Scotland has been at war with England since the thirteenth century; but since the eighteenth, the most bitter battles have been fought between individuals wielding paper swords. The last time the Scots and the English came to physical blows en masse was at Culloden in April 1746. It was a ruthless occasion: the Highland clans were routed by the forces of the Hanoverian Duke of Cumberland, and the fanciful aspirations of the Stuarts were put to flight once and for all. Bonnie Prince Charlie himself, of course, slippery as an eel, escaped to France, where he survived until 1788—until, that is, the very eve of the French Revolution, which he may have scented (with some disgust) in his dying nostrils. After Culloden, the Highlands were fortified; the wearing of tartan was strictly forbidden; the episcopalian clergy was severely punished; and the common people suffered terrible hardships—as common people tend to do when their betters come to...

 

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