Wall. That man is born a savage, there needs no other proof than Severus's Wall. It characterizes two nations as robbers and murderers. Nineteen in twenty of our race sustain half this character during life. Some individuals correct the crude passions, adhere to justice, and avoid whatever is worthy of blame." (pp.1,2,3)

"Our old historians always term the Scots Barbarians: to this I assent. They surprised the innocent, murdered them, laid waste their country, took the property, and left the place. Allow me, without the aid of Dr. Johnson, to illustrate the word Barbarian. Julius Caesar, Agricola, Antonine, Severus, &c. went one step farther than the Scots; they surprised, murdered, plundered, and kept possession. Our venerable ancestors too, the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, who came over in swarms, butchered, robbed, and possessed; although they had no more right than I have to your coat. Whoever deprives an unoffending man of his right, comes under this word. It follows, no war can be justified but that of defence. It is an old remark, that "idleness is introductive of mischief." The Picts, now Highlanders, confirm this remark. Strangers to commerce, to the arts, and, from the barrenness of the country, almost to agriculture, they led a life of indolence. Their chief avocations were hunting, basking in the sun, procuring fuel from the heath, and fish from the water. In some of these, the women bore a part. Idleness of body promotes idleness of mind. They were savage, voracious, domineering, except to their chiefs, who were as savage as themselves, but to them they paid implicit obedience. Servility is the attendant upon a mind debased. Men thus situated must feel the effects of want. Nature and necessity made them courageous. At the beck of the chief they entered the Lowlands, which they sometimes robbed; but oftener joined the inhabitants in partnership, and penetrated the borders between Scotland and England; and, when not opposed, killed, burnt, and pilfered, at pleasure; then returned, singing in Erse, their native tongue. While the Britons were supine, or quarreling with each other, or while their power was withdrawn from the frontiers, and employed against other enemies, the Scots and Picts made their inroads. Booty was the word; but this could not be had without blood. This astonishing rampart, the production of three eminent persons, and at three different periods, was designed to remedy the mischief described." (pp.7-10.)

"The Wall was about eight feet thick, and twelve high, to the battlements, which rose about four more; so that, viewed in profile, it would appear much like a chair, the main part forming the seat, and the embattled part the back. At the foot of the Wall, on the North, a ditch ran parallel." (p.22.)

"Had there been no other argument for a Union between the two kingdoms, the blood which cried from the borders was sufficient. Much has been said, both for and against it; but one short remark will decide the question. If the members of a vast family are obliged to reside together, whether is it better to live upon equality, and in harmony, promoting each other's interest, or, each to do the other all the mischief in their power? It may be said, 'the Scots lost their sovereignty.' They did, just as a tradesman loses his, who, having pursued his business upon his own account, with small gains, enters into a partnership with a greater, and multiplies his accumulations tenfold." (pp.93,94.)

"Thus we have wandered through the long series of 1500 years; have seen the rise, meridian, and fall, of the grandest work ever produced by European hands; have observed, with a melancholy eye, the depraved state of human nature, the defection of law, of the power to protect, and the insatiablity of property; but, with a smile, have seen the termination of a quarrel which had continued fifty generations. This short indference may be drawn from the whole: that protection on one side, and liberty and obedience on the other, are the foundation of all just government." (pp.103,104.)