OF SCOTTISH READINGS IN PROSE AND VERSE FROM THE WORKS OF POPULAR SCOTTISH AUTHORS EDITED BY JAMES ALLAN MAIR EDITOR OF "THE BOOK OF MODERN SCOTCH ANECDO "It is the chief glory of Scotsmen that, next to God and their parents, they PREFACE. It THIS volume needs but little by way of Preface. may, however, be mentioned here that for its principal attractions the editor is indebted to the courtesy of many authors and publishers of copyright pieces, who, with a frankness he is only too happy to acknowledge, have given him permission to reprint in these pages a number of fine compositions which have not hitherto been accessible to the general reader. These pieces are distinguished throughout the volume by a note of acknowledgment appended to each. This and the other portions of the book will, it is hoped, present, within a very limited space, some of the choicest readings on Scottish subjects, in prose and verse, with which a spare half-hour may be beguiled. It will be observed that, besides a variety of Poems, Stories, and Sketches in English, the Selection embraces specimens of the Scottish tongue in its old and also its more recent forms; and that the Highland, Lowland, and East-Coast dialects are well represented. The author of "The Legend of St. Swithin" has (by apocryphal authority, he admits) translated the Saint from the Cathedral city of Winchester, to a temporary Retreat in the Roman Catholic seminary at Blairs, on the banks of the Dee, about six miles from Aberdeen. The localities named in the Legend have become well-known since Deeside has been chosen as the summer residence of Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Family. The illustration on the cover is copied by permission from a drawing by John Faed, Esq., R.S.A. J. A. M. NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. IT was omitted to be stated in the First Edition that The Execution of Montrose appears here by permission of Messrs. Blackwood & Sons; and From a Child's Diary, by permission of the genial author, Dr. John Brown; and Hail! Land of my Fathers, with the cordial sanction of Professor Blackie. J. A. M. |