The first books printed for the use of the Scottish Highlanders were a translation of Knox's prayer book by John Carsewell, bishop of the Isles; a translation of Calvin's catechism, in 1631; a translation of the psalms of David, begun in 1659, and completed in 1694; and a translation of the Bible, published by the Rev. Robert Kirke, minister of Balquhidder, in 1690. All these works are in the Irish orthography and Irish dialect; the last-mentioned work, indeed, is nothing more than a reprint of bishop Bedell's Irish version of the Bible, with a short vocabulary of Scottish Gaelic words, to adapt it to the use of the Scottish Highlanders.
The first translations into the Scottish Gaelic were of Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, published in 1750; of the psalms of David, :in 1753, in 1787, and in 1807; of the New Testament, in 1767 and 1396; of Alleine's Alarm, in 1781; of the Old Testament, in 1783-87, and in 1820; and of the Old and New Testaments, in 1826 Vocabularies of the Scottish Gaelic were published in 1690, in 1702, in 1741, in 1795, and in 1815. The first dictionary, by It. A. Armstrong, appeared in 1825; the largest and best was published under the auspices of the Highland society of Scotland, in two quartos, in 1828. The best grammar is that of the Rev. Alexander Stewart, minister at Dingwall, published in 1801, and reprinted in 1812.
The oldest specimen of the written language connected with Scotland is the Book of _Deer (see DEEn), compiled in the 12th century. The written language had, however, disappeared in Scotland during the next three centuries; as the oldest collection of poetry in the Scottish Gaelic, preserved in The Dean of Lismore's Book, compiled between 1511 and 1551, by sir James Macgregor, vicar of Fortingall, and dean of Lismore, is written phonetically. It is now in the Advocates' library at Edinburgh. Selections from it have been published at Edinburgh (1862), with translations by the Rev. Thomas 3I`Lauchlan, as well into English as into modern Scottish Gaelic, and with a prelim inary dissertation by Mr. W. F. Skene. The volume, contains nine pieces ascribed to "Ossian, the son of Finn," who speaks of himself as contemporary with St. Patrick,
and pieces by later and less known writers. The literary merit of the compositions is very slender.
The bibliography of the scanty literature of the Scottish Gaelic will be found in Reid's Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica (Glasgow, 1832). As an exposition of the philology of the Gaelic language, and as an introduction to Gaelic literature and the Ossianic con troversy. the English reader will find prbf. Blackie's. Language and Literature of the Scottish Highlands (1878) an interesting, instructive, and impartial guide. The traditional prose literature of the language has been collected and illustrated by Mr. J. F. Camp bell, of Islay, in four pleasing volumes, Popular Tales of the West Highlands (Edinburgh, 1860-62). in which the Gaelic original is accompanied by an English translation..
Mr. Skene has very clearly and fairly stated the long-disputed question as to the authenticity of the famous poems of Osman, published first in English, and afterwards in Gaelic, by Mr. James Macpherson. The conclusions arrived at are: 1. That the characters intrbduced into 'Macpherson's poems were not invented by him, but were really the subjects of tradition in the Highlands; and that poems certainly existed which might be called Ossianic, as relating to the persons and events of that mythic age. 2. That such poems, though usually either entire poems of no very great length, or fragments had been handed down from an unknown period by oral recitation, and that there existed : many persons in the Highlands who could repeat them. 3. That such poems had like wise been committed to writing, and were to be found to some extent in manuscripts. 4. That Macpherson had used many such poems in his work; but by. joining separated • pieces together, and by adding a connecting narrative of his own, had woven them into longer poems, and into the so-called elites.
The Scottish Gaelic speech is everywhere gradually, and in some places rapidly, losing ground; but it is still used, wholly or partially, in the public religious services of about 180 out of about 1000 congregations of the church of Scotland.