322 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



ancient organisation of the Highlands was incompatible 

 with a state of peace and industry, the government aided 

 them in accomplishing the difficult transition. To fur- 

 nish an outlet for the military portion of the population, 

 family regiments were raised, each composed of men from 

 the same clan, and commanded by their hereditary chiefs 

 in the pay of the State. These regiments bravely main- 

 tained the honour of their new colours, and, in the wars of 

 the Empire especially, the Highlanders, well known by 

 their singular costume, were considered the flower of the 

 English army. Those families, at the same time, who 

 consented, were removed from their mountains to the low 

 country, and emigration to America was set on foot for 

 the most refractory. 



Up to the end of the eighteenth century these measures 

 had been executed with forbearance ; but the great agri- 

 cultural revolution of Arthur Young gave a more decided 

 turn to the movement. More than anywhere else, the 

 advantage of large fields for improvement in these sterile 

 mountains was evident. The feudal system, in which 

 formerly the power of the Gaelic race consisted, was 

 now the very thing which caused its destruction. The 

 territory of a clan being considered the property of the 

 chief, the Highlands were divided into only a few 

 extensive domains. The chief of each clan now set 

 about hunting out his subjects. Many of these unfortu- 

 nate people emigrated to Canada, others sought employ- 

 ment in the Lowlands ; while, upon the ruins of their 

 cabins, large sheep-farms arose. In 1808, Lord Selkirk, 

 a Scotch nobleman, published the theory of this depopu- 

 lation. It was then, and is still, called clearing an estate. 



Just at that time England and Europe were reading 

 with delight the works of Walter Scott. His first poem, 

 the Lay of the Last Minstrel, appeared in 1805, and his 



