J. F. Campbell Collection > Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the poems of Ossian

GAELIC MANUSCRIPTS. 311
tract made from Fol. XIII. rev. col. 2. is inserted, plate 3.
No. 3.
Luidh iaromh Columb CUle fecht aun gu Ri Cruithnech
.1. gu Bruidhi Mac milcon, agus do dunadh dorus in
dunaigh fris, agus do foscuil fo chedoir glais iarnuidhi an
baill tre urnaidhthi Cholumb Chille. Tainic iar sin Mac
in righ .1. Maelcu agus a Drui do fiithtagra fri Columb
Cille tre geinn tlighecht.
The English is as follows :
After this St. Columba went upon a time to the King
of the Picts, namely, Bruidhi son of Milchu, and the gate
of the castle was shut against him, but the iron locks of
tlie town opened instantlj through the prayers of Columb
Cille. Then came the Son of the King, to wit, Maelchu
and his Druid to argue keenly against Columb Cille in
support of Paganism.
A form of letter somewhat ruder, and seemingly later
by about a century than the foregoing, marks the last
piece in the volume, which is a tale much effaced. It
should seem from the following passage of it exhibited
plate 3. No. 1. that the isles of Innsehorc, so frequently
mentioned in our ancient poems, were considered by the
author of it as facing Scythia ; which makes it probable
that Shetland and Orkney were included in the name,
though the modern reciters of tales and poems usually
consider it as applying only to the latter.
" A ni noch an fuar an Erin noch and Alain noch and
Eoruip noch ind Afraic noch ind Asiaa gona Grecia agus
Scitia agus Indsi horc gona Colanmaip Ercail agus Tor m
Breogain agus Indsi Gaitule." — That is,
X 4