Blair Collection > Celtic gleanings, or, Notices of the history and literature of the Scottish Gael

136 LECTURE IV.
mo leithsgelsa or ni dhearrna me saothar na
foghluim sa ngaoidhleig acht amhain mar gach
nduine don pobal choitchind." (" There are but
few who know the Gaelic language well in
Scotland, and even in Ireland. This knowledge
is confined very much to a few old poets and
relators of history, and a few men of education
and letters ; wherefore, if any Gaelic scholar
should perceive defects in either the writing or
composition of this little volume, let him for-
give me, for I have never studied the language,
nor have I any knowledge of it beyond that
possessed by the common people.") This vo-
lume of CarsewelFs was printed at Edinburgh in
1567, four years before anything whatsoever was
printed in the Irish language in Ireland, and, as
will be observed, very soon after printing became
known at all. The printer was Lekprevik, who
is known as having been the first printer of
Buchanan's History of Scotland. The dialect
of Gaelic used by Carsewell is that commonly
known as the Irish, but which, as has already
been said, was common to the writers of both
countries. It is manifest that Carsewell did
not acquire this dialect in Ireland ; for we have
no reason to believe that he ever visited Ireland;
and his saying that he knew nothing of the
Gaelic but what was current in the country,