Some persons are disposed to go beyond these personal communications with friends, and having through life been accustomed to write down memoranda of their own feelings, have published them to the world.

Many interesting works have thus been contributed to our literature by writers who have sent forth volumes in the form of _Memoirs of their Own Times, Personal Recollections, Remarks upon Past Scenes_, etc.etc.It is not within the scope of this work to examine these, nor can I specify the many communications I have from different persons, both at home and in our colonial possessions; in fact, the references in many cases have been lost or mislaid.

But I must acknowledge, however briefly, my obligations to Dr.Carruthers, Inverness, and to Dr.Cook, Haddington, who have favoured me with valuable contributions.
Now, when we come to examine the general question of memoirs connected with contemporary history, no work is better known in connection with this department of Scottish literature than the _History of his Own Times_, by my distinguished relative, Dr.Gilbert Burnett, Bishop of Salisbury.

Bishop Burnett's father, Lord Crimond, was third son of my father's family, the Burnetts of Leys, in Kincardineshire.

There is now at Crathes Castle, the family seat, a magnificent full-length portrait of the Bishop in his robes, as Prelate of the Garter, by Sir Godfrey Kneller.