SCOTLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.* SOME time ago Lord Rosebery,

addressing a meeting of one SCOTLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.* SOME time ago Lord Rosebery, addressing a meeting of one

of the numerous learned societies of his country, declared that a necessity of his country was the history of its progress during the eighteenth century. The suggestion was a happy one; indeed, Lord Rosebery is incomparably more successful in the field of literary suggestion than in that of literary appreciation. The appearance of these two substantial, well- written volumes, exhibiting in every page the results of read- ing which must have extended over years, shows that his idea had been in part at least anticipated. The author, Mr. Graham, a scholarly clergyman of the Church of Scotland, does not, it is true, claim that he has written such a history as Lord Rosebery expressed a desire to see. On the con- trary, he is careful to say frankly, and almost apologetically, at the close of his preface : "The literature of the period, which developed so marvellously after the middle of the century, is only slightly indicated in this study of the time.

It is a subject full of interest and importance ; but, though it came within the scope of this work, it could not be put within the bounds of its space." But even if Mr. Graham does not see his way to supplement this work with another, it is quite fit to stand alone as a unique and honestly executed picture of certain aspects of the country and century with which it deals. He is in many respects admirably qualified for the task he has accomplished. He has the command of a lucid, flowing, but never rhetorical style. He has an eye for the picturesque, but as he has also the saving grace of a quiet, and slightly cynical, humour, he never allows that picturesque to run away with him. Having a detached mind—a mind which in some respects curiously recalls that of Erasmus—he finds Scotland an interesting subject, and not merely a peg on which to hang perfervid pmans. He takes a kindly, reverent, and compre- hensive rather than enthusiastic view of that Presbyterianism which was never more triumphant, either as an ecclesiastical polity, or as a religious force, than it was during the eighteenth century. His view on this subject, and his mood generally, are indicated in this passage

"No doubt many of the religious ways and habits, the old- world theology, have long ago vanished, leaving only memories humorous, pathetic, or bitter behind them; curious convic- tions that once were charged with dangerous force in sectarian polemics, are now cold and harmless, like exploded shells on an old battlefield. But it is impossible to understand the character and conduct of the Scottish people without knowing those bygone customs and beliefs which were once full of intense vitality:.

Altogether, Mr. Graham writes of his country in the eighteenth century less in the spirit of a typical and

"patriotic" Scotchman than in that of a modern English- man who has quite read himself out of old-fashioned Sonthern prejudices.

Mr. Graham sets no other purpose before himself than that of giving a faithful picture of his country during the last century ; but if he had sought deliberately to prove the enormous advantages in respect of social progress and of almost everything which goes by the name of civilisation that Scotland has gained through the anion with England,

• The Social Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century. By Henry Grey Graham. 2 you. London : A. and C. Black. [24a.] he could not have succeeded better than he has done by sheer

fidelity to his mission as an artist. Whoever is familiar with the "vision of beauty" which is lavished upon the visitor of the present day to the southerly counties of Scotland, will find it difficult to believe this description of the country as it seemed to an English traveller immediately after the Union

"If he entered by Dumfriesshire and the moors of Galloway he was at once filled with dismay by the dismal change from his own country,—the landscape a bleak and bare solitude, destitute of trees, abounding in heather and morass and barren hills; soil where cultivation was found only in dirty patches of crops, on ground surrounded by heather and bog ; regions where the in- habitants spoke an uncouth dialect, were dressed in rags, lived in hovels, and fed on grain with which he fed his horses ; and when night fell, and he reached a town of dirty thatched huts, and gained refuge in a miserable abode that passed for an inn, only to get a bed he could not sleep in and fare he could not eat, his disgust was inexpressible."

Mr. Graham is too conscientious a historian, also, to accept the

reply of the Scottish Judge and patriot to Samuel Johnson's famous and disdainful association of Scottish men with English

horses, which was put in the form of the question,—" Where

will you find such men and such horses F" On the contrary, he confesses "We may admire the patriotism, but must

regret the mendacity of his Lordship, for both countrymen and countrywomen of the poorer orders= lean, shabby, and soiled,' as the author of 'Humphrey Clinker' laments to own, were not such as one could boast of in respect of physical excellence or personal appearance." It is hardly too much to say that the most miserable squalor relieved by deep drinking —for although whisky did not become common in the Low- lands till the middle of the eighteenth century, other alcoholic beverages were indulged in—was the condition of the humbler classes. They were unspeakably dirty alike as regards their persons and their houses. It is clear, too, from what he says—and Mr. Graham's reasoning in this connection is care- ful and sound—that their education at this period was not nearly so well advanced as it has been said to be. In Fifeshire in 1715 only one man in three could sign his name, and only one woman in twelve could sign hers. In the homes of the country lairds and town burghers the living was better, and the manners were at least comparatively good. But even in the mansions of people of rank the cook was paid between 22 and 23, and the housekeeper, like the chaplain, had 25 a year. Only gentleman of fortune had men-servants, who had as wages about 22 a year and a suit of livery. Mr. Graham, in a series of admirable chapters on life, both in the country and in towns, more particularly in Edinburgh and Glasgow, shows the process of social evolution and advancement. As the century went on and money became more plentiful,—

" The farmers' daughters and wives, contemptuous of home- made webs, had their gowns of silk and their fashions from Edinburgh, and lived in an ambitious style, which as yet fitted them badly. The plainest farmer was now clad in English broadcloth, and could boast of a hat, and the rich farmer, assuming new manners, prided himself on his dress, on his house, and on his blood-horse."

But progress was slow—much slower than in England.

Mr. Graham devotes the second of his volumes almost exclusively to the ecclesiastical and educational aspect of Scottish life. This was inevitable, because the influence of the Churches—especially of the Presbyterian Church—upon the life of the country was great, dominating, and even per- vading. It is evident from what Mr. Graham says of the patrolling of the streets of towns by the elders and other in- quisitors of the Kirk that the rigours of a Scotch Sabbath " have not been exaggerated. "They might enter any house and even pry into the rooms. In towns where the patrol of elders or deacons, beadle and officers paced in solemnity the deserted causeways eagerly eyeing every door, peering at every window, craning their necks up every wynd, the people slunk into the obscurity of the shadows, and kept hushed silence." On the other hand, Presbyterian discipline must have been fraught with certain good results ; doubtless it had something to do with the absence of burglary and other serious crimes from the records of the larger cities.

It is to be regretted that circumstances have not allowed Mr. Graham to deal at length with the literature of Scotland during the eighteenth century. Such a survey would have com- pleted that very interesting portion of his book which deals with the intellectual development of the country. That was sure perhaps, but it must have been sadly protracted For one thing, the teachers in the Universities were very poorly paid. The Principal of Edinburgh University had his salary raised from f41 to 290 in 1703, but his colleague in Glasgow had to be content with 260 and his "board at the common table." As late as 1768 Principal Robertson, of Edinburgh, wrote of the buildings of that University that a stranger would "naturally imagine them to be almshouses." Every page of this most remarkable book is profoundly interesting and readable. A more graphic picture of the rise of a nation—for so the Scots considered themselves even after the Union—from dirt to at least comparative dignity has perhaps never been published.