nd was in alarm. A commission was
appointed to consider the question of the union, and the Act of Union
was passed in 1707. Many Scotchmen were greatly opposed to the step,
yet it cannot be denied that Scotland herself has been a great gainer
by the Union.

6. THE NATIONAL DEBT

The borrowing of money to pay for wars did not originate in the reign
of Anne, but the War of the Spanish Succession added no less a sum
than twenty-two millions to the indebtedness of the country, and from
that time the National Debt began to assume large proportions. Many
people were greatly alarmed at the state of things in this respect,
and there were many who prophesied the speedy bankruptcy of the
nation.

7. PEACE AT HOME

This reign is remarkable for the entire absence of internal risings
and disaffections. Only one person was executed for treason.

8. LITERATURE, AND ITS INFLUENCE ON POLITICS

This has been called the Augustan age of English Literature. Pope,
Addison, Steele, Swift, Defoe, Sir Isaac Newton, Vanbrugh, Congreve,
Farquhar, Prior, Parnell, Colley Cibber, Gilbert Burnet, and others
flourished. The first daily newspaper, the _Daily Courant_, was
published in 1709. Pamphleteers, chief among them Swift, Addison, and
Defoe, by their writings played a great part in politics, there being
no newspaper press to mould people's opinions. No other period in
English history, except, perhaps, the times of Shakespeare, has
produced so many notable writers.

9. THE PEOPLE

The population of England in this reign is supposed to have been about
five millions. London itself contained half a million, but even the
best of the provincial towns were small, as we reckon populations
nowadays. Bristol, the second town in size, possessed not more than
some thirty thousand souls, while York, Norwich, and Exeter, which
came next, had considerably fewer people than that. The bulk of the
people lived in the country, either in the villages, or in the petty
market-towns which were not much superior. The country squire class
was the most important in the community. Below this, but likewise
occupying a very important position in the country, were the clergy
and yeomen. Probably at no time was the yeoman class more numerous,
more prosperous, and more influential. The squire was in point of
education often inferior to the well-to-do farmer of our own day, but
very proud of his family.

10. THE CLERGY

The clergymen of the period were,