122 Proceedings of the Eoyal Boeiety 
who are bound to contribute their respective portion of the lord’s 
requirements in natural or manufactured goods ; and a long invem 
tory of services rendered to his household by their wives and others 
belonging to them follows, all to show “ that scarcely a want can 
be conceived which is not provided for by some special obligation 
in this system of natural services. Even professional men like 
advocates must give their advice as a duty, free of charge, to the 
lord of the manor. His amusements even are provided for him by 
his own dependants free of charge. He is a wealthy man, without 
the possession of money ; for he cannot turn these services or com- 
modities into capital. He avails himself with a vengeance of all 
these means of enjoyment which are thrown with such profusion 
around him, and he does it cheerfully without care or worry, and 
thus is more happy than the rich speculator of modern days whose 
tranquil enjoyment may be disturbed by a passing thought about 
the money market as he listens to the music of Beethoven or 
Mozart. But beyond consuming with enjoyment the feudal lord 
has nothing. He has no means to multiply his wealth by itself ; 
not money but service was the common bond uniting all the mem^ 
bers of the empire among themselves and under a common head, 
“ By this system of fixed services and mutual obligations no room 
is left for capitalistic enterprise or industrial progress, the whole pro- 
cess of production receives a stereotyped form, agriculture and the 
trades run on without change in the same groove.” * 
The Highland chief of old lived very much as, Lassalle so pictur- 
esquely points out, the old feudal lords lived, if upon their people, 
yet with them and among them ; they supplied all his wants, and 
these supplies and their personal services fulfilled all their obliga- 
tions. The people had no money, and they needed none ; they paid 
their rent in kind or by service, their necessities were few, and their 
commerce had not risen above the rudimentary Stage of exchange ; 
the chief had no money wherewith to import foreign commodities, 
and he lived in the rude plenty which his people supplied ; when 
his supplies failed we know how they were replenished. All these 
influences have told on the poorer class in the Highlands especially, 
and it is interesting and may be useful to inquire how modern 
economy has coped with the difficulties presented to it by the 
extinction of ancient habits and resources. 
* Socialism. Henry S. King & Co., 1874, p. 73. 
