POPULAR SCOTTISH BIOGRAPHY: BEING LIVES OF EMINENT NATIVES OF BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME, FROM THE MOST BY WILLIAM ANDERSON, ESQ., § 5: AUTHOR OF LANDSCAPE LYRICS,' &c. STEAD'S PLACE, LEITH WALK, EDINBURGH; PREFACE. SCOTLAND, in proportion to its size and population, has produced, perhaps, a greater number of eminent men than any other country in the world. Nevertheless, there has heretofore been, properly speaking, no cheap POPULAR DICTIONARY OF SCOTISH BIOGRAPHY in existence, and certainly none that could be considered what the present work is peculiarly intended to be, a full, complete, and comprehensive Collection of the Lives of Distinguished Natives of Scotland, at once adapted for ready reference and popular perusal. Biography at all times affords useful and instructive reading; and there are no Lives which are perused with more satisfaction and advantage, than those of men belonging to the same soil as ourselves, whose conduct and character have rendered them worthy of being held up as the glory and example of their native land. In the Lives of the great men of a nation, we see illustrated and shown forth the rise and fall of empires, the discovery of unexplored countries, the progress of commerce, the advancement of literature, the improvements in the Arts and Sciences, the propagation of Christianity, and, indeed, all that can add to the civilization, increase the enlightenment, or promote the comfort of mankind. If history be, as has been well remarked, * Philosophy teaching by example," Biography furnishes the materials, and embellishes the outline of History. In following out the plan of this work, the Author has aimed at producing something more than a mere compilation. The Lives have been given with faithfulness and impartiality, and the most authentic sources of information have been consulted, with an anxious desire to ensure correctness in the details. In addition to the Lives of persons previously commemorated, among the contents will be found the Biographies of many individuals of note, generally overlooked in publications of the kind, as well as of those Scotsmen of eminence who have recently died, and whose Lives have been hitherto unwritten. Of the latter, there are many original Lives given in the following pages, which have been prepared, in most instances, from materials furnished by family information. Without wishing to interfere with the collection of Lives of Eminent Scotsmen, published seven or eight years ago, in four large volumes, it was considered that a complete Scotish Biography, comprised within the compass of a portable volume, and offered at a price which most people could af. ford to pay, was still much wanted; and this desideratum the present volume is designed to supply. It embodies a complete BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, from the earliest period to the present time, and it cannot fail of recommending itself to every Scotsman, as a record of the honoured and illustrious of his native land,—of those eminent men who have shed lustre on their country's annals, and made Scotland's name great among the nations. In dismissing the work from his hands, the Author trusts that it will be deemed not altogether unworthy of public approbation and patronage, and be found to deserve a place in every Scotsman's library. July 1842. |