 extend beyond the departure of the hero for Scotland, and, consequently, had
not entered upon the part of the story which was finally found most interesting.
    Be that as it may, this portion of the manuscript was laid aside in the
drawers of an old writing-desk, which, on my first coming to reside at
Abbotsford in 1811, was placed in a lumber garret, and entirely forgotten. Thus,
though I sometimes, among other literary avocations, turned my thoughts to the
continuation of the romance which I had commenced, yet as I could not find what
I had already written, after searching such repositories as were within my
reach, and was too indolent to attempt to write it anew from memory, I as often
laid aside all thoughts of that nature.
    Two circumstances in particular recalled my recollection of the mislaid
manuscript. The first was the extended and well-merited fame of Miss Edgeworth,
whose Irish characters have gone so far to make the English familiar with the
character of their gay and kind-hearted neighbours of Ireland, that she may be
truly said to have done more towards completing the Union than perhaps all the
legislative enactments by which it has been followed up.
    Without being so presumptuous as to hope to emulate the rich humour,
pathetic tenderness, and admirable tact, which pervade the works of my
accomplished friend, I felt that something might be attempted for my own country
of the same kind with that which Miss Edgeworth so fortunately achieved for
Ireland - something which might introduce her natives to those of the sister
kingdom in a more favourable light than they had been placed hitherto, and tend
to procure sympathy for their virtues and indulgence for their foibles. I
thought also that much of what I wanted in talent might be made up by the
intimate acquaintance with the subject which I could lay claim to possess, as
having travelled through most parts of Scotland, both Highland and Lowland;
having been familiar with the elder as well as more modern race; and having had
from my infancy free and unrestrained communication with all ranks of my
countrymen, from the Scottish peer to the Scottish ploughman. Such ideas often
occurred to me, and constituted an ambitious branch of my theory, however far
short I may have fallen of it in practice.
    But it was not only the triumphs of Miss Edgeworth which worked in me
emulation, and disturbed my indolence. I chanced actually to engage in a work
which formed a sort of essay piece, and gave me hope that I might in time become
free of the craft of Romance-writing, and be esteemed a tolerable workman.
    In the year 1807
