CHAPTER VII.

MEDIEVAL BARDS.

“Gach fili ’s bard, gach léigh, aosdan is draoi, Gach seanachaidh fòs, gach eoladhain shaor is saoi; Na diadhairean môr bu chliú, ’s bu ghloir do’n Chléir B’ ann leath’ gu tarbhach labhair iad briathra Dhé.”—MACLEAN.

The unwise utterance of Dr Samuel Johnson that no Scottish Gaelic manuscript of an older date than last century existed is amply refuted by the catalogues of British, Irish, and Continental Libraries. Private individuals also are in possession of Gaelic manuscripts, some of which come to light now and then. In 1873 Admiral Macdonald sent to Mr J. F. Campbell of Islay the famous _Leabhar Dearg_, or Red Book of Clan-Ranald, which he had recovered. This was one of the manuscripts which Macpherson was supposed to have used and destroyed; but after having read it in company with Mr Standish O’Grady, Mr Campbell declares that this paper manuscript “does not contain one line of Macpherson’s Ossian.” It is highly probable that many others may have ancient manuscripts among their family archives like this one of Admiral Macdonald, the supposed destruction of which by Macpherson caused so much literary waste in connection with the Ossianic controversy.

There have been in Scotland many influences—changes dynastic, political, and ecclesiastical—unfavourable to the preservation of our manuscripts. In the midst of these turbulent changes and the ravages of wars, the vandal hands of foes that demolished churches and burned houses would not spare the native literary remains they might come across. We have lost much by the ravages of the Norse in Iona, of the English at Scone, and of the Reformers. But fresh access of national life came in each case.

It is not the intention of these chapters to describe at length the MSS. that we have left us, but a few of the older ones may be mentioned. The earliest, as already remarked, are to be found in Continental Libraries—those on which Zeuss founded his “Grammatica Celtica.” Some of them are no doubt Irish, but some of them must have been also written by the missionaries who went forth at that time from the College of Iona. The language and MSS. of that period in Ireland and Scotland were of the same character and were common property, and continued to be so to a great extent till the period of the Reformation, which, as above remarked, along with more violent political changes in Scotland before then, helped to destroy relics of preceding ages. The oldest Gaelic MS. extant in this country is a folio beautifully written on parchment or vellum from the collection of the late Major MacLauchlan of Kilbride. It is in the possession of the Highland Society, and is marked Vo. A., No. I. It is supposed to belong to the eighth century. The following remark is found on the margin of the fourth leaf: —“Oidche bealtne ann a coimhtech mo Pupu Muirciusa agus as olc lium nach marunn diol in linesi dem bub Misi Fithil acc furnuidhe na scoile.” It has been thus rendered by the late Dr Donald Smith:—“The night of the first of May, in Coenobium of my Pope Marchus, and I regret that there is not left of my ink enough to fill up this line. Jane Fithil, an attendant on the school.” The MS. “consists of a poem, moral or religious, some short historical anecdotes, a critical exposition of the _Tain_, an Irish tale.”

One of the next oldest is named “Emanuel,” and is ascribed to the ninth century. Thirty-five lines are quoted in the appendix of the Highland Society’s report.

There is a parchment book that is attributed to the tenth or eleventh century. It contains Biblical legends, a life of St. Columba, &c. It admits of no doubt that many Gaelic productions perished in the eighth century, when Iona was sacked by the Norse. And it is only a wonder that so many relics should have survived the ruthless changes of those days.

Bishop Moore, of Norwich, afterwards of Ely, presented his library, more than a century ago, to the University of Cambridge. Among his large collection of books was a vellum MS. of 86 folios, about six inches long by three broad. It is said that this MS. is as old as the ninth century. The principal part of it is written in Latin, and contains John’s Gospel and portions of the other three Gospels, the Apostles’ Creed, and part of an Office for the visitation of the sick. It belonged to an establishment of the Culdee Church, and is an interesting relic of the Celtic learning and culture of the time, particularly of the ecclesiastics of that Church, who, while cultivating their native Gaelic, could also read and write Latin. To the Gaelic scholar the chief interest lies in the Celtic portion of the MS.—the Gaelic entries made on the margin and on other spaces in the volume. The MS. was published some years ago by the Spalding Club, under the excellent editorship of the late Dr John Stuart, who has given us the Gaelic entries as well as the original in a scholarly and careful fashion. A Gaelic paragraph on the founding of the old monastery of Deer has attracted much attention, on account of its reference to Columba, and because it shows the intimate connection that existed between the parent establishment at Iona and branch establishments in distant parts of Scotland.

The _Legend of Deer_ is as follows:—

Columcille acus drostán mac cósgreg adálta tangator áhí marroalseg día doíb gonic abbordobóir acus béde cruthnec robomormáer buchan aragínn acus essé rothídnaig dóib ingathráig sáin insaere gobraíth ómormaer acus óthóséc. tangator asááthle sen incathraig ele acus doráten ricolumcille sí iarfallán dórath dé acus dorodloeg arinmormáer .i. bédé gondas tabrád dó acus níthárat acus rogab mac dó galár iarnéré na gleréc acus robomaréb act mádbec iarsén dochuíd inmormáer dattác na glerec góndendaes ernacde les inmac gondisád slánte dó acus dórat inedbairt doíb nácloic intiprat goníce chlóic pette mic garnáit doronsat innernacde acus tanic slante dó; Iarsén dorat collumcille dódrostán inchadráig sén acus rosbenact acus foracaib imbrether gebe tisad ris nabab blienec buadacc tangatar deara drostán arscartháin fri collumcille rolaboir collumcille bedeár áním óhúnn ímácc.

TRANSLATION:

(Columcille and Drostán of Gosgrach his pupil came from I as God had shown to them unto Abbordoboir and Bede the Pict was mormaer of Buchan before them, and it was he that gave them that town in freedom for ever from mormaer and tosech. They came after that to the other town, and it was pleasing to Calumcille, because it was full of God’s grace, and he asked of the mormaer to wit Bede that he should give it to him; and he did not give it; and a son of his took an illness after [or in consequence of] refusing the clerics, and he was nearly dead [lit. he was dead but if it were a little.] After this the mormaer went to entreat the clerics that they should pray for the son that health should come to him, and he gave in offering to them from Cloch in tiprat to Cloch pette mic Garnait. They made the prayer, and health came to him. After that Calumcille gave to Drostán that town and blessed it and left as (his) word, “Whosoever should come against it, let him not be prosperous.” Drostán’s tears (deara) came on parting with Calumcille. Said Calumcille, “Let Dear be its name henceforward.”)

According to this legend it seems that King Brude’s court at Inverness was not the only distant place visited by the Iona Apostle, but that he also went as far east as the district of Buchan. The other chief Gaelic entries are records of grants of land made by the Monastery. The majority of the names entered, though mere patronymics then, became some time after clan names as understood at the present day. It was then or very soon after that the ancient inhabitants of Celtic Albin began to form themselves into clans in the state in which they were found two centuries ago. The systems of feudalism and clanship began to blend and develop. Towards the end of the MS. the following interesting Gaelic entry is found:—“Forchubus caichduini imbia arrath in lebran colli aratardda bendacht foranmain in truagan rodscribai.” This has been translated by the distinguished Celtic scholar Dr Whitley Stokes thus—“Be it on the conscience of every one in whom shall be for grace the booklet with splendour; that he give a blessing on the soul of the wretchock who wrote it.” The same eminent authority says—“In point of language this is identical with the oldest Irish glosses in Zeuss’s _Grammatica Celtica_.” This precisely proves what has been elsewhere already stated, that the Gaelic of Scotland and Ireland at that time was exactly the same, and that it was at a later period that dialectic differences appeared. It also suggests that many of old existing MSS. might have been written by Scotchmen as well as by Irishmen.

The most ancient and authentic record of the Scottish Kings is to be found in a poem called “The Albannic Duan,” which was recited by the Gaelic bard-laureate of the day at the coronation of Malcolm III. It was found originally in the MacFirbis Manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy. The name of the author is not known. The Duan consists of one hundred and eight lines, and is composed in the ballad measure. Being mostly a catalogue of names, it does not bear a verse translation very well. The first four stanzas run thus:—

Ye learned men of Albin all, Ye yellow-haired and gentle band, Who first invaded, do you know, The ancient shore of Albin land?

Albanus came with active men, That son of Isacon of fame, Brother of blameless Briutus he; From him did Albin get its name.

Briutus sent his brother bold Across the stormy sea of Icht, The sea-swept point of Fotudan In Albin fair he took with might.

Long after Briutus, brave and good, The Nevi-clans the land enjoyed; And Erglan, who came from his ship When he had Conning tower destroyed.

It was probably in this reign that the ancient language of Albin ceased to be used in the Royal Court of Scotland. It continued, however, to be the fashionable speech of the provincial princes of the Isles until the lordship of the Isles terminated, towards the end of the sixteenth century, with Angus MacDonald of Duneevaig, Islay, and the Glens in Antrim. Sir James Macdonald of Antrim, who had no English, came with a magnificent retinue to visit James IV. of Scotland at Holyrood previous to his ascending the throne of England, and stopped for some time at Court. Could the King, with whom Sir James was a great favourite, and to whom he was closely related, converse with him in the Gaelic language?

There is a parchment manuscript in quarto that belonged to the Kilbride collection. It is prettily written, and contains a metrical account or list of holidays, festivals, and saints’ days throughout the year; an almanack; and a treatise on anatomy, abridged from Galen, &c.; the Schola Salernitana in Leonine verse, drawn up about 1100 A.D., for the use of Robert, Duke of Normandy, the son of William the Conqueror, by the well-known medical school of Salerno. The Latin text is accompanied by a faithful Gaelic explanation. A specimen follows:—

“Sivis incolumem, sivis te reddere sanum; Curas tolle graves, irasci crede prophanum.”

_Gaelic_—

“Madh ail bhidh fallann agus madh aill bhidh slan; Cuirna himsnimha tromadhit, agus creid gurub diomhain duit fearg de dhenumh.”

Having the words _Leabhar Giollacholaim Meigleathadh_ on the last page of the MS., it is supposed that it belonged to Malcolm Bethune, a member of a family distinguished for their learning and medical skill, that supplied for many ages with physicians the Western Isles of Scotland. It was one of them, Fergus Mac Beth or Beaton, that signed the holograph, of the famous Islay Charter of 1408 for Donald, Lord of the Isles. A MS. dated 1238 on the cover is supposed to have been written at Glenmason, in Cowal. It contains tales in prose and verse—one about _Deardri_, _Dearduil_, or _Darthula_.

Another valuable and interesting MS., dated 1512-26, belonging to Sir James Macgregor, Dean of Lismore—“Jacobus M’Gregor decanus Lismorensis”—has been mostly published. The editors who have done their work admirably, have been Dr Thomas MacLauchlan and Dr W. F. Skene. The work of the former was very difficult and laborious—first to change the orthography of the Dean, which was phonetic, into modern Gaelic, and then give a literal English translation.

Among other known manuscripts of the period is that of Dunstaffnage, October 12, 1603, by Ewen Macphaill. It contains prose tales concerning Lochlin and Finnic heroes.

A paper manuscript 1654-5, by Edmond MacLauchlan, contains sonnets, odes, epistles, and an ogham alphabet at the end.

A quarto paper manuscript of 1690-91 contains ancient and modern tales and poems. It was written at Ardchonnail, on Lochawe side, by Ewen Maclean for Colin Campbell—“_Caillain Caimpbel leis an leis an leabharan_.” This Gaelic inscription appears on the seventy-ninth leaf of the manuscript.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries we have arrived at a period in which Gaelic is very generally written. To the latter century belong the most of the manuscript materials extant. The subjects of these manuscripts are of the most various descriptions. We have among them compendiums of theology, fables and anecdotes about saints, &c. The most valuable, perhaps, are the genealogical manuscripts. The historian of Scottish annals is not sufficiently equipped without knowledge of these. Some of them no doubt, being family records very frequently, are very partial; but when collated the one will correct the other. Other subjects treated of in these manuscripts are medicine and astrology. The substance of these is translated from Greek and Moorish works, Galen, Averroes, and Avicenna being the general sources. The largest number of the medical manuscripts were written by or passed through the hands of the Beatons, the well-known physicians of the western isles. Astrology appears to have been studied by the aid of Arabian writers; so many of the superstitions or popular ideas in the Highlands regarding the stars had probably an Arabic, and not a Druidic origin, as the present Highlanders generally believe. The surprising thing is that this science of the period should be known and cultivated in such inaccessible places as the Highlands and Islands. Dr MacLauchlan very pertinently and truly remarks as follows:—“The metaphysical discussions [of the MSS.], if they may be so called, are very curious, being characterised by the features which distinguished the science of metaphysics at the time. The most remarkable thing is there are Gaelic terms to express the most abstract ideas in metaphysics—terms which are now obsolete, and would not be understood by any ordinary Gaelic speaker. A perusal of these ancient writings shows how much the language has declined, and to what an extent it was cultivated at an early period. So with astrology, its terms are translated and the science is fully set forth. Tables are furnished of the position of the stars, by means of which to foretell the character of future events. Whatever literature existed in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries extended its influence to the Scottish Highlands. The nation was by no means in such a state of barbarism as some writers would lead us to expect. They had legal forms, for we have a formal legal charter of lands written in Gaelic; they had medical men of skill and acquirement; they had writers on law and theology, and they had men skilled in architecture and sculpture.” But then these manuscripts, these evidences of light and culture among the Gaels of the Middle Ages, were buried in private and public libraries till some years ago; and historians and others not suspecting their existence did not look for them; and so wrote what their fancy dictated concerning the barbaric Gael.

In examining the older MSS. and assigning them a nationality, the student of Celtic literature must bear in mind that the language spoken in the Highlands of Scotland and in Ireland in early times was exactly the same, and that the dialectic differences existing just now have mostly developed since the period of the Reformation. The literature that the two Gaelic peoples possessed till then was also to a great extent common property. As to their writing, what is called “Irish hand,” or vulgarly _Erse_, or “Irish character,” is nothing more than what was once common throughout the whole of Europe. It was in it Gaelic writers once wrote in Scotland; and thus is how some of our early MSS. have been assigned an Irish origin.

With the reign of Malcolm III., or _Ceann-Mor_, in the eleventh century, and his marriage with an English Princess, Scottish institutions and habits began to be radically affected. The Anglicising and Romanising processes at work were in their final stages in the Lowlands about the time of the last invasion of the Norse in the thirteenth century. Soon after the laws and customs of Scotland were found quite transformed. Feudalism was introduced, and began to extend even among the Highland chiefs and clans. The system of clanship, although having apparent points of resemblance to feudalism, was in principle essentially different. “In the former case the people followed their chief as the head of their race, and the representative of the common ancestor of the clan; in the latter they obeyed their leader as feudal proprietor of the lands to which they were attached, and to whom they owed military service for their respective portions of these lands. The Highland chief was the hereditary lord of all who belonged to his clan wherever they dwelt, or whatever lands they occupied; the feudal baron was entitled to the military service of all who held lands under him, to whatever race they might individually belong. The one dignity was personal, the other was territorial; the rights of the chief were inherent, those of the baron were accessory; the one might lose or forfeit his possessions, but could not thereby be divested of his hereditary character and privileges; the other when divested of his fee ceased to have any title or claim to the service of those who occupied the lands. Yet these two systems, so different in principle, were in effect nearly identical. Both exhibited the spectacle of a subject possessed of unlimited power within his own territories, and exacting unqualified obedience from a numerous train of followers, to whom he stood in the several relations of landlord, military leader, and judge, with all the powers and prerogatives belonging to each of those characters.” The system of clanship was for a time better adapted for the Highlands; but the tendency of both clanship and feudalism was to obstruct the administration of justice and impede the progress of improvement.

Let us now glance at the general culture of this period. From the poetry of Finlay MacNab, in _The Book of the Dean of Lismore_, we learn that the ancient bards were in the habit of writing their compositions. Indeed there was far more literary culture among the Gaels for many centuries before the Reformation than existed for some time subsequent to that period. As in earlier ages there was close intercourse in literary matters carried on during the period of the Kingdom of the Isles between the Highlands and Ireland. There are many names, Irish and Scotch, well known in literary annals, to be found in the Highlands at this time. The Beatons, originally O’Neils or MacNeills, were a family of learned physicians in Islay and Mull. Manuscripts, either written by them or in their possession, are still in existence. The MacVurichs, descendants of Muireadhach Albannach, who were hereditary senachies or bards to Clanranald, preserved the literary torch lighted for generations in the Western Isles. Some of them are said “to have received their education in Irish Colleges of poetry and writing.” On the other hand it seems to have been a general practice for Irish scholars to come to the Highlands, where they and their writings were well received and well known. Irish annals inform us of Irish scholars who were regarded as masters in the Highlands. These are the names of four of them:—

In 1185 died Maclosa O’Daly, ollave or scholar, a poet of Erin and Albin. He was famed for his poetry, hospitality and nobility.

In 1328 died blind O’Carril, chief minstrel of Erin and Albin in his day.

In 1448 died Tadgog, son of Tadg, son of Giollacoluim O’Higgin, chief preceptor of the poets of Erin and Albin.

In 1554 died Tagd, son of Aodh O’Coffey, chief teacher of poetry in Erin and Albin.

From this we learn that literature existed, and that it was sedulously cultivated both in the Highlands and in Ireland at this time; and we also learn how much influence the one country exercised on the language and literature of the other.

During this period Gaelic scholars and culture were encouraged and fostered by the Princes, afterwards the Lords of the Isles. These Princes were also very liberal in their benefactions to the Church; it was one of them, the great Somerled, that endowed the Abbey of Paisley. Iona and other places over which their sway extended had always their constant help. And thus in their patronage of churchmen they afforded shelter and protection to literature. The MacVurichs and the Beatons, already mentioned, were at one time their secretaries and senachies or clan-historians. Having in course of time extensive possessions in Ireland as well as in Scotland, much intercourse was maintained between the two countries, bards and scholars of both countries going and coming in their train. The most distinguished of them after Somerled were Donald, from whom the clan, Donald Bulloch, with his brother John Mor, and James Macdonald the last of the Isles who thus signs his name in a missive to the Irish Privy Council, on January 24, 1546:—“James M’Connail of Dunnewaik and ye Glinnis, and aperand aeyr of ye Yllis.” The Macdonalds, at one time or another, as Princes or Lords of the Isles, ruled for upwards of five centuries of the historical period over nearly the half of Scotland and part of the north of Ireland. They occupy a prominent place in Norse, Irish, and Scottish history. The Macdonalds finally lost all their lands in the West, the most of which passed into the hands of their powerful rivals the Campbells:—

The Halls of Finlaggan no longer sound To joyous feasts and dances as of yore: The bard is dumb, the harper plays no more Where the proud princes of the Isles were crowned:— Their palace waste! while sadness sits around; And weeds and nettles flourish on the floor; Stark silence hovers round the islet’s shore Where tread of warriors oft had shook the ground. The chiefs and chieftains of the isles and west Are seen no more at great Macdonald’s court; Their galleys traverse not the island seas: They with their furious feuds are now at rest: Razed is each castle, ruined is each fort, Within thy bounds, Queen of the Hebrides!

The name that stands first on the roll of the bards of the Middle and Modern Ages is that of MUIREADACH ALBANNACH. He is the author of several poems which have been preserved in _The Book of the Dean of Lismore_. Religious subjects are the theme of all his compositions. None of the old bards exhibits so much earnestness and intensity of feeling. There is also more subjectivity in his poems than in other productions of the period. His name signifies Murdoch of Albin, or Scotland, given probably to distinguish him from another Irish bard of the same name. Muireadhach became the ancestor of a family of senachies and bards who have been very distinguished in the literary annals of Gaelic Scotland. They were hereditary bards and senachies to the Clanranald family. One of them, Lachlan Mòr MacMhuireadhach or Vurich, accompanied Donald Balloch of the Isles in 1411 at the battle of Harlaw, reciting his grand war-incitement poem. The last of them, Lachlan MacVurich, gives evidence in the report of the Highland Society on Ossian, and traces his genealogy through eighteen generations to Muireadhach Albannach. Muireadhach appears to have lived between A.D. 1180 and 1220. I give here a metrical version of a short religious poem of his in the Dean of Lismore’s book. He is supposed to have been an ecclesiastic, as many of those who wrote in early times were.

I praise Thee, Christ, that on Thy breast A guilty one like me may rest; And that Thy favour I can share; And on my lips Thy cross may bear.

O Jesus, sanctify my heart, My hands and feet and every part; Me sanctify in Thy good grace,— Blood, flesh and bones, and all my ways.

I never cease committing sin; For still its love resides within: May God His holy fragrance shed Upon my heart and on my head.

Great glorious One vouchsafe relief From all the ills that bring me grief; Ere I am laid beneath the sod: Before me smooth my way to God.

Another poem of Muireadhach is a curious dialogue between himself and Cathal Cròdhearg, King of Connaught, who lived towards the end of the 12th century. Both of them were then entering on a monastic life. It has been inferred from the dialogue that Murdoch was a man of high birth. Another poem of his in the Dean of Lismore’s book I have translated as follows:—

’Tis time to leave for Paradise Since it is hard this pain to bear,— To win unsoiled, the heavenly prize Which others cannot with us share.

Now to thy priest thyself confess, And all thy sins recall to mind, Seek not His court with guilt-stained dress, For in that state none entrance find.

None of thy many sins conceal, Though sore it be their ill to tell: Thy secret thoughts and deeds reveal, Lest thou incur His wrath in hell.

And with the clergy make thy peace, Unworthy, helpless though thou be; Repent aright, and sinning cease, Lest heavy guilt be found on thee.

He who forsakes the Lord Most High For love of sin, sinks deep in woes; The evils wrought in secresy Full well the Eye all-searching knows.

Let these be thoughts for Adam’s race; To me they do not seem untrue; Men for a time may know their place, But death at last they can’t eschew.

Muireadhach Albannach occupies the same relation to a number of succeeding generations of bards in Scotland that the famous Dafydd ap Gwilym (born, 1293) does towards succeeding Welsh bards.

We have a specimen of the written Gaelic of this period in the famous Macdonald charter, the earliest Gaelic one extant. In 1408 Donald, Lord of the Isles, granted lands in Islay to Brian Vicar Mackay of Rhinns, in that Island. The Mackays were an old family in Islay; from them came the Magees of Ireland, and I believe the present Bishop of Peterborough. The lands were Baile-Vicar, Cornobus, Cracobus, Tocamol, &c., in the parish of Kildalton. The charter conveying these lands, still in existence, is written in Gaelic. It was published some time ago by the Record Commission. It is an interesting document, and is here given in a literal translation. It was written by one of the Beatons, already referred to, who signs himself “Fergus M’Beth.” He was probably at the time physician to the Lord of the Isles. As Dr M’Lauchlan, who deciphered it, says—“The style of the charter is that of the usual feudal charters written in Latin, but the remarkable thing is to find a document of the kind written in Gaelic, at a time when such a thing was almost unknown in the Saxon dialects of either England or Scotland.”

It is interesting to find that the Gaelic of the charter, written 470 years ago, is the same as that spoken in Islay at the present day. One word _brach_, “ever” is spelt phonetically, just as it is pronounced now in the dialect of the island. The only word which seems to have changed its signification is _bheatha_, or unaspirated _beatha_, which was then used for “world.” _Beatha_ in modern Gaelic means life, but an older form was _bith_, which now means being or existence, but in ancient Gaelic was used for “world.” See _Zeuss’s Grammar_.

In the name of God. Amen.

I, Mac Donald, am granting and giving eleven marks and a-half of land from myself and from my heirs, to Brian Vicar Mackay and to his heirs, after him for ever and ever, for his services ... to myself and to my father before me; and this on covenant and on condition that he himself and they shall give to me and to my heirs after me yearly, four cows fit for killing for my house. And in case that these cows shall not be found, the above Brian and his heirs shall give to me and to my heirs after me, two marks and forty for the same above cows. And for the same cause I am binding myself and binding my heirs after me, to the end of the world, these lands, together with their fruit of sea and land, to defend and maintain to the above Brian Vicar Mackay, and to his heirs for ever after him in like manner. And these are the lands I have given to him and to his heirs for ever—namely, Baile-Vicar, Machaire, Leargariabhoighe, Ciontragha, Graftol, Tocamol, Ugasgog, the two Gleannastol, Cracobus, Cornubus, and Baile-Neaghtoin. And in order that there may be meaning, force, and effect in this grant I give from me, I again bind myself and my heirs for ever under covenant this to uphold and fulfil to the aforesaid Brian and his heirs after him to the end of the world, by putting my hand and my seal down here, in presence of these witnesses here below, and the sixth day of the month of the Beltane, and this year of the birth of Christ, one thousand four hundred and eight.

MCDONALD.

John Mac Donald. Pat: Mac aBrian. Fergus Mac Beth. Hugh McCei.

It is a suggestive commentary on the uncertainty of sublunary things that these lands which Donald was to “uphold” “to the end of the world” to Brian and his heirs have passed through the hands of more than one family since—they being now the property of John Ramsay, of Kildalton. Neither a Mackay nor a Macdonald owns any land in Islay now.

LACHLAN MOR MACVURICH.—This senachie and bard to the Clanranald is the author of one of the most extraordinary poems in Gaelic or in any language. He was of the family of the famous Muireadhach Albannach. He accompanied Donald, Lord of the Isles, at the battle of Harlaw, in 1411, and rehearsed his poem to animate the followers of the Islay chief. This war-song or battle-incitement (Stewart’s Collection) consists of three hundred and thirty-eight lines. The theme of the production is “O, children of Conn of the Hundred Fights! remember hardihood in the time of battle.” Round this subject Lachlan Mòr has gathered some six hundred and fifty adverbial adjectives, arranged alphabetically, and every one of them bearing specially and martially on the great theme of the song. There is nothing in the poem but these adjectives, which certainly in themselves are not very poetical; but rehearsed unhesitatingly from a good memory “in all their astonishing alliterative array by a ready speaker gifted with a strong and sensitive voice, they could not but have offered a rare opportunity for impetuous, vehement, and effective declamation.”

It may be remarked here, _en passant_, that there is no decisive evidence for the assertions of historians that Donald of Islay lost that battle. He claimed the victory; but even although it were more decided it would be equally barren of important results. It is also a misconception of the character of the forces engaged when it is said that one side was Celtic and the other Saxon, and that it was a struggle for race supremacy. There were many Gaels on the other side also, just as there were in the last battle fought on British ground—that of Culloden.

THE FOUR WISE MEN.—One of the most interesting poems in the _Book of the Dean of Lismore_ is a dialogue between four men who are supposed to stand at the grave of Alexander the Great. It appears to be somewhat older than the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It illustrates the strong masculine character of those earlier ballads, where sense is not buried under a heap of verbiage. Whoever the author was, he was evidently a man of sound judgment and cultured common sense. Being of more than average merit in the original, the poem bears translation better than other inferior productions in the Dean’s Book. It has been excellently done by the late Mr Thomas Pattison, and I avail myself of his version. It is very interesting to read the moralisings of Highlanders some five hundred years ago.

Four wise men met beside the grave Where the Prince of Greece was laid— The mightiest Alexander; And these true words they said:—

“But yesterday, to serve his need, The world’s great host would rise; And there, alas!” the first man said, “To-day he lonely lies.”

“Proudly rode he on the earth Not many days bygone; And now the earth,” the second cried, “It rests on his breast bone.”

Then did the third wise speaker say,— “Not many days ere this He own’d the whole round world; and now Not seven short feet are his!”

“Alexander treasured gold To serve his every whim; And now,” the fourth man sagely said, “’Tis gold that treasures him.

“Like gold was Philip’s son—the gold That binds the jewels bright; Like the palm among the trees; the moon Amid the stars of night;

“Like the great whale among small fish; The lion ’mid the slain; The eagle when she drives the birds From the rock of her lone reign.

“Like Zion hill amid the hills— The hill that holiest seems; Like the great sea unto the floods; Like Jordan ’mid the streams.

“He was a man above all men, Save the High King of Heaven; To him were armies, towns, and lands, And herds and forests given.”

Thus o’er the great man’s tomb they spoke! Wise do I count their lore; Unlike to women’s idle prate Were the sayings of these four.

In the Dean’s Book we have poems by two ladies—the first Gaelic poetesses of whom we have any record. The name of one of them is EFRIC MACCORQUDALE or MACNEILL. This poetess, whose name is written “Effric neyn corgitill,” is the authoress of a very spirited poem. She appears to have been the wife of the last MacNeill of Castle Sween, an ancient strong-hold at the mouth of Loch Sween in Knapdale, Argyllshire. The last constable of this clan was Hector MacTorquil MacNeill, whose name is found on a Macdonald charter in 1472. He was of the Gigha MacNeills, who sprung from Torquil MacNeill, designated “filius Nigelli” in his charter of the lands of Gigha and Taynish with the constabulary of Castle Sween. “MacTorquil,” half Gaelic, half Norse, reminds us of the mixture of Teutonic and Celtic blood in the veins of this clan. When the last MacNeill died, leaving no heir in the direct line, the office and lands connected with Castle Sween were given, in 1431, to the Earl of Argyll. Efric, his wife, here laments the fact.

Rosary, thou kindlest sorrow; Thou art ever my delight; Telling of the noble bosom Where I lay until to-night.

Death has filled me with its sadness; Where’s the arm I clung to long? Ah! I saw it not departing;— His the valiant and the strong.

Joyful voice of softest music; Known it everywhere remains; Lion of Mull of the white towers, Hawk of Islay of smooth plains.

* * * * *

There’s no joy among our women; At the sport men are not seen; Like the skies when winds are silent, So with music is Dun Sween.

On Clan-Neill they’ve taken vengeance; See the palace of the brave! Cause to us of sad lamenting Till they lay us in the grave.

The other poetess is—

ISABEL, COUNTESS OF ARGYLL. In the Dean’s Book this lady is described as “Isabella Ni vic Cailein;” elsewhere she is called “Contissa Ergadien.” She was Isabel Stewart, eldest daughter of John, Lord of Lorn. She was married to Lord Colin Campbell, who was created Earl of Argyll in 1457, and died in 1493. The poems of these two ladies are interesting as showing that Gaelic literature was cultivated in fashionable quarters at that period. I have attempted a literal rendering in verse of the Countess’s poem:—

Pity one that bears love’s anguish, Yet the cause that must conceal; Sore it be to lose a dear one, And a wretched state to feel.

And the love I gave in secret I must ever keep unknown; But unless relief comes quickly All my freshness will be gone.

Ah! the name of my beloved Ne’er to other can be told; He put me in lasting fetters;— Pity me a hundredfold.

In surveying the arena of history we observe places geographically small sending forth the most prevailing of the forces that have fashioned the course of civilisation. A glance at one or two countries will readily illustrate the significance of the great factors at work in the making of the world’s annals. We discern in Judea, a small strip of land, the country whence the all-conquering religion and civilisation of the whole earth have come; we find in Greece—a small concatenation of tribes and provinces—a philosophic and æsthetic power which has supplied the minds of men with profound wisdom for centuries; for our laws and many of our customs and institutions we are indebted to Rome, Pagan and Christian—a city in a comparatively petty peninsula; in our own isles of the Gentiles, not excluding Man, Ireland, and St. Kilda, there has been developed the greatest moral force of the present, and it may be said of any millennium hitherto. Our British islands look small indeed on the chart of the world; and it is possible that our geographical insignificance may tempt everweening, inimical powers, and some of our own subject nationalities, to touch unkindly some day the mane of the British lion; but very vainly indeed as long as Christian manliness resides in the hearts of never-enslaved Britons.

Along the coasts of Britain lie several islets where were nursed and whence have emanated national elements of moral power which have to some extent influenced our all-prevailing Anglo-Celtic empire. Lindisfarne, Inchcolm, and Iona we generally know. Iona in Loch Erizort, Lewis, the interesting islets that stud the west coast of the latter island, the far north tiny little Rona, were in early days centres of light and religion, if not of culture. To-day the tourist finds few or none to welcome him in many of those once heaven-favoured island-homes that repose in their attractive poetic solitude and antiquarian suggestiveness on the majestic bosom of the Atlantic Ocean. But in the far-west St Kilda there still resides as monarch, priest, and judge, that zealous Free Church ordained missionary, Mr Mackay, who, according to artist Sands’s admission, bravely wrestles with all the elements, moral and physical, that conflict with the interests of man. But leaving St. Kilda in its loneliness and sailing in among the inner Hebridean Isles, we find in the fertile Island of Lismore—the _great garden_—a man in the fifteenth century, often now referred to in Gaelic literature, the Rev. Sir James Macgregor. A native of Perthshire, belonging to a royal clan that was afterwards “nameless by day,” with a heart filled with the enthusiasm and perfervid spirit of his countrymen, he and his brother got up a collection of the songs and ballads of their native land, which was among the first of the literary efforts of the kind. In Lismore also resided in later days another literary ecclesiastic, the sturdy MacNicol, who produced an able volume of obstinate Scottish prejudice, a pretty hearty, intelligent growl over the great lexicographer’s “Journey to the Hebrides.”

To Macgregor’s book we are indebted for some specimens of the poetry of his own and previous periods. Some of the votaries of the muse to whom he assigned niches of honour in his collection have been already referred to; the names of a few more, with a few specimen verses of their compositions, are here given.

SIR DUNCAN CAMPBELL is described as “Duncan MacCailein, the good knight.” He was Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, son of Sir Colin, who died in 1478. He must have been a knight of some courtly and literary importance in his day, for he not only wrote poetry in Gaelic, but he obtained from the powers that were charters to extensive lands in Perthshire, and became one of the Earls of Breadalbane. He is the author of several pieces of poetry which have been characterised as remarkable for caustic humour, indulged in sometimes at the expense of the female sex. A published poem of his is a satirical elegy on a miser, a species of beggar humanity that the world has not yet succeeded in extinguishing. I give a literal metrical translation of some of the verses:—

Who is now the chief of beggars Since the best of them is gone? Sorely down our tears are streaming Since his begging face has flown.

Piteous is the orphan’s case; Death to begging ill has brought; In each homestead there is sorrow, As the begging can’t be taught.

Ever since our God created Man at first, I have not heard Of a mendicant like Lachlan, Whose decease our grief has stirred.

Without father, without mother, Beggary grows weak and poor; For none e’er could beg like Lachlan: How can I my loss endure!

DUNCAN MACPHERSON is thought to have been an ecclesiastic, a class, notwithstanding Professor Blackie’s genial sneer about the “solemn sepulchral piety of certain North-Western Gospellers,” who have been the authors and _media_ of the most of what the literary Highlander can refer to with national pride. The “sombre nationality” of the old Ossianic bards is discernible in the following lines:—

Alastair, art still in sorrow? Or canst cast it to the ground? The old year is swiftly passing, And yet godless art thou found?

Now while thou art grey and aged, Hast thou not the grace of heaven? If there be aught good in sorrow, God to thee rich gifts has given.

JOHN MACVURICH.—This writer was likely a member of the famous family who were so long hereditary bards to Clanranald. Their ancestor was the famous Muireadhach Albannach of the thirteenth century. I give a metrical rendering of some verses:—

O, sorry is the fate I find mine own to-day! Have pity kindly heav’n; Save from this pain, I pray.

The misery I feel Is threefold here alone; And my misfortune black Comes weighted with a stone.

My rage and wrath are great For how she’s grieving me. I see her sweet soft skin Like white foam on the sea.

So rosy is her hand; Her lips like berries red; My soul she holds while sleep At night flies from my bed.

I fancied she was nigh, And that she smiled on me; But since my grief began The maid I can not see.

Her raven curly locks Are prettily arrayed; Five lovers there are knit To th’ name of the fair maid.

O that she were my own: Then I should be so blest; My love for evermore To press her to my breast!

Many of the authors whose compositions appear in the Dean’s Book were evidently professional men, either clerical or medical. It was among these two classes that the lamp of literature was kept burning. Many of the names are indeed suggestive of professional connections, such as Mac-an-Olave, MacNab, Macpherson, Maol Domhnuich, &c.

It has been held that the Romish system of the celibacy of the clergy was not introduced or acted upon till a century or two before the Reformation. Whether or not this is true we have at all events quite a crop of clans whose progenitors must have been the sons of ecclesiastical persons. We have Mac-an-Aba, MacNab, from the son of the Abbot; MacVicar, from the son of the Vicar: MacPherson, from the son of the Parson, or Persona; MacTaggart, from the son of the Priest; MacMaster, from the son of the Maighstir or Minister. Other names come to us through those who devoted themselves to be the _servants_ or _gillies_ of God or of some saints. Mac-gille-Chriost is Gilchrist, or the son of Gilchrist, or the servant of Christ. Mac-gill’-Iosa, is Gillies, or the son of the servant of Jesus; Mac-gill’-Iain, or MacLean, is the son of the servant of Seathain, or John; Mac-gill’-Aindreais is the son of the servant of Andrew; Mac-gill’-Eóra (Gill’-an-Leabhair) is the son of the servant of the Book, Macindeor; Mac-gill’-Mhoire is Morrison, the servant of Mary, &c. The clerical element appears to have been a powerful interest at one time in the Highlands and Islands. Indeed, this may be said of Scotland as a whole, a characteristic which has not yet become invisible. The Dean’s book shows us the Highlands under the old order of things. A vast change was impending. The Catholic ecclesiastical dispensation was drawing to a close. The Church of Rome never gained a powerful hold of the people; so in general they contemplated its downfall with indifference. The intelligent of them who were interested in religion had more sympathy with the old native Church—the Celtic—which Rome supplanted or were ready to embrace the new faith of awakening Christendom.

GILLICALUM MAC-AN-OLAVE.—This bard is the author of several pieces of fair merit in the Dean’s Book. He appears to have been one of the famous Beatons, _Clann-an-Leigh_, of Islay, Mull, and Skye. Of him and of several others in the Dean’s MS. we know little more than their names, some of which I now give:—John of Knoydart, who poetises on the murder of the young Lord of the Isles by the Irish harper, Dermid O’Cairbre, at Inverness in 1490; Duncan Mor, from Lennox; Gilchrist Taylor, Andrew Macintosh, the Bard Macintyre, John MacEwen MacEachern, Duncan MacCabe, Dougall MacGille Glas, Maol Domhnuich (Servus Domini), Baron Ewen MacOmie, MacEachag, and Duncan, brother of the Dean, Sir James Macgregor, who transcribed the most of the manuscript so famous under his brother’s name.

There are a good few verses of a satiric character to be found in the Dean’s collection. The reader is rather surprised to find the religious Dean admitting such an estimate as the following of monks and monasteries into his collection:—

I, Robert, went yesterday A monastery for to see; But to my wishing they said nay, Because my wife was not with me!

Among the Irish pieces there are several satirical productions by an Irish Earl Gerald, the fourth Earl of Desmond, directed against the fair sex.

The ruthless and vindictive spirit which at this time prevailed in Scotland may be gathered from the following verses of a battle-incitement on the eve of the invasion of the English, which ended on the fatal field of Flodden:—

Burn their women, lean and ugly! Burn their children, great and small! In the hut and in the palace, Prince and peasant, burn them all! Plunge them in the swelling rivers, With their gear, and with their goods; Spare, while breath remains, no Saxon; Drown them in the roaring floods!

These lines have been translated by Professor Blackie, as well as the next piece of banter.

Black John Macgregor of Glenstrae, who was buried at Dysart, in Glenorchy, May 26, 1519, was a kind patron to the red-haired bard Finlay MacNab, who begins his praises as follows:—

I’ve been a stranger long To pleasant-flowing matter; I’m tired of lashing fools With unproductive satire. I’ve dwarfed my Muse for nought, But now she shall grow bigger By chant of lofty theme— The praise of the Macgregor. A prince indeed is he, Who knows the craft of ruling; Well taught in each degree Of proper princely schooling. Men make boast of noble blood: Though money has its praises, I’d much liefer be well-born Than count the wealth of Crœsus. Hear me gentles and commons all, Cease your blame and banter; When I my pedigree rehearse, You’ll find I am no vaunter. From great Clan Dougall I descend; No better blood is flowing, But richer made in me from founts That I will soon be showing. From the MacCailein a good part Of my life’s blood I borrow, MacCailein bountiful to bards, Then how should I find sorrow? In Earla I was born and bred, I tell you true the story, A very noble place it is, ’Twixt Aros and Tobermory, Macdonald lies off to the west: I dwell with good Clan Gillean, Brave men who stood in battle’s breast, A hundred ’gainst a million. MacNeill of Barra, too, most sure, Gives gentle blood to me, sir; And Colonsay doth make her boast, I’m kin to the MacFie, sir. The mighty masterful MacSween, Clan Ranald and Macleod, sir. The stoutest chiefs e’er tramped on green, Give substance to my blood, sir. The Cattanachs and the Macintoshes Both make a goodly figure In my proud line; and linked with them, Clan Cameron and Macgregor: And Stewart’s seed, though sown on earth More wide than any other, The tale is true that one of them Was my grandsire’s grandmother; And if you will to do me harm I rede you will consider That I have cousins stout of arm In Breadalbane and Balquhidder; Clan Lauchlan and Clan Lamond, too, All numbered with my kin, sir; I really see no end in view When once that I begin, sir; For in my veins of noble blood Dame nature was so lavish, She added some drops from the flood Of thy pure fount Clan Tavish, Lads that plenish our green hills With virtue and with vigour, Tight little men, but with more pith Than many who are bigger. I visit MacDougall of Craignish, And from the good MacIvor I get my dinner full and free, And never pay a stiver. And now my race and lineage rare, When you have bravely mastered, You’ll find the best of all your blood Flows in my veins—the bastard!

The following poem is by a Phelim Macdougall. The power of his muse cannot be said to be of so high an order as his moral suggestions. But poetry and severe ethics do not always go together. So we can afford some literary and religious sympathies to poor Phelim in his fifteenth century gropings after light:—

’Tis not good to travel on Sunday, Whoever the Sabbath would keep; Not good to be of ill-famed race; Not good is a dirty woman; Not good to write without learning; Not good are grapes when sour; Not good is an Earl without English; Not good is a sailor, if old; Not good is a bishop without warrant; Not good is a blemish on an elder; Not good a priest with but one eye; Not good a parson if a beggar; Not good is a palace without pay; Not good is a handmaid if she’s slow; Not good is a lord without a dwelling, &c.

The author of the following verses was neither the first nor the last that fathered their petty productions on poor Ossian.

THE AUTHOR OF THIS IS OSSIAN, THE SON OF FINN.

Long are the clouds this night above me; The last was a long night to me. This day that drags its weary way Came from a wearier yesterday. Each day that comes is long to me: Such was not my wont to be. Now there is no fine delight In battle-field, and fence of fight; No training now to feats of arms, Nor song, nor harp, nor maiden’s charms, Nor blazing hearth, nor well-heaped board, Nor banquet spread by liberal lord, Nor stag pursuing, nor gentle wooing, The dearest of dear trades to me. Alas! that I should live to see Days without mirth in hut or hall Without the hunter’s wakeful call, Or bay of hounds, or hounds at all, Without light jest, or sportive whim Or lads with mounting breast to swim Across the long arms of the sea— Long are the clouds this night above me. In the big world there lives no wight More sad than I this night. A poor old man with no pith in my bones, Fit for nothing but gathering stones. The last of the Finn, the noble race, Ossian, the son of Finn am I, Standing beneath the cold grey sky, Listening to the sound of bells. Long are the clouds this night above me!

One of the chief characteristics of the poetry of this period is the clearness or distinctness of the ideas. The authors seize at once their subject and straightway sing what they have to utter. They also appear to have a definite object in view when they invoke the muse, and they carry it out in a clear, direct, and unhesitating fashion. The vagueness and mistiness of Macpherson’s Ossianic poems have been much commented upon, and sometimes with good reason. Nothing like mistiness can be affirmed of the Ossianic poems which were composed or transcribed and were popular at this period. The ideas of the authors stand out in brilliant distinctness, like stars looking forth beneath the brows of a frosty night.

The Lismore collection of songs and poems is not the only manuscript of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that received but scant attention from our forefathers. Many ancient Gaelic manuscripts carried by Christian missionaries to the Continent have never returned. More than two hundred, once in the possession of Gaelic scribes, may still be met with in the various European libraries. Drs Laing and Skene, especially the latter, have done good service to Scotland in this field. The admirable collection of Gaelic MSS. in Edinburgh, some of which, it is hoped will yet be published, is the result of the energetic efforts of Dr Skene. The Fernaig manuscript which he has put in the hands of Professor Mackinnon, contains according to the latter, some 4000 lines of Gaelic poetry of the seventeenth century. It is hoped that Mr Mackinnon will lend his ability and scholarship to the early publication of this work. Judging by a published article of the Professor of Celtic in Edinburgh, at the present date (November, 1889), he seems to be unaware that the “Red Book” of Clanranald is not lost. He will be glad to know that it is in the possession of Admiral Reginald Macdonald. Mr Campbell of Islay, informed the writer once that he and Mr O’Grady had read the “Red Book.”

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