At Our Inn We Did Not Find A Reception Such As We Thought
Proportionate To The Commercial Opulence Of The Place; But Mr.
Boswell Desired Me To Observe That The Innkeeper Was An Englishman,
And I Then Defended Him As Well As I Could.
When I had proceeded thus far, I had opportunities of observing
what I had never heard, that there are
Many beggars in Scotland.
In Edinburgh the proportion is, I think, not less than in London,
and in the smaller places it is far greater than in English towns
of the same extent. It must, however, be allowed that they are not
importunate, nor clamorous. They solicit silently, or very
modestly, and therefore though their behaviour may strike with more
force the heart of a stranger, they are certainly in danger of
missing the attention of their countrymen. Novelty has always some
power, an unaccustomed mode of begging excites an unaccustomed
degree of pity. But the force of novelty is by its own nature soon
at an end; the efficacy of outcry and perseverance is permanent and
certain.
The road from Montrose exhibited a continuation of the same
appearances. The country is still naked, the hedges are of stone,
and the fields so generally plowed that it is hard to imagine where
grass is found for the horses that till them. The harvest, which
was almost ripe, appeared very plentiful.
Early in the afternoon Mr. Boswell observed that we were at no
great distance from the house of lord Monboddo.
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