131 



r-5 if ^ rOivA : ^« S^^ ™y grandschir Gog Magog ; , : j,hr:sWi. cr^Uy^. 



Ay when he dansit the warld wald schog ; 



Five thousand ellis yeid in his frog. 



-rXi 



,>.ri!!; • Of Hieland pladdit of baiT."* ■' ■•:t;,tavft! 



Did the necessity of the argument require it, we might adopt 

 Sir John's mode of reasoning, and affirm, that though Fyn Mac-Cowl 

 was the father of the person who spoke these lines, and who, it is pre- 

 sumed, was a Highlander, he might, notwithstanding, be an Irish- 

 man ; and though his frog, or frock, was made of Hieland pladdis 

 of hair, he might be an Irishman still. But, really, it is a waste of 

 time to confute serious conclusions deduced from premises so ab- 

 surdly ludicrous as those laid down by the worthy baronet. Again, 

 he tells us, that in Lyndsay's Satyre of the three Estates, written in 

 1538, among the relicts produced by the pardoner, was : .,.,.^ , , 



" Ane relict lang and braid 

 OfFynMacCowltherichtchaftblaid 1* rrj 076' f ,O0h'^ri:7/' 

 With teeth and all togidder." 



As for the decision of the question, it might as well have been 

 the jaw-bone of Balaam's ass. 



He also quotes from Colville's Whig Supplication, published 

 1681, the following lines : 



" One man, quoth he, ofttimes had stood. 

 And put to flight a multitude. 

 Like Samson, Wallace, and Sir Bewis, 

 And Fyn Mac-Cowl beside the Lewis." ff 



" Evidently," says Sir John, "ascribing Fingal to the Hebrides or 



* Aliter and mair. 



s2 



