How The Scots Invented The Modern World Part 15

Farther north, the nightmare of the Highland Clearances was over, although fierce confrontations between crofters and landlords had continued down to the 1880s. Poverty remained the fate of most of those who stayed. Their diet had changed little from almost two centuries earlier-oatmeal porridge, bread and oatcakes, a little beef or mutton. No wonder emigrants continued to stream out of the country in record numbers. In the first decade of the twentieth century, almost a quarter of a million people left Scotland-and not only from the Highlands. Town and rural laborers in the Lowlands realized a much brighter future awaited them in Canada or America; in the fifty years before 1920, in fact, more than half of Scotland's emigrants headed for the United States.

Scotland had been the first fully literate nation. Its education system, particularly its universities, had once inspired the rest of the English-speaking world. Now it seemed to lag far behind. In 1882 the rector of Edinburgh's hallowed High School, James Donaldson, bitterly complained that the curricula of Scottish universities were still pretty much what they had been three hundred years earlier. In terms of modern research facilities and laboratories, Donaldson suggested, the Scottish university was "the handloom weaver of the intellectual world." Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen no longer attracted Scotland's best and brightest: anyone in pursuit of an advanced degree in the humanities or sciences went to Cambridge, Oxford, or London instead.46 Ten years later the universities tried to update themselves by inst.i.tuting entrance exams, creating the bachelor of science and honors degrees, and finally admitting women. University students of thirteen or fourteen years old were now a thing of the past; the academic body more closely resembled that of other Western universities. It was not clear, however, whether all this was really for the better. Poorer and less qualified students, who once could have sneaked into Edinburgh and St. Andrews and gotten their university training, now got caught in the mesh of entrance exams. Overall, the Scottish university became more elitist in its orientation, all in the name of higher standards and professional excellence. And still the best and brightest traveled south for their degrees.

Other parts of the education system struggled to keep the old egalitarian ideal intact. In 1872 Parliament created for Scotland the first system of compulsory primary education in Britain, and transferred control of the traditional burgh schools to a new public board, which also provided money so that schools could now abolish students' fees. One out of seven Scottish children went to secondary school in 1914, compared with one in twenty in England. But the problem of drawing into school those who most needed it, the poorest and most disadvantaged, remained as intractable as ever. Something like 15 percent of Glasgow's children never saw the inside of a cla.s.sroom. Increasingly it was government that was called in to help; as with urban renewal and social reform, reform in education steadily pa.s.sed out of private hands or church-based organizations and into the arms of the state, which meant London.

Scottish businessmen had once led innovations in the printing industry and the book trade. The Edinburgh Review Edinburgh Review had set the standard for the English-speaking world of serious intellectual culture. The last issue of the had set the standard for the English-speaking world of serious intellectual culture. The last issue of the Review Review appeared in 1929. ( appeared in 1929. (Blackwood's managed to hang on until 1980.) Now Scots were pioneers in a new field: the tabloid press. Alfred Harmsworth set up the half-penny-a-copy managed to hang on until 1980.) Now Scots were pioneers in a new field: the tabloid press. Alfred Harmsworth set up the half-penny-a-copy Daily Mail Daily Mail in 1896, which sp.a.w.ned a host of imitators, such as the in 1896, which sp.a.w.ned a host of imitators, such as the Daily Mirror Daily Mirror and and Daily Express. Daily Express. The best-known Scottish writers were no longer philosophers or political economists or essayists or historians, but masters of the field of fantasy and escapist literature. Robert Louis Stevenson's The best-known Scottish writers were no longer philosophers or political economists or essayists or historians, but masters of the field of fantasy and escapist literature. Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island Treasure Island delighted children and adults alike, while delighted children and adults alike, while Kidnapped Kidnapped and and The Master of The Master of Ballantrae Ballantrae put the final touches on the Highland myth Sir Walter Scott had started. Arthur Conan Doyle not only auth.o.r.ed the most famous detective of the age, Sherlock Holmes, but a series of science-fiction novels, including put the final touches on the Highland myth Sir Walter Scott had started. Arthur Conan Doyle not only auth.o.r.ed the most famous detective of the age, Sherlock Holmes, but a series of science-fiction novels, including The Lost World. The Lost World. A Roman Catholic, Doyle was a champion of spiritualism and seances-a far cry from the hard-headed realism of Hume and Reid. James Barrie led a pack of authors writing sentimental stories about rural Scotland, which critics dubbed "the Kailyard school." But his most famous work, A Roman Catholic, Doyle was a champion of spiritualism and seances-a far cry from the hard-headed realism of Hume and Reid. James Barrie led a pack of authors writing sentimental stories about rural Scotland, which critics dubbed "the Kailyard school." But his most famous work, Peter Pan, Peter Pan, with its tale of a talented boy who refuses to grow up, reflected a Scottish intellectual tradition that now seemed to be running in reverse. with its tale of a talented boy who refuses to grow up, reflected a Scottish intellectual tradition that now seemed to be running in reverse.

Traditional Scottish culture had likewise retreated into self-caricature. Music-hall comedian Harry Lauder had come up from nothing. He had worked at a flax mill in Arbroath at age twelve, and then as a miner. He went on to become the most popular entertainer of the age. But his stories and songs, such as "The La.s.s o' Killiecrankie" and "Roamin' in the Gloamin'," created a Scottish persona of the "ower thrifty wee mannie" with a thick brogue, battered bonnet and kilt and beard, which dominated the outside world's view of the typical Scot for nearly half a century. Sentimental ballads such as "The Blue Bells of Scotland" and "Loch Lomond" conveyed the impression that Scotland was a land of bekilted lads and la.s.sies who wandered wistfully o'er the glen and sighed for the return of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Charlie himself, or at least his smooth, youthful visage, graced tins of Walker's b.u.t.ter Buscuits. Robert the Bruce helped to sell tartans and scarves.

The commercialization of traditional Highland culture played a crucial role in the formation of the Scotch whisky industry, as well. For centuries Scottish families had distilled their own spirits or uisge beatha, uisge beatha, "water of life." In the eighteenth century it had been the drink of choice of the lower cla.s.ses, as it continued to be, despite tax excises and temperance campaigns, in the nineteenth. Then Parliament in 1823 lifted the onerous taxes and made owning a distillery legally and financially possible. By 1870 Scottish distillers discovered there was a huge market for whisky south of the border. Two in particular, John Walker and Tommy Dewar, skillfully tapped into it. "water of life." In the eighteenth century it had been the drink of choice of the lower cla.s.ses, as it continued to be, despite tax excises and temperance campaigns, in the nineteenth. Then Parliament in 1823 lifted the onerous taxes and made owning a distillery legally and financially possible. By 1870 Scottish distillers discovered there was a huge market for whisky south of the border. Two in particular, John Walker and Tommy Dewar, skillfully tapped into it.

John Dewar had worked in a wine shop in Perth before he started his own business, offering whisky in gla.s.s bottles instead of the traditional jars or wooden casks. His sons Jimmy and Tommy opened a branch in London in 1885, and exploited the a.s.sociations between whisky and the romantic land of tartans and bagpipes in their advertising. The symbol of Dewar's was a Highland drum major with a bearskin bonnet and kilt: in fact, Highland costumes, bagpipes, and kilts became de rigeur for all Scotch whisky advertising for nearly a century. But their "Scotch," like that of their counterpart John Walker of Kilmarnock, was geared to English tastes. Blended whisky took the husky, peaty edge off the traditional Scottish malts. It made it smoother and more appealing to the southern palate. By the 1890s whisky-and-soda became the preferred drink of the English gentlemen. The Dewars became multimillionaires. Tommy Dewar entered the House of Lords-the first Whisky Lord to do so-and was the third man in Britain to own a motorcar. (The first was the Scottish tea magnate Thomas Lipton; the second was the Prince of Wales.) The Scottish character did continue to be recognized and admired: its moral discipline, its integrity and honesty, its capacity for hard work and ambition for advancement. But it, too, found itself on the verge of a cultural distortion as the new century dawned. The Scottish Enlightenment had always dubbed man a "social animal," meaning that interaction with others was indispensable for his or her intellectual and moral development. Adam Smith had even insisted that the opinions of others acted as a kind of moral mirror, without whose reflection we never form a sense of right and wrong. But when carried to extremes, such a view bred in the middle-cla.s.s Scot of the late Victorian and Edwardian era an acute need to conform to social norms. The emphasis on conformity blocked innovation and creativity in ways that could be stifling, even dangerous. James Barrie put it best with a bitter irony: "The grandest moral attribute of a Scot is that he'll do nothing which might damage his career."

As all of Europe mobilized for war in August 1914, believing its soldiers would be home "before the leaves fall," three of the most important soldiers in the British army were Scots: Field Marshal Lord Robertson, Sir Ian Hamilton of the General Staff, who had been Lord Kitchener's chief of staff, and General Douglas Haig, later Field Marshal Earl Haig. For more than a century, Scots had been the backbone of the British army. One out of every four officers had been of Scottish birth as early as the 1750s. But what had made them so useful, besides their physical courage and sense of honor, was their daredevil att.i.tude, their willingness to defy the rules as well as the odds. One looked high and low for such qualities in these three men. Hamilton was largely responsible for the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in Turkey; Lord Haig presided over the ceaseless slaughter at the Somme, Ypres, and Pa.s.schendaele, which sent more than half a million Britons to their deaths. Robertson, despite his own misgivings, refused, out of professional courtesy, to stop him.

Intelligent and conscientious soldiers, Haig, Robertson, and Hamilton had mislaid the habit of independent judgment, the ability to think outside the box. Trained to concentrate on the means, they had lost sight of the ends. They were vivid examples of what Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson had warned might happen in an overspecialized modern society, where "the minds of men are contracted and rendered incapable of elevation"-but now at the top of society rather than the bottom. Thousands of English, Welsh, Canadian, Scottish, Irish, Australian, and Indian soldiers paid the price.

The end of World War I ushered in a period of acute hards.h.i.+p and unemployment for Scotland. World War II revised the picture somewhat, when Scottish factories turned out the Spitfires and Rolls-Royce Merlin engines that won the Battle of Britain. In the 1950s, the great s.h.i.+pyards along Clydeside continued to produce nearly 15 percent of the world's s.h.i.+pping. Coal, iron, steel, and engineering were as essential to Scotland's economy as ever, although they were almost all nationalized. The average workingman's income in 1958 was almost three times what it had been in 1938.

But Scotland's relish for its ties to a fading empire had begun to sour. As the 1960s dawned, it had no clear sense of direction or inspiration. Scottish doctors were giving way to Indians and Asians as the hardworking footsoldiers of the National Health Service. Whisky, golf, football, and auto racing seemed to sum up its cultural achievements. Then Scotland turned up an unlikely cultural hero: James Bond.

Few people realize that Ian Fleming's fictional spy was supposed to be a Scot (he even goes to school in Edinburgh), even though his best-known screen interpreter, Sean Connery, is probably the best-known Scot in the world. Fleming himself was of Scottish descent; he certainly modeled Bond after a Scot, Commander Fitzroy Maclean, a leading commando during World War II.

Bond remains in many ways an allegory of how the relations between the Scottish spirit and the contemporary world had evolved in the postwar world. He is born half Scot and half French Swiss. "The one element explains both his puritanical streak," writes critic Kingsley Amis, "and the granite gift of endurance, while the other makes him fluent in French and German, at home on skis, and a wine lover and gourmet." Bond is a soldier and servant of empire, like so many generations of Scots, in this case "in Her Majesty's secret service." He lives in London and identifies himself with gentlemanly English values: he is deeply patriotic while others see him as impeccably and irremediably British.

But Bond is also stuck in a cultural vacuum. He is made rootless by his profession, and wanders through a world debased and hardened by the Cold War. He sees the world in purely utilitarian terms. In the novels, every detail of scene, food, weaponry, and personal appearance is described with meticulous accuracy. Bond even a.s.sesses the physiognomy of his opponents with the cool detachment of his predecessor Sherlock Holmes (who was modeled on one of Conan Doyle's professors at Edinburgh medical school, the brilliant diagnostician Joseph Bell), as in this pa.s.sage from Moonraker Moonraker: [Hugo] Drax had grown a bushy reddish moustache that covered half his face, and allowed the whiskers to grow down to the level of the lobes of his ears. He also had patches of hair on his cheek-bones. The heavy moustache served another purpose. It helped to hide a naturally prognathous upper jaw and a marked protrusion of the upper row of teeth. Bond reflected that this was probably due to sucking his thumb as a child and it had resulted in an ugly splaying, or diastema, of what Bond had heard his dentist call "the centrals."

Bond arrives at decisions quickly; we never see him hesitate or agonize over a choice of action. He always manages to keep his cool-even in the most horrific and violent circ.u.mstances. He is the embodiment of the Scottish commonsense mind: sure of his judgments, confident of his skills, certain that even if he makes a mistake, he did the best that he could with the available information. Above all, Bond always knows what he wants. His goals are never fuzzy or ambiguous. He views everything, even pleasurable activities such as seducing a woman, beating Drax at cards or Goldfinger at golf, as available means to necessary ends: victory over the Russians, the Chinese, or SPECTRE and SMERSH.

Yet those ends are no longer his own. Despite his courage and physical prowess, he is, to put it bluntly, a hireling. Bond is a professional killer employed by a British spy establishment that was in reality heavily populated by Scots (including the head of the Secret Service, "C," or Stewart Graham Menzies, on whom Bond's own boss, "M," is based). Personal happiness plays no part in the shrunken Bond worldview: in his one attempt at it, his bride, Tracy di Vincenzo, is murdered by his enemies within hours of their wedding. He has become like Adam Ferguson's vision of commercial society's soldier or bureaucrat, "made, like the parts of an engine, to concur to a purpose, without any concert of their own," like ants in an anthill.

James Bond reveals a modernizing spirit that has finally run its course. The Sean Connery films make us think of James Bond as a character from the 1960s, or even '70s. It is a shock to realize that the first novel, Casino Royale, Casino Royale, appeared in 1953, when Winston Churchill was still prime minister and three years after an incident that suggested that an entirely new spirit was beginning to take root in Scotland. appeared in 1953, when Winston Churchill was still prime minister and three years after an incident that suggested that an entirely new spirit was beginning to take root in Scotland.

II.

This book began with college students. It now ends with them.

On Christmas Eve of 1950, three Scottish collegians-Glasgow law student Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, and Alan Stuart-broke into Westminster Abbey near Poets' Corner, not far from the tomb of James McPherson. Pa.s.sing quietly through the cold, darkened church, they made their way to the Coronation Chair, which for more than six hundred years rested on the Stone of Scone, the ancient symbol of Scottish monarchy. With a grunt and a shove, the young men wrestled the 336-pound chunk of sandstone out of the church and into the trunk of their car driven by a fourth student: teacher trainee Kay Matheson. They then headed north for the border and home.

If the police and press believed at first that the theft was just a college prank, they soon realized their mistake. The four students were Scottish nationalists, and with one stroke they had (symbolically at least) reversed the direction of British history. A new force had entered on the postwar Scottish scene, inspired in part by the success of Irish nationalism and its militant arm, the IRA. It would provide a powerful rallying point for resentment about what had happened to Scotland over the previous century. It also offered a new challenge to the ideals of the Scottish Enlightenment and the kind of future it had envisioned.

The story of the Stone of Scone, or Stone of Destiny-Lia Fail in Gaelic-is in large part the history of Great Britain itself. Steeped in history and legend, it stood for four hundred years as the symbol of the ancient Scottish monarchy. Tradition has it that it was originally the stone on which the Bible's Jacob laid his head when he dreamed his vision of a ladder to heaven. It then made its miraculous way from Egypt to Ireland, where Saint Patrick supposedly blessed it for Irish chieftains to use for their coronations. According to legend, one chunk of it became the Blarney Stone. In 503, it seems, St. Columba brought another to the monastery at Iona, where it may or may not have been used for crowning local kings. In 843, Vikings swept over Iona. Kenneth McAlpin brought the chunk to the mainland, and eventually to Scone Castle, where he was crowned and where every Scottish king would be crowned until 1292. in Gaelic-is in large part the history of Great Britain itself. Steeped in history and legend, it stood for four hundred years as the symbol of the ancient Scottish monarchy. Tradition has it that it was originally the stone on which the Bible's Jacob laid his head when he dreamed his vision of a ladder to heaven. It then made its miraculous way from Egypt to Ireland, where Saint Patrick supposedly blessed it for Irish chieftains to use for their coronations. According to legend, one chunk of it became the Blarney Stone. In 503, it seems, St. Columba brought another to the monastery at Iona, where it may or may not have been used for crowning local kings. In 843, Vikings swept over Iona. Kenneth McAlpin brought the chunk to the mainland, and eventually to Scone Castle, where he was crowned and where every Scottish king would be crowned until 1292.

England's King Edward I robbed it from its resting place in 1296, as the triumphant spoils from his victory over the Scots. Since 1306 every English king and queen has been crowned while sitting above the stone; in the words of Dean Stanley, in his Memorials of Westminster Abbey, Memorials of Westminster Abbey, it is the "one primeval monument that binds together the whole Empire . . . a link to the traditions of Tara and Iona." And, the tradition says, "empire abides where the stone stays." it is the "one primeval monument that binds together the whole Empire . . . a link to the traditions of Tara and Iona." And, the tradition says, "empire abides where the stone stays."

Legends, myths, miracles, and symbols: a far cry from the practical and precise hardheaded world Scotland and the Scots had inhabited since the Act of Union. These are, however, the farther but familiar sh.o.r.es of nationalism, which had convulsed the rest of Europe in the previous century, and which inevitably found its way to Scotland as well.

Scottish nationalism found its roots in a cla.s.sic British political issue: Home Rule. Inspired by the example of Canada's successful move to Dominion status, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone decided it was time to give the non-English peoples who actually lived in the British Isles more say over their own destiny. He did not want to break up the United Kingdom any more than the first members of the Scottish Home Rule a.s.sociation did; the goal was a cla.s.sic Scottish ideal, of making government more responsive to those who lived under it. Gladstone himself was a son of the Scottish diaspora. His father had moved to Liverpool from Scotland and become a successful businessman and member of Parliament. William Gladstone was, typically for the age, educated at Eton and Oxford rather than Edinburgh. All the same, he retained the Lowland Scot's faith in free-market capitalism, in a strong evangelical religion, in a high moral tone in public as well as private matters, in the power of education, and in improving the lot and dignity of the common man, whether in Britain or abroad.

"By 1885," writes historian Keith Webb, "Gladstone was fully converted to Home Rule for both Ireland and Scotland." Ireland was the more urgent case: unfortunately, Gladstone's hopes for a peaceful transition to self-government for Ireland ran aground on the rocks of religious and ethnic conflict, and even split the Liberal Party itself. Scottish Home Rule became a back-burner issue, with the failure of Ireland as a warning to anyone trying to undo Westminster's control over other parts of the United Kingdom.

Home Rule was originally a Liberal Party issue, just as the Liberal Party was Scotland's princ.i.p.al political party. As the Liberals withered and died after World War I, so did Scotland's hopes that it might reverse the trend of two centuries and bring some control over its own affairs away from London and back to Edinburgh. Tories were inalterably opposed to any devolution, so Home Rulers turned to the Labour Party-after all, many of its key founders, such as Keir Hardie, were also Scotsmen. But Labour had come to see Scotland's working cla.s.s as an essential part of their own political base: they saw Scottish self-rule as political suicide. So in 1928 disgruntled Scots broke from Labour and formed their own Scottish Nationalist Party, or SNP.

The amazing story of the SNP's rise and eventual triumph in the face of tremendous official hostility and bitter factional infighting closely follows the decline of traditional British politics. The SNP came to fill the void created by the demise of the Liberals and cla.s.sical liberalism: as the other political parties made cla.s.s struggle and whether to extend or demolish the welfare state their princ.i.p.al issues, Scottish voters began to turn to a party that, if nothing else, offered a way out of Scotland's malaise. Whether it was devolution, or autonomy, or outright independence (the SNP leaders.h.i.+p often quarreled bitterly over which they wanted), it was at least something different-and something that struck a chord that most Scots deeply felt but had been afraid to acknowledge: a sense of national pride.

The struggle to gain respectability was long and arduous. Hard times and the Great Depression raised the SNP's appeal, particularly in working-cla.s.s Glasgow and Edinburgh, while recovery undermined it. By 1939 the SNP was nearly bankrupt. Then, in 1942 John MacCormick broke from the party and set up his own Scottish Union, and then the Scottish Convention. His goal was a separate sovereign party for Scotland, although still within the framework of a union. But MacCormick's people were also inspired by a cultural Anglophobia: already in the 1930s there were complaints about the "Englis.h.i.+ng of Scotland." Folklorist Ronald MacDonald Douglas went even further and tried to organize an IRA-style military insurrection in 1935 (it ended up a farce and Douglas was exiled to the Irish Free State). In 1949, just a year before Hamilton and his fellow students struck, MacCormick published his Covenant on Scottish self-determination, which looked to the seventeenth-century Presbyterian Covenanters as its inspiration.

Scottish history was starting to come full circle. MacCormick then filed a lawsuit complaining that Britain's new queen could not call herself Elizabeth II since Scotland had never had a queen named Elizabeth-under the literal terms of the Act of Union of 1707, MacCormick insisted, she should be Queen Elizabeth I of Britain (the case was eventually thrown out). It was news of the theft of the Lia Fail, Lia Fail, however, that moved the Scottish nationalist movement from the shadows to center stage. It ignited a major sensation in Scotland as the public cheered the thieves on. After an exhaustive and slightly hysterical four-month hunt, the authorities finally found the stone at Arbroath Abbey. It came back to Westminster in time for Elizabeth II's coronation (or was it Elizabeth I?), although the Crown declined to prosecute Hamilton and his colleagues-in part, it was rumored, because the English could not offer any proof of owners.h.i.+p in the first place. however, that moved the Scottish nationalist movement from the shadows to center stage. It ignited a major sensation in Scotland as the public cheered the thieves on. After an exhaustive and slightly hysterical four-month hunt, the authorities finally found the stone at Arbroath Abbey. It came back to Westminster in time for Elizabeth II's coronation (or was it Elizabeth I?), although the Crown declined to prosecute Hamilton and his colleagues-in part, it was rumored, because the English could not offer any proof of owners.h.i.+p in the first place.

Why Hamilton chose Arbroath as the stone's final resting place was itself significant. It was there in 1320 that a gathering of Scottish bishops and barons declared defiance of the English king and their commitment to the independence of Scotland after the death of Robert the Bruce. The declaration is the Scottish equivalent of the Magna Carta and reads in part: for as long as a hundred [of us] remain alive we are minded never a whit to bow beneath the yoke of English dominion. It is not for glory, riches or honours that we fight: it is for liberty alone, the liberty which no good man relinquishes but with his life.

The Declaration of Arbroath, like the Lia Fail Lia Fail itself, was now a symbol of a Scotland tired of subordinating its ident.i.ty to an abstract political ideal, that of Great Britain. Scots, Hamilton and other nationalists were saying, will be North Britons no longer. itself, was now a symbol of a Scotland tired of subordinating its ident.i.ty to an abstract political ideal, that of Great Britain. Scots, Hamilton and other nationalists were saying, will be North Britons no longer.

In any case, the spell had been broken. Although the SNP continued to languish as a political party in the postwar boom of the 1950s, when Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (scion of the great Scottish publis.h.i.+ng firm) announced to the British public that, "you have never had it so good," few Scots believed it. The next two decades confirmed their worst fears. The great Clydeside s.h.i.+pyards began to close, as did the Lanarks.h.i.+re coal pits and the blast furnaces. Between 1979 and 1981, Scotland lost close to 11 percent of its industrial output and 20 percent of all its jobs. Even the discovery of oil off Scotland's North Sea coast in 1975 only served to push the British pound higher and ruin Scotland's exports. Textile production in the Border country fell by 65 percent. Active Scottish coal pits declined from fifteen to just two. "Today ours is a fearful, anxious nail-biting nation," wrote SNP activist Jim Sillars in 1985.

In the midst of national crisis and decline, the SNP stepped into the breach. Contrary to myth, it was not the promise of nationalizing North Sea oil that propelled the SNP into prominence. It emerged as a ma.s.s political party in the late 1960s and early 1970s-long before engineers had any idea of the vast oil reserves located just off the continental shelf from Aberdeen. Instead, it was the failure of either British Labour or Tory conservatism to offer a solution to Scotland's sense of decline that made the SNP a political powerhouse. "There is no alternative," Margaret Thatcher would say as she announced the closing of yet another government-run s.h.i.+pbuilding yard or coalfield; yet to millions of Scottish voters there seemed an alternative: Scottish independence and the promise of devolution.

In 1996 a beleaguered government in London tried to appease this sentiment by a symbolic gesture-symbols having become, in this postmodern age, suddenly very powerful. On November 15, two Army Landrovers and a transit van carried the Stone of Scone across the bridge at Coldstream, from England to Scotland and eventually Edinburgh, to great fanfare and the sound of bagpipes and politicians' speeches. England had renounced its claim to the Lia Fail Lia Fail. Ian Hamilton, the stone's original thief, had defied authority and tradition as Thomas Aikenhead had. Unlike Aikenhead, however, he had won. Yet now, at age seventy-three and rector of Aberdeen University, Hamilton refused to attend the installation ceremony at Holyrood Palace. His getaway driver, Kay Matheson, did, as did Gavin Vernon, who flew in from Canada. But Hamilton denounced the ceremony as a "charade" and warned "Betty Windsor" not to show her face north of the border. He declared, in tones reminiscent of Knox and James Buchanan: "We are no longer ruled by sovereigns. Sovereignty now rests with the Scottish people."

Today, in 2001, Hamilton nearly has his wish. Scotland finds itself with a separate Scottish Parliament for the first time in nearly three hundred years, a new Parliament House, a growing computer technology industry, and a burgeoning service sector economy. Some are finding that the hopes they pinned on devolution may go unfulfilled: politicians in a Scottish Parliament turn out to be not much better than the ones in a British Parliament, while Scotland's larger economic problems, such as unemployment, remain unsolved. Just as becoming a modern industrial nation created as many problems for late nineteenth-century Scotland as it solved, so devolution turns out to be less wonderful than everyone had antic.i.p.ated.

Of course, any of the figures of the Scottish Enlightenment could have told them that. No one can blame Scots for wanting to wrest some control over their lives back from London. In one sense, it fulfills the vision of modern liberty of the great Scots of the eighteenth century: that of increasing the independence and freedom of individuals in as many aspects of their lives as possible. Yet the great insight of the Scottish school was that politics offers only limited solutions to life's intractable problems; by surrendering her sovereignty the first time in 1707, Scotland gained more than she lost. She has to be careful that, in trying to reclaim that sovereignty, she does not reverse that process.

Scotland, like much of the modern West, has seen the results of too much modernization. It is easy to forget, therefore, the penalties that accrue from having too little. One of the disturbing trends in Scottish intellectual life in the past two decades has been an increasing hostility to the great legacy of the Scottish Enlightenment. Scholars decry the Act of Union as a betrayal of "true" Scottish culture, while others condemn the founders of the Scottish school as s.e.xists and elitists. "Whatever did not square with their philosophy was not knowledge and they loftily dismissed anything they could not understand," is the way William Ferguson loftily dismisses Hume and Robertson in The Ident.i.ty The Ident.i.ty of the Scottish Nation. of the Scottish Nation.

In 1975 Michael Hechter even published a book that suggested that Scotland shared a common ident.i.ty with Ireland, India, and the Third World as the exploited victims of English colonialism and "underdevelopment." Andrew Fletcher has emerged as the new hero of radical Scottish nationalism (forgetting, perhaps, his call for mandatory slavery as the solution for Scotland's ills), while the Declaration of Arbroath and William Wallace occupy center stage in a Scottish nationalist history that smacks more and more of acute Anglophobia. Some have even ventured onto the further fringes of pan-Celtic nationalism, calling for a Celtic League to draw Scotland into union not only with Ireland and Wales, but also Brittany, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man.

Like the legends surrounding the Stone of Scone, these are appeals to myths and historical fantasies. Scotland was never an exclusively Celtic nation: it included Anglo-Saxons, Normans, and Scandinavians from its first medieval beginnings. Likewise, the notion that its history as part of the British Empire is one of systematic abuse and exploitation is absurd: if anything, Scots have been overrepresented overrepresented as part of its ruling establishment for more than two hundred years. The effort to turn Scots into Irishmen-trying to make them bitter and resentful about their links to Britain-does a disservice not only to historical truth, but to Scotland herself. as part of its ruling establishment for more than two hundred years. The effort to turn Scots into Irishmen-trying to make them bitter and resentful about their links to Britain-does a disservice not only to historical truth, but to Scotland herself.

The great insight of the Scottish Enlightenment was to insist that human beings need to free themselves from myths and to see the world as it really is. This kind of intellectual liberation, they said, is required for living a free and active life. William Robertson, like Adam Smith and David Hume, cared deeply about human freedom and his homeland. Yet he does not even mention the Declaration of Arbroath in his History of History of Scotland- Scotland-not because he was a brainwashed Anglophile, but because he saw it in historical context, as a well-worded defense of the old Scottish feudal regime by its oligarchic beneficiaries. Robertson and his generation of Scottish Whigs welcomed union because they were all too familiar with the Scotland that preceded it; their successors remained grateful for what union had accomplished. From Robertson and Reid to Dugald Stewart and Walter Scott, the Scottish mind understood that genuine human liberty was the by-product of a historical process that ground men like the Arbroath signers into dust-and would also have saved Thomas Aikenhead from the gallows.

That process was the making of the modern world-a process, for all its faults and failures, blind spots and injustices, in which Scotland and Scots have played a crucial part. As Scotland moves toward its new and uncertain future, it must not forget that achievement, any more than it should forget its earlier, premodern past.

As the first modern nation and culture, the Scots have by and large made the world a better place. They taught the world that true liberty requires a sense of personal obligation as well as individual rights. They showed how modern life can be spiritually as well as materially fulfilling. They showed how a respect for science and technology can combine with a love for the arts; how private affluence can enhance a sense of civic responsibility; how political and economic democracy can flourish side by side; and how a confidence in the future depends on a reverence for the past. The Scottish mind grasped how, in Hume's words, "liberty is the perfection of civil society," but "authority must be acknowledged essential to its very existence"; and how a strong faith in progress also requires a keen appreciation of its limitations.

Sources and Guide for Further Reading Scottish history suffers from a profusion of very general surveys, a mult.i.tude of specialized studies and monographs, and not enough good books in between. Historians who write for a general audience tend to be drawn to the more romantic episodes in Scottish history, such as the life of Mary Queen of Scots and the Jacobite uprising of 1745. Go to any public library and these are the books you find on the Scottish shelf, along with a life or two of Robert the Bruce or William Wallace, and perhaps an older volume on Scotland during the English Civil War (such as John Buchan's life of the Earl of Montrose, who raised the clans for Charles I in 1645).

In recent decades a trio of scholars have set out to correct this problem. Thomas Devine's The Scottish Nation: A History, 17002000 (New York, 1999) is an invaluable guide to the economic and social history of modern Scotland. But Devine has also published useful books on topics as diverse as the Glasgow Tobacco Lords (in 1975), clan life in the Highlands after Culloden, and The The Transformation of Rural Scotland Transformation of Rural Scotland (Edinburgh, 1994), and edited several more. Another model of scholarly industry is Professor Bruce Lenman at St. Andrews University, whose books such as (Edinburgh, 1994), and edited several more. Another model of scholarly industry is Professor Bruce Lenman at St. Andrews University, whose books such as The Jacobite Risings in Britain, 16891746 The Jacobite Risings in Britain, 16891746 (London, 1980), (London, 1980), The Jacobite Clans of the Great Glen The Jacobite Clans of the Great Glen (London, 1984), and (London, 1984), and Integration and Enlightenment: Scotland, 17461832 Integration and Enlightenment: Scotland, 17461832 (London, 1981) offer an insightful and level-headed look at the evolution of eighteenth-century Scotland, on which I have relied for this book. (London, 1981) offer an insightful and level-headed look at the evolution of eighteenth-century Scotland, on which I have relied for this book.

The late John Prebble spent a lifetime trying to uncover the forgotten tragic episodes of modern Scottish history and make them come alive for the modern reader. It is not going too far to say that his trilogy on the defeat of Highland Scotland-Culloden (London, 1961), (London, 1961), The Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances (1963), and (1963), and Glencoe: The Story of the Ma.s.sacre Glencoe: The Story of the Ma.s.sacre (1966)-altered the face of Scottish historical writing and helped to fuel the flames of modern Scottish nationalism. Prebble did nothing to disguise his populist anti-English bias in his triology or his other books, such as (1966)-altered the face of Scottish historical writing and helped to fuel the flames of modern Scottish nationalism. Prebble did nothing to disguise his populist anti-English bias in his triology or his other books, such as The Darien Disaster The Darien Disaster (London, 1968) and his last book, (London, 1968) and his last book, The King's Jaunt The King's Jaunt (London, 1999). The intelligent reader sets that bias aside when it gets to be too much, and simply enjoys the absorbing story and the wealth of vivid detail. Prebble also published a personal survey of Scottish history, (London, 1999). The intelligent reader sets that bias aside when it gets to be too much, and simply enjoys the absorbing story and the wealth of vivid detail. Prebble also published a personal survey of Scottish history, The Lion in the North The Lion in the North (New York, 1971). Every scholar working in the field owes Prebble, who was a journalist and not a professional historian, a debt of grat.i.tude. (New York, 1971). Every scholar working in the field owes Prebble, who was a journalist and not a professional historian, a debt of grat.i.tude.

Three other general works, all out of print, also deserve mention. Wallace Notestein's very dated but still interesting The Scot in History The Scot in History (New Haven, 1947) touches some of my themes, but concentrates on the impact of the Scottish Reformation. Neil McCallum's A Small Country: Scotland, 17001830 (Edinburgh, 1983) presents a series of vignettes and anecdotes relating to the rise of eighteenth-century Scotland, some of which found their way into this book. Iain Finlayson's (New Haven, 1947) touches some of my themes, but concentrates on the impact of the Scottish Reformation. Neil McCallum's A Small Country: Scotland, 17001830 (Edinburgh, 1983) presents a series of vignettes and anecdotes relating to the rise of eighteenth-century Scotland, some of which found their way into this book. Iain Finlayson's The Scots The Scots (London, 1987) tried to summarize the "Scottish national character" in broad and vivid strokes, and sometimes succeeded, although his chapters on Scotland as part of modern Britain no longer have much relevance in the age of devolution. (London, 1987) tried to summarize the "Scottish national character" in broad and vivid strokes, and sometimes succeeded, although his chapters on Scotland as part of modern Britain no longer have much relevance in the age of devolution.

PROLOGUE.

Details of the Thomas Aikenhead case can be found in A Complete Collection of A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings, State Trials and Proceedings, edited in thirty-three volumes by T. B. Howell in London in 1812, of which volume 13 contains information relating to the trial, including affadavits from the witnesses, Aikenhead's pet.i.tion to the Privy Council, and the letter from Lord Anstruther from which I drew the relevant quotations. The John Locke connection is found in volume 6 of edited in thirty-three volumes by T. B. Howell in London in 1812, of which volume 13 contains information relating to the trial, including affadavits from the witnesses, Aikenhead's pet.i.tion to the Privy Council, and the letter from Lord Anstruther from which I drew the relevant quotations. The John Locke connection is found in volume 6 of The The Correspondence of John Locke, E.S. de Beer, ed. (Oxford, 1981). The anecdote concerning Baron Polwarth in the family burial vault is from the second volume of Samuel Cowan's Correspondence of John Locke, E.S. de Beer, ed. (Oxford, 1981). The anecdote concerning Baron Polwarth in the family burial vault is from the second volume of Samuel Cowan's The Lord Chancellors of England The Lord Chancellors of England (Edinburgh, 1911). The Edinburgh town council's resolutions are in (Edinburgh, 1911). The Edinburgh town council's resolutions are in Extracts from the Records of the Burgh Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh-1689 to 1701, of Edinburgh-1689 to 1701, H. Armet, ed. (Edinburgh, 1962). The full quotation from Henry Gray Graham on the famine of 1695 can be found in David Daiches's biography of Andrew Fletcher (see Chapter Two, below). H. Armet, ed. (Edinburgh, 1962). The full quotation from Henry Gray Graham on the famine of 1695 can be found in David Daiches's biography of Andrew Fletcher (see Chapter Two, below).

CHAPTER ONE: THE NEW JERUSALEM.

Rosalind K. Marshall is supposed to publish a new biography of John Knox, which is badly needed. Until then the reader must turn to Jasper Ridley's John John Knox Knox (New York, 1968) and Stanford Reid's 1974 biography of the same name. Roger Mason has also edited a brand-new edition of Knox's political writings for the Cambridge History of Political Thought series, which is available in paperback along with George Buchanan in the same series. For a discussion of their revolutionary endors.e.m.e.nt of popular sovereignty, see Quentin Skinner's (New York, 1968) and Stanford Reid's 1974 biography of the same name. Roger Mason has also edited a brand-new edition of Knox's political writings for the Cambridge History of Political Thought series, which is available in paperback along with George Buchanan in the same series. For a discussion of their revolutionary endors.e.m.e.nt of popular sovereignty, see Quentin Skinner's The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, Volume 2: The Age of Reformation The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, Volume 2: The Age of Reformation (Cambridge, 1978). (Cambridge, 1978).

A highly readable account of the Scottish uprising against King Charles is in C. V. Wedgewood's The King's Peace, 16371641 (London, 1955; paperback edition 1969). A more scholarly one is David Stevenson's The Scottish The Scottish Revolution, 16371644: The Triumph of the Covenanters Revolution, 16371644: The Triumph of the Covenanters (New York, 1973). The expert on the post-Reformation "parish state" in Scotland is Rosiland Murchison, especially her essay on the Poor Law in (New York, 1973). The expert on the post-Reformation "parish state" in Scotland is Rosiland Murchison, especially her essay on the Poor Law in People and Society in People and Society in Scotland, Scotland, volume 1 (Edinburgh, 1988), edited by Murchison and Thomas Devine. volume 1 (Edinburgh, 1988), edited by Murchison and Thomas Devine.

The place of literacy in post-Reformation Scotland has prompted a great deal of debate and revision recently. The standard view takes statistical form in Professor Lawrence Stone's cla.s.sic article, "Literacy and Education in England, 16401900," published in Past & Present Past & Present in 1969. The revisionist view is found in R. A. Huston's Scottish Literacy and Scottish Ident.i.ty 16001800 (Cambridge, 1985), which argues that the supposed Scottish bias toward literacy is a myth-an argument which for various reasons I find unconvincing. Another provocative thesis is found in Alexander Broadie's in 1969. The revisionist view is found in R. A. Huston's Scottish Literacy and Scottish Ident.i.ty 16001800 (Cambridge, 1985), which argues that the supposed Scottish bias toward literacy is a myth-an argument which for various reasons I find unconvincing. Another provocative thesis is found in Alexander Broadie's The Tradition of Scottish The Tradition of Scottish Philosophy Philosophy (Savage, MD, 1990), which argues for a deep continuity of Scottish thought from the Middle Ages all the way to the Enlightenment. See also George Davie's (Savage, MD, 1990), which argues for a deep continuity of Scottish thought from the Middle Ages all the way to the Enlightenment. See also George Davie's The Democratic Intellect: Scotland and Her Universities in the The Democratic Intellect: Scotland and Her Universities in the Nineteenth Century Nineteenth Century (Edinburgh, 1961) for the lasting impact of the Scottish educational ideal. The evidence for the public library in Innerpeffay comes from Anand Chitnis's (Edinburgh, 1961) for the lasting impact of the Scottish educational ideal. The evidence for the public library in Innerpeffay comes from Anand Chitnis's The Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment (London, 1976). (London, 1976).

G. Whittington and I. D. White, An Historical Geography of Scotland An Historical Geography of Scotland (London, 1983), give a valuable overview of the changes in the Scottish economy from the sixteenth century to the eve of union, as do the relevant chapters in Thomas Devine's (London, 1983), give a valuable overview of the changes in the Scottish economy from the sixteenth century to the eve of union, as do the relevant chapters in Thomas Devine's The Scottish Nation, The Scottish Nation, mentioned above. John Prebble's mentioned above. John Prebble's The Darien Disaster The Darien Disaster provides all the relevant material on William Paterson's ill-fated scheme, although a much older work, provides all the relevant material on William Paterson's ill-fated scheme, although a much older work, The Darien Venture The Darien Venture (New York, 1926), still provides some interesting details-including the quotation from William Paterson on Panama as "the key of the universe." (New York, 1926), still provides some interesting details-including the quotation from William Paterson on Panama as "the key of the universe."

CHAPTER TWO: A TRAP OF THEIR OWN MAKING.

There are several books on the relations between England and Scotland before the Act of Union: the best is probably William Ferguson's Scotland's Relations Scotland's Relations with England: A Survey to 1707 with England: A Survey to 1707 (Edinburgh, 1977). The best book on the debate over union is by Charles Dand, (Edinburgh, 1977). The best book on the debate over union is by Charles Dand, The Mighty A fair The Mighty A fair (Edinburgh, 1972), which can be supplemented by information on the financial details in John Shaw's (Edinburgh, 1972), which can be supplemented by information on the financial details in John Shaw's The The Political History of 18th Century Scotland (London, 1999) and P.W.J. Riley's The Political History of 18th Century Scotland (London, 1999) and P.W.J. Riley's The Union of England and Scotland: A Study in Anglo-Scottish Politics of the Eighteenth Union of England and Scotland: A Study in Anglo-Scottish Politics of the Eighteenth Century Century (Manchester, 1979). The description of the opening ceremonies for the opening of the Scottish Parliament is from Frederick Watkeys's (Manchester, 1979). The description of the opening ceremonies for the opening of the Scottish Parliament is from Frederick Watkeys's Old Edinburgh, Old Edinburgh, volume 1 (Boston, 1907). volume 1 (Boston, 1907).

David Daiches wrote a brilliant and vivid introduction for his Andrew Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun: Selected Political Writings Fletcher of Saltoun: Selected Political Writings (Edinburgh, 1979), which is not only a condensed biography of Fletcher but a fine summary of Scottish political history between the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Act of Union in 1707. However, Daiches must now be supplemented with Paul H. Scott's full-length biography, (Edinburgh, 1979), which is not only a condensed biography of Fletcher but a fine summary of Scottish political history between the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Act of Union in 1707. However, Daiches must now be supplemented with Paul H. Scott's full-length biography, Andrew Fletcher and the Treaty of Union Andrew Fletcher and the Treaty of Union (Edinburgh, 1992) and John Robertson's edition of (Edinburgh, 1992) and John Robertson's edition of Andrew Fletcher: Political Works Andrew Fletcher: Political Works (Cambridge, 1997). (Cambridge, 1997).

I made two slight modifications in the historical sequence in this chapter. Besides including the rituals of "the riding of Parliament," which took place in 1703, my quotations for Fletcher's arguments against the economic consequences of Union actually come from Fletcher's An Account of a Conversation An Account of a Conversation Concerning a Right Regulation of Government, Concerning a Right Regulation of Government, published in 1704. published in 1704.

CHAPTER THREE: THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND I.

Probably no figure in the history of the Enlightenment is more discussed in in pa.s.sing pa.s.sing than Francis Hutcheson. Everyone acknowledges his enormous influence on both sides of the Atlantic, and on both sides of the English Channel; everyone admits his role as the founding father of the Scottish Enlightenment. But precisely because Hutcheson is such a useful foil for scholars who really want to talk about two even greater figures, Adam Smith and David Hume, and because his works now make (to be honest) tedious reading, the list of books dedicated to Hutcheson, and Hutcheson alone, is woefully short. We have to make due with W. R. Scott's venerable biography, which first appeared more than one hundred years ago, and some excellent scholarly articles published in learned books and journals. The one that most influenced my approach to Hutcheson is by James Moore, "The Two Systems of Francis Hutcheson," in than Francis Hutcheson. Everyone acknowledges his enormous influence on both sides of the Atlantic, and on both sides of the English Channel; everyone admits his role as the founding father of the Scottish Enlightenment. But precisely because Hutcheson is such a useful foil for scholars who really want to talk about two even greater figures, Adam Smith and David Hume, and because his works now make (to be honest) tedious reading, the list of books dedicated to Hutcheson, and Hutcheson alone, is woefully short. We have to make due with W. R. Scott's venerable biography, which first appeared more than one hundred years ago, and some excellent scholarly articles published in learned books and journals. The one that most influenced my approach to Hutcheson is by James Moore, "The Two Systems of Francis Hutcheson," in Studies in the Philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment, Studies in the Philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment, M. A. Stewart, ed. (Oxford, 1990). Chapters on Hutcheson by Donald Winch and Ian Ross in their books on Adam Smith are particularly useful as well (see Chapter Nine, below). M. A. Stewart, ed. (Oxford, 1990). Chapters on Hutcheson by Donald Winch and Ian Ross in their books on Adam Smith are particularly useful as well (see Chapter Nine, below).

Hutcheson's milieu in Dublin can be reconstructed from Scott, Francis Francis Hutcheson, Hutcheson, and M.A. Stewart's illuminating article, "John Smith and the Molesworth Circle," which appeared in 1987 in and M.A. Stewart's illuminating article, "John Smith and the Molesworth Circle," which appeared in 1987 in Eighteenth Century Ireland. Eighteenth Century Ireland. Lord Islay's role in the hiring of Hutcheson at Glasgow, and in Scottish academic politics generally, is covered in Roger Emerson's "Politics and the Glasgow Professors, 16901800," in Lord Islay's role in the hiring of Hutcheson at Glasgow, and in Scottish academic politics generally, is covered in Roger Emerson's "Politics and the Glasgow Professors, 16901800," in The Glasgow Enlightenment, The Glasgow Enlightenment, Andrew Hook and Richard Sher, eds. (East Linton, 1995). Andrew Hook and Richard Sher, eds. (East Linton, 1995).

Hutcheson's writings suffer from the same neglect as the story of his life. Bernhard Fabian put together a facsimile reprint of the 1755 edition of Francis Hutcheson's Collected Works, Collected Works, published in Hildesheim, Germany, in 1969. Excerpts of his writings are available in an inexpensive Everyman Cla.s.sics paperback edition, and in Alexander Broadie's selections of various authors in published in Hildesheim, Germany, in 1969. Excerpts of his writings are available in an inexpensive Everyman Cla.s.sics paperback edition, and in Alexander Broadie's selections of various authors in The Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment (Edinburgh, 1999). (Edinburgh, 1999). A System of Moral Philosophy A System of Moral Philosophy and and An An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, from which I quote extensively in this chapter, both exist in modern editions but are out of print. On the other hand, one of Hutcheson's earliest and shortest treatises, his from which I quote extensively in this chapter, both exist in modern editions but are out of print. On the other hand, one of Hutcheson's earliest and shortest treatises, his Remarks on Remarks on [Bernard Mandeville's] [Bernard Mandeville's] "Fable of the Bees," "Fable of the Bees," which denounced Mandeville's idea that private vices yield public benefits, does circulate in numerous versions, and can even be found on the Internet-again, since it serves as a foil for the economic theories of Adam Smith. which denounced Mandeville's idea that private vices yield public benefits, does circulate in numerous versions, and can even be found on the Internet-again, since it serves as a foil for the economic theories of Adam Smith.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND II.

From a biographical point of view, Lord Kames fares much better. Two modern biographies exist, William Lehmann's Henry Home, Lord Kames and the Henry Home, Lord Kames and the Scottish Enlightenment Scottish Enlightenment (The Hague, 1971) and Ian Ross's (The Hague, 1971) and Ian Ross's Lord Kames and the Lord Kames and the Scotland of His Day Scotland of His Day (Oxford, 1972), which is the better of the two. Even the 1814 biography by Alexander Fraser Tytler of Woodhouselee bears rereading, especially for its discussion of his fellow judges on the Court of Session. There is also invaluable information in Ernest Mossner's (Oxford, 1972), which is the better of the two. Even the 1814 biography by Alexander Fraser Tytler of Woodhouselee bears rereading, especially for its discussion of his fellow judges on the Court of Session. There is also invaluable information in Ernest Mossner's The Life of David Hume The Life of David Hume (see Chapter Eight, below). (see Chapter Eight, below).

Kames's writings, unfortunately, have fared even worse than Hutcheson's. A modern edition of Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion appeared some years ago. Otherwise, if you want to read appeared some years ago. Otherwise, if you want to read Historical Law Tracts Historical Law Tracts or or Sketches on the History of Man, Sketches on the History of Man, you will need to visit a large university library. you will need to visit a large university library.

The main theme of these chapters is the origins of the Scottish Enlightenment. The old cla.s.sic on the subject is Gladys Bryson's Man and Man and Society: The Scottish Enquiry of the Eighteenth Century Society: The Scottish Enquiry of the Eighteenth Century (Princeton, 1945) but the ill.u.s.trated volume edited by David Daiches, Peter Jones, and Jean Jones, (Princeton, 1945) but the ill.u.s.trated volume edited by David Daiches, Peter Jones, and Jean Jones, Hotbed Hotbed of Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment, 17301790 of Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment, 17301790 (Edinburgh, 1986), might be a better place to begin, while Anand Chitnis's (Edinburgh, 1986), might be a better place to begin, while Anand Chitnis's The Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment (mentioned above, Chapter One) still offers the best account of the social background to this amazing episode in the history of European culture. The now-famous collection of essays in (mentioned above, Chapter One) still offers the best account of the social background to this amazing episode in the history of European culture. The now-famous collection of essays in Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of Political Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment, Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment, I. Hont and M. Ignatieff, eds. (Cambridge, 1983), have shaped my own approach: David Lieberman's essay in that collection, "The Legal Needs of a Commercial Society: The Jurisprudence of Lord Kames," was important to this chapter, as well. Robert Wokler, "Apes and Races in the Scottish Enlightenment: Monboddo and Kames on the Nature of Man," in Peter Jones's edited volume, I. Hont and M. Ignatieff, eds. (Cambridge, 1983), have shaped my own approach: David Lieberman's essay in that collection, "The Legal Needs of a Commercial Society: The Jurisprudence of Lord Kames," was important to this chapter, as well. Robert Wokler, "Apes and Races in the Scottish Enlightenment: Monboddo and Kames on the Nature of Man," in Peter Jones's edited volume, Philosophy and Science in the Scottish Philosophy and Science in the Scottish Enlightenment Enlightenment (Edinburgh, 1988), covers Kames's views on race and history. The Joseph Knight case deserves more attention than it gets: my description is from Ross's biography of Kames. (Edinburgh, 1988), covers Kames's views on race and history. The Joseph Knight case deserves more attention than it gets: my description is from Ross's biography of Kames.

CHAPTER FIVE: A LAND DIVIDED.

Neil Macallum's A Small Country A Small Country offers interesting details on Edinburgh in the early eighteenth century, as does A. J. Youngson's offers interesting details on Edinburgh in the early eighteenth century, as does A. J. Youngson's The Making of Cla.s.sical The Making of Cla.s.sical Edinburgh Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1966). (Edinburgh, 1966). The Works of Adam Petrie, The Scottish Chesterfield The Works of Adam Petrie, The Scottish Chesterfield (Edinburgh, 1877) offers up the rich material of Petrie's guides to civilized comportment. (Edinburgh, 1877) offers up the rich material of Petrie's guides to civilized comportment.

The standard work on the Scottish-English "culture wars" of the eighteenth century is David Daiches's The Paradox of Scottish Culture The Paradox of Scottish Culture (Oxford, 1964). The journals and correspondence of James Boswell, however, provide plenty of material for a.n.a.lyzing this problem; the volumes edited by Frederick Pottle and William Wimsatt, especially (Oxford, 1964). The journals and correspondence of James Boswell, however, provide plenty of material for a.n.a.lyzing this problem; the volumes edited by Frederick Pottle and William Wimsatt, especially Boswell's London Journal, 17621763 Boswell's London Journal, 17621763 (New York, 1950), (New York, 1950), Boswell For the Defence, 17691774 Boswell For the Defence, 17691774 (New York, 1959), and (New York, 1959), and James James Boswell: The Earlier Years, 17401769 Boswell: The Earlier Years, 17401769 (New York, 1966), are very useful-as well as fun reading. Boswell's fantasy of upbraiding Rousseau in broad Scots comes out of (New York, 1966), are very useful-as well as fun reading. Boswell's fantasy of upbraiding Rousseau in broad Scots comes out of The Earlier Years. The Earlier Years. A fascinating article on Scots, "A Corrupt Dialect of English?" by Brian Osborne, appeared in A fascinating article on Scots, "A Corrupt Dialect of English?" by Brian Osborne, appeared in Highlander Highlander magazine in May/June 1998. The quotation from Robertson that starts this discussion is from the second volume of the 1811 edition of his magazine in May/June 1998. The quotation from Robertson that starts this discussion is from the second volume of the 1811 edition of his History of Scotland. History of Scotland.

My interpretation of Highland society and culture has been decisively shaped by two works by Bruce Lenman, The Jacobite Clans of the Great Glen, The Jacobite Clans of the Great Glen, 16501784 16501784 (London, 1984) and (London, 1984) and The Jacobite Risings in Britain, The Jacobite Risings in Britain, supplemented by Thomas Devine's supplemented by Thomas Devine's Clans.h.i.+p to Crofter's War: The Social Transformation of the Scottish Clans.h.i.+p to Crofter's War: The Social Transformation of the Scottish Highlands Highlands (Manchester, 1994), R. A. Dodgson, "The Nature of Scottish Clans," in R.A. Huston and I. D. White's Scottish Society, 15001800 (Cambridge, 1989), and I. F. Grant and Hugh Cheape's (Manchester, 1994), R. A. Dodgson, "The Nature of Scottish Clans," in R.A. Huston and I. D. White's Scottish Society, 15001800 (Cambridge, 1989), and I. F. Grant and Hugh Cheape's Periods in Highland History Periods in Highland History (London, 1987). The account of Coll MacDonnell of Barrisdale is from Frank McLynn's (London, 1987). The account of Coll MacDonnell of Barrisdale is from Frank McLynn's The Jacobites The Jacobites (London, 1985), as is the quotation from Ca.s.sius Dio that opens the chapter. The story of Big Archie MacPhail comes out of John Prebble's (London, 1985), as is the quotation from Ca.s.sius Dio that opens the chapter. The story of Big Archie MacPhail comes out of John Prebble's Glencoe, Glencoe, which like its companion volume, which like its companion volume, Culloden, Culloden, gives an especially vivid picture of Highland life. gives an especially vivid picture of Highland life.

Prebble also discusses Duncan Forbes of Culloden and hi