CHAPTER XI.
GENERAL LITERATURE.
“It is easy to disparage the study of these scanty remains of a literary language which, though it be not dead, is more of an unknown tongue to our modern men of letters than almost any other.”—Dr Joseph Anderson.
The intellectual activity created in the sixteenth century led to the formation of a new literature for the diffusion of the new learning. This literature belongs to that period in our national history when religious ferment, political and ecclesiastical change, began to operate effectually on the mind of modern Europe. The first Gaelic effort in this direction was by John Carsuel, superintendent of the diocese of Argyll, who translated and published (1567) John Knox’s Prayer-Book. The English original was printed at Edinburgh in 1565, and the Gaelic version appeared within two years after that date. It is the first Gaelic book that ever was printed either in Scotland or Ireland. Only three copies were known to exist previous to 1872; one perfect copy in possession of the Duke of Argyll, and two imperfect copies, one in the Edinburgh University Library and the other in the British Museum. In 1872 the Rev. Dr Maclauchlan made a complete transcript of the book, and a new edition was published page for page and line for line with the original. Philologists regard it as very valuable. Bishop Carsuel was a native of Kilmartin, well versed in the Gaelic language, and thoroughly acquainted with the people of the wide district of whose spiritual interests he had charge. In an address prefixed to his book he alludes to the manuscript literature then extant, “written in manuscript books in the compositions of poets and ollaves, and in the remains of learned men.” The bishop seems to have imbibed something of the earnest, critical spirit of nineteenth-century Christianity, and deserves our respect for giving us the first printed book in Gaelic.
Still it is unfortunate for Gaelic literature, though perhaps not for the Protestant religion, that he and others determined on the ruthless extinction of the popular ballads among the people. The Ursgeuls, or prose tales, were condemned even with greater emphasis. The following verses from a ballad from which an extract has been taken already will show the character of the popular literature which Carsuel did not consider edifying:—
URNUIGH OISEIN.
Oisein.
’S gann a chreideás mi do sgeul,
A chlérich leir d’ leabhar ban,
Gu’m biodh Fionn, no cho fial,
Aig duine no aig Dia an lăimh.