Part 1

Transcriber's Notes: Underscores "_" before and after a word or phrase indicate ITALICS. Equals signs "=" before and after a word or phrase indicate BOLD Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals. Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs. Obvious spelling mistakes have been corrected. Old or deprecated spellings have been preserved. For the poems in Gaelic, the original book put all the poems in ancient Gaelic on even numbered pages, and the translation to modern Gaelic on odd numbered pages. In this e-book, the ancient version is given first in its entirety, followed by the modern version. In the INTRODUCTION, there is a reference to a GENEAOLOGY OF THE MACGREGORS on page 144 which has been changed to the correct page 161.

THE DEAN OF LISMORE’S BOOK

EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY THOMAS CONSTABLE,

FOR EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS.

LONDON . . . . . . . . HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.

CAMBRIDGE . . . . . . . MACMILLAN AND CO.

DUBLIN . . . . . . . . W. ROBERTSON.

GLASGOW . . . . . . . . JAMES MACLEHOSE.

[Illustration: GENEALOGY OF M’GREGORS BY DOUGAL THE SERVITOR P. 161 126-127.]

[Illustration: Fr Schenck. 50, George S^t. Edinburgh. II. LINES BY COUNTESS OF ARGYLE P. 155. 118-119]

THE DEAN OF LISMORE’S BOOK

A SELECTION OF ANCIENT GAELIC POETRY

FROM A MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION MADE BY SIR JAMES M’GREGOR, DEAN OF LISMORE, IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

EDITED WITH A TRANSLATION AND NOTES BY THE REV. THOMAS M’LAUCHLAN

AND AN INTRODUCTION AND ADDITIONAL NOTES BY WILLIAM F. SKENE ESQ.

EDINBURGH EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS 1862.

CONTENTS.

FACSIMILES--(I.) GENEALOGY OF M’GREGOR, BY DOUGAL THE SERVITOR. (II.) LINES BY COUNTESS OF ARGYLE, _Frontispiece_

INTRODUCTION, BY WILLIAM F. SKENE, ESQ. PAGE i

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE’S MS., xci

FACSIMILES--(I.) AUTOGRAPH OF DEAN M’GREGOR. (II.) PART OF OSSIAN’S ODE TO FINN, xcvi

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF POEMS SELECTED FROM IT, WITH NOTES, BY THE REV. THOS. M’LAUCHLAN, 1-161

ORIGINAL TEXT, WITH TRANSLATION INTO MODERN SCOTCH GAELIC, BY THE REV. THOS. M’LAUCHLAN, 2, 3

NOTE BY TRANSLATOR, 129

ADDITIONAL NOTES, BY WILLIAM F. SKENE, ESQ., 137

INDEX, 153

INTRODUCTION.

In the heart of the Perthshire Highlands, and not far from the northern shore of Loch Tay, there lies a secluded vale of about six miles long. The river Lyon, which issues from the long and narrow valley of Glenlyon through the pass of Chesthill, hardly less beautiful than the celebrated pass of Killichranky, meanders through it. On the east bank of a small stream which falls into the Lyon about the centre of the vale, is the Clachan or Kirkton of Fortingall, anciently called Fothergill, from which it takes its name; and on the west or opposite bank is the mansion of Glenlyon House, anciently called Tullichmullin.

A stranger stationed at the clachan or little village of Fortingall, would almost fancy that there was neither egress from nor ingress to this little district, so secluded and shut in among the surrounding mountains does it appear to be. It is a spot where one could well suppose that the traditions of former times, and the remains of a forgotten oral literature, might still linger in the memories of its inhabitants; while the local names of the mountains and streams about it are redolent of the mythic times of the Feine. On the west is the glen of Glenlyon, the ancient Cromgleann nan Clach or Crooked Glen of the Stones, associated with many a tradition of the Feine, and where the remains of those rude forts, termed Caistealan na Feine, crown many a rocky summit; and the vale is bounded on the south and east by the ridge of Druimfhionn or Finn’s Ridge.

In the latter part of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, there dwelt here a family of the name of Macgregor. They were descended from a vicar of Fortingall, who, at the time when, during the century preceding the Reformation, the Catholic Church was breaking up, and their benefices passing into the hands of laymen, secured for himself and his descendants the vicarage of Fortingall and a lease of the church lands.

Of the history of this family we know somewhat from an obituary commenced by one of his descendants, and continued to the year 1579 by the Curate of Fothergill, which is still preserved.

His son, whether legitimate or illegitimate we know not, was Ian Rewych, or John the Grizzled, termed Makgewykar or son of the Vicar.[1]

His grandson was Dougall Maol, or Dougall the Bald or Tonsured, called patronymically Dougall Johnson, or the son of John.

[1] Obitus Katherine neyn Ayn Weyll Sponsse Johannis M’Ayn Rawych MacGewykar apud Aychly in Mense Decembris anno Domini Mvcxlij.--Chron. Fort.

This Dougall Johnson appears in 1511 as a notary-public,[2] and dwelt at Tullichmullin, where his wife Katherine, daughter of Donald M’Clawe, _alias_ Grant, died in 1512.[3] He is twice mentioned in the obituary or Chronicle of Fortingall; in 1526, as repairing the cross in Inchadin, or the old church of Kenmore, situated on the north bank of the river Tay, nearly opposite Taymouth Castle; and in 1529, as placing a stone cross in Larkmonemerkyth, the name of a pass among the hills which leads from Inchadin to the south.[4]

Of Dougall the Bald, the son of John the Grizzled, we have no further mention; but of his family we know of two sons, James and Duncan.

James was a Churchman. He appears as a notary-public, an office then held by ecclesiastics, along with his father, in the year 1511, and he early attained to honour and influence, through what channel is unknown; for, in 1514, we find him Dean of Lismore,[5] an island in Argyllshire, lying between the districts of Lorn and Morvern, which was at that time the Episcopal seat of the Bishops of Argyll. He was, besides, Vicar of Fortingall and Firmarius or tenant of the church lands; and died possessed of these benefices in the year 1551, and was buried in the choir of the old church of Inchadin.[6]

[2] Charter Robert Menzies of that ilk to Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchy, dated at the Isle of Loch Tay, 18th September 1511. Inter test. Dugallo Johneson Notario et domino Jacobo M’Gregour notario-publico.--Reg. Mag. Sig. xvii. 69.

[3] Obitus Catherine neyn Donyll M’Clawe alias Grant uxoris Dougalli Johnson apud Tullychmollin xxij. die Julij anno domini M^oV^oxj.

[4] Memorandum solium crucis in Inchadin compositum fuit per Dougallum Johnson. Anno domini M^oV^oxxvj^o.

Crux lapidea fuit posita in Larkmonemerkyth in magno lapide qui alio nomine vocatur clachur . . . per Dougallum Johnson primo Octobris anno domini, etc., V^cxxix.--Chron. Fort.

[5] Origines Parochiales, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 161.

[6] Obitus honorabilis viri ac egregii Viri Domini Jacobi (M’Gregor) filii Dougalli Johnson ac decani Lesmorensis Vicarii de Fortyrgill et Firmarii dicte ecclesie ... bone memorie in nocte Sancte Lucie virginis hora ... post meridiem et sepultus in die Lucie videlicet ... Anno Domini M V^clj^o. in choro de Inchadin.--Chron. Fort.

In 1552, a year after his death, Gregor Macgregor, son of the deceased Sir James Macgregor, Dean of Lismore, as became the head of a small but independent sept of the Macgregors, and with a due regard to its safety, bound himself to Colin Campbell of Glenurchy and his heirs, “taking him for his chief, in place of the Laird of Macgregor, and giving him his calp.”[7]

In 1557 Gregor and Dougall Macgregors, natural sons of Sir James Macgregor, receive letters of legitimation;[8] and, in 1574, Dougall Macgregor appears as Chancellor of Lismore.[9]

It is unnecessary for our purpose to follow the history of this family any further; suffice it to say, that the two brothers, James and Duncan,[10] members of a clan which, though under the ban of the Government, and exposed to the grasping aggression of their powerful neighbours, the Campbells of Glenurchy, considered themselves as peculiarly Highland, and had high pretensions, as descended from the old Celtic monarchs of Scotland--connected with the Church, and as such, possessing some cultivation of mind and such literary taste as Churchmen at that time had, yet born and reared in the farm-house of Tullichmullin, in the secluded vale of Fortingall, and imbued with that love of old Highland story and cherished fondness for Highland song, which manifests itself in so many a quiet country Highlander, and which the scenery and associations around them were so well calculated to foster--the one, from his high position in the Church of Argyll, having peculiar facilities for collecting the poetry current in the West Highlands--the other, though his brother, yet, as was not uncommon in those days, his servitor or amanuensis, and himself a poet--and both natives of the Perthshire Highlands--collected and transcribed into a commonplace book Gaelic poetry obtained from all quarters.

[7] Black Book of Taymouth, p. 196.

[8] Precept of Legitimation in favour of Gregor and Dougal MacGregors, natural sons of Sir James MacGregor.--Privy Seal, xxix. 46.

[9] Charter by Dougall Macgregor, Chancellor of Lismoir, with consent of Sir Colin Campbell of Glenurchy, of the lands of Auchnacroftie, dated at Balloch, 25th December 1574.

[10] Duncan mcCowle voil vie Eoyne Reawych.--MS., p. 223.

This collection has fortunately been preserved. It is, unquestionably, a native compilation made in the central Highlands, upwards of three hundred years ago. It contains the remains of an otherwise lost literature. In it we find all that we can now recover of native compositions current in the Highlands prior to the sixteenth century, as well as the means of ascertaining the extent to which the Highlanders were familiar with the works of Irish poets.

It is a quarto volume of some 311 pages, and is written in the current Roman hand of the period. Though much injured by time, the leaves in part worn away, and the ink faint, it is still possible to read the greater part of its contents.

With the exception of a short Latin obituary, and one or two other short pieces, it consists entirely of a collection of Gaelic poetry made by the two brothers.

At the bottom of the 27th page appears the following note in Latin:--Liber Dni Jacobi Macgregor Decani Lismoren.

At page 78, there is a chronological list of Scottish kings written in the Scottish language, which ends thus:--“James the Fyfte reignis now in great felicitie.” He reigned from 1513 to 1542; and, on page 161, there is a genealogy of the Macgregors, written by the brother Duncan, deducing their descent from the old Scottish kings, and he adds a docquet in Gaelic, which may be thus translated:--Duncan the Servitor, the son of Dougall, who was son of John the Grizzled, wrote this from the Book of the History of the Kings, and it was done in the year 1512.[11]

There can be no question, therefore, that this collection was formed during the lifetime of the Dean of Lismore, and a great part of it as early as the year 1512. How it was preserved through that and the succeeding century is unknown. In the last century it passed into the possession of the Highland Society of London, by whom it was transferred to the custody of the Highland Society of Scotland, when a committee of that Society was engaged in an inquiry into the authenticity of the Poems of Ossian, published by Macpherson. It has now been deposited, along with other Gaelic MSS. in the possession of that Society, in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, and forms part of that collection of Gaelic MSS. which have been brought together within the last few years, and contain nearly all the Gaelic MSS. which are known still to exist.[12]

[11] Agis Duncha Deyr oclych mcDowle vec oyne Reywich di Skreyve so a loywrow Shenchych nyn reig agis ros zenyt Anno Domini 1512.--MS., p. 144.

Deyroclych is Daoroglach, and is the Gaelic rendering of Servitor.

[12] This collection has been formed within the last few years mainly through the instrumentality of the writer. When he commenced, the Faculty of Advocates possessed four Gaelic MSS. The collection now consists of sixty-five.

The writer formed the plan of collecting the remains of the MS. Gaelic literature of Scotland, which was rapidly disappearing, into one place, where they could be preserved, by inducing the possessors of Gaelic MSS. to deposit them in some public library for preservation; and as the Faculty of Advocates were already in the possession of some MSS., their library was evidently the most appropriate depository for this purpose. The valuable MSS. belonging to the Highland Society of Scotland formed the basis of the collection; the directors, and their secretary, John Hall Maxwell, Esq., C.B., having at once responded to the call, and the fortunate discovery of the Kilbride collection, which its possessor likewise agreed to deposit, added a large number. The remainder consists of MSS. deposited by individual possessors, and the collection now embraces nearly all the MSS. known or believed still to exist.

It is hoped that, if any Gaelic MSS. still remain in the hands of individual possessors, they will add to the value of this collection by making them known, and depositing them in the Advocates’ Library for preservation.

The MSS. are preserved in a locked cabinet, and a general catalogue of the whole has been prepared by the writer.

The Dean’s MS. differs from all the other MSS. in that collection in two essential particulars. It is not, like the other MSS., written in what is called the Irish character, but in the current Roman character of the early part of the sixteenth century; and the language is not written in the orthography used in writing Irish, and now universally employed in writing Scotch Gaelic, but in a peculiar kind of phonetic orthography, which aims at presenting the words in English orthography as they are pronounced.

The peculiar orthography employed is, however, evidently not the mere attempt of a person ignorant of the proper orthography to write the words in English letters in an arbitrary manner, so as to present, as nearly as possible, the sound of the words as they struck his ear when repeated to him, but bears evident marks of having been a regular and known system of orthography, which, although we have few specimens of it left, may not the less have once prevailed in that part of the Highlands more removed from the influence of Irish teaching.

It is a peculiarity of all the Celtic dialects, that the consonants suffer a change in the beginning of words, from the influence of the preceding words, or in forming the oblique cases, and likewise change their sound in the middle of words by being aspirated.

In the Irish orthography, the original consonant is invariably preserved; and the change is indicated by prefixing another consonant when the sound is affected by eclipsis, or the influence of the preceding word, or by adding the letter _h_, when it is changed by aspiration.

In the Welsh dialects, however, and in the Manx, which is a dialect of the Gaelic division of the Celtic languages, a different system of orthography has always prevailed. Instead of retaining the original letter, and indicating the change in the sound by prefixing or adding another, a different letter expressing simply the new sound, is substituted for the original letter; and hence the orthography bears more of a phonetic and less of an etymologic character.

Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. In the one, the original form of the word is preserved, and the primary sounds of the letters are retained. The alteration in their sound in inflection is marked by prefixing another letter, or adding the letter _h_. It is by the application of grammatical rules that the pronunciation of the word is ascertained, and that pronunciation may deviate from time to time to a greater degree from the original standard, while the orthography, always remaining the same, fails to chronicle it.

In the other, a new letter is substituted for the original letter, when the sound is changed by inflection, or by the position of the word in a sentence, and the orthography employed expresses the pronunciation of the word in its inflected, without reference to its original form.

The one presents the language in its etymologic form, without reference to its pronunciation, and is of value in preserving the original form of the written speech.

The other stereotypes its sounds as spoken at the time; it is committed to writing without reference to the original form or primary shape of the words; and is of value in exhibiting the living dialects as spoken by the people.

An apt illustration of this is afforded by the English language and its dialects.

The English orthography exhibits the language as it once was, but from which it has greatly deviated in pronunciation; and it is hardly possible to frame rules by applying which, to the orthography, the present pronunciation can be deduced. It is obvious that if the words, which are differently pronounced in the Scotch dialect, were spelt according to the English orthography, no clue would be afforded to its peculiarities. On the other hand, when the Scotch dialect is spelt phonetically, as is done, for instance, by Sir Walter Scott in his Scotch romances, the peculiarities in the pronunciation of a living dialect are vividly presented, and these elements of the original language, which may have been preserved in this dialect, are made available for philological purposes.

The collection of Gaelic poetry made by the Dean of Lismore and his brother is thus written in an orthography of this latter class. It attracted some notice when the Highland Society was engaged in its inquiry into the authenticity of Ossian’s Poems, from its including among its contents some poems attributed to Ossian. Three of these are printed in the report, though incorrectly and imperfectly, but little was known of the other contents of the MS.

A transcript was made of the MS. for the Highland Society by the late Mr. Ewen M’Lachlan, an accomplished Gaelic scholar, who was employed to examine their MS. It, however, passed into the possession of the Rev. J. Macintyre of Kilmanievaig, who allowed it to be examined for a short time by the editors, but no full or correct account was given of the MS. till the Rev. T. M’Lauchlan, one of the editors of this work, read an account of it to the Society of Scottish Antiquaries in the year 1856, which is printed in their proceedings.[13] This account attracted considerable notice to the MS., and led to its value being more appreciated. The present publication has, in consequence, been undertaken.

[13] Vol. ii. pt. i. p. 35.

The Dean’s MS. has a double value, philological and literary, and is calculated to throw light both on the language and the literature of the Highlands of Scotland. It has a philological value, because its peculiar orthography presents the language at the time in its aspect and character as a spoken language, and enables us to ascertain whether many of the peculiarities which now distinguish it were in existence three hundred years ago; and it has a literary value, because it contains poems attributed to Ossian, and to other poets prior to the sixteenth century, which are not to be found elsewhere; and thus presents to us specimens of the traditionary poetry current in the Highlands prior to that period, which are above suspicion, having been collected upwards of three hundred years ago, and before any controversy on the subject had arisen.

It has been found impossible to present so large a collection entire, but the selection has been made with reference to these two objects. Each poem selected for publication has been presented entire. There is a literal translation of the poem made by the Rev. T. M’Lauchlan, and appended is the original Gaelic text of the poem in the Dean’s orthography, exactly as it appears in the MS.; and, on the opposite page, the same Gaelic has been transferred by Mr. M’Lauchlan into the modern orthography of the Scotch Gaelic, which is nearly the same as that of the Irish, so as to afford the means of comparing the one orthography with the other, and the modern spoken dialect in the Highlands with the language of the poems collected by the Dean upwards of three hundred years ago, as well as to furnish a test of the accuracy of the translation, by showing the rendering given to the Dean’s language.[14]

The present spoken language of the Highlands of Scotland is, as is well known, a dialect[15] of that great branch of the Celtic languages termed the Gwyddelian or Gaelic, and to which belong also the Irish and Manx, or spoken language of the Isle of Man. These three dialects of the Gaelic branch of the Celtic languages, the Irish, the Scotch Gaelic, and the Manx, approach each other so nearly, as to form in fact but one language; and the peculiarities which distinguish them from one another are not of a nature sufficiently broad or vital to constitute either of them a distinct language.

[14] It is hardly possible to convey to the reader an adequate conception of the labour of the task undertaken by Mr. M’Lauchlan, or of the courage, perseverance, and ability with which it has been overcome. Mr. M’Lauchlan had first to read the Dean’s transcript--no ordinary task, when, to a strange orthography, affording no clue to the original word, was added a careless handwriting of the beginning of the sixteenth century, faded ink, and decayed paper. He had then to convert it into the corresponding Gaelic in its modern shape and orthography, and then to translate it into English, in which he had to combine the literal rendering of an idiomatic language with an intelligible exhibition of its meaning in English.

It may be as well to take this opportunity of stating, that Mr. M’Lauchlan is solely responsible for the selection made from the Dean’s MS., the rendering in modern Gaelic, the English translation, and the notes at the foot of the page. The writer of this is responsible only for the Introduction and the additional notes, to which his name is attached.

[15] I use the word _dialect_ throughout, in the restricted sense of the German word _mundart_, for want of a better English word to express it.

The language spoken by the Highlanders of Scotland is termed by them simply Gaelic; but the name of Erse has occasionally been bestowed upon it during the last few centuries by the Lowlanders.[16] As early as the year 1690 a short vocabulary of Scotch Gaelic words was appended to an edition of Bedel’s Irish Bible, to adapt it to the use of the Scotch Highlanders; and a somewhat fuller vocabulary, by the same author, was published in Nicolson’s Scottish Historical Library in 1702.

In 1741, a more complete vocabulary was published by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, for the use of their schools in the Highlands. It was compiled by Mr. Alexander M’Donald, schoolmaster at Ardnamurchan. Another vocabulary was published in 1795 by Robert M’Farlane; and, in 1815, a further step in advance was made by the larger vocabulary of Mr. P. M’Farlane.

In 1825, a large quarto dictionary of the Scotch Gaelic was published by R. A. Armstrong; and in three years afterwards the splendid dictionary compiled by the first Gaelic scholars, under the auspices of the Highland Society of Scotland, appeared. In this dictionary Gaelic words from all quarters are inserted; but those which belong to the vernacular dialect of the Scotch Highlands are carefully distinguished.

The small dictionary compiled by M’Alpine, a schoolmaster in Islay, affords a genuine representation of the Gaelic spoken in that island.