Patrick Abercromby - Continued Work

Continued Work

A minor literary work of Abercromby's was a translation of Jean de Beaugué's Histoire de la guerre d'Ecosse (1556) which appeared in 1707. But the work with which his name is permanently associated is his Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation, issued in two large folios, vol. i. 1711, vol. ii. 1716. In the title-page and preface to vol. i. he disclaims the ambition of being an historian, but in vol. ii., in title-page and preface alike, he is no longer a simple biographer, but an historian. Even though, read in the light of later research, much of the first volume must necessarily be relegated to the region of the mythical, nonetheless, the historian was a laborious and accomplished reader and investigator of all available authorities, as well manuscript as printed; while the roll of names of those who aided him includes every man of note in Scotland at the time, from Sir Thomas Craig and Sir George Mackenzie to Alexander Nisbet and Thomas Ruddiman.