History of the house and race of Douglas and Angus

TO THE READER. V
It remains now that we should say something of the Author,
of whom it is only necessary here to take notice, that he was
a person of a genius equal to his undertaking; that he had
great opportunities, being permitted to see the charters and
archives of the family; and that, as he was a man of learning
and sagacity, he has made the best use of these advantages: he
has also been well versed in the history of Scotland, on which
he makes a great many just and judicious remarks; and really
if the Author has any fault, it is in the number and prolixity
of his reflections; but that ought not so much to be imputed to
him, as to the humour of the times in which he wrote; and
even these are made in such a manly way, so full of strong
substantial sense, and so mixed with ancient Scottish phrases
and proverbs, that as they are generally solid and instructive,
so they will be to many no less entertaining.
It is indeed a loss to the public that the Author did not live
to revise his work from the press; and the Editor of the first
Edition, who has been a man nowise qualified for that busi-
ness, has committed innumerable mistakes, chiefly by his en-
deavouring, in many places, to turn the Scottish phrases of
our author, which he very ill understood, into the English of
the times wherein he lived. He has likewise been very neg-
ligent in the spelling of the proper names of persons and
places, many of which, if it had not been for the Author's
original manuscript, frequently, I confess, not very legible,
and the assistance of other historians, I should never have
been able to have rectified. I have also taken upon me
to alter some old obsolete expressions; but in this I have act-
ed very sparingly.
L. HUNTER, Publisher.
Edinburgh, 1743.