ce many of Rob Donn's compositions have lost
their point, and opinions have been greatly divided as to his merits as
a poet. His collected poems were first published in 1829, a second
edition appeared in 1871, and in 1899 two new editions were issued
simultaneously, the one by Hew Morrison, the other by Adam Gunn and
Malcolm Macfarlane. Another satirical poet who enjoyed a tremendous
reputation in his own day was John MacCodrum, a native of North Uist and
a contemporary of the men just mentioned. It is related of MacCodrum
that the tailors of the Long Island refused to make any clothes for him
in consequence of a satire he had directed against them. He was
encountered in a ragged state by the Macdonald, who on learning the
cause of his sorry condition promoted him to the dignity of bard to his
family. Consequently a number of his compositions are addressed to his
patrons, but one delightful poem entitled _Smeorach Chlann-Domhnuill_
(The Mavis of Clan Donald) describes in verses full of melody the
beauties of his beloved island home.

Dugald Buchanan.

In the lyrical outburst which followed the Forty-five it was only to be
expected that religious poetry should be represented. We have seen that
much of the space in the Dean's Book and in the _Book of Fernaig_ is
allotted to verse of a pious order, though apart from the works of such
Irish singers as Donnchadh O'Daly the poems do not reach a very high
pitch of excellence. The first religious poem to be printed in Scotch
Gaelic was a long hymn by David Mackellar, published in 1752. But
incomparably the greatest writer of hymns and sacred poems is Dugald
Buchanan (1716-1768). Buchanan was born in Strathyre in Perthshire and
was the son of a miller. He received a desultory kind of education and
tried his hand at various trades. In 1753 he was appointed schoolmaster
at Drumcastle near Kinloch Rannoch. He was selected to assist Stewart of
Killin in preparing the first Highland version of the New Testament for
the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge (published 1767), and at
the same time he issued an edition of his own poems. Of all Gaelic books
this has been far and away the most popular, having gone through no less
than forty editions. Buchanan seems to have been very susceptible to
religious influences, and the stern Puritan doctrines of retribution and
eternal damnation preached around him so worked on his mind that from
his ninth to his twenty-sixth year he was