Transcriber’s Notes: Italic text is marked _thus_. The original accentuation, and spelling has been retained. Hyphenation has been made consistent as far as possible. The index to volumes I. and II. has been copied from volume II. and reproduced at the end of volume I. DOMESTIC ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. DOMESTIC ANNALS OF SCOTLAND From the Reformation to the Revolution. BY ROBERT CHAMBERS, F.R.S.E., F.S.A.Sc., &c. SECOND EDITION. VOLUME I. [Illustration: Bannatyne House, Strathmore.] W. & R. CHAMBERS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. MDCCCLIX. Edinburgh: Printed by W. and R. Chambers. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. It has occurred to me that a chronicle of domestic matters in Scotland from the Reformation downwards--the period during which we see a progress towards the present state of things in our country--would be an interesting and instructive book. History has in a great measure confined itself to political transactions and personages, and usually says little of the people, their daily concerns, and the external accidents which immediately affect their comfort. This I have always thought was much to be regretted, and a general tendency to the same view has been manifested of late years. I have therefore resolved to make an effort, in regard to my own country, to detail her DOMESTIC ANNALS--the series of occurrences beneath the region of history, the effects of passion, superstition, and ignorance in the people, the extraordinary natural events which disturbed their tranquillity, the calamities which affected their wellbeing, the traits of false political economy by which that wellbeing was checked, and generally those things which enable us to see how our forefathers thought, felt, and suffered, and how, on the whole, ordinary life looked in their days.