Papers relating to the lives and lamentable deaths of the late Lord Durisdeer, and his elder brother James, commonly called Master of Ballantrae, attainted in the troubles: entrusted into the hands of John M‘Brair in the Lawnmarket of Edinburgh, W.S.; this 20th day of September Anno Domini 1789; by him to be kept secret until the revolution of one hundred years complete, or until the 20th day of September 1889: the same compiled and written by me, EPHRAIM MACKELLAR, _For near forty years Land Steward on the_ _estates of His Lordship_. As Mr. Thomson is a married man, I will not say what hour had struck when we laid down the last of the following pages; but I will give a few words of what ensued. ‘Here,’ said Mr. Thomson, ‘is a novel ready to your hand: all you have to do is to work up the scenery, develop the characters, and improve the style.’ ‘My dear fellow,’ said I, ‘they are just the three things that I would rather die than set my hand to. It shall be published as it stands.’ ‘But it’s so bald,’ objected Mr. Thomson. ‘I believe there is nothing so noble as baldness,’ replied I, ‘and I am sure there is nothing so interesting. I would have all literature bald, and all authors (if you like) but one.’ ‘Well, well,’ said Mr. Thomson, ‘we shall see.’ * * * * * Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press FOOTNOTES {3} First published in the Contemporary Review, April 1885 {21} Milton. {24} Milton. {33} Milton. {34} As PVF will continue to haunt us through our English examples, take, by way of comparison, this Latin verse, of which it forms a chief adornment, and do not hold me answerable for the all too Roman freedom of the sense: ‘Hanc volo, quæ facilis, quæ palliolata vagatur.’ {35} Coleridge. {36} Antony and Cleopatra. {37a} Cymbeline. {37b} The V is in ‘of.’ {38} Troilus and Cressida. {47a} First published in the _Fortnightly Review_, April 1881. {47b} Mr. James Payn. {64} A footnote, at least, is due to the admirable example set before all young writers in the width of literary sympathy displayed by Mr. Swinburne. He runs forth to welcome merit, whether in Dickens or Trollope, whether in Villon, Milton, or Pope. This is, in criticism, the attitude we should all seek to preserve; not only in that, but in every branch of literary work. {75a} First published in the _British Weekly_, May 13, 1887. {75b} Of the _British Weekly_. {93} First published in the _Magazine of Art_ in 1883. {111} First published in the _Idler_, August 1894.