PRE FACE. 



The only duty which now devolves upon the Author, is to ofFer a few brief observations 

 respecting a work which, after three years' uninterrupted progress, he has^ now the 

 satisfaction of laying before the public. The illustration of Scotland was first suggested 

 by the very flattering reception given to its predecessor, " Switzerland Illustrated;" 

 and the result has been a similar manifestation of public favour. To secure this patronage, 

 and to give the work every recommendation which the highest professional talent could 

 bestow, no expense has been spared, no encouragement withheld on the part of the 

 Proprietors. In its now complete form, the work comprises one hundred and twenty- 

 one highly finished engravings on steel, from original drawings, chiefly by Mr. Allom and 

 Mr. Bartlett, whose united talents are too widely known and appreciated to require further 

 mention in this place. With the exception of Dunrobin Castle,* and Cape Wrath, every 

 view was taken on the spot, and transferred to the steel plates with a force and fidelity 

 which reflect the greatest credit on the engravers. 



With respect to the literary department, the Author has only to observe, that he is 

 far from insensible to the more than common indulgence with which, in its detached 

 portions, the work has been already received. Like the sculptor, who should undertake 

 to reduce a colossal statue into infantine proportions — and yet preserve the force and 

 expression of the original — he undertook the task of reducing the gigantic features of 

 Scotland into a miniature resemblance of the whole ; and, whatever may have been his 

 success, he has at least spared no labour to surmount the diiHcidties it involved, and will 

 be the first to congratulate his more successftd competitors in the same field. Scotland 

 has still innumerable scenes to engage the best services of the pen and pencO, and she has 

 those, also, among her own sons who have done, and will continue to do, her justice. 



* The beautiful view of Dunrobin, — including the recent additions, and the newly erected Monument on 

 Benbhrasgie, — was obligingly furnished by Her Grace the Duchess-Countess of Sutherland, by whom it had 

 also the advantage of being seen, and revised, during its progress through the hands of the painter and 

 engraver. The view of Cape JVralli was painted from original drawings in the possession of James 

 Loch, Esq. M.P. 



