Page:The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima Edition, Volume 8, 1922.djvu/103

PREFATORY NOTE The writing of Over the Sea to Skye grew out of a visit from one of the last of the old school of Scots gentlewomen, Miss Ferrier, a granddaughter of Professor Wilson (Christopher North). Her singing was a great delight to my husband, who would beg for song after song, especially the Jacobite airs, which had always to be repeated several times. The words to one of these seemed unworthy, so he made a new set of verses more in harmony with the plaintive tune:

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