day; while the perverse and crafty upholders of imposture disdain the truth, and appear to feel it

a galling wound to their silly pride, to admit, and therefore they reject the truth of history. But were they to publish as much gorgeous falsehood in elaborate jargon as would fill the Atlantic or Pacific ocean, supported even by illusive depositions, (for such do they produce,) it would not be capable of obliterating the venerable record of veracity, sanctioned by the concurrent testimony of all sincere investigation, through the various mazes of revolving ages. I have, in my time, met and conversed freely with many Highland Gentlemen, and not one of them ever denied the historic fact, of the Albanian Scots being descendants of the Irish; nay, they would appear indignant at mention of those men of mighty name who have written to the contrary. As to the refutation of Mr. M'Pherson's system, they considered, as indeed they should, that the Rev. and venerable Doctor Shaw, Messrs. Laing and Pinkerton, had done enough to vindicate "their country from the charge of not having such "sturdy moralists, as would love truth better than "Scotland." As to Ireland, O'Conor, O'Halloran, and Dr. Barnard are sufficient authority to convict the forgery. It is remarkable of the Irish language,

that

that where it is spoken at all throughout Ireland, it s spoken without being subject to the anomaly which designates the patois of France, or the shiredialect of England. Indeed, to such a pitch of accurate perfection was it brought of old, that its correctness lives to this day in the Irish parts of Ireland. A common labourer in the field will expose his companion to ridicule, if he, by any inadvertency, happen to break a concord, or commit any other error of diction or accentuation, to the hearty amusement of those around him. This, it is submitted, must be an irrefragable proof of the ancient general correctness and cultivation, of this language. It is also spoken, with considerable accuracy, in many parts of the Highlands of modern Scotland. This, I conclude, from having conversed with several Gentlemen of that country with the greatest ease and familiarity; and, I must add, that none of them refused an immediate and unequivocal acknowledgment that the Gaelic of Scotland was a dialect of the mother tongue of Ireland; as well as that the Highland Scots were the descendants of a colony from this, the mother country. They ever plainly declared, they were perfectly aware of the disingenuousness of modern fabrications; and that they knew, from undisputed

tradition,

tradition, that Finn, Oisin, Goll, Osgar, and all the other Finnian heroes were Irish, not Albans. What avails it, then, to produce the attested decla rations of illiterate, and the laboured essays of literary men, in opposition to an historical fact, otherwise generally acknowledged? The similarity of a few names, and the likeness of some cirumstances in the modern figments, to those in the ancient poems, have imposed on the ignorance of the one, while the ability displayed in the execution of imposture, has fascinated and deluded the other. The following anecdotes confirm the position here laid down: That eminently ingenious, and profoundly erudite, prelate, the Rev. Dr. Young, the late amiable and benevolent bishop of Clonfert, but previously a most respectable and respected senior fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, (in which University I had the happiness of spending nearly twelve years under his kind and generous tutelage,) was warmly affected towards the cultivation of Irish literature. In the summer of 1784, he traversed the Highlands in search of Gaelic poetry. He was directed to a bookseller in Perth, with whom, it was asserted, that the original of Mr. M'Pherson's poems were deposited. On inspection, however, it proved to be an ancient Irish manuscript, on vellum, con

taining

" I am,

"I shall soon prove

taining historic tracts, and several genealogies; particularly one of the illustrious house of O'Neill. Upon being introduced to a literary Lady, a widow, of the name of Mac Donald, who taught her daughters Gaelic, she was pleased to ask him, "Pray, Sir, are you an Irishman ?" "Madam," was the answer. "that," said she. Upon which she handed him an Irish Testament, and requested him to read two or three verses in it. He did accordingly, and she said, "I clearly see you are, Sir." He then asked, "Madam, is it in this you teach these young "Ladies?"-Her daughters were present.

Sir," answered she.

66

Yes,

Why not instruct them

" in the bible published by authority of the synod "of Argyle?" resumed the doctor. "O! Sir, why "should I teach them a corrupt dialect, when I can "instruct them in the pure mother tongue?" was her answer. In like manner, talking to an old Gentleman who repeated some Finnian poetry to him, he asked him, “ Where, Sir, or whence have you got these?" The old Gentleman replied, "have got them traditionally from our ancestors, "who originally came from Ireland." The veracity of this amiable prelate, will never be called in question. It would be notorious to all the world,

ઃઃ

"We

if

if Gaelic literature were more cultivated, that it is only of late the modern Scotch shew shame of their origin. Gadhaltacht Alban, the Gadelicity of Alba, is the old expression for the Highlands; and Gaelic Albanach, Aalbanian Gaelic, for Erse, even among themselves, to distingush them from their original Irish nativity. For the present, farewel, Mr.

McPherson.

FINIS.