The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Dean of Lismore’s Book, by Rev. Thomas McLaughlan.

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

CONTENTS.

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 [ii] 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. [iii]

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] [iv]

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. [v]

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. [vi]

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] [vii]

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 [viii] 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, [ix] 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, [x] 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. [xi]

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 [xii] 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. [xiii]

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. [xiv]

The only grammar of the Scotch Gaelic which it is necessary to notice, is the able and philosophic grammar by Alexander Stewart, Minister of the Gospel at Dingwall, the first edition of which was published in 1801, and the second in 1812. As a first attempt to reduce the spoken language of the Scotch Highlanders to a grammatical system, it is a work of rare excellence and fidelity, and all other grammars have been more or less taken from it.

This grammar, then, and the vocabularies and dictionaries above referred to, contain the Gaelic language as spoken, at the time of their compilation, in the Highlands of Scotland, and afford the materials for judging of the character of those peculiarities which distinguish it from the Irish and Manx Gaelic.[17]

[xv] The differences between the spoken language of the Scottish Highlands and the Irish exist partly in the pronunciation, where the accentuation of the language is different, where that peculiar change in the initial consonant, produced by the influence of the previous word, and termed by the Irish grammarians eclipsis, is unknown except in the sibilant, where the vowel sounds are different, and there are even traces of a consonantal permutation; partly in the grammar, where the Scotch Gaelic prefers the analytic form of the verb, and has no present tense, the old present being now used for the future, and the present formed by the auxiliary verb, where the plural of one class of the nouns is formed in a peculiar manner, resembling the Anglo-Saxon, and a different negative is used; partly in the idioms of the language, where a greater preference is shown to express the idea by the use of substantives, and the verb is anxiously avoided; and in the vocabulary, which varies to a considerable extent, where words now obsolete in Irish are still living words, and others are used in a different sense.[18]

The Scotch Gaelic is spoken in its greatest purity in the central districts of the Highlands, including Mull, Morvern, Ardnamurchan, Ardgowar, Appin, Lochaber, and that district termed the Garbh chriochan, or rough bounds, consisting of Arisaig, Moydart, Moror, and Knoydart. The language here spoken is characterized by a closer adherence to grammatical rules, by a fuller and more careful pronunciation of the vowel sounds, by a selection of the best words to express the idea, and by their use in their primary sense.

In the county of Argyll, and the islands which face the coast of Ireland, the language approaches much more nearly to the Ulster dialect of the Irish, there being probably no perceptible difference between the form of the language in Isla and Rachrin, or in Cantyre and the opposite coast of Antrim.

In the Gaelic of Sutherland and Caithness, again, there are marked differences of a different and opposite character, a native of Sutherland and the southern districts of Argyll having some difficulty in understanding each other; and in Perthshire, on the other hand, the influence of the English language is apparent, the pronunciation is more careless, the words selected less pure, and the secondary senses of many are only used.

The central districts afford the best type of that variety of Gaelic which forms the spoken language of the Highlands of Scotland.

Of this language two views may be taken. The peculiarities of the language may have sprung up quite recently, and the language may, at no very distant period, have been absolutely identical in form and sound with the Irish, from which it may have become corrupted by the absence of cultivation, and must be regarded merely as the rude patois of a people whose ignorance of the cultivated language has led to their adoption of peculiarities sanctioned by no grammatical rule; or, on the other hand, these peculiarities may partake rather of the character of dialectic differences, and enter more deeply into the organization of the language, and thus may have characterized it from that remoter period, when geographical separation and political isolation may have led to the formation, in the Highlands of Scotland, of a dialectic variety of the common language. [xvii]

The first is the view taken by Irish grammarians, and if correct, these differences cannot be considered as of any philological importance. The question has not, however, been treated by them in a candid spirit, or with any grasp of the subject; and their opinion must be based upon a more accurate knowledge of the spoken dialect which is the subject of it, and upon a sounder and more impartial examination of those philologic elements which ought to enter into its consideration, before it can be accepted as conclusive. If the second view is the correct one, then it is obvious that the Scotch Gaelic is well deserving of study, as a distinct variety of the Gaelic language which was common to Scotland and Ireland; and everything that tends to throw light upon it, and upon the existence and origin of these differences, acquires a philologic value.

In the study of language, the spoken dialects are of great value. It is from the study of the living dialects, which are not merely corruptions of the spoken language, but present dialectic peculiarities, that we arrive at a full perception of the character and tendencies of the mother tongue.

It is the destiny of all languages, that they no sooner enter upon the domain of history than they begin to alter, decompose, and split into dialects. The formation of the mother tongue belongs to the prehistoric period; and it is a process which, carried on in the infancy and growth of the social state, is concealed from observation. When its possessors first emerge into [xviii] view, and take their place among the history of nations, counter influences have already been at work, their language has already entered upon its downward course, and we can only watch it in its process of decomposition and alteration, and reach its primitive condition, through the medium of its dialects.

There are two opposing influences by which all languages are affected—the etymologic and the phonetic. The etymologic principle is all-powerful in the formation and original structure of the language, producing combinations of sounds demanded by the laws of its composition, but irrespective altogether of the requirements of harmony, or the tendencies of the human organs of sound. It contains in it, however, the seeds of its own destruction, and has no sooner completed its work of formation than a process of modification and decomposition commences, caused by the respective idiosyncrasies of its speakers, their craving after harmony of combination and ease of utterance, and the influence of physical situation and surrounding agents upon the organs of speech.

These phonetic causes enter at once into conflict with the strictly etymologic formations of the language, moulding its sounds, decomposing its structure, and interchanging the organs producing the sounds; and these effects are perpetuated by circumstances causing the separation or isolation of the people who have adopted them, while new words and combinations are added to their vocabulary by new wants arising in their separate state, by their advance in social condition, or by the peculiarities of their [xix] new condition. Thus innumerable dialects spring up. Whenever a difference of situation takes place among the people composing the aggregate by whom the original language was spoken, a diversity of dialect is at once created. In these dialects are preserved the bones of the mother tongue; and it is only by a comparison of these that her full character can be ascertained.

This tendency of the mother tongue, to break up into as many dialects as there are shades of difference in the position and tendencies of its speakers, is only arrested by the formation of a cultivated dialect, created when the wants of an educated or cultivated class in the community demand a common medium of interchanging their ideas. This cultivated language is usually first formed by poetry, completed by writing, and adopted by education. Its first stage is that of the language in which the songs and poems, the first literature of a rude people, are recited by its bards, its earliest literary class; and, by the introduction of the art of writing, it passes over into the written speech. It then becomes a common dialect, spoken and written by the cultivated class of the community, and to a knowledge of which a portion of the people are raised by education.

This cultivated or written language may have been originally one of the numerous dialects spoken by the people composing the community, and which circumstances have elevated into that position; or it may have been introduced from another country speaking a sister dialect, which has preceded it in cultivation; or it may, [xx] like the German, have been developed from an unspoken variety of the language created by other causes and for other purposes. In the one case, the language first cultivated by poetry passes over into the written language. In the other, it remains an indigenous, cultivated, spoken language, which is antagonistic to, and contends with, the imported written speech till the influence of the latter prevails, and it is either extinguished by it, or remains as popular poetry in the vernacular tongue, while everything prose is absorbed.

But however it originates, the spoken dialects still remain as the vernacular speech of portions of the community. They are not the children or creatures of the written speech, still less corruptions of it, but are equally ancient, and retain much of the elements of the original language which the written speech has rejected.

The formation of a cultivated or written language is always an eclectic process. It selects, it modifies, and it rejects, while the living dialects retain many of the forms and much of the structure modified and rejected by it. Hence, for the study of the character and formation of the mother tongue, the living spoken dialects are of the first importance; and a restricted attention to the written language, and the contemptuous rejection of everything in the spoken dialects which vary from it, as barbarisms and corruptions, is simply to part with much valuable material for the study, and to narrow the range of inquiry.[19]

[xxi] Perhaps the English language affords an illustration of these remarks. As a written and cultivated language, it took its rise in England, but was introduced from England into Scotland.

In England, the provincial dialects have remained as the spoken language of the uncultivated class in the respective provinces side by side with it; but their antiquity and their value for philological purposes is fully acknowledged. No one dreams of viewing them as merely corruptions of the written language, arising from rudeness and ignorance.

In Scotland, the English language has been introduced as the written or cultivated language, but a different form [xxii] of the language, the Broad Scotch, is the vernacular speech of the people, and preceded the English language as the written language of the country in which its earliest literature was contained. Its great value, as an early form of the original Anglic tongue which formed the language of the country, is so fully acknowledged, that Jamieson’s Dictionary of the Scotch language has been called the best dictionary of the English language. It has ceased to be a vehicle for prose composition; but there exists a ballad literature in the Scotch dialect which has resisted the absorbing influence of the English.

So it was also in the Scotch Highlands, where the written and cultivated language did not originate in this country, but was brought over from Ireland in the sixth century, though in this case the analogy is not so great, from the various dialects of the Gaelic having probably at all times approached each other much more nearly than the provincial dialects of England and Scotland, and been more greatly influenced by the written language.

In order to determine the philological position and value of the Scotch Gaelic, it is necessary to form a more accurate conception of the historical position of the people who spoke it, and of the influences to which they have been exposed, and by which the language was likely to be affected.

Two races seem to have entered, as original elements, into the population of Ireland and of the Highlands of Scotland. These were the race of the Scots and the people termed by the early Irish authorities the race of [xxiii] the Cruithne. The latter appear everywhere to have preceded the former.

Prior to the sixth century, the Cruithne alone seem to have formed the population of the Scotch Highlands. In Ireland they formed the original population of Ulster and the north part of Leinster. Connaught, the rest of Leinster, and Munster, were Scottish. The east and north of Ireland appear to have been most exposed to external influences, and to have suffered the greatest changes in their population. In the south and west it was more permanent; and from Connaught and Leinster the royal races of the Scots emerged, while their colonies proceeded from south and west to north and east.

The traditionary history of Ireland records an early settlement of the Scots among the Cruithne of Ulster, termed from its mythic founder Dalriada, and likewise the fall of the great seat of the Cruithnian kingdom, called Emania, before an expedition, led by a scion of the Scottish royal race, who established the kingdom of Orgialla on its ruins. It is certain that, while we have reason to believe that the Cruithne formed the original population of the whole of Ulster, we find them in the historic period confined to certain districts in Ulster only, although their kings retained the title of kings of Ulster.

In the beginning of the sixth century, the Scots, who are frequently recorded by the Roman writers as forming part of the predatory bands who, from time to time, assailed the Roman province, and finally overthrew their [xxiv] empire in Britain, passed over to the opposite coast of Argyll, and effected a permanent settlement there, which, from its mother tribe, was also called Dalriada. This settlement is recorded, by the oldest authority, to have taken place twenty years after the battle of Ocha, which was fought in the year 483, and, therefore, in the year 503. The territory occupied by this settlement of the Scots was the south part of Argyllshire, consisting of the districts of Cowall, Kintyre, Knapdale, Argyll-proper, Lorn, and probably part of Morvern, with the islands of Isla, Iona, Arran, and the small islands adjacent. The boundary which separated them from the Cruithne was on the east, the range of mountains termed Drumalban, a mountain chain which still separates the county of Argyll from that of Perth. On the north, the boundary, which probably was not very distinct, and varied from time to time, seems to have been coincident with a line extending from the Island of Colonsay through the Island of Mull to the centre of the district of Morvern, through which it passed to the shores of the Luine Loch opposite Appin.[20] The rest of the Highlands was still occupied by the Cruithne, who were Pagans, while the Dalriadic Scots were Christians.

[xxv] In the year 563, an event took place which was destined to exercise a powerful influence both on the condition and the language of the population. This was the mission of Saint Columba, a Scot from Ireland, to convert the Cruithne to the Christian faith, and the consequent foundation of the Monastery of Iona, which became the seat of learning, and the source of all ecclesiastical authority, both for the Cruithne and the Dalriadic Scots, from whence innumerable Scottish clergy issued, who spread over the country and founded churches among the Cruithne under its influence and authority.

The platform occupied by the two populations, embracing both Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, in the sixth century, thus showed in the south and west of Ireland pure Scots; in the north and east settlements of Scots among the Cruithne, gradually confining the latter to isolated districts; in Argyll, a Scottish settlement among the Cruithne of Alban; and in the rest of the Highlands pure Cruithne; but over both Scots and Cruithne in Alban a Scottish clergy, who brought a cultivated and literary language with them.

In Ireland the Gaelic spoken in the different provinces varies, and probably has always varied from each other. They differ in words, pronunciation, and idiom; and in grammatical construction and idiom there is a marked difference between the Gaelic of the northern and of the southern half of Ireland. The written language resembles [xxvi] most the language of the south and west of Ireland. It seems to have been formed from it, and to have become the common language of the literary and cultivated class, while the other dialects remained as the spoken language of their respective populations.

This written language was brought over to Scotland in the sixth century by Columba and his clergy, who introduced it, with Christianity, among the Cruithne; where, however, the native dialect must have received some cultivation, as we find that he was opposed by Magi, which implies a literary class among the Pagan Cruithne. At this time there was so little political separation between the two countries, that the Scots of British Dalriada remained subject to the Irish Dalriada, from which they emerged, till the year 573, when Aedan, son of Gabran, became king of Scotch Dalriada, and, at the great Council of Drumceat, it was declared independent of Irish Dalriada, and he was crowned as its first independent monarch. The Cruithne of Ireland, likewise, formed part of that great Cruithnian kingdom, which had its head-quarters in Scotland, till the reign of Fiacha mac Baedan, King of Ulster, who ruled over the Irish Cruithne from 589 to 626, and probably in the year 608, when they threw off the yoke of the Cruithne of Scotland.[21]

[xxvii] The Cruithne and the Scots of Ireland and of Scotland then first became separated from, and independent of, each other, and a complete political separation took place between the two countries.

The Cruithne of Scotland remained under the influence of the Scottish clergy till the beginning of the eighth century, when their king, Nectan, adopted the usages of the Romish party, and in 717 expelled the Scottish clergy out of his dominions across the boundary of Drumalban,[22] which separated them from the Scots of Dalriada, and a new clergy was introduced into that part of the country, occupied by the Cruithne, from the Anglic kingdom of Northumberland. In 731, we learn from Bede, who then closes his history, that the Scots of Dalriada were still confined within the same limits; and that no change had up to that date taken place in the relative positions of the two populations, the Cruithne and the Scots. After this date we know little of the history of the population of the Highlands till the middle of the ninth century, when we find that a great change had, in the interval, taken place in their political condition. The two populations had now become united in one kingdom, and a family of undoubted Scottish race ruled over the united people.

[xxviii] Of the events which brought about this great change, authentic history tells us nothing—of the fact there can be no doubt; and the question arises of how the Gaelic language originated in the undalriadic part of the Highlands. Prior to this date, it was exclusively occupied by people of the race of the Cruithne, first Pagan under native Magi, then Christian, and for 150 years under clergy of Scottish race, who were, however, driven out in the year 717. Either then these Cruithne spoke a Gaelic dialect, or, if they spoke a different language, we must suppose that the language of Gaelic Dalriada had, subsequently to the ninth century, spread, with the rule of a Scottish king, over the whole of the Highlands not embraced in that limited territory. We have no materials for determining this question. The latter supposition has always been assumed by the Irish historians, but without proof; and they have never attempted to account for the entire disappearance of the previous language, and the expulsion of the previous population of so extensive a district, so mountainous and inaccessible in its character, and so tenacious of the language of its early inhabitants in its topography, which such a theory involves.

If the first supposition be the correct one, and the Cruithne spoke a Gaelic dialect, we can easily understand how, though originally different from the Gaelic dialect of Dalriada, it may, by the influence of the written language, and its vernacular use by their clergy for so long a period, have become modified and assimilated to it; and if, as is probable, their dialect had been so far cultivated, as the existence of popular poetry, the first literature of a rude people, was calculated to effect, the influence of the clergy would probably be antagonistic to such literature, and be employed to suppress it; and [xxix] the language in which it was conveyed might remain for some time in opposition to the written language, as a vernacular and popular form of the language, the type and symbol of the anti-Christian party, till it was finally amalgamated with, or assimilated to it as the party itself was ultimately overcome.

But another event had taken place during this obscure period, extending to little more than a century, and in which the union of the two populations under a Scottish royal race had been effected, which must have interposed an obstacle to the spread of an influence from Ireland into the nondalriadic portion of the Highlands, and greatly counteracted that arising from a dominant royal family of Scottish descent. This was the destruction of Iona by the Scandinavian pirates, and their subsequent occupation of the Western Isles and western seaboard of Scotland. Towards the end of the eighth century, these hordes of Vikings or sea-robbers, issuing from Norway and Denmark, had appeared in the western sea, ravaging and plundering the coasts and islands, and their course was everywhere marked by the burning and sacking of the monasteries and religious establishments. In 794, the ravaging of the islands and the destruction of Iona by these Gentiles, as they were termed, is recorded in the Irish annals. In 802, the Monastery of Iona was burnt by them, and in 806 the community or family of Iona, as it was termed, slain, to the number of sixty-eight. In consequence of the insecurity of Iona, the abbot eventually [xxx] retired to Kells, another foundation of St. Columba, and the reliques of St. Columba were subsequently taken to Ireland, when Derry became the head of the Columbian houses in Ireland, while a part of the reliques were removed to Dunkeld, which represented the Columbian clergy in Scotland. The influence of Iona, as the nucleus and centre of Gaelic learning, and of its Scottish clergy upon the population of the Highlands, thus ceased for ever.

The islands were, by degrees, occupied by these pirates, till eventually the Norwegian Kingdom of Man and the Isles was formed; and after they had passed over from Paganism to Christianity, and their power became constituted, the bishopric of the Isles became included in the Norwegian diocese of Man. During this period, which lasted till the middle of the twelfth century, while the Western Isles and the western shores of the mainland were in the occupation of the Norwegians, and a royal family of Scottish race was on the throne of the united population, all that remained intact of the Gaelic population of the Highlands was mainly represented by the great province of Moray, which contained the mainland part of the modern counties of Inverness and Ross, and whose chiefs or maormors are found, during the whole of this period, maintaining a struggle for local independence against the ruling powers, whether Scottish or Saxon, till they were finally suppressed in the year 1130 by the great battle in which Angus, the Celtic Earl of Moray, was defeated and slain by David the First. [xxxi]

The Norwegian Kingdom of Man and the Isles was now approaching its fall, and a new power arose on the ruins of that of the Maormors of Moray, which soon became paramount in the Western Highlands, and exercised a very different influence upon its language and population. This was the dynasty of the Celtic kings or Lords of the Isles, which took its rise under Somarled, the founder of the race in the twelfth century, and maintained a powerful sway in the West Highlands till the Lord of the Isles was forfeited at the close of the fifteenth century; and, after several ineffectual attempts to maintain their ground against the Government, finally fell in the middle of the succeeding century.

Whether the race of the Lords of the Isles was of Irish descent or not, is a question which depends upon the precise degree of credibility to be given to a Celtic pedigree which reaches back to the beginning of the fourth century; but certain it is, that the spirit and tendency of the whole race was essentially Irish. The history of Somarled, the founder of the family, who may, from female connexion, have possessed a Norwegian name, is quite incompatible with the idea of his representing a Norwegian house, or deriving his position by inheritance from them. The names of his father Gillabride, and his grandfather Gillaagamnan, are purely Celtic. The interest of his family was antagonistic to that of the Norwegians; their efforts were to supplant and drive them out, and to elevate a Gaelic kingdom [xxxii] upon their ruins. In the foundation of this kingdom, Irish aid and Irish interest entered largely, and the connexion of the family with Ireland became always more and more closely connected,—an influence and connexion extending to the powerful Celtic families who rose under their auspices and owned their sway.

Somarled, the founder of the race, first appears in history as regulus or petty king of Oirirgaidheal, or, as it is given in the Irish form, Airergaidheal, and, in the Latin, Argathelia, a name which had sprung up subsequently to the ninth century, signifying the coast-lands of the Gael, and embracing the entire west coast from Cowall to Loch Broom.

To this district he must have had hereditary claims; and an ancient sennachy of the race thus details the steps by which he recovered possession of it:—

Having married the daughter of Olave the Red, the Norwegian king of Man and the Isles, he succeeded in 1154 in obtaining one-half of the Western Isles for his eldest son Dougall, the ancestor of the M’Dougalls, Lords of Lorn, in right of his mother. The portion of the Isles thus added to the Gaelic kingdom of Oirirgaidheal were those south of the point of Ardnamurchan, including Mull, Isla, and Jura. Ten years afterwards, in 1164, he showed still further his close relation with Ireland, by placing the Monastery of Iona under the Abbacy of Derry, and in the same year he was slain in Renfrew, in an attempt which he made to subvert the Scottish throne itself, with Irish assistance. His successors remained in possession of this territory, consisting of Oirirgaidheal, or [xxxiv] the western districts, from Cowall to Loch Broom, and the southern half of the Isles, till 1222, when Alexander the Second took possession of Argathelia, and annexed the north part of it to the earldom of Ross, and the central portion to the district of Moray, leaving the districts of Morvaren and Garwmorvaren, and parts of South Argyll, with the south half of the Isles, to the descendants of Somarled. On the conquest of the Norwegian kingdom of Man and the Isles by the King of Scotland in 1266, Skye and Lewis were annexed to the earldom of Ross, the rest of the Isles went to Somarled’s family, their possessions were further increased by grants from Robert Bruce, and in the end of the fourteenth century they inherited the possessions of the earldom of Ross, by which they regained possession of the Oirir a tuath. A petty kingdom was thus formed, consisting of Argathelia, or the western districts, from Cowall to Loch Broom and the Western Isles, nominally subordinate to the Scottish throne, but in reality all powerful among the population of the Highlands; the clans of the centre and north Highlands, which had once looked up to the almost equally powerful Maormors of Moray, alone representing a different interest.

The marriage of the Lord of the Isles, the head of this race, with a daughter of the great Irish house of O’Cathan, princes of an extensive territory in the north of Ireland, towards the close of the thirteenth century, still further cemented the connexion with Ireland. Tradition records that twenty-four families followed this lady from [xxxv] Ulster to the Scottish Highlands, and founded as many houses there, and, in the subsequent century, a scion of the House of the Isles acquired land in the north of Ireland, and founded the Antrim family. In all the Irish wars this race took generally a part, and, in their own wars at home, were rarely without assistance from Ireland.

The struggle between this great Celtic family and the Crown assumed an aspect at length which could only terminate in the ruin of the former or the humiliation of the latter, and at length resulted in the forfeiture of the Lord of the Isles in 1478, and his subsequent submission, when he resigned his hereditary Celtic title, and received in exchange the feudal dignity of Lord of the Isles; a humiliation which gave deep offence to his subjects, and was not acquiesced in by them, and produced such internal dissensions, that the Crown took advantage of them to enforce the final forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles in the year 1493. A series of insurrections followed in favour of the descendants of the forfeited Lord, which finally terminated in the utter extinction of the kingdom of the Isles in the year 1545.

During this period, which extends to nearly four centuries, there was not only a close political connexion between the Western Highlands and Islands and Ireland, but the literary influence was equally close and strong; the Irish sennachies and bards were heads of a school which included the West Highlands, and the Highland sennachies were either of Irish descent, or, if of native [xxxvi] origin, resorted to bardic schools in Ireland for instruction in the language and the accomplishments of their art.

The annals of the four masters record the following Irish sennachies as being recognised masters in the Highlands:—

In 1185 died Maclosa O’Daly, ollav, or chief sage or poet of Erin and Alban; a man illustrious for his poetry, hospitality, and nobility.

In 1328 died the blind O’Carril, chief minstrel of Erin and Alban in his time.

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

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

The oldest of the Gaelic MSS., preserved in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, belong to this period. They are all written in the Irish character; the language is the written language of Ireland; and they contain numerous specimens of the poetry of these Irish masters, especially of Tadg og and the O’Dalys.

The Betons, or, as their name was in Gaelic, Macbheatha, who were hereditary physicians in Isla and Mull, and who were also sennachies of the Macleans, were of Irish descent, being O’Neills, and are said by tradition to be one of the families who accompanied O’Cathan’s daughter to Scotland; and many of these MSS. belonged to them. The M’Vurichs, who were hereditary sennachies [xxxvii] to Clanranald, were likewise of Irish descent, and are said “to have received their education in Irish Colleges of poetry and writing.”[24] Many of these MSS. were compiled by them; and the earliest are likewise written in the Irish character and idiom. The sennachies of the other great families, comprised within the dominions of the Lords of the Isles, appear likewise to have all resorted to Ireland for instruction and training in their art.

A powerful influence must thus have been exercised upon the language and literature of the Highlands, which must have become by degrees more and more assimilated to that of Ireland; and it may well be doubted whether, towards the close of this period, there existed the means of acquiring the art of writing the language except in Ireland, or the conception of a written and cultivated literature, which was not identified with its language and learning. [xxxviii]

We have no reason, however, to conclude, on that account, that there was not a vernacular Gaelic, which preserved many of the independent features of a native language, and existed among the people as a spoken dialect; or that a popular and unwritten literature may not at the same time have existed in that native and idiomatic Gaelic in the poetry handed down by tradition, or composed by native bards, innocent of all extraneous education in the written language of Ireland. It is, in fact, in poetry, or rather in popular ballad poetry, that the nervous and idiomatic vernacular of the people is usually preserved. Prose readily assimilates itself and succumbs to the influence of a cultivated and written language, but the tyranny of rhythm and metre preserves the language in which poetry is composed in its original form and idiom.[25]

The fall of the great House of the Isles was coincident with another event, destined to effect a great change in the position of the Highland population and of their literature. This was the Reformation of the sixteenth century and its attendant events, the establishment of a Reformed Church, the introduction of printing, and the translation of the Scriptures and religious works for the instruction of the people.

From this source sprung up a religious literature, which, commencing in the written or Irish Gaelic, gradually approached nearer and nearer to the spoken dialect of the country, and, accompanied by the preaching of the clergy in the vernacular dialect, tended to preserve and stereotype the language spoken in the Highlands in its native form and idiom. [xxxix]

The first printed book was a translation of the Form of Prayer issued by John Knox, which was made by John Carsewell, the Protestant Bishop of the Isles, and printed at “Dunedin darab comhainm Dunmonaidh,” that is, at Dunedin or Edinburgh, otherwise called Dunmonaidh, 24th April 1567. Bishop Carsewell was a native of Kilmartin, in the southern part of the country of Argyll. He prefixes to his translation an address, which is written in the Irish orthography, and in the pure Irish or written dialect. In it he says, that “we, the Gael of Alban and Erin, have laboured under the want that our dialects of the Gaelic have never been printed;” and he alludes to the dialects of the language and to the manuscript literature then existing, “written in manuscript books in the compositions of poets and ollaos, and in the remains of learned men,” and characterizes them not unjustly as full of “lying, worldly stories concerning the Tuatha de Dannan, the sons of Milesius, the heroes, and Finn mac Cumhal with his Feine.”

The second printed book was a translation of Calvin’s Catechism, which was published, along with an English edition, in 1631. This translation seems likewise to have been made in Argyllshire, and is in the Irish orthography and idiom.

In 1659, the Presbyterian Synod of Argyll took up the work of issuing translations into Gaelic of the metrical Psalms and of the Scriptures, and commenced with a portion of the Psalter, which was completed in 1694. This also is in the Irish dialect; but, in 1753, an amended version was published by the Rev. Alexander Macfarlane, minister of Kilninver and Kilmelford, who had previously, in 1750, published a translation into Gaelic of Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted, adapted to the Gaelic of the central and north Highlands; and, in 1787, another version was issued by Dr. J. Smith, [xl] minister of Kilbrandon, and afterwards of Campbelltown, who had in 1781 translated Alleine’s Alarm into Gaelic, and in this version the north country words and Irishisms were thrown out, and the metre suited to the west country dialect; and, finally, in 1807, an edition of the Psalter was published by Thomas Ross for the use of the northern districts, in which the Irish words, unintelligible to them, are explained at the bottom of the page by synonymous words used in that part of the Highlands.

In 1690, the first Bible was published for the use of the Highlands. It was simply an edition of the Irish version of the Bible, by the Rev. Robert Kirke, minister of Balquhidder, to which he appended a short vocabulary.

In 1767, the first translation of the New Testament was published. It was translated by the Rev. James Stewart of Killin. It was then considered as pure Scotch Gaelic, and free from Irish idiom; and, in 1796, it was revised and altered by his son, Dr. Stewart of Luss. In 1783, a translation of the Old Testament was undertaken by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in Scotland, and completed in 1787, and various editions subsequently appeared. In 1816, a memorial was presented to the General Assembly of the Church, urging the necessity of a final revision of the Gaelic Scriptures, and a committee of the best Gaelic scholars appointed to superintend it, under whose auspices an amended edition was published of the [xli] Old Testament in 1820, and of the whole Scriptures in 1826, which may now be considered as the standard of the orthography and idiom of the Scotch Gaelic.

It will be seen that the earlier printed books emanated entirely from Argyllshire, where the spoken dialect approaches more nearly to the Irish; and the work of translating and publishing the Psalter and Scriptures into Gaelic being a new and difficult task, the translators resorted to Ireland and to the written and cultivated dialect of the Irish as the medium through which to convey it; but as subsequent editions were issued, they were brought more and more near to the spoken language of the Scotch Highlands in its purest form and idiom, and the Irish orthography by degrees adapted to it, till at length the Scotch Gaelic became clothed in that orthography in which we now find it, and elevated to the position of a written and cultivated language.

Throughout the whole of this period, however, there existed, side by side with this printed religious literature, another literature in the popular poetry of the uncultivated native bards, removed from the influence of Irish training, whose compositions were expressed in the pure idiom of the spoken dialect; and in the poems of Ian Lom, the Lochaber poet of the Wars of Montrose; Duncan Ban Macintyre, whose exquisite poem of Bendoran is a beautiful specimen of pure Gaelic, and whose poems were printed in 1778; Ailen Buidhe Macdougall, W. Ross, and Allan Dall Macdougall—all natives of the central districts of the Highlands,—we find ample evidence [xlii] of the existence and character of a vernacular dialect, in which the people interchanged their homely ideas, and their favourite bards composed their poems which found an immediate access to the hearts and imagination of the people; while the language in which their scriptures and formularies were conveyed was looked upon as a sort of sacred dialect, through which they received their religious teaching.

There was thus, throughout, a double influence exercised upon the language and literature of the Highlands. One from Ireland, which was associated with the written and cultivated dialect of Gaelic which had there been formed, and brought over with Christianity to Scotland. With it came the Irish orthography. It was mainly connected with learning and religious teaching, and its influence was most powerful in the western districts and islands, and the territories subject to the power of the Lord of the Isles. The other, indigenous and antagonistic to it, falling back upon a literary influence from the south and east, when not predominant, and associated more with the popular poetry of the Highlands. Its orthography seems to have resembled that of the other Celtic languages, the Welsh and the Manx; and its influence prevailed in the central and north Highlands, where the best and purest type of the Scotch Gaelic is still to be found.[26]

[xliii] The literary history of the Highlands falls into periods as these influences respectively prevailed.

The first period is prior to the seventh century, when there was no political separation between Ireland and Gaelic Scotland. The great divisions of the people were regulated by race rather than by geographical distribution. The Cruithne everywhere were united by common origin and ties of race; and the Scots, wherever settled, owned the Milesian Ardrigh in Ireland. The countries were simply viewed as the east and the west, and were known as Erin and Alban, and the communication between them was free and unrestrained. The second period commences with the separation of the Scotch Dalriada from the Irish in 573, and of the Irish Cruithne from the present race, some thirty years later, when a political as well as a geographical separation between the Celtic tribes of the two countries took place; but, for upwards of a century afterwards, the church and clergy of the Highlands were Irish, and the written Irish dialect imported by them must still have remained in use, and exercised its accustomed influence on the spoken language.

After the expulsion of the Scotch clergy in 717, a period of great obscurity in the history of Scotland occurs, extending to nearly a century and a half, during which the ecclesiastical influence exercised was from the south, taking its origin from the Anglic kingdom of Northumbria; some revolution also took place, which placed a [xliv] Scottish royal family upon the throne of a kingdom consisting of the united tribes situated to the north of the Forth and Clyde. But during the same period another event took place, of great significance in the literary history of the country; the Monastery of Icholumkill or Iona, the time-honoured seat of Gaelic learning, went down amidst the troubled waters of Scandinavian piracy, and its position, as head of the learning and religion of the country, was gone for ever.

During the fourth period, which lasted for three hundred years, the Norwegian kingdom of Man and the Isles, which likewise embraced the western seaboard of the Highlands, interposed itself between the Highlands and Ireland; and the influence from the latter country must for the time have been paralysed, while the indigenous and native influence maintained itself in the extensive Highland province of Moray.

At the close of this period we have a hint of the existence of an Albanic dialect of Gaelic in the Life of St. Kentigern, first Bishop of Glasgow, by Jocelyn, the biographer also of St. Patrick, who wrote in the year 1180. He says that the name of Kentigern was justly given to one who might be called their dominus capitaneus; “nam ken caput Latine, tyern Albanice, dominus Latine interpretatur.” This is nearly a phonetic orthography, and not unlike that of the Dean of Lismore’s MS. In Irish orthography the words would be cend, signifying caput, or a head; tigerna, dominus, or lord; but in pronunciation the d in cend is quiescent, and the aspirated [xlv] g in tigerna, so that the sound is exactly represented even as now pronounced. Jocelyn seems to recognise the existence of a native dialect designated by Albanice; and one of the peculiarities of Scotch Gaelic is also present in the omission of the final a from the word tigerna.[27]

The fate of the great Celtic earldom of Moray, and the decay of the Norwegian power in the Isles, was followed by the powerful sway of the Celtic Lords of the Isles, who, during the fifth period, extending from three to four centuries, were dominant in the western districts; and, as far as their sway extended, the spirit, influence, and literature were all Irish, and it was only when the fall of the almost independent kingdom of the Isles, and the Reformation again separated the country from Ireland, that a reaction towards the vernacular and spoken Scotch Gaelic took place, which has resulted in a clear development of its grammatical rules and construction, and the establishment of a fixed orthography.

It was at the close of the fifth period, during which the Lords of the Isles were all-powerful in the west, and just before the middle of the sixteenth century ushered in the Reformation, that the collection, of which selections are now published, was made by the Vicar of Fortingal, who was also Dean of Lismore. It is a [xlvi] collection, formed upwards of three hundred years ago, from all quarters, and presents to us a specimen of the literature which was current in the Highlands during this period. There are poems by the Irish bards, whose schools extended also to the Highlands, by the O’Dalys, who lived during the fifteenth century; by Teague og O’Higgin, who died in 1448; by Dermod O’Hiffernan; and by Turn O’Meilchonair, Ollav of the Sil Murray, who died in 1468. There are poems by Allan M’Ruadrie and Gillecallum Mac an Olla, who seem to have been native bards; by John of Knoydart, who celebrates the murder of the young Lord of the Isles by his Irish harper in 1490; by Finlay M’Nab, called the Good Poet; and by the transcriber of the greater part of the manuscript, Duncan, the Dean’s brother, who wrote in praise of the M’Gregors.

The great value of this collection, as regards the language, arises from the peculiar orthography used, which presents it as it must have been pronounced, and affords a means of testing one of the chief differences which characterize the different provincial dialects, the vowel and consonantal sounds, and the presence or absence of eclipsis and aspiration.

It has been found impossible to print the whole of the contents of the MS., but the selection which has been made, chiefly with reference to the literature of the Highlands, will also afford a fair specimen of the shades of difference which characterized the language in which the poems are written. Some are in pure Irish, and must [xlvii] have been transferred from the Irish orthography into that used in the MS. Others are in pure Scotch Gaelic, as the poems of Duncan, son of Dougall Maol, Finlay M’Nab, the bard roy, and John of Knoydart. Others are in a mixed dialect, in some of which the Irish idiom, in others the Scotch, predominates.

In general, it will be found that the language approaches more or less nearly to the Irish, as the writers appear to have had more or less cultivation in the written language, or were more or less removed from Irish influence; and the MS. may be viewed as the only known record of those vernacular dialects of Gaelic in the sixteenth century which differed in any degree from the written and cultivated language.

But while the Dean of Lismore’s MS. has in this respect a philological value, it has likewise no mean literary value, from the circumstance that it contains no fewer than twenty-eight Ossianic poems, extending to upwards of 2500 lines, nine directly attributed to Ossian, two to Farris or Ferghus Filidh, and one to Caolte M’Ronan, the three bards of the Feine; two to Allan M’Ruadri, and one to Gillecallum Mac an Olla, bards hitherto unknown; and eleven poems, Ossianic in their style and subject, to which no author’s name is attached.

The circumstances under which the controversy regarding the authenticity of the poems of Ossian, published by James Macpherson, arose, and the extent to which it for the time agitated the minds of the literati of England and Scotland, are well known. [xlviii]

In the summer of 1759, Mr. John Home, the author of Douglas, met Mr. James Macpherson, then a tutor in the family of Graham of Balgowan, at Moffat. Mr. Home had previously been told by Professor Adam Fergusson, a native of Atholl, and acquainted with Gaelic, that there existed in the country some remains of ancient Gaelic poetry. Mr. Home mentioned the circumstance to James Macpherson, also a Highlander, and a native of Badenoch, and was told by him that he had some pieces of ancient Gaelic poetry in his possession. After some difficulty, Mr. Home obtained translations of them from Macpherson, and took them to Edinburgh, and showed the translations to Drs. Blair, Fergusson, and Robertson, by whom they were much admired. Macpherson was importuned to translate all he had, and the translations furnished by him were published in a little volume in June 1760, under the title of “Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland.”

There seems little reason to doubt that these translations were made from genuine fragments in Macpherson’s possession. If they existed at all, they were in his possession before any talk had arisen of translating Gaelic poetry. There was no pretext of going to the Highlands to collect them. There was no idea, at the time the translations were produced, that such poetry could have any value in the eyes of the literary world, and there seems no motive for any deception. In the fragments, or rather short poems, contained in this little work, the proper names are smoothed down from their [xlix] original Gaelic form to suit English ears; and Macpherson had already hit upon that happy prose version, the conception of which has great merit, and had no little share in the popularity which immediately attached to them; but, in other respects, they have every appearance of having been translations from short Gaelic poems which really existed. The admiration which they excited in the minds of men of the great literary reputation of Home, Blair, Fergusson, and Robertson, must have first astonished, and then greatly flattered, a man of the disposition of Macpherson. He was urged to undertake a journey to the Highlands, to collect all that remained of poetry of this description, and a subscription was raised to defray the expense. This proposal must have raised a prospect sufficiently dazzling before the poor Highland tutor, who seemed likely to exchange a life of poverty, obscurity, and irksome duty, for one of comparative independence and literary fame; and he acceded to it with affected reluctance. At that time, anything like that spirit of severe and critical antiquarianism, which attaches the chief value to the relics of past ages from their being genuine fragments of a past literature, and demands a rigid and literal adherence to the form and shape in which they are found, was totally unknown. That feeling is the creation of subsequent times. At that time literary excellence was mainly looked to, their authority was usually taken on trust, and it was thought that the claims of such criticism were sufficiently satisfied when the remains of the [l] past were woven into an elegant and flowing narrative. With Homer and other classical epics before him, such a proposal as the publication of the ancient poetry of the Highlands, assuming, as we now know to be the fact, that Ossianic poetry of some kind did exist, and looking to the high expectations formed, must have at once suggested to him the idea that he should not do justice to the task he had undertaken if he could not likewise produce a Gaelic epic. This idea seems early to have suggested itself to Macpherson’s mind; it is obscurely hinted at in the preface to the Fragments; and Macpherson seems to have started on his tour with the preconceived determination to view any short poems and fragments he might find as parts of longer poems, and, if possible, by welding them together, to produce a national epic which should do honour to his country, and confirm his own reputation as its recoverer and translator. He was accompanied, in the earlier part of his journey, by a countryman of his own, Mr. Lachlan Macpherson of Strathmashie, who was a better Gaelic scholar than he was himself, and an excellent Gaelic poet. It is certain that, in this tour, a number of MSS. were collected by them, and poetry taken down from recitation; and that he was joined in it by another Gaelic scholar, Captain Alexander Morrison, who likewise assisted him. On his return, he proceeded to Badenoch, his native place and that of Lachlan Macpherson, and here he remained till January 1761, engaged, with the assistance of Lachlan Macpherson and Alexander Morrison, [li] in preparing the materials for the next publication of Ossian; and then proceeded to Edinburgh, from whence he writes to the Rev. James M’Lagan, in a letter dated 16th January 1761,—“I have been lucky enough to lay my hands on a pretty complete poem, and truly epic, concerning Fingal. . . . I have some thoughts of publishing the original, if it will not clog the work too much.”

His task, whatever it was, had then been accomplished; and after remaining some time in Edinburgh, engaged in preparing the English version for the press, he went to London, and early in 1762 issued a quarto volume, containing the epic poem of Fingal, in six books, and sixteen other poems. In the following year another quarto appeared, containing another epic poem in eight books, called Temora, and five other poems. This volume also contained what was called “a specimen of the original of Temora,” being a Gaelic version of the seventh book, and the only Gaelic bearing to be the original of any of the poems which appeared.

The English version, contained in these two quartos, possessed the same character as the English of the Fragments; the same accommodation of the Gaelic proper names to the supposed requirements of English ears, and the prose style, originated by Macpherson, sustained with equal spirit; the poems, however, were longer, and more elaborate.

The literary public, who had welcomed the Fragments with admiration, received the volume containing the [lii] epic of Fingal with startled but silent acquiescence, and exploded under the eight books of Temora. It seemed incredible that poems such as these could have been handed down by oral recitation from the supposed age of Ossian; the refined manners described, and the allusions to the Roman Emperors, awakened suspicion, and a storm of adverse criticism and questioning incredulity arose, in which Dr. Johnson—at that time in the zenith of his reputation—took the lead.

Macpherson, who found the fair breeze of flattery and laudation, before which he had been sailing so smoothly on his heavy quartos, without a suspicion that he had not attained the full success he aimed at, so suddenly changed into an adverse storm of criticism and depreciation, knew not how to meet the crisis. He had not courage to avow the truth, and state candidly to the world how much of his work was based on original authority, and to what extent he had carried the process of adapting, interpolating, and weaving into epic poems. He took refuge first in sulky silence, and eventually seemed to find a sort of compensation for his denunciation, as a detected forger, in the necessary alternative, the credit of having been a successful composer, and by half hints encouraged that view.[28]

[liii] The journey which Dr. Johnson took to the Hebrides, in order to examine the question, and of his Journal of which, one passage seems to have adhered to men’s recollections almost as pertinaciously as that of Ossian’s Address to the Sun did to the Highland reciters of his poems—the celebrated description of Iona—was not likely to do much in the way of solving the question.

A man of the obstinate prejudices and overbearing temper of Dr. Johnson, with a firm belief that no Ossianic poems really existed, and that Gaelic was not a written language, with an entire ignorance of that language, and a colossal reputation as a critic, bursting suddenly among the frightened Highland ministers, who believed in him, and trembled before him, could hardly return with any other result than that he had found no poems of Ossian, and no one bold enough to avow, in his presence, that he believed in their existence; and most men now subsided into the conviction that the whole [liv] thing was an imposture, an opinion embodied and elaborately worked out by Malcolm Laing.

This led to the Highland Society of Scotland undertaking an inquiry into the authenticity of the poems of Ossian published by Macpherson, which involved the subsidiary inquiry of whether such poems existed in the Highlands in the original Gaelic. The result of this inquiry is contained in the elaborate report prepared by Henry Mackenzie, the author of the Man of Feeling, and published in 1806.

The inquiry was conducted with much candour. The committee were aided by receiving from Mr. John Mackenzie, Secretary of the Highland Society of London, and executor of Mr. James Macpherson, all the Gaelic MSS. in his possession, including those which Macpherson had left behind him; and they resorted to every means within their reach to obtain information.

The whole of the materials for forming a judgment which they had collected were placed impartially before the public; and the subject, so far as such materials then existed or were at their command, is really exhausted by this report.

The committee were cautious in giving an opinion, but the result they arrived at seems to have been—

1st, That the characters introduced into Macpherson’s poems were not invented, but were really the subjects of tradition in the Highlands; and that poems certainly existed which might be called Ossianic, as relating to the persons and events of that mythic age. [lv]

2d, That such poems, though usually either entire poems of no very great length, or fragments, had been handed down from an unknown period by oral recitation, and that there existed many persons in the Highlands who could repeat them.

3d, That such poems had likewise been committed to writing, and were to be found to some extent in MSS.

4th, That Macpherson had used many such poems in his work; but by joining separated pieces together, and by adding a connecting narrative of his own, had woven them into longer poems, and into the so-called epics.

No materials existed, however, to show the extent to which this process had been carried, and the amount of genuine matter the poems, as published by Macpherson, contained.[29]

[lvi] Such was the result to which the committee appeared to come, and which may fairly be deduced from this inquiry; all intelligent inquirers seemed now to adopt this result, and the unbiassed public generally acquiesced in it,—the only difference of opinion being as to the greater or less extent to which Macpherson carried his process of adaptation and amalgamation.

The publication in 1806 of what was called the original Gaelic of Ossian, did not affect this conclusion, or tend to alter the general acquiescence of the public in it. Instead of consisting of genuine extracts from old MSS., or copies of pieces taken down from oral recitation, it proved to be a complete version in Gaelic poetry of the English version transcribed under James Macpherson’s eye, and left by him in a state for publication. It was a smooth and polished version in Gaelic verse of the entire poems, in the same shape as they were presented in English, and written in the modern Gaelic of that time.

It is very difficult, however, to believe that this Gaelic version had been composed subsequently to the publication of the English Ossian, and translated from it. To any one capable, from a knowledge of Gaelic, of judging, such a theory seems almost impossible; and it is difficult to acquiesce in it. A review of all the circumstances which have been allowed to transpire regarding the proceedings of James Macpherson, seems rather to [lvii] lead to the conclusion that the Gaelic version, in the shape in which it was afterwards published, had been prepared in Badenoch, during the months Macpherson passed there, after his return from his Highland tour, with the assistance of Lachlan Macpherson of Strathmashie, and Captain Morrison, and that the English translation was made from it by Macpherson in the same manner in which he had translated the fragments,—a conclusion which is the more probable, as, while James Macpherson’s acquaintance with the language seems not to have been sufficiently complete to qualify him for such a task, there appears to be no doubt of the Laird of Strathmashie’s perfect ability to accomplish it.[30]

[lviii] But while from this date the controversy in England may be said to have terminated, with the exception of an occasional reproduction of old arguments and of criticism long superseded, by enthusiastic young Highlanders, and occasional discussions at young debating societies, it broke out from a new quarter, and in a different shape.

The Irish, who had been long murmuring under the neglect of their claims to literary notice, and the absorbing attention obtained by the Highlands, suddenly burst forth with a succession of violent and spasmodic attacks, of which the partial detection of the Ossian of Macpherson afforded a favourable opportunity.

In 1784 Dr. Young, afterwards Bishop of Clonfert, a good Irish scholar, had made a tour in the Highlands, with the view of collecting Gaelic poems, and ascertaining from what materials Macpherson had constructed his Ossian. He published an account of his journey in the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, in which he maintained that any poems that existed were Irish, and that Macpherson had founded his Ossian on some of these, “retrenching, adding, and altering as he judged proper.”

In 1789 a collection of Irish Ossianic poems was published by Miss Brooke, termed Reliques of Irish Poetry. They consisted of short poems, either attributed to Ossian or on Ossianic subjects, and were accompanied by the original Irish version from which they were translated. Where that was obtained is not stated.

In 1807 the Dublin Gaelic Society was formed, for the purpose of publishing the contents of Irish MSS.; [lix] and in the only volume of transactions published, the subject of Ossian was taken up. The prose tale of Deirdre, the original of Macpherson’s Darthula, interspersed with fragments of poetry, is there given; and the volume likewise contains strictures upon Macpherson, in which his work is boldly denounced as an entire fabrication and imposture from beginning to end, and the assertion made, that no poems of Ossian ever existed in Gaelic except those in Ireland.

In 1827 the Royal Irish Academy offered a prize for the best essay on the poems of Ossian. The subject proposed was “to investigate the authenticity of the poems of Ossian, both as given in Macpherson’s translation and as published in Gaelic (London, 1807), under the sanction of the Highland Society of London.” The prize was awarded in 1829 to Dr. Drummond, their librarian, whose essay is published in the sixteenth volume of their Transactions. In this essay the arguments of Dr. Johnson and Malcolm Laing are adopted; and the assertion of the former is re-echoed, that “there does not exist in the whole Highlands a person who can repeat one poem of Macpherson’s Ossian.” Another essay, given in by Edward O’Reilly, the author of an Irish dictionary of no great repute, is printed in continuation of Dr. Drummond’s, also asserting the modern fabrication of the whole of the poems published by Macpherson, and that the Gaelic poems of Macpherson contain in them the substance stolen from Irish poems.

In 1853 a society was formed in Dublin, “whose [lx] object should be the publication of Fenian poems, tales, and romances illustrative of the Fenian period of Irish history, in the Irish language and character, with literal translations and notes explanatory of the text.” This society was termed the Ossianic Society, and they have already issued six volumes of Transactions.

In the fifth volume there is an essay on the poems of Ossian by Macpherson, which may be considered as a summary of the case of Ireland against Scotland as to these poems.

This essay is, like the others, violent in language and uncandid in spirit. It deals with the controversy as it existed in the last century, and its strength consists in simply ignoring altogether the inquiry made by the Highland Society of Scotland, the whole of the great mass of facts collected by them being passed over in silence, and in imputing to the Scots of the present day the views and feelings of those of a century back, before the rise of a true spirit of historic inquiry and genuine criticism had led them to a just appreciation of their national history, and of the claims of Macpherson’s Ossian to be viewed as an authentic work.

The publications of the Dublin Gaelic Society and of the Ossianic Society have, however, not merely assailed the Ossian of Macpherson as a fabrication, and denied to Scotland the possession of any Ossianic poems whatever; they have at length given to the world those genuine Ossianic poems alleged to exist solely in Ireland.

The former contains the prose tale of Deirdre, interspersed [lxi] with short poems. The latter have presented to the public a number of poems in the original Irish, with literal translations. The first volume contains a poem extending to no fewer than 180 quatrains, termed the Battle of Gabhra, to which is added a short poem termed the Rosg Catha of Oscar son of Ossian; but, strangely enough, though there is an elaborate introduction, no hint is given of where the originals of these poems were obtained. The second volume, besides a short poem given in a long and elaborate introduction, contains a prose tale called the Festivities of the House of Conan of Ceann-sleibhe; and in this volume, for the first time, the source from which this tale and the poem in the previous volume was taken is stated. They are from a MS. collection made by a celebrated scribe named Foran, who resided at Portland, in the county of Waterford, in the year 1780, that is, twenty years after Macpherson had published his Ossian.

The third volume contains a long prose tale, interspersed with poetry, termed the Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainne; another prose tale, termed How Cormac mac Art got his Branch; and a poem, termed the Lamentation of Oisin after the Feinne. And the sources of these tales are stated to be—1st, The collection made by Laurence Foran in 1780, termed Bolg an tsalathar; and 2dly, A closely written quarto of 881 pages, from the pen of Martan O’Griobhta or Martin Griffin, an intelligent blacksmith of Kilrush, in the county of Clare, 1842-43, called an Sgeulaidhe, and containing thirty-eight [lxii] Fenian and other legends, some of which are said to have been transcribed from MSS. of 1749.[31]

The fourth volume contains ten poems, which, with the exception of two, were taken from the collection of 1780, from another collection made in 1812 by the Rev. Thomas Hill of Cooreclure, and from the volume of the intelligent blacksmith in 1844.

The fifth volume contains a long prose tale termed the Proceedings of the Great Bardic Institution, an essay on the poems of Ossian, published by Macpherson, and several short poems which are ancient, but not Ossianic.

And the sixth and last contains nine Ossianic poems, which are stated to be taken from Foran’s collection in 1780, from that of Mr. Hill in 1812, and from the intelligent blacksmith of 1844.

No information whatever is given as to the sources from whence these respectable collectors obtained their poems; they are all posterior to the publication of Ossian’s poems by Macpherson; and, so far as we are yet informed by the Irish editors, the Ossianic poems published by them stand in no better position in regard to their antiquity or authenticity than those of Macpherson.[32]

[lxiii] Professor O’Curry, in his valuable lectures on Irish literature, with that scrupulous accuracy which always distinguishes him, admits that there exists in Ireland only eleven Ossianic poems prior to the fifteenth century—seven ascribed to Fionn himself, two to his son Oisin, one to Fergus Filidh, and one to Caoilte. Most of these are extremely short, and are found principally in the book of Leinster, supposed to be compiled in the twelfth century, and in the book of Lecan in the fifteenth.

The theory, that Macpherson stole his poems directly from Ireland, is obviously untenable and inconsistent with all that we know of his proceedings, for he never was there, and had apparently no communication with Irishmen, or access to their MSS. What he obtained, he got in the Highlands of Scotland, and the collection of poems made by the Dean of Lismore and his brother tends to confirm the result which had been attained by the inquiry made by the Highland Society of Scotland, for it contains poems attributed directly to Ossian and others which may be called Ossianic, collected in the Highlands of Scotland upwards of three hundred years ago. The persons named, and the subjects, are of the same character with those in Macpherson, and such poems must have been handed down by oral recitation, as many of the poems obtained from recitation during the Highland Society’s inquiry are the same as those in this MS.

Assuming, then, that Ossianic poems existed in the Highlands of Scotland, and were both preserved by oral tradition, and transcribed in MS. collections, the question arises, What is their real position in the literature of the Highlands? and this question leads to a preliminary question which will materially aid its solution. [lxiv]

Who were the Feinne of tradition, and to what country and period are they to be assigned?

They were a body of Irish militia, forming a kind of standing army, employed for the purpose of defending the coasts of Ireland from the invasion of foreign foes. They were billeted upon the inhabitants during winter, and obliged to maintain themselves by hunting and fishing during summer. Each of the four provinces had its band of these warriors, termed Curaidhe or champions. Those of Ulster were termed the Curaidhe na Craoibh Ruaidhe, or champions of the red branch, and were stationed at Eamhain or Eamania, near Ulster. To this body belonged the celebrated Cuchullin and the sons of Uisneach. The militia of Connaught were the Curaidhe or champions of Jorras Domnan, otherwise called the Clanna Morna, to which belonged Goll Mac Morn, stationed at Dun Domnan, in Mayo. The militia of Munster were the Curaidhe Clann Deaghadh, to which belonged Curigh Mac Daire, stationed at Cathair Conrigh, in Kerry. The militia of Leinster were the Curaighe Clanna Baoisgne, to which belonged the renowned Finn Mac Cumhal, his sons, Ossin and Fergus Filidh, his grandson Oscar, and his relation, Caoilte Mac Ronan. Cuchullin lived in the first century, in the reign of Conaire Mac Eidersgeoil, King of Ireland, and Conchobar Mac Nessa, a king of Ulster; and at the same period lived Curigh Mac Daire, who was slain by him. Finn [lxv] Mac Cumhal lived in the reign of Cormac Mac Art, who ruled from A.D. 227 to 266, and whose daughter Graine he married, and Goll Mac Moirna was his cotemporary. Finn was slain in the year 285, his grandson Oscar having fallen in the battle of Gahbra, fought in the following year. Oissin and Caoilte survived to the time of St. Patrick, whose mission to Ireland fell in the year 432, and related to him the exploits of the Feinne; one conversation between these aged Feinne and the apostle of Ireland having been preserved, and is termed Agallamh na seanorach or the Dialogue of the Sages.

If this is history, cadit questio. The ancient Irish militia, like their more modern representatives, could not, it is presumed, be called upon to leave their country, except in case of invasion; and poems narrating their adventures and exploits must have been as Irish as the heroes which were the subject of them.

But we cannot accept it as history in any sense of the term. It is as illusory and uncertain as are the dates of St. Patrick, and the narrative of which the one forms a part, is as little to be regarded as a veracious chronicle, as the life of the other can be accepted as a genuine biography. The chronology of the one is as questionable as the era of the other.

Prior to the year 483, the Irish have, strictly speaking, no chronological history. The battle of Ocha, fought in that year, which established the dynasty of the Hy’Neills on the Irish throne, and the order of things which [lxvi] existed subsequent to that date, is the great chronological era which separates the true from the empirical, the genuine annals of the country from an artificially constructed history.

Prior to that date, we find the reigns of a long succession of monarchs recorded, with a strange mixture of minute detail, chronological exactness, and the wildest fable, a wonderful structure of history palpably artificial, and ranging over a period of upwards of 3000 years. Passing over the arrival of Casar, Noah’s niece, who landed in Ireland forty days before the deluge, on the fifteenth day of the moon, the so-called Irish history records the arrival of four colonies before that of the Milesians. First, that of Partolan and his followers, who landed at Inversceine, in the west of Munster, on the 14th day of May, in the year of the world 2320 or 2680 years B.C., and who all perished by a pestilence in one week to the number of 9000 on the Hill of Howth, thirty years after their arrival. Secondly, the Nemedians, under their leader Nemedius, thirty years after, who, after remaining 217 years in the island, left it, in consequence of the tyranny and oppression of the pirates, termed the Fomorians, in three bands,—one going to Thrace, from whom descended the Firbolg; the second to the North of Europe or Lochlan, from whom descended the Tuatha De Danann; and the third to Alban or Scotland, from whom descended the Britons. The third colony were the Firbolg, who returned to Ireland 217 years after the arrival of the Nemedians, and [lxvii] consisted of three tribes, the Firbolg, the Firdomnan, and the Firgailian under five leaders, by whom Ireland was divided into five provinces. With Slainge, the eldest of the five brothers, the Irish historians commence the monarchy of Ireland and the list of her kings. The fourth colony were the Tuatha De Danann, who went from Lochlan to Alban or Scotland, and from thence to Ireland, where they landed on Monday the 1st of May, and drove out the Firbolgs, after they had been thirty-six years in Ireland, to be in their turn driven out by the Scots, under the three sons of Milesius, Eremon, Eber, and Ir, who, with their uncle’s son Lughadh, the son of Ith, led the fifth and last colony from Spain to Ireland. The island was divided between the two brothers Eremon and Eber, the former having the north, and the latter the south half of Ireland; Ir obtaining Ulster under Eremon, and Lughadh a settlement in Munster under Eber.

From the sons of Milesius to the reign of Lughadh, who was placed on the throne by the battle of Ocha, there proceeded a line of monarchs amounting to 116 in number, and extending over a period of upwards of twenty-one centuries, the descendants of the different sons of Milesius alternating with each other from time to time, and the reign of each given with an exactness of date and minuteness of event which betrays its artificial character. As part of this narrative is introduced the existence of these bands of Fenian militia, with the dates at which their leaders are said to have lived. [lxviii]

Is it possible, however, to accept this extraordinary bead-roll of shadowy monarchs during Pagan times, with their exact chronology, and the strange and almost ludicrous peculiarities by which each are distinguished, as serious history, or even to attempt to discriminate between what may be true and what is false? Are there any materials, or any data upon which we can even fix upon a date, within a reasonable compass of time, and say all before that is fable, all after may be history, till we arrive on firm ground, after the introduction of Christianity? Professor O’Curry is right when he says, in his admirable lectures on the MS. materials of ancient Irish history, that he cannot discover any ground on which the annalist Tighernac was able to say, “omnia monumenta Scotorum usque Cimbaoth (a king of Ulster, who flourished in the seventh century, B.C.) incerta erant.”

From Slainge, the first king of the Firbolgs, who began to reign 1934 years B.C., and ruled only one year, or even from Eremon, the first monarch of all Ireland of the Milesian race, who began to reign 1700 years B.C., down to Dathy, who was killed by a flash of lightning at the foot of the Alps in the year 428, and Laogare, his successor, who was slain by the elements for refusing obedience to St. Patrick’s mission which is said to have taken place during his reign, every reign is stamped with the same character; and what to accept and what to reject is a problem, for the solution of which the history itself affords no materials.

If this narrative is to be submitted to historic criticism, [lxix] is the later portion less an object of such criticism than the earlier? There seems no reason why we should accept the history of Neill of the nine hostages, who reigned from 379 to 405, and had subjected all Britain and part of France to his sway, and reject that of Ugony More, who reigned 1000 years earlier, and whose conquests were equally extensive and equally unknown to European history, or why Ugony’s twenty-five sons are less worthy of credit than the thirty sons of Cathoirmor, who reigned 750 years later. Why the division of Ireland into the two great portions of north and south, between Conn of the hundred battles and Modha Nuadhat, in the second century, is to be accepted in preference to the original division into the same districts between Eremon and Eber, the sons of Milesius; or which of the divisions of Ireland into five provinces, that by Tuathal the acceptable, or Eochaddh, called Feidhlioch, from the deep sighs which he constantly heaved from his heart, or that by Slainge, the first king of the Firbolgs, is to be held to represent the event which produced it.

Are the conquests in Scotland by Crimthan mor, and Dathy in the fourth and fifth centuries, to be accepted, and these equally detailed battles of Aongus olmucadha and Rechtgidh righ-derg, some centuries earlier, to be rejected because they occupy a different place in this succession of unreal monarchs? Are we to accept the reign of Conchobar Mac Nessa in the first century—to whom the death of Christ upon the cross was revealed by a Druid at the time it happened, and who became [lxx] Christian in consequence, and died from over-exertion in attacking a forest of trees with his sword which he mistook for the Jews; and the reign of Cormac Mac Art, called Ulfada, either from the length of his beard and hair, or because he drove the Uladh or Ultonians far from their country, where, however, they are ever after found notwithstanding; who was also miraculously converted to Christianity two centuries before the supposed arrival of St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, and died by choking upon the bone of an enchanted fish, or, according to other accounts, was strangled by a number of infernal fiends,—as history, in preference to the reigns of scores of older monarchs, the events of whose reigns cannot be said to be less probable.

Must we hold that the chronology of Cuchullin and Corroi, of Finn Mac Cumhal and Goll Mac Morn, is fixed, because the two former are placed in the reign of Conchobar Mac Nessa, and the two latter in that of Cormac Ulfada, or that their Irish character is demonstrated because they are woven into this Milesian fable?[33]

[lxxi] In fact, the whole of this history presents a structure so artificial, so compact, and so alike in all its features, that it is impossible for any one, like Samson, to withdraw any two pillars without bringing the whole edifice about his ears, and crushing the entire bead-roll of unbaptized monarchs beneath its ruins.

The truth is, that notwithstanding the claims of the Irish to an early cultivation and to a knowledge of letters in Pagan times, the art of writing was unknown in Ireland till after the introduction of Christianity, and written history there was none. The only materials that existed for it were poems, legends, historic tales, and pedigrees, handed down by tradition; and from these, at a subsequent period, when, as in all countries, the leisure hours of monks and ecclesiastics were employed in constructing a history of ante-Christian times, in imitation of more classical histories, a highly artificial system was by degrees constructed, embodying the substance of traditions and myths, real facts and imaginative poems, with bardic and monkish creations, and the whole based upon the classical model, by which the different ethnological elements which entered into the population of the country were cloaked under an artificial and symbolical genealogy.

But it is not chronological history. The dates are quite artificial, and the whole creation melts and resolves itself into its original elements upon investigation. The pre-Milesian colonies are found existing [lxxii] and occupying large tracts of the country down to a late period of the ante-Christian history. The provincial kings, when closely examined, lose their Milesian name, and are found ruling over Firbolgs, Firdomnan and Cruithne; and notwithstanding that the Milesians had been for 1600 years in possession of the country, and a flourishing monarchy is supposed to have existed for so long a period, we find, as late as the second century after Christ, the Attachtuatha, as the descendants of the Firbolg, Firdomnan, and Tuatha De Danann were termed during the Milesian monarchy, in full possession of the country for nearly a century, and in close alliance with the Cruithne of Ulster; during which time the Milesian kings were in exile, and the process of subjugating these tribes, supposed to be completed 1600 years before by Eremon and Eber, is again repeated by Tuathal teachtmhar, who arrives with an army from Alban.

The descendants of the different sons of Milesius likewise assume foreign characteristics. The race of Ir, son of Milesius, who possessed the whole of Ulster till the Heremonian settlements almost within the domain of history, are found calling themselves on all occasions Cruithne. The descendants of Ith called themselves Clanna Breogan, and occupy the territory where Ptolemy, in the second century, places an offshoot of British Brigantes. Eremon and Eber seem to represent the northern and southern Scots distinguished by Bede, a distinction reproduced in Conn of the hundred battles, and Modha Nuadha. [lxxiii]

The legend of St. Patrick, too, in its present shape, is not older than the ninth century; and, under the influence of an investigation into older authorities, he dissolves into three personages; Sen-Patricius, whose day in the calendar is the 24th August; Palladius qui est Patricius, to whom the mission in 432 properly belongs, and who is said to have retired to Alban or Scotland, where he died among the Cruithne; and Patricius, whose day is the 17th of March, and to whom alone a certain date can be assigned,—for he died, in the chronological period, in the year 493,—and from the acts of these three saints the subsequent legend of the great apostle of Ireland was compiled, and an arbitrary chronology applied to it.

The Feine also, when looked at a little more closely, emerge from under the guise of a Milesian militia, and assume the features of a distinct race. Cuchullin, Conall cearnach, and the children of Uisneach belong to the race of Ir, and are Cruithne. Goll Mac Morn and his Clanna Moirne are Firbolg; Curigh Mac Daire and his Clanna Deaghadh are Ernai; and though they are called Heremonians in Irish history, yet they are also said to be a Firbolg tribe of the same race with the Clanna Morna; and in the poem of Maolmura, who died in 884, they are said to be of the race of Ith, and, therefore, probably Britons,—a conjecture singularly corroborated by the fact that there exists, in Welsh, a poem on the death of Curigh Mac Daire; and, finally, Finn Mac Cumhal and his Clanna Baiosgne, although a Heremonian pedigree is given to them, it is not the [lxxiv] only one known to the old Irish MSS. There is a second, deducing him from the Clanna Deaghaidh, the same race with that of Curigh Mac Daire; and a third, and probably the oldest, states that he was of the Ui Tairsigh, and that they were of the Attachtuatha, as the descendants of the non-Milesian tribes were called, a fact corroborated by Maolmura, who says—

The fact is, when the fictitious catalogue of Milesian kings was extended over so many centuries, and the Milesian monarchy drawn back to so remote a period, it became necessary to account for the appearance of non-Milesian races in the old traditional stories, and they were either clothed with a Milesian name and pedigree, or some device hit upon to account for their separate existence; and thus the Feinne, a pre-Milesian warrior race they could not account for, appear under the somewhat clumsy guise of a standing body of Milesian militia, having peculiar privileges and strange customs.

The Irish Ossianic poems, as well as those in the Dean’s MS., indicate that the Feinne were not a body of troops confined to Ireland, but belonged, whoever they were, to a much wider extent of territory.

Thus, the poem on the battle of Gabhra, published in the first volume of the Transactions of the Ossianic Society—a battle in which Oscar the son of Ossian was [lxxv] slain, and the Feinne from all quarters took part—we find the following verses:

There were thus in this battle, besides Feinne of Erin, Feinne of Alban, Breatan, and Lochlan.

Breatan was not Wales, but the southern districts of Scotland, of which Dunbreatan, now Dumbarton, was the chief seat.

Lochlan was the north of Germany, extending from the Rhine to the Elbe;[34] and the name of Lochlanach was originally applied to the ancient traditionary pirates termed the Fomorians. When the Norwegian and Danish pirates appeared in the ninth century, they were likewise called Lochlanach; and the name of Lochlan was transferred to Norway and Denmark, from whence they came. There is every reason to believe that the Low German race were preceded, in the more ancient Lochlan, by a Celtic people.

[lxxvi] The Feinne then belonged to the pre-Milesian races, and were connected, not only with Erin, but likewise with Alban, Breatan, and Lochlan. Now, there are just two people mentioned in the Irish records who had settlements in Ireland, and who yet were connected with Alban, Breatan, and Lochlan. These were the people termed the Tuatha De Danann, and the Cruithne.

The traditionary migration of the Tuatha De Danann brings them from Lochlan, where they possessed four cities, to Alban, where they inhabited a district termed Dobhar and Jr Dobhar; and from thence they went to Erin, where they drove out the Firbolg, to be subdued in their turn by the Milesian Scots.

The Cruithne are likewise brought from Lochlan to Erin and from Erin to Alban, where they founded a kingdom, which included, till the seventh century, the Cruithne of Ulster, and which was subverted in the ninth century by the Milesian Scots.

These two tribes were thus the prior race in each country. Both must have been prior to the Low German population of Lochlan. The Cruithne were the race prior to the Scots in Alban, and the Tuatha De Dannan the prior colony to the Milesian Scots in Erin. The Feinne are brought by all the old historic tales into close contact [lxxvii] with the Tuatha De Danann; a portion of them were avowedly Cruithne; and if they were, as we have seen, in Erin, not of the Milesian race, but of the prior population, and likewise connected with Alban, Breatan, and Lochlan, the inference is obvious, that, whether a denomination for an entire people or for a body of warriors, they belonged to the previous population which preceded the Germans in Lochlan and the Scots in Erin and Alban.

This view is corroborated by the fact, that in the old poems and tales the Feinne appear, as we have said, in close connexion with the Tuatha De Danann. They are likewise connected with the Cruithne, as in the Lamentation of Cuchullin over the body of his son Conlaoch, in Miss Brooke’s collection, where he says—

While the traditions of the Cruithne, in narrating their migration and the names of their leaders, mention, as the mythic poet of their race, a name singularly like that of Ossian—

[lxxviii] In answering, then, the preliminary questions of who were the Feinne? and to what period do they belong? we may fairly infer that they were of the population who immediately preceded the Scots in Erin and in Alban, and that they belong to that period in the history of both countries, before a political separation had taken place between them, when they were viewed as parts of one territory, though physically separated, and when a free and unrestrained intercourse took place between them; when race and not territory was the great bond of association, and the movements of their respective populations from one country to the other were not restrained by any feeling of national separation.

It was natural that the deeds and events connected with this warrior race, associated as they must have been with the physical features of the country in which they dwelt, should have formed the subject of the early poems and legendary tales of their successors, and that a body of popular poetry should have sprung up in each country, which occupied itself with adventures, expeditions, and feats of bravery of this previous race, which were common to both countries, and which, attributed to their mythic poets, and full of the names of heroes, and of the scenes of their exploits, would be appropriated by the bards of each country to their own districts. The names of the places connected in tradition with these events would, as they were localized in the respective countries, [lxxix] be identified with its scenery and physical features, and thus a species of Fenian topography would spring up in each country, which, having a common origin, would bear the same character, and possess a mutual resemblance. Each country would thus claim the Feinne as their exclusive property, and could point to a body of popular Ossianic poetry in support of their claim, and to the Fenian names of their localities, in proof of the events which form the subject of the poems having there occurred.

The allusions to Fingal in the older Scottish historians who wrote long before Macpherson’s Ossian appeared, or the controversy arose, show that stories of the Feinne were current in Scotland, and that they were regarded as belonging to this country as much as to Ireland, while the Fenian names of localities in charters and other documents evince that a Fenian topography likewise existed in Scotland before that period.[35]

The Roughbounds were the districts from Morvaren to Glenelg, which, with the Isles, are thus called the land of the Feinne.

The districts in which the Fenian names enter most largely into the topography of the Highlands are Atholl, Lochaber, Lorn, and Morvaren, Glenelg, and the districts about Loch Ness; and the antiquity of this topography in the Highlands of Scotland is proved by an old gloss to a charter by Alexander the Second to the monks of Kinloss of the lands of Burgyn, within the ancient Celtic province of Moray, which is preserved in the Chartulary of the Bishopric. The boundary of the lands passes by a place called Tuber na Fein, meaning literally the well of the Feinne, and the gloss is “or feyne, of the grett or kempis men callit ffenis, is ane well.”

Cuchullin was of the race of the Cruithne, and belongs both to Ulster and to Scotland. In Ulster his seat was Dundealgan, and the scene of his exploits the district of [lxxxi] Cuailgne and the mountains of Sleave Cuillin; but even Irish tradition admits that he was reared by Sgathaig, in the Isle of Skye, and here we have Dunsgathaig and the Cuillin Hills.

The children of Uisneach were likewise Cruithne, and must have preceded the Scots, for the great scene of their Scotch adventures are the districts of Lorn, Loch Aw, and Cowall, afterwards the possessions of the Dalriadic Scots; thus, in the vicinity of Oban, we have Dun mhic Uisneachan, now corruptly called in guide-books Dun mac Sniachan, a fort with vitrified remains; and here we have on Loch Etive, Glen Uisneach, and Suidhe Deardhuil. The names of the three sons of Uisneach were Ainle, Ardan, and Naoise; and it is remarkable that Adomnan, in his life of St. Columba, written in the seventh century, appears to mention only three localities in connexion with St. Columba’s journey to the palace of the king of the Picts, near Loch Ness, and these are Cainle, Arcardan, and the flumen Nesae. Two vitrified forts in the neighbourhood of Lochness are called Dundeardhuil.[36]

[lxxxii] The hunt of Diarmed O’Duine after the boar on Bengulbain, and his death by measuring his length against the bristles, enters into Scotch topography in three different localities; in Glenshee, where there is a hill called Bengulbain, also in Glenroy, where we have also a Bengulbain and an Eassroy, and also on the south bank of Loch Ness. Daire donn, who appears in the Cath Finntragha identified by the Irish with Ventry, has also deposited his name on a mountain in Ardgour, close to the west sea, called Meall Dayre donn.

The mountain streams and lakes in these districts of the Highlands are everywhere redolent of names connected with the heroes and actions of the Feinne, and show that a body of popular legends connected with them, whether in poetry or in prose, preserved by oral recitation or committed to writing, must have existed in the country when this topography sprung up, though it does not follow that the events, though now associated with the scenery of the country, originally happened there any more than does the Fenian topography of Ireland.

These legendary poems and tales seem to have passed through three different stages.

In the first and oldest form they were pure poems, of more or less excellence, narrating the adventures and deeds of these warrior bands, whose memory still lingered in the country; each poem being complete in itself, and constructed upon a metrical system which brought the aid of alliteration and of rhyme, or correspondence of sounds, to assist the memory in retaining what had been received by oral recitation, and to render it less easy to forget or lose a part. These poems seem generally to have been attributed to one mythic poet of the race they celebrate.

Then, as the language in which these poems were composed became altered or modified, or as the reciters were [lxxxiii] less able to retain the whole, they would narrate, in ordinary prose, the events of the part of the poem they had forgotten, and merely recite the poetry of what they recollected; and thus they would pass into the second stage of prose tales, interspersed with fragments of poetry.

Bards who were themselves composers as well as reciters, besides composing poems on the subjects of the day in which they lived, would likewise select the Fenian legends as their themes, and become imitators of the older Ossianic poetry. The prose narrative would form the basis of their poem; and thus would arise the third stage of their poems, in which they were reconstructed from the prose tales, and again appear as long poems, the names and incidents being the same as in the older poems, and the fragments of them preserved in the prose tale, imbedded in the new poem.

The poems of the first stage were probably common to Ireland and to Scotland, and traces of them are to be found wherever the Feinne were supposed to have once existed; though, in countries where their successors were of a different race, and spoke a different language, the continuity of the tradition would be at once broken.

Among the ancient poems in the Welsh language which have been preserved, there exists an Ossianic poem called Marwnad Coire map Daire, or the death-song of Curoi, son of Daire, the traditionary head, according to Irish history, of the Fenian militia of Munster, but who, as we have seen, appears to belong to the body called the Feinne of Breatan; and the poem, no doubt, belongs to the [lxxxiv] northern Cumbrian kingdom, which had Dunbreatan for its chief seat. Curoi is called Chief of the Southern Sea, and the contest between him and Cuchullin is mentioned.[37]

Poems of the same character seem also to have been known in the Isle of Man, as O’Connor, in his catalogue of the Stow ms., mentions a MS. containing “Finn and Ossian,—a Manx coronach, with Manx on one side of the page, and Irish on the other.”

The oldest which has been found in any MSS. preserved in the Highlands is a poem of five quatrains, at the end of a glossary contained in a MS. written prior to the year 1500. It is in old Gaelic, and there is an interlineal gloss, explaining the meaning of the expressions in more familiar language. At the end there is a line stating that Ossian was the author of the poem.

It may be not uninteresting to insert here the text of the poem, with its glosses:—

Ossian sung this at the shore of the sea of Tallann, for the champion of the sow.[38]

[lxxxvii] The tales of Cuchullin and Conlaoch, and the tale of the Sons of Uisneach, are good specimens of the second class. The latter is one of three tales, called the Three Woes, the two others relating to families of the Tuatha De Danann; but though these tales may be Irish, and of this period, they contain fragments of poems probably much older, and which may have been derived from another source. One of the poems in the tale of the Children of Uisneach contains such a tender recollection of and touching allusion to Highland scenery, that it is hardly possible to suppose that it was not originally composed by a genuine son of Alban.

It is the lament of Deirdre or Darthula over Alban, and the following is a translation:—

The third class of Ossianic poems belongs principally to that period when, during the sway of the Lords of the Isles, Irish influence was so much felt on the language and literature of the Highlands, and when the Highland bards and sennachies were trained in bardic schools, presided over by Irish bards of eminence. It was at this period mainly that the Irish poems assumed so much the shape of a dialogue between the Ossianic poets and St. [lxxxix] Patrick, the apostle of Ireland; and the Highland bards imitated this form, often adding or prefixing a few sentences of such dialogue to older poems, or composing poems in imitation of Ossian in this form; but the imitation, in this respect, of Irish poems by native bards is apparent from this, that Patrick is in the Irish poems correctly called Mac Calphurn or M’Alphurn, his father, according to his own “Confessio,” having been Calphurnius, but the Highland bards, to whom Patrick’s history was strange, and this epithet unintelligible, have substituted the peculiarly Scotch form of Alpine, and styled him Patrick Mac Alpine.

One of the poems in Macpherson’s fragments has been one of these—the sixth fragment,—which begins and ends with a dialogue between Ossian and the son of Alpin.

It was at the same period that the collection of Gaelic poems was made by the Dean of Lismore, and it includes many poems in which this dialogue occurs, but in most the saint is termed Macalpine, showing its non-Irish source.

The Ossianic poems in this collection attributed to Ossian, Fergus Filidh, and Caoilte, the three Fenian bards, and those which are either anonymous or composed by imitators, as Gillecalum Mac an Olla and Allan Mac Ruadhri, with the other poems which are not Ossianic, afford a fair specimen of the poetic literature current in the Highlands of Scotland at the close of this period, and before the fall of the Lords of the Isles, and the Reformation again severed that country from Ireland, [xc] and ushered in a period of reaction and return towards the native dialect and literature.

On the whole, then, we fully admit the claims of Ireland to Fenian legends and tales, and their attendant poems, but not to an exclusive possession of them.

We admit its claim to an early written and cultivated speech, but not to the only dialect of Gaelic in which such poems once existed.

We hold that Scotland possesses likewise Fenian legends and Ossianic poetry derived from an independent source, and a Fenian topography equally genuine; and we consider her dialect of the common Gaelic tongue not undeserving of the attention of philologers.

CONTENTS OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE’S MS.

THE BOOK OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE.

The author of this is——. [138]

’Twas on a day Finn went to drink In Alve, with his people few; Six women and six men were there, The women fair, with whitest skin. Finn was there and guileless Diarmad, Caoilte and Ossian too, and Oscar, Conan the bald, slow in the field, With the wives of these six men; Maighinis the wife of dauntless Finn, The fair-bosomed maid, my own dear wife, Fair skin Gormlay, of blackest eye, Naoif, and the daughter of Angus. When drunkenness had the women seized, They had a talk among themselves: They said that throughout all the earth No six women were so chaste. Then said the maiden without guile, “The world is a many-sided heap; [73] Though pure are ye, they are not few Women quite as chaste as you.” They had been a short time thus, When they saw a maid approach, Her covering a single seamless robe, Of spotless white from end to end; The maiden of the pure white robe Drew near to where M’Cumhal sat. She blessed the king of guileless heart, And close beside him there sat down. Finn asks her to give them her tale, The handsome maid of whitest hand: “Maid of the seamless robe, I ask, What virtue’s in thy spotless veil?” “My seamless robe has this strange power That women, such as are not chaste, Can in its folds no shelter find,— None but the spotless wife it shields.” “Give my wife the robe at once,” Said the bulky, senseless Conan, “That we may learn what is the truth Of what the women just have said.” Then Conan’s wife does take the robe, And in vexation pulls it on; ’Twas truly pity it was done, Her fair-skinned breast was all exposed. Then when the bald-pate Conan saw How that the robe shrunk into folds, He seized in passion his sharp spear, And with it did the woman slay. Then the loved Diarmad’s wife The robe from Conan’s wife did take; No better did she fare than she, About her locks it clung in folds. Then Oscar’s wife seized on the robe, Which looked so long and softly smooth; But wide and large as were its wings, [74] The robe her middle did not reach. Then fair Maighinis took the robe, And put it also o’er her head; The robe there creased and folded up, And gathered fast about her ears. “Give my wife the robe,” said Mac Rea, “For the result I have no fear, That we may see, without deceit, Of her merit further proof.” “I would pass my word for it, Though I claim not to be learned, That never have I once transgressed, I’ve been faithful aye to thee.” Mac Rea’s wife now showed her side, The robe was then put o’er her head; Her body was covered, feet and hands, None of it all was left exposed. Her bosom then one kiss received From Mac O’Duine, from Diarmad; The robe from her he then unfolds, From her who thus did stand alone. “Women, give me now my robe, I am the daughter of Deirg the fierce, I have done nought to cause me shame, I only erred with sharp-armed Finn.” “Bear thou my curse, and quick away,” These were then the words of Mac Cumhail. On women he denounced a curse, Because of her who came that day. ’Twas on a day.

The expedition of eight I remember, Which oft returns to my mind; Some of their exploits I’ll relate, [75] Though now my strength is all gone. Oscar and manly Caoilte were there, And Mac Luy of ceaseless praise; Finn and white-toothed Diarmad, Of the eight heroes these were five. There were myself and Ryno and Caroll, A gentle, matchless band; Bred were we all in Banva’s soil, These were the names of the eight. When we set forth, true the tale, ’Twas with a proud and manly step. From Mac Cumhal’s fort we set out, The expedition of eight I remember. First of all we made for Albain, ’Twas with a struggle we reached it, There a king fell by Mac Cumhal, The expedition of eight I remember. We then strove to get to Sasunn,[139] Exploits and slayings were there; Every stronghold was seized by Finn, The expedition of eight I remember. To Italy we then carried the battle, And fiercely fought in its harbours; Triumphs and treaties we had then, The expedition of eight I remember. In France did we then make war, Where we had many great hardships; Submission and treaties were made, The expedition of eight I remember. After that we fought in Spain, There we had prey and great spoil; I have traversed the earth in my day, The expedition of eight I remember. We next carried war to Britain, ’Twas fearful and full of danger; Yet did we earn a triumph, [76] The expedition of eight I remember. We bore along “Crom nan carn,”[140] O’er the fierce, stormy sea; Every land made to us submission, The expedition of eight I remember. After it we led the chiefs, Most gentle and holy Patrick, Who made their submission to Finn, The expedition of eight I remember. Sanctify, O Patrick, my soul, Thou blessed and privileged man, For I have sinned in thy sight, The expedition of eight I remember. The expedition.

Nine [141] of us once did bind ourselves To find material for a pup’s head, To find material for a dog-pup’s head; Though no attempt was more laborious. We searched the plain of Leny Leirg, And Glen Frenich of bloody swords; True, we found not there one hound From which we could obtain a pup. Then did we search a dark, black glen, A glen of deep corries, full of stones; True, we found not there one hound From which we could obtain a pup. [77] We searched the Sian of Drum Cliff, Fair after it seemed the plain of Liff; True, we found not there one hound From which we could obtain a pup. We searched in Thurles of liberal hosts, In Bregian Tara and Dun Dobhran; True, we found not there one hound From which we could obtain a pup. We searched, too, through Glen a Cuaich, Looking out for something noble; True, we found not there one hound From which we could obtain a pup. We searched Moylena of slopes, Through Bregian Tara and Kinsale; True, we found not there one hound From which we could obtain a pup. We searched the whole of Eire, Men and dogs ranging together; True, we found not there one hound From which we could obtain a pup. Shortly were we thus engaged, Ourselves, our followers, and friends, When three battalions were seen, Sons to the King of Rualay.[142] Cat-headed one battalion was, Dog-headed was the one beside it; The other behind them was white-backed, Brown the rest, though white the back. Aloft the mighty javelin shone Of Finn, hero of bloody strength; Above his noble, murderous shield, He bore that spear of hundred fights. Bright was the glitter of the spear In the white hand of Finn himself. [78] Beneath the shield of cheerful Caoilte Was the javelin, bloody in fight; The javelin glittering below, Held by Caoilte of joyful heart. Beneath his round and handsome shield Cruinchan’s son his javelin bore. Caoilte gave a loud, far-sounding shout, In distant Alvin it was heard, And in Magh Lena of sharp spears, In Tavar and in Dun Reillin. ’Twas answered loud by Gaul Mac Morn, The noble chief of Cronwoyn, Where Faolan, son of Finn, is found, The Balwas, too, from Borrin. ’Twas answered by Manwoe Breck’s two sons, And by Mac Elle from Uabreck, Fair Sciath, the son of Daithein Dian, And Ceall the brave, of sharp-edged arms. Keangach the bold gave answer too, And Iolunn of the bloody edge, And Ceall the brave, of handsome form, Who ne’er to scandal’s tale gave ear. Pleasing the sound of clashing spears, Pleasing, too, the hum of warriors, Of waving banners sweet the sound, As in morn’s frosty wind they rose. The “Image of the Sun”[143] we raised, The banner of great Fenian Finn, Studded all around with gold, Great was its price as red it gleamed. We raised “Fulang Duari”[144] aloft, [79] The banner of great Gaul Mac Morn. Oft when the javelins were in motion, ’Twas both the first and last to move. Aloft we raised the “Mincheann Oir,” Banner of Ryno and his men; Under its folds were bones and heads Cloven, and ankles steeped in blood. The “Cineal chath” we also raised, The banner of the oaken Faolan; Finn’s son, chief of the Feinn, Who cast with powerful arm his spear. Then we raised aloft “Dun nimh,” The banner of Ossian of the brave; The banner of Mac Ronan, “the Red-hand,”[145] Whose other side was all adorned. “Sguab Ghabhaidh,” too, we raised aloft, Banner of the well-armed Oscar, When the stormy conflict raged, Oft was “Sguab Ghabhaidh” waving seen. The “Lia Luinneach” aloft we raised, The banner of nimble, powerful Diarmaid; Oft when the men began their march, ’Twas seen to flutter vigorously. Then was the “Bearn Reubainn” raised, Banner of Oscar, no saintly sign; The echo of the glens replied To its fierce sounds, waving on high. The “Bloody hand” aloft we raised, Banner of Mac Luy, and his men; When the Feinn went forth to fight, Its place was always in the van. Then did we fight a bloody fight, As round the noble Finn we stood, Round the steel of manly Finn, [80] First of all the valorous Feinn. The whole of the Catheads were killed, The Dogheads we seized to a man; The whole of the Whitebacks fell Round dauntless Finn of Alvin. We found a little hill to the south, On which was built a double fort; There indeed we found a hound From which we could obtain a pup. The whole of Eire we had searched, All of us, both men and dogs. In all its length we could not find A hundred who could match our nine. Nine.

Sweet is man’s voice in the land of gold, Sweet the sounds the birds produce, Sweet is the murmur of the crane, Sweet sound the waves at Bun Datreor, Sweet the soft murmuring of the wind, Sweet sounds the cuckoo at Cas a choin. How soft and pleasing shines the sun, Sweet the blackbird sings his song; Sweet the eagle’s voice of Easaroy, Above the sea of great Mac Morn; Sweet the cuckoo ’mongst the branches, Sweet the silence of the crane. Finn Mac Cumhail is my father, Who nobly leads the Feinn’s seven bands; When he his hounds lets loose to hunt, To follow him is truly sweet. Sweet.

A noble tale of sweetest music, To Carn Vallar now I’ll bring; [81] That whether others hear or not, It may be heard by Mac Cumhail. Mac Cumhail once had a feast On Almhuin’s slope, of finest gold; O’er the music he presided, Finn who ever graced the feast. Brave Oscar and Diarmad were there, And good Mac Luy, warriors bold; With other two who ne’er shunned fight, Conan himself, and with him Oscar. “Tell me now, my warriors brave, As at the feast of Finn ye sit, Which do ye count the sweetest music?” “The clang of gaming,” Conan said, “The sweetest sounds I ever heard.” Vigorous his arm before the foe, Yet ne’er a man who more lacked sense. “The sound of swords drawing on the foe,” Said he who never spared in fight, “Cleaving of men’s heads and legs,” The sweetest music Oscar heard. “The sounds which ever pleased me most,” Said Diarmad of slow rolling eye, “That I loved most all my life, Was woman’s voice, as soft she talked.” “My music, thou son of Morn,” Said Mac Luy of the glittering arms, “Is leaping ’midst the tumult of my dogs, As swift upon the deer they gain.” “’Tis this that music is for me,” Said Finn, the chief of all the host, “To have my banner in the wind, Heroes ranged by its golden side.” “When of the bards I had no fear, Ossian,” he said, as still he spoke; “And when my Feinn were still around me, Sweet its music in my ears.”

[82] A great feast was made by Finn,[146] I tell thee now, O tonsured Priest, Many were the men were there, Of the Feine of Alba and Erin. The great Mac Morn did ask Of the queen of whitest hand, “Did’st thou see so rich a feast Since thou cam’st ’mongst the Feine of Erin?” Finn of the Feine himself replied, Chiefest of all both east and west; He said she saw a richer feast Than any Fenian feast in Erin. We then saw coming from the waves A warrior tall, manly, fair-haired, No man was with him but himself, And a noble man he was. When he had come near the Feine, Thus did he mildly, wisely say, “Come, Finn, come along with me, And take with thee a hundred men; Thirty sons of the great Morn, Let them be the first around thee; One man and eight of thy own sons, Take them and Oscar of the Feine’s Fians; Let ten of the sons of Smoil be there, And twenty of the sons of Ronan; Let some of Muin’s sons be there, Other ten, not counting Diarmad; Take with thee Diarmad O’Duine, He who could either court or hunt, Both him and Caroll in thy ship; [83] Let there be ten of men and crew, Of thy men take with thee nine, Of those whom thou’dst most like to have; Besides them all thyself, O Finn, Thou dauntless and well-armed man. Take o’er the waves a hundred men Of those that follow Finn Mac Cumhail, A hundred shields with golden studs, For Finn Mac Cumhail, Mac Tranevor. Take now with thee also, Finn, The two best hounds that are in Erin; Bran and Scoilean [147] take them with thee, The swiftest-footed of the pack. Have no fear about thee, Finn,” The tall and cheerful warrior said; “Let them all be brought in peace, And trouble not our men or ships.” “Foolish the speech thou now hast made, Thou man who cam’st amongst us; Wert thou to approach nearer Finn, Thy body soon would want its head.” “Little care I for what thou say’st, Bald-headed Conan of the gibes; Pity for thy friends that thou art there, Ugly and feeble as thou art.” “Rise ye up, ye sons of Boisgne,” Then spoke Conan, so well known; Each man did seize a hero’s arms, From every side the Fians came fast. Then fell there slain a son of Finn, One of the stalwart, white-hand Fians, A man of Mac Morn’s followers too, A vigorous hand ’midst battle’s blows. “Fergus, now go rouse thee up, And mingle boldly in the fight; Ask whether Gaul has aught to give [84] To Conan, whom he knows so well.” “Let Finn himself then be the judge,” Said the great Gaul of mighty blows; “Conan or I shall take his head, Or else his brains we will dash out.” Fergus, Caol, and thirty are in the glen, Who never more shall see this earth, Unknown to all the Feine of Finn. Sad is my tale, O tonsured Priest. Much do I weary, valiant Priest, For now I never see the Feine, Hunting, as wont, from glen to glen, With herds of deer on every side. Much loved I Ossian, son of Finn, He only never yet forsook me; But above all the men I saw, Finn of the feasts I loved most. A great feast.

’Tis sad that the hill of the Feine, Should now by the clerics be held, And that the songs of men of books Should fill the halls of clan Baoisgne. I myself was once in Rath Cruachan,[148] Happily beneath thy banks, I little thought I e’er should find A priest upon thy summit dwelling. There would be found my shield and spear, [85] My dogs and hounds along thy ridge, Although to-night the Fenian hill Is under clerics and their crosiers. Were the sons of Morn alive, The priestly order soon must quit; You would find yourselves cut up, Ye men of the spotted crooks. Were Mac Luy alive, With his six heroes bold, Ere you had quitted the hill You’d find your garments curtailed. Were the sons of Ceard alive, Who never hypocrisy knew, Neither your bells nor crooks Would in place of their banners be found. Were the sons of Muin alive, Who knew no weakness in fight, Men would not see thy people So powerful amidst our hills. Were the sons of black Garry alive, Or Caoilte, who was ever so brave, Neither the sounds of bells or priests Would now be heard in Rath Cruachan. Were red-haired Ryno alive, And brave Caol, son of Revan, Thy books would not be so whole, Oh man, who readest the Bible. And for all thy hooked crosiers, Which have travelled over the earth, Thy staves would be in splinters, Were only brave Oscar alive. Thou of the yellow [149] garment, Who sittest so much at thine ease, ’Tis well for thee that Conan is dead, [86] Else thou’dst feel the weight of his fist. Were the blue-eyed hero alive, Bald Conan, the son of the Feine, Cleric, though thy office be sacred, With his fist he’d strike thee down. Were the son of O’Duine alive, Thou man of the crooked staff, Thy staff should be all in shivers, Smashed at the pillar of stone. Thou man of the bell, I do think, If Daoruinn were now in life, Thy bell would be now in pieces, Scattered before the pillar. Were the red point seen, old man, Of the swift-flying spear of Mac Ronan, Thy bell would not be faintly sounding, Thou who sing’st the howling song. I cannot be joyful now, I see not Mac Cumhail in life, I see not Diarmad O’Duine, I see not Caoilte Mac Ronan. No wonder though I should be sad, As I sit on this mound, Patrick. I see not the son of Luy, I see not the hero so loved, I see not Fearluth by my side, I see not the Fenian Oscar; I see not warlike exercises, I see not the noble hounds; I see not the sons of Smoil, I see not Gaul of great feats, I see not the generous Faolan, I see not with him the Feine. I see not Fergus, my brother, So gentle and worthy of praise; I see not Daire of the songs, Whose music we always enjoyed. [87] I see not Fatha [150] Canan, Whose presence filled us with joy; I see not one of our band, Whose noise was like thunder in war. I see neither music nor joy, I hear not if music there be, Ere I was laid in my cave Freely I scattered my gold. Patrick, I tell thee it now, If I chose my knowledge to give, That ’tis not in my power to relate How much of their joy I have seen. I and the mass-book clerics, Are two that can never agree. Though this night so mournful I am, I’m sad for the hill of Feine. ’Tis sad.

I now will tell thee, O Grainne,[151] What I have seen with Mac Cumhail. The misery I suffer now I cannot much longer endure. I have seen sport and rejoicing ’Mongst those who now are despised. I have seen maidens and men, I now will tell thee, O Grainne. Courtesy and cheerfulness too, [88] I’ve seen with feasts, steeds, and shouting. I’ve seen the violin played, I now will tell thee, O Grainne. Great Caoilte and Mac Luy, A couple who can’t be despised, We oft gained nought by their wrath. I now will tell thee, O Grainne. Gaul and Oscar and Ossian, A brood who did nought by halves; These all loved us well, I now will tell thee, O Grainne. Finn himself of fearless heart, Whose welcome was always sure, We’ve seen him cheerful too, I now will tell thee, O Grainne. I have in nine battles been, To me no joy is now left. Looking on nought but their graves, I now will tell thee, O Grainne. In wrath we crossed over hills, And over Banva’s fierce tops; Then in singing their praise, Employment was found for my lips. We feared for nought in the valleys, I now will tell thee, O Grainne. I was both long time and short Traversing Erin the fair; We were famous and powerful then, I now will tell thee, O Grainne. I now will tell.

Once on a day there was in Dundalgin,[152] Cuchullin of the handsome form; [89] Joy and merriment were his, All his people were with him. When from the drinking hall we rose, We saw the whole of the Feine. We strove from their hiding-place to raise The flocks of birds in the two hills. The most loved thing of all we had Was the women of Clan Rury province. The valley we were in was rough, We drove the birds to its mouth, In hopes that we might find a hero. The father of Conlach chased The birds with handsome Daoruing, The sweet-spoken noble of Coll in Galway. The well-formed sling was then used With skill by great Cuchullin, He with the arm of well-known strength; The birds with speed he kills. The game was then divided, None was forgotten but Evir.[153] Evir took wrath for her share, ’Tis true that prudence was lacking. ’Twas promised her in reparation That she should have the first birds slain, Killed on the mountain side, With the skill of the shot for her fired. As they travelled they came to a place Where poets were wont to resort; [90] Each of them wore round his neck A chain of the purest gold. The wife of Cuchullin fell in love With one of our Ulster Fians, With the willing and handsome friend Who came from the Ulster bounds. Evir of the weighty locks asks Her agreement with Cuchullin, That she should now have her birds, Without excuse about them. Twice or thrice did he shoot at The wild birds, but missed his aim; ’Twas a victor’s leap as he shot Three shots amongst the birds. The last blow he had struck ere then Had pierced his own dear son. Without joy, or women at feasts, Had he been, as he sadly mourned. For a whole year he did nought But grieve for the hero now dead. ’Twas not tales of the Feine he sought, But to have that tale rehearsed. If the story men tell be true, The Cu never ceased to grieve; The blossomed branch whom women loved, Sad and grievous was his state. It happened at length of a time, A few of the Feine met together. Finn himself had joined the hunt, And sent us in pairs to search. I myself sat with Garry, Side by side with the King. Finn put the question to Garry, As by the King’s side he sat: “Since that thou wert there, How was’t ye slew Cumhal?” [91] “I will now pass my word,[154] Since to me the question thou putt’st, That mine was the powerful arm Which gave the first wound to Cumhal.” “That is a cold welcome for me, Ye sons of Morn, as a follower; ’Tis hard indeed for me to bear, To know that ye slew my father.” “If that be a cold welcome for you, Finn, son of Cumhal from Alvin, Put aside pretended love, And show your usual hatred.” “Should I now raise my arm, Ye hated children of Morn, I could do all I chose alone, Without the help of any man.” “Ere ever thou had’st so moved, Walking in the steps of thy father, Lightly could we leap o’er streams, Were it not for the wiles of Cumhal. ’Twas Cumhal got influence o’er us, ’Twas Cumhal oppressed us sore, ’Twas Cumhal that banished us far, To the land of the stranger away. Some he sent to Albin fair, And some to Lochlin the dark, The third band to Greece the white, We all from each other were torn. Sixteen years were we all Severed from Erin; ’tis truth, No small calamity was this, Never each other to see. [92] The first day we set foot on shore In Erin’s isle, so much loved, We slew, and it is no lie, At least sixteen hundred men. These all were slain by Clan Morn, Their heroes and their chiefs; There was not a man of them all But such as their women would mourn. With that their castles we seized, We, the noble Clan of Morn, Our race did bravely then Before the men of Erin. By thy hand, hero of the Feine, There ne’er was seen, east or west, One thing to cloud my eye, But seeing the slaughter there; My heart became tender and soft As I saw the terrible scene. We all surrounded one house, In Munster of the red towers; But such was the strength of the man, ’Twas easier to find than to kill. They slew on the opposite hill All that lived of Cumhal’s race. We made a joint and rapid rush To the house where Cumhal still was; Each man of us gave a wound With his spear to the body of Cumhal. Though it was my lot to be there At the time that Cumhal was slain, For the deed which then was done, Take vengeance now if you will.” Once on a day. [93]

John son of Patrick, son of Malcom, son of John the black, son of John, son of Gregor, son of John, son of Malcom, son of Duncan the little, son of Duncan from Srulee, son of Gilelan, son of Hugh of Urchy, son of Kenneth, son of Alpin; and this Kenneth was head king of Scotland, in truth, at that time; and this John is the eleventh man from Kenneth, of whom I spoke.—And Duncan the servitor, son of Dougal, son of John the grizzled, wrote this from the books of the genealogists of the kings; and it was done in the year of our Lord One thousand five hundred and twelve.

THE ORIGINAL GAELIC OF
THE BOOK OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE
WITH A MODERN VERSION.

THE ORIGINAL GAELIC.

MODERN VERSION.

The following fragment is continued from pages 12 and 13 of the Gaelic, where the first twenty-two lines of the composition will be found. Having been misplaced in the MS., the leaf containing the following lines was only discovered after the rest had been printed off:—

Eone makphadrik vec voylchollum v’eoin doif vec eone v’gregor v’eone v’weillchollum vec conquhy veg v’conquly a strwlee v’illelane v’ey urquhaych v’kennane vec alpen agis in kennan sen bee ardree albin gi daywin ansi norsin agis in teone soo an in tean dwn deyk von kennan so id dowirt me—agis duncha deyroclych m’dowle v’oyne reywych di skreyve so a lowrow shenchyth nyn reig, agis roo zenyth anno dⁿⁱ millesimo quin^mo duodecimo.

Eoin Mac Phadruig, mhic Mhaoilcholuim, mhic Eoin duibh, mhic Eoin, mhic Grigoir, mhic Eoin, mhic Mhaolcholuim, mhic Dhunchaidh bhig, mhic Dhunchaidh a Sruileadh, mhic Ghillfhaolain, mhic Aoidh Urchaidh, mhic Coinnich, mhic Alpain; agus an Coirmeach sin b’e ardrìgh Albain gu deimhin ’s an uair sin; agus an t-Eoin so an t-aon duine deug o’n Choinneach so a dubhairt mi.—Agus Dunchadh daoroglach Mac Dhughaill, mhic Eoin Riabhaich, do sgriobh so á leabhraibh seanachaidh nan rìgh; agus ro dheanadh Anno Domini Millesimo Quingentesimo duodecimo.

NOTE BY TRANSLATOR.

The Dean’s MS. was put into the hands of the present translator a few years ago by Mr. Cosmo Innes, with a view to a correct account being given of its contents. After a considerable time spent on deciphering the difficult handwriting, and resolving the strange and irregular orthography, he gave a fuller account of it than had been given before, in a paper read before the Society of Scottish Antiquaries. He was aware that a transcript of the MS. had been made by a Gaelic scholar of the highest reputation, the late Mr. M‘Lachlan of Aberdeen; but that transcript was altogether unknown save by one or two individuals, and was at the time thought to be lost. In December 1860, the publishers proposed to the writer that he should undertake transcribing and translating the MS. with notes, Mr. Skene undertaking to write a historical introduction, with additional notes. There was good reason for reluctance in undertaking such a work. There was immense difficulty in the task itself, consisting very much in an exercise of ingenuity, the results to be tested by comparison, in guessing the meaning of words phonetically spelled; there was the labour of writing the same thing in three different forms; and there was in all this large demands upon time otherwise engrossed by the duties of a profession, whose calls the keeping of a good conscience, and duty to a Divine Master, would not admit of being neglected or postponed. The work itself, [130] however, was very congenial, as contributing somewhat to the literature of the Celtic countrymen of the writer, the literature of a period, too, of which few other literary remains of theirs exist. He therefore undertook to devote his spare hours for a season to the work, which is now laid before the public.

The difficulties did not become less than was anticipated when they came to be practically dealt with. There was first the transcription of the original. A facsimile specimen of the writing is given in this volume, from which some idea may be formed of its character. The handwriting is the current English hand of the fifteenth century, with a few additional peculiarities borrowed from the Gaelic writing of the same period, as practised both in Scotland and Ireland. As is common in the writing of the period, the same sign is used both for c and t. There is often no distinction between o and e, u and n, or ƒ and s; and in the hurry of writing the Dean often wrote m for n, and vice versâ; and the letter z stands for all the sounds resembling the consonant y. Besides, there are numerous contractions, the same sign being often used for in, im, and ir, and the Irish dot (·) is often used as a substitute for h. The MS. is in many places much decayed, and the writing in consequence much obscured, while the orthography is by no means quite regular. The transcript has, however, been carefully made from the original, and compared again in proof, and the reader, with the allowance necessary in the circumstances already described, may feel assured that in the original, as printed, he has a correct copy of the Dean’s work.

The work, however, was not beyond the threshold when the transcription was complete. It was in interpreting the Dean’s phonetic Gaelic, so as to form the modern Gaelic edition, that the chief difficulty arose; and here the translator was left altogether without guide to lead the way, except in the case of a few [131] of the Ossianic poems. There were three peculiar difficulties to be encountered here,—first, the frequent occurrence of obsolete words,—words not to be found in any dictionary of the Scottish Gaelic,—and the meaning of which could only be learned from some acquaintance with the ancient MS. writings of Scottish and Irish scribes; secondly, there was the introduction into the Dean’s grammar of the Irish eclipsis, turning in his orthography f into w, c into g, b into m, and d into n, without any hyphen; and there was, last of all, the accentuation, which, in a number of the pieces, lays the emphasis on the latter syllable of dissyllabic words, and thus alters to a Scotch reader the whole rhythm of the lines. Many of these pieces will not read as poetry at all, unless read in accordance with the Irish method of accentuation. It was known to all acquainted with early Gaelic literature, how much there was that was common to the literature of Scotland and Ireland. This miscellany fully establishes the fact, while it also shows that, in the fifteenth century, Scottish Gaelic, as exemplified in some of these compositions, especially those of Finlay M’Nab, had its own distinctive features. There is nothing more interesting than the weight given in the allusions in these poems to the existence and influence of the Bardic schools at the period, and the large prizes usually conferred by the wealthy on successful poets.

The translation into English was, upon the whole, a less arduous process than the previous one. It might have been otherwise had the attempt been made to translate into English poetry. This, however, has been carefully avoided. The rendering has been made so literal as that the meaning of every sentence in Gaelic is conveyed in English, so far as the editor has been able to do it; and the translation is merely somewhat lightened, and the reading made more agreeable, by having the baldness of mere literality removed, and the lines made somewhat smooth and flowing. [132]

In some cases the spelling and handwriting together have so obscured the words, that the editor has been quite unable to give anything like a satisfactory rendering; hence there will be found, in a very few instances, what are apparently different words in the original and modern version. Some instances will also be found of words written in the modern version according to the analogy of the Dean’s orthography, while the precise word intended has not been identified. The editor has only to say regarding these and any other cases of doubtful rendering, which in such a work must be numerous, that he will be happy to receive through the publishers any suggestions from Gaelic scholars which may help to secure greater accuracy.

It is only necessary to say farther, that in extending the modern Gaelic version of these poems, it was perfectly impossible to exclude all the older forms of the language. In many places to do so would have been to destroy the whole poetical structure of the composition. It was essential to retain the “da,” if, the “fa,” on, or under, and the “co” or “go,” with, besides numerous forms of the verb, which it is the practice now to call Irish, but which were common at an early period to the literature of both countries. It was perfectly impossible, with anything like justice to these compositions, to bring them into exact conformity with the rules of modern Scottish Gaelic.

The present volume contains every line of Ossianic or Fenian poetry in the Dean’s MS. It also contains every composition having reference to Scotland, with the exception of five; two of these being so much defaced, and so many of the words obscured by time and exposure, that it is impossible to give anything like an accurate version of them. The other three are eulogies on the clan Gregor chiefs, so much of a piece with those already given, that they would not contribute to the literary value of the work. The purely Irish poems of the O’Huggins, the O’Dalys, etc., are not given in this work, whose object is to [133] illustrate the language and literature of the Scottish Highlands at an early period. A few specimens, such as the laments of Gormlay, wife of Nial Glundubh, and daughter of Flann Sionna, Queen of Ireland, have been transcribed as specimens, which may be not uninteresting either to the Scottish or Irish reader. The Irish compositions are, with few exceptions, of a religious character.

In a note at p. 43, it is said that an edition of the poem by Allan M’Rory, there translated, would be given at the close of the work, as taken down from the recitation of an old woman, Christina Sutherland, in Caithness, in the year 1854. It is now given, but without a translation, which is not thought necessary.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IRISH AND SCOTCH GAELIC.

Dr. O’Donovan, in his Irish Grammar, gives a statement of these differences, which is somewhat meagre. He appears, however, to have had little knowledge of Scotch Gaelic, except what he gathered from Stewart’s Grammar; and this statement of the differences between the two dialects is taken almost verbatim from a prior statement of them by P. M’Eligott, in the Transactions of the Gaelic Society, published in 1808, p. 15.

Dr. O’Donovan, in his account of grammars previously published, gives Stewart very just praise for the excellence of his Grammar; but throughout his own work he never loses an opportunity of carping at him, and is especially indignant at him for daring to state that the Scotch Gaelic wants the present tense of the verb, and very disingenuously quotes Shaw’s Grammar as a superior authority. He likewise attacks Stewart for not producing ancient MSS. to prove it, and for not seeing that the present tense is used by Bishop Carsewell, in 1564. Stewart, however, was not undertaking a grammar of the ancient Scotch Gaelic, but of the dialect then spoken by the people; and most unquestionably, in the spoken dialect of Stewart’s time, the present tense was not used. Dr. O’Donovan denies this fact, and even charges Stewart with dishonesty. His theory is, “that Stewart was induced to reject this tense, in order to establish a striking point of resemblance between the Erse and the Hebrew, which the Irish, supposed to be the mother tongue, had not,”—a most unworthy insinuation, and most unphilosophical, for O’Donovan ought to have known that the changes [138] which take place in the structure of spoken languages proceed from organic laws which cannot be influenced or directed by grammarians. The will of any single man is powerless to alter the minutest particle in the language; and the fact that the inflected present tense is not used in Scotch Gaelic, is evident to any one acquainted with the language, or who has come in contact with those who speak it.

Dr. O’Donovan also finds fault with Stewart for expressing an opinion that, “as the Erse dialect has not the inflections in the termination of its verbs, which characterize the Irish, it is therefore more original than the Irish.” This is, no doubt, an erroneous view; and O’Donovan correctly states “that the mode of inflection, by varying the termination, is more ancient than the use of particles;” but he might have recollected that the contrary opinion was very generally held when Stewart wrote; that the sounder principles of philology, in this respect, were not known or understood till after the publication of his Grammar; and that he could not, with any candour, impute it to him as a fault that he had not anticipated the conclusions of a science which had, so to speak, been created subsequently to his time. That the same peculiarities existed in the language in the last century, is proved by the fact that the Gaelic colonists in Canada, who have been separated from the mother country since that period, speak a form of Scotch Gaelic precisely similar to that now spoken in the Highlands, and possessing all those dialectic peculiarities which distinguish it from Irish. Although the present tense of the verb is usually expressed by the auxiliary, the Highlanders also use the future tense to express the present.

The leading differences between Irish and Scotch Gaelic may be stated generally as follows:—

SOUNDS OF THE LANGUAGE.

1. The initial consonants are not affected to the same extent as in Irish and Welsh; and in pure Scotch Gaelic the eclipsis is unknown, except in the case of the letter S. [139]

TABLE SHOWING THE CHANGE IN THE INITIAL CONSONANT IN
WELSH, IRISH, AND SCOTCH GAELIC.

2. In Irish, words beginning with A may take the digamma F, as aill, faill, a rock; ata, fata, a plain; iolair, fiolair, an eagle, etc. The digamma never appears in Scotch Gaelic.

3. The vowel sounds O and U in Irish, pass into A in Scotch Gaelic; as, oir, Ir., air, Sc. G.; og, Ir., ag, Sc. G.; ugadh, Ir., achadh, Sc. G.; chuaidh, Ir., chaidh, Sc. G.

4. The vowel at the end of nouns in Irish, is dropped in Scotch Gaelic; as, tigherna, Ir., tighearn, Sc. G.

5. In the consonants the older form is often retained in Scotch Gaelic; thus, the initial S in Irish, is often D in Scotch Gaelic, which is the older form, as suil, Ir., duil, Sc. G.,—hope. S is sometimes changed to P, as siuthar, Ir., piuthar, Sc. G.,—sister. [140]

6. The accentuation in Scotch Gaelic in dissyllables is on the first syllable; in Irish, on the last.

The nominative plural frequently ends like Welsh and Manx in an; as, Slatan, rods; Maithean, chiefs.

The analytic form is alone used, there being no inflections for persons or numbers.

There is a considerable difference in the vocabulary words being now used in Irish, which are unknown in Scotch Gaelic, and vice versa, and a comparison of the lists of idiomatic phrases in Irish or Scotch Gaelic shows a very great difference in the mode of expressing familiar phrases.[280] [141]

The Welsh poem alluded to is contained in the Welsh Archæology, vol. i. p. 168. The text is, however, very corrupt. It has been translated by Mr. Stephen in the Archæologia Cambrensis, new Series, vol. ii. p. 150, who did not, however, see its real character, and very strangely supposes it to refer to the actions of Cuichelm, one of the West Saxon kings, who died in 636, and whom he identifies with the Chocholyn of the poem, while of Corroi, son of Dairy, he can give no account.

The poem is in reality an Ossianic poem referring to the death of Curoi, son of Daire, by Cuchullin, the celebrated Fenian hero of Ulster.

Keating gives the following account of the death of Curoi:—“The heroes of the red branch united to plunder an island near Alban, called Manann, where there was a great quantity of gold, silver, jewels, and many other valuable articles, and a lovely marriageable young lady, who surpassed all the women of her time in exquisite figure and beauty, the daughter of the governor of the island, and her name was Blanaid. When Curigh was informed that the heroes were setting out on this expedition, he transformed himself by magic into a disguised shape, and joined the party; but when they were on the point of plundering the island, disguised like jugglers, they judged that there would be great difficulty in taking the fortress in the island, in which were secured Blanaid and the valuable treasures of the whole island, on account of its strength and the number of men who defended it. Then Curigh, who was attired in a coarse grey habit, engaged, if he were to get his choice of the treasures, that he would himself take possession of the fort. Cuchullin promises this, and immediately they attacked the castle with the man in the grey habit at their head, who stopped the motion of an enchanted wheel that was placed at the castle gate, and let in all the troops, by whom the fortress was sacked, and Blanaid and all the treasure borne away. They then set out for Ireland, and arrived at Evan; and on dividing the treasure, the man in the grey habit demands his choice of the jewels, as was promised [142] to him. ’You shall have it,’ says Cuchullin. ’Well, then,’ says he, ’Blanaid is the jewel I choose,’ ’Take your choice of all the jewels except Blanaid alone,’ replies Cuchullin. ’I will not exchange her,’ says Curigh, and thereupon he seeks to carry her off by force; and having surprised her unperceived, took her away concealed under an enchanted mask. When Cuchullin perceived that the lady was missing, he suspected that it was Curigh that stole her off, and pursued them directly to Munster, and overtook them at Sulchoid. The champions engage, and a brave and well-fought contest ensues; but at length Cuchullin was overcome by Curigh, who tied him neck and heels, and left him shackled like a captive, after cutting off his hair with his sword, and then carried away Blanaid into the west of Munster. Then, however, came up Laogh mac Riain of Gabhra, and unbound Cuchullin, and they set out for the north of Ulster, where they resided near the peaks of Boirche for the space of a year, without appearing in the Council of Ulster, until Cuchullin’s hair grew again; and at the expiration of the year, happening to be on the peaks of Boirche, he saw a great flight of birds coming on the sea to the north, and on their landing upon the shore, he pursues them, and by a feat called Taveim, killed one of them with his sling in every district he passed through, until the last of them fell at Sruv Bron, in the west of Munster. On his return from the west, he found Blanaid in solitude near the Finglass, in Kerry, where Curigh had a palace at that time. A conversation ensued between them, in which she declared to him that there was not on the face of the earth a man she loved more, and entreated him to come near Allhallow tide with an armed band, and carry her off with him by force; and that he might the more easily accomplish his design, she would take care that Curigh should, at that time, have but few soldiers or attendants. Cuchullin promises to come to her at the appointed time, and then takes his leave, and sets out for Ulster, and relates the adventure to Choncubar.

In the meantime Blanaid told Curigh that he ought to erect a palace for himself that should exceed all the royal palaces in the kingdom, and that he might do so by sending the Clanna [143] Deaguid to gather and collect all the large upright stones in the kingdom to form this palace. Blanaid’s reason for this was, that the Clanna Deaguid might be dispersed in distant parts of Ireland, far from Curigh, at the time that Cuchullin should come to carry her off. Cuchullin, being informed that the Clanna Deaguid were scattered over the kingdom, sets out privately, and soon arrived at a wood near the seat of Curigh, and sends secretly to inform Blanaid of his arrival with a large body of troops along with him. She sends him word that she would steal Curigh’s sword; and then, as a sign of attack, that she would spill a large vessel of new milk that was in the house into the rivulet which flowed from the castle through the wood where Cuchullin was concealed. Having heard this, in a short time he perceived the stream white with the milk, when, sallying out, they forced into the palace, and slew Curigh, who was alone and unarmed, and took Blanaid away with them to Ulster.”

The allusions in this poem are to Cuchullin’s expedition to attack Curroi, to Blanaid’s giving the signal by filling the stream with milk from a large vessel, and to the encounter between Curroi and Cuchullin, in which the former fell.

It may not be out of place to insert here a few stanzas of an old Manx historical poem, written between 1504 and 1522, to show the relation of the Manx orthography to the Welsh and to that of the Dean of the same age.

This poem has a strong resemblance in its character and sentiment to the oldest poems in the Cymmrian dialect.

The oldest known poem in this dialect which has been preserved in its original orthography is a short poem of three stanzas, written in the Irish character in a parchment MS. at Cambridge, containing a paraphrase of the Gospels by Iuvencus, a Latin poet. The writing of this MS. is anterior to the year 700.

It is the song of a warrior mourning his fate and his solitude, and may be thus translated:—

The Irish character, in which this poem is written, is of the eighth century, and Villemarqué has remarked upon its resemblance in sentiment and character to a poem of Llywarch Hen, a Cumbrian bard of the sixth or seventh century, whose [147] poems are universally admitted to be genuine, the orthography of which is much more modern. The poem is in triplets, the first line also ending with “heno,” and a single stanza or two will show the resemblance:—

The poem, attributed to Ossian in the Dean’s MS., is of the same character:—

This is a well-known poem, termed Sliabh nam ban Fionn. A copy almost identic with this is published by the Ossianic Society of Dublin in their sixth volume, and a comparison of the first stanza with that of the Dean will show the relation the orthography of it bears to his:— [148]

It will be observed that the Irish eclipsis is only partially recognised by the Dean.

The number of verses is the same, but some variation occurs in the reading of several of them.

Dr. Smith remarks, in the Highland Society’s Report, that an edition of this poem, under the title of La mor Seilg na Feinne, occurs in the oral recitations communicated by the Rev. Francis Stewart of Craignish, and another was written from memory by Archibald M’Callum.

The King of Sorcha is here opposed to the daughter of the King of the Tir fo thuinn, or land beneath the waves; and in this respect it resembles the Welsh poems, where the King of Annwn and his daughter play so great a part.

Sorcha is light, in opposition to Dorcha, dark; and there seems to be a poetic contrast between the kingdom of light and the kingdom under the waves.

Historically the land under the waves was the low-lying coast of Holland and Germany, extending from the Rhine to the Elbe.

Dr. Smith remarks that this poem differs little from Kennedy’s and other oral editions in the possession of the Society.

There is an edition of this poem in one of M’Vurich’s MSS. in the collection deposited in the Faculty Library. The language [149] is more Irish than the Dean’s. The first verse may be given for the purpose of comparison:—

It will be observed that the Dean uses the Scotch negative Cha, while M’Vurich has the Irish Ni.

Dr. Smith states that this poem corresponds in a great measure with one taken down from oral recitation in Sutherland and another in Isla.

This poem is one of the editions of the Cath Gabhra, and, along with the poem by Feargus Filidh on the same subject, forms part of the long poem called Cath Gabhra, printed by the Ossianic Society of Dublin in their first volume.

The expression east or eastward always refers to Alba or Scotland, in contradistinction to west, which was Sire, and the allusion here is to one of the mythic colonies from Ireland to Scotland.

In addition to the historic colony of Dalriada in the sixth century, the Irish historians record four colonies in prehistoric times. [150]

2. The Clanna Breogan, under the Fathads, sons of Lugad Mac Con, King of Ireland, in the third century, from whom the Campbells are said to be descended.

3. Eremonians, under Colla Uais, King of Ireland, in the fourth century, from whom the M’Donalds are said to be descended.

4. Eberians, under Cairbre Cruithnechan and Maine Leamhna, sons of Corc mac Lughadh, in the fourth century, from whom the Maormers of Marr and Lennox are said to be descended.

The second of these colonies, under Fatha Canann, is here connected with the legends of the Feinne.

Dr. Smith states that this poem agrees, with some variation in words and arrangement, with one transmitted by Mr. Maclagan from oral recital.

The poem on the battle of Gabhra, attributed to Fergus, is obviously the older piece, and some of the stanzas are the same with those in the Irish poems. It also refers to the Feinne of Britain and of Lochlan.

There is an edition of this poem in Kennedy’s Collection, p. 148; and another, taken down from recitation, was communicated to the Highland Society by Mr. Malcolm M’Donald.

The first stanza of this poem, with the corresponding stanza in the Irish poem, is given for the purpose of comparison:—

It will be again observed that the eclipsis is only partially recognised. The Dean seems rarely to employ it in the genitive plural, where it is rigorously demanded by the rules of Irish grammar.

Dr. Smith remarks that this poem agrees very much with one got from Isla by recitation, and communicated to the Society by Robert Campbell, Esq., Advocate.

Dr. Smith states that this poem, on the death of Fraoch, differs very little from Mr. Jerome Stone’s edition, and still less from Mr. Gillies’ Collection, page 107.

Dr. Smith remarks that this poem nearly agrees with one in Kennedy’s Collection, p. 69. Some of the names are different, and the stanzas not all in the same order.

The same poem appears, with a few lines more or less, and a slight variation of words and arrangement, in one of the MSS. deposited in the Faculty Library; and two editions were communicated to the Highland Society taken down from oral recitation, one from an old man in Isla, the other from Donald M’Callum in Kilcalmonell, in Kintyre.

The idea which forms the subject of this poem is common to the Gael and the Welsh.

This poem certainly refers to the taking of the murderers of James I., by Robert Reoch Duncanson of Strowan, and John Gorme Stewart of Garth. Robert Reoch bears on his seal two greyhounds, and on 15th August 1451 received a charter from James II. of the barony of Strowan “pro zelo, favore et amore quos gerimus erga dictum Robertum Duncanson pro captione iniquissimi proditoris quondam Roberti de Graham.” [152]

John Gorme Stewart receives in the Exchequer Rolls a payment “pro arrestatione Roberti Grahame traditoris et suorum complicium.”

In the Annals of Ulster there is the following notice of the murder of Angus Og, son of John, Lord of the Isles:—

Aois Criost 1490, Mac mic Domnaill na h-Alpan,.i. Aengus, .i. nec da n-gairti an Tigerna Aacc do marbad a fill le ferted Erennac,.i. Diarmidt h-ua Cairpri, 7 a n Inhernis do marbad h-e. That is,—Year of Christ 1490, Angus, son of Macdonald of Scotland, who was called the young Lord, was murdered by his Irish harper, Dermed O’Cairbre, and at Inverness he was slain.

The Dougall, son of John, who is here reproached as a sluggard, and exhorted to write in the Book of Poems, was no doubt the Dean’s father, Dougall Johnson. It would appear from this that the taste for collecting Gaelic poetry was a family quality.

The genealogical poems relating to the M’Gregors, M’Dougalls, and M’Donalds, are curious, but it would be out of place to enter here upon the family history of these clans.

INDEX.

Note.—The numerals refer to the Introduction; the common figures to the English Translation; and the ancient figures to the corresponding Original Gaelic.

John Anderson, D.D., F.G.S., E.P.S., &c., Author of ’The Course of Creation,’ ’Geology of Scotland,’ &c.

Dura Den, a Monograph of the Yellow Sandstone and its remarkable Fossil remains. Royal 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d.

A Catalogue of Antiquities, Works of Arts, and Historical Scottish Relics, exhibited in Museum of the Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland during their annual meeting, held in Edinburgh, July 1856, under the patronage of H. R. H. The Prince Consort, K.G., comprising notices of the portraits of Mary Queen of Scots, collected on that occasion. Illustrated, royal 8vo, cloth, 21s.

“A pretty story enough, and vraisemblable enough for the effect desired to be produced by the author, which is to awaken in the minds of ordinary English novel readers a lively feeling for the cause of Italian independence.”—Spectator, December 29.

“We admire the character of Angelo, and heartily commend it to public favour; it is admirably written; the subject is one dear to every lover of freedom and honour.—Commonwealth, December 15, 1860.

Odal Rights and Feudal Wrongs: a Memorial for Orkney.
By David Balfour of Balfour and Trenaby. 1 vol. 8vo, price 6s.

“We gather from the book that Mr. Balfour is an Orcadian Laird, Odaller, or whatever the proper title may be now-a-days. Certainly he is a sound and careful antiquary, well versed in the local history of the old Jarldom, and fully entitled to a hearing for anything which he may say about it.”—Saturday Review, March 1861.

“To antiquarians, and especially those connected with Orkney, this book will be a rich acquisition.—Orkney Herald, October 23, 1860.

“This book is an interesting contribution to Scottish history.”—Athenæum, January 27.

How Not to Do It. A Manual for the Awkward Squad; or, A Handbook of Directions, written for the instruction of Raw Recruits in our Rifle Volunteer Regiments. With Illustrations. Fcap., sewed, 6d.

The Volunteer Levee; or, the Remarkable Experience of Ensign Sopht. Written and Illustrated by Himself. Edited by the Author of ’How Not to do It.’ Fcap. 8vo, sewed, 1s.

Catharine D. Bell, Author of ’Cousin Kate’s Story,’ ’Margaret Cecil,’ &c.

Aunt Ailie. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 5s.
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Charlie and Ernest; or, Play and Work. A Story of Hazlehurst School, with Four Illustrations by J. D. Royal 16mo, 3s. 6d.

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Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton. With Portraits. New and Cheaper Edition, 2 vols., fcap. 8vo, cloth, 12s.

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“Such works as Sir David Brewster’s careful, though rather partial, biography, are of the utmost value in presenting a faithful summary of all that materially illustrates the character of the mind of our great philosopher.”—Quarterly Review, October 1861.

“To say of this book, that it is written in a style which is worthy of its theme is no greater praise than it merits.”—Morning Post, January 10.

“The kindly and generous spirit of the book, its quiet and impressive religiousness, the earnestness which characterizes every page, and the sunny cheerfulness which make it the pleasantest of reading, cannot fail to endear it to many of those for whom it has been written. We thank Mrs. Gordon for this last and best of her books most sincerely and cordially.”—The Scottish Press, January 9.

Work; or, Plenty to do and How to do it. Thirty-second thousand. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.

Sunbeams in the Cottage; or, What Women may do. A narrative chiefly addressed to the Working Classes. Cheap Edition. Thirty-sixth thousand. Cloth limp, 1s.

The Motherless Boy; with an Illustration by J. Noel Paton, R.S.A. Cheap Edition, limp cloth, 1s.

Horæ Subsecivæ; Locke and Sydenham, with other occasional Papers. 2 vols., fcap. 8vo, 7s. 6d. each.

“Of all the John Browns commend us to Dr. John Brown—the physician, the man of genius, the humourist, the student of men, women, and dogs. By means of two beautiful volumes he has given the public a share of his bye-hours, and more pleasant hours than these it would be difficult to find in any life.

“Dr. Brown’s masterpiece is the story of a dog called ’Rab.’ The tale moves from the most tragic pathos to the most reckless humour, and could not have been written but by a man of genius. Whether it moves tears or laughter, it is perfect in its way, and immortalizes its author.”—Times, October 21, 1861.

“With his pen Dr. Brown has depicted dogs as powerfully and humanly as Landseer has done with his pencil.”—Oriental Budget, April 1, 1861.

“The work now before us will be so generally read in Scotland that it is superfluous to describe its contents to the public.”—Courant, June 6, 1861.

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Rab and his Friends; Extracted from ’Horæ Subsecivæ.’ Eighteenth thousand. Fcap. sewed, 6d.

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“With Brains, Sir;” Extracted from ’Horæ Subsecivæ.’ Fourth thousand. Fcap. sewed, 6d.

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“The Memoir is exceedingly well written.” “Every one should read the last chapter of Dr. Cairns’ Memoir, giving an account of the closing scene of Dr. Brown’s life.”—Scotsman, September 11.

“In preparing and publishing these memoirs, Dr. Cairns has conferred upon us a most valuable gift, and has fulfilled his own part with great discrimination and ability.”—Evan. Christendom.

Lectures on the Atomic Theory, and Essays, Scientific and Literary, 2 vols., crown 8vo, cloth, 15s.

The Biography of Samson. Illustrated and Applied. Second Edition. 18mo, cloth, 2s.

Popular Tales of the West Highlands, orally collected, with a Translation by J. F. Campbell. 2 vols., extra fcap., cloth, 16s.

“Mr. Campbell has published a collection of tales, which will be regarded as one of the greatest literary surprises of the present century. It is the first instalment of what was to be expected from any fair statement of the scientific value of popular tales. . . . It required some striking demonstration of the real worth of popular tales to arouse Gaelic scholars from their apathy. They have been aroused, and here is the first fruit, in a work that is most admirably edited by the head of a family beloved and honoured in those breezy western isles, who has produced a [8] book which will be equally prized in the nursery, in the drawing-room, and in the library.”—Times, November 5th.

“They are the ’Arabian Nights of Celtic Scotland,’ and as such we recommend them as a present for the young.”—Critic, November 24th.

“We feel assured that Mr. Campbell’s labours will be rewarded with such signal success as shall encourage him to extend them in every direction over the rich field which he has been the first to explore and cultivate.”—Spectator, November 24th.

“The book is one that no modern student can afford to miss, and that few persons of any age or degree of culture would not come to again and again.—Daily News, December 28th.

Book-keeping, adapted to Commercial and Judicial Accounting, with Styles. By F. H. Carter, Member of the Society of Chartered Accountants, Edinburgh. 8vo, cloth, price 10s.

Life and Works of Rev. Thomas Chalmers; Memoirs by Rev. W. Hanna, LL.D. 4 vols., 8vo, cloth, £2: 2s.

A Selection from the Correspondence of Dr. Chalmers, uniform with the Memoirs. Crown 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d.

Daily Scripture Readings. 3 vols., £1:11:6.
Sabbath Scripture Readings. 2 vols., £1:1s.
Sermons. 1 vol., 10s. 6d.
Institutes of Theology. 2 vols., £1:1s.
Prelections on Butler’s Analogy, etc. 1 vol., 10s. 6d.

Vols. I. and II.—Lectures on the Romans, 2 vols.
Vols. III. and IV.—Sermons, 2 vols.
Vol. V.—Natural Theology, Lectures on Butler’s Analogy, &c.
Vol. VI.—Christian Evidences, Lectures on Paley’s Evidences, &c.
Vols. VII. and VIII.—Institutes of Theology, 2 vols.
Vol. IX.—Political Economy; with Cognate Essays.
Vol. X.—Polity of a Nation.
Vol. XI.—Church and College Establishments.
Vol. XII.—Moral Philosophy, Introductory Essays, Index, &c.

Characteristics of Old Church Architecture, etc., in the Mainland and Western Islands of Scotland. In one vol. 4to, with Illustrations, price 25s.

“Alighting on a book that has discoveries in it is pretty nearly as good as making the discoveries for one’s self. In either case, there is an impulse to come forward and let the fact be known, lest some other should be the first to make the revelation. It is thus that we are tempted, with more than usual promptitude, to notice this book, which contains valuable and striking novelties from an untrodden archæological ground. . . . That something might be found in the west had been hinted, in accounts of some curious relics, by Professor Innes and his friend, Dr. Reeves, but it has fallen to the author of the present volume to go thoroughly to work and excavate the neglected treasure.”—Scotsman, April 24.

“This volume certainly fulfils its title, and gives us an excellent idea of the Characteristics of the Ancient Religious Architecture of the Mainland and Western Isles of Scotland.”—Saturday Review, July 27, 1861.

Of the Light of Nature, a Discourse by Nathaniel Culverwell, M.A. Edited by John Brown, D.D., with a critical Essay on the Discourse by John Cairns, D.D. 8vo, cloth, 12s.

The Annals of the University of Edinburgh. By Andrew Dalzel, formerly Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh; with a Memoir of the Compiler, and Portrait after Raeburn. In one vol. demy 8vo.

The Story of Burnt Njal; or, Life in Iceland at the end of the Tenth Century. From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga. By G. W. Dasent, D.C.L. In 2 vols. 8vo, with Maps and Plans, price 28s.

“Considered as a picture of manners, customs, and characters, the Njala has a merit equal in our eyes to that of the Homeric poems themselves.”—Edinburgh Review, October 1861.

“The majority of English readers would have been surprised to be told that in the literature of Iceland there was preserved a story of life and manners in the heroic age, which for simple force and truthfulness is, as far as we know, unequalled in European history and poetry, and is not unworthy of being compared, not indeed for its poetic richness and power, but for the insight which it gives into ancient society, with the Homeric poems.”—Guardian, May 1.

“A work, of which we gladly repeat the judgment of a distinguished American writer, that it is unsurpassed by any existing monument in the narrative department of any literature, ancient or modern.”—Saturday Review.

“An historical romance of the tenth century, first narrated almost at the very time and by the very people to whom it refers, nearly true as to essential facts, and quite true in its pictures of the customs and the temper of the old Norsemen, about whom it tells, is in these volumes edited with the soundest scholarship by Dr. Dasent. There was need of a thorough study of the life and language of the early colonists of Iceland for the effective setting forth of this Njala, or saga of Njal.”—Examiner, March 30.

“This ’Story of Burnt Njal’ is worthy of the translator of the Norse Tales: a work of interest to the antiquary and the lover of legendary lore—that is, to every one capable of appreciating those sources of history which are at once the most poetic and the most illustrative of the character and growth of nations. The events of the story happened while the conflict of the two creeds of Christ and Odin was yet going on in the minds of the Northmen. We must pass the book over to the reader’s attentive consideration, for there are few portions of it that are not pregnant with interest and instruction for a reflective mind.”—Athenœum.

“Hurriedly and imperfectly as we have traced the course of this tale divine, it must be evident to all who have accompanied us in our progress that there is real Homeric stuff in it. The Saga has a double value, an æsthetic and an historic value. Through it we may learn how men and women in Iceland, near a thousand years ago, lived, loved, and died.”—Spectator, April 20.

“Mr. Dasent has given us a thoroughly faithful and accurate translation of the ’Njala; or, the Story of Njal,’ the longest and certainly the best of all the Icelandic Sagas. The style is that pure Saxon idiom with which the readers of his ’Norse Popular Tales’ are familiar. To the translation are prefixed disquisitions on Iceland; its religion, constitution, and public and private life; and the appendix contains a very amusing essay on piracy and the Vikings, the biography of Gunnhillda, the wicked queen of Eric of the Bloody-axe, king of Norway, and afterwards warder of Northumberland, and a disquisition on the old Icelandic currency.”—Times, April 8.

Popular Tales from the Norse, with an Introductory Essay on the origin and diffusion of Popular Tales. Second Edition, enlarged. Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d.

A Selection from Dasent’s Popular Tales from the Norse. With Illustrations. 1 vol. crown 8vo.

The Prose, or Younger Edda. Commonly ascribed to Snorri Sturluson. Translated from the Old Norse, by George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L. A New Edition, with an Introduction, in one volume, crown 8vo.

The Fifty Years’ Struggle of the Scottish Covenanters, 1638-88. Third Edition, fcap., cloth, 5s.

“The volume before us is by a Mr. Dodds, with whose name we were not previously acquainted. His Lectures on the Covenanters were addressed to popular audiences, and they are calculated to be exceedingly popular. . . . They have merits of their own; they are in passages very eloquent; they are full of graphic touches; they appeal with no small success to our sympathies; and, though we cannot endorse the leading idea of the book, we must do it all honour as an advance upon previous ideas on the same subject.”—Times.

“This is an excellent little book, written in a large-hearted, earnest, pious, and thoroughly manly spirit. . . . The style is forcible, graphic, and robust; now and then perhaps a little stiff, sometimes pseudo-rhetorical, but, in general, well suited to the subject. . . . These men, whatever be the reader’s prepossessions, are really worth reading about. There was manhood in them.”—Spectator.

From London to Nice. A Journey through France, and Winter in the Sunny South. By Rev. W. B. Dunbar, of Glencairn. 12mo, cloth, price 3s.

Edinburgh University Calendar, 1861-1862, Corrected to October 15, 1861, and containing all the new Lists for Examination in Medicine and Arts. Authorized by the Senatus Academicus. 12mo, price 1s. 6d.

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“It may seem high praise, when we state that sometimes, in the freshness, breadth, and definiteness of the author’s thinking, we have been reminded of the posthumous lecture of Foster.”—News of the Churches.

Fragments of Truth, being the exposition of several passages of Scripture. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo., cloth, price 5s.

Public Health in relation to Air and Water. By W. T. Gairdner, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and Lecturer on the Practice of Medicine. In one vol. fcap. 8vo.

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The Story of a Boulder, or Gleanings from the Note Book of a Field Geologist. Illustrated with woodcuts. Fcap., cloth, 5s.

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The Giants, the Knights, and the Princess Verbena. A Fairy Story, with illustrations by Hunkil Phranc. 4to, boards, 2s. 6d.

An Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, from the Introduction of Christianity to the Present Time. By George Grub, A.M. In 4 vols., demy 8vo, 42s. Fine Paper Copies, 52s. 6d.

Rev. William Hanna, LL.D.,
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The Healing Art, the Right Hand of the Church: or, Practical Medicine an Essential Element in the Christian System. Crown 8vo, cloth, price 5s.

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[23]

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Footnotes

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

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

[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.

[16] This term is unknown to the Highlanders, who call themselves Albanaich; and was a term of reproach applied to them by the Lowlanders, from their language being the same as the Irish. It is curious that the same reproach was applied by the English to the Scotch in the twelfth century. Lambarde records that, at the battle of the Standard, when the Scots shouted Albany, Albany! the English soldiers retorted with Yry, Yry! “a term of great reproach at that time.”

[17] I reject from this list the grammar and dictionary by the Rev. Wm. Shaw, published in 1778 and 1780, because, so far as they purport to be a grammar and dictionary of the Scotch Gaelic dialect, they are a deception, and not trustworthy.

Shaw was a native of Arran, where a corrupt and Irishised Gaelic is spoken; and it is well known that he failed in his attempt to compile his dictionary from the spoken language in the Highlands, where he made a tour for the purpose, and resorted to Ireland, where he manufactured his works from Irish sources and authorities, adapting the Irish grammar to a very imperfect knowledge of the language.

The subscribers complained of the deception, and refused to take the work, till compelled by a process at law. The evidence taken in this process is very instructive as to the position of Shaw’s grammar and dictionary, so far as their Irish element is concerned, towards the Scotch Gaelic dialect at that period.

[18] A more detailed statement of the differences between Scotch and Irish Gaelic will be found in the additional Notes.

[19] Professor Max Müller has the following excellent remarks in his recent lectures on the Science of Language, p. 49. “The real and natural life of language is in its dialects; and in spite of the tyranny exercised by the classical or literary idioms, the day is still very far off which is to see the dialects entirely eradicated. . . .

“It is a mistake to imagine that dialects are everywhere corruptions of the literary language. . . . Dialects have always been the feeders rather than the channels of a literary language; anyhow, they are parallel streams which existed long before one of them was raised to that temporary eminence which is the result of literary cultivation.” The whole of the lecture in which this passage occurs is well worthy of perusal, in regard to the proper view and position of the spoken dialects in the study of language.

Schleicher takes the same view in his masterly work, “Die Deutsche Sprache.” He says, in relation to the German language, what is equally true of the Gaelic:

“Die mundarten sind die natürlichen nach den Gesetzen der Sprachgeschichtlichen Veränderungen gewordenen Formen im Gegensatze zu der mehr oder minder gemachten and schulmeisterisch geregelten and zugestutzten Sprache der Schrift. Schon hieraus folgt der hohe Werth derselben für die wissenschaftliche Erforschung unserer Sprache; hier ist eine reiche Füllevon Worten und Formen, die, an sich gut und echt, von der Schriftsprache verschmäht wurden; hier finden wir manches, was wir zur Erklärung der älteren Sprachdenkmale, ja zur Erkenntniss der jetzigen Schriftsprache verwerthen können, abgesehen von dem Sprachgeschichtlichen, dem lautphysiologischen Interesse, welches die überaus reiche Mannigfaltigkeit unserer Mundarten bietet.

“Wer einer Mundart kundig ist, der hat beim Studium des altdeutschen einen grossen Vorsprung vor demjenigen voraus der nur in der Schriftsprache heimisch ist.

“Nichts ist thörichter, nichts verräth mehr den Mangel wahrer Bildung als das Verrachten unserer Mundarten.”—P. 110.

[20] In the Island of Colonsay there is a cairn called Carn cul ri Erin. In Bleau’s Atlas, the map of the Island of Mull marks, on the high mountain which separates the north from the south of the island, two cairns, called Carn cul ri Erin and Carn cul ri Allabyn. These seem to mark some ancient boundary; but as they are exactly in a line with Iona,—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 Killintach and Killcholumkill in Morvern, and Killintach is said, in an old document, to be in Garwmorvaren, a district which extended as far north as Loch Hourn, while Killcholumkill is said to be in Kinelbadon, which belonged to the ancient kingdom of Lorn,—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.

[21] There were thirty kings of the Cruithne over Eri and Alba, viz., of the Cruithne of Alba and of the Cruithne of Eri, i.e., of Dalaraidhe. They were from Ollamhan to Fiachna mac Baedain, who fettered the hostages of Eri and Alba.

Book of Lecan, as quoted in Irish Nennius, lxxii.

A.D. 608. Bass Fiachrach chraich mic Baedan la Cruithnechu.—(Tigh. An.)

[22] A.D. 717. Expulsio familiæ Ie trans dorsum Britanniæ a Nectano rege.

[23] The two oirirs were the Oirir a tuath and the Oirir a deas, which make up the district known as Oirir Gaedheal, or Oirir Alban, and in Latin, Argathelia.

[24] Highland Society’s Report, App. p. 6.

[25] Prose originally written in a vernacular dialect readily adapts itself to the changes in the language, or passes into a new and cultivated form of it; but not so ballad poetry. The poems of Burns, for instance, could not be written in English without sacrificing, to a great extent, the rhyme and cadence of the verses, and almost entirely their nerve and power.

[26] Mr. Donald Macintosh, the Keeper of the Highland Society’s MSS., in his list of MSS. then existing in Scotland in 1806, mentions that “Mr. Matheson of Fernaig has a paper MS., written in the Roman character, and in an orthography like that of the Dean of Lismore, containing songs and hymns, some by Bishop Carsewell.” This MS. has not been recovered; but if we had it, we might find that, while the Bishop resorted to Ireland for his prose translation of Knox’s Liturgy, his original poetry was in a different dialect and orthography.

[27] In the older life of St. Kentigern, written prior to 1164, it is said that Servanus, at Culross, when he heard of Kentigern’s birth, exclaimed, “A dia cur fir sin, quod sonat Latine O utinam sic esset.” In modern Scotch Gaelic the phrase would be, A dhia gur fior sin.

[28] In 1778 and 1780 a collection of Ossianic poems, in the original Gaelic, was made by Duncan Kennedy, schoolmaster. His MS. collection was purchased by the Highland Society, and is now in the collection of MSS. in the Advocates’ Library. There is appended to it a list of the persons from whose recitations the poems were taken down.

In 1780, Dr. Smith, of Campbellton, published a quarto volume, entitled Gaelic Antiquities, containing versions in English of poems attributed to Ossian, Ullin, etc.; and in 1787 the originals were published under the title of Sean Dana.

Unhappily, Dr. Smith, instead of publishing the poems as he got them, with a literal English version, was ambitious of shining, like Macpherson, as an editor of Ossian, and of sharing in his notoriety; but the poems of the latter had already lost their lustre, and Smith did not possess the wonderful tact and originality Macpherson really showed in producing his English version, and which alone made them bearable; his version was diffuse, heavy, and turgid, and his book fell dead from the press.

The Sean Dana showed that he had largely made use of Kennedy’s collection.

Kennedy, with the strange desire that all of these collectors of Ossianic poems showed to be supposed capable of composing them, and thus to acquire literary credit at the expense of their honesty, laid claim to the authorship of part of them, and furnished the Highland Society with a statement of those parts of the poems he had really taken down from recitation, and those he claimed to have composed.

It is strange that the passages he claimed as his own composition are just those which have been most clearly established to be genuine.

Thus, lines which Kennedy marked as his own composition, are found verbatim in the Dean’s MS.

I believe that there was little or no truth in Kennedy’s assertion, which was dictated by vanity, and that his collection is, on the whole, genuine.

[29] A comparison of the poems in the Fragments, with those in the first quarto, containing the epic of Fingal, shows indications of the mode in which Macpherson dealt with his materials.

There are sixteen poems in the Fragments, all short; and some bearing the usual mark of a complete poem, by the first line being repeated at the end.

Thus, the second fragment begins with the sentence, “I sit by the mossy fountain; on the top of the hill of winds.” And the same expression is introduced at the end—“By the mossy fountain I will sit; on the top of the hill of winds;” marking a complete poem.

The first and fourth fragments we find in the quarto volume, containing Fingal, forming part of a longer poem termed Carrickthura, and here they are joined together by intermediate passages of some length, evidently interpolated by Macpherson.

The sixth and twelfth fragments contain dialogues between the poet and the son of Alpine. This was no doubt, in the original, the usual dialogue between Ossian and Patrick, always called in Scotch Gaelic poems Macalpine. The sixth fragment appears also in the quarto, in the so-called Epic of Fingal; but the dialogue is omitted, and the translation greatly altered.

To the fourteenth fragment there is appended the following note:—“This is the opening of the epic poem mentioned in the preface. The two following fragments are parts of some episodes of the same work,” and they accordingly appear in the quarto, in the epic poem of Fingal.

The fourteenth fragment, however, relates to Cuchullin alone; and in those tales and poems which we know to be genuine, Cuchullin and Fingal are never brought together.

Macpherson seems, at this stage of his collection, to have conceived the idea of weaving the short poems into one epic; but his unskilful junction of Cuchullin and Fingal in the same transactions, betrays its artificial construction.

[30] Some years ago I happened to pass a couple of months in the immediate neighbourhood of Strathmashie, and I recollect having been informed at that time, but by 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 handwriting, with numerous corrections and alterations, with this title,—“First rude draft of the seventh book of Temora.”

Mr. Gallie sent to the Highland Society a part of the Gaelic of Fingal, which afterwards appeared in the Gaelic version subsequently published. He said he had taken it from a MS. he had recovered, written by a friend “who was at that time with Mr. Macpherson and me, a gentleman well known for an uncommon acquaintance with the Gaelic, and a happy facility for writing it in Roman characters.”

On being pressed to say who this friend was, he says, “his name was Lachlane Macpherson of Strathmashy. He died in 1767.”

This Gaelic version seems, therefore, to have been put together before 1767; and if before 1762, it will account for the original of the seventh book of Temora having been published in that year, and also for an advertisement which appeared soon after the publication of the second quarto, that the originals were lying at the publisher’s, and would be published if a sufficient number of subscribers came forward; but as few subscribers appeared, and fewer came to look at them, they were withdrawn.

The so-called originals were, no doubt, this Gaelic version, which there is every reason to believe had preceded the English version in its preparation.

[31] In vol. iv. p. 230 of these Transactions, it is admitted that some of the poems transcribed in 1749 were the composition of the writer, Michael Comyn.

[32] Those poems published by the Ossianic Society which are of any length, and especially the poem termed the Battle of Gabhra, show evident indications of the same process of patching and dovetailing together of shorter poems which characterize Macpherson’s Ossian.

[33] The following passage is quoted by Petrie (Round Towers, p. 96) from an ancient tract termed the Senchas na Relec, preserved in the leabhar na h’uidhre, a MS. of the year 1100:—

“Cormac Mac Art was the third person who had believed in Erin before the arrival of St. Patrick; Conchobar Mac Nessa, to whom Œtno had told concerning the crucifixion of Christ, was the first; Moran, the son of Cairpre Cinncait, was the second; and Cormac was the third.”

Cairpre Cinncait was the leader of the Attachtuatha in the insurrection above referred to; and it is remarkable that the reign of Conchobar, in which Cuchullin and Curoi are said to have flourished, the era of the occupation of the country by the Attachtuatha, the descendants of the ante-Milesian population, and the reign of Cormac Mac Art, in which Finn Mac Cumhal and Goll Mac Morn are said to have lived and fought, should be connected by the link of a conversion to Christianity. It seems to synchronize these three periods in tradition with each other, and with the first introduction of Christianity into Ireland.

The same tract states, that the mythic King Cormac Mac Art “was slain by Siabhras, id est, the Tuatha De Danann, for they were called Siabhras.”

[34] A passage in one of the oldest of the MSS., deposited in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, shows that the term Lochlan was anciently applied to the districts east of the Rhine. “Cæsar came with some entire legions of the ruthless youth of Italy into the rough land of Gallia, and the wide and long country of Lochlain. For these are one and the same country; but for the interposition of the clear current of the Rhine, which divides and sunders the two lands.”

[35] It is unnecessary here to repeat these references. They will be found in the Report of the Highland Society, page 21.

The quotation from Barbour shows that the name of Fingal was known long before the time of Macpherson; and as most Gaelic proper names had a corresponding name in English which resembled it in sound, and was held to represent it, as Hector for Eachin, or Hugh for Aodh, it is not unlikely that Fingal may have been known as the recognised representative in English of Finn.

In fact, Finn and Fingal are both real names, and closely related to each other.

Gal is a syllable of unknown origin and meaning, which enters largely into the composition of Gaelic proper names. Thus we have Aedgal, Aelgal, Angal, Ardgal, Artgal, Bodgal, Comgal, Congal, Donngal, Dubhgal, Dungal, Feargal, Fingal, Gormgal, Leargal, Maengal, Riagal, Saergal, Smiorgal. Some also take the form of galach; as Congalach, Dungalach, Fiangalach, Irgalach.

Those in which the first syllable expresses a colour appear both alone and with the affix gal, as Dubh and Dubhgal, Finn and Finngal, and are really the same name. The annals of the Four Masters mention several persons of the name of Finn, and, in 741, Finghal of Lismore.

[36] It is remarkable that the ancient legends of Cuchullin and the sons of Uisneach connect them with those remarkable structures termed vitrified forts. Dun Scathaig, Dun mhic Uisneachan, and Dundheardhuil, are all vitrified forts, and the latter is a common name for them. There is probably a mythic meaning under this.

[37] This poem, with a translation, is given in the Additional Notes, pp. 143, 144.

[38] The scene of this poem is in Scotland, the sea of Tallann being said to be in the east, and it must have been written in Scotland, as the accent is placed on the first syllable of the name Oisin.

The Highlanders call a whale muic mhara, and, from the description, this creature appears to have been a whale.

On communicating this curious poem to Professor O’Curry, he informs me that there is a copy of it in the Book of Leinster, an MS. of the thirteenth century. The text is the same, but the glosses a little different.

I may take this opportunity of calling attention to Professor O’Curry’s admirable Lectures on the MS. literature of Ireland, just published. They are most interesting and instructive, and for the masterly and complete survey taken of the subject, as well as for accurate and minute detail, they are almost unexampled in the annals of literature. They will well repay perusal.

[39] The oldest copy of this tale, which was the foundation of Macpherson’s Darthula, is in the Glenmasan MS., in the collection in the Advocates’ Library, which bears the date of 1238, and this translation is made from it.

The scenery is all in Argyllshire. Inis Draighen is Inistrynich in Loch-awe; Dun Suibhne, Castle Sween; Glenlaidhe is now called Glenlochy, where is Benlaoidhe; Glenmasan still bears the name; Gleneitche, in another copy called Loch Eitche, is Glenetive and Loch Etive; Glenurchain is Glenurchay; and Glendaruadh is now called Glendaruail.

[40] The name of this poet has given rise to some controversy between the Scotch and Irish Gael. By the latter it is pronounced Oisìn, the accent falling on the last syllable; by the former it is pronounced Ossian, the accent falling on the first. Dean M’Gregor spells the word sometimes Ossan, but usually Ossin. It is manifest from the use of the ss that he intends the accent to fall upon the first syllable, according to the Scottish mode. The Scottish pronunciation would appear to have been the same in his days as now. This form of the word we have retained in our translation. We do not mean to institute any comparison between the Irish and Scottish mode. The difference clearly arises from the peculiarity of each dialect, the Irish almost uniformly, in words of two syllables, laying the accent on the last, and the Scottish upon the first syllable.

[41] The Dean’s Finn is the Fingal of some writers. “Fionn,” pronounced “Fiŭghn,” genitive, “Fhinn,” pronounced “Ighn,” is the present Scottish and Irish form of the word, and we have preserved this in M’Gregor’s own orthography. Scottish writers have, however, been unjustly accused of manufacturing the term “Fingal.” It is not, as some Irish scholars have maintained, a modern corruption of Fin mac Cùil, but a word known and in use for centuries. John Barbour, who wrote his metrical life of King Robert Bruce in 1375, uses it as a familiar term:—

“He said, Methinks Martheoke’s son Right as Gow-mac-Morn was won, To have from Fingal his menzie.”

It would appear, from the analogies of the Gaelic language, to be the complete form of the word. “Fionn” means fair, being in reality an adjective noun; “Gal” is a common termination of Celtic proper names. Hence, “Fionn Ghal,” or “Fingal,” means the “fair-haired one.“ In like manner, we have “Dubh,“ black, “Ghal,” “Dubhghal,” or “Dugald;” “Donn,” brown, “Ghal,” “Donnghal,” Dungal, Donald, the brown-haired one. Hence, Fionn is a contraction of the name. It is remarkable as an instance of the changes which take place in the use of words, that in modern times “Fionnghal” is the name of a woman, and is usually translated “Flora.“

[42] In the original the word translated here, “household,“ is “tylych,“ or “teaghlach,“ a family. The literal translation would be, “the family of Art.” But this would not convey the idea in the original, the Celtic family in such a case as this implying the military followers of the head or chief. It seems probable that these ancient Celtic chiefs, like chiefs in more recent times, had their armed followers in constant attendance on them.

[43] Art was King of Ireland, according to Irish authorities, in the beginning of the third century. Tradition says that he was the father of Grainne, the wife of Finn, whose defection and escape with Diarmad led to the event so famous in ancient Celtic poetry, the death of Diarmad. A poem relating the event will be found in this collection.

[44] “Mac an Loinn,” or “Luno’s son,“ was the famous sword of Fingal, manufactured by Loinn mac Liobhaidh, the celebrated smith, or “Vulcan,“ of the Celts. The sword was so effective that in no case was it ever required to give a second stroke. The Gaelic words are, “Cha d’ fhàg e fuigheall beuma,”—It left no remnant for its stroke. We have heard of a remarkable instance of the effective use of this phrase in the pulpit by a distinguished Highland minister, Mr. Lachlan M’Kenzie of Lochcarron. In illustrating the completeness of the one sacrifice of our Lord, he said, and to a Highland audience it was electrifying, “Chuala sibh mu ’n chlaidheamh bh’ aig Fionn, nach d’ fhàg riamh fuigheall beuma,”—You have heard of Fingal’s sword, which never needed to give a second blow. “Loinn mac Liobhaidh,” the “Vulcan” of the Celts, is in reality Brightness, the son of polishing, a fact which would go far to prove the mythical character of this famous artisan.

[45] This piece is extracted and printed in the report on the Poems of Ossian, published by the Highland Society. Dr. Smith, however, who made the extract, appears not to have read it with much care or accuracy, and the concluding portion, from the twentieth line downwards, is suppressed altogether. This seems to have arisen from a desire to suppress all the references in those poems to St. Patrick, and thus to establish by all possible means their Scottish origin. If any of the Poems are the genuine compositions of Ossian, there is sufficient evidence that the references to the Saint are of more recent introduction, in the fact, that if Ossian saw Art, who lived in the opening of the third century, as he tells us in the preceding fragment, he could hardly hold a dialogue with St. Patrick, who flourished in the fifth. In the present publication the poems of every kind are given just as they stand, without any reference to the effect on existing systems and theories, Scotch or Irish.

[46] The bells used in Christian worship. “Patrick of the bells,” is a common appellation of St. Patrick in these compositions.

[47] “Sliabh nam ban fionn,” or the “hill of the fair-haired women,” is said to be one of the mountains of Tipperary, in the neighbourhood of Clonmel. It is now called “Sliabh nam ban,” and has several traditions of the Feine associated with it. The writer is not aware of any mountain of the name in Scotland; besides, although the word “Sliabh” is well known and in common use among the Scottish Highlanders, it is seldom found in the topography of the country, in which the almost uniform term for a mountain is “Beinn,” the English “Ben.” This is one of the marked differences between Irish and Scottish topography. The term under consideration has sometimes been called in Scotland “Sliabh nam beann fionn,” “the hill of the fair hills,” a manifest mistake, which the meaningless tautology should be enough to prove. Topographical phrases in the Gaelic language are usually not only grammatically accurate, but of remarkable elegance in their structure. The interpretations often put upon them are a monstrous outrage upon this sound and invariable principle.

[48] It is obvious that parts of these compositions are dialogues, for the most part between Ossian and St. Patrick. The dialogue portion in these editions of Dean M’Gregor’s is generally either prefixed or added to the body of the poem. This is quite consistent with the genuineness of the work, and can be explained upon the supposition, that these portions were either prefixed or adjoined at an after period by some other hand to serve a purpose. This cannot be said of those poems which are in the form of dialogues throughout.

[49] Bran was the famous hound of Finn. The word means “a raven,” but used as an adjective it signifies “black,” which is apparently the origin of the name. Another of his dogs was called “Luath,” or “Swift,” also an adjective. These are common names for staghounds in the Highlands at this day. Reference is made a few lines before this to a white dog, “achoin ghil,” translated “snow-white,” “geal,” implying the most intense whiteness.

[50] The Irish call this word “Arpluinn,” in Latin, “Calphurnius.” In the Highlands the name is uniformly “Alpin,”—“Padruig mac Alpain.”

[51] This composition the Irish call the battle of “Ventry Harbour,” a place in the county of Kerry in Ireland. There are, however, Fintrays in Scotland, which are apparently the same name, and Mr. Skene has called the attention of the writer to the fact, that there is a Sgùir Dhaire dhuinn, “the hill of Daire donn,” in Duror in Argyleshire. Irish Antiquaries say the battle was fought in the third century between the Féine of Ireland and Daire donn, or Daire the brown, King of the world. It will be seen in this copy that Daire is introduced as King of Lochlin or Scandinavia, although afterwards called King of the world. It is very probable that both to the Scotch and Irish Celt Scandinavia was at this period synonymous with the world. This poem is here attributed to Ossian, although it is very doubtful whether it is so in the MS. The writing is so indistinct, that it is impossible to read the title correctly. It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that the poem is in the form of a dialogue between the bard, whoever he may be, and St. Patrick. The name of the saint seems to have been a favourite one with the bards, and was used no doubt to give consequence and currency to their compositions.

[52] The crozier of St. Patrick. Several ancient Celtic croziers are still in existence. Two are well known in Scotland. One of them is the Quigrich, or crozier of St. Fillan, now in possession of a family of the name of Dewar in Canada, to whose progenitor it was intrusted by Robert Bruce at the battle of Bannockburn. An interesting notice of this relic has recently been published by Dr. D. Wilson of Toronto. Another is the crozier of St. Munn, now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland, and long in possession of a family called the Barons of Bachul (a crozier, from the Latin Baculus), in the island of Lismore. A notice of this relic will be found in the transactions of the Scottish Antiquaries, from the able pen of Mr. Cosmo Innes. The word “breac,” or spotted, applied to the crozier, must refer to its ornamentation. The term will be found elsewhere applied to spears or swords.

[53] This is a curious piece of Bardic exaggeration. But there may be some history hidden within its folds. There is sufficient evidence to prove that the Féine, whoever they were, were not confined to Ireland. We have numerous ancient Celtic compositions in which reference is made to the Féine of Scotland, and the Féine of Britain, meaning either Wales, or England and Wales together. The truth with regard to Finn and his Féine seems even yet to be a long way off.

[54] This is said to be “Almhuin,” or Allen, the residence of Finn, according to Irish accounts, in the county of Kildare. The word has a strong resemblance to “Alba,” the Gaelic name for Scotland; and in reading ancient Gaelic MSS., care must be taken to distinguish the two. We give the name in the Dean’s orthography, whatever the place may be.

[55] Finn was Cumhal’s son. The word is pronounced “Finn mac Cúil,”—very much as M’Dougal is pronounced in the speaking of Gaelic. The writer has been led to think that traces of “Cual” (Cumhal) might be found in the King Coil of Ayrshire. The whole region about the scene of Coil’s territory and sepulchre has been purely Celtic, and the grave itself bears marks of being constructed in the early Celtic method.

[56] As already observed, Daire donn, or “Daire the brown,” is called here the King of Lochlin.

[57] Ireland was divided into two great sections: the northern, called Leth Chuinn, or Conn’s half, from Conn of the hundred battles, King of Ulster; the southern, called Leth Mhogha, or Mogh’s half, called from Mogha Nuadhat, King of Munster, both in the second century.

[58] The Celts always count by twenties up to 400. When a Highlander speaks of 340 or 360 of anything, he uniformly says seventeen score or eighteen score. The numbers given here are an instance of the poetic license.

[59] This daughter of the King of Greece is well known in Celtic tradition. In Mr. J. F. Campbell’s Tales of the West Highlands, vol. ii. p. 470, it will be seen that traces of her existence are found still in the island of Barra. Greece was not unknown to the ancients. Cæsar tells us that the Gauls, although not committing their religious mysteries to paper, in common writing which was familiar to them, used the Greek letters. This is a remarkable statement, and one of which too little use has been made in discussing the social condition of the early Gael. At the same time, we learn from the history of the Gallic war that the literature of Gaul was drawn from Britain, at least her priests studied there, which can have no other meaning.

[60] The race of the Féine to which Finn belonged. The Irish say they occupied Leinster and the eastern part of Ulster.

[61] The race to which the famous Gaul belonged. They are said to have occupied Connaught and the west of Ireland. These are the Irish accounts, and must be taken as contributions to a correct elucidation of the history of these events, if they have a real history.

[62] A poem on this famous battle will be found in a subsequent part of this collection.

[63] It will be seen in this and the previous pieces, that the first few lines are repeated at the close of every poem. This practice is uniformly followed in all ancient Celtic Poetry, and is a sure indication that we have reached the end of the piece.

[64] A hill said to be in the county of Armagh, celebrated in the ancient poem of “Tain bo Chuailgne,” or “The cattle spoil of Cuilinn.” It is said to have been here that Cuchullin resided, whence probably his name, Cu Chuailgne, or Cuchullin, the Hound of Cuillinn. In Irish History Cuchullin is said to have lived a couple of centuries previous to the era of Fingal.

The reader may be reminded that there is a mountain in Skye called Cuilinn, one of the grandest of the Scottish mountains. The person from whom both this and the Irish hills of the name were called, is said to have been Cuilionn, a Druidical priest of great fame. The word means also the Holly tree, from whence the derivation is sufficiently probable.

[65] “Fail” is an ancient name for Ireland. The word signifies fate; hence “Innisfail,” or the “Island of fate,” or, more probably, “the sacred island.”

[66] Diarmad was the Adonis of the Feine. He is celebrated for his beauty, which led finally to his death, as will be seen in a future poem. He is said to have been the Ancestor of the clan Campbell, who are hence called “Clann Diarmaid,” or the “children of Diarmad.” The M’Diarmads, as well as some other subordinate clans, are also said to be of the same stock.

[67] A grandson of Finn by his son Daire dearg. His mother’s name was Luigheach, whence he was called the son of Luigheach, pronounced Luy. He was a famous man among the Feine, according to Irish authorities.

[68] There were several among the Feine of this name. The name is widely known in the topography of Scotland. There are two Rivers Garry, two lochs, and two large rivers. These are found in Inverness-shire and Perthshire.

[69] Conan is usually called “Conan maol,” or “Conan the bald,” and was known among the Feine for his thoughtless impetuosity. He was, in consequence of this peculiar temperament, ever getting into difficulties, and exposing himself to the ridicule and reprehension of his companions. There are both a river and valley in Scotland called after him, the River Conan and Strathconan in Rosshire.

[70] “Bran,” the name of Finn’s celebrated hound, is here obviously the name of a man. There is a “strath” or valley in Rosshire which still retains his name, Strathbran. The extent to which Fenian names are found in Scottish topography, goes far to show the close connexion of the Feine themselves with that country.

[71] Caoilte was one of the most famous of the Feine. He was distinguished for his swiftness, and not without reason, as is shown in his chase of Loinn mac Liobhaidh, the Fenian blacksmith, whom he overtook, although he could cross a valley at a stride.

[72] This Oscar must be distinguished from the famous Oscar, the Poet’s son. Of the latter he never speaks without applying to him some term of endearment, as “my son,” “my own son,” etc.

[73] This line refers to the liberal rewards which the Bards usually received among the Celts. A eulogy was sometimes rewarded by the Chief with a silver cup. Even poetry had need to be purchased; and probably were it not for the hope of reward of some kind, many of the noblest Poems which have adorned human history would never have seen the light. At a meeting of Skye gentlemen on some public occasion some years ago, the question was put, “Where are the bards?” One of the company replied, “They are gone.” “No,” said Nicolson of Scorrybreck, “they are still with us; but the men who fostered them are gone.”

[74] This piece is what is usually called “Urnuidh Oisiain,” or “Ossian’s prayer.” There are many such colloquies in the Gaelic, many of them bearing no marks of great antiquity. It will be found that in the Gaelic the poem is divided. This arose from a misplacing of different parts of it in the MS., which was not observed till the first part was printed off. In the English the whole is given consecutively.

[75] This composition is known usually by the name of “Fainesoluis,” or the sunbeam, derived manifestly from the comparison of the sunbeam in the twenty-first line. In Ireland it is called “Laoidh an Mhoighre Bhoirb,” or “The song of Mayre Borb.” The “Mayre” of Ireland will be found to be “Daire” in Scotland.

[76] The topography of these poems is a subject of very deep interest to the student of our national antiquities. In the valley of the Roy in Lochaber, so famous for its parallel roads, is a waterfall called “Eas ruaidh,” or “Essaroy,” the “fall of Roy.” Was this the scene of the story of Fainesoluis? It may be objected that from there the sea lies at a distance of fifteen miles. On the Earn, near Ballyshannon, in the county of Donegal, is “Assaroe,” or “Eas Aoidh Ruaidh,” “The waterfall of Hugh the red,” who was drowned there. This is nearer the sea; but at the period ascribed to Ossian, the name could not have been given to the spot, as the death of Aedh ruadh mac Badhairn, from whom the cascade was named, occurred, according to the Four Masters, in A.M. 4518.

[77] Kings among the Celts were, at an early period, persons of much less consequence than the name would now seem to imply. In Ireland, there were four provincial sovereignties besides the national one. But even this does not give an accurate representation of the Celtic polity. The fact is, every ruler of a district and leader of an army was called a King. Of this we have ample evidence in Cæsar’s account of the state of Britain at the period of the Roman invasion. In Scotland, tradition points to several kingdoms. In the Western Highlands the Island of Mull is said to have formed a kingdom by itself, called “Rioghachd na Drealluin,” “the Kingdom of Drealinn,” from “dreall,” a “bar” or “sneck,” applied to the Sound of Mull, which shuts out all strangers from the Island. Islay was called “Rioghachd Modheadh,” or the “Southwest Kingdom,” from its position. Morvern was called “Iorruaidh,” to which frequent reference is made both in Scottish and Irish Celtic tradition. Ardnamurchan was called “Sorcha,” the kingdom of Daire Borb’s father, from its mountainous character, “Sorcha” meaning “high,” whence “sorchan,” “a tripod.” “Tir bàr fo thuinn,” or the land beneath the waves, was Tyree, from the lowness of the land appearing from a distance as if its surface were on a level with the sea. If there be any historical accuracy in these traditions, which have been gathered up from an intelligent old Highlander, skilled in the lore of his country, this story of Fainesoluis is one in which a daughter of the ruler of the Island of Tyree is pursued by a son of the ruler of Ardnamurchan. Poetry gives a consequence and magnitude to the event, which in all probability the naked reality did not possess.

[78] “Mo chomraich ort,” “my protection be on thee,” was an appeal which the Celtic warrior could never reject when made by the weak and helpless. In Christian times, the word “Comraich” came to be applied to the “girths” or “sanctuaries” around places of worship and other sacred spots, where accused persons might flee for security. Hence the Gaelic name of the parish of Applecross in Rosshire, “A Chomraich,” or “the Sanctuary,” formed round the church dedicated to St. Malrube, an early Christian missionary.

[79] As already observed, this name is in Irish editions of the poem “Mayre.” See Miss Brooks’ “Reliques of Irish Poetry.”

[80] “Geasan,” “bonds.” The word here appears to mean a simple pledge, although in most cases it implies the exercise of some magical power. In those cases of metamorphosis so common in Celtic tales, the persons who have been made to undergo the change are said to be “fo gheasaibh,” “under spells.” The mythology of the Celts has much in common with that of Eastern nations.

[81] The magical steed of Daire borb was capable of carrying its master over sea and land. In many ancient Celtic Tales we read of ships which could also traverse sea and land.

[82] The word in the original here is “criss zerk,” the “red belt.” This is, however, in all probability, a mistake of the Dean’s for “craoiseach,” a “javelin.” It is not easy to see what could be meant by the “red belt” on Oscar’s left arm. It could hardly signify the straps of the shield. If it be “craoiseach,” the bard would seem to indicate that Oscar was left-handed, like the sons of Benjamin.

[83] “Na tri caoil,” or the “three smalls,” were the neck, the ankles, and the wrists. Prisoners of war had this triple binding applied to them.

[84] These supplementary lines would appear to be either additional lines or various readings. There are two given in the Gaelic, which are not translated, as being of little consequence, and which seem intended to come in between the ninety-eighth and ninety-ninth lines. The first eight lines of this additional fragment are probably intended to fall in between the hundred and twenty-eighth and the hundred and twenty-ninth lines, the last eight to close the poem. Dr. Smith, in the Report on Ossian’s Poems given in to the Highland Society, states, that the Edition given in this supplement is inconsistent with that in the body of the Poem, and must be held to contain various readings.

[85] The following seems to have been Ossian’s eulogy on his father Finn. The editor has not met with any similar composition either among Scottish or Irish collections, except a few lines extracted by Miss Brooks from a composition which she calls “Buille Oisein,” and it is therefore rescued from oblivion by having been seized by the Dean while floating on the stream of oral tradition, and treasured in his miscellany. In the original, the poetry is worthy of the name of Ossian, more so, indeed, than any of the pieces in this collection. It is quite impossible to produce in English the effect of the rhythm and alliteration of the Gaelic; but the editor has endeavoured, while giving an exact rendering, to retain, in as far as possible, the peculiar measure of the original. The piece is a fine tribute of filial love and admiration, nor is there much room to doubt its genuineness.

[86] Muirne Finn’s mother is said to have been a daughter of Teige, a famous Druid, or, as others say, of a princely family of Bregia, in Meath.

[87] Some of the lines in this part of the original MS. are very much defaced from age and bad usage. The editor has been obliged in consequence to guess one line and a few additional words. The line is the forty-fifth, where he has introduced a phrase sufficiently general to prevent the charge of in any measure tampering with his author. The other words will be seen by referring to the Gaelic.

[88] The word “naoimh,” here translated “saints,” is not necessarily associated with Christianity. The word “naomh,” holy, is one belonging originally to the Gaelic language, and not introduced, like many ecclesiastical terms, from the Latin and Greek. The phrase may be rendered “sacred Erin,” a character belonging to the island, in popular belief, even previous to the Christian period. It is a curious fact, that the feat of destroying all the vermin in Ireland was, in a later age, attributed to St. Patrick. It would appear that this was but a transference of a portion of the glory of Finn to the Christian Saint,—a remarkable instance among many of early Christianity borrowing, not very wisely, the laurels of heathenism.

[89] Hospitality was one of the highest qualifications of a Celtic chief. Ossian never fails to sing the generous, open-handed hospitality of his father Finn. Till a late period the same feature of character distinguished the Scottish Highlander, although modern civilisation is fast uprooting it, and overlaying the character of the simple Highlander with the selfishness peculiar to itself. Even now, in most part of the Highlands, the door of a hut is never closed by day,—a practice said to originate in the universal sense of the ready reception due to the wayfarer and the stranger. Is the seven sides of Fingal’s house an orientalism?

[90] This Poet is obviously a Scotchman; but judging from another of his compositions in this volume, he was, like the Scottish bards of his time, well acquainted with the bardic literature of Ireland. This arose from the frequent intercourse between the two countries during their early history, and the number of Scotchmen educated both in the Medical and Bardic Schools of Ireland. This is one of the circumstances which renders it so difficult now, in the absence of authentic historical documents, to extricate much of the social history of the two countries. Hence the rival Scottish and Irish claims to many of our Celtic literary remains. There is no doubt that the poets of both countries interwove with their compositions the traditions of the race, without much regard to whether these were Scotch or Irish. The Irish trace this common literature to the fact of the Irish colonization of Scotland, which they maintain was the origin of the Celtic population of the latter country; but it is by no means necessary to go so far back in order to find sufficient cause for the fact. Christianity seems to have formed the first solid basis of union between the two countries, and a common Christianity was without doubt the means of long maintaining it. This composition is usually called “Bàs Dhiarmaid,” The death of Diarmad.

[91] A valley in the eastern part of Perthshire, where the grave of Diarmad is pointed out to this day. M’Rorie appears to have been an inhabitant of the neighbourhood, for he speaks of Glenshee as being close beside him. The name of Glenshee is derived from the word “Gleann,” a valley, and “sìth,” a hill of a peculiar form. This word is found in the names of several Scottish hills, as “Sìth challain,” Schihallion; “Beinn shìth,” Ben Hi; “An t-Sìth mhòr,” the great pointed hill. “Sìthan,” a hillock. The word has been often mistaken for “Sìth,” peace, whence the name “Sitheach, sithichean,” a fairy, fairies, has been absurdly rendered the peace folk, instead of the folk of the hills, referring to their reputed residence in earthen mounds.

[92] “Ben Gulbin,” the mountain of the beak, lies at the head of Glenshee. There is a hill with a similar name in Ireland, whence Conall Gulbain, one of the kings of Ulster, took his designation. There is a “water of Gulbin,” and a “Torgulbin,” in the braes of Lochaber; but the reference to Glenshee fixes the scene of the death of Diarmad in Perthshire. There is, as is common in Highland topography, a stream called Gulbin, whence a valley of the same name, and then a mountain. The names in similar cases seem to have been primarily attached to the streams, whence they ascended through the valleys to the hills. We have an instance of this in the River Nevis, Glen Nevis, Ben Nevis, the “neamhais,” referring to its impetuosity, having been in all likelihood originally applied to the stream.

[93] Mac O’Duine is the patronymic of Diarmad. Hence the Campbell clan, besides being called “Clann Diarmaid,” The race of Diarmad, are called also “Clann O’Dùine,” or The children of O’Duine.

[94] The chase of the boar was a favourite employment among the ancient Celts. It is celebrated in many of their tales. Besides this, the sow enters largely into their ancient mythology. Even in this case the boar was possessed of magical properties, as will be seen in the subsequent portion of this poem. It is not unlikely that at an early period the Celts worshipped the sow like the Egyptians, whose worship of it might have been one reason why it was pronounced unclean. Whether the Celts worshipped it or not, it is manifest that it was held in high esteem, for its figure is engraved on most of the ancient sculptured stones of Scotland. Among the Welsh it is a national emblem, and hence one argument for the ancient Picts being British, as these stones are found confined to the ancient Pictish territory. The word “muc,” a sow, enters largely into Scottish topography. We have “Eilean nam muc,” the Isle of muck, or Sow island. The ancient name of St. Andrews was “Muc ros,” the Sow’s headland, and we know that the sow is associated with the memory of St. Regulus. There is a “Bridge of Turk,” or the Boar’s bridge, near the Trosachs. There is a “Slochd muice,” or the Sow’s hollow, near Inverness, on the Highland road, a name derived from a hillock shaped like a sow’s back, in the bottom of the chasm a little to the west of where the coach road crosses; and there is “Sròn muice,” The Sow’s snout, on the north side of Loch Ness, derived from the resemblance of a hill-face to that part of the animal. These two latter names are manifestly derived from natural resemblances, and have nothing to do with mythology.

[95] The “schools,” referred to frequently in Ossianic tales, were probably military, although there can be no doubt that there was a learned class among the ancient Celts. Cæsar tells us, as already observed, that the Gauls used the Greek letters, and that their priests were educated in Britain. The “oghum” character, whose antiquity is pretty thoroughly established, is another evidence of ancient literary cultivation.

[96] The Gaelic is “tan-lann,” the thin sword. Was this steel or merely bronze? The thinness would seem to indicate steel.

[97] It is hardly necessary to point out the resemblance here between the sole of Diarmad and the heel of Achilles. Achilles could only be wounded in the heel, Diarmad only in the sole of the foot. The Adonis of the ancient Greeks was slain by a boar. There are remarkable analogies between classical and Celtic tradition.

[98] Essaroy, vide supra, p. 18, n. This is manifestly the Essaroy of Scotland, which is in the heart of one of the finest hunting regions in the world. Nor is it at any great distance from either of the Gulbins.

[99] Grainne, the wife of Finn, had formed an unlawful attachment to Diarmad. The latter had what is called a “Ball seirce,” or beauty spot, which no woman could resist. Hence Finn’s jealousy and desire to destroy Diarmad. The word rendered here “naire,” shame, is in the MS. “noor,” gold. If this be the accurate reading, Grainne’s dowery must have formed an element in the conflict.

[100] Yellow was the favourite colour of the ancient Celt. “Falt buidh,” yellow hair, is an object of the highest admiration, and the longer and more waving the locks, the greater the admiration. The account the Celt gives of himself is somewhat different from that given by his neighbours, who would paint him a wiry, thin, black-haired, black-eyed man. Tacitus gave a different description; and any man who travels the Highlands of Perthshire, where, perhaps, we have the purest Celtic blood in Scotland, will have ample evidence of the accuracy of the Roman historian. With reference to the admiration of the yellow colour among the Celts, it is interesting to trace how it intermingles itself with the vocabulary of the language; thus, a fine day is a yellow day. The name given to Beltin day, the opening of summer, is, “la buidhe Beallteine,” yellow Beltin day; and anything propitious is called yellow, as, “is buidhe dhuit e,” it is yellow or propitious for you; and a man satisfied after a meal is called “buidheach,” yellow or satisfied.

[101] This is the second composition of M’Rory’s given in the Dean’s MS. The present is as purely Irish in its incidents as the former was Scotch, the author having been in all likelihood, as already shown, a Scotchman, but perfectly familiar with the events of Irish history, and equally so with what is called the Irish dialect, although in the day of the Dean it was common to the literature of both countries, with a few variations. It will be seen, for instance, that in several of these pieces the Irish negative ni and the Scottish cha, are used indifferently. This composition has been published at much greater length than here, under the name of Ossian, but from MSS. apparently of no antiquity. This poem is usually called “Cath Ghabhra,” “the battle of Gaura,” or “Bàs Osgair,” “the death of Oscar.”

[102] The “red-tree” knights were the knights of Emania, or Ulster. Cæsar mentions the order of equites, or knights, as one of the three great leading classes into which the Gauls were divided; so that the existence of such an order in Ireland, at an early period, is in no way inconsistent with what history relates of ancient Celtic policy. Cairbar was the son of Cormac, son of Art, son of Conn of the hundred battles, Irish kings of the Emanian race. Finn, according to O’ Flaherty, was married to a daughter of Cormac, so that this battle with Cairbar was in reality with his brother-in-law. It seems to have originated in the Feinn, who are said to have been a species of militia, or rather a standing army in Ireland, becoming disposed to stretch their prerogative farther than was agreeable to the monarch, and that the object of Cairbar in this battle was to put them down. It is said that the Feinn were supported by the provincial king of Munster. This is Irish history, and it is remarkable to find these events sung by a Scottish Poet.

[103] Muckrey, or “The island of Swine,” is an ancient name for Ireland, derived obviously, not as it might be in modern times, from the abundance of the animal in the country, where it is the sum total of the family possessions in many instances, but from the place which the sow held, as referred to already, in the national mythology. It is obvious from the reference in this line to a difference with the Feinn, that that was no new event in the history of the Irish monarchs.

[104] Another name for Ireland. O’Flaherty says there were five names for the island, and quotes a scholiast of the name of Fiach, who lived a thousand years before. The names are Ere, Fodla, Banba, Fail, and Elga. Might we not add to these the much-disputed name of Scotia, which our Irish neighbours claim, yet don’t possess. Surely it is time now to perceive that the only true and satisfactory solution of the question regarding it, is that the name was applied to both countries, latterly under the distinctive appellation of Scotia Major and Scotia Minor, as the countries of the Scots. Surely Scotland was as much a Scotia as Ireland, and Ireland as much as Scotland, in so far as they were both occupied by Scottish inhabitants. This identity of race, language, and at an early period religion, is not sufficiently allowed for in discussing questions involving the several claims of Scotland and Ireland to much of what was common to both. Scotland has suffered more than Ireland from the destruction of her early archives; but is not the life of Columba, so recently given to the world under the able editorship of Dr. Reeves, in reality a Scottish work?

[105] “Banva” is another name for Ireland. This is the Gaelic name for a sucking-pig, so that it also is probably mythological. It is in all likelihood the same name with our Scottish Banff.

[106] Another name for Caoilte.

[107] It may be interesting to many readers to have here a specimen of this poem, as taken down from the oral recitation of a Christina Sutherland, an old woman in the county of Caithness, in the year 1856. It commences thus:

Is trom an nochd mo chumha fein, Guilgeantach mo rian, Smuaineachadh a chath chruaidh, Chuir mise ’us Cairbar claon ruadh, Am macsa Chormaic O Chuinn, Is mairg sinn a thàradh fo ’laimh; Laoch gun ghràin cha do chuir, Annsa dh’ a laimh iuthaidh, etc.

Translation:—

My mourning is grievous this night, Weeping is my condition, As I think of the fierce fight, Fought with red, squint-eyed Cairbre, That son of Cormac O Chuinn; Woe to them fell into his hands, Hero who knew no coward fear, Whose hand took delight in the arrow, etc.

The composition is very much the same with that of the Dean, but in many portions contains lines which the latter wants, and in others is comparatively defective. Although frequently superior in force, it is not, upon the whole, so smooth and regular as the Dean’s edition. It will be given at greater length in the Appendix to this volume.

[108] Fergus the Bard was one of the sons of Finn, and consequently brother to Ossian. He was, from all we can learn, the chief Poet of the Feinn. Ossian was both warrior and poet; Fergus was chiefly poet. Fergus was probably somewhat like a modern Gaelic Bard, John Macdonell, commonly called Ian Lom, who, on being urged to fight at the battle between Montrose and Argyle at Inverlochy, replied with well-assumed indignation, “Cha-n e sin mo ghnothuch, cathaichibh sibhse ’us innsidh mise,” that is not my business,—fight you and I’ll relate. In one of the odes preserved in the Dean’s MS., Fergus is called “Filidh Feinn Eirinn,” Bard of the Feinn of Erin.

[109] This composition is usually called, “Rosg Ghuill,” or the Ode to Gaul. Gaul was chief of one branch of the Feinn, the branch denominated “Clann Moirn,” or the children of Morn, as Finn was chief of the other branch, called “Clann Baoisgne,” or the children of Boisgne. The word “Gall” means a foreigner; “muirn” means a body of men, or beauty, elegance, in either sense giving a marked significance to the name. This poem represents a difference between Gaul and Finn, the cause of which will appear as the poem proceeds. Fergus, as was customary with the Bards, interposes as peacemaker, and represents to his father, whom he manifestly holds to be in the wrong, the danger of a difference with Gaul. The ode is a very remarkable one, having a striking resemblance to Ossian’s eulogy on Finn, as given already in this volume. Both bear decided marks of genuineness and antiquity. The language is peculiar, many of the words being obsolete. Indeed, the phonetic orthography of the Dean, the peculiar handwriting, and the discoloration and bad condition of the MS., with the obsoleteness of many of the words, made it a matter of no little labour to decipher the composition at all. There is an edition of it in Miss Brooks’ “Reliques of Irish Poetry,” from which, however, the present differs considerably in many of the lines, besides having several additional lines, and several deficient in some parts. The peculiar rhythm of the original, with the alliterations and vocalic concords, give it remarkable smoothness and force. The rhythm has, as far as possible, been retained in the translation. But besides the language, the sentiment of the piece is strong evidence of its antiquity. Those features of character are commended which have always been in favour in a rude age. Bodily strength, courage, manliness, and size, are dwelt on with all the warmth of an ardent admiration; while as much of literary cultivation is pointed out and commended, as would show the acquaintance of the hero with the traditions of his race. Gaul is said to have been “eagnaidh a stair,” learned in history. This and the ode to Finn have internal evidence of being compositions belonging to a very remote age.

[110] It would appear from this latter part of the poem, that the difference between Finn and Gaul concerned the right to hunt. It would appear that such a cause of controversy is no modern affair, but that game and game-laws had their place among human interests and human contentions from the earliest period of our country’s history. Finn seems to have claimed the right of chase over the whole territory of the Feinn. Gaul resisted and claimed a share for the race of Morn. Hence the contest giving Gaul the appellation of “Fear cogaidh Fhinn,” or resister of Finn. Fergus’s intervention resulted in Gaul’s obtaining from Finn, with good will, one-third of the territory called here “fiodh,” or wooded territory, and one-third of the hounds. There is a curious reference to these hunting rights in one of the poems in praise of the M’Gregors, given in an after-part of this volume, in which it is said that Finn himself dare not hunt without leave.

[111] This is another of the compositions of Fergus, the son of Finn, and brother of Ossian. It will be found to be an account of the death of Oscar at the battle of Gaura. One composition on this subject by Allan M’Rory has been given already. M’Rory’s appears to be the more modern of the two, besides being inferior in many respects to this. The account of Oscar’s death given here, is in the way of reply to an inquiry of Finn.

[112] Here we have in this very ancient composition reference to the Feinn of Britain, Britain including then as now England, Scotland, and Wales. If the Feinn belonged to Britain as well as Ireland, they could not have been a mere Irish militia.

[113] This is the composition of a Poet of whom we know nothing save what we find in this volume. From a poem of his in praise of the M’Gregors, he would appear to have been a Scotchman. The name signifies Malcom, the son of the chief bard or the physician. It is found still in the form of M’Inally. This poem is the Celtic edition of the Persian tale of Zohrab and Rustum. The incidents are so similar, that the two tales must have had a common origin. Whether the Persians received the tale from the Celts, or the Celts from the Persians, or both from some other and older source, it is hard to say. The composition is in Gaelic, usually called, “Bàs Chonlaoich,” or The death of Conlach.

[114] Clann Rughraidh, a powerful race, who occupied the province of Ulster at an early period, after having expelled the Clann Deaghaidh, or the Dalcassians, afterwards of Munster.

[115] Dunscaich, a stronghold in the Isle of Skye, on the coast of Sleat, of which the ruins still exist.

[116] Cuchullin, or the hound of Cullin, was a famous Celtic warrior, whose fame is celebrated both in Scotland and Ireland. The name is a curious one, and is thought by some critics to indicate the existence of Anubis worship, or the worship of the dog, among the ancient Celts. There is a Cullin in Skye, and another in Ireland. From which of these the name was taken it is difficult to say. Certainly the Skye mountain is by far the more magnificent natural object, and Dunscaich is unquestionably in Skye.

[117] Dundalgin is said to be the modern Dundalk.

[118] Cuchullin’s wife is said to have been unwilling that he should engage Conlach.

[119] Cù is a dog or hound. The “red branch” heroes were the knights of Ulster, the most famous of the Irish military orders. Cuchullin is often called “Cù nan con,” or The hound of hounds.

[120] The Isle of Skye.

[121] The touching incident in this story is the death of the son by the hand of his own father. It is said that Conlach’s mother, in revenge for Cuchullin’s forsaking her, had laid her plans for securing this object, and had sent her son into Ireland under vow never to disclose his name until overcome in battle.

[122] The author of this composition is altogether unknown, nor is it easy to decipher even the name accurately. In the original it is distinctly “in keich o cloan.” According to the Dean’s usual orthography, this should be “An caoch O’Cluain,” which means the blind O’ Cloan, or the blind man from the green mound. Some of the readers of the MS. have made it out to be the name of a woman. We have given the form of the name most likely to be accurate. The composition itself is usually called “Bàs Fhraoich,” or the death of Fraoch.

[123] “Caiseal chrò,” usually translated bier, is a curious term. “Caiseal” means a castle or stronghold, “crò,” a fold or pen; so that the word really means the stone pen, or fortified pen. Is not this in all likelihood the stone coffin, with which we are so familiar in ancient Celtic sepulture?

[124] It is not easy identifying the topography of this poem. It is generally believed in Perthshire that the scene of Fraoch’s death was in Glen Cuaich, a valley lying between those of the Tay and the Almond. We have a Loch Fraoch there, but I have not been able to identify Carn Fraoich, or Carn Laimh. Cruachan is spoken of as lying to the east, which goes rather in favour of the opinion, that the scene of the poem was in Argyleshire, Ben Cruachan being to the east of the locality so designated in that part of the country. I cannot find any lake in Scotland now called Loch Mai, although Loch Fraoch may have been so called.

[125] The introduction of the “sigh,” would seem to indicate that a sigh was expected at certain parts of the poem from the reciter.

[126] It is needless to point out the analogy between this tale and that of Hercules and the garden of the Hesperides. It will strike any one acquainted with the classical story.

[127] The story is simple and intelligible. Mai loved Fraoch, and became jealous of her own daughter, usually called Gealcheann, or Fairhead. She accordingly planned and accomplished Fraoch’s destruction as related.

[128] This is the most ancient of all the Ossianic Poets. He was contemporary of Cuchullin, who flourished, according to Irish historians, in the first century. Cuchullin was his foster-son, and upon his being slain, Conall took vengeance upon his enemies by putting them all to death. In this poem he tells Evir, who was either the wife or the betrothed of Cuchullin, the names of those thus put to death, and whose heads he carried on a withe. The name M’Edarscoil is represented now by that of O’Driscol; “Cearnach” means victorious, so that the poet’s name is really, The Victorious Conall O’Driscoll.

[129] Cuchullin, or The Hound of Cullin, is often spoken of simply as “An Cu,” or The Hound. In the Gaelic this is either “Cu” or “Con,” according as the word is in the nominative or genitive case. In the English version it is uniformly translated Cu, as it would be impossible to follow intelligibly the variations of the Gaelic grammar in the cases of a proper noun.

[130] This poem is usually called “Laoidh nan ceann,” or The Lay of the Heads. It bears many marks of genuineness and antiquity. It is well known in the Highlands, but the Editor has never seen or heard any reference to its authorship, except in the MS. of the Dean.

[131] This is a remarkable composition, descriptive of an attempt of Caoilt to deliver his friend and patron Finn from the hands of Cormac M’Art, King of Ireland, against whom the Feinn had been stirring up rebellion. Caoilt, after various strange doings, is told that he can only have Finn’s liberty on condition of bringing to Tara a pair of all the wild animals in Ireland. A portion of the poem has been translated in Ireland, and published in the Dublin University Magazine for March 1854, in connexion with an interesting paper upon the food of the ancient Irish, and the early zoology of their country, by Dr. Wilde. The translation is by that eminent Irish scholar, Mr. E. O’Curry. In that paper the poem is said to be at least a composition of the ninth century. It must be of extreme antiquity, as a reference to the language of it presents an amount of difficulty owing to obsolete words and phrases rarely met with. The Editor had the advantage of submitting his work to the review of Mr. O’Curry. For the topography of the poem, which is altogether Irish, the Editor has to refer the reader to the notes to the paper in the number of the Dublin University Magazine, referred to above, which are very full and very instructive.

[132] Art, King of Ireland, was called “Aonfhir,” or The Solitary, from his love of solitude.

[133] Cuireach was a famous Leinster prince.

[134] Buadhamair, the ancient name of Cahir, in Tipperary.

[135] In Gaelic, a farm is called “baile,” a town.

[136] The red wind, a magical wind said to blow in Ireland, and to be very destructive.

[137] The Fenian poetry to which the Dean has attached the names of the authors, is now all given. We proceed with those whose authors’ names are not attached to them. Many of these are manifestly of the same period with the others, and they may with equal accuracy be attributed to Ossian or others of the Fenian bards.

[138] This is a curious episode in Fenian history. Maighineas was the wife of Finn according to Irish writers on Fenian history. The daughter of Deirg was the mother of Ossian, and consequently another of Finn’s wives.

[139] Sasunn, “England,” after the Saxon invasion.

[140] It is difficult to say what this is. “Crom” was a Celtic deity. Here the word seems to indicate a banner. The word “Crom nan cairge” will be found in the second volume of the publications of the Ossianic Society of Ireland, pp. 53, 58.

[141] This is a curious piece. The dog without doubt entered largely into the mythology of the ancient Celts. Some have supposed that it was an object of worship with them. Mr. O’Curry informs the editor that the “Concheannaich or Dogheads were an ancient race who inhabited Magh O’Coin-chinn, now Moygonihy, in Kerry. They were said to be great enemies of Finn. This poem may really describe an attack upon them.” One of the Irish kings was called “Cairbar Cinn Chait,” or Cairbar of the Cat’s-head. The latter portion of the poem, referring to the banners of the Feine, has been preserved in tradition, although the editions of it are various.

[142] This seems to have been an imaginary monarch, like many of those in the “Ursgeuls,” or prose tales of the Highlands. At least the Editor has not met with the name elsewhere.

[143] Finn’s banner had inscribed upon it, according to this bard, “Dealbh Ghréine,” or The image of the Sun. This word has been corrupted by tradition to “Deo ghréine,” said to be the sunbeam, though upon no authority, “deo” in no case signifying “a beam.”

[144] The Editor has not attempted to translate these and several others of the emblems of the Fenian leaders. He has given the words as he found them, except when the meaning was obvious and unquestionable.

[145] This heraldic emblem of Caoilte M’Ronan has descended through a long course of ancestors to the modern M’Donalds. It is probably the oldest of the kind in the kingdom.

[146] Hospitality was the most esteemed feature in the character of the Celtic chief. That of Finn is sung with untiring admiration by the poets. This virtue, with bravery, generosity, and liberal giving, no doubt to the poets themselves especially, seemed to make up what they looked upon as a perfect character for their leader. These feasts were apparently affairs of great moment, as the like are in our own day.

[147] Scoilean was the second favourite hound of Finn.

[148] Rath Cruachan, as Irish tradition says, was the chief seat of the Feinn of Connaught, usually called the Sons of Morn. The word “Rath” means a Fort, and Cruachan an elevation more than usually steep. It sometimes stands upon another hill, as in Argyleshire, where we have “Cruachan Beinne,” The hillock upon the mountain, usually called Ben Cruachan. The word “Rath” enters largely into Scottish topography, and assumes different forms in English, as Rath, Roth, Rothie, Rait, Raits, etc.

[149] “Yellow” was the favourite colour of the Celts. It seems that St. Patrick adopted it as the clerical colour, very probably as a means of commending himself and his cause to the good-will of the people.

[150] Fatha Canan appears in several of these pieces. He appears as Fatha son of Mac Con, and Faycanan. He was son of Lughaidh Mac Con, a King of Ireland, of the race of Ith, who flourished in the middle of the third century. Hence his name Fatha Mac Mhic Con, Fatha son of Mac Con’s son. The Irish say he settled in Scotland, and was progenitor of the Campbells.

[151] Grainne was the wife of Finn, and the poet, whether it be Ossian or some other of the Fenian bards, addresses this description of the glory of Finn and his followers to her.

[152] The following piece seems to be made up of fragments. Mr. O’Curry, who has obligingly taken the trouble to examine it, suggests that it contains fragments of four different pieces: The Irish bardic account of the name of “Srubh Brain,” or the “Raven’s snout,” at Loch Swilly; the legend of “Cuchullin’s sick-bed;” the death of Conlaoch; and a short but imperfect account of the battle of Cnucha, in which Cumhal was killed. The piece is given as in the MS., and if thus made up, is just as it was written in the beginning of the sixteenth century. The Editor has to state, however, that the leaves which contain it are so discoloured, and the writing so defaced, that he has had the greatest difficulty in deciphering it at all, and for many of the words he cannot be answerable except as guesses. Mr. M’Lachlan of Aberdeen, who transcribed the greater portion of the MS., did not transcribe this piece; and it is given now merely from the desire to withhold nothing in it that may be of value or interest.

[153] Evir was the wife of Cuchullin.

[154] It is here that Garry’s account of the battle of Cnucha commences. The account, as Mr. O’Curry says, may be imperfect; but the gathering together of such fragments, and comparing them with one another, cannot but be interesting to the student of early Celtic history. There is interest in the variety, irrespective of the question of comparative merit as between the different compositions. This may be a Scotch version of an Irish story.

[155] The fragments of Ossianic or Fenian poetry in the miscellany of Dean Macgregor are now exhausted. They afford some idea of the amount of such poetry in the Highlands at the time he lived. We now proceed with those pieces which profess to be of a more recent date. These will be found to consist chiefly of compositions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The first short composition here given is one by a poet hitherto unknown to modern fame. Duncan the big, from Lennox or Dumbartonshire, might be a man of some note in his day, but time has obliterated all knowledge of him. His composition is of a class well known in his day, and highly popular, being aphoristic. Several compositions, consisting of a series of aphorisms, will be found in the sequel.

[156] There are several pieces by this poet in the Dean’s MS., but we know nothing of his history. He was probably an ecclesiastic.

[157] The piece is extremely obscure, but the reference to Mac Robert and the Athole Stewarts would seem to indicate that the subjects of the poem were the murderers of King James the First. The infamous persons whom the poet denounces are said to have done evil to the race of kings.

[158] This bard has been met with already as an imitator of Ossian. He was in all likelihood an ecclesiastic. Several of the early Lords of the Isles were liberal benefactors to the Church, and it is not unlikely that this liberality called forth the praises of our bard. The word “bochd,” poor, associated in one of the lines of this composition with “brontachd,” bestowing, is often by early Gaelic writers applied to monks and hermits, who lived upon the beneficence of the wealthy, and became finally enriched by their gifts.

[159] Mr. O’Curry says regarding this Conull Mac Scanlan, “I don’t know any person in our history whose name would agree with his but Congal Claen, son of Scanlan, Prince of Ulster, who fought the battle of Magh Rath in A.D. 634, in which the Four Masters say he was killed. The old account says he was disabled, and disappeared no one knows where. It would be curious if your elegy could be traced up to this hero.”

[160] Of the author of this fragment we have no tradition. All we learn here is that he was a Knoydart man, that mountainous region lying between Loch Hourn and Morar, on the west coast of Inverness-shire, till lately possessed by the Macdonells of Glengarry.

[161] In a transcript of a MS. history of the Macdonalds, published in the Transactions of the Iona Club, it is said that Angus Og of Isla, or of the Isles, who fought against his father in the battle of the Bloody Bay, was assassinated by Art O’Carby, an Irish harper, instigated by M’Kenzie, whose daughter had captivated the impressible musician. In the Irish annals this harper is called Diarmad. This lay seems to commemorate the event by commemorating the punishment of the assassin, which was inflicted by drawing him between horses. The lines being composed shortly after the event, which took place about the year 1490, and being taken down by the Dean, are sufficient evidence of the historical accuracy of the statement.

[162] Gormlay was the wife of Nial Glundubh, Nial of the Black Knee, who succeeded to the throne of Ireland in 916. He was of the northern O’Neills, hence called “Righ Tuaisgearta,” or King of the North.

[163] The famous Cormac M’Cuilenan, the King-bishop of Munster and Cashel, to whom M’Geoghagan says Gormlay was first married.

[164] Nial Glundubh was killed in battle by the Danes in 919, having reigned only three years.

[165] Nial was son of Aidh Finliath, King of Ireland. O’Flaherty mentions an elegy of Gormlay on her husband, as preserved in the Annals of Donegal.

[166] This is another elegy of Gormlay, Queen of Ireland, on her husband, Nial Glundubh. There is something extremely mournful in these compositions of the youthful queen. Mr. O’Curry has kindly furnished the Editor with Irish copies of these two elegiac pieces, which he is about to publish in a second volume of his admirable Lectures.

[167] Referring, undoubtedly, to the mode of laying out the dead.

[168] The allusion in this fragment is not very clear. Celtic poetry is full of reference to Greece, whence a portion of the race are said to have come; but what this battle with Greeks was, the Editor cannot say. These allusions belong, without doubt, to the period when both Scotland and Ireland were brought into contact with Greek literature.

[169] We have here a curious specimen of aphoristic poetry, the idea borrowed probably from the Proverbs of Solomon. These aphorisms throw some light upon the habits and modes of thought of the age in which they were produced.

[170] These lines are given as indicative of the state of public feeling at the time with respect to a great social question. The writer of these lines was manifestly no friend to monasteries, and no believer in their purity.

[171] We have here another specimen of aphoristic poetry. In the original the lines are in rhyme. The author’s name is not given, though it is probably Phelim M’Dougall.

[172] The following is the composition of Gerald Fitzgerald, the fourth Earl of Desmond. He is known in Ireland as Earl Gerald, the poet. There are several of his compositions scattered over the MS.; but as they are mostly of the same character—satires on the female sex—it has been thought that one specimen is sufficient. The Editor thought it desirable to give one of those, with a view to a fair representation of the contents of the MS., although there is not much in the composition itself to render it worthy of being rescued from oblivion.

[173] Nothing is known of this poet. The modern M’Intyre, the bard of Glenurchy, has a place second to none among the composers of Gaelic poetry; but it would appear that there was an older poet of the name, and one not unknown to fame. Four hundred years may produce no little change in the place which not a few men of note in our day hold in the temple of fame, and greater stars than the bard M’Intyre may have their lustre dimmed by time. He is another writer of satires on women, a kind of composition wonderfully popular, judging from our MS. at the period. We only give a few specimens of these, but there are several in the miscellany, and some of a character which, in modern days, one wonders the Dean could have admitted to his collection.

[174] The only loch of this name with which the Editor is acquainted is Loch Inch, on the Spey, in Badenoch.

[175] These satirical lines on the family of Dunolly are given as a specimen of the strain indulged in at times by the bards, to gratify their animosity against hostile clans. It need hardly be added, that the Macdougalls of Lorn were a race as distinguished for the antiquity of their descent, as for the high character of many of the name.

[176] This John M’Muirich, or M’Vurrich, was in all likelihood a member of the family who were so long bards to Clanranald, and who derived their name from their great ancestor in the thirteenth century, Muireach Albanach. A list of the names of these bards is given for eight generations by Lachlan, who lived in 1800, in his declaration, as given in the Report of the Highland Society on Ossian, but it does not embrace this John. The piece is chiefly interesting from the historical references at the close.

[177] This writer was probably an ecclesiastic, but nothing is known of him.

[178] This composition is one of the few of the more recent fragments in this MS. which appear elsewhere. We have a copy of it in the collection of Gaelic poems made by Ronald M’Donald, schoolmaster of Eigg, son of Alexander M’Donald, the famous Skye bard. M’Donald’s edition was most likely taken down from oral recitation, and it is remarkable how little it differs from this of the Dean’s, 250 years before.

[179] Alexander was a family name of the Macgregors of Glenstrae. In the obituary contained in this MS. is the following entry:—1526. Obitus Gregorii filii Johannis M’Gregor, alias M’Evine M’Allester de Glenschray. This would indicate the period of Alexander as about the middle of the fifteenth century.

[180] This Finlay is the author of several pieces in this miscellany. He is apparently the Finlay M’Nab to whom another composition is attributed, and is called in one place “Am bard maith,” The good poet. He seems to have been the family bard of M’Gregor, the praise of whose horse he here proclaims in most poetic strains.

[181] Duseivlin was one of the famous steeds of the Feinn.

[182] The beast of Lamacha, “Aidhre an Lamacha,” is entirely unknown to the Editor. The animal is called “Beisd,” a beast, in a subsequent part of the poem. It must have been some animal famous in the country for its ugliness.

[183] The girdle of gold would seem to have been the prize conferred upon the victor in a race.

[184] The schools of the bards. Many Highland bards at this period were trained in Ireland, of which these poems bear evident marks.

[185] In his obituary the Dean enters at 1519, May 24-26, death of John dubh MacGregor of Glenstrae, at Stronmelochane. He was buried in Dysart (Glenurchy), north of the great altar, in a stone coffin, upon the 26th of May 1519, on which day there was a great mourning in Glenurchy. The Elizabeth afterwards mentioned was probably the wife of this chief.

[186] “Bealach,” the modern “Taymouth,” was, with the territory around, in possession of the M’Gregors down to about 1490, when it passed by Royal charter into the possession of the Knights of Glenurchy.

[187] This poet is generally supposed, by those who have seen the Dean’s MS., to have been Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchy, one of the most distinguished of the ancestors of the present noble family of Breadalbane. There are several pieces in the MS. attributed to him. These are remarkable for caustic humour, indulged in in several cases at the expense of the female sex. He almost uniformly receives the title of “An Ridir maith,” The good Knight. The present piece is a strange satirical elegy on a miser.

[188] We know nothing of this poet. The name is a rare one, although still existing in the Highlands. He would appear to have been a family bard of the Macdougalls of Dunolly.

[189] In the Dean’s chronicle of deaths, contained in this MS., is the following entry in Latin:—1512, Jul. 13. The death of Duncan M’Dougall, who was slain A.D. 1512, who was the son and heir of Alexander M’Dougall of Dunolly; and Duncan was buried in Ardchattan 13th July. “Carrach” means a scald head, from which he seems to have got his name in childhood. The poet refers to his head as now more smooth than his own.

[190] In Innes’ Orig. Par. vol. ii. part 1, p. 115, it is said, on the authority of the Acts of Council, that, in 1478, Colin Earl of Ergile was sued by Alane Sorlesone M’Cowle for warrandice of the lands of Lereage and Wouchtrouch, etc. This is probably the Alan referred to by the bard.

[191] “Ben Cruachan,” the highest mountain in Lorn, the ancient territory of the clan Dougall.

[192] Connal Ferry, the remarkable narrow at the mouth of Loch Etive, where the stream at times becomes a salt-water cascade. The name “Connal,” “Conthuil,” means a roaring stream.

[193] We have no written or traditional account of this poet. He was manifestly one of the bards of the clan Dougall. The difficulty of deciphering the Dean’s writing is in this case increased by the peculiar measure of the composition, which is one of those well known to Irish scholars, and where the accentuation is in accordance with the Irish mode. The Editor does not pretend to have deciphered every line with perfect accuracy, but he is pretty well assured of having caught the meaning of the poet throughout.

[194] The clan Dougall, as well as the cognate clan Donald, were held by the bards to have descended from “Conn Ceud chatha,” Conn of the hundred battles, King of Ireland.

[195] The Macdougalls of Dunolly buried at the old Priory of Ardchattan, on the banks of Loch Etive.

[196] Connal Ferry, on Loch Etive.

[197] There is considerable obscurity about these lines. It would serve to elucidate the meaning if we knew of any feud between this chief and the clan Neil, or any person of the name of Neil belonging to any other Highland clan. The Editor has not been able to find any information on this subject.

[198] The original here is indistinct. The word “noid illeich,” made “an oide Ilich,” may be “nord Illeich,” or “an uird Ilich,” The Isla order, meaning some ecclesiastical order in Isla, by whom he was educated, or it may refer to the weapons of war for which Isla was famous.

[199] Alexander was Laird of Dunolly in 1493; Greg. High. p. 83. His son Duncan Carrach was slain young; Dean’s Obit. Greg. Ed. In Innes’ Orig. Par. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 114, we find that, in 1451, Stewart Lord of Lorn granted to John M’Alan of Lorn, called M’Cowle, and to John Keir (“ciar,” dark), his eldest son and heir, etc., twenty-nine marklands of the island of Caruvray, etc. These are probably the two Johns and Alexander of our bard. This holding of the Stewarts may explain the bard’s reference to the rule of the stranger.

[200] The word “duanaire,” here used in the original, means “a miscellany of poetical compositions.” The Dean’s MS. is a “duanaire,” but not a “duanaire nan strangair,” for the Dean seems to have been a most industrious compiler. This piece of M’Nab’s is a satire on lazy composers or compilers. It is valuable as showing that the ancient bards wrote their compositions. The number of such books must have been large, although during the course of centuries they seem to have perished with few exceptions.

[201] This poetess seems to have been the wife of the last M’Neil of Castle Sween. The name M’Corqudale is common in Kintyre.

[202] The word “paidrein,” derived from “Paidir,” The Lord’s Prayer, really means a rosary.

[203] Dunanoir was a castle on the island of Cape Clear, on the south-west coast of Ireland. See Miscell. of Celt. Soc. p. 143.

[204] The river Boyne. From Dunanoir to the Boyne included all Ireland.

[205] Sliabh Ghaidheael, a range of hills in Kintyre.

[206] In Innes’ Orig. Par. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 41, we find that Hector M’Torquil Mac Neil was constable of Castle Sween in 1472. In 1481 the office and lands were conferred on Colin Earl of Argyle. Between these two periods M’Neil would appear to have died, leaving no heir in the direct line.

[207] Castle Sween is an ancient stronghold at the mouth of Loch Sween in Knapdale, said to take its name from Sween of Argyle, who flourished in the thirteenth century; but the Irish annalists make mention of it at a much earlier period. It was probably a stronghold of the Dalriadic monarchs.

[208] This poet was probably a M’Gregor.

[209] In the Dean’s Obits, as already quoted, we find that, in 1519, died John Dow M’Patrick M’Gregor of Glenstray, at Stronmelochan. He was apparently the subject of this laudatory ode. He is called grandson of Malcolm. Accordingly, we find among the Dean’s Obits, that Malcolm M’Gregor, son and heir to John M’Gregor of Glenstray, died in 1498.

[210] The original is “sliochd an row,” or “an rudha.” It is translated as if the word were “rìghe,” kings; but the Editor is in doubt if this be the word meant.

[211] The M’Gregor’s glens were Glenurchay, Glendochart, and Glenlyon.

[212] “Brainean,” the word here translated prince, is the ancient Gaelic form of the Welsh “Brenhin,” a king. The word is now obsolete in the Highlands.

[213] “Cu ceaird,” The artificer’s dog, is an old name for Cuchullin. It is said in Ireland to have originated in Cuchullin having killed the watch-dog of Cullin, artificer to King Cormac; whereupon he undertook to watch himself, and hence obtained the name of Cullin’s dog, or Cuchullin, also “Cu ceaird.”

[214] This is a curious fragment, and is of interest from the references in it to the Highland clans. The writer, who towards the close gives his name as Maoldomhnaich, Servus Domini, was apparently the illegitimate son of some man of note, and was in all likelihood a Maclean.

[215] There is, between Tobermory and Aros in Mull, a place marked in the maps Arile. This was probably the residence of our bard.

[216] The Editor has not been able to identify the author of this poetical complaint. During the existence of baronies, with their bailies or local judges, the number of barons or baron bailies in the Highlands must have been large. Of this class was most likely our poet.

[217] An ancient Celtic hero, from whom the Isle of Man takes its name, as well as the district in Scotland called Slamannan.

[218] The Editor has not been able to obtain any account of this person. There is a contraction over the second a in the MS., which makes the reading doubtful.

[219] The three sons of Milidh of Spain, from whom the Milesian races are descended, according to Celtic story.

[220] The Editor can give no account of these names. The traditions respecting them seem to have perished.

[221] The Editor can give no account of these names. The traditions respecting them seem to have perished.

[222] A famous Celtic hero, from whom Ben Lomond and Loch Lomond are said to derive their names.

[223] There is a portion of the beginning of this ode wanting, and we have no means of knowing who the poet was. A reference to the history of the time, and the names introduced into the poem, however, suggest very emphatically the occasion of it. It is addressed to Archibald, Earl of Argyle, Chancellor of Scotland, who was killed at the battle of Flodden in 1513. The Saxons assailed so virulently by the poet are, in all likelihood, not the Lowland Scotch but the English, and the poem is probably a “Brosnachadh catha,” or incitement to the rising of the Scotch, and particularly the Argyle men, previous to the disastrous battle of Flodden. This invests the fragment with peculiar historical interest. There seems not to be much of the poem wanting, probably only a few lines.

[224] Ireland.

[225] There was an Innis Aingin, an island in the Shannon, famous as being the place to which St. Ciaran retired to spend the latter part of his life. It is here apparently taken to represent a portion of Ireland. See Mr. O’Curry’s Lect. p. 58.

[226] An early race of pirates, said to have infested the Irish coasts. The word is said to be derived from “fo mhuir,” under the sea, and is supposed to indicate their coming from the low sea coasts of Holland or Denmark.

[227] Archibald, Earl of Argyle, Chancellor of Scotland, who was killed at Flodden in 1513. He is called Iarla “Oirthir Ghaidheal,” The sea-coast of the Gael, which would seem to be the true etymology of “Argyle.”

[228] Colin, second Earl of Argyle, and Chancellor of Scotland, who married Isabella, second daughter of Stewart, Lord of Lorn.

[229] Sir Archibald, first Earl of Argyle, called “Gillespuig Ruadh,” Archibald the red.

[230] Sir Duncan of Argyle, commonly called “Dunchadh an aigh,” or Duncan of good fortune.

[231] Sir Colin of Argyle, called “Cailean iongantach,” wonderful Colin, and also “Cailean maith,” good Colin.

[232] Sir Archibald of Argyle, called “Gilleaspuig mòr,” Archibald the great.

[233] Sir Colin of Argyle, called “Cailean òg,” young Colin, son of Neil, son of Colin, called “Cailean mòr,” from whom the family take the patronymic of “Mac Chailein mhòir,” The son of great Colin. Cailean mòr was also called “Cailean na Sreang,” from a mountain between Loch Awe and Lorn, where he was killed in a feud with the Macdougalls. (MS. Gen. not. of fam. of Argyle, pen. Ed.)

[234] This author is one of the writers of the MS., and a Macgregor. By referring to the genealogy at p. 161 of the MS., we find him designating himself as Dunchadh daoroglach, Mac Dhughaill, Mhic Eoin riabbaich—Duncan the apprentice, son of Dougall, son of John the grizzled.

[235] John dow M’Patrick M’Gregor of Glenstrae, who died in 1526.

[236] This is manifestly a mistake for Kenneth. The person meant is Kenneth M’Alpin, King of Scotland. In the genealogy given in p. 161 of the MS., this Kennan is said to have been high King of Scotland, to distinguish him from lesser chiefs, whom the Celts called kings.

[237] Alpin, King of the Scots, who flourished in the beginning of the ninth century. Several of the links in the Macgregor genealogy must be wanting in this poem. Even the name of Gregor, from whom the clan is called, does not appear at all.

[238] Both sides of Loch Tay, the ancient Macgregor territory, are still called “Tuaruith” and “Deasruith,” north and south sides.

[239] First king of the Dalriadic Scots.

[240] The schools of the bards, which abounded in Scotland and Ireland at this period, chiefly in Ireland, as may be discovered from this collection, for most of the composers were undoubtedly trained there. Poetry and genealogy were the chief branches studied.

[241] Arthur, King of the Strathclyde Britons, from whom the Campbells also are said to be descended.

[242] “Conn ceud catha,” Conn of the hundred battles, King of Ireland.

[243] This name is very indistinct in the MS., and cannot be given with certainty.

[244] In 1480, William Macleod of Dunvegan was killed at the battle of the Bloody Bay, and was succeeded by his son Alexander, usually called “Alastair Crotach,” or hump-backed (Greg. High. p. 74). The charters give no information as to John, if a son of this William Macleod. But William’s father was John, whose father was also in all likelihood a William; and this John, whose floreat was early in the fifteenth century, might be the person here meant.

[245] The old name for Skye, and throws some doubt on the derivation of the name “Sgiathanach,” usually accepted.

[246] We have no tradition respecting this poet. But he must have been a bard of the M’Gregors’. The allusion to the Feinn will be understood by referring to the war-song of Gaul.

[247] Elsewhere translated Loch Tummell. “Tolve” is the word in the original. Loch Tullich lies at the head of Glenurchay.

[248] This is usually the name of Gaul, but here it is Finn, whose mother’s name was Muirn.

[249] Probably the chief bard of the MacGregors.

[250] It has been suggested to the Editor that this poet might have been the chief of the Macnabs, the chief of this period being Finlay Macnab of Boquhan; and we know that the Macnabs counted themselves of the same lineage with the Macgregors. There is much in the composition given here, however, to indicate his being an ecclesiastic.

[251] We learn from Greg. High. pp. 65, 66, that Allan MacRuari, great-grandson of Ranald, and chief of clan Ranald, was one of the principal supporters of Angus, the young Lord of the Isles, at the battle of the Bloody Bay; and that he also followed Alexander of Lochalsh in his invasion of Ross and Cromarty in 1491, receiving a large share of the booty taken on the occasion. The poet describes him as a sacrilegious marauder.

[252] The ecclesiastical establishment at Iona. The Reformers had probably less to do with the destruction of the buildings in Iona than is generally thought.

[253] The church of St. Oran in Iona.

[254] The Hebrides were known as “Innsegall,” or the islands of the strangers, probably since the rise of the kingdom of the Norsemen there.

[255] The church of Kilfinan, at the east end of Loch Lochy, where is still the burying-place of the M’Donells of Glengarry.

[256] There is no author’s name given for this spirited eulogy. The author was probably a family bard of the Siol Torcuil, or M’Leods of Lewis.

[257] Roderick M’Leod of Lewis was head of the Siol Torcuil, or sons of Torquil, in 1493. (Greg. High. p. 73.)

[258] Torquil was second son of Roderick M’Leod of Lewis, the eldest having been killed in the battle of the Bloody Bay. Torquil was forfeited for harbouring Donald dubh, son of Angus Og of Islay. (Greg. High. p. 73.)

[259] Probably the chief bard of the Siol Torcuil.

[260] “Cairbhe” is a ship. This was probably the name of Torquil’s galley, although spelled “cairge” by the Dean.

[261] “Aineach,” a castle of the O’Kanes, within a few miles of Derry. The King of Aineach was chief of the O’Kanes.

[262] Catharine, daughter of Colin, 2d Earl of Argyle, who married Torquil Macleod of the Lewis.

[263] It has been said in a previous note that nothing is known of this poet. But the present composition would indicate his being one of the celebrated Beatons, physicians and sennachies to the Lords of the Isles. There is a charter of lands in Islay, written in Gaelic by Fergus Beaton in 1411. There were several of the family whose name was Gilliecallum. “Mac an Olaimh ” means son of the physician.

[264] Margaret Livingstone, daughter of Sir Alexander Livingstone, married to Alexander Lord of the Isles.

[265] Angus Og, son of John last Lord of the Isles, who fought the battle of the Bloody Bay against his father.

[266] John, son of Alexander Lord of the Isles.

[267] Both John and Angus, sons of the last Lord of the Isles, died before their father. He was forfeited, and died in a monastery in Paisley.

[268] This word is spelled “Eithnis,” and “Einis,” and “Enis.” It is translated Angus and Innis. But it is difficult to decide which it means; probably “Inis” in Ulster, where the Lords of the Isles had extensive possessions.

[269] See above, p. 50.

[270] Who this blind poet was the Editor cannot say. He can find no notice of him anywhere, nor of the attack on Castle Sween, which he describes. He was an Irish bard, and composes in the Irish dialect, making use, like the later Irish poets, of language much more difficult to understand than the older composers. The Editor encountered more difficulty in reading this piece, than in reading any other in the Dean’s MS. “Broin” is an ancient word for a troop or band, and “cleath,” “comhlan,” “nòs,” are words for a warrior; but these words are entirely obsolete; so “glantair,” as the comparison of “glan,” is unknown in the modern language. There is a manifest attempt in the composition to use obsolete words; but the Editor trusts the meaning has been correctly rendered.

[271] We can find no trace in our history of this attack by the Irish Mac Sweenys on Castle Sween. The event cannot be of a very ancient date, as the Mac Sweenys are not a very ancient tribe in Ulster.

[272] One of the Mac Sweens or Mac Sweenys of Slieve Mis in Antrim.

[273] This cannot be Kyle Akin in Skye, but is probably the ancient name of the entrance to Loch Sween.

[274] Knapdale, on the west coast of Argyle, south of Crinan.

[275] Not known to the Editor, but is probably on the Knapdale side of Loch Sween.

[276] This lady is elsewhere called “Contissa Ergadien,” the Countess of Argyle. From the name given her here, she would appear to be a daughter of the Earl of Argyle, but she might as countess be styled Ni vic Cailein, or the daughter of Colin. We know that Sir Colin Campbell of Glenurchy, was uncle and tutor to Archibald, first Earl of Argyle, and that having himself married Margaret, eldest daughter of Stuart last Lord of Lorn, he arranged a marriage between his nephew and Isabella, the second daughter, who became Countess of Argyle. She was most likely the authoress of these lines, but we have no key to the piece of domestic history to which they refer.

[277] There is a Duncan Og Albanach among the writers of religious poetry in the MS., who was most likely one of the Mac Vurrichs, and the author of these lines. It is hardly necessary to say that the poet refers in this composition to the seven mortal sins of the Roman Catholic Church.

[278] Murdoch of Scotland was the first of the great race of Macvurrichs, bards to Macdonald of Clanranald. From all that can be gathered regarding him, he was an ecclesiastic, and, according to the measure of light he possessed, a man of earnest and sincere religion. It was not known, until this volume of Dean M’Gregor’s was searched, that any remains of his compositions existed; but here we find several, all very much of the same character. There is one long poem to the cross, which appears to have been modelled on the early Latin hymns. Murdoch of Scotland, or Muireadhach Albanach, would appear to have lived between A.D. 1180 and 1220. Mr. Standish H. O’Grady, late President of the Ossianic Society of Dublin, kindly sent to the writer some years ago a poem, still preserved in Ireland, containing a dialogue between Muireadhach and “Cathal Cròdhearg,” the red-handed Cathal O’Connor, King of Connaught, on the occasion of their embracing a religious life. Cathal’s “floruit” is known to have been between A.D. 1184 and 1225. As the lines are curious, they are inserted here.

Cathal croibhdhearg agus Muireadhach Albanach maraon iar n-dul anns na braithribh dhoibh, cecinerunt:— A Mhuireadhaigh, meil do sgian, go ’m bearram inn do’n Aird-rìgh, Tabhram go milis ár mòid, ’us ar dhà trillis do ’n Trianaid, Bearraidh mise do Mhuire, an bhreath so is breath òr-chridhe, Do Mhuire bearr am bàrr so, a dhuine seang, sùlmhal so. Anamh leat, a mhaca ghlan, sgian tar do bharr do’d bhearradh, Fa mhionca rioghain bhinn bhog, a cìreadh a cinn thugad. Gach ré n’uair do foilethi dhuinn, us do Bhrian ard bhairr chladh-ùir, ’Us do fhoileinn uair eile ri stuaidh fhoiltfhinn Bhoroimhe. Do ghrinn comh-shnamh ’us Ua Chàis, air linntibh fuara Forghais, Air teacht air tìr leis o’n linn, do ghrinn ’us Ua Chais coimhshling, An dha sgian so leath air leath, do rad dhuinn Dunchadh Cairbreach, Nior b’fhearr dhà sgian de sginibh; bearr gu mìn a Mhuireadhaich. Meil do chlaidheamh, a Chathail, chosnas am Banbha braonsgathaidh, Ni chuala gun fhachuin d’fhearg, a Chathail chuanna, chròdheirg, Dion air fhuachd ’s air ainteas inn, a inghin uasail Ioachaim, Dean ar coimhead ’s an tìr theith, a ro gheag mhìn, a Mhuire. A Mhuireadhaich.

TRANSLATION.

Cathal Crodhearg and Murdoch of Scotland, on entering among the brethren, sung:— Murdoch, whet thy knife, that we may shave our crowns to the Great King, Let us sweetly give our vow, and the hair of both our heads to the Trinity. I will shave mine to Mary, this is the doing of a true heart, To Mary shave thou these locks, well-formed, soft-eyed man. Seldom hast thou had, handsome man, a knife on thy hair to shave it, Oftener has a sweet, soft queen, comb’d her hair beside thee. Whenever it was that we did bathe, with Brian of the well-curled locks, And once on a time that I did bathe, at the wall of the fair-haired Boroimhe, I strove in swimming with Ua Chais, on the cold waters of the Fergus. When he came ashore from the stream, Ua Chais and I strove in a race. These two knives, one to each, were given us by Duncan Cairbreach, No knives of knives were better, shave gently then, Murdoch. Whet your sword, Cathal, which wins the fertile Banva, Ne’er was thy wrath heard without fighting, brave, red-handed Cathal, Preserve our shaved heads from cold and from heat, gentle daughter of Joachim, Preserve us in the land of heat, softest branch, Mary. Murdoch.

[279] In the old form of the verb, in German, the present tense exercised likewise the function of the future.

[280] Since this note was written, the writer has learned with great regret of the death of Dr. O’Donovan, and hesitated whether these strictures on some opinions in his able Irish Grammar ought to be retained, but justice to an equally able Scotch grammarian seemed to require them; and he may be allowed this opportunity of expressing his sincere admiration of the great learning and knowledge of that distinguished Irish scholar, and his sense of the loss which Celtic philology has sustained by his lamented death.

FACSIMILES—
(I.) Genealogy of M’Gregor, by Dougal the Servitor.	Frontispiece
(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.	xcvi
(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

I.	Culture and Discipline of the Mind.
II.	Harmony of Christian Faith and Christian Character.
III.	Think on these things.
IV.	The Contest and the Armour.
V.	The Messiah as an Example.
VI.	Elements of Sacred Truth for the Young.
	Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Dean of Lismore's Book: A Selection of Ancient Gaelic Poetry

THE
DEAN OF LISMORE’S BOOK

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

CONTENTS OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE’S MS.

THE BOOK OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE.

THE ORIGINAL GAELIC OF
THE BOOK OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE
WITH A MODERN VERSION.

THE ORIGINAL GAELIC.

MODERN VERSION.

NOTE BY TRANSLATOR.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IRISH AND SCOTCH GAELIC.

SOUNDS OF THE LANGUAGE.

INDEX.

Footnotes

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

P. of MS.		Eng.	Gaelic.
	The first four pages illegible.
5.	Earl Gerald. 6 lines. Indistinct.
6.	Author’s name defaced. 38 lines on John,
	son of Sir Robert Stewart. Illegible.
7.	Duncan M’Dougall Maoil. Quatrain on John,
	son of Colin Campbell.
8.	Anonymous. Obscure—apparently on O’Ruark. 34 lines.
10.	Duncan Campbell. 12 lines. Satire on Women.
11.	Earl Gerald. 6 lines. Indistinct.
11.	Duncan O’Daly. 6 lines. Religious.
12.	—— fynn O’Daly. 88 lines. Religious.
15.	Anonymous. 20 lines. Indistinct.
16.	Cochondach Mac Thearlaich bhuidh. 65 lines. On Irish Chiefs.
19.	Muireach Albanach. 14 lines,	157	120	121
19.	Do. 8 lines,	158	120	121
20.	Muireach Lessin Dall O’Daly. 60 lines. Counsels to Chiefs.
23.	Duncan Mor from Lennox. 10 lines,	93	68	69
23.	Gilchrist Taylor. 32 lines,	93	68	69
25.	Anonymous. Ossianic. 14 lines,	71	50	51
26.	Do. 15 lines. Illegible.
27.	Six lines in Latin on the Scotch Kings.
27.	Scotch. A legal deed.
27.	Dean’s Autograph. Vide Fac-simile, inserted at p. xcvi.
27.	Anonymous. A Quatrain.
28.	Duncan M’Dougall Maoil. 9 lines.
28.[xcii]	Gilliecallum Mac an Ollaimh. On the Macdonalds,	95	70	71
30.	Anonymous. 31 lines. An Ursgeul, or Tale.
31.	Ossian. 8 lines. The household of Finn,	1	2	3
32.	Anonymous. 36 lines. On M’Glass M’Gluaire.
33.	Do. 23 lines. Satire on Women.
35.	Dougall. Dialogue with his Wedder.
36.	Anonymous. 33 lines. Eulogy on a Lady.
37.	Duncan M’Cailein. 16 lines.
38.	Scotch. The three perilous days in each season.
39.	M’Eachag. On John M’Leod,	140	106	107
41.	John Mor O’Daly. 84 lines. On Tuathal Teachdmhar.
44.	Anonymous. Note on the hanging of Cochrane in 1480.
45.	Do. 14 lines. On Conall M’Scanlan,	98	72	73
48.	Notes of purchases in Perth, etc., in Scotch.
48.	Lines on Marriage, in Scotch.
49.	Anonymous. 18 lines. Indistinct.
50.	Ossian. A Lament,	3	2	3
51.	Maoldonaich M’Aonghuis Mhuilich. 50 lines.
	To the Virgin Mary.
53.	Gorrie Finn O’Daly. 30 lines. In praise of Gormlay.
54.	Gilliepatrick M’Lachlan. A Quatrain.
55.	John of Knoydart. On O’Cairbar,	99	72	73
55.	Gormlay Ni Fhlainn. Lament for Nial Glundubh,	100	74	75
56.	Nial M’Eoghain bhig. A Quatrain.
57.	Gormlay Ni Fhlainn. Lament for Nial Glundubh,	101	74	75
57.	Anonymous. 30 lines. On Tabblisk (Tables).
58.	Do. A Quatrain,	104	78	79
59.	Do. 8 lines,	102	76	77
59.	Phelim M’Dougall. Aphorisms,	102	76	77
60.	Anonymous. A Quatrain,	108	82	83
61.	John M’Murrich,	108	82	83
62.	William M’Lachlan. A Quatrain.
62.	Gormlay Ni Fhlainn,	118	90	91
63.	Ossian. “Sliabh nam ban fionn,”	4	4	5
64.	Duncan M’Dougall Maoil. A Quatrain.
64.	Duncan M’Pherson,	110	82	83
64.	Anonymous.
65.	Gille Thuirse O’Sluabhainn. 57 lines. Indistinct.
68.	Anonymous. Aphorisms,	104	78	79
68.	Earl Gerald. A Satire,	105	78	79
69.	Andrew M’Intosh,	106	80	81
70.[xciii]	The Bard M’Intyre,	107	80	81
71.	Allan M’Dougall bain. 32 lines. A Satire on Women.
73.	Astronomical Notes.
73.	Colin Earl of Argyle. 12 lines. Satire on Women.
74.	Notes of purchases in Dunkeld, etc.
75.	Anonymous. 49 lines. On Muircheartach, an Ulster Prince.
77.	Scotch. Satirical. 13 lines.
77.	Two anonymous Quatrains.
78.	List of Scottish Kings, from Boece.
84.	Eoin M’Dhunchaidh Ruaidh. 12 lines. Indistinct.
85.	Anonymous. On Alexander the Great,	110	84	85
87.	Song of the Three Brothers. 32 lines. Moral.
88.	Gerald. 6 lines. A Satire on Women.
88.	Fearchar M’Phadruig Grannd (Grant). 6 lines. Do.
88.	John M’Murrich. A Quatrain,	112	84	85
89.	Duncan M’Pherson. 4 lines. On Eoin Riabhaich.
91.	List of Names. Genealogical. Robert “clarsair Leoid,”
	“harper of Lude,” among them.
No	number. Fragments on Astrology, etc.
93.	Ossian. “Cath Fionntraigh,”	7	6	7
97.	Anonymous. 81 lines. On M’Ricard of Connaught.
101.	Duncan Mor O’Daly. 26 lines. On Cathal’s Belt.
103.	Finlay, the red-haired bard. M’Gregor’s Horse,	112	84	85
104.	Do. do. On M’Gregor,	114	86	87
106.	Teague òg O’Huggin. 49 lines. Religious.
106.	Sir Duncan M’Kermont. 20 lines. Satire on Women.
109.	Duncan M’Cailein. On a Miser,	116	88	89
111.	Do. Satire on Donald donn. 14 lines.
112.	Dermod O’Heffernan. 36 lines. An Eulogy.
113.	Muireach Albanach. A Quatrain.
114.	Ossianic. “Am brat,”	72	50	51
115.	Eoin Liath M’Aonghuis. 6 lines.
117.	Author’s name defaced. 80 lines. Indistinct.
	On John Lord of the Isles.
120.	Gilchrist Taylor. 48 lines. An Ecclesiastical Legend.
122.	Duncan Mor O’Daly. 36 lines. Do.
124.	Gorry finn O’Daly. 44 lines. On O’Brien.
126.	Ossian. “Feeble this Night,”	13	10	11
128.	Earl Gerald. On Death. 27 lines.
129.[xciv]	Duncan M’Cabe. On the Macdougalls,	119	90	91
130.	John M’Ewen M’Eacharn. Do.	121	92	93
133.	Caoilte M’Ronan,	62	42	43
141.	Continuation from page 215,		122	123
143.	Finlay M’Nab. On the Book of Poems,	125	94	95
144.	Earl Gerald. 6 lines.
144.	Genealogy of Writer, and date 1512,	161	124	125
145.	Fergus the Bard. “Rosg Ghuill,”	43	28	29
147.	Allan M’Rory. “Bàs Dhiarmaid,”	30	20	21
148.	Eafric M’Corquodale. Elegy on M’Niel,	126	96	97
149.	Duncan M’Cailein. 16 lines.
150.	Muireach Albanach. 81 lines. Hymn to the Virgin.
153.	Gilchrist Bruilingeach, bard an Lymin. 43 lines.
155.	Dougall M’Ghille ghlais. 48 lines. On M’Gregor,	128	98	99
157.	Duncan Campbell, the good knight. 12 lines.
158.	Gillepatrick M’Lachlan. 78 lines.
	On James, son of John. Indistinct.
161.	Anonymous. 14 lines. A Lament.
161.	Do. The Clans.	131	100	101
163.	Notes on Adam’s Family.
164.	Ossianic. The Expedition of Eight,	74	52	53
165.	Gorry finn. 21 lines. Moral.
166.	Teague Og. 72 lines. Religious.
170.	Robert M’Lamont “a Gassgaitr.” 16 lines. Moral.
171.	Ossianic. “Binn guth,”	80	58	59
171.	Date 12th February 1526. Indiction 15.
	4th year of Pope Clement VII.
171.	Anonymous. 6 lines.
172.	Ossianic. The Banners of the Feinn,	76	54	55
174.	Do. “Which is the sweetest Music?”	80	58	59
174.	Do. Finn’s Feast,	82	60	61
176.	Anonymous. A Quatrain on “Ruaraidh Rodasach.”
177.	Do. 20 lines. On a Harp.
179.	Baron Ewin M’Comie. On Sickness,	133	102	103
179.	Ossian. “Here I saw the Feinn,”	15	10	11
181.	Fili fuge ebrietatem.
181.	Three Quatrains. The authors of two,
	Andrew M’Intosh and Gillespick M’Niel.
182.	Latin Genealogy of our Lord.
183.	Scotch. The divisions of Ireland.
184.	Verses in Scotch.
185.	Physiological Notes in Latin.
185.[xcv]	Et ego Jacobus Gregorii.
186.	Chronicle in Latin, beginning
	with the death of Malcom Kenmore.
199.	Measurements of Noah’s Ark.
199.	Domhnull liath M’Dhughaill Mhic Grigoir.
	62 lines. Satire.
202.	Duncan Campbell, the good knight.
	26 lines. On Old Age.
204.	Author’s name wanting. To Archibald Earl of Argyle,	134	102	103
208.	Dunchadh M’Dhughaill Mhaoil. The M’Gregors,	137	104	105
209.	Mac Gille Fhiontaig, the poet. The M’Gregors,	141	108	109
212.	Ossianic. Dialogue with St. Patrick,	84	62	63
215.	Ossian. “Urnuidh Oisiain,”	17	12	13
216.	Finlay, the red-haired bard. On Allan M’Ruarie,	143	110	111
217.	Two Quatrains by Finlay M’Nab.
217.	Anonymous. On the M’Leods of Lewis,	146	112	113
219.	Latin Notes.
220.	Ossian. “Fainesoluis,”	20	14	15
223.	Dunchadh M’Dhughaill Mhaoil. 29 lines. Satire.
225.	Duncan Campbell. 12 lines. Satire on Women.
225.	Anonymous. 6 lines.
226.	Gillebride beag M’Conmidhe. 85 lines. On M’Eachain.
230.	Fergus the bard. “Cath Ghabhra,”	48	32	33
232.	Allan M’Rory. “Cath Ghabhra,”	35	24	25
236.	Gilliecallum Mac an Ollaimh. “Bàs Chonlaoich,”	50	34	35
239.	Duncan Og. The Seven Mortal Sins,	155	128	129
240.	Gilliecallum Mac an Ollaimh.
	On John Lord of the Isles,	148	112	113
242.	Genealogy of Malcom Kenmore.
244.	Gilchrist Bruilingeach, bard an Lymin. 48 lines.
	On Irish Chiefs.
246.	Turn O’Meilchonor. 84 lines. On Irish Chiefs.
249.	Quatrain by Finlay the red.
250.	Fragments. Two lines on St. Patrick.
251.	Contissa Ergadien, Isabella. 8 lines.
251.	Duncan Campbell, the good knight. On Priests.
252.	Teague òg O’Huggin. 63 lines. On the Cross.
255.	Muireach Albanach. 111 lines. Do.
260.	Teague òg O’Huggin. 92 lines. Religious.
263.	Arthur dall M’Gurkich. Attack on Castle Sween,	151	116	117
266.	The Bard M’Intyre. A Ship on Loch Rannoch.
267.	M’Pherson. 28 lines.
269.	O’Meilchonor. 51 lines. On Nial frasach.
271.[xcvi]	Gilchrist Taylor. 36 lines. Moral.
271.	M’Cailein mòr, id est, Cailean maith.
	An Epigram.
273.	Duncan òg Albanach. 37 lines. A Dream.
275.	Gilchrist Taylor. 62 lines. On the Host.
278.	Gille glas Mac an Tàileir. 48 lines. On M’Gregor.
279.	Earl Gerald. 10 lines.
280.	Ossianic. The Greatness of the Feinn,	87	64	65
281.	Finlay the red. 26 lines. On M’Gregor.
282.	The Bard M’Intyre. 26 lines.
284.	Muireach Albanach. A Prayer,	159	122	123
285.	Isabella Ni vic Cailein. 6 lines.
286.	Anonymous. 36 lines. Indistinct.
287.	Ossianic,	88	64	65
291.	Latin. The Ages of the World.
292.	Isabella Ni vic Cailein,	155	118	119
293.	Teague òg O’Huggin. 26 lines.
294.	Ossian. Eulogy on Finn,	26	18	19
296.	Duncan mor O’Daly. 54 lines. To the Virgin.
301.	An caoch O’Cluain. “Fraoch,”	54	36	37
303.	Earl Gerald. 20 lines.
304.	Finlay, the red-haired bard. 39 lines.
	On M’Diarmad. Illegible.
306.	Duncan M’Cailein. 8 lines.
307.	Anonymous. 15 lines. Indistinct.
307.	Muireach Albanach. A Lament. 98 lines. Indistinct.

Initial	Welsh.			Irish.		Scotch Gaelic.
Consonants.	Eclipsis.	Aspiration.	Nasal.	Eclipsis.	Aspiration.	Eclipsis.	Aspiration.
P	B	Ph	Mh	B	Ph		Ph
C	G	Ch	Ngh	G	Ch	W	Ch
T	D	Th	Nh	D	Th	a	Th
B	M	Bh or F		M	Bh	n	Bh
G	NG	—		NG	Gh	t	Gh
D	N	Dd or Dh		N	Dh	i	Dh
Ll		L			L	n	L
M		Mh or F			Mh	g	Mh
Rh		R			R	.	R
F				Bh	Fh		Fh
S				T	Sh	T	Sh

Page	3,	line	10,	for “No crushing bones,” read “No giving gold.”
”	5,	”	18,	for “Coat of mail of brightest steel,” read “a javelin of bright sharp point.”
”	10,	”	2,	for “to whom,” etc., read “whose breast was of the purest white.”
”	12,	”	27,	for “There never was,” etc., read “The end of our days we had not reached.”
”	16,	”	14,	for “Deach Fichid’s son,” read “The thirty sons.”
”	17,	”	7,	for “is ours,” read “I may read.”
”	18,	”	11,	for “Though little room,” etc., read “Though little the humming fly, not even a sunbeam.”
”	21,	”	3,	for “Come,” etc., read “She came to,” etc.
”	26,	”	4,	for “A braver man,” read “a longer week.”
”	26,	”	7,	for “fortune,” read “patron.”
”	26,	”	18,	for “Despised,” etc., read “A rider bold.”
”	58,	n.		delete “or the betrothed.”
”	59,	”	4,	for “Said,” read “Erc.”
”	104,	”	5,	for “A crown,” read “a sickle without a crop.”

Page	3,	line	13,	for “gun phronnadh cnaimh,” read “gun bhronnadh credh.”
”	7,	”	34,	for “dhiubh a breith a gheill,” read “fa ’n braigh a ghile.”
”	13,	”	17,	for “is leinn,” read “a leughainn.”
”	18,	”	5,	for “zar,” read “zad.”
”	19,	”	5,	for “saoi bu gheire,” read “sé a b’ fhaide.”
”	19,	”	7,	for “M’eud,” read “M’oide.”
”	19,	”	9,	for “mairg,” read “marcaich.”
”	25,	”	32,	for “fàth,” read “Fatha;” for “Cuinn,” read “Con.”
”	25,	”	35,	for “oir,” read “oirbh;” for “a,” read “ars’.”
”	41,	”	18,	for “ars’,” read “Erc.”
”	57,	”	18,	for “Cao,” read “Caol.”
”	59,	”	19,	for “Faicibh,” read “faicinn.”
”	79,	”	3,	for “Coroin,” read “corran.”

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Dean of Lismore's Book: A Selection of Ancient Gaelic Poetry

THE DEAN OF LISMORE’S BOOK

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

CONTENTS OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE’S MS.

THE BOOK OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE.

THE ORIGINAL GAELIC OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE WITH A MODERN VERSION.

THE ORIGINAL GAELIC.

MODERN VERSION.

NOTE BY TRANSLATOR.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IRISH AND SCOTCH GAELIC.

SOUNDS OF THE LANGUAGE.

INDEX.

Footnotes

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

THE
DEAN OF LISMORE’S BOOK

THE ORIGINAL GAELIC OF
THE BOOK OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE
WITH A MODERN VERSION.