The eighteenth century: new Athenians and the Doric

Abstract

On 28 April 1707 Chancellor Seafield concluded the last meeting of the last Scottish parliament with the words, ‘Now there’s ane end of ane auld sang’, but these were far from the final words on the subject, for Scotland had been so deeply divided over the issue that debates and accusations of bribery and corruption raged for years. Many landowners had been in favour of what they saw as a profitable partnership, and the vested interests of Church and law had been protected by separate acts in both parliaments; but the boroughs feared a reduction in their status and the volatile urban crowds rioted at the prospect of their rulers moving to London, capital of the ‘auld enemy’. It was not long before their fears were realised, agreements were broken, and even the Unionists began to have second thoughts as English businessmen denied them the expected benefits in trade and exports. Rises in taxation hit the poorer classes in Scotland much harder than their more comfortable counterparts in the south. The Kirk saw Episcopalian forms return under the new Toleration Act and the principle of lay patronage was introduced contrary to the Acts passed at the Union.