Note 554 — Nairn and Cawdor (August 27-28).

The language of the Highlanders is generally called Erse by the English writers of this period; sometimes Irish and Celtic. M’Nicol objected to the term Erse. “The Caledonians,” he says, “always called their native language Gaelic.” Remarks on Johnson’s Journey, p. 432. Macpherson, in the title-page of Ossian, calls it Galic.