The book Arran; - Cook Clan

146 THE BOOK OF ARRAN
editions in the same year. A couple of years later he brought
out a similar pioneer work in *A Gaelic and English Dictionary,
containing all the words in the Scottish and Irish dialects
of the Celtic, that could be collected from the voice and old
books and MSS., followed by an English and GaeUc Dictionary,
etc' The book was published at two guineas.
But Shaw had done a rash thing which wrought him woe.
The controversy over the authenticity of Macpherson's
Ossian was at its thickest and most passionate, and Shaw
declared himself on the side of Dr. Johnson in refusing to
accept the work as genuine— ^the right side in the main,
though not so entirely right as Dr. Johnson would have had
it. At once his furious compatriots turned upon Shaw.
Some subscribers sent back their volumes with the excuse
that there were too many Irish words in the alleged Gaelic
Dictionary. Others refused to pay without returning the
book. The plea was that Shaw had not produced a work in
accord with the prospectus, which promised a strictly Gaelic
dictionary; the real motive was ill-will over what had been
said about the Ossianic literature. The case went to the Court
of Session, where a decision was given in Shaw's favour, on
the ground that, though he had not strictly fulfilled the
terms of the prospectus, he had not been guilty of any fraud,
and that the book answered the definition of a Gaelic
Dictionary, albeit, what was true, there was more Irish than
Scottish Gaelic in it. The explanation of this characteristic
is not flattering. Outside educated Highlanders he found
he could not get the people to supply him with words except
for payment ; they fancied he was going to make a fortune
out of his hobby. A method of turning Gaelic into much
fine gold has not yet been discovered. But when he crossed
to Ireland he found the peasantry there more sensibly
obliging, while he was also given facilities for consulting MSS.
For these reasons was his Dictionary so heavily loaded with
Irish. But though Shaw triumphed in the court, he was