The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

xi'i PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
in language and race, were Gaelic. In the preface to the present work
Skene warns his readers that the system of history developed in it is
''diametrically opposed to all the generally received opinions on the
subject, and that it is itself of a nature so startling as to require a very
rigid and attentive examination before it can be received." This is very
true : Skene had reversed all that the Scottish Chronicles told of the
Picts and of the Scottic Conquest, and had rejected the testimony of
contemporaries that the Picts spoke a language of their own, and had
manners and customs peculiar to themselves. Few now, even of those
that write histories, seem to know that Skene's views of Scottish
ethnology and early history are entirely revolutionary. His "uniformitarian
"
theory of Gaelic-speaking Picts seems so natural that people
forget to look at the original authorities and see for themselves how
extraordinarily Skene has dealt with these. County histories, Clan
histories, and general Scottish histories presently in course of publication,
accept Skene's views, either without doubt or with little demur, or even
with a jocose gaiety that makes the latest of them "go one better."
A7id yet no present-day Celtic scholar—and many have written on the
subject — holds Skene^s views that the Picts spoke Gaelic. It is full time
now that this should be recognised, and that the old position of the
Chronicles should be once more reverted to.
The original text and notes of the " Highlanders of Scotland " have
been reproduced intact, first, and separate from all editorial matter,
which comes at the end of the book. Even the misprints of the earlier
edition have been left ; they were so unimportant that it was thought
best to leave them in a work claiming to be an exact reproduction of
the original text. A portrait of Dr. Skene and a revised edition of
Ptolemy's map of Scotland are also added, together with a much-needed
index.