History of Civilization in England, Vol. 3 of 3

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.

14

‘Anno gratiæ MCCXCVI. tertio kalendas Aprilis, villa et castro de Berevvico, per magnificum regem Angliæ Eadvvardum captis, omnes ibidem inuentos Angli gladio occiderunt, paucis exceptis, qui ipsam villam postmodum abiurarūt.’ Flores Historiarum per Matthæum Westmonasteriensem collecti, Lond. 1570, folio, lib. ii. p. 403. ‘Atque modo prædicto villâ captâ, civibus prostratis, rex Angliæ prædictus nulli ætati parcens aut sexui, duobus diebus rivulis de cruore occisorum fluentibus, septem millia et quingentas animas promiscui sexûs jusserat, in sua tyrannide desæviens, trucidari.’ Fordun's Scotichronicon, curâ Goodall, Edinb. 1775, folio, vol. ii. pp. 159, 160. ‘Secutus Rex cum peditum copiis miserabilem omnis generis cædem edit.’ Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia, Abredoniæ, 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 quàm è 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, quòd 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 Angliæ, 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 prædatis monasteriis Sanctæ 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 cæci effecti, in dormitorio eorundem ab eisdem Anglis sunt interfecti, et plures monachi lethaliter vulnerati. Corpus Dominicum super magnum altare fuit projectum, ablatâ pixide argenteâ in quâ erat repositum. Monasterium de Driburgh igne penitùs consumptum est et in pulverem redactum. Ac alia pia loca quamplurima per prædicti 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 cæsis 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 Angliæ, Richardus secundus ægrè ferens Scotos et Francos tam atrociter terram suam deprædare, et municipia sua assilire et ad terram prosternere, exercitum collegit grandem, et intravit Scotiam, ætate 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 Ægidii ejusdem, voraci flammâ incineravit; et, destructione permaximâ factâ per eum in Laudonia, ad propria sine damno repatriavit’ Fordun's Scotichronicon, vol. ii. p. 401. ‘En ce séjour 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 trouvèrent; car tout avoient retrait ens ès forts, et ens ès grands bois, et là chassé tout leur bétail.’ … ‘Et ardirent les Anglois la ville de Saint-Jean-Ston en Ecosse, où la rivière du Tay cuert, et y a un bon port pour aller partout le monde; et puis la ville de Dondie; et n'épargnoient abbayes ni moûtiers; tout mettoient les Anglois en feu et en flambe; et coururent jusques à 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 modò militari esset ætate, parcebat.’

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, quòd non remansit quasi domus inhabitata, sed feræ et cervi de montanis descendentes circa villam sæpiùs 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.’

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.’

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.

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 cōmodious 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.

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 4l. 16s. 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 Fœdera, 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.

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.