The
Scottish
Enlightenment: The Scots' Invention of the Modern World
by Arthur
Herman.
Published 2003
by
Fourth Estate,
London, 480
pages, �9.99,
ISBN:
1
84115
276 5.
On a recent trip to Glasgow with an English colleague, I was intrigued to see a book entitled The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots' Invention of the Modern World. My English colleague noted with a scoff, �Well you certainly wouldn�t find a book about the English Enlightenment!� Despite the fact that I lived only miles from the birthplace of Adam Smith in Fife, spent a year an Adam Edinburgh New Town house and even had the honour of singing in Carnegie Hall (Dunfermline not New York!), the fact that Scotland could have been one of the motors of the modern world seemed initially just a �wee bit� pretentious. Herman, an American with no Scottish roots, explains that this �Wee Mary� attitude of belittling any Scottish achievement � at least by the Scots themselves � has roots in the same eighteenth century that saw the flowering of (at least in non-Scots) quite an astonishing philosophical, historical and scientific movement.
The book opens rather unpromisingly with the story of an Edinburgh University student being tried and hanged for blasphemy in 1697 by the Scottish �Kirk Session�. Although the practice would properly find great approval in today's universities (hanging for late essays?) it doesn�t really bode well for the foundations of an Enlightened Scotland�. But the link between the 17th century Kirk and the boom of Scots men of ideas is essential as Herman then goes on to point out. The Presbyterian church of John Knox insisted that everyone, from king to the lowest cottar, was able to read the bible for himself and thus by the end of the 17th century the Scottish parliament had already passed legislation that ensured a literacy rate of about 75 per cent. That a similar percentage of the English population could read only at the end of the 19th century � and in parts of Europe even 50 years later � coincided almost exactly with the fading of the Scottish predominance of great minds. Such expectation was underlined by the rather sadistic practice by Scottish parents of drilling their unfortunate children in the content of the minister�s sermon to ensure that they had not been sleeping. This did, however, give rise to a readiness to debate in even the humblest families that other Calvinist societies (Geneva, Holland) never quite reached.
Another democratising aspect of Scottish culture was the incredibly crowded, unhygienic and yet social custom of Scottish cities to jam nobles together with lawyers, artisans, criminals and �caddies� (porters) into the same tenements and drinking establishments, which meant an elsewhere unknown melting pot of ideas not to mention golfing potential. The still noted Scottish weakness for the occasional drink may well also have loosened the minds. Obviously the 18th century Scots tipple of Claret must have had a better effect on the mind than Bacardi Breezers given the lack of modern Humes and Adam Smiths today!
Another interest aspect is that the duality of 18th century and indeed modern �branding� of Scotland are fixed like Siamese twins. The popular image of Scotland is that of shortbread and Johnny Walker ads, bonny lads and lasses waffing down their fare to the strains of �Over the sea to Skye�, romantic Queens being romantically beheaded and Bonny Princes fleeing as their loyal clansmen are romantically slaughtered. The fact that Scots can lay claim to being among the founders of modern economics, history and philosophy not to mention surgery, anaesthetics, capitalism and socialism seems to have been lost somewhere in the mist without the aid of Flora McDonald to get them out again. Herman very skilful points out that romanticism and reality are more closely related than most Scots would like to think. This is probably why only foreigners have until now given Scots their due or at least thought it necessary to do so. The kilted Highlander resplendent in plaid and broadsword was probably the most loathed member of society in lowland Scotland. So most of the principal figures of the Scottish Enlightenment did their utmost to distance themselves from the Jacobites and yet without the failure of the �45� and with it the hope of an independent nation, the Scottish �takeover� would not have happened.
As John Sutherland of the Financial Times recently pointed out, the likes of Adam Smith, David Hume and company succeeded by �out-Englishing the English�, laying the foundations for the takeover not only of England and the British empire but also of its �Anglo-Saxon cousins and rivals, in particular the United States, Canada, Australia, etc. Thus, once in a foreign land the Scots become both the intellectual and backwood soul of the American revolution; red-neck minuteman and Princeton ivy-leaguer being the spirit of the new nation. The pro-unionist stance of much of the Scottish Enlightenment has led them to condemnation in the eyes of the so-called Home rule purists. Yet even the most �whiggish� of them all, such as those who sought �the high road that leads to London', never really abandoned their origins: Here�s an extract of James Boswell�s imaginary conversation with Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
�Hoot, Johnie Rouusseau mon, what for hae ye sae mony figmangairies? You�re a bonny man indeed to mauk siccan a wark; set ye up. Canna ye just live like ither fowk?�
The second part of Herman�s book begins to lose a little of its momentum. After establishing the existence of a Scottish school of thought rather than a collection of individuals, the 19th century begins to seem exactly that. While no one would doubt the importance of the likes of James Watt, the quick possession of the likes of Walter Scott as inventor of the historical novel (not to mention the Scottish tourist trade), Andrew Carnegie, inventor of capitalism and Micky Mouse�s uncle, Dr Livingstone (exploration and ripping yarns) and James Matheson (Hong Kong and drug pushing) often seem to have rather tenuous claim to the copyright of their respective �discoveries�. This is a shame as the nineteenth century probably saw the zenith of Scottish influence in nearly all the so-called �Anglo-Saxon� countries, or perhaps �Celtic� would be more accurate.
The conclusion of the book comes full circle and ends with the theft of the Stone of Destiny by a group of desperado Scottish Nationalist students back in the 1950s. While it is interesting to know just how unruly the Scottish student population has always been, this episode also underlines the link between hard facts and romantic but popularly held belief. The Stone of Destiny was a symbol of mediaeval importance that had little to do with the common sense enshrined by the Scots Enlightenment. And yet these students realised that any society needs its myths and legends to rally round. Since the fifties, Scottish Nationalism has been important, not only for its own agenda but also to project Scotland beyond its own borders. In this respect it has been very successful at least in England as the likes of Tony Blair (an old Fettersonian), Michael Ancram and Charles Kennedy may testify to. However do this motley crew herald a new 21st century Scottish Enlightenment? The words of an elderly Edinburgh lady when listening to a typical Tony Blairism seem prophetic: �I never could trust those Fettes boys!�
Robert Coates holds two honours degrees from the University of Edinburgh, where he specialised in mediaeval history with a thesis on the Normans in Sicily. An Adelaide Australian who was brought up in Fife, Scotland, he has been teaching English at the University of Brescia in Italy since 1987.
Note: This review was first published on April 18 2005 by JUST Book Reviews.
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