tions, as to be unwilling to dispossess the old adherents of their families; and, from a tenderness towards them, submit to considerable loss. There are many others who, from vanity, are desirous of counting a numerous tenantry, and would willingly preserve the population of their estates, if it could be reconciled to their pecuniary interest. These motives, though now wearing fast away, have however had great effect till of late; so that, notwithstanding the length of time that has elapsed since the year 1745, a very considerable proportion of the Highlands remains under circumstances directly arising out of the feudal state, or is at this moment in the crisis of change. But the causes which have hitherto retarded the change are so much enfeebled, that they cannot long continue to have a perceptible effect; and, as an unavoidable consequence, the Highlands in general must soon fall into that state which is most conducive to the pecuniary interest of its individual proprietors.

III. Consequences of this change on population, through the prevalence of pasturage, sheep-farming, and engrossing of farms.

In one very important circumstance, the antient state of the Highlands differed remarkably from the rest of the kingdom,— every spot was occupied by nearly as many families as the produce of the land could subsist.

In other parts, and indeed in every civilized country where landed estates are on a large scale, we find no more people upon a farm than are reckoned necessary for carrying on the work that must be done upon it. This is the natural result of the operation of private interest. The proprietor lets his land to the tenant who will give him the highest rent for it; and the tenant manages it in the manner that he expects will produce him the most profit. For this purpose, he must raise as much produce, but with as little expense, as possible: to avoid expense, he must employ no unnecessary

hands; must feed no superfluous mouths. The less of the produce is consumed upon the farm, the more he can carry to market.

From these causes, the population in all those parts of the kingdom which which are merely agricultural, is reduced much below the proportion of people which the country could feed; while particular spots that are favourable for manufactures have accumulated a population greatly exceeding what the produce of the immediate vicinity could maintain. There the superabundant produce of the agricultural districts finds a market; there any superabundant population may expect to find employment.

Where there is no employment but what arises directly from the cultivation of the land, the country is more or less peopled according to the mode of cultivation. A highly refined agriculture, that approaches to gardening, will employ a considerable population, though not equal to that of a manufacturing district. In the ordinary style of agricultural management, less labour

being bestowed on the land, fewer people will be required, and fewer will find a maintenance. This will be still, more the case where a great proportion of the land is in grass; and even in countries entirely devoted to pasture, a difference will be observed; as a dairy farm will require more hands than the same land employed for mere grazing.

When we inquire therefore what population may be maintained in any district, we have not merely to ask what the country could produce, or how many inhabitants that produce could maintain; the essential point is, to know what employment it can afford, and under what mode of management the land will be most profitable to the occupier. To examine the Highlands of Scotland by this test, let us consider what are the other parts of the kingdom to which it bears most resemblance. If in If in any of the mountainous districts of England, we find a considerable population collected in one spot, it is where a number of hands are required for working mines, or where

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the abundance of coal has led to the establishment of manufactures. In the Highlands there are few mines, and these of little consequence: the country is entiely destitute of coals; and though the inhabitants have an opportunity of supplying themselves with peat or turf from the mosses, yet this is by a process so expensive and precarious in a rainy climate, that this fuel is by no means a complete substitute for coals, and is of very inferior value. The Highlands are therefore on a par with the mountains of the South of Scotland, and those on the borders of the two kingdoms, with a great part of Cumberland and Westmoreland, of North Wales, and some other mountainous districts in England:-in all of these, the soil and climate forbid the extension of tillage, while the scarcity of fuel has discouraged manufacturing industry.

In such mountainous regions, the most profitable employment of land is universally found to be in rearing young cattle and sheep, which, at a proper age, are bought by farmers in more fertile countries,