SCENES AND LEGENDS OF THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND. SCENES AND LEGENDS OF THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND; OR, The Traditional History of Cromarty. BY HUGH MILLER, AUTHOR OF ‘THE OLD RED SANDSTONE,’ ETC. ETC. _EIGHTH EDITION._ EDINBURGH: WILLIAM P. NIMMO. 1869. DEDICATION TO SIR THOMAS DICK LAUDER OF GRANGE AND FOUNTAINHALL, BARONET. HONOURED SIR, I am not much acquainted with what Goldsmith has termed the ceremonies of a dedication. I know, however, that like other ceremonies, they are sometimes a little tedious, and often more than a little insincere. But it is well that, though dulness be involuntary, no one need deceive unless he wills it. There are comparatively few who seem born to think vigorously, or to express themselves well; but since all men may be honest, though all cannot be original or elegant, every one, surely, may express only what he feels. In dedicating this little volume to you, I obey the dictates of a real, though perhaps barren, gratitude; nor can I think of the kind interest which you have taken in my amusements as a writer, and my fortunes as a man, without feeling that, though I may be dull, I cannot be insincere. There are other motives which have led to this address. He who dedicates, more than expresses his gratitude. By his choice of a Patron, he intimates also, as if by specimen, the class which he would fain select as his readers; or, as I should perhaps rather express myself, he specifies the peculiar cast of intellect and range of acquirement from which he anticipates the justest appreciation of his labours, and the deepest interest in the subject of them. Need I say that I regard you, Sir Thomas, as a representative of the class whom it is most my ambition to please? My stories, arranged as nearly as possible in the chronological order, form a long vista into the past of Scotland, with all its obsolete practices and all its exploded beliefs. And where shall I find one better qualified to decide regarding the truth of the scenery, the justness of the perspective, or the proportions and costume of the figures, than he whom contemporary genius has so happily designated as the “Poet and Painter of the great Morayshire Floods?” I can form no higher wish than that my work may prove worthy of so discerning a critic, or that you, Sir, may be as fortunate in your _protégé_ as I in my patron.