OF MR. WILLIAM VEITCH, AND GEORGE BRYSSON, WRITTEN BY THEMSELVES: WITH OTHER NARRATIVES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, PREFACE. THE pieces composing this volume relate to an important period of our national history, which, after all that has been written on it, still admits of farther illustration. The Memoirs of Mr. William Veitch are printed from a MS. belonging to David Constable, Esq. advocate, who very obligingly put it into my hands with a view to publication. It bears to have been "written and carefully collated with the original, Aug. 11, 1727." In the Advocates Library is a copy of a Diary, chiefly religious, written by Mrs. Veitch, which confirms and throws light on several passages of her husband's Memoirs. The original of this is in the possession of W. Henderson Somerville of Fingask and Whitecroft, Esq. a descendant of Mr. Veitch, to whom I am indebted for the use of several docu ments relating to the family. Others were communicated by Mr. Short, Town Clerk of Dumfries. I have also to acknowledge the kindness of the Reverend Dr. Duncan of Dumfries, and the Reverend Mr. Somerville of Drumelzier, in furnishing me with extracts from the church-records in their bounds, which were very useful to me in drawing up the Supplement to Veitch's Memoirs. The Memoirs of George Brysson are printed from a MS. belonging to Mr. Robert Whyte, Edinburgh, who is married to a lineal descendant of the author. As the preceding article includes a curious account of the escape of the Earl of Argyle after his condemnation, so the reader will find in this article a no less interesting account of the expedition which issued in the capture and execution of that public-spirited but unfortunate nobleman. To make the account of this expedition more complete, I have introduced distinctly, in the form of extract and of abridgement, such parts of Sir Patrick Hume's Narrative as state facts which did not fall under the personal observation of Brysson, or which he has omitted. Colonel Wallace's Narrative of the Rising suppressed at Pentland is taken from a MS. in the College Library of Edinburgh, which is rather |