PREFACE

The Dark Year of Dundee may be called a tale of Fact, since Fiction has only been employed in it as the handmaid of Truth, and for the purpose of throwing a more vivid light upon scenes and events that actually occurred. The “story,” slight as it is, may not inaptly be likened to the sheath or calyx that encloses and protects the yet unopened bud. When the flower unfolds its petals, the calyx has fulfilled its work, and, hidden from the eye, no longer attracts the thoughts and attention of the spectator. Thus it has been intended only to leave upon the reader’s mind the impression of one grand and simple character;—only to tell, plainly and briefly, the story of one who, long ago, laboured viabundantly and endured nobly for Christ’s sake, “strengthened with all might according to his glorious power.” And no alloy of fiction has been admitted into what is here recorded of George Wishart; for, apart from any other consideration, such a character as his is “God’s workmanship,” and it would seem impossible to add anything to the great Artist’s design without marring its beauty and completeness.

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