The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

ROB ROY.
INTRODUCTION - (1829.)
WHEN the author projected this further encroachment on the patience of
an indulgent public, he was at some loss for a title; a good name being very
nearly of as much consequence in literature as in life. The title of ROB
Roy was suggested by the late Mr. Constable, whose sagacity and experience
foresaw the germ of popularity which'it included.
No introduction can be more appropriate to the work than some account
of the singular character whose name is given to the title-page, and who,
through good report and bad report, has maintained a wonderful degree of
importance in popular recollection. This cannot be ascribed to.the distinction of his birth, which, though that of a gentleman, had in it nothing of
high destination, and gave him little right to command in his clan. Neither,
though he lived a busy, restless, and enterprising life, were his feats equal
to those of other freebooters, who have bee;iess distinguished. He owed his
fame in a great measure to his residing on the very verge of the Highlands,
and playing such pranks ianthe beginning of the 18th century, as are usually
ascribed to Robin Hood in the middle ages, and that within forty miles
of Glasgow, a great commercial city, the seat of a learned university. Thus'
a character like his, blending the wild virtues, the subtle policy, and unrestrained licence of an American Indian, was flourishing in Scotland during
the Augustan age of Queen Anne and George I. Addison, it is probable,
or Pope, would have been considerably surprised if they had known that
there existed in the same island with them a personage of Rob Roy's peculiar habits and profession. It is this strong contrast betwixt the civilized
and cultivated mode of life on the one side of the Highland line, and the
wild and lawless adventures which were habitually undertaken and achieved
by one who dwelt on the opposite side of that ideal boundary, which creates
the interest attached to his-name. Hence it is that: even yet,
Far and near, through vale and hill,
Are faces that attest the same.
And kindle like a fire new stirr'd,
At sound of Rob Roy's name.
There were several advantages which Rob Roy enjoyed, for sustaining to
advantage the character which he assumed.
The most prominent of these was his descent from, and connexion with,
the clan MacGregor, so famous for their misfortunes, and the indomitable
spirit.with which they maintained themselves as a clan, linked and banded
together in spite of the most severe laws, executed with unheard-of rigour
against those who bore this forbidden surname. Their history was that of
several others of the original Highland clans, who were suppressed by more
powerful neighbours, and either extirpated, or forced to secure themselves
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