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ill-natured and trifling. There are in Scotland many forts (barring the Latin derivation of the word) without strength; and we have often feen cattle grazing on fpots which an Englifhman might well call barren; and would wonder how they could be fupported there. But we are weary of fuch quibbling criticifms; and therefore hafte to felect a few of his more laboured defences, where the fubject is more generally interefting.

Dr. Johnfon had dared, in his ufual unqualified ftyle, and without afking any Scotchman's permiffion, to affert [page 57 of the Journey to the Western Ifles], that "the Scots must be forever content to owe to the English all their elegance and culture." On an affertion fo peremptory, and fo mortifying to Scottish pride, Mr. M'Nicol hath thought proper to remark as follows:

**Had the Doctor been here giving an account of any other nation in Europe, I make no doubt but he would likewife have found fome opportunity of making a fimilar claim in favour of Old England. Our good neighbours have been always pretty remarkable for the modest virtue of felf-applaufe; and confidering their own country, at all times, and in all things, as the true ftandard of perfection.

What has been already faid concerning our early connection with France, may be a fufficient anfwer to the abfurdity and arrogance of this affertion. It is with an ill grace, indeed, that the English pre.. tend to be a model of tafte for others. They themselves are daily copying from the Gallic fchool: and though they have been long under tutorage, the world have not yet conceived any high opinion of their elegance and culture. In fpite of difcipline, there is fill a roughnefs in their manners which has rendered them proverbial.

But the frequent repetition of the above remark, to be found in “ the Doctor's performance, renders it neceffary to have recourfe to a few facts for fetting that matter in a proper light; and therefore must recal his attention to fome circumstances relating to the fate of the two kingdoms long before any friendly intercourfe between them. could give us an opportunity of receiving those boafted improve

ments.

In the year 1234, ftraw was ufed for the King's bed in England. In 1300, wine was fold in England only by apothecaries as a cordial. But it was then quite otherwife in Scotland, becaufe of our extensive trade, in proportion to the commerce of thofe days, with France and Spain and till I adverted to this circumftance, it often surprised me to find frequent mention made, in many of our ancient Galic poems, of the drinking of wine and burning of wax in the habitations of our chieftains. In 1540, the parliamentary grants to the King of England were only in kind; and 30,000 facks of wool was this year's grant. In 1505, the first fhilling was coined in England. In 1561, Queen Elizabeth wore the first pair of knitted filk tockings that ever were in that country. In 1543, pins were firft made in England, and before that time the ladies wore skewers.

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To all this let me oppofe, but particularly to the Skewers of the English ladies, the account which the Bishop of Rofs gives of the dress of the women amongst the ancient Scots, We shall find, that

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they were clothed with purple and embroidery of moft exquifite work"manship with bracelets and necklaces on their arms and necks, fo as to make a moft graceful appearance." Nor needs it be a matter of fu prife, how the Scots had opportunities of procuring fuch ornaments, fince the fame Author fhews they had, at that time, a confiderable trade with France and Spain from Inverlochay, near Fort William.

But notwithstanding all that can be faid to the contrary, the Doctor feems determined, right or wrong, to maintain his pofition. He therefore goes on, and tells us again, very roundly, that "till the Union made the Scots acquainted with English manners, their tables were coarse as the feafts of Ekimaux, and their houses filthy at the cottages of Hottentots."-There is an expreffion among the lawyers, that what proves too much, proves nothing. It is just fo with my worthy friend the Doctor in this place: he hath laid on his filth fo very thick, that I am of opinion it will fall off by its own weight.

But, in the name of wonder, who could have expected fuch a remark to drop from the pen of a man on whom the witty Lord Chefterfield, many years ago, beflowed the appellation of Hottentot? His Lordship was allowed not only to be a good judge of character, but likewife to have had a good hand at drawing a likeness. It was therefore unlucky in our Author to come blundering out with an expreffion which must call to our remembrance this ftriking fpecimen of the noble artift's kill. But I will be bold to affirm, that no man has ever yet feen Dr. Johnfon in the act of feeding, or beheld the infide of his cell in Fleet-freet, but would think the feafts of Efkimaux, or the cottages of Hottentots, injured by a comparison.'

Mr. McNicol may, if he pleafes, confider this as an excellent ftroke of wit and raillery, and enjoy it in the fall measure of felf-complacency. We envy him not his entertainment, nor áre we difpofed to fhare with him in the pleasure of it.

But Mr. M Nicol's humour is only a tranfient and fudden flafh. It is foon loft in the more terrible flame of his indignation. The broad fword fhoots a gleam of horror athwart the gloomy wafte, and all the axes of Lochaber rufh on our fight, Mercy on us!

• If this folemn pedant (fays Mr. M'Nicol) will deign to look back, he will find many things in the history of his own country which oght to convince him, that civilization did not begin very early there nor advance with a very quick pace. I am always forry when I am obliged to trace out anecdotes of this kind; but his ill manners and want of candour render it récessary.'

O! what hath Dr. Johnson to anfwer for! If it had not been for his ill manners, the ignorance and barbarity of our country would not have been expofed; nor would modefty itfelf have been fo cruelly put to the blufh, as it was, when the delicate hand of Mr. M'Nicol was compelled to the talk of uncovering the nakedness of the land!

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Alfred the Great, who died in the year 900, complained, that from the Humber to the Thames there was not a priest that underflood the Liturgy in his mother-tongue: and that from the Thames to the fea, there was not one that could tranflate the eafieft piece of Latin.-In 1167, King Henry II. fends to Ireland, and causes a palace of wattles to be built in Dublin, after the manner of the country, wherein he keeps his Christmas. It was not till 1209 that London began to be governed by a mayor and fo near our own times as the year 1246, most of the houfes in that capital were thatched with fraw-the windows were without glafs :-and all the fires ftood to the wall without chimnies. In the year 1300, and afterwards, almost all the houfes in England were built of wood.

As our traveller gives us only his own authority, for what he fays of Scotland at the time of the Union, a teftimony which the Reader by this time cannot think altogether unexceptionable; let us now fee what others have reported of the ftate of civilization among us long before that period.

When Margaret, daughter of Henry VII. of England, became the Queen of our James IV. fhe was attended to the Scotch court by many of the first nobility of both fexes: and yet the English historians of thofe days allow, that they were fully equalled, or even excelled, by the Scotch nobility in politeness of manners, the number of their jewels, and the richness of their drefs; and particularly, that the entertainments they received at the houfes of our great people did not yield to any thing they had ever seen.

In 156, Contarini was Pope's Legate in Scotland; and upon his return to the continent, he celebrated the Scotch nation as a polite and hospitable people. He bore this teftimony to their merit, though he could not fucceed in the object of his embaffy; which was to fupport the Romish religion, then faft declining in that kingdom, on account of the intolerable cruelties of Cardinal Betoun. But this prelate, very unlike to Dr. Johnson, could not permit his prejudices as an ambaffador to warp his veracity as a man.

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The Queen of James V. though a princefs of fo civilized a nation as France, acknowledged, that the court and the inhabitants of "Scotland were the most polite and civilized she had ever seen, and "the palace of Linlithgow the most magnificent."

After thefe remarks on Scottish politeness, Mr. M'Nicol, by a long and indeed curious quotation from Lindfay's Hiftory of Scotland, attempts to establish his country's claim to profuseness in the article of good cheer, and produceth as a fpecimen of uncommon luxuriance, the Earl of Athol's feaft to James V.'But for this we muft refer to the book.

The coup de grace to the authenticity of the Poems of Offian has, in the opinion of many, been effectually given by Dr. Johnfon, who hath afferted without referve, that there exists not an Erfe manufcript of a hundred years date. Mr. M'Nicol contefts this affertion with much fpirit, and in our opinion thoroughly difproves it, He obferves, That not only poems of confiderable length, but likewife genealogies of families, and trea

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tifes on different fubjects, have been anciently written in the Gaelic, and that this, hath been proved by a variety of inftances. Let me now produce an additional teftimony from Mr. Innes. In page 603 of his Inquiry, he mentions a chronicle of a few of our Kings, from Kenneth Macalpine to Kenneth III. fon to Malcolm I. and he fays, that the original chronicle or hiftory, from which that piece was extracted, feems evidently to have been written in the Gaelic language, and that fome time too before the year 1291. He hath preferved in his Appendix the Latin chronicle, which is a copy of the original. Among the old MSS. of confiderable length, I took notice particularly of two. One gives the hiftory of Smerbie More, one of the anceftors of the Duke of Argyle, who lived in the 5th century, according to a manufcript genealogy of that illuftrious family; and the other contains the hiftory of the fons of Unoth. They are both in the Gaelic language and character, and are fo very old as to be difficult to be read. They are in the poffeffion of Mr. Macintyre of Glencoe, near Bunaw, in Argylefhire.

'But as the Doctor may think it too great a trouble to travel again to the Highlands for a fight of old manufcripts, I fhall put him in the way of being fatisfied nearer home. If he will call fome morning on John Mackenzie, Efq; of the Temple, Secretary to the HighlandSociety at the Shakspeare, Covent-Garden, he will find in London more volumes in the Gaelic language and character than perhaps he will be pleafed to look at, after what he hath faid. They are written on vellum, in a very elegant manner, and they all bear very high marks of antiquity. None of them are of fo modern an origin as that mentioned by the Doctor. Some of them have been written above 500 years ago; and others are fo very old, that their dates can only be gueffed at from the fubjects of which they treat.

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Among these are two volumes which are very remarkable. one is a large folio MS. called An Duanaireadh Ruadh, or the Red Rhymer, which was given by Mr. M'Donald of Glenealladel, in Muideart, to Mr. M Donald of Kyles, in Cnoideart, who gave it to Mr. Macpherson. It contains a variety of fubjects, fuch as fome of Offian's Poems, Highland Tales, &c.- -The other is called An Leabhar Dearg, or the Red Book, which was given to Mr. Macpherfon by the bard Macvurich. This was reckoned one of the moit valuable manufcripts in the bard's poffeffion.

Since I began thefe Remarks, I have been informed by Mr. Macdonald, the publisher of the Gaelic poetry, that his uncle, Mr. Lauchlan Macdonald of South Uist, was well acquainted with the latt of thefe manufcripts; and as that gentleman is a great inafter of the Gae-' lic language and character, his opinion concerning its antiquity, from the character and other circumftances, is the more to be relied on.

To finish this head, at prefent, let me next inform the Doctor, that the bard Macvurich alone is in poffeffion of a greater number of Gaelic manufcripts than the Doctor perhaps would chute to read in any language. At the earnest and repeated request of Mr. Macdonald, the publisher just mentioned, the bard hath been at laft prevailed on to open his repofitories, and to permit a part of them to be carried to Edinburgh for the fatisfaction of the curious.-1 myfeif have feen more than a thousand pages of what has been thus obtained,

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as have hundreds befides: and Mr. Macdonald affures me, that what he has got leave to carry away bears but a very small proportion to what ftill remains with the bard.

It feems almoft unneceffary to mention, that all thofe manufcripts are in the Gaelic language and character. Some of them have fuffered greatly by bad keeping; but many more by the ravages of time. The character of feveral is allowed by all who have feen the manufcripts, to be the most beautiful they had ever beheld.'

Of the bard Macvurich, above mentioned, our Author gives us a curious account; for which we refer to the book.

Dr. Johnfon having with great plaufibility attempted to overthrow the authenticity of Offian's Poems, by remarking, that it was next to impoffible for any perfons to have committed them to memory, confidering the great length of fome of them, Mr. M'Nicol combats the force of this objection with much dexterity and acutenefs, by obferving, that though nothing had ever been written in the Gaelic, yet the manners and cuftoms of the Highlanders were peculiarly adapted for preferving the various productions in their language. The conftant practice of recitation, which is not yet difufed, gave them "opportunities of hearing a long compofition often enough to learn it ;" and their defire to amuse themselves in the folitudes of hunting, or a paftoral life, as well as to bear their part in focial entertainments, gave them" inclination to repeat it as often as was neceffary to retain it."-By thefe means, there was no great danger of any thing being fo far forgotten as to be "loft forever;" for if any one perfon fhould forget a particular part, there. were always thousands who remembered the whole. . . . . . Our tales, which are for the most part of confiderable length, bear a great refemblance to the Arabian Nights Entertainment. One of thofe in particular is long enough to furnish fubject of amufement for several nights running. It is called Scialachd Choife Ce, or Cian O Cathan's Tale: and though Schialachies, or tellers of tales by profeffion, are not now retained by our great families as formerly, there are many ftill living who can repeat it from beginning to end, very accurately.

This cannot appear improbable to thofe who confider how much the memory is ftrengthened and improved by frequent ufe. When duly and conftantly exercised, it is capable of furprising exertions; and we have fometimes read of inftances which amount even to prodigies.

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I myself once knew a man, who, I am certain, could repeat no less than 15,000 lines: and there is now living one Poet Macintyre, whọ can repeat feveral thoufands. This man is altogether illiterate, though not a defpicable poet. Befides remembering many of the compofitions of others, and likewife of his own, not yet published, he lately dictated from memory as many fongs, compofed by himself, as fill a volume of 162 pages, and amount to upwards of 4000 lines.'

From a paper, figned W. Cambrenfis, and published in the St. James's Chronice of the 23d of March 1775, Mr. M'Nicol extracts the following quotation, as a farther fupport of the above remarks on the power of memory. "I can with truth aver (fays the Author of that paper in the Chronicle), and what

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