ced who was the author of it,
as he recognised, in the "Antiquary," traces of the character of a very
intimate friend of my father's family.

_Waverley_.--The sort of exchange of gallantry between the Baron of
Bradwardine and Col. Talbot is a literal fact. [For the real circumstances
of the anecdote, we must refer our readers to the "Introduction" itself. It
was communicated to Sir Walter by the late Lord Kinedder.]

_Guy Mannering_.--The origin of Meg Merrilies, and of one or two other
personages of the same cast of character, will be found in a review of the
_Tales of my Landlord_ in the _Quarterly Review_ of January, 1817.

_Legend of Montrose_.--The tragic and savage circumstances which are
represented as preceding the birth of Allan Mac Aulay, in the "Legend of
Montrose," really happened in the family of Stewart of Ardvoirloch. The
wager about the candlesticks, whose place was supplied by Highland
torch-bearers, was laid and won by one of the Mac Donalds of Keppoch.

* * * * *

I may, however, before dismissing the subject, allude to the various
localities which have been affixed to some of the, scenery introduced into
these novels, by which, for example, Wolf's-Hope is identified with Fast
Castle, in Berwickshire; Tillietudlem with Draphane, in Clydesdale; and the
valley in the "Monastery," called Glendearg, with the dale of the Allan,
above Lord Somerville's villa, near Melrose. I can only say, that, in these
and other instances, I had no purpose of describing any particular local
spot; and the resemblance must therefore be of that general kind which
necessarily exists betwixt scenes of the same character. The iron-bound
coast of Scotland affords upon its headlands and promontories fifty such
castles as Wolf's-Hope; every country has a valley more or less resembling
Glendearg; and if castles like Tillietudlem. or mansions like the Baron of
Bradwardine's, are now less frequently to be met with, it is owing to the
rage of indiscriminate destruction, which has removed or ruined so many
monuments of antiquity, when they were not protected by their inaccessible
situation.--The scraps of poetry which have been in most cases tacked to
the beginning of chapters in these novels, are sometimes quoted either from
reading or from memory, but, in the general case, are pure invention. I
found it too troublesome to turn to the collection of the British poets to
discover apposite mottos, and, in