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INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
Whoever professes to
disclose from criminal records anything that has both importance and
novelty to recommend it, will generally need no further excuse for
offering it to the public. There can be no source of information more
fruitful in incidents which have the attraction of picturesqueness along
with the usefulness of truth. In every country in which there is even a
pretence of administering justice, the social circle where crime is to
be sought and punished, is subjected to a sudden and searching
investigation of its elements and condition. The Asmodeus of the law
catches the group by surprise, ere it has time to veil itself in
conventionalities and adjust appearances for public view. The
administration of criminal justice may thus be said to cut to the very
centre of society, and lay bare all its strata. Besides the reference of
every criminal trial to some main central event, in which the passions
and propensities of mankind are developed in their most emphatic shape
and deepest hue, each investigation reveals, collaterally, the social
secrets of the day—from the state-mysteries, guarded by the etiquette
and policy of courts, down to those characteristics of humble life,
which are removed from ordinary notice by their native obscurity.
Under arbitrary laws, the knowledge thus extracted is generally retained
for generations in official secrecy, and may, or may not, be brought to
light in subsequent ages, by persons who do not inherit the original
motives for concealment. But whether found in the mouldy registers of
secret inquiries, or developed in the broad daylight of a public trial,
the details of such investigations are a great mine of impressive
knowledge. The contents of the following pages have been drawn from both
these sources. The author offers them to the public, under the
impression that they develop remarkable social conditions, and throw new
light on the secret impulses of historical events; but whether he has
thus formed a just conclusion, is a question for others to decide.
The materials here made use of, had accumulated in the author’s hands,
along with much other miscellaneous matter, in the pursuit of historical
projects relating to Scotland, which he hopes yet to realise. The
authorities drawn from are indicated, here and there, in the usual
manner. And it will be seen, that while some of them are yet in
manuscript, several others, owing to the Emited circle for whose use
they have been printed, may be considered as in the same condition to
the world at large, however well they may be known to investigators in
peculiar corners of Scottish history.
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
