The middle of the ninth century saw the Scots and Picts united under the sceptre of Kenneth, the son of Alpin. The advent of this union was long deferred : it was at last consummated in A.D. 843 ; but even then it received no enthusiastic welcome from those to whom, as might have been foreseen, it brought great increase of power and prestige.
The idea of mixing their blood to form one nation, and uniting their arms to establish one central throne, and so taking pledges for the maintenance of peace at home, and the acquisition of influence abroad, however meritorious it seems to us, does not appear to have approved itself to the two races that inhabited the one country of Caledonia.
