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infinite, and that on true climbing principles that way only is to be discarded which is easiest; let them attack Scottish hills in this the spirit of the Alpine Club, and they will find that Alpine pleasures are attainable nearer home than in Switzerland. From men who treat the Scottish hills in this spirit Mr Bryce gets small thanks. They are feeling no substantial grievance. They experience no general or systematic hindrance to their freedom. They have much more unquestioned liberty than the law concedes. They care nothing for the concession of the right to access, which is not in fact obstructed. But they fear the general setting by the ears which would be the outcome of Mr Bryce’s measure. They believe that as its result they might find themselves with smaller facilities for mountaineering than at present; for there are many indirect hindrances which landowners and sporting tenants, if really driven to the defensive, could throw in their way. By the putting down of inns, by prohibiting the hospitality of keepers and shepherds, by the erection of walls and barbed fences, and in other such ways, more serious obstacles could be thrown in the way of the climber than he now finds in the whims of individual curmudgeons.

In the absence of any statement from Mr Bryce, it is hard to define the exact scope of his complaint. In terms, his resolution applies to the whole three kingdoms, with special reference to Scotland. His bill, on the other hand, is limited to Scotland, and the narrative of the preamble lays all its stress on deer-forests. To these last we will return presently. It is in regard to them and to moors near towns that, if anywhere, agrievance exists. Meantime we will deal with the rest of the country. In the first place, we may probably consider the attack as regards the moors and mountains of England, Wales, and Ireland as a mere feint. No complaint is heard from any of these countries, and, from the limitations of Mr Bryce’s bill, we may fairly conclude that none exists. In the next place, there are the hills of the south of Scotland and the grouse-moors of the north. From these, again, no complaint is heard. It is proverbially hard to prove a negative, but perhaps it may be allowed to quote the experience of one or two typical individuals. No testimony on this subject is more valuable than that of Professor Veitch, whose evidence cannot be objected to as that of a sportsman, and whose knowledge of the southern Highlands of Scotland probably exceeds that of any man since Sir Walter Scott. In reply to an inquiry, he says:—

As to the Highlands of Scotland, apart from the deer-forests, perhaps