Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The editor, who had corresponded with Mr. Dallas for years, considered that his voluminous collection of material should be preserved as far as possible for future reference, and determined to print his family history. On revising Mr. Dallas's manuscript, the editor observed that in many places Mr. Dallas had not finished his work, and it devolved upon the editor to supplement his investigations by completing unfinished accounts of several families, and introducing others which had escaped Mr. Dallas's notice.