THE following lectures were undertaken with the intention and hope of furnishing a clue to the most trustworthy sources of contemporary, or nearly contemporary, information about the early condition and history of Scotland, and of indicating the most probable line of truth among conflicting statements. Some such guidance may be found acceptable by those who, while desiring to acquire a clear general knowledge of the origin of the Scottish people and their relations with England, have not enough leisure at command for prolonged search through the printed volumes of annals and to weigh the authority which may rightly be assigned to each. It is hardly necessary that I should explain how greatly I have relied upon the labours of previous students in this field ; they are too numerous and too well known to require specific mention. But among the more recent of them there are three from whose works I have derived so much immediate assistance that it will not be thought invidious if I make direct acknowledgment of the same. In chronological order of publication these works stand as follows: 1899. Scottish Kings: a revised chronology of Scottish History, A.D. 1005-1625, by Sir Archibald H. Dunbar, Bart. 1908. Scottish Annals from English Chronicles: A.D. 500-1286, by Alan O. Anderson. 1910. Annals ofthe Reigns of Malcolm and William Kings of Scotland, A.D. 1153-1214. Between them, these three volumes provide a corpus of reference which I have found to save an infinity of trouble.

Herbert Maxwell, 1912

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