John Hill Burton Quotes

“Burton's History of Scotland and the widespread welcome it received, both within the nation and internationally, is incompatible with the view that Scottish history suffered a mortal decline, that there was some kind of atypical, catastrophic failure of national historical confidence in the second half of the nineteenth century. On the contrary, the country produced, and welcomed, a national narrative that incorporated the full range of characteristics typifying the national histories produced around the same period across Europe.”
― Craig Beveridge, Recovering Scottish History: John Hill Burton and Scottish National Identity in the Nineteenth Century

“It is said that Edward had very enlightened, advanced, and comprehensive ideas of statesmanship; that he wished to fuse England, Scotland, and Wales into one grand monarchy, with anticipation of a great future for the whole. The extreme exasperation he felt, and the savage cruelty he showed to the patriotic Scots who opposed him, were quite a natural result of the baffling and frustration of his wise conception and benificent designs. In the history of nations, as in that of philosophy, we are very apt to interject into ancient actors and thinkers modern ideas, at which, probably, they would have stood amazed. At the best, this view of the character and motives of Edward is a mere hypothesis. But, supposing him to have held that it was infinitely better for Scotland to submit to his rule, that hardly gave him a right to use violence, brutality, and murder to enforce his views.”
― John Veitch, History and Poetry of the Scottish Border: Their Main Features and Relations, Volume 1