John Splendid: The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn
Neil Munro
Produced by David Widger
JOHN SPLENDID
The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn
By Neil Munro
William Blackwood And Sons
Edinburgh And London
MDCCCXCVIII
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CONTENTS: (Note: Chapter XII notation skipped in the print copy.)
CHAPTER I.--FROM THE FOREIGN FIELD.
CHAPTER II.--GILLESBEG GRUAMACH.
CHAPTER III.--THE LADY ON THE STAIR.
CHAPTER IV.--A NIGHT ALARM.
CHAPTER V.--KIRK LAW.
CHAPTER VI.--MY LADY OF MOODS.
CHAPTER VII.--CHILDREN OF THE MIST.
CHAPTER VIII.--THE BALE-FIRES ON THE BENS.
CHAPTER IX.--INVASION.
CHAPTER X.--THE FLIGHT TO THE FOREST.
CHAPTER XI.--ON BENS OF WAR.
CHAPTER XIII.--WHERE TREADS THE DEER.
CHAPTER XIV.--MY LADY AND THE CHILD.
CHAPTER XV.--CONFESSIONS OF A MARQUIS.
CHAPTER XVI.--OUR MARCH FOR LOCHABER.
CHAPTER XVII.--IN THE LAND OF LORN.
CHAPTER XVIII.--BARD OF KEPPOCH.
CHAPTER XIX.--THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY.
CHAPTER XX.--INVERLOCHY.
CHAPTER XXI.--SEVEN BROKEN MEN.
CHAPTER XXII.--DAME DUBH.
CHAPTER XXIII.--THE WIDOW OF GLENCOE.
CHAPTER XXIV.--A NIGHT'S SHELTER.
CHAPTER XXV.--THE ANGRY EAVESDROPPER.
CHAPTER XXVI.--TRAPPED.
CHAPTER XXVII.--A TAVERN IN THE WILDS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.--LOST ON THIS MOOR OF KANNOCH.
CHAPTER XXIX.--THE RETURN.
CHAPTER XXX.--ARGILE'S BEDROOM.
CHAPTER XXXI.--MISTRESS BETTY.
CHAPTER XXXII.--A SCANDAL AND A QUARREL.
CHAPTER XXXIII.--THE BROKEN SWORD.
CHAPTER XXXIV.--LOVE IN THE WOODS.
CHAPTER XXXV.--FAREWELL.
DEDICATION.
To read this tale, dear Hugh, without any association of its incidentswith the old respectable chronicles of the Historians is what I shouldwish you could always do. That is the happy manner with Romance; that isthe enviable aptness of the child. But when (by the favour of God) yougrow older and more reflective, seeking perhaps for more in these pagesthan they meant to give, you may wonder that the streets, the lanes, thetenements herein set forth so much resemble those we know to-day, thoughless than two hundred years ago the bracken waved upon their promontory.You may wonder, too, that the Silver Mines of Coillebhraid, discoveredin the time of your greatgrandfather, should have so strangelybeen anticipated in the age of Gillesbeg Gruamach. Let not thosechronological divergences perturb you; they were in the manuscript(which you will be good enough to assume) of Elrigmore, and I would notalter them. Nor do I diminish by a single hour Elrigmore's estimatethat two days were taken on the Miraculous Journey to Inverlochy,though numerous histories have made it less. In that, as in a few otherdetails, Elrigmore's account is borne out by one you know to whom TheLittle Wars of Lorn and Lochaber are yet, as it were, an impulse ofyesterday, and the name of Athole is utterly detestable.
I give you this book, dear Hugh, not for History, though a true tale--asad old tale--is behind it, but for a picture of times and manners, of acountry that is dear to us in every rock and valley, of a people we knowwhose blood is ours. And that you may grow in wisdom as in years, andgain the riches of affection, and escape the giants of life as Connaldid the giants of Erin O, in our winter tale, is my fervent prayer.
N. M.
September 1898.
JOHN SPLENDID.
