Chapter LIII

Summary of the Work​—Conclusion.

I.​—THE first volume opens with a few brief explanations of the method and scope of the work, and touched on the primary causes of civilisation, indicating that the human mind was the prime factor.

1. The geographical and physical aspects of the country were described. The influence of climate, and other external agencies were considered; and, also the general features of the country in relation to the imagination and understanding.

2. The principle of historic interpretation in reference to the order of development​—touching thought and language, was treated; and the importance of the discrimination of historical evidence was also pointed out.

3. The interesting problem of the cradle of the human race was mooted; and followed by the question of the cradle of the great Aryan race, of which a concise statement was presented. The ethnology of Scotland was next handled, and disentangled from a mass of legends and obscuring accretions.

4. The prehistoric period, embracing the stone and iron ages, were treated in detail. The stone weapons and implements were described, and the processes of their manufacture indicated. The various modes of disposing of the dead, interments in chambered cairns, cremation, and other peculiarities, were described. The origin and use of the earth-houses was discussed, and primitive boats noticed.

5. The introduction of the use of metals was narrated. Bronze weapons and tools found in Scotland were described; and attention was directed to the gold ornaments of the prehistoric period. Traces of the dwellings and sites of the prehistoric people were treated, including crannogs, and hill forts. The modes of interment which prevailed in the bronze age were handled. An attempt was made to indicate the probable duration of the prehistoric period in Scotland.

6. So far as available data admitted, an account of the religion, social state, and culture of the prehistoric people was presented.

II.​—The Roman invasion and occupation of a portion of the country was narrated. This occupation tended to create new historical conditions in the Island.

7. The relative position of the chief tribes in the country from the fifth century to the foundation of the historic monarchy was given. The natural circumstances which led to its foundation and its limits were also indicated.

III.​—Advent of a new factor of civilisation​—The introduction of Christianity and the missionary labours of the early saints were narrated; and the impression which they left upon the people was noted.

8. The gradual extension of the kingdom was concisely narrated; and a change of historical conditions indicated.

9. The social state of the people from the seventh century to the end of the eleventh was presented in detail.

10. Early architecture, including the brochs, round towers, and rude chapels, were historically treated. The sculptured stones were described, and historically handled in relation to the life and habits of the people. The art of these monuments was also briefly treated. The distinctive characteristics of this art as exhibited on metal ornaments were indicated.

The fragments of early literature and chronicles, and teaching in the monasteries were noticed.

IV.​—A critical estimate of the result of Norman feudalism on the civilisation of Scotland was presented, in which interesting details of the social state of the Normans themselves are given.

11. An account of the kingdom and the introduction of feudalism in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was presented. The social state of the people, trade, organisation, and civilisation, were treated in detail.

12. The difficulties arising from the disputed succession issued in the War of Independence, of which a clear account was given. The results of the battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn ultimately led to the acknowledgment of the independence of the nation.

13. A narrative of events from the death of Robert I. to 1424 was presented.

14. The reign of James I. was exceedingly important. He was an able ruler, and endeavoured to curb the lawless nobles. He tried to govern the kingdom through parliament, and was the first King who attempted to introduce the principle of representation in Scotland. A body of laws was passed in parliament in his short reign, such as is not to be found in any period of the same length before or since, and these were recorded and proclaimed in the language of the people, and in many other ways he struggled to redress the disorder and oppression which had so long prevailed.

15. After the murder of James I., to the battle of Flodden, the struggle between the Crown and the nobles often distracted the kingdom. A narrative of the chief events and proceedings till 1513 was presented.

16. An exhaustive account of the social state of the nation in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was given: Embracing the origin and peculiarities of the Scottish Parliament; the power of the nobles; agriculture, and the state of the tenants and labourers, the Crown lands, and relative subjects were detailed. The burghal communities​—their trade, and the characteristics of their daily life were handled at length. The commerce and coinage of the kingdom, the defence of the country​—armour, weapons, and organisation of the army were treated. Amusements and games, the dress of the different ranks, household goods and ornaments, were noticed. The price of the staple necessaries of life, and the wages of workmen were indicated. Crime and defects in the administration of justice, and the forms of punishment, were treated in detail. Architecture, the wealth of the Church and monasteries, were noticed; and an account of the religious feeling of the people was presented.

17. The literature of the period, education, music, and art were treated.

V.​—New historical conditions had arisen, and the second volume, which deals with the sixteenth century, opened with a survey of the agencies and causes which preceded the Reformation. The power, wealth, and vast organisation of the Church in the Middle Ages was indicated; and an outline of the popular belief presented. The Inquisition, morals of the clergy, translations of the Bible, awakening of the moral and religious consciousness were touched on; and the early stages of the revolutionary movement explicated.

18. The history of the Reformation in Scotland till the overthrow of the Roman Catholic Church, was given. The external circumstances and influences which aided the Reformation in Scotland were examined; while the inner and sustaining causes of the movement were shown to depend upon the moral sentiments and convictions of the people.

19. An outline of the Confession, polity, and organisation of the Reformed Church of Scotland was given; and other proceedings of the Reformers noticed.

20. The reign of Queen Mary was treated at length. The trying circumstances in which she was placed were pointed out. Her difficulties with the Reformed preachers, marriage with Darnley, and consequent proceedings, the character of her husband, who became a mere tool in the hands of the nobles, were narrated. The difficulties thickening around her, the tragic events, and the proceedings which ended in her flight to England, were related.

21. The history of Protestantism and the conflict of the clergy with the Crown was commenced and continued till the accession of James VI. to the throne of England. The proceedings of the Reformed clergy in the struggle with a party of the nobles and the King were concisely narrated; and the attitude of the nobles and the policy of the King were placed in a clear light.

22. At the close of the history of Protestantism a brief expository statement was made, in which it was enunciated that the supreme sustaining power of the Reformation throughout was the moral sentiments and ideas, coupled with religious feelings and aspirations.

23. The social state of the people in the sixteenth century was next treated. Commencing with a reference to the character of the Government, I described the state of the inhabitants of the Borders and Highlands. The prevalent classes of crime and forms of punishment, the defective organisation, and habits of swearing, were handled. The defective sanitary condition of the towns was noticed. The state of the tenants and tillers of the land, and the poor, were noted. The religious feelings of the people, as manifested in their daily life, was illustrated, and indications of the approaching change were noticed.

24. After the Reformation sharp and severe measures were adopted for the suppression of immorality and vice. The relation of the different sexes, the observance of Sunday, the regulation of marriage, the protection of the life of infants, and also the condition of the poor, engaged the attention of the Reformed Church and the Government. Trials and executions for witchcraft were noticed. The coinage, mining operations, and the trade and commerce of the kingdom were noted. Sumptuary enactments touching dress, eating, drinking, and popular amusements were passed by the Government.

25. The literature of the nation in the first half of the century, embracing the writings of Dunbar and Gavin Douglas, was reviewed and characterised; and also the Complaint of Scotland, which was treated in detail.

26. The literature more associated with the Reformation movement, including the writings of Sir David Lyndsay, and also ballads and rhymes were treated historically. An account of the writings of Knox, and others, was given; and the historical and political writings of Buchanan were characterised. The literature of the later part of the century, poetical, religious, and scientific, was noticed.

27. In no branch of effort was the evidence of the change more remarkable than in the interest shown in education. Although there were grammar schools centuries before, yet it was not till the Reformation that the supreme importance of education was recognised.

After the Reformation, many efforts were made to erect and organise primary schools, and before the end of the century a considerable number of these were established. The Reformed clergy took a warm interest in the education of the people, and exerted themselves to the utmost to promote it. Efforts were also made to reform and re-organise the Universities, which were noticed.

28. The concluding chapter of this volume presents an attempt on psychological and historical grounds to explicate the ultimate problem of the Reformation. In a concise form it indicates several of the great religious movements which have occurred in the world, in order to illustrate in some measure the influence of Christianity as a factor in civilisation, and in the progress of Scotland.

VI.​—The third volume covers the period from 1603 to 1746, and opens with a review of the influences of the Union of the Crowns upon Scotland. The means adopted for the pacification of the Borders were indicated in detail. The policy of James VI. and Charles I. was stated. The Covenanting struggle was narrated, and the fall of the King noted. The Covenanters executed their work heroically and effectively.

29. During the sequence of events the kingdom fell under the sway of Cromwell. After resistance ceased, the country was well governed, and peace and order reigned.

30. In the natural course of events Cromwell died, and the traditions and glories associated with the throne and the monarchy were soon in the ascendant. Charles II. was recalled, and entered London amid the shouts of the populace.

VII.​—The Restoration was a reactionary movement, which proved more injurious to Scotland than to England.

31. The principles of the Government were exposed, and a clear narrative of their proceedings and the suffering inflicted upon the people was presented. The reign of Charles II. terminated in 1685 amid a scene of persecution, oppression, and corruption unmatched in the worst times of the nation’s history.

32. The Duke of York then mounted the throne, and a proclamation was read at the Cross of Edinburgh, announcing that he was “the only and undoubted king of the realm.” This man, who had succeeded to the sceptre of three kingdoms, soon gave the culminating touch to the ideas of the absolute power of the King, which had entailed so much suffering and bloodshed. For a few years he played his game admirably. But he became odious to the Scots, and lost the confidence of the English nation; by his own rash and inconsiderate action at last he found himself helpless and forlorn, and fled from the throne of his ancestors.

33. When the crisis of the Revolution was observed to be nigh, great excitement arose in the South and West of Scotland, and tumults ensued in Edinburgh. The Convention of Estates met at Edinburgh in March 1688. Then the throne was declared vacant, the Crown was tendered to William and Mary, and the “Claim of Right” presented. Thus the Revolution was recognised in Scotland.

VIII.​—The period from the Revolution to the Union was treated in detail. Many important events and matters were touched on, such as the rise of the commercial spirit, the Darien scheme and the proceedings connected with it, the policy of England and the attitude assumed by the Scots. The proceedings connected with the passing of the Treaty Union were narrated, and the excitement in the kingdom noted.

34. The advantages and disadvantages of the Union were touched on, the causes of disaffection in Scotland; and the Risings of 1715 and 1745 were concisely handled. The separate political history of Scotland then terminated.

IX.​—The social state of the people in the seventeenth century was very fully treated. Embracing the administration of justice, crime throughout the kingdom, the state of the poor, and the laws for suppressing vagrancy, were handled. Supernatural ideas, persecution of the Quakers, and witchcraft, were treated. State of morality, observance of Sunday, drinking and swearing, irregular marriages, survival of customs associated with marriages and funerals, were noticed. Acts of Parliament regulating the dress of the different ranks of society were noted. The defective sanitary condition of the towns, lack of pure water, and cleansing appliances were indicated. Restrictions on trade and fixing the price of articles and food continued in the burghs. The wages of skilled workmen and farm labourers were noticed. The state of coal miners, and mining operations were noted. The condition of the roads, the introduction of postal communication, shipping, and agriculture, were noticed.

The subjects of the improvement, and introduction of various manufactures, such as tanning leather, woollen cloth, linen, soap works, glass works, paper making, and tobacco spinning, which had engaged the attention of Parliament and enterprising persons, were treated. After indicating the progress of the coinage, the establishment of the Bank of Scotland and a paper currency, I adduced more evidence that a spirit of trade and commercial enterprise had arisen among the Scots in the later part of the seventeenth century.

35. An account of the ballad and Jacobite literature of the period was given. Other branches of literature, including the progress of science, were also treated.

36. The progress of education, establishment of the parish schools, music, and art, were related.

37. The last chapter of the volume gave an outline of European philosophy in the seventeenth century and early part of the eighteenth, in which the systems of Bruno, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Hobbes, Locke, Shaftesbury, and other philosophers, were concisely explicated. The aim of the outline was to show the historical relations of the philosophy which subsequently arose in Scotland, to the systems of thought which preceded it.

X.​—Accordingly, the fourth volume commenced with the history of Scottish philosophy, Carmichael and Hutcheson​—the founders of the school. Hutcheson’s ethics were explained, and the influence of his teaching and writings indicated. Hume’s chief psychological and philosophical works were explicated and characterised, and their influence on subsequent systems of thought pointed out. Adam Smith’s ethical theory was explained; and his famous work​—The Wealth of Nations reviewed at length, and its influence noted.

38. The psychological works of Reid, Stewart, and Ferguson, were examined and characterised. The writings of Gerard, Beattie, Campbell, and Alison, were briefly noticed. Brown’s psychology was examined in detail, and its influence noticed. The ethical views of Sir James Mackintosh were indicated.

39. Sir William Hamilton’s philosophical views were treated at length. His psychology was explicated; and also his philosophy of the conditioned; and his views of logic. Ferrier’s Theory of Knowing and Being was reviewed; and the History of Scottish Philosophy concluded with a notice of the psychological writings of George Croom Robertson.

40. The literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was treated under its various branches. Historical literature was concisely reviewed. The change of historic conceptions, method, discrimination of evidence, and greater freedom of criticism was noticed.

41. Poetry of the period was handled, and a considerable number of the works of the poets were characterised. Fiction also was briefly noticed, and a number of distinguished novelists mentioned.

42. Religious literature was treated; and it was remarked that much greater freedom of thought and criticism now prevailed in this department than heretofore.

43. Under the title of miscellaneous literature a number of important works were noticed. An account of the rise and development of newspapers, periodical literature, and works of reference was given.

44. The progress of mathematical, physical, and mechanical science was narrated. The bearing of these sciences upon the industrial arts and manufactures was indicated, and consequently their importance as factors of civilisation.

45. The progress of medical science followed:​—1. The phenomenon presented to this science was indicated; 2. The state of medical science in Europe at the beginning of the eighteenth century was briefly explained; 3. The institution of the medical schools of Scotland were successively handled. Notices also were given of the teaching and works of the eminent medical men who contributed to found and raise the reputation of these schools.

46. The advance of education, and changes in the primary, grammar schools, and Universities were noticed.

47. Agriculture, and the remarkable changes introduced in it during the last hundred years were noticed.

XI.​—The progress of the coal, iron, and lead mining industries were detailed, and interesting particulars stated.

48. The erection of iron works and the introduction of iron manufactures were narrated.

49. The remarkable improvement and revolution in the means of communication were indicated.

50. The rapid increase of shipping was noticed. The progress of shipbuilding, application of steam power to propel vessels, and the introduction of steamboats and ships were noted. The change from wood to iron shipbuilding, and subsequently the substitution of steel, and the remarkable development of this branch of industry on the Clyde was noticed.

51. The erection and progress of glass and earthenware manufactures were noted.

52. The introduction and development of textile manufactures were treated in detail:​—1. The mechanical inventions connected with the introduction of machinery and steam power in this department of industry were noticed; 2. The development of woollen manufactures; 3. The development of linen manufactures; 4. The introduction and development of cotton and jute manufactures; 5. Thread manufactures; 6. Silk and other manufactures.

53. The progress and development of paper manufactures and paper-hangings were narrated.

54. The development of printing, the introduction of printing machines and steam power in this department was noticed. The introduction of machines in bookbinding was also noted.

55. Leather and boot and shoe manufactures, Gutta-percha and India-rubber manufactures were noticed.

56. Sugar refining, brewing and distilling were treated.

57. A number of various manufactures were briefly noticed.

XII.​—Architecture was partly treated in relation to the modern reconstruction and recent sanitation of the chief cities.

58. Monumental art was treated with reference to stone monuments, and the granite industry.

59. Fine art, embracing music, painting, and sculpture, was handled at length.

XIII.​—A concise account of political and social movements was presented.

60. Ecclesiastical movements were treated. The historic grounds of the Disruption were traced; and a brief narrative of the later stages of the struggle was given.

In conclusion, the population, wealth, industries, and commerce of Scotland have greatly increased during the last two centuries. There have been intervals of fluctuation and depression, when numbers of working people in the centres of population have been out of employment. Yet I see no necessity for taking a gloomy view of the future. The resources of the human mind are not exhausted. The incidental suffering associated with the existing industrial system may be gradually remedied, as the moral and intellectual state of the people becomes more perfect. Let us all endeavour to eradicate injustice, and embrace every opportunity of ameliorating the conditions of life and human happiness.