s talents so much on Scottish subjects and scenery, to
Messrs. Leslie and Newton, my thanks are due, from a friend as well as an
author. Nor am I less obliged to Messrs. Cooper, Kidd, and other artists
of distinction to whom I am less personally known, for the ready zeal
with which they have devoted their talents to the same purpose.

Farther explanation respecting the Edition is the business of the
publishers, not of the Author; and here, therefore, the latter has
accomplished his task of introduction and explanation. If, like a spoiled
child, he has sometimes abused or trifled with the indulgence of the
public, he feels himself entitled to full belief when he exculpates
himself from the charge of having been at any time insensible of their
kindness.

ABBOTSFORD, 1st January, 1829.

APPENDIX
No. I.,

FRAGMENT OF A ROMANCE WHICH WAS TO HAVE BEEN ENTITLED

THOMAS THE RHYMER.

[It is not to be supposed that these fragments are given as possessing
any intrinsic value of themselves; but there may be some curiosity
attached to them, as to the first etchings of a plate, which are
accounted interesting by those who have, in any degree, been interested
in the more finished works of the artist.]

CHAPTER I.

The sun was nearly set behind the distant mountains of Liddesdale, when a
few of the scattered and terrified inhabitants of the village of
Hersildoun, which had four days before been burned by a predatory band of
English Borderers, were now busied in repairing their ruined dwellings.
One high tower in the centre of the village alone exhibited no appearance
of devastation. It was surrounded with court walls, and the outer gate
was barred and bolted. The bushes and brambles which grew around, and had
even insinuated their branches beneath the gate, plainly showed that it
must have been many years since it had been opened. While the cottages
around lay in smoking ruins, this pile, deserted and desolate as it
seemed to be, had suffered nothing from the violence of the invaders; and
the wretched beings who were endeavouring to repair their miserable huts
against nightfall, seemed to neglect the preferable shelter which it
might have afforded them, without the necessity of labour.

Before the day had quite gone down, a knight, richly armed, and mounted
upon an ambling hackney, rode slowly into the village. His attendants
were a lady, apparently young and beautiful, who rode by his side upon a
dappled