Scotland/Scots > Life of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Ellerslie, and Guardian of Scotland

PREFACK
The information which we have respecting
Sir William Wallace in most, if not all, of
the regular histories of Scotland is extremely
defective and unsatisfactory. Any one, there¬
fore, who attempts to write his life must
either confine himself within very narrow li¬
mits, or be compelled to draw his resources
from Henry the Minstrel, an author whom
the learned have agreed not to admit within
the pale of respectable authority. This exclu¬
sion, however, we conceive to be rather un¬
gracious, considering that they have extended
their suffrages to writers who are guilty of
greater aberrations from historical veracity than
any which are chargeable against him. It is
true that the works of these writers are in La¬
tin ; but we do not see that a great lie told in
the classical language of ancient Rome should