Ancient Witchcraft of the Scottish Highlands: Magic, Seers, and Second Sight

The importance of the work from the scientific point of view can hardly be exaggerated, as its accuracy is absolutely indisputable. And yet being little more than a collection of stories told in the simplest English, it is as enjoyable as one of Mr. Lang’s fairy-books.—The Spectator. Altogether the volume is in its way singularly interesting, and forms a rich mine for the folklorist. The light the stories throw upon the Highlander’s ways of thinking is remarkable.—Scottish Review. Statements and beliefs are given exactly as they reached the author, nor do I think it would be possible to detect a single instance in which wider knowledge or prepossession of any kind has induced him to alter or distort a fact. This rigid conscientiousness will always secure for Mr. Campbell’s work the confidence and regard of true folklorists… among those recorders of folk-lore to whom the student can always turn with increased confidence and admiration.—Mr. Alfred Nutt in Folklore.