provisions and reinforcements from the sea; and if so, then it must have been on the very verge of the frith, and the water must have been sufficiently deep there. Or it was to watch the estuary of the Leven, and to prevent the native Caledonians either landing from the sea, or coming down from the hills to turn the flank of the Wall at Duntocher, and so surprising the Romans in the rear; and this, beyond doubt, was its most important purpose as a military station on the line. But we have elsewhere explained (in the work above alluded to) that there was a regular route for the Caledonians from Dunglass to Campsie, which still bears the name of Fingal; and Fyn-loch, the very first rendezvous on that line, is on the top of the hill immediately above the fort in question. The Romans, who must have been fully aware of this, made their own provision accordingly. In sight of that fort, therefore, Fingal and his people might embark or disembark on their expeditions through Dumbartonshire at pleasure; but it would require to be at a reasonable distance westward, on the sides of Dumbuck or in the quiet creek at Milton, if they wished to escape the catapults and crossbows of the conquerors of the world. Now the earthquake, which extended up the whole basin of the Clyde, seems to have changed all that. The fort was sunk or shattered, as we suppose, and the frith began to fall; and antiquarians who do not believe in Ossian, or who do not keep such obvious facts in view, have been puzzled ever since, and will be puzzled ever more, attempting to account for it.

IV. In adducing this evidence—partly antiquarian and partly geological—we have restricted our survey exclusively to the Roman Wall, for it is on this important barrier between the Forth and Clyde that those who object to the geography of Ossian are accustomed to fall back. But the sort of testimony it affords might be easily supplemented by a survey of the Clyde itself, which can be shown, and has been shown, by incontestable measurement on the coast of Ayrshire, to be sinking at the rate of ¾ of an inch annually for the last forty or fifty years at least; and if such subsidence has been going on for fifteen hundred years at the same rate, the level of the frith in the days of the Romans must have been even higher than we now allege. A critic in the Scotsman, who, himself, first demanded such a survey, and to whom the survey when reported in the same paper—August 30th, 1875—was troublesome, appeals boldly in an editorial note to the authority of Hugh Miller, and again demands that the survey be transferred from Girvan to Glasgow, because "the height to which the tide rises is a very fluctuating quantity"—in Ayrshire, we presume. As for Hugh Miller, we can find nothing whatever in his pages to the purpose; and if such a distinguished authority is to be relied on in the present controversy, we must insist on his very words being quoted. As for the fluctuation of the tide, if it fluctuates in one place more than another, what is the use of appealing to it at all? and as between the Ayrshire coast, and the Renfrewshire or Lanarkshire coast, on the same side of the frith, unless "the moon and one darn'd thing or another" have special disturbing influence in Ayrshire, what difference can there be in the regularity of flow between Girvan and Glasgow? This learned adversary in the Scotsman must surely have been at his wit's end when he took refuge in such an absurdity, and we may safely leave him where he is, to revise his own calculations and recover his composure.

All this might be insisted on anew; but the object of the present argument is simply to show to the readers of the Celtic Magazine that the Ossianic controversy must of necessity be removed to another and a higher sphere than ever. There are certain points, indeed, on which philological inquiries may still be of the utmost importance as regards the Gaelic original, and these we cheerfully consign for discussion to those whom they most concern; but these will never decide the question of authenticity in its proper form, or establish Ossian in his proper place as a witness-bearer of the past. The sense of Macpherson's translation, as it stands, must be honestly ascertained; its testimony verified, or otherwise, by direct appeal to the subject matter of its text; and its value in the literature of the world determined, on the same principles, and by the very same process as that of any other public record would be in the history of the world. Such investigation has now become indispensable. In Ossian's name alike, and in that of science, as well as of common sense, we demand it, and will never be satisfied until it has been accorded.

P. HATELY WADDELL.

We direct the reader's careful attention to the following interesting statistics regarding occupiers of land in Ireland:—The agricultural statistics of Ireland recently completed for 1873 show that in that year there were in that country 590,172 separate holdings, being 5,041 less than in the preceding year. The decrease was in the small holdings. The number of holdings not exceeding one acre fell to 51,977, a decrease of 908, and the number above one acre and not exceeding 15 acres, shows a decrease of 3,777. The holdings above one acre can be compared with the numbers in 1841. Since that date the total number has decreased 22 per cent. The number of farms above one and not exceeding five acres has fallen to 72,088 (in 1873), a decrease of 76.8 per cent.; the number of farms above five and not exceeding 15 acres has diminished to 168,044, a decrease of 33.5 per cent.; the number above 15 and not exceeding 30 acres has risen to 138,163, an increase of 74.1 per cent.; and the number above 30 acres has increased to 159,900, an increase of 228.8 per cent. Of the total number of holdings in 1873, 8.8 per cent. did not exceed 1 acre; 12.2 per cent. were above 1 and not exceeding 5 acres; 28.5 per cent., 5 to 15 acres; 23.4 per cent., 15 to 30 acres; 12.4 per cent., 30 to 50 acres; 9.4 per cent., 50 to 100 acres; 3.7 per cent., 100 to 200 acres; 1.4 per cent., 200 to 500 acres; 0.2 per cent., above 500 acres. More than 60 acres in every 100 of the land comprising farms above 500 acres are bog or waste. As the farms diminish in size, the proportion under bog and waste decreases until it amounts to only 7.1 per cent. on the smallest holdings. The average extent of the holdings not exceeding 1 acre is 1 rood and 32 perches, and of farms above 500 acres 1,371 acres and 19 perches. As in many instances landholders occupy more than one farm, it has been considered desirable to ascertain the number of such persons, and it has been found that in 1873 the 590,172 holdings were in the hands of 539,545 occupiers, or 2,293 fewer than in the preceding year. There were in 1873 50,758 occupiers whose total extent of land did not exceed 1 acre; 65,051 holdings above 1 and not exceeding 5 acres; 150,778 holdings above 5 but not exceeding 15 acres; 124,471 holdings above 15 but not exceeding 30 acres; 65,991 holdings above 30 and not exceeding 50 acres; 50,565 holdings above 50 but not exceeding 100 acres; 20,764 holdings above 100 but not exceeding 200 acres; 8,799 holdings above 200 but not exceeding 500 acres; and 2,368 holdings above 500 acres. The whole 590,172 holdings extended over 20,327,196 acres, of which 5,270,746 were under crops, 10,413,991 were grazing land, 13,455 fallow, 323,656 woods and plantations, and 4,305,348 bog and waste. The estimated population of Ireland in the middle of the year 1873 was 5,337,261.

NEW YEAR IN THE OLD STYLE IN THE HIGHLANDS.

Old Mr