matter, but affixed my name to the whole of the Novels, and to
some besides to which I had no claim.
    The volumes, therefore, to which the present pages form a Preface, are
entirely the composition of the Author by whom they are now acknowledged, with
the exception, always, of avowed quotations, and such unpremeditated and
involuntary plagiarisms as can scarce be guarded against by any one who has read
and written a great deal. The original manuscripts are all in existence, and
entirely written (horresco referens) in the Author's own hand, excepting during
the years 1818 and 1819, when, being affected with severe illness, he was
obliged to employ the assistance of a friendly amanuensis.
    The number of persons to whom the secret was necessarily entrusted, or
communicated by chance, amounted I should think to twenty at least, to whom I am
greatly obliged for the fidelity with which they observed that trust, until the
derangement of the affairs of my publishers, Messrs. Constable and Co., and the
exposure of their accompt-books, which was the necessary consequence, rendered
secrecy no longer possible. The particulars attending the avowal have been laid
before the public in the Introduction to the Chronicles of the Canongate.
    The preliminary advertisement has given a sketch of the purpose of this
edition. I have some reason to fear that the notes which accompany the tales, as
now published, may be thought too miscellaneous and too egotistical. It may be
some apology for this, that the publication was intended to be posthumous, and
still more, that old men may be permitted to speak long, because they cannot in
the course of nature have long time to speak. In preparing the present edition,
I have done all that I can do to explain the nature of my materials, and the use
I have made of them; nor is it probable that I shall again revise or even read
these tales. I was therefore desirous rather to exceed in the portion of new and
explanatory matter which is added to this edition, than that the reader should
have reason to complain that the information communicated was of a general and
merely nominal character. It remains to be tried whether the public (like a
child to whom a watch is shown) will, after having been satiated with looking at
the outside, acquire some new interest in the object when it is opened, and the
internal machinery displayed to them.
    That Waverley and its successors have had their day of favour and popularity
must be admitted with sincere gratitude; and the Author has studied (with the
prudence of a beauty whose reign has