The Land of Heather. Written and Illustrated by Clifton Johnston.
(Macmillan and Co. 8s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Johnston relates his experiences and observations in Scotland in a very matter-of-fact way. Any one who may want to see how very differently the same things, regarded in much the same way, may look as described by one observer and another, should read again " Penelope's Experiences in Scotland." Mr. Johnston is not unkind or unfair, though he is not exactly sympathetic,—the national whisky was clearly a great offence to him. He might have been a little more careful in his comments on certain dis- puted questions. He heard complaints made by the people among whom he lived against their landlord (whom he mentions by name). Did he ever hear the landlord's side of the case ? Tenants are not always in the right. It is a very strange remark that the levy on the proprietors of land by which the Established Church of Scotland is supported " does not provoke the discontent occasioned by tithes and Church rates in England." Tithes are now paid in England by owners, and come practically to much the same thing as the levy on heritors in Scotland. Church rates have been abolished for more than sixty years. In a few cases a rate which is really commuted tithe is levied.
Previous page
