Chronicles of the Canongate consists of three tragic tales of cultural conflict: "The Highland Widow, " "The Two Drovers, " and "The Surgeon's Daughter." The first two are recognised as among the greatest of Scott's achievements, the last is his almost unknown critique of British imperialism. This is the first time since its appearance in 1827 that the work has been published in the form Scott intended, and the recovery of the original design reveals a deliberate parallelism: set in the third quarter of the eighteenth century all three tales are studies of "racial" misunderstanding.