250 



The Committee has, in the Report, pp. 93-106, furnished us 

 with some choice specimens of the purity of the Scottish Gaehc, in 

 three poems extracted from a manuscript that formerly belonged to 

 the Rev. James M'Gregor, Dean of Lismore, the metropolitan 

 church of the See of Argyle, written from the year 1527 to 1529. 

 The first of these is a copy of a part of an Irish poem, a very ancient 

 copy of which is in possession of the writer of these sheets. We 

 insert a few of the corresponding lines of each copy : 



Scotch Copy, 



" A HOUDIR 80 OSSIN." 



" Is fodda nocht ni nelli fruim 

 Is fadda Iwiym in nychuth ryir 

 In lay dew gay fadda yoth 

 Di bi lor fodda in lay de. 



" Fadda Iwiym gych lay ya dik 

 Ne mir sen di cleachta doimh 

 Gin deowir gin damych cath 

 Gin wea feylim class Iwith." 



Irish Copy. 



" OlSIN CC." 



" Is fada anocht a naol-finn 

 Is budh fada liom an oidche reir 

 An la niumh gidh fada ata 

 Budh leoc fad an lae ne. 



" Fada liom gach la da ttig 

 Ni mar sin budh cleachta dhuinn 

 Mo bheitha mh'eagmuis na bhfiann 

 Do chuir sin mo chiall air ccul." 



In these examples the GaeUe reader will at once perceive that 

 the " corrupted, and modern'* Irish copy is written after the old 

 fashion of Irish writings, as practised by ancient Irish writers, while 

 the pure Scotch copy is written in a manner that the old-fashioned 

 Gaelic writers were totally unacquainted with. It is in vain that we 

 look for letters K, W, Y, &c., in Irish poems. It was reserved for 

 modern or Scottish ingenuity to mark the purity and antiquity of 

 their poems by the introduction of exotic letters, unknown to the 

 Gaelic language, and never admitted into the Gaelic alphabet. 



These poems, however, are damning evidences against the claims 

 made by the Scotch to Ossian, as a Highlander ; they bear positive 

 testimony that the Fcinne, or companions of Fionn, as well as Fionq 



