PREFACE.


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THE ORIGINAL EDITION of this work appeared in 1879, fifteen years
ago. It was well received by the press, by the clan, and by all
interested in the history of the Highlands. The best proof of
this is the fact that the book has for several years been out of
print, occasional second-hand copies of it coming into the market
selling at a high premium on the original subscription price.

Personally, however, I was never satisfied with it. It was my
first clan history, and to say nothing of inevitable defects of
style by a comparatively inexperienced hand, it was for several
other reasons necessarily incomplete, and in many respects not
what I should wish the history of my own clan to be.

This edition, which extends to close upon two hundred pages more
than its predecessor, has an accurate and well-executed plate of
the clan tartan, and a life-like portrait of the Author; has been
almost entirely re-written; contains several families omitted from
the first; has all been carefully revised; and although not even
now absolutely perfect, I believe it is almost as near being so
as it is possible for any work which contains such an enormous
number of dates and other details as this one to be.