Since the foregoing Preface was written, the Editor has been kindly favoured with the following communication from Sir Walter Scott, which he is happy to have it in his power to present to the reader; and which probably will satisfy most people on the point at issue:—
"After the opinions entertained and expressed on the subject by great antiquaries, it may seem bold to doubt whether the Howlat contains any political allusion either to James II., or to the state of Scotland; or, indeed, whether it means any thing more than a mere apologue, with such a fanciful adaptation of the characteristicks and peculiarities of the various tribes of birds to the classes of mankind, as has been made in our own time in the witty and ingenious poem called "The Peacock at Home,"—the authoress of which, we will venture to say, never heard of Sir Richard Holland, or read a word of his Howlat, though the pieces bear a singular resemblance to each other. Another satire of the same kind appeared at Paris, about the beginning of the Revolution, in which the various orders of Catholic clergy are ludicrously classified, as birds, according to the system of Linnæus.
