Excerpt from Was It Fate? A Tragedy A Revision of this Tragedy, which had been played, with brilliant success, at Columbus, in 1855, appeared at Cincinnati, in 1856. In this Revision, there is no alteration in the persons of the Drama. They remain as follows: Scott put forward in the Introduction furnished in 1830 to his Legend of Montrose, the following account: The Drummond-Ernoch of James the Sixth's time was a King's Forester in the forest of Glenartney, and chanced to be employed there in search of venison about the year 1588, or early in 1589. This forest was adjacent to the chief haunts of the MacGregors, or a particular race of them known by the title of MacEagh, or Children of the Mist... They surprised and slew Drummond-Ernoch, cut off his head, and carried it with them, wrapt in the corner of one of their plaids. "In the full exultation of vengeance, they stopped at the house of Ardvoirlich, and demanded refreshment, which the lady, a sister of the murdered Drummond-Ernoch, (her husband being absent,) was afraid or unwilling to refuse. She caused bread and cheese to be placed before them, and gave directions for more substantial refreshments to be prepared. While she was absent with this hospitable intention, the barbarians placed the head of the brother on the table, filling the mouth with bread and cheese, and bidding him eat, for many a merry meal he had eaten in that house. The poor woman returning, and beholding this dreadful sight, shrieked aloud, and fled into the woods, where, as described in the romance, she roamed a raving maniac, and for some time secreted herself from all living society. Some remaining instinctive feeling brought her at length to steal a glance from a distance at the maidens while they milked the cows, which being observed, her husband, Ardvoirlich, had her conveyed back to her home, and detained her till she gave birth to a child, of whom she had been pregnant; after which she was observed gradually to recover her mental faculties." The hero of this Tragedy is James Stuart of Ardvoirlich, the child so born. The story of the Play, however, varies largely from the history he actually lived. The Tragedy does not at all follow the plot of the Legend of Montrose. The Preface to the Revision of the Play that was printed in 1856, includes these words: "The property in the piece belongs to Mr. Hanchett, now of the Wheeling Theater, a) It was a gift to that gentleman - and the law, at that time, threw around such property no such protection as to make the gift available to its donee as it may now become. It may not be improper to add, that this Tragedy was written as a tribute to the original Ardvoirlich. The Author is not ignorant that in recognizing in Mr. Hanchett claims to such a distinction as is involved in such a tribute, something like high treason to the reigning dynasty of Stars may be imputed to him. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.