Edmund Burt's Letters...

[Troglodyte]

This is, I think, an important and fair point. Much of his bias in storytelling is cosmopolitan, not Teutonic. In particular his dwelling on nudity is a trope that can be traced in a straight line back to the Romans, at least, and has always been shorthand for a lack of sophistication. Now, does he apply it more heavily toward his Scottish neighbors than to his brothers in the English countryside? I can't say, but I can imagine familiarity softening his inclination toward those kinds of embellishments, in the case of the latter.

Burt as an individual might have more sympathy with his fellow southern English, but he might share the Londoners' contempt for these living outside the capital, just as we see today.

Londoners for centuries have regarded themselves as the pinacle of sophistication and taste, and the rest of the country as barbarians, particularly the north. England has always divided itself into The North and The South, which follows essentially the ancient Danelaw boundary, separating the Saxon (Germanic-origin south) and Dane (Scandinavian-origin north) kingdoms. Even today, like the Parisian in France, the lowest-born Londoner sees himself superior to all others by virtue of residing in that city.

James VI's accession to the English throne created the united kingdom, and he declared that the two old realms would cease to exist individually, and that they would become one whole and known as North Britain and South Britain. The inhabitants would be equally free citizens in each other's country, and they would all live in happy harmony under the king's protection. Now, after 400 years, we can see how well that has worked!

Burt is for the most part objective, and seems to have a high regard for the Highlander whilst providing evidence both for and against the Highlanders' reputation. His criticism is often born out of frustration, and would be repeated a generation later when attention was turned to the north American colonies a few decades later.