In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries we have arrived at a period in which Gaelic is very generally written. To the latter century belong the most of the manuscript materials extant. The subjects of these manuscripts are of the most various descriptions. We have among them compendiums of theology, fables and anecdotes about saints, &c. The most valuable, perhaps, are the genealogical manuscripts. The historian of Scottish annals is not sufficiently equipped without knowledge of these. Some of them no doubt, being family records very frequently, are very partial; but when collated the one will correct the other. Other subjects treated of in these manuscripts are medicine and astrology. The substance of these is translated from Greek and Moorish works, Galen, Averroes, and Avicenna being the general sources. The largest number of the medical manuscripts were written by or passed through the hands of the Beatons, the well-known physicians of the western isles. Astrology appears to have been studied by the aid of Arabian writers; so many of the superstitions or popular ideas in the Highlands regarding the stars had probably an Arabic, and not a Druidic origin, as the present Highlanders generally believe. The surprising thing is that this science of the period should be known and cultivated in such inaccessible places as the Highlands and Islands. Dr MacLauchlan very pertinently and truly remarks as follows:—“The metaphysical discussions [of the MSS.], if they may be so called, are very curious, being characterised by the features which distinguished the science of metaphysics at the time. The most remarkable thing is there are Gaelic terms to express the most abstract ideas in metaphysics—terms which are now obsolete, and would not be understood by any ordinary Gaelic speaker. A perusal of these ancient writings shows how much the language has declined, and to what an extent it was cultivated at an early period. So with astrology, its terms are translated and the science is fully set forth. Tables are furnished of the position of the stars, by means of which to foretell the character of future events. Whatever literature existed in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries extended its influence to the Scottish Highlands. The nation was by no means in such a state of barbarism as some writers would lead us to expect. They had legal forms, for we have a formal legal charter of lands written in Gaelic; they had medical men of skill and acquirement; they had writers on law and theology, and they had men skilled in architecture and sculpture.” But then these manuscripts, these evidences of light and culture among the Gaels of the Middle Ages, were buried in private and public libraries till some years ago; and historians and others not suspecting their existence did not look for them; and so wrote what their fancy dictated concerning the barbaric Gael.