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

PREFACE.
ix
public, the writer has chiefly consulted Wyn-
toune and those authors, who, from their living
near the period under review, may be supposed
intimately acquainted with the transactions they
narrate; and by collating their writings with
the valuable record preserved by the Minstrel,
he indulges the hope, that, so far as plan is con¬
cerned, his performance will meet the approval
of his readers.
Considering the numerous publications which
are daily issuing from the press, it may be mat¬
ter of surprise, that no prose history of Sir
William Wallace has yet made its appearance
from the pen of any of those authors whose ta¬
lents have added so much to the amusement and
instruction of the public.
That the early actions of a man whose heroic
excellencies of character have made so deep and
so lasting an impression on the minds of the
people of Scotland, should, amidst this the efful¬
gence of our literary meridian, remain to be
decyphered from the obscurities of a language
now almost obselete, is a circumstance not easily
to be accounted for.