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 Treatise on the Ian 
 
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THfe 
 
 LANGUAGE, POETRY, AND MUSIC 
 
 HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
D, B. OOLLIB AHD SON, PEIXTEKS, EOINBDBOH. 
 
A TREATISE 
 
 LANGUAGE, POETRY, AND MUSIC 
 
 HIGHLAND CLANS : 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE TKADITIONS AND ANECDOTES, 
 
 AND NUMEROUS 
 
 ANCIENT HIGHLAND AIRS. 
 
 BY DONALD CAMPBELL, Esq. 
 
 I.ATE I.IKDT. 57th EEGIMKNT. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 D. E. COLLIE & SON, 19 ST DAAID STREET. 
 
 -iSi^ ,; ,,- V 
 

 ^^'i>r-' 
 
 l\5^~|55\ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The religious and civil institutions, and the state of society among the 
 patriarchal or Highland Clans, have been so misunderstood and misrepresented, 
 as to have made on the English-speaking public the impression that these 
 Clans were in a state of lawless barbarity at the dawn of authentic history, and 
 continued in that condition until a period within the memory of men still living. 
 Several unlfcward citeumstanceSj chiefly resulting from the translation of 
 Ofisian's poems, have occurred to confirm this impression. One learned and 
 talented Englishmen, with a direct reference to these poems, contended that such 
 ideas and feelings could not be expressed in the rude gibberish of a barbarous 
 people; and several English-speaking Lowlanders and Highlanders, taking 
 up this view of the subject, and having the same conviction as to the rude 
 uncultivated character of the language, maintained that the Highland Clans 
 had no poetry, and could not have had any poetry, excepting that, which had 
 been recently forged for them in English, by writers of so unscrupulous a 
 character as to father their patehed-up plagiarisms on mythic bards, known 
 only to the vulgar lore of a people who had never emerged from a state of 
 lawless barbarity. That these gentlemen were in total ignorance of the subject 
 on which they wrote so dogmatically, did not lessen the influence of their 
 opinions on readers who had no means of detecting that ignorance, and who 
 naturally gave them credit for too much honesty and decency, to believe them 
 capable of writing so confidently on a subject of which they knew nothing. 
 It is very true, that, on a recent occasion, the achievements and conduct of the 
 Highlanders were such as could not fail to cause doubt in the minds of an 
 enlightened people, on the ex parti statements of those who represented the 
 Highland Clans as plundering barbarians ; since it is impossible to believe that 
 a mere handful of barbarians could, not only encounter, but defeat a regularly 
 trained army, or that lawless marauders, in overunning a country, should have 
 committed fewer outrages than were ever known to have been committed by 
 any disciplined army in similar circumstaifces. These facts were known to the 
 writers above referred to, when they were writing down the Highlanders ! It 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 may, I think, very fairly be assumed, that the age which witnessed these achieve- 
 ments and that conduct, and preferred believing ill-natured and dishonest assump- 
 tions to fairly interpreting these well known facts, was neither intelligent nor 
 generous. Nevertheless, the succeeding age approved of, and followed their 
 example, if we may judge by the unabated prejudices against the Highlanders. 
 When modern wealth and refinement created such a demand for all kinds of 
 literature, it was naturally interpreted as unfavourable to the pretensions of the 
 Gael, that that literature was found apparently nU ; nor, until within these few 
 years did a single writer wield the pen to explain the reason, although it was 
 quite easy to do so, by throwing light on the ancient institutions and tenures 
 of the Celtic Clans, and showing that, when the patriarchal system was struck 
 down by the disasters of Culloden, the rights and privileges of the people were 
 violated, and the same effect given to feudal charters over the unconquered 
 lands of the Highlanders, which they had long previously attained over the 
 conquered lands of the people of England, and that the Gael had been thus 
 placed in a state of transition and eviction, which was equally unfavourable to 
 the pursuit or the remuneration of literature. 
 
 The melodies, reels, and strathspeys of the Gael met with no better fate than 
 the "Ossian" of Macpherson, and the "Sean Dana" of theKev. Dr Smith; nobody 
 believed in their antiquity. For how, it was philosophically argued, could a 
 rude and barbarous people carry down from remote ages in their oral lore and 
 every day amusements, such poetry and such music ? This was sound reason- 
 ing ; for it is impossible to believe, (1.) that the music and poetry of a separate 
 and distinct people could have two separate and distinct characters, from the 
 indissoluble connexion between poetry and music, until within a very recent 
 period. (2.) It was equally impossible to believe that the poetry and music of a 
 people, and the people themselves, should be of two different and distinct 
 characters ; that the people should be rude and barbarous, and their poetry 
 and music not only intelligent, but refined. Either of the two postulates 
 must be conceded, therefore, to Dr Johnson, by whom the question of the 
 authenticity of the poems was put on this sound and philosophic basis. The 
 Doctor does not seem to have had the music of the Highlanders under 
 consideration ; but I submit that the music and the poetry were twins, — born 
 of the same parentage, nursed at the same bosom, and reared among the same 
 glens and mountains ; and that whoever believes in the one, is bound to believe 
 in the other. I therefore thoroughly agree with Doctor Johnson, so far as he goes ; 
 but submit that the music forms an inseparable element in the question. The 
 state of society that could have produced, and have in its every day amusements 
 preserved such music, might well produce such poetry; and that state of society 
 could not have been either rude or barbarous. But the copiers and publishers 
 of the music had by their own vile snobbery contributed to the scepticism on 
 the subject. They deprived the melodies and tunes of the signet of antiquity 
 contained in the hereditary names, and rebaptised them, in compliment to their 
 patrons and patronesses, and thus stamped them, ex facie, as modern instead of 
 ancient music. 
 
PKEFACE. vii 
 
 The transition state of the Gael is now past. The feudal historians and 
 clearance-makers have done their worst ; but the Clans have their Language, 
 their Poetry, and their Music still left, and in these they have ample materials, 
 if properly handled, to vindicate the memory of their noble ancestors against 
 the charge of lawless barbarity. Hence this treatise. I was not, while writing 
 it, insensible of the difficulty of finding purchasers and readers for any work on 
 a subject so prejudiced and prejudged. Aud I could not venture to incur 
 liability for a large amount of advertisements. But I published my proposal in 
 a few of the newspapers most likely to meet the eyes of Highlanders, as I 
 never doubted, should my object be made generally known, that there are 
 thousands of Highlanders who are as anxious as I possibly can be, to remove 
 the charge of lawless barbarity made against the memory of our ancestors, and 
 the sentence of proscription under which their language and poetry in effect 
 lie, and that such Highlanders would willingly use their influence to procure 
 subscribers to guarantee the expenses.* Subscription lists have been taken up 
 with their usual spirit by a few worthy Highlanders in Greenock, Paisley, and 
 Glasgow ; I, accordingly, placed the treatise in the hands of the printer, without 
 waiting for the result, but have no doubt that a sufficient number of subscribers 
 have been obtained to cover the expenses ; and, in that case, my conviction is, 
 that the spirit of fair play which has hitherto characterized, and which I trust 
 will ever continue to characterize the people of this country, will procure for a 
 work having such an object, at least a fair hearing — and I ask no more. 
 
 With regard to the phonetic spelling, I am sorry to find that all the 
 Highlanders whom I have consulted, excepting two literary gentlemen,t are 
 opposed to the " innovation." Surely those who object to the phonetic spelling 
 
 * A Highlander who had seen one of these advertisements by mere accident, wrote me (although 
 we were total strangers) recommending that I should advertise more extensively, expressing his convic- 
 tion that there were thousands of Highlanders that, like himself, woidd feel anxious to get subscribers for 
 the purpose of having such a work published, who might never know anything about the proposal, unless 
 more extensively advertised. Feeling that I met here with a kindred spirit, I candidly told him that the 
 tide of prejudice was so strong against Gaelic and Gaelic literature, as to make it too dangerous for a 
 retired ofBlcer with a smaU military income, to incur an account for advertisements on the chance of the 
 success of such a work. The noble Gael then wrote me a characteristic letter, inclosing a pound note, 
 and begging that I would lay it out on additional advertisements. 
 
 + One of the Gentlemen above referred to is Mr M'Naughton, Tillyfourie, who delivered and published 
 a Lecture on the authenticity of Ossian's Poems, which for research, clear and impartial reasoning, and 
 good taste and sense, is superior to anything that had previously appeared on the subject ; and the other is 
 Mr Macdonald, Grandtully, whose letter on the various dialects and so-called races of Europe I have 
 inserted with his kind permission, at page 27. Mr M'Naughton recommended that I should adopt the 
 principles of pronunciation as illustrated in Mr Walker's Dictionary for my phonetic spelling, and I 
 would have done so bad my aim been merely to quote specimens of Gaelic poetry ; but I had another and 
 totally different object in view, namely, to enable the English reader to peruse the poems already in print. 
 I submit Mr Macnaughton's specimen, however, to the reader, and sincerely hope that it will be adopted 
 by some younger Highlander who sympathizes with my anxious wishes to see this beautiful language 
 popularized; and I have no doubt selections of Gaelic poetry so written would be acceptable to 
 thousands of the EnglishnspeaMng public. 
 
 41434 34 2 331 34 34 
 
 A ne-an donn na bual-e, Vyal hu me liad hug-ra, 
 
 |i424r34 4444 24 144 24 21 2 
 
 Ga vel ang gluasad far-asd-a, Liad vre-dal as liad ohiuu-e, 
 
 4^^431 34 3 131414 
 
 Ang gaol a hug me buan dhut, Lub hu me mar yur-an, 
 
 3 £2 ;343 4424 41443444 
 
 Cha ve-ieh cruai-chas yar-ich-an. Cha duch-as a vi fal-an dhov. 
 
VUl PBEFACE. 
 
 forget that the Gaelic has been subjected to a thorough innovation long before 
 this, and that it now appears before the public, not in its native and graceful 
 tartans, but in a Eoman garment, grotesquely shaped for the purpose of swad- 
 dling, and not of developing its noble lineaments ! This has hitherto evidently 
 formed the stumbling-block to the study of the Gaelic language, for every 
 person who has already learned the English names of the Eoman letters, in per- 
 using Gaelic books as now printed, must be subjected to the complicated process 
 of unlearning the English, and learning the Gaelic sounds of the same letters, 
 and the former is fully as difficult as the latter. Had the native alphabet been 
 preserved, the Gaelic student would only have to go through the simple process 
 of learning a new alphabet. 
 
 The Gaelic bards, as is shown elsewhere, were the great conservatives of 
 ancient times. They stood firmly, and to the death, in the defence of the 
 rights and liberties of the people ; and, hence, wherever despotism was put up, 
 Gaelic bards and Gaelic poetry were put down. The kindly feelings, liberal 
 sentiments, and high tone of independence which breathes through Gaelic 
 poetry — (the monks' written ursgeuls excepted) — could not find sympathy 
 among a feudal people, without proving destructive of despotism. The feudal 
 despot and his assessors knew this well. Hence the Gaelic language, although 
 one of the oldest in Europe, has been studiously excluded from every university 
 or collegiate institution endowed by kings or queens, or presided over by priests, 
 whether Catholic or Protestant, to the present day ; and is the only European 
 dialect which is now taught in no higher seminary than a charity-supported 
 hedge-school! Do my Highland friends wish the language of their ancestors to 
 be continued in this state of absolute proscription? We have, in Gaelic, 
 grammars and dictionaries, which, to say the least, have been the works of 
 men of as much learning, research, discrimination, and talent as those of our 
 neighbours ; but who profits by them ? Not one in a thousand, even among 
 Highlanders, can read or write Gaelic. In short, past experience shows that 
 the Gaelic will not be an object of acquisition to the public, or even to learned 
 men devoted to philological researches, while it continues under its present 
 deformed mask. I have therefore considered it a worthy mission so to shake, 
 if I do not shatter that mask, as to enable scholars and gentlemen to get, at 
 least a glimpse of the beaming form which is being crushed to death under it. 
 And I know that there is to be found in the language, which has been thus 
 thrown into obscurity by a forbidding-looking disguise, a poetry which clearly 
 proves that the people whose sympathies were so accordant with the generous, 
 heroic, kind, and benevolent feelings and sentiments therein contained, as to 
 make them cherish and preserve it by oral recitation for nearly two thousand 
 years, must have been as civilized, during that period, as the middle classes of 
 the people of this country are at the present day;— unless civilization means 
 something else than intelligence, and a lively sympathy with generous, heroic, 
 kind, and benevolent feelings and sentiments ? I know that this assertion will be 
 put down as paradoxical by those who form decided opinions on subjects of which 
 they know nothing, and that such parties are peculiarly tenacious of foregone 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 conclusions, not the less when they result from ignorance and prejudice ; but I 
 also believe that there is in this country enough of justice, candour, learning, 
 and talent, to test this question on the merits, I submit ample materials for 
 the investigation, and am convinced that whoever shall peruse them with the 
 care necessary to enable him to decide intelligently on the subject, will agree 
 with me. But, to enable those who are unacquainted with the language to 
 form a sound opinion on the question, I considered a more simple orthography, a 
 sine qua non. Hence the system adopted in this treatise. Although unaccustomed 
 to write Gaelic, I believe I understand the language well, and have kept faith 
 with such subscribers as are enamoured of the present orthography by spelling 
 the specimens which I quote in accordance with that orthography, although, as 
 already stated, want of practice may have occasioned many mistakes, which 
 the verbal critic will be glad to pounce upon ; but I have under- written every 
 word so spelt phonetically, for the English reader, convinced that this will enable 
 him to form a more sound opinion of the language and poetry than he could 
 otherwise have formed of them without a vocal teacher, and much trouble and 
 expense. 
 
 The writing of Gaelic, and especially phonetically, being new to me, I 
 take it for granted that innumerable mistakes and omissions may have escaped 
 me in correcting the proofs. Any critic but the merely verbal one will, how- 
 ever, I think, find enough to convince him that such mistakes and omissions 
 are more to be ascribed to want of practice than to want of knowledge of the 
 subjects. For the former I might expect to be excused ; for the latter t could 
 not. The phonetic spelling is on a carefully considered uniform plan, but being 
 thoroughly new to myself, there is no doubt that many letters will be found 
 undetected that are inconsistent with uniformity, and unnecessary to the 
 pronunciation. This will, I trust, be excused in the first edition of a new system of 
 orthography. I am aware that my phonetic spelling will give the English reader 
 but a very imperfect idea of the beauty of the language when compared to a 
 chaste and elegant pronunciation by the living voice ; but every well-educated 
 person knows that letters without a vocal teacher never can teach any foreigner 
 to speak any language like a native. I have endeavoured to make this Preface 
 embrace my whole case, and submit it to the public with perfect confidence in 
 its truth and honesty ; and therefore I have some hopes that it may assist in 
 creating among English readers some interest in the Language, Poetry, and 
 Music of the Highland Clans. 
 
 Port-Olasgow, 3rd July 1862. 
 
INTEODUOTOEY EEMARKS. 
 
 The Gaelic is a language of monosyllables or roots. Hence, in order to 
 have a key to the etymon, the Druids preserved the initial letter of every root 
 in compound words, which has so loaded them with consonants, as to give the 
 language an unpronounceable and forbidding look ; but, by rules equally simple 
 and beautiful, the aspirate letter h is so managed, as to silence or euphonize 
 the consonants wherever their initial sound would injure the easy flow or graceful 
 cadence of a word, a verse, or sentence. The knowledge of the power and 
 proper use of the aspirate is, therefore, the most important requirement of the 
 Gaelic student ; and this can, I think, be very easily learned, by comparing 
 the present mode of spelling with the phonetic spelling of the following pages, 
 after carefully perusing the brief lesson submitted in illustration. 
 
 The higher class of Highlanders have, in a great measure, given up 
 speaking Gaelic within these hundred years, there being no object suflSciently 
 accordant with the utilitarian character of the age to induce them to devote 
 the necessary time to its study ; and the educated among the lower classes con- 
 sist chiefly of clerical students, doctors, lawyers, &c. The former, instead of 
 having availed themselves of their classical opportunities to become more perfect 
 in their knowledge of their native language, generally lost in the Lowlands all 
 of Gaelic which they had acquired at the firesides of their Highland parents. 
 These remarks apply to a period when Dissent was little more than a name 
 in Scotland ; and as the Church patronage was in the hands of the higher 
 classes, and these students, with few exceptions, were of the lower class, they 
 found it, in the general case, their interest to cultivate a spirit of diplomacy 
 rather than of independance. Hence, with some noble exceptions, the students 
 of Divinity returned from the seats of learning in the Lowlands, where the 
 "gibberish" was of ill repute, to their native districts, fully qualified to 
 conciliate the dispensers of Church patronage, but scarcely able to address 
 from the pulpit a congregation of intelligent Highlanders ; and thus, between 
 toadyism and bad Gaelic, the Church of Scotland in the Highlands lost the 
 respect of the people, and was at length merely regarded as the Church of 
 the Heritors. 
 
 Many of the clergy of the EstabHshed and Dissenting Churches were 
 born of plebeian parents, and reared, during the years in which the feelings and 
 the manners are most susceptible, among the callousness and rudeness almost 
 inseparable from poverty, coarse living, and labour. They almost invariably, 
 while going through their curriculum, had to hire themselves out during their 
 
4 INTEODUCTOKY EEMAEKS. 
 
 vacation-time as teachers, for the purpose of procuring funds to pay theu" class 
 fees, &c. : hence the egotism of the dominie was usually superinduced on the cal- 
 lousness and coarseness of the plebeian, before the generality of such clergymen 
 had become placed ministers. Naturally looking to a position, which had been toe 
 object of such a struggle and such privations, as the highest that in bis view 
 can be attained on earth, such a clergyman, when he attains a church, considers 
 himself a most lordly personage, and wants nothing, in his own opinion to 
 establish his dignity and fix his status, but a few lordly, or at least, ?m7-% 
 acquaintances. Every branch of the Protestant Church furmshes men ot heads, 
 hearts, and manners, which make them true specimens of scholars and gentle- 
 men ; but such are rare. Surely, when society as now constituted consists of 
 three classes, means might be found to secure a greater number of the higher 
 and middle classes for the Church. It would indeed be a pity to exclude men 
 of fine hearts and high talents from the Church, merely because their parents 
 were poor or low-born ; but as for the common herd of plebeian ministers, these, 
 we affirm, would be more happy, and certainly more suitably employed and 
 useful to their country, as artisans and labourers, than in their present 
 position. 
 
 The bard and seannachie, who v\?ere the guardians of the Gaelic language, 
 ceased to live as an order on the accession of the King of Scotland to the 
 throne of the British Empire ; and there were no means provided at the 
 Eeformation for educating ministers or schoolmasters for the Gaelic-speaking 
 part of the people. But this was not all. Corruption was added to the neglect 
 of the language ; for since the patriarchal governments of the clane were 
 dissolved by the disasters of CuUoden, and Highland tenures have been sub- 
 jected to the feudal laws, the people have been in a transition state, and the 
 country so inundated with a Lowland peasantry, as scarcely to leave a single 
 locality in which the Gael or his language are to be found in their native purity. 
 The clerical student who really wished to qualify himself for the native pulpit, 
 had another formidable difficulty to surmount besides the want of Gaelic pro- 
 fessors and schoolmasters, and that was, the hostility of the Eeform Clergy, 
 Episcopalian as well as Presbyterian, to the native poetry and tales, in which 
 alone the Gaelic is to be found in its purity. 
 
 The priesthood who succeeded the Culdees, showed far more tact and 
 knowledge of human nature than those who succeeded the Reformation ; for, 
 instead of entering into hostility against the traditional poems and heroes that 
 had such a hold on the hearts, and such an influence over the lives of the people, 
 they went deliberately and systematically to work, so to reconstruct these as to 
 render them subservient to the " pious fraud" by which they sought to convert 
 mankind to the new religion. The Protestant historians of the Catholic Church, 
 in accounting for many of its feasts, &c. say that they availed themselves of 
 "established superstitions." Had they said that they invented superstitions, 
 which afterwards became established, they had been nearer the truth. At any 
 rate, they composed new versions of the traditional poems of the north and east 
 of Erin and of Albin, where the druid or natural religion and the patriarchal 
 
INTRODUCTORY KEMAKKS. 5 
 
 system, prevailed ; into which they introduced saints, sorcerers, witches, giants, 
 and dwarfs ; together with their miracles, necromancies, witchcrafts, cannibal- 
 isms, and tricks. By these singularly seductive legends, they emasculated the 
 minds, corrupted the tastes, and bewildered the ideas of the people ; and thus 
 made them forget that knowledge of the God and laws of Nature which had 
 been taught them by the Druids, and prepared them to believe any thing. 
 Hence the success — not of a pure Christianity — but of an ambitious and des- 
 potic priest-craft, and its sometimes fosterchild and sometimes benefactor and 
 champion. Feudalism ; hence also the superstitious credulity which, until this 
 day, believes in the improvised miracles of the Catholic, and the rival but 
 coarser and less poetic Hevivals of the Dissenting priesthood ; and in the witch- 
 crafts and prophecies of crazed old women, gipsies, and table-rappers. 
 
 The class of Ursgeuls, or new tales, composed by the monks, bear intrinsic 
 evidence of being not the work of the Gaehc bards, but of dabblers in Greek 
 and Roman literature ; for they have their metamorphosis, &c., which are totally 
 foreign to the national poetry. There is another class of Ursgeuls, quite distinct 
 from these forgeries, which are much more honest and amusing, having been 
 vyritten by the bards of the Scottish or Gothic clans of the south and west of 
 Ireland and Scotland, in ridicule of the pride of descent from the Fingalians 
 of the Celtic clans of the north and east of both countries. These consist of 
 parodies and burlesques on passages of historical and genuine poems, carried 
 down by oral recitations, and are very much too graphic to leave any doubt 
 of their object. But so " stubborn are facts," and so tenacious were tlje ancient 
 'Celtic clans of their oral poetry and traditions, that neither the monkish 
 forgeries nor the Scottish burlesques have ever been able wholly to corrupt or 
 supplant them in the north of either Ireland or Scotland. Hence, many of the 
 valuable historical poems still exist in their purity. Indeed, these forgeries and 
 humourous burlesques and parodies have never attained a more dignified name 
 either in Erin or Albin than Ursgeuls, a word formed from the roots ure, new, and 
 sgeul, a tale. See Cumhadh Mhic Leoid, by Mari Nighean Alisdair Ruaidh, 
 who lived until nearly the end of the sixteenth century, at page 159 ; and Mr 
 0' Keerney's introductory or explanatory remarks in reference to the battle of 
 Cath Garbha, published by the Ossianic Society of Dublm, in 1860 ; in which 
 he expressly designates these remains as Ursgeuls, and propounds the amusing 
 paradox, that they are "historically" more true than the ancient poems of 
 Ossian, from which he admits them to have been derived. The name Ursgeul, 
 necessarily implies that there were old tales on which the Ursgeuls were founded, 
 as the " New Testament" implies that there was also an " Old Testamenf." 
 
 A reviewer, in the " Times," of the Dean of Lismore's book on the Ur- 
 sguels, or monkish legends of Ossian, lately published at Edinburgh, remarks, 
 that in that great mass of poetry there is no mention of Wallace and Bruce, 
 and no hatred of the English; but, although these tales or ursgeuls are evident- 
 .ly monkish legends, in which the traditional poems and herpes- of the people are 
 made subservient to " pious fraud," they profess to be, and I believe really are, 
 older than the age of Wallace and Bruce. The Emperors of Rome are men- 
 tioned in them as " kings of the world ;" and Oscar's traditional battle of 
 
6 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 CarroD, or Fintry, out of which few of the "people of the kings of the world 
 escaped," is especially mentioned. Iain Lom speaks of both Wallace and 
 Bruce ; but expresses no hatred of the English. Even the bards who wrote on 
 the massacre of Glencoe and CuUoden, do not express hatred of the Enghsh. 
 The G-ael was too magnanimous to hate his enemies. There is not such a thing 
 as hatred or revenge to be found in Gaelic poetry. 
 
 Bishop Carsewell of Argyle fulminated against the poetry and tales of the 
 Gael, an age before their still more formidable enemy, Dr Johnson, was bom ; 
 and, in so far as the Bishop is concerned, for a more honest reason, namely, as he 
 indignantly expresses it, because the Highlanders of his day would rather listen 
 to poems and tales about " Fin M'Coul, Oskir Mac Oishin, and the like," than 
 to psalms and sermons ; and the disciples of Calvin were not less hostile to the 
 language and poetry of the Gaelic bards than those of Luther. Extreme zeal, 
 and some excesses, were to be expected from the emancipated slaves of spiritual 
 and civil despotism, and the British Keformation was not free of examples of 
 such excesses, any more than the French Revolution ; but it was scarcely to be 
 expected that these holy reformers would carry their spiritual intolerance so far 
 as to make war on a literature in which the most diligent research will not 
 detect a verse or a paragraph oifensive to morality or religion. This intolerance 
 among the old school class of the Highland clergy came down to Dr Blair's 
 time. It is, therefore, difficult to understand how he and the other learned 
 gentlemen who interested themselves in the Ossian controversy, were so oblivious 
 of the hostility of the Highland clergy to the poetry and tales of the Gael, as 
 to apply to them for information on the subject. The information collected by 
 the Highland Society is, in toy humble opinion, quite sufficient to satisfy any 
 impartial inquirer as to the authenticity, substantially, of Mr Macpherson's 
 eilegant and spirited translation of the poems ; and some of them, such as Fingalj 
 had been found in manuscripts of considerable antiquity ; and surely it will be 
 admitted that the author of Fingal was qualified to write any other poem in 
 Macpherson's translation ? But had they applied to the tailors, who at that 
 time itinerated from house to house, making the clothes of the people, and were, 
 I might almost say, professional reciters of poems, tales, and traditions, instead 
 of the clergy, the result would have been more conclusive and satisfactory. 
 
 Mr Campbell of Islay, in the last volume of his interesting and (to the 
 biologist and antiquary) most valuable Highland tales, has, in his own happily 
 piquant, discriminating, and gentlemanly style, put the whole controversy 
 pro and con before the public, with a judgment and impartiality which gives 
 the enemies of Ossian fair play, and leaves his friends nothing to fear, and little 
 additional to say on the authenticity of the poems, in so far as the subject had 
 been developed up to that date. But I observe, with no small surprise and 
 regret, that the learned and talented author of the Introduction and Notes to 
 th^ ursgexils or monkish legends of Ossian, collected by the Dean of Lismore, 
 before alluded to, thinks he has now fairly discovered the author of the. 
 originals of Ossian's poems, in Mr Macpherson, Strathtoashie ! The poems 
 of Ossian collected by James Macpherson and his friends (as all who know 
 anything of the collection and publication of oral poetry must be aware of) must 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 7 
 
 Hec^ssarily have consisted of different versions and different detached pieces, 
 
 according as different reciters were more or less correct or more or less retentive 
 
 in their memories of the different poems or parts of poems furnished by them 
 
 to the collectors. The preliminary steps to the translation, therefore, necessarily 
 
 were the collation, proper arrangement, and careful copying of these different 
 
 versions and different parts. The translator was assisted in this process by two 
 
 gentlemen, Mr Macpherson of Strathmashie, and Captain Morison of Greenock, 
 
 — two gentlemen of education and position in society, against whose honour and 
 
 integrity not one syllable had been breathed during the hundred years these 
 
 poems have been under a controversy more or less intense, until Mr Skene, who 
 
 has attained a distinguished position in the historical and antiquarian literature 
 
 of his country, suddenly discovers, from somebody too insignificant to be 
 
 remembered, that the whole three were fraudulent conspirators, and one of 
 
 them a great poet ! His words are : " Some years ago, I happened to pass a 
 
 couple of months in the neighbourhood of Strathmashie, and I recollect having 
 
 been informed at that time, but hy whom I cannot now tell, that after Lachlan 
 
 Macpherson's death, a paper was found in his repositories, containing the Gaelic 
 
 of the seventh book of Temora, in his own hand writing, with numerous 
 
 corrections and alterations, with this title, — ' First rude draft of the seventh 
 
 book of Temora.' " 
 
 I will not stop to remark on the inadequacy of the above to justify 
 the grave inference of Mr Skene. The poems published by the Eev. Dr Smith 
 were all, or many of them, claimed by a schoolmaster of the name of Kennedy, as 
 his own composition. Few believed him, and many knew that the claim was 
 false, the poems being known before he was bom, to old men still living ; but 
 the collection of ursgeuls by the Dean of Lismore, which gave occasion for Mr 
 Skene's Notes, exposed Kennedy to an infamy which might, I think, have warned 
 Mr Skene against claiming the authorship of these poems for a man nameless 
 in literature. Mr Skene's claim for Strathmashie is fortunately exposed to a 
 similar discomfiture by the singular circumstance, namely, that the Seventh 
 Book of Temora referred to by Mr Skene, was pubhshed by Macpherson 
 himself in 1762, and used fifty-five years ago in this controversy by the 
 Kev. Dr Patrick Graham of Aberfoyle. Dr Graham proves by his translation 
 of Homer, of this book of Temora, and by his poem of the " Highlander," 
 which failed to obtain even a mediocre circulation, that Macpherson was 
 entirely incapable of writing such poems. The " Highlandex" contains many 
 beautiful ideas, borrowed from Ossian and other ancient Gaelic bards; but 
 Macpherson (like all plagiarists) was destitute of the genius and taste neces- 
 sary to compose a work in which his plagiarism would tell. The " Highlander" 
 a,pd Macpherson's Homer, thus fell still-bom from the press ; and clearly show 
 that Macpherson was not qualified to write Ossian's poems. Dr Graham gives 
 the original as puhlished hy Macpherson himself, with a literal translation m 
 parallel lines, and Macpherson's translation under them, and clearly shows that 
 the Gaelic version is infinitely superior to the Enghsh version. He also shows 
 that Macpherson omitted or glossed over many passages of the originals, which. 
 
8 INTHODUCTORY REMAKKS. 
 
 from his imperfect knowledge of tiie language, he did not understand. This 
 corroborates Captain Morison's statement to his friend Mr Irvine, as recorded by 
 Dr Graham from Mr Irvine's own mouth,— "that Mr Macpherson understood 
 the Gaelic language very imperfectly; that he (Mr Morison) wrote out the 
 Gaelic for him for the most part, on account of Mr Macpherson's inabihty to 
 write or spell* it properly; that he assisted him much in translating; and that 
 it was their general practice, when any passage occurred which they did not 
 well understand, either to pass it over entirely, or to gloss it over with any 
 expressions that might appear to coalesce easily with the context."^ The Key. 
 Dr Smith, in a letter to Dr Graham, says, " I have no interest in disputing his 
 allegation," (meaning Kennedy's claim to the authorship of the poems referred 
 to above ;) if I had, I would try if he could write such verses as he claims {no 
 doubt the best) on any other subject." 
 
 Dr Graham took Dr Smith's advice, and thus tested not only Macpherson's 
 translation of Ossian, but also Dr Smith's own translations of the Seandana ; and 
 he shows that neither the one, nor the other could possibly have been the authors 
 of the originals, which they translated so inadequately. Let Mr Skene try Strath- 
 mashie's capacity to write the poems of Ossian by the same test, and the result 
 will be at least equally negative, and harmless to the memory of Ossian. There 
 is no want of materials to enable Mr Skene to subject Strathmashie's qualifications 
 to this test, — many of his poems being published. I would recommend him to 
 compare " A bhrigis lachdan" and " Trod na'm ban," (I forget the name of the 
 place) to any passages he likes of Ossian, as a criterion ; and should he require 
 other specimens, I can procure him a whole bundle, some of which have never 
 been published. The fact is, that not one single individual among those 
 connected with the translation of Ossian can be shown to have left behind him 
 anything calculated to prove that he was capable of writing these poems. On 
 the contrary, Strathmashie and Mr James Macpherson have left poetry which 
 proves beyond all doubt that they were quite disqualified to write a single one 
 (good or bad) of these poems. But I will go further, (and have no doubt that 
 I will be borne out by every Kterary man in the kingdom) when I say, that it 
 is impossible to believe that any person qualified to write such poetry, could 
 have exhausted his literary enjoyments in two or three years, and have lived 
 for such a length of time afterwards, without producing any farther evidence of 
 his poetic temperament, genius, and capacity. A Highland bard in account- 
 ing for the melancholy fact that some of the lowest and basest specimens of 
 the genus homo have been produced among the Highland clans, remarks, that 
 the best blood when tainted becomes doubly corrupt ; but I do not believe that 
 all the clans in the Highlands could produce a second Kennedy; and it 
 would require something more than Mr Skene's forgotten somebody to make me 
 believe that Strathmashie's was no better. 
 
 * The Seventh Book of Temora ia published in Macpherson's own spelling, and clearly proves 
 Captain Morison's statement, that he could " not write or spell (Gaelic) properly." It also proves, by 
 irresistible inference, that the Seventh Book of Temora was not written by Mr Macpherson of Strath- 
 mashie ; for although he was a coarse and wretched bard, and could write nothing tender or refined, he 
 could both " write and spell" Gaelic, while the Seventh Book of Temora is miserably mis-spelt. 
 
THE 
 
 LANGUAGE, POETRY, AND MUSIC 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 THE LANGUAGE. 
 
 The letters of the Graelic language consist of seventeen, (originally sixteen,) 
 besides the letter h, which is used as an aspirate. Only three of the consonants, 
 1, n, and r, retain their power at all times, the aspirate so often used having 
 the effect of either depriving the others of their power, or of rendering their 
 sounds more vocal, sweet, and mellow. Hence the Gaelic vowels are more 
 numerous than the consonants which at all times retain their power ; yet this 
 peculiar feature of the language, although it necessarily renders it more soft, 
 does not deprive it of its vigour either in tone or expression, as no two Gaelic 
 vowels are ever pronounced in one syllable excepting ao, whose combined 
 sound can be acquired properly only from the living voice. 
 
 The construction of the Gaelic is extremely simple, yet I venture to say 
 that any person who will study it, even with the assistance only of phonetic 
 spelling, and what I can only call a literal translation for want of words to 
 express my meaning, (for there can be no literal translation without equivalent 
 words, and the words I use in rendering Gaelic into English are not equivalents — 
 there being no such to be found in the English language,) will come to the 
 conclusion that it has been cultivated by philosophic grammarians and philolo- 
 gists at some prehistoric age, — for the Gaelic is literally an ancient language, 
 into which modern or coined words cannot be introduced without being detected 
 as discordant and unnatural. The ancient Celtic clans, from the character of 
 their language, religion, laws, the constitution of their local or clan governments 
 and brehon-courts, from their poetry, tales, music, manners, and customs, must 
 have attained a comparatively high state of civilization at some very remote 
 period. Striking traits of polished manners, generous hospitality, and stern 
 
10 
 
 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 patriotism, have been shown, and still are shown by the mountaineers of all parts 
 of Europe, as well as of the Highlands of Scotland, notwithstanding the Roman 
 and feudal corruption and oppression to which even the people of the most 
 inaccessible districts had been more or less subjected. But the demeanor, if 
 not even the character of the Highlander, has greatly deteriorated within my 
 own time. For no Highlander, even within these forty years, would pass a 
 stranger, on a country road, without speaking to him, if a common man, or 
 saluting him, if a gentleman ; but now, the singular thing is his noticing either 
 the one or the other, unless with a sullen or suspicious look. The reason is, 
 that gentlemen, unacquainted with the social position of the Highlander in his 
 own country, which was above that of a labourer, until very recent times, regard 
 his salute as merely the natural obeisance of the serf to his lord, and never 
 notice it any more than they would notice the wag of the coUey's tail ; and the 
 pride of the Highlander has taken the alarm. Hence, I have no doubt, the 
 change that has struck me so forcibly in my recent visits to the Highlands.* 
 
 The Gaelic alphabet is called Bithluiseanean, — the life of plants, — being 
 compounded from the roots hith, life, luis, plants, and ean the plural affix. 
 
 
 Ancient Names. 
 
 PronundaMon. 
 
 Sounds in English. 
 
 A 
 
 ailm, palm 
 
 elim 
 
 like a in far 
 
 B 
 
 beith, birch 
 
 beyth 
 
 a 
 
 ha in ball 
 
 C 
 
 caul, hazel 
 
 kawl 
 
 tt 
 
 ca in cat 
 
 D 
 
 dair, oak 
 
 dayr 
 
 a 
 
 da in r^^ft- 
 
 E 
 
 eadh, elm 
 
 ewgh 
 
 Li 
 
 e in theme 
 
 F 
 
 feam, alder 
 
 fema 
 
 a 
 
 fa in^/all 
 
 G 
 
 gort, ivy 
 
 gort 
 
 it 
 
 ffa in ffaH 
 
 I 
 
 iogha, yew 
 
 e'6gha 
 
 " 
 
 i in p^■n 
 
 L 
 
 luis, aspen 
 
 looysh 
 
 It 
 
 11 in quiS 
 
 M 
 
 muin, vine 
 
 mooyn 
 
 it 
 
 ma in madam 
 
 N 
 
 nuin, ash 
 
 nooyn 
 
 It 
 
 na in warrow 
 
 
 
 oir, broom 
 
 oyr 
 
 It 
 
 in broke 
 
 P 
 
 peith, pine 
 
 paeyth 
 
 ti 
 
 pa in ^ath 
 
 R . 
 
 ruis, elder 
 
 rooysh 
 
 it 
 
 r in rare 
 
 S 
 
 seal, willow 
 
 sheyl 
 
 « 
 
 sa in sallad 
 
 T 
 
 teine, gorse 
 
 tehnne 
 
 tt 
 
 ta in tar 
 
 U 
 
 ur, myrtle 
 
 
 « 
 
 u in trwe 
 
 The English letters, as sounded in the above words, represent the initial 
 sounds of the Gaelic letters as nearly as it can be represented by individual 
 English letters ; but the Gaelic consonants, when in action, are sounded much 
 broader, deeper, and softer, than their initial names. These initial sounds are, 
 I have no doubt, to be ascribed to a modern innovation, and ought to be cor- 
 rected, because so apt to mislead. The distinction is so great and so essential, 
 
 * Mr Campbell of Islay, in his beautiful and gentlemanly preface to the GaeUc Tales, has found the 
 Uael a gentleman of Nature's own maMng; but he was trayelling where the country is not yet wholly 
 inundated by the stranger. ' j j 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 11 
 
 however, as to render it absolutely necessary for any person who is desirous of 
 acquiring anything like an approximate knowledge of the pronunciation of 
 Gaelic words, to forget these foreign sounds, or to make himself perfectly 
 master of this important distinction, as a preliminary step. This lesson could 
 be acquired in a few minutes from the living voice ; but from the diflSculty of 
 finding a qualified teacher, and from my horror of a vulgar pronunciation, I 
 dare not recommend the experiment to the reader. Indeed, as the 'Gaelic is a 
 natural, not an artificial language, I am of opinion that it is more safe for any 
 person of good taste, who will really take the trouble of learning the Gaelic 
 sound of the letters, to instruct himself, with the assistance of a written key to 
 the pronunciation, than to risk the employment of an incompetent teacher, by 
 whom he would, in all probability, either be disgusted, or reconciled to a 
 spurious pronunciation. This treatise aims only at furnishing the reader, 
 through the medium of phonic spelUng and literal translations, with the means 
 of perusing the works of the Gaelic bards ; yet I am not without the con- 
 fident hope that the natural good taste of every accomplished reader will 
 intuitively suggest, with that aid, a more chaste and elegant pronunciation than 
 he could acquire from most Highlanders, owing to the circumstances already 
 explained. There is no difficulty with the Gaelic vowels, excepting in one 
 diphthong and two triphthongs ; and even in two of these, all the letters are 
 perceptibly pronounced, but with a slight elision. A very short lesson from a 
 competent teacher might be very useful in this case, and also in learning the 
 peculiar sound of a few of the Gaelic consonants. A short and simple lesson 
 would serve ; yet, although very anxious to preserve two of these combinations 
 as a characteristic of the language, and also the sound of the letters b, c, d, g, 
 and t, I had much rather the reader should trust to his own intuitive taste, 
 aided by the lesson for sounding these letters and phonetic spelling, than that 
 he should take spurious imitations on trust, from a coarse and vulgar speaker. 
 It is quite easy for a lady or gentleman (I use these words in contradistinction 
 to gents and mems, who are ladies and gentlemen artificially, or by imitation 
 only,) to judge whether a teacher be qualified or not, by making him recite a 
 few verses of Gaelic poetry. Unless he can do so without uttering a sound that 
 would be oflensive to the ear even of the Queen, he is not a chaste or elegant 
 speaker of the Gaelic language, and should at once be rejected as a vocal 
 teacher. I have made a distinction between ladies and gentlemen, and gents 
 and mems; I can assure the reader that I have not done so from any 
 afiectation of aristocracy, but because gents and mems glory in ridiculing 
 peculiarities with which they are not familiar, while ladies and gentlemen do not. 
 Owing to the very great difference between the sounds of the letters in 
 the language with which I am anxious to make the reader acquainted, and their 
 sounds in the language through whose medium I am attempting to do so, I can 
 only expect, at best, to give him merely an approximate idea of the pronuncia- 
 tion of many of the words quoted in these pages. With the vowels, (excepting 
 the diphthong already mentioned, ao, and the triphthongs aoi and eot,) there 
 is no difficulty ; and I trust that a careful perusal of the following instructions, 
 
12 . THE LANGUAGE 
 
 and a frequent practical application of them in pronouncing the letters, will 
 make him a perfect master of .the consonant sounds : — 
 
 B is called beith-bhog, (bey'-vog) soft b, by grammarians. It is sounded 
 more like the English p than b. It is pronounced by pressing the lips 
 together, and emitting a sound when in the act of opening them, like ha in 
 ball, as in bad, a cluster of trees, buail, (buyl) strike, and ban, the feminine 
 prefix, and ban, (ban) fair. C is always pronounced like the English k in 
 the beginning, (and generally like g or k at the end of syllables,) as in car, 
 (kar) a turn, ceann, (kenn) a head, and cluas, (klu-as) the ear. D and t are 
 sounded so like one another as to afford no room for any distinction. D is 
 pronounced by pressing the tongue against the upper foreteeth and palate, but 
 in such a way that its tip may be lightly closed on by the teeth, and emitting a 
 sound when in the act, as it were, of jerking them open, like the sound of da 
 in daft, but softer and deeper, as in dall, blind, dana, bold, and dur,- obstinate. 
 F is sounded by pressing the under lip against the slightly closed foreteeth, and 
 emitting a sound when separating them, like fa in fall, but softer and deeper, 
 as in fada, long, foil, (foyl) softly, and foill, (foyll) deceit. G is pronounced by 
 pressing the tongue against the centre of the palate, the back teeth being 
 slightly closed on it, and emitting a sound like ga in gall, when in the act of 
 opening them, as in gath, a dart, gall, a stranger, and geal, white. L is always 
 liquid, like double 11 in quill, as in Ian, full, lus, strength, and las, light. M is 
 pronounced like ma in madam, as in mall, slow, mor, large, and mas, a base. 
 N has always a slightly aspirated sound, like n in narrow, as in niir, when, 
 (at the time,) nis, now, nail, hither (to this side,) null, thither (to that side.) 
 P is pronounced like pa in path, as paidh, (pay) pay, peall, (pell) hair, (covering) 
 and pailt, plenty. E is pronounced, but with a more decided vibration, like r 
 in rare, as in rath, (ra') luck, rann, (rann) a distich, and rian, (ri-an) orderly. 
 S is sounded like s in salad, as .sail, (sayl) heel, sonn, (soghnn) a warrior, and 
 sar, a surpassing hero. The sound of T and d is so nearly the same as scarcely 
 to admit of any difference ; d deviates occasionally from his every day 
 uniformity and formality, like all honest fellows who have hearts in their 
 bosoms, but t never does : he is like the decent, thriving men described by 
 Burns, with " blood like a standing pool, lives like a dyke." It is invariably 
 pronounced by pressing the tongue pretty hard against the forepart of the 
 palate and the back of the upper foreteeth, and emitting suddenly, while, as it 
 were, jerking them open, a sound like ta in tar, tair, (tayr) mockery, (contempt,) 
 tairis, (tayrish) stop, tarn, a loch without a regular outlet, and tuairn, (tu-ayrn) 
 turning. My esteemed friend, Finlagan, the nom de plume of the most fervidly 
 patriotic, yet the most calmly philosophic and gentlemanly of all the writers on 
 the unwise Highland and Irish clearances, (judged even exclusively with a 
 reference to the interests of the clearance-makers themselves,) suggests th as 
 the English representative of t ; but as t is one of the mutable letters, and so 
 often subject to being euphonised by being combined in the same form (th) with 
 the aspirate, the adoption of th to represent t would lead to confusion. On the 
 whole, therefore, the best I can do for the reader is to beg that he will commit 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 13 
 
 the above instructions for pronouncing t, to memory, and apply them practically, 
 not once but frequently, to the pronunciation of the Gaelic words beginning 
 with t, above quoted. 
 
 All the consonants, as already stated, excepting 1, n, and r, are occasion- 
 ally ruled by the aspirate h. Hence they are divided into mutable and 
 immutable consonants, the former being immutable. The mutable consonants 
 admit of being changed, silenced, or rendered more soft and harmonious in 
 sound by the aspirate, as bh, ch, dh, fh, gh, mh, ph, and th. Mh and bh 
 sound like v at the beginning of syllables, but I do not know any letters 
 that can really represent the aspirated sound of dh, th, and gh, at the end of 
 syllables. By pressing the tongue against the palate at the back of the fore- 
 teeth, and emitting a faint whisper, like that represented by the stoccato sign in 
 music ('), when in the act of parting the teeth, something sufficiently resembling 
 it will, however, be produced. I will, therefore, use the stoccato sign for these 
 consonants when aspirated at the end of syllables, in my phonic spelling. 
 There is no English letter that can represent the aspirated ch of the Gaelic 
 at the beginning of syllables ; but the Greek x will do so pretty accurately. I 
 beg that the reader will remember this. C may be aspirated at the beginning 
 of syllables, but must always be preserved at the end of syllables, as it is then 
 guttural. The Gaelic is not encumbered with guttural sounds ; and a slight 
 mixture of them is, in my opinion, necessary, interesting, and desirable, as 
 preserving the vigour as well as the air of antiquity of the language, for the 
 apparent tendency of the modems, especially the English, is to dispense with 
 sounds that cannot be pronounced on the very slender scale of articulation 
 which has been bestowed by Nature on lower races of animals than mankind. 
 The author of the nursery puzzle, — " Abir tri uairen Mac-an-aba gun do ghab a 
 dhunadh," — (say Macnab three times without shutting the mouth,) — never, I 
 dare say, expected' that a whole people, with the royal household troops at their 
 head, should, at some future period, set seriously to work in reconciling the pro- 
 nunciation of their language to the principle indicated by his amusing proposition. 
 
 Dh and gh are pronounced y at the beginning, but aspirated at the end 
 of words and syllables. Being exceedingly anxious that the reader should 
 commit these brief lessons thoroughly to his memory, I would recommed it to 
 him not to read another word until he shall have done so. 
 
 The letter F is always silent before h ; and Th and Sh are always pro- 
 nounced h. Ph has always the sound of the English f. The following lines 
 from diiferent poems will form an appropriate exercise for the preceding lesson 
 as to the effect of the aspirate : — 
 Bha mi 'n de 'm Beinn-dorain. I was yesterday in Bendoren. 
 
 va mi 'n de 'm beyn-dorayn 
 
 A Mhari bhan gur barrail u. Mary, fair surpassing art thou. 
 
 a vaii Tan gur barrayl n 
 
 Chaidh mi do'n choil 'n robh croin is gallain. I went to the wood in which were tall 
 
 chay' mi do'n ohoyl n rov croyn is gall-aya young trees. 
 
 A dheanadh slan gaoh doohartas. Making heal every malady. 
 
 a yena' elan gach do-chartas 
 
14 
 
 Theid einn thair na bealaichen. 
 heyd sinn hayr na belaych-en 
 Fhuair fasan is foghlum. 
 
 hu-ayr fasan is foghlum 
 
 Shiubhladh tu fasach airidh-glinne. 
 
 hi-uvla' tu fa-sacli ayri'-gilinne 
 
 G-heibhte roinn agus orain is iomadh comh 
 yeyv-te roynn agus orayn is i-oma' cov- 
 radh* na measg. 
 ra' na mesg 
 Cha phill, cha phill, cha phill sin tuille. 
 cha fihll, cha flhll, cha fihU sin tuyUe 
 
 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 Go we (shall) over the defiles. 
 Keceived accomplishments and learning. 
 Travel yon would the desert sheiling-glen. 
 
 Got would be (humorous) distiches, songs, 
 and anecdotes, them among. 
 
 Eeturn, return, return shall we never. 
 
 The immutable consonants, 1, n, r, have slightly aspirated sounds, like 1 
 in leek, n in knit, and r in rung. The double nn has always a decidedly 
 aspirated sound. 
 
 The Gaelic, like the Greek, has only the definite article, and speaks 
 indefinitely, by mentioning an object by itself,— as, duine, (duynef) a man, an 
 duine, the man ; dun, a fort or castle. The article is declined by gender, 
 number, and case, as follows : — 
 
 Masculine. 
 
 Singular. 
 
 Fem. 
 
 Plural. 
 Mas. & Fem. 
 
 Nom. An, am. 
 
 
 an, a'. 
 
 na. 
 
 Gen. An, a. 
 
 
 na. 
 
 nan, nam. 
 
 Dat. An, a', 'm. 
 
 
 an, a', 'n. 
 
 na. 
 
 The rule whereby the initial letter of every root forming compound words 
 is preserved, is traditionally ascribed to the Druids, but of this there is no 
 written evidence, any more than there is for ascribing to them many practices, 
 medicinal aud agricultural, which must have originated in an extensive acquaint- 
 ance with natural science, and which have been carried down to the present 
 day. The absence of Druid records is ascribed to the deadly enemies their 
 patriotism had made them in the Romans. The enmity thus provoked not only 
 brought destruction on their great college and manuscripts in Anglesea, but 
 also on their wives and families ; and all that had escaped the Eomans of these in 
 all probability most valuable manuscripts, were afterwards destroyed by Columba 
 and his monks at lona, where they established the seat of learning after the 
 destruction of Anglesea. But retribution seems to be an ordinance of Nature. 
 If the manuscripts of the Druids have not been preserved, neither have those 
 of the Culdees, with very few exceptions, been preserved by their Eoman 
 Catholic successors ; nor have theirs, in their turn, escaped the priesthood of 
 the Eeformation ; so true it is that " priests of all religions are the same." But, 
 
 * This and similar words are in general contracted and pronounced thus, comhradh, oo'ra, comh- 
 nuidh, co'nay, c&c. &o. 
 
 t The vowels are always prgnounced at the end of syllables or words. The English reader should 
 especially remember this. There are no silent letters in my phonetic spelling. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 15 
 
 although the Culdees and their successors have thus shown that no religious 
 order of men, however pure and holy, are ahove human prejudice and human 
 frailty, they did not subserve the civil despotism which, in subsequent ages, 
 chiefly through a perverted Christianity, crushed the ancient rights and liberties 
 of the people. At the same time, there is little doubt that they initiated the spirit 
 of self-abasement, which was made subservient to that purpose by feudalism. 
 
 The fundamental principle of the Culdee religion, namely, the sacrifice 
 of the chief to appease a feud, was substantially interwoven in the very con- 
 stitution of clanships. There are many very touching instances of such 
 voluntary sacrifices by chiefs ; and the feudal law of Scotland acted on the 
 principle of sacrificing one member of a clan for the rest, until subsequently to 
 the year 1745. When a doctrine so accordant with clan affection and 
 magnanimity, and so touchingly poetic as the sacrifice of the Son of God 
 to atone for the sins of mankind, was preached to them by men of pure lives, 
 great benevolence, genuine disinterestedness, and touching piety and eloquence, 
 it is not to be wondered at that the clans yielded their whole hearts to this 
 religion of faith and feeling, and became indifferent to the colder one of science, 
 reason, and common sense. It is therefore, a fact, — and a strange fact, — that it 
 was the unpretending simplicity and touching tenderness and benevolence of 
 the religion of the holy Culdees which found acceptance with the Gael, and 
 prepared the way for the despotism which ultimately degraded the people of the 
 British Isles into the tools and victims of a pampered and rampant feudalism. 
 At the same time, I am not one of those who regard even the perverted 
 Christianity of the dark ages as wholly evil in its effects. It was a superhuman 
 organization, which sounded every secret, and played on every chord, of the 
 human heart, and could mould or subdue every human being within its influence ; 
 but the clergymen even of these ages have left us many illustrious examples of 
 piety, patriotism, and virtue. Although the Pope, for instance, was in favour 
 of Edward, and against Wallace, and although Bruce was excommunicated, yet 
 Wallace had not a more staunch supporter than Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, 
 or under his banner a more faithful follower, or a more incoiTuptible patriot, 
 than priest Blair ; and a priest, Barbour, was the biographer of Bruce, while a 
 dignitary of the Church consecrated his banner, and blest his army on the fleld 
 of battle. 
 
 The great drawback in the Church of Eome, as in the Church of England, 
 is its despotic system of Church government. Being governed by a despotism, 
 which, like every other despotism, claimed a Divine origin, it was as undoubting 
 in its action as it was all but omnipotent in its power. But whenever its 
 despotic and unwise leaders assumed an intolerant persecuting spirit, and used 
 the civil power in its persecutions, its greatest and most powerful antagonists 
 were the nobler spirits nursed and educated within its own bosom. The Catholic 
 priesthood never wholly quenched the love of liberty in the. hearts of the 
 people. They wanted to govern by a theocracy ; but where are the clergy that 
 would not establish a theocracy, or render religion subservient to the sovereignty 
 of their Church ? I believe in the existence of no such clergy. The Catholic 
 
16 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 priest was the great and leading reformer, and would be so at this da,y, but for 
 the sectarianism which excites his combativeness, and fastens him to his colours ; 
 but the Catholic laity never sat down in contentment under a civil despotism. 
 Had the intolerant, persecuting spirit witnessed by Knox in the Lowlands, been 
 witnessed by Ian Lom among the Highland clans, he would not, of the two 
 have been the least distinguished reformer. He was as much the friend of 
 religious liberty and the bible as Knox, although a staunch Catholic. And do 
 we not see in the long struggle of our CathoUc ancestors for civil liberty, on every 
 opportunity that offered itself, down to the period of the Kevolution, as well as in 
 that now completed in Italy, that Catholicism never quenched the love of liberty 
 in the hearts of the most bigoted nations. Nor does the parallel between the 
 struggle for liberty in our country and in Italy bold good only in the case of 
 the people : on the contrary, the "Wallace and Bruce of Italy, like the Wallace 
 and Bruce of Scotland, found their staunchest followers among the Catholic 
 clergy. The following verse bears me out in what I have stated as to Ian Lom's 
 love of religious liberty and the bible : — 
 
 Noir bu sgith do luchd theud e, When tired the race of (tuneful) strings, 
 
 noyr bu Bgi' do luo heyt e 
 
 Gheibhte biobuil ga'n leughadh. Bibles are found there reading, 
 
 yevte bi-o-bnyl gan ley'-a' 
 Le fior chreidimh na ceile, In a wise spirit of faith, 
 
 le fi-or chreydev na ceyle 
 
 Mar a dh-orduich Mac Dhe dhuinn, As was ordained by the Son of G-od, 
 
 mar a yorduych mac ye yuyn 
 
 Agus teagasg na cleire le sith. And the worship of the clergy in peace, 
 
 ague tegasg na cleyre le bV 
 
 In short, it seems pretty clear that the unpopularity of the Catholic Church 
 after the establishment of feudalism, was to be ascribed, in all ages, to the 
 despotism and wealth of its dignitaries. Hence we find that that Church has 
 always been more respected in poor than in rich countries. The Church was 
 the handmaiden of feudalism, and helped to fasten her yoke on the necks of the 
 people ; but the working priest has ever been the friend of the poor and the 
 oppressed. It was the despotic dignitaries of the Church that, like all other 
 pampered despots, were but too generally tyrants and oppressors. 
 
 The Culdees were in spirit evangelical, and, like the evangelical clergy of 
 the present day, not attached to, or, perhaps, even tolerant of natural theology. 
 Hence, probably, their hostility to the Druid priesthood. But they were 
 incapable of misrepresenting them either in their lives or doctrines. The 
 statement thatthe Druids offered human sacrifices may have been believed by, 
 but did not originate with the Culdees. The report may have arisen from the 
 circumstance that the Druids were the criminal judges among the Celtic clans, 
 and that the criminals sentenced to capital punishment were executed by 
 phlebotomy, within the Druid circle. The corrupt Koman theologist that could 
 not comprehend a worship without a sacrifice, may have believed that these 
 criminals were innocent victims sacrificed to superstition, and the basin-like 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 17 
 
 hollow to be found in all the Druid altar stones, to receive the blood of the 
 executed criminals, (who were solemnly sacrificed on the altar of their god to 
 the justice of their country,) may have confirmed, if it did not even give rise, to 
 that belief. Had the Culdees been capable of misrepresenting the religion of 
 the Druids, they would not have preserved their names for God, the soul, the 
 good, the bad, &c., since these names are descriptive, and refute every falsity 
 circulated in reference to their religion and morality. They had three names 
 for God : deo, from the roots ti, a great being, and eol, knowledge ; dia, from ti 
 and agh, pronounced a', good ; and, hith-uile, abbreviated hel, from biih, life 
 and uiU, all. It is thus seen that the Druid represented God as the great, the 
 good Being, the life of all. He had two names also for the soul, deo, from his 
 regarding the soul as an emanation of God. Hence, when a person dies, the 
 Highlander does not say, " thuair (hu-ayr) e 'm has," as he would say of a 
 beast ; but " chai an deo as," — the soul has gone out of him. The other name 
 of the soul is still more striking, anam, from an, antagonism, defiance, and 
 am, time ; that is, the antagonist or defier of time, or, in other words, the 
 immortal. 
 
 It is a very singular coincidence, that the idolatrous priesthood of the 
 East, by preserving the inscriptions on ancient monuments, have furnished the 
 philologist with the means of proving that they also had derived their know- 
 ledge of the attributes of God from Nature. This is a reasonable inference 
 from these inscriptions, and from the significant and accordant fact, namely, 
 that they symbolized His difierent attributes, — wisdom, power, benevolence, 
 &c., by different and distinct statues and figures. It is difiBcult to believe that 
 man could have allowed himself to be juggled out of such knowledge by priest- 
 craft, after having once attained it ; yet the inscriptions in the East, and the 
 names of God in the West, can leave no doubt that the Druid priesthood, both 
 in the East and the West, had a knowledge of the omnipotent power, wisdom, 
 and benevolence of God, at a period beyond the date of revealed religion. For 
 instance, an inscription under an ancient statue of Isis has been translated, " I 
 am all that is ;" and the inscription on a monument at Sais has been translated, 
 " I am all that is or was." The Jehovah of Scripture would, according to Gaelic 
 etymon, have been spelt Ti-ha-va ; viz., ti, the Great Being, ha, is, and va 
 was, — the Great Being that is and was. This is identical with the inscription 
 at Sais. It is a legitimate inference from this inscription, that the monument 
 or pyramid at Sais was erected to symbohze the origin and unity of all sublime 
 attributes and enduring power in one living and eternal God. No one was 
 allowed to enter the Temple of Serapis without having the name Jehova 
 (abbreviated Jaho in these inscriptions) inscribed on his breast. Circumcision 
 was a preliminary to the study of the philosophy of symbols, being probably 
 intended to impress indelibly on the mind of the student that most ancient of 
 all symbols of God, the circle. Moses, according to Philo, was initiated in the 
 philosophy of symbols as well as Plato. He had thus acquired a knowledge of 
 God from the natural theology of the Eastern. Druids, before he became the 
 legislator of the Jews. 
 
18 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 There is no evidence that natural theology, or the Druidal religion of 
 Egypt, had ever become the handmaiden of despotism ; but the religion revealed 
 through man certainly had, first among the Jevrs, and since then among the 
 feudal Christians. Indeed, we cannot conceive a state of society in which the 
 people can be free and their spiritual government a despotism. No free people 
 ever will submit to a spiritual despotism. A spiritual despotism can make 
 hypocrites, but not Christians, as was proved by the French Kevolution, where 
 a priest-ridden people proved a nation of infidels. There is no evidence of the 
 existence of any despotism, until G-od revealed his will to man through man. 
 Hence we find from the day that Joseph availed himself of Pharaoh's dream 
 for the establishment of despotism in Egypt, until Calvin and Knox gave a 
 representative government to the Presbyterian Church, that the clergy of all 
 countries and all religions were the deadly foes of civil and religious liberty. 
 Feudalism, unaided by priestcraft, never could have defrauded and disorganized 
 the Celtic clans of Scotland. " Prior to the marriage of Malcolm Canmore," says 
 a clerical historian, " and subsequently to that event, many families of Norman 
 and Saxon lineage found their way from the northern districts of England into 
 Scotland, where they settled, and became proprietors of land by feudal tenure. On 
 the property so acquired they erected fortresses" (to coerce the people.) " These 
 settlers were probably, without exception, the friends of Christianity, being 
 favourable to all influences likely to civilize their rude retainers," (or, in other 
 words, to that exhorbitant power of priestcraft, without which the people never 
 could have been made to submit to the feudal usurpation.) " Hence," continues 
 the historian, (who seems quite unconscious of the real motives of the feudal 
 lords for being, " without exception, the friends of Christianity,") " one of their 
 primary objects would be the building of a church, in such a position as might 
 be most convenient for the inhabitants of the town or village which sprung up 
 in the immediate vicinity, and under the protection of their own castles." The 
 progress of the " well matched pair," — civil usurpation and spiritual despotism, 
 — in denuding and making serfs of the people, are indelibly impressed on the 
 face of the country by these castles and churches ; but when the usurpation was 
 established, and the submission of the people insured, the castles battered down 
 the churches, and ungratefully resumed their well won wealth. We thus see that 
 a just retribution ultimately overtakes the inheritors of unjustly acquired wealth, 
 however saintly their garb or profession. 
 
 The Eev. Dr Blair, in his beautiful Dissertation of Ossian's poems, tries to 
 account for the singular circumstance that there are no traces of religion in 
 these poems ; but the Druids, whose religion was founded on natural science, 
 could not make God give a victory to one hero and one army to-day, and to an 
 opposite hero and army to-morrow. In short, the religion of the Druids could 
 not be made subservient to the imaginary exigencies of poetry ; on the contrary, 
 the mixing up of God's name and power with human affairs, would have been 
 regarded as an impiety in the days of Ossianic ignorance and barbraity. 
 
 When the reader shall have acquired sufficient knowledge of the Gaelic to 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 19 
 
 be able to resolve compound words into their simple elements or roots, as 
 exemplified in the etymon of the foregoing words, every step of progress will 
 become to him a source of intellectual recreation. He will then scarcely find 
 in literature a more ludicrous figure than their egotism made of Dr Johnson, 
 Sir James Macintosh, and Lord Macaulay, when, without having even a reading 
 knowledge of the Gaelic, they constituted themselves dictators on questions 
 involved in the language and literature of the Highland clans. At the same 
 time, it must be admitted, that, with the exception of the ancient poems trans- 
 lated and published by the elegant and spirited Mr Macpherson, and the learned, 
 honest, and patriotic Dr Smith, the Gael have done little to put their language 
 or poetry in an attractive or even accessible form before the English reader. 
 Our dictionary-makers knew that Gaelic words are descriptive, and that by 
 resolving them into their primitive roots, they would furnish the antiquary and 
 historian with the means of forming a true estimate, not only of the language, 
 but also of the state of society or condition of the ancient Celtic nations ; but, 
 probably, to make their gigantic labours more easy, they preferred following 
 the example of other learned lexicographers, by giving us a string of what 
 they call synonymous words, to explain the meaning of one ! We all know the 
 amusing error into which the foreign clergyman fell, who on being told that 
 pickling meant preserving, prayed with great fervour of devotion that Dr 
 Chalmers' soul might be pickled. But those who will peruse Gaelic dictionaries - 
 and Gaelic grammars, will find that the English are not the only scholars who 
 have laboured to the utmost of their power to riader their language complicated, 
 and its acquisition a life-labour to foreigners. The Gaelic lexicographers give 
 a string of words " as long as my arm," differing essentially from one another, 
 to explain the meaning of one word, instead of reducing the word to its roots, 
 and leaving it to explain itself ; and the grammarian has determined, that to 
 learn Gaelic, a man must not only be a profound scholar, but devote his life 
 exclusively to the study of his exquisite labours. 
 
 Different Sounds of the Gaelic Vowels. 
 
 A. 
 " a long, as in far ; as ard, high ; bard, a poet 
 a short, like a in fat ; as cas, a foot ; tasdan, a shiUing. 
 at, long, like eux in French ; as adh, (a-ugh) joy. 
 a short, like eiix ; as lagh, law ; tagh, chose. 
 a faint, like e in risen ; as an, the ; mar, as. 
 
 E. 
 e long, like e in there ; as e in se, he; re, during. 
 e short, like e in met ; as leth, half; teth, hot. 
 e long, like a in fate ; as ce, the earth ; te, a female. 
 e short, like e in her ; as duine, a man ; filte, folded. 
 
 I 
 i long, like ee in see ; as cir, a comb ; mir, a piec^. 
 i short, like i in pin ; as min, meal; bith, heing. 
 i faint, like i in this ; as is, am. 
 
20 THE LANGDAGK 
 
 0. 
 long, like o in oak ; as or, gold ; brog, a shoe. 
 short, like 6 in on ; as mo, my ; grod, rotten. 
 o long, like 6 in how ; as tonn, a wave ; poll, a pull. 
 o short, like 6 in not ; lomadh, clipping ; connadh, Jwl. 
 o long, like o in owl ; as sogh, luxury ; f oghlum, learning. 
 short, like 6 in now ; as foghar, autumn ; roughuinn, choice. 
 
 U. 
 
 u long, like u in tube ; as iir, fresh ; tur, a tower. 
 
 u short, like ii in bush ; as rud, a thing ; guth, a voice. 
 
 u faint, like a faint, or u in run ; as mur, if not. 
 
 " In words of more than one syllable, the vowels, chiefly the broad, have an 
 indefinite short quality of obscure sound in the second or final syllables ; this 
 has occasioned an indiscriminate use of the vowels as correspondents, and hence 
 the reason that the same word is sometimes spelt in two difi'erent ways, as 
 iarrtas or iarrtus, a request ; canain or canuin, a language ; dichiall or dichioU, 
 diligence. The spelling of the same word by difi'erent vowels is chiefly confined 
 to the final syllable or syllables. A single vowel in the initial syllable of a word 
 never assumes this obscure sound, and when the initial syllable contains an 
 improper diphthong, one of the vowels is always pronounced in full, and the 
 other is faint or quiescent." — Forbes. 
 
 Although I consider it p^per to make a few quotations, showing the 
 niceties of the language, as illustrated by the grammarians, I do not consider 
 the perfect knowledge of them necessary to enable any foreign lady or gentleman 
 to speak and to read Gaelic. Had I thought so, I should not have undertaken 
 to write a naked key, free of even the common points in use, to mark the 
 difi'erent sounds of the Gaelic vowels. My object is to strip the language of all 
 the impediments to the easy acquisition of such a plain, simple knowledge of it, 
 as will enable a foreigner to make himself understood. I do not think it is 
 possible to teach any person by the mere use of letters to speak any foreign 
 language like a well educated native, otherwise I would have left the field in 
 the possession of grammarians, whose works for learning, research, and 
 discrimination, if equalled, are not surpassed. 
 
 Diphthongs and Triphthongs. 
 
 " Ao has no similar sound in English ; it is like the French eu or eux, or 
 the Latin au, in aurum ; as gaol, love, saor, a wright. Eu ; the letter e in 
 eu is always long, and has a compound sound, as if e was preceded by a short 
 i, thus, teum, feum, pronounced tiem, fiem. The letter e has a shade of this 
 sound also in the improper diphthong ea, as cead, deas, pronounced keid, dies. 
 
 " There are fiVe triphthongs formed from the long diphthongs ao, eo, ia, 
 ua, by adding the vowel i. These diphthongs preserve their own sounds, and 
 the final i is always short ; aoi, as caoidh, (kao-y) lament ; laoidh, (lloo-y) 
 calves; eoi, as treoir, (treo-yr) strength; as geoidh, (keo-y) geese; iai, as 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 21 
 
 ciuin, (ki-uyn) meek; fliuiche, (fli-iuch-e) wetter; uai, as fuaim, (fua-ym) 
 sound; cruaidh, (cma-y) hard." — Ibid. 
 
 There are I know not how many diphthongs and triphthongs, hut I do not 
 consider it necessary to suhmit them to the reader, Indeed, with the exception 
 of the one previously mentioned, the whole difficulty appears to me to have 
 heen created by the grammarians themselves. 
 
 A and o will not yield to one another, and have compelled the hards to 
 concede to them a combined and peculiar sound ; but with the other vowels the 
 case is quite different. When a small and a broad vowel meet, they neither 
 disagree nor assume a combined sound. In air, on, for instance, the a being the 
 primary or leading vowel, is treated with due deference by i, who accordingly al- 
 lows him the benefit of his position or precedence, and speaks himself in a subdued 
 voice : hence the monosyllable is pronounced ayr. But when the small vowel 
 is the primary and the broad the secondary, the latter is silent. It would thus 
 appear that the small letters a,re the gentlemen, and the broad the plebeians of 
 the Gaelic alphabet : hence when one of these geritleman is preceded in a triph- 
 thong by two broad vowels, one of them, out of deference to him, remains silent, 
 and he accordingly modifies his style, and condescends to speak in a voice accor- 
 dant with the vulgar intonation. No unseemly argument, looking for victory in 
 a masterful voice, can take place between a Celtic gentleman and plebeian, even 
 symbolically or by their representative letters. He recognises their value in 
 the commonwealth, and they show due deference to his superior rank and 
 position. Thus, buail, strike, is pronounced buyl; tuaisd, hungler, tuyst; 
 buaidh, victory, buy ; loidh, hymn, loy. But to show that he has not subdued 
 his voice or modified his style out of any fear of the physical superiority of two 
 to one, when he and a brother aristocrat meet a single plebeian under similar 
 circumstances, he is treated with due consideration, and allowed to speak for 
 himself. Thus, stiuir, helm, is pronounced sti-uyr ; ciuin, mild, ki-uyn, 
 &c. On the other hand, when two broad vowels meet, — o and a excepted, — 
 they treat one another like two navvies, without any regard to conventional 
 rules of politeness or etiquette ; on the contrary, they treat one another like 
 two sturdy radicals, as on a footing of perfect equality. Thus, fuar, cold, is 
 pronounced fu-ar; tuar, complexion, tu-ar; raud, greed, ra-ut, &c. &c. But 
 when two small letters meet, they not only treat one another, but also their 
 Celtic brother, o, the aristocrat of Ireland, with the utmost cordiality and con- 
 sideration. Thus, feoil, flesh, is pronounced fe-oyl ; theid, will go, heyt ; 
 treoir, strength, tre-oyr, &c. &c. 
 
 The names of inanimate objects which take an or am before them are 
 generally masculine ; as, an dorus, (dorus) the door ; an tigh, (ti') the house ; 
 an t-ord, the hammer ; am baile, (bayle) the town ; am bradan, (bradan) the 
 
 salmon. 
 
 Nouns which have a prefixed are, in general, feminine; as, a ghrian, 
 (yri-an) the sun ; a ghealach, (yel-ach) the moon ; a chraobh, (chra-ov) the tree ; 
 a bheinn, (veynn) the mountain. 
 
 Nouns beginning with a vowel insert t after the prefixed article for the 
 
22 
 
 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 sake of euphony ; as, an t-uan, (u-an) the lamb ; an t-iasg, (i-ask) the fish ; an 
 t-ubh, (uv) the egg ; an t-olc, the evil. Many nouns beginning with s, which 
 is silent before h, insert t after the article ; as, an saoghal, (sao'-al) the world, 
 is written in the genitive case, an t-shaoghail, (tao'-ayl) of the world ; an 
 t-shlait, (tlayt) of the rod ; an t-shneachd, (tnechd) of the snow, &c. 
 
 The above rules have, however, many exceptions, the article a being 
 prefixed to names masculine ; as, a monadh, (mona') the hill ; a meal, (mell) the 
 knoll ; and an to nouns feminine ; as, an amhuin, (avuyn) the river ; an reul, 
 (reyll) the planet, &c. 
 
 There is in Gaelic no accusative case different from the nominative ; nor 
 is the ablative different from the dative case. 
 
 Baed, a poet, Masc. 
 
 With the Article. 
 
 Singular. 
 
 N. Bard, 
 bard 
 
 G. Baird. 
 bayrd 
 
 D. Bard, 
 bard 
 
 V. Bhard. 
 vayrd 
 
 Plural. 
 
 baird. 
 bayrd 
 
 bhard. 
 vard 
 
 bhardaibh. 
 vardayv 
 
 bharda. 
 varda 
 
 Singular. 
 
 am bard, 
 am bard 
 
 G. a bhaird. 
 vayrd 
 
 do'n bhaird. 
 don vayrd 
 
 bhaird. 
 vayrd 
 
 N, 
 
 D. 
 
 Plural. 
 
 na baird. 
 na bayrd 
 
 nam bard, 
 nam bard 
 
 do bhardaibh, 
 vardayv 
 
 bharda. 
 varda 
 
 Bean, a woman. Fern. 
 Plural. 
 
 mnai or mnathan. 
 mnay mna'-an 
 
 ban. 
 ban 
 
 mnathaibh. 
 
 Singular. 
 
 N. Bean, 
 ben 
 
 G. Mna. 
 
 mna 
 
 D. Mnaoi. 
 mna-oy 
 
 V. Bhean. 
 ven 
 
 N. 
 
 mhnathan. 
 mna'-an 
 
 ar. 
 
 a bhean. 
 ven 
 
 G. na mna. 
 mna 
 
 D. do'n mhnaoi. 
 
 mn-oy 
 V. bhean. 
 ven 
 
 With the Article. 
 
 Plaral. 
 
 na mnai or na mnathan. 
 mnay mna'-an 
 
 nam ban. 
 nam ban 
 
 do na mnathaibh. 
 mna'-jry 
 
 mhnathan. 
 mna'-an 
 
 The following rules are quoted, substantially, from Currie :— 
 "Gaelic nouns generally form the plural eitheir by changing the broad 
 vowels a o,_u, into the small e, i, or simply by the insertion of i into the 
 last syllable, m accordance with the principle which makes the small vowels 
 the superiors of the broad :— as 
 
 Nom. 
 
 Earrach, spring 
 errach 
 
 Dorus, door, 
 dorus 
 
 Damh, an ox. 
 dav. 
 
 Daol, a beetle, 
 daol 
 
 Darag, an oak. 
 dar-ag 
 
 Gen. 
 
 Nom. 
 
 earraich. 
 
 sgiath, a shield. 
 
 errayich 
 
 ski-a' 
 
 doruis. 
 
 each, a horse. 
 
 dor-uysh 
 
 ech 
 
 daimh 
 
 creag, a rock. 
 
 dayv 
 
 crek 
 
 daoil. 
 daoyl 
 
 fearg, wrath, 
 ferak 
 
 daraig. 
 
 coileach, a cock. 
 
 darayk 
 
 coyl-ech 
 
 sgeith. 
 ske' 
 
 eeicL 
 e-ich 
 
 creig. 
 creyk 
 
 feirg. 
 fe-rick 
 
 coilaich. 
 coy-lich 
 
Fraoch, heather, 
 fraoch 
 
 Bas, death, 
 bas 
 
 Fuaran, a spring, 
 fu-aran 
 
 Laoch, a hero, 
 laoch 
 
 OP THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 fraoich. grian, the sun. greine. 
 
 fraoych gri-an gre-nfe 
 
 bais. iasg, fish. eisg. 
 
 bayish i-ask eysk 
 
 fuarain. dias, an ear of corn. dels, 
 
 fu-a-rayn di-as de-ish 
 
 laoich. fiadh, a deer. feidh. 
 
 laoych fi-a' fe-i' 
 
 23 
 
 " Some nouns ending in ea are changed into i ; and those ending eo or 
 0, into ui, — as : 
 
 Nom. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 Nora. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 Breac, a trout. 
 
 brie. 
 
 breac 
 
 bhreac 
 
 brec 
 
 
 brec 
 
 vrec 
 
 Fear, a man. 
 
 fir. 
 
 broc, a badger. 
 
 bruic. 
 
 f&r 
 
 
 broc 
 
 bru-ic 
 
 Ceann, head. 
 
 cinn. 
 
 ceol, music. 
 
 ciul. 
 
 cenn 
 
 
 ke-ol 
 
 su-il 
 
 Preas, a bush. 
 
 pris. 
 
 seol, a sail. 
 
 siuil. 
 
 pr^a 
 
 
 se-ol 
 
 shi-uyl 
 
 Breac, small-pox. 
 
 brice. 
 
 cnoc, a knoll. 
 
 cnuic. 
 
 brec 
 
 
 cnoc 
 
 cnu-ic 
 
 Cearc, a hen. 
 
 circe. 
 
 soc, a ploughshare. 
 
 suic. 
 
 cere 
 
 
 SOO 
 
 su-ic 
 
 Leac, a flag. 
 
 lice. 
 
 lorg, a stick. 
 
 luirg. 
 
 lee 
 
 
 lorg 
 
 lu-rik 
 
 Gleann, a valley. 
 
 glinne. 
 
 long, a ship. 
 
 luing. 
 
 glenn 
 
 
 long 
 
 lu-ing 
 
 Nouns in eu, followed by a liquid, change u into o, and insert i after it. 
 There are many irregular nouns ; but I do not consider it necessary to quote 
 many examples. The following may, I think, suffice, — my chief reliance being 
 on phonic spelling and literal translations : — 
 
 Nom. 
 
 Neul, a cloud, 
 neyl 
 
 Ian, a bird, 
 i-an 
 
 Feur, grass, 
 feyr 
 
 Meur, a finger, 
 mfeyr 
 
 Leus, a torch, 
 leys 
 
 Beul, a mouth, 
 beyll 
 
 Sgeul, a tale, 
 skeyll 
 
 neoil, clouds. 
 n^-Syll 
 
 eoin, birds, 
 e-oyn 
 
 feoir, grasses, 
 fe-oyr 
 
 meoir, fingers, 
 me-oyr 
 
 leois, torches. 
 
 le-oysh 
 
 beoil, mouths, 
 be-oyl 
 
 sgeoil, tales. 
 Bke-oyll 
 
 Nom. 
 
 feoil, flesh, 
 fe-oyll 
 
 sron, the nose, 
 sron 
 
 muir, the sea. 
 miiyr 
 
 fuil, blood. ■ 
 
 %U 
 
 druim, a ridge. 
 
 truym 
 
 suil, the eye. 
 
 siiyll 
 
 Gen. 
 
 feola, of the flesh, 
 fe-ola 
 
 sroine, of the nose, 
 sroyne 
 
 mara, of the sea. 
 mara 
 
 fola, of the blood, 
 fola 
 
 droma, of the back, 
 droma 
 
 sula, of the eye. 
 sula 
 
 meala, of the honey, 
 mela 
 
 mil, honey, 
 mil 
 
 Eannais, a wedding, bainnse, wedding, duthaich, a country, ducha, of the country, 
 bann-ayeh baynnse da'-ayich du-cha 
 
 Coluinn, the body. coUa, coll. gualainn,the shoylder. guaille,of the shoulder, 
 coluynn coUa gu-alaynn guylle 
 
24 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 ' General Eule.— The nominative plural is formed by adding a or an to 
 the nominative singular ; as nom. sing, bard, a poet, plu. bardan or baird. 
 
 Piobair, a piper. piobairean. 
 
 pipayr pipayren 
 
 Buachail, a shepherd. buachaillean. 
 
 bu-achayl bu-achayllen 
 
 Aimsir, weather. aimsirean. 
 
 aymishir ' ' aymi-sir-en 
 
 Craobh, a tree. craobhan. 
 
 cra-ov craovan 
 
 "Particulae Rule. — Masculine nouns which insert i in the genitive 
 singular, have the nominative plural like the genitive singular ; as nom. sing, 
 oglach, (oglach) a servant-man, gen. oglaich, (oglaych) nom. plu. oglaich ; so,— 
 
 N. Fear, a man. G. sin. fir. N. cluaran, a thistle. G. sin. &N. pi. cluarain. 
 
 fer fir clu-aran chi-aren 
 
 Bradan, a salmon. bradain. croman, a kite. cromain. 
 
 brad-an bratayn croman cromen 
 
 Cleireach, a clerk. cleirich. clachao, a village. clachain. 
 
 cley-rech cley-rich clachan clachen 
 
 " The changes marking the relations of adjectives to other words are, like 
 those to which nouns are subjected, sometimes partly made on the beginning 
 and partly on the termination. The changes at the beginning are made by 
 aspirating the initial consonant; those at the end, by partly changing the 
 terminations. The object of both is to indicate numbers and cases." — But I 
 must stop, lest the reader should think that I am going to seduce him into the 
 study of Gaelic grammar, and thus stultifying myself 
 
 The Gaelic bards of modern times, — that is, since they ceased to live as a 
 separate and distinct order, at the introduction of Christianity, though they 
 continued to be recognised and retain power as a class, — knew nothing of 
 letters, much less of grammar, with very few exceptions ; but they were orally 
 educated, and, the Gaelic being a natural instead of an artificial language, per- 
 fectly masters of all its simple peculiarities, as is proved by the very works on 
 which such profound, complicated, and apparently endless disquisitions have been 
 founded. I cannot, therefore, see any reason why an educated gentleman 
 should not, by the assistance of a phonic key to the pronunciation, be able to 
 make himself sufficiently master of the Gaelic language to become thoroughly 
 acquainted with the works of the Gaelic bards, without devoting a lifetime — if 
 a lifetime would suffice for the purpose — to the study of Gaelic gi-ammar. For 
 myself, I am satisfied that any educated person who may feel disposed to take a 
 little trouble in the matter, can easily acquire as much knowledge of Gaelic 
 from the preceding pages, and the phonetic spelling and literal translations in 
 the following pages, as will enable him both to peruse and to appreciate the 
 poetry and tales of the Gael. 
 
 'The Gaelic has no neuter gender, and it is difficult precisely to see the 
 grounds on which grammarians distinguish between the feminine and masculine 
 
THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 25 
 
 gender of inanimate objects ; but their language, as well as traditions, show that 
 devotion to the fair sex was a striking characteristic of the ancient Gael, and I 
 rather think that the gender of inanimate objects has been determined by them 
 in accordance with their predilections, and that everything which they regarded 
 as bright and beautiful, magnificent and sublime, in the first degree, is feminine, 
 and everything which they considered so only in the secondary degree, is 
 masculine. We accordingly find that the sun and moon are feminine, so also 
 are all the chief mountains and rivers ; while bruacb, (bru-ach,) a bank, alt, a 
 rivulet, monadh, (mona',) a hill, &c. &c., are masculine. Their poetry bears 
 me out in this view of the subject ; nay, more, the feminine may generally 
 be distinguished from the masculine in the poetry of the bards by the beauty 
 of the very names of the objects personified as feminine, which sound more 
 pleasingly to the ear than those personified as masculine. The grammarians 
 do not seem to have recognised this feature of Gaelic poetry; but, unlike the 
 bards, the grammarians had all the advantages of what the Times calls " Anglo- 
 Saxon civilization," and despised a weak deference to sex: hence they seem to 
 have determined the gender of inanimate objects by their adjectives. Thus as 
 the adjective proper to duine mor, (dnyne more) a man big, may be appropriately 
 joined to dun mor, a castle big, they concluded that castle is mascuhne. In 
 like manner, as the adjective proper to ge/rran, (ger-ran) a cart-horse, is also 
 proper to cuan, (cu-an) a sea, they regard the sea also as masculine. My object 
 does not, however, require that I should lead the reader through details ; but I 
 consider it proper and necessary to point out to him some of the peculiarities of 
 the language, and leave him to form conclusions for himself. 
 
 The parts of speech in Gaelic are nine : the article, (already declined,) 
 the noun, pronoun, adjective, and verb, which are declinable, and the adverb, 
 preposition, interjection, and conjunction, which are not declinable. " These 
 parts of speech, except the conjunction, are exemplified in the first verse of the 
 118th Psalm. 
 
 85 2 712 65436 6 
 
 " thugive buidheachas do 'n Tighearn, oir tha e maith, oir gu brath 
 o hugive buy'-chas to 'n . ti -ern oyr ha e may' oyr gu bra' 
 5 4 2 
 mairidh a threocair.' " 
 mayri' a h-re-ooayr 
 
 The rule for spelling Gaelic is embodied in the following verse, which is 
 ascribed to the Druids, who have credit in Highland tradition for every axiom 
 good and wise in conception, and useful and simple in practice, that have come 
 down to the people from remote ages : — 
 
 Leathan ri leathan, Broad to broad, 
 
 le'-an ri le'-an 
 'S caol ri caol. And small to small, 
 
 'g caol ri caol 
 
26 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 A chaoidh sgriobh Ever write 
 
 a chay skriv 
 
 Le brigh Gaelic. With meaning Gaelic, 
 
 le bri' ga-lio 
 
 Some grammarians think the above rule were more honoured in the breach 
 than the observance, because it requires, that, if the last vowel of any syllable 
 in a compound word is broad, the initial vowel in the next syllable should also 
 be broad, and thus leads to the employment of silent vowels. This is true, 
 but it leads to no confusion, and to very few silent vowels. Instead, therefore, 
 of desiring to do away with the rule, my wish is that other dialects had an 
 equally clear rule of spelling. Had the English student a rule for spelling that 
 language in four lines of four and five syllables ea«h, the saving for the last two 
 hundred years in time and money would have been incalculable. It is to this 
 rule for spelling, — ^the preservation of the initial letter of the roots-of compound 
 words, — and the itinerating labours of the bards and seanachies among the clans, 
 that the preservation of the Gaelic in its simplicity and purity, for thousands of 
 years, is to be ascribed. 
 
 Clanships were founded in identity of blood and pedigree from the original 
 patriarch of their respective districts. Hence, any persons acquainted with 
 their traditions must be aware that the old Highlanders did not consider the 
 sons of existing chiefs any higher in pedigree, or one iota more aristocratic than 
 the descendants of any other chief in the long line of descent from the founder 
 of the clan. The ancestral honours and blood were regarded as the common 
 inheritance, in which none had any preference. The clan district was also 
 regarded as the common property of the clan. The common interest required 
 them to have local clan or district governments ; but the oflBcials were elected 
 by the clan, and strictly limited to the chachda, or use and wont. Their laws 
 or cleachda (custom) weTe traditional, and known to every member of the clan, 
 and could not be altered or violated with impunity, even by the most popular 
 chiefs. They were administered by a judge called hridheamJi, (bri'-ev) 
 (modernised brehon in Ireland and Wales,) and by a jury, consisting of the 
 heads of the different families of the clan. The chief was the executive ; but 
 he was not a member of the brehon court. The judge was, of old, appointed 
 by the Druids, and probably a member of the Druid order ; but the Druids 
 constituted, not the civil but the criminal court of the clans. The chief and 
 chieftains were elected from the nearest in descent to the founder of the clan or 
 family, not to the last chief or chieftain, as in the feudal succession. Hence, in 
 general, the brother succeeded to the brother, and the nephew to the uncle, 
 instead of the son succeeding in lineal descent, as in feudal successions. I am 
 satisfied that it was the organization of the clans of the north of Europe for 
 the conquest of the Roman Empire, under partially despotic leaders, on a system 
 of military subordination, which originated all the essential differences between 
 the Celts and Goths, although they have since then been ascribed by historians 
 to a difference of race. These leaders, though at the first elected by their 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND OLANS. 27 
 
 followers on patriarchal principles, naturally established their power over them 
 permanently, when territories were conquered and districts divided into estates 
 among their officers. In such cases, the ceanncath, or war-chief, naturally became 
 king, and his officers feudal vassals ; and the heirs of both secured the succession. 
 This really seems to have originated feudalism and the manners and customs 
 which distinguished the so-called Gothic from the Celtic clans. There is no 
 historical evidence of the emigration to Europe of two races of mankind from 
 the East ; and feudalism is certainly first known as a system under the Emperor 
 Alexander Severus, in Germany, and not in the East. I have never been able 
 to discover any grounds on which to assign to the Gothic a different lineage 
 from the original Celtic colonists of the localities from which Gothic clans take 
 their names. Had they been a different race, and come from the East at a more 
 recent period, they would have carried their names along with them, instead of 
 taking the names of different localities in the land to which they had emigrated. 
 To assume that they are of a different race from the first Celtic colonists of 
 Europe, merely because of the difference in their political institutions, dialects, 
 manners, and customs, appears to me to be neither accordant, with probability 
 nor analogy. Language is the great argument of those who hold most firmly 
 to the idea of different races. Yet Max Miiller and the more eminent philolo- 
 gists of the present day, seem convinced that all languages, or, in this sense, 
 more properly dialects, may be traced to one source ; and to do so seems to be 
 the great object of comparative philology. The idea that the Sanscrit, Greek, 
 arid Latin, are derived the one from the other, has been fairly given up, and the 
 conclusion seems to be that they are derived from a common source. So fugitive 
 is the character of language known to be, as to have been thus illustrated by 
 Miiller : " We read of missionaries in Central America who attempted to write 
 down the language of savage tribes, and who compiled with great care a 
 dictionary of all the w^ords they could lay hold of ; returning to the same tribe, 
 . after the lapse of only ten years, they found that this dictionary had become 
 antiquated and useless. Old words had sunk in the ground, and new ones had 
 risen to the surface, and, to all outward appearance, the language was completely 
 changed." In short, mankind are the creatures of training and circumstances, 
 and the difference in these between the Celtic and Gothic tribes, accounts for 
 every other difference between them. - 
 
 I have much pleasure in submitting the following letter from a learned and 
 eminent antiquary and philologist,* in corroboration, substantially, of my views 
 on the subject of the cognate character of the languages and peoples of Europe. 
 
 " I beg to return my kindest thanks for the lecture on the Highlanders and 
 Scots, you have been so kind as to send me. I have read it with much attention, 
 and with great pleasure indeed. With the exception of one point, you have 
 anticipated all my conclusions and deductions. It occasioned much surprise 
 and pleasure thus to find two individuals, wholly unknown to one another, and 
 pursuing the same studies quite independent of each other, arriving at conckv- 
 
 * H. Maodonaia, Esq., GrandtiiUj', Dunkeld. 
 
28 THE LANQUAGK 
 
 sions almost the same. The reasons you have given for the difference in the 
 languages of Europe are precisely mine — preferably worded by you. 
 
 " I have studied to a certain extent the connexion of Latin and Greek with 
 our Gaelic, and find that no writer has yet done justice to this part of philology. 
 It is now known that ItaUan, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, are all the 
 direct offsprings of the language of Kome, and that both Greek and Latin enter 
 largely into the Teutonic or Gothic dialects. I can say nothing of the Sclavonic, 
 though it is considered one of the Arian tongues. Our own language is now, 
 with apparent grudge, admitted to belong to this Indo-European class of 
 languages. We are told that Professor Miiller, of Cambridge, has traced out 
 some seven or eight hundred words of Latin in the Gaelic, or vice versa ; and 
 we have been informed that Pezron, the antiquary, found that number in the 
 Greek, and from 1200 to 1400 words in Latin, though, like Miiller, he was 
 quite unacquainted with our tongue. I have traced out lately 2600 Latin terms 
 in our Gaelic, and am fully aware that I am far from having exhausted the 
 subject. In one letter of the Greek alphabet I detected 200 Gaelic words. I 
 believe the Greek is replete with Gaelic, for its numerous aspirated pronuncia- 
 tions and consonant combinations bear great affinity to our language. The 
 German or Teutonic is said to abound in it. 
 
 " Now when we find that our Celtic language pervades the whole languages 
 of middle and western Europe, is it mere enthusiasm that hems us in to the 
 conclusion, that our people and language have founded the existing races and 
 tongues of Europe ? Some of the great English savans of the last century 
 doubted the connexion of £rse (as they termed it) with any language in 
 Europe — such was Dr Johnson's view; but Whitaker left recorded that he 
 found 3000 British words in the old Saxon tongue ; and the more we examine 
 every dialect of the Teutonic, we find that it was reared on a Celtic foundation. 
 The recent assertions of some, that the Hindu and Sanscrit languages are 
 fellows of the European, is not satisfactory. At one time these races were, 
 brothers, but since their dispersion on the plains of Asshur, they never yet 
 met, and have no more claim for identity of race than the Patagonians and we 
 have ; there are, notwithstanding, many things in their language common to 
 ours. This is the case with the Arabic and Persic also. The term Indo- 
 European is a misnomer; neither is the fancy of such as term the Celts 
 Turanian, a shade happier. 
 
 " But how, it may be asked, are we to account for the extent to which 
 our language has pervaded the other languages of Europe ? The reply is 
 simple, namely, that our race had passed over the Hellespont first of all others, 
 with the language they had spoken in Chaldea. Greece became their earliest 
 European settlement, notwithstanding the waves of emigrants sent out 
 thence as pioneers to cultivate and inhabit the remaining wastes of Europe. 
 Neither did the race or language ever wholly abandon Pelasgia. The same 
 occurred in Italy. I would ask where had the Latin tongue its origin? In Italy. 
 Allowing the fables connected with the transmission of ^neas from Troy to 
 have some germs of truth in them, what was his language ? Greek. The 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 2d 
 
 Trojans were a Ionic tribe, and spoke the Helenic. The Latin consequently 
 was generated in Italy, and we need not wonder that so much Celtic enters into 
 its formation. 
 
 " You remark that there is no vestige of evidence that a Gothic conquest 
 
 of the Celts took place. It took place in the brain of would-be Gothic people 
 
 only ; never in fact. These writers have laid much stress on a passage from 
 
 Herodotus, which, as he was traditionally told, bore that the Scythse were driven 
 
 by the Messagetae from the south and east of the Araxes, and betook themselves 
 
 to the north of the Euxine, then occupied by the Cimbri, — the other great 
 
 cognate branch of the Celts,— and that they drove out the Cimbri, who, it 
 
 would appear, were obliged to cross the Euxine back to Asia Minor, from which 
 
 place they were expelled by Croesus ; in which circumstance they were compelled 
 
 to fall back on their own native country. This latter story of the Father of 
 
 History is overlooked by the Gothic writers. Research has done away with the 
 
 Scythse-Gothic myth, and the term is now understood to have been an appellative 
 
 generally applied to all people living on the produce of the chace. A people 
 
 termed Scytha, or archers, (from saighead, an arrow) may have followed in the 
 
 Wake of the still earlier Cimbri, but the conquest of the latter by the former is 
 
 still a guess of no foundation. An almagamation of a kindred race may have 
 
 taken place. But to descend to our British and Irish people, I am at a loss to 
 
 see how we are justified in designating tribes either in Britain or Ireland, 
 
 Gothic or Saxon, before these designations became known in the world or in 
 
 history. The Gothic nations of the south of Ireland, you frequently mention 
 
 as different from the Celts of the north, staggers me ; for the Milesians, Clanna- 
 
 Neimhidh, &c., of the Emerald Isle, I entertain the greatest doubt. I believe 
 
 that the sister Isle was originally peopled by Celts from the British Isle, and I 
 
 know that no Goth could exist there before the name existed any where else. 
 
 The Gothic champions have chosen to metamorphose the Gseti into Goths in 
 
 and after the seventh century, but the term was unknown before the Christian 
 
 era. As for the Belgse, they occupied a section of Gaul, and were real Celts, 
 
 although some tribes of them in Caesar's time preferred being considered 
 
 Germans, ignorant that in that case they were of the Celtic race. What 
 
 'holds true with the Goths as a separate people does the same with the Saxons. 
 
 They were unknown as such before the fourth century. Both they and the 
 
 Germans were the same race originally. At the commencement of the present 
 
 era, the portions of Germany occupied by the Angles and Saxons were inhabited 
 
 by Celts. The former could be none other than tribes of the latter. 
 
 " The Goths issued from Scandinavia early in the present era. How are 
 we to trace them in any portion of the British dominions prior to that time ? 
 Ireland, like all the northern states of Europe, no doubt, received tribe after 
 tribe ; but I cannot discover how we can call them but mere Celts. Then as 
 to the difference in dialect, I presume there was none before the English 
 invasion in the 12th century ; such variety as may have existed would be no 
 greater than that in Britain before the Roman invasion. That the north and 
 south of Ireland fought against one another during the Fingalian period is 
 
30 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 not an uncommon circumstance: the English heptarchies fought and 
 slaughtered each other indiscriminately ; yea, the brothers have been often 
 bent on destroying one another for power, among the Celts as well as other 
 people. I conceive, therefore, that no national difference existed among the 
 Irish, save that of the periods at which tribes of the same people arrived there. 
 
 '" I observe you remark that Columba required an interpreter between 
 himself and the Picts. This would have the effect of my reconciliation with 
 your system in reference to the Picts and Scots. . I would feel obliged by 
 a trace of good evidence in support of it ; for I maintain that both were one 
 and the same people, bearing at a certain period two distinctions,— equivalent 
 to Clan Campbell and Clan Donald. My acquaintance with Gaelic literature 
 does not afford me a proof that their language was not the same identical one. 
 The Roman poet in his panegryric in the third century, alludes to Scots and 
 other Picts ; and Bishop Winfred, in 664, in his disputes before Oswy, king 
 of Northumbria, with Colman, the Scot from lona, about the keeping of Easter, 
 says, " We found the same practised in all the world, except only those and 
 their accomplices in obstinacy, I mean the Picts and the Britons, who foolishly 
 oppose all the rest of the universe." — Bede, p. 156. This Scot from lona and 
 his people, are designated here, the Picts. 
 
 " The writing of Gaelic in Scotland scarcely differed from that of Ireland, 
 until the end of last century. The Gaelic of 800, of 1057, and subsequently, 
 was the same. See " Incitatum Belli" of 1411 ; Kilbride's MS. Genealogy of 
 1460 ; Carswell's Gaelic Liturgy of 1567 ; and Kirk's Gaelic Psalm Book of 
 the last ceijtury. 
 
 " I conceive the Scots to be the present Highlanders. They amalgamated 
 with the Picts in the ninth century, and have since formed the occupants both 
 of the east and the west of Scotland. I heartily admit the marked difference you 
 have drawn between the Lowlanders and Highlanders in shape and symmetry. 
 I have long observed it, but the distinction arises as much from the habits of 
 the people as it does from race. The Saxons and the Northmen of England 
 having mixed with the Lowlanders, contributed to the change both in symmetry 
 and language. Every inch of Britain was once peopled by Celts. Topography 
 is proof of this. The names of rivers, mountains, hills, straths, &c., in the" 
 Lowlands, both south and east, prove the same. Some, and Highlanders among 
 them, find Welsh and British names in Scotland, which are plain Gaelic. The 
 Dalriads retained their Gaelic at court till Canmore's time, and the bards 
 traced the genealogy of the latter Alexanders, in Gaelic, at their coronations, 
 to 1482." 
 
 The word Gael has been preserved as the distinctive name of the first tide 
 of emigrants from the East, by whom Europe was inhabited. The word means 
 white. This name, then, which was given or adopted at a period too remote 
 for our research, implies that, at that time, mankind were of different colours ; 
 and that one of these was white. This word was accordingly given to, or 
 a-ssumed by, the white, in contradistinction to the coloured races of mankind ; 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 31 
 
 and certainly the Saxon, and every other family now to be found in Europe, 
 appear to be the descendants of the Gael or white race. 
 
 Although I hold by the above opinion, namely that all the varieties of 
 white men are of one and the same race, I regard the question, which has 
 frequently been under public discussion of late, as to the cause of the difference 
 in comparative wealth and poverty of the classes who inhabit the richer and 
 poorer districts of Great Britain and Ireland, as extremely interesting ; but I 
 greatly doubt whether the conclusion at which the writers on the subject seem 
 to have arrived, — that it is to be ascribed to the inferiority of the Celtic race in 
 mental and physical capacity — is borne out by the military or civil history of 
 the races, even in those kingdoms. The so called Gothic race, for instance, where 
 they are supposed to be of pure lineage, as in Holland, have generally been 
 characterized as of phlegmatic temperaments, and heavy or unwieldy frames ; 
 and the Celtic race have uniformly been represented as of fiery temperaments 
 and active frames. Yet, these writers ascribe to the phlegmatic race all that is 
 intellectually great and physically energetic ; while to the Celts they ascribe 
 all that is mentally feeble and physically indolent. I do not think these premises 
 -and conclusions reconcilable. 
 
 Csesar describes the Gauls, who were Celts, as far advanced beyond the 
 Germans, (who are assumed to have been Saxons,) in civilization ; and 
 civilization is the result of the exercise of what is termed " the industrial 
 virtues." Are not the industrial virtues acquirements ? If so, may not the 
 difference between the habits and circumstances of the inhabitants of the richer 
 and poorer districts of Great Britain and Ireland at this day, as well as the 
 difference between those of the Gauls and Germans of the days of Caesar, be 
 accounted for separately altogether from any supposed difference in the mental 
 and physical capacity of the German and Celtic races ? 
 
 Is it not the fact, that the more nearly we find mankind (no matter of 
 what race,) to their primitive and uncultivated state, the more are they 
 characterized by apathy and indolence ? Nay, is it not the fact, that, in the 
 bosom of the most active seats of enterprise and industry, whole families are 
 to be found whose deficient education in the industrial virtues, stamps them 
 with all the characteristics of indolence and apathy ? Now, it will not be denied 
 that the inhabitants of the more cold, sterile, and inaccessible districts of all 
 countries, (by whatsoever race inhabited,) continue much longer in a primitive and 
 uncultivated state than those of the more fertile, genial, and accessible districts. 
 The origin of wealth is in the abundance of Nature. It is almost spontaneously 
 produced in the more fertile, and can only be produced by extreme industry in 
 the more sterile districts. Now, wealth is essential to, if not the parent of, com- 
 mercial and manufacturing industry. It creates artificial wants, and searches for 
 and rewards the enterprise and industry whereby they may be supplied. A people 
 living in a barren country, and who know no wants excepting those of nature, 
 are contented with milk and potatoes, hrogues and hodden greys, and do not 
 possess within themselves the means nor the stimulus necessary for the creation 
 of commerce and manufacturing wealth and industry. 
 
32 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 The so-called Saxdn and Celtic inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 in addition to the great advantages the former had over the latter, in the 
 possession of rich and fertile plains, intersected with navigable rivers, bays, and 
 estuaries, whereby the wealth and commerce of the whole world was drawn 
 among them, have not set out on the career of commercial and manufacturing 
 enterprise on equal terms. The Saxons of Great Britain and Ireland were, 
 hereditarily, less or more, accustomed to servitude and commerce, at a period 
 when the Celtic race possessed the soil of their native land in common, and 
 when the exercise of their industrial virtues was only necessary for the cultiva- 
 tion of their own lands and the domestic manufacture of their own produce for 
 their own use. Their industrial virtues were, therefore, in those days equal to 
 their wants ; and they lived contented and happy. The acquisitiveness and 
 injustice of the stranger changed the scene. He overturned the laws and 
 institutidns of their country, and made others, regardless of their wants, customs, 
 and habits, and without allowing them to have a say in the case. By these 
 new laws the Celt was denuded of his right of property in the soil, which con- 
 stituted his whole earthly possession, and reduced to the condition of a serf, to 
 grinding and oppressive landlords, whose unjustly acquired wealth went to the 
 employment and the enrichment of the Saxon, because his hereditary knowledge 
 of commerce and servitude made him the more eligible and ready-handed to 
 supply their artificial wants and luxuries. In short, the whole property of 
 the Celtic inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland was, in effect, confiscated to 
 a class, for the employment and enrichment of those of the people who had been 
 then accustomed to servitude and commerce ; and now the poor Celtic race, 
 denuded of all they possessed, thinly scattered over a barren and rocky sea-coast, 
 or among the isolated glens and mountains of broken and sterile wastes- 
 depressed by poverty and even deserted by the accustomed bounties of Nature,* 
 are blamed for not having, in this state of transition, made the same progress 
 in the arts and sciences of civilized life, as a people hereditarily initiated in 
 servitude and commerce ; and who, moreover, at the outset had virtually helped 
 themselves to their lands — the foundation of the whole wealth of the country — 
 to carry on their trade. 
 
 That the difference in the habits and circumstances of the inhabitants of 
 the richer and poorer districts of Great Britain and Ireland cannot with justice 
 be ascribed to anything inherent in the Celtic character, is proved by the fact, 
 that there is no part of these kingdoms in which persons of undoubted Celtic 
 lineage are not to be found, standing pre-eminently forward among the most 
 distinguished individuals of the Saxon race, in every department of literature 
 and the fine arts, as well as in all the sciences and inventions, or discoveries, 
 which have resulted in their great mercantile and manufacturing prosperity. 
 
 Noi- is the comparison of the emulation of individuals of the Saxons and 
 Celts with one another less favourable to the latter than the emulation of towns 
 and cities, if we take progress in commerce and manufactures as the criterion. 
 
 * Two or three of theee pages were written at the time of the potato failure. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 33 
 
 Let US take, for example, the city of Glasgow. Now, we find that Glasgow, so 
 recently as the year 1668, did not possess a single merchant who was a ship- 
 owner. Gibson, the father of her mercantile prosperity, made that year the first 
 venture in foreign trade. He cured and exported to St Martin's in France, 
 300 lasts of herring, (containing six barrels,) and received a barrel of brandy and 
 a crown for each. . Such was the extent of the foreign trade of Glasgow in 1668. 
 Compare this with the foreign trade of Glasgow at the present time, and will 
 it be found that she has loitered behind her neighbours in mercantile and manu- 
 facturing industry and enterprise? The statistics of Glasgow, and of many 
 other towns and cities in Great Britain and Ireland, (whether Celtic or Saxon), 
 show that great progress has been made by the country in mercantile and manu- 
 facturing enterprise within these two hundred years ; and where is the writer 
 who will venture to assert that that progress, in the towns and cities in which 
 it has taken place, is to be ascribed, not to a change in the habits of the people, 
 but to a change of the race by which they were, or are inhabited ? Are we to 
 come to the conclusion that Glasgow in 1668 was inhabited by a fiery race of 
 Celts, and that she is now inhabited by a phlegmatic race of Dutchmen ? The 
 statistics of towns and cities afibrd no evidence in confirmation of the charge of 
 indolence and apathy made against the Celtic race of Great Britain and Ireland ; 
 and the biography of eminent men does not show that the Celtic race has failed 
 to furnish its due share of all that is intellectually great and physically energetic. 
 ' But, perhaps, it is in their military qualities that these writers find the great 
 superiority of the Saxon over the Celtic race ? Let us take a glance at the ques- 
 tion in a military point of view, then, and see how it stands ; but in order to 
 clear it of all that might mislead the general reader, we must beg him to favour 
 us with his attention to a short sketch, in reference to Wallace, and the history 
 and military strength of the king-made nobility of his time. 
 
 North Britain, previous to the arrival of the Scoto-Irish in the western 
 parts of Argyleshire, was governed on the patriarchal cleachda of all the ancient 
 Celtic nations. This system is defined by the great (though sometimes not 
 immaculate) Chalmers, in his Caledonia, as afi'ording to every tribe the privilege 
 " of being each independent of the whole." By this cleachda, the power of the 
 kings, chiefs, and chifeftains, who constituted the patriarchs, was so bound down 
 as to have led Roman and other ancient writers into the supposition that clan- 
 ships were pure democracies. They were not democracies ; but they were pro- 
 bably as nearly so as was consistent with the purity and independence of the 
 rulers of the people. The Scots,* who ultimately succeeded to the supremacy, do 
 not appear to have carried with them the patriarchal system (judging from their 
 feuds and questions of succession among themselves) into the country ; at least 
 
 • That the Scots were the feudal, and the Caledonians the patriarchal people, is proved by the fact, that 
 the former had a king styled the King of Scots, that his sons were styled princes, that he created from time 
 to time, dukes, marquises, earls, &c. ; but the Caledonians never had kings or titles until they were created 
 for them by feudal historians and foreign priests. These, however, did not know their language. Hence 
 we have iu Gaelic no words to express the titles which theae sapient writers were pleased to confer on 
 our remote ancestors. 
 
 B 
 
34 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 in its purity. We accordingly find that Malcolm Canmore, who appears to have 
 been the first Scoto-Irish king that acquired any thing like an efiectual 
 dominion over the Picts, took immediate steps for the iBstablishment of the 
 feudal system. The disruption consequent on this process, threw a great portion 
 of the country into the hands of new possessors. Hence the Scottish nobility 
 of the days of Wallace were, in every essential, a foreign nobility. They 
 were foreigners in their lineage, language, titles, tenures, manners, and customs. 
 There were thus elements of the most irreconcilable enmity in existence be- 
 tween the people and the nobility of Scotland in the days of Wallace. Being, 
 however, only the growth of the two previous centuries, fortunately for the 
 people, the nobility were not in the possession of great military strength. 
 Their following consisted of men-at-arms, as may be seen from their charters ; 
 and the men-at-arms of Scotland were never very formidable, and much less so 
 at the above period. We accordingly find that Cumyn, one of the oldest 
 and most powerful among them, when he had to rely upon his own feudal friends 
 and vassals, (for the clans were only willing and voluntary soldiers in defensive 
 warfare,) as in his silly invasion of England, did not dare to encounter the 
 hostility of the citizens even of Carlisle. When the stalwart burghers showed 
 face, he abandoned his resentment against King Edward, and fled. We also 
 find, when the great Stewart, with Lennox " and other barons," joined the army 
 at Stirling, that their strength consisted only of sixty men ! Douglas, Lorn, &c., 
 who were chiefs, and followed by the people of their respective clans, are not 
 to be confounded with the nobility referred to. Neither should we allow our 
 estimate of the power of the nobility of those days to be exaggerated by the 
 vulgar error of supposing that tbe scMltrons, or divisions, which they commanded 
 in battle, were formed of their own vassals. These schiltrons were composed 
 of the clans, and oflScered by their chiefs and chieftains ; but " divide and 
 conquer" being the ruling principle of the feudal kmgs of Scotland, they, sowed 
 the seeds of distrust and division so sedulously among the clans, that one clan 
 would not be commanded by the chief of another clan. Hence when severals 
 of them were formed together into a schiltron, or division, some neutral person- 
 age behoved to get the command. The king, or his representative in the field, 
 therefore, usually appointed some nobleman, popular in the districts of the 
 respective schiltrons, to command them in battle. We must not, therefore, allow 
 our estimate of the military strength of the nobility of the days of Wallace, to 
 be magnified by the importance of the stations they occupied in the field of 
 battle, or by the power to which, by the successful carrying out of the feudal 
 organization, they afterwards attained. The power was only in its birth at that 
 period ; and we accordingly find that their assistance to the invader consisted 
 chiefly of intrigues, whereby they divided or betrayed the patriots,— as witness 
 the battle of Falkirk. 
 
 The derivation of the name, as well as the genealogy of Wallace is 
 involved in obspurity ; but its absence from bonds and charters, like tbose of 
 other Celtic chiefs, and its identity, as originally spelled, Walens, with that of 
 the heroic Walenses of Clydesdale, of which district he was a native, furnishes 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 35 
 
 at least, ex facie evidence of his Celtic lineage. To be of the same lineage and 
 language with the natives, would alsd seem elements absolutely necessary to 
 popularity among a people so constituted as the people of Scotland of the 
 days of Wallace. Nay, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact, that, even 
 at so late a period as "the forty-five," no small share of the enthusiasm in 
 favour of " the Prince," may be ascribed to the zeal and address with which he 
 assumed their national dress and arms, and cultivated their habits and their lan- 
 guage. These were the means whereby he rooted himself in their hearts, and 
 effectually awakened their ancient loyalty and fidelity to their old race of kings. 
 We also see that the tone of determined enmity in which Wallace is 
 made to speak of his foemen, has in it something far more bitter than could 
 have risen from the hostility of two warlike kingdoms. It implies hatred to 
 the race much more distinctly than to the invader. Nor is the intense hostility 
 of the Scottish nobility to Wallace satisfactorily explained when ascribed merely 
 to the supposed pride of rank and birth. For Wallace was himself of knightly 
 rank and family ; and, therefore, even according to their own feudal distinctions, 
 qualified to enter the lists against the best and noblest of their race or order. 
 Neither is it to be understood that the nobility of that age — that is, the king- 
 made nobility — possessed that prestige which power and antiquity of family 
 confer on their descendants. No doubt, some of them were descended of the 
 nobility of England ; but these were only the offspring of the then recent 
 conquest of that kingdom by the Normans. But, at any rate, the best and 
 noblest of either the English or the Scottish nobility of that day, were not to be 
 compared to the chiefs and chieftains of Scotland, in purity of blood, or an- 
 tiquity of family. We must therefore look elsewhere than to their pride, for 
 the cause of the hatred and affected contempt entertained by the nobility 
 against Wallace. May they not rather have arisen from his Celtic lineage and 
 popularity with the people, who hated and repudiated their rank and tenures, 
 and whom they, in return, both hated and feared ? 
 
 When circumvented, or defeated on the plains, where the feudal nobility 
 had some show of influence, and where they sometimes joined, in order to 
 thwart and betray him, we find that Wallace invariably retired beyond the 
 Clyde and Forth, among the glens and mountains occupied by the native 
 Celtic race, and that he never failed to return thence with thousands of true 
 hearts and strong arms, able and willing, as at the battle of Stirling, to pave 
 his way to glory and to victory. These were the men with whom he thrice 
 swept the invader from the land, and with whom his triumph had been cOmr 
 pleted, but for the persevering, and, alas, ultimately successful treachery of the 
 nobility. These facts lead to the conclusion that Wallace and his followers found 
 their mutual patriotism and confidence in one another cemented by the ties of 
 language and of lineage, — that they were equally the lineal descendants and 
 true representatives of the illustrious tribes who, of old, repelled the Roman and 
 Danish invaders of their country, in the same spirit in which they, their off- 
 spring, were then resolute to conquer or to die in the sacred cause of her liberty 
 and independence. We have, therefore, reason to believe that the opponents 
 
36 THE LANGPAQE 
 
 of the English, in the days of Wallace, were the patriarchal clans of Scotland ; 
 the same race whom they long afterwards encountered at Prestonpans and 
 CuUoden. We shall now, therefore, proceed with a brief sketch of the more 
 prominent arenas on which the Saxon and Celtic races have met each other in 
 battle, beginning with the wars of the first Napoleon. 
 
 The Continental Saxons have freqiiently met the half-Celtic French in 
 battle, and certainly did not show their superiority to them in mental and 
 physical energy. During that war, in particular, the Continental Saxons 
 gained no laurels from the representatives of the ancient Gauls. It is not to 
 their Saxon blood, therefore, that the English owe their military superiority over 
 the French, but to the blood of their British mothers, otherwise why did not 
 the Continental Saxons (who certainly must possess more Saxon blood than the 
 English) beat the French ? The descendants and representatives of the Celtic 
 Gauls are, at this day, the greatest of all the Continental nations. 
 
 The last occasion on which the Celtic and Saxon races of Great Britain 
 met one another in warfare, was, as already mentioned, in the " forty-five," 
 and we certainly do not find that the Saxon manifested any superiority to the 
 Celtic race, either physically or mentally, on that occasion. We must, therefore, 
 proceed backward with our researches before we can find any evidence of the 
 military superiority of the Saxon to the Gael. 
 
 It is said that the Saxon subjugated the Briton. This statement is now 
 discredited, but supposing it true, the Briton had become effeminate by several 
 centuries of subjection to the Eomans, before he achieved that triumph. Over 
 the Caledonian and the Dane he failed to achieve any permanent superiority or 
 advantage : on the contrary, his country was overrun repeatedly, and finally 
 conquered, by the Dane ; and the Dane, the Saxon's conqueror, was as repeatedly 
 defeated in battle, and driven by the Caledonians into the saa. 
 
 Nor was the superiority of the Saxon to the Celt manifested in the war of 
 independence under Wallace and Bruce, although that war occurred after he had 
 been again improved in his breed, and elevated in his military character, by an 
 accession of blood from the half, if not wholly, Celtic and warlike Norman. 
 But to show the difference between the Celt and Saxon, in their military qualities, 
 it is only necessary to refer to the historical fact, that, by the loss of the single 
 battle of Hastings, the Saxon was cowed and subjugated ; whereas the Celt, 
 instead of yielding on a single defeat, maintained a disastrous war of thirty years 
 duration, not only against a powerful foreign invader, but against the still 
 more fatal treachery of the Anglo-Saxon nobility, planted by his own kings, in 
 the bosom of his country, for the extinction of his rights and liberty. 
 
 Nor did these thirty years of ruinous warfare either cool his patriotism or 
 tame his courage. On the contrary, he faced the whole Anglo-Saxon and 
 Anglo-Norman power, not only of England, but of Wales and Ireland also, on 
 the field of Bannockburn, and, with one Celt against three Saxons, overthrew 
 them with a slaughter, to which that of Waterloo,— the Bannockburn of 
 European warfare, — is scarcely to be compared ; and with that crowning victory 
 he secured and consolidated the independence of his country. The military 
 history of the Saxon and Celtic races, assuming them to be different races, 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 37 
 
 relatively to one aDother, does not therefore afford any evidence of the mental 
 or physical superiority of the Saxon race. 
 
 We do not, and cannot see any reason for coming to the conclusion, that 
 the Saxons and the Celts are descended of two distinct races. Every shade of 
 difference between them, may — we would say, must — have been produced by 
 education and circumstances. But be that as it may, so complete is the 
 amalgamation of the two now in Great Britain and Ireland, as to render it 
 impossible to draw a line of demarcation between them. However, it is not 
 either necessary or desirable to do so, and I may venture to predict that no 
 honest patriot vrill ever attempt it. Indeed, I question if twenty families of 
 British-born subjects can be found, who can trace themselves through six 
 generations of an unmixed Saxon lineage. 
 
 I have already stated that the Gaelic vowels are sounded by grammarians 
 like the English vowels in far, theme, pjn, broke, trwe. Every one of these 
 vowels have, however, according to these gentlemen, as many sounds and shades 
 of sound, hard and soft, broad and small, thin and thick, as, with the numerous 
 signs or accents by which they are distinguished, might enable a clever teacher 
 to retain an ordinary pupil in his hands for an age ; but, of course, they con- 
 sidered the acquisition of such an invaluable knowledge cheaply purchased by 
 the sacrifice of a life-time to the study of Gaelic grammar. But the singular thing 
 is, how Duncan Ban Macintyre and the other bards, who could neither read nor 
 write, contrived to leave behind them the learned works on which such elaborate 
 disquisitions have been founded by these great philologists ! My space will not 
 permit me to trouble the reader with many extracts, but I could have shown him, 
 by voluminous quotations, that the Highlanders were not the ignorant barbarians 
 they are represented to have been ; and I must remark, as a sufficiently striking 
 corroboration of this statement, that Caesar ascertained from the natives that 
 the coast of Britain was two thousand miles in circumference, (and I question 
 whether the Government Surveyors will show that they were very far wrong,) 
 yet our learned historians have been repeating, one after another, — on the 
 authority of Latin books too, — for the last two thousand years, that it was the 
 Eomans who first ascertained that Britain was an island ! and I have no doubt 
 that they will continue to repeat this, and a hundred other fallacies, and that 
 the good-natured public will not only continue to believe, but also to buy these 
 precious books, and pay dominies for teaching them to their children, for two 
 thousand years more. 
 
 I have stated, that Gaelic consonants, when not aspirated or in action, are 
 pronounced Hke the English consonants in the following words : b in Sad, c in 
 cant, d in t^aft, f in ^all, g in ^all, 1 in feek, m in «iad, n in warrow, p in 
 ;?ath, r in rare, s in salad, and t in <ar, but much thicker, softer, and deeper. 
 As the purity of the reader's pronunciation depends entirely on his making 
 himself a complete master of this peculiarity, I beg of him to go once more 
 over the instructions for pronouncing the consonants when in action, already 
 given, before addressing himself to the following words, otherwise lie is sure to 
 acquire a spurious pronunciation. 
 
THE LANGUAaE 
 
 Tir-mhor, a continent, 
 •tir-vore 
 
 Duthaich, a country, 
 du'-aych 
 
 Eillen, an island, 
 ellen 
 
 Doirlinn, an isthmus, 
 doyrlinn 
 
 Traigh, coast, 
 tra-i' 
 
 Cladach, beach, 
 cladach 
 
 Cuan, sea. 
 cu-an 
 
 Muir, ocean, 
 muyr 
 
 Camas, bay. 
 camas 
 
 Calla, harbour, 
 calla 
 
 Geob, a creek, 
 ge-ob 
 
 Caolas, a strait, 
 caolas* 
 
 Loch, a lake. 
 Abhuinn, a river. 
 
 avuyn 
 
 Alt, a rivulet. 
 
 Eas, a waterfall. 
 
 ess 
 
 Linne, a pool. 
 
 linn-e 
 
 Sruth, a current, 
 sru' 
 
 Dall-bhog, a quagmire, 
 dallavog 
 
 Frith, a deer forest, 
 fri' 
 
 mor-shruth, a rapid, 
 raore-ra' 
 
 adhadh, a ford. 
 
 ah'-^h' 
 coileam, a rapid rushing through a narrow rock- 
 
 coylem bound channel. 
 
 tober, a spring. 
 
 srath, the lower part of a glen, a valley. 
 
 sra' 
 dael, a plain in the curve of a river. 
 
 dal 
 
 gleann, a glen, 
 glenn 
 
 coire, a semi-glen in the face of a hill, 
 c&yre 
 
 bealach, a defile or pass, 
 belach 
 
 aisre, a steppe among rocks. 
 Syshre 
 
 beinn, a mountain, 
 beynn 
 
 cruach, a conical or stack-shaped mountain, 
 cru-aoh 
 
 sliabh, a wold or inclined table-land, 
 sli-av 
 
 slios, the flank or side of a mountain. 
 
 slis 
 
 scur, a cliff, 
 scur 
 
 mointeach, a moor, 
 inoyntech 
 
 carr, a dry moor, rutted with winter water-courses. 
 Ion, a moist plain or meadow, 
 cos, a cleft. 
 
 cnagan, a knag in a tree or rock, 
 cuagan 
 
 Grianan, a sunny knoll, (a innis, an island ; also a roosting place, 
 gri-an-an fairy brugh.) 
 
 Sithean, a fairy knoll or i, an island (obsolete.) 
 shi'-en brugh. 
 
 Bruach or brugh, a bank airidh, a shieling or Highland summer residence, 
 bru-ach bru' ayri' 
 
 or ridge; also a clachan. 
 
 Cloadh, burying ground, fasach, a deer-forest, or preserved pasture. 
 <=lo' or salmon spawn- &sach 
 ingplape. 
 
 * Ao. Here the phonic apelling is a failure j for aw is a horrid imitation, and I can find no letters 
 that more nearly represents the sound- in English. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 39 
 
 Stuc, a peak. 
 
 Uamh, a cave, 
 u-av 
 
 Bo, a cow. 
 bo 
 
 Ba-thigh, a cow-house, 
 ba-hi' 
 
 Bualaidh, a fold, 
 bu-a-lay' 
 
 Laogh, a calf, 
 lao' 
 
 Arladh, a quey. 
 aria' 
 
 Gamhainn, a stirk. 
 gavayn 
 
 Damh, an ox. 
 dav 
 
 Tarbh, a bull, 
 tarv 
 
 Gearran, a work-horse, 
 gerran 
 
 Steud, a war-horse, 
 stgyd 
 
 Marc, a riding-horse, 
 marc 
 
 Falare, a riding-mare. 
 &Iare 
 
 Capul, a brood-mare, 
 capul 
 
 Caora, a ewe. 
 caor^i ' 
 
 Boc-earba, a roebuck, 
 boceraba 
 
 Sionnach, a fox. 
 shi-onach 
 
 Doran, an otter, 
 doran 
 
 Broc, a badger, 
 broc 
 
 Eoin-fhraoich, moorfowls. 
 e-oyn-roych 
 
 Coilleach-fraoich, a moorcock, 
 coylech-froyoh 
 
 Cearc-fhraoich, a moorhen, 
 cerc-roych 
 
 Coillich-dhu, blackcocks, 
 coyllich-yu 
 
 Liadh chearcean, grey hens. 
 li-a' cbercaa 
 
 Eala, a swan, 
 ella 
 
 garbh-f honn, a rough rocky country, (a 
 garv-onn cognomen of Arasaig.) 
 
 geamhrachadh, a wintering-place, 
 gevra-cha' 
 
 mult, a wether. 
 
 reithe, a ram. 
 rey'-6 
 
 uan, a lamb, 
 u-an 
 
 oisg, a hogg or year-old sheep, 
 oysg 
 
 athbhlianach, a two-year-old sheep, 
 a'-vli-an-ach 
 
 cloimh, wool, 
 cloyv 
 
 gabhar, a goat. ^ 
 gavar 
 
 hoc, a he-goat, 
 boo 
 
 laosboc, a wether goat, 
 laosboc 
 
 meann, a kid. 
 menn 
 
 fiadh, a stag. 
 fi-a' 
 
 maoisleach, a hind, 
 moyslech 
 
 minnean, a calf-deer, 
 minnen 
 
 earba, a roe-deer, 
 eraba 
 
 banag, a grilse.. 
 
 geallabhreac, a salmon-trout, 
 gella-vrec 
 
 breac, a trout, 
 brec 
 
 slatiasgaich, a fishing-rod. 
 slat-i-asgich 
 
 morbha, a fish-spear or leister, 
 morva 
 
 clic, a gaff, 
 clic 
 
 driamlach, a fish-line, 
 dri-am-lach 
 
 dubhan, a hook, 
 duvan 
 
 cuilleag, a fly. 
 cuyllag 
 
 rodhan, a pirn, 
 ro'-an 
 
40 
 
 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 Lach, a wild-duck. 
 
 lach 
 
 Malard, a wild-drake, 
 mall-ard 
 Tunnag, a duck. 
 
 tunn-ag 
 
 Drac, a drake. 
 
 drac 
 Geadh, a goose. 
 
 ge-a' 
 Ganradh, a gander. 
 
 gan-ra' 
 
 Feadag, a plover, 
 fedag 
 
 Adharcag, a lapwing, 
 a'-ar-cag 
 
 Guilbneach, a curlew, 
 guylebenach 
 
 Corr, a heron, 
 corr 
 
 Budag, a snipe, 
 badag 
 
 Creothar, a woodcock, 
 cre'-ar 
 
 lasg, a fish, 
 i-asg 
 
 Bradan, a salmon, 
 bradan 
 
 Leinne-chrios,t a shirt of mail. 
 leynS-chri-os 
 
 Sgiath, a shield or wing, 
 ski-a' 
 
 Dag, a pistol, 
 dag 
 
 Beudag, a dirk, literally, the little 
 beydag deadly one. 
 
 Boghadh-shaighead, an arrow-bow. 
 bo'-a'-hayed 
 
 Taifead, a bow-string, 
 tayfed 
 
 Gunna, a gun. 
 gunn-a 
 
 Claishneach, a rifle, 
 claysh-nech 
 
 Camus, a mould for casting bullets. 
 
 leabhar-chuilleag, a fly-book, 
 levar-chuyllag 
 
 claidheamh, a sword. 
 
 clay'-ev 
 claidh-mor, a broadsword, 
 clay'-more 
 claidh-da-laimh, two-handed sword. 
 
 clay'-da-layv 
 claidh-cinn-ais-nich, a rib-hilted sword, 
 clay'-cinn-aysh-nich 
 
 claidh-cuil, a backsword. 
 
 clay'-cuyl 
 claidh-caol, a small sword. 
 
 clay'-ea-ol 
 clogaid, a helmet, 
 clogayt 
 
 clogaid stailin, a steel helmet, 
 clogayt Stalin 
 luireach, a buff cloak, 
 layrech 
 
 dealg-gualain,* a shoulder pin or skewer, 
 telag-gu-aleyn 
 
 braisd, a brooch, 
 braysd 
 
 luirech mhaileach, a mail-cloak, 
 luyrech vaylech 
 
 claidh-cinn-Illich, an Islay hilted sword, 
 olay'-oinn-illich 
 
 feile, a kilt, 
 feyl^ 
 
 triubhas, trews worn by equestrians and 
 tri-u-vas , aged men. 
 
 brigis, short trews, buckled at the knee, 
 brigis 
 
 bonaid, a bonnet 
 bonayt 
 
 peiteag, a waistcoat, 
 peytag 
 
 peitag-mhuilichen, a jacket, literally a 
 peytag-vuylichen waistcoat with sleeves. 
 
 brog, a shoe, 
 brog 
 
 cuaran, a sandal, 
 cu-aran 
 
 cuarag, a knapsack, 
 cu-ar-ag 
 
 * A skewer of gold or silver, with a head usually large and highly ornamental, for fastening the 
 warrior's plaid on the shoulder. The brooch was only used by women. 
 
 •f Leine-chrios was the distinguishing name of the chosen warriors who attended the chief in battle, 
 moved with him from side to side of the field, pushing every advantage, and sustaining the party 
 inclining backward or in jeopardy. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 41 
 
 Fudar, powder. balgan-peallach, a goatskin haversack, 
 
 fudar ballagan-pellach 
 
 Carbat, a war-chariot. dornlach, a quiver. 
 
 carbat dornlach 
 
 Sgian, a knife. diollaid, a saddle. 
 
 8gi-an di-oUit 
 
 Sporran, a purse. pillean, a pad. 
 
 sporran pillen 
 
 Osan, hose. summac, a pack-saddle, 
 
 osan summac 
 
 Breacan, a plaid, 
 brecan 
 
 Breacan am feile, a belted plaid, 
 brecan am feyl^ 
 
 The Lowland Caledonians, as well as the Lowland Scots, wore the trews, 
 both long and short The short trews ultimately degenerated into the hrig'k 
 or tight shorts, probably an 'innovation by some court dandies of the early days 
 of feudalism. . The short tartan trews of the Caledonians and Scots was buckled 
 or open at the knee, according to taste or pleasure. The Caledonians wore a 
 broad blue boimet, cocked, and pretty high, a jacket without skirts, tartan hose, 
 reaching barely over the calf of the leg, where they were fastened with showy 
 garters ending in a graceful tie, like that of the modem neck-tie or stock, on the 
 outside of the leg. The space between the short trews (which, like the kilt, 
 merely descended over the cap of the knee,) and the hose, was bare. The Biscay- 
 men, on both sides of the, Pyrenees, wore a similar dress. This dress, a little 
 degeneratedj especially the bonnet, which was small and flat, was in existence 
 ^hen the British army wintered there in 1813-14. I have no doubt this was the 
 common garb of the Continent before our ancestors crossed the Channel. I could 
 not converse with the people in their native dialect,, but the nouns in the Basque 
 were the same as in Gaelic, slightly differing in pronunciation only. Suchet and 
 his division were Biscayans ; and when the British army were on the Pyrenees, 
 the people talked of him and.tliem with the same enthusiasm with which the 
 Highlanders talked of Sir Colin Campbell and his brigade at the time of the 
 Crimean war. They met the British for the first time at Hellette, in the south 
 of France, on the opening of the campaign of 1814, and faced us manfully ; but 
 Wellington turned their position, and made them retire before their stamina 
 was fairly tested, which I was then young enough to regret, for I wished much 
 to see whether they possessed the obstinate firmness of the Gael. Two of their 
 officers, however, while the light troops were scattered skirmishing, found an 
 opportunity of coming into combat, in the old Highland fashion, with Lieutenapt 
 Lambrecht of the 66th regiment, and another light company officer. Lieutenant 
 Lambrecht's sword was broke in two near the hilt, by a musket shot, just as 
 they were in the act of closing with each other, and the noble Biscayan instantly 
 saluted him with his sword, and drew back ; nor did he ofier to take part with 
 his companion, though it was evident that he was a very inferior swordsman to 
 his opponent, (who was also, like himself, a Celt,) and had no chance. 
 
 F 
 
42 THE LANGUAOE 
 
 The short trews and hose, as above described, were worn by a few old men 
 in Strathspey and Stratherrick sixty years ago. The Biscayans, at the above 
 period, instead of tartan hose, wore a long worsted stocking folded down mid- 
 leg, and tied with red tape, like some very fat-legged strangers whom I have 
 recently seen aping or caricaturing Highlanders, in a species of gaberlunzie 
 dress, which they, no doubt, innocently suppose to be the same with that worn 
 by the Highlanders- when in an uncivilized state. The Lowland Scots certainly 
 wore the short trews ; but the long trews was their costume. The trews and 
 hose were in one piece, the part below the knee being fitted to the leg, and 
 ending in a foot like hose. The knickerboker, when worn with a boot, is 
 exactly like the trews when worn with a riding-boot, as it always was by 
 equestrians. The trews were buttoned in front, like modern trousers ; but that 
 part was covered with a small gold or silver laced apron, having the wearer's 
 crest and badge, tastefully combined with tracery, embroidered on it- The 
 bonnet of the Lowland Scot was broad and flat ; but not high and cocked like 
 that of the Caledonian. Both wore the plaid ; but the Scot wore his generally 
 doubled round his shoulders, and fastened with a brooch. The old Caledonians 
 occasionally wore the belted-plaid, that is, the plaid divided at the waist by a 
 broad belt, the upper part being wrapped round the shoulders, and fastened on 
 the breast with the dealg-ghiialainn or shoulder skewer, and the lower part 
 gathered round the loins and thighs in plaits, like a kilt. This is the dress 
 described in a work published in London in 1630, called, I think, " The 
 Eelations of the most celebrated Nations," as the dress worn by Henry the 
 VIIL's Irish troops on his visit to France. It is a remarkable circumstance that 
 the Antiquarian Societies of Ireland have lost sight of this the ancient native 
 dress of the northern Irish. It is evident, however, from the name of this dress, 
 which, in contradistinction to feile, is called breacan am feile, that wearing the 
 plaid and kilt in one piece was not the rule, but the exception. The usual way 
 was to wear the plaid and kilt separately, the plaid thrown over the left shoulder, 
 as in the regiments whose dolonels, while clothiers to their respective corps, did 
 not cabbage the men's plaids, and substitute square pieces of tartan, fixed, like 
 " hahy-chuts" behind their backs, to dangle, transversely, between the hip and 
 shoulder. The plaid of the Highland warrior was fastened on the shoulder 
 with a silver or gold skewer, whose head was usually shaped like his crest. 
 Only the Highland ladies and the Lowland Scots wore the brooch, which was 
 altogether unsuitable for the Highlander of warlike times, from the difficulty ef 
 unfastening it, — for he always fought stripped to the waist. Hence his first 
 motion, when " descending" to battle, was to firm his bonnet on his head, by 
 an emphatic " scrug/" — his second, to cast off his plaid, &c. ; — his third, to 
 incline his body horizontally forward, cover it with his target, rush to within 
 fifty paces of the enemy's line, discharge, and drop his fusee or rifle ; — his fourth, 
 to dart forward till within twelve paces, discharge, and fling his iron-stocked 
 pistols at the foeman's head ; — his fifth, to draw claymore, and at him. This 
 was done by the Gael at the battle of Killiecrankie, the moment Dundee fell, 
 and they. found themselves at liberty to take their own course. Their conduct 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 43 
 
 is so described by one of Dundas's officers, who published a short and interesting 
 memoir of the hero, which was published in London four years after his death. 
 [Lord Macaulay does not seem to have seen this book, for he calls some of the 
 facts stated in it an invention of recent times.] This writer's description of the 
 battle is corroborated by Ian Lom, and other bards, who state that Dundee 
 caused great loss to the Highlanders by the slow pace at which he led them 
 into battle. By this injudicious process, which shows that Dundee did not know 
 the Highlanders as well as Montrose, they received three volleys before drawing 
 their swords. Left to their own tactics, they would have received only one, 
 and the battle would have been decided in ten minutes. It lasted only two 
 minutes, according to this officer, and to the bard Ian Lom, after Dundee's 
 death. Had he not been killed, it might, like the battle of CuUodeii, have been 
 protracted until two thirds of his clans had been killed or wounded. 
 
 Athair, father, 
 a'-ayr 
 
 Mathair, mother, 
 ma'-ayr 
 
 Brathair, brother, 
 bra'-ayr 
 
 Piuthair, sister. 
 pi-u'-ayr 
 
 Seannaer, grandfather, 
 shen-ar 
 
 Seannamhair, grandmother, 
 shena-ver 
 
 Mac, son. 
 mac 
 
 Nigheann, daughter, 
 ni'-en 
 
 Ceili, husband, 
 ehey-li 
 
 Banacheili, wife, 
 ban-a-cheyli 
 
 Trechele,throughother, "helter-skelter." 
 trecheM 
 
 Lechele, together, " hand-in-hand." 
 lechele 
 
 Ochele, separately, from one another, 
 ocheld 
 
 Priomh-athair, patriarch, 
 pri-ov-a'-ayr 
 
 Clann, a clan, (literally children,) the 
 clann descendants" of one priomh- 
 athair or patriarch. 
 
 Ceann-cinnith, head of a tribe, chief. 
 
 cen-einni' 
 Bana-cheann-cinnith, female head of a 
 
 bana-ohen-cirii' clan, chiefess. 
 
 balaochan, a cow-boy, literally a cow- 
 ba-laochan hero, hence balach. 
 
 caile, a stout young woman, 
 cayld 
 
 caileag, a lassie, 
 cayl-ag 
 
 boireineach, a woman, (pronoun.) 
 boyrenach 
 
 fireneach, a man, (pronoun.) 
 firenach 
 
 duine, a man. 
 duyne 
 
 bean, a woman, 
 ben 
 
 bodach, an old boor, 
 bodach 
 
 cailleach, an old female boor, 
 cayllech 
 
 deo-dhuine, a good man, literally, a 
 de-o-yune god-man. 
 
 dorch-dhuine, a bad man, literally, a 
 dorch-yune man of darkness. 
 
 duine-coir, a kindly, honest man, liter- 
 duynd-coir ally, a surpassing man. 
 
 duine-carrach, a quirky-man, literally, 
 duyn^-carrach acrooked or twisted man. 
 
 amadan, a fool, literally, the waif of 
 am-a-dan time. 
 
 burraidh, a blustering loquacious fool, 
 burray' 
 
 benmhiaghael, a precious woman. 
 
 ben-vi-ayell 
 benaillidh, a beautiful woman. 
 
 ben-ali' 
 
44 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 Ceanntaigh, head of a house or branch, oiseach, a silly woman, literally a 
 
 cen-tay° chieftain. oy-sech strayed young woman. 
 
 Bana-cheann-taigh, female head of a buidseach, a witch, 
 
 banaehen-ta-i' house, chieftainess. buyt-sech 
 
 Ceanntealaich, head of a household. duineraitechael, a vain-glorious man. 
 
 centelech duyne-raytechel 
 
 Banacheanntealoich, female head of a cladhaire, a coward. 
 
 banachentelaych household. cla'-ayrfe 
 
 Uachdaran, the superior of the land, duinecrum, a niggardly man. 
 u-achdaran the tainister. duyn^-orinn 
 
 Banuchdaran, a female superior of lands, duine fial, a social, hospitable man. 
 ban-u-aehdaran or a female tainister. duyn6 fi-al 
 
 Banathainister, a female tainister. 
 bana-haynister 
 
 NUMBEBS. 
 
 1, aon, or, a h-aon. 11, aon-deug,or,ah-aon-deug, 21, aon thair fichead, one 
 son aon-deyg one over ten. over twenty. 
 
 2, da, a dha. 12, dha-dheug, a dha-dheug. 22, dha thair fichead. 
 
 ya ya-yeyg 
 
 3, ti^ a tri. 13, tri-deug, a tri-deug. 23, tri " " 
 tri tri-deyg 
 
 4, ceitheir, a ceitheir. 14, ceithk-deug, a ceithir- 24, ceitheir " 
 
 cey'-er cey-ir-deyg deug. 
 
 6, coig, a coig. 15, coig-deug, a coig-deug. 25, coig " " 
 
 coyg coyg-deyg 
 
 6, sia, a sia. 16, Sia-deug, a sia-deug. 26, sia " " 
 shi-a shi-a-deyg ^ 
 
 7, seachd, a seachd. 17, seachd-deug, a seachd- 27, seachd " 
 BhecM shechd-deyg deug. ^_ 
 
 8, ochd, a h-ochd. 18, ochd-deug, a h-ochd-deug. 28, oimd " " 
 oehd ochd-deyg 
 
 9, naoidh, a noidh. 19, noidh-deug,anoidh-deug. 29, naoidh " 
 
 noy' noy'-deyg 
 
 10, deich, a deich. 20, fichead, a fichead. 30, deich " " 
 
 deyoh fi-ched 
 
 40, da fhichead, two twenties. 90, ceithir fichead sa deich. 
 da iched cey'-ir fiehed sa deych 
 
 41, da fhichead sa h-aon, two twenties and one. 100, cend. 
 da iched sa haoa ceyd 
 
 50, da fhichead sa deich. 200, da cheud. 
 da iched sa deych da ched 
 
 60, tri fichead, three twenties. 300, tri cheud. 
 tri fiehed tri ched 
 
 61, tri fichead sa h-aon. 400, ceithir cheud. 
 tri fiehed sa haon cey'-ir ched 
 
 70, tri fichead sa deich, three twenties and ten. 500, coig ceud. 
 
 tri fiehed sa deych coyg ched 
 
 80, ceithir fichead, four twenties. 600, sia ceud. 
 
 cey'ir fiehed sia ched 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 45 
 
 700, seachd ceud. 
 shechd chsd 
 
 800, ocM ceud. 
 ochd c3d 
 
 900, naoidh ceud. 
 noy' cgd 
 
 1000, mile. 
 
 2000, da mhile. 
 da vil-d 
 
 3000, tri mile, 
 tri mil-^ 
 
 4000, ceithir mile, 
 cey'-ir mil-^ 
 
 5000, coig mile, 
 coyg mil-^ 
 
 6000, sia mile, 
 ehe-a mil-^ 
 
 7000, seachd mile, 
 shechd mil-^ 
 
 8000, ochd mile, 
 ochd mil-^ 
 
 9000, noidh mile, 
 noy' mil'^ 
 
 10,000, deich mile, 
 deych mil-d 
 
 Cakdinal Numbers joined to a Noun. 
 
 Aon fhear, one man. 
 aon Sr 
 
 Da fhear, two men. 
 da Sr 
 
 Tri fir, three men. 
 tri fir 
 
 Ceithir fir, four men. 
 cey'-fr fir 
 
 Coig fir, five men. 
 coyg fir 
 
 Sia fir, six men. 
 Rhi-a fir 
 
 Seachd fir, seven men. 
 shechd fir 
 
 Ochd fir, eight men. 
 ochd fir 
 
 Naoidh fir, nine men. 
 noy' fir 
 
 Deich fir, ten men. 
 deych fir 
 
 An cead latha, the first day. 
 an ced la'-d 
 
 An dara latha, the second day. 
 an A&c-i. W-& 
 
 An treas latha, the third day. 
 an tres ]&'-& 
 
 An ceithreamh latha, the fourth day. 
 an cey'-rev la'-d 
 
 An coigeamh latha, the fifth day. 
 an coyg-ev W-& 
 
 an cead fhear, the first man. 
 an ced, er 
 
 an dara fear, the second man. 
 an dSx-i fer 
 
 an treas fear, the third man. 
 an tres f^r 
 
 an cearamh fear, the fourth man. 
 an c^r-av f^r 
 
 an coigeamh fear, the fifth man. 
 an coyg-ev fdr 
 
 an siathamh fear, th sixth man. 
 an shi'-av f^r 
 
 an seachamh fear, the seventh man. 
 an shechd-av f§r 
 
 an t-ochdamh fear, the eigth man. 
 an tochd-av fer 
 
 an noidhamh fear, the ninth man. 
 an noy'-av f^r 
 
 an deicheamh fear, the tenth man. 
 an deych-ev fer 
 
 an siathamh latha, the sixth day. 
 an shi'-av la -& 
 
 an seachdamh latha, the seventh day. 
 an shechdav la'-i, 
 
 an t-ochdamh latha, the eighth day. 
 an tochdav Ia'-£ 
 
 an noidheamh latha, the ninth day.' 
 an noy'-ev !&'-& 
 
 an deicheamh latha, the tenth day. 
 an deych-ev la'-4 
 
 Ban, fair, 
 ban 
 
 Crion, little, 
 cri-on 
 
 Cruin, round, 
 
 cruyn 
 
 The Compaeative. 
 baine, fairer, 
 
 bayn-^ 
 
 crine, less, 
 crin-^ 
 
 cruinne, rounder, 
 cruyn^ 
 
 bainead^ fairness, 
 bayn-ed 
 
 crined, littleness, 
 crin-ed 
 
 cruinnead, roundness, 
 cruyned 
 
46 
 
 Daor, dear, 
 daor 
 
 Dearg, red, 
 derag 
 
 Geal, white, 
 gel 
 
 Trom, heavy, 
 trom 
 
 Eatrom, light, 
 e-trome 
 
 Faoin, vain, 
 fa-oyn 
 
 Binn, sweet, 
 binn 
 
 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 doire dearer, 
 doyre 
 
 deirge, redder, 
 
 derige 
 
 gile, whiter, 
 
 gil-e 
 
 truime, heavier, 
 
 truym-^ 
 
 eatruime, lighter, 
 e-trnym^ 
 
 faoine, vainer, 
 
 faoyn^ 
 
 binne, sweeter, 
 
 binne 
 
 doiread, deamess. 
 doy-red 
 
 deirgead, redness, 
 deyriged 
 
 gilead, whiteness. 
 
 giled 
 truimead, heaviness. 
 
 truymed 
 
 eatruimead, lightness, 
 e-truymed 
 
 faoinead, vainness, 
 faoyned 
 
 binnead, sweetness, 
 binn-ed 
 
 Iekegulae Comparison. 
 
 Borb, fierce. 
 
 buirbe, fiercer, 
 
 buirbead, fierceness. 
 
 borb 
 
 buyrb^ 
 
 buyrbed 
 
 Olc, bad, 
 
 miosa, worse. 
 
 miosad, badness. 
 
 olo 
 
 mi-s£ 
 
 mis-ad 
 
 Beag, little, 
 
 lagha, less, 
 
 laghad, littleness. 
 
 be-ag 
 
 la'-d, 
 
 la'-ad 
 
 Diiilich, difficult. 
 
 duiliche, more difficult. 
 
 duilichead, more difficult. 
 
 duyl-ich 
 
 duylioh-i' 
 
 duyliched 
 
 Farasda, easy, 
 
 fasa, more easy, 
 
 fasaid, easiness. 
 
 farasda 
 
 fasa 
 
 fasayd 
 
 Gearr, short. 
 
 giorra, shorter, 
 
 giorrad, shortness. 
 
 gerr 
 
 gl-rr-a 
 
 girrad 
 
 Geiu-, sharp, 
 
 geire, sharper, 
 
 geiread, sharpness. 
 
 geyr 
 
 geyre 
 
 geyred 
 
 Laidear, strong, 
 
 treasa, stronger, 
 
 treasad, strongness. 
 
 kyder 
 
 tresd 
 
 tresad 
 
 Math, good, 
 
 feothas, better, 
 
 maitheas, goodness. 
 
 ma' 
 
 feyo'-as 
 
 may'es 
 
 Mor, big, 
 
 motha, bigger. 
 
 mothad, bigness. 
 
 more 
 
 mo'-^a 
 
 mo'-ad 
 
 Teth, hot, 
 
 teotha, hotter, 
 
 teothad, hotness. 
 
 te' 
 
 te-o'-i 
 
 te-o'-ad 
 
 Se, yes. 
 
 moran, much. 
 
 daonan, always. 
 
 se 
 
 moran 
 
 daonan 
 
 Cha 'n e, no, not him. 
 
 osceann, above, overhead. 
 
 feasda, forever. 
 
 cha 'n fe 
 
 oscenn 
 
 fesda 
 
 Maith, good. 
 
 fo, under. 
 
 diugh, to-day. 
 
 may' 
 
 fo 
 
 di-u' 
 
 Donadh, bad, evil. 
 
 roimh, before. 
 
 maireach, to-morrow. 
 
 don-a' 
 
 royv 
 
 mayreoh 
 
 Fallain, healthy, well. 
 
 deigh, behind. 
 
 moch, early. 
 
 fallen 
 
 day' 
 
 moch 
 
 Began, few, a little. 
 
 gle, very. 
 
 anmoch, late. 
 
 b%an 
 
 gl6 
 
 anamoch 
 
 Suas, up, ascend. 
 
 trie, often. 
 
 so, here. 
 
 su-as 
 
 trie 
 
 siio 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 47 
 
 Eirich, get up, arise, 
 eyrich 
 
 Sios, down. 
 
 shi-OB 
 
 Mach, out. 
 mach 
 
 Sith, pace. 
 
 Bl' 
 
 Cian, remote, 
 ci-an 
 
 Foghlumta, learned, 
 fo'lomta 
 
 Deigh, after, 
 
 Sgathach, timid, 
 sga'-ach 
 
 Carson, why. 
 carson 
 
 Ceart, just, 
 cert 
 
 Greas, haste. 
 
 gres 
 
 Grad, quick. 
 
 grSt 
 
 Cia-as, whence, 
 ce-aa 
 
 Modhail, mannerly. 
 
 mo'-ayl 
 Mimhodhail, unmannerly, duin, shut. 
 
 mi-vo-ayl dnyn 
 
 Eichj'eat. ' foill, gently. 
 
 eych foyll 
 
 Falach hid. caidil, sleep. 
 
 falach cayd-il 
 
 Duisg, awake. foras, assumption. 
 
 duyBg foraB 
 
 Fosgail, open. bi mach, be out. 
 
 fosgel 
 
 tearc, rare, 
 te-arc 
 
 ainmig, seldom. 
 ayn-S-mig 
 
 sith, peace. 
 
 Bi 
 
 fada, long, 
 fada 
 
 muladach, sorrowful, 
 miiladacli 
 
 cha mhor, not much, 
 cha Tore 
 
 gealtach, cowardly, 
 gelt-ach 
 
 mise, worse. 
 mi-B% 
 
 baigheal, compassionate, 
 bay-el 
 
 ciamer, how. 
 cemer 
 
 mall, slow, 
 mall 
 
 cuine, when. 
 
 onyn-6 
 
 ainnis, want, 
 aynnia 
 
 falamh, empty, 
 falav 
 
 bi mach 
 
 sin, there, 
 ahin 
 
 stigh, within. 
 
 sti' 
 
 caite, where, 
 cayte' 
 
 solasach, happy, 
 solasach 
 
 pailteas, plenty, 
 payltes 
 
 taitneach, -delightful, 
 taytnech 
 
 fearr, better, 
 ferr 
 
 gaolach, lovely 
 gaolach 
 
 rithist, again, 
 ri'-ist 
 
 lag, feeble, also, a hollow, 
 lag 
 
 tra, early, 
 tra 
 
 saibhear, wealthy 
 sayver 
 
 cinnteach, certain. 
 
 cinn-tech 
 
 falbh, walk off. 
 falv 
 
 foil, broil, 
 foyl 
 
 ol, drink, 
 ol 
 
 folais, seen, 
 folaysh 
 
 eirich, rise, 
 eyrich 
 
 dean cabhag, make haste, 
 de-an ca-vSg 
 
 Ma se air toil e, if it is your will. ; 
 
 ma se ayr toyl 6 
 
 Thugibh dhomh, give ye me. 
 
 hnk-iv yov 
 Ma se do thoil e, if it be thy will, 
 ma se do hoyl 6 
 
 Thoir da mi aran, give to me bread, 
 hoyr da mi aran 
 
 Thoir dhomh ce, give me cream. 
 
 hoyr yov cfe 
 Thoir da mi im is caise, give to me butter and cheese. 
 
 hoyr da mi im ' 
 
 Thoir dhuin gruth is uachdar, give us curds and cream. 
 
 hoyr ynyn gru' is u-achd-ar 
 
48 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 An cruinne ce, the round earth, 
 an cruynnd ci 
 
 Bainne blath is aran coirce, warm milk and oat-cake, 
 baynne blath is aran coirc^ 
 A ghaoil mo chridhe, love of my heart, 
 a yaoyl mo chri'-^ 
 
 A chuisle mo chridhe, pulse of my heart, 
 a chnyshle mo chri'-^ 
 
 Mo leannan fallaich, my secret sweetheart, 
 mo lenaan f^llaych 
 
 Mo chuid dhe'n t-shaoghal, my share of the world. 
 
 mo chuyd yen tao'-M 
 
 Thoir da mi (or dhomh) iasad, give to me the loan. 
 
 hoyr da mi yov i-a-sad 
 
 Ni mi sin gu toilleach, I'll do that willingly. 
 
 ni mi sin gn toyllecli « 
 
 Moran taing dhoibh, many thanks to you. 
 ' moran tayng yoyv 
 Se air beatha gu dearbh, ye are welcome certainly. 
 
 se ayr be'-e gu de-arv 
 
 Tha sibh aig moran dragh, you are at much trouble. 
 
 ha shiy ayg mb-rdn dra' 
 
 Tha mi moran na 'r comain, I am much to you obliged, 
 ha mi moran nar comayn 
 
 Tha sibh tuille 's coineal, ye are too kind, 
 ha shiv tuylW s coynel 
 
 Cha dragh leom idir e, that is no trouble with me at all. 
 cha dra' le-ome i-dir e 
 
 Tha mi aig air seirbheis, I am at your service. 
 
 ha mi ayg ayr sherv-esh 
 Tha mi duilich trioblaid a thoirt dhoibh, I am sorry trouble to give ye. 
 
 ha mi dnylich triob-layt a hoyrt yoyv 
 
 An coimhneas thig bho'n chridhe paidh e fhein, the kindness that comes from 
 an coyv-nes hig vo'n chri'-^ pa-i' e heyn 
 the heart pays itself. 
 
 A bheil cuimhne agibh air Donnacha ban nan oran, have you (a) recollection 
 a veyl cuyne. ag-iv ayr Donna-cha bSn nan ordn 
 of Duncan fair of the songs. 
 
 Tha gun teagaibh, 's b-ann aige a bha'n aigne shaibhir 'san guth binn, 
 ha gun tegiv is bann eg-^ a va'n ayg-nd hayvir sa'n gn' binn 
 yes, without doubt ; and 'twas he who had the wealthy mind and sweet voice. 
 
 De tha dhith oirbh a cho-lionadh gach uireasaibh nadurrail, what lack ye to 
 de ha ye' oyrv a cho-li-ona' gach nyr-eseyv nadurrel 
 supply all natural wants ? 
 
 Banna-cheile aillidh, beusach, maith, a spouse beautiful, modest, good, 
 b^nd-oheyle ahli, bey-sach may' ' 
 
 'S aineamh sin ; ach sir is gheibh u i 'n tir nam beann, nan gleann 's nam breacan, 
 is aynev shin ach shir ia yeyv u i 'n tir nam benn nan glenn '3 nam breo-an 
 That is rare ; but seek and you'll find her in the land of mountains, glens, 
 and (tartan) plaids. i 
 
 Bheil eolas agaibh air uaishleann a bhraigh, have you knowledge of the 
 veyl e-o-las ag-iv ayr n-aysh-lenn a vra-i' 
 gentlemen of the braes (of Lochaber.) 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 49 
 
 Thath, 's b-ann a sin a bha na h-uaisleann an laidhimh m' oige; — yes, and in that 
 ha' 's b-ann a sin a va na hu-ayalenn an la'-iv moyg-^ 
 
 place it was that there were gentlemen in the days of my youth. 
 
 Ce as a thainig fear liadh na cruite, — whence the man grey of the violin, 
 ce as a haynig fer li-a' na crnyl^ 
 
 Thainig a duthaich Mhic-Oaoidh-tir Kob-dhuin, — came from the district of 
 haynig a du'-ich vie caoy-tir rob yuynn 
 
 Mackay, the country of Rob-donn. 
 
 Tha na speuran a sile gu trom an diugh, — the skies are filtering heavily to-day. 
 ha na speyran a siM gn trom an di-u' 
 
 A sile ! tha iad a taomadh, — filtering ! They are pouring, 
 a 8il6 ha i-ad a taoma' 
 
 Cha taomadh e ach fras an aigh, — (it is) not a pouring, but a shower genial (good.) 
 cha taoma' e ach fras an ay-i' 
 
 Chi mi, air leom, na duilleagan ogadh is milse aineal, — I see, as it were, the 
 chi mi ayr le-om na duyllagan og-a' is milse aynel 
 young leaves of sweetest breath, 
 
 A fosgladh a billibh maoth le fiamh gaire, — opening their tender lips with a 
 a fosgla' a billiv mac' le fi-av gayr^ 
 smile (literally, the image of a laugh,) 
 
 Is a toirt dha failte mhin le sanas maighdeanail, — and giving him a gentle 
 is a toyrt ya fayllte vin, le sSnds may-'den-el 
 welcome, with a whisper maidenly. 
 
 Ob, ob,* mo laochan am bard ! a ni boireannaich do na preasan, a bheir billibh 
 ob ob mo la-o-ohan am bard a ni boyr-en-ioh do na pressan a veyr bill-iv 
 " maoth do na duilleagan gorma, 's a ni sanas maighdeanail de 'm mona- 
 ma-o' do na duyllagan gorma sa ni sanas may' -den-el de 'm mon-a- 
 mhor cadalach. 
 vor cadalach 
 
 Ob, ob, my hero the bard ! who makes women of bushes, gives tender lips to 
 blue leaves, and makes a whisper maidenly of their murmur sleepy. 
 
 Eionnag, a star. reothart, spring-tide, 
 
 ri-onn-ag re-o'-art 
 
 Reul, a planet. contraigh, neap-tide, 
 
 reyl con-tray' 
 
 Dubhar-gealaiche, an eclipse of the reultagan, small stars, 
 du-var-gel-ayoh moon. reylt-agan 
 
 Dubhar-greine, an eclipse of the sun. reultan uaireach, na seachranach, comets, 
 du-var-greynd reyltan u-ayr-ech na shechranaoh 
 
 Taladh, attraction. latha, day ; seachduin, week ; mios, month, 
 
 tala' la'-a shechd-uin mios 
 
 Aisil, axle. raidhe, quarter of a year. 
 
 aysil ray'-e 
 
 La, day ; oidhche, night. mios reultail, the lunar month. 
 
 la oy'-ohe mi-os yeylt-ayl 
 
 Gaoth-malairt, trade-winds. mios gealachail, this month is five hours 
 
 gaoth-mal-ayrt mi-os gel-ach-ayl longer than the former. 
 
 Lan, flood ; traigh, ebb. mios chumanta, the common month. 
 
 Ian tray' mi-os chum-an-ta 
 
 ^ An ambiguous, untranslatable sarcasm. 
 
50 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 Bliadhna ghrianal, the sun year. Diluain-an-t-shaiaseil, Hansel-Monday. 
 
 bli'-na yri-anel dile-u-ayn-an-tayn-Beyl 
 
 Bliadhna, the common year. Latha-feil-Bride, Candlemas-day. 
 
 bli-a'-na la'-a feyl bride 
 
 Bliadhna leum, the leap-year. Dimairt Inid, Shrove Tuesday, 
 
 bli-a'-na leym di-mayrt in-id c 
 
 Latha nallaig, Christmas-day. Dirdaoin a bhrochain mhoir, Wednesday 
 
 ]a'-a nallayg dii-daoyn a vroch-ayn voyr 
 
 Latha coinnle, New-year's-day. of the porridge feast, 
 
 la'-a coyn-le 
 
 On this day there was a branch of mountain-ash dipped in the ponidge, 
 which was placed over the byre door, to save the cattle from witchcraft. The 
 priest encouraged superstition as the great fosterer of religion ; and although 
 the Protestant priest does not do so, his ministrations accord, unconsciously, 
 with the latent traditions of the primitive pulpit. 
 
 The last half of December and first half of January, were called, a mhios 
 mharbh, (a vi-os varv) the dead month. The mios foiltich (mi-os fa-oyl-tich) 
 was the last half of February and the first half of March. 
 
 Seachdain feadaig coig-la-deug gearrain, tri latha sguabaig, suas e t-earrach, 
 sheohd-ayn fedayg ooyg-la-deyg gerrayn tri la'-a sgu-a-bayg su-as e terrach 
 
 are Lochaber sayings on the subject ; but the Kev. Gregor Macgregor, Lismore, 
 has favoured me with a sketch which shows that the feadag preceded the 
 faoiltich. It also contains the following wise advice : " Be the weather good or 
 bad, sow the grain in the month of March," [old style,] that is, before the 
 middle of April, new style. The following are the quaint lines on the subject 
 of the feadag. 
 
 Feadag, mathair faoiltich fhuair, Feadag, the mother of faoilteach cold, 
 
 ma'-ayr fa-oyl-tich n-ayr 
 
 Marbhaidh caoirich agus uain ; Kills ewes and lambs, 
 marvay' caoyrich agns u-ayn 
 
 Thig an sin an gearran gearr. Then comes the gearran sharp, 
 hig an 6in an gen'an gerr 
 
 Is ni easan rud nach fearr ; Which will do things that are no better ; 
 is ni esan rud nach ferr 
 
 Cuiridh e mart caoileadh am poll, He will put the lean cow in a bog, 
 onyri' e mart caoyl-e' am poll 
 
 Gus an tig tonn thair a ceann. Until the wave comes over its head, 
 gus an tig tonn hayr a cenn 
 
 Mr Macgregor places faoilteach in the new style relatively to February, 
 and mart, March in the old stj'le. 
 
 Cha tig a mach sa mhart nach d' theid an stigh sa ghiblein. 
 
 cba tig a maoh sa vart nach d-eid an stigh sa yiblen 
 
 What comes out (grass) in March goes in in April. 
 
 Latha-caisg, Easter-day. Caingis, Whitsunday, 
 
 la'-a oaysg ca-ing-gis 
 
 Latha-Beallain, first day of May. Latha-feil-Eoin, (St John's day) Mid- 
 
 la'-a beltayn la'-a feyl e-oyn snmmor 
 
 summer. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 51 
 
 Lunasdal,, Lammas, first of August, 
 lanas-dal 
 
 Damhair, (deer-routing) Mid-harvest, 
 da-vayr 
 
 Latha-feil-Michael, St Michael's day, 
 k'-a feyl mi-ohel 29th September. 
 
 Latha Samhnadh, Halloween-day. 
 la'-a sav-na' 
 
 Latha-feil-Martainn, Martinmas-day. 
 la'-a feyl mar-taynn 
 
 Samhain, foil- Bride, Bealtain, and 
 sa-vayn feyl-bride bel-tayn 
 
 Lunasdal, are the beginning of 
 lunas-del 
 
 the four quarters. 
 
 There was a week only of the feadag and gearran, according to Mr 
 Macgregor, and the cailleach, (kayll-ech) carlin, is represented as sitting on 
 the ground, beating it with a mell, to keep down the grass ; and when, in 
 defiance of her grim and -vigorous exertions, the grass sprung up all around her, 
 she threw away the mell in despair, and vanished into air. Then came the 
 day of the oisgean, when grass became abundant. The people of old used to 
 say that the furrows should be filled thrice during the faoilteach, — once with 
 snow, once with rain water, and once with house-thatch. 
 Faoilteach, faoilteach, lamh an crios ; Faoilteach, faoilteach, a hand in the belt ; 
 
 faoylteoh faoyltech lav an cris 
 
 Is mor an f haoilde bu choir bhi ris ; 
 13 mor an aoyl-de bu choyr vi ris 
 
 Faoilteach, faoilteach, crobh air theas ; 
 faoylteoh faoyltech crov ayr hea 
 
 Gul is gaoir bi daonnan leis. 
 gul is gaoyr bi daonnan leys 
 
 Tri latha do'n fhaoilteach san luchar 
 tri la'-a do'n aoyltech san i-u-ohar 
 
 Is tri latha do'n luchar san fhaoilteach. 
 is tri la'-a' do'n i-u-char saa aoyltech 
 
 Faoilteach, faoilteach, 'tis right to resist 
 
 it; 
 Faoilteach, faoilteach, cows (racing) in 
 
 heat; 
 Crying and lamentions are often his. 
 
 Three days of faoilteach in the dog-days; 
 
 And three days of the dog-days in 
 faoilteach. 
 
 Thunder in the afternoon, the thunder 
 of plenty, 
 
 Thunder in the forenoon, the thunder of 
 scarcity and conflict 
 
 Tairneineach an deidh tra neoin, 
 tayrneynech an dey' tra noyn 
 
 Tairneineach an torraidh mhoir, 
 tayrneynech an torray' voyr 
 
 Tairneineach roimh thra neoin, 
 tayrneynech roy h-ra noyn 
 
 Tairneineach gort is fuachd. 
 tayrneynech gort is fti-aohd 
 
 With these few exercises I have concluded all of this treatise which I 
 deemed it necessary to submit to the Eeader, before introducing him to the Bards, 
 that being the main object of the work. 
 
THE POETRY OE THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 It is a fact corroborative of the tradition that Columba destroyed all the 
 manuscripts which he found in the great Druid College of lona, (to which the 
 Druids fled after the massacre by the Romans at Anglesea,) that the Irish and 
 Welsh continued much longer in possession of their ancient manuscripts than 
 the Highlanders, whose country was never effectually subjected and plundered 
 by enemies. The barbarous policy of the Norman despots of England ultimately, 
 no doubt, rob bed these countries of their manuscripts ; but they were preserved 
 in the Tower of London for ages afterwards. Those belonging to Wales were 
 destroyed on the occasion of Owen Glendower's rebellion; but those taken 
 from Ireland, from the systematic and unscrupulous manner in which the Lords 
 of the Pale searched for and seized on them wherever they could be found, 
 must have been equally numerous. Many of these were carried to England, 
 and Logan has found no record of their destruction. Indeed, I am of opinion 
 that a careful search in the Tower and the seats of learning in England, would 
 result in the discovery of many Irish manuscripts, which have escaped destruction. 
 In the great library at Stowe, there were many Irish manuscripts, which cannot 
 surely have been lost. Dr Johnson may not have been aware of these facts, 
 for he does not seem to have been devoted to historical or antiquarian researches. 
 He preferred jumping at conclusions, and enforcing his views on the acquiescence 
 of his literary " tail" in egotistical epigrammatical sentences, as rade as they 
 were self-sufficient. He was like the pedant to whom it never occurred that all he 
 himself did not know would make a very large book ; but who complacently 
 expressed his belief that " all he knew," and all which his pupils " did not Icnow, 
 would make a very large book." Johnson may not, therefore, have been aware, 
 when he was denouncing the Gaelic as " the rude gibberish of a barbarous 
 people, who, as they conceived grossly, were contented to be grossly understood," 
 that he was only exposing his ignorance of the subject. At the same time, I 
 can see no reason to doubt that Johnson, with all his reputed candour and honesty. 
 
54 THE POETBY 
 
 was 
 scri 
 
 . playing false with Macpherson ; for when Macpherson deposited the manu- 
 _„_pts from which his translations were made, with his publishers, and intimated, 
 in public advertisements, that they were in their hands, and open to the inspection 
 of all who felt any interest in their authenticity, neither Johnson nor any of his 
 friends, as we are informed by Sir John Sinclair, ever looked near them. It is 
 thus evident that it was not the truth, but a victory over Macpherson, and the 
 discrediting of Gaelic literature, that Dr Johnson wanted. The advertisement 
 referred to, has recently been copied in Cassells's newspaper. It is signed by 
 Macpherson's publishers, and could not have escaped the Doctor's notice ; but, at 
 any rate, Sir James Macintosh and Lord Macaulay, who denounced Macpherson 
 as an impostor, cannot be acquitted of dishonesty, on the ground of ignorance. 
 These historians must have been aware that it was a policy systematically 
 adopted, and ruthlessly pursued for ages, by the kings of England, to seize on 
 all the manuscripts that could possibly be found by their generals, in Ireland 
 and Wales, and that a vast mass of these manuscripts had been at one time 
 accumulated in the Tower of London. They must also have known the facts 
 .about Macpherson's manuscripts and the advertisment by his publishers, inviting 
 an inspection, and that the Highland Society afterwards published the poems 
 from these very manuscripts. Nay more, they must have been aware of the 
 massacre of the Welsh bards by Edward the First, and of the cruel penal 
 enactments passed against the bards of Ireland by the Lords of the Pale, as 
 well as those which stain the statute books of Scotland, as passed against the 
 bards of the Highlands by the Scoto-Irish usurpers of feudalism in Scotland. 
 Indeed, the bards were subjected to the most cruel persecution, not only by all 
 the despots of the British, but also by the worst despots of the Koman empire. 
 Had Gaelic poetry been a mere tissue of disjointed ribbald rhymes, and 
 the bards mere scribblers, — in short, had Celtic poetry not been a great fact, 
 and even omnipotent in its influence overthe spirit of patriotism and independence, 
 of people struggling against invasion and usurpation ; — had the bards not been 
 regarded as the last and greatest enemies of tyranny and despotism ; — the worst 
 and most cruel sovereigns that ever sat upon the thrones of Rome, England, and 
 Scotland, never could have risked, even in the most savage ages, the odium of 
 practising the atrocities to which they had been subjected in Anglesea, Wales, 
 Ireland, and Scotland. Hence Sir James Macintosh and Lord Macaulay, when 
 stating that Gaelic poetry of any merit never had any existence, and that the 
 Poems of Ossian were an imposture and a fraud, were stating what they must 
 have known substantially to" be false. They were historians, and had access to 
 historical evidence which proves, beyond all doubt, that Gaelic poetry was a 
 great fact, hateful alike to the Roman invader of Britain, the Norman invader 
 of Wales and Ireland, and to the usurpers of feudal powers in Scotland. That 
 the bards were subjected to persecution and massacre, and their poems to the 
 dungeon or the flames, because they were the deadly enemies of feudal despotism, 
 and kept alive in the hearts of mankind the love of their ancient rights and 
 liberties, are historical facts, which speak volumes as to the merit of their poetry 
 and its influence on the people. In consequence of the systematic destruction 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 55 
 
 of the works of the Celtic bards, by the enemies of the independence of the 
 Celtic clans, Logan believes the Black Book of Caermarthen, written in the 
 sixth century, to be the oldest Celtic manuscript now in existence. In this,, 
 however, he is mistaken, " Leabhar nan Ceart," &c. being still in existence 
 in Ireland. 
 
 The Druidal orders were, according to Marcellinus, formed into societies, 
 who devoted thiemselves to the investigation of matters of divine and hidden 
 import, and confidently affirmed that the souls of men are immortal. The 
 different societies referred to by Marcellinus, were the Deuids, the Baeds, and 
 the EuBHATES. These names being descriptive, in accordance with the genius 
 of the language, supply the place of records, in defining the different depart- 
 ments of Druid literature. Let us, then, resolve each of these names into its 
 primitive elements or roots, that we may clearly ascertain its meaning — 
 for alleged synonymous words, jumped at haphazard, as if it did not signify a 
 single pin whether they originally meant " preserve" or " kipper," will not do in 
 an inquiry like this. 
 
 Deuidh is compounded of the roots dru, to absorb or eliminate, and agh, 
 good, pronounced a. His duty, therefore, was to search for good, and to eliminate 
 and render it available. Baed is compounded of bith, life, pronounced bi, and 
 ard, high. His duty, therefore, was to elevate the lives of the people. Eubhates 
 is compounded of eibh, proclaim, pronounced eyv, and aiteas, joy, pronounced 
 dytes. His duty, therefore, was to proclaim the joyous discoveries of the Druid 
 to the people. There is no ambiguity or mystery here. The Druid was devoted 
 to the study of natural science ; and his traditional character in the Highlands 
 shows that the good he discovered from the study, was faithfully eliminated 
 and made available for the benefit of the people. " Close as is a Sag [stone] to 
 the earth, is the succour of Covi,"* (the Arch-Druid,) says the proverb. The 
 correctness of this view is confirmed by Marcellinus, who describes them as 
 " deeply considering Nature, attempting to discover the highest arcana, and 
 laying open its most sacred workings ;" and as confidently affirming, from the 
 analogies afforded by their researches, that "the souls of men are immortal." 
 To elevate or exalt the character of the people, as his name implies, was the 
 duty of the Bard ; and as this could best be done by cultivating their hearts, he 
 applied to that purpose the most unfailing of all means, poetry and music ; but 
 as man cannot be exalted in his character unless his morals are cultivated, 
 fiction was strictly forbid to the Gaelic bard. His subject must be substan'tially 
 true, but in the treatnient of it he was left to his own feelings and genius. The 
 Eubhates, or proclaimeirs of joy, as their name implies, Were the preachers among 
 the Driiid orders. The creaition, and God's manifest design in the creation, as 
 indicated by Nature and the laws whereby Nature is governed, were their bible 
 
 * Cobhith, pronounced Co-vi, is compounded of the roots, co, who or what, and hitJi (bi') life. The 
 name implies that Biology was the dtiidy of the Aroh-Druid. His names for Gofl, the soul, the gobd, 
 the bad, show, so far, the success of his 'reBe^rches : he does not represent God as a being of almighty 
 power, with thepMsions and failings of a man. 
 
56 THE POETKT 
 
 and testament, and their names for God and the soul, and for good and bad 
 men, show that they did not render theology subservient to priestcraft. Their 
 name, eibh-aites, shows what was the object of their mission, namely, to proclaim 
 joy or joyous tidings to the people ; and indeed it was to demonstrate from 
 the scheme revealed by God through Nature, which cannot lie, and the laws 
 whereby Nature is governed, that He is almighty in power and infinite in 
 wisdom, and that His wisdom and power have been put forth j» reveal to man 
 Infinite benevolence. 
 
 The course of the " Bardic study," says Logan, " was long and arduous : so 
 rigid was the term of probation, that the education of a student, in the science 
 of druidism, was not completed in a shorter period than twenty years, during 
 which time he was obliged to commit to memory twenty thousand verses ; but 
 Chambray, the Celtic professor at Paris, says the number for those of the high- 
 est class was not less than sixty thousand." In later ages, as we learn from Irish 
 authorities, the time occupied in acquiring the necessary bardic instruction was 
 twelve years, three of which was devoted to each of the four principal branches 
 of poetry. The Irish Oirfidigh, or musical order, was, in like manner, classified, 
 taking their names from the instruments on which they played, the cruitirich, 
 the cirterigh, the tiampanich, the cuilleanaich, &c. The whole of these, how- 
 ever, went under the general name of Fillidhiach, or Minstrelsy. Giraldus 
 Cambrensis, who wrote in the beginning of the twelfth century, gives the 
 following lively and characteristic description of Irish music : — " It is in the 
 cultivation of instrumental music that I consider the proficiency of this people 
 to be worthy of commendation; and in this their skill is, beyond all com- 
 parison, above that of any nation I have ever seen ; for theirs is not the slow 
 and heavy style of melody, like that of the instrumental music of Britain to 
 which we are accustomed, but rapid and abrupt, yet, at the same time, sweet 
 and pleasing in its effect. It is wonderful how in such precipitate rapidity of 
 the fingers, the musical proportions are preserved, and, by their art, faulfless 
 throughout, in the midst of the most complicated modulation and most intricate 
 arrangement of notes, by a velocity so pleasing, a regularity so diversified, a 
 concord so discordant, the harmony is expressed, and the melody perfected ; and 
 whether a passage or transition is performed in sequence of fourths or fifths, 
 (by a diatesseran or a diapente) it is always begun in a soft and delicate 
 manner, and ended in the same, so that all may be perfected in the sweetness 
 of delicious sounds. They enter on, and again leave their modulations with so 
 much subtility, and the vibrations of the smaller strings of the treble sport with 
 so much articulation and brilliancy along with the deep notes of the bass; they 
 delight with so much delicacy, and soothe so charmingly, that the greatest 
 excellency of their art appears in the perfect concealment of the means by which 
 it is accomplished."—" In the opinion of many, however, Scotland has not only 
 attained to the excellence of Ireland, but has, in musical science and execution, 
 far surpassed her, in so much, that it is to that country they now resort who 
 wish to attain proficiency in music, as the genuine source of the art." 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 57 
 
 The above was written in the beginning of the twelfth century, while the 
 people of Ireland and Scotland were yet sunk in ragged misery, filth, and 
 barbarity, before that enlightened and civihzing myth of penny-a-line creation, — 
 the Saxon, — had brought every thing beautiful, enlightened, great and lovely, to 
 spread inteUigence and happiness over these rude and benighted countries! 
 Let those who assert that Italy is the source of this divine art, try if they can 
 quote from any Latin or Italian work of the twelfth century, such a proof of the 
 civilization of the Eoman and his Italian descendants, as the above paragraph 
 ' furnishes of the civilization of the barbarous Celtic nations of Ireland and 
 Scotland in that age. 
 
 Extraordinary honours were paid to the Bards, who thus elevated the 
 lives of the people. Their persons were inviolable, their houses sanctuaries, 
 their lands and flocks carefully protected. Compare this to the estimation in 
 which the poet and his productions are held in this par excellence age of 
 civilization, and there can remain no doubt that the Celtic race of the twelfth 
 century were regular savages ! " As those who entered the order were of un- 
 blemished character, they were eminent in the practice of the virtues they 
 inculcated." " Within this bosom there is a voice," says the blind bard of Selma 
 — " it comes not to other ears — that bids Ossian succour the helpless in their hour 
 of need." In the same poem he expresses other sentiments, equally noble and 
 magnanimous. "Your fathers have been foes," he says to two unfriendly warriors; 
 " but forget their enmity, — it was the cloud of other years." And Fingal, who is 
 celebrated for his poetry, often expresses similar sentiments. " None," he calmly 
 says to his grandson, Oscar, " none ever went sad from Fingal — my hand never 
 injured the weak, nor my steel the feeble in arms. Oscar, bind the strong, but 
 spare the feeble hand. Be thou a sea of many tides against the foes of the 
 people, but like the gale that moves the grass to those who seek thine aid. So 
 Trenmor lived, such Trathel was, and such has Fingal been. My arm was the 
 support of the injured, — the weak rested behind my steel." In the denounced, 
 and all but proscribed, Macpherson's Ossian, are to be found the most generous, 
 the most heroic, and the most tender and benevolent sentiments ever uttered by 
 bard. Beautiful, indeed, is the civilization of the people that could allow them- 
 selves to be prejudiced against such poetry ! 
 
 The Roman emperors and the English and Scottish kings, as already 
 mentioned, passed atrociously penal enactments against the Bards, who have 
 ever been the friends of liberty, and the deadly foes of all despotism. Under 
 the pretext of putting down a mischievous superstition, the former struck at 
 the Bards, through the Druids, and subjected both themselves and their wives 
 and children to an indiscriminate massacre in Anglesea. Similar massacres of 
 the Bards were committed by the kings of England, both in Ireland and Wales ; 
 and the following, among many similar enactments, shows that the feudal kings 
 of Scotland treated those of the Bards who adventured within the Lowland 
 Pale, in a similar spirit ; for in Scotland, as well as in Ireland, the feudal kings 
 and their laws were happily kept for ages within a Pale, or circuit, beyond 
 which the rights and liberties of the people were conserved,— although the 
 
58 THE POETEY 
 
 feudal historians of both countries, taking no accounts of the clans or people, 
 assume that those of Ireland were conquered, and those of the Highlands sub- 
 jected. That Ireland was not conquered, is shown in a small work by Spenser, 
 published in London, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Until Ulster was colonized 
 by King James the First, the Irish maintained their patriarchal local govern- 
 ments; and the Highlanders maintained theirs down to the period of the 
 disastrous battle of Culloden. In the reign of James II. of Scotland, it was 
 enacted that " Grif there be ony that makis them fuiles, and are bairdes, they 
 be put in the king's waird, or in his irons, for their trespasses, as lang as they 
 have onie gudes of thair awin to live upon ; that thair ears be nailed to the trone 
 or till ane uther tree, and thair ears cutted off and banished the cuntrie." The 
 banishment of the ears, after being " cutted off," was surely very cruel ! By a 
 statute of James VI. in 1579, those who were gamesters, tale-tellers, &c., 
 and not in special service of lords of parliament or boroughs, as their common 
 minstrels, were to be scourged, and burnt through the ear with a red-hot iron. 
 Yet the son and other descendants of this heartless king, when dethroned and 
 distressed, engaged the sympathies of Ian Lorn, AUastair M'Mhaighstear, 
 Allaster, Eob Donn, and others, whose spirit-stirring effusions were the very 
 soul of their cause, both in the Highlands and in the Lowlands. 
 
 Although the Bards ceased to exist as an order, on the extinction of the 
 Druids, they continued to flourish, and to have great power and influence in 
 Scotland as a class, down to the period at which the kings of the Scots or 
 Scuits succeeded to the supreme authority over the Picts or Caledonians, as 
 well as the Britons of Strathclyde. The kings of the Caledonian and Briton 
 clans, down to that period, were merely war-chiefs ; but after that date, the 
 ceanncaths of Scoto-Irish descent assumed the style of kings. The Bards 
 are never afterwards heard of as ofScers of the Scottish court, excepting when 
 the ceremonial of the coronation rendered it necessary for the king of the Scots 
 to conciliate the Caledonians or Picts, by having his title to the throne proved 
 by the rehearsal of his pedigree through Caledonian chiefs, by the Bard. The 
 Albanic duan, repeated at the coronation of Malcolm II. is not in the dialect 
 of the Caledonians, but in that of the Scoto-Irish or Earse. Nevertheless, 
 the historians of Scotland quote it as Gaelic ; but the fact is, that the historians 
 of Scotland knew nothing of the dialect either of the Caledonians or Scoto-Irish. 
 They considered it much more necessary to be acquainted with Greek and 
 Latin, and the records of Greece and Rome, than with either the Gaelic or 
 Earse, or the poems and tales which constituted the more truthful records of the 
 people whose history they presumed to write. Hence the history of Scotland, 
 down to the days of feudalism, has been written, in effect, on the authority of 
 foreign writers, totally unacquainted with the language and records of the 
 people, and whose self-evident contradictions are sufficient to destroy their 
 authority in the estimation of every person predisposed to consult their works 
 with impartiality, intelligence, and judgement. And from the days of feudaUsm 
 down to the present day, the history of Scotland has been founded on feudal 
 enmity, and the consequent misrepresentation of all who did not humbly submit 
 
OF THE HIGHLAKD CLANS. 59 
 
 to the usurpation by the crown of despotic power over the lands, rights, and 
 liberties of the people. Hence, the readers of the history of Scotland will look 
 in vain in that history for anything calculated to throw light on the social condi- 
 tion of the people of Scotland, previously to the introduction of feudalism. Nor 
 does that history detail as it should, the step-bj'--step means by which feudalism 
 was insidiously substituted amongst the Scottish Lowlanders for their apparently 
 semi-patriarchalism ; or the obstinate stand which the Caledonian clans made 
 against that barbarous despotism, or the " wild justice" with which they retaliated 
 on their oppressors in extreme cases. And since feudalism assumed the ascend- 
 ancy in the Lowlands, the Highland clans have been literally ignored as a 
 people in the history of Scotland, and their organized and systematic opposition 
 to the despotism whose object was to defraud them of their lauds, rights, and 
 liberties, represented as "rebellion against the Lord's anointed." Such, iu 
 effect, is the manner in which the people of Scotland are treated by the so-called 
 history of their country. 
 
 There is no question in which history more uniformly agrees with tradition, 
 than that which assigns an Irish origin to the colony of Dalriada or Erraghall. 
 Eochaid, who brought that colony from Erin, is called Eochaid Reuda. This 
 addition to Ms name {Reuda), appears to me to be a mere misspelling of reite, 
 which would mean Eochaid of the treaty of peace. Now, Bede, and a Latin 
 author (whose name I for the moment forget) mention, that Eochaid, had entered 
 into a regular treaty with the Caledonians. Dalriada or Erraghall seems to 
 have been assigned to the Scots by this treaty as their place of arms. As all 
 Gaelic words are descriptive, let us see what light the etymon of these names 
 are capable of throwing on this subject. Dal, in the Gothic dialect, which I 
 hold to have been that of the Scots, Belgs, Anglo-Saxons, &c., of Ireland and 
 England, means a part, or district ; riade is presumed to be merely the Gothic 
 spelling of Eochaid's additional name of reite, or, of the peace. Dalriada, in the 
 Gothic dialect, therefore means the district of Eochaid of the peace. Erra, 
 again, means a part or district, in the Gaelic of the Caledonians, and gall, a 
 stranger; Erraghall, therefore means the stranger's part or district. And in 
 point of fact, the Scot was never called by any other name than Gall, by the 
 Caledonian, from the day he landed in Kintyre until this day, when his descend- 
 ants occupy the whole Lowlands of Scotland. Hence, if it be the Scot or Gall 
 who landed at Kintyre under Eochaid Keite, that now occupy the glens and 
 mountains of the Highlands, and not the Caledonians, who assigned to them 
 that district under a treaty, this is th^ first instance in the history of the 
 world in which the aboriginal people of a country have been replaced by 
 strangers in their mountain fastnesses. 
 
 How the Firbolg or Belgs, who occupied the whple Lowlands of England, 
 ages before Csesar crossed the Channel, the Scoto-Irish, and Walense Britons, who, 
 together with the Cruine of Galloway, originally of Ulster, conquered and 
 colonized the Roman province, from the Clyde to Stamford in England, as well 
 
 * See " The Caledonians and Scots, or the Highlanders and Lowlanders of Scotland," a lecture 
 delivered before the Young Men's Literaiy and Scientific Association of Oban, by D. Campbell, lat» 
 Lieutenant 57th Begiment. Edinburgh, London, and Dublin. 
 
60 THE POETRY 
 
 as the Caledonians who occupied the south-east part of Scotland, from the Firth 
 of Forth by the Catrail to Berwick, afterwards became Anglo-Saxons, would 
 puzzle any other writers to explain, excepting the Scottish historians of the 
 dark ages, and the penny-a-liners of this enlightened age of manufacturers 
 and weavers. 
 
 But, disqualified as these feudal writers must have been to write the history 
 of peoples whose language and records they did not understand, it is difficult to 
 believe that it was not more from design than ignorance that they introduced 
 the Anglo-Saxon myth into the histories of England and Scotland ; be that 
 as it may, the myth has introduced a brave confusion into pedigrees, and made 
 kindred peoples lose sight of the history of their fraternal origin. The Catrail, 
 (formed from the combination of the roots, cath, war or battle, and trial, journey 
 or path, the war-path) from Penvahl, by Galashiels, &c. to Berwick, divided 
 the Caledonians on the south of the Frith of Forth from their neighbours on 
 the west and south ; a line from Penvahl to the head of Lochetive, between 
 the sources of the waters that ran in contrary directions, and by Lochetive 
 and Lochlinne, to the Irish Channel, divided them from the Britons (Walenses) 
 and Scoto-Irish on the north of the Frith of Forth ; and a similar line of ditches 
 and ramparts as the Catrail, or war-path, drawn from the head of Lochryan by 
 Kempshill, near Sanquhar, through Nithsdale, and along the south side of the 
 river by South Mains and Carlisle, which can still be traced, divided the Cruithni 
 or Caledonians of Galloway (originally of Ulster) from their neighbours. 
 
 Keasoning from analogy, there must also have been an intrenchment 
 between the Scoto-Irish and their neighbours on the south of the Clyde. To 
 corroborate this view, I may state, that traces of such a war-path are still 
 visible near Dalmellington, not far from the scene of the battle fought between 
 Alpin, the ceanncath or war-chief of the Scoto-Irish (called king by feudal 
 writers) and the Caledonians of Galloway and Britons of Strathclyde, in which 
 Alpin lost his life. I have not had an opportunity of tracing this war-path to 
 a length sufficient to instruct a boundary, but have no doubt this may yet 
 be done.* With these war-paths alone before their eyes, marking distinctly the 
 warlike boundaries between the districts of the separate clans or peoples who 
 divided the Eoman province south of the firths of Scotland between them, it is 
 difficult to ascribe to ignorance the romance that would make the Caledonians 
 south of the Frith of Forth, the Scoto-Irish, the Brito- Walenses, and the Gallo- 
 wegian Cruithni of the Lowlands of Scotland, and the Belgians or Firbolg, (men 
 of the quiver) ancient Britons, and Roman progeny of the Lowlands of England, 
 Anglo-Saxons. And it is still more difficult to see how the Caledonians of the 
 glens ■ and mountains of Albin can be made Scoto-Irish, especially as the 
 difference between the Scoto-Irish and both the Caledonians and so-called 
 Anglo-Saxons, in language, manners, and customs, continued not only distinct 
 but irreconcilable, from, the day that Eochaid Reite (or Eochaid of the peace) 
 and his Scots landed at Kintyre, until the last of his representatives in Scotland 
 ascended the throne of England. 
 
 * My much esteemed friend, Mr Paterson, in the new edition of his valuable and most interestin" 
 history of " Ayrshire Families," will very likely throw some light on the subject. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 61 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon romance has introduced a singular confusion into the 
 pedigree of the peoples of Scotland and England ; and a similar confusion has 
 been introduced, no doubt with the same object, into the pedigrees of the Cale- 
 donian clans of Lethcuin and the Firbolg, or Milesian clans of the other half or 
 Leth-ugain-mhoir of Ireland ; — " Divide and conquer" being an adage as well 
 known to, and as cunningly acted on by, the feudal usurper as the Roman con- 
 queror ; and it must be confessed that the clans offered the very best materials 
 for such a policy, being equally slow to suspect treachery, and quick in resenting 
 it, whether in friend or foe. The descendants* of Conn of the hundred battles 
 had, by these means, been made to believe themselves to be of Milesian de- 
 scent, although the history of Ireland clearly shows that it was the southern 
 clans of Ireland that were of Spanish descent : for, when reduced to an 
 extremity, as the learned and candid editor of Oambrensis Eversus shows, 
 Eugaine Mor, their ceanncath, went personally to the mother country Spain, 
 where he received such reinforcements as enabled him, not only to maintain 
 the southern clans in their half of Ireland, but also to turn the defensive into 
 an offensive war, and to establish one of his clans in Ulster and another in Kin- 
 tyre. Both these colonies were established by Eochaid, and under the same 
 name, spelt by historians, Dalriada or Dalreada. As all Gaelic names are 
 descriptive, and the southern' and northern Irish were of the same Celtic race, 
 and have ever spoke cognate dialects of the same language, this name, by being 
 reduced to its roots, has thrown some light on the subject. Although the 
 learned editor of Cambrensis Eversus has thrown much light on the work of Dr 
 Lynch, much still requires explanation ; and I trust that he will yet apply his 
 able pen to the illustration of all that is obscure in that valuable book. One 
 great cause of the obscurity or confusion in this and other learned works on the 
 history of Ireland, as of writers on the history of Scotland, seems to have arisen 
 from the ignorance of modern writers of the important fact, that, down to the 
 date of feudal charters, or rather to the establishment of the feudal system in 
 Europe, surnames were unknown. The chiefs of the clans, Gothic (as I must 
 call some of the peoples for distinction) as well as Celtic, were elected, and the 
 ceanncath or war-chief was elected out of each clan in succession. The clan, 
 
 * It is a singular circumstance, and shows that there was no want of method in the means whereby 
 the cadets of noble families preserved evidence of their pedigree, that the tartans of the M'Callums, the 
 Guns, Macraes, &c., show that they are of the same pedigree with the Campbells. I have not had time 
 to extend my researches on this subject so far as to entitle me to give a decided opinion, but I am firm in 
 this belief, and would strongly advise some of the Highland Societies to appoint a committee to investi- 
 gate a question which promises very interesting results. Such an inquiry should embrace the antiquity 
 ■ of the leading clan-tartans, and on the state of the manufacturing arts among the Highland Clans at the 
 probable date of their invention. Mr Hair, the most successful manufacturer of fancy tartans in 
 Paisley, told me that nothing could be more perfect in colour and pattern than the ancient clan-tartan ; 
 that he felt convinced, however great his success, and however often he was complimented on the 
 subject, that he never improved in a single instance on the original pattern from which his fancy tartans 
 were =i variety. If manufacturing skill, therefore, be any criterion of civilization, in what state of 
 civilization were the mothers of the Highland clans, whose home manufactures it has defied the most 
 spirited manufacturer in the most spirited manufacturing town in Scotland, to exceed, either for the 
 elegance of the pattern or the harmony of the colours. Surely the penny-a-line historians of Highland 
 ignorance and barbarity, have been very remiss in not finding some heayy-headed Fleming ancestors for 
 the tartans, as well as for the Douglasses and other old and noble Scottish families ! 
 
62 THE POETRY 
 
 although always known by one hereditary name, was locally called by the name 
 of the chief for the time ; and the confederation, though it retained one character- 
 istic name, was locally called after the name of the ceanncath for the time, in 
 the same way in which Greek and Eoman armies were called by the name of 
 the general -in-chief, and the different divisions of them by the names of the 
 officers by whom they were respectively commanded. Hence the clan that was 
 called by one name, under one chief, was called by other names, under another 
 chief. It was the same with the confederation. The Macdonalds, before 
 assuming that surname, were called by the proper names of different chiefs, 
 Siol Uistein, Siol Ghillidh-bride, Siol Ghuthraidh, &c. &c. ; but they were still 
 known by the name of their original ancestor Conn ; and so with the Camerons, 
 Campbells, &c. &c. The southern confederation of the clans of Ireland were 
 called Scuit or Scots, seven hundred years before the Christian era. The same 
 name occurred again and again at long intervals. It was the same with the 
 Firbolgs or Belgs. Ignorance of this custom has led to much confusion, and 
 makes Irish historians of modern times represent their country as the subject of 
 an endless succession of invasions and conquests by armies, which come, nobody 
 knows whence, and go nobody knows where ; when the only invasion and con- 
 quest seem to have been the peaceful succession of one ceanncath, who gave 
 his name to the confederation, to another whose name died with him, at least 
 for the time. Who, for instance, can make sense of the following note by the 
 above learned editor, without the above explanation ? but with that explanation 
 it becomes intelligible. 
 
 " Without intending to deny positively," says the learned and candid 
 editor of Cambrensis Eversus, " that an Eirimonian, named Eugaine Mor, may 
 have preceded Labhraidh Loingseachj the first Eirimonian king, by some 
 years, and conquered these fair districts, which always have been the first 
 seized by invaders," namely, Louth, Meath, Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, Kilkenny, 
 Waterford, Tipperary, Limerick, Roscommon, Sligo, Down, and Antrim, the 
 fat of the land, and the most accessible to invaders ; " I would fix the real 
 origin of the Eirimonian power in Ireland at the invasion of Labhraidh 
 Loingseach, A. C. 89, 63. According to tradition, Labhraidh came from Gaul, 
 and as Leinster and Oonnaught, which anciently included a large portion of 
 Meath province, were, according to all authorities and Charles O'Conor's map, 
 the principal seat of the Firbolg or Belga3, it is but natural to conclude that 
 Labhraidh's followers were the Belg«, who had long been in possession of the 
 south of Britain and the greater part of Gaul. But here a great difficulty 
 arises : what are we to think of the colony of Belgse which, under the conduct 
 of Slainghe, seized Ireland even before the Tuatha de Dananns ?" " Now, in 
 forming his opinion here, the reader must remember that Ireland was divided 
 into five provinces by Slainghe, and a similar division was made by the 
 Eirimonian Eochaidh Feidleach, nearly contemporary with king Labhraidh 
 Loingseach ; 3rdly, that, according to Keating, the Firbolgs, who had been 
 expelled by the Tuatha de Dananns, suddenly return to Ireland, no one knows 
 how, after more than a thousand years, and acquire lands in Leinster and 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 63 
 
 Connaught, at the very time when the pentarchy was revived by Eochaidh 
 Feidleach ; 4thly, that the best soldiers of the great Eirimonian, Oormac Mac 
 Art, and of his father and son, were Firbolg, and that he found a retreat from 
 enemies among the Connaught Belgae ; 5thly, that the Firbolg Gamonradii are 
 expressly styled the ' great Milesians ;' finally, that the soldiers of the three 
 Collas, who destroyed the palace of Eomania, and conquered the greater part 
 of larian Ulster, were all Belgse. These may be only coincidences in the 
 history of the traditionary Firbolgs of Slainghe, with the historic invasion of 
 Labhraidh Loingseach ; but they are coincidences sufficiently strong to justify 
 great doubts of the former, especially as Dr O'Conor admits, in another place, 
 that some of the best authorities do not mention the first colony of Firbolgs. 
 Moreover, nothing is more common in merely traditional history than an 
 inversion of dates and events. When the conquering Belgse and the conquered 
 had been amalgamated into one people, and began, after some centuries, to 
 digest their history, it would not be unprecedented in bardic story, to find them 
 ante-dating, by some thousand years, the Firbolg invasion, — an event which 
 occurred shortly hefore the commencement of the Christian era, and adopting as 
 their own the genealogy of another race settled with them in Ireland. Thus, 
 because the Komans, who conquered Britain, were descended from ^neas, the 
 Britons soon discovered that their own ancestor, Britus, belonged to the same 
 family. And, when about the middle of the fourteenth century, nearly all the 
 rural strong-bownians had adopted Irish names and the Irish dress, they found 
 no difficulty in tracing their origin to Milesian, or to any stock but the English, 
 though the continued presence of the English power in Ireland, and the constant 
 influx of the English blood, must have counteracted powerfully the process of 
 amalgamation, and the general adoption of the Milesian ideas. I think it 
 manifest, from Irish history, that, if new Irish colonies had not been planted in 
 the country in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the term ' Saxon,' or 
 ' Englishman,' or ' Norman,' would have been, long since, even in the baronial 
 halls of the Butlers, the Burkes, and the Fitzgeralds, as opprobrius an epithet as 
 ' Firbolg' ever was in the ancient raths and cathirs of the so-called Eirimonian 
 nobles." " But there are two means of explaining how Firbolg and Eirimonian, 
 though really the same race, might not have been distinguished : by adniitting 
 that, at difierent intervals, from A. C. 300 cir, colonies of Belgae may have 
 landed in Ireland from Britain or Gaul, but that they were subdued (conquered) 
 by the great Belgic colony in the year A. C. 83, 69, or, what appears to me a 
 more probable supposition, that the Belgse of Leath-Cuin, that is, the race of 
 Crimthan, AD. 79, gradually extended their conquests over their kindred in 
 Connaught and Leinster, during the course of the three following centuries, and 
 that thus the conquered Belgse of Leinster and Connaught came to be regarded 
 as Firbolgs, while the conquerors were metamorphized into Eirimonians. But 
 however these matters may be explained, no advocate for the antiquity of the 
 Eirimonian colonizing can explain how it happened that Tighernac could not 
 find a regular succession of Eirimonian kings before the Christian era, though 
 he gave a list of Irians from the foundation of Omania, A.C. 305, 226." 
 
64 THE POETRY 
 
 The following were the qualifications required for the different ranks of the 
 order of the Bards. The Focalan, being the youngest student, was required 
 to repeat twenty historical poems and tales. The Macfuirmi, forty tales : the 
 Dos, fifty ; the Canaith, also fifty ; the Clith, one hundred and seventy composi- 
 tions ; the Ollamh, three hundred and fifty ; the Aos-dona, an equal number. 
 The Aos-dona led the Bards and Minstrels into the circle; but when the 
 meeting was formed, all were on a footing of perfect equality. Saint Columba 
 and St Benean were both bards, the former apparently the aos-dona or chief-bard 
 of Ireland, for he returned there after the settlement at lona as referee in a 
 serious dispute between the king of Ireland and the Bards. The Fillidh, or 
 minstrel grade, were all of the order and rank of the Bards. The minstrels played 
 on all kinds of instruments, but the Bards only on the harp, which was considered 
 as the higher musical instrument. The Fillidhean became Christians under the 
 influence of Saint Patrick, and aided, or rather formed, the baud of choristers 
 in the Irish cathedrals, and added much to the impressireness and acceptabihty 
 of the Christian service in the public estimation. Thus, when the Druid 
 religion gradually yielded to Christianity in Ireland, the minstrel branch of the 
 bardic institution was preserved and fostered by the Culdees, who considered 
 it more politic to accomplish what they of course considered a great object, by 
 "wisely retaining many of its established superstitions." These words are 
 Logan's, not mine, for I have been unable to discover that the Druids employed 
 superstitious devices to influence the people. Indeed, it cannot be conceived 
 that natural theology, which admits of and requires being demonstrated, could . 
 be inculcated by superstition, like religions which must play on men's feelings, 
 because they cannot appeal either to natural science or common sense. The 
 Irish, like the Welsh bardic institution, had its triennial celebration, where an 
 august meeting of the order assembled, to regulate all matters connected with 
 the profession. These assemblies, although presided over by a king or prince, 
 were assemblies of the people, and in which every motion was carried by a 
 majority of all present. The last of these meetings on record in Ireland, took 
 place in 1792, the object of which was to revive the periodical meetings (for 
 some years discontinued) for perpetuating the " music, poetry, and oral traditions" 
 of Ireland. Mr Dugan, whose memory deserves to be respected, offered in 1778 
 two munificent prizes to performers on the harp ; but only two competed at the 
 meeting. This sorrowful decline of an order associated with all their high and 
 holy feelings, roused the dormant patriotism of Ireland ; and a society was 
 formed for supporting a professor and students, in the year 1807, but it has 
 not met with the encouragement it deserved. 
 
 In Wales, we find that Anuren, a prince of the Ottadini, and others 
 illustrious for rank and patriotism, gloried more in their bardic qualifications 
 than nobility of rank. King Cadwaladir, about 670, presided at a meeting 
 assembled for the purpose of hearing the Bards reciting old compositions, and 
 also their own productions. These meetings were called Eisted-yodas. They 
 are continued in Wales, (to the honour, be it stated, of the Ancient Britons) to 
 this day. The Druids having disappeared before the Culdees, the Bards were 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 65 
 
 no longer an organized order under collegiate discipline, and became the 
 creatures of the Church, less strict in their morals. Hence, Gruffudd and his 
 "Gaelic friends" laid down rules at this meeting of 670, to correct abuses, 
 and introduce improvements in Celtic poetry and music, and for regulating 
 the mode of competition, qualification of candidates, &c, ; " the proper obser- 
 vance of which was expected to restore discipline among the Bards, and to 
 perpetuate the true history of transactions ;" the Bards having become less strict 
 in adhering to the truth in their poetry. Accordingly, at .the above meeting, 
 we find that invention (which was not permitted by the Druids) was declared 
 punishable by fine and imprisonment ; and the like penalty was exacted for 
 mockery, derision, or undeserved censure. Eyhs ap Gruffudd, prince of South 
 Wales, gave a magnificent entertainment to King Henry II., when a large 
 assemblage of Bards attended, and received a confirmation of all their franchises. 
 Similar meetings have been held at various times and places, sometimes by 
 royal summons, and at others by the nobility. Henry VIII. issued a com- 
 mission for one to be held at Caerwys, " for the purpose of instituting order 
 and government among the professors of poetry and music, and regulating 
 their art and profession, according to the old statute of Gruffudd ap Cynan, 
 prince of Aberfraw." Queen Elizabeth appointed another to assemble at the 
 same place. In 1792, " a congress of the Bards of the Isles of Britain," was held 
 on Primrosehill, near London, with the view of restoring druidal mythology and 
 bardic learning," according to the Gentleman's Magazine, L. xii. Since then, the 
 Cymrodorian Society has given frequent eistid-vodas in the metropolis, and, as 
 already stated, they are held periodically in Wales. The kindred people of 
 Bas Bretagne have lately been desirous of a similar convention, and I hope, 
 from what I have recently heard from a Welsh gentleman, that at no distant 
 date, arrangements will be made by the literati of that spirited Principality to 
 have a gathering of the remnant of the Bards from all countries, in some 
 central locality, to revive ancient customs, and renew ancient ties and associa- 
 tions among the now scattered, but still attached and warm-hearted remnants of 
 the great Celtic clans. 
 
 The historical value of Celtic poetry is proved by the fact, that a poem of 
 the bard Talicsen, who lived anno 540, and which described the death of King 
 Arthur, and the place of his interment, was repeated to Henry II., about the 
 year 1187. The King, to test the historical value of the poem, ordered a search 
 to be made for King Arthur's tomb, in the churchyard of Glastonbury ; and 
 there it was found and identified^ in the presence and to the satisfaction of the 
 King ! A similar discovery was made by the recitation by a "harper of a duan 
 on-Cathgarbha, where Oscar and Cairbear both fell, in which an account is given 
 of the burial of King Conan, a provincial chief or king, who fell also there. 
 The Irish Academy, to verify the bardic record, had the spot excavated, when 
 the grave was found as described in the song. According to tradition, Cohmal, 
 (pronounced Cole) the father of Fingal, fell in Ayrshire, in a battle fought 
 between himself and Morni, the father of Gaul, who was supported by a clan 
 of the Britons of Sta:athclyde. The grave being pointed out by tradition, the late 
 
66 THE POETKY 
 
 Eev. Dr Memes, then Eector of the Ayr Academy, and other gentlemen, had 
 it opened, when it was found to verify Ossian's description. The urn contain- 
 ing the ashes of the ancient hero, was surrounded and covered by " four grey 
 stones," and completely answered the description of the bard. The report of 
 this discovery went the round of the newspapers thirty years ago. Eonald 
 Glas of Keppoch, having estranged his clan, by accepting or declaring his 
 intention to accept a feudal charter of the clan district, was killed by a family 
 of the name of Clan-Dughail, whom he deeply and treacherously injured. 
 The clan declined to interfere ; but the celebrated bard, Ian Lom, determined 
 to punish the murderers of his chieftain, obtained a warrant for their apprehen- 
 sion from the Privy Council, which they eluded for a considerable time ; but 
 they were at length taken by surprise by a party obtained by the bard from his 
 chief, Sir James Macdonald, in a block-house, which they defended until it was 
 set in fire over their heads, when, being compelled to rush out, they were 
 overpowered and killed. As the warrant required that they should be pro- 
 duced " dead or alive" in Edinburgh, their heads were cut off and sent there, 
 and their bodies buried in a sand-hill in the vicinity. The late Dr Smith of 
 Fort- William, who was. very sceptical on the subject of Ossian's Poems, and all 
 Highland traditions, thought that he had in this tradition (owing to the dryness 
 of the ground in which the Clan-Dughail were said to have been buried) an 
 opportunity of striking a blow at, as he assumed, the public credulity ; and he 
 got the hill excavated ; when, lo ! to his surprise, he found seven skeletons, 
 -but not a single skull. Nay, more, the skeleton of the old man, who was repre- 
 sented by tradition as of gigantic size, and lame in consequence of having had 
 his thigh-bone broken, and ill set in his youth, was found to confirm the tradi- 
 tion to the letter, for the bones of one of the skeletons were much larger than 
 the others, and one of its thigh-bones was shorter, and had a knot on it where 
 it had been broken and joined again. In short, Dr Smith became so impressed 
 with a conviction of the truth of the poetry and traditions of the Highland 
 clans, in consequence of this incident, as to have applied himself immediately to 
 the acquirement of the language, and he prosecuted its study until he could 
 peruse Ossian's Poems m the original. He got a statement of the result of his 
 exploration of the grave of Clan-Dughail drawn up, printed, and distributed 
 among his friends, and was, ever afterwards, an earnest advocate of the authen- 
 ticity of Ossian's Poems, and also an able adversary to the absurd views of 
 ancient Highland institutions and society assumed by feudal historians. • He 
 contended, that without a knowledge of the poetry and traditions, which are 
 the only true expositors of the history of the Highland clans, no stranger had 
 any reliable means of forming a just opinion on the subject. He agreed 
 with me as to the danger of attempting to pass off a fiction for tradition, 
 while the same clans continued to occupy the same localities for ages; 
 and that it is the historian who writes in the privacy of his library, and 
 who can adopt the recorded fictions that suit his views, that is under no 
 check, and not the traditional historian. Surely it cannot be denied, for 
 instance, that this treatise is written under the check of public opinion, in so 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 67 
 
 far as traditional, but not in so far as leaning on extracts already published, The 
 Celtiberians asserted, according to Theocritus, quoted by Logan, that they had 
 poems, containing their laws and history, for a period of six thousand years. 
 Tacitus mentions that the poems which contained the annals of the Germans were 
 ancient in his days. Some of the poems mentioned in express terms by Taci- 
 tus, as carried down orally for hundreds of years before his time, were in exist- 
 ence seven hundred years after his death. One of the pursuits in which 
 Charlemagne took great delight, was searching for these relics of antiquity, and 
 committing them to memory. The same may be said of the great Alfred of 
 England. Logan refers to a fragment which he holds to be the oldest speci- 
 men of the bardic genius of the ancient Celts. Lucernius, king of the Averni, 
 was wont to court popularity by " extraordinary munificence." A bard once 
 arriving long after the others, saluted the prince with a poem, extolling his vir- 
 tues and benevolence, but lamented his misfor,tune in being too late to share his 
 bounty. The song procured the gift of a purse of gold to the happy bard, who 
 then chaunted loudly and extemporaneously, saying, " that Lucernius' chariot 
 wheels, as they rolled along, scattered wealth and blessings among the children 
 of men." Gildas and Nemius were bards, and profess to have compiled their 
 histories from ancient poems ; but they complain of, and deplore the destruction 
 of many old records by the enemy. Among the remains of poetry, quoted by 
 Bosworth and others, is that of Merddin or Merlin, the Caledonian, who flourished 
 in 470. The antiquaries of Wales go much farther back with the history of 
 their extant poetry than the Christian era, and so do those of Hibernia. Fingin 
 and Fergus, Hibernian bards, belonged to the second century, and are not 
 doubted ; and, since the Christian era, numerous individuals distinguished in 
 the science, are mentioned by monkish writers of undoubted authority. Torna, 
 Dubhach, Feich, Cronan, Benean, Columba, Adamnan, Dalian, Seanachan, 
 Angus, Amergen, were all Hibernian bards ; and the Welsh can furnish a list 
 as brilHant and as much beyond suspicion; while an equal number, among 
 whom, Orran, UUin, Caril, &c., with Ossian at their head, were Caledonian 
 bards : two large volumes of whose poems, now in print, have come down, 
 chiefly by oral recitation, to the middle of the last and the beginning of the 
 present century. The former were published by the learned and talented 
 clergyman, Dr Smith ; the latter by the Highland Society, with a literal Latin 
 translation from the manuscripts found in Macpherson's repositories, and to pub- 
 lish which he bequeathed £1000 by his will. 
 
 It has, I think, been shown in the above short sketch of the druidal and 
 bardic institution of the Caledonian, Irish, and Welsh Celtic clans, that oral reci- 
 tation was not so uncertain a medium for carrying down important events, in 
 poems and tales composed by men of genius and highly cultivated minds, as 
 the gentlemen who (in total ignorance of the language in which these poems 
 and tales were written) constituted themselves judges of their merit and authen- 
 ticity, seemed to think. 
 
 lomarba, were the names of the professional competitions, which were 
 common and periodical both in Scotland and Ireland. They were suppressed ia 
 
68 THE POETRY 
 
 Ireland, at least within the Pale, by a penal statute ; but they came down in 
 the Highlands to the days of Dr Johnson ; who, while denying the existence 
 of Gaelic poetry, mentions that lomarba were at that time held in the Highlands, 
 as eisted-vodas are now held in Wales, to recite and celebrate this non-existing 
 poetry ! In Anglia Sacra, mention is made of a Scot who was acquainted with 
 a htindred different measures of verse ; and Giraldus, not only states that the 
 Highlanders and Irish were superior musicians, but they also sung and played 
 " in parts," — which was totally new to him. This implies that there was no 
 dramatic poetry then in England, The Druid morality, which was very strict, 
 forbade, as already stated, the use of fiction, and, consequently of satirical and 
 dramatic poetry by the Bards. They required that the subject of all poems 
 should be strictly true, and told by the Bards in accordance with the truth ; but 
 they were not only allowed, but required, to relate these events in a manner 
 worthy of men of genius, feeling, and good taste. The strict exclusion of fiction 
 from Celtic poetry was no doubt unfavourable to dramatic poetry, and I do not 
 think the ancient Celtic clans had — what we understand as — dramatic poetry ; 
 but we are assured by tradition, that their historical poems were dramatically 
 represented and recited at their lomarba ; and this tradition is sufficiently 
 corroborated by Giraldus Cambrenses' statement, that the Highlanders and the 
 Hibernians sung and played musical pieces " in parts." Major, a historian who 
 was evidently disinclined to give any credit to his " upthrough" countrymen, (as 
 he called the Highlanders,) in speaking of the musical taste and attainments 
 of James the First, could only illustrate their excellence by comparing his 
 performances with those of the " Hibernians and the Highlanders, who wei^e the 
 best of all players on the harp." Now, I would pause and ask the reader here, 
 whether it is possible for him to believe that the Hibernians and the Highland- 
 ers had arrived at such eminence as players on the harp, without having a 
 poetry worthy of the music which they sung to the harp ? Poetry was the 
 very soul of music, until modern taste substituted harmony for melody, and, 
 by smothering the song in singing, devorced feeling from music, after a long life 
 of wedded happiness. Was it only in Hibernia and the Highlands (where the 
 best players on the harp known to learned musicians and antiquaries like 
 Giraldus and Major were to be found) that the music and poetry were unequal, 
 and altogether unworthy of one another? The best answer to this strange 
 assumption is to lay before the reader some specimens of Gaelic poetry of 
 unquestionable antiquity. But before submitting these specimens from Ullin, 
 Orran, and Ossian, three of our most celebrated bards, I beg leave to premise 
 that the poems from which I quote have been before the public, in print, and in 
 the native language, those of Ullin and Orran for more than eighty, and those 
 of Ossian for more than fifty years. I also beg leave to refer to the West of 
 Scotland Magazine, and to say that I have proved in my articles published 
 in that perodical, — 
 
 1. That poems bearing the same characteristic features with those after- 
 wards published and ascribed to Ossian by Macpherson, had been universally 
 known for time immemorial in the Highlands ; and that they were referred to 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 69 
 
 in innumerable poems (many of the verses of which I translated and quoted in 
 English) by the Graelic Bards, ages before Macpherson was born, in the same 
 manner in which Greek and Eoman poems are referred to by the contemporary 
 poets of England. 
 
 2. I showed, from Irish and Northern historians, whose works could scarcely 
 have been seen by Macpherson, because they were not then published, although 
 the materials existed in manuscript, and in a Latin history of Ireland, published 
 in France in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, — that the heroes and events cele- 
 brated in the poems of Fingal and Temora, are historical heroes and events ; 
 and that they are named by the same names, and narrated substantially in the 
 same manner, by these historians and by Ossian. I considered the above as 
 satisfactory evidence of the authenticity of the poems as could be required by 
 any impartial antiquary under the circumstances, especially when taken in 
 connexion with the copious literal translations by which I showed, that the 
 Gaelic poems found in Macpherson's repositories after his death, bear, intrin- 
 sically, undoubted evidence of having been the work of a superior poet to the 
 author of the English version of these poems. 
 
 I may, in corroboration of these facts, remark, that the poems published 
 by the Rev. Dr Smith, above eighty years ago, and by the Highland Societies 
 of London and Scotland from Macpherson's manuscripts, under the editorship 
 of Sir John Sinclair, more than fifty years ago, bear unquestionable intrinsic 
 evidence that the authors of these poems were superior for genius, taste, and a 
 knowledge of the language, to the parties by whom these poems were copied 
 &om oral recitation, and prepared for the press. The poems substantially bear 
 evidence of being the production of men of great genius, refined tastes, 
 patriotic, benevolent, noble, and generous feelings and sentiments ; while, taking 
 them as prepared for the press and published, a line or two lines will be found 
 on a page, a word or two words in a verse, and a verse or two verses in a dwan 
 or canto, which form a contrast most striking for coarseness, tautology, or 
 ambiguity, to the chasteness and elegance of the rest. Dr Smith thus accounts 
 for the exceptions to the version published by him : " The poems," says Dr 
 Smith, " having been collected from various editions, they may, perhaps, appear 
 in some places inelegant or abrupt ; it being sometimes necessary to take half 
 a stanza, or perhaps half a line, from one edition, to join to so much of another. 
 As the poems were, for the most part, taken down from oral recitation, frequent 
 mistakes may have been made in the proper division of the lines, and in the 
 assigning of its due quantity to each. Those who recited ancient poems took, 
 frequently, the opportunity of substittiting such words as they were lest acqucdnted 
 vnth, in the room of such as were more foreign or obsolete. To expunge these 
 words, when none of the copies in the editor's hands supplied him with better, 
 was a task which he did not consider as any part of his province." 
 
 I cannot help regretting that the learned and patriotic Doctor took so strict 
 a view of his duties as editor of poems carried .down, as he himself shows, 
 by oral tradition from a remote antiquity, through various channels, some of 
 them, to say the least, not very competent. The poems being uniformly 
 
70 THE POETKT 
 
 of sach a character as legitimately to lead to the conclusion, that the authors 
 were incapable of writing these exceptional parts, the inference is inevitable, 
 that they were interpolations by some incompetent reciters. I cannot help 
 regretting, therefore, that the Kev. Doctor did not feel it to be his duty to 
 expunge these passages and restore the original, since no writer was more 
 competent to do so than himself. To publish the poems without expunging 
 these obvious interpolations, was more scrupulous than just to the fame of the 
 departed Bards, who had surely a right to expect that the editors of their works 
 in future ages should feel it to be their sacred duty to do them justice. These 
 remarks apply only to the Gaelic version; for the Rev. Doctor allowed no 
 tautology or obscurity to deform the translation, which is every thing that could 
 be desired. Indeed, it is only fair to say, that, if the Gaelic antiquities, or 
 Seanna-dhana of Dr Smith, had been illustrative of the religion and poetry of 
 any other part of the British Empire excepting the Highlands, they could 
 scarcely fail, not only to have made his fortune, but also to raise him to the very 
 summit of popularity. But, instead of being remunerated for his great work, 
 the Doctor lost so much money by the publication, as seriously to burden his 
 small income ; and, instead of its raising him to the very height of popularity 
 with his fellow-countrymen, it simply subjected him to the rapacious appetites 
 for detraction, characteristic of the small fry of parasites who prey on men of 
 genius after they are dead ; and, although many of his relations have been 
 literary men, or belong to professions that ought to be literary, and although I 
 am no relative, I am, so far as I know, the only Highlander that ever took up 
 the pen to do him justice. Dr Smith either met with ingratitude on the part 
 of his fellow-countrymen, who were surely as interested as he was in doing 
 justice to the literature of their ancestors, or he was the generous victim of his 
 own noble enthusiasm, — a fate to be envied rather than regretted. But, alas for 
 the modern Highlanders who will go any distance to see Gillie-callum danced, 
 and to shake hands, by proxy, with a lord or a duke, but who have never yet 
 recorded their grateful recognition of the honour done to their country by the 
 labours of Dr Smith, by " putting a stone in his cairn." 
 
 With reference to Mr Macpherson's English translation, and also to the 
 version of the Gaelic originals found in his repositories prepared for the press, 
 it is to be remembered, that Macpherson was only a mere school-boy or student, 
 when he was employed by the Rev. Dr Blair and other patriotic gentlemen, to 
 collect and translate these poems. Now, it will not, I think, be denied that it 
 is the uniform tendency of persons of an ardent and poetic temperament, 
 especially before having attained to a maturity of judgement, to imagine that 
 they cannot too highly exaggerate or colour the subjects on which they write. 
 " Oh," exclaimed a worthy Gael of my acquaintance, " what would this 
 country be but for Sir Colin Campbell and his Highlanders !" In this spirit of 
 enthusiasm we find Macpherson continually repeating the epithets and phrase- 
 ology which he considered best calculated to make his heroes not only great, 
 but even marvellous. I have no doubt that a critic of good taste and discrimina- 
 tion could point out, in the English version, every instance in which such 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 7X 
 
 epithets and phraseology were thrust into the poems by Macpherson, as they 
 stand out in bloated relief among the more chaste and elegant passages of his 
 translation. But these meretricious interpolations appear still more prominent 
 in the original, as prepared for the press by Macpherson himself, — for in these 
 the style and the measure of the verses are every now and again inflated and 
 forced out of joint by the obtrusion of ill-conditioned tautological epithets, 
 and a sounding, but most empty phraseology. With these drawbacks, natural 
 to a youth so sensitive and enthusiastic, when portraying, to parties ignorant 
 of the original, poetry so descriptive of all that is tender, generous, and heroic 
 in the human character, in a language different from the original, Mr Mac- 
 pherson's translation is not only chaste and elegant, but graphic and exceedingly 
 beautiful. He who would take the trouble of purifying Macpherson's translation 
 of Ossian from his interpolations or fancied improvements, and of publishing 
 the rest without changing a word, would, in my opinion, merit the gratitude 
 of mankind. 
 
 It seems necessary, before submitting to the reader specimens from the 
 ancient poets, to make a few remarks on the poetry floating traditionally in Ireland 
 under the name of Ossian, although I really cannot enter into the spirit of the 
 controversy between the Irish and the Highlanders on this subject, my Celtic 
 sympathies being so catholic as to make me look on it as a matter of indiffer- 
 ence whether the great representative of the ancient Celtic bards was born in 
 Erin or Albin. Indeed, my opinion is, that the Greeks, in disputing about the 
 locality of Homer's birth, showed themselves to be destitute of the true clan- 
 spirit and patriotism that ought to characterize the conduct of kindred and noble 
 races one toward. another, and, therefore, that they deserved the fate their con- 
 ceited, selfish, and intempprate divisions brought upon them. But the Irish do not 
 claim the poems ascribed to Ossian by Macpherson as the productions of their 
 Ossian; they only want to deprive their Caledonian brethren of the credit of having 
 had a bard who could have produced such poetry, nearly two thousand years ago. 
 This, to be sure, is somewhat less generous than we could be disposed to give 
 our feUow Celts of Erin credit for, and it cuts both ways ; for, if the state of so- 
 ciety in Albin was at that time as civilized as the production and popularity of 
 , these poems instruct, the state of society among their brethren of Leth-cuin 
 could not have been so barbarous as their so-called Saxon neighbours assert, and 
 vice versa. But the fact is, that the poems of the Highland Ossian show that 
 he lived before priestcraft and feudalism dwarfed the souls and corrupted the 
 tastes and judgements of mankind ; while the Irish Ossian is shown, by the 
 productions ascribed to him, to have been the very personification of the dwarfed 
 souls and corrupted tastes and judgements resulting from the spiritual and civil 
 despotism of the dark ages. It is but too well known that the priests of the 
 above period cultivated superstition as the great ally or handmaiden of 
 religion: hence in these Irish " Ursgeuls" or new tales, ascribed to Ossian, 
 (as they are called both in Erin and Albin,) the adventures of the traditional 
 heroes of the people are mixed up with magicians, mountebanks, saints, giants, 
 and witches, — but with a design and a method well calculated to emasculate the 
 
72 THE POETEY 
 
 minds, and corrupt the taste of the people, and so prepare them for swallowing 
 the monkish legends, however extravagant and marvellous. Nay, more, these 
 Ursgeuls show that the fabricators of them were the monkish dabblers in Greek 
 and Eoman literature, and not the Celtic bards ; for they have their allegories, 
 monsters, and metamorphosis, — although rude, maudlin, feeble, unnaturally fan- 
 tastic, obscene, and ludicrous. 
 
 Mr O'Kierney, one of the editors of the Ossianic Society, who calls 
 these alleged poems of Ossian " Ursgeuls,"— or, tiew tales, states, that " they 
 are founded on ancient poems, but more authoritative," historically, than the 
 originals from which they are derived ! and I question not that they are as 
 authoritative as can be desired on the subject of the Heathen and Christian 
 controversies between Ossian and St Patrick, — the pilgrimages to Rome, — 
 the wars between the Fingalians and the kings of Erin about the feudal tribute 
 of mulier mercheta, &c. &c. But Mr O'Kierney has not submitted the originals 
 from which the Ursgeuls are alleged to have been derived, to the public, whom 
 he wishes to enhghten ; so that we must necessarily wait until he shall have 
 had another literary engagement from the Ossianic Society, before we are in a 
 condition to solve this puzzle. Mr O'Kierney, perhaps, takes for granted that 
 his readers have undergone the process of emasculation which his Ursgeuls 
 are so well calculated to produce, and that they wiU believe his curious paradox 
 without requiring any evidence of its truth ! But, to speak without sarcasm, a 
 more humiliating proof of the perverting influence of combativeness on the 
 human intellect than is instructed by the collection and publication of these 
 Ursgeuls, at great expense, by a society of learned Irish gentlemen, under the 
 delusion that they are the productions of a man of genius, and an honour to 
 Ireland, is not to be found on the records of any other country in Europe ! That 
 to combativeness, and not dishonesty, is to be ascribed the pubUcation of this 
 unnatural trash ascribed to Ossian by the Irish, is shown by the fact, that, 
 along with it they have published works by St Benean, Dr Lynch, &c., 
 containing a whole mass of evidence, which can leave no doubt that the Feinn 
 spoke a different dialect, wore a different dress, and were different in their 
 manners and customs from the people of Leth-Eugain-mhoir, or the southern 
 half of Ireland. These are called Milesians, Firbolgs, Belgs, &c. ; while the 
 people of Leth-cuin are called Cruithni, Picti, Tuatha-de-dannans, &o. 
 
 I have stated elsewhere, that it was the custom of the clans to take the 
 names of the chiefs and ceanncaths, or war-chiefs, — that is, chiefs of confedera- 
 tions of clans, — for the time ; and, hence, that clans, and confederations of 
 clans, were continually changing their names. In reading recent publications 
 by learned societies of Irish gentlemen, in illustration of the traditional poetry 
 and history of their country, it will be observed that confederations of clans, 
 and clans also, disappear and appear in a manner which puzzled the very 
 editors, because they did not know that such was the custom of clans down to 
 the date of feudalism, when feudal tenures led to fixed surnames. That the 
 comparatively ancient feudal writers on the histories of Ireland and Scotland 
 did not qualify themselves better for their self-imposed task, by devoting some 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 73 
 
 portion of their research to the poetry and traditions, which throw so much 
 light on the ancient local clan governments and customs of countries known to 
 have been occupied down to the age of feudahsm by patriarchal clans, shows 
 that they really were not very anxious to ascertain the truth. They do not, 
 therefore, inspire us with much confidence either in their narratives or opinions. 
 There is nothing staggering in the fact, that clans and confederations took the 
 names of their chiefs and ceanncaths for the time, and thus frequently took 
 new, and occasionally assumed old names, according to the new or old names 
 of the chiefs and ceanncaths for the time. There is, I repeat it, nothing in the 
 above to stagger writers who knew that Koman divisions and armies did the 
 same, and that a similar practice prevailed in England even after England had 
 a standing army. 
 
 In the southern, or Leth Uigean-mhoir's half of Ireland, the clans and con- 
 federations had, from time to time, so many names, as to puzzle the very editors 
 of works recently published to illustrate the traditional poetry and history of the 
 country.* The clans of Leth Cuinn, or Conn's half of Ireland, were less numerous, 
 and being of Caledonian descent, and maintaining their position only through 
 assistance from the mother country in every extremity, they were naturally 
 more tenacious of the names by which they were identified with the great clans 
 of their native land. "We accordingly find them almost invariably called by 
 historians, Cruithni, Picti, Tuath-de-danans, &c., like their kindred Caledonian 
 tribes. That the southern clans frequently changed their names, may be 
 inferred pretty confidently even by comparing Ptolomy and Kichard, who did 
 not write at such very distant periods from one another, as on any other rational 
 grounds to account for the circumstance, that the people of the same district 
 are called by diflerent names by these topographical writers* As I cannot 
 enter at greater length here into so ample a subject, the following quotations 
 must serve. 
 
 Ptolomy, Geo. Hib. states, that the Minapee and the Canaeci were " nati- 
 ones Teutonici origines /" and Orocius, a Spanish priest, who wrote a valuable 
 compendium of history, which has been misunderstood or mis-translated into 
 Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred, and which translation is again misunderstood or 
 mis-translated by Bosworth, states that Ireland was occupied (meaning, no 
 doubt, the part opposite to Spain) by families (clans) of the Scots. Bede, who 
 speaks from his personal knowledge, states, that the people of the British Isles 
 had the same theology, but received it through the medium of five different dia- 
 lects, viz. that of the Angles, Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins. He also dis- 
 tinctly states that the Scots came from Ireland. Nobody doubts that Colujnba 
 was a Scot, and' came from Ireland ; and the Irish writers above referred to, 
 show that Ireland was called Scotland, when the Scots were ceanncaths of the 
 southern confederation there. Alfred distinctly describes Ireland as an island, 
 and says it was called Scotland. Erchad, a saint born in Kincardine, preached 
 to the Scots on his way home from Rome. This implies that the Scots then 
 occupied the Lowlands. The Scots probably called the country Scotland on 
 
 * See page C2. 
 
74 THE POETRY 
 
 being fairly established there ; for Alfred calls it Scotland, which implies that 
 they transferred to it the name they had previously given to Ireland. But, be 
 that as it may, the new name shows that the Scots were a new power in Scot- 
 land ; otherwise, why was not the country known by the name of Scotland 
 before the days of Alfred ? Land is a Gothic or Teutonic word, and nothing 
 can be more certain than that the Picts and Scots spoke different dialects. 
 Erchad, as already stated, (Aberdeen Breviary,) preached to the Britons and 
 Scots, naming them in that order, which surely implies that the country of the 
 Scots was situated between those of the Britons and the Picts. Here we have 
 a distinct people between the Britons and Picts, who give a new name to the 
 country, and that name, too, in a foreign language. Nay, more, the ceanncath 
 or war-chief of this people takes the title of king of Scots ; his sons are called 
 princes, and he creates dukes, earls, lords, baronets, &c. ; and, land, king, prince, 
 earl, lord, and baronet, are all names foreign to the Pictish or Caledonian lan- 
 guage, and cannot be expressed in it, until this day. Yet historians fancy that 
 they have established it as a fact, that the Highlanders, in whose language not 
 a single one of these names or titles can be expressed, are Scots, and that the 
 people of the Lowlands, in whose language they originated, and can be appro- 
 priately expressed, are the descendants of the Picts or Caledonians. But let us 
 see whether the life of Columba, published jointly by the Bannatyne Club and 
 the Irish Celtic Association, confirms or contradicts my views on this subject. 
 Adamilan, according to this authoritative book, states that when one of the 
 Pictish chiefs was baptised, he received the word through an interpreter : " verba 
 Die a sancto per mterpretem recipto." — r Ware's " Vita Sancti Oolumbse" by 
 Adamnan, page 62. Again, he says that Columba, having tarried at that time for 
 some days in the " province" of the Picts, the word of life was preached to the 
 people through the medium of an interpreter. — Ibid., page 145. Here we find 
 Bede, Erchad, Adamnan, all writing to the effect that the Scots were situated 
 between the Britons and the Picts, and spoke a different dialect from the latter. 
 Indeed, Adamnan's words imply that the Picts were shorn of the supremacy, 
 and reduced to " a province ;" while Alfred's words imply that the country was 
 called by the Scots after their own name, Scotland. I will not argue vnth those 
 who require farther evidence on the above subject, but may quote Ossian and 
 Cormac, grandson of Conn, — the former from the Highland Society's edition of 
 Ossian, edited and published by Sir John Sinclair, more than fifty years ago ; and 
 the latter on the authority of Father O'Keef, from a work published more than 
 two hundred years ago. My version is from my mother's oral recitation ; but 
 it agrees substantially with those of the Father. I beg to premise that Adam- 
 nan is corroborated by St Benean, Dr Lynch, &c. who state that the Malmuta 
 laws of Ireland were written in the Feinian or Pictish language. Ptolomy, the 
 very best authority, states that the south of Ireland was inhabited by " nationes 
 Teutomci origines." The Editor of an edition of Cambrenses Eversus shows 
 that the soldiers of the three Collas were Firbolg, and that the Firbolg and Belgee 
 were identical in Ireland. The people of Leth-Cuinn were never called Firbolg, 
 Pelgs, &c. &c. in Ireland, but they are uniformly called Cruithni, Picti, Tuatha- 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 75 
 
 de-danans ; all indicating their identity with the clans of Caledonia. Let us 
 now see what Ossian (I don't mean the Ossian of Mr O'Kearney's " Ursgeuls," 
 but the Ossian whose ancient poems he so clumsily and grossly caricatures) says 
 on the above quotation of the different confederations of the southern and 
 northern clans of Ireland : — 
 
 TEMOEA, 
 
 Chruinich cinnicheadh mor Uillin, Gathered the great clans of Ullin, 
 
 'S chuir iad cuireadh gu righ nan lann, And sent an invitation to the king of 
 
 swords, — 
 Eigh do shinnsreadh mor nam beann, A king of the race of their mountain 
 
 ancestors, — 
 Siol Shealma nan cruaidh gu'n f haillein, The race of Selma, of steel unfailing, 
 
 'S triadhadh Erin aig eiridh. The chiefs of Erin having risen (in 
 
 arms.) 
 
 This movement was, of course, inimical to the great southern confedera- 
 tion, so they also convened a meeting of all their great tribes : — 
 
 " Cuim," thuirt iad, " bhiodh Conn na " Why," said they, " should Conn be 
 
 righ, king, 
 
 Siol coigrich nan strith Mhorbhein ?" The race hostile of strangers from 
 
 Morven ?" 
 Thainig iad mar shruthaibh shliabh. They came like a spate from the wold. 
 
 Here we have the simple graphic statement of the great Celtic historian 
 
 and bard, which singularly coincides with the above quotations. In short, all 
 
 the statements collected and published by learned Irish societies, and all facts 
 
 stated by such ancient historians as were neither Caledonian or Irish, agree 
 
 with Ossian, and vice versa. We shall never have a consistent history of 
 
 Ireland or Scotland, until the authenticity of our ancient poems is recognised, 
 
 and until, like the Northern sagas, they are made the foundation of our histories. 
 
 The following verses were substantially published by Father O'Keef, in 
 
 1684. I have it not in my power at present to consult the Father's work, (as I am 
 
 writing on a tour in the Highlands) but I have read it, and, to the best of my 
 
 recollection, the only important difference between the following verses, as 
 
 repeated by my mother, and his, is, that the Father makes Fergus, and not 
 
 Cairbear, the fourth in descent from Conn. Both the Father and my mother 
 
 ascribed the verees to Cormac, grandson of Conn. The verses show that the 
 
 people of Leth-Cuin, or Temora, and their ancient kings, were Gaidheil, which 
 
 is the historically recognised cognomen of the Highlanders, and not the Irish. 
 
 The Hibernian clans of Leth-Cuin are always designated Gaidheil Eirneach. 
 
 'S mise Cormac, ogha Chuinn, I am Cormac, grandson of Conn, 
 
 Ard righ f hear Theamhair chruinn ; High king of the men of the circuit of 
 
 Temora ; 
 
76 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 Ro fheallasach onn rinneadh foil, 
 Le mo mhnaoidh 's le m' reachdadair. 
 
 'S eol dhomhsa rud gun gaoid, 
 Tri nitheaa a mhilleas mnaoidh, — 
 Am fear fein gu'n bhi ga 'n reir, 
 Leannanas lag, luidean mean. 
 
 'S eol dhomh rud eile gu'n ghaoid, 
 Na tri nidhean a riaghlas mnaoidh, — 
 An cial fein, co-mhochadh am fear, 
 'S leannas fiughantach, laidir. 
 
 Mo mhallachd an diugh is gu brath, 
 
 Air duine uasal na air flath, 
 
 A gheileas do las mhnadh, 
 
 Mar bith iad beusach nan ghniomhadh. 
 
 Cearthar gu'n bheud ri 'n linn, 
 Thainig na Gaidheil ghrinn,! 
 Conn oilleil ceud-chathach, 
 Art, mi fein, is Cairbeir. 
 
 Very treacherously I have been betrayed 
 By my wife and judge. 
 
 I know three things without a flaw, — 
 Three things that ruin women : — 
 A husband not their equal, 
 A small drudge, and faint love. 
 
 I know three things without a flaw. 
 Three things that rule women : — 
 Good sense, a sympathizing husband. 
 Love generous and strong. 
 
 My curse to-day and for ever 
 On the gentleman or chief 
 Who yields to woman's flame. 
 Unless she be modest in her conduct. 
 
 Four bave in their generations 
 Descended from the sprightly Gael, 
 Illustrious Conn of a hundred battles. 
 Art, myself, and Cairbear. 
 
 Dan an fhir leidh le Oeean. — (The first duan only.) . 
 
 At the slow steps of the mild streamlet, 
 
 Aig ceuma mall a chaochain chiuin, 
 eg ceyma mall a chaochayn chi-uyn 
 
 Le d' chruit, gu 'n ghleus, na tosd, 
 led chruyt gu 'n yleys na tosd 
 
 Tha usa, mhic Arair nan teud, 
 ha usa vie arayr nan teyht 
 
 Gu 'n phong ciuil bho d' laimh a nochd ? 
 gun phong cuyl • vod la-yv a nochd 
 
 Tha taibhsean tiamhidh a trial, 
 ha tayvsen ti-avi' a tri-al 
 
 Mu 'n cuairt air nialaibh nan speur, 
 mun cu-ayrtayr ni-aliv nan speyr 
 
 Dh-eisteachd am molaidh d' bheul, 
 yeyst'echd am molay' o d veyl 
 
 'S cha chluinn iad air aile an cliu. 
 's cha chluynn i-ad ayr ay-le an cliu 
 
 A mhic Arair c'om a d' thosd, 
 a vie ar-ayr com ad hosd 
 
 Is taibhsean nan treun co dluth ? 
 is tayv-sen nan treyn co dlu' 
 
 " Co is fhearr fios na u fein, 
 CO is err fios na u feyn 
 
 On-ain, air beus na fhalbh ? 
 orr-ayn ayr heys na yalv 
 
 With thy harp untuned, silent, 
 
 Art thou, son of Arair of strings, 
 
 Without a note, of music from thy 
 hand to-night ? 
 
 Melancholy ghosts are travelling 
 
 Around on the clouds of night. 
 
 To listen to their praise from thy lips, 
 
 And they hear not on air their fame. 
 
 Son of Arair, why in silence, 
 
 When the spirits of the night are near? 
 
 " Who better knows than thyself, 
 
 Orran, of the habits of those that are 
 gone? 
 
Tha 'n cuimhne a dearse air t-anain. 
 ha'n cuyne a dfersa ayr tan-am 
 
 Can an dain chianael an teabhachd, 
 can an dayn chi-a-nel an te'-avachd 
 
 Cuir an cliu gu linnte cein, 
 cuyr an clin ga linntfe oeyn 
 
 Mar dheo-greine air anam nam bard, 
 mar ye-o-grenfe ayr anam nam bard 
 
 Tra bhios Orran sa chlarsach nan suain. 
 tra vis orr-an sa chlarsach nan su-ayn 
 
 Caidlidh Orran sa chlarach, 
 cayd-li' orran sa chlar 
 
 Ach mairidh a dhain na dheigh." 
 ach mari' a yayn na yey 
 
 An SO thamb Dumoir nan sleagb, 
 an so hav dumor nan slegh 
 
 'Snatbeach,marsholus,anigbeanchaoin, 
 'sna hech mar holus a ni'-en chaoyn 
 
 B' aillidb a crutb 's bu bbinn a ceol, 
 baylli' a cru' s bu vinn a ceol 
 
 Tbug Lamba do'n oigb a gbaol. 
 hug lava don oy' a yaol 
 
 Am feacbd Dbumoir bha Lamba treun. 
 am fechd yuy-moyr va lava treyn 
 
 Is Min-sbuil an righ dha cba d'eur, — 
 is min-huyl an ri' ya cha deyr 
 
 Cba d'eur an rigb ach dh-eur i fein, 
 cha deyr an ri' ach y6yr i feyn 
 
 Aig miad a speis do Bonan aillidb, 
 ayg mi-ad a speys do ronan ayli' 
 
 Eonan bbo Sbruth-tborman nan steud. 
 ronan vo rn'-honnau nan steyd 
 
 Cbuir fios air a cbeili bbaigbeil ; 
 chuyr fios ayr a cheyli vay'eyl 
 
 Db-imicb ise le fear iuil, 
 yi-mich ish-^le ferr i-uyl 
 
 Bba Lamba dlu air an raon. 
 ya lava dlu ayr an raon 
 
 Cbeangael a 'm fear iuil ri craoibh, 
 chengel am ferr i-uyl ri croyv 
 
 'S tbug 6 leis na luing a gbaol. 
 's hug e les na Inyng a yaol 
 
 Cbluinti air stuidbean ard a glaodb, — 
 chluynti ayr stuy'en ard a glao' 
 
 " A Ronain, mo gbaoil, thig le cobhair !" 
 a ronen mo yaoyl hig le covayr 
 
 Cha cbluinn e t-eibh air cuan annracb, 
 ha chluynn e teyv ayr cu-an amirach 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 77 
 
 Their memory is shining on thy soul. 
 
 Sing, their lays pensive, with sym- 
 pathy, 
 
 Send their fame to ages remote. 
 
 Like a sunbeam on the souls of the 
 bards 
 
 When Orran and his harp are asleep ; 
 
 For sleep will Orran and his harp, — 
 
 His lays will survive after him." 
 
 Here dwelt Dumor of spears, 
 
 And in bis house, as a light, his 
 daughter mild, (Orran sings.) 
 
 Beautiful her face, sweet her music. 
 
 Lava gave to the maiden bis love. 
 
 In Dunmor's host Lava was a hero. 
 
 Sulmina the king did not grudge him ; 
 
 The king did not, but she did herself. 
 
 From the greatness of her love to 
 Bonan, the handsome 
 
 Bonan from the Strutbormon of steeds. 
 
 He sent a messenger to his chosen, 
 the affectionate ; 
 
 She accompanied the guide. 
 
 But Lava was (watchful) on the heath. 
 
 He tied the guide to a tree. 
 
 And in his ship carried away his 
 beloved. 
 
 Her cry was heard over the waves, — 
 
 " Bonan, my love, come with help !" 
 
 He bears not thy voice on a sea 
 tempestuous, 
 
78 
 
 THE POETKY 
 
 'S e aig sruthan ad liiaidh an oran : — 
 'se ayg sru'-an ad luy' an orkn 
 
 " 'S mall do cheumaibh a ghaoil, — 
 's mall do cheymiv a yaoyl 
 
 'S cian o 'm chaochain mo leannan. 
 's ci-an o 'm chochayn rao lenan 
 
 Cha chluinn do cheum air an raon, 
 cha chluyn do cheym ayr an raon 
 
 'S tha ghaoth fuaimer 's na meangain. 
 'sha yao' fuymer 's na meangen 
 
 Thig, a Shuil-mhina, mo ghaoil, 
 hig a huyl-minfe mo yaoyl 
 
 Mar eilid an aile san eibhneas ; 
 mar ellid an ayl^ san eyvnes 
 
 C om a bheil do cheuma co mall 
 com a veyl do cheymS co mall 
 
 Air Gorm-mheall nan gleann eildeach ? 
 ayr gorm-vel nan glenn eyltech 
 
 'S cian an oiche, 's mi m-onar. 
 's ci-an an oyehfe 's mi monar 
 
 A luchd iomachd nan speura gorma, 
 a luchd i-omachd nan speyra gorma 
 
 Bheil sibhse feithibh r ar annsachd? 
 veyl shivse fey'-iv rar ann-sachd 
 
 'S do chail sibh eolas ar cursa ? 
 's do cha-il siv e-olas ar cursa 
 
 Ciod a rug ort, a ghrian na maidne, 
 ced a rug ort a yri-an na mad-nfe 
 
 Noir tha u co fada gu 'n eiridh ? 
 noyr ha u co fada gun eyri' 
 
 'N do choinnich u Minshuil do ghraidh. 
 'n do choynnich u minhuyl do yra-i' 
 
 Noir dhi-chuimhnich u aird nan speuran? 
 noyr yichuynnich u ayrd nan speyran ? 
 
 A shoillsean aillidh le'r teaghlach deal- 
 a hoylshen ayli' ler telach tel- 
 
 rach, 
 rach 
 
 Is maiseach slighe sa 'n iarmailt aigh, 
 is maysy'ech sli'-& san iarmelt a' 
 
 A bheil sibh ga'r falach nar paillin 
 a veyl siv gur falach nar payllyn 
 
 's na neoil, 
 'sna ne-oyl 
 
 A chionn gur gearr libh an oiche ? 
 a chi-onn gur gerr liv an oyche 
 
 Ach leamsa cha n'eif i gearr, 
 aoh le-amsa cha neyl i gerr 
 
 At the side of the stream praising 
 
 thee in song : — 
 " Slow is the steps of my love, — 
 
 Far from my streams is my fair one. 
 
 I hear not thy steps on the heath. 
 
 And the wind is resounding in the 
 branches. 
 
 Come, Sulmina, my beloved. 
 
 Like a roe in beauty and joyousness ; 
 
 Why are thy steps so slow 
 
 On Gormal of roe-frequented glens. 
 
 Long is the night, and I am alone. 
 
 Travellers of the blue skies. 
 
 Are ye also waiting for your beloved ? 
 
 Or have ye wandered from your 
 course ? 
 
 What has overtaken thee, sun of the 
 morning, 
 
 When thou art so slow in rising? 
 
 Hast thou met Sulmina of thy love, 
 
 That thou hast forgotten the heights 
 of the sky ? 
 
 Lights beautiful of the radiant family, 
 
 Whose journey; is lovely in the fir- 
 mament, genial : 
 
 Are ye biding in your pavilion in 
 the clouds. 
 
 Because you deem the night too short? 
 But to me it is not short, 
 
OF THE HIGHLANB CLANS. 
 
 79 
 
 'S mo Mhinshuil dhonn air seacharan, 
 'smo TJnhuyl yonn ayr secharan 
 
 Tog t-or-cheann a ghrian eitbinn, 
 tog tor-chenn a yri-an eyvinn 
 
 Is feach dhomh gu luadli, a ceuraadh." 
 is fe-ach yov gu lu-a' a ceyma' 
 
 Dhealraich a mhaduinn aobhach, 
 yelrich a vaduynn aovach 
 
 Ach cha 'n f haicear leis a h-aogus. 
 ach chan aycer leys a h-aogus 
 
 Dh-eirich ceo aillidh dlu dha, 
 yeyiich ce-o ayli' dlu ya 
 
 A giulan samhla gaolach Shuilmin, 
 a guylan savla gaolach huylmin 
 
 Sgaoil e ghlacaibh na comhail. 
 sgoyl e ylachiv na covel 
 
 Ach tlireig e air an aile dhobhaidh. 
 ach h-reyg e ayr an ah-le yovi' 
 
 Dh-imich Ronan Ian do dhoruinn, 
 yi-mich ronan Ian do yoruyn 
 
 Gu fear aosda nan creag casach. 
 gu fer aosda nan creyg cosach 
 
 Fhuaireas e 'n taice ri luirg fein 
 huyres e 'n tayce ri luyrig feyn 
 
 Sa 'n doire dhoillear fo sgail gheug, 
 san doyrfe yoyller fo sga-il yeyg 
 
 Laa ogluchd, a crom-aomadh, 
 Ian og-luychd a crom-a-om-a' 
 
 Le fheusaig ghlais mu bhroilleach aosda. 
 le ey-sayg ylaysh mu vroyll-ech a-os-da 
 
 Air an lar bha sbuil a dearca, 
 ayr an lar ya huyl a dero-a 
 
 Ach anam bha'n comhnuidh, thaibhsean. 
 aeh anam va'n cov-nuy' hayv-sen 
 
 " Ciod arsa Ronan," a chi u 
 ci-od, ar-sa ronan, a chi u 
 
 " Mu Chulmina mo leannan gaolach ?" 
 mu chulmina mo lenn-an ga-ol-ach 
 
 " Macau ceangailte ri craoibh, 
 macan ceng-aylt-fe ri croyv 
 
 Barca na deann thair cuan. 
 barc-a na de-ann hayr cn-£n 
 
 A Shuilmina 's cruaidh leam do gblaodh, 
 a huyl-mina 's cruy' lem do yla-o' 
 
 A taomadh air, tuin gu'n chomhnadh," 
 a taom-a' ayr tuynn gun chov-na 
 
 And my brown-haired Sulmina wan- 
 dering. 
 
 Lift thy golden head of joy, sun. 
 
 And quickly let me see her steps." 
 
 Brightened the morning delightful, 
 
 But he sees her not. 
 
 A beautiful wreath of mist arose near 
 him, 
 
 Bearing the resemblance of Sulmina. 
 
 He spread his arms to meet her, 
 
 But it faded away on the unfriendly 
 air. 
 
 Ronan sped, full of disquiet, 
 
 To the aged recluse of the roct ; 
 
 He was found leaning on his crutch, 
 
 In the dark grove under the shade of 
 the boughs, 
 
 Awe struck and bending low, 
 
 With his grey beard floating on his 
 aged breast ; 
 
 On the ground his eye was fixed, 
 
 But his soul was in the land of spirits. 
 
 " What know you," said Ronan, 
 
 " Of Sulmina, my sweetheart, be- 
 loved?" 
 
 " A little youth," he replied, " tied to 
 a tree, 
 
 A ship speeding over the sea ; 
 
 Sulmina, sad is thy cry. 
 
 Pouring on the waves without help." 
 
80 
 
 THE POETKY 
 
 " 'S deacair a shean-f hir do sgeul." 
 's dec-ayr a hen-ir do sgeyl 
 
 " Cha chualas leat olcas gu leir." 
 cha chu-al-as le-at olo-as gu leyr 
 
 Dh-imich an laoch tursach deurach 
 yim-ich an la-och tur-sach dfey-raoh 
 
 Toirt bhuillean borb do'n chopan bheum- 
 toyrt buyll-en borb don chop-an veym- 
 
 nach, 
 nach 
 
 Ghrad phill bho raonaibh nan eiltean, 
 yrad fill vo raon-iv nan eyl-ten 
 
 Prasgau corr dp dh-ogain threubhach. 
 prasg-an corr do yog-ayn h-reyv-ach 
 
 Dh-f ban iad mar ris an laocb, 
 yan i-ad mar ris an laoch 
 
 Tosdach teamhaidh fad na h-oiche ; 
 tosdach ti-av-ay' fad na hoy-ohe 
 
 Fonn clarsaich, na fuaim slige, 
 fonn chlar-saych na fuyra slige 
 
 Fleadh na tiene cba b-f hiu leinn. 
 fle na teyn-e cha b-i-u-linn 
 
 Fuar, fliuch gu'n cheol gu'n eibhneas, 
 fu-ar fleuch gun chy-ol gun eyv-nes 
 
 Chaith, sinn ann sa bhein an oiche, 
 chay' sinn ann sa veynn an o-i-che 
 
 Sa mhaduinn leum sin air lear. 
 sa va-duynn leym sin ayr ler 
 
 Ar n-oighean gu'n ghean air an traigh. 
 a noy'-en gun yen ayr an tra-i' 
 
 Bu cho-amhiuidh, a Dhumoir dochor-sa 
 bu cho-av-luy' a yu-moyr do chor-sa 
 
 Sa mhaduin an am dhuit eiridh ; 
 sa va-duynn an am yuyt ey-ri' 
 
 Minshuil bhoidbeachnan ciabh orbbuidh, 
 min-huyl vo-i'-ech nan ci-av or-vuy 
 
 Cba 'n f hale na d' tballa dorch ga b-eide, 
 chan aye na halla d-orch ga hey-de 
 
 Chruinnicb na b-oigbean le'n iugbair, 
 chruynn-ich na hoy'-en len i-u'-ayr 
 
 Sa mbaduinn a shealg nan sleibhtein ; 
 sa va-duynn a helg nan sleyv-ten 
 
 Dh-iar iad Suilmina na teacb dimbair, 
 jri-ar i-aht suyl-mina na tech di-veyr 
 
 Db-iar 's cba do cbual i 'n eibbidb. 
 yi-ar 's cha doh chu-al i 'neyv-i' 
 
 " Igbean Dbumboir is cian do cblos. 
 i'-en yuy-moyr is ci-an do clilos 
 
 " Severe, old man, is tby tale !" 
 
 " Thou bast not beard tbe wbole evil !' 
 
 Tbe hero retired sorrowful, tearful, 
 
 Striking fierce blows on tbe boss of 
 alarms. 
 
 Quick from the heath of deer returned. 
 
 His band surpassing of youths, warlike. 
 
 They remained, along with the hero, 
 
 Silent, sad, during the long night ; 
 
 The music of the harp, tbe sound of 
 the shell,' 
 
 Banquet nor fire, they valued not. 
 
 Cold, wet, without lay or joy, 
 
 They spent the night on tbe mountain. 
 
 In the morning we sprang on tbe sea, 
 
 Leaving our young women on the 
 shore in grief. 
 
 Similar was the condition of Dumor, 
 
 When rising early in tbe morning, 
 
 Lovely Sulmina of the golden hair. 
 
 Is not seen in thy dark balls dressing. 
 
 Gathered tbe maidens for tbe chase 
 with their arrows. 
 
 In the morning to hunt over the wolds. 
 
 They sought Sulmina in her secret 
 bower, 
 
 They sought, but she heard not their 
 cry; 
 
 "Daughterof Dumor ! long is thysleep; 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 81 
 
 Duisg a shealg nan earba ciara ; 
 duysg a hel'ag nan er-ba ki-ar-a 
 
 Cha b-abhaist dhuit bhith air dheire, 
 cha b-av-asyht yuyt vi' ayr yfey-ife 
 
 Duisg, duisg tha ghrian ag eiridh. 
 diiysg duysg ha yri-an ag hj-ri' 
 
 Duisg 'b na h-eiltean a mosgladh ; 
 duysg sna heyl— ten a mosg-la 
 
 Crath a nighean Dhumoir do chiabhan, 
 era' a ni'en yuy-moyr do chi-av-an 
 
 A shealg nan sliabh, gairm do ghaothar." 
 a helg nan sli-av gayrra do yao'-ar 
 
 Och tba 'n oigh-ghraidh air ioundrain," 
 och han oy-yra-i ayr i-on-trayn 
 
 Chaidh mar shaighead tre chluais Dhu- 
 ohay' mar hay'ed tre chluysh yu- 
 moir. 
 moyr 
 
 Bu tursach Dumor san lo sin, 
 bn tur-sach du-mor san.lo An 
 
 Ach bu tursaich gu mor Eonan. 
 ach bu tur-sayoh gu mor ronan 
 
 Chruinnich an oiche mu 'n cuairt dhith, 
 ehruynn-ieh an cyche mun cuyrt yi' 
 
 Dall-bhrat ceo air traigh gu 'n leirsinn 
 dall-vraht ce-o ayr tray' gun leyrsinn 
 
 Gru tosdach, tiambaidh f huair sin cala, 
 gu toet-ach ti-av-ay' huyr sin cala 
 
 A falach an taobh an t-shleibhe. 
 a fal-ach an ta-ov an tleyv-fe 
 
 Doiller gu'n f hasgadh chaidh sin, 
 doyll-er gun asg-a' chay' sin 
 
 An oiche f hadadh san tir chein. 
 an o-i-ehe ad-a' san tir ohgyn 
 
 Bha soluis nan speur air uaireabh, 
 va so-luys nan speyr er u-ayrv 
 
 A sealtuinn traaillidh tre na neultaibh ; 
 a Bel-tnyna truylli' tre na neyl-tayv 
 
 Bu dobhuidh neo-choineal an dreach, 
 bn do-vuy' ne-o-choyn-el an drech 
 
 'S bha chomhachag bho chraig ag eibh- 
 va oho -vac hag vo ohra-ig ag eyv- 
 
 each. 
 ech 
 
 'S chite air uair taibhsean tiamhaidh, 
 'b chit-e er n-ayr tayv-shen ti-av-i' 
 
 Ag amharc ciar tre cheo na h-oiche 
 ag a-varc ci-ar tre clie-o na ha-oyche 
 
 Shuidh Ronan samhach air lie coinich, 
 huj' ronan sav-ach er lie coy-nich 
 
 Awake to hunt the dun roes ; 
 
 Thou art not wont to be the last, — 
 
 Awake, awake, the sun is rising ! 
 
 Awake ! the hinds are up and away ; 
 
 Shake thy locks, daughter of Dumor, 
 
 To hunt the wolds, call thy hound." 
 
 " Alas ! the lovely maid is amissing 1" 
 
 Went like an arrow through Du- 
 mor's ear. 
 
 Sad was Dumor on that day, 
 
 But sadder, by far, was Ronan. 
 
 The night gathered around her. 
 
 A mantle of mist impenetrable to 
 
 sight. 
 Silent, pensive we discovered a bay. 
 
 Hid in the side of the mountain. 
 
 In darkness, without shelter, we spent 
 
 The long night in the land remote. 
 
 The Ughts of the sky occasionally 
 
 Looked gloomily through the clouds ; 
 
 Troubled and unkindly they looked. 
 
 The owl was wailing from a rock ; 
 
 And at times were seen pensive ghosts 
 
 Gazing sideways through the mist of 
 
 night. 
 Ronan sat in silence on a mossy stone, 
 
82 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 A sgia air geug oscionn an treiiiTf hir. 
 a sgi-a er geyg os-ci-onn an treyn-ir 
 
 CUuinnt'iia h-iallaibh fead na gaoitlie, 
 chluynt na hi-all-ayv fed na goy-e 
 
 'S mise ri thaobh gu cianael. 
 '3 mishe ri liaov gn ci-a-nel 
 
 Thog mi, a monmhur dan athar, 
 hog mi a mon-vur dan a'-yr 
 
 A ghleachd an Ullan ri Cormar. 
 a yieohd an nllan ri oor-mar 
 
 Leig dhiot, arsa 'n laoch an dan, 
 leyg yi-ht arsau laoch an dan 
 
 Gus am pill a mhaduinn lia-ghlas ; 
 gus am pill a vaduynn li-a-ylas3 
 
 Oir tog a d' sgeul mo chorruich fein, 
 oyr tog ad sgoyl mo ohoruych feyn 
 
 Tha manam ag eiridh gu iorguill. 
 ha manam ag ey-ri' gu i-ar-guyll 
 
 Tra phill Cormar o'n chomhrag bhorb, 
 tra fill cormar o'n chov-rag yorb 
 
 Sa lean e 'n Sruthorman an rua-bhoc, 
 sa len e 'n sm'-horm-an an ru-a-voc 
 
 Bha thi air mise a sgrios ; 
 va hi er mise a sgris 
 
 'S nach d' thaining mo chlaidheamh a 
 's nach dayn-ig mo chla-ev a'h 
 
 tbruaill. 
 ruyll 
 
 Ghabh aon da laoich truas ri 'm oige, 
 yav a-on da loycb truas rim oyg-e 
 
 Is shoar e mi bheum nan sleagh, 
 is hoar e mi veym nan slea' 
 
 Ar 'n airm tha fathasd aig Lamha, 
 a nayrm ha fa'-ast ag la-va 
 
 Le bas neo-thratbail m' athar gbaolaich. 
 le bas ne-o-ra'-el ma'ar ya-ol-iob 
 
 Ach ciod tha monmhur thair an raon ? 
 aoh ced ha mon-vur h-ayr an raon 
 
 Chi mi laoch a tarminn dlu, 
 chi mi laoch a tarr-uyn dlu 
 
 Lennibh ga stiuradh air leth-laimh, 
 lenn-ov ga sti-n-ra' er le'-layv 
 
 Sa shleagh nach h-eatrom san laimh eile. 
 sa le-a' nach he-trome san layv eyl-e 
 
 Tha chas a failneacha san f hraoch, 
 ha chas a fayl-naoh-a san roach 
 
 San caochan da mar thuil-bheum gail- 
 san co-aoh-an da mar huyl-veym yayl- 
 
 bheach. 
 vach 
 
 His shield suspended on a bough 
 
 above his head. 
 The wind is heard sounding among 
 
 its thongs ; 
 And I was by his side sorrowful. 
 
 I breathed, in murmurs, his father's 
 
 lay, 
 When he fought in Ullin against 
 
 Cormar. 
 " Drop," said the hero, " the lay. 
 
 Until the dark-grey mornings return ; 
 
 Or exalt my own indignation in thy 
 
 lay; 
 My soul is rising to destroy." 
 
 When Cormar (the bard speaks as 
 Konan) returned from the fierce 
 conflict. 
 And in Struthormon pursued the deer, 
 
 He was bent on my destruction ; 
 For my sword had not left its sheath. 
 
 One of his heroes took pity on my 
 youth, 
 
 And saved me from the stroke of the 
 spear. 
 
 Our arms are in the possession of 
 Lava 
 
 Since the untimely death of my be- 
 loved father. 
 But what murmur do I hear on the 
 heath?— 
 
 I see a warrior drawing near, — 
 
 A child leading his steps. 
 
 And his spear, which is not light, in 
 
 his other hand. 
 His foot is failing in the heather, 
 
 And the streamlet is to him like a 
 terrible spate. 
 
" Coim a shiubhlas t-u an oiche a t-oanar, 
 coym a hi-uv-las tu an oy-che a ton-ar 
 
 Le 'd cheumaibhaosdaairraon tiamhaidh? 
 led chcyayv aos-da ayr roan ti-avi' 
 
 Am bbeil u mar mise fo bhron ? 
 am veyl u mar mise fo vron 
 
 'N do chail u t-oige do bhean ?" 
 'n do ohayl u tojgi do ven 
 
 " A sbeannair," ars an leannaibh caoin, 
 a hen-ayr ars an lennayv coyn 
 
 " An e guth m' atbair ghaoil a th' ann. 
 an e gu' ma'yr yoyl a hann 
 
 Ga'r gairm o dubhradh an raon, 
 ga'r gayrm o duv-ra' an raoyn 
 
 Far nach tarruin, ar nambaid lann. 
 far nach tarr-uyn ar na-vayd lann 
 
 'S ambuil na b-airm ud 's airm m'athair, 
 's avuyl na hayrm ud seyrm ma'yr 
 
 Acb 's eug-sambuil an gutb." 
 aeh seyg-sav-uyl an gu' 
 
 " A faic u'n airm ? a leinnibb teicb ! 
 a fayo un eyrm a lenn-iv teyoh 
 
 Fag mise gun ghalt, am oanar ; 
 fag mishe gun yeylt am onar 
 
 Deanadh Lamba rium na 's aill ; 
 den-a' lava ruym nas ayll 
 
 Si'm iarrtas bas air uaigb mo mhic." 
 sem i-ar-tas bas ayr u-ay' mo vie 
 
 Tbeicb an leannaibh gu luatb, 
 heyoh an lenn-iv gu lu-a' 
 
 Le uamhunn ri ucbd an raoin. 
 le u-a-vuynn ri uchd an raoyn 
 
 Fo cbritbeach na b-aois, na aite, 
 fo cliri'-eoh na haoys na ayte 
 
 Sheas daingean dana an shenna-laoch. 
 hes dayng-en dan-a an shenna-laoch 
 
 Chuir Eonan failt air an aosda, 
 chuyr ronan faylt yr an aos-da 
 
 'S ghlac mise gu caoin an leannabh ; 
 'a ylao misS gu caoyn an lenn-av 
 
 " Cha bhuin sinne do Lamha nam blar, 
 cha vuyn sinne do lava nam blar 
 
 'S cairdean sinn do shuidh na eigin, 
 's cayr-den sinn do huy na ey^nn 
 
 Na laig air cul ar sgia tha sabhailt ; 
 na layg ayr cul ar sgi-a ha sav-aylt 
 
 Gabhsa tamh, is innis dhuin t-iarguin." 
 gav-sa tav is innis yuyn ti-ar- guyn 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 83 
 
 Why travellest thou in the night alone, 
 
 With thy aged steps through the dis- 
 mal moor ? 
 Art thou, like me, in sorrow ? 
 
 Hast thou lost thy betrothed in thy 
 
 youth ? 
 " Grandfather," said the lovely child, 
 
 " Is that the voice of my father, 
 
 Calling us from the darkness of the 
 
 heath, 
 To where our foes will not draw the 
 
 sword ? 
 His arms are like the arms of my 
 
 father. 
 But unlike my father's is his voice." 
 
 '* Dost thou see arms ?" (the old man 
 
 speaks) " Child, run ! 
 Leave me without fear alone ; 
 
 Let Lava do as he will, — 
 
 My desire is to die on the grave of 
 my son." 
 The child fled with speed 
 
 And terror, against the breast of the 
 
 hill. 
 Trembling with age, in his place, 
 
 Stood firm and daring the aged hero. 
 
 Eonan saluted the aged, 
 
 While I pursued, and kindly caught 
 the child. 
 
 " We do not belong to Lava of bat- 
 tles ;" (Eonan speaks) 
 
 " We are the friends of the distrest ; 
 
 The weak are safe behind our shields :. 
 Rest, and tell ns thy need." 
 
84 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 " Suidheam air an leabaidh chre, 
 suy'em ayr aa leb'ay chre 
 
 Far an caidel seamh mo mhac. 
 far an oaydgh-el shev mo vac 
 
 Cia tosdach e'n drasd' fo 'n lie, 
 ce toed-ach e'n drasd fo'n lie 
 
 Bu trie sa ehath e mar chuairt-ghaoith. 
 bu trio sa cba' e mar chu-ayrt yoy' 
 
 's balbh a nochd 's a ghairden lag, 
 oh 's ballv a nochd 's a yayr-den lag 
 
 An suidh naeh meathadh 'n am cruadail. 
 an sny' nach me-a' nam cru-a-del 
 
 Cha ruig e na feidh 's na gleannaibh, 
 cha ruyg e na fey' 's na glenn-ayv 
 
 'S cha dirich e fraoch fo armaibh. 
 's cba dir-icb e froach fo arm-ayv 
 
 C'ait a bbeil aobhar uail 
 ca-ybt a veyl ao-var u-ayl 
 
 Is Lamhor san uaigh na shineadh ? 
 is lavor san n-ay' na bin-e' 
 
 Ei iomaehd aonaeb na greine, 
 ri i-o-maohd aon-ach na greyn-fe 
 
 B-eibhinn do cbruth a laoieh liomhaidh, 
 b-ey-vinn do chru' a laoych liv-ay' 
 
 Toirt solus fan do shulUean t-athar, 
 toyrt solus fann do, huyll-en ta'-ar 
 
 Tha 'n diugb gun latha gun leirsinn. 
 ban di-u' gun la'-k gun leyr-sinn 
 
 Pillidh a gbrian gu h-ait a rithist, 
 piU'-i a yri-an gu ha-yt a ri'-ist 
 
 Sa gruag oir na stioma dualach ; 
 sa gruag oyr na sti-o-ma dn-a-lach 
 
 Ach 's cian, cian an oiehe fo'n lie ; 
 ach 's ci-an ci-an an oy-che fo'n lie 
 
 Cha d' thig crioch, a mhic, air do 
 cha d-ig cri-och a vie er do 
 
 shuainsa. 
 hu-ayn-aa 
 
 Aeh tha t-iomachd an saoghail chein, 
 ach ha tim-aoM an sa-o'yl cbeyn 
 
 'S tu eibhinn le laoieh nan arach. 
 'stu ey-vinn le loych nan ar-acb 
 
 Ach 's muladach sinne ar son an laoieh, 
 ach 's mul-a-dach sinnfe ar son an' loych 
 
 Bha teagh-chridheach ri sgeul anrach." 
 va te-a'-chri'-ech ri sgeyl an-rach 
 
 " lanis," arsa Ronan, " fhir-aosda, 
 innia arsa ronan ir-aos-da 
 
 " Let me sit on the bed of clay, 
 
 Where calmly sleeps my son. 
 
 How silent to-night, under the flag. 
 
 Is he who was often in battle like a 
 
 whirlwind. 
 Dumb to-night, and weak of arms, 
 
 Is the hero that would not soften in 
 
 the hard conflict. . 
 
 He will not chase the deer in the glens, 
 
 Nor ascend the mountain in arms. 
 
 Where is there cause for exultation. 
 
 When Lamor is stretched in the grave ? 
 
 Trayelling in the sunshine of the 
 
 moiintain. 
 Beautiful wert thou, hero lithe, 
 
 Giying light to the eyes of thy father, 
 
 Who is now without day or eyesight 
 
 The sun will again return on her own 
 course. 
 
 Her golden hair spreading lightly, 
 
 (far and wide ;) 
 But long, long is the night of the grave ; 
 
 Thy sleep, my son, will not come to 
 an end. 
 
 But thy steps are in the country remote, 
 
 Rejoicing among the heroes of battle- 
 fields. 
 
 But son-owful are we without thee, 
 warrior. 
 
 Who was tender-hearted on hearing 
 of oppression." 
 " Tell," said Eonan, " aged man, 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Aobhar a bhais ?— Am b'e Lamba ?" 
 a-o-var a vays am be lava 
 
 " Be Lamha a mharbh e gun cbas, 
 be lava a varv e gan chas 
 
 Aeh feothas a ruin do 'n lag : 
 ach fe-o'-as a ruyn don lag 
 
 JJe nos a shinnsear, 's gach linn, 
 be n58 a hinn-sir 's gaoh linn 
 
 Gun bhi tiomadh a chasgairt foimeart ; 
 gun vi ti-om-a' a ohas-ga-irt foyr-neart 
 
 Bu chomhla phrais ar sgia gu 'n dian, 
 bu chovJa fraysh ar sgi-a gu'n di-an 
 
 'S bu chrann-dionaidh dboibb ar sleagb. 
 sbu ohrann-di-on-ay' yo'v ar de-a' 
 
 Tra bha mi fein am og-eide, 
 tra va mi feyn am og-ey-de 
 
 Mar bba 'n de an laoch tha'n dorchas, 
 mar va 'n de an laoch ha'n dor-chas 
 
 Le athar Lamha chaidh mo cheuma, 
 le a'-ar lava chay' mo cheym-a 
 
 Gu creach tigh eibhinn Struthormoin. 
 gu crech ti' ey-vinn ru'-hor-men 
 
 Chronnuich mi fein an gniomh, 
 chronn-uyoh mi feyn an gni-av 
 
 'S gun neach aig eiridh nar h-agbaidh, 
 sgun nech eg ey-ri' nar ha-i' 
 
 Ach leannaibh bha 'g iomairt saighde, 
 ach lenn-iv va ag i-om-irt sayt-e 
 
 'S ga tilge mar lann nar comhail. 
 sga tilig-e mar lann nar co-vel 
 
 Thuit an t-shaighead gu faoin 
 huyt an ta'-ed gn fa-oyn 
 
 Air cois Chomair na'm baoth-bheus. 
 er coya cho-moyr nam bao'-veys 
 
 Sheal e air an leannaibh le gruaim, — 
 hel e ayr an lenn-iv le gruym 
 
 " Sa'n Eillean Uaigneach bith do chomh- 
 sa'n eyll-en u-aygnech bi' do chov- 
 
 nuidh.' 
 ni' 
 
 Thugus an t-og do 'n Eillean Uaigneach. 
 hogas an tog don eyllen u-aygnech 
 
 Bha sleagh Chomair shuas os a chionn 
 va sle-a' cho-moyr hn-as os a chi-on 
 
 Leth-thoghta trie, 
 le-hog-te trio 
 
 Bu deacair leam bas an leinuibh chaoin ; 
 bu dec-ayr le-am bas an lenn-iv choyn 
 
 85 
 Was it 
 
 The cause of his death?- 
 Lava?" 
 
 " 'Twas Lava who killed him, 
 
 without a fault 
 But the goodness that made him love 
 
 the helpless : 
 It was our nature, in every generation, 
 
 Not to be timid in rebuking injustice ; 
 
 Our shields were gates of brass to 
 
 save (the injured,) 
 Our spears their shaft of protection. 
 
 When I myself was young in armour, 
 
 As was yesterday the warrior who is 
 
 now in darkness, 
 With Lava's father went my steps, 
 
 To plunder the joyous dwelling of 
 
 Struthormon. 
 I myself rebuked the deed, 
 
 None having risen against us. 
 
 But a child that was wielding his 
 
 arrow. 
 And flinging it like a lance against us. 
 
 The arrow fell harmlessly 
 
 On the foot of Comar of evil habits. 
 
 He looked at the child with a scowl, — 
 
 " In tha Secret Isle shall be thy 
 dwelling." 
 
 He was carried to the Secret Isle, 
 Comar's spear over him, 
 Was repeatedly half lifted (to strike.) 
 I deemed the death of the child cruel. 
 
86 
 
 THE POETBY 
 
 Thainig dlu 'n tra chual e m' osnadh, 
 hayn-ig din 'n tra chu-al e mos-na 
 
 B-iogna leis m' airm a dearsa : 
 bi-ogu-a leys mayrm a der-sa 
 
 Grlais e laimh gu teann mu m' chosabh, 
 ylaysh e layv gu tenn mum chos-av 
 
 'S sheal e 'm ghnuis le ghorm shuil 
 s hel e 'm ynuys le yorm huyl 
 
 dheuraich. 
 yeyr-ioh 
 
 Mheataich mo chridlie le baigh ; 
 ve-tayoh mo chri-e' le ba-i' 
 
 Bha mo dheoir a sile diamhair 
 va mo yey-oyr a sile di-av-ayr 
 
 Na or-chiabhan, sa cbeann fo m' sgeith. 
 na or-ohi-av-an sa clienn fo m sgey 
 
 Mar ghoideas earba le minnein ciar 
 mar yoyd-es e-ar-ba le minn-en ci-ar 
 
 Bho sbuil an t-shealgair tre 'n fhraoch, 
 vo bnyl an te-la-gayr tre 'n roach 
 
 Na iolaire gu carraig dbiamhair 
 na i-olayr-& gu carr.ig yi-a-vir 
 
 A h-al gu 'in falach san oiche, 
 a hall gum fal-ach san oy-che 
 
 'S ambail a gbiulain mi tre tbuinn 
 'sav-il a ynyl-en mi tre huynn 
 
 An leannaibh gu mhathair san oiche. 
 an lenn-iv gu va'-ir san oy-che 
 
 Mar nial frois bha is air an traigh, 
 mar ni-al froys va ish ayr an tra-i' 
 
 'S do radh i rium fain, gu h-ait, . 
 s do ra'i ruym feyn gu hayt 
 
 " 'So dhuit sleagh (an t-shleagh tha'm 
 sho yayt sleagh ' (an tleagh ha'm 
 
 laimh) 
 la-iv 
 
 'S theirir Ronan gu brath ri'm mhac." 
 's her-ir ronan gu bra' ri'm vac 
 
 Air Ronan, cha chulas sgeula, 
 ayr ronan cha chu-a-las sgeylk 
 
 Gus 'n do chluinn an deigh bho Lamha, 
 gu3 'n do chluyn an dey' vo lava 
 
 Gu 'm be f hagail na thir leonte 
 gu 'm be ag-ayl na hir le-on-te 
 
 Fa bron oigh nan ciabhan aillin 
 fa bron oy' nam ci-av-an ah-linn 
 
 An speis thug raise do Ronan, 
 an speysh hug mi-se do rouan 
 
 B'aithne do'm mhac. Esa dhuraichd, 
 bay'-ne dom vac esa yuy-richd 
 
 He came close to me, hearing my sigh. 
 
 Wondering at my arms shining : 
 
 He locked his arms -around my legs, 
 
 And looked in my face with his blue» 
 and tearful eye. 
 
 My heart melted with pity ; 
 
 My tears fell unseen 
 
 Amid his golden locks, his head under 
 
 my shield. 
 As steals the roe away with her kid 
 
 From the eye of the hunter through 
 
 the heather, 
 Or as the eagle carries to a secret 
 
 rock 
 Her brood in the midnight darkness, 
 
 So did I carry over the waves 
 
 The child to his mother through night. 
 
 Like the cloud of the shower, she was 
 on the beach, 
 
 And said to me, brightening with joy, 
 
 " Take this spear (the spear now in 
 my hand,) 
 
 And Ronan, for ever, will my son be 
 
 called." 
 Of Ronan I received no news. 
 
 Until I heard yesterday from Lava, 
 
 That, leaving him wounded in his 
 
 country, 
 Was the cause of the grief of the 
 
 maiden of the beautiful hair. 
 My friendship for Ronan 
 
 Was known to my son. He wished 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 87 
 
 That he had been present to assist him, 
 With the great spear of Struthormon. 
 Lava heard what he had said,- 
 
 And gathered his people around the 
 youth. 
 
 Behold his grave ! With tears falling, 
 
 Say, here is the bed of Lamor ! 
 
 Tt will also be the bed of his father, 
 
 For brief the time until Runma will 
 sleep. 
 
 But let me beseech you, warriors. 
 
 Gu'n robh e lathair ga chomhnadh, 
 gun rov e la'-ayr ga chov-na' 
 
 Le sleagh mhor Sruththormain. 
 le sle-a' vor sru'-hor-mayn 
 
 Chuladh Lamha a chomhradh, 
 chu-al-a' lava a ohov-ra' 
 
 JS chruinnich a shloigh mu'm aon mhac. 
 's chruynn-ich a loy mum o-an vac 
 
 Feach uaigh ! Le'r deoir a sile, 
 feych u-ay' le'r de-oyr a sile 
 
 Abraibh-'an sin tha leaba Laimhoir ! 
 ab-riv an sin ha leba layvoyr 
 
 Si cuideachd leaba athair, 
 si cuyt-achd leba a'-ayr 
 
 Oir 's gearr gus an caidil RunmatL 
 oyr sger gns an cyd-il rua-ma 
 
 A oh cuiream comraich oirbh a sheotaibh, 
 ach cnyrem oom-rich oyrv a he-ot-ayv 
 
 Mo leannabh 's ma shleagh thoirt do To bear my child and spear to Ronan." 
 mo lenn-av sma le-a' hoyrt do 
 
 Ronan." 
 Tonan 
 
 " 'S mise Ronan," ars an laoch, 
 s mi-se ronan ars an loach 
 
 'S e g' aoma tiamhaidh gu Runmath. 
 8 € gaoma ti-a-vay' gu ran-ma' 
 
 Guil lad mar aon air uaigh Lamhoir. 
 yuyl i-ad mar can ayr u-ay' lav-voyr 
 
 Ach ciod tha tighinn mar f huaim chao- 
 acb ced ha ti'-inn mar uym cho- 
 
 chan, 
 chan 
 
 Tra bhruchdas doinneana neulaibh? 
 tra vruchd-as doynn-en nan ni-al-ayv 
 
 FeachdLamhale'nshleagheanliomhaidh, 
 fechd lava len slea'-en li-ovay' 
 
 'S iad lionar a taoma na'r comhail, 
 si-ad li-on-ar a to-ama nar cov-ayl 
 
 A dealradh mar lannaibh air carraig, 
 a del-ra' mar lann-ayv er carr-ig 
 
 Tra dhearcas a ghrian a neulaibh. 
 tra yeyr-es a yri-an a ni.al-ayv 
 
 Chualadh Ronan copan nan cath, 
 chn.ala' ronan copan nan ca' 
 
 'S leam e gu tapadh le eibhneas. 
 s lem e gu tapa' le eyv-nes 
 
 Am beum sgeithe thionail a shlugh, 
 am beym sgey-e hi-o-nel a lu-a' 
 
 Marnialgruamachmu'ndaraiggheugaich; Like an angry cloud round the 
 mar ni-al gru-a-mach mnn darr-ayg yeyg-ich branchy oak ; 
 
 " I am Ronan," said the hero, 
 
 Bending in grief over Runma. 
 
 We wept, like one, over the grave of 
 Lamor. 
 
 But what approaches like the sound 
 of streams, 
 
 When bursts the storm from the 
 
 clouds ? 
 The host of Lava with their spears 
 
 polished. 
 And they numerous, pouring to meet us. 
 
 And shining like blades on a rock. 
 
 When the sun breaks through clouds. 
 
 Struck Ronan the boss of battle, 
 
 As he sprang to deeds with joy. 
 
 The alarm-stroke gathered his people, 
 
88 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 Mar thannas na h-aoiche ag imeachd, 
 mar hannas na hoy-ohe ag im-eohd 
 
 An co-thionneal nan doinnean eite, 
 an co-hi-onn-el nan doynnen ijte 
 
 Gu dortadh air doireachan Ardbhein, 
 gu dor-ta' er doyr-eoh-an ard.veyn 
 
 San darach fairrel ga h-eisteachd ; 
 san darr-aoh fayrrel ga heys-teohd 
 
 B-amhuil Ronan dol sios do'n araich. 
 bav-il ronan dol si-os don ar-aych 
 
 'Sa lochri laidir na cheumadh. 
 'sa lo-chri laydir na cheym-a' 
 » * » * 
 
 'Sa reir sin, le neart 's le fuathas, 
 sa reyr sinn le nert sle fu-a'-as 
 
 Shiubhail, is lean a shlnagh, Lamlia. 
 hi-uv-ayl is len a, lu-a' lava 
 
 Mar tharn buaireal a neal dorcha, 
 mar harn buyrel a ni-al dor-oha 
 
 Tra 's duaiclmaidh faiche na Lara, 
 tra 's du-aych-nay' faych-e na lara 
 
 Tha mile clogaid is shleagh ard, 
 ha mil-e clogayd is sle-a' ard 
 
 A dealradh mar dhoire na chaoiribh. 
 a del-ra' mar yoyrfe na choy-riv' 
 
 Ach CO dh'innseas cith a chathadh ? 
 ach CO a yinn-ses ci' a cha'-a' 
 
 Tha sgiathan leathan ga'n sgolta 
 lia sgi-a'-an le'-an gan sgolta 
 
 Le neart gabhaidb, nan claidhean ; 
 le nert ga-vay nan clay'-an 
 
 Cinn is cinn-bheirt a tuiteam, 
 cinn is cinn-vfeyrt a tuyt-em 
 
 'S na mairbh a muchadh nan leonte. 
 ena mayrv a mu-cha' nan le-on-te 
 
 Fuil a ruith mar mhile caochan, 
 fuyl a rny' mar vil-e caoch-aii 
 
 'S anama Laoch dol suas an smuidibh. 
 is anama loach dol su-as an smnyt-iv 
 
 Ach CO iad 'n da iolaire sgiathach, 
 ach CO i-ad an da i-ol-er-e sgi-a'-aoh 
 
 Tha gleachda co fiadhaich san roan ? 
 ha glechd-a co-fi-a'-ich san roan 
 
 Cha mhinnean og, na coileach fraoiche, 
 cha vinn-en og na coy-lach fo-a-che 
 
 Mu bheil an stri len lannaibh bas-mhor. 
 mu veyl an stri le lannayv bas-vor 
 
 Feuch fear dhiu air a ghlun ag aoma, 
 feych fer yi-o er a ylun ag aom-a 
 
 Like the spirit of night, careeiing 
 
 Amid the congregated ghosts in a 
 
 tempest dismal, 
 To pour on the groves of Ardven, 
 
 With the monarch oak watchfully 
 
 listening ; 
 So descended Ronan to battle 
 
 With his chivalry strong in his steps. 
 
 Equal in strength, and in dreadful 
 
 appearance, 
 Lava led, and his people followed. 
 
 Like fierce thunder in a dark cloud, 
 
 When gloom rests on the plain of 
 
 Lara, 
 A thousand helmets and spears shone 
 
 on high, 
 Blazing like a grove on fire. 
 
 But who can relate the tug of battle ? 
 
 Broad shields are being split 
 
 By the wonderful strength of swords : 
 
 Heads and helmets falling. 
 
 And the dead smothering the wounded. 
 
 Blood is running like rivulets, 
 
 And the souls of heroes ascending in 
 
 steam. 
 But who are they, the two eagles, 
 
 broad winged, 
 That are wrestling so wildly on the 
 
 heath? 
 'Tis not for a young kid nor the poult 
 
 of the moor-cock 
 They contend with their deadly 
 
 weapons. 
 Behold, one on his knee stooping, 
 
Sa thaice luba a shleagha. 
 sa hayofe luba a lea'-a 
 
 " Geil," arsa Eonan, " do sMeagh, 
 ghjl arsa ronan do lea' 
 
 Is mar rithidh Sulmina ; 
 is mar ri-i' suyl-mina 
 
 Bas mo naimh cha mhian leam fein, 
 bas mo nayv cha vi-an le-am feyn 
 
 Noir chi mi fo chreuchd e na shine." 
 
 noyr chi mi fo ohreyc e na hin-e 
 
 " Tha m' uilsa taomadh mar shruth ; 
 ha muyl-sa toama mar m' 
 
 Dh-aindeon beiream dhuit do ghaol. 
 yayn-en beyr-am yuyt do yoal 
 
 Air cul na carraig ud tha uaimh, 
 ayr ctd na carrayg nd ha n-ayv 
 
 Air bruaich chluanean ghiurm a cha- 
 ayr bruych chlu-an-en yuyrm a oho- 
 
 ochain ; 
 ach-en 
 
 Ach togadh, an ainnir mo leac, 
 ach toga an ayn-ir mo lec 
 
 Oit ge bu deacair thug mi gaol dhith." 
 03^ ge bu decayr hug mi goal yi' 
 
 Gkreis Konan a dh-iarmidb a ghaoil. 
 yreys ronan a yi-ar-uy' a yaoyl 
 
 Fhuair e'n caochan 's f huair e'n uaimh, 
 hu-ayr en caoch-an 'shn-ayr en n-ayv , 
 
 - Ach ainnir a ghaoil cha d' fhuair. 
 ach a-inn-ir a yaoyl cha dn-ayr 
 
 Cha chluinnte ach fuaim na h-osaig, 
 cha chlnynote ach iii-aym na hosayg 
 
 Is monbhur an duillich sheargte. 
 is mon-bnr an duyll-ich herg-tfe 
 
 " C'ait a ghaoil abheil do thamh ? 
 cayt a yaoyl a Teyl do hav 
 
 C'oim nach d' ig u dian am chomhail ? 
 coym nach dig u di-an am oho-vel 
 
 Thig a ghoil '0 d' ionad diamhair, 
 hig a yoyl o din-ad divayr 
 
 Cluinn a Shuilmina do Eonan." 
 dnynn a hnyl-mina do ronan 
 
 Och 's diomhain a laoich do ghuth, 
 och sdi-ovayn a loych do yn' 
 
 Cha toir ach na creagan dhuit eistiachd. 
 cha doyr ach na creg-an ynyt fey-stechd 
 
 Cluinn sgal cuilean sa'n arich, 
 clnynn sgal cny-len san ar-ich 
 
 Sud an t-ait 'n do thuit Suilmina. ^ 
 shud an tayt 'n do hnyt suyl-mina 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Sustained on his bending spear. 
 " Yield," said Eonan, " thy spear, 
 And with it Salmina ; 
 
 89 
 
 The death of an enemy is not my 
 desire, 
 
 When I see him wounded and low." 
 " My blood is pouring like a stream ; 
 I must of necessity yield thee thy love. 
 
 At the back of yonder rock there is 
 
 a cave 
 On the meadowy green bank of the 
 
 stream ; 
 
 But let the nymph rear my tomb ; 
 
 For though I used severity, I gave her 
 my love." 
 
 Eonan hastened in search of his love. 
 
 He found the rivulet and the cave, 
 
 Butthenymph of hislovehefoundnot; 
 
 Nor could he hear, save the sound of 
 
 the breeze. 
 And the rustle of the decaying leaves. 
 
 " Where is thy dwelling, my love? 
 
 Why dost thou not hasten to meet me? 
 
 Come, my love, from thy hiding ; 
 
 Answer to thy Eonan, Sulmina." 
 
 Alas ! vain is thy voice, hero : 
 
 The rocks alone reply. 
 
 He heard the wail of a hound in the 
 
 (battle) field. 
 In the spot where fell Sulmina. 
 
 M 
 
90 
 
 THE POETBT 
 
 Dh-iar i'n ar a chomhnadh Ronain ; 
 yi-ar i n ar a chov-na' ronayn 
 
 'S choinnich a h-uchd corran saighde. 
 's choynn-ioh a huchd corraa say'-de 
 
 Chaochail an solus na suil, 
 chaochayl an sol-ns na suyl 
 
 'S shearg na gnuis ros na h-aille. 
 's her-ag na gnuya ros na hayllfe 
 
 Thuit Eonan gu'n tuar, gu'n deoir, 
 hnyt ronan gun tu-ar gun de-oyr 
 
 She had sought the field in aid of 
 
 Eonan ; 
 She was met by a barbed shaft. 
 
 The light faded in her eye, 
 
 Beauty fled from her face. 
 
 Eonan fell, without colour, without 
 tears, 
 
 On her bosom, half cold in death, 
 
 Air a muineal leth-f huar fo'n eug, 
 ayr a muyn-el le'-u-ar fon eyg 
 
 Amhuil eitheann a dh-aomas gu lar, 
 avuyl ey'-en a yom-as gu lar 
 
 Noir thuiteas a dharag gheugach. 
 noyr huytes a yarag yey-gach 
 
 Thug Suilmina plaosg air a suilean, 
 hug Buyl-mina plosg ayr a suy-len 
 
 'S ghrad dhuin iad le aiteas sa bhas. 
 'b yrad yuyn i-ad le ayt-as sa vaa 
 
 Bu chian thug sinne ri bron, 
 bu cM-an hug sinnfe ri bron 
 
 'Sar deoir a sruthadh mu'n cuairt dhoibh, 
 'a ar de-oyr a srn'-a' mun cu-ayrt yoyv 
 
 Gus 'n do labhair Eunma gu ghlic, 
 gus 'n do lav-er run-ma gu glic 
 
 'S e tighinn dluth, le mhall cheumaibh : 
 's e ti'-inn dlu le mall cheymayv 
 
 "Angairmcumhadhairdaimhicho'neug? "Can sorrow recal our friends from 
 an geyrm cu-va' ayr dayv-ich o'n eyg 
 
 An cluinn iad nan suain air caoineadh ? 
 
 As ivy inclines to the earth. 
 
 When falls its blooming oak. 
 
 Sulmina's eyes opened for a moment 
 
 With a blink of joy, then closed, 
 
 pleased in death. 
 Long did we remain in grief, 
 
 Our tears falling around them. 
 
 Until Eunma wisely spoke, 
 
 Approaching with slow steps : — 
 
 an oluyn i-ad nan suayn ayr caoy-ne' 
 
 Ach 's geur gus an lean sin an ceum, 
 ach 's geyr gns ah len sin an ceym 
 
 Do thalabh an clos 's nan neoil, 
 do hal-av an clos 'snan ne-oyl 
 
 Tra leagheas ar laidhean tearc 
 tra le'-es ar lay '-en terc 
 
 An sruth nam hliadhn' tha bras ga'r 
 an sm' nam bli-a'-n ha bras gar 
 
 treigsinn. 
 treyg-sin 
 
 Nach faic sibh cheannadh an f halluing 
 nach fayc siv chenn-a an ailing 
 
 cheo 
 che-o 
 
 Feathamh ri Eunma 's na neoil deas ? 
 fe'-av ri run-ma 'sna neoyl des 
 
 the grave ? 
 Do they hear our wails in their sleep ? 
 
 But we will shortly follow their steps. 
 
 To their halls calm among the clouds, 
 
 When our short days have melted away 
 
 In the stream of years that are fleeting 
 from us. 
 
 Do you not already see the garb of 
 
 ' mist 
 That awaits Eunma ready in the sky ? 
 
'S cha 'n f hada bhios Eonan na dbeigb, 
 's cha 'n a-da vis ronan na yey 
 
 Mu gheigbleas e do bbron a feasd. 
 mu yey'-les e do vron a fesd 
 
 Tba 'm bron mar an sruthan diambair, 
 ha m bron mar an sru'-an di-vayr 
 
 Dh-iaras fo iocbdar na bruaicbe ; 
 yi-ar-as fo i-ochd-ar na bruy-che 
 
 Tba'n gallan cbeanadh ag aomadb 
 han gallan chen-a' ag oam-a' 
 
 Thog ri tbaobb a gheugan aillidb. 
 hog ri haov a yeyg-an ayUi' 
 
 Bbuin am bron, eireadb ar cliu ; 
 vuyn am bron ey-rfe ar cli-u 
 
 'S ar nine ruidh air sgiathan gabbaidb." 
 'sar uynfe ruy' ayr sgi-a'-an gav-i' 
 
 Db-eirich Ronan, sa chneas fo bbron ; 
 yey-rieh ronan sa chnes fo vron 
 
 'S tbug teacb a naimb do'n og 's do'n 
 's hug tech a nayv don og 's don 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 91 
 
 Nor will Eonan be long after bim. 
 If be yields to endless grief. 
 Sorrow is like a secret streamlet, 
 Undermining its flourisbing banks ; 
 Making tbe young trees bend over. 
 
 o-as-da 
 
 Dh-f bag e fbir-mbor a dbion an tuir ; 
 yag e ir-vor a yi-on an tuyr 
 
 Mar sin is' fear iill na h-oiche. 
 mar sin is fer i-ul na ho-iohfe 
 
 Cbuireas an oigb an luing an laoicb ; 
 chuyr-es an oy' an luyingan laoych 
 
 Is tbogair, caointeach, an so a leac. 
 is hogayr coyn-tech an sb a lee 
 
 An so tba leaba Eonain faraon, 
 an so ha leb-a ronan far-oan \ 
 
 An laocb bu treune 'sa b-aillidb. 
 an laoch bu treyn-fe 'sa baylli' 
 
 Bu tursacb a laithean san raon ; 
 bu tur-sach a lay'-en san roan 
 
 Acb 'n deigb a gbaoil cha b-f hada beo e. 
 ach 'n dey' a yoyl cha ba-da be-o fe 
 
 Nis tha leaba, fo'n chloich cboinich, 
 nis ha leb-a fon chloych choyn-tioh 
 
 Ei taobb a ghoil, 
 ri taoV a yoyl 
 
 Tba feusag a chluairean aosda 
 ha fey-sag a ohlu-ar-en oas-da 
 
 Ataomadh tiambaidb mu'n cuairt dboibb. 
 a toam-a' ti-avay' mun cu-ayrt yoyv 
 
 'S trie mise, ri solus nan reul, 
 'stric mi-se ri sol-US nan reyl 
 
 That exalted their blooming boughs 
 by its side. 
 
 Dismiss sorrow, earn fame ; 
 
 Our days are flying on matchless 
 wings." 
 
 Eonan arose with a bosom sad ; 
 
 He gave tbe house of his foe to the 
 young and the aged. 
 
 And left bis big men to defend the 
 tower ; 
 
 And likewise the guide of (the 
 previous) night. 
 
 We placed the maid in the ship of 
 tbe hero ; 
 
 And , here, weeping, we reared her 
 tomb. 
 
 Here also is the grave of Eonan, 
 
 The hero strong and beautiful. 
 
 Sad were his days on the heath ; 
 
 But be did not live long after his 
 beloved. 
 
 Now his bead is under tbe mospy stone, 
 By tbe side of bis love. 
 The beard of the aged thistle 
 Pouring mournfully around. 
 Often am I in the light of the stars, 
 
92 
 
 THE POETKY 
 
 Ag eisteachd ri comhradh an taibhsean. 
 ag eyst-achd ri cov-ra' an ta-iv-shen 
 
 'S eibhein air na neoil an imeachd, 
 's eyv-eyn ayr na ne-oyl an im-achd 
 
 Tra cMuinneas iad fonn mo chlarsaich. 
 tra chluynn-es i-ad fonn mo chlar-saych 
 
 A mHc Arair, tha'n taibhsean dluth, 
 a vie ar-er han tayv-sen dlu' 
 
 Na ceil orra t-oran tiambaidh ! 
 na cfeyl orra tor-an ti-av-ay 
 
 Listening to theii" spirits conversing. 
 Joyous is their course in the clouds, 
 When they hear the sound of my harp. 
 Son of Arair, their spirits are nigh, 
 Deny them not thy song pensive ! 
 
 DAN AN DEIEG, — THE LAY OF DAEGO, BY ULLAIN. 
 (From the Kev. Dr Smith's Seananna Dhana. — The first Duan only.) 
 
 On that day was Coval of victories, 
 
 'San la ad bha Comhal na'm buaidh, 
 'san la ad va coval nam buy 
 
 Le cheol 's le shluagh air an leirg — 
 le che-ol 's le lu-a' ayr an leyrig 
 
 Ge iosal an cluainean an f heidh, 
 ge i-o-sal an cluy-nen an ey' 
 
 An diugh an laoch nach b-fhaoin am 
 an di-u' an laoch nach baoyn am 
 
 feirg ; 
 feyrig 
 
 A leaba fo chos nan clach, 
 a lebk fo chos nan clach 
 
 A fasga na daraig aosda. — 
 a fasga na darayg aos-da 
 
 Bha laoich ri 'n sleaghan an taic, 
 va laoych ri'n sle'-an an tayc 
 
 An suilean laiste 's an aghaidh aoimte, 
 an suy-len layste san a'ay oymte 
 
 Ag eisteachd ri sgeula gaisge, 
 ag eystec ri sgeyla gaysgd 
 
 Air Comhal is righ Innsefail ; 
 ayr coval is ri' innse-fayl 
 
 'N tra sguab iad an arach le cheile ; 
 'n tra sgu-ab i-ad an arach le chey-lfe 
 
 Noir chunnacas linn luadh bharca 
 noyr chunna-cas linn lu-a' varca 
 
 Seola gu traigh na neul-eide. 
 seo-la gu tray' na neyl-eyde 
 
 Dh-f hainaich Comhal an long, 
 yanich coval an long 
 
 'S an copan o'n bhuail an beum-sgeithe. 
 's an copan bn vuyl an beym sgey'-b 
 
 " Grad leumaibh air aigeal nan tonn, 
 grad leymayv ayr aygel nan tonn 
 
 A chomhair righ tha na eigein." 
 a cho-ver ri' ha na eyginn 
 
 Bu gharbh an doinnean o dheas, 
 bu yarv an doynnen o yes 
 
 With his people and music on the 
 
 shore ; 
 Though, on the meadows of the deer, 
 
 To-day is (the grave of) the hero that 
 was not feeble in his anger ; 
 
 His bed in a hollow beneatlf stones, 
 In the shelter of the aged oak. 
 
 His warriors were leaning on their 
 
 spears. 
 
 Their eyes kindled, their faces looking 
 down. 
 
 Listening to a tale of heroism. 
 
 Of Coval and the king of Innesfail ; 
 
 While, together, they swept the battle- 
 field; 
 
 When seen was a swift bark 
 
 Steering to the shore under its cloud- 
 like array. 
 Coval knew the ship, 
 
 And (meaning of) the boss that re- 
 sounded on the shield. 
 
 Quickly (he cried) 
 waves of the sea 
 
 leap on the 
 To the relief of the king in extremity." 
 Eough was the storm from the south, 
 
suil 
 suyl 
 
 A gleachd gu duaichnidh ri'r 
 a glee gu duyoh-ni' rir 
 
 bhreid-gheal,* 
 vreytyil 
 
 Oir thaom an oiche na'r comhail, 
 oyr haom an oycW nar coveyl 
 
 Air cuam dobhuidh nan tonn beuchdael, 
 ayr cu-an dovuy' nan tonn beyohdell 
 
 " Ciod," arsa Oomhal na'm buaidh, 
 ci-od arsa coval nam buy' 
 
 " Am fa dbuin bhi 'g uadal cuain, 
 am fa yuyn vi gudal cuyn 
 
 Is eillean fuar nan camus crom, 
 is eyllen fu-ar nan camus crom 
 
 A sgaoileadh a sgiathan foil, 
 a sgoyle' a sgi-a'-an foyl 
 
 Gu'r dion 'o dhoinnean na h-oiche. 
 gur di-on b yoynen na hoyche 
 
 Tha e crom mar bhogh' air ghleus, 
 ha e crom mar vo' ayr yleys 
 
 Tha e seimh mar uchd ma ghaoil. 
 ha e sheyv mar uchd ma yaoyle 
 
 Caitheadh mid an oiche fo sgeith, 
 cay' mid an oychfe fo sgey' 
 
 lonad eibheinn nan aisling ciuin." 
 i-onayd ejndnn nan ayshlin ci-uyn 
 
 Chualas comhachag a creig, 
 chu-alas covachag a creyg 
 
 'S guth broin ga freagairt a uaimh. 
 sgu broyn ga freygayrt a u-ayv 
 
 " Se guth Dheirg," arsa Comhal, " f 
 se gu' yey'rig ar-sa coval 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 93 
 
 Wrestling with our sails, kerch-white.* 
 
 thann, 
 hann 
 
 For the night poured in our faces. 
 
 On a fierce sea of bellowing waves. 
 
 " Why," said Coval of victories, 
 
 " Should we remain rocking on the sea, 
 
 And the cold island of bending bays 
 
 Spreading its wings calm 
 
 To shelter us from the storms of night. 
 
 It bends like a bow in action, 
 
 And is mild as the bosom of my love. 
 
 Let us spend the nightunder its wing, 
 
 Thepleasingislandof peaceful dreattis." 
 
 An owl is heard from a rock, « 
 And a mournful voice from a cave. 
 " It is the voice of Dargo," says Coval, 
 
 " Who was lost on a sobbing sea. 
 
 Chail sinn sa chuan onf bach, 
 chayll sinn sa chu-an on-a-vach 
 
 'N tra thill sinn o Lochlan nan crann, 
 'n tra hill sinn o lochlan nan crann 
 
 'S gach doinnean gu teann gar ruagadh. 
 sgach doynnen gu tenn gar ruga' 
 
 Thog na tuinn an cinn 's na neoil, 
 hog na tuynn an cinn 'a na noyl 
 
 Dh-as sleibhtean ceo air an lear ; 
 yas slave-ten ce-o ayr an ler 
 
 Bha mhuir mholach le stuaidh ghlas, 
 va vuyr volach le stuy' ylas 
 
 Fo bhuaireadh bho iar gu ear. 
 fo vuyr& TO i-ar gu err 
 
 * The head-dress of Highland females was called " breid," a kerchief. Being snowy-wMte, the bieid 
 is often used as a simile, as in the above case, for snowy-whiteness. 
 
 When we were returning from Loch- 
 lan of masts. 
 With every storm closely pursuing us. 
 
 The waves lifted their heads to the 
 
 skies, 
 Wolds of mist covered the face of the 
 
 deep; 
 The ocean was rough with grey waves. 
 
 And under fury from west to east. 
 
94 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 Bha Dearg gii h-ard ann sa cliraim ; 
 va deyrag gu hard ann sa ohrann 
 
 Is bhrist an ial ris an d' earb e ; 
 Is vrist an i-al ris an d-erab h 
 
 Morbhein cha'n f haic e gu brath ; — 
 morveyn chan aye e ga bra' 
 
 Dh-f halaich tonna-gaireach bli'um e." 
 yalaych tonn-garrech vuyn fe 
 
 Dh-aithnich Geallachos guth an Deirg, 
 yayn'ich gella-chos gu' an deyreg 
 
 'S mar bu ghna leis air an leirg, 
 s mar bu yna leys ayr an leyrig 
 
 Rinn e miolaran 's thug leum gabhaidh, 
 rinn e milaran 's hug leym gavay' 
 
 Le mor oibhneas, ghios na traigb, — 
 le mor oyvnes yi-os na tray' 
 
 Mar shaighead a glaic an iughair, 
 mar bay'd a glyc an i-u'-ayr 
 
 Tha chasan ag suibhal tre bhar-thuinn : 
 ha chasan ag si-uval tre var huynn 
 
 B-aite leis na mac na h-eilde, 
 b-ayht& leys na mac na heyl-tfe 
 
 A Dheirg a bhith leum ri d' bhraigh. 
 a yeyrig a vi' leym ri d vra-i' 
 
 Chunnacas liennedh an aoibhneas, 
 chunnac-as linne' an oyv-nes 
 
 iJe solus bristeach nan reultan, 
 le solus bristach nan reyltan 
 
 A caidreamh ri cheile mar chairdean, 
 a caydrev ri cheyle mar chayrden 
 
 A thachair gu'n duil an tir naimhdean. 
 a hach-ayr gu'n duyl an tir nayvten 
 
 'S noir f haichte le Dearg ar loingeas 
 'snoyr ayeh-te le deyrag ar loyngas 
 
 Aig ro-mhiad aighear s'a sholais, 
 ayg ro vi-ad ay'er sa holays 
 
 Mar tugadh Gealchossa air laimh e ; 
 mar tuga' gelchossa ayr layv e 
 
 Ghios na tragha sior nar coail. 
 yis na tra-ya si-or nar co^ayl 
 
 " Am beo u Dheirg," arsa Comhal, 
 am be-o u yeyrig ar-sa cbval 
 
 "Achail-sinn an cuan salach gharbh- 
 a chayl sinn an cu-an salach yarv- 
 
 thonn? 
 honn 
 
 Dargo was high on the mast ; 
 
 The thong broke to which he had 
 
 trusted : 
 Morven he will never behold, — 
 
 He was concealed from us under tur- 
 bulent waves." 
 Geallachos knew the voice of Dargo, 
 
 And, as was his wont, on the hill, 
 
 I 
 
 He whined with excitement, made a 
 leap, astonishing, 
 
 In his excess of joy, for the shore, 
 
 And, like an arrow from the embrace 
 
 of the yew, 
 Cut his courae through the top of the 
 
 waves : 
 More joy had he than in the son of 
 
 the hind, 
 In leaping on thy bosom, Dargo. 
 
 By us was witnessed their joy, 
 
 In the broken light of the stars. 
 
 Embracing one another like friends, 
 
 Unexpectedly met in the land of foes. 
 
 Nor would Dargo have noticed our 
 
 ship, 
 From the excess of his joy, 
 
 Had not Geallachosa pulled him by the 
 
 sleeve, 
 Toward the shore to meet us. 
 
 " Art thou living, Dargo," said Coval, 
 
 " Whom we lost amid drumlie rough 
 waves ? 
 
 'S ioghua do thiarnadh o'n Bha-shruth, 
 s i-o'-na do hi-arna' o'n varu' 
 
 Thy escape from Ba-ru was wonderful. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 95 
 
 gam 
 gam 
 
 That swallowed thee up with a roar." 
 
 "Floating on waves," said Cargo, 
 " that tossed me (about,) 
 
 I was during that cold night until 
 
 morning. 
 Seven moons, each of them like a year, 
 
 A shluig le garraich a suas u." 
 a heuyg le garr-aych a suas u 
 
 " Le tulga thonn," thuirt Dearg, 
 le tulga honn huryt deyrag 
 luasga, 
 luasga 
 
 Bha mise an oich f huar sin gu latha, 
 va mise an oych u-ar sin gu la'- a' 
 
 Seachd geallachain, 'sgach aon mar 
 sechd gellachayn sgach aon mar 
 
 bhliadhna, 
 vii-a'-na 
 
 Le'n traghfr's le'n liona chaidh tharum. 
 len tra'd 's len li-o-na cha-i' harum 
 
 Chaidh mi 'n latha a sealg a chuirn ; 
 chay mi n la'-d a selag a chuyrn 
 
 'San oich be manran ciul mo mhian ; 
 san oyoh be-manran ci-ul mo vi-an 
 
 Ach b' eigin iala, mar thaibhse, 
 ach beyginn i-ala mar hayvse 
 
 Le ceilg,* air eunlaidh na h-oiche. 
 le ceylig ayr eynlay' na hoyohe 
 
 Sa'n tirsa 's neo ait a ghrian, 
 san tirsa 's ne-o ayt a yri-an 
 
 'S gur mall a ghealach do thriall. 
 's gur maU a yelach do h-ri-al 
 
 Ach ciod so aobhar air broin ? 
 ach cy-od so aovar ayr broyn 
 
 Chi mi air deoir a srutha. 
 chi mi ayr de-oyr a sru'-£ 
 
 Nach beo Crimora mo ghaoil, 
 nach be-o crimora mo yaoyl 
 
 An ailleag chaoin bu tlathaidh cruth ? 
 an ayl-eg choyn bu tla-i' cru' 
 
 Chunna mi i seola na'n nial 
 chunna mi ise-o-la nan ni-al 
 
 A dh-iadh mu sholus na h-oiche, 
 a yi-a' mu holus na hoychfe 
 
 Tra dh-amhairc i nuas ro'n fhrois, 
 tra yav-ayrc i nu-as ron roys 
 
 Air gnuis thiamhidh na doine. 
 ayr gnu-is hi-av-i' na doyne 
 
 Bha i ann an caochla dreach, 
 va i ann an caochla drech 
 
 * The ancient Highlander pursued his sportB on the manly principles of determined perse- 
 verance and daring intrepidity. He followed the stag for days and weeks, sleeping in his plaid among 
 the heather, and snatched the salmon, between the linn and the sky, standing on the dizzy ledge of the 
 rock with his long gaff, in a position dangerous and magnificent; but nothing short of starvation would 
 make him take part in the brutal German battue, or In any mode of fishing or killing game, which did 
 not make it a sporting and chivalrous affair, worthy of a gentleman, and inconsistent with the greed 
 and blood-thirstineBs of the venison-butcher or game-poulterer, who degrades sport into a mercantile 
 transaction of profit and loss, in the present day. 
 
 With their waning and growing, 
 passed over me. 
 
 I spent the day in the chase on the 
 crest of the hill ; 
 
 At night my desire was tuneful mins- 
 trelsy ; 
 
 But I was compelled to stalk like a 
 ghost. 
 
 Treacherously* on the birds of night. 
 
 In this country the sun is unhappy. 
 And the moon slow on its course. 
 But what is the cause of your grief? 
 I see your tears falling ; 
 Is Crimora of my love no more, 
 The little beauty of the mildest face ? 
 I saw her sailing on the clouds 
 That winded round the light of night, 
 When looking down through a shower. 
 On the calm face of the deep. 
 She was in a different array. 
 
96 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 A suilean graidh a sile dheur ; 
 a suyll-en gray' a eil^ yeyr 
 
 Ach dh-aithnich mi cruth mo ghaoil, 
 act yayn'ich mi cru' mo yaoyl 
 
 'S an taobhar thair cuan i dh-eiridh. 
 saa taovar hayrchu-ani yeyri' 
 
 « * * * 
 
 " Nach truagh leat mise, a Chrimora ? 
 nach tru-a' let mise a chrimora 
 
 Och ! na fag mi so am oanar." 
 och na fag mi so am oan-ar 
 
 Oigh-thaibsean chuartaich i le 'n orain, 
 oy' hayvsen chu-artayoh i len oren 
 
 Is dh-fhag lad mise tursach, bronach. 
 is yag i-admi-se tursach bronach 
 
 " Thig le d' cheol binn, a Chrith-mora, 
 hig led che-ol binn a chrimora 
 
 Gu talla nan oigbean fial, 
 gu tS,M nan oy'-en fi-al 
 
 'Sa bheil Suil-mhalda is Trennmor, 
 sa veyl suyl-valda is treyn-mor 
 
 A sealg feidh dhoillear nan nial. 
 a sel-ag fey' JyoyU-er nan ni-al 
 
 Chualas i le h-osna leointe, 
 chu-alas i le hosna le-oynte 
 
 'S i sealtain bronach na deigh." 
 is i seltayn bron-ach na dey' 
 
 Sguir an ceol, an taibhse a threig, 
 sguyr an ce-ol an tayv-se a hreyg 
 
 'S dhag iad mise a sile dheur, 
 's yag i-ad mi-se a si-le yeyr 
 
 Air traigh ainel 's mi leom fhein. 
 ayr tray' ayn-el 's mi le-om feyn 
 
 O'n og-mhadain gu dall-oiche, 
 o'n og-vadayn gu dall-oyche 
 
 Mo choidh o sin cha do sguir. 
 mo choy' o sin cha do sguyr 
 
 C'uin a chi mi u, a Chrimora ? 
 cuyn a chi mi n a chrimora 
 
 Ki 'm bheo bidh mise fo eislean ! 
 rim ve-o bi' mi-se fo eys-len 
 
 Tha m' anam a snamh an ceo : 
 ha man-am a snav an ce-o 
 
 Innsibh fior an doigh a dh-eug i ?" 
 innsiv fi-or an doy' a yeyg i 
 
 " An sgeula truagh tra fhuair do bhean, 
 an sgeyla tru-a' tra huyr do ven 
 
 Tri lathain bha i na tosd gu 'n ghean ; 
 tri la'-ayn va i na tosd gu'n yen 
 
 Her eyes of love shedding tears ; 
 But I knew her lovely face, 
 And why she rose over the sea. 
 
 : « * * * 
 
 " Dost thou not pity me, Crimora ? 
 Och ! leave me not alone." 
 
 Maiden ghosts gathered around her 
 with songs, 
 
 And they left me, grief-struck, 
 lamenting. - 
 
 " Come with thy sweet music, Cri- 
 mora, (they sung) 
 
 To the hall of the social maidens. 
 
 Where is Sul-malla and Trenmore, 
 
 Coursing dusky deer in clouds. 
 
 I heard her, with a wound-sigh. 
 
 When looking with sorrow behind 
 
 her." 
 The music ceased, the spirits vanished, 
 
 And they left me shedding tears, 
 
 On a strange shore by myself. 
 
 From the young morning until the 
 
 blind night, 
 My lamentations have not ceased since 
 
 then. 
 When shall I see thee, Crimora ? 
 
 While living, sorrow must be mine ! 
 
 My soul is swimming in mist : 
 
 Tell me truly how died she ?" 
 
 " When the woful news came to thy 
 
 wife. 
 She was three days incapable of speech 
 
 or motion : 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 97 
 
 An ceathramh dh-fhiar i a mhuir gu'n 
 an ce'rav yi-ar i a vuyr gun 
 
 bhaigh, 
 vay' 
 
 'S f huaras i gu'n deo air traigh : 
 's hu-aras i gun de-o ayr tra-y' 
 
 Mar shneachda sa'n f hireacli f huar, 
 mar nechda' saa irech u-ar 
 
 Na eala air Lanna, gu'n tuar. 
 na ella ayr lanna gun tu-ar 
 
 Fhuaras i le h-oighibh gaoil, 
 hu-aras i le hoyiv' gaoyl 
 
 A theirinn o chaochain nan sliabh, 
 a her-inn o chaochen nan sli-av 
 
 Le 'm basaibh min a siabadh dheur, 
 lem basayv min a si-aba' yeyr 
 
 'S le'n osnicb a seide an ciabh. 
 slen osnich a sheyt^ an ci-av 
 
 Le lie is gorm-fhoid na traigh, 
 le lie is gorm-oyd na tray' 
 
 Thog sinne combnuidh do mhnoi. 
 hog sinnd covni' do vnoy 
 
 B' iomad bha 'n latha sin dubhach, 
 bi-omad va'n la'-d sin duvach 
 
 'S bu tiambaidh cumhadb gach aon. 
 's bu ti-avi' cuva' gach aon 
 
 Mar aile a seinn an cuilc na Leige, 
 mar ayll a seynn an cuylc na ley-gfe 
 
 Dh-eirich mall is fann a cliu. 
 yey-rich mall is fann a cli-ii 
 
 Ach ciod so 'n solus an Innse-fail ? 
 ach ci-od so'n solus an innse-fayl 
 
 Feuch crann-taraidb* an fhuathais ! 
 feych crann-taray' an u'-aysh 
 
 Togaibb air siuil, tarnaibb ur raimb, 
 togiv' ayr si-uyl tarn-ayv ur rayv 
 
 Sgiursaibb a bbarc tre chuaintaibh. 
 sgi-ursiv a varc tre chu-ayntayv 
 
 Sheid gaotb dbileas na'm beann, 
 heyd gao' yil-es nam beynn 
 
 'S cha b-f bann air buillean gu comhnadb ; 
 's cha bann ayr buyllen gu cov-na' 
 
 Thug sinn muigh air braigh nan tonn, 
 hug sinn miiy ayr bray' nan tonn 
 
 'S gach sonn is a shuil ri comhraig. 
 s gach sonn is a huyl ri covrig 
 
 Bha uilean Dheirg air slios a sgeith, 
 va uyllen yeyrig ayr slis a sgey' 
 
 • " Crann," a shaft of wood ; (" tar," should be " ear,") Burpassing ; and " ruith," running : viz., the 
 beam or shaft of surpassing running or speed. 
 
 K 
 
 On the fourth, she sought the sea, cold 
 and pitiless, 
 
 And was found on the shore soulless : 
 
 Like a wreath of snow on the bleak 
 hill. 
 
 Or like a swan on Lanna, breathless. 
 She was found by her maidens beloved, 
 
 As they descended from their mountain 
 
 streams. 
 With their soft hands wiping away 
 
 tears, 
 And their sighs lifting their locks. 
 
 With flags and the green turf of the 
 
 shore, 
 We raised the dwelling of thy wife. 
 
 Many on that day were in grief, 
 
 And melancholy were the lamentations 
 
 of all. 
 Like a soft breezein the reeds of Lega, 
 
 Slowly and faintly was raised her 
 
 elegy. 
 But what light is that in Innesfail ? 
 
 Behold the cross of speed and battle !* 
 
 Exalt our sails, draw your oars, 
 
 Scourge the bark through the seas. 
 
 The faithful wind blew from our 
 
 mountains. 
 Nor faint were our strokes to aid it ; 
 
 We churned the tops of the waves, 
 
 jEvery hero's eye looking for battle. 
 
 The elbow of Dargo was on his shield, 
 
98 
 
 THE POETKY 
 
 'S a dheoir a srutha sios ri taobh. 
 83 yoyr a sru'-k si-os ri taov 
 
 " Chi mi Dearg gu tiamhaidh, tosdach ; 
 chi mi deyrg gu ti-avi' tosdach 
 
 Tog Ullainn nan tend sprochd an laoch." 
 tog ullayn nan teyd sproohd an laoyoli 
 
 And his tears streamed down by its 
 
 side. 
 " I see Dargo in sorrow, and silent, 
 
 (said Coval ;) 
 Ullain of the chords, lift the grief of 
 
 the hero." 
 
 DAN CHAOILTE. 
 
 Ri linn Threin-mhoir nan sgiath, 
 ri linn hreyn-voyr nan sgey'-& 
 
 Euaig Caoilte am fiadh mu Eite ; 
 ruyg caoyltfe am fi-a' mu eytfe 
 
 Thuit leis daimh-chabrach nan cnoc ; 
 hnyt leys dayv-ohabrach nan cnoohd 
 
 'S cho-fhreagair gach slochd da eighe. 
 's cho-regayr gaoh slochd da ey'-fe 
 
 Chunnaic Min-bheul, a gaol, 
 chunnaye minveyl a gaol 
 
 'S le curach faoin chaidh na choel. 
 sle curach fa-oyn chay' na cho-el 
 
 Sheid osna choimheach gu'n bhaigh, 
 heyd osna choyvech gun vay' 
 
 'Chuir druim an aird air a bharca. 
 chuyr druym an ayrd ayr a varca 
 
 Chualas le Caoilte a glaodh, — 
 chu-alas le coylt^ a glao' 
 
 "A ghaoil,a ghaoil, dean mo comhnadh!" 
 a yaoyl a yaoyl den mo chovna' 
 
 Ach thuirling dalla-bhrat na h-oidhe, 
 ach huyrling dall^vrat na hoyche 
 
 'S dh-fhailnich air a chluis a comhradh : 
 'a yaylnich ayr a chluys a covra' 
 
 Mar fhuaim sruthain an cein, 
 mar u-aym sru'-en an ceyn 
 
 Michinteach thain a h-eibh na choail. 
 mi-chinntech hayn a heyv na cho-ayl 
 
 'Sa mhadainn an onfha na traigh, 
 sa vad-ayn an ona na tra'-i 
 
 Fhuaras gu'n chail an og-bhean. 
 hu-araa gun chayl an og-ven 
 
 Thog e 'n cois na traigh a leac, 
 hog e 'n coys na tray' a leo 
 
 Aig sruthan bronach nan glas-gheugan : 
 aig srn'-an bronach nan glas-yeygan 
 
 'S eol do'n sealgair an t-aite ; 
 s eol don ael-ager an tayt% 
 
 'Se baigheal an teas na greine. 
 se bay'el an tes na greynfe 
 
 THE LAY OF CAOILTE. 
 
 In the days of Trenmor of shields, 
 
 Chased Caoilte the deer on Eite ; 
 
 Fell by him the antlered stags ; 
 
 Every valley answering to his call. 
 
 Minvel saw her love. 
 
 And in a weak curach she went to 
 
 meet him. 
 A fierce and pitiless blast 
 
 Turned the bark back upwards. 
 
 Heard hy Caoilte was her cry, — 
 
 " My love, my love, save me !" 
 
 But the blind panoply of night 
 
 descended. 
 And her plaint failed on his ear : 
 
 Like the sound of a distant streamlet, 
 
 Uncertain reached him her cry. 
 
 In the morning, by the murmuring 
 
 shore, 
 Was found without strength the 
 
 young wife. 
 He raised her tomb at the side of the 
 
 shore, 
 By the plaintive streamlet of the aged 
 
 grove : 
 The hunter knows the place ; 
 
 It is genial when the sun is high. 
 
OP THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 99 
 
 Bu chian do Chaoilte ri bron, 
 bu chi-an do chaoyltfe ri broa 
 
 Na aonar an coille Eite. 
 na oanar an coyllfe eytfe 
 
 Ach bhuail Trenn-mor beum-sgeithe : 
 ach vuayl treynmore beym-sgey'-fe 
 
 'S le lochraidli gUuaisCaoilte na threune. 
 sle lochray' ylu-aysh coyltfe na hreynfe 
 
 Uigh air uigh phill a sbolas. 
 ny' ayr ny' fill a holas 
 
 Chual e cHiu is lean e an i^sheilge. 
 chu-al e chli-u is len e an teylegfe 
 
 " 'S cuimhn leom," arsa Dearg, " an laoch, 
 's cuyn le-om arsa deyrag an laoch 
 
 Mar aisling choimhneil a threig ; 
 mar as-ling choyv-neyl a hreyg 
 
 'N tra stuir e gu h-og mi air Eite, 
 'n tra sti-uyre gu hog mi ayr eytfe 
 
 Sa dheoir a fliuche a sgeitbe. 
 8a ye-oyr a fli-ucha a sgey'-fe 
 
 " Ciod fa do thuireadb, a Cbaoilte ? 
 oi-od fa do huyrb a cbaoylt^ 
 
 Com' a bheil t-aois bronach, dubhacb ?" 
 com a veyl toys bronach du-ach 
 
 " Mo ghaol tha fo 'n f boid na sineadb." 
 mo yaol ha fo'n oghd na einfe 
 
 " ! dean an t-aite so thaogbal 
 oh den an tayt% so ha'-ol 
 
 Mar roghainn do chuairtaibb na fritbe ?" 
 mar ro'-aynn do chu-ayrt-iv na fri'-S 
 
 Na dh-iarradb do Cbaoilte tbugadh ; 
 na yi-ara' do chaoylt^ huga' 
 
 A cbunnie bu trie am oran. 
 a chnynn^ bu trie am oran 
 
 O nacb ro' mo cbliusa co marionn, 
 o nach rb mo chli-usa co mar-inn 
 
 'S mi le Crimora 's na neuil chairdel." 
 smi le crimora sna ne-oyl chayr-del 
 
 "'S dearbh gu'm bith do chliu mairionn," 
 s derv gum bi' do ohli-u mayrinn 
 
 Arsa Combal bu cbaoin labhairt; 
 arsa coval bu chaoyn lavayrt 
 
 " Acb CO sud le'n sgiathaibh gabbaidh, 
 ach co sud le'n sgia'yv gavi' 
 
 Toirt a sboluis bbo'n cbeud fhaire ? 
 toyrt a holuys von cheyd ayr^ 
 
 Lochlan, ma 's maith mo bbeacbd, 
 lochlau mas may' mo vechd 
 
 A cuartacb Innse-fail le'm feachd. Is 
 
 a on-ar-tach innse-fayi lem fechd 
 
 But Trenmor 
 
 alarms :) 
 With his chivalry 
 
 Caoilte. 
 
 Long was Caoilte under sorrow, 
 
 Alone among the woods of Eite. 
 
 struck the shield (of 
 
 came mighty 
 
 By degrees returned his tranquillity. 
 
 He won fame, and followed the chase. 
 
 " I remember," said Dargo, " the hero, 
 
 Like a kindly dream that has passed 
 away ; 
 
 When a youth be steered with me on 
 Eite, 
 
 His tears falling on bis shield. 
 
 " What is the cause of thy sorrow, 
 
 (I said) Caoilte ? 
 Why is thine age in sadness ?" 
 
 " My love is stretched under the turf." 
 
 " Do thou frequent this place 
 
 In preference to all the bounds of the 
 
 forests?" 
 What be asked was conceded to 
 
 Caoilte ; 
 His memory has been often in my 
 
 song. 
 
 Oh, that my fame were as lasting, 
 
 And myself with Crimora on clouds 
 
 friendly." 
 " Thy fame will assuredly be lasting," 
 
 Said Coval of the mildest converse ; 
 
 " But who are those with their broad 
 
 shields. 
 Taking from us tbe light of the 
 
 horizon ? 
 Lochlin, if I judge aright, 
 
 surrounding 
 army. 
 
 Innesfail with an 
 
100 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 'S an righ, bho ard uinneig stuadhaich, And the king, from the highest 
 san ri vo ard uyn-eyg stu-a'yoh turret, 
 
 Ag ambarc air son a chairdean buadhach, Looking for his friends victorious, 
 ag av-aro ayr son a chayrden buy'ach 
 
 Their e, le aighear na shuil : 
 heyr e le ay'-er na huyl 
 
 " Tha Comhal am fagus le shiuil !" 
 ha cuval am fagus le hi-nyl 
 
 Feuch Lochlan a nuas nar codhail, 
 feych lochlan a nu-as nar co'-ayl 
 
 Is Armour ro' pa mar dhamh croice ; 
 is armor ro pa mar yav croycfe 
 
 Air traigh Eirein, a lamh ge bras, 
 ayr tray' eyreyn a lav ge brass 
 
 Mise dh-fhuasgail a teann-ghlais. 
 mise yu-asgayl a tenn-ylays 
 
 Tairnibh, mo ghaisgeich, o 'r leis 
 tayrniv mo yaysgioh or leys 
 
 An lann ghlas, 's air cladach leumaibh ; Your grey blades, and spring on shore ; 
 an lann ylas sayr cla-dach leymiv 
 
 He exclaims with joy in his eye : 
 
 " Yonder approaches Coval with his 
 ships!" 
 
 Behold, Lochlan descends to meet 
 us, 
 
 Armor before them like the antlered 
 
 stag; 
 On the shore of Erin, though bold 
 
 his hand, 
 
 'Twas I that relieved it out of a tight 
 lock. 
 
 Draw, my heroes, from your thighs 
 
 Le suil 's le cridhe laiste, euchdail, 
 le suyl sle cri'-& laystfe eychdel 
 
 An diugh dearbhar neart na Feinne. 
 an d-i-u' dervar nert na feynn^ 
 
 With eyes and hearts kindling for 
 deeds illustrious, 
 
 This day prove the strength of the 
 Feinn. 
 
 Exalt, Dargo, thy broad shield ; 
 
 Tog, a Dheirg, do sgia leathan ; 
 tog a yeyrig do sgi-a le'-an 
 
 Crath, a Chonaill, to chraosnach ; 
 era' a chonayl to chraosnach 
 
 Buail,aChaoirill,beumle'dchlaidheamh; Strike, Carril, with thy deadly sword ; 
 buyl a charyll beym led chlay-ev 
 
 Is seinnsa, Ullainn, dan chath-baoisge."* Ullin, sing thou the battle-song* of 
 is seynn-sa nlaynn dan cha'-boysge 
 
 Choinnich sinn Lochlan, 's cha b-agh 
 choynnich sinn lochlan 's cha ba' 
 
 dhuinn ; 
 ynynn 
 
 Sheas iad romhain daingean, laidir, 
 hes i-ad rov-aynn dayng-en lay-dir 
 
 Connal, shake on high thy crosnach ; 
 
 boisge." 
 
 We met Lochlin, and not for our 
 weal; 
 
 They stood before us, compact and 
 strong 
 
 Mar dhoire daraich air uchd Mheall- As a grove of oak on the breast of 
 mar yoyrfe daraych ayr uchd veil- Melmor, 
 
 mhoir, 
 voyr 
 
 Nach lub do dh-ailgheas nan siataibh. Which bends not at the pleasure of 
 naoh lub do yayl-yes nan shi-at-ayv the storms. 
 
 * " The Germans," says Tacitus, " have poems which are rehearsed in the field, and kindle the soul 
 into flame. The spirit with which these songs are sung predicts the fortune of the approaching fight. 
 In the compositions they study a roughness of sound, and a peculiarly abrupt and broken cadence. 
 They lift the shield to their mouths, that the yoice may swell and be rendered more loud and sonorous by 
 repercussion. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 101 
 
 Chunnaic Innse-fail* sinn an sarach, 
 chunn-io innse-fayl sin an aa-rach 
 
 Is bhnicM iad gu'n dail ga'r comhnadh. 
 IS yruohd i-ad gun dayl gar cov-na' 
 
 Chaidh Lochlan a sgapa o cHele, 
 cbay' lochlan a sgapi o cbeyle 
 
 'S cha mhor gu'u chreuchdan bha beo 
 s cha vor gun chreychdan va be-o 
 
 dhiu. 
 
 yuy 
 
 Choinnich Armour 's righ Innse-faile, 
 ohoynn-ich armor sri innse-fayl 
 
 'S bu duaichnidh, gabhaidh an iomairt. 
 sbn du-aych-ni' gav-i' an i-om-irt 
 
 Chaidh sleagh an righ an uchd a mhor- 
 chay' sle-a' an ri an uchd a vor- 
 
 fhir, 
 ir 
 
 Ged bu tiugh a sgia 's i laidir. 
 ged bu ti-u' a sgi-a 's i ladir 
 
 Ghuil Lochlan is Innse-fail, 
 yuyl lochlan is innshe-fayl 
 
 'S thuit deor le baigh o shuinn na Feinne. 
 's huyt de-ojrrle bay' o hnyn na feynnfe 
 
 Is sheinn am bard an t-oran tursach, 
 is heynn am bard an toran tnr-sach 
 
 Tra chunnas gu'n deo an ceann-feadhna. 
 tra chunnas gun de-o an cen-feyna 
 
 Innesfail saw us in extremity. 
 And rushed in haste to aid us. 
 Lochlin was scattered asunder, 
 And few of them survived un wounded. 
 
 Armor and the king of Innesfail 
 met, 
 And dark and dreadful was the con- 
 flict. 
 The king's spear pierced the breast 
 of the big man, 
 
 (Though) thick and strong was his 
 
 shield. 
 Lochlan wept and so did Innesfail, 
 
 And tears of pity fell from the heroes 
 of the Feinn. 
 
 Their bard sung the song of sorrow. 
 
 When was seen the head of the people 
 had fallen. 
 
 CUMHADH AS FHIE-MHOIB. 
 
 LAMENT OF THE BIG MAN. 
 
 Bha airde mar dharaig sa ghleann. He was in height the oak of the vale, 
 
 va ayrd-fe mar yarayg sa yle-ann 
 
 A luas mar iolair nam beann, gun gheilt, In speed the mountain-eagle, without 
 
 a lu-as mar i-ol-ayrnam benn gun yeylt 
 
 A spionna mar Loda na fheirg, 
 a spionna mar loda na eyrig 
 
 A bhuille gun bhaigh, gun leigheas. 
 a vuyllfe gun vay' gun ley-as 
 
 O's moch do thuras gu d' neoil, 
 o's moch do huras gu d' ne-oyl 
 
 Is og leinn, a laoich a thuit u. 
 is og l^ynn a laoych a huyt n 
 
 Co dh-innseas an sgeula do'n aosda ? 
 CO yinnses an sgeyla don a-os-da 
 
 Co do'n og-mhnaoi gu'n d' eug u ? 
 CO don og-vnoy gun deyg, n 
 
 fear. 
 In strength, Loda in his rage, 
 
 His strokes pitiless and cureless. 
 
 Oh, early is thy journey to the clouds, 
 
 Too young we deem thy fall, hero. 
 
 Who will tell the tale to the aged ? 
 
 Who to thy young wife that thou art 
 dead? 
 
 * InnBe-faiL— It is worthy of remark, that the king or ceann-cath of the people of this countiy is 
 called by his territorial title, while the king or ceann-cath of the Caledonians is simply called by his 
 proper name, like any of his men. 
 
102 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 Chi mi t-athair fo eithir na h-aoise, 
 ohi mi ta'yr fo ey'-er na ha-oyse 
 
 Gu faoin an dochas ri thigheachd ; 
 gu faoyn an dochas ri hi-aohd 
 
 A lamli air an t-shleagh 's i air chridh, 
 a lav ayr an tie-a' 's i ayr ohri' 
 
 Sa cheann mar chrithean 'n am sine ; 
 sa chenn mar chri-en an am einb 
 
 Meallaidh gach nial a shuil, 
 mellay' gach ni-al a huyl 
 
 'S e'n duil gu faic e do bhata, 
 8 e'n duyl ga fayc c do vata 
 
 Seallaidh a chlann air an lear, 
 sell-ay' a chlann ayr an ler 
 
 'S chi iad an ceatheach a seala, 
 s chi i-ad an c^-ech a se-o-la 
 
 Crathaidh easan a cheann liadh, 
 cra'-ay' esan a chenn li-a' 
 
 Osna tiamhaidh *sa ghnuis bronach. 
 osna ti-avay' sa ynuys brSnaoh 
 
 Tha Crimin fo f hiamh a ghaire, 
 ha crimin fo i-av a yayrfe 
 
 A bruadar bhith air traigh a'd chomhail : 
 a bru-adar yi' ayr tray' ad cho-ayl 
 
 A bilibh fosgailt a cuir failt ort, 
 a bill-iv fosgaylt a cuyr faylt ort 
 
 'S lamhan sgaoilte gu d' ghlachadh, 
 B lav-an sga-oylte gu ' d ylachca' 
 
 Och, a bhean-ghaoi], 's faoin do bhruadar ; 
 och a ven yaoyl 's faoyn do Tru-a-dar 
 
 An t-ua,sal gu brath cha'n f haic u ; 
 an tu-a-sal gu bra' chan aye n 
 
 Fad dhachaidh thuit do gbradh, 
 fad o yachay' huyht do yra' 
 
 An Innse-fail fo smal tha mhaise. 
 an innse-fayl fo smSl ha vaysfe 
 
 Duisgidh t-usa a Chrimine, 
 duysgi' tnaa a chriminb 
 
 'S chi u gu'n robh t-aisling mealta ; 
 s chi n gun rov taysh-ling-melta 
 
 Ach c'uin a dhuisgeas a shuain, 
 ach cuyn a yuysges a hu-ayn 
 
 An laoch thuit gu'n tuar san arich ? 
 an laoch huyt gun tu-ar ean arich 
 
 Guth nan gaothar na beum-sgeithe, 
 gu' nan ga'oar na beym-sgey-fe 
 
 ChacHuinnerleatsachria-thighfhiurain. 
 cha chlnynner let sa chri-a hi' i-uyren 
 
 A shiol na leirge fagaibh an treun, 
 a hi-ol na leyrgfe fagiv an treyn 
 
 I see thy father under the burden of 
 
 years, 
 In vain hoping for thy return ; 
 
 His hand on the spear, and it trembling, 
 
 His grey head the aspen in the wind ; 
 
 The clouds deceive him for thy sails, 
 
 And he thinks he sees thy ship ; 
 
 But the youth look over the sea. 
 
 And see the mist sailing. 
 
 He shakes his grey head, 
 
 His sigh pensive, his face sorrowful. 
 
 Crimina smiles in her sleep. 
 
 Dreaming that she is on the shore to 
 
 meet thee : 
 Her lips are parted to salute thee, 
 
 Her arms extended to embrace thee. 
 
 Alas ! lovely spouse, thy dream is 
 
 fantasy. 
 The (thorough) gentleman wilt thou 
 
 never see ! 
 Far from home thy love has fallen ; 
 
 In Innesfail, a cloud fell on his beauty. 
 
 Thou shalt awake, Crimina, 
 
 And see that thy dream was deceitful. 
 
 But when will awake from his slum^ 
 
 bers 
 The hero who fell pale on the field ? 
 
 The voice of the hounds, or the sound 
 
 of the alarm-giving shield. 
 He hears not in his house of clay. 
 
 Race of the sea depart, 
 
Guth seamh na maidne cha chluinn e ; 
 gu' se-v na mayyd-ne cha chlayn e 
 
 Cha dean e air comhnadh le airm, 
 cha den fe ayr covna le ayrm 
 
 Is coraig nan sleagh cha duisg e. 
 is cor-ayg nan sle-a' cha yuysg^ 
 
 Beannachd do dh-anam an laoich, 
 bennac do ' yao-am an laoych 
 
 Bu gharg colg a dol an ghniomh, 
 bu yarg colag a dol an gni-av 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 103 
 
 The mild voice of morning he hears not ; 
 He will not assist you in battle ; 
 
 The conflict of spears will not awake 
 
 him. 
 Blest be the soul of the hero, 
 
 Whose aspect was firm when in action, 
 
 Ard righ Lochlan, ceann an t-shluaigh ; The high king of Lochlan, head of 
 «rH ri' i„„hi=„ „„„„ o„ .i„_o„' ^jjg people . 
 
 Many a victory did he achieve. 
 
 He was in height the oak of the vale ; 
 
 ard ri' lochlan cenn an tln-ay' the people • 
 
 'S ioma ruig a thug a riamh. 
 8 i-oma ruyg a hug a ri-av 
 
 Bha airde mar dharaig sa ghleann, 
 va ayrde mar yarayg sa ylenn 
 
 A luas mar iolair na'm beann gu'n gheilt, In speed the mountain-eagle, without 
 a lu-as mar i-olayr nam beann gun yeylt fear • 
 
 A spionna mar Loda na f heirg. In strength, Loda in his rage, — 
 
 a spi-ona mar loda na eyrig 
 
 A bhuille gu'n bhaigh gu'n leagheas. His strokes pitiless and cureless. 
 
 a vuylle gun vay' gun le'-as 
 
 The following, being the first duan of the Poem of Temora, by Ossian, is 
 called Cathgarva, both in Albin and Erin. I consider it as fair an average 
 specimen of Ossian's style, as the foregoing is of the poetry of Ullin and Orran. 
 I regret that want of space puts it out of my power to give similar specimens 
 from the other ancient bards, especially Carril, the sweetest of them all ; but his 
 poems are too lengthy for my space, as the phonetic speUing takes up so much 
 room, and adds so greatly to the expense. 
 
 Tha gorm thonna na h-Eirinn an soilse, 
 ha gorm faonna na hey-rin an soyl-se 
 
 A beannaibh am boillsge an la, 
 a bennayv am boylsge an la 
 
 Croibh chiara ag aomadh fo ghaoidh, 
 croyv ohi-ar-a ag aoma' fo yaoy' 
 
 Liath-shruthain a taomadh o chairn ; 
 li-a'-rn-'ayn a taoma' o chayrn 
 
 Feuch ! da thorn aillidh le'n darach uaine, 
 fe'ch da hom ayli len darach u-ayne 
 
 Og aoma mu'n cuairt do chaol-rath, 
 ug aoma mnn cuayrt do chaol-ra' 
 Tha tarruin a chochain ro ghleannaibh. 
 ha tarruyn a chochayn ro ylenniy 
 
 Air bruaich an uilt tha Cairber fein, 
 ayr bruaych an uylt ha cayrber feyn 
 
 A shleagh, fo chomas an treun, rithaobh, 
 a le-a' fo chomas an treyn ri hoav 
 
 The blue waves of Erin are in light, 
 
 Her mountains in the brightness of 
 
 day; 
 Dusky woods waving in the wind. 
 
 Grey streams pouring from rocky 
 
 peaks ; 
 Behold, two beautiful hillocks with 
 
 their green oaks 
 Bending round a narrow vale, 
 
 That draws its streamlet from glens. 
 
 On the bank of the burn is Cairber of 
 
 Atha, 
 His spear ready by his side ; 
 
104 
 
 THE POETBY 
 
 A dhearg shuil fo ghiorraig, 's e bron. 
 a yerag huyl fo yirrayg se bron 
 
 Dhe-eirich Cormag an anam an righ, 
 yeyrioh cormac an anam an ri' 
 
 Gun chli, is a lot na thaobh. 
 gun chli is a Ibt na baov 
 
 Le f haichte, bha 'n t-og an dubhra, 
 le aychte va'n tog an duvra 
 
 Fhuil chraobhach a srutha bho chliabh, 
 uyl chrovach a sru'-a vo ohli-av 
 
 Thog Cairber a shleagh tri iiairen, 
 hog cayrber a le-a' tri uayren " 
 
 Tri uairen chuir e f heusag fo laimh ; 
 tri u-ayren chnyr e eysag fo layv 
 
 Chaisg e tri uairean a cheum, 
 ohaysg e tri u-ayren a clieym 
 
 'S chratb e ruigli na'm beud gu h-ard. 
 8 chra' e ray nam beyd gu hard 
 
 Mar niol am fasach a mor thriath, 
 mar ni-ol am fasach a mor ri-a' 
 
 A caocHadh fo'n ghaoidh a dhealbh, 
 a caochla' fo'n yaoy' a yel-av 
 
 Na gleannaibh a bron fo'n f hirich, 
 na glenniv a bron fo'n irich 
 
 Ma seach fo ghiorraig nam braon. 
 
 ma sech fo yirrig nam braon 
 
 Grhabh an righ a mhor anam dha fein, 
 yav an ri' a vor anam ya feyn 
 
 Ghlae e sleagb nan treun na laimh, 
 ylac e sleagh nan treyn na layv 
 
 Thiondaidh e shuil air cul magh Lena, 
 hi-onday' e huyl ayr cul ma' lena 
 
 Far a bheil luchd faire nan gorm thonn. 
 far a veyl- luchg fayrrS nan gorm honn 
 
 Thainig iad le'n ceumaibh fo f hiamh, 
 haynig i-ad len ceymayv fo i-av 
 
 A coimhead trie air slios an t-shaile : 
 a Goyved trie ayr slis an taylb 
 
 Dh-aithnich Cairber gu'n d' thainig 
 yaynich cayrber gun daynig 
 
 an righ. 
 an ri' 
 
 Ghairm e dorchadh na triadh gu laimh. 
 yayrm e doroha' na tri-ay' gu layv 
 
 Grad thainig ceum f huaimer nan sonn, 
 yrad haynig ceym u-aymer nan sonn 
 
 An ghlas-lannaibhlomadhnan laimhibh. 
 an glass-lannayv loma' nan lay'iv 
 
 An sin bha Morla uaibh-riach ciar, 
 an Bin va morla u-ayr-rich ci-ar 
 
 His red eye is cowed ; he is in grief. 
 
 Cormak rises on the soul of the king, 
 
 Feeble, with a wound in his side. 
 
 Half seen, in the shade, is the youth ; 
 
 The blood pouring from his bosom. 
 
 Cairber thrice lifted the spear. 
 
 Thrice stroked his beard with his 
 
 hand. 
 Thrice checked his (forward) step. 
 
 And shook his deadly arm on high. 
 
 Like a cloud in the desert is the great 
 
 chief. 
 Changing its shape in the wind. 
 
 The glens darken below their hills, 
 
 Alternately expecting the shower. 
 
 The king resumed his mighty soul, 
 
 He grasped the spear of heroes in his 
 
 hand. 
 He turned his eye on the back of 
 
 Lena's hill, 
 Where are placed the watchers of the 
 
 blue waves. 
 They approach in the steps of fear, 
 
 Often looking on the face of the sea. 
 Cairber knew that the king was come. 
 
 He, darkly, called his warriors to his 
 
 presence. 
 Quickly came the resounding steps 
 
 of the warriors, 
 With their grey blades bare in their 
 
 hands. 
 There was Morla, fierce and swarthy, 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 105 
 
 An sin Dalla le chiobhan sa ghoidh ; 
 an sin dalla 1? chi-av-an sa yay' 
 
 Cormar ruadh ag aomadh air sleagh, 
 cormar ra-a' ag oama' ayr sle-a' 
 
 A sealtain o thaobh borb fo ghruaim. 
 a seltayn o hoav borb fo yru-aym 
 
 B-alluidh do shuil cbrom a Mlialthuis, 
 
 ballny' do huyl chrom a valhuys 
 
 Fo f haileas do mhor f habhraid, 
 fo ayles do vor avrayd 
 
 Sheas Foldath mar charraig an sruth, 
 hes folda' mar charrayg an sru' 
 
 A falacb fo chothar a dubb-cbruth, 
 a falaoh fo cho'-ar a yuv-ohru' 
 
 A sbleagh fhada mar gbiubbas an 
 a le-a' kdk mar yuyvas an 
 
 t-shleibh, 
 tleyv 
 
 A thacbras ri doinnean nan speur ; 
 a bach-ras ri doynnen nan speyr 
 
 A sgiatb dearcach le beumibb comhraig ; 
 a Bgi-a' deroaoh le beymiv cov-rayg 
 
 A dhearg-shuil riamb gu'n f biamb. 
 a yerag-huyl ri-av gun i-av 
 
 lad sin is triath eille gu'n cbuntas, 
 i-ad sin is tri-a' eylle gun chuntas 
 
 Tbionail dluth mu righ Eirinn, 
 hi.nel din' mu ri' eyrinn 
 
 Noir tbainig fear faire a cbuain, 
 noyr haynig fer fayrre a chuyn 
 
 Mor-aineal bbo cbruacb Moilena, 
 mor-aynel vo chru-ach moilena 
 
 A sbuilean sealtinn claon o cbean, 
 a bnylen seltinn claon o cbenn 
 
 A gbutb air cbritb, gu'n tuar a bheul. 
 a yu' ayr chri' gun tu-ar a veyl 
 
 " An seas triadbaitb na b-Eirinn air cbul, 
 an ses tri-a'-ay na heyiinn ayr chul 
 
 Balbh mar bbadain san oiche cbiuin, 
 balv mar vadayn san oyche chuyn 
 
 Na mar gbarbb-cboille fo mhuig ; 
 na mar yarv-choyllfe fo vuyg 
 
 Is Fionnghal air an traigb a boilsge, — 
 is fionn-yal ayr an tray' a boylsge 
 
 Fionn is uambasaiche beum, 
 fionn is u-av-asaychfe beym 
 
 Ard rigb nan treun bbo sbruthaibb 
 ard ri' nan treyn vo hra'-iv 
 
 Morbbeinn?" 
 morreynn 
 
 There Dalla with his locks on the 
 wind. 
 
 Red Cormar bending on his spear, 
 
 Looking sideways from his surly face. ' 
 
 Wild was the down-looking eye of 
 Malthus, 
 
 Under the shade of his large helmet. 
 Foldath stood like a rock in the flood, 
 With its dark form covered in foaffi, 
 His spear, like a pine of the wold, 
 
 That has often met the storms of the 
 sky; 
 
 His shield is marked with the strokes 
 
 of battle ; 
 His red eye ever fearless. 
 
 These, and other innumerable chiefs, 
 
 Gathered close round the king of 
 Erin, 
 
 When came the watcher of the sea, 
 
 Moranel, from the height of Moilena, 
 
 His eyes aslant in his head, 
 
 His voice trembling, his lips colourless. 
 
 " Stand the chiefs of Erin apart, 
 
 Silent as a grove in a calm night. 
 
 Or like a rough forest under a cloud ; 
 
 And Fingal on the beach gleaming, 
 
 Fingal of dreadful sword-cuts. 
 
 The lofty king of the heroes of Mor- 
 ven of streams ?" 
 
106 
 
 THE POETEY 
 
 " Am facadh t-u an gaisgeach nach fann," 
 am faoa' tu an gaysh-gech nach fann 
 
 Arsa Cairber o spairn a chleibh ; 
 arsa cayrber o spaym a chleyv 
 
 " A bheil a laoich lionar air an traigh ? 
 a vfeyl a laoyoh li-o-nar ayr an tra-i 
 
 An tog e sleagh comhraig o dheigh, 
 an tog e sle-a' oov-rig o yey' 
 
 No'n d' thainig an treun an sith?" 
 non d-aynig an treyn an si' 
 
 " An sith cha d'thainig e, a righ 
 an si' cha daynig e a ri' 
 
 Eirinn, 
 eyrinn 
 
 Bha roinn a shleagh roi' 'n treun a suas, The point of the spear was before him 
 
 " Hast thou seen the hero that is not 
 
 feeble," 
 Said Cairber from his labouring breast ; 
 
 " Are his warriors numerous on the 
 
 shore ? 
 Does he advance the battle-spear, 
 
 Or comes the mighty, in peace ?" 
 
 " In peace he comes not, king of Erin, 
 
 va roynn a le-a' roy an treyn 
 
 Mar mhall dhreag* a bhais ag eiridh, 
 mar vail yreg a vaysh ag eyri' 
 
 'S fuil mhiltean a taomadh mu chruaidh. 
 s fuyl vilten a taoma' mu ohray 
 
 B-es' a leum an tus air tir, 
 bes a leym an tus ayr tir 
 
 Laidir fo leadan liadh na h-aois. 
 la-dir fo ledan li-a' na haoya 
 
 'S Ian, feitheach, garbh-challapanach an 
 's Ian fey'-ech garv challa-pan-ach an 
 
 righ, 
 ri' 
 
 Ach 's eatrom gu'n strith a cheum. 
 ach a e-trom gnn stri' a cbeym 
 
 Air taobh an treun tha chlaidheamh fiar, 
 ayr ta-ov an treyn ha chlay-ev fi-ar 
 
 An dara beum a choidh nach iarr ; 
 an dara beym a choy' nach i-arr 
 
 A sgiath leathan uamhasach na laimh, 
 a Bgi-a le'-an u-a-vas-ach na layv 
 
 Mar chearcal fuileach re 's i Ian, 
 mar cher-cal fuyl-ech re si Ian 
 
 Geiridh gu dana tre stairm. 
 gey-ri' gn dana tre stayrm 
 
 Lean Oissian, righ caoin nam fonn, 
 len oissian ri' caoyn nam fonn 
 
 'S mac Mhoimi sonn oscion nan triath. 
 B mac morni sonn os-ci-on nan tri-a' 
 
 Leum Connal air shleagh o thuinn ; 
 leym connal ayr le-a' o huynn 
 
 Is Diarmaid donn nan trom chiabh. 
 is di-ar-mid donn nan trom cht-av' 
 
 * A meteor which, when seen on any road leading to a bnrying-gronnd, is BuperstitiouBly assumed to 
 portend the death of some one, who will soon be carried on that path to his or her grave. 
 
 on high, 
 Like the meteor* of death ascending, 
 
 (Prognosticating) the fall of thousands 
 
 in death. 
 He was the first to spring on shore. 
 
 Strong in the grey locks of age. 
 
 Full, sinewy, brawny-legged is the 
 king, 
 
 But light and free are his steps. 
 
 Aslant, on the side of the mighty, is 
 
 the sword 
 That never needs to repeat a cut ; 
 
 His broad and dreadful shield on his 
 
 arm. 
 Like the bloody circle of the full-orbed 
 
 planet, 
 Advancing daringly through the storm. 
 
 Ossian followed, mild king of lays. 
 
 And the son of Morni, a hero above 
 
 chiefs. 
 Connal leaped on his spear over the 
 
 waves, 
 And brown Diarmid of the heavy 
 
 locks. 
 
Lub Fillean a bhogha le morchuis, 
 lub fiUen a vo'-a le mor-chujs 
 
 Og shealgair Mhoru nan sliabh ; 
 og he-lager voru nan sli-av 
 
 Acb CO sud air ceann nan treun, 
 ach CO Bud ayr cenn nau treyn 
 
 Mar gbarbh-shiubbal shruth o bheinn ? 
 mar yarv-hi-uval hru' o veynn 
 
 Co ach mac Oissean an triatb ; 
 CO ach mac oissean an tri-a' 
 
 Mar bhoisge teine misg a chiabh, 
 mar voysg^ tiynfe misg a chi-av 
 
 A leadan fada tha Ian chuach, 
 a led-au fa-da ha Ian chu-ach 
 
 Fhabhaid dhubh le chielt' an cruaidh, 
 a-ayd yuv le cheylt an criiy' 
 
 A lann air ial a trial ri thaobh, 
 a lann ayr i-al a tri-al ri hoav' 
 
 A shleagh a siubhal boilsgeadh baotb. 
 a le-a' a si-u-val boyl-sge' bao' 
 
 Theicb mi o gharg sbuil an t-sbeoid, 
 heych mi o yarg huyl an te-pyd 
 
 A rigb Thighmora is mor cliu." 
 a ri' bi'-mora is mor cli-u 
 
 " Teicb usa, fhir dbonadb, gu'n 
 teych nsa ir yona' gun 
 
 fbeum," 
 eym 
 
 Arsa Foldatb, gruamacb am feirg ; 
 arsa fol-da' gm-am-aoh am feyrig 
 
 " Teicb-sa gu d' liatb-sbrutbaibh f hein, 
 fiych-sa gu d' li-a'-hru'ayv heyn 
 
 Anamain is goinne, is meirg an diambair. 
 an-am-ayn is goynnfe is meyrig an di-var 
 
 Nacb facar linn an t-Oscar donn ? 
 nach fac-ar linn an tos-car donn 
 
 Cbunnaic mise an triatb an combraig. 
 chunn-ic mis an tri-a' an oov-rayg 
 
 An cunnartj dbetb na trein tba'n sonn ; 
 an cannart ye' na treyn ban sonn 
 
 Acb 's iomadb sleagb is sonn an Eirinn. 
 ach si-oma' sle-a' is sonn an eyrinn 
 
 A rigb Tbigbmora nan ard cbraobb, 
 a ri' hi'-mora nan ard chra-ov 
 
 Leig dbombsa tacbairt ris an t-sbeod ; 
 leyg yovsa tach-ayrt ris an te-od 
 
 Is caisgidb mi 'n sruth mor na dbeann. 
 is cays-gi' min sru' mor na yenn 
 
 Ma sbleagb tba nigbte am fuil, 
 ma le-a' ha ni'-te am fuyl 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 107 
 
 Fillan bent with pride bis bow, 
 The youthful hunter of Moru of wolds. 
 
 But who is be that is at the bead of 
 the hosts, 
 
 Moving impetuous as a spate from the 
 bills? 
 
 Who but the son of Ossian, the hero ; 
 Glowing amid bis locks 
 His long hair is full of curls 
 His black helmet half hid in steel, — 
 His sword is restless on bis side, 
 His eager spear gleams wickedly. 
 I fled from the fierce eye of the hero, 
 King of Temora of great renown." 
 " Fly, then, mannikin unfit for 
 
 Said Foldatb, frowning and wrathful ; 
 
 " Fly thou to thy own grey streams, 
 
 Scant soul, and rust in secret. 
 
 Have I not seen this Oscar ? 
 
 I have seen the hero in battle. 
 
 In danger be is of the mighty ; 
 
 But there are many spears and heroes 
 
 in Erin. 
 King of Temora of lofty woods. 
 
 Let me meet the hero ; 
 
 I will stop this mountain spate in its 
 
 speed. 
 My spear has been washed in blood. 
 
108 
 
 THE POETRY' 
 
 My shield is like the wall of Tura." 
 
 'S tha mo sgiath mar bhalla Thuradh." 
 s ha mo sgi-a' mar valla hur-a' 
 
 "An coinnich Foldath na aonar na 
 an coynn-ioh fol-da' na o-anar na 
 
 daimh?" 
 da-iv 
 
 Arsa Malthas na fabhrad ciar ; 
 arsa mal-thas na fav-rad ci-ar 
 
 " Nach 'eil iad cho laidir air an traigh 
 naoh eyl i-ad cho layd-ir ayr an tra-i 
 
 Ei co-thional garbh-shruth nan sliabh ? 
 ri co-hinal garv-hra' nan sli-av 
 
 Nach iad sud na trein thug buaidh 
 nach i-ad sud na treyn hug buy' 
 
 Thair Suaran nan cruaidh-bheum, 
 hayr sn-ar-an nan cruy'-veym 
 
 Noir ghabh sliochd Eirinn an ruaig ? 
 noyr yav shlioohd eyrinn an ru-ayg 
 
 'S an tachair Foldath ri'n corr-threun ? 
 san tachayr fol-da' rin corr-hreyn 
 
 A chridhe bhosdail is ciar beus, 
 a chri-e' vosdayl is oi-ar beys 
 
 Gabh spionnadh dluthach an t-luaigh, — Take the united strength of the 
 gav spi-onn-a' dlu'-ach an tln-ay' people, — 
 
 Gabh Malthas maille ri threun. Take Malthas and his warriors, 
 
 gav malthas mayll^ ri breynn 
 
 Bba mo chlaidheamh le beumaibh ruadh, My sword with strokes has been red, 
 va mo chla'-ev le beym-eyv ru-a' 
 
 Ach CO a chualadh gu fear mo ghuth ?" But who has heard from me crooked 
 ach CO a chu-al-a' gu fi-ar mo yn' words ?" 
 
 " A sbliochd Eirinn is uaine raon," " Race of Erin of green hills," 
 
 a hli-oohd eyrinn is u-ayne roan 
 
 Thuirt triath Chlaonrath nan caoin Said the chief of Clonrath of mild 
 huyrt tii-a' chlaon-ra' nan ca-oyn streams, 
 
 shruth, 
 hru' 
 
 " Na cluinneadh Fion air briaraibh faoin ; " Let not Fingal hear your words vain ; 
 na cluynn^' fi-onn ayr bri-arayv fa-oyn 
 
 " Will Foldath alone meet the 
 strangers ?" 
 
 Said Malthas of the dun helmet ; 
 " Are they not as strong on the shore 
 
 As the congregated waters of the 
 wolds ? 
 
 Are not these the mighty who con- 
 quered 
 
 Swaran of hardy sword-cuts, 
 
 When the race of Erin fled ? 
 
 And will Foldath meet their surpassing 
 
 hero? 
 Man of the boasting heart and dusky 
 
 deeds. 
 
 Na biodh solas air naimhdean an diugh, 
 na bi-o' solas ayr nayv-den an di-u' 
 
 A cuir spionnadh nan laimh san tir. 
 a onyr spi-onna' nan layv san tir 
 
 'S treun sibh fein a shiol na'm blar, 
 streyn siv feyn a hi-ol nam blar 
 
 Mar ghaillen o ghair a chuain, — 
 mar yayllen o yayr a chu-ayn 
 
 Mar stairm a thachrais ri sgeir aird, 
 mar stayrm a hach-ris- ri sgeyr ayrd 
 
 A bheir a coille gu lar 'o cruaich ; 
 a veyr a choyllfe gu lar o chrn-aych 
 
 Let not the enemy rejoice to-day, 
 
 And be strengthened in the land (by 
 
 your divisions.) 
 Mighty are ye, race of battles, 
 
 As a storm on the roaring sea, — 
 
 A storm that meets a lofty sea-rock, 
 
 Or tears forests from the breasts of 
 mountains ; 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 109 
 
 Ach glauiseadh mid nar neart gu leir, 
 ach gluys-e' mid nar nert gu leyr 
 
 Mall mar mhor cho-thional nial, 
 mall mar vor cho-henal ni-al 
 
 Bidh georrag air sar mhac nam beum, 
 bi' girrag ayr sar vac nam beym 
 
 Is tuitidh a shleagh gu'n fheum 'o'n 
 is tuyti' a hle-a' gun eym on 
 
 triadh. 
 tri-a' 
 
 * Chi sinn dubh nial a bhais,' 
 chi sinn duv ni-al a vayis 
 
 Their iad, is failas a fas m' an tuar. 
 heyr i-ad is faylas a fas man tu-ar 
 
 Bidh bron air Fionn aosda na baigh, 
 bi' bron ayr fi-onn aos-da na bay' 
 
 Sa cHiu a sioladh air traigh gu'n bhuaidh: 
 sa chli-u a si-ol-a' ayr tray' gun vu-ay' 
 
 Cha'n fhaicear a Morbhein ceum an 
 chan ayc-er a mor-veynn ceym an 
 
 triath, 
 tri-a' 
 
 'S bidh coineach na 'm bliadhnadh an 
 s bi' coynech nam bli-an-a' an 
 
 Selma." 
 
 An samhchair dh-eisd Cairber ruadh, 
 an sav-chir yeysd cerber ru-a' 
 
 Mar dhuth-nial nan stuadh air raon, — 
 mar yu'-ni-al nan stu-a' ayr raon 
 
 Nial a sheasas dorch air Oromleac, 
 ni-al a hesas dorch ayr crom-leo 
 
 Gus am brist dealan a thaobh. 
 gns am brist dellan a haoT 
 
 Laiseaidh gleanna ri boilsge nan speur, 
 lays-i' glenna ri boilsge nan speyr 
 
 Bidh tannais gu'n fheum fo sholas. 
 bi' tann-aysh gun eym fo hol-as 
 
 Mar sin an samhchair sheas an righ, 
 mar sin an sav-chir hes an n' 
 
 Gus 'n do ghluais le brigh a ghuth : 
 gus n do ylu-aysh le bri' a yu' 
 
 " Sgaoilear a chuirm air Moilena ; 
 sgoyler a chuyrm ayr moUena 
 
 Thigeadh mo cheud bard a nail, 
 hige' mo cheyd bard a nail 
 
 OUa, nan ciabh dubh-ruadh, eirich, 
 olla nan ci-av duv-ru-a' ey-rich 
 
 Gabh clarsach righ Eirinn a'd laimh ; 
 gav clarsach ri' eyrinn ad la-iv 
 
 But let us move in combined strength, 
 Slowly as a great gathering of clouds, 
 
 So shall fear fall on the surpassing 
 
 son of the sword, 
 And the spear fall deedless from his 
 
 hand. 
 
 ' We see the dark cloud of death,' 
 
 They will say, while a shade spreads 
 over their faces. 
 
 Sorrow will overtake Fingal the com- 
 passionate and aged, 
 
 While his fame melts away without 
 victory : 
 
 In Morven will not be seen the steps 
 of the hero, 
 
 The mess of years will cover Selma." 
 
 Bed Cairber listened in silence, 
 
 Like a dark cloud, from the waves, on 
 the heath, — 
 
 A cloud that stands darkly on Cromla, 
 
 Until the lightning breaks from its 
 
 side. 
 The glens are lighted by the flash. 
 
 And deedless spirits under rejoicing. 
 
 Thus in silence stood the king, 
 
 Until his voice was heard significantly : 
 
 " Spread the feast on Moilena ; 
 
 Approach my hundred bards. 
 
 Eise, Olla of the dark-brown locks, 
 
 Take the harp of Erin's king in thy 
 hand; 
 
110 
 
 Siubhail gu Oscar nan lann, 
 si-uv-ayl gu oscar naa lann 
 
 'S thoir cuire dha gu fleagh an righ. 
 s hoyr cuyre ya gu fle-a' an ri' 
 
 An diugh biodh cuirm is fonn sa ghleann, 
 an di-U' bi-o' cuyrm is fonn sa ylenn 
 
 A maireach bristear linn na sleaigh. 
 a mayreoh brister linn na sle-ay' 
 
 Innis gu'n d' thog mi suas 
 innis gun d hog mi su-as 
 
 Uaigh Cbatbail fo luaidh na'm bard, 
 u-ay' cha'-ayl fo lu-ay' nam bard 
 
 Thug mi charaid truagh do'n ghaoith. 
 hug mi charid tru-a' don yaoy' 
 
 Innis dha gu'n chualas mu'n bhuaidh 
 innis ya gun chu-al-as mun vu-ay' 
 
 A choisinn e aig fuar-shruth Oharuinn. 
 a choysin e ayg fu-ar-hru' charuynn 
 
 Cha'n fhaic mi 'n so mo bhrathair 
 ohan aye min so mo vra'yr 
 
 treun, 
 treyn 
 
 Cha' neil Cathmor le cheudaibh ri'm 
 cha-neyl ca'-mor le cheydayv rim 
 
 thaobh, 
 ha-ov 
 
 Tha air lamhan gann fo airm. 
 ha ayr lavan gann fo ayrm 
 
 'S namhaid Cathmor do strith nam fleagh, 
 s nav-id ca'-mor do stri' nam flera' 
 
 Tha anam mor mar dhearsadh greine ; 
 ha anam mor mar yersa' greynnb 
 
 THE FOETEY 
 
 Go to Oscar of swords, 
 Invite him to the king's feast. 
 
 To-day we will have a banquet in the 
 
 glen, 
 To-morrow we will break spears. 
 
 Tell him that I raised on high 
 
 The tomb of Cathul amid the songs 
 
 of bards. 
 I have given his poor friend to the 
 
 wind. 
 Tell him that I heard of the victory 
 
 He gained at the cold stream of Carron. 
 
 I see not here my mighty brother. 
 
 Cathmor and his hundreds are not 
 with us. 
 
 And our hands are few in war. 
 Cathmor is a foe to conflicts at feasts. 
 His great soul is all sunshine ; 
 
 Ach bristeaidh Cairber sleagh ri Oscar, 
 ach brist-i' cerber sle-a' ri oscar 
 
 But Cairber will break a spear against 
 Oscar, 
 
 A thriathaidh Thighmora, air comhnard Chiefs of Temora, on the plain of Lena, 
 a hri-a'-ay' hi-mora ayr cov-nard 
 
 Lena, 
 lena 
 
 Labhair e dana ma Chathul, 
 lavayr e dana ma cha'-ul 
 
 'S tha manam a lasadh le feirg. 
 s ha manam a lasa' le feyrig 
 
 Tuitidh Oscar air Moilena, 
 tuyti' oscar ayr moylena 
 
 'S eiridh na f hull mo chliu." 
 s eyri' na uyl mo chli-u 
 
 Shoilsich solas an aghaidh nan treun, 
 hoylsich solas an a'-ay' nan treyn 
 
 Is sgaoil iad misg crianach MoUena. 
 is sgoyl i-ad misg cri-aynach moylena 
 
 He spoke daringly of Cathul, 
 
 And my soul is kindled with indig- 
 nation. 
 
 Oscar shall fall on Moilena, 
 And my fame rise from his fall." 
 
 Joy glowed in the faces of the 
 
 warriors. 
 They spread themselves among the 
 
 coppice of Moilena 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Tha cuirm is slige ga deasachadh sliuas, 
 ha cuyrm is sligfe ga desacha' hu-as 
 
 'S fonn nan clar 's nan duan ag eiridh. 
 8 fonn can clar s nan du-an ag eyri' 
 
 Chuala triathaidh Shelma an solas, 
 chu-al-a tri-a'-ay' helma an solas 
 
 'S shaoil Cathmor corr gu'n d'thainig, 
 s haoyl ca'-mor corr gun dayn-ig 
 
 Cathmor corr, ceann-uidhe nan daimh, 
 ca'-mor corr cenn-uy' nan dayv 
 
 Brathair Ohairber nan ruadh chiabh ; 
 bra'ayr cayr-ber nan ru-a' chi-av 
 
 Cha bu choimeas an da anam. 
 cha bu choymes an da anam 
 
 Bha solus nan speur an uchd Chathmoir. 
 va solus nan speyr an uchd cha'-moyr 
 
 Do dh-Atba na'm bruach, a tbuir ard, 
 do ya'-a nam bruach a huyr ard 
 
 Tha seachd aisereann a sine, 
 ha sechd ayseren a sin& 
 
 'S air gach aisre bard na sheasaibh, 
 s ayr gach aysh-re bard na hesayv 
 
 A cuireadh dhaimh do thalla na fial ; 
 a cuyrfe yayv do halla na fi-al 
 
 Ach shuidh Cathmor an naigneas, 
 ach huy' ca'-mor an u-ayg-nes 
 
 A seachnadh bhi ag eisteachd ri chliu. 
 a sech-na' vi ag eyst-achd ri chli-u 
 
 Thainnig 011a ruadh le dhain. 
 haynig oUa ru-a' le yayn 
 
 Ghluais Oscar gu'n dail gu cuirm, 
 yluys osoar gun dayl gu cuyrm 
 
 Le tri ceud gaisgeach, ri laimh, 
 le tri ceyd gaysgech ri layv 
 
 iRoi Lena nan lan-shruth gorma, 
 roy lena nan lan-hru' gorma 
 
 A liath-choin a leum san fhraoch, 
 a li-a'-choyn a leym san raoch 
 
 'S tre'n garbh-chonas a sgaoile thall. 
 stren yarv-chonas a sgoyle hall 
 
 Chunnaic Fionn an sonn a trial, 
 chunnayc fi-onn an sonn a tri-al 
 
 'S thuit anam an treun fo bhron, 
 s huyt anam an treyn fo vron 
 
 Neo-chinteach ma Chairber cealgach, 
 ne-o-chinntech ma chayrber ce-la-gach 
 
 Le smuaintean fiar misg cuirm is oil. 
 le smuynten fi-ar misg cuyrm is oyl 
 
 The feast and the shell are preparing 
 above, 
 And the sound of harps and lays 
 ascending. 
 
 The chiefs of Selma heard the re- 
 joicing, 
 
 And thought that Cathmor had ar- 
 rived, 
 
 Cathmor the surpassing, the host of 
 strangers, 
 
 The brother of red-haired Cairber ; 
 
 But unlike -were their two souls. 
 
 The light of heaven was in the bosom 
 
 of Cathmor. 
 To Atha of banks where (rises) his 
 
 high turrets, 
 Seven passes (ravines) lead, 
 
 And on each pass a bard is .placed. 
 
 To invite strangers to the social hall ; 
 
 But Cathmor kept aloof from the 
 
 (fulsome) voice of praise. 
 To avoid listening to his fame. 
 
 Ked 011a came with his lays. 
 
 Oscar went without hesitation to the 
 
 feastj 
 With three hundred warriors in his 
 
 train. 
 Through Lena of blue and ample 
 
 streams, 
 His grey dogs bounding through the 
 
 heather 
 And the strong gorse of the wold. 
 
 Fingal saw the hero departing, 
 
 And his soul sunk in grief. 
 
 Uncertain of Cairber the treacherous, 
 
 And his oblique thoughts at the feast 
 and the drinking. 
 
112 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 My son carried the spear of Cormak" 
 Id his hand ; 
 
 Thog mo mhac sleagh Chormaic na 
 hog mo vee sle-a' chormaye na 
 
 laimh ; 
 la-iv 
 
 Bha ceud baird a seinn air sliabh, 
 va ceyd bayrd a seynn ayr sli-av 
 
 Ach cheil Cairber am bas bha snamh 
 ach cheyl cayrber am bas va snav 
 
 Fo dhubhradh san am, na chliabh. 
 fo yuvra' san am na chli-av 
 
 Fleagh tha sgailte, sligean a fuaim, 
 fle-a' ha sgayltfe slegen a fu-aym 
 
 'S eudain an t-shkiagh an sohis dealrach : And the faces of the people are in a 
 
 There were a hundred bards singing 
 
 on the wold. 
 But Cairber concealed the death that 
 
 was swimming 
 In the dark thoughts of his bosom. 
 
 The feast is spread, the shells sound. 
 
 s eydayn an tluy' an solus delrach 
 
 Ach chitear solus* mall is fann 
 ach chiter solus mall is fann 
 
 A dearsadh fada thall air Lena, 
 a dersa' fada hall ayr lena 
 
 Sa cheann dearg le-chleite an dorchas. 
 sa chenn derag le-chleyte an dor-chas 
 
 Dh-eirich Cairber thall an airm, 
 yeyrich cayrber hall an ayrm 
 
 'S dubhradh a bhais na ghruaidh. 
 B duvra' a vaysh na yru-ay' 
 
 Chaisg fonn chlarsaichean nan teud, 
 chaysg fonn chlarsaychen nan teyd 
 
 Chualas screadan nan sgiath m'an cuairt. 
 chu-al-as acredan nan sgi-a' man cu-ayrt 
 
 Fada thall air uchd an t-shleibh, 
 fada hall ayr uchd an tleyv 
 
 Thog OUa dubh-ruadh guth a bhroin. 
 hog oUa duv-ru-a' gu' a vroyn 
 
 Dh-aithnich Oscar comhara bhais : 
 yay'nich osoar covara vays 
 
 Grhluais is ghlachd gu'n dail a shleagh. 
 ylu-ays is ylachd gun dayl a le-a' 
 
 " Oscair," arsa Cairber ruadh, 
 oscayr arsa cayrber ru-a' 
 
 " Tha mi faicean sleagh buaidh na 
 ha mi, faycen sle-a' bu-ay' na 
 
 h-Eirinn, 
 heyrinn 
 
 Sleagh f hada Thighmora nan stuadh, 
 sle-a' ada hi' -mora nan stu-a' 
 
 A boillsgeadh a t-laimh noir dh-eirich. 
 a boylsga' at layv noyr yeyrich 
 
 A mhic Morbhein nan coiltean ciar, 
 a vie mor-veynn nan coylten ci-ar 
 
 * See a previouf note on the death-meteor. 
 
 blaze of light : 
 But a light* slow and faint is seen 
 
 Afar on Moilena, 
 
 With its red head half hid in the 
 darkness. 
 Cairber started opposite in arms, 
 
 The darkness of death on his cheek. 
 
 The tuneful sound of the harp ceased. 
 
 And the harsh sound of shields was 
 heard. 
 
 At a distance, on the breast of the 
 hill, 
 
 Dark-red OUa raised the song of 
 
 lamentation. 
 Oscar knew the sign of death : 
 
 He rose in haste, and seized his arms. 
 
 " Oscar," said red-haired Cairber, 
 
 " I see the spear of victorious Erin 
 in thy hand, 
 
 The long spear of Timora of waves, 
 Shining in thy hand, when thou arose. 
 Son of Morven of dusky woods. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 113 
 
 Sleagh dhuchais nan cead righ, 
 sle-a' ynchays nan ceyd ri' 
 
 Bas an strith do threin 'o shean ; 
 bas an stri' do hreyn o hen 
 
 Geil i, a mhic Oissian, gu'n spairn, — 
 geyl i a vie oyshen gun spayrn 
 
 Geil i do Chairber nan carabad." 
 geyl i do cayrber nan carabad 
 
 "An geil mi," fhreagair an treun, 
 an geyl mi regayr an treyu 
 
 " Sleagh ri Eirinn na'm beim cruaidb ; 
 sle-a' ri eyrinn nam beym cruy' 
 
 An t-shleagh a thug Cormac dhomh fein, 
 an tle-a' a hug cormac yov feyn 
 
 Noir sgap sin a naimhdean 'o thuath ? 
 noyr sgap sin a nayvden o hu-a' 
 
 Thainig mi gu talla na feile, 
 haynig mi gu talla na feylfe 
 
 Noir theich iad 'o Fhionn na'm buadh. 
 noyr heych i-ad o i-onn nam bu-a' 
 
 Dh-eirich solas an aghaidli na h-oige ; 
 yeyrich solas an ^y na hoyg-fe 
 
 Chuir e'm laimh sleagh Thighmora. 
 chuyr em layv sle-a' himora 
 
 Cha d'thug e i do lag fo dhoruin, — 
 cha d hug e i do lag fo yoruyn 
 
 Do dh-anam ni basd gu'n ghniomh. 
 do yanam ni basd gun yni-ov 
 
 Cha'n eagal dhombsa do gbruaim, 
 chan egal yov-se do yruym 
 
 Cha theine bais do shuil dhomh fein : 
 cha heynfe bays do huyl yov ffiyn 
 
 A Cairber cuir giorrag air traill, — 
 a chayrber cuyr giorag ayr trayl 
 
 Tha anam Oscar mar charraig." 
 ha anam oscayr mar charrayg 
 
 " Geil dhomsa an t-shleagh gu'n dail," 
 geyl yovsa an tle-a' gun dayl 
 
 Thuirt Cairber, is ardan ag eiridh, 
 huyrt cayrber is ard-an ag eyri' 
 
 " Bheil t-f hocail morchuiseach ard, 
 veyl tocayl morchuyshech ard 
 
 Chionn Fionn bhith air traigh na 
 chi-onn fi-onn vi' ayr tra-i na 
 
 h-Eirinn, 
 heyrinn 
 
 Fionnghal nan leadan liadh, 
 fi-onnyal nan ledan li-a' 
 
 chailltean ciara na Morbheann ? 
 o chaylten ci-ara na morvenn 
 
 It is the hereditary spear of the first 
 
 kings, 
 The death, in conflicts of heroes of old ; 
 
 Yield, son of Ossian, without a struggle, 
 
 Yield it to Cairber of the cars." 
 
 " Shall I yield," answered the hero, 
 
 " The spear of the kings of Erin of 
 
 hard strokes, — 
 The spear given by Cormac to myself, 
 
 When we scattered his foes from the 
 
 north ? 
 I came to the hospitable mansion, 
 
 When they fled before victorious 
 
 Fingal ; 
 Joy arose in the face of the youth : 
 
 He placed in my hand the spear of 
 Timora. 
 
 Nor did he give it to the feeble and 
 helpless. 
 
 Nor to the little soul who boasts with- 
 out deeds. 
 
 Thy frown is no terror to me. 
 
 Nor thine eye the fire of death. 
 
 Cairber, frighten thralls, — 
 
 The soul of Oscar is like a rock." 
 
 " Yield, on the instant, the spear," 
 
 Said Cairber, his rage arising. 
 
 " Are thy words so big and lofty, 
 
 Because Fingal is on the shore of 
 Erin, 
 
 Fingal of the grey locks. 
 
 From the dusky woods of Morven? 
 
114 
 
 THE POETKY 
 
 Bha chogadh riamh ri doine fann ; 
 va choga' ri-av ri doyn^ fann 
 
 Ach thigeadh e nail gu Cairber ! 
 ach hig-e' e nail gu cayrber 
 
 Mar f haileas a snamli an gleann, 
 mar ay-lis a snav an glenn 
 
 Na ceathach a leughadh a fasach, 
 na ce'-ach a le'-a' a fas-ach 
 
 Aomaidh e gu'n chliu o Atha." 
 aomay' e gun chli-u o a' -ha 
 
 " Na'm biodh a fear thog beum air 
 nam bi-o' a fer hog beym ayr 
 
 fann, 
 fann 
 
 A tarruin a loin air Cairber, 
 a tarruyn a loyn ayr cayrber 
 
 Bheiridh e Eirinn uaine nan gleann 
 vfeyrt' e eyrinn uynfe nan glenn 
 
 Air son sabhalath 'o laimh an righ. 
 ayr son savala' o layv an ri' 
 
 Na labhair ma Fhionn a Chairber, 
 na lavayr ma i-onn a cayrber 
 
 Tog do sgiath 's do chlaidheamh riumsa. 
 tog do sgi-a' s do cUayev ri-umaa 
 
 An spionnadh theagaibh gu'n coimeas 
 an Bpi-onn-a' hegayv gun coym-aa 
 
 sinne ; 
 
 samh 
 
 Ach tha righ na Morbheann cliutacb, — 
 ach ha ri' na mor-venn cli-u-tach 
 
 Ceannard flathail nan ard thriath." 
 cennard fla'-ayl nan ard ri-a' 
 
 Chunnaic an cairdean maraon, 
 chnnnio an cayrden maroan 
 
 Dubhradhag eiridhnan ghruaidhean, 
 dnvra' ag eyri' nan grnay'-en 
 
 Dh-aom iad an comhair a cheile. 
 yoam i-ad an covayr a cheylfe 
 
 An suilean laiste, an ceumaibh du- 
 an Buylen laystfe an ceym-ayv dn- 
 
 aichnidh. 
 ayoh-ni' 
 
 Leum-claidhean 'o mhile slios, 
 leym chlay'-en o vi-le slis 
 
 Chaisg 011a na fioa a fonn, — 
 chaysg olla na fis a fonn 
 
 OUa ruadh na'm brosnachadh dana ; 
 oUa rn-a nam bros-naoba' dana 
 
 Chrith anam Oscair le solas, 
 chri' anam osoayr le solas 
 
 He ever fought against the feeble ; 
 But let him come to meet Cairber ! 
 Like a shadow swimming in a glen. 
 
 Or like mist melting away in the 
 
 desert. 
 He will incline, without fame, from 
 
 Atha." 
 " If he who made war on the feeble 
 
 Were to draw his sword on Cairber, 
 
 He would give green Erin with its 
 
 glens, 
 To escape the hand of the king. 
 
 Speak not, Cairber, of Fingal ; 
 
 Kise thy shield and sword against me. 
 
 Our strength ma}"^, perhaps, be equal. 
 
 But the king of Morven is famed, 
 
 As head chief, among exalted heroes." 
 
 Their friends alike saw 
 
 Darkness growing on their cheeks. 
 
 They bent toward one another ; 
 
 Their eyes flashing, flieir steps 
 threatening : 
 
 Swords sprang from a thousand thighs. 
 Olla, the prophetic, ceased the song. 
 Bed Olla, of daring war-songs ; 
 The soul of Oscar swelled 
 
OP THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 115 
 
 Leis an t-sholas bu ghna do'n triath, 
 leys an tolas bu yna don tri-a' 
 
 Noir bhuail com-caismachd an righ. 
 noyr vnyl oorn-cays-mao an ri' 
 
 Mar thuinn a taomadh air traigh gu'n 
 mar huynn a ' taoma ayr tray' gun 
 
 fhuaim, 
 
 nym 
 
 Mu'n cluinnear gairich cuain fo ghaoidh, 
 mnn cluynner gayrioh cuyn fo yaoy 
 
 Thional mu Chairber a shluagh, 
 hi-o-nel mu cliayrber a h-lu-a' 
 
 Samhach dorcha, dur is baoth ; 
 savach dorcha dur is bao 
 
 A nigbean Thoscair, c'iume do dbeoir ? 
 a ni'en hosgayr chuymfe do ye-oyr 
 
 Cba do tbuit an triath nach faoin ; 
 cha do huyt an tri-a' nach faoyn 
 
 'S iomadh bas a dh-iadh mu'n tor, 
 si-oma' bas a yi-a' mun tor 
 
 Ma'n d'apm a fear corr air a tbaobh. 
 man daom a fer corr ayr a haov 
 
 Faic iad a tuite roimb 'n triath, 
 fayc i-ad a tuytfe loyy n tri-a' 
 
 Mar choille air sliabh san f hasaoh, 
 mar choylle ayr sli-av san asach 
 
 Noir thig taibhse nan sian na f heirg, 
 noyr hig tayvsfe nan si-an na eyr-ig 
 
 A chuir giorraig air cloinn na h-airidh, 
 a chuyr girrayg ayr cloynn na hayri' 
 
 A glachdadh baraibh nan crann, 
 a glac-a' barayv nan crann 
 
 'S ga'n sgaradh le neart gu lar. 
 sgan sgara le nert gu lar 
 
 Tbuit Morla 's Matbronan fo bhas, 
 huyt morla s ma'-ronan fo vas 
 
 Dh-aom Conachair gu lar na f buil, 
 yaom chonachayr gu lar na uyl 
 
 Theich Cairber 'o lain an t-shair, 
 heych cayrber o layn an tayr 
 
 Ga f halach fein san dubhrodh, 
 ga alach feyn san duvra' 
 
 Air culabh cloiche nan cruth crom. 
 ayr culav cloych nan cru' crom 
 
 'N sin thog e gu diamhair an t-shleagh, 
 'n sin hog e gu di-avayr an tle-a' 
 
 With joy, — the joy the hero used to 
 feel 
 
 When the boss of alarms was struck 
 by the king. 
 
 As waves pour noiselessly on the 
 shore, 
 
 Before is heard the roar of the sea 
 
 under the wind, 
 Gathered his people round Cairber, 
 
 Silent, dark, obstinate, wicked. 
 
 Daughter of Toscar, why that tear ? 
 
 The hero did not fall helplessly. 
 
 Many deaths encompassed the hill, 
 
 Before the surpassing man leaned on 
 
 his side. 
 Behold how they fall before the hero. 
 
 Like the forest of the wold, 
 
 When the spirit of the (embattled) 
 elements, 
 
 To frighten the children of the shiel- 
 ing, 
 Seizes on the lofty tops of the trees. 
 
 And dashes them violently to the 
 
 ground. 
 Morla and Mathronan fell dead ; 
 
 Conacher slowly bent down in his 
 
 blood, — 
 Cairber fled from the blade of the hero, 
 
 And hid himself in the shade, 
 
 Behind the stone of bending ghosts.* 
 
 There he lifted the spear in secret, 
 
 * The worshipping altar, or pillar of the Gothic clans, is always called the stone of bending ghost by 
 Ossian. This battle must therefore have been fought in the territoi-y of the southern or Gothic clans of 
 Ireland. 
 
116 
 
 THE POETKY 
 
 Is bhuail nimhael i 'n taobh Oscair. 
 is vuyl niv-el i'n taov oscayr 
 
 Thuit an gaisgeach air a glun, 
 huyt an gaysgach ayr a ylun 
 
 A sgiath fo uillin, a shleagh na laimh ; 
 a sgi-a fo uyllin a hle-a' na la-iv 
 
 Faic Cairber na shine 'san smuir, 
 fayc cayrber na hine san smuyr 
 
 Bar geur na cruaidh chaidh tre cheann, 
 bar geyr na crnay' chay tre chenn 
 
 Is sgoilt an ruadh-chiabh air a cbul. 
 is sgoylt an ru-a'-chi-av ayr a chul 
 
 Mar charraig a bristeadh bho shliabh 
 mar obarr-ayg a brista' to li-ay 
 
 crom, 
 crom 
 
 Thuit an sonn bu dorchadh gniomh. 
 huyt an sonn bu doroha' gni-av 
 
 Noir chrathas Eirinn uain i fein, 
 noyr chra'-as eyrinn uynfe i feyn 
 
 bheinn gu beinn 's o mhuir gu muir : 
 o veyn gu beyn 's o vuyr gu rauyr 
 
 Cha'n eirich Oscar donn a choidh ! 
 chan eyrich oscar donn a choy' 
 
 Tha e ag aoma ri taic a sgeithe, 
 ha e ag aoma ri tayc a sgey-'e 
 
 Is sleagh nan ceud bas na laimh. 
 is sle-a' nan ceyd bas na layv 
 
 Sheas Eirinn thall air an t-shliabh, 
 hes eyrinn hall ayr an tli-av 
 
 Le fuim mar mhonbhar nan sruth ; 
 le fuym mar vonvar nan sru' 
 
 Fhreager Lena nan cruth fo'n ceum. 
 reger lena nan cm' fon ceym 
 
 Chuala Fionnghal thall an toirm, 
 chu-ala fi-onnyal hall an toyrra 
 
 Ghlac e sleagh Shelma nam beum, 
 ylac e sle-a' helma nam beym 
 
 Sgaoil a cheum ri uchd an t-shleibh. 
 sgoyl a cheym ri uo an tleyv 
 
 Gu broin a taomadh o bheul : 
 gu broyn a to-ama' o veyl 
 
 " Cluinneam iargail is comhrag, 
 cluynnam i-argayl is- oov-rag 
 
 Tha Oscar na oanar sa bhlar ; 
 ha oscar na o-anar sa vlar 
 
 Gluaiseabh f hearaibh na Morbheann, 
 glu-aysev erayv na mor-venn 
 
 'S buailibh an comhnadh a lainn." 
 s buyliv an covna' a laynnfe 
 
 And struck it fiercely into the side of 
 
 Oscar. 
 The hero fell on his knee, 
 
 His shield under his elbow, his spear 
 
 in his hand. 
 Lo ! Cairber, stretched in the dust ; 
 
 The sharp point of the steel went 
 
 through his head, 
 And split the red locks behind. 
 
 Like a rock falling from the cliff, 
 
 Fell the hero of dark deeds, 
 
 When green Erin shakes herself, 
 
 From mountain to mountain and sea 
 to sea. 
 Brown-haired Oscar will never rise! 
 
 He is leaning down oh his shield, 
 
 With the spear of a hundred deaths 
 
 in his hand. 
 Erin stood aloof on the wold. 
 
 With a noise like the murmur of 
 
 streams ; 
 Lena. of ghosts answered to their steps. 
 
 Fingal heard the distant sounds ; 
 
 He seized the deadly spear of Selma. 
 
 He stretched his steps against the 
 
 breast of the wold, 
 The voice of sorrow bursting from 
 
 his mouth : / 
 
 " I hear the sound of conflict, — 
 
 Oscar is alone in battle : 
 
 Move, men of Morven, 
 
 And strike in aid of his sword." 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 117 
 
 Bu luadh mo cheum ris an raon, 
 bn lu-a' mo cheym ris an raon 
 
 Leum Fillan thair fraoch Moilena, 
 leym fillan hayr fraoch moylena 
 
 Na neart ghluis Fonnghal nach faoin : 
 na nert yluysh fionn-yal naoh faoyn 
 
 B-uamhain an dealradh bha 'g eiridh, 
 bu-avayn an delra' va geyri' 
 
 O'n sgeith air guaillin an laoich ; 
 on sgey' ayr gu-aylin an laoych 
 
 Chunnaic siol Eirinn fada thall, 
 chunnayc si-ol eyrinn fada hall 
 
 Dealradh mall 'o cheann na leirg, 
 delra' mall o chenn na Ifeyrig 
 
 Dh-aithmch iad nach d'eirich gann, 
 yaynioh i-ad naoh deyrlch gann 
 
 Eigh nan lann na-throm f heirg. 
 ri' nan lann na r5m eyr-ig 
 
 Bha'm bas ag iadbadh mall mu smu- 
 vam bas ag i-a-ya' mall mu smu- 
 
 aintibh. 
 ayn-tiv 
 
 Eainig sinne ; bbuail sin comhraig ; 
 raynig sinnfe vuyl sin cov-rayg 
 
 Chaisg triathaibh na h-Eirinn air cursa ; 
 chaysg tri-a'y-iv na heyrinn ayr cursa 
 
 Ach noir thainnig an rigb na neart, 
 ach noyr liayn-ig an ri' na ne-art 
 
 Chlisg an cridhe bu danaidh bbo ehruaidh. 
 chlisg an cri'-fe bu danay' vo chrn-ay 
 
 Theicb iad 'o chruachg,ibh Moilena, 
 heych i-ad o chru-ach-ayv moylena 
 
 Am bas a beumadh nan ruaig. 
 am baa a beym-a' nan m-ayg 
 
 Fhuair sinn Oscar air a sgeith, 
 hu-ayr sinn oscar ayr a sgey' 
 
 Fhiul ag iadbadh ma thaobh. 
 uyl ag i-a'-ha' ma haov 
 
 Trom iomaguin laidh air na treadha ; 
 trom i-oma'-guyn lay' ayr na tri-a-4 
 
 A tiondadh an cul'aobh fo dheoir. 
 a ti-onda' an cnlav fo yoyr 
 
 Bba'n righ a ceiltein a dheur fain, 
 van ri' a ceyltayn a yeyr feyn 
 
 Sa gbaoth 'o'n bhein na fhiasaig leidh. 
 sa yao' on veyn na i-as-ayg ley' 
 
 Dh-aom oscion an oig laoich 
 yaom os-ci-on an oyg laoych 
 
 Le guth broin 's le osnadh chianael. 
 le ga' broyn s le 03na' cbi-a-nel 
 
 Swift were my steps on the hill ; 
 
 Fillin cleared the heath of Moilena 
 
 in bounds. 
 In his strength advanced Fingal the 
 
 hero: 
 Dreadful was the glare emitted 
 
 From the shield aloft on his shoulder. 
 
 The race of Erin saw, at a distance, 
 
 The slow gleam at the bend of the 
 
 shore, 
 And knew that arose, not unequal, 
 
 The king of swords in his anger. 
 
 Their deaths were swimming calmly 
 in his thoughts. 
 
 We reached ; we struck in the conflict. 
 
 Erin stopped our course ; 
 
 But when the king came in his might. 
 
 Shrunk the heart most daring under 
 
 steel. 
 They fled from the heights of Moilena, 
 
 Death striking in their rear. 
 
 We found Oscar on his shield. 
 
 His blood flowing around him. 
 
 Heavy anxiety lay on the chiefs ; 
 
 They turned their backs in tears. 
 
 The king was concealing his own tears. 
 
 The mountain breeze in his white 
 
 beard. 
 He bent over the young hero 
 
 With a grieving voice and a pensive 
 
118 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 " 'N do thuit Oscar sar nan lann, 
 'n do hnyt oscar sar nan lann 
 
 A meadhain astair dhealraich fein ! 
 a me'-ayn as-tayr yelraych feyn 
 
 Tha cridhe na h-aoise fo spairn, 
 ha cti'-h na haoys fo spayrn 
 
 A faicain na'm buaidh nach d'thainig 
 a fayoin nam buy' naoh dayn-ig 
 
 do'n treun, — 
 do'n treyn 
 
 Na blair a thigheadh a nail, 
 
 na blayr a hig-a' a nail 
 
 'S a ghearradh gu gann o chliu. 
 sa yerra' gu gann o chliu 
 
 C'uin a dh-eires solas an Selma ? 
 cuyn a yeyres solas an selma 
 
 C'uin a ghluaises bron a Morbliein ? 
 cuyn a yluyses bron a morveynn 
 
 Mo chlann thuit 'o am gu am ; 
 mo chlann huyt o am ga am 
 
 Biodh Fionn an deireadh a sUiochd ! 
 bi-o' fii-onn an deyrfe' a hlic 
 
 Mo chliu siolaidh sios 'o luaidh, 
 mo chli-u si-olay' si-os o lu-ay' 
 
 Bidh m'aois fo thruaighe gu'n chairdean. 
 hi' maoys fo hru-ay' gun chayrden 
 
 Mar nial do cheo amthalla fein, 
 mar ni-al do che-o am halla feyn 
 
 Cha chluinn mi tuille ceum mic, 
 oha chluynn mi tuyllfe ceym mic 
 
 A tearnadh le morchuis 'o 'n bheinn, 
 a te-ar-na' le morchuys on veynn 
 
 Le chomhlaen nan airm fo smachd. 
 le covlen nan ayrm fo smac 
 
 Tuiteadh air deoir 'o ghaisgech Morbhein, 
 tuytfe ayrde-oyr o yaysgich morveyn 
 
 Cha 'n eirich Oscar og a choidh." 
 cha n eyrich oscar og a choy' 
 
 Thuit an deoir a righ nan lann, 
 huyt an de-oyr a ri' nan lann 
 
 Oir b' ionmhuinn le'n anamaibh an triath. 
 
 oyr bi-on-vuyn len anamayv an tri-a' 
 
 Noir ghluais e gu comhraig nan lann, 
 noyr ylu-ayah e gu covrayg nan lann 
 
 Cha bu dion do namhaid sgiath. 
 cha bu di-on do navayd sgi-a' 
 
 Measg solais thilleadh e le sith. 
 mesg sol-aysh hiU-e' e le si' 
 
 Cha bhith bron athair ma mhac, 
 cha vi' bron a'-ayr ma vac 
 
 " Has Oscar, the surpassing, fallen 
 
 In the midst of his own illustrious 
 
 course ! 
 The heart of the aged is distressed, 
 
 Seeing the victories that have not 
 come to the mighty, — 
 
 The battles that would have come. 
 
 But which are cut off short from his 
 
 fame. 
 When will joy rise in Selma ? 
 
 When will grief depart from Morven ? 
 
 My children fall from time to time ; 
 
 Fingal will be the last of his race ! 
 
 My fame is ebbing away from notice. 
 
 My age will be in sorrow, without 
 
 friends. 
 Like a cloud of mist in my own hall, 
 
 I shall no more hear the step of a son, 
 
 Returning in splendour from the hill, 
 
 With a band of armed warriors under 
 
 his command. 
 Let your tears fall, heroes of Morven, 
 
 Young Oscar will rise no more." 
 
 Their tears fell, king of swords. 
 
 For dear was the hero to their souls. 
 
 When, he went to the conflict of 
 
 swords, 
 The foe found no safety in his shield. 
 
 He returned amid rejoicings, with 
 
 peace. 
 No father lamented his son. 
 
OF THE HIQHLAND CLANS. 
 
 119 
 
 Thuit san ar an tlachd oige ; 
 huyt Ban ar an tlac oygh 
 
 Chaidh iadsan gu'n bhron fo'n fhail, 
 chay' i-ad-san gun vron fon ayl 
 
 '0 'n thill an og cheann fo bhuaidh. 
 on hill an og chenn fo vu-ay' 
 
 Bha Bran a donnalaich ri thaobh, 
 va bran a donnal-aych ri hoav 
 
 Luath gruamach 's an fhraoch fo bhron ; 
 la-a' gra-amach s an raoch fo vron 
 
 Is minic a ghluais iad maraon, 
 is minnic a ylays i-ad mar-oan 
 
 A sl^ealg nan ruadhaibh leis an laoch. 
 a helag nan ru-a'yv leys an loach 
 
 Noir chunnaic Oscar bron a chairdean, 
 noyr chnnnayc oscar bron a chayrden 
 
 Labhair e an spairn a chleibh : 
 lavayr e an epaym a chleyv 
 
 " Osnaich nan ard-thriadh fo aois, 
 osnaych nan ard-ri-a' fo aoys 
 
 Caoine nan con, is a fonn 
 caoyn^ nan con is a fonn 
 
 A bristeadh trom 'o bheul nam bard, 
 a brist-e' trom o veyl nam bard 
 
 Leagh iad manam le bron, — 
 leagh i-ad manam le bron 
 
 Manam nach do leagh riamh, 
 manam nach do le-a' ri-av 
 
 An comhstri nan sgiath 's nan lann. 
 an covstri nan sgi-a' s nan lann 
 
 Bha coltach ri cruaidh mo laine. 
 va coltach ri cm-ay' mo layne 
 
 Guilainibh mi gu'm chruaich, athreinibh ; 
 guylayn-iv mi gum chru-aych a hreyn-iv 
 
 Togaibh clach sa bheinn do'm chliu, 
 togayv clach sa veynn dom chli-u 
 
 Cuiribh cabar san uaigh learn fein, 
 cuyriv caber san u-ay' le-am feyn 
 
 'S lann thana na'm beum ri'm thaobh. 
 slann hana nam beym ri'm haov 
 
 Togaidh sruth am an cein an uir, 
 togay' sru' am an ceyn an uyr 
 
 Chi an sealgaer gu cul a chruaidh, 
 chi an sellager gu cul a chm-ay' 
 
 " So claidheamh Oscair, fo smuir, 
 so chlayev oscayr fo smuyr 
 
 Suidh mor na'm bliadhna chaidh uainn." 
 suy mor nam bli-a'-na chai' uynn 
 
 'N do thuit u mhic a thug dhomh cliu? 
 n do huyt u vie a hug yov cliu 
 
 Fallen in battle in the bloom of youth ; 
 
 They went unlamented under the 
 sward. 
 
 Since their young commander re- 
 turned with victory. 
 Bran was howling at his side, 
 
 Luath on the heath surly in his grief ; 
 
 For often did they follow alike. 
 
 To course the red-mantled race with 
 the hero. 
 
 When Oscar saw the sorrow of his 
 friends, 
 He spoke from his labouring bosom : 
 
 " The sigh of high and aged chiefs. 
 
 The weeping of the dogs, and the lay 
 
 Breaking spontaneously from the 
 
 mouths of the bards, 
 Have dissolved my soul in grief, — 
 
 My soul that never melted 
 
 In the conflict of shields and spears. 
 
 It was like the steel of my sword. 
 
 Carry me to my mountains, heroes ; 
 
 Kaise a stone to my fame, 
 
 Place the horn of a deer in my grave, 
 
 And the thin blade of deadly cuts by 
 
 my side. 
 The stream, in the course of ages, may 
 
 remove the soil, 
 The hunter will see the sword to its 
 
 back; 
 " It is the sword of Oscar in the dust, 
 
 A great worthy, of times long passed 
 away." 
 Has the son, who gave me fame, 
 fallen ? 
 
120 
 
 THE 
 
 Nach faic mi u Oscair a choidh ? 
 nach fayc mi u osoayr a choy' 
 
 Noir chluinneas triathain m'an cloinn, 
 noyr chlnynnes tri-a'-en man cloyn 
 
 Nach cluinn mise luaidh ort Oscair ? 
 nach cluynn mi-se In-ay' ort oscayr 
 
 Bidh coineach air do cUachaibh liadh ; 
 bi' coynech ayr do chlach-ayv li-a' 
 
 'S gaoth a measg mo chiabh fo bhron ; 
 s ga'o a mesg mo chi-av fo ' vron 
 
 Cuirer cath gu'n us' air sliabh ; 
 cuyrer ca' gun us ayr sli-av 
 
 'S cha lean u eillid chiar nan torr. 
 s cha' len u eyllid chi-ar nan torr 
 
 Noir thilleas na gaisgich o'n stri, 
 noyr hillas na gayspch on stri 
 
 'G innsidh sgeul ma thir nan gall, 
 ginnsi' Bgeyl ma hir nan gall 
 
 Chunnachas, their iad, uaigh aig sruth ; 
 chunnao-as hfeyr i-ad u-ay' ayg sru' 
 
 A thaom a nuas bho thaobh nan cam, 
 a haom a nu-as vo baov nan cam 
 
 Comhnuidh gu'n leus do thriath, 
 cov-nuy' gun leys do ri-a' 
 
 A thuit le Oscair nan carabad. 
 a huyt le oscayr nan carabad 
 
 Theagamh gu'n cluinneam a ghuth, 
 heg-av gun clnynnem a yu' 
 
 'S gu'n eirich solas air dubhar mo 
 s gun eyr-ich solas ayr dnvar mo 
 
 chleibh. 
 chleyv 
 
 Chaidheadh mid an biche fo bhron, 
 chay'e' mid an oyche fo vron 
 
 'S cha'n eireadh le solas a ghrian, 
 s ohan cyra' le solas a yri-an 
 
 Sheasadh na triatha mar scorra, 
 hesa' na triay mar scorra 
 
 Air Moilena nan torr fo mhuig. 
 ayr moylena nan torr fo viiyg 
 
 Gu'n f harraid, gu'n luaidh air comhrag. 
 gun arrayd gun lu-ay' ayr covrayg 
 
 Sgaoil an righ gu caoin am bron, 
 sgoyl an ri' gu coyn am bron 
 
 'S thog e le treoir a ghuth ; 
 s hog e le tre-oyr a yn' 
 
 Mhosgail na treuna na choir, 
 vosgel na treyna na choyr 
 
 Mar gu'm b-ann a uamhainn bruadair. 
 mar gum bann a u-a-vaynn bru-a-dayr 
 
 POETEY 
 
 Shall I never see thee, Oscar ? 
 
 When chiefs hear of their sons. 
 
 Shall I not hear mention of thee ? 
 
 Moss will cover thy grey stones, 
 
 The wind be amid my locks in sorrow; 
 
 The battle shall be foughtwithoutthee, 
 
 And thou shalt not pursue the deer on 
 
 the hill. 
 When the warriors return from battle, 
 
 Telhng tales of the land of strangers ; 
 
 We have seen, they will say, a grave 
 
 at a stream 
 That poured down from the cliffs : 
 
 It is the torchless dwelling of a chief 
 Who fell by Oscar of cars. 
 Perhaps I may hear the voice, , 
 
 And that light will rise on the dark- 
 ness of my bosom. 
 
 The night would have been passed 
 in sorrow. 
 Nor would the sun have risen in joy ; 
 
 The chiefs would have stood like 
 
 cliffs 
 On Moilena of dusky woods, 
 
 Unasking for, unmindful of war. 
 
 The king mildly banished our grief, 
 
 And raised his voice with firmness : 
 
 The heroes started and drew near, 
 
 As from a horrid dream. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 121 
 
 Cia fada thuiteas na deoir, 
 cia fada huytea na d-oyr 
 
 Balbh, bronach, air Moilena ? 
 balv bron-ach ayr moylena 
 
 Cha till dhuin na trenna ni's mo, 
 cha till ynyn na treyna nis-mo 
 
 Neart Oscair a choidh cha'n eirich. 
 nert oscayr a . ehoy' chan eyr-ioh 
 
 Tnitidh gaisgich nan laithibh fein, 
 tuyti' gaysbgicli nan la'-iv %n 
 
 'S cha'n fhaicer sa bheinn an trial. 
 B chan aycer sa veynn an tri-al 
 
 Cait a bheil air *n athraichean treuna, 
 cayt a veyl ayr na'-rayeh-en treyna 
 
 Siol na'm beum o'n am a dh-iadh ? 
 Bi-ol nam beym on am a yi-a' 
 
 Thuit iad mar reultan air cul thorr, 
 huyt i-ad mar reyltau ayr cul horr 
 
 A bha nan soluis mhor da'n tir fo mbuig. 
 a va nan soluys vor dan tir fo vuyg 
 
 Cha chluinn sinn ach fuaim an cliu, 
 cha chlnynn sinn ach fnym an cli-n 
 
 'S bu chliuteach iad nan am fein, 
 8 bu chli-n-tech i-ad nan am feyn 
 
 Am blianaibh nan gniomh an cein. 
 am bli-an-ayv nan gni-ov an ceyn 
 
 'S uabhasach is baoth na dh-f halbh ; 
 s u-a-vasach is bao' na yal7 
 
 Theid sinne mar iadsan o'n raon, 
 heyd sinne mar i-adsan on raon 
 
 Do leabanan caola na'm marbh. 
 do leb-anan caola nam marv 
 
 Bith mid na'r latha fo chliu, 
 bi' mid nar la'-d fo uhli-u 
 
 'S fagadh mid air 'n ainm na'r deigh ; 
 8 faga mid ayr nayn-im nar dey' 
 
 Mar dhealradh grein an speur gu'n smuir, 
 mar yel-ra' greyn an speyr gun smuyr 
 
 Noir cheiller fo dhubhradh i fein, 
 noyr cheyller fo yuv-ra' i feyn 
 
 Fear astair fo bhron a trial, 
 fer astayr fo vron a tri-al 
 
 Cuinichidh an gniamhadh dealrach. 
 cuynichi' an gni-ava' del-raoh 
 
 Ullin, ma bhard fein fo aois, 
 uU-ayn ma vard feyn fo oysh 
 
 Gabh long is thoir dhachaidh an righ ; 
 ga long is hoyr yaoh-ay' an ri' 
 
 Thoir Oscar gu Selma nan raon. 
 hoyr OBC-ar gu selma nan raon 
 
 How long will ye shed tears, 
 
 Dumb, sad, on Moilena ? 
 
 The heroes will return to us no more, 
 
 The strength of Oscar no more arise. 
 
 Warriors will fall in their own day, 
 
 And will no more be seen on our 
 
 mountains. 
 Where are our mighty fathers, 
 
 The sons of deadly sword-cuts in bye- 
 gone times ? 
 
 They fell like stars behind wooded 
 heights. 
 
 Who were great lights to their coun- 
 try when in gloom (adversity.) 
 
 We hear but the sound of their fame, ■ 
 
 Though BO renowned in their own 
 time, 
 
 In the years of great deeds (now) re- 
 mote. 
 
 Dreadful and evil were the times that 
 are gone ; 
 
 We, like them, shall pass away from 
 the heath. 
 
 To the narrow beds of the dead. 
 
 Let us be renowned in our day. 
 
 And leave our names after us. 
 
 Like the reflected rays of the sun in 
 
 the sky. 
 When she is herself hid in darkness. 
 
 The stranger, travelling in grief, 
 
 Will remember our bright achieve- 
 ments. 
 UUain, my own aged bard. 
 
 Take one of the king's ships, 
 
 And carry Oscar to heathy Selma. 
 
122 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 Sileadh deoir 'o oighean na frith, — 
 sile' de-oyr o oy'-en na fri' 
 
 oigheanan aillidh na Morbheann. 
 oynnen aylli' na mor-venn 
 
 Buaille sinne a*ii comhraig na h-Eirinn, 
 buylli sinne an cov-rayg na hey-rinn 
 
 Mu shiol nan treun a thuit le Oairber. 
 mu hi-ol nan treyn a hnyt le cayrber 
 
 Tha laithean mo bhlianaibh fo nial ; 
 ha lay'-en mo vli-an-ayv fo ni-al 
 
 Tha mo ruigh aosda fas fann, 
 ha mo ruy' a-oa-da fas fann 
 
 'S m athrichean a sealtain 'o nial, 
 s ma'-rioh-en a se-altayn o ni-al 
 
 Air faoin astar an liadh-mhic ; 
 ayr faoyn astar an li-a'-vio 
 
 Ach cha treig e'n arach gu'n bhuaidh, 
 ach cha treyg en arach gun vuy' 
 
 Gu'n dealradh f hagail ma chliu, — 
 gun delra' agayl ma chli-u 
 
 Gu'n ainm f hagail mar sholus nan speur, 
 gun ayn-em agayl mar holus nan speyr 
 
 Do bhardaibh nan tend cuin." 
 do vard-ayv nan teyd ci-nyn 
 
 Let tears fall from the maidens of 
 
 the forest, 
 The beautiful maidens of Morven. 
 
 We must strike in the battles of Erin, 
 
 For the race of the mighty who fell 
 
 by Cairber. 
 The days of my years are under a 
 
 cloud ; 
 My aged arm is becoming weak, — 
 
 My fathers are looking from their 
 clouds 
 
 On the feeble course of their grey- 
 haired son ; 
 
 But I will not resign without victory, 
 
 Without leaving a blaze of fame, — 
 
 Without leaving my name like the 
 
 light of heaven. 
 To the bards of tuneful strings." 
 
 Down to the period at which the whole " pomp and circumstance" of 
 warfare was changed by the discovery and universal use of gunpowder, the 
 chief bard acted as aid-de-camp of the ceann-cath, and the clan bard as the 
 adjutant of the chief. The former was often dispatched to an overmatched or 
 receding division, for the purpose of rekindling their fire and energy with his 
 war-song or prosnachadh, as reinforcements are now sent. We have an instance 
 of this in the poem of Fingal, where the bard is sent to encourage the over- 
 matched division of Gual. This prosnachadh or war-song has been carried 
 down by oral recitation more fully than in the version of it found in Mr Mac- 
 pherson's repositories, and is now submitted to the reader. 
 
 A shiol mharcaichean nan steud Descendant of the riders of steeds 
 
 a hi-ol varcaych-an nan steyd 
 
 Is airde leum 'sas fiate srann, 
 is ayr-d^ leym saa fi-a-te srann 
 
 Arigh nan claidheamh geur'snan sleagh; 
 a ri' nau clay'v geyr 's nan sle-a' 
 
 A lamh threun an cruaidh-chas, 
 a lav hreyn an cru-ay'-chas 
 
 A chridhe aird nach eur bas, 
 a chri'-^ ayrd nach eyr bas 
 
 A cheannaird shonn is euchdar toirt ; 
 a ohenn-ayrd hOnn is eyc-ar toyrt 
 
 Cuir sgrios air marachean nan stuadh, 
 cuyr sgris ayr mara-chen nan stu-a' 
 
 Of highest bounds and wildest snorts, 
 King of sharp swords and spears ; 
 Strong arm in extremity, 
 High heart that fears not death, 
 Chief of heroes of deeds illustrious ; 
 Destroy the mariners of the waves, 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 123 
 
 Air naimhdean fuileach o'n tir thuadh, The bloody foe from the north, 
 ayr nayv-den fnyl-eoh on tir hu-a' 
 
 Air cabblach is sluagh Innistor. The navy and the people of Innistore. 
 
 ayr cav-lach ia slu-a' innistor 
 
 Biodh do shuil mar choar a'd' cheann, Be thine eye fire in thy head, 
 bi-o' do hnyl mar choar a'd ohenn 
 
 Mar chith 'o'n dealan do lann, Thy sword the lightning's flash, 
 
 mar chi' o'n del-an do lann 
 
 'S mar bheithir', ro' tharn, gu lot. And the bolt, before the thunder, to 
 
 's mar vey'-ir ro harn gu lot wound. 
 
 Ardaich gu buaidh do sgiath. Exalt thy victorious shield, 
 
 ard-aych gu buy' do sgi-a' 
 
 Is fuileach tuar 's as crobhui'^ neul, Blood-edged crou«*-coloured, 
 
 is fhyl-eoh tu-ar s^ croTuy neyl 
 
 Mar real a bhais do naimh fo sprochd. Like the star of death, to doubting 
 mar re-al a vays do nayv fo sproo foemen. 
 
 A shiol mharcaichean nan steud, Kace of the riders of steeds 
 
 a hi-ol varcaychen nan steyd 
 
 Is 9,irde leum 's as fiate srann. Of the highest bounds and wildest 
 
 is ayrde leym sas fi-a-t^ erann snortS, 
 
 Sgrios naimhdean sios gu has. Cut down the foe to death, 
 
 sgris na-iv-den si-os gu bas 
 
 Macmhuirech's prosnacha at the battle of Harlaw, is the most remarkable 
 now extant. It is accessible to the reader, — a considerable part of it having 
 been published by the Hills, the Stewarts, and others. It consisted of a verse 
 of eight lines for every letter of the Gaelic alphabet, the initial letter of the 
 first and of every other word in every line of each verse, having the same 
 initial letter. This seems to have been the last prosnacha actually repeated in 
 battle ; the introduction of powder having caused the substitution of the 
 jndb-reac for the vocal war-song. The pioh-reac, (peeb-rec) a name compounded 
 from pioh, pipe, and reac, law, — that is, the war-pipe law, — seems to have been 
 introduced immediately after the battle of Harlaw, in Macmhuirech's own day, 
 and apparently to the infinite disgust of the bard, whose verses descriptive of 
 the bagpipe and its lineage are more graphic and humourous than gentlemanly 
 and elegant. Indeed, generally speaking, the Gaelic bards, like their contem- 
 poraries of the Lowlands and of England, though very happy in their broadly 
 humourous pieces, were wretched satirists. Domhnul Mac-raonuil, Eob Donn, 
 and Aillean Dall, almost comprise the sum total of elegant and gentlemanly 
 Gaelic satirists : these were true satirists, keen and cutting, but as clear, and 
 polished, and sharp as steel blades. With these exceptions, I scarcely can at 
 this moment remember a Gaelic satire that does not degenerate more or less 
 into scurrility. Even Iain Lom and Donnachadh Ban were scurrilous in their 
 satires. Indeed, scurrility seems to have been the hangman's whip of the 
 bards, as " the fear o' hell" was that of the clergy of the dark ages ; and the 
 forms fox banning the excommunicated used by the priest, seems really to have 
 furnished the model for the execrable compositions meant for satires by the bards. 
 
 * This ■word seems to be obsolete. 
 
124 THE POETRY 
 
 Although the war-pipe was apparently detested by the older bards, whose 
 prosnachadh it superseded in battle, no other instrument can actually speak so 
 thoroughly understood and felt a language to the hearts of those who have a 
 key to its articulations. Those who have not, may flatter themselves that 
 superior refinement and civilization satisfactorily account for the distaste with 
 which they turn away from the war-pipe music, with something like disgust, 
 struggling to find the means of expressing itself on their inane plebeian faces; 
 but I have never yet seen a gentleman of sensibility and intelligence, however 
 much a stranger to such music, who did not regard it as both eloquent and 
 picturesque, and strikingly accordant with the warlike character of the people 
 of Scotland. I have in one of my papers in the West of Scotland Magazine, 
 described an instance of exalted devotion on the part of the piper of CoUa-ciotach, 
 or left-handed Coll, father of the heroic Sir Alexaader Macdonald, the lieutenant 
 of Montrose. The piper landed with a party oii Islay in advance of the ex- 
 pedition from Ireland, with instructions to take the castle of Dun-a-verty by 
 surprise, should he find the Campbells off their guard, and that this might be 
 attempted with the prospect of success. The Campbells, however, were 
 apprised of the expedition, and on the alert, and drew the unfortunate piper 
 and his party into an ambush, and made them prisoners. Here the inhuman 
 character of the war began, the whole party, excepting the piper, being hung 
 up off hand. The piper asked leave to play a lament over the fate of his 
 companions, and the chieftain who commanded the Campbells being himself 
 enthusiastically fond of pipe music, and anxious to hear so celebrated a musician, 
 granted the boon ; but, in the meantime, he caused some cattle to be put in 
 the way of the approaching Birlins, while he posted a strong party in ambush 
 to fall upon them should they land another party to take the castle, as the 
 piob-reac instructs. The piper, watchfiil of these movements, adapted his 
 piob-reac to the situation with the most consummate art. The warning notes 
 are poured forth in separate strains, having all the appearance of unmeaning, 
 unconnected vagaries ; but they breathe a melancholy spirit, and the warning 
 and lamenting notes could not fail to be understood by those who knew the 
 style of the musician so intimately. The bards have put all these piob-reacs 
 into imitative syllables and words for illustration, and I submit those assigned 
 to this celebrated warning, as I am anything but pleased with the version I have 
 got of the piob-reac itself The chieftain understood the meaning of the 
 sixth verse or part of the piob-reac, and, on finding himself overreached by 
 the piper, he plunged his dirk into him ; and tradition states that the devoted 
 minstrel smiled proudly in death, on seeing, by the deviating course of the 
 Birlins, that his warnmg was understood, and saved his friends. The warning 
 notes, seachain an dun, avoid the castle ; and the lamenting notes, iha sinne an 
 laimh, we are prisoners, are exceedingly touching ; but, indeed, when properly 
 played, this noble piece of music is literally an epic in epitome, and perfectly 
 unique as a piob-reac. I grieve exceedingly at being obliged to publish so 
 contemptible a version of it. Pipe music is known to have been heard at the 
 distance of six, and under favourable circumstances, ten miles. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 125 
 
 A CHOLLA MA EUIN, SEACHAIN AN DUN. 
 
 A ChoUa, cuir umad; bi uUamh, bi falbh ; Coll, array ; be ready, depart ; 
 Bi ullamh, bi falbb ; bi uUamh, bi falbh ; 
 A ChoUa, cuir umad; bi ullamh, bi falbh; 
 Tha sinne an laimh, tha sinne an laimh. 
 
 Be ready, depart ; be ready, depart ; 
 Coll, array ; be ready, depart ; 
 We are in their hands, we are in their 
 hands. 
 
 Leave the cattle, leave the cattle, 
 
 leave the cattle, 
 Leave the cattle, leave the cattle, 
 
 leave the cattle. 
 Leave the cattle, leave the cattle, 
 
 leave the cattle ; 
 Tha sinne'an laimh, tha sinne^n laimh. We are in their hands, we are in their 
 
 hands. 
 
 Fag an ni, fag an ni, fag an ni, 
 Fag an ni, fag an ni, fag an ni. 
 Fag an ni, fag an ni, fag an ni ; 
 
 >v> 
 
 Eamh is taoman, ramh is taoman, 
 
 Bamh is taoman, ramh is taoman, 
 Eamh is taoman, ramh is taoman ; 
 Tha sinne an laimh, tha sinne an laimh. 
 
 (Words symbolical of embarldiig quickly.) 
 
 lamh ^ dhearg, lamh 
 lamh dhearg, lamh 
 
 Lamh dhearg, 
 
 dhearg, 
 Lamh dhearg, 
 
 dhearg, 
 Lamh dhearg, lamh dhearg, lamh 
 
 dhearg ; 
 Tha sinne an laimh, tha sinne an laimh. 
 
 (Warning to call the Macdonalds to his standard 
 before attacking the castle.) 
 
 Cholla, mo ghaoil, seachain an caol, 
 Seachain an caol, seachain an caol ; 
 Cholla, mo ghaoil, thoir ort a Mhaol, — 
 Buidhinn an ath, buidhinn an ath. 
 
 (Warning to keep aloof from the strait, and 
 hasten to secure a landing on Mull.) 
 
 Cholla, mo ruin, seachain an dun, 
 Seachain an dun, seachain an dun, 
 Cholla, mo ruin, seachain an dun ; 
 Tha sinne an laimh, tha sinne an laimh. 
 
 (Warning not to attempt to save the prisoners 
 in the castle.) 
 
 An oar, a baler, (baling dish) an oar, 
 
 a baler. 
 An oar, a baler, an oar, a baler. 
 An oar, a baler, an oar, a baler ; 
 We are in their hands, we are in their 
 
 hands. 
 
 The, red hand, the red hand, the red 
 
 hand, 
 The red hand, the red hand, the red 
 
 hand, 
 The red hand, the red hand, the red 
 
 hand ; 
 We are in their hands, we are in their 
 
 hands. 
 
 Coll of my love, avoid the strait, 
 Avoid the strait, avoid the strait ; 
 Coll of my love, go to Mull, — 
 Gain the landing-place, gain the 
 landing-place. 
 
 Coll of my love, avoid the castle. 
 Avoid the castle, avoid the castle. 
 Coll of my love, avoid the castle ; 
 We are in their hands, we are in their 
 hands. 
 
 The Highlander who understands pipe-music will find in the piob-reac of 
 Daorach Kobbi the most keen and cutting satire ever levelled at the low vice of 
 drunkenness. The ludicrous imitation of the coarse and clumsy movements, 
 the maudlin and staring pauses, the helpless imbecility of the drunkard, as he is 
 
126 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 pilloried in the satire, with the ever-recurring, sneering notes, seal a nia air, 
 (" look at him now !") are enough to annihilate any person possessing the least 
 sensibility, who, while hearing them, is conscious of having been in so degrading 
 a condition even for once in his life. Gillie-Callum, the composition of which 
 is by some witty bard ascribed to Noah, who first danced the hilarious dance 
 himself over two cross vines while " glorious," on discovering the virtue of their 
 fruit, presents a striking contrast to Daorach Eobbi. The total abstainer could 
 hardly find a better text for his lecture than Daorach Eobbi ; while the temper- 
 ance lecturer would not be far wrong in adopting Gillie-Callum. Both tunes 
 strikingly illustrate the descriptive character of the music of the Gael He 
 who, when in his cups, staggers, stops, stares at vacancy, and sprawls in the 
 mud, like Eobbi, is worse than a fool, unless he totally abstain ; while he whose 
 worst exhibition when in his cups is to dance Gillie-Callum, like father Noah, 
 would not be wise were he to totally abstain. At least, so thought the bard, 
 William Eoss, who wrote the following verses, which I submit as a fair average 
 specimen of the legion of Highland drinking carols. Whisky is personified in 
 Gaelic poetry under the name of 
 
 MAC-AN-TOSAICH,- 
 
 Co a shamhladh fear do bheusan, 
 CO a havla' fer do veysan 
 
 Ei fion, tanadh, geur na Fraing? 
 ri fi-on tana' geyr na frayng 
 
 Na dhi-moladh Mac-an-Toisaich, 
 na yi-mola' mao-an-toysayoh 
 
 Ach leibid nach oladh dram ? 
 ach lebid nach ola' dram 
 
 Fonn : — 
 
 Glac an t-shearrag, lion a ghloinne, 
 glao an terag li-ori a yloynfe 
 
 Bh-uain am balach, gruamach, gann ; 
 vii-ayn am balach gru-am-ach gann 
 
 Gille gasda, mac-na-bracha, 
 gilli gasda mac-na-bra-cha 
 
 'S ioma gaisgeach ort an geal. 
 's i-oma gaysg-eoh ort an gell 
 
 logain crabhaidh bidh dhat dhiteadh, 
 i-og-ayn cravay' bi' 'yat yite' 
 
 Le cul-chaint \h.& daicheal feall ; 
 le cul-chaynt ha day-chel fell 
 
 Ged a chaineas iad le'm beoil u, 
 ged a chaynes i-ad lem be-oyl u 
 
 Olaidh iad u mar an t-alt. — Glac, &c. 
 clay' i-ad u mar an talt 
 
 A chleir fein ge seunt' an cota, 
 a chleyr feyn ge seynt an oota 
 
 Tba na's leoir dhiu ort an geall, 
 ha nas le-oyr yi-u ort an gell 
 
 -THE SON OF THE VAN. 
 
 Who would compare a man of thy 
 
 smeddum (spirit) 
 To wines thin and sharp of France? 
 
 Or dispraise Macintosh, 
 
 Save a sneak that will not take a 
 dram? 
 
 Chorus : — 
 
 Seize the bottle, fill the glass, 
 
 Hence, the boor churlish and scant; 
 
 Noble youth, son of malt, 
 
 Many warriors pay court to thee. 
 
 Lecturing hypocrites may abuse thee 
 
 Behind thy back, in plausibly deceit- 
 ful words ; 
 But although they slander. 
 
 They drink thee like brook water. — 
 Seize, &c. 
 
 The clergy themselves, although their 
 
 garb is saintly. 
 Are, many of them, among thy 
 
 devotees, 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 127 
 
 'S tha cuid ac' a ghabhas froileadh And some of them enjoy a house 
 
 s ha ouyd aca yavaa froylfe 
 
 Chomathrisaighdearsachamb.-Glac,&c. As well as any soldier in the camp.— 
 cho ma' ri say'-der sa oham Seize &C. 
 
 C'oim mar a nitear dhuin banais, How could we wake a wedding, 
 
 c'oym mar a nitear yuyn ban-ays 
 
 Cumhnanta na ceangal teann ? Or a binding contract ? 
 
 cnvnauta na oengal tenn 
 
 Mar bi dram againn do'n chleireach, Unless we have a dram for the clerk, 
 mar bi dram agayn don ohley-reoh 
 
 Chabhimoranspreignapheann.-Glac,&c. There will be little vigour in his 
 cha vi moran spreyg na fenn pen.— Seize, &C. 
 
 Bu mhian learn fein, fhir mo chridhe, It is my own desire, son of my heart, 
 bu Yi-an le-am feyn ir mo chri'-& 
 
 A bhi na d' chomunn nach gann ; To be in thy generous company ; 
 
 a vi na d' cbomann nach gann 
 
 'S trie a bha sinne nar dithis, Often have we two been together, 
 
 'strio a va sinne nar di'-is 
 
 Gunphiobgunfhideil,adanns.-Gr]ac,&c. Without a pipe or fiddle, dancing. — 
 gnn fi-ob gun i'-eyl a danns Seize, &C. 
 
 The next specimen of the piob-reac which would have been submitted, 
 had I been able to get a proper version of it, is that mentioned in the foot-note, 
 Cill-a-Ghriosd, (the Cell of Christ,) which originated thus : — The Mackenzies 
 having adopted feudalism, adopted, of course, along with it the vital principle 
 of the system, namely, that " might is right." Their chief, accordingly, 
 determined to extend his possessions at the expense of his neighbpurs, the 
 Macdonells of Glengarry. Having obtained a charter from the crown, which 
 was ever ready to substitute feudal for patriarchal clans, he assembled his clan 
 and feudal allies at different remote points, where they were concealed during 
 the day, with the view of advancing under the cloud of the following night, 
 for concentration on the borders of the doomed clan, who were to be taken by 
 surprise. One of these parties was concealed in a church near Beauly. The 
 illustrious loyalist, Allastair Dubh (duv) of Glengarry, being apprised of these 
 secret movements, quietly collected his clan and friends, and determined to 
 anticipate the enemy. He dispatched the celebrated Allien Mac Eaoil (ayllen 
 mac raoyl) against the party hiding in Cill-a-Chriosd, (kill-a-chri-osd) while he 
 himself, with his no less celebrated friend. Allien Dubh na Fiadh, (ayllen duv na 
 fi-a') preceded against the castle, where Mackenzie, in the blind confidence of 
 security, had assembled, and was feasting, his chieftains, preparatory to a deadly 
 attack on, as he supposed, his unprepared neighbours. Glengarry and his 
 friends, when the feasting and mirth were at the highest, contrived to possess 
 themselves of the stairs and all the passages to and from the hall, which was 
 filled with hilarious bands of the clan Mackenzie, totally unconscious of their 
 position. The late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder tells the result in an admirable 
 paper in Tait's Magazine ; but he does not seem to have obtained a proper 
 
128 THE POETEY 
 
 version of the tradition. Indeed, the writer of Highland tradition cannot be 
 too cautious or particular in his inquiries, before committing himself to a 
 tradition, for there are frequently different versions of the same ; and although 
 every one of them substantially agree, yet they may, and often do, differ in 
 details creditable or discreditable to individuals. For instance, there was 
 nothing more natural than that the indignant foes of Aillean Mac Raoil, as well 
 as the religious fanatic, horrified at the destruction of Cill-a-Chriosd, should so 
 tell the story as to lead to the belief that the church was burnt, in revenge, over 
 the heads of a worshipping congregation, instead of over those of enemies, 
 lurking there for the pui-pose of stealing more securely, and with more deadly 
 success, on an unsuspecting clan. I had myself been misled by this version of 
 the tradition ; but with this explanation, the versions of the ti'adition published 
 in the New Monthly and in Tait's Magazines are unexceptionable. Indeed, 
 judging from tradition, there never were a people who, with all their injuries 
 under the feudal usurpation, were less given to revenge than the old Highland 
 clans. Two or three constitute all the instances recorded by tradition c£ 
 Highland revenge, — the testimony of Sir Walter Scott and other feudalists 
 notwithstanding. 
 
 The piob-reac commemorative of any striking event, was descriptive. 
 Hence this tune contradicts the version of the tradition which makes Aillean 
 Mac Raoil set fire to the church over the heads of a worshipping congregation ; 
 for although we cannot help fancying, when the tune is properly played, that 
 we hear the flames rustling and bellowing through the blazing timbers of the 
 resounding church, mingled with the angry remonstrances and half-smothered 
 shouts of the warriors, while the wail of the sympathizing and generous 
 minstrel himself permiates and inspires the whole piece, we do not find in it 
 any representation of the more feeble plaints and moans of women. The 
 absence of these, which, in all probability-, would have formed the burden of 
 the tune, had there been women among the victims, confirms the version of the 
 tradition which states that there were none present excepting warriors who had 
 been placed in ambush there. 
 
 I have been able to procure something resembling " A ChoUa ma ruin" 
 from a Highland friend, which I have submitted to the reader for want of a better. 
 Perhaps it will enable him to conceive (with the aid of the illustrative words) 
 what this piob-reac was when properly played. The above description of 
 CiU-a-Chriosd has been written from my recollection of my father's description 
 of it to an English gentleman, who had strong prejudices against bagpipe music ; 
 but who, on getting a key to its descriptive character, and hearing this noble 
 tune played by John Macdonell, Glengarry's piper, became a perfect enthusiast 
 for the music. I have not had an opportunity for some years of hearing the 
 music of the war-pipe under circumstances which entitle me to speak with 
 confidence on this subject, as the meetings of Highlanders are now held under 
 patronage, and I cannot be a party to such repudiation of the feelings which 
 characterized our ancestors as that implies. They clung endearingly and 
 tenaciously to the patriarchal chleachda, which fostered and secured the manly 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 129 
 
 independence of spirit that could recognise no superiors excepting in the officials 
 elected by themselves. But I greatly suspect, since the piper has become a 
 domestic musician, that he finds it his interest to cultivate the tastes of strangers ; 
 and hence that this warlike music has been so toned down as to be a totally 
 different thing from what it has been. Amazing loudness, which alone could 
 enable it to give reachd or law to the movements of conflicting armies in the 
 field of battle, was its peculiar characteristic ; but the wondeiful thing was, the 
 scientific knowledge of sound, by which these noble musicians so regulated the 
 accompanying modulations of the three drones, as to render the piercing sound 
 of the chanter, in a properly tuned pipe, under the fingers of a " Padruig," as 
 sweet as that sweetest and best of all musical instruments — the violin. I have 
 said that I may possibly be mistaken as to the total degeneracy of bagpipe 
 music ; but be that as it may, I went to a gentleman's piper recently, to get the 
 piob-reachd of Cill-a-Chriosd for this work, and received a specimen, which is 
 a much better imitation of the inexpressive notes, eternally repeated, that would 
 be made by three unfortunate bumbees or blue-bottles imprisoned in a tin snuff- 
 box, and struggling to get out by too narrow a slit in its cover, than a torrent 
 of flame rushing and bellowing through the crashing timbers of resounding 
 aisles, mingled with the angry remonstrances and maddened war-cries of 
 burning and smothering warriors, strong and unyielding even in that extremity. 
 I cannot caricature the warlike music of my country by publishing this 
 specimen. If bagpipe music is reduced to this, let it die, and leave us to cherish 
 its memory as an unmatched warlike national music. 
 
 Although the illustration of the variety and beauty of the numerous styles 
 and measures of Gaelic poetry was not embraced by the plan of this treatise, 
 I wrote some twelve pages between quotations and remarks on this very curious 
 and interesting subject, which I find myself compelled to omit, owing to the 
 limits originally assigned to the work. I regret this less, as I think that the 
 songs to be submitted along with the melodies, will enable the English reader 
 to form a pretty fair idea of tbe diversity of measures and styles cultivated by 
 the bards. They did not cultivate metre, or hues ending in corresponding 
 syllables ; but they have much poetry which has such terminations, more, 
 however, from accident than design. The art, apparently artless, with which 
 they interspersed words of corresponding yet varied vowel and liquid sounds 
 through their verses, is truly wonderful. Some of these variations are not less 
 curious than pleasing, having a concord of vowels, without alliteration, running 
 through the whole, and occurring in different parts of lines forming corresponding 
 rhymes. I must forbear quotations ; but cannot help submitting the foUowing 
 few verses from a warrior of some distinction in the wars of Montrose and 
 Dundee, on a subject on which volumes have been written, — the praise of the 
 different clans. Each of these pieces was usually called 
 
 OKAN NA'm FINEACHAN. — A SONG OF THE CLANS. 
 
 Si so'n aimsir an dearbhar Now is the time to prove 
 
 si so'n aym-sir an der-var 
 
 An targanach dhuin. The stabihty of the government, 
 
 an taraganacb yuyn 
 
 B 
 
130 tUe 
 
 'S bras meamneach fir Alba 
 's bras memeuach fir alaba 
 
 Fo'n armaibh, 's nan luth ; 
 fon arm-ayv 's nan lu' 
 
 Noir dh-eires gach treun laoch 
 noyr yeyres gach treyn laoch 
 
 Na eide glan ur, 
 na eyd-i glan ur 
 
 Le run feirge is gairge 
 le run feyrigd is gairg^ 
 
 A thearmuin a chruin. 
 a her-mnyn a chrnyu 
 
 Theid maithabh na Galltachd 
 heyd may'-av na gall-tac 
 
 Gle sbanntacb an gleus ; 
 gld hann-taoh an gleya 
 
 Gur lionar steud sheang-mhear 
 gur li-on-ar steyd heng-ver 
 
 A dbannsas le speis. 
 a yann-sas le speys 
 
 Biodh Sassanaich cailte, 
 bi' sassan-aych caylt^ 
 
 Is tboil iad an tein, 
 is hoyl i-ad an teyn 
 
 'S bidh na Frangaich le'n cambaibh 
 's bi' na frang-aych len camb-ayv 
 
 Gle theann air an deigh. 
 gle henn ayr an dey' 
 
 POETBY 
 
 Tbe men of Alba having risen 
 
 Under arms, and in their vigour and 
 might ; 
 
 Now, when every strong hero 
 Is in his clean, new costume, 
 Indignantly and fiercely zealous 
 For the restoration of the crown. 
 
 The good men of the Lowlands 
 
 Enter eagerly into action ; 
 
 Many is the steed slender and merry 
 
 That will prance under them. 
 
 The English will be losers, 
 
 And deserve to be put to an extremity, 
 
 And the French in their encampments 
 
 Will be closely after them. 
 
 Before quoting the other two or three verses, which is all I can make room 
 for of this song, I cannot help remarking, that the feeling toward the English 
 expressed in the above verses, came down, at least among the adherents of the 
 Stuart family, to my own time, — the commencement, I mean, of the war 
 resulting from the French Kevolution. This was shown by the 79th regiment, 
 at a critical moment, on its first meeting with the French, under its illustrious 
 founder and chief, Aillean of Earracht. This splendid officer heard a murmur 
 passing through the ranks of the regiment as the French advanced, — " The 
 French are the friends of our clan. They covered our retreat at CuUoden. Let 
 us fight the Ked Coats." The colonel did not say a word ; but he made a slight 
 movement, which brought the Lochaber men within range of a distant volley 
 from the French, when he exclaimed, in his own thundering voice, — " There they 
 are, my lads ; and if you don't kill them, by G^ — , they'll kill you." " Diol 1" 
 (ran with equal speed through the ranks,) " they have attacked our clan !" The 
 Camerons, on finding themselves thus used, gave a speedy account of their 
 French friends ; and, from that day, there' has not been in the army a more 
 distinguished regiment for loyalty or bravery. The above feeling was reversed 
 during the Peninsular war, as a consequence of the many glorious battles in 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 131 
 
 ■which the Englishman and the Highlander fought " shoulder to shoulder," not 
 less than by the many generous and kindly acts that passed between them on 
 the march and in the bivouac, in privation and festivity, during many a trying 
 campaign, in which patriotism and glory were the compensation for toil and 
 starvation. But in every, not merely Highland, but Scottish, Welsh, and Irish 
 heart, worthy of their ancestors, there is a reaction against the English since 
 the Peace. The vulgar and the ignorant, who are the cause of the reaction, of 
 course cannot, or will not, see it, until too late. Nevertheless, no intelligent or 
 gentlemanly Englishman can be ignorant of, or wonder at it. It is chiefly to 
 be ascribed to the many English newspapers, conducted by editors who postpone 
 gentlemanly feeling and an honest regard to the treaties by which the peoples 
 of these kingdoms have been united on equal terms, to the ignoble purpose of 
 catering for the tastes of the millions. These, to the discredit of journalism, 
 avail themselves of every opportunity of levelling offensive, nay, insulting 
 paragraphs at their fellow subjects of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland ; and, in 
 contradistinction, they extol to the skies the mythic Anglo-Saxons, as demigods, 
 whose destiny, — as they loudly proclaim, — is to conquer and extirpate all other 
 races of mankind ! That the rude and ignorant should be the puppets of these 
 ill-bred sycophants was to be expected ; but that Governors of Colonies, .Generals 
 commanding armies. Admirals commanding navies, and not only Members of 
 Parliament, but also the Members of Her Majesty's Government, should counte- 
 nance these low writers, by adopting such a style to designate the Army and 
 Navy, her Majesty's Government, and her Majesty's peoples, as ignores the 
 Union, and is at once an illegal usurpation of supremacy by England over 
 countries that she never conquered, and who formed an alliance with her on 
 equal terms, is dishonourable and discreditable. This illegal, unpatriotic, and 
 most ungentlemanly conduct, is most assuredly alienating every Welsh, Irish, 
 and Scottish heart that cherishes for the nationalities for which our fathers 
 fought, bled, and died, the high and holy feelings which their history is so well 
 calculated to inspire. The time, therefore, will assuredly come, when the 
 Welsh, the Irish, and the Scotch, will remember ancient and kindred ties, and 
 feel bound in honour to break up the Union, for the purpose of getting quit of 
 the degraded position in which they are thus placed in the empire. If they do 
 not revive and cement ancient ties, and assert their right to have the empire 
 called " The British Empire," the Government called " The British Govern- 
 ment," and the Army and Navy called " The British Army and Navy," they 
 will sink into nominal serfage, and lose every high and noble feeling to which 
 man owes independance and freedom : for no people can be worthy of, or 
 maintain their freedom, who are capable of allowing themselves to be swindled 
 out of the nationality which is its sole guarantee. 
 
 Eiridh Olan-Dhomhnuil Clan-Don uill will rise 
 
 eyri' clan-yov-nuyl 
 
 Mar leoghainn am fearg. Like lions enraged, 
 
 mar le-o-inn am ferag 
 
132 
 
 Na 'm beo-bhethir ; mor leathunn 
 na'm be-o-ve-ir mor le'-ann 
 
 Connspanach garg. 
 conn-span-acli garag 
 
 Luchd a sheasaibh na corach, 
 luc a hes-ayv na corach 
 
 Ga'n ordugh lamh-dhearg. 
 gan ord-u' lav-yerag 
 
 Mo-dhoigh ! bhiodh iad gorach 
 mo-yoy' vi' i-ad gor-ach 
 
 A thoisicheadh oirbh. 
 a hoys-ich-a' oyrv 
 
 THE POETET 
 
 Or live thunder-bolts ; tall and stout 
 
 Are the heroes fierce. 
 
 They are the men to stand by the 
 
 right, 
 Whose cognizance is the red hand. 
 
 Mo yoy ! they would be mad 
 
 Who should begin the battle by 
 attacking you. 
 
 Gur lionar lamh theoma 
 gur li-o-nar lav he-o-ma 
 
 Thaig Eoghan Lochial. 
 e'-o-an loch-i-al 
 
 Fir cholganta, bhorganta, 
 fir cholag-anta yorg-anta 
 
 Is oirdheirce gniomh. 
 is oyr-yeyro-^ gni-av 
 
 lad mar thuil-bheum, air chorr-ghleus, 
 i-ad mar huyl-veym ayr chorr-yleya 
 
 Air chonfhadh ro dhion. 
 ayr ohona-ha' ro yi-on 
 
 Se mo dhuilsa 'n am rusgaidh, 
 se mo yuyl-sa nam rusg-ay' 
 
 Nach diult sibh dol sios. 
 nach di-ult siv dol si-os 
 
 Many are the warriors 
 
 Of Owen of Lochiel. 
 
 Kough and broad 
 
 Are the heroes of deeds illustrious. 
 
 Like the spring-tide, or a mountain- 
 spate, 
 They advance to battle. 
 
 It is my opinion that, at stripping- 
 
 time. 
 They will not hesitate to descend. 
 
 The Highlanders of Druidal times placed something like a religious value 
 on the orations delivered over their graves by the bards. Hence, as they always 
 fought stripped to the kilt, they used to paint their crests on their bosoms, so 
 as they might be recognised and distinguished in the conflict, as well as among 
 the slain, should that be their fate. They so fought on the Grampians against 
 the Eomans, and at Killiecrankie against the Lowlanders and the English. 
 Hence the bardic expression, " nam rusgaidh," stripping-time, which is synony- 
 mous with the command to charge. The Romans, on whose ignorance or 
 dishonesty as regarded their enemies, modern philology is beginning to throw 
 a light that will stagger some of their school-boyish admirers, represent the army 
 of the Grampians, notwithstanding their own admission that they had swords, 
 spears, poniards, standards, and chariots, as painted savages ; but the English, 
 who seem to have been equally ignorant or prejudiced, and who affected to 
 regard the kilt as a mere rag tied round the loins, represent them only as naked 
 savages. Both statements are of equal value for their historical honesty or truth. 
 They have served their day. The practice of the pugilists to strip before 
 setting^to, and of seamen to have devices painted on their arms by their 
 comrades or sweethearts, before braving the dangers of " the battle and the 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 133 
 
 breeze," are, in all probability, only traditional relics of the old chivalrous 
 Caledonian custom. I have known a young Highland gentleman of aristocratic 
 birth and ideas, who, before going into battle along with our Yankee cousins 
 against the Mexicans, got the crown and British ensign painted on his arm 
 by a friend, that he might not be mistaken for a repubhcan even after death ; 
 so much was be disgusted with the coarse manners resulting from the levelling 
 principles of republicanism. 
 
 Gur guineach na Duimhnich, 
 gur gnyn-ech na duy-nich 
 
 'Nam rusgadh nam lann, 
 nam rus-ga' nam lann 
 
 Bidh naimhdean ga'n ruagadh 
 bi' nayv-din gan ra-a-ga' 
 
 Le'n cruadal nach fann ; 
 len crn-a-dal nach fann 
 
 Dream uasal ro uaibhreach, 
 drem n-a-sal ro u-ayv-reoh 
 
 Dh-fhag dual ann san Fhraing ; 
 yag du-al ann san rayng 
 
 'S ann Dhiarmaid a shiolaich 
 sann o yi-ar-mayd a hi-ol-aych 
 
 'M por miaghael nach gann. 
 'm por mi-a'-yel nach gann 
 
 Fierce are the Campbells, 
 
 When swords are drawn from their 
 sheaths, 
 
 Enemies will be scattered 
 By their hardihood and might ; 
 The tribe high-blooded and illustrious. 
 Has left a branch in France ; 
 From Diarmaid are descended 
 The clan noble and numerous. 
 
 Ayrshire was the original district in Scotland of the Campbells, or, as 
 they were called, Clan Duibhnidh. The burial-place of the patriarch of the 
 clan is near the village of Barr, on the banks of the Dian-char ; dian, from 
 rapid, and car, from sudden windings, now called Stinchar. The name of the 
 burial-place was Cill Dhuibhnidh, (kill yuyv-ni) the grave of Duibhnidh, corrupted 
 into Kirk-damdi. The etymon of Duibhnidh, Latinized damni by the Romans, 
 resolves itself into the roots, dvih, (duv) black, and nihhidh, (ni-vi) venomous ; 
 that is, the black and fierce, pronounced duv-nivi. Burps, in " The Vision," 
 refers to the traditional power of the Campbells in Ayrshire. 
 
 Having been born at Creaguaine, the very centre of the scenery made 
 classical by the " Aged Bard," Domhnul Mac-Innlaidh, and Iain Lorn, I may be 
 excused in giving precedence to my native bards in the following quotations, 
 which may be said to form separate links in a connected chain of Gaelic poems, 
 from the time of Ossian to the present day. I regret the necessity of so limiting 
 my quotations as to do a manifest injustice to these three Brae-lochaber bards. 
 
 MIAN A BHAIKDE THUAIR AOIS. — THE DESIRE OF THE BARD WHO RECEIVED AGE. 
 
 Gu socair sin san f heur mo thaobh, Lay me gently on my side in the grass, 
 
 gn soc-ayr sin san eyr mo haoV 
 
 Airbruachnandithean'snangaodh-tlath, On a bank of flowers and soft winds, 
 air bru-ach nan di-en 's nan gao'tla' 
 
134 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 My feet laved by the mild streamlet 
 
 Mo etas ga slioba sa bhraon mhaoth, 
 mo chos ga slib-a sa vraon vao' 
 
 A lubas mal is caoin tre'n bhlar. 
 a lubas mal is oaoyn tre'n vlar. 
 
 Aig iadhadh mu'bhruaichaibh mo ghlinn, 
 ayg i-a'-a' mu vru-ach-ayv mo ylinn 
 
 Biodh luba gheugan *s orra blath ; 
 bi-o' luba yeyg-an 's orra bla' 
 
 'S clann bheag nan preas a tabhairt seinn, And the little children of the coppice, 
 's olann veg nan pres a tav-ayrt seynn 
 
 Air creagan aosd' le 'n orain ghraidh. Making the aged rocks re-sing their 
 ayr oreg-an aosd le 'n o-rayn yray' lays of love. 
 
 That winds slowly and genially through 
 the meadow. 
 
 Around the lofty borders of my glen, 
 
 Be the bending of boughs in fuU leaf, 
 
 Bidh ard oscion dosan na 'm beann, 
 bi ard os-ci-on dosan na m benn 
 
 High above the wood-crowned moun- 
 tain, 
 Le cumhadh do ghaoil na d' mhin bheul, With thy song of love in thy tender 
 
 voice, 
 Be thou swan, from the land of waves, 
 
 le cuva' do yaoyl na d' vin-veyl 
 
 Eala thrial o thir nan stuadh, 
 ella h-ri-al o hir nan stu-a' 
 
 Is seinn dhomh ceol an aird nan speur. 
 is seynn yov oe-ol an ayrd nan speyr 
 
 Tog na 's airde t-oran ciuin, 
 tog na s ayrd4 t-or-an ci-nyn 
 
 'S cuir sgeula do bhroin an ceil, 
 s ouyr sgey-lk do vroyn an ceyl 
 
 'S glacaidh mactallaidh* gach ciuil, 
 's glae-ay' mao-tall-ay' gac oi-uyl 
 
 Gach sgeul tursach o d' bhinn-bheul. 
 gaob sgeyl tur-sach o d' vinn-veyl 
 
 Tog do sgiath is trial their cuan, 
 tog do sgi-a' is tri-al hayr cu-an 
 
 Glac do luathas bho neart na gaoidh. 
 glac do lu-a'-as vo nert na gaoy' 
 
 'S taitneach, ce bronach am chluais, 
 's tayt-nech ce bronach am chlu-ays 
 
 d' chridhe leointe t-oran gaoil. 
 d' chri'-^ le-oynt^ t-oran gaoyi 
 
 Singing music to me high among the 
 fleecy clouds. 
 
 Higher raise thy lovely song, 
 
 And disclose thy cause of grief, 
 
 The son* who fascinates all music. 
 
 Will learn every tale of sorrow from 
 thy sweet voice. 
 
 Spread thy wings, fly over the sea, 
 
 Catch speed from the strength of the 
 
 wind. 
 Pleasant, though mournful, to my ear 
 
 Is the song of love from thy wounded 
 heart. 
 
 Cairibh mi dluth do'n Eas-mhor, 
 cayr-iv mi dlu' do'n es vor 
 
 Bhristeas ann an tarn o'n chreig, 
 vris-tes ann an tarn on chreyg 
 
 Biodh cruit agus slige ri 'm thaobh, 
 bi-o ohruyt agns sleg-^ ri m haov 
 
 'S an sgiath dhion mo sbinnsir sa chath. And the shield that covered my shes 
 's an sgi-a' yi-on mo hinn-sir sa cba' in battle. 
 
 * " Mac-tallaidh," echo ; literally, the fascinator. 
 
 Lay me by the side of Eas-mor, 
 That bursts in thunder over the rock. 
 Let the lyre and shell be by my side, 
 
Thig le cairdes thair a cbuan, 
 hig le cayr-des thayr a chu-an 
 
 Osag mhin a ghluaises, mall, 
 08-ag vin a ylu-ays-es mall 
 
 Tog mo cheo air sgiath do luathais, 
 tog mo ch^-o ayr sgi'-a' do la-ays 
 
 'S dian t-'iul gu eillean nam flath, 
 's di-an ti-ul gu eyllen nam fla' 
 
 Far bhiel na suin bu chruaidh o shean, 
 bar veyl na suyn bu chru-ay o hen 
 
 Air cul nan lann a dbionadh sluaigb, — 
 ayr cul nan lann a yi-on-a' slu-ay' 
 
 Oissian, Oscar, Goll, is Fion. — 
 oyss-en oscar goll is fi-on 
 
 Tbig am feasgar 's cba bbi 'm bard air 
 big am fesg-ar 's cha \i m bard ayr 
 
 bbradh. 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Come in kindness over the sea. 
 
 135 
 
 Mild breeze that travels slow ; 
 
 Lift my mist on the wing of thy 
 speed. 
 
 And make thy way to the Tsle of 
 Heroes,* 
 
 Where dwell the warriors who stood 
 
 hardily of old. 
 Behind their weapons to defend the 
 
 peoples, — 
 Fion, Ossian, Oscar, and Goll. — 
 
 When evening comes, the bard will be 
 amissing. 
 
 The above is simply the opening and closing verses of this admirable poem. 
 The next specimen is from the poem of " The Hunter and the Owl," the scene 
 of which is also in Brae-lochaber. I regret the injustice of giving mere 
 extracts from these poems, but console myself in the hope that the educated 
 reader will make an allowance for the injury done to the fame of these bards, 
 both by that and the severe translation, and that I am giving them a chance of 
 becoming known to a class of new readers, who may ultimately appreciate their 
 poetry, and do them justice. 
 
 AN SEALGAK 'S A CHOMHACHAG. — THE HUNTER AND THE OWL. 
 
 A chomhachag bhochd na Sroine, 
 a cho-ach-ag toc na sroyn^ 
 
 Gur a brfonach leom do leabadh, 
 gur a bron-ach le-om do lev-a' 
 
 Ma tha u ann bho linn Donnaghaill, 
 ma ha u ann bho linn donn-yayll ' 
 
 Chan iogbnadh leam ge trom u t-aig- 
 chan i-o'n-a' le-am ge trom u tayg- 
 
 neadh, &c. &c. 
 ne' 
 
 Poor owl of Srone, 
 
 Thine is a pitiful bed ; 
 
 If thou hast lived (here) since the 
 
 days of Donnagall, 
 I wonder not that thy mind is heavy. 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 I cannot follow the long traditional and very interesting discourse between 
 the hunter and the aged and intelligent owl, but must confine myself to a few 
 such verses as may enable the reader to form some estimate of the rude and 
 savage character of the Highland deer-stalkers and warriors of the fifteenth 
 century. 
 
 * Tradition assigus this bard to the age immediately preceding the introduction of Christianity to 
 Lochaber. 
 
136 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 mim 
 
 beann, 
 beua 
 
 'S mi 'm shuidhe air sith-bhrugh na'm I am sitting on the faiiy-hill of the 
 huy'-i ayr si'-vru' nam 
 
 mountaiDB, 
 Gazing at the head of Lochtreig, 
 Craig-uaine, sacred to the chase, — 
 The lofty sunny residence of the deer. 
 
 Aig amharc air ceann Locha-treig, ■ 
 ayg av-arc ayr oenn looha-treyg 
 
 Creag-uaine am biodh an t-shealg, 
 creg-n-aynfe am bi-o' 'n tel-ag 
 
 Grlanan ard am bidh na feigh. 
 gii-an-an ard am bi' na fey' 
 
 Chi mi braigh Bhidean nan dos, 
 ohi mi bray' vid-en nan dos 
 
 An taobhsa bhos do Sgurra-lidh, 
 an taoy-sa voa do agura-U' 
 
 Sgurra-chointich nan damh seang. — 
 sgnrra-choyn-tioh nan dav seng 
 
 'S ionmhuin learn an diugh na chi ! 
 's i-on-vnyn le-am an di-u' na cbi 
 
 Chi mi Strath-farsuin a chruidh, 
 chi mi Btra'-far-suyn a chruy' 
 
 Far an labhur guth nan sonn, 
 far an la-vur gu' nan sonn 
 
 Is coire creagach a Mhaim. 
 is coyrd creg-ach a vaym 
 
 'Sa 'n trie a leag mo lamh damh donn. 
 sa'n trie a leg mo lav day donn 
 
 Soirridh gu Bein-alta bh-uam, 
 soyrr-i' gu beyn-alta yn-am 
 
 O'n si fhuair urram na'm beann, 
 o'n si hu-ayr nrram nam benn 
 
 G-u slios Locherroch an fheidh. — 
 gu slis looh-errooli an ey' 
 
 Gu'm ionmhuin leam fein bhi ann. 
 gum i-on-yuyn le-am feyn vi ann 
 
 'S tiamhaidh trom mo chridhe fein ; 
 's ti-av-ay' trom mo ohri'-d feya 
 
 Chuir an aois mo cheum fo lot, 
 ohuyr an aoys mo cheym fo lot 
 
 Cha dirich mi tulach an fheidh, 
 cha dir-ich mi tnl-ach an ey' 
 
 'S gu la bhrath cha leig mi coin, 
 's gu la yra' cha leyg mi coyn 
 
 Mise is t-usa ghaodhair bhain, 
 mia^ is tu3-a yao'ayr yayn 
 
 'S tursach dhuin an diugh na threig ; 
 's tursach ynyn an di-u' na h-reyg 
 
 I see the crest of wooded Bidean, 
 This side of Scurra-li, 
 Sgurra-chointich of slender stags. — 
 Dear to me are all I this day see ! 
 
 I see Strath-farsun of milk-kme. 
 
 Where loudest is the bay of the gallant 
 hound, 
 
 And the rocky corrie of Mam, 
 
 Where my arm often stinick down the 
 brown stag. 
 
 Bear my salute to Benalta, 
 The praised above all mountains, 
 And to Locherroch of many stags. — 
 Dearly I loved to be there. 
 
 Pensive and heavy is mine own heart; 
 
 Age has put my step under a wound. 
 
 No more will I ascend the mountains 
 
 of the deer. 
 Neve* again slip my dogs. 
 
 Me and thee, my white hound. 
 
 Sorrowful is all we have this day for- 
 saken : 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 137 
 
 Chail sinn an tathunn 's an dan, 
 chayl sinn an ta'-unn san dan 
 
 Ged bha am a b-ard air gleus. 
 ged va am a b-ard ayr gleys 
 
 We have lost the baying voice and the 
 
 lay, 
 
 Though the day has been when lofty 
 was our condition. 
 
 The wood from thee has taken the roe, 
 
 The heights from me have taken the 
 
 stag;— 
 But that is no reproach, my hero, 
 
 Since age has settled on us alike. 
 
 Thug a choille dhiotsa'n earb', 
 hug a choylle yi-ot-san erab 
 
 'S an airde dhiom 'sa na feidh ; — 
 's an ayr-de yi-om sa na fey' 
 
 Cha'n eil naire dhuin a laoich, 
 cha'u eyl nayre yuyn a laoych 
 
 O'n laidh an aois oim le chul. 
 on lay' an aoys oyrn le chuyl 
 
 As we have in " The Ancient Bard's Desire," " The Hunter and the Owl," 
 Iain Lom, &c., different and distinct specimens of Lochaber poetry, until within 
 these three hundred years, I may almost say from Ossian's time, perhaps, to 
 illustrate what has been stated as to the preservation of the language in un- 
 changed purity for ages, it may interest the reader if I here submit verses written 
 by myself on the subject of a traditional interview between a hunter from the 
 Isle of Skye and a Lochaber fairy. This ballad was written immediately after 
 hearing " Cailleach Beinne-bric ho ro," played on the piano in Mrs Macdonell 
 of Kippoch's peculiarly touching and fairy-like style; and I thought that I 
 had written the words to suit her set of the air precisely, but on hearing it 
 played, from Mrs Macdonell's copy, by Miss Macgregor, Lismore Manse, I 
 found that I had adapted the words of the chorus, unconsciously, to the version 
 sung by my mother, which is different. On crooning that version to Miss 
 Macgregor, (for I no longer sing,) she found that it corresponded with the 
 version of the chorus sung by Captain Boss, an uncle of her mothers, — another 
 true-hearted descendant of the chivalrous Sir Ewen of Lochiel. Miss Macgregor 
 having kindly jotted down this set of the chorus for me, I substituted it for 
 the chorus of Mrs Macdonell's version. I had no opportunity of consulting 
 her before doing so ; but I hope she will not disapprove of the changej since it 
 harmonizes pretty well with her own version. Every other note of her version 
 has been faithfully preserved in the following set, kindly arranged for me by 
 Miss Macgregor. 
 
 A MHAIGHDEANN SHITH S AN SEALGAIR. — THE FAIKY-MAIDEN AND THE HUNTER. 
 
 An Sealgair. 
 an sellarger 
 
 A mhaighdeann shith is milse tend, 
 a vay'den hi is milse teyd 
 
 Air tolman min a frith nan treud, 
 ayr toloman min a M' nan treyd 
 
 Leis a mian a bhiolair uaine, — 
 leys a mi-an a vil-ayr n-ayne 
 
 Solar buain na fuaran fas ; 
 solar bn-ayn na fii-ar-an fas 
 
 The Hunter. 
 
 Maiden fairy of the sweetest chords, 
 
 (When) on a hillock smooth, in the 
 
 forest of the herd, 
 Whose delight is the cresses green, — 
 
 The bounty lasting of springs in the 
 dieisert; 
 
 s 
 
138 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 Thainig mi a tir nan stuaidh, 
 hayn-ig mi a tir nan stu-ay' 
 
 Is gairge sgread air sgearraen crnaidh, 
 ig gayrege sgred ayr sgerren cru-ay' 
 
 A dh-asla sgeul air am nan cian 
 a yasla sgeyl ayr am nan oi-an 
 
 '0 d' bheulan seante 's miaghail dain. 
 od veylan se-ante 's mi-a-yayl dayn 
 
 Form. : — 
 
 Seinn da mi oran cianael, 
 Beynn da mi oran oi-an-el 
 
 Shith-bhrugh aillidh nan tend sianael ; 
 hi' vru' ayli' nan teyd si-an-el 
 
 Seinn da mi oran cianael, 
 seynn da mi oran ci-an-el 
 
 Shith-bhrugh aillidh nan tor* ard. 
 hi' vru' ayli' nan tor ard 
 
 I have come from the land of the 
 
 waves, 
 That fiercest shriek on sea-rocks hard, 
 
 To entreat tales of times of old 
 
 From thy charmed mouth of precious 
 lays. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 Sing to me the song pensive 
 
 Of the fairy-knowe beautiful, of 
 
 charmed strings ; 
 Sing to me the song pensive. 
 
 Of the fairy-knowe beautiful of 
 wooded mountains high. 
 
 A Mhaighdeann Shith. 
 a vayden lii' 
 
 Noir thionaeles a mhaighdeann shith 
 noyr henelss a yay'den hi' 
 
 Trend a gaoil air raon san fhrith, 
 treyd a gaoyl ayr raon san ri' 
 
 Gu mire-chleas an comhstri mhin, 
 gn mire-ohles an oov-stri vin 
 
 Se 'm bas a bhinn bheir airm nan dail. 
 sem baB a vinn veyr ayrm nan dayl 
 
 Tilg air lar gorm lann na'm beum, 
 tilig ayr lar gorm lann nam beym 
 
 A bheudagt ghlas is sgaiteaoh teum, 
 a veyd-ag ylas is sgayt-ech teym 
 
 'S do shaighead bhorb is trie, a leum, 
 s do hay-ed vorb is trio a leym 
 
 An cridhe fell, ceann-treud mo ghraidh. 
 an cri'-e feyl cenn-treyd mo yray' 
 
 Fonn : — 
 
 Cha sheinner leom oran cianael, 
 cha heynner le-om oran ci-an-el 
 
 Shith-bhrugh aillidh nan teud sianael ; 
 hi'-vrn' ayli nan teyd si-on-el 
 
 Cha sheinner leom oran cianael, 
 cha heynner le-om oran ci-an-el 
 
 Gus an tilg u t-airm air lar, 
 gns an tilig u tayrm ayr lar 
 
 The Fairy Maiden. 
 
 When gathers the maiden fairy 
 
 The herd she loves, on a level space 
 in the forest 
 
 To compete in merry feats and kindly 
 games, 
 
 Death is his doom who approaches 
 armed. 
 
 Fling on earth thy blue blade keen, 
 
 Thy dirkf grey of deadly bites, 
 
 Thy arrow fierce, that often leapt 
 
 Into the mild heart of the head of the 
 herd I love. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 
 I sing not the song plaintive 
 
 Of the fairy knowe beautiful, of charmed 
 chords ; 
 
 I sing not the song plaintive, 
 
 Until you fling your arms on the 
 ground. 
 
 * " Tor," a wooded hill. 
 
 t " Dirk ;" literally, the little deadly one, as aboye spelt, 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 139 
 
 An Sealgair. 
 
 Na tairg a mhaighdeann riomhach tair, 
 na tayr-ig a vayden ri-vach tayr 
 
 Do f hriamh de thealach Chuinn nan air, 
 do ri-av de hel-ach chnynu uan ayr 
 
 Cha dual gu'n gabh e fiamh na fath, 
 cha du-al gun gav e fl-av na fa' 
 
 'S fo bhagradh choidh cha treig e lann ; 
 8 fo vag-ra' choy cha treyg e lann 
 
 Ach bu trice a gheil bho'n cliein, 
 ach bu trice a yeyl von cheyn 
 
 The Hunter. 
 
 Offer not, maiden queenly, an in- 
 dignity 
 
 To a root of the family of Conn of 
 battle-fields. 
 
 It is not natural that he should take 
 (either) fear or an advantage, 
 
 And never, under a threat, will he 
 forsake his blade ; 
 
 But more often has yielded, from re- 
 mote ages, 
 
 Do chumhachd graidh an t-armunn trein, To the power of love, the hero strong, 
 do cim-ac gray an tarmunn treyn 
 
 A bhuail an ioma gabhadh steinn, 
 a vu-ayl an i-oma gava' steynn 
 
 Na'm balach breun 's an ceillean fann, 
 nam balach breyn sau ceyllen fann 
 
 Seinn da mi, et cetera. 
 
 Who has struck hard (blows) in many 
 
 extremities, 
 Than the boor coarse, or the poltroon 
 
 feeble. 
 
 Sing to me, &c. 
 
 The Maiden Fairy. 
 Oh ! delightful to me is thy bearing 
 and aspect. 
 
 A Maighdeann Shith. 
 
 Oh 's taitneach leom do cholg 's do 
 oh 8 tayt-nech le-om do cholg s do 
 
 shnuadh, 
 nn-a' 
 
 A shealgaer bhuirb bho thir nan stuadh ! 
 a hellager vnyrb vo hir nan stu-a' 
 
 Ach fear fo airm san diomhair reidh, 
 ach far fo ayrm san di-vayr rey' 
 
 Tha siant am f heith cha'n f haidh mo Consecrated to my deer, I give not 
 
 Hunter fierce from the land of waves ! 
 
 But to a man under arms in the secret 
 haunts 
 
 ey' chan ay' 
 
 ha si-ant am 
 
 ghradh. 
 yra' 
 
 Till gu'n dail do'n eillean Sgiathach,* 
 till gun dayl don eyllen sgi'-ach 
 
 Far am bith na roin 'g easgach, 
 far am bi' na royn ag i-a 
 
 my love. 
 
 Eeturn without delay to the Isle of 
 
 Skye,* 
 Where seals (will be) fishing, 
 
 And dumpy ones (women) with strip- 
 ped petticoats, 
 Gathering grey shellfish on the beach. 
 
 I sing not. Sec. 
 
 The Hunter. 
 Si anacain 's ionmhain ghuidh mi riamh, It is the dearest wish I ever prayed, 
 si an ao-ayn s i-on-vayn yuy' mi li-av 
 
 U thighinn a ghaoil le d' bhaidean That you should come, love, with your 
 u hi'nn a yaoyl le d vayden parcel of deer 
 
 fhiadh, 
 i-a' 
 
 * The Isle of Skye ; literally, the isle of wings, as above npelt. 
 
 'S ceigagan na cota stiallach, 
 s ceyg-ag-an na cota sti-al-ach 
 
 Tional maorach liadh air traigh. 
 tenal maor-ach li-a' ayr tray' 
 
 Cha sheinner leom, et cetera. 
 An Sealgair. 
 
140 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 Do Shleibhte tlath, na fasach fial, 
 do leyv-te tla' na fa-sach fi-al 
 
 Na glacan, mianar biadhar trath ; 
 sa glac-an mi-an-ar bi-a-yar tra' 
 
 Sa bheil ioma coire buadhar, 
 sa veyl i-oma coyre bu-a-yar 
 
 'S torrach cluain 's as airde fuarain, 
 8 torrach clu-ayn sas ayrde fn-a-rayn 
 
 Sgeideachte le biolair uaine, 
 sgeyd-eoh-te le bil-ayr u-ayne 
 
 Is blaiste sugh sas uire sgiamh. 
 is blayste su' sas uyre sgi-av 
 
 Seinn da mi, et cetera. 
 
 A Mbaighdeann Sbitb. 
 
 'S mor a b-annsa Buacbail-eite, 
 s mor a bann-sa bu-a-chayl-eyte 
 
 'N Coire-ba, sa'm Binnein eatrome, 
 n coyre-ba sam binn-eyn e-trom 
 
 Craacb-nam-beunn is airde nan Creisein, 
 oru-ach-nam-beynn is ayrd nan oreyseyn 
 
 'S Beinn-na-doirrean,* mian nam bard ; 
 8 beynn-na-doyrrea mi-an nam bard 
 
 'S cha bu diubhaidb Beinn-a-cbrulaist, 
 8 cha bu di-uvay beynn-a-chru-layst 
 
 Na Beinn-bbreac nan aigheanliidhmbor, 
 na beyn-vreo nan ay'-en lu'-vor 
 
 Strath-Oissian nan luban curaidh, 
 sra'-oys-oyn nan Inban cUr-ay' 
 
 'S Creaguaine nan uigean tlath. 
 8 creg-u-ayne nan uygen tla' 
 
 Cha sheinnear, et cetera. 
 
 An Sealgair. 
 
 Oh, thig do dh-uamh Strathard nan send, 
 oh big do yu-av stra'ard nan seyd 
 
 Far am binne ceol nan teud, 
 far am biune ce-ol nan teyd 
 
 A dh-eisteachd sgeul air deuchaingraidh, 
 a yeystec sgeyl ayr dey-chayn gray' 
 
 A thiondas cridhe caoin gu baigh, 
 a hi-ou-das cri'-e oaoyn gii bay' 
 
 A leaghaes is a laises suil, 
 'a le-as is a layses snyl 
 
 A bheir air cuisle eridh dluth, 
 a veyr ayr cuysle eyri' dlu' 
 
 To Sleat mild, of forests hospitable. 
 
 Of hollows desirable, grassy, early ; 
 
 Where there are many corries fertile. 
 
 Of beautiful meadows, and lofty 
 springs 
 
 Arrayed with cresses green, 
 
 Of tasteful juice and the freshest 
 colour. 
 Sing to me, &c. 
 
 The Fairy Maiden. 
 Much more I love Buachail-eite, 
 
 The Corrie-ba and Binnein airy, 
 
 Cruch-nam-ben and the heights of 
 
 Creisen, 
 And Bendoran,* the delight of the 
 
 bards ; 
 Nor less valued is Ben-a-chrulaist, 
 
 Or Benvreac of hinds nimble, 
 
 Strath-Ossian of the holms sweet, 
 
 And Creaguaine of mild (sheltered) 
 recesses. 
 I sing not, &c. 
 
 The Hunter. 
 Oh, come to Strathard's cave of gems, 
 
 Where sweetest is the music of the 
 chords. 
 
 To listen to a tale of ill-fated love. 
 That will turn the tender heart to 
 
 pity. 
 
 Melt and kindle the eye. 
 Make the pulse beat quick, 
 
 * Bondoran ; literally, the mountain of storms. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 141 
 
 Air maighdeain f hiata cinntinn tlath, 
 ayr may'dayn i-a-ta dntinn tla' 
 
 Is geiltein foil do bhoidean blath. 
 is geylt-eyn foyl do voyden bla' 
 
 Seinn da mi, et cetera. 
 
 The maiden shy become sympathetic, 
 And yield kindly to vows warm. 
 Sing to me, &c. 
 
 A Mhaighdeann Shith. 
 
 B-annsa leom sith-bhrugh Lochtreig, 
 b-annsa le-om si'-vra' loch-treyg 
 
 Far a bheil na suinn a threig, 
 far a veyl na suyn a h-reyg 
 
 Euchd nam blar is tart nam buaidh, 
 eye nam blar is tart nam ba-ay 
 
 Fo gheisean* gaoil a maoin san luaidh ; 
 fo yeys-en gaoyl a maoyn san In-ay 
 
 lad gu'n uidh air frith na raoin, 
 i-ad gnn uy' ayr fri' na raoyn 
 
 Gach suidh air uchd a leannean chaoin, 
 gach any ayr uc a lennan chaoyn 
 
 A claisteinn comhstri dhan is theud, 
 a cUaysteynn cov-stri yan is heyd 
 
 Fo sgail-bhrat laist le mile send, 
 fo sgayl-vrat layst le mile seyd 
 
 Cha sheinnear, et cetera. 
 
 The Maiden Fairy. 
 
 More I love the fairy-knowe of Loch- 
 treig, 
 Where dwell the heroes who forsook 
 
 The pomp of battle-fields and the 
 
 thirst of victories. 
 Under the enchanting* love of their 
 
 treasured, their cherished ; 
 Unmindful of forest or moor. 
 
 Each worthy reclines on the bosom 
 genial of her he loves, 
 
 Listening to the competition of song, 
 with the music of chords, 
 
 Under a canopy lighted with a thou- 
 sand gems. 
 I sing not, &c. 
 
 * The idea of heroes being put under enchantment by malignant or amorous supernatural beings, 
 seems familiar to the lore of all countries, since the days of Homer and the Syrens ; but it is not in the 
 brugh of Lochtreig, but in that of Tom-nar-hiuirich that the Feinn were put under enchantment. Alex- 
 ander Gillies, the great Glengarry tale-reciter, used to recite a touching romance of the Feinn ; who, 
 one day, when hunting on Meal-fuar-mhonaidh, had been enticed on an adventure of exploration into the 
 Sith-bhrugh of Tom-na-hiuirich, near InverneeB, by a sorcefess of Lochlin, and were there placed under 
 enchantment. Here they were doomed to lie stretched around the cave, side by side, in a profound sleep, 
 arrayed in their full costimie and arms, with the hand of each warrior on the hilt of his sword, ready for 
 action, the moment the charm should be terminated ; which, however, it never would , until three blasts 
 should be blown on a war-trumpet, suspended behind the gate of the cave. The legend gave an exceedingly 
 graphic description of a chivalrous tailor who took upon himself, on a Halloween-night, when all fairy- 
 knowes are open, to attempt the adventure of setting the Feinn free. He entered the brugh of Tom-na- 
 hiuirich, in which darkness was made visible by a lurid glare of supernatural light, which exposed to the 
 the eyes of the startled tailor a row of warriors of a supernatural size, stretched prone on their shields, but 
 in their complete war panoply, around the cave. Though staggered by their enormous size, and the fierce 
 scowl which contracted their brows and compressed their lips, (and he had some misgiving as to the fate 
 of mankind should such savage-looking giants be set loose upon them,) he screwed up his courage, and de- 
 termined at least to sound one blast of the trumpet, and have a parley with them. He blew a blast, 
 and so loud and terrific was the sound, that Tom-na-hiuirich shook to its base, and the distant mountains 
 reverberated. The great warriors opened their eyes, and stared at the tailor with an incomprehensible 
 look ; but they did not move. He was greatly frightened, and had sad misgivings ; but rallying his stag- 
 gered senses by degrees, he blew a second blast. The great warriors rose slowly to their left knees, and 
 leant forward in an incumbent position on their elbows, their hands grasping the hilts of their half- 
 nnsheathed swords, and cast eager but indefinable glances at the tailor, who felt himself impelled by a 
 sudden panic, dashed the trumpet to the ground, and sprang out of the cave. Here he stood for a moment 
 in compassion and doubt, hearing a moan spreading through the cave, while the following words were 
 uttered in a voice in which scorn struggled with sorrow, " A leabeadean 's mise dh-f hag na thuir ;" — 
 poltroon, worse you left than found (us.) 
 
142 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 An Sealgair. 
 
 B-annsa seasabh leat a ruin, 
 b-annsa sesav let a ruyn 
 
 Gu allail ard air braigh an duin, 
 gu allayl ard ayr bray' an duyn 
 
 Noir dh-eires muir na morachd f hein 
 noyr yeyres muyr na mor-ac feyn 
 
 Thoirt dubhlan do na duilean trein ; 
 hoyrt duvlan do na duylen treyn 
 
 Noir laises dealan slios a chuain, 
 noyr layses delan slis a chu-ayn 
 
 Sa mhosglas tarn le beucan buain, 
 sa vosglaa tarn le beyc-an bu-ayn 
 
 Sa ruaigeas tuinn na cabhlaich aigh, 
 sa ru-ayges tuynn na cav-laych ay' 
 
 Air sgearraen cruaidh gun tuar gun 
 ayr sgerren cru-ay' gun tu-ar gun 
 
 bhaigh. 
 vay' 
 
 Seinn da mi, et cetera. 
 A Mhaigbdeann Shith. 
 
 B-annsa a bhith an sgiort na stairm, 
 b-annsa a vi' an sgirt na stayrm 
 
 Air uchd Sgureilt is uamhain gairm, 
 ayr uo sgureylt is u-av-ayn gayrm 
 
 Noir cbluinnear, sior san dubhradh, tarn 
 noyr chluynner si-or san duvra' tarn 
 
 Nach caomhain le bheathir creag na earn, 
 nach covayn le ve'-ir creg na earn 
 
 Noir theid an dealan dearg na thein, 
 noyr heyd an delan derag na heyn 
 
 Sa labhras reachdar beinn ri beinn, 
 sa lavras rec-ar beynn ri beynn 
 
 Toirt caismeachd ghairbh do thaibhsean 
 toirt cays-mec yayrv do hayv-sen 
 
 fuar, 
 fu-ar 
 
 Is gairge siann sas oiltel tuar. 
 is gayrge si-ann sas oyltel tu-ar 
 
 Cha sheinnear, et cetera. 
 
 An Sealgair. 
 
 Oh, thig a thuni leom a ghaoil, 
 oh hig a huni le-om a yaoyl 
 
 Do'm bhuthean seal aig taobh a chaoil, 
 do m vu'-an sel ayg taov a chaoyl 
 
 Bho faicer dluth is fada bh-uain, 
 vo fayc-er dlu' is fada vn-ayn 
 
 Sealla bheann, is ghleann, is chuain. 
 sella veynn is ylenn is chu-ayn 
 
 The Hunter. 
 Kather would I take my stand with 
 
 thee, love, 
 Proudly and' loftily on the dun, 
 
 When rises the ocean in majesty (all) 
 his own. 
 
 To give defiance to the elements 
 
 strong ; 
 When lightning kindles the bosom of 
 
 the deep. 
 
 And thunder opens with continuous 
 bellowing, 
 
 And the waves drive routed and mag- 
 nificent navies. 
 
 On sea-rocks hard, sightless and piti- 
 less. 
 
 Sing to me, &c. 
 
 The Maiden Fairy. 
 
 More I love to be in the skirt of the 
 storm, 
 
 On the breast of Scureilt of the terrible 
 war-cry. 
 
 When is heard, straight in the pro- 
 found darkness, thunder 
 
 That with his bolts spares not rock 
 nor avalanche ; 
 
 When goes the lightning red into 
 extremes. 
 
 When mountain speaks haughtily to 
 mountain, 
 
 Giving a warning surly to ghosts 
 pale. 
 
 Of horrid shrieks and the most hideous 
 aspects. 
 I sing not, &c. 
 
 The Hunter. 
 Oh come and dwell with me, love, 
 
 In my booth of osiers beside the strait, 
 
 Where is seen, near and afar, 
 
 A sight of mountains, glens, and seas. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 143 
 
 'S noir theid a ghrian na pailluinn shiar, 
 8 noyr heyd a yri-an -na paylluynn hi-ar 
 
 Sa che fo sgail an f heasgair chiair, 
 sa che fo sgayl an esgayr chi-ayr 
 
 Cluinnear linn ceol binn nan tend, 
 cluynner linn ce-ol binn nan teyd 
 
 Is eachdridh shair am blair nam beud. 
 is eo-ri' hayr am blayr nam beyd 
 
 Seimi da mi, ef cetera. 
 
 A Mhaighdeann Shith. 
 
 'S tuille 's fada 'n diugh air ceillidh, 
 s tuylle s fada 'n di-u' ayr ceyli' 
 
 A Mam-mor na fasach feille, 
 a mam-mor na fasach feylli' 
 
 Siubhladh mid gu h-eatrom eibbein, 
 si-UT-la' mid gu he-trom eyveyn 
 
 Cru Lochtreig nan reidhlean tlath. 
 gu loch-treyg nan reylen tla' 
 
 Siubhladh mid fiamhaidh, fairrel, 
 si-nv-la' mid fi-avi' fayrrel 
 
 Fiamhaidh, fairrel, fiamhaidh, fairrel, 
 fi-avi' fayrrel fi-avi' fayrrel 
 
 Shiubhladh mid fiamhaidh, fairrel, 
 si-uv-la' mid fi-avi' fayrrel 
 
 Gu Lochtreig nan reidhlein tlath, 
 gu loch-treyg nan rey'-leyn tla' 
 
 Far an seinnear orain chianael, 
 far an seynner o-rayn chi-an-el 
 
 Shith-bhrugh aillidh nan tend seunael ; 
 hi-vru ayh' nan teyd seynnel 
 
 Far an seinnear orain chianael, 
 far an seynner o-rayn chi-anel 
 
 Shith-bhrugh aillidh nan tor ard. 
 hi-vru' ayle nan tor ard 
 
 And when goes the sun into his pavi- 
 lion in the west, 
 
 And the world under the mantle of 
 evening swarthy, 
 
 Will be heard by us music from the 
 sweetest chords, 
 
 And the history of heroes in the bat- 
 tles of wounds. 
 Sing to me, &c. 
 
 The Fairy Maiden. 
 Too long, to-day, have we tarried 
 
 In Mam-mor of forests genial ; 
 
 Travel we lightly and joyously. 
 
 To Lochtreig of pleasant meadows. 
 
 Travel we warily, shyly. 
 
 Warily, shyly, warily, shyly ; 
 
 Travel we warily, shyly, 
 
 To Lochtreig of pleasant meadows. 
 
 Where sung is the song plaintive 
 
 Of the fairy-knowe beautiful, of charm- 
 
 . ed chords ; 
 WTiere sung is the song plaintive 
 
 Of the fairy-knowe beautiful, of wooded 
 mountains high. 
 
 Before entering on the song part of the work, I beg to submit a specimen 
 of Duncan Ban's descriptive poem of Corriecheathaich, to enable the reader to 
 appreciate the correctness of Lord Macaulay's statement, that a love of land- 
 scape is a taste of modern times. Had he read Gaelic poetry, he might have 
 been saved from the utterance of this and many opinions that do him little 
 credit, either as a man or a historian. I regret giving only a few lines of this 
 poem. 
 
 COIRE-A-CHEATHAICH. — LITERALLY, THE COREIE OF THE MIST. 
 
 Sa mhadain chiun-gheal an am dhomh In the morning mild and bright, 
 sa vad-ayn chi-un-yel an am yov when 
 
 dusgadh, 
 ddsg-a' 
 
144 
 
 THE POETRY 
 
 Aig bun na stuice be 'n sugra leom, 
 ayg bun na Btnyc-h be'n su-gra le-om 
 
 A chearc le sgiucan a gabhail tuchain, 
 a chero le sgi-uc-an a ga-vayl tu-chayn 
 
 'S an coileach curtail a durdail trom ; 
 'san cojlech ourt-ayl a durd-ayl trom 
 
 An dreathan surdail 's a ribhid cbiuil aige, 
 an dre'-an surd-ayl sa ri-vid ohi-nyl ayg-^ 
 
 A cuir nan smuid dbetb gu luthar binn ; 
 a cuyr nan smuyd ye' gu lu'-ar binn 
 
 An truid 's am bru-dhearg le moran 
 an truyd sam bru-yerag le moran 
 
 unaich, 
 un-aych 
 
 Ei ceileir sundach bu shiubhlach rann. 
 rl ceyleyr sundach bn hi-ul-ach rann 
 
 Eising at the foot of a rock, it was my 
 delight 
 
 To hear the heath-hen plaintively- 
 murmuring her carrol, 
 
 And the black-cock courteously croon- 
 ing his response deep ; 
 
 The wren merrily tuning her chanter 
 musical, 
 
 And piping (" with might and main") 
 nimbly and sweetly ; 
 
 The linnet and the red-breast osten- 
 tatiously, 
 
 Breathing joyous lays in flowing 
 numbers. 
 
 Tha maladh ghruamach do bhiolair uaine 
 ha mal-a' yru-a-maoh do vil-ayr u-aynfe 
 
 Mu na h-uile fuaran a tha san f honn, 
 mn na h-uyle fn-a-ran a ha san onn 
 
 Is doire shealbhag am bun nan garbh- 
 is doyr hela-vag am bun nan garv 
 
 chlach, 
 chlach 
 
 Is grinneal gainbhich gu minibh-gheal 
 is grinnel gaynv-ich gu min-lv-yel 
 
 pronn, 
 pronn 
 
 Nan glugabh plumbach air ghoil gun 
 nan glug-av plum-bach ayr yoyl gun 
 
 aon-teas, 
 aon-tea 
 
 Ach coileach buirn tighin a grund eas-lom ; 
 ach coylech bnyrn ti'-iu a grund es-lom 
 
 Gach sruthan uasai le chuailean* du- 
 gach Bra' -an n-a-sal le chn-ayl-en dn 
 
 ghorm, 
 yorm 
 
 A ruith tre luib na thair stuic nan steall. 
 a ruy' tre luyb na hayr stuyc nan ste-all 
 
 There is a shaggy brow of green 
 
 cresses 
 Around every spring in the forest, 
 
 A grove of sorrel around the rough 
 stones, 
 
 And in every channel a thick covering 
 of powered sand, 
 
 With basin-like hollows, in which, 
 boiling without heat, 
 
 Bubbles up a cock of water from its 
 polished fountain ; 
 
 Every gentle streamlet, with its dark- 
 blue cuy-len,* 
 
 Meandering through meadows, or leap- 
 ing over rocks in mimic waterfalls. 
 
 * There are some Gaelic words that cannot be translated into English without a violation of the 
 characteristic delicacy and refinement of feeling which they imply. It would occupy too much space to 
 illustrate here a question of philology which inTolvea a peculiarity in the character of a people. I may 
 observe, however, that it would shock the delicacy of an ancient Highlander to designate the natural 
 covering of a woman's head and a cow's tail by the same name. Nay, more : he could not call the hair 
 of a grey-headed harridan and of a modest and beautiful woman, by the same name. His general name 
 for the human hair is " folt," and for the hair of animals, " Sonna ;" but he calls the flowing ringlets 
 of the young and beautiful, " cuailean," and the hair of the aged and plain, " folt." I am, therefore, at 
 a loss how to render either " cuailean" or " cuaineal," which occur in these verses, into English, without 
 doing violence to the good taste of the bard and the genius of the language. I must, therefore, beg to 
 be excused for retaining a few of these peculiar words, and leaving the text to explain their meaning. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 145 
 
 Tha 'm bradan tara-gheal sa choire 
 ha'm t)radan tai'a-yel sa choyre 
 
 gharbhlaich, 
 yarv-laych 
 
 A tighin bho'n fhairge bu ghailbheach 
 ■ a ti'-in von ayrg-e bu yaylv-ech 
 
 tonn. 
 tonn 
 
 Le luinneas meamneach a ceapa mhenibli- 
 le luynnes mema-nech a cepa veniv 
 
 chuilleag, 
 chuyll-ag 
 
 Gru neo-chearbach le cbamghob crom. 
 gu ne-o-cherb-aoh le ohama-yob orom 
 
 Air bhoinne borb is e learn gu foirmel, 
 ayr voynn^ borb is e lem gu foyrm-el 
 
 Na eideadh cholgail bu gborm-ghlas ligb, 
 na eyd-e' cholg-ayl bn yorm-ylas li' 
 
 Le sboilsein airgid gu h-iteacb menibb- 
 le hoyl-sen ayrg-id gu hit-ech meniv 
 
 hbreac, 
 vreo 
 
 Gu lannach dearg-bhallach earrgheal 
 ga lannach derag-Tallach erra-yeal 
 
 sliom. 
 slim 
 
 Tbe white-bosomed salmon is seen in 
 the corrie rugged, 
 
 Fresh from the sea of stupendous, 
 waves. 
 
 Sportful in his proud career, he springs 
 at the midges, 
 
 Snatching them unerringly with his 
 
 crooked beak. 
 Through the fierce rapids he bounds 
 
 exultingly, 
 In his armour of blue-grey mail, 
 
 Traced with silver; he is finny, 
 minutely speckled, 
 
 Scaly, crimson-spotted, breast white, 
 symmetrical. 
 
 Grheibhte daonan mu d'ghlacaibh faoine 
 yeyv-te daonan mu d'ylao-ayv faoyn^ 
 
 Na h-aighean maoladh, na laoigh 's na 
 na hay'-en maol-a' na laoy' 's na 
 
 maing ; — 
 mayng 
 
 Se bu mhian linn a madainn ghrianaich, 
 se bu vi-an linn a ma-daynn yri-an-ich 
 
 Bhi dol ga'n ialadh miasg shliabh is 
 vi dol gan i-al-a' mesg li-av is 
 
 ghleann ; 
 ylenn 
 
 Ged thigeadh siantan oim an dile, 
 ged hig-e' si-an-tan oyrn an dile 
 
 Bhiodh seol gar didean sa chrioch nach 
 Ti-o' se-ol gar did-en sa chrich naoh 
 
 gann,— 
 gana 
 
 An uibheig iosail am bun na frithidh, 
 an uy-veyg i-sayl am bun na fii-i' 
 
 Le leobain diomhair gu sineadh teann. 
 le leb-ayn di-ov-ayr gu sin-e' tenn 
 
 Found always in the sequestred 
 
 hollows 
 Are the bold hinds, with their calves 
 
 and yearlings ; — 
 
 It is our delight in the sunny morning, 
 
 To stalk for them the wolds and 
 glens ; 
 
 Though the embattled elements should 
 come on us in a deluge, 
 
 There are means of shelter in the 
 bounds ample, — 
 
 Little caves at the foot of the forest, 
 
 With secret beds in which to stretch 
 ourselves in close confinement. 
 
 T 
 
146 
 
 THE POETRY OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Biodh eoin an t-shleibhe nan ealtain 
 vi-o' e-oyn an tleyv-fe naa elt-aya 
 
 glile-ghloin, 
 
 yle-yloyn 
 
 A cluich air geugaibh 's a seinn sa choil ; 
 a clnych ayr yeyg-ayv sa seynn sa choyl 
 
 An uiseag cheutacli'saluinneagfhein aic', 
 an uys-ag che-taoh sa luynn-eg heyn aye 
 
 An f headag speiseil gu reidh a seinn ; 
 an ed-ag speys-eyl gu rey' a seynn 
 
 A chuach 's an smeorach a'm bar nan 
 a clm-ach san sme-or-ach am bar nan 
 
 ogan; 
 ogan 
 
 A gabhail oraiu gu ceolar binn ; 
 a gav-ayl or-ayn gn ce-ol-ar binn 
 
 Noir gboireas baileach an cuanal tairis, 
 noyr yoyr-es bayl-ech an cn-an-al tayria 
 
 Ni creagan sanas is gleannaibh failt ! 
 ni cregan sanas is glenn-ayv faylt 
 
 The birds of the wolds forming a 
 pure eltayn, 
 
 Sport and sing among the boughs of 
 
 the wood ; 
 The tuneful lark sings with a carol all , 
 
 her own, 
 The plover, with her clear notes, 
 
 responds afar ; 
 The cushet and the thrush, high on 
 
 the trees. 
 
 Sing their lays harmonious and sweet; 
 
 When the loving cuaineal sing 
 
 thoroughly, 
 The rocks whisper and the glens 
 
 smile ! 
 
THE MUSIC OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 The difference between the Highland and Lowland versions of many of our 
 sweetest melodies, and between the songs sung to them in either dialect, afford 
 fair data for forming an opinion as to the state of society and refinement of the 
 one people on a comparison with the other ; — and as one of the objects of this 
 treatise is to submit the necessary materials on the part of the Caledonian or 
 Highlander, — those of the Scot or Lowlander are already, and have long been 
 before the world, — I challenge a comparison, and leave the public to decide the 
 question. The Gaelic song, in a literal translation, cannot justly be compared 
 to the Lowland song in its native language ; and in comparing my translations 
 to the Lowland song, due allowance must be made for the severe translation ; but 
 the melodies may be compared. The Lowland melody bears intrinsic evidence 
 of the genius of her rich, smooth, genial, native district, being characterized 
 by a yielding warmth and a pliant softness, which contrast with the wayward 
 pathos and unbending spirit of Highland melody. The Lowland nymph finds 
 leisure now and again to breathe a heavy sigh over the bier of a husband, or to 
 faint away with a long-drawn sob of joy on a lover's bosom ; while her High- 
 land sister, whether she pours out her soul in a heart-rending wail of grief, or 
 quivers in every nerve and pulse with joyful ecstacy, sweeps along on her airy 
 course, with the lofty bearing and undoubting steps of her native mountain 
 race. No doubt, she pants once or twice, now and again, in every natural 
 pause in the line or verse, from excess of feeling and excitement, and the 
 emphatic single and double notes, which represent these pants, disturb the som- 
 nolency of tone desiderated in plaintive Lowland melodies. But these are 
 characteristic and peculiar marks of Highland melodies, and have been ignored, 
 accordingly, by the Lowland minstrel and bard, in such Highland melodies as 
 have been effectually changed into Lowland melodies ; the single note being 
 lengthened into a drawl, and the double note into ati interminable slide. This 
 seems to have been the initiating step in the system of harmony which, under 
 
148 THE MUSIC 
 
 the scientific knowledge of time and tune attained by the great Masters of 
 modem times, had revolutionized the whole materials out of which has been 
 re-composed the music now fashionable in Europe.* Though anything but 
 versant in the science of music, I am not, I think, altogether incapable of ap- 
 preciating the wonderful variety of adverse sounds, the playful eccentricities 
 and ethereal vagaries methodized and combined into musical pieces by the 
 great masters; and, when listening to them in the mo'dern drawing-room, 
 although amused rather than delighted, I cannot help admiring the wonderful 
 effects of a musical education on persons peculiarly organized, and of highly 
 artificial tastes. T may remark, however, that M'. Jullien did not attempt to 
 perform any of these pieces on any single musical instrument, but considered it 
 necessary to have the combined force of a thousand different instruments to 
 represent them ; and the managers of concerts in the York and other Cathedrals, 
 also formed choirs of several thousand voices to produce the like effect. This, 
 however, only shows that M. Jullien and these managers were destitute of 
 musical genius, when compared to the bald-headed or wigged gentlemen and 
 loud or shrill-voiced ladies, who set themselves down with such complacency to 
 conjure thunder-storms, earthquakes, and other convulsions of Nature, out 
 of the piano ! 
 
 But this subject is too grave for sarcasm. I am satisfied that the music of 
 the great Masters has now become the capital or stock-in-trade of the most 
 injurious quackery, — I should say ludicrious quackery, — and has thoroughly 
 corrupted the musical taste and education of the fashionable, or, rather, would- 
 be fashionable part of society. It has unquestionably beea lessening the 
 attachment of sense and sound, until music has become so whimsical, or mounte- 
 lanldsh, so estranged from all natural and hereditary feeling, as to forget that 
 poetry is her twin-sister, and of equally divine birth with herself. Hence, she 
 is, as now cultivated in our schools, and practised in our drawing-rooms, become 
 incapable of affording pleasure to any person of fine feelings and natural tastes. 
 I can scarcely forgive Harmony, although she is the offspring of Genius, for 
 having thus so perverted and denationalized Melody, as to render her no longer 
 capable of thrilling the hearts and elevating the lives of the people ; and when 
 she puts forth her hand to manipulate on my own dear, wild, wayward, touching, 
 native airs,— altering, substituting, shortening, lengthening, or sliding notes into 
 one another, or rending them into quavers or demi-quavers of all sounds and 
 dimensions, I abhor her very shadow! Indeed, although many gentlemen 
 possess, or affect a taste for modern music, and may well be excused for bendmg 
 with pleasure over the fair creatures who ply the piano with a self-satisfied air, 
 on the assurance of their lisping foreign teachers, that they have attained per- 
 fection in musical science,— of which they, of course, constitute themselves and 
 
 # The Prince of Canino wrote to a friend in Italy, in the days of James I., a letter descriptive of Scottish 
 or Lowland melody, and expressing his intention of introducing that style of music, on his return home, as 
 an improTement on that of his native land. Tassoni also describes Scottish music as of a touching and 
 melancholy or lamenting character, and states that he had himself adapted and composed many pieces in that 
 style. It does not, therefore, seem presumptuous to say that Scottish Melody had been borrowed by Harmony 
 to improve the music of Italy, and that modem music is the result of this iU-assorted marriage between the 
 natural and the artificial. ^ wouwccu ui 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 149 
 
 their pupils the sole judges, — ^laughing or sneering at the ignorance of all who 
 differ from them : yet the fact is, that the sound of the piano has a regularly 
 Bull's-iTin effect on most gentlemen. I have myself no doubt, that horror of 
 this musical infliction, rather than of the curtain lecture, is at the root of the 
 distaste for a married life, so apparent at present in gfentlemen who have not 
 attained either a self-sufficient initiation into the science of modern music, or 
 that position in society where the artificial totally supercedes the natural. 
 Young ladies may take my word for it, that the music which does not touch 
 the heart, will never win a heart worth loving. 
 
 The Highlanders are much indebted to the Eev. Mr Macdonald, and to 
 Messrs Grow, Marshall, and others, for having rescued so much of the music of 
 their ancestors from comparative obscurity ; but they baptized it anew, after 
 their patrons and patronesses, and have thus made on strangers the impression 
 that they were the composers of the music which they only copied and 
 published. I do not think that they intended to do this ; but it was in very 
 bad taste to give new names to these old tunes and airs, and thus to deprive 
 them of the signet of antiquity which descended with them from remote ages. 
 At the same time, they thus left to their musical successors a lesson of snobbery 
 and servility, which they, in th6ir turn, have not been slow in stamping on the 
 very forehead of the national music, — a lesson only equalled by the fulsonae and 
 nauseous dedications of the feudal bards of the Lowlands of Scotland and England. 
 
 The first verse of the following song, Nighean Donn na Buaile, was quoted 
 by Logan as one of the specimens by which he illustrated the great variety of 
 measures of Gaelic poetry. As this song is a fair average specimen of the Gaelic 
 love song, which was characterized more by a dignified tenderness and a fixed 
 constancy than by a wayward fervor, I will make it my first specimen of its 
 class. The melody is, in the Highlands, called " Fell Chill Andraes," (feyl chill 
 andras) St Andrew's Fair, and has been naturalized in the Lowlands under the 
 more homely name of " Johnny's Grey Breeks," which, though certainly very 
 beautiful, is no improvement on the original. I have no wish to detract from 
 Scottish or Lowland melodies, but must say that the great body of those of them 
 which have an unquestionably Caledonian or Highland origin, have been any- 
 thing but improved by their transformation. 
 
 NIGHEAN BONN NA BUAILE.* 
 
 A nighean donn na buaile. Brown-haired maiden of the fold, 
 
 a ni'-en donn na bu-ayle • 
 
 Ga bheil an gluasad farasda. Whose movements are so graceful, 
 
 ga veyl an gln-as-ad farasda 
 
 * For the melody of " Nighean Donn na Buaile," and many others, I am indebted to Mrs Macdonell, 
 Keppoch, whose exquisite taste for Gaelic music worthily represents the genius of the House of Keppoch, 
 which has been so long the residence of music, poetry, and heroism. To Mrs Macdonell and her 
 daughter Miss Jessie, I am under deep obligations, not only for the number of melodies witt which 
 they have favoured me, but for the unwearied kindness with which they consulted my wishes, and cheer- 
 fully met the increasing demands their possession of the same sets of the ihelodies with which I wag 
 acquainted in my youth, made me venture to make on their indulgence ; and I beg their acceptance of 
 my sincere and grateful thanks. 
 
150 
 
 Thug mi gaol ro-bhuan dhut 
 
 hug mi gaol ro-vu-ayn yut 
 
 Nach dian le cruidh-chas meathachadh. 
 naoh di-an le cruy'-ohas me'-a-cha' 
 
 Mheall u mi le d' shugradh, 
 veil u mi le d' bu-gra' 
 
 Le d' bhriodal is le d' chiune ; 
 le d' vri-dal is le d' ohi-u-ne 
 
 Lub u mi mar iuran, — 
 lub n mi mar i-u-ran 
 
 Cha duchas a bhi fallain dhomh. 
 cha du-chas a vi fallayn yov 
 
 Do chul don, maiseach ordail, 
 do chul don maysh-ach ordayl 
 
 Gu bachlacb, boidheach, camagach ; 
 gu bach-lach boy-eoh cama-gach 
 
 T-aghaidh flathail, comhnard, 
 ta'-ay' fla'-ayl cov-nard 
 
 Mar itean loin do mhalaichean ; 
 mar iten loyn do val-ayoh-en 
 
 Do shuillean gorma miogach, 
 do huyll-en gorma mi-gach 
 
 Koisg f hada cumail dionn orr ; 
 roysg ada cumayl dionn orr 
 
 Do bheulan meachair maoth-dhearg ; 
 do veylan me-chayr mao'-yerag 
 
 Do gbruaidh mar chaoran mheaganan. 
 do yru-ay' mar chaoran veng-an-an 
 
 Mar reul a measg an t-shluaighe u, 
 mar re-ul a me-asg an tlu-ay u 
 
 Nam gluasad a chum lionalaidh ; 
 nam glu-a-sad a chum tinal-ay' 
 
 Tha t-ailleachd a toirt buaidh, 
 ha tayll-echd a toyrt bu-ay' 
 
 Air each uille an snuadh 's an ceanaltas ; 
 ayr each nylle an snu-a' san cenaltas 
 
 Do chiochan, mingeal, arda, 
 do chi-o-cban min-yel ard-a 
 
 Fo sgaile sroil a dealradh ; 
 fo sgayle sroyl a del-ra' 
 
 'S mar eala snamh air saile, 
 smar ella suav ayr eayle 
 
 Tha ceumaibh graidh na h-ainnire. 
 ha ceym-ayv gray' na baynnire 
 
 0' d' bheul gur binn hig orain, 
 o' d! veyl gur bum big or-ayn 
 
 Manran, ceol, is ceilerean. 
 man-ran ce-ol ia ceyleren 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 I have given thee a love 
 
 Too constant to be subdued by 
 
 adversity. 
 Thy gay converse has enticed me, 
 
 Thy sportful minstrelsy, thy mildness ; 
 
 Thou hast bent me like a sapling, — 
 
 Health without thee cannot be mine. 
 
 Thy hair brown, beautifully arranged 
 
 In bonny bending curls ; 
 
 Thy face noble, symmetrical, 
 
 Thy eye-brows as the feathers of a 
 
 blackbird ; 
 Thy eyes blue, fascinating. 
 
 Covered with long lashes ; 
 
 The lips mellow, red ; 
 
 Thy cheek like the rowan berry. 
 
 Thou art like a planet among the 
 
 people, 
 When going to a gathering ; 
 
 Thy beauty triumphs over all others, 
 
 Thy complexion, the pleasantry ; 
 
 Thy bosom soft, white, high. 
 
 Under a veil of gauze shining ; 
 
 And as a swan swimming on the sea, 
 
 Are the lovely steps of the maiden. 
 
 From thy lips sweet come the song. 
 
 The carol, melody, and sportful 
 minstrelsy. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 151 
 
 Gur binne leom do chomhradh 
 gnr binne le-em do chov-ra' 
 
 Na'n smeoil a 'm bar na meanganan. 
 nan sme-oyl am bar na mengauan 
 
 O'n chuir mi 'n tus ort eolas, 
 on chnyr mi 'n tus ort e-o-las 
 
 G-u'n d'thug mi gaol cho mor ort, 
 gnn dug mi gaol cho mor ort 
 
 Mar fhaidh mi u ri phosadh, 
 mar fay' mi n ri fosa' 
 
 Gu'n cuir do bhron fo'n talamh mi. 
 gun cuyr do vron fon 
 
 Sweeter to me is thy conversati6n 
 
 Than the thrush on the topmost 
 
 branchea 
 Since I first made thy acquaintance, 
 
 So great has been my love to thee, 
 
 That unless I receive thee in marriage, 
 
 Sorrow for thee will put me under 
 the sward. 
 
 Mari Nighean Alisdair Euaidh, (Maiy the Daughter of Eed Alexander,) 
 from whose works Logan selected many of the verses of his able introduction 
 to Mackenzie's Collection, among many others which may justly be called the 
 most exquisite remains of our sixteenth century poems, without excepting those 
 of the Piobaire Dall himself, left several laments. One of these, called " Oumha 
 Mhic Leoid," is very touching. I will submit a few verses of it, to show the 
 variety of measures at her command. She was born in the Island of Harris, 
 about the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 
 'S trom a mulad a shugh 
 8 trom a mulad a buy 
 
 'M aiteas, 'm aille, 's mo lugh ; 
 maytea mayll 's mo lu' 
 
 'S trie snithe bho'm shuil 
 'fl trio sni'-d vom huyl 
 
 A tuitam gu dlu ; 
 a tuytam gu dlu 
 
 Chail mi altruman m' iuil, 
 chayl mi altruman mi-nyl 
 
 Fear deacidh mo chiuil ; 
 fer dec-ay' mo chi-uyl 
 
 Gu mire na muirn cha teid mi. 
 gu mir& na muym cha teyd mi 
 
 Si'n fhras nach ciuin, 
 sin ras nach ci-uyn 
 
 A chreach air muir, 
 a chrech ayr muyr 
 
 A shrac air siuil, 
 a h-rac ayr si-uyl 
 
 Sa bhrist air stiuir, 
 83 vrist ayr sti-nyr 
 
 Is cairt air iuil, 
 is oayrt ayr i-nyl 
 
 CXJMHA MHIC LEOID, 
 
 Heavy is the grief that absorbed 
 
 Myhappiness,myb6auty,my strength; 
 
 Often tears from my eyes 
 
 Fall in quick succession ; 
 
 I have lost the nursling of my lore, 
 
 The inspirer of my lays ; 
 
 To banquet or merry-making I will 
 not go. 
 
 'Twas a hail-storm, not mild, 
 
 That desolated our homes. 
 
 That rent our sails. 
 
 And broke our helm. 
 
 Our card of knowledge, (compass) 
 
152 
 
 'S air taice cuil, 
 sayr tayo^ ouyl 
 
 Bha again san Dun eibhinn. 
 va agen san dun ey-vinn 
 
 Mo mhisneach 's mo threoir, 
 mo visnech 's mo h-re-oyr 
 
 Fo thasgadh a bhord, 
 fo hasg-a.' a vord 
 
 Sar mhac mhic Leoid 
 sar vac vie le-oyd 
 
 Na'm bratach sroil, 
 nam bratach sroyl 
 
 Bha fial le or, 
 va fi-al le or 
 
 'S bu bhinne sgeoil 
 'a bu viune sge-oyl 
 
 Na clarsach is ceol Erin, 
 na dar-sach ia ce-ol ey-rin 
 
 THE MOSIC 
 
 The stay at our bark, 
 We had at the Dun of joy. 
 
 My courage, my strength, 
 
 (Is) wrapped in boards, 
 
 The surpassing son of Leod 
 
 Of silken banners. 
 
 That was liberal with gold, 
 
 Whose lays were more sweet 
 
 Than the harps and music of Erin. 
 
 The Highland chiefs, on the succession of the king of Scotland to the 
 throne of England, seem to have forgot that it was not the object of feudal 
 charters in Scotland, to deprive the people of their immemorial right of property 
 in the soil, but to assimilate the patriarchal system to that subordination of 
 ranks which made the feudal system, introduced into England by the Normans, 
 so much more efficient for warfare. The intention of the Scottish kings 
 evidently was, by making chiefships hereditary and dependant on the crown, 
 instead of elective and dependant on the people, to assimilate the chiefs to the 
 crown vassals, and make them thus amenable to the despotism at which they 
 aimed. That the charters had no other object than this, to subserve the regal 
 despotism, is proved by the fact, that, while the crown continued despotic, the 
 feudal superior was not allowed to oppress, increase the rents, or alter the fixed 
 tenures of the clans ; and that the charters were, in innumerable instances, 
 recalled or transferred at the pleasure of the king. A change seems now to 
 have come over king and chiefs alike, however, and it was evidently determined 
 to give the same effect to charters granted over the unconquered lands of 
 the clans of Scotland, which they had received over the conquered lands of the 
 people of England. The bards were the first victims of the change. I have 
 not space to detail the evictions, but may remark that Clanranald's bard was 
 ejected from Balivaird, which was possessed for ages by his ancestors under the 
 cleachda, in the beginning of the eighteenth centurjr, as is shown in a most 
 interesting statement made on oath by his son, and which has been published 
 by the Highland Society, to account for the destruction of the manuscript of 
 the Clanranald family. When the other children of song were thus stripped 
 and ejected, and wandered through the country, living on the hospitality of the 
 people, Mari received a pension from her chief. Sir Norman Macleod, and lived 
 in comparative wealth. Her house was always open to, and formed the head- 
 
OF THE HIOHLANl) CLANS. 153 
 
 quarters of the bards. This being distasteful to other chiefs, who, like less 
 dignified wrong-doers, conceived a deadly hostility to their victims. Sir Norman 
 was prevailed on to place Mari in the more inaccessible island of Scarba; 
 exacting from her, at the same time, a promise that she would compose no 
 more orain, or songs. Mari found it impossible to keep this promise ; but, by 
 way of a compromise with her honour, I presume, she called all her subsequent 
 compositions, not orain or songs, but cronain or croons. The good-natured 
 chief charged her with a breach of her promise, but she logically maintained, 
 no doubt much to his amusement, that she only wrote " croons," not songs, 
 and did not break her promise. The following croon seems to have led to her 
 recal and reconciliation with her chief, who, I have no doubt, longed as much 
 to see her home as she did to see him. 
 
 THA MI 'm SHUIDHE AIE AN TULAICH. — 1 AM SITTING ON THE HEIGHT. 
 
 Tha mi 'm shuidhe air tulaich, I am sitting on an eminence, 
 
 ha mi'm huy' ayr tulaych / 
 
 Fo mhulad 's fo imecheist, In sorrow and perplexity, 
 
 fo vulad' sfo ime-oheysi 
 
 A coimhead air Isla, Gazing at Islay, 
 
 a ooyv-ed ayr I-la 
 
 (San do'm iognadh gu dearbh e.) (To my own astonishment certainly.) 
 
 san do'm i-ona' gu derav' e 
 
 Bha mi uaire nach do shaoil mi, The time has been when I did not 
 
 va mi u-ayr nach do haoyl mi expect 
 
 Gu 'n caochladh air m' aimsir My condition would be so changed 
 
 gu 'n caochla' ayr m'aymesir 
 
 'S gu 'n thighinn an taobh so. As to make me come in this direction, 
 
 'egun tig-inna n taov so 
 
 A dh-amharc lura a Sgarba. To look at Jura from Scarba. 
 
 a yav-arc i-ura a scaraba 
 
 Fom.—l h-urabh 0, i horinn 0, The object of the Gaelic chorus 
 
 i hu-rav o i horinn o (which in this instance may be con- 
 
 I h-urabh 0, i horinn ; sidered as a corranach, and is untrans- 
 
 i hu-rav i horinn o lateable) was to make the audience 
 
 Ihu-uirabhO, i-hogaidhhoro, realize the emotions the soilg was 
 
 i hu-rav o i-hogay' ho ro j. j. ^ -j. t i ; ^i 
 
 ' meant to excite, by makmg them 
 
 Hi ri-rithibh 0, iag 0. ^^^^ ^ in tl^e ^j i _ The songs 
 In n-n'-iv o i-ag o i p ,i . ■ 
 
 intended for public singing were 
 
 therefore generally adapted to airs carried down by tradition, and which were 
 already known to, and favourites with the people. In the absence of the 
 chorus, which was only the case in triads, or songs of three lines, the verse 
 was first sung by the professional vocalist, or the best amateur singer present, 
 and then, by the audience, who usually stood in a circle, their hands joined 
 by means of bonnets and scarfs, which they kept waving in accordance with 
 the time and spirit of the melody. This custom came down to my younger 
 days ; and I have seen numerous companies joining in singing songs in the 
 above style, with a sympathy which leaves no doubt on my mind that the 
 
 u 
 
154 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Druid system of cultivating the hearts of the people by meaus of poetry and 
 music, was infinitely superior, in so far as the masses were concerned, to a 
 lettered education. 
 
 With these remarks, I submit to the reader one or two more verses of 
 this poem. The last line, or two lines of every verse of this and similar songs, 
 were repeated to aid the memory, — ^for when songs of a narrative or historical 
 character were intended for being sung, their length suggested such repetitions 
 as rendered it almost impossible for the singer to forget the succeeding lines. 
 The airs of the historical poems were, properly speaking, not melodies, but a 
 musical and pleasing style of reciting poetry. The historical poems of Ossian, 
 and the other ancient bards, were thus recited. 
 
 Gu 'n thighinn an taobh so, 
 gu 'n dig-inn an taov so 
 
 A dh-amharc lura a Scarba! 
 a yavarc i-ura a soaraba 
 
 Thoir mo shoraidh do'n duthaich, 
 hoyr mo horay' do'n du-'aych 
 
 Tha fo dhubhar nan garbh-bheunn, 
 ha fo yuvar nan gary-veynn 
 
 Gu Shir Tormaid ur ailleal, 
 gu sir toro-mayd ur ayllel 
 
 Fhuair ceannais air armailt ; 
 h-n-ayr cennas ayr arm-aylt 
 
 'S gu'n caint ann 's gach fearann, 
 8 gu'n caynt anns gaoh ferrann, 
 
 Gu'm b-airidh fear t-ainm air. 
 gu'nj bayr-i' fer taynim ayr 
 
 Hi iurabh, etc. 
 
 Gu'n caint ann 's gach fearann, 
 'gu'n caynt anns gach ferrann 
 
 Gu 'm b-airidh fear t-ainm air : 
 gu 'm b-ayri' fer t-aynim ayr 
 
 Fear do cheille do ghliocais, 
 fer to cheyll^. do yli-ocaysh 
 
 Do mhisnich do mheamneadh, 
 do visnich do vemene' 
 
 Do chruadail do ghaisge, 
 do chra-atayl do yoysge 
 
 Do dhreachadh 's do dhealbha, 
 do yrech-a' s do yel-ava 
 
 Is t-olachd is t-uaisle, 
 is tolac is t-u-aysle 
 
 Cha bu shuarach ri leanamhuin. 
 cha bn hu-a-rach ri lena-vuyn 
 
 Hi iurabh, etc. 
 
 That I should come in this direction. 
 
 To look at Jura from Scarba ! 
 
 Bear my salutation to the country. 
 
 That (nestles) under the shadow of 
 the rough mountains. 
 
 To Sir Norman, lofty and illustrious. 
 
 Who has obtained the leading of an 
 army; 
 
 And they say in eveiy land 
 It is deserved by a man of his name. 
 It is, etc. 
 
 They say in every land 
 It is deserved by a man of his name : 
 His understanding, his wisdom. 
 His courage, his magnanimity, 
 His hardihood, his heroism, 
 His bearing, his figure, 
 And his blood and pedigree 
 Are not unworthy of being recorded. 
 Are not, etc. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 155 
 
 I cannot part with Mari without quoting a verse or two of the "croon," 
 or chaunt : — 
 
 Gu dun turaideach ard, 
 gu dun turaydach ard 
 
 Am bidh tunaidh nam bard, 
 am bi' tnnay' nam bard 
 
 'S na fillidh 's binn dain, 
 8 na fiUi' 8 binn dayn 
 
 'S na'n cupaichean Ian, 
 8 nan capaychen lann 
 
 Aig ol slainte mo ghraidh, Tormaid, 
 ayg ol slaynt^ mo yray' tormayd 
 
 Aig ol, etc. 
 
 B'e sin aros nach crion, 
 b'e sin aros nach cri-on 
 
 Am biadh garaich na 'm piob, 
 am bi' garaych na 'm pi-ob 
 
 'S nan clarsach a stridh, 
 8 nan clarsach a stii' 
 
 Is dearsa na 'm pios, 
 is dersa na 'm pi-os 
 
 Air in strachdadh, le fion, 
 ayr in straca' le fi-on 
 
 Ni soils' ann an ghniomh or-cheard 
 ni soylah ann an gni-ov or-cherd 
 
 Ni, etc. 
 
 B'e do dhuchas 's do dhual, 
 be do yuchas s do yn-al 
 
 Bhi gu fantalach buain, 
 vi gu fantalach bu-ayn 
 
 Ann an carraid 's an cruadhas ; 
 ann an carrayt s an cru-a'as 
 
 Garg a prosnachadh sluaigh ; 
 garag a pros-nacha' sln-ay' 
 
 Baighael am buaidh ; 
 bay'el am 
 
 AN CKONAN. — THE CEOON. 
 
 To the castle turreted, lofty, 
 
 The home of the bards. 
 
 And minstrels of sweet lays, 
 
 (Who) with flowing cups, 
 
 Toast healths to my beloved Norman. 
 
 Toast, etc. 
 That is the mansion not paltry, 
 
 Mosglach an uair foirneart. 
 mosglach an n-ayr foymert 
 
 Mosglach, etc. 
 
 Leansa, 's na treig, 
 lensa a na treyg 
 
 Cleachda is beus, 
 clechda' is beys 
 
 Where is heard the streaming notes of 
 
 the pipe 
 And of the harp, in competition ; 
 
 And is seen the gleaming of cups, 
 
 Charged to the brim with wine, 
 
 Radiant in the work of the goldsmiths. 
 
 Eadiant, etc. 
 It is thy native and hereditary right 
 To be patient, stedfast, 
 In extreme conflicts ; 
 Fierce when exciting the people ; 
 Compassionate in victory ; 
 Vigilant in the time of oppression. 
 
 Vigilant, etc. 
 Follow, and forsake not 
 The customs and virtues 
 
156 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 T-aiteam gu leir ; 
 taytem ga leyr 
 
 Macanta seamh, 
 raacanta seyv 
 
 Pailt ri luchd theud, 
 paylt ri luo heyd 
 
 Ghaigeal an gleus, 
 gaysgel an gleys 
 
 Neartmlior an deigh torachd. 
 nertvor an dey torao 
 
 Neartmhor, etc. 
 
 Of thy race, unfailingly ; 
 Modest and mild, 
 Liberal to the tuneful profession, 
 Heroic in deeds, 
 
 Strong in the pursuit of spoilers. 
 Strong, etc. 
 
 I cannot afford room for the whole of the song called " Fuaim an t-Shaimh," 
 (the Voice of Silence,) by Mari, which I regret, as an extract breaks the con- 
 nexion between the solemn and touching reflections forming the introductory 
 verses and the descriptive panegyric, which is so combined and perfect as to 
 make their separation very injurious ; but they are so long as to compel me to 
 insert only a small portion of the middle and the concluding verses. 
 
 FUAIM AN T-SHAIMH. — THE VOICE OF SILENCE. 
 
 Bear this salute from me 
 
 To the hall of (social) cups, 
 
 Beir an t-shoraigh so bh-uam 
 beyr an to-ray' so vn-am 
 
 Gu talla nan cuach, 
 gn talla nan cn-ach 
 
 Far'mbitathaichnantruadhdaimhail. — Where the needy find a friendly 
 
 far'm bi ta'-aych nan tru-a' dayv-ayl welcome. 
 
 Far, etc. Where, etc. 
 
 Thun an taighe nach gann, 
 hun an tay'-e nach gann 
 
 Fo'n leathad ad thall, 
 fo'n le'-ad ad hall 
 
 To the house where there is no 
 
 scarcity. 
 Under the opposite declivity, 
 
 Far bheil aighear is ceann mo mhanrain. Where dwells my delight, the inspirer 
 far veyl ay'-er is oenn mo van-rayn of my minstrelsy. — 
 
 Far, etc. Where, etc. 
 
 Tormaid, mo ruin, 
 tor-mayd mo ruyn 
 
 Ollaghaireach u, 
 oUa-yayr-ech u 
 
 Norman, beloved, 
 Learned art thou. 
 
 Foirmeil o thus t-abhaist. — Foirmeil, etc. And energetic in thy every action. — 
 
 foyr-meyl o hus tav-aygt 
 
 Cha'n 'eil cleachdadh bheil brigh 
 cha'n eyl cleo-a' veyl brl' 
 
 Gaisge na gniamh 
 gaysg-e na gni-av 
 
 Nach eil aigneadh mo ghaoil Ian deth.- 
 naoh eyl ayg-ne' mo yaoyl Ian de' 
 
 Nach, etc. 
 
 And, etc. 
 
 There is nothing excellent 
 
 That is not inherent in his mind 
 
 Or realized in his actions. — 
 Or, etc. 
 
Ann an treine san lugb, 
 ann an treyne san In' 
 
 Ann an ceutaidh 's an cliu, 
 ann an cey-tay' 's an cli-u 
 
 Ann am feile'san gnuisnaire. — Ann, etc 
 ann am feyle san gnuys nayrd 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Daring, strength. 
 Elegance, pure fame, 
 
 157 
 
 Ann an gaisge 's an cial, 
 ann an gays-ge san ei-al 
 
 Ann am pailte neo-chrion, 
 ann am payl-te ne-o-chri-on 
 
 Ann a maise 'sa migh ailleachd.-Ann, etc. 
 ann a mayse sa mi-a' ayll-ec 
 
 Ann an cruadal "s an toil, 
 ann an cru-a-dal san toyl 
 
 Ann am buaidh thoirt air sgoil, 
 ann am bu-ay' lioyrt ayr sgoyl ^ 
 
 Ann, an uaisle gu'n cLion caileachd. — 
 ann an n-aysle gun chi-on cayl-eo 
 
 Ann, etc. 
 
 Fhuair u fortan Dhia 
 hu-ayr n fortan o yi-a 
 
 Ben bu shocraiclie cial, 
 ben bu boc-raych-e ci-^ 
 
 Si gu foisteanach fial narach. — Si, etc. 
 si gn foyst-en-ach fl-al narach 
 
 'S bheil cannaich is fiu, 
 '» veyl cannaych is fi-n 
 
 Gu'n sgaile na gnuis, 
 
 gun sgayle na gnuys 
 
 Suairce, ioriosail, ciuin, cairdeil. — 
 su-ayrce ir-is-al ci-uyn oayr-deyl 
 
 Suairce, etc. 
 
 I gun dolaidb fo'n ghrein, 
 i gun dol-ay' fon yreyn 
 
 Gu toileachadh treud ; 
 gu toyl-ech-adh treyd 
 
 Sa h-olacbd a reir ban-righ. — Sa, etc. 
 sa hol-ac a reyr ban-ri' 
 
 Hospitality unpretending. — 
 Hospitality, etc. 
 
 Wamorism, wisdom, 
 
 Social liberality, 
 
 Grace, beauty. — Grace, etc. 
 
 Hardihood, activity. 
 
 The conquest of knowledge, 
 
 High breeding, without effeminacy. — 
 High, etc. 
 
 God has made thee fortunate in a 
 
 wife. 
 Calmly prudent, 
 
 Vigilently prescient, kind, modest. — 
 Vigilently, etc. 
 
 In whom there are attractions and 
 
 worth. 
 Without a frown on her face, 
 
 Affable, lady-like, mild, friendly. — 
 Affable, etc. 
 
 Without one defect under the 8un, 
 
 Inconsistent with the happiness of 
 
 the people ; 
 With blood (pedigree) equal to that 
 
 of the queen.— With, etc. 
 
 Often didst thou preside over the 
 
 banquet, 
 Without fussiness, without confusion, 
 
 'S trie a riaraich u cuilm, 
 stric a ri-ar-aych u cnylem 
 
 Gun trioblaid, gun tuilg, 
 gun tri-o-blayd gun tnyKg 
 
 A nighean tainist Dun-tuilm, slan leat.^ Daughter of the tainister of Duntuilm, 
 a ni'-en taynist dnn-tnylem slan le-at fare-theje-well. — Daughter, etc. 
 
 A nighean, etc. 
 
158 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 My quotations from Mari Nighean Alisdair Euaidh have already trenched on 
 the space intended for other bards, her equals for elegance and tenderness, and 
 her superior for strength and sublimity ; but I must submit two or three verses 
 of " An Talk 'm bu gna le Macleoid," as a specimen of the numerous class of 
 triads that seem to have been such favourites with the bards. 
 
 GUR MULADACH TEA MI. — SOEKOWFUL AM L 
 
 Leat bu mheanach coin luthmhor 
 let bu vi-anach ooyn lu'vor 
 
 Dhol a shiubhal nan stuc-bheinn, 
 yol a hi-u-val nan stuo-veynn 
 
 'Sa gunna nach diulta ri ord. — 
 sa gunna nacli di-ulta ri ord 
 
 Leat, etc. 
 
 Si do lamh nach robh tuisleach 
 si do lav nach ror tuyshlech 
 
 Dhol a chaitheamh a chuspair, 
 yol a chay'-ev a chuspayr 
 
 Le d' bhoghadh caol ruiteach deo neoil. 
 le d' vo'-a' caol ruytech de-o ne-oyl 
 
 Si, etc. 
 
 Glac chrom air do shliosaid, 
 glac chrom ayr do h-li-asayd 
 
 Do shaighdean snaighte gu'n iaradh, 
 do hay'-den snay'te gun i-ar-a' 
 
 'M bar dosrach le sgiathain an f heoin.* — 
 'm bar dosrach le sgi-a'-ayn an e-oyn 
 
 Glac, etc. 
 
 Bhiodh ceir ris na crannaibh, 
 vi' ceyr ris na crann-ayv 
 
 Bu neo-eisleanach tarruinn, 
 bu neo-eysleneoh tarruynn 
 
 Noir a leamadh an taifead o d' mheoir. — When the bow-string springs from 
 
 Thy delight was swift dogs 
 
 Among the rough and peaked 
 
 mountains, 
 And the gun that denies not the 
 hammer, (never misses fire.) 
 Thy, etc. 
 
 Thy hand is not erring 
 
 In the competition (of archery,) 
 
 With thy bow slender, ruddy, beauti- 
 ful.— Thy, etc. 
 
 The bending quiver on thy hip, 
 
 Of arrows polished and straight, 
 
 Their tops rough with the wing of 
 the eagle. — The, eta 
 
 The waxed shaft 
 
 Is not dubious in its flight 
 
 noyr a lem-a' an tayf-ed o d' ve-oyr 
 Bhiodh, etc. 
 
 Noir a leigte bho d' laimh i, 
 noyr a leygte vo d' layv i 
 
 Cha bhiodh oirleach gu'n bhathadh 
 cha vi' oyr-leoh gun va'-a' 
 
 Eader corran a gaine sa 'n smeoirn. — 
 eder corran a gayn^ san sme-oyrn 
 
 Nair, etc. 
 
 Nam dhuit tighinn gu d' bhaille, 
 nam ynyt ti'-inn gu d' vaylle 
 
 * The eagle is, par excellence, called " eoin," or " fiar-ian," — the bird, or true bird, — ^in Gaelic poetry. 
 Its other name is deBcriptive, " eolaire ;" being compounded of the roots " eol, "or " Jul," knowledge, and 
 " athar," pronounced a'-ar, sky. 
 
 thy fingers. — The, etc. 
 
 When released from thy hand. 
 
 Not an inch remains uninserted 
 
 Between the barbed point and the 
 cleft. — When, etc. 
 
 On coming to thy residence, 
 
OP THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 159 
 
 'S du bu tighearnail gabhail, Chief-like is thy hospitality, 
 
 's du ba ti'-emayl gavayl 
 
 Noir bhiodh tionneal gach earaid mu As gathers every friend around thy 
 noyr vi' ti-o-nel gaoh carayd ;mu table. — On^ etc. 
 
 d' bhord. — Nan, etc. 
 
 d' vord 
 
 Gu'm biodh farum air thaileasg, There will be the rattling of back- 
 
 gnm bi' farum ayr haylesg gammon, 
 
 Agus fuim air a chlarsaich, And the sound of the harp, 
 
 agus fu-aym ayr a ohlarsayoh 
 
 Mur bu dhuchas do-shar-mhac Mhic Leoid. As hereditary (custom was) of the sur- 
 mur bu yuchas do bar-vac vio le-oyd passing son of Leod.— There, etc. 
 
 Gu'm, etc. 
 
 Se bu chleachda na dheigh sin The custom was afterwards 
 
 SB bu chleo-a na yey' sin 
 
 Bhi seinn uir-sgeul na Feinne, To sing the new tales of the Fin- 
 
 vi sheynn uyr-sgeyl na feynnfe galians. 
 
 Is eachdraidh graigh cheir-ghil nan And anecdotes of wild adventures 
 
 is ech-ray' gray' cheyr-yil nan after the race of white badges, 
 
 crochd. — Se, etc. (the deer.) — The, etc. 
 croc 
 
 Iain Lorn, or John the bare, a nickname fastened on the bard, who lived 
 to a very old age, from his sarcastic humour- and the severity of his political 
 poems, was royal Celtic bard to Charles the First and Second. His biography 
 has never been written, nor his poems collected or published, there being no 
 encouragement for Gaelic writers, in consequence of the prejudices of strangers, 
 and the scattered state of the Highlanders, which precludes the necessary sales 
 to make Gaelic literature a paying literature. From the energetic and active 
 character of the bard, the disturbed times in which he lived, his great influence 
 with the clans, his zealous loyalty, and his singularly romantic and adventurous 
 spirit, no bard better deserves, or has left more ample materials, in the poetry 
 and traditional lore of his country, for an interesting biographical sketch than 
 Iain Lom. My space does not admit of my even slightly glancing at the lives 
 of the bards noticed in this small work ; but I cannot help telling an anecdote 
 of Iain Lom, in connexion with my Covenanting chief, Gillespig Gruamach, 
 whose memory has hitherto, in my opinion, met with little justice from friend 
 or foe. An idle report having been set on foot, to the effect that a reward had 
 been offered for the apprehension and production of Iain Lom at Inverary 
 Castle, the earl was called on one morning before breakfast by a Highlander, 
 whose ostentatious and ample dress, spare and angular figure, sharp yet shy and 
 suspicious looks, appeared both singular and striking. The bard, for the strange 
 visitor was no other than Iain Lom himself, asked the chief whether he had not 
 lately offered such a reward to any one who should produce Iain Lom before him 
 at Inverary. The chief, laughing, replied he had ; when the bard, stretching out 
 his hand to receive the money, exclaimed, " Give it to me, then, for here I am, 
 produced by himself" The earl was exceedingly amused ; but instead of lodging 
 
160 THE MUSIC 
 
 the bard in a dungeon, as a celebrated novelist (who has more credit for ^ the 
 truthful delineation of the characters who figure in his works than he deserves) 
 makes him treat an officer who came to him with a flag of truce, he took the 
 bard by the hand, and led him into the castle, where he detained and enter- 
 tained him for a week, with great courtesy and hospitality. 
 
 The steward of the household, however, was not so easily to be reconciled 
 to the enemy of the clan ; and, the earl being absent one day while the bard 
 remained at the castle, determined on playing him a trick. The bard, like most 
 men of good taste, was a bit of an epicure, and from the gusto with which be 
 enjoyed choice things, the steward became aware of his sensitiveness on the 
 subject. Takiug advantage of his master's absence, he served up to the bard, 
 with much ostentation and ceremony, an apparently sumptuous dinner, all in 
 covered dishes of " radiant plate." To detail the contents of the various dishes 
 were ludicrous enough, but it exceeds my space. One of them, a dish of peri- 
 winkles or whelks, excited the bard's risibility ; so he took it off the table bodily, 
 — squatted down before the fire in the most ludicrous attitude he could assume, — 
 placed it between his legs, — and snatching the golden skewer which fastened the 
 plaid to his shoulder, set to, picking out the wormy fish, and ever and anon 
 spouting an extemporaneous verse, satirically and humourously descriptive of 
 his attitude and dinner, and representing it as the fare usually given to stranger 
 guests at Inverary Castle. The steward, alarmed at the unenviable position into 
 which he brought his master and household, found means to concilitate the 
 bard, and the poetry has been suppressed ; but the anecdote has got a lasting 
 hold of tradition, and shows that the chief was not the grim bigot he is 
 represented to have been. 
 
 The bards, in their quick-step songs, fulling, shearing, rowing, and, indeed, 
 all songs whose object was to cheer or assimilate labour to an amusement, only 
 desired to bring before their hearers objects familiar and agreeably associated 
 in their minds with localities, heroes, and traditions, cherished by their clan or 
 class. Impassioned thought and deep feeling were considered inappropriate. 
 As my object is to give the reader an honest or fair average sample of Gaelic 
 poetry, I cannot select verses to confirm special remarks like these, and must 
 refer to the song when in print. When my remarks refer to -songs not in print, 
 I will submit all or some of the verses. ' In the following boat-song, Iain Lom 
 refers to the chief, as it were, merely incidentally. The measure of praise is 
 implied rather than expressed; and the localities most striking and traditionally 
 celebrated for sports and events in the districts of the various branches of his 
 great clan, and their traditionally dearest kinsmen or allies, fall into the verses 
 so naturally as to appear wholly unintentional. The air is also equally 
 appropriate and characteristic. It begins with an unaffected but bold note, 
 swells gradually upwards in tones loud, sonorous, and haughty, ending literally in 
 a gairm or shout of triumph. I must preserve the word gairm in my translations ; 
 for shout, the nearest corresponding English word, does it anything but 
 justice. 
 
OP THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 161 
 
 MOCH 'S MI 'g EIBIDH SA MHADUINN.— AS I AROSE IN THE MOENING. 
 
 Moch 's mi 'g eiridh sa mhaduinn, On rising in the mominff, 
 moch 's mi geyri' sa vadaynn 
 
 'S trom euslainteach m' aigne, Heavy and sorrowful was mv mind, 
 s trom eys-layn-tech maygne 
 
 '0 nach t-eibh iad mi'n caidreamh nam Since they did not call me to the 
 nach teyv i-ad min oaydrev nam fellowship of the brethren.— 
 
 braithrean. — nach, etc Since, etc. 
 
 bray'ren 
 
 Too short has been the time 
 
 I remained on my visit to James,* 
 
 Leom is aith-ghearr a cheillidh 
 le-om is ay'-yerr a cheyll-i' 
 
 Einneas mar ris an t-Sheumas,* 
 rinnes mar ris an teymas 
 
 Eis 'n do dhealaich mi'n de moch la With whom I parted yesterday, on 
 
 ris 'n do yel-aych min de moch la the morning of Easter-Sunday.— 
 
 caisge. — Eis, etc. With, etc. 
 
 caysg^ 
 
 Dia na stiuir air an darach 
 di-a na sti-nyr ayr an darach 
 
 A dh-f halbh air tus an t-shiuil mhara, 
 a yalv ayr tus an ti-nyl vara 
 
 Seal mu'n tug i cheud bhoinne de Before it began to ebb. — 
 ael mun tng i cheyd voynnd de 
 
 May Grod guide the helm of the oak 
 That sailed on the sea, 
 
 thraghadh. — Seal, etc. 
 tra'-a' 
 
 Before, etc. 
 
 Ge b'e am cuir a choirc e, 
 ge be am cnyr a choyrc e 
 
 'S mi nach tille o stoc uat, 
 'a mi nach title o stoc u-at 
 
 Although it had been seed-time, 
 I would not have returned from thee ; 
 
 'S ann a shuidhinn an toiseach do bhata. I should sit in the bow of thy boat. — 
 's ann a huy'-inn an toys-ech do vata 
 
 'S ann, etc. 
 
 Nuair bhiodh each cuir ri gniamhadh, 
 nu-ayr vi'-o each ouyr ri gni-a-va' 
 
 Bhiodh mo chuidsa dheth diomhain, 
 vi-o' mo chuyd-sa ye' di-o-vayn 
 
 'G ol na'n gucagan fion air a faradh. 
 gol nan guo-ag-an fi-on ayr a fara' 
 
 'G ol, etc. 
 
 An Dubh-chnoideartach riabhach, 
 an dav-chnoydertach ri-a-vach 
 
 Luchdmhor ardghuailleach dhionar, 
 luc-vor ard-yu-aylleoh yi-onar 
 
 I should sit, etc. 
 When the rest would be in action, 
 My employment would be a pastime. 
 Drinking bumpers of wine in the cabin. 
 Drinking, etc. 
 
 The Duv-cnoydertach, swarthy, 
 Broad, high-shouldered, tight, 
 
 * The Highland chief was always addressed by his Christian name by his own clansmen. 
 
162 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 'Siomasleaghislanniaruinnnah-earach. With many spears and iron blades in 
 'si-o-mo sle-a' is lann i-aruyn na her-aoh lier bosom. — 
 
 'S ioma, etc. With, etc. 
 
 It is not the rider of steeds 
 
 Cha b'e marcaich na'n steudain 
 cha be marc-ayoh nan steydayn 
 
 A bhuineadh geal reis ort, 
 a vay-ne' gel reys ort 
 
 Noir is ard do shiuil bhreid-gheal air When thou spreadest thy curch-white* 
 
 That would gain the racing bet of 
 thee, 
 
 noyr is ard do hi-uyl 
 
 saile. — Noir, etc. 
 sayle 
 
 vreyd-yel ayr 
 
 sails over the sea.- 
 When, etc. 
 
 Noir is ard do shiul bhronnach 
 noyr is ard do lii-uyl vronnaoh 
 
 Air cuan meamnach nan dronng, 
 ayr cu-an memenaoh nan dronnag 
 
 'S tuinn uaibhreach a stealladh ma And numerous waves are spouting 
 
 When high are the bellying sails 
 Over the ridges of the proud ocean, 
 
 's tuynn u-ayvrech a Stella' ma 
 
 h-erach. — 'S tiunn, etc. 
 herach 
 
 Gur mor mo chion fein ort 
 gur mor mo cH-on feyn ort 
 
 Car an cuirin an ceil e, 
 car an cuyrin an ceyl e 
 
 Mhic an f Mr leis an eiridh na Braigh'ich. 
 vie an ir leys an eyri' na bray'-ioh 
 
 Mhic, etc. 
 
 Ceist na'm ban 'o Lochtreig u 
 oeyst nam ban o looh-treyg u 
 
 'S 'o Strath-Oissian nan reidhlean, 
 'a Btra'-oyssi-an nan rey'len 
 
 Gheibhte broic agus feidh air am f-aruinn. 
 yeyv-te broyc agus fey' ayr am fa-ruynn 
 
 Gheibhte, etc. 
 
 beneath the keel.- 
 And, etc. 
 
 Great is my love to thee, 
 
 Though I will not make a display 
 
 of it, 
 Son of the man with whom the 
 
 Breabreans would rise (in arms.) 
 Son, etc. 
 
 Beloved of the women of Lochtreig 
 
 And Strath-Ossian of pleasant 
 
 meadows, 
 Who have badgers and deer in their 
 pantries. — 
 Who, etc. 
 
 A band would arise with thee from 
 
 Eoy, 
 With the bent yew on their shoulders, 
 
 Dh-eireadh buidhean 'o Euaidh leat, 
 yeyre' buy' -en o ru-ay' let 
 
 A lubas iudhar mu'n guaillean, 
 a lubas i-u'-ar mun gu-ayllen 
 
 'S 'o bhruighean fuar Charn-na-lairge. — And from the cold hills of Cam-na- 
 'a o vruy'-en fu-ar oharn-na-layrge lairge. — 
 
 'S 'o, etc. And, etc. 
 
 Dream eile dhe d' chinnidh,- 
 drem eyle ye d' chinne' 
 
 Clann Iain 'o 'n Innean, 
 clann i-ayn on innen 
 
 Another tribe of the clan, — 
 
 The Clan-Iain from Innin (the anvil,) 
 
 * See note page 93. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 163 
 
 'Siadarachadhsa'niomaii'tneosgathach. They are tlie men that would go into 
 si-ad a rach-a' san imayrt ne-o sga'-ach the conflict fearlessly. — ■ 
 
 'S iad, etc. Who, etc. 
 
 'S ioma oganach treubhach, Many a youthful hero, 
 
 si-oma ogan-ach treyv-aoh 
 
 'S glac-chroni air cul sgeith air, With the quiver behind his shield, 
 
 's glao-cbrom ayr cul sgey' Ayr 
 
 Thig a stigh ort o shleibh Meal-na-larig. Will come to thee from the wings of 
 hig a 8ti' ort o h-leyv mel-ua-larig Mel-na-lari"'. — 
 
 Thig, etc. Will, etc. 
 
 'S iad a fhreagradh an t-eibheidh That would answer thy call 
 
 si-ad a h-reg-ra' an teyvey' 
 
 Gu'n eagal, gu'n eislean, Without fear, without ailment, 
 
 gan egal gun eys-len 
 
 Noirathogaergueuchddochroistaraidh. When thou risest the fiery cross , for 
 noyr a hogar gu eye do chroys-taray' deeds illustrious. — 
 
 Noir, etc. When, etc. 
 
 In the following song by Iain Lorn, on the death of the hero, Alisdair 
 Dubh of Glengarry, he is bold, fervid, and pathetic. I cannot desecrate this 
 song by attempting to render it into English, word for word and line for line, 
 because, there being in English no words equivalent to the Gaelic words, such a 
 translation would not really be a literal one in the proper sense of the 
 word; at the same time, I am satisfied that word for word and line for line, 
 notwithstanding the want of equivalent words, will enable the English scholar 
 to form a more critical estimate of Gaelic poetry than imitations, but, as I have 
 and will give a suflScient number of specimens of the former, perhaps I may be 
 permitted to imagine myself for a moment Iain Lom, and to address myself to 
 the English reader in the same style and spirit in which he addresses the 
 Gaelic reader, without any strict adherence to the order of words and lines. 
 Peculiar expressions, very striking and beautiful, will be lost in this mode 
 of translation, but I trust the reader will feel sufficiently interested by this 
 attempt to qualify himself to appreciate the original. I merely adopt this plan 
 to give a more true idea of the spirit and style of the bard than I could possibly 
 give by a rigid adherence to the order of the words and lines. I do Iain Lom 
 only one injustice by this treatment, viz., to desecrate or omit the chorus, which 
 I regard as among the finest specimens of the chorus to be found in Gaelic 
 poetry ; and I regard the choruses as the most wonderful of all the efforts of 
 the Celtic Muse, from their great variety and the felicity with which words or 
 simulating sounds are so blended and modulated into measured lines and 
 cadences, so strikingly accordant with the subject and the melody, as to. heighten 
 and intensify the effect of both. The chorus here, as indeed in every song, 
 may be regarded as a solemn amen to the feeling and the sentiment of every 
 verse of the song, bursting spontaneously from the heart of hearts of the 
 audience, who always joined in singing the chorus. I will quote the chorus in 
 Gaelic, but will not attempt to render it into English. 
 
164 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 'Nam eridh sa mhaduinn, 
 nam eri' sa vad-uynn 
 
 Gur beg m-aites 's mo shugradh, 
 gnr beg m-aytea 's n30 hugra' 
 
 Bho'n dh-fhalbh Uachdaran fearael, 
 von yalv u-ach-aran ferel 
 
 Ghlinne-garraidh air ghiulan ; 
 ylinne-garray' ayr yi-nlan 
 
 'S ann am flaitheas na slainte, 
 sann am flay'-es na slaynte 
 
 Tha ceannart aillidh na duthchadh, 
 ha cennart aylli' na dn'-cha' 
 
 Sar Ghoimealair soilleir, 
 sar choyrnel-ayr soylleyr 
 
 Nach robh foilleal do'n chrun u. 
 nach rov foyllel don chrun u 
 
 Fonn : — 
 
 'S cianael trom ague fada, 
 's ci-an-el trom agns fada 
 
 'S cianael fada mo bbron, 
 'p ci-an-el fada mo vron 
 
 O'n la charadh gu h-iosal, 
 on la chara' ga hi-o-sal 
 
 Do phersa phriesail fo'n fhoid, 
 do fersa fri-seyl fon oyd 
 
 Tha mo cbridhsa ciuirte, 
 ha mo cii'-sa ci-nyrtd 
 
 Cha dean mi sugradh ri'm bheo, 
 cha de-an mi eu-gra' rim ve-o 
 
 O'n dh-fhalbh ceannart nan uaislean 
 on yalv cennart nan u-ayslen 
 
 Oighre dualchais na Troim. 
 eyre dn-al-chays na troym 
 
 'S mairg a tharladh roi d' dhaoine, 
 s mayrg a harla' roy d ya-oyn^ 
 
 Noir thagte fraoch ri do bhartaich, 
 noyr hag-te fra-och ri do yra-taych 
 
 Dh-eireadh stuadh an clar t-aodainn, 
 yeyre' stu-a' an olar t-aod-ayn 
 
 Le neart feirge is gaisge ; 
 le nert feyregd is gaysg^ 
 
 Sud a phearsa neo sgathach, 
 sod a fersa neo sga'-ach 
 
 A ghnuis bu bhlaithidh gu'n taise', 
 a ynuys bu vlay'-i' gun tayse 
 
 When in the morning I arose, 
 Pleasure was not my aim. 
 Is there no end to Albin's woes, 
 To deaths 'mong men of fame ? 
 The manly leader of the race 
 Who own the Garrian-glen, 
 Is off to his last resting-place, 
 Borne high by sorrowing men, — 
 The chieftain lofty, true, and bold, 
 Who never his allegiance sold. 
 
 Not safe were they who rashly met 
 Thy warriors stern and true, 
 When the proud heather-badge was 
 
 set 
 In all their bonnets'bluej 
 When thy brave banner waved on 
 
 high, 
 And thou thyself wert seen, 
 With battle kindling in thine eye, 
 To draw thy broad-sword keen ; — 
 Then, then 'twas time for Albin's 
 
 foes 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 165 
 
 Ou 'm bl maoim air do naimhdean, 
 gum bi ma-oym ayr do nay v- den 
 
 Noir ni u 'n spainteach a ghlachadh. 
 noyr ni n n spayn-tech a ylasc-a' 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Fhuair u 'n cliu sin o' thoiseach, 
 hu-ayr u 'n cli-u sin a hoysech 
 
 'S cha 'n olc e ri innseadh, 
 s chan olc e ri innse' 
 
 Craobh a cosgairt sa bhlair u, 
 craoT a cosgairt sa ylayr u 
 
 Nach gathadh sga roi luc phicean ; 
 na«h gava' sga roy luc fic-en 
 
 Na roi 'shaighdearean deargadh, 
 na roy hay'-deren de-arg-a' 
 
 Ged a b'armailtean righ iad, 
 ged a bar-maylten ri' i-ad 
 
 Le'n ceannardan fuileach, 
 len cennardan fuylech 
 
 'S le'n gunnaichean cinnteach. — -Ho, etc. 
 s len gunna-chan cinntech 
 
 Gur ainmeul do shinnsridh, 
 gnr aynmel do hinns-ri' 
 
 Ri innsidh 's ri shlainneadh, 
 ri inn-se' s ri h-loynna' 
 
 'S tu oighre an larl Isleaich, 
 s tu oy're an i-arl i-lich 
 
 Nach togadh cis an cuis fhoilleil, 
 naoh toga' cis an ouys oylleyl 
 
 Marcaich ard nan steud lughmhar, 
 marc-aych ard nan steyd In'-var 
 
 Ceannard shuinn nan lann soilleir, 
 cennard huynn nan lann soylleyr 
 
 Gaisgaich threinn an cruaidh-ghabhadh, 
 gays-gaych hreynn an cru-ay'-yava 
 
 Le'm b-annsa stail na airm-theine. 
 lem bannsa etayl' na ayrm-heynd 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 'S goirt an t-earcal a thachair, 
 
 s goyrt an tercal a hach-ayr 
 O'n chaidh an iomairt so tuadhal, 
 
 o'n cbay' ah i-o-mayrt so tu-a'-al 
 
 To fly their fierce, their deadly 
 blows. 
 
 That praise, that early praise was 
 
 thine, 
 And spread thy well-known fame afar,. 
 Thou didst on all occasions shine, 
 The wisest leader in the war. 
 No serried red-coats daunted thee, 
 Although their well-aimed vollies 
 
 rolled 
 Upon thy ranks, from musketry 
 That oft in deadly slaughter told : 
 Thy just distinctions ever were 
 The wise to lead, the bold to dare. 
 
 Thy lineage is for blood and length 
 
 In Albin's annals unexcelled. 
 
 And formed of chieftains famed for 
 
 strength. 
 Who in the deadly charge compelled 
 Steeds fierce and fleet, that harnessed 
 
 shone 
 Like meteors coursing through the 
 
 sky; 
 While in their sells, as on a throne, 
 They towered in their war panoply ; 
 And none of them has been con- 
 strained 
 To deeds that have that lineage 
 stained. 
 
 Since some in battle* have forgot 
 How their brave fathers phed their 
 
 steel, 
 No refuge has our country got 
 
 * Shireff-muir. 
 
166 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 0' latha blar sliabh an t-Shiarradh, 
 la'-a blar sli-av an hirra' 
 
 Chail air cinneadh an uaislean, 
 ohayl ayr omne' an u-ayslen 
 
 Ged a sheasaibh Clanndomlinuill, 
 ged a hes-ay7 clann-dov-nnyll 
 
 Mar bu choir dhaoibh sa cbruadal, 
 mar bn ohoyr yoyv sa chru-a-dal 
 
 Chail sinn roghuinn nan cairdean, 
 chayl sinn ro'-iaun nan cayr-den 
 
 An fheul ard 's i gun truailleadh. — Ho, 
 an uyl ard s i gun tru-aylle' 
 
 FromruthlessFortune'scrushing wheel, 
 Although Clanndonnill on that day, 
 As ever, clothed them with renown ; 
 Our heroes have been wede away, 
 In fruitless battles one by one ; 
 And now we've lost the worthiest lord 
 That in these battles drew his sword. 
 
 etc. 
 
 Nise dh-fhalbh an triuir bhraithrean, 
 nise yalv an tri-uyr vray-ren 
 
 A chleachd mar abhaist an uailse, 
 a chlechd mar av-ayst an u-aylse 
 
 Triadh Ghlinn-garraidh nam bradan, 
 tri-a' ylinn-garray' nam bradan 
 
 'S caibtein smachdail na buaidhean, 
 s oayb-teya smaohd-ayl na bu-ay-en 
 
 Domhnul morchuiseach Shleibhte, 
 dovnnl mor-chuyseeh leyv-te' 
 
 Fear na ceile 's na suairce, 
 fer na ceyle s na su-ayroe 
 Chabhith gu brath aig Clann-dhomhnuill, 
 cha vi' gu bra' ayg olann-yov-nuyll 
 Triuir chonn-spunn cho cruaidh riu. — Ho. 
 tri-uyr chonn-spunn cho cruaidh riu 
 
 It was our country's destiny 
 To lose three pillars of the throne, — 
 Heroes who, in adversity, 
 For daring, proudly, greatly shone : 
 Sir Donald, our leader, when com- 
 bined, 
 Clanronald, captain of our men, 
 Alisdair, generous, good, and kind. 
 Chief of the Garry's far-famed glen ; 
 Clanndonnill's ranks no more will 
 
 see 
 Leaders illustrious as the three. 
 
 etc. 
 
 Noir threig each an cuid fearainn, 
 noyr h-reyg each an cuyd fer-aynn 
 
 'S nach d-fhan iad san rioghachd, 
 s naoh d-an i-ad sau ri-oc 
 
 Sheas iadsan gu daingean, 
 hes i-ad-san gu dayn-gen 
 
 'S cha b-ann le sgainneal a shin iad, 
 s cha b-ann le sgaynnel a bin i-ad 
 
 Chuir iad fuaradh na froyse, 
 chuyr i-ad fii-a-ra' na froys^ 
 
 Seach air dorsaibh gar dianadh ; 
 seoh ayr dor-sayv gar di-an-a' 
 
 Na flaith bu chiunne na maighdeann, 
 na flay bu ohi-uyn(5 na may-deun 
 
 'S bu ghairge nan lasair. — Ho, etc. 
 s bu yayrg-o nan las-ayr 
 
 When other chiefs fled from their 
 
 lands, 
 Our heroes, stern and unsubdued. 
 Rallied their bold, their kindred bands, 
 And for their king and country stood ; 
 Aye stood prepared in arms to die. 
 When War should his fierce tocsin 
 
 sound. 
 Or to achieve a victory 
 That should their treacherous foes 
 
 confound ; 
 Such were our chiefs, than maidens 
 
 mild. 
 But, roused to war, than beacons wild. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 167 
 
 Archibald, better known by his poetic name of Oiaran Mabach, was brother 
 to Sir James Macdonald, and stood high in his confidence. When Iain Lom 
 obtained from him a party to execute the warrant from the Privy Council against 
 the murderers of Keppoch, Archibald was appointed to the command. He left 
 his residence in Uist on Wednesday, travelled on foot over the mountains, then 
 covered with snow, at the head of his party ; stormed and set fire to the block- 
 house, and slew the murderers at Inverlair in Braelochaber on Sunday ; and 
 dispatched messengers from Invergarry to Edinburgh with the heads, the same 
 day, — a feat not even surpassed by Montrose's march from Fort-Augustus by 
 Glenbuick, Glenroy, Dalnabi, and Lianachan, to Inverlochy, in one day. The 
 defenders of the blockhouse consisted only of the uncle and six nephews; yet 
 they killed .and wounded sixty of the besiegers before being conquered. Iain 
 Lom, who was the guide of the party, says that there was not one of the seven 
 who, " in an equal fight, was not a match for ten." Some incidents of the 
 storming are very romantic, and one of them in particular highly characteristic 
 of the stern sense of honour found united with the most deadly passions, in the 
 warriors of the olden time ; but it were an episode here, and would intrude on my 
 space. Iain Lom, in his verses commemorative of the achievement, gives great 
 praise to the Ciaran Mabach for the skill and hardihood with which he conducted 
 the expedition. A verse or two of this song may perhaps be acceptable to the 
 reader. 
 
 Slan fo d' thrial, a Ohiarain Mhabaich, 
 dan fo d' ri-all a chi-aren vab-ayoh 
 
 Shiubhlas sliabh gu'n bhiadh gu'n chadal, 
 hi-urlas sli-av gun vi-a' gun cha-dal 
 
 shin, gu'n bhosd, 
 fain gnn vosd 
 
 gun 
 gun 
 
 Fraoch fo d' 
 fraoch fod 
 
 bhagradh. 
 vagra' 
 
 Chuir u ceo fo'n roisheal ladarn'. 
 chuyr n ce-o fou roysel la-dam 
 
 Diciadain chai e na uidbeam 
 di-oi-a-den chay e na ny'em 
 
 Le bhrataich ard do ghillean dubha. 
 le vratyoh ard do yillen duva 
 
 Sgriob Ghilleaspuig ruaidh a Uist 
 sgri-ob yillespeyg ru-ay' a nyst 
 
 Bhuail e meal an ceann na h-uidhe. 
 vu-ayl e mel an oenn na fauy' 
 
 Cha d' iar e bata na long dharaich 
 cha di-ar e vati na long yar-ayoh 
 
 Ki am geamhraidh an tus na gaillean. 
 ri am ge-av-ri' an tus na gayllen 
 
 An triubheas teann feadh. bheann is 
 an tri-u-ves tenn fe-a' venn is 
 
 bhealach, 
 velach 
 
 Hail to thy course, Ciaran Mabach, 
 
 Who travellest over the wolds, without 
 
 food or sleep. 
 Heather thy bed ; nor vaunt nor threat 
 
 (was thine.) 
 
 Thou hast wasted the stronghold of 
 
 the bad and daring. 
 On Wednesday was equipped 
 
 Thy lofty banner of black-haired 
 
 gillies. 
 The expedition of red Archibald from 
 
 Uist, 
 Struck a blow at the end of its rout. 
 
 Neither a boat nor a ship of oak didst 
 
 thou ask, 
 In winter, when storms began.. 
 
 In tight trews through mountains and 
 defiles. 
 
168 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 'S tu b-eatrom bonn ge trom do mheallag. 
 stu b-e-tiom bonn ge trom do vellag 
 
 A Sheumais nan tur 's na'm baideal, 
 a heymayah nan tur 's nam baydel 
 
 Grheibb lucbd muirne cuirm a t-aitreabb ; 
 yeyv luc muyrn^ cuyrm a taytrev 
 
 Gred do rinn u 'n duiseal cadail, 
 ged do rinn u 'n duy-sel cadayl 
 
 'S eibbinn leom do dhasgadh maiduinn. 
 's eyvinn le-om do yusga' mayduynn 
 
 Ligbt were tby footsteps tbougb great 
 
 tby migbt. 
 James of towers and battlements, 
 
 Tby tuneful race will in the hall find 
 
 a festive welcome ; 
 Tbougb thou didst doze for a time, 
 
 Joyful to me was tby morning vigil. 
 
 John the bare was certainly not less distinguished as a pohtical poet among 
 those who understood his language than Dryden. The following is a free 
 imitation of one specimen of his poems on political subjects. The imitation is 
 so free as not to pay the least attention to the order of words and lines ; but it 
 is true to his thoughts and feelings, and makes him express them in the same 
 style and spirit in English as in the Gaelic. I cannot afford space for the 
 original, but versions of it, less or more correct, will be found in every collection 
 of Graelic poetry. 
 
 'S MI so AIE m' DILLIN. — ON CROWNING CHAELES THE SECOND. 
 
 Upon my elbow calmly leaning, 
 Within the lovely mountain glen, 
 
 My mind indulged itself in dreaming 
 Of the strange deeds and lives of men ! 
 
 And wherefore should my voice be silent, 
 While my heart bounds with pride 
 and joy. 
 
 Nor tell the Whigs, the base and violent. 
 Their greedy, rampant reign is bye ? 
 
 Their reign who falsely tried and 
 murdered 
 
 The true, the loyal, and the brave ; 
 Who, with their sophistry, bewildered 
 
 The people whom they would enslave. 
 
 With staff in hand, the while I hasten 
 To welcome home my native king, 
 
 Why should I doubt that he will listen 
 To the leal counsel I may bring ? — 
 
 Counsel from clans and chiefs true- 
 hearted, 
 Who suffered in their country's cause, 
 
 Which, through the royal bard im- 
 parted, 
 Should warn him to respect the 
 laws; 
 
 But not the men whose conduct 
 baneful. 
 Has scattered ruin o'er the land, 
 And answered but with taunts dis- 
 dainful. 
 Those whom they robbed of wealth 
 and land. 
 
 Eemember, Charles Stuart, ever, 
 The lesson taught thee by the past, 
 
 Forgetting truth and justice never. 
 If thou wouldst that thy reign may 
 last. 
 
 Think, since the throne thou hast 
 ascended. 
 Without the aid of spear or sword, 
 How thy own rights may be defended. 
 And, eke, thy people's rights re- 
 stored. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 169 
 
 No Machiavel has yet propounded 
 The means to make the throne secure, 
 
 Save when the people's rights are founded 
 On a just basis, broad and sure. 
 
 But leniency is not now wanted ; 
 
 A wise severity were just : 
 Let those who are already sainted, 
 
 E'en go where they have placed their 
 trust. 
 
 Why should we grudge these men to 
 
 Heaven ' 
 
 That have their treasure hoarded 
 
 there ? 
 
 Since they have made their road so even, 
 
 Dismiss them while accounts are 
 
 square 
 
 That will with many a sage petition, 
 Crave boons, and laud thy right 
 divine : 
 
 But right divine did not defend thee, 
 When thou and Cromwell were at 
 blows ; 
 Then try what force wise rule may 
 lend thee. 
 And make thy people friends — not . 
 foes. 
 
 No doubt, thy nobles would defend 
 thee, 
 At cost of all their lands and lives, 
 But, och ! it would not do, to 'tend 
 thee, 
 And leave their children and their 
 wives ! 
 
 Thou subjects hast of high condition, 
 Whose hearts are not more true than 
 
 mine. 
 
 But I must stop. The royal 'bard, as stated elsewhere, believed that the 
 feudal nobility only wanted to limit the power of the king, that they might lord 
 it over the people. Hence a severity which I think they do not as an order 
 deserve, and which I will not repeat. Iain Lom kept a poetical journal of 
 Dundee''s route from Keppoch to Killiecrankie, of which the following is an 
 imitation — a true imitation, in so far as the royal Celtic bard's thoughts, feelings, 
 style, and spirit is concerned, but without any regard to the order of the words 
 and lines even of the version I took down of it from an old Lochaber man, many 
 years ago, and which is essentially different from and superior to the versions 
 of it published by the common collectors. I have the less regret that I cannot 
 submit this version, from having learned that my old friend and school-fellow, 
 Mr James Munro, than whom no man living is better qualified, is engaged in 
 preparing for publication the interesting poems of this eminent modern bard, 
 with a memoir of the bard himself, which will, if possible be still more 
 interesting even than his poems. 
 
 S MITHICH DHUIN MAESA. — IT IS TIME TO MAKCH. 
 
 But would Fionn of glorious fame 
 For six weeks lie upon his oars, 
 While Lochlin's plundering war-chiefs 
 came. 
 And poured their hordes upon his 
 shores ? 
 
 'Tis time to march, 'tis time indeed, 
 For we have ate our beeves and 
 marts ! 
 Necessity will sometimes breed 
 Thoughts that touch the coldest 
 hearts. 
 
170 '^HE MUSIC 
 
 Would Ualan fierce, or royal Bruce, 
 
 Find pastime among woods and wolds, 
 And yield the base usurper truce 
 
 That seized, and still their country 
 holds? 
 Would great Mac-Colla or Montrose 
 Fish, hunt, and feast, and sleep, and 
 rest, 
 While saints, mis-named, cant through 
 the nose, 
 And trample on the country's crest ? 
 
 Fye, Clavers, wake ! wake leaders all ! 
 
 Your country feels her deep disgrace. 
 Her clans have answered to her call. 
 
 And armed, as well becomes her race, 
 To aid the right, subdue the wrong, 
 ' And earn hereditary fame. 
 Regardless whether weak or strong. 
 
 The foes who urge a wrongous claim. 
 
 Now, now the army, true and bold, 
 
 From their encampments march away ! 
 Heavens ! how glorious to behold 
 
 A people in their war array ! — 
 Frommouth tomouth the high command. 
 
 That makes the columns, halt or lead. 
 Is heard, as they march, band by band, 
 
 And earth resounds beneath their 
 tread ! 
 
 Nor rugged hill, nor marshy plain. 
 
 Nor mossy moor, nor rivers deep, 
 Can disarray the martial train 
 
 That onward, onward, sternly sweep ; 
 They flag not, halt not, till they gain 
 
 The chosen camp at evening's close, 
 Where watchful picquets, with a chain 
 
 Of sentries, guard their brief repose — 
 
 Sentries of keen and piercing eyes, 
 Unmatched for vigilance and zeal. 
 
 That foemen never might surprise, 
 Unwitting of the trenchant steel. 
 
 Nor long,nor deep, their hoursof rest — 
 Their pipes anticipate the dawn, 
 
 And, serried on the mountain crest. 
 The clans, in marshalled lines, are 
 drawn. 
 
 Lochlochy's camp we leave behind, 
 
 Where high to Heaven we raised 
 our hands. 
 And vowed our country's wounds to 
 bind. 
 
 And never to dissolve our bands. 
 Till vict'ry, on the battle field. 
 
 O'er men of foreign laws and creed, 
 Should to the land assurance yield, 
 
 The king will be restored with speed. 
 
 Then said the Graham of modest mien 
 
 And daring heart, — " Sons of the 
 Gael, 
 Unless disunions intervene 
 
 Among your ranks, you must prevail 
 Your arms are strong, your hearts are 
 true. 
 
 Your mode of warfare unsurpassed- 
 No living foeman can subdue 
 
 Your party, should your union last 
 
 " If, as a leader, me you trust. 
 
 Your confidence must be entire ; 
 My life, you know, from last to first — 
 
 I never changed my cloak for hire : 
 My country and my King I love — 
 
 Love as I love my God and creed, 
 And if you trust me, I will prove 
 
 Worthy your trust in word and deed. 
 
 " March, then, my heroes, for the foe 
 
 Has dared to cross the sacred line 
 To which your fathers, long ago, 
 
 Made every foe his raids confine." 
 He gave the word, and 'gainst the hill 
 
 Urged onhisproudandmettled steed; 
 But, though in ranks, the clansmen still 
 
 Defied its vaunted power and speed. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 171 
 
 Before he reached Glenturret's crest, 
 
 Nor strength nor speed had he to spare ; 
 But stood all foaming and distressed, 
 
 And gasping for the mountain air. 
 Then laughed the gay, the gallant 
 Graham, 
 
 As lightly on his feet he sprung, 
 " Come, I'm a Gael in blood and name, 
 
 Let's try who is most swift and strong." 
 
 Glenturret we leave far behind, 
 
 Leac-Connel's plain, and Garvamore, 
 Nor halting-place we seek nor find. 
 
 Until we gain Drumuachar's core. 
 There for the night a camp we form, 
 
 And spread our sentinels around, 
 Though wind and rain — a perfect storm — 
 
 Made hills and vales androcks resound. 
 
 Again we form, at break of day. 
 
 Again in well-knit sections move, 
 With daimtless tread, in proud array, 
 
 The men of Athole's zeal to prove, 
 Their zeal to prove ? It soon was proved ! 
 
 Each mother's son, like shadows, fled. 
 Leaving their women — fair and loved — 
 
 To tell why we must lack their aid ! 
 
 Alas, that warriors, true and brave. 
 
 Who love their country and their king, 
 Should a base feudal leader have. 
 
 To lead them as if on a string ! 
 But little do we reck or care 
 
 For Athole and its trimming lord ; 
 Our cause is just, our claymores bare, — 
 
 Such paltry loss we can afford. 
 
 Onward, still onward, boldly sweep 
 
 The race unmatched yet with the sword. 
 The well-knit section form they keep 
 
 On hill or plain, through moss or ford. 
 Their weapons gleam, their tartans wave. 
 
 Their towering crests invade the skies; 
 The dews of toil their foreheads lave, 
 
 But courage flashes from their eyes. 
 
 While breasting steep Shavana's side, 
 
 A horseman comes with fiery speed, 
 And says the Whigs, in pompand pride, 
 
 Have boldly crossed the pass of 
 dread, 
 Led by the stern and stout Mackay — 
 
 A veteran trained to war abroad — 
 From whom the Orange gold might 
 buy 
 
 His King, his Country, and his God. 
 
 The shout of joy our columns gave 
 When their stern battle met our 
 view. 
 Might wake the Komans from their 
 grave. 
 Whom here of old our fathers slew. 
 Stripped to our bonnets, brogues, and 
 kilt, 
 We cast all useless weeds away. 
 Loosed our steel pistols in the belt, 
 And fiercely claimed the deadly fray. 
 
 Clavers arranged each daring clan 
 
 In its precise and proper place. 
 Took his proud station in the van. 
 
 And onward moved with dauntless 
 pace. 
 When, front to front, we met the foe, 
 
 With missiles the slow work began. 
 And many a shot and shaft they throw 
 
 Away, that should have found its 
 man! 
 
 Thus did we waste a precious hour — 
 That brave men's patience sorely 
 tried. 
 Then forth we drew the stem clay- 
 more, 
 And rushed upon them, like the tide 
 Of wild Coire Vrecken, when the 
 waves 
 Of the Atlantic's boundless main 
 Assail the rocks, till cliffs and caves. 
 And hills and glens, resound again ! 
 
172 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Then, oh then was felt and seen 
 
 The potence of our dear claymores, 
 When heads, legs, arms, cut off as clean 
 
 As shorn grain, were strew'd in scores 
 Along the field. Ere minutes two 
 
 Could wing their flight, the trenchant 
 brand 
 Laid every sprawling whigling low 
 
 Who dared the deadly charge to stand. 
 
 Nor had they better hap who fled 
 
 In terror, and in disarray ; 
 For, in the gorge were hundreds sped. 
 
 Who shrieked in panic and dismay. 
 
 But, ah, the vict'ry dear was l^ought — 
 The chief that could our cause sustain, 
 
 WTien, in the hour of triumph, sought. 
 Was found among a heap of slain ! 
 
 The chief whose prestige and whose 
 power 
 
 Were only equalled by his mind. 
 And who, alas, in danger's hour, 
 
 Has no successor left behind ! 
 His eric would not be complete. 
 
 Though all who thrive by Albin's woe 
 On a funereal pile were set. 
 
 Or hung suspended from a tow. 
 
 The Ciaran Mabach, for some cause which I have never heard explained, 
 was put in ward in Edinburgh, where he met with extreme kindness and 
 courtesy from the aristocracy, especially the ladies. Nevertheless, he pined for 
 his native hills, and breathed his longing in verses, which I am unwilling to 
 subject to a line for line translation. Indeed, I think that I shall have given 
 as many translations of that kind as my object requires, and that a few, more 
 free, more regardful of the style and spirit than of the words and literal sense 
 of the original, may now be here and there introduced, with as much satisfaction 
 to the reader as to myself. I regret the necessity of giving fewer verses of the 
 original than are imitated. 
 
 Ge socair mo leabadh 
 ge soo-ayr mo leba' 
 
 B'annsa cadal air fraoch, 
 bannsa cadal ayr fraoch 
 
 Ann an lagan beag uaigneach, 
 ann an lagan beg n-ayg-nech 
 
 Is bad do'n luachair ri'm thaobh, 
 is bad don lu-a-chayr rim haov 
 
 'S noir a dh-eirinn sa mhaduinn, 
 'a noyr a yey-rinn sa va-duynn 
 
 Bhi siubhal ghlacagan caol, 
 
 vi si-val ylac-ag-an caol 
 Na bi trial thun na h-Abaid, 
 na bi tri-al bun na ha-bayd 
 
 A dh-eisdeachd glagraich na saor. 
 a yeysd-ec glag-raych na saor 
 
 Cha'n 'eil agam cu gleusda, 
 cha'n ell agam cu gleysda 
 
 'S cha'n 'eil feum agam dha, 
 's cha'n ell feym agam ya 
 
 Though soft and easy is my bed. 
 
 Magnificent my room, 
 I'd rather sleep in Uigni's glade, 
 
 'Mong heather in full bloom ; 
 Where I could rise at break of day. 
 
 With Oscar by my side, 
 To seek, 'mong glens and mountains 
 grey. 
 
 The stag of dark-brown hide. 
 
 But my loved forest is afar : 
 Though here I may behold 
 
 A forest huge, where mast and spar 
 The shipwright's craft unfold ; 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 173 
 
 Cha suidh mi air bachdan, 
 cha suy' mi ayr bac-an 
 
 Ei faire fada o chach, 
 ri fayr^ fada o chach 
 
 Cha leig mi mo ghaothar, 
 cha leyg mi mo yaor 
 
 An aghaidh no Mam, 
 an a'-ay' no mam 
 
 'S cha loisgear leam fudar, 
 's cha loysgar le-am fndar 
 
 An Gleann-Ruthain gu brath. 
 an glenn-ra-aynn gu bra' 
 
 But I encounter sights and smells, 
 That a,lmo8t stop my breath : — 
 
 Would that I were on Ruthan's fells, 
 Upon my own sweet heath, 
 
 Graigh mo ghraidhsa a ghraigh uUach, 
 gray' mo yray'-sa a yray' u-allach 
 
 Thogadh suas ris na h-aird, 
 hoga' sn-as ris na hayrd 
 
 Dh-itheadh biolair an fhuarain, 
 yith-a' bilayr an n-ar-ayn 
 
 'S le'm bu shuarach an cal, 
 'a lem bn hu-arach an call 
 
 'S trie bha mise mu'n cuairt dhuibh, 
 strio va mise mun cu-ayrt ynyv 
 
 Dh-aineon fuarachd an la, 
 yayn-enn fii-arao an la 
 
 'S trio a dh-fhuilig mi cruadal, 
 strio a ynyl-ig mi cm-ad-al 
 
 A tialadh chruach air ur sgath. 
 a ti-a-la' chra-ach ayr nr sga' 
 
 Fear mo ghraidh a'm fear buidhe, 
 fer mo yra-i' am fer buy' 
 
 Nach dean suidhe aig bord, 
 nach de-an suy' eg bord 
 
 Nach iarradh ri cheannach, 
 nach i-a-ra' ri chenn-ach 
 
 Pinnt leanna na beoir, 
 pinnt le-anna na be-oyr 
 
 TJisge-beatha math dubailt, 
 nysgey-be'-k ma' du-baylt 
 
 Cha'n fhiu leat ri ol, 
 cha'n i-u let ri oil 
 B'fhearr leat sugh glan an fhuarain, 
 
 Where I could see the clean-limbed 
 herd. 
 
 Of airy form and crest. 
 Stretching against thy side Melard, 
 
 By my fierce greyhounds press'd ; 
 Press'd by my hounds that never fail. 
 
 When slipped at deer or roe, 
 Whether in corrie, wold, or vale, 
 
 To lay the quarry low. 
 
 But here I have no mettled hound 
 
 Unmatched for strength and speed. 
 No wold with rocks and woodlands 
 crown'd. 
 
 To test their blood and speed, 
 And laugh his showy pace to scorn, 
 
 Who leads in galliards gay, 
 And answer with a taunt his horn 
 
 Who rides the gallant gray. 
 
 b'err let su' glan an n-areu 
 
 An cluain na'm beann mor 
 an clu-ayn nam benn mor 
 
174 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Bean mo ghraidh a bhean uasal, 
 ben mo yray' a ven n-a-sal 
 
 Dha nach d'fhuaradh riamh lochd, 
 ya nach dn-a-ra' ri-av loc 
 
 Nach iarradh mar chluasaig, 
 nach i-a-ra' mar chla-a-sayg 
 
 Ach lom-ghuallain nan cnoc, 
 ach lom-yu-alayn nan cnoc 
 
 'S nach fuiligeadh an t-sradag, 
 's nach fu-il-ge' an trad-ag 
 
 A lasadh ri corp — 
 a las-a' ri corp 
 
 Och a Mhoire mo chruaidh-chas, 
 och a voyre mo chrn-ay'-chas 
 
 Nach dh-fhuair mi u nochd. 
 nach d-u-ayr mi u noc 
 
 The one would scarce excel in speed, 
 
 Nor would the other ride 
 Upon his proud and vaunted steed, 
 
 Against Glenmaran's side ; 
 Where, on the eve of parting day, 
 
 Among the meadows green. 
 The milky kine list to the lay 
 
 Of maids in tartan sheen : 
 
 Bean a b-aig antach ceile, 
 ben a bayg antach ceyl^ 
 
 'Nam eiridh fo dhriuchd, 
 nam eyri' fo ymyc 
 
 Cha'n fhaigheadh tu beud dha, 
 chan ay'-e' tu beyd ya 
 
 'S cha bu leir leis ach u, 
 's cha bn leyr leys ach n 
 
 Sibh an glacaibh a cheile, 
 siv an glao-ayv a cheyl^ 
 
 A fior eadeann nan stuc, 
 a fi-or ed-enn nan stuc 
 
 'S an am eiridh na greine, 
 san am eyri' na greyne 
 
 Bu gheur leirsinn air sul. 
 bu yeyr leyrsinn ayr sul 
 
 Aye, list, and yield with dreamy joy 
 Their treasures to the hand 
 
 Of maidens fair and kind, though coy 
 In streamlets white and bland ; 
 
 While, clear and high, each artless 
 voice 
 
 Wakes hills and rocks around, 
 And leglens* to their hearts rejoice. 
 
 And chime with hollow sound. 
 
 Nuair a thigeadh a foghar, 
 nn-a-ir a hig-e' a fo'-ar 
 
 Bu bhinn leom torrunn do chleibh, 
 bu vinn le-ome tormn do chleyv 
 Toirt dulan na comhstri, 
 toyrt dulan na cov-stri 
 
 Air a mhointich chaoin reidb, 
 ayr a voyntich chaoyn rey' 
 
 And while they sing, their hunters gay. 
 
 Peering through glen and grove. 
 With pleasure listen to the lay 
 
 That speaks of faithful love ; 
 Then bounding forward, proud and tight, 
 
 Each youth lays down his spoil 
 Before his sweetheart fond and bright, 
 
 And feels her conscious smile. 
 
 * Milk-pail. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 175 
 
 Na dol an coinneamh do leannan, 
 na dol an coynnev do lennan 
 
 Ge bheil sneachda mar cheir, 
 ge yeyl sneohda mar cheyr 
 
 Bi sin a bhana-cheilidh bhoidheach, 
 bi sin a vana-cheyli' voy'eoh 
 
 Is etrom moralach ceum. 
 is e-trom mor-alach ceym 
 
 Sweet is the converse of the hart 
 
 With his unsullied mate, 
 Nor would he from her side depart, 
 
 To plunge where clubs debate ; 
 To swill at porter or at ale. 
 
 Or whisky fierce and blue, 
 Where Lowland greed and craft prevail, 
 
 And Highland hearts are true. 
 
 No ! he would rather slake his thirst 
 
 Ere Sol ascends the sky, 
 Where virgin streams in crystal burst 
 
 From corries wild and high ; 
 Where the cold cress in clusters green 
 
 A frugal meal supplies, 
 And lichens decked in silver sheen 
 
 Afford a juicy prize. 
 
 With joy he roams the mountains blue, 
 
 And valleys fair and wide, i 
 
 'Mong heather bathed in pearly dew. 
 
 With his fond faithful bride. 
 She sees but him, hina only loves, 
 
 No other fills her eyes ; 
 Him watches, moving as he moves, 
 
 And in his bosom lies. 
 
 Oh, how I love the free-born race. 
 
 Of beauteous gait and form, 
 When after them, in headlong chase. 
 
 My Oscar and my Storme 
 Strain every nerve, and make them strain 
 
 Each nerve and sinew too, 
 If, in their fearful strait, they'd gain 
 
 Benard, thy corries blue. 
 
 They traverse each romantic glen. 
 
 Browse on each secret lee, 
 Make love in every cozy den. 
 
 And wander far and free : 
 While here I pine in hopeless ward, 
 
 Nor mark my herd of deer. 
 Fleeting across thy brow, Melard, 
 
 And on thy wolds career. 
 
 Oh little do I love to trace 
 
 Edina's streets and lanes. 
 Or breathe lip-love with courtly grace 
 
 In palaces or fanes ; 
 Give me the forest wide and high, 
 
 The mountain and the vale. 
 Where dwell the herds of piercing eye. 
 
 Whose speed outstrips the gale. 
 
 Ah, me, 'tis hard to wither here, 
 
 And smoke and fumes inhale 
 From dusky lanes and vennels drear, 
 
 And gutters dark and stale ; 
 And bid sweet Skye of bays and dells. 
 
 Wild glens, and mountains blue, 
 Where all I love in comfort dwells, 
 
 A long, a sad adieu. 
 
 The fulling, like the boat songs of the Gael, had an air of extemporaneous- 
 ness and simphcity, combined with a prancing caracoling peculiarity in the style 
 and measure of the verses, which made them very attractive and pleasing, 
 although they disclaimed all pretensions to poetry. The mode of procedure 
 was thus : — Some romantic recess by the side of a bum was selected, where a 
 platform of plaited wattles was erected, on the centre of which the cloth to 
 be fulled was placed. The neighbourhood being always put under requisi- 
 tion on these occasions, a band of maidens, consisting usually of all the more 
 free-hearted, gay, and jolly young women of the locality, assembled, giving 
 their services gratuitously. So many of them, bare armed and bare legged. 
 
176 THE MUSIC 
 
 seated themselves around the cloth on the platform, and the others, forming a 
 relay of generally an equal number, took their position in attendance, supplying 
 water to sock the cloth, and changing places at intervals with their friends on 
 the platform. The verse was sung in a hilarious off-hand style, by the best 
 singer, the others striking in alternately with the chorus. The cloth in the 
 meantime was rolled about, tossed backward and forward, and from side to side, 
 in magical gyrations that would utterly confound the table-turning of our 
 Yankee cousins, but all the while under regular mechanical principles of manipu- 
 lation, strictly adhered to, however " fast and furious" the mirth sometimes 
 grew, there being always method in the mad movements. The sight of so 
 many merry girls, turning labour into mirth, was exceedingly outre and pic- 
 turesque, and the opportunity of getting a sly peep at them was eagerly sought 
 by such Highland Tam O'Shanters as " knew what was what ;" but woe to the 
 luckless wight who was detected by the fair amazons unlawfully in the espial of 
 their mysterious orgies ! 
 
 The following fulling song, by the royal Celtic bard, Alexander Macdonald, 
 is an allegory, in which he represents the Prince under the similitude of a 
 young maiden, Morag, with flowing locks of yellow hair floating over her 
 shoulders. The bard describes his attachment to her, and says that he had 
 followed her faithfully in lands known and unknown to him ; and, if she would 
 come again, that he and all her former friends and admirers would embark 
 unhesitatingly in any enterprise calculated to vindicate her rights. My inability 
 to afford space for the whole of the verses, renders this brief explanation 
 necessary. I am indebted to Mrs Hulton, Glasgow, ,for the version of this air, 
 which is submitted to the reader, 
 
 A MHOKAG CHIATACH. — MOEAG BEAUTIFUL. 
 
 A Mhorag cheataich a chuil dhualaich, Graceful Morag of the curling ringlets, 
 a vorag chet-ayoh a cbnyl yu-al-aych 
 
 Gur h-e do luaigh a th'air m'aire. Thy love is the cause of my solicitude, 
 
 gur he do lu-ay' a hayr mayre 
 
 i^owm.— Beir mi ho Mhorag, C/wrMs.— Beyr mi ho vorag, 
 
 beyr me ho vorag 
 
 Ho ro na horo gheallaidh, Ho ro na horo yellay, 
 
 ho ro na horo yell-ay' 
 
 Beir mi ho Mhorag, Beyr mi ho vorag. 
 
 beyr me ho vorag 
 
 Mo dh-imich u nun thair chuain oirn. If thou art gone from us over the sea, 
 mo yimich u nun hayre ohu-ayn oyra 
 
 Gu 'm bu luadh a thig u dhachaidh. May thy return be speedy, 
 
 gu m bu lu-a' a hig u yaoh-ay' j j f j 
 
 ^^i^' ^^- Beyr, etc. 
 
 'S cuimnich thoir leat bannal ghruagach, Remember to bring with thee a band 
 s cuyn-ich hoyr let bannal yru-a-gach of maidens, 
 
 Luaigheas an clo ruadh gu daingean. Who will tightly fuller the red cloth, 
 lu-ay -es an clo ru-adh gu dayngen 
 
 ^eir, etc. Beyr, etc. 
 
Gur h-i Morag ghrinn mo ghuamag, 
 gur hi morag yrinn mo yu-a-mag 
 
 Aig a bheil an cuailean barr-fhionn. 
 ayg a veyl an ou-ayllen barr-i-onn 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Morag is the tidy one, 
 Whose hair is a pale-yellow. 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 177 
 
 Do chul bachlagach na dhualabh, 
 de chul baoh-lag-ach na yu-al-av 
 
 Dhalladh e 'n sluagh le lannir. 
 yalla' en slu-a' le laynnir 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 'S ge nach iarr mi u ri phusadh, 
 8ge nach i-arr mi u ri fu-sa' 
 
 Gu 'm be mo run a bhi mar riut. 
 gum be mo run a vi mar ri-ut 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Thy hair is in curly clusters. 
 That dazzle with their brightness. 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Although I will not ask thee in mar- 
 riage, 
 It were my delight to be near thee. 
 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 'S ma thig u rithist am lubaibh, 
 sma big n ri'-ist am lub-ayv' 
 
 Se an t-eug a rum ni air sgarradh 
 se an teyg a ruyn ni ayr sgarr-a' 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Leannaidh mi cho dluth ri d' shailean, 
 lenn-ay' mi cho din' ri d haylen 
 
 'S ni bairneach ri sgeir-mara. 
 8 ni vayrnech ri sgeyr-mara 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Shiubhail mi cian leat air m-eolas, 
 hi-uy-ayl ,mi ci-an let ayr me-o-las 
 
 Agus astar mor air 'm aineal. 
 agus astar mor ayr m aynel 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Gu 'n leanainn u feadh an t-shaoghail, 
 gn n lenn-aynn u fe' an t-ao'-ayl 
 
 And shouldst thou come again to my 
 
 country, 
 Death alone will separate us, my love. 
 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 I will adhere to thee as closely 
 As the limpet to the sea rock. 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 I travelled far with thee in the land I 
 
 knew, 
 And a considerable distance in a land 
 
 unknown to me. 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 I would follow thee to the extremity 
 of the world, 
 
 Na'n d' thigidh' tu ghaoil ga m' f harraid. Should' thou come, my love, to invite 
 nan dige' tu yaoyl ga m arr-ayd me. 
 
 Beir, etc. Beyr, etc. 
 
 Morag of many attractions, 
 
 Beautiful is the inclination of thy 
 eye-brows. 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 z 
 
 Mhorag nan iomadh ciatadh, 
 Torag nan i-oma' oi-a-ta' 
 
 'S glan a fiaradh thair do mhalaidh. 
 s glan a fi-a-ra' hayr do valay 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
178 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Do shuil shiulbhir, shochdrach, mhodhar, Thy eye is cheerful, slow, kindly, 
 do hnyl hnyl-vir hoo-raoh vo'-ar 
 
 Mhireagach, chomhnard, 's i meallach. — Merry, well-shaped, and large. — 
 vir-eg-aoh chov-nard 's i mellach 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Deud cailce shnasda na ribhinn, 
 deyd cayl-ce hnasda na ri-vinn 
 
 Mar dhisinean air an gearradh. — 
 mar yisiuen ayi an gerra' 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 The chalk-white teeth of the queenly 
 
 maiden 
 Are like dice (skilfully) carved. — 
 
 Beyr,, etc. 
 
 A mhaighdeann bhoidheach na'm bas Beautiful maiden of the polished 
 
 voy'-eoh 
 
 nam bas 
 
 vay'-denn 
 
 caoine, 
 caoyne 
 
 'S iad cho maoth ri cloimh na h-eala,- 
 's i-ad cho mao' ri cloyv na hela 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 'S iomadh oigear a tha'n toir ort 
 si-o-ma' oyger a ban toyr ort 
 
 Eadar Morthir agus Mannuinn. — 
 edar mor-bir agua mann-nynn 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 hands, 
 
 (That are) as smooth as the down of 
 the swan, — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Many are the youths who are after 
 
 thee 
 Between Morir and Mannuynn. — 
 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 'S iomadh gaisgeach uasal daicheil, 
 's i-o-ma' gaysgeoh u-asal day-cbeyl 
 
 Many are the warriors high-blooded 
 and stately 
 Nach obadh le'm ghradhsa tarruinn. — That would not hesitate to draw (their 
 
 nacb oba' lem yra'-sa tarruynn 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 swords) for my love. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 A rachadh le sgiath 's le claidheamh, 
 a raeb-a' le Bgi-a' sle clay'-ev 
 
 Air bheag sgath gu bial nan cannan.- 
 ayr veg sga' gn bi-al nan oannan 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Nach biodh mall a dol an ordugh 
 nach bi' mall a dol an ordu' 
 
 A thoirt a mach do choir a dh-aindeoin.- 
 a hoyrt a mach do choyr a yayn-de-oyn 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 That would advance with sword and 
 
 target. 
 Without fear, to the muzzle of the 
 
 cannon. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 That would not be slow to fall in. 
 And vindicate thy right, defyingly. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 'S iomadh armunn lasdail treubhach, 
 's i-o-ma' armunn las-dayl treyvach 
 
 Ann an Duneidean, am barrail. — 
 ann an dun-eyden am barr-ayl 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Many are the warriors, fiery and 
 
 strong, 
 In Dunedin, who think,— 
 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
OF THE HiaHLAND OLANS. 
 
 179 
 
 Na'n d-thigeadh tu rithist le d' eiridh, Shouldst thou come again with thy 
 nan dig-a' tu ri'-ist le dey-ri' rising 
 
 Gu'n dubladh na treun mu d' bhratich. — That double the number of heroes 
 gun dubla' na treyn mu d' vra-tich would surround thy standard.— 
 
 Beir, etc. Beyr, etc. 
 
 Thigeadh da mhile a Sleibhte, 
 hig-e' da vile a sleyvte 
 
 'S reisiamaid a Grieanne-garraidh. — 
 's reys-i-mayd a gleanna-garr-ay' 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 'S dbeanadh gu'n taise leat eiridh, 
 's yena' gun tayse let eyri' 
 
 Do chaibtein f hein, Mac-mhic-Aillean.- 
 do ohayb-teyn heyn mac-vic-ayll-en 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Thainig e an tus roi' chach leat, 
 hayuig e an tus roy chach let 
 
 'S cha'n fhailnich e ma thig u thairis.- 
 's cha'n ayl-nich e ma hig n hay-ris 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Le suiim Uidhist agus Mhuideart, 
 le snynn ny-ist agus vuy-dert 
 
 'S Arasaig dhu-ghorm a bharraich. — 
 's ara-sayg yu-yorm a varr-aych 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Ghana, Eige, is Mhorthir — 
 channa cyge is vor-hir 
 
 Do ghaisgeaich chorr do shiol-Aillein.- 
 do yaysg-aych chorr do hi-ol-ayll-eyn 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 'Nam Shir Alisdair 's Mhontros,, 
 nam hir alis-dayr 'b vontros 
 
 Bu bhocain iad do na gallaibh. — 
 bn voc-ayn i-ad do na gall-ayv 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Dh-fhiach iad latha Inverlochaidh 
 yi-aoh i-ad la'-a inrer-lo-chay' 
 
 Gu'n robh iad eolach air lannaibh. — 
 gun rov i-ad e-o-lach ayr lannayy 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Two thousand would come from Sleat, 
 And a regiment from Glengarry. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 With thee would rise, without timidity, 
 Thy own captain, Mac-vic-Aillein. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 He was the first to join thee before. 
 
 And will not fail thee, shouldst thou 
 come across. — 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 With the warriors of Cist and Moidart, 
 And green Arisaig of leafy branches. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Of Cana, Eig, and Morir— 
 
 All the surpassing heroes of the race 
 of Allan. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 In the time of Sir Alexander and 
 
 Montrose, 
 They were the terror of the strangers. 
 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 They showed on the day of Inver- 
 
 lochy 
 That they knew how to wield their 
 swords. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
180 
 
 Am Peairt, Cill-Soidh, is Alt-Eireanu, 
 am pe-ayrt cill-soy' is alt-eyrinn 
 
 Dh-fhag iad reubalaich gu'n anam. — 
 yag i-ad reb-al-ayoh gun anam 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 In Perth, Kilsythe, and Auldearn, 
 They left the rebels soulless. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Eiridh leat a Ghlinne-chomhan, With thee will rise the Grlencoe men, 
 
 eyri' le-at a glinne-oovan 
 
 Bratach choimheach nan geur-lannaibh. The fierce standard of sharp swords. — 
 bratach ohoyveoh nan geyr-lannayv 
 
 Beir, etc. Beyr, etc. 
 
 '8 eiridh leat a nail Eudha 
 's eyri' le-at a nail rn'-a 
 
 Antrim lu-chleasach nan seang-each. — 
 antrim lu-cblesach nan seng-ecb 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 And will rise with thee in Eudha 
 
 Antrim of dexterous swordsmen and 
 shapely steeds. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Druideadh na Gaidheil gu leir riut, 
 druyd-e' na gay'-el gu leyr ri-ut 
 
 Ge b'e dh-eiridh leat na dh-f hannadb. — 
 ge b'e yeyr-i' le-at na 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 The Gael will all close around thee, 
 Let who will come or remain away. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Shuidh deich mile air cle dhiu Ten thousand of them sat on the 
 buy deycb mile ayr cle yi-u wattle platform 
 
 An cogadh righ Seumas, nach maireann. In the days of king James, who is no 
 
 an coga' ri' eeym-as nach mayrenn more. 
 
 Beir, etc. Beyr, etc. 
 
 'S iomadh clo air an tug iad Caiten 
 's i-o-ma' clo ayr an tug i-ad cayten 
 
 Eadar Cat-aobh agus Anuin. — 
 edar cat-aov agus anuyn 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 On many cloths did they bring a 
 
 ruffled surface 
 Between Caithness and Anuyn. — 
 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Ge d' dhiult cacha dol a luagh leis, 
 ge d' yi-ult ca-cha dol a In-a' les 
 
 Cha robh gruaman air a bhannal. — 
 cha rov gru-a-man ayr a vannal 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 And although others refused to go 
 
 with thee. 
 Nor gloom nor hesitation did they 
 show. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Eigh ! bu mhaith a luagh a chlo iad, Ei ! but they were good at fullering 
 ri' bu vay' a lu-a' a chlo i-ad cloth, 
 
 'S ga dheannadh comhnard le'n lannan. And shaping it with their blades. — 
 's ga yeyna' cov-nard lea lannan 
 
 Beir, etc. Beyr, etc. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 181 
 
 H-uile clo a luaigh iad riamh dhut 
 huyle . olo a lu-ay i-ad ri-av yut 
 
 Dh-fhag iad e na stiallan mearradh. — 
 jag i-ad e na sti-all-an merra' 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Teann, tiugh, daingean, fite, luaighte, 
 lean ti-n' dayng-en fi-te lu-ay'-te 
 
 Paite ruadh le suaicht' fala, — 
 dayte ra-a' le su-ayoht fala 
 
 Beir, etc. 
 
 Every cloth they ever fullered for 
 
 • thee 
 They left in (measured) webs. — 
 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 Clean, thick, firmly woven, and ful- 
 lered. 
 
 Dyed red, of the complexion of 
 blood. — 
 Beyr, etc. 
 
 The following verses by the same bard were also sung by the fullers. The 
 version of this air submitted to the reader, is from my daughter, Mrs Lang, 
 Port-Glasgow. 
 
 B'fhearr leam breacan uallach, 
 berr le-am brecan n-all-ach 
 
 HO AN CLO DUBH. 
 
 I prefer the plaid airy 
 
 Ma m' ghuaillean 's ga chuir fo'm achlais, Kound my shoulders, or under my arm, 
 mam yu-ayllen sga chuyi fom achlais 
 
 Na ged gheibhein cota 
 na ged yeyv-eyn cota 
 
 De 'n chlo is fearr a thig a Sassunn. 
 den chlo is fen a hig a sassunn 
 
 Fonn. 
 
 He an clo-dubh, ho an clo-dubh, 
 he an clo-dav ho an clo-dnv 
 
 To a coat of the best cloth 
 That ever came from England. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Hey the black cloth, ho the black cloth. 
 
 He an clo-dubh ; b'-fhearr leam breacan ; Hey the black cloth ; give me the plaid ; 
 he an clo-duv berr le-am bie-ac-an 
 
 Hey the black cloth, ho the black cloth. 
 
 He an clo-dubh, ho an clo-dubh, 
 he an clo-dnv ho an clo-duv 
 
 He an clo-dubh ; b'-f hear leam breacan. Hey the black cloth; give me the plaid, 
 he an do-dnv berr le-am bre-ac-an 
 
 Mo laochan fein am feile, 
 mo lao-chan feyn am feyl^ 
 
 Nach feumadh ach crios ga ghlasadh, 
 nach feyma' ach cris ga ylas-a' 
 
 Cuaicheanach, deis, eatrom, 
 cu-ay-chen-ach deys e-trom 
 
 'Nam eiridh gu dol air astar. — 
 nam eyri' ga dol ayr astar 
 
 He, etc, 
 
 'S eibhinn 'san dol sios u, 
 's eyv-inn san dol si-os u 
 
 Noir sgriobair a truail an claidheamh, 
 noyr sgrib-ayr a tru-ayl an clay'-ev 
 
 My little hero is the kilt, 
 
 That requires but a belt to fasten, 
 
 Plaited, ready, tight, 
 
 In the time of rising to travel.— 
 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 Thou art my joy at the time of 
 
 charging. 
 When from the sheath the blade is 
 snatch'd, 
 
182 THE 
 
 A chasgairt nan naimhdean, 
 a ohas-gayrt naa nayv-den 
 
 Fo shrannt phiob is stairn nam bratach.— 
 fo h-rannt fi-ob is stayrn nam bratach 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 Bu mhath gu sealg an fheidh u, 
 bu va' gu selg an ey' u 
 
 'Nam eiridh do'n ghrein air creachan ; 
 nam eyri' don yreyn ayr creoh-an 
 
 'S dh'fhalabhain leat gu lothar, 
 's yalv-ayn let gu lo'-ar 
 
 Di-domhnaich a dol do'n chlachan. — 
 di-dov-naych a dol don chlachan 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 Laidhinn leat gu h-earbsail, 
 lay' -inn let gu h-erb-aayl 
 
 'S mar earba gu'n eiridh 'n grad leat, 
 's mar erb-a gun eyri'-n grad let 
 
 Na beallamh am armachd 
 na bell-av am arm-ac 
 
 Na dearganach 's musgaidh ghlagach. — 
 na deraganach 's mnsga' ylagach 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 Air t-uachdar gur sgiamhacb 
 ayr tu-aohd-ar gur sgiav-ach 
 
 A laidheas sgiatb na'm ball breacadh,. 
 a lay'-es sgi-a' nam ball brec-a' 
 
 Claidheamh air crios sniamhain 
 clay'-ev ayr cris sni-a-vayn 
 
 A'm fiaradh oscion do pbleatan. — 
 am fi-a-ra' os-ci-on do flet-an 
 He, etc. 
 
 Laidhean air an f braoch leat, 
 lay'-en ayr an raoch let 
 
 Gu gaolach mar aodach-leapa ; 
 gu gaol-ach mar aod-ach-lepa 
 
 'Sa dh-aindeoin uisge, is urchaid, 
 sa yayn-de-oyn uysg^ is ur-chayd 
 
 Na tuil-bheum gu'm biodh orm fasgadh. 
 na tnyl-veym gum bi-o' orm fasg-a' 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 'S baganta, grinn, boidheach, 
 s bag-an-ta grinn boy'-eoh 
 
 Air bannais 's air mod am breacan. 
 ayr bann-ays 's ayr mod am brec-an 
 
 MUSIC 
 
 To conquer the enemy, 
 
 - Under the resounding war-pipes and 
 rustling banners, 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 Suitable art thou for deer-stalking. 
 
 When the sun rises over the mountain 
 
 peaks ; 
 And modest is thy appearance, 
 
 Travelling to church on Sunday. — 
 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 I would sleep in thee snugly, 
 
 And start with the quickness of the 
 
 roe. 
 More ready in arms 
 
 Than a red-coat with his clumsy 
 musket. — 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 On thee gracefully 
 
 Lies the spotted target. 
 
 The sword, on a winding belt 
 
 Aslant across thy plaits. — 
 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 I would lie on the heather in thee, 
 
 My choice of bed-clothes ; 
 
 In spite of rain, and storm. 
 
 And water-spouts, thou wouldst me 
 shelter. — 
 Hey, eta 
 
 Sonsie, tight, and bonny. 
 
 At a wedding or court is the plaid. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 183 
 
 Suas am feile cuaichean, Up with the encircling feyle, (belted 
 8u-as am kyU cu-aychea plaid) 
 
 'S dealg-gualainn a cuir air fastaidh !— With the shoulder skewer to fasten it 
 
 's delg-gu-al-aynn a cnyr ayr fast-ay' (on high.) 
 
 He, etc. Hey, etc. 
 
 'S math a la 's a dh-oich u : 
 's ma' a la 8a yoych n 
 
 Tha loinn ort am beinn 's an cladach ; — 
 ha loynn ort am beynn 'san clad-ach 
 
 'S math am feachd 's an sith u. — 
 's ma' am fee san si' u 
 
 Cha righ am fear a chuir as u. — 
 cha ri' am fer a chnyr as n 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 Grood is it day and night : 
 
 It is becoming on the mountain or, 
 
 the beach ; 
 Good in peace or in war. — 
 
 He is no king who suppressed it. — 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 Shaoil leo gun do mhaolaich-so 
 haoyl le-o gun do vaol-ayoh-so 
 
 Faobhar nan Gaidheal tapaidh, 
 faov-ar nan gay'-el tap-ay' 
 
 Ach 's ann a chuir e'n gleus iad, 
 ach sann a chuyr e'n gleys i-ad 
 
 'S an geuraidh mar fhaobhar ealtain. — 
 san geyr-ay' mar aovar elt-ayn 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 He expected to have blunted 
 The zeal of the noble Gael, 
 
 But, instead of doing so, he put them 
 
 on their mettle, 
 And made them keen as the razor's 
 
 edge. — 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 Ged bheireadh sibh an cridh' asainn, 
 ged veyr-e' siv an cri' as-aynn 
 
 'S air broillechean sios a shracadh, 
 sayr broyll-ech-en si-os a h-rac-a' 
 
 Cha toir sibh asainn Tearlach 
 cha toyr siv as-aynn ter-lach 
 
 Fhad sa bhios an deo nar pearsa. — 
 ad sa vis an de-o nar persa 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 Although they should tear open our 
 
 bosoms. 
 And drag our hearts out of us. 
 
 They will not extract Charles 
 
 While the vital spark remains. — 
 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 Ged chuir sibh oirne buarach,* Although they have put a shackle* 
 
 ged chnyr siv oyme bu-ar-ach on US, 
 
 Tiugh duaichnidh gur falbh a bhacadh, Dark, ugly, to trammel our motions, 
 ti-n' dn-ayoh-ni' gur falv a vac-a' 
 
 Leannaidh sin cho luadh e We will follow and stick to him as 
 
 lenn-ay' sin cho In-a' e closely 
 
 'S cho buain ri feidh air a ghlasraidh. — And enduringly as the deer to his 
 
 's cho bu-ayn ri fey' ayr a ylas-ray' mountains. — 
 
 He, etc. Hey, etc. 
 
 * A hair shackle put on the hind legs of rostiff cows when being milked in the open fields. 
 
184 
 
 Tha sinn san t-sheann nadar, 
 ha sinn san tenn nadar 
 
 Saa t-fhas sinn ro am an Acta, 
 san tas sinn ro am an aca 
 
 Nar pearsanan nar 'n inntinn, 
 nar persanan nam inn-tinn 
 
 'S nar rioghalachd cha teid taise. — 
 's nar ri'yal-ac cha teyd tayse 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 Si an fhuil bha'n cuisle air sinnsir, 
 si an uyl va'n cnysld ayr sinn-sir 
 
 'S an innsginn bha nan aigne, 
 san inn-sgin va nan aygne 
 
 A dh-fhagadh dhuinn mar dliileab,- 
 a yag-a' yuynn mar yil-eb 
 
 Bhi rioghail — sin air paidir ! — 
 vi ri-yayl o sin ayr pay-dir 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 Ge d' f huair sibh lamh an uachdar, 
 ged hu-ayr siv lav an u-ac-ar 
 
 Aon uair oirn le seorsa tapaig, 
 aon n-ayr oyrn le se-or-sa tap-ayg 
 
 Blar eile fhad sa 's beo e 
 War eyle ad sas be-o e 
 
 Cha choisin feoladair do Shassunn. — 
 cha choysin fe-ol-a-dayr do hass-unn 
 
 He, etc. 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 We are of the hereditary nature, 
 
 In which we grew before the Act was 
 
 passed. 
 In our persons and minds, 
 
 And in our loyalty there is no softness. 
 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 The blood in the pulse of our ancestors, 
 
 And the instinct of their minds, 
 
 — Left us as a bequest, — 
 
 Loyalty — ob, that is our creed ! — 
 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 Although they got the upper hand 
 
 for once, 
 By a mixture of treachery and chance, 
 
 Never, while he lives, will the Butcher 
 
 Over us gain another battle for 
 England. 
 Hey, etc. 
 
 When substituting the feudal for the patriarchal system, the kings of 
 Scotland and their feudal creatures, as the last resort, used the most subtle 
 means for drawing such clans as proved obstinately determined on holding their 
 lands by the free hereditary Cleachda, into a quarrel with some powerful feudal 
 neighbour, who could, either by his own strength or by means of alliances with 
 other feudal magnates, defeat them in battle, and thus reduce them into the 
 condition described in feudal statutes as " broken clans." To be denounced 
 as a broken clan was tantamount to being outlawed, and left to the mercy of 
 all and sundry who were able and willing to take their lives and estates. The 
 Clan-Gregor was drawn into a quarrel of this kind ; but being a high-minded 
 and a powerful clan, of royal lineage, and of the most illustrious character, 
 unusual pains were taken to make the Country believe that they had provoked 
 their doom, by acting with great treachery and cruelty toward their opponents. 
 It was alleged, that during the battle of Glenfruin, from a diabolical spirit of re- 
 venge, they had set fire to a school-house or college over the heads of the children 
 of the opposing clan ; and, to confirm the statement, a procession was formed of 
 women, to wait on the king at Stirling, and expose before him the bloody shirts 
 of their slain husbands. The so called wives were loose women, hired for 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 185 
 
 payment in Glasgow, &c. ; and the bloody shirts were shirts dipped in the blood 
 of sheep or cattle. But the solemn farce afforded the just and tender-hearted 
 king a glorious opportunity of displaying his great generosity and inflexible 
 justice, and at the same time of putting a very large part of the lawless 
 Highlands under the feudal yoke. The whole clan Gregor, of whom only a 
 small minority were in the engagement, were accordingly outlawed and pros- 
 cribed, and their very name, — one of the oldest and noblest in Scotland, — put 
 down by law. They were hunted with blood-hounds, and all but exterminated, 
 and their extensive clan districts divided among their powerful feudal neighbours. 
 The crime which brought on them this cruel treatment was simply their 
 conservatism. They obstinately refused to consent to such a change in the 
 free land-tenures of their fathers as would put their lives and estates under 
 the despotic will and pleasure of their kings. 
 
 This cruel persecution, and the unflinching endurance of the Macgregors 
 in adversity, occupy a great space in the poetry and traditions of the Highlands. 
 " Macgreagair o Ruadhro" seems to have been a favourite air with those who 
 wrote songs on the subject, for there are several elegiacs composed to that air, 
 all of them sweet and beautiful, and little calculated to countenance belief in 
 the vengeful spirit ascribed to the Macgregors; but even the generous and 
 kindly Sir Walter Scott, from his perverted feudal education and ignorance of 
 Gaelic poetry, believed these slanders, and, in consequence was incapable of 
 doing justice to the Macgregors. We have from twenty to thirty volumes 
 containing specimens of Gaelic poetry from the days of Fingal to the present 
 day, and no one will find in the whole mass a single verse breathing the ferocious 
 spirit of vengeance inspired into the " Macgregor's Gathering" by the amiable 
 Sir Walter Scott; so much more humane and magnanimous were the old 
 Highlanders for the last two thousand years than the best representative-speci- 
 men of feudalism even in the nineteenth century. The words and melody of 
 " Macgreagair o Rudhro" breathe a very different spirit, though not less heroic. 
 The fact is, that there never were a people less addicted to revenge than the 
 Highland clans. We have, in Gaelic, names descriptive and distinct for every 
 passion, excepting revenge. But revenge was as alien to the genius of our clans 
 and country as feudalism. We have therefore no words in Gaelic whereby 
 to express either revenge or feudal titles. Even our prolific dictionary-makers 
 have failed to find in Gaelic a word descriptive of or distinct for revenge. For 
 it is shown in many of our hilarious drinking songs, that " diol" (which is their 
 only word for revenge) means," to pay the lawing : " Ge be dh-olas 's tu dhiolas," 
 (whoever drinks, jonpay) "ge be brandai, beoir, na fion e, dian an stopsa dhomhsa 
 liona ; 's mis am fear nae sor' a dhioladh ge 'd chosta fhiach an dhomh suim," 
 (let it be brandy, beer, or wine, fill me this stoup ; I am the man that will not 
 grudge to pay, though its price would cost a sum.) Now, let the reader 
 consult the Rev. Drs Macleod and Dewar's Dictionary, and he will find that the 
 only word available to these eminent Gaelic scholars to describe this (according 
 to feudal writers) deadly and inflexible trait in the native Highland character, 
 revenge, is diol! — a word m flexible as to be thus translated by the Reverend 
 
 A a 
 
186 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Doctors : — " Diol, avenge, revenge ; pay ; render ; fill ; satisfy ; reason. Dial, 
 recompence, satisfaction, retribution ; reward, hire ; satiety ; an object, an end 
 proposed ; fate, destiny ; the act of weaning as of a child." I have shown in 
 my Lecture on the Caledonians and Scots, that the very language of the Gael 
 thus furnishes the means of refuting all the ignorant and ill-natured misstatements 
 as to the social condition and character of the Highland clans ; and, when to 
 these is added the evidence of refined tastes and generous feelings and 
 sentiments furnished by their poetry and music, it must, indeed, indicate utter 
 degeneracy on the part of modern Highlanders, unless they vindicate that 
 character against the cruel and unjust charge of lawless barbarity. Even 
 assuming, in accordance with the vulgar (but most erroneous) impression, that 
 the people of the British Empire are of two difierent races, surely each of these 
 races, if honest, will feel it a duty to do justice to its fellow race. 
 
 Two hues of every verse in the following measure, and all similar songs, were 
 sung as a chorus by the audience, which had a most pleasing and pathetic effect; 
 hence their repetition in the succeeding verse of two lines of the former verse. 
 
 MAC-GREAGAIR RDADHRO. 
 
 Tha mulad, tha mulad, 
 ha mnlad ha mulad 
 
 Tha mulad am lionadh ; 
 ha mulad am li-o-na' 
 
 Lion mulad bochd truagh mi, 
 li-on mulad boo tru-a' mi 
 
 'S cha dual dhomh dheth direadh ; 
 's cha du-al yov ye' dir-e' 
 
 Oh sorrow, oh sorrow. 
 
 Deep sorrow has seized me ; 
 
 My soul is filled with a sorrow 
 
 From which I am not destined to 
 find relief; 
 
 Lion mulad bochd truagh mi, 
 li-on mulad boo tru-a' mi 
 
 Cha dual dhomh dheth direadh, 
 cha du-al yov ye' dir-e' 
 
 Mu Mhac-Greagair o Kuadhro, 
 mu vac-gre-gayr o ru-a-ro 
 
 Ga'm bu dual bhi 'n Gleannlion ; 
 gam bu du-al vi'n gleuu-li-oa 
 
 My soul is filled with a sorrow 
 
 From which I am not destined to 
 
 find relief, 
 About Macgregor of Euadhro, 
 
 Whose right is Glenlyon ; 
 
 Mu Mhac-Greagair o Euadhro, 
 mu vac-gre-gayr o ru-a-ro 
 
 Ga'm bu dual bhi 'n Gleannlion ; 
 gam bu du-al vi'n glenn-li-on 
 
 Macgreogair na'n gaisgeach, 
 mac-gre-gayr nan gays-gech 
 
 Na'm bratach, 's na'm piobain ; 
 nam brat-ach 's nam pi-ob-ayn 
 
 About Macgregor of Euadhro, 
 Whose right is Glenlyon ; 
 Macgregor of the warriors, 
 The banners, and war-pipes ; 
 
Macgreagair na'n gaisgeach, 
 mao-gre-gayr nan gays-geoh 
 
 Na'm bratach, 's na'm piobain, 
 nam brat-ach 's nam pi-ob-ayn 
 
 Ga'm bu sbuadhcbeantas giubhas, 
 gam bn hu-a-ohen-tas gi-u-vas 
 
 Ri brudhach ga dhireadh ; 
 I'i bru'-ach ga yir-e' 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Macgregor of the warriors, 
 The banners, and war-pipes, 
 Whose badge was the fir, 
 When ascending the mountains ; 
 
 187 
 
 Ga'm bu shuadhcheanteas giubhas, 
 gam bu hu-a-ehentas gi-n-Tas 
 
 Ei brudhach ga dhireadh ; 
 ri brn'-ach ga yir-e' 
 
 Whose badge was the fir. 
 When ascending the mountains ; 
 
 Saighdean caol air an deagh lochdradh. Who loved the slender arrows, well 
 say-den caol ayr an de-a' loch-ra' plained, 
 
 Is itean dosrach an f hirean ; 
 is it-en dos-rach an ir-en 
 
 Tipped with the feathers of the eagle ; 
 
 Saighdean caol air an deagh lochradh. Who loved the slender arrows, well 
 say-den caol ayr an de-a' loch-ra' plained 
 
 'S itean dosrach an fhirean ; Tipped with the feathers of the eagle ; 
 's it-en dos-rach an ir-en 
 
 Saighdean caol air an deagh shnaigheadh Slender arrows well polished (waxed) 
 say-den caol ayr an de-a' nay-e' 
 
 'B-ann do dh-aigher mhic righ e. 
 b'ann do yeyer vie ri' e 
 
 Ged a bhuaileadh mi 'm balach 
 ged a vuayl-e' mim bal-ach 
 
 Ga ghearran cha bhi mi ; 
 ga ye-arran cha vi mi 
 
 'S luchd a ghabhail mo leith-sgeulf 
 's luc a ya-vayl mo le'-sgeyl 
 
 Ann san t-cheapal nan sineadh ; 
 ann san tep-al nan sin-e' 
 
 Luchd a ghabhail mo leithsgeul 
 luc a ya-vayl mo le'-sgeyl 
 
 Ann san t-cheapal nan sineadh ; 
 ann san tep-al nan sin-e' 
 
 Was part of the delight of the 
 
 descendant of kings. 
 * * * * » * 
 
 Though a boor should strike me 
 
 I will not complain ; 
 
 (For) those that would take my partf 
 
 Are stretched in the chapel ; 
 
 Those that would take my part 
 Are stretched in the chapel ; 
 
 * The above stars do not mean that the verses are lost. The ballad has three parts, but I can afford 
 space only for a few of the first verses of each. They bear me out, however, in showing that, although 
 on the subject of the persecution, they breathe anything but a ferocious and vengeful spirit. 
 
 t Leith-sgeul, literally, ex parti statement. That is, they would take her own word for the truth of her 
 grievance, and address themselves, off-hand, to doing her justice. Query : Were the people so truthful 
 as to leave no doubt on the minds of their friends as to the truth of their statements ? Or were the clans 
 so regardless of truth and justice as to be equally ready to take the part of their own members, right or 
 wrong ? The above mode of expression, which means espousing ones cause on their ex parti statement, 
 implies either the one or the other, if the idiom of a language is capable of throwing light on the mode, 
 of thinking and character of a people. 
 
188 
 
 Luchd a sheasaibh mo chorach, 
 Ino a hes-ayv mo ohor-aoh 
 
 'S mor mo leon iad bhi dhith orm ; 
 's mor mo le-on i-ad vi yi' orm 
 
 Luchd a sheasaibh mo chorach, 
 luo a hes-ayv mo chor-ach 
 
 'S mor mo leon iad bhi dhith orm ; 
 'b mor mo le-on i-ad vi yi' orm 
 
 Ged a nitear orm eacoir, 
 ged a ni-ter orm e-coyr 
 
 Co ni m' eiric a dhioladh ? 
 CO ni meyric a yi-ol-a' 
 
 ****** 
 
 Dean do leabadh 's na creagan, ' 
 den do leba' 's na creg-an 
 
 'S na caidil ach eatrom ; 
 's na oayd-il aoh e-trom 
 
 Ged is ainmic an fheorag 
 ged is ayn-mic an e-o-rag 
 
 Gheabhar seol air a faotain ; 
 yevar se-ol ayr a faotayn 
 
 Ged is ainmic an fheorag 
 ged is ayn-mio an e-o-rag 
 
 Gheabhar seol air a faotain ; 
 yevar se-ol ayr a faotayn 
 
 'S ged is uaibhreach an seobhag, 
 's ged is u-ay-vreoli an se-o-vag 
 
 'S trie a ghlacar le foil e, &c. 
 's trie a ylac-ar le foyl e 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Those that would stand by my rights. 
 Great is my wound deprived of them ; 
 
 Those that would stand by my rights, 
 
 Great is my wound deprived of them ; 
 
 Though evil be done to me, 
 
 Who will exact my eric* (compensa- 
 tion.) 
 
 f* T* 'F T* V -t* 3ffc 
 
 Make thy bed in the rocks, 
 And sleep but lightly ; 
 Though the squirrel is rare 
 There is a way to find her ; 
 
 Though the squirrel is rare 
 
 There is a way to find her ; 
 
 Though proud is the hawk, 
 
 He has been often taken treacherously, 
 &c. 
 
 William Ross, whose romantic love, disappointment, and early death, 
 attaches more interest to his poetry than it of itself is capable of inspiring, 
 wrote one of his love songs to the air of " Lochaber no more," which has been 
 changed in the Lowlands into various versions, none of them to be compared 
 to the original melody, excepting the version called " Lord Ronald my Son." 
 I have only the first two lines of the original words, which, however, are well 
 known in Benderloch. The verses begin :■ — 
 
 Mu'n cuairt do Lochcrearain cha teid mi Around Lochcrerain I will go never, 
 
 gu brath, 
 
 Gu'n bhogadh gu'n saighead gu'n Without a bow, an arrow, and a two- 
 
 chlaidheamh da laimh. handed sword. 
 
 * I have stated elsewhere that there was no capital punishments among the patriarchal clans, 
 excepting for crimes treacherous or infamous, which placed the criminal beyond the power of the Brehan 
 court, and under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Druids. How could revenge be a characteristic of a 
 people who were trained and brought up for thousands of years under a law and a religion utterly 
 incompatible with such a spirit ? 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 189 
 
 The only verses of this song I can find room for is sung to the air of 
 " Mu'n cuairt do Lochcrearain." 
 
 CHUMHADH A BHAIRD AN DEIGH A LEANNAN, — THE BAED's LAMENT AFTER 
 
 HIS LOVE. 
 
 Gur gille mo leannan nan eaV air an Whiter is my love than a swan when 
 gur gille mo len-an nan el ayr an swimming, 
 
 t-shnamh, 
 t-nav 
 
 Gur binne i nan smeorach 'm barraibh Sweeter is her voice than a thrush on 
 gur binn i nan ame-or-ach 'm barr-ayv a graceful tree 
 
 ro-chrann sa mhaigh, 
 ro-chrann sa vay' 
 
 Tha i pailt ann an ceutaidh, an ceil, is She is rich in beauty, in wisdom, in 
 ha i paylt ann an cey-tay' an ceyl is dignity ■ 
 
 an uaill ; 
 an nayl 
 
 'Se chuir fuadach air m' eibhneas, It has banished my happiness 
 
 se ohuyi fu-a-dach ayr meyvnes 
 
 Bhi a t-eugmhais 'san uair. To be without her at this time, 
 
 vi a teyg-vays san n-ayr 
 
 Fonn: — 
 
 Seinn eibhinn, seinn eibhinn, seinn 
 seynn eyvinn seynn eyvinn seynn 
 
 eibhinn gu'n dail ; 
 eyvinn gnn dayl 
 
 Seinn eibhinn, seinn eibhinn, seinn 
 seynn eyvinn seynn eyvinn seynn 
 
 eibhinn gach la ; 
 eyvinn gach la 
 
 Seinn eibhinn, binn eibhinn, seinn 
 seynn eyvinn binn eyvinn seynn 
 
 eibhinn a ghnath ; 
 eyvinn a yna' 
 
 Seinn eibhinn, binn eibhinn, a chuir 
 seynn eyvinn binn eyvinn a chnyr 
 
 m' eislein gu lar. 
 meylenn gn lar 
 
 Chorus : — 
 
 Sing joyously, sing joyously, sing 
 joyously without delay ; 
 
 Sing_ joyously, sing joyously, sing 
 joyously every day ; 
 
 Sing joyously, sweetly-joyously, sing 
 joyously always ; 
 
 Sing joyously, sweetly-joyously, to 
 banish my grief. 
 
 Se do mhanran bu mhian leam 's e gun Thy endearments, without fitful es- 
 se do vanran bn vi-an le-am 'se gun citements or gloom, are my delight; 
 fhiaras gu'n ghruaim ; 
 i-a-ras gnn yru-aym 
 
 'S noir a sheinneas tu oran, 's tu binne And when singing thine is the sweetest 
 's noyr a heynnes tu oran 'stn binne melody ; 
 
 cheolaireadh fuaim ; 
 ohe-o-layre' fu-aym 
 
190 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Dh-eireadh m' inntinn gu abhachd, aig 
 yeyra' minntinn gu av-ao ayg 
 
 aireamh gach buidh, 
 ayrev gach bu-ay' 
 
 A tha coilionte am leannan, baindith, 
 a ha coyU-ontd am lennan bayodi' 
 
 farasda suairc. 
 farasda su-ayrc 
 
 My mind rises with joy when number- 
 ing every virtue 
 
 Combined in my love, who has 
 easiness, delicacy, and modesty. 
 
 'S binn cuach agus smeorach an ogain 
 's binn cu-ach agus ame-o-rach an og-ayn 
 
 nan gleann, 
 nan glenn 
 
 Noir bhios ceo tiamhaidh doiler air doire 
 noyr vis ce-o ti-av-ay doyler ayr doyre 
 
 na mang ; 
 na mang 
 
 Ach 's binne mo leannan, coimhneal, 
 achs binne mo lennan coyuel 
 
 farasda, ciuin, 
 farasda ci-uyn 
 
 Alasadh eibhneis le h-orain,le comhradh, 
 a lasa' eyv-nis le hor-ayn le oovra' 
 
 's le' m' muirn. 
 sle mnym 
 
 Sweet is the cushet and the thrush on 
 the saplings in the glens, 
 
 When mist silent and shadowy winds 
 around the grove of roes ; 
 
 But sweeter is my love, kind, affable, 
 mild, 
 
 Kindling joy with her songs, her con- 
 verse, her cheerfulness. 
 
 Gre do bhithinn an eugail, 's an leigh a 
 ge do vi'-mn an eygail 'san ley' a 
 
 toirt duail 
 toyrt dn-ayl 
 
 Nach bith comhair an dan dhomh ach 
 naoh bi' covayr an dan yov ach 
 
 bas an gearr uinn, 
 bas an gerr uyn 
 
 Chuireadh sealladh dhe m' ribhinn mo 
 chuyre' sella' ye m' ri-vinn mo 
 
 mhigean air chul, 
 vi-gen ayr chul 
 
 Ghlachain binneas na smeoraich 's 
 ylac-ayn binnes na sme-o-raych 's 
 
 gheibhinn solas as ur. 
 yeyv-inn solas as ur 
 
 Though prostrated in sickness, and 
 the doctor should say 
 
 That relief was not possible, and 
 death suddenly would be mine. 
 
 A sight of my queenly maiden would 
 banish my ailments, 
 
 I would catch the sweetness of the 
 thrush, and receive new joy and 
 health. 
 
 Mr A. Carmichael of the Inland Kevenue sent me the following verse and 
 melody, ascribed to " a leannan sith," or fairy sweetheart, whose human lover 
 seems to have given her more of his work than of his company. There are 
 many sweet fragments of the same class in my possession, for which I cannot 
 make room ; but I insert " Buain na Eainich," (cutting the ferns,) because it 
 affords me an opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to this enthusiastic 
 Highlander, who has sent me an immense number of songs and melodies, for 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 191 
 
 none of which, excepting the present fragment, can I find use at present ; but 
 that does not lessen my sense of his kindness and attention ; and I beg his 
 acceptance of my sincere thanks. 
 
 BUAIN NA BAINICH. — CUTTING THE FERNS. 
 
 Tha mi sgith 's mi leam f hin, 
 ha mi sgi' 'smi le-am hin 
 
 H-uille latha a buain na rainaich ; 
 huylle la'-a a bu-ayn na rayn-aych 
 
 Tha mi sgith 's mi leam fhin, 
 ha mi sgi' 'smi le-am hin 
 
 H-uille latha m' onar ; 
 hnylle la'-a monar 
 
 Cul an tomain, braigh an tomain, 
 cul an tom-ayn bray' an tom-ayn 
 
 Cul an tomain bhoidhich ; 
 cnl an tom-ayn voy-ich 
 
 Cul an' tomain, braigh an tomain, 
 cnl an tom-ayn bray' an tom-ayn 
 
 H-uille latha m' onar. 
 huylle la'-a monar 
 
 I am tired, all by myself, 
 
 Every day cutting ferns ; 
 
 I am tired, all by myself, 
 
 Every day so lonely ; 
 
 On the back of the knoll, the top of 
 
 the knoll, 
 On the back of the bonny knoll ; 
 
 On the back of the knoll, the top of 
 
 the knoll. 
 Every day so lonely. 
 
 The following song is by Donnach Ban nan Oran, the Glenorchy bard ; but 
 I have not succeeded in getting a good set of the air. It is addressed, in 
 gratitude, to the foxes, because they killed the sheep. 
 
 OEAN LUAIDH, NA BALGAIEEAN. — THE FOXES, (lITEKALLY, PLUNDEEEES.) 
 
 My blessing on the foxes 
 
 Mo bheannachd aig na balgairean 
 mo vennac ayg na balg-ayr-en 
 
 A chionn bhi sealg nan caorach. 
 a chi-onn tI sealag nan caorach 
 
 Ho hu, ho ho, na balgairean, 
 ho hn ho bo na balg-ayi-en 
 
 O's ainmig iad ri f haotain ; 
 08 aynimig i-ad ri ao-tayn 
 
 Ho hu, ho ho, na balagairean. 
 ho hu bo bo na balg-ayr-en 
 
 'S iad na caoraich cheann-riach 
 'a i-ad na oaor-ayoh chenu-ri-ach 
 
 Rinn aineart feadh an t-shaoghail. — 
 rinn ayn-ert fe' an tao'-ayl 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Am fearann cfauir iad fas oirn, 
 am fer-ann ohuyr i-ad fas oym 
 
 'Sa mal chuir iad an daoraid. — 
 ea mal chuyr i-ad an daor-ayd 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 That hunt (and kill) the sheep. 
 Ho hu, ho ho, the foxes, 
 they are (too) rare to be found ; 
 Ho hu, ho ho, the foxes. 
 
 It is the grey-faced sheep 
 
 That have oppressed the wold. — 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 They have made a desert of the 
 
 country. 
 And made the rents dearer. — 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
192 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Cha 'n 'eil ait ga thuanachadh, 
 cha neyl ayt ga hu-an-ach-a' 
 
 Tha chuir sa bhuain air claonadh, 
 ha chuyr sa vu-ayn ayr claon-a' 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 There is not such a thing as cultiva- 
 tion; 
 
 , — Sowing and reaping have ceased. — 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 'S eigin dhuinn bhi fagail 
 's eyg-in yuyn vi fa-gayl 
 
 Na tir aillidh an robh air daoine.— 
 na tir ayli' an rov ayr daoyne 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 'S na sraithean is na h-airidhean, 
 na sray'-en is na hay'ri-en 
 
 Am faighte blath 's is faoileachd,- 
 am fayte bla' 'sis faoyl-eo 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 We must of necessity leave 
 
 The beautiful country in which our 
 people were reared. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 The strath and shieling, 
 
 In which were found a warm hospi- 
 tality, — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Cha 'n 'eil a nis ach laraichean 
 cha neyl a nis ach lar-aycb-en 
 
 'N ait' nan taighean aoidheil. — 
 nayt nan tay'-en aoy'-eyl 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Contain only crumbling ruins 
 Instead of social dwelling-houses. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Cha 'n 'eil sunnd air aiteachadh 
 cha neyl sunnd ayr ayt-eoh-a' 
 
 Aig traigh na air na raointean. — 
 ayg tray na ayr na raoyn-ten 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 There is no vigorous cultivation 
 On shore or wold, — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Tha h-uile seol a b' abhaist 
 ha hnyle se-ol a bav-ayst 
 
 Ann sa Ghaidheallachd air caochladh.- 
 ann sa yay'-el-tac ayr caoch-la' 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Every custom that was 
 In the Highlands is changed.- 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Air cinntinn cho mi-nadurra 
 ayr cinn-tinn cho mi-na-dnrra 
 
 'S na h-aitean a bha aoidheal. — 
 's na hayt-enn a va aoy'-el 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 The people have become unnatural 
 In places that were so hospitable. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Cha 'n 'eil capul tacarach, 
 cha neyl capnl tacara' 
 
 Is serrach aig a taobh ann,- 
 is serrach ayg a taov ann 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 There is no fruitful brood-mare 
 Seen with a foal by her side, — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
Cha 'n 'eil boin 's aighean aillidh 
 
 cha neyl boyn 's ay'-en ayll-i' 
 
 'G arach an cuid laogh ann. — 
 gai-ach an cayd lao' ana 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Nor cows nor beautiful queys, 
 Bearing their calves there. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 193 
 
 Cha 'n 'eil feum air gruagaichean, 
 cha neyl feym ayr gru-ag-aych-en 
 
 Tha h-uUe buail air sgaoileadh. — 
 ha hnyle bn-ayl ayr sgaoyle' 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Cha'n fhaigh gille tuarasdal 
 cha'n ay' gilW tn-ar-as-dal 
 
 Ach buachaille nan caorach. — 
 ach ba-a-chaylle nan caorach 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Dh-fhalbh na gabhair riomhach 
 yalv na gav-ayr ri-o-vach 
 
 'S bu pherseil is bu shaor iad. — 
 'a bu fii-seyl is bu haor i-ad 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 There is no demand for young women, 
 For every fold is dispersed. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 No lad will get employment 
 Excepting to herd sheep. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 The pretty goats are banished, 
 That were so valuable and cheap. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Earba bheag nan duslain 
 eraba Teg nan dus-layn 
 
 Cha duisgear i le blaoghan. — 
 cha duysg-er i le blao'-an 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Cha 'n 'eil fiadh air fuaran, 
 cha neyl fi-a' ayrfu-a-ran 
 
 O'n thagh na h-uislean caoirich.- 
 on ha' na hnya-ien caoyrich 
 
 Ho, etc, 
 
 Tha gach frith' ear fuasgailte, 
 ha gach fii' er fti-as-gaylt 
 
 Gu'n duals air son a shaothreach. 
 gun du-aya ayr son a haoy'-rech 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 'S diombach air an duine mi 
 'a di-om-bach ayr an duyne mi 
 
 Ni na sionnaich aoireadh, — 
 ni na ai-onn-aych aoyr-e' 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 The little roe of dark coverts 
 Will not be waked by the fawn-cry. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 No deer are to be found among the 
 
 springs. 
 Since gentlemen have given the 
 
 preference to sheep. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Every forester is dismissed, 
 Receiving no reward for his trouble. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 My displeasure to the man 
 That would cry down the foxes, — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Bb 
 
194 
 
 Ohuireas cu ga'n ruagadh, 
 ohnyr-es cu gan ru-a-ga' 
 
 Na thilgeas luaidhe chaol orr'.- 
 na hilg-es lu-ay' ohaol orr 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Who would send a dog to chase them, 
 Or would fire at them with small shot. 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Gu'm bu slan na cuileanan 
 gum bu slan ua cuyl- en-en 
 
 Tha fuireach an san t-shaobhaidh.- 
 ba fuyr-eob an san taov-ay' 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Health be to the cubs 
 That dwell in their rocky nursery. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Na'm faigheadh iad mo dhurachd, 
 nam fay'-e' i-ad mo yur-ao 
 
 Cha churam dhoibh cion saoghail.- 
 cba churam yoyv cin sao'-ayl 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 If they receive my desire, 
 
 There is no danger but they will long 
 live. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Bhiodh piseach air an oigridh, 
 Ti-o' pis-ecb ayr an oyg-ri' 
 
 Is bhiodh beo gus a marbh aois lad.- 
 is vi-o' be-0 gus a marv aoys i-ad 
 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 They will have good luck, 
 And live till age kills them. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 Having been unable to get a good set of the air of the above duanag, I 
 give a verse or two of another oran luaidh, by the same gifted bard, a pretty 
 good set of which I can submit. 
 
 OHUNNAIC Mi'N DAMH DONN 's 'n H-EILDBN. — ^1 HAVE SEEN THE BROWN 
 STAG AND THE HINDS. 
 
 Ged tha bacadh air na h-armaibh, Though arms have been put down, 
 
 ged ba baca' ayr na har-mayv 
 
 Ghleidh mi Spainteach thun na seilge ; I have retained a Spanish piece for 
 yley' mi spayn-tech bun na seylg^ Stalking; 
 
 Ge do rinn i orm cho cearbach. But it has used me shabbily, 
 
 ge do rinn i orm cho cerb-ach 
 
 'S nach do mharbh i mac na h-eilde. In not killing the son of the hind. 
 
 'a nacb do varv i mac na beyl-d^ 
 
 Fonn. 
 
 Chor 
 
 lis. 
 
 Chunnaic mi 'n damh donn 's na h-eilden, I saw the brown stag and the hinds 
 cbunn-ayo mi'n dav donn 'sna beyl-den 
 
 A direadh a bhealaich le cheile ; Together ascending the defile ; 
 
 a dir-e' a vel-ayoh le cbeyl^ 
 
 Chunnaic mi 'n damh donn's na h-eilden. I saw the brown stag and the hinds, 
 chunn-ayc mi'n dav donn 'sna heyl-den 
 
OP THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 195 
 
 'Nuair a dh-eirich mi sa mhaduin, 
 nu-ayr a yeyr-ich mi sa vad-uyn 
 
 Chuir mi innte fudar Ghlascho, 
 chnyr mi ion-te fudar ylas-cho 
 
 Peiller tenn, is tri puist Shass'nach, 
 peyll-er temi is tri puyst hass-nach 
 
 'S cuifein asgairt air a dheidh sin. — 
 '3 cuyf-en as-gayrt ayr a yey' sin 
 
 Chunnaic, etc. 
 
 Bha'n spor ur an deigh a breacadh, 
 van spor ur an dey' a breo-a' 
 
 Chuir mi uille ris an acuin, 
 chuyr mi uylle ris an ac-uyn 
 
 'S eagal driuchd bha mudan craicin 
 's eg-al dri-nchd va mn-dan crayc-in 
 
 Cumail fasgaidh air mo cheile. — 
 cum-ayl fas-gay' ayr mo chey-ld 
 
 Chunnaic, etc. 
 
 Laidh an eillid air an f huaran ; 
 lay' an eyll-id ayr an u-a-ran 
 
 Chosd mi rithe mo chuid luaidhe ; 
 chosd mi ri'-i' mo chuyd lu-ay'-d 
 
 'S noir a shaoil mi i bhi buailte, 
 's noyr a haoyl mi i vi bu-ayW 
 
 Sin an uair a b-aird' a leum i. — 
 sin an n-ayr a bayrd a leym i 
 
 Chunnaic, etc. 
 
 Bi sinn beo an dochas ro-mhath 
 bi sinn be-o an do-chas ro-va' 
 
 Gu'm bi chuis ni 's fhear a t-ath la ; 
 gam bi chnys ni's er a ta' la 
 
 Gu'm bi gaoth is grian is talamh, 
 gum bi gao' is gri-an is talav 
 
 Mar is maith linn air na sleibhtein. — 
 mar is may' linn ayr na slyv-teyn 
 
 Chunnaic, etc. 
 
 Bithidh an luaidh ghlas na deannaibh, 
 bi'-i' an In-ay' ylas na denn-ayv 
 
 Siubhal reith aig gaothair sheangadh, 
 si-u-val rey' ayg gao'-ayr heng-a' 
 
 Na daimh dhonn a sile faladh, 
 na dayv yonn a sil-^ fa-la' 
 
 'S abhachd aig na fearaibh gleusda. — 
 's av-ac ayg na fer-ayv gleys-da 
 
 I saw, etc. 
 
 When I got up in the morning, 
 
 I put in her a charge of Glasgow 
 powder, 
 
 A tight bullet, three Sassanach slugs, 
 And a colfin of tow after them. — 
 I saw, etc. 
 
 The new flint was chipped. 
 There was oil applied to the lock, 
 And, to ward off dew, a skin mantle 
 Afforded shelter to my spouse. — 
 I saw, etc. 
 
 The hind lay on the meadow ; 
 
 I expended my shot on her ; 
 
 But when I thought she was struck, 
 
 That was the time at which her 
 bounds were highest. — 
 I saw, etc. 
 
 But we must live in the good hope 
 That the case next day will be better ; 
 
 That the lay of the ground, the wind 
 
 and the sun. 
 Will be as we would have them on 
 
 the wolds. — 
 I saw, etc. 
 
 The grey lead will then speed (on its 
 
 errand,) 
 The hounds have a free course, 
 
 The brown stags bleeding, 
 
 And the hunters merry. — ■ 
 
 Chunnaic, etc. 
 
196 
 
 THE MCSIC 
 
 GUa FAOIN MO LTJAIDH AIB CHADAL.- 
 
 Gur faoin mo luaidh air cadal, 
 gur faoyn mo lu-ay' ayr cadal 
 
 'S mi sior acain na bheil bh-uam, — 
 's mi si-or ac-ayn na veyl vu-am 
 
 Comunn is deo-choimhneas 
 co-mnnn is de-o-ohoyv-nes 
 
 Na te dh-fhag mi'n raoir fo ghruaim : 
 na te yag min royr fo yru-aym 
 
 Tha mi ann an aisling leat, 
 ha mi ann an aysling let 
 
 Gach uair a ni mi suain, 
 gach u-ayr a ni mi sn-ayn 
 
 'S trom m' osnadh noir a dhuisgeas mi, 
 Strom mo3-na' noyr a ynysg-es mi 
 
 Air bhi dhomh d' iondrain uam. 
 ayr vi yov d' i-on-drayn u-am 
 
 -VAIN IS MY THOUGHT OF SLEEP. 
 
 Vain is my hope of sleep, 
 
 While continually yearning for that 
 
 which is afar, — 
 The companionship and blist kindness 
 
 Of herwhom I left yesterday in sorrow: 
 
 I am in dreams with thee, 
 
 Whenever slumber takes me, 
 
 And deep are my sighs when I wake 
 
 On missing thy presence. 
 
 Ach coim' mo luaidh air osnadh, 
 ach coym mo lu-ay' ayr os-na' 
 
 0' na choisinn mi do dheoin, 
 na choysinn mi do ye-oyn 
 
 'S an gaol a thug sin aontachail, 
 san gaol a hug sin aontach-ayl 
 
 Nach caochail e ri'r beo ? 
 nach caoch-ayl e ri'r be-o 
 
 'S ioma latha aonarach 
 si-oma la' -a aonar-ach . 
 
 A shaor u mi o' bhroir, 
 a haor n mi o vron 
 
 Lead mhanran baigheal maighdeannael,- 
 led vanrann bay'-el maydennel 
 
 Mo roghainn thair gach ceol. 
 mo ro'-inn hayr gach c«-ol 
 
 But why do I mention sighs, 
 
 Since I have gained thy consent, 
 
 And the love we have mutually con- 
 ceived, 
 Will not die while we live ? 
 
 Many a lonely day 
 
 Hast thou freed me from sorrow, 
 
 With thy minstrelsy tender (and) 
 maidenly, — 
 
 My choice above all music. 
 
 Thug mise gaol da riridh dhut, 
 hug mi-se gaol da ri-ri' ynt 
 
 Noir bha u d' nionaig og, 
 noyr va u d' ni-on-ayg og 
 
 'S air mo laimh cha dhibrinn e, 
 'sayr mo lav cha yib-rinn e 
 
 Air ionmhas na Roinn-Eorp' ; 
 ayr i-on-vas na royn-e-orp 
 
 Ged a dhiante a chuntas dhomh, 
 ged a yi-an-te a chuntas yov 
 
 Gu dubailt air a bhord, 
 gu du-baylt ayr a vord 
 
 I have given thee my love truly, 
 
 When thou wert a young lassie. 
 
 And, on my hand, I would not re- 
 nounce it. 
 For the treasures of Europe ; 
 
 Although they should be counted down 
 
 to me, 
 Doubled upon the table, 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 197 
 
 Cha threiginn gaol na ribhinne 
 cha treyg-inn gaol na ri-vinne 
 
 Tha'n He ghlas an fheoir. 
 han i-le ylas an e-oyr 
 
 I would not forsake the love of the 
 
 queenly maiden 
 Of gray and grassy Islay. 
 
 I have not been able to procure a copy of the beautiful verses I have 
 heard sung to the air of " Oich mar tha mi." The fragment here patched up is 
 submitted merely for the melody. We have none to do for Gaelic what the 
 immortal Burns did for the Lowland Scotch poetry, otherwise many a highly 
 interesting volume might soon be made up. 
 
 OCH MAR THA MI FO PHEAMH S FO EISLEIN. 
 
 Oich, mar tha mi fo phramh 's fo eislein ; Alas ! 
 oych mar ha mi fo frav 's fo eysleyn 
 
 Fhuair mi sgeuladh a leir 's a leon mi, — 
 hu-ayr mi sgeyla' a leyr 's a le-on mi 
 
 Mo chreach 's mo dhiobhail nach ro' 
 mo chrech 'amo yivayl nach ro 
 
 mi'n He, 
 mi'n i-1^ 
 
 'S mo chruinneag dhileas a dol a phosadh. 
 emo chruynneg yi-les a dol a fosa' 
 
 I am ailing and sorrowful ; 
 
 I have news that has me pained and 
 
 wounded, — 
 'Tis my ruin irremediable that I am 
 
 not in Islay, 
 
 And my beloved maiden going to be 
 married. 
 
 Mar aiteal ceitein an doire geugach, 
 mar aytel ceyteyn an doyre gey-gach 
 
 Tha eibhneas diomhair a t-aite comh- 
 ha eyv-nes di-o-vayr a tayt^ oov- 
 
 nuidh : 
 nuy' 
 
 An dreach, an aillidh, an cliu, 's an 
 an drech an aylli' an di-u 's an 
 
 ceutabh : 
 oey-tav 
 
 Cha d' fhuair mi leirsin air te thug corr ort. 
 cha du-ayr mi leyr-sin ayr te hug corr ort 
 
 As the breath of May in a leafy grove, 
 
 Thy presence breathes a secret joy 
 through thy dwelling ; 
 
 Thou art symmetrical, beautiful, of 
 fair repute, and fascinating : 
 
 My eyes have not seen one who sur- 
 passed thee. 
 
 Tha i aoigheal, cridheil, baigheil ; 
 ha i aoy'-el cri'-el bay'-el 
 
 'S h-inntinn saibheir le tur 'sle foghlum ; 
 sa hinn-tinn sayveyr le tur 'sle fo'-lnm 
 
 A caint mar cheol tigh'n o inneal 
 a caynt mar ohe-ol ti'n o innel 
 
 neamhaidh, 
 ne-vay' 
 
 Ni'n cridhe a thalladh 's mulad fhogradh. 
 ni'n ori'-e a halla' 's mulad ogra' 
 
 Thou art comely, merry, compassion- 
 ate ; 
 
 Thy mind rich with good sense and 
 accomplishments ; 
 
 Thy words like music from a heavenly 
 instrument. 
 
 Warming the heart, and banishing 
 grief. 
 
198 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 'S truagh a' d' dheigh mi le bron 's le Miserable am I after thee, with sorrow 
 8tru-a' ad yey' mi le bron ele and pain : 
 
 eislein ; 
 eys-leyn 
 
 Mo shuilean deurach, 's mo chridhe Mine eyes tearful, my heart wounded ; 
 mo buyl-en dey-rach 'smo chri'-e 
 
 leointe ; 
 le-oynt^ 
 
 Cha'n f hiugh learn ionmhas, cha'n f hiugh I value no wealth, no joy 
 chan i-u' lem i-on-vas clian i-u' 
 
 learn eibhneas, 
 lem eyv-nea 
 
 A tha fo'n ghrein ach u fein a d' onar. Under the sun, but thyself alone, 
 a ha fon yreyn ach u feyn ad onar 
 
 The following verses were written by a namesake of my own, who was in 
 the humble capacity of a church-officer with Lord Macauley's grandfather. Let 
 it bear testimony of the rudeness and barbarity which gave his truthful and 
 philosophic lordship such a detestation of the revengeful and filthy Highlanders ! 
 
 GU'm BU SLAN a CHI MI. — HAPPY MAT I SEE THEE. 
 
 Happy may I see thee. 
 
 Gu ma slan a chi mi, 
 gu ma slan a chi mi 
 
 Mo chailin dhilis dhonn, — 
 mo chayllin yilis yonn 
 
 Ben a chuailein reidh, 
 ben a cha-ayllin rey' 
 
 Air a deise a dh-eireas fonn ; 
 ayr a deyse a yeyres fonn 
 
 Se caint do bhoil is binn leam ; 
 se caynt do voyl is binn lem 
 
 Nair bhios m' inntinn trom, 
 nayr vis minn-tinn trom 
 
 'S tu thogadh suas mo chridh', 
 stu hoga' sn-as mo chri' 
 
 Noir a bhiodh tu bruidhinn rium. 
 noyr a vi' tu bruy'-inn ri-um 
 
 Gur muladach a tha mi 
 gur muladach a ha mi 
 
 'S mi nochd air aird a chuain ; 
 's mi noe ayr ayrd a chu-ayn 
 
 'S neo-shunndach mo chadal 
 'b ne-o-hundach mo chadal 
 
 Is do chaidribh fada uam ; 
 is do chayd-riv fada u-am 
 
 'S trie mi Ort a smaointeach, — 
 stric . mi ort a smaoyntech 
 
 As t-aogais tha mi truagh ; — 
 as taogays -ha mi tra-a' 
 
 My faithful brown-haired maid, — 
 Maid of the flowing ringlets, 
 
 Who is most easily excited to merri- 
 ment; 
 
 Thy words to me are the sweetest 
 music ; 
 
 When depressed in mind, 
 
 Thou dost exalt my heart, 
 When in converse with me. 
 
 Sorrowful am I 
 
 This night on the height of the sea ; 
 
 Unsound is my sleep 
 
 Away from thy companionship ; 
 
 Often do I think of thee, — 
 
 Without thee I am miserable ; — 
 
'S mar dean mi t-fhaotainn, 
 's mar di-an mi taotayn 
 
 Cha bhi mo sgaoghal buain. 
 cha vi mo hao'-al ba-ayn 
 
 OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 Unless thou art mine, 
 My life will not be long. 
 
 199 
 
 Do shuil mar an dearcag, 
 do huyl mar aa derc-ag 
 
 Fo'n rosg a dh-iadhas dlu, 
 fon rosg a yi-a'-as dlu 
 
 Do ghruaidbean mar cha^oran, 
 do ym-ay'-en mar chaoran 
 
 Fo'n aodan bhbidheach cMuin. 
 fon aodan voy'-eoh ohi-uyn 
 
 Aidicheam le eibhneas 
 ayd-ech-em le eyv-nes 
 
 Gu'n d-thug mi fein dhuit run, 
 gun dug mi feyn ynyt run 
 
 'S gur bliadhna learn gach la 
 sgu- bli-a'-na le-am gach la 
 
 O'n uair a dh-fhag mi u. 
 on u-ayr a yag mi n 
 
 Tacan mu'n do sheol sinn, 
 tac-an mun do lie-ol sinn 
 
 'S ann thbisich luchd mi-gbraidh, 
 sann hoysich luc mi-yray' 
 
 Ei innseadh do'm chruineighsa, 
 ri inn-se' dom ohruyn-eyg-sa 
 
 Nach tillinsa gu brach ; 
 nach tillinsa gu brach 
 
 Na cuireadh sid ort gruaman ; 
 na cnyre' sid ort gra-a-man 
 
 A luaidb ; ma bbios mi slan, 
 a lu-ay' ma via mi slan 
 
 Cha chum dad idir uat mi 
 cha chum dad idir n-at mi 
 
 Ach saighead chruaidh a bhais. 
 ach say'-ed chru-ay' a vays 
 
 Thy blue eye is like a berry, 
 
 'Neath lashes that wind closely, 
 
 Thy cheeks like the ripe fruit of the 
 
 mountain ash. 
 Under a face comely and mild. 
 
 Confess I do with joy 
 
 That I have given thee my love, 
 
 And that every day is a year to me 
 
 Since the hour we parted. 
 
 Shortly before we sailed. 
 
 Ill-disposed persons began 
 
 Telling to my maiden 
 
 That I would never return ; 
 
 But let not that sadden thee, my love ; 
 
 If I remain alive. 
 
 Nothing shall detain me from thee 
 
 But the relentless arrow of death. 
 
 I have remarked elsewhere, that the general character of the songs sung 
 to cheer labour, (and every kind of labour had its appropriate song) was the 
 absence of every thing calculated to work on the feelings and passions. The 
 chorus usually consisted of sounds accordant with the employment, and rendered 
 significant and connected by a meaning line or catch-word ; and the verses, 
 though frequently arrayed in pleasing imagery, aimed only at calling up in the 
 minds of the singers thoughts and scenes associated with the tender, attractive, 
 or lofty and pleasing clan traditions. But although such was the general 
 character of these " songs of labour," there were exceptions ; and the boat song 
 of Domhnull Buadh Gaolacb, as I have beard it sung by an old seaman when 
 
200 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 I was a boy, was one of these. Unfortunately, however, although I remember 
 the subject of the song, — (an expedition of loyal Highlanders on their way 
 from the Isle of Skye to join the army of Montrose,) — I have forgot the verses, 
 and have been unable after much exertion, to meet with a single individual 
 that could even sing the melody, much less remember the words, in a manner 
 at all to realise the impression the song made on my feelings in youth. When 
 sung by the old seaman, the listener could not help fancying that he heard a voice 
 slowly rising from behind a sea, until it attained the crest of a mountain billow, 
 and burst on his ear in a regular bravura of seamanlike exultation ; it then gra- 
 dually receded and sunk, until he felt apprehensive that the singer was struggling 
 among the capricious waves ; then, after a seeming silence, and to bis great 
 relief, it began to grow perceptibly on his ear, until the exulting chorus burst 
 upon him afresh, in a gush of melody that made his heart swell in sympathy 
 with the triumphant pluck and stamina of the strong armed rowers. It was 
 intended to be sung in the same style with Macgreagair o Kuadhro, the whole 
 crew joining in singing the chorus. 
 
 A Dhomhnuil ruaidh ghaolaich, 
 a yovnuyl ra-ay yaol-aych 
 
 Horin ova, ro huvo, 
 horin ova ro huvo 
 
 Sheases dur ri stiuir dharaich, 
 heses dnr ri sti-nyr yar-aych 
 
 Horin eile, ova hi, 
 horin ejU ova hi 
 
 Hi ri oiri, nan hi ri u. 
 hi ri oyri nan hi ri n 
 
 DOMHNUL aUADH GAOLACH. 
 
 Donald red-haired and beloved, 
 
 Horin ova, ro huvo. 
 Who standest firmly by an oak helm, 
 Horin eyle, ova hi. 
 Hi ri oyri, nan hi ri u. 
 
 Sheasas dur ri stiuir dharaich, 
 heaes dur ri ati-uyr yar-aych 
 
 Horin ova, ro huvo, 
 
 'S uaibhreach astar do bhata, 
 's n-ayv-reeh astar do vata 
 
 Horin eile, ova hi, 
 
 Hi ri oiri, nan hi ri u. 
 
 Who standest firmly by an oak helm, 
 
 Horin ova, ro huvo, 
 Wild is the course of thy boat, 
 
 Horin eyl6, ova hi, 
 Hi ri oyri, nan hi ri u. 
 
 'S uaibhreach astar do bhata, 
 's u-ayv-reoh astar do vata 
 
 Horin ova, ro huvo, 
 
 Ni mhuir ghairreach a sgarradh, 
 ni vnyr yayreoh a sgar-ra' 
 
 Horin eile, ova hi. 
 
 Hi ri oiri, nan hi ri u. 
 
 Wild is the coiurse of thy boat, 
 
 Horin ova, ro huvo. 
 Cleaving the roaring sea, 
 
 Horin eyle, ova hi. 
 Hi ri oyri, nan hi ri u. 
 
Ni mhuir ghairreach a sgarradh, 
 ni vuyr yayrech a sgar-ra' 
 
 Horin ova, ro huvo, 
 
 Cum suil gheur air sgeir Bharu, 
 ' cum snyl yeyr ayr sgeyr va-ru 
 
 Horin eile, ova hi, 
 
 Hi ri oiri, nan hi ri u. 
 
 Cum suil gheur air sgeir Bharu, 
 cum Buyl yeyr ayr sgeyr va-ru 
 
 Horin ova, ro huvo, 
 
 Seol air aird nan tonn lannair, 
 se-ol ayr ayrd nan tohn lann-ayr 
 
 Horin, eile, ova hi. 
 
 Hi ri oiri, nan hi ri u, &c. 
 
 OF THE HIGHLANU CLANS. 
 
 Cleaving the roaring sea, 
 
 201 
 
 Horin ova, ru huvo. 
 Keep a sharp eye on the sea-rock Baru, 
 
 Horin eyle, ova hi. 
 Hi ri oyri, nan hi ri u. 
 
 Keep a sharp eye on the sea-rock Baru, 
 
 Horin ova, ro huvo, 
 
 Sail on the crest of the phosphoric 
 waves, 
 Horin eyl6, ova hi. 
 Hi ri oyri, nan hi ri u, &c. 
 
 The following song by Alexander Macdonald, the royal Celtic bard of 
 Prince "Charles, is also an " oran iomraidh," or rowing song, the air of which 
 is equally spirit-stirring ; but I have not been able to get such a version of it 
 as I should like. As this song is published and accessible, I quote only two or 
 three verses of it here. 
 
 MOCH SA MHADAINN. 
 
 Early as I awaked in the morning. 
 
 Moch sa mhadainn 's mi dusgadh, 
 moch sa rad^ynn 's mi dnsga' 
 
 'S mor mo shunnd 's mo cheol gaire, 
 '3 mor mo linnnds mo che-ol gayr^ 
 
 O'n na chualadh mi'n Prionnsa 
 on na chn-a-la' min pri-onsa 
 
 Thighinn dp dhuthaich Chlann-Ka'ill. 
 hi'-ihi do yu'-aych cUann ra'-ill 
 
 Elated I was and full of hilarity. 
 
 On hearing that the Prince 
 
 Had landed in the country of Clan- 
 ronald. 
 
 Chorm. 
 Hug ho layll ho. 
 Hug ho ro nayll liv ; 
 Hug ho layll ho, 
 Seynn ho ro nayll liv. 
 
 Noir a chairair an crun ort, 
 noyr a chayrer an crun crt 
 
 Bi muim air do chairdean, 
 bi muym ayr do olfayr-den 
 
 'S Lochiel mar bu choir dha, 
 's Idch-t-al mar bn chayr ya 
 
 Cuir an ordugh nan Gael — 
 cuyr an or-^a' n^Q S^'^^ 
 Hug, etc. 
 
 When thou art crowned. 
 Joyful will thy friendis be. 
 With Lochiel, as is right. 
 Marshalling the Highlanders. — 
 
 Hug, etc. 
 
 cc 
 
202 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Thig Clandomhnuill a chruadail, 
 hig olan-dov-nuyll a chru-a-dayl 
 
 Choisinn buaidh ann 's na blaraibh, 
 olioy-sinn bu-ay' ann sna blar-ayv 
 
 A chumail cruaidh cho'-strigh 
 a chnm-ayl cru-ay' oho-stri' 
 
 Ei luchd chotaichean madair. — 
 ri luo oho-taychen madayr 
 
 Hug, etc. 
 
 Sud a chuideaclid bhios foirmeil, 
 sud a chuyd-eo' vis foyr-meyl 
 
 Boineid ghorm is coc ard or, 
 boyned yorm is coc ard or 
 
 Le'm breacanan maiseach, 
 lem brec-anan maysech 
 
 'S le'n gartanan scarlaid.. — 
 's len gartanan scarlayd 
 
 Hug, etc. 
 
 Come will Clandonell the hardy, 
 Who gained victory in battles, 
 To meet in conflict 
 The race of the red coats. — 
 Hug, etc. 
 
 They are the sprightly clan. 
 Of blue bonnets and cockades. 
 With showy plaids. 
 And scarlet garters. — 
 Hug, etc. 
 
 ORAN DO N MHISQ. — ON DRUNKENNESS. 
 
 LE AILEAN CALL. 
 
 Noir a shuidh sinn san tigh-osda, 
 noyr a buy' sinn san ti'-osda 
 
 Chaidh na stoip thair cuntas, 
 chay' na stoyp hayr cuntas 
 
 Gu trie a tighinn, cha bu ruighinn, 
 gu trie a ti'-inn cha bn ri'-inn 
 
 lad nan ruith am ionnsuidh. 
 i-ad nan ruy' am i-on-say' 
 
 Gun irraidh dalach, a sior phaigheadh, 
 gnn i-a-ray' dalach ' a si-or fay-e' 
 
 'G ol deoch-slainte a Phrionnsa, 
 gol de-och-slaynte a fri-on-sa 
 
 'S mo chridhe learn le aites ard, 
 's mo cbri'-e lem le aytes ard 
 
 Chion RaonuU bhi toirt cliu dhomh. 
 chi-on raonuU vi toyrt oli-u yov 
 
 When we sat in the public-house. 
 The stoups went beyond counting, 
 Quickly, not Hngeringly coming, 
 They raced towards us. 
 
 No thought had I of (asking) delay, 
 
 but constantly paying. 
 And drinking the health of the Prince, 
 
 (Charlie) 
 My heart with pleasure leaping high, 
 
 Because Ronald was giving me praise. 
 
 Ach noir ghluais mi gu dol dhachaidh, 
 ach noyr yln-ays mi gu dol ya-ohay' 
 
 Lagaich mu na gluinn mi, 
 lag-aych mn na gluynn mi 
 
 Nunn 's an nail gun leirsinn cheart, 
 nunn san nail gun leyr-sinn chert 
 
 Le iomadh beachd am shuillean. 
 le i-oma' bee am huyllen 
 
 But when I arose to go home, 
 I became weak at the knees, 
 
 I tacked thither and hither, without 
 
 seeing rightly, 
 From the numerous conceits that were 
 
 in my eyes. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 203 
 
 Feadh na h-oidhche 's mi gun soilseaun, 
 
 fe' na hoy'-ohe 's mi gun 
 
 Air mo shloic a dubladh, 
 ayr mo loyo a dubla' 
 
 'S eagall leom gun droin mi arrusg. 
 'seg-all le-om gun droynn mi arr-usg 
 
 Bha mo chardain diumbach. 
 va mo char-dayn di-umbach 
 
 Pushing along through the night, 
 with scarcely a blink of light, 
 
 I made prostrations which doubled me 
 up, 
 
 And, I fear, indecent exposures. 
 
 For my friends were much dissatisfied. 
 
 Noir a dh-eirich mi sa mhadainn, 
 noyr a yey-rich mi sa va-daynn 
 
 Cha robh m' aigneadh sundach, 
 cha rov mayg-ne' Bundach 
 
 Mo cheann gun sgoin, ma chom na lasair, 
 mo chenn gun sgoyn ma chom na las-ayr 
 
 Truaillidh dearg mo shuillean. 
 tru-al-li' de-arg mo huyllen 
 
 Se mac-na-brachadh rinn mo leagadh 
 Be mao-na-braoh-a' rinn mo leg-a' 
 
 Ann an leabaidh dhiombaidh — 
 ann an leb-ay' yi-om-bay' 
 
 Sud an ghleachdair thug fo smachd mi, 
 Bud an glec-ayr hug fo smac mi 
 
 'Sa dh-fhag mi lag is bruite. 
 sa yag mi lag is bruyt^ 
 
 When I arose next morning, 
 
 My mind was little disposed to merri- 
 ment. 
 
 My head was without efficacy, my 
 bosom on fire. 
 
 My eyes polluted and red. 
 
 The son of the malt it was that put 
 
 me down 
 In a bed uncomfortable — 
 
 That wrestler subdued, 
 
 And left me bruised and weak. 
 
 'S olc an ealaidh rainn is caithream, 
 solo an el-ay' raynn is cay' -rem 
 
 'S amaideach an turn, a bhi 
 Eamay-dech an turn a vi 
 
 Suidh' aig bord a glaodhaich ol, 
 Buy' ayg bord a glao'-aych oyl 
 
 'S mo phocannan ga'n tiondadh, 
 smo foc-annan gan ti-onda' 
 
 A sgapadh storais le meadmhoir, 
 a sgapa' stor-ays le me-ad-voyr 
 
 'Sa 'g iarraidh phog 's na cuiltean ; 
 ga gi-arr-ay' fog sua cuyl-ten 
 
 'S f had sa mhaireadh mo chuid oir, 
 ead sa vayre' mo ohnyd oyr 
 
 Cha chuireadh osdair cul rium. 
 cha chnyr-e' osd-ayr cul ri-nm 
 
 Bad trades are rhyming and hlethering, 
 
 (idle talking) ; 
 A foolish afiair it is 
 
 To be sitting at a table calling for 
 
 drink, 
 And turning pockets inside out, 
 
 Scattering money vain-gloriously. 
 
 And stealing kisses in sly neuks 
 
 (recesses ;) 
 But while the money lasted, 
 
 No landlord turned his back on me. 
 
 'S coir dhomh nis a thoirt fos near, 
 'b coyr yov nis a hoyrt fos ner 
 
 An t-aithreachas a dhubladh, 
 an tayr'-e-ohas a yub-la' 
 
 But time it is to reflect. 
 And doubly to repent. 
 
204 THE MUSIC 
 
 Mo bhoid gu gramail thoirt do'n eala * And vow by the swan,* 
 mo voyd gu gramayl hoyrt don ella 
 
 Dh-f heuch an lean mo chliu rium, So as my reputation may adhere to me, 
 
 yeych an len mo chli-u ri-nm 
 
 Cha teid deur a stigh fo m' dheudaich. That not a drop shall pass my teeth, 
 cha teyd deyr a sti' fom yeyd-aych 
 
 'S fheudar tighinn as iunais, Of necessity I must eschew drink, 
 
 'a ey-dar ti'-ina sa i-u-nays 
 
 Cha'n fhaigh fear falamh seol air aran For a moneyless man can only make 
 Chan ay' fer falav se-ol ayr aran his bread 
 
 Ach le fallas gnuise. By the sweat of his brow, 
 
 aoh le falla3 gnuyse 
 
 The following song was written by Captain Duncan Campbell, better known 
 as " Fear Marg-na-ha," when from home doing duty with the Black- Watch or 
 " Freiceadan-dubh" of which he was pay-master, before they enlisted into the 
 army, when he retired, being a thorough Jacobin. It is beyond my space and 
 object to notice all the writers of the poems quoted in this treatise ; but I 
 make this an exception, Marg-na-ha being my father's father, and because Mr 
 Mackenzie in his Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, has, with his usual carelessness, 
 given the credit of the song to Aillean Macthearlaich. The song itself, 
 fortunately contradicts this statement, for it says in the opening verse, " Na 
 faighinn cead," (if I could get leave of absence ;) and in another verse, " Gre fad 
 air chuairt mi," (though long on my rounds) — visiting and paying the 
 companies at their different detached station: — words entirely military, and 
 which could not be used by a country proprietor, who was his own master, 
 like Aillean Macthearlaich. The disinherited Duncan, Lord Ormalie, was 
 the great-great-grandfather of Margnaha, whose sloineadh or pedigree was 
 Donnachadh Mac Phadruic, mhic Iain, mhic Iain oig, mhic Dhonnachaidh, 
 mhic Iain ghlais, Bhraidhealaban. He and his son Iain Og were both at the 
 battle of Sheriif-muir with the clan ; in consequence of which they were 
 disinherited by the Earl, who was at home, bed-ridden from age, and favourable 
 to the Hanoverian succession. Although Lord Ormalie was above sixty years 
 of age at the time of the battle, he so led his clan as to make them one of the 
 most distinguished in the engagement. They are referred to in the following 
 extract of one of the many merry little ditties called forth by a battle which 
 was looked on as a burlesque by the Highland bards, although many, brave 
 men lost their lives there : — 
 
 * Never having before met with this expression in Gaelic Pbetry, so far as I can recollect, I 
 begged of my friend Mr Paterson, whose Volnminous works show so much intimacy with the poetry, 
 history, and antiquities of the Lowlands, to favour me with some explanation on the subject ; and I now 
 submit his very interesting 
 
 " Note.— The vow was made over a roasted swan. Dunbar refers to it in his verses to the king called 
 
 * Johau Tamson's man.' — 
 
 ' I wad gif all that ever I have. That ye had vowit on the swan. 
 
 To that condition, so God me save, Ane year to be Johan Tamson's man.' 
 
 • Johan Tamson's man' seems to be a hen-pecked husband ; and Dunbar stood in such favour with the 
 queen, that, if she had her way, he could be certain of his long promised benefice." 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 205 
 
 Thogaia fonn, thogain fonn, I will raise a tune, 
 
 hog-ayn fonn hog-ayn fonn 
 
 Thogain fonn gu foirmeil, I will raise a tune, 
 
 hog-ayn fonn gu foyr-meyl 
 
 Thogain fonn gu faramach, I will raise a tune merrily, 
 
 hog-ayn fofln gu faram-ach 
 
 Air lasgairean Bhraidealbain. I will raise a rattling tune to the fiery 
 
 ayr las-gayren vray-dela-ban warriors of Breadalbane. 
 
 Dh-inns' latha Sliabh-an-t-Shiorram, The day of Sheriff-muir told 
 yinna la'-a 8li-av-an-ti-orram 
 
 Nach robh sibh san iomairt cearbach — That you were not awkward in the 
 nach rov siv san i-om-ayit cerabach conflict — 
 
 Gu'n do theich na bleiderean, The mannikins fled, 
 
 gun do heych na bleyd-eren 
 
 Ach sheas iad fir Bhraidealbain. But the men of Breadalbane stood, 
 
 ach hes i-ad fir vray-delaban 
 
 An officer was sent to arrest the Earl of Breadalbane after the battle, on 
 the suspicion that he had been privy to, or abetted his son and grandson's 
 rebellion. The Earl was in that kind of slumber common to persons dying 
 merely of old age ; and the officer roused him by touching him on the 
 shoulder, and exclaiming " You are my prisoner." The old man slowly 
 raised himself to his elbow, and regarding the officer with a mingled look of 
 pity and contempt, replied, " Your prisoner ! I am the prisoner of God 
 Almighty, and eighty-eight years of age ! Duncan," (he said to an attendant) 
 " take that poor man out of the country before the clan discover the insult he 
 has offered to me : I have plenty of blood on my hands already." The fear of 
 the forfeiture of the estate made the clan keep very silent on the presence of 
 Lord Ormalie in the battle ; but his father, either in the 'belief that he and his 
 son had irretrievably committed themselves with the government, or in real 
 displeasure at their joining Mar's army without his knowledge, disinherited 
 Lord Ormalie, in favour of his younger brother. Margnaha, though his ancestor 
 Lord Ormalie had thus been disinherited, had great influence with the clan, 
 and, the Earl of Breadalbane being abroad as ambassador, was drilling them 
 for the purpose of joining Prince Charles. Being apprised of this fact at Perth, 
 when on his way North in the pursuit of the Highlanders, the Duke of 
 Cumberland sent Colonel Campbell of Mammor with a party of dragoons to 
 prevent this junction ; and that able officer took Duncan by surprise, in his own 
 house at night, and so well arranged, his plans as to carry him away privately 
 by the south side of Lochtay, without a man of the clan knowing anything 
 about the matter. He was put in jail in Stirling, where he was kept secure 
 until after the battle of CuUoden, when he was mysteriously released without 
 any question being asked. This and many other episodes of the so-called 
 rebellion, which have not found their way into history, but are well-known to 
 tradition, show that it was Colonel Campbell and President Forbes that put 
 
206 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 down the rebellion, and not the " red coats," who were so wretchedly armed, 
 comparatively, as to be quite unfit to stand before the clans in battle, excepting 
 under the management illustrated in the retreat from England, the murderous 
 march the night before the battle of CuUoden, and the field chosen for that 
 battle, &c. &c. The mysterious disappearance of Margnaha prevented the clan 
 from joining the Prince, as they had no confidence in his brother "Iain Borb," 
 or John the fierce ; but he joined, and was the warrior who fought and killed 
 the dragoon at Inverness, in the manner told by Mr Chambers in his history of 
 the rebellion. 
 
 MOCH SA MHADAINN 
 
 Moch sa mhadainn 's mi Ian airteal, 
 mocb ea va-dayn 'b mi Ian ayi-tel 
 
 Cian 'o chaidreamh m' ionndrainn, 
 ci-an chayd-rev mi-on-draynn 
 
 Gu'm bu bheg mo luaidh air leabaidh, 
 gum bu veg mo In-ay' ayr leb-ay 
 
 Carachadh sa tiondath. 
 cara-oha' aa ti-on-da' 
 
 Na faighinn cead gu'n rachainn grad, 
 na fay'-inn ced gun raoh-ayn grad 
 
 Na m' still gun stad gun aon-tamh, 
 nam still gun stad gun aon-tav 
 
 A dh-ios an ait sa bheil mo ghradh, 
 a yi-os an ayt sa veyl mo yra' 
 
 Og mhaighdean ailidh Gheambail. 
 og vay'-den ayli' yem-bayl 
 
 Ge fad air chuairt mi tamull bhuat, 
 ge fad ayr chu-ayrt mi tamul vu-at 
 
 Si'n aisling uail a dhuisg mi 
 si'n aysling n-ayl a ynsg mi 
 
 Thu bhi agam ann am ghlacaibh, 
 u vi agam ana am ylao-ayv 
 
 Lan do thlachd 's do shugradh. 
 Ian do h-lac 'a do hug-ra' 
 
 Dh-aindeon buinig's cianael m' f huireach 
 yayn-en buynig 'a ci-an-el mnyreoh 
 
 Ann an iomal duchaidh. — 
 ann an i-omal du-cha' 
 
 Ochoin, a chiall gu'm be mo mhian, 
 och-oyn a chi-all gum be mo vi-an 
 
 Bhi 'n diugh a triall a t-ionnsaidh. 
 vi'n di-u' a tri-all a t-onn-say' 
 
 S MI LAN AIRTEAL. 
 
 Early in the morning, under much 
 
 depression. 
 Far away from the companionship for 
 
 which I crave. 
 Little was my desire to remain in the 
 
 bed, 
 Tossing and turning. 
 
 Could I obtain leave, I would go 
 
 quickly, 
 Like a spate (descending the hill,) 
 
 To the place where dwells my love, 
 
 The young beautiful maiden of Gem- 
 bail. 
 
 Though long on my circuit, and away 
 
 from thee, 
 The ptoud dream that awaked me 
 
 Was having thee in my arms, 
 
 Full of delight and sportiveness. 
 
 Despite advantages, pensive is my 
 
 residence 
 On the border of the country. 
 
 Oh, my love, it is my desire. 
 
 To travel quickly this day where thou 
 art. 
 
 At-ionnsaidhtheidminuairadh-eireasmi, To thee will I go so soon as permitted, 
 a ti-onn-say' heyd mi nu-ayr a yeyres mi 
 
 Gu h-eatrom sunndach. Lightly and cheerfully, 
 
 gu he-trom sunndach 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 207 
 
 Gach ceum do'n t-shligbe, dol ga d' 
 gach ceym don tli'-e dol gad 
 
 ruidhinn 
 ruy'-inn 
 
 Bi'dh mo chridhe sugacL 
 bi' mo chri'-e sugach 
 
 Mo mhiann's mi'n cearter airbheg cadail, 
 mo vi-ann 's min certer ayr veg cadayl 
 
 A bhi na d' chaidridb gbreannair, 
 a vi na d' chayd-ri' yre-anayr 
 
 Mo dhuil gu'n cbleitb, le durachd mhatb, 
 mo yuyl gun chley' le dnr-ao va' 
 
 Gut h-e mo bheatba teann ort. 
 gur he mo ve'-a tenn ort 
 
 At every step of the journey 
 
 My heart will be leaping joyously. 
 
 My desire this moment is not for sleep, 
 
 But to be in thy charming company, 
 
 In the unconcealed hope, with wishes 
 
 good 
 That I am welcome near thee. 
 
 Oigh na maise is orbhuidh fait, 
 oy' na mayse is orvny' fait 
 
 'S do ghruaidh air dhreach an neoinein ; 
 sdo yrn-ay' ayr yrech an ne-oyn-eyn 
 
 T-uchd corrach min, do dhead-gheal 
 tuo corrach min do yed-yel 
 
 ghrinn, 
 yrinn 
 
 'S do bheul o'm binn thig oran, 
 's do veyl om binn hig oran 
 
 Suil mheallach chaoin fo d' mhalaidh 
 snyl Tellach chaoyn fod val-ay' 
 
 chaoil, 
 chaoyl 
 
 Eoisg fhada mhaodh ga'n comhdach, 
 roysg ada vao' gan cov-dach 
 
 An t-sheirc tha d'eadainn bheir do'n 
 an teyro ha de-dayn veyr don 
 
 eug mi, 
 eyg mi 
 
 Mar faigh mi cheud-ghraidh coir ort. 
 mar fay' mi cheyd-yray' coyr ort 
 
 Maiden young and beautiful of the 
 golden hair, 
 
 Thy cheeks are of the complexion of 
 
 the daisy ; 
 Thy bosom smooth and high, thy teeth 
 
 white and neat, 
 
 And thine eye large and mild. 
 Covered with long soft eyelashes. 
 
 Sweet comes the song from thy lips, 
 
 And the charms of thy face will be 
 my death. 
 
 Unless, my first love, I shall obtain a 
 right to thee. 
 
 Gu'n choir air t-fheutainn oigh na feile, A right to thee, generous maiden, 
 gun choyr ayr teytaynn oy' na tej\6 
 
 Is uaisle beus is giulan. Of gentle manners and bearing, 
 
 is n-aysle beys is gi-n-lan 
 
 A fhuair os-iosal scire bho Dhiarmad,* Who has received, in secret, a charm 
 a hn-ayr os-i-osal sere vo yi-ar-mad from Diarmid,* 
 
 A chuir ciad an geall ort. That has made hundreds thy captives. 
 
 a chnyr ci-ad an gell ort 
 
 *. There is much in the Ursgeuls about the Feinn, to lead to the conclusion that they were the inven- 
 tion of the monks ; and that the object of them was so to seduce or bewilder the minds of the people as 
 to make them believe any thing. By mixing the deeds and adventures of their traditional heroes with 
 legends about saints, necromancers, dwarfs, and giants, they inspired and nourished a lore of fiction, 
 
208 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Ciochan geala air uchd meallaidh, 
 ci-ooh-an gela ayr uo mell-ay' 
 
 Lan de stuaim 's de choimhneas, 
 Ian de stu-aym 'a de choyv-nes 
 
 Bhi ga d' aireamh 's gu'n thu lathair, 
 vi ga dayr-ev 'a gun u la'-ayr 
 
 Thug bh-uam cail is oibhneas. 
 hug vu-am cayl is oyv-nes 
 
 Beautiful are thy white breasts on a 
 
 captivating bosom, 
 Full of modesty and kindness. 
 
 To be (thus) recounting thy charms, 
 
 and thou absent. 
 Has deprived me of elasticity and 
 
 happiness. 
 
 Tha miann na fear fo d' ghun a falach, — 
 ha mi-ann na fer fod yan a falach 
 
 Seang-chorp fallain sundach ; 
 seng-chorp fall-ayn sundach 
 
 Slios mar eala, cneas mar chana, 
 sli-os mar ela cues mar chana 
 
 Eadainn banail muirneach. 
 ed-ayn ban-ayl muyrnech 
 
 Noir theid coisir-chiuil an loinn, 
 noyr heyd coysir-chi-nyl an loynn 
 
 'S tu snamh san danns' air urlar, 
 stu snav san danns ayr urlar 
 
 Gu'm bidh gach cridhe leam air aird', 
 gum hi' gach cri'-d lem ayr ayrd 
 
 'S gach suil a dealradh an iongnadh. 
 's gach suyl a delra' an i-ona' 
 
 The delight of man is hid beneath thy 
 
 robes, — 
 A form slender, healthy, lively ; 
 
 Thy side is as the swan, thy throat 
 
 as the down of cana ; 
 Thy face vyomanly, cheerful. 
 
 When the musical choir k in harmony, 
 
 And thou art svrimming in the mazes 
 
 of the dance. 
 Every heart beats high. 
 
 And every eye beams with admiration. 
 
 'S tearc ri aireamh trian de'n ailleachd, 
 Btero ri ayrev tri-an den ayllec 
 
 Dha 'm bu dhan dhamh geilleadh, 
 yam bu yan yav geyle' 
 
 Difficult it is to name a third of the 
 
 charms 
 That, as fate, made me yield 
 
 and substituted for the oral lore, containing the history of past ages, a system of tuition as corrupting to 
 good taste, and unnatural as the musical education of the present day. In the superstitions thus sub- 
 stituted, they laid the foundation of the spiritual despotism that rode like a nightmare over the souls of 
 men during the dark ages. The proneness to superstition resulting from these Ursgeuls continueB to in- 
 fluence and mentally enslave the more ignorant and unintelligent among the Irish and the Highlanders 
 even till the present day. 
 
 The Ursgeuls also contain many charming little gossiping episodes, like the above about Diarmid, to 
 extenuate or eicnse the loving frailties of the fair sex. Diannid was obliged to wear a mask, to hide the 
 " ball-seirc" or beauty spot that was in his face from the eyes of the susceptible Fingalian ladies, as no 
 woman could behold it without falling in love with him, and showing the frailty of her nature. Giaine 
 is not at all inexcusably dealt with by the monkish author of the Ursgeul about Diarmid for deserting 
 her aged spouse, and running away with her youthful hero. How could she help it ? To see the " ball- 
 seirc" was fate I Nor is the hero himself less leniently treated. He is represented, throughout his many 
 romantic wanderings with the enamoured frail one, to escape the pursuit Of her hnsband, as maintaining 
 immaculate chastity with a firmness worthy even of Joseph himself, until Graine's impulsive exclamation 
 about " Spiorad an lobain," put him in such a position as would have made it a reproach to his manhood 
 to hold out any longer. In short, the ITrsgeulb furnish so many fascinating excuses for these amorous 
 peccadilloes as to leave no doubt that they brought a good moulter to a very indulgent confessional. We 
 need feel no wonder, therefore, that the test applied to the virtue of the Pingalian ladies, according to the 
 Ursgeuls recently published in Edinburgh, proved that there was only one faithful wile among the 
 married Fingalian ladies I To be " a light o' love" was evidently no great reproach in the eyes of the 
 monkish authofs of the tfrsgeuls. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 209 
 
 Do'n mhaighdean chiuin, is beusach, 
 don vay'-den obi-uyn is ' be-sach 
 
 muirneach, 
 muyrneoli 
 
 'S ceud fear ur an deigh oir. 
 's ceyd fer ur an dey' oyr 
 
 Bidh cridhe ciurt' aig pairt de'n chuntes, 
 bi' cri'-e oi-urt ayg payrt den chuntes 
 
 Bhios air chul gu'n f haighneachd ; 
 vis ayr ohul gun ay' -nee 
 
 Ach oibhneas thig marcho-sheirm chiuil, 
 ach oyv-nes big mar oho-beyrm ohi-nyl 
 
 O'n f hear ga'n lub i an coimhneas. 
 on er gan lub i an coy-nes 
 
 To the maiden mild, virtuous, in- 
 teresting, 
 
 After whom a hundred youths are 
 pining. 
 
 Some of them will be sorely distressed 
 When left unasked in the background ; 
 
 And joy, like a burst of music from 
 
 the orchestra. 
 Will break from his heart to whom 
 
 thou inclinest in kindness. 
 
 I have remarked elsewhere, that by comparing the Gaelic melodies to 
 those of the Lowlands, we have some data on which to form a comparison 
 between Highland and Lowland taste and refinement. Their songs, especially 
 those Gaelic and Scottish songs written on similar subjects and occasions, afford 
 a still better criterion for such a comparison. The following verses, for instance, 
 were written by a Highland lady, under the impression that she was deserted 
 by her lover from mercenary motives. By comparing her feelings and sentiments 
 to those of a Lowland lady similarly situated, as described even by Bums, the 
 difference for dignity, delicacy, and generosity, between the one and the other, 
 will be duly illustrated to such as can appreciate the originals of both songs. 
 
 AIR FAILLBEIN ILLEEINN, ETC. 
 
 Three events come unsought. 
 
 Thig tri nithean gu'n iarraidh, 
 big tri ni'-en gun i-arr-ay' 
 
 An t-eagal, an t-iadach 's an gaol ; 
 an tegal an ti-ad-ach san gaol 
 
 'S gur lugha chuis mhaslaidh, 
 sgur In'-a chuys vas-lay' 
 
 Ged' a ghlachadh leo mis' air a h-aon ; 
 ged a ylac-a' le-o mis ayr a ha-on 
 
 'Sa liughad bean-uasail 
 SSL li-u'-ad ben-u-a-sal 
 
 A f huaradh sa'n laigse a bheil mi, 
 a hn-ar-a' san laygse a veyl mi 
 
 A thug a gaol fuadainn, 
 a bug a gaol fu-a-daynn 
 
 Air ro bheagan duaise ga chionn. 
 ayr ro vegan du-ayse ga chi-onn 
 
 Fonn: — 
 
 Air faillerinn illennn, 
 ayr fayllerinn illerinn 
 
 Uillerinn o ho ro loi' ; 
 nyllerinn o ho ro loy 
 
 Fear, jealousy, and love ; 
 
 The less reproachful is it 
 
 That they have caught me ; 
 
 For in many ladies 
 
 Has been found a weakness like mine. 
 
 Letting their love wander unrewarded. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 Ayr fayllerinn illerinn. 
 
 Uyllerinn o ho ro loy ; 
 
 Dd 
 
210 THE MUSIC 
 
 Cruaidb ortan gun f hios 
 cruy' ortan gua is 
 
 A dh-fhag mise fo chuing a ghaoil. 
 a yag mise fo chuyng a yaoyl 
 
 A hard and stealthy chance 
 Has made me the captive of love. 
 
 Fhir na'n gorm-shuillen meallach, 
 ir nan gorm-huyllen mellaoh 
 
 O'n ghleannan am hi an smuid, 
 on yiennan am bi an smuyd 
 
 Far an siubhlach ghraigh eugach, 
 far an si-nvlaoh gray' eng-ach 
 
 Aig ionnaltradh shleibh fo dhriuchd, 
 ayg i-onnaltradh h-leyv fo yru-ac 
 
 Noir theid u air t-uillinn, 
 noyr heyd n ayr tuylUn 
 
 Bith fuil air mac luadh na fuar stuc ; 
 bi' fiiyl ayr mac lu-a' na fu-ar stuc 
 
 Na'm bi tu ghaoil mar rium, 
 nam bi tu yaoyl mar ri-um 
 
 Cha b' an-air an ceile leom u. 
 cha ban-ayr an ceyle le-om " 
 
 Youth of the full blue eyes, 
 
 Of the glen of mist, 
 
 Where airy are the herd nimble. 
 
 Grazing on the dewy wolds, 
 
 When thou leanest on thy elbow, 
 
 Blood will be on the swift son of the 
 
 cold cliffs ; 
 Wert thou with me, my love. 
 
 An unmeet husband I would not deem 
 thee. 
 
 Fhir a dhireas am bealach, 
 ir a yires am belach 
 
 Sa thearnas an gleann ma thuadh, 
 sa hemes an glen ma hn-a' 
 
 Thoir sorruidh gu'm leannan, 
 hoyr sormy' gum lennan 
 
 Is innis mar thachair 's an uair. 
 is innis mar haoh-ayr san u-ayr 
 
 Fear eile cha ghabh mi, 
 fer eyl^ cha yav mi 
 
 'S cha'n fhuillig mi leom a luaidh. 
 's chan uyllig mi le-om a lu-ay' 
 
 Gus an dean e fein m' aicheadh, 
 gns an den e feyn ma-che' 
 
 Cha chreid mi o chaeh gur fuadh. 
 cha chreyd mi o chach gur fii-a' 
 
 You, who ascendest the defile 
 
 And goest down the glen to the north, 
 
 Bear my salute to my love, 
 
 And tell him how it stands with me 
 
 at this hour. 
 Another I will not have, 
 
 Nor suffer to be named to me. 
 
 Until he himself denies me, 
 
 I will not believe from others that he 
 hates. 
 
 Ach ma nith e orm tailceas, 
 ach ma ni e orm taylc-es 
 
 Gur taitneach a tha mo chliu ; 
 gur taytuech a ha mo chli-u 
 
 Cha d' roinn mi riut coinneamh, 
 cha droinn mi ri-ut coynnev 
 
 Cha do thachair sinn riamh ann Un cuil. 
 cha do hach-ayr sinn ri-av ann an cnyl 
 
 But if he will slight me, 
 
 My reputation remains unstained ; 
 
 I never made an appointment with 
 
 him, 
 We never met in a neuh (recess.) 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 211 
 
 Cha ghabbain riamh masladb I would receive an indignity 
 
 cha yavayn ri-av masla' 
 
 fhear a cbuir boinneid ^.ir crun ; From no man that ever covered his 
 
 o er a ohuyr boynneyd ayr crun head with a bonnet ; 
 
 Bha m' inntinn cho beachdail, My mind was sufficiently self-sustained 
 
 va minntinn cho beo-ayl 
 
 'Sgu'n smachdaichin gaol nach b-f hiadh. To rebuke (subdue) an unworthy love, 
 sgun smao-aychin gaol nach bi-u' 
 
 I have, I think, submitted historical reasons elsewhere for coming to the 
 conclusion, that every difference in dialect, character, manners, and customs, 
 between the Celtic and Grothic clans, (under which name I include Scots, Belgs, 
 Firbolg, Saxons, &c.) can be accounted for by their institutions, education, and 
 circumstances. The writers who make the Gothic a different and a superior 
 race, ought to have shown that they were the subject of a different act of 
 creative power, to justify their statements ; but, instead of that, those of them 
 who were historians furnished no evidence of their assumptions, and their fol- 
 lowers seem to think that reiteration is the only thing necessary to satisfy their 
 readers as to the truth of any assertion, however unphilosophlc or improbable 
 in itself At the same time, Caesar, Tacitus, Ptolemy, Orasius, &c. show that 
 they formed separate families, and were known under separate names, in both 
 of the British Isles, at a very early period of our history. The learned and 
 talented Mr Skene,* who is not a beaten-track historian, but a man of deep 
 research and discrimination, in his Introduction to the Dean of Lismore's book, 
 satisfectorily proves that Ireland was occupied for ages subsequently to the days 
 of Ptolemy and Orasius, by two distinct families, the Milesians, or Firbolg, or 
 Scots, (for he also classes them as identical,) and the Cruithne ; the former 
 occupying the south and west, and the latter the north and east of the island ; 
 and I contend that, in personal appearance, dialect, poetry, and music, these two 
 families may be distinguished from one another in Ireland^until this day. 
 
 I have stated in my Lecture on the Caledonian and Scottish Clans, that 
 the ancient boundary between the Scots and the Caledonians was LochHnne 
 
 * In a note to his introduction to the Dean of Lismore's book, this leEu:ued and able writer nearly 
 agrees with me as. to the boundary between the Gsi'ldoniaiis ^d the Scots ; he making it;by land, and to 
 the north of Lochlinne, ^hioh is certainly less natural and saitisfactory. His words are, " In the Island of 
 Oolonsay there is a cairn called Oarn-cnl-ri-Erin. In Blean's Atlas, the map of the Island'of MuU marks, . 
 on the high mountain which separates the north from the soiith of the island, two cairns called Carn-cul- 
 riTErin and Carn-pul-ri-Alla.byn, These seem to mark some ancient boundary, but they are exactly on a 
 line with lona, which seems to have lain so nearly on the boundary as to be claimed by both races, and also 
 with the line which separates the ancient parishes of Killintadi and Killchollumkill in Morvern ; and 
 ^illintach is said, in an old document, to be in Oarromoveran, a district which extended as far north as 
 Loch Hourn, while Killchollumkill is said to be in Kinelbadon, which belonged to the ancient Idngdom of 
 torn, — there seems much reason to conclude that this may have been the line of the boundary between 
 the Dalriad Scots from Erin and the Cruithne of Alban." There is no doubt that cairns were ancient land- 
 marks between different districts belonging to the same clans or people, but I think they could not have 
 been at any time a boundary between two separate and distinct kingdoms, not always at peace with one 
 another. Indeed, it is extremely improbable that, with such a boundary as Lochlinne, the Scots could 
 have even wished to divide their strength by occupying a narrow stripe of hill and shore at such a distance 
 from the main'body, at the opposite side of that loch. 
 
212 THE MUSIC 
 
 and Loclietive, and that from Lochetive the boundary ran by a line, less dis- 
 tinctly marked, between the sources of the waters that ran in different directions, 
 (thus " sheering wind and water," as Dandie Dinmont would have described it,) 
 to Penvahl ; from Penvahl to Galashiels ; from Galashiels, by the Catrail or war- 
 path, to Berwick. This differs slightly from the boundary laid down by Mr 
 Skene ; but I am convinced, even at this day, there is so clearly perceptible a 
 difference in personal appearance, dialect, or pronunciation, (which in effect is 
 much the same thing, a different pronunciation being the original cause of 
 different dialects,) poetry, and music, between the people on either side of that 
 line, as really to justify my adhering to my own opinion on this subject ; for 
 although the people of the plains or lowlands of Caledonia had so much inter- 
 course, by inter-marriages, &c. with the Gothic families both of England and 
 Lochlin, they differ from them decidedly until this day, especially in their 
 appearance. I mention elsewhere that the colony of Ulster Cruithne, who 
 settled in Galloway, were also divided from their neighbours by a catrail or 
 war-path, drawn from the head of Lochryan, by Kempshill, Sanquhar, and 
 Carlisle ; and I have been assured, on good authority, that there was a marked 
 difference in appearance, dialect, poetry, and music, between the people on 
 . either side of that March when the " Highland host" were quartered in Ayr- 
 shire ; for, strange, as it may appear, I was intimately acquainted with a clergy- 
 man, Mr Inglis of Kirkoswold, who when a boy was tutor to the family of 
 Maclean of Drimmin, and knew a gentleman (the great-grandfather of that 
 family,) who had been captain of a company in the Highland host. From this 
 venerable old man, Mr Inglis received much information in reference to the 
 conduct and character of the Loyalists and Covenanters of that day, which had 
 the effect of giving him more modified views of both parties than was usually 
 expressed by Presbyteriam clergymen of the old school. In short, all party- 
 writers allow their feelings to point them, and therefore deal in exaggerations. 
 This intelligent old gentlemen told Mr Inglis that in the small clachan in 
 Galloway they spoke the same Gaelic at that time that was spoken in 
 Ardnamurchan. 
 
 In personal appearance, dialect, poetry, and music, there is a striking 
 affinity between the people of the north of Ireland and the Caledonians ; and I 
 believe that a similar resemblance, especially in personal appearance, is perfectly 
 visible between the Scottish Lowlanders and the people of the south and west 
 of Ireland. There is in topographical names and ancient poetry sufficient 
 evidence that the ancient Caledonians and Britons spoke the same dialect; 
 and as William M. Moxon, Esq., chief Accountant of Inland Eevenue, has 
 kindly sent me some Welsh poetry and melodies, with phonetic spelling, I 
 will now submit these to the reader, and which, on a careful comparison, prove 
 without doubt that the poetry and music of Caledonia and Wales have at this 
 day a clear affinity the one to the other. 
 
OP THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 213 
 
 CODUD YB HEDTDD, — THE SONG OF THE LAEK. 
 
 Cwyd, cwyd, ehedydd Hon, 
 cooid cooid ayhedith thlon 
 
 lO'th ddedwydd nyth ar ael y fron, 
 oth thedwith iieeth ar ael n vron 
 
 I ganu yn y nen : 
 e gany nn u nen 
 
 Mwyn, mwyn, y tonau mel, 
 mooin mooin n tonay mel 
 
 O'th beraidd big a'th galon ddel, 
 o'th beraith beeg ath galon thel 
 
 I synu'r byd uwch ben : 
 e stmnir beed yuch ben 
 
 Pawb a hofifant swyn dy gan, 
 pawb a bofant sooin du gan 
 
 Sy'n Uifo'n fifrwd o fiwsig firi : 
 seyn thlivon frood a vewsig free 
 
 Nwyfus fawl dy galon Ian, 
 nooiTis yawl da galon laan 
 
 Enyna dkn fy awen i : 
 enuna daan va awen e 
 
 An wylaf wyt o'r adar man, 
 an wilav coit or adar maan 
 
 Boed bendith Dduw i ti ! 
 boed bendith Thew e te 
 
 Kise, rise, merry lark, 
 
 From thy happy nest on the brow of 
 
 the slope of a hill. 
 To sing in the heavens : 
 
 Gentle, gentle, the honied notes. 
 
 From thy sweet beak and heart will 
 
 come, 
 To surprise the world above : 
 
 All will delight in the charm of thy 
 
 song, 
 That flows like a stream of free music: 
 
 The^lively praise of thy heart clean 
 
 Shall kindle the fire of my muse : 
 
 Dearest art thou of the small birds. 
 
 Be the blessing of God to thee ! 
 
 Lion, Hon, yw'r ddaear lawr, 
 thlon thlon uer thayar laoor 
 
 Mae'r haul yn gw§nu ar y wawr 
 mier hayl un gwene ar n waoor 
 
 Yn ngwrid y dwyrain der ; 
 nn ngwreed u dooyrine dair 
 
 Dring, dring, ehedydd mwyn, 
 dring dring ayhedith mooin 
 
 Dyhidla odlau llawn o swyn 
 duhidla odlai thlaoon o eooin 
 
 groesaw i dy NSr : 
 o groisaoo e dn nair 
 
 Can yn Eden yn dy gryd 
 caan un Eden nn du greed 
 
 A roist i'r greadigaeth hardd ; 
 a roist ir greadigaith barth 
 
 Iddi'n awr, o bryd i bryd, 
 ithin uoor o breed e breed. 
 
 Alawaidd don o'th big a dardd ; 
 alawith doan oth beeg a ^arth 
 
 Pleasant, pleasant, is the earth below. 
 
 The sun smiles on the dawn (of day) 
 
 In the blush of the transparent east ; 
 
 Mount, mount, gentle lark. 
 
 Distil thy charming song 
 
 Of welcome to thy Maker : 
 
 A song in Eden in thy nest (cradle) 
 
 Thou gavest to the beautiful creation ; 
 
 To it now from time to time, 
 
 Harmonious tones proceed from thy 
 beak ; 
 
214 
 
 A chanu wnei o hyd o hyd 
 a chan-e oonei o heed o heed 
 
 Tra haul a byd a bardd. 
 tra hajl a beed a barth 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 And sing thou wilt through all time, 
 
 While sun, and world, and bard (ex- 
 ist.) 
 
 BUGEILIO'R GWENITH GWYN. — SHEPHERDING (OR WATOHINfi) THE WHEAT. 
 
 I am a young foolish boy, 
 
 Making loye according to my fancy ; 
 
 Mi sydd fachgen ieuangc ffol, 
 me sith vachgen yeyanc fall 
 
 Yn caru'n ol fy ffansi ; 
 un cari'n ole vu fancy 
 
 Mi yn bugeilio'r gwenith gwyn, 
 me nn begylior gwenith gwyn 
 
 Ac eraill ynei fedi : 
 ac erailth unei vedee 
 
 Pam na ddeui ar fy ol 
 pam na thy-e ar vu ole 
 
 Eyw ddydd ar ol ei gilydd ? 
 reew theeth ar ol ei gilith 
 
 Gwaith r'wy'n dy wel'd y feinir fach, 
 gwaith r'ooi'n du wel'd u vynir vaoh 
 
 ! glanach, lanach beunydd ! 
 1 glanaeh lanach byoith 
 
 I watching the white wheat, 
 
 And others reaping it : 
 
 Why do you not come after me 
 
 Some day or another ? 
 
 Because I see thee, beautiful darling, 
 
 Oh ! lovelier and lovelier daily ! 
 
 Tra fo dwr yn y mor hallt, 
 tra vo dwr un u more haltht 
 
 A thra fo ngwallt yn tyfu, 
 a thra vo ngooaltht un tuvy 
 
 A thra fo calon yn fy mron, 
 a thra vo calon nn vu mron 
 
 Mi fydda'n ffyddlon itti : 
 me vutha'n futUon itte 
 
 Dywed imi'r gwir dan gel, 
 duwed imme'r gweer dan gale 
 
 A rho dan sel attebion ; 
 a rho dan sale attebyon 
 
 P'un ai myfi neu arall, Gwen, 
 p'un aymuvee ny aralth gwen 
 
 Sydd prau gandy galon ! 
 s^etji or^i gandu gajon 
 
 While there is water in the briny sea, 
 
 And while my hair does grow, 
 
 And while there is a heart in my breast, 
 
 I will be faithful to thee : 
 
 Tell me the truth in secret, 
 
 And give under seal (in confidence) 
 
 answers ; 
 Whether myself or another, Gwen, 
 
 Is best within thine heart ! 
 
 NOB GALAN. — NEW YEAR S EVE. 
 
 Goreu pleser ar nos galan, — Fa, la, &c. The best pleasure on new year's eve, 
 gorei plesser ar noa galan — Fa, la, &C. 
 
 Ty a thiin a theulu diddan, — Fa, &c. 
 tu a thaan a thiley dithan 
 
 Is house and fire and a pleasant family, 
 — Fa, la, &c. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 215 
 
 Galon Ian a chwrw melyn, — Fa, &c. A pure heart and brown* ale, — Fa, la, 
 
 caloo laan a chooroo meUn ^q_ 
 
 Pennill mwyn a llais y delyn, — Fa, &c. A gentle song and the voice of the 
 
 penilth mooia a thlais u delin harp. Fa la &C. 
 
 Hyfryd gweled ar yr aelwyd, — Fa, &c. It is pleasant to see round the hearth, 
 
 huvrid gweled ar nr aylooid Fa ]a &c. 
 
 Hen ac ieuangc mewn dedwyddyd, — Old and young in happiness ; — Fa, la, 
 
 hain ao yeyango meoon dedwithid (S;c. 
 
 Fa, &c. 
 
 Pawb ddymunant o lawenydd, — Fa, &c. All wish from joy, — Fa, la, &c. 
 pawb thuminant o la-wenith 
 
 Groesaw llawn i'r flwyddyn newydd. — A full welcome to the new year. — Fa, 
 
 groisaoo tUaoon ir vlooithia newith la &C, 
 
 Fa, &c. 
 
 MERCH MEGAN. -^Megan's daughtee. 
 
 Tsblenydd yw'r haul wrth euro y Beautiful is the sun in gilding the 
 
 nsblenith ioor hayl oorth eiro u (Jay dawn 
 wawMdydd, 
 waoorthith 
 
 A glandeg yw gwlith ar feillion a rh6s ; And comely fair the dew on clover 
 
 a glaandeg ioo gooleeth ar veilthion a rhoso and rose • 
 
 Tryloew yw rhith y lloer mewn afonydd. Transparent is the shaidow of the 
 
 tieeloioo ioo rheeth u Ithoer mewn avopyth moon in rivers, 
 
 A disglaer yw'r ser yn nyfhder y nos. And bright are the stars in the depth 
 
 a disglair ioor sair nn nnvnder u nos of the night. 
 
 Disgleirfwyn yw'r ha.fddydd ei geinion Clear and mild is the summer day 
 
 disgUurvooin ioor havethith i geinion its rays pure and clean, 
 
 yn burlan, 
 un birlan 
 
 A disglaer yw llewyrch yr awyr a'r 111 ; And bright is the light of the air and 
 
 a disglair ioo Itheooarch nr awir a'r Itbe the flood ; 
 
 Disgleiriach i'm serch yw Morvydd Brighter to my aifection is Morvydd, 
 
 disglairiach i'm aerch io6 mot^tb Megan's daughter, 
 merch Megan, 
 merch megan 
 
 Anwylach ei phryd na mywyd i mi. Dearer is her countenance than life 
 
 anwHach i fileed na mowid e me untO me. 
 
 Mae Morvydd yn Ian a'i gw^Q fel yr Morvydd is handsome, and her smile 
 
 mai momth nn laan a'i gooen vel nr like the sunshine, 
 
 heulweBi, 
 heylwen 
 
 Ei chalon yn bur, a dedwydd ei bron ; Her heart is pure> and happy in her 
 
 i chalon un bnir a dedwith i bron breast ; 
 
 * Literally, " yellow ale," but the idea is as above. 
 
216 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Mae miwsig ei llais yn fywyd i f awen, 
 mae mosig i Ithais un vowid e v'awen 
 
 Mae oariad yn by w'n ei llygaid g wiw lion ; 
 mae cariad un bioon i Ithugaid gweew Ithon 
 
 Mae mwynder a rhinwedd yn puro ei 
 mae mooinder a rhinwath un peero i 
 
 dwyfron, 
 dooivron 
 
 A glendid a gwylder yn gloywi ei phryd ; 
 a gleiideed a gwilder un gloiwee i freed 
 
 Mi garaf ei Uun tra cur a fy nghalon, 
 me garay i Itfain tra cheeraveh ngalon 
 
 Mi garaf fy mun tra bwyf yn y byd. 
 me garay yeh mun tra booiy un u beed 
 
 The music of her voice is life to my 
 
 muse, 
 Love lives in her worthy merry eye ; 
 
 Meekness and virtue purify her 
 breasts, 
 
 And purity and modesty brighten her 
 
 countenance ; 
 I'll love her image while my heart 
 
 shall beat, 
 I'll love my hands full while I remain 
 
 in the world. 
 
 EHYFELGYECH GWTE HARLECH.- 
 
 Harlech, cyfod dy faneri ; 
 harlech cuvod du yaneri 
 
 Gwel y gelyn. Ennyn ynni 
 gwail n gelin ennun unni 
 
 Y Meirionwys oil i waeddi, 
 u myrionwis olthe waethe 
 
 Cymru fo am byth ! 
 cumri yo am byth 
 
 Aed y waedd, ac aed y weddi, 
 ayd n waith ac ayd u wethe 
 
 I bob cwrr o'n gwlad uchelfri, 
 e bob coor on goolaad cchelyre 
 
 Nes ad seinia yr Eryri, 
 nes ad sinea ur erure 
 
 Cymru fo am byth ! 
 cumri yo am byth 
 
 Arwyr, sawdwyr, sydyn 
 arwyr saoodwyr sndien 
 
 Rhuthrwn ar y gelyn ; 
 rhythroou ai u gelin 
 
 Gyrrwn ef i ffoi o nant 
 gurroon ey e foi o nant 
 
 A bryn, a phant, a dyflryn. 
 a bryn a fant a dufreeu 
 
 Chwyfiwn faner goruchafiaeth ; 
 chwyvioon yaner gomohaviaeth 
 
 Gorfoleddwn yn ei alaeth ; 
 gonrolethoon un i alayth 
 
 Clywir lief ein buddugoliaeth, 
 cluwir Ithey ine bithigoliaeth 
 
 Cymru fo am byth ! 
 cumri yo am byth 
 
 -THE WAE-SONG OP THE MEN OP HAELECH. 
 
 Harlech, raise thy banners ; 
 
 See the enemy. Kindle the vigour 
 
 Of the Merioneth men, aH to cry, 
 
 Wales be for ever ! 
 
 Go the cry, and go the prayer, 
 
 To each comer of our highly honoured 
 
 land, 
 'Till Snowden re-echoes, 
 
 Wales be for ever ! 
 
 Peasants, soldiers, suddenly 
 Let us rush on the enemy ; 
 Let us drive him, flying from brook, 
 And hill, and glen, and vale. 
 Let us wave the banner of victory ; 
 Let us rejoice in his wailing ; 
 The cry of our victory shall be heard, 
 Wales be for ever ! 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 217 
 
 Gwaed sy'n gwrido y cleddyfau ; 
 gwayd Bu'n goorido u dethuvai 
 
 Twrw mavrr a thingcian arfau ; 
 tooroo maoor a tbinkian arvai 
 
 Uwch na'r twrw ceir bonllefau, 
 eooch naa'r tooroo kier bonlthevai 
 
 Cymru fo am byth ! 
 cumii TO am byth 
 
 Saethau a pHcellau wibiant, 
 eaythai a phekelthai vribeant 
 
 Cym udganant, meirch weryrant, 
 kiem idganant myerch weruiant 
 
 Milwyr ruthrant, rhengau floeddiant, 
 mil^r rnthrant rhengai yloytbyant 
 
 Cymru fo am byth ! 
 cumri vo am byth 
 
 Blood reddens (causes to blush) the 
 swords ; 
 
 Great tumult and clashing of arms ; 
 
 But higher than the tumult is the 
 shout, 
 
 Wales be for ever ! 
 Arrows and darts fly, 
 Horns sound loudly, horses neigh, 
 Soldiers rush, ranks shout, 
 
 Wales be for ever ! 
 
 Tanbaid yw calonnau, 
 tanbayd yn calonai 
 
 Grymus ydyw breichiau 
 grumis ndiw breichiai 
 
 Gwyr yn ymladd dros eu gwlad, — 
 gweer no nmlath dros ei goolad 
 
 Orenwog wlad eu tadau. 
 orenwog oolad i tadai 
 
 Gwyllt a fiymig yw'r ymladdfa, 
 gwiltht a fimig eoor nmlathva 
 
 Gwangcus yw y cleddwrth wledda ; 
 gwangons yn u olethoorth wietha 
 
 Duwies buddugoliaeth floeddia, 
 deuyes bithigoUaith vloitbea 
 
 Cymru fo am byth ! 
 cnmri to am byth 
 
 Fervent are the hearts, 
 Strong are the arms 
 Of men fighting for their land, — 
 The renowned land of their fathers. 
 Savage and fierce is the fight, 
 Ravenous is the sword in feasting ; 
 The goddess of victory shouts, 
 Wales he for ever ! 
 
 MOKVA BHUDDLAN. — THE MARSH (OR PLAIN) OF RHUDDLAN. 
 
 CwmypoddCaradogjdyryswydeifyddin, Fallen is Caradog, his army is con- 
 cooimpoth caradog dnrusooid ei Tuthin founded, 
 
 Cwympodd blaenoriaid a dewrion y gad ; Fallen are the leaders and heroes of 
 cooimpoth blaynoryayd a dewryon n gaad the battle ; 
 
 Gwynedd lesmeiriodd pan gollodd ei North Wales fainted when it lost its 
 
 gv^eth leBmyrioth pan gothloth ei 
 
 Brenin, 
 brennin 
 
 Cwmol dristwch a huliodd y wlad : 
 coomool dristoocb a hilioth u oolaad 
 
 king. 
 
 A cloud of sorrow has covered the 
 country : 
 
 Ee 
 
218 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Ehelyw anffodus y rhengau wrth gilio 
 ihela anfodus u iheugan oorth gilyo 
 
 'Sgubwyd gan angau i grombil y don ; 
 egibnid gan anghi e grombil n don 
 
 Duodd y cwmwl a thorodd i wylo, 
 deoth u coomool a thoroth e weelo 
 
 Congcwest y gelyn a ysodd pob bron. 
 conquest a gelin a nssoth pobe bTon 
 
 The remnant unfortunate of the ranks 
 while retreating , 
 
 Were swept by death to the midst of 
 the wave ; 
 
 Darkened the cloud and broke into 
 
 tears, 
 The victory of the enemy consumed 
 
 every breast. 
 
 Gwae i mi weled y gelyn buddagol, 
 gwaj e me weled u gelin vithigol 
 
 Ehwysg a gorfoledd yn lloni ei bryd ; 
 rhooisg a gorvoleth un Ithone i breed 
 
 Llethir fy monwes gan loesau angeuol, 
 Ithetheer yj monooes gan loisai angeyol 
 
 Gwell i mi farw na byw yn y byd : 
 gwelth e me varoo na beoo nn u beed 
 
 Eilia fy nhelyn leddf d6n i'r gyflafan, 
 ile-ya tu nhelin lethv doan ei'r guvlavan 
 
 Collwyd ein breintiau, ein rhyddid, a'n 
 coltbooid ine brineliai ine rhuthid a'n 
 
 hedd; 
 heth 
 
 Todded fy nghalon i gwyn "Morva 
 tothed va ngalon e gooin morva 
 
 Ehuddlan," 
 rhathlan 
 
 Cuddier fy ngofid yn nyfader y bedd. 
 cuthyer vu ngovid un nuvnder u beth 
 
 Woe me! to see the victorious enemy, 
 
 Pomp and joy cheering his counten- 
 ance; 
 My breast is crushed by deathly pangs, 
 
 Better I should die than live in the 
 
 world : 
 My harp is in unison with the wail of 
 
 the massacre, 
 Lost are our rights, our liberty, our 
 
 peace ; 
 
 Let my heart melt to the wail of 
 " Morva Ehuddlan," 
 
 Let my grief be hidden in the depths 
 of the grave. 
 
 GLAN MEDDWDOD MWYN. — PURE, KIND DRUNKENNESS. 
 
 Ein gwydrau gorlenwn mwyn yfwn Our glasses let us overfill, drink 
 ine gooidrai gorlenoon mooin nvoon kindly in peace 
 
 mewn hedd, 
 mewn heath 
 
 (!) gwrw a gwirod, gwin, neithdar, a Of ale and liquor, wine, nectar, and 
 gooroo a gweerod gween nythdar a mead 
 
 medd, 
 
 meath 
 
 Nes bo ein calonau dan effaith y Until our hearts, under the effect of 
 nes bo ine calonai dan efaith u the charm 
 
 swyn, 
 
 sooin 
 
 Yn wresog gan gariad a " glan Are fervent with love and pure kind 
 un ooresog gan gariad a glan drunkenness. 
 
 medd'dod mwyn." 
 
 neath'dod mooin 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 219 
 
 Chorus :- 
 
 Chorus . 
 
 Anwylaf hen Walia, mwyn noddfa 
 anooilave bane walia mooin nothva 
 
 i ni, 
 
 e nee 
 
 Yw ceinwlad y dewrion henFryjbhon 
 ioo Idne-oolad a dewrion bane vrithon 
 
 fri, 
 o vree 
 
 Byth bythoedd yn ddedwydd a 
 bith buthoeth nn thedwith a 
 
 hylwydd bo hi. 
 hulooith bo he 
 
 Dearest old Wales, kind refuge 
 to us, 
 
 Is the fair country of the valiant 
 old Britons of fame, 
 
 For ever and ever happy and 
 prosperous may she be. 
 
 Ceir iechyd i'r galon a cheinion a cban, 
 kyre yechid eir galon a cbainion a ohaan 
 
 Wrth rodio'i dyfeynoedd a'i gljrnoedd 
 Gorth Todio'-i dnfrinoeth a'-i gliopeth 
 
 mwyn glan, 
 mooin glan 
 
 Cain flodau awenydd ar gynydd a gawn, 
 kain vlodai awenith ar gnnith a gaoon 
 
 A diliau y delyn yn dilyn ei dawn, 
 a diliai u delin un dilin i daoon 
 
 Anwylaf hen Walia, &c. 
 
 Health to the heart is to be heard the 
 best of cheer and song 
 
 Is got by walking her dales and val- 
 leys, mild, fair ; 
 
 Beautiful flowers, poetic genius, in- 
 creasingly we shall have. 
 
 And the honied notes of the harp to 
 follow its gift. 
 
 Dearest old Wales, &c. &c. 
 
220 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 The two following specimens of the poetry and music of Erin are taken 
 from a little gem of a book, with which I have been favoured by Mr Moxon. 
 It was published by Mr O'Daly of Dublin, and contains literally a treasure of 
 the genuine Celtic strains of Erin, with English imitations by James Clarence 
 Magan. I have not selected these specimens for the superior character of the 
 music or the poetry, but on account of the subject, for the victims of loyal faith 
 must ever be objects of sympathy to the generous and the brave. When will 
 kings and statesmen look on political offences, especially those which spring 
 from intensely loyal and patriotic feelings, as the offences of the noble and high 
 minded, and deal with them in an accordant spirit ? 
 
 A MAIGHDEON, A BHEAN, 's A BHANTBAECH. — THE VIEGIN, WIFE, AND WIDOW. 
 AiB.— '■ The Humoura of Glyn." 
 
 As a maighdion as bainti-eabhach rin A virgin — a widow — I mourn lone 
 
 Dia go h-ogdhiom, and lowly. 
 
 Ni binn liom an chreidhill-si gabhail This mom saw me wedded in God's 
 
 tiomchioll mo nuanchain ; temple holy ; 
 
 Ba bhean-phosda as maidean me, o'n And noontide beholds me a lone wi- 
 
 eaglais chomhachtach, dow weeping, 
 
 'S as bain-treabhach niainim ar theachd For my spouse in the dark tomb for 
 
 de'm trath-nona. ever lies sleeping. 
 
 Ta smuaintean mo chridhe-si na sgaoil- 
 
 feadh go h-eagde, 
 Feadh bheidheadh druchd or na gleann- 
 
 tadh na ceo ar na sleibhte ; 
 La coimhnadh da sniomh dhuit go caoin 
 
 deas de'n chaoldain. 
 Is e la broin an chruidhill-si* da innsint 
 
 gun egair! 
 
 Is deas do thiocfadh cloidheam dhuit an 
 
 maneaigheacht an choil-each, 
 No ag reide na h-adhine 's do ghadhain- 
 
 binne air raothan, 
 Thogfadh an ceo dhe m' intinn 's tu ar 
 
 bheinn-mhaoil an t-steibhe, 
 Agus aireochamoid uainn tu la buailte 
 
 Eigh Seumas. 
 
 Is mor mor e m' eagladh go bh-fuil do 
 mhuinntir a bh-fuarain liom, 
 
 Mar nan lighas 's nar sgreadas nuair 
 chonarc an fhuil uasal, 
 
 On my heart lies a cloud, and will lie 
 
 there for ever. 
 Hark, hark to the death-knell that 
 
 dooms us to sever ! 
 Oh, well may my eyes pour forth' 
 
 tears as a fountain. 
 While dew gems the valley, and mist 
 
 dims the mountain. 
 
 King James mourns a hero, as brave 
 
 as e'er breathed. 
 ! to see him when mounted, with 
 
 bright blade unsheathed, 
 Or high on the hill-side with bugle 
 
 and beagles. 
 Where his foot was the deer's, and 
 
 his eye was the eagle's. 
 
 I shrieked and I cried when his blood 
 
 gush'd like water ; 
 But treach'ry and baseness had 
 
 doom'd him to slaughter ; 
 
 * Creidluil,— death-bell, knell. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 221 
 
 D' fheach tu tar ais orm a dhian-sradh He glanced at me fondly, to comfort 
 
 le truagh dham, and cheer me, 
 
 Achd d' smrigheag an feall an mo ann- But his friends love me not, and they 
 
 rachd an uaim ud. never come near me. 
 
 Mo mhallachd bhearfainn d'aoin-bhean Accursed be the maid who can smile 
 
 nam-bidheachburtfheardah-ionnadh; on two lovers; 
 
 Na dian fach a dithchiol gan aon aca Around me the shade of my last 
 
 riaradh, husband hovers. 
 
 Mar is aillean fir cailec chaill me mo And, oh, never more can I think of 
 
 chial leis, another, 
 
 'S fear briaga-deas na grana ni ghaidh- Or feel for a lover, save as for a 
 
 fead ad dhiaig-si ! brother ! 
 
 The following song from the same work is called 
 
 EAMONN A CHNOIC. — EDMUND OF THE HILL. 
 
 " Cia h-e sin a muith, 
 'Na bh-fuil faobhair ar guith, 
 Ag raobadh mo dhoruis duntadh ?" 
 
 " 'S mise Eamonn an chnoic, 
 
 Ta baidhte, fuar, fliuch, 
 fhior-shiubhal sleibhite 's ghleann- 
 tadh !" 
 
 " A laoigh ghil 's a chuid ? 
 
 Oread a dhianfainn dhuit ? 
 Mur cuirfinn ort beinn da'm ghunadh. 
 
 'S go bh-fuil pughdar go tuigh ; 
 
 Da shior-feide riot, 
 'S go m-beadhmaois a raon muchda !" 
 
 ' ' You with the voice shrill and sharp. 
 Like the high tones of a harp, 
 Why knock you at my door like a 
 warning ?" 
 
 " I am Ned of the hill, 
 
 I am wet, cold, and chill, 
 Toiling o'er hill and vale since 
 morning ?" 
 
 " Ah, my love, is it you? 
 
 What on earth can I do ? 
 My govra cannot yield you a corner. 
 
 Ah, they'll soon find you out ; 
 
 They'll shoot you, never doubt, 
 And it's I that will then be a mourner ! " 
 
 " 'S fada mise a muich, 
 
 Faoi shneachda gus faoi shioc, 
 'S gan danacht agam ar aon neach ; 
 
 Mo sheisreach gan sgur, 
 
 Mo bhranar gan cur, 
 A's gan iad agam ar aon chor. 
 
 Nil caraid agam. 
 
 Is danaid Horn san. 
 Do ghlacfach me moch na deanach ; 
 
 'S go g-caith feadh me dul, 
 
 Tan fainge soin, — 
 Os ann nach bh-fuil mo ghaothaltadh !" 
 
 " Long I'm wandering in woe, 
 
 In frost and in snow, 
 No house can I enter boldly ; 
 
 My ploughs lie unyoked, 
 
 My fields weeds have choked. 
 And my friends they look on me coldly. 
 
 Forsaken of all. 
 
 My heart is in thrall, 
 All withered lies my life's garland ; 
 
 I must look afar 
 
 For a brighter star, — 
 Must seek my home in a far-land !" 
 
222 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 " A chuisl aluinn deas, 
 
 Na bh-faingidh cas, 
 Is breagha 'gus as glas do fuile, 
 
 Go bh-fuil chreidhe da shlad, 
 
 Man do shniomthaoi gad, 
 Le bliaghin mor fhada ag tnuth leat. 
 
 Da bh-faghainn-si le ceart, — 
 
 Cead sine sios leat, 
 Is eadtrom 's as dear do shiubhal fainn, 
 
 Go bh-fuil mo smoainte a bhean, 
 
 Air ealoghadh leat, 
 Faoi choilltibh ag spealadh an druchtadh ! " 
 
 " thou of neck fair, 
 
 And curling hair, 
 With blue eyes flashing and sparkling, 
 
 For a year and more 
 
 Has my heart been sore, 
 And my soul for thee been darkling. 
 
 could we but both, — 
 
 You nothing loth, 
 Escape to the wood and forest, 
 
 What light and calm, 
 
 What healing balm, 
 Should I have for my sorrow's sorest !" 
 
 " A chumainn 's a shearc, 
 
 Eachamaoid-ne seal, 
 Foi choilltibh ag spealadh and druch- 
 tadh; 
 
 Mar bh-faghanaoid an breac, 
 
 'S an Ion air a nead, 
 An siad 'gus am poc a buistre ; 
 
 Na h-eiginidhe seinneadh, 
 
 'S an chuaichin ar bhann an un-ghlais ; 
 
 Go brath brath ni thiocfad 
 
 An has air an n-goineadh, 
 A lann na coille cubhantha !" 
 
 " My fond one and dear, 
 
 The greenwood is near. 
 And the lake where the trout is 
 springing ; 
 
 You will see the doe, 
 
 The deer and the roe, 
 And will hear the sweet birds singing ; 
 
 The blackbird and thrush 
 
 In the hawthorn bush, 
 And the lone cuckoo from her high nest ; 
 
 And you never need fear 
 
 That death would be near, 
 In this bright scenery, dearest !" 
 
 The following song from Mr O'Daly's book, with the phonetic spelling and 
 translation by Mr John Murdoch, the patriotic and spirited writer on the 
 Highland and other Clearances, under the name of " Finlagan," suflSciently 
 exemplifies the relationship between the northern Irish and the Highlanders. 
 
 AN CHUIL-FHIONN. — THE COOLEEN. 
 
 ag 
 
 A bh-facadh tu an chuil-fhionn 's i 
 a vaca' too an chooleen see a 
 
 siubhal ar na bgithre, 
 shoo-ull ayr nu boh-re 
 
 Maidion gheal druchta 's gan smut ar a 
 maijin gall drooclita s gan smooit ayr a 
 
 broga ? 
 broga 
 
 Is iomdha oganach sul-ghlas ag tnuth 
 is imo oganach sooil-ghlaa ag tnoodi 
 
 le i phosadh, 
 lay ee fosa 
 
 Saw you the fair-hair'd a-travelling 
 the wolds 
 
 A bright dewy morning, without dust 
 on her shoes ? 
 
 Many a blue-eyed youth desires her 
 in marriage, 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 223 
 
 Achd ni bh-faghadh siad mo riin-sa ar But they sha'n't have my own love on 
 ach nee voy sheead mo roonse ayr their calculation, 
 
 an g-cuntas is doith leo. 
 an goontas is do lo 
 
 A bh-facadh tu mo bhaban la breagh 
 u vaca to mo vawbawn law bryaw 
 
 's i na h-aonar, 
 see na b-aynnr 
 
 A cul dualach, dris-leanach, go slinnean 
 u cooll dooallach dreesh-layuach ga shleenawn 
 
 BIOS leithe ? 
 sbees le-ha 
 
 Mil ar an oig-bhean, 's ros breagh na 
 meel ayr un og-yan 's ros brya na 
 
 h-eadan, 
 haydin 
 
 'S as doith le gach spriosan gur leanan 
 eas do lay gach spreeeavrn giirlyannawn 
 
 leas fein i ! 
 laysh fayn ee 
 
 Saw you my darling, a fine day by 
 herself. 
 
 Her twining hair shimmering down to 
 her shoulders ? 
 
 Sweet is the maiden, a fine eye in her 
 face, 
 
 And every brat fancies that she is his 
 own love ! 
 
 A bh-facadh tu mo speirbhean 's i taobh 
 u vaca too mo spayivan see tayv 
 
 leis an toinn, 
 lays an tuyn 
 
 Fainnidhe oir ar a mearaibh'si reidhtiach 
 faeenye oir ayr u mayriv see raytyach 
 
 a cinn? 
 n keen 
 
 Is e dubhairt an Paorach bhidh ""na 
 is e doort an pn-rach vee na 
 
 mhaor ar an loing, 
 vu-r ayr an luyng 
 
 Go m' fhearr leis aige fein i na Eire gan 
 , gu m'ar laysh ayge fayn ee na ayre gun 
 
 roinn ! 
 ryn 
 
 Saw you my splendid woman, by the 
 V side of the waves, 
 
 Gold rings on her fingers, and she 
 smoothing her hair ? 
 
 Said Power, who was captain of the 
 ship, 
 
 He would rather possess her than 
 undivided Erin ! 
 
 The dance as well as words to the ancient tune of " Gillidh Galium" are 
 assumed by a witty bard to have been danced and sung by Father Noah, when 
 first hilarious under the inspiring efiects of his successful distillation from the 
 fruits of his newly planted vineyard. Gillidh Galium was the name of Noah's 
 piper, and the tune has, with great propriety, continued to be called after him. 
 The dance seems originally to have been over two crossed vine plants ; 
 but, swords being of old more abundant plants in Scotland than vines, the 
 Highlanders considered the former good substitutes for the latter; and, indeed, 
 the object of the dance being, as the verses imply, to furnish a method whereby 
 
224 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 a gentleman in his cups may be distinguished from a boor dead drunk, the 
 swords seem to be, if not the more appropriate, at least the sharpest test of 
 the two. 
 
 GILLIDH CALLUM. 
 
 Einn mi fion a brigh ghallain, 
 rinn mi fi-on a bri' ghallain 
 
 Dh-fhas an lios nan dossain f hallain. 
 yas an lis nan doss-ayn all-ayn 
 
 C'aite a bheil u Ghillidh Challum? 
 cayte a bheyl u illi challam 
 
 Nuas da chlaidheamh 's seid a phiob ! 
 nu-as da chlay-ev' 's seyd a fi-ob 
 
 Ged a mhoidheadh Dile eile, 
 ged a ' voy-e' dil eyie 
 
 Co ach leabadan a theireadh, 
 CO ach lebadan a beyre' 
 
 Nach dian fion is ceol gach eagal 
 nach den fi-on is ce-ol gac eg-al 
 
 Bron, is teagabh, chuir do'n chill ! 
 bron is teg-av chuyr don chill 
 
 I have made wine from the juice of 
 plants 
 
 That grew in the orchard of wholesome 
 
 clusters. 
 Where art thou, Gillie Galium ? 
 
 Down with two swords, and blow up 
 the pipe ! 
 
 Though another Deluge should threat- 
 en, 
 Who but a poltroon would assert 
 
 That wine and music cannot send 
 
 Sorrow, fear, and doubt to the cell. 
 
 Fhad sa mhaireas dossain mhearradh, 
 ad ea vayres doss-ayn Terra' 
 
 Oladh mid deoch-slaint air leannain ; 
 ola' mid de-ooh-slaynt ayr lenn-ayn 
 
 Nuas da chlaidheamh cruaidh le deannaibh, 
 nu-as da chlay'-ev cm-ay' le den-ayv 
 
 Is seid gu smiorail-suas i phiob. 
 is seyd gu smir-ayl-sus i fi-ob 
 
 While the mirth-making clusters last, 
 
 Let us drink healths to our sweet" 
 
 hearts. 
 Down quickly with two sharp swords. 
 
 And, with spirit, blow up the pipe! 
 
 Gleus an fhidhle, sliob am boghadh, 
 gleys an i'-'el sleeb am bo'-a' 
 
 Bron is tuireadh cuirem fodhadh ; 
 bron is tuyre' cuyr-em fo'-a' 
 
 na rinn mi fion a bhleadhan, 
 na rinn mi fi-on a vle-o'-an 
 
 Damhsa is meadhail 's lad mo mhiann ! 
 davsa is me-ayl 's iad mo vi-ann 
 
 Bhuain an diblidh, spideil, aineamh, 
 vn-ayn an dib-li' spid-eyl ayn-ev 
 
 Bhitheas air sloic measg oil is aighear ; 
 Ti'-s ayr sloyc mesg oyl is ay'-er 
 
 Am fear a dhamhsas Gillidh Gallam, 
 am fer a yav-sas gillie callum 
 
 Se mhain is airidh air an fhion. 
 Ite ^ayn is ayri' ayr an i-on 
 
 Tune the fiddle, rosin the bow, 
 
 We'll put down grief and wailing ; . 
 
 Since I have distilled wine. 
 
 Dancing and stirring joys are my de- 
 light! 
 
 Hence thou helpless and contemptible 
 lump. 
 
 That sprawlest 'mid drink and mer- 
 riment; 
 
 He who (when in his cups) can dance 
 Gillie Callum, 
 
 Is alone worthy of the wine. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 225 
 
 AchlannnanGaidhealjfior-shliochdNoah, Clans of the Gael, true descendants 
 a chlann nan ga-el fior lie no-ah of Noah 
 
 Bithibh dileas, cairdeil, comh'rail, Be faithful, friendly, social, 
 bi-ev diles cayud-eyl cov-rayl 
 
 Coitnhneil, cridheil, dligheach, ceolar, — Kind, hearty, natural, musical, — 
 coy'-neyl ori'-eyl dli'-eoli ce-o-lar 
 
 Seinnibh orain 's olaibh fion. Singing songs and drinking wine, 
 seynniv or-ayn s ol-ayv fl-on 
 
 THE MAECH OF THE " DIE-HAKDS. 
 
 This Caledonian March, believed to be of great antiquity, was a great favourite 
 with Duncan Macdonald of Dalnes, Colonel of the 57th Eegiment, or " Die- 
 hards." He made it so much the march of that regiment as to be the sure sign 
 of its presence or signal of its approach, wherever it was heard in the Peninsula 
 or the South of France. A more spirited or a braver officer than Colonel Duncan 
 Macdonald never drew his sword in the service of his country ; yet his end was 
 very melancholy. He was severely wounded in the battle of the Nivelle, but 
 having, like his intimate friends, Sir Thomas Pieton and the Honourable Sir 
 William Stewart, a passion for battles, he could not be prevailed on to remain 
 in the rear. He followed the regiment in its daily march, keeping sufficiently 
 close to make sure of seeing or of joining it in every battle ; but, from his state 
 of health, he never found himself in a condition to resume the command. One 
 of the companies of the 57th and its captain, who temporarily commanded 
 the regiment, being quartered in a deserted chateau at Ayres, on the night after 
 the brilliant affair of the second division at that place, some of the men dis- 
 covered the plate-room, and carried away the more portable parts of it in their 
 knapsacks on the following day. An old and faithful servant, who had been 
 left to watch over the chateau, wisely kept sight of these men until they fell 
 into the ranks, when she reported the circumstance to the general. The captain 
 of the company was called before the Duke of Wellington, and, finding himself 
 in a serious scrape, threw the whole blame on the colonel ; stating that, by 
 keeping continually in the vicinity of the regiment, and lodging always in the 
 same place with them at night, without either taking the command himself, or 
 leaving it effectually to him, the discipline had become relaxed, and the regiment 
 demoralized. Unfortunately for himself, Colonel Macdonald was a high-minded, 
 warm-hearted, generous Highlander, who considered the military as the most 
 illustrious of all professions, and regarded flogging as not only barbarous and 
 inhuman, but as destructive of the pride and dignity that ought to be inculcated 
 in the soldier. As rewards for good conduct had not then heen introduced into 
 the service, he did everything in his power by kindness, encouragement, 
 and praise, and (in extreme cases) severe rebukes and fatigue duties, to 
 maintain discipline without the lash. This made him obnoxious to all the 
 scourge-advocates ; and they took care that a m«re deflinquency by a private of 
 the 57th was made more of than a crime in regiments trained by the martinet 
 and the lash. The colonel's abhorrence of the lash being known to the great, 
 
 rf 
 
226 THE MUSIC 
 
 but, in questions of discipline, too inflexible Duke, he the more readily believed in 
 the demoralized condition of the regiment,— for the cunning captain studiously 
 concealed from him the fact, that the whole regiment, excepting a few men of his 
 own company, were innocent. Macdonald was dismissed the service, without 
 having been allowed the benefit of a court of inquiry or a court-martial ! His 
 friends the Hon. General Sir William Stewart, General Byng, (afterwards Lord 
 Strafford) and others, prevailed on Colonel Macdonald to return to England, to re- 
 cover his health, before he knew that he was regarded by the Duke otherwise 
 than as one of his most distinguished officers ; but, on his return home, seeing his 
 name in the Gazette, along with that of another officer of the same rank dis- 
 missed for cowardice, his reason was upset : be flung himself out of the window, 
 and was killed on the spot ! The Duke discovered that the report on which he 
 unfortunately proceeded in this case was substantially false ; and the Colonel's 
 surviving brother was conciliated and compensated by the price of Colonel 
 Macdonald's commission ; but such was the sad fate of one of the most humane 
 and gallant officers of the Peninsular army. 
 
 The desperate soubriquet of the 57th Eegiment arose from the following 
 circumstance. It occupied the key of the position in the. unscientific battle of 
 Albuera, under the command of Colonel Inglis, a- noble Border man. It being 
 of importance that they should firmly keep their ground, the only words uttered 
 by the colonel during the whole day was, " Steady men, keep your places." 
 Strange to say, he sat in their front on horseback from the beginning until 
 nearly the close of the fierce conflict, without getting a single scratch, although 
 every other officer in the regiment, excepting one, was killed or wounded, and 
 although; so striking was the line formed by the bodies of the dead, as to cause 
 every man to be buried where he fell ! The position occupied by the regiment 
 was thus marked by a long green mound, which was the object of pilgrimages to 
 all the British officers joining the army of the Peninsula for years afterwards. The 
 colonel was at length struck down, just as a strong and fresh column was com- 
 ing up to drive the small remnant of his men from their position. But, instead 
 of waiting to rece'ive the charge, the brave fellows, freed from restraint by the 
 fall of their colonel, gave three exulting cheers, and rushing past him at the 
 charge, scattered the advancing column to the winds ! The colonel feebly waved 
 his hat as they passed him, and exclaimed, " Well done, my lads, you'll die hard 
 at any rate." Hence the soubriquet. 
 
 The author of the following poem on the battle of Killiecrankie, Ronald, 
 son of Allan of Achatriachaden, was the father of DomhnuU Mac Raonuill, my 
 maternal grandfather. He was a distinguished warrior in the wars of Montrose 
 and Dundee, and is known in the traditions relative to these wars as " EaonuU 
 na Sgeidh," that is, " Eonald of the Shield," a soubriquet arising from a cir- 
 cumstance which is thus related by tradition : — 
 
 An English dragoon who had been taken prisoner, on discovering that the 
 Highlanders had not been trained to use the sword without the target, despised 
 their swordmanship. He said in Ronald's presence, that, if he had not been a 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 227 
 
 prisoner, he would fight the best Highlander in Montrose's army with the sword 
 alone, against sword and target. " Man," exclaimed Eonald, indignantly, " do 
 you think any Highlander would take such an advantage in fighting you ? I 
 have not been taught to use the sword without a target, but I will fight you dirk 
 and target against your sword, which puts the advantage on your side. Your 
 being a prisoner need not deter you, for I pledge my honour, if you beat me, 
 that you will not only be held scaithless, but set at liberty." " Get me a promise 
 to that effect from the General," said the dragoon, joyously, " and our wager 
 of battle is complete." "Montrose is a disciplinarian," said Eonald; "but if 
 you beat me, there is not a Macdonald now present, or in the royal army, who 
 will not feel himself bound in honour to make my pledge good." The English- 
 man knew the oneness of clan faith and feeling, and was satisfied. But the 
 instant- the men stood ready for action, they were interrupted by the "sudden 
 appearance of Aillein duhh na fiadh, the celebrated Dalnes deer-stalker, who 
 hearing of the duel, hastened to take the place of Eonald, and fight the English- 
 man on equal terms. The deer-stalker was, next to Alisdair Mac Colla, 
 reputed to be the best swordsman in Montrose's army. Eonald refused to 
 allow any man to take his wager, of battle out of. his own hands ; on which 
 Allan said to him, in Gaelic,- " 'S fhear an claidheamh, gu mor na bhiodag 's 
 an targaid. Gabh mo chomhairle, oir cha 'n 'eil fios a dh-eires dhuit;" — (the 
 sword is much better than the dirk and target. Take my advice, or there is 
 no knowing what may happen to you.) " Cha n-eil," replied Eonald, sternly, 
 " fios de a dh-eires dhomhsadh, ach eiridh an diol f hein dhasadh ;" — (no, there 
 is no knowing what may happen to me, but the very devil will happen to him.) 
 The dragoon did not gain his liberty, but Eonald gained his traditionally 
 celebrated soubriquet, Eaonull na Sgeidh. 
 
 The extraordinary feats of valour ascribed by Mr Napier, in the life of 
 Montrose, to a Eonald Maclean of Mull, are ascribed in Glencoe tradition to 
 Eaonull na Sgeidh. It is not uncommon, however, in tradition to find the deeds 
 done by one man, and in one locality, ascribed to another man, and in another 
 locality. Hence, although the facts stated in tradition may be depended on, 
 persons, localities, and dates are often confounded. I would be very sorry, 
 therefore, on merely traditional evidence, to claim credit for my ancestor for 
 the warlike deeds ascribed to any of his brave companions in arms ; but I firmly 
 believe that the history is wrong and the tradition right, in this case, — for I 
 heard every one of the feats ascribed by the historian to (Eonald Maclean, 
 ascribed to ' Eaonull na Sgeidh, or Eonald of the Shield, by tradition at least, 
 fifty years before Mr Napier's history of Montrose was written. With me the 
 name of the hero also goes far to prove the tradition to be more reliable, in this 
 case, than history, — for Eonald is a very common Macdonald name, but a very 
 uncommon one for a Maclean. 
 
 I regret giving broken extracts of this poem, but cannot afford space for 
 the whole. 
 
228 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 LATHA KAONRUARI. 
 
 Se lathadh Eaonruaridh, 
 ee la'-a' raon-ru-a-ri' 
 
 Dh-fhag luaimhneach mo dhusgadh, 
 yag lu-ayv-nech mo yusg-a' 
 
 Mo na thuit do cUann Dhomhnuill, 
 mo na huyt do chlann yov-nuyll 
 
 'S cha b-ana le leonadh nan cul-thaobh, 
 g cha bann le le-on-a' nan cul-haov 
 
 Thug sinn mach an ratreuta, 
 hug sinn mach an ra-treyta 
 
 Choisin ceitibh le diubhail, 
 ohoysin ceyt-iv le di-u-vayl 
 
 'S ged a tbearnadh gu leir sinn, 
 3 ged a he-ar-na' gu leyr sinn 
 
 Bha bas Chleibhit ri chunntas. 
 va bas chleyv-ir ri chuntas 
 
 An leoghan urramach rioghail, 
 an le-o'-an urram-ach ri-yayl 
 
 Nach d' roinn f hirin a mhuthadh, 
 nach droynn ir-inn a vu'-a' 
 
 Chum daingean a dhilseachd, 
 chum dayng-en a yil-seo 
 
 Ga righ is ga dhuthaich ; 
 ga ri' is ga yu'-aych 
 
 Cha d' thug or air na eagal, 
 cha d ug or ayr na egal 
 
 Grun seasaibh ri chumhnant, , 
 gun ses-ayv ri chuvnant 
 
 'S ged a thuit e le onair, 
 B ged a huyt e le on-ayr 
 
 Be mi-shonas na cuis e ! 
 be mi-honas na cuys e 
 
 Gaisgeach garg an am cruadail, 
 gaysg-ech garg an am cru-a-dayl 
 
 Ceannard sluaigh ann an teugbhail 
 cennard slu-ay' ann an teyg-vayl 
 
 Ge b-f huileach bu bhaigheal e, 
 ge buyl-ech bu vay-yel e 
 
 Toirt tlas dhoibh is reidhlein ; 
 toyrt tlas yoyv is rey'-leyn 
 
 'Se nadh cuireadh ri ball' iad, 
 se nach cuyr-e' ri ball i-ad 
 
 Toirt tacar a' 'n eiginn, 
 toyrt taoar a 'n eyg-mn 
 
 Dh-innis latha Dhun-chaillean, 
 yinnis la'-a' yun-ohayllen 
 
 Nach ro anamsa an creubhaig. 
 nach ro anam-sa an crey-vayg 
 
 Cha b-ann leis na claidhean, 
 
 cha bann leys na clay'-en 
 
 Fhuir ah- h-armuin an leonadh, 
 huyr ayr harm-uyn an le-on-a' 
 
 Ach gun d'roinne an cumail, 
 ach gun droynne an cum-ayl 
 
 Gun dol duinneal so choimhraig ; 
 gun dol duynnel so chov-rayg 
 
 'S mairg a chunnaic na suighean, 
 s mayrg a chunayc na suy'-en 
 
 An iorgail na doirin, 
 an i-or-gayl na doy-rin 
 
 Ga 'n spada le luaithe, 
 gan spada le lu-ay' 
 
 'S gun tiligeadh buachaille bho i! 
 s gun til-ge' bn-ach-ayll6 vo i 
 
 Gur e mheudaich mo champar, 
 gur e veyd-aych mo cham-par 
 
 A liuthad banntrach tha 'm dhuthich, 
 a li-u'-ad ban-trach ha m yu'-ich 
 
 Agus oganach treubhach, 
 agus oganach trey-vach 
 
 Nach teid oibhach am pusadh, 
 nach teyd eyv-ach am pusa' 
 
 Thuit le luaithe san am ad, 
 huyt le lu-ay' san am ad 
 
 Bualadh lann mar bu du dhaibh, 
 bu-al^a' lann mar bu du yayv 
 
 Sud an cluicheadh bha cailteach, 
 sud an cluyche' va caylteoh 
 
 'S iad aig radh gu'm bu bhuaidh e ! 
 s i-ad ayg ra' gu'm bu vu-ay' e 
 
 A thigheam oig Ghlinne-gairidh, ■ 
 a hi'-ern oyg ylinne-gayri' 
 
 Luidh smal air do shuigradh, 
 luy' smal ayr do hug-ra' 
 
 'S mor do chall le righ Seumas, 
 s mor do chall le ri' seymas 
 
 'S goirt a leireadh na chuis u ; 
 s goyrt a leyie' na chuys n 
 
 Bha Domhnull gorm gaolach, 
 va doTnnI gorm gaol-ach 
 
 'S fhuil chraobhach a bruchdadh, 
 8 nyl chraoT-ach a bruca' 
 
 'S eigin fhulang na thainig, 
 B eygin nlang na haynig 
 
 Dh-fhalbh do bhrathair na ur-fhas. 
 yolv do vra'-ayr na ur-as 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 229 
 
 Bha e curranta seolta, Ged thug ro mhiad na h-aireamh, 
 
 va e curranta se-olta ged hug ro vi-ad na hayrev 
 
 Bu chraobh-chomhraig thair ceud e, Brais is Arden le cheile, 
 
 bu ohraoY-ehov-rayg hayr oeyd e brays is arden le oheyle 
 
 Do fhear-mor bu mhath cuma, Ort gun bhi sgathach mud phearsa, 
 
 do yer-mor bu va' cuma ort gun vi sga'ach mud fersa, 
 
 Bh-aig gach duine mar speuclair. Oig ghasta na feile. 
 
 vayg gach duyne mar speyc-layr oyg yasta na feyle. 
 
 Instead of a literal translation, in lines parallel with the original, I submit 
 as faithful an imitation of the few verses from this poem as I can accomplish, 
 heading them with a short extract from the " Memoirs of Dundee," printed for 
 James Brown, at the Black Swan, without Temple-Bar, 1714. 
 
 " The clans earnestly entreated Dundee not to engage in person, and told his lordship 
 that their method of fighting was quite different from that of regular troops. Again, they 
 desired him to consider, that should he be killed. King James's interest would be lost in 
 Scotland. But no argument would prevail with him, nothing could dissuade him from 
 engaging at the head of his troops. General Mackay's army outwinged Dundee's nearly a 
 quarter of a mile, which obliged the clans to leave large intervals between each clan, and, by 
 declining towards the wings, they wanted troops to charge the centre, where a detachment of 
 the Lesley and Hastings English regiments were. The Highlanders threw away their plaids, 
 haversacks, and all other incumbrances, and marched resolutely and deliberately, in their 
 shirts and kilts, with their fusils, swords, pistols, and targets ready, down the bill on the 
 enemy, and received Mackay's third fire befoke they pierced his line, in which many of the 
 Highland army fell, particularly Lord Viscount Dundee, their general, the terror of the 
 Whigs, the supporter of King James, and the glory of his country. Then the Highlanders 
 fired, threw down their fusils, rushed on, discharged and threw their pistols in the faces of 
 their opponents, drew their swords, and fell on ! The enemy did not maintain their ground 
 two minutes after the Highlanders were amongst them, and I dare be bold to say, there were 
 scarce ever such strokes given in Europe as were given that day by the Highlanders. 
 Many of General Mackay's oflGlcers and soldiers were cut down through the skull and neck 
 to the very breast, others had their sculls cut off above their ears like nightcaps ; some 
 soldiers had both their bodies and cross-belts cut through at one blow. Pikes and small 
 swords were cut like willow wands. Whoever doubts this, may consult many witnesses of 
 the tragedy still Uving." 
 
 The above account of the battle, by an eye-witness, clearly shows that 
 Dundee did not understand or appreciate the mode of attack of the Highlanders, 
 any more than it has been understood by the feudal historians or the modern 
 oflScials of the British army; who, if they judge by results, instead of by 
 prejudiced statements and opinions, need have no doubt of its superiority to any 
 other mode of fighting hitherto known. That Claverhouse did not understand 
 their practice, is seen by the fact, that the Highlanders received three volleys 
 " before they pierced Mackay's lines ;" that they did not draw their swords until 
 Dundee fell, and that the battle did not last two minutes after they were left to 
 fight it out, in their own way, sword in hand. If the reader will keep in view 
 the above description of the battle, and peruse the following imitation of the 
 annexed poem by Eonald of the Shield, he will see that Claverhouse did not 
 lead his army into the field in accordance with their accustomed tactics. 
 
 Eaonruari's day has chased away my rest. Full well their trenchant swords, with 
 And rules the mixed emotions of my breast, cleaving blows. 
 
 For there, alas, my high and noble race. Avenged the iron hail-showers of their 
 Have met a loss the age will not replace. foes ; 
 
230 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 But, all, though all had 'scaped, since 
 
 Clavers fell, 
 Our much-wronged king may bid his 
 
 throne farewell. 
 
 Well may we sing his deeds, his pean 
 
 swell. 
 For, when he fell, alas, his country fell I 
 
 Courteous though fierce, inflexible though 
 
 kind, 
 The chief and friend in him were well 
 
 combined. 
 No tremors shook his soul, yet he essayed 
 To storm no ramparts simply with the 
 
 blade. 
 And sincehis fall, we see that e'en the Gael, 
 By tyros led, may fight without avail. 
 Alas ! while standing at the hero's tomb, 
 I feel the cause he loved must share his doom. 
 
 In glory's path, with faith unstain'd he 
 
 moved. 
 He spurn'd ambition — love of gold he 
 
 proved 
 Beneath his thoughts. Undaunted, though 
 
 alone. 
 He faced rebellion, and sustained the 
 
 throne. 
 In manhood's calmness, as in fervid youth, 
 One path was his — the path of loyal truth. 
 
 The foregoing verses bear sufficient evidence of Eonald Mac Ailean's 
 devotion to, and admiration of Claverhouse ; but, while condemning the absurd 
 attack on the fortified position of the Cameronians, at Dunkeld, by General 
 Cannin, without either artillery or scaling ladders, (referred to in the above 
 verse,) he remarks clearly enough on the injudicious conduct of Claverhouse, 
 in marching the clans at a funeral pace, instead of in their usual way, to attack 
 the Whigs at Killiecrankie, by him called Eaonruari. He then details the 
 heavy loss sustained by the clans in consequence of this mistake, but I overlook 
 these verses, as no longer interesting to the general reader. 
 
 'Twas not the gallant play of keen-edged Will boldly aim at him, who, standing 
 
 brands 
 That spread destruction through the loyal 
 
 bands. 
 From lines outflanked what have the 
 
 clans to fear ? 
 Show them the foe, and give them full 
 
 career ! 
 To right, to left, like lightning's flash, 
 
 they turn, 
 Eushing through volleyed flames, with 
 
 scaithless scorn ! — 
 Their flashing blades 'mong serried ranks 
 
 they wield. 
 Till every foe is slain or fled the field. 
 
 still. 
 
 Presents a stolid mark against the hiU ; 
 But when the warrior draws his falchion 
 
 bright. 
 And rushes on him like a flash of light, 
 Terror the caitiff's coward heart o'er- 
 
 powers. 
 His arm relaxes, and his spirit cowers ! 
 
 Why should their leaders men like these 
 
 restrain, 
 While iron showers come scouring o'er the 
 
 plain ? 
 The gaping hind who drives his team afield. 
 Although the warlike sword he dare not 
 
 wield, 
 
 * * * * * 4: 
 
 Young chieftain of Glengarry, clouds 
 
 descend 
 Deep o'er thy land. Thou scarce art 
 
 left one friend ! — 
 Thy Donald gorm is slain — the kind — 
 
 the good — 
 And thy great brother welters in his blood. 
 Like a tall oak, uprooted by the storm. 
 The field he graces with his warlike form. 
 He fell not unavenged among the dead — 
 But who will fight the battle in his 
 
 stead ? 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 231 
 
 Prudent, yet fervid ; cautious, yet bold. 
 He fired his clansmen, yet their fire 
 
 controlled ; 
 But, ah, the danger that has caused their 
 
 grief 
 He never saw — ^the danger of their chief ! 
 Mild as a maid, fierce as a beacon's 
 
 flame, 
 Well has he earned, and well sustained 
 
 his fame. 
 And must we mourn that thus his bright 
 
 career 
 Too soon was closed — because he knew 
 
 not fear ? 
 
 Chief of the Camerons, clothed with 
 
 early fame. 
 Who can thy deeds record,thy lossesname? 
 When others changed their fealty, thou, 
 
 alone, 
 Stood by thy country'scause, thy country's 
 
 throne. 
 The battles of three kings have seen thy 
 
 steel. 
 But who for royal favours saw thee kneel? 
 Thy country's weal, thy clansmen's proud 
 
 Were -all thou sought'st of glory or 
 reward ! 
 
 Alas, the tumult, and the closing night, 
 
 Concealed the o'er-matched hero from 
 . the sight 
 
 Of many clansmen, swift and strong and 
 brave, 
 
 That would oppose their hearts his life 
 to save ! — 
 
 Cursed be the wars that clothe them- 
 selves in shades ! — 
 
 Clans of my love, let daylight see your 
 blades 
 
 When to your country's battles you 
 descend ; 
 
 Night is the hero's foe, the coward's 
 friend. 
 
 Alas ! the Stuart chieftains have been 
 
 taught 
 The curse of leaders destitute of thought ; 
 For, at Dunkeld, 'gainst foes that lurked 
 
 unseen 
 Behind stone walls, what 'vailed their 
 
 broad-swords keen ? 
 Long stood they, dauntless, 'mid the 
 
 iron blast. 
 While round them fell their clansmen 
 
 thick and fast. 
 Who will the tale of woe in Appin tell, 
 And name the heroes that so vainly 
 
 fell? 
 
 On rushed the clans, who ne'er to foeman 
 
 yield. 
 The Whiglings chasing o'er the dark- 
 ening field. 
 What shrieks of terror, war-cries shouted 
 
 wild. 
 Startled the hills as through the pass 
 
 they toil'd ! 
 Winged on pale fear, they fled, they fled 
 
 amain. 
 And carnage gloated o'er her thousands 
 
 slain ! 
 But, ah, will carnage quench the widow's 
 
 sigh. 
 Or wipe the tear from the pale orphan's 
 
 eye? 
 
 And you, my clansmen of the Abrian 
 
 braes. 
 Sons of the sword, rehearsers of wild 
 
 lays — 
 Tou, too, alas, so long in battle tried. 
 Stood boldly forward by your kinsman's 
 
 side. 
 And fell in ranks. No more the voice 
 
 of joy 
 Shall wake the glens of Spean and of Eoy, 
 To meet your steps : no more the chaste 
 
 and fair 
 The feast and song, to welcome you, 
 
 prepare : 
 For,at Dunkeld,now slumber in the grave, 
 The kind, the true,the noble, and the brave. 
 
232 THE MUSIC 
 
 These two last verses, and the verse previously mentioned, refer to the 
 mad attack of General Oannin on the fortified position of the Cameronians at 
 Dunkeld, without artillery or scaling-ladders. The failure of this ridiculous 
 attack of the imbecile Cannin, is largely boasted of by the whigs — which shows 
 how hard-up they were for a triumph over the Highlanders. 
 
 I regret that I cannot quote a few more verses of the original of this very 
 spirited yet exceedingly clannish and feeling poem, as the imitation does not 
 take it connectedly even verse for verse ; but as Eonald of the Shield, then 
 an old man, was one of the victims of the Massacre of Glencoe,* I think the 
 reader may feel more interested in the following imitation of the Isle of Muck 
 bard's lament on that subject ? It is a true imitation, and corroborates what has 
 elsewhere been stated as to the absence of a vindictive or revengeful spirit from 
 all poetry that does anything like justice to the deep feeling, but calm dignity 
 of the ancient Gael, in his hours of sorrow and indignation. We have here no 
 flaming roofs or eagles screaming over the hearts of the atrocious perpetrators 
 of the Massacre even of Glencoe. But the very noblest and most generous 
 feudalist could not even imagine anything so magnanimous as the Highland 
 clans when most deeply suffering under the treachery and cruelty of their 
 enemies. The original will be found in every collection of Gaelic poetry. 
 
 THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE. 
 
 God, whose gospel revealeth. Had they known, when the stranger 
 
 As thy children may daily behold, They welcomed, and hailed as a friend, 
 
 Truth, benevolence, mercy. That their homes were in danger — 
 
 In lessons affectingly told ; That among them he came to this end ; 
 
 In their strait, be Thou aiding Had they armed and been watchful. 
 
 To the good and the brave of the Fierce and stern as the conflict might be, 
 
 glen. Their defeat I would question. 
 
 Brought to grief and despairing. Though their foesmen were twenty to 
 
 By a treachery rare among men. three. 
 
 On their orphans look kindly, 'Twas not by genius and valour 
 
 Who have ever been kindly and true. The band of my heart have been slain, 
 
 Who could not, in baseness, But by boors, in aught mental 
 
 E'en traitors and rebels pursue : More than matched by the team in their 
 
 Though unyielding and deadly, wain ; 
 
 When their country demanded their But to bloodshed apprenticed, 
 
 steel. And to treach'ry and cruelty trained. 
 
 To humanity faithful. They stole on their victims 
 
 For the foes they had slain they could When by sleep all their senses were 
 
 feel. chained. 
 
 * Among the singular escapee from the massacre, was that of the two little boys of Eonald of the 
 Shield, Donald and Alexander, who bad stolen away a few days previously, after a servant from Glenlochy, 
 to visit their aunt, who was married to Campbell of Aohariach. Donald, on his return, found his father 
 murdered, and his home burned down and desolate. The succeeding pages will show that he was both 
 spirited and poetic ; yet where did he leave behind a line or verse breathing hatred or revenge against 
 the English, or even against the perpetrators of this treacherous and inhuman massacre ? But such will 
 ibe found by the reader of Gaelic poetry to have been the uniformly dignified and forbearing character of 
 the ancient Gael. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 233 
 
 From the chosen apartments, 
 Assigned for their nightly impose 
 
 By their hosts, in their kindness, 
 la the silence of night they arose 
 
 And stole on the sleepers. 
 
 Who dreamed not of treachery or strife, 
 
 And delivered, in safety. 
 
 The volley that robbed them of life. 
 
 How beauteous and shapely 
 
 The forms that have thus been laid low. 
 Or left, wounded and bleeding. 
 
 Inhuming themselves in the snow ; 
 Men whose joy 'twas to listen 
 
 At eve to the harp and the lay. 
 Singing praises of heroes 
 
 Who were courteous, and kindly, and 
 gay- 
 Woe, woe to the country 
 
 Whose government cruel and blind. 
 To her best and bravest 
 
 A sentence like this has assigned. 
 And calls to her service, 
 
 And makes her support and her stay 
 Of the countryless soldier. 
 
 Whose soul has no thought but his pay ! 
 
 While by these, next to Heaiven, 
 
 Their country and king were adored ; 
 For their freedom and glory 
 
 They would lay down their lives at a 
 word. 
 Now Albyn, dear Albyn, 
 
 Thy fr^doiH, thy glory are gone, 
 Foreign arlnies coerce thee — 
 
 A foreigner sits on thy throne. 
 
 Woe, woe to the pastors, 
 
 Whatever their object may bfe. 
 
 Whose preachings and treasons 
 
 Have produced' the dark changes we see. 
 
 Now men who loved mercy, 
 In murder God's glory behold, 
 
 And rejoice at the horrors 
 War over their country has rolled. 
 
 My heart sinks and sickens 
 
 To see, as they hang on their walls. 
 Their trophies and weapons, 
 
 Whose dear presence I miss from their 
 halls — 
 Whose voices were music, 
 
 Attuned to their mind's varied tone ; 
 Who in mirth and broad huniour. 
 
 And in repartee pleasingly shone. 
 
 The dirge* of their greyhounds 
 
 Is solemnly heard through the glen. 
 The deer browse and wander, 
 
 The gaunt wolves rejoice in their den ; 
 Their fishing gear rusteth. 
 
 While, rivers and lakelets between. 
 The salmon are sporting 
 
 With joy in their radient sheen. 
 
 Not vain or conceited 
 
 Were the men who repose in the isle, 
 Shunning danger, and boasting 
 
 Their valiant achievements the while. 
 No. Modest as daring. 
 
 Their deeds spoke their greatness of 
 mind; 
 So they served their deiar" country. 
 
 All, all to their worth might be blind I 
 
 Now our clansmen are galthered 
 
 In the Dun, to consult and devise ; 
 But, alas! he is absent who was 
 
 Eloquent, daring, and wise. 
 The main plume in our pinion. 
 
 In our birlin the helm and the oar. 
 In Saint Mun's Isle ia sleeping, 
 
 And wiU shine in our council no more. 
 
 * The old HigMand g^eyhduna was equally remarkable for Ms sagacity and the strength of his 
 attachment to his master. His howl is the most solemn and melancholy imaginable. Hence, perhaps, 
 the reason why it has long been regarded as ominous and predictive of death or some other calamity in 
 the Highlands; He laments his master's death by wandering over his old haunts, stopping at regular 
 intervals, and setting up his dirge-like howl, thali which it is difficult to cbiloeive anything more touching. 
 
 eg 
 
234 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 By the gifts of the hero, 
 
 And gentleman early endowed, 
 He, for wisdom and eloquence. 
 
 Shone 'mong his race like a god ; 
 Caustic wit he thought paltry, 
 
 Common sense was his forte and his 
 plea. 
 And with that for his country 
 
 He enlisted the brave and the free. 
 
 He was tall, and unequalled 
 
 For fulness and beauty of form. 
 And when battle closed round him, 
 
 Seemed growing in height midst its 
 storm. 
 There his great soul exulted — 
 
 There his arm extended the ring. 
 Proudly deeming his broad swords 
 
 Could right all the wrongs of his 
 king. 
 
 On homeward returning. 
 
 The doors were thrown open and wide ; 
 In that mansion of plenty 
 
 'Twas his joy o'er the feast to preside ; 
 
 There the stranger found welcome. 
 There the soul-stirring minstrels were 
 prized ; 
 
 There the wnslaiii^ would gather ; 
 There none but the base were despised. 
 
 On the chess-board and tailisg, 
 
 Mimic warfare they playfully tried, 
 The chieftains kind hearted. 
 
 Who in dexterous movements took 
 pride ; 
 Not with views of aggression. 
 
 To subjugate, rule, and enthral. 
 But to fit them for action 
 
 When their king and their country 
 should call. 
 
 Grod, who reignest and rulest 
 
 From Thy throne of pure wisdom above. 
 Deign to look on our people 
 
 In the spirit of mercy and love. 
 To compose their dire factions. 
 
 And grant that our children may see 
 Their sovereign restored, 
 
 And his government native and free. 
 
 Eonald of the Shield was v^ith that Highland army who defended Worcester 
 against ten times their number ; so gallantly as to make even their enemies, 
 according to the Memoirs of Dundee already quoted, regret their sufferings, and 
 the king himself at length to order them to retreat. Ronald was confined to 
 the house, suffering from a severe wound, when the news of the king's execution 
 vras brought to him by a friend. On this occasion, he wrote what is called 
 " Cumhadh Eigh Tearlach," — Lament for King Charles, — which I heard often 
 sung when I was a boy ; but I remember only a few words of it. It was in 
 the form of a dialogue between Donald, who brought the news, and Eonald, 
 whose responses, to the best of my recollection, more resembled bursts of 
 patriotic regret and passionate denunciation of " the merciless Whigs," than 
 lamentations for the decapitated king. It was sung to an air known in the 
 Lowlands under the name of "Wha's at the window, wha, wha." The 
 repetition of the last line of each verse indicates its pedigree, however, and is 
 a pendicle of the evidence on which I lay claim to it as a Highland melody, — 
 as such repetitions, in verses of three or four lines, are almost invariable in 
 
 * Descent from the fovmder of the clan was the only mark of aristooiacy among the Highlanders. 
 All clansmen, whose pedigree was genuine, were called " uaislain," or gentlemen, and when off duty, 
 associated with their chiefs and chieftains on equal terms. The distance between them now is of arti- 
 ficial feudal descent, the patriarchal being the natural aad God-approving system of government. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 235 
 
 Highland (the repeated line or lines being sung by the audience,) but not in 
 Lowland poetry. The following verses to the same air are unworthy of their 
 august subject ; but I have seen no demonstration by the Gaelic muse on a death 
 which has been universally felt as a national calamity. I unfeignedly repeat, 
 that the following verses are unworthy of the subject ; but, to some they may 
 perhaps appear at least curious, as written by the great-grandson of Eonald 
 of the Shield, thus showing how thoroughly the loyalty of the adherents of the 
 House of Stuart has been not only transferred, but, if possible, intensified into 
 ardent devotion to the present dynasty. For although I am myself descended 
 both maternally and paternally from Campbells and Macdonalds, who adhered 
 to the Stuart family to the very last extremity, one of my father's brothers, and 
 three of my mother's, as well as myself, served in the army of the present 
 dynasty. 
 
 LAMENT FOB PRINCE ALBBET. 
 AiE. — " Cumhadh Kigh Teariach a h-Aon ;" — or. Lament for Charles the First. 
 
 An cualadh sibh sgeula an leiridh sa Heard ye the news of grief and pain, 
 an cu-al-a' siv sgeyla an leyr-i' sa 
 
 chraigh, 
 chray' 
 
 Chuir an rioghachd fo bhron o scuir That has put the country in mourning 
 
 chnyr an ri'-ac fo vron o souyr from the peaks of the mountains 
 
 mhor-bheann gu traigh ? to the shores ? 
 
 vor-ven gu tray' 
 
 Dh-fhalbh Prionnsa bha saibhir an ealain Gone is a Prince that was rich in 
 yalav pri-onn-aa va «ayv-ir an el-ayn science and various knowledge ; 
 
 's an iuil, 
 
 san i-uyl 
 
 'S tha Bhan-righ a cumhadh 's an deur And the Queen is lamenting with the 
 's ha van-ri' a cu-va' san deyr tear in her eye. — 
 
 na suil. — 'S tha, etc. 
 na snyl 
 
 And, etc. 
 
 Dh-aom nial air an sugradh, le dubhradh A cloud descended on their happiness, 
 yaom ni-al ayr an su-gra' le duv-ra' with mercUess darkness, 
 
 gu'n bhaidh, 
 gnn vay' 
 
 An talla mor diomhair teaghlach rioghail In the sacred mansion of our beloved 
 an talla mor di-vayr te-lach ri-yayl Eoyal Family ; 
 
 air ghraidh ; 
 ayr gray' 
 
 A smal an t-athair, an ceile, 'm flath It has put out the light of the father, 
 a smal an ta'-ayr an ceyl-^ 'm fla' the husband, the generous chief, 
 
 feile, 's an soidh, the worthy, 
 
 feyld san soy' 
 
 Dh-f hag do'n Bhan-righ suil-dheuradh, And left to the Queen a tearful eye, 
 yag don van-ri' .snyl-yeyra' a sore heart, and lamentation. — 
 
 cridheleireadh,i8coidh. — Dh-fhag,etc. And, etc. 
 cri'-^ leyr-e' is coy' 
 
236 
 
 THE MDSIO 
 
 Bha Bhein^rigli 's am Pjionnsa 'san 
 va van-ri' 'sam prionn-sa san 
 
 duthaich mar aigh, 
 du'-aych mar ay' 
 
 Nan bnaidhean, nan comhradh, nan 
 nan bu-ay'-en nan cov-ra' nan 
 
 orcheas, nam baigh, — 
 or-ches nam bay' 
 
 Bha Bith, gaol, is eibhneas, le'n ceumaibh 
 va si' gaol is eyv-nes len ceym-ayv 
 
 's gacb trath, — 
 'sgach tra' 
 
 Bu rioghail nan giulain paidhir ionraic 
 bu ri'-yayl nan gi-u-layn pay'-ir i-on-rayo 
 
 air graidh ! — Bu, etc. 
 ayr gray' 
 
 Gabh dochas a'd' eislean, a Bhan-righ 
 gav do-ohas ad eyalen a va-rinn 
 
 air graidh, 
 ayr gray' 
 
 Dean dheth d' rioghachdan speiseil an 
 den ye' dri'-ac-an speys-eyl an 
 
 t-eibhneas nach traigh. 
 teyv-nes nach tray' 
 
 'S iomadh prionnsa ard treubhach a 
 si-o-ma' pri-onn-aa ard treyv-aoh a 
 
 dh-eireas o d'ail, 
 yeyrea o dayl 
 
 Bhios nan Albaert am beusan, an ceil, 
 vis nan albert am beysan an ceyl 
 
 is an cail. — Bhios, etc. 
 b an cayl 
 
 The Queen and the Prince were tu- 
 telary (spirits) in their country, 
 
 In their virtues, their converse," their 
 bountifulness, their compassion ;* 
 
 Peace, love, and happiness, accom- 
 panied their steps; 
 
 Eight royal in their bearing was the 
 blameless and beloved pair ! — 
 Eight, etc. 
 
 Take hope in thy bereavment, our 
 Queen beloved. 
 
 And make thy never-to-be-diminished 
 spaciouskingdomsthy happiness.— 
 
 Many a prince lofty and powerful will 
 arise of thy posterity. 
 
 That will be an Albert in vurtue, 
 wisdom, in disposition. — 
 That, etc. 
 
 m 
 
 The effect of humourous Gaelic poetry depends so much on idiom as to 
 make me feel very reluctant to subject it to so severe a test as what I misname 
 a literal translation ; but I must submit some verses in the nearest equivalent 
 English words I can find, at any hazard, as I cannot give the English reader a 
 general idea of Gaelic poetry, without quoting as faithfully as possible one or 
 two specimens of each kind. 
 
 The act suppressing the Highland dress and arms vidthout any distinction 
 between those of the clans who fought for or against Prince Charles, (and the 
 Ijatter were more numerous than the former,) was supposed to have been the 
 work of some politic and disguised friend of the Stuart family, who found his 
 ■way into the Hanoverian camp. It had the effect of producing universal 
 indignation against the new dynasty, and a renewal of sympathies and ties 
 among the Highland clans, which leave little doubt, ha,d the -Prince landed a 
 second time, as was periodically predicted and reported, that they would have 
 risen almost unanimously in his favour ; although their qonfidence in his heroism 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 237 
 
 and constancy had been sadly shaken by bis obstinate refiisal to continue at 
 their head on the day after the battle of Culloden, when the five clans who 
 were absent from that engagement, on leave, had joined, and they mustered, at 
 Euthven nearly 4000 strong. He was urged to remain with them, even sup- 
 posing he should give up the object of the Rising, that they might conquer 
 terms of peace, as they did in the reign of William and Mary ;* but he left 
 them to their fate. DomhnuU Mac Eaonuil, son of Ronald of the Shield, 
 who commanded the Glep.coe-men in the " forty-five," and whose gay yi'it and 
 broad humour kept the men of the glens in continual amusement, on the 
 occasion of one of these rumours, called, with his friend Acha Triachaden, on an 
 honest weaver yclept Iain Mac-a-Ghibbidh (layn Mac-a-Yippi), whose foppery 
 and pretensions presented a somewhat ludicrous contrast to his shabby figure 
 and very doubtful reputation for bravery, and gravely asked how they happened 
 to find him at home, when, the Prince having arrived, the whole people of the 
 glen were gone to church in the Isle of Mun, fully dressed and armed. " How 
 is that," replied John, suspiciously, " and you absent ?" " Our arms and dress 
 are hid in a cave in the hill, and we are on our way to get them," replied 
 Donald. " Good morning, John ; I thought your loyalty wa,s more zealous and 
 less hesitating." No sooner did they disappear than John started on his feet in 
 a firenzy of delight, and, arraying his scraggy person in his showy Highland 
 dress and arms, hroke in upon the quiet worshippers in the little island, full of 
 his news, and glowing with excitement. Next day the glen rung with the 
 burlesque of " Claidheamh air Iain san t-shearmain," (the sword on John at 
 the sermon,) written by Domhnull Mac Raonuil, 
 
 CLAIBHEAMH AIR IAIN SAN T-SHEABMAIN. 
 
 Noir chualadh an gaisgeach, When the hero heard 
 
 noyr chn-al-a' an gays-gach 
 
 Am prionn's bi fo airsneal. That the Prince was disheartened, 
 
 am pri-onns vi fo ayrs-nel 
 
 Chuir e litier, gun taise, a tairgsinn, He sent a letter, not timid, saying, 
 
 chuyr e litir gun tayse a tayreg-sinn 
 
 Na 'n deuntaedh, le reachd e, That if he were made 
 
 nan den-te' le rec e 
 
 Na dhiuc is na dheachdair, A duke and dictator 
 
 na yi-no is na yeo-ayr 
 
 Gu'n togadh e Sassunn is Albin. He would raise England and Scotland 
 
 gnn toga' e sass-nnn is ala-bin (in his favour.') 
 
 Form. Chprus. 
 
 Bhaclaidheamh air Iain,airlain,air Iain, There was a sword, a sword, a sword, 
 va day-ev' ayr i-ayn ayr i-ayn ayr i-ayn 
 
 Bha claidheamh air Iain, san ,t-shear- There was a sword on John at the 
 va day'-ev ayr i-ayn san t-shera- sermon, 
 
 main, 
 mayn 
 * Xceaty of Achalader between the loyal clans and King William, negotiated by the Earl of Breadal- 
 bane. This treaty was ratified by King William, with what faith is illustrated by the massacre pf 
 Glencoe. — See Memoirs of Lochiel. 
 
238 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Bha claidheamh air lain air deas-lamh There was a sword on John, right- 
 
 va clay'-ev ayr i-ayn ayr des-lav handed man of my heart, 
 
 mo chridhe, 
 mo chri'-^ 
 
 Se deanadh an fhighe neo-chearbach. He that can make the weaving not 
 
 se yen-a' an i'-e ne-o-cherabaoh awkwardly. 
 
 Bha Iain gun teagaibh 
 va i-ayn gun teg-av 
 
 Gu faidheadh a freagairt 
 f-s' a fregayrt 
 
 John never doubted 
 
 That his offer had been accepted, 
 
 ga 
 
 Mu'n deach e do'n eaglais na armaibh. So he went to the church in arms, 
 mun decli e do'n eglays na arm -ay v 
 
 Is mhosgail na mnathan le iollach 's le How the women opened their eyes, 
 is Tosg-ayl na mna'-an le illach s le 
 
 aigheur, and shouted with joy, 
 
 ay'-eyr 
 
 Noir dhealraich a chlaidheamh san When his sword glittered at the 
 noyr yel-rayoh a chlay -ev san 
 
 t-shearmain ! sermon ! 
 
 tera-mayn 
 
 Bha, etc. There was, etc. 
 
 Chaidh lit' richean falaich, 
 chay' lit'-richen fal-ayoh 
 
 A nun do Lochaber, 
 a nun do lochaber 
 
 A dh-innseadh gu'n dech' e na armaibh, 
 a yinn-se' gun dech e na arm-ayv 
 
 Ghabh an govaerner curam, 
 yav an go-ver-ner onram 
 
 Bha gach geard air an dubladh, 
 va gach gerd ayr an du-bla' 
 
 Ag eagal gu'n duisgeadh e Albin. 
 ag egal gun duysg-a' e alabyn 
 
 Bha, etc. 
 
 Letters went privately 
 
 Over to Lochaber, 
 
 Telling of this demonstration dan- 
 gerous ; 
 The governor took the alarm, 
 
 Every guard was doubled. 
 
 Lest he should come with all Albin at 
 his back. 
 
 There was, etc. 
 
 Leis na dh-eirich na phorabh, 
 leys na yeyrich na forav 
 
 De dh-ardan Chlann-Domhnuil, 
 te yardan chlann-toy-nyll 
 
 Na 'm bitheadh a phoca Ian argaid, 
 nam bi'-e' a foc-a Ian aragayd 
 
 Gu'n tugadh e dhachaidh dhuinn, 
 gu'n duga' e yaph-ay yuynn 
 
 Kigh f hear na h-Appun, 
 ri' fer na happnn 
 
 From the quantity he inherited 
 
 Of the haughty daring of the Mac- 
 
 donalds. 
 Had his pockets only been full of 
 
 money, 
 He would have brought us home 
 
 The king of the men of Appin, 
 
OP THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 239 
 
 A dh-aindeon fir h-Shassunn — mar In defiance of the men of England- 
 it yayn'-en lir haasunn mar 
 
 marbh't e, unless killed, 
 
 marv't e 
 
 Bha, etc. There was, etc. 
 
 ""S iomadh oganach ullamh, 
 ei-oma' ogan-ach ullav 
 
 Nach eisdeadh an cumasg, 
 nach «y8d-a' an oamasg i 
 
 Bha gu'n chlaidheamh, gu'n ghunna, 
 va gnn chlay'-ev gun yunna 
 
 gu'n targaid, 
 gun tara-gayd 
 
 Gu'n urad na biodaig, 
 gun urad na bi-dayg 
 
 'M falach fo chrioslaich, 
 am falach fo chris-lajch 
 
 Ge d' bha mac a Ghiobaich 'n Ian armachd. 
 ged ya mac a yibay-ay 'n Ian armac 
 
 Bha, etc. 
 
 'S mor an diobhail do d' phersa 
 smor an di-vayl do d' fersa 
 
 Na bh-agad de dh-acuinn, 
 na vag-ad de yao-nynn 
 
 Noir chaidhe u cho spailpeil na tarmaibh — 
 aoyr chay' n cbo Epaylpeyl na tarmayv 
 
 Do shlinngean, do bheirtean, 
 do Uinn^-en do veyrten 
 
 Do spalainn, do chear'elean, 
 do spal-ayn do chers-len 
 
 Do bhuilg do chraicean 's do mharachunn.* 
 do Tuylig do crayc-en 's do varachunn 
 
 Fonn^— 
 
 Bha claidheamh air Iain, air Iain, air Tain, 
 va clay'-ev ayr i-ayn ayr i-ayn ayr i-ayn 
 
 Bha claidheamh air Iain sa'n t-shearmain ; 
 va clay'-ev ayr i-ayn san tera-mayn 
 
 Bha claidheamh air Iain, air deas-lamh 
 va clay'-ev ayr i-ayn ayr dea-lav 
 
 mo chridhe, 
 mo chri'-^ 
 
 'S e dheanadh an fhighe-neo-chearbach. 
 se yena' an i'-re ne-o-cherbaoh 
 
 Many are the ready youths 
 
 That would not hesitate to respond to 
 
 the gathering call. 
 That were without swords, guns, or 
 
 .targets, 
 
 Without so much as a dirk 
 
 Concealed beneath their belts, 
 
 When the son of Gibbie went under 
 full arms. 
 There was, etc. 
 
 Great disparagement to thy person 
 
 Was thy excess of harness. 
 
 When thou went magnificently under 
 
 arms — 
 Thy reeds, thy looms. 
 
 Thy shuttles, thy clews. 
 
 And thy skin-bags full of jnaracAwMW.* 
 
 Chorus : — 
 
 A sword was on John, on John, on 
 
 John, 
 A sword was on John at the sermon ; 
 
 A sword was on John, the right-handed 
 man of my heart, 
 
 Who makes the weaving not awk- 
 wardly. 
 
 * This word has no representative in English. It means the wool of sheep that died and were left 
 to rot or be consumed with birds and beasts of prey on the hill, after having been gathered and hoarded 
 carefully. 
 
240 THE MUSIC 
 
 The Gaelic scholar will agree with me when I say that my translation has 
 taken the soul out of " Claidheamh air Iain," which is all but unequalled, as a 
 burlesque, in the Original, but it is reduced to the common place m the 
 translation, if I must call that a translation in which the words used are 
 anything but equivalent to those of the original. But though I am regretfully 
 sensible of the injustice to which I am subjecting my grandfather Domhnull 
 Mac Raontiil, by rendering his humourous poetry into English with such 
 severity, I cannot help quoting a few verses of one or two more of his 
 humourous burlesques or satires. The subject of the following verses was also 
 a Glencoe-man, who had learned the tailoring trade in Glasgow. On re- 
 turning home after an absence of several years, the first person the tailor met 
 with, at some distance from the clachan, was an old simple-minded aunt of his 
 own. The tailor, like many of his trade, was a gay and humourous wag, and 
 being " spike and span new" in his outlandish Lowland dress, and totally changed 
 in his appearance since his aunt had seen him, he thought it a good joke to pass 
 himself off on the old woman as a great foreign gentleman. He told her many 
 curious stories, and asked many curious questions, by which her simplicity and 
 credulity were drawn forth in a very ludicrous manner. Being an excellent 
 mimic, the graceless fellow narrated the interview at a merry-meeting of his 
 friends in the evening, with a humour which produced roars of laughter at the 
 expense of the aunt. Domhnull Mac Eaonuil was not pleased with the 
 " Saxonized" tailor for this irreverent exhibition of his aged relative ; deter- 
 mined to turn the tables on him, he caused his "inexpressibles" to be abstracted 
 after he went to bed, and fixing them like a banner, on a hay fork, sent them, 
 with three verses of poetry, to his friend Callart, requesting that he would pass 
 them in like manner to. his next neighbour, as " lame dyvors" used to be passed 
 from house to house of old in the Highlands. Callart sent them to Lundavra, 
 Lundavra to Glenevis, Glenevis to Letterfinlay, and so on. In short, the ilnlucky 
 " breeks" travelled fi-om chieftain to chieftain, and clan to clan, through every 
 strath, glen, and shieling in the whole north Highlands, on their poetic mission, 
 and the result was hundreds of verses, many of them exceedingly satirical 
 and picturesque, for almost all Highlanders of the olden time could clothe 
 their thoughts in rhyme, and they never hesitated to" satirize one another 
 without restraint, according to the humour of the passing moment. I can only 
 make room for the three introductory verses and chorus, by DotahnuU Mac 
 Eaonuil, but can assure any one who has leisure and taste for the collection of 
 Gaelic poetry, that the medley of verses on " B'rigis Mhic Ruaridb," (to be 
 found in all parts of the country) are well worthy of his attention. 
 
 BEIGIS MHlC EUAKAIDH. — EORTSON'S BREECHES. 
 
 A bhrigis a bh-agad an am dol a chadal. The " breeks" he had when he went 
 a vrigis a yagad an am dol a ohad-al to sleep, 
 
 Noir dhuisg usa mhaduinn oha d'f huair u i,, When he awoke in the morning he did 
 noyr ynysg u aa va-duynn oha d u-ayr u i not find ; 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 241 
 
 'S cha d' fhag iad na h-aite ach seorsa 
 8 cha dag i-ad na haytd ach se-or-sa 
 
 do mhagan,* 
 do yagan 
 
 Sa faighte fear spagach a shuaineadh- 
 sa fayte fer spag-ach a hu-ayne'- 
 
 chadh, 
 cha' 
 
 Fann : — 
 Oh ho, oh ho, oh he, oh he, 
 
 They left in its place but a sort of 
 magan^ 
 
 In which a splay-^shaped man might 
 be swathed. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 
 Oh ho, oh ho, oh he, oh he, 
 
 Ant-fhisrich,ant-fharaid,nancualadhsibh, Searched ye, asked ye, or heard ye, 
 an tis-rich an tar-ayd nan cn-al-a' sir 
 
 Oh ho, oh ho, oh he, oh he, Oh ho, oh ho, oh he, oh he, 
 
 Co idir thug brigis mhic Euaraidh leis ? For the wandering breeks of Eorison ? 
 CO i-dir bug bri-gis vie ru-a-ray' leys 
 
 'S ioma brachdlachf 's cuil ghabhadh 'n 
 si-oma brac-lach 'a cuyl ya-vay' 'n 
 
 robh brigis an taileir 
 rov bri-gis an tayl-eyr 
 
 Mu'n d' thainig i 'n Charnaich ga fuar- 
 mun dayn-ig in char-naych ga fii-ar- 
 
 achadh ; 
 ach-a' 
 
 Nan innsinn a h-eachraidh, a slainneadh, 
 nan inn-sinn a hec-ray' a slaynne' 
 
 's a cleachda, 
 sa deo-a 
 
 Bu ghrad chuirte a Shassun air fuadach i! 
 bu yrad chnyrt a hassunn ayr fu-a-dacb i 
 
 Oh ho, etc. 
 
 Many were the lairs and queer recesses 
 that were visited by the breeks 
 of the tailor 
 
 Before they came to cool themselves 
 at Carnach ; 
 
 Were I to tell their history, their 
 lineage, their habits, 
 
 Quickly would they be banished to 
 England. 
 Oh ho, etc. 
 
 Thoir an nun an trius-balcach do Challart 
 hoyr an nun an tras-balc-aoh do challart 
 
 a phailteis, 
 a fayl-teys 
 
 Is abir ri'm charraid,, le suairceadas, 
 is abir rim charr-ayd le su-ayrc-ed-as 
 
 Gu bheil i mar bhalcach o stairsnich gu 
 gn veyl i mar valcach o etayrs-nich gu 
 
 stairsnich, 
 stayrs-nich 
 
 A solar rainn tharsuinn 's na tuadh- 
 a solar raynn har-suymi sna tu-a' 
 
 chriochann. — Ohj ho, etc. 
 ehriooh-ann 
 
 Carry the splay-shaped trews to 
 bountiful Callart, 
 
 And say to my friend modestly. 
 
 That it is on a foraying expedition 
 from door-step to door-step. 
 
 To gather oblique rhymes in the 
 north country. — 
 Oh, ho, etc. 
 
 * The dnnrers, — but meaning- anything toad-shaped, or ugly. 
 
 f Brachdlach was anciently the name of a wolf's laii ; it now means the cairns in which fozes breed. 
 
 Hh 
 
242 THE MUSIC 
 
 I regret that I cannot repair the injury done to my worthy grandfather in 
 these translations, by quoting some of his war and hunting songs; but the quantity 
 of matter agreed upon by the publisher is already exceeded. I must, however, 
 before parting with DomhnuU Mac Raonuill, submit the chorus and a single verse 
 of his poem on the battle of Sheriffmuir, which is reputed his best. Indeed, it 
 is perhaps the happiest combination of the humourous and satirical to be found 
 in the language, though my translation reduces it to a lifeless skeleton. I must, 
 therefore, in.justice to the author, entreat of those of my readers who understand 
 the original, to explain this to such of their friends as do not. What, for 
 instance, can be less like the original, in the estimation of the Gaelic scholar, 
 than the following translation of the chorus ? The first line of the chorus, with the 
 exception of two unconnected words, consists of mere sounds ; yet these empty 
 sounds and isolated words, by their solemn gravity, and the sounding dignity of 
 the air and measure, give such a ludicrous effect to the chorus as involuntarily 
 provokes a burst of laughter. Indeed, this chorus is a whole satire in itself! 
 
 Fonn : — Chorus : — 
 
 Ho ro agus ho ! ho ro an teagal ! Ho ro and ho ! ho ro the panic ! 
 
 Mile mallachd nar deigh, (May) a thousand curses pursue, 
 
 Gu leir o'n theich sibh ! Since all of you have fled ! 
 
 Fire, faire, Lochial ! Fi-re, fai-re,* Lochiel ! 
 
 'S clisg thair sliabh do bhratach ! How swiftly thy banner (clan) 
 
 'M bu chleachda dhith riamh Has cleared the heath ! 
 
 Sealtain fiatadh 's sgapadh ? Is it always their wont 
 
 Thus to shy and scatter ? 
 
 Ob, ob, na "fir-mhor" Ob, ob,* the "tig warriors" 
 
 Shrath-lochaidh bhradain ! Of Strathlochy of the salmon ! 
 
 Dhoch-an-assaidh chruidh-mhin, Of Doch-an-assay of milky kine, 
 
 Luib is ghlinn Lochaircaig ! And the holms and glens of Lochaircaig! 
 
 This verse is a parody on the corresponding verse of a song then-recent, 
 in which a Cameron, rather fulsomely, perhaps, praises the " fir-mhor" of these 
 -parts of the clan district. The poem on Sheriflinuir has never been published, 
 but stray verses of it are to be found in the districts of the clans who distinguished 
 themselves by running away, as well as in those of the clans who behaved as 
 usual : for, so far from being rude and barbarous was the Highland warrior of 
 past ages, as to enable me to state it as a well known trait in his character, that 
 he never took offence at anything humourous or satirical, of which he himself or 
 his friends or clan were the subject. When Lochaber was occupied by native 
 Highlanders, fifty years ago, I was present at many social meetings, in which 
 such songs were sung with the utmost good humour and heartiness, by parties 
 whose friends and clans (and, in a few instances, who even personally) figured 
 in them ; and I am very sure that there are many still living who can corroborate 
 my statement that this was a feature of the Highland character. But I may 
 
 » Mocking and sarcastic exclamations which have no equivalents in English. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 243 
 
 also remark that this humourous satire was the less calculated to give offence, 
 because the retrograde movement of the left wing of the Highlanders was 
 palpably caused by mismanagement, — ludicrously accelerated by the conduct of 
 a nobleman, who, in the novel position in which he found himself, lost his 
 presence of mind, and made " confusion worse confounded," and, especially, 
 because the clans that " ran away" were kept in countenance by the running 
 away of at least an equal number on the other side. Hence this singular battle 
 was literally regarded as a burlesque by both parties. However, nobody doubted 
 or could doubt the - patriotism or heroism either of an Erskine, a Gordon, a 
 Cameron, or a Mackenzie. The clans could, therefore, afford to laugh, and did 
 laugh heartily, at Domhnull Mac Eaonuill's humourous description of the blunders 
 of " Latha Sliabh an t-Shirradh." Konald of the Shield, Donald's father, speaks 
 of Sir Ewen of Lochiel, in his verses on Killiecrankie, with great admiration, 
 and both he and his son had many connexions and relatives among the Camerons. 
 The wives of Lundavra and Meoble were the aunts of Domhnull Mac Eaonuill's 
 wife, and their sons were present in the battle, along with their fathers. It is 
 said that the song above mentioned, written by a Cameron, in which he rather 
 violated good taste by a too exaggerated praise of his clan, was the cause of 
 Donald's severity. The conduct of the Camerons under their illustrious chief 
 in " the battles of three kings" really justified the family bard in speaking of 
 them with enthusiasm ; but nothing was more distasteful to the plain, honest, 
 Highland warrior than self-laudation. In this he was not singular. Brave men 
 of all ages and countries abominated self-glorification and gasconade. Than 
 that of their Spanish friends, nothing could be more nauseous to Wellington's 
 army, who were themselves perfectly contented with the stinted measure of 
 praise conceded by their leader, knowing that their deeds spoke for them. I 
 have it on good authority, that Donald thought the Camerons made too much of 
 their laurels, and hence that he willingly availed himself of their escapade at 
 Sheriffmuir to rebuke their egotism. Be that as it may, he was more severe on 
 the Camerons than on any of the other clans that had been bungled on the 
 occasion. Hence Sir Ewen, who was confined to bed from age and infirmity, 
 on hearing the song, thought that the Camerons were the first to run away ; 
 and, ascribing their supposed degradation to the leading of the young chief, his 
 son, he was so indignant as to have determined on putting him to death with 
 his own hand. He desired his henchman to send in the young chief, " as he 
 wanted to question him on the. above subject." The faithful clansman did as 
 he was bid ; but having seen the old man feeling the edge of the sword (which 
 usually lay by his bedside) with his hand, before sending him for his son, he 
 took the alarm, and cautioned him to keep away from his father's couch. In a 
 conversation in reference to this tradition with one of Sir Ewen's gallant 
 . descendants. General Eoss of Glenmoidart, he corroborated this part of it with an 
 expression of face which left the impression that he strongly sympathised with 
 his illustrious ancestor's feelings on the subject of the flight at Sheriffmuir. 
 Domhnull Mac Eaonuill and Donnacha-ban-nan-oran were great friends, 
 although the former was a much older man, and they fought on different sides 
 
244 THE MUSIC 
 
 in " the forty-five." They had a meetiag with some Athole-men at Altnafe, 
 in which the warrior-bards played-off some humourous practical jokes on the 
 honest Oisgean, which they made the subject of two graphic and spirited jeux 
 d' esprit, but I cannot repeat them. On this occasion, they had a bet, which 
 resulted in two of the best descriptive poems in the language, the subject being 
 their favourite forests — Coirreachan, Ghlinne-Comhan and Beindorain. The 
 former will be found in the first edition of Aillein Dall's works, and the latter 
 in every Gaelic song book. 
 
 I had told my son, William D. Campbell, author of the " Eaid of Albyn," 
 since deceased, and a young and talented relative, D. R. Macdonald, that the 
 single and double emphatic notes, (see page 144) formed, very generally, a dis- 
 tinction between Highland and Lowland melodies, and that in the Highland 
 melodies converted into Lowland melodies, the single note is usually lengthened 
 into a drawl, and the double note into a long sliding note. I crooned to them 
 an air to which I had written some verses in Tait's Magazine, in 1849, " Begone, 
 hope," as showing that English words could be adapted very happily to these 
 emphatic notes, and expressed my regret, that by overlooking this characteristic 
 of Highland melodies in his Scottish songs, even Bums had totally failed to 
 make songs to Highland airs popular. I begged of them (for both had a taste 
 for writing songs to Highland, melodies) never to forget to adapt their words to 
 these notes when composing songs to such Gaelic airs. I received the follow- 
 ing verses from my son in a few days afterwards, as the result of my advice. 
 They are not an imitation of the Gaelic words sung to the same air ; but they 
 fully illustrate this subject, and may perhaps interest the reader, though on a 
 subject already abundantly celebrated by some of our sweetest and most tender 
 lyrical writers. I may remark, as showing that the poetic taste may be 
 inherited, that both of the young gentlemen are descended from Ronald of the 
 Shield, through a son and daughter of Domhnuill Mac-Raonuill. 
 
 LAMENT FOE PRINCE CHAELES. 
 
 The battle is lost, the clansmen are Foremost, where wildest raged warfare 
 
 scattered, and danger, 
 
 The shield of our country by treachery Fierce rush'd the Gael through the 
 
 shattered, ranks of the stranger ; 
 
 Our mirth turned to mourning, our But dark, deadly treason made might 
 
 hopes to bewailing, unavailing, 
 
 For lowly in death sleep the valiant And gory Culloden has left us bewailing. 
 
 and daring. lUerinn, etc. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 
 lUerinn o na ho ro, The daughters of Albyn, distracted 
 Illerinn o na ho hi, with sorrow, wail, 
 
 Illerinn o na ho ro, Coranachs echo from Etive to Borro- 
 I-uro-vi-o na ho hi. dale • 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLiNS. 245 
 
 Glencoe, and Glenmoidart, and distant The red deer lies safe by the lone 
 
 Strathallan, moonlit fountain ; 
 
 Bepeat the sad wail, for their bravest But though tempests should rave as 
 
 are fallen. — the night round him gathers, 
 
 Illerinn, etc. Our Prince finds no home in the land 
 
 of his fathers. — 
 
 The eagle finds rest in his eyre on the Illerinn, etc. 
 mountain, 
 
 The verses to the following tune are commemorative of the surprise of a 
 party of English soldiers from the castle of Lochandorb, by. the Macdonalds. 
 King Edward having in one of his Scottish Eaids, placed a garrison in that 
 castle, they were necessitated to make an excursion into the surrounding country 
 for supplies. One of these parties, which had committed cruel excesses in a 
 foraging expedition, were overtaken when at their hale, {Angled, dinner,) and 
 their conduct in the plundered clachans having been infamous, the pursuers 
 determined to make an example of them. They took the ears of all the men, 
 and the tails of all theliorses, and sent them in this state to join the main army, 
 then in full retreat. The tradition is thus adverted to in a Macdonald parody 
 on the Gaelic verses to " The Campbells are coming." — , 
 
 'SiadClan-dhonnuillthami'gaireamh, — It is the Macdonalds I am com- 
 memorating, — 
 Buidhean ga'n ordugh sroil is armaibh, — The party to whom has been decreed 
 
 banners and arms — 
 Buidhean dheas uUamh f huir urram an The ready, active party that are famed 
 
 AUabin, in Albyn, 
 
 Dh-fhag an trup shallach air cumachd Who left the infamous troop trimmed 
 na h-earba. like roes, (without tails.) 
 
 " Call a DhoUaidh" is known in the Lowlands as " The Haughs of Cromdale," 
 and the comparison of the two sets illustrates, so far, the above characteristics 
 of Highland and Lowland tunes. I will also submit, in farther corroboration, 
 Captain Carrick's strathspey, which has been tamed down into " Dinna think, 
 bonnie lassie," to accord with the Scottish taste. I could furnish scores of 
 examples, but consider that unnecessary, my object being simply to point out 
 what I believe to constitute a general distinction between Caledonian and 
 Scottish music. 
 
 SUD MAB CHAIDH AN CAL DHOLAIDH.— SO WAS THE KALE SPOILED. 
 
 Sud mar chaidh an cal a dholaidh. That was the way that the kale was 
 
 and mar chay' an cal a yol-ay' spoiled, 
 
 Sud mar chaidh an cal a dholaidh. That was the way that the kale was 
 
 sud mar chay' an cal a yol-ay' Spoiled, 
 
246 THE MUSIC 
 
 Sud mar chaidh an cal a dholaidh, 
 Bud mar chay' an cal a yol-ay' 
 
 Air na bodaich ghalda, 
 ayr na bo-dayoh yalda 
 
 That was the way that the kale was 
 
 spoiled, 
 On the boorish strangers. 
 
 The gallant seaman has a somewhat light reputation in Gaelic poetry, more 
 perhaps from his wandering life than any inconsistency peculiar to his profession. 
 It is impossible to conceive that an open, honest, sterling character, like the 
 British seaman, could be inconstant in love ; but if a heartless fickleness is 
 really his character, it is not to be wondered at that a simple, honest-hearted 
 lassie will not believe so. Be that as it may, however, he has ever been the object 
 of ardent love andenduring constancy with the warm-hearted Highland maiden. 
 The following is of the duanag class of songfe, which are never sung as solos, 
 ^Qfonn or chorus being always sung by the audience. Although the duanagan 
 or lilts are therefore generally of a light, hilarious character, they are not 
 necessarily so, and many of them, like " Fear a Bhata," (literally boatman, the 
 usual title of a man sailing his own ship in the Highlands) are strikingly pathetic 
 and beautiful, both for sentiment and imagery. 
 
 FHEAE A BHATA. 
 
 'S trie mi sealtinn 'o'n chnoic is airde, 
 stric mi seltinn on cnoyc is ayrde 
 
 Dh-f hiach a faic mi fear a bhata ; 
 yi-aoh a fayo mi fer a vata 
 
 Ach 's ann a tha gach aon ag raitean 
 ach sann a Iia gach aon ag raytea 
 
 Often do I look from the highest hill 
 For the man of the boat ; 
 But everybody tells me 
 
 Gur mi bha gorach noir thug mi gradh That I was foolish in giving him my 
 gur mi va gorach noyr hug mi gra' love, 
 
 dhath. 
 ya' 
 
 Fonn : — 
 
 Fhear a bhata, na horo eile, 
 er a vata na horo eyl^ 
 
 Fhear a bhata, na horo eile ; 
 er a vata na horo eyl^ 
 
 Fhear a bhata, na horo eile, 
 er a vata na horo eyi^ 
 
 A ruin 's luaidh gur a truagh na 
 a rnyn 's In-ay' gur a tru-a' na 
 
 d' dheidh mi. 
 d' yey' mi 
 
 Chorus : — 
 Man of the boat, horo eyle, 
 
 Man of the boat, horo eyle ; 
 
 » 
 
 Man of the boat, horo eyle. 
 
 My love, my treasure, sad am I 
 after thee. 
 
 Tha mo chairdean gu trie ag innseadh 
 ha mo chayr-den gu trio ag inn-se' 
 
 My friends often tell me 
 
 Gufeum mit-aogaisachuir air di-chuinn' ; That T must give thy image to forget- 
 gn feym mi taog-ays a ohuyr ayr di-ohuyn fulness ■ 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 247 
 
 Ach tha'n comhairle dhomhchodiamhain, But their advice to me is unavailing 
 ach han co'-ayrle yov cho di-a-vayn 
 
 'S tilleadh mara 's i toirt a lionaidh, — As attempting to turn the tide when 
 
 Btille' mara si toyrt a li-o-nay' flowing. — 
 
 Fhear, etc. Man, etc. 
 
 Thug mi gaol dhut 's cha'n f hoad mi I have given thee my love, and cannot 
 
 hug mi gaol yut 's chan aod mi recal it • 
 aicheadh ; 
 aych-a' 
 
 Cha ghaol bliadhnadh, 's cha ghaol raidh, It was not love for a year, nor love 
 
 cha yaol bli-a'-na 's cha yaol ray' for a quarter, 
 
 Ach gaol a thoiseich noir bha mi am But love which began when I was a 
 
 ach gaol a hoy-sich noyr va mi am child 
 phaisdean, 
 fays-den 
 
 'S nach searg a choidh gus an cloidh And which will not fade until death 
 
 snach scrag a ohoy' gus an cloy' has conquered. — 
 
 am bas mi. — Fhear, etc. Man, etc. 
 
 am bas mi ' 
 
 Tha mo chridhe briste, bruite, 
 ha mo chri'-e briste bruyte 
 
 'S trie na deoir a ruidh o'm shuilean, 
 strio na de-oyr a ruy' om huy-len 
 
 An tig u nochd nam bi mo dhuil riut ? 
 an tig a noc nam bi mo ynyl ri-nt 
 
 Na'n duin mi'n dorus le osnadh thursaich? 
 nan duyn min dorns le osna' hur-saych 
 
 Fhear, etc. 
 
 Ge do their iad gu bheil u eatrom, 
 ge do heyr i-ad gn veyl n e-trom 
 
 Cha do lughdaich sin mo ghaolsa ; 
 cha do lu'-daych sin mo yaol-sa 
 
 ' Bithidh tu 'm aisling ann 's an oiche, 
 bi'-i tn'm aysling ann san oy-che 
 
 'S ann sa mhaduinn bith mi ga d'fhoi- 
 sann sa va-duynn bi' mi ga d oy- 
 
 neachd. — Fhear, etc. 
 
 My heart is bruised, broken. 
 My tears fall continually. 
 
 Wilt thou come to-night, or need I 
 
 expect thee ? 
 Or shall I shut the door with a sob of 
 
 grief? — 
 Man, etc. 
 
 Though they say thou art flighty, 
 
 That has not lessened my love to thee ; 
 
 Thou art in my dreams at night. 
 
 And in the morning my inquiries are 
 after thee. — 
 Man, etc. 
 
 Bidhidh mi tuille gu tursach, deurach, 
 bi'-i' mi tnyUe gu tnr-sach der-ach 
 
 Mar eala bhain an deigh a reubadh^ 
 mar ella vayn an dey' a reyba' 
 
 Guilleag bais aic air lochan feurach, 
 gnyll-ag bays aye ayr lochan feyr-ach 
 
 Is each uille an deigh a treigeidh. — 
 is each nylle an dey' a treyg-ey' 
 
 Fhear, etc. 
 
 I am henceforth sorrowful, tearful. 
 Like a wounded swan. 
 
 Singing her death song on the grassy 
 
 lake. 
 Forsaken by all her companions. — 
 
 Man, etc. 
 
248 THE MUSIC 
 
 The following verses are of considerable antiquity, and have been always 
 admired. 
 
 MAEI BHOIDHEACH. — BONNY MAKY. 
 
 A Mhari bhoidheach, gur mor mo Bonny Mary, gi'eat is my love to thee ; 
 a vari voyech gnr mor mo 
 
 ghaol ort, 
 yaol ort 
 
 'S trie mi cuimhneachadh ort 's mi Often do I think of thee when alone ; 
 stric mi cnynecba' ort smi 
 
 m' aonar ; 
 maonar 
 
 Ge do shiubhlainn gach ceum de'n Although I should wander the world 
 ge do hi-u-Iaynn gaoh ceym den over 
 
 t-saoghal, 
 tao'-al 
 
 Bi t-iomhaigh bhoidheach tigh'n beo Thy beautiful image would come alive 
 bi tiv-ay' voyeoh ti'n be-o on every side, 
 
 gach taobh dhiom. 
 taov yi-om 
 
 Fonn : — Chorus : — 
 
 A Mhari bhoidheach, 's Mhari ghaolach, Mary beautiful, Mary lovely, 
 a vari voy'-ech 's vari yaol-ach 
 
 A Mhari bhoidheach, gur mor mo Mary beautiful, great is my love to 
 a vari voy'-ech gur mor mo thee ; 
 
 ghaol ort ; 
 yaol ort 
 
 A Mhari bhoidheach, gur tu chloidh mi, Mary beautiful, thou afflictest 
 a vari voy'-ech gur tu chloy' mi 
 
 'S dh-fhag mi bronach gun doigh air And makest me sorrowful, since I 
 's yag mi bron-aoh gun doy' ayr know not how tO won thee, 
 
 t-fhaotuinn. 
 taot-uyn 
 
 'S mor a b'anns' bhi le Mari bhoidheach. Much more would I desire to be with 
 smor a banns vi le mari voy'-ech bonny Mary 
 
 Ambothanairidhfosgath,namorbheann, In a bothy under the shadow of the 
 am bo'-an ayri' fo sga' na mor-venn great mountains, 
 
 Na bhith 'm righ ann 's an Roinn-Eorpa, Than to be a king in Europe, 
 na vi'm ri' ann san royn-e-orpa 
 
 Gun choir air Mari mo ghraidh am Without a right to my beloved Mary, 
 gun choyr ayr mari mo yray' am Mary, &C. 
 
 posadh. — A Mhari, etc. 
 pos-a' 
 
 Chithear feidh air sgpith 's na speuran. Deer will be seen on their wings in 
 chi'-er fey'' ayr sgey' sna speyran the sky, 
 
 Chithear iasg a falbh nan sleibhtean, Fish will be seen walking on the 
 ohi'-er i-asg a falv nan sleyvten Wolds, 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 249 
 
 Chithear sneachda dubh air gheugan, 
 chi'-er sneac-a duv ayr yeygan 
 
 Mu faicer caochladh air mo speis dhuit.- 
 mu fayc-er caocli-la' ayr mo speys yuyt 
 
 A Mhari, etc. 
 
 Snow will be seen black on the trees, 
 
 Before a change is seen in my love to 
 thee. — 
 Mary, &c. 
 
 Gur tu flur is boidhche an garadh, 
 gur tu flur is boy'-che an gara' 
 
 'A faillean allail nach lub le faillinn ; — 
 a fayllen allayl nach lub le fayllin 
 
 Mar shoilse greine air sleibhtean arda, 
 mar boylse greyn^ ayr sleyvten arda 
 
 Tha coltas, ceutadh is b6usan, Mari. — 
 ha coltas ceyta' is beyaan mari 
 
 A Mhari, etc. 
 
 Thou art the flower most beautiful in 
 
 the garden, 
 The noble sapling that will not bend 
 
 with a flaw, — 
 Like sunshine on the highest wolds, 
 
 In appearance, purity and virtue is 
 Mary. — 
 Mary, &c. 
 
 Do shuil ghorm mheallach fo d' mhalaidh 
 do hnyl yorm vellach fo d' val-ay' 
 
 bhoidhich, 
 voy'-aych 
 
 Do bheulan tana air dhath nan rosain, 
 do veylan tana ayr ya' nan ros-ayn 
 
 Do shlios mar chana an gleannan 
 do lis mar chana an glennan 
 
 mointieb, 
 moyntich 
 
 'S do ghruaidh mar chaoran fo sgiadh 
 's do ym-ay' mar chaoran fo sgey 
 
 na morbheann. — A Mhari, etc. 
 
 Thy eye bhie and large, beneath a 
 graceful eyebrow, 
 
 Thy lips slender and of the colour of 
 
 the rose, 
 Thy bosom like cana in a sequestered 
 
 glen. 
 
 Thy cheeks like the rowan-berryunder 
 the wing of the high mountain. — 
 Mary, &c. 
 
 The swan makes not over the majestic 
 
 waves, 
 The thrush in a mist enveloped grove, 
 
 Cha dean eala air slios na mor-thonn, 
 cha den ella ayr sli» na mor'-honn 
 
 Cha dean smeoil ann an doire ceothar ; 
 cha den sme-oyl ann an doyr^ ce-o'-ar 
 
 Cha dean cruit nan theud binn ach The harp of sweetest chords, but a 
 cha dSn cmyt nan teyd binn ach murmur 
 
 cronan, 
 cronan 
 
 Noir a sheinneas mo Mhari bhoidheach. When sings my beautiful Mary— 
 noyr a heynnes mo vari voy'-eoh 
 
 A Mhari, etc. Mary, &c. 
 
 A choisir bhega, nan oran cianael, Little choir of the pensive minstrelsy, 
 a choysir rega nan oran ci-an-el 
 
 Ambarnangeagannanairdnah-iarmailt, Whether in thetops of the boughs 
 am bar nan gegan nan ayrd na hi-ar-niaylt or in the height of the skies. 
 
250 THE MUSIC 
 
 Na biodh lathadh ann sa bhlianadh, Let no day pass during the year, 
 
 na bi' la' -a' ann sa vli-a-na' 
 
 Nacb seinn sibh ceol do mo Mhari In whicb you do not sing to comely 
 naoh seynn siv ce-ol do mo vari Mary. 
 
 chiataich. — ^A Mhari, etc. 
 chi-a-taych 
 
 Noir a bhidhis mi gu tursacb, tiamhaidh, When I am heavy, melancholy, 
 noyr a vi'-ia mi gu tursach ti-a-vay' 
 
 Mo chridb' fo iomagain 's le curam My heart anxious and full of care, 
 mo chri' fo i-o-ma-gaya sle curam 
 
 lionteadh, 
 linte' 
 
 Ni do ghnuis a tha mar ghrian dhomh, Thy face, which is as the sun to me, 
 ni do ynu-is-sa ha mar yri-an yov 
 
 M' eibhneas coimhliont' noir thig u 'm Completes my joy when in my 
 
 meyv-nes ooyv-lont noyr hig u'm presence. — 
 
 fhianuis.— A Mhari, etc. Mary, etc. 
 i-an-uya 
 
 I happened, many years ago, to be asked by a friend, the editor of a 
 provincial newspaper, to attend a concert which he could not attend himself, 
 and supply the necessary notice of an opera singer of some eminence from 
 London, who was to delight (and assuredly did delight) the natives on the 
 occasion. It struck me that the vocalist, by his voice and attitude, in singing the 
 " Death of Nelson," exceedingly resembled an ambitious young clergyman of my 
 acquaintance, who was very fond of exhibiting all the attitudes, intonations, and 
 graces of elocution from his pulpit, but who was too apt to forget to suit them 
 to his subject. Thus, when the subject was a supplication, the voice and 
 attitudes were not unfrequently those suited to a remonstrance ; and when the 
 subject was remonstrative, the voice and attitudes were often those of supplica- 
 tion ; and so on. The opera singer reminded me forcibly of the preacher when 
 singing the "Death of Nelson," and it is possible that my feeling of the 
 ridiculous, from the association of the two charlatans, when writing, gave a 
 sharper point to my criticism, for the one was preaching and the other singing 
 with a view to effect, not from feeling. He made Nelson mewl and cry like a 
 whipt wean, iecaicse he was dying "for England, home, and beauty," when there 
 is little doubt that the last throb of the hero's heart was a throb of joyful exulta- 
 tion at the realization of the dream of his heroic life, that he would die " for 
 England, home, and beauty." My paragraph met the eye of Mr John Wilson, 
 the delightful illustrator and singer of the songs of Scotland : he was intro- 
 duced and dined with me, and the subject having turned on the songs of the 
 Highlands, I introduced some Highland songs, with the traditions connected 
 with them, and, my voice being at that time good, sung them in a style with 
 which he was much pleased. As I expressed my regret that we had no Highlander 
 to illustrate the songs of the Gael, he begged of me to imitate two or three in 
 English, and to send them to him, with copies of the music, and promised to bring 
 them out at his concerts in London. I got the music copied by a precentor, from 
 
.OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 251 
 
 my own voice ; and, although I was anything but pleased with the melodies 
 when played from the copies, I hoped that Mr Wilson's superior voice and 
 memory would enable him to make something like the originals out of them. 
 Mr Wilson wrote to me expressing himself pleased with the traditions and 
 verses, but declared that " the soul was taken out of the melodies." He was 
 preparing for his visit to Canada, and said that he would come to see me on 
 his return, and learn them "by heart" from my own voice; but he never 
 returned. These are the traditions and verses which I piiblished in Tait's 
 Magazine in May 1849. I beg leave to submit the imitation of one of these 
 songs here, rather than a literal translation of the original. The last English 
 verse was added by myself. 
 
 CALLUM A GHLINNE. — MALCOLM OF THE GLEN. 
 
 Mo chailihn donn og 's mo nighean dubh My auburn-haired maid, so fair and 
 mo chaylin donn og s mo ni'-en duv comely 
 
 thogarrach, 
 hoga-rach 
 
 Thogainn ort fonn 's neo throm gu'n So sprightly and gay, so kind and 
 hog-ayn ort fonn s ne-o hrom gun lovely 
 
 togainn, 
 tog-aynn 
 
 Mo nighean dubh gu'n fhiaraidh mo Of thee I would sing, the cause re- 
 mo ni'-en dnv gun i-ar-ay' mo lating 
 bhriadhar gu'n togainn, 
 vri'-ar gun tog-aynn 
 
 'S gun innsinn an taobhar nach ealaer Why thou art not wooed, when others 
 8 gnn inn-sinn an ta-o-var nach eler are mating 
 
 gad thogradh, 
 
 gad hog-ra' 
 
 Mo chailinn donn og. My auburn-haired maid. 
 
 mo chaylin donn og 
 
 Gu bheil u gu boidheach baindidh 
 gu veyl " gu boy'-eoh bayn-di' 
 
 bannael, 
 ban-nel 
 
 Gun chron ort fo'n ghrein gu'n bheum 
 gun chron ort fon yreyn gun veym 
 
 gu'n sgainnir, 
 gun sgaynnir 
 
 Gur gili u fo'd leine na eiteag na raara, 
 gur gil' u fo'd leynd na ey-teg na mara 
 
 'S tha choir agam fein gu'n cheile bhi 
 's ha choyr agam feyn gun cheyle vi 
 
 mar riut, 
 mar ri-nt 
 
 Mo chailinn donn og. 
 mo chaylin donn og 
 
 Thou art pure as the snow on the hill- 
 crest swelling, 
 
 In beauty arrayed, in mind excelling. 
 
 But, ah me, thy sire in the shell 
 delighted, 
 
 And thou, my young tocherless daugh- 
 ter, art slighted. 
 
 My auburn-haired maid. 
 
252 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 Noir bhios mi air feil 's na ceudnan When I meet at the fair with set of 
 noyr vis mi ayr feyl s na cey-dan good fellows, 
 
 mar rium, 
 
 mar ri-utn 
 
 Do chuideachadh choir a dh-olas drama, 
 do chuyd-ao-a' ehoyr a yolas drama 
 
 Gu'n suidh mi mu'n bhord 's gun traigh 
 gun suy' mi mun vord s gun tray' 
 
 mi mo sherreag, 
 mi mo herrag 
 
 'S cha d' thuirt mo then riamh rium 
 s cha d hnyrt mo ven ri-av ri-um 
 
 ach " Dia leat a Challum !" 
 ach di-a let a cballum 
 
 My heart it expands, my feelings it 
 
 mellows, 
 I drink, laugh, and sing with the glee 
 
 of a callan. 
 
 Yet my wife's harshest phrase is but 
 "God sain thee, Allan!" 
 
 Mo chailinn donn og. 
 mo cliayliu donn og 
 
 Ged tha mi gu'n or le ol "s le iomairt, 
 ged ha mi gun or le ol s le iomayrt 
 
 'S air bheagan do ni le pris na mine, 
 s ayr vegan do ni le pris na mind 
 
 Tha 'm ortan aig dia 's e fialaidh uime, 
 ha mortan ayg di-a a e fi-a-lay' uymd 
 
 'S ma gheibh mi mo shlainte gu'm paidh 
 fl mo yeyv mi mo olayntd gum pay 
 
 mi na shir mi, 
 mi na hir mi 
 
 Mo chailinn donn og. 
 mo ohayliu donn og 
 
 'S ioma bodachan gnu nach duirig 
 s i-oma bo-dach-an gnu naoh duyrig 
 
 m'aithris, 
 may'-ris 
 
 Le thional air spreidh 's iad ga threigsin 
 le hi-on-al ayr sprey' s i-ad ga h-rtyg-sin 
 
 san earrach, 
 san errach 
 
 Nach ol ann sa bhliadhna trian aghallain, 
 nach ol ann sa vli-a'-na tri-an a yall-ayn 
 
 'S cha toir e fo'n uirnas mu nabheir Galium, 
 e cha toyr e fo'n nyr nas mu na beyr callum 
 
 Mo chailinn donn og. 
 mo chaylin donn og 
 
 My auburn-haired maid. 
 
 My social profusion, the darg of my 
 
 cronies, 
 Have lessened my folds, and scattered 
 
 my monies ; 
 But none values Allan at less than 
 
 he's owing, 
 
 And Fortune, still friendly, her gifts is 
 bestowing. 
 
 My auburn-haired maid. 
 
 Yon sour-hearted boor who scorns my 
 example, 
 
 Who gruhs and who moils, though his 
 means are ample. 
 
 Who spends in the year scarce the 
 
 price of a gallan, 
 Will bring 'neath the Tnooh no more 
 
 than Allan, 
 
 My auburn-haired maid. 
 
 I still for my friends have a cellar and pantry, 
 I still have an arm and a sword for my country. 
 For the needy and poor I've a neuh yont my kalian, 
 And I've scorn for the knave who deems slightly of Allan,* 
 My auburn-haired maid. 
 
 * Thi« line was suggested by the tradition introductory to this song in Tait's Magazine of May 1849. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 253 
 
 CUMHADH MHIO ORUIMEN. — MAO ORUIMEN'S LAMENT. 
 
 The mountain mist flows deep on 
 
 Dh-iadh ceo nan stuc mu aodan Chuilinn, 
 yi-a' ce-o nan stuc mu aodan chuylinn 
 
 Is sheinn a bhean shilh a torgan mulaid ; 
 is heynn a ven hi' a torogan mulayd 
 
 Tha suil ghorm chiuin san dun a sile, 
 ha Buyl yorm chi-nyn san dun a sil^ 
 
 Bbon thriall e bh-uain sadhiulte tilleadh. 
 von h-ri-all e vu-ayn sa ynylt e tiUe' 
 
 Fonn : — 
 
 Cha tilleadh, cha tilleadh, cha tilleadh 
 cha tille' cha tille' cha tiUe' 
 
 Mac-Oruimen ! 
 mac cruymen 
 
 chogadh is iomairt cha tilleadh an 
 o ohoga' is im-ayrt cha tille' an 
 
 cuiridh ! 
 cnyr-i' 
 
 Cha tilleadh, cha tilleadh, cha tilleadh 
 cha tille' cha tille' cha tille' 
 
 Mac-Cruimen ! 
 mac cruymen 
 
 Cha till e gu brath, gu la na cruinneadh ! 
 cha till e ga bra' gu la na cruynne' 
 
 Tha osag an t-shleibh misg gheug a 
 ha osag an tleyv misg yeyg a 
 
 cumhadh, 
 cu-va' 
 
 Gach sruthan is a,lt a bron air bruthaich^ 
 gach sru'-an is alt a bron ayr bru'-ayoh 
 
 Thafillidheannangeugaseinngudubhach, 
 ha filli'-en nan geyg a seynn gu duvach 
 
 O'n dh-f halbh ebh-uain'snach till e tuille. 
 on yalv e vu-ayn 'snach till e tuylle 
 
 Cha till, etc. 
 
 Tha'n oiche fo neoil, Ian broin is mulaid, 
 ban o-i-chefo ne-oyl Ian broyn is mu-layd 
 
 A bhirlian fo sheol, 's cha'n fheorich 
 a vir-linn fo he-ol 's chan e-o-rich 
 
 siubhal ; 
 ei-u-val 
 
 Tha gair nan tonn ri fonn neo-shubhach, 
 ha gayr nan tonn ri fqnn ne-o-hnvach 
 
 A coidh gun t-albh 's nach till e tuille. 
 a coy' gnn talav 'snacb till e tuyll^ 
 
 Cha till, etc. 
 
 Cullin, 
 The fay sings her elegy sorrowful ; 
 
 Mild blue eyes in the dun are in tears, 
 
 Since he departed, and refused to 
 
 return. 
 
 Chorus ; — 
 He returns not, returns not, returns 
 
 not Mac-Cruimen ! 
 
 From war and conflict the warrior 
 refuses to return ! ^ 
 
 He returns not, returns not, Mac- 
 Cruimen would not return ! 
 
 He will return no more, until the day 
 of the last gathering ! 
 
 The wind of the wold among the 
 boughs is wailing. 
 
 Eaqh streamlet and bum is sad on 
 the hills, 
 
 The mipptrels of the boughs are sing- 
 ing mournfully, 
 
 Since he departed, and will never 
 return.; — 
 Return, etc. 
 
 The night is clouded, sorrowful, and 
 
 sad. 
 The birlin under sail but reluctant 
 
 to depart; 
 
 The waves of the sea have a sound 
 
 not happy. 
 Lamenting that he departed, and will 
 
 never return. — 
 Return, etc. 
 
 Cha thionael luchd ciuil san dun mu Gather will not the tuneful race of 
 cha hi-on-ayl Incbd ci-uyl aan dun mu the dun in the evening, 
 
 fheasgar, 
 esgar 
 
254 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 'Smactalla,foshurd,lemuirngafreagairt; While Echo, with alacrity and joy, 
 
 'amac-talla fo hurd le muyra ga freg-ayrt 
 
 Gach fleasgach 's gach oigh, gun cheol, 
 gach flesg-ach 's gach oy' gua che-ol 
 
 a tuireadh 
 a tnyr-e' 
 
 Gun d' f halbh e bh-uain, 's nachtill e tuille. 
 gun dalav e vu-ayn 'snach till e tuylle 
 
 Cha tilleadh, cha tilleadh, cha tilleadh, 
 cha tille' cha tille' cha tille' 
 
 Mac-Cruimen, 
 mac cruymen 
 
 chogadh is iomairt cha tilleadh an 
 o choga' is im-ayrt cha tille' an 
 
 cuiridh ! 
 cnyr-i' 
 
 Cha tilleadh, cha tilleadh, cha tilleadh 
 cha tille' cha tille' cha till' 
 
 Mac-Cruimen ! 
 
 mac cruymen 
 
 Cha till e gu brath, gu la na cruinneadh! 
 cha till e gn bra' gu la na cruynne' 
 
 answers them ; 
 The youths and maidens are without 
 music, lamenting 
 
 That he departed from us, and will 
 never return. — 
 
 He returns not, returns not, returns 
 not Mac-Cruimen !* 
 
 From war and conflict 
 refuses to return ! 
 
 the 
 
 warnor 
 
 He returns not, returns not, Mac- 
 Cruimen would not return ! 
 
 He will return no more, until the day 
 of the last gathering ! 
 
 The late Archibald Leckie, Esq., Dyer, Paisley, an antiquary of some 
 local distinction, informed me that Shakespere was very fond of Highland lore 
 and Highland melody, and that a grand-aunt of his, a Dumbartonshire lady, 
 who was a very old woman when he was a boy, used to sing several of the 
 ballads he composed to Highland airs. He recollected perfectly well her singing 
 his ballad beginning " come with me, and be my love," to the air of Mari 
 Bhan. I heard this Gaelic song when I was a boy, and my impression is that 
 it was very beautiful, but I forget all excepting one verse and the chorus. 
 These, and the melody, I quote merely for the sake of the above tradition. 
 The air was taken down from the voice of a noble and generous enthusiast in 
 every thing honourable to the Gael, Colin Campbell, Esq., Collector of Inland 
 Eevenue, who entered with spirit into the Volunteer Movement, and is now 
 captain of one of the Highland Companies in Sir Michael Shaw Stewart's 
 regiment of Eenfrewshire Volunteers. 
 
 A MHAIGHDEAN MHODHAK. 
 
 A mhaighdean mhodhar is boidh'che Maiden tender of the most beautiful 
 a vay'-den vo'-ar is boy'-ohe (symmetrical) figure, 
 
 dealbh, 
 de-alv 
 
 Tha do ghruaigh mar an caoran dearg. Thy cheeks are as rowan red, 
 ha do yru-ay' mar an caoran derag 
 
 Do shuil mar dhearcaig fo dhriuchd so Thy eyes like (blae) berries in morn- 
 do huyl mar yerc-ayg fo yri-uc so ing dew, 
 mhaduinn, 
 
 vad-uynn 
 
 Doshliosmareala,marshneachddolaimh. Thy bosom like the swan, thy hands 
 do h-lis mar ella mar nechd do layv snow. 
 
 * The last of this uoble race of minstreU is a blind and venerable old gentleman living at Gourock. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 255 
 
 ^onn :— Chorus :— 
 
 Faillill oh ro, air Mari bhain, Fayllill oh ro, ayr Mari bhain, 
 
 fayllill oh ro ayr mari vayn 
 
 Faillill oh ro, gur tu mo ghradh ; Fayllill oh ro, gur tu mo yra' ; 
 
 fayllill oh ro gur tn mo yra' 
 
 Faillill oh ro, na hu-ill o ro, Fayllill ■ oh ro,' na h-uill o ro, 
 
 fayllill oh ro na ha-ill o ro 
 
 Gru'n togain fonn, air mo Mhari bhain. Gun togain fonn, air mo Mari 
 
 gun tog-ayn fonn ayr mo vari vayn bhain. 
 
 DUANAG CBITEIN. — MAY LILT. 
 
 Noir chuireas an Ceiten na geugan fo When May clothes the boughs with 
 noyr ehuy-res an oeyten na geyg-an fo bloom 
 
 bhlath, 
 via' 
 
 Biodh na h-eoin a seinn a la 's dh-oiche And the birds sing in them night and 
 bi' na he-oyn a seynn a la's yoy-che (Jay 
 
 sa la, 
 sa la 
 
 Bidh gobhair, bidh caoirich is crodh- There will be goats, sheep, milk cows, 
 bi' govayr bi' ' caoyrioh is oro'- 
 
 loigh le'n al, 
 loy' len al 
 
 Aig Mari oig ga'n saodachadh ri aodan And young Mary driving them against 
 ayg man oyg gan saod-a-cha ri aodan the breast of the hills, 
 
 charn. 
 charn 
 
 Fonn : — OJwrus : — 
 
 Ho, mo Mhari laghach, 's tu mo Mhari Ho, my bonny Mary, ho, my Mary 
 ho mo vari - la'-ach 'stu mo vari trim 
 
 ghrinn, 
 yrinn 
 
 Ho, mo Mhari laghach, 's tu, mo Mhari Ho, my bonny Mary, ho, my Mary 
 ho mo vari la'-ach 'stu mo vari melodious • 
 
 bhinn ; 
 vinn 
 
 Ho, mo Mhari laghach, 's tu, mo Mhari Ho, my bonny Mary, ho, my Mary 
 ho mo vari la'-ach 'stu mo vari trim, 
 
 ghrinn, 
 yrinn 
 
 Mari lurach bhoidheach ga'n comhnuidh My Mary bonny, lively, who dwells 
 mari lur-ach voy-ech gan cov-nuy' in the glenS. 
 
 na glinn. 
 na glinn 
 
 Cha'n 'eil inneal ciuil a thuirling riamh No instrument has ever sounded under 
 cha-neyl inri-el ci-uyl a' hurling ri-av the Sun 
 
 fo'n ghrein, 
 fon yreyn 
 
25G 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 A dh-airisis air choir gach ceol bhios That can adequately imitate every 
 
 a yayris-is ayr choyr gaoh ce-ol vis kind of music we have, — 
 
 again fein, — 
 
 agayn feyn 
 
 Uiseag air gach lonan, smeorach air A lark on every meadow, a thrush on 
 ny-seg ayr gach lo-nan sme-o-rach ayr every branch, 
 
 gach geig, 
 gaoh geyg 
 
 'S cuag seinn le muirn a loidh do'n chiuin- And the cuckoo singing joyously her 
 
 'scu-ag seynn le muym a loy' don chi-uyn- hymn to the mild month of May. 
 
 mhios cheit. — Ho, etc. Ho, &c. 
 vi-03 cheyt 
 
 Tha do sheang shlios fallain mar eala 
 ha do heng blis fallayn mar ella 
 
 air snamh ; 
 ayr snav 
 
 Muineal mar an canach, beul o'm banail 
 mnynel mar an canach beyl om ban-ayl 
 
 failt, 
 faylt 
 
 Gruaidh air dhath an t-shiris, suil-ghorm 
 gru-ay' ayr ya' an tir-is suyl-yorm 
 
 mhilis thlath, 
 vilis hla' 
 
 Mala-chaol gu'n ghruaman, gnuis ghlan, 
 mala-chaol gun yrn-a-man gnuys ylan 
 
 's cuach-fhalt ban. — Ho, etc. 
 's cu-ach-alt ban 
 
 Thy sound taper waist is graceful as 
 a swan when swimming ; 
 
 Thy throat like cana, sweet is a 
 welcome from thee, 
 
 Cheeks like cherries, eyes blue, sweet, 
 warm, 
 
 A slender eye-brow, without a frown, a 
 white forehead, hair curly and fair. 
 Ho, &c. 
 
 Ged bu leamsa Albainn, a h-airgead sa 
 ged ba le-am-sa alabin a hayr-ged sa 
 
 maoin, 
 maoyn 
 
 Cia mar bhithinn sonadh gun do chomunn 
 ce mar vi'-inu Bona' gun do cho-mnnn 
 
 gaoil ? 
 gaoyl 
 
 B' annsa Mari bhoidheach le deo choir 
 bannsa mari voy'-eoh le de-o choyr 
 
 dhomh fein, 
 yov feyn 
 
 Na ged gheibhinn storas na Roin-Eorp 
 na ged yeyv-inn storas na royn-eorp 
 
 gu leir. — Ho, etc. 
 gu leyr 
 
 Although mine were Albin, and her 
 wealth and power. 
 
 How could I be happy, without thy 
 loved companionship ? 
 
 Eather would I have bonny Mary, 
 with a good right, to myself. 
 
 Than a title to Europe with all her 
 wealth. — 
 Ho, etc. 
 
 The following verses were written by William Ross, to the original of the 
 air known in the Lowlands as " O'er the muir amang the heather." Both sets 
 are very beautiful; but the Highland set has certainly more tenderness, 
 simplicity, and dignity, at least to my taste. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 257 
 
 'S CIANEL m' FHUIEEACH AN DUNEIDIN. — PENSIVE IS MY RESIDENCE IN 
 
 DUNEIDIN. 
 
 'S cianel m' fhuireach an Duneidin, 
 'sci-anel muyreoh an dun-ejdin 
 
 Cumail comunn ri luchd Beurladh ; 
 oumayl comuna ri Inc bejrla' 
 
 Thoir mo shoraidh bhlath gun treigsin, 
 hoyr mo horay' via' gun treygsin 
 
 Dh-ionnsaidh 'm eibhneis anns 's na 
 yi-on-say' meyv-neys anns 'sna 
 
 glennaibh. 
 glenn-ayv 
 
 Pensive is my residence in Duneidin, 
 
 Keeping company with English-speak- 
 ing men; 
 Bear my unchanged salute 
 
 To my joy, among the glens. 
 
 Fonn : — ■ 
 
 E ho ro, mo run a chailinn, 
 e ho ro mo run a chaylin 
 
 E ho ro, mo run a chaihnn ; 
 e ho ro mo run a chaylin 
 
 Kun a chailinn, suairce manran, 
 run a chaylin su-ayrc^ man-ran 
 
 Dh-oich 's la tha tigh'n fo m' aire, 
 yoych 'sla ha ti'-n fo mayre 
 
 Chorus : — 
 E ho ro, my love the maiden, 
 
 E ho ro, my love the maiden ; 
 
 My love, the maiden of the 
 
 animated converse, 
 Who is in my thoughts night 
 and day. 
 
 Tha mo cridhe dubhach, ciurte, 
 ha mo chri'-e dn-vaoh ci-urte 
 
 My heart is sad, wounded. 
 
 Tears run frequently from my eyes ; 
 
 'S trie na deoir a ruidh o'm huillean ; 
 strio na de-oyr a ray' om huyllen 
 
 Antiguandiughna'mbithmodhuilriut, Wilt thou come to-day, or may I ex- 
 
 an tig n an di-u' nam bi' mo ynyl ri-ut pect thee, 
 
 Na'ndianmiant-iulthairnabeannaibh? Or shall I make my way over the 
 
 nan di-an mi an ti-ul hayr na bennayv mountains ? — ■ 
 
 E ho ro, etc. E ho ro, etc. 
 
 Tha mo chridhe mar na euainten, 
 ha mo chri'-e mar na cn-aynten 
 
 Na duilleach nan crann fo luasgain ; 
 na duyllech nan crann fo In-asgayn 
 
 Na mar fhiadh fo tHart an fhuaraen, 
 na mar i-a' fo hart an u-a-ren 
 
 'S mo shnillean ruaimleach le faire.— 
 smo huyll-en ru-aym-lech le fayre 
 
 E ho ro, etc. 
 
 My heart is like the sea, 
 
 Or the leaves of the wood in motion ; 
 
 Or like the deer athirst for the Spring, 
 
 And my eyes dim for the want of 
 sleep, — 
 E ho ro, etc. 
 
 Giar binne na smeoraeh ceiien, Sweeter than the thrush in May 
 
 gnr binne na sme-or-acb ceyten 
 
 Caintdobheoirstucomhradhreidhrium, Are the words of thy mouth, in kindly 
 caynt do ve-oyi stn oovra' rey' ri-um converse with me, 
 
 Kk 
 
258 THE MUSIC 
 
 'S mo chliabh a lasadh le eibhneas, My bosom kindling' with joy, 
 
 smo chli-av a lasa' le eyv-nes 
 
 Tabbairt eisdeachd dba d' bheul tairis. While listening to thy lips eloquent. — 
 tav-ayrt eys-dec ya d' veyl tayris 
 
 E ho ro, etc. E ho ro, etc. 
 
 'S tu mo Ion, mo cheol, mo chlarsach, Thou art my food, my music, my harp, 
 stu mo Ion mo che-ol mo ohlar-sach 
 
 Mo leug phrieseil, rimheach, aghnlhor, My gem priceless, brilKant, blessed ; 
 mo leug fri-seyl riveoh agh-vor 
 
 Bi an t-sheun a chumadh o'n bhas mi, It were a charm to save me from death 
 bi an teyn a chama' on vas mi 
 
 Maighdeann mo ghraidh bhi mar rium. To have thee always with me. — 
 may'-den mo yray' vi mar ri-um 
 
 E ho ro, etc. E ho ro, etc. 
 
 Gur h-etrom mo ghleus is m' iompaidh, Light will be my mind and my action, 
 gur hetrom mo yleys is mi-ompay' 
 
 'S neo lodail mo cheum o'n fhonnsa, Not clumsy my step from this land, 
 
 's ne-o lo-dayl mo cheym on onnsa 
 
 Gu tir ard nan sar fhear sundach, To the high country of heroes gay, 
 
 gu tir ard nan sar er sundach 
 
 'S mi treigsin na galltachd nam dheann- Forsaking the country of strangers 
 smi treyg-sin na galltao nam yenn- with speed. — 
 
 aibh. — E ho ro, etc. E ho ro, etc. 
 
 ayv 
 
 Diridh mi ri tulach Armuin, I will ascend the hill of Armuin, 
 
 diri' mi ri tulach armuyn 
 
 Air leth-taobh strath min na Larig, On one side of the vale of Larig, 
 
 ayr le'-taov era' min na larig 
 
 'S tearnaidh mi gu Innis-bhla-choil, Then go down to Innis-vla-choil, 
 
 sternay' mi gu innis-vla-choyl 
 
 'S ghibh mi Sine bhan gun smallan. — And find fair Jean in her brightness. — 
 's yev mi sine van gun smallan 
 
 E ho ro, mo ruin a chailinn, E ho ro, my love the maiden, 
 
 e ho ro mo run a chaylin 
 
 E ho ro, mo ruin a chailinn ; E ho ro, my love the maiden ; 
 
 e ho ro mo run a, chaylin 
 
 Kuin a chailinn, suairce manran. My love, the maiden of the 
 
 run a chaylin eu-ayrce man-ran animated converse, 
 
 Dh-oich 's la tha tigh'n fo m' aire. "Who is in my thoughts night 
 
 yoych 'sla ha ti'-n fo mayre and day. 
 
 Burns wrote a song to the same air with the following verses also ; but, like 
 the rest of his songs to Highland airs, (excepting " Auld Langsyne," "A man's 
 a man for a' that," " The Lea-riggs," " Green grow the rashes, o," and a few 
 others, the airs of which had scarcely been altered,) the airs were so tamed 
 down as to carry the words even of Burns into the land of Nod along with 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 259 
 
 them. The following Gaelic air and verses are so peculiar as to make me feel 
 myself justified in assigning the composition of the melody, as well as the verses, 
 to a fair lady, who was afterwards married to Cameron of Glenevis, — ^her " gillidh 
 dubh ciar dubh," or, black-haired swarthy youth. I heard it sung in the true spirit 
 by one of her descendants, MissMacdonald of Drimnantorran, who inherits the taste 
 of her ancestress, and is so unfashionable as to sing the songs and play the melodies 
 of her native mountains in a manner worthy of them, when other young ladies 
 consider it quite vulgar to sing or play anything either sweet or natural. 
 
 Cha dhirich mi brudhach, 
 cha dirich mi bru'-ach 
 
 Oha shiubhail mi mointeach, 
 cha hi-nvayl mi moyatech 
 
 Dh' fhalbh mo ghuth binn, 
 yalv mo yu' binn 
 
 Cha sheinn mi oran, 
 cha heyn mi oran 
 
 Cha chaideal mi uair, 
 cha cbaydel mi n-ayr 
 
 luain gu domhnach, 
 lu-ayn gn doynach 
 
 AN GILLIDH DUBH CIAE DUBH. 
 
 I ascend not a hill, 
 
 I cross not a heath, 
 I tune not my voice, 
 I sing not a song, 
 I sleep not an hour, 
 From Monday till Sunday, 
 
 Gu'n an gillidh dubh ciar dubh thighinn Without being conscious (in my heart) 
 gun an giUi' duv ciar duv hi'-inn of the black-haired swarthy youth. 
 
 fo'm uidh. — Gu'n an gillidh, etc. 
 fo'm uy' 
 
 Briodal beoil u, gradh bhan og u, 
 bridal be-oyl u gra' van og u 
 
 Cruaidh-bhuilleach, fearra-bhuilleach, 
 cra-ay'-vuyllach ferra-vuyllach 
 
 Sealgaer air mointich, 
 selager ayr mo-in-tich 
 
 Lamh a leagadh nan damh cabarach, 
 lav a lega' nan tav cabarach 
 
 'S na'm bradan leis a mhorbhadh, 
 's nam bradan leys a vorva 
 
 An gillidh dubh ciar tha tighinn fo'm 
 an giUi' duv ci-ar ha ti'-inn fom 
 
 uidh. — ^An gUlidh, etc. 
 uy' 
 
 Without, etc. 
 
 Tender are thy words, love of young 
 
 maidens, 
 Hardy are thy strokes, and manly : 
 
 A sportsman on the heath, 
 
 A hand for prostrating the branchy 
 
 stags, 
 And the salmon with the spear, 
 
 Is the black-haired swarthy youth, of 
 whom I am conscious. 
 Is the, etc. 
 
 B-eibhinn leom coir air a ghillidh dhubh 'Twere joy to have a right to the 
 beyvinn le-om coyr ayr a yilli' yuv black-haired swarthy youth, 
 
 chiar-dubh, 
 chi-ar-duv 
 Fhaotain ri phasadh na'n deonaichidh To get him in marriage, should God 
 aotayn ri fasa' nan de-on-ioh-e' ordain it. 
 
 dia e. 
 di-a e 
 
260 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 I would go with thee to Holland, 
 Indeed, it were my delight to do so ; 
 
 Eachain leat do'n t-Holaint, 
 rach-ayn let don t-ol-aynt 
 
 Mo dheo ! be mo mhian e ; 
 mo ye-o be mo vi-an e 
 
 'S cha ghabhain fear liadh 's tu tigbinn And I will not have a grey-headed 
 a cha yav-ayn far li-a' s tu ti'-inn man, while conscious of thee. 
 
 fo'm uidh. — 'S cha, etc. ' And I, etc. 
 
 fom ny' 
 
 The air to which the following verses are sung I received from my daughter, 
 Mrs Lang. Logan, in the " Scottish Gael," gives a different set of evidently the 
 same melody, under the touching name of " Ossian's lament for his father," The 
 following verses, like the song, " Oich mar tha mi," at page 197, are re-arranged 
 from fragments, excepting the first verse of each, which begin with the same words. 
 
 OICH MAB THA MI 
 
 Oich mar tha mi 's mi na 'm aonar, 
 oyoli mar ha mi s mi na m aonar 
 
 Cha chadal aobhach a gheabhain ann, 
 cha chada aov-ach a yev-ayn ann 
 
 Aig boidhchead t-aodainn, is miad mo 
 ayg boy-ched t-aod-aynn is mi-ad mo 
 
 ghaoil ort ; 
 yaoyl ort 
 
 Gu'm b-ait leam fhaotainn dhiot guth 
 gum bayt le-am aot-aynn yi-ot gu' 
 
 an chaint. 
 an chaynt 
 
 Fonn : — 
 na bith guidhe an gaol a threigsin, 
 na bi' guy'-e an gaol a hreyg-sinn 
 
 Bha chein dhuinn na eibhneas aigh ; 
 va cheyn yuyu na eyv-nes ay' 
 
 Ged scar air cairdeann gun iochd o 
 ged scar ayr cayrd-enn gun i-oc o 
 
 cheil' sinn, 
 cheyl sinn 
 
 Na fag gu leir mi gun speis gun bhaigh. 
 na fag guleyr mi gun speys gun vay' 
 
 S MI NA 'M AONAE. 
 
 Alas for me, all alone, 
 
 Not sound is the sleep which comes 
 
 to me 
 From the beauty of thy face and my 
 
 great love ; 
 
 'Twere joy to get a single word of 
 converse with thee. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 Oh do not say we must the love 
 
 forsake 
 That has been so long to us a joy 
 
 blameless ; 
 Although friends merciless have 
 rent us asunder, 
 
 Leave me not for ever, without es- 
 teem or pity. 
 
 NoirchuireasCeiteangachdoiregeugach, 
 noyr chuyr-es ceyt-en gach doyre geyg-ach 
 
 A sheinn le eibhneas fo ceumaibh graidh. 
 a heynn le eyv-nes fo oeym-ayv gray' 
 
 'S ann bhios mi 'm aonar, gu tursach, 
 B ann vis mi m aonar gu tursach 
 
 deurach, 
 deyraoh 
 
 A strith ri eislean nachgeil 's nach traidh. 
 a stri' ri eyslen nach geyl s naoh tray' 
 
 na, etc. 
 
 When Spring makes every leafy grove 
 
 Breathe joyous songs under her steps 
 
 of love, 
 I will be alone, in sorrow and tears, 
 
 Struggling against a calamity that will 
 never yield or diminish. — 
 Oh, etc. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 261 
 
 Airt-iomhaidhdhreachairachoidhadearca, On thy beautiful image for ever 
 ayr ti-o-vay' yrech-ayr a choy' a deroa dwelling 
 
 Cha 'n fhiudh leam bearteas na staid an Worthless (in my estimation) is the 
 cha'n i-n' lem bertes na stayd an wealth and state of kings ; 
 
 righ; 
 rl' 
 
 Guth fuar a ghliocais, suil uaibhreach The cold voice of wisdom, the lofty 
 gu' fu-ar a yli-oc-ays snyl n-ayv-rech eye of the SCOrnful, 
 
 taileeis, 
 taylc-eys 
 
 Cha chluinn, cha 'n fhaic is cha bhith I hear not, I mark not ; there is no- 
 oha chlnynn cha'n aye is cha vi' thing real to me Save thee ! — 
 
 'm bheachd ach i ! — na, etc. Oh, etc. 
 
 m vec ach i 
 
 DomhnuU Donn mac fear Bhoshuintainn, (Dovnul donn mac fer Vo-hi-un- 
 taynn,) was the most distinguished Conservative of his day ; and was, of course, 
 regarded and represented as a robber and a thief by the grantees of feudal 
 charters, who considered the king and themselves the lawful spoilers of the people, 
 and looked on the black-mail-men as interlopers. He was a great warrior, a 
 splendid looking man, and there was poetry not only in his character, but also in his 
 romantic and adventurous life. A poetic warfare, such as was carried on in the 
 Lowlands between their contemporaries Dunbar and Kennedy, was carried on 
 in the Highlands between Donald Donn and the great bard Iain Lom, who was 
 royal Celtic bard to three of the Stuart kings. I have shown elsewhere that 
 the feudal kings persecuted the bards ; but when they got into difficulties with the 
 feudal nobility, they revived the office of royal bard, and found its value. Iain Lom 
 was a convert to feudalism, and wanted the chiefs to take feudal charters, until 
 he found that the nobility had become revolutionists, which the bard (with an 
 acuteness that has never been attained by any of our historians) ascribed to 
 these feudal charters, which made them anxious so to limit the power of the 
 sovereign as to enable them to give the same effect to feudal charters in Scotland 
 which they had already received in England, and thus to become each the 
 despot and the proprietor, instead of merely the limited superior, of his district. 
 The chiefs who had accepted charters, such as Argyle, Breadalbane, &c., never 
 presumed to alter the fixed tenures of their clans down to that date ; but excep- 
 tional cases of usurpation then began to appear, and the bard took the alarm, 
 and thus sounded his tocsin : — 
 
 Tha Alb' ga cuir fo chis-chain, Albin is being placed under cazM-exactions, 
 
 Le ur-reachd cuigs' gu 'n fhirinn, By the new laws of the truthless whigs, 
 
 An ait a chalpa* dhirich — Instead of the straight calpa* — 
 
 Se cuid de 'm dhiobail ghoirt. This is part of my painful regret. 
 
 " Calpa was the old name of the young stock in which the fixed rents of the clans were paid. The 
 clans were in the first ages of feudalism, allowed to pay their calpa (" caupe" in feudal enactments) either to 
 the chief or feudal grantee. When the feudal system took root in the Lowlands, however, the payment 
 of the calpa to the native chief was suppressed, and the feudal grantee usurped the power, not only 
 of exacting payment, but of changing the fixed tenures of the people into a tenantoy, with a limited 
 duration. 
 
262 THE MUSIC 
 
 Douald held that the tenants of the grantees of feudal charters were bound to 
 pay to the native chief the culpa paid by the evicted clansmen ; and he was, 
 accordingly, a leading man among those who exacted the calpa from feudal 
 tenants. Differences of opinion on the subject of feudal charters and forcibly 
 exacting calpa {Anglici, black-mail) from feudal tenants, introduced personalities 
 into the " fly tings" of Domhnull Donn and Iain Lom ; but they did not, like 
 the Lowland bards, descend to scurrility. This remark does not apply to Kennedy: 
 indeed it is worthy of observation, as showing the superior refinement of the 
 Caledonian over the Scot, that Kennedy,* a Gallowegian Cruithne, preserves 
 more dignity than the court bard Dunbar, in their curious " flytings." Gaelic was 
 the language of the Gallowegians at the above period, and Kennedy is often taunted 
 with his Gaelic — called " Earse" by Dunbar, who was probably the first man of 
 letters to condemn what he did not understand, but who has found many 
 followers in the same direction since then. One line of Domhnull Donn's retort 
 gave deadly offence to the royal bard Iain Lom, namely, " Donnal a choin-bhathail 
 sin, bhodhair mo dha chluais ;" — the howling of that vagrant cur has deavedhoih. 
 my ears. In answering this taunt, the royal bard almost descends to scurrility. 
 Domhnull Donn was in love with a daughter of the chief of the Grants. 
 The chiefs of this old and powerful clan long refused, but ultimately accepted a 
 feudal charter of the clan district. This introduced feudal ideas into the family, 
 so that they could no longer regard the high-blooded, but pennyless chieftain as 
 an equal match. The hero and his lady-love, were, however, determined not to 
 allow new and conventional ideas, foreign alike to their country and their clans, 
 to intervene between them, and had concerted a plan of elopement. The family 
 were living at their seat at Glenurquhart, — so Donald, to be at hand, hid him- 
 self in a cave (or rather under a ledge of a rock) on the north-side of Lochness, 
 near Kileag Ghorraidh, a little distance below that part of the ravine over which 
 his celebrated namesake, Allein Mac Eaonuill,t leaped on finding his enemies 
 before him at the head of the ravine, in his headlong race from Cill-a-chriosd. 
 Donald's secret and retreat were betrayed to the brother of his love, and he 
 was decoyed into a house in the neighbourhood of the castle, by a pretended 
 message from Miss Grant. Here he was to remain until the young lady should 
 be able to escape the vigilance of those who were watching her, and join him. 
 Donald, thrown off his guard by the kindness and hospitality of the lady's pre- 
 tended confident, was prevailed on, not only to drink " pottle deep," but also to 
 sleep in the barn. No sooner was he asleep, however, than his sword and target 
 were removed by his treacherous host ; hence, when his foes came upon him in 
 the morning, he had no weapon but his gun, which snapped, so that he was 
 
 * From Wigtou to the toun o' Air, 
 Aud all be-doun the links o' Croe, 
 No man need think to tarry there, 
 "Unless he court Saint Kennedy. — Old Aphorism. 
 
 + See the New Monthly Magazine of, I think, 1829, for the article " Cill-a-Chriosd." 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 263 
 
 literally unarmed. The following are a few of the verses he wrote on the 
 occasion of his capture : — 
 
 Mile mallachd gu bragh A thousand curses for ever 
 
 mile mallac gu bra 
 
 Air a ghunna mar arm, On the gun as a weapon, 
 
 ayr a yuana mar arm 
 
 'N deigh a mheallaidh 's an tair a After the deception and degradation 
 
 'n dey' a vellay' san tayr a I have met with. — 
 
 fhuair mi. — Mile, etc. A thousand, etc. 
 
 hu-ayr mi 
 
 Ged a gheabhain dhomh fein Had I been offered 
 
 ged a yev-ayn yov feyn 
 
 Lan buaile de spreidh, A fold of cattle, 
 
 Ian bu-ayle de sprey' 
 
 B' annsa claidheamh le sgeidh 's an I would have preferred a sword and 
 
 bannsa clay'-ev le age' saa target at that moment. — 
 
 uair ad. — Ge, etc. Had, etc. 
 u-ayr ad 
 
 Bha tri fiched is triuir There were three-score and three 
 
 va tri fioh-ed b tri-uyr 
 
 Ga 'm ruidh feadh nan lub, Chasing me along the windings of the 
 
 gam ruy' fe' nan lub river 
 
 Gus 'n do bhuin iad mo lus le luathas uam. Until they won my strength from me 
 gu3 'n do vuyn i-ad mo lus le lu'-as u-am \)j speed. — 
 
 Bha, etc. There, etc. 
 
 Eigh ! gur mise a bha nar Kigh ! but I was ashamed 
 
 ri' gur mise a va nar 
 
 Noir a ghlachd iad mi slan When they caught me alive 
 
 noyr a ylac i-ad mi slan 
 
 'S nach tug mi fear ban na ruadh dhiu. Without losing a man, fair or red. — 
 snaoh tug mi fer ban na ru-a' yi-u 
 
 Eigh, etc. , Eigh, etc. 
 
 Na 'm biodh fios mi bhi' 'n laimh, Were it known that I am imprisoned, 
 
 na m bi-o' fis mi vi'n layv 
 
 'S iomadh Domhnalach ard, Many is the lofty Macdonald 
 
 ai-oma' dovnalach ard 
 
 A ghabha mo phairt 's an uairsa. That would take my part in this strait. 
 
 a yava mo fayrt s an n-ayrsa 
 
 Na, etc. Were, etc. 
 
 Agus maighdhean dheas ur, And many a maiden fresh and symmet- 
 
 agu3 mayden yea ur ♦ rical. 
 
 Is ard beachd 's as caoin gnuis, Of a lofty mind and a mild face, 
 
 is ard bee s as caoyn gnuys 
 
264 THE MUSIC 
 
 A chuireadh na cruin* ga 'm fhusglad,h. Would give crowns* to release me. 
 
 a ohuyre' na cruyn gam u-as-gla' 
 
 Agus, etc. And, etc. 
 
 Iain duibh tog a mach, Black-haired John, arise, and come 
 
 i-ayn duyv tog a macli forth 
 
 'S thoir na fhaodas tu leat— With as many as you can gather— 
 
 a hoyr na yaodas tu le-at 
 
 Cum cuimhneadh air a bheart bu dual Remember the wont of your ancestors, 
 cum cuyv-ne' ayr a veyrt ba du-al 
 
 dhut.— Iain, etc. Black, etc. 
 
 yut 
 
 Na'm biodh tusa fo ghlais, Had you been under a lock, 
 
 nam bi-o' tnsa fo ylays 
 
 Agus mise a bhi as, And me at liberty, 
 
 agua mise a bhi as 
 
 Naile chumain mo chas gle luaineacb. Faith! I would keep my foot in action, 
 nayl^ chumayn mo chas gle In-ayneeh 
 
 Na'm, etc. Had, etc. 
 
 Bhiodh an t-osan gle ghearr. The hose would be very short, 
 
 vi-o' an t-oaan gle yerr 
 
 'S a feile gle ard. The kilt very high, 
 
 s a feyle gle ard 
 
 'S balgan peallach oscean na cruachain, And the shaggy haversack above the 
 s balagan pellach oa-oen na cru-a-chayn haunch, &C. 
 
 &c. — Bhiodh, etc. The, etc. 
 
 DomhnuU Donn naturally expected that his great clan would interfere on 
 his behalf and pay his eric ; but he was not on friendly terms with his chieftain, 
 Mac-mhic Eaonuill, nor with the great clan bard Iain Lorn, whose only son he 
 had the misfortune to have killed in a duel. There was thus no person interested 
 in his fate who was sufficiently influential to organize the necessary movement 
 to save him. The apparent neglect seems to have deeply afflicted, and even 
 shaken his heroic spirit ; for the following verses, composed by him in prison 
 the night before he was beheaded, are scarcely worthy of him. I can easily 
 account for the absence of the tender and pathetic in these verses, since breath- 
 ing sorrow or regret might be construed, under the circumstances, into timidity 
 or a want of firmness. His pride and high spirit, therefore, made him guard 
 against the expression of feelings that might countenance such an interpretation ; 
 but the lofty and bold sentiments which used to characterize his poems are 
 
 * All excepting capital crimes, such as treachery to one's clan or country, murders, or infamous 
 crimes, could be compensated by an eric under the cleaohda, or use and wont — which was the only law 
 recognized or valued by the patriBichal clans. The eric of this warrior could not have been refused 
 if offered by the clan. The chief of the Grants had demanded and received eric from the Cameroni 
 not many centuries before then. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 265 
 
 awanting here. This seems to show that the apparent neglect of his friends 
 and his clan had shaken his confidence, and lowered the tone of his mind, 
 although it could not subdue his courage. " Bidh mi maireach" he says bitterly, 
 " air cnoc gu'n cheann, 's cha bhi mo chairdean fuireachail ;" I will be to-mor- 
 row on a hillock without my head, and my friends will not be watchful. An- 
 other couplet is equally expressive of his agitation and conscious power to do 
 something very dangerous — ^probably to his guards, for effecting his escape, — 
 something which his heart did not approve, but to which he might be tempted 
 in his desperation. " Ochoin a Dhia !" he exclaims, " cum leom mo chiol, cha 
 robh mi riabh cho cunnartach ;" Oh God ! keep with me my wisdom ; I never 
 was so dangerous. These lines are sufficiently expressive of his agitation, and 
 give a lively idea of the stern pride that made him suppress anything sufficiently 
 touching to be represented as com|Jaining of neglect, or implying timidity. Ho 
 suppressed anything resembling either, as unworthy of his warlike character 
 and lofty pride. But the air to which he composed the verses is sufficiently 
 tender and melancholy to betray what he would not express in words. It 
 breathes the tender feelings and regrets natural to the lover and the hero, on the 
 night before he was to die. This is one of the Macgreagair o Ruarodh measures, 
 so much admired, and so touching in the style of singing, — ^the two last lines of 
 every verse being repeated in the next by the whole audience. 
 
 'S TEUAGH, A B16H ! MO NIGHEANN DHONN. 
 
 Would, a ri ! my brown-haired maid, 
 That I was over in Mull with thee ; 
 
 'S truagh, a righ ! mo nighean donn, 
 stm-a' a ri' mo ni'-e-an donn 
 
 Nach robh mi thall a Muile leat ; 
 nach rov mi ball a muyle let 
 
 Far am faighein iasg is sithean fhiadh, 
 far am fay'-eyn i-asg is si'-e-an i-a' 
 
 'Sa chial cha bhiodh oirn uireasaibh. 
 sa chi-al cha tI-o' oym uyr-es-ayv 
 
 Far am faighein iasg is sithean fhiadh, 
 far am fay'-eyn i-asg is si'-e-an i-a' 
 
 'Sa chial cha bhiodh oirn uireasaibh ; 
 sa chi-al cha vi-o' oym nyt-es-ayv 
 
 Mharbhain breac air boinne cas, 
 varv-ayn brec ayr boynne cas 
 
 Far nach deanadh casan grunnachadh. 
 far nach den-a' casan grunna-cha' 
 
 Mharbhain breac air boinne cas, 
 varv-ayn bree ayr boynne cas 
 
 Far nach deanadh casan grunnachadh ; 
 far nach den-a' casan grunna-cha' 
 
 'S an coileach dubh air luth a sgeidh. 
 Ban coylech duv ayr lu' a sgey' 
 
 Mu'n d' theid na eidith ioma fear, 
 mnn deyd na eyd-i' i-oma fer 
 
 Where I would get fish and deer 
 
 venison, 
 And, my love, we should not want. 
 
 Where I would get fish and deer 
 
 venison, 
 And, my love, we should not want ; 
 
 I would spear the salmon in the rapid, 
 
 Where feet would not sound. 
 
 I would spear the salmon in the rapid, 
 
 Where feet would not sound ; 
 
 And the black-cock on the speed of 
 
 his wing. 
 Before many could dress themselves 
 
 Ll 
 
266 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 'S an coileach dubh air luth a Bgeidh, 
 san coyleoh duv ayr lu' a sgey' 
 
 Mu'n d' theid na eidith ioma fear ; 
 mnn deyd na eyd-i' i-oma fer 
 
 'S an earba bheag am bun na'm preas, 
 san er-ba veg am bun nam pres 
 
 Ge deas a chi sa chluinneas i. 
 ge des a chi sa chluynn-e-aB i 
 
 'S an earba bheag am bun na'm preas, 
 san er-ba veg am bun nam pres 
 
 Ge deas a chi sa chluinneas i. 
 ge des a chi sa cbluynnes i 
 
 Ochoin, a Dhia ! cum leam mo chial, 
 och-oyn a yi-a cum le-am mo ohi-al 
 
 Cha robh mi riamh cho cunnartach. 
 cha rov mi ri-av cho cunn-art-ach 
 
 Ochoin, a Dhia ! cum leam mo chial, 
 och-oyn a yi-a cnm le-am mo chi-al 
 
 Cha robh mi riamh cho cunnartach. 
 cha rov mi ri-av cho cunn-art-ach 
 
 Bidh mi maireach air cnoc gu'n cheann, 
 hi' mi mayr-ech ayr cnoc gun chenn 
 
 'S cha bhith mo chairdean fuireachail. 
 's cha vi' mo chayrd-e-an. ftiyr-ach-ayl 
 ***** 
 
 'S truagh, a righ ! mo nigheann donn, 
 stru-a' a ri' mo ni'-e-an donn 
 
 Nach robh mi thall a Muile leat ; 
 nach rov mi hall a mnyld let 
 
 Far am faighinn iasg is sithean fhiadh, 
 far am fay'-inn i-asg is si'-e-an i-a' 
 
 'Sa chial cha bhiodh oirn uireasaibh. 
 sa chi-al cha vi-o' oyrn uyr-es-ayv 
 
 And the black-cock on the speed of 
 his wing, 
 
 Before many could dress themselves; 
 And the little roe in the coppice, 
 Though quick her sight and hearing. 
 
 And the little roe in the coppice, 
 Though quick her sight and hearing. 
 0, God ! keep my wisdom with me, 
 I never was so dangerous. 
 
 0, God ! keep my wisdom with me, 
 
 I never was so dangerous. 
 
 I will be to-morrow on a knoll with- 
 out my head, 
 And my friends will not be watchful ! 
 
 * * * * :(: 
 
 Would, a ri ! my brown-hau:ed maid, 
 
 That I was over in Mull with thee ; 
 
 Where I would get fish and deer 
 
 venison. 
 And, my love, we should not want. 
 
 According to the tradition, Donald's sister was present at the execution, 
 and the head articulated, after being struck oflf, the words, " a Cheit, tog an 
 ceann," Kate, lift the head. It may be doubted whether the tongue, though 
 put in motion as the axe fell, could articulate the words that hung upon it ; but 
 it cannot be doubted, that, ascribing to Domhnull Donn the anxiety lest his 
 body should meet with neglect or indignity after death, which the tradition 
 implies, proves that he preserved the demeanour of a gentleman while under- 
 going a sentence resulting from his opposition to the usurpation by which the 
 people were, as he foresaw, ultimately deprived of their immemorial right of 
 property in the soil of their respective clan districts. A plain, simple memorial 
 stone in his native clachan, Bohutin, with an inscription to the above effect, is 
 well deserved by the memory of Domhnull Donn. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 267 
 
 The following fragment has been dressed up like the two beginning " Oich 
 mar tha mi," already mentioned. The melody is called " Oran sith," by Mrs 
 Macdonell, but the subject of the verses usually sung to it is the very common, 
 though ever touching one in ballad poetry, — ^unhappy love : the melody itself, 
 however, is of the class called ceol-siih, or fairy music, and few even of this 
 class are more wild and pathetic, as played by Mrs Macdonell ; but the following 
 verses are not worthy of the melody. Though I have not made a connected 
 ballad to suit the air, from anxiety to preserve all I could find of the origmal, 
 the verses tell their own touching story : — The fair authoress was betrayed by 
 her sister, and the lover slain by her three brothers, but at the expense of two 
 of their own lives. They returned from the adventure covered with " their own 
 blood" but this seems to have increased, instead of diminishing the grief of the 
 loving sister, — so little did a spirit of revenge accord with the feeling of the 
 bereaved Highland maiden. 
 
 THA DHKIUCHD FEIN AIB BHAE GACH MEAN GAIN. — ITS OWN DEW IS ON 
 
 EVERY BOUGH. 
 
 Thadhriuchdfeinairbhargachmeangain, Its own dew is on every bough, 
 ha yri-uo feyn ayr var gach mengayn 
 
 Tha gach gleannan a dol an guirmead, 
 ba gach glennan a dol an gayrmed 
 
 Tha 'n ceo ag iadhadh mu na bealaich, 
 han ce-o ag i'-a' mn na bel-aych 
 
 'S tha mo leannan a tighinn a shuireadh. 
 's ba mo lennan a ti'-inn a huy-re' 
 
 Every glen is becoming more green ; 
 The mist is winding around the defiles, 
 And my lover is coming awooing. 
 
 Form :-^ 
 
 Huvo i na horin ova, 
 
 Hurin i na horin o ; 
 
 Huvo i na horin ova. 
 
 Thug mi coinneamh dha sa choil. 
 hug mi coynn-ev ya sa choyl 
 
 'Chorus : — 
 Huvo i na horin ova, 
 Hurin i na horin o ; 
 Huvo i na horin ova, 
 I gave him a meeting in the wood. 
 
 Aphiutharfhealsacharinnmomhealladh, False sister, who betrayed me, 
 
 a fi-n^-ar elsach a linn mo vella' 
 
 a nnn mo 
 
 Noir a leig mi riut mo run, 
 noyr a leyg mi ri-ut mo ran 
 
 Shaoil leam nach bu luaidhaidh 'n 
 haoyl lem nach bn In-ay'n 
 
 sgeuladh 
 Bgeyl-a' 
 
 Tre do bheul na tre do ghlun. — 
 tre do veyl na tre do yinn 
 
 Huvo, etc. 
 
 When I disclosed to thee my love, 
 
 I thought my secret would as fast 
 come 
 
 Through thy knee as through thy lips. 
 Huvo, etc. 
 
268 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 'S iomadh cluichidh, mireadh is aighear, Many were the sports, much the mirth 
 
 si-oma' olu-ioh-e' mirre' is ay'-er and happiness, 
 
 'San robh sinn tairis measg ghleann is In which we lovingly sympathized 
 
 san rov sinn tayr-is mesg ylenn is ^yith one another, in green re- 
 
 chluainean, cesses among the glens, 
 chlu-ay-nen 
 
 Noir cheangail gaol sinn an laith air When affection tied us together in 
 
 noyr ohen-gayl gaol sinn an lay' ayr our youth, 
 
 h-oige, 
 hoyg-e 
 
 Mardharosairaonmheangainsuairce. — Like two roses rooted in one modest 
 
 mar ya ros ayr aon vengan su-ayr-cd stem. — 
 
 Huvo, etc. Huvo, etc. 
 
 'S trie a thuit ann an doire diamhair 
 strio a huyt ann an doyr^ di-a-vayr 
 
 Anearbagmheaghaillesaigheadfuadain; 
 an erbag vi-a-yayl le sa'-ed fn-a-dayn 
 
 Ach CO a sheaoileadh gu'n tuiteadh 
 ach CO a haoyle' gun tnyte' 
 
 leannain, 
 lenn-ayn 
 
 Le foil na peathaer aroinn mo cluasag? 
 le foyl na pe'-er a roynn mo chln-a-sag 
 
 Huvo, etc. 
 
 Often has fallen in its secret grove 
 
 The innocent roe by a wandering 
 
 arrow ; 
 But who could think that my lover 
 
 should fall 
 
 By the treachery of the sister who 
 shared my pillow ? 
 Huvo, etc. 
 
 Chaidh a seachad mo thriuir bhraidhrean, 
 chay a sech-ad mo ri-nyr vray'-ren 
 
 Air an steudaibh loma luadhadh, 
 ayr an steyd-ayv loma In'-a-a' 
 
 Biodag paisgtedh ris gach nillin,* 
 bi-dag paysg-te' ris gach uyllin 
 
 'S am fuil fein a taomadh bh-uapa. 
 s am fuyl feyn a taoma' vu-apa 
 
 Huvo, etc. 
 
 Past went my three brothers 
 
 On their steeds sleek and swift, 
 
 Their dirks folded against eachelbow,* 
 
 And their own blood pouring from 
 them. 
 Huvo, etc. 
 
 I have lost Donald, I have lost Allan, 
 My two brothers haughty (but) noble, 
 Nor has it lessened my distress 
 
 Chailmi Domhnull 's chail mi Aillein, 
 cbayl mi dovnnl b chayl mi aillein 
 
 Mo dha brathair bha reachd mhor uasal, 
 mo ya vra-ayr ya reo vor n-a-sal 
 
 'S cha do lughdaich e mo leireadh 
 s oha do In'-dayoh e mo leyr-a' 
 
 Gu'm be mo Seumas a roin am bualadh. That my James it was who slew them, 
 gum be mo b^-mas a royn am bu-a-la' 
 
 Huvo, etc. Huvo, etc. 
 
 * When the dirk is used in fencing by a ekilful person, the hilt is grasped in sueh a way as to turn 
 the point towards the elbow. The expression aboye describes it as folded back along the sleeve, so as th« 
 point may touch the elbow-joint. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 269 
 
 'S coma leom ged threig an latha, 
 B coma le-om ged h-reyg an la'-a 
 
 'S ged chuireadh Dilin a che fo chu- 
 8 ged chnyre' di-lin a che fo chn 
 
 aintean — 
 aynten 
 
 'S coma leam gach ni fo'n athar, 
 s coma le-am gach ni fon a'-ar 
 
 'S mo chead leannaen fo reachd na hu- 
 s mo ched lennan fo rec na hu- 
 
 aighidh. — Huvo, etc. 
 ay'i 
 
 A chraobh chaorain dlu do'n doras, 
 a chiaoT chaor-ajn din don dorns 
 
 Theid mo ghiulan leat air guaillibh, 
 heyd mo yi-n-lan let ayr chill' 
 
 Buin mo chasain ri Dun-dealgain, 
 bonn mo chas-an ri dun-de-la-gayn 
 
 Sinte an carbad dealbhach uallach. 
 sinnte an carabad del'-vach yualla 
 
 Huvo i, na horiu ova, 
 
 Hurin i, na horin o ; 
 
 HuTO i, na horin ova, 
 
 Thug mi coinneamh dha sa choll. 
 
 I care not though the day should for- 
 sake, 
 
 Or a deluge should put the world 
 under the sea ; — 
 
 I care for nothing under the sky. 
 
 Since my jBrst love is in the power of 
 the grave. 
 Huvo, etc. 
 
 Eowan-tree near the door, 
 
 On thee I will be carried on shoulders, 
 
 The soles of my feet toward Dun- 
 
 dalgan. 
 Stretched in a bier, shapely and light. 
 
 Huvo i, na horin ova, 
 
 Hurin i, na horin o ; 
 
 Huvo i, na horin ova, 
 
 I gave him a meeting in the wood. 
 
 Iain Garbh Mac Gille-Challum, of Eathsay, who was lost on Hesgair, was a 
 bold and adventurous seaman, and, being very popular, his death was much re- 
 gretted. It is the subject of many a " cumhadh," one of them even by Mari 
 Nighean Alastair Euaidh ; but, unfortunately, I have not been able to procure 
 the air to which her verses were sung. This melody is from Mrs Macdonell, 
 and it is the peculiarity of the air which makes me submit the following verses 
 to the reader. 
 
 OCH NAN OCH, MO LEIR CHBADH. — OH MY PAINFUL SOEEOW. 
 
 Och nan och, my painful sorrow 
 At the fate of the warrior ! 
 The hunter of the deer 
 
 Och nan och, mo leir chradh 
 och nan och mo leyr chra' 
 
 Mar dh-eirich do'n ghaisgeach ! 
 mar yeyrich do'n yaysgech 
 
 Cha'n eil sealgaer na sinne, 
 cha'n eyl selager na smne 
 
 'N diugh a frith na 'm beann casa, 
 n ti-n' a fii' nam benn casa 
 
 Form: — 
 Hu-a ho, io ho, hug orin o, 
 Hu-a ho, io ho, iu ri o. 
 Ho ro, io ho, hug orin o. 
 
 Is not to-day in the forest of the steep 
 mountains. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 Hu-a ho, io ho, hug orin o, 
 Hu-a ho, io ho, in ri o. 
 Ho ro, io ho, hug orin o. 
 
270 
 
 Bha mi uair nach do shaoil mi, 
 ya mi u-ayr nach do haoyl mi 
 
 Ged is faoin bhe ga agradh, 
 ged is faoyn vi ga agra' 
 
 Gu'n rachadh do bhathadh, 
 gun racba' do va'-a' 
 
 Gu brath air cuan farsuinn. 
 gu bra' ayr cu-au farsnyn 
 
 Hu-a ho, etc. 
 
 Fbad sa sbeasadb a stiuir dbi, 
 ad sa hesa' a sti-uyi yi 
 
 'S tu air cul a buil bhearte, 
 stn ayr cnl a buyl verte 
 
 Dh-aindeon anradh nan duillean, 
 yayn-en an-ra' uan duyllen 
 
 Agus ubraid na mara. — 
 agus ub-rayd na mara 
 
 Hu-a ho, etc. 
 
 Fhad sa fhanadh ri cheile 
 ad sa yan-a' ri cheyl^ 
 
 A dealean 's a h-achuinn, 
 a delen sa haoh-nynn 
 
 'S b-urrainn di geilleadh 
 's bnrrayn di ' geylle' 
 
 Do d' laimh threin air an aigeal, (fee- 
 do dlayv hreyn ayr an aygel 
 
 Hu-a ho, etc. 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 The day has been that I did not think, 
 Although it is vain to repeat it, 
 Thou ever couldst have been drowned 
 In an open sea. — 
 Hu-a ho, etc. 
 
 While the helm should endure, 
 
 And thou shouldst be in the com- 
 mand. 
 
 Despite the fierce war of the elements, 
 And the angry tumult of the ocean. — 
 Hu-a ho, etc. 
 
 So long as should remain together 
 The planks and the gearing, 
 And she could obey 
 Thy strong arm on the deep, «S;c. — 
 
 Hu-a ho, etc. 
 
 I submit a few verses of " Gillidh Guanach" for the same reason, namely, 
 more for the sake of the air than the verses. In Tait's Magazine of June 1829, 
 I gave an imitation of verses supposed to have been written by the hero of this 
 song, after an accidental interview he had with theauthoress of the following 
 verses, when both were married. 
 
 AN GILLIDH GUANACH. — THE GAY OK VOLATILE YOUTH. 
 
 'S ann di-donaich a dol do'n chlachan, When going to the clachan on Sunday, 
 san di-donaycb a dol don chlachan 
 
 A ghabh mi beachd ort a measg nan ceud ; I admired thee among hundreds ; 
 a yav mi bechd ort a mesg nan ceyd 
 
 Ge be goraich e na faoineiachd, And, whether from folly or vanity, 
 
 ge be goraych e na faonechd 
 
 'N sin cheangail gaol sinn an snaim nach Love (then) tied us to one another 
 'n sin ohengayl ga-ol sinn an snaym nach with a tie that will never relax. 
 
 geil. 
 geyl 
 
OP THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 271 
 
 Frnm : — 
 
 Mo ghillidh guanach, thug iri oro, 
 mo yilli' ga-an-ach hag iri oro 
 
 Mo ghillidh guanach, ho rohha hi ; 
 mo yilli' gn-an-ach ho rova hi 
 
 Fhleasgaich uasail an leadean dhuallaich, 
 lea-gaych n-as-ayl an leden yu-siU-aych 
 
 Tha mi fo ghruaim bho 'na dh-f hag u'n tir. 
 ha mi fo yrn-aym vo na yag u'n tir 
 
 Tha do bhilibh gu mills blath'or, 
 ha do viliv gu milia bla'-or 
 
 Mar ros an garadh do dha ghraaidh ; 
 mar ros an gar-a' do ya yruy' 
 
 Mar choillean cheire measg coillean creise, 
 mar ohoyllen cheyr^ mesg coyllen creys^ 
 
 Ha coltas Sheumais a measg an t-sluaigh. 
 hx. coltas heymays a mesg an tiny' 
 
 Mo, etc. 
 
 Tha do challapanan foinneidh dealbhach, 
 ha do challa-pan-an foynney' delavach 
 
 Gun bhi garbh is gun bhi caol ; 
 gnn vi garv is gun vi caol 
 
 Gur a boidheach glan a dh-f has u, 
 gur a boy'-ech glan a yas n 
 
 'S gur h-iomadh ailleachd a h-air mo 
 's gur i-oma' ayll-eo a hayr mo 
 
 ghaol. — Mo, etc. 
 yaol 
 
 Thuirt iad rium gu bheil u baigheal, 
 huyrt i-ad ri-nm gu veyl u bay'-el 
 
 Gu bheil do ghradh air a h-uile te ; 
 gu veyl do yra' ayr a huyl^ te 
 
 Gus a faic mi e na d' abhaist, 
 gus a fayc mi e na davayst 
 
 Mise a ghraidh cha chreid an sgeul. 
 yray' cha chreyd an sgeyl 
 
 mis^ a 
 
 Mo, etc. 
 
 Noir a theid u do Dhuneidin, 
 noyr a heyd n do yun-eydin 
 
 Fear do cheum cha'n fhalbh an t-shraid; 
 fer do cheym chan alv an trayd 
 
 Bidh na baintiemean uile an deigh ort, 
 bi' na bayn-tir-nen nyl^ an day' ort 
 
 'S bidhidh mi fhein mar the do chach. 
 'i bi'-i' mi feyn mar he^ do chach 
 
 Chorus : — 
 My volatile youth, hug iri oro. 
 
 My volatile youth, ho rova hi ; 
 
 My gentlemanly youth, with the flow- 
 ing ringlets, 
 I am in sorrow since you left our land. 
 
 Sweet and blooming are thy lips, 
 
 Thy cheeks like garden roses ; 
 
 Like wax among tallow-candles, 
 
 Is James among the people. 
 
 Mo, etc. 
 
 Thy legs are polished and symmetri- 
 cal. 
 Neither (too) thick nor (too) small ; 
 
 Clean and beautiful is thy form, 
 Many are the charms of my love. 
 Mo, etc. 
 
 They said to me that thou art sus- 
 ceptible, 
 And lovest every lady ; 
 
 But, until I see it in thy conduct, 
 
 I, my love, will not believe the tale. 
 
 Mo, etc. 
 
 When thou goest to Duneidin, . 
 
 Another man of thy carriage walks 
 not the street ; 
 
 The ladies will follow thee in admira- 
 tion, 
 
 And I myself will be like one of the 
 rest. 
 
272 THE MUSIC 
 
 Mo ghillidh guanach, thug iri oro, My volatile youth, hug iri oro, 
 
 mo yilli' gn-an-aoh hug iri oro 
 
 Mo ghillidh guanach, ho rohha hi ; My volatile youth, ho rova hi ; 
 
 mo yilli' gu-an-ach lio rova lii 
 
 Fhleasgaich uasail an leadean dhuallaich, My gentlemanly youth, with the flow- 
 lesgaych u-as-aylan le-den yu-all-aycli ing ringlets, 
 
 Tha mi fo ghruaim bho 'na dh-f hag u'n tir. I am in sorrow since you left our land, 
 lia mi fo yru-aym vo na yag u'n tir 
 
 Mrs Macdonell sent me specimens of the airs sung by the milk-maids 
 when milking the cows on the romantic stances selected for the open folds, on 
 which they used to be gathered for that purpose, among the glens and shielings of 
 the Highlands ; but she did not favour me with the verses. There was, however, 
 usually little or nothing in the verses of the milking and other labour songs 
 calculated to interest strangers to the associations they were intended to call up. 
 
 The object of the milking song was to soothe and beguile the cows while 
 being milked, and I have seen them listening to such songs with a dreamy 
 placidity which realized Pope's idea of " gentle dullness listening to a joke," 
 while yielding the milk so freely as to sound responsively in the foaming pail. 
 It is rare to see such scenes now in the Highlands, if, indeed, they are ever 
 seen at all ; but I remember them as the most peculiar and pleasing feature in 
 the landscape, and cannot help wondering how any proprietor having a spark of 
 soul in him could have substituted screeching shepherds, yelping curs, and grey- 
 faced sheep, for such farming, even supposing it to be the most profitable of the 
 two ; but that I deny. To form a proper judgement on this subject, the reader 
 must remember that the community system of the patriarchal clans was done 
 away with before the country entered on the agricultural, manufacturing, and 
 mercantile career, to which our present state of society and wealth are to be 
 ascribed. The small Highland tenantry, who had the arable lands in allot- 
 ments, and the pastures in common, were evicted and reduced to the condition 
 of unemployed labourers, or, in other words, to paupers, by the effect given to 
 feudal charters and the introduction of sheep. Those who ascribe indolence to 
 the Highlanders forget that industry is an acquired habit, and that sheep farm- 
 ing deprived two generations of Highlanders of all farming employment, before 
 it was discovered that they are by nature filthy and indolent. The fact is, 
 that there are no reasonable grounds for assuming, had their native rights been 
 preserved, that they would not have entered into the improved system as well 
 as any other class, and have developed the agricultural resources of their 
 country to a much greater extent than has been done, or ever will be done, by 
 the sheep farmer. In Switzerland, where the lands in like manner belonged to 
 the people, and their ancient rights were conserved, farms are well cultivated, and 
 the people, comfortable and happy. There are no statistics whereby to form an 
 estimate of the present value of the calpa, or young stock, which was paid by the 
 Highlanders to their chiefs and chieftains as their fixed rents ; but considering 
 the constant uniform and yearly increase in the value of stock from the above 
 date, it would probably exceed rather than fall short of the rental paid at this 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 273 
 
 day by the sheep farmers of the Highlands to their landlords. Macintosh, 
 Ardgour, and Glenmoriston, preserved some farms under the old community 
 system, but on money (not the old calpa) rents, and these small farmers have not 
 in the management of their farms fallen behind their neighbours. Indeed, the 
 extensive traces of cultivation on lands now lying waste under the management 
 of the sheep-farmer, corroborate Duncan Ban Macintyre, and Allan Dall Mac- 
 dougal, who, in their poems show that there was great industry applied to culti- 
 vation, not only on the " shores" but also on the " wolds" of the Highlands, 
 when the sheep farming was introduced, which has extirpated the population, 
 and made the country a desert. 
 
 The nursery and dairy songs were so much of the same character as to 
 render it unnecessary to make any distinction between them. Maolruainidh 
 Ghlinnichen, the melody of which was sent me by Mrs Macdonell, had, in 
 tradition, the very rare distinction of having been " a light o' love," and a good 
 fairy was seen rocking the cradle of her neglected child in the mother's absence, 
 and singing this favourite nursery lullaby, which accordingly belongs to the 
 class called " fairy melodies." 
 
 MAOLKUAINIDH GHLINNICHEN. — MAOLKUAINI OF THE GLENS. 
 
 Ho ro, Maolruainidh Grhlinnichen, Ho ro, Maolruaini of the glens, 
 
 bo ro maol-ia-ayni' ylinQe-chen 
 
 Ho ro, Maolruainidh, Ho ro, Maolruaini, 
 
 bo 10 maol-rn-ayDi' 
 
 Dh-f halbh do mhaithir, 's thug i am Thy mother is away ; she has taken 
 yalv do vay'-ir 's bug i am her course to the hill, 
 
 firich oir, 
 fir-ioh oyr 
 
 Ho ro, Maolruainidh. Ho ro, Maolruaini. 
 
 bo 10 maol-TU-ayni' 
 
 Thugi 'm balg an robh do chuid mine le. She has taken the skin-bag in which 
 hug i'm balg an rev do cbuyd mine le thy meal was kept, 
 
 Ho ro, Maolruainidh, Ho to, Maolruaini, 
 
 ho TO maol-ra-ayni' 
 
 'S thug i an curasan san robh do chuid And she has taken the curasan (a 
 
 's bug i an cnrasan san rov do cbuyd wooden dish) in which thy butter 
 
 imedh le, was kept, 
 ime' le 
 
 Ho ro, Maolruainidh, etc. Ho ro, Maolruaini, etc. 
 
 bo ro maolru-ayni' 
 
 There are two or three more verses extant, in the last of which titie good fairy 
 indulges her indignation against Maolruainidh, for the neglect of her child, in 
 some thing extremely like malediction. 
 
 The following is another specimen of the milking song, the air of which I 
 also received i6:c»!Q Mrs Miacdonell. It gave its cognomen to a club of which 
 Bums became a memb«ff when in. Edinburgh. 
 
 M m 
 
274 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 CEODH CHAILLEAN. 
 (Probably because the owner used to sing the lilt.) 
 
 Gu'n d' thugadh crodh Chaillean 
 gun duga' cro' chayllen 
 
 Dhomh bainne air an f hraoch, 
 yov baynne ayr an raooh 
 
 Gu'n chuman, gu'n bhuarach,* 
 gun chuman gun vu-ar-aoh 
 
 Gu'n laircean,t gu'n laogh. 
 gun layrcen gun lao' 
 
 Fonn : — 
 
 Crodh Chaillean mo chridhe, 
 cro' chayllen mo chri'-e 
 
 Crodh Chaillean mo ghaoil ; 
 cro' chayllen mo yaoyl 
 
 Gu'n d' thugadh crodh Chaillean 
 gnn duga' cro' chayllen 
 
 Dhomh bainne air an fhraoch. 
 yoT baynn^ ayr an raooh 
 
 The milk-cows of Colin 
 
 Would give me milk on the heather, 
 
 Without a pail or a shackle, 
 
 A layrcen or a calf. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 The cows of Colin of my heart 
 
 The cows of Colin of my ]ove>: 
 
 The cows of Colin 
 
 Would give me milk on the heather. 
 
 The following is another specimen of the milking song, the air of. which I 
 have received from Mrs Lang. 
 
 TILL AN CBODH A' DHONNACHAIDH. — TURN THE KINE, DUNCAN. 
 
 Turn the kine, Duncan, 
 
 Till an crodh, Dhonnachaidh, 
 till an cro' yonna-chay' 
 
 Till an crodh, Dhonnachaidh, 
 till an cro' yonna-chay' 
 
 Till an crodh, Dhonnachaidh, 
 till an cro' yonna-chay' 
 
 'S gheibh u bean bhoideach. 
 's yeyv u ben voy'-ech 
 
 Fonn : — 
 
 Till an crodh drimean dubh, 
 till an cro' drimen duv 
 
 Odhar dubh ceannean dubh, 
 o'-ar duv cennen duv 
 
 Till an crodh drimean dubh, 
 till an cro' drimen duv 
 
 'S gheibh u bean bhoidheach, &c. 
 's yeyv u ben voy'-ech 
 
 Turn the kine, Duncan, 
 Turn the kine, Duncan, 
 And you will get a. bonny wife. 
 
 Chorus: — 
 Turn the white-ridged black ooffs, 
 
 Dark-dun white-faced cows, 
 
 Turn the white-ridged black cows, 
 
 And you will get a bonny wife, etc. 
 
 * " Buarach," a hair shackle for tying the hind legs of restive or fierce tempered cows while 
 a-milldng. 
 
 t " Laircean" or " tulachan," a wicker basket shaped like a calf, and covered with a calf-skin, placed 
 before a cow to soothe her with the well recognised scent of her calf, after it is killed. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 275 
 
 The next class of the labour songs which remain for illustration are the 
 reaping or shearing songs. The Terse of these was short, and sung by the 
 leading reaper, and the chorus by the whole band. Like the rowing songs, 
 they avoided anything like the excitement of feeling or passions, and merely 
 wandered over the lakes, rivers, glens, and hills, in accordance with the pleasing 
 attachments and associations of the singers. No sight could be more delightful 
 than to see a great band of reapers extended over a fine field, amid an agreeable 
 landscape, cutting down the golden sheafs, and singing, lightly and joyously, in 
 full chorus. The late Mr Chapman, Corstorphine, near Edinburgh, one of the 
 clerks of the Court of Session, but a spirited farmer, being married to a High- 
 land lady, used to hire large bands of Highland shearers ; and told me that 
 nothing gave Lord Alloway, and his other eminent legal acquaintances, greater 
 pleasure than to visit him at harvest time, and listen to the merry harvest 
 duanagan or lilts of his Highland shearers. These songs were very discursive 
 and 'irregular (verses suggested by passing events being extemporaneously 
 composed and introduced into them occasionally by any of the singers that 
 could do so) and of interminable length. I would in concluding this illustrative 
 treatise, beg of those, who notwithstanding a careful perusal of the preceding 
 pages, may still have a lingering leaning to the belief that the common High- 
 landers were a rude, ignorant, unpolished people, to consider whether English 
 and Lowland navies could enter sympathetically into the spirit of songs like 
 those of which the foregoing and the following verses are descriptive specimens ? 
 Yet they must admit, that, unless Highland labourers could sympathize with the 
 feelings and sentiments which characterize those songs, the universal custom of 
 singing them for amusement, or to cheer them at their daily work, never could 
 have become a characteristic of the people, or been carried down among them 
 to the days of Lord Alloway and Mr Chapman. I have quoted as many verses 
 of each of these labour songs as will enable the reader to form an opinion as to 
 their peculiar character, so as he may judge whether I am justified in these 
 remarks. 
 
 FAILTB NA MOETHIR. HAIL TO MOBAE. 
 
 Failt' ort fein a Mhorthir bhoidheach. All hail to thee, lovely Morar, 
 faylt ort feyn a vore-hir voy'-eoh 
 
 Anns an og-mhios bhealltainn. In the young month of May. 
 
 anns an og-vi-os vel-taynn 
 
 Fonn : — Chorus : — 
 
 Heiter-inn arinn, i-uirinn, oh ho ro, Heyter-inn arinn, i-uyrinn, oh-ho ro, 
 
 Heiter-inn arinn, ho ro. Heyter-inn arinn, ho ro. 
 
 Griann-thir orbhuidh 's uaine cota. Sunny land of the greenest mantle, 
 
 gri-an-hir or-vuy' 's u-ayne cota 
 
 Is froinidh ros ri h-altaibh. — With forests of flowers on the banks 
 
 is frayn-i' ros r halt-ayv of thy streamlets. — 
 
 Heiter-inn, etc. Heiter-inn; etc. 
 
276 
 
 THE MUSIC 
 
 'S aluinn a beinnean 's a sraithean, 
 sal-uynn a beynnen 'sa eray'-en 
 
 'S eibhein dath a gleanntain. — 
 'a eyveyn da' a glenn-tayn 
 
 Heit, etc. 
 
 Beautiful are thy mountains and 
 
 straths, 
 Joyous the aspect of thy glens. — 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Barr gach tolmain fo hhrat gorm-dhearc, The brow of every hillock has a cover- 
 
 barr gach tolo-mayn fo vrat gorm-yero 
 
 Air gach borrochainn altain. 
 ayr gach vorra-chayn al-tayn 
 
 Heit, etc. 
 
 Lusain churaidh mach a bruchdadh, 
 lasayn chur-ay' mach a brnc-a' 
 
 'S cuid dhiubh cul-ghonn bain-dhearg. 
 8 cnyd yi-uv cul-yorm bayn-yerag 
 
 Heit, etc. 
 
 Crodh ga'n strachadh air bar fasaich, 
 cro' gan strac-a' ayr bar fa-aaych 
 
 Am fiar nach d-f has gu crainntidh. 
 am fi-ar nach daa gu crayn-ti' 
 
 Heit, etc. 
 
 lad air theas a ruidh le 'm buaraich, 
 i-ad ayr hes a ruy' le'm bn-ar-ich 
 
 'S te le cuaich ga'n teann-ruith. 
 s te le cu-aych gan tenn-my' 
 
 Heit, etc. 
 
 A choill gu h-uile fo Ian ula, 
 a choyll ga huylle fo Ian nla 
 
 'S i na culaidh bhainnse. — 
 ai na cul-ay' vaynn-se 
 
 Heit, etc. 
 
 'S ceolar eibhein barr nan geigean 
 's ce-ol-ar eyveyn barr nan geygen 
 
 'Sa h-eoin fein a damhs orra. — 
 aa he-oyn feyn a davs orra 
 
 Heit, etc. 
 
 lad air bhoile seinn le coilleig, 
 i-ad ayr voylle aeynn le coylleyg 
 
 Ann san doire chranntail. 
 ann aan doyre chrann-tayl 
 
 Heit, etc. 
 
 let of blae-berries, 
 
 Winding down to the hollows of thy 
 streamlets. 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Fragrant shrubs, bursting forth, 
 
 Many of them blue-leaved and red- 
 girdled. 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Milk cows browsing in the desert, 
 Among grass of growth luxuriant. 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 In heats racing off with their shackles, 
 
 And women with their milk-pails rail- 
 ing after them. 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 The woods are wholly arrayed 
 In their marriage garments. — 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Musical and joyous are all the boughs, 
 With their own birds dancing in them. 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Eapturously and lustily singing, 
 In the grove of mast-like copsewooi 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 277 
 
 Morthir bheg na'm bradan tarra-gheal, 
 mor-hir veg nam bradan tarra-yel 
 
 'S airgead a cuir lann orra. 
 s ayrged a cuyr lann orra 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Brie le sulas leam a buinne, 
 brie le enlas lem a bnynne 
 
 'N deigh nan cuilleag greannar. 
 an dey' nan cuylleg grennar 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 'S lionach, slatach, cligeach, beirteach, 
 s li-on-ach slat-ach dig-ech beyrtech 
 
 'S eile ghlas nan Samhnan. 
 s eyll^ ylaa nan sav-nan 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Greidhean dhearg a tamh mu 'm fireacb, 
 grey'-en yerag a tav ma'm fir-ech 
 
 Eiltean, daimh is mangaibh. 
 eylten dayv is mangayv 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Guaineach, carrach feadh an daraich, 
 gn-ayn-ach carrach fe' an dar-aych 
 
 'S brisg na leannain cheann-deirg. 
 8 brisg na lennayn chenn-deyrag 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 'S na mein-bheagadh cuir ri beadradb, 
 s na minn-veg-a' cuyr ri bed-ra' 
 
 Anns na creagan teann orra. 
 anoB na cregan tenn orra 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Grian ag eiridh air na sleibbtean, 
 gri-an ag eyri' ayr na aleyv-ten 
 
 San tir cheutaich sheannsail. 
 san tir chey-taych benn-sayl 
 
 Heiter-inn arinn, i-uirinn, ho ho ro, 
 Heyter-inn arinn, ho ro. 
 
 Morar sweet, of the white-bosotned 
 
 Silver-scaled salmon. 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 With trout sportively springing among 
 
 thy currents, 
 After the merry flies. 
 
 Heyt, etCi, 
 With nets, gafife, (fishing) rods, pirns. 
 Rich is the gay dwelling of Savnan. 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 Eed herds (of deer) dwell in thy 
 
 mountains. 
 Hoes, stags, and hinds. 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 Sprightly, warily among the oaks, 
 Sport the smart red-headed wooers. 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 The little kids lovingly playing. 
 Among the rocks near them. 
 
 Heyt, etc. 
 
 The sun rises on the wolds, 
 
 Of the country pleasant and fortunate. 
 
 Heyter-inn arinn, i-urinn, oh ho ro, 
 Heyter-inn arinn, ho ro. 
 
 I think my traditional, as well as Gaelic and English education, has been 
 such as to justify my giving an opinion on the subject, and my conviction is, 
 that the institutions and local governments of the patriarchal clans were the 
 best of all human institutions for cultivating the hearts of the people, and rear- 
 ing and ruling them in honesty and virtue. Hence they were a civilized, a 
 generouBj and a noble people ; and the calpa with which they supported theii^ 
 
278 THE MUSIC 
 
 officials, was not only on an adequate, but a liberal scale, as is proved by the 
 hospitality for which the Highland chiefs and chieftains have been proverbially 
 characterized. The curse that banished population, comfort, and happiness 
 from the Highlands, is the curse of FEUDALISM. And where is the advantage 
 even to the feudal magnates themselves ? We had, of old, as many patriarchal 
 chiefs and chieftains as we have now of lairds ; and, although my space will 
 not permit me to enter into details, I am convinced that by doing so, I could 
 show that the chiefs and chieftians, (although they had no power under the 
 brehon law, or cleachda, or any other law made or sanctioned by the kings or 
 people of Scotland, to increase the rents of the clans, or to oppress or evict them) 
 had more influence and more happiness — more true wealth, so to speak — than 
 the Court of Session-made lairds of the present day. They got all the cattle 
 the country could produce, excepting those required to support the people, of 
 whom they were, both in effect and in feeling, the fathers ; and a reciprocal love 
 and devotion existed between them, which could only spring from the habitual 
 cultivation of virtuous principles, and warm and generous feelings. The writers 
 who ascribe that love and devotion to the despotism of the chiefs, and the serfish 
 spirit of the clans, have, in thus writing, libelled the human character, and 
 shown their ignorance of the institutions and character of the Highland chiefs 
 and clans. 
 
 The curse of feudalism, which never was felt universally in the Highlands 
 until after the battle of CuUoden, brought in its train the — if possible — still worse 
 curse of the Lowland sheep-farmers. The reader cannot judge this question by 
 the present condition and character of the sheep-farmers either of the Lowlands or 
 the Highlands, than whom a more respectable class is not' to be found among 
 her Majesty's subjects : I speak of' the " pilgrim-fathers" of the Lowland 
 sheep-farmers, — of those introduced into the Highlands, when the lands were 
 restored by the Crown and Parliament of England to the chiefs, instead of the 
 clans. It was after that, and not till then, that the chiefs and chieftains became 
 lairds, and found it their interest to evict the clans. This was done at first 
 quietly and gradually, but ultimately, as the strength of the executive increased, 
 by wholesale evictions and expatriations. Sad for the warlike power and dignity of 
 Scotland has been the change that substituted the Lowland shepherd for the High- 
 land warrior and husbandman; but it is to be borne in mind that Ispeak of the first 
 batch, who, with a few exceptions, were the very lowest grade of the Lowland 
 peasantry, — persons who were as coarse and greedy in their habits as they 
 were low and mean in their character and birth. A thousand graphic anecdotes, 
 still preserved in the Highlands, but utterly unfit for publication, testify to the 
 truth of the above statement, and the impression it made on the minds of a 
 people whom a recent writer justly characterised as " Gentlemen of Nature's 
 own making." Types of the class I refer to, if I am not misinformed, are still 
 to be found in isolated localities in the Lowlands, notwithstanding the great 
 change in the condition and in the manners and customs of the Lowland 
 peasantry since the above date. Some proprietors consider these drudges, who 
 toil hard and live cheap, the most profitable farmers ; but, alas for the country 
 
OF THK HIGHLAND CLANS. 
 
 279 
 
 that allowed them to expatriate her noble Highland clans ! Lest the reader 
 should doubt the correctness of the above sketch of the original sheep-farmers 
 of the Highlands, I beg to refer him to " Oran nan Ciobairean," by Allan 
 Macdougall, the Wind bard of Glengarry, who knew them well, and graphically 
 describes both their character and lives. He corroborates his contemporary, 
 Duncan Ban Macintyre, in ascribing to them the suppression of the great agri- 
 cultural enterprise of the Gael, " on shores and wolds," and converting the 
 country into a desert ; but I can make room only for one verse, for I have 
 exceeded the limits of my contract by nearly 100 pages. This poem was 
 written more than sixty years since, by a man who witnessed and could well 
 appreciate the change he describes. I wish Mr Macnaughton, the gentleman 
 mentioned in the preface, would publish it in his phonetic spelling, with such a 
 translation as that published in his " Lectures on the Authenticity of Ossian." 
 I feel certain that it would gratify thousands of the English reading public. 
 
 OEAN NAN CIOBAIKEAN. — THE SONG OF THE SHEEP-FAEMERS. 
 
 Thainig orin do dh-Alabin crois ! 
 Tha doine bochd nochdte nis. 
 Gun bhiadh gun aodach gun chluain ; 
 Tha'n airde tuath an deis a sgrios ! 
 Cha'n fhaiceir crodh laoigh an gleann, 
 
 Na gerran laider dol an eil ; 
 Cha'n fhaicer ach caorich is uain, 
 'S goil mu'n cuaii-t le sgreidil bhrein. 
 
 Tha'n duthaich gu leir air dol fas, 
 
 San Gaedhel gu'n tathaich fo'n ghrein ! 
 
 A curse has come upon Albin ! 
 Men are now poor and naked, 
 Without food, raiment, or shelter ; 
 The north country is ruined ! 
 
 No milk kine are to be seen in the 
 
 vales. 
 No strong work-horses in harness ; 
 Nothing is seen but ewes and lambs, 
 
 With Lowlanders round them, harshly 
 
 , screeching. . 
 
 The country has been converted into a 
 
 desert, 
 The Gael has no home under the suni 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX TO MUSIC. 
 
 CALEDONIAN MELODIES. 
 
 Page 
 
 1. A ChoUa mo Ruin, — Coll of my Love, referred to at page 125 
 
 2. An Sealgair 's a Ohomhachag, — The Hunter and the Owl, 135 
 " A Mhaighdean Shith 's an Sealgair, — The Fairy Maiden and the Hunter, , 137 
 " Nighean Donn na Buaile, — The Brown-haired Maiden of the Fold, 149 
 " An Cronan, — The Croon, 155 
 
 3. Fuaim an t-Shaimh, — The Voice of Silence, 156 
 " Gur Muladach Tha Mi,— Sorrowful Am I, ' - 158 
 " A Mhorag Chiatach, — Morag Beautiful, 176 
 " Ho an Clodh Dubh,— Hey the Black Cloth, 181 
 
 4. Mac-greagair Ruadhro, — Macgregor Eu-a-ro, 186 
 " Cumhadh Baird,— The Bard's Lament, 189 
 
 5. Buain na Eainich, — Cutting the Ferns, 191 
 " Gur Faoin mo Luaidh air Cadal, — Vain are my Thoughts of Sleep, 196 
 " Oich mar tha Mi, — Alas for Me, ... 197 
 
 6. Gu'm bu Slan a chi mi, — Happy may I see, - - 198 
 " Moch 'sa Mhaduinn, — Early in the Morning, 206 
 " Air Faillerin Hlerinn, - 209 
 
 7. G-iUidh CaUum, - - 224 
 " The Die-hards, — a Caledonian March, 225 
 " Cumhadh Prionns' Albaert, — Lament for Prince Albert, 235 
 
 8. Lament for Prince Charles, - - - 244 
 " ' Sud mar chaidh an Cal a DhoUaidh, — How the Kail was spoilt, 245 
 " Caibtein Carraig, — Captain Carrick, - - 245 
 
 9. Fear a Bhata, — Man of the Boat, 246 
 " Mari Bhoidheach, — Bonny Mary, - 248 
 " Galium a Ghlinne, — Malcolm of the Glen, 251 
 
 10. Cumhadh Mbic Cruimen, — M'Cruimen's Lament, 253 
 " A Mhaighdean Mhodhar, — Maiden Gentle, 25^ 
 " Duanag Ceiten, — A May Carol, - 255 
 " 'S Cianal 'm Fhuireach an Dun-eidin, — Pensive is my Residence in 
 
 Edinburgh, - 257 
 
 11. An Gillidh Dubh Ciar Dubh,— The Black-haired Swarthy Youth, 259 
 " Oich mar tha mi 's mi na'm aonar, — Alas my Fate, 260 
 
282 
 
 11. G-ed a Gheabhain,— Though I should get, &c. referred to at page 263 
 
 12. 'S Truagh a Kigh !— "Would, a ri ! 265 
 " Tha Dhriuchd Fein,— Its own Dew, &c. 267 
 " Och nan Och, mo Leir Chradh, — Alas, alas, my Painful Sorrow, 269 
 " An Gillidh Guanaoh,— The Volatile Youth, - 270 
 
 13. Maolruainidh GhUnnichen, — Maol-ru-ayni of the Glens, - 273 
 " Crodh Chaillean,— The Milk-kine of Colin, 274 
 " Till an Crodh a Dhonnachaidh, — Turn the Kine, Duncan, - 274 
 " Failte na Morthir Bhoidheach, — Hail to Thee, Bonnie Morar, 275 
 
 WELSH MELODIES. 
 
 14. Codiad yr Hedydd, — The Song of the Lark, 213 
 
 15. BugeiHor Gwenith Gwyn, — Watching the Wheat, 214 
 " Nos Galan, — New Year's Eve, 214 
 
 16. Merch Megan, — Megan's Daughter, - 215 
 " Ehyfelgyrch Gwyi- Harlech, — War Song of the Men of Harlech, 216 
 
 17. Morva Ehuddlan, — The Marsh of Euthlan, - 217 
 
 18. Glan Meddwdod Mwyn,— The Joy of the Mead Cup, - 218 
 
 lEISH MELODIES, &c. 
 
 18. A Maighdeon, a Bhean, 's a Bhantraech, — The Maid, Wife, and Widow, 220 
 " An Chuil-fhionn,— The Cooleen, - 222 
 
 19. Gaisgich Chluain Tharhh, — Heroes of Clontarf, - (Celtic) 
 " Gaisgich Chluain Tharbh, — Heroes of Clontarf, (Irish)* 
 
 20. Eamonn a Chnoic,— Edmund of the HiU, - (Irish) 221 
 " Tha mi 'm shuidhe air an Tulaich, — I am sitting on the Height, (Celtic) 153 
 
 ^ Dr White obligingly sent me, through Mr Muidoch, this last " Teision of the Battle of Clontarf;" 
 but it IB evidently not a different version, but altogether a different tune from the above. The 
 people of Ireland, like the people of the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland, differed in' dialect, in 
 music, and dancing, as well as in their institutions. Although I have not Dr White's authority for saying 
 so, I have no doubt that it is the March of the Gothic Clans of Ireland to Clontarf, and that the first 
 is the March of the Celtic Clans to the same battle. The two specimens contrast with one another as 
 strikingly as Caledonian and Scottish melodies : indeed, the first and the Welsh and Caledonian 
 Marches breathe a kindred spirit, and differ widely from Dr White's " Battle of Clontarf." 
 
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 With expiebsion. 
 
 
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10 CUMHADH MHIC CHUIMEN. 
 
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 MixleriitU ifuick. 
 
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14 
 
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BUGEILIOR GWENITH GWYN. 
 
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 AN CHUIL-FHIONIV. 
 
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19 
 
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