THE BARDS OF GALLOWAY: A COLLECTION OF POEMS, SONGS, BALLADS, &c., BY NATIVES OF GALLOWAY. EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY MALCOLM M'L. HARPER, "RAMBLES IN GALLOWAY," AND THE MEMOIR TO THE THIRD EDITION OF AUTHOR OF "Verse comes from heav'n, like inward light; Mere human pains can ne'er come by't; The god, not we, the poem makes; We only tell folks what he speaks." -PRIOR. DALBEATTIE: THOMAS FRASER, 94, HIGH STREET. APM 4453 INTRODUCTION. THA HAT Galloway has been productive of literary talent Dr Thomas Murray's History, the second edition of which was published so far back as 1832, affords abundant proof. In it is presented a goodly array of Gallovidians who, by their literary works, have so distinguished themselves as to be an honour to their native province. In its literary characters of that time Galloway, in proportion to its size, compares favourably with any other district of Scotland. The names of Dr Alexander Murray, Professor of Oriental Languages, and author of the Life of James Bruce, the Traveller; Dr Thomas Brown, Professor of Moral Philosophy, and author of numerous philosophical and poetical works; Lord Bankton, author of the Institutes of the Laws of Scotland; Robert Heron, author of A Journey through Scotland, and other works; Rev. William Mackenzie, author of the History of Galloway; John Mactaggart, author of the Gallovidian Encyclopædia, and Three Years in Canada; John Nicholson, publisher of The History of Galloway, and compiler of several works relating to Galloway History and Tradition; John Ramsay M'Culloch, the political economist, and others, will always hold an honourable place in the Literary History of the province. Since then the names of Sir James Caird, K.C.B., Sir Herbert E. Maxwell, P. H. M'Kerlie, Dr Alexander Raleigh, and several others may be added as having attained no mean station in the ranks of literature. And in art and science the brothers Faed and Professor Clerk Maxwell have shown such genius as to make the "auld province" renowned. |