Finally,--The Equivalent, or Compensation Money, that is, "the price of
Scotland," came to Edinburgh on the fifth of August, the day on which
the Earl of Gowrie designed to murder James the Sixth.[40]
The discontents and tumults which attended the progress of the Union ran
throughout the whole country, and pervaded all ranks of people. Yet it
is remarkable, that the nobility of Scotland should have been the first
to fail in their opposition to the measure; and that the middle ranks,
together with the lowest of the people, should have been foremost to
withstand what they considered as insulting to the independence of their
country. The very name and antiquity of their kingdom was dear to them,
although there remained, after the removal of James the First into
England, little more than "a vain shadow of a name, a yoke of slavery,
and image of a kingdom."[41] It was in vain that the Duke of Hamilton
had called, in the beginning of the debates on this measure, upon the
families of "Bruce, Campbell, Douglas," not to desert their country: the
opposition to the Union was bought over, with many exceptions, with a
price;--twenty thousand pounds being sent over to the Lords
Commissioners to employ in this manner, twelve thousand pounds of which
were, however, returned to the English Treasury, there being no more who
would accept the bribe. The Earl of Mar and the Earl of Seafield had
privately secured their own reward, having bargained "for greater
matters than could be agreed upon while the kingdom of Scotland stood in
safety."[42]
Amidst the resentment of the Scotch for their insulted dignity, it is
amusing to find that this Union of the two countries could be deemed
derogatory to English dignity; yet Dean Swift, among others, considered
it in that light. "Swift's hatred to the Scottish nation," observes Sir
Walter Scott, "led him to look upon that Union with great resentment, as
a measure degrading to England. The Scottish themselves hardly detested
the idea more than he did; and that is saying as much as possible."[43]
Swift vented his wrath in the verses beginning with these lines:
"The Queen has lately lost a part
Of her entirely-English heart,[44]
For want of which, by way of botch,
She piec'd it up again with Scotch.
Blest Revolution! which creates
Divided hearts, united states!
See how the double nation lies
Like a rich coat with skirts of frize:
As if a man in making posies,
Should bundle thistles up with roses!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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