the Lands bestowed by him upon the patrimony of St. Peter. I am
conscious, however, that the slight, unsatisfactory, and trivial
manner, in which the result of my antiquarian researches has been
recorded in the following pages, takes the work from under that class
which bears the proud motto, "Detur digniori". On the contrary, I fear
I shall incur the censure of presumption in placing the venerable name
of Dr. Jonas Dryasdust at the head of a publication, which the more
grave antiquary will perhaps class with the idle novels and romances of
the day. I am anxious to vindicate myself from such a charge; for
although I might trust to your friendship for an apology in your eyes,
yet I would not willingly stand convicted in those of the public of so
grave a crime as my fears lead me to anticipate my being charged with.I must therefore remind you, that when we first talked over together that class of productions, in one of which the private and family affairs of your learned northern friend, Mr Oldbuck of Monkbarns, were so unjustifiably exposed to the public, some discussion occurred between us concerning the cause of the popularity these works have attained in this idle age, which, whatever other merit they possess, must be admitted to be hastily written, and in violation of every rule assigned to the epopeia. It seemed then to be your opinion, that the charm lay entirely in the art with which the unknown author had availed himself, like a second M’Pherson, of the antiquarian stores which lay scattered around him, supplying his own indolence or poverty of invention, by the incidents which had actually taken place in his country at no distant period, by introducing real characters, and scarcely suppressing real names. It was not above sixty or seventy years, you observed, since the whole north of Scotland was under a state of government nearly as simple and as patriarchal as those of our good allies the Mohawks and Iroquois. Admitting that the author cannot himself be supposed to have witnessed those times, he must have lived, you observed, among persons who had acted and suffered in them; and even within these thirty years, such an infinite change has taken place in the manners of Scotland, that men look back upon the habits of society proper to their immediate ancestors, as we do on those of the reign of Queen Anne, or even the period of the Revolution. Having thus materials of every kind lying strewed around him, there was little, you observed, to embarrass the author, but the difficulty of choice. It was no wonder, therefore, that, having begun to work a mine so plentiful, he should have derived from his works fully more credit and profit than the facility of his labours merited. Admitting (as I could not deny) the general truth 

 Prev. P 10/450 next