An gaidheal - National Library of Scotland

help thinking that had the historiantaken a little more trouble to investigatethe manners, customs, andinstitutions of the Highlands, duringthe fourteen or fifteen centuriesreferi'ed to, lie woiild have discoveredthat the preservation of these poemswas not so wonderful as at first heimagined. Men in these days possessedmore retentive memories thanin the days of Hume. The art ofprinting has increased knowledge,but it has not impi-oved the memory,when men have their libraries storedwith books they have no occasion totax their memories, they have onlyto refer to their authorities. But inan age when knowledge is not sostereotyped, men have to trust totheir own mental repositories. Inthose days literature was scarce, andconsequently precious, and as a heirloom,handed down from father toson." Space forbids our quotingmore largely at this time from Mr.MacPherson's excellent lecture; wemust therefore leave it with a recommendationto our readers, that theyought to procure it for themselves,and we are convinced that on perusalthey Avill agi'ee with us, that theauthor is fully entitled to the conclusion,to which he states he is inevitablydriven, that "Fingal lived andOssian sang."()l0rresp0niiencc.GAELIC PROVERBS.Dear Sir, —Having in view the preparationof a new edition of "Mackintosh'sGaelic Proverbs," now a scarcebook, I shall be obliged to any of yourreaders who will kindly send me any additions(fiop as (jadi seidj to the unpublishedstock of Gaelic proverbs, in orderto make the collection as complete aspossible. —I am, yours truly,Alex. Nicolson.Kirkcudbright, 16th June, 1873.THE GAEL. 159LEABHAR NA FEINNE.Sir,—I have this day read Nos. 13, 14,15, 16, of the Gael. Amongst more interestingmatter I find reference to mysubjects, my books, and myself, at pp. 26,49, 110, 114, 127. Allow me to thankyour contributors for their notice, and toinform them and your readers that theprice of Leahhar na Feinne, Vol. I., GaelicText, is £1. Mr. William Scott, whomanages here for me, will send copies inreturn for Post Office orders payable tohim, or to me, at Kensington.As Mr. Cameron truly says, at p. 26,I "make no pretentions to Gaelic scholarship,"but I have printed at my own costa large collection of genuine old heroicGaelic ballads, from authentic and attainablesources, and scholars may wish tobuy that which I can supply. I amobliged to "D. C. M." — I am, yourobedient servant,J. F. Campbell.Niddry Lodge, Kensington,London, W., June 19, 1873.OISEAN AGUS AN CLEIREACH.Sir,—For the satisfaction of your corresijondent" D. C. M.," I may mentionthat the Ossianic ballad which appearedin the April number of the Gael wastaken from the M'Nicol MSS. referred toin the note which I appended to "UrnuighOisein" (see Gael, vol. i., p. 84)—thesame collection from which afterwardsthe copy published by Mr. J. F. Campbell,at p. 72 of Leahhar na Feinne, wastranscribed. This accounts for your correspondent'smistake when he stated thatthe copy which appeared in your columns"was evidently founded" on that givenin Leahhar na Feinne, a mistake, however,which the foot-notes might haveprevented.My aim was to give M'Nicol's versionin a form in which it might be intelligibleto ordinary readers, and, therefore, Ialtered and corrected his orthography,but the changes which I made on histext, after collating it with those of MissBrooke and Gillies, are \ery few, andare all pointed out by myself in thefoot-notes.—I am, &e.,A. C.26th June, 1S73.