Produced by David Clarke, David J. Cole and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Wilson's Tales of the Borders AND OF SCOTLAND. HISTORICAL, TRADITIONARY, & IMAGINATIVE. WITH A GLOSSARY. REVISED BY ALEXANDER LEIGHTON, ONE OF THE ORIGINAL EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS LONDON: WALTER SCOTT, 24 WARWICK LANE, AND NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 1887. CONTENTS. PAGE THE VACANT CHAIR (_John Mackay Wilson_) 1 THE FAA'S REVENGE (_John Mackay Wilson_) 18 KATE KENNEDY (_Alexander Leighton_) 50 RECOLLECTIONS OF FERGUSON (_Hugh Miller_) 83 THE DISASTERS OF JOHNNY ARMSTRONG (_Alexander Campbell_) 128 THE PROFESSOR'S TALES--(_Professor Thomas Gillespie_):-- THE MOUNTAIN STORM 160 THE FAIR MAID OF CELLARDYKES 172 PRESCRIPTION; OR, THE 29TH OF SEPTEMBER (_Alex. Leighton_) 193 THE COUNTESS OF WISTONBURY (_Alexander Campbell_) 225 MIDSIDE MAGGIE; OR, THE BANNOCK O' TOLLISHILL-- (_John Mackay Wilson_) 257 PREFACE. This series of Tales, now so well known in this country and also in America, was begun by JOHN MACKAY WILSON, originally a printer, and who subsequently betook himself to literature. In the beginning of the undertaking he was inspired by a success probably greater than he had ever anticipated, and a sudden and wide-spread reputation induced him to overtask his energies, in a manner inconsistent with the care due to a delicate constitution. After having carried on the work, almost single-handed, for a period of more than a year--furnishing a tale every week--he took ill, and died. Subsequently, the charge of conducting the work devolved upon the present Editor, who was fortunate enough to secure the assistance of certain writers well qualified to sustain the reputation which the first part of the series had acquired. Among these were the late Hugh Miller, the late Professor Thomas Gillespie of St. Andrew's, Alexander Campbell, Alexander and John Bethune, and John Howell, all of whom possessed those natural gifts, enabling them to succeed in a species of literature which, while in one sense it may be called the most easy, is, in another, perhaps among the most difficult of any.