Publisher's Synopsis
Sir Thomas Dick Lauder of Fountainhill, 7th Baronet (1784-1848) was a Scottish author, the only son of Sir Andrew Dick Lauder, 6th Baronet, whom he succeeded in 1820. As an active Liberal he took a keen interest in politics, in 1832 presiding over a huge meeting of some 30,000 people rallying in favour of the Reform Bill, said to be the largest political rally ever held in Scotland. He served as Secretary to the Board of Manufactures, on the Herring Fisheries Board, at the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, and as Deputy Lieutenant of both counties of Moray and Haddington. He and his family were close friends of Sir Walter Scott and in 1817 he made his first contribution to Blackwood's Magazine which was initially attributed by some to Scott. He went on to become a regular contributor to both Blackwood's and Tait's Magazine and published two romances in the 1820s before turning his attention to Scottish history and legend. This work was originally published in 1837 under the title Highland Rambles, with Long Tales to Shorten the Way and is reprinted from the new edition of 1880 bearing the shortened title of Highland Legends.
