CHAPTER XIX. 



THE OUTLOOK. 



" Country life is very good, in fact, the best— 

 for cattle," wrote Sydney Smith ; and Scotland 

 was evidently the country he had in his mind. 

 Whilst from Ireland the stream of emigrants 

 to the States has been partially checked by 

 the aid of legislative measures, in Scotland it 

 has been proceeding at a disastrously rapid 

 rate owing apparently to the lack of land 

 legislation and the blind adherence to laissez- 

 faire economics. This, however, does not 

 seem to be in main the fault of the Scotch 

 so much as it does the fault of those who take 

 up comfortable quarters on the banks of the 

 Thames during certain seasons of the year. 



Deer and sheep have rapidly encroached 

 upon land once farmed by the crofter class, 

 and the tragic story of rural Scotland might 



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