Note 14 — INTRODUCTION.

It is hardly possible to convey to the reader an adequate conception of the labour of the task undertaken by Mr. M’Lauchlan, or of the courage, perseverance, and ability with which it has been overcome. Mr. M’Lauchlan had first to read the Dean’s transcript—no ordinary task, when, to a strange orthography, affording no clue to the original word, was added a careless handwriting of the beginning of the sixteenth century, faded ink, and decayed paper. He had then to convert it into the corresponding Gaelic in its modern shape and orthography, and then to translate it into English, in which he had to combine the literal rendering of an idiomatic language with an intelligible exhibition of its meaning in English.

It may be as well to take this opportunity of stating, that Mr. M’Lauchlan is solely responsible for the selection made from the Dean’s MS., the rendering in modern Gaelic, the English translation, and the notes at the foot of the page. The writer of this is responsible only for the Introduction and the additional notes, to which his name is attached.