Title: The Celtic Magazine, Vol. I No. V - A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History, - Antiquities, Folk Lore, Traditions, and the Social and - Material Interests of the Celt at Home and Abroad
Author: Various
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.


*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Celtic Magazine, Vol. I No. V - A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History, - Antiquities, Folk Lore, Traditions, and the Social and - Material Interests of the Celt at Home and Abroad" ***


(This file was produced from images generously made


THE CELTIC MAGAZINE.

No. V. MARCH 1876.



THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.


VERY interesting and instructive, though very sad it is to chronicle
certain undeniable and not unfrequent facts in the history of human
nature, outbursts, as Carlyle calls them, of the feral nature, that
element which man holds in common with the brutes, and which, when it
breaks forth in him, assumes, by contrast, a more hideous and savage
character than in them, even as fire seems more terrible in a civilized
city than amidst a howling wilderness; among palaces and bowers than
among heathery moorlands or masses of foliage, and even as the madness
of a man is more fearful than that of a beast. It is recorded of Bishop
Butler that one day walking in his garden along with his Chaplain
immersed in silent thought, he suddenly paused and turning round asked
him if he thought that nations might go mad as well as individuals. What
reply the Chaplain gave we are not informed; but fifty years after the
French Revolution with its thunder-throat answered the Bishop's
question. Nay--it had been answered on a less scale before by Sicilian
Vespers--Massacres of Bartholomew, and the Massacre of Glencoe, and has
been answered since, apart from France, in Jamaica, India, and
elsewhere. God has made of one blood all nations that dwell on the face
of the earth. Yet alas, that blood when possessed by the spirit of
wrath, of revenge, of fierce patriotism, or of profound religious zeal,
and heated sevenfold, becomes an element only inferior in intensity to
what we can conceive of the passions of hell, such as Dante has painted
in his Ugolino in the Inferno, gnawing his enemy's skull for evermore;
such as Michael Angelo has sculptured on the roof of the Sistine Chapel,
in eyes burning with everlasting fury, and fists knotted to discharge
blows, the least of which were death, but which hang there arrested as
if for ever on the walls, and such as Milton has represented in Moloch's
unappeaseable malignity, and in Satan's inexorable hate.

It is to one of these frightful outcomes of human ferocity, an event with
which even after a period of 200 years that all Scotland, and especially
all the Highlands, rings from side to side, and which unborn generations
shall shudder at, that we propose to turn the attention of the readers of
the _Celtic Magazine_. We do so partly, no doubt, from the extreme
interest of the subject, and partly also, because important lessons of
humanity, of forgiveness, of hatred at wrong and oppression, of the
benefits of civilization, of the gratitude we feel for the extinction of
clan quarrels and feuds, and the thousand other irregularities and
inhumanities which once defaced the grandest of landscapes, and marred a
noble and a manly race of men; because such lessons may be, if not
formally drawn, yet may pervade and penetrate the whole story as with a
living moral.

The occasion of the Massacre of Glencoe was as follows:--Although the
Lowlands, since the date of the Revolution, were now quiet, it was far
different with the Highlands. There, indeed, the wind was down, but
still the sea ran high. The Highlanders were at that time very poor,
very discontented, and very pugnacious. To subdue them seemed a long and
difficult process. To allow them to exterminate one another, and
re-enact on a much larger scale, the policy of the battle between the
clans on the North Inch of Perth seemed as unwise as it was cruel. There
was a third course proposed and determined on, that of buying them up,
bribing them in short, applying that golden spur which has, in all ages,
made the laziest horse to go, and the most restive to be obedient. The
Government of King William resolved to apply to this purpose a sum
variously estimated at £12,000 and £20,000. This sum was committed to
John, Earl of Breadalbane, the head of a powerful branch of the great
Clan Campbell. He was one of the most unprincipled men of that day; had
turned his coat, and would have turned his skin had it been possible and
worth while; and is described by a contemporary as "Grave as a Spaniard,
cunning as a fox, wiry as a serpent, and slippery as an eel." He was the
worst of persons to have the charge of pacifying the Highlands committed
to him, being distrusted by both parties, and hated by the Jacobites
with a deadly hatred. Nevertheless the negotiations went on, although
slowly. Breadalbane lived at Kilchurn Castle, which, now a fine old
ruin, stands on the verge of the magnificent Loch Awe, looks up to the
gigantic Ben Cruachan, and which Wordsworth has glorified in one of his
finest minor poems. To that romantic castle, now silent in its age, but
then resounding with the music and revelry of the clans, were to be seen
some of the leading Jacobite chieftains crossing the mighty mountains to
the northwest, and holding conferences with the crafty head of the
Campbells; and on the 30th of January 1690 a large assembly met at
Achallaster in Glenorchy, to arrange matters between the Earl and the
Highlanders, but in vain. There was mutual distrust. The chiefs were
willing to come to terms, but they suspected that Breadalbane meant to
deceive them and to keep a portion of the cash in his own Sporran. He,
on the other hand--ill-doers being usually ill-dreaders--thought that
they were playing a double game. More than a year passed in fruitless
negotiations, and the autumn of 1691 saw the matter unsettled. At last
Lord Stair and the other advisers of the King resolved to try the effect
of threats as well as bribes; and in August they issued a proclamation
promising an indemnity to every rebel who should swear the oath of
allegiance in the presence of a Civil Magistrate before the 1st January
1692, and threatening with dire penalties, letters of fire and sword, as
they were called, all who delayed beyond that day. The proclamation was
drawn up by Stair in conjunction with Breadalbane. He had wished to form
a Highland Regiment in favour of Government, and to get, if possible,
all the Highland chiefs to transfer their allegiance from King James to
the New Dynasty. This he found very difficult. The chiefs were fond
enough of the money, but fonder at heart of the Stewarts. Many of them,
including the Macdonalds stood out for more favourable terms. The
negotiations were broken off, and the fatal proclamation was issued.
Stair's letters show to a certainty that he and King William's
Government cherished the hope that the chiefs would not submit at all,
or at least that they would hold on beyond the prescribed time. Like
Hyder Ali, as described by Burke, he had determined, in the gloomy
recesses of a mind capacious of such things, to make the broad Highlands
a monument of his vengeance.

The great object, let it be remembered, of the Government was to get the
troops employed in the Highlands disengaged and free for service in
other places. To serve this purpose they were willing to pay a certain
sum, but if this proved ineffectual they were still more willing to
inflict summary punishment on the principal offenders. Hence Stair had
collected troops at Inverlochy, had resolved to take advantage of the
winter when the passes would be probably stopped with snow, and when the
Highlanders, not expecting the attack, would be likely to fall an easy
prey. And thus, not like an injured and infuriated Hyder Ali, but like a
tiger on the edge of his jungle, did this inhuman lawyer lie eagerly
biding his time. Hear his own language illustrating a character whom
Macaulay elaborately defends. "If the rest are willing, as crows do, to
pull down Glengarry's nest so as the King be not hindered from drawing
four regiments from Scotland, in that case the destroying him and his
clan will be to the full as acceptable as his coming in." What a fiend
in the form of one pretending to worship equity and distribute justice!

It is generally thought that the chiefs got information of the designs
of their enemies, probably by communication from King James. At all
events, in the end of the year to the profound mortification of Stair,
the principal of them, Lochiel, Glengarry, Clanranald, Keppoch, and
others came forward and took the oath of allegiance, all save one,
MacIan, or Macdonald of Glencoe. Stair, as chief after chief took the
oath, had been more and more chagrined and desirous that some one or
other of the clans should refuse and become the victim of his vengeance.
And one such tribe did at last fall into his vindictive and quivering
jaws. It was the tribe of the Macdonalds, inhabiting, as a munition of
rocks, the Valley of Glencoe.

Glencoe is well known to the lovers of the picturesque as one of the
very grandest scenes in Scotland. We have seen some of the sublimest
scenes in Switzerland and in Norway, but none of them, not Chamouni nor
the Romsdale Valley have obliterated the memory or lessened the
admiration of that awful glen which we have often thought of as a
softened Sinai--a smaller but scarcely gentler similitude of the Mount
that might be touched. There are, of course, many diversities. Through
the valley of Glencoe winds a stream called the Cona--a name of perfect
music, soft as Italian, and which seems the very echo of the pathetic
and perpetual wail of a lonely river. No such stream laves the foot of
Sinai's savage hill. Then there lies below one of the boldest hills of
the pass, a lovely little sheet of water, being the Cona dispread into
a small lake looking up with childlike, trustful, untrembling, eye to
the lowering summits above, and here and there a fine verdure creeps up
the precipices and green pastures, and still waters encompass hills on
which Aaron might have waited for death, or Moses ascended to meet God.
But the mural aspect of many of the precipices, the rounded shape of
some of the mountains contrasted with the sharp razor-like ridges of
others, the deep and horrid clefts and ravines which yawn here and
there, the extent, dreariness, solitude, and grandeur of the mountain
range above--the summits you see, but scarcely see behind their nearer
brethren, as though retiring like proud and lonely spirits into their
own inaccessible hermitages, the appearance of convulsion and tearing in
pieces and rending in twain, and unappeasable unreconciliation which
insulates as it were, and lifts on end the whole region are those of
Horeb, as we have seen it in picture or in dream, and the beholder
might, on a cloudy and dark day, or on an evening which has set all the
hills on fire, become awestruck and silent, as if waiting for another
Avatar of the Ancient One on the thundersplit and shaggy peaks. In other
moods, and when seen from a distance while sailing from Fort-William,
its mountains have suggested the image of the last survivors of the
giants on the eve of their defeat by Jove, collected together into one
grim knot of mortal defiance with grim-scathed faces, and brows riven by
lightning, retorting hatred and scorn on their triumphant foes. And when
you plunge into its recesses and see far up among its cliffy rocks spots
of snow unmelted amid the blaze of June, the cataracts, which after
rain, descend from its sides in thousands; its solitary and gloomy
aspect which the sunshine of summer is not entirely able to remove, and
which assumes a darker hue and deepens into dread sublimity, when the
thunder cloud stoops his wing over the valley, and the lightning runs
among the quaking rocks, you feel inclined to call Glencoe, in
comparison with the other glens of Scotland, the "Only One," the
secluded, self-involved, solemn, silent valley. Green covers the lower
parts of the hills, but it seems the green of the grave, its sounds are
in league with silence, its light is the ally of darkness. The feeling,
however, finally produced is not so much terror as pensiveness, and if
the valley be, as it has been called, the valley of the Shadow of Death,
it is death without his sting--the everlasting slumber there; but the
ghastliness and the horror fled. Yet at times there passes over the mind
as you pass this lonely valley, the recollection of what occurred 200
years ago, and a whisper seems to pierce your ear, "Here! blood basely
shed by treachery stained the spotless snow. These austere cliffs, where
now soars and screams the eagle, once listened to the shriek of murdered
men, women, and children; and on this spot where peaceful tourists now
walk admiring the unparalleled grandeur, and feeling the spirit of the
very solitary place bathing them in quiet reverie and dream-like bliss
was transacted a scene of cruelty and cold-blooded murder which all ages
shall arise and call accursed!"

As the clime is, so the heart of man. The Macdonalds were worthy of
their savage scenery, and more savage weather. True children of the mist
were they, strong, fearless, living principally on plunder, at feud with
the adjacent Campbells to which clan Breadalbane belonged, and often had
the blood of the race of Dermid smoked on their swords. MacIan, their
chieftain, was a noble specimen of the Highland character. He was a man
of distinguished courage and sagacity, of a venerable and majestic
appearance, was stately in bearing, and moved among his neighbouring
chieftains like a demigod. He had fought at Killiecrankie and was a
marked man by Government. He had had a meeting with Breadalbane on the
subject of the proclamation and their mutual differences, but they had
come to a rupture, and MacIan went away with the impression that
Breadalbane would do him an injury if he could. And yet, with a strange
inconsistency amounting almost to infatuation, he delayed taking the
oath, and thereby securing his own safety, till the appointed period was
nearly expired. In vain is the net set in the sight of any bird. But
Stair had set the net before the eyes of Macdonald, and had openly
expressed a hope that he would fall into it, and still the old man
lingered.

A few days, however, before the first of January, Colonel Hill is
sitting in his room at Fort-William when some strangers claim an
audience. There enter several Highlanders, all clad in the Macdonald
tartan--one towering in stature over the rest, and of a dignified
bearing--all armed, but all in an attitude of submission. They are
MacIan and the leaders of his tribe, who have come at the eleventh hour
to swear the oath of allegiance to King William. The Colonel, a scholar
and a gentlemen, is glad and yet grieved to see them; for, alas! being a
military and not a civil officer, he has no power to receive their
oaths. He tells them so, and the old chieftain at first remonstrates,
and at last, in his agony, weeps--perhaps his first tears since infancy,
like the waters of the Cona, breaking over the channels of their rocky
bed! The tears of a brave patriarch are the most affecting of all tears;
and Colonel Hill, moved to the heart, writes out a letter to Sir Colin
Campbell, Sheriff of Argyleshire, requesting him, although legally too
late, to stretch a point and receive the submission of the chief; and
with this letter in his Sporranmollach, away he hied in haste from
Fort-William to Inverary. The road lay within a mile of his dwelling,
but such was his speed that he did not even turn aside to salute his
family. The roads were horrible; the very elements seemed to have joined
in the conspiracy against the doomed Macdonalds; a heavy snow-storm had
fallen, and in spite of all the efforts he could make, he reached
Inverary too late--the first of January was past. Worse still, he found
the Sheriff absent, and had to wait three days for his return. He told
him his story, and he being a sensible and a humane man, after a little
hesitation, moved by the old man's tears, and the letter of Colonel
Hill, consented to administer to him the oath, and sent off at the same
time a message to the Privy Council relating the facts of the case, and
explaining all the reasons of his conduct. He also wrote to Colonel
Hill, requesting him to take care that his soldiers should not molest
the Macdonalds till the pleasure of the Privy Council in the matter was
made known.

                                                       GEO. GILFILLAN.

                         (_To be Continued._)



THE HIGHLAND CEILIDH.

BY ALASTAIR OG.

[CONTINUED.]


During the relation of the first part of the legend--that which
described the atrocious conduct of _Allan Dubh_ and his associates, the
members gave evident signs of disapprobation. Norman was constantly
interrupted with such exclamations as "_Ubh ubh_," "_Oh na traillean_,"
"_Na bruidean_," "_Na murtairean_," and various others of the same
complimentary nature ("Oh the servile wretches," "The brutes," "The
murderers"), but as the story proceeded, and the tide turned in favour
of the revenging Mackenzies, although their own means of retaliation
were almost equally inhuman, the tone of the circle gradually changed;
and when Norman finished there was a general chorus of satisfaction at
the final result, the only expression of regret being the death of the
young and brave leader of the Mackenzies, and the escape of _Allan Dubh
Mac Ranuil_ from the clutches of his pursuers.

"A capital story and well told" says _Ian a Bhuidhe_ (John Buidhe). "I
heard it before somewhere, but my version of it was not near so full as
yours, and it differed in various particulars. According to mine there
was a chief of Glengarry in the early part of the 17th century whose
name was Angus Macdonnel, and who held a small property called Strome,
in the centre of the lands belonging to the Mackenzies, in the
neighbourhood of Lochalsh. The Mackenzies were most anxious to get rid
of their neighbour, and finding it impossible to dispossess him of
Strome by lawful means, they, during the night, seized, and, in cold
blood, murdered the Master of Glengarry, who was at the time indisposed
and unable to escape.

"A few survivors of the Master's adherents returned to Glengarry and
informed the old Chief of the death of his eldest son and heir, through
the perfidy of the Mackenzies. Angus became frantic with rage and
regret, and sat silent and moody, exhibiting only 'the unconquerable
will, the study of revenge, immortal hate!' On the following day he sent
a messenger to Ardachy to the _Gille Maol Dubh_, informing him that he
had to perform a sacred duty to his Chief and kindred, and that for its
effectual and complete discharge one possessing the four following
qualifications was indispensably necessary--namely, '_Misneachd,
scoltachd, treubhantas, agus maisealachd_' (courage, cunning, bravery,
and beauty). The _Gille Maol Dubh_ said he knew the very man, and sent
to his chief, Ronald Macranuil, whom he guaranteed to possess all the
necessary qualifications. Glengarry was much pleased with Ronald's
appearance and fierce disposition, and having informed him of his son's
violent and untimely death said, 'I want you to revenge it, and your
reward shall depend on the extent of your service. Go then, gather your
followers, and heedless of place or time destroy all who bear the
hateful name of Mackenzie.'

"_Macranuil_ selected the flower of the clan, marched during the night
and arrived at the Chapel of Cilliechriost on the Sabbath morning, where
they massacred the unsuspecting inmates as described in your version of
the legend far more graphically than in mine, but they are on all fours,
regarding the facts and incidents except that in mine, the Mackenzies
overtook and routed the Macdonalds at _Lon na fola_ or the 'Bog of
Blood,' near Mealfuarvonie, and that it was at _Ault a Ghiuthais_,
across a chasm four hundred feet high, with a fearful and foaming
cataract beneath, that Lundi made his celebrated leap, and not in
_Ault-Sigh_ as in yours. I am, however, disposed to think your version
is the most correct of the two."

We shall now give the following poem composed by Andrew Fraser of
Inverness, and inscribed to Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie, Baronet of Gairloch,
during his minority, to whom we are indebted for the manuscript. It
corroborates Norman's version of the Raid of Cilliechriost in almost
every particular, and has considerable merit of its own as an original
composition:--


THE RAID OF MACRANUIL--BURNING OF CILLIECHRIOST.

_Most respectfully inscribed to the Heir of Gairloch, &c., &c._

    Gathered are Glengarrie's pride
    On Lochlundie's mossy side,
    The Crantara they obey,
    They are met they know not why,
    But they bind the broadsword on;
    And the studded buckler shone
    As the evening's sunny rays
    Burnt in summer's orient blaze
    Through the silent sombre wood
    That lines the margin of the flood.
    Mark, O mark that eagle crest,
    Towering lordly o'er the rest,
    Like the tall and monarch pine
    Which waves its head in dark Glenlyne,
    When the stormy cloud is cast
    Above that region of the blast.
    Mark that forehead's fitful glow,
    Mark that grey and shaggy brow,
    Mark, O mark that dreadful eye
    Which glistens but on misery.
    Now rolling in revengeful mood
    O'er the thoughts of coming blood,
    Then casting to the glorious sky
    A glance of hopeless agony.

    Warrior of the savage breast,
    Fell Macranuil 'twas thy crest,
    'Twas the banner of thy race
    Which the wondering eye might trace,
    As it wound by wood and brake,
    Rolling stream and stilly lake,
    As it fluttered for a while
    On the brow of dark Torgoil,
    Or descended the rough side
    Of the Moristone's wild tide.

    Silent is Macranuil's tread
    And his followers' stealthy speed,
    As they cross the lovely glen
    Where Urquhart's waters, flow between
    Hillocks where the zephyrs dwell,
    In the blue and fragrant bell:
    Groves where echo answers ever
    The low murmurs of the river;
    And the mountain top is seen
    Snow-speck'd in the distant scene.

    Mhicranuil! why that softened pace?
    Thou seek'st not now the wary chase?
    Why do'st thou and thy warriors keen
    So fold your plaids that nought is seen
    Of arms or armour, even the lance
    Whereon your pendant used to glance
    Its blazoned "Lamh dhearg" 'mid the rays
    Of solar light, or battle blaze,
    Has disappeared, and each wild look
    Scowls at the music of the brook,
    As if sweet nature seemed to scan
    The inmost heart of guilty man?
    Oh! can you in a scene so loved
    By all that's holy stand unmoved?
    Can vengeance in that heart be found
    Which vibrates on this blessed ground?
    Can that lone deep cathedral bell
    Cast all around its sacred spell?

    And yet on ruthless murder bent,
    Its voice to thee in vain be sent?
    Mhicranuil? raise thy haggard eye,
    And say beneath the glowing sky
    Is there a spot where man may rest
    More beautiful, more truly blest
    Than where the Beauly pours its stream
    Through nature's all-romantic Dream,[A]
    Down to that ridge which bounds the south
    Of Nephia's salmon-spangled mouth?

    The voice of praise was heard to peal
    From Cillechriost's low holy aisle,
    And on the Sabbath's stilly air
    Arose the hopeful soul of pray'r:
    When on the pastor's thoughtful face
    Played something like a radiant grace;
    Still was each thought to heaven sent,
    Still was each knee in prayer bent;
    Still did each heart in wonder rise
    To something far beyond the skies,
    When burst, as an electric cloud
    Had wrapt them in a flaming shroud,
    The roof above, the sides around,
    The altar--nay the very ground
    Seemed burning, mingled with the air
    In one wild universal flare!

    Hark, heaven! through the lurid air
    Sprung the wild scream of mad despair,
    Those that so late did breath but love,
    Whose kindred hearts were interwove,
    Now tore away strong nature's ties
    Amidst her stronger agonies;
    Affection, frantic, burst the band
    That linked them often hand to hand,
    And rushed along the maddening tide
    Which rolled in flames from side to side.
    Eager the crowded porch to gain
    In hopes of safety. Ah! how vain?
    The demon ministers of death.
    From stern Glengarrie's land of heath
    Stood bristled round the burning fane
    Like hells last hopeless, hideous chain,
    That even the infant might not die
    Beneath a brighter, cooler sky,
    Whilst in their savageness of joy
    The war-pipe screams their victory.


PIOBREACHD CILLECHRIOST.

    Ho! Clanchonich? mark the blaze
    Reddening all your kindred skies,
    Hear ye not your children's cries
    Welcoming Macranuil?
    Hear ye not the eagle scream
    O'er the curling, crackling flame
    Which flies to heaven with the name
    Of glorious Clandonuil?

    Ho! horo? the war-note swell,
    Burst aloud Clanchonich's wail!
    Hark! it is their wild farewell
    To Allan-du-Macranuil!
    Never yet did victor smile
    On a nobler funeral pile,
    Than rushes from this holy aisle
    In memory of Clandonuil!

    Never shall pale sorrow's tear
    Blanch the cheek that slumbers here,
    They have pressed a warmer bier
    For Allan-du-Macranuil!
    Never shall a footstep roam
    From their dreary voiceless home
    They have slept in one red tomb
    For grateful Clandonuil!

    The house of prayer in embers lay,
    The crowded meeting wore away;
    The quieted herdboy saw them go
    With downcast look, serene and slow;
    But never by the wonted path
    That wound so smoothly through the heath
    And led to many a cottage door
    By meadow-stream, and flow'ry moor,
    Came back a human voice to say
    How that meeting sped away.

    The Conon lends the ready ford,
    The Conon glitters back the sword,
    The Conon casts the echo wide,
    "Arise Clanchonich! to the raid;
    Pursue the monsters to their lair,
    Pursue them hell, and earth, and air;
    Pursue them till the page of time
    Forgets their name, forgets their crime."

    The sun had sunk in the far sea,
    But the moon rose bright and merrily,
    And by the sparkling midnight beam
    That fell upon the gladdened stream;
    The wild deer might be seen to look
    On his dark shadow in the brook,
    Whilst the more timorous hind lay by
    Enamoured of the lovely sky.
    Bright heaven! 'twas a glorious scene,
    The sparry rock, the vale between,
    The light arch'd cataract afar
    Swift springing like a falling star
    From point to point till lost to view,
    It fades in deep ethereal blue.
    So lone the hour, so fair the night,
    The scene, the green and woody height,
    Which rises o'er Glenconvent's vale
    Like beauty in a fairy tale.
    Here where the heavenward soul might stray,
    The red remorseless spoiler lay,
    Where holy praise was wont to rise
    Like incense to the opening skies:
    In broken and unhallowed dreams
    He laughs amid the roar of flames.
    Ha! see he starts, afar is heard
    The war-cry wild of "Tullach Ard."
    Away Mhicranuil! with thy band,
    Away, Clanchonich is at hand,
    Scale rock and ravine, hill, and dale,
    Plunge through the depths of Urquhart's vale,
    And spread thy followers one by one,
    'Tis meet that thou should'st be alone.

    It boots not for the jerkin red,
    Fit emblem of the man of blood,
    Is singled still, and still pursued
    Through open moor and tangled wood.
    High bounding as the hunted stag
    He scales the wild and broken crag,
    And with one desperate look behind
    Again his steps are on the wind.
    Why does he pause? means he to yield?
    He casts aside his ponderous shield,
    His plaid is flung upon the heath,
    More firm he grasps the blade of death,
    And springing wildly through the air
    The dark gulf of Altsigh is clear!
    Unhesitating, bold, and young,
    Across the gulf Mackenzie sprung;
    But ah! too short one fatal step,
    He clears, but barely clears the leap,
    When slipping on the further side
    He hung suspended o'er the tide;
    A tender twig sustained his weight,
    Above the wild and horrid height.
    One fearful moment whilst he strove
    To grasp the stronger boughs above.
    But all too late, Macranuil turns
    With fiendish joy his bosom burns,
    "Go, I have given you much," he said,
    "The twig is cut--the debt is paid."

                                       F.

    "Notwithstanding the hideousness of this double crime of sacrilege
    and murder, which certainly in magnitude of atrocity was rarely, if
    ever, equalled in this quarter; it is strange that many will be
    found at no great distance from the scene of horror referred to in
    the poem who are not only ignorant of the cause of the fearful
    catastrophe, but even of the perpetrators of it. It is, therefore,
    the intention of the author to accompany the printed copy[B] with a
    copious note.

        "INVERNESS, 4th Dec. 1839."



"Ah," says _Domhnull a Bhuidhe_, another of the bard's sons, "these men
of Glengarry were a fine race. For real courage and bravery few in the
Highlands could excel them. I remember once hearing a story of young
'Glen,' in which, perhaps, is exhibited the finest example of daring
ever recorded in the annals of our country. Once upon a time Old
Glengarry was very unpopular with all the northern chiefs in consequence
of his many raids and spoliations among the surrounding tribes; but
although he was now advanced in years and unable to lead his clan in
person none of the neighbouring chiefs could muster courage to beard him
in his den single-handed. There was never much love lost between him and
the chief of the Mackenzies, and about this time some special offence
was given to the latter by the Macdonnels, which the chief of
_Eilean-donnan_ swore would have to be revenged; and the insult must be
wiped out at whatever cost. His clan was at the time very much
subdivided, and he felt himself quite unable to cope with Glengarry in
arms. Mackenzie, however, far excelled his enemy in ready invention, and
possessed a degree of subtlety which usually more than made up for his
enemy's superior physical power.

"'Kintail' managed to impress his neighbouring chiefs with the belief
that Glengarry purposed, and was making arrangements to take them all by
surprise and annihilate them by one fell swoop, and that in these
circumstances it was imperative for their mutual safety to make
arrangements forthwith by which the danger would be obviated and the
hateful author of such a diabolical scheme extinguished root and branch.
By this means he managed to produce the most bitter prejudice against
Glengarry and his clan; but all of them being convinced of the folly and
futility of meeting the 'Black Raven,' as he was called, man to man and
clan to clan, Mackenzie invited them to meet him at a great council in
Eilean-donnan Castle the following week to discuss the best means of
protecting their mutual interests, and to enter into a solemn league,
and swear on the 'raven's cross' to exterminate the hated Glengarry and
his race, and to raze, burn, and plunder everything belonging to them.

"Old Glengarry, whom the ravages of war had already reduced to one son
out of several, and he, only a youth of immature years, heard of the
confederacy formed against him with great and serious concern. He well
knew the impossibility of holding out against the combined influence and
power of the Western Chiefs. His whole affections were concentrated on
his only surviving son, and, on realizing the common danger, he bedewed
him with tears, and strongly urged upon him the dire necessity of
fleeing from the land of his fathers to some foreign land until the
danger had passed away. He, at the same time, called his clan together,
absolved them from their allegiance, and implored them also to save
themselves by flight; and to their honour be it said, one and all
spurned the idea of leaving their chief, in his old age, alone to his
fate, exclaiming--'that death itself was preferable to shame and
dishonour.' To the surprise of all, however, the son, dressed in
his best garb, and armed to the teeth, after taking a formal and
affectionate farewell of his father, took to the hills amidst the
contemptuous sneers of his brave retainers. But he was no sooner out of
sight than he directed his course to Lochduich, determined to attend the
great council at Eilean-donnan Castle, at which his father's fate was to
be sealed. He arrived in the district on the appointed day and carefully
habilitating himself in a fine Mackenzie tartan plaid with which he had
provided himself, he made for the stronghold and passed the outer gate
with the usual salutation--'Who is welcome here?' and passed by
unheeded, the guard replying in the most unsuspicious manner--'Any, any
but a Macdonnell.' On being admitted to the great hall he carefully
scanned the brilliant assembly. The Mackenzie plaid put the company
completely off their guard; for in those days no one would ever dream of
wearing the tartan of any but that of his own leader. The chiefs had
already, as they entered the great hall, drawn their dirks and stuck
them in the tables before them as an earnest of their unswerving
resolution to rid the world of their hated enemy. The brave and intrepid
stranger coolly walked up to the head of the table where the Chief of
Kintail presided over the great council, threw off his disguise, seized
Mackenzie by the throat, drew out his glittering dagger, held it against
his enemy's heart, and exclaimed with a voice and a determination which
struck terror into every breast--'Mackenzie, if you or any of your
assembled guests make the slightest movement, as I live, by the great
Creator of the universe I will instantly pierce you to the heart.'
Mackenzie well knew by the appearance of the youth, and the commanding
tone of his voice, that the threat would be instantly executed if any
movement was made, and tremulously exclaimed--'My friends, for the
love of God stir not lest I perish at the hands of my inveterate foe
at my own table.' The appeal was hardly necessary, for all were
terror-stricken and confused, sitting with open mouths, gazing vacantly,
at each other. 'Now,' said the young hero, 'lift up your hands to heaven
and swear by the _Long, am Bradan, agus an Lamh Dhearg_ (the ship, the
salmon, and the bloody hand) that you will never again molest my father
or any of his clan.' 'I do now swear as you request,' answered the
confused chief. 'Swear now,' continued the dauntless youth, 'you, and
all ye round this table, that I will depart from here and be permitted
to go home unmolested by you or any of your retainers.' All with
uplifted hands repeated the oath. Young Glengarry released his hold on
Mackenzie's throat, sheathed his dirk and prepared to take his
departure, but was, extraordinary to relate, prevailed upon to remain at
the feast and spend the night with the sworn enemies of his race and
kindred, and the following morning they parted the best of friends. And
thus, by the daring of a stripling, was Glengarry saved the fearful doom
that awaited him. The youth ultimately became famous as one of the most
courageous warriors of his race. He fought many a single combat with
powerful combatants, and invariably came off victorious. He invaded and
laid waste Glenmoriston, Urquhart, and Caithness. His life had been one
scene of varied havoc, victory, ruin, and bloodshed. He entered into a
fierce encounter with one of the Munros of Fowlis, but ultimately met
the same fate at the hands of the 'grim tyrant' as the greatest coward
in the land, and his body lies buried in the churchyard of
_Tuiteam-tarbhach_."

                                                          ALASTAIR OG.

                         (_To be Continued._)


FOOTNOTES:

[A] The Dream is a scene on the River Beauly, whose picturesque
properties realizes this term in its utmost limits.

[B] This is the only _printed_ copy that ever saw the light, and if the
"copious note" was ever written we were unable to procure it.

                                                                 A. O.



    THE GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS.--The following are the newly
    elected office-bearers for 1876:--Chief--Professor Blackie;
    Chieftains--Mr Charles Mackay, builder; Mr Alexander Fraser,
    accountant; and Bailie Noble, Inverness; Honorary Secretary--Mr Wm.
    Mackay, solicitor; Secretary--Mr William Mackenzie, _Free Press_
    Office, Inverness; Treasurer--Mr Evan Mackenzie, solicitor,
    Inverness; Council--Mr Alexander Mackenzie, of the _Celtic
    Magazine_; Councillor Huntly Fraser; Mr James H. Mackenzie,
    bookseller; Mr James Fraser, C.E.; and Mr Lachlan Macbean;
    Librarian--Mr Lachlan Macbean; Bard--Mrs Mary Mackellar; and
    Piper--Pipe-Major Maclennan, Inverness. The following members have
    been elected since the beginning of the year:--Mr A. R. Munro, 57
    Camphill, Birmingham; Councillor D. Macpherson, Inverness; Mr W. A.
    Mackay, bird-stuffer, do.; Mr Jonathan Nicolson, Birmingham; Major
    William Grant, factor for the Earl of Seafield, honorary; Mr Donald
    Macleod, painter, Church Street, Inverness; Mr Hugh Shaw, tinsmith,
    Castle Street, Inverness; Rev. Lachlan Maclachlan, Gaelic Church,
    Inverness; Mr Archibald Macmillan, Kaituna, Havelock, Marlborough,
    New Zealand; Mr William Douglas, Aberdeen Town and County Bank,
    Inverness; Mr Donald Macdonald, farmer, Culcraggie, Alness; Mr
    Andrew Mackenzie, ironmonger, Alness; Mr Hugh Mackenzie, postmaster,
    Alness; Mr William Mackenzie, factor, Ardross; Mr W. Mackenzie,
    solicitor, Dingwall; Captain Alex. Matheson, Dornie, Lochalsh; Mr
    Christopher Murdoch, gamekeeper, Kyleakin, Skye; Mr Norman M'Raild,
    Caledonian Canal, Laggan, Fort-Augustus; Mr James Hunter, Bobbin
    Works, Glengarry; Mr Fergusson, schoolmaster, Guisachan; Mr Maclean,
    schoolmaster, Abriachan; Mr D. Dott, Caledonian Bank, Inverness; and
    Dr Farquhar Matheson, Soho Square, London. Mr Alex. Mackenzie, of
    the _Celtic Magazine_, on the 17th February, resigned his connection
    with the Society's Publishing Committee, as convener of which he
    edited, last year, vols. III. and IV. of the Society's
    "Transactions."


    DICTIONARY OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE.--We are glad to learn that a
    Dictionary of the Welsh language is in preparation, compiled from
    original sources by D. Silvan Evans, B.D., Professor of Welsh at
    University College, Aberystwyth, Wales, and late Editor of the
    "Archæologia Cambrensis." Professor Evans is a Celtic scholar of
    high repute, and his work will, we are assured, prove a great
    acquisition to the student of Philological Science.



THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDERS GOING TO CAROLINA.


THE sunny plains of Carolina was the first emigration field taken
advantage of by the Scottish Highlander. And there is no denying that
his temporal interests required a change for the better. Oppressed with
poverty in his own wild glens, in the endeavour to eke out an existence
from the returns of a soil the reverse of fertile, or from the produce
of a small flock of trifling value, or from the precarious productions
of stormy lochs, the honest Gael becomes gradually convinced that his
condition might be much improved in the genial climes recently opened
up. With this in view he gives a willing ear to the kindly suggestions
of those who sought to promote his welfare; and he resolves at length,
in acting upon these suggestions, to rupture the ties that bound him to
his home, and to face a voyage which was then regarded as the highest
test of courage, but which can now be accomplished in as little time,
and with as little concern as a voyage in those days from Mull or Skye
to the banks of the Clyde.

It has often been said that the Highlander is wanting in a spirit of
adventure, and that in consequence there is still a great amount of
poverty and wretchedness at home, which might easily be remedied by a
little more pluck in taking advantage of the rich soil of colonial
fields. This phenomenon, which is only too true, has its explanation in
a strange mystic spell of attachment to the native heath with all its
associations. This is proverbially true of the Highlander in distinction
from all other nationalities, and it cannot be ignored by those who wish
to see him emigrate to countries where he can soon raise himself, by a
little industry, to a position of affluence and independence which he
never dreamed of in his native country.

Even the physical aspect of his native scenery has a charm for the Gael
which can never be lost. His very heath in autumnal bloom spread out
like a gorgeous carpet, towering summits, wild cascades, birch and
rowans, verdant hill sides, browsing flocks, bounding deer, soaring
eagles, and the vast expanse of land and water--all form an enchanting
panorama which indelibly instamps itself on the mountaineer's mental
vision. Add to this the social aspect of his nature, and you have a
still stronger chain of attachment to his barren home. He feels himself
as an individual member of a large family or confederacy, with common
interests, common language and traditions. The huge mountain barriers
which prevent the inhabitants of a glen from general communication with
others, and completely isolate them, tends to generate this feeling of
clannishness. They work in a great measure together, tending their
flocks, cultivating their crofts, capturing their fish. And especially
is their social nature developed in their long winter evening gatherings
from house to house, in rehearsing their traditionary folk-lore, and
cultivating the poetic muse in every variety of verse and style of
chorus. Nor does the holy day of rest interrupt their gregarious
proclivities. They meet at the same kirk, they survey with becoming
emotion the last resting place of those who were content to have their
remains repose in their native valley, they hear proclamations of
plighted affection between parties who have no higher ambition than to
share each other's future lot on the scantiest fare, they join "their
artless notes" together in grateful thanksgiving to the Sovereign of all
lands for such temporal gifts as others might think "small mercies," and
more especially do they hear, in their own expressive vernacular,
impressive lessons upon time and its manifold labours, its constant
changes and solemn issues.

All this constitutes a sacred tie of affection to the native spot,
lasting as the hills, and which no other can understand like the
Scottish Gael. It must, therefore, be duly recognised and weighed by all
benefactors of the race, if they would loosen its hold upon the
individual without outraging his feelings, and loosening "the brittle
thread of life." Of this strong attachment many instances might be
given. We have been told by a venerable divine of a Highland parish how
repeatedly he had witnessed the fond affection of his parishioners in
taking their departure, how they approached the sacred edifice, ever
dear to them, by the most hallowed associations, and with tears in their
eyes kissed its very walls, how they made an emphatic pause in losing
sight of the romantic scenes of their childhood, with its kirks and
cots, and thousand memories, and as if taking a formal and lasting
adieu, uncovered their heads and waved their bonnets three times towards
the scene, and then with heavy steps and aching hearts resumed their
pilgrimage towards new scenes in distant climes.

But in thus quitting his native land the Highlander did not leave his
loyalty and patriotism behind. The country to which he was steering his
course was under the colonial away of George the Second; and to that
region he transferred his loyalty and clannishness, and all those traits
of character which distinguish him from other races. Unless, indeed,
these peculiarities were taken advantage of, the foreign field for
emigration, with its various inducements, might have appealed in vain.
As a clannish being, and accustomed throughout his whole historical life
to follow the direction of chiefs and leaders, the Scottish Gael is now
invited to resign himself to the same leadership with the view of
crossing the great Atlantic. Accordingly emigration leaders were found
who made it their business to attend to the interests of their
countrymen, and accompany their footsteps to their new homes. The first
of these leading benefactors who broke the ice of emigration to Carolina
was a Neil M'Neill of Kintyre, who succeeded in leading a whole shipload
of his countrymen to that colony and settled them on the banks of the
Cape Fear River, where he himself also made his permanent home, and
where his name is still perpetuated by a numerous and respectable
offspring to the present day.

Here at the head of navigation, and at a distance of more than a hundred
miles from the sea coast, the immigrants literally pitched their camp, for
the country was then almost an unbroken wilderness and few human abodes to
offer shelter, the chief occupants of the soil being droves of wild
horses, wild cattle, deer, turkeys, wolves, raccoons, oppossums, and last
but not least, huge rattlesnakes in hideous coils, ready to oppose the
disturbers of their marshy tranquillity. Fortunately for the homeless
pioneers the climate was genial and favourable, and all that could be
expected from its southern latitude of 35 degrees. The only protection,
therefore, absolutely necessary for health and comfort was some temporary
shelter from the heavy autumnal dews of that region; and this they could
speedily extemporise or discover already at hand in the arching canopy of
stately hickories, mulberries, and walnut trees, where in patriarchal
fashion, "each one under his own vine and fig tree" they could while away
days and weeks without any serious discomfort or detriment to health. But
they soon set about the work of improvement in their new domains. They
construct more permanent abodes in the shape of log cottages, neat, clean,
and tidy, and two for a family, according to subsequent use and wont in
that warm country. They begin to fell the primeval forest, to grub, drain,
and clear the rich alluvial swamps bordering on that stream, to reduce to
ashes in a thousand conflagrations the most valuable timber of every
variety and sort, and to supersede this primeval growth by the more
precious production of rice, cotton, maize, melons, pumpkins, peaches,
grapes, and other endless varieties for comfort and luxury. All this is
accomplished, be it known, by ways and means of which, in the case of the
new settler, stern necessity is the inventing mother. And may we not here
suggest the reflection how much the residuary occupants of our glens are
interested in these bush clearances. In receiving in regular supplies from
that very district, the famous "Carolina Rice," chief of its class, not to
speak of other products, is there not awakened a feeling of interest and
grateful thanks to the memory of our hardy kinsman in the days of yore.

But progression and improvement is the rule in every colony and growing
community. By the increase of population and settlement of a country the
laws of society imperatively demand a different mode of life. The
abundant supply of the necessities of life soon creates a desire for its
comforts, and these in turn for its conveniences and luxuries. This
progressive change is distinctly marked in the case before us. Very soon
the nucleus of a town is seen in the centre of the settlement, where the
products of industry could be bartered and sold, and where the usual
system of commerce could afford facilities for supplying the growing
demands of a prosperous community. The name of Campbelton is given to
this hamlet, thus identifying the national origin of its patriotic
founders, and when by subsequent emigrations it grew to a large and
commercial importance, rivalling and soon surpassing its namesake in the
Fatherland, and becoming the seat of justice and general centre of
traffic for that whole Highland district, the names of its commercial
firms, of its civic officials, judges, and barristers, unmistakeably
declared that the name of the town was well chosen. And although the
course of events afterwards changed its original designation to that of
La Fayette or Fayetteville, which it still retains, yet it will always
be remembered with a lively interest by Scottish Highlanders as the
abode of their brave countrywoman, the renowned heroine Flora Macdonald,
whose memory is still cherished in the country of her sojourn, and whose
name is preserved from oblivion by the gay and gallant little steamer
"Flora Macdonald," which plies up and down the unruffled waters of the
Cape Fear.

As already remarked, this was the beginning of the tide of emigration to
Carolina, and at a period now buried in the annals of well nigh a
century and a half. The ice being thus broken, and the pioneers of the
flock giving good accounts of the new pasture, others soon eagerly began
to follow their footsteps in large numbers. There was, in fact, a
Carolina mania at that time, and which did not fairly subside until
within the last half century. It is here necessary to note the great
event which gave such a special impetus to the movement. That was the
disastrous results which followed the memorable rebellion of '45. The
collapsing of the romantic scheme which enlisted so many brave
mountaineers, and unsheathed so many claymores, proved ruinous to the
whole race of Scottish Celts. There was no discrimination made in the
exercise of punishment between those "who were out" for Charlie, and
those who followed _Maccallan Mor_ and others in defence of the reigning
dynasty. All were alike nationally persecuted, so that the whole system
of clanship was completely and for ever broken up. The golden chain of
patriarchal respect and affection to the chief, cemented by law or
immemorial usage, was now severed. No military service or vassalage
could any more be exacted by a feudal superior, and no support or
protection could henceforth be expected by the vassal. All was now at an
end; and the ghostly idea of chieftainship, which still hovers in our
mists, is only entertained as a harmless sentiment or a pleasant
burlesque. The Highlander was totally disarmed. Those weapons, as
naturally associated with the mountaineer's life as the implements of
husbandry to the farmer, were wrested from him, and heavy fines and
transportation enforced in case of disobedience. Nay more, his very garb
was proscribed. A romantic costume, suggestive of the well-known dirk
and other weapons of military warfare, and of prowess, bravery, and
skill, in the use of them, falls under the ban of the state. What must
have been the Gael's feelings, from this state of things, we can easily
imagine. Dispirited, insulted, outlawed, without chief or protector,
with such a complete revolution in his social life, he has no
alternative but to quit his native haunts and try to find peace and rest
in the unbroken forests of Carolina. Accordingly the flame of enthusiasm
for foreign adventure passes like wild fire through the Highland glens
and islands at the period to which we refer. It pervades all classes,
from the poorest crofter to the well-to-do farmer, and in some cases men
of easy competence, who were, according to the appropriate song of the
day, "_dol a dh'iarruidh an fhortain do North Carolina_," (i.e.,
_sequenturi fortunam usque Carolinam_).

Within a short time great crowds had left the country. Large ocean
crafts, from several of the Western Lochs, laden with hundreds of
passengers, sailed direct for the far west, and this continuous tide
kept rolling westwards from year to year, until at the era of the
Colonial Revolution, the Highland settlers in Carolina could be numbered
by many thousands. And there you find their worthy sons at the present
day, occupying a large area of the state, no less than five counties in
a body, all preserving the genuine names and sterling qualities of their
sires; and with their known enterprise and patient industry, exerting
more than their numerical share of political influence in that country.
They constitute doubtless the largest Gaelic community out of Scotland,
tenaciously holding the religion of their fathers, and preserving, to
some extent, their language and customs. And be it known to our "Brither
Scots" of Saxon origin, that these are known by their neighbours as
pre-eminently "the Scotch," and their tongue "the Scotch language," so
that a native of Auld Reeky or Dumfries, without a knowledge of the
Celtic tongue, could hardly pass muster among them for being a genuine
son of Scotia.

But the clans were not long settled in the land of their adoption before
having their national character put to the test. The occasion was
furnished by the unfortunate revolt of the North American Colonists,
arising from causes useless to dilate upon at this time of day, but
which might have been obviated at the time by wise imperial policy, and
thus retained under the imperial aegis an enormous territory which has
since then become an independent and powerful rival. Of course the
Carolina Highlander was not a disinterested spectator of the rising
struggle. Nor was it with him a question for a moment upon which side
his claymore should be unsheathed. Naturally Conservative, and ever
loyal to constituted authorities, he at once enlisted under the banner
of King George the Third, and resolved with devoted loyalty and wonted
military prowess to exert his utmost endeavours to perpetuate the
British sway and quell the great rebellion. At the call of his leaders,
and to the martial strains of his national pipes, he readily obeys; and
with such alacrity as if summoned by the fiery cross of old, he musters
to the central place of rendezvous, band after band, day after day,
until a whole regiment of active volunteers are enrolled and ready for
action. This was called the "Highland Regiment of Carolina," a body of
men, let us remark, less known in history than it deserves; for in
resolute courage, strength of nerve and muscle, intrepid bravery and
unshaken fidelity, few instances could be found of superior excellence
within the annals of the empire. The officers of the regiment were taken
from influential leaders among the emigrants, and it need hardly be
said, were of the same sterling metal. When we mention the name of Capt.
Macdonald of Kingsborough, the husband of the famous Flora, and another
officer of the same clan, as also the names of Macleod and M'Arthur, all
of whom were the ruling chiefs of the "Royalists," it will at once
appear how homogeneous was the body, and how naturally they were all
animated by a kindred spirit with the view of achieving the same great
end. Thus marshalled under the royal standard, they rush into the
contest, with the sole determination, be the issue what it might, of
discharging their conscientious duty to their king and country, and
resolved with true Highland courage to conquer or to die. But, alas,
this latter was, in substance, the inevitable alternative to which they
had to succumb. The odds against them was overpowering. For even
supposing them to have had the advantages of regular military
discipline, they were not able to withstand the immense numbers by which
they were assailed. Almost the whole colonies were in a state of revolt,
and the imperial forces, from well-known causes, were few and far
between. There was, therefore, no help for the royal cause. After long
and fatiguing marches by night and day, through creeks and swamps, in
arid sand and scorching sun, and after several desperate encounters with
the numerous foe, meeting them at various points, they had finally to
disperse, and thus for ever surrender a cause which it was hopeless to
have undertaken. Their leaders had to flee for life and find their way
through swamp and forest to the far distant sea-board, as their only
hope of safety. This they made out, and then found the means of transit,
though by a circuitous voyage, across the ocean to their native land.
The perils and hardships endured by these in their several routes could
not be narrated in the space at our disposal. But we cannot take leave
without briefly relating the daring exploit of one of their leaders
after being captured and imprisoned. This, however, must be reserved for
a subsequent number.

                                                    JOHN DARROCH, M.A.



GENERAL SIR ALAN CAMERON, K.C.B., COLONEL 79TH CAMERON HIGHLANDERS.

[CONTINUED].


CHAPTER VI.

TWO years before Alan's return from America, the Highland Society of
London was instituted for "Promoting objects of advantage to the
Highlands generally; and good fellowship with social union, among such
of its natives as inhabited the more southern part of the island." To
the foregoing summary were also added several specific objects, such as
the restoration of the Highland dress; the preservation of the music;
and cultivation of the Celtic language, &c., &c. An institution for the
support of these objects would have particular attraction for Alan; and
now that he was not otherwise specially employed, he could give some
attention to their promotion. The members of the society were composed
of almost all the men of rank and position belonging to, or connected
with, Scotland. In the list Alan appears to have been elected at a
meeting on 21st January 1782, and with the names of other gentlemen on
the same occasion that of John Home (Author of _Douglas_) is included.

The Act of Parliament which enacted the suppression of the Highland
dress was in force in Scotland during Alan's childhood, and up to the
time of his departure from it, after the encounter with _Morsheirlich_,
so that he had never worn the garb of his ancestors until he had joined
his regiment in America. Its use was still (1782) prohibited in the old
country. Alan and many of his friends became the most active members for
promoting the objects of the society. Having found that one of these was
the restoration of the Highland dress, they formed a committee to
co-operate with a member of the Legislature to have that obnoxious Act
obliterated from the Statute Book. Of that committee the following were
the Executive, and being the authors of the extirpation of this national
stigma, they are entitled to be remembered, by Highlanders especially,
with admiration and everlasting gratitude. They were--Hon. General
Fraser of Lovat (President); Lord Chief Baron Macdonald; Lord Adam
Gordon; Earl of Seaforth; Colonel Macpherson of Cluny; Captain Alan
Cameron (Erracht); and John Mackenzie (Temple), Honorary Secretary.

Fortunately for the committee, the Marquis of Graham, one of the members
of the society, had a seat in the House of Commons, and to this nobleman
they entrusted a Bill for the repeal of the Act passed in 1747, commonly
known as the _Unclothing Act_. The noble Marquis took charge of the
bill, which he introduced to the House in May 1782, with so much
earnestness that it passed through the various stages in both Houses of
Parliament with unusual rapidity. Indeed, within a few months after this
date, the legal restriction placed on the dress of a people for the past
thirty-five years, was obliterated for ever. "The thanks of the Society
were given to his Lordship for his exertions in procuring a law so
acceptable to all Highlanders."[C] Addresses in prose and poetry were
presented to the Marquis from all the Highland parishes, while at the
same time the contemporary Gaelic bards were profuse with patriotic
songs of praise, notably among them, that by Duncan M'Intyre
(_Donnachadh Ban_) commencing--

    Fhuair mi naidheachd as ùr
    Tha taitinn ri rùn mo chridh
    Gu faigheamaid fasan na dùtch
    A chleachd sinn an tùs ur tìm,
    O'n tha sinn le glaineachan làn,
    A bruidhinn air màran binn,
    So i deoch slainte Mhontrois
    A sheasamh a choir so dhuinn.

The next action of national importance which engaged the attention of
the Society was the publication of the Poems of Ossian in the original
Gaelic. In the prosecution of this project Alan Cameron was also
zealous, but before it was completed he was called away to duties of a
sterner nature. About the same time the controversy respecting the
authenticity of the poems was continuing to run its rancour unabated.
During the few days of Alan's sojourn as a fugitive in Mr Bond's house,
they had conversed on the merits of Ossian's poems, the latter gentleman
informed Alan that he had such evidence in favour of their ancient
existence that he was convinced of their being the genuine remains of
poetry of a very remote period, adding that he owed his intimacy with
Ossian to the acquaintance of the Rev. Colin M'Farquhar (a native of one
of the Hebrides), at this time minister in Newhaven of Pennsylvannia. It
occurred to Alan that it would be desirable to get the testimony of the
reverend gentleman respecting the poems, therefore he decided to address
himself to his kind friend in Philadelphia on the subject. In due time
Mr Bond replied with a communication from Mr M'Farquhar, dated,
"Newhaven, Penn., January 1806," stating as follows:--"It is perfectly
within my recollection when I was living in the Highlands of Scotland,
that Mr James Macpherson was there collecting as many as he could find
of the Poems of Ossian. Among those applied to was a co-presbyter of
mine, who knew that a man of distinguished celebrity had resided in my
congregation, and he requested the favour of me to have an interview
with him and take down in writing some of these poems from his lips for
Mr Macpherson, which I did, but cannot recollect at this distance of
time the names of the poems, though I well remember they were both
lengthy and irksome to write, on account of the many mute letters
contained in almost every word. Indeed, it would be difficult to find
one among ten thousand of the Highlanders of the present day who could
or would submit to the task of committing one of them to writing or
memory, though in former ages they made the repetition of the poems a
considerable part of their enjoyment at festive and convivial
entertainments. Well do I remember the time when I myself lent a willing
ear to the stories of Fingal, Oscar, Ossian, and other heroes of the
Highland bard. I cannot, therefore, forbear calling that man an ignorant
sceptic, and totally unacquainted with the customs of the history of the
Highlanders, and the usages prevailing amongst them; who can once doubt
in his mind their being the composition of Ossian? And as to being the
production of Macpherson or any of his companions, I have no more doubt
than I have of the compositions of Horace or Virgil to be the works of
these celebrated authors."

The Secretary laid Mr Bond's letter and its inclosure with the foregoing
statement of the Reverend Mr M'Farquhar before the Highland Society,
which they considered so important as to have adopted it in Sir John
Sinclair's "Additional Proofs of the Authenticity of the Poems of
Ossian." While on this subject, another reference must be made to Mr
Bond. The Highland Society in acknowledging the receipt of his
communications, alluded to the service he had rendered to their
fellow-countryman (Erracht) when in distress. The Marquis of Huntly, who
was President, moved that the Society's Gold Medal be conferred on Mr
Bond; also that he be elected an _Honorary_ member of the Society.[D]
The propositions were unanimously approved, and thus his friendship to
the benighted prisoner was not forgotten by the members of this noble
and patriotic Society.


CHAPTER VII.

ALAN, although now (1792) surrounded by a young family, and in
circumstances independent of the emoluments of his profession, was not,
however, disposed to live a life of idleness. Nor had he relinquished
the intention to enter again on active service. This was most difficult
of accomplishment, on account principally, of the reduction of the army
on the termination of the American War; and that no additions wore made
to it for the last five or six years.

Britain was for the moment at peace with all nations; but the state of
affairs in India was causing so much concern that the home government
decided on increasing the military force in each of its Presidencies;
and to enable that intention to be effected, an augmentation of the army
of five battalions was ordered, commencing with the 74th Regiment. Two
of these were to be raised in Scotland and three in England. Into one of
the new corps, Alan hoped to be transferred from the "provincial list."
In this, however, he was disappointed owing to other applicants being
his seniors in the service; notwithstanding that the Marquis of
Cornwallis, whoso friendship he had gained in America, had previously
recommended him to the Commander-in-Chief.

After remaining a few years longer at home, an event impended, which was
to shake Europe to its foundation. This was the French Revolution. To
trace the causes, or detail the scenes, which followed this revolution,
is beyond the limits of our subject, except simply to refer to its
excesses in burning, plundering, and confiscating property of every
description, to which was finally added the execution of the King and
Queen on the scaffold. These iniquitous acts were execrated by
reasonable people of all countries, but were shortly followed by the
Republican Assembly offering aid to other nations to rid themselves of
their monarchical rulers. The incitement to extend rebellion to their
neighbours drew upon them the animosity of all governments, of whom the
continentals were the first to take offence.

To demonstrate their earnestness, the French took immediate action by
advancing three armies towards their northern frontiers; the total
strength being not under half a million soldiers, under the command of
their ablest generals--Jourdan, Moreau, and Pichequr. Simultaneously
with this offensive demonstration, war was declared against Holland,
Spain, and Britain. The manufactures of the latter country were strictly
prohibited in France, and it was, moreover, ordered that all British
subjects in whatever part of the Republic should be arrested, and their
properties seized.

The whole powers of the Continent were now arrayed against the French, yet
the vigour of their measures enabled them to disconcert the dilatory
schemes of their allied opponents. This same year (1793) the insurrection
at Toulon also broke out, and it was on this occasion that first appeared
the extraordinary man, who was to wield for a considerable period the
destinies of Europe. Napoleon Bonaparte, then _Chef de bataillon_, was
dispatched by the Convention as second in command of the artillery, where
he displayed a genius in the art of war, which soon afterwards gained him
the direction of the _Corps d'armee_ in Italy.

The British Government now became alarmed, and resolved on sending the
Duke of York to Flanders with 10,000 troops. Among the evils of the
Hanoverian succession was, that it dragged Britain into the vortex of
continental politics, and often made her subservient to the King's views
in favour of his electorate. The present was one of the instances. This
decision of co-operation may be said to have committed this country to a
line of policy which engaged its army and navy, more or less persistently
for upwards of twenty years, and terminated only in varying success, with
the crowning victory of Waterloo, and the occupation of Paris in the
summer of 1815.


CHAPTER VIII.

THE force sent to Flanders (1793) was a serious drain on the strength of
the army, which must be made good without delay. The Government viewed
it in that light, and ordered commissions to be issued forthwith for the
enrolment of twenty-two regiments for general service (from the 79th to
the 100th), sixteen of which were subsequently made permanent, and added
to the establishment. Other bodies were also raised for home services,
known as "Fencibles." Now was the time for Alan to bestir himself.
Applicants, with influence and claims on the War Office, were greatly in
excess of the number required. Lord Cornwallis' previous recommendation
in his favour was found of advantage in support of Alan's present
application, inasmuch that the "Letter of Service" granted in his favour
was among the first of the batch gazetted on the 17th of Aug. 1793.
Although Major-Commandant Cameron (he will be now named by his
successive ranks in the army) had reason to be satisfied with the
success of his application for the "Letters," yet the terms and
conditions embodied were not only illiberal, but even exacting, a
circumstance he had an opportunity some time afterwards of pointing out
to one of His Majesty's sons (the Duke of York). The document is too
long and not sufficiently interesting to be quoted, and an extract
or two from it must suffice. "All the officers--the ensigns and
staff-officers excepted--are to be appointed from the half-pay list,
according to their present rank, taking care, however, that the former
only are recommended who have not taken any difference in their being
placed on half-pay. The men are to be engaged without limitation as to
the period of their service, and without any allowance of levy money,
_but they are not to be drafted into any other regiments_." On receipt
of this official communication from the War Office, Major Cameron had an
intimation from his father-in-law--Squire Philips--that money to the
extent of his requirements for the expenses of attaining his ambition,
would be placed at his disposal. This act of generosity relieved the
Major from one of his difficulties. The next consideration was how far
it might be prudent to make the recruiting ground his own native
district of Lochaber, when it is remembered that he left that country as
a fugitive from the vengeance of a considerable portion of its
inhabitants. The terms of his "Letters of Service" restricted him in the
disposal of the commissions which might have been offered them as a
means of pacification, but the few left in his power he decided at once
to confer on those sons of families who might be in influential
positions and otherwise eligible for the appointments. With this view he
despatched several copies of the _London Gazette_ containing the
"authority to raise a Highland Regiment" to his brother Ewan (known in
later years as _Eoghann Mor an Earrachd_) with a letter, both of which
he was enjoined to make as widely and as publicly known as possible. The
letter is, if somewhat plausible, frank enough, and characteristic of
his conduct throughout his varied career in life. In it he states that,
"having been favoured with the honour of embodying a Highland Regiment
for His Majesty's service; where could I go to obey that order but to my
own native Lochaber; and with that desire I have decided on appealing to
their forgiveness of byegone events, and their loyalty to the sovereign
in his present exigencies. The few commissions at my disposal shall be
offered first to the relatives of the gentleman whose life,
unfortunately, was sacrificed by my hand."

The printing press, even of the capital of the County of Inverness was
not so advanced in those days, as to have circulars printed of the
foregoing proclamation. Therefore, the brother had to transcribe copies
as best he could, which he did to some effect, inasmuch that before Alan
arrived in Lochaber, on his mission, Ewan had already engaged the
complement of a company to start with, all of whom he retained on his
farm at Earrachd till the arrival of the Major. Thus the credit of
gathering the nucleus of the now famous 79th is due to _Eoghann Mor_,
for which service the Major procured him a commission as captain and
recruiting officer, for his regiment, in that district.

                         (_To be Continued._)


FOOTNOTES:

[C] Minutes of the Highland Society of London, 1782.

[D] Minute Highland Society of London 1806.



THE FIRST PRINTED GAELIC BOOK.


It is to be regretted, since the art of printing has existed for so many
centuries, that nothing in the Gaelic was ever produced in the form of a
printed book until the year 1567. No doubt many valuable documents,
poems, and charters were written on parchment and paper in that
venerable language previous to that date, but the first Gaelic book was
Bishop Carsewell's Translation of Knox's Liturgy, which was printed in
the above year. Forms of prayer, the Administration of the Sacraments,
and the Catechism of the Reformed Church of Scotland were composed by
Knox, and published in a small volume. Carsewell was an earnest and
zealous man, and in the discharge of his pastoral duties in districts
where the Gaelic was the vernacular tongue, he could not fail to see the
benefit to be derived from a manual in that language for the instruction
of the people, and hence the translation and printing of the volume just
alluded to. It was in the duodecimo form, and consisted of about three
hundred pages. The printer was Robert Lekprevik who was remarkable in
his day for the successful manner in which he executed black-letter
printing. It was he who produced from his press "The Reasoning betwixt
the Abbot of Crossraguel and John Knox," to which book were attached the
words:--"Imprinted at Edinburgh by Robert Lekprevik, and are to be solde
at his hous at the Netherbow, 1563."

It would appear that about that time this notable printer removed from
Edinburgh to St Andrews, where printing of different kinds was carried on,
to what was then considered a great extent. It was while in that town that
he printed "Davidson's Metrical Version of Knox's History and Doctrines,"
in a volume of considerable size. The work was entitled:--"Ane brief
commendation of Uprichtness."--"Imprentit at Sanctandrois be Robert
Lekprevik, anno 1573."

It is a matter of no small regret to the lovers of the Celtic tongue, as
well as to philologists in general, that the very interesting
translation of Bishop Carsewell is now hardly to be had anywhere. It is
said that the Duke of Argyle has a copy of it in his library at
Inveraray Castle; and it is well known that another copy, and a very
complete one, was in the possession of a well-known Gaelic scholar, and
excellent Christian man, the late Mr John Rose, teacher at Aberarder,
parish of Dunlichity, near Inverness. It is not known what has become of
the copy of which Mr Rose was the owner, but it would be pleasing if it
were somewhere in safe-keeping, and still more pleasing if it would find
its way to the library shelves of the Gaelic Society of Inverness. The
rarity of the little work in question makes it the more valuable, and
while out of print it cannot be replaced.

The language of this small volume differs a little in spelling from the
Gaelic of the present day, yet it is, upon the whole very plain, and
quite intelligible to any one acquainted with the pronunciation of it.
This may be seen, and better understood, by giving a small quotation
from the work--viz., the concluding declaration of the learned
translator, which runs as follows:--"Do chriochnvigheadh an leabhran
beag so, le Heasbug Indseadh gall, an, 24 la do Mhi. Aprile sa
seachtmhadh bliadhain tar thri fithid agas ar chuig cēd, agas ar Mhile
bliadhain dandaladh ar Dtighearna Iosa Criosd. Sa geuigeadh bliadhain
tar fithid do Rìghe na Riòghna ro chumhachtaighe Marie Banrighan na
Hàlban."

The printer has concluded this interesting but now rare volume, by the
words:--"Do Bvaileadh so agclo an Dvn Edin le Roibeart Lekprevik, 24
Aprilis, 1567."

John Carsewell, by all accounts, was a faithful servant of his Divine
Master. He not only preached the Word with earnestness and power, but
was always instant in season and out of season--"a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." He was for some
years Rector of Kilmartin, a parish in the county of Argyle; but after
the Reformation he was made Bishop of the Western Isles. A certain
writer has said of the reverend gentleman that "he early joined the
reformed clergy, and when the Protestant doctrine was ratified by
Parliament in 1560, he was appointed Superintendent of Argyle." The
superintendents, it will be recollected, were ministers set over a large
district or diocese, in which they were appointed regularly to travel,
for the purpose of preaching the gospel, of planting churches, and of
inspecting the conduct of ministers, exhorters, and readers. They were,
in fact, Bishops, but (according to the Book of Discipline) they were
not "to be suffered to live idle, as the Bishops had done heretofore."
Bishop Carsewell was wealthy and lived in state at Carnassary Castle,
now in ruins, at the head of the Valley of Kilmartin.

This volume of Bishop Carsewell, to which the attention of the readers
of the _Celtic Magazine_ is now called, is very interesting from another
point of view. In consequence of some incidental remarks made by the
learned bishop, it will be seen that in his day traditions existed in
the Highlands and Islands in regard to the Ossianic poetry. This is a
fact which ought to be of no small importance in the present day, when
such keen controversies exist as to the authenticity of the poetical
productions attributed to Ossian. It is surely unreasonable to suppose
if the poems in question had been the creation of James Macpherson, how
it became possible for Bishop Carsewell to allude to the traditions in
the Highlands and Islands regarding Fingal and his heroes upwards of two
hundred years before Macpherson's day! Such direct and legitimate
evidence as this ought to be allowed to have its full weight and force;
and no prejudice on the part of such as are ignorant of the elegance and
beauty of the Gaelic language ought to lead them away from a desire to
believe what is really the truth. Carsewell dedicated his interesting
volume to the Earl of Argyle, on whom he looked as his patron, and who,
by his power and influence, aided the good Bishop in his earnest
endeavours to promote the temporal and spiritual good of the population
of his estates, as well as of that of the Highlands and Islands at
large.

In his somewhat lengthy dedication, the following passage appears, which
is here given as faithfully translated by the Committee of the Highland
Society in their report on the poems of Ossian.

The passage in question runs as follows:--"But there is one great
disadvantage which we, the Gael of Scotland and Ireland, labour under,
beyond the rest of the world, that our Gaelic language has never yet
been printed, as the language of every other race of men has been; and
we labour under a disadvantage which is still greater than every other
disadvantage, that we have not the Holy Bible printed in Gaelic, as it
has been printed in Latin and English, and in every other language, and
also that we have never yet had any account printed of the antiquities
of our country, or of our ancestors; for though we have some accounts of
the Gael of Scotland and Ireland contained in manuscripts, and in the
genealogies of bards and historiographers, yet there is great labour in
writing them over with the hand, whereas the work which is printed, be
it ever so great, is speedily finished. And great is the blindness and
sinful darkness, and ignorance, and evil design of such as teach, and
write, and cultivate the Gaelic language, that, with the view of
obtaining for themselves the vain rewards of this world, they are more
desirous, and more accustomed to compose vain, tempting, lying, worldly
histories concerning the 'seann dàin,' and concerning warriors and
champions, and Fingal, the son of Cumhail, with his heroes, and
concerning many others which I will not at present enumerate or mention,
in order to maintain or reprove, than to write and teach, and maintain
the faithful words of God, and of the perfect way of truth."

It may be seen from this that the learned Bishop naturally complained of
the great disadvantage under which the Gael, both in Scotland and
Ireland, laboured in their not being possessed of any book whatever in
the Gaelic, as nothing hitherto had ever been printed in that language.
It would have been both interesting and instructive to have had the
annals of their country recorded in this manner, as they could not have
depended so much on the still more vague and uncertain narratives to
which were handed down from age to age by tradition. No doubt the bards
and _seanachies_ had their manuscripts and parchments in which many
important facts, and many ancient productions in poetry were recorded,
but these were at best but comparatively few, and could benefit the
community but to a small extent, compared with the productions of even
such printing-presses as were made use of by the renowned Lekprevik. The
want of the Holy Scriptures in the Gaelic language particularly in
districts where it was the only spoken language, was a disadvantage
which the good Bishop deeply deplored; and that want was no doubt the
chief cause of his publishing his "Forms of Prayer, &c.," to facilitate
his ministerial labours among the Highlanders. Had the Bishop been a
prophet in a sense, and had he been able to have foreseen the keen
controversies that were to take place two centuries after his time,
relative to the poems that told of Fingal and his warriors, he would
have given a more detailed account of the Ossianic poetry which was no
rare thing in his day. Posterity would have felt very grateful to the
learned gentleman if he had enlarged somewhat on the songs and tales of
olden times, as he had every opportunity of hearing them rehearsed by
the family bards of chieftains, as well as by the clan _seanachies_ who
made such things their sole employment. Carswell seemed to think (as
many clergymen have thought in latter times) that the Highlanders,
among whom he laboured, paid too much attention to their songs and
tales about warriors and Fingalian battles, and thereby neglected the
more important preparations for a future world. In all probability he
directed his eloquent addresses against such practices, although by no
means successful in extinguishing them. For two centuries they descended
from age to age, and were communicated from sire to son, until
ultimately stamped out by the effects of adverse changes, and of the
altered economy in the management of the Highlands and Islands.

                                                          SGIATHANACH.



    KILMUIR, SKYE, IN 1842--OSSIAN AND WITCHCRAFT.--There is no medical
    practitioner nearer than the village of Portree, upwards of twenty
    miles distant, and the consequence is that he is never sent for but
    in cases of extreme danger. Three or four individuals lately died at
    the age of 100. In the district of Steinscholl a man died about
    twelve years ago, named John Nicolson, or _Maccormaic_, at the very
    advanced age of 105. There is one circumstance connected with this
    old man's history worthy of notice, which is, that he could repeat
    the most of Ossian's Fingal, Temora, &c., with great fluency and
    precision. The writer of this heard him say that he committed these
    beautiful poems to memory from hearing them repeated, when a boy, by
    his grandfather. If this fact be not sufficient to establish the
    authenticity of these unparalleled poems, it must surely establish
    the truth, that they existed before the time of Macpherson, who
    attempted to translate them into the English language. The silly
    allegation by some that Ossian's poems were Macpherson's own
    production is palpably confuted by _Mac Cormaic_ and others, who
    could repeat them before Macpherson was born. But should that not
    have been the case, and should none have been found who could
    rehearse them before Macpherson's time, the allegation that they
    were either by Macpherson, or by any other in the age in which he
    lived, appears ridiculous in the sight of such as know the
    construction and beauty of the Celtic language.... Some time ago the
    natives firmly believed in the existence of the "Gruagach," a female
    spectre of the class of Brownies, to whom the dairy-maids made
    frequent libations of milk. The "Gruagach" was said to be an
    innocent supernatural visitor, who frisked and gambolled about the
    pens and folds. She was armed only with a pliable reed, with which
    she switched any who would annoy her, either by uttering obscene
    language or by neglecting to leave for her a share of the dairy
    production. Even so late as 1770, the dairy-maids, who attended a
    herd of cattle in the Island of Trodda, were in the habit of pouring
    daily a quantity of milk in a hollow stone for the "Gruagach."
    Should they neglect to do so they were sure of feeling the effects
    of Miss Brownie's wand next day. It is said that the Rev. Donald
    Macqueen, then minister of this parish, went purposely to Trodda to
    check that gross superstition. He might then have succeeded for a
    time in doing so, but it is known that many believed in the
    "Gruagach's" existence long after that reverend gentleman's death.
    Besides the votaries of this ridiculous superstition, there are
    others who confidently believe in the existence of a malignant look
    or evil eye, by which cattle and all kinds of property are said to
    suffer injury. The glance of an evil eye is consequently very much
    dreaded. No doubts are entertained that it deprives cows of their
    milk, and milk of its nutritive qualities so as to render it unfit
    for the various preparations made from it. This superstition can
    certainly lay claim to great antiquity.

    "_Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos._"--Virg.

    --_New Statistical Account of Kilmuir, Skye, "drawn up by Mr
    Alexander Macgregor, M.A., Licentiate of the Church of Scotland, and
    son of the Incumbent._"



FLORA, STAR OF ARMADALE.


    Grey Blavin in grandeur gold-crested appears,
      As swift sinks the sun in the west,
    Whose gleams of departure, as love-guarding spears,
      Skim over the blue ocean's breast:
    The lav'rock pours sweetly his ev'ning joy song,
      Lone cushats croon soft in each vale,
    Pale gloaming's low melodies linger among
      The beauties of loved Armadale:

              It is the hour when raptures reign,
                It is the hour when joys prevail,
              I'll hie away to meet again
                My Flora, Star of Armadale;
                  Armadale! Armadale!
              Flora, Star of Armadale:

    The dim robe of night over Knoydart's brown hills,
      Comes weirdly with dark-shading lour,
    Slow-stealing it shrouds the repose it full fills
      With calm's hallowed, heart-clinging, pow'r:
    It tells of a maiden whose heart I have got,
      It whispers the love-longing tale,
    It bids me away to yon heather-thatched cot,
      Snug nestling by sweet Armadale:

              It is the hour of Nature's peace,
                It is the hour when smiles unveil
              The beauty which bids love increase
                For Flora, Star of Armadale;
                  Armadale! Armadale!
              Flora, Star of Armadale:

    Her eyes are as dark as the gloom of Loch Hourn,
      Yet soft as the gaze of a fawn,
    Still darker the tresses that crown to adorn
      A brow like a light-mellowed dawn.
    Her voice is a fountain of summer's dream-song,
      Her smiles can the budding rose pale,
    O! rare are the graces which humbly belong
      To Flora of dear Armadale:

              It is the hour of love's alarms,
                It is the hour when throbs assail
              This heart which glows beneath the charms
                Of Flora, Star of Armadale;
                  Armadale! Armadale!
              Flora, Star of Armadale.

                                                            WM. ALLAN.

    SUNDERLAND.



LITERATURE.

    _OSSIAN AND THE CLYDE, FINGAL IN IRELAND, OSCAR IN ICELAND, OR
    OSSIAN HISTORICAL AND AUTHENTIC, by_ P. HATELY WADDELL, LL.D.,
    _Minister of the Gospel, Editor and Biographer of Robert Burns,
    Translator of the Psalms into Scottish, &c._ Glasgow: JAMES
    MACLEHOSE, Publisher to the University, 1875.


WE cannot, after careful study of this book, assign to it any but the
first place in Ossianic literature. In style of composition it is pure,
dignified and eloquent; in substance and matter it surpasses beyond
reach of comparison any book hitherto written on the same subject. It
can scarcely be doubted, indeed, that this great work has rescued a
discussion which even in the highest hands seemed descending to mere
verbal quibbles and party abuse from such a degradation, and has raised
it to a position, which if it ever held before, it was rapidly losing.
The subject is now made universal; it enters on a new life, strengthened
with a new element which will never now be overlooked. A culminating
point has been reached for all preceding criticism, and a sure
foundation has been laid for a new school of investigation, other and
higher than the dogmatism of Johnson, Laing, or Macaulay. We know not
how far these men were able to comprehend and appreciate such pure and
unique creations as those of Ossian, but it is to be attributed neither
to their refined and cultivated taste, to their critical discernment,
nor yet to their historical and literary knowledge that they despised
and abandoned, as mere myths of savage tribes or wholesale fabrications
of a modern literateur, the poetic annals of their own land and the
grand historical epics where the actions of Norsemen, Scots, and Romans
alike, are pourtrayed and immortalised. Now, however, these works stand
on a new footing; comprehensible, beautiful, and historical every one,
deserving more than ever the enthusiastic admiration with which all
nations have received them, for now it can be based on reason and
knowledge.

The historical and critical value of this book, and the change it will
effect not only on the Ossianic literature, but on the poems themselves,
may easily be seen in three ways at least. First, the importance of the
question discussed, the universal character of the poems, and the
historical results depending on the decision of their authenticity are
now clearly set forth. It has been the prevalent, if not the only way of
examining these works, to regard them merely as interesting literary
productions, relics of ancient poetry or modern frauds, and to determine
their truth or falsity, as the case might be, by such tests as the
character of the translator, the means of preserving and collecting such
poems, and especially the form of the language found in them. These were
the only grounds of criticism. Nor did even their most ardent supporters
seem to see much higher results involved than the recognition of some
early national songs and ballads, or the preservation of the oldest
Celtic literature of the country. To them it was an interesting and
important discussion in this light only; the history contained in these
songs they either did not understand, or entirely neglected. It has been
reserved for the author of this book to shew, beyond dispute or doubt,
that the poems of Ossian are not on the one side merely grand romances
or national myths, or on the other only curious literary deceptions;
they are tales of history, grand and romantic certainly, but unreal or
deceptive never; annals of war and songs of love for Scotland, Ireland,
Iceland, and Denmark; lives of these countries' heroes, pictures of
their lands. And though more may yet be discovered, and stranger things
be proved, this at least--the early history of these nations with their
lawgivers, kings, and emperors, Scotch and Roman, Celt and Saxon; with
their wars and works, their public acts and private life, their
religion, their customs, their trade; their moors and glens and streams,
their Roman walls and battlefields--this, and nothing less than this, is
Ossian; in interest and importance coming close beside Homer, both as
historian and poet, and leaving Junius, Chatterton, the German
"Epistolæ," &c., far, far behind:--

    O, Johnson, Pinkerton, Macaulay, and the rest--to say that this was
    all bombast and a lie! But you knew nothing of Arran: you never
    traversed the vale of Shisken, nor surveyed its monuments, nor
    considered its geography; nor heard the rustle of the winds, in your
    imagination, among its prostrate woods; nor glanced on the surge of
    its departed lake, nor compared its traditions with the text of
    Ossian; yet neither did Macpherson, whom you have accused of
    falsehood and forgery; he was equally ignorant of it all. How
    strange you now look confronted with him thus; how strange he
    himself looks, in the bewilderment of unexpected victory at the
    grave of Oscar and by the tomb of Malvina; with the ghosts of
    fifteen hundred years ago, awoke from the dead, to enlighten and
    convict you--yourselves now ghosts, like them--in the pride of your
    unbelief!... Even the possibility of reply is foreclosed, by the
    verdict of the whole landscape around you. The earth, the water, the
    wind and very clouds are agreed about it. The sunbeam from the east,
    beyond the grave at Glenree there, glances golden rebuke on your
    dull culumnies, and the ebbing fiord of Sliddery carries your
    vaunted authority to sea. The fine-drawn light which shimmers thus,
    through so many centuries, on fallen forests, wasted lakes, and
    mouldering dead dispels the last obstruction of your scorn--and our
    controversy with you is ended.

But still further, these poems assume a new form, and a peculiar
interest in being now by Dr Waddell harmonized and united into one grand
series, linked together in a continuous chain. They are no longer
detached fragments, doubtful and incomprehensible myths, unknown and
unanalysable; they have unity now, the unity which belongs to the works
of one universal poet, as well the unity of history. Such an analysis
and conception of these works has never before been attempted. A critic
here and there has examined and partially explained one or two pieces,
as separate poems, but always imperfectly and with hesitation; afraid
evidently of his conclusions, not yet having discovered the clue to this
labyrinth of song. Nor can we wonder that critics and commentators
should hesitate to tread upon ground where the translator himself was at
fault; for, however faithfully he compared and considered, he did not
understand the geography of Ossian. He gathered the poems as fragments,
and fragments they remained to him; for though he might strive hard to
explain and connect them, yet while he had little idea of the places
described it was impossible he could succeed; they are all descriptive
poems, and require to be localised. This formerly confused mass of
Highland and Irish tradition and geography Dr Waddell has fearlessly
attacked and completely mastered, the unexplored land has all been
surveyed and cleared up, and the truth and harmony of the Ossianic
poems demonstrated. And by whom? By a Southern Scot--an actual "Son of
the Stranger"--who examined, and who discusses, the question purely on
its merits; and who is proof against the charges of narrow Highland
bigotry and prejudice, which would have been so effectively hurled
against a native of "_Tir nam beann nan gleann's nan gaisgeach_" by
other Southerners who never expended a single moment in a personal study
of the question, but accepted their opinions and conclusions second
hand.

The most important matter however, in this volume, and which alone
rendered the foregoing results possible, is the method pursued. It is
upon this that all else is based, and without which Ossian would still
have remained the inexplicable enigma he not long ago really was; for
not all the criticism which has been lavished on this ancient and
immortal bard by professors, philologists, and philosophers, has
rendered him one whit more clear or perspicuous, but has certainly
raised discussion and animosity enough between the opposing combatants.
And the reason is, that no man yet has got farther in his analysis than
the mere words and letters of the text, their various spelling or
combinations, their ancient or modern use, their Celtic or Saxon origin,
their gender, number, and case. Philology is, has been, and will always
be a useful and most important science beyond many others; but philology
may be, and has often been, shamefully abused and mocked. The "dry
light" of truth and certainty for which everybody is toiling and
labouring in art, religion, philosophy, and literature, is concealed by
more than the darkness of printers' types in mere verbal criticism--the
most popular, but perhaps the most pernicious habit of the day. The form
of the poetry in Ossian, apart from all its spirit and substance, has
long been analysed, investigated, discussed, destroyed, and built up
again; yielding all the fruit it seems likely ever to yield, more doubt
and more discussion; tense-endings and inflections have been tried and
found wanting.

The method we now speak of has abandoned all such criticism, or, at
least, made it entirely subservient to a higher and more comprehensive
one; and has brought into the darkness of the Ossianic controversy a
revelation bright as noonday. The spirit of the poems has been taken
instead of the letter, the contents instead of the words, the geography
of Scotland as it stands instead of inflections, and the history of our
own and of other nations has been substituted for emendations and
various readings. And by this means a work has been done for the
Highlands, for Scotland and for Europe, which can scarcely be realised;
the history of Scotland, and with it the history of a great part of
Europe in some of its darkest ages, has been revealed, and the
literature of our country saved. Nor does the man who has done this need
thanks, although, at the hands of all, and especially of Highlanders, he
certainly deserves them. The work is its own reward.

We shall now come more to details and give some examples of the way in
which Dr Waddell conducts his investigations, and of the discoveries
which follow from them in the region of geography alone. For the
convincing identification, however, of the places named, we must refer
the reader to the book itself.

Dr Waddell seems to have been a believer, from his youth, in the
authenticity of Ossian by what he calls moral instinct, founded merely
on the characteristics of Macpherson's text--its simplicity, sublimity,
and coherence. Judging of it by these attributes alone, he could never
doubt it; and from this, the next step was easy and indeed necessary--if
Ossian in his opinion was thus authentically true, Ossian ought also to
be historically and geographically true; and therefore the whole, or at
least the principal, object of his investigation has been to declare
that truth by demonstrating the actual correspondence of nature to the
letter of the translation, even where Macpherson himself had never seen
it. And this undeniable fact, the ignorance of the translator as to the
whereabouts of the places accurately described in his own text, is one
of the strongest proofs he makes use of. This interesting method seems
to have been suggested to him first by discoveries in the island of
Arran, where the tomb of Ossian, and the graves of Fingal, Oscar, and
Malvina were pointed out to him by the people, and authenticated by
tradition. On examining all the allusions in the translation, they were
found exactly to confirm the identity of these places; yet Macpherson
never was in Arran. Next, Dr Waddell proceeded to examine the whole
Frith of Clyde, where equally distinct proofs awaited him. He shews that
the Clyde must have been a fiord to Rutherglen and Bothwell in Ossian's
day, and that Balclutha must have been identical with Castlemilk, or
some other ruined fortress near Rutherglen, and not as commonly
supposed, with Dunglass or Dumbarton. The Kelvin, both in name and
character is the Colavain of Ossian, and was a fiord up to Kilsyth; near
which he discovers the actual scene of Comala's death, and of the
triumph of Oscar over Carausius, a little to the east. Here too,
Macpherson was completely at fault. In the north of Ireland, from
the descriptive text of _Fingal_ and _Temora_, the valley of the
Six-Mile-Water is found to correspond in the most minute particulars
with the scenes of these poems, whereas Macpherson by mere guess-work
placed them much farther south and west. In the Orkney Islands, by a
similar process of minute verification, he finds Carricthura at Castle
Thuroe in Hoy; and the celebrated scene of Fingal's encounter with Loda,
near the well-known Dwarfie Stone on the west coast of that island. In
Iceland, by a most irrefragable demonstration, he identifies the
dried-up fountain at Reikum with the "fount of the mossy stones," and
the plain of Thingvalla with the plain of the pestiferous Lano--both in
the _War of Inisthona_.

Now the only, and to many the great, difficulty in the way of accepting
such proof in its entirety, is the boldness of the author's assumption
that the Frith of Clyde must have been from seventy to eighty feet
higher in Ossian's era--that is, in the time of the Romans--than it now
is; but if this be proved it adds another conclusive proof to the
authenticity of Ossian, for Macpherson was ignorant likewise of this.
The possibility of such a fact has already been loudly challenged by a
scientific reviewer in the _Scotsman_, whose objections, however, have
been conclusively answered by Dr Waddell in the same paper, and in the
last three numbers of the _Celtic Magazine_; indeed the exquisite
photographic views in the work of the actual marine formations on the
Clyde, and the sectional views of the coast at other points, leave no
room for serious doubt on the subject.

Besides all this, Dr Waddell adds a critical dissertation on
Macpherson's text, to shew the impossibility of his having tampered with
the original, illustrating this part of his argument by references to
_Berrathon_, _Croma_, and _Conlath_ and _Cuthona_. He has also
introduced an interesting statistical summary, gathered from Ossian, of
the manners, customs, religious observances, and scientific knowledge of
the age; which may be studied with much benefit. In the appendix we have
a curious history of the Irish people from the earliest traditional
dates down to the time of Ossian, compiled from reliable chronicles,
hitherto, we suspect, very little known; the whole book being
illustrated by many beautiful wood-cuts and original maps. The exquisite
little poem which completes the work we cannot omit:--


TO GOATFELL, ARRAN:

ON FIRST SEEING IT FROM THE SHORE.

[AT BRODICK.]

    Born of earthquakes, lonely giant,
      Sphinx and eagle couched on high;
    Dumb, defiant, self-reliant,
      Breast on earth and beak in sky:

    Built in chaos, burnt out beacon,
      Long extinguished, dark, and bare,
    Ere life's friendly ray could break on
      Shelvy shore or islet fair:

    Dwarf to atlas, child to Etna,
      Stepping-stone to huge Mont Blanc;
    Cairn to cloudy Chimborazo,
      Higher glories round thee hang!

    Baal-tein hearth, for friend and foeman;
      Warden of the mazy Clyde;
    In thy shadow, Celt and Roman,
      Proudly galley'd, swept the tide!

    Scottish Sinai, God's out-rider,
      When he wields his lightning wand;
    From thy flanks, a king and spider
      Taught, and saved, and ruled the land!

    Smoking void and planet rending,
      Island rise and ocean fall,
    Frith unfolding, field extending--
      Thou hast seen and felt them all.

    Armies routed, navies flouted,
      Tyrants fallen, people free;
    Cities built and empires clouted,
      Like the world, are known to thee.

    Science shining, love enshrining,
      Truth and patience conquering hell;
    Miracles beyond divining,
      Could'st thou speak, thy tongue would tell.

    Rest awhile, the nations gather,
      Sick of folly, lies, and sin,
    To kneel to the eternal Father--
      Then the kingdom shall begin!

    Rest awhile, some late convulsion,
      Time enough shall shake thy bed:
    Rest awhile, at Death's expulsion,
      Living green shall clothe thy head!


WE are glad to find that the Queen's Book--"Leaves from the Journal of
our Life in the Highlands"--will soon appear in Gaelic. The translation
is by the Rev. John Patrick St Clair, St Stephen's, Perth, who is an
excellent scholar, with a deep-rooted love for his Gaelic vernacular.
This news cannot but be gratifying to the patriotic Highlander all over
the world, who has ever been loyal to Her Majesty, as a descendant of
the Stuarts; and especially should a work be welcome, in our native
language, in which the highest in the realm describes the Highlander as
"one of a race of peculiar independence and elevated feeling." What has
become of the Highland Society's Translation entrusted to the late Mr
Macpherson?



QUERIES AND ANSWERS.


SECRETARY GAELIC SOCIETY OF SYDNEY.--Letter received and sentiments
reciprocated. Great success to your Society. Your instructions are
attended to.

D. O. CAMERON, NOKOMAI, NEW ZEALAND.--Letter received and contents
noted. The Publishers of the _Celtic Magazine_ and the Publisher of
"Knockie's Highland Music" are not the same.

WM. KENNEDY, BURMAH.--Letter and P.O.O. received. Your suggestions will
be duly considered.

THE HIGHLAND CEILIDH.--The answer to the many enquiries and complaints
regarding its non-appearance last month is, that it was unavoidably
crushed out for want of space.

THE PROPHECIES OF COINNEACH ODHAR FIOSAICHE.--The Brahan Seer, by Alex
Mackenzie of the _Celtic Magazine_.--We regret no more copies can be
supplied as it is out of print. Mr Noble, bookseller, Castle Street, to
whom we refer R. M'L. and P. M'R., has a few copies left.

GAELIC TEACHING IN HIGHLAND SCHOOLS.--An article on the subject will
appear in the next--the April--number. It is impossible to please
everybody all at once, and it is just as well that we delayed discussing
such an important question until the _Celtic Magazine_ had secured an
acknowledged position as a representative mirror of moderate and
intelligent Highland opinion.

IN answer to "A. R.'s" query in No. III., asking which is the "best
standard for Gaelic orthography?" permit me to say that I do not know of
any standard upon which any two writers of Gaelic absolutely agree; but,
on the whole, I think the orthography of the Gaelic Bible is now, with
very slight modification, adopted generally by the best writers, so much
so, that it may now be considered the best and safest standard of Gaelic
orthography to follow. Most of those who read and write Gaelic learnt to
read it first out of the Gaelic Scriptures, so that they are more
acquainted with their orthography, and naturally prefer to read and
write it.--_Deer's Grass._

"MACAOIDH" wishes to get information regarding the famous pipers--the
Mackays of Gairloch--the most celebrated of whom was John, or "_Iain
Dall_." John's father--_Ruairidh Dall_--came to Gairloch from Lord
Reay's country; and, no doubt, belonged to that sept--the chief branch
of the Mackays. I am not aware of the cause which led _Ruairidh Dall_ to
leave his own country, but it is well known that his son often visited
the country of his ancestors, and that Lord Reay was one of his patrons.
On one occasion, when on his way to visit his lordship, the "Blind
Piper" was informed at Tongue of the death of his patron, when he at
once composed that magnificent poem "_Coire 'n-Easain_," than which
there is nothing more truly beautiful in the Gaelic language, and which
would, by itself, immortalize the fame of any man. There are some of his
descendants, on the female side, still living in Gairloch, but none of
them ever gave any signs of possessing in the slightest degree the
musical or poetical talents of their progenitors. I am told some of the
family are still living in America, who continue to inherit the musical
genius of the "Blind Pipers" of Gairloch, and will be glad, in common
with "Macaoidh," if some of your North British American readers will
supply any information regarding them.--_Cailleach a Mhuillear._

THE REV. MR LACHLAN MACKENZIE OF LOCHCARRON, AND "ALASTAIR BUIDHE," THE
GAIRLOCH BARD.--It is well known that these good and distinguished men
(each in his own way) were great friends, and both composed poems of
considerable merit. I heard it stated that, on one occasion, during one
of _Alastair's_ visits to his friend "Mr Lachlan," the famous divine
requested the bard to compose a poem on the "Resurrection of Christ." To
this he demurred and told Mr Lachlan in Gaelic that "he knew more about
such matters himself, and should try his own hand on such an elevated
theme." "_Hud a dhuine_," says Mr. Lachlan, "_cha'n fhaod gun tig eadar
cairdean mar sin. Ni mise 'n deilbh 's dean thusa 'n fhighidh._ (Hut
man, friends must not cast out in that manner, I'll do the warping but
you must do the weaving.) The poem--a very fine one I am told--was
composed by the bard and approved by the divine; and I would esteem it a
great favour if some of your readers would supply a copy of it. It has
never been published as far as I know. Indeed, the only pieces of
_Alastair Buidhe's_, although he composed many, besides having a hand in
several of Wm. Ross', which were ever published, are "_Tigh Dige na Fir
Eachannach_" and "_Clann Domhnuill mhor nan Eileanan_" (the latter
unacknowledged by the publisher), and his elegy on Bailie Hector of
Dingwall, given in a recent number of the _Celtic Magazine_ in the
"Highland Ceilidh."--_Lochcarron from Home._


       *       *       *       *       *

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

The following amendments to the text have been made:

p. 133 "of" changed to "off";
       "similtude" changed to "similitude";

p. 137 "Cilliechroist" changed to "Cilliechriost";

p. 139 "annhilate" changed to "annihilate";

p. 140 comma added after "you request";

p. 142 comma replaced by full stop after "clannishness";

p. 143 "waived" changed to "waved";

p. 147 "numer" changed to "number";

p. 148 quotation marks before "Fhuair mi" deleted;

p. 153 quotation marks have been tentatively added after "Superintendent
of Argyle";

p. 155 "superstitution" changed to "superstition";

p. 156 colon changed to full stop at end of last line of "Flora, Star of
Armadale";

p. 159 "everbody" changed to "everybody";

p. 162 full stop added after "Fiosaiche".


The spellings "CILLECHRIOST" and "CILLIECHRIOST", "Inverary" and
"Inveraray" appear in this text.

The word "bell" in the line "In the blue and fragrant bell" on p. 137
should possibly be "dell" but has been left unchanged.

"Pichequr" on p. 150 should probably be "Pichegru" but has been left
unchanged.





*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Celtic Magazine, Vol. I No. V - A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History, - Antiquities, Folk Lore, Traditions, and the Social and - Material Interests of the Celt at Home and Abroad" ***

Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.