j4 ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. 



carried away, or deftroyed, through baneful war, 

 there is every reafon to fuppofe, that Scotland, at 

 the beginning of the iyth century, would have 

 rivalled the moft opulent and polifhed ftates. 



And, as a further proof of the fpirit, the pene- 

 tration, and the good fenfe of that nation, it Ihould 

 be remarked, that the total fubverfion of the an- 

 tient ecclefiaftical eftablifhment, and the refcora- 

 tion of the primitive doctrine and difcipline, were 

 effected by the people only - s and though the fer- 

 vour of their zeal carried them, in certain refpects, 

 to violences which cannot, in reafon, be defended, 

 yet, the beneficial revolution which they ulti- 

 mately accomplifhed in the courfe of a few years, 

 and in the face of the greateft monarchy in Europe, 

 will be handed down and recorded, as one of the 

 rnoft fmgular events which any Hate hath pro- 

 duced. 



We now arrive at a period when patriotifm dif- 

 appeared, and when all public fpirit and national 

 improvement ceafed. An event took place, which, 

 though it fheathed the fwords of both nations, 

 proved, in its confequences, more fatal to Scot- 

 land than the politicians of thofe ages had fore- 

 feen. This was, its giving a king to England, in 

 the perfon of James VI. anno 1603, whereby the 

 two crowns were infeparably united ; an elevation 

 extremely pleafing to James, who thereby became 

 fole monarch of Great Britain, but which ftruck fo 

 deep at the root of national profperity in his native 

 dominions, that many of the trading towns fell into 

 decay, and have not yet been able to recover their 

 former importance. The princes who had infpired 

 the nation with noble fentiments, who had warmly 

 patronifed whatever conftitut.es the power, the 

 opulence, and the elevation of ftates, being now 

 fuddenly withdrawn, the people loft their fpirit, 

 univerfal dejection took place, and the nation funk 

 back rapiclly into ignorance and infignificance. 



Tht 



