rsities, must not be left out of account. Gifts to the infant
universities, the records of which we possess, prove that for humble
folk the tenure of property was comparatively secure, and that there was
a large amount of comfort among the people. Under James IV, trade and
commerce prospered, and the Scottish navy rivalled that of the Tudors.
The century in which Scottish prosperity received its most severe blows
immediately succeeded the Union of the Crowns. If for three hundred
years the civilizing influence of England can scarcely be traced in the
history of Scottish progress, that of France was predominant, and
Scotland cannot entirely regret the fact. Scotland, from the date of
Bannockburn to that of Pinkie, will not suffer from a comparison with
the England which underwent the strain of the long French wars, the
civil broils of Lancaster and York, and the oppression of the Tudors.
Moreover, there is one further consideration which should not be
overlooked. The postponement of an English union till the seventeenth
century enabled Scotland to work out its own reformation of religion in
the way best adapted to the national needs, and it is difficult to
estimate, from the material stand-point alone, the importance of this
factor in the national progress. The inspiration and the education which
the Scottish Church has given to the Scottish people has found one
result in the impulse it has afforded to the growth of material
prosperity, and it is not easy to regret that Scotland, at the date of
the Reformation, was free to work out its own ecclesiastical destiny.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 44: There is no indication of any racial division in the
attitude of the Scots. Some Highlanders, from various personal causes,
are found on the English side at the beginning of the War of
Independence; but Mr. Lang has shown that of the descendants of Somerled
of Argyll, the ancestor of the Lords of the Isles, only one fought
against Wallace, while the Celts of Moray and Badenach and the Highland
districts of Aberdeenshire, joined his standard. The behaviour of the
Highland chiefs is similar to that of the Lowland barons. If there is
any racial feeling at all, it is not Celtic _v._ Saxon, but Scandinavian
_v._ Scottish, and it is connected with the recent conquest of the
Isles. But even of this there is little trace, and the behaviour of the
Islesmen is, on the whole, marvellously loyal.]

[Footnote 45: Hemingburgh, ii, 141-147.]

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