THE GAELIC BIBLE.
The first portion of the Bible translated was the New Testament, in 1767, by the Rev. James Stewart of Killin. Dugald Buchanan, the poet, accompanied Mr Stewart to Edinburgh to superintend the work through the press. The title-page bears that the translation was undertaken at the request and at the expense of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. The translator adopted an orthographical system, which has been perfected into a standard of Gaelic by succeeding scholars. The first edition of the translation of the Old Testament was published in the following order:—
Part I., 1783, translated by John Stuart, D.D., of Luss.
Part IV., 1786, translated by John Smith, D.D., of Campbelton.
Part II., 1787, translated by Dr Stuart.
Part III., 1801, translated by Dr Stuart.
The fourth part, assigned to Dr Smith, contained the Prophets, which had afterwards to be revised, Smith’s version being more poetical than literal. Dr Stuart was a son of the translator of the New Testament, and received in 1819 for his labours in connection with the first and other editions of the Gaelic Scriptures the sum of £1000 from the Lords of the Treasury, a Government favour which has not been always recognised. A new and revised edition on which Dr Alexander Stewart, of Dingwall, was engaged with Dr Stuart, of Luss, under the instructions of a large committee of Gaelic scholars appointed by the General Assembly in 1816, was published in quarto in 1826. It is acknowledged by all competent judges that this Gaelic version of the Scriptures is beyond all praise; that in many instances it adheres more closely to the original than the English Bible, whose beauty and excellence have won universal admiration. The translation of the Old Testament was also undertaken at the expense of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, and through its liberality the Scriptures were sold at half the cost price. On the publication of the Revised Version of the English Bible, a committee of Gaelic scholars undertook the revision of the Gaelic Bible; but on account of some difficulties with the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge the fruit of their labours has not yet appeared.