Minute be published, nor has it yet appeared. Secondary education is encouraged thus:-A central school, under a graduate, who has time for extra work by only having 30 pupils allotted him in average attendance, can earn 10s. for each pass in extra subjects instead of the present 4s. Such are the concessions made. The discussions held in various places at teachers' meetings bring out the fact that only some fifty per cent. of Highland children on the roll are in average attendance. The Highland Boards have therefore an initial pull or jump of 15 per cent. to make before even the 1s extra is gained. Can it be done, or, if done, how far can it be carried? The attendance concession will benefit greatly the East Coast boards, but in the Islands and the West Coast the matter is very doubtful.

We are glad to record the formation of a Scotch Ministry, which has also Education under its charge. The Duke of Richmond is the first Minister; Sir Francis Sandford is permanent Under-Secretary to the General Department; while Dr Craik is Secretary for Scotch Education. This last appointment augurs

well for the Highlands.

From the list of donations to the Library we inadvertently omitted to mention a handsomely-bound large paper copy of Mackenzie's "Beauties of Gaelic Poetry," kindly presented by Miss H. G. Fraser, North Berwick.

Inverness, August 1885.

ERRATU M.

Page 144; at line 19 of text I. for "ímaíc," read ímacc.

TRANSACTIONS.

22ND JANUARY 1884.

On this date the Rev. Alexander Cameron, Free Church minister of Brodick, delivered a lecture on "The Influence of an Original Nasal Termination on Modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic," for which he was awarded a cordial vote of thanks.

23RD JANUARY.

On this date office-bearers for 1884 were nominated; and some routine business was transacted.

TWELFTH ANNUAL DINNER.

The Twelfth Annual Dinner of the Society took place in the Caledonian Hotel. Provost Macandrew, in the unavoidable absence of the Chief, presided, while the croupiers were Dean of Guild Mackenzie, and Mr Alexander Macbain, M.A., Raining's School. Among those present were Captain O'Sullivan, Adjutant of the I.A.V.; Councillor Alexander Ross, Mr William Mackay, solicitor; Mr Hugh Rose, solicitor; Mr Robert Grant, of Macdougall & Co.'s; Dr F. M. Mackenzie, Dr Ogilvie Grant, Bailie Mackay, Mr William Morrison, Rector, Dingwall Academy; Mr Colin Chisholm, Namur Cottage; Mr James Barron, Ness Bank; Mr Duncan Campbell, Ballifeary; Dr D. Sinclair Macdonald, Mr James Cumming, Allanfearn; Councillor W. G. Stuart, Councillor James Macbean, Mr John Davidson, merchant; Mr A. K. Findlater, of Macdonald & Mackintosh; Mr Alexander Mactavish, of Mactavish & Mackintosh; Mr John Macdonald, merchant, Exchange; Mr Fraser Campbell, draper; Mr John Whyte, librarian;

Mr William Gunn, draper; Mr James Mackintosh, ironmonger; Mr Alex. Macgregor, solicitor; Mr Duncan Chisholm, coal-merchant; Mr Alex. Ranaldson Macraild, writer; Mr D. Maclennan, commission agent; Mr D. K. Clark, of the Courier; Mr Hector R. Mackenzie, Town-Clerk's Office; Mr William Mackenzie, Secretary of the Society; Mr Alexander Ross, of the Chronicle; Mr William Cameron, The Castle; Mr Macdonell, do.; Mr F. Mackenzie, Mr Menzies, Blarich, Sutherlandshire; Mr D. Nairne, &c.

The Secretary read apologies for absence from Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie of Gairloch, Bart.; Cluny Macpherson of Cluny Macpherson, C.B.; Mr John Mackay, Hereford; Mackintosh of Mackintosh; Mr A. R. Mackenzie, yr. of Kintail; Mr John Mackay of Herriesdale; Mr W. M'K. Bannatyne, Bridge of Allan; Mr D. Forbes of Culloden; Mr Thomas O'Hara, Portarlington; FieldMarshal Sir Patrick Grant, Mr F. Macdonald, Druidaig ; &c.

The Chief of the Society wrote from Algiers, to the Secretary, as follows:

DEAR SIR,-I beg to express, through you, my regret to the members of our Society at being unable to take the chair at this our annual meeting, but, owing unfortunately to the delicate state of my wife's health, we have been ordered here to Algiers for the winter, and as the distance is very great, it has been a matter of impossibility for me to get over in time to occupy that chair to which I had the honour last year to be appointed. But believe me when I tell you that my heart is with you on this occasion, and, although many hundred miles of ocean roll between us, there is no distance, however great, that cannot be bridged over by that bond of sympathy that unites the hearts of all true Highlanders. And it is thus I would have you think this day; that, although absent in the body, I am with you in the spirit, wishing you every success in your great undertaking; that your efforts may continue to meet with that success they so justly deserve, and that the end will be the bringing about of the one thing so dear to all of us—namely, the preservation, in all its purity, of our most beautiful and ancient language, its literature, poetry, music, legends, and traditions-(Cheers)-and, more than all, the preservation of that feeling of clanship and brotherhood which should always exist among Highlanders of all classes-high and low, rich and poor— that feeling which has for ages and centuries existed; that feeling which has gone far towards making our beloved country take the high place she does among the nations of the world by reason of her sons being the bravest, staunchest, and most loyal adherents to their Sovereign and the land that gave them birth. (Cheers.)

With regard to the present state of affairs in the Highlands, it would ill become me to make many remarks until after we have the report of the Royal Commission—(Hear, hear)—but this I will venture to think—that, had the Gaelic tongue been taught in the high-class schools as a requisite language for those who reside in Gaelic-speaking districts, we should have heard little of discontent, and still less of a Crofters' Commission. Surely it must be more desirable to teach a boy his native tongue than to cram his brain with Greek mythology and a lot of rubbish that can be of little or no use to him in after life. (Applause.) And yet I have often been asked by some people what use is there in knowing Gaelic, or, as they facetiously term it in their painful ignorance, “That defunct barbarian lingo." (Laughter.) But if we are to deplore the non-existence of the Gaelic language amongst some of the landed gentry in the Highlands, what condemnation can be too severe for those men of the educated classes familiar with the language who have taken advantage of it to feed the flame of discontent among the ignorant and uneducated by applying the mischevious bellows of agitation? I say the Gaelic language has never been put to more unworthy and unpatriotic or wicked use than when it was employed, not as a means of tranquilising the poor people by reasoning with them in a spirit of pacification and conciliation in their own tongue, but, on the contrary, in urging them to rebellion and crime. Who are the most guilty, the preachers or the disciples? Let us hope that the year 1884 may be a happier one for all of us in the Highlands, and that the seeds of discontent may not have taken deep root in the hearts of our people, but that peace, quietness, and plenty may in future take the place of restless discontent and poverty; and that Providence in His goodness may see fit to bestow these blessings on our beloved country is, I am sure, the earnest wish of all of us. (Cheers.) Wishing the Society, in conclusion, every success.—I remain, yours truly,

DUNMORE, Chief of the Society.

The Chairman, who was warmly received, then proposed "The Queen." He said-Among the many claims to our loyalty which Queen Victoria possesses, there are two which I have not seen noticed before, and which, it appears to me, may be very appropriately noticed in proposing this toast at a meeting of a Gaelic Society in the Town of Inverness. About thirteen hundred years ago a very remarkable and interesting event happened in this city, which was then the capital of the Pictish kingdom of

Albyn. I allude to the visit of St Columba to Brude, the King of the Picts, when the Saint persuaded that monarch to embrace Christianity, and formed with him that friendship which appears to have lasted while they lived. Now, I think we have good reason for believing that her Gracious Majesty is of the blood of both the principal actors in that memorable scene. We do not know accurately the pedigree of the Pictish Royal Family, because succession, according to the Pictish law, was through females; the Kings never have the names of their fathers, and they seem to have been succeeded, not by their own sons, but by the sons of sisters, who appear always to have had foreign husbands. We know, however, that, according to their law, there was a regular succession for a very long time. For some time before the establishment of the Scottish Monarchy by Kenneth Macalpine, there was a period of great confusion, but we know that Alpine, Kenneth's father, was the son of a Pictish mother, through whom he claimed the throne. From Kenneth the Queen's pedigree is clear. I think, then, we have fair historical probability for the statement that the Queen is of the blood of the ancient Pictish Royalty, and that she is the descendant, as she is the political representative, of the royal race who had their seat at Inverness. (Cheers.) As to the other proposition that she is of the blood of Saint Columba, we know that about 850 Kenneth Macalpine reestablished the Columban Church in Scotland, that when so doing he gave the primacy to the Abbey of Dunkeld which he then founded, and that he then removed to Dunkeld the relics of Saint Columba. I cannot give you the pedigree of the Abbot to whom the government of the Abbacy of Dunkeld and the Primacy of the Scottish Church at this time were given, but we know that the law of succession in the early Celtic Abbacies was that the Abbot was always appointed from the family of the Saint if there was any person of the family qualified. At this time, and for 100 years after, there were Abbots of Saint Columba's family in the Monastery at Iona and in other Monasteries of his foundation, and we may fairly assume that for the primacy of his church Kenneth would have chosen an Abbot of the Saint's family. the course of time what happened in other Celtic Monasteries happened at Dunkeld. The Abbots abandoned the practice of celibacy, the office became hereditary in their family, and ultimately the Abbots ceased to be priests and became lay lords. In the time of Malcolm, the Second Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, was a very powerful man. He married the daughter of Malcolm, and the fruit of the marriage was "the gracious" Duncan, father of

In