xvi Proceedings of Eoyal Society of Pdinhurgh. 
over forty years’ study and research, was published in three 
volumes by David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1876-80. Each volume is 
practically an independent work in itself. The first treats of the 
early races of Scotland, and records the civil and political history 
of the various peoples down to the death of Alexander III., when 
the purely Celtic dynasty became extinct. The second volume is 
entitled “ Church and Culture.” The ecclesiastical history closes 
with the twelfth century, when the old Celtic Church came to an 
end, and in Scotland Columbanism gave place to Romanism. A 
single chapter on the language and learning of the people gives 
in outline the leading facts in the literary history of the Scottish 
Gael to the middle of last century. The title of the third volume 
is ‘‘Land and People.” Here the attempt is made to picture the 
social life of the tribes in early times, and of the Highland clans 
down to our own day ; the relation of the various classes to each 
other ; their land tenure, mode of agriculture, privileges, and 
exactions. 
The outstanding features of this great work are the fulness and 
accuracy of the author’s knowledge, and the conspicuous fairness 
with which facts are grouped and conclusions drawn. The style, 
one cannot help thinking, is to a certain extent coloured by the 
profession of the writer. The reader will look in vain here for the 
stately periods of Gibbon, still less for the brilliant rhetoric of 
Macaulay. Mr Skene’s style is always dignified, occasionally rising 
to eloquence. But, in reading his pages, one is rather reminded o 
a memorial for counsel drawn by a masterly hand, the relevant 
facts all marshalled with skill, and justifying the “ Opinion,” which 
is always argued with ability, and not infrequently with ingenuity 
and subtlety. 
The plan of the work is not without its disadvantages. The 
civil and ecclesiastical cannot always be kept separate. The 
ethnological chapters of vol. i., and the discussion on the 
legendary origin of tribes and clans in vol. iii., necessarily 
overlap. The early history of Scotland presents many . difficult 
problems ; but the most insoluble are those dealt with by Mr Skene 
in his third volume. The social and domestic life of the Piet is 
practically unknown. A glimpse is given in the Book of Deer ; 
all else is dark. There mormaer and toisecli and chief of clan 
