J. F. Campbell Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 3

AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN"s POEMS. 401
carried it down to the eud of James tlie Tliird's
reign.
Boethius' history was translated into the Scottish
language by John Ballanden, Archdeacon of Murray,
who died at Rome in 1550. R. Holinshed publislied
it in English, in his English Chronicles, Vol. I.
We have, in the Notices of Books at the end of
these Observations, given a short account of the
Avritings of Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld,
John Lesly, Bishop of Ross, and Sir David Lyndsay,
who flourished in the si.xteenth century ; in this
place, thcrefore, it is unnecessary to dwell upon
them.
The translation into Gaelic of the forms of prayer,
and administration of the sacraments, and catechism
of the Christian religion, as used in the reformed
church of Scotland, by Joìiu Carsicell, Bishop of the
Isles, first printed at Edinburgh iu the year 1.567,
is one of the earliest books of piety translatcd
into Gaelic, in Scotland. The Bishop, in his pre-
face, mentions the existence of Gaelic MS. poems
of the ancient bards from remote periods, and
he censures the preference given to such worldly
histories over the godly books which he had pub-
lished.
The pious Bishop expressly mentions Gaelic ]\ISS.
concerning warriors and champions, and Fingal the
son oi Cumliall with his heroes. But, as it may be
gratifying to some readers, the following extract
is a close translation from the Bishop's Gaelic,
as taken from the preface to the ingenious Mr.
Alexander Campbell's Tour through parts of North
VOL. III. D d