Blair Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

PREFACE.
The collection of Gaelic Proverbs and Phrases, on
which the present collection is based, was first published
at Edinburgh in 1785. Some account of the compiler
and the publication will be found at the end of this
volume. Though small in bulk, and in several respects
defective, Macintosh's collection was a valuable contri-
bution to Celtic Literature. It was at that time, and
has continued to be, the only collection of Celtic
Proverbs gathered into a book, and translated for the
benefit of the world. It had the still greater msrit of
being a genuine product of the past, the editor's share
in the compilation of which consisted in simply giving
as correctly as he could the words of sayings familiar to
the people among whom he lived, rendering them into
English, and occasionally illustrating them by an ex-
planation, an anecdote, or a parallel.
Macintosh contemplated a new edition some time
before his death, which took place in 1808, and a new
dedication, to Sir John Macgregor Murray of Lanrick,
was found among his papers. But the second edition,
which did not appear till 1819, shows no other mark
of his hand, Tlie additions to the collection were
probably found among his papers, but the new editor,
Alexander Campbell (author of ' The Grampians Deso-