BOOKS FROM 1900
Andrew Lang
A History of Scotland
(1900)
Today he is best known for his Green, Red, Blue and Yellow Fairy Books, but the prolific Andrew Lang, born in Scotland in 1844, was also a Greek scholar, anthropologist, Fleet Street journalist and historian. He has been called the last great man of letters of the old Scottish tradition.
It took him ten years to write his History of Scotland. He was modest about his achievement but judged the chapter on Montrose "pretty decent."
Lang was famous for his sometimes exasperating ways. "By the way, I asked him if he was going to dine to-night with the St. Andrew's University Club, of which he is a Vice-President," a contemporary wrote. "He said, 'No, I hate dinners and I hate clubs and I hate universities!' I answered rather tartly, 'I believe you hate everything in the world! 'No,' he replied. 'I don't hate Mary Queen of Scots.'"
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