severely censured,' merely because, when Punch was
+ performing, 'the servant was sent out to the showman to request
+ him to come below the windows of her master's house, that the
+ clergyman and his wife might enjoy the sight.' _Traditions of
+ Perth by George Penny_, Perth, 1836, p. 124.
+
+ [565] '17 Feb. 1650. Ane act of the commissioun of the Generall Assemblie
+ wes red in all the churches of Edinburgh dischargeing promiscuous
+ dansing.' _Nicoll's Diary_, p. 3. See also _Acts of the General
+ Assembly of the Church of Scotland_, 1638-1842, p. 201; _Register
+ of the Kirk Session of Cambusnethan_, p. 35; _Minutes of the
+ Presbyteries of St. Andrews and Cupar_, pp. 55, 181; _Minutes of
+ the Synod of Fife_, pp. 150, 169, 175; and a choice passage in _A
+ Collection of Sermons by Eminent Divines_, p. 51.
+
+ [566] See _Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery,
+ and Synod of Aberdeen_, pp. 77, 78, forbidding any one to 'giwe
+ ony meatt or drink to these sangsteris or lat thame within thair
+ houss.' The singers were to be 'put in prisoun.'
+
+At the christening of a child, the Scotch were accustomed to assemble
+their relations, including their distant cousins, in whom, then as now,
+they much abounded. But this caused pleasure, and pleasure was sinful. It
+was, therefore, forbidden; the number of guests was limited; and the
+strictest supervision was exercised by the clergy, to prevent the
+possibility of any one being improperly happy on such occasions.[567]
+
+ [567] In 1643 the Presbytery of St. Andrews ordered that 'because of the
+ great abuse that is likewayes among them by conveening multitudes
+ at baptismes and contracts, the ministers and sessions are
+ appointed to take strict order for restraineing these abuses, that
+ in number they exceid not sixe or seven. As also ordaines that the
+ hostlers quho mak such feists salbe censured by the sessions.'
+ _Minutes of the Presbyteries of St. Andrews and Cupar_, p. 11. See
+ also _Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of
+ Aberdeen_, pp. 109, 110, complaining of the custom 'that everie
+ base servile man in the towne, when he has a barne to be baptesed,
+ invitis tuelff or sextene persones to be his gossopes and
+ godfatheris to his barne,' &c.; and enacting 'that it shall not be
+ lesume to any inhabitant within this burt quhasoever, to invite
+ any ma persones to be godfatheris to thair barne in ony tyme
+ cumming bot tua or four at the most, lyk as the Kirk officier is
+ expresslie commandit and prohibitt that from hence furth he tak vp
+ no ma names to be godfatheris, nor giwe any ma vp to the redar bot
+ four at the most, vnder all hiest censure he may incur be the
+ contrairie, and this ordinance to be intimat out of pulpitt, that
+ the people pretend no ignorance thairof.'
+
+Not only at baptisms, but also at marriages, the same spirit was
+displayed. In every country, it has been usual to make merry at
+marriages; partly from a natural feeling, and partly, perhaps, from a
+notion that a contract so often productive of misery, might, at all
+events, begin with mirth. The Scotch clergy, however, thought otherwise.
+At the weddings of the poor, they would allow no rejoicing;[568] and at
+the weddings of the rich, it was the custom for one of them to go for the
+express purpose of preventing an excess of gaiety. A better precaution
+could hardly be devised; but they did not trust exclusively to it. To
+check the lusts of the flesh, they, furthermore, took into account the
+cookery, the choice of the meats, and the number of the dishes. They
+were, in fact, so solicitous on these points, and so anxious that the
+nuptial feast should not be too attractive that they fixed its cost, and
+would not allow any person to exceed the sum which they thought proper
+to name.[569]
+
+ [568] They forbade music and dancing; and they ordered that not more
+ than twenty-four persons should be present. See the enactment, in
+ 1647, respecting 'Pennie bryddells,' in _Minutes of the
+ Presbyteries of St. Andrews and Cupar_, p. 117. In 1650, 'The
+ Presbyterie being sadly weghted with the report of the
+ continwance, and exhorbitant and unnecessarly numerous confluences
+ of people at pennie brydles, and of inexpedient and wnlawfull
+ pypeing and dancing at the same, so scandalous and sinfull in this
+ tyme of our Churches lamentable conditioun; and being apprehensive
+ that ministers and Kirk Sessiouns have not bein so vigilant and
+ active (as neid werre), for repressing of these disorders, doe
+ therfor most seriously recommend to ministers and Kirk Sessiouns
+ to represse the same.' _Ibid._ pp. 169, 170. See, further,
+ _Registers of the Presbytery of Lanark_, p. 29; and _Extracts from
+ the Presbytery Book of Strathbogie_, pp. 4, 144.
+
+ [569] See two curious instances of limitation of price, in _Irving's
+ History of Dumbartonshire_, p. 567; and in _Wodrow's Collections
+ upon the Lives of Ministers_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 34.
+
+Nothing escaped their vigilance. For, in their opinion, even the best man
+was, at his best time, so full of turpitude, that his actions could not
+fail to be wicked.[570] He never passed a day without sinning, and the
+smallest sin deserved eternal wrath.[571] Indeed, every thing he did was
+sinful, no matter how pure his motives.[572] Man had been gradually
+falling lower and lower, and had now sunk to a point of debasement, which
+made him inferior to the beasts that perish.[573] Even before he was
+born, and while he was yet in his mother's womb, his guilt began.[574]
+And when he grew up, his crimes multiplied thick and fast; one of the
+most heinous of them being the practice of teaching children new
+words,--a horrible custom, justly visited by divine wrath.[575] This,
+however, was but one of a series of innumerable and incessant offences;
+so that the only wonder was, that the earth could restrain herself at the
+hideous spectacle which man presented, and that she did not open her
+mouth, as of old, and swallow him even in the midst of his
+wickedness.[576] For, it was certain, that in the whole creation, there
+was nothing so deformed and monstrous as he.[577]
+
+ [570] 'What a vile, haughty, and base creature he is--how defiled and
+ desperately wicked his nature--how abominable his actions; in a
+ word, what a compound of darkness and wickedness he is--a heap of
+ defiled dust, and a mass of confusion--a sink of impiety and
+ iniquity, _even the best of mankind_, those of the rarest and most
+ refined extraction, _take them at their best estate_.' _Binning's
+ Sermons_, vol. ii. p. 302. Compare _Boston's Human Nature in its
+ Four-fold State_, pp. 26, 27.
+
+ [571] 'The least sin cannot but deserve God's wrath and curse eternally.'
+ _Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error_, p. 71. 'All men, even the
+ regenerate, sin daily.' _Ibid._ p. 153.
+
+ [572] 'Our best works have such a mixture of corruption and sin in them,
+ that they deserve his curse and wrath.' _Ibid._ p. 130.
+
+ [573] 'But now, falling away from God, hee hath also so farre degenerated
+ from his owne kind, that he is become inferiour to the beasts.'
+ _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 251. 'O! is not man become so brutish
+ and ignorant, that he may be sent unto the beasts of the field to
+ be instructed of that which is his duty?' _Gray's Spiritual
+ Warfare_, p. 28. 'Men are naturally more bruitish than beasts
+ themselves.' _Boston's Human Nature in its Four-fold State_,
+ p. 58. 'Worse than the beast of the field.' _Halyburton's Great
+ Concern of Salvation_, p. 71.
+
+ [574] 'Infants, even in their mother's belly, have in themselves
+ sufficient guilt to deserve such judgments;' _i.e._ when women
+ with child are 'ript up.' _Hutcheson's Exposition on the Minor
+ Prophets_, vol. i. p. 255.
+
+ [575] 'And in our speech, our Scripture and old Scots names are gone out
+ of request; instead of _Father_ and _Mother_, _Mamma_ and _Papa_,
+ training children to speak nonsense, and what they do not
+ understand. These few instances, amongst many that might be given,
+ are additional causes of God's wrath.' _The Life and Death of Mr.
+ Alexander Peden, late Minister of the Gospel at New Glenluce, in
+ Galloway_, in _Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana_, vol. i. p. 140.
+
+ [576] 'Yea, if the Lord did not restraine her, shee would open her mouth
+ and swallow the wicked, as she did Corah, Dathan, and Abiram.'
+ _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 257. Compare _Hutcheson's Exposition
+ on the Minor Prophets_, vol. i. p. 507.
+
+ [577] 'There is nothing so monstrous, so deformed in the world, as man.'
+ _Binning's Sermons_, vol. i. p. 234. 'There is not in all the
+ creation such a miserable creature as man.' _Ibid._ vol. iii. p.
+ 321. 'Nothing so miserable.' _Abernethy's Physicke for the Soule_,
+ p. 37.
+
+Such being the case, it behoved the clergy to come forward, and to guard
+men against their own vices, by controlling their daily actions, and
+forcing them to a right conduct. This they did vigorously. Aided by the
+elders, who were their tools and the creatures of their power, they, all
+over Scotland, organized themselves into legislative bodies, and, in the
+midst of their little senate, they enacted laws which the people were
+bound to obey. If they refused, woe be to them. They became unruly sons
+of the Church, and were liable to be imprisoned, to be fined, or to be
+whipped,[578] or to be branded with a hot iron,[579] or to do penance
+before the whole congregation, humbling themselves, bare-footed, and
+with their hair cut on one side,[580] while the minister, under pretence
+of rebuking them, enjoyed his triumph.[581] All this was natural enough.
+For the clergy were the delegates of heaven, and the interpreters of its
+will. They, therefore, were the best judges of what men ought to do; and
+any one whom they censured was bound to submit with humility and
+repentance.[582]
+
+ [578] 'December 17th, 1635. Mention made of a correction house, which
+ the Session ordeans persons to be taken to, both men and women,
+ and appoints them to be whipt every day during the Session's
+ will.' _Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives of Ministers_, vol.
+ ii. part ii. p. 67.
+
+ [579] On the 22nd October 1648, the Kirk Session of Dunfermline ordered
+ that a certain Janet Robertson 'shall be cartit and scourged
+ through the town, and markit with an hot iron.' _Chalmers' History
+ of Dunfermline_, p. 437.
+
+ [580] 'As they punish by pecuniary fines, so corporally too, by
+ imprisoning the persons of the delinquents, using them
+ disgracefully, carting them through cities, making them stand in
+ logges, as they call them, pillaries (which in the country
+ churches are fixed to the two sides of the main door of the Parish
+ Church), cutting the halfe of their hair, shaving their beards,
+ &c., and it is more than ordinary, by their "original" and "proper
+ power," to banish them out of the bounds and limits of the parish,
+ or presbytery, as they list to order it.' _Presbytery Displayd_,
+ p. 4.
+
+ [581] The Scotch clergy of the seventeenth century were not much given
+ to joking; but on one of these occasions a preacher is said to
+ have hazarded a pun. A woman, named Ann Cantly, being made to do
+ penance, 'Here' (said the minister), 'Here is one upon the stool
+ of repentance, they call her _Cantly_; she saith herself, she is
+ an honest woman, but I trow _scantly_.' _Scotch Presbyterian
+ Eloquence_, p. 125. From what I have read of Scotch theology, I
+ can bear testimony to the accuracy of this book, so far as its
+ general character is concerned. Indeed, the author, through fear
+ of being entirely discredited, has often rather understated his
+ case.
+
+ [582] As Durham says, in his _Exposition of the Song of Solomon_,
+ p. 451, 'It is no burden to an honest believer to acknowledge
+ Christ's ministers, to obey their doctrine, and submit to their
+ censures.'
+
+The arbitrary and irresponsible tribunals, which now sprung up all over
+Scotland, united the executive authority with the legislative, and
+exercised both functions at the same time. Declaring that certain acts
+ought not to be committed, they took the law into their own hands, and
+punished those who had committed them. According to the principles of
+this new jurisprudence, of which the clergy were the authors, it became a
+sin for any Scotchman to travel in a Catholic country.[583] It was a sin
+for any Scotch innkeeper to admit a Catholic into his inn.[584] It was a
+sin for any Scotch town to hold a market either on Saturday or on Monday,
+because both days were near Sunday.[585] It was a sin for a Scotch woman
+to wait at a tavern;[586] it was a sin for her to live alone;[587] it was
+also a sin for her to live with unmarried sisters.[588] It was a sin to
+go from one town to another on Sunday, however pressing the business
+might be.[589] It was a sin to visit your friend on Sunday;[590] it was
+likewise sinful either to have your garden watered,[591] or your beard
+shaved.[592] Such things were not to be tolerated in a Christian land. No
+one, on Sunday, should pay attention to his health, or think of his body
+at all. On that day, horse-exercise was sinful;[593] so was walking in
+the fields, or in the meadows, or in the streets, or enjoying the fine
+weather by sitting at the door of your house.[594] To go to sleep on
+Sunday, before the duties of the day were over, was also sinful, and
+deserved church censure.[595] Bathing, being pleasant as well as
+wholesome, was a particularly grievous offence; and no man could be
+allowed to swim on Sunday.[596] It was, in fact, doubtful whether
+swimming was lawful for a Christian at any time, even on week-days, and
+it was certain that God had, on one occasion, shown His disapproval, by
+taking away the life of a boy while he was indulging in that carnal
+practice.[597]
+
+ [583] A man, named Alexander Laurie, was brought before the Kirk Session
+ of Perth, 'and being inquired by the minister if, in his last
+ being out of this country, he had been in Spain, answered that he
+ was in Portugal, but was never present at mass, neither gave
+ reverence to any procession, and that he was never demanded by any
+ concerning his religion. The said Alexander being removed and
+ censured, it was thought good by the (Kirk) Session that he should
+ be admonished not to travel in these parts again, except that they
+ were otherwise reformed in religion.' _Extracts from the
+ Kirk-Session Register of Perth_, in _The Spottiswoode Miscellany_,
+ vol. ii. p. 274. Still earlier, that is, in 1592, the clergy
+ attempted to interfere even with commerce, 'allegeing that the
+ marchands could not mak vayage in Spayne without danger of their
+ sawlis, and tharefore willit thayme in the nayme of God to
+ absteyne.' _The Historie of King James the Sext_, p. 254.
+
+ [584] See the case of Patrick Stewart, and Mr. Lawson's note upon it, in
+ _Lawson's Book of Perth_, p. 238. In this instance, the 'Roman
+ Catholic gentleman' had been excommunicated, which made matters
+ still worse.
+
+ [585] The Presbytery of Edinburgh, 'by their transcendent sole
+ authority, discharged any market to be kept on Monday; the reason
+ was, because it occasioned the travelling of men and horse the
+ Lord's-day before, which prophaned the Sabbath.' _Presbytery
+ Displayd_, p. 10. In 1650, Saturday was also taken in by another
+ ecclesiastical senate. 'The Presbyterie doe appoint the severall
+ brethren in burghes, to deale with such as have not changed ther
+ Mondayes and Satterdayes mercats to other dayes of the weeke, that
+ they may doe the same _primo quoque tempore_.' _Minutes of the
+ Presbyteries of St. Andrews and Cupar_, p. 53.
+
+ [586] In 1650, 'For "the down-bearing of sin," women were not allowed to
+ act as waiters in taverns, but "allenarly men-servands and boys."'
+ _Chambers' Annals_, vol. ii. p. 196. This order 'wes red and
+ publictlie intimat in all the kirkis of Edinburgh.' _Nicoll's
+ Diary_, p. 5.
+
+ [587] 'Forsameikle as dilatation being made, that Janet Watson holds an
+ house by herself where _she may give occasion of slander_,
+ therefore Patrick Pitcairn, elder, is ordained to admonish her in
+ the session's name, either to marry, or then pass to service,
+ otherwise that she will not be suffered to dwell by herself.'
+ _Kirk-Session Records of Perth_, in _The Chronicle of Perth_,
+ p. 86.
+
+ [588] 'Ordains the two sisters, Elspith and Janet Stewart, that they be
+ not found in the house again with their sister, but every one of
+ them shall go to service, or where they may be best entertained
+ without slander, under the penalty of warding their persons and
+ banishment of the town.' _Kirk-Session Register_, in _Lawson's
+ Book of Perth_, p. 169.
+
+ [589] 'Compeirit William Kinneir, and confest his travelling on the
+ Sabbath day, which he declairit was out of meer necessitie,
+ haveing two watters to croce, and ane tempestuos day, quhilk
+ moowit him to fear that he wold not get the watters crost, and so
+ his credit might faill. He was sharpelie admonished, and promist
+ newer to doe the lyke again.' _Selections from the Records of the
+ Kirk-Session of Aberdeen_, p. 136.
+
+ [590] 'Compearit Thomas Gray, and confest that one Sunday in the
+ morning, he went to Culter to visit a friend, and stayed thair all
+ night. The sessioune warnit him, _apud acta_, to the next day, and
+ appointed Patrick Gray, his master, to be cited to the next day,
+ to give furder informatioune in the matter. (Sharply rebuked
+ before the pulpit.)' _Selections from the Records of the
+ Kirk-Session of Aberdeen_, p. 146.
+
+ [591] 'It was reported that Margaret Brotherstone did water her kaill
+ wpon the Sabbath day, and thairwpon was ordained to be cited.' ...
+ 'Compeired Margaret Brotherstone, and confessed her breach of
+ Sabbath in watering of her kaill, and thairwpon ordained to give
+ evidence in publick of her repentance the next Lord's day.'
+ _Extracts from the Register of the Kirk-Session of Humbie_, p. 42.
+
+ [592] Even so late as the middle of the eighteenth century, 'clergymen
+ were sometimes libelled' ... 'for shaving' on Sunday. _Sinclair's
+ Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. xvi. p. 34, Edinburgh,
+ 1795. At an earlier period, no one might be shaved on that day.
+ See _The Spottiswoode Miscellany_, vol. ii. p. 276; and _Lawson's
+ Book of Perth_, pp. 224, 225.
+
+ [593] 'Compeired John Gordon of Avachie, and confessed that he had
+ transgressed in travailing on the Sabbath day with horse, going
+ for a milston. Referred to the session of Kinor for censure.'
+ _Extracts from the Presbytery Book of Strathbogie_, p. 236. See
+ also the case mentioned in _Letters from a Gentleman in the North
+ of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 172; 'This riding on horseback of a
+ Sunday was deemed a great scandal.'
+
+ [594] In 1647, the punishment was ordered of whoever was guilty of
+ 'sitting or walking idle upon the streetes and feildes' on Sunday.
+ _Selections from the Minutes of the Synod of Fife_, p. 152. In
+ 1742, 'sitting idle at their doors' and 'sitting about doors' was
+ profane. _Robe's Naratives of the Extraordinary Work of the Spirit
+ of God_, pp. 109, 110. In 1756, at Perth, 'to stroll about the
+ fields, or even to walk upon the inches, was looked upon as
+ extremely sinful, and an intolerable violation of the fourth
+ commandment.' _Penny's Traditions of Perth_, p. 36.
+
+ [595] In 1656, 'Cite Issobell Balfort, servand to William Gordone,
+ tailyeor, beeing found sleeping at the Loche side on the Lord's
+ day in tyme of Sermon.' _Selections from the Records of the
+ Kirk-Session of Aberdeen_. p. 137. It was a sin even for children
+ to feel tired of the interminable sermons which they were forced
+ to hear. Halyburton, addressing the young people of his
+ congregation, says, 'Have not you been glad when the Lord's day
+ was over; or, at least, _when the preaching was done_, that ye
+ might get your liberty. Has it not been a burden to you, to sit so
+ long in the church? Well, _this is a great sin_.' See this
+ noticeable passage, in _Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_,
+ p. 100.
+
+ [596] In 1719, the Presbytery of Edinburgh indignantly declares, 'Yea,
+ some have arrived at that height of impiety, as not to be ashamed
+ of washing in waters, and swimming in rivers upon the holy
+ Sabbath.' _Register of Presbytery of Edinburgh, 29th April 1719_,
+ in _Arnot's History of Edinburgh_, p. 204.
+
+ [597] So late as 1691, the Kirk-Session of Glasgow attempted to prevent
+ all boys from swimming, whatever the day might be. But as the
+ Church was then on the decline, it was necessary to appeal to the
+ civil authority for help. What the result was, I have not been
+ able to ascertain. There is, however, a curious notice, in
+ _Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives of Ministers_, vol. ii. part
+ ii. p. 77, stating that, on 'August 6th, 1691, the Session
+ recommends it to the magistrates to think on some overtures for
+ discharging boyes from swimming, in regard one was lately lost.' I
+ have met with other evidence respecting this; but I cannot
+ remember the passages.
+
+That it was a sin to cleanse one's body, might, indeed, have been taken
+for granted; seeing that the Scotch clergy looked on all comforts as
+sinful in themselves, merely because they were comforts.[598] The great
+object of life was, to be in a state of constant affliction.[599]
+Whatever pleased the senses, was to be suspected.[600] A Christian must
+beware of enjoying his dinner; for none but the ungodly relished their
+food.[601] By a parity of reasoning, it was wrong for a man to wish to
+advance himself in life, or in any way to better his condition.[602]
+Either to make money, or to save it, was unsuited to Christians; and even
+to possess much of it was objectionable, because it not only ministered
+to human pleasures, but encouraged those habits of foresight and of
+provision for the future, which are incompatible with complete
+resignation to the Divine will. To wish for more than was necessary to
+keep oneself alive, was a sin as well as a folly, and was a violation of
+the subjection we owe to God.[603] That it was contrary to His desire,
+was, moreover, evident, from the fact that He bestowed wealth liberally
+upon misers and covetous men; a remarkable circumstance, which, in the
+opinion of Scotch divines, proved that He was no lover of riches,
+otherwise He would not give them to such base and sordid persons.[604]
+
+ [598] The Rev. James Fraser says, 'The world is a dangerous thing and a
+ great evil, and the comforts of it a hell.' _Select Biographies_,
+ vol. ii. p. 220. Compare _Gray's Spiritual Warfare_, p. 22.
+
+ [599] 'It is good to be continually afflicted here.' _Select
+ Biographies_, vol. ii. p. 220. Gray, advocating the same doctrine,
+ sums up his remarks by a suggestion, that, 'I think David had
+ never so sweet a time as then, when he was pursued as a partridge
+ by his son Absalom.' _Gray's Great and Precious Promises_, p. 14.
+
+ [600] 'Suspect that which pleaseth the senses.' _Abernethy's Physicke
+ for the Soule_, p. 63.
+
+ [601] Durham, in his long catalogue of sins, mentions as one, 'the
+ preparing of meat studiously, that is, when it is too riotously
+ dressed, for pleasing men's carnal appetite and taste, or palate,
+ by the fineness of it, and other curiosities of that kind.'
+ _Durham's Law Unsealed_, p. 333. See also p. 48, on
+ 'palate-pleasers;' and Dickson's opinion of the 'rarest dishes and
+ best meats.' _Dickson's Explication of the Psalms_, p. 84.
+ According to another of the Scotch divines, whoever makes one good
+ meal and has enough left for a second, is in imminent peril. 'He
+ that is full, and hath enough to make him fuller, will easily deny
+ God, and be exalted against him: his table shall be a snare to his
+ body, and a snare to his soule.' _Abernethy's Physicke for the
+ Soule_, p. 421.
+
+ [602] For, says Abernethy (_Physicke for the Soule_, p. 488), 'men are
+ loth to lend their eare to the Word, when they abound in
+ prosperity.' So, too, Hutcheson, in his _Exposition of the Book of
+ Job_, p. 387: 'Such is the weakness even of godly men, that they
+ can hardly live in a prosperous condition, and not be overtaken
+ with some security, carnal confidence, or other miscarriage.'
+
+ [603] See this theory worked out in _Cockburn's Jacob's Vow, or Man's
+ Felicity and Duty_, pp. 71-75. He says, 'And certainly to crave
+ and be desirous of more than what is competent for the maintenance
+ and support of our lives, is both inconsistent with that
+ dependence and subjection we owe to God, and doth also bespeak a
+ great deal of vanity, folly, and inconsiderateness.' Boston,
+ striking at the very foundation of that practice of providing for
+ the future, which is the first and most important maxim in all
+ civil wisdom, and which peculiarly distinguishes civilized nations
+ from barbarians, asks his hearers, 'Why should men rack their
+ heads with cares how to provide for to-morrow, while they know not
+ if they shall then need anything?' _Boston's Human Nature in its
+ Four-fold State_, p. 300. Hutcheson thinks that those who are
+ guilty of such impious prudence, deserve to be starved. 'When men
+ are not content with food and rayment, but would still heap up
+ more, it is just with God to leave them not so much as bread; and
+ to suffer men to have an evil eye upon them, and to pluck at them,
+ even so long as they have meat.' _Hutcheson's Exposition of the
+ Book of Job_, p. 296. Binning, going still further, threatens
+ eternal ruin. 'Ye may have things necessary here,--food and
+ raiment; and if ye seek more, if ye will be rich, and will have
+ superfluities, then ye shall fall into many temptations, snares,
+ and hurtful lusts which shall drown you in perdition.' _Binning's
+ Sermons_, vol. iii. p. 355.
+
+ [604] 'If God loved riches well, do ye think he would give them so
+ liberally, and heap them up upon some base covetous wretches?
+ Surely no.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. iii. p. 366. Gray, in his
+ zeal against wealth, propounds another doctrine, which I do not
+ remember to have seen elsewhere. He says, 'All that the owner of
+ riches hath, is, the seeing of them; which a man, who is a passer
+ by, may likeways have, though he be not possessor of them.'
+ _Gray's Spiritual Warfare_, p. 128. I hope that the reader will
+ not suspect me of having maliciously invented any of these
+ passages. The books from which they are quoted, are, with only two
+ or three exceptions, all in my library, and may be examined by
+ persons who are curious in such matters.
+
+To be poor, dirty, and hungry, to pass through life in misery, and to
+leave it with fear, to be plagued with boils, and sores, and diseases of
+every kind, to be always sighing and groaning, to have the face streaming
+with tears, and the chest heaving with sobs, in a word, to suffer
+constant affliction, and to be tormented in all possible ways; to undergo
+these things was deemed a proof of goodness, just as the contrary was a
+proof of evil. It mattered not what a man liked; the mere fact of his
+liking it, made it sinful. Whatever was natural, was wrong. The clergy
+deprived the people of their holidays, their amusements, their shows,
+their games, and their sports; they repressed every appearance of joy,
+they forbade all merriment, they stopped all festivities, they choked up
+every avenue by which pleasure could enter, and they spread over the
+country an universal gloom.[605] Then, truly, did darkness sit on the
+land. Men, in their daily actions and in their very looks, became
+troubled, melancholy, and ascetic. Their countenance soured, and was
+downcast. Not only their opinions, but their gait, their demeanour, their
+voice, their general aspect, were influenced by that deadly blight which
+nipped all that was genial and warm. The way of life fell into the sear
+and yellow leaf; its tints gradually deepened; its bloom faded, and
+passed off; its spring, its freshness, and its beauty, were gone; joy and
+love either disappeared or were forced to hide themselves in obscure
+corners, until at length the fairest and most endearing parts of our
+nature, being constantly repressed, ceased to bear fruit, and seemed to
+be withered into perpetual sterility.
+
+ [605] 'The absence of external appearances of joy in Scotland, in
+ contrast with the frequent holidayings and merry-makings of the
+ continent, has been much remarked upon. We find in the records of
+ ecclesiastical discipline clear traces of the process by which
+ this distinction was brought about. To the puritan kirk of the
+ sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, every outward demonstration
+ of natural good spirits was a sort of sin, to be as far as
+ possible repressed.' ... 'The whole sunshine of life was, as it
+ were, squeezed out of the community.' _Chambers' Annals of
+ Scotland_, vol. i. p. 336, vol. ii. p. 156.
+
+Thus it was, that the national character of the Scotch was, in the
+seventeenth century, dwarfed and mutilated. With nations, as with
+individuals, the harmony and free development of life can only be
+attained by exercising its principal functions boldly and without fear.
+Those functions are of two kinds; one set of them increasing the
+happiness of the mind, another set increasing the happiness of the body.
+If we could suppose a man completely perfect, we should take for granted
+that he would unite these two forms of pleasure in the highest degree,
+and would extract, both from body and mind, every enjoyment consistent
+with his own happiness, and with the happiness of others. But, as no such
+character is to be found, it invariably occurs, that even the wisest of
+us are unable to hold the balance; we, therefore, err, some in
+over-indulging the body, some in over-indulging the mind. Comparing one
+set of indulgences with the other, there can be no doubt that the
+intellectual pleasures are, in many respects, superior to the physical;
+they are more numerous, more varied, more permanent, and more ennobling;
+they are less liable to cause satiety in the individual, and they produce
+more good to the species. But for one person who can enjoy intellectual
+pleasures, there are at least a hundred who can enjoy physical pleasures.
+The happiness derived from gratifying the senses, being thus diffused
+over a wider area, and satisfying, at any given moment, a greater number
+of persons than the other form of happiness is capable of, does, on that
+account, possess an importance which many who call themselves
+philosophers are unwilling to recognize. Too often have philosophic and
+speculative thinkers, by a foolish denunciation of such pleasures, done
+all in their power to curtail the quantity of happiness of which humanity
+is susceptible. Forgetting that we have bodies as well as minds, and
+forgetting, too, that in an immense majority of instances the body is
+more active than the mind, that it is more powerful, that it plays a more
+conspicuous part, and is fitted for greater achievements, such writers
+commit the enormous error of despising that class of actions to which
+ninety-nine men out of every hundred are most prone, and for which they
+are best fitted. And for committing this error they pay the penalty of
+finding their books unread, their systems disregarded, and their scheme
+of life adopted, perhaps, by a small class of solitary students, but shut
+out from that great world of reality for which it is unsuited, and in
+which it would produce the most serious mischief.
+
+If, then, we review the history of opinion in connexion with the history
+of action, we may probably say, that the ascetic notions of philosophers,
+such, for instance, as the doctrines of the Stoics, and similar theories
+of mortification, have not worked the harm which might have been
+expected, and have not succeeded in abridging, to any perceptible extent,
+the substantial happiness of mankind. There are, I apprehend, two reasons
+why they have failed. In the first place, these philosophers have, with
+hardly an exception, had little real acquaintance with human nature, and
+have, therefore, been unable to touch those chords, and appeal to those
+hidden motives, by influencing which one man gains over another to his
+side. And, in the second place, they, fortunately for us, have never
+possessed authority, and have, therefore, been unable either to enforce
+their doctrine by penalties, or to recommend it by rewards.
+
+But, though philosophers have failed in their effort to lessen the
+pleasures of mankind, there is another body of men, who, in making the
+same attempt, have met with far greater success. I mean, of course, the
+theologians, who, considered as a class, have, in every country and in
+every age, deliberately opposed themselves to gratifications which are
+essential to the happiness of an overwhelming majority of the human race.
+Raising up a God of their own creation, whom they hold out as a lover of
+penance, of sacrifice, and of mortification, they, under this pretence,
+forbid enjoyments which are not only innocent, but praiseworthy. For,
+every enjoyment by which no one is injured, is innocent; and every
+innocent enjoyment is praiseworthy, because it assists in diffusing that
+spirit of content and of satisfaction which is favourable to the practice
+of benevolence towards others. The theologians, however, for reasons
+which I have already stated, cultivate an opposite spirit, and, whenever
+they have possessed power, they have always prohibited a large number of
+pleasurable actions, on the ground that such actions are offensive to the
+Deity. That they have no warrant for this, and that they are simply
+indulging in peremptory assertions on subjects respecting which we have
+no trustworthy information, is well known to those who, impartially, and
+without preconceived bias, have studied their arguments, and the evidence
+which they adduce. On this, however, I need not dilate; for, inasmuch as
+men are, almost every year, and certainly every generation, becoming more
+accustomed to close and accurate reasoning, just in the same proportion
+is the conviction spreading, that theologians proceed from arbitrary
+assumptions, for which they have no proof, except by appealing to other
+assumptions, equally arbitrary and equally unproven. Their whole system
+reposes upon fear, and upon fear of the worst kind; since, according to
+them, the Great Author of our being has used His omnipotence in so cruel
+a manner as to endow his creatures with tastes, instincts, and desires,
+which He not only forbids them to gratify, but which, if they do gratify,
+shall bring on themselves eternal punishment.
+
+What the theologians are to the closet, that are the priests to the
+pulpit. The theologians work upon the studious, who read; the clergy act
+upon the idle, who listen. Seeing, however, that the same man often
+performs both offices, and seeing, too, that the spirit and tendency of
+each office are the same, we may, for practical purposes, consider the
+two classes as identical; and, putting them together, and treating them
+as a whole, it must be admitted by whoever will take a comprehensive view
+of what they have actually done, that they have been, not only the most
+bitter foes of human happiness, but also the most successful ones. In
+their high and palmy days, when they reigned supreme, when credulity was
+universal and doubt unknown, they afflicted mankind in every possible
+way; enjoining fasts, and penances, and pilgrimages, teaching their
+simple and ignorant victims every kind of austerity, teaching them to
+flog their own bodies, to tear their own flesh, and to mortify the most
+natural of their appetites. This was the state of Europe in the middle
+ages. It is still the state of every part of the world where the
+priesthood are uncontrolled. Such ascetic and self-tormenting observances
+are the inevitable issue of the theological spirit, if that spirit is
+unchecked. Now, and owing to the rapid march of our knowledge, it is
+constantly losing ground, because the scientific and secular spirit is
+encroaching on its domain. Therefore, in our time, and especially in our
+country, its most repulsive features are disguised, and it is forced to
+mask its native ugliness. Among our clergy, a habit of grave and decent
+compromise has taken the place of that bold and fiery war which their
+predecessors waged against a sensual and benighted world. Their threats
+have perceptibly diminished. They now allow us a little pleasure, a
+little luxury, a little happiness. They no longer tell us to mortify
+every appetite, and to forego every comfort. The language of power has
+departed from them. Here and there, we find vestiges of the ancient
+spirit; but this is only among uneducated men, addressing an ignorant
+audience. The superior clergy, who have a character to lose, are grown
+cautious; and, whatever their private opinion may be, they rarely venture
+on those terrific denunciations with which their pulpits once resounded,
+and which, in times of yore, made the people shrink with fear, and
+humbled every one except him by whom the denunciation was uttered.
+
+Still, though much of this has vanished, enough remains to show what the
+theological spirit is, and to justify a belief, that nothing but the
+pressure of public opinion prevents it from breaking out into its former
+extravagance. Many of the clergy persist in attacking the pleasures of
+the world, forgetting that, not only the world, but all which the world
+contains, is the work of the Almighty, and that the instincts and
+desires, which they stigmatise as unholy, are part of his gifts to man.
+They have yet to learn, that our appetites, being as much a portion of
+ourselves as any other quality we possess, ought to be indulged,
+otherwise the whole individual is not developed. If a man suppresses part
+of himself, he becomes maimed and shorn. The proper limit to
+self-indulgence is, that he shall neither hurt himself nor hurt others.
+Short of this, everything is lawful. It is more than lawful; it is
+necessary. He who abstains from safe and moderate gratification of the
+senses, lets some of his essential faculties fall into abeyance, and
+must, on that account, be deemed imperfect and unfinished. Such an one is
+incomplete; he is crippled; he has never reached his full stature. He may
+be a monk; he may be a saint; but a man he is not. And now, more than
+ever, do we want true and genuine men. No previous age has had so much
+work to do, and, to accomplish that work, we need robust and vigorous
+natures, whose every function has been freely exercised without let or
+hindrance. Never before, was the practice of life so arduous; never were
+the problems presented to the human mind so numerous, or so complicated.
+Every addition to our knowledge, every fresh idea, opens up new
+difficulties, and gives birth to new combinations. Under this accumulated
+pressure, we shall assuredly sink, if we imitate the credulity of our
+forefathers, who allowed their energies to be cramped and weakened by
+those pernicious notions, which the clergy, partly from ignorance, and
+partly from interest, have, in every age, palmed on the people, and have,
+thereby, diminished the national happiness, and retarded the march of
+national prosperity.
+
+In the same way, we constantly hear of the evils of wealth, and of the
+sinfulness of loving money; although it is certain that, after the love
+of knowledge, there is no one passion which has done so much good to
+mankind as the love of money. It is to the love of money that we owe all
+trade and commerce; in other words, the possession of every comfort and
+luxury which our own country is unable to supply. Trade and commerce have
+made us familiar with the productions of many lands, have awakened
+curiosity, have widened our ideas by bringing us in contact with nations
+of various manners, speech, and thought, have supplied an outlet for
+energies which would otherwise have been pent up and wasted, have
+accustomed men to habits of enterprise, forethought, and calculation,
+have, moreover, communicated to us many arts of great utility, and have
+put us in possession of some of the most valuable remedies with which we
+are acquainted, either to save life or to lessen pain. These things we
+owe to the love of money. If theologians could succeed in their desire to
+destroy that love, all these things would cease, and we should relapse
+into comparative barbarism. The love of money, like all our appetites, is
+liable to abuse; but to declaim against it as evil in itself, and, above
+all, to represent it as a feeling, the indulgence of which provokes the
+wrath of God, is to betray an ignorance, natural, perhaps, in former
+ages, but shameful in our time, particularly when it proceeds from men
+who give themselves out as public teachers, and profess that it is their
+mission to enlighten the world.
+
+Injurious, however, as all this is to the best interests of society, it
+is nothing in comparison with the doctrines formerly advocated by the
+Scotch divines. What their ideas were, I have shown from their own
+sermons, the reading of which has been the most painful literary task I
+ever undertook, since, in addition to the narrowness and the dogmatism
+which even the best of such compositions contain, there is, in these
+productions, a hardness of heart, an austerity of temper, a want of
+sympathy with human happiness, and a hatred of human nature, such as have
+rarely been exhibited in any age, and, I rejoice to think, have never
+been exhibited in any other Protestant country. These things, I have
+resuscitated from the oblivion in which they had long been buried, partly
+because it was necessary to do so in order to understand the history of
+the Scotch mind, and partly because I desired to show what the tendency
+of theologians is, when that tendency is uncontrolled. Protestants,
+generally, are too apt to suppose that there is something in their creed
+which protects them against those hurtful extravagances which have been,
+and, to a certain extent, still are, practised in the Catholic Church.
+Never was a greater mistake. There is but one protection against the
+tyranny of any class; and that is, to give that class very little power.
+Whatever the pretensions of any body of men may be, however smooth their
+language, and however plausible their claims, they are sure to abuse
+power, if much of it is conferred on them. The entire history of the
+world affords no instance to the contrary. In Catholic countries, France
+alone excepted, the clergy have more authority than in Protestant
+countries. Therefore, in Catholic countries, they do more harm than in
+Protestant countries, and their peculiar views are developed with greater
+freedom. The difference depends, not on the nature of the creed, but on
+the power of the class. This is very apparent in Scotland, where the
+clergy, being supreme, did, Protestants though they were, imitate the
+ascetic, the unsocial, and the cruel doctrines, which, in the Catholic
+Church, gave rise to convents, fastings, scourgings, and all the other
+appliances of an uncouth and ungenial superstition.
+
+Indeed, the Scotch divines, in some of their theories, went beyond any
+section of the Catholic Church, except the Spanish. They sought to
+destroy, not only human pleasures, but also human affections. They held
+that our affections are necessarily connected with our lusts, and that we
+must, therefore, wean ourselves from them as earthly vanities.[606] A
+Christian had no business with love or sympathy. He had his own soul to
+attend to, and that was enough for him. Let him look to himself. On
+Sunday, in particular, he must never think of benefiting others; and the
+Scotch clergy did not hesitate to teach the people, that on that day it
+was sinful to save a vessel in distress, and that it was a proof of
+religion to leave ship and crew to perish.[607] They might go; none but
+their wives and children would suffer, and that was nothing in comparison
+with breaking the Sabbath. So, too, did the clergy teach, that on no
+occasion must food or shelter be given to a starving man, unless his
+opinions were orthodox.[608] What need for him to live? Indeed, they
+taught that it was a sin to tolerate his notions at all, and that the
+proper course was, to visit him with sharp and immediate punishment.[609]
+Going yet further, they broke the domestic ties, and set parents against
+their offspring. They taught the father to smite the unbelieving child,
+and to slay his own boy sooner than allow him to propagate error.[610] As
+if this were not enough, they tried to extirpate another affection, even
+more sacred and more devoted still. They laid their rude and merciless
+hands on the holiest passion of which our nature is capable, the love of
+a mother for her son. Into that sanctuary, they dared to intrude; into
+that, they thrust their gaunt and ungentle forms. If a mother held
+opinions of which they disapproved, they did not scruple to invade her
+household, take away her children, and forbid her to hold communication
+with them.[611] Or if, perchance, her son had incurred their displeasure,
+they were not satisfied with forcible separation, but they laboured to
+corrupt her heart, and harden it against her child, so that she might be
+privy to the act. In one of these cases, mentioned in the records of the
+church of Glasgow, the Kirk-Session of that town summoned before them a
+woman, merely because she had received into her house her own son, after
+the clergy had excommunicated him. So effectually did they work upon her
+mind, that they induced her to promise, not only that she would shut her
+door against her child, but that she would aid in bringing him to
+punishment. She had sinned in loving him; she had sinned, even, in giving
+him shelter; but, says the record, 'she promised not to do it again, and
+to tell the magistrates when he comes next to her.'[612]
+
+ [606] 'A Christian should mortifie his affections, which are his
+ predominant lusts, to which our affections are so much joined, and
+ our soul doth so much go out after.' _Gray's Spiritual Warfare_,
+ p. 29. 'That blessed work of weaning of affections from all things
+ that are here.' _Gray's Great and Precious Promises_, p. 86.
+
+ [607] 'One of our more northern ministers, whose parish lies along the
+ coast between Spey and Findorn, made some fishermen do penance for
+ sabbath-breaking, in going out to sea, though purely with
+ endeavour to save a vessel in distress by a storm.' _Letters from
+ a Gentleman in the North of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 173.
+
+ [608] 'The master of a family may, and ought to, deny an act of humanity
+ or hospitality to strangers that are false teachers.'
+ _Rutherford's Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of
+ Conscience_, p. 176. 'The Holy Ghost forbiddeth the master of
+ every Christian family to owne a hereticke as a guest.' _Ibid._,
+ p. 219. See also p. 235.
+
+ [609] 'We hold that tolleration of all religions is not farre from
+ blasphemy.' _Rutherford's Free Disputation against Pretended
+ Liberty of Conscience_, p. 20. 'If wolves be permitted to teach
+ what is right in their own erroneous conscience, and there be no
+ "Magistrate to put them to shame," _Judg._ xviii. 7, and no King
+ to punish them, then godlinesse and all that concernes the first
+ Table of the Law must be marred.' _Ibid._, p. 230. 'Wilde and
+ atheisticall liberty of conscience,' p. 337. 'Cursed toleration,'
+ p. 400. See also, in the same work (pp. 110, 244), Rutherford's
+ remarks on the murder of Servetus. In 1645, Baillie, who was then
+ in London, writes, 'The Independents here plead for a tolleration
+ both for themselfes and other sects. My Dissuasive is come in time
+ to doe service here. We hope God will assist us to remonstrate the
+ wickedness of such an tolleration.' And on account of the
+ Independents wishing to show common charity towards persons who
+ differed in opinions from themselves, Baillie writes next year
+ (1646), 'The Independents has the least zeale to the truth of God
+ of any men we know.' _Baillie's Letters and Journals_, vol. ii.
+ pp. 328, 361. Blair, who was in London in 1649, was sorely vexed
+ with 'the most illegal, irreligious, and wicked proceedings and
+ actings of the sectarian army;' one of their crimes being the
+ attempt 'to ruin religion by their toleration.' _Continuation of
+ the Autobiography of Mr. Robert Blair, Minister of St. Andrews_,
+ p. 213. For other evidence of this persecuting spirit, see
+ _Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error_, pp. 159, 163, 199-202;
+ _Abernethy's Physicke for the Soule_, p. 215; _Durham's Exposition
+ of the Song of Solomon_, p. 147; _Durham's Commentarie upon the
+ Book of the Revelation_, pp. 141, 143, 330; and _Shields' Hind let
+ loose_, p. 168.
+
+ [610] 'A third benefit (which is a branch of the former), is zeal in the
+ godly against false teachers, who shall be so tender of the truth
+ and glory of God, and the safety of the Church (all which are
+ endangered by error), that it shall overcome natural affection in
+ them; so that parents shall not _spare their own children_, being
+ seducers, but shall either by an heroick act (such as was in
+ Phinehas, _Numb._ XXV. 8), _themselves judge him worthy to die,
+ and give sentence and execute it_, or cause him to be punished, by
+ bringing him to the Magistrate,' &c.... 'The toleration of a false
+ religion in doctrine or worship, and the exemption of the
+ erroneous from civil punishment, is no more lawful under the New
+ Testament than it was under the Old.' _An Exposition of the
+ Prophecie of Zechariah_, in _Hutcheson's Exposition on the Minor
+ Prophets_, vol. iii. p. 203, 8vo. 1654.
+
+ [611] _Selections from the Registers of the Presbytery of Lanark_,
+ pp. x. 33, 56, 63, 65, 73.
+
+ [612] I copy the exact words from _Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives
+ of Ministers of the Church of Scotland_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 71.
+ An order had been previously obtained from the government,
+ 'requiring the magistrates to expell furth of the Toun all
+ excomunicated persons.'
+
+She promised not to do it again. She promised to forget him, whom she had
+born of her womb and suckled at her breast. She promised to forget her
+boy, who had ofttimes crept to her knees, who had slept in her bosom, and
+whose tender frame she had watched over and nursed. All the dearest
+associations of the past, all that the most exquisite form of human
+affection can give or receive, all that delights the memory, all that
+brightens the prospect of life, all vanished, all passed away from the
+mind of this poor woman, at the bidding of her spiritual masters. At one
+fell swoop, all were gone. So potent were the arts of these men, that
+they persuaded the mother to conspire against her son, that she might
+deliver him up to them. They defiled her nature, by purging it of its
+love. From that day her soul was polluted. She was lost to herself, as
+well as lost to her son. To hear of such things is enough to make one's
+blood surge again, and raise a tempest in our inmost nature. But to have
+seen them, to have lived in the midst of them, and yet not to have
+rebelled against them, is to us utterly inconceivable, and proves in how
+complete a thraldom the Scotch were held, and how thoroughly their minds,
+as well as their bodies, were enslaved.
+
+What more need I say? What further evidence need I bring to elucidate the
+real character of one of the most detestable tyrannies ever seen on the
+earth? When the Scotch Kirk was at the height of its power, we may search
+history in vain for any institution which can compete with it, except the
+Spanish Inquisition. Between these two, there is a close and intimate
+analogy. Both were intolerant, both were cruel, both made war upon the
+finest parts of human nature, and both destroyed every vestige of
+religions freedom. One difference, however, there was, of vast
+importance. In political matters, the Church, which was servile in Spain,
+was rebellious in Scotland. Hence the Scotch always had one direction in
+which they could speak and act with unrestrained liberty. In politics,
+they found their vent. There, the mind was free. And this was their
+salvation. This saved them from the fate of Spain, by securing to them
+the exercise of those faculties which otherwise would have lain dormant,
+if, indeed, they had not been entirely destroyed by that long and
+enfeebling servitude in which their clergy retained them, and from which,
+but for this favourable circumstance, no escape would have been open.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ AN EXAMINATION OF THE SCOTCH INTELLECT DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+
+To complete the history and analysis of the Scotch mind, I have now to
+examine the peculiar intellectual movement which appeared in the
+eighteenth century, and which, for several reasons, deserves careful
+attention. It was essentially a reaction against that theological spirit
+which predominated during the seventeenth century. Such a reaction would
+hardly have been possible, except for the fact which I have already
+noticed, namely, that the political activity which produced the rebellion
+against the Stuarts, saved the Scotch mind from stagnating, and prevented
+that deep slumber into which the progress of superstition would naturally
+have thrown it. The long and stubborn conflict with a despotic
+government, kept alive a certain alertness and vigour of understanding,
+which survived the struggle that gave it birth. When the contest was
+ended, and peace was restored, the faculties which, for three
+generations, had been exercised in resisting the executive authority,
+sought other employment, and found another field in which they could
+disport themselves. Hence it was, that the boldness which, in the
+seventeenth century, was practical, became, in the eighteenth century,
+speculative, and produced a literature, which attempted to unsettle
+former opinions, and to disturb the ancient landmarks of the human mind.
+The movement was revolutionary, and bore the same relation to
+ecclesiastical tyranny, which the previous movement had borne to
+political tyranny. But this new rebellion had one striking
+characteristic. In nearly every other country, when the intellect has
+fairly arrayed itself against the exclusive pretensions of the Church,
+it has happened that the secular philosophy, which has been engendered,
+has been an inductive philosophy, taking for its basis individual and
+specific experience, and seeking, by that means, to overthrow the general
+and traditional notions, on which all church power is founded. The plan
+has been, to refuse to accept principles which could not be substantiated
+by facts; while the opposite and theological plan is, to force the facts
+to yield to the principles. In the former case, experience precedes
+theory; in the latter case, theory precedes experience, and controls it.
+In theology, certain principles are taken for granted; and, it being
+deemed impious to question them, all that remains for us is to reason
+from them downwards. This is the deductive method. On the other hand, the
+inductive method will concede nothing, but insists upon reasoning
+upwards, and demands that we shall have the liberty of ascertaining the
+principles for ourselves. In a complete scheme of our knowledge, and when
+all our resources are fully developed and marshalled into order, as they
+must eventually be, the two methods will be, not hostile, but
+supplementary, and will be combined into a single system. At present,
+however, we are very far from such a result; and not only is every mind
+more prone to one method than to another, but we find, historically, that
+different ages and different countries have been characterised by the
+extent to which one of these two schemes has predominated; and we also
+find, that a study of this antagonism is the surest way of understanding
+the intellectual condition of any period.
+
+That the inductive philosophy is even more marked by its secular
+tendencies than by its scientific ones, will be evident to whoever
+observes the epochs in which it has been most active, and has possessed
+most adherents. Of this, the history of the French mind, in the
+eighteenth century, affords a good instance, where, after the death of
+Louis XIV., we may clearly trace the connexion between the growth of the
+inductive method, and the subsequent overthrow of the Gallican Church. In
+England, too, the rise of the Baconian philosophy, with its determination
+to subordinate ancient principles to modern experience, was the heaviest
+blow which has ever been inflicted on the theologians, whose method is to
+begin, not with experience, but with principles, which are said to be
+inscrutable, and which we are bound to believe without further
+difficulty. And I need hardly remind the reader, that scarcely was that
+philosophy established among us, when it produced those bold inquiries
+which quickly ended in the downfall of the English Church under Charles
+I. From that terrible defeat, our clergy did, for a time, partly rally;
+but as their apparent success, in the reign of Charles II., was owing to
+political changes, and not to social ones, they were unable to recover
+their hold over society, and, unless the nation should retrograde, there
+is no possibility that they ever should recover it. Over the inferior
+order of minds, they still wield great influence; but the Baconian
+philosophy, by bringing their favourite method into disrepute, has sapped
+the very base of their system. From the moment that their mode of
+investigation was discredited, the secret of their power was gone. From
+the moment that men began to insist on inquiring into the validity of
+first principles, instead of accepting them without inquiry, and humbly
+submitting to them as matters of faith and of necessary belief; from that
+moment, the theologians, driven from one post to another, and constantly
+receding before the pressure of advancing knowledge, have been forced to
+abandon entrenchment after entrenchment, until what they have retained of
+their former territory is hardly worth the struggle. As a last resource,
+they, at the close of the eighteenth century, determined to use the
+weapons of their opponents; and Paley and his successors, enlarging the
+scheme which Ray and Derham had feebly sketched, endeavoured, by a
+skilful employment of the inductive method, to compensate their party for
+the failure of the deductive one. But their project, though ably
+conceived, has come to naught. It is now generally admitted, that nothing
+can be made of it, and that it is impossible to establish the old
+theological premises by a chain of inductive reasoning. Respecting this,
+the most eminent philosophers agree with the most eminent theologians;
+and, since the time of Kant in Germany, and of Coleridge in England,
+none of our ablest men, even among divines themselves, have recurred to a
+plan which Paley, indeed, pursued with vigour, but of which our
+Bridgewater Treatises, our Prize-Essays, and such schoolboy productions,
+are poor and barren imitations.[613] No great thinkers now follow this
+course in matters of religion. On the contrary, they prefer the safer, as
+well as the more philosophic, method, of dealing with these subjects on
+transcendental grounds, frankly confessing that they elude the grasp of
+that inductive philosophy which, in the department of science, has
+achieved such signal triumphs.
+
+ [613] Of course, I say this merely in reference to their theological
+ bearings. Some of the Bridgewater Treatises, such as Bell's,
+ Buckland's, and Prout's, had great scientific merit at the time of
+ their appearance, and may even now be studied with advantage; but
+ the religious portion of them is pitiable, and shows either that
+ their heart was not in their work, or else that the subject was
+ too wide for them. At all events, it is to be hoped that we shall
+ never again see men of equal eminence hiring themselves out as
+ paid advocates, and receiving fees to support particular opinions.
+ It is truly disgraceful that such great speculative questions,
+ instead of being subjected to fair and disinterested argument,
+ with a view of eliciting the truth, should be turned into a
+ pecuniary transaction, in which any one of much money and little
+ wit, can bribe as many persons as he likes, to prejudice the
+ public ear in favour of his own theories.
+
+The opposition of these two methods, and the inapplicability of the
+inductive method to theological pursuits being thus apparent, it is not
+strange that the Scotch should have adopted one of the methods with great
+zeal, and to the almost complete exclusion of the other. Scotland, being
+essentially theological, followed the theological plan. The intellectual
+history of that country, in the seventeenth century, is almost entirely
+the history of theology. With the single exception of Napier, who was
+born in the middle of the sixteenth century, all the most vigorous
+thinkers were divines. In physical science, scarcely anything was
+done.[614] There was no poetry, no drama, no original philosophy, no
+fine compositions, no secular literature, now worth reading.[615] The
+only men of real influence were the clergy. They governed the nation and
+the pulpit was the chief engine of their power. From the pulpit, they
+moved all classes and all sorts intellects; the highest as well as the
+lowest. There, they instructed them, and threatened them; saying whatever
+they liked, and knowing that what they said would be believed.[616] But
+all their sermons, and all their controversial writings, are eminently
+deductive; not of them attempts an inductive argument. The idea of such a
+thing never entered their heads. They assumed the truth of their own
+religion and moral notions, most of which they had borrowed from
+antiquity; they made those notions the major premises of their
+syllogisms, and from them they reasoned downwards till they obtained
+their conclusions. They never suspected that premises, taken from ancient
+times might be the result of the inductions of those times and that, as
+knowledge advanced, the inductions might need revising. They assumed,
+that God has given us first principles, and that He, having revealed them
+it would ill become us to scrutinize them. That He had revealed them,
+they took for granted, and deemed it unnecessary to prove.[617] Their
+method being entirely deductive, all they were concerned with was to
+beware that no error crept in between the premises and the conclusions.
+And this part of their task they accomplished with great ability. They
+were acute dialecticians, and rarely blundered in what is termed the
+formal part of logic. In dealing with their premises after they obtained
+them, they were extremely skilful; how they obtained them, they were very
+heedless. That was a point they never examined with anything approaching
+to impartiality. According to their method, all that was requisite was,
+to draw inferences from what had been supernaturally communicated. On the
+other hand, the inductive method would have taught them that the first
+question was, whether or not they had been supernaturally communicated?
+They, as deductive reasoners, assumed the very preliminaries which
+inductive reasoners would have disputed. They proceeded from generals to
+particulars, instead of from particulars to generals. And they would not
+allow either themselves or others to sift the general propositions, which
+were to cover and control the particular facts. It was enough for them
+that the wider propositions were already established, and were to be
+treated according to the rules of the old and syllogistic logic. Indeed,
+they were so convinced of the impropriety of the inductive method, that
+they did not hesitate to assert, that it was by means of the syllogism
+that the Deity communicated His wishes to man.[618]
+
+ [614] 'It is humiliating to have to remark, that the notices of comets
+ which we derive from Scotch writers down to this time (1682)
+ contain nothing but accounts of the popular fancies regarding
+ them. Practical astronomy seems to have then been unknown in our
+ country; and hence, while in other lands, men were carefully
+ observing, computing, and approaching to just conclusions
+ regarding these illustrious strangers of the sky, our diarists
+ could only tell us how many _yards_ long they seemed to be, what
+ _effects_ were apprehended from them in the way of war and
+ pestilence, and how certain pious divines "improved" them for
+ spiritual edification. Early in this century Scotland had produced
+ one great philosopher, who had supplied his craft with the
+ mathematical instruments by which complex problems, such as the
+ movement of comets, were alone to be solved. It might have been
+ expected that the country of Napier, seventy years after his time,
+ would have had many sons capable of applying his key to such
+ mysteries of nature. But no one had arisen--nor did any rise for
+ fifty years onward, when at length Colin Maclaurin unfolded in the
+ Edinburgh University the sublime philosophy of Newton. There could
+ not be a more expressive signification of the character of the
+ seventeenth century in Scotland. Our unhappy contentions about
+ external religious matters had absorbed the whole genius of the
+ people, rendering to us the age of Cowley, of Waller, and of
+ Milton, as barren of elegant literature, as that of Horrocks, of
+ Halley, and of Newton, was of science.' _Chambers' Domestic Annals
+ of Scotland_, vol. ii. pp. 444, 445.
+
+ [615] 'Thus, during the whole seventeenth century, the English were
+ gradually refining their language and their taste; in Scotland,
+ the former was much debased, and the latter almost entirely lost.'
+ _History of Scotland_, book viii., in _Robertson's Works_, p. 260.
+
+ 'But the taste and science, the genius and the learning of the
+ age, were absorbed in the gulph of religious controversy. At a
+ time when the learning of Selden, and the genius of Milton,
+ conspired to adorn England, the Scots were reduced to such writers
+ as Baillie, Rutherford, Guthrie, and the two Gillespies.' _Laing's
+ History of Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 510. 'From the Restoration down
+ to the Union, the only author of eminence whom Scotland produced
+ was Burnet.' _Ibid._, vol. iv. p. 406.
+
+ 'The seventeenth century, fatal to the good taste of Italy, threw
+ a total night over Scotland.' ... 'Not one writer who does the
+ least credit to the nation flourished during the century from 1615
+ to 1715, excepting Burnet, whose name would, indeed, honour the
+ brightest period. In particular, no poet whose works merit
+ preservation arose. By a singular fatality, the century which
+ stands highest in English history and genius, is one of the
+ darkest in those of Scotland.' _Ancient Scotish Poems, edited by
+ John Pinkerton_, vol. i. pp. iii. iv., London, 1786.
+
+ [616] Ray, who visited Scotland in 1661, could not suppress a little
+ professional envy, when he saw how much higher ecclesiastics were
+ rated there than in England. He says, 'the people here frequent
+ their churches much better than in England, and have their
+ ministers in more esteem and veneration.' _Ray's Memorials, edited
+ by Dr. Lankester for the Ray Society_, p. 161.
+
+ [617] 'Believing ignorance is much better than rash and presumptuous
+ knowledge. Ask not a reason of these things, but rather adore and
+ tremble at the mystery and majesty of them.' _Binning's Sermons_,
+ vol. i. p. 143. Even Biblical criticism was prohibited; and
+ Dickson says of the different books of the Bible, 'We are not to
+ trouble ourselves about the name of the writer, or time of writing
+ of any part thereof, especially because God of set purpose
+ concealeth the name sundry times of the writer, and the time when
+ it was written.' _Dickson's Explication of the Psalms_, p. 291.
+
+ [618] 'Christ from heaven proposeth a syllogism to Saul's fury.'
+ _Rutherford's Christ Dying_, p. 180. 'The conclusion of a
+ practical syllogism, whereby the believer concluded from the
+ Gospel that he shall be saved.' _Durham's Law Unsealed_, p. 97.
+ 'All assurance is by practical syllogism, the first whereof must
+ needs be a Scripture truth.' _Gray's Precious Promises_, p. 139.
+
+It was naturally to be expected, that the clergy, holding these views
+respecting the best means of arriving at truth, should do all in their
+power to bring over the nation to their side, and should labour to make
+their own method of investigation entirely supersede the opposite method.
+Nor was this a very difficult task. The prevailing credulity was one
+great point in their favour, inasmuch as it made men more willing to
+accept propositions than to scrutinise them. When the propositions were
+accepted, nothing was left but to reason from them; and the most active
+intellects in Scotland, being constantly engaged in this process,
+acquired complete mastery over it, and the dexterity they displayed
+increased its repute. Besides this, the clergy, who were its zealous
+champions, had monopolized all the sources of education, both public and
+private. In no other Protestant country, have they exercised such control
+over the universities; not only the doctrines taught, but also the mode
+of teaching them, being, in Scotland, placed under the supervision of the
+Church.[619] This power they, of course, used to propagate their own plan
+of obtaining truth; and, as long as their power remained undiminished, it
+was hardly possible that the opposite, or inductive, plan should gain a
+hearing. Over grammar-schools, the clergy possessed an authority fully
+equal to that which they had in the universities.[620] They also
+appointed and removed, at their own pleasure, teachers of every grade,
+from village schoolmasters to tutors in private families.[621] In this
+way, each generation, as it arose, was brought under their influence, and
+made subject to their notions. Taking the mind of Scotland while it was
+young and flexible, they bent it to their own method. Hence, that method
+became supreme; it reigned every where; not a voice was lifted up against
+it; and no one had an idea that there was more than one path by which
+truth could be reached, or that the human understanding was of any use,
+except to deal deductively with premisses, which were not to be
+inductively examined.
+
+ [619] Bower (_History of the University of Edinburgh_, vol. i. p. 217)
+ says, 'The history of the universities and of the church is, in
+ modern Europe, and perhaps in every other civilized portion of the
+ globe, very nearly connected. They are more nearly connected in
+ Scotland than in any other civilized country called Protestant;
+ because the General Assembly have the legal power of inquiring
+ into the economy of the institutions, both as it respects the mode
+ of teaching, and the doctrines, whether religious, moral, or
+ physical, which are taught.' Spalding, under the year 1639, gives
+ an instance of the power of the General Assembly in 'the College
+ of Old Aberdeen.' _Spalding's History of the Troubles_, vol. i. p.
+ 178. See also, on the authority exercised by the General Assembly
+ over the universities, a curious little book, called _The
+ Government and Order of the Church of Scotland_, Edinburgh, 1690,
+ p. 25.
+
+ [620] In 1632, the 'ministers' of Perth were greatly displeased because
+ John Row was made master of the grammar-school without their
+ consent. _The Chronicle of Perth_, p. 33, where it is stated that,
+ consequently, 'thair wes much outcrying in the pulpett.'
+
+ [621] See, for instance, _Minutes of the Presbyteries of St. Andrews and
+ Cupar_, pp. 66, 83, 84, 118. One of the entries is, that in
+ January 1648, 'The Presbyterie ordained that all young students,
+ who waittes on noblemen or gentlemen within thir bounds, aither to
+ teach ther children, or catechise and pray in ther families, to
+ frequent the Presbyterie, that the brether may cognosce what they
+ ar reading, and what proficiencie they make in ther studies, and
+ to know also ther behaviour in the said families, and of their
+ affectione to the Covenant and present religione.' p. 118. Compare
+ _Selections from the Registers of the Presbytery of Lanark_,
+ pp. 56, 65.
+
+The inductive or analytic spirit being thus unknown, and the deductive or
+synthetic spirit being alone favoured, it happened that, when, early in
+the eighteenth century, the circumstances already mentioned gave rise to
+a great intellectual movement, that movement, though new in its results,
+was not new in the method by which the results were obtained. A secular
+philosophy was, indeed, established, and the ablest men, instead of being
+theological, became scientific. But so completely had the theological
+plan occupied Scotland, that even philosophers were unable to escape from
+its method, and, as I am about to show, the inductive method exercised no
+influence over them. This most curious fact is the key to the history of
+Scotland in the eighteenth century, and explains many events which would
+otherwise appear incompatible with each other. It also suggests an
+analogy with Germany, where the deductive method has, for a long period,
+been equally prevalent, owing to precisely the same causes. In both
+countries, the secular movement of the eighteenth century was unable to
+become inductive; and this intellectual affinity between two such
+otherwise different nations, is, I have no doubt, the principal reason
+why the Scotch and German philosophies have so remarkably acted and
+reacted upon each other; Kant and Hamilton being the most finished
+specimens of their intercourse. To this, England forms a complete
+contrast. For more than a hundred and fifty years after the death of
+Bacon, the greatest English thinkers, Newton and Harvey excepted, were
+eminently inductive; nor was it until the nineteenth century that signs
+were clearly exhibited of a counter-movement, and an attempt was made to
+return in some degree to the deductive method.[622] This we are, in many
+respects, justified in doing, because, in the progress of our knowledge,
+we have, by a long course of induction, arrived at several conclusions
+which we may safely treat deductively; that is to say, we may make them
+the major premisses of new arguments. The same process has been seen in
+France, where the exclusively inductive philosophy of the eighteenth
+century preceded a partial resuscitation of deductive philosophy in the
+nineteenth century. In Scotland, however, there have been no such
+vicissitudes. In that country, men have always been deductive; even the
+most original thinkers being unable to liberate themselves from the
+universal tendency, and being forced to accept a method which time had
+consecrated, and which was interwoven with all the associations of the
+national mind.
+
+ [622] This I have already touched upon in the first volume, pp. 808,
+ 809. Hereafter, and in my special history of the English mind, I
+ shall examine it carefully and in detail. The revival of the old
+ logic is a great symptom of it. Works like those of Whately, De
+ Morgan, and Mansel, could not have been produced in tho eighteenth
+ century, or, at all events, if by some extraordinary combination
+ of events they had been produced, they would have found no
+ readers. As it is, they have exercised a very extensive and very
+ salutary influence; and, although Archbishop Whately was not well
+ acquainted with the history of formal logic, his exposition of its
+ ordinary processes is so admirably clear, that he has probably
+ contributed more than any other man towards impressing his
+ contemporaries with a sense of the value of deductive reasoning.
+ He has, however, not done sufficient justice to the opposite
+ school, and has, indeed, fallen into the old academical error of
+ supposing that all reasoning is by syllogism. We might just as
+ well say that all movement is by descent.
+
+To understand the investigation into which we are about to enter, the
+reader must firmly seize, and keep before his eyes, the essential
+difference between deduction, which reasons from principles, and
+induction, which reasons to principles. He must remember, that induction
+proceeds from the smaller to the greater; deduction, from the greater to
+the smaller. Induction is from particulars to generals, and from the
+senses to the ideas; deduction is from generals to particulars, and from
+the ideas to the senses. By induction, we rise from the concrete to the
+abstract; by deduction, we descend from the abstract to the concrete.
+Accompanying this distinction, there are certain qualities of mind,
+which, with extremely few exceptions, characterize the age, nation, or
+individual, in which one of these methods is predominant. The inductive
+philosopher is naturally cautious, patient, and somewhat creeping; while
+the deductive philosopher is more remarkable for boldness, dexterity, and
+often rashness. The deductive thinker invariably assumes certain
+premisses, which are quite different from the hypotheses essential to the
+best induction. These premisses are sometimes borrowed from antiquity;
+sometimes they are taken from the notions which happen to prevail in the
+surrounding society; sometimes they are the result of a man's own
+peculiar organization; and sometimes, as we shall presently see, they are
+deliberately invented, with the object of arriving, not at truth, but at
+an approximation to truth. Finally, and to sum up the whole, we may say
+that a deductive habit, being essentially synthetic, always tends to
+multiply original principles or laws; while the tendency of an inductive
+habit is to diminish those laws by gradual and successive analysis.
+
+These being the two fundamental divisions of human inquiry, it is surely
+a most remarkable fact in the history of Scotland, that, during the
+eighteenth century, all the great thinkers belonged to the former
+division, and that, in the very few instances of induction which their
+works contain, it is evident, from the steps they subsequently took, that
+they regarded such inductions as unimportant in themselves, and as only
+valuable in so far as they supplied the premisses for another and
+deductive investigation. As the various departments of our knowledge have
+never yet been co-ordinated and treated as a whole, probably no one is
+aware of the universality of this movement in Scotland, and of the extent
+to which it pervaded every science, and governed every phase of thought.
+To prove, therefore, the force with which it acted, I now purpose to
+examine its working in all the principal forms of speculation, whether
+physical or moral, and to show that in each the same method was adopted.
+In doing this, I must, for the sake of clearness, proceed according to a
+natural arrangement of the different topics; but I will, whenever it is
+possible, also follow the chronological order in which the Scotch mind
+unfolded itself; so that we may understand, not only the character of
+that remarkable literature, but likewise the steps of its growth, and the
+astonishing vigour with which it emancipated itself from the shackles
+which superstition had imposed.
+
+The beginning of the great secular philosophy of Scotland is undoubtedly
+due to Francis Hutcheson.[623] This eminent man, though born in Ireland,
+was of Scotch family, and was educated in the University of Glasgow,
+where he received the appointment of Professor of Philosophy in the year
+1729.[624] By his lectures, and by his works, he diffused a taste for
+bold inquiries into subjects of the deepest importance, but concerning
+which it had previously been supposed nothing fresh was to be learned;
+the Scotch having hitherto been taught, that all truths respecting our
+own nature, which were essential to be known, had been already revealed.
+Hutcheson, however, did not fear to construct a system of morals
+according to a plan entirely secular, and no example of which had been
+exhibited in Scotland before his time. The principles from which he
+started, were not theological, but metaphysical. They were collected from
+what he deemed the natural constitution of the mind, instead of being
+collected, as heretofore, from what had been supernaturally communicated.
+He, therefore, shifted the field of study. Though he was a firm believer
+in revelation, he held that the best rules of conduct could be
+ascertained without its assistance, and could be arrived at by the
+unaided wit of man; and that, when arrived at, they were, in their
+aggregate, to be respected as the Law of Nature.[625] This confidence in
+the power of the human understanding was altogether new in Scotland, and
+its appearance forms an epoch in the national literature. Previously, men
+had been taught that the understanding was a rash and foolish thing,
+which ought to be repressed, and which was unfit to cope with the
+problems presented to it.[626] Hutcheson, however, held that it was quite
+able to deal with them, but that, to do so, it must be free and
+unfettered. Hence, he strenuously advocated that right of private
+judgment which the Scotch Kirk had not only assailed, but had almost
+destroyed. He insisted that each person had a right to form his opinion
+according to the evidence he possessed, and that, this right being
+inalienable, none but weak minds would abstain from exercising it.[627]
+Every one was to judge according to his own light, and nothing could be
+gained by inducing men to profess sentiments contrary to their
+convictions.[628] So far, however, was this from being understood, that
+we found all the little sects quarrelling among themselves, and abusing
+each other, merely because their views were different. It was strange to
+hear how the professors of one creed would stigmatize the professors of
+other creeds as idolatrous, and would demand that penalties should be
+inflicted on them. In point of fact, all had much that was good; and
+their only real evil was, this love of persecution.[629] But the vulgar
+deemed every one a heretic who did not believe what they believed; and
+this way of thinking had been too much countenanced by the clergy, many
+of whom felt their vanity offended at the idea of laymen pretending to be
+wiser than their spiritual teachers, and venturing to disagree with what
+they said.[630]
+
+ [623] See a letter from Sir James Mackintosh to Parr, in _Mackintosh's
+ Memoirs_, London, 1835, vol. i. p. 334. 'To Hutcheson the taste
+ for speculation in Scotland, and all the philosophical opinions
+ (except the Berkleian Humism) may be traced.' M. Cousin (_Histoire
+ de la Philosophie_, premiere serie, vol. iv. p. 35, Paris, 1846)
+ observes, that before Hutcheson 'il n'avait paru en Ecosse ni un
+ ecrivain ni un professeur de philosophie un peu remarquable.'
+
+ [624] _Tytler's Memoirs of Kames_, Edinburgh, 1814, vol. i. p. 223.
+ _Hutcheson's Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. iii. London, 1755, 4to.
+
+ [625] 'The intention of Moral Philosophy is to direct men to that course
+ of action which tends most effectually to promote their greatest
+ happiness and perfection; as far as it can be done by observations
+ and conclusions discoverable from the constitution of nature,
+ without any aids of supernatural revelation: these maxims or rules
+ of conduct are therefore reputed as laws of nature, and the system
+ or collection of them is called the LAW OF NATURE.' _Hutcheson's
+ Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 1.
+
+ [626] 'The natural understanding is the most whorish thing in the
+ world.' ... 'The understanding, even in the search of truth
+ amongst the creatures, is a rash, precipitate, and unquiet thing.'
+ _Rutherford's Christ Dying_, p. 181. 'Innocent Adam,' indeed, says
+ Boston, 'Innocent Adam had a stock of gracious abilities, whereby
+ he might have, by the force of moral considerations, brought
+ himself to perform duty aright. But where is that with us?'
+ _Boston's Sermons_, p. 65.
+
+ [627] 'A like natural right every intelligent being has about his own
+ opinions, speculative or practical, to judge according to the
+ evidence that appears to him. This right appears from the very
+ constitution of the rational mind, which can assent or dissent
+ solely according to the evidence presented, and naturally desires
+ knowledge. The same considerations show this right to be
+ unalienable: it cannot be subjected to the will of another: though
+ where there is a previous judgment formed concerning the superior
+ wisdom of another, or his infallibility, the opinion of this
+ other, to a weak mind, may become sufficient evidence. As to
+ opinions about the Deity, religion, and virtue, this right is
+ further confirmed by all the noblest desires of the soul; as there
+ can be no virtue, but rather impiety in not adhering to the
+ opinions we think just, and in professing the contrary.'
+ _Hutcheson's Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. pp. 295, 296. See also
+ vol. ii. p. 311. 'Every rational creature has a right to judge for
+ itself in these matters: and as men must assent according to the
+ evidence that appears to them, and cannot command their own assent
+ in opposition to it, this right is plainly unalienable.'
+
+ [628] 'Thus no man can really change his sentiments, judgments, and
+ inward affections, at the pleasure of another, nor can it tend to
+ any good to make him profess what is contrary to his heart.'
+ _Hutcheson's Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. pp. 261, 262.
+
+ [629] 'Arians and Socinians are idolaters and denyers of God, say the
+ orthodox. They retort upon the orthodox, that they are Tritheists;
+ and so do other sects; and thus they spirit up magistrates to
+ persecute. While yet it is plain that in all these sects there are
+ all the same motives to all social virtues from a belief of a
+ moral providence, the same acknowledgments that the goodness of
+ God is the source of all the good we enjoy or hope for, and the
+ same gratitude and resignation to him recommended. Nor do any of
+ their schemes excite men to vices, except that horrid tenet, too
+ common to most of them, the right of persecuting.' _Hutcheson's
+ Moral Philosophy_, vol. ii. p. 316. See also vol. i. p. 160; and
+ _Hutcheson's Inquiry into our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue_, London,
+ 1738, p. 283.
+
+ [630] 'We all know the notions entertained by the vulgar concerning all
+ hereticks; we know the pride of schoolmen and many ecclesiasticks;
+ how it galls their insolent vanity that any man should assume to
+ himself to be wiser than they in tenets of religion by differing
+ from them.' _Hutcheson's Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 167.
+
+Such large views of liberty were far in advance of the country in which
+they were propounded, and could exercise no influence, except over a few
+thinking men. These, and similar doctrines, were, however, repeated by
+Hutcheson, in his lectures, every year.[631] And strange, indeed, they
+must have seemed. To those who received them, they were utterly
+subversive of the prevailing theological spirit, which regarded
+toleration as impious, and which, seeking to confine the human mind
+within the limits of foregone conclusions, deemed it a duty to chastise
+those who overstepped them. In opposition to this, Hutcheson let in the
+elements of inquiry, of discussion, and of doubt. There is also another
+point in which his philosophy is memorable, as the beginning of the great
+rebellion of the Scotch intellect. We saw, in the last chapter, how
+successfully the teachers of the people had inculcated doctrines of the
+darkest asceticism, and how naturally those doctrines had arisen out of
+the enormous authority possessed by the Church. Against such notions,
+Hutcheson set his face strenuously. He rightly supposed, that an
+admiration of every kind of beauty, so far from being sinful, is
+essential to a complete and well-balanced mind; and the most original
+part of his philosophy consists of the inquiries which he made into the
+working and origin of our ideas on that subject. Hitherto, the Scotch
+had been taught that the emotions which beauty excites, were owing to the
+corruption of our nature, and ought to be repressed. Hutcheson, on the
+other hand, insisted that they were good in themselves; that they were
+part of the general scheme of human affairs, and that they deserved a
+special and scientific study.[632] And with such skill did he investigate
+them, that, in the opinion of one of the highest living authorities, he
+is the originator of all subsequent inquiries into these matters; his
+being the first attempt to deal with the subject of beauty in a broad and
+comprehensive spirit.[633]
+
+ [631] 'As he had occasion every year in the course of his lectures to
+ explain the origin of government, and compare the different forms
+ of it, he took peculiar care, while on that subject, to inculcate
+ the importance of civil and religious liberty to the happiness of
+ mankind.' _Leechman's Life of Hutcheson_, p. xxxv., prefixed to
+ Hutcheson's Moral Philosophy.
+
+ [632] 'The ideas of beauty and harmony, like other sensible ideas, are
+ necessarily pleasant to us, as well as immediately so.'
+ _Hutcheson's Inquiry into our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue_, p. 11.
+ 'Our sense of beauty seems designed to give us positive pleasure.'
+ p. 71. 'Beauty gives a favourable presumption of good moral
+ dispositions.' p. 257. 'But it is plain we have not in our power
+ the modelling of our senses or desires, to form them for a private
+ interest; they are fixed for us by the Author of our nature,
+ subservient to the interest of the system; so that each individual
+ is made, previously to his own choice, a member of a great body,
+ and affected with the fortunes of the whole; or at least of many
+ parts of it; nor can he break himself off at pleasure.'
+ _Hutcheson's Essay on the Passions_, pp. 105, 106.
+
+ [633] 'Fille de la scholastique, la philosophie moderne est demeuree
+ longtemps etrangere aux graces, et les _Recherches_ d'Hutcheson
+ presentent, je crois, le premier traite special sur le beau, ecrit
+ par un moderne. Elles ont paru en 1725. Cette date est presque
+ celle de l'avenement de l'esthetique dans la philosophie
+ europeenne. L'ouvrage du pere Andre, en France, est de 1741, celui
+ de Baumgarten, en Allemagne, est de 1750. Ce n'est pas un petit
+ honneur a Hutcheson d'avoir le premier soumis l'idee du beau a une
+ analyse methodique et reguliere.' _Cousin, Histoire de la
+ Philosophie_, premiere serie, vol. iv. p. 84.
+
+Not only in speculative views, but also in practical recommendations,
+Hutcheson displayed the same tendency; every where endeavouring to break
+down that gloomy fabric which superstition had built up.[634] His
+predecessors, and, indeed, nearly all his contemporaries who exercised
+much influence, represented pleasure as immoral, and opposed themselves
+to the fine arts, which they considered dangerous, as ministering to our
+pleasures, and thereby distracting our minds from serious concerns.
+Hutcheson, however, declared that the fine arts were to be cherished;
+for, he said, they are not only agreeable, but also reputable, and to
+employ our time with them is honourable.[635] That such is the case is
+obvious enough to us, but it was long, indeed, since similar language had
+been heard in Scotland from a great public teacher, and it was completely
+opposed to the prevailing notions. But Hutcheson went even further. Not
+content with raising his voice in favour of wealth,[636] which the Scotch
+clergy stigmatized as one of the most pernicious and carnal of all
+things, he fearlessly asserted that all our natural appetites are lawful,
+and that the gratification of them is consistent with the highest
+virtue.[637] In his eyes, they were lawful, because they were natural;
+while, according to the theological theory, their being natural made them
+unlawful. And here lies the fundamental difference between the practical
+views of Hutcheson and those previously received. He, like every great
+thinker since the seventeenth century, loved human nature, and respected
+it; but he neither loved nor respected those who unduly trammelled it,
+and thereby weakened its vigour, as well as impaired its beauty. He
+placed more confidence in mankind, than in the rulers of mankind. The
+Scotch divines, who preceded him, were the libellers of their species;
+they calumniated the whole human race. According to them, there was
+nothing in us but sin and corruption; and, therefore, all our desires
+were to be checked. It is the peculiar glory of Hutcheson, that he was
+the first man in Scotland who publicly combated these degrading notions.
+With a noble and lofty aim did he undertake his task. Venerating the
+human mind, he was bent on vindicating its dignity against those who
+disputed its titles. Unhappily, he could not succeed; the prejudices of
+his time were too strong. Still, he did all that was in his power. He
+opposed the tide which he was unable to stem; he attacked what it was
+impossible to destroy; and he cast from his philosophy, with vehement
+scorn, those base prejudices, which, by aspersing all that is great and
+magnanimous, had long blinded the eyes of their contemporaries, and, by
+bringing into fresh prominence the old and mischievous dogma of moral
+degeneracy, had represented our nature as a compound of vices, and had
+been unable to see how many virtues we really possess, how much of the
+spirit of self-sacrifice, and of free disinterested benevolence has
+always existed; how much of good even the worst of us retain; and how,
+among the ordinary and average characters of whom the world is composed,
+the desire of benefiting others is more frequent than the desire of
+hurting them, kindness is more common than cruelty, and the number of
+good deeds does, on the whole, far outweigh the number of bad ones.[638]
+
+ [634] In his _Inquiry into Beauty and Virtue_, p. 107, he so completely
+ opposed the prevailing notions, as to assert that 'our perception
+ of pleasure is necessary, and nothing is advantageous or naturally
+ good to us, but what is apt to raise pleasure, mediately, or
+ immediately.' Compare what he says at p. 91 respecting
+ 'superstitious prejudices against actions apprehended as offensive
+ to the Deity.'
+
+ [635] 'Hence a taste for the ingenious arts of musick, sculpture,
+ painting, and even for the manly diversions, is reputable.'
+ _Hutcheson's Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 83. At p. 129 he says,
+ that in them 'our time is agreeably and honourably employed.' See
+ also vol. ii. p. 115.
+
+ [636] 'Wealth and power are truly useful, not only for the natural
+ conveniences or pleasures of life, but as a fund for good
+ offices.' _Hutcheson's Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 104. Compare
+ _Hutcheson on Beauty and Virtue_, pp. 93-95; and his _Essay on the
+ Passions and Affections_, pp. 8, 9, 99. 'How weak also are the
+ reasonings of some recluse moralists, who condemn in general all
+ pursuits of wealth or power, as below a perfectly virtuous
+ character; since wealth and power are the most effectual means,
+ and the most powerful instruments, even of the greatest virtues,
+ and most generous actions.'
+
+ [637] 'The chief happiness of any being must consist in the full
+ enjoyment of all the gratifications its nature desires and is
+ capable of.' _Hutcheson's Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 100. 'The
+ highest sensual enjoyments may be experienced by those who employ
+ both mind and body vigorously in social virtuous offices, and
+ allow all the natural appetites to recur in their due seasons.' p.
+ 121. 'Nay, as in fact it is for the good of the system that every
+ desire and sense natural to us, even those of the lowest kinds,
+ should be gratified as far as their gratification is consistent
+ with the nobler enjoyments, and in a just subordination to them;
+ there seems a natural notion of _right_ to attend them all.' pp.
+ 254, 255.
+
+ [638] ''Tis pleasant to observe how those authors who paint out our
+ nature as a compound of sensuality, selfishness, and cunning,
+ forget themselves on this subject in their descriptions of youth,
+ when the natural temper is less disguised than in the subsequent
+ parts of life. 'Tis made up of many keen, inconstant passions,
+ many of them generous; 'tis fond of present pleasure, but 'tis
+ also profusely kind and liberal to favourites; careless about
+ distant interests of its own; full of confidence in others;
+ studious of praise for kindness and generosity; prone to
+ friendships, and void of suspicion.' _Hutcheson's Moral
+ Philosophy_, vol. ii. p. 11. 'Men are often subject to anger, and
+ upon sudden provocations do injuries to each other, and that only
+ from self love without malice; but the greatest part of their
+ lives is employed in offices of natural affection, friendship,
+ innocent self love, or love of a country.' _Hutcheson's Essay on
+ the Passions_, pp. 97, 98. And at p. 165: 'There are no doubt many
+ furious starts of passion, in which malice may seem to have place
+ in our constitution; but how seldom and how short, in comparison
+ of years spent in fixed kind pursuits of the good of a family, a
+ party, a country?' ... 'Here men are apt to let their imaginations
+ run out upon all the robberies, piracies, murders, perjuries,
+ frauds, massacres, assassinations, they have ever either heard of,
+ or read in history; thence concluding all mankind to be very
+ wicked; as if a court of justice were the proper place for making
+ an estimate of the morals of mankind, or an hospital of the
+ healthfulness of a climate. Ought they not to consider that the
+ number of honest citizens and farmers far surpasses that of all
+ sorts of criminals in any state; and that the innocent or kind
+ actions of even criminals themselves, surpass their crimes in
+ numbers? That it is the rarity of crimes, in comparison of
+ innocent or good actions, which engages our attention to them, and
+ makes them be recorded in history; while incomparably more honest,
+ generous, domestic actions are overlooked, only because they are
+ so common; as one great danger, or one month's sickness, shall
+ become a frequently repeated story, during a long life of health
+ and safety.'
+
+Thus much as to the tendency of Hutcheson's philosophy.[639] We have now
+to ascertain his method, that is to say, the plan which he adopted in
+order to obtain his results. This is a very important part of our present
+inquiry; and we shall find that, in the study of moral philosophy, as in
+the study of all subjects not yet raised to sciences, there are not only
+two methods, but that each method leads to different consequences. If we
+proceed by induction, we arrive at one conclusion; if we proceed by
+deduction, we arrive at another. This difference in the results, is
+always a proof that the subject, in which the difference exists, is not
+yet capable of scientific treatment, and that some preliminary
+difficulties have to be removed, before it can pass from the empirical
+stage into the scientific one. As soon as those difficulties are got rid
+of, the results obtained by induction, will correspond with those
+obtained by deduction; supposing, of course, that both lines of argument
+are fairly managed. In such case, it will be of no importance whether we
+reason from particulars to generals, or from generals to particulars.
+Either plan will yield the same consequences, and this agreement between
+the consequences, proves that our investigation is, properly speaking,
+scientific. Thus, for instance, in chemistry, if, by reasoning
+deductively from general principles, we could always predict what would
+happen when we united two or more elements, even supposing those elements
+were new to us; and if, by reasoning inductively from each element, we
+could arrive at the same conclusion, one process would corroborate the
+other, and, by their mutual verification, the science would be complete.
+In chemistry, we cannot do this; therefore, chemistry is not yet a
+science, although, since the introduction into it, by Dalton, of the
+ideas of weight and number, there is every prospect of its becoming one.
+On the other hand, astronomy is a science, because, by employing the
+deductive weapon of mathematics, we can compute the motions and
+perturbations of bodies; and, by employing the inductive weapon of
+observation, the telescope reveals to us the accuracy of our previous,
+and, as it were, foregone, inferences. The fact agrees with the idea; the
+particular event confirms the general principle; the principle explains
+the event; and their unanimity authorizes us to believe that we must be
+right, since, proceed as we may, the conclusion is the same; and the
+inductive plan, of striking averages, harmonizes with the deductive plan,
+of reasoning from ideas.
+
+ [639] In 1731, Wodrow, who was the last really great specimen of the old
+ Presbyterian divines, and who was not a little shocked at the
+ changes he saw going on around him, writes: 'When Dr. Calamy heard
+ of Mr. Hutcheson's being called to Glasgow, he smiled, and said, I
+ think to Thomas Randy, that he was not for Scotland, as he thought
+ from his book; and that he would be reckoned there as unorthodox
+ as Mr. Simson. The Doctor has a strange way of fishing out privat
+ storyes and things that pass in Scotland.' _Wodrow's Analecta_,
+ vol. iv. p. 227. It is interesting to compare with this, the
+ remarks which that worldly-minded clergyman, the Rev. Alexander
+ Carlyle, has made upon Hutcheson. See _Carlyle's Autobiography_,
+ Edinburgh, 1860, 2d edit. pp. 82-85.
+
+But, in the study of morals there is no such harmony. Partly from the
+force of prejudice, and partly from the complexity of the subject, all
+attempts at a scientific investigation of morals have failed. It is not,
+therefore, surprising that, in this field, the inductive inquirer arrives
+at one conclusion, and the deductive inquirer at another. The inductive
+inquirer endeavours to attain his object by observing the actions of men,
+and subjecting them to analysis, in order to learn the principles which
+regulate them. The deductive inquirer, beginning at the other end,
+assumes certain principles as original, and reasons from them to the
+facts which actually appear in the world. The former proceeds from the
+concrete to the abstract; the latter, from the abstract to the concrete.
+The inductive moralist looks at the history of past society, or at the
+condition of the present, and takes for granted that the first step is,
+to assemble the facts, and then to generalize them. The deductive
+inquirer, using the facts rather to illustrate his principles, than to
+suggest them, appeals, in the first place, not to external facts, but to
+internal ideas, and he makes those ideas the major premiss of a
+syllogistic argument. Both parties agree, that we have the power of
+judging some actions to be right, and others to be wrong. But as to how
+we get that power, and as to what that power is, they are at utter
+variance. The inductive philosopher says, that its object is happiness,
+that we get it by association, and that it is due to the action and
+reaction of social causes, which are susceptible of analysis. The
+deductive philosopher says, that this power of distinguishing between
+right and wrong, aims, not at happiness, but at truth; that it is
+inherent, that it cannot be analyzed, that it is a primary conviction,
+and that we may assume it and reason from it, but can never hope to
+explain it by reasoning to it.
+
+It requires but a slight acquaintance with the works of Hutcheson to see
+that he belongs to the latter of these two schools. He assumes, that all
+men have what he terms a moral faculty, which, being an original
+principle, does not admit of analysis.[640] He further assumes, that the
+business of this faculty is to regulate all our powers.[641] From these
+two assumptions, he reasons downwards to the visible facts of our
+conduct, and deductively constructs the general scheme of life. His plan
+being entirely synthetic, he depreciates the analytic method, and
+complains of it as an artful attempt to diminish the number of our
+perceptive powers.[642] The truth is, that every such diminution would
+have taken away some of his original principles, and would thereby have
+prevented him from using them as the major premisses of separate
+arguments. And if you deprive a deductive reasoner of his major
+premisses, you leave him nothing on which to stand. Hutcheson, therefore,
+like all the philosophers of his school, was extremely jealous of the
+invasions of the inductive spirit, with its constant tendency to attack
+convictions supposed to be primary, and seek to resolve them into their
+elements. He repulsed such encroachments upon his major premisses,
+because the power and beauty of his method were displayed in reasoning
+from the premisses, and not in reasoning to them. According to him, the
+moral faculty, and the authority which it exercised, were impervious to
+analysis; it was impossible to track them higher, or to resolve them into
+simpler constituents; and it was in vain that many attempted to refer
+them to circumstances external to themselves, such as education, custom,
+or the association of ideas.[643]
+
+ [640] In his _Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 52, he calls it 'an original
+ determination or sense in our nature, not capable of being
+ referred to other powers of perception.'
+
+ [641] 'This moral sense from its very nature appears to be designed for
+ regulating and controlling all our powers.' _Hutcheson's Moral
+ Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 61.
+
+ [642] See, in his _Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 79, his complaint
+ against those who 'would reduce all our perceptive powers to a
+ very small number, by one artful reference or another.'
+
+ [643] ''Tis in vain here to alledge instruction, education, custom, or
+ association of ideas, as the original of moral approbation.'
+ _Hutcheson's Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 57. Compare his work on
+ _Beauty and Virtue_, p. 84.
+
+Hence, the judgments which men pass upon the conduct of others, or of
+themselves, are, in their origin, altogether inexplicable; each judgment
+being merely a different form of one great moral faculty. Inasmuch,
+however, as that faculty escapes observation, and is only known by its
+results, it is evident that, for all purposes of reasoning, the judgments
+must be deemed primary, and arguments are to be constructed from them, as
+if they were the ultimate and highest conditions of our nature. In this
+way, Hutcheson was led to that love of multiplying original principles,
+which Sir James Mackintosh has justly noticed as a characteristic of his
+philosophy, and, after him, of the Scotch philosophy in general;[644]
+though the distinguished author of this remark has failed to perceive
+that such characteristic was but a single part of a far larger scheme,
+and was intimately connected with those habits of deductive thought which
+a long train of preceding circumstances had indelibly imprinted on the
+Scotch mind.
+
+ [644] 'To him may also be ascribed that proneness to multiply ultimate
+ and original principles in human nature, which characterised the
+ Scottish School till the second extinction of a passion for
+ metaphysical speculation in Scotland.' _Mackintosh's Dissertation
+ on Ethical Philosophy_, edit. Whewell, Edinburgh, 1837, p. 208.
+
+In Hutcheson, the tendency was so strong, as to make him believe, that,
+by arguing from a certain number of original principles, he could
+construct the theory and explain the march of human affairs, with little
+or no aid from the experience of the past, or, indeed, of the present.
+His views, for instance, respecting the nature and objects of
+legislation, criminal, as well as civil, might have been written by a
+recluse who had never quitted his hermitage, and whose purity was still
+unsoiled by the realities of the world. Starting from the so-called
+nature of things, his first steps were ideal, and from them he sought to
+advance to the actual. In his account of the duties of life, as they
+existed before the power of government was consolidated, he quotes no
+evidence to show what really happened among barbarous tribes who were in
+that state; but he contents himself with deductive inferences from the
+principles he had previously laid down.[645] Difficult questions relating
+to the laws of property, are treated in the same manner; that is to say,
+the conclusions respecting them are arrived at on speculative grounds,
+and not by comparing how the different enactments have worked in
+different countries.[646] Experience is either shut out, or made
+subordinate to theory; and facts are adduced to illustrate the inference,
+but not to suggest it. So, too, the proper relation between the people
+and their rulers, and the amount of liberty which the people should
+possess, instead of being inductively generalized from an historical
+inquiry into the circumstances which had produced most happiness, might,
+in the opinion of Hutcheson, be ascertained by reasoning from the nature
+of government, and from the ends for which it was instituted.[647]
+
+ [645] See his ingenious chapter, entitled 'A deduction of the more
+ special laws of nature and duties of life, previous to civil
+ government, and other adventitious states.' _Moral Philosophy_,
+ vol. i. p. 227; and compare vol. ii. pp. 294-309, 'How civil power
+ is acquired.'
+
+ [646] See, for example, his remarks on 'the right of possession.' _Moral
+ Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 344; on 'rights by mortgage,' p. 350; and
+ on inheritance, p. 356.
+
+ [647] In his _Moral Philosophy_, vol. ii. pp. 346, 347, he sums up a
+ long argument on 'the nature of civil laws,' by saying: 'Thus the
+ general duties of magistrates and subjects are discoverable from
+ the nature of the trust committed to them, and the end of all
+ civil power.'
+
+The next great attempt to study the actions of men scientifically, and to
+generalize the principles of their conduct without the intervention of
+supernatural ideas, was made by Adam Smith, who, in 1759, published his
+_Theory of Moral Sentiments_, and, in 1776, his _Wealth of Nations_. To
+understand the philosophy of this, by far the greatest of all the Scotch
+thinkers, both works must be taken together, and considered as one;
+since they are, in reality, the two divisions of a single subject. In
+the _Moral Sentiments_, he investigates the sympathetic part of human
+nature; in the _Wealth of Nations_, he investigates its selfish part. And
+as all of us are sympathetic as well as selfish; in other words, as all
+of us look without as well as within, and as this classification is a
+primary and exhaustive division of our motives to action, it is evident,
+that if Adam Smith had completely accomplished his vast design, he would
+at once have raised the study of human nature to a science, leaving
+nothing for subsequent inquirers except to ascertain the minor springs of
+affairs, all of which would find their place in this general scheme, and
+be deemed subordinate to it. In his attempt to perform this prodigious
+task, and to traverse the enormous field which he saw lying before him,
+he soon perceived that an inductive investigation was impossible, because
+it would require the labour of many lives even to assemble the materials
+from which the generalization was to be made. Moved by this reflection,
+and, probably, moved still more by the intellectual habits which
+prevailed around him, he resolved on adopting the deductive method
+instead of the inductive; but, in seeking for the premisses from which he
+was to reason, and on which his structure was to be built, he resorted to
+a peculiar artifice, which is perfectly valid, and which he had an
+undoubted right to employ, though, to make it available, requires such
+delicate tact, and involves so many refinements, that extremely few
+writers have used it with effect on social questions either before or
+since.
+
+The plan to which I allude is, that when any subject becomes unmanageable
+by the inductive method, whether from the impossibility of experimenting
+upon it, or from its extreme natural complexity, or from the presence of
+immense and bewildering details collected around it, we may, in all such
+cases, make an imaginary separation of inseparable facts; and reason upon
+trains of events which have no real and independent existence, and which
+are nowhere to be found except in the mind of the inquirer. A result
+obtained in this way, cannot be strictly true; but, if we have reasoned
+accurately, it will be as near truth as were the premisses from which we
+started. To make it perfectly true, we must confront it with other
+results, which we have arrived at in a similar way, and from the same
+subject. These separate inferences may eventually be cooerdinated into a
+single system; so that, while each inference contains only an imperfect
+truth, the whole of the inferences, when put together, will contain
+perfect truth.
+
+Such hypothetical arguments are evidently based upon an intentional
+suppression of facts; and the artifice is necessary, because, without the
+suppression, the facts would be unmanageable. Each argument leads to a
+conclusion which approximates to truth; hence, whenever the premisses are
+so comprehensive as almost to exhaust the facts to which they refer, the
+conclusion will be so near to complete truth as to be of the greatest
+value, even before it is cooerdinated with other conclusions drawn from
+the same department of inquiry.
+
+Geometry exhibits the most perfect example of this logical stratagem. The
+object of the geometrician is, to generalize the laws of space; in other
+words, to ascertain the necessary and universal relations of its various
+parts. Inasmuch, however, as space would have no parts unless it were
+divided, the geometrician is forced to assume such a division; and he
+takes the simplest possible form of it, a division by lines. Now, a line
+considered as a fact, that is, as it is found in the actual world, must
+always have two qualities, length and breadth. However slight these
+qualities may be, every line has them both. But if the geometrician took
+both into consideration, he would find himself in the presence of a
+problem too complicated for the resources of the human understanding to
+deal with; or, at all events, too complicated for the present resources
+of our knowledge. He, therefore, by a scientific artifice, deliberately
+strikes off one of these qualities, and asserts that a line is length
+without breadth. He knows that the assertion is false, but he also knows
+that it is necessary. For, if you deny it, he can prove nothing. If you
+insist upon his letting into his premisses the idea of breadth, he is
+unable to proceed, and the whole fabric of geometry falls to the ground.
+Since, however, the breadth of the faintest line is so slight as to be
+incapable of measurement, except by an instrument used under the
+microscope, it follows that the assumption, that there can be lines
+without breadth, is so nearly true, that our senses, when unassisted by
+art, cannot detect the error. Formerly, and until the invention of the
+micrometer, in the seventeenth century, it was impossible to detect it at
+all. Hence, the conclusions of the geometrician approximate so close to
+truth, that we are justified in accepting them as true. The flaw is too
+minute to be perceived. But that there is a flaw, appears to me certain.
+It appears certain, that whenever something is kept back in the
+premisses, something must be wanting in the conclusion. In all such
+cases, the field of inquiry has not been entirely covered; and part of
+the preliminary facts being suppressed, it must, I think, be admitted,
+that complete truth is unattainable, and that no problem in geometry has
+yet been exhaustively solved.[648]
+
+ [648] That is, so far as the facts are concerned. Geometry, considered
+ in the most elevated manner, rests on ideas, and from that point
+ of view is impregnable, unless the axioms can be overthrown. But
+ if geometricians will insist on having definitions as well as
+ axioms, they gain, no doubt, increased clearness, but they lose
+ something in accuracy. I apprehend that, without definitions,
+ geometry could not be a science of space, but would be a science
+ of magnitudes, ideally conceived and consequently as pure as
+ ratiocination could make it. This does not touch the question as
+ to the empirical origin of the axioms.
+
+Still, the amazing triumphs effected in this branch of mathematics, show
+how powerful a weapon that form of deduction is, which proceeds by an
+artificial separation of facts, in themselves inseparable. So little,
+however, is the philosophy of the method understood, that when, late in
+the eighteenth century, political economy assumed a scientific form, many
+persons, who were otherwise well instructed, reproached its cultivators
+with their hard-heartedness; such objectors being unable to see, that the
+science could not be constructed if it were necessary to take in the
+whole range of generous and benevolent affections. The political
+economist aims at discovering the laws of wealth, which are far too
+complicated to be studied under every aspect. He, therefore, selects one
+of those aspects, and generalizes the laws as they are exhibited in the
+selfish parts of human nature. And he is right in doing so, simply
+because men, in the pursuit of wealth, consider their own gratification
+oftener than the gratification of others. Hence, he, like the
+geometrician, blots out one part of his premisses, in order that he may
+manipulate the remaining part with greater ease. But we must always
+remember, that political economy, though a profound and beautiful
+science, is only a science of one department of life, and is founded upon
+a suppression of some of the facts in which all large societies abound.
+It suppresses, or, what comes to the same thing, it ignores, many high
+and magnanimous feelings which we could ill afford to lose. We are not,
+therefore, to allow its conclusions to override all other conclusions. We
+may accept them in science, and yet reject them in practice. Thus, the
+political economist, when confining himself to his own department, says,
+with good reason, that it is both absurd and mischievous for government
+to undertake to supply the working-classes with employment. This
+assertion, he, as a political economist, can prove; and yet,
+notwithstanding its scientific truth, it may be practically right for a
+government to do the exact opposite. It may be right for a government to
+supply the employment, when the people are so ignorant as to demand it,
+and when, at the same time, they are so powerful as to plunge the country
+into anarchy if the demand is refused. Here, the view of the politician
+takes in all the premisses of which the political economist had only
+taken in a portion. In the same way, as a matter of economic science, it
+is wrong for any one to relieve the poor; since nothing is better
+established, than that to relieve poverty increases it, by encouraging
+improvidence. But, in spite of this, the antagonistic principle of
+sympathy will come into play, and will, in some minds, operate with such
+force, as to make it advisable, that he who feels it should give alms,
+because, if he abstains from giving them, the violence which he does to
+his own nature may inflict more mischief on himself, than his bestowal of
+charity would inflict on the general interests of society.
+
+It will not, I hope, be considered that, in these remarks, I have
+digressed from the main argument of the present chapter, since, although,
+in making them, I have aimed at clearing up a general question respecting
+the nature of scientific proof, I have only done so with the more
+particular object of illustrating the philosophy of Adam Smith, and of
+explaining the method which that most profound and original thinker
+pursued. We shall now be able to see how entirely his plan was deductive,
+and what a peculiar form of deduction it was. In his two great works, he
+first lays down certain ideas, and from them he marches on to the facts
+of the external world. And, in each work, he reasons from only part of
+his premisses; supplying the other part in the other work. None of us are
+exclusively selfish, and none of us are exclusively sympathetic. But Adam
+Smith separates in speculation qualities which are inseparable in
+reality. In his _Moral Sentiments_, he ascribes our actions to sympathy;
+in his _Wealth of Nations_, he ascribes them to selfishness. A short view
+of these two works will prove the existence of this fundamental
+difference, and will enable us to perceive that each is supplementary to
+the other; so that, in order to understand either, it is necessary to
+study both.
+
+In the _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, Adam Smith lays down one great
+principle from which he reasons, and to which all the others are
+subordinate. This principle is, that the rules which we prescribe to
+ourselves, and which govern our conduct, are solely arrived at by
+observing the conduct of others.[649] We judge ourselves, because we had
+previously judged them. Our notions are obtained from without, and not
+from within. If, therefore, we lived entirely alone, we could have no
+idea of merit or demerit, and it would be impossible for us to form an
+opinion as to whether our sentiments were right or wrong.[650] To acquire
+this knowledge, we must look abroad. Inasmuch, however, as we have no
+direct experience of what other persons actually feel, we can only gain
+the information by conceiving what we should feel if we were in their
+place.[651] Hence, all men are, in imagination, constantly changing
+situations with others; and though the change is ideal, and lasts but for
+a moment, it is the foundation of that great and universal impulse which
+is called Sympathy.[652]
+
+ [649] 'Our continual observations upon the conduct of others, insensibly
+ lead us to form to ourselves certain general rules concerning what
+ is fit and proper either to be done or to be avoided.' ... 'It is
+ thus that the general rules of morality are formed. They are
+ ultimately founded upon experience of what, in particular
+ instances, our moral faculties, our natural sense of merit and
+ propriety, approve or disapprove of. We do not originally approve
+ or condemn particular actions; because, upon examination, they
+ appear to be agreeable or inconsistent with a certain general
+ rule. The general rule, on the contrary, is formed by finding from
+ experience that all actions of a certain kind, or circumstanced in
+ a certain manner, are approved of or disapproved of.' _Smith's
+ Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. i. pp. 219, 220. At p. 153: 'We
+ either approve or disapprove of our own conduct according as we
+ feel that, when we place ourselves in the situation of another
+ man, and view it, as it were, with his eyes and from his station,
+ we either can or cannot entirely enter into and sympathize with
+ the sentiments and motives which influenced it.'
+
+ [650] 'Were it possible that a human creature could grow up to manhood
+ in some solitary place, without any communication with his own
+ species, he could no more think of his own character, of the
+ propriety or demerit of his own sentiments and conduct, of the
+ beauty or deformity of his own mind, than of the beauty and
+ deformity of his own face.' _Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments_,
+ vol. i. p. 154. 'Our first moral criticisms are exercised upon the
+ characters and conduct of other people.' p. 156.
+
+ [651] 'As we have no immediate experience of what other men feel, we can
+ form no idea of the manner in which they are affected, but by
+ conceiving what we ourselves should feel in the like situation.'
+ _Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. i. p. 2.
+
+ [652] 'That imaginary change of situation, upon which their sympathy is
+ founded, is but momentary.' _Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments_,
+ vol. i. p. 21. Compare vol. ii. p. 206.
+
+By proceeding from these premisses, a vast number of social phenomena may
+be explained. We naturally sympathize with joy more than with
+sorrow.[653] Hence, that admiration for prosperous and successful
+persons, which is quite independent of any benefit we expect from them;
+and hence, too, the existence of different ranks and of social
+distinctions, all of which emanate from the same source.[654] Hence,
+also, the feeling of loyalty, which is a product, not of reason, nor of
+fear, nor of a sense of public convenience, but rather of sympathy with
+those above us, begetting an extraordinary compassion for even their
+ordinary sufferings.[655] Custom and fashion play a great part in the
+world, but they owe their origin entirely to sympathy;[656] and so do the
+various systems of philosophy which have flourished at different times,
+the disagreement between which depends on the fact, that each philosopher
+has sympathized with different ideas, some sympathizing with the notion
+of fitness or congruity, some with that of prudence, some with that of
+benevolence, and every one developing the conception paramount in his own
+mind.[657] To sympathy, again, we must ascribe the establishment of
+rewards and punishments, and the whole of our criminal laws, none of
+which would have existed but for our disposition to sympathize with those
+who either do good or suffer harm; for the circumstance of society being
+protected by penal laws, is a subsequent and subordinate discovery,
+which confirms our sense of their propriety, but did not suggest it.[658]
+The same principle causes the difference of character exhibited by
+different classes, such as the irritability of poets, compared with the
+coolness of mathematicians;[659] it likewise causes that social
+difference between the sexes, which makes men more remarkable for
+generosity, and women for humanity.[660] All these results illustrate the
+workings of sympathy, and are the remote, but still the direct,
+operations of that principle. Indeed, we can trace to it some of the
+minutest divisions of character; pride and vanity, for instance, being
+dependent on it, although those two passions are often confused together,
+and are sometimes strangely blended in the same mind.[661]
+
+ [653] 'I will venture to affirm that, when there is no envy in the case,
+ our propensity to sympathize with joy is much stronger than our
+ propensity to sympathize with sorrow.' _Smith's Theory of Moral
+ Sentiments_, vol. i. p. 58. 'It is because mankind are disposed to
+ sympathize more entirely with our joy than with our sorrow, that
+ we make parade of our riches, and conceal our poverty.' p. 65.
+
+ [654] 'Upon this disposition of mankind to go along with all the
+ passions of the rich and the powerful, is founded the distinction
+ of ranks, and the order of society. Our obsequiousness to our
+ superiors more frequently arises from our admiration for the
+ advantages of their situation, than from any private expectations
+ of benefit from their good will.' _Smith's Theory of Moral
+ Sentiments_, vol. i. p. 69. See also vol. ii. p. 72.
+
+ [655] See the striking remarks in _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. i.
+ p. 70-72.
+
+ [656] _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. ii. pp. 23 seq.
+
+ [657] _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. ii. pp. 131-244. This sketch of
+ the different systems of philosophy is perhaps the ablest part of
+ the book, notwithstanding two or three errors which it contains.
+
+ [658] _Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. i. pp. 89, 92, 115,
+ 116. The utmost which he will concede to the notion of social
+ convenience, is that 'we frequently have occasion to confirm our
+ natural sense of the propriety and fitness of punishment, by
+ reflecting how necessary it is for preserving the order of
+ society.' p. 122.
+
+ [659] _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. i. pp. 172-174.
+
+ [660] 'Humanity is the virtue of a woman, generosity of a man. The fair
+ sex, who have commonly much more tenderness than ours, have seldom
+ so much generosity.' _Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol.
+ ii. p. 19. Sufficient facts have not yet been collected to enable
+ us to test the truth of this remark, and the loose experience of
+ individual observers is worth very little on so wide a subject.
+ Still, I venture to doubt the truth of Adam Smith's distinction. I
+ suspect that women are, on the whole, more generous than men, as
+ well as more tender. But to establish a proposition of this sort,
+ would require the most extensive research, made by a careful and
+ analytic mind; and, at present, there is not even any tolerably
+ good work on the mental characteristics which distinguish the
+ sexes, and there never will be one until physiology is united with
+ biography.
+
+ [661] _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. ii. pp. 115-122.
+
+Sympathy, then, is the main-spring of human conduct. It arises, not so
+much from witnessing the passions of other persons, as from witnessing
+the situation which excites those passions.[662] To this single process
+we are indebted, not only for the highest principles, but also for the
+deepest emotions. For, the greatest affection of which we are capable, is
+merely sympathy fixed into habit; and the love which exists between the
+nearest relations, is not inherent, but is derived from this mighty and
+controlling principle, which governs the whole course of affairs.[663]
+
+ [662] 'Sympathy, therefore, does not arise so much from the view of the
+ passion, as from that of the situation which excites it.' _Smith's
+ Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. i. p. 6.
+
+ [663] 'What is called affection, is, in reality, nothing but habitual
+ sympathy.' _Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. ii. p. 63.
+ 'In some tragedies and romances, we meet with many beautiful and
+ interesting scenes, founded upon what is called the force of
+ blood, or upon the wonderful affection which near relations are
+ supposed to conceive for one another, even before they know that
+ they have any such connection. This force of blood, however, I am
+ afraid, exists nowhere but in tragedies and romances.' p. 66.
+
+By this bold hypothesis, Adam Smith, at one stroke, so narrowed the field
+of inquiry, as to exclude from it all considerations of selfishness as a
+primary principle, and only to admit its great antagonist, sympathy. The
+existence of the antagonism, he distinctly recognizes. For, he will not
+allow that sympathy is in any way to be deemed a selfish principle.[664]
+Although he knew that it is pleasurable, and that all pleasure contains
+an element of selfishness, it did not suit the method of his philosophy
+to subject the principle of sympathy to such an inductive analysis as
+would reveal its elements. His business was, to reason from it, and not
+to it. Concentrating his energy upon the deductive process, and
+displaying that dialectic skill which is natural to his countrymen, and
+of which he himself was one of the most consummate masters the world has
+ever seen, he constructed a system of philosophy, imperfect indeed,
+because the premisses were imperfect, but approaching truth as closely as
+it was possible for any one to do who abstained from giving due
+consideration to the selfish part of human nature. Into the workings of
+its sympathetic part, he looked with a minuteness, and he reasoned from
+it with a subtlety, which make his work the most important that has ever
+been written on this interesting subject. But, inasmuch as his plan
+involved a deliberate suppression of preliminary and essential facts, the
+results which he obtained do not strictly correspond to those which are
+actually observed in the world.[665] This, however, as I have shown, is
+not a valid objection; since such discrepancy between the ideal and the
+actual, or between the abstract and the concrete, is the necessary
+consequence of that still early condition of our knowledge, which forces
+us to study complicated questions piecemeal, and to raise them to
+sciences by separate and fragmentary investigations.
+
+ [664] 'Sympathy, however, cannot, in any sense, be regarded as a selfish
+ principle.' _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. ii. p. 206. In
+ vol. i. p. 9, he complains of 'those who are fond of deducing all
+ our sentiments from certain refinements of self-love.'
+
+ [665] This is noticed by Sir James Mackintosh, whose sketch of Adam Smith
+ is hasty, and somewhat superficial, but who, nevertheless, truly
+ observes, that Smith 'has exposed himself to objections founded on
+ experience, to which it is impossible to attempt any answer.'
+ _Mackintosh's Dissertation on Ethical Philosophy_, pp. 239, 240.
+ See also a letter from Hume to Adam Smith, in _Burton's Life and
+ Correspondence of Hume_, vol. ii. p. 60.
+
+That Adam Smith saw this necessity, and that his seeing it was the cause
+of the method he pursued, is evident from the fact, that in his next
+great work he followed the same plan, and, though he argued from new
+premisses, he carefully avoided arguing from any of the old ones.
+Convinced that, in his theory of morals, he had reasoned as accurately as
+possible from the principles supplied by sympathy, his capacious and
+insatiable mind, deeming that nothing had been done while aught remained
+to do, urged him to pass on to the opposite passion of selfishness, and
+treat it in the same manner, so that the whole domain of thought might be
+covered. This he did in his _Wealth of Nations_, which, though even a
+greater work than his _Moral Sentiments_, is equally one-sided, in
+reference to the principles which it assumes. It assumes that selfishness
+is the main regulator of human affairs, just as his previous work had
+assumed sympathy to be so. Between the two works there elapsed an
+interval of seventeen years; the _Wealth of Nations_ not being published
+till 1776. But what shows that to their author both were part of a single
+scheme, is the notable circumstance, that, so early as 1753, he had laid
+down the principles which his later work contains.[666] This was while
+his former work was still in meditation, and before it had seen the
+light. It is, therefore, clear, that the study which he made, first of
+one passion, and then of its opposite, was not a capricious or accidental
+arrangement, but was the consequence of that vast idea which presided
+over all his labours, and which, when they are rightly understood, gives
+to them a magnificent unity. And a glorious object of ambition it was.
+His aspiring and comprehensive genius, sweeping the distant horizon, and
+taking in the intermediate space at a glance, sought to traverse the
+whole ground in two separate and independent directions, indulging the
+hope, that, by supplying in one line of argument the premisses which were
+wanting in the other, their opposite conclusions would be compensatory
+rather than hostile, and would serve as a broad and permanent basis on
+which one great science of human nature might be safely built.
+
+ [666] 'Mr. Smith's political lectures, comprehending the fundamental
+ principles of his "Inquiry," were delivered at Glasgow as early as
+ the year 1752 or 1753.' _Dugald Stewart's Life of Adam Smith_,
+ p. lxxviii., prefixed to _Smith's Posthumous Essays_, London, 4to,
+ 1795.
+
+The _Wealth of Nations_ is, as I have elsewhere observed,[667] probably
+the most important book which has ever been written, whether we consider
+the amount of original thought which it contains, or its practical
+influence. Its practical recommendations were extremely favourable to
+those doctrines of freedom which the eighteenth century ushered in; and
+this secured to them an attention which otherwise they would not have
+received. While, therefore, the _Wealth of Nations_ was the proximate
+cause of a great change in legislation,[668] a deeper analysis will show,
+that the success of the book, and, consequently, the alteration of the
+laws, depended upon the operation of more remote and general causes. It
+must also be confessed, that those same causes predisposed the mind of
+Adam Smith to the doctrines of liberty, and gave him a sort of prejudice
+in favour of conclusions which limited the interference of the
+legislator. Thus much he borrowed from his age; but one thing he did not
+borrow. His wide and organizing mind was all his own. This would have
+made him great under any circumstances; to make him powerful, required a
+peculiar conjunction of events. That conjunction he enjoyed, and he
+turned it to good account. The influence of his contemporaries was enough
+to make him liberal; his own capacity was enough to make him
+comprehensive. He had, in a most remarkable degree, that exuberance of
+thought, which is one of the highest forms of genius, but which leads
+those who possess it into distant excursions, which, though they have one
+common aim, are often stigmatized as digressions, simply because they who
+criticize are unable to discern the great principle which pervades the
+whole, and unites the various parts into a single scheme. This has been
+especially the case with Adam Smith, whose immortal work has often been
+exposed to such shallow objections. And certainly, the _Wealth of
+Nations_ displays a breadth of treatment which those who cannot
+sympathize with, are very likely to ridicule. The phenomena, not only of
+wealth, but also of society in general, classified and arranged under
+their various forms; the origin of the division of labour, and the
+consequences which that division has produced; the circumstances which
+gave rise to the invention of money, and to the subsequent changes in its
+value; the history of those changes traced in different ages, and the
+history of the relations which the precious metals bear to each other; an
+examination of the connection between wages and profits, and of the laws
+which govern the rise and fall of both; another examination of the way in
+which these are concerned, on the one hand, with the rent of land, and,
+on the other hand, with the price of commodities; an inquiry into the
+reason why profits vary in different trades, and at different times; a
+succinct, but comprehensive, view of the progress of towns in Europe
+since the fall of the Roman Empire; the fluctuations, during several
+centuries, in the prices of the food of the people, and a statement of
+how it is, that, in different stages of society, the relative cost of
+land and of meat varies; the history of corporation laws and of municipal
+enactments, and their bearing on the four great classes of apprentices,
+manufacturers, merchants, and landlords; an account of the immense power
+and riches formerly enjoyed by the clergy, and of the manner in which, as
+society advances, they gradually lose their exclusive privileges; the
+nature of religious dissent, and the reason why the clergy of the
+established Church can never contend with it on terms of equality, and,
+therefore, call on the State to help them, and wish to persecute when
+they cannot persuade; why some sects profess more ascetic principles, and
+others more luxurious ones; how it was, that, during the feudal times,
+the nobles acquired their power, and how that power has, ever since, been
+gradually diminishing; how the rights of territorial jurisdiction
+originated, and how they died away; how the sovereigns of Europe obtained
+their revenue, what the sources of it are, and what classes are most
+heavily taxed in order to supply it; the cause of certain virtues, such
+as hospitality, flourishing in barbarous ages, and decaying in civilized
+ones; the influence of inventions and discoveries in altering the
+distribution of power among the various classes of society; a bold and
+masterly sketch of the peculiar sort of advantages which Europe derived
+from the discovery of America and of the passage round the Cape; the
+origin of universities, their degeneracy from their original plan, the
+corruption which has gradually crept over them, and the reason why they
+are so unwilling to adopt improvements, and to keep pace with the wants
+of the age; a comparison between public and private education, and an
+estimate of their relative advantages;--these, and a vast number of other
+subjects, respecting the structure and development of society, such as
+the feudal system, slavery, emancipation of serfs, origin of standing
+armies, and of mercenary troops, effects produced by tithes, laws of
+primogeniture, sumptuary laws, international treaties concerning trade,
+rise of European banks, national debts, influence of dramatic
+representations over opinions, influence of foreign travels over
+opinions, colonies, poor-laws,--all topics of a miscellaneous character,
+and many of them diverging from each other,--all are fused into one great
+system, and irradiated by the splendour of one great genius. Into that
+dense and disorderly mass, did Adam Smith introduce symmetry, method, and
+law. At his touch, anarchy disappeared, and darkness was succeeded by
+light. Much, of course, he took from his predecessors, though nothing
+like so much as is commonly supposed. On this sort of borrowing, the best
+and strongest of us are dependent. But, after making every possible
+allowance for what he gathered from others, we must honestly say, that no
+single man ever took so great a step upon so important a subject, and
+that no single work which is now preserved, contains so many views, which
+were novel at the time, but which subsequent experience has ratified.
+What, however, for our present purpose, is most important to observe, is,
+that he obtained these results by arguing from principles which the
+selfish part of human nature exclusively supplied, and that he omitted
+those sympathetic feelings of which every human being possesses at least
+some share, but which he could not take into consideration, without
+producing a problem, the number of whose complications it would have been
+hopeless to unravel.
+
+ [667] _History of Civilization_, vol. i. p. 214.
+
+ [668] 'Perhaps the only book which produced an immediate, general, and
+ irrevocable change in some of the most important parts of the
+ legislation of all civilized states.' _Mackintosh's Ethical
+ Philosophy_, p. 232. But this is too strongly expressed, as the
+ economical history of France and Germany decisively proves.
+
+To avoid, therefore, being baffled, he simplified the problem, by erasing
+from his view of human nature those premisses which he had already
+handled in his _Theory of Moral Sentiments_. At the beginning of the
+_Wealth of Nations_, he lays down two propositions: 1st, that all wealth
+is derived, not from land, but from labour; and 2d, that the amount of
+the wealth depends, partly on the skill with which the labour is
+conducted, and partly on the proportion between the number of those who
+labour and the number of those who do not labour. The rest of the work,
+is an application of these principles, to explain the growth and
+mechanism of society. In applying them, he everywhere assumes, that the
+great moving power of all men, all interests, and all classes, in all
+ages, and in all countries, is selfishness. The opposite power of
+sympathy he entirely shuts out; and I hardly remember an instance in
+which even the word occurs in the whole course of his work. Its
+fundamental assumption is, that each man exclusively follows his own
+interest, or what he deems to be his own interest. And one of the
+peculiar features of his book is, to show that, considering society as a
+whole, it nearly always happens that men, in promoting their own
+interest, will unintentionally promote the interest of others. Hence, the
+great practical lesson is, not to restrain selfishness, but to enlighten
+it; because there is a provision in the nature of things, by which the
+selfishness of the individual accelerates the progress of the community.
+According to this view, the prosperity of a country depends on the amount
+of its capital; the amount of its capital depends on the habit of saving,
+that is, on parsimony, as opposed to generosity; while the habit of
+saving is, in its turn, governed by the desire we all feel of bettering
+our condition,--a desire so inherent in our nature, that it comes with us
+from the womb, and only leaves us in the grave.[669]
+
+ [669] 'Parsimony, and not industry, is the immediate cause of the
+ increase of capital. Industry, indeed, provides the subject which
+ parsimony accumulates; but whatever industry might acquire, if
+ parsimony did not save and store up, the capital would never be
+ the greater.' ... 'But the principle which prompts to save, is the
+ desire of bettering our condition; a desire which, though
+ generally calm and dispassionate, comes with us from the womb, and
+ never leaves us till we go into the grave.' _Smith's Wealth of
+ Nations_, book ii. chap. iii. pp. 138, 140, edit. Edinb. 1839.
+
+This constant effort of every man, to better his own condition, is so
+salutary, as well as so powerful, that it is often capable of securing
+the progress of society, in spite of the folly and extravagance of the
+rulers of mankind.[670] If it were not for this propensity, improvement
+would be impossible. For human institutions are constantly stopping our
+advance, by thwarting our natural inclinations.[671] And no wonder that
+this should be the case, seeing that the men who are at the head of
+affairs, and by whom the institutions are contrived, have, perhaps, a
+certain rough and practical sagacity; but being, from the narrowness of
+their understandings, incapable of large views, their councils are
+determined by those mere casual fluctuations which alone they are able to
+perceive.[672] They do not see that we have prospered, not on account of
+their enactments, but in the teeth of them; and that the real cause of
+our prosperity is the fact that we enjoy undisturbed the fruit of our own
+labour.[673] Whenever this right is tolerably secure, every man will be
+bent on procuring for himself either present enjoyment or future profit;
+and if he does not aim at one of these objects, he is void of common
+understanding.[674] If he possess capital, he will probably aim at both,
+but, in doing so, he will never consider the interest of others; his sole
+motive will be his own private profit.[675] And it is well that such
+should be the case. For, by thus pursuing his personal interest, he aids
+society more than if his views were generous and exalted. Some people
+affect to carry on trade for the good of others; but this is mere
+affectation, though, to say the truth, it is an affectation not very
+common among merchants, and many words are not needed to dissuade them
+from so foolish a practice.[676]
+
+ [670] 'The uniform, constant, and uninterrupted effort of every man to
+ better his condition, the principle from which public and
+ national, as well as private, opulence is originally derived, is
+ frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of
+ things towards improvement, in spite both of the extravagance of
+ government and of the greatest errors of administration. Like the
+ unknown principle of animal life, it frequently restores health
+ and vigour to the constitution, in spite not only of the disease,
+ but of the absurd prescriptions of the doctor.' _Wealth of
+ Nations_, book ii. chap. iii. p. 141. 'The natural effort of every
+ individual to better his own condition, when suffered to exert
+ itself with freedom and security, is so powerful a principle, that
+ it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of
+ carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of
+ surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the
+ folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations.' Book iv.
+ chap. v. p. 221.
+
+ [671] See an admirable passage, p. 156, too long to quote, beginning,
+ 'If human institutions had never thwarted those natural
+ inclinations,' &c.
+
+ [672] 'That insidious and crafty animal, vulgarly called a statesman or
+ politician, whose councils are directed by the momentary
+ fluctuations of affairs.' _Wealth of Nations_, book iv. chap. ii.
+ p. 190.
+
+ [673] 'That security which the laws in Great Britain give to every man,
+ that he shall enjoy the fruits of his own labour, is alone
+ sufficient to make any country flourish, notwithstanding these and
+ twenty other absurd regulations of commerce.' _Wealth of Nations_,
+ book iv. chap. v. p. 221.
+
+ [674] 'In all countries where there is a tolerable security, every man
+ of common understanding will endeavour to employ whatever stock he
+ can command, in procuring either present enjoyment or future
+ profit.' _Wealth of Nations_, book ii. chap. i. p. 115.
+
+ [675] 'The consideration of his own private profit is the sole motive
+ which determines the owner of any capital to employ it either in
+ agriculture, in manufactures, or in some particular branch of the
+ wholesale or retail trade.' _Wealth of Nations_, book ii. chap. v.
+ p. 154.
+
+ [676] 'By pursuing his own interest, he frequently promotes that of the
+ society more effectually than when he really intends to promote
+ it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to
+ trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very
+ common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in
+ dissuading them from it.' _Wealth of Nations_, book iv. chap. ii.
+ p. 184.
+
+In this way, Adam Smith completely changes the premisses which he had
+assumed in his earlier work. Here, he makes men naturally selfish;
+formerly, he had made them naturally sympathetic.[677] Here, he
+represents them as pursuing wealth for sordid objects, and for the
+narrowest personal pleasures; formerly he represented them as pursuing it
+out of regard to the sentiments of others, and for the sake of obtaining
+their sympathy.[678] In the _Wealth of Nations_, we hear no more of this
+conciliatory and sympathetic spirit; such amiable maxims are altogether
+forgotten, and the affairs of the world are regulated by different
+principles. It now appears that benevolence and affection have no
+influence over our actions. Indeed, Adam Smith will hardly admit common
+humanity into his theory of motives. If a people emancipate their slaves,
+it is a proof, not that the people are acted on by high moral
+considerations, nor that their sympathy is excited by the cruelty
+inflicted on these unhappy creatures. Nothing of the sort. Such
+inducements to conduct are imaginary, and exercise no real sway. All that
+the emancipation proves, is, that the slaves were few in number, and,
+therefore, small in value. Otherwise, they would not have been
+emancipated.[679]
+
+ [677] In his _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, vol. i. p. 21, he says that
+ mankind are 'naturally sympathetic.'
+
+ [678] 'Nay, it is chiefly for this regard to the sentiments of mankind,
+ that we pursue riches and avoid poverty.' _Theory of Moral
+ Sentiments_, vol. i. p. 66. 'To become the natural object of the
+ joyous congratulations and sympathetic attentions of mankind, is,
+ in this manner, the circumstance which gives to prosperity all its
+ dazzling splendour.' p. 78.
+
+ [679] 'The late resolution of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, to set at
+ liberty all their negro slaves, may satisfy us that their number
+ cannot be very great. Had they made any considerable part of their
+ property, such a resolution could never have been agreed to.'
+ _Wealth of Nations_, book iii. chap. ii. p. 159.
+
+So, too, while in his former work, he had ascribed the different systems
+of morals to the power of sympathy, he, in this work, ascribes them
+entirely to the power of selfishness. He observes, that, among the lower
+ranks of society, dissipation is more fatal to individuals, than it is
+among the higher ranks. The extravagance which dissipation produces, may
+injure the fortune of a wealthy man, but the injury is usually capable of
+being repaired, or, at all events, he can indulge his vices for years
+without completely destroying his fortune, and without bringing himself
+to utter ruin. To the labourer, a similar indulgence would be fatal in a
+single week; it would not merely reduce him to beggary, and perhaps send
+him to jail, but it would destroy his future prospects, by taking away
+that character for sobriety and regularity on which his employment
+depends. Hence, the better class of common people, guided by their
+interest, look with aversion on excesses which they know to be fatal;
+while the upper ranks finding that a moderate amount of vice hurts
+neither their purse nor their reputation consider such license to be one
+of the advantages which their fortune confers, and they value, as one of
+the privileges belonging to their station, the liberty of indulging
+themselves without being censured. Therefore it is, that they who dissent
+from the established Church have a purer system of morals, or, at all
+events, an austerer one, than they who agree with it. For, new religious
+sects usually begin among the common people, the thinking part of whom
+are, by their interest, driven to strict views of the duties of life.
+Consequently, the advocates of the new opinion profess a similar
+strictness, seeing that it is the surest means of increasing their
+proselytes. Thus it is that sectaries and heretics, governed by interest
+rather than by principle, adopt a code of morals which is suited to their
+own purpose, and the rigidity of which is strongly contrasted with the
+laxer code of more orthodox believers.[680] Owing to the operation of the
+same principle, we also find, that, among the orthodox themselves, the
+clergy embrace a stricter system of morals in countries where church
+benefices are nearly equal than they do in countries where the benefices
+are very unequal. This is because, when all the benefices are nearly
+equal, none can be very rich, and, consequently, even the most
+conspicuous among the clergy will have but small incomes. But a man who
+has little to spend can have no influence, unless his morals are
+exemplary. Having no wealth to give him weight the vices of levity would
+make him ridiculous. To avoid contempt, and also to avoid the expense
+which a looseness of conduct occasions, and which his narrow
+circumstances cannot afford, he has but one remedy, and that remedy he
+adopts. He retains his influence, and saves his pocket, by protesting
+against pleasures which he cannot conveniently enjoy; in this, as in all
+other cases, pursuing that plan of life which his own interest urges him
+to follow.[681]
+
+ [680] 'In every civilized society, in every society where the
+ distinction of ranks has once been completely established, there
+ have been always two different schemes or systems of morality
+ current at the same time; of which the one may be called the
+ strict or austere; the other the liberal, or, if you will, the
+ loose system. The former is generally revered and admired by the
+ common people; the latter is commonly more esteemed and adopted by
+ what are called the people of fashion. The degree of
+ disapprobation with which we ought to mark the vices of levity,
+ the vices which are apt to arise from great prosperity, and from
+ the excess of gaiety and good humour, seems to constitute the
+ principal distinction between those two opposite schemes or
+ systems. In the liberal, or loose system, luxury, wanton, and even
+ disorderly mirth, the pursuit of pleasure to some degree of
+ intemperance, the breach of chastity, at least in one of the two
+ sexes, provided they are not accompanied with gross indecency, and
+ do not lead to falsehood and injustice, are generally treated with
+ a good deal of indulgence, and are easily either excused or
+ pardoned altogether. In the austere system, on the contrary, these
+ excesses are regarded with the utmost abhorrence and detestation.
+ The vices of levity are always ruinous to the common people, and a
+ single week's thoughtlessness and dissipation is often sufficient
+ to undo a poor workman for ever, and to drive him, through
+ despair, upon committing the most enormous crimes. The wiser and
+ better sort of the common people, therefore, have always the
+ utmost abhorrence and detestation of such excesses, which their
+ experience tells them are so immediately fatal to people of their
+ condition. The disorder and extravagance of several years, on the
+ contrary, will not always ruin a man of fashion; and people of
+ that rank are very apt to consider the power of indulging in some
+ degree of excess, as one of the advantages of their fortune; and
+ the liberty of doing so without censure or reproach, as one of the
+ privileges which belong to their station. In people of their own
+ station, therefore, they regard such excesses with but a small
+ degree of disapprobation, and censure them either very slightly or
+ not at all.
+
+ 'Almost all religious sects have begun among the common people,
+ from whom they have generally drawn their earliest as well as
+ their most numerous proselytes. The austere system of morality
+ has, accordingly, been adopted by those sects almost constantly,
+ or with very few exceptions; for there have been some. It was the
+ system by which they could best recommend themselves to that order
+ of people, to whom they first proposed their plan of reformation
+ upon what had been before established. Many of them, perhaps the
+ greater part of them, have even endeavoured to gain credit by
+ refining upon this austere system, and by carrying it to some
+ degree of folly and extravagance; and this excessive rigour has
+ frequently recommended them, more than any thing else, to the
+ respect and veneration of the common people.' ... 'In little
+ religious sects, accordingly, the morals of the common people have
+ been almost always remarkably regular and orderly; generally much
+ more so than in the established church. The morals of those little
+ sects, indeed, have frequently been rather disagreeably rigorous
+ and unsocial.' _Wealth of Nations_, book v. chap. i. pp. 332, 333.
+
+ [681] 'Where the church benefices are all nearly equal, none of them can
+ be very great; and this mediocrity of benefice, though it may, no
+ doubt, be carried too far, has, however, some very agreeable
+ effects. Nothing but exemplary morals can give dignity to a man of
+ small fortune. The vices of levity and vanity necessarily render
+ him ridiculous, and are, besides, almost as ruinous to him as they
+ are to the common people. In his own conduct, therefore, he is
+ obliged to follow that system of morals which the common people
+ respect the most. He gains their esteem and affection, by that
+ plan of life which his own interest and situation would lead him
+ to follow.' _Wealth of Nations_, book v. chap. i. p. 340.
+
+In these striking generalizations, which, though they contain a large
+amount of truth, are far from containing the whole truth, no room is left
+for the magnanimous parts of our nature to act; but the system of morals,
+prevailing at any one time or in any one class, is solely ascribed to the
+dictates of unalloyed selfishness. Adam Smith, by reasoning from this
+principle, with that exquisite subtlety which characterized his mind,
+explains many other circumstances which society presents, and which at
+first sight appear incongruous. According to the old notions, which,
+indeed, are not yet quite extinct, those who received wages were under a
+personal obligation to those who paid them; that is to say, they were
+under a moral obligation, over and above the obligation of performing
+certain services. It was believed that a master could not only select
+what servants he chose, but could pay them what he chose; or, at all
+events, that it was the will of the masters, considered as a body, which
+fixed the usual and average rate of wages.[682] The lower classes were,
+therefore, much indebted to the higher ones for giving them so much as
+they did; and it was incumbent upon all persons, who received wages, to
+take them with humble thankfulness, and with a feeling of gratitude, on
+account of the favour bestowed upon them by the generosity of their
+superiors.
+
+ [682] Besides the evidence supplied by economical treatises, the laws in
+ our statute-book, respecting wages, show the general conviction,
+ that their rate could be fixed by the upper classes.
+
+This doctrine, so convenient to the upper classes of society, and so
+natural to the universal ignorance which formerly prevailed on these
+matters, began to be shaken by the speculative thinkers of the
+seventeenth century; but it was reserved for the eighteenth century to
+overthrow it, by letting in the great idea of necessity, and proving,
+that the rate of wages established in a country, was the inevitable
+consequence of the circumstances in which that country was placed, and
+had no connexion with the wishes of any individual, or, indeed, with the
+wishes of any class. To all instructed persons, this is now a familiar
+truth. Its discovery has excluded the notion of gratitude from the
+pecuniary relation between employers and employed, and has made known
+that servants or workmen who receive wages, have no more reason to be
+grateful than those who pay them. For, no choice having been exercised in
+fixing the wages, no favour can be conferred in their payment. The whole
+process is compulsory, and is the result of what had previously happened.
+Scarcely had the eighteenth century passed away, when this most important
+discovery was completed. It was decisively proved, that the reward of
+labour depends solely on two things; namely, the magnitude of that
+national fund out of which all labour is paid, and the number of the
+labourers among whom the fund is to be divided.
+
+This vast step in our knowledge is due, mainly, though not entirely, to
+Malthus, whose work on Population, besides marking an epoch in the
+history of speculative thought, has already produced considerable
+practical results, and will probably give rise to others more
+considerable still. It was published in 1798; so that Adam Smith, who
+died in 1790, missed what to him would have been the intense pleasure of
+seeing how, in it, his own views were expanded rather than corrected.
+Indeed, it is certain, that without Smith there would have been no
+Malthus; that is, unless Smith had laid the foundation, Malthus could not
+have raised the superstructure. It was Adam Smith, who, far more than any
+other man, introduced the conception of uniform and necessary sequence
+into the apparently capricious phenomena of wealth, and who studied those
+phenomena by the aid of principles, of which selfishness alone supplied
+the data. According to his view, the employers of labour have, as
+employers, no benevolence, no sympathy, no virtue of any kind. Their sole
+aim is, their own selfish interest. They are constantly engaged in a
+tacit, if not in an open, combination, to prevent the lower ranks from
+being benefited by a rise of wages; and they sometimes combine for the
+purpose even of depressing those wages below their actual rate.[683]
+Having no bowels, they think only of themselves. The idea of their
+wishing to mitigate the inequalities of fortune, is to be exploded as one
+of the chimeras of that protective spirit, which imagined that society
+could not go on, unless the richer classes relieved the poorer ones, and
+sympathized with their troubles. This antiquated notion is further
+rebutted by the fact, that wages are always higher in summer than in
+winter, although the expenses which a labourer incurs in winter, being
+heavier than in summer, he ought, on principles of common humanity, to
+receive more money during the more expensive season.[684] In the same
+way, in years of scarcity, the dearness of food causes many persons to go
+to service, in order to support their families. The masters, instead of
+charitably paying such servants more on account of the unfortunate
+position in which they are placed, avail themselves of that position to
+pay them less. They make better terms for themselves; they lower wages
+just at the moment when sympathy for misfortune would have raised them;
+and, as they find that their servants, besides being worse remunerated,
+are, by poverty, made more submissive, they consider that scarcity is a
+blessing, and that dear years are to be commended as more favourable to
+industry than cheap ones.[685]
+
+ [683] 'We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of masters,
+ though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon
+ this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the
+ world as of the subject. Masters are always and every where in a
+ sort of tacit, but constant and uniform, combination, not to raise
+ the wages of labour above their actual rate. To violate this
+ combination is every where a most unpopular action, and a sort of
+ reproach to a master among his neighbours and equals. We seldom,
+ indeed, hear of this combination, because it is the usual, and,
+ one may say, the natural state of things which nobody ever hears
+ of. Masters, too, sometimes enter into particular combinations to
+ sink the wages of labour even below this rate.' _Wealth of
+ Nations_, book i. chap. viii. p. 28.
+
+ [684] 'First, in almost every part of Great Britain, there is a
+ distinction, even in the lowest species of labour, between summer
+ and winter wages. Summer wages are always highest. But, on account
+ of the extraordinary expense of fuel, the maintenance of a family
+ is most expensive in winter. Wages, therefore, being highest when
+ this expense is lowest, it seems evident that they are not
+ regulated by what is necessary for this expense, but by the
+ quantity and supposed value of the work.' _Wealth of Nations_,
+ book i. chap. viii. p. 31.
+
+ [685] 'In years of scarcity, the difficulty and uncertainty of
+ subsistence make all such people eager to return to service. But
+ the high price of provisions, by diminishing the funds destined
+ for the maintenance of servants, disposes masters rather to
+ diminish than to increase the number of those they have.' ...
+ 'Masters of all sorts, therefore, frequently make better bargains
+ with their servants in dear than in cheap years, and find them
+ more humble and dependent in the former than in the latter. They
+ naturally, therefore, commend the former as more favourable to
+ industry.' _Wealth of Nations_, book i. chap. viii. p. 35.
+
+Adam Smith, therefore, though he failed in grasping the remote cause of
+the rate of wages, clearly saw that the approximate cause was, not the
+generosity of human nature, but its selfishness, and that the question
+was one of supply and demand; each side striving to extract as much as
+possible from the other.[686] By the aid of the same principle, he
+explained another curious fact, namely, the extravagant rewards bestowed
+on some of the most despicable classes of society, such, for instance, as
+opera-dancers, who always receive enormous pay for insignificant
+services. He observes, that one of the reasons why we pay them so highly,
+is, because we despise them. If to be a public dancer were a creditable
+occupation, more persons would be brought up to it, and the supply of
+public dancers becoming greater, competition would lower their wages. As
+it is, we look on them disdainfully. By way of compensating the disdain,
+we have to bribe them largely to induce them to follow their
+pursuit.[687] Here we see, that the reward which one class bestows on
+another, instead of being increased by sympathy, is increased by scorn;
+so that the more we contemn the tastes and the way of life of our
+fellow-creatures, the more liberal we are in recompensing them.
+
+ [686] 'The workmen desire to get as much, the masters to give as little,
+ as possible. The former are disposed to combine in order to raise,
+ the latter in order to lower, the wages of labour.' _Wealth of
+ Nations_, b. i. c. viii. p. 27.
+
+ [687] 'It seems absurd at first sight, that we should despise their
+ persons, and yet reward their talents with the most profuse
+ liberality. While we do the one, however, we must of necessity do
+ the other. Should the public opinion, or prejudice, ever alter
+ with regard to such occupation, their pecuniary recompense would
+ quickly diminish. More people would apply to them, and the
+ competition would quickly reduce the price of their labour. Such
+ talents, though far from being common, are by no means so rare as
+ imagined. Many people possess them in great perfection, who
+ disdain to make this use of them; and many more are capable of
+ acquiring them, if any thing could be made honourably by them.'
+ _Wealth of Nations_, book i. ch. x. p. 44.
+
+Passing to another, and somewhat different, class, Adam Smith threw new
+light on the cause of that hospitality for which the clergy were famous
+during the Middle Ages, and for the magnificence of which they have
+received great praise. He shows that, although they undoubtedly relieved
+a large amount of distress, this is not to be ascribed to them as a
+merit, since it resulted from the peculiarity of their position, and
+since, moreover, they did it for their own advantage. In the Middle Ages,
+the clergy possessed enormous wealth, and their revenues were mostly
+paid, not in money, but in kind, such as corn, wine, and cattle. Trade
+and manufactures being hardly known, the clergy could find no use for
+these commodities except to feed other people. By employing them in that
+way, they benefited themselves in the most effectual manner. They gained
+a reputation for extensive charity; they increased their influence; they
+multiplied the number of their adherents; and they not only advanced
+themselves to temporal power, but they secured to their spiritual threats
+a respect, which, without this contrivance, it would have been impossible
+for them to obtain.[688]
+
+ [688] 'Over and above the rents of those estates, the clergy possessed
+ in the tithes a very large portion of the rents of all the other
+ estates in every kingdom of Europe. The revenues arising from both
+ those species of rents were, the greater part of them, paid in
+ kind, in corn, wine, cattle, poultry, &c. The quantity exceeded
+ greatly what the clergy could themselves consume; and there were
+ neither arts nor manufactures, for the produce of which they could
+ exchange the surplus. The clergy could derive advantage from this
+ immense surplus in no other way than by employing it, as the great
+ barons employed the like surplus of their revenues, in the most
+ profuse hospitality, and in the most extensive charity. Both the
+ hospitality and the charity of the ancient clergy, accordingly,
+ are said to have been very great.' ... 'The hospitality and
+ charity of the clergy, too, not only gave them the command of a
+ great temporal force, but increased very much the weight of their
+ spiritual weapons. Those virtues procured them the highest respect
+ and veneration among all the inferior ranks of people, of whom
+ many were constantly, and almost all occasionally, fed by them.'
+ _Wealth of Nations_, book v. chap. i. p. 336.
+
+The reader will now be able to understand the nature of that method of
+investigation which is adopted in the _Wealth of Nations_, and of which I
+have given more instances than I should otherwise have done, partly
+because the question of philosophic method lies at the very root of our
+knowledge, and partly because no attempt has hitherto been made to
+analyze the intellect of Adam Smith, by considering his two great works
+as the opposite, but yet the compensatory, parts of a single scheme. And,
+as he is by far the greatest thinker Scotland has produced, I need hardly
+apologize, in a history of the Scotch mind, for devoting so much
+attention to his system, and endeavouring to examine it at its base. But,
+having done so, it would be a needless prolixity to treat with equal
+fulness the productions of those other eminent Scotchmen who lived at the
+same time, and nearly all of whom pursued a method essentially, though
+not entirely, the same; that is to say, they preferred the deductive
+process of reasoning from principles, to the inductive process of
+reasoning to them. In that peculiar form of deduction which consists in a
+deliberate suppression of part of the principles, Adam Smith stands
+alone. For, though others attempted to follow that plan, they did so
+irregularly, and at intervals, and did not, like him, see the importance
+of keeping close to their method, and of invariably abstaining from
+letting into the premisses of their arguments, considerations which would
+complicate the problem that they wished to solve.
+
+Among the contemporaries of Adam Smith, one of the first, in eminence, as
+well as in reputation, is David Hume. His views respecting political
+economy were published in 1752,[689] that is, the very year in which Adam
+Smith taught the principles subsequently unfolded in the _Wealth of
+Nations_. But Hume, though a most accomplished reasoner, as well as a
+profound and fearless thinker, had not the comprehensiveness of Adam
+Smith, nor had he that invaluable quality of imagination without which no
+one can so transport himself into past ages as to realize the long and
+progressive movements of society, always fluctuating, yet, on the whole,
+steadily advancing. How unimaginative he was, appears, not only from the
+sentiments he expressed, but likewise from many traits in his private
+life.[690] It appears, also, in the very colour and mechanism of his
+language; that beautiful and chiselled style in which he habitually
+wrote, polished as marble, but cold as marble too, and wanting that fiery
+enthusiasm and those bursts of tempestuous eloquence, which, ever and
+anon, great objects naturally inspire, and which rouse men to their
+inmost depths. This it was, which, in his _History of England_,--that
+exquisite production of art, which, in spite of its errors, will be
+admired as long as taste remains among us,--prevented him from
+sympathizing with those bold and generous natures, who, in the
+seventeenth century, risked their all to preserve the liberty of their
+country. His imagination was not strong enough to picture the whole of
+that great century, with its vast discoveries, its longings after the
+unknown, its splendid literature, and what was better than all these, its
+stern determination to vindicate freedom, and to put down tyranny. His
+clear and powerful understanding saw these things separately, and in
+their various parts, but could not fuse them into a single form, because
+he lacked that peculiar faculty which assimilates the past to the
+present, and enables the mind to discern both with almost equal ease.
+That Great Rebellion, which he ascribed to the spirit of faction, and the
+leaders of which he turned into ridicule, was but the continuation of a
+movement which can be clearly traced to the twelfth century, and of which
+such events as the invention of printing, and the establishment of the
+Reformation, were merely successive symptoms. For all this, Hume cared
+nothing. In regard to philosophy, and in regard to the purely speculative
+parts of religious doctrines, his penetrating genius enabled him to
+perceive that nothing could be done, except by a spirit of fearless and
+unrestrained liberty. But this was the liberty of his own class; the
+liberty of thinkers, and not of actors. His absence of imagination
+prevented him from extending the range of his sympathy beyond the
+intellectual classes, that is, beyond the classes of whose feelings he
+was directly cognizant. It would, therefore, appear, that his political
+errors were due, not, as is commonly said, to his want of research, but
+rather to the coldness of his temperament.[691] It was this which made
+him stop where he did, and which gave to his works the singular
+appearance of a profound and original thinker, in the middle of the
+eighteenth century, advocating practical doctrines, so illiberal, that,
+if enforced, they would lead to despotism, and yet, at the same time,
+advocating speculative doctrines, so fearless and enlightened, that they
+were not only far in advance of his own age, but have, in some degree,
+outstripped even the age in which we live.
+
+ [689] _Burton's Life of Hume_, vol. i. p. 354.
+
+ [690] See Mr. Burton's valuable _Life of Hume_, Edinburgh, 1846, vol. i.
+ pp. 58, 267, vol. ii. pp. 14, 134.
+
+ [691] What confirms me in this view, is the fact, that the older Hume
+ grew, and the more he read on history, the more he became imbued
+ with these errors; which would not have been the case if the
+ errors had, as many of his critics say, been the result of an
+ insufficient acquaintance with the evidence. Mr. Burton, by
+ comparing the different editions of his _History of England_, has
+ shown that he gradually became less favourable to popular liberty;
+ softening, or erasing, in later editions, those expressions which
+ seemed favourable to freedom. _Burton's Life of Hume_, vol. ii.
+ pp. 74-77. See also pp. 144, 434. In his _Own Life_, p. xi (in
+ vol. i. of _Hume's Works_ Edinb. 1826), he says: 'In a hundred
+ alterations, which farther study, reading, or reflection engaged
+ me to make in the reigns of the two first Stuarts, I have made all
+ of them invariably the Tory side.' In one of his essays, he
+ observes (_Philosophical Works_, vol. iv. p. 172) that 'there is
+ no enthusiasm among philosophers;' a remark perfectly true, so far
+ as he was concerned, but very unjust towards the class of men to
+ whom it refers.
+
+Among his speculative views, the most important are his theory of
+causation as discarding the idea of power, and his theory of the laws of
+association. Neither of these theories are, in their primary conception,
+quite original, but his treatment made them as valuable as if they had
+been entirely his own. His theory of miracles, in connexion, on the one
+hand, with the principles of evidence, and, on the other hand, with the
+laws of causation, is worked out with consummate skill, and, after having
+received the modifications subsequently imposed by Brown, has now become
+the foundation on which the best inquirers into these matters take their
+stand.[692] His work on the principles of morals, by generalizing the
+laws of expediency, prepared the way for Bentham, who afterwards
+incorporated with them an estimate of the more remote consequences of
+human actions; Hume, having chiefly confined himself to their more
+immediate consequences. The doctrine of utility was common to each; but
+while Hume applied it mainly to the individual, Bentham applied it to the
+surrounding society. Though Bentham was more comprehensive, yet Hume,
+having come first, was more original. The praise of originality must also
+be accorded to his economical theories, in which he advocated those
+principles of free trade, which politicians began to adopt many years
+after his death.[693] In opposition to the notions then prevailing, he
+distinctly asserted, that all commodities, though apparently bought by
+money, are in reality bought by labour.[694] Money, therefore, is not the
+subject of commerce, and is of no use except to facilitate it.[695]
+Hence, it is absurd for a nation to trouble itself about the balance of
+trade, or to make regulations to discourage the exportation of the
+precious metals.[696] Neither does the average rate of interest depend on
+their scarcity or abundance, but upon the operation of more general
+causes.[697] As a necessary consequence of these positions, Hume inferred
+that the established policy was wrong, which made trading states look
+upon each other as rivals, while, in point of fact, the question, if
+considered from a certain height, was one, not of rivalry, but of
+cooeperation; every country being benefited by the increasing wealth of
+its neighbours.[698] Those who know the character of commercial
+legislation, and the opinions of even the most enlightened statesmen a
+century ago, will consider these views as extremely remarkable to have
+been propounded in the year 1752. But what is more remarkable still, is,
+that their author subsequently detected the fundamental error which Adam
+Smith committed, and which vitiates many of his conclusions. The error
+consists in his having resolved price into three components, namely,
+wages, profit, and rent; whereas it is now known that price is a compound
+of wages and profit, and that rent is not an element of it, but a result
+of it. This discovery is the corner-stone of political economy; but it is
+established by an argument so long and so refined, that most minds are
+unable to pursue it without stumbling, and the majority of those who
+acquiesce in it are influenced by the great writers to whom they pay
+deference, and whose judgment they follow. It is, therefore, a striking
+proof of the sagacity of Hume, that in an age when the science was but
+dawning, and when he could receive little help from his predecessors, he
+should have discovered a mistake of this sort, which lies so far beneath
+the surface. Directly the _Wealth of Nations_ appeared, he wrote to Adam
+Smith, disputing his position that rent is a part of price;[699] and this
+letter, written in the year 1776, is the first indication of that
+celebrated theory of rent, which, a little later, Anderson, Malthus, and
+West, saw, and imperfectly developed, but which it was reserved for the
+genius of Ricardo to build up on a broad and solid foundation.
+
+ [692] Brown, in his great work,--one of the greatest which this century
+ has produced,--candidly confesses that his own book is 'chiefly
+ reflective of the lights, which he' (Hume) 'has given.' _Brown's
+ Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect_, London, 1835, p.
+ 253. See also p. vii.
+
+ [693] While the politicians of his own time despised his views, the
+ politicians of our time seem inclined to overrate them. Lord
+ Brougham, for instance, in his Life of Hume, says, of his
+ political economy, 'Mr. Hume is, beyond all doubt, the author of
+ the modern doctrines which now rule the world of science.'
+ _Brougham's Works_, Glasgow, 1856, vol. ii. p. 176. But so far
+ from this being the case, the science of political economy has,
+ since the time of Hume, received such additions, that if that
+ illustrious philosopher were to rise from the dead, he would
+ hardly be able to recognize it. To him, many of its largest and
+ most fundamental principles were entirely unknown. Hume knew
+ nothing of the causes which govern the accumulation of wealth, and
+ compel that accumulation to proceed with different speed in
+ different states of society; a fruitful and important study almost
+ entirely neglected until entered upon by Rae. Neither did Hume
+ know anything of the law of the ratio between population and
+ wages; nor of the ratio between wages and profits. He even
+ supposes (_Philosophical Works_, vol. iii. p. 299, Edinburgh,
+ 1826) that it is possible for the labouring classes by combination
+ 'to heighten their wages;' and again (p. 319) that the richer a
+ nation is, and the more trade it has, the easier it will be for a
+ poor country to undersell its manufactures, because the poor
+ nation enjoys the advantage of a 'low price of labour.' Elsewhere,
+ he asserts that coin can be depreciated without raising prices,
+ and that a country, by taxing a foreign commodity, could increase
+ its own population. 'Were all our money, for instance, recoined,
+ and a penny's worth of silver taken from every shilling, the new
+ shilling would probably purchase every thing that could have been
+ bought by the old; the prices of every thing would thereby be
+ insensibly diminished; foreign trade enlivened; and domestic
+ industry, by the circulation of a great number of pounds and
+ shillings, would receive some increase and encouragement.'
+ _Philosophical Works_, vol. iii. p. 324. 'A tax on German linen
+ encourages home manufactures, and thereby multiplies our people
+ and industry.' p. 365. These are cardinal errors, which go to the
+ very root of political economy; and when we fairly estimate what
+ has been done by Malthus and Ricardo, it will be evident that
+ Hume's doctrines do not 'rule the world of science.' This is no
+ disparagement of Hume, who, on the contrary, effected wonderful
+ things, considering the then state of knowledge. The mistake is,
+ in imagining that such a rapidly advancing science as political
+ economy can be governed by doctrines propounded more than a
+ century ago.
+
+ [694] 'Every thing in the world is purchased by labour, and our passions
+ are the only causes of labour.' _Essay I. on Commerce, in Hume's
+ Philosophical Works_, vol. iii. p. 294. Hence, he saw the fallacy
+ of the assertion of the French economists, 'that all taxes fall
+ ultimately upon land.' p. 388.
+
+ [695] 'Money is not, properly speaking, one of the subjects of commerce,
+ but only the instrument which men have agreed upon to facilitate
+ the exchange of one commodity for another.' _Essay on Money in
+ Philosophical Works_, vol. iii. p. 317. 'It is, indeed, evident
+ that money is nothing but the representation of labour and
+ commodities, and serves only as a method of rating or estimating
+ them.' p. 321.
+
+ [696] See _Essay V. on the Balance of Trade_, in _Hume's Philosophical
+ Works_, vol. iii. pp. 348-367.
+
+ [697] _Hume's Philosophical Works_, vol. iii. pp. 333-335. Even now, a
+ knowledge of this truth is so little diffused, that, lately, when
+ Australia and California began to yield immense quantities of
+ gold, a notion was widely circulated that the interest of money
+ would consequently fall; although nothing can be more certain than
+ that if gold were to become as plentiful as iron, the interest of
+ money would be unaffected. The whole effect would fall upon price.
+ The remarks on this subject in _Ritchie's Life of Hume_, London,
+ 1807, pp. 332, 333, are interesting, as illustrating the slow
+ progress of opinion, and the difficulty which minds, not specially
+ trained, experience when they attempt to investigate these
+ subjects.
+
+ [698] 'Nothing is more usual, among states which have made some advance
+ in commerce, than to look on the progress of their neighbours with
+ a suspicious eye, to consider all trading states as their rivals,
+ and to suppose that it is impossible for any of them to flourish,
+ but at their expense. In opposition to this narrow and malignant
+ opinion, I will venture to assert, that the increase of riches and
+ commerce in any one nation, instead of hurting, commonly promotes
+ the riches and commerce of all its neighbours.' ... 'I go farther,
+ and observe, that where an open communication is preserved among
+ nations, it is impossible but the domestic industry of every one
+ must receive an increase from the improvements of the others.'
+ _Essay on the Jealousy of Trade_, in _Hume's Philosophical Works_,
+ vol. iii. pp. 368, 369.
+
+ [699] This letter, which I have referred to in my first volume, p. 229,
+ was published, for, I believe, the first time, in 1846, in
+ _Burton's Life and Correspondence of Hume_, vol. ii. p. 486. It
+ is, however, very difficult to determine what Adam Smith's opinion
+ really was upon this subject, and how far he was aware that rent
+ did not enter into price. In one passage in the _Wealth of
+ Nations_ (book i. chap. vi. p. 21) he says of wages, profit, and
+ rent, 'in every society, the price of every commodity finally
+ resolves itself into some one or other, or all of those three
+ parts; and _in every improved society, all the three enter, more
+ or less, as component parts, into the price of the far greater
+ part of commodities_.' But in book i. chap. xi. p. 61, he says,
+ 'High or low wages and profit are the causes of high or low price;
+ high or low rent is the effect of it.' This latter opinion we now
+ know to be the true one; it is, however, incompatible with that
+ expressed in the first passage. For, if rent is the effect of
+ price, it cannot be a component of it.
+
+It is very observable, that Hume and Adam Smith, who made such immense
+additions to our knowledge of the principles of trade, had no practical
+acquaintance with it.[700] Hume had, at an early period of his life, been
+in a mercantile house; but he threw up that employment in disgust, and
+buried himself in a provincial town, to think, rather than to
+observe.[701] Indeed, one of the capital defects of his mind, was a
+disregard of facts. This did not proceed, as is too often the case, from
+that worst form of moral obliquity, an indifference to truth; since he,
+on the contrary, was an ardent lover of it, and was, moreover, a man of
+the purest and most exemplary character, utterly incapable of falsehood,
+or of prevarication of any kind.[702] In him, a contempt for facts was
+merely the exaggerated result of a devotion to ideas. He not only
+believed, with perfect justice, that ideas are more important than facts,
+but he supposed that they should hold the first place in the order of
+study, and that they should be developed before the facts are
+investigated. The Baconian philosophy, which, though it allows a
+preliminary and tentative hypothesis, strongly insists upon the necessity
+of first collecting the facts, and then proceeding to the ideas, excited
+his aversion; and this, I have no doubt, is the reason why he, who was
+usually so lenient in his judgments, and was so keen an admirer of
+intellectual greatness is, nevertheless, grossly unfair towards Bacon,
+with whose method it was impossible for him to sympathize, though he
+could not deny its utility, in physical science.[703] If Hume had
+followed the Baconian scheme, of always rising from particulars to
+generals, and from each generalization to that immediately above it, he
+would hardly have written one of his works. Certainly, his economical
+views would never have appeared, since political economy is as
+essentially a deductive science as geometry itself.[704] Reversing the
+inductive process, he was in favour of beginning with what he termed
+general arguments, by which he hoped to demonstrate the inaccuracy of
+opinions which facts were supposed to have proved.[705] He did not stop
+to investigate the facts from which the inference had been drawn, but he
+inverted the order by which the inference was to be obtained. The same
+dislike to make the facts of trade the basis of the science of trade, was
+displayed by Adam Smith, who expresses his want of confidence in
+statistics, or, as it was then termed, political arithmetic.[706] It is,
+however, evident, that statistical facts are as good as any other facts,
+and, owing to their mathematical form, are very precise.[707] But when
+they concern human actions, they are the result of all the motives which
+govern those actions; in other words, they are the result, not merely of
+selfishness, but also of sympathy. And as Adam Smith, in the _Wealth of
+Nations_, dealt with only one of these passions, namely, selfishness, he
+would have found it impossible to conduct his generalization from
+statistics, which are necessarily collected from the products of both
+passions. Such statistical facts were, in their origin, too complex to be
+generalized; especially as they could not be experimented upon, but could
+only be observed and arranged. Adam Smith, perceiving them to be
+unmanageable, very properly rejected them as the basis of his science,
+and merely used them by way of illustration, when he could select what he
+liked. The same remark applies to other facts which he drew from the
+history of trade, and, indeed, from the general history of society. All
+of these are essentially subsequent to the argument. They make the
+argument more clear, but not more certain. For, it is no exaggeration to
+say, that, if all the commercial and historical facts in the _Wealth of
+Nations_ were false, the book would still remain, and its conclusions
+would hold equally good, though they would be less attractive. In it,
+every thing depends upon general principles, and they, as we have seen,
+were arrived at in 1752, that is, twenty-four years before the work was
+published in which those principles were applied. They must, therefore,
+have been acquired independently of the facts which Adam Smith,
+subsequently incorporated with them, and which he learnt during that long
+period of twenty-four years. And the ten years which he employed in
+composing his great work, were not spent in one of those busy haunts of
+men, where he might have observed all the phenomena of industry, and
+studied the way in which the operations of trade affect human character,
+and are affected by it. He did not resort to one of those vast marts and
+emporiums of commerce, where the events were happening which he was
+seeking to explain. That was not his method. On the contrary, the ten
+years, during which he was occupied in raising to a science the most
+active department of life, were passed in complete seclusion in
+Kirkaldy, his quiet little birthplace.[708] He had always been remarkable
+for absence of mind, and was so little given to observation, as to be
+frequently oblivious of what was passing around him.[709] In that
+obliviousness, he, amid the tranquil scenes of his childhood, could now
+indulge without danger. There, cheered, indeed, by the society of his
+mother, but with no opportunity of observing human nature upon a large
+scale, and far removed from the hum of great cities, did this mighty
+thinker, by the force of his own mind, unravel the numerous and
+complicated phenomena of wealth, detect the motives which regulate the
+conduct of the most energetic and industrious portion of mankind, and lay
+bare the schemes and the secrets of that active life from which he was
+shut out, while he, immured in comparative solitude, was unable to
+witness the very facts which he succeeded in explaining.
+
+ [700] Hence, when the _Wealth of Nations_ appeared, one of our wise men
+ gravely said that 'Dr. Smith, who had never been in trade, could
+ not be expected to write well on that subject, any more than a
+ lawyer upon physic.' See _Boswell's Life of Johnson_, edit.
+ Croker, 1848, p. 478, where this remark is ascribed to Sir John
+ Pringle.
+
+ [701] 'He was sent to a mercantile house at Bristol in 1734; but he
+ found the drudgery of this employment intolerable, and he retired
+ to Rheims.' _Brougham's Life of Hume_, Glasgow, 1856, p. 169. See
+ also _Ritchie's Life of Hume_, p. 6. In _Roberts' Memoirs of
+ Hannah More_, 2d ed. 1834, vol. i. p. 16, it is said that 'two
+ years of his life were spent in a merchant's counting-house in
+ Bristol, whence he was dismissed on account of the promptitude of
+ his pen in the correction of the letters intrusted to him to
+ copy.' The latter part of this story is improbable; the former
+ part is certainly incorrect; since Hume himself says, 'In 1734, I
+ went to Bristol, with some recommendations to eminent merchants,
+ but _in a few months_ found that scene totally unsuitable to me. I
+ went over to France, with a view of prosecuting my studies in a
+ country retreat.' _Own Life_, p. v.
+
+ [702] What Sir James Mackintosh says of him is only a faint echo of the
+ general voice of his contemporaries. 'His temper was calm, not to
+ say cold; but though none of his feelings were ardent, all were
+ engaged on the side of virtue. He was free from the slightest
+ tincture of malignity or meanness; his conduct was uniformly
+ excellent.' _Mackintosh's Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 162. A greater
+ than Mackintosh, and a man who knew Hume intimately, expresses
+ himself in much warmer terms. 'Upon the whole,' writes Adam
+ Smith,--'Upon the whole, I have always considered him, both in his
+ lifetime and since his death, as approaching as nearly to the idea
+ of a perfectly wise and virtuous man as perhaps the nature of
+ human frailty will permit.' _Hume's Philosophical Works_, vol. i.
+ p. xxv. Some notices of Hume will be found in an interesting work
+ just published. _Autobiography of Alexander Carlyle_, Edinburgh,
+ 1860, pp. 272-278. But Carlyle, though a man of considerable
+ practical skill, was incapable of large views, and was, therefore,
+ unable, I will not say to measure, but even to conceive, the size
+ of such an understanding as that possessed by David Hume. Of his
+ want of speculative power, a decisive instance appears in his
+ remarks on Adam Smith. He gravely says (_Autobiography_, p. 281),
+ 'Smith's fine writing is chiefly displayed in his book on _Moral
+ Sentiments_, which is the pleasantest and most eloquent book on
+ the subject. His _Wealth of Nations_, from which he was judged to
+ be an inventive genius of the first order, is tedious and full of
+ repetition. His separate essays in the second volume have the air
+ of being occasional pamphlets, without much force or
+ determination. On political subjects, his opinions were not very
+ sound.' It is rather too much when a village-preacher writes in
+ this strain of the greatest man his country has ever produced.
+
+ [703] He speaks of him in the following extraordinary terms. 'If we
+ consider the variety of talents displayed by this man; as a public
+ speaker, a man of business, a wit, a courtier, a companion, an
+ author, a philosopher; he is justly the object of great
+ admiration. If we consider him merely as an author and
+ philosopher, the light in which we view him at present, though
+ very estimable, _he was yet inferior to his contemporary Galileo,
+ perhaps even to Kepler_.' ... 'The national spirit which prevails
+ among the English, and which forms their great happiness, is the
+ cause why they bestow on all their eminent writers, and on Bacon
+ among the rest, such praises and acclamations as may often appear
+ partial and excessive.' _Hume's History of England_, vol. vi. pp.
+ 194, 195, London, 1789.
+
+ [704] See the note in vol. i. p. 250, of _Buckle's History of
+ Civilization_.
+
+ [705] Thus, for instance, in his remarkable _Essay on the Balance of
+ Trade_, he says (_Philosophical Works_, vol. iii. p. 349), 'Every
+ man who has ever reasoned on this subject, has always _proved his
+ theory, whatever it was, by facts and calculations_, and by an
+ enumeration of all the commodities sent to all foreign kingdoms;'
+ therefore (p. 350), 'It may here be proper to form a general
+ argument to prove the impossibility of this event, so long as we
+ preserve our people and our industry.'
+
+ [706] 'I have no great faith in political arithmetic.' _Wealth of
+ Nations_, book iv. chap. v. p. 218.
+
+ [707] Indeed, the only possible objection to them is that the language
+ of their collectors is sometimes ambiguous; so that, by the same
+ return, one statistician may mean one thing, and another
+ statistician may mean something quite different. This is well
+ exemplified in medical statistics; whence several writers,
+ unacquainted with the philosophy of scientific proof, have
+ supposed that medicine is incapable of mathematical treatment. In
+ point of fact, however, the only real impediment is the shameful
+ state of clinical and pathological terminology, which is in such
+ confusion as to throw doubt upon all extensive numerical
+ statements respecting disease.
+
+ [708] 'Upon his return to England in the autumn of 1766, he went to
+ reside with his mother at his native town of Kirkaldy, and
+ remained there for ten years. All the attempts of his friends in
+ Edinburgh to draw him thither were vain; and from a kind and
+ lively letter of Mr. Hume upon the subject, complaining that,
+ though within sight of him on the opposite side of the Frith of
+ Forth, he could not have speech of him, it appears that no one was
+ aware of the occupations in which those years were passed.'
+ _Brougham's Life of Adam Smith_, p. 189. Occasionally, however, he
+ saw his literary friends. See _Dugald Stewart's Biographical
+ Memoirs_, p. 73, Edinb. 1811, 4to.
+
+ [709] 'He was certainly not fitted for the general commerce of the
+ world, or for the business of active life. The comprehensive
+ speculations with which he had been occupied from his youth, and
+ the variety of materials which his own invention constantly
+ supplied to his thoughts, rendered him habitually inattentive to
+ familiar objects and to common occurrences; and he frequently
+ exhibited instances of absence, which have scarcely been surpassed
+ by the fancy of La Bruyere.' _Stewart's Biographical Memoirs_, p.
+ 113. See also _Ramsay's Reminiscences_, 5th edit. Edinb. 1859, p.
+ 236. Carlyle, who knew him well, says, 'he was the most absent man
+ in company that I ever saw, moving his lips, and talking to
+ himself, and smiling, in the midst of large companies.'
+ _Autobiography of the Rev. Alexander Carlyle_, 2nd edit. Edinb.
+ 1860, p. 279.
+
+The same determination to make the study of principles precede that of
+facts, is exhibited by Hume in one of his most original works, the
+_Natural History of Religion_. In reference to the title of this
+treatise, we must observe that, according to the Scotch philosophers, the
+natural course of any movement is by no means the same as its actual
+course. This discrepancy between the ideal and the real, was the
+unavoidable result of their method.[710] For, as they argued deductively
+from fixed premisses, they could not take into account the perturbations
+to which their conclusions were liable, from the play and friction of the
+surrounding society. To do that, required a separate inquiry. It would
+have been needful to investigate the circumstances which caused the
+friction, and thus prevented the conclusions from being, in the world of
+fact, the same as they were in the world of speculation. What we call
+accidents, are constantly happening, and they prevent the real march of
+affairs from being identical with the natural march. And, as long as we
+are unable to predict those accidents, there will always be a want of
+complete harmony between the inferences of a deductive science and the
+realities of life; in other words, our inferences will tend towards
+truth, but never completely attain it.[711]
+
+ [710] A Scotch philosopher of great repute, but, as it appears to me, of
+ ability not quite equal to his repute, has stated very clearly and
+ accurately this favourite method of his countrymen. 'In examining
+ the history of mankind, as well as in examining the phenomena of
+ the material world, when we cannot trace the process by which an
+ event _has been_ produced, it is often of importance to be able to
+ show how it _may have been_ produced by natural causes.' ... 'To
+ this species of philosophical investigation, which has no
+ appropriated name in our language, I shall take the liberty of
+ giving the title of _Theoretical_ or _Conjectural History_; an
+ expression which coincides pretty nearly in its meaning with that
+ of _Natural History_ as employed by Mr. Hume, and with what some
+ French writers have called Histoire Raisonnee.' _Dugald Stewart's
+ Biographical Memoirs_, pp. 48, 49. Hence (p. 53), 'in most cases,
+ it is of more importance to ascertain the progress that is most
+ simple, than the progress that is most agreeable to fact; for,
+ paradoxical as the proposition may appear, it is certainly true,
+ that _the real progress is not always the most natural_. It may
+ have been determined by particular accidents, which are not likely
+ again to occur, and which cannot be considered as forming any part
+ of that general provision which nature has made for the
+ improvement of the race.'
+
+ [711] Part of this view is well expressed in _Hume's Treatise of Human
+ Nature_, book iii. part ii. 'This, however, hinders not but that
+ philosophers may, if they please, extend their reasoning to the
+ supposed _state of nature_; provided they allow it to be a mere
+ philosophical fiction, which never had, and never could have, any
+ reality.' ... 'The same liberty may be permitted to moral, which
+ is allowed to natural philosophers; and 'tis very usual with the
+ latter to consider any motion as compounded and consisting of two
+ parts separate from each other, though, at the same time, they
+ acknowledge it to be in itself uncompounded and inseparable.'
+ _Philosophical Works_, vol. ii. p. 263.
+
+With peculiar propriety, therefore, did Hume term his work a _Natural
+History of Religion_. It is an admirable specimen of the deductive
+method. Its only fault is that he speaks too confidently of the accuracy
+of the results to which, on such a subject, that method could attain. He
+believed, that, by observing the principles of human nature, as he found
+them in his own mind, it was possible to explain the whole course of
+affairs, both moral and physical.[712] These principles were to be
+arrived at by experiments made on himself; and having thus arrived at
+them, he was to reason from them deductively, and so construct the entire
+scheme. This he contrasts with the inductive plan, which he calls a
+tedious and lingering process; and while others might follow that slow
+and patient method of gradually working their way towards first
+principles, his project was, to seize them at once, or, as he expresses
+himself, not to stop at the frontier, but to march directly on the
+capital, being possessed of which, he could gain an easy victory over
+other difficulties, and could extend his conquests over the
+sciences.[713] According to Hume, we are to reason, not in order to
+obtain ideas, but we are to have clear ideas before we reason.[714] By
+this means, we arrive at philosophy; and her conclusions are not to be
+impugned, even if they do happen to clash with science. On the contrary,
+her authority is supreme, and her decisions, being essentially true, must
+always be preferred to any generalization of the facts which the external
+world presents.[715]
+
+ [712] And, conversely, that whatever was 'demonstratively false,' could
+ 'never be distinctly conceived by the mind.' _Philosophical
+ Works_, vol. iv. p. 33. Here, and sometimes in other passages,
+ Hume, though by no means a Cartesian, reminds us of Descartes.
+
+ [713] 'Here, then, is the only expedient from which we can hope for
+ success in our philosophical researches, _to leave the tedious,
+ lingering method_, which we have hitherto followed, and instead of
+ taking now and then a castle or a village on the frontier, to
+ march up directly to the capital, or centre of these sciences, to
+ human nature itself; which, being once masters of, we may every
+ where else hope for an easy victory. From this station we may
+ extend our conquests over all those sciences which more
+ immediately concern human life, and may afterwards proceed, at
+ leisure, to discover more fully those which are the objects of
+ pure curiosity.' _Hume's Philosophical Works_, vol. i. p. 8. See
+ also, in vol. ii. pp. 73, 74, his remarks on the way 'to consider
+ the matter _a priori_.'
+
+ [714] 'No kind of reasoning can give rise to a new idea, such as this of
+ power is; but wherever we reason, we must antecedently be
+ possessed of clear ideas, which may be the objects of our
+ reasoning.' _Hume's Philosophical Works_, vol. i. p. 217. Compare
+ vol. ii. p. 276, on our arriving at a knowledge of causes 'by a
+ kind of taste or fancy.' Hence, the larger view preceding the
+ smaller, and being essentially independent of it, will constantly
+ contradict it; and he complains, for instance, that 'difficulties,
+ which seem unsurmountable in theory, are easily got over in
+ practice.' vol. ii. p. 357; and again, in vol. iii. p. 326, on the
+ effort needed to 'reconcile reason to experience.' But, after all,
+ it is rather by a careful study of his works, than by quoting
+ particular passages, that his method can be understood. In the two
+ sentences, however, just cited, the reader will see that theory
+ and reason represent the larger view; while practice and
+ experience represent the smaller.
+
+ [715] ''Tis certainly a kind of indignity to philosophy, whose sovereign
+ authority ought every where to be acknowledged, to oblige her on
+ every occasion to make apologies for her conclusions, and justify
+ herself to every particular art and science, which may be offended
+ at her. This puts one in mind of a king arraigned for high treason
+ against his subjects.' _Hume's Philosophical Works_, vol. i.
+ pp. 318, 319.
+
+Hume, therefore, believed that all the secrets of the external world are
+wrapped up in the human mind. The mind was not only the key by which the
+treasure could be unlocked; it was also the treasure itself. Learning and
+science might illustrate and beautify our mental acquisitions, but they
+could not communicate real knowledge; they could neither give the prime
+original materials, nor could they teach the design according to which
+those materials must be worked.
+
+In conformity with these views, the _Natural History of Religion_ was
+composed. The object of Hume in writing it, was, to ascertain the origin
+and progress of religious ideas; and he arrives at the conclusion, that
+the worship of many Gods must, every where, have preceded the worship of
+one God. This, he regards as a law of the human mind, a thing not only
+that always has happened, but that always must happen. His proof is
+entirely speculative. He argues that the earliest state of man is
+necessarily a savage state; that savages can feel no interest in the
+ordinary operations of nature, and no desire to study the principles
+which govern those operations; that such men must be devoid of curiosity
+on all subjects which do not personally trouble them; and that,
+therefore, while they neglect the usual events of nature, they will turn
+their minds to the unusual ones.[716] A violent tempest, a monstrous
+birth, excessive cold, excessive rain, sudden and fatal diseases, are the
+sort of things to which the attention of the savage is confined, and of
+which alone he desires to know the causes. Directly he finds that such
+causes are beyond his control, he reckons them superior to himself, and,
+being incapable of abstracting them, he personifies them; he turns them
+into deities; polytheism is established; and the earliest creed of
+mankind assumes a form which can never be altered, as long as men remain
+in this condition of pristine ignorance.[717]
+
+ [716] 'A barbarous, necessitous animal (such as a man is on the first
+ origin of society), pressed by such numerous wants and passions,
+ has no leisure to admire the regular face of nature, or make
+ inquiries concerning the cause of those objects to which, from his
+ infancy, he has been gradually accustomed. On the contrary, the
+ more regular and uniform, that is the more perfect, nature
+ appears, the more is he familiarized to it, and the less inclined
+ to scrutinize and examine it. A monstrous birth excites his
+ curiosity, and is deemed a prodigy. It alarms him from its
+ novelty, and immediately sets him a trembling, and sacrificing,
+ and praying. But an animal complete in all its limbs and organs is
+ to him an ordinary spectacle, and produces no religious opinion or
+ affection. Ask him whence that animal arose? He will tell you,
+ from the copulation of its parents. And these, whence? From the
+ copulation of theirs. A few removes satisfy his curiosity, and set
+ the objects at such a distance that he entirely loses sight of
+ them. Imagine not that he will so much as start the question,
+ whence the first animal, much less whence the whole system, or
+ united fabric of the universe arose. Or, if you start such a
+ question to him, expect not that he will employ his mind with any
+ anxiety about a subject so remote, so uninteresting, and which so
+ much exceeds the bounds of his capacity.' _Natural History of
+ Religion_, in _Hume's Philosophical Works_, vol. iv. p. 439. See
+ also pp. 463-465.
+
+ [717] 'By degrees, the active imagination of men, uneasy in this
+ abstract conception of objects, about which it is incessantly
+ employed, begins to render them more particular, and to clothe
+ them in shapes more suitable to its natural comprehension. It
+ represents them to be sensible, intelligent beings like mankind;
+ actuated by love and hatred, and flexible by gifts and entreaties,
+ by prayers and sacrifices. Hence the origin of religion. And hence
+ the origin of idolatry, or polytheism.' _Hume's Philosophical
+ Works_, vol. iv. p. 472. 'The primary religion of mankind arises
+ chiefly from an anxious fear of future events,' p. 498.
+
+These propositions, which are not only plausible, but which are probably
+true, ought, according to the inductive philosophy, to have been
+generalized from a survey of facts; that is, from a collection of
+evidence respecting the state of religion and of the speculative
+faculties among savage tribes. But this, Hume abstains from doing. He
+refers to none of the numerous travellers who have visited such people;
+he does not, in the whole course of his work, mention even a single book
+where facts respecting savage life are preserved. It was enough for him,
+that the progress from a belief in many Gods to a belief in one God, was
+the natural progress; which is saying, in other words, that it appeared
+to his mind to be the natural progress.[718] With that, he was satisfied.
+In other parts of his essay, where he treats of the religious opinions
+of the ancient Greeks and Romans, he displays a tolerable, though by no
+means remarkable, learning; but the passages which he cites, do not refer
+to that entirely barbarous society in which, as he supposes, polytheism
+first arose. The premisses, therefore, of the argument are evolved out of
+his own mind. He reasons deductively from the ideas which his powerful
+intellect supplied, instead of reasoning inductively from the facts which
+were peculiar to the subject he was investigating.
+
+ [718] '_It seems certain, that, according to the natural progress of
+ human thought_, the ignorant multitude must first entertain some
+ grovelling and familiar notion of superior powers, before they
+ stretch their conception to that perfect Being who bestowed order
+ on the whole frame of nature. _We may as reasonably imagine, that
+ men inhabited palaces before huts and cottages_, or studied
+ geometry before agriculture, as assert that the Deity appeared to
+ them a pure spirit, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent,
+ before he was apprehended to be a powerful though limited being,
+ with human passions and appetites, limbs and organs. The mind
+ rises gradually from inferior to superior. By abstracting from
+ what is imperfect, it forms an idea of perfection; and slowly
+ distinguishing the nobler parts of its own frame from the grosser,
+ it learns to transform only the former, much elevated and refined,
+ to its divinity. Nothing could disturb this _natural progress of
+ thought_, but some obvious and invincible argument, which might
+ immediately lead the mind into the pure principles of theism, and
+ make it overleap, at one bound, the vast interval which is
+ interposed between the human and the Divine nature. But though I
+ allow, that the order and frame of the universe, when accurately
+ examined, affords such an argument, yet _I can never think_ that
+ this consideration could have an influence on mankind, when they
+ formed their first rude notions of religion.' _Natural History of
+ Religion_, in _Philosophical Works_, vol. iv. p. 438.
+
+Even in the rest of his work, which is full of refined and curious
+speculation, he uses facts, not to demonstrate his conclusions, but to
+illustrate them. He, therefore, selected those facts which suited his
+purpose, leaving the others untouched. And this, which many critics would
+call unfair, was not unfair in him; because he believed, that he had
+already established his principles without the aid of those facts. The
+facts might benefit the reader, by making the argument clearer, but they
+could not strengthen the argument. They were more intended to persuade
+than to prove; they were rather rhetorical than logical. Hence, a critic
+would waste his time if he were to sift them with a minuteness which
+would be necessary, supposing that Hume had built an inductive argument
+upon them. Otherwise, without going far, it might be curious to contrast
+them with the entirely different facts which Cudworth, eighty years
+before, had collected from the same source, and on the same subject.
+Cudworth, who was much superior to Hume in learning, and much inferior to
+him in genius,[719] displayed, in his great work on the _Intellectual
+System of the Universe_, a prodigious erudition, to prove that, in the
+ancient world, the belief in one God was a prevailing doctrine. Hume, who
+never refers to Cudworth, arrives at a precisely opposite conclusion.
+Both quoted ancient writers; but while Cudworth drew his inferences from
+what he found in those writers, Hume drew his from what he found in his
+own mind. Cudworth, being more learned, relied on his reading; Hume,
+having more genius, relied on his intellect. Cudworth, trained in the
+school of Bacon, first collected the evidence, and then passed the
+judgment. Hume, formed in a school entirely different, believed that the
+acuteness of the judge was more important than the quantity of the
+evidence; that witnesses were likely to prevaricate; and that he
+possessed, in his own mind, the surest materials for arriving at an
+accurate conclusion. It is not, therefore, strange, that Cudworth and
+Hume, pursuing opposite methods, should have obtained opposite results,
+since such a discrepancy is, as I have already pointed out, unavoidable,
+when men investigate, according to different plans, a subject which, in
+the existing state of knowledge, is not amenable to scientific treatment.
+
+ [719] Not that he was by any means devoid of genius, though he holds a
+ rank far below so great and original a thinker as Hume. He had,
+ however, collected more materials than he was able to wield; and
+ his work on the _Intellectual System of the Universe_, which is a
+ treasure of ancient philosophy, is badly arranged, and, in many
+ parts, feebly argued. There is more real power in his posthumous
+ treatise on _Eternal and Immutable Morality_.
+
+The length to which this chapter has already extended, and the number of
+topics which I have still to handle, will prevent me from examining, in
+detail, the philosophy of Reid, who was the most eminent among the
+purely speculative thinkers of Scotland, after Hume and Adam Smith,
+though, in point of merit, he must be placed far below them. For, he had
+neither the comprehensiveness of Smith, nor the fearlessness of Hume. The
+range of his knowledge was not wide enough to allow him to be
+comprehensive; while a timidity, almost amounting to moral cowardice,
+made him recoil from the views advocated by Hume, not so much on account
+of their being false, as on account of their being dangerous. It is,
+however, certain, that no man can take high rank as a philosopher, who
+allows himself to be trammelled by considerations of that kind. A
+philosopher should aim solely at truth, and should refuse to estimate the
+practical tendency of his speculations. If they are true, let them stand;
+if they are false, let them fall. But, whether they are agreeable or
+disagreeable, whether they are consolatory or disheartening, whether they
+are safe or mischievous, is a question, not for philosophers, but for
+practical men. Every new truth which has ever been propounded, has, for a
+time, caused mischief; it has produced discomfort, and often unhappiness,
+sometimes by disturbing social or religious arrangements, and sometimes
+merely by the disruption of old and cherished associations of thought. It
+is only after a certain interval, and when the framework of affairs has
+adjusted itself to the new truth, that its good effects preponderate; and
+the preponderance continues to increase, until, at length, the truth
+causes nothing but good. But, at the outset, there is always harm. And,
+if the truth is very great, as well as very new, the harm is serious. Men
+are made uneasy; they flinch; they cannot bear the sudden light; a
+general restlessness supervenes; the face of society is disturbed, or
+perhaps convulsed; old interests, and old beliefs, are destroyed, before
+new ones have been created. These symptoms are the precursors of
+revolution; they have preceded all the great changes through which the
+world has passed; and while, if they are not excessive, they forebode
+progress, so if they are excessive, they threaten anarchy. It is the
+business of practical men to moderate such symptoms, and to take care
+that the truths which philosophers discover, are not applied so rashly as
+to dislocate the fabric, instead of strengthening it. But the philosopher
+has only to discover the truth, and promulgate it; and that is hard work
+enough for any man, let his ability be as great as it may. This division
+of labour, between thinkers and actors, secures an economy of force, and
+prevents either class from wasting its power. It establishes a difference
+between science, which ascertains principles, and art, which applies
+them. It also recognizes, that the philosopher and the practical man,
+having each a separate part to play, each is, in his own field, supreme.
+But it is a sad confusion for either to interfere with the other. In
+their different spheres, both are independent, and both are worthy of
+admiration. Inasmuch, however, as practical men should never allow the
+speculative conclusions of philosophers, whatever be their truth, to be
+put in actual operation, unless society is, in some degree, ripe for
+their reception; so, on the other hand, philosophers are not to hesitate,
+and tremble, and stop short in their career, because their intellect is
+leading them to conclusions subversive of existing interests. The duty of
+a philosopher is clear. His path lies straight before him. He must take
+every pains to ascertain the truth; and, having arrived at a conclusion,
+he, instead of shrinking from it because it is unpalatable, or because it
+seems dangerous, should on that very account, cling the closer to it,
+should uphold it in bad repute, more zealously than he would have done in
+good repute; should noise it abroad far and wide, utterly regardless what
+opinions he shocks, or what interests he imperils; should, on its behalf,
+court hostility and despise contempt, being well assured, that, if it is
+not true, it will die, but that, if it is true, it must produce ultimate
+benefit, albeit unsuited for practical adoption by the age or country in
+which it is first propounded.
+
+But Reid, notwithstanding the clearness of his mind and his great powers
+of argument, had so little of the real philosophic spirit, that he loved
+truth, not for its own sake, but for the sake of its immediate and
+practical results. He himself tells us, that he began to study
+philosophy, merely because he was shocked at the consequences at which
+philosophers had arrived. As long as the speculations of Locke and of
+Berkeley were not pushed to their logical conclusions, Reid acquiesced in
+them, and they were good in his eyes.[720] While they were safe and
+tolerably orthodox, he was not over-nice in inquiring into their
+validity. In the hands of Hume, however, philosophy became bolder and
+more inquisitive; she disturbed opinions which were ancient, and which it
+was pleasant to hold; she searched into the foundation of things, and by
+forcing men to doubt and to inquire, she rendered inestimable service to
+the cause of truth. But this was precisely the tendency at which Reid was
+displeased. He saw that such disturbance was uncomfortable; he saw that
+it was hazardous; therefore, he endeavoured to prove that it was
+groundless. Confusing the question of practical consequences with the
+totally different question of scientific truth, he took for granted that,
+because to his age the adoption of those consequences would be
+mischievous, they must be false. To the profound views of Hume respecting
+causation, he gravely objects, that if they were carried into effect, the
+operation of criminal law would be imperilled.[721] To the speculations
+of the same philosopher concerning the metaphysical basis of the theory
+of contracts, he replies, that such speculations perplex men, and weaken
+their sense of duty; they are, therefore, to be disapproved of, on
+account of their tendency.[722] With Reid, the main question always is,
+not whether an inference is true, but what will happen if it is true. He
+says, that a doctrine is to be judged by its fruits;[723] forgetting that
+the same doctrine will bear different fruits in different ages, and that
+the consequences which a theory produces in one state of society, are
+often diametrically opposed to those which it produces in another. He
+thus made his own age the standard of all future ones. He also trammelled
+philosophy with practical considerations; diverting thinkers from the
+pursuit of truth, which is their proper department, into the pursuit of
+expediency, which is not their department at all. Reid was constantly
+stopping to inquire, not whether theories were accurate, but whether it
+was advisable to adopt them; whether they were favourable to patriotism,
+or to generosity, or to friendship;[724] in a word, whether they were
+comfortable, and such as we should at present like to believe.[725] Or
+else, he would take other ground, still lower, and still more unworthy of
+a philosopher. In opposing, for instance, the doctrine, that our
+faculties sometimes deceive us,--a doctrine which, as he well knew, had
+been held by men whose honesty was equal to his own, and whose ability
+was superior to his own,--he does not scruple to enlist on his side the
+prejudices of a vulgar superstition; seeking to blacken the tenet which
+he was unable to refute. He actually asserts, that they who advocate it,
+insult the Deity, by imputing to the Almighty that He has lied. Such
+being the consequence of the opinion, it of course follows that the
+opinion must be rejected without further scrutiny, since, to accept it,
+would produce fatal results on our conduct, and would, indeed, be
+subversive of all religion, of all morals, and of all knowledge.[726]
+
+ [720] 'I once believed this doctrine of ideas so firmly, as to embrace
+ the whole of Berkeley's system in consequence of it; till, finding
+ other consequences to follow from it, which gave me more
+ uneasiness than the want of a material world, it came into my mind
+ more than 40 years ago, to put the question, What evidence have I
+ for this doctrine that all the objects of my knowledge are ideas
+ in my own mind? From that time to the present, I have been
+ candidly and impartially, as I think, seeking for the evidence of
+ this principle but can find none, excepting the authority of
+ philosophers.' _Reid's Essays on the Powers of the Human Mind_,
+ edit. Edinburgh, 1808, vol. i. p. 172. And, in a letter which he
+ wrote to Hume in 1763, he, with a simple candour which must have
+ highly amused that eminent philosopher, confesses that 'your
+ system appears to me not only coherent in all its parts, but
+ likewise justly deduced from principles commonly received among
+ philosophers; principles which I never thought of calling in
+ question, until the conclusions you draw from them in the
+ "Treatise on Human Nature" made me suspect them.' _Burton's Life
+ and Correspondence of Hume_, vol. ii. p. 155.
+
+ [721] 'Suppose a man to be found dead on the high-way, his skull
+ fractured, his body pierced with deadly wounds, his watch and
+ money carried off. The coroner's jury sits upon the body, and the
+ question is put, What was the cause of this man's death, was it
+ accident, or _felo de se_, or murder by persons unknown? Let us
+ suppose an adept in Mr. Hume's philosophy to make one of the jury,
+ and that he insists upon the previous question, whether there was
+ any cause of the event, or whether it happened without a cause.'
+ _Reid's Essays on the Powers of the Mind_, vol. ii. p. 286.
+ Compare vol. iii. p. 33: 'This would put an end to all
+ speculation, as well as to all the business of life.'
+
+ [722] 'The obligation of contracts and promises is a matter so sacred,
+ and of such consequence to human society, that speculations which
+ have a _tendency to weaken that obligation_, and to perplex men's
+ notions on a subject so plain and so important, ought to _meet
+ with the disapprobation of all honest men_. Some such
+ speculations, I think, we have in the third volume of Mr. Hume's
+ "Treatise of Human Nature," and in his "Enquiry into the
+ Principles of Morals;" and my design in this chapter is, to offer
+ some observations on the nature of a contract or promise, and on
+ two passages of that author on this subject. I am far from saying
+ or thinking, that Mr. Hume meant to weaken men's obligations to
+ honesty and fair dealing, or that he had not a sense of these
+ obligations himself. It is not the man I impeach, but his
+ writings. Let us think of the first as charitably as we can, while
+ we freely examine the import and _tendency_ of the last.' _Reid's
+ Essays on the Powers of the Mind_, vol. iii. p. 444. In this, as
+ in most passages, the italics are my own.
+
+ [723] 'Without repeating what I have before said of causes in the first
+ of these Essays, and in the second and third chapters of this, I
+ shall here mention some of the consequences that may be justly
+ deduced from this definition of a cause, that we may judge of it
+ by its fruits.' _Reid's Essays_, vol. iii. p. 339.
+
+ [724] 'Bishop Berkeley surely did not duly consider that it is by means
+ of the material world that we have any correspondence with
+ thinking beings, or any knowledge of their existence, and that by
+ depriving us of the material world, he deprived us at the same
+ time of family, friends, country, and every human creature; of
+ every object of affection, esteem or concern, except ourselves.
+ The good bishop surely never intended this. He was too warm a
+ friend, too zealous a patriot, and too good a Christian to be
+ capable of such a thought. _He was not aware of the consequences
+ of his system_' (poor, ignorant Berkeley), 'and therefore they
+ ought not to be imputed to him; but we must impute them to the
+ system itself. It stifles every generous and social principle.'
+ _Reid's Essays_, vol. ii. pp. 251, 252.
+
+ [725] In his _Essays_, vol. i. p. 179, he says of Berkeley, one of the
+ deepest and most unanswerable of all speculators, 'But there is
+ one _uncomfortable consequence_ of his system which he seems not
+ to have attended to, and from which it will be found difficult, if
+ at all possible, to guard it.'
+
+ [726] 'This doctrine is dishonourable to our Maker, and lays a foundation
+ for universal scepticism. It supposes the Author of our being to
+ have given us one faculty on purpose to deceive us, and another by
+ which we may detect the fallacy, and find that he imposed upon
+ us.' ... 'The genuine dictate of our natural faculties is the
+ voice of God, no less than what he reveals from heaven; and to say
+ that it is fallacious, is to impute a lie to the God of truth.'
+ ... 'Shall we impute to the Almighty what we cannot impute to a
+ man without a heinous affront? Passing this opinion, therefore, as
+ shocking to an ingenuous mind, and, in its consequences,
+ subversive of all religion, all morals, and all knowledge,' &c.
+ _Reid's Essays_, vol. iii. p. 310. See also vol. i. p. 313.
+
+In 1764, Reid published his _Inquiry into the Human Mind_; and in that,
+and in his subsequent work, entitled _Essays on the Powers of the Mind_,
+he sought to destroy the philosophy of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. And as
+Hume was the boldest of the three, it was chiefly his philosophy which
+Reid attacked. Of the character of this attack, some specimens have just
+been given; but they rather concern his object and motives, while what we
+have now to ascertain is, his method, that is, the tactics of his
+warfare. He clearly saw, that Hume had assumed certain principles, and
+had reasoned deductively from them to the facts, instead of reasoning
+inductively from the facts to them. To this method, he strongly, and
+perhaps fairly, objects. He admits that Hume had reasoned so accurately,
+that if his principles were conceded, his conclusions must likewise be
+conceded.[727] But, he says, Hume had no right to proceed in such a
+manner. He had no right to assume principles, and then to argue from
+them. The laws of nature were to be arrived at, not by conjecturing in
+this way, but by a patient induction of facts.[728] Discoveries depended
+solely on observation and experiment; and any other plan could only
+produce theories, ingenious, perhaps, and plausible, but quite
+worthless.[729] For, theory should yield to fact, and not fact to
+theory.[730] Speculators, indeed, might talk about first principles, and
+raise a system by reasoning from them. But, the fact was, that there was
+no agreement as to how a first principle was to be recognized; since a
+principle which one man would deem self-evident, another would think it
+necessary to prove, and a third would altogether deny.[731]
+
+ [727] 'His reasoning appeared to me to be just; there was, therefore, a
+ necessity to call in question the principles upon which it was
+ founded, or to admit the conclusion.' _Reid's Inquiry into the
+ Human Mind_, p. v. 'The received doctrine of ideas is the
+ principle from which it is deduced, and of which, indeed, it seems
+ to be a just and natural consequence.' p. 53. See also _Reid's
+ Essays_, vol. i. pp. 199, 200, vol. ii. p. 211.
+
+ [728] 'The laws of nature are the most general facts we can discover in
+ the operations of nature. Like other facts, they are not to be hit
+ upon by a happy conjecture, but justly deduced from observation.
+ Like other general facts, they are not to be drawn from a few
+ particulars, but from a copious, patient, and cautious induction.'
+ _Reid's Inquiry into the Human Mind_, pp. 262, 263.
+
+ [729] 'Such discoveries have always been made by patient observation, by
+ accurate experiments, or by conclusions drawn by strict reasoning
+ from observations and experiments; and such discoveries have
+ always tended to refute, but not to confirm, the theories and
+ hypotheses which ingenious men had invented.' _Reid's Essays_,
+ vol. i. p. 46.
+
+ [730] 'This is Mr. Hume's notion of a cause.' ... 'But theory ought to
+ stoop to fact, and not fact to theory.' _Reid's Essays_, vol. iii.
+ p. 276.
+
+ [731] 'But yet there seems to be great difference of opinions among
+ philosophers about first principles. What one takes to be
+ self-evident, another labours to prove by arguments, and a third
+ denies altogether.' _Reid's Essays_, vol. ii. p. 218. 'Mr. Locke
+ seems to think first principles of very small use.' p. 219.
+
+The difficulties of deductive reasoning are here admirably portrayed. It
+might have been expected, that Reid would have built up his own
+philosophy according to the inductive plan, and would have despised that
+assumption of first principles, with which he taunts his opponents. But
+it is one of the most curious things in the history of metaphysics, that
+Reid after impeaching the method of Hume, follows the very same method
+himself. When he is attacking the philosophy of Hume, he holds deduction
+to be wrong. When he is raising his own philosophy, he holds it to be
+right. He deemed certain conclusions dangerous, and he objects to their
+advocates, that they argued from principles, instead of from facts: and
+that they assumed themselves to be in possession of the first principles
+of truth, although people were not agreed as to what constituted a first
+principle. This is well put, and hard to answer. Strange, however, to
+say, Reid arrives at his own conclusions, by assuming first principles to
+an extent far greater than had been done by any writer on the opposite
+side. From them, he argues; his whole scheme is deductive; and his works
+scarcely contain a single instance of that inductive logic, which, when
+attacking his opponents, he found it convenient to recommend. It is
+difficult to conceive a better illustration of the peculiar character of
+the Scotch intellect in the eighteenth century, and of the firm hold,
+which, what may be called, the anti-Baconian method, had upon that
+intellect. Reid was a man of considerable ability, of immaculate honesty,
+and was deeply convinced that it was for the good of society that the
+prevailing philosophy should be overthrown. To the performance of that
+task, he dedicated his long and laborious life; he saw that the
+vulnerable point of the adverse system was its method; he indicated the
+deficiencies of that method, and declared, perhaps wrongly, but at all
+events sincerely, that it could never lead to truth. Yet, and
+notwithstanding all this, such was the pressure of the age in which he
+lived, and so completely did the force of circumstances shape his
+understanding, that, in his own works, he was unable to avoid that very
+method of investigation which he rebuked in others. Indeed, so far from
+avoiding it, he was a slave to it. The evidence of this I will now give,
+because, besides its importance for the history of the Scotch mind, it is
+valuable as one of many lessons, which teach us how we are moulded by the
+society which surrounds us; how even our most vigorous actions are
+influenced by general causes of which we are often ignorant, and which
+few of us care to study; and, finally, how lame and impotent we are,
+when, as individuals, we try to stem the onward current, resisting the
+great progress instead of aiding it, and vainly opposing our little
+wishes to that majestic course of events, which admits of no
+interruption, but sweeps on, grand and terrible, while generation after
+generation passes away, successively absorbed in one mighty vortex.
+
+Directly Reid, ceasing to refute the philosophy of Hume, began to
+construct his own philosophy, he succumbed to the prevailing method. He
+now assures us, that all reasoning must be from first principles, and
+that, so far from reasoning to those principles, we must at once admit
+them, and make them the basis of all subsequent arguments.[732] Having
+admitted them, they become a thread to guide the inquirer through the
+labyrinth of thought.[733] His opponents had no right to assume them, but
+he might do so, because to him they were intuitive.[734] Whoever denied
+them, was not fit to be reasoned with.[735] Indeed, to investigate them,
+or to seek to analyze them, was wrong as well as foolish, because they
+were part of the constitution of things; and of the constitution of
+things no account could be given, except that such was the will of
+God.[736]
+
+ [732] 'All reasoning must be from first principles; and for first
+ principles no other reason can be given but this, that, by the
+ constitution of our nature, we are under a necessity of assenting
+ to them.' _Reid's Inquiry_, p. 140. 'All reasoning is from
+ principles.' ... 'Most justly, therefore, do such principles
+ disdain to be tried by reason, and laugh at all the artillery of
+ the logician when it is directed against them.' p. 372. 'All
+ knowledge got by reasoning must be built upon first principles.'
+ _Reid's Essays_, vol. ii. p. 220. 'In every branch of real
+ knowledge there must be first principles, whose truth is known
+ intuitively, without reasoning, either probable or demonstrative.
+ They are not grounded on reasoning, but all reasoning is grounded
+ on them.' p. 360.
+
+ [733] 'For, when any system is grounded upon first principles, and
+ deduced regularly from them, we have a thread to lead us through
+ the labyrinth.' _Reid's Essays_, vol. ii. p. 225.
+
+ [734] 'I call these "first principles," because they _appear to me_ to
+ have in themselves an intuitive evidence which _I cannot resist_.'
+ _Reid's Essays_, vol. iii. p. 375.
+
+ [735] 'If any man should think fit to deny that these things are
+ qualities, or that they require any subject, _I leave him to enjoy
+ his opinion, as a man who denies first principles, and is not fit
+ to be reasoned with_.' _Reid's Essays_, vol. i. p. 38.
+
+ [736] 'No other account can be given of the constitution of things, but
+ the will of Him that made them.' _Reid's Essays_, vol. i. p. 115.
+
+As Reid obtained his first principles with such ease, and as he carefully
+protected them by forbidding any attempt to resolve them into simpler
+elements, he was under a strong temptation to multiply them almost
+indefinitely, in order that, by reasoning from them, he might raise a
+complete and harmonious system of the human mind. To that temptation he
+yielded with a readiness, which is truly surprising, when we remember how
+he reproached his opponents with doing the same thing. Among the numerous
+first principles which he assumes, not only as unexplained, but as
+inexplicable, are the belief in Personal Identity;[737] the belief in the
+External World;[738] the belief in the Uniformity of Nature;[739] the
+belief in the Existence of Life in Others;[740] the belief in
+Testimony;[741] also in the power of distinguishing truth from
+error,[742] and even in the correspondence of the face and voice to the
+thoughts.[743] Of belief generally, he asserts that there are many
+principles,[744] and he regrets that any one should have rashly attempted
+to explain them.[745] Such things are mysterious, and not to be pried
+into. We have also other faculties, which being original and
+indecomposable, resist all inductive treatment, and can neither be
+resolved into simpler elements, nor referred to more general laws. To
+this class, Reid assigns Memory,[746] Perception,[747] Desire of
+Self-Approbation,[748] and not only Instinct, but even Habit.[749] Many
+of our ideas, such as those concerning Space and Time, are equally
+original;[750] and other first principles there are, which have not been
+enunciated, but from which we may reason.[751] They, therefore, are the
+major premisses of the argument; no reason having yet been given for
+them, they must be simple; and not having yet been explained, they are,
+of course, inexplicable.[752]
+
+ [737] _Reid's Essays_, vol. i. pp. 36, 37, 340, 343, vol. ii. p. 245.
+
+ [738] _Reid's Essays_, vol. i. pp. 115, 116, 288-299, vol. ii. p. 251.
+
+ [739] Or, as he expresses it, 'our belief of the continuance of the laws
+ of nature.' _Reid's Inquiry_, pp. 426-435; also his _Essays_, vol.
+ i. p. 305, vol. ii. p. 268.
+
+ [740] _Reid's Essays_, vol. ii. p. 259.
+
+ [741] _Reid's Inquiry_, p. 422; and his _Essays_, vol. ii. p. 266.
+
+ [742] 'Another first principle is, "That the natural faculties by which
+ we distinguish truth from error are not fallacious."' _Reid's
+ Essays_, vol. ii. p. 256.
+
+ [743] 'Another first principle I take to be, "That certain features of
+ the countenance, sounds of the voice, and gestures of the body,
+ indicate certain thoughts and dispositions of mind."' _Reid's
+ Essays_, vol. ii. p. 261. Compare his _Inquiry_, p. 416.
+
+ [744] 'We have taken notice of several original principles of belief in
+ the course of this inquiry; and when other faculties of the mind
+ are examined, we shall find more, which have not occurred in the
+ examination of the five senses.' _Reid's Inquiry_, p. 471.
+
+ [745] 'And if no philosopher had attempted to define and explain belief,
+ some paradoxes in philosophy, more incredible than ever were
+ brought forth by the most abject superstition, or the most frantic
+ enthusiasm, had never seen the light.' _Reid's Inquiry_, p. 45.
+
+ [746] _Reid's Essays_, vol. i. p. 329, 334, vol. ii. p. 247.
+
+ [747] _Reid's Essays_, vol. i. pp. 9, 71, 303, 304.
+
+ [748] _Reid's Essays_, vol. ii. p. 60.
+
+ [749] 'I see no reason to think, that we shall ever be able to assign
+ the physical cause, either of instinct, or of the power of habit.
+ Both seem to be parts of our original constitution. Their end and
+ use is evident; but we can assign no cause of them, but the will
+ of Him who made us.' _Reid's Essays_, vol. iii. p. 119.
+
+ [750] 'I know of no ideas or notions that have a better claim to be
+ accounted simple and original, than those of space and time.'
+ _Reid's Essays_, vol. i. p. 354.
+
+ [751] 'I do not at all affirm that those I have mentioned are all the
+ first principles from which we may reason concerning contingent
+ truths. Such enumerations, even when made after much reflection,
+ are seldom perfect.' _Reid's Essays_, vol. ii. p. 270.
+
+ [752] 'Why sensation should compel our belief of the present existence of
+ the thing, memory a belief of its past existence, and imagination
+ no belief at all, _I believe no philosopher can give a shadow of
+ reason_, but that such is the nature of these operations. They are
+ all simple and original, and _therefore inexplicable_ acts of the
+ mind.' _Reid's Inquiry_, p. 40. 'We can _give no reason_ why the
+ retina is, of all parts of the body, the only one on which
+ pictures made by the rays of light cause vision; and _therefore we
+ must resolve this solely into a law of our constitution_' p. 258.
+
+All this is arbitrary enough. Still, in justice to Reid, it must be said,
+that, having made these assumptions, he displayed remarkable ability in
+arguing from them, and that, in attacking the philosophy of his time, he
+subjected it to a criticism, which has been extremely serviceable. His
+lucidity, his dialectic skill, and the racy and masculine style in which
+he wrote, made him a formidable opponent, and secured to his objections
+a respectful hearing. To me, however, it appears, that notwithstanding
+the attempts, first of M. Cousin, and afterwards of Sir William Hamilton,
+to prop up his declining reputation, his philosophy, as an independent
+system, is untenable, and will not live. In this I may be mistaken; but
+what is quite certain is, that nothing can be more absurd than to
+suppose, as some have done, that he adopted the inductive, or, as it is
+popularly called, Baconian method. Bacon, indeed, would have smiled at
+such a disciple, assuming all sorts of major premisses, taking general
+principles for granted with the greatest recklessness, and reserving his
+skill for the task of reasoning from propositions for which he had no
+evidence, except that on a cursory, or, as he termed it, a common-sense,
+inspection, they appeared to be true.[753] This refusal to analyze
+preconceived notions, comes under the head of what Bacon stigmatized as
+the _anticipatio naturae_, and which he deemed the great enemy of
+knowledge, on account of the dangerous confidence it places in the
+spontaneous and uncorrected conclusions of the human mind. When,
+therefore, we find Reid holding up the Baconian philosophy, as a pattern
+which it behoves all inquirers to follow;[754] and when we, moreover,
+find Dugald Stewart, who, though a somewhat superficial thinker, was, at
+all events, a careful writer, supposing that Reid had followed it,[755]
+we meet with fresh proof of how difficult it was for Scotchmen of the
+last age to imbibe the true spirit of inductive logic, since they
+believed, that a system which flagrantly violated its rules, had been
+framed in strict accordance with them.
+
+ [753] In a recent work of distinguished merit, an instance is given of
+ the loose manner in which he took for granted that certain
+ phenomena were ultimate, in order that, instead of analyzing them,
+ he might reason from them. 'Dr. Reid has no hesitation in classing
+ the voluntary command of our organs, that is, the sequence of
+ feeling and action implied in all acts of will, among instincts.
+ The power of lifting a morsel of food to the mouth, is, according
+ to him, an instinctive or pre-established conjunction of the wish
+ and the deed; that is to say, the emotional state of hunger,
+ coupled with the sight of a piece of bread, is associated, through
+ a primitive link of the mental constitution, with the several
+ movements of the hand, arm, and mouth, concerned in the act of
+ eating. _This assertion of Dr. Reid's may be simply met by
+ appealing to the facts._ It is not true that human beings possess,
+ at birth, any voluntary command of their limbs whatsoever. A babe
+ of two months old cannot use its hands in obedience to its
+ desires. The infant can grasp nothing, hold nothing, can scarcely
+ fix its eyes on anything.' ... 'If the more perfect command of our
+ voluntary movements implied in every art be an acquisition, so is
+ the less perfect command of these movements that grows upon a
+ child during the first year of life.' _Bain on the Senses and the
+ Intellect_, London, 1855, pp. 292, 293.
+
+ [754] See _Reid's Inquiry_, pp. 436, 446, as well as other parts of his
+ works: see also an extract from one of his letters to Dr. Gregory,
+ in _Stewart's Biographical Memoirs_, p. 432.
+
+ [755] 'The idea of prosecuting the study of the human mind on a plan
+ analogous to that which had been so successfully adopted in
+ physics by the followers of Lord Bacon, if not first conceived by
+ Dr. Reid, was, at least, first carried successfully into execution
+ in his writings.' _Stewart's Biographical Memoirs_, p. 419. 'The
+ influence of the general views opened in the _Novum Organon_, may
+ be traced in almost every page of his writings; and, indeed, the
+ circumstance by which they are so strongly and characteristically
+ distinguished, is that they exhibit the first systematical attempt
+ to exemplify, in the study of human nature, the same plan of
+ investigation which conducted Newton to the properties of light,
+ and to the law of gravitation.' p. 421. From this passage one
+ might hazard a supposition that Dugald Stewart did not understand
+ Bacon much better than he did Aristotle or Kant. Of the two last
+ most profound thinkers, he certainly knew little or nothing,
+ except what he gathered secondhand. Consequently, he underrates
+ them.
+
+Leaving mental philosophy, I now come to physical science, in which, if
+anywhere, we might expect that the inductive plan would predominate, and
+would triumph over the opposite, or deductive, one. How far this was the
+case, I will endeavour to ascertain, by an examination of the most
+important discoveries which have been made by Scotchmen concerning the
+organic and inorganic world. And, as my object is merely to indicate the
+turn and character of the Scotch mind, I shall avoid all details
+respecting the practical effects of those discoveries, and shall confine
+myself to such a narration as will exhibit their purely scientific
+aspect, so as to enable the reader to understand what additions were
+made to our knowledge of the laws of nature, and in what way the
+additions were made. The character of each discovery, and its process,
+will be stated, but nothing more. Neither here, nor in any part of this
+Introduction, do I pretend to investigate questions of practical utility,
+or to trace the connexion between the discoveries of science and the arts
+of life. That I shall do in the body of the work itself, where I hope to
+explain a number of minute social events, many of which are regarded as
+isolated, if not incongruous. For the present, I solely aim at those
+broad principles, which, by marking out the epochs of thought, underlie
+the whole fabric of society, and which must be clearly apprehended before
+history can cease to be a mere empirical assemblage of facts, of which
+the scientific basis being unsettled, the true order and coherence must
+be unknown.
+
+Among the sciences which concern the inorganic world, the laws of heat
+occupy a conspicuous place. On the one hand, they are connected with
+geology, being intimately allied, and, indeed, necessarily bound up, with
+every speculation respecting the changes and present condition of the
+crust of the earth. On the other hand, they touch the great questions of
+life, both animal and vegetable; they have to do with the theory of
+species, and of race; they modify soil, food, and organization; and to
+them we must look for valuable help towards solving those great problems
+in biology, which, of late years, have occupied the attention of the
+boldest and most advanced philosophers.
+
+Our present knowledge of the laws of heat, may be briefly stated as
+branching into five fundamental divisions. These are: latent heat;
+specific heat; the conduction of heat; the radiation of heat; and,
+finally, the undulatory theory of heat; by which last, we are gradually
+discarding our old material views, and are accustoming ourselves to look
+upon heat as simply one of the forms of force, all of which, such as
+light, electricity, magnetism, motion, gravitation, and chemical
+affinity, are constantly assuming each other's shape, but, in their total
+amount, are incapable either of increase or of diminution.[756] This
+grand conception, which is now placing the indestructibility of force on
+the same ground as the indestructibility of matter, has an importance far
+above its scientific value, considerable as that undoubtedly is. For, by
+teaching us, that nothing perishes, but that, on the contrary, the
+slightest movement of the smallest body, in the remotest region, produces
+results which are perpetual, which diffuse themselves through all space,
+and which, though they may be metamorphosed, cannot be destroyed, it
+impresses us with such an exalted idea of the regular and compulsory
+march of physical affairs, as must eventually influence other and higher
+departments of inquiry. Our habits of thought are so connected and
+interwoven, that notions of law and of the necessary concatenation of
+things, can never be introduced into one field of speculation, without
+affecting other fields which lie contiguous to it. When, therefore, the
+modern doctrine of conservation of force,[757] becomes firmly coupled
+with the older doctrine of conservation of matter, we may rest assured
+that the human mind will not stop there, but will extend to the study of
+Man, inferences analogous to those already admitted in the study of
+Nature. Having once recognized that the condition of the material
+universe, at any one moment, is simply the result of every thing which
+has happened at all preceding moments, and that the most trivial
+disturbance would so violate the general scheme, as to render anarchy
+inevitable, and that, to sever from the total mass even the minutest
+fragment, would, by dislocating the structure, bury the whole in one
+common ruin, we, thus admitting the exquisite adjustment of the different
+parts, and discerning, too, in the very beauty and completeness of the
+design, the best proof that it has never been tampered with by the
+Divine Architect, who called it into being, in whose Omniscience both
+the plan, and the issue of the plan, resided with such clearness and
+unerring certainty, that not a stone in that superb and symmetrical
+edifice has been touched since the foundation of the edifice was laid,
+are, by ascending to this pitch and elevation of thought, most assuredly
+advancing towards that far higher step, which it will remain for our
+posterity to take, and which will raise their view to so commanding a
+height, as to insure the utter rejection of those old and eminently
+irreligious dogmas of supernatural interference with the affairs of life,
+which superstition has invented, and ignorance has bequeathed, and the
+present acceptance of which betokens the yet early condition of our
+knowledge, the penury of our intellectual resources, and the inveteracy
+of the prejudices in which we are still immersed.
+
+ [756] The theory of the indestructibility of force has been applied to
+ the law of gravitation by Professor Faraday, in his _Discourse on
+ the Conservation of Force_, 1857; an essay full of thought and
+ power, and which should be carefully studied by every one who
+ wishes to understand the direction which the highest speculations
+ of physical science are now taking. I will quote only one passage
+ from the opening, to give the reader an idea of its general scope,
+ irrespective of the more special question of gravitation. 'The
+ progress of the strict science of modern times has tended more and
+ more to produce the conviction that force can neither be created
+ nor destroyed; and to render daily more manifest the value of the
+ knowledge of that truth in experimental research.' ... 'Agreeing
+ with those who admit the conservation of force to be a principle
+ in physics, as large and sure as that of the indestructibility of
+ matter, or the invariability of gravity, I think that no
+ particular idea of force has a right to unlimited or unqualified
+ acceptance, that does not include assent to it.'
+
+ [757] As an illustration of this doctrine, I cannot do better than quote
+ the following passage from one of the most suggestive and clearly
+ reasoned books which has been written in this century by an
+ English physicist: 'Wave your hand; the motion which has
+ apparently ceased, is taken up by the air, from the air by the
+ walls of the room, &c., and so by direct and reacting waves,
+ continually comminuted, but never destroyed. It is true that, at a
+ certain point, we lose all means of detecting the motion, from its
+ minute subdivision, which defies our most delicate means of
+ appreciation, but we can indefinitely extend our power of
+ detecting it accordingly as we confine its direction, or increase
+ the delicacy of our examination. Thus, if the hand be moved in
+ unconfined air, the motion of the air would not be sensible to a
+ person at a few feet distant; but if a piston of the same extent
+ of surface as the hand be moved with the same rapidity in a tube,
+ the blast of air may be distinctly felt at several yards'
+ distance. There is no greater absolute amount of motion in the air
+ in the second than in the first case, but its direction is
+ restrained, so as to make its means of detection more facile. By
+ carrying on this restraint, as in the air-gun, we get a power of
+ detecting the motion, and of moving other bodies at far greater
+ distances. The puff of air which would in the air-gun project a
+ bullet a quarter of a mile, if allowed to escape without its
+ direction being restrained, as by the bursting of a bladder, would
+ not be perceptible at a yard's distance, though the same absolute
+ amount of motion be impressed on the surrounding air.' _Grove's
+ Correlation of Physical Forces_, London, 1855, pp. 24, 25. In a
+ work now issuing from the press, and still unfinished, it is
+ suggested, with considerable plausibility, that Persistence of
+ Force would be a more accurate expression than Conservation of
+ Force. See Mr. Herbert Spencer's _First Principles_, London, 1861,
+ p. 251. The title of this book gives an inadequate notion of the
+ importance of the subjects with which it deals, and of the reach
+ and subtlety of thought which characterize it. Though some of the
+ generalizations appear to me rather premature, no well-instructed
+ and disciplined intellect can consider them without admiration of
+ the remarkable powers displayed by their author.
+
+It is, therefore, natural, that the physical doctrine of
+indestructibility applied to force as well as to matter, should be
+essentially a creation of the present century, notwithstanding a few
+allusions made to it by some earlier thinkers, all of whom, however,
+groped vaguely, and without general purpose. No preceding age was bold
+enough to embrace so magnificent a view as a whole, nor had any preceding
+philosophers sufficient acquaintance with nature to enable them to defend
+such a conception, even had they desired to entertain it. Thus, in the
+case now before us, it is evident, that while heat was believed to be
+material, it could not be conceived as a force, and therefore no one
+could grasp the theory of its metamorphosis into other forces; though
+there are passages in Bacon which prove that he wished to identify it
+with motion. It was first necessary to abstract heat into a mere property
+or affection of matter, and there was no chance of doing this until heat
+was better understood in its immediate antecedents, that is, until, by
+the aid of mathematics, its proximate laws had been generalized. But,
+with the single exception of Newton, whose efforts, notwithstanding his
+gigantic powers, were, on this subject, very unsatisfactory, and who,
+moreover, had a decided leaning towards the material theory, no one
+attempted to unravel the mathematical laws of heat till the latter half
+of the eighteenth century, when Lambert and Black began the career which
+Prevost and Fourier followed up. The mind, having been so slow in
+mastering the preliminaries and outworks of the inquiry, was not ripe for
+the far more difficult enterprise of idealizing heat itself, and so
+abstracting it, as to strip it of its material attributes, and leave it
+to nothing but the speculative notion of an immaterial force.
+
+From these considerations, which were necessary to enable the reader to
+appreciate the value of what was done in Scotland, it will be seen how
+essential it was that the laws of the movement of heat should be studied
+before its nature was investigated, and before the emission theory could
+be so seriously attacked as to allow of the possibility of that great
+doctrine of the indestructibility of force, which, I make no doubt, is
+destined to revolutionize our habits of thought, and to give to future
+speculations a basis infinitely wider than any previously known. In
+regard to the movements of heat, we owe the laws of conduction and of
+radiation chiefly to France and Geneva, while the laws of specific heat,
+and those of latent heat, were discovered in Scotland. The doctrine of
+specific heat, though interesting, has not the scientific importance
+which belongs to the other departments of this great subject; but the
+doctrine of latent heat is extremely curious, not only in itself, but
+also on account of the analogies it suggests with various branches of
+physical inquiry.
+
+What is termed latent heat, is exhibited in the following manner. If, in
+consequence of the application of heat, a solid passes into a liquid, as
+ice, for instance, into water, the conversion occupies a longer time than
+could be explained by any theory which had been propounded down to the
+middle of the eighteenth century. Neither was it possible to explain how
+it is, that ice never rises above the temperature of 32 deg. until it is
+actually melted, no matter what the heat of the adjacent bodies may be.
+There were no means of accounting for these circumstances. And though
+practical men, being familiar with them, did not wonder at them, they
+caused great astonishment among thinkers, who were accustomed to analyze
+events, and to seek a reason for common and every-day occurrences.
+
+Soon after the middle of the eighteenth century, Black, who was then one
+of the professors in the University of Glasgow, turned his attention to
+this subject.[758] He struck out a theory which, being eminently
+original, was violently attacked, but is now generally admitted. With a
+boldness and reach of thought not often equalled, he arrived at the
+conclusion, that whenever a body loses some of its consistence, as in the
+case of ice becoming water, or water becoming steam, such body receives
+an amount of heat which our senses, though aided by the most delicate
+thermometer, can never detect. For, this heat is absorbed; we lose all
+sight of it, and it produces no palpable effect on the material world,
+but becomes, as it were, a hidden property. Black, therefore, called it
+latent heat, because, though we conceive it as an idea, we cannot trace
+it as a fact. The body is, properly speaking, hotter; and yet its
+temperature does not rise. Directly, however, the foregoing process is
+inverted, that is to say, directly the steam is condensed into water, or
+the water hardened into ice, the heat returns into the world of sense; it
+ceases to be latent, and communicates itself to the surrounding objects.
+No new heat has been created; it has, indeed, appeared and disappeared,
+so far as our senses are concerned; but our senses were deceived, since
+there has, in truth, been neither addition nor diminution.[759] That
+this remarkable theory paved the way for the doctrine of the
+indestructibility of force, will be obvious to whoever has examined the
+manner in which, in the history of the human mind, scientific conceptions
+are generated. The process is always so slow, that no single discovery
+has ever been made, except by the united labours of several successive
+generations. In estimating, therefore, what each man has done, we must
+judge him, not by the errors he commits, but by the truths he propounds.
+Most of his errors are not really his own. He inherits them from his
+predecessors; and if he throws some of them off, we should be grateful,
+instead of being dissatisfied that he has not rejected all. Black, no
+doubt, fell into the error of regarding heat as a material substance,
+which obeys the laws of chemical composition.[760] But this was merely an
+hypothesis, which was bequeathed to him, and with which the existing
+state of thought forced him to encumber his theory. He inherited the
+hypothesis, and could not get rid of his troublesome possession. The real
+service which he rendered is, that, in spite of that hypothesis, which
+clung to him to the last, he, far more than any of his contemporaries,
+contributed towards the great conception of idealizing heat, and thus
+enabled his successors to admit it into the class of immaterial and
+supersensual forces. Once admitted into that class, the list of forces
+became complete; and it was comparatively easy to apply to the whole body
+of force, the same notion of indestructibility, which had previously been
+applied to the whole body of matter. But it was hardly possible to effect
+this object, while heat stood, as it were, midway between force and
+matter, yielding opposite results to different senses; amenable to the
+touch, but invisible to the eye. What was wanting, was to remove it
+altogether out of the jurisdiction of the senses, and to admit that,
+though we experience its effects, we can only conceive its existence.
+Towards accomplishing this, Black took a prodigious stride. Unconscious,
+perhaps, of the remote tendency of his own labours, he undermined that
+doctrine of material heat, which he seemed to support. For, by his
+advocacy of latent heat, he taught that its movements constantly baffle,
+not only some of our senses, but all of them; and that, while our
+feelings make us believe that heat is lost, our intellect makes us
+believe that it is not lost. Here, we have apparent destructibility, and
+real indestructibility. To assert that a body received heat without its
+temperature rising, was to make the understanding correct the touch, and
+defy its dictates. It was a bold and beautiful paradox, which required
+courage as well as insight to broach, and the reception of which marks an
+epoch in the human mind, because it was an immense step towards
+idealizing matter into force. Some, indeed, have spoken of invisible
+matter; but that is a contradiction in terms, which will never be
+admitted, as long as the forms of speech remain unchanged. Nothing can be
+invisible, except force, mind, and the Supreme Cause of all. We must,
+therefore, ascribe to Black the signal merit that he first, in the study
+of heat, impeached the authority of the senses, and thereby laid the
+foundation of every thing which was afterwards done. Besides the relation
+which his discovery bears to the indestructibility of force, it is also
+connected with one of the most splendid achievements effected by this
+generation in inorganic physics; namely, the establishment of the
+identity of light and heat. To the senses, light and heat, though in some
+respects similar, are in most respects dissimilar. Light, for instance,
+affects the eye, and not the touch. Heat affects the touch, but, under
+ordinary circumstances, does not affect the eye. The capital difference,
+however, between them is, that heat, unlike light, possesses the property
+of temperature; and this property is so characteristic, that until our
+understandings are invigorated by science, we cannot conceive heat
+separated from temperature, but are compelled to confuse one with the
+other. Directly, however, men began to adopt the method followed by
+Black, and were resolved to consider heat as supersensual, they entered
+the road which led to the discovery of light and heat being merely
+different developments of the same force. Ignoring the effects of heat on
+themselves, or on any part of the creation, which was capable of feeling
+its temperature, and would therefore be deceived by it, nothing was left
+for them to do, but to study its effects on the inanimate world. Then,
+all was revealed. The career of discovery was fairly opened; and
+analogies between light and heat, which even the boldest imagination had
+hardly suspected, were placed beyond a doubt. To the reflection of heat,
+which had been formerly known, were now added the refraction of heat, its
+double refraction, its polarization, its depolarization, its circular
+polarization, the interference of its rays, and their retardation; while,
+what is more remarkable than all, the march of our knowledge on these
+points was so swift, that before the year 1836 had come to a close, the
+chain of evidence was completed by the empirical investigations of Forbes
+and Melloni, they themselves little witting that every thing which they
+accomplished was prepared before they were born, that they were but the
+servants and followers of him who indicated the path in which they trod,
+and that their experiments, ingenious as they were, and full of resource,
+were simply the direct practical consequence of one of those magnificent
+ideas which Scotland has thrown upon the world, and the memory of which
+is almost enough so to bribe the judgment, as to tempt us to forget,
+that, while the leading intellects of the nation were engaged in such
+lofty pursuits, the nation itself, untouched by them, passed them over
+with cold and contemptuous indifference, being steeped in that deadening
+superstition, which turns a deaf ear to every sort of reason, and will
+not hearken to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely.
+
+ [758] He was appointed professor in 1756; and 'it was during his
+ residence in Glasgow, between the years 1759 and 1763, that he
+ brought to maturity those speculations concerning the combination
+ of heat with matter, which had frequently occupied a portion of
+ his thoughts.' _Thomson's History of Chemistry_, vol. i. pp. 319,
+ 320.
+
+ [759] _Black's Lectures on Chemistry_, vol. i. pp. 116, 117; and in
+ various places. Dr. Robison, the editor of these Lectures, says,
+ p. 513, 'Nothing could be more simple than his doctrines of latent
+ heat. The experience of more than a century had made us consider
+ the thermometer as a sure and accurate indicator of heat, and of
+ all its variations. We had learned to distrust all others. Yet, in
+ the liquefaction and vaporization of bodies, we had proofs
+ uncontrovertible of the entrance of heat into the bodies. And we
+ could, by suitable processes, get it out of them again. Dr. Black
+ said that it was concealed in them,--_latent_,--it was as much
+ concealed as carbonic acid is in marble, or water in zeolite,--it
+ was concealed till Dr. Black detected it. He called it Latent
+ Heat. He did not mean by this term that it was a different kind of
+ heat from the heat which expanded bodies, but merely that it was
+ concealed from our sense of heat, and from the thermometer.' See
+ also p. xxxvii.: 'Philosophers had long been accustomed to
+ consider the thermometer as the surest means for detecting the
+ presence of heat or fire in bodies, and they distrusted all
+ others.'
+
+ [760] 'Fluidity is the consequence of a certain combination of calorific
+ matter with the substance of solid bodies,' &c. _Black's
+ Lectures_, vol. i. p. 133. Compare p. 192, and the remarks in
+ _Turner's Chemistry_, 1847, vol. i. p. 31, on Black's views of the
+ 'chemical combination' of heat. Among the backward chemists, we
+ still find traces of the idea of heat obeying chemical laws.
+
+By thus considering the descent and relationship of scientific
+conceptions, we can alone understand what we really owe to Black's
+discovery of latent heat. In regard to the method of the discovery,
+little need be said, since every student of the Baconian philosophy must
+see, that the discovery was of a kind for which none of the maxims of
+that system had provided. As latent heat escapes the senses, it could not
+obey the rules of a philosophy, which grounds all truth on observation
+and experiment. The subject of the inquiry being supersensual, there was
+no scope for what Bacon called crucial experiments and separations of
+nature. The truth was in the idea; experiments, therefore, might
+illustrate it, might bring it up to the surface, and so enable men to
+grasp it, but could not prove it. And this, which appears on the very
+face of the discovery, is confirmed by the express testimony of Dr.
+Thomson, who knew Black, and was, indeed, one of the most eminent of his
+pupils. We are assured by this unimpeachable witness, that Black, about
+the year 1759 began to speculate concerning heat; that the result of
+those speculations was the theory of latent heat; that he publicly taught
+that theory in the year 1761; but that the experiments which were
+necessary to convince the world of it were not made till 1764,[761]
+though, as I need hardly add, according to the inductive method, it was a
+breach of all the rules of philosophy to be satisfied with the theory
+three years before the experiments were made, and it was a still greater
+breach, not only to be satisfied with it, but to have openly promulgated
+it as an original and unquestionable truth, which explained, in a new
+manner, the economy of the material world.
+
+ [761] 'So much was he convinced of this, that he taught the doctrine in
+ his lectures in 1761, before he had made a single experiment on
+ the subject.' ... 'The requisite experiments were first attempted
+ by Dr. Black in 1764.' _Thomson's History of Chemistry_, vol. i.
+ p. 324. See also pp. 319, 320; and on the history of the idea in
+ Black's mind as early as the year 1754, see the interesting
+ extracts from his note-books in Robison's appendix to _Black's
+ Lectures_, vol. i pp. 525, 526.
+
+ The statement of Dr. Thomson refers to the completion, or last
+ stage, of the discovery, namely the vaporific combination of heat.
+ But from a letter which Black wrote to Watt in 1780 (_Muirhead's
+ Life of Watt_, London, 1859, p. 303), it appears that Thomson has
+ even understated the question, and that Black, instead of first
+ teaching his theory in 1761, taught it three years earlier, that
+ is, _six_ years before the decisive experiments were made. 'I
+ began,' writes Black, 'to give the doctrine of latent heat in my
+ lectures at Glasgow in the winter 1757-58, which, I believe, was
+ the first winter of my lecturing there; or if I did not give it
+ that winter, I certainly gave it in the 1758-59; and I have
+ delivered it every year since that time in my winter lectures,
+ which I continued to give at Glasgow until winter 1766-67, when I
+ began to lecture in Edinburgh.'
+
+The intellect of Black belonged to a class, which, in the eighteenth
+century, was almost universal in Scotland, but was hardly to be found in
+England, and which, for want of a better word, we are compelled to call
+deductive, though fully admitting that even the most deductive minds have
+in them a large amount of induction, since, indeed, without induction,
+the common business of life could not be carried on. But for the purposes
+of scientific classification, we may say, that a man or an age is
+deductive, when the favourite process is reasoning from principles
+instead of reasoning to them, and when there is a tendency to underrate
+the value of specific experience. That this was the case with the
+illustrious discoverer of latent heat, we have seen, both from the nature
+of the discovery, and from the decisive testimony of his friend and
+pupil. And a further confirmation may be found in the circumstance, that,
+having once propounded his great idea, he, instead of instituting a long
+series of laborious experiments, by which it might be verified in its
+different branches, preferred reasoning from it according to the general
+maxims of dialectic; pushing it to its logical consequences, rather than
+tracking it into regions where the senses might either confirm or refute
+it.[762] By following this process of thought, he was led to some
+beautiful speculations, which are so remote from experience, that even
+now, with all the additional resources of our knowledge, we cannot tell
+whether they are true or false. Of this kind were his views respecting
+the causes of the preservation of man, whose existence would, he thought,
+be endangered, except for the power which heat possesses of lying latent
+and unobserved. Thus, for example, when a long and severe winter was
+followed by sudden warmth, it appeared natural that the ice and snow
+should melt with corresponding suddenness; and if this were to happen,
+the result would be such terrible inundations, that it would be hardly
+possible for man to escape from their ravages. Even if he escaped, his
+works, that is, the material products of his civilization, would perish.
+From this catastrophe, nothing saves him but the latent power of heat.
+Owing to this power, directly the ice and snow begin to melt at their
+surface, the heat enters their structure, where a large part of it
+remains in abeyance, and thus losing much of its power, the process of
+liquefaction is arrested. This dreadful agent is lulled, and becomes
+dormant. It is weakened at the outset of its career, and is laid up, as
+in a storehouse, from which it can afterwards emerge, gradually, and with
+safety to the human species.[763]
+
+ [762] And he distinctly states that, even in other matters, when he did
+ make experiments, their object was to confirm theory, and not to
+ suggest it. Thus, to give one of many instances, in his
+ _Lectures_, vol. i. p. 354, he says, respecting salts, 'When we
+ examine the solidity of this reasoning by an experiment, _we have
+ the pleasure to find facts agree exactly with the theory_.'
+
+ [763] See a good summary of this idea in _Black's Lectures on
+ Chemistry_, vol. i. p. 118. Contrasting his theory of heat with
+ that previously received, he says, 'But, were the ice and snow to
+ melt as suddenly as they must necessarily do, were the former
+ opinion of the action of heat in melting them well founded, the
+ torrents and inundations would be incomparably more irresistible
+ and dreadful. They would tear up and sweep away every thing, and
+ that so suddenly, that mankind should have great difficulty to
+ escape from their ravages.'
+
+In this way, as summer advances, a vast magazine of heat is accumulated,
+and is preserved in the midst of water, where it can do man no injury,
+since, indeed, his senses are unable to feel it. There the heat remains
+buried, until, in the rotation of the seasons, winter returns, and the
+waters are congealed into ice. In the process of congelation, that
+treasury of heat, which had been hidden all the summer, reappears; it
+ceases to be latent; and now, for the first time, striking the senses of
+man, it tempers, on his behalf, the severity of winter. The faster the
+water freezes, the faster the heat is disengaged; so that, by virtue of
+this great law of nature, cold actually generates warmth, and the
+inclemency of every season, though it cannot be hindered, is softened in
+proportion as the inclemency is more threatening.[764]
+
+ [764] 'Dr. Black quickly perceived the vast importance of this
+ discovery; and took a pleasure in laying before his students a
+ view of the extensive and beneficial effects of this habitude of
+ heat in the economy of nature. He made them remark how, by this
+ means, there was accumulated, during the summer season, a vast
+ magazine of heat, which, by gradually emerging, during
+ congelation, from the water which covers the face of the earth,
+ serves to temper the deadly cold of winter. Were it not for this
+ quantity of heat, amounting to 145 degrees, which emerges from
+ every particle of water as it freezes, and which diffuses itself
+ through the atmosphere, the sun would no sooner go a few degrees
+ to the south of the equator, than we should feel all the horrors
+ of winter.' _Robison's Preface to Black's Lectures_, vol. i.
+ p. xxxviii.
+
+Thus, again, inasmuch as heat becomes latent, and flies from the senses,
+not only when ice is passing into water, but also when water is passing
+into steam, we find in this latter circumstance, one of the reasons why
+man and other animals can live in the tropics, which, but for this, would
+be deserted. They are constantly suffering from the heat which is
+collected in their bodies, and which, considered by itself, is enough to
+destroy them. But this heat causes thirst, and they consequently swallow
+great quantities of fluid, much of which exudes through the pores of the
+skin in the form of vapour. And as, according to the theory of latent
+heat, vapour cannot be produced without a vast amount of heat being
+buried within it, such vapour absorbs and carries off from the body,
+that which, if left in the system, would prove fatal. To this we must
+add, that, in the tropics, the evaporation of water is necessarily rapid,
+and the vapour which is thus produced, becomes another storehouse of
+heat, and a vehicle by which it is removed from the earth, and prevented
+from unduly interfering with the economy of life.[765]
+
+ [765] As I am writing an account of Black's views, and not a criticism
+ of them, I shall give them, without comment, in his own words, and
+ in the words of one of his pupils. 'Here we can also trace another
+ magnificent train of changes, which are nicely accommodated to the
+ wants of the inhabitants of this globe. In the equatorial regions,
+ the oppressive heat of the sun is prevented from a destructive
+ accumulation by copious evaporation. The waters, stored with their
+ vaporific heat, are thus carried aloft into the atmosphere, till
+ the rarest of the vapour reaches the very cold regions of the air,
+ which immediately forms a small portion of it into a fleecy cloud.
+ This also further tempers the scorching heat by its opacity,
+ performing the acceptable office of a screen. From thence the
+ clouds are carried to the inland countries, to form the sources in
+ the mountains, which are to supply the numberless streams that
+ water the fields. And, by the steady operation of causes, which
+ are tolerably uniform, the greater part of the vapours pass on to
+ the circumpolar regions, there to descend in rains and dews; and
+ in this beneficent conversion into rain, by the cold of those
+ regions, each particle of steam gives up the 700 or 800 degrees of
+ heat which were latent in it. These are immediately diffused, and
+ soften the rigour of those less comfortable climates.' ... 'I am
+ persuaded that the heat absorbed in spontaneous evaporation
+ greatly contributes to enable animals to bear the heat of the
+ tropical climates, where the thermometer frequently continues to
+ show the temperature of the human body. Such heats, indeed, are
+ barely supportable, and enervate the animal, making it lazy and
+ indolent, indulging in the most relaxed postures, and avoiding
+ every exertion of body or mind. The inhabitants are induced to
+ drink large draughts of diluting liquors, which transude through
+ their pores most copiously, carrying off with them a vast deal of
+ this troublesome and exhausting heat. There is in the body itself
+ a continual laboratory, or manufacture of heat, and, were the
+ surrounding air of such a temperature as not to carry it off, it
+ would soon accumulate so as to destroy life. The excessive
+ perspiration, supplied by diluting draughts, performs the same
+ office as the cold air without the tropics, in guarding us from
+ this fatal accumulation.' _Black's Lectures_, vol. i. pp. xlvi.
+ 214.
+
+From these and many other arguments, all of which were so essentially
+speculative, and dealt with such hidden processes of nature, that even
+now we are not justified either in confidently admitting them or in
+positively denying them, Black was led to that great doctrine of the
+indestructibility of heat,[766] which, as I have pointed out, has, in its
+connexion with the indestructibility of force, a moral and social
+importance even superior to its scientific value. Though the evidence of
+which he was possessed was far more scanty than what we now have, he, by
+the reach of his commanding intellect, rather than by the number and
+accuracy of his facts, became so penetrated with a conviction of the
+stability of physical affairs, that he not only applied that idea to the
+subtle phenomena of heat, but, what was much harder to do, he applied it
+to cases in which heat so entirely escapes the senses, that man has no
+cognizance of it, except through the medium of the imagination. According
+to his view, heat passes through an immense variety of changes, during
+which it appears to be lost; changes which no eye can ever see, which no
+touch can ever experience, and which no instrument can ever measure.
+Still, and in the midst of all these changes, it remains intact. From it
+nothing can be taken, and to it nothing can be added. In one of those
+fine passages of his Lectures, which, badly reported as they are,[767]
+bear the impress of his elevated genius, Black, after stating what would
+probably happen, if the total amount of heat existing in the world were
+to be diminished, proceeds to speculate on the consequences of its being
+increased. Were it possible for any power to add to it ever so little,
+it would at once overstep its bounds; the equilibrium would be disturbed;
+the framework of affairs would be disjointed. The evil rapidly
+increasing, and acting with accumulated force, nothing would be able to
+stop its ravages. It must continue to gain ground, till all other
+principles are absorbed and conquered. Sweeping on, unhindered, and
+irresistible, before it, every animal must perish, the whole vegetable
+world must disappear, the waters must pass into vapour, and the solid
+parts of the globe be merged and melted, until, at length, the glorious
+fabric, loosened and dissolved, would fall away, and return to that
+original chaos out of which it had been evolved.[768]
+
+ [766] See his strong protest against the notion that heat is ever
+ destroyed, in his _Lectures_, vol. i. pp. 125, 126, 164, 165.
+
+ [767] They were published after his death from such scanty materials,
+ that their editor, Dr. Robison, says (_Preface to Black's
+ Lectures_, vol. i. p. x.): 'When I then entered seriously on the
+ task, I found that the notes were (with the exception of perhaps a
+ score of lectures) in the same imperfect condition that they had
+ been in from the beginning, consisting entirely of single leaves
+ of paper, in octavo, full of erasions, interlinings, and
+ alterations of every kind; so that, in many places, it was not
+ very certain which of several notes was to be chosen.'
+
+ [768] 'On the other hand, were the heat which at present cherishes and
+ enlivens this globe, allowed to increase beyond the bounds at
+ present prescribed to it; beside the destruction of all animal and
+ vegetable life, which would be the immediate and inevitable
+ consequence, the water would lose its present form, and assume
+ that of an elastic vapour like air; the solid parts of the globe
+ would be melted and confounded together, or mixed with the air and
+ water in smoke and vapour; and nature would return to the original
+ chaos.' _Black's Lectures_, vol. i. pp. 246, 247.
+
+These, like many other of the speculations of this great thinker, will
+find small favour with those purely inductive philosophers, who not only
+suppose, perhaps rightly, that all our knowledge is in its beginning
+built upon facts, but who countenance, what seems to me, the very
+dangerous opinion, that every increase of knowledge must be preceded by
+an increase of facts. To such men it will appear, that Black had far
+better have occupied himself in making new observations, or devising new
+experiments, than in thus indulging his imagination in wild and
+unprofitable dreams. They will think, that these flights of fancy are
+suitable, indeed, to the poet, but unworthy of that severe accuracy, and
+of that close attention to facts, which ought to characterize a
+philosopher. In England, especially, there is, among physical inquirers,
+an avowed determination to separate philosophy from poetry, and to look
+upon them, not only as different, but as hostile. Among that class of
+thinkers, whose zeal and ability are beyond all praise, and to whom we
+owe almost unbounded obligations, there does undoubtedly exist a very
+strong opinion, that, in their own pursuit, the imagination is extremely
+dangerous, as leading to speculations, of which the basis is not yet
+assured, and generating a desire to catch too eagerly at distant glimpses
+before the intermediate ground has been traversed. That the imagination
+has this tendency is undeniable. But they who object to it on this
+account, and who would, therefore, divorce poetry from philosophy, have,
+I apprehend, taken a too limited view of the functions of the human mind,
+and of the manner in which truth is obtained. There is, in poetry, a
+divine and prophetic power, and an insight into the turn and aspect of
+things, which, if properly used, would make it the ally of science
+instead of the enemy. By the poet, nature is contemplated on the side of
+the emotions; by the man of science, on the side of the understanding.
+But the emotions are as much a part of us as the understanding: they are
+as truthful; they are as likely to be right. Though their view is
+different, it is not capricious. They obey fixed laws; they follow an
+orderly and uniform course; they run in sequences; they have their logic
+and method of inference. Poetry, therefore, is a part of philosophy,
+simply because the emotions are a part of the mind. If the man of science
+despises their teaching, so much the worse for him. He has only half his
+weapons; his arsenal is unfilled. Conquests, indeed, he may make, because
+his native strength may compensate the defects of his equipment. But his
+success would be more complete and more rapid, if he were properly
+furnished and made ready for the battle. And I cannot but regard as the
+worst intellectual symptom of this great country, what I must venture to
+call the imperfect education of physical philosophers, as exhibited both
+in their writings and in their trains of thought. This is the more
+serious, because they, as a body, form the most important class in
+England, whether we look at their ability, or at the benefits we have
+received from them, or at the influence they are exercising, and are
+likely to exercise, over the progress of society. It cannot, however, be
+concealed, that they display an inordinate respect for experiments, an
+undue love of minute detail, and a disposition to overrate the inventors
+of new instruments, and the discoverers of new, but often insignificant,
+facts. Their predecessors of the seventeenth century, by using hypotheses
+more boldly, and by indulging their imagination more frequently, did
+certainly effect greater things, in comparison with the then state of
+knowledge, than our contemporaries, with much superior resources, have
+been able to achieve. The magnificent generalizations of Newton and
+Harvey could never have been completed in an age absorbed in one
+unvarying round of experiments and observations. We are in that
+predicament, that our facts have outstripped our knowledge, and are now
+encumbering its march. The publications of our scientific institutions,
+and of our scientific authors, overflow with minute and countless
+details, which perplex the judgment, and which no memory can retain. In
+vain do we demand that they should be generalized, and reduced into
+order. Instead of that, the heap continues to swell. We want ideas, and
+we get more facts. We hear constantly of what nature is doing, but we
+rarely hear of what man is thinking. Owing to the indefatigable industry
+of this and the preceding century, we are in possession of a huge and
+incoherent mass of observations, which have been stored up with great
+care, but which, until they are connected by some presiding idea, will be
+utterly useless. The most effective way of turning them to account, would
+be to give more scope to the imagination, and incorporate the spirit of
+poetry with the spirit of science. By this means, our philosophers would
+double their resources, instead of working, as now, maimed, and with only
+half their nature. They fear the imagination, on account of its tendency
+to form hasty theories. But, surely, all our faculties are needed in the
+pursuit of truth, and we cannot be justified in discrediting any part of
+the human mind. And I can hardly doubt, that one of the reasons why we,
+in England, made such wonderful discoveries during the seventeenth
+century, was because that century was also the great age of English
+poetry. The two mightiest intellects our country has produced are
+Shakspeare and Newton; and that Shakspeare should have preceded Newton,
+was, I believe, no casual or unmeaning event. Shakspeare and the poets
+sowed the seed, which Newton and the philosophers reaped. Discarding the
+old scholastic and theological pursuits, they drew attention to nature,
+and thus became the real founders of all natural science. They did even
+more than this. They first impregnated the mind of England with bold and
+lofty conceptions. They taught the men of their generation to crave after
+the unseen. They taught them to pine for the ideal, and to rise above the
+visible world of sense. In this way, by cultivating the emotions, they
+opened one of the paths which lead to truth. The impetus which they
+communicated, survived their own day, and, like all great movements, was
+felt in every department of thought. But now it is gone; and, unless I am
+greatly mistaken, physical science is at present suffering from its
+absence. Since the seventeenth century, we have had no poet of the
+highest order, though Shelley, had he lived, would perhaps have become
+one. He had something of that burning passion, that sacred fire, which
+kindles the soul, as though it came fresh from the altar of the gods. But
+he was cut off in his early prime, when his splendid genius was still in
+its dawn. If we except his immature, though marvellous, efforts, we may
+assuredly say, that, for nearly two hundred years, England has produced
+no poetry which bears those unmistakable marks of inspiration which we
+find in Spenser, in Shakspeare, and in Milton. The result is, that we,
+separated by so long an interval from those great feeders of the
+imagination, who nurtured our ancestors, and being unable to enter fully
+into the feelings of poets, who wrote when nearly all opinions, and,
+therefore, nearly all forms of emotion, were very different to what they
+now are, cannot possibly sympathize with those immortal productions so
+closely as their contemporaries did. The noble English poetry of the
+sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is read more than ever, but it does
+not colour our thoughts; it does not shape our understandings, as it
+shaped the understandings of our forefathers. Between us and them is a
+chasm, which we cannot entirely bridge. We are so far removed from the
+associations amid which those poems were composed, that they do not flash
+upon us with that reality and distinctness of aim, which they would have
+done, had we lived when they were written. Their garb is strange, and
+belongs to another time. Not merely their dialect and their dress, but
+their very complexion and their inmost sentiments, tell of bygone days,
+of which we have no firm hold. There is, no doubt, a certain ornamental
+culture, which the most highly educated persons receive from the
+literature of the past, and by which they sometimes refine their taste,
+and sometimes enlarge their ideas. But the real culture of a great
+people, that which supplies each generation with its principal strength,
+consists of what is learnt from the generation immediately preceding.
+Though we are often unconscious of the process, we build nearly all our
+conceptions on the basis recognized by those who went just before us. Our
+closest contact is, not with our forefathers, but with our fathers. To
+them we are linked by a genuine affinity, which, being spontaneous, costs
+us no effort, and from which, indeed, we cannot escape. We inherit their
+notions, and modify them, just as they modified the notions of their
+predecessors. At each successive modification, something is lost and
+something is gained, until, at length, the original type almost
+disappears. Therefore it is, that ideas entertained several generations
+ago, bear about the same relation to us, as ideas preserved in a foreign
+literature. In both cases, the ideas may adorn our knowledge, but they
+are never so thoroughly incorporated with our minds, as to be the
+knowledge itself. The assimilation is incomplete, because the sympathy is
+incomplete. We have now no great poets; and our poverty in this respect
+is not compensated by the fact, that we once had them, and that we may,
+and do, read their works. The movement has gone by; the charm is broken;
+the bond of union, though not cancelled, is seriously weakened. Hence,
+our age, great as it is, and, in nearly all respects, greater than any
+the world has yet seen, has, notwithstanding its large and generous
+sentiments, its unexampled toleration, its love of liberty, and its
+profuse, and almost reckless, charity, a certain material, unimaginative,
+and unheroic character, which has made several observers tremble for the
+future. So far as I can understand our present condition, I do not
+participate in these fears, because I believe that the good we have
+already gained, is beyond all comparison greater than what we have lost.
+But that something has been lost, is unquestionable. We have lost much of
+that imagination, which, though, in practical life, it often misleads,
+is, in speculative life, one of the highest of all qualities, being
+suggestive as well as creative. Even practically, we should cherish it,
+because the commerce of the affections mainly depends on it. It is,
+however, declining; while, at the same time, the increasing refinement of
+society accustoms us more and more to suppress our emotions, lest they
+should be disagreeable to others. And as the play of the emotions is the
+chief study of the poet, we see, in this circumstance, another reason
+which makes it difficult to rival that great body of poetry which our
+ancestors possessed. Therefore, it is doubly incumbent on physical
+philosophers to cultivate the imagination. It is a duty they owe to their
+own pursuits, which would be enriched and invigorated by such an
+enlargement of their resources. It is also a duty which they owe to
+society in general; since they, whose intellectual influence is already
+greater than that of any other class, and whose authority is perceptibly
+on the increase, might have power enough to correct the most serious
+deficiency of the present age, and to make us some amends for our
+inability to produce such a splendid imaginative literature as that which
+our forefathers created, and in which the choicest spirits of the
+seventeenth century did, if I may so say, dwell and have their being.
+
+If, therefore, Black had done nothing more than set the example of a
+great physical philosopher giving free scope to the imagination, he would
+have conferred upon us a boon, the magnitude of which it is not easy to
+overrate. And it is very remarkable, that, before he died, that
+department of inorganic physics, which he cultivated with such success,
+was taken up by another eminent Scotchman, who pursued exactly the same
+plan, though with somewhat inferior genius. I allude, of course, to
+Leslie, whose researches on heat are well known to those who are occupied
+with this subject; while, for our present purpose, they are chiefly
+interesting as illustrating that peculiar method which, in the eighteenth
+century, seemed essential to the Scotch mind.
+
+About thirty years after Black propounded his famous theory of heat,
+Leslie began to investigate the same topic, and, in 1804, published a
+special dissertation upon it.[769] In that work, and in some papers in
+his _Treatises on Philosophy_, are contained his views, several of which
+are now known to be inaccurate,[770] though some are of sufficient value
+to mark an epoch in the history of science. Such was his generalization
+respecting the connexion between the radiation of heat, and its
+reflection; bodies which reflect it most, radiating it least, and those
+which radiate it most, reflecting it least. Such, too, was another wide
+conclusion, which the best inquirers have since confirmed, namely, that,
+while heat is radiating from a body, the intensity of each ray is as the
+sine of the angle which it makes with the surface of that body.
+
+ [769] Mr. Napier, in his _Memoirs of Leslie_, pp. 16, 17 (prefixed to
+ _Leslie's Treatises on Philosophy_, Edinb. 1838), says, that he
+ 'composed the bulk of his celebrated work on Heat in the years
+ 1801 and 1802;' but that, in 1793, he propounded 'some of its
+ theoretical opinions, as well as the germs of its discoveries.' It
+ appears, however, from his own statement, that he was making
+ experiments on heat, at all events, as early as 1791. See
+ _Leslie's Experimental Inquiry into the Nature and Propagation of
+ Heat_, London, 1804, p. 409.
+
+ [770] For specimens of some of his most indefensible speculations, see
+ _Leslie's Treatises on Philosophy_, pp. 38, 43.
+
+These were important steps, and they were the result of experiments,
+preceded by large and judicious hypotheses. In relation, however, to the
+economy of nature, considered as a whole, they are of small account in
+comparison with what Leslie effected towards consolidating the great idea
+of light and heat being identical, and thus preparing his contemporaries
+for that theory of the interchange of forces, which is the capital
+intellectual achievement of the nineteenth century. But it is interesting
+to observe, that, with all his ardour, he could not go beyond a certain
+length. He was so hampered by the material tendencies of his time, that
+he could not bring himself to conceive heat as a purely supersensual
+force, of which temperature was the external manifestation.[771] For
+this, the age was barely ripe. We accordingly find him asserting, that
+heat is an elastic fluid, extremely subtle, but still a fluid.[772] His
+real merit was, that, notwithstanding the difficulties which beset his
+path, he firmly seized the great truth, that there is no fundamental
+difference between light and heat. As he puts it, each is merely a
+metamorphosis of the other. Heat is light in complete repose. Light is
+heat in rapid motion. Directly light is combined with a body, it becomes
+heat; but when it is thrown off from that body, it again becomes
+light.[773]
+
+ [771] Though he clearly distinguishes between the two. 'It is almost
+ superfluous to remark, that the term heat is of ambiguous import,
+ denoting either a certain sensation, or the external cause which
+ excites it.' _Leslie on Heat_, p. 137.
+
+ [772] 'Heat is an elastic fluid extremely subtle and active.' _Leslie on
+ Heat_, p. 150. At p. 31, 'calorific and frigorific fluid.' See
+ also pp. 143, 144; and the attempt to measure its elasticity, in
+ pp. 177, 178.
+
+ [773] 'Heat is only light in the state of combination.' _Leslie on
+ Heat_, p. 162. 'Heat in the state of emission constitutes light.'
+ p. 174. 'It is, therefore, the same subtle matter, that, according
+ to its different modes of existence, constitutes either heat or
+ light. Projected with rapid celerity, it forms light; in the state
+ of combination with bodies it acts as heat.' p. 188. See also p.
+ 403, 'different states of the same identical substance.'
+
+Whether this is true or false, we cannot tell; and many years, perhaps
+many generations, will have to elapse before we shall be able to tell.
+But the service rendered by Leslie is quite independent of the accuracy
+of his opinion, as to the manner in which light and heat are
+interchanged. That they are interchanged, is the essential and paramount
+idea. And we must remember, that he made this idea the basis of his
+researches, at a period when some very important facts, or, I should
+rather say, some very conspicuous facts, were opposed to it; while the
+main facts which favoured it were still unknown. When he composed his
+work, the analogies between light and heat, with which we are now
+acquainted, had not been discovered; no one being aware, that double
+refraction, polarization, and other curious properties, are common to
+both. To grasp so wide a truth in the face of such obstacles, was a rare
+stroke of sagacity. But, on account of the obstacles, the inductive mind
+of England refused to receive the truth, as it was not generalized from a
+survey of all the facts. And Leslie, unfortunately for himself, died too
+soon to enjoy the exquisite pleasure of witnessing the empirical
+corroboration of his doctrine by direct experiment, although he clearly
+perceived that the march of discovery, in reference to polarization, was
+leading the scientific world to a point, of which his keen eye had
+discerned the nature, when, to others, it was an almost invisible speck,
+dim in the distant offing.[774]
+
+ [774] In 1814, that is ten years after his great work was published, and
+ about twenty years after it was begun, he writes from Paris: 'My
+ book on heat is better known' here 'than in England. I was even
+ reminded of some passages in it which in England were considered
+ as fanciful, but which the recent discoveries on the polarity of
+ light have confirmed.' _Napier's Memoirs of Leslie_, p. 28,
+ prefixed to _Leslie's Philosophical Treatises_, edit. Edinb. 1838.
+ Leslie died in 1832 (p. 40); and the decisive experiments of
+ Forbes and Melloni were made between 1834 and 1836.
+
+In regard to the method adopted by Leslie, he assures us, that, in
+assuming the principles from which he reasoned, he derived great aid from
+poetry; for he knew that the poets are, after their own manner,
+consummate observers, and that their united observations form a treasury
+of truths, which are nowise inferior to the truths of science, and of
+which science must either avail herself, or else suffer from neglecting
+them.[775] To apply these truths rightly, and to fit them to the
+exigencies of physical inquiry, is, no doubt, a most difficult task,
+since it involves nothing less than holding the balance between the
+conflicting claims of the emotions and the understanding. Like all great
+enterprises, it is full of danger, and, if undertaken by an ordinary
+mind, would certainly fail. But there are two circumstances which make it
+less dangerous in our time, than in any earlier period. The first
+circumstance is, that the supremacy of the human understanding, and its
+right to judge all theories for itself, is now more generally admitted
+than ever; so that there can be little fear of our leaning to the
+opposite side, and allowing poetry to encroach on science. The other
+circumstance is, that our knowledge of the laws of nature is much greater
+than that possessed by any previous age; and there is, consequently, less
+risk of the imagination leading us into error, inasmuch as we have a
+large number of well-ascertained truths, which we can confront with every
+speculation, no matter how plausible or ingenious it may appear.
+
+ [775] 'The easiest mode of conceiving the subject, is to consider the
+ heat that permeates all bodies, and unites with them in various
+ proportions, as merely the subtle fluid of light in a state of
+ combination. When forcibly discharged, or suddenly elicited from
+ any substance, it again resumes its radiant splendour.' ... 'The
+ same notion was embraced by the poets, and gives sublimity to
+ their finest odes.' ... 'Those poetical images which have
+ descended to our own times, were hence founded on a close
+ observation of nature. Modern philosophy need not disdain to adopt
+ them, and has only to expand and reduce to precision the original
+ conceptions.' _Leslie's Treatises on Philosophy_, pp. 308, 309.
+ Again, at p. 416: 'This is not the first occasion in which we have
+ to admire, through the veil of poetical imagery, the sagacity and
+ penetration of those early sages. It would be weakness to expect
+ nice conclusions in the infancy of science; but it is arrogant
+ presumption to regard all the efforts of unaided genius with
+ disdain.'
+
+On both these grounds, Leslie was, I apprehend, justified in taking the
+course which he did. At all events, it is certain, that, by following it,
+he came nearer than would otherwise have been possible, to the
+conceptions of the most advanced scientific thinkers of our day. He
+distinctly recognized that, in the material world, there is neither break
+nor pause; so that what we call the divisions of nature have no
+existence, except in our minds.[776] He was even almost prepared to do
+away with that imaginary difference between the organic and inorganic
+world, which still troubles many of our physicists, and prevents them
+from comprehending the unity and uninterrupted march of affairs. They,
+with their old notions of inanimate matter, are unable to see that all
+matter is living, and that what we term death is a mere expression by
+which we signify a fresh form of life. Towards this conclusion, all our
+knowledge is now converging; and it is certainly no small merit in
+Leslie, that he, sixty years ago, when really comprehensive views,
+embracing the whole creation, were scarcely known among scientific men,
+should have strongly insisted that all forces are of the same kind, and
+that we have no right to distinguish between them, as if some were
+living, and others were dead.[777]
+
+ [776] 'We should recollect that, in all her productions, Nature exhibits
+ a chain of perpetual gradation, and that the systematic divisions
+ and limitations are entirely artificial, and designed merely to
+ assist the memory and facilitate our conceptions.' _Leslie on
+ Heat_, p. 506.
+
+ [777] 'All forces are radically of the same kind, and the distinction of
+ them into _living_ and _dead_ is not grounded on just principles.'
+ _Leslie on Heat_, p. 133. Compare p. 299: 'We shall perhaps find,
+ that this prejudice, like many others, has some semblance of
+ truth; and that even dead or inorganic substances must, in their
+ recondite arrangements, exert such varying energies, and _so like
+ sensation itself_, as if fully unveiled to our eyes, could not
+ fail to strike us with wonder and surprise.'
+
+We owe much to him, by whom such views were advocated. But they were
+then, and in a certain, though far smaller degree, they are now, so out
+of the domain of physical experience, that Leslie never could have
+obtained them by generalizing in the way which the inductive philosophy
+enjoins. His great work on heat was executed, as well as conceived, on
+the opposite plan;[778] and his prejudices on this point were so strong,
+that we are assured by his biographer, that he would allow no merit to
+Bacon, who organized the inductive method into a system, and to whose
+authority we in England pay a willing, and I had almost said a servile,
+homage.[779]
+
+ [778] Mr. Napier, in his _Life of Leslie_, p. 17, says of it, very
+ gravely, 'Its hypotheses are not warranted by the sober maxims of
+ inductive logic.'
+
+ [779] 'Notwithstanding the contrary testimony, explicitly recorded by
+ the founders of the English experimental school, he denied all
+ merit and influence to the immortal delineator of the inductive
+ logic.' _Napier's Life of Leslie_, p. 42.
+
+Another curious illustration of the skill with which the Scotch mind,
+when once possessed of a principle, worked from it deductively, appears
+in the geological speculations of Hutton, late in the eighteenth century.
+It is well known, that the two great powers which have altered the
+condition of our planet, and made it what it is, are fire and water. Each
+has played so considerable a part, that we can hardly measure their
+relative importance. Judging, however, from the present appearance of the
+crust of the earth, there is reason to believe, that the older rocks are
+chiefly the result of fusion, and that the younger are aqueous deposits.
+It is, therefore, not unlikely, that, in the order in which the energies
+of nature have unfolded themselves, fire preceded water, and was its
+necessary precursor.[780] But, all that we are as yet justified in
+asserting is, that these two causes, the igneous and the aqueous, were in
+full operation long before man existed, and are still busily working.
+Perhaps they are preparing another change in our habitation, suitable to
+new forms of life, as superior to man, as man is superior to the beings
+who occupied the earth before his time. Be this as it may, fire and water
+are the two most important and most general principles with which
+geologists are concerned; and though, on a superficial view, each is
+extremely destructive, it is certain that they can really destroy
+nothing, but can only decompose and recompose; shifting the arrangements
+of nature, but leaving nature herself intact. Whether one of these
+elements will ever again get the upper hand of its opponent, is a
+speculation of extreme interest. For, there is reason to suspect, that,
+at one period, fire was more active than water, and that, at another
+period, water was more active than fire. That they are engaged in
+incessant warfare, is a fact with which geologists are perfectly
+familiar, though, in this, as in many other cases, the poets were the
+first to discern the truth. To the eye of the geologist, water is
+constantly labouring to reduce all the inequalities of the earth to a
+single level; while fire, with its volcanic action, is equally busy in
+restoring those inequalities, by throwing up matter to the surface, and
+in various ways disturbing the crust of the globe.[781] And as the beauty
+of the material world mainly depends on that irregularity of aspect,
+without which scenery would have presented no variety of form, and but
+little variety of colour, we shall, I think, not be guilty of too refined
+a subtlety, if we say that fire, by saving us from the monotony to which
+water would have condemned us, has been the remote cause of that
+development of the imagination which has given us our poetry, our
+painting, and our sculpture, and has thereby not only wonderfully
+increased the pleasures of life, but has imparted to the human mind a
+completeness of function, to which, in the absence of such a stimulus, it
+could not have attained.
+
+ [780] The supposition, that volcanic agencies were formerly more potent
+ than they are now, is by no means inconsistent with the scientific
+ doctrine of uniformity, though it is generally considered to be
+ so. It is one thing to assert the uniformity of natural laws; it
+ is quite another thing to assert the uniformity of natural causes.
+ Heat may once have produced far greater effects than it can do at
+ present, and yet the laws of nature be unchanged, and the order
+ and sequence of events unbroken. What I would venture to suggest
+ to geologists is, that they have not taken sufficiently into
+ account the theory of the interchange of forces, which seems to
+ offer a solution of at least part of the problem. For, by that
+ theory, a large portion of the heat which formerly existed may
+ have been metamorphosed into other forces, such as light, chemical
+ affinity, and gravitation. The increase of these forces consequent
+ on the diminution of heat, would have facilitated the
+ consolidation of matter; and until such forces possessed a certain
+ energy, water, which afterwards became so prominent, could not
+ have been formed. If the power of chemical affinity, for instance,
+ were much weaker than it is, water would assuredly resolve itself
+ into its component gases. Without wishing to lay too much stress
+ on this speculation, I submit it to the consideration of competent
+ judges, because I am convinced that any hypothesis, not absolutely
+ inconsistent with the known laws of nature, is preferable to that
+ dogma of interference, which what may be called the miraculous
+ school of geologists wish to foist upon us, in utter ignorance of
+ its incompatibility with the conclusions of the most advanced
+ minds in other departments of thought.
+
+ The remarks in Sir Roderick Murchison's great work (_Siluria_,
+ London, 1854, pp. 475, 476) on the 'grander intensity of former
+ causation,' and on the difficulty this opposes to the
+ 'uniformitarians,' apply merely to those who take for granted that
+ _each_ force has always been equally powerful: they do not affect
+ those who suppose that it is only the _aggregate_ of force which
+ remains unimpaired. Though the distribution of forces may be
+ altered, their gross amount is not susceptible of change, so far
+ as the highest conceptions of our actual science extend.
+ Consequently, there is no need for us to believe that, in
+ different periods, the intensity of causation varies; though we
+ may believe that some one agent, such as heat, had at one time
+ more energy than it has ever had since.
+
+ [781] 'The great agents of change in the inorganic world may be divided
+ into two principal classes, the aqueous and the igneous. To the
+ aqueous belong rain, rivers, torrents, springs, currents, and
+ tides; to the igneous, volcanos and earthquakes. Both these
+ classes are instruments of decay as well as of reproduction; but
+ they may also be regarded as antagonist forces. For the aqueous
+ agents are incessantly labouring to reduce the inequalities of the
+ earth's surface to a level; while the igneous are equally active
+ in restoring the unevenness of the external crust, partly by
+ heaping up new matter in certain localities, and partly by
+ depressing one portion, and forcing out another, of the earth's
+ envelope.' _Lyell's Principles of Geology_, 9th edit., London,
+ 1853, p. 198.
+
+When geologists began to study the laws according to which fire and water
+had altered the structure of the earth, two different courses were open
+to them, namely, the inductive and the deductive. The deductive plan was
+to compute the probable consequences of fire and water, by reasoning from
+the sciences of thermotics and hydrodynamics; tracking each element by an
+independent line of argument, and afterwards cooerdinating into a single
+scheme the results which had been separately obtained. It would then only
+remain to inquire, how far this imaginary scheme harmonized with the
+actual state of things; and if the discrepancy between the ideal and the
+actual were not greater than might fairly be expected from the
+perturbations produced by other causes, the ratiocination would be
+complete, and geology would, in its inorganic department, become a
+deductive science. That our knowledge is ripe for such a process, I am
+far, indeed, from supposing; but this is the path which a deductive mind
+would take, so far as it was able. On the other hand, an inductive mind,
+instead of beginning with fire and water, would begin with the effects
+which fire and water had produced, and would first study these two
+agents, not in their own separate sciences, but in their united action as
+exhibited on the crust of the earth. An inquirer of this sort would
+assume, that the best way of arriving at truth would be to proceed from
+effects to causes, observing what had actually happened, and rising from
+the complex results up to a knowledge of the simple agents, by whose
+power the results have been brought about.
+
+If the reader has followed the train of thought which I have endeavoured
+to establish in this chapter, and in the first volume, he will be
+prepared to expect that when, in the latter half of the eighteenth
+century, geology was first seriously studied, the inductive plan of
+proceeding from effects to causes became the favourite one in England;
+while the deductive plan of proceeding from causes to effects, was
+adopted in Scotland and in Germany. And such was really the case. It is
+generally admitted, that, in England, scientific geology owes its origin
+to William Smith, whose mind was singularly averse to system, and who,
+believing that the best way of understanding former causes was to study
+present effects, occupied himself, between the years 1790 and 1815, in a
+laborious examination of different strata.[782] In 1815, he, after
+traversing the whole of England on foot, published the first complete
+geological map which ever appeared, and thus took the first great step
+towards accumulating the materials for an inductive generalization.[783]
+In 1807, and, therefore, before he had brought his arduous task to an
+end, there was formed in London the Geological Society, the express
+object of which, we are assured, was, to observe the condition of the
+earth, but by no means to generalize the causes which had produced that
+condition.[784] The resolution was, perhaps, a wise one. At all events,
+it was highly characteristic of the sober and patient spirit of the
+English intellect. With what energy and unsparing toil it has been
+executed, and how the most eminent members of the Geological Society
+have, in the pursuit of truth, not only explored every part of Europe,
+but examined the shell of the earth in America and in Northern Asia, is
+well known to all who are interested in these matters; nor can it be
+denied, that the great works of Lyell and Murchison prove that the men
+who are capable of such laborious enterprises, are also capable of the
+still more difficult achievement of generalizing their facts and refining
+them into ideas. They did not go as mere observers, but they went with
+the noble object of making their observations subservient to a discovery
+of the laws of nature. That was their aim; and all honour be to them for
+it. Still, it is evident, that their process is essentially inductive; it
+is a procedure from the observation of complex phenomena, up to the
+elements to which those phenomena are owing; it is, in other words, a
+study of natural effects, in order to learn the operation of natural
+causes.
+
+ [782] Dr. Whewell, comparing him with his great German contemporary,
+ Werner, says, 'In the German, considering him as a geologist, the
+ ideal element predominated.' ... 'Of a very different temper and
+ character was William Smith. No literary cultivation of his youth
+ awoke in him the _speculative love of symmetry and system_; but a
+ singular clearness and precision of the classifying power, which
+ he possessed as a native talent, was exercised and developed by
+ exactly those geological facts among which his philosophical task
+ lay.' ... 'We see great vividness of thought and activity of mind,
+ _unfolding itself exactly in proportion to the facts with which it
+ had to deal_.' ... 'He dates his attempts to discriminate and
+ connect strata from the year 1790.' _Whewell's History of the
+ Inductive Sciences_, London, 1847, vol. iii. pp. 562-564.
+
+ [783] 'The execution of his map was completed in 1815, and remains a
+ lasting monument of original talent and extraordinary
+ perseverance; for he had explored the whole country on foot
+ without the guidance of previous observers, or the aid of
+ fellow-labourers, and had succeeded in throwing into natural
+ divisions the whole complicated series of British rocks.' _Lyell's
+ Principles of Geology_, p. 58. Geological maps of parts of England
+ had, however, been published before 1815. See _Conybeare on
+ Geology_, in _Second Report of the British Association_, p. 373.
+
+ [784] 'A great body of new data were required; and the Geological
+ Society of London, founded in 1807, conduced greatly to the
+ attainment of this desirable end. To multiply and record
+ observations, and patiently to await the result at some future
+ period, was the object proposed by them; and it was their
+ favourite maxim, that the time was not yet come for a general
+ system of geology, but that all must be content for many years to
+ be exclusively engaged in furnishing materials for future
+ generalizations.' _Lyell's Principles of Geology_, p. 59. Compare
+ _Richardson's Geology_, 1851, p. 40.
+
+Very different was the process in Germany and Scotland. In 1787, that is,
+only three years before William Smith began his labours, Werner, by his
+work on the classification of mountains, laid the foundation of the
+German school of geology.[785] His influence was immense; and among his
+pupils we find the names of Mohs, Raumer, and Von Buch, and even that of
+Alexander Humboldt.[786] But the geological theory which he propounded,
+depended entirely on a chain of argument from cause to effect. He
+assumed, that all the great changes through which the earth had passed,
+were due to the action of water. Taking this for granted, he reasoned
+deductively from premisses with which his knowledge of water supplied
+him. Without entering into details respecting his system, it is enough to
+say, that, according to it, there was originally one vast and primeval
+sea, which, in the course of time, deposited the primitive rocks. The
+base of all was granite; then gneiss; and others followed in their
+order. In the bosom of the water, which at first was tranquil, agitations
+gradually arose, which, destroying part of the earliest deposits, gave
+birth to new rocks, formed out of their ruins. The stratified thus
+succeeded to the unstratified, and something like variety was
+established. Then came another period, in which the face of the waters,
+instead of being merely agitated, was convulsed by tempests, and, amid
+their play and collision, life was generated, and plants and animals
+sprung into existence. The vast solitude was slowly peopled, the sea
+gradually retired; and a foundation was laid for that epoch, during which
+man entered the scene, bringing with him the rudiments of order and of
+social improvement.[787]
+
+ [785] Cuvier, in his Life of Werner, says (_Biographie Universelle_,
+ vol. i. pp. 376, 377), 'La connaissance des positions respectives
+ des mineraux dans la croute du globe, et ce que l'on peut en
+ conclure relativement aux epoques de leur origine, forment une
+ autre branche de la science qu'il appelle Geognosie. Il en
+ presenta les premieres bases en 1787, dans un petit ecrit intitule
+ "Classification et description des Montagnes."'
+
+ [786] _Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences_, vol. iii. p. 567.
+
+ [787] 'Une mer universelle et tranquille depose en grandes masses les
+ roches primitives, roches nettement cristallisees, ou domine
+ d'abord la silice. Le granit fait la base de tout; au granit
+ succede le gneiss, qui n'est qu'un granit commencant a se
+ feuilleter.' ... 'Des agitations intestines du liquide detruisent
+ une partie de ces premiers depots; de nouvelles roches se forment
+ de leurs debris reunis par des cimens. C'est parmi ces tempetes
+ que nait la vie.' ... 'Les eaux, de nouveau tranquillisees, mais
+ dont le contenu a change, deposent des couches moins epaisses et
+ plus variees, ou les debris des corps vivans s'accumulent
+ successivement dans un ordre non moins fixe que celui des roches
+ qui les contiennent. Enfin, la derniere retraite des eaux repand
+ sur le continent d'immenses alluvions de matieres meubles,
+ premiers sieges de la vegetation, de la culture et de la
+ sociabilite.' _Eloge de Werner_, in _Cuvier_, _Recueil des Eloges
+ Historiques_, vol. ii. pp. 321-323.
+
+These were the leading views of a system which, we must remember,
+exercised great sway in the scientific world, and won over to its side
+minds of considerable power. Erroneous and far-fetched though it was, it
+had the merit of calling attention to one of the two chief principles
+which have determined the present condition of our planet. It had the
+further merit of provoking a controversy, which was eminently serviceable
+to the interests of truth. For, the great enemy of knowledge is not
+error, but inertness. All that we want is discussion, and then we are
+sure to do well, no matter what our blunders may be. One error conflicts
+with another; each destroys its opponent, and truth is evolved. This is
+the course of the human mind, and it is from this point of view that the
+authors of new ideas, the proposers of new contrivances, and the
+originators of new heresies, are benefactors of their species. Whether
+they are right or wrong, is the least part of the question. They tend to
+excite the mind; they open up the faculties; they stimulate us to fresh
+inquiry; they place old subjects under new aspects; they disturb the
+public sloth; and they interrupt, rudely, but with most salutary effect,
+that love of routine, which, by inducing men to go grovelling on in the
+ways of their ancestors, stands in the path of every improvement, as a
+constant, an outlying, and, too often, a fatal obstacle.
+
+The method adopted by Werner was evidently deductive, since he argued
+from a supposed cause, and reasoned from it to the effects. In that
+cause, he found his major premiss, and thence he worked downwards to his
+conclusion, until he reached the world of sense and of reality. He
+trusted in his one great idea, and he handled that idea with consummate
+skill. On that very account, did he pay less attention to existing facts.
+Had he chosen, he, like other men, could have collected them, and
+subjected them to an inductive generalization. But he preferred the
+opposite path. To reproach him with this is irrational; for, in his
+journey after truth, he chose one of the only two roads which are open to
+the human mind. In England, indeed, we are apt to take for granted that
+one road is infinitely preferable to the other. It may be so; but on
+this, as on many other subjects, assertions are current which have never
+been proved. At all events, Werner was so satisfied with his method, that
+he would not be at the pains of examining the position of rocks and their
+strata, as they are variously exhibited in different countries; he did
+not even explore his own country, but, confining himself to a corner of
+Germany, he began and completed his celebrated system, without
+investigating the facts on which, according to the inductive method, that
+system should have been built.[788]
+
+ [788] 'If it be true that delivery be the first, second, and third
+ requisite in a popular orator, it is no less certain that to
+ travel is of first, second, and third importance to those who
+ desire to originate just and comprehensive views concerning the
+ structure of our globe. Now, Werner had not travelled to distant
+ countries: he had merely explored a small portion of Germany, and
+ conceived, and persuaded others to believe, that the whole surface
+ of our planet, and all the mountain chains in the world, were made
+ after the model of his own province.' ... 'It now appears that he
+ had misinterpreted many of the most important appearances even in
+ the immediate neighbourhood of Freyberg. Thus, for example, within
+ a day's journey of his school, the porphyry, called by him
+ primitive, has been found not only to send forth veins, or dykes,
+ through strata of the coal formation, but to overlie them in
+ mass.' _Lyell's Principles of Geology_, p. 47.
+
+Exactly the same process, on the same subject, and at the same time, was
+going on in Scotland. Hutton, who was the founder of Scotch geology, and
+who, in 1788, published his _Theory of the Earth_, conducted the inquiry
+just as Werner did; though, when he began his speculations, he had no
+knowledge of what Werner was doing.[789] The only difference between them
+was, that while Werner reasoned from the agency of water, Hutton reasoned
+from the agency of fire. The cause of this may, I think, be explained.
+Hutton lived in a country where some of the most important laws of heat
+had, for the first time, been generalized, and where consequently, that
+department of inorganic physics had acquired great reputation. It was
+natural for a Scotchman to take more than ordinary interest in a subject
+in which Scotland had been so successful, and had obtained so much fame.
+We need not, therefore, wonder that Hutton, who, like all men, felt the
+intellectual bent of the time in which he lived, should have yielded to
+an influence of which he was, perhaps, unconscious. In obedience to the
+general mental habits of his country he adopted the deductive method. In
+further obedience to the more special circumstances connected with his
+own immediate pursuits, he gathered the principles from which he reasoned
+from a study of fire, instead of gathering them, as Werner did, from a
+study of water.
+
+ [789] Though Hutton's _Theory of the Earth_ was first published in 1788,
+ the edition of 1795, which is the one I have used, contains a
+ great number of additional illustrations of his views, and was
+ evidently re-written. But the main features are the same; and we
+ learn from his friend, Playfair, that 'the great outline of his
+ system' was completed 'several years' before 1788. _Life of
+ Hutton_, in _Playfair's Works_, vol. iv. p. 50, Edinburgh, 1822.
+
+Hence it is, that, in the history of geology, the followers of Werner are
+known as Neptunists, and those of Hutton as Plutonists.[790] And these
+terms represent the only difference between the two great masters. In the
+most important points, namely their method, they were entirely agreed.
+Both were essentially one-sided; both paid a too exclusive attention to
+one of the two principal agents which have altered, and are still
+altering, the crust of the earth; both reasoned from those agents,
+instead of reasoning to them; and both constructed their system without
+sufficiently studying the actual and existing facts; committing, in this
+respect, an error which the English geologists were the first to rectify.
+
+ [790] Kirwan appears to have been the first who called Hutton's theory
+ 'the Plutonic System.' See _Illustrations of the Huttonian
+ Theory_, in _Playfair's Works_, vol. i. p. 145. On the distinction
+ between Neptunists and Plutonists, see the same work, pp. 504,
+ 505.
+
+As I am writing a history, not of science, but of scientific method, I
+can only briefly glance at the nature of those services which Hutton
+rendered to geology, and which are so considerable, that his system has
+been called its present basis.[791] This, however, is too strongly
+expressed; for, though Hutton was far from denying the influence of
+water,[792] he did not concede enough to it, and there is a tendency
+among several geologists to admit that the system of Werner considered
+as an aqueous theory, contains a larger amount of truth than the
+advocates of the igneous theory are willing to allow. Still, what Hutton
+did was most remarkable, especially in reference to what are now termed
+metamorphic rocks, the theory of whose formation he was the first to
+conceive.[793] Into this, and into their connexion, on the one hand, with
+the sedimentary rocks, and, on the other hand, with those rocks whose
+origin is perhaps purely igneous, I could not enter without treading on
+debatable ground. But, putting aside what is yet uncertain, I will
+mention two circumstances respecting Hutton which are undisputed, and
+which will give some idea of his method, and of the turn of his mind. The
+first circumstance is, that, although he ascribed to subterranean heat,
+as exhibited in volcanic action, a greater and more constant energy than
+any previous inquirers had ventured to do,[794] he preferred speculating
+on the probable consequences of that action, rather than drawing
+inferences from the facts which the action presented; he being on this
+point so indifferent, that he arrived at his conclusions without
+inspecting even a single region of active volcanoes, where he might have
+watched the workings of nature, and seen what she was really about.[795]
+The other circumstance is equally characteristic. Hutton, in his
+speculations concerning the geological effects of heat, naturally availed
+himself of the laws which Black had unfolded. One of those laws was, that
+certain earths owe their fusibility to the presence of fixed air in them
+before heat has expelled it; so that if it were possible to force them to
+retain their fixed air, or carbonic acid gas, as we now call it, no
+amount of heat could deprive them of the capability of being fused. The
+fertile mind of Hutton saw, in this discovery, a principle from which he
+could construct a geological argument. It occurred to him, that great
+pressure would prevent the escape of fixed air from heated rocks, and
+would thus enable them to be fused, notwithstanding their elevated
+temperature. He then supposed that, at a period anterior to the existence
+of man, such a process had taken place under the surface of the sea, and
+that the weight of so great a column of water had prevented the rocks
+from being decomposed while they were subjected to the action of fire. In
+this way, their volatile parts were held together, and they themselves
+might be melted, which could not have happened except for this enormous
+pressure. By following this line of argument, he accounted for the
+consolidation of strata by heat; since, according to the premisses from
+which he started, the oily, or bituminous parts, would remain, in spite
+of the efforts of heat to disperse them.[796] This striking speculation
+led to the inference, that the volatile components of a substance, and
+its fixed components, may be made to cohere, in the very teeth of that
+apparently irresistible agent whose business it is to effect their
+separation. Such an inference was contrary to all experience; or, to say
+the least, no man had ever seen an instance of it.[797] Indeed, the
+event was only supposed to happen in consequence of circumstances which
+were never met with on the surface of the globe, and which, therefore,
+were out of the range of all human observation.[798] The utmost that
+could be expected was, that, by means of our instruments, we might,
+perhaps, on a small scale, imitate the process which Hutton had imagined.
+It was possible, that a direct experiment might artificially combine
+great pressure with great heat, and that the result might be, that the
+senses would realize what the intellect had conceived.[799] But the
+experiment had never been tried, and Hutton, who delighted in reasoning
+from ideas rather than from facts, was not likely to undertake it.[800]
+He cast his speculation on the world, and left it to its fate.[801]
+Fortunately, however, for the reception of his system, a very ingenious
+and skilful experimenter of that day, Sir James Hall, determined to test
+the speculation by an appeal to facts; and as nature did not supply the
+facts which he wanted, he created them for himself. He applied heat to
+powdered chalk, while, at the same time, with great delicacy of
+manipulation, he subjected the chalk to a pressure about equal to the
+weight of a column of water half a mile high. The result was, that, under
+that pressure, the volatile parts of the chalk were held together; the
+carbonic acid gas was unable to escape; the generation of quicklime was
+stopped; the ordinary operations of nature were baffled, and the whole
+composition, being preserved in its integrity, was fused, and, on
+subsequently cooling, actually crystallized into solid marble.[802]
+Never was triumph more complete. Never did a fact more fully confirm an
+idea.[803] But, in the mind of Hutton, the idea preceded the fact by a
+long interval; since, before the fact was known, the theory had been
+raised, and the system which was built upon it had, indeed, been
+published several years. It, therefore, appears that one of the chief
+parts of the Huttonian Theory, and certainly its most successful part,
+was conceived in opposition to all preceding experience; that it
+pre-supposed a combination of events which no one had ever observed, and
+the mere possibility of which nothing but artificial experiment could
+prove; and, finally, that Hutton was so confident of the validity of his
+own method of inquiry, that he disdained to make the experiment himself,
+but left to another mind that empirical branch of the investigation which
+he deemed of little moment, but which we, in England, are taught to
+believe is the only safe foundation of physical research.[804]
+
+ [791] 'Has not only supplanted that of Werner, but has formed the
+ foundation of the researches and writings of our most enlightened
+ observers, and is justly regarded as the basis of all sound
+ geology at the present day.' _Richardson's Geology_, London, 1851,
+ p. 38.
+
+ [792] _Hutton's Theory of the Earth_, Edinb. 1795, vol. i. pp. 34, 41,
+ 192, 290, 291, 593, vol. ii. pp. 236, 369, 378, 555.
+
+ [793] 'In his writings, and in those of his illustrator, Playfair, we
+ find the germ of the metamorphic theory.' _Lyell's Manual of
+ Geology_, London, 1851, p. 92.
+
+ [794] The shortest summary of this view is in his _Theory of the Earth_,
+ Edin. 1795, vol. ii. pp. 556. 'The doctrine, therefore, of our
+ Theory is briefly this; that whatever may have been the operation
+ of dissolving water, and the chemical action of it upon the
+ materials accumulated at the bottom of the sea, the general
+ solidity of that mass of earth, and the placing of it in the
+ atmosphere above the surface of the sea, has been the immediate
+ operation of fire or heat melting and expanding bodies.'
+
+ [795] 'Although Hutton had never explored any region of active volcanos,
+ he had convinced himself that basalt and many other trap rocks
+ were of igneous origin.' _Lyell's Principles of Geology_, London,
+ 1853, p. 51. To this I may add, that he wrote his work without
+ having examined granite. He says (_Theory of the Earth_, vol. i.
+ p. 214), 'It is true, I met with it on my return by the east
+ coast, when I just saw it, and no more, at Peterhead and Aberdeen;
+ but that was all the granite I had ever seen when I wrote my
+ _Theory of the Earth_. I have, since that time, seen it in
+ different places; because I went on purpose to examine it, as I
+ shall have occasion to describe in the course of this work.'
+ Hutton's theory of granite is noticed in _Bakewell's Geology_,
+ London, 1838, p. 101: but Mr. Bakewell does not seem to be aware
+ that the theory was formed before the observations were made.
+
+ [796] _Huttonian Theory_, in _Playfair_, vol. i. pp. 38-40, 509, 510.
+ Compare _Playfair's Life of Hutton_, p. 61.
+
+ [797] Hence, the objections of Kirwan were invalid; because his argument
+ against Hutton was 'grounded on experiments, where that very
+ separation of the volatile and fixed parts takes place, which it
+ excluded in that hypothesis of subterraneous heat.' HUTTONIAN
+ THEORY, in _Playfair_, vol. i. p. 193, Edinb. 1822.
+
+ [798] Hutton says (_Theory of the Earth_, Edinb. 1795, vol. i. p. 94),
+ 'The place of mineral operations is not on the surface of the
+ earth; and we are not to limit nature with our imbecility, or
+ estimate the powers of nature by the measure of our own.' See also
+ p. 159, 'mineral operations proper to the lower regions of the
+ earth.' And p. 527, 'The mineral operations of nature lie in a
+ part of the globe which is necessarily inaccessible to man, and
+ where the powers of nature act under very different conditions
+ from those which we find take place in the only situation where we
+ can live.' Again, in vol. ii. p. 97, 'The present Theory of the
+ Earth holds for principle that the strata are consolidated in the
+ mineral regions far beyond the reach of human observation.'
+ Similarly, vol. ii. p. 484, 'we judge not of the progress of
+ things from the actual operations of the surface.'
+
+ [799] Hutton, however, did not believe that this could be done. 'In the
+ Theory of the Earth which was published, I was anxious to warn the
+ reader against the notion that subterraneous heat and fusion could
+ be compared with that which we induce by our chemical operations
+ on mineral substances here upon the surface of the earth.'
+ _Hutton's Theory of the Earth_, vol. i. p. 251.
+
+ [800] See, in the _Life of Hutton_, in _Playfair's Works_, vol. iv.
+ p. 62 note, a curious remark on his indifference to experimental
+ verification. Innumerable passages in his work indicate this
+ tendency, and show his desire to reason immediately from general
+ principles. Thus, in vol. i. p. 17, 'Let us strictly examine our
+ principles in order to avoid fallacy in our reasoning.' ... 'We
+ are now, in reasoning from principles, come to a point decisive of
+ the question.' vol. i. p. 177. 'Let us now reason from our
+ principles.' vol. ii. p. 308. Hence, his constantly expressed
+ contempt for experience; as in vol. ii. p. 367, where he says that
+ we must 'overcome those prejudices which contracted views of
+ nature and _magnified opinions of the experience of man_ may have
+ begotten.'
+
+ [801] Playfair (_Life of Hutton_, p. 64) says that it drew 'their
+ attention' (_i.e._ the attention of 'men of science'), 'very
+ slowly, so that several years elapsed before any one showed
+ himself publicly concerned about it, either as an enemy or a
+ friend.' He adds, as one of the reasons of this, that it contained
+ 'too little detail of facts for a system which involved so much
+ that was new, and opposite to the opinions generally received.'
+
+ [802] The account of these experiments was read before the Royal Society
+ of Edinburgh in 1805, and is printed in their _Transactions_, vol.
+ vi. pp. 71-185, Edinb. 1812, 4to. The general result was (pp. 148,
+ 149), 'That a pressure of 52 atmospheres, or 1700 feet of sea, is
+ capable of forming a limestone in a proper heat; That under 86
+ atmospheres, answering nearly to 3000 feet, or about half a mile,
+ a complete marble may be formed; and lastly, That, with a pressure
+ of 173 atmospheres, or 5700 feet, that is little more than one
+ mile of sea, the carbonate of lime is made to undergo complete
+ fusion, and to act powerfully on other earths.' See also p. 160:
+ 'The carbonic acid of limestone cannot be constrained in heat by a
+ pressure less than that of 1708 feet of sea.' There is a short,
+ and not very accurate, notice of these instructive experiments in
+ _Bakewell's Geology_, London, 1838, pp. 249, 250.
+
+ [803] As Sir James Hall says, 'The truth of the most doubtful principle
+ which Dr. Hutton has assumed, has thus been established by direct
+ experiment.' _Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_,
+ vol. vi. p. 175.
+
+ [804] See the remarks of Sir James Hall, in _Transactions_, vol. vi.
+ pp. 74, 75. He observes that Hutton's 'system, however, involves
+ so many suppositions, apparently in contradiction to common
+ experience, which meet us on the very threshold, that most men
+ have hitherto been deterred from an investigation of its
+ principles, and only a few individuals have justly appreciated its
+ merits.' ... 'I conceived that the chemical effects ascribed by
+ him to compression, ought, in the first place, to be
+ investigated.' ... 'It occurred to me that this principle was
+ susceptible of being established in a direct manner by experiment,
+ and _I urged him to make the attempt; but he always rejected this
+ proposal_, on account of the immensity of the natural agents,
+ whose operation he supposed to lie far beyond the reach of our
+ imitation; and he seemed to imagine that any such attempt must
+ undoubtedly fail, and thus _throw discredit on opinions, already
+ sufficiently established, as he conceived, on other principles_.'
+
+I have now given an account of all the most important discoveries made by
+Scotland, in the eighteenth century, respecting the laws of the inorganic
+world. I have said nothing of Watt, because, although the steam-engine,
+which we owe to him, is of incalculable importance, it is not a
+discovery, but an invention. An invention it may justly be termed, rather
+than an improvement.[805] Notwithstanding what had been effected in the
+seventeenth century, by De Caus, Worcester, Papin, and Savery, and
+notwithstanding the later additions of Newcomen and others, the real
+originality of Watt is unimpeachable. His engine was, essentially, a new
+invention; but, under its scientific aspect, it was merely a skilful
+adaptation of laws previously known; and one of its most important
+points, namely, the economy of heat, was a practical application of ideas
+promulgated by Black.[806] The only discovery made by Watt, was that of
+the composition of water. Though his claims are disputed by the friends
+of Cavendish, it would appear that he was the first who ascertained that
+water, instead of being an element, is a compound of two gases.[807] This
+discovery was a considerable step in the history of chemical analysis,
+but it neither involved nor suggested any new law of nature, and has,
+therefore, no claim to mark an epoch in the history of the human
+mind.[808] There is, however, one circumstance connected with it which is
+too characteristic to be passed over in silence. The discovery was made
+in 1783, by Watt, the Scotchman, and by Cavendish, the Englishman,
+neither of whom seems to have been aware of what the other was
+doing.[809] But between the two there was this difference. Watt, for
+several years previously, had been speculating on the subject of water in
+connexion with air, and having, by Black's law of latent heat, associated
+them together, he was prepared to believe that one is convertible into
+the other.[810] The idea of an intimate analogy between the two bodies
+having once entered his mind, gradually ripened; and when he, at last,
+completed the discovery, it was merely by reasoning from data which
+others possessed besides himself. Instead of bringing to light new facts,
+he drew new conclusions from former ideas.[811] Cavendish, on the other
+hand, obtained his result by the method natural to an Englishman. He did
+not venture to draw a fresh inference, until he had first ascertained
+some fresh facts. Indeed, his discovery was so completely an induction
+from his own experiments, that he omitted to take into consideration the
+theory of latent heat, from which Watt had reasoned, and where that
+eminent Scotchman had found the premisses of his argument.[812] Both of
+these great inquirers arrived at truth, but each accomplished his journey
+by a different path. And this antithesis is accurately expressed by one
+of the most celebrated of living chemists, who, in his remarks on the
+composition of water, truly says, that while Cavendish established the
+facts, Watt established the idea.[813]
+
+ [805] It may be traced back, certainly to the beginning of the
+ seventeenth century, and probably still higher. Yet the popular
+ opinion seems to be correct, that Watt was its real inventor;
+ though, of course, he could not have done what he did, without his
+ predecessors. This, however, may be said of all the most eminent
+ and successful men, as well as of the most ordinary men.
+
+ [806] On the obligations of Watt to Black, compare _Brougham's Life of
+ Watt_ (_Brougham's Works_, vol. i. pp. 25, 36-38, edit. Glasgow,
+ 1855), with _Muirhead's Life of Watt_, second edit. London, 1859,
+ pp. 66, 83. At p. 301, Mr. Muirhead says of Watt, that 'his
+ principal inventions connected with the steam-engine, with all
+ their prodigious results, were founded, as we have seen, on the
+ attentive observation of great philosophical truths; and the
+ economy of fuel, increase of productive power, and saving of
+ animal labour, which gradually ensued, all originated in the
+ sagacious and careful thought with which he investigated the
+ nature and properties of heat.' But whatever investigations Watt
+ made into heat, he discovered no new law respecting it, or, at all
+ events, no new law which is large enough to be noted in the
+ history of thermotics, considered purely as a science, and apart
+ from practical application. Mr. Muirhead, in his interesting work
+ which I have just quoted, has published (pp. 484-486) some remarks
+ made on the subject by Watt, several years after the death of
+ Black, which, though perfectly fair and candid, show that Watt had
+ a rather confused notion of the real difference between an
+ invention and a discovery.
+
+ [807] Mr. Muirhead, in his _Life of Watt_, pp. 301-370, seems to have
+ put the priority of Watt beyond further doubt; though he is
+ somewhat hard upon Cavendish, who, there can be little question,
+ made the discovery for himself.
+
+ [808] I would not wish to diminish one jot of the veneration in which
+ the great name of Watt is justly held. But when I find the opinion
+ of Dr. Withering, the botanist, quoted, to the effect that his
+ 'abilities and acquirements placed him next, if not superior, to
+ Newton.' (_Muirhead's Life of Watt_, p. 302), I cannot but protest
+ against such indiscriminate eulogy, which would rank Watt in the
+ same class as one of those godlike intellects of which the whole
+ world has not produced a score, and which are entitled to be
+ termed inspired, if ever human being was so. Another instance of
+ this injudicious panegyric will be found in the same otherwise
+ excellent work (_Muirhead_, pp. 324, 325), where we read that
+ Watt's discovery that water consists of oxygen and hydrogen, was
+ 'the commencement of a new era, the dawn of a new day in physical
+ inquiry, the real foundation of the new system of chemistry; nay,
+ even a discovery "perhaps of greater importance than any single
+ fact which human ingenuity has ascertained either before or
+ since."'
+
+ [809] That there was no plagiarism on the part of Watt, we know from
+ positive evidence; that there was none on the part of Cavendish,
+ may be fairly presumed, both from the character of the man, and
+ also from the fact that in the then state of chemical knowledge
+ the discovery was imminent, and could not have been long delayed.
+ It was antecedently probable that the composition of water would
+ be ascertained by different persons at the same time, as we have
+ seen in many other discoveries which have been simultaneously
+ made, when the human mind, in that particular department of
+ inquiry, had reached a certain point. We are too apt to suspect
+ philosophers of stealing from each other, what their own abilities
+ are sufficient to work out for themselves. It is, however, certain
+ that Watt thought himself ill-treated by Cavendish. See _Watt's
+ Correspondence on the Composition of Water_, London, 1846,
+ pp. 48, 61.
+
+ [810] On 26th November 1783, he writes: 'For many years I have
+ entertained an opinion that air was a modification of water; which
+ was originally founded on the facts, that in most cases where air
+ was actually made, which should be distinguished from those
+ wherein it is only extricated from substances containing it in
+ their pores, or otherwise united to them in the state of air, the
+ substances were such as were known to contain water as one of
+ their constituent parts, yet no water was obtained in the
+ processes, except what was known to be only loosely connected with
+ them, such as the water of the crystallization of salts. _This
+ opinion arose from a discovery that the latent heat contained in
+ steam diminished, in proportion as the sensible heat of the water
+ from which it was produced, increased_; or, in other words, that
+ the latent heat of steam was less when it was produced under a
+ greater pressure, or in a more dense state, and greater when it
+ was produced under a less pressure, or in a less dense state;
+ which led me to conclude, that when a very great degree of heat
+ was necessary for the production of the steam, the latent heat
+ would be wholly changed into sensible heat; and that, in such
+ cases, the steam itself might suffer some remarkable change. I now
+ abandon this opinion, in so far as relates to the change of water
+ into air, as I think that may be accounted for on better
+ principles.' See this remarkable passage, which is quite decisive
+ as to the real history of Watt's discovery, in _Correspondence of
+ James Watt on the Composition of Water_, London, 1846, pp. 84, 85.
+ Compare p. cxxiv. and p. 248 note.
+
+ [811] In the paper which he communicated to the Royal Society, announcing
+ his discovery, he, well knowing the empirical character of the
+ English mind, apologizes for this; and says, 'I feel much
+ reluctance to lay my thoughts on these subjects before the public
+ in their present indigested state, and _without having been able
+ to bring them to the test of such experiments as would confirm or
+ refute them_.' _Watt's Correspondence on the Discovery of the
+ Composition of Water_, pp. 77, 78. Eleven months earlier, that is
+ in December 1782, he writes (_Ibid._ p. 4): 'Dr. Priestley has
+ made a most surprising discovery, which _seems to confirm my
+ theory_ of water's undergoing some very remarkable change at the
+ point where all its latent heat would be changed into sensible
+ heat.'
+
+ [812] 'He' (_i.e._ Cavendish) 'here omits entirely the consideration of
+ latent heat; an omission which he even attempts to justify, in one
+ of the passages interpolated by Blagden. But it is well known to
+ every one acquainted with the first principles of chemical
+ science, even as it was taught in the days of Black, and it was
+ indisputably familiar to Mr. Watt, that no aeriform fluid can be
+ converted into a liquid, nor any liquid into a solid, without tho
+ evolution of heat, previously latent. This essential part of the
+ process, Mr. Cavendish's theory does not embrace; but without it,
+ no theory on the subject can be complete; and it will presently be
+ seen, that Mr. Watt took it fully into account.' _Muirhead's Life
+ of Watt_, p. 315.
+
+ [813] 'Cavendish and Watt both discovered the composition of water.
+ Cavendish established the facts; Watt the idea.' ... '_The
+ attaching too high a value to the mere facts, is often a sign of a
+ want of ideas._' _Liebig's Letters on Chemistry_, London, 1851, p.
+ 48. The last sentence of this illustrious philosopher, which I
+ have put in italics, should be well pondered in England. If I had
+ my way, it should be engraved in letters of gold over the portals
+ of the Royal Society and of the Royal Institution.
+
+Thus much, as to what was effected by the Scotch in the department of
+inorganic science. If we now turn to organic science, we shall find that,
+there also, their labours were very remarkable. To those who are capable
+of a certain elevation and compass of thought, it will appear, in the
+highest degree, probable, that, between the organic and inorganic world,
+there is no real difference. That they are separated, as is commonly
+asserted, by a sharp line of demarcation, which indicates where one
+abruptly ends, and the other abruptly begins, seems to be a supposition
+altogether untenable. Nature does not pause, and break off in this fitful
+and irregular manner. In her works there is neither gap nor chasm. To a
+really scientific mind, the material world presents one vast and
+uninterrupted series, gradually rising from the lowest to the highest
+forms, but never stopping. In one part of that series, we find a
+particular structure, which, so far as our observations have yet
+extended, we, in another part, cannot find. We also observe particular
+functions, which correspond to the structure, and, as we believe, result
+from it. This is all we know. Yet, from these scanty facts, we, who, at
+present, are still in the infancy of knowledge, and have but skimmed the
+surface of things, are expected to infer, that there must be a point, in
+the chain of existence, where both structure and function suddenly cease,
+and, after which, we may vainly search for signs of life. It would be
+difficult to conceive a conclusion more repugnant to the whole march and
+analogy of modern thought. In every department, the speculations of the
+greatest thinkers are constantly tending to cooerdinate all phenomena, and
+to regard them as different, indeed, in degree, but by no means as
+different in kind. Formerly, men were content to ground their conviction
+of this difference in kind, on the evidence of the eye, which, on a
+cursory inspection, saw an organization in some bodies, and not in
+others. From the organization, they inferred the life, and supposed that
+plants, for instance, had life, but that minerals had none. This sort of
+argument was long deemed satisfactory; but, in the course of time, it
+broke down; more evidence was required, and, since the middle of the
+seventeenth century, it has been universally admitted, that the eye, by
+itself, is an untrustworthy witness, and that we must employ the
+microscope, instead of relying on the unaided testimony of our own puny
+and precarious senses. But the microscope is steadily improving, and we
+cannot tell what limits there are to its capacity for improvement.
+Consequently, we cannot tell what fresh secrets it may disclose. Neither
+can we say, that it may not be altogether superseded by some new
+artificial resource, which shall furnish us with evidence, as superior to
+any yet supplied, as our present evidence is superior to that of the
+naked eye. Even already, and notwithstanding the shortness of time during
+which the microscope has been a really effective instrument, it has
+revealed to us organizations, the existence of which no one had
+previously suspected. It has proved, that what, for thousands of years,
+had been deemed mere specks of inert matter, are, in truth, animals
+possessing most of the functions which we possess, reproducing their
+species in regular and orderly succession, and endowed with a nervous
+system, which shows that they must be susceptible of pain and enjoyment.
+It has detected life hidden in the glaciers of Switzerland; it has found
+it embedded in the polar ice, and, if it can flourish there, it is hard
+to say from what quarter it can be shut out. So unwilling, however, are
+most men to relinquish old notions, that the resources of chemistry have
+been called in, to ascertain the supposed difference between organic and
+inorganic matter: it being asserted, that, in the organic world, there is
+a greater complexity of molecular combination, than in the
+inorganic.[814] Chemists further assert, that, in organic nature, there
+is a predominance of carbon, and, in inorganic, a predominance of
+silicon.[815] But chemical analysis, like microscopic observation, is
+making such rapid strides, that each generation, I had almost said each
+year, is unsettling some of the conclusions previously established; so
+that, now, and for a long time hence, we must regard those conclusions as
+empirical, and, indeed, as merely tentative. Surely a permanent and
+universal inference cannot be drawn from shifting and precarious facts,
+which are admitted to-day, and may be overthrown to-morrow. It would,
+therefore, appear that, in favour of the opinion, that some bodies are
+living, and that others are dead, we have nothing, except the
+circumstance, that our researches, so far as they have yet gone, have
+shown that cellular structure, growth, and reproduction, are not the
+invariable properties of matter, but are excluded from a large part of
+the visible world, which, on that account, we call inanimate. This is the
+whole of the argument on that side of the question. On the other side, we
+have the fact, that our sight, and the artificial instruments, by whose
+aid we have arrived at this conclusion, are confessedly imperfect; and we
+have the further fact, that, imperfect as they are, they have proved,
+that the organic kingdom is infinitely more extensive than the boldest
+dreamer had ever imagined, while they have not been able to enlarge the
+boundaries of the inorganic kingdom to any thing like the same amount.
+This shows, that, so far as our opinions are concerned, the balance is
+steadily inclining in one given direction; in other words, as our
+knowledge advances, a belief in the organic is encroaching upon a belief
+in the inorganic.[816] When we, moreover, add, that all science is
+manifestly converging towards one simple and general theory, which shall
+cover the whole range of material phenomena, and that, at each successive
+step, some irregularities are explained away, and some inequalities are
+reduced, it can hardly be doubted, that such a movement tends to weaken
+those old distinctions, the reality of which has been too hastily
+assumed; and that, in their place, we must, sooner or later, substitute
+the more comprehensive view, that life is a property of all matter, and
+that the classification of bodies into animate and inanimate, or into
+organic and inorganic, is merely a provisional arrangement, convenient,
+perhaps, for our present purposes, but which, like all similar divisions,
+will eventually be merged in a higher and wider scheme.
+
+ [814] 'Organic substances, whether directly derived from the vegetable
+ or animal kingdom, or produced by the subsequent modification of
+ bodies which thus originate, are remarkable as a class for a
+ degree of complexity of constitution far exceeding that observed
+ in any of the compounds yet described.' _Fownes' Chemistry_, 3rd
+ edit., London, 1850, p. 353. I quote this, as the first authority
+ at hand, for a doctrine which is universally admitted by chemists,
+ and which is indubitably true, _so far as our experiments have at
+ present extended_.
+
+ [815] 'As the organic world is characterized by the predominance, in
+ quantity, of carbon, so the mineral or inorganic world is marked
+ by a similar predominance of silicon.' _Turner's Chemistry_,
+ edited by Liebig and Gregory, vol. ii. p. 678, London, 1847.
+
+ [816] I mean, of course, to apply this remark only to the globe we
+ inhabit, and not to extra-terrestrial phenomena. Respecting the
+ organization or non-organization of what exists out of this earth,
+ we have no evidence, and can hardly expect to have any for
+ centuries. Inferences have, indeed, been drawn from telescopic
+ observations; and attempts are now being made, abroad, to
+ determine, by a still more refined process, the physical
+ composition of some of the heavenly bodies. But without venturing,
+ in this note, to enter into such discussions, or even to state
+ their purport, I may say, that the difficulty of _verification_
+ will long prove an insuperable barrier to our knowledge of the
+ truth or falsehood of any results which may be obtained.
+
+Until, however, that step is taken, we must be content to reason
+according to the evidence supplied by our imperfect instruments, or by
+our still more imperfect senses. We, therefore, recognize the difference
+between organic and inorganic nature, not as a scientific truth, but as a
+scientific artifice, by which we separate in idea, what is inseparable in
+fact; hoping, in this way, to pursue our course with the greater ease,
+and ultimately to obtain results, which will make the artifice needless.
+Assuming, then, this division, we may refer all investigations of organic
+bodies to one of two objects. The first object is, to ascertain the law
+of those bodies, in their usual, healthy, or, as we somewhat erroneously
+phrase it, normal course. The other object is, to ascertain their law, in
+their unusual, unhealthy, or abnormal course. When we attempt to do the
+first of these things, we are physiologists. When we attempt to do the
+second, we are pathologists.[817]
+
+ [817] Mr. Simon, in his thoughtful and suggestive Lectures, says, 'We
+ may describe Pathology to consist in the Science of Life under
+ other conditions than those of ideal perfection.' _Simon's
+ Lectures on Pathology_, London, 1850, p. 14. This is by far the
+ best description I have met with; though, as it involves a
+ negative, it cannot be accepted as a definition. Indeed, the
+ context shows that Mr. Simon does not suppose it to be one.
+
+Physiology and pathology are thus the two fundamental divisions of all
+organic science.[818] Each is intimately connected with the other; and
+eventually, no doubt, both will be fused into a single study, by
+discovering laws which will prove that here, as elsewhere, nothing is
+really abnormal, or irregular. Hitherto, however, the physiologists have
+immeasurably outstripped the pathologists in the comprehensiveness of
+their views, and, therefore, in the value of their results. For, the
+best physiologists distinctly recognize that the basis of their science
+must include, not only the animals below man, but also the entire
+vegetable kingdom, and that, without this commanding survey of the whole
+realm of organic nature, we cannot possibly understand even human
+physiology, still less general physiology. The pathologists, on the other
+hand, are so much in arrear, that the diseases of the lower animals
+rarely form part of their plan; while the diseases of plants are almost
+entirely neglected, although it is certain that, until all these have
+been studied, and some steps taken to generalize them, every pathological
+conclusion will be eminently empirical, on account of the narrowness of
+the field from which it is collected.
+
+ [818] I formerly adopted the commonly received division of organic
+ statics, and organic dynamics; the statics being anatomy, and the
+ dynamics being physiology. But, I now think that our knowledge is
+ not sufficiently advanced to make this so convenient as the
+ division into physiological and pathological, or into normal and
+ abnormal, provided we remember that in reality nothing is
+ abnormal. The practically useful, but eminently unscientific,
+ doctrine, that there can be alteration of function without
+ alteration of structure, has effaced some of the most essential
+ distinctions between anatomy and physiology, and especially
+ between morbid anatomy and morbid physiology. Until those
+ distinctions are recognized, the scientific conceptions of
+ professional writers must be confused, however valuable their
+ practical suggestions may be. While men are capable of believing
+ that it is _possible_ for variations of function to proceed from
+ any cause except variations of structure, the philosophic
+ importance of anatomy will be imperfectly appreciated, and its
+ true relation to physiology will remain undefined. Inasmuch,
+ however, as, with our actual resources, the most careful
+ dissection is often unable to detect (in insanity, for instance)
+ those changes of structure which produce changes of function,
+ superficial thinkers are placed under a strong temptation to deny
+ their invariable connexion; and while the microscope is so
+ imperfect, and chemistry so backward, it is impossible that
+ experiments should always convince them of their mistake. Hence, I
+ believe that until our means of empirical research are greatly
+ improved, all such investigations, notwithstanding their immense
+ value in other respects, will tend to lead mere inductive minds
+ into error, by making them rely too much on what they call the
+ facts of the case, to the prejudice of the reason. This is what I
+ mean by saying, that our knowledge is not sufficiently advanced to
+ make it advisable to divide the sciences of organic bodies into
+ physiological and anatomical. At present, and probably for some
+ time yet, the humbler division into physiological and
+ pathological, may be deemed safer, and more likely to produce
+ solid results.
+
+The science of pathology being still so backward in the conception as
+well as in the execution, that even men of real ability believe that it
+can be raised from a mere study of the human frame, it will hardly be
+expected that the Scotch, notwithstanding the marvellous boldness of
+their speculations, should have been able, in the eighteenth century, to
+anticipate a method which the nineteenth century has yet to employ. But
+they produced two pathologists of great ability, and to whom we owe
+considerable obligations. These were, Cullen and John Hunter.[819] Cullen
+was eminent only as a pathologist; but Hunter, whose fine and discursive
+genius took a much wider range, was great both in physiology and in
+pathology. A short account of their generalizations respecting organic
+science, will be a fitting sequel to the notices I have already given of
+what was done by their countrymen for inorganic science, during the same
+period. It will complete our survey of the Scotch intellect, and will
+enable the reader to form some idea of the brilliant achievements of that
+most remarkable people, who, contrary to the course of affairs in all
+other modern nations, have shown that scientific discoveries do not
+necessarily weaken superstition, and that it is possible for two hostile
+principles to flourish side by side, without ever coming into actual
+collision, or without sensibly impairing each other's vigour.
+
+ [819] Hunter, as we shall presently see, did take an extraordinarily
+ comprehensive view of pathology, including the whole of the
+ organic world and even the aberrations of form in the inorganic.
+
+In 1751, Cullen was appointed professor of medicine in the University of
+Glasgow;[820] from which, however, in 1756, he was removed to the
+University of Edinburgh,[821] where he delivered those celebrated
+lectures, on which his fame now depends. During the early part of his
+career, he paid great attention to inorganic physics, and propounded some
+remarkable speculations, which are supposed to have suggested the theory
+of latent heat to Black, who was his pupil.[822] But, to follow out those
+views, would have required a number of minute experiments, which it did
+not suit the habit of his mind to make. Having, therefore, put forth his
+ideas, he left them to germinate, and passed on to his arduous attempt to
+generalize the laws of disease as they are exhibited in the human frame.
+In the study of disease, the phenomena being more obscure and less
+amenable to experiment, there was greater latitude for speculation;
+hence, he could more easily indulge in that love of theory, which was his
+ruling passion, and with an extreme devotion to which he has been
+reproached.[823] That the reproach is not altogether unjust, must, I
+think, be admitted, since we find him laying down the doctrine, that,
+inasmuch as, in the treatment of disease, theory could not be separated
+from practice, it was unimportant which came first.[824] This was
+tantamount to saying, that a medical practitioner might allow his
+theories to control his observations; for it is certain that, in an
+immense majority of cases, men are so tenacious of the opinions they
+imbibe, that whatever, in any pursuit, first occupies their
+understanding, is likely to mould all that comes afterwards. In ordinary
+minds, associations of ideas, if firmly established, become indissoluble;
+and the power of separating them, and of arranging them in new
+combinations, is one of the rarest of our endowments. An average
+intellect, when once possessed by a theory, can hardly ever escape from
+it. Hence, in practical matters, theory should be feared, just as, in
+scientific matters, it should be cherished; because practical pursuits
+are chiefly engrossed by the lower class of minds, where associations and
+the force of prejudice are extremely strong, while scientific pursuits
+concern the higher class, where such prepossessions are comparatively
+weak, and where close associations are more easily severed. The most
+powerful intellects are most accustomed to new arrangements of thought,
+and are, therefore, most able to break up old ones. On them, belief sits
+lightly, because they well know how little evidence we have for many of
+even our oldest beliefs. But the average, or, as we must say, without
+meaning offence, the inferior, minds, are not disturbed by these
+refinements. Theories, which they have once heartily embraced, they can
+hardly ever get rid of, and they often dignify them with the name of
+essential truths, and resent every attack upon them as a personal injury.
+Having inherited such theories from their fathers, they regard them with
+a sort of filial piety, and cling to them as if they were some rich
+acquisition, which no one has a right to touch.
+
+ [820] _Thomson's Life of Cullen_, vol. i. p. 70, Edinburgh, 1832.
+
+ [821] _Thomson's Life of Cullen_, vol. i. p. 96. Bower states that
+ Cullen 'was appointed to the chair in 1755.' _Bower's History of
+ the University of Edinburgh_, vol. ii. p. 216, Edinburgh, 1817.
+
+ [822] 'It seems impossible to peruse the passages I have quoted from
+ Dr. Cullen's manuscript lectures and papers, and from his Essay on
+ Evaporation, without perceiving that his investigations with
+ regard to the heat and cold occasioned by the combination,
+ liquefaction, and evaporation of bodies, must not only have
+ assisted to direct the attention of his pupil Dr. Black to similar
+ inquiries, but must also have furnished him with several of the
+ data from which his simple and comprehensive theory of Latent Heat
+ was afterwards so philosophically deduced.' _Thomson's Life of
+ Cullen_, vol. i. p. 56.
+
+ [823] 'It is allowed by the admirers of this great man, that he was
+ perhaps too fond of theory.' _Bower's History of the University of
+ Edinburgh_, vol. iii. p. 273
+
+ [824] In 1759, he wrote to Dr. Balfour Russell, one of his favourite
+ pupils: 'You will not find it possible to separate practice from
+ theory altogether; and therefore, if you have a mind to begin with
+ the theory, I have no objection.' _Thomson's Life of Cullen_, vol.
+ i. p. 130. Compare his _Introductory Lectures to the Practice of
+ Physic_, where, asserting truly, 'that reasoning in physic is
+ unavoidable' (_Cullen's Works_, vol. i. p. 417), he boldly infers,
+ 'that to render it safe, it is _necessary to cultivate theory in
+ its full extent_.'
+
+To this latter class, nearly all men belong, who are more engaged in
+practical pursuits than in speculative ones. Among them, are the ordinary
+practitioners, whether in medicine or in any other department, extremely
+few of whom are willing to break up trains of thought to which they are
+inured.[825] Though they profess to despise theory, they are, in reality,
+enslaved by it. All that they can do, is to conceal their subjection, by
+terming their theory a necessary belief. It must, therefore, be deemed a
+remarkable proof of Cullen's love of deductive reasoning, that he,
+sagacious and clear-sighted as he was, should have supposed that, in so
+practical an art as medicine, theory could, with impunity, precede
+practice. For, it is most assuredly true, that, taking men in the
+average, their minds are so constructed, that it cannot precede it
+without controlling it. It is equally true, that such control must be
+hurtful. Even now, and notwithstanding the great steps which have been
+taken in morbid anatomy, in animal chemistry, and in the microscopic
+investigation both of the fluids and solids of the human frame, the
+treatment of disease is a question of art, far more than a question of
+science. What chiefly characterizes the most eminent physicians, and
+gives them their real superiority, is not so much the extent of their
+theoretical knowledge,--though that, too, is often considerable,--but it
+is that fine and delicate perception which they owe, partly to
+experience, and partly to a natural quickness in detecting analogies and
+differences which escape ordinary observers. The process which they
+follow, is one of rapid, and, in some degree, unconscious, induction. And
+this is the reason why the greatest physiologists and chemists, which the
+medical profession possesses, are not, as a matter of course, the best
+curers of disease. If medicine were a science, they would always be the
+best. But medicine, being still essentially an art, depends mainly upon
+qualities which each practitioner has to acquire for himself, and which
+no scientific theory can teach. The time for a general theory has not yet
+come, and probably many generations will have to elapse before it does
+come. To suppose, therefore, that a theory of disease should, as a matter
+of education, precede the treatment of disease, is not only practically
+dangerous, but logically false. With its practical danger I am not now
+concerned; but its logical aspect is a curious illustration of that
+passion for systematic and dialectic reasoning which characterized
+Scotland. It shows that Cullen, in his eagerness to argue from principles
+to facts, instead of from facts to principles, could, in the most
+important of all arts, recommend a method of procedure, for which even
+our knowledge is not ripe, but which, in his time, was so singularly rash
+and immature, that nothing can explain its adoption by a man of such
+vigorous understanding, except the circumstance of his living in a
+country in which that peculiar method reigned supreme.
+
+ [825] Even Cullen himself says, rather roughly, 'The great horde of
+ physicians are always servile imitators, who can neither perceive
+ nor correct the faults of their system, and are always ready to
+ growl at, and even to worry, the ingenious person that could
+ attempt it. Thus was the system of Galen secured in the possession
+ of the schools of physic, till soon after the irruption of the
+ Goths and Vandals destroyed every vestige of literature in the
+ western parts of Europe, and drove all that remained of it to seek
+ a feeble protection at Constantinople.' _Lectures Introductory to
+ the Practice of Physic_, in _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. p. 386,
+ Edinburgh, 1827.
+
+It must, however, be admitted that Cullen wielded the method with great
+ability, especially in his application of it to the science of pathology,
+to which it was far better suited than to the art of therapeutics. For,
+we must always remember, that the science which investigates the laws of
+disease, is quite a different thing from the art which cures it. The
+science has a speculative interest, which is irrespective of all
+practical considerations, and which depends simply on the fact, that,
+when it is completed, it will explain the aberrations of the whole
+organic world. Pathology aims at ascertaining the causes which determine
+every departure from the natural type, whether of form or of function.
+Hence it is, that no one can take a comprehensive view of the actual
+state of knowledge, without studying the theoretic relations between
+pathology and other departments of inquiry. To do this, is the business,
+not of practical men, but of philosophers, properly so called. The
+philosophic pathologist is as different from the physician, as a jurist
+is different from an advocate, or as an agricultural chemist is different
+from a farmer, or as a political economist is different from a statesman,
+or as an astronomer, who generalizes the laws of the heavenly bodies, is
+different from a captain, who navigates his ship by a practical
+application of those laws. The two sets of functions may be united, and
+occasionally, though very rarely, they are, but there is no necessity for
+their being so. While, therefore, it would be absurdly presumptuous for
+an unprofessional person to pass judgment on the therapeutical system of
+Cullen, it is perfectly legitimate for any one, who has studied the
+theory of these matters, to examine his pathological system; because
+that, like all scientific systems, must be amenable to general
+considerations, which are to be taken, partly from the adjoining
+sciences, and partly from the universal logic of philosophic method.
+
+It is from this latter, or logical, point of view, that Cullen's
+pathology is interesting for the purposes of the present chapter. The
+character of his investigations may be illustrated by saying, that his
+method in pathology is analogous to that which Adam Smith adopted at the
+same time, though in a very different field. Both were deductive; and
+both, before arguing deductively, suppressed some of the premisses from
+which they reasoned. That this suppression is the key to Adam Smith's
+method, and was an intentional part of his plan, I have already shown; as
+also that, in each of his two works, he supplied the premisses in which
+the other work was deficient. In this respect, he was far superior to
+Cullen. For, though Cullen, like Smith, began by mutilating his problem
+in order to solve it more readily, he, unlike Smith, did not see the
+necessity of instituting another and parallel inquiry, which should
+complete the scheme, by starting from the premisses that had been
+previously omitted.
+
+What I have termed the mutilation of the problem, was effected by Cullen
+in the following manner. His object was, to generalize the phenomena of
+disease, as they are exhibited in the human frame; and it was obvious to
+him, as to every one else, that the human frame consists partly of solids
+and partly of fluids. The peculiarity of his pathology is, that he
+reasons almost entirely from the laws of the solids, and makes so little
+account of the fluids, that he will only allow them to be the indirect
+causes of disease, which, in a scientific view, are to be deemed strictly
+subordinate to the direct causes, as represented by the solid
+constituents of our body.[826] This assumption, though false, was
+perfectly justifiable, since, by curtailing the problem, he simplified
+its study; just as Adam Smith, in his _Wealth of Nations_, simplified the
+study of human nature, by curtailing it of all its sympathy. But this
+most comprehensive thinker was careful, in his _Theory of Moral
+Sentiments_, to restore to human nature the quality of which the _Wealth
+of Nations_ had deprived it; and, by thus establishing two different
+lines of argument, he embraced the whole subject. In the same way, it was
+incumbent on Cullen, after having constructed a theory of disease by
+reasoning from the solids, to have constructed another theory by
+reasoning from the fluids; so that a cooerdination of the two theories
+might have raised a science of pathology, as complete as the then state
+of knowledge allowed.[827] But to this, his mind was unequal. Able though
+he was, he lacked the grasp of intellect which characterized Adam Smith,
+and which made that great man perceive, that every deductive argument
+which is founded on a suppression of premisses, must be compensated by a
+parallel argument, which takes those premisses into account.[828] So
+little was Cullen aware of this, that, having built up that system of
+pathology which is known to medical writers as Solidism, he never took
+the pains to accompany it by another system, which gave the first rank to
+the fluids. On the contrary, he believed that his plan was complete and
+exhaustive, and that what is termed Humoral Pathology was a fiction,
+which had too long usurped the place of truth.[829]
+
+ [826] This idea runs through the whole of his writings. In the following
+ passage, it is more succinctly stated than in any other: 'In
+ pathology, and in the prognosis of particular diseases, it is
+ absolutely necessary to enter into the distinction of these
+ causes. I call the one _direct_ causes, those which act upon the
+ nervous system directly; and the other _indirect_ causes, those
+ which produce the same effect, but by destroying those organs
+ which are necessary to the support of the excitement, viz. the
+ whole system of circulation.' _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. p. 135.
+ Even this passage, clear as it seems, can only be rightly
+ interpreted by taking the context into consideration.
+
+ [827] For, as is truly observed by probably the greatest pathologist of
+ our time, 'Humoral pathology is simply a requirement of common
+ practical sense; and it has always held a place in medical
+ science, although the limits of its domain have, no doubt, been
+ variously circumscribed or interpreted at different times. Of late
+ years, it has met with a new basis and support in morbid anatomy,
+ which, in the inadequacy of its discoveries in the solids to
+ account for disease and death, has been compelled to seek for an
+ extension of its boundary through a direct examination of the
+ blood itself.' _Rokitansky's Pathological Anatomy_, vol. i. p.
+ 362, London, 1854.
+
+ [828] Unless, as is the case in geometry, the premisses, which are
+ suppressed, are so slight as to be scarcely perceptible.
+
+ [829] He was so indignant at the bare idea of a humoral pathology, that
+ even Hoffmann, who before himself was the most eminent advocate of
+ solidism, fell under his displeasure for allowing some little
+ weight to the humoral doctrines. He says that Hoffmann 'has not
+ applied his fundamental doctrine so extensively as he might have
+ done; and he has everywhere intermixed an humoral pathology, as
+ incorrect and hypothetical as any other.' _Cullen's Works_, vol.
+ i. p. 410. At p. 470, 'I have, therefore, assumed the general
+ principles of Hoffmann. And, if I have rendered them more correct,
+ and more extensive in their application, and, _more particularly,
+ if I have avoided introducing the many hypothetical doctrines of
+ the Humoral Pathology which disfigured both his and all the other
+ systems that have hitherto prevailed_, I hope I shall be excused
+ for attempting a system, which, upon the whole, may appear new.'
+
+Several of the views advocated by Cullen were taken from Hoffmann, and
+several of the facts from Gaubius; but that his pathology, considered as
+a whole, is essentially original, is evident from a certain unity of
+design which is inconsistent with extensive plagiarism, and which proves
+that he had thoroughly thought out his subject for himself. Without,
+however, stopping to inquire how much he borrowed from others, I will
+briefly indicate a few of the salient points of his system, in order to
+enable the reader to understand its general character.
+
+According to Cullen, all the solids in the human body are either simple
+or vital. The simple solids retain, after death, the properties which
+they possessed during life. But the vital solids, which form the
+fundamental part of the nervous system, are marked by properties, which
+disappear directly death occurs.[830] Hence, the simple solids, having
+fewer functions than the vital, have also fewer diseases; and the
+maladies to which they are liable admit of easy classification.[831] The
+real difficulty lies in the vital solids, because on their peculiarities
+the whole nervous system depends, and nearly all disorders are
+immediately due to changes in them. Cullen, therefore, made the nervous
+system the basis of his pathology; and, in speculating on its functions,
+he assigned the chief place to an occult principle, which he termed the
+Animal Power, or Energy, of the brain.[832] This principle acted on the
+vital solids. When the principle worked well, the body was healthy; when
+it worked ill, the body was unhealthy. Since, then, the state of the
+vital solids was the main cause of disorder, and since the Energy of the
+brain was the main cause of the state of the vital solids, it became
+important to know what the influences were which acted on the Energy,
+because in them we should find the beginning of the series. Those
+influences were divided by Cullen into physical and mental. The physical
+were, heat, cold, and effluvia, the three most potent of the material
+disturbers of the human frame.[833] The mental influences, which excited
+the brain to act on the solids, were comprised under six different heads,
+namely, the will, the emotions, the appetites, the propensities, and,
+finally, the two great principles of habit and of imitation, on which he,
+with good reason, laid considerable stress.[834] In arguing from these
+mental causes, and in generalizing the relations between them and the
+sensations of the body, he, faithful to his favourite method, proceeded
+deductively from the metaphysical principles then in vogue, without
+inquiring inductively into their validity, such an induction being, he
+thought, no part of his duty.[835] He was too anxious to get on with his
+dialectic, to be interrupted by so trifling a matter as the truth or
+falsehood of the premisses on which the reason rested. What he did in the
+metaphysical part of his pathology, he also did in its physical part.
+Although the blood and the nerves are the two leading features of the
+human economy, he did not search into them by a separate induction; he
+subjected them neither to chemical experiments in order to learn their
+composition, nor to microscopic observations in order to learn their
+structure.[836] This is the more observable, because though we must admit
+that animal chemistry was then generally neglected, and that its real
+meaning was scarcely understood until the wonderful labours of Berzelius
+revealed its importance, still the microscope was ready to Cullen's
+hands; it having been invented a hundred and fifty years before he
+completed his pathology, and having been in common scientific use for
+about a hundred years. But his love of synthesis overcame him. His system
+is constructed by reasoning from general principles; and of that process,
+he certainly was a consummate master. Between the premisses and the
+conclusion, he hardly ever lets error creep in. And, in reference to the
+results of his speculations, he had one immense merit, which will always
+secure to him a conspicuous place in the history of pathology. By
+insisting on the importance of the solids, he, one-sided though he was,
+corrected the equal one-sidedness of his predecessors; for, with
+extremely few exceptions, all the best pathologists, from Galen
+downwards, had erred in ascribing too much to the fluids, and had upheld
+a purely humoral pathology. Cullen turned the minds of men in the other
+direction; and though, in teaching them that the nervous system is the
+sole primary seat of disease, he committed a great mistake, it was a
+mistake of the most salutary kind. By leaning on that side, he restored
+the balance. Hence, I have no doubt, he indirectly encouraged those
+minute researches into the nerves, which he would not himself stop to
+make, but which, in the next generation, gave rise to the capital
+discoveries of Bell, Shaw, Mayo, and Marshall Hall. At the same time, the
+old humoral pathology, which had prevailed for many centuries, was
+practically pernicious, because, assuming that all diseases are in the
+blood, it produced that constant and indiscriminate venesection, which
+destroyed innumerable lives, besides the irreparable injury it often
+inflicted both on body and mind; weakening those whom it was unable to
+slay. Against this merciless onslaught, which made medicine the curse of
+mankind, the Solid Pathology was the first effective barrier.[837]
+Practically, therefore, as well as speculatively, we must hail Cullen as
+a great benefactor of his species; and we must regard his appearance as
+an epoch in the history of human comfort, as well as in the history of
+human thought.
+
+ [830] 'The solid parts of the body seem to be of two kinds: one whose
+ properties are the same in the dead as in the living, and the same
+ in the animate as in many inanimate bodies; the other, whose
+ properties appear only in living bodies. In the last, a peculiar
+ organization, or addition, is supposed to take place; in
+ opposition to which the first are called the simple solids. Of
+ these only, we shall treat here; and of the others, which may be
+ called vital solids, being the fundamental part of the nervous
+ system, we shall treat under that title in the following section.'
+ _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. p. 10.
+
+ [831] These diseases are laxity, flaccidity, &c. See the enumeration of
+ 'the diseases of the simple solids,' in _Cullen's Works_, vol. i.
+ p. 14.
+
+ [832] _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. pp. 65, 600, vol. ii. p. 364.
+ Dr. Thomson, who had access to papers and lectures of Cullen's,
+ which have never been published, says (_Life of Cullen_, vol. i.
+ p. 265), 'His speculations with regard to the different functions
+ of the nervous system, but more particularly with regard to that
+ of the Animal Power or Energy of the brain, were incorporated with
+ every opinion which he taught concerning the phenomena of the
+ animal economy, the causes of diseases, and the operation of
+ medicines; and they may be said to constitute a most important
+ part, if not the sole basis, of that system of the Practice of
+ Physic, which he made the subject of prelection, as well as of
+ study, for a period of nearly forty years, before he ventured to
+ give it to the public.' I should mention, that Cullen, under the
+ term 'brain,' included the contents of the vertebral column as
+ well as of the cranium.
+
+ [833] _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. pp. 40, 546, 558, 648, vol. ii. p. 321.
+
+ [834] _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. pp. 86, 91, 100, 101, 108, 115, 116,
+ 553, 592, vol. ii. pp. 35, 366. Compare the summary of causes in
+ _Thomson's Life of Cullen_, vol. i. p. 289.
+
+ [835] He says (_Works_, vol. i. pp. 31, 32), 'Whoever has the smallest
+ tincture of metaphysics will know the distinction pointed at here
+ between the qualities of bodies as primary and secondary.' ...
+ '_Whether these distinctions be well or ill founded, it is not my
+ business to inquire._' But though he did not deem it his business
+ to inquire into the accuracy of these and similar distinctions, he
+ thought himself justified in assuming them, and reasoning from
+ them as if they could explain the working of those sensations,
+ whose perversion formed the point of contact between metaphysics
+ and pathology. See, for instance, in his _Works_, vol. i. p. 46,
+ the long series of unproved and improvable assertions respecting
+ the combination and comparison of sensations giving rise to
+ memory, imagination, and the like.
+
+ [836] Cullen, with that admirable candour which was one of the most
+ attractive peculiarities of his fine intellect, confesses his want
+ of acquaintance with the microscope: 'It leaves me, who am not
+ conversant in such observations, altogether uncertain with respect
+ to the precise nature of this part of the blood.' _Cullen's
+ Works_, vol. i. p. 195. A pathologist without a microscope is an
+ unarmed man, indeed. In regard to his animal chemistry, one
+ passage may be quoted as a specimen of the manner in which he
+ arrived at conclusions speculatively, instead of subjecting the
+ phenomena to experimental investigation. 'We may remark it to be
+ highly probable, that all animal matter is originally formed of
+ vegetable; because all animals either feed directly and entirely
+ on vegetables, or upon other animals that do so. From hence it is
+ probable, that all animal substances may be traced to a vegetable
+ origin; and _therefore_, if we would inquire into the production
+ of animal matter, we _must first inquire_ in what manner vegetable
+ matter may be converted into animal?' _Cullen's Works_, vol. i.
+ pp. 177, 178. The _therefore_ and the _must_, resulting merely
+ from an antecedent probability, are characteristic of that
+ over-boldness, into which deduction is apt to degenerate, and
+ which is strongly contrasted with the opposite vice of
+ over-timidity, by which inductive reasoners are tainted.
+
+ [837] Dr. Watson (_Principles and Practice of Physic_, 4th edit. London,
+ 1857, vol. i. p. 41) says of the humoral pathology, that, 'the
+ absurdity of the hypothesis, and _still more the dangerous
+ practice which this doctrine generated_, began to be manifest, and
+ led to its total abandonment.' But, with every respect for this
+ eminent authority, I venture to observe, that this supposition of
+ Dr. Watson's is contradicted by the whole history of the human
+ mind. There is no well-attested case on record of any theory
+ having been abandoned, because it produced dangerous results. As
+ long as a theory is believed, men will ascribe its evil
+ consequences to any cause except the right one. And a theory which
+ is once established, will always be believed, until there is some
+ change in knowledge which shakes its foundation. Every practical
+ change may, by careful analysis, be shown to depend, in the first
+ instance, on some change of speculative opinions. Even at the
+ present day, many doctrines are generally held in the most
+ civilized countries, which are producing dangerous practical
+ consequences, and have produced those consequences for centuries.
+ But the mischief which the doctrine engenders does not weaken the
+ doctrine itself. Nothing can do that, but the general progress of
+ knowledge, which, by altering former opinions, modifies future
+ conduct.
+
+It may, perhaps, facilitate the conceptions of unprofessional readers, if
+I give, in as few words as possible, a specimen of the way in which
+Cullen employed his method, in investigating the theory of some one class
+of diseases. For this purpose, I will select his doctrine of fever,
+which, though now generally abandoned, once exercised more influence than
+any other part of his pathology. Here, as elsewhere, he reasons from the
+solids.[838] Disregarding the state of the blood, he says, that the cause
+of all fever is a diminished energy of the brain.[839] Such diminution
+may be produced by various sedatives, the most common of which are
+effluvia, whether marsh or human, intemperance, fear, and cold.[840]
+Directly the energy of the brain is impaired, the disease begins. Rapidly
+passing through the nervous system, its first palpable effect is a chill,
+or cold fit, which is accompanied by a spasm on the extremities of the
+arteries, particularly where they touch the surface of the body.[841]
+This spasm on the extreme vessels, irritates the heart and arteries, and
+the irritation continues till the spasm is relaxed.[842] At the same
+time, the increased action of the heart restores the energy of the brain;
+the system rallies; the extreme vessels are relieved; while, as a
+consequence of the whole movement, sweat is excreted, and the fever
+abates.[843] Shutting out, therefore, all consideration of the fluids of
+the body, the successive stages of languor, cold fit, and hot fit, might,
+in Cullen's opinion, be generalized by reasoning merely from the solids,
+which, furthermore, produced his well-known distinction between fevers,
+the continuance of which is owing to an excess of spasm, and those, the
+continuance of which is owing to an excess of debility.[844]
+
+ [838] Some writers, who have taken notice of Cullen, have been deceived
+ in this respect by his occasional use of the expression 'nervous
+ fluid,' as if he were willing to let in the idea of humorism. But,
+ in one place, he distinctly guards himself against such
+ misconstruction. 'Now, to avoid determining any thing with regard
+ to these opinions, I have used the term of _nervous power_; but as
+ this is a little ambiguous, I choose to express it by _nervous
+ fluid_; not that I suppose, with Dr. Boerhaave, that the brain is
+ an excretory, and that a fluid is secreted from it: _I mean
+ nothing more than that there is a condition of the nerves which
+ fits them for the communication of motion_. But I defer the
+ consideration of these opinions for the present, and perhaps _ad
+ Graecas calendas_; but nothing shall be rested upon the nervous
+ fluid, it shall be considered merely as _a power_ fitted for
+ communicating motions.' _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. p. 17. Without
+ this passage, his remarks on 'the nervous fluid in the brain'
+ (_Works_, vol. i. p. 129), might easily be misunderstood.
+
+ [839] 'Together with this, the languor, inactivity, and debility of the
+ animal motions, the imperfect sensations, the feeling of cold,
+ while the body is truly warm, and some other symptoms, all show
+ that the energy of the brain is, on this occasion, greatly
+ weakened; and I presume that, as the weakness of the action of the
+ heart can hardly be imputed to any other cause, this weakness also
+ is a proof of the diminished energy of the brain. So I conclude,
+ that a debility of the nervous power forms the beginning of the
+ cold fit, and lays the foundation of all the other phenomena.'
+ _Practice of Physic_, in _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. p. 492.
+
+ [840] 'To render our doctrine of fever consistent and complete, it is
+ necessary to add here, that these remote causes of fever, human
+ and marsh effluvia, seem to be of a debilitating or sedative
+ quality.' ... 'Though we have endeavoured to show that fevers
+ generally arise from marsh or human effluvia, we cannot, with any
+ certainty, exclude some other remote causes, which are commonly
+ supposed to have at least a share in producing those diseases. And
+ I proceed, therefore, to inquire concerning these causes; the
+ first of which that merits attention, is the power of cold applied
+ to the human body.' ... 'Besides cold, there are other powers that
+ seem to be remote causes of fever; such as fear, intemperance in
+ drinking, excess in venery, and other circumstances, which
+ evidently weaken the system. But whether any of these sedative
+ powers be alone the remote cause of fever, or if they only operate
+ either as concurring with the operation of marsh or human
+ effluvia, or as giving an opportunity to the operation of cold,
+ are questions not to be positively answered.' _Practice of
+ Physic_, in _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. pp. 546, 552. One part of
+ this view has been corroborated, since the time of Cullen. 'The
+ experiments of Chossat and others clearly prove cold to be a
+ direct sedative.' _Williams' Principles of Medicine_, 2nd edit.
+ London, 1848, p. 11. Compare _Watson's Principles and Practice of
+ Physic_, 4th edit. London, 1857, vol. i. pp. 87-92, 249. Hence,
+ perhaps, the 'irresistible tendency to sleep caused by exposure to
+ severe or long-continued cold.' _Erichsen's Surgery_, 2nd edit.
+ London, 1857, p. 336; but as to this, Dr. Watson (_Principles of
+ Physic_, vol. i. p. 89) is sceptical, and thinks that, in those
+ cases which are recorded, the drowsiness ascribed to cold, is, in
+ a great measure, the result of fatigue.
+
+ [841] _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. p. 493. Compare, respecting his general
+ theory of spasm, p. 84, and vol. ii. p. 400.
+
+ [842] 'The idea of fever, then, may be, that a spasm of the extreme
+ vessels, however induced, proves an irritation to the heart and
+ arteries; and that this continues till the spasm is relaxed or
+ overcome.' _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. p. 494.
+
+ [843] 'Such, however, is, at the same time, the nature of the animal
+ economy, that this debility proves an indirect stimulus to the
+ sanguiferous system; whence, by the intervention of the cold stage
+ and spasm connected with it, the action of the heart and larger
+ arteries is increased, and continues so till it has had the effect
+ of restoring the energy of the brain, of extending this energy to
+ the extreme vessels, of restoring, therefore, their action, and
+ thereby especially overcoming the spasm affecting them; upon the
+ removing of which, the excretion of sweat, and other marks of the
+ relaxation of excretories, take place.' _Practice of Physic_, in
+ _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. pp. 501, 502. See also p. 636, Sec. cciii.
+ Or, as he elsewhere expresses himself (vol. i. p. 561): 'With
+ regard to the event of fevers, this is the fundamental principle:
+ _in fevers, nature cures the disease_; that is, certain motions
+ tending to death continue the disease, but, in consequence of the
+ laws of the animal economy, other motions are excited by these
+ which have a tendency to remove it.'
+
+ [844] 'If we may trust to our conclusions with respect to the proximate
+ cause, it follows, most naturally, from the view there given, that
+ the continued fever is always owing to an excess of spasm, or to
+ an excess of debility: as the one or other of these prevails, it
+ will give one or other of the two forms, either the Synocha or
+ inflammatory fever, or the Typhus or nervous fever.' _Cullen's
+ Works_, vol. i. p. 518.
+
+A similar process of thought gave birth to his _Nosology_, or general
+classification of diseases, which some have regarded as the most valuable
+part of his labours;[845] though, for reasons already mentioned, we
+must, I think, reject all such attempts as premature, and as likely to
+work more harm than good, unless they are simply used as a contrivance to
+aid the memory. At all events, the _Nosology_ of Cullen, though it
+exhibits clear traces of his powerful and organizing mind, is fast
+falling into disrepute, and we may be sure, that, for a long time yet, a
+similar fate will await its successors. Our pathological knowledge is
+still too young for so great an enterprise.[846] We have every reason to
+expect, that, with the aid of chemistry, and of the microscope, it will
+continue to grow more rapidly than it has hitherto done. Without
+venturing to predict the rate of its increase, we may form some idea of
+it, by considering what has been effected with resources very inferior to
+those we now possess. In a work of great authority, published in the year
+1848, it is stated, that since the appearance of Cullen's _Nosology_, our
+mere enumeration of diseases has almost doubled, while our knowledge of
+the facts relating to disease has more than doubled.[847]
+
+ [845] 'Cullen's most esteemed work is his _Nosology_.' _Hamilton's
+ History of Medicine_, London, 1831, vol. ii. p. 279. 'His
+ _Nosology_ will probably survive all his other works; it is
+ indisputably the best system which has yet appeared.' _Lives of
+ British Physicians_, London, 1830, p. 213. 'Celle de Cullen, qui
+ parut en 1772, et qui constitue un veritable progres.' _Renouard_,
+ _Histoire de la Medecine_, Paris, 1846, vol. ii. p. 231. See also
+ _Hooper's Medical Dictionary_, edited by Dr. Grant, London, 1848,
+ p. 937. But, in the most celebrated medical works which have
+ appeared in England during the last twelve or fifteen years, I
+ doubt if there is any instance of the adoption of Cullen's
+ nosological arrangement. Abroad, and particularly in Italy, it is
+ more valued.
+
+ [846] 'I had rather not be cramped and hampered by attempting what abler
+ heads than mine have failed to achieve, and what, in truth, I
+ believe, in the present state of our science, to be impossible, a
+ complete methodical system of nosology.' _Watson's Principles and
+ Practice of Physic_, London, 1857, vol. i. p. 9. This is the
+ wisdom of a powerful understanding.
+
+ [847] 'Now, when the diseases of Cullen's nosology have been almost
+ doubled, and the facts relating to them have been more than
+ doubled.' _Williams' Principles of Medicine_, London, 1848,
+ p. 522.
+
+I have now only one more name to add to this splendid catalogue of the
+great Scotchmen of the eighteenth century.[848] But it is the name of a
+man, who, for comprehensive and original genius, comes immediately after
+Adam Smith, and must be placed far above any other philosopher whom
+Scotland has produced. I mean, of course, John Hunter, whose only fault
+was, an occasional obscurity, not merely of language, but also of
+thought. In this respect, and, perhaps, in this alone, Adam Smith had the
+advantage; for his mind was so flexible, and moved so freely, that even
+the vastest designs were unable to oppress it. With Hunter, on the
+contrary, it sometimes seemed as if the understanding was troubled by the
+grandeur of his own conceptions, and doubted what path it ought to take.
+He hesitated; the utterance of his intellect was indistinct.[849] Still,
+his powers were so extraordinary, that, among the great masters of
+organic science, he belongs, I apprehend, to the same rank as Aristotle,
+Harvey, and Bichat, and is somewhat superior either to Haller or Cuvier.
+As to this classification, men will differ, according to their different
+ideas of the nature of science, and, above all, according to the extent
+to which they appreciate the importance of philosophic method. It is from
+this latter point of view that I have, at present, to consider the
+character of John Hunter; and, in tracing the movements of his most
+remarkable mind, we shall find, that, in it, deduction and induction were
+more intimately united than in any other Scotch intellect, either of the
+seventeenth or eighteenth century. The causes of this unusual
+combination, I will now endeavour to ascertain. When they are understood,
+they will not only explain many peculiarities in his works, but will
+afford materials for speculation, to those who love to examine the
+development of ideas, and who are able to discern the way in which
+different schemes of national thought have given different shapes to
+national character, and have thereby modified the whole course of human
+affairs, to an extent of which the ordinary compilers of history have not
+the slightest suspicion.
+
+ [848] I had intended giving some account of the once celebrated
+ Brunonian system, which was founded by Dr. John Brown, who was
+ first the pupil of Cullen, and afterwards his rival. But a careful
+ perusal of his works has convinced me that the real basis of his
+ doctrine, or the point from which he started, was not pathology,
+ but therapeutics. His hasty division of all diseases into sthenic
+ and asthenic, has no claim to be deemed a scientific
+ generalization, but was a mere artificial arrangement, resulting
+ from a desire to substitute a stimulating treatment in the place
+ of the old lowering one. He, no doubt, went to the opposite
+ extreme; but that being a purely practical subject, this
+ Introduction has no concern with it. For the same reason, I omit
+ all mention of Currie, who, though an eminent therapeutician, was
+ a commonplace pathologist. That so poor and thinly-peopled a
+ country as Scotland, should, in so short a period, have produced
+ so many remarkable men, is extremely curious.
+
+ [849] Mr. Ottley (_Life of Hunter_, p. 186) says, 'In his writings we
+ occasionally find an obscurity in the expression of his thoughts,
+ a want of logical accuracy in his reasonings, and an incorrectness
+ in his language, resulting from a deficient education.' But, a
+ deficient education will never make a man obscure. Neither will a
+ good education make him lucid. The only cause of clearness of
+ expression is clearness of thought; and clearness of thought is a
+ natural gift, which the most finished and systematic culture can
+ but slightly improve. Uneducated men, without a thousandth part of
+ John Hunter's intellect, are often clear enough. On the other
+ hand, it as frequently happens that men, who have received an
+ excellent education, cannot speak or write ten consecutive
+ sentences which do not contain some troublesome ambiguity. In
+ Hunter's works such ambiguities are abundant; and this is probably
+ one of the reasons why no one has yet given a connected view of
+ his philosophy. On his obscurity, compare _Cooper's Life of Sir
+ Astley Cooper_, London, 1843, vol. i. pp. 151, 152; _Paget's
+ Lectures on Surgical Pathology_, London, 1853, vol. i. p. 419; and
+ the remarks of his enemy, Foot, in _Foot's Life of Hunter_,
+ London, 1794, p. 59.
+
+Hunter remained in Scotland till the age of twenty, when he settled in
+London; and, though he was abroad for about three years, he abandoned his
+own country, and became, socially and intellectually, a native of
+England.[850] Hence, the early associations of his mind were formed in
+the midst of a deductive nation; the later associations, in the midst of
+an inductive one. For twenty years he lived among a people, who are,
+perhaps, the acutest reasoners in Europe, if you concede to them the
+principles from which they reason; but who, on the other hand, owing to
+their proneness to this method, are so greedy after general principles,
+that they will accept them on almost any evidence, and are, therefore, at
+once very credulous and very logical. In that school, and surrounded by
+those habits, the intellect of John Hunter was nurtured during the most
+impressible period of his life. Then the scene suddenly shifted. Coming
+to England, he passed forty years in the heart of the most empirical
+nation in Europe; a nation utterly abhorring all general principles,
+priding itself on its common sense, boasting, and with good reason too,
+of its practical sagacity, proclaiming aloud the superiority of facts
+over ideas, and despising every theory, unless some direct and immediate
+benefit could be expected to accrue from it. The young and ardent
+Scotchman found himself transplanted into a country totally different
+from that which he had just quitted; and such a difference could not fail
+to influence his mind. He saw, on every side, marks of prosperity, and of
+long and uninterrupted success, not only in practical, but also in
+speculative, life; and he was told that these things were effected by a
+system which made facts the first consideration. He was ambitious of
+fame, but he perceived that the road to fame was not the same in England
+as in Scotland. In Scotland, a great logician would be deemed a great
+man; in England, little account would be made of the beauty of his logic,
+unless he was careful that the premisses from which he argued, were
+trustworthy, and verified by experience. A new machine, a new experiment,
+the discovery of a salt, or of a bone, would, in England, receive a wider
+homage, than the most profound speculation from which no obvious results
+were apprehended. That this way of contemplating affairs has produced
+great good, is certain. But it is also certain, that it is a one-sided
+way, and satisfies only part of the human mind. Many of the noblest
+intellects crave for something which it cannot supply. In England,
+however, during the greater part of the eighteenth century, it was even
+more supreme than it is now, and was, indeed, so universal, that, from
+the year 1727 until nearly the close of the century, our country did not
+possess, in any branch of science, a speculator who had sufficient force
+to raise himself above those narrow views which were then deemed the
+perfection of wisdom.[851] Much was added to our knowledge, but its
+distant boundaries were not enlarged. Though there was an increase of
+curious and valuable details, and though several of the small and
+proximate laws of nature were generalized, it must be admitted, that
+those lofty generalizations, which we owe to the seventeenth century,
+remained stationary, and that no attempt was made to push beyond them.
+When John Hunter arrived in London, in 1748, Newton had been dead more
+than twenty years, and the English people, absorbed in practical
+pursuits, and now beginning, for the first time, to enter into political
+life, had become more averse than ever to inquiries which aimed at truth
+without regard to utility, and had accustomed themselves to value science
+chiefly for the sake of the direct and tangible benefit which they might
+hope to derive from it.
+
+ [850] He was born in 1728, and came to London in 1748. _Adams' Life of
+ John Hunter_, 2nd edit. London, 1818, pp. 20, 203. According to
+ Adams (pp. 30-35), he was abroad as surgeon in the English army
+ from 1761 to 1763; though, in _Foot's Life of Hunter_, London,
+ 1794, p. 78, he is said to have returned to England in 1762. Mr.
+ Ottley says that he returned in 1763. _Ottley's Life of Hunter_,
+ p. 22, in vol. i. of _Hunter's Works_, edited by Palmer, London,
+ 1835.
+
+ [851] See _Buckle's History of Civilization_, vol. ii. pp. 374, 375.
+
+That Hunter must have been influenced by these circumstances, will be
+obvious to whoever considers how impossible it is for any single mind to
+escape from the pressure of contemporary opinion. But, inasmuch as all
+his early associations had inclined him in another direction, we perceive
+that, during his long residence in England, he was acted on by two
+conflicting forces. The country of his birth made him deductive; the
+country of his adoption made him inductive. As a Scotchman, he preferred
+reasoning from general principles to particular facts; as an inhabitant
+of England, he became inured to the opposite plan of reasoning from
+particular facts to general principles. In every country, men naturally
+give the first place to what is most valued. The English respect facts
+more than principles, and therefore begin with the facts. The Scotch
+consider principles as most important, and therefore begin with the
+principles. And, I make no doubt that one of the reasons why Hunter, in
+investigating a subject, is often obscure, is that, on such occasions,
+his mind was divided between these two hostile methods, and that, leaning
+sometimes to one and sometimes to the other, he was unable to determine
+which he should choose. The conflict darkened his understanding. Adam
+Smith, on the other hand, in common with all the great Scotchmen who
+remained in Scotland, was remarkably clear. He, like Hume, Black, and
+Cullen, never wavered in his method. These eminent men were not acted on
+by English influence. Of all the most illustrious Scotchmen of the
+eighteenth century, Hunter alone underwent that influence, and he alone
+displayed a certain hesitation and perplexity of thought, which seems
+unnatural to so great a mind, and which, as it appears to me, is best
+explained by the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed.
+
+One of the ablest of his commentators has justly observed, that his
+natural inclination was, to conjecture what the laws of nature were, and
+then reason from them, instead of reasoning to them by slow and gradual
+induction.[852] This process of deduction was, as I have shown, the
+favourite method of all Scotchmen, and, therefore, was precisely the
+course which we should have expected him to adopt. But, inasmuch as he
+was surrounded by the followers of Bacon,[853] this natural bias was
+warped, and a large part of his marvellous activity was employed in
+observations and experiments, such as no Scotch thinker, living in
+Scotland, would ever have engaged in. He himself declared, that thinking
+was his delight;[854] and there can be no doubt that, had he been
+differently situated, thinking would have been his principal pursuit. As
+it was, the industry with which he collected facts, is one of the most
+conspicuous features in his career. His researches covered the whole
+range of the animal kingdom, and were conducted with such untiring zeal,
+that he dissected upwards of five hundred different species, exclusive of
+dissections of different individuals, and exclusive, too, of dissections
+of a large number of plants.[855] The results were carefully arranged and
+stored up in that noble collection which he formed, and of the magnitude
+of which we may gain some idea from the statement, that, at his death, it
+contained upwards of ten thousand preparations illustrative of the
+phenomena of nature.[856] By this means, he became so intimately
+acquainted with the animal kingdom, that he made a vast number of
+discoveries, which, considered singly, are curious, but which, when put
+together, constitute an invaluable body of new truths. Of these, the most
+important are, the true nature of the circulation in crustacea and
+insects;[857] the organ of hearing in cephalopods;[858] the power
+possessed by mollusks of absorbing their shells;[859] the fact that bees
+do not collect wax, but secrete it;[860] the semicircular canals of the
+cetacea;[861] the lymphatics of birds;[862] and the air-cells in the
+bones of birds.[863] We are also assured, that he anticipated the recent
+discoveries respecting the embryo of the kangaroo;[864] and his published
+works prove, that, in the human subject, he discovered the muscularity of
+the arteries,[865] the muscularity of the iris,[866] and the digestion
+of the stomach after death by its own juice.[867] Although, in his time,
+animal chemistry was not yet raised to a system, and was consequently
+little heeded by physiologists, Hunter endeavoured, by its aid, to search
+out the qualities of the blood, so as to ascertain the properties of its
+constituents.[868] He also examined it in different stages of embryonic
+life, and by minutely tracking it through its periods of development, he
+made the capital discovery, that the red globules of the blood are formed
+later than its other components. His contemporaries, however, were so
+little alive to the importance of this great physiological truth, that it
+fell dead upon them, and, being forgotten, it was, about fifty years
+afterwards, rediscovered, and was announced, in 1832, as a law of nature
+which had just been brought to light.[869] This is one of many instances
+in the history of our knowledge, which proves how useless it is for a man
+to advance too far beyond the age in which he lives.[870] But Hunter,
+besides making the discovery, also saw its meaning. From it, he inferred
+that the function of the red globules is to minister to the strength of
+the system, rather than to its repair.[871] This is now universally
+admitted; but it was not admitted till long after his death. Its
+recognition is chiefly owing to the rapid advance of animal chemistry,
+and to improvements in the microscope. For, by the employment of these
+resources, it has become manifest, that the red globules, the respiratory
+process, the production of animal heat, and the energy of the locomotive
+organs, are but different parts of a single scheme.[872] Their connexion
+with each other is established, not only by a comparison of different
+species, but also by a comparison of different members of the same
+species. In human beings, for example, the locomotive and other animal
+functions are more active in persons of a sanguine temperament than in
+those of a lymphatic temperament; while, in sanguine temperaments, the
+globules are more numerous than in lymphatic ones. The knowledge of this
+fact we owe to Lecanu;[873] and to him we are also indebted for an
+analogous fact, corroborating the same view. He has shown, that the blood
+of women contains more water and fewer red globules than the blood of
+men;[874] so that here again we discern the relation between these
+globules and the energy of animal life. Inasmuch, however, as these
+researches were not made until many years after the death of Hunter, the
+coincidence between them and his speculative conclusions is a striking
+instance of his power of generalization, and of that unrivalled knowledge
+of comparative anatomy, which supplied him with materials from which, in
+spite of the backwardness of animal chemistry, he was able to draw an
+inference, which later and minuter researches have decisively
+verified.[875]
+
+ [852] 'He followed his natural inclination. He preferred the more
+ delusive, apparently the more direct, road, which has seduced so
+ many philosophers. He sought to arrive at the general laws of
+ nature at once by conjecture: rather than, by a close and detailed
+ study of her inferior operations, to ascend, step by step, through
+ a slow and gradual induction to those laws which govern her
+ general procedure.' Babington's Preface to Hunter's _Treatise on
+ the Venereal Disease_, in _Hunter's Works_, vol. ii. p. 129.
+ Compare the narrow and carping criticism in _Foot's Life of
+ Hunter_, p. 163.
+
+ [853] That I may not be suspected of exaggeration, I will quote what by
+ far the greatest of all the historians of medicine has said upon
+ this subject. 'La majorite des medecins qui pretendaient s'etre
+ formes d'apres Bacon, n'avaient herite de lui qu'une repugnance
+ invincible pour les hypotheses et les systemes, une grande
+ veneration pour l'experience, et un desir extreme de multiplier le
+ nombre des observations. Ce fut chez les Anglais que la methode
+ empirique en medecine trouva le plus de partisans, et c'est
+ principalement aussi chez eux qu'elle s'est repandue jusqu'aux
+ temps les plus rapproches de nous. Sa propagation y fut favorisee,
+ non-seulement par le profond respect que les Anglais continuent
+ toujours de porter a l'immortel chancelier, mais encore par la
+ haute importance que la nation entiere attache au sens commun,
+ _common sense_, et elle y demeura l'ennemie irreconciliable de
+ tous les systemes que ne reposent pas sur l'observation.'
+ _Sprengel, Histoire de la Medecine_, vol. v. p. 411, Paris, 1815.
+
+ [854] Clive says, 'Much as Mr. Hunter did, he thought still more. He has
+ often told me, his delight was, to think.' _Abernethy's Hunterian
+ Oration_, London, 1819, p. 26.
+
+ [855] Mr. Owen, in his interesting Preface to the fourth volume of
+ _Hunter's Works_, says (p. vii.), 'There is proof that Hunter
+ anatomized at least five hundred different species of animals,
+ exclusive of repeated dissections of different individuals of the
+ same species, besides the dissections of plants to a considerable
+ amount.'
+
+ [856] 'Some idea may be formed of Hunter's extraordinary diligence, by
+ the fact, that his museum contained, at the time of his death,
+ upwards of 10,000 preparations, illustrative of human and
+ comparative anatomy, physiology, and pathology, and natural
+ history.' _Weld's History of the Royal Society_, London, 1848,
+ vol. ii. p. 92.
+
+ [857] 'I have tested the conflicting evidence of these observers by
+ dissection of the heart in the lobster; and you will perceive by
+ this preparation that it is more complicated than even the Danish
+ naturalist supposed, and fully bears out the opinion of Hunter in
+ regard to the mixed nature of the circulation in the crustacea.'
+ _Owen's Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the
+ Invertebrate Animals_, 2nd edit. London, 1855, p. 318. 'Cuvier,
+ misled by the anomalous diffused condition of the venous system,
+ supposed that there was no circulation of the blood in insects;
+ yet the dorsal vessel was too conspicuous a structure to be
+ overlooked. Such, however, was the authority of the great
+ anatomist, that the nature of the heart began to be doubted, and
+ the strangest functions to be attributed to it. Hunter, however,
+ who was prepared to appreciate the true state of the circulating
+ system in insects, by his discovery of the approximately diffused
+ and irregular structure of the veins in the crustacea, has
+ described, in his work on the blood, all the leading characters of
+ the circulation in insects as it is recognized by comparative
+ physiologists of the present day.' _Ibid._ p. 383. Compare
+ _Hunter's Essays and Observations on Natural History_, London,
+ 1861, vol. i. p. 108.
+
+ [858] 'The class called Sepia has the organ of hearing, though somewhat
+ differently constructed from what it is in fishes.' _An Account of
+ the Organ of Hearing in Fishes_, in _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. p.
+ 294. At the bottom of the page Mr. Owen observes, in a note, 'This
+ is the first announcement of the existence of an organ of hearing
+ in the Cephalopoda.'
+
+ [859] 'Hunter discovered that the molluscous inhabitant of a shell had
+ the power of absorbing part of its dwelling.' _Owen's Lectures on
+ the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the Invertebrate
+ Animals_, London, 1855, p. 544. 'Every shell-fish has the power of
+ removing a part of its shell, so as to adapt the new and the old
+ together, which is not done by any mechanical power, but by
+ absorption.' _Anatomical Remarks on a New Marine Animal_, in
+ _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. p. 469, edit. Palmer. In a note to this
+ passage, it is said, that 'the doctrine of the absorption of shell
+ has been lately' (_i.e._ in 1833) 'adduced as a new discovery.'
+
+ [860] 'His keen observation did not fail to detect several errors which
+ preceding naturalists had fallen into, especially with regard to
+ the formation of the wax, which he proved to be secreted, not
+ collected, by the animal.' _Ottley's Life of Hunter_, p. 122. 'The
+ wax is formed by the bees themselves; it may be called an external
+ secretion of oil, and I have found that it is formed between each
+ scale of the under side of the belly.' _Observations on Bees_, in
+ _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. p. 433.
+
+ [861] 'In the terminating part there are a number of perforations into
+ the cochlea, and one into the semicircular canals, which afford a
+ passage to the different divisions of the auditory nerve.'
+ _Observations on the Structure and [OE]conomy of Whales_, in
+ _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. pp. 383, 384. 'The semicircular canals
+ of the cetacea, described by Hunter in the paper on Whales, a
+ structure which Cuvier rightly states that Camper overlooked, but
+ incorrectly claims the discovery as his own.' Preface to vol. iv.
+ of _Hunter's Works_, p. xxi.
+
+ [862] Dr. Adams, in his somewhat hasty _Life of Hunter_, says (pp. 27,
+ 28), 'Mr. Hewson always claimed the discovery of lymphatics in
+ birds.' But the truth is, that Hewson never claimed it. He says,
+ 'It may be necessary to mention here, that the dispute between Dr.
+ Monro and me is, who first discovered the lacteals of birds? for
+ as to the lymphatics in their necks (mentioned in this gentleman's
+ note), these we both allow were discovered by Mr. John Hunter,
+ about ten years ago.' And, again, 'These lymphatics in the necks
+ of fowls were first discovered by Mr. John Hunter.' _Hewson's
+ Works_, edit. Gulliver (Sydenham Soc.), pp. 102, 145.
+
+ [863] _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. pp. xxi. 176.
+
+ [864] 'See Nos. 3731, 3734, 3735, in the Physiological series of the
+ Hunterian Museum, in which there are evidences that Mr. Hunter had
+ anticipated most of the anatomical discoveries which have
+ subsequently been made upon the embryo of the Kangaroo.' _Rymer
+ Jones' Organization of the Animal Kingdom_, London, 1855, pp. 829,
+ 830.
+
+ [865] 'The muscularity of arteries, of which John Hunter made
+ physiological proof, is now a matter of eyesight.' _Simon's
+ Pathology_, London, 1850, p. 69. 'To prove the muscularity of an
+ artery, it is only necessary to compare its action with that of
+ elastic substances.' ... 'When the various uses of arteries are
+ considered, such as their forming different parts of the body out
+ of the blood, their performing the different secretions, their
+ allowing at one time the blood to pass readily into the smaller
+ branches, as in blushing, and at another, preventing it
+ altogether, as in paleness from fear: and if to these we add the
+ power of producing a diseased increase of any or every part of the
+ body, we cannot but conclude that they are possessed of muscular
+ powers.' _Hunter's Works_, vol. iii. p. 157. See also vol. iv.
+ p. 254. Mr. Gulliver, in his edition of _Hewson's Works_, London,
+ 1846, says (p. 125), that Hunter's 'experiments on the functions
+ of the arteries are supported by the latest and best observations
+ on their structure.'
+
+ [866] 'The fact of the muscularity of the iris, which is here presumed
+ from analogy by Mr. Hunter, has been since directly proved by the
+ observations of Bauer and Jacob (_Phil. Trans._ 1822), and
+ indirectly by Berzelius, who found that the iris possesses all the
+ chemical properties of muscle.' Palmer's note in _Hunter's Works_,
+ vol. iii. p. 146, London, 1837.
+
+ [867] _Adams' Life of Hunter_, pp. 59, 60, 245. _Hunter's Works_, vol. i.
+ p. 43, vol. iv. pp. 116-121. _Watson's Principles of Physic_,
+ vol. ii. p. 440.
+
+ [868] 'Hunter subjects the blood to both mechanical and chemical
+ analysis, and endeavours to determine the characteristic
+ properties of its different constituents.' Owen's Preface to vol.
+ iv. of _Hunter's Works_, p. xii. But this gives, perhaps, rather
+ too high an idea of his animal chemistry; for such was then the
+ miserable state of this extremely important branch of knowledge,
+ that he arrived at the conclusion that 'blood gives no analysis
+ excepting that of common animal matter.' _Principles of Surgery_,
+ chap. iii. in _Hunter's Works_, vol. i. p. 229.
+
+ [869] 'In seeking to determine the respective importance of the different
+ constituents of the blood, by the philosophical and most difficult
+ inquiry into their respective periods of formation in the
+ development of the embryo, Hunter made the interesting discovery
+ that the vessels of the embryo of a red-blooded animal circulated
+ in the first instance colourless blood, as in the invertebrate
+ animals. 'The red globules,' he observes, 'seemed to be formed
+ later in life than the other two constituents, for we see while
+ the chick is in the egg the heart beating, and it then contains a
+ transparent fluid before any red globules are formed, which fluid
+ we may suppose to be the serum and the lymph.' I well remember the
+ feelings of surprise with which I listened, while at Paris in
+ 1832, to a memoir read before the Academy of Science, by MM.
+ Delpech and Coste, the object of which was the announcement of the
+ same fact as a novel and important discovery. The statement of the
+ French observers was received with all the consideration which its
+ importance justly merited, without its being suspected that our
+ great physiologist had, half a century before, embraced it, with
+ all its legitimate deductions, in the extended circle of his
+ investigations.' Owen's Preface to vol. iv. of _Hunter's Works_,
+ p. xiii.
+
+ [870] Indeed, if we may rely on the references recently given by Mr.
+ Gulliver, which, from his great general accuracy, there seems no
+ reason to question, the fact that the pale blood precedes the red,
+ was known even in the time of Glisson. See Gulliver's learned
+ edition of _Hewson's Works_, London, 1846, p. 222. But, to the
+ contemporaries of Glisson, such a fact was isolated, and
+ consequently useless. Nothing is valuable while it appears to
+ stand alone.
+
+ [871] 'From the above account, it appears that whatever may be their
+ utility in the machine, the red globules certainly are not of such
+ universal use as the coagulating lymph, since they are not to be
+ found in all animals, _nor so early in those that have them_; nor
+ are they pushed into the extreme arteries, where we must suppose
+ the coagulating lymph reaches; neither do they appear to be so
+ readily formed. This being the case, _we must conclude them not to
+ be the important part of the blood in contributing to growth,
+ repair, &c. Their use would seem to be connected with strength._'
+ _A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gunshot Wounds_, in
+ _Hunter's Works_, vol. iii. p. 68. In another remarkable passage,
+ he touches on the possibility of an increase in the amount of red
+ globules being connected with an increase in the amount of heat.
+ 'I will not pretend to determine how far this may assist in
+ keeping up the animal heat.' _Observations on the Structure and
+ [OE]conomy of Whales_, in _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. p. 364.
+
+ [872] The evidence of this is collected in the notes to _Buckle's
+ History of Civilization_, vol. i. pp. 58-61.
+
+ [873] 'According to Lecanu, temperament has an influence upon the
+ composition of the blood. He infers from his analyses that the
+ blood of lymphatic persons is poorer in solid constituents, and
+ especially in blood corpuscules, than that of persons of
+ sanguineous temperament, while the quantity of albumen is much the
+ same in both.' _Simon's Animal Chemistry with reference to the
+ Physiology and Pathology of Man_, London, 1845, vol. i. p. 236.
+ Compare _Thomson's Chemistry of Animal Bodies_, Edinburgh, 1843,
+ p. 370.
+
+ [874] _Simon's Animal Chemistry_, vol. i. pp. 234, 235. Subsequent
+ experiments have confirmed this. 'The proportion of red globules
+ _dried_ to 1000 parts of blood, is in healthy males estimated at
+ 127 parts by Andral and Gavarret; lower and higher figures have
+ been given by other analysts, but this probably is the result of
+ somewhat different modes of proceeding. _In females the proportion
+ of globules is lower._ Becquerel and Rodier make the difference to
+ be about 15 parts per 1000.' _Jones and Sieveking's Pathological
+ Anatomy_, London, 1854, p. 23. Hence, the greater specific gravity
+ of male blood. See the interesting results of Dr. Davy's
+ experiments in _Davy's Physiological and Anatomical Researches_,
+ London, 1839, vol. ii. p. 32.
+
+ [875] Hunter died in 1793. The researches of Lecanu were published in
+ 1831.
+
+ Another, and still more remarkable proof of the extent to which
+ Hunter outstripped his own age, appears in the following passage,
+ which has just been published in his posthumous works, and in
+ which he anticipates the grandest and most suggestive of all the
+ ideas belonging to the physiology of the nineteenth century. 'If
+ we were capable of following the progress of increase of the
+ number of the parts of the most perfect animal, as they first
+ formed in succession, from the very first to its state of full
+ perfection, we should probably be able to compare it with some one
+ of the incomplete animals themselves, of every order of animals in
+ the Creation, being at no stage different from some of the
+ inferior orders. Or, in other words, if we were to take a series
+ of animals, from the more imperfect to the perfect, we should
+ probably find an imperfect animal, corresponding with some stage
+ of the most perfect.' _Essays and Observations by John Hunter,
+ being his Posthumous Papers_, London, 1861, vol. i. p. 203.
+
+Having thus, by a comprehensive survey of the animal world, associated
+its remarkable faculty of movement with the state of its blood, Hunter
+turned his attention to another aspect of the question, and took into
+consideration the movements of the vegetable world, in the hope that, by
+comparing these two divisions of nature, he might detect some law, which,
+being common to both, should unite into one study all the principles of
+organic motion. Though he failed in this great undertaking, some of his
+generalizations are very suggestive, and well illustrate the power and
+grasp of his mind. Looking at the organic kingdom as a whole, he supposed
+that its capacity of action, both in animals and in vegetables, was of
+three kinds. The first kind, was the action of the individual upon the
+materials it already possessed; and this gave rise to growth, secretion,
+and other functions, in which the juice of the plant was equivalent to
+the blood of the animal.[876] The second kind of action had for its
+object to increase these materials; it was always excited by want, and
+its result was, to nourish and preserve the individual.[877] The third
+kind was entirely due to external causes, including the whole material
+world, all the phenomena of which were a stimulus to some kind of
+action.[878] By combining, in different ways, these different sources of
+motion, and by studying every incitement to action, first, in reference
+to one of the three great divisions just indicated, and, secondly, in
+reference to the _power_ of action, as distinguished from the _quantity_
+of action,[879] Hunter believed that some fundamental truths might be
+obtained, if not by himself, at all events by his successors. For, he
+thought that, though animals can do many things which plants cannot,
+still, the immediate cause of action is in both cases the same.[880] In
+animals, there is more variety of motion, but in plants there is more
+real power. A horse is certainly far stronger than a man. Yet a small
+vine cannot only support, but can raise, a column of fluid five times
+higher than a horse can. Indeed, the power which a plant exercises of
+holding a leaf erect during an entire day, without pause and without
+fatigue, is an effort of astonishing vigour, and is one of many proofs,
+that a principle of compensation is at work, so that the same energy
+which, in the animal world, is weakened by being directed to many
+objects, is, in the vegetable world, strengthened by being concentrated
+on a few.[881]
+
+ [876] 'The natural salutary actions, arising from stimuli, take place
+ both in animals and vegetables, and may be divided into three
+ kinds. The first kind of action, or self-motion, is employed
+ simply in the economical operations, by which means the immediate
+ functions are carried on, and the necessary operations performed,
+ with the materials the animal or vegetable is in possession of,
+ such as growth, support, secretion, &c. The blood is disposed of
+ by the actions of the vessels, according to their specific
+ stimulus, producing all the above effects. The juices of a plant
+ are disposed of according to the different actions of the
+ sap-vessels, arising also from their specific stimulus, which is
+ different from that of blood-vessels, but equally produces growth;
+ but a vine will grow twenty feet in one summer, while a whale,
+ probably, does not grow so much in as many years.' _Croonian
+ Lectures on Muscular Motion_, in _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv.
+ p. 199.
+
+ [877] 'The second kind of action is in pursuit of external influence, and
+ arises from a compound of internal and external stimulus; it is
+ excited by the state of the animal or vegetable, which gives the
+ stimulus of want, and being completed by external stimulus,
+ produces the proper supplies of nourishment. It produces motions
+ of whole parts: thus we see the _Hedysarum gyrans_ moving its
+ lesser foliola. This is an action apparently similar to breathing
+ in animals, though, perhaps, it does not answer the same purpose;
+ yet there is an alternate motion in both.' _Croonian Lectures_, in
+ _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. p. 200.
+
+ [878] 'The third kind of motion is from external stimulus, and consists
+ principally of the motion of whole parts, which is not
+ inconsiderable in vegetables, as in the _Dionaea muscipula_ and
+ _Mimosa pudica_ is very evident.' ... 'These actions are similar
+ to what arise in many animals from external stimulus.' _Ibid._
+ vol. iv. p. 201.
+
+ [879] 'I make a material difference between the power and the quantity of
+ action. Some motions may be very small, yet act with great force;
+ while others are of considerable extent, although very weak.'
+ _Ibid._ vol. iv. p. 204.
+
+ [880] 'The immediate cause of motion in all vegetables is most probably
+ the same, and it is probably the same in all animals; but how far
+ they are the same in both classes, has not yet been determined.
+ But I think it will appear, in the investigation of this subject,
+ that vegetables and animals have actions evidently common to both,
+ and that the causes of these actions are apparently the same in
+ both; and most probably there is not an action in the vegetable,
+ which does not correspond or belong to the animal, although the
+ mode of action in the parts may not be the same, or muscular, in
+ both.' _Croonian Lectures_, in _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. p. 196.
+ Compare the section 'Of Motion in Vegetables,' in _Hunter's
+ Essays_, London, 1861, vol. i. p. 24.
+
+ [881] 'The variety of motions is greater in animals, and more purposes
+ are answered by them.' ... 'The first kind of action appears to be
+ stronger in its power, although less in quantity, in vegetables
+ than in animals; for a small vine was capable of sustaining, and
+ even of raising, a column of sap 43 feet high, while a horse's
+ heart was only capable of supporting a column of blood 8 feet 9
+ inches high; both of which columns must have been supported by the
+ action of the internal parts, for we must suppose the heart equal,
+ or nearly so, to the strength or action of the other parts of the
+ vascular system; and when we consider that the sap of the tallest
+ tree must be supported, and even raised from the root to the most
+ distant branches, it must appear that the power of such vegetables
+ far exceeds the power of any animal, and, indeed, it is such as
+ the texture of a vegetable only can support. The power of
+ supporting a leaf erect for a whole day is as great an effort of
+ action as that of the elevator palpebrarum muscle of the eye of an
+ animal.' _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. pp. 203, 204. See also
+ _Hunter's Essays_, vol. i. p. 342: 'It is probable that the
+ vegetable which can the least bear a suspension of its actions,
+ can do so more than the animal which can bear it longest.'
+
+In pursuing these speculations, which, amid much that is uncertain,
+contain, I firmly believe, a large amount of important, though neglected,
+truth, Hunter was led to consider how motion is produced by various
+forces, such as magnetism, electricity, gravitation, and chemical
+attraction.[882] This carried him into inorganic science, where, as he
+clearly saw, the foundation of all organic science must be laid. Just as,
+on the one hand, the human frame could never be successfully studied,
+except by the aid of principles which had been collected from an
+investigation of animals below man,[883] so, on the other hand, the laws
+of those very animals must, he said, be approached through the laws of
+common or inorganic matter.[884] He, therefore, aimed at nothing less
+than to unite all the branches of physical science, taking them in the
+order of their relative complexity, and proceeding from the simplest to
+the most intricate. With this view, he examined the structure of the
+mineral kingdom, and, by an extensive comparison of crystals, he sought
+to generalize the principles of form, in the same way as, by a comparison
+of animals, he sought to generalize the principles of function. And, in
+doing this, he took into account, not only regular crystals, but also
+irregular ones.[885] For, he knew that, in nature, nothing is really
+irregular or disorderly; though our imperfect apprehension, or rather the
+backwardness of our knowledge, prevents us from discerning the symmetry
+of the universal scheme. The beauty of the plan, and the necessity of the
+sequence, are not always perceptible. Hence, we are too apt to fancy that
+the chain is broken, because we cannot see every link in it. From this
+serious error, Hunter was saved by his genius, even more than by his
+knowledge. Being satisfied that every thing which happens in the material
+world, is so connected and bound up with its antecedents, as to be the
+inevitable result of what had previously occurred, he looked with a true
+philosophical eye at the strangest and most capricious shapes, because to
+him they had a meaning and a necessary purpose. To him, they were neither
+strange nor capricious. They were deviations from the natural course; but
+it was a fundamental tenet of his philosophy, that nature, even in the
+midst of her deviations, still retains her regularity.[886] Or, as he
+elsewhere expresses it, deviation is, under certain circumstances, part
+of the law of nature.[887]
+
+ [882] _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. p. 255.
+
+ [883] In his _Principles of Surgery_, he says (_Hunter's Works_, vol. i.
+ p. 220), 'The human body is what I mean chiefly to treat of; but I
+ shall often find it necessary to illustrate some of the
+ propositions which I shall lay down from animals of an inferior
+ order, in whom the principles may be more distinct and less
+ blended with others, or where the parts are differently
+ constructed, in order to show, from many varieties of structure,
+ and from many different considerations, what are the uses of the
+ same parts in man; or, at least, to show that they are not for the
+ uses which have been commonly assigned to them; and, as man is the
+ most complicated part of the whole animal creation, it will be
+ proper, in the first place, to point out general principles,
+ common to all this species of matter, that I may be better
+ understood when I come to the more complicated machine, namely,
+ the human.'
+
+ [884] 'Before we endeavour to give an idea of an animal, it is necessary
+ to understand the properties of that matter of which an animal is
+ composed; but the better to understand animal matter, it is
+ necessary to understand the properties of common matter; else we
+ shall be often applying our ideas of common matter, which are
+ familiar to us, to animal matter, an error hitherto too common,
+ but which we should carefully avoid.' _Principles of Surgery_, in
+ _Hunter's Works_, vol. i. p. 211. 'In the natural history of
+ vegetables and animals, therefore, it will be necessary to go back
+ to the first or common matter of this globe, and give its general
+ properties; then see how far these properties are introduced into
+ the vegetable and animal operations; or rather, perhaps, how far
+ they are of use or subservient to their actions.' _Hunter's
+ Essays_, vol. i. p. 4. 'Every property in man is similar to some
+ property, either in another animal, or probably in a vegetable, or
+ even in inanimate matter. Thereby (man) becomes classible with
+ those in some of his parts.' _Ibid._ p. 10.
+
+ [885] He made 'a valuable collection of crystallizations, both of
+ regular and irregular forms, which he was accustomed to use in his
+ lectures to exemplify the difference between the laws which
+ regulate the growth of organic and the increase of inorganic
+ bodies.' _Ottley's Life of Hunter_, p. 138.
+
+ [886] 'Nature is always uniform in her operations, and when she deviates
+ is still regular in her deviations.' _Principles of Surgery_, in
+ _Hunter's Works_, vol. i. p. 485; see also vol. iv. pp. 44, 45.
+
+ [887] 'It certainly may be laid down, as one of the principles or laws
+ of nature, to deviate under certain circumstances.' _Hunter's
+ Works_, vol. iv. p. 278.
+
+To generalize such irregularities, or, in other words, to show that they
+are not irregularities at all, was the main object of Hunter's life, and
+was the noblest part of his mission. Hence, notwithstanding his vast
+achievements in physiology, his favourite pursuit was pathology,[888]
+where, the phenomena being more complex, the intellect has more play. In
+this great field, he studied the aberrations of structure and of
+function, in the vegetable, as well as in the animal, world;[889] while,
+for the aberrations of form, which are the external manifestations of
+disturbed structure, he took into consideration the appearances presented
+by the mineral kingdom. There, the power of crystallization is the
+leading feature, and there, violations of symmetry constitute the
+essential disorder, whether the deformity of the crystal is subsequent to
+its production, or whether, being the result of what happened before its
+production, it is an original, and, if we may so say, congenital, defect.
+In either case, it is a deviation from the normal type, and, as such, is
+analogous to the monstrosities, both of animals and of vegetables.[890]
+The mind of Hunter, by sweeping through this immense range of thought,
+attained to such commanding views of the philosophy of disease, that, in
+that department, he is certainly without a rival. As a physiologist, he
+was equalled, or perhaps excelled, by Aristotle; but as a pathologist, he
+stands alone, if we consider what pathology was when he found it, and
+what it was when he left it.[891] Since his death, the rapid advance of
+morbid anatomy and of chemistry has caused some of his doctrines to be
+modified, and some of them to be overturned. This has been the work of
+inferior men, wielding superior chemical and microscopical resources. To
+say that the successors of John Hunter are inferior to him, is no
+disparagement to their abilities, since he was one of those extremely
+rare characters who only appear at very long intervals, and who, when
+they do appear, remodel the fabric of knowledge. They revolutionize our
+modes of thought; they stir up the intellect to insurrection; they are
+the rebels and demagogues of science. And though the pathologists of the
+nineteenth century have chosen a humbler path, this must not blind us to
+their merits, or prevent us from being grateful for what they have done.
+We cannot, however, be too often reminded, that the really great men, and
+those who are the sole permanent benefactors of their species, are not
+the great experimenters, nor the great observers, nor the great readers,
+nor the great scholars, but the great thinkers. Thought is the creator
+and vivifier of all human affairs. Actions, facts, and external
+manifestations of every kind, often triumph for a while; but it is the
+progress of ideas which ultimately determines the progress of the world.
+Unless these are changed, every other change is superficial, and every
+improvement is precarious. It is, however, evident that, in the present
+state of our knowledge, all ideas respecting nature must refer either to
+the normal or to the abnormal; that is to say, they must be concerned
+either with what is regular, uniform, and obedient to recognized
+principles, or else with what is irregular, perturbed, and disobedient.
+Of these two divisions, the first belongs to science; the second, to
+superstition. John Hunter formed the superb conception of merging both
+classes of ideas into one, by showing that nothing is irregular, that
+nothing is perturbed, that nothing is disobedient. Centuries, perhaps,
+may elapse before that conception will be consummated. But what Hunter
+effected towards it, places him at the head of all pathologists, ancient
+or modern. For, with him, the science of pathology did not mean the laws
+of disease in man alone, or even in all animals, or even in the whole
+organic kingdom; but it meant the laws of disease and of malformation in
+the entire material world, organic and inorganic. His great object was,
+to raise a science of the abnormal. He determined to contemplate nature
+as a vast and united whole, exhibiting, indeed, at different times
+different appearances, but preserving, amidst every change, a principle
+of uniform and uninterrupted order, admitting of no deviation, undergoing
+no disturbance, and presenting no real irregularity, albeit to the common
+eye, irregularities abound on every side.
+
+ [888] Dr. Adams, who knew him personally, says that he studied
+ 'physiology, more particularly as connected with pathology.'
+ _Adams' Life of Hunter_, p. 77.
+
+ [889] His _Principles of Surgery_ contain some curious evidence of his
+ desire to establish a connexion between animal and vegetable
+ pathology. See, for instance, his remarks on 'local diseases'
+ (_Works_, vol. i. p. 341); on the influence of the seasons in
+ producing diseases (vol. i. pp. 345, 346); and on the theory of
+ inflammation exhibited in an oak-leaf (vol. i. p. 391). But even
+ now, too little is known of the diseases of the vegetable world to
+ enable their study to be incorporated with the science of the
+ diseases of the animal world; and, in the time of Hunter, the
+ attempt was still less promising. Still, the effort shows the
+ grandeur and range of the man's mind; and though little was
+ effected, the method was right. So, too, in one of his essays on
+ the _Power of Producing Heat_, he says, 'In the course of a
+ variety of experiments on animals and vegetables, I have
+ frequently observed that the result of experiments in the one has
+ explained the economy of the other, and pointed out some principle
+ common to both.' _Hunter's Works_, vol. iv. p. 136.
+
+ [890] 'Nature being pretty constant in the kind and number of the
+ different parts peculiar to each species of animal, as also in the
+ situation, formation, and construction of such parts, we call
+ every thing that deviates from that uniformity a "monster,"
+ whether (it occur in) crystallization, vegetation, or
+ animalization. There must be some principle for those deviations
+ from the regular course of nature, in the economy of such species
+ as they occur in. In the present inquiry it is the animal creation
+ I mean to consider. Yet, as there may be in some degree an analogy
+ between all the three (kingdoms of nature), I shall consider the
+ other two, so far as this analogy seems to take place.' ...
+ 'Monsters are not peculiar to animals: they are less so in them,
+ perhaps, than in any species of matter. The vegetable (kingdom)
+ abounds with monsters; and perhaps the uncommon formation of many
+ crystals may be brought within the same species of production, and
+ accounted for upon the same principle, viz. some influence
+ interfering with the established law of regular formation.
+ Monsters in crystals may arise from the same cause, as mentioned
+ in the "Introduction;" viz. either a wrong arrangement of the
+ parts of which the crystal is to be composed, or a defect in the
+ formation, from the first setting out being wrong, and (the
+ formation) going on in the same (wrong) line. The principle of
+ crystallization is in the solution; yet it requires more to set it
+ agoing, or into action, such, _e.g._, as a solid surface. The
+ deficiency in the production of a true crystal may be in the
+ solution itself; or, I can conceive, that a very slight
+ circumstance might alter the form of a crystal, and even give the
+ disposition for one (crystal) to form upon another. Quickness in
+ the progress of crystallization produces irregularity and
+ diminution in size.' _Hunter's Essays_, London, 1861, vol. i.
+ pp. 239-241. The reader must remember, that, when these remarks
+ were written, the phenomena of crystallization had not been
+ subjected to that exact mathematical treatment which subsequently
+ revealed so many of their laws. Indeed, the goniometer was then so
+ coarse an instrument, that it was impossible to measure the angles
+ of crystals with accuracy.
+
+ [891] Abernethy says, 'He appears to me as a new character in our
+ profession; and, briefly to express his peculiar merit, I may call
+ him the first and great physionosologist, or expositor of the
+ nature of disease.' _Abernethy's Hunterian Oration_, p. 29,
+ London, 1819. 'He may be regarded as the first who applied the
+ great truths of anatomical and physiological science to these most
+ important subjects, by tracing the processes which nature employs
+ in the construction of organic changes, in building up new
+ formations, and in repairing the effects of injury or disease.'
+ _Hodgson's Hunterian Oration_, 1855, p. 32.
+
+As pathology was the science to which Hunter was most devoted, so also
+was it that in which his natural love of deduction was most apparent.
+Here, far more than in his physiological inquiries, do we find a desire
+to multiply original principles from which he could reason; in opposition
+to the inductive method, which always aims at diminishing these
+principles by gradual and successive analysis. Thus, for instance, in
+his animal pathology, he attempted to introduce, as an ultimate principle
+from which he could argue, the idea that all diseases move more rapidly
+towards the skin than towards internal parts, by virtue of some hidden
+force, which also obliges vegetables to approach the surface of the
+earth.[892] Another favourite proposition, which he often used as a major
+premiss, and by its aid constructed deductively a pathological argument,
+was, that in no substance, be it what it may, can two processes go on in
+the same part at the same time.[893] By applying this universal
+proposition to the more limited phenomena of animal life, he inferred
+that two general diseases cannot co-exist in the same individual; and he
+relied so much on this ratiocination, that he refused to credit any
+testimony by which it was impugned.[894] There is reason to believe that
+his conclusion is erroneous, and that different diseases can so accompany
+each other, as to be united in the same individual, at the same time, and
+in the same part.[895] Whether or not this be the case, it is equally
+interesting to notice the process of thought which led Hunter to bestow
+infinitely more pains in arguing from the general theory, than in arguing
+to it. Indeed, he can hardly be said to have argued to it at all, since
+he obtained it by a rough and hasty generalization from what seemed to be
+the obvious properties of inorganic matter. Having thus obtained it, he
+applied it to the pathological phenomena of the organic world, and
+especially of the animal world. That he should have adopted this course,
+is a curious proof of the energy of his deductive habits, and of the
+force of mind which enabled him so to set at naught the traditions of his
+English contemporaries, as to follow a method which, in the opinion of
+every one who surrounded him, was not only full of danger, but could
+never lead to truth.
+
+ [892] 'The specific qualities in diseases also tend more rapidly to the
+ skin than to the deeper-seated parts, except the cancer; although,
+ even in this disease, the progress towards the superficies is more
+ quick than its progress towards the centre.' ... 'In short, this
+ is a law of nature, and it probably is upon the same principle by
+ which vegetables always approach the surface of the earth.' _A
+ Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gunshot Wounds_, in
+ _Hunter's Works_, vol. iii. p. 285. 'Granulations always tend to
+ the skin, which is exactly similar to vegetation, for plants
+ always grow from the centre of the earth towards the surface; and
+ this principle was taken notice of when we were treating of
+ abscesses coming towards the skin.' _Ibid._ pp. 489, 490.
+
+ [893] 'It may be admitted as an axiom, that two processes cannot go on
+ at the same time in the same part of any substance.' _Hunter's
+ Works_, vol. iv. p. 96. Compare _Hunter's Essays_, vol. ii. p.
+ 333: 'As it appears, in general, that Nature can hardly make one
+ part perform two actions with advantage.'
+
+ [894] 'Thus, we hear of pocky itch and of scurvy and the venereal
+ disease combined; but this supposition appears to me to be founded
+ in error. I have never seen any such cases, _nor do they seem to
+ be consistent with the principles of morbid action_ in the animal
+ economy. It appears to me beyond a doubt that no two actions can
+ take place in the same constitution, or in the same part, at one
+ and the same time.' _Hunter's Works_, vol. ii. p. 132. 'As I
+ reckon every operation in the body an action, whether universal or
+ partial, _it appears to me beyond a doubt_ that no two actions can
+ take place in the same constitution, nor in the same part, at one
+ and the same time; the operations of the body are similar in this
+ respect to actions or motions in common matter. _It naturally
+ results from this principle_, that no two different fevers can
+ exist in the same constitution, nor two local diseases in the same
+ part, at the same time. There are many local diseases which have
+ dispositions totally different, but having very similar
+ appearances, have been supposed by some to be one sort of disease,
+ by others to be a different kind, and by others again a compound
+ of two diseases.' ... 'These, therefore, are often supposed to be
+ mixed, and to exist in the same part. Thus we hear of a
+ pocky-scurvy, a pocky-itch, rheumatic-gout, &c. &c., which names,
+ _according to my principle_, imply a union that cannot possibly
+ exist.' _Ibid._ vol. iii. pp. 3, 4.
+
+ [895] Dr. Robert Williams (_Encyclopaedia of the Medical Sciences_,
+ London, 1847, 4to, p. 688) says, 'The diagnosis between gout and
+ rheumatism is often exceedingly difficult, so much so that
+ nosologists have given a mixed class, or rheumatic gout. Mr.
+ Hunter warmly opposed this compound appellation, for, in his
+ opinion, no two distinct diseases, or even distinct diatheses, can
+ co-exist in the same constitution; a law, it must be admitted, to
+ have many exceptions.' Compare _Watson's Principles and Practice
+ of Physic_, London, 1857, vol. i. p. 312; 'acting upon the
+ aphorism of John Hunter (an aphorism, however, which requires some
+ qualification), that two diseases or actions cannot go on in a
+ part at the same time.' According to another authority, 'There can
+ be little doubt that two or more zymotic processes do often go on
+ simultaneously in the blood and body; a fact of profound interest
+ to the pathologist, and worthy of attentive investigation.'
+ _Report on the Public Health for 1847_, in _Journal of the
+ Statistical Society_, vol. xi. p. 168, London, 1848. See also, on
+ the co-existence of specific poisons, _Erichsen's Surgery_, 2nd
+ edit., London, 1857, p. 430. Mr. Paget, in his striking and
+ eminently suggestive _Lectures on Pathology_, London, 1853, vol.
+ ii. pp. 537, 538, has made some interesting remarks on one part of
+ the theory of co-existence; and his observations, so far as they
+ go, tend to corroborate Hunter's view. He has put very forcibly
+ the antagonism between cancer and other specific diseases; and
+ especially between the cancerous diathesis and the tuberculous.
+
+Other parts of his pathology abound with similar instances, which show
+how anxious he was to assume principles on which he could build
+arguments. Of this kind were his ideas respecting sympathy, as connected
+with action. He suggested, that the simplest forms of sympathy would
+probably be found in the vegetable world, because there, the general
+arrangements are less intricate than in the animal world.[896] On this
+supposition, he constructed a series of curious and refined speculations,
+of which, however, I must confine myself to giving a very short summary.
+As animals sympathize more than vegetables, this helps us to understand
+why it is that their movements are more numerous. For, sympathy, being a
+susceptibility to impression, is also a principle of action.[897] Like
+other principles of action, it may be either natural or diseased.[898]
+But, whichever it be, it can, in plants, have only one mode of
+development, because, in them, it can only be influenced by stimulus;
+while in animals, which have sensation, it has necessarily three modes,
+one from stimulus, one from sensation, and a third compounded of the
+other two.[899] These are the largest divisions of sympathy, if we
+consider the organic world as a whole. In single cases, however, sympathy
+admits of still further subdivision. We may reason from it, in reference
+to the age of the individual;[900] we may also reason from it in
+reference to temperament, since, in point of fact, temperament is nothing
+but susceptibility to action.[901] And when sympathy is in action, we
+may, by analyzing our idea of it, reduce it to five different heads, and
+may classify it as continued, or contiguous, or remote, or similar, or
+dissimilar.[902] All these supplied Hunter with principles from which, by
+reasoning deductively, he attempted to explain the facts of disease; for,
+according to him, disease merely consists in a want of combination of
+actions.[903] By this process of thought, he was induced to neglect
+those predisposing causes, to which inductive pathologists pay great
+attention, and with which the works of his English contemporaries were
+much occupied. Such causes could only be generalized from observation,
+and Hunter made no account of them. Indeed, he even denies their real
+existence, and asserts that a predisposing cause is simply an increased
+susceptibility to form disposition to action.[904]
+
+ [896] 'The most simple sympathy is perhaps to be found in vegetables,
+ these being much more simple than the most simple animal.'
+ _Principles of Surgery_, in _Hunter's Works_, vol. i. p. 327.
+
+ [897] 'This principle of action, called sympathy,' &c. _Ibid._ vol. i.
+ p. 318.
+
+ [898] 'Sympathy may be divided into two kinds, the natural and the
+ diseased.' _Principles of Surgery_, in _Hunter's Works_, vol. i.
+ p. 320; see also _A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, &c._, in
+ _Works_, vol. iii. p. 6.
+
+ [899] _Croonian Lectures on Muscular Motion_, in _Hunter's Works_,
+ vol. iv. p. 207; and exactly the same words in his _Phytology_, in
+ _Hunter's Essays_, London, 1861, vol. i. p. 361.
+
+ [900] 'Local or partial sympathy is found more in old than in young;
+ whereas universal sympathy is more in young than in old. Sympathy
+ is less determined in young persons, every part being then ready
+ to sympathize with other parts under disease.' ... 'As the child
+ advances, the power of sympathy becomes partial, there not being
+ now, in the constitution, that universal consent of parts, but
+ some part, which has greater sympathy than the rest, falls into
+ the whole irritation; therefore the whole disposition to sympathy
+ is directed to some particular part. The different organs acquire
+ more and more of their own independent actions as the child grows
+ older.' _Hunter's Works_, vol. i. pp. 322, 323.
+
+ [901] 'Susceptibilities for dispositions and actions appear to me to be
+ the same with what are usually understood by temperament.
+ Temperament is the state of the body fitting it for the
+ disposition or action it is then in.' _Hunter's Works_, vol. i.
+ p. 307.
+
+ [902] _Hunter's Works_, vol. iii. p. 393.
+
+ [903] 'As every natural action of the body depends, for its perfection,
+ on a number of circumstances, we are led to conclude, that all the
+ various combining actions are established while the body is in
+ health, and well disposed; but this does not take place in
+ diseased actions, for disease, on the contrary, consists in the
+ want of this very combination.' _Hunter's Works_, vol. iii. p. 10.
+ Compare vol. i. p. 310: 'I have explained that a disease is a
+ disposition for a wrong action, and that the action is the
+ immediate effect of the disposition, and that either the actions
+ or the effects of those actions, _produce the symptoms which are
+ generally called the disease_; such as sensations, which are
+ commonly pain of all kinds, sickness, alteration visible or
+ invisible in the structure of the part or parts that act, and
+ sympathy.'
+
+ [904] 'There is no such thing, strictly speaking, as a predisposing
+ cause. What is commonly understood by a predisposing cause is an
+ increased susceptibility to form disposition to action. When I say
+ I am predisposed for such and such actions, it is only that I am
+ very susceptible of such and such impressions.' _Hunter's Works_,
+ vol. i. p. 303. See also p. 301: 'The most simple idea I can form
+ of an animal being capable of disease is, that every animal is
+ endued with a power of action, and a susceptibility of impression,
+ which impression forms a disposition, which disposition may
+ produce action, which action becomes the immediate sign of the
+ disease; all of which will be according to the nature of the
+ impression and of the part impressed.'
+
+By reasoning from the twofold ideas of action and of sympathy, Hunter
+constructed the deductive or synthetic part of his pathology. This he did
+as a Scotchman, and to this, had he always lived in Scotland, he would
+probably have confined himself. But being for forty years surrounded by
+Englishmen, and having his mind impregnated by English habits, he
+contracted something of their mode of thought. We, accordingly, find that
+a considerable portion of his pathology is as inductive as the most eager
+disciple of Bacon could desire; forming, in this respect, a striking
+contrast to the purely synthetic method of Cullen, the other great
+pathologist of Scotland. In the attempt, however, which Hunter made to
+mix these two methods, he perplexed both himself and his readers. Hence
+that obscurity, which even his warmest admirers have noticed, though they
+have not perceived its cause. Vast as his powers were, he was unable to
+effect a complete union between induction and deduction. That this should
+have happened, will not surprise any one, who considers how some of the
+greatest thinkers have failed in this, the most difficult of all
+enterprises. Among the ancients, Plato failed in induction, and all his
+followers failed with him; since none of them have placed sufficient
+confidence in facts, and in the process of reasoning from particulars to
+generals. Among the moderns, Bacon was deficient in deduction, and every
+Baconian has been similarly deficient; it being the essential vice of
+that school to despise reasoning from general propositions, and to
+underrate the value of the syllogism. It may, indeed, be doubted if the
+history of the world supplies more than two instances of physical
+philosophers being as great in one form of investigation as in the other.
+They are Aristotle and Newton, who wielded each method with equal ease,
+combining the skill and boldness of deduction with the caution and
+perseverance of induction, masters alike of synthesis and of analysis, as
+capable of proceeding from generals to particulars, as from particulars
+to generals, sometimes making ideas precede facts, and sometimes making
+facts precede ideas, but never faltering, never doubting which course to
+take, and never allowing either scheme unduly to encroach on its
+opposite. That Hunter should be unable to perform this, merely proves
+that he was inferior to these two men, whose almost incredible
+achievements entitle them to be termed the prodigies of the human race.
+But what he did was wonderful, and, in his own department, has never been
+rivalled. Of the character and extent of his inquiries, I have given a
+sketch, which, notwithstanding its imperfections, may serve to illustrate
+the antagonism of the Scotch and English intellects, by showing how the
+methods peculiar to each nation struggled for mastery in that great mind,
+which was exposed to the action of both. Which method predominated in
+Hunter, it would be hard to say. But it is certain, that his
+understanding was troubled by their conflict. It is also certain, that,
+owing to his love of deduction, or of reasoning from general ideas, he
+exercised much less sway over his English contemporaries, than he would
+have done if he had exclusively followed their favourite method of
+reasoning from particular facts. Hence, the disproportion between his
+influence and his merits. As to his merits, it is now admitted that, in
+addition to his physiological discoveries, and the great pathological
+views which he propounded, we may trace to him nearly all the surgical
+improvements which were introduced within about forty years after his
+death.[905] He was the first who explained, and, indeed, the first who
+recognized, the disease of inflammation of the veins, which is of
+frequent occurrence, and, under the name of phlebitis, has latterly been
+much studied, but which, before his time, had been ascribed to the most
+erroneous causes.[906] On general inflammation, he threw so much light,
+that the doctrines which he advocated, and which were then ridiculed as
+whimsical novelties, are now taught in the schools, and have become part
+of the common traditions of the medical profession.[907] He, moreover,
+introduced what is probably the most capital improvement in surgery ever
+effected by a single man; namely, the practice in aneurism of tying the
+artery at a distance from the seat of disease. This one suggestion has
+saved thousands of lives; and both the suggestion, and the first
+successful execution of it, are entirely owing to John Hunter, who, if he
+had done nothing else, would, on this account alone, have a right to be
+classed among the principal benefactors of mankind.[908]
+
+ [905] Hunter died in 1793. In 1835, Mr. Palmer writes: 'Those who have
+ traced the progress of modern surgery to its true source, will not
+ fail to have discerned, in the principles which Hunter
+ established, the germs of almost all the improvements which have
+ been since introduced.' _Hunter's Works_, vol. i. p. vii. Eighteen
+ years later, Mr. Paget says of Hunter's views respecting the
+ healing of injuries: 'In these sentences, Mr. Hunter has embodied
+ the principle on which is founded the whole practice of
+ subcutaneous surgery; a principle of which, indeed, it seems
+ hardly possible to exaggerate the importance.' _Paget's Lectures
+ on Surgical Pathology_, London, 1853, vol. i. p. 170. At pp. 197,
+ 198: 'After what I have said respecting the process of immediate
+ union, it may appear that Mr. Hunter was more nearly right than
+ his successors.'
+
+ [906] 'Inflammation of the veins, originally studied by Hunter, has of
+ late years attracted the attention of many distinguished
+ Continental and British pathologists.' _Erichsen's Surgery_,
+ London, 1857, p. 475. 'No subject more amply illustrates the
+ essential services which the science and art of medicine have
+ derived from pathological anatomy than that of phlebitis. By this
+ study many a dark point in the phenomena of disease has been
+ either thoroughly elucidated, or, at all events, rendered more
+ comprehensible. We need only refer to the so-termed malignant
+ intermittents, consequent upon wounds and surgical operations,--to
+ certain typhoid conditions, puerperal diseases, and the like, John
+ Hunter, the elder Meckel, and Peter Frank, were the first to
+ commence the investigation.' _Hasse's Anatomical Description of
+ the Diseases of the Organs of Circulation and Respiration_,
+ London, 1846, p. 10. 'Hunter was the first to open the way, and
+ since that period the scalpel has shown that many previously
+ unintelligible malignant conditions are attributable to
+ phlebitis.' _Jones and Sieveking's Pathological Anatomy_, London,
+ 1854, p. 362. On the application of this discovery to the theory
+ of inflammation of the spleen, see _Rokitansky's Pathological
+ Anatomy_, vol. ii. p. 173, London, 1849; compare vol. iv. p. 335.
+
+ [907] Sir Benjamin Brodie says: 'It is true that the essential parts of
+ John Hunter's doctrines as to inflammation and its consequences
+ are now so incorporated with what is taught in the schools, that
+ to be acquainted with them you need not seek them in his works;
+ but I recommend you, nevertheless, to make these your especial
+ study, for the sake of the other valuable information which they
+ contain, and the important views in physiology and pathology
+ which, in almost every page, are offered to your contemplation.'
+ _Brodie's Lectures on Pathology and Surgery_, London, 1846, p. 25.
+ 'John Hunter, whose treatise on Inflammation is a mine in which
+ all succeeding writers have dug.' _Watson's Principles and
+ Practice of Physic_, London, 1857, vol. i. p. 146. 'The appeal to
+ philosophical principles in Hunter's works was, indeed, the cause
+ of their being a closed volume to his less enlightened
+ contemporaries; but, though the principles implied or expressed,
+ subjected them to the scorn and neglect of those less imbued with
+ the spirit of philosophy, the results of those principles,
+ verified as they were by facts, have gradually and insensibly
+ forced themselves on the conviction of the profession; and though
+ adopted silently, and without acknowledgment, as if the authors
+ themselves had forgotten or were ignorant from whence they were
+ derived, they now form the very groundwork of all books,
+ treatises, and lectures on professional subjects.' _Green's Vital
+ Dynamics_, London, 1840, p. 81. Finally, I will quote the very
+ recent testimony of Mr. Simon, who, in his masterly, and
+ singularly beautiful, essay on Inflammation, has not only brought
+ together nearly every thing which is known on that interesting
+ subject, but has shown himself to be possessed of powers of
+ generalization rare in the medical profession, or, indeed, in any
+ other profession. 'Without undue partiality, an Englishman may be
+ glad to say that the special study of Inflammation dates from the
+ labours of John Hunter. An indefatigable observer of nature,
+ untrammelled by educational forms, and thoroughly a sceptic in his
+ method of study, this large-minded surgeon of ours went to work at
+ inflammation with a full estimate of the physiological vastness of
+ his subject. He saw that, in order to understand inflammation, he
+ must regard it, not as one solitary fact of disease, but in
+ connexion with kindred phenomena--some of them truly morbid in
+ their nature, but many of them within the limits of health. He saw
+ that, for any one who would explain inflammation, all inequalities
+ of blood supply, all periodicities of growth, all actions of
+ sympathy, were part of the problem to be solved.' ... 'He cannot
+ be understood without more reflection than average readers will
+ give; and only they who are content to struggle through a veil of
+ obscure language, up to the very reality of his intent, can learn
+ with how great a master they are communing.' ... 'Doubtless, he
+ was a great discoverer. But it is for the spirit of his labours,
+ even more than for the establishment of new doctrine, that English
+ surgery is for ever indebted to him. Of facts in pathology, he
+ may, perhaps, be no permanent teacher; but to the student of
+ medicine he must always be a noble pattern. Emphatically, it may
+ be said of him, that he was the physiological surgeon. Others,
+ before him (Galen, for instance, eminently), had been at once
+ physiologists and practitioners; but science, in their case, had
+ come little into contact with practice. Never had physiology been
+ so incorporated with surgery, never been so applied to the
+ investigation of disease and the suggestion of treatment, as it
+ was by this master-workman of ours. And to him, so far as such
+ obligations can be personal, we assuredly owe it that, for the
+ last half-century, the foundations of English surgery have, at
+ least professedly, been changing from a basis of empiricism to a
+ basis of science.' _Simon on Inflammation_, in _A System of
+ Surgery_, edited by T. Holmes, London, 1860, vol. i. pp. 134-136.
+
+ [908] Mr. Bowman, in his _Principles of Surgery_ (_Encyclopaedia of the
+ Medical Sciences_, London, 4to, 1847) says (p. 831): 'Before the
+ time of Hunter, the operation was performed by cutting into the
+ sac of the aneurism, and tying the vessel above and below. So
+ formidable was this proceeding in its consequences, that
+ amputation of the limb was frequently preferred, as a less
+ dangerous and fatal measure. The genius of Hunter led him to tie
+ the femoral artery, in a case of popliteal aneurism, leaving the
+ tumour untouched. The safety and efficacy of this mode of
+ operating have now been fully established, and the principle has
+ been extended to all operations for the cure of this formidable
+ disease.' See also p. 873; _Paget's Surgical Pathology_, vol. i.
+ pp. 36, 37; and _Erichsen's Surgery_, pp. 141, 142, 508, 509.
+
+But, so far as his own immediate reputation was concerned, all was in
+vain. He was in the midst of a people who had no sympathy with that mode
+of thought which was most natural to him. They cared nothing for ideas,
+except with a few to direct and tangible results; he valued ideas for
+themselves, and for the sake of their truth, independently of all other
+considerations. His English contemporaries, prudent, sagacious, but
+short-sighted, seeing few things at a time, but seeing those things with
+admirable clearness, were unable to appreciate his comprehensive
+speculations. Hence, in their opinion, he was little else than an
+innovator and an enthusiast.[909] Hence, too, even the practical
+improvements which he introduced were coldly received, because they
+proceeded from so suspicious a source. The great Scotchman, thrown among
+a nation whose habits of mind were uncongenial to his own, stood, says
+one of the most celebrated of his disciples, in a position of solitary
+and comfortless superiority.[910] Indeed, so little was he regarded by
+that very profession of which he was the chiefest ornament, that, during
+the many years in which he delivered lectures in London on anatomy and on
+surgery, his audience never amounted to twenty persons.[911]
+
+ [909] 'The majority of Hunter's contemporaries considered his pursuits to
+ have little connexion with practice, charged him with attending to
+ physiology more than surgery, and looked on him as little better
+ than an innovator and an enthusiast.' _Ottley's Life of Hunter_,
+ p. 126. In a work, which was written by a surgeon only the year
+ after Hunter died, the reader is told, in regard to his remarkable
+ inquiries respecting animal heat, that 'his experiments, if they
+ be true, carry with them no manner of information:--if they be
+ true, no effect for the benefit of man can possibly be derived
+ from them.' _Foot's Life of Hunter_, London, 1794, p. 116. At p.
+ 225, the same practitioner reproaches the great philosopher with
+ propounding 'purely a piece of theory, without any practical
+ purpose whatever.' Foot, indeed, wrote under the influence of
+ personal feelings, but he rightly judged that these were the sort
+ of charges which would be most likely to prejudice the English
+ public against Hunter. It never occurred to Foot, any more than it
+ would occur to his readers, that the quest of truth, as truth, is
+ a magnificent object, even if its practical benefit is
+ imperceptible. One other testimony is worth quoting. Sir Astley
+ Cooper writes of Cline: 'His high opinion of Mr. Hunter shows his
+ judgment; for almost all others of Mr. Hunter's contemporaries,
+ although they praise him now, abused him while he lived.' _The
+ Life of Sir Astley Cooper, by Bransby Blake Cooper_, London, 1843,
+ vol. ii. p. 337.
+
+ [910] 'Those who far precede others, must necessarily remain alone; and
+ their actions often appear unaccountable, nay, even extravagant,
+ to their distant followers, who know not the causes that give rise
+ to them, nor the effects which they are designed to produce. In
+ such a situation stood Mr. Hunter, with relation to his
+ contemporaries. It was a comfortless precedence, for it deprived
+ him of sympathy and social co-operation.' _Abernathy's Hunterian
+ Oration_, p. 49.
+
+ [911] 'These he continued for several years; but so far were his
+ talents, and his enlightened views, from exciting the attention
+ they merited, that his hearers never amounted to twenty,'
+ _Ottley's Life of Hunter_, p. 28.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+I have now completed my examination of the Scotch intellect as it
+unfolded itself in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The
+difference between those two periods must strike every reader. In the
+seventeenth century, the ablest Scotchmen wasted their energies on
+theological subjects, respecting which we have no trustworthy
+information, and no means of obtaining any. On these topics, different
+persons and different nations, equally honest, equally enlightened, and
+equally competent, have entertained, and still entertain, the most
+different opinions, which they advocate with the greatest confidence, and
+support by arguments, perfectly satisfactory to themselves, but
+contemptuously rejected by their opponents. Each side deeming itself in
+possession of the truth, the impartial inquirer, that is, he who really
+loves truth, and knows how difficult it is to obtain it, seeks for some
+means by which he may fairly adjudicate between these conflicting
+pretensions, and determine which is right and which is wrong. The further
+he searches, the more he becomes convinced that no such means are to be
+found, and that these questions, if they do not transcend the limits of
+the human understanding, do, certainly, transcend its present resources,
+and have no chance of being answered, while other and much simpler
+problems are still unsolved. It would be strange, indeed, if we, ignorant
+of so many lower and subordinate matters, should be able to reach and
+penetrate these remote and complicated mysteries. It would be strange if
+we, who, notwithstanding the advances we have made, are still in the
+infancy of our career, and who, like infants, can only walk with unsteady
+gait, and are scarce able to move without stumbling, even on plain and
+level ground, should, nathless, succeed in scaling those dizzy heights,
+which, overhanging our path, lure us on where we are sure to fall.
+Unfortunately, however, men are, in every age, so little conscious of
+their deficiencies, that they not only attempt this impossible task, but
+believe they have achieved it. Of those who are a prey to this delusion,
+there are always a certain number, who, seated on their imaginary
+eminence, are so inflated by the fancied superiority, as to undertake to
+instruct, to warn, and to rebuke the rest of mankind. Giving themselves
+out as spiritual advisers, and professing to teach what they have not yet
+learned, they exhibit in their own persons that most consistent of all
+combinations, a combination of great ignorance with great arrogance. From
+this, other evils inevitably follow. The ignorance produces superstition;
+the arrogance produces tyranny. Hence it is, that, in a country like
+Scotland, where the pressure of long-continued and adverse circumstances
+has consolidated the power of these pretenders to wisdom, such sad
+results become conspicuous in every direction. Not only the national
+character, but also the national literature, feel their influence, and
+are coloured by them. It was, therefore, natural that, in Scotland, in
+the seventeenth century, when the authority of the clergy was most
+uncontrolled, the consequences of that authority should be most apparent.
+It was natural that a literature should be created such as that of which
+I have given some account; a literature which encouraged superstition,
+intolerance, and bigotry; a literature full of dark misgivings, and of
+still darker threats; a literature which taught men that it was wrong to
+enjoy the present, and that it was right to tremble at the future; a
+literature, in a word, which, spreading gloom on every side, soured the
+temper, corrupted the affections, numbed the intellect, and brought into
+complete discredit those bold and original inquiries, without which there
+can be no advance in human knowledge, and consequently no increase of
+human happiness.
+
+To this, the literature of the eighteenth century offered a striking and
+most exhilarating contrast. It seemed as if, in a moment, all was
+changed. The Baillies, the Binnings, the Dicksons, the Durhams, the
+Flemings, the Frasers, the Gillespies, the Guthries, the Halyburtons, the
+Hendersons, the Rutherfords, and the rest of that monkish rabble, were
+succeeded by eminent and enterprising thinkers, whose genius lighted up
+every department of knowledge, and whose minds, fresh and vigorous as the
+morning, opened for themselves a new career, and secured for their
+country a high place in the annals of European intellect. Something of
+what they effected, I have endeavoured to narrate; much, however, has
+been left untold. But I have brought forward sufficient evidence to
+convince even the most sceptical reader of the splendour of their
+achievements, and of the difference between the noble literature which
+they produced, and those wretched compositions which disfigured the
+preceding century.
+
+Still, great as the difference was, the two literatures had, as I have
+shown, one important point in common. Both were essentially deductive;
+and the proof of this I have given at considerable length, because,
+though it has, so far as I am aware, escaped the attention of all
+previous inquirers, its consequences were of the utmost moment to the
+fortunes of Scotland, and are, moreover, full of interest to those who,
+in their investigations of human affairs, desire to penetrate below the
+mere surface and symptoms of things.
+
+If we take a general view of those countries where science has been
+cultivated, we shall find that, wherever the deductive method of inquiry
+has predominated, knowledge, though often increased and accumulated, has
+never been widely diffused. On the other hand, we shall find that, when
+the inductive method has predominated, the diffusion of knowledge has
+always been considerable, or, at all events, has been beyond comparison
+greater than when deduction was prevalent. This holds good, not only of
+different countries, but also of different periods in the same country.
+It even holds good of different individuals in the same period, and in
+the same country. If, in any civilized nation, two men, equally gifted,
+were to propound some new and startling conclusion, and one of these men
+were to defend his conclusion by reasoning from ideas or general
+principles, while the other man were to defend his by reasoning from
+particular and visible facts, there can be no doubt that, supposing all
+other things the same, the latter man would gain most adherents. His
+conclusion would be more easily diffused, simply because a direct appeal,
+in the first instance, to palpable facts, strikes the vulgar with
+immediate effect; while an appeal to principles is beyond their ken, and
+as they do not sympathize with it, they are apt to ridicule it. Facts
+seem to come home to every one, and are undeniable. Principles are not so
+obvious, and, being often disputed, they have, to those who do not grasp
+them, an unreal and illusory appearance, which weakens their influence.
+Hence it is that inductive science, which always gives the first place to
+facts, is essentially popular, and has on its side those innumerable
+persons, who will not listen to the more refined and subtle teachings of
+deductive science. Hence, too, we find historically that the
+establishment of the modern inductive philosophy, with its varied and
+attractive experiments, its material appliances, and its constant appeal
+to the senses, has been intimately connected with the awakening of the
+public mind, and coincides with that spirit of inquiry, and with that
+love of liberty, which have been constantly advancing since the
+sixteenth century. We may assuredly say, that scepticism and democracy
+are the two leading features of this great scientific movement. The
+seventeenth century, which ushered in the Baconian philosophy, was
+remarkable for its insubordinate spirit, especially in the country where
+that philosophy originated, and where it most flourished. In the next
+age, it was transplanted into France, and there, too, it worked upon the
+popular mind, and, was, as I have already pointed out, one of the
+principal causes of the French Revolution.
+
+If we look still closer into this interesting question, we shall find
+further corroboration of the view, that the inferences of an inductive
+philosophy are more likely to be diffused than those of a deductive one.
+Inductive science rests immediately upon experience, or, at all events,
+upon experiment, which is merely experience artificially modified. Now,
+an immense majority of mankind, even in the most advanced countries, are,
+by the constitution of their minds, incapable of seizing general
+principles and applying them to daily affairs, without doing serious
+mischief, either to themselves, or to others. Such an application
+requires not only great dexterity, but also a knowledge of those
+disturbing causes which affect the operation of all general theorems. The
+task, being so difficult to perform, is rarely attempted; and average
+men, possessed of a tolerably sound judgment, do, with good reason, rely
+mainly on experience, which is to them a safer and more useful guide than
+any principle, however accurate and scientific it might be. This begets
+in their minds a prejudice on behalf of experimental inquiries, and a
+corresponding dislike of the opposite and more speculative method. And it
+can, I think, hardly be doubted, that one of the causes of the triumph of
+the Baconian philosophy, is the growth of the industrious classes, whose
+business-like and methodical habits are eminently favourable to empirical
+observations of the uniformities of sequence, since, indeed, on the
+accuracy of such observations the success of all practical affairs
+depends. Certainly, we find that the overthrow of the purely deductive
+scholasticism of the Middle Ages has been everywhere accompanied by the
+spread of trade; and whoever will carefully study the history of Europe,
+will discern many traces of a connexion between the two movements, both
+of which are marked by an increasing respect for material and empirical
+interests, and a disregard of ideal and speculative pursuits.
+
+The relation between all this and the popular tendency of induction is
+obvious. For one person who can think, there are at least a hundred
+persons who can observe. An accurate observer is, no doubt, rare; but an
+accurate thinker is far rarer. Of this the proofs are too abundant to be
+disputed. Indeed, no one can mix with his fellow-creatures, without
+seeing how much more natural it is for them to notice than to reflect;
+and how extremely unusual it is to meet with any one whose conversation,
+or whose writings, bear marks of patient and original thought. And,
+inasmuch as thinkers are more prone to accumulate ideas, while observers
+are more prone to accumulate facts, the overwhelming predominance of the
+observing class is a decisive reason why induction, which begins with
+facts, is always more popular than deduction, which begins with ideas. It
+is often said, and probably with truth, that all deduction is preceded by
+induction; so that, in every syllogism, the major premiss, however
+obvious and necessary it may appear, is merely a generalization of facts,
+or record of what the senses had already observed. But this opinion,
+whether true or false, does not affect what I have just stated, because
+it concerns the origin of our knowledge, and not its subsequent
+treatment; that is to say, it is a metaphysical opinion, rather than a
+logical one. For, even supposing that all deduction rests ultimately on
+induction, it is, nevertheless, certain that there are innumerable cases
+in which the induction takes place at so early a period of life that we
+are unconscious of it, and can by no effort recall the process. The
+axioms of geometry afford a good specimen of this. No one can tell when
+or how he first believed that the whole is greater than its part, or that
+things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another. All
+these preliminary steps are concealed from us, and the strength and
+dexterity of deduction are displayed in the subsequent steps by which the
+major premiss is adjusted, and, as it were, fitted to the minor. This
+often requires great subtlety of thought, and, in every instance, the
+external world is put aside, and lost sight of. The process, being ideal,
+has no concern, either with observations or experiments. The suggestions
+of the senses are shut out, while the mind passes through a long train of
+successive syllogisms, in which each conclusion is turned into the
+premiss of a new argument, until, at length, an inference is deductively
+obtained, which, to those who merely hear it enunciated, seems to have no
+connexion with the first premisses, though, in reality, it is the
+necessary consequence of them.
+
+A method, so recondite, and so hidden from the public gaze, can never
+command the public sympathy. Unless, therefore, the human mind should
+undergo some remarkable change in its nature as well as in its resources,
+the sensuous process of working upwards from particular facts to general
+principles, will always be more attractive than the ideal process of
+working downwards from principles to facts. In both cases, there is, no
+doubt, a line of argument essentially ideal; just as, in both cases,
+there is an assemblage of facts essentially sensuous. No method is pure,
+or stands entirely by itself. But, inasmuch as, in induction, the facts
+are more prominent than the ideas, while, in deduction, the ideas are
+more prominent than the facts, it is evident that conclusions arrived at
+by the former plan will, as a general rule, obtain a wider assent than
+conclusions arrived at by the latter plan. Obtaining a wider assent, they
+will produce more decisive results, and will be more likely to shape the
+national character and influence the course of national affairs.
+
+The only exception to this, is theology. There, the inductive method, as
+I have already observed, is inapplicable, and nothing remains but
+deduction, which is quite sufficient for the purposes of the theologian.
+For, he has a peculiar resource which supplies him with general
+principles, from which he can argue; and the possession of this resource
+forms the fundamental difference between him and the man of science.
+Science is the result of inquiry; theology is the result of faith. In the
+one, the spirit of doubt; in the other, the spirit of belief. In science,
+originality is the parent of discovery, and is, therefore, a merit; in
+theology, it is the parent of heresy, and is, therefore, a crime. Every
+system of religion the world has yet seen, recognizes faith as an
+indispensable duty; but to every system of science it is a hindrance,
+instead of a duty, inasmuch as it discourages those inquisitive and
+innovating habits on which all intellectual progress depends. The
+theologian, thus turning credulity into an honour, and valuing men in
+proportion as they are simple-minded and easy of belief, has little need
+to trouble himself with facts, which, indeed, he sets at open defiance,
+in his eagerness to narrate portentous, and often miraculous, events. To
+the inductive philosopher such a license is forbidden. He is obliged to
+ground his inferences on facts which no one disputes, or which, at all
+events, any one can either verify for himself, or see verified by others.
+And if he does not adopt this course, his inferences, be they ever so
+true, will have the greatest difficulty in working themselves into the
+popular mind, because they will savour of a subtlety and refinement of
+thought, which, more than any thing else, predisposes common
+understandings to reject the conclusions at which philosophers arrive.
+
+From the facts and arguments contained in this and the preceding chapter,
+the reader will, I trust, be able to see why it was that the Scotch
+intellect, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was
+preeminently deductive; and also why it was that, in the eighteenth
+century, the Scotch literature, notwithstanding its brilliancy, its
+power, and the splendid discoveries of which it was the vehicle, produced
+little or no effect on the nation at large. That literature, by its bold
+and innovating character, seemed peculiarly fitted to disturb ancient
+prejudices, and to rouse up a spirit of inquiry. But its method, both of
+investigation and of proof, was too refined to suit ordinary
+understandings. Therefore, upon ordinary understandings it was
+inoperative. In Scotland, as in ancient Greece, and in modern Germany,
+the intellectual classes, being essentially deductive, have been unable
+to influence the main body of the people. They have considered things at
+too great an altitude, and at too great a remove. In Greece, Aristotle
+alone had a true idea of what induction really was. But even he knew
+nothing of crucial instances and the theory of averages, the two capital
+resources of that inductive philosophy which we now possess. Neither did
+he, nor any of the great German philosophers, nor any of the great Scotch
+philosophers, attach sufficient importance to the slow and cautious
+method of gradually rising from each generalization to the one
+immediately above it, without omitting any intermediate generalizations.
+On this method, Bacon, indeed, insists too strongly, since many most
+important discoveries have been made independently of it, or, I should
+rather say, in contradiction to it. But it is a wonderful weapon, and
+none except men of real genius can dispense with its use. And when they
+do dispense with it, they cut themselves off from the general sympathies
+of their age and country. For, these small and proximate generalizations,
+which they neglect, are precisely those parts of philosophy which, being
+least removed from the region of visible facts, are best understood by
+the people, and, therefore, form the only common ground between thinkers
+and practitioners. They are a sort of middle term, which, being
+comprehended by both classes, is accessible to either. In all deductive
+reasoning, this intermediate, and, if I may so say, neutral, territory
+disappears, and the two classes have no meeting-place. Hence it is, that
+the Scotch philosophy, like the German philosophy, and like the Greek
+philosophy, has had no national influence. But in England, since the
+seventeenth century, and in France, since the eighteenth century, the
+prevailing philosophy has been inductive, and has, therefore, not only
+affected the intellectual classes, but also moved the public mind. The
+German philosophers are far superior, both in depth and in
+comprehensiveness, to the philosophers either of France or of England.
+Their profound researches have, however, done so little for their
+country, that the German people are every way inferior to the French and
+English people. So, too, in the philosophy of ancient Greece, we find a
+vast body of massive and original thought, and, what is infinitely
+better, we find a boldness of inquiry and a passionate love of truth,
+such as no modern nation has surpassed, and few modern nations have
+equalled. But the method of that philosophy was an insuperable barrier to
+its propagation. The people were untouched, and went grovelling on in
+their old folly, a prey to superstitions, most of which the great
+thinkers despised, and often attacked, but could by no means root out.
+Bad, however, as those superstitions were, we may confidently say that
+they were less noxious, that is, less detrimental to the happiness of
+man, than the repulsive and horrible notions advocated by the Scotch
+clergy, and sanctioned by the Scotch people. And on those notions the
+Scotch philosophy could make no impression. In Scotland, during the
+eighteenth century, superstition and science, the most irreconcilable of
+all enemies, flourished side by side, unable to weaken each other, and
+unable, indeed, to come into collision with each other. There was
+co-existence without contact. The two forces kept apart, and the result
+was, that, while the Scotch thinkers were creating a noble and most
+enlightened literature, the Scotch people, refusing to listen to those
+great masters of wisdom which their country possessed, remained in
+darkness, leaving the blind to follow the blind, and no one there to help
+them.
+
+It is, indeed, curious to observe how little effect was produced by the
+many great works written by Scotchmen in the eighteenth century. If we
+except the _Wealth of Nations_, I can hardly call to mind one which has
+perceptibly influenced public opinion. The reason of this exception may
+be easily explained. The _Wealth of Nations_ restricted the action of
+government within narrower limits than had ever been assigned to it by
+any other book of great merit. No previous political writer of admitted
+genius, had left so much to the people, and had demanded for them so much
+liberty in managing their own affairs, as Adam Smith did. The _Wealth of
+Nations_, being thus eminently a democratic book, was sure to find favour
+in Scotland, which was eminently a democratic country. Directly men heard
+its conclusions, they were prejudiced in favour of its arguments. So,
+too, in England, that love of liberty, which for many centuries has been
+our leading characteristic, and which does us more real honour than all
+our conquests, all our literature, and all our philosophy put together,
+invariably causes a popular bias on behalf of any claim to freedom. We,
+therefore, notwithstanding the activity of interested parties, were
+predisposed to the side of free trade, as one of the means of letting
+each man do what he liked with his own. But to imagine that ordinary
+minds are capable of mastering such a work as the _Wealth of Nations_,
+and of following without confusion its long and intricate arguments, is
+simply absurd. It has been read by tens of thousands of persons, who
+accept its conclusions because they like them; which is merely saying,
+because the movement of the age tends that way. The other great work of
+Adam Smith, namely, the _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, has had no
+influence except on a very small class of metaphysicians, although its
+style is, as some think, superior to the _Wealth of Nations_, and it is
+certainly easier to understand. It is, moreover, much shorter, which, to
+most readers, is no small recommendation; and it deals with subjects of
+great interest, which come home to the feelings of all. But the age, not
+caring for its conclusions, neglected its arguments. On the other hand,
+the _Wealth of Nations_ harmonized with the general tendency, and its
+success was supreme. It quickly moved, not only philosophers, but even
+statesmen and politicians, who eventually put into force its leading
+recommendations, though, as their laws and their speeches abundantly
+prove, they have never succeeded in mastering those great principles
+which underlie it, and of which the freedom of trade is but a minor
+accessory.
+
+Putting aside the _Wealth of Nations_, we shall find that the Scotch
+literature of the eighteenth century did scarcely any thing for Scotland,
+considered as a whole. How it has failed in its great aim of weakening
+superstition, is but too apparent to whoever has travelled in that
+country, and observed the habits and turn of mind still predominant. Many
+able and enlightened men who lived there, are so cowed by the general
+spirit, that, for their own comfort, and for the peace of their families,
+they make no resistance, but tacitly comply with what they heartily
+despise. That they err in doing so, I, at least, firmly believe; though I
+know that many honest, and in every respect competent, judges are of
+opinion, that no man is bound to be a martyr, or to jeopardize his
+personal interests, unless he clearly sees his way to some immediate
+public good. To me, however, it appears that this is a narrow view, and
+that the first duty of every one is to set his face in direct opposition
+to what he believes to be false, and, having done that, leave the results
+of his conduct to take care of themselves. Still, the temptation to a
+contrary course is always very strong, and, in a country like Scotland,
+is by many deemed irresistible. In no other Protestant nation, and,
+indeed, in no Catholic nation except Spain, will a man who is known to
+hold unorthodox opinions, find his life equally uncomfortable. In a few
+of the large towns, he may possibly escape animadversion, if his
+sentiments are not too bold, and are not too openly expressed. If he is
+timid and taciturn, his heresy may, perchance, be overlooked. But even in
+large towns, impunity is the exception, and not the rule. Even in the
+capital of Scotland, in that centre of intelligence which once boasted of
+being the Modern Athens, a whisper will quickly circulate that such an
+one is to be avoided, for that he is a free-thinker; as if free-thinking
+were a crime, or as if it were not better to be a free-thinker than a
+slavish thinker. In other parts, that is, in Scotland generally, the
+state of things is far worse. I speak, not on vague rumour, but from what
+I know as existing at the present time, and for the accuracy of which I
+vouch and hold myself responsible. I challenge any one to contradict my
+assertion, when I say that, at this moment, nearly all over Scotland, the
+finger of scorn is pointed at every man, who, in the exercise of his
+sacred and inalienable right of free judgment, refuses to acquiesce in
+those religious notions, and to practise those religious customs, which
+time, indeed, has consecrated, but many of which are repulsive to the eye
+of reason, though to all of them, however irrational they maybe, the
+people adhere with sullen and inflexible obstinacy. Knowing that these
+words will be widely read and circulated in Scotland, and averse as I
+naturally am to bring on myself the hostility of a nation, for whose many
+sterling and valuable qualities I entertain sincere respect, I do,
+nevertheless, deliberately affirm, that in no civilized country is
+toleration so little understood, and that in none is the spirit of
+bigotry and of persecution so extensively diffused. Nor can any one
+wonder that such should be the case, who observes what is going on there.
+The churches are as crowded as they were in the Middle Ages, and are
+filled with devout and ignorant worshippers, who flock together to listen
+to opinions of which the Middle Ages alone were worthy. Those opinions
+they treasure up, and, when they return to their homes, or enter into the
+daily business of life, they put them in force. And the result is, that
+there runs through the entire country a sour and fanatical spirit, an
+aversion to innocent gaiety, a disposition to limit the enjoyments of
+others, and a love of inquiring into the opinions of others, and of
+interfering with them, such as is hardly anywhere else to be found;
+while, in the midst of all this, there flourishes a national creed,
+gloomy and austere to the last degree, a creed which is full of
+forebodings and threats and horrors of every sort, and which rejoices in
+proclaiming to mankind how wretched and miserable they are, how small a
+portion of them can be saved, and what an overwhelming majority is
+necessarily reserved for excruciating, unspeakable, and eternal agony.
+
+Before bringing this volume to a close, it may be fitting that I should
+narrate an event, which, notwithstanding its recent occurrence, and the
+great attention it excited at the time, has, amid the pressure of
+weightier matters, fallen into comparative oblivion, although it is full
+of interest to those who study the various forms of national character,
+while it, moreover, supplies an admirable illustration of the essential
+antagonism which still exists between the Scotch and English minds; an
+antagonism extremely remarkable, when found among nations, both of whom,
+besides being contiguous, and constantly mixing together, speak the same
+language, read the same books, belong to the same empire, and possess the
+same interests, and yet are, in many important respects, as different as
+if there had never been any means of their influencing each other, and as
+if they had never had any thing in common.
+
+In the year 1853, the cholera, after having committed serious ravages in
+many parts of Europe, visited Scotland. There, it was sure to find
+numerous victims among a badly fed, badly housed, and not over-cleanly
+people. For, if there is one thing better established than another
+respecting this disease, it is that it invariably attacks, with the
+greatest effect, those classes who, from poverty or from sloth, are
+imperfectly nourished, neglect their persons, and live in dirty,
+ill-drained, or ill-ventilated dwellings. In Scotland, such classes are
+very numerous. In Scotland, therefore, the cholera must needs be very
+fatal. In this, there was nothing mysterious. On the contrary, the
+mystery would have been if an epidemic, like the Asiatic cholera, had
+spared a country like Scotland, where all the materials were collected on
+which pestilence feeds, and where filth, penury, and disorder, abound on
+every side.
+
+Under these circumstances, it must have been evident, not merely to men
+of science, but to all men of plain, sound understanding, who would apply
+their minds to the matter without prejudice, that the Scotch had only one
+way of successfully grappling with their terrible enemy. It behoved them
+to feed their poor, to cleanse their cesspools, and to ventilate their
+houses. If they had done this, and done it quickly, thousands of lives
+would have been spared. But they neglected it, and the country was thrown
+into mourning. Nay, they not only neglected it, but, moved by the dire
+superstition which sits like an incubus upon them, they adopted a course
+which, if it had been carried into full operation, would have aggravated
+the calamity to a frightful extent. It is well known that, whenever an
+epidemic is raging, physical exhaustion and mental depression make the
+human frame more liable to it, and are, therefore, especially to be
+guarded against. But, though this is a matter of common notoriety, the
+Scotch clergy, backed, sad to say, by the general voice of the Scotch
+people, wished the public authorities to take a step which was certain to
+cause physical exhaustion, and to encourage mental depression. In the
+name of religion, whose offices they thus abused and perverted to the
+detriment of man, instead of employing them for his benefit, they
+insisted on the propriety of ordering a national fast, which, in so
+superstitious a country, was sure to be rigidly kept, and, being rigidly
+kept, was equally sure to enfeeble thousands of delicate persons, and,
+before twenty-four hours were passed, prepare them to receive that deadly
+poison which was already lurking around them, and which, hitherto, they
+had just strength enough to resist. The public fast was also to be
+accompanied by a public humiliation, in order that nothing might be
+wanting to appal the mind and fill it with terror. On the same occasion,
+the preachers were to thunder from their pulpits and proclaim aloud the
+sins of the land; while the poor benighted people, panic-struck, were to
+sit in awe, were to remain the whole day without proper nourishment, and
+retire to their beds, weeping and starved. Then it was hoped that the
+Deity would be propitiated, and the plague be stayed. As soon as the
+entire nation had taken the course, which, of all others, was most
+certain to increase the mortality, it was believed that man having done
+his worst, the Almighty would interpose, would violate the laws of
+nature, and, by working a miracle, would preserve his creatures from
+what, without a miracle, would be the inevitable consequence of their
+own deliberate act.
+
+This was the scheme projected by the Scotch clergy, and they were
+determined to put it into execution. To give greater effect to it, they
+called upon England to help them, and, in the autumn of 1853, the
+Presbytery of Edinburgh, thinking that from their position they were
+bound to take the lead, caused their Moderator to address a letter,
+ostensibly to the English Minister, but in reality to the English nation.
+In this choice production, a copy of which is now lying before me, the
+Home Secretary is assured that the members of the Presbytery had delayed
+appointing a day for fasting and humiliation on their own ecclesiastical
+authority, because they thought it likely that one would be appointed by
+the royal authority. But as this had not been done, the Presbytery
+respectfully requested to be informed if it was intended to be done. They
+apologized for the liberty they were taking; they had no desire unduly to
+intrude themselves; neither did they wish the Home Secretary to answer
+their question unless he felt himself justified in doing so. Still, if he
+were able to answer it, they would be glad. For, there was no doubt that
+Asiatic cholera was in the country; and such being the case, the
+Presbytery of Edinburgh were interested in knowing if the appointment by
+the Queen of a national fast was in contemplation.[912]
+
+ [912] 'The members were of opinion,' writes the Moderator, 'that it
+ was likely, in the circumstances, that a national fast would be
+ appointed on royal authority. For this reason, they delayed
+ making an appointment for this locality, and directed me, in the
+ meantime, respectfully to request that you would be pleased to
+ say--if you feel yourself at liberty to do so--whether the
+ appointment of a national fast by the Queen is in contemplation.
+ The Presbytery hope to be excused for the liberty they use in
+ preferring this request.'
+
+This letter, which, through the medium of the press, was sure to become
+well known and to be widely read, was evidently intended to act on public
+opinion in England. It was, in fact, a covert reproach on the English
+Government for having neglected its spiritual duties, and for not having
+perceived that fasting was the most effectual way of stopping an
+epidemic. In Scotland, generally, it received great praise, and was
+regarded as a dignified rebuke addressed to the irreligious habits of the
+English people, who, seeing the cholera at their doors, merely occupied
+themselves with sanatory measures, and carnal devices to improve the
+public health, showing thereby that they trusted too much to the arms of
+the flesh. In England, on the other hand, this manifesto of the Scotch
+Church was met with almost universal ridicule, and, indeed, found no
+favourers except among the most ignorant and credulous part of the
+nation. The minister to whom it was addressed, was Lord Palmerston, a man
+of vast experience, and perhaps better acquainted with public opinion
+than any politician of his time. He, being well aware of the difference
+between Scotland and England, knew that what was suitable for one country
+was not suitable for the other, and that notions which the Scotch deemed
+religious, the English deemed fanatical. On a former occasion, the
+imperial government, yielding to the clamour which a few active and
+interested men succeeded in raising, had been foolish enough to set
+themselves in this matter in opposition to the temper of the age, and to
+enjoin public observances which, happily, were not strictly obeyed, but
+which, in so far as they were obeyed, heightened the general terror by
+reinforcing natural fears with supernatural ones, and thus, depressing
+the nervous system, increased the chance of mortality from the
+pestilence. To have the plague in our country is bad enough, since, do
+what we may, many victims will be struck down by it. But a fearful
+responsibility is entailed upon those who, at such a period, instead of
+exerting themselves to check its ravages, either by precautionary
+measures, or by soothing and re-assuring the people, do every thing in
+their power to aggravate the calamity, by encouraging that superstitious
+dread which weakens the popular energy at the very moment when energy is
+most requisite, and troubles the coolness, the self-reliance, and
+self-possession, without which no crisis of national danger can ever be
+averted.
+
+This time, however, there was no risk of the government committing so
+serious a blunder. Lord Palmerston, who knew that the sound sense of the
+English people would support him in what he was doing, directed a letter
+to be sent to the Presbytery of Edinburgh, which, unless I am greatly
+mistaken, will, in future ages, be quoted as an interesting document for
+illustrating the history of the progress of public opinion. A century
+ago, any statesman who had written such a letter, would have been driven
+from office by a storm of general indignation. Two centuries ago, the
+consequences to him would have been still more disastrous, and would,
+indeed, have ruined him socially, as well as politically. For, in it, he
+sets at defiance those superstitious fancies respecting the origin of
+disease, which were once universally cherished as an essential part of
+every religious creed. Traditions, the memory of which is preserved in
+the theological literature of all Pagan countries, of all Catholic
+countries, and of all Protestant countries, are quietly put aside, as if
+they were matters of no moment, and as if it were not worth while to
+discuss them. The Scotch clergy, occupying the old ground on which the
+members of their profession had always been accustomed to stand, took for
+granted that the cholera was the result of the divine anger, and was
+intended to chastise our sins. In the reply which they now received from
+the English Government, a doctrine was enunciated, which to Englishmen
+seems right enough, but which to Scotchmen sounded very profane. The
+Presbytery were informed, that the affairs of this world are regulated by
+natural laws, on the observance or neglect of which the weal or woe of
+mankind depends.[913] One of those laws connects disease with the
+exhalations of bodies; and it is by virtue of this law that contagion
+spreads, either in crowded cities, or in places where vegetable
+decomposition is going on. Man, by exerting himself, can disperse or
+neutralize these noxious influences. The appearance of the cholera proves
+that he has not exerted himself. The towns have not been purified; hence
+the root of the evil. The Home Secretary, therefore, advised the
+Presbytery of Edinburgh, that it was better to cleanse than to fast. He
+thought that the plague being upon them, activity was preferable to
+humiliation. It was now autumn, and before the hot weather would return,
+a considerable period must elapse. That period should be employed in
+destroying the causes of disease, by improving the abodes of the poor. If
+this were done, all would go well. Otherwise, pestilence would be sure to
+revisit them, 'in spite'--I quote the words of the English minister--'in
+spite of all the prayers and fastings of a united, but inactive
+nation.'[914]
+
+ [913] 'The weal or woe of mankind depends upon the observance or neglect
+ of those laws.'
+
+ [914] 'Lord Palmerston would, therefore, suggest that the best course
+ which the people of this country can pursue to deserve that the
+ further progress of the cholera should be stayed, will be to
+ employ the interval that will elapse between the present time and
+ the beginning of next spring in planning and executing measures by
+ which those portions of their towns and cities which are inhabited
+ by the poorest classes, and which, from the nature of things, must
+ most need purification and improvement, may be freed from those
+ causes and sources of contagion which, if allowed to remain, will
+ infallibly breed pestilence, and be fruitful in death, in spite of
+ all the prayers and fastings of a united, but inactive nation.'
+
+This correspondence between the Scotch clergy and the English statesman,
+is not to be regarded as a mere passing episode of light or temporary
+interest. On the contrary, it represents that terrible struggle between
+theology and science, which, having begun in the persecution of science,
+and in the martyrdom of scientific men, has, in these later days, taken a
+happier turn, and is now manifestly destroying that old theological
+spirit, which has brought so much misery and ruin upon the world. The
+ancient superstition, which was once universal, but is now slowly though
+surely dying away, represented the Deity as being constantly moved to
+anger, delighting in seeing His creatures abase and mortify themselves,
+taking pleasure in their sacrifices and their austerities, and,
+notwithstanding all they could do, constantly inflicting on them the most
+grievous punishments, among which the different forms of pestilence were
+conspicuous. It is by science, and by science alone, that these horrible
+delusions are being dissipated. Events, which formerly were deemed
+supernatural visitations, are now shown to depend upon natural causes,
+and to be amenable to natural remedies. Man can predict them, and man can
+deal with them. Being the inevitable result of their own antecedents, no
+room is left for the notion of their being special inflictions. This
+great change in our opinions is fatal to theology, but is serviceable to
+religion. For, by it, science, instead of being the enemy of religion,
+becomes its ally. Religion is to each individual according to the inward
+light with which he is endowed. In different characters, therefore, it
+assumes different forms, and can never be reduced to one common and
+arbitrary rule. Theology, on the other hand, claiming authority over all
+minds, and refusing to recognize their essential divergence, seeks to
+compel them to a single creed, and sets up one standard of absolute
+truth, by which it tests every one's opinions; presumptuously condemning
+those who disagree with that standard. Such arrogant pretensions need
+means of support. Those means are threats, which, in ignorant times, are
+universally believed, and which, by causing fear, produce submission.
+Hence it is, that the books of every theological system narrate acts of
+the grossest cruelty, which, without the least hesitation, are ascribed
+to the direct interposition of God. Humane and gentle natures revolt at
+such cruelties, even while they try to believe them. It is the business
+of science to purify theology, by showing that there has been no cruelty,
+because there has been no interposition. Science ascribes to natural
+causes, what theology ascribes to supernatural ones. According to this
+view the calamities with which the world is afflicted, are the result of
+the ignorance of man, and not of the interference of God. We must not,
+therefore, ascribe to Him what is due to our own folly, or to our own
+vice. We must not calumniate an all-wise and all-merciful Being, by
+imputing to Him those little passions which move ourselves, as if He were
+capable of rage, of jealousy, and of revenge, and as if He, with
+outstretched arm, were constantly employed in aggravating the sufferings
+of mankind, and making the miseries of the human race more poignant than
+they would otherwise be.
+
+That this remarkable improvement in religious ideas is due to the
+progress of physical science, is apparent, not only from general
+arguments which would lead us to anticipate that such must be the case,
+but also from the historical fact, that the gradual destruction of the
+old theology is everywhere preceded by the growth and diffusion of
+physical truths. The more we know of the laws of nature, the more clearly
+do we understand that every thing which happens in the material world,
+pestilence, earthquake, famine, or whatever it may be, is the necessary
+result of something which had previously happened. Cause produces effect,
+and the effect becomes, in its turn, a cause of other effects. In that
+operation, we see no gap, and we admit of no pause. To us, the chain is
+unbroken; the constancy of nature is unviolated. Our minds become
+habituated to contemplate all physical phenomena as presenting an
+orderly, uniform, and spontaneous march, and running on in one regular
+and uninterrupted sequence. This is the scientific view. It is also the
+religious view. Against it, we have the theological view; but that which
+has already lost its hold over the intellect of men is now losing its
+hold over their affections, and is so manifestly perishing, that at
+present no educated person ventures to defend it, without so limiting and
+guarding his meaning, as to concede to its opponents nearly every point
+which is really at issue.
+
+While, however, in regard to the material world, the narrow notions
+formerly entertained, are, in the most enlightened countries, almost
+extinct, it must be confessed that, in regard to the moral world, the
+progress of opinion is less rapid. The same men who believe that Nature
+is undisturbed by miraculous interposition, refuse to believe that man
+is equally undisturbed. In the one case, they assert the scientific
+doctrine of regularity; in the other, they assert the theological
+doctrine of irregularity. The reason of this difference of opinion is,
+that the movements of nature are less complex than the movements of man.
+Being less complex, they are more easily studied, and more quickly
+understood. Hence we find, that while natural science has long been
+cultivated, historical science hardly yet exists. Our knowledge of the
+circumstances which determine the course of mankind, is still so
+imperfect, and has been so badly digested, that it has produced scarcely
+any effect on popular ideas. Philosophers, indeed, are aware, that here,
+as elsewhere, there must be a necessary connexion between even the most
+remote and dissimilar events. They know that every discrepancy is capable
+of being reconciled, though we, in the present state of knowledge, may be
+unequal to the task. This is their faith, and nothing can wean them from
+it. But the great majority of people have a different faith. They believe
+that what is unexplained is inexplicable, and that what is inexplicable
+is supernatural. Science has explained an immense number of physical
+phenomena, and therefore, even to the vulgar, those phenomena no longer
+seem supernatural, but are ascribed to natural causes. On the other hand,
+science has not yet explained the phenomena of history; consequently, the
+theological spirit lays hold of them, and presses them into its own
+service. In this way there has arisen that famous and ancient theory,
+which has received the name of the moral government of the world. It is a
+high-sounding title, and imposes on many, who, if they examined its
+pretensions, would never be duped by them. For, like that other notion
+which we have just considered, it is not only unscientific, but it is
+eminently irreligious. It is, in fact, an impeachment of one of the
+noblest attributes of the Deity. It is a slur on the Omniscience of God.
+It assumes that the fate of nations, instead of being the result of
+preceding and surrounding events, is specially subject to the control and
+interference of Providence. It assumes that there are great public
+emergencies, in which such interference is needed. It assumes, that,
+without the interference, the course of affairs could not run smoothly;
+that they would be jangled and out of tune; that the play and harmony of
+the whole would be incomplete. And thus it is, that the very men who, at
+one moment, proclaim the Divine Omniscience, do, at the next moment,
+advocate a theory which reduces that Omniscience to nothing, since it
+imputes to an All-wise Being, that the scheme of human affairs, of which
+He must, from the beginning, have foreseen every issue and every
+consequence, is so weakly contrived as to be liable to be frustrated;
+that it has not turned out as He could have wished; that it has been
+baffled by His own creatures, and that, to preserve its integrity, its
+operations must be tampered with, and its disorders redressed. The great
+Architect of the universe, the Creator and Designer of all existing
+things, is likened to some clumsy mechanic, who knows his trade so ill,
+that he has to be called in to alter the working of his own machine, to
+supply its deficiencies, to fill up its flaws, and to rectify its errors.
+
+It is time that such unworthy notions should come to an end. It is time
+that what has long been known to philosophers, should also be known to
+historians, and that the history of mankind should cease to be troubled
+by what, to those who are imbued with the scientific spirit, must seem
+little better than arrant trifling. Of two things, choose one. Either
+deny the Omniscience of the Creator, or else admit it. If you deny it,
+you deny what, to my mind at least, is a fundamental truth, and, on these
+matters, there can be no sympathy between us. But if you admit the
+Omniscience of God, beware of libelling what you profess to defend. For
+when you assert what is termed the moral government of the world, you
+slander Omniscience, inasmuch as you declare that the mechanism of the
+entire universe, including the actions both of Nature and of Man, planned
+as it is by Infinite Wisdom, is unequal to its duties, unless that same
+Wisdom does from time to time interfere with it. You assert, in fact,
+either that Omniscience has been deceived, or that Omnipotence has been
+defeated. Surely, they who believe, and whose pride and happiness it is
+to believe, that there is a Power above all and before all, knowing all
+and creating all, ought not to fall into such a snare as this. They who,
+dissatisfied with this little world of sense, seek to raise their minds
+to something which the senses are unable to grasp, can hardly fail, on
+deeper reflection, to perceive how coarse and material is that
+theological prejudice, which ascribes to such a Power the vulgar
+functions of a temporal ruler, arrays him in the garb of an earthly
+potentate, and represents him as meddling here and meddling there,
+uttering threats, inflicting punishments, bestowing rewards. These are
+base and grovelling conceptions, the offspring of ignorance and of
+darkness. Such gross and sordid notions are but one remove from actual
+idolatry. They are the draff and offal of a bygone age, and we will not
+have them obtruded here. Well suited they were to those old and barbarous
+times, when men, being unable to refine their ideas, were, therefore,
+unable to purify their creed. Now, however, they jar upon us; they do not
+assimilate with other parts of our knowledge; they are incongruous; their
+concord is gone. Every thing is against them. They stand alone; there is
+nothing left with which they harmonize. The whole scope and tendency of
+modern thought force upon our minds conceptions of regularity and of law,
+to which they are diametrically opposed. Even those who cling to them, do
+so from the influence of tradition, rather than from complete and
+unswerving belief. That child-like and unhesitating faith, with which the
+doctrine of interposition was once received, is succeeded by a cold and
+lifeless assent, very different from the enthusiasm of former times.
+Soon, too, this will vanish, and men will cease to be terrified by
+phantoms which their own ignorance has reared. This age, haply, may not
+witness the emancipation; but, so surely as the human mind advances, so
+surely will that emancipation come. It may come quicker than any one
+expects. For, we are stepping on far and fast. The signs of the time are
+all around, and they who list may read. The handwriting is on the wall;
+the fiat has gone forth; the ancient empire shall be subverted; the
+dominion of superstition, already decaying, shall break away, and crumble
+into dust; and new life being breathed into the confused and chaotic
+mass, it shall be clearly seen, that, from the beginning, there has been
+no discrepancy, no incongruity, no disorder, no interruption, no
+interference; but that all the events which surround us, even to the
+furthest limits of the material creation, are but different parts of a
+single scheme, which is permeated by one glorious principle of universal
+and undeviating regularity.
+
+
+
+
+ INDEX.
+
+
+ Aberdeen, burnt by the Highlanders, iii. 22. Population of, in the
+ sixteenth century, 28. Linen manufacturers of, 180. The first county
+ bank in Scotland established in, 181. Tyranny of the Kirk session
+ of, 222
+
+ Abyssinians, their superstition as to the hyaena, i. 126 _note_. Causes
+ of the corruptions of the Christianity of the, i. 265 _note_
+
+ Academies, why favoured in France, ii. 127 _note_
+
+ Achenwall, considered to be the first writer on systematic statistics,
+ i. 33 _note_
+
+ Acoustics, creation of the science of, ii. 190
+
+ Adam of Bremen, cause of his error as to Turks in Finland, i. 299. His
+ authority in Northern geography, 299 _note_
+
+ Adanson, his botanical discoveries, ii. 397
+
+ Addison, Joseph, his establishment of the easy and democratic style of
+ writing, i. 437 _note_
+
+ Advocates, Faculty of, great part of the, expelled from Edinburgh,
+ iii. 145
+
+ Africa, condition of, in the desert of Sahara, i. 47, 48. Causes of its
+ stationary condition, 49
+
+ Agassiz, his classification of fossil ichthyology, ii. 383, 384
+
+ Ages, the Dark, ii. 108. Supremacy of the clergy at this period, 108
+
+ Agricola, Roman invasion of Scotland under, iii. 7
+
+ Agriculture, system of, of the Arabs of Spain, ii. 497
+
+ Agriculturists, causes of the superstitions of, i. 376, 379
+
+ Air, Boyle's discovery of the law of the elasticity of the, i. 368.
+ Marriott's confirmation of this law, 368 _note_
+
+ Albany, Regent of Scotland, his vigorous measures against the nobles,
+ iii. 45. Leaves Scotland, 57
+
+ Alberoni, his services to Spain, ii. 519, 522, 523
+
+ Alexander IV., Pope, his the first formal call to the secular power to
+ punish heretics, ii. 109 _note_
+
+ Alexandrian doctrine of development in religion, ii. 21 _note_
+
+ Alfred of Beverley, his abridgment of the history of Geoffrey of
+ Monmouth, i. 324
+
+ Alfred, King, causes of our admiration of, ii. 249 _note_. The
+ institutions popularly ascribed to him, 249 _note_
+
+ Alison, Sir A., his eulogy of William III., i. 403 _note_
+
+ Almansa, battle of, ii. 516
+
+ Alva, number of persons put to death by, in the Netherlands, ii. 451
+
+ Amazon river, extent of the, i. 97 _note_. Area drained by the,
+ 97 _note_. Origin of the name, i. 299 _note_
+
+ Amazons, origin in the North of Europe of the fable of the nation of,
+ i. 298, 299
+
+ Amboise, conspiracy of, predominance of the theological spirit shown in
+ the, ii. 10
+
+ Ambrose, St., his statement of the doctrine of predestination,
+ i. 13 _note_
+
+ America, policy of the Spaniards in, in the eighteenth century, ii. 557
+
+ America, Central, ancient civilization of, i. 93. Ruins and statues
+ extant in, 93 _note_. Evidences of the unequal distribution of wealth
+ in, 94. Question as to the races which formerly inhabited it, 94.
+ Character of the national religion of, 147
+
+ America, North, rivers of importance to be found almost wholly on the
+ eastern side of, i. 97. Causes of this, 97 _note_. Extent of the Amazon
+ alone, 97 _note_. Area drained by the Mississippi, 97. The Oregon the
+ boundary of the Californian flora, 97 _note_. One of the main causes of
+ the fertility of America, heat, 98. Difference between the heat of the
+ eastern and western coasts, 98. Early state of the North American
+ tribes, 99 _note_. Intercourse between the north-east of Asia and the
+ north-west of America, 99 _note_. Another main cause of fertility of,
+ irrigation, 97. Calvinism the popular creed of the republics of,
+ ii. 339
+
+ America, South, no great river on the western side of, i. 97, 98.
+ Difference between the heat and moisture of the eastern and western
+ coasts of, 100. Way in which the trade-wind is connected with the
+ civilization of, 103. Physical condition of Brazil, 103-107. And of
+ Peru, 107 _et seq._ Exuberance of the maize plant in Mexico and Peru,
+ 109. And of the banana, 111. The Mexican and Peruvian kingdoms, and
+ the effect of the physical laws under which they existed, 113-117
+
+ America, United States of. See United States
+
+ Anabaptists, number of, put to death in Holland, i. 189 _note_
+
+ Anatomy, experiments of Descartes in, ii. 80. State of the study of,
+ in the reign of Louis XIV., 197 _note_. Daubenton's union of
+ comparative anatomy with geology, 371. Cuvier's system, 376, 377.
+ Bichat's labours, 378. Results of the study of the tissues, 383. Value
+ of the examination of the teeth of animals, 384
+
+ Andrews, St., burnt by the English, iii. 14. The University of,
+ founded, 40 _note_
+
+ Aneurism, Hunter's improvement in the practice of, iii. 456
+
+ Anglo-Saxons, free men of the, all trained to the use of arms, i. 203
+ _note_. War and religion the absorbing subjects among the, 204 _note_
+
+ Animal life, examination of Bichat's work on, ii. 390
+
+ Anne, Queen, effects of her love for the clergy, i. 419. Her want of
+ abilities, as shown in her letters, 419 _note_
+
+ Antichrist, Audigier's statement respecting, ii. 281
+
+ Antinomianism, principles of Calvin leading to, ii. 338
+
+ Antiquities, study of, i. 2
+
+ Antiquity, harm worked by veneration of, i. 134. Marvellous feats of the
+ ancients as recorded in Sanscrit works, 135. The Hindu poets'
+ statements as to the duration of life in the early age of the world,
+ 135. Undue reverence for antiquity, ii. 139. Voltaire's attack on the
+ admiration entertained for old writers, 306
+
+ Antonio, Spanish bibliographer, ii. 480
+
+ Apostates, number of, produced by religious persecution, i. 189
+
+ Aquinas, Thomas, on the doctrine of providential interference, i. 19
+
+ Arabs, causes of their permanent barbarism in Arabia, i. 45. Their
+ foundation of empires in Europe and Asia, 46. Their cultivation of
+ astronomy, 47 _note_. Their conquests in Spain, ii. 439. The struggles
+ which ensued between the Spaniards and Arabians, 439. Re-establishment
+ of the Spanish Christian monarchy, and extinction of the Arab power,
+ 440. Their expulsion from Spain, 485 _et seq._ Number expelled, 494.
+ Their manufactures and system of husbandry, 497
+
+ Aranda, his attacks on the Inquisition, ii. 547
+
+ Archery, attempts to revive, in the reign of Elizabeth, i. 205 _note_
+
+ Architecture, condition of, in the reign of Louis XIV., ii. 209
+
+ Argensola, Spanish poet, ii. 480
+
+ Arian controversy, the, at the beginning of the last century, i. 427
+
+ Arianism established in Spain by the Visigoths, ii. 434
+
+ Aristocracy, commencement of hereditary, in Europe, ii. 112. Reason
+ why the aristocracy possessed more power in France than in England,
+ 113. Policy of William the Conqueror and of Henry II. in reducing the
+ power of the nobles, 114 and _note_. Right of the nobles in France to
+ wage private war, 115. But in England they were glad to ally
+ themselves with the people against the Crown, 116. Instances of the
+ power of the French nobles, 128. Effect of the Wars of the Roses upon
+ the English nobles, 138. Aversion of the aristocracy to innovation,
+ and reverence for antiquity, 139. Causes of the alliance between the
+ nobles and clergy, 140. The noble class weakened in the reign of
+ Elizabeth, 143, 145. Aristocratic characters of the rebellion of 1569,
+ 144. Abeyance of the ducal order, 146. Attempts made by James I. and
+ Charles I. to revive the power of the nobles, 147. Conduct of the
+ nobles in the Great English Rebellion, 152. Determination of the
+ rebels as to the nobles, 153. The House of Peers abolished, 153.
+ Vanity and imbecility of the French nobles, 162. Instances of this,
+ 164 _et seq._ Arminianism always connected with aristocracy, 339.
+ Reasons for this, 341. Causes of the power of the nobles of Scotland,
+ iii. 19. Coalition of the Crown and clergy in Scotland against the
+ nobles, 34. Ignorance of the Scotch nobles, 40, 41. Causes of the
+ decline of the power of the Scotch nobles, 162, 167
+
+ Aristotle, authority of, overthrown by Descartes, ii. 91, 92
+
+ Ark, the, of Auriol, i. 331
+
+ Armada, the Spanish, ii. 453
+
+ Armies, origin of standing, i. 206, 207, 397. And of the custom of
+ employing mercenaries, 207. Computation of the proportion of soldiers
+ to civilians which a country can bear, 208 _note_
+
+ Arminianism, connexion of free will with, i. 14. Its feud with
+ Calvinism, ii. 338. Arminianism always aristocratic, 339. Arminianism
+ the popular creed in England at the beginning of the seventeenth
+ century, 339, 340. This doctrine one for the rich, 340. Causes of
+ this, 341, 342. Arminianism more favourable to the arts than to the
+ sciences, 342
+
+ Armorial bearings, origin of, in Europe, ii. 112
+
+ Arran, Earl of, regent of Scotland, iii. 70
+
+ Art, condition of, in the reign of Louis XIV., ii. 206-208
+
+ Arthur, King, history of, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, i. 321
+
+ Aselli, his discovery of the lacteals, ii. 81
+
+ Asia, region of, in which wealth and progress can alone exist, i. 44,
+ 45. The birthplace of almost all the cruel diseases now prevalent in
+ Europe, 130
+
+ Asser, question of the genuineness of his Life of Alfred, ii. 249
+
+ Astronomy, the only branch of knowledge raised to a science by the
+ Arabs, i. 47 _note_. Success with which it was cultivated by the
+ ancient Mexicans, 112. Encouraged by Louis XIV., ii. 191. His eminent
+ astronomers not French but foreigners, 191. Newton's discoveries, 191.
+ Practical astronomy unknown in Scotland in the seventeenth century,
+ iii. 285 _note_
+
+ Atomic theory, importance of the, ii. 364 _note_
+
+ Atheism, rise and progress of, in France, ii. 351. Publication of the
+ 'Encyclopaedia,' 351. The 'System of Nature,' 351. French atheists in
+ 1623, 95 _note_
+
+ Atmosphere, consequences resulting from the weight of the, pointed out
+ by Descartes, ii. 78
+
+ Atomic doctrine, the natural precursor of Platonism, i. 10. The doctrine
+ of Chance of the atomists, 10
+
+ Atterbury, Bishop, his remarks on the condition of the Church in the
+ time of Anne and George I., i. 442 _note_
+
+ Audigier, examination of his 'Origin of the French,' ii. 279
+
+ Audra, his 'Abridgment of General History,' suppressed, ii. 238. His
+ death, 239
+
+ Augustin, St., the doctrine of predestination first systematically
+ methodized by, i. 13
+
+ Aurelius, Marcus, the Emperor, causes of his violent persecution of the
+ Christians, i. 186
+
+ Averages, doctrine of, its importance, i. 23 _note_
+
+ Avocats-generaux, of the eighteenth century, their functions, ii. 245
+ _note_
+
+
+ Bacon, Lord, effect of his secular philosophy, i. 329. Translation of
+ his works into French, ii. 218
+
+ Baikal, dangers of the Lake of, and their effect on the Baikal sailors,
+ i. 376 _note_
+
+ Baillou, his advancement of pathology, ii. 195
+
+ Bali, Javanese traditions preserved in the island of, i. 306
+
+ Ballads the form and groundwork of early history, i. 291. National
+ bards, 292. Antiquity of rhyme, 293 _note_. General accuracy of the
+ early ballads, 295 _note_
+
+ Balls forbidden by the French Protestants, ii. 70
+
+ Banana, extraordinary reproductive powers of the, i. 111. Its nutritive
+ powers as compared with those of potatoes and wheat, 111
+
+ Bangorian controversy, effect of the, i. 427
+
+ Bank, the first County, in Scotland, iii. 181
+
+ Bannockburn, battle of, iii. 15
+
+ Bards known in almost all nations, i. 292, 293. Those of Gaul,
+ Scotland, and Ireland, 292 _note_. Cause of the extinction of the
+ class of bards, 296
+
+ Bargeton, suppression of the 'Letters' of, ii. 238
+
+ Bark, its discredit in France as a 'remede anglais,' ii. 214 _note_
+
+ Baron, different meanings attached to the word, ii. 114
+
+ Barrow, Isaac, his virtues and abilities, i. 393. Neglect with which
+ he was treated by Charles II., 393
+
+ Barter, misconception of the true nature of barter in early times,
+ i. 210-212
+
+ Bartholomew, St., massacre of, predominance of the theological spirit
+ shown in the, ii. 11
+
+ Basilides, his views of predestination, i. 13 _note_
+
+ Baxter, Richard, persecution of, i. 398
+
+ Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrew's, compelled to resign his office of
+ Chancellor, iii. 57. His conspiracy, 58
+
+ Beaton, Cardinal, his persecution of the Protestants, iii. 63.
+ Arrested, 70. Conspiracy to assassinate him, 73, 74
+
+ Beaumarchais, his 'Memoirs' burned, ii. 237
+
+ Beauvais, Bishop of, his proposal to the Dutch, ii. 38 _note_
+
+ Bedford, Earl of, joins the Parliamentary forces, but deserts them,
+ ii. 151, 152
+
+ Being, obscurities of our, solved by the doctrines of free will and
+ predestination, i. 12
+
+ Benares, cases of suicide by drowning at, i. 26 _note_
+
+ Bentham, Jeremy, his demolition of the usury laws, i. 214 _note_. His
+ method of investigating speculative jurisprudence, i. 426
+
+ Bentley, Richard, his corrupt English style, ii. 307
+
+ Berkeley, Bishop, his erroneous notions of trade, i. 212 _note_
+
+ Berthault, his method of writing history, ii. 270
+
+ Berwick, Duke of, appointed Generalissimo of the Spanish army, ii. 515.
+ Gains the battle of Almansa, 516
+
+ Berwick destroyed by the English, iii. 13
+
+ Berwick, treaty of, iii. 81
+
+ Berzelius, his attempts to reduce mineralogical phenomena, ii. 399
+
+ Bichat, impetus given to the study of zoology by, ii. 376. Sketch of
+ his method of investigation of the human frame, 379. His views
+ respecting the tissues, 379. Publication of his great work, 380.
+ Connexion between his views and subsequent discoveries, 380-388.
+ Immense importance of his method of investigation, 388. Examination of
+ his work on life, 390
+
+ Birmingham, establishment of the first circulating library in, i. 431
+ _note_. Not a bookseller in the town in the reign of Anne, 422 _note_.
+ First printing office in, 432 _note_
+
+ Bishops, precarious tenure with which they hold their seats in the House
+ of Lords, i. 418
+
+ Black, David, his violent sermon against James VI., iii. 107. Thrown
+ into prison, 108, 109
+
+ Black, Joseph, examination of his theory of latent heat, iii. 367. And
+ of his method of physical philosophy, 368
+
+ Blackburne on 'The Confessional' ferment caused by, i. 428
+
+ Blackstone, Sir W., his 'Commentaries' translated into French, ii. 219
+
+ Blanca, Florida, prime minister of Spain, his reforms, ii. 548.
+ Concludes a treaty with Turkey, 549
+
+ Blood, discovery of the circulation of the, by Harvey, neglected by
+ his contemporaries, ii. 80. But recognized by Descartes, 81. Hunter's
+ discovery as to the red globules of the, iii. 436. Corroboration of
+ his views after his death, 438
+
+ Bodin, John, his character as a historian, i. 326
+
+ Boileau, pensioned to write a History of France for Louis XIV., ii. 277
+
+ Bombs, invention of, i. 206 _note_
+
+ Boncerf, his treatise on 'Feudal Law' burned, ii. 237
+
+ Book Clubs and Book Societies, establishment of, i. 433
+
+ Books, only use of, i. 267
+
+ Boots, the torture of the, iii. 148
+
+ Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, character of his 'Universal History,' ii.
+ 282. Connexion between his opinions and the despotism of Louis XIV.,
+ 289. Character of his writings, 290. His singular arrogance, 290. His
+ works compared with those of Voltaire, 291
+
+ Botany, importance of the study of, ii. 197, 198. First steps in the
+ study of, 198. Discoveries of the seventeenth century, 199. Nothing
+ done in France in botanical discovery during the reign of Louis XIV.,
+ 200. Labours of the French in, 395. Goethe's discoveries, 396. Number
+ of known species, 396 _note_
+
+ Botany. The natural method superseding the artificial one of Linnaeus,
+ ii. 397. Jussieu's generalizations, 397, 398. Phyllotaxis, 399 _note_
+
+ Boucquet, suppression of the 'Letters' of, ii. 208
+
+ Boyle, Robert, his doubts as to the theological and scientific
+ theories of diseases, i. 128 _note_. Influence of the spirit of
+ opposition to unsupported authority on, 367. His great discoveries,
+ 368. His view of the importance of individual experiments, and
+ disregard of ancient authority, 369. His doubts and caution as shown
+ in his works, 370
+
+ Brahmanism, remote period of its establishment in India, i. 301.
+ Introduction of a form of, into China, 302
+
+ Brain, amount of phosphorus in the, i. 57 _note_. Excretion of the
+ phosphorus under certain circumstances, 57 _note_. Doctrines of the
+ improvement of the human brain by transmission, 176 _note_
+
+ Brazil, causes of the gorgeousness of the fauna and flora of, i. 103,
+ 104. Description of the rainy season of, 103 _note_. Inveterate
+ barbarism of the natives of, 105 _note_. Smallness of the population
+ of, 107
+
+ Brissot, his knowledge of the English language and literature, ii. 225.
+ His admiration for the English Constitution, 229
+
+ Bristol, Earl of, his notions of political economy, i. 212 _note_
+
+ Brougham, Lord, his life of Robert Simson, i. 248 _note_
+
+ Browne, Sir Thomas, influence of the spirit of opposition to
+ unsupported authority on, i. 365. His 'Vulgar and Common Errors' and
+ 'Religio Medici,' 365. His love of botany, 200
+
+ Brunfels, his investigations in the vegetable kingdom, ii. 198 _note_
+
+ Buchanan, George, character of his works, iii. 183
+
+ Buffier, the only Jesuit whose name has a place in abstract philosophy,
+ ii. 342
+
+ Buffon, his knowledge of the English language and literature, ii. 218.
+ His translations of Newton and Hales, 218. Compelled to publish a
+ recantation of some of his views on geology, 236. His geological
+ theory, 368
+
+ Burgos, decay of, in the seventeenth century, ii. 503
+
+ Burke's, Edmund, his remarks on the decline of the abilities of
+ official men under George III., i. 449. His great ability and
+ accomplishments, 455, 456. His practical political principles, 458.
+ His view of the true end of legislation, 459 _note_. Effect which his
+ profound views produced in the House of Commons, 460 _note_. His
+ attack on the delusions of his time, 461. His opposition to the views
+ of George III., and consequent neglect, 461. His anticipation and
+ defence of most of the great measures of the present generation, 462,
+ 463. His subsequent hallucinations and violence, 467. His rupture with
+ Fox, 469. His hostility to Condorcet and La Fayette, 470, 471.
+ Favoured in his degeneracy by George III., 476, 477
+
+ Burnet, Bishop, offer to him of a pension for a history of France,
+ ii. 277, 278
+
+
+ Caithness seized by the Norwegians, iii. 11
+
+ Calderon, his fanaticism for the Inquisition, ii. 481
+
+ Californian flora, the Oregon or Columbia river the boundary of the,
+ i. 97 _note_
+
+ Calonne, M., his attack on the church property, ii. 333
+
+ Calvin, John, his doctrine of predestination, i. 13
+
+ Calvinism, its feud with Arminianism, ii. 338. Calvinism always
+ democratic, 339. This doctrine one for the poor, 340. Animosity of the
+ Church of Rome against it, 341. Reasons why it is the doctrine of the
+ poor, 341, 342. More favourable to the sciences than to the arts, 342.
+ Reasons why the professors of this religion are likely to acquire
+ habits of independent thinking, 342, 343. The doctrine of necessity,
+ 343. Alliance of Jansenism with Calvinism, 343
+
+ Campbell, Lord, character of his 'Lives of the Chancellors,'
+ i. 441 _note_
+
+ Camus, his Jansenism, ii. 345
+
+ Cannibalism in Scotland, iii. 17
+
+ Canons, invention of, i. 206 _note_
+
+ Capital, Adam Smith's views as to, iii. 327
+
+ Carbon, in food, i. 55 _et seq._
+
+ Carolan, the last Irish bard, i. 292 _note_
+
+ Carra, his familiarity with the English language and literature, ii. 224
+
+ Carrillo, Martin, Spanish jurisconsult and historian, ii. 480
+
+ Cartaud, suppression of his 'Essay on Taste,' ii. 237
+
+ Cartwright, Dr., the nonjuring bishop, i. 412 _note_
+
+ Cashmere, rent paid by the cultivator to the sovereign in, i. 76 _note_
+
+ Casualties, diminution of, one cause of the increased duration of life,
+ i. 153
+
+ Catholics, Roman, their doctrines compared with those of Protestants,
+ i. 261. Importance of the Toleration Act to them, 402 _note_. Causes
+ which led to the feeling in favour of Catholic Emancipation, 426.
+ Burke's advocacy of Roman Catholic claims, 462. Importance of the
+ Emancipation Bill, 502. Obligations Europe is under to the Catholic
+ clergy, ii. 5 _note_. Intolerance of Roman Catholics compared with
+ that of Protestants, 51. Pliancy of the Roman Church against morals,
+ and its inflexibility in regard to dogmas, 52 _note_. Theory of
+ indulgences, 339. Animosity of the Church of Rome against Calvinism,
+ ii. 341
+
+ Causes, final, the study of, abandoned by Descartes, ii. 91. And by
+ Bacon and Auguste Comte, 91 _note_. Authorities for the injury it has
+ wrought, 91 _note_
+
+ Caussin, 'le petit pere,' exiled by Richelieu, ii. 29, 30
+
+ Cavaliers, the name and the English civil war, ii. 149
+
+ Cavendish, Henry, method employed by him in the discovery of the
+ composition of water, iii. 403
+
+ Celibacy of the clergy, opposed by the principle of hereditary rank,
+ ii. 113. Period of the first general and decisive movement in its
+ favour, 113 _note_
+
+ Centralization, in France, the natural successor of feudality, ii.
+ 122. Its baneful effects, 123. How the system actually works, 123
+ _note_. Its results in France compared with the freedom of England,
+ 126, 127
+
+ Certainty contrasted with precision in writing history, ii. 325
+
+ Cervantes, becomes a monk, ii. 479. His joy at the expulsion of the
+ Moors from Spain, 496 _note_
+
+ Chance, doctrine of, i. 8. Causes of its displacement by the doctrine
+ of Necessary Connection, 9. The doctrine of Chance of the atomists, 10
+
+ Chancery, Court of, early exertion of its powers against persecution,
+ i. 345 _note_
+
+ Chantilly, the actress, story of, ii. 243
+
+ Character, knowledge of, a key to results and action, i. 18, 19
+
+ Charlemagne. His droves of pigs, i. 314 _note_. His history as related
+ by Archbishop Turpin, 318
+
+ Charles I., character of the opposition to ecclesiastical authority in
+ the reign of, i. 359. This king's attempts to revive the power of the
+ aristocracy, and adopt the superannuated theories of protection, ii.
+ 147. How treated by his Scottish subjects, iii. 4, 134. Sold by the
+ Scotch to the English, 135. His execution, 136. Character of the war
+ against him in England compared with that of the Scotch, 197
+
+ Charles II., frivolous form of the opposition to ecclesiastical
+ authority in the reign of, i. 362. His deism, 362 _note_. His last
+ refuge in superstition, 362 _note_. Antagonism in his reign between
+ the physical sciences and the theological spirit, 372. Legislative
+ improvements of this reign in spite of political degradation, 381.
+ Character of Charles II., and condition of the kingdom in his reign,
+ 381, 382. Aid given by his vices to the comprehensive reforms of his
+ reign, 388. And by his dislike of the clergy, 389. Character of this
+ king's ecclesiastical appointments, 391. His inability to do permanent
+ harm to English institutions, ii. 466. Compelled by the Scotch to sign
+ a public declaration, iii. 136. His oppressions of the Scotch,
+ 137-139. His attempted despotism baffled by the Scotch, 140
+
+ Charles II. of Spain, his character, ii. 468-470. Misery of Spain during
+ his reign, 501-510. His death, 513
+
+ Charles III. of Spain, vigour and success of his rule, ii. 552 _et seq._
+ His death, 571
+
+ Charles IV. of Spain, his accession, ii. 571. Reaction begun by him, 571
+
+ Charles V. the Emperor, his domestic and foreign policy, ii. 446. His
+ humiliation of the Protestant princes in Germany, 446. His repulse of
+ the Turks before Vienna, 446. Number of heretics put to death in the
+ Netherlands during his reign, 447. His codicil to his will as to
+ dealing with heretics, 448. Causes of his barbarous policy, 449
+
+ Charles IX., his massacre of St. Bartholomew, ii. 13
+
+ 'Charles XII., History of,' Voltaire's, ii. 292. Charles's only
+ merits, 293. Voltaire's admiration of him, 293. His murder of Patkul,
+ 293
+
+ Charles the Bald, initiates a hereditary aristocracy in Europe, ii. 112
+
+ Charron, Pierre, reputation of his 'De la Sagesse,' ii. 19. Its purity
+ and systematic completeness, 19. Analysis of the work, 20, 21
+
+ Charta, Magna, peculiar beauty of, ii. 117
+
+ Chateaubriand, his method, ii. 389 _note_
+
+ Chatillon, Marshal, ii. 43
+
+ Chauvelin, his Jansenism, ii. 345
+
+ Chemistry, the law of definite proportions in as laid down by Turner,
+ i. 59 _note_. Boyle's discoveries in, 369. His 'Sceptical Chemist,'
+ 370. Study of, forbidden by the French Protestants, ii. 69. State of
+ the science of, in the reign of Louis XIV., 197. Causes of its great
+ progress in modern times, 365. The existence of chemistry as a science
+ due to France, 366. Discoveries of Lavoisier, 367. Formation of a
+ chemical nomenclature, 368. Inability of chemistry to reduce
+ mineralogical phenomena, 399. Popularity of Fourcroy's lectures,
+ 407 _note_
+
+ Childebert, King of the Franks, attacks the Arian Visigoths,
+ ii. 435 _note_
+
+ Chillingworth, William, his 'Religion of Protestants,' i. 347. His
+ connexion and correspondence with Laud, 347. His work compared with
+ those of Hooker and Jewel, 348. The right of private judgment held
+ sacred by him, 349, 352. Popularity of his work, 352 _note_. His
+ scepticism compared with that of Hooker, ii. 86
+
+ China, gunpowder said to have been used at an early period in, i. 203
+ _note_. Causes of the trustworthiness of the early annals of, 302.
+ Antiquity of the history of, 302 _note_. Early knowledge of printing
+ in, 302 _note_
+
+ Chivalry, origin of, ii. 131. Influence of, on the nobles, 132.
+ Results of the institution of, 132. Origin of the orders of chivalry,
+ 133. Merits ascribed to chivalry, 133 _note_. Small influence of
+ chivalry in England, 134. The ballad of the 'Turnament of Tottenham,'
+ 136 _note_. Extinct in England in the fifteenth century, 135. Relation
+ between chivalry and duelling, 136
+
+ Choiseul, De, his anti-ecclesiastical policy, ii. 333. Openly protects
+ the Jansenists, 345
+
+ Cholera, attempts made to revive the theological theory of disease on
+ the first outbreak of the, i. 128 _note_. And again in Scotland,
+ iii. 473
+
+ Christianity, influence of religion on the progress of society
+ illustrated by the early history of, i. 258. And by the history of
+ Catholicism and Protestantism, 261. Baneful effects of the
+ interference of governments with the opinions of the people, 261, 262.
+ Causes of the corruptions of the Christianity of the Abyssinians and
+ of the Oguiche Indians, 265 _note_. The crusade against Christianity
+ one of the antecedents of the French Revolution, ii. 247-257. Causes
+ of the Roman persecutions, i. 185
+
+ Church property, Vattel's opinions respecting, quoted, ii. 31 _note_
+
+ Church, the revenues of the, seized and appropriated by the contracting
+ parties to the peace of Westphalia, ii. 41
+
+ Church of England. See Clergy, English
+
+ Chyle, discovery of the, ii. 194
+
+ Circular progression, doctrine of, ii. 377
+
+ Clanship, in Scotland, causes of the abolition of, iii. 167, 168
+
+ Clarke, Adam, the last scholar of European repute amongst the
+ Dissenters, i. 422
+
+ Classes, the two, in France, before the Revolution, ii. 128 _et seq._
+ The Great Rebellion of England a war of, 150. Opposite character of
+ the Fronde in France, 150
+
+ Classical scholars and commentators, Locke and Voltaire's attacks on,
+ ii. 306-308
+
+ Clergy, the influence of the, the cause of the corruption of early
+ history, i. 307. Their meddling, inquisitive, and vexatious spirit,
+ ii. 72. Supremacy of the clergy in the Dark Ages, 108. Period when the
+ spirit of inquiry began to weaken the church, 108, 109. And when the
+ clergy began to punish men for thinking for themselves, 109. The first
+ constitution addressed 'inquisitoribus haereticae pravitatis,' 109
+ _note_. Connection between the feudal system and the ecclesiastical
+ spirit, 110, 111. Causes of the alliance between the clergy and the
+ nobles, 140. The clergy weakened in the reign of Elizabeth, 143
+
+ Clergy, English, attempts of the, in the reign of Charles II. to oppose
+ the spread of physical science, i. 372. Reasons for their hostility,
+ 373. Destruction of the privileges of the clergy to burn heretics and
+ tax themselves, 383. The tender of the ex-officio oath prevented by
+ law, 384. Dislike of Charles II. of the clergy, 389. Causes of this
+ dislike, 389. Character of his ecclesiastical appointments, 391.
+ Efforts of the clergy in this reign to revive the doctrines of passive
+ obedience and divine right, 394. Good churchmen always bad citizens,
+ 395 _note_. Alliance between the Protestant clergy and the Roman
+ Catholic king James II., 395. Dissolution of this compact, 397. And
+ union of the clergy with the Dissenters, 399. Which union produces the
+ Revolution of 1688, 400. Sudden repentance of the clergy of their own
+ act, 403. Hostility between them and William III., 405. Their growing
+ unpopularity, 409. King William's deprivation of six of the prelates,
+ 410. The consequent schism in the church, 411. Origin of the term
+ 'high church' and 'low church' parties, 412 _note_. Adoption of the
+ theory of the sovereign _de facto_ and _de jure_, 413. Encouragement
+ which the clergy thus give to scepticism, 414. The church avoided by
+ the ablest men, who prefer secular professions, 415, 416. The most
+ honourable and lucrative posts formerly occupied by ecclesiastics,
+ 416. Loss of the clergy of all offices out of the church, and
+ diminution of their number in both Houses of Parliament, 416, 417. The
+ last ecclesiastic who held any of the high offices of state,
+ 417 _note_. Final expulsion of the clergy from the House of Commons,
+ 418. Temporary rally of the church in the reign of Anne, 419.
+ The clergy weakened by the Dissenters, headed by Wesley and Whitefield,
+ 419-424. Effects of the separation of theology from morals and from
+ politics, 424-427. Rapid succession of sceptical controversies, 427.
+ Diffusion of knowledge, and the popular form taken by it, 430.
+ Opposition of the clergy to the establishment of Sunday schools, 431.
+ Their factious and disloyal conduct during the reign of the first two
+ Georges, 442. Joy of the clergy at the attachment of George III. to
+ the church, 445. Their support of the policy of George III. against,
+ and bitterness towards, the Americans, 479 _note_
+
+ Clergy, the French, greater power possessed by them than by the
+ English clergy, ii. 3, 4. Their endeavours to suppress the progress of
+ secular enquiry, 22. Their alarm at the protection given to the
+ Protestants by Henry IV., Catherine de Medici, and Louis XIII., 26.
+ Richelieu's treatment of the Clergy, and of the Protestants, 28-31.
+ Animosity between the clergy and the secular tribunals, 32. Archbishop
+ Sourdis ignominiously beaten, 32. Reasons why French literary men
+ attacked the Church and not the Government, 247. And therefore to
+ assail Christianity, 247. Personal character of the hierarchy during
+ the reign of Louis XIV., 252. And during the reign of his successor,
+ 252. Attack of the Government on the clergy, 332. Machault's edict
+ against mortmain, 332. Anti-ecclesiastical policy of Machault's
+ successors, 333. Machault hated by the clergy, 333 _note_. The power
+ of the clergy weakened by the two hostile parties among themselves,
+ 335. Decline of the respect entertained for the clergy, 348. Reasons
+ why their fall was averted for a time, 349, 350
+
+ Clergy, Scottish, causes of the union of the Crown and the, iii. 34.
+ Causes of the flourishing state of the clergy in the fourteenth and
+ fifteenth centuries, 38. And of their great influence, 43. The Church
+ favoured by James I., 46. Struggle between the Crown and clergy on
+ one side and the nobles on the other, 55 _et seq._ Destruction of the
+ Church, and supremacy of the nobles, 81. Abolition of episcopacy, 94.
+ Struggle between the upper classes and the clergy as to episcopacy,
+ 100. Violence of the clergy, 105 _et seq._ Boons conferred by them
+ upon their country, 112. Attempts of the King to subjugate the clergy,
+ 115. His cruel treatment of them, 117-123. Tyrannical conduct of the
+ bishops, 128. The bishops overthrown, 133. But again forced upon the
+ people, 141. Alliance between the Crown and the clergy, and its
+ consequences, 147. The struggle of the clergy with Cromwell, 194. And
+ with Charles I., 197. Causes which produced the Solemn League and
+ Covenant, 198. Character of the sermons and zeal of the people in
+ hearing them in the seventeenth century, 203 _et seq._ The consequent
+ extension and consolidation of the authority of the clergy, 206. Their
+ great engine of power, the Kirk-session, and its tyranny, 206-210.
+ Cases in which it was believed that their pretensions were upheld and
+ vindicated by miracles, 212, 229. Their consequent arrogance, 220.
+ Effect of their advocacy of horrible notions concerning evil spirits
+ and future punishments, 232. And concerning the Deity, 239. Harmless
+ and praiseworthy actions declared to be sinful, 252. Specimens of the
+ sins invented by them, 261, 263. Their arbitrary regulations for
+ punishing disobedience, 262. Their deductive method in philosophy, 286
+
+ Clergy, Spanish, rise of the influence of the, ii. 436-444. Proofs of
+ their power, 437, 438. Consequences of the reverence for them, 461
+ _et seq._ Causes of their increasing influence, 472. Hold of the
+ Church over all, high or low, 478-481. Use made by the clergy of
+ their power in obtaining the expulsion of the whole of the Spanish
+ Moors, 483. Forced to contribute to the support of the state, 522,
+ 523. Deprived of their wealth by Mendizabal, 590. But re-endowed soon
+ after, 591. The Concordat of 1851, 591, 592
+
+ Climate, its influence on the condition of the human race, i. 40. Its
+ effect on the regularity and energy with which labour is conducted,
+ 42, 43. Tartary, 45. Arabia, 45. The civilization of Europe governed
+ by climate, 50. Influence of climate on the kind of food necessary for
+ man, 56. And on his ease or difficulty in procuring it, 58. Modes in
+ which the average temperature of a country affects its civilization,
+ 95. Difference between the eastern and western coasts of North
+ America, 97. Character of the climate of Spain, ii. 427
+
+ Clotaire, his attacks of the Visigoth Arians, ii. 435 _note_
+
+ Clovis, King of the Franks, his attack of the Visigoths, ii. 435
+
+ Clubs, establishment of, in France, at the end of the last century,
+ ii. 412, 414
+
+ Cobbett, William, his racy and idiomatic English, ii. 307 _note_
+
+ Codification, causes of the French love of, ii. 127 _note_
+
+ Coffee, its discredit in France as an English drink, ii. 214 _note_
+
+ Colours, Boyle's experiments in, i. 368 _note_
+
+ Comedies of Racine, character of the period in which they appeared,
+ ii. 208
+
+ Comets, feelings of terror inspired by the presence of, i. 376,
+ 377 _note_
+
+ Comines, Philip de, credulity shown in his history, i. 327;
+ ii. 265 _note_
+
+ Commerce. See Trade
+
+ Commerce; Rise of trading interests in Scotland in the eighteenth
+ century, iii. 171. See Trade; Trade, Free
+
+ Commission, High Court of, established in Scotland, iii. 125. Cruelty
+ of the, 142 _note_
+
+ Commons, House of, origin of the, ii. 117. Causes of the increase of
+ the authority of the, 121
+
+ Comte, M., remarks on his 'Philosophie Positive,' i. 5 _note_
+
+ Condillac, his metaphysical work, the 'Traite des Sensations,' ii. 357.
+ Essential positions upon which the work is based, 358
+
+ Condorcet, his character and abilities, i. 470. Burke's remarks on,
+ 471. His proposal of English criminal jurisprudence as a model for
+ France, ii. 226. His professed atheism, 352
+
+ Conjurors, tricks of, forbidden to be seen by the French Protestants,
+ ii. 70
+
+ Conquest, Norman, Sir F. Palgrave on the results produced by the,
+ ii. 116 _note_
+
+ Consciousness, faculty or state of the mind so called, i. 14.
+ Different opinions respecting, 14 _note_. Its fallibility, 15.
+ Authorities as to the preservation of consciousness in dreams and in
+ insanity, 17 _note_
+
+ Constant, M., his adoption of a remark of Voltaire, ii. 303
+
+ Converts, fickleness of, i. 255, 256
+
+ Convocation, falls into general contempt, i. 414. Final prorogation
+ of, by an act of the Crown, 415. Permitted recently to re-assemble,
+ 415
+
+ Copyhold rights in England, ii. 119. Not recognised by the French
+ laws, 120
+
+ Coquereau, suppression of his 'Memoirs of Terrai,' ii. 238
+
+ Corn, free trade in, proposed by Stafford in 1581, i. 213 _note_. The
+ real cause of the abolition of the, 273. Merits of the Anti-Corn-Law
+ League, 274. Importance of the repeal of the Corn-laws, 502
+
+ Corneille, period in which his tragedies appeared, ii. 209
+
+ Cornwall, hardly a bookseller in, in 1780, i. 432 _note_
+
+ Corporation Act, i. 396. Suspended by James II., i. 397
+
+ Corvee, the, in France, ii. 129. Authorities respecting the, 129 _note_
+
+ Coulumb, his experiments on electrical phenomena, ii. 362
+
+ Councils, authority of, despised by Chillingworth, i. 349
+
+ Courrayeur, suppression of the 'Dissertations' of, ii. 237
+
+ Cousin, M., on free will, quoted, i. 14 _note_
+
+ Covenant, Solemn League and, framed, iii. 132. Causes which produced
+ the, 198
+
+ Coyer, his knowledge of the English language and literature, ii. 219
+
+ Credulity of Asiatics as compared with that of Europeans, i. 134.
+ Instances of the credulity of the sixteenth century, 330. This
+ credulity the natural result of the state of the age, 333
+
+ Crime, uniform reproduction of, i. 24, 25, 31 _notes_. Crime the
+ result of the state of society into which the criminal is thrown, 29.
+ Rawson on the possibility of arriving at certain constants with regard
+ to crime, quoted, 31 _note_. Mode of preventing crime in France,
+ ii. 125
+
+ Criminals, mode of examining, in France, ii. 124
+
+ Cromwell, Oliver, his alliance with Cardinal Mazarin, ii. 98. Irritation
+ of the orthodox with their union, 98. His hostility to the Church not
+ theological, but political, 361 _note_. His plebeian origin, ii. 156.
+ Capacity of his lieutenants, 156, 157. His chain of fortresses in
+ Scotland, iii. 194. His treatment of the Scotch people, 195 _note_
+
+ Crusades, theological feeling of the English as to the, ii. 6 _note_
+
+ Crystallography, discoveries of De Lisle and Hauey in, ii. 400, 401.
+ Power of crystals, in common with animals, of repairing their own
+ injuries, 403 _note_. Hunter's inquiries into the malformation of
+ crystals, iii. 443
+
+ Cudworth, comparison of the method employed by Hume in his 'Natural
+ History of Religion' compared with that of Cudworth's 'Intellectual
+ System,' iii. 348
+
+ Cullen, William, account of his generalizations respecting pathology,
+ iii. 413. His love of theory, 414. His method of studying pathology
+ compared with that of Adam Smith, 417. His theory of the solids, 418.
+ Character of his premisses and conclusions, 418-421. His theory of
+ fever, 424. His nosology, 426
+
+ Culloden, results of the battle of, to the Highland Chieftains,
+ iii. 168 _note_
+
+ Cumberland, Dr., Bishop of Peterborough, his system of morals without
+ the aid of theology, i. 425. Relation between Hume and Cumberland,
+ 426 _note_
+
+ Cuvier, Baron, his labours in geology, ii. 369. Impetus given by him
+ to the study of zoology, 376. His overthrow of the Linnaean system,
+ 376, 377
+
+
+ D'Alembert, his professed atheism, ii. 352
+
+ D'Alibard, his experiments on electricity, ii. 362
+
+ Damiens, his attempted assassination of Louis XV., ii. 345
+
+ Dancing forbidden by the French Protestants, ii. 69, 70. And by the
+ Scotch clergy, iii. 258
+
+ Darigrand, suppression of his work on 'Finance,' ii. 238
+
+ Dates, effect of the cheapness and abundance of, in Egypt, i. 83
+
+ David IV. of Scotland, his imprisonment by the English, iii. 20
+
+ Daubenton, his application of the principles of comparative anatomy to
+ the study of fossil bones, ii. 371
+
+ Dead, adoration of the, i. 145 _note_
+
+ Death, influence of the fear of, on the imagination, i. 127
+
+ Debating clubs, establishment of, i. 433. Authorities as to, 433 _note_
+
+ Deccan, bards of the, i. 292 _note_
+
+ Dedications, servility of the, in books of the sixteenth and seventeenth
+ centuries, i. 438. Abolition of mean and crouching, 438
+
+ Defender of the Faith, title of the, conferred on James V. of Scotland,
+ iii. 6
+
+ De Grana, entrusted by the King of Spain with the defence of the
+ Netherlands, ii. 515
+
+ De Lisles, Rome, his studies in crystallography, ii. 400
+
+ Deluge, the predicted, of St[oe]ffler, i. 330
+
+ De Maistre, his method, ii. 389 _note_
+
+ Democracy, Calvinism always connected with, ii. 339. Physical science
+ essentially democratic, 409. Democratic tendency, observable in France
+ in the change of dress just before the Revolution, 410. And in the
+ establishment of clubs, 412
+
+ Denmark, Mallet's 'History' of, ii. 299
+
+ Desaguliers, Dr., his success in popularizing physical truths,
+ i. 432 _note_
+
+ Descartes, Rene, his military genius and learning, i. 200. Effect of his
+ secular philosophy, 329. His profundity, ii. 77. His physical
+ discoveries and speculations, 78, 79. Recognizes Harvey's discovery of
+ the circulation of the blood and Aselli's discovery of the lacteals,
+ 81. His origination of the modern method of philosophy, 81, 82.
+ Reasons why he deserves the gratitude of posterity, 82. Account of his
+ philosophy as showing its analogy with the anti-theological policy of
+ Richelieu, 83, 92. His words of wisdom addressed to his countrymen,
+ 85. Compared with Montaigne, 86. Eminent characteristic of his
+ philosophy, 87. Analysis of his principles, 88, 89. Mischief done by
+ his principles to the old theology, 90. And to the inordinate respect
+ with which antiquity was regarded, 91. Period in which he flourished,
+ 189
+
+ Desfontaines, his botanical discoveries, ii. 397
+
+ Desforges, imprisoned for his work respecting the Pretender, ii. 238
+
+ Desmarest, his geological labours, ii. 368
+
+ Desmoulins, Camille, his knowledge of the English language and
+ literature, ii. 224
+
+ De Thou, raised to the presidency of parliament in France, ii. 26. His
+ great French historical work, 266
+
+ Devil, horrible notions of the Scotch clergy concerning, iii. 232
+
+ Dhourra of Upper Egypt, its cheapness and abundance, i. 86
+
+ Diderot, his knowledge of the English language and literature,
+ ii. 218. His talents, 240. His imprisonment in Vincennes, 242. His
+ professed atheism, 352
+
+ Diogenes Laertius, on the physical which preceded metaphysical
+ inquiries, i. 10 _note_. On the preservation of consciousness in
+ dreams and in insanity, 17 _note_
+
+ Diplomacy, commencement of a purely secular era in the history of,
+ ii. 41
+
+ Disease, theological theory of, in the middle ages and in our own
+ times, i. 127, 128 _note_. Authorities as to the nature and treatment
+ of a disease and the belief that such disease is caused by
+ supernatural power, and is to be cured by it, 129 _note_. The origin
+ of almost all the cruel diseases of Europe to be found in Asia, 130.
+ Hunter's theories of diseases, iii. 448
+
+ Dissenters, persecution of the, in England, in the reign of James II.,
+ i. 397. Union of the clergy and dissenters and its result, 399, 400.
+ Authorities for the cruelties inflicted upon them in the reign of
+ Charles II. and James II., 419. Principles avowed by the clergy in
+ justification of the persecution, 419 _note_. Persecutions in the
+ reign of Anne, 419, 420. Repeal of the laws against them, 420. The
+ Toleration Act regarded by the Dissenters as their Magna Charta, 402
+ _note_. Favour shown to them by William III., 405, 406. Their struggle
+ with the clergy, 420. Wesley and Whitefield, 421. Loss of their
+ intellectual vigour, 422. Causes of their recent mental penury, 422.
+ Nonconformist statistics, from the reign of William III. to the
+ present time, 423 _note_. Treatment which the Wesleyans received from
+ the clergy, 423 _note_, 424 _note_. Combination of the Dissenters with
+ the Government against the clergy and the Pretender, 443 _note_.
+ Passing of the Schism Bill, 452. Burke's support of measures for the
+ relief of the, 463
+
+ Divine right of Kings, results of the abandonment of the theological
+ fiction of, ii. 182
+
+ Dolben, John, his character as Archbishop of York, i. 392
+
+ Dolomieu, his geological labours, ii. 368
+
+ 'Domat, Life of,' by Prevost de la Jannes, suppressed, ii. 237
+
+ Douglas, Earls of, treacherously murdered by James II., iii. 49-52.
+ Subsequent power of the family, 57. Driven into exile, 60. Harboured
+ by Henry VIII. in England, 64. Return home, 69
+
+ Dramas, French, of the seventeenth century, ii. 208
+
+ Dreams, Plato's conclusion as to the truth or falsehood of,
+ i. 16 _note_
+
+ Dress, interference of the French Protestants with, ii. 60, 71. Dress
+ of the French during the reign of Louis XIV., Louis XV., and just
+ before the Revolution, 411
+
+ Droughts, frequency of, in Spain, ii. 427
+
+ Dryburgh Abbey, burnt by the English, iii. 15
+
+ Dryden, John, little effect of the intellect of France on his works,
+ i. 235. His satires, 235 _note_
+
+ Duclos, his 'History of Louis XI.' suppressed, ii. 238. His method of
+ writing history, 300
+
+ Duellings, causes of the greater popularity of, in France than in
+ England, ii. 136. Relation between chivalry and duelling, 137 _note_
+
+ Duhamel de Monceau, his botanical discoveries, ii. 397
+
+ Dukes, the order of, in abeyance in England for fifty years, ii. 146
+
+ Dumouriez, his familiarity with the English language and literature,
+ ii. 224
+
+ Dunbar, town of, iii. 32 _note_. Scotch presbyterian view of the
+ battle of, 201 _note_
+
+ Dundee burnt by the English, iii. 16
+
+ Dunfermline burnt by the English, iii. 16. Scanty population of the
+ town up to the seventeenth century, 27
+
+ Dupleix, Scipio, his new method of writing history, ii. 268. His
+ system of philosophy, 269
+
+ Dury, John, opposes episcopacy in Scotland, iii. 95. Banished from
+ Edinburgh, 102. Brought back in triumph, 103. Preaches in favour of
+ the Ruthven conspiracy, 104
+
+ Duvernet, his punishment for having written a history of the
+ Sorbonnes, ii. 237
+
+
+ Earthquakes, tendency of the fear of, to inflame the imagination, i.
+ 122. Effect of the atmospherical changes preceding earthquakes upon
+ the nervous system of man, 122. Physiological effects of the fear of
+ earthquakes, 122, 123. Effect of earthquakes in encouraging
+ superstition, 123. The great earthquake at Sumbawa in 1815, 126
+ _note_. Frequency of earthquakes in Spain, ii. 428
+
+ Eclipses, feelings with which our fathers regarded, i. 376.
+ Authorities as to the superstition excited by, 377
+
+ Edda, compilation of the elder and younger, i. 301
+
+ Edinburgh burnt by Richard II., iii. 16. Population of, in the
+ sixteenth century, 30. Houses of the poorer classes at this time, 31
+ _note_. Riot of 1637, 132. Foundation of the 'Edinburgh Society' for
+ the improvement of manufactures, 181 _note_
+
+ Edward I. of England, his invasion of Scotland, iii. 12
+
+ Edward III. of England, his attacks on Scotland, iii. 16. His cruelty
+ there, 16
+
+ Egypt, causes of its wealth and civilization, i. 48, 49. Area of the
+ cultivable land of, 49 _note_. Science unknown to the Egyptians, 49.
+ Causes of their civilization as compared with the condition of the
+ other races in Africa, 82. Fertility of the soil, and abundance of the
+ national food, dates, 83-86. Cheapness of the dhourra of Upper Egypt,
+ 86. Lotos bread, 87. The [Greek: kyamos] of Herodotus, 87 _note_.
+ Encouragement given to the increase of Egyptian population by the
+ fertility of the Nile, 87 _note_. Evidence of Diodorus Siculus and
+ Herodotus, 88, 89. Testimony of the condition of the people afforded
+ by the existing costly and stupendous ruins, 90, 92. The two ranks of
+ society in Egypt, 91. Tenacity with which old manners and customs were
+ adhered to by them, 116. Forms of the incarnation of the Deity
+ presented by their artists, 143 _note_. Fifty-three cities of Egypt
+ bearing the same name, 298 _note_
+
+ Election, doctrine of. See Predestination
+
+ Electricity, experiments of [OE]pinus, D'Alibard, and Coulumb,
+ ii. 362. Popularity of electricity in France at the latter part of the
+ last century, 407 _note_
+
+ Elizabeth, Queen, feelings of the nobility in the reign of, ii. 139.
+ Her conduct towards the nobility and clergy, 143. Character of her
+ government, 146
+
+ Emilius, Paulus, his 'Actions of the French,' ii. 264
+
+ 'Encylopaedia,' publication of the, in France, ii. 351
+
+ Encylopaedias, invention of, i. 433. Harris's 'Dictionary' the first,
+ 433 _note_
+
+ England, rent paid by the cultivator in proportion to the gross
+ produce in, i. 75. Causes of the extinction of the love of war in,
+ 198. The military classes in the twelfth century, 205 _note_. And in
+ the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 205 _note_. Reasons why the
+ present history is confined to that of England, 231. Characteristics
+ of the history of England compared with those of France, 232-236. With
+ those of Germany, 237. And with those of America, 240. Reasons why the
+ history of England is more valuable than any other to the philosopher,
+ 242, 252. England less interfered with by Government, and therefore
+ more prosperous than other nations, 286. Popular belief in the Trojan
+ descent of the English Kings, 309 _note_. Secular philosophy of the
+ seventeenth century, 329. Legislative improvements in the reign of
+ Charles II. in spite of the political degradation of the age, 381-386.
+ These improvements due to the sceptical and inquiring spirit, 388. And
+ to the vices and prejudices of Charles II., 388, 389. Proximate causes
+ of the Revolution of 1688, 399, 400. Importance of this Revolution,
+ 402. War between England and the American Colonies, 477-481.
+ Importance of the success of the Americans to the preservation of the
+ liberties of England, 482, 483. The unjust war against France in 1793,
+ 486. And its effect in England in producing arbitrary laws, 487.
+ Obligations England is under to the Roman Catholic clergy, ii. 5
+ _note_. Feeling of the English people as to theological disputes in
+ the twelfth as compared with the sixteenth centuries 6, 7. Secular
+ character of the civil wars in England, 7. Indifference of the people
+ to the rapid changes in the national faith under Henry VIII., Edward
+ VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, 7. Contempt into which excommunication fell
+ in England, 59 _note_. Importance of the press in England in the
+ middle of the seventeenth century, 99. Analogy between the great Civil
+ war and the war of the Fronde, 99, 100. Summary of the progress of
+ toleration in England, 102. Point at which a marked divergence between
+ England and France begins, 105. Causes of this difference, 106.
+ Comparison of the protective spirit in France and England, 108 _et
+ seq._ The first instance in England of the execution of an apostate,
+ 109, 110 _note_. Reasons why the aristocracy in France were more
+ powerful than in England, 113. Period of the union of Normans and
+ Saxons, 116. Union of the nobles and people in forcing the Crown to
+ concede popular privileges, 116, 117. Origin of the House of Commons,
+ 117. Sources whence the people imbibed their tone of independence,
+ 118. Consequences of the social divergence between France and England
+ in the fourteenth century, 119. The three most important guarantees
+ for the liberties of England, 119, 120. The state of France under
+ centralization contrasted with that of England under municipal
+ government, 126, 127. Extinction of villenage in England, 128.
+ Illustration of the early and radical difference between France and
+ England, 131. Feeble influence of chivalry in England, 134. The
+ Reformation encouraged by the pride of Englishmen, 137. Effect of the
+ Wars of the Roses upon the nobles, 138. The clergy and nobles both
+ weakened by Elizabeth, 143. Aristocratic character of the rebellion of
+ 1569, 144. Character of the reign of Elizabeth, 146. Attempts of James
+ I. and Charles I. to revive the power of the nobles and the old
+ protective spirit, 147. Difference between the great English Rebellion
+ and the Fronde, 140, 150. Abolition of the house of Peers, 153. The
+ self-denying ordinance, 153. The leaders of the Rebellion, 155, 159.
+ Barbarism and ferocity of the English people of the seventeenth
+ century, according to the French writers, 214, 215. The results of the
+ suppression of religious scepticism in England and France compared,
+ 257. Prejudice existing in England against Voltaire, 313. Arminianism
+ the popular creed at the beginning of the seventeenth century, 340.
+ But it gives way to Calvinism at the death of Charles I., 340.
+ Singular dearth of great thinkers in England during the eighteenth
+ century, 374. Progress of England, notwithstanding the unskilfulness
+ of her rulers, 466. Amazement of Frenchmen at the liberty enjoyed by
+ Englishmen at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 237
+
+ Enlistment for life, Burke's opposition to, i. 463. Enlistment for a
+ term of years first authorized, 463 _note_
+
+ Ensenada, his endeavours to improve the state of Spain, ii. 535
+
+ Episcopacy, abolition of, in Scotland, iii. 94 _et seq._ Andrew
+ Melville called [Greek: hepiskopomastix], 97 _note_. Struggle between
+ the upper classes and clergy as to episcopacy, 100, 191
+
+ Erskine, Lord, his idiomatic English, ii. 307 _note_
+
+ Essex, Earl of, joins the parliamentary forces, but suspected by the
+ democrats, ii. 151, 152
+
+ Europe, the civilization of, governed by climates, i. 50. Social and
+ political consequences of the high rate of wages in Europe, 65.
+ Influence of physical causes in accelerating the progress of man in
+ Europe, 82. Differences between the civilizations in and out of, 152.
+ The energies of nature tamed by man in, 154. The country outstripped
+ by the populations of the towns in, 156. Mental laws more important
+ than physical for the history of, 156. Contrast between ancient and
+ modern military genius in, 199-202
+
+ Europe, remarks on the origin of the ecclesiastical establishments of,
+ i. 259-263. Benefits conferred by literature on, 267. Condition of
+ the mind of, from the sixth to the tenth centuries, 269
+
+ Excommunication, a French Protestant, ii. 59. Notions of theologians
+ respecting, 59 _note_. Contempt into which excommunication fell in
+ England, 59 _note_
+
+ Expediency, doctrine of, i. 425, 426. Its gradual diffusion amongst
+ us, 426 _note_
+
+ Eye, discoveries of Descartes respecting the, ii. 78
+
+
+ Fables, Voltaire's demolition of the belief in national, ii. 312
+
+ Falkirk, first printing office in, i. 432 _note_
+
+ Famines, impossibility of the return of, in Europe, i. 155. List of,
+ 155 _note_. Frequency of, in Spain, ii. 427
+
+ Fathers, authority of the, according to Jewel and Hooker, i. 340.
+ Chillingworth's contempt for their authority, 349. Exposure of the
+ gross absurdities of the, 428
+
+ Favart, Madame, story of, ii. 243
+
+ Fear, special tendency of, to inflame the imagination, i. 120
+
+ Fenacute, story of the giant, i. 320
+
+ Fenelon, treatment of, by Louis XIV., ii. 276. His 'Telemachus,' 276
+
+ Ferdousi, his 'Shah Nameh,' and its authority in Persian history,
+ i. 303
+
+ Fermat, his services to geometry, ii. 190
+
+ Fernel, his eminence in medicine, ii. 195
+
+ Ferrier, excommunicated by the French Protestants, ii. 58. Result of
+ this measure, 59, 60
+
+ Fetichism, the predecessor of monotheism, according to Comte,
+ i. 251 _note_
+
+ Feud, feudum, first use of the words, ii. 110 _note_
+
+ Feudal incidents, destruction of, in England, i. 386
+
+ Feudal system, origin of the, in Europe, ii. 110. Connexion between it
+ and the ecclesiastical spirit, 110, 111. Does not destroy the spirit
+ of protection, but only compels it to assume a new form, 111.
+ Commencement of the European hereditary aristocracy, 112. The power of
+ the English and French aristocracy compared, 113 _et seq._
+ Sub-infeudation in France and in England, 119. Boncerf's treatise on
+ feudal law, 237. Voltaire's, the first historical endeavour to explain
+ the origin of feudality, 302
+
+ Fever, Cullen's theory of, iii. 424
+
+ Finance, suppression of the works of Darigrand and Le Trosne on,
+ ii. 238. Sudden eagerness in France in the eighteenth century for
+ inquiries relating to, 328, 329. Necker's celebrated Report, 329.
+ Burke's the first financial reforms, 464
+
+ Fire-arms, invention of, i. 206
+
+ Flanders, exports from, into Scotland, iii. 24
+
+ Food, effect of the supply of, among wandering and agricultural
+ tribes, i. 8. Moral consequences of diminishing the precariousness of
+ food, 9. Influence of food on the human race, 40. The two effects of
+ food necessary to existence, 55. Influence of climate on the necessary
+ kind of food, 56, 60. Connexion between food and the laws of
+ population, 57, 66, 88. Carbon and oxygen in food, 60-62. Amount of
+ carbon required in food in summer and in winter, 63. The potato, the
+ principal food of the labouring class in Ireland, 65. Countries
+ asserted to be more populous when the ordinary food is vegetable than
+ when it is animal, 68 _note_. Character of the general food of the
+ people of India, rice, 70. And of that of Egypt, dates, 83.
+ Extraordinary fecundity of the maize and banana plants in America,
+ 109-111. Instances from the animal kingdom, proving the connexion
+ between carbonized food and the respiratory functions, 148. French and
+ German discoveries as to the functions of food, 367
+
+ Forbes, James, the Presbyterian preacher, iii. 203 _note_
+
+ Force, indestructibility of, iii. 363
+
+ Forces, theory of the parallelogram of, i. 30
+
+ Forestalling and regrating, Burke's attack of the laws against, i. 462
+
+ Forgetfulness, laws regulating, i. 32
+
+ Fornication made a felony by the English Commonwealth, i. 361 _note_.
+ Repeal of the law by Charles II., 362 _note_
+
+ Fossils, Daubenton's labours respecting fossil bones, ii. 371.
+ Previous opinions as to, 371 _note_. Researches of Agassiz in fossil
+ ichthyology, 383
+
+ Fourcroy, popularity of his lectures on chemistry, ii. 407 _note_
+
+ Fourier, his views as to the laws of the conduction of heat, ii. 362.
+ His mathematical theory, 362
+
+ Fox, Charles James, his remark on good churchmen, i. 395 _note_. His
+ declaration in the House of Commons against the arbitrary laws
+ proposed for extinguishing the liberties of the country, 493
+
+ Fox, Henry his eminent statesmanship, i. 450. Causes of George III.'s
+ dislike of him, 450. Burke's character of Fox, 450 _note_. Burke's
+ rupture with him, 469
+
+ France, rent paid by the cultivator, in proportion to the gross
+ produce of the land, i. 75. French notions of the English people
+ previous to the application of steam to purposes of travelling, 219.
+ The history of England compared with that of France, 234. Debt which
+ French owes to English civilization, 236. Effects of the interference
+ of the government with the people, 236. The results of the suppression
+ of scepticism in France compared with the exercise of individual
+ judgment in England, 257. How and when the political institutions of
+ France might have been saved, 258. Condition of historical literature
+ in France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 261-273.
+ Proximate causes of the French Revolution after the middle of the
+ eighteenth century, 325 _et seq._ The social changes of the French
+ people immediately preceding the Revolution, 405. Instances of this,
+ 406-412. Tolerance and freedom from superstition of the French, 263.
+ Great numbers of smugglers in France in the last century, 279. The
+ bards of ancient Gaul, 292 _note_. Corruption of Druidical traditions
+ in Gaul by Christian priests, 306. Popular belief in the middle ages
+ of the Trojan descent of the French kings, 309. Pork a common food in
+ France in the time of Charlemagne, 314 _note_. Effects of the writings
+ of Descartes, 329. Detestation of George III. of the French people,
+ 448. Burke's epithets applied to France and the French at the time of
+ the Revolution, 472. Effects produced by the French Revolution upon
+ the policy of the English government, 484. First step towards an open
+ rupture between England and France, 485. Effects of the execution of
+ Louis XVI., 485
+
+ France, Causes which gave rise to the civil wars of the seventeenth
+ century, ii. 56 _et seq._ Conde's rebellion in 1615, 61. Rebellion of
+ the Protestants in Bearn, 61, 62. And at La Rochelle, 63-66. Results
+ which would have happened if the Protestants had gained the upper
+ hand, 67-72. Breaking out of the war of the Fronde, 99. Importance of
+ the press in the middle of the seventeenth century, 95. Analogy
+ between the great civil war of England and the war of the Fronde, 99,
+ 100. Summary of the progress of toleration in France, 102. Point at
+ which a marked divergence between England and France begins, 105.
+ Causes of this difference, 106. Comparison of the protective spirit in
+ France and England, 108 _et seq._ Reasons why the feudal aristocracy
+ were more powerful in France than in England, 113-118. In France every
+ man either a tyrant or a slave, 119. System of subinfeudation, 119.
+ Consequences of the early social divergence between England and France
+ in the fourteenth century, 119-121. Futility of French municipal
+ institutions, 121. Feebleness of the States-General, 121. Beginning of
+ the tendency to centralization in France, 122. Its baneful effects,
+ 122, 123. Machinery by which it is worked, 123. Number of civil
+ functionaries in the country, 123 _note_. Mode of examining criminals
+ in France, 124. And of preventing crime, 125. The education of the
+ people controlled by the government, 125. The worst kind of monopoly
+ established by the government, and its effects on the people, 126. The
+ great power and tyranny of the nobles, 128. Slavery in France, 129.
+ The inequality of taxation, 129. Privileges reserved to themselves by
+ the nobles, 130. Illustration of the early and radical difference
+ between France and England, from the history of chivalry, 131-134.
+ From the vanity of the French, 136. And from the practice of duelling,
+ 136. Difference between the Fronde and the great English rebellion,
+ 149. Objects of the Fronde, 149, 150. Causes why a war of classes was
+ impossible, 150. Results of the energy of the protective spirit and
+ power of the nobles on the issue of the Fronde, 160. Vanity and
+ imbecility of the French nobles, 162, 163. Examination of the
+ consequences of the protective spirit being carried into literature by
+ Louis XIV., 176. Servility of the people at this period, 177.
+ Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV., 178. The subsequent
+ dragonnades, 179. And their disastrous effects on the prosperity of
+ France, 181. Universal decline of France during the latter part of the
+ reign of Louis XIV., 210. Joy of the people at his death, 213.
+ Indignities to which French literary men were subject in the
+ eighteenth century, one of the precursors of the revolution, 230-242.
+ Outrages committed by the upper classes in the same period, 243.
+ Stringent cruelty of the French laws, 244. Proposal of the French
+ avocat-general in 1780 respecting new books, 245. The crusade against
+ Christianity in the last century, 247. Causes of the excessive loyalty
+ of the French people, 249. War of opinion between France and Spain in
+ the fifth and sixth centuries, 435
+
+ Francis I. of France, his zeal against heresy, ii. 12
+
+ Franks, their conversion to Christianity and attack of their Visigoth
+ neighbours, ii. 435
+
+ Frauds and Perjuries, security to private property effected by the
+ Statute of, i. 385
+
+ Frederick the Great, contrast between his warlike and domestic policy,
+ i. 201
+
+ Free Trade. See Trade.
+
+ Free will, probable origin of the dogma of, i. 9. Foundation of the
+ theory of, 13. Connexion of free will with Arminianism, 14
+
+ Feret, causes of his imprisonment in the Bastille, ii. 235
+
+ Fresnel, his researches into the laws of light, ii. 362
+
+ Frewen, Dr., Archbishop of York, his character, i. 392
+
+ Froissart, his the earliest instance in the Middle Ages of an
+ improvement in writing history, i. 325
+
+ Fronde, war of the, analogy between it and the civil war in England,
+ ii. 99. Difference between the Fronde and the great English Rebellion,
+ 149. Character and position of the leaders of the Fronde, 160. And
+ consequent failure of the rebellion, 168-173
+
+ Fruit, amount of carbon in, i. 61
+
+ Fuch's, his investigations in the vegetable kingdom, ii. 198 _note_
+
+
+ Gaimar, his translation into Anglo-Norman of Geoffrey Monmouth's
+ history, i. 325
+
+ Garlon, suppression of the 'Therapeutics' of, ii. 238
+
+ Garrows, cause of their superstitions respecting the tiger,
+ i. 125 _note_
+
+ Gascoigne, his invention of the micrometer, ii. 192
+
+ Gassion, raised to the dignity of French marshal, ii. 98. Authorities
+ respecting him, 98 _note_
+
+ Gaul, origin of the name of, according to the historians of the Middle
+ Ages, i. 311
+
+ Genard, suppression of his 'School of Man,' ii. 238
+
+ Geoffrey, Archdeacon of Monmouth, his history of King Arthur, i. 321.
+ Translations of the work, 324, 325
+
+ Geography, physical, study of, i. 2
+
+ Geology, first exhibition of the sceptical character of, i. 429
+ _note_. Views of Dr. Arnold and Mr. Baden Powell, 430 _note_. Buffon's
+ recantation of some of his views on, ii. 236. Causes of its great
+ progress in modern times, 365. Labours of French geologists at the
+ latter part of the last century, 368. Cuvier's foundation of
+ palaeontological science, 369 _note_. Remains of organic and inorganic
+ life in the secondary and tertiary strata, 370. The doctrine of
+ universal changes, 369, 371. Daubenton's union of comparative anatomy
+ with geology, 371. Character of Hutton's geological speculations, iii.
+ 388, 396. Causes which have altered and are still altering the crust
+ of the earth, 388. The deductive and inductive methods of studying
+ geology, 390. William Smith's foundation of English geology, 391.
+ Werner's foundation of the German school, 393. Hall's verification of
+ Hutton's views, 401
+
+ Geometry, algebra first successfully applied to, by Descartes, ii. 77.
+ Who is regarded as the first geometrician of the age, 80. Ages of
+ Descartes and Fermat, 189, 190. Hypothetical arguments as exhibited
+ by, iii. 306
+
+ George I., his utter ignorance of the English language, i. 441
+
+ George II., his indifferent knowledge of the English language, i. 441.
+ His ignorance of English politics, 442. His highest ambition,
+ 442 _note_
+
+ George III., fortunate circumstances which surrounded his accession, i.
+ 444. Revival of the doctrine of divine right, 445. The king's respect
+ for church ceremonies, 445 _note_. Alliance between the Crown and the
+ clergy, 445. The king's ignorance, 446. And hatred of great statesmen,
+ 446, 447. Favour with which he regarded slavery, 447. His hatred of
+ the French, 448. The 'King's Friends,' 448, 449. Notorious incapacity
+ of his ministers, 449. His hatred of the elder Pitt and of Fox, 449,
+ 450. Mode in which he brought the House of Lords into disrepute, 453.
+ His hatred of the Americans, 466. Favours Burke in his violent old
+ age, 476, 477. His policy respecting the American colonies, 477, 479.
+ Reaction of this policy upon England, 481, 482. His policy towards the
+ French republic, 484 _et seq._ His monstrous principles, 466. His
+ inability however, to do harm to English institutions, 466
+
+ George IV., his character, ii. 466
+
+ Germany, Comparison of the history of England and, i. 237.
+ Interference of the German governments with the people, 237. Origin of
+ German literature, 237. Character of German intellect among the
+ highest and lowest minds, 238, 239. Process through which the esoteric
+ literature of Germany is passing at the present time, 267. Cultivation
+ of metaphysics in Germany in the latter part of the last century,
+ ii. 373
+
+ Gervaise, suppression of the 'Letters' of, ii. 237
+
+ Gibbon, Edward, fame of his 'Decline and Fall,' i. 429 _note_. His
+ fifteenth and sixteenth chapters, 429
+
+ Gipsies, origin of the, according to the writers of the middle ages,
+ i. 312
+
+ Glasgow in the fifteenth century, iii. 26, 27. Rise and progress of,
+ 175. The first bank at, 181
+
+ Gloves, Spanish manufacture of, in the sixteenth and seventeenth
+ centuries, ii. 502
+
+ Goblets, game of, forbidden to be seen by French Protestants, ii. 70
+
+ God, Cartesian method of the ultimate proof of the existence of,
+ ii. 89. Horrible notions of the Scotch clergy respecting, iii. 239
+
+ Gomberville, his refutation of the idle stories as to the extreme
+ antiquity of the French, ii. 270
+
+ Gongora, the Spanish poet, ii. 480
+
+ Goethe, his obligations to Mallet's 'History of Denmark,' ii. 299
+
+ Gordon, Dr., the nonjuring bishop, i. 412 _note_
+
+ Government, inquiry into the influence of, on the progress of society,
+ i. 272. Illustrated by the abolition of the corn laws, 273. The most
+ important measures of modern British legislation the result of
+ pressure from without, 275. The best legislation the result of the
+ abrogation of former legislation, 275. Injuries caused to trade by the
+ interference of politicians, 276. Smuggling, with all its attendant
+ crimes, caused by legislation, 277. Baneful effects of legislative
+ attempts to encourage religious truth, and discourage religious error,
+ 281. Consequent increase of hypocrisy and perjury, 281, 282. And of
+ usury by the laws against usury, 283. Effects of legislation in
+ hindering the advance of knowledge, 284. England less interfered with
+ by government than other nations, 286. True duties of legislators,
+ 287. Attempts to make politics a mere branch of theology, 326-328.
+ Legislative improvements in the reign of Charles II. in spite of
+ political degradation, 381
+
+ Gowrie conspiracy, the, iii. 110
+
+ Gracian, the Spanish Jesuit and prose writer, ii. 480
+
+ Granada, capture of, from the Arabs, ii. 440
+
+ Gravitation, Newton's discovery of the law of, ii. 191. Tardy
+ reception of the law in France, 191, 192
+
+ Greece, condition of, contrasted with that of India, i. 138. Its area,
+ 138. Its material phenomena, 139. Comparison of the Greek and Hindu
+ divinities, 140. The hero-worship of the Greeks, 144. Statesmen,
+ orators, and authors of ancient, 199. Reason of the evanescence of the
+ civilization of ancient Greece, 267
+
+ Greek language forbidden by the French Protestants to be taught,
+ ii. 69
+
+ Greek Church, cause of the small amount of authority possessed by the
+ head of the, compared with that of the Latin Church, ii. 303
+
+ Greenock, state of, in the seventeenth century, iii. 28. Rise and
+ progress of, 174
+
+ Grenobles, insolence of the Protestant assembly of, ii. 60
+
+ Grew, Dr. Nathaniel, his botanical discoveries, ii. 199, 200
+
+ Grey, Mr. (afterwards Earl), his remarks in the House on the
+ subservient conduct of Pitt, i. 447 _note_
+
+ Grimaldi, prime minister of Spain, ii. 545
+
+ Grosley, his admiration for England, ii. 228. Suppression of his
+ 'Memoirs on Troyes,' 238
+
+ Grotius, his principles of foreign policy compared with those of
+ Vattel, ii. 40 _note_
+
+ Guibert, suppression of his work on 'Military Tactics,' ii. 238
+
+ Guise, the murder of, predominance of the theological spirit shown in
+ the, ii. 11
+
+ Guises, their influence in Scotland, iii. 77, 78
+
+ Guizot, his republication of Mably's 'Observations,' ii. 236
+
+ Gunpowder, invention of, i. 203. And of fire-arms, 204. Gunpowder
+ first used in mining towns, 206 _note_. Influence of the invention of,
+ in lessening the warlike spirit, 206-209
+
+ Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, his domestic and warlike policy
+ contrasted, i. 200
+
+ Guthrie, the Scotch preacher, iii. 202 _note_, 204 _note_
+
+
+ Habeas Corpus Act, passing of the, i. 385. Effect of the suspension of
+ the, in 1794, 496
+
+ Haco, his invasion of Scotland, iii. 11
+
+ Haillan, Du, his the first history of France, ii. 264. Character of
+ his work, 264, 265
+
+ Hajin tribe, cause of their worship of the tiger, i. 125 _note_
+
+ Hall, Chief Baron, his charge to the jury in a case of witchcraft in
+ 1665, i. 363 _note_
+
+ Hall, Sir James, his verification of the geological speculations of
+ Hutton, iii. 401
+
+ Hardwicke, Lord, his notions of political economy, i. 211 _note_
+
+ Harris, his account of the extinction of feudalism, i. 386
+
+ Harriss's 'Dictionary of Arts and Sciences,' the origin of
+ Encyclopaedias, i. 433 _note_
+
+ Harvey, his discovery of the circulation of the blood, ii. 80. Denies
+ the existence of the lacteals, 81 _note_
+
+ Hauey, his studies in crystallography, ii. 401
+
+ Heat, together with moisture, the causes which regulate the fertility
+ of every country, i. 96. Difference between the heat of the eastern
+ and western coasts of North America, 98; and of South America, 100.
+ French researches on the phenomena of heat in the last century, ii.
+ 361. The laws of heat, iii. 362. The indestructibility of force and
+ interchange of forces, 363. Black's theory of latent heat, 367.
+ Leslie's philosophy, 383
+
+ Heat, animal food necessary for keeping up the, i. 55, 58. The
+ blood-corpuscles and animal heat, 58 _note_. Heat disengaged by the
+ union of carbon and oxygen, 58, 59 _note_
+
+ Heavenly witnesses, controversy on the text of the, i. 429
+
+ Helvetius, his knowledge of the English language and literature,
+ ii. 218. His admiration for England, 229. Persecuted by the
+ government, 236. His professed atheism, 352. Analysis of his essay
+ 'On the Mind,' 353
+
+ Henault, his method of writing history, ii. 300
+
+ Henrion, his views as to fossil bones, ii. 371 _note_
+
+ Henry II. of England, his destruction of the baronial castles,
+ ii. 114 _note_
+
+ Henry II. of France, his zeal against heresy, ii. 12
+
+ Henry III. of England, his inability to do permanent harm to English
+ institutions, ii. 466
+
+ Henry III. of France, murder of, predominance of the theological
+ spirit shown in the, ii. 11. His zeal against heresy, 13. His
+ affection for monks, 29 _note_
+
+ Henry IV. of France, his accession, ii. 12. His character as a ruler,
+ 12. His apostasies, 13, 14. Publishes the Edict of Nantes, 14. Refuses
+ to accede to the pope's request to punish the Protestants, 22, 23. His
+ measures for their protection, 23, 24. His death, 24. Henry the first
+ French sovereign stained with the imputation of heresy, 267
+
+ Henry IV. of England, his invasion of Scotland, iii. 18 _note_
+
+ Henry VII. of England, his establishment of the Yeomen of the Guard,
+ ii. 7 _note_
+
+ Henry VIII. of England, indifference of the people to his arrangement
+ of the formularies of the Church, ii. 7. His bodyguard, 7 _note_.
+ Character of his reign, 138
+
+ Henshaw, his discoveries in the vegetable world, ii. 199
+
+ Herculaes, origin of the story of the exploits of, i. 297
+
+ Hereditary descent connected with the formation of character, question
+ of, i. 176 _note_. Hereditary talents, vices, and virtues, 177 _note_
+
+ Heresies, the great religious, founded on previous philosophies, i. 11
+ _note_. Destruction by the legislature of the writ 'De Haeretico
+ Comburendo,' 383. The first papal call on the secular power to punish,
+ ii. 109 _note_. Harshness of the early Spanish laws for the punishment
+ of heresy, 438
+
+ Hero-worship, ancient Greek, causes of the, i. 144
+
+ 'High-church' and 'low-church,' origin of the terms, i. 412 _note_
+
+ Highlanders, their ferocity, iii. 21, 22. Let loose upon the
+ Lowlanders in 1678, 145. The only powerful friends of James II., 151.
+ Their love of war and rapine, 151, 152. Reasons which induced them to
+ rebel in favour of the exiled Stuarts, 152. Their rebellions of 1715
+ and 1745 not the result of loyalty, 153. Their veneration for their
+ chieftains, 156 _note_. Their insignificance after 1745, 157, 168
+
+ Hill, Sir John, his the first publication of popular scientific works
+ in numbers, i. 432 _note_. His great success, 432 _note_
+
+ Hilton, Laird of, story of the, and the minister, iii. 217
+
+ Hindostan, Persian origin of the word, i. 69 _note_
+
+ History, statement of the resources for investigating, i. 1.
+ Confidence in the value of, 1. Use made of the materials for
+ investigating, 3. Instances of endeavours to remedy the backwardness
+ of history, 4. Present prospects of historical literature, 5.
+ Inferiority of the most celebrated historians to the most successful
+ cultivators of physical science, 7. Materials from which a philosophic
+ history can alone be composed, 20, 33. Reasons why historians have not
+ yet collected materials for writing history, 229. Reasons why the
+ present history is restricted to that of England, 231, 242. Hume's
+ method of treating history, 251 _note_. Why the history of England is
+ eminently valuable, 252. Origin of history, and state of historical
+ literature during the Middle Ages, 288. Value of historical inquiries
+ in throwing light on the changes in society, 290, 291. The ballad form
+ of the earliest histories, 291. Error in history caused by the
+ invention of writing, 296. Corruptions in early history caused by
+ changes in religion, 300. Illustration of this from Scandinavian
+ history, 301. Trustworthiness of histories where there has been no
+ change in religion, 301-304. The influence of the clergy the most
+ active cause of the corruption of early history, 307. Absurdities
+ believed in consequence, 309-325. Beginning of the first improvement
+ in writing modern history, 325. Prevalence of credulity in the time of
+ Comines, 326, 327. Character of Bodin's historical work, 326.
+ Intellectual regeneration of the seventeenth century, 329. Instances
+ of the credulity of the sixteenth century, 330. This absurd way of
+ writing history the natural result of the spirit of the age, 333. The
+ history of every civilized country the history of its intellectual
+ development, 387. Importance to history of the question whether normal
+ phenomena should or should not precede the study of abnormal ones, ii.
+ 1, 2 _note_. Condition of historical literature in France before the
+ end of the sixteenth century, 261. The Middle Age historians of France
+ merely annalists, 263. Du Haillan's the first French history, 264. De
+ Thou's work, 266. Sully's history, 266. Serres' view of the importance
+ of correct dates in history, 267. Dupleix's 'History of France,' 268.
+ La Popeliniere's 'History of Histories,' 269. Improvement in the
+ method of writing history in the seventeenth century, 270. De Rubis's
+ work, 270. Gomberville's, 270. Berthault's, 270. Mezeray's great work,
+ 271. The retrograde movement under Louis XIV., 273. As illustrated in
+ the works of Audigier and Bossuet, 279. Reasons why history is
+ superior to theology, 289. Bossuet's method of writing history
+ compared with that of Voltaire, 291. Other historians by whom
+ Voltaire's views were adopted, 299 _et seq._ His opinions as to
+ feudality, 302. As to free trade, 304. As to political economy, 304.
+ His demolition of the admiration entertained for classical works, and
+ for the fables of early history, 306-312. Value of Montesquieu's
+ method, 315. History separated from biography by him, 316, 317.
+ Turgot's views of the duties of a historian, 321. Difference between
+ certainty and precision in writing history, 325. The first and most
+ essential quality of an historian, iii. 186
+
+ Hobbes, Thomas, his works, i. 390. Animosity of the clergy against
+ him, 390. Encouraged by Charles II., 391. Popularity of his works at
+ this time, 391 _note_
+
+ Hogg, Thomas, story of, and the 'factour,' iii. 214
+
+ Holbach, his knowledge of the English language and literature, ii. 219
+
+ Holcus arundinaceus, use of, as food by the Egyptians, i. 87
+
+ Holland, rescued by man from the grasp of the sea, i. 154. Number of
+ Anabaptists put to death in, 186 _note_. The Dutch fleet in the Thames
+ and Medway, 382. Proposal of the Bishop of Beauvais, ii. 38 _note_.
+ Calvinism the popular creed of, 339. The war carried on by Philip II.
+ against the Dutch Protestants, 451. Number of heretics put to death by
+ Alva, 451
+
+ Holyrood robbed by the English, iii. 15
+
+ Homer, his investigations of the human mind, i. 23 _note_
+
+ Hooke, his discoveries in the vegetable world, ii. 199
+
+ Hooker, Richard, his 'Ecclesiastical Polity' compared with Jewel's
+ 'Apology for the Church of England,' i. 339, 340. And with
+ Chillingworth's 'Religion of Protestants,' 348. Connexion between the
+ Reformation and the views advocated by Hooker, 351. Locke's opinion of
+ his philosophy, 351. Compared with Chillingworth, ii. 86. His
+ scepticism, 86
+
+ Horst, Dr., his work on the Golden tooth, i. 332
+
+ Howe, John, his exile, i. 398
+
+ Huguenots. See Protestants, French
+
+ Humber, origin of the name of the, according to the historians of the
+ Middle Ages, i. 311
+
+ Hume, David, his method of metaphysical investigation, i. 250, 426
+ _note_. His 'Natural History of Religion' and 'History of England,'
+ 251. His views as to monotheism, 251 _note_. His 'Political
+ Discourses' translated into French by Le Blanc, ii. 219. Examination
+ of his philosophy, iii. 331. His want of imagination, 331. Importance
+ and novelty of his doctrines, 333. His disregard of facts, 337. His
+ method, 338. His injustice to Bacon, 338. His 'Natural History of
+ Religion,' 343. Comparison between his method and that employed by
+ Cudworth, 348
+
+ Humidity, together with heat, the causes which regulate fertility,
+ i. 96. Difference between the humidity of the eastern and western
+ coasts of North America, 98. And of South America, 100. Relation
+ between the amount of rain and the extent of coast, 99. The heavy
+ rains of Brazil, 103
+
+ Hungary, disease in, from eating pork, i. 314 _note_
+
+ Hunter, John, account of his generalizations, iii. 428. His grandeur
+ and obscurity of language, 428. Conflict of the methods employed by
+ him, and the consequent result, 429-432. His industry in collecting
+ facts, 433. His discovery as to the red globules of the blood, 436.
+ His inquiries as to the movements of animals and vegetables, 439. His
+ idea of uniting all the physical sciences, 443. His inquiry into the
+ malformation of crystals, 443. His physiological and pathological
+ inquiries, 447. His pathological speculations respecting the
+ principles of action and the principles of sympathy, 450 _et seq._
+ Causes of the little influence which he exercised over his English
+ contemporaries, 457
+
+ Hutcheson, Francis, his method of metaphysical investigation, i. 248.
+ Remarks of Sir J. Mackintosh and M. Cousin, 248 _note_. Notice of him,
+ iii. 292. Examination of his philosophy, 292. Its results, tendency,
+ and method, 295-300
+
+ Hutton, James, his attempts to explain the former changes of the
+ earth's crust by reference solely to natural causes, i. 429 _note_.
+ Establishes the first library in Birmingham, 431 _note_. Character of
+ his geological speculations, iii. 388, 396. Verification of his views,
+ 401
+
+ Hyaenas regarded by the Abyssinians as enchanters, i. 126 _note_
+
+ Hydrostatics, Boyle's discoveries in, i. 368 _note_
+
+ Hypocrisy, cause of the increase of, due to evil legislation, i. 281
+
+
+ Idolatry, the natural fruit of ignorance, i. 258
+
+ Ichthyology, fossil, researches of Agassiz in, ii. 383
+
+ Ignorance and idolatry, i. 258. The 'learned ignorance' for which many
+ men are remarkable, 269
+
+ Imagination, special tendency of fear to inflame the, i. 120. Triumph
+ of the imagination in the tropics, from this cause, 121. Instances in
+ the case of earthquakes, 122. And in disease, 127. Imaginative
+ character of the literature of ancient India, 132. The imagination
+ controlled by the understanding in Greece 138-146
+
+ Imbert, his French translation of Clarke's 'Letters on Spain'
+ suppressed, ii. 234
+
+ Impeachments, general effect of the abolition of, i. 386
+
+ Independence, personal, idea of, takes root, i. 436. First occurrence
+ of the word 'independence,' in the modern acceptation of the word,
+ 436 _note_
+
+ India, fertility and civilization of, i. 69. Character of the food of
+ the people of, 70, 71. Causes of the unequal distribution of wealth in
+ India in all ages, 72. Amount of rent paid by the cultivator in India
+ in proportion to the gross produce of the land, 76. Testimony of
+ Bishop Heber to the poverty of the labouring classes, 77 _note_.
+ Provisions of the native laws respecting the caste of the Sudras, 78.
+ And of the Brahmins, 79, 80. Character of the ancient Indian
+ literature, 132. And of the religion and art of, 137. Contrasted with
+ Greece in these conditions, 137. Absence of harbours in India, 138.
+ Antiquity of the worship of Siva in, 141. The bards of, 292 _note_.
+ Causes of trustworthiness in the early history of, 301 _note_.
+ Antiquity of the history of, 302 _note_. Cause of the existence of
+ this history, 303 _note_
+
+ 'Individualisme,' De Tocqueville on the word, i. 436 _note_
+
+ Indulgence, Declaration of, of James II., i. 397. Refusal of the
+ clergy to read it in their churches, 399
+
+ Indulgences, theory of, of the Church of Rome, ii. 339
+
+ Innovation, aversion of the aristocracy for, ii. 139
+
+ Inquisition in Spain, character of the founders of the, i. 187.
+ Establishment of the, in Spain, ii. 446. The different punishments for
+ heresy, 448. Attacked by Aranda, 547. The last heretic burned by the
+ Inquisition, 548
+
+ 'Inquisitoribus haereticae pravitatis,' the first constitution
+ addressed, ii. 109
+
+ Insanity, former notions respecting, ii. 404. Pinel's views of the
+ aberrations of the human mind, 404
+
+ Insects, incredible number of, in Brazil, i. 106
+
+ Insolvents, Burke's opposition to the cruel laws against, i. 463
+
+ Intellect, English; English literature unknown in France in the reign
+ of Louis XIV., ii. 213. Causes of the junction of English and French
+ intellects after this king's death, 214. Essential difference between
+ the civilization of England and Spain, 465. Outline of the history of
+ the English intellect from the middle of the sixteenth to the end of
+ the eighteenth century, 333. Origin of religious toleration in
+ England, 337. Hooker contrasted with Jewel, 339, 340. Theology and
+ persecution, 344. Scepticism and the spirit of inquiry on other
+ subjects, 340. Chillingworth's 'Religion of Protestants,' 347. The
+ rapid increase of heresy in the middle of the seventeenth century, 347
+ _note_. Increasing indifference to theological matters, 350. The work
+ of Chillingworth a vindication of religious dissent, 352. Political
+ character of the opposition to ecclesiastical authority in the reigns
+ of James I. and Charles I., 359. Its frivolous form in the reign of
+ Charles II., 362. Progress of the English intellect in the seventeenth
+ century towards shaking off ancient superstitions, 363. Destruction of
+ the old notions as to witchcraft, 363 _note_. Sir Thomas Browne's
+ works, 365. Boyle's discoveries, 368. Foundation of the Royal Society,
+ 371. Ecclesiastical opposition to physical science in the reign of
+ Charles II., 372. Popular belief in supernatural causation, 373.
+ Improvements in legislation in the reign of Charles II., and the
+ causes which produced them, 388, 389. Hobbists, 390. Effects of the
+ alliance of the clergy with James II., 395. Dissolution of this
+ alliance, 396. Union of the clergy and dissenters, 399. Causes which
+ produced the revolution of 1688, 400. Effects of the expulsion of the
+ Stuarts on English civilization, 402. Struggle between William III.
+ and the clergy, 405. Loss of the clergy of all power out of the
+ Church, 416-418. The clergy weakened by the founders of Wesleyanism,
+ 419-424. Loss of the intellectual vigour of the dissenters, 422. But
+ increase in their numbers, 423 _note_. Final separation of theology
+ from morals and politics, 424-427. Discoveries of geologists, 429.
+ Diffusion of knowledge among the people, 430. Sunday schools, 430.
+ Sunday newspapers, 431. Country printing offices, 431. Popular works
+ on physical truth first published, 432. Invention of encyclopaedias,
+ 433. Literary periodical reviews, 433. Reading clubs, 433. Debating
+ societies, 433. Right of public meeting, and publication of
+ parliamentary debates, 434, 435. Doctrine of personal representation
+ and of personal independence, 436. Change in the style of authors,
+ 436. Review of the reactionary and retrogressive period of English
+ history, 441. Political degeneracy of England during the reign of
+ George III., 446-455. Sketch of the career of Edmund Burke, 455 _et
+ seq._ Arbitrary laws of George III. against the liberties of his
+ country, 487, 488. Gloomy prospects of the people late in the
+ eighteenth century, 494. Secret imprisonment of opponents of the
+ government, 494. Effect of the suspension of the habeas corpus act in
+ 1794, 496. Preparation for a counter reaction, owing to the progress
+ of knowledge, 498. To which, and to the power of public opinion,
+ England owes her reforms of the present century, 498. The Scotch and
+ English methods of philosophy contrasted, iii. 290.
+
+ Intellect, French, outline of the history of the, from the middle of
+ the sixteenth century to the accession to power of Louis XIV., ii. 1.
+ Greater power of the Church in France than in England, 4. As shown by
+ the successful efforts of the clergy to withstand the Reformation, 4.
+ This influence greater in France than in England during the sixteenth
+ century, 6. Hence the impossibility of toleration in France, 7, 8. The
+ civil wars in France conducted in the name of Christianity, 8.
+ Internal condition of the country before the accession of Henry IV.,
+ 11. Beginning of toleration by the publication of the Edict of Nantes,
+ 14. Appearance of scepticism, 14, 15. Rabelais and Montaigne, 15.
+ Charron, 19. The party of the 'Politiques', 22 _note_. Decline of the
+ ecclesiastical power in France, 26. Richelieu's endeavours to humble
+ the French nobles, 28. Fails, but effectually humbles the clergy, 29.
+ Favour shown by Richelieu to the Protestants, 37-39. Causes of the
+ religious feuds of the seventeenth century, 55. Character of the civil
+ war raised by the Protestants, 63-66. Efforts of the Protestants to
+ suppress the thirst for knowledge, 69, 70. And to hamper and vex the
+ people, 71, 72. The liberal policy of Richelieu only part of a much
+ larger movement, 76. Illustration of this from the philosophy of
+ Descartes, 77. Who is regarded as one of the founders of French prose,
+ 80. His origination of the modern method of philosophy, 81, 82.
+ Progress of the French mind as shown in the very existence of the
+ ideas of Descartes and Richelieu, 93. Spread of scepticism in France
+ in the reign of Louis XIII. and during the minority of Louis XIV., 95.
+ The anti-ecclesiastical spirit exhibited by Mazarin, 96. Injurious
+ effects of the protective spirit carried by Louis XIV. into
+ literature, 176-188. Proof that the literary splendour of his reign
+ was not his work, 188. Effect of his protection in stopping the
+ progress of science, 190. In mathematics, 191. And in astronomy, 191.
+ Newton's discoveries neglected for forty-five years, 191. Absence of
+ mere practical ingenuity in the reign of Louis XIV., 192. Few and
+ insignificant improvements effected during this period in
+ manufactures, 193. Decline at the same time in physiology, surgery,
+ and medicine, 194-196. In zoology and chemistry, 197. And in botany,
+ 197. Results which followed the decline of the national intellect in
+ the reign of Louis XIV., 203 _et seq._ Reaction against the protective
+ spirit on the death of Louis XIV., and preparations for the French
+ Revolution, 213. Ignorance of the English language and literature at
+ the end of the seventeenth century, 214. Causes of the junction of the
+ French and English intellect after the death of Louis XIV., 215.
+ Voltaire and his works, 216. Other authors, 216 _et seq._ Admiration
+ for England expressed by Frenchmen, 222. Who disseminate liberal
+ opinions which the government attempts to stifle, 228, 229.
+ Persecution of literary men, 230-242. The avocat-general's proposition
+ as to the publication of new works, 245. Reasons why French literary
+ men at first attacked the Church and not the government, 247-251.
+ Effects of the hostility of the French intellect against the state,
+ 258. Rise and extent of scepticism in France, 261 _et seq._ The two
+ epochs through which the French intellect passed during the eighteenth
+ century, 327. Inquiries respecting political economy, 327-329.
+ Eagerness of the French for economical and financial inquiries, 329.
+ Influence of Rousseau, 330-332. Anti-ecclesiastical policy of Machault
+ and his successors, 332-334. Concession of civil rights to
+ Protestants, 335. Revival of Jansenism, and consequent overthrow of
+ the Jesuits, 344, 345. Destruction of the French Church, 347. Rise and
+ progress of atheistical opinions, 351. Tendency of the French
+ intellect during the latter half of the eighteenth century to withdraw
+ from the internal, and concentrate attention upon the external world,
+ 351-353. Works of Helvetius and Condillac, 353-360. Researches as to
+ the laws of heat, light, and electricity, 361-363. And in chemistry
+ and geology, 364. The study of physical phenomena in connexion with
+ the French Revolution, 375. Impetus given to zoology by Cuvier, 375.
+ And by Bichat, 376. Reaction in France at the commencement of the
+ present century, 388, 389. Researches in botany and mineralogy at the
+ end of the last century, 395. And in the aberrations of the human
+ mind, 404
+
+ Intellect, German. The Scotch method of philosophy compared with that
+ of Germany, iii. 289
+
+ Intellect, human, sole source of the, ii. 89
+
+ Intellect, Scotch, examination of the, during the seventeenth century,
+ iii. 191-280. And during the eighteenth century, 281-482. Barrenness
+ of the Scotch mind in science in the seventeenth century, 284. Causes
+ of this, 287. Results of the ignorance of the inductive or analytical
+ method, 289. Scotland in this respect compared and contrasted with
+ Germany and England, 288. Hutcheson, Adam Smith, Hume, and Reid,
+ 292-360. Examination of Scotch physical philosophy, 361 _et seq._
+ Difference between the results achieved by Scotchmen in the
+ seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 458. The deductive method
+ supreme in both centuries, 462. Reasons why the Scotch literature of
+ the eighteenth century affected the nation so little, 465.
+ Superstition and illiberality still existing in Scotland,
+ 471 _et seq._
+
+ Intellect, Spanish, outline of the history of the, from the fifth to
+ the middle of the nineteenth century, ii. 425 _et seq._ Influence of
+ the clergy over the Spanish intellect, high and low, 479
+
+ Intellectual progress of man, i. 174. Progressive aspect of
+ intellectual truths, 181. Mischievousness of ignorant men in
+ proportion to their sincerity, 183
+
+ Interest, in what it consists, i. 52. Rate of interest in India in
+ 900 B.C., 74. And in 1810 A.D., 75
+
+ Inverness burnt by the Highlanders, iii. 22
+
+ Ireland, the potato the principal food of the people of, for above two
+ hundred years, i. 65. Period of its introduction into that country, 65
+ _note_. Potato crops as compared with those of wheat, 65. Daily
+ average consumption of potatoes in Ireland, 66 _note_. Evil
+ consequences of the cheapness and abundance of food, 67. Idleness of
+ the Irish at home compared with their industry abroad, 68 _note_. The
+ bards of Ireland, 292 _note_. Their contributions to the early history
+ of their country, 292 _note_. Injuries done to the traditions of the
+ bards of, by clerical historians, 306. Pork the chief food of the
+ Irish in the twelfth century, 314 _note_. Causes which have produced
+ the present superstition of the Irish Catholics, ii. 53, 54. The Irish
+ invasion of Scotland, iii. 9
+
+ Irritability, Glisson's anticipation of the truth respecting,
+ ii. 196 _note_
+
+ Isomorphism, Mitscherlich's discovery of, in minerals, ii. 400
+
+ Italy, physical causes of the superstition existing in, i. 123.
+ Triumph of the imaginative and small proportion of scientific men in,
+ 124
+
+
+ Jacobites, extinction of the hopes of the, i. 444
+
+ James I., political character of the opposition to ecclesiastical
+ authority in the reign of, i. 359. His attempts to revive the power of
+ the nobles, ii. 147. His imprisonment in Scotland, iii. 103. Recovers
+ his liberty, 104. Bearded by the ministers, 104. The Gowrie
+ Conspiracy, 110. Ascends the throne of England, 115. Attempts to
+ subjugate the Scotch Church, 115. His cruelties, 117. Forces
+ episcopacy upon Scotland, 117. And sets up High Courts of Commission,
+ 125
+
+ James I. of Scotland, attacks the nobles, and favours the Church, iii.
+ 46, 47. Causes of his failure, 47, 48. Put to death by his
+ aristocracy, 49
+
+ James II. of England, his accession, i. 395. Attempts of Archbishop
+ Sancroft to convert him to Protestantism, 395 _note_. Services
+ rendered to him by the Protestant clergy, 396. Alliance between the
+ Roman Catholic King and the Protestant clergy, 396. Causes of the
+ dissolution of this alliance, 397. His declaration of indulgence, 397.
+ Establishes the first standing army in England, 397 _note_.
+ Persecutions in his reign, 397, 398. Union of the Churchmen and
+ Dissenters, and production of the revolution, 400. His character, iii.
+ 147. His fiendish cruelty, 147-149. His ignominious flight, 151
+
+ James II. of Scotland, his treachery, iii. 49-52
+
+ James IV. of Scotland, his policy, iii. 56
+
+ James V. of Scotland, seized by the Douglases, iii. 57. His escape,
+ 58, 59. Favours the Church, and punishes the nobles, 59, 60. Who bring
+ about the Reformation, 62. Accepts the title of 'Defender of the
+ Faith,' 62. His marriage with Mary of Guise, 63. Cause of his death,
+ 69
+
+ Jamin's 'Thoughts,' suppression of, ii. 238
+
+ Jansenism, tenets of, ii. 343. Its introduction into France, previous
+ to the time of Louis XIV., but suppression by him, 344. Its revival in
+ the eighteenth century, and its effect on the democratic movement,
+ 344. Its overthrow of the Jesuits, 344, 345
+
+ Java, early civilization of, i. 305. Causes of the loss of the
+ historical traditions of, 305. Establishment of Mohammedanism in, 305
+ _note_. Period of the Indian colonization of, 305 _note_. Traditions
+ of Java preserved in the island of Bali, 306
+
+ Jefferson, Thomas, his part in the French Revolution, ii. 418
+
+ Jeffreys, Lord, his cruelty, i. 397
+
+ Jehangueir, the emperor, his extraordinary wealth, i. 77 _note_
+
+ Jerusalem, origin of the name of, according to the historians of the
+ Middle Ages, i. 311
+
+ Jesuits, the, banished from France by Henry IV., ii. 23. Recalled, 23,
+ 24 _note_. Services of the early Jesuits to civilization, 336. Their
+ system of education, 336. Their incompatibility with the opinions of
+ the eighteenth century, 337. Buffier the only Jesuit name in the
+ history of abstract philosophy, 342 _note_. The order overthrown in
+ France in the last century, 345, 346. Regarded as the instigators of
+ Damiens' attempted assassination of Louis XV., 345. Expelled from
+ Spain, 546
+
+ Jewel, Bishop, his 'Apology for the Church of England' compared with
+ Hooker's 'Ecclesiastical Polity,' i. 340. And with Chillingworth's
+ 'Religion of Protestants,' 348
+
+ Jews, influence of religion on the progress of society illustrated by
+ the history of the, i. 257, 258. Importance of the history of the,
+ according to Bossuet, ii. 285. Harshness of the early Spanish laws
+ against them, 438. Decree of expulsion of Ferdinand and Isabella, 445.
+ Number of Jews expelled from Spain, 446 _note_
+
+ Johnson, Dr., on free will, i. 14 _note_
+
+ Joubert, his eminence in medicine, ii. 195
+
+ Jousse, suppression of his 'Treatise on Presidial jurisdiction,'
+ ii. 238
+
+ Joyce, Cornet, his origin, ii. 155
+
+ Judas, history of, according to Matthew of Westminster, i. 316
+
+ Judges in France, ii. 124. Period when judges were first knighted in
+ England, 135 _note_
+
+ Julian, the emperor, causes of his persecution of the Christians,
+ i. 186
+
+ Jurisdictions, hereditary, abolition of, in Scotland, iii. 161, 169
+
+ Jury, origin of trial by, ii. 117 _note_
+
+ Jussieu, his botanical generalizations, ii. 397
+
+ Justice, permanent improvement in the administration of, in England,
+ i. 402
+
+ Juxon, William, his character as archbishop of Canterbury, i. 391
+
+
+ Kamtschatkans, religious regard they pay to some animals,
+ i. 126 _note_
+
+ Kant, his views as to the scientific conception of the understanding,
+ i. 18 _note_; quoted, 35-38
+
+ Ken, Bishop, deprived, i. 408, 410. Refuses to admit in the secular
+ power the right of deprivation, 410
+
+ Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrew's, his power in Scotland, iii. 53. His
+ counsel to the king, 53, 54
+
+ Kilmarnock, state of, in the seventeenth century, iii. 28. Rise of the
+ manufactures of, 180
+
+ 'King's Friends,' the party so called, i. 448
+
+ Kings, causes of the diminution of the respect formerly felt for, ii.
+ 182. Reasons why their information is inaccurate, and their prejudices
+ numerous, 183. Their nonsensical or blasphemous titles, 183 _note_
+
+ Kirke, Colonel, his cruelty, i. 397
+
+ Kirk-sessions in Scotland, in the seventeenth century, iii. 206, 207.
+ Their tyranny, 209, 210
+
+ Knights Templars, discourse of St. Bernard on the, quoted,
+ ii. 133 _note_
+
+ Knighthood, bane of the order of, in France, ii. 133, 134. Little
+ respect paid to it in England, 135. Compulsory knighthood in that
+ country, 135
+
+ Knowledge, influence of the progress of, in diminishing religious
+ persecution, i. 189. And in diminishing war, 190. The three ways in
+ which the progress of knowledge has lessened the warlike spirit,
+ 203-223. The totality of human actions governed by the totality of
+ human knowledge, 229. Remarkable diffusion of knowledge in the United
+ States, 243. Books the storehouse of knowledge, 267. In what the
+ knowledge in which all civilization consists is based, 268. The
+ 'learned ignorance' for which many men are remarkable, 269. Condition
+ and results of the literature of Europe from the sixth to the tenth
+ centuries, 269. Endeavours of governments to hinder the advance of
+ knowledge, 284. Craving of the people after knowledge, 430. Popular
+ form taken by the diffusion of knowledge, 430, 431. Simplicity of the
+ style of the authors of the last century, 437. The increase and
+ diffusion of knowledge in England at the latter part of the eighteenth
+ century antagonistic to the political events of the same period, 498.
+ Efforts of the French Protestant clergy to suppress the pursuit of
+ knowledge, ii. 70. Sudden craving after knowledge in France at the
+ latter part of the last century, 407
+
+ Knox, John, commencement of his career, iii. 74, 75. His influence in
+ promoting the Reformation, 75. His part in the murder of Beaton, 76.
+ Goes to Geneva, 76. Returns, 79. His petition to Parliament as to the
+ Church revenues, 84, 85. His death, 93
+
+ Konigseg, his services to Spain, ii. 519
+
+
+ La Bletterie, cause of his expulsion from the French Academy, ii. 235
+
+ Labour, effect of climate on the energy and regularity with which it
+ is conducted, i. 42, 43. See Wages
+
+ Labourers and employers, their wages and profits, i. 52. Effect of the
+ supply of food on the labouring classes, 54. Native laws respecting
+ the Sudras or labourers of India, 79, 80
+
+ La Bruyere, his 'Characteres,' ii. 209
+
+ Lacteals, Aselli's discovery of the, ii. 81. Recognized by Descartes,
+ but denied by Harvey, 81 and _note_
+
+ La Fayette, character and abilities of, i. 470. Burke's hostility to,
+ 471. His familiarity with English language and literature, ii. 224.
+ His introduction of democratic opinions into France, 417
+
+ La Fontaine, 'Fables' of, ii. 209
+
+ La Force, Marshal, ii. 43
+
+ La Harpe, his 'Eloge sur Fenelon' suppressed, ii. 237
+
+ Laing, Mr., his remarks on the German literary class, quoted,
+ i. 239 _note_
+
+ Laland, his advocacy of atheism, ii. 352
+
+ Lamplugh, translated from Exeter to the see of York, i. 404
+
+ Lanjuinais, his work on Joseph II. ordered to be burned, ii. 236
+
+ Lanthenas, his familiarity with the English language and literature,
+ ii. 224
+
+ Laplace, his professed atheism, ii. 352
+
+ La Popeliniere, his French historical works, ii. 269
+
+ Lateran, Matthew of Westminster's etymology of the name, i. 317
+
+ Latin, a vernacular dialect in the Middle Ages, i. 271. Results of
+ Latin being colloquially employed by the monks, 271 _note_
+
+ Laverdy, openly protects the Jansenists, ii. 345
+
+ Lavoisier, his discoveries in chemistry, ii. 367
+
+ Law courts, first publication of the proceedings in the, i. 434
+
+ Layamon, his translation into English of the history of Geoffrey of
+ Monmouth, i. 324
+
+ Le Blanc, his knowledge of the English language and literature,
+ ii. 219. His admiration for England, 228
+
+ Le Brun, his knowledge of the English language and literature, ii. 225
+
+ Legat, one of the last English martyrs to religious opinions,
+ i. 345 _note_
+
+ Legislation, main object of, i. 23. Burke's views as to the true end
+ of, 459. The safest course for a legislator to pursue, 504. See
+ Government
+
+ Leicester, Earl of, the founder of the House of Commons, ii. 117
+
+ Lenglet du Fresnoy, his imprisonment in the Bastille, ii. 235
+
+ Lens, the crystalline, discoveries of Descartes respecting the, ii. 78
+
+ Leprosy, superstitions respecting, i. 127. The leprosy of the Middle
+ Ages extirpated from modern Europe, 155
+
+ Lerma, Duque de, prime minister of Spain, ii. 473, 474. His alliance
+ with the clergy, 474. And its consequences, 475-477. His part in the
+ expulsion of the Moriscoes, 493
+
+ Lesdiguieres, Marshal, ii. 43. His apostacy, 48
+
+ Leslie, his philosophy of heat, iii. 383. Aid which he derived from
+ poetry, 385. His injustice to Bacon, 388
+
+ Le Trosne, suppression of his work on 'Finance,' ii. 238
+
+ Lettes, their fondness for pork, i. 314 _note_
+
+ Le Vassor, his 'Histoire de Louis XIII.,' ii. 30 _note_
+
+ L'Hopital, his recommendation of religious toleration, ii. 10. His
+ failure to effect any of his noble schemes, 10
+
+ Libel, Burke's attack of the power exercised by judges in trials for,
+ i. 464
+
+ Libraries, circulating, first establishment of, i. 431. Licences
+ required by Act of Parliament for keeping reading-rooms or circulating
+ libraries, i. 490
+
+ Lichfield, first printing office in, i. 432 _note_
+
+ Life, statements of Hindu poets as to the ancient duration of, i. 135.
+ Active causes of the increased duration of, 153. Examination of
+ Bichat's work on Life, ii. 390
+
+ Light, French researches as to the phenomena of, in the eighteenth
+ century, ii. 362
+
+ Lindsey, Mr. his establishment of Sunday schools, i. 430 _note_
+
+ Linen, manufacture, rise of in Glasgow, iii. 176, 179. And in other
+ parts of Scotland, 180
+
+ Linguet, his works suppressed and their author imprisoned,
+ ii. 236, 237
+
+ Linnaeus, his artificial botanical system superseded by the French
+ natural method, ii. 376, 397
+
+ Literature, American, characteristics of, i. 241
+
+ Literature, influence of on the progress of society, i. 266. Result
+ which is sure to happen to a literature above the level of its age,
+ 266, 267. Illustrations from Greece, Rome, and Germany, 267. In what
+ real knowledge consists, 268. Men and countries where erudition merely
+ ministers to ignorance, 269. Condition and effects of the literature
+ of Europe from the sixth to the tenth centuries, 269, 270. Effect of
+ the monopoly of literature by the clergy, 307. Character of the
+ literature of India, 132. And of ancient Greece, 137
+
+ Literature, English--characteristics of, in the reign of Charles II.,
+ i. 234. Influence of the intellect of France on Dryden's plays, 235
+ _note_. Causes which have maintained the independence, and increased
+ the value of English literature, 235 _note_. Change in the form and
+ make of English literature in the last century, 436. Coleridge's
+ lamentations of this change, 437 _note_. Addison's establishment of
+ the easy and democratic style, 437. Failure of an attempt to revive
+ the pedantic style, 437 _note_. Abolition of servile dedications, 438.
+ Introduction of the plan of publishing books by subscription, 439.
+ First instance of a popular writer attacking public men by name, 439.
+ English literature unknown to the French at the end of the seventeenth
+ century, ii. 214 _note_. But begun to be studied after the death of
+ Louis XIV., 215. Its services to French, and thence to European
+ liberty, 227
+
+ Literature, French, effect of, on English writings, i. 235.
+ Characteristics of French literature at the time of Descartes and
+ Richelieu, ii. 93, 94. The protective spirit carried by Louis XIV.
+ into literature, 176. Result in an alliance between literature and
+ government, 176, 177. Servility of men of letters at this time, 177.
+ Injurious effects of the protective system of Louis XIV. upon
+ literature, 182. And of pensions to literary men, 183, 187. The
+ literary splendour of the reign of Louis XIV. not of his creation,
+ 188, 189. Causes of its decay in his reign, 208. Causes of the
+ junction of English and French intellects after the death of Louis
+ XIV. Systematic and prolonged persecution to which literature was
+ exposed in the eighteenth century, 230-242. Proposal of the
+ avocat-general as to the publication of new works, 245. Why the
+ Church, and not the government, was first attacked by literary men,
+ 247. State of French historical literature from the end of the
+ sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth century, 261 _et seq._
+
+ Literature, German, since the middle of the eighteenth century,
+ i. 237. Origin of, 237. Remarks on Mr. Kay's picture of German
+ education, 238 _note_. Mr. Laing's observations on the German
+ literary class, 239 _note_
+
+ Literature, Scotch, poverty of, down to the commencement of the
+ eighteenth century, iii. 183. Buchanan and Napier, 183. Character of
+ the Scotch philosophical literature of the eighteenth century, 281.
+ Reasons why the Scotch literature of the eighteenth century was unable
+ to affect the nation, iii. 465
+
+ Literature, Spanish, causes which gave it its adventurous and romantic
+ tone, ii. 433, 434. Hold retained by the Spanish Church over the
+ highest and lowest intellects, 479
+
+ Liver, business of the, i. 148. The liver and lungs always
+ compensatory, 148. Size of the f[oe]tal liver, 149 _note_
+
+ Locke, John, his views as to the use of money in trade, i. 212 _note_.
+ Causes of his Socinian views, 363. His death, ii. 374
+
+ Locomotion, effect of improved means of, in weakening the love of war,
+ i. 221-223
+
+ Logarithms, discovery of, iii. 183
+
+ Logos, influence of the Platonism of Alexandria in developing the idea
+ of the, ii. 286
+
+ London, the Great Plague and Fire of, i. 387
+
+ Lords, House of, abandons its pretensions to an original jurisdiction
+ in civil suits, i. 384. Origin of the disrepute into which the, fell
+ in the reign of George III., 451-453. Abolished, ii. 153
+
+ Lotos bread of Egypt, i. 87. Herodotus on the lotos, quoted, 87 _note_
+
+ Loudun, insolence of the Protestant assembly of, ii. 61
+
+ Louis, Saint, of France, his etymology of the word Tartar,
+ i. 313 _note_
+
+ Louis, suppression of his thesis on 'Generation,' ii. 238
+
+ Louis IX. of France, recognizes the right of the nobles to wage
+ private war, ii. 116
+
+ Louis XIII., his protection of the French protestants, ii. 25. Le
+ Vassor's 'Histoire de Louis XIII.,' 30 _note_. Heretics not only
+ protected during his reign, but openly rewarded, 43. Illtreated by the
+ Protestants whom he had protected, 57, 58, 60
+
+ Louis XIV., his accession, ii. 96. The protective spirit carried into
+ literature during his reign, 176. Character of the King's private life
+ and public career, 178. His revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the
+ results, 178-181. His reign notwithstanding held up by some to
+ admiration, 181. Gratitude of men of letters to him, 181. Injurious
+ effect of his system of protection upon literature, 182-187. The
+ literary glory of his reign not his work, 188. Scarcely anything added
+ during his reign to the sum of human knowledge, 189-202. Causes of
+ this intellectual decay, 202. Universal decline of France in every
+ department during the latter part of his reign, 210-212. His death,
+ 213. The retrograde movement in historical literature in the reign of,
+ 273. Causes of this, 273. His treatment of literary men, 274-277. His
+ thirst for glory, 277. Voltaire's 'Age of Louis XIV.,' 296. His
+ disposition to favour the King, 297
+
+ Louis XVI., rupture between England and France caused by the execution
+ of, i. 485. His edict granting civil rights to the Huguenots, ii. 335
+
+ Loyalty, causes which weakened, in the reign of Charles II., i. 388.
+ Origin of the deep feelings of loyalty among the French people, ii.
+ 249. And among the Spaniards, 249 _note_. The loyalty of the English
+ and French compared, 250, 251. Causes of the loyalty of the Spaniards,
+ 455 _et seq._ Connexion between loyalty and superstition, 455. Old
+ punishments for disloyalty in Spain, 458. The loyalty of Spain
+ contrasted with that of Scotland, iii. 2
+
+ Lulli, the French musician, ii. 207
+
+ Lungs, connexion between carbonized food and the respiratory
+ functions, i. 148. The lungs and liver always compensatory, 148
+
+
+ Mably, his admiration for England, ii. 229. Suppression of his
+ 'Observations on the History of France,' 236. Guizot's edition of this
+ work, 236. Character of his 'History of France,' 300
+
+ Macaulay, Mr., character of his 'History of England,' i. 394 _note_
+
+ Macchiavelli, his views as to the real history of Rome, ii. 314 _note_
+
+ Machault, controller-general of France, his edict against mortmain,
+ ii. 332. Dislike of the clergy for him, 333. Favour with which he
+ regarded the Jansenists, 344
+
+ Madden, Sir F., his edition of Wace's 'Brut,' i. 325 _note_
+
+ Madrid, decline in the population of, in the seventeenth century,
+ ii. 501. Starving condition of the people of, 505, 509. Scenes of
+ robbery and murder in consequence, 509-511. No public library in,
+ in 1679, 527. Beautified by Charles III., 561
+
+ Magendie, his division of food into azotized and non-azotized,
+ i. 55 _note_
+
+ Maize, its extraordinary fecundity in Mexico and Peru, i. 109. Most
+ probably peculiar to the American continent, 109
+
+ Malaga captured from the Arabs, ii. 440
+
+ Malayo-Polynesian race, causes of the corruption of the early
+ histories of the, i. 305. Eastern and western limits of the, 304,
+ 305 _note_
+
+ Malebranches, his 'Inquiry respecting Truth,' ii. 209
+
+ Malesherbes, M., his attack on church property in France, ii. 333
+
+ Mallet, character of his 'History of Denmark,' ii. 299
+
+ Malus, his researches into the laws of light, ii. 362
+
+ Malthus, principle of his work anticipated by Voltaire, ii. 304
+
+ Man modified by nature and nature modified by man, i. 20. Inquiry into
+ the laws of this double modification, 20. Inferences respecting human
+ actions, 21. Two classes of actions, 22. The powers of man unlimited,
+ 51. Modes in which his energies are checked by the energies of nature,
+ 119. Laws of the process by which the mind of man is influenced by the
+ aspects of nature, 119. Effects of the force and majesty of nature in
+ the tropics, 120. Causes which give birth to superstition, 122, 123.
+ Fictions in Sanscrit literature as to the longevity of the human race
+ at an early period of the world, 135. Moral and intellectual progress
+ of man, 174. No evidence of the improvement of the natural faculties
+ of man, 176. Dependence of his progress on an improvement of the
+ circumstances under which his faculties come into play, 178. The
+ standard of action having varied in every age, the causes of action
+ must be variable, 179. Stationary character of moral principles, 180.
+ Progressive aspect of intellectual truths, 181. Ignorant men always
+ mischievous in proportion to their sincerity, 183. Religious
+ persecutions in Rome and Spain, 185-188. More virtue than vice in
+ every country, 221. Inferences to be drawn as to the causes of social
+ progress, 224. The totality of human actions governed by the totality
+ of human knowledge, 229
+
+ Manchester, Earl of, joins the Parliamentary forces, ii. 151
+
+ Manichaeans, their doctrine of predestination, i. 13
+
+ Manrent, in Scotland, iii. 65 _note_
+
+ Mansfield, Lord, his speech on the Theological Society, i. 436 _note_
+
+ Manufactures, few and insignificant improvements made in, in France
+ during the reign of Louis XIV., ii. 193. Sudden rise of the
+ manufactures in Scotland, in 1707, iii. 171, 172
+
+ Marat, his knowledge of the English language and literature, ii. 224
+
+ Marchand, Prosper, his 'Dictionnaire Historique,' ii. 267 _note_
+
+ Margat, suppression of his 'History of Tamerlane,' ii. 235
+
+ Marlborough, Duke of, character of, i. 201
+
+ Marmontel, how treated by a French noble, ii. 239, 240
+
+ Marriages, determined by uniformity of sequence, and not by the temper
+ and wishes of individuals, i. 32. Effects of the price of food upon
+ marriages, 32
+
+ Marsy, his 'Analysis of Bayle' suppressed, ii. 236
+
+ Martin, bishop of Tours, Bossuet's estimate of, ii. 287. The
+ Benedictines' life of, 288. His miracles, 288 _note_
+
+ Martyrs, adoration of, in the early ages of the Church, i. 145 _note_
+
+ Mary, Queen, restores England to Catholicism, ii. 7. But fails to
+ effect a restoration of church property, 7 _note_
+
+ Mary of Guise, her marriage with James V. of Scotland, iii. 63. Her
+ attempt to establish a standing army, 77. Becomes regent, 77. Deposed,
+ 80
+
+ Masillon, the last of the great French pulpit orators, ii. 348
+
+ Masquerades forbidden by the French Protestants, ii. 70
+
+ Mathematicians, their pretence to certainty in their own pursuits,
+ ii. 326. The study of mathematics in France in the seventeenth
+ century, 189
+
+ Mathew of Westminster, his history of Judas, i. 316. His origin of the
+ custom of kissing the Pope's toe, 317. His etymology of the Lateran,
+ 317
+
+ Maxwell, Lord, iii. 71. His venality, 71 _note_
+
+ Mazarin, Cardinal, his anti-ecclesiastical policy, ii. 96. His
+ toleration, 96, 97. His alliance with Oliver Cromwell, 98. Signs the
+ treaty of the Pyrenees, 98
+
+ Mechanics, why less superstitious than agriculturists, i. 376-379
+
+ Medici, Catherine de', her protection of the French Protestants,
+ ii. 25. Her foreign policy, 35
+
+ Medicine, decline of the science of, in the reign of Louis XIV.,
+ ii. 195, 196
+
+ Meetings, public political, establishment of the right of, i. 434.
+ Passing of an Act intended to stifle religious or political meetings,
+ 489
+
+ Melrose Abbey robbed by the English, iii. 15
+
+ Melville, Andrew, takes the lead of the Scotch reformed church,
+ iii. 93. Begins a struggle with the State, which lasted for sixty
+ years, 94. His name of [Greek: episkopomastix], 97 _note_. Appointed
+ moderator at St. Andrew's in 1582, 101. His personal insult to the
+ king, 110. Summoned by the king to England, 124. Imprisoned in the
+ Tower, 124
+
+ Memory, aberrations of, the laws respecting the, i. 32
+
+ Mental laws, examination of the method employed by metaphysicians for
+ discovering, i. 152. Failure of their two methods, 164. Mental laws
+ either moral or intellectual, 168. Comparison between moral and
+ intellectual laws, 168, 175. Necessity of ascertaining the fundamental
+ laws of intellectual progress, 242. Advantages to be gained in that
+ respect from studying the histories of Germany, America, France,
+ Spain, and Scotland, 243
+
+ 'Mence, Institutes of,' authority of in India, i. 75. Vast antiquity
+ of the, according to the Hindu writers, 137
+
+ Menzies, John, the Aberdeen preacher, iii. 203 _note_
+
+ Mercenaries employed by William the Conqueror and his immediate
+ successors, ii. 114
+
+ Mercury, mine of, at Almaden, ii. 540
+
+ Mescua, Mira de, the Spanish dramatist, ii. 479
+
+ Metaphysics; metaphysical inquiry preceded and often controlled by the
+ physical, i. 10 _note_. The only successful mode of prosecuting the
+ study of metaphysics, 17. Examination of the two metaphysical methods
+ of generalizing mental laws, 156. Definition of the term metaphysics,
+ 164 _note_. The English inductive and the Scotch deductive methods,
+ 245 _et seq._ Robert Simson and Matthew Stewart, 247. Adam Smith, 249.
+ David Hume, 250. Examination of the method employed by metaphysicians
+ for discovering mental laws, 152. Failure of their two methods, 164.
+ Descartes, the originator of the modern method of philosophy, ii. 81,
+ 82. Analogy of his philosophy with the anti-theological policy of
+ Richelieu, 83. The eminent characteristic of the philosophy of
+ Descartes, 87. Analysis of his principles, 88, 89. Services which
+ metaphysicians formerly rendered to the Church, 262. Analysis of the
+ works of Helvetius and Condillac, 353-360. Rise of the reactionary
+ party in France at the beginning of the present century, 389. See also
+ Philosophy
+
+ Meteorology, causes which have retarded the progress of,
+ i. 377 _note_. Supernatural causes attributed by ignorance to changes
+ in the weather, 378 _note_
+
+ Method, importance of the philosophy of, ii. 387
+
+ Mey, suppression of his treatise on 'French Law,' ii. 237
+
+ Mexico, authentic existing materials for forming an opinion on the
+ ancient state of, i. 95. Characteristics of the climate of, and
+ reasons for its early civilization, 99. Exuberance of the maize plant
+ in, 109. The potato introduced by the Spaniards into, 110, 111.
+ Extraordinary fecundity of the banana in, 111. Success with which
+ astronomy was cultivated in, 112. Condition of the upper and lower
+ classes of the inhabitants of, when discovered by the Europeans, 114.
+ Custom of caste in Mexico, 115. Frivolous waste of labour of the
+ Mexicans, 116. Their immense buildings, 117
+
+ Mezeray, character of his 'History of France,' ii. 270, 271. How
+ treated by Louis XIV., 274, 275. His 'Abrege Chronologique,'
+ 275 _note_
+
+ Michael, St., foundation of the order of, i. 313 _note_
+
+ Micrometer, discovery of the, ii. 192
+
+ Microscope, invention of the, ii. 198, 199
+
+ Middle Ages, the childish admiration of the, dispelled by Voltaire,
+ ii. 305
+
+ Middleton, Dr., ferment caused by his 'Free Inquiry,' i. 428
+
+ Mill, James, his method of investigating speculative jurisprudence,
+ i. 426
+
+ Mill, John, his inquiry into the method of investigation which
+ political economists ought to follow, i. 250 _note_
+
+ Millet, use of, as food in India, i. 71 _note_
+
+ Millington, Sir Thomas, his botanical discoveries, ii. 200. Causes of
+ his opposition to ecclesiastical authority, i. 363
+
+ Milton, John, parts of his works translated into French by Mirabeau,
+ ii. 225
+
+ Minana, Spanish historian, ii. 480
+
+ Mineralogy, French researches in, at the end of the eighteenth
+ century, ii. 399. Doubts as to the true method of investigating, 399.
+ The discovery of isomorphism, 400
+
+ Mines, military employment of gunpowder in, i. 206 _note_
+
+ Mirabeau, his knowledge of the English language and literature,
+ ii. 225. His professed atheism, 352
+
+ Miracles, the celebrated dispute respecting, i. 428
+
+ Missionaries, influence of religion on the progress of society
+ illustrated by the efforts of the, i. 255
+
+ Mississippi, area drained by the, i. 97 _note_
+
+ Mohammed, cause of his death, according to Mathew Paris, i. 315. And
+ cause of his becoming a heretic, 316. How regarded by Bossuet,
+ ii. 286
+
+ Mohammedanism, area of the countries in which it is professed,
+ ii. 286. Lofty ideas of the Mohammedan writers on the oneness of God,
+ 287 _note_. The Mohammedans in Spain, 439
+
+ Molina, Tirso de, the Spanish dramatist, ii. 480
+
+ Monboddo, Lord, his lamentation over the extinction of pedantry in
+ English literature, i. 437 _note_
+
+ 'Monconys, Voyages de,' i. 371 _note_
+
+ Money, notions of the use of, in trade, in the seventeenth and
+ eighteenth centuries, i. 210-212. Right of coining allowed to the
+ aristocracy of France, but never in England, ii. 115
+
+ Monks, results of Latin being colloquially employed by the, of the
+ Middle Ages, i. 271 _note_
+
+ Monotheism, forms of religion preceding, according to Hume and Comte,
+ i. 250 _note_
+
+ Monsoons, causes of the, i. 102 _note_
+
+ Monstrosities, animal, discoveries respecting, ii. 396 _note_
+
+ Montaigne, Michel de, first appearance of his essays, ii. 16.
+ Difference between him and Rabelais, 16. Regarded as the first French
+ sceptic, 16. Opinions of Dugald Stewart and Rousseau of his writings,
+ 18 _note_. Immense influence of his works, 18 _note_. Compared with
+ Charron, 19. His scepticism compared with that of Descartes, 86. His
+ the first sceptical work published in France, 266
+
+ Montalvan, Spanish dramatist, his office in the Inquisition, ii. 479
+
+ Montbarey, Prince de, character of his censures of Louis XV.,
+ ii. 406 _note_
+
+ Montesquieu, his erroneous notions as to political economy, i. 212
+ _note_. His knowledge of the English language and literature, ii. 218.
+ His admiration for England, 228. His the first information concerning
+ the real history of Rome, 314. Character of his 'Spirit of Laws,' 314.
+ His method, and its value, 315
+
+ Montgomery, Robert, appointed Archbishop of Glasgow, iii. 100.
+ Excommunicated by the General Assembly, 100. Submits, 100.
+
+ Montgon, suppression of the 'Letters' of, ii. 237
+
+ Montlosier, his geological labours, ii. 368
+
+ Moral truths, little changes which they have undergone, i. 180. Moral
+ truths in the New Testament quoted from pagan authors, 180 _note_.
+ Influence of moral feelings on individuals, but not on society in the
+ aggregate, 228. Separation of theology from morals, 424. Consequences
+ of this separation, 425-427
+
+ Morals, Charron's, the first attempt to create a system of morals
+ independent of theology, ii. 19
+
+ Morellet, l'Abbe, his translation of the 'Wealth of Nations' into
+ French, ii. 219, 239. His punishment in the Bastille, 240
+
+ Moriscoes, their expulsion from Spain, ii. 485 _et seq._ Number
+ expelled, 494
+
+ Morris-dances forbidden by the French Protestants, ii. 70
+
+ Mortmain, Machault's edict against, in France, ii. 332
+
+ Morton, the Regent, his persecution of the reformed clergy of
+ Scotland, iii. 91
+
+ Mosaic cosmogony first impugned, i. 429
+
+ Mounier, his familiarity with the English language and English
+ institutions, ii. 225. His proposal for the establishment of two
+ Chambers in France, 225
+
+ Muhlberg, results of the battle of, ii. 446
+
+ Municipal privileges in England, ii. 119. Futility of, in France, 121
+
+ Murder, uniform reproduction of the crime of, i. 24, 25
+
+ Muscular system, waste or decomposition of the, i. 56 _note_
+
+ Music forbidden by the Scotch clergy, iii. 258
+
+ Muskets, the, of the fifteenth century, i. 206 _note_
+
+
+ Names, origin of the habit of generalizing, i. 297 _note_
+
+ Nantes, edict of, confirmed by Catherine de' Medici, ii. 25. By her
+ son Louis XIII., 25. And by Mazarin, 96
+
+ Napier, Sir William, his military genius and works, i. 200
+
+ Napier, John, his discovery of logarithms, iii. 183
+
+ Naples, foundation of the city of, according to the writers of the
+ Middle Ages, i. 313
+
+ Napoleon I., compared with Richelieu, ii. 27
+
+ Nasmyth, his researches into the structure of the teeth, ii. 385
+
+ 'Nations, Morals, Manners, and Character of,' Voltaire's, ii. 297
+
+ Nature, laws of, origin of the perception of the, i. 9. Causes of the
+ disturbances in the laws of, 30. Influence and results of the general
+ aspects of, on the human race in its infancy, 39, 118. Modes in which
+ the energies of Nature hamper the energies of Man in South America,
+ 106. Laws of the process by which the aspects of Nature influence the
+ human mind, its natural movements, and natural progress, 119. Feelings
+ inspired by the force and majesty of natural phenomena in tropical
+ regions, 120, 121. Physiological effects of the fear of earthquakes,
+ 122, 123. Comparison of the material phenomena of Greece and India,
+ 139, 140. Instance in the proportion of births of the sexes of the
+ regularity of natural laws, 168
+
+ 'Nature, the System of,' publication of, ii. 351
+
+ Necessity, doctrine of, its displacement of the doctrine of Chance,
+ i. 9. Origin of the doctrine, ii. 343
+
+ Necker, M., his Report on the Finances of France, ii. 329. Eagerness
+ of the French to read it, 329. Character of the work, 330. His
+ anti-ecclesiastical policy, 333. His Calvinist opinions, 345.
+
+ Newspapers, first publication of, on Sundays, i. 431. Establishment of
+ political ones, 434. And of the right to publish parliamentary
+ debates, 435. Vast increase in the circulation of newspapers in the
+ latter half of the last century, 439 _note_
+
+ Newton, Sir Isaac, his imagination i. 124 _note_. His death, ii. 374
+
+ Niebuhr, his arguments as to the early history of Rome anticipated by
+ Voltaire, ii. 311. The three principles fundamental to his history
+ which it is impossible to refute, 311
+
+ Nile, effects of the overflow of the, on the civilization of Egypt, i.
+ 48, 49. Herodotus's expression [Greek: doron tou potamou], 49 _note_
+
+ Nimes, insolence of the Protestant assembly of, ii. 60
+
+ Nobles. See Aristocracy
+
+ Nonconformists. See Dissenters
+
+ Nonjurors, the, amongst the bishops and inferior clergy, i. 408-412.
+ The last of the nonjuring bishops, 412 _note_
+
+ Norfolk, Duke of, concludes the treaty of Berwick, iii. 81
+
+ North, Lord, overpersuaded by George III. to engage in war with
+ America, i. 480 _note_
+
+ Norwegians, their invasion of Scotland, iii. 10
+
+ Nosology, the, of Cullen, iii. 426
+
+ Nutrition, M. Chevreul's generalizations of the laws of,
+ ii. 198 _note_
+
+
+ Oaths, causes which have given rise to, in England, of every kind and
+ in every direction, i. 282. Amount of perjury in England caused by
+ legislation, 282 _note_
+
+ [OE]pinus, his experiments on electricity, ii. 362
+
+ Oils, amount of carbon in, i. 61
+
+ Okey, the fifth-monarchy man, ii. 155
+
+ Opinion, public, origin of the supremacy of, i. 209. The real cause of
+ the abolition of the corn-laws, 273
+
+ Optics, discoveries of Descartes in, ii. 78
+
+ Orders of chivalry, origin of the, ii. 132, 133
+
+ Ordinance, the Self-denying, passed, ii. 153
+
+ Oregon or Columbia river, the only river of importance on the western
+ coast of North America, i. 97
+
+ Orkney Isles, seized by the Norwegians, iii. 10
+
+ Orleans, Duke of, his residence in England, ii. 226
+
+ Osteology, comparative, Ambrose Pare's contributions to, ii. 195
+
+ Owen, Professor, his researches into the structure of the teeth,
+ ii. 384, 385. His services to comparative anatomy, 386
+
+ Oxford, effort of the clergy to instil their principles at, i. 442
+ _note_. Pitt's denunciation, 442 _note_. Execution of the first
+ heretic at, ii. 109
+
+ Oxygen in food, i. 55 _et seq._
+
+
+ Paganism, large amount of, existing in every Christian sect,
+ i. 260 _note_
+
+ Paisley, population of, in 1700, iii. 28. Rise and progress of, 176
+
+ Palaeontology, Cuvier the founder of, ii. 369. Its importance to
+ geology, 369 _note_. Daubenton's labours, 371. Owen's, 386
+
+ Palatine, endeavours of Richelieu to save the, ii. 38 _note_
+
+ Paley, Dr., effect of his utilitarian moral system, i. 426 _note_
+
+ Palm-tree, the date, its importance in Africa, i. 83, 84
+
+ Palm-wine, of Africa, i. 84 _note_
+
+ Paravicino, Spanish poet, his sermons, ii. 480
+
+ Pare, Ambroise, his eminence in surgery, ii. 195. One of the founders
+ of comparative osteology, 195
+
+ Paris, origin of the name of, according to the historians of the
+ Middle Ages, i. 310. State of the pulpit oratory of, in 1771, ii. 348
+
+ Paris, Mathew, his statement as to the reason why Mohammedans refuse
+ to eat pork, i. 315. Sismondi's eulogy of him as an historian,
+ 315 _note_
+
+ Parliament, gradual diminution of the number of ecclesiastics in,
+ i. 416, 417. Final expulsion of the clergy from the House of Commons,
+ 418. Establishment of the right to publish the debates in Parliament,
+ 435. And of the doctrine of personal representation, 435
+
+ Parr, Dr., classical style of his English, ii. 307
+
+ Pascal, Blaise, period in which he flourished, ii. 189. His great
+ works, 189. His 'Provincial Letters,' 209
+
+ Pathology, characteristics of, iii. 410. Compared with Physiology,
+ 411. Account of the generalizations of Cullen and of Hunter, 413.
+ Difference between the science of pathology and the art of
+ therapeutics, 416. Cullen's theory of the solids and fluids, 418. His
+ theory of fever, 424. His nosology, 426. His services to pathology,
+ 429, 447
+
+ Patin, his opinion of the English of the seventeenth century,
+ ii. 214 _note_
+
+ Patronage of literature. See Protective spirit
+
+ Pecquet, his discovery of the chyle, ii. 194
+
+ Pedantry of ancient English authors, i. 436. Discarded for a lighter
+ style, 437
+
+ Pelagius, his doctrines as to free will, ii. 338. Absence of the
+ speculative spirit in, 342. His learning, 342
+
+ Penal code, increasing severity of the, in the reign of George III.,
+ i. 463
+
+ Pensions, literary, injurious effect of, ii. 183-187
+
+ Perjury, cause of the increase of, i. 281. Amount of, in England,
+ 282 _note_
+
+ Persecution of the Christians under the Roman Emperors, causes of,
+ i. 185. And of those of Spain, 187. Causes of the diminution of
+ religious persecution, 188. Number of persons put to death in Holland
+ and Spain, 189. Old theological theory of the justification of
+ persecution, 344
+
+ Persia, Arab conquest of, i. 46. Causes of the absence of authentic
+ information respecting the early history of, 303. The 'Shah Nameh' of
+ Ferdousi, 303. Antagonism between Mohammedanism and the old Persian
+ history, 303. Results anticipated from a decipherment of the Persian
+ cuneiform inscriptions, 304 _note_
+
+ Perth burnt by the English, iii. 14, 16. Population of, in the
+ sixteenth century, 30
+
+ Peru, physical condition of, i. 107. Exuberance of maize of, 109. And
+ of the banana of, 111. Condition of the upper and lower classes of the
+ people of, when discovered by the Europeans, 113. Rigid enforcement of
+ caste in Peru, 114 _note_. Frivolous waste of labour of the Peruvians,
+ 117. Their immense buildings, 117. The effect of earthquakes in Peru
+ in encouraging superstition, 122, 123
+
+ Pestilence, superstitions respecting, i. 127. Pestilences 'the
+ harvests of the ministers of God,' 130 _note_
+
+ Petit, Antoine, popularity of his lectures on anatomy, ii. 406 _note_
+
+ Pharamond, authorities for the existence of, ii. 265 _note_
+
+ Philip Augustus, his policy in regard to the French aristocracy,
+ ii. 115
+
+ Philip II. of Spain, his fondness for bacon, i. 314 _note_. His hatred
+ of the Calvinists, ii. 341. His character, 449, 450. His war against
+ the Dutch Protestants, 451. Object of all his wars and negotiations,
+ 452. His celebrated Armada, 453. Supported in everything by his loyal
+ subjects, 453. Ascendancy retained by him over the ecclesiastical
+ hierarchy, 473 _note_. His cruelty to the Moriscoes, 485, 486. His
+ character as a ruler, 468, 473. His part in the extension of the
+ influence of the Church, 475
+
+ Philip III. of Spain, his cruelty to the Moriscoes, ii. 489
+
+ Philip IV. of Spain, his character, ii. 468
+
+ Philip V. of Spain, his accession, ii. 513. His policy, 513. Attacks
+ the inquisition, but is unable to abolish it, 521. Opposed by his
+ people in everything, 522 _note_
+
+ Philip the Fair, recognizes the right of the nobles to wage private
+ war, ii. 116
+
+ Philippine Islands, pure form of the Polytheism of the, i. 305.
+ Spanish conquest of the, ii. 464
+
+ Philology, study of, i. 2. Buffier the only Jesuit whose name has a
+ place in the history of abstract philosophy, ii. 342 _note_.
+ Examination of the Scotch philosophy of the eighteenth century, iii.
+ 281. Causes of the success of the deductive and not of the inductive
+ method in Scotland, 282. The Scotch method compared and contrasted
+ with those of Germany and England, 289, 290. Summary of the most
+ important distinctions between deduction and induction, 290.
+ Hutcheson's philosophy, 292. Adam Smith's, 304. Hume's, 331. Reid's,
+ 348. See also Metaphysics
+
+ Phlebitis first recognized by Hunter, iii. 454
+
+ Phosphorus, amount of, in the brain, i. 57 _note_. First announced by
+ Hensing, 57 _note_
+
+ Phrenologists, the principal obstacle in the way of the, i. 176 _note_
+
+ Phyllotaxis, ii. 397 _note_
+
+ Physical science, present state of, compared with history, i. 7.
+ Physical, the natural precursor of metaphysical inquiries, 10 _note_.
+ Remarks on the influence exercised by physical laws over the
+ organization of society and over the character of individuals, 39.
+ Effects of food, climate, and soil, 40 _et seq._ Democratic character
+ of the physical sciences, ii. 409. Popular works of Desaguliers and
+ Hill on physical truth, 432 _note_. Examination of the Scotch method
+ employed in physical philosophy, iii. 361. The laws of heat, 362.
+ Black's philosophy of latent heat, 367. Reasons why it is incumbent on
+ physical philosophers to cultivate the imagination, 381, 382. Leslie's
+ philosophy of heat, 383. Geological speculations in Scotland, England,
+ and Germany, 388-393. Watt's invention of the steam-engine, 402.
+ Methods employed by Watt and Cavendish in the discovery of the
+ composition of water, 403. Nature of the supposed difference between
+ the organic and inorganic world, 407. Life probably a property of all
+ matter, 408. Division of organic science into physiology and
+ pathology, 411. Theory in science, 414. Hunter's idea of uniting all
+ the physical sciences, 443. The deductive method supreme in Scotland
+ in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 462. The two methods
+ compared, 462-464. Science the ally of religion, 477. Attempts of the
+ clergy of the reign of Charles II. to oppose the spread of physical
+ science, i. 372. The term _natural_ science, in contradistinction to
+ _supernatural_, as used at this period, 372 _note_
+
+ Physiologists, view taken by, of the origin of the sexes, i. 170.
+ Probable causes of the small contributions of physiologists towards
+ the power of predicting events, 171 _note_
+
+ Physiology, decline of the science of, in the reign of Louis XIV.,
+ ii. 194. Glisson's services to, 196. Characteristics of the science
+ of, iii. 410. Compared with pathology, 411. John Hunter's
+ generalizations, 428 _et seq._
+
+ Piracy of the Rochellois, in the seventeenth century, ii. 63
+
+ Pistols, invention of, i. 206 _note_
+
+ Pitt, William, the elder, his reputation as a statesman, i. 449.
+ Reason why he was hated by George III., 450
+
+ Pitt, William, his subserviency to George III., i. 447, 448. His
+ abandonment of liberal principles, 447. Prosecutes and persecutes his
+ brother reformers, 447 _note_
+
+ Plague, the Great, i. 387
+
+ Plants, effects of heat and moisture on, the geographical distribution
+ of, i. 96
+
+ Plato, his conclusion as to the truth or falsehood of spectral
+ phenomena or dreams, i. 16 _note_
+
+ Platonism, its natural precursor the atomic doctrine, i. 10 _note_.
+ Influence of the Platonism of Alexandria in developing the idea of the
+ Logos, ii. 286
+
+ Poetry cultivated solely by the ancient Sanscrit authors, i. 132, 133.
+ Indian metres, 133. Cause of the reverence felt for great poets,
+ 294 _note_
+
+ Poisons, general theory of, i. 56 _note_
+
+ Poissy, conference of, predominance of the theological spirit shown in
+ the, ii. 10
+
+ Political economy, study of, i. 2. Influence of the discoveries made
+ in, in lessening the warlike spirit, 209. Misconception of the true
+ nature of barter in early times, 210-212. Movement of the eighteenth
+ century, 213. Smith's 'Wealth of Nations,' 214. His method of treating
+ the laws of wealth, 249. Mr. John Mill's and Mr. Rae's inquiry into
+ the proper method of investigation, 250 _note_. French translations of
+ the 'Wealth of Nations' in the eighteenth century, ii. 219. Voltaire's
+ opinions respecting, 304. Rise of the French political economists in
+ the middle of the eighteenth century, 327. The revolutionary tendency
+ of this economical movement, 327. Schism effected between the nation
+ and government by the economists, 328. Influence exercised shortly
+ before the revolution by the economists, 329. Examination of Adam
+ Smith's 'Wealth of Nations,' iii. 314. Salutary effects of man's
+ constant endeavours to better his condition, 319. Malthus's work on
+ population, 326. Constant struggle between capital and labour,
+ according to Adam Smith, 326, 327. Views of David Hume, 333
+
+ Politics, separation of theology from, i. 424. Consequences of this
+ separation, 425-427. Effect of the protective spirit carried into
+ politics, ii. 107
+
+ Polytheism, the predecessor of monotheism, according to Hume,
+ i. 251 _note_. Natural creed of the Romans, 252. The religion of the
+ Malayo-Polynesians, 304, 305
+
+ Pope, origin of kissing his toe, according to Mathew of Westminster,
+ i. 317. Voltaire's Reasons for the unity and consolidation of the
+ power of the popes as compared with that of the Greek patriarchs,
+ ii. 303
+
+ Population, connexion between food and the laws of, i. 57. Case of the
+ potato and Irish population, 66. A poor diet said to be more
+ favourable to fecundity than a rich one, 68 _note_. Voltaire's ideas
+ respecting the ratios by which population and food increase, ii. 304.
+ Malthus's work on, iii. 326
+
+ Pork, in general use in Europe as food, for centuries, i. 314. Cause
+ of the refusal of the Mohammedans to eat pork, according to Mathew
+ Paris, 315. Eaten in Asia and Africa, 315 _note_
+
+ Porson, Richard, his letter on the texts of the Heavenly Witnesses,
+ i. 429. His appreciation of the beauties of the English language,
+ ii. 307
+
+ Portugal, physical causes of the superstition existing in, i. 123.
+ Absence of science and triumph of the imagination in, 124
+
+ Potato, the principal food of the labouring classes in Ireland, i. 65.
+ Time of its introduction into that country, 65 _note_. The potato crop
+ compared with that of wheat, 65. Used as food by the ancient
+ Peruvians, 110. Introduced into Mexico by the Spaniards, 110, 111. The
+ starch of the potato frozen into saccharine in Southern Peru,
+ 111 _note_
+
+ Pouissin, his works of art, ii. 209 _note_
+
+ Prathama-Raja, the Hindu poets' account of, i. 136
+
+ Precision contrasted with certainty in writing history, ii. 325
+
+ Predestination, probable origin of the dogma of, i. 9. Foundation of
+ the theory, 13. Calvin, Augustin, and the Manichaeans, 13. Ambrose, 13
+ _note_. Writers on the absurdity of 'an omnipotent arbitrary deity,'
+ 13 _note_. Barrenness of the hypothesis of predestination in a
+ scientific investigation, 14. The doctrine of providential
+ interference bound up with that of predestination, 19 _note_
+
+ Preemption, destruction of the prerogative of, i. 385
+
+ Prerogative, royal limits set to the, after the expulsion of the
+ Stuarts, i. 402. None of our sovereigns since Queen Anne allowed to be
+ present at state deliberations, 442 _note_. Reaction in favour of
+ divine right, 445
+
+ Prescription, old customary French law of, ii. 115
+
+ 'Presidial Jurisdiction,' by Jousse, suppressed, ii. 238
+
+ Press, efforts made by governments to destroy the liberty of the, i.
+ 284, 285. Foundation of the public press in England, and its effect on
+ English civilization, 386. Final abolition of the censorship over the,
+ in England, 402. Practice of the English clergy of censuring all books
+ that encouraged free inquiry, 414. First publication of Sunday
+ newspapers, 431. Speech of Danvers as to the power of the press in his
+ time, 484 _note_. War carried on in the reign of George III. against
+ free discussion of the acts of the government, 488, 491. Vindictive
+ prosecutions and persecutions of eminent men, 488. Importance of the
+ press in England and France in the middle of the seventeenth century,
+ 99
+
+ Preston-pans, battle of, iii. 154
+
+ Prevost de la Jannes, his 'Life of Domat' suppressed, ii. 237
+
+ Prevost, his views as to the laws of the radiation of heat, ii. 362
+
+ Priapus, Voltaire's remarks on the worship of, quoted, ii. 303 _note_
+
+ Pride compared with vanity, ii. 163
+
+ Pride, Colonel, his origin, ii. 155
+
+ Primi, the Abbe, his 'History of Louis XIV.,' ii. 276. Thrown into the
+ Bastille, 277
+
+ Printing, early knowledge of, in China, i. 302 _note_. Legislative
+ restrictions in former times on, 386 _note_. When first generally
+ practised in country towns, 431, 432 _note_
+
+ Probability, Romish doctrine of, i. 22 _note_
+
+ Profits, in what they consist, i. 52. Always reduced by high wages,
+ 74
+
+ Progress, moral and intellectual, i. 174. Comparison of the moral with
+ the intellectual element, 175. See Knowledge; Intellect; Man
+
+ Progress, social, inferences to be drawn as to the causes of, i. 224
+
+ Proselytism, why opposed by Charron, ii. 20 _note_
+
+ Protective spirit, effect of the prevalence of the, in France, in
+ trade and in politics, ii. 106, 107. History of the protective spirit,
+ and comparison of it in France and England, 108. This spirit not
+ destroyed by the feudal system, but only assumed a new shape, 111. New
+ form of the protective spirit which continues in France to the present
+ time, 122. The results compared in France and England, 126. Activity
+ of the protective spirit in France, as shown by the history of
+ chivalry, 131-134. Effect of this spirit carried into religion at the
+ period of the Reformation, 137. Attempts of Charles I. to revive the
+ old protective spirit, 147. Results of the energy of the protective
+ spirit on the issue of the Fronde, 160-174. The protective spirit
+ carried by Louis XIV. into literature, and its result, 176 _et seq._
+ Lamentable results of the system of patronage in the reign of Louis
+ XIV., 202. Reasons why government patronage should take a wrong
+ course, 203. Illustrations of, 206. Reaction against the protective
+ spirit in France, and preparations for the French Revolution, 213, 226
+
+ Protestantism, compared with Roman Catholicism, i. 261. Intolerance,
+ bigotry, and persecution of the Protestantism of Sweden, 264.
+ Intolerance of Protestants compared with that of the Catholics, ii.
+ 51. Policy of Mazarin as to the French Protestants, 96 _et seq._ The
+ war of Philip II. against the Dutch Protestants, 451. Refusal of Henry
+ IV. of France to punish them at the request of the pope, 22, 23. The
+ King's measures for their protection, 23, 24. The Edict of Nantes
+ confirmed by Catherine de Medici and by Louis XIII., 25. Richelieu's
+ liberal treatment of the Protestants, 37-39, 42. The Protestant
+ Confederation of 1633, 39. Desertion of the Protestant leaders, and
+ consequent fall of the Protestant party into the hands of the clergy,
+ 47-50. De Rohan and his brother the only staunch Protestant leaders in
+ 1621, 49. Causes of the intolerance of the French Protestants, 50, 51.
+ Causes which produced their former superstition, 52-54. Evidence of
+ their intolerance, 55. Decisions of the assembly at Saumur, 56. And of
+ other assemblies, 57. Their interference in the functions of
+ government and in other matters, 60. Bitterness of feeling exhibited
+ in the works put forth by them, 61. Join the rebellion under Conde,
+ and are defeated, 61. Their rebellion in Bearn, 61, 62. Civil war
+ raised by them, and its character, 63. Their wealth, accumulated by
+ industry and piracy, 63. The General Assembly of La Rochelle and its
+ decisions, 64, 65. The consequent civil war, 66. Treaties of
+ Montpelier and La Rochelle, 66. Interference of the Protestants in the
+ commonest occurrences of life, 68. Results which would have happened
+ to France if the Protestants had gained the upper hand, 71, 72. The
+ rebellion of the Protestants put down by Richelieu, who, however,
+ refuses to persecute them, 73. Siege of La Rochelle, 74. Civil rights
+ conceded to Protestant by a royal edict, 335
+
+ Providential interference, doctrine of, i. 19 _note_
+
+ Prussia, Extent of popular superstitions in, i. 238 _note_. Origin of
+ the name of, according to the historians of the Middle Ages, i. 311
+
+ Punishments future, Charron's views as to the doctrine of,
+ ii. 22 _note_
+
+ Punjab, Arab conquest of the, i. 46.
+
+ Puppet-shows forbidden by the French Protestants, ii. 70
+
+ Puritans, their government of England, i. 360. Their fanaticism, and
+ little superstition, 361. Instances of their ignorance of the real
+ principles of government, 361
+
+ Purveyance, destruction of the prerogative of, i. 385
+
+ Pyramids of Egypt, a testimony of the degraded condition of the
+ people, i. 90, 92. Weight of the great pyramid, 90 _note_. Hypotheses
+ as to the purposes for which they were built, 90 _note_. Estimate of
+ the expense of building one of the pyramids, 91 _note_
+
+ Pyrenees, treaty of the, signed by Cardinal Mazarin, ii. 98
+
+
+ Quaens, historical error to which their name gave rise, i. 298
+
+ Quid emptores, statute of, ii. 119
+
+ Quiche Indians, corrupt Christianity of the, i. 265 _note_
+
+ Quinault, the poet of French music, ii. 207
+
+
+ Rabelais, not the first French sceptic, ii. 15, 16. His ridicule of
+ the clergy, 15. Difference between him and Montaigne, 16
+
+ Racine, his works, ii. 208. Pensioned to write a history of France for
+ Louis XIV., ii. 277
+
+ Rae, Mr., his inquiry into the method of investigation which political
+ economists ought to follow, i. 250 _note_
+
+ Ragi, use of the grain called, in the south of India, i. 71
+
+ Ragnar Lodbrok, confusion in Saxo-Grammaticus's life of, i. 298
+
+ Raikes, Robert, his organization of Sunday schools, i. 430 _note_
+
+ Railways, effect of, in correcting national prejudices, and in
+ diffusing desires for peace, i. 221-223
+
+ Rainbow, the causes of the, detected by Descartes, ii. 79. Notions of
+ the Hebrews and of other nations respecting the, 79 _note_
+
+ Raleigh, Sir Walter, his military genius and works, i. 200
+
+ Ravaillac, murders Henry IV. of France, ii. 24. Accounts of him,
+ 24 _note_
+
+ Raynal, l'Abbe, suppression of his work on the Indies, ii. 236
+
+ Reading clubs, formation of, i. 433
+
+ Reaumur, appearance of his work on the natural history of animals,
+ ii. 197 _note_
+
+ Rebellion, the Great English, causes which gave rise to, ii. 147.
+ Characteristics of the, 148. Difference between it and the Fronde,
+ 149. Conduct of the nobles, 151, 152. The true character of the
+ Rebellion, 154. Plebeian origin of the leaders, 155-159. Causes of its
+ success, 174, 175
+
+ Reboulet, suppression of his 'History of Clement XI.,' ii. 238
+
+ Red Sea Canal, number of lives sacrificed in the construction of the,
+ i. 93
+
+ Reform, the principle of, abandoned by William Pitt, i, 447. Mr.
+ Grey's remarks on Pitt's conduct, 447 _note_
+
+ Reformation, connexion between the, and the views advocated by Richard
+ Hooker, i. 351 _note_. Immediate fall of the Church in England at the
+ first assault of the Reformation, ii. 4. Influence of the Reformation
+ generally in increasing the power of the Catholic clergy, 5 _note_.
+ The Reformation encouraged by the pride of Englishmen, 137. Analogy
+ between the Reformation and the Revolutions of the seventeenth
+ century, 138-140. Short existence of the Reformation in Spain, 450.
+ Causes which brought about the Reformation in Scotland, iii. 62. John
+ Knox, 75. The Reformation established, 78
+
+ Reform Bill, important effects of the, i. 502
+
+ Reid, Thomas, examination of his philosophy, iii. 348. Estimate of the
+ value of what he effected, 353. Opposition between his method and that
+ of Bacon, 356
+
+ Religion; views of Hume and Comte respecting monotheism, i. 251
+ _note_. Influence of religion on the progress of society, 254.
+ Illustration from the efforts of the missionaries, 255. From the
+ history of the Jews, 257, 258. From the early history of Christianity,
+ 259. And from Sweden and Scotland, 263-266. Baneful results of
+ legislative attempts to encourage religious truth and discourage
+ religious error, 281-285. Origin of religious toleration in England,
+ 337. The last executions in England for heresy, 345. The right of
+ private judgment held sacred by Chillingworth, 349. Whose work formed
+ a decisive vindication of religious dissent, 352. Passing of the
+ Toleration Act, 402. Easy and rapid changes in the national faith
+ under Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth, ii. 7. Charron's
+ the first instance in modern language of the doctrine of religious
+ development, 21. An end put to religious wars by Richelieu, 40.
+ Authorities respecting religious wars, 40 _note_. Effect of the peace
+ of Westphalia, 42. Origin of the difference between religious theory
+ and religious practice, 51. Eagerness of the clergy rather directed
+ against error than against virtue, 52 _note_. Causes of the energy and
+ vitality of a religion not protected by the government, 53, 54.
+ Descartes' remarks on the slaves to form in religion, 85. Causes which
+ lessen the disposition to form new creeds, 263 _note_. Religious wars,
+ massacres, and persecutions, the result of ignorance of the duties of
+ governments, i. 262
+
+ Rent, theory of, i. 51 _note_. Considered as a division of wealth, 53
+ _note_. Rent in England, Scotland, France, and the United States, 75.
+ In India, 76. Mode of ascertaining the true theory of rent,
+ 250 _note_. Remarks on the theory of, iii. 336
+
+ Representation, personal establishment of the political doctrine of,
+ i. 435
+
+ Reptiles, noxious, worship of, i. 126 _note_
+
+ Respiration, theory of, ii. 367
+
+ Retz, Cardinal de, character of, ii. 102. Secular view taken by him of
+ political affairs, 102
+
+ Reviews, literary periodical, origin of, i. 433
+
+ Revolution of 1688, proximate cause of the, i. 399, 400. Importance
+ of the, to England, 402. Sudden repentance of the clergy in having
+ promoted it, 403
+
+ Revolution, the French, preparations for the, ii. 213. Precursors of
+ the, 230, 247. Causes of the hideous peculiarities of the, 248. Its
+ proximate causes, after the middle of the eighteenth century, 323. The
+ first epoch through which the French intellect passed in the
+ eighteenth century, viz., the attack on the Church, 323. The second
+ epoch, viz., the attack on the State, 327. Rise of the political
+ economists, 327. Sudden increase of works relating to finance and
+ other questions of government, 328. Influence of Rousseau, 330, 331.
+ Attack of the government on the Church, 332. Machault's edict against
+ mortmain, 332. Excitement caused by the edict, 333 _note_. The
+ anti-ecclesiastical policy of Machault's successors, 333. Religious
+ toleration of the government, 434. Revival of Jansenism in France, and
+ consequent overthrow of the Jesuits, 344, 345. After the fall of the
+ Jesuits, the fall of the clergy inevitable, 347. Reasons for this,
+ 349. Rise and progress of atheistical opinions in France, 351. Study
+ of physical phenomena in France in connexion with the Revolution,
+ 375-404. Effect of the American Rebellion in hastening the Revolution
+ in France, 416, 417. Jefferson's part in the final blow dealt to the
+ French government, 418. Summary of the causes of the French
+ Revolution, 418
+
+ Revolution, the Scottish, of 1559, iii. 81
+
+ Rey, the first European philosophic chemist, ii. 197
+
+ Rhyme, antiquity of, i. 293 _note_
+
+ Rice, the general food of the people of India, i. 70. Nutritive
+ qualities of, 70, 71. Immense yield of a rice-crop, 71
+
+ Richard I. of England, historical error as to his appellation of the
+ Lion, i. 299
+
+ Richardson, admiration of Diderot for the works of, ii. 218
+
+ Richelieu, Cardinal, his character, ii. 27, 29. Compared with
+ Napoleon, 27. Fails to diminish the power of the French nobility, 28.
+ Effectually humbles the clergy, 29-31. His treatment of the clergy how
+ regarded by them, 33. Charges brought against him, 34. Review of his
+ career, 34, 35. Supports the new secular scheme of government against
+ the old ecclesiastical schemes, 36. His liberal treatment of the
+ Protestants, 37-42. His endeavours to save the Palatine, 38. The
+ peculiar glory of his administration, 39. Correspondence of his policy
+ in regard to the French Protestant and Catholic Churches, 42 _et seq._
+ Puts down the rebellion of the Protestants, but abstains from
+ persecuting them, 73. Confirms the Edict of Nantes, 74. Determines on
+ the siege of Rochelle, 74. Reasons why he put down the Protestant
+ party, 75, 76. His liberal policy part only of a much larger movement,
+ 76. Analogy of the philosophy of Descartes with Richelieu's
+ anti-theological policy, 83, 92
+
+ Rio de Janeiro, vigour and profusion of the vegetation near,
+ i. 103 _note_
+
+ Rioja, Spanish poet, ii. 480
+
+ Riolan, period in which he flourished, ii. 194
+
+ Ripperda, his services to Spain, ii. 519, 542
+
+ Roads in Scotland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, iii. 5,
+ 6 _note_. Aversion of the Highlanders to roads, 159, 160 _note_
+
+ Robertson, Dr., value of his 'History of Scotland,' iii. 19 _note_
+
+ Robinson, John, Bishop of Bristol, the last ecclesiastic who held any
+ of the high offices of state, i. 417 _note_
+
+ Rochelle, La, intolerance of the Protestants in the town of, ii. 57.
+ Determinations of the general assembly of 1620, ii. 63, 64. The civil
+ war and its character, 63-66. Peace of La Rochelle, 66. The great
+ siege of, 74
+
+ Rochester, first printing office in, i. 432 _note_
+
+ Rohan, Duc de, employed by Richelieu, ii. 44. De Rohan and his brother
+ Soubise the only staunch Protestant leaders in 1621, 49. An amnesty
+ granted to him by Richelieu, 75
+
+ Rohan, Chevalier de, his ill-treatment of Voltaire, ii. 231
+
+ Roland, Madame, her knowledge of the English language and literature,
+ ii. 226
+
+ Rolle, his remark on the peers created by George III., i. 454
+
+ Romans, the, in Scotland, iii. 7. Character of their civilization in
+ their best days, 8. Cause of their decline, 8, 9
+
+ Rome, causes of the persecutions of the Christians by the Emperors of,
+ i. 185. Reason of the evanescence of the civilization of ancient, 267.
+ Voltaire's services in purging the early history of Rome of its
+ absurdities, 309, 310. Niebuhr's arguments anticipated by Voltaire,
+ 310, 311. Montesquieu's the first account of the real history of Rome,
+ 314. Machiavelli's views, 314 _note_. Vico's opinions, 314 _note_
+
+ Roses, wars of the, effect of the, upon the English nobles, ii. 138
+
+ Ross, Western, seized by the Norwegians, ii. 11. Annexed to the Crown
+ of Scotland, 46
+
+ Ross, John, his violent sermon against James VI., iii. 107.
+
+ Rouelle, his geological labours, ii. 368
+
+ Roundheads, title first bestowed, ii. 149
+
+ Rousseau, J. J., his opinion of the works of Montaigne, ii. 18 _note_.
+ Persecuted by the Government, 236. Influence of his works, 330.
+ Enthusiasm of the nation in his favour, 331 _note_. Immense demand for
+ his works, 331 _note_. Belongs to the Calvinistic sect, 345
+
+ Royal Society, avowed object of the establishment of the, i. 371
+
+ Rubis, De, his work on the European monarchies, ii. 270
+
+ Russia, cause of the war between Turkey and, i. 195. And of Russian
+ predilection for war, 196
+
+ Ruthven, Raid of, iii. 103, 104
+
+
+ Sabbath, the Scotch, iii. 265
+
+ Sahara desert, its extent, i. 47. Condition of its inhabitants, 48
+
+ Sailors, causes of the superstitions of, i. 375, 379
+
+ Saint-Fargeau, Pelletier de, his Jansenism, ii. 345
+
+ Saint Lambert, his professed atheism, ii. 352
+
+ Salamanca, reply of the University of, when urged to teach the
+ physical sciences, i. 125 _note_
+
+ Sales, Delisle de, persecuted for his writings, ii. 237
+
+ Sancroft, William, his character as archbishop of Canterbury, i. 392.
+ Dr. Birch's opinion of him, 392 _note_. His attempts to convert James
+ II. to Protestantism, 395 _note_. His open disloyalty, 401, 407, 408
+
+ Sandoval, Spanish historiographer, ii. 480
+
+ Sanscrit, character of the works written in, i. 132, 133. And of the
+ Sanscrit language, 134 _note_
+
+ Saracens, origin of the name of, according to the historians of the
+ Middle Ages, i. 312
+
+ Saragossa besieged by Childebert and Clotaire, ii. 435 _note_
+
+ Saumaise, his opinion of the English people of the seventeenth
+ century, ii. 214 _note_
+
+ Saumur, decisions of the Protestant assembly at, ii. 56
+
+ Saveur, considered as the inventor of acoustics, ii. 190 _note_
+
+ Saxe, Maurice de, his treatment of the actress Chantilly, ii. 243
+
+ Saxo Grammaticus, confusion in his life of Ragnar Lodbrok, i. 298
+
+ Scandinavia, causes of error in the early history of, i. 300. The
+ elder and younger Eddas, 301. Pork the chief food of the Scandinavians
+ in early times, 314 _note_. Scandinavian pirates in Scotland, iii. 5
+
+ Scepticism; the spirit of doubt the necessary precursor of
+ improvement, i. 334. Hence the immense importance of scepticism, 335.
+ First open appearance of scepticism in England and France, 336.
+ Authorities as to the increase of scepticism in England since the
+ latter part of the eighteenth century, 356 _note_. What the author
+ means by the term scepticism, 357 _note_. Degree of suffering produced
+ on some minds, 357. Legislative improvements of the reign of Charles
+ II. caused by the sceptical and inquiring spirit, 388. Encouragement
+ given to scepticism by the conduct of the clergy, 414. Rapid
+ succession of sceptical controversies early in the eighteenth century,
+ 427. First appearance of scepticism in France, ii. 14. Rabelais, 15.
+ Intimate connexion between scepticism and toleration in France, 16.
+ Montaigne, the first systematic sceptic in that country, 16. The first
+ open declaration of scepticism in France, 18. Reason why scepticism
+ was favoured by Henry IV. of France, 23. Scepticism of Hooker and
+ Chillingworth, and of Montaigne and Descartes, 86, 87. Spread of
+ scepticism in France in the middle of the seventeenth century, 95
+ _note_. Analogy between the progress of scepticism in England and
+ France, 103, 104. Period when the spirit of inquiry began to weaken
+ the church, 109. Commencement of the struggle between the advocates of
+ inquiry and the advocates of belief, 109, 110. Rise and extent of
+ historical scepticism, 261. The first sceptical book in the French
+ language, by Montaigne, 266
+
+ Schism Act, passing of the, i. 452
+
+ Scholastic prejudices overthrown by Descartes, ii. 92
+
+ Science unknown to the Egyptians, i. 49. Relation between inventions,
+ discoveries, and method, ii. 386, 387
+
+ Scotland, rent paid by the cultivator in proportion to the gross
+ produce, i. 75. Character of the method of investigation of the great
+ thinkers of, 245. Cause and effect of the divergence and hostility
+ between the practical and speculative classes of, 246. Robert Simson
+ and Matthew Stewart, 247. Superstition, intolerance and bigotry of the
+ clergy and people, 264, 265. The bards of Scotland, 292 _note_. Origin
+ of the Scotch people, according to the writers of the Middle Ages,
+ 312. Abolition of episcopacy in Scotland, by William III., 406.
+ Condition of Scotland to the end of the fourteenth century, iii. 1 _et
+ seq._ Scotland and Spain compared as to loyalty, 2. Similarity of the
+ two countries as to superstition, 4. Investigation of the causes of
+ Scotch liberality in politics united with illiberality in religion, 4
+ _et seq._ Influence of the physical geography of the country on the
+ course of events, 5. Scotch roads in the seventeenth century, 5
+ _note_. The Roman invasion, 7. The Irish invasion, 9. The Norwegian
+ invasion, 10. Attacks of the English, 12. Immediate consequences of
+ their struggle with the English in the Scottish character, 13.
+ Agriculture stopped, 16. Cannibalism, 17. Wars on the borders, 18. The
+ growth of towns stopped by the wars, and the power of the nobles
+ thereby increased, 18. Circumstances favourable to the authority of
+ the nobles, 19. Weakness of the Crown, 20, 21. Ravages of the
+ Highlanders, 21, 22. Prevalence of barter, 23. Industry impossible,
+ and the commonest arts unknown, 23, 24. Dirty habits of the people, 25
+ _note_. Scanty population of the Scotch towns, 26 _et seq._ Their
+ utter feebleness, 32. Causes of the alliance of the Crown with the
+ Church, 34. Superstition of Scotland, and its causes, 35, 36.
+ Witchcraft, 37. Ignorance of the upper and lower classes, 41, 42.
+ Triumph of the aristocracy over the Church and Crown, 43. Their
+ subsequent decline, 43. Condition of Scotland in the fifteenth and
+ sixteenth centuries, 45. Vigorous measures of Albany against the
+ nobles, 45. And of James I., 46. And of James II., 49. Clanship, 50.
+ The Crown encouraged by the clergy against the nobles, 54. Struggle in
+ consequence, 55 _et seq._ The Reformation in Scotland the result of
+ this struggle, 62. Battle of Solway and death of James V., 68, 69.
+ Murder of Cardinal Beaton, 74. Career of John Knox, 75. Influence of
+ the Guises, 77, 78. Mary of Guise deposed from the Regency, 80. Treaty
+ of Berwick, 81. Supremacy of the nobles established, and destruction
+ of the Church, 81. Quarrel between the nobles and the preachers about
+ the wealth of the Church, 84. Presentation of the First Book of
+ Discipline, 87. The shares of the new and old clergy, 87. The nobles
+ said to have been instigated by the devil, 88. Persecution of the new
+ clergy by Morton, at the head of the nobles, 91. The consequent
+ rupture between Church and State, 93. The struggle under the leader,
+ ship of Andrew Melville, 94. Attack on the bishops, ending with the
+ abolition of episcopacy, 94 _et seq._ The Second Book of Discipline,
+ 98. Struggle between the upper classes and clergy as to episcopacy,
+ 100. Violent language used by the clergy, Melville's personal insult
+ to the King, 110. The Gowrie conspiracy, 110. Boons conferred upon
+ their country by the clergy, 112. Condition of Scotland during the
+ seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 115 _et seq._ Attempts of James
+ VI. (now James I. of England) to subjugate the clergy, 115. He forces
+ episcopacy upon them, 117. And sets up High Courts of Commission, 125.
+ Tyrannical conduct of the bishops, 128. The reaction, and its causes,
+ 129. Framing of the National Covenant, 132. Overthrow of the Bishops,
+ 133. Oppressions of Charles II., 137-139. His attempts to establish a
+ permanent despotism baffled, 140. Episcopacy re-established, 141.
+ Dragonnades in the west, 143, 144. Cruelties of James II., 147.
+ Consequences of the alliance between the Crown and the clergy, 147.
+ The reaction of 1688, 151. Causes of the rebellion of the Highlanders
+ in 1715 and 1745 in favour of the Stuarts, 153. Insignificance into
+ which the Highlanders sank after 1745, 157. Beginning of the trading
+ spirit, 160. Connexion between the rise of the trading spirit and the
+ abolition of hereditary jurisdictions, 161, 162. Armour ceased to be
+ worn, 161. Causes of the decline of the power of the nobles, 162, 167.
+ Treatment which they received in London, 163, 164. Rage in Scotland
+ for speaking with an English accent, 163 _note_. Causes of the
+ abolition of clanship, 167, 168. Sudden rise of trading and
+ manufacturing interests, 171. Their growth assisted by the union with
+ England, 172. Facts illustrative of the history of Scotch industry
+ down to the middle of the eighteenth century, 178 _et seq._ The first
+ banks in Scotland, 181. Rise of a new and splendid literature, 183.
+ Which, however, fails to diminish the national superstition, 184.
+ Recapitulation of the history of the struggle with episcopacy, 191 _et
+ seq._ Cromwell's chain of fortresses in Scotland, 194. Causes of the
+ war of the people against Charles I., 197. Events which produced the
+ solemn League and Covenant, 198. Effect and cause of Scotch
+ superstition, 203. Zeal of the people to hear sermons of inordinate
+ frequency and of terrible length, 203. Effect of the pretensions and
+ arrogance of the clergy on the Scotch mind, 203, 269 _et seq._
+ Examination of Scotch philosophical literature of the eighteenth
+ century, 281. And of Scotch physical philosophy, 361. Superstition and
+ illiberality in religion still existing in Scotland, 469. Notions
+ countenanced there respecting the origin of epidemics, 471.
+ Correspondence between the Presbytery of Edinburgh and Lord Palmerston
+ on the origin of the cholera in 1853, 473
+
+ Sculpture, condition of, in the reign of Louis XIV., ii. 209
+
+ Segovia, appearance of, in 1659, ii. 503 _note_. Decline of the silk
+ and wool manufactures of, 503 _note_
+
+ Seiks, cause of their superstition respecting the wounds inflicted by
+ the tiger, i. 125 _note_
+
+ Serpent, worship of the, i. 126 _note_
+
+ Serra, his views as to the exportation of the precious metals,
+ i. 212 _note_
+
+ Serres, historiographer of France, importance attached by him to
+ correct dates in history, ii. 267
+
+ Severus, his expedition against Scotland, iii. 8
+
+ Sevigne, Madame, her name for Queen Mary, consort of William III.,
+ ii. 214 _note_
+
+ Seville, decline of, in the seventeenth century, ii. 501
+
+ Sewell, Mr., his remarks on the doctrines of passive obedience and
+ divine right, i. 394 _note_
+
+ Sexes, proportion kept up by the law of Nature in the births of the,
+ i. 168. Opinions respecting the origin of the, 170 _note_, 173 _note_.
+ Method by which the discovery of the proportion has been made, 172
+
+ Shaftesbury, Earl of, Lord Chancellor, his notions of political
+ economy, i. 211 _note_
+
+ Shakspeare, his investigations of the human mind, i. 23 _note_. His
+ pure English, ii. 307 _note_
+
+ Sharp, archbishop of St. Andrews, iii. 141. His cruelty and rapacity,
+ 141
+
+ Sheldon, Gilbert, his character as archbishop of Canterbury, i. 391,
+ 392
+
+ Shetland Isles, seized by the Norwegians, iii. 10
+
+ 'Siam, History of,' by Turpin, ii. 238
+
+ Silk trade of Toledo, lost, ii. 502
+
+ Sinclair, Sir John, his services to statistical science, i. 33 _note_
+
+ Sion College, the only public library in London at the end of the
+ seventeenth century, i. 431 _note_
+
+ Sigfussen Saemund, his compilation of the Elder Edda, i. 301
+
+ Silesia, origin of the name of, i. 312
+
+ Simson, Professor Robert, his efforts to revive the pure Greek
+ geometry, i. 247. Notice of him, 247 _note_. His reasons for
+ recommending the old analysis, 248 _note_
+
+ Sines, law of the, pointed out by Descartes, ii. 278
+
+ Sins, specimens of the, invented by the Scotch clergy, iii. 261
+
+ Siva, antiquity of the worship of, in India, i. 141. How represented
+ by the Hindus, 141. His wife Doorga or Kali, 141
+
+ Skye, Isle of, seized by the Norwegians, iii. 11
+
+ Slavery, favour with which it was regarded by George III., i. 447,
+ 463. Burke's attack on, 463. Extinction of slavery in England,
+ ii. 128. Its recent extinction in France, 129
+
+ Small-pox, extra European origin of, i. 130 _note_
+
+ Smith, Adam, publication of his 'Wealth of Nations,' i. 214. Its
+ influence in a few years, 214, 215. His views as to the usury laws,
+ 214 _note_. His services to mankind, 216. His method of metaphysical
+ investigation, 249. French translations of his 'Theory of the Moral
+ Sentiments,' ii. 219. And of his 'Wealth of Nations,' 219. Examination
+ of his philosophy, as shown together in the 'Moral Sentiments' and in
+ the 'Wealth of Nations,' iii. 305. His obliviousness and disregard of
+ facts, 340, 341. His method of studying pathology compared with that
+ of Cullen, 417
+
+ Smith, William, character of his geological speculations, iii. 391
+
+ Smuggling, the only means of keeping up trade during the evil
+ interference of legislation, i. 277. Moral evils of smuggling, 278,
+ 279
+
+ Social laws, triumph of, over every obstacle, i. 31. Best method of
+ arriving at social truth, ii. 1
+
+ Socrates, effect produced by his method of dialectics upon some Greek
+ minds, i. 357
+
+ Soil, influence of, on the human race, i. 40. The Great Sahara, 47.
+ The valley of the Nile, 48, 49. Heat and moisture the causes which
+ regulate the fertility of every country, 96
+
+ Soldiers, why less superstitious than sailors, i. 376, 379
+
+ Solids, Cullen's theory of the, iii. 418
+
+ Solis, the Spanish historian, ii. 480
+
+ Solway, battle of, iii. 68
+
+ Somers, Lord, prosecution instituted against him by the House of
+ Commons, i. 452. Protected by the House of Lords, 452
+
+ Sorbonne, Duvernet's history of the, ii. 237
+
+ Sowrdis, Archbishop of Bordeaux, ignominiously beaten, ii. 32. Flies
+ to Carpentras, 33
+
+ Space, the idea of, of the metaphysicians, i. 160. Authorities on the
+ different theories of space, 161 _note_
+
+ Spain, Arab conquest of, i. 46. Physical causes of the superstition
+ existing in, 123. Triumph of the imagination, and absence of science
+ in, 124. Causes of the persecutions in, 187. Numbers of persons put to
+ death by the inquisition in, 189. Pork, a common food in, in former
+ ages, 314 _note_. Archbishop Turpin's account of Charlemagne's
+ conquest of, 319, 320. Scepticism punished, and its promulgation
+ prevented in, 336. Influence of French literature in, in diffusing
+ scepticism late in the last century, 336 _note_. Outline of the
+ history of the intellect of, from the fifth to the middle of the
+ nineteenth century, 425. Heat and dryness of the climate, 427. And
+ therefore droughts and famines frequent and serious, 427. Earthquakes,
+ 428. Causes of the prevalence of a pastoral life in Spain, 432.
+ Settlement of the Visigoths and establishment of their opinions, 434.
+ Attacks of the Franks upon their Arian neighbours, 435. Rise of the
+ influence of the Spanish priesthood, 436. Character of Durham's
+ 'History of Spain and Portugal,' 438 _note_. Proofs of the power of
+ the Spanish clergy, 437, 438. Harsh character of the Spanish laws
+ against heresy and the Jews, 438. The eight centuries of struggle
+ between the Arabs and Spaniards, 439, 440. Effect of the dangers of
+ the Spaniards in exciting their superstitious feelings, 441. Their
+ chest of relics in the Asturias, 441. Their miracles and dreams, 442.
+ The three ways in which the Mohammedan invasion strengthened the
+ devotional feelings of the Spanish people, 444. Capacity and honesty
+ of Isabella in the war with the Arabs, 444. Ferdinand and Isabella's
+ decree against the Jews, 445. The number of Jews actually expelled
+ from Spain, 446 _note_. Domestic and foreign policy of Charles V.,
+ 446. His obedience to the tendencies of his age, 447-449. Character of
+ Philip II., 449, 450. His war against the Dutch Protestants, 451.
+ Number of persons put to Death by Alva, 451. Object of all the wars
+ and negotiations of Philip II., 452. The Armada prepared to humble
+ England, 453. Unshaken loyalty of Philip's subjects, 454, 455. Causes
+ of the spirit of loyalty which has distinguished the Spanish above
+ every other European nation, 455. The Arab invasion one of the causes,
+ 456. The old ballads, 456. The poem of 'The Cid,' 457. Loyalty of the
+ Spanish codes, 458. Consequences of Spanish loyalty and superstition,
+ 461 _et seq._ Rapid progress of Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth
+ centuries, 463. Her territories in America and in other parts of the
+ world, 464. Her military superiority over her contemporaries, 464. Her
+ eminent literary men who were also soldiers, 464. Causes of her
+ decline, 465, 467. Essential difference between English and Spanish
+ civilization, 465, 466. The decay of Spain in the seventeenth century
+ due to the weakness of her people, 470. The declining energy of the
+ government the cause of the increasing influence of the clergy, 472.
+ Davila's statement of the Spanish theory of government, 472 _note_.
+ Flourishing state of the Church, 475. Her hold over the highest as
+ well as the lowest intellects, 478, 479. Great numbers of works on
+ Spanish ecclesiastical history, 483. Expulsion of the Moors from
+ Spain, 483-485. Cruelty with which they were treated, 485-494. Effect
+ of the expulsion of the Moors in impoverishing the country, 497. Steps
+ which mark the decline of Spain, 500. Loss of population and of
+ manufactures, 501-504. Increase of poverty, 504-506. Destruction of
+ the military reputation of Spain, 506, 515. The whole kingdom
+ unprotected, 509. Gangs of robbers and murderers in the capital, 510
+ _note_. The Austrian dynasty succeeded by the Bourbons, 513. Policy of
+ the first Bourbon, Philip V., 513. The Dukes of Berwick and Vendome,
+ 515-517. The finances of Spain administered by Orry, 518. Alberoni
+ Ripperda, and Konigseg, 519. Endeavours of foreigners to improve the
+ country by weakening the Church, 521. The clergy forced to contribute
+ to the taxes, 523. Alliances formed between Spain and the Mohammedans,
+ 525, 549. Inertness and ignorance of the people, high and low, at this
+ period, 526. State of medical science in the seventeenth century, 532.
+ Foreign aid called in to remedy native ignorance, 536. Expulsion of
+ the Jesuits, 546. Attacks made on the Inquisition, 547. Foreign policy
+ of Spain under the influence of foreigners, 549. A prospect of the
+ return of wealth opened up, 550, 551. Effects of the vigour displayed
+ by Charles III., 552 _et seq._ Causes of his failure to produce
+ permanent good, 553. Decline of Spain under Charles IV., 571.
+ Endeavours in the nineteenth century to improve the country, 574.
+ Causes of their failure, 575. Immense natural advantages of Spain,
+ 583. Her great men, 585. Her progress prevented by national ignorance,
+ 589. The essential vice of the Spanish people, 592, 593. Causes which
+ keep Spain in her miserable condition, 593 _et seq._ Scotland
+ contrasted with Spain as to loyalty and superstition, iii. 1
+
+ Stafford, William, his work on the theory of politics, 'A Brief
+ Conceipt of English Policy,' i. 212 _note_
+
+ Stanyan's 'History of Greece,' ii. 218
+
+ Starch, amount of oxygen in, i. 62
+
+ Starvation, proximate causes of, i. 58 _note_
+
+ States-General of France, feebleness of the, ii. 121
+
+ Statesmen, why as a body they are always in the rear of their age,
+ i. 213
+
+ Statistics, study of, i. 2. Importance of, 23 _note_. Of murder and
+ other crimes, 24-29. Value of statistics in the light thrown upon the
+ study of human nature, 33. Early writers on statistics, 33 _note_.
+ Dislike of Adam Smith and David Hume for statistics, iii. 339.
+ Objections to them, 339 _note_
+
+ Steam, effect of the application of, to purposes of travelling, in
+ weakening the love of war, i. 219-221
+
+ Steam-engine, Watt's invention of the, iii. 402
+
+ Stearn, Richard, his character as Archbishop of Canterbury, i. 392
+
+ Stepney, Mr., his notions of political economy, i. 211 _note_
+
+ Stewart, Professor Matthew, his crusade against the algebraic or
+ symbolical analysis, i. 247
+
+ St[oe]ffler, John, his predictions as to the deluge of 1524, i. 330
+
+ Stoics, the, on the preservation of consciousness in dreams and in
+ insanity, i. 17 _note_
+
+ Stuart, Charles, the young Pretender, his stupidity and drunkenness,
+ i. 444 _note_
+
+ Subinfeudation, effects of, in France, ii. 119
+
+ Suicide, the crime of, dependent upon the individual, i. 26. Futility
+ of endeavours to diminish, by legislation, 26 _note_. Bentham on the
+ perjury of English juries in cases of, 26 _note_. Regularity of the
+ recurrence of, 28. Causes of, 28. Supposed effect of gloomy weather on
+ the love of, 220 _note_. Statistics of, 28, 29
+
+ Sully, Marshal, ii. 43. His historical work, 266
+
+ Sumatra, superstitions of the people of, respecting tigers,
+ i. 126 _note_
+
+ Sumbawa, the great earthquake and volcanic eruption of 1815 at,
+ i. 126 _note_
+
+ Sunday schools begun, i. 430. Opposition of the clergy to their
+ establishment, 431 _note_
+
+ Superstition, physical causes which give birth to, i. 122, 123.
+ Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, 123, 126. The worship of ferocious
+ animals, 125, 126. The fear of death, 127. Pestilences, 127. Extent of
+ popular superstition in Prussia, 238 _note_. Progress of the English
+ intellect in the seventeenth century in shaking off ancient
+ superstitions, 363. Instance in Scotland of the popular belief in
+ supernatural causation, 373. Causes of the superstitions of sailors
+ and agriculturists, 375. Terror inspired by comets and eclipses, 376.
+ The study of final causes abandoned by Descartes, ii. 91. Connexion
+ between loyalty and superstition, 455. Similarity between Scotland and
+ Spain as to superstition, iii. 4. Scotland favourable to superstition,
+ 35. Sources of superstition, 35. Cause and effect of Scotch
+ superstition, 203. Superstition of the Scotch still existing, 471.
+ Superstitions every day becoming effaced as physical science advances,
+ 477
+
+ Surgery, decline of the science of, in the reign of Louis XIV.,
+ ii. 195
+
+ Surnames, origin of, in Europe, ii. 112
+
+ Sweden, intolerance, bigotry, and persecution of the Protestantism of,
+ i. 264. Swedish heroes of antiquity, 298
+
+ Switzerland, Calvinism the popular creed of, ii. 339
+
+ Sydenham, Thomas, his reformation in therapeutics, ii. 196
+
+ Sympathy, examination of, iii. 310. Hunter's pathological speculations
+ respecting the principles of, 450
+
+
+ Taille, the, in France, ii. 129. Authorities respecting the,
+ 129 _note_. The diminution of the, proposed by the Fronde, 150 _note_
+
+ Talleyrand, M. de, his admiration for Charron's 'De la Sagesse,'
+ ii. 19 _note_
+
+ 'Tamerlane, History of,' by Margat, suppressed, ii. 237
+
+ Tarrega, the Spanish dramatist, ii. 479
+
+ Tartars, origin of the, according to the writers of the Middle Ages,
+ i. 313. And according to Whiston, 313 _note_. Effects of the
+ barrenness of the steppes of, in keeping the people uncivilized, 45
+
+ 'Taste, Essay on,' by Cartaud, suppressed, ii. 237
+
+ Taxation; settlement of the right of the people of England to be taxed
+ entirely by their own representatives, i. 384. Disputes between the
+ two Houses of Parliament respecting taxation, 384 _note_
+
+ Taylor, Jeremy, his abilities and virtues, i. 393. Marked neglect with
+ which he was treated by Charles II., 393. His assertion of the
+ doctrine of passive obedience, 401 _note_
+
+ Teeth of animals, researches of Nasmyth and Owen on the structure of,
+ ii. 384, 385
+
+ Temperaments, the theory of, the principal stumbling-block of the
+ phrenologists, i. 176 _note_
+
+ Teratology, formation of the science of, ii. 396, 397 _note_
+
+ Terray, M., his attack on Church property in France, ii. 333. His open
+ protection of the Jansenists, 345
+
+ Test Act, the, i. 396. Suspended by James II., 397. Repealed,
+ 426 _note_
+
+ Theology, state of the, of Europe from the sixth to the tenth
+ centuries, i. 270. Attempts to make politics a mere branch of
+ theology, 326-328. Theological justification of persecution, 344.
+ Increasing indifference to theological matters in England in the
+ seventeenth century, 350. Chillingworth's views, 350, 351. Connexion
+ between the Reformation and the dogma of an infallible church, 350,
+ 351. The authority of private judgment recognized, 352. Ecclesiastical
+ power almost extinct in Europe, 354 _note_. Decline in British
+ theology at the present time, 355 _note_. Efforts of the clergy to
+ check the progress of scepticism, 356. Political character of the
+ opposition to ecclesiastical authority in the reigns of James I. and
+ Charles I., 359. Antagonism in the reign of Charles II. between the
+ physical sciences and the theological spirit, 372. Reasons of the
+ hostility of the clergy, 373. Separation of theology from morals and
+ politics, 424. Effect of this separation, 425. Attempts to put down
+ the Theological Society, 436 _note_. Theological influence greater in
+ France in the sixteenth century than in England, ii. 6. Charron's the
+ first attempt made in a modern language to construct a system of
+ morals without the aid of theology, 19. Preparation of the way for the
+ separation of theology from politics, 40, 41. Analogy of the
+ anti-theological policy of Richelieu with the philosophy of Descartes,
+ 83. Mischief done to the old theology by Descartes' principles, 90.
+ Effect of the protective spirit carried into theology, 107. Former
+ subservience of philosophy to theology, and universal interest which
+ theological discussions once inspired, 262. Exactness of the knowledge
+ of theologians on subjects on which nothing is known, 284 _note_.
+ Reasons why theology is inferior to history, 289. Voltaire's attack on
+ mere theologians, 308, 309. The question of free will taken up by
+ theologians, 338. De Maistre's method of investigation, 389 _note_.
+ Reasons why the theological or deductive method of philosophy was
+ followed in Scotland, iii. 284. The deductive method of philosophy
+ only applicable to theology, 464
+
+ Theory, necessity of, in science, but dangerous in practice, iii. 414
+
+ Thermotics, attention given to, in France, in the eighteenth century,
+ ii. 361, 362
+
+ Therapeutics, Sydenham's reformations in, ii. 196. Difference between
+ the art of, and the science of, pathology, iii. 416
+
+ Thibet, bards of, i. 292 _note_
+
+ Thomas, suppression of his 'Eloge on Marcus Aurelius,' ii. 238
+
+ Thomson, Hugh, the Presbyterian preacher, iii. 204 _note_
+
+ Thread manufacture of Paisley, rise of the, iii. 176
+
+ Thumb-screw, torture of the, iii. 149
+
+ Tigers worshipped by the Hajin tribe, i. 125 _note_. Superstitions of
+ the Garrows and Seiks respecting them, 125 _note_. How regarded by the
+ Malasir, 125 _note_. And by the inhabitants of Sumatra, 126 _note_
+
+ Tissues, food necessary for repairing the waste of the, i. 55, 58.
+ Bichat's views respecting the, ii. 379-382. The degenerations of,
+ 382 _note_. The study of, neglected by Cuvier, 383 _note_
+
+ Toledo, power of the clergy at, in the seventeenth century, ii. 437.
+ Captured from the Arabs, 440. Decline of, in the seventeenth century,
+ 502
+
+ Toleration, religious, origin of, in England, i. 337. Unusual amount
+ of toleration in Holland two centuries back, 337 _note_. State of the
+ two hostile creeds in England in the reign of Elizabeth, 338. Hooker's
+ 'Ecclesiastical Polity' compared with Jewel's 'Apology for the Church
+ of England,' 340. Causes which always hasten the march of toleration,
+ 53, 54. Summary of the progress of toleration in England and France,
+ 102. The religious toleration of the French government in the middle
+ of the eighteenth, century, 334
+
+ Toleration Act, passing of the, i. 402
+
+ Toolholos, or bards of Thibet, i. 292 _note_
+
+ Tooth, golden, work of Dr. Horst on the, i. 332
+
+ Tories, the, re-established in power under George III., i. 443, 446
+
+ Tournaments, origin of, ii. 134. Extinction of, 134
+
+ Tournefort, his inferiority as a botanist, ii. 201
+
+ Townsend, his views respecting political economy, ii. 304
+
+ Tracheae of plants, discovery of the, ii. 199
+
+ Trade-wind, tract north and south of the equator covered by the,
+ i. 101. Causes of the, 192. Way in which the trade-wind is connected
+ with the civilization of South America, 103
+
+ Trade, absurd notions respecting, in the 17th and 18th centuries,
+ i. 213. Number of laws passed by the English legislature respecting,
+ 213 _note_. Struggles of Parliament against the principles of free
+ trade, 215. Objects of early commercial treaties, 216 _note_. Why the
+ commercial spirit, formerly warlike, is now pacific, 218. Injuries
+ inflicted upon trade by the interference of legislators, 276.
+ Uncertainty of legislation the bane of commerce, 277, 278. Burke's
+ advocacy of free trade, 462. Effect of the protective spirit carried
+ into trade, ii. 107. Voltaire the first historian to recommend free
+ trade, iii. 304. The free trade of the American colonies in the
+ eighteenth century, 186
+
+ Tragedies of Corneille, period in which they appeared, ii. 209
+
+ Transubstantiation, relation of the Cartesian philosophy to the
+ doctrine of, ii. 90. Development of the doctrine of, by the
+ metaphysicians, 262
+
+ Travelling, advantages of, in producing contact and respect, and in
+ weakening the love of war, i. 219-221
+
+ Travis, George, his letters on the text of the Heavenly Witnesses,
+ i. 429
+
+ Trojan origin of different nations, believed in, in the Middle Ages,
+ i. 309
+
+ Tuffnel, the fifth-monarchy man, ii. 155
+
+ Turenne, created a marshal, ii. 98
+
+ Turgot, M., his lectures and their influence, ii. 320. Sir James
+ Mackintosh's opinion of his writings, 321. Influence he exercised
+ shortly before the Revolution, 329. His anti-ecclesiastical policy,
+ 333. Said to have been a Jansenist, 345
+
+ Turkey, causes of the war between Russia and, i. 95
+
+ Turks, their defeat before Vienna, ii. 447
+
+ Turku, the ancient name of Abo, i. 299
+
+ Turner, Sir James, his cruelties in Scotland, iii. 143, 144 _note_
+
+ Turpin, Archbishop of Rheims, his absurd history of Charlemagne,
+ i. 318
+
+ Turpin, M., suppression of his 'History of Siam,' ii. 238
+
+
+ Understanding, Kant's views as to the scientific conception of the,
+ i. 18 _note_. Why controlled by the imagination in India, and
+ paramount in Greece, 138-146
+
+ United States of North America, rent paid by the cultivator in, in
+ proportion to the gross produce of the land, i. 75. Causes of low
+ rent, 76 _note_. Comparison of the history of England with that of the
+ United States, 240. Characteristics of American literature, 241. Love
+ of the people for the study of the law, 241 _note_. Policy of George
+ III. respecting, 477, 479. His hatred of the Americans, 480 _note_.
+ Effect of the Declaration of Independence in hastening the French
+ Revolution, ii. 416
+
+ Usury-laws, Adam Smith's views as to the, i. 214 _note_. Jeremy
+ Bentham's demolition of the, 214 _note_. Increase of usury due to the
+ attempts of legislators to keep it down, 283. Efforts of the Church to
+ suppress it, 283 _note_. Jeremy Bentham's treatment of the usury-laws
+ referred to, 284 _note_
+
+
+ Vanity compared with pride, ii. 163
+
+ Vassy, massacre of, predominance of the theological spirit shown in
+ the, ii. 11
+
+ Vattel, his views as to political economy, i. 212 _note_. His
+ principles of foreign policy compared with those of Grotius,
+ ii. 40 _note_
+
+ Vega, Lope de, his offices in the Church and in the Inquisition,
+ ii. 479. His joy at the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, 496 _note_
+
+ Velly, character of his 'History of France,' ii. 300
+
+ Vendome, Duc de, his command of the Spanish army, ii. 517
+
+ Veneration, origin of, ii. 171
+
+ Venner, the fifth-monarchy man, ii. 155
+
+ Vergil, Polydore, his attack of the popular belief in the Trojan
+ descent of the English kings, i. 309 _note_
+
+ Verse, historical and scientific works written in, i. 293, 294 _note_.
+ See Poetry
+
+ Vico, his opinions as to the real history of Rome, ii. 314
+
+ Villaret, character of his 'History of France,' ii. 300
+
+ Villaviciosa, Spanish poet, his office in the Inquisition, ii. 481
+
+ Vienna, defeat of the Turks before, ii. 447
+
+ Villenage, extinction of, in England, ii. 128
+
+ Visigoths, their settlement in Spain, and establishment of their Arian
+ opinions there, ii. 434. Attacked by the orthodox Franks, under Clovis
+ and his successors, 435
+
+ Voisins, Gilbert des, his Jansenism, ii. 345
+
+ Volcanic eruption of 1815 at Sumbawa, i. 126 _note_
+
+ Voltaire, his visit to England and study of its language and
+ literature, ii. 216-218. His admiration for England, 228. Persecutions
+ to which he was exposed, 231. His method of writing history compared
+ with that of Bossuet, 291. As instanced in his 'History of Charles
+ X.,' 292. Turns his attention to physical and speculative science,
+ 295. Returns to history, 295. His 'Age of Louis XIV.,' 296. His
+ 'Morals, Manners, and Character of Nations,' 297. His intellect, 301.
+ His habit of looking at epochs, and not at the character of the men by
+ whom a country is governed, 301. His tragedies, 302. His endeavours to
+ explain the origin of feudality, 302. His remark on licentious
+ religious ceremonies, 303. The first historian to recommend free
+ trade, 304. His anticipation of Malthus's principle, 304. His attack
+ on the admiration entertained for the Middle Ages, 305. And for the
+ pedantic admirers of antiquity and classical models, 306-308. Ignorant
+ prejudice against him in England, 313. His vast labours aided by
+ Montesquieu, 314
+
+
+ Wace, his translation into Anglo-Norman of Geoffrey of Monmouth's
+ history, i. 325
+
+ Wages, in what they consist, i. 52. And on what they depend, 53.
+ Enquiry into the physical conditions which over supply the labour
+ market and keep the average rate of wages at a low point, 54 _et seq._
+ Effects of climate on wages, 62-64. Social and political consequences
+ of the high rate of wages in Europe, 65. Highest, lowest, and average
+ rates of wages in England during the last few years, 66 _note_. Rates
+ of wages in Ireland, 67. And in India, 73, 74. Adam Smith's views as
+ to the conflict between capital and, iii. 327
+
+ Wales, injuries done by clerical historians to the traditions of the
+ bards of, i. 306
+
+ Wall, his part in Spanish affairs, ii. 544
+
+ Walpole, Sir Robert, endeavours of the House of Commons to hunt him to
+ the death, i. 452. His refusal to tax the colonies, 478
+
+ War, decline of the practice of, i. 190. Causes of this, 190, 191,
+ 198. Military spirit of Russia and Turkey, and its causes, 195, 196.
+ Love of war extinct in England, 198. Contrast between the military
+ genius of ancient and modern Europe, 199-202. Causes of the decay of
+ this genius in modern times, 202-223. The right of private war allowed
+ to the French nobles, ii. 115. Early extinction of private war in
+ England, 138
+
+ Warburton, Dr., Bishop of Gloucester, his separation of theology from
+ politics, i. 425. Effect of his opinions, 426
+
+ Watches, superiority of the English in the seventeenth century,
+ ii. 193 _note_
+
+ Water, methods employed by Watt and Cavendish in the discovery of,
+ iii. 403
+
+ Watson's 'History of Philip II.,' translated by Mirabeau, ii. 225
+
+ Watt, James, his invention of the steam-engine, iii. 402. His
+ discovery of the composition of water, and the method employed, 403
+
+ Wealth, effects of climate, food, and soil on the accumulation of,
+ i. 41. Effects of wealth on the existence of an intellectual class,
+ 42. Physical causes by which the creation of wealth is governed,
+ 42 _et seq._ Laws of the distribution of wealth, 51. Interest,
+ profits, and wages, 52. Causes of the unequal distribution of wealth
+ in India in all ages, 72-77
+
+ Weather, alleged effect of gloomy, on the love of suicide,
+ i. 220 _note_
+
+ Wellington, Duke of, his character as a warrior and statesman, i. 201,
+ 202
+
+ Welsh, John, story of, and the Popish mocker, iii. 212
+
+ Werner, A. G., character of his method of geological speculation,
+ iii. 393
+
+ Wesley, John, his abilities as a theological statesman, i. 421, 422.
+ Calumnies and insults to which he and his followers were subjected by
+ the clergy, 423. His ambitious views as to his sect, 424 _note_
+
+ Westphalia, Congress of, purely secular policy of the, ii. 41. The
+ revenues of the Church seized by the contracting parties, 41.
+ Indignation of the pope at the treaty, 41 _note_
+
+ Whewell, Dr., his errors, ii. 401 _note_
+
+ Whigs, their long monopoly of power, i. 443. Displaced by the Tories
+ in the reign of George III., 443, 446
+
+ Whitby, first printing office in, i. 432 _note_
+
+ White, Blanco, on free will, quoted, i. 15 _note_
+
+ Whitefield, George, his career, i. 421 _note_. Character of his
+ sermons, 421 _note_. Excitement produced by him, 421 _note_.
+ Opposition of the clergy to him, 423, 424 _note_
+
+ Wightman, one of the last English martyrs to religious opinions,
+ i. 345 _note_
+
+ Will, free, controversies of the Calvinists and Arminians as to,
+ ii. 338
+
+ William the Conqueror, his modification of the feudal system in
+ England, ii. 114
+
+ William III., main characteristics of the reign of, i. 402, 403.
+ Eulogy of Sir A. Alison, 403 _note_. Hostility between the King and
+ the clergy, 405. His abolition of episcopacy in Scotland, 406. His
+ deprivation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and six of his brethren,
+ 410
+
+ Williams, John, Bishop of Lincoln, the last ecclesiastical lord
+ keeper, i. 417 _note_
+
+ Witchcraft, period of the destruction of the old notions respecting,
+ i. 363 _note_. Charge of Chief Baron Hale in 1665, 363 _note_. The
+ last witches executed in England and in Spain, 364 _note_. John
+ Wesley's belief in the existence of witches, 364 _note_. Repeal of the
+ statutes against witchcraft, 364 _note_. Witchcraft in Scotland,
+ iii. 37
+
+ Woodrow, value of his 'Analecta,' iii. 230 _note_
+
+ Wool manufactures of Spain in the eighteenth century, ii. 542
+
+ Writing, invention of, a cause of error in history, i. 296. Modes in
+ which it effects this, 296, 297
+
+
+ Yeomanry, rights of English, ii. 119. Unknown in France, 120. Decay of
+ the Yeomanry in England, 120 _note_
+
+ Yeomen of the Guard, establishment of the, ii. 7 _note_
+
+
+ Zamora, Spanish poet, ii. 480
+
+ Zoology, state of the science of, in France under Louis XIV., ii. 197
+
+ Zoology, generalizations in, of Frenchmen in the eighteenth century,
+ ii. 375. The statical and dynamical parts of, 375. Impetus given to
+ the science by Cuvier and Bichat, 376-381
+
+ Zurich, antiquity of, according to Swiss authorities, i. 312
+
+
+ THE END.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ LONDON: PRINTED BY
+ SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
+ AND PARLIAMENT STREET
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and
+formatting have been maintained.
+
+Inconsistent hyphenation and accents are as in the original if not marked
+as a misprint.
+
+Index entries out of sequence have not been corrected.
+
+Text in italics has been marked with underscores (_text_).
+
+The ligatures OE and oe have been marked as [OE] and [oe], the acute
+accent above r as [/r] and the macron above a letter as [=letter].
+
+The sign ^ has been used as a superscript.
+
+The table below lists all corrections applied to the original text.
+
+ p. xii: 361-sqq. -> 361-seq.
+ p. xiv: 420-sqq. -> 420-seq.
+ p. 7: vol iv. p. 313: -> p. 313;
+ p. 7: vol. xviii. p, 309 -> p. 309
+ p. 12: by the English. -> by the English.'
+ p. 13: Somerville's Memoire -> Memorie
+ p. 18: sovereignty over Scotland. -> Scotland.'
+ p. 18: Chalmer's Caledonia -> Chalmers' Caledonia
+ p. 20: days of Robert the First, -> First,'
+ p. 21: 18, 27, 375; vol. -> 18, 27, 375, vol.
+ p. 21: 485; vol. x. p. 584; vol. -> 485, vol. x. p. 584, vol.
+ p. 23: Extract from the -> Extracts from the
+ p. 24: mercery and haberdashery. -> haberdashery.'
+ p. 25: vol. i. p. 512 -> 512.
+ p. 26: the bishop and chapter. -> chapter.'
+ p. 29: though it is is -> though it is
+ p. 30: Great Tay, through Perth, -> 'Great
+ p. 31: ces salles parees. -> parees,
+ p. 37: the Spottiswoode -> The Spottiswoode
+ p. 41: could sign his own name.' -> name."
+ p. 46: justiciaries to assist. -> assist.'
+ p. 50: not the king himselue -> himselfe
+ p. 62: Calderwood's Historie -> History
+ p. 64: Henry VIII., "in -> 'in
+ p. 65: Pitcairn's Criminal Trials of -> in
+ p. 66: favor ony heretike. -> heretike.'
+ p. 78: 'the secound of Maij. -> 'the secound of Maij.'
+ p. 80: he (the orator)' -> he (the orator)
+ p. 86: on the extreame povertie -> 'on
+ p. 91: "To requyre payment -> 'To
+ p. 94: _Church and State in Scotland_ vol. -> _Scotland_, vol.
+ p. 95: in this reformed Kirk. -> Kirk.'
+ p. 97: and ordaines, That -> that
+ p. 106: miscreants and bribers -> bribers.
+ p. 107: salbe the worst.' -> worst."'
+ p. 111: Edinburgh, 1847. p. xxxix. -> Edinburgh, 1847, p. xxxix.
+ p. 119: of Montrose, in 1600 -> 1600.
+ p. 121: pp. 265, 266, 272; vol. -> 272, vol.
+ p. 129: twentie thowsand pounds." -> twentie thowsand pounds.'
+ p. 137: The Diary of Mr. John Lamont, -> Lamont
+ p. 147: Duke of York's instigation. -> instigation.'
+ p. 147: instigation.' _Shield's Hind let loose_ -> Shields' Hind
+ p. 147: See _Shield's Hind let loose_ -> Shields' Hind
+ p. 148: According to Burnet, the -> 'the
+ p. 149: with an exquisite torture; -> torture;'
+ p. 152: greatest of his works -> works.
+ p. 154: to about 4500 men; -> men;'
+ p. 158: London, 4to, 1817, vol ii. p -> vol. ii. p.
+ p. 162: Fountainhall's Notes on -> Notes of
+ p. 204: _Burnet's History of his own Time_, vol -> vol.
+ p. 211: whole counsel of God. -> God.'
+ p. 215: before he reached him!"' -> him!'
+ p. 218: p. 43, in vol i. -> vol. i.
+ p. 224: _Binning's Sermons_, vol. ii. p. 118; vol. -> 118, vol.
+ p. 226: his people by Satan, -> Satan,'
+ p. 228: and continoues sick." -> sick.'
+ p. 228: when this happened. -> happened.'
+ p. 250: Fleming's Fulfilling of -> of the
+ p. 250: Balfour's Annals -> Annales
+ p. 253: then when they are are -> then when they are
+ p. 254: and we should chose -> choose
+ p. 262: On the 22d October -> On the 22nd October
+ p. 264: The History -> Historie
+ p. 280: _Chalmers' Caledonia_, vol -> vol.
+ p. 287: _Gray's Precious Promises_, p. 139 -> p. 139.
+ p. 288: _of Edinburgh_,, -> _of Edinburgh_,
+ p. 311: vol. ii. p. 23, seqq. -> vol. ii. pp. 23 seq.
+ p. 312: united with biography, -> biography.
+ p. 313: vol. ii. p: 206. -> p. 206.
+ p. 328: the wages of labour. -> labour.'
+ p. 333: _Brougham's Works_, Glasgow, 1856. -> 1856,
+ p. 336: to determine what Adam's -> Adam
+ p. 338: Moral Sentiment -> Sentiments
+ p. 349: of Smith, not -> nor
+ p. 352: murder by persons unknown?' -> unknown?
+ p. 358: pp. 36, 37, 340, 343; vol. -> 343, vol.
+ p. 358: pp. 115, 116, 288-299; vol. -> 288-299, vol.
+ p. 358: vol. i. p. 305; vol. -> 305, vol.
+ p. 359: vol. i. p. 329, 334; vol. -> 334, vol.
+ p. 361: into execution in his writings. -> writings.'
+ p. 368: concealed in them,--_latet_ -> _latent_
+ p. 387: says of it, very grvaely -> gravely
+ p. 392: strata from the year 1790. -> 1790.'
+ p. 398: were of igneous origin. -> origin.'
+ p. 410: if not superior, to Newton. -> Newton.'
+ p. 436: _Hunter's Works_, vol. i. p. 43; vol. -> 43, vol.
+ p. 473: 'The members were of opinion that it was -> 'that it was
+ p. 483: Geoffrey of Monmouth, i. 324. -> i. 324
+ p. 484: statement respecting, ii. 281. -> ii. 281
+ p. 488: one of Linnaeus, -> one of Linnaeus, ii.
+ p. 490: civil war, ii, -> ii.
+ p. 491: at an early period in, -> at an early period in, i.
+ p. 492: peace of Westphalia, ii, -> ii.
+ p. 494: they appeared, ii. 208. -> 208
+ p. 496: his secular philosophy, 329 -> 329.
+ p. 497: with the clergy, 420, -> 420.
+ p. 497: for the relief of the, 463. -> 463
+ p. 498: Dryburgh Abbey -> Abbey,
+ p. 498: sixteenth century, iii. 30. -> sixteenth century, 30.
+ p. 500: term of years first authorized. -> authorized,
+ p. 501: establishments of, -> establishments of, i.
+ p. 502: first financial reforms, i. -> first financial reforms,
+ p. 502: Fossils; -> Fossils,
+ p. 504: Francis 1. of France -> Francis I. of France
+ p. 505: surrounded his accession, -> surrounded his accession, i.
+ p. 505: 'Letters' of, ii, -> ii.
+ p. 506: of political degradation. -> degradation,
+ p. 506: admiration for England, ii, -> ii.
+ p. 507: studies in crystallography -> crystallography,
+ p. 508: causes of the, i. 144. -> i. 144
+ p. 510: French by Le Blanc, ii, -> ii.
+ p. 511: in the reign of Louis XIV., -> in the reign of Louis XIV., ii.
+ p. 512: of the government, 494, -> 494.
+ p. 514: Ismorphism -> Isomorphism
+ p. 515: his accession, -> his accession, i.
+ p. 515: 'Ecclesiastical Polity,' -> 'Ecclesiastical Polity,' i.
+ p. 519: literary class, 239 _note_. -> _note_
+ p. 520: to favour the King, 297. -> 297
+ p. 520: the Jansenists, ii. 344 -> the Jansenists, 344
+ p. 521: of human knowledge, 229. -> 229
+ p. 523: drained by the, 97 -> drained by the, i. 97
+ p. 524: literature, i. 437 _note_. -> _note_
+ p. 525: Calvinist opinions, 345. -> 345
+ p. 530: Mathew Paris, i. 315. -> Mathew Paris, 315.
+ p. 533: theory of rent, i. 250 -> theory of rent, 250
+ p. 534: Religious teleration -> toleration
+ p. 534: clergy inevitable, ii. 347. -> clergy inevitable, 347.
+ p. 535: pointed out by Descartes, -> pointed out by Descartes, ii.
+ p. 543: once inspired, ii. 262. -> once inspired, 262.
+ p. 544: in the eighteenth century, 558 -> 186
+ p. 545: conception of the, 18 -> conception of the, i. 18
+ p. 546: aided by Montesquieu, 314. -> 314
+ p. 546: tax the colonies, 478 -> 478
+ p. 547: office in, i 432 -> office in, i. 432
+
+
+
+
+
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