avowedly fictitious.

As certain points of Gaelic orthography were found to be involved, it
was decided to mention the house as standing in a bi-lingual district
upon the borders of Wales, and Lord Bute arranged with Sir William
Lewis to have these linguistic points represented by Welsh instead of
Gaelic.

The affairs of the inquiry, and of any phenomena which might occur,
were thus protected, it was believed, by a confidence even more
absolute than that usually observed in such affairs of a household as
to which honour dictates that a guest should be silent.

The appreciation with which the S---- family responded to this
courteous and careful consideration for their possible feelings, was
made manifest to the world by the tone which they adopted when,
immediately on the appearance of the anonymous article in _The Times_,
they rushed into the newspapers, and published everything concerning
themselves, their family property, predecessors, and tenants, with all
the proper names at full length. After that outburst it has, of
course, been rendered impossible to keep the identity of the place and
people any longer secret.

Out of deference to other members of the family who did not take part
in this, the matter in the present volume remains in as private a form
as the newspaper correspondence now leaves possible.

The names given in full are those mostly very indirectly concerned;
other names, including that of the house, are given under the real
initials, with the exception of a few of the less prominent, when the
real initials would create confusion; and in these latter cases they
are taken from letters of the alphabet not already used, and are
placed in inverted commas; _e.g._ the real initial of a Mr. S---- is
changed, in order to avoid confusion with the name of the S---- family
themselves, the proprietors of B----.

The contents of the book are, except in one respect, arranged upon the
simple chronological system. They commence with a short sketch of the
history of the S---- family, based in its earlier part upon Douglas's
"Baronage of Scotland"; and all information which the writers possess
as to the phenomena which have occurred since the death of Major S----
in 1876, except that supplied by the S---- family, is set forth in
succession.

The family of S---- date from the earlier part of the middle of the
fifteenth century, and were settled upon the river T---- within that
century, while they have possessed