SCOTLAND 



5257 



SCOTLAND 



their thrifty brothers of the Lowlands, inherit 

 from their warring . ancestors their loyalty to 

 country and clan, their frugality and their en- 

 ergy. Although the Scotch are a practical and 

 sober people, their history is full of romantic 

 and heroic legend. The national dress of bright 

 plaid kilts is still worn by the Highland troops, 

 and town and countryside still echo to ihe 

 noisy, strange music of the bagpipe, which long 

 ago replaced the harp of the ancient bards. 

 Bands of Highland troops in their kilts per- 

 formed some of the most daring feats in the 

 War of the Nations, and a regiment of Scotch- 

 Canadians won from their German opponents 

 the name "Ladies of Hell." The clan or tribe, 

 which in no other European country has played 

 so conspicuous a part in history, is still impor- 

 tant in the social life. 



Over one-tenth of the people of the United 

 Kingdom live in Scotland. The population, 

 which was 4,760,904 in 1911, is about equal to 

 that of the state of Ohio, and exceeds that of 

 either Quebec or Ontario, the largest Canadian 

 provinces. In the Highland districts the popu- 

 lation is scattered, but the Lowland region 

 near the great cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh 

 is 'one of the most thickly inhabited districts 

 of Great Britain. Almost the entire popula- 

 tion is native Scotch; only seven per cent are 

 of Irish and English birth, and less than one 

 per cent are foreigners. The townward move- 

 ment atnong the rural inhabitants is increasing, 

 and over three-fourths of the people are in- 

 habitants of burghs and cities, the largest of 

 which are Glasgow, having 784,496 inhabitants, 

 Edinburgh, a little less than half its size, and 

 Dundee and Aberdeen, each having a popula- 

 tion of over 160,000. The agricultural com- 

 munities, especially, have suffered from the 

 large emigration to the United States and to 

 distant British colonies, principally Canada, 

 "the Scotland of America." 



Religion. Scotland is the home and strong- 

 hold of Presbyterianism, and most of the in- 

 habitants are members of the established United 

 Free Church of Scotland. Two other denomi- 

 nations, the Episcopal and Roman Catholic 

 bodies, are increasing in numbers, but are still 

 comparatively unimportant. 



Language and Literature. Although the an- 

 cient Scottish vernacular may still be heard in 

 many communities, and there are various dia- 

 lects in different localities, the modern language 

 of Scotland is English. Until the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, a distinct Scotch, or Gaelic, tongue was 

 spoken in the Highlands, but the dialect of the 



Lowlands was much like that of Northern 

 England. This Gaelic tongue, affected by the 

 Latin and French influence of the fifteenth and 

 sixteenth centuries, remained the national lan- 

 guage of the Highlanders until the union with 

 England. 



Until the eighteenth century Scotland had 

 a distinct national literature. The ballads and 

 songs of the bards, the romance of Sir Tristram 

 by Thomas the Rhymer, the tales of The 

 Bruce by Barbour and stories of the deeds of 

 Wallace by "Blind Harry" exerted a great and 

 lasting influence on the work of the later poets 

 of both Scotland and England. James I, Dun- 

 bar, Douglas and Lyndsay are prominent Scot- 

 tish poets of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 

 turies. The later writers of Scotch birth, in- 



LOCATION MAP 



Showing the relative sizes of the divisions of 

 the British Isles. 



eluding Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, James 

 Hogg, Joanna Baillie, George Macdonald, Rob- 

 ert Louis Stevenson, John Watson (Ian Mac- 

 laren) and James M. Barrie, are discussed in 

 the history of English literature, and most of 

 them are noted in these volumes under their 

 separate titles. 



Education. Scotland surpasses all other -parts 

 of the United Kingdom in the excellence of 

 its elementary and secondary educational sys- 



