THE

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND

FROM AGRICOLA'S INVASION TO THE

REVOLUTION OF 1688

BY

JOHN HILL BURTON, LL.D.

AUTHOR OF

THE 'BOOK-HUNTER,' THE 'SCOT ABROAD,' ETC.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

HE time seems to have come when the History

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of Scotland should be rewritten from the beginning. Change after change has thoroughly recast the materials for such a task since it was last undertaken. In the course of the eighteenth century, a great portion of what our ancestors believed as true history was reluctantly abandoned at the bidding of critical investigators, who proved that it was fabulous; while in later times earnest and eager efforts have been made by men of eminent learning and capacity to create, each in his own department, the materials out of which a real history may be constructed.

The vestiges of the early inhabitants of Scotland have been brought forth, and have been arranged and classified so as to instruct us about the warfare and the social customs of those who inhabited the country before the opening of written history. Light has been contributed to this inquiry from those Scandinavian countries which were the cradle of the Scottish nation. On the other hand, among these ancient remains, specimens of decorative art have been found, so numerous and so peculiar that eminent foreign critics have commented on them as forming a characteristic school of art national to Scotland. In co-operation with these investigations, the linguists and etymologists have been hard at work in identifying the several races by which the country was from to time peopled.

The rem

On the sojourn of the Romans in Scotland, the hints, often so obscure, which have dropped from classic authors, have been tested by vestiges of Roman inhabitancy brought to light through laborious and costly searches. nants of the arts of the Middle Ages-especially the ecclesiastical and baronial buildings, of which Scotland is so fullhave recently been examined by critical eyes, and adjusted to their proper place among the relics of art belonging to the European nations at large. They have thus been made to bear testimony to the periods in which they were built, and to give assistance in adjusting the chronology of historical events.

Materials for an account of the introduction of Christianity and the history of the early National Church have, chiefly

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through the services of Irish scholars, been supplied with a clearness and a fulness surpassing all expectation.

The Government and the Book-Clubs have greatly enlarged the bulk of the early chronicles at the historian's disposal; and though these deal chiefly with the history of England, they lend invaluable light to that of Scotland.

An immense treasure of public documents has lately been rescued from obscurity. It includes the records of ancient laws, of the national Parliaments, of the ecclesiastical communities, of the municipal corporations, of the courts of justice, and of the national Government departments. These afford materials for the history not only of public events but of social progress, our knowledge of which is further aided by documents instructive as to the condition, from time to time, of literature, industry, and commerce. For later times, heaps of State Papers have been printed, or indicated in printed Calendars. The long intercourse of Scotland with France suggested a search for materials there, which has been richly rewarded, especially by affording a solution to many of the difficulties which crowd around the history of Queen Mary.

The general tenor of this great body of new historical materials is to bring forth, distinctly and emphatically, the national characteristics of Scotland, and especially to develop the working and details of a contest for freedom and independent nationality the most determined and the most enduring that can be found throughout all history.

To work all this into the sequence of a current narrative

is the object of the Author of the book thus announced,— how far that object is accomplished others must decide.

This History will be comprised in Six Volumes Octavo. Of these, Four, bringing the narrative down to the Abdication of Queen Mary, are now at press, and will be published in November. The price to Subscribers will be 12s. 6d. a Volume.

Orders received by all Booksellers.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS,

EDINBURGH AND LONDON.

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