Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/23

Rh the Reay bard, ﬂourished about the same time, and has left numerous admirable pieces of Gaelic poetry. Others were also successful composers, such as William Ross of Gairloch, and the religious poet of the Highlands, Dougal Buchanan. And towards the close of the century was published Gillies’s Collection of Gaelic Poetry, one of the best collections we possess, containing, as it does, many authentic pieces of Ossianic poetry taken down when the old clan system was still in force in the Highlands to a larger extent than now. But the 18th century was distinguished by two works of special interest, in different departments. The ﬁrst of these was the Gaelic translation of the Bible, and the second was .lacpherson’s Ossian. The former was executed chiefly by the Rev. James Stewart, of Killin, and his son the Rev. Dr John Stewart, of Lnss,—two eminent scholars, who had all the soundness of judgment necessary for such a work. This translation of the Bible l1as been most popular in the High- lands and throughout the British colonies where the Gaelic is still spoken. The Gaelic learner cannot do better at the outset than master the Gaelic Bible. Macpherson’s Ossian appeared about the same time, but not in Gaelic. It appeared ﬁrst in English dress. This was the only mode of making the general public acquainted with it. Mac- pherson’s ﬁrst small volume of fragments appeared alto- gether in English ; it would have been well if both the original and the translation had been published simultane- ously. The only part of the Gaelic that was published before 1818 was what is called a “ Specimen of the Original of Temora,” given with the other poems in English in 1762. The opinions with regard to the authenticity of Macpherson’s Ossian are as various as ever, and yet considerable progress has been made in the discovery of truth, which all parties are prepared to acknowledge. It has been established that poems ascribed to Ossian have been known and written dow11 in the Highlands for 300 years, that many of them have been handed down by tradition, that these were fragments referring to certain important events in the history of the Gaelic race, and that there was nothing to make it improbable that such poems as those translated by llacpherson could have existed. Further, it is clear that the Highlanders at once, whether they knew the pieces or not as given by Macpherson, recognized them as in a style familiar to them, and as relating to persons and events with which they were familiar. That Macphcrson found materials for his work in the Highlands is beyond a doubt, and it seems quite as manifest that he used very considerable liberties with them in order to serve his object of producing a great Gaelic epic poem or poems. In 1818 the full Gaelic version was printed, long after the death of James Maepherson. T/we Poems of Ossian, as collected, and trans- lated, and edited by Macpherson, are a valuable and inter- esting addition to Gaelic literature, and enter largely into the history of the modern literature of Europe. The Saxon may have his doubts about Ossian, and may have little seruple or delicacy in stating them, but the Gael knows more about Ossian than he does about Milton, and is more familiar with his heroes than with those of Homer. The 19th century has seen many large contributions to the literature of the Gaelic Celt. It l1as shared in the general progress of learning, and with this it has risen in the estimation of the scholars of Europe. lrammars and dictionaries have been compiled; magazines of various kinds have been started and carried on for a time with much vigour; collections, such as Mackenzie’s Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, l1ave been made; and such provisions have been laid up for the future as to secure an ample supply of materials for the scholars of a coming age. That appears to be the special work laid upon the scholars of the present time. They have to collect materials and commit them to writing, and to describe the peculiarities that are distinctive of a living language, for the use of those who hereafter can only study it as existing in books, where emphasis, and tone, and accent are altogether unknown, and where the com- ments and expositions of living men, familiar with the language and the literature from their childhood, are alto- gether awanting. For that the Gaelic language is in a state of decay is manifest to the most ordinary observer. And the decay is twofold, being both within and without. Within, the vocabulary is waning, and English words are coming into use. Gaelic idioms are in like manner disap- pearing, and English idioms replacing them; while from without, under the inﬂuence of education, immigration, steamboats, railways, and other modern devices, English is rapidly ﬁnding its way into the land, and pushing the ancient tongue out of it. When this process is completed, a change will befall the people too, for there is no doubt that there is a close relation between the character of a language and the character of the people who use it; so that, when the Gaelic disappears, many of the features dis- tinctive of the Highland character will disappear along with it. In some respects this will be cause of regret; in others perhaps it will not.

1em {{11fine|Fragments in Report of Ilighlavul Society on Ossian; Fragments in Clironicles of Picts and Scots; The Book of Deer; The Book of the Dean of Lismore; Carsevell’s Prayer Book; Bedell’s and O’Donnell’s Bible; The Gaelic Psalter, various editions; The Con- fession of Faith, and Cateehisms; Lhuyd's Vocabulary; M‘Donal(l's Vocabulary; 0ssian’s Poems; Smith's Sean Da-na; Gillies's Collection of Poems; Macdonald"s Poems; ll‘Intyre’s Poems; Rob Donn's Poems; Dougal Buchanan's Hymns; Il‘Callum’s Collection of Poetry; The Gaelic Bible; Stewart's Collection of Poems; Tumer’s Collection of Poems; Sacred Poetry of the North, edited by Rose; The Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, M ‘Kenzie; Grant's II ymns; M‘ I ntosh’s Gaelic Proverbs; Stcwart’s Gaelic Grammar; Munro’s l}'aelz'c Gram- mar; Highland Society's Gaelic Dictionary; Armstrong’s Gaelic Dictionary; 1I‘Alpin’s Gaelic Dictionary; Highland Tales, collected and edited by J. F. Campbell; Lmbhar 72a Ft-inn, by J. F. Campbell; /In D-aanaire, by D. C. M‘Pherson; An Teaclulaire Gaelach, by Rev. Dr lI‘Leod; An Flziauis, by Rev. Dr Mackay; An Gaiclllcal, a magazine; numerous translations from the English, chieﬂy religious works; Con11ell’s Astronomy; ll‘Kenzie’s History of Scotland; besides many others.}|undefined}  GAETA, at one time the “ Gibraltar of Italy,” a strongly- fortified seaport town in the province of Caserta, at the_ex- tremity of a peninsula forming the N.W. boundary of the Gulf of Gaeta, with a station on the railway 40 N.W. of Naples. The citadel occupies the heights of the pen- insula, and the town stretches below in a long thin line. To the east lies the harbour, one of the safest on the whole coast, with a depth of about 15 feet. The principal build- ings are the cathedral, the churches, the conventual build- ings (of which the most noteworthy are those of the Francisans and the Benedictines), the hospital, and the foundling asylum. In the cathedral, which was founded or partially built by Barbarossa, are several objects of historical interest :-—the body of St Erasmus (the St Ermo or Elmo, whose “ﬁres” are familiar to the .Iediterranean sailor); the standard presented by Pope Pius V. to Don J olm of Austria, the hero of the battle of Lepanto ; and a baptismal font from the ruins of Formiae, which had formerly been an altar to Bacchus, and still bears the lreek inscription 2a)m’mv A61}:/aios £1.-oivyoe. Among the larger remains of Roman lraeta are a temple and an aqueduct ; and the circular Torre cl’0rlando, which crowns the height above the citadel, is, in reality, the sepulchre of L. Munatius Plancus, as is distinctly proved by a well-preserved inscription. The suburbs of Gaeta, called Castellona, Mola di Gaeta, and Del Borgo, are larger than the town itself, and form a separate commune under the name of Formia (see ). The population