IN PROSE AND VERSE EDITED BY ROBERT FORD, “Glints o' GLENTODDY," ETC. ALEXANDER GARDNER Publisher to Her Majesty the Queen THE present is meant to form a suitable companion volume to POPULAR SCOTCH READINGS, recently issued by me, and I desire no more, and expect no less, than that it shall receive the same hearty welcome from the public. Here, as in the Scotch collection, care has been taken to bring together only such pieces as are eminently suited for public recital—although they will also form enjoyable fireside reading--and whilst standard favourites have not been ignored, the contents, mainly, will be found to consist of pieces of recent composition which are not readily obtainable elsewhere in collection form. One of the readings—“ The Conversion of Colonel Quagg”—might perhaps more appropriately appear in a book of American selections; but, in consideration of the fact that it is from the pen of the most famous of living English journalists, I have been constrained to introduce it here. The author, Mr. George Augustus Sala, some time ago, when replying to my request for permission to print the piece, expressed himself as “surprised that, after thirty years, anybody should take the trouble of disentombing it—especially in Scotland, where its public recitation might provoke some slight ebullition of the odium theologicum. I think,” he continued, “ that it was Lord Houghton who told me that he had once read Quagg' before the members of some Institute in the North of England, and that the hymn. sung by the Colonel (which is an innocent parody of an American camp-meeting hymn) was received with violent demonstrations of dissent." Quagg,” it need scarcely be told, has been frequently presented to "douce” Scotch audiences, and within the very precincts of the Kirk too, and always with satisfying results, as it deserves. I acknowledge with gratitude the kindness of the various authors and publishers, to whose courtesy it is due that so many copyright poems and sketches appear in the book. If, by inadvertence, I have infringed a single copyright, I hope the error will be generously overlooked. ROBERT FORD. 6 The Spanish Mother.....................Sir Francis Hastings Doyle.....9 The Conversion of Colonel Quagg.... George Augustus Sala...........14 .Samuel K. Cowan, M.A........23 How We Elected Our Minister........Robert Overton ...................26 The Dream of Eugene Aram............. Thomas Hood..... Scrooge and Marley........ Charles Dickens.............. ..39 ....W. S. Gilbert............. 6. Poor Richard's Sayings," with The Cry of the Children......... Elizabeth Barrett Browning...56 How We Beat the Favourite...........Adam Lindsay Gordon........65 ... George R. Sims........ ....77 Bardell Versus Pickwick.................. Charles Dickens....... ...,82 A Rogue and a Vagabond............ ..E. Coller......... The Old Card-Maker......... ... Douglas Jerrold......... ..102 How Jane Conquest Rang the Bell...James Milne........... ..106 Uncle Roland's Tale........... ...Lord Lytton........ ..111 The Chimpanzorand the Chimpanzee.. Edwin Hamilton...............115 How Uncle Podger Hung a Picture...Jerome K. Jerome........ The Story of a Stowaway................ Clement Scott............. ..122 Mr. Twiddle's Trouble......... ......Walter G. Baynham...........125 |
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