Note L, referred to p. 317.

Shaw, in his reply to Clark, qualified the story of the scalloped shell, by declaring that it was an anecdote he set down on a blank page at some distance from the finis of the MS. of his Enquiry into the Authenticity of Ossian, for the sake of his own memory, as a laughable circumstance, without any intention of publishing it. When he delivered the MS. to be printed, he drew his pen across that anecdote, and confesses he was much displeased and surprised when he saw that the printer had brought it forward to the place where it stands in print. He laments his negligence, and asks pardon for the imputation, trusting that the ingenuity of this confession will give him a right to credit in what he shall affirm, and what he shall deny. It may be proper to add, that it was a custom among the Highlanders to drink their beverage out of scalloped shells. Hence the expression "a' cur n'a slige chreachain mu'n cuaart," that is, "putting round the shell," was the common phrase for drinking, or making merry. With regard to the person (a Highland clergyman) who asked him to translate Fingal, Shaw confesses that he does not know that he seriously intended to have the experiment tried ; for it was not at all likely that he should embrace such a proposal.

Note M, referred to p. 318.

Mr. Shaw, in his reply to this part of Mr. Clark's answer, says, "It is true, that upon a supposition which I then thought probable, I encouraged Mr. Clark to offer to the public a genuine collection of Highland poetry; for I was yet willing to believe that much Highland poetry was somewhere to be found. But I am now convinced it is only in the moon, for on earth I could never see it. The MSS. of Mr. Clark, like those of Mr. Macpherson, were always invisible."

Here again Mr. Shaw, as in most of his arguments, harps (as we are free to confess, with some reason) on the silent and mysterious conduct of Mr. Macpherson; for had the originals been published in the state they now are, soon after his translation, Doctor Johnson and Mr. Shaw would have been for ever silenced.

Note N, referred to p. 318.

The MSS. left at Becket's for public inspection by Mr. Macpherson, were the originals now published, also a valuable miscellaneous

collection of Gaelic original MSS. afterwards presented by the Highland Society of London to the Highland Society of Edinburgh, in January, 1803, containing no less than 11,000 verses, composed at different periods. In the Report of the Committee of the Highland Society, these poems are noticed to have been composed at different periods, from the time of our most ancient Scottish bards down to the beginning of the sixteenth century. Among the more ancient, are poems of Conal, son of Edirskcol; Ossian, son of Fingal; Fergus Fili (Fergus the Bard); and Caoilt, son of Ronan, the friends and cotemporaries of Ossian. The titles of two of these poems, purporting them to be the composition of Ossian, and another ascribed to his brother, Fergus the Bard, are inserted in the Report, with English translations. †

The oldest MS. of this collection was ascertained by the late Mr. Astle to be a writing of the ninth or tenth century, and is called Emanuel, a title which the old Gaelic writers gave to many of their miscellaneous writings. It contains ancient history, written on the authority of Greek and Roman authors, and interspersed with notices of the arts, armour, dress, superstition, and usage of the Caledonians of the author's own time. It also contains an interesting account of Cæsar's expedition to Britain. The learned author of this Gaelic MS. is not named, but it is inferred from his work, that it was composed between the fifth and eighth centuries.

In this collection there is a parchment book, which contains MSS. by different hands, appearing to have been written in the tenth or eleventh century; and the late Mr. Donald Smith has, in the Appendix to the abovementioned Report, given curious fac similes of the original writings; also English translations of some passages, consisting of religious and historical subjects.

There is also in the collection an ancient Life of St. Columba, evidently appearing to be a writing of the twelfth or thirteenth century, of which a fac simile of the original Gaelic writing is also given in the said Appendix.

The author's name, of the Life of St. Columba, the founder of Icolmkill monastery, is not mentioned; but there is reason to infer that it is compiled from the life said to have been written by Adamnanus, abbot

⚫ See Catalogue of MSS. at the end.

+ See Report, p. 92; and Dr. Donald Smith's account of this collection, in the Appendix to the Report, p. 310.

of Icolmkill, who flourished in the seventh century. He wrote also the lives of some other monks of the sixth century. There is in the Advocate's Library at Edinburgh, a Life of Columba, in MS. extracted from the Pope's library, and translated, it is said, from the Latin into. Gaelic, by father Calohoran. There is also a large volume of Columba's Life, apparently compiled from Adamnanus, by Manus (son of Hugh) O'Donnel of Tyrconnel. Adamnanus cites a former Life of Columba, written by Commenius Albus.

Mr. Martin, in his Tour through the Western Isles of Scotland, p. 264, mentions having discovered two manuscripts, written in the Irish character, containing the Life of St. Columba. The one in the custody of John Mackneal, and the other in the possession of Macdonald of Benbecula.

Mr. Sacheverel, governor of the Isle of Man, who visited Iona in 1688, also mentions a MS. book, of ancient inscriptions, at Icolmkill, that was presented by Mr. Frazier, son to the Dean of the Isles, to the Earl of Argyle, in King Charles the Second's time; which, as Bishop Nicolson observes in his Historical Library, (if still in being), might probably throw some light upon the history of this Saint.-But it is to be lamented that this MS. volume, containing three hundred Gaelic inscriptions, was afterwards lost, in the troubles of the Argyle family.

In the Bodleain Library, Oxford, there is an old vellum MS. of 140 pages, in the form of a music book, containing the works of Columba in verse, with some account of his own life, his exhortations to Princes, and his Prophecies.

It is much to be regretted that these, with many other Gaelic or Irish manuscrips still existing in the United Kindoms, have not been printed, with verbal translations into Latin or English: and, were a laudable spirit of enquiry and research to be encouraged, there is no doubt that many valuable Gaelic or Irish MSS. might, notwithstanding the various accidents and ravages of time, still be recovered.

The above train of evidence relative to the existence of Gaelic MSS. at different remote periods, completely overturns Dr. Johnson's general reasoning on unwritten languages, and the non existence of Gaelic MSS. of more than a hundred years old; consequently the principal pillar, which supported his fabric of scepticism, being destroyed, all the other arguments, advanced against the authenticity of Ossian's poems, fall to the ground.

Note O, referred to p. 319.

Mr. Shaw, in his reply to this accusation, qualifies his former assertion, and observes, "With respect to Mr. M' Leod, I now say again, what I have said before, that I offered him half a crown a line for any part of Ossian that he would repeat. Such offers at a jovial table are not very serious. My intention was to provoke him to repeat something, but the provocation had no effect. What he has heard Mr. Macpherson read, he has not distinctly told us; and the passages which he has received from Mr. Macpherson he does not tell us the length of, nor consequently, whether they are not such as might be occasionally fabricated."

It is to be regretted that a controversy of this nature should, in the outset, have been carried on with so much acrimony, and with so many bitter invectives on both sides; so as to render it necessary for either party to contradict the other, or to make unqualified assertions, without having proofs to support them.

Note P, referred to p. 319.

an

ALTHOUGH the writer of this note has not seen Mr. Clarke's Answer to Mr. Shaw's Inquiry into the Authenticity of Ossian, yet he believes the grounds on which Mr. Clarke founded his arguments to shew Mr. Shaw, in contradiction with himself, are principally drawn from his first publication, entitled an Analysis of the Gaelic Language. At the close of Mr. Shaw's Introduction to that work, he justly remarks, acquaintance with the Gaelic, being the mother tongue of all the languages in the west, seems necessary to every antiquary who would study the affinity of languages, or trace the migrations of the ancient races of mankind. Of late it has attracted the attention of the learned in different parts of Europe; and shall its beauties be neglected by those who have opportunities, from their infancy, of understanding it! Antiquity being the taste of the age, some acquaintance with the Gaelic begins justly to be deemed a part of the Belles Lettres. The language that boasts of the finished character of Fingal, must richly reward the curiosity of whoever studies it. Of this Sir James Foulis is a rare instance, who, in advanced years, has learned to read and write it; and now drinks of the Pierian spring untainted, by reading fragments of poetry in Fingal's own language."

Mr. Shaw might have likewise added the name of an English gentleman, the late General Sir Adolphus Oughton, commander in chief in Scotland, who studied and acquired a competent knowledge of the Gaelic.

Mr. Shaw has also said, in his Analysis of the Gaelic Language, under the head of Prosody, that, "The Gael, when their language was formed, seem to be in that state of society when the arts of peace and war were not entirely strangers; when it was an approved maxim to "bind the strong in arms, but spare the feeble hand, be a stream of many tides against the foes of the people, but like the gale that moves the grass to those who ask the aid."-PARCERE SUBJECTIS DEBELLARE SUPERBOS. Such was the genius of the language in the days of Trenmore and Fingal.

In another part, treating of the measure of Gaelic poetry, he remarks, that, "All compositions have hitherto been orally repeated, and which by different persons will ever be differently performed; whereas, had these pieces, been written, every one would have repeated them alike. Even Ossian's poems could not be scanned; for every reciting bard pronounced some words differently, and sometimes substituted one word for another. Nevertheless the poetry always pleases the ear, and is well adapted to the music for which it was originally intended; and the language and composition seldom fail to please the fancy and gain approbation." Mr. Shaw, afterwards, with great ingenuity, treats of the Gaelic measures, under the heads of dactyles, spondees, jambs, troches, &c. and exhibits specimens of the irregular and various measures of Ossian's poetry.

It is but fair in this place to notice that Mr. Shaw, in his reply to Mr. Clark, contained in an appendix to the second edition of his Inquiry into the Authenticity of Ossian, (and which the learned Abbé Cesarotti appears not to have seen) rests the strength of his arguments on the mysterious conduct of Mr. Macpherson, by withholding from the public the Gaelic originals. "If Fingal (says Shaw) exists in Gaelic, let it be shewn; and if ever the originals can be shewn, opposition may be silenced." With respect to that part of Clark's Answer Shaw against Shaw, wherein he is shewn to be at variance with himself, on the grounds, principally of what has been quoted in this note from his Analysis, Shaw replied with candour, and more than usual moderation, that, "if they even contained all the contradictions pretended to be found, it would