 features into a look
of dissent and disgust, commented on my remarks to this effect - »Those who
reproach a nation for its poverty, when it is not owing to the profligacy or
vice of the people, deserve no answer. The Lacedæmonians were poorer than the
Scots, when they took the lead among all the free states of Greece, and were
esteemed above them all for their valour and their virtue. The most respectable
heroes of ancient Rome, such as Fabricius, Cincinnatus, and Regulus, were poorer
than the poorest freeholder in Scotland; and there are at this day individuals
in North-Britain, one of whom can produce more gold and silver than the whole
republic of Rome could raise at those times when her public virtue shone with
unrivalled lustre; and poverty was so far from being a reproach, that it added
fresh laurels to her fame, because it indicated a noble contempt of wealth,
which was proof against all the arts of corruption - If poverty be a subject for
reproach, it follows that wealth is the object of esteem and veneration - In
that case, there are Jews and others in Amsterdam and London, enriched by usury,
peculation, and different species of fraud and extortion, who are more estimable
than the most virtuous and illustrious members of the community. An absurdity
which no man in his senses will offer to maintain. - Riches are certainly no
proof of merit: nay they are often (if not most commonly) acquired by persons of
sordid minds and mean talents: nor do they give any intrinsic worth to the
possessor; but, on the contrary, tend to pervert his understanding, and render
his morals more depraved. But, granting that poverty were really matter of
reproach, it cannot be justly imputed to Scotland. No country is poor that can
supply its inhabitants with the necessaries of life, and even afford articles
for exportation. Scotland is rich in natural advantages: it produces every
species of provision in abundance, vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep,
with a great number of horses; prodigious quantities of wool and flax, with
plenty of copse wood, and in some parts large forests of timber. The earth is
still more rich below than above the surface. It yields inexhaustible stores of
coal, free-stone, marble, lead, iron, copper, and silver, with some gold. The
sea abounds with excellent fish, and salt to cure them for exportation; and
there are creeks and harbours round the whole kingdom, for the convenience and
security of navigation. The face of the country displays a surprising number of
cities, towns,
