atment of any subject, so his archaeological papers more resemble the
exhaustive treatises of a leisurely student, than the occasional efforts
of one overwhelmed in professional occupations.

In the present work will be found all the more important archaeological
papers of Sir James Simpson, collected from the various sources
indicated in the Table of Contents.

The subjects to the antiquities of which Sir James first directed his
attention were connected with his own profession; but, as time went on,
his interest in historical pursuits deepened and expanded, and the
questions discussed by him became more varied.

It has been thought best to arrange the papers of a general historical
scope in the first volume, and those connected with professional
antiquities in the second; but readers, who may wish to trace the order
in which they were written by the author, will find their various dates
in the Table.

The first paper, entitled "Archaeology, its Past and its Future Work,"
was prepared as a lecture to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
This was done with a care and elaboration which are not always
associated with such efforts; and, whether in indicating the object and
end of the archaeological student's pursuits,--sketching the past
progress of the study,--and specifying the lines of research from which
Scottish inductive archaeology may be expected to derive additional data
and facts,--nothing more thoroughly practical could be desired; while in
his resume of the difficulties and enigmas peculiar to Scottish
antiquities, he may be said to have left none of them untouched, his
passing allusions being, in many instances, suggestive of their
solution.

The paper on "An old Stone-roofed Cell or Oratory in the Island of
Inchcolm" affords an instance of the author's careful observation, and
his fertility of illustration. The humble structure in question, which,
at the time when it first attracted Sir James Simpson's notice, was used
as a pig-stye, had few external features to suggest the necessity of
farther inquiry; but after his eye had become accustomed to the
architecture of the early monastic cells in Ireland, its real character
flashed upon him, and he found that his conclusions coincided with the
facts of the early history of the island.

These he gleaned from many sources, but in grouping them into a picture
he enriched his narrative with various instructive notes; as on the "Mos
Scotticum" of our early b