Sixty Years Since, that the actual date
of publication might be made to correspond with the period in which the
scene was laid. Having proceeded as far, I think, as the seventh chapter,
I showed my work to a critical friend, whose opinion was unfavourable;
and having then some poetical reputation, I was unwilling to risk the
loss of it by attempting a new style of composition. I therefore threw
aside the work I had commenced, without either reluctance or
remonstrance. I ought to add that, though my ingenious friend's sentence
was afterwards reversed on an appeal to the public, it cannot be
considered as any imputation on his good taste; for the specimen
subjected to his criticism did not extend beyond the departure of the
hero for Scotland, and consequently had not entered upon the part of the
story which was finally found most interesting.

Be that as it may, this portion of the manuscript was laid aside in the
drawers of an old writing-desk, which, on my first coming to reside at
Abbotsford in 1811, was placed in a lumber garret and entirely forgotten.
Thus, though I sometimes, among other literary avocations, turned my
thoughts to the continuation of the romance which I had commenced, yet,
as I could not find what I had already written, after searching such
repositories as were within my reach, and was too indolent to attempt to
write it anew from memory, I as often laid aside all thoughts of that
nature.

Two circumstances in particular recalled my recollection of the mislaid
manuscript. The first was the extended and well-merited fame of Miss
Edgeworth, whose Irish characters have gone so far to make the English
familiar with the character of their gay and kind-hearted neighbours of
Ireland, that she may be truly said to have done more towards completing
the Union than perhaps all the legislative enactments by which it has
been followed up.

Without being so presumptuous as to hope to emulate the rich humour,
pathetic tenderness, and admirable tact which pervade the works of my
accomplished friend, I felt that something might be attempted for my own
country, of the same kind with that which Miss Edgeworth so fortunately
achieved for Ireland--something which might introduce her natives to
those of the sister kingdom in a more favourable light than they had been
placed hitherto, and tend to procure sympathy for their virtues and
indulgence for their foibles. I thought also, that much of what I wanted
in talent mig