Volume 1
The Scottish nation, or, The surnames, families, literature, honours, and biographical history of the people of Scotland / by William Anderson.
- Date:
- 1863
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Scottish nation, or, The surnames, families, literature, honours, and biographical history of the people of Scotland / by William Anderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
13/798 (page 7)
![the happiness of numkhid. Not a few names, moreover, that have h^ng been borne down by undeserved obloqny liave been restored to their proper position; while others, upheld by misstatement or exao-geration at an undue elevation, have been placed on a lower pedestal. In all cases the trutli has been stated, without reference to pai-ty feelings or sectarian j misrepresentations. In the department of literature great attention has been bestowed upon the articles relating to men distinguished by their wi-itings. By append- ino- the titles and dates of their works, and sometimes when these were numerous, classifying the subjects treated of, easy reference is combined with great economy of space. In a word, as respects the productions of its literary characters, 'The Scottish Nation' becomes as it were a Bihli- otlieca Scottica corrected and brought down to the present day. For a work of this character it is evident that an Aljihahetical arrange- ment^ or what is generally although incorrectly known as the Dictionary form, is the only one compatible with clearness, order, and facility of ref- erence, and accordingly such a form has been adopted, witli some peculi- arities which it is hoped will be found to improve it in these respects. In all other works of this kind, when several articles or parties of the same name came to be described, the siih-al]ihahetical order, or that of the initial letters has obtained. In the c;tse of biograpliies, however, on this principle, the ancestor is placed often at a distance from and not vmfrequently long after his descendants. Throughout long lists of similar surnames the strictly alphabetical arrangement mixes up epochs, and mars all attempts to present the connection which distinguished indi- vidual-; bearing them had to one another. This inconvenience, except in a few imimportant cases, has been obviated by a double arrange- ment. In narrating isolated biographies of individuals of the same sur- name the order m time is followed; they succeed each other accord- ing to the epochs in which the parties lived. Where, however, a lineal descent is traceable, the biographies are introduced and continued in a direct succession. The order of the series is liere chronological, but in the order of families, and not by individuals. To the student of Scottish history the value of the assistance furnished](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21974354_0001_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
