Celtic Mythology and Religion

X
INTRODUCTION.
M.A. on equal terms in education with the other
literary men of our day, a goal which has always
been my ambition to arrive at, that I may have
confidence in discussing the topics which engross
the attention of mankind. I dread to commit
myself through ignorance, and ere I
will appear (if
ever I shall) in public, I will be backed up with a
complete knowledge of the facts I speak on. This
is high talking for a poor student in the second class
of the Grammar School of Old Aberdeen." Here
he enunciates a guiding principle from which he
never swerved. He had ever the true scientific spirit
in his respect for facts, and in the pains he took,
and would have others take, in verifying them.
No statement of his is made at haphazard. This
reverence for truth he had the knack of inspiring in
some, at least,
him.
of those who came in contact with
In Inverness he lived far from University centres
and far from libraries. He made up for this partly
by an expenditure on books which must have been
out of proportion to his income, and partly by the
direction he was able to give to the purchases of the
local Free Library, as a result of which its reference
department is
the historical side.
exceedingly complete and useful on
Inverness itself was at that time
rich in men of native talent and literary instincts.
In particular the Gaelic Society, founded in 1871,
by the discussions at its meetings and by the field
for publication offered by its Transactions, exercised
t