The most ancient and authentic record of the Scottish Kings is to be found in a poem called “The Albannic Duan,” which was recited by the Gaelic bard-laureate of the day at the coronation of Malcolm III. It was found originally in the MacFirbis Manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy. The name of the author is not known. The Duan consists of one hundred and eight lines, and is composed in the ballad measure. Being mostly a catalogue of names, it does not bear a verse translation very well. The first four stanzas run thus:— Ye learned men of Albin all, Ye yellow-haired and gentle band, Who first invaded, do you know, The ancient shore of Albin land? Albanus came with active men, That son of Isacon of fame, Brother of blameless Briutus he; From him did Albin get its name. Briutus sent his brother bold Across the stormy sea of Icht, The sea-swept point of Fotudan In Albin fair he took with might. Long after Briutus, brave and good, The Nevi-clans the land enjoyed; And Erglan, who came from his ship When he had Conning tower destroyed. It was probably in this reign that the ancient language of Albin ceased to be used in the Royal Court of Scotland. It continued, however, to be the fashionable speech of the provincial princes of the Isles until the lordship of the Isles terminated, towards the end of the sixteenth century, with Angus MacDonald of Duneevaig, Islay, and the Glens in Antrim. Sir James Macdonald of Antrim, who had no English, came with a magnificent retinue to visit James IV. of Scotland at Holyrood previous to his ascending the throne of England, and stopped for some time at Court. Could the King, with whom Sir James was a great favourite, and to whom he was closely related, converse with him in the Gaelic language? There is a parchment manuscript in quarto that belonged to the Kilbride collection. It is prettily written, and contains a metrical account or list of holidays, festivals, and saints’ days throughout the year; an almanack; and a treatise on anatomy, abridged from Galen, &c.; the Schola Salernitana in Leonine verse, drawn up about 1100 A.D., for the use of Robert, Duke of Normandy, the son of William the Conqueror, by the well-known medical school of Salerno. The Latin text is accompanied by a faithful Gaelic explanation. A specimen follows:— “Sivis incolumem, sivis te reddere sanum; Curas tolle graves, irasci crede prophanum.” _Gaelic_— “Madh ail bhidh fallann agus madh aill bhidh slan; Cuirna himsnimha tromadhit, agus creid gurub diomhain duit fearg de dhenumh.”