1

THE

SCOTSMAN'S LIBRARY;

BEING A

COLLECTION OF ANECDOTES AND FACTS

ILLUSTRATIVE OF

Scotland and Scotsmen.

BY JAMES MITCHELL, LL. D.

OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN, CORRESPONDENT MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY
OF SCOTTISH ANTIQUARIES, &c. &c.

"It is the chief glory of Scotsmen that, next to God and their parents, they love their country and their country-
men. It is their chief merit, that they study, from their youth till their grey hairs, all that honours their ancestry
and kindred; hence every Scotsman is a hero for the glory of Scotland, wise for the glory of Scotland, and virtuous
for the glory of Scotland. And it is a distinguishing endowment of Scotsmen, that as they are familiar with their
national history, so the virtues and noble deeds of past ages are ever present to their minds, and every Scot, by the
influence of example, strives to become an ornament to his race!"-BUCHON.

PRINTED FOR J. ANDERSON, JUN. NORTH BRIDGE-STREET, EDINBURGH;

J. CUMMING, DUBLIN; AND SHERWOOD, JONES, AND CO.

PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON.

1825.

Price 10s. 6d. bound in red or blue.

PREFACE.

LONG Preface is seldom nccessary, and is generally disagrecable; the Author, herefore, will content himself by merely giving a short account of the origin of this Work. A residence of twenty years in the Metropolis, and its vicinity, has pot diminished is attachment to the land of his birth; and it has been bis chief gratification to occupy is leisure hours in studying the Antiquities and History of Scotland, particularly of the County of Aberdeen, of which he is a native. This employment has been the more agreeable, as the past history of Scotland contains matter, which, to every impartial and reasonable mind, ought to be far more interesting than any thing found in the histories of the more celebrated, but less meritorious nations of Greece and Rome. Examples of every virtue which adorns human nature are found more abundantly in the history of Scotland than in that of any other country; and it is only for any one to take up a Biographical Dictionary, to see, that in proportion to its population, Scotland has produced a greater number of persons distinguished in Arts and Arms, in Literature and Science, than any other country in the world. Her present condition is the delight and admiration of her sons, who return from other lands. Her capital, the modern Athens, is not only the most learned, but is, in every other respect, the finest city in Europe. The Manufactures and Agriculture of Scotland are pre-eminent; and in the exalted moral and tellectual condition of the whole body of the people, the country has no rival in the world. Whoever will peruse the numerous Works which have been written about Sreat Britain, by learned Foreigners, within the last ten years, will see, that at the present day Scotland continues to hold a high place and name amongst the nations of he earth.

Whatever benefit the author may have derived from his course of study, he has at least xperienced very great pleasure, which has stimulated him to read every printed Work