Blair Collection > Book of Common Order, commonly called John Knox's Liturgy

xxii Notices of Bishop CarsweU.
the religious improvement of the people of the High-
lands. No man of the time seems to have made
similar exertions for their improvement. In 1565 the
Geneva Prayer-book was first printed at Edinburgh,
and in 1567 the Gaelic translation of that book was
prepared by him, and passed through the press. It is
remarkable to find that at so early a period provision
for the wants of the Highlands should have so soon
followed upon that made for the English-speaking
portion of the kingdom. Nor is there reason to suppose
that in this matter Carswell stood alone. The expense
of the publication must have been considerable, and
it is reasonable to suppose that he had the sympathy
and support of the other Reformers, and that the cost
of the undertaking was borne by friends of the cause
elsewhere. That it was encouraged and aided by the
then Earl of Argyll, is a very natural supposition.
Besides the translation of the Prayer-book, Carswell
seems to have executed a translation into Gaelic of
Calvin's Catechism. This was not published for nearly
sixty years after his death, but there is internal evidence
to show that the work was Carswell's, and that it had
lain by in Ms. during that long period.
The work which is now reprinted is one which is
highly creditable to Carswell's scholarship, as well as
to his zeal. That it was executed by himself he states
decidedly, while he apologises for what he holds to be
great and manifold defects in the execution. Besides
defects in the translation, he tells us that there was no
proper correcting of the press, from the ignorance of
the printer of the Gaelic language, and yet the work is