ity, when they were not protected
by their inaccessible situation. [I would particularly intimate the Kaim
of Uric, on the eastern coast of Scotland, as having suggested an
idea for the tower called Wolf's Crag, which the public more generally
identified with the ancient tower of Fast Castle.]

The scraps of poetry which have been in most cases tacked to the
beginning of chapters in these Novels are sometimes quoted either from
reading or from memory, but, in the general case, are pure invention. I
found it too troublesome to turn to the collection of the British Poets
to discover apposite mottoes, and, in the situation of the theatrical
mechanist, who, when the white paper which represented his shower of
snow was exhausted, continued the storm by snowing brown, I drew on
my memory as long as I could, and when that failed, eked it out with
invention. I believe that in some cases, where actual names are affixed
to the supposed quotations, it would be to little purpose to seek them
in the works of the authors referred to. In some cases I have been
entertained when Dr. Watts and other graver authors have been ransacked
in vain for stanzas for which the novelist alone was responsible.

And now the reader may expect me, while in the confessional, to explain
the motives why I have so long persisted in disclaiming the works of
which I am now writing. To this it would be difficult to give any other
reply, save that of Corporal Nym--it was the author's humour or caprice
for the time. I hope it will not be construed into ingratitude to the
public, to whose indulgence I have owed my SANG-FROID much more than
to any merit of my own, if I confess that I am, and have been, more
indifferent to success or to failure as an author, than may be the
case with others, who feel more strongly the passion for literary fame,
probably because they are justly conscious of a better title to it. It
was not until I had attained the age of thirty years that I made any
serious attempt at distinguishing myself as an author; and at that
period men's hopes, desires, and wishes have usually acquired something
of a decisive character, and are not eagerly and easily diverted into
a new channel. When I made the discovery--for to me it was one--that by
amusing myself with composition, which I felt a delightful occupation,
I could also give pleasure to others, and became aware that literary
pursuits were likely to engage in future a considerable portion of my