Audrey: > I have always found that amazing as I can't imagine so many paupers being > produced by such a rural place as the Isle of Skye. It's a common misconception that the poor were in the towns. I think this derives from all the stories from Victorian times (Charles Dickens, etc) about how hideous the towns were (which they were by today's standards). But at the time of the industrial revolution people flocked from the countryside to the towns. Why? Because they were better off. The countryside wasn't idyllic; it was a place of seasonal work and low wages, particularly after enclosure in England. For all the Satanic mills and dangerous coalmines, people in the towns had regular work, 52 weeks a year, at wages far above those in the countryside. Best wishes Paul Prescott