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SHAW contra
contra SHAW.

Extracts from Mr. Extracts from Mr.

Shaw's Analyfis. ftance, who, in advanced years, has learned to read and write it; and now drinks of the Fierian fpring untainte ed, by reading fragments of Poetry in Fingal's own language. P. xvii.

The richness of a langunge confifts in the number of its primitives, and their capacity of various compofition. The original fimple princip les of the Galic make it far excel any of the modern, and rival the most ancient languages. The little variegated flection of its nouns and verbs, which is peculiar to itself, and the abundance of its compofitions, render it capable of beautifully defcribing and expreffing the

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Shaw's Inquiry.

I

the help of his fpear. The re was much of enchantments, fairies, goblins, incantations, rhimes, and the fecond fight. When I heard thofe of one country, hear all; for they all repeated in general the fame ftories and when I had the narration of a few, I had every thing. P. 57.

I can fhew, from the language of religion, (for although Earfe was never the vehicle of learning, and fierce chieftains would not fubmit to civil government, yet religion, blended with fuperftition, was in fome degree acknowledged by them), nay, from even the tile of the pulpit at prefent in the Highlands, and the few books of piety they have lately published, that the Irish Galic was the

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SHAW contra SHAW.

Extracts from Mr.
Shaw's Analyfis.

emotions of the mind,
without the aid of foreign
words; hence it is, that the
illiterate peafant on the
hills of Scotland, having,
in his infancy, had his
mind ftored with a certain
number of primitives and
their different modes of in-
flection, by an easy, though
a various combination with
a certain number of parti-
cles, fpeaks his language
with elocution, a natural
Demofthenes; and there is
no word in the language,
however compounded, but
he understands. Neither is
this language deficient in
the terms of art. In Ethics,
Jurisprudence, Theology,
and Natural Hiftory, words
are not wanting to exprefs
our thoughts, and to inftruct
even in Mathema-

others:

Extracts from Mr.
Shaw's Inquiry.

language of law, divinity,. and poetry. The common Catechifm, the Confeffion of Faith, the verfion of the Pfalms fung in churches, are written in Irifh; and the language of the minister when he preaches, and the extemporaneous effufion of the peafant's prayer, border upon it. As they received in the Highlands their knowledge of the Christian religion from Icolumkill, and Icolumkill from Ireland, all the terms in divinity are inmediately Irish, and in the remote parts of the Highlands, at this day, not well underftood. The Earle dialect is rather barren of words, having never been cultivated; and the preacher that introduces any idea be yond the Calvinistic system,

tics, and Natural Philofophy is difficultly understood.

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SHAW Contra SHAW.

Extracts from Mr.
Shaw's Analyfis.

in all its parts, terms can
eafily be rendered from the
Greek into the Galic, by de-
compofing them in the ori-
ginal, and then translating
and joining them afresh; an
advantage of which no mo-
dern language is posfeffed.
P. cxi.

Sounds are either quick or flow, rough or fmooth, ftrong or feeble. From the various modifications of thefe in a language, may, perhaps, be discovered, the manners, the temperament, and feelings of a people, at the time of its formation. The Gael, when their language was formed, feem to

have been in that ftate of fociety, when the arts of peace and war were not entirely ftrangers; when it was an approved maxim, to “bind "the strong in arms, but "Spa

-Extracts from Mr.
Shaw's Inquiry.

It will be in vain to reafon
abstractedly, even on mo-
rality; and the audience,
not only ftrangers to the
fentiment, but even to the
expreffion, cannot always
comprehend the speaker.
P. 65.

When I afked, and particularly thofe who were posfeffed of any poetry, fongs, or tales, who Fionn was? for he is not known

by the name of Fingal- by any: I was answered, that he was an Irishman, if a man; for they fometimes thought him a giant, and that he lived in Ireland, and fometimes came over to hunt in the Highlands. This is the univerfal voice of all the Highlanders, excepting those who are posfeffed of abili

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1

SHAW contra ŚHAW.

Extracts from Mr.
Shaw's Analyfis.

"pare the feeble hand; be
"a ftream of many tides
"againft the foes of thy
"people, but like the gale
"that moves the grafs, to
"those who afk thy aid.”-
Parcere fubjectis, debellarë
Superbos. Such was the ge-
nius of the language in the
days of Trenmor and of Fin-
gal; and even now it is the
moft fuited, either to roufe
the foul to feats of arms, or
inspire pity in the relentless
breaft;

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Extracts from Mr.
Shaw's Inquiry.

ties and knowledge to per-
ufe the work of Mr. Mac-
pherfon, and are taught
by nationality to fupport
an idle controverly.

In the Chronicon Scotorums from which the lift of the Scotch kings is taken; and the pretended manufcripts, they fo much boast of, to be feen in the Hebrides; there, is not one fyllable said of such a name as Fingal. A man fo thirsty af ter fame, would furely

Greek and Latin, chained to certain terminations, which refuse rhyme; but at once admits of all the variety of court an opportunity of

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SHAW contra SHAW.

Extracts from Mr.
Shaw's Analyfis.

ancient and modern verfifica-
tion. Final rhyme in Galic
does not confft in termina-
tions of fimilar letters, but
in the last ftrongly pronoun-
ced vowel or diphthong in
a word. P. cxxix.

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ear,

and certain pieces of mufic; and for that reafon, though we may eafily fee, what fort of measure each piece delights in, the uniformity of the fame number of fimilar measures in every li ne does not always return. P. cxxx.

The measure of Offian's poetry is very irregular and various. Generally he has couplets

Extracts from Mr.
Shaw's Inquiry.

meeting the contemporary
Romans, who certainly
would not fail to make
mention of fo great a hero.
P. 35.

It is impoffible, if ever they eyfifted, that the bards and others, who could write, within these three last centuries, fhould not have collected them. Whatever fongs and epifodes Offian fung, did not long furvive himfelf; and it was diffi cult for former bards, to anticipate the compofitions of the age of chivalry. P. 61.

All the Highlands has not yet been able to fhew three lines, excepting those

Mr.

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