Voluminous and various are its contents, culled from about sixty-six different authors, the whole extending to 11,000 lines of Gaelic poetry, with 800 in the genuine Ossianic style. The pieces vary from half-a-dozen to a hundred lines. And a peculiarity of the Ossianic fragments in this MS. is the frequent introduction of St. Patrick, who is represented as holding dialogues with the bard. Seeing that in the poems of Macpherson the saint never emerges, it is surmised that he regarded all references to him as unauthentic, interpolations of later times, when the Church ideas and dogmas crept into vogue. The Dean’s collection is divided naturally into two parts, one more ancient and untouched by Christian sentiment, the other more modern, and not free from ecclesiastical leaven. To the former category belong those poems superscribed “The author of this is Ossian,” and of these the finest is the bard’s eulogy of his father Finn. “The ideal here set forth is perfectly Homeric,” wrote Professor Blackie; “Achilles in his best moments and most favourable aspect might have stood for it.” In its English rendering, which is poetically inferior to the original, it runs thus:— ’Twas yesterday week, I last saw Finn; Ne’er did I see A braver man; Teige’s daughter’s son, A powerful King; My fortune, my light, My mind’s whole might. Both poet and chief, Braver than kings, Firm chief of the Feinn Lord of all lands, Leviathan at sea, As great on land, Hawk of the air, Foremost always, Generous, just. Despised a lie, Of vigorous deeds, First in song, A righteous judge, Firm his rule, Polished his mien, Who knew but victory, Who is like him, In fight or song? Resists the foe In house or field. Marble his skin, The rose his cheeks, Blue was his eye, His hair like gold. All men’s trust, Of noble mind, Of ready deeds, To women mild, A giant he, The field’s delight.