Whether we account for it on the theory that a larger infusion of the imaginative and romantic elements, characteristic of the Celtic race, gives additional fervour to the Scottish character, or otherwise, it is a fact that in no other community, on the same social level as that of the peasantry and working-classes of Scotland, has this form of literature had so enthusiastic a reception. There can be no doubt that this widely diffused and keen appreciation, by an earnest and self-respecting people, of Stories which are largely graphic delineations of their own national features, has been the chief stimulus to the production of so large and excellent a supply as our literature contains.
The present Selection is made on the principle of giving the best specimens of the most popular authors, with as great a variety, as to subjects, as is compatible with these conditions.
The favourable reception of the issue in the serial form, both by the press and the public, is looked upon by the projectors as an earnest—now that the book is completed—that its further reception will be such as to assure them that they have not fallen short of the aim announced in their prospectus, viz., to form a Collection of Standard Scottish Tales calculated to delight the imagination, to convey interesting information, and to elevate and strengthen the moral principles of the young.
| [The Henpecked Man,] | John Mackay Wilson |
| [Duncan Campbell,] | James Hogg |
| [The Lily of Liddisdale,] | Professor Wilson |
| [The Unlucky Present,] | Robert Chambers |
| [The Sutor of Selkirk] | “The Odd Volume,” |
| [Elsie Morrice,] | Aberdeen Censor, |
| [How I won the Laird’s Daughter,] | Daniel Gorrie |
| [Moss-Side,] | Professor Wilson |
| [My First Fee,] | Edin. Literary Journal, |
| [The Kirk of Tullibody,] | Chambers’s Edin. Journal, |
| [The Progress of Inconstancy,] | Blackwood’s Magazine, |
| [Adam Bell,] | James Hogg |
| [Mauns’ Stane; or, Mine Host’s Tale,] | Aberdeen Censor, |
| [The Freebooter of Lochaber,] | Sir Thomas Dick Lauder |
| [An Hour in the Manse,] | Professor Wilson |
| [The Warden of the Marches,] | Edin. Literary Gazette, |
| [The Alehouse Party,] | “The Odd Volume,” |
| [Auchindrane; or, the Ayrshire Tragedy,] | Sir Walter Scott |
| [A Tale of the Plague in Edinburgh,] | Robert Chambers |
| [The Probationer’s First Sermon,] | Daniel Gorrie |
| [The Crimes of Richard Hawkins,] | Thomas Aird |
| [The Headstone,] | Professor Wilson |
| [The Widow’s Prediction,] | Edin. Literary Journal, |
| [The Lady of Waristoun,] | Chambers’s Edin. Journal, |
| [A Tale of Pentland,] | James Hogg |
| [Graysteel] | John o’ Groat Journal, |
| [The Billeted Soldier,] | Eminent Men of Fife, |
| [Bruntfield,] | Chambers’s Edin. Journal, |
| [Sunset and Sunrise,] | Professor Wilson |
| [Miss Peggy Brodie,] | Andrew Picken |
| [The Death of a Prejudice,] | Thomas Aird |
| [Anent Auld Grandfaither, &c.,] | D. M. Moir |
| [John Brown; or, the House in the Muir,] | Blackwood’s Magazine, |
| [Traditions of the Old Tolbooth of Edinburgh,] | Robert Chambers |
| [The Lover’s Last Visit,] | Professor Wilson |
| [Mary Queen of Scots and Chatelar,] | Literary Souvenir, |
| [A Night in Duncan M‘Gowan’s,] | Blackwood’s Magazine, |
| [The Miller and the Freebooter,] | Sir Thomas Dick Lauder |
| [Benjie’s Christening,] | D. M. Moir |
| [The Minister’s Widow,] | Professor Wilson |
| [The Battle of the Breeks,] | Robert Macnish |
| [My Sister Kate,] | Andrew Picken |
| [Wat the Prophet,] | James Hogg |
| [The Snow-Storm,] | Professor Wilson |
| [Love at one Glimpse,] | Edin. Literary Journal, |
| [Nanny Welsh, the Minister’s Maid,] | Daniel Gorrie |
| [Lady Jean,] | Chambers’s Edin. Journal, |
| [The Monkey,] | Robert Macnish |
| [The Ladder-Dancer,] | Blackwood’s Magazine, |
| [The Elder’s Death-Bed,] | Professor Wilson |
| [A Highland Feud,] | Sir Walter Scott |
| [The Resurrection Men,] | D. M. Moir |
| [Mary Wilson,] | Aberdeen Censor, |
| [The Laird of Cassway,] | James Hogg |
| [The Elder’s Funeral,] | Professor Wilson |
| [Macdonald, the Cattle-Riever,] | Literary Gazette, |
| [The Murder Hole,] | Blackwood’s Magazine, |
| [The Miller of Doune,] | “The Odd Volume,” |
| [The Headless Cumins,] | Sir Thomas Dick Lauder |
| [The Lady Isabel,] | Chambers’s Edin. Journal, |
| [The Desperate Duel,] | D. M. Moir |
| [The Vacant Chair,] | John Mackay Wilson |
| [Colkittoch,] | Literary Gazette, |
| [The Covenanters,] | Robert Macnish |
| [The Poor Scholar,] | Professor Wilson |
| [The Crushed Bonnet,] | Glasgow Athenæum, |
| [The Villagers of Auchincraig,] | Daniel Gorrie |
| [Perling Joan,] | John Gibson Lockhart |
| [Janet Smith,] | Professor Thomas Gillespie |
| [The Unlucky Top Boots,] | Chambers’s Edin. Journal, |
| [My First and Last Play,] | D. M. Moir |
| [Jane Malcolm,] | Edin. Literary Journal, |
| [Bowed Joseph,] | Robert Chambers |
| [The Laird of Wineholm,] | James Hogg |
| [An Incident in the Great Moray Floods of 1829,] | Sir Thomas Dick Lauder |
| [Charlie Graham, the Tinker,] | George Penny |
| [The Snowing-up of Strath Lugas,] | Blackwood’s Magazine, |
| [Ezra Peden,] | Allan Cunningham |
| [Young Ronald of Morar,] | Literary Gazette, |
| [The Broken Ring,] | “The Odd Volume,” |
| [A Passage of My Life,] | Paisley Magazine, |
| [The Court Cave,] | Drummond Bruce |
| [Helen Waters,] | John Malcolm |
| [Legend of the Large Mouth,] | Robert Chambers |
| [Richard Sinclair; or, the Poor Prodigal,] | Thomas Aird |
| [The Barley Fever—and Rebuke,] | D. M. Moir |
| [Elphin Irving, the Fairies’ Cupbearer,] | Allan Cunningham |
| [Choosing a Minister,] | John Galt |
| [The Meal Mob,] | Edin. Literary Journal, |
| [The Flitting,] | “My Grandfather’s Farm,” |
| [Ewen of the Little Head,] | Literary Gazette, |
| [Basil Rolland,] | Aberdeen Censor, |
| [The Last of the Jacobites,] | Robert Chambers |
| [The Grave-Digger’s Tale,] | “The Auld Kirk Yard,” |
| [The Fairy Bride,] | Edin. Literary Journal, |
| [The Lost Little Ones,] | “The Odd Volume,” |
| [An Orkney Wedding,] | John Malcolm |
| [The Ghost with the Golden Casket,] | Allan Cunningham |
| [Ranald of the Hens,] | Literary Gazette, |
| [The French Spy,] | John Galt |
| [The Minister’s Beat,] | Blackwood’s Magazine, |
| [A Scottish Gentlewoman of the Last Century,] | Miss Ferrier |
| [The Faithless Nurse,] | Edin. Literary Gazette, |
| [Traditions of the Celebrated Major Weir,] | Robert Chambers |
| [The Windy Yule,] | John Galt |
| [Grizel Cochrane,] | Chambers’s Edin. Journal, |
| [The Fatal Prayer,] | Literary Melange, |
| [Glenmannow, the Strong Herdsman,] | William Bennet |
| [My Grandmother’s Portrait,] | Daniel Gorrie |
| [The Baptism,] | Professor Wilson |
| [The Laird’s Wooing,] | John Galt |
| [Thomas the Rhymer,] | Sir Walter Scott |
| [Lachlan More,] | Literary Gazette, |
| [Alemoor,] | Chambers’s Edin. Journal, |
| [Tibby Fowler,] | John Mackay Wilson |
| [Daniel Cathie, Tobacconist,] | Edin. Literary Almanac, |
| [The Haunted Ships,] | Allan Cunningham |
| [A Tale of the Martyrs,] | James Hogg |
| [The Town Drummer,] | John Galt |
| [The Awful Night,] | D. M. Moir |
| [Rose Jamieson,] | Anon. |
| [A Night at the Herring Fishing,] | Hugh Miller |
| [The Twin Sisters,] | Alexander Balfour |
| [Albert Bane,] | Henry Mackenzie |
| [The Penny Wedding,] | Alexander Campbell |
| [Peat-Casting Time,] | Thomas Gillespie |
| [An Adventure with the Press-Gang,] | Paisley Magazine, |
| [The Laird of Cool’s Ghost,] | Old Chap Book, |
| [Allan-a-Sop,] | Sir Walter Scott |
| [John Hetherington’s Dream,] | Old Chap Book, |
| [Black Joe o’ the Bow,] | James Smith |
| [The Fight for the Standard,] | James Paterson |
| [Catching a Tartar,] | D. M. Moir |
SCOTTISH STORY.
By John Mackay Wilson.