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 Preface
The object of the author in
bringing this work before the public is to present in a popular form the
history and state of the people of Scotland during a period little known
to any but students of archaeology. Modern historians, with the exception
of Dr Skene, have passed lightly over it, stating what is true enough,
that there are no reliable facts to chronicle. But there is a growing love
for the investigation of the mythological and legendary history of peoples
other than the Hebrew, Greek and Roman, a feeling that present enigmas may
be solved, and present duties enforced by such an investigation. The study
of the mythology and legends of the peoples named, forms an integral part
of the education even of the young: why should we neglect our own
ancestors, the Celt and the Teuton? The boy is father to the man— if at
the present day we receive with reverence or rapture the childish records
of the great names in Literature and Art, why should we not treasure up
all that remains of the forefathers who gave us the rude outline of our
present institutions in Church and State?
While making free use of
modern works, the author has taken his facts entirely from the earliest
authorities, and has based his inferences on these facts and on these
alone. He trusts that his readers will treat his work as an honest attempt
to bring before them an important period in our National History, little
known and less thought of.
Glasgow, 1886.
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