or the hymns of Sankey. As already remarked, the “clerics” of last century treated the Ossianic compositions with as little respect as Patrick, Carsuel, or Spurgeon would. At the end of a copy of Ossian’s Prayer there is a stanza by Duncan Rioch Macnicol, who was then styled the “Modern Ossian,” very much in the fashion of our present day Gaelic bards, who dub themselves as of this or that ilk. Duncan, whose feelings towards the old bards must have been _rioch_ enough, describes poor Ossian in the following terms, given already in the original (p. 87), in sending the copy to the Rev. Donald Macnicol, Lismore:— To Master Donald take this story; There he dwells beside the billow; The prayer said by Ossian hoary, Who was aye a worthless fellow. The last line is a condensation—though Duncan Rioch was probably in a fit of humour, supposed to be a rare state of soul for a Highland Celt—of the Protestant or Evangelic disposition of Patrick, Carsuel, and Peter Grant. These remarks have been suggested by the specimen of Gaelic which follows. Specimens have already been given of the style of writing ancient Gaelic from the earliest period down to the beginning of the sixteenth century. To those who may have paid a little attention to them it may have been interesting to discern the gradual change which Gaelic has undergone, until we find it about 1600 beginning to take the Scottish form out of which our present standard of the Gaelic Bible has been developed:— _Gaelic Prose_, 1567. Agas is mor an doile agas an dorchadas peacaidh, agas aineolais agas indtleachda do lucht deachtaìdh agas scriobhtha agas chumdaigh na gaoidheilge, gurab mó is mian leo agas gurab mó ghnathuidheas siad eachdradha dimhaoineacha buaidheartha bregacha saoghalta do cumadh ar thuathaibh dédhanond agas air mhacaibh mileadh agas arna curadhaibh agas hind mhac cumhaill gona fhianaibh agas ar mhoran eile noch airbhim. TRANSLATION: And great is the blindness and sinful darkness, and ignorance, and evil design, of such as teach and write, and cultivate the Gaelic language, that, with the view of obtaining for themselves the vain rewards of this world, they are more desirous, and more accustomed, to compose vain, tempting, lying, worldly histories, concerning the _Tuath de dannan_, and concerning warriors and champions, and _Fingal_ the son of _Cumhal_, with his heroes, and concerning many others which I will not at present enumerate. The Highland love of Paganism was destined to flourish down to our own time, a Stornoway woman having been seen worshipping the moon as recently as the beginning of the present century, the parish minister of Uig at the time being the witness.