Memoir of Marshal Keith

PKEFACE.
No apology is necessary for writing the lives of two of
the most remarkable men that were ever banished from
their native country. The fragrance of their memory is
still fresh in the land of their adoption, and it would be a
national disgrace if it were not so in this, the land which
gave them birth.
Though the Author has been indebted to various works
for part of the materials contained in the following pages,
the reader will, it is hoped, find new facts which help to
clear up certain periods in the lives of the last of the Keiths,
which, to say the least, have been down to the present
time somewhat hazy. Restricted to certain limits, the
Author has, nevertheless, been careful to select such infor-
mation as he deems most interesting, and which bears more
directly on the history of the brothers George and James.
At another time, he may prepare a more elaborate life of
the men whom " the great soldier of the age" honoured
with the name of friend.
It is but right to state that, though the authenticity
of the MS. mentioned in the introduction has been
vouched for by the late Peter Buchan, the statements
contained in the early part are open to be questioned.
The popular belief that the Keith coat-of-arms was