It is hoped that, if any Gaelic MSS. still remain in the hands of individual possessors, they will add to the value of this collection by making them known, and depositing them in the Advocates’ Library for preservation.
The MSS. are preserved in a locked cabinet, and a general catalogue of the whole has been prepared by the writer.
[ [13] Vol. ii. pt. i. p. 35.
[ [14] It is hardly possible to convey to the reader an adequate conception of the labour of the task undertaken by Mr. M’Lauchlan, or of the courage, perseverance, and ability with which it has been overcome. Mr. M’Lauchlan had first to read the Dean’s transcript—no ordinary task, when, to a strange orthography, affording no clue to the original word, was added a careless handwriting of the beginning of the sixteenth century, faded ink, and decayed paper. He had then to convert it into the corresponding Gaelic in its modern shape and orthography, and then to translate it into English, in which he had to combine the literal rendering of an idiomatic language with an intelligible exhibition of its meaning in English.
It may be as well to take this opportunity of stating, that Mr. M’Lauchlan is solely responsible for the selection made from the Dean’s MS., the rendering in modern Gaelic, the English translation, and the notes at the foot of the page. The writer of this is responsible only for the Introduction and the additional notes, to which his name is attached.
[ [15] I use the word dialect throughout, in the restricted sense of the German word mundart, for want of a better English word to express it.
[ [16] This term is unknown to the Highlanders, who call themselves Albanaich; and was a term of reproach applied to them by the Lowlanders, from their language being the same as the Irish. It is curious that the same reproach was applied by the English to the Scotch in the twelfth century. Lambarde records that, at the battle of the Standard, when the Scots shouted Albany, Albany! the English soldiers retorted with Yry, Yry! “a term of great reproach at that time.”
[ [17] I reject from this list the grammar and dictionary by the Rev. Wm. Shaw, published in 1778 and 1780, because, so far as they purport to be a grammar and dictionary of the Scotch Gaelic dialect, they are a deception, and not trustworthy.
Shaw was a native of Arran, where a corrupt and Irishised Gaelic is spoken; and it is well known that he failed in his attempt to compile his dictionary from the spoken language in the Highlands, where he made a tour for the purpose, and resorted to Ireland, where he manufactured his works from Irish sources and authorities, adapting the Irish grammar to a very imperfect knowledge of the language.
The subscribers complained of the deception, and refused to take the work, till compelled by a process at law. The evidence taken in this process is very instructive as to the position of Shaw’s grammar and dictionary, so far as their Irish element is concerned, towards the Scotch Gaelic dialect at that period.