278 AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LAIRD 



LXVIII 



A few years ago the late Mr. Henry Graham pre- 

 An Eight- sente d us w i ta an interesting picture of 

 eentu Cen- social life in Scotland during the eighteenth 

 tury Laird centur y f The book was well received, as it 

 deserved to be on account of the undoubted fidelity of 

 many details, and has been extensively quoted from 

 since. Nevertheless, it appears to some of us that 

 he sets his palette with unduly sombre pigments; 

 that he dwelt overmuch upon the exceeding poverty 

 and parsimony of the gentry during the quarter of a 

 century following the Union, and, so dwelling, missed 

 some sources of comfort and pleasure which lightened 

 the lives of our forbears. It cannot be denied that, 

 in the reign of Queen Anne, the households of 

 Scottish country gentlemen were run on far more 

 frugal lines than those of their English contempor- 

 aries. Rude enough and comfortless we might esteem 

 them were we suddenly transported back to the early 

 eighteenth century; but, after all, everything is rela- 

 tive. The main difficulty with country gentlemen is 

 to make ends meet; those who succeeded in doing so 

 a hundred years ago probably got quite as much 

 enjoyment out of life, and were sensible of as little 

 discomfort, as their descendants in this age of motor 

 cars and marconigrams. It is in no spirit of fault- 

 finding or contradiction that I venture to submit 

 some direct evidence to prove that country life was 

 by no means uniformly dismal for men of moderate 

 estate. My witnesses shall be certain vellum- covered 



