Rev. Duncan B. Blair (1815-1893) was "an excellent linguist, a good poet, and a devout man. As an accurate writer of Gaelic he had no superior." Blair composed sacred poems, laments and secular poems and songs. Mac-Talla, the first Gaelic newspaper in the world was published in Sydney, Nova Scotia, between 1892 and 1904. Blair's contributions to Mac-Talla were extensive. In the original Gaelic, with English translations by John Alick MacPherson, Fògradh, Fàisneachd, Filidheachd / Parting, Prophesy, Poetry includes Blair's articles about the Highland Clearances, a number of his poems, an account of a 16th-century seer who some say foretold of the Clearances and articles about Blair's travels around the Maritimes - all published in Mac-Talla.