HIGHLAND MELODIES.--The Gaelic Society of London finding that regret has been frequently expressed that the plaintive melodies of the Highlands should be allowed to pass away, have, we are glad to learn, taken steps to preserve them in a permanent form, and are now preparing for publication a selection of the best and most popular airs. The verses will be given in Gaelic and English, and the pianoforte accompaniments are arranged with special attention to their distinctive characteristics by Herr Louis Honig, Professor of Music, London; while slight variations are introduced to render the melodies more acceptable to the general taste. Editions of the Dance Tunes of our country are numerous, but the Gaelic vocal airs, set to music, have not hitherto been attainable. The issue is limited to 250 copies, which the Society are patriotically supplying at cost price--namely, 10s 6d per copy; or free by post to the Colonies for 12s. We feel assured that this want has only to be known to secure the necessary number of subscribers for the few remaining copies. _LITERATURE._ _THE "ARYAN ORIGIN OF THE CELTIC RACE AND LANGUAGE."_ The above is the title on the outside of a book by the Rev. Canon Bourke, president of St Jarlath's College, Tuam, Ireland. The book is in every respect a wonderful and interesting one to the Celt, at home and abroad, whether he be Scotch or Irish. Time was when the Scottish Celt looked with great suspicion on his Irish cousin, while the Irishman had no great love for his Scottish neighbour. Even yet a good deal of this feeling prevails, particularly among the uneducated. Our own experience, however, has been that the Irish Celt is not behind the Scotch Gael in generosity and all the other virtues which are the special characteristics of the race. The book before us is in several respects calculated to strengthen the friendship which is being rapidly formed, and which ought to subsist among the intelligent of each of the two great branches of the Celtic family--Scotch and Irish. Frequent references of an appreciating and commendable kind are made in this work to the labours of Scotchmen in the field of Celtic literature. Canon Bourke, like a true-hearted son of Ireland, with that magnanimity characteristic of the race, holds out his right hand to every Scottish scholar in the field of Celtic or Keltic research, and says in effect--_Cia mar a tha thu? Buaidh gu'n robh air d'obair!_