Curiosus.
THE ISLAND OF THE SCOTS.
Sir,—The following jottings may be of interest to your correspondent, “R. M. B.” The incident on which Professor Aytoun founded his wellknown Lay is narrated in a tract, the full title of which is as follows: Memoirs | of the | Lord Viscount Dundee, | the | Highland Clans, | and | The Massacre of Glenco: | with | an Account | of | Dundee’s Officers after they went to | France. | By an Officer of the Army. | Non ille pro caris amicis | Aut Patria timidus mori (sic). Hor. Carm. Lib. 4, Ode 9 |.
Quis Cladem illius Noctis, quis funera fando | Explicet.—Virg. Æneid. Lib. 2. |
| Series longissima Rerum | Per tot ducta Viros.—Ibid. Lib. I. |
London: Printed for Jonas Brown, at the Black Swan, 1714.
The tract itself is somewhat rare, but a reprint will be found in vol. iii. of the “Miscellanea Scotica:” Glasgow, 1818. Sufficiently copious extracts from it have been given by Professor Aytoun in the introductory remarks to his Lay. Here is Lord Macaulay’s opinion on the matter. In a note to the 13th chapter of his History he observes: “I have seldom made use of the ‘Memoirs of Dundee,’ printed in 1714, and never without some misgiving. The writer was certainly not, as he pretends, one of Dundee’s officers, but a stupid and ignorant Grub-street garreteer. He is utterly wrong both as to the place and as to the time of the most important of all the events which he relates, the battle of Killiecrankie. He says that it was fought on the banks of the Tummell, and on the 13th of June. It was fought on the banks of the Garry, and on the 27th of July. After giving such a specimen of inaccuracy as this, it would be idle to point out minor blunders.”
It is by no means unlikely, therefore, that the Island of the Scots is situated in one of the rivers of Utopia.
W. Wilson.
Berwick-on-Tweed, September 5.