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The Waverly Anecdotes; Illustrative of the Incidents, Characters, and Scenery Described in the Novels and Romances of Sir Walter Scott, Bart
The Waverly Anecdotes Illustrative of the Incidents Characters and Scenery Described in the Novels and Romances of Sir Walter Scott Bart Author:Sir Walter Scott General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1833 Original Publisher: Carter, Hendee Subjects: Scotland History / Europe / General History / Europe / Great Britain Literary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Social Science / Ethnic Studies / General Travel /... more » Europe / Great Britain Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. The contrast of the state of knowledge in the Highlands some fifty years back, compared with the present improved condition of these parts, is universally acknowledged. The author, of the Gaelic Dictionary published, in 1778, in his preface to that work, even at that period, exclaims, with enthusiastic fervour, in the following words: -- "The improvements which have taken place in the Highlands within the last half century, as well as in the minds of the inhabitants, have been strangely neglected in an age when every other country emerges from obscurity and ignorance till some changes were forced upon them by a late law, I shall not say how politic. To see a people naturally capable of every improvement, though once misled by ignorance, stripped of their ancient habits and customs, and deprived of the Scriptures in their own tongue, the right of Christians, never denied to the most savage Indians, is at once a complication of inhumanity and imprudence. Better slay their bodies to secure their affections, as Rome was wont to say, with heretics to bring their souls to Heaven, than keep them in ignorance, with the expectation that after some generations, the English language, manners, and improvements may begin to dawn. At this day there is no equal number of people in Britain so useful to the state...« less