'in hiding' after the battle of
Culloden but could tell a tale of strange concealments, and of wild and
hair's-breadth 'scapes, as extraordinary as any which I have ascribed
to my heroes. Of this, the escape of Charles Edward himself, as the most
prominent, is the most striking example. The accounts of the battle
of Preston and skirmish at Clifton are taken from the narrative of
intelligent eye-witnesses, and corrected from the History of the
Rebellion by the late venerable author of DOUGLAS. The Lowland Scottish
gentlemen, and the subordinate characters, are not given as individual
portraits, but are drawn from the general habits of the period (of which
I have witnessed some remnants in my younger days), and partly gathered
from tradition.

It has been my object to describe these persons, not by a caricatured
and exaggerated use of the national dialect, but by their habits,
manners, and feelings; so as in some distant degree to emulate the
admirable Irish portraits drawn by Miss Edgeworth, so different from
the 'Teagues' and 'dear joys,' who so long, with the most perfect family
resemblance to each other, occupied the drama and the novel.

I feel no confidence, however, in the manner in which I have executed
my purpose. Indeed, so little was I satisfied with my production, that
I laid it aside in an unfinished state, and only found it again by mere
accident among other waste papers in an old cabinet, the drawers of
which I was rummaging, in order to accommodate a friend with some
fishing tackle, after it had been mislaid for several years. Two
works upon similar subjects, by female authors, whose genius is highly
creditable to their country, have appeared in the interval; I mean Mrs.
Hamilton's GLENBURNIE, and the late account of Highland Superstitions.
But the first is confined to the rural habits of Scotland, of which
it has given a picture with striking and impressive fidelity; and the
traditional records of the respectable and ingenious Mrs. Grant of
Laggan, are of a nature distinct from the fictitious narrative which I
have here attempted.

I would willingly persuade myself, that the preceding work will not be
found altogether uninteresting. To elder persons it will recall scenes
and characters familiar to their youth; and to the rising generation the
tale may present some idea of the manners of their forefathers.

Yet I heartily wish that the task of tracing the evanescent manners of
his own country had emplo