Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/22

Rh 12 known except in the topography. There is not a shade of difference between the language of the Boole of Deer and the language of the Irish writings of the same age. interesting :—Do)u‘/mil mac mec bead mac Iiiiled dorat ac/(ml mwlchor tlocrist acus tlrostim amstloclioluimcille insére gobrcid malec/ii arusc6m_r7ell (u'us_r/ille crist -mac _7('n_r;zZni inmiienasi -intestes, &c. “ Duncan, son of .lacBcth, son of Idid, gave Acha.1 .Ia;lchor to Christ, and to Drost-an, and to Columcille, in freedom for ever; Malechi, and Comgall, and Gilchrist, son of Fingon, witnesses in proof of it.” The notice of grants continue in similar form, being records kept within the monastery of what had been given. of Deer is a work of much interest to the Gaelic scholar, and his best thanks are due to the Spalding Club and the late Dr John Stuart for the excellent volume they have published, containing all that is interesting in the original, with a f11ll and learned account of it. Of the period immediately after the Book of Deer there are several MS. remains of Scottish laelic writing in existence. There is the Glenmasan .IS. in the Edinburgh Advocates’ Library, inscribed with the date 1238, and» con- taining several interesting fragments. IIcre we ﬁnd the famous lay of Deirdre or 1)arthula, connected with the story of the sons of Usnoth. The whole character of this .IS. is identical with that of the Irish _[SS., and yet it is mani- festly a Scottish work. There are lives of saints preserved ; one of these, in the Advocates’ Library, is the life of St Findchua. Mr Skene, in his Clzronicles of the Picls and Ssols, gives transcripts of several important MSS._. as the Duan Albanach, or poetical accounts of the Scottish kings, recited by the royal bard at the coronation of Malcolm Kenmore. This was copied from an Irish MS., but is manifestly a Scottish composition. The bards of both Ireland and Scotland often crossed the Irish Channel, and their works were well known on both sides of it. ' The 11th and 15th centuries were a period of revival of literature over the whole continent of Europe, and the Celts of Great Britain and Ireland felt the impulse. This was a period of much writing both in Ireland and in Scotland. The remains that exist are of a varied kind, and are numerous, especially those of the 15th century. Of this century is the only Gaelic charter that we possess, which is printed, with a translation, in" the J'at2'onal Ifecorcls of Scotlaml. Of this age also are numerous medical MSS. Some of these belonged to the famous family of Beatons, hereditary physicians to the Lords of the Isles, and contain accounts of such remedies as were believed at the time to have efficacy in the cure of disease. Others are metaphysical treatises, while others deal with what were _looked upon as the great and important mysteries of astrology. Of this period also are most of the written genealogies that remain. The remarkable thing is the extent to which the Gaelic language bears the marks of cultivation at the time. In both medicine and metaphysics words are found to express the most abstract ideas, which could not be understood by the modern Highlander. As has already been said, some of these writings are translations from Arabic writers, as Averroes, Avicenna, Iacobus de Forlivio, and others. The state of learning at the time in the Highlands was not behind that in the rest of the kingdom. The clergy and the physicians, and even the bards, were possessed of real learning, and have left evidence of it. The 16th century was the period of two important addi- tions to Gaelic literature. The first of these was what is called “ The Dean of Lismore’s book, ” a. collection of poetical pieces, and an obituary, chieﬂy of the .I‘Gregor chiefs, made about the year 1512. The work has recently been transcribed, translated, and edited, with notes by the Rev. Dr .I'Lauchlan, and an introduction and additional 7‘ lhe 1 following specimen of the notices of grants of land may be ~ The B00]: * GAISLIC ' notes by .Ir W. F. Skene. The work is one which has helped to settle several interesting questions connected with Gaelic literature. It makes clear that, down to the period of the dean of Lismore of 1:312, there was much in common between the Celtic scholars and bards of Ireland and those of Scotland, while the latter were striking out a course for themselves, in laying aside the Irish letter and orthography, and in using the Saxon letter and an ortho- graphy almost purely phonetic. The dean of Lismore’s book is a substantial addition to the literature of the Gael. The same century furnished us with another important addition in the translation of the prayer-book usually called “John ]{nox’s Liturgy ” into Gaelic, by John Carswell, the bishop of the Isles. This is the first Gaelic book that ever was printed, and bears the date of 1567. There was till very recently only one complete copy of this work in exist- ence, that in the library of the duke of Argyll; but now the book has been reprinted, edited by 1)r .l‘Lauchl.iu, who has given an English translation, and such notices of the life of Carswell as very scanty materials would permit. This book is printed in the Roman letter. The publication of Carswell’s Gaelic prayer-book would seem to indicate that at the time of its publication the Ilighlanders could read Gaelic, and that they were familiar with the dialect then in use among scholars both in Scotland and Ireland. Of the 17th century not many remains exist. Calvin’s Calec/zism was published about the beginning of the century, probably translated by Carswell, and published long after his death. A copy is now hardly to be found. -}ut two important contributions were made towards the close of the century. The one of these was the metrical t.rans‘..ation of the Gaelic Psalms, executed both by the synod of Argyll and the Rev. Robert Kirke of Balquhidder; and the other was an edition, in the Roman letter, of Bcclclls Irish Bible for the use of the Highlanders of Scotland. The first fifty of the psalms by the synod were published in 1059, and the whole psalter was completed in 1694-. Iiirke pu_blishcd his version in 1684. Both are highly creditable performances, and liirke is entitled to special commendation, inasnnicli as the Gaelic language was acquired by him after he was settled in the Highlands. Kirl~'_e’s version of the Irish Bible for the use of the Highlanders was published in 1690. The New Testament is that of O’Donne1l. This work is accom- panied by a glossary including the words in the Irish Bible not generally in use in the Highlzlntls. The book was for a time used in Highland churches, but the Irish Iliblc, in the Irish letter, was well known and read in the Highlands~ both in churches and in families. The 18th century was productive of large additions to ulaelic literature, partly due to an awakening of religious life, partly to the Jacobite rising, and partly to the progress of literary culture. In the beginning of the century Lhuyd produced his 1’ocabul«1r_2/, accompanied by a few interesting Gaelic compositions from the Ilighlands. About the same time, the synod of Argyll executed a translation of the Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisnis. These were published in 17225. M‘Donald’s 1'0:-u/mlu)-_2,r appeared in the year 1741. It is the first attempt. at any- thing like a vocabulary of the Gaelic. It is of little value except as being the first book in which the orthography approached to that of the modern Gaelic. 1)uring this century several famous Gaelic bards flourished. _I‘1)onald, the author of the l"ocabu[ar_a/, filled the country with Jacobite and other songs. The former are of a violent character, indicating keen partisanship with the exiled Stuarts. M‘Intyre of Glcnorchy, commonly called I_)nnc.1n Ban, flourished about the same period, and, though he was a Jacobite at first, this appeared less in his compositions than in _l‘Donald’s. ]Iis hunting and other descriptive songs are admirable. lI‘Koy or Calder, usually called liob Donn,