Heritage and Arts

The famous declaration that perpetual slavery was “shocking to human nature” is genuine. So are the petition’s arguments about debt, labour, Spanish Florida and security. Newly revisited records also show Scots campaigning on both sides of the dispute, a political dossier compiled against the

Scotland did not simply stop celebrating Christmas after the Reformation. Kirk courts punished people for keeping Yule, Parliament removed the Christmas court holiday, and Christmas Day remained an ordinary working day for generations. Yet the old season persisted in bread, candles, fires, games, omens