Ossian Collection > Gaelic bards

XXIV INTRODUCTION.
Lowlander; and not unfrequently claims for his own wild
melodies and for his rude attempts at lyrical poetry in
the language of the Gael, a large portion of the admiration
lavished upon compositions of a totally different origin
and character. The Lowlanders, while they admit the
claim of the Highlanders, take to themselves the little
that is good in Celtic music and song, in order that with
it they may swell the triumphs of a land, that not being
geographically English, is considered to be Scotch."*
When such utter ignorance, and such absurd mis-
statements, are found in a book which, both from its title
and its subject, ought to show better things — when we
know, moreover, that not merely strangers, but the
Scottish people themselves — many even of the High-
landers, and almost all the Lowlanders are quite unaware
of the immense mass of popular poetry belonging to their
country, which is treasured in the Gaelic Language, and
do not frequently so much as know the names of poets
whose admirable works should do so much to raise the
* The following letter from Dr. Charles MacKay, who wrote
the introduction to "The Book of Scottish Song," appeared in
the Highlander, May 31, 1873.
Reforji Club, Londok, May 24, 1873.
Sir, — The Edinburgh correspondence of the Highlander
contains a mention of me, which requires a word, not of con-
tradiction, but of explanation on my part. It is true that twenty
years ago I wrote the sentences which your correspondent quotes
with good natured condemnation. I have only to plead ignorance
in excuse for the heresy of which I was guilty ; and to confess
that at that time, I knew nothing of the venerable and
beautiful language of my ancestors, and had imbibed erroneous
ideas from the ways of Dr. Johnson and other prejudiced and
incompetent critics. I am wiser now, and every day discover
new beauties in the Gaelic, and widely spread proofs of its
influence over all the languages now spoken in Western Europe,
as I hope to be able to prove in my forthcoming volume.