36 ALEXANDER WIESON : POET-NATURAUST 



movements of the French, began to affect the minds 

 of the educated young Scotchmen. A seething un- 

 rest stirred among them. It began earher, but it 

 was in the nineties before it assumed such activity 

 that the elder conservatives became alarmicd. In 

 1792 the borough records of Peebles record, "Wild 

 ideas about liberty and equality, projected by the 

 French Revolution, having reached Peebles, and af- 

 fected some young men, the council declare their 

 horror of the seditious writings and open efforts of 

 the turbulent and designing for the subversion of 

 our present, and in favor of republican govern- 

 ment."* Even the General Assembly took fright 

 and passed ordinances against certain Sunday- 

 schools where "ignorant persons, notoriously disaf- 

 fected to the civil constitution of the country," have 

 an opportunity to corrupt the youth. t Social clubs, 

 which had been harmless enough at first, now be- 

 came centers of a propaganda for free thinkmg and 

 free drinking. The life of many of the brightest 

 young men in Scotland became a mad whirl of 

 drunkenness and debauch. From 1707 to 1808 the 

 population had increased only about 500,000, but 

 the increase in the excise revenue was over £1,760,- 

 000!? In Edinburgh alone in 1790, with a popula- 

 tion of 80,000, there were 2,011 licensed and un- 

 licensed bars, most of which catered to the trade of 

 the lower classes. § And in the same city in 

 1778 there were eight licensed and four hun- 



* V\'m. Chalmers's "History of Peebleshire," 1864. 

 t Graham's "Social Life," II, p. 271. 



+ Chalmers's "Domestic Economy of Great Britain and Ireland," 1812, 

 p. 387- 



§ Arnot's "History of Edinburgh," p. 335. 



