VIU PREFACE. 



In the mean time, both Author and Artist will think themselves fortmiate if, by their own 

 united labours, they have here opened a path by which her Lowland and Celtic landscapes 

 may be more full explored and illustrated. 



In the text which accompanies these illustrations, the reader is not to expect a mere 

 artificial description of every particular scene represented. In Scotland, as in Svritzerland, the 

 most " classic" ground is not always the best suited for pictorial display, and vice versa. 

 In travelling, therefore, over the same district, it has often been found impossible for the 

 pen and the pencil to keep pace with each other; for the same field that is barren of 

 every picturesque feature, may be rich, nevertheless, in every patriotic recollection : and 

 thus, where the engraving has been allowed to speak for itself, the text has been occupied 

 in filling up the moral picture from history and tradition. Restricted, however, to 

 certain limits, the Author has been studious to condense his materials ; and, where he 

 could not introduce the entire picture, to avail himself of those particular features to 

 which it was chiefly indebted for its peculiar tone, colour, and character. Under the 

 frowning precipice, the shattered fastness, or on the battle heath — wherever, in short, 

 the scene spoke most loudly of the inborn feelings and sympathies of the people — 

 he has lingered with pardonable fondness for the shadowy existence of former days, but 

 still, he hopes, vnth becoming regard to the picturesque character of the work. 



In acknowledging the merits and services of his foreign coadjutors, the Author is 

 bound to offer his testimony in favour of the German and French translations by John 

 Von Horn, D. D., and Monsieur De Bauclas, who have transferred this, and his other 

 Works, into their respective languages with taste, spirit, and fidelity. In conclusion, 

 there is still one fact connected with these Works that can hardly fail to interest the 

 public — namely, that, for the completion of " Scotland" alone, nearly forty thousand 

 •pounds have been already expended ; and it cannot be otherwise than gratifying to know 

 that, in their various departments, these Volumes have been the means of stimulating 

 native talent ; of bringing obscure merit into notice ; and of providing, during the 

 progress of publication, upwards of a thousand families and individuals with regular 

 employment. The fact cannot be too generally known, that the patronage bestowed 

 on illustrated works of this class, is not so much calculated to benefit the feiv who are 

 responsible, as the many through whose hands they must necessarily pass before they 

 are in a condition to meet the public eye. 



Tentkrdkn Street, Hanoxkr Scji'-vre, 

 October, 1837. 



