Correspondence: The Raiders

Correspondence: The Raiders

S.R.Crockett

The Academy (London)

Letter from S.R. Crockett (Penicuik, 17 November 1894), his second and longest contribution to the exchange. Accepts Wallace's assurance and offers an apology for the misapprehension. Defends his use of Galloway traditions at length, citing Sir Herbert Maxwell's simultaneous treatment of the Murder Hole legend as evidence that traditional material is common property. Lists the sources he drew on — Nicholson's Traditional Tales of Galloway, Trotter's Galloway Gossip, Mactaggart's Galloway Encyclopaedia — and makes the crucial argument that Scott himself in the preface to Guy Mannering used Galloway tradition in precisely the same way, citing the Yawkins lugger passage. Announces that his forthcoming serial in Good Words (later published as The Men of the Moss-Hags) is similarly grounded in primary documentary sources.

The Academy: A Weekly Review of Literature, Science, and Art, 24 November 1894

https://srcrockett.scot/library/Reviews/MAG011_Acad_SRC_Nov24_1894.pdf