About: [T]he political activity which produced the rebellion against the Stuarts, saved the Scotch mind from stagnating, [...] When the contest was ended, and peace was restored, the faculties which, for three generations, had been exercised in resisting the executive authority, sought other employment, and found another field in which they could disport themselves. Hence it was, that the boldness which, in the seventeenth century, was practical, became, in the eighteenth century, speculative, and produced a literature, which attempted to unsettle former opinions, and to disturb the ancient landmarks of the human mind.       Sponge   NotDistinct   Permalink