In an agricultural country like Scotland, where a great many feudal prejudices still exist, a man who has risen by his professional merits so as to be admitted to the tables of the aristocracy, is ashamed to urge anything that would remind his employers of his own low origin, and thus bring into view the immense gulf, like that between Dives and Lazarus, that exists between them. In a country where commerce prevails over agriculture this is not the case; and hence we find that it is not in the Lothians, Berwickshire, or in Northumberland, where the cottage of the labourer has been improved, but in Lancashire and other parts of England, and in those spots in Scotland, such as New Lanark, Deanston, Catrine, &c., where manufactories have been established. Nothing can exhibit a more lamentable picture of society than Berwickshire and Northumberland, where the proprietors and the farmers live in houses that may be called palaces, and enjoy all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, while the farm labourers are worse lodged than the horses, cows, and pigs. This is no exaggerated view. We refer to Dr. Gilly's pamphlet (p. 31.), and to the excellent work of Mr. Donaldson, reviewed in a future page.
