The tale of the Surgeon's Daughter formed part of the second series of
Chronicles of the Canongate, published in 1827; but has been separated
from the stories of the Highland Widow, &c., which it originally
accompanied, and deferred to the close of this collection, for reasons
which printers and publishers will understand, and which would hardly
interest the general reader.
The Author has nothing to say now in reference to this little Novel, but
that the principal incident on which it turns, was narrated to him one
morning at breakfast by his worthy friend, Mr. Train, of Castle Douglas,
in Galloway, whose kind assistance he has so often had occasion to
acknowledge in the course of these prefaces; and that the military
friend who is alluded to as having furnished him with some information
as to Eastern matters, was Colonel James Ferguson of Huntly Burn, one of
the sons of the venerable historian and philosopher of that name--which
name he took the liberty of concealing under its Gaelic form of
_Mac-Erries_.
Abbotsford, _September_ 1831.