DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 28 ) with the Duke of Montrose, within twenty miles of two garrison towns, and without ever having been checked in his depredations, died peacefully in his bed at the good old age of eighty. Superstition almost took the place of religion, Thus some of the clergy denounced the use of ‘fanners’ to winnow corn as impious, because by them men raised an artificial breeze. Witchcraft was universally believed in, and hundreds of wretched females suffered with their lives. As late as 1727 an old woman was burnt in a pitch-barrel. Nor did the towns enjoy a much better state of things than the country. Inverness consisted of about 500 thatched houses, with two churches. There was no regular post between Inverness and Edin- burgh, and what post there was was carried on foot. The first coach that ever appeared in its streets, Lord Seaforth’s, was in 1715. The population of Edinburgh, which was then twice as large as any other Scotch town, amounted to 30,000 inhabitants ; that of Glasgow to 15,000, and that of Greenock to about 1700. A mere comparison between the figures of that day with those of the present will be a sufficient indication of the change since the Union. England was strengthened by having a warm ally instead of a jealous neighbour, for she allowed Scotland to retain her characteristics: her law and her