Still fewer would have attempted it with success. Taking up Scottish internal history at the point of pure and complete Feudalism-of which he presents a striking, and we need scarcely add an attractive, picture the author traces the slow but inevitable causes through which this semi-barbaric form of society came to be at length fused into civilization. The most marked epoch of change may be referred to the final expulsion of the Stuarts, in 1746, after which period the powerful Scottish nobles began to think of framing their lives somewhat more in accordance with certain new ideas which then broke in upon their minds: ideas chiefly inspired by their occasional intercourse with France and other countries; nevertheless, M. Lavergne is of opinion that the feudal character and sentiment lingered amongst the Highland clans longer than in any other portion of Europe.

Not until the introduction of more regular habits and agriculture,-accompanied by the repression, by vigorous efforts, of the old system of living on plunder had altered the condition of Highland life, did the Lairds become aware how difficult a matter it was to maintain honestly, in those poverty-stricken, barren tracts, the multitudes which, under a more ancient form of society, had proved a source of power to the "chiefs of clans." Accordingly, measures were set on foot for the purpose of "thinning" their estates of the now superabundant natives.

"It was in the Highlands that depopulation on a regular system was carried forward, which depopulation made much noise in Europe some thirty years since. M. Sismondi, among others, doubtless with the best intentions, but certainly not with the most clear

sighted views, helped in his day to stimulate the public disapprobation of this proceeding; nevertheless, although it may perhaps have been somewhat roughly executed, the measure itself has been productive of excellent results." (p. 367.)

It so happened that the disposition to sweep off the redundant mouths from large landed properties, was displaying itself actively at the commencement of the present century, just at which period the great bard of feudalism, Sir Walter Scott, first rose upon the horizon of literature. His captivating chivalric poems had the effect of swelling the storm of opposition to the schemes already in progress for bringing the mountaineers within the dreaded pale of prosaic institutions. But in spite of this, and although earnest appeals were made to traditional rights against the justice of the expulsions (appeals in themselves far from ill-founded), the great landlords, backed by the far-sighted co-operation of the Imperial Government, carried their purpose through. Expedients were employed to mitigate the hardship of the proceeding, and to facilitate the removal of the exiles to other lands. A part were regimented and blended with our regular army, of which they have proved themselves gallant and loyal members, whilst those who remained on their native hills were induced gradually to adopt more settled habits, and to pursue more honest means of living.

Whoever will be at the trouble of following M. Lavergne's lucid account of one of these memorable transactions, exhibiting the effects of "clearing," on the largest scale, will, we are persuaded, be inclined to yield a cordial assent to the judgment he delivers,

whether as "economist," or as friend to civil order

and progress.

The passage we allude to relates the prodigious detrusion carried out under the orders-we might almost say under the reign-of the late Duchess Countess of Sutherland, in the decade ending with the year 1820.

Rarely has the exercise of power been attended with results more beneficial. We regret to be unable to reproduce the details of operations of which the fruits have been prosperity, content, and moral improvement; insomuch that already in 1825-" From the towers of their feudal castle of Dunrobin, the heirs of MhoirFhear-Chattaibh looked down upon a spectacle of thriving industry such as it never could have entered the mind of their ancestors to conceive of." (p. 378.)

Many suggestive observations accompany the history of the transition we have been contemplating; among them is one alluding to a somewhat analogous change in England after the wars of the Roses (see p. 384). We will terminate this episode with a passage quoted by the author, in which sober reason is permitted to guide the pen of a poet. "In contemplating a landscape bounded by mountains," writes Sir Walter Scott,* "rocks, precipices, and forests assume, in a summer's evening, the most delightful forms and colouring. It requires an effort to recal to one's mind their actual sterility and desolation. So it is with the mountaineers themselves. Seen from a distance and through the medium of the fancy, how they affect the heart and imagination! Yet it must not be forgotten how incompatible

* In his History of Scotland.

was Highland clanship with all progress, moral or religious, or with genuine freedom." (p. 385.)

If we have dwelt somewhat at length upon the foregoing topic, it is because so vast a cluster of facts and deductions is involved in the consideration of the change from the romantic to the prosaic state of society-the substitution of flocks of sheep for tribes of brave and devoted, but lawless warriors.

"Should some stray descendant of the Highlander of yore be yet discerned here and there, perched on a crag, his traditional plaid flung over his shoulder, and droning out on his bagpipe some dolorous old ditty, it is not a fighting man whom you behold, but a shepherd; one no longer subsisting on plunder and war, but on the wages of the neighbouring farmer. Little can he tell you of the valiant deeds of his sires; but, to compensate for this ignorance, he will inform you how the lambing season has sped, and whether wools are 'up.' This is all which remains of a lost race." (p. 379.)

This verbal paraphrase of Sir Edwin Landseer's picture of "Peace and War," is not exhaustive, however. A handful of men still survive, whose peculiar organization, physical and moral, entitles them to be regarded as true Gaels. They are chiefly engaged, in connexion with richer sportsmen, in occupations germane to their former condition, such as hunting, and shooting, fishing, and exterminating the brute competitors of man, in the pursuit of "Feræ naturæ.” And it is to be hoped that these few representatives of a race which will ever live in the picturesque traditions of distant periods, may never become really extinct.

The chapter on Ireland we must forbear to touch upon; partly because the mere sound of that name has generally had the effect of dispersing the stoutesthearted audience, and also because we cannot venture to devote more space to M. Lavergne's book. It will suffice to state that he has imparted to that hitherto hopeless subject as much interest as it is possible to connect with it; bringing into cheerful prominence the improved prospects of Irish industry, together with the benefits arising from the operation of Sir John Romilly's Act for disposing of encumbered

estates.