TOUR

THROUGH THE

HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND,

AND THE

HEBRIDE ISLES,

IN

MDCCLXXXVI.

BY JOHN KNOX,

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR J. WALTER, CHARING-CROSS; R. FAULDER, NEW

BOND-STREET; W. RICHARDSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE;
W. GORDON AND C. ELLIOT, EDINBURGH;
DUNLOP AND WILSON, GLASGOW.

William Winter
1897.

MDCCLXXXVII.

Gen lib

suit

2-9-36

TO THE

NOBLEMEN AND GENTLEMEN,

MEMBERS OF THE

BRITISH SOCIETY FOR EXTENDING

THE FISHERIES, &c.

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

I

EMBRACE this early opportunity of congratulating the Public upon an event, which, while it reflects immortal honour on your humanity and patriotic fpirit, will contribute, in a moft eminent degree, to the fecurity and prosperity of these kingdoms.

A very confiderable part of this island was lying almost in a state of nature; the riches of its fhores, tho' more im

portant

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portant to great national purposes than
the mines of Mexico and Peru, were

scarcely fought after. A great body of
people, having no means of employ-
ment, were rendered torpid by idleness:
they were frequently expofed to famine;
and many of them forced, through ne-
ceffity, to abandon their barren, but
beloved wilds.

Their grievances had been flightly represented in the writings of fome eminent men of the prefent age. But thefe pictures of distress, though they might occafion a figh in the breast of the humane reader, were forgotten amidst the croud of occurrences which glide away with time into the gulph of oblivion.

Something farther was neceffary, to imprefs the mind more deeply, to awaken the fenfes as from a lethargy, and to

erect

Τ

erect an establishment upon the folid bafis of virtues, which in all ages have been justly confidered as the glory of humanity.

When the paffing tale was new-modelled, collected, and compreffed within a narrow point, aided, in the recital, by language which came from the heart, it then proved fufficiently in unifon with the feelings of the times: its effects were inftantaneous, and are likely to become permanently and completely efficacious.

DEDICATION.

To you, my Lords and Gentlemen, Britain owes the great national acquifition that is before us. To you, the naked, the hungry, and the helplefs; the defponding parent, the husband, and the widow, will look up in tranfports of gratitude. When neceffity and despair had thinned

a 3.