Two interesting bibliographies—Surprising revelations—First Gaelic printed book—Meagre output prior to the Forty-five—Earliest original works issued—No complete Bible in type before 1801—Nineteenth century activity—The Highlander’s favourite books—A revelation of character—His printed literature mainly religious—Translations—The two books in greatest demand—Dearth of the masterpieces of other languages—The most popular of English religious writers—of native bards—Gaelic poetry—The printed succession—Notable books—Account of the Gaelic grammars—Dictionaries—Periodicals—Value of the literature.

A close study of the printed literature of the Scottish Gael leads to some surprising and even wholly unexpected revelations. Happily, we have the materials for such a scrutiny within moderate compass, a fact which cannot be predicated of the more comprehensive and ubiquitous English.

It is an amazing circumstance—indeed the Spectator, some seventy years ago, dubbed it “a piece of Highland dilettanteism”—that one should be found enthusiastic enough to attempt to make an exhaustive bibliography of the printed Gaelic output of Scotland. Yet such a devotee has emerged not once, but twice within the last century.

First, in the person of John Reid, a Glasgow bookseller of Lowland birth, who published in 1832 his Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica, or “an account of all the books which have been printed in the Gaelic language,” down to that date.

Second, in the person of the Rev. Donald Maclean, minister of Duirinish, Skye, who brought the catalogue forward to 1900, arranging the authors’ names alphabetically, and giving the various editions, with their dates and places of publication. This MS., which has not yet been printed, contains in addition a complete transcript of the title of each work, an account of the author or translator so far as known, the number of copies printed, size of paper, and published price, and in the case of the very rare books, an account of the copies known to exist, and the price they fetched on transfer.

Had it not been for the earlier researches of Reid, it is not likely so elaborate an effort would have ever been attempted. Even Reid seems to have been lured on gradually, all unconscious at first of the magnitude of the task, for he says that his book was not written with the view of being published. On the contrary, its raison d’être is thus explained by him in the preface:—

While studying the Gaelic language in 1825 a friend wished me to make up a catalogue of his Gaelic books. It appeared, after the list was made up, scarcely probable that many more should exist, and under the idea of having almost already completed the list, the present work was undertaken. All the Gaelic books in the neighbourhood were examined, but I found the work increase so rapidly on my hands that it became necessary to class them and re-write the whole; and the longer I searched the more I was convinced that the literature of the Gael was richer than even its friends imagined. The number of translations, song-books, etc., which I now met with, many of them works which I had never previously heard of, obliged me four times to extend the plan originally adopted, and to re-write the MS.

Reid ransacked the principal libraries in this country and on the Continent in search of Gaelic books, yet he admits the list must necessarily be imperfect. When finished, the work was awarded a premium by the Highland Society of London in 1831, and printed the following year. It has been the aim of his bibliographic successor to supplement and complete the list by a new classification up to date.

Both men deserve credit for having patiently and persistently pursued what was undoubtedly an interesting but eminently thankless task, so far at least as financial remuneration was concerned.

When we hark back to the period when MS. writing first began to pass into modern type, we discover that no book of any kind was printed in this country before 1477. In that year Caxton issued in London the earliest publication from an English printing press. Other books quickly followed, but nearly a century elapsed before any Gaelic writing passed through the inky mill.

The first printed work in that language is the translation of John Knox’s Liturgy by Bishop Carsewell, published in Edinburgh in 1567. Carsewell, or Carsuel, as the name is sometimes spelt, a native of Kilmartin, was superintendent of the diocese of Argyll, and well versed in the Highland vernacular. It was he who, in the preface to his work, denounced the ancient ursgeuls or Gaelic prose tales as lying fables, and inaugurated a clerical campaign against the popular ballads. Yet he merits our approbation for getting into print so early a book which modern philologists regard as uncommonly valuable.

Only three copies exist of the original issue,—one, complete, in the possession of the Duke of Argyll, and two others imperfect. Of the twain, one is now in Edinburgh University Library, the other in the British Museum.

The Duke’s was lost for a time, but recovered in 1842, and doubtless restored to its ancient place in Inverary Castle.

This rare book is five inches long and three and a half broad, containing 247 pages, on the 246th of which occurs the couplet:—

And on the last page the following:—

In 1872 the Rev. Dr. Maclauchlan transcribed it entire for a new edition which was published the following year, 1873.

Nearly another century glides slowly by after the printing press disgorged Carsewell’s translation before any further Gaelic printing—that we know of—took place, if we except the translation of Calvin’s Catechism issued at Edinburgh in 1631. In fact, three psalm-books complete the list for the whole of that seventeenth century, namely, the first fifty Psalms of David with the Shorter Catechism, published by the Synod of Argyll in 1659, exactly ninety-two years after the Liturgy; another Psalter by John Kirke in 1684, and the Synod of Argyll’s finished in 1694. Thus in the sixteenth century we have just one Gaelic printed book; in the seventeenth, three and a catechism; and all these merely translations from other languages.

Not till 1741 do we encounter any original work, and even then it is simply a Gaelic Vocabulary by Alexander Macdonald, the gifted bard of Ardnamurchan. So that till after the Forty-five, Gaelic Scotland had no printed literature of its own—neither poetry nor prose of any kind.

Indeed, with the exception of a few reprints between 1702 and 1725 of the Synod of Argyll’s Psalter and Catechism, and Kirke’s Irish version of the Bible and Vocabulary in 1690, Lhuyd’s Vocabulary in Nicholson’s Historical Library, 1702, and Macdonald’s, 1741, there were no additions to the printed list of the Highlands till Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted was issued in Gaelic in 1750, Macdonald’s Songs in 1751, and David Mackellar’s Hymns in 1752. These two latter volumes were the early precursors in type of that considerable output of song and hymn and story with which we have been familiar in later years.

After them came, in 1752, a small book entitled Hymn of Praise (English and Gaelic), Willison’s Mother’s Catechism, and next year Macfarlane’s Translation of the Psalms, with forty-five of the Paraphrases.

Between 1753 and 1767, Reid could not find that any Gaelic work was printed, with the exception of reprints of the Mother’s and Shorter Catechisms and Macdonald’s songs.

Like some slow-moving stream, the output was at first very feeble and irregular, and drawn for the most part from imported sources.

In 1767, however, an event occurred in the Gaelic printing world worthy of special notice. This was the issue of the New Testament for the first time in the language of the Highland people. It was translated by Stewart of Killin, with the assistance of Dugald Buchanan and other eminent Gaelic scholars, and was published by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. Strange to say, the language of this translation was looked upon at that period as perfectly free from Irish idiom, and yet in Reid’s day, half a century later, it was regarded as savouring more of Irish than of Gaelic.

The same year in which the New Testament saw the light in the ancient dialect there appeared also the celebrated hymns of Dugald Buchanan, and the year after the no less famous songs of Duncan Ban Macintyre.

As yet no Bible existed in the language of the Highlands, and attention having been drawn to this fact, the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge set themselves to supply the defect. It was arranged to have the Old Testament translated and issued in four parts, which were ultimately published in Edinburgh as follows:—

The first part contained the Pentateuch, to which was prefixed a vocabulary of five pages and general rules for reading the Gaelic language. The second comprised from Joshua to the end of 1 Chronicles. The third, published last, contained 2 Chronicles and on to the end of the Song of Solomon. The fourth was made up of the Prophets, and to it was prefixed an advertisement, stating the use that had been made of various English translations.

The Rev. Dr. John Stuart of Luss was responsible for the rendering from Hebrew into Gaelic of the first three parts, and the Rev. Dr. John Smith of Campbeltown for the fourth, which appeared second in point of publication.

Their MS. translations were, before being sent to press, submitted for revision to a Committee of Highland clergymen specially selected; and by order of the General Assembly of 1782 a collection was made in all the parishes to defray the expense. This appointment was renewed in 1783 and 1784, as the funds of the S.P.C.K. were reduced, and the outlay on publication amounted to £2300 for some 5000 copies, with an additional number of Part I. containing the Pentateuch. The whole work was printed on fine and common paper; and until the early decades of last century was looked upon as the standard of Gaelic orthography.

Considering that the Bible has since come to be regarded as a kind of fetich in the Highlands, it is somewhat surprising to learn that there was no complete rendering of it in the language earlier than 1801, just a century ago. And apparently not till 1807 were the Gaelic Old and New Testaments finally printed together in one volume. In that year they were thus issued in England for the first time on behalf of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who chose two different colours of paper for the purpose—the one blue for the Old Testament, and the other yellow for the New, which gave the book rather a polychrome appearance. The impression amounted to 20,000 copies, each of which cost the Society 6s. 6d., though they issued them to subscribers at half that price.

Of the Gaelic Scriptures there have been fourteen different recensions.

From the time of the publication of Dugald Buchanan’s and Duncan Ban Macintyre’s compositions in 1767–68, may be reckoned the real beginning of the new era of printing, so far as the production of original Gaelic literature was concerned, and that mainly poetry, for of prose the land was singularly barren, except in translations. And it will hardly be credited that from the introduction of printing down to the end of the eighteenth century, just about a hundred years ago, if we exclude the translations from other languages, and extra editions of books already published, there were not in all three dozen printed original Scottish-Gaelic works to be found. The day of copious issue had not yet arrived for the sweet and tuneful Gaelic.

Even the collected MSS. of Macpherson did not appear in type till 1807, almost half a century after his so-called translations electrified the literary world.

Thus it will be seen that the nineteenth century was really the golden age of Gaelic printing, for, with the exception of the straggling volumes indicated above, the literature we now have passed into printed book form within the last hundred years. From the beginning of the century there was a marked increase in the rate of publication—an activity which has been growing in volume and momentum to the present day.

And now it will be found highly informing and even entertaining to review the printed literature of the Gael, to consider its character, its general features, and specially to note what the Highlander deemed worthy of putting into type—his favourite books. Such a survey, in fact, amounts to a revelation of character, and throws a wonderful light on his recent past, his outlook on life, and peculiar habits of thought. Indeed, the glimpse we get here of the mental composition and literary limitations of the purely Gaelic-speaking or Gaelic-reading section of our countrymen is really amazing, and if we did not know that they now rely so much for their knowledge and information on the English language, would simply be incredible.

It surprised Reid beyond measure that there were so many Gaelic printed books to catalogue seventy years ago, and probably he thought the work was well-nigh complete for all time, but had he lived to-day to scan the amended and supplemented list, it would almost take his breath away, for he expected the Gaelic long before now to be as extinct as the Waldensian or the Cornish. He just gave it fifty years in which to “die down and drone and cease.” People in general, even Highlanders, are scarcely aware of the very considerable number of printed books that exist in the native tongue.

But a cursory glance at the catalogue shows the derived nature of the material. A large proportion of the volumes consists of translations, and these translations, if we except the Scriptures, are almost, if not entirely from the English. And here we are face to face with a most striking fact. The literature represented, both in the original and in translations, is mainly religious.

You will search in vain for the masterpieces of other languages and other nations. The Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament, The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, parts of Homer’s Iliad, and Thomas à Kempis’ Imitatio Christi, are perhaps the solitary exceptions. All the best literature of the world has been given a silent go-by.

And this is true even of the greatest English and Scottish works of genius. You will not find Chaucer, or Shakespeare, or Bacon, or Gibbon, Scott or Dickens, Thackeray, Carlyle, or Tennyson here. Two poems alone of Burns are translated, “Tam o’ Shanter” and “Auld Langsyne,” but the great masters are to Gaelic print as if they had never existed. Science is unknown, and art and philosophy; history, too, we may say, and the drama. Whole departments of human thought remain practically unrepresented, as if they were alien to the Gaelic mind.

On the other hand, works of religion, pious devotion, theology, and ecclesiastical polemics abound, showing the peculiar cast of the modern Celtic temperament.

And of all the books, that which has been most in demand, if we may judge by the extraordinary frequency with which it has been printed, has been the Shorter Catechism. We are confronted with the curious fact that between the year 1651 and the Disruption in 1843 no less than seventy editions or reprints of this document were issued, and this notwithstanding the circumstance that it was also usually published with the oft-printed Psalter. The version far and away the most in evidence seems to have been the Synod of Argyll’s, though other versions, such as Dr. Ross’s, Dr. Macdonald’s, Dr. Smith’s, and Morrison’s were in circulation, besides various other Catechisms, of which Willison’s and Watt’s were prominent examples. The Gael seems to have had a perfect mania for Catechisms. And next to these in his estimation comes the Psalter, with nearly eighty editions or reprints between the year 1659 and the Disruption.

These editions represent six important versions, without taking into account other four unauthorised ones. The select six may be given in chronological order, as follows:—

1.

The Synod of Argyll’s translation of the first fifty Psalms, entitled, “An Ceud Chaogad do Shalmaibh,” 1659; and the whole, 1694.

2.

Kirke’s Psalter—a translation by the Rev. Robert Kirke, Balquidder, 1684. This was the first complete version issued, ante-dating the former when finished by ten years.

3.

Macfarlane’s translation, which is just the Synod of Argyll’s amended and altered by the Rev. Alex. Macfarlane, M.A., of Kilninver and Kilmelford, who excluded many of the Irishisms and added forty-five of the paraphrases, 1753.

4.

Smith’s revised version, including all the Paraphrases, by the Rev. Dr. Smith, Campbeltown, 1787.

5.

Ross’s Psalter, also an amendment, by the Rev. Thomas Ross, LL.D., Lochbroom, 1807.

6.

The General Assembly’s authorised translation, 1826.

Of these the most extensively used seems to have been Dr. Smith’s, which ran through no less than thirty or thirty-five editions in half a century. Next to his, in popular esteem, came Macfarlane’s, represented by twenty. Ross’s and the General Assembly’s have also had a wide vogue, especially in more recent times.

Besides the Shorter Catechism and Psalter, the Confession of Faith has been printed in Gaelic eleven times, and The Book of Common Prayer eight times, and Prayers from it once.

Of English religious writers who have captivated the Highland emotions, Bunyan takes first place with his Pilgrim’s Progress, eleven editions; Death of Mr. Badman, one edition; The Barren Fig-tree, one; The World to Come, seven; Visions of Heaven and Hell, four; Heavenly Footman, three; Water of Life, five; Holy War, two; Come and Welcome, four; Grace Abounding, three.

Then Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted went through nine editions, and his Saints’ Rest, seven. Alleine, Boston, Doddridge, Dyer, Jonathan Edwards were also prime favourites, whose works were represented by many editions, especially The Sinner’s Alarm, The Fourfold State, The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, Christ’s Famous Titles, and Doomed Sinners.

Though the Gaelic-reading Highlanders had apparently little appetite for general English literature in their own tongue outside works of religion, they had a surprising avidity for hymns, elegies, and sermons, for books on the Church, Christian doctrine, Baptism and the Sacraments. And we meet with such varied titles as Voluntaryism Indefensible, Christ is All, Apples of Gold, Village Sermons, Letters to Sinners, The Unspeakable Gift, Fame of the Branch, The Rose of Sharon, Call to Awaken, Salvation by Grace, Sacramental Exercises, The Believer’s Hope, A Parting Exhortation, Blair’s Sermons, Token for Mourners, On the Guidance of the Holy Spirit, Short History of the Baptists, Lessons on the Sabbath, The Declaratory Act, A Word of Warning to the People, Assurance of Salvation.

Topics of this kind abound. They formed the favourite pabulum of the more pious of our countrymen, and to this day some of these or similar theological productions may be found in almost every Gaelic household of the North and West Highlands.

While English printing concerned itself first with such works as The Game and Playe of the Chesse, The Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers, The Æneid of Virgil, The Poems of Chaucer, Lydgate and Gower, The Golden Legend, and the Morte d’Arthur, Gaelic printing took to do with religion. Knox’s Liturgy, Catechisms, Psalters, and Vocabularies were its main concern; and only after the lapse of nearly two hundred years did it give any attention to poetry or native literature of any kind. The original bards, like all other English and foreign writers, had to wait in the outer court of the Gentiles. But after Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted was issued in 1750 they began to come straggling in, Mackellar with his hymns and Macdonald with his songs. And in addition to Dugald Buchanan’s and Macintyre’s we have, during the following half century, these books:—

A volume of Hymns published in 1770 by Macfadyen, a Glasgow University student; and about the same time an Elegy and one or two other Gaelic poems by another Glasgow student. Ronald Macdonald, son of Alexander, published the first issue of old Gaelic poems, including some of his own and his father’s, in 1776. Then followed in 1777 an anonymous collection of Mirthful Songs, and in 1780 another of Curious ones; and a volume entitled Loudin’s Songs.

John Brown’s, Margaret Cameron’s, and A. Campbell’s appeared in 1785; and next year the better known collections of John Gillies, bookseller, Perth, and Duncan Kennedy, schoolmaster, Kilmelford.

In 1787 Dr. Smith published his alleged poems of Ossian, Orran, Ullin, etc., and those entitled Dargo and Gaul. And before the century closed Kenneth Mackenzie’s, Alexander Macpherson’s, Duncan Campbell’s, and Allan Macdougall’s compositions were all in type, issued separately.

The subsequent years, from 1800 to 1831, were most prolific in the output of poetical publications. It seemed as if the Highland bards had made a rival rush for the printing presses, and kept the busy machines clicking. Among the names of those whose poems were then issued occur the following: Dr. Dewar, Rob. Donn, William Gordon, George Ross Gordon, Peter Grant, Angus Kennedy, A. and J. Maccallum, J. Macdonald, John Macgregor, Dr. James Macgregor, P. Macfarlane, D. Macintosh, A. Mackay, J. Maclachlan, J. Maclean, D. Macleod, D. Matheson, J. Morrison, James Munro, A. and D. Stewart, R. Stewart, P. Stuart, P. Turner. And in addition to theirs, and some other ten volumes of anonymous poetry, partly original and partly collected, there were published within that period the Highland Society’s edition of Ossian’s poems, and its reprint, the one in London, 3 volumes, 1807, the other in Edinburgh, 1818.

If the Gaelic muse was at first slow in committing its productions to modern printing, it appears to have cast off all reserve after 1800, and every type of bardic effusion went to the press.

But of all the bards whose poems were appearing then, undoubtedly the most popular was Dugald Buchanan. No other book in Gaelic, if we except the Shorter Catechism and Psalter, has gone through so many editions as his Hymns. In the comparatively short period of 110 years from their first appearance they have been issued from the press forty times—so great has been the demand for these vivid and impressive products of Gaelic genius.

Next in general vogue to Buchanan’s comes Peter Grant’s Spiritual Hymns, a book which has been printed at least nineteen times.

These three instances alone—the Psalter, Dugald Buchanan’s and Peter Grant’s Hymns—would indicate that this is the type of literature that has gone highest with the Gael, even if we did not observe how frequently volumes of spiritual hymns occur in the list of printed books.

By comparison such a classic as Alexander Macdonald’s Gaelic Songs has only reached eight editions, Duncan Ban Macintyre’s ten, and Rob Donn’s three.

And this bias, so unmistakably exhibited by the Gaelic printed literature, is not confined to poetry, but may be traced even in the few original prose works that the language possesses.

Only ten such books appeared during the early decades of the nineteenth century, and they are all religious ones of quite indifferent merit. While of forty-five prose translations which were printed, either through the munificence of private individuals, or as booksellers’ ventures, forty-two were of a religious and three of a moral kind.

There can be no doubt that this extraordinary preponderance of the religious over every other type of printed literature in the Gaelic list, has exercised its own baneful influence on the Highland character of last century, leaving it lop-sided in some obvious directions and rendering the Gael blind to the wider issues of life, and therefore more or less impervious to new ideas. We can well understand his limitations, if, ignorant of English or other modern languages, he were confined to the books of his native tongue, as many Highlanders of the past generations were. These books absolutely give him no knowledge of science, philosophy, art, or even of the great literatures of the world. And his own poets occupied, as we have seen, a somewhat subordinate place in his list. Taught to look through one particular medium, and deprived of most other means of vision, the unsuspecting Gael grew up almost entirely oblivious of the march of mind, and for the most part ignorant of the thoughts that shake mankind.

It is through the introduction of English, therefore, that he has been getting emancipated of late years from the narrow outlook which his own ill-chosen and limited printed literature affords. And it is the sudden intrusion of this higher knowledge, rendering many of his theories obsolete, which has so painfully convulsed the older generation of Gaelic-speaking Highlanders in recent times, and left them so ill at ease.

Though printing made its first inroad on the Gaelic language as early as 1567, it is characteristic of the race that the cream of the literature only found type within the nineteenth century. After the early editions of Ossian, Peter Grant, and Rob Donn, the following may be quoted as the most noteworthy literary books that have appeared in the last hundred years from the Highlands, namely: Dr. Norman Macleod’s Caraid nan Gaidheal; Mackenzie’s Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, 1841; Campbell’s West Highland Tales, 1860–62; Dr. Clerk’s Ossian, 1870; Campbell’s Leabhar na Feinne, 1872; Sinclair’s Oranaiche, 1876–79; Nicolson’s Gaelic Proverbs, 1882; Henry Whyte’s Celtic Garland, 1880–81; Celtic Lyre, 1883–95; Mary Mackellar’s Poems and Songs, 1881; Neil Macleod’s Clarsach an Doire, 1883; Dr. Cameron’s Reliquiæ Celticæ, 1892–94; Dr. Nigel Macneill’s The Literature of the Highlanders, 1892; and Alexander Carmichael’s Carmina Gadelica, 1900.

In addition to the purely literary works, there are three other classes of Gaelic books, intimately associated with the history of the language, which have received considerable attention from the printer, and which are worthy of our notice here. These are School-books, Grammars, and Dictionaries.

Of school-books there were three series that ran through many editions during the first half of last century, namely, the Gaelic Society’s School series, the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge series, and the General Assembly’s series. Besides ordinary class books, portions of Scripture, especially from Proverbs, Psalms, Job, and the Gospels were printed for use as reading books in schools. The first of the above series dates from 1811, the second from 1815, and the third from 1826.

John Reid apparently never heard of Fenius Farsaid or the “Uraicept na n-Éigeas,”^[35] or of the other MS. fragments, for he has the following interesting modern account of Gaelic Grammars.

“The first attempt that we have on record of a Celtic Grammar was one written by Florence Gray, a monk who was born in Humond about the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century; but we have never been able to find a copy of it, or ascertain if it was printed. It is probable that if it was printed it appeared about 1620, as we know that he was living in Dublin in 1630.

“In 1639 Tobias Stapleton, an Irish priest, published at Louvain a small quarto Catechism for the use of the Irish students on the Continent, in parallel columns, Latin and English. To the end of the Catechism is added a small tract in Latin and Irish, entitled, ‘Modus perutilis legendi linguam Hibernicam.’

“After this there appeared various little imperfect compends of Irish Grammar, but nothing of any real value until 1677, when there appeared at Rome Molloy’s Grammatica Latino-Hibernica Compendiata, which, although deficient in syntax and other important requisites, was decidedly the most important work on the subject until 1728, when Hugh M‘Cuirtin published his Elements of the Irish Language,^[36] which again appeared enlarged in his Dictionary, published in 1732.

“In 1742, Donlevy published at Paris a Catechism in Irish and English, to which he appended ‘The Elements of the Irish Language.’ This has been followed by the Irish Grammars of General Vallancy, Dr. William Neilson, Dr. Paul O’Bryan, William Halliday, and one or two anonymous authors.^[37] It is said by Lhuyd, in the year 1707, that a Scottish gentleman had then some thoughts of publishing a Scottish Gaelic Grammar; but the earliest attempt known to us is by Malcolm, who, about the year 1736, published Some Elements of the Ancient Scottish, or Caledonian Celtick, with some Observations. In the year 1778 Shaw’s work appeared, with the following title: An Analysis of the Gaelic Language, by William Shaw, A.M., Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit. Virg., Edin., 1778.”

A second edition followed the same year, the published price of the book being 4s. sewed. It is now very rare, but not of much account.

The next work of the kind to appear was Stewart’s, announced as follows: “Elements of Gaelic Grammar, in four parts. I. Of Pronunciation and Orthography. II. Of the Parts of Speech. III. Of Syntax. IV. Of Derivation and Composition. By Alexander Stewart, Minister of the Gospel at Dingwall, Honorary Member of The Highland Society of Scotland, Edinburgh. Printed by C. Stewart & Coy.; for Peter Hill, Edinburgh; and Vernon and Hood, London, 1801.”

A second edition, corrected and enlarged, was issued in 1812, a third in 1876, and a fourth in 1879. It is very much superior to that by Shaw, and is still the best and the one in common use.

A smaller volume appeared in 1828, entitled, The Principles of Gaelic Grammar, designed to facilitate the study of that language to youth, by Archibald Currie, formerly Master of the Grammar School, Rothesay, but at the time of publication Tutor at Prospect, Duntroon, Argyllshire. It has never been reprinted. After him Neil Macalpine, of Dictionary fame, produced one which went through four editions. The other grammarians have been Munro, 1835–43; Forbes, 1843–48; Dr. Macgillivray, 1858; L. Macbean; D. C. Macpherson, 1891; Malcolm Macfarlane, for the Highland Association, 1893; Reid, 1895; and Gillies, 1896, the latter based on Stewart’s.

A good Grammar of the Gaelic language is still a desideratum. Students feel that those already in existence follow too slavishly the model of grammars of other tongues, from which the Gaelic diverges, and thus exceptions to the rules abound. Only a man of the Zeuss type, well versed in philology and the original structure and peculiar idioms of this ancient speech, would be likely to bring order out of the existing chaos, and produce a book which would be a real help to the study of the language. Meanwhile the student has to fall back upon Stewart, whose outlines were put together when philological research was yet in its infancy. Though Zeuss and Windisch have Gaelic Grammars, they are in Latin and German.

The history of the Dictionaries is even more interesting. Michael O’Clery is credited with the first attempts to produce a Gaelic one.^[38] His Seanasan Nuadh, or glossary of old words, was published at Louvain in 1643. Other Irish lexicographers followed, as many as six Dictionaries appearing before the year 1817 was ended, among them that of the learned Lhuyd of Wales and Oxford in 1706.

The earliest in the Scottish Gaelic, was Kirke’s Vocabulary, printed at the end of the Irish Bible in 1690, and consisting of five and a half pages, on which the words were arranged alphabetically. Later, in 1702, another Vocabulary of thirteen pages by him, including additions by Lhuyd, was published in Nicholson’s Scottish Historical Library. This one is not arranged alphabetically, but under twelve heads or divisions. Neither of Kirke’s was issued by itself, apart from other subject-matter.

Afterwards, about the year 1732, the Rev. Dr. Malcolm or M‘Colm of Duddingston made an attempt to compile a lexicon, the material for which was said to have been prepared by Lhuyd. He published a prospectus and a specimen of the work, entitled “Focloir Gaoidheilge-Shagsonach,” but although he was encouraged by the General Assembly and received a grant of £20, the work never appeared.

Thus the first Gaelic Dictionary published in separate form was Macdonald’s Vocabulary, 1741, written for the use of the Charity Schools founded and endowed in the Highlands by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. Like its predecessor, it is not arranged alphabetically but divided into subjects or chapters, like the syllabaries used by the ancient Assyrians.

A more ambitious work was “A Galic and English Dictionary, containing all the words in the Scottish and Irish dialects of the Celtic that could be collated from the voice, and old books, and MSS., by the Rev. William Shaw, A.M., followed by an English and Galic Dictionary, containing the most useful and necessary words in the English language, explained by the correspondent words in the Galic,” by the same author, 1780. The published price was two guineas, though it was frequently sold for three and a half. Shaw’s knowledge of the language was defective. A most furious Highland storm burst over his head on account of his open championship of the Johnsonian side in the Ossianic controversy. Consequently some of the subscribers returned their copies, but on the plea that there were a good many Irish words in the book. Others, who did not return them within a reasonable time, were found liable to pay. The case had gone to the Court of Session, and the author won, the judges finding that though he did not fulfil the terms of his prospectus he was not guilty of fraud or deceit in the preparation of the book, and when a definition of a Gaelic Dictionary was given they held that his legally answered the description. From Shaw himself the curious fact was elicited that, when picking up words among the Highlanders, he found the task nearly impossible, as he had to pay them all except the most educated, the natives being impressed with the idea that he was going to make a fortune out of the language, and of course they should have a share. In consequence he turned to the Irish peasantry, who received him more graciously; and he had access to Colonel Vallancy’s MSS. But the upshot was that the Dictionary did ultimately contain more Irish words than Gaelic. And this, combined with his own unpopularity, gave his controversial foes the opportunity to thwart him, which he resisted, as we have indicated, by litigation. Ultimately he had to seek refuge in the Church of England, where through the influence, it is supposed, of Dr. Johnson, he got a living worth £200 a year.

“A new Alphabetical Vocabulary, Gaelic and English, with some directions for writing and reading the Gaelic,” by Robert Macfarlane, Edinburgh, appeared in 1795; and in 1815 another, in two parts, by Peter Macfarlane, the Gaelic translator of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Doddridge’s Rise and Progress, and Blair’s Sermons. The two parts were also published separately in the same year. This was the only really practical Gaelic Dictionary up to date, but on account of its limited size was still very deficient

A prospectus for a more comprehensive lexicon was issued in 1803 by Alexander Robertson, schoolmaster, Kirkmichael, and a few parts appeared. Thereafter the Highland Society bought his MS., as an aid to the Dictionary contemplated by themselves.

Since then there have been issued as many as five good ones, all more or less well known and serviceable at the present time. The first of these was by Rev. A. Armstrong, A.M., “in which the words in their different acceptations are illustrated by quotations from the best Gaelic writers; and their affinities traced in most of the languages of ancient and modern times, with a short historical appendix of ancient names deduced from the authority of Ossian and other poets; to which is prefixed a new Gaelic Grammar, 1825.” The work was published at three guineas.

On the other hand, the rival, issued by the Highland Society of Scotland, three years later, on somewhat similar lines, cost seven guineas in demy quarto, and ten in royal. To an advertisement from the publisher the following is attached: “This great work has occupied the attention of the Society since 1814, and presents not only a fully illustrated view of the Gaelic of Scotland, but surpasses in extent any lexicon of the Celtic Language ever offered to the public in this or any other country.” Armstrong’s and this one are by far the largest and the best.

Next in order comes that projected by the Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod, Minister of Campsie, and the Rev. Dr. Daniel Dewar of Glasgow, 1831. It was superintended through the press and indeed mainly compiled by the Peter Macfarlane already mentioned and his son Donald—both accredited Gaelic scholars; and sold for a guinea. It is now known as Macleod and Dewar’s.

Contemporary with it we may say, there appeared, in 1832, the first attempt at a Gaelic pronouncing Dictionary, sold in parts by all the teachers in the Highlands. It was originally issued as “A Pocket Pronouncing Gaelic Dictionary for Schools in the Highlands and Islands”; containing a far greater number of pure Gaelic words than any other Dictionary, and three times, in some instances ten times, the number of illustrations and examples in the large Gaelic Dictionaries, from the Bible and other sources; also all words that are exclusively Irish pointed out, and reasons given for rejecting them by N. Macalpine, student in Divinity and Parochial Schoolmaster in Islay.

While Armstrong’s and the Highland Society’s Dictionary have only had one edition, and Macleod and Dewar’s five, Macalpine’s has reached as many as twelve, and was last printed in 1890. A small volume of recognised merit by the Rev. Ewen Maceachen bears the date 1842. It has now been re-edited by Dr. Macbain and Mr. John Whyte.

Lately Dr. Macbain’s own Etymological Dictionary, the most scholarly work of the kind, has been published at Inverness in 1896, of which interesting book a new edition may shortly be expected, so that Highland Vernacular Dictionaries have had a goodly record.

One other department of this study remains to be noted, namely the periodicals, a mere list of which suffices to show their character and history. But indirectly this list throws a pathetic sidelight on the waning fortunes, or may we not say, the expiring struggles of our ancient tongue, as well as upon the number and variety of efforts that have been put forth to resuscitate it.

Of these it will be seen the most died in their infancy. The only survivors in Scotland to-day are the Church Quarterly An Fhianuis, the Monthly Supplement to Life and Work, and the Celtic Monthly. There have been about twenty monthly periodicals tried since the beginning of last century. Of the Gaelic Messenger, to take a single example, Dr. Nigel Macneill says that the late Mr. W. R. Macphun, the publisher, informed him in 1873 that the parcels of Messengers sent to the Highlands and Islands came back at the end of the year, after they had been read, without any accompanying payment. Dr. Macleod, the editor, and his enterprising publisher saw then that it was time to give up the business. “Some who have lost time and money in recent times over Gaelic affairs,” adds Dr. Macneill sententiously, “may find some cold comfort in this incident in the experience of our greatest of prose writers.”

Further comment on that score is surely unnecessary. Yet is it not suggestive of much that the only paper at present wholly written in Scottish Gaelic is one published in Cape Breton, 3000 miles without and beyond the Celtic fringe of the Old World?

Taken as a whole, we may see from this survey that the printed Gaelic books extant belong to the past. They represent a type of thought which has been largely superseded. And no modern outside the world of Gaelic dream could live and thrive on them exclusively. Nevertheless they represent the literature of a people, ancient and venerable, and as such they will have a value and interest for the future historian, litterateur, philologist, and ethnologist far exceeding what they have to-day; and in translations the best of the bards will be read when the language in which they breathed their poetry is no longer heard on the lips of men.