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Picture of
Scotland
By Robert Chambers in 2
volumes (1827)
PREFACE
The complaint of Johnson
regarding the hopelessness of fame which attended his lexicographical
labours, has hitherto been common to the Industrious Obscure who busy
themselves in the compilation of Tourist's Guides, Peerages,
School-Books, and Almanacks. Such publications are usually anonymous,
and the purchaser thinks no more of the unknown author than he thinks of
the man who made his hat or tanned the leather of his shoes. Even when
they bear an author's name, no distinct idea is attached to the
words—Philips perhaps, or Cafrey, or Goldsmith, or Debrett—any more than
to the maker’s name on the blade of a table-knife, or the still more
hopeless initials so carefully impressed upon his work by the goldsmith.
An attempt is here made to elevate a topographical work into the
superior region of the belles lettres. It has been forced upon the
notice of the present author by the success of several similar but less
comprehensive works, that an interest may attach to localities of such a
sort as to excite and bring into play many of the higher order of
sentiments which pervade our common nature. Cities are more than mere
collections of houses and men; hills are not merely accidental eminences
of the earth; rivers, fortuitous confluences of running waters ; stones,
mere blocks. Such they might be when the primeval savage first set his
foot amongst them; but such they are not now, after so long a connexion
with the fortunes and feelings of civilised man. What is it that gives
the sculptured stones of Greece a superior value to the unquarried
marble over which they have risen? It is because, though both are alike
as old as the creation, the former have received attentions at the hands
of men a hundred ages agd, have been looked upon with veneration by
millions of human beings, and yet remain monuments of their early power
and ingenuity. A house may thus be more than a domicile, a hill more
than an eminence, a river more than a stream of flowing water; and thus
it is that, in the words of one who must have been perfectly acquainted
with this occult philosophy, we may find
Tongues in the trees,
books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
Under these impressions,
I have in this work, endeavoured to direct attention almost exclusively
to what may be supposed capable of exciting the moral and imaginative
faculties of my countrymen. Whatever places derive an interest from the
associations of history; whatever places enjoy a reputation from popular
poetry and song; wherever man has fought, or loved, or sung; wherever
human nature has appeared in circumstances of extraordinary peril or
pain, innocence or degradation; wherever talent has arisen or virtue
flourished, magnificenoe dwelt or misery groaned; the fanes of religion,
the scenery of passion, the infant-land of genius, the graves af the
good; whatever has been associated with what man most delights to
observe; whatever is capable, on being mentioned, of exciting an
interest in his bosom; these places, and these things, receive most
attention in the following pages.
To alleviate as much as possible, the gravity inseparable from
topographical details, 1 have moreover interspersed thtt work with
innumerable local anecdotes and stories, some of which are merely
humorous, while others have the more valuable property of illustrating
the manners and condition of the country in former times. In all that
relates to the selection of materials, it has been my prime and
governing object to be original; to say as little as possible where I
could say nothing new, and to be as copious as my limits would allow,
when I possessed information that was at once novel and agreeable.
It will be readily conceded, that these objects have not been attained
without the employment of considerable pains. It would have been easy to
copy the humdrum details and innumerable errors of my predecessors, as
each and all of them have done in their turn. But to produce a work
aiming at so much originality and correctness required a very different
process. It scarcely becomes an author to speak at all, and far less
with wide, of his labours; but it is perhaps allowable to Say something
in the present case, in order that the reader may know to what extent ho
is to rely upon the accuracy of the details which he has condescended to
peruse.
Without alluding to previous historical studies, I may be permitted to
state, that after employing several months of the last year in the
perusal of former topographical publications and manuscripts, I began,
in the early part of summer, to make a round of deliberate pedestrian
tours through the country. Instead of the pilgrim's scallop in my hat, I
took for motto the glowing expression of Burns, “ I have no dearer aim
than to make leisurely journeys through Caledonia; to sit on the fields
of her battles; to wander on the romantic banks of her streams; and to
muse by the stately towers of venerable ruins, once the honoured abodes
of her heroes.” In order to secure an acquaintance with every remarkable
locality, and with its popular legends, I carried letters from my city
friends, giving me a claim upon the best offices of the most intelligent
persons resident in the districts which I was to visit. I was thus
generally successful in eliciting, over and above the kindness of many a
worthy and true-hearted Scot, the best information that was to be had
regarding all the more attractive localities of my native land.
Goldsmith speaks with just contempt of the travellers who are whirled
through Europe in a post-chaise. I sedulously eschewed this practical
absurdity. Except in cases where stage-coaches could convey me over a
desolate and uninteresting tract, I constantly adopted the more
deliberate and independent mode of locomotion, of which nature supplies
the means. I had thus an opportunity of becoming familiarly acquainted
at once with the face of the country and the traditions of the people; I
could move fast or slow as I pleased, and make such digressions from the
main route as seemed necessary. I traversed almost every vale in the
lowlands of Scotland, and a greater proportion of those in the more
northerly region. I saw all the towns except three or four. My
peregrinations occupied upwards of five months, and extended to between
two and three thousand miles.
In presenting this array of doings and sufferings to the public, I
disclaim being influenced by the sentiment which caused Dogberry to
assert himself “one that had bad losses." What I say is mere naked
truth, told for the simple purpose of assuring the reader, that the
work, he has now got into his hands is not the catch-penny compilation
of a bookseller’s bock shop ; no patched and contorted tissue of stolen
rags, like too many similar publications; that it is not the crude fruit
of a literary hot-bed, inflated into premature perfection by the bribe
of a greedy publisher; but the result of an honest enthusiasm; an
enthusiasm which the consideration of pecuniary profit could neither
nourish nor inspire. 1 consider these assurances, moreover, the more
necessary, because almost all the statements in the following pages rest
solely upon my personal credit —upon the idea which the public shall
form of the pains I have taken, and the opportunities of observation I
may be snpposed to have enjoyed.
To say that enthusiasm could insure the production of a good work would
be palpably absurd. It mayf however, be asserted, that it is
indispensably requisite to the production of a work deserving that
appellation in its best sense. Money alone, though a powerful, is
after^all but an imperfect inspiration; and the hooks which it creates
are no more like the productions of a purer motive, than the dowdy
flowers of a secluded city dunghill resemble those which spring from the
fair primeval earth, generated by the natural juices of the ground, and
freshened by the nightly risks of the loving dew.
It is not the intention of the present writer to say, that because he
was not conducted through his labours by the hope of gain, he has found
every difficulty successfully overcome by the mere ardour of his mind.
He is certain, however, that that is the burning liquid which can melt
down the obstructions upon which harder instruments had been tried in
vain, and that, though it may not in this case have secured, its
influence must at least give the chance of, success. It has been his
wish from earliest boyhood, in the words of Bums,
“That he, for poor auld
Scotland's sake,
Some usefu' plan or book could make."
He has already done more
than perhaps his years would give to expect, towards the preservation of
what is dearest to her; the memory of her ancient simple manners and
virtues; the celebration of her native wit and humour; and in a more
extended view of the subject, for the reclamation of that which is
altogether poetry—the wonderful, beautiful, glorious past. In the
present work, he has steadily pursued the same object; conscious and
certain that, though many of his own generation may not give him credit
for so exalted a purpose, the people who shall afterwards inhabit this -
romantic land will appreciate what could not have been preserved but
with a view to their gratification.
Edinburgh; February 8, 1827.
Volume 1 |
Volume 2
The Domestic
Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century
by
Marjorie Plant (1952) This
book, is a fully documented description of the domestic
life of all ranks of Scottish society in the eighteenth
century. Among numerous other matters, it deals with
family relations and the upbringing of children,
housing, furniture, fuel, water-supply and sanitation,
gardens, food and drink, cooking, servants, clothes,
pastimes, etiquette, weddings, christenings and the
like. Local variations and local prejudices receive due
attention, and the shocked or approving comments of
foreign observers bring out an occasional amusing
contrast with conditions in other lands.
It is a work calculated to interest the general reader
no less than the student of social history. The sources
upon which it is based include parish accounts, diaries,
household books, letters, family histories, records of
travellers, and contemporary manuals of gardening and
cookery, to all of which full references are given.
A notable piece of work which bears its learning lightly
and is as attractive to the general reader as to the
historian. It is one of the best studies of its kind.
—The Manchester Guardian
Foreword
The mode of life in
the early eighteenth-century Scottish home was apt, in
general, to be somewhat crude. The economic conditions
of the time were not conducive to easy housekeeping.
Although the housewife’s familiar complaint of the
scarcity and general “naughtiness” of servants might not
now win her the sympathy which she would demand, she had
far weightier problems which she seems most of the time
to have accepted as they came. It is often only through
stray passages in her letters, or through the comments
of incredulous visitors from the south, that we know of
them. Those problems, we must bear in mind, were not the
same everywhere. Each district had its own drawbacks and
its own natural advantages. The bane of Edinburgh life
was that all the water required in its lofty tenements
had to be carried upstairs by hand; but the Edinburgh
household could at least burn coal—there were places in
the north and west where the only fuel was heath or
dung.
The exceedingly primitive state of agriculture limited
the greater part of the population to a meagre and
monotonous diet. There were few vegetables and only salt
meat, if any, for the winter months. The monotony was
increased in that, throughout the Highlands and in many
remote districts elsewhere, the individual household had
to fend almost entirely for itself. The nearest shop
might be fifty miles away. Food, clothing, soap, candles
and all else had to be produced at home. The country
housewife who needed a new gown had to spin the wool for
it from sheep which she had probably tended herself; she
herself grew the flax for her sheets and table-linen. It
was a busy life and a lonely one. Visitors were few and
far between. Sudden illness, far from medical aid, was a
constant dread. It was the inadequacy of means of
communication which was largely to blame.
The state of the roads at that time could hardly have
been worse. Few of them would take wheeled traffic.
Goods, wherever possible, were carried by sea; otherwise
there was a slow delivery by pack-horse. Although some
improvement was made from 1726 onwards, when a few good
military roads were built in the Highlands, it was not
until some thirty years later that much attention was
paid to road construction elsewhere. Then began a
systematic development of turnpike roads, and
enterprising coach proprietors soon inaugurated services
to link the principal towns. In addition to the obvious
economic advantages of this, social gatherings became
possible on a scale hitherto unknown.
People in Edinburgh and in other districts within easy
reach of the east coast ports had always had an
advantage over the rest: supplies of food and household
utensils came by sea from other parts of Scotland and
also from London and the Continent. But in the early
eighteenth century Scottish manufactures and foreign
imports alike were at a low ebb. The fairly successful
development of industry during the preceding century had
taken place behind a protective tariff. One of the
immediate effects of the parliamentary union with
England in 1707 was to remove this barrier, and it was
some time before the benefits of free trade, and of the
Union generally, overcame the resulting dislocation of
economic life. In due course, however, as the American
trade expanded, Glasgow rose to importance as a port,
and Scottish manufactures of various kinds were
stimulated to meet the new demand for exports.
By the middle of the century new forces and new
developments were beginning to affect all walks of life.
Soon Scotland found herself well on the way to
prosperity, with a well-established linen manufacture, a
number of minor industries, better communications and
the beginnings of an efficient banking system. It needed
only the technical inventions of the next fifty years,
introduced with the aid of English capital, to bring
about a more rapid expansion.
By 1800 the calico manufacture had attained an
importance far beyond that of linen; factories had
arisen for such subsidiary processes as bleaching and
dyeing; and iron and steel production was about to enter
upon a period of intense activity.
Progress was not confined to manufactures. Agriculture,
too, entered on a new phase. From the ’twenties onwards
enthusiasts up and down the country formed themselves
into societies for the discussion of agricultural
methods, and tackled the problems of estate management
with extra zest. Later, in the second half of the
century, came a rapid increase in population, to act as
yet another stimulus. Not the least of the new
achievements was the introduction of the potato into
Scotland as a regular field crop, bringing it for the
first time to the table of the ordinary man.
By the end of the century these various changes had led,
directly or indirectly, to greater comfort in the home.
Food was fresher, more varied and more palatable. It was
more tastefully served, on pewter or china plates
instead of on the old wooden platters. There were more
shops, selling a wider range of goods. The housewife had
no longer to spend hours at her spinning-wheel, for
there were more attractive materials to be bought than
she could make at home. Her husband, in any case, now
scorned to wear homespun; he wanted the best English
cloth, and a watch to put in his pocket. The wages of
domestic servants, among others, had doubled, and the
maids who used to go about barefoot and ill-kempt could
now dress in the best of style.
The ministers of the kirk, as we shall see, deplored the
new trend towards luxury and ostentation, sighing for
the return of austerity and a more sedate way of life.
But it was still far from being a frivolous age.
Philosophical and theological argument, which had
flourished during the more austere decades, now
admittedly had fallen a little out of fashion, but
instead there was a growing enthusiasm for literature
and the arts. If, in addition, the younger generation
had discovered some of the lighter joys of leisure, who
was to grudge them their fun?
Contents
Chapter I. The Family and its Upbringing
Chapter II. The Home and its Plenishing
Chapter III. The Garden
Chapter IV. The Kitchen and the Cook
Chapter V. Food and Drink
Chapter VI. Housework and Household Supplies
Chapter VII. Servants and Retainers
Chapter VIII. Clothes
Chapter IX. The Toilet
Chapter X. Health and Sanitation
Chapter XI. Leisure Hours at Home
Chapter XII. Family Celebrations
References
Download The
Domestic Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century here
Annals of
Scotland
By Sir David Dalrymple of Hailes (1819)
Came across this publication which has a
very interesting account of Robert the Bruce.(pdf)
Prehistoric
Annals of Scotland
By Daniel Wilson, LL.D. in two volumes (1863) |
