This paper is a product of an AHRC-funded project on Scottish towns and urban society in the age of the enlightenment (A/E000752X12, ‘Scottish towns and urban society in the enlightenment, c.1745–1820’). The author is grateful to the AHRC for their very generous financial assistance. He would like to thank his collaborators on the project, Professors Christopher A. Whatley and Charles McKean, and the anonymous referees for their invaluable comments on earlier drafts of this paper.
