TRANSACTIONS

GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS.

VOLUME VI.

1876-7.

VV I. H

TRANSACTIONS

OF THB

GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS.

VOLUME VI.

1876-7.

OF

THE GAELIC SOCIETY
OF INVERNESS.

YEAR 1876-7.

Claim natt (Sstbheal an (UmatlUan; a' Chtile.

PRINTED FOR THE GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS,
BY THE HIGHLANDER NEWSPAPER AND PRINTING AND PUBLISHING

COMPANY (LIMITED),
AND SOLD BY JOHN NOBLE, JAMES H. MACKENZIE, JAMES MELVEN, AND

WILLIAM MACKAY, BOOKSELLERS, INVERNESS ;
AND MACLAOHLAN & STEWART, EDINBURGH.

1878.

PRINTED AT "THE HIGHLANDER" OFFICE, INVERNESS.

o

PA6B

Office-bearers for 1877 . . . . rii.

Constitution ...... viii.

Introduction ...... xiii.

Fifth Annual Assembly ..... 1

Reasons why Gaelic should be Taught in Highland Schools —

H. C. Gillies 23

Annual Dinner of the Society — Annual Report — Speeches
by Professor Blackie, Wm. Mackay, solicitor, Rev.
Alex. Macgregor, M.A., Sir Kenneth Mackenzie,
Bart, Wm. Jolly, M. A., H. M. Inspector of Schools,
Charles Stewart of Brin, John Macdonald, Charles
Innes, solicitor, Colin Chisholm, H. C. Macandrew,
John Murdoch, Rev. Mr Maclachlan, <kc. . . 27

The Authenticity of Ossian— Rev. Dr Hately Waddell . 63
Remains of Ancient Religion in the North — R. G. Tolmie 88
The Collecting of Highland Legends and the Necessity for

Collecting them now — Rev. Mr Watson, Kiltearn 102
The Cosmos of the Ancient Gaels in its relation to their
Ethics — Donald Ross, M.A., H. M. Inspector of
Schools . . . . . .120

Gaelic Competition at Drumnadrochit . . .149

Early History of the Glen and Castle of TJrquhart — Wm.

Mackay, solicitor . . . . .152

The Clearance of the Highland Glens — Colin Chisholm . 174
Honorary Chieftains and Members . . . .189

List of Books in the Society's Library . . .199

Gaelic Song —Mrs Mary Mackellar .... 205

of Inberra0s,

YEAR 1877.

CHIEF.
Professor Blackie.

CHIEFTAINS.

Charles Mackay, Culduthel Road.
Colin Chisholm, Broadstone Park.
Hugh Rose, Solicitor.

HONORARY SECRETARY.
William Mackay, Solicitor, Church Street.

SECRETARY.
William Mackenzie, " Free Press " Office, Inverness.

TREASURER.
Geo. J. Campbell, Solicitor, Castle Street.

COUNCIL.

John Murdoch, "The Highlander" Office, Inverness.
Lachlan Macbean, Hill Street.
Charles Ferguson, Raigmore.
John Noble, Castle Street.
James Fraser, C.E., Castle Street.

LIBRARIAN.
Charles Ferguson, Raigmore.

BARD.
Mrs Mary Mackellar.

PIPER.
Pipe-Major Alexander Maclennan.

BANKERS.
The Caledonian Banking Company.

COMUM GAILIG OBHffi-NIS.

CO-SHUIDHEACHADH.

1. 'S e ainm a Chomninn " COMUNN GAILIO

2. 'S e tha an run a' Chomuinn : — Na buill a dheanama
iomlan 'sa' Ghailig ; cinneas Canaine, Bardachd, agus Ciuil na
Gaidhealtachd ; Bardachd, Seanachas, Sgeulachd, Leabhraichean
agus Sgriobhanna 's a' chanain sin a thearnadh o dhearmad ;
Leabhar-lann a chur suas ann am baile Inbhir-Nis de leabhraichibh
agus sgriobhannaibh— ann an canain Bam bith — a bhuineas do
Chaileachd, lonnsachaidh, Eachdraidheacbd agus Sheanachasaibh
nan Gaidheal no do thairbhe na Gaidhealtachd ; coir agus cliu nan
Gaidheal a dhion ; agus na Gaidheil a shoirbheachadh a ehna ge
b'e ait am bi iad.

3. 'S iad a bhitheas 'nam buill, cuideachd a tha gabhail suixn
do runtaibh a' Chomuinn, agus so mar gheibh iad a staigh : —
Tairgidh aon bhall an t-iarradair, daingnichidh ball eile an tairgse,
agus, aig an ath choinneainh, ma roghnaicheas a' mhor-chuid le
crannchur, nithear ball dhith-se no dheth-san cho luath 's a
phaidhear an chomhthoirt ; cuirear crainn le ponair dhubh agus
gheal, ach, gu so bhi dligheach, feumaidh tri buill dheug an crainn
a chur. Feudaidh an Comunn Urram Cheannardan a thoirt do
urrad 'us seachd daoine cliuiteach.

4- Phaidhidh Ball Urramach, 'sa' bhliadhna . £0 10 6

Ball Cumanta . . • . . .050

Foghlainte . . . . .010

Agus ni Ball-beatha aon'chomh-thoirt de . 770

5. 'S a' Cheud-mhios, gach bliadhna, roghnaichear, le crainn,
Co-chomhairle a riaghlas gnothuichean a' Chomuinn, 's e sin — aon
Cheann, tri lar-chinn, Cleireach Urramach, Runaire, lonmhasair,
agus coig buill eile — feumaidh iad uile Gailig a thuigsinn 's a
bhruidhinn ; agus ni coigqar dhiubh coinneamh.

GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS.

CONSTITUTION.

1. The Society shall be called the "GAELIC SOCIETY OF
INVBRWESS."

2. The objects of the Society are the perfecting of the Mem-
bers in the use of the Gaelic language ; the cultivation of the
language, poetry, and music of the Scottish Highlands ; the res-
cuing from oblivion of Celtic poetry, traditions, legends, books,
and manuscripts ; the establishing in Inverness of a library, to
consist of books and manuscripts, in whatever language, bearing
upon the genius, the literature, the history, the antiquities, and
the material interests oi the Highlands and Highland people ; the
vindication of the rights and character of the Gaelic people ; and,
generally, the furtherance of their interests whether at home or
abroad.

3. The Society shall consist of persons who take a lively in-
terest in its objects, admission to be as follows : — The candidate
shall be proposed by one member, seconded by another, balloted
for at the next meeting, and if he or she have a majority of votes,
and have paid the subscription, be declared a member. The ballot
shall be taken with black beans and white ; and no election shall
be valid unless thirteen members vote. The Society has power to
elect distinguished men as Honorary Chieftains to the number of
seven.

4. The Annual Subscription shall be, for —

Honorary Members .... £0 10 6
Ordinary Members . . . .050
Apprentices . . . . . 010
A Life Member shall make one payment of 7 7 0

6. The management of the affairs of the Society shall be en-
trusted to a Council, chosen annually, by ballot, in the month of
January, to consist of a Chief, three Chieftains, an Honorary
Secretary, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and five other Members of the
Society, all of whom shall undei-stand and speak Gaelic; five to form
a quorum.

X. CO-SHUIDHKACHADH.

6. Cumar coinneamhan a' Chotnuinn gach seachduin o thois-
each an Deicheamh mios gu deireadh Mhairt, agus gach ceithir-la-
deug o thoiseach Ghiblein gu deireadh an Naothamh-mios. 'S i a'
Ghailig a labhairear gach oidhche mu'n seacli aig a chuid a's lugha.

7. Cuiridh a' Cho-chomhairle la air leth anns an t-Seachdamh-
mios air-son Coinneamh Bhliadhnail aig an curnar Co-dheuchainn
agus air an toirear duaisean air-son Piobaireachd 'us ciuil Ghaidh-
ealach eile ; anns an fheasgar bithidh co-dheuchainn air Leughadh
agus aithris Bardachd agus Rosg nuadh agus taghta ; an deigh sin
cumar Cuirm chuideachdail aig am faigh nithe Gaidhealach rogh-
atnn 'san uirghioll, ach gun roinn a dhiultadh dhaibh-san nach tuig
Gailig. Giulainear cosdas na co-dheuchainne le trusadh sonraichte
a dheanamh agus cuideachadh iarraidh o'n t-sluagh.

8. Cha deanar atharrachadh sam bith air coimh-dhealbhadh a'
Chonniinn gun acntachadh dha thrian de na'm bheil de luchd-
bruidhinn Gailig air a' chlar-ainm. Ma's miann atharrachadh a
dheanamh a's eiginn sin a chur an ceill do gach ball, mios, aig a'
chuid a's lugha, roimh'n choinneamh a dh'fheudas a t-atharrachadh
a dheanamh. Feudaidh ball nach bi a lathair roghnachadh le
lamh-aithne.

9. Taghaidh an Comunn Bard, Piobaire, agus Fear-leabhar-
lann.

Ullaichear gach Paipear agus Leughadh, agus giulainear gach
Deasboireachd le run fosgailte, duineil, durachdach air-son na
firinn, agus cuirear gach ni air aghaidh ann an spiorad caomh,
glan, agus a reir riaghailtean dearbhta.

CONSTITUTIOK. xi.

6. The Society sh ill hold its meetings weekly from the begin-
ning of October to the end of March, and fortnightly from the
beginning of April to the end of September. The business shall
be carried on in Gaelic on every alternate night at least.

7. There shall be an Annual Meeting in the month of July,
the day to be named by the Committee for the time being, when
Competitions for Prizes shall take place in Pipe and other High-
land Music. In the evening there shall be Competitions in Read-
ing and Reciting Gaelic Poetry and Prose, both original and select.
After which there will be a Social Meeting, at which Gaelic sub-
jects shall have the preference, but not to such an extent as entirely
to preclude participation by persons who do not understand Gaelic.
The expenses of the competitions shall be defrayed out of a special
fund to which the general public shall be invited to subscribe.

8. It is a fundamental rule of the Society that no part of the
Constitution shall be altered without the assent of two-thirds of
the Gaelic speaking Members on the roll ; but if any alterations be
required due notice of the same must be given to each member, at
least one month before the meeting takes place at which the alter-
ation is proposed to be made. Absent Members may vote by
mandates.

9. The Society shall elect a Bard, a Piper, and a Librarian.

All Papers and Lectures shall be prepared, and all Discussions
carried on, with an honest, earnest, and manful desire for truth ;
and all proceedings shall be conducted in a pure and gentle spirit,
and according to the usually recognised rules.

INTRODUCTION.

IN issuing the present Volume, the Publishing Committee avail
themselves of the opportunity of congratulating the members of
the Society on the success which has attended the Society's labours
during the past year. At the same time, they observe, with plea-
sure, that they have now many able coadjutors in the Celtic field
in different parts of the country — more especially in the large
cities of the South.

The work in which the Society has been engaged during the
period that has elapsed since Volume V. was issued to the mem-
bers has been crowned with all manner of success. The Annual
Assembly and Annual Dinner have been everything that could be
desired — large and enthusiastic audiences gathering on each
occasion to honour themselves by patronising the patriotic meetings
of their country.

The establishment of the Celtic Chair in Edinburgh University
is now almost an accomplished fact. The sum of £10,000 which
Professor Blackie set himself to collect has been in his hands long
ago ; but before taking steps towards the appointment of a Pro-
fessor it was thought desirable to raise £2,000 additional — to have
a capital of £12,000 — in short, to have such a capital as would
yield a salary of from £500 to £600 per annum to the Professor,
independent of fees. That sum will soon be raised, and it is
believed the Celtic Professor will be discharging his duties during
the session of 1878-9.

Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, M.P., has succeeded in getting the
Education Department to place Gaelic on a more equitable footing
in the Schools of the Highlands. Since he entered Parliament he
made special efforts every session to get Gaelic recognised in the
Scotch code of Education j but until the session of 1878, he was

XIV.

unable to attain that desirable object. Since the publication of
the code of that year, he has prepared a statement relative to
the concessions made, and we cannot do better than give it here.
It is as follows : —

Tenor and Effect of the Scottish Education Code for 1878, as re-
gards the Gaelic Language.

" Formerly the only reference in the Code to the Gaelic
language was in these words — ' In districts where Gaelic is spoken
the intelligence of the children examined under any paragraph of
his Article (19) may be tested by requiring them to explain in,
Gaelic the meaning of the passages read.' Practically this came
to nothing, for the teacher getting no remuneration had no call or
object in teaching Gaelic.

" In the Code for 1878, there are two additions. First, Article
17 (L) bear that 'The income of the school is applied only for the
purpose of public or State aided schools ; ' but it is explained in a
foot-note thus : — 'This may include part of the salary of an
organizing teacher, or a teacher of Gaelic, drill, cooking, or any
other special subject, employed by the managers of several schools.'

" The effect is, that the ordinary school funds and rates may be
applied by the School Boards towards paying teachers of Gaelic
according to the importance attached by the Boards to instruction
in that language, and which will, no doubt, vary according as
Gaelic may or may not be the prevailing language.

" Second, Under the head of Government grants for attendance
to day schools, Article 19 c. 3, there is attached a foot-note —
' Gaelic may be taught during the ordinary school hours, either by
the certificated teacher or by any person specially appointed for
the purpose.'

" There is no limit to the time per week within which Gaelic may
be taught. This is left to the discretion of the School Boards,
who should deal with each school separately, and fix times suitable
and appropriate. Supposing that in the matter of hours, equal to
one day out of five is devoted to Gaelic, one-fifth of the Govern-
ment attendance grant, varying as children pass Standards 2 and
3, or all up to 6, would then be earned by Gaelic.

" It is to be hoped that as the concessions now made were
attained with difficulty, all School Boards where the Gaelic
language prevails, will at once proceed to work out the amended
Code, and give the subject full and fair trial." " C. F. M."

XV.

We have also to add with pleasure that the Messrs Nelson, of
Edinburgh, are issuing their " Royal Readers," beautifully illus-
trated, in Gaelic and English combined, to suit the requirements
of the new Code.

Celtic books are appearing from time to time, in different parts
of the country. Mr W. F. Skene, has now published two
volumes of his learned and exhaustive work, " Celtic Scotland."
Professor Rhys, of Oxford, has just issued a volume of Celtic
Lectures, which has been cordially received by the English press.

Celtic music is being cultivated with enthusiasm. Mr Logan
of Inverness has published two collections of Ceol Mor and other
Highland music both of which have met with a ready sale. Mr H.
C. Gillies, in 1877 published a small collection of Gaelic songs with
music in the sol-fa notation, which, we are informed, sold well.
During the same year Mr W. S. Roddie, A.C., and Mr Lachlan
Macbean, Librarian of our Society ^ published a collection — " Orain
agus fuinn Ghaidhealach" — of Gaelic songs with translations, and
music also in the sol-fa notation. The edition was a very large
one, but in about six months it was all bought up. The High-
lander gives a Gaelic song with music in the sol-fa notation every
week ; while the Celtic Magazine presents one monthly with music
in the old and new notations. These facts are ample evidence
of the present popularity of Highland music.

Altogether, the Committee have every cause to congratulate the
members of the Society on the present flourishing condition of the
Celtic World.

21 UNION STREET, INVERNESS,
March, 1878.

TRANSACTIONS.

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY.

THE Fifth .Annual Assembly of the Gaelic Society of Inverness
took place in the Music Hall, on Thursday, 13th July, 1876, and
was one of the most successful ever held under the auspices of the
Society. The hall was crowded in every part ; and, as the audience
assembled, the piper of the Society, Pipe-Major Maclennan, dis-
coursed Highland music on the bagpipe in excellent style. Pro-
fessor Blackie, Chief, presided, and was supported on the platform
by — Provost Simpson, D. Davidson of Tulloch, Bailie Macbean,
Bailie Davidson, Bailie Noble, Bailie Macdonald, Rev. Alexander
Macgregor, Inverness ; Dr Stratton, Devonport ; Messrs Donald
Davidson, Drummond Park; W. Jolly, H.M.I.S. ; Alexander
Dallas, Town-Clerk ; Colin CMsholm, Namur Lodge ; D. A.
Macrae, Fernaig ; D. Campbell, representative of the Ossian Club,
Greenock ; D. Macrae, Ardintoul j Captain Chisholm, Glassburn ;
and Dr Forbes, Viewfield.

The Chief stated that apologies for absence had been received
from various gentlemen, and he called on the Secretary, Mr Win.
Mackenzie, to read their names. These were as follows : — Dr
Charles Mackay, Professor Masson, Major Lyon-Mackenzie, Sheriff
Macdonald, Inverness ; Captain Macdonald, Ben-Nevis ; A. Mack-
intosh Shaw, London ; Colonel Mackenzie of Parkmount ; Dr
Mackenzie of Eileanach ; D. Cameron of Clunes ; H. C. Mac-
andrew, Sheriff-Clerk ; Mackintosh of Mackintosh ; Sir George
Macpherson-Grant, Bart. ; General Sir Patrick Grant, Bart. ; D.
Cameron of Lochiel, M.P. ; E. W. Mackintosh of Raigmore ; W.
Mackenzie, Ardross ; J. F. Campbell of Islay ; G. Malcolm, Inver-
garry ; Cluny Macpherson ; Colonel Ross of Cromarty ; Sir
Kenneth Mackenzie, Bart. ; Major Grant, Glen-Urquhart ; Prof.

A

2 TRANSACTIONS.

Geddes, Aberdeen ; Captain Fraser of Balnain ; C. S. Jerrara,
Oxford ; John Mackay, C.E., Shrewsbury; K. Murray of Geanies,
and Principal Shairp, St Andrews.
Principal Shairp wrote : —

"There are few things I should have more enjoyed than to
have taken part in your gathering on the 13th July. But I regret
to say that I have engagements which will make it impossible for
me to go north at that time. I hope that your Society, besides
stimulating patriotic Celtic feeling, aims at doing something in-
telligent and deliberate towards preserving the natural spirit of the
Highlands and adapting it to the altered circumstances of modern
life. With regard to economics, might not something be done by
the Society towards preserving or rather restoring small or mode-
rately-sized farms throughout the Highlands — such farms as the
more industrious of the native population might occupy, instead of
having the whole country made over to a few vast sheep walks,
possessed by Lowland and probably absentee farmers, with here
and there on the shores and loch sides and moors, fringes of half-
fed native crofters ? Your Society might not be able to do any-
thing directly. But if they would try to turn men's thoughts that
way, and to show how more of the native people might be main-
tained, in comfort to themselves and benefit to the country, by a
better and more considerate distribution of holdings, this in time
would have a practical effect. The views I advocate are those
which I learnt long ago from the Rev. Dr Macleod of Morven,
than whom no man has a larger knowledge of the Highlands, and
a deeper love for the Highlanders. There are many other objects
which I have no doubt your Society promotes — such as the preser-
vation of the vast stores of native music and collection of the
Gaelic lyrical poetry. Another very interesting question is the
religion of the Highlanders, as it was from the days of St Columba
all through the middle ages ; and the changes which it has passed
through since the Reformation. This wide and deeply interesting
field which your Society has before it, I hope it may be enabled to
cultivate wisely and well."

A party of young ladies, led by the Honorary Secretary, sang
"Air faillirinn illirin uillirin, O," and were cordially encored.
Thereafter,

The Chief addressed the Assembly. On rising he was received
with enthusiastic cheers, which were again and again renewed.
After a few preliminary observations, he said — It appears to me
that, if the Celtic societies and Gaelic clubs of Scotland are to

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY.

exist in any style that goes deeper than kilts, and dinners, and
after dinner speeches, or vespertine addresses that they ought
principally to aim at three things — ( I) They ought to declare war
most distinctly and emphatically against that monstrous and
abnormal system of managing Highland property, •which has
created so much misery in these trans-Grampian regions, a system
of which, judging by its results, the grand inspiring principle
seems to have been that a country is then to be considered most
prosperous when the population of the rural districts has been re-
duced to the minimum, and the facilities for non-resident proprie-
torship raised to the maximum. Whoever acts, or has acted, on
such principles, by whatever motives induced, whether from that
eagerness to gather gold, which is willing to snap all social bonds
and disown all social obligations ; or from the perverting influence
of narrow theories of political economy, placing the prosperity of
nations in the amount of accumulated n-aterial wealth, rather than
in the physical and moral health of the inhabitants ; or in any
other way from the general habit of over-riding and crushing the
weaker part of the community, which is the besetting sin of the
strong — for all majorities are apt to be tyrannical — from whatever
cause in any district the systematic depopulation of whole tracts,
and desolation of our most beautiful glens, has proceeded, or may
be now proceeding, in the Scottish Highlands, we hold it our most
sacred duty in the name equally of humanity and religion, and
Celtic patriotism, and British policy, to protest against such high-
handed selfishness, and such pernicious infatuation. We know
how the Divine command originally sounded — be fruitful awl
multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it ! and we are not
able to understand why this command should be applicable to all
parts of the world, only not to the Scottish Highlands. We are
perfectly aware that the Highlands of Scotland are comparatively
a poor country, and cannot be expected to maintain a flourishing
peasant population to the same extent as the more favoured fields
of the south. No doubt, also, there exists in the heart of the
Highlands, as in most mountaineers, a passionate love of country,
which may have led them sometimes to prefer starving in their
own country to becoming rich in Canada or New Zealand. We
consider it, therefore, a duty of landed proprietors to make such
regulations in regard to the tenure of property as will render an
excessive subdivision of small farms, and a creation of a pauper
peasantry impossible ; as it is also the duty of the Government, in
co-operation with the local proprietors, to establish such a machin-
ery as will enable a certain portion of the population to hive off,

A 2

4 TRANSACTIONS.

when it has become impossible for them to lire in comfort at home.
But emigration is one thing, and depopulation another. A wise
forester thins the trees ; but it is the hot sirocco that dries up
their juices, and the rude blast that tears up their roots. We
believe that a substantial peasantry is the backbone of a nation's
strength ; we know that no peasantry, whether in the peaceful
fields of labour, or in the bloody strife of the battle, ever behaved
with more loyalty and more manfulness than the Highlanders. We
glory in the character and in the achievements of our Highland
regiments — regiments which, in the days of their most brilliant
exploits, were made Tip mainly of the sons of our Highland
peasantry ; and we must weep, not only as Highlanders, but as
men, and as members of society justly feel indignant, when we see
that the sons and grandsons of these noble defenders of our na-
tional interests, and worthy representatives of our national charac-
ter, have not always been kindly cherished by their natural pro-
tectors, as they ought to have been, but, in not a few cases, rather
neglected and disowned ; flung away like weeds, carted off like
rubbish, and, sometimes, even systematically exterminated. Of
course we are too wise to indulge in vehement declamations against
any class of society ; we know that the greatest social evils are
often caused by a combination of unfortunate influences, which
bear people along like an under-current, causing them not only to
ruin other people without meaning it, but even to commit suicide
on their own best interests. But we know also from history that
in the movements of great classes of men there has always been
manifested a tendency of the strong to trample on the weak ; and
we say that somehow or other, since the unfortunate flash of mis-
guided loyalty in 1745, the strong have trampled down the weak
in many parts of the Scottish Highlands, and the results are what
we see — the Highlands without the Highlanders ; the kilt without
.the body ; the body witho\it the soul. Now, it is against this sad
state of things that the Gaelic societies of Scotland are called upon
to protest, and not only to protest, but to use their influence by
effective word and deed, wherever they may have opportunity ;
and I hereby do, in their name, solemnly protest against all mani-
festations of such anti-social tendencies from whatever quarter
they may proceed. We desire to send it forth with no uncertain
sound that we consider it the first duty of every proprietor to
maintain upon his property as great a population as is consistent
with their comfort and with the rational management of property ;
and with this view to map out his estate in such a way as that by
the due admixture and just balance of large and small farms with

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY. 5

their natural complement of crofters, all the elements that belong
to a healthy rural society shall be preserved ; and we make this
protest, not as sentimentalists or speculates, but as practical men
in the interest of the British nation, whbh will be the worse and
not the better for the extermination of the Celtic peasant ; in the
interest of our Army and Navy, which was always best served by
heather bred men ; and in the interest of the labour market, which
is now suffering not a little under the action of a diminished rural
population. And we make this protest, as we hope, at a particu-
larly favourable moment, when we are beginning to feel, in not a
few ways, the pinch caused by the infatuation under which our
great proprietors have too often acted ; and at a moment when that
right noble gentlemen, the Duke of Sutherland (God bless him !)
is showing to the world on a Titanic scale, that whatever others do
he, for one, will act on the conviction that the existence on his
property of a numerous and prosperous peasantry will surround
his head with a halo more glorious than that which encircles the
brow of the brightest saint in the calendar. There are some land
improvers who, when any project for the good of the district is
laid before them, in the first place always ask will it pay ? and if
the scheme is not likely to pay, that is to yield profit to them
immediately in the shape of base gold, they will have nothing to
do with it. Such questions may, with propriety, be put by land
merchants and land speculators ; but our artistocracy have special
representation in the House of Lords, not as land merchants, but
as protectors and cherishers of the population. The Duke of
Sutherland plainly knows this, and acts as a man who feels that
two per cent, return, with the love of his people and the respect of
all wise men, is better than ten per cent, with the curses of one
class and the contempt of the other. But while the Gaelic Society
looks upon the peasantry as the main strength of the Highlands,
it is very far from looking with jealousy on the rights, privileges,
and rational recreations of the upper classes. I, for one, have
always been an enthusiastic advocate of field sports of all
degrees, from the boyish delight of burn-trouting to the
aristocratic triumphs of deer-stalking. If the existence of a
numerous and hardy mountain peasantry contributed in so great a
degree to the fame of the British soldiers all over the world, the
practice of grouse-shooting, deer-stalking, and other field sports
contributed no less to the education of the British officer. There
were deer forests in the Highlands before the '45, and those who
loved the Highlands best — as Duncan Ban, for instance — were

6 TRANSACTIONS.

generally the best deer-stalkers. But what f , as an individual,
object to, and what I think all Gaelic Societies should emphatically
object to, is that deer-forests in any district that historically sup-
ported a happy human population should be so extended, so culti-
vated, and so protected, as to make the maintenance of a peasantry
a secondary consideration, or rather a thing by all means, in every
decent way, to be got rid of. We assert with emphasis, not only
as Highlanders, but for the public interest, and as a matter of
plain policy, that the care of all Highland proprietors in districts
which«are not absolutely wild, bare, and incapable of improvement,
should be for the people in the first place, and only after them for
the deer and the grouse. As little have I, as an individual, or the
Gaelic societies in general, any unconquerable aversion to sheep.
Sheep are the best stock in certain places ; and it was a wise
policy which introduced sheep farming on a more extensive scale
into the Highlands ; but what we object to, exactly as in the case
of deer-forests, is that this particular method of Highland farming
should have been pursued to such an excess, with such a headlong
speed, and such a blind infatuation, as to have, in not a few places,
actually annihilated the object for which all Highland farming
exists, viz. — the existence of a well-conditioned and well-distributed
Highland peasantry. We will not believe that mutton cannot be
provided for Glasgow merchants and Edinburgh lawyers except by
the expatriation of all our honest Highlanders, and the farming
out of whole districts to a south country sheep-merchant who does
not belong to the country out of which he sucks his wealth. We
do not believe in the economical benefit of a few gigantic farms
without population ; and as to absenteeism in every shape, we hold
it to be a plain dereliction of duty in those who habitually practice
it, and the bringer of blight and barrenness to those unfortunate
districts which by such dereliction are deprived of the superintend-
ence which naturally belongs to them, and the fostering care,
which from the dependent position of their inhabitants, they are
entitled to claim. The second thing to which the Celtic societies
in Great Britain ought to devote special attention is the moral and
intellectual improvement of the Highlanders ; and in this depart-
ment, also, we shall find that blunder has been heaped on blunder,
and offence upon offence, even more glaring, and if possible even
more pernicious^ than in the domain of physical well-being and
material interests. All who have considered this important matter
seriously — and I wish that our zealous improvers of the breed of
cattle and sh«ep would look a little more closely into it — must be

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY. 7

aware that the postulate of all good, intellectual and moral train-
ing for Highlanders, lies in the wise use of their mother tongue,
combined with a thorough study of English. The necessity of the
first element has from time immemorial been loyally recognised
within the elevating region of the Christian pulpit ; as long as
Gaelic sermons are preached in Highland parishes the Highlanders
will have good reason to say that they are a peculiar people, and
not grudged the enjoyment of that spiritual nutriment which suits
them. But as a citizen of the British Empire, every Highlander
was entitled to claim that he should be thoroughly trained in the
general language of the Empire, the language of business, and a
language which, when acquired, would unlock to him the highest
treasures of knowledge to which he was entitled to aspire. To
afford this advantage to the poor Highlander situated in remote
and unfrequented parts of the Empire, a liberal and well appointed
school machinery would have been necessary ; but it is a known
fact that in this department the Government and governing classes
of this country so shamefully neglected their duty, that it was
practically impossible for a great number of Highlanders to be able
to read either their Gaelic or their English Bibles. In not a few
places no teaching was provided ; what could be got was got not
from the authorities — but from the extraordinary exertions oi
apostolic ministers and benevolent ladies. In some places English
was learned as Latin is learned in bad classical schools ; it rumbled
about the ear, but never stirred the heart, much less took any grip
of the brain. This arose partly, no doubt, from the inefficiency of
ill-paid teachers, being, in fact, the necessary result of hasty and
superficial work ; but it arose also from the systematic neglect of
the modern tongue, which was neither used as the natural avenue
to the hearts and brains of the pupils, nor as the most effective
stimulus to the intellectual acquisition of English. The notion
indeed that the mother tongue is of no use in school training, and
should be altogether discarded in the region of intellectual culture
— however inconsistent with any true ideal of a Highland education
— has prevailed to a large extent among the Highlanders, and has
done as much harm to their moral and intellectual character, as
the illegitimate intrusion of deer-forests into the natural domain of
the crofter, or the mania for monster sheep farms, has done to their
physical well-being. And if in the matter of deer-forests and sheep
farms, it may seem natural for the Highlander to mutter his curses
chiefly against the Lowland stranger (though I do not think that
these curses are in all cases levelled against the prime offenders), it

8 TRANSACTIONS.

is on the other hand undeniable that for the neglect of the teaching
of their own language in schools, and for the disgraceful fact that
a great proportion of Highlanders can read neither their Gaelic nor
their English Bibles in any proper fashion, the Highlanders them-
selves are the party principally to blame ; and the Highlanders of
all classes, I fear, from the highest to the lowest. It is to be
regarded as a great social misfortune that so very few of the High-
land proprietors take any thought of the pleasure and privilege of
being able to speak in the kindly accent of the mother tongue to
the people, by the sweat of whose brow, and the labour of whose
hands, they hold their position in the social economy of the eoun-
try. It is a well known fact, that so far from doing their natural
duty in this matter, and cultivating a close and familiar relation
with the tenantry, not a few of the best proprietors — perhaps the
majority of them — systematically taught their children to avoid
the mother tongue lest they should corrupt their English ! And
when in addition to this would-be genteel snobbery, teaching them
to disown the kindly accents of their mother tongue, the organ in
which so much noble lyric poetry has been expressed, and even
now is being expressed, they got into the habit of sending their
sons to England for education (at a time, too, when education in
English schools and colleges was as shallow and as hollow as it
possibly could be !), it was only natural that the future lords of
the inheritance of the Macleods and Macdonalds should return to
their Highland homes with nothing Highland about them but the
kilt on a show day, and a piper with naked legs and puffed cheeks
strutting before the door at stated hours. The upper classes in the
Highlands were, with a few noble exceptions, systematically de-
nationalised ; and the middle classes, where a middle class existed
— for the old tacksmen wisely took flight when they saw that they
were to be overwhelmed by the invasion of the shepherd kings
from Tweedside — the middle classes, with the flunkeyism which in
an aristocratic country naturally clings to them, were not slow to
follow their example. Even the ministers of the Gospel who, one
might have thought, should have been above such worldly-minded
views and such aping of the fashions of the rich and powerful,
were found in their own manses teaching their Highland daughters
to sing to the piano, anything rather than the patriotic strains and
the manly sentiments of their own great bards. Gaelic was
Vulgar ; Alastair Macdonald was not known in Belgravia ; and
Tennyson was fashionable \ and the minister's daughters had an
ambition to be, not what God made them, noble Highland women,

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY.

but fine London ladies, and that was enough. Even the ministers
themselves- — some of them at least, I fear— were base enough to
wish Gaelic dead, in order that they might have a better chance
for a rich Lowland living, and not be laughed at when they went
up to Edinburgh, on account of the use which Highlanders some-
times make of their nasal organ in speaking ! With all this base-
ness and servility and lack of a healthy self-esteem among the
upper classes, it is no wonder that the poorer classes, though they
still cling obstinately to the Gaelic, and love to say their prayers
only in the mother tongue, became in many cases practically in-
different to their Gaelic Bibles, and were content to submit to have
the Highland soul sucked out of them by a Lowland schoolmaster
who had been at the University forsooth, and could spell through
an ode of old Roman Horace in a lame sort of way, but who knew
no more of the Gaelic Bible and of the Gaelic Bards, and of every-
thing that a Highland teacher ought specially to know, than he
did of Chinese. Thus Gaelic was gradually extruded from its
natural place in Highland schools ; and the Lowlander, who
believed only in himself, and the supposed divine mission of the
Teut to trample out the Celt on all the public platforms of High-
land life except the pulpit, triumphed gloriously. But we have
not yet come to the worst. The death warrant which the High-
landers had been thus preparing for their o vn language and litera-
ture, was to be signed by the law ; and the mother tongue, which
before had only been fashionably neglected, was now to be legally
banished from the schools. A code for Highlanders, proposed by
a conclave of red tape educational doctrinaires in mighty London,
could not be expected to recognise such a vulgar thing as a Gaelic
Bible or a Gaelic song-book. Red tape is not fond to recognise
local feelings or local rights ; it delights in the monotony of a cen-
tral rule. Mighty Metropolitan Nimrods, indeed, who swarm in
the Houses of Commons and Lords, might easily obtain from the
highest imperial authority a recognition of deer in glens where
men used to be, and of grouse on the unfenced moors ; but a re-
cognition of the right of the poor Highland cottar to be taught to
read his own Highland Bible in his own Highland school was
never dreamt of. The law protects the rich ; but the poor protect
themselves, and go to the wall. That was the plain English of the
matter. By the Education Code a bribe was held forth to the
poor schoolmaster that he should teach English and not teach
Gaelic, even when he was able. And thus we may certainly say
that the London Code — for it was forged in London, though it has

10 TRANSACTIONS.

now put a Scotch coat on for the nonce — and the Scottish School
Boards, which carry out its principles, are burying the Highland-
ers alive, whence death will necessarily follow ; for a people never
can live when the language has been taken from them in which all
their heroic traditions and all their noblest inspirations are em-
balmed. Without Gaelic the Highlander will be a Highlander no
longer ; he will not only be lost as a special type of the Briton
whom history and poetry combined to honour, but he will be
humiliated and degraded, as in fact he has been in a great measure
already. His education, divorced from the fine emotional inspira-
tion that flowed from his rich popular poetry, will become hard
and square, and unlovely — what we are accustomed to call utilita-
rian— that is, an education useful for the acquisition of things
external — the material and tangible and bodily — but useless
for reaching those fountains of living water from within,
which, when properly stimulated, poxir themselves forth in streams
that irrigate and fertilise and make fragrant and beautiful our best
men. What then, we are now bound to ask, can the Highlanders
do, now that their language and their nationality have been syste-
matically disowned by the educational authorities of the country ?
What can the Highlanders do — those of them at least who believe
in themselves, and have not already become diminished and de-
graded editions of John Bull ? What can they do to keep them-
selves alive a little longer, and, if they must die, at all events to
die standing, and like true Highlanders ? There is only one device
to save them from total obliteration. What the Government
won't do for them, let them do for themselves. If schoolmasters
must be bribed in this mercenary age and in this mercantile coun-
try, let us bribe them to be good Highlanders. Let all Gaelic
societies set apart annually a portion of their funds for an increase
of salary to the schoolmasters who teach Gaelic, and for prizes to
the best Gaelic readers. This could easily be done. But the way
will not be found unless there be a wish and a will — a warm wish,
and a firm will, and a will altogether — there lies the difficulty. If
the best half of the Highlanders are already in Otago and Canada
and Melbourne, and if one half of the other half is altogether
Saxonised or in various ways sold to the Saxon, what can the poor
remaining half of the residuary half do ? That is your province to
consider. I am a Lowlander, and can only give advice. If you
are not fit to lead yourselves in this matter, you are not worthy to
be led at all. The third and last matter to which the Gaelic
societies should direct their attention is the proper equipment aud

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY. 11

utilisation of the Celtic Chair about to be established in the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh. This Chair, for which the subscribed funds
now amount to above £8500, is sure to be set at full work in a
very few years, if it were only by the natural increase of the paid
up fund ; though I must say in passing, now that a Celtic Chair
has already been founded in Oxford, with £600 a-year as salary,
it will be a thing not particularly creditable to the Caledonian
intellect if this event do not take place within a twelvemonth from
the present date. But, however that be, the practical result of the
established Chair will depend very much on the determination ot
the Highlanders themselves to do justice to the exertions of the
professor in expatiating scientifically on the language, poetry,
history, and antiquities of the great Celtic family in these islands.
One thing that the professor will have to do is to see, in the first
place, that the preachers of the Gospel destined for Highland
parishes shall be trained to the idioma.tic and elegant use — after the
model of the great Macleod, the author of the Teachdaire — of the
language of the people. Another important matter is that the
same class of persons, viz., the ministers, shall be taught to esti-
mate the poetry and literature of the language in which they
preach in a more liberal fashion than they have done hitherto, and
from what I hear, have been accustomed to do. There must be no
narrow-minded preference for sermons, and Dan SpioradaU ; no
illiberal squinting at Duncan Ban because he was a gamekeeper,
or Alastair Macdonald, that he was a Papist. Then the young
men who study Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, must be taught that
their own Gaelic is in many respects, as a language, not less worthy
of attention, and particularly presents a most interesting array of
linguistic facts that have not yet received the attention which they
deserve from the comparative philologers. A similar training will
prepare the Highland schoolmaster for the more effective discharge of
his duties ; for there cannot be a doubt in the mind of an intelligent
educationist that a scientific knowledge of the mother tongue will be
an instrument of the most admirable power, in the hands of a teacher,
who is teaching Highland young persons, English or Latin, er any
language. In this as in other matters judgment is formed by com-
parison ; and the mother tongue in this regard presents a large and
rich and an accessible field of culture, which nothing else can com-
pensate, and which only a shallow sciolist, or a narrow pedant
will despise. And in order to achieve these results which will
naturally proceed from the Celtic Chair, it will be necessary to

12 ^L TRANSACTIONS.

attach to the professorship some half dozen of bursaries — scholar-
ships, or fellowships, as they are called in England — to enable
destined schoolmasters and preachers to travel, and study not only
in the Highlands, but in "Wales, in Ireland, and in Bretagne, and
the Isle of Man, whatever belongs to the topography, antiquities,
poetry, traditions, and history of the various Celtic peoples ; and
at the same time to acquire by studying under the great foreign
scholars a standard of excellence in philology far transcending
what they have been accustomed to be satisfied with at home. All
this will tend to restore to the Celt in some degree that position
in the intellectual world which, by his own neglect and misfor-
tune, rather than by the fault of others, has been hitherto denied
him. One other remark I wish to make in conclusion. I think
if the Highland Societies mean to do anything effective in the way
of stimulating Highland life, Highland sentiment, and Highland
prosperity, they should unite and form one great association for
the purposes of common action. I borrow this suggestion from a
series of admirable papers in the last year's volume of the Gael,
entitled "Levers to Elevate our Peasantry," signed Machaon,
which I recommend to the serious consideration of all true lovers
of the Highlanders. What such an association might achieve, I
am not wise enough to prophesy; but I know that union is
strength ; I know that combination and organisation have done
great things in other domains ; and if the Highlanders are not
altogether depressed, dispirited, and degraded, 1 do not see why it
should not be able to do something for them also.

During the delivery of his address a Gaelic telegram from Mr
Mackay, Shrewsbury, congratulating the meeting, was handed to
the Professor. The telegram was read among the plaudits of the
audience— the Professor adding that John Mackay was " one of
the noblest and best men alive." The Professor was frequently
cheered as he delivered his address, and resumed his seat amidst
deafening cheers.

Miss Maclernan sang, with her usual good taste, " The Flowers
of the Forest." The Highland Fling was then danced most grace-
fully and vigorously by Mr Angus Gordon, Abernethy. Mr
Donald Graham, Glasgow, followed with a Gaelic song, " Beinn
Nibheis," and elicited the warm applause of the audience, an encore
being demanded and responded to. Miss Westland next appeared,
and sang " Wae's me for Prince Charlie " very sweetly and plea-
santly.

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY. 13

Mrs Mary Mackell-ir, Edinburgh, the Bard of the Society, was
then introduced. She recited, amid cheers, the following poem
composed by her for the occasion : —

"COMHRADH EADAR AM BARD 'S A CHLARSACH.

"Am Bard.

" A chlarsach ghaoil, O ! c'uime nochd,
Nach cluinn mi uat ach osna throm ?
'Nuair b 'aill leam luinneag bhi gu binn
'Seirm feadh gach coill, is machair lorn.

" 0 mosguil, a Chlarsach na Tuath !
Cha b'e do dhual'chas caoi-ran broin,
Is toinnidh mis' umad iadh-chrann,
Min-fhraoch nam beann is canach loin.

" Is trie a mhol thu le h-ard phone
Na mic shonna a thoill do rainn,
Duisg is seinn do 'n Chomunn chaomh
A tha an diugh na d' aobhar cruinn !

" Is iomadh sar bhios cruinn a nochd,
'S an comhradh ard mu thir an fhraoich,
Tir nam beann 's nan gleanntan aigh
Is trie a dh' araich na sar-laoich.

" An comhradh binn mu chainnt nam Fiann

Leam is miann bhi 'g eisdeachd riu,

Is pioban tartrach le binn cheol

A' toirt na tim a dh'fhalbh dhuinn dlu —

" A' dusgadh fearalachd 's gach sonn ;
Is baintighearnan, le fonn neo-ghann,
A' deanamh gairdeachas le h-aoibh
An cuimhneachan nan saoi a bh' ann.

i*
"A' Chlarsach.

" A nighean ghaoil, gur mor mo run
Do Chomunn ur nam fiuran treun ;
Mar bhata do laimh an fhir aosd'
Tha comhnadh nan laoch dhomh fhein —

1 4 TRANSACTIONS.

" lad dhomh mar bhraonaibh ciuin a' Mhaigh,
A bheir caoin-bhlath air his is geig ;
Mar ghathan soluis na coinnle,
A bheir drills' air soillse na leug.

" Mar aiteal grein do'n duine thinn,
Mar chopan fion do'n chridhe fhann,
Tha na Comuinn so, toirt beath as ur
Do chlarsach bha tursa feadh bheann.

" Ach cha sheinn mi luinneag a nochd,
'S air caithream ard cha dean mi luaidh,
'S ann tha mi ri mulad 's id caoidh
Mu thir mo ghaoil 's mu chlann mo shluaigh.

" Thig leamsa gu Beinn Nimheis ard,
'S a ris gu Beinn Fhuathais an fheoir,
Is ma tha faireachduinn na d' chri'
Chi thu na bheir uat do threoir —

" Na bothain chleachd bhi air gach raon,
Is gu dlu mu thaobh nam beann,
'S fuar an teallaich 's fad air faontraidh
An dream ghaolach chleachd bhi annt.

" Far am biodh mnathan caoin-gheal, grinn,
A' togail am maothrain a suas,
Gu ceatharna fhoigheantach laidir,
Bu ro mhath a phaigheadh an duais.

" Ou ursannan catha nach geilleadh,
Ged a bhiodh an eiginn cruaidh ;
Bu smior iad an cnaimh nan ceann-feadhna.
Ged 'se nochda sgeul mo thruaigh !

" Nach fhaicear an clann air na raoin,
No 'n oigridh na'n sgaothan 's na glinn ;
Is luinneag buana, bleothain, no luaidh
Cha chluinnear o ghruagaicnean grinn.

" Dream mhor gun fheinealachd, gun cheilg,
'S na'n rioghalachd bu choma leo
Ged a mharbht' an teaghlaich 's iad fhein
Na'm biodh an cinn-fheadhna beo !

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY. 15

" Cha chluinn mi 'nochd an tir an fhraoich
Ach coin is caoraich, 's glaodhaich Ghall,
'S cha 'n ioghnadh mis' a bhi ri' caoidh
'S mo theud a bhi gu h-aoibhneas mall.

" Am Sard.

" Is ioghnadh leam fhein do chainnt,
A chlarsach ghrinn nan teudan oir,
Ged is sgapt' tha sliochd nam fear
A thogadh creach 's a leanadh toir.

" Cha choir ga d' phonc-sa a bhi tursach,
Is uaibhreach a dh'fheudas tu seinn,
'S lionmhor, ainmeal feadh an t-saoghail
Sliochd na laochraidh bha na d' ghlinn.

" Cha'n eil nx bh'ann ri m' linn fhein
Do ghniomh euchdach, a sheinneadh Bard,
Anns nach robh pairt ga d' chloinn air tus
A' cosnadh cliu is urram ard.

" Bha Sir Cailean le Ghaidheil threun'
Riamh buadh'ar 'san streup mar bu dual,
Le 'm pioban '& am brataichean sroil
'S an claidh'an mor is goirt a bhuail !

" Ach cha 'n ann 'sa chogadh a mhain
A choisnear deadh chliu le do shuinn,
Ni mo 's ann a direadh nam beann
A shealg an daimh 's na h-eilid duinn.

" Ach an cogadh a mhaith ris an olc,
Na'n treun ghaisgich churanta mhor,
A' claoidh luchd foirneart amis gach tir,
'S a' cumail neart ri luchd na coir.

" A' giulan soluis gu duthchan cian
'S a measg fhineachan a b' fhiadhaich greann,
Mar ghathan oir troimh na dubh-neoil
An casan gloir-mhor air gach beann.

" An t-ollamh Duff sa chiabhan Hath
Na 'n coron sgiamhach air an treun,
Sar ghaisgeach an cogadh na firinn —
'S tha am ncili' ud leat fein.

16 TRANSACTIONS.

" 'S am Muileach, Daibhidh Mac Dhunleibhe,
Mar reul na maidinn 'san tir chian,
Thriall e troimh neoil is deuchain gheur
A dh-innseadh gu'n eireadh a' glirian.

" Mar abstol ard bha e do'n t-sluagh
Nach cuala mu fhlaitheas no Dia,
Is bhriseadh leis cuibhreach an traill
Mu'n d'fhalbh e gu Parais an Triath.

" Dh' fhag e mar dbileab g* a dhuthaich
Cungaidh a chur ris a lot chruaidh,
Slabhruidh an truaghain a bhristeadh
'S a thoirt gu meas a measg an t-sluaigh.

" 'S an t-oigfhear a chaidb. mach 'na lorg
Feadh fineachan borba tir na grein,
Is Camshronach o Lochaidh e,
Meangan ard dhe d' chraobhan fein.

" 'S tha air do chul na dh'innseas deas
Do bhuadhan 's a sheasas ard-chuis
Do dhaoine, do dhuthcha 's do cheol,
O'n Bhanrigh mhoir is caomha gnuis.

" 'S Ceann-feadhna gaoil a Chomuinn aigh
A sheinn sinn, a chlarsach nan teud,
An t-ard-fheallsanach, Blackie nam buadh,
Ceannard uasal measg nan ceud !

" 'Nuair tharruingeas e 'chlaidheamh le smachd
Is niarachd mac bbios dhxiit na namh j
Is ge b'e labhras foil mu d' thir
Bheir e chri' dha 's a dheas lamb..

" Mile failte do'n Cheann-fheadhna !

'S do Chomunn greadhnach tir an fhraoich,

Tir thuathach nam fearaibh laidir

A bbios, mar bha iad riamb, na'n laoich ! "

The party of young ladies then appeared and sang the old
favourite boat song, " Fear a' Bhata." And here it may be men-
tioned that the ladies forming this party were : —Miss Young,

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY. 17

Huntly Street ; Miss Forbes, Clachnaharry ; Miss Mackintosh,
Douglas Row ; Miss Sharp, High Street ; Misses Mackintosh,
Drummond ; Miss Flora Matheson, Denny Street ; Miss Mary
Macrae, Hill Street ; Miss Macdonald, Castle Street, and Miss
Mackay, Drummond.

The next speaker was the Rev. Alexander Macgregor. He
said — Fhir-shuidhe Urramaich, — Cha bheag an toil-inntinn, ach a's
mo na sin a' chomain a bhuilicheadh air Comunii Gailig a'
bhaile so, le bhi ga d' fhaidiiu a' cur niaise air a' chaithir sin, air
am bheil thu 'n ad shuidhe air an fheasgar so. Tha 'n daiinhealas,
an cairdeas, agus an deagh-ran leis am bheil do chridhe air a
dheachdadh a thaobh nan Gaidheal, 'n an nithe air ain bheil deagh-
fhios againn uile — agus 'n an nithe a ta 'dusgadh suas teas-ghradh
a' Chomuinn so do d' thaobh ! Ged tha fuil nan Gall 'n ad chuis-
libh fein, gidheadh, tha thu 'dea.namh gach spairne 'n ad chomas
chum an fhuil sin a dheanamh ni's deine agus ni's deirge, le deagh-
fhaile fallain agus fiorghlan nan gleann agus nan garbh-chrioch
Gaidhealach. Ged nach deachaidh agad fathasd air saill, no suit,
no reamhrachd a chur air na cnamhaibh cmaidh sin a mgadh
leat, gidbeadh, tha thu ullamh, ealainh, susbainneach, subailte,
chum gach cuis agus cleachdadh a bhuineas do na Gaidheil ath-
leasachadh. Is mor am feum a ta aca air Fear-tagraidh co dich-
iottach, dian, dealasach, ris-san a ta co freagarrach 'n a shuidhe air
an ceann an nochd. Saoghal fad' agus deagh-bheatha dha ! Is
solasach an ni gu'm bheil an Comunn so, bliadhn' an deigh
bliadhna, a' dol ann am nieud. Tha na buill aige a' fas, a chuid
's a chuid, ni's lionmhoir' ; tha na ruintean agus na cuspairean a ta
aige 'san arnharc a' soirbheachadh ceum air cheum — agus tha gach
deagh-run agus dochas a nochdadh air tus m'a thimchioll, air am
fireanachadh chum na cuid a's fhaide. Cha'n 'eil an diugh
cinneach fo'n ghrein a'a airde cliu na na Gaidheil. Gun ghuth
a thoirt aig an am air an ga;sgo, an euchd, agus an treubhan-
tas ann am builsgean gach cruadail anus an robh iad anns gach
cearnuidh dhe'n t-saoghal — tha na Lunnainich ft in a' toirt dearbh-
aidh a nis air a' mheas a ta aca air danaibh, ceol, agus bardachd
shliochd nam beann ! Faicibh gach cruinneachadh a bha o cheann
ghoirid ann am Priomh-bhaile na rioghachd, far an do lion an
Comunn Gaelach cridheachan nam bantighearnan Sasunnach le
toil-inntinn gu'n choimeas, 'n am doibh a bhi 'g eisdeachd ri " Gu
ma slan a chi mi mo chailin dileas, donn " agus ri oranaibh eile
dhe'n ghne sin ! Tha sin idle taitneach, agus ro thaitneach do 'n
Chomunn cheanalta againii fein, a rhmoadh st *s le buiil a ta

A

TRANSACTIONS.

measail agus uasal, treibhdhireach, agus cliu-thoilltinneach !
Gu robh buaidh leo, oir tha na cuisean cianail agus cruaidh gu'm
biodh na Gaidheil a bha riamh co dileas agus treun arm a bhi
'dionadh na rioghachd anns gach linn, air an sarachadh agus air an
claoidh, mar a tha iad air an la 'n diugh. Tha iad air an greasadh
leis na Goill ann an criochaibh cumhann ; agus tha na machraichean
agus na glinn anns an d' araicheadh iomadh curaidh gaisgeil agus
calma, air am fagail a nis aig na feidh, agus aig na cearcan-fraoich !
C'ait am faighear a nis an laochraidh gharg, agus na fir chuimear,
chalma, cheanalta sin, a bha 'nam milltibh ann an aireimh, deas
aig gach gairm, gu dol a mach fo 'n ceannardaibh crodha, a chogadh
an aghaidh naimhdean na rioghachd 1 Cfait am faighear iad sin a
nis ? Ma shiubhlar air feadh nan gleann agus nan garbh-chrioch
anns an d' aruicheadh na seoid sin nach tionndaidheadh an cul ri
caraid no ri namhaid, ciod a chithear an diugh 1 O an sealladh
bronach ! Cha'n fhaicear a thall agus a bhos, ach aos-laraichean
nan aros anns. an d' rugadh iomadh treun-ghaisgeach, air an lionadh
leis na cluaranaibh, an eanntagach, agus le brogan-na-cuaige !
Sealladh gun teagamh bronach ! Am famh agus an ialtag a'
gabhail comhnuidh ann am fardaichibh nam flath sgiamhach, a
chuir an teicheadh air gach namh an aghaidh an deachaidh iad
riamh a mach. Togaidh gach cearnadh dhe 'n t-saoghal fianuis air
fearalas agus euchd shliochd nam beann Albannach. Cha
dichuimhnichear gu brath an gaisge anns an Eiphit agus anns na
h-Innsibh — anns an Spainn agus an Fhrainge — agus anns gach
crich dhe 'n talamh, anns an robh iad ullamh, ealamh, mar ghrad
bhoisge an dealain, chum na naimhdean a sgiursadh gu braigh-
deanas no gu bas ! Ach, mo thruaigh ! tha na cuisean air an
atharrachadh. Tha'n laochraidh so a nis air an ruagadh mar na
cearcan-coille air na beanntaibh, agus air am fogaradJi do thiribh
cein. Tha na feidh agus na caoraich bhana an diugh ag ionaltradh
air na raointibh far an d' aruicheadh gaisgich a bhios iomraideach
am feadh a mhaireas eachdraidh an t-saoghail ! Tha gach Comunn
Gaidhealach a" deanamh an dichill chum na truaighean so athleas-
achadh, ach cha'n 'eil an obair soirbh. Tha'n t-Ard-Albannach fein
a' dol gu 'dhulan le' bhonaid leathainn 's le bhreacan-an-fheile, chum
a luchd-duthcha a theasairginn. Tha caraid dian eile 'sa bhaile so
le leabhran miosail fein, co treun 'sa dh'fheudas e air taobh nan
Gaidheal. Tha e co tairis, cruaidh as an leth ris ^' chabar-feidh
sin a ta aige mar shuaicheantas. Tha'n leabhran aige a' boisgeadh
soluis a mach mar shradan teine A cloich chum a luchd-duthcha a
theagasg, agus a shoillseachadh le Gailig agus le Beurla ! Agus

tt*"TH AXHUAL ASSEMBLY. 19

am measg nan Gall fein, gheibhear cuid aig am bheil speis agus
co'-fhulangas da*n taobh ; ach cha'n 'eil a h-aon 'n am measg gu leir
a ta co dian, deothasach, daimheii, ris an Ollamh Blackie, ar Fear-
suidhe urramach air an fheasgair so ! Tha oibre-san follaiseach,
agus mairidh iad an uair a bhios sinne gu leir 'n ar duslach agus
'n ar luaithre. Is- TJachdaran Gaidhealach an t-Urramach fogh-
luimte, oir cheannaich e seilbh-fearainn 's a' Ghaidhealtachd agus bu
ro mhaith leis a bhi 'na Cheann-cinnidh — ach cha'n 'eil fios agam
ciamar a thigeadh e dha breacan-an-fheile a chur uime, agus osain
ghearra a spadadh air na casaibh caola sin, Tha eagal orm gu'm
bheil a' choluinn agus na calpanna mo's caol — ach biodh sin
mar a dh' fheudas, tha'a cridbe ceart, agus air an oighreachd aige-
san cha'n fhaicear fiadh no fireach. Gu robh buaidh leis-san, agus
leis na Gaidheil da'm bheil mor-speis aigt;, oir —

*' Tha iad rianail, ninail, dileas,

Is seasnihach, siobhalt, coir ;
Tha iad daimheii, cairdeil, fir'ueacli,

Fearail, nalaidh, mor '

*' Cha'n 'eil eolas ac* air mi-run,

'S cha mhi-ghean leo a* choir ;
Bunailteach a ghnath do'n fhirinn,

'S air ceartas dian an toir.

41 'S binn, ro bhinn, a' chanain ghrinn ac',

Gu'n choimeas 'n tir fo'n ghrein ;
Canain ghlan, a gheibh 'san linn so,

Gach cuideachadh u,'s speis.

" Tha luchd-daimh nan Gaidheal lionmhor,

Is dian an cairdean treun ;
Blackie 'n aigh ! 'se fein an dion ac',

Ni's treis' na each gu leir !

" Gu siubhlach, subailt, susbainneach,

Gu h-ullamh, ealamh, geur ;
Gu cliarach, briathrach, cuspaireach,

Gu fior-ghlan mar an seud.

" Gu robh e son', gu robh e buan,

Gu robh e beo, gu'm faic
E caithir na Gailige gu luath,

Air 'steidheachadh le taic !
A 2

20 TRANSACTIONS.

" 0 ! togaibh iolach gairdeachais,

Do Bhlackie, 'n t-Olladh caomh !
O ! furan 's failt 's an ait' so dha,

Mar Cheannard air bhur taobh ! "

The address "was attentively listened to, and cordially applauded.

Mr Finlay Gumming, Ross-shire, then sang " Mo Mhaili Bheag
Og." Mr W. G. Stuart thereafter appeared in the comic sketch
"Tunis Eachainn do Phaisley," and, in answer to an encore, he
recited " A Vision of Ossian and the Celtic Chair," by Professor
Blackie, which gained the high commendation not only of the
audience but also of the author of the poem. During a brief in-
terval Pipe-Major Maclennan discoursed several pieces of music on
the bagpipes.

Tulloch then spoke briefly. He concurred entirely with the
remarks of their Chief as to the evils of the depopulation of the
Highlands, and lamented them as much as any man. For himself
he had never turned a man off his estate without cause given. He
begged to say that while in the Highlands there were some who
will not consider the rights of the peasantry, yet there were others
who would not entertain the idea of depopulating the country.
But it might be it was not in their power to carry out the schemes
sketched out by the Chairman. The Duke of Sutherland was
placed in a position to do so. He could say to this man go to
the right and he did it, and to that other man go the left and he
also did it ; and there were others quite as willing to follow his
example, but, as he had said, they lacked the power and means.
After some other remarks, he concluded by saying that it should
be to them a feeling of great gratification that this Society had a
man so able for their Chief — a man who was doing his best to
dispel the mists which surround the Gaelic language, its literature
and traditions, and was also doing what he could to allow the sun-
shine of knowledge to break forth so as to enlighten and instruct
his fellow-countrymen on Celtic subjects.

Mr Donald Graham then sang " Failte Bhraidalbann " in ex-
cellent style, and having been encored, gave "Moladh na Landaidh."

The next speaker was Mr D. Campbell, Vice-President of the
Greenock Ossian Club. After alluding in very complimentary
terms to the services which Mr Fraser-Mackintosh rendered in
Parliament to the cause of Gaelic, Mr Campbell went on to say —
Professor Blackie has succeeded so well with his project — the
Celtic Chair — that apparently little is necessary for him but to

FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY. 21

crown his noble enterprise by securing the proper man to fill the
Chair. Valuable though the Chair be, the teaching of Gaelic in
Highland schools is still more so — it is absolutely necessary to the
well-being of the people and to the prosperity of the Highlands.
Questions will arise as to where we shall get men able to teach
Gaelic grammatically, or at all, or where we shall get inspectors
who can examine the schools. The answer is, offer adequate in-
centives to the study of the language, and there will be plenty of
candidates to undertake the task. I cannot believe that High-
landers have less love for their own language than Lowlanders
have for theirs. As for the inspectors, I question if we have not
already enough of them for the whole Highlands. There is Mr
Macleod, an early school-fellow of mine; and there are Mr Sime
and Mr Ross ; and if these be not enough, I would say, take Mac-
kinnon out of the hands of the Edinburgh School Board and make
an inspector of him . All these are Gaelic scholars, as well as able
men otherwise. It may be asked what is the use of making such
a noise about Gaelic when so many of the Highland glens and
straths are being depopulated. I -would answer by referring to the
work which the noble Duke is carrying on in Sutherlandshire, and
I would say, take courage, what the noble Duke is doing there,
others can do on a smaller scale elsewhere. Sir Charles Ross of
Balnagown, Bart., who has always been a generous landlord, will
follow the Duke's example, because he has a great deal of land on
his vast estates which could be profitably improved. The noble
Duke's example cannot fail to tell upon others ; and as it does, the
glens and straths which are now reserved for wild animals, will
soon be re-occupied by a virtuous population, and peace, content-
ment, and happiness will pervade the Highlands, and Celtic litera-
ture will flourish as the outcome of noble minds well supported
and well cultivated. Perhaps I may suggest before sitting down
that this Society should correspond with other Highland Societies,
to make suggestions and work together in furtherance of those
objects for which your Society was established. This would be
" Clanna nan Gaidheal ri guaillibh a cheile " with double effect.

Mr A. Gordon then danced " Gille Calum," and thereafter the
ladies sang " O theid sinn, theid sinn, le suigeart agus aoibh." They
received a hearty encore, and sang a few stanzas of "Mairi
laghach."

Provost Simpson said he rose with great pleasure to propose a
vote of thanks to their Chief and Chairman. To-night the Chief
had almost exceeded himself, and his address had been one of the

22 TRANSACTION*.

greatest pleasures they had ever listened to in that room. They
would all agree that the Professor was indeed what he called him-
self some time ago — the Chief of all the Chiefs. He did not know
of any man who more deserved their gratitude, not only for what
he was doing in promoting the Celtic Chair, but also for his efforts
to raise and elevate the character of the people, and in endeavour-
ing to bring the times of the past back, when the Highlands will
not only be a place for sheep and deer but for men. He trusted
the Chief would live to see this realised. On the call of the Pro-
vost, the audience rose en masse and heartily cheered the Professor.

Professor Blackie in a few words replied. He moved a vote of
thanks to the lady singers and other performers, remarking that if
any of those barbarous and obfuscated persons who talk contemptu-
ously of the Gaelic had been there and heard the ladies sing, it
would have softened their hard faces and melted their flinty hearts
into wax. The time was coming when he would have to hoist the
flag of surrender, and whether he was laid near his Oban estate or
elsewhere, his desire was that the inscription on his tombstone
should be in Gaelic, not long winded, like some Gaelic sermons,
but simply — •" Here lies OUamk Blackie, the friend and the advo-
cate of the Gael."

The proceedings, which were very happy and successful through-
out, closed about half-past eleven with the National Anthem in
Gaelic.

2» NOVEMBER, 1876.

A meeting of the Society was held on this date, but the busi-
ness was of a routine character.

16xH NOVEMBER, 1876.

At the meeting on this date the following new members were
elected : — Messrs H. C. Gillies, Culloden ; D. A. Campbell, Eng-
lishton Muir, Bunchrew ; Simon Mackenzie, Kildonan, Lochbroom ;
M. Macdonald, Denny ; Colin Chisholm, Namur Cottage, Inver-
ness ; and Charles Ferguson, Raigmore, Inverness.

Some discussion took place as to what form the winter re-union
of the Society should assume. Some members were desirous of
holding a social meeting or conversazione, whilst others were in
favour of adhering to the old order of things — a dinner or supper.
Ultimately, a motion to remit the matter to the Council for their
consideration was carried. There was no other business of impor-
tance.

GAELIC TEACHING IN HIGHLAND SCHOOLS. 23

23o NOVEMBER, 1876.

At this meeting the following new members were elected :— -
Messrs Roderick Ross, 23 Rushford Street, Middlesboro-on-Tees ;
D. J. Macrae, Invershiel, Kintail ; Evan Macrae, Braintra, Loch-
alsh ; and John Stewart, Duntulm, Dunvegan.

The Secretary read the minutes of Council relative to the
remit to consider what form the winter re-union of the Society
should assume. The Council, by a majority of seven to one, re-
commended that no change be made, and that as hitherto a dinner
or supper be held. Mr William Mackay, solicitor, moved that the
recommendation of the Council be adopted. Mr Alex. Mackenzie,
of the Celtic Magazine, seconded. Mr Lachlan Macbean, High-
lander office, moved as an amendment that instead of a dinner or
supper the re-union take the form of a social meeting, to which
ladies would be admitted. Mr W. A. Smith seconded. After
some discussion the motion was carried by a majority of 13 to 2.

On this date Mr H. C. Gillies read a paper entitled —

"REASONS WHY GAELIC SHOULD BE TAUGHT
IN HIGHLAND SCHOOLS."

Unfortunately, Mr Gillies subsequently mislaid the paper, and
the Publishing Committee regret they cannot therefore give more
than the following summary, which appeared in the Free Press of
November 27, 1876 :—

" The first reason he gave was that the Gaelic was pre-emin-
ently the language of nature. Any person who would devote a
little time to the study of it could discover this. It was full of the
class of words which in pronunciation expressed the idea involved.
All languages had those words in some degree, but the Gaelic was
full of them. It was this that strengthened the claim of its anti-
quity, and gave to it, above all other languages (with perhaps one
exception), its character as the language of poetry and eloquent
expression. It placed itself alongside with nature, and reflected
ideas as they were really conceived in the mind, " with the pre-
cision of the most finely polished reflector," and left not a jot un-
expressed in the most intricate feelings of the heart. And having
inherited such a language were they to throw it away as not worth
the having ? Certainly not. It struck a person as very peculiar
how a Highlander, with perhaps no education or instruction what-

24 TRANSACTIONS.

ever, could express himself in his native tongue so pointedly and
so happily, as if the heart itself spoke its thoughts, whilst the Eng
lishmen of equal standing must have recourse to cant or slang, in
order to express the commoner thoughts with ordinary intelligi-
bility. This was because Gaelic was a natural language to the
Highlander. A Highlander needed not the trumpet of cultivated
speech to give effect to the voice of nature, since nature herself
spoke by him in the simplicity of his native tongue, with a voice
surpassing anything uttered by her handmaiden — Art. The Eng-
lishman was not so fortunate. Nature to him was not so prodigal.
He had to study his language from his very birth, and even by
study itself, to the comparatively few was it decreed that they
shoiild ever attain a marked power of expression in it, and these,
when they did turn up, were called geniuses — a name which they
deserved. Another reason which Mr Gillies gave was the pecu-
liar suitableness of the Gaelic to the nature and character of the
Highland people. After referring to some authorities on this
point, Mr Gillies said — We see the peculiar suitableness of the
Gaelic language to the nature of the Highland people, and how
can we, while a fragment of this nature remains with us, express
our ideas but through the language which gaye them birth ? When
the Gaelic would fall into oblivion, the Gaelic race must pass away
with it. Another reason for retaining the language was, " that as
Highlanders, it is the language of our life and a part of our nature,
a part without which we would dwindle into an inconceivable race,
without a language and without a name." Imagine, he said, the
Highlanders of Scotland, a race who have indelibly left their mark
on the world's history, forgotten and unknown 1 Think of it, and
say whether this language, which even the mountain streamlet
seems to murmur, and the cataract to roar, is not worthy the at-
tention of its sons and daughters ! The fates, however, were ap-
parently against the perpetuation of the Gaelic language ; and let
them, then, be up and doing, and, realising rather than believing
that such an extinction is to be the fate of Highlanders and their
language, they should make a strong effort to lay the foundation
of a new Celtic life on the pure germ of the Scottish Gael. The
Highlander could have no difficulty in learning the Gaelic, because
it was inherent in him. It was not like learning a new language,
where he had to cram word by word. So far as Gaelic was con-
cerned, the young Highlander's vocabulary was already fairly
stocked, and his ear might be his grammar for all practical pur-
poses. He thought Gaelic should be taught in Highland schools.

GAELIC TEACHING IN HIGHLAND SCHOOLS. 2o

because, as he argued, children would much easier pass their ex-
amination in Gaelic than the special subjects now taught under the
code. Another reason was that by and through Gaelic, and Gaelic
only, could we have rational, intelligent teaching in Highland
schools. At present Gaelic was not much used, and the result was
that boys and girls left school knowing nothing of man or of the
world in which they were about to enter. They went forth, their
only recommendation being ignorance of what they should know.
This was our education, and it would remain so as long as the
native language was not used as a means of culture, and an instru-
ment for teaching. The understanding of a Highland child could
not be reached without using the Gaelic as a medium for that pur-
pose. Mr Gillies then dealt with the common belief that Gaelic
interfered with the pronunciation of English. He contended that
it did not — that it only enriched the style of speaking English.
Speaking of his own education, he said — The method adopted of
teaching English was the ruin of my judgment and of my reason.
I grew up in darkness of the fact that I had a mind at all, till
some lucky day in my early manhood, when I had become a fair
scholar, I accidentally discovered that I could think and reason,
and here began my education, which should at the time be far ad-
vanced. When I should be taught how to reason, I was lost in
the mazes of a monosyllabic constitution. Another reason for
teaching Gaelic was that we might preserve our Highland music.
Milton described his ideal music as abounding —

Jn notes with many a winding 'bout
Of linked sweetness, long drawn out
With wanton heed and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden chain of harmony.

Surely, he said, Milton must have heard some Gaelic songs sung,
for this is just a perfect image of their airs. He advocated the
teaching of Highland music in Highland schools, and stated that
he taught his own pupils to sing the songs of our country. As to
the practical part of the subject, he said he wished Gaelic taught
as being the only medium whereby a Gaelic-speaking child could
acquire a speedy and thorotigh knowledge of English. He there-
fore wished to see Gaelic used in Highland schools as a medium
for teaching English in the junior branches, and Gaelic as a special
subject under the Code, occupying a position similar to English

26 TRANSACTIONS.

literature, taught to the advanced classes. The intelligence of the
children should be treated by means of Gaelic on the day of exam-
ination, and this would necessitate a knowledge of Gaelic on the
part of the inspector or his assistant."

30TH NOVEMBER, 1876.

The Society met on this date, but the business was of a routine
-character.

7TH DECEMBER, 1876.

On this date Mr Win. Bain, Courier office, Inverness, and Mr
D. Macpherson, 3 Union Street, Inverness, were elected ordinary
members.

Further arrangements for the annual dinner were made, and
thereafter Mr Lachlan Macbean, Highlander office, read an inter-
esting paper on " Celtic Sentiment and Sentimentality," which he
declines to publish.

HTH DECEMBER, 1876.

At this meeting Mr Charles Macdougall, writer, Lombard
Street, Inverness, was elected member of the Society. Some
further arrangements were made for the annual dinner.

HTH JANUARY, 1877.

After the meeting had made the final arrangements for the
dinner, Mr Hugh Rose, solicitor, read a paper on " Highland Min-
strelsy," for which he was awarded a vote of thanks. As, how-
ever, Mr Rose has not yet (May 7) been able to prepare it for the
printer, we hope to give it at the end of the volume.

ANNUAL DINNER.

12-rH JANUARY, 1877.
On this date the

ANNUAL DINNER OF THE SOCIETY

took place in the Station Hotel. There was a large and influential
attendance. The chair was occupied by Professor Blackie, Chief
of the Society, who was supported by Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of
Gairloch, Bart. ; Captain MacRa Chisholm of Glassburn ; Mr H.
C. Macandrew, Sheriff-Clerk of Inverness-shire ; Mr Jolly, H.M.
Inspector of Schools; Mr A. Macdonald, wine merchant, Inver-
ness ; Bailie Davidson, Inverness ; Mr William Mackay, of Messrs
Innes & Mackay, solicitors ; Mr Colin Chisholm, ex-President of
the Gaelic Society of London, &c. The -croupiers were — Mr Chas.
Stewart of Brin ; and Mr Charles Innes, solicitor, Inverness.
Among the general company were —

Rev. Messrs Macgregor and Maclauchlan, Inverness ; Rev. Mr
Macrae, Carloway ; Messrs John Colvin, solicitor, Inverness ;
Roderick Macrae, Beauly ; Eraser, Mauld ; Macdonald, Station
Hotel, Inverness ; Alexander Eraser, accoimtant, Inverness ;
Charles Mackay, builder, do. ; James Eraser, C.E., do. ; Sime,
H.M. Inspector of Schools ; G. J. Campbell, solicitor ; Murdoch, of
The Highlander ; Alex. Mackenzie, Celtic Magazine ; Robert
Grant, of Messrs Macdougall & Co. ; James H. Mackenzie, book-
seller ; Alexander Mackenzie, wine merchant, Church Street ;
William Couper, Highland Railway; Alex. Mackay, contractor;
Jonathan Ross, draper ; A. Maclean, commission agent ; Mac
donald, live stock agent ; Hood, commission agent ; Andrew
Eraser, cabinetmaker ; W. B. Forsyth, of the Advertiser ; Burgess,
factor for Glemnoriston ; Simon Eraser, banker, Lochcarron ; Alex.
Macleod, grocer, Bridge Street ; Macdonald, grocer, Exchange ;
Wm. Mackenzie, draper, Bridge Street ; Donald Campbell, do.,
do. ; D. Whyte, photographer ; Macraild, sheriff-officer ; John Mac-
kenzie, Telford Road ; Charles Ferguson, Raigmore ; Charles Mac-
donald, flesher, Union Street ; Donald Davidson, solicitor ; F.
Macgillivray, do. ; D. J. Mackay, do. ; Gumming Allanfearn ; A.
Ross, architect ; D. Middleton, coal merchant ; A Macdonald,
flesher, New Market ; James Fraser, Lombard Street ; -dCneas
Fraser, Church Street ; George Macbean, Union Street ; W. G.
Stuart ; H. C. Gillies, Culloden ; Macpherson, carpenter ; Dr Mac-
kechnie, District Asylum, Inverness ; Deas, Church Street ; D. A.

TRANSACTIONS.

Campbell, Englishton Muir, Bunchrew ; Hugh Fraser, Huntly
Street ; Wm. Mackenzie, secretary ; Barron, Inverness Courier ;
Bain, do. ; Dr F. M. Mackenzie, Inverness ; J. M. Duncan, High-
lander office ; L. Macbean, do., &c.

Rev. Mr Maclachlan said grace, and thereafter an excellent
dinner was discussed. The following was the bill of fare : —

CUILM NAN GAIDHEAL.

SUGHAN—

Mhaigheach, creamha, agus
Cheann Chaorach.

IASG—

Glas-iasg 's leannra eisirein,
agus adagan friochte.

SOITHICHEAN TAOIBHE—

Iseanan earr-bhruichte,

Muilt-fheoil gheante,

.Coineanan cuirichte,

agus Taigeis.

FEOIL—

Mairt-fheoil agus rnuilt-fheoil

(Roiste agus Bhruich),

Ceann caorach.

MILSEAN—

Marag phlumbais,

Ublilan deasaichte,

Sughan mheas agus ciathan,

Cruaidh-thaoisean 's ubhlan mills,

Aran agus caise,

Measan.

SOUPS—

Hare, Cock-a-leekie,
Sheep's Head.

FISH—

Cod and Oyster Sauce,
Fried Haddock.

ENTREES—

Poulet Soute,
Mutton Cutlets,
Curried Rabbits,

JOINTS—

Beef and Mutton

(Roast and Boiled),

Sheep's Head.

SWEETS—

Plum Pudding,

Apple Tart,

Jellies, Creams,

Pastry and Pippins,

Bread and Cheese,

Dessert.

The Rev. Mr Macrae, Carloway, Lews, returned thanks, after
which Mr W. Mackenzie, the Secretary, read the following apology
from Cluny Macpherson : —

" Caisteal Chluanaidh, Ceann-a'-Ghiusaich,
"January5, 1877.

"A charaid ionmhuinn, — Fhuair mi do litir chaoimhneil.
Thoir taing uam do'n Chomunn Ghaidhealach air son a' chuiridh
fhialaidh-a thug iad dhomh gus an dinneir a tha gu bhi air an dara

ANNUAL DINNER. 29

la diag dhe'n mhios. Abair riutha, le mo bheannachd, gu'm bheil
mi duilich nach urrainn mi bhi aig an dinneir, do bhrigh gu'm bheil
coinneamh mhor gu bhi againn fhein air an dearbh lath a sin faisg
air a' chaisteal, 'nuair a tha suil agam ri mora,n de m' chairdean a
choinneachadh aig a chluich-bhall. Ach feumaidh n?i crioch a
chur air an litir so. Ni mi sin le bhi 'giridhe a h-uile soirbh-
eachadh do'n Chomunn Ghaidhealach. Tha mi 'guidhe bliadhna
mhath ur dhuibh uile, agus moran diubh. Slan leibh. Is mise
ur caraid dileas,

" CLUANAIDH, Ceann-cinnidh Chlann-Chatain."

The Secretary also read the following extract from, a letter
received by him from Mr C. S. Jerram, Surrey : —

" My only claims, such as they are, for being noticed by Clann
nan Gaidheal, rest upon the translation I made of Dr Smith's Sean
Dana (Dargo and Gaul), which, I was glad to see, was so favourably
received in Scotland, notwithstanding the imperfections in the
performance, of which I am only too conscious. In the Celtic
Chair, of course, I take a great interest, and was glad to do some-
thing last year in the way of collections for this object. My only
fear at first starting was, that it might possibly become too much
devoted to the interest of the Scottish Gael, to the exclusion (com-
paratively) of Irish, Welsh, and other Celtic branches. I thought
the fact of the Chair being established in Edinburgh, and its being
partly designed for the instruction of Gaelic students for practical
purposes, might tend to such a result, just as I should have feared
a preponderance of Welsh or Irish Gaelic, had the Chair been
fixed at Carnarvon or Dublin. But Professor Blackie has assured
me that all branches of Celtic are to have their due prominence —
indeed, I know he is quite angry with those who speak of a ' Gaelic '
instead of a ' Celtic ' Chair, a mistake I have often heard made in
England, and which I never fail to correct. And I think we may
all safely trust the cause in the hands of such a man as Blackie,
who has richly deserved all the encomiums that have showered
upon him, both in public and private, since his noble exertions
first began to bear fruit."

He also intimated that he had received apologies from Mr
Mackintosh of Holm ; Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, MR ; D. Cameron
of Lochiel, M.P. ; E. W. Mackintosh of Raigmore ; D. Davidson of
Tulloch ; Provost Simpson ; Mr Mackenzie, yr. of Kintail ; Mr O.
H. Mackenzie of Inverewe ; Surgeon-Major General Mackinnon,

30 TKAIMACTlOirs.

C.B., Aldershot ; General Sir Patrick Grant, G.C.B.; Dr Mackenzie
of Eileanach ; Major Lyon-Mackenzie ; Rev. Messrs A. Macrae,
Clachan, Kintyre ; W. "Watson, Kiltearn ; A. Macgregor Rose,
Evie ; and A. 0. Sutherland, Strathbraan ; Captain D. P. Mac-
donald, Fort- William ; Major Grant, Drambuie ; Dr Buchan,
Invemess ; Dr Macuee, do.; Bailie Noble, do.; Messrs A. Dallas,
Town-Clerk, do. ; T. D. Campbell,, do. ; P. G. Wilson, do.; Fraser
Campbell, do. ; Thomas Mackenzie, Broadstone Park, do. ; John
Grant, Cardiff ; D. Maclachlan, publisher, Edinburgh ; John Mac-
farquhar, do. ; A. A. Carmichael, Creagorry ; A. C. Mackenzie,
Maryburgh ; D. A. Macrae, Fernaig ; D. J. Macrae, Invershiel ;
Ewan Macrae, Branitra ; W. Mackenzie, solicitor, Dingwall ; C.
C. Glass, St Andrews ; Robert Macleod, Leith ; Peter Mackintosh,
Grantown ; D. Macrae, Inverness ; S. Chisholm, Flowerdale,
Gairloch ; D. Maccaskill, Dunvegan ; Macdonald, Dunphail, &c.

The Professor then proposed the health of the Queen, now the
Empress ot India. She had, however, he remarked, an older and
nobler title, for she reigned not only over the heads but over the
hearts of her subjects. About the Prince of Wales, the Professor
said he knew nothing at all, and he did not intend to indulge in
commonplaces. He knew something about the Queen, for she had
given him .£200 for the Celtic Chair, and he hoped that the Prince
would grow up to be a son worthy of his father. Speaking of the
Army, the Professor declared that it was the pride and redemption
of Britain. Had it not been for our soldiers, the curse that falls
upon mere merchants would have fallen on us, as it did upon Tyre
and Sidon. He hoped that the army would long preserve Britain
from mere utilitarianism and money making and mammon worship ;
and that the Celtic spirit which led Wellington to his victories
would long flourish unimpaired. Captain Chisholm replied for the
Army, and Major Macandrew and Captain Grant for the Volunteers.
In the course of his remarks, Captain Grant said — The force has a
local as well as national character that conduces to its permanence
and efficiency ; and especially is this the case in the Highlands,
where every district has associations and traditions that cannot
fail to influence and stimulate the martial spirit of its local corps.
We may perhaps take the Inverness-shire Volunteers as fairly re-
presentative of those of the other northern counties, and we find
them largely composed of the descendants of rival clans ; and
although a large proportion of these men are now citizens of
Inverness, many of them still cherish traditions and recollections
of their native straths and glens that render them not less worthy

ANNUAL DIUHIR. 31

citizens nor less loyal subjects, and certainly not less reliable
subjects, and we may safely assume that a force of this composition,
commanded as the two bodies of Inverness-shire Volunteers are —
the one by one of the best known and most popular gentlemen in
the county, and the other by the most Highland of Highland Chiefs
— would in defence of their hearths and homes prove themselves
not unworthy descendants of the men of whose valour the world
has heard so much. In such a representative meeting as this, I
may be allowed to say in connection with this toast that neither
clans nor the spirit of clanship are yet extinct in the Highlands.
I know a strath within a day's easy march of the Capital of the
Highlands, * where they still exist to a greater extent than many
are aware of ; and where the present Chief could in case of need,
in a few days, or even hours, still raise a regiment of genuine
clansmen, the direct descendants of men who for many centuries
held their lands against all comers, and for generation after genera-
tion lived and died on the same soil.

The Secretary then read the Annual Report, which was as fol-
lows : —

"At a meeting such as this, I believe the briefer the Annual
Report, the more it will be relished by those present. I will,
therefore, be as brief as in the circumstances I can. As to the
general work done by the Society during the year, I beg to refer
you to our volume of Transactions. The progress made by the
Society during the year has been such as should give satisfaction
to all who interest themselves in its affairs. Our total income has
been £117 17s 9d, and our expenditure up to this date £48 2s lid,
leaving a balance at present in our possession of £69 14s lOd.
Against this suno, however, must be set some liabilities amounting
to about £60. These are incurred in connection with the publica-
tion of our Transactions, management of the Society, and Gaelic
competition in schools. Four gentlemen commuted their Honorary
Membership into Life Membership. The number of new members
who joined during the year was as follows : — 1 Life Member ; 6
Honorary Members ; 55 Ordinary Members ; and 3 Junior or Ap-
prentice Members, making a total of 65. The total number of
Members on the roll is now 390."

Professor Blackie, in rising to give the toast of the evening —
" The Gaelic Society of Inverness " — was received with loud cheer-

* It is understood this refers to Strathspey and the Earl of Seafield.

32 TRANSACTIONS.

ing. He said — Gentlemen of Inverness, members of the Gaelic
Society — accustomed as I am to public speaking, it is not without
a feeling of trepidation, or at least discomfort, that on this and
almost every other occasion I open my mouth to speak. (Laugh-
ter.) There is a responsibility which attaches to any man who
speaks in public which he ought to consider — which I don't
always consider — (Renewed laughter) — and besides I am very
much afraid of not speaking enough of truth, and sometimes of
the greater danger of speaking too much truth. I a*u very much
afraid also of the reporters — (laughter) — who, if T fling out any
nonsense — and it comes out, I believe, in an instinctive way — are
perfectly sure to report it ; whereas if I measure out wisdom by
the yard, these gentlemen either don't understand it, or they mis-
understand it — (Laughter) — sometimes to my knowledge they
positively misrepresent it. However, 1 believe there is no danger
in Inverness. I am told you have here a peculiarly wise and
judicious race of reporters — (Laughter) — and if a man says any-
thing he ought not to say — if he uses any phrase too emphatic or
too strong — they always smooth it down and shave off the angu-
larities. (Laughter and applause.) If, therefore, I say anything
out of joint, or anything too strong, it is perfectly sure not to be
put in the superlative degree by the reporters of the Inverness
Courier. (Renewed laughter and applause.) As chief of this As-
sociation, I must also confess to a feeling of discomfort or incon-
gruity. There is surely some incongruity in putting a Hellenic
capital on a Gaelic column. It is like a Highlander with a hat —
(Laughter) — and a Highlander with a hat is an inconceivable
monster. (Laughter.) If a man be a Highlander let him look
like my heroic triend here (Captain Chisholm), who looks just like
Agamemnon, whose remains were found the other day at Mycenae,
and proved to be those of a giant hero, as he was. (Applause.)
If a man dresses like my friend he cannot put on a hat — (Liugh-
ter) — but of course if he Lowlandise himself, he may put anything
he likes to hide from the world that he is such a noble animal as a
Celt. (Laughter.) But I have one comfort, and that is that I
never meet with greater sympathy or more cordiality or genuine
feeling than at meetings of this kind ; and for myself on such
occasions, " out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
(Cheers.) I consider it one of the proudest days of my life, when
I was elected as Chief — though only for a year. (Laughter.)
However, the memory of it will continue as long as I live, and
perhaps it will be inscribed on my tombstone. (Laughter. ) If

ANNUAL DINNER. 33

any university should confer on me the degree of D.C.L. — and
they have not done it yet — (Laughter) — T should not esteem it
half such an honour as having been Chief of the Gaelic Society.
(Applause.) Now, since 1745 I do not think the Highlanders
have done justice to themselves ; and they require associations
of this kind to make them feel that there is no shame
but rather glory in being Highlanders — that they have something
to conserve and preserve — something to look back upon with pride,
and to make them look forward with hope. (Applause.) This
Society shows that there is a consciousness in the Highlands that
they have a right to walk God's earth as a peculiar people, like the
Jews. (Laughter.) Don't laugh. To the Jews we owe religion,
to the Greeks wisdom, and to the Celts sentiment, chivalry, and
valoiar, and the most brilliant pages in our history. (Cheers.) I
am proud to think that the Highland people are now thoroughly
conscious of themselves, as metaphysicians would say ; and that
they are not to be stamped out or smoothed over to please fellows
in Edinburgh, who would even wipe Edinburgh out of the map of
world, and go to Oxford to be made scholars and prigs — (Laughter
and applause) — who want to forget that they are Scotchmen, and
to extinguish broad Scotch, that they may lisp " ha, ha " English
— and who are unable to sing a Scotch song in the right way with
a regular thumping heart. (Applause.) There are Celts and
Scotchmen both who want to extinguish old recollections and
aspirations, and in the name of civilisation to assimilate themselves
to John Bull from the top of the head to the tip of the toe. I
don't believe in that. I don't think centralisation is a British
peculiarity or a virtue of British policy. It belongs to France and
Prussia and despotic countries ; but Britain has gi'own strong by
its local peculiarities and local liberties. One of its distinctive
peculiarities is the existence of a Celtic people, with its chivalry,
and poetry, and general Celtic spirit ; and I object to have that
race or language blotted out, although it may die, as John Bull
himself must die some day. The Gaelic language will die ; and I
venture to prophecy, whatever Mr Murdoch may say, that it will
be dead in 200 years. (Mr Murdoch — " No.") I will tell you
why. It is impossible that a people, so few in numbers, and with
a literary inheritance so comparatively small — a people who must
advance in the world, and Anglify themselves in spite of them-
selves— a people subjected to the inroads of English dons and
swells with money — it is impossible for such a people with all their
heroism, to preserve themselves distinct for more than 200 years.

c

34 TRANSACTIONS.

I predict that, but don't suppose that I want to hasten it. No ; I
respect the language, and would cultivate it. Am I to kick my
grandmother into the grave because she is old ? No, I will respect
and reverence her ; and learn from her lips more tenderness and
perhaps more wisdom than from the most recent school-book, bound
with red tape, and patronised by Her Majesty's Inspectors.
(Laughter and applause.) It is a very great thing to preserve
unity at the centre of a nation, and also strength in the limba.
No doubt it is difficult to accomplish both. Germany developed
such enormous strength in the provinces that the central unity
broke down. There was no empire or emperor except in name ;
but numerous states existed, and with all the evils of disunion,
there were some countervailing advantages. Each prince had his
capital — at Dresden, at Hanover, at Cassel, and so on ; and if the
princes sometimes taxed the people heavily, and spent a good deal
of money, and were not particularly wise men, still they had their
own universities, their own libraries, and their own literary circles,
thus forming numerous centres of culture, so that there was more
culture in Genrany than in any other country. By centralisation
France lost a great deal of variety and richness of life, and also,
what is the main thing, the power and energy of her people. Let
us try to avoid both extremes. There should be not only a strong
pumping heart, but ganglia over all parts of the body — centres to
redeem the provinces from that stagnation and servility both in
moral and intellectual action which belong to a people who receive
education and impulse from the capital and the capital alone.
(Applause.) I am sure the Inverness Gaelic Society aims at sup-
porting the local and provincial life, character, dignity, and vigour
of this part of the country, and will long continue to do so. Allow
me to say a few words in reference to the Gaelic. If the language
is to die speedily, the fault will mainly be with the Highland
people themselves. You do not cultivate Gaelic. In Wales,
there are several newspapers in the native tongue, and you find
Welsh staring at you at every railway station; whereas, our
friend Murdoch has a great deal to do to get up a column or two
of the Gaelic, and some people want him to give it up altogether.
The Highlanders, like the Israelites of old, have gone a whoring
after strange gods, and must pay the penalty. (Laughter.) Why,
one requires to go about with microscopic eyes to find a Gaelic in-
scription on a tombstone ; while in Wales you will find native
inscriptions in every churchyard. Nevertheless, Gaelic cannot be
neglected by any man who wishes to play the part of an educator,

ANNUAL DINNER. 35

or to wield a direct moral influence over the people. No doubt
the Celt is a British citizen, and ought to be taught English. That
should be placed in the foreground ; but, unless circumstances are
very unfavourable — unless he is ill-treated by others or ill-treats
himself, and looks only to what affects his pocket rather than to
what makes his bosom swell with noble emotion and sentiment —
he ought not to neglect his mother tongue ; and he is a monster if
he does not love it. (Applause.) He may have the misfortune to
have a father who told him to avoid the mother tongue, and who
sent him to Eton or Harrow to learn to read Horace and to be
licked into an Englishman — (Laughter) — and who did not know
that the best thing for a Highland laird was to be familiar with
tbe language of his own people, and the history and traditions of
his ancestral glens. (Applause.) Gaelic is not vulgar — Nature
never can be vulgar — (Cheers) — and the worst vulgarity is that
which apes what eomes from the West End. (Applause.) More-
over, the comparison of the mother tongue with other languages is
one of the greatest instruments of training. In our classical
schools English is constantly compared with Latin and Greek, so
as to set the mind a thinking on the meaning of words, and make
the word of one language express, by a fine natural shade of dis-
tinction, what the other language does not contain. It is impossi
ble to let the Gaelic child know through the intellect and heart
what the meaning of English is except through the mother tongue,
because the mother tongue has a character and significance that
does not belong to the acquired. Certain Scotch words, for in-
stance, such as sonsy and canny, have a meaning of their own
which cannot be transferred into English ; and this is the more
evident when you consider that the English language is a mixty-
maxty — a kind of hodge-podge — a mere devil's soup brewed up of
all materials which came from nobody knows where. (Laughter.)
It would require the most learned man in Germany — perhaps half-
a-dozen of the most learned men — to make a good etymological
English dictionary. The words have no meaning except to a man
who knows Latin and Greek, and sometimes Gaelic. To a poor
Highland boy what significance will the word " publican " in the
Gospels convey ? The only kind of publicans he knows are those
of a kind which my friend Mr Macgregor does not like to patronise
— (Laughter) — but he would make a great mistake if he thought
they were the publicans mentioned by Luke. But if the boy
opens his Gaelic Bible he will find the word cis-mhacr, and knows
at once that this is a man who gathers the taxes. (Laughter.)

c2

36 TRANSACTIONS.

Another thing struck me the first time I read the first chapter of
Genesis in Gaelic. The first verse in English is, " In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth." What idea do you
attach to the word create 1 Go back to the Latin, Greek, or even
the Sanskrit, and you will not learn ; all that you arrive at is that
it signifies " doing or acting." In Gaelic the same verse runs —
'S an toiseach chruthaick Dia na nea/tnhan agus an talamh. The
Professor slowly spelled the third word chruthaich, and continued —
you see I can spell even Gaelic ; though Gaelic has been said to be
a language which few persons can read and nobody can spell.
(Laughter.) Now, strike off the termination and see what you
have — chruth. That word means shape or form, and there you
have the key to the whole Platonic philosophy, and the Gospel
philosophy too. To give form to the formless is one of the prime
functions of creation. Having made that boy a philosopher by the
help of Gaelic — (Laughter) — I ask, how can any man despise and
trample it under his feet as a language of savages 1 If any man.
dare say that it is a barbarous language, he is either a fool or a
savage himself — (Laughter) — he is still in the gall of bitterness
and the bond of iniquity — of course in a philosophical sense. (Re-
newed laughter.) Let such a fellow come before me, and I will
smash him to powder. (Cheers and laughter.) Let a man be ever
so mighty, truth is mightier ; and nothing but gi'oss ignorance or
prejudice cari explain the hostility of those people who would stamp
out the Gaelic. If they dare to come to the front before me, whose
Gaelic is only of yesterday, I will squelch them into jelly. (Great
laughter.) I once received an epistle from a gentleman who re-
fused to subscribe to the Celtic Chair, and attributed all the evils
of the Highlands to two causes — the one being Gaelic, and the
other Feudalism. Now, Feudalism never was in the Highlands ex-
cept in the shape of law-deeds ; and such things only show the in-
solence of John Bull, who knows of nothing beyond the Grampians
except grouse, and deer, and ptarmigan. I don't like to use big
sentences, for they are generally used by men who like to seem
mighty and are weak ; but I could mention several things that
have ruined the Highlands. Their own folly in rising in '45
helped it. Even Lochiel saw the danger at the time, and
yielded to mere sentiment. Next to that, two thingb have done
mischief. One is absenteeism, or the possession of property by
persons who do not perform the duties which belong to a proprietor
in all well-organised societies ; and the second is selfishness masked
in the words of a political economy, which regards the product

ANNUAL DINNER. 37

only and not the producer, which measures the wealth of nations
merely by the amount of external products which they gather
together, and not by the real well-being of the people who belong
to the country — a political economy divorced from human love
and evangelical morality, and also from the best maxims of a
sound policy. (Cheers.) Not to detain you longer, let me say
that if you wish this Society to prosper, and if you wish yourselves
to be respected as Highlanders and as men, you will cultivate
your Highland traditions and the Gaelic language along with your
noble Gaelic sentiments in all your schools. (Loud cheers.)

Mr G. J. Campbell sang " Mairi laghach," which was enthusi-
astically received, the company taking up the chorus with spirit.

Mr William Mackay, solicitor, then proposed the toast of
" Celtic Literature." He said — Two days ago I happened to
mention to a gentleman, whom I am glad to see here this evening,
that I had been requested to propose this toast. " I supjwse,"
said he, with a knowing smile on his countenance, " your first and
most difficult duty will be to prove that such a thing as Celtic
Literature exists. Now, gentlemen, taking my friend's words as
my text, I shall, with your permission, endeavour to show not
only that we have a literature, but also that it is one which is
ancient, and not altogether worthless. The subject is, however,
so wide, that, so far as the rich literary remains of the Cymric
branch of the Celtic nation are concerned, I shall merely allude to
them in passing. Some of them, as old as the sixth century, you
may find iti Skene's " Four Ancient "Books of Wales." We of the
Gaelic branch are more immediately interested in the literature of
our ancestors of Scotland and Ireland ; people who at one time
were in constant communication with each other, and thought no
more of crossing the stormy sea which separated them than we
Invernessians do of crossing Kessock Ferry to visit the good
people of the Black Isle. Perhaps the oldest piece of pure Gaelic
writing now in existence is a verse in Dioma's Book, a manuscript
copy of the Gospels made for St Cronan, of Roscrea, in Ireland,
who died in the beginning of the seventh century. From that time
down to the sixteenth century, Gaelic writers wrote to an extent
which is quite amazing to those who, looking to the scantiness of
the Saxon literature of the period, assumed that the Celt must
have been infinitely in the rear. Among ancient Gaelic manu-
scripts discovered in Scotland are the Book of the Abbey of Deer,
in Aberdeenshire, a manuscript of the ninth century, now published
by the Spalding Club ; the Bethune manuscript of date 1100 ; the

38 TRANSACTIONS.

Lament of Dearduil, dated 1208 ; and the Dean of Lismore's Book,
of the sixteenth century, containing upwards of 11,000 verses of
Gaelic poetry by Ossian and other ancient bards. As to the Gaelic
manuscripts found in Ireland, in the British Museum, in the Bod-
leian Library, and in the libraries of Rome, Paris, Brussels, and other
continental towns, they are legion. Large portions of those manu-
scripts have been published under the superintendence of O'Curry,
O'Donovan, Skene, Sullivan, the Royal Irish Academy, and the
Royal Commission for publishing the Brehon Laws ; but, in the
opinion of Professors O' Loony and O'Mahony of Dublin, there
were, in 1875, still not less than one thousand volumes of unpub-
lished Gaelic. The contents of those manuscripts are as various
as the subjects which exercised the minds of the learned of the ages
in which they were written— history, poetry, romance, law, medi-
cine, and even mathematics and astronomy. The poems and ro-
mances are remarkable for the vivid glimpses which thej give of
the every day life of our remote ancestors ; the scientific treatises
are curious in so far as they unfold to us the views of the ancient
Celt on subjects which command attention in our own day ; bvit
by far the most valuable are the annals and historical tracts which,
in many cases, were written at the times of which they speak.
Skene carefully studied them, and made capital use of them in his
" Celtic Scotland " just published — a work in which he has com-
pletely demolished the fabulous fabrics raised by Fordun, Boece,
and other so-called historians of ancient Scotland ; and in which he
narrates the true history in a remarkably lucid and entertaining
manner. And it is not alone to him who would be historian of
Scotland that those remains may be interesting. Do they, for
example, throw any light on the topography and early history of
the town in which we are met, and the surrounding districts ? We
have continually been told that Loch-Ness, the river Ness, and
Inverness, all derive their names from the Fall of Foyers — an Eas
— but the Tales of Clan Uisneach, composed, according to Professor
O'Curry, anterior to the year 1000, lead me to discredit that
theory, and to believe that the loch, river, and town, owe their
names to Naois, the son of Uisneach, who, with his loved Dearduil
(pronounced Jardil), fled from the court of Conachar Macnessa,
King of Ulster, to Scotland, where they sojourned for a time. In
.those tales I find mention of Uisge Naois (the Water of Naois,
which I take to be Loch-Ness), and Inbhernaois or Inverness. The
prominent vitrified fort on the south shore of Loch-Ness is to this
day known as Dun Dearduil, and in the Gaelic Manuscript of

ANNUAL DINNER. 39

1208, which I have mentioned, Dearduil, on her return to Ireland,
sings farewell to Scotland and a favourite glen there, in the follow-
ing strain : —

" Beloved land, that eastern land,
Alba with its lakes ;
Oh ! that I might not depart from it,
But I depart with Naois,

Glen Urchain ! O Glen Urchain !
It was the straight Glen of smooth ridges
Not more joyful was a man of his age
Than Naois in Glen Urchain."

Now, on the north shore of Loch-Ness and opposite Dun Dearduil
we have the beautiful Glen of Urquhart (in Gaelic, Gleann Urchu-
dairi), and there can, I think, be little doubt that that is the glen
of which Dearduil sang. Without leaving Glen-Urquhart, I may
mention that Anderson, in his " Guide to the Highlands," supposes
that the ancient temple which stood in the immediate vicinity of
Temple Pier was the same as the church of Maolrubha, built about
600 ; but in the Annals of Tighernach, who died in 1088, the
place in which that church was erected is called Apurcrossan,
which certainly is not Glen-TJrquhart, and may be Applecross.
Few intelligent Scotchmen are, I presume, ignorant of the fact
that Scotland was at one time divided into seven provinces, but I
venture to say that there are not many who are aware of
another fact recorded in a Gaelic verse quoted by Gillecaomhan,
who died in 1072, that this arrangement had its origin in
the division of Alban among the seven sons of Cruithne. The
Picts, whose king in the time of Columba had his palace
in the neighbourhood of Inverness, are frequently mentioned,
and at a later period we have the murder in our vicinity of the
" Gracious Duncan," of Shakespeare, by Macbeth, the Maormor of
the ancient, and for a long time independent, province of Moray,
in the very centre of which we now are ; the career of Macbeth
as King of Scotland ; and the wars in which the Celts of Moray
were from time to time engaged in defence of their ancient rights,
until at last the bloody tale ends with the significant words, under
the year 1130 — "Ar fer Muriamh in Albain" — (the slaughter of the
men of Moray in Alban). I have now endeavoured to indicate the
extent and value of our ancient written literature. I need not tell

40 TRANSACTIONS.

you of the mass of oral literature which we possess in the shape of
beautiful tales and stirring ballads, a great part of which has been
collected and published by Mr J. F. Campbell of Islay, nor of the
" Poems of Ossian " which, no matter by whom they were com-
posed, were sufficient, when published, to send a Celtic thrill
through the intellect of Europe, nor yet of the numerous Gaelic
bards who have flourished within the last two centuries. For an
account of all these and the progress of Gaelic literature generally,
1 refer you to the works of Dr M'Lauchlan, Professor Bourke, and
our own chief. At no other time within the history of the Celt
did his literature receive such attention from Celt and Saxon as it
now does. Success then let us drink to it ; in prosperity may it
more and more increase ; and may the time be not far distant
when no Briton shall deem his education complete without some
knowledge of the ancient literature of his native land. Let me
couple the toast with the name of the Rev. Mr Macgregor, one of the
oldest and raciest of the Gaelic writers of our day. His beautiful
translation of the Apocrypha, undertaken at the request, and pub-
lished at the expense, of that eminent Celtic scholar Prince Lucien
Bonaparte, is sufficient to hand his name down to posterity as a
Gaelic scholar ; but perhaps he will live more in the affection of
his countrymen as the genial •'' Sgiathanach" and " Alasdair Ruadh "
of our Highland magazines and newspapers. (Loud cheers.)

The Rev. Mr Macgregor replied in Gaelic. At the outset, he
alluded to his great love for his mother tongue — A' chainnt bhiim
bhlasda a bha ann o chein— mar a thubhairt am bard —

" Bh'aig Adharnh 's aig Eubha,
Roimh fheuni 'bhi air aitlreachas,
Mun d' chiontaich iad an Eden,
Gun eucail, gun smal orra ;
Air olc mu'n robh iad eolach,
Gun chomhdach, gun ath' orra ;
Do'n pheac' gun bhi na'n traillean,
'S o'n gharadh gun charachadh."

He then proceeded —Ann an neo-chiontas chum ar ceud sinnsre
comhradh binn agus caidreach ri cheile 'sa chanain sin a thainig
a nuas air feadh gach linn gus an d' fhuair i tuineachas air mor-
thir na Roinn-Eorpa. An sin bha i 'na steidh 110 'na bunait do'n
Ghreugais agus do'n Laidinn, agus do chainntibh eile. As an
. Rpinn-Eorpa, an deigh linntean dol seachad, thainig a' Ghailig

ANNUAL DINNER. 41

lurach a nail thar chu&n, agus fhuaif i fasgadh ann an Alba, agus

Eirinn, 's an Eilean Mhanainneach, 's an Odhailt, agus ann an

cearnaibh eile. Uime sin, tha Ghailig urramach fathast sgiiobhta

ann an ainmibh gach beinn agus bealach, gach slochd agus cnochd,

gach amhainn agus allt, gach ruidh agus rudha, cha'n e nihain air

feadh Alba gu leir, ach mar an ceudna air mor-thir na Roinn-

Eorpa. Cha'n 'eil teagamh nach d' ionnsaich Ceann-feadhna

Comunix Gailig Inbhirnis am mor eolas aige air a Ghailig, o blxi

faicinn gu'n robh i 'na steidh, 'na bunait, agus 'na freumh do'n

Ghreugais agus do'n Laidinn air am bheil e co fiosrach. Is mior-

bhuileach an durachd a ta lionadh cridhe av Ceaun-feadhna chum

a' Ghailig eiridinn. Leis an strith a rinn e, tha Caithir na Gailig

a cheana air a tri cosaibh. An sin, suidhear air a' chaithir sin

duine foghluimte eigin, a bhios a' craobh-sgaoileadh gach fiosrachaidh

mu'n Ghailig eadar bhun agus bharr air feadh gach cearnaidh de

dh-Alba, agus d' an rioghachd air fad. Is miorbhuileach an dichioll

a rinneadh leis an Oilamh urramach, Blackie fein, chum na criche

so, an uair nach 'eil boinne a dh-fhuil nan Gaidheal 'na chuislibh !

Ach tha e cianail, maslachail a bhi faicinn mar a ta a' Ghailig air

a druideadh a mach as gach tigh-sgoile ann an Gaidhealtachd na

h-Alba, agus an oigridh air am fagail co aineolach ri lothaibh nan

asail fiadhaich air cainnt am mathar fein. Cha'n 'eil na h-ard

chumhachdan a shuidhich na sgoilean sin, a' toirt aon chuid comais

no duais do'n luchd-teagaisg chum Gailig a thoirt idir do'n oigridh,

agus air an aobhar sin, cha'n urrainn iad Focal an Tighearna a

leughadh ann an cainnt am mathar fein ; agus is nar an gnothuch

e ! Tha e taitneach, gidheadh, gu'm bheil gach Comunn Gaidh-

ealach anns 'n rioghachd air fad a dh-aon inntinii chum so ath-

leasachadh, agus tha na Comunna sin lionmhor. Cha mhor baile

ann am Breatunn anns nach 'eil Comunn Gailig. Tha iad ann an

Lunainn, Duneideann, Glaschu, Giianaig, Cillribhinn, Dundeagh,

Abaireadhan, agus ann am bailtibh eile. Agus c'ait am bheil

Comunn ni's rianaile, dillse, durachdaich, agus deine na Comunn

Gailig Inbhirnis ? Tha buill a' Chomuinn so a' dol gu'n dulan chum

gach reachd agus cleachd a bhuineas do na Gaidheil a churnail air

chuimhne, agus chum gach riaghailt agus innleachd a ghnathachadh

chum sliochd nam beann ath-leasachadh a thaobh nithe aimsiieil agus

spioradail. Tha 'n Comunn gu mor air a chuideachadh chum na

criche so le da thi ro chumhachdach anns a' bhaile so fein, agus

labhrar umpa a reir an inbhe agus an aois. Tha againn, an tois-

each, an t-Ard-Albannach coir, agus is diulnach laghach e. Ged is

iongantach e ri radii, cha'n 'eil e ach air eigin ceithir bliadhna dh'

42 TRANSACTIONS.

aois, gidheadh, chithear e, le bhonaid leathainn agus le bhreacan-
an-fheile, a' siubhal o bhaile gu baile, o chomunn gu comunn, a'
labhairt, ag eisdeachd, a' teagasg, agus a' sparradh nithe iomchuidh
chum a luchd-duthcha a sheoladh air an t-slighe cheart chuna an
leas fein. Gu robh gach deagh bhuaidh leis. Ach tha oganach
treun agus deas-chainnteach eile againn ann am priomh-bhaile so
na Gaidhealtachd, agus cha'n 'eil e fathast ach beagan thar bliadhna
dh' aois, gidheadh is comharraichte tapaidh am balachan e. Is e
Mios-leabhar Gaidhealach (Celtic Magazine) is ainm dha. Tha deagh
fhiaclan aige a cheana, leis an gearr agus am bearr e gach ni, ann
an cumadh freagarrach chum maith a luchd-duthcha. Is iongan-
tach an storas eolais a tha aige air seann sgeulaibh, eachdraidhean-
ceilidh, faisneachdan soilleir, agus nithe eugsamhla eile. Gheibhear
'sa Mhios-leabhar so, eachdraidh chuimir air gach deasboireachd mu
bhardachd Oisein, far am bheil comas labhairt aig luchd-dionaiclh
agus luchd-aicheadh a' bhaird urramaich sin. Tha mor speis aig an
" Sgiathanach " do'n dithis oganach so, agus gu ma fada a bhios iad
le cheile air an caomhnadh chum cuideachadh le Comunn Gailig a'
bhaile so, agus leis gach Comunn agus cuideachd anns gach cear-
nadh dhe'n rioghachd. Ach tha Gaidheal eile ann an Duneideann, a
ta beagan ni's sine na'n dithis a dh' ainmicheadh, agus is treun an
t-oganach e. Is taitneach leis an t-seann " Sgiathanach " agus le
" Alasdair Ruadh "—a bhi cuideachadh leis a reir a' chumhachd a
thugadh dhoibh. Cha'n ioghnadh an " Sgiathanach " a bhi liath-
cheannach oir tha dluth air da fhichead bliadhna on chunnacas e
anns na iurasaibh aig " Cuairtear nan Gleann " agus " Fear-
tathaich nam Beann." Ach buaidh le Comunn Gailig a' bhaile so.
Cha'n fhada gus am faic agus gus an cluinn iad an dian-dheasboir
foghluimte sin an t-Ollamh Waddell a' cur smuid ri luchd-aicheadh
Oisein, agus a' dearbhadh le iomad comhdachadh soilleir gun robh
Mac-Mhuirich co eucomasach air Dain Oisein a dhealbhadh, ri bala-
chan 'san Oil-thigh rioghail againn fein, chum dain Homer an
Greugach, no Virgil am Feudailteach a chur an altaibh a' cheile.
Deich mile beannachd aig na Goill — Blackie, Sharp, agus Waddell —
oir aca-san fa leih tha cridhe Gaidhealach ann an cochull Gallda.

Mr D. Campbell, Bridge Street, proposed "The Members of Par-
liament for the County and Burgh." Lochiel, he said, was widely
known and admired as a member of Parliament and a Highland
gentleman. Mr Fraser-Mackintosh was also well-known as per-
haps the only member of Parliament who knew and could speak
Gaelic.

Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch was received with loud

ANNUAL DINNER. 43

cheei-s, and in proposing the toast of " Highland Education," re-
ferred to the disinclination of the Education Department to recog-
nise in the Highlander's mother-tongue a valuable instrument of
education for the Highlander. He considered that in other re-
spects the educational interests of the Highlands had been well
cared for by the Government, and that among the specialities of
Highland education the cardinal point that remained to be dealt
•with was the introduction of Gaelic into the school curriculum.
In the frequent discussions on primary education, it had seemed to
him most extraordinary how seldom the speakers regarded educa-
tion as dealing with anything but the intellect, and more especially
was this remarkable when the provision of educational means was
held to be a duty of the State. What interest had the State in
the matter, unless to make better citizens, by seeing the youth of
the country brought up to recognise and observe the law of sound
duty, and to fit themselves for its performance 1 To society the
moral side of primary education was surely as important as its in-
tellectual one. It might no doubt be said that the cultivation of
the intelligence laid the foundation of morals, since your duty to
your neighbour was but an intelligent appreciation of your own
Self-interest ; but, though this principle might suffice to frame an
ethical code, the intelligence of the mass of humanity would never
induce them from pure selfishness to love their neighbour as them-
selves. The sanction for laws of social duty was to be found in an
underlying religious sentiment, and while the State wisely declined
to assist a sectarian education, it could n»t afford to ignore or de-
preciate this religious instinct which gave to the moral code the
force of law. Hence, it seemed to him that where Gaelic was the
medium of instruction from the pulpit and of devotional exercise
in the family, where all the promptings of faith in the Unseen,
and every aspiration after a nobler and more self denying life took
form in this language, it would be most unwise, or even unsafe, to
displace it by a side-wind in the course of imparting a secular edu-
tion. Even those who hold Gaelic to be an obstruction to educa-
tion might well take thought whether, in rooting up what to them
seemed tares, they might not be in danger of rooting up the wheat
with them. He had drawn their attention to this view, from the
moral side of the question, because Professor Blackie did not
happen to have noticed it in the paper contributed to the Novem-
ber number of the Gaidheal. In that paper the Professor had
shown convincingly that Gaelic literature was a study fitted to
impart a natural culture to the Highlands, and that the Gaelic

i 4 TRANSACTIONS.

language properly used, was an important auxiliary to the teaching
of English. The Gaelic Society of Inverness had long felt the
force ol these and similar considerations, and had petitioned the
Government to allow the teaching of Gaelic in Highland schools.
But the Society's efforts had hitherto been fruitless, because though
agreed in principle they were not agreed on details. Generally
speaking, Highland teachers would say it was preferable that
children should be taught to read English before Gaelic was intro-
duced at all, but though so far united, they were not at one as to
the position Gaelic should occupy in the schedule of results for
which payment was to be made. Room for still wider differences
of opinion lay, however, in the question whether, after all, element-
ary instruction should not always be commenced in the mother
tongue. The system of teaching in State-aided schools had been
modelled for the use of English-speaking children, but it had been
most carefully elaborated for its purpose, and was acknowledged to
be in every way excellent. Yet, neither under this system nor
under the system in use in the secondary schools of this coxmtry
was it now-a-days ever attempted to give precedence in the order of
teaching to a foreign language over the vernacular, unless the ver-
nacular were Gaelic. It was impossible to believe there was any-
thing in the nature of Gaelic to justify this special treatment, and
his own observations had led him to the conclusion that the com-
mon system of teaching nothing but English to children who knew
nothing but Gaelic produced very miserable results. It must be
borne in mind that thesfe purely Gaelic-speaking children were to
be found chiefly in the Islands and West Highlands. Poorly fed
and poorly clad, living in an inhospitable climate, often at a con-
siderable distance from school, very regular attendance could not
be expected from them till they attained an age and strength when
too frequently their services were needed to aid in the maintenance
of the family. Such children seldom got far enough advanced to
retain what they had learned at school. They did not understand
the English they pretended to read, and they could not read the
Gaelic they might have understood, and were of course unable to
express themselves in writing in any language whatever. It
seemed to him that if their education was commenced in their own
language, their intelligence would be quickened, they would learn
more quickly and retain more easily what they learned, and they
would feel an interest in their school work, and make some effort
to overcome the obstacles to their continuance at school past the
prescribed age of 13. Under this system the Highland child

ANNUAL DINNER. 4-5

would not only receive instruction in its own language, but might
be expected to leave school with such a knowledge of English, both
colloquial and literary, as would form a good equipment for its
life-work. He would not detain them longer, but wished to im-
press upon them that it was essential this subject should be
thoroughly ventilated on all sides, so as to secure thorough unity
of opinion and action. It was not enough that this Society should
be united. They must carry with them the Highland teachers and
the Highland people, and if they could only do this, he did not
believe they would have any difficulty in securing the co-operation
of the Education Department. He coupled the toast with the
name of Mr Jolly, H. M. Inspector.

Mr Jolly, in replying, remarked that although the question of
teaching Gaelic had been largely discussed, there was no certain
consensus of opinion regarding it. The general view, however, was
coming to be that they ought to begin with English — the staple
language, the language of the country, of literature, of commerce,
and of common life. There is no objection, he said, to begin with
Gaelic if we had time to do both ; but as time is short, we have to
consider which is the better course. The more I look at the sub-
ject, the more I am convinced that the true way is to begin with
English, but to use Gaelic as a medium for the culture of the
child's intelligence. It is hard enough for any child, Highland or
Lowland, to acquire a written language ; and if you lay a double
portion on the Highland child — if you ask him to acquire two lan-
guages— you immensely increase his difficulties. At the same
time, the vernacular should be used to cultivate his intelligence,
and to secure that the Highland child shall become acquainted with
the rich and varied literature of the Gaelic tongue. I assure you
that the failure of children to understand what they read is not
peculiar to Highland schools. The culture of intelligence along
with the reading has so far been a rare matter, and depends upon
the teacher, not upon the language. The great thing is to come to
Government with sensible, practical, and temperate demands ; and,
I think, to get Gaelic placed in the code with Latin and Greek as
a special subject, would really be practical and satisfactory.

Mr Stewart of Brin proposed "The Commercial and Agricultural
Interests of the Highlands." He said he was not going to main-
tain that the commerce and agriculture of the country could be
best carried on in the language of the Celt ; but he believed many
of their Celtic brethren would be able at the Muir of Ord or the
Corn Exchange to make as good a bargain as their English friends.

46 TRANSACTIONS.

He then referred to the past agriculture of the Highlands ; to the
trade of Inverness and its connection with the western districts and
islands ; to the opening up of the Highlands with roads, and the
construction of the Caledonian Canal ; and lastly, to the introduc-
tion of steamers and railways. There was one article of commerce
in Inverness, he said, which was very successful, and which has
very much fallen off — I mean the salmon fisheries. It is a curious
fact that in 1794 the fisheries of the Ness — the Four Cobles — were
let at a rent of £211 each, the whole being nearly .£900. The
leases of the tenants (which were for fifteen and sixteen years)
contained this stipulation — that in November and December the
tacksmen should be obliged to furnish 50 salmon a-month to the
inhabitants at the price of 4d a-pound ; during January, February,
March, and April, 150 salmon per month at the same price ; and
during all the rest of the year as many as the inhabitants required
at 2d per pound. I am afraid there is very little chance of re-
calling those times, however much we might desire it. As a con-
trast, I may add that during the ten years, from 1843 to 1853, the
fisheries that produced £211 in 1794 only realised an annual rent
of £17 11s ; and this was paid not by tacksmen to send the fish to
market, but by persons coming to angle in the river. What the
cause of this deterioration was I am not going to inquire. My
own opinion is that stake nets and other nets in the estuary had
something to do with it ; and others think that when the Canal
was made a great many fish entered it and were destroyed. The
Canal was opened about 1823 or 1824. Down to that period the
trade of Inverness was carried on principally by smacks, four of
which plied between Inverness and London. Before 1800 the
mails were carried round by Aberdeen, partly on horseback and
partly by one horse cars. In 1808 the Caledonian coach for the
first time left Inverness, and performed the journey to Perth in
two days. The old smacks sometimes took a long period to get to
the end of their voyage. I have been told of the case of a relative
of mine who was going to attend the medical classes in London,
and who left in the middle of October, hoping to reach his destina-
tion in the beginning of November. He was, however, six weeks
on the way, and this was by no means an infrequent occurrence.
About the end of 1825 a steamer began to ply between Inverness,
Aberdeen, and London. Finally came the railways ; and we ought
to be deeply grateful to the gallant men who have constructed 400
miles of railway at an expense of about four millions of money.
It seems a small thing now, but I know that great risks were run.

ANNUAL DINNER. -i 7

I knew one honourable baronet who was asked to sign a bill for
£50,000 or £60,000, and who replied — " Oh yes, any amount you
please — a million if you like ; I am in so deep already that the
amount does not matter." If it had not been for the interposition
of credit by Ardross, the Duke of Sutherland, I think also the
gentleman who sits at your right (Sir Kenneth Mackenzie), and
others, this great work would never have been accomplished. The
construction of railways has been our greatest achievement in the
North, and I need not say how much it has contributed to the de-
velopment of our material and social welfare. He coupled the
toast with the names of Mr John Macdonald, Exchange, Inver-
ness, and Mr Gumming, Allanfearn.

Mr Macdonald, in replying, said he was sure that every trader
in Inverness would bear him out in saying that their business con-
nections with the inland districts were of as much pleasure as profit
to them. He did not agree with those who thought the Society
had little to do with the commerce and agriculture of the High-
lands. Very properly at present the language and literature of
the Celt occupy a great measure of attention, but the Society would
never succeed until they took notice of, and grappled with, some
of the difficulties attending the commercial and agricultural inter-
ests of the country. We can have no commercial prosperity unless
we have an abounding population busily employed, and the High-
land proprietor who could so arrange that two families can live
where only one does at present would be a benefactor to his coun-
try. We have, he said, a labour question in the Highlands, not a
matter between master and men, but a want of labour. A great
amount of good would be done if the large amount of labour at
present lying idle could be employed.

Mr Gumming returned thanks, remarking that he was glad to
see so much interest was taken in agricultural matters, and trusted
the agriculturists would continue to merit the praises bestowed
upon them for their enterprise.

Mr Innes proposed the " Celtic Chair." The founding of a
Celtic Professorship, he said, has been one of the primary objects
of more than one Scottish Society. Though the original constitu-
tion of the Highland Society of London, the parent of such associa-
tions as this, which at first was called the Gaelic Society, and
founded about 1780, included the establishment of such a chair
among its objects, its members do not appear at any stage of its his-
tory to have over-exerted themselves in an endeavour to carry out
that object. The present Gaelic Society of London, which sprang

48 TRANSACTIONS.

into existence in 1830, made various attempts — notably in 1835
and 1839 — to induce the Government of the day to endow a Chair,
but when the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the latter year very
naturally suggested to them that the Celts of Scotland should first
show their interest in, and belief in the necessity for the Chair, by
getting together a portion of the amount required to endow it,
promising that if that were done the Government would consider
whether they would not grant an equal sum, the Society took
fright, and the agitation was dropped. In 1869 — that is, after the
lapse of 30 years, the matter was again taken up by the same
Gaelic Society. The Highland Society was approached, but they,
to say the least, were not enthusiastic. Articles appeared in the
newspapers ; the Celts of Inverness took a part in the discussion ;
and the General Coxincil of the University of Edinburgh took the
matter up, appointed a committee and a secretary, and in the usual
•way made appeals by sending out circulars to the people who were
thought likely to subscribe — the result of the appeal then made
being, if I remember rightly, than one subscription of £1 Is was
magnanimously promised. The name of the man who thus patrioti-
cally stepped forward should be preserved, For one or two years
Professor Macgregor annually wailed out his report to the General
Council, and in the end, need it be wondered, resigned. Well-
wishers of the movement were in despair, but not for long, for
when the prospects looked very black indeed, our heroic friend,
Professor Blackie, did not step, but leaped to the front, and vowed
he would raise £10,000, or perish in the attempt. As became a
Professor of Greek, he foresaw that to attain success it was neces-
sary to follow the Demosthenic plan, and do three things — namely,
to agitate, agitate, and yet again to agitate ; and what has been the
result of his agitation ? Why, he has, within about two years got
together, what no one but he could have got, the handsome sum of
£9000. To obtain this sum, he has had to eat about as many
dinners as it would, on a mild calculation, have taken to destroy
the digestive organs of an ordinary Highland regiment. (Laugh-
ter.) He has had to deliver lectures, addresses, and speeches, the
mere contemplation ot which is sufficient to take away the breath
of even a Gaelic society. He has appeared in furtherance of his
object on the stages of theatres, as also on the platforms of music-
halls innumerable, and if not in the pulpifc, at anyrate in the pre-
centor's desks of several churches. The question has often been
asked, how comes it that the Professor, a Saxon born and bred,
takes such an interest in the establishment of this Celtic Chair 1

ANNUAL DINNER. 49

There have been many theories broached on the subject ; allow me
to tell you mine. In olden times — before our Chief was born —
certain little people inhabited these northern lands. They were
called Sithichean. Now, these little people, out of mere mischief
or frolic, occasionally, when a fond mother was asleep, changed the
little darling by her side and substituted another and a different
child. That, gentlemen, accounts for the number of people living
in oiir midst bearing Highland names, and whose origin is taken
to be Celtic, but who neither possess any of the characteristics of
the race, nor any particle of the feeling and sentiment by which its
true sons are animated. That, too, must, I firmly believe, Lave
been the misfortune which overtook our friend, soon after his birth.
Now that he has been restored to his kith and kin, and shown the
stuff of which he is really made, there is no mistaking his origin or
his race, and no man will ever convince me that that man is not a
born Celt. Consider the characteristics by which he is distin-
guished. His enthusiasm, his love of country, his clannishness,
his genuineness, his determination, his pluck, his fearlessness.
These are characteristics of the Celt, and one or other of them is
at all times found in representatives of the race, while in Blackie
the concentrated essence of all is combined. He is a Celt all over,
and as Chief of a Society such as ours we could not have a better
or more representative man. Having now referred to the Professor,
I fear, however, in far too feeble language, considering what he de-
serves at our hands, let me say a few words of the Chair. I have
heard that Chair more than once called, and in this very town
among other places, the Gaelic Chair. Now, I take it in a meeting
of a society like this, I need hardly remind you that the Chair is to
be far more than a Gaelic, for it is to be a Celtic Chair. As you
know, the Celtic family is divided into two great branches — the
Gaelic find Cymric, the former being the oldest and embracing the
Gaelic of Scotland, the Irish, and the Manx, while the Cymric em-
braces the Cornish, the Welsh, and the Bas Breton. With the
Gaelic of Scotland we are all familiar ; during a recent run through
Ireland, though I made the attempt, I could get no reply in pure
and unadulterated Irish to my oft repeated Gaelic da mar tka sibh.
That was my misfortune ; because there are many thousands of
Irish-speaking people in the Emerald Isle. Never having visited
the Isle of Man, with the Manx, as a spoken tongue, 1 have no
acquaintance. Having on several occasions been in Cornwall, you
may be sure I considered it my duty to make some inquiries as to
the old Cornish language. A MS. vocabulary, SOOUyears old, is

D

50 TRANSACTIONS.

still preserved in the Bodleian Library. English was first used in
a Cornish church, in the reign of Henry VIII., but by the begin-
ning of the 18th century, the language was only spoken in the
west of the country ; and in 1778, just a hundred years ago, Dolly
Pentreath, who was the last person able to speak the language,
died. As every member of the Gaelic Society should, I felt I was
bound to pay a visit to the churchyard in which her remains re-
pose. A memorial tablet has recently been erected to her memory
by that well-known Celtic scholar, Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte.
The inscription is in English and Cornish. Old Dolly, who was a
" puir fisher body," was determined the language would lire as
long as possible, for she only consented to die at the respectable
age of 102. The village in which she lived is now called by the
contemptible name of Mousehole, which, I believe, is a barbarous
corruption of Moz Hel. or Maiden's River. This is a specimen of
how our beautiful Celtic names are corrupted by coming in contact
with the unimaginative English. Peter Pindar has the audacity to
say —

" Hail ! Mousehole, birth-place of Old Doll Pentreath,
The last who jabbered Cornish."

Fancy talking of the sweet and soft language of Cornwall in that
way — a language which can only be compared to the sighing of the
wind, or the roll of the blue waves as they wash the shores of Kin-
ance Cove ! My experience of the Welsh language is limited, for
it is really fearful. I had words the length of my arm with whole
bushels of consonants thrown at my head for two days, and then
escaped. Not that the length of the Cymric words is anything
to be compared with that of words found in Sanskrit, for, some
time ago, in reading one of Sir William Jones' translations, I
came across a compound word which had, if you please, only 152
syllables. After some remarks on comparative philology, Mr Innes
went on to say — We Celts are notoriously proud of our ancient de-
scent and long pedigrees, but have we been, are we, as proud of
our language as we ought to have been and ought to be ] Many
centuries, ay, countless centuries, before the oldest parchment by
which our moat ancient existing families hold their lands was
manufactured, our race and our language lived and flourished.
Nearly 500 years before Christ, Herodotus, the father of history,
referred to the Celts as an ancient people, but only in such a
meagre way as makes us wish he could have said more. Existing

ANNUAL DINNER. 51

as •we hare, as a distinct people for so long, and having as yet kept
fast hold of our language, are we now like our cousins of Cornwall
going either from indifference or supineness, or worse still, from,
positive or affected dislike, to allow our beautiful descriptive lan-
guage, which has left its mark on the topography of Europe, to
decay, if not die ? Oh ! if you are true Celts, as I believe you to
be, surely you will say never ! and agree with the Celtic poet when
he sings —

" Sweet tongue of our Druids and bards of past ages !
Sweet tongue of our monarchs, our saints, and our sages !
Sweet tongue of our heroes and free-born sires !
When we cease to preserve thee our glory expires ! "

The Celtic Chair is intended to foster and encourage the culture —
the scholarly culture — of the Celtic language, its dialects, and lit-
erature. By the way in which you have been pleased to receive
my remarks, I cannot but see you approve of the sentiments to
which I have attempted to give utterance. That being so, I hope
you will not think I am taking a liberty when I announce that I
am now going to borrow a hint from our Latin " connections," by
applying te you what they would style the " argumentum ad homi-
nem." It is usual at gatherings of the Highland Society and other
kindred associations to send round at this stage of the proceedings
what is metaphorically called the " hat." Now, we have not
hitherto done that here, but this is an exceptional meeting. We
have here with us to night occupying the chair in his capacity of
our Chief, one who has, as I have already said, taken an infinity
of trouble in gathering together a sum to enable him to found what
really is, or should be, our Chair. He has come a long way to
oblige us ; do not, therefore, let him go away empty handed, but
let us present him with a handsome sum, as our collective contribu-
tion to the Celtic Chair Fund. I am aware some of the gentlemen
present have already subscribed, as I have myself done, but I hope
they will feel as I do, that a special effort is now necessary to make
up the total sum required, and if we, the members of the Gaelic
Society of the Celtic Capital of Scotland, will not untie our purse-
strings, how can we possibly expect people at a distance to do so 1
I have brought with me here several subscription-lists, which, with
your permission, *dll now be sent round the tables, in order that
all may have an opportunity of inscribing their names, and the
amount of their donations therein. You must all remember the

D2

52 TRANSACTIONS.

story of the Quaker, who, at a charity meeting, was annoyed by-
speaker after speaker getting up and saying how much they sym-
pathised with the movement, without saying whether or not, and
if so, how much in £ s. d. they were prepared to subscribe. He
himself got up at last, and said " I sympathise £5." Following
that very worthy precedent, I am glad to say my friend Mr Mac-
kintosh of Holme, who has always taken a warm interest in every-
thing Celtic, authorises me to say he sympathises £5 5s, and though
I have already given as much as I thought my income warranted
my doing, I feeling, as I have said, that a special effort is neces-
sary, and that our good name as Celts is jeopardised if we don't
get our Chief out of the hole in which he has managed to fling
himself, I beg to say I also sympathise £5. When the lists have
been returned to me, I will then, in your name, have the pleasure
of presenting them to Professor Blackie, and asking you to drink
with more cordiality than I can expect from you at this stage, his
health and success to the Celtic Chair. (Applause.) The subscrip-
tion-lists were then handed round, and Mr Innes intimated that
£53 14s 6d had been subscribed. He then asked the company to
drink success to the Celtic Chair and Professor Blackie. (Loud
and prolonged cheering.)

Here Mr Hugh Fraser then sang ** Chunna mi 'n damh donn
's na h-eildean."

Professor Blackie, in replying, said — I did not know that this
was to be done, but it was a right thing for you to have done, be-
cause the University of Oxford has already anticipated us by estab-
lishing a Chair The sum already subscribed is above £9000, the
sum paid up is £8500, the greater portion of which has been laid
out at 4£ per cent, on heritable security. Did every Highlander
give his mite, we will soon have the sum of £10,000, but to be
pleased with that sum would not be gentlemanly — would not be
Celtic. We must have £12,000. (Cheers.)

Mr Colin Chisholm, Namur Cottage, Inverness, in proposing
the toast of the " Highland Regiments," said — A dheadh Phriomh,
a Thighearna Ghearrloch, a dhaoine uaisle agus a bhraithrean,
chuireadh mar iarrtas ormsa gu'n cuirinn mu bhur coinneimh,
sibh a dh'ol deoch-slainte nan Reisimeidean Gaidhealach. Tha
duilichinn orm nach do thagh an Comunn duine bu mhion-eolaiche
air doighean 's air euchdan an airm na raise. Cha 'n 'eil mi eolach
air geur lagh eagnuidh na h-armailt, agus cha mho tha mi deas-
bhriathrach gu liomh mhath a chuir air eachdraidh dhaoine a choisinn
meas 's urram do gach duine agus bean a bhuineadh dhoibh air

ANNUAL DINNER." 53

feadh an t-saoghail gu leir. Mur toilich na th'agam ri radh airson
an airm Ghaidhealaich sibh, tha mi 'n dochas gu'n gabh sibh an
toil an aite a' ghniomh. Mar bhoiin teagasg their mi beagan mu'n
Reisimeid Dhuibh. Tha sia fichead bliadhna agus sia-deug-'ar-
fhichead mu Bhealtuinn so chaidh bho 'n fhuair am Freiceadan
Dubh an t-ainm Sasunnaeh ris an abair sinn a nise Reisimeid —
ged nach fhaigheadh iad fhathasd e bu beag an diobhail. Bha iad
feumail mar bha iad, agiis bhitheadh iad ro fheumail do'n
Ghaidhealtachd na'm bitheadh iad air fuireach mar bha iad fo'n
t-seann ainm, agus, anns an t-seann nadur fad leth-dusan bliadhna
eile. Ach bha iad a nise fo bhrataich an High, 's cha robh an uine
fada an deigh sin gus an robh iad fo theine an Fhrangaich ann am
Fontenoi nan trom-bheum 'us lotan basrnhor. Am measg nam fich-
eadan de mhiltean saighdear bha ann aig cath gailbheach Fontenoi,
cha robh daoine idir ann a dhearbh am misneach, an cruadal, am
buadhan 'san euchdan coltach ris an Reisimeid Dhuibh. lomadh
uair fad an la ghearr iad beam 'us bealach am broilleach treun arm
ionnsuichte na Frainge. Ach mar bha 'n cruaidh fhortan air an
" fheoladair," Diuc Uilleam, chuir e am Freiceadan Dubh car fada
air falbh a thilleadh sgiath an airm Fhrangaich. Anns a' cheart
am sin dh'iarr an Seanalair Frangach (Saxe) orra thogail air each,
'us iad ga ghiubhlan roimhe sin air cradh-leabaidh. Bha fear air
gach taobh ga chumail air an each. Am priobadh an roisg
chunnaic an seann laoch gu'n do lagaich Diuc TJilleam a chuid
airm leis mar sgaoil e iad, ghlaodh Saxe air Morair Chlair, 'se siu
an ceannard treun a bh' air cheann feachd Eirinn san uair sin
fo lagh na Frainge — •" Ma bhitheas sibh aithghearr " thubhairt Saxe
" cuiridh sibh an ruaig air an namhaid mu'n tionail e chuid daoine.!1
Ann an tiotadh bha na Frangaich agus gach Albannach 's gach
Eirionnach a bha san uair sin fo bhrataich Fhrangaich na'n cruinn-
chomhlan a' deanamh direach air Diuc Uilleam. Thuig an Diuc
gu'm bitheadh an tubaist air. Chuir e dh'iarraidh na Reisimeide
Duibhe, ach chunnaic e an namhaid a' tighinn mar bheum-sleibhe,
'us 'nuair chual e seann iolach cogaidh nan Eirionnach thar e as
's dh' eibh e an t-each a b' astaraiche. Thachair an Diuc agus a
chairdean, feachd na h-Olainte — 's ruith nan cailleach leis a' bhruth-
ach aca — ris an Reisimeid Duibh ; dh' iarr fir a bhreacain air tilleadh
air ais ris an namhad, ach 's e nach tilleadh. " Mur till thu rithisd
ris an namhad dean air do shocair," thuirt na fir ris ; " bheir sinne
an aire ort." Ghuir an Reisimeid Dhubh agus Howard's Regiment
an aghaidh ris an namhaid 'us bha gu leoir aca ri dheanamh pioc-
aichean Eirinn, beigealaidean na Frainge agus claidheamhan nan

54 TRANSACTIONS.

Albannach a chumail a leth deiridh an " fheoladair " gus an
d'thug iad a cunnard e. Sin agaibh mar dhearbh am Freiceadan
Dubh iad f hein ri aghaidh a' cheud teine. Bho 'n la sin gu la Choom-
assie cha 'n 'eil ach an t-aon teisteanas ri thoirt orra, cliu 'us meas
dhoibh fhein 's gach aon a bhuineadh dhaibh agus mor-onair dh' an
rioghachd a db' araicb iad. Tha naoidh Reisimeidean Gaidhealach
fo cbrun Bhreatainn tha coig dbe na Reisimeidean so ag caitheamh
an fheile-bbig agus ceitbir Reisimeidean air aneideadb le triubbais.
Cha'n 'eil aon lide an letb-fbocail a tbuirt mi mu'n Reisinieid
Dliuibb nacb bu mbiann leam uiread a cbantuinn mu gach aon
dhe na b-ocbd Reisimeidean Gaidbealach eile. 'S coir an aire
mbatb a tboirt air na tb'againn de Reisimeidean Gaidbealach, oir a
reir coltais, cba'n fliaic duine tha beo an diugh Reisimeid eile air a
togail anns a' Ghaidhealtachd, ni's lugha na chuireas iad airm air-
caoraich, feidh 'us gearran. A reir mo bharail-sa agus cho fad 's
is fiosrach mi tha na Reisimeidean eile a cheart cho toilltinneach
air an cliu agus air an euchdan innse ris an Reisimeid Dhuibh.
Ach tha mi 'faicinn dhaoine uaisle mu'n bhord so nacb tuig mi,
a' gabhail sgios dhe bhi ag eisdeachd na Gaidhlig. Cha 'n e mo
choire-sa nach tuig iad mi. Bhitheadh e cho farasda dhaibh-san a
Ghaidhlig ionnsachadh 'sa bha e dhomh-sa Bheurla ionnsachadh; ach
bheir mi mhodh dhoibh gu 'n leig mi leo an leoir Beurla sblugadh
a nise.

" Lionaibh suas gach cuach gu 'm barr,

Bitheadh iad Ian de'n deoch is fhearr,

Sguabaibh as i fuar no blath,

Air deadh shlainte arm an aigh."

Na Reisimeidean Gaidhealach !

The toast having been cordially responded to, Captain MacRa
Chisholm of Glassburn rose and said — Fhir urramaich 's fhoghluimte
a tha 'sa' Chathair, a Mhaighstir Siosal, agus a mhuinntir mo
chridhe uile gu leir — Tha mi 'g eirigh le nioran toil-iniitinn a thoirt
tainge air son na doigh dhuineil thlachdmhoir, 's an d' thug Mr
Siosal dhuinn Deoch-slainte nan Reisemeidean Gaidhealach, agus
air son na doigh chridheil shunndaich leis an do ghabh sibh ris an
Deoch-slainte so. Ach 's mor nao dhiachuinn nach 'eil mo ghreim
air a' Ghaidhlig ach lag 's gur beag mo chleachdadh air a bhi labh-
airt air beulaobh Ian tighe de dhaoine-uaisle, mar a th' againn an
so a nochd. Air an aobhar sin, cha 'n 'eil e na mo chonias- frea-
gart cho grinn, glan, agus gasda 's bu mhath leam, agus a bhiodh
freagarrach air son Deoch-slainte a tha cho measail aig Coniunu

ANNUAL DINNER. 55

Gaidhlig Inbhirnis. Ach gabhaibh mo leisgeul — bho'n a tha fios
agaibh fhein 's aig an t-saoghal uile, gun do choisinn na Reisimeid-
ean Gaidhealach gloir, cliu agus ard-rnholadh anns a h-uile cogadh,
bho Fhontenoi gu ruig Coomassie. Agus, an am na sithe, bha
iad ainmeil air son deadh-oijein, — le bhi coir, ciuin, caoimhneil
agus cliuiteach, na'n duthaich fhein, agus ann an dutchannan eile.
Agus, mar a rinn iad, ni iad. Oir ma dh' eireas cogadh a rithisd,
eiridh spiorad luchd-nam-breacan, agus cha bhi gaisge ar luchd-
duthcha air an la-an-diugh, dad air dheireadh air gaisge nan laoch a
dh' fhalbh. Ach mo thruaighe nach 'eil riaghladairean an airm a'
riaghladh nach bitheadh ach Gaidheil 's na Reisimeidean Gaidh-
ealach, Sasunnaich 's na Reisimeidean Sasunnach, agus Eirion-
naich 's na Reisimeidean Eirionnach ; mar sin, bhiodh neart, treun-
tas, agus spiorad gach saighdeir air a bhrosnachadh gu end, gu.
ainm, agus cliu a dhuthcha fhein a chumail suas. Ach a nis, tha
luchd gach rioghachd am measg a cheile, ann an rathad nach 'eil
Reisimeid Ghaidhealach, Eirionnach, 110 Sasunnach ann idir, — 's
tha eud, fein-speis, spiorad, agus cuimhne gach duthcha, air chall
air na saighdearan againn. Bheir mi nise, ma's e bhur toil treiseag

bheag air a' Bheurla. Having said so much in Gaelic, I shall

now, with the permission of our most excellent and learned Chief
and Chairman, conclude in English. Thirty-five years ago I had
the honour of a commission in the 42d Royal Highlanders, as a
reward for my father's services at Waterloo and the capture of
Paris. When I joined the " Forty-Twa " — " Scotia's darling corps "
— the " Black Watch" was composed of real as well as loyal High-
landers. The officers were all Scotch except one, but he was edu-
cated at the Edinburgh University. The men were all Highland
or Scotch except one — a Yorkshire born manufacturer — but he had
the redeeming name of Munro. Well do I remember when the
first English officer joined us, and the little frolic we had after mess
transmogrifying him into a Scotchman. And how do you think
we managed it 1 We made him eat and swallow a live thistle,
prickles and all, and T must say he performed the operation like a
man, and washed it all down with a quaich of real mountain dew.
We then received him as a brother Scot. Is it not a pity and a
shame, and a great mistake that our Highland Regiments are not
kept exclusively ffig/Uand, or at least national. The Royal war-
rant of King George II., issued for regimenting the Black Watch
companies, contains the command that " Recruits for the 42d
Royal Highlanders were always to be raised in the Highlands of
Scotland, the officers and men to be natives of that country, and

56 TRANSACTIONS.

none other to be taken." Why, then, should English or Irish be
taken into Highland Regiments, and dressed up in kilts, dirks, and
feather bonnets 1 Why should not the true martial Highland
spirit of these regiments be left unalloyed, instead of having regi-
ments composed of different nations mixed promiscuously ? If we
are to have Highland Regiments why are they not composed of
Highlanders, men and officers 1 men who would understand the
notes of the war-pipe, which penetrate the inmost fibres of the
heart and frame, and rivet the whole action of the soul to one
point. It is thus that a charge to battle sounded in piobaireachd
absorbes all the distracting cares and selfish sensibilities denomi-
nated fears, inflames the courage to enthusiasm, and renders a com-
mon man a hero. (Applause.) The sound of that martial instru-
ment transports the Highlander with joy, in common circumstances,
and renders him insensible to danger, and invincible in the con-
flicts of war. I again thank you all for having so heartily drank
to the toast of the Highland Regiments.

Mr Macandrew gave the " Provost, Magistrates, and Town
Council of Inverness." Referring to Macaulay's statement that
Inverness in former times was " a solitary outpost of civilization in
a region of barbarians," he contended that this was not the case,
and that our ancestors were far from barbarians. —

" I lately," he said, " came across a letter-book which belonged
to a Mr Grant, a merchant who lived in Inverness in the year
1746. The letters were addressed some to people in Bordeaux,
others to Holland, and consisted of orders for goods ; and in them
the writer insisted that he would pay for nothing that was not
thoroughly good. His wine must be of the very best. Now, that
wine was intended for the gentlemen who lived in the Highlands,
and this circumstance shows that they were so far civilised as to
know what was good and what was bad in wines. (Laughter and
applause.) What I was struck with chiefly was the order from his
wife, with which he supplemented his own order for goods. In
his wife's order there were ' two dozen finger glasses,' and some
' table-napkins ; ' indicating that in this burgher's house there was
some degree of comfort and refinement."

Mr Macandrew said that in those days Inverness was really the
capital of the Highlands, the centre of Highland life ; and he
thought it might still be made a place where Highland gentlemen
would like to reside, and to send their sons for education.

Bailie Davidson replied to the toast, observing that the town
had recently spent £80,000 for a -water and gas supply. Aplenti-

ANNUAL DINNER. 57

ful supply of good water had thus been obtained, which would
prove a great benefit to the inhabitants.

Mr Murdoch, of The Highlander, in proposing " Kindred So-
cieties," said that from what he knew of them it would take him a
long time to speak of them in detail. He would not, however, at
that late hour, even attempt to name them. There were two
things which he would say of them, that the societies which were
prospering were characterised by genuineness and usefulness. Those
which were true to themselves, standing forward as Highlanders
in speech and sentiment, were always triumphant. So were the
societies which did not exist merely for their own small selves ;
they throve by the very work of doing good beyond themselves ;
just as this Society never was so prosperous, and never commanded
such respect as when it was pressing the subject of Highland Edu-
cation on the School Boards of the Highlands. If these societies
bore this in mind, and acted accordingly, there was no danger of
Gaelic dying in 200 years or in 2000 ; and we should soon have
Sir Kenneth Mackenzie's self-evident ideas carried out in regard to
that language in schools. If the societies were true and active, the
opinion which Sir Kenneth expressed so well, and which we all
knew to be the correct one, would be the opinion of the country,
and become the law of the land. It was no longer a thing to be
argued with inspectors or schoolmasters ; it was simply to assert
the conviction as that of true men, and the inspectors and the
teachers would just have to learn to do what their masters told
them. And so with every other question. He was to couple this
toast with the name of Mr Ross, President of the Inverness Scien-
tific Society and Field Club, a young society which was not wasting
its time discussing such questions as who was worse, the Miser or
the Spendthrift, or who was the greater general, Wellington or
Napoleon. It did not look to other men and other lands, but
looked directly under our own feet and around us here for scienti-
fic, literary, and industrial resources ; and its success had already
abundantly justified its wisdom, and went to supply one of the
greatest wants in the locality — an acquaintance with and reliance
upon our own resources.

Mr A. Ross, President of the Inverness Scientific Society, re-
plied, and remarked that if some of the archaeological papers read
before his Society were published in the Transactions of the Gaelic
Society, they would add much to the interest of the volume.

Professor Blackie then rising, declared that in modern Europe
there were three despots — the Roman Pope, the Emperor of Russia,

58 TRANSACTIONS.

and a Highland Chief — (Laughter) — and by his authority as Chief
he wiped out three toasts — Non-Resident Members, the Ladies, and
the Press. —

" I wipe out the Ladies with the blood throbbing over every
inch of me— (Laughter and applause) — and I wipe out the Press
because there is a press of business — (Laughter) — and because I
have a special enmity towards them for the way in which they
report me. (Laughter and applause.) The next toast is the
Croupiers."

Mr Stewart — " Wipe that out too."

Professor Blackie — " No, I am despotic." (Laughter.)

Mr Stewart — " Well, we humbly appeal to you." (Laughter.)

Professor Blackie — " I am despotic ; there is no appeal." (Re-
newed laughter.)

The Rev. Mr Macgregor proposed the health of the " Crou-
piers," which was replied to by Mr Stewart and Mr Innes.

Rev. Mr Maclachlan then proposed " The Chief." He said —
Fhir na caithreach, 'sa dhaoin-uaisle — Tha dleasanas air iarraidh
orm a chur an guiomh air an fheasgar so, tha gle dhuilich a choimh-
lionadh anns an doigh 's am bu choir dhomh agus a bu mhaith
learn. Gun teagamh tha deagh cheann-teagaisg agam : ach 'si
bhochduinn gu bheil e cho maith 's gu bheil e cunnartach gu'm
mill mi e. Ach c'ar son nach d' earb sibh e ri Alastair Ruadh a
bheireadh dhuibh Gaidhlig ghlan gu ceann seachduin, na 'n togradh
sibh ? So deoch-slainte Ceann-feadhna a' Chomuinn so, agus
ceann-suidhe na cuirme — an t-Ollamh urramach, gleusda, blath-
chridheach — an t-Ollamh Blackie. Tha mi 'g innseadh dhuibh gur
h-i so ann an aon seadh deoch-slainte shonruichte an fheasgair so ;
agus bu mhiann learn labhairt uimpe le teangadh dhaoine 's ain-
geal ; ach 's eagal learn nach 'eil mi ach mar umha ni fuaim, no
mar chiombal ni gleangarsaich. Cha 'n aon duine cumanta a th'
againn 'sa chathair a nochd. Dh'fheudainn labhairt uime mar
Ard-Sgoileir —

Ard iulair na fileachd 's gach seud
Bh'air ealaidh na Greig 's na Roimh,

Fear eolais gach cainnte measg sluaigh
Sar thuigsear gach buaidh fo'n ghrein.

Ach b' fhearr learn a nis labhairt uime mar charaid nan Gaidheal.
Nach iongantach an ni e gur h-e Blackie an t-ainm a's ainmeile am
measg ar sluaigh air an la 'n diugh air feadh gharbhlaichean 's f hir-

ANNUAL DINNER. 59

ichean na Gaidhealtachd, air feadh mhachraichean uaine agus bhail-
tean mora na Galldaclid, am measg shneachdan Chanada no measg
choiltibh fasail America, New Zealand, agus Australia1? BheU
sibh a' smaointeacheadh gur h-e duine suaracb no leibideach a b'
urrainn a leithid sin a chliu a chosnadh o cbearn gu cearn de'u
t-saoghal, o eirigh gu ruig luidbe greine 1 Agus am b'e duine gun
bhuaidhean arda do'n tugadh an Comunn uasal so an t-urram suidhe
sa' chaithir mboir aig a' chuirm bhHadhnail so? Acli 'se tha
deanamh a' ghnothuich cho iongantach nach Gaidheal idir tha 'san
neach tha mar so cho urramach arm an suilean gach Gaidheil tha
deigheil air a dhuthaich, a chainnt, agus na daoine o'n d' thainig e.
Cha'n fhios domhsa gu bheil aon bhoinne de dh-fhuil Ghaidheal-
aich a' ruith tre 'chuislibh ; agus air an aobhar sin feumaidh gur
duine mor da rireadh e — an inntinn agus cridhe, mu'n d'eirich e
chum na h-inbhe so 'nar duthaich. " Ciod e a rinn e, mata ? " tha
thu feoraich. " Ciod e a rinn e 1 " " Ciod e nach d' rinn e ] " tha
raise freagairt. O cheann beagan bhliadhnaichean bha Ghaidheal-
tachd againn air a dunadh a suas o choigrich ; agus bha ar coiinh-
earsnaich 'san taobh Deas, an Sasunn agus an Eirinn cho aineolach
oirnn fein, air ar duthaich, agus air ar cleachdainnean, 'sa bha iad
air Abyssinia, no air bodach na gealaich. 'S ann a bha iad a'
smaointeacheadh gur h-e a bh' annainn daoine fiadhaich, a' ruith
ruisgte, no le badan bochd crioslaichte mu ar leth-deiridh, agus air
ar comhdachadh le fionnadh tiugh mar ghabhar nan creag no mar
dhamh dearg an fhrith. Ach dh' eirich duine ainmeil a suas ris an
abair iad an Ridire Walter Scott, agus le pheann finealta, eas-
guidh, sgaoil e an sgleo bha cuairteachadh na Gaidhealtachd agus
air an la 'n diugh chi thu teachd" do'r duthaich, luchd-cuairt o gach
tirfo'nghrein — Sasunnaich chaola, chruaidhe; Americanaich ladarna;
Eirionnaich dheaschainnteach, 's gach seorsa beathaich a shiolaich
o'r ceud pharatan. Thubhairt an Scotach riu : —

" An t-oigh leak na beanntan mor,
Cruachan 's na neoil gu h-ard ;
Coireachan, frithean, dachaigh an fhireoin
'S an cluinnear na h-easan a' gair ?

Far am faic thu an ceathach a' snamh,
'Sa' lubadh mu shlios nan cruach,
'Sa ghnath na m' aire bhiodh fonn na mara
Ga m' thaladh gu foisneach gu suainn."

60 TRANSACTIONS.

Ach ged a rinn Scot ar tir ainmeil, gu de am feum a tha an luchd-
turais so a' deanamh do'r duthaich ? Tha iad a' fagail an airgiod 'a
na tighean-osda ; agus gun tamh ri falbhanachd o aite gu aite mar
chirc ag iarraidh nid, a' siubhal 's a' rannsacheadh gach sgriodain,
gach sgairnich, 's gach oisinn. Cuid diu le ord beag ladhrach
a' sgealpadh criomanan as gach creig is cloich. Ach tha na daoine
so falbh direach mar a thainig iad gun suim no speis a ghabhail
do'n luchd-aiteachaidh, no do'n cainnt. An sin dh'eirch neach eile
rinn obair cho maith ris an Ridire a dh' ainmich mi, a thug air
coigrich amharc, cha'u ann a mhain air ar beanntan 's ar gleanntan,
air ar 'n uillt, 's ar cuain, ach air na Gaidheil fein mar bhraithrean
's mar pheathraichean ; mar dhaoine treuna agus calma ; mar
dhaoine dligheach cairdeil. Agus thug e orra amharc mar an
ceudna air an cainnt mar chainnt bhuadhmhoir, bhoidhich, mhilis a'
sruthadh mar chir mheala o theangaibh ar baird agus ar sluaigh.
Co an duine rinn so 1 Sin agaibh e shuas air ceann na cuirme. Nach
'eil e air miltean punnd Sasunnach a chruinneachadh chum caithir
Ghaidhlig a steidheacheadh ann an Oil-thigh Dhuneideann agus tha
dochas againn gu'm bi an sgillinn ruadh mu dheireadh fo ghlais am
poca a bhriogais mu'n tig an t-am so 'n ath-bhliadhna, 's gun tig
gu luath Linn an Aigh ruu bheil am bard a' labhairt : —

" ' Nuair bha Ghaidhlig aig na h-eoin,'
Bha'n bainne air an Ion mar dhriuchd,
A mhil a' fas air barr an fhraoich,
A h-uile ni cho saor 's am burn."

Gus an d' thainig ar Ceann-feadhna bha na Gaidheil mur gum b' ann
'nan suidhe laimh ri aimhnichibh Bhabiloin, an clarsaichean
crochte air na crannaibh seilich, a' gul 'nuair a chuimhnich iad air
tir an cridhe, tir an eolais, tir an oige. Ach thainig Blackie agus
ghabh e a chlarsach na 'laimh, ruith e a mheoir thairis air a teudan,
dhuisg e gradh do'n na h-eilthirich, ann an cridhe na rioghachd —
agus ma dh' fheudte gum faic sinn fhathast ann an aite na luachaire
caoil, na coinnich uaine, agus na h-eanntaig glais, tighean nan
daoine coir ag eirigh, agus an ciobair stiallach Gallda toirt an tighe
air do'n duthaich as an d' thainig e. Mile beannachd leis ! An sin chi
sinn na glinn mar a b' abhaist : —

" 'S gum b' iad sud glinn an orain,
Glinn an ime, glinn a' bhainne,
Glinn chruidh-laoigh air airidh bharraich,
Far am bi 'n damh dearg a' langan."

ANNUAL DINNER. 61

S ma tha aon neach beo bheir mu'n cuairt e se 'n t-Ollamh Blackie.
Ach a nis cha'n fhaod mi bhi gar cumail ni's fhaide. Ach mu'n
suidh mi dh' iarrainn oirbh amhai'c air an duin-uasal — air aghaidh
fhlathail, gheir, ghloin, agus fhalt liath ceallach a' tuiteam o
cheann. Cha 'n urrainn domh gun chuimhneachadh air briath-
ran a' bhaird, ged a's arm mu mhnaoi a labhair e : —

" Gur gile mo leannan na'n eal' air an t-snamh,

No cobhar na tuinne 's i tilleadh bho'n traigh,

No blath-bhainne-buaile 's a' chuach leis fo bharr,

No sneachd nan gleann dosrach ga fhroiseadh mu'n lar."

Ged tha cheann cho geal tha chridhe eutrom, og fathast, 's tha 'n
duanag gu trie ri cluinntinn o bheul. Dh' eadar-theangaich e 'n
la roimhe cuid de dh-orain ar sluaigh, agus feudadh mi radh mu
thimchioll a rithistann am briathar Smeorach Chlann Lachuinn: —

" Tha'n uiseag 's an smeoraeh feadh lointean nan driuchd
Toirt failte le'n orain do'n og-mhaduinn chiuin,
Ach tha'n uiseag neo-sheolta 's an smeoraeh gun sunnd
'Nuair 'thoisicheas m'eudail air gleusadh a ciuil."

Do chuid de dhaoin' ainmeil tha daoine togail carragh-cuimhne ;
tha cuid eile a' togail carragh-cuimhne dhoibh fein le'n sgriobhaidh-
nean ; mar a thubhairt am bard Romanach " Exegi monumentum
aere perennius, &c." Ach mairidh an t-Ollamh Blackie beo gun
charragh-cuimhne cloiche, ann an oisinn bhlath ann an cridhe gach
fior Ghaidheil. Gu ma fada beo e, agus ceo as a thigh. Agus
'nuair a dh' fhagas e sinn, co againn nach cuireadh clach na 'charn 1
A dhaoin-uaisle, lionaibh ar cuachan gu'm barr, agus sguabaibh as
gu'n grunnd iad, ag ol deoch-slainte an fhior dhuin-uasail, an t-sar
Sgoileir, agus Caraid nan Gaidheal, an t-Ollamh Blackie.

The toast was enthusiastically drunk, and

Professor Blackie, in replying, said — Men and brethren, as Saint
Paul says — (Laughter) — I am seriously reminded of the saying,
" Woe unto you when all men speak well of you." (Laughter.)
But perhaps the woe does not apply, for men have not always
spoken well of me. I thank you for your reception of this toast,
and I have also to thank the gentleman who proposed it, for having
spoken in Gaelic. For although I followed almost every sentence,
I did not — perhaps because it was after twelve o'clock at night —
comprehend fully what he said. (Laughter.) I got only occasional

62 TRANSACTIONS.

glimpses, and therefore I have to thank him, for he saved me from
blushing. (Laughter.) I have to make one remark, however. I
did not wish to have this affair of the Celtic Chair put on my
shoulders. I accepted it only because there was no other person
that would take it up ; I accepted it, too, because I considered it
would be cowardly and mean-spirited if, when such a thing was
conceived in connection with the University of Edinburgh, every-
thing possible were not done for its realisation. (Applause.) I
accepted it because, in these circumstances, it was my duty — (Ap-
plause)— and I confess that I had not otherwise the slighest desire
to be encumbered with this business. I have since found that, if
you do the work which God gives you to do, you will find that
your pain becomes changed into pleasure — (Applause) — and your
labour becomes a triumph. (Renewed applause.) Do what God
sends you to do. This is the maxim that has carried me through
life. I thought I heard Mr Maclachlan use the words of the bard,
Ewen Maclachlan —

" Gur gile mo leannan,

Na 'n eal' air an t-snamh ; "

and I thought they referred to these beautiful white hairs of mine,
in which I take some pride — (Appl-mse) — for I think there is a
beauty in them. (Applause.) Well, the way to get through life,
to the attainment of such locks, is not to choose your lot, but to
show by your actions that it is right to do what you are called upon
to do. (Cheers.) Do it rightly, and do it pleasantly, and good
will certainly come. (Applause.) Do it thoroughly — not by
halves, for no good can come of that — do it altogether. (Applause.)
This is the spirit in which I took this work in hand, and though
the labour of the Celtic Chair has taken up much of my time, and
has prevented the publication of some of the most splendid books
ever written — (Laughter and applause) — it has brought me up to
those Celtic regions in which I had no proper business to be, and
which I now love so well. (Applause.) One benefit which I have
gained — a benefit which I prize more than all the Greek and Latin
I ever learned — is that my labours have made me acquainted with
my own country — (Applause) — and with the very best men in my
own country. (Renewed applause.) Aristotle says — and it is
always right to accept Aristotle, contradict Blackie and The High-
lander as you like. (Laughter.) Blackie may be despotic —
(Laughter) — but he may be contradicted ; but contradict Aristotle,
and there is no hope for you. (Applause and laughter ) Well, he

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN. 63

divides all men into two classes — those who are given to giving,
and those who are given to getting. You well know that the ma-
jority are more given to getting — (Laughter) — but the minority are
generally better and nobler ; and in good and noble matters — in
lofty ideals — in right conduct — the minority are always in the
right and the majority in the wrong. That is Aristotle and Gospel,
and contradict these two if you dare. (Applause and laughter.)
In this mission I and you were long in a minority, but we pressed
on, and proved triumphantly that we were in the right* (Applause.)
And 1 have at last got an immense amount of cash which I value
much, and an immense amount of love which I value more. (Loud
applause.)

As the Professor spoke he turned and threw his arms round
Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, giving him a hearty embrace. This action
was received with loud cheering and laughter, and when the enthu-
siasm had subsided, the Professor gave good-night, and the proceed-
ings came to an end. During the evening, it should be mentioned,
Pipe-Major Maclennan, the Society's piper, was in attendance, and
played selections of Highland music on the great Highland bagpipe.

The proceedings, which were throughout most successful, came
to a conclusion about one o'clock.

18iH JANUARY, 1877.

The following new members were elected at this meeting, viz. : —
Messrs John H. Forsyth, Inglis Street, Inverness ; William Gunn,
draper, do. ; Rev. John Macpherson, Lairg ; James Melven, book-
seller, Inverness ; D. Middleton, coal merchant, do. ; ^Eneas Eraser,
writer, Church Street, do. ; and Simon Finlayson, 1 Jamaica Street,
Glasgow.

Thereafter office-bearers for the ensuing year were nominated.

DR HATELY WADDELL ON THE AUTHENTICITY
OF OSSIAN. .

On Wednesday evening, January 24, the Rev. Dr Hately
Waddell, of Glasgow — well-known as the editor and biographer of
Burns, and more recently as the author of " Ossian and the Clyde "
— delivered a lecture on Ossian in the Music Hall, under the aus-
pices of the Society — Provost Simpson presiding.

Dr Waddell, on rising, was received with applause, and in pro-
ceeding to the discussion of his interesting theme, said — It may

64 TRANSACTIONS.

seem hardly necessary to inform the audience that the object of the
present lecture is to vindicate the authenticity of Ossian as repre-
sented in Macphei*son's translation ; but the lecturer, being by
birth and education a Lowlander, does not presume in any way
either to criticise or to explain the original Gaelic edition of 1807.
He wishes this to be distinctly understood ; and shall confine him-
self exclusively to the defence and illustration of the magnificent
works known by the name of Ossian, as they appeared in Mac-
pherson's hands. In prosecuting this subject, we shall have to in-
quire in the farst place as to the credibility of Macpherson's own
claim as the avowed translator ; in the second, as to the possibility
of his having fabricated such poems as Fingal and Temora, from
certain alleged originals among Irish mediaeval ballads ; and, in
conclusion, to present a sort of summary, or brief critical estimate,
of the most important, intellectual, and moral characteristics of
Ossian, as he appears in the translation — than which characteris-
tics, in the lecturer's opinion, nothing truer or sublimer ; at once
more natural or wonderful, is anywhere to be found in the whole
range of Epic literature, since the days of Moses and Homer.

I. MACPHERSON'S CLAIMS.

According to this arrangement, then, it is with Macpherson him-
self, in the first place, we are chiefly concerned ; with the possibility
or impossibility of his having been the actual author of these magni-
ficent poems ; and the first most obvious question, in this long-
vexed argument, is as to the moral character of the man himself.
Had anything been proved against him to invalidate his own de-
claration that the poems of Ossian were translated by him from an
original, or rather from several originals, in the Scottish Gaelic
language, in his hands ? Was he previously known to be a liar 1
Had he ever been guilty of fraud ? Had he ever done anything
dishonest ? Had he ever imposed upon his friends, upon his patrons,
upon the public ? Had he done anything of a sort to forfeit his
claims to their confidence, or to destroy his claims to respect and
honour as a student of divinity, and an aspirant to the functions
of the Church ? Nothing we know, or ever heard of. His worst
crime was poverty, and one of the most honourable actions of his
life was to requite in old age, by the offer of payment an hundred
fold, the unknown obligations of friendship that had been conferred
upon him in his youth. Why, then, should this man be suspected
or accused of a long, intricate, and difficult series of unblushing im-

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN. 65

postures on the world before the age of twenty-four ? Because Le
•was ambitioxis ? But he was not more ambitious than Burke or
Canning, Brougham or Disraeli — who have never been accused of
literary fraud or falsehood. Because other young men, like Chatter-
ton for example, have made attempts of the kind to impose upon
the public 1 But Chatterton, at that date, was only a child. He
might afterwards, indeed, have emulated Macpherson, but Mac-
pherson could not possibly have emulated him. Besides, the very
essence of Chatterton's imposture was the production of forged docu-
ments, whereas, the most serious charge against Macpherson was
that he did not produce a document at all. Is it because in earlier
youth he had attempted poetry of his own ? Then the sort of
poetry he so attempted affords the most conclusive evidence that he
could never have been the author of what subsequently appeared.
Is it because he afterwards enjoyed political patronage, and ob-
tained a Government appointment, where he accumulated a fortune ?
In this he was no worse than any other political aspirant of his
day ; but even if he had been. Ossian was published long before. Is
it because he threatened retaliation by violence, when he was de-
nounced as a ruffian and a cheat 1 Any man of spirit in the cir-
cumstances, much more any Highland man, would have done the
same. (Applause.) Is it because he refused to produce his MS.
when demanded 1 That question comes nearer to the point. But
he did produce it, and left it with his publishers for a twelvemonth
to be inspected by his accusers, who had neither the courtesy,
courage, or common sense to look at it. Is it because Johnson de-
nounced him for a cheat and a ruffian ? Pinkerton for a gifted
fabulist ? Laing for a cunning plagiarist 1 and Campbell, of Islay,
for a magnificent myth ] The reply is easy. Johnson in this, as
in many other matters, was a prej udiced dogmatical boor ; Pinker-
ton himself was a convicted fabulist ; Laing was a worshipper of
Parliament House, and bound to display his own learning ; Camp
bell, of Islay, is a modern rival collector in another field, and does
not choose thoroughly to examine the subject. And is James
Macpherson to be eternally defamed with fraud and forgery, be-
cause lexicographers and critics who did not understand tte sub-
ject, and will not so much as condescend to look at it, persist in so
defaming him 1 It seems incredible as a mere question of honour,
of honesty, of common sense ; much more incredible as a question
of fact, when the issues which depend upon it are considered.
Undsr the same head, Dr "Waddell further inquired, why then
should these extraordinary productions be looked upon as frauds,

6(J TRANSACTIONS. •

if there was nothing iu the translator's previous life to suggest it ?
Because the style was too lofty 1 the characters too grand ? the
events too wonderful ? the morals too pure ] the history too sublime 1
the achievements too heroic ? the incidents too romantic 1 the senti-
ments too tender ? the pathos too touching 1 the pictures of life too
splendid 1 the revelations of humanity too profound 1 For what ?
for whom 1 for when 1 For types of a race that defied and defeated
the Romans 1 For a poet who spoke with authority in the ear of
kings ? For a period of transition between native civilisation on
the brink of ruin, and foreign civilisation itself on the verge of
decay 1 Between the opposite extremes and representatives of two
antagonistic worlds ? Too lofty, grand, wonderful, and pure ? too
sublime, too heroic, too romantic, too tender, too touching, too
splendid, too profound ? — for an era like this, and for men like
these 1 Yet not too lofty, grand, wonderful, pure, sublime, heroic,
romantic, tender, touching, splendid, or profound for a young, half-
educated, unsuccessful student of divinity — who must have been a
liar and a thief, a beggar and a cheat, a hardened rogue and a
brazen impostor, from the age of eighteen till the end of his life ;
who must not only have concocted and composed the whole of it
in fragments, and interwoven, dovetailed, and jointed it together
by mere words and syllables not hitherto detected for a hundred
years, and apparently not known to himself; who must have bor-
rowed his style by assiduous labour, according to Laing, from 88
different authors, and manufactured 22 epic poems out of 966 words
or phrases — certain of these poems containing 3, 6, and 8 books ;
and who finally located his heroes and localised his scenes, on this
hap-hazard process, so exactly, that the very footsteps of the one
and the outlines of the other may be traced and identified at this
hour, scores and hundreds of miles distant from the regions and
localities where this youthful, imaginative, unprincipled, unscrupu-
lous, half-educated, and practically ignorant impostor fancied them ;
who did not know the rocks, the rivers, or the mountains, the lakes
or seas, the islands or the continents, the regions or the airts, the
very points of the compass, to which his own supposed forgeries re-
lated ! The supposition is impossible, incredible, absurd — (Cheers)
— impossible alike in fancy or in philosophy, in forgery or in fate.
Such a concurrence of falsehood with fact, beyond the knowledge
of the liar himself, is inconceivable. No necromancer on earth
could have accomplished it • much less a poor student of divinity,
who had failed for the Church and had failed in the press ; who had
published poems of his own before, which nobody but his enemies

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAtf. 67

remembered, and a translation of Homer afterwards which covered
himself with ridicule. Yet this is the alternative which his accus-
ers must adopt, rather than believe that Ullin was Ulster ; that
Inisthona was Iceland ; that the Carun was the Carron ; that the
Clutha was the Clyde ; that the kings of the world were the Ro-
mans ; that Fingal lived, and that Ossian sang, fifteen hundred
years ago ; that there was a poet then and there, as well as in
Greece or in Italy, capable of representing humanity !

II. MACPHERSON'S ALLEGED RESOURCES.

Having thus, in general terms, and from all reasonable ordinary
points of view, considered the credibility of Macpherson's own
claims, we are bound, in farther prosecution of the subject, to con-
sider also the character and extent of his alleged resources ; and
whether it was possible that from, these — such as they are said to
have been — anything like the poems of Ossian could ever be con-
structed. Honest or dishonest, gifted or not gifted in himself — did
materials known to Macpherson anywhere exist, from which Fingal,
Temora, and the other poems ascribed to Ossian, could by human
possibility — by any imaginable process of human invention, have
been fabricated ? This department of our inquiry, it is obvious,
will include much beyond the mere theft of appropriate language
from distinguished authors, or even of figures and filling-up pre-
supposed. Some theme on which the language was to be employed ;
some frame-work, like a web, into which the figures were to be
woven ; some outline, on which the filling-up was to be done —
these must also be discovered or alleged, before the possibility of
such forgeries can be admitted. Fine words and phrases, magnifi-
cent figures of speech, and a redundant style, might have been
adopted at random from a vanety of authoi's — from Moses, for ex-
ample, or from David ; from Homer and Virgil ; from Shakespeare
and Milton ; from Pope and Dryden ; from Gray and Thomson — as
Laing alleges, and has tried to prove ; but how were they to be
employed ? " Many words," however fine, " will not fill a bushel : "
but where is the bushel itself they were to fill ] Even horses and
chariots, shields and helmets, swords and spears, might have been
borrowed from the Romans in the process of translation ; but how
were they to be introduced 1 All varieties of national character
and costume, of national virtues and vices, of incidents, accidents,
and events, might be collected and arranged with time and patience ;
but where or when 1 At home or abroad ] by sea or by land 1 in

• 9

68 TRANSACTIONS.

Scotland, Ireland, or Iceland 1 At the beginning of the Christian
era, or in the middle, or towards the end of it ] In the days of
Caractacus or of King George ? All this requires now to be
settled ; and the ground- work of these magnificent so-called fabrica-
tions— the web of lies, and the outline of forgeries — his adversaries
exclaim, were the mediaeval traditions of Ireland. Scholar, anti-
quarian, and collector ; critic and philologist alike — who believe
not in fact, but rely wholly on conjecture — exclaim, The mediaeval
traditions of Ireland ! To the mediaeval traditions of Ireland,
then, let us turn; and the only additional remarks on the use of
language, &c., we have now to make, before doing so, are as fol-
lows : — (1) That, when it suits 'their own purpose, this very lan-
guage of Ossian, so sublime and beautiful, and said to have been
stolen from the most gifted authors in the world, is described by
the same objectors as intolerable bombast, or monotonous moaning ;
and (2), that although Grethejs Faust, the most wonderful work of
a century, in Europe, occupied its illustrious author from the age
of twenty-one till the age of eighty-two — that is, sixty-one years in
composition, the Poems of Ossian, the most wonderful work of
their sort in the world, are supposed to have been not only con-
cocted out of words and phrases in English, but translated out of
English into Gaelic by Macpherson, beginning . at the age of eigh-
teen, or thereby, in less than ten •, years. ; (3) As for the figures and
filling-up— such as horses and r chariots,-, shields, helmets, swords
and spears, &c., &c. — as represented in .Ossian, there was no need
to borrow them from any one. at the date in. question. We know
from the Romans themselves,' and from, the , oldest authorities in
Great Britain — which 'are Accessible to everybody — that such war-
like accoutrements, of a very formidable description, were in pos-
session of the Caledonians ; and must therefore have been known
to Ossian if he ever lived, as well as to the Romans, or to any an-
tiquarian now living ; and if Ossian's reputed heroes had been re-
presented without something of the kind, the representation would
have been false — and what is more, the deficiency would have been
insisted on as a blemish, by the very critics who now object to the
fact. Everything is now too minute and splendid, for savage
kings and Celtic warriors — it cannot be believed ; yet if a single
point had been omitted, or a detail overlooked, it would have been
a blunder on the one hand, or a proof of falsehood on the other.
The details are wonderful, no doubt, and the equipments are
splendid ; but it is only on princes they are conferred ; the rank
and file have no such advantages. Besides, it is the eye of a poet

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN. 69

which sees, and the son of a king who describes them. They were
all wonderful and glorious to him, and he so represents them — as
a young exultant warrior bard, himself a principal actor, might be
expected to do ; whereas, a mere student of antiquities, who was
conscious of fabrication at the moment, would have hesitated ;
•would have misplaced such properties, or apologised for their ap-
pearance ; would have compromised or betrayed himself in every
word of his dishonest description ; and would have been either
challenged or condemned accordingly. We might as well object
to the truth or the authenticity of Babylonian or Egyptian master-
pieces of decorative art, in pyramids and temples, because they re-
present kings and heroes going out to the chase in full dress,
or so accoutred, at least, as no modern huntsman would ever
think of — transfixing lions with arrows like boat hooks, and display-
ing their own ambrosial beards and plaited locks as smooth and
trim in the conflict, as if rampant lions were flies on a window-
pane, and barbed spears were bodkins or darning needles. How-
ever grotesque such representations may now seem to us, they are
nevertheless genuine, and such as the favoured artist knew would
be agreeable to his demigod the tyrant ; and no man now desiring
to represent such scenes or subjects, would ever think of departing
from them. In comparison with such repi esentations, the word paint-
ing of Ossian, although a little poetically exaggerated, as the case
required, is like nature itself ' in truthfulness and beauty ; yet all
the thanks the translator receives for reproducing it as it was — is
that he was a blundering liar, who overcrowded the subject with
ornaments, and overloaded the actors with leather and steel !

And now— I. As for the Irish traditions, in mediaeval ballads
and romances, so much, and so constantly relied upon, fully to un-
derstand the absurdity of believing that Macpherson could have
concocted such poems as Fingal and Temora out of these, it would
be necessary to have the ballads themselves before us. Does any
one now present (said the reverend lecturer) happen to be ac-
quainted with them 1 Then it will be needless for me to explain
to such a hearer the outrageous absurdity of that supposition ; and
for the audience at large, it must suffice to say that the ballads
themselves are not only manifest forgeries — false as to matter,
time, and place ; incoherent in their own details, and absurd in
their very conception ; but that they are wearisome, inane, pitiful,
outrageous, and often indecent absurdity, which it is penance for
anybody to read, and impossible for any human being in his senses
to believe, must be evident to anyone who knows them. The only

70 TRANSACTIONS.

useful purpose on earth they can ever serve, is to illustrate the in-
tellectual condition of the Irish people in the middle ages, and to
demonstrate by comparison the infinite superiority of Ossian.
There are the same or similar names, indeed, both of men and
women, in connection with certain places, but thousands of miles
and hundreds of years go for nothing in their calculations and re-
citals ; and both the men and the women represented by such
names are so utterly metamorphosed in these egregious composi-
tions, that they are no longer recognisable as the same human
beings. Fingal, for example, or Finn-Mac-Coul, as he is called,
captain of the Irish Militia, is, according to most of them, a sort
of lumbering, lascivious, bloodthirsty old dotard ; and Grania, his
wife, an ill-behaved, half-bewitched or lightheaded young woman —
betrothed against her will to Finn, who might have been her grand-
father ; elopes immediately afterwards with one of his genei^als,
and careers about the country with that young gentleman for an
indefinite period of time, pursued by Finn with thousands of his
Militia, till her paramour is slain, and she herself brought home
again in disgrace. This, according to them, was the light of Cor-
mac's race ; this is the woman that should be Ossian's mother !
Ossian himself, in the meantime, is represented as a married man
and a father — a widower, in fact, who undertakes to conduct the
courtship for his own father ! and ultimately degenerates, according
to other ballads, into a half-drunken, sensual, maundering old
rhyming rascal, disputing with Sfc Patrick about heaven and hell,
being then presumably about 250 years old ! On the same princi-
ple, Oscar, Cuchullin, Fillan, and Gaul, are either clowns, or boors,
or blockheads, or idiotic monsters on one hand ; or superhuman
prodigies of wisdom and courage on the other — for there are half-a-
dozen editions of every character ; and their battles, their adven-
tures, their romances, as a matter of course, correspond in style as
well as in substance — being either prosaic commonplace, or un-
mitigated vulgarity intermixed with oaths, or intolerable bombast
— wearisome or offensive, in the very best translations. Yet, this
is the sort of material from which Macpherson is supposed to have
created the Fingal, the Roscrana, the Oscar, and Malvina of
Ossian's poems, at the age of eighteen or twenty ! If so, then his
intellect, his diligence, his tact, his creative power, his moral
nature, and his poetic genius, must have been in proportion. He
had to create a new Fingal, a new Roscrana, a new Oscar, a new
Malvina, and a new everybody else. Above all, he had to create
a new Ossian, and to put into his head a new world, into his heart

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN. 71

a new moral universe, into his mouth a new language, into his
harp new melodies of song. He had to re-arrange the relation-
ships, from first to last, among all these abnormal personages, and
a hundred others besides, impossible and revolting, connected with
them ; to occupy their time, their strength, their faculties, their
very hands and feet, on another principle ; to allocate new scenes
of adventure, to describe new battles, to record new events, to
bring about new issues, to prepare new catastrophes, to celebrate
new triumphs, to lament new sorts of defeat ; in short, to create a
new world for new inhabitants, and to re-adjust all conditions for
their new existence ; to invent new genealogies, new destinies, new
descents, new births, marriages, and deaths ; new lives and new
histories — a work ten times more difficult and elaborate than
Goethe undertook in transforming the old devil-mongering Faust
of Europe into the new, and which took him sixty-one years to
finish. Yet all this, according to Johnson, Pinkerton, Laing, Mac-
aulay, and Campbell, the lad seems actually to have done in the
course of a year or two, and did not himself know either how or
where he did it, is bewildered in total ignorance of the whereabouts
of his own incredible achievement ! The Irish themselves are in
equal ignorance about the scenes of their romances— the very ro-
mances which he is supposed to have followed. The only thing
they are agreed about is that Fingal was an Irishman, and the
Captain of Irish Militia ; but whether it was at Dublin or at
Drogheda, at Rome or at Jerusalem, he was chiefly employed with
his miraculous troops — in pursuit of the enemy, or in pursuit of
his wife, with all the witches and magicians in the Island to help
him, in vain — they are not agreed. The only thing, on the other
hand, as regards Ireland, that Macpherson seems to see is that the
scene of his hero's exploits must have been somewhere in the Pro-
vince of Ulster — between Derry, perhaps, and Antrim or Armagh.
In point of fact — setting all this ignorance and all these idle con-
jectures aside — the only region directly covered by his own trans-
lation is between Larne and Belfast, where every position may be
identified, and every movement traced, in defiance of his own
opinion ! Yet all this contradiction ; all these miraculous absurdi-
ties ; these palpable, self-evident impossibilities ; these stippositions
of falsehood which confute themselves, and charges of dishonesty
which baffle comprehension — his accusers would rather believe and
reiterate, than believe the lad's own explicit declaration that there
was a Scotch Gaelic original before him, and that the Irish mediae-
val romances were corruptions of that very text. Surely " the
force of folly can no farther go ! "

72 TRANSACTIONS.

II. To do the editors and collectors of these Irish ballads jus-
tice, however, they do not claim either Ossianic origin or historic
value, or even common sense for the whole of them. They do not
affirm that they were written by Ossian, which indeed they could
not be, unless he had lived till the age of Methuselah ; but only
that they were ascribed to him by their own authors, and related
to exploits in which he, and his son, and his father were understood
to be concerned. They do not maintain that they are all reliable
historical documents, but only some of them — and these, perhaps,
a little exaggerated ; and finally, they admit that many of them
are " romantic " in their sense of the word — that is, purely imagi-
native, which, in our sense of the word, would mean incredibly
foolish, in the way of fiction. And just to show that I have not
been misrepresenting these remarkable productions, let us take a
specimen or two of the three different sorts.

1. Of the historical so-called : — It has been alleged, for instance,
that the poem of Fingal was plagiarised from the Lay of Magnus
the Great, because there is a resemblance between them in certain
points. There is a resemblance in mere words to the extent of
about 20 lines in 3196 ; and a sort of resemblance — a sort of up-
side-down resemblance, in two characters out of some six dozen or
more ; but the resemblance even of these is that of a noisy dwarf
in giant's clothes to a full-grown man, both grand and eloquent.
It has neither body nor mind, place nor position, age nor action,
speech nor figure, to correspond ; and although Fingal could never
have been plagiarised from Magnus, Magnus, in its dwarfish pomp,
might very easily, by corrupt tradition or recital, have been plagi-
arised from a scrap or two of Fingal. As for details, in Fingal
every mile may be identified ; in Magnus, not an inch ; in Fingal,
a term corresponding to Magnus — the Great Man — occurs once in
application to Swarran, and if Macpherson had been an impostor
it would never have occurred at all ; but being so found in Ossian,
and misinterpreted by the Seanachies, it became the foundation of
their tale about Magnus. In Fingal, a demand is made by Swar-
ran for Cuthullin's wife and dog, in token of submission, in nearly
the same terms in which a similar demand is made in Magnus by
Magnus himself against Finn. But Cuthullin's wife is expressly
said by Ossian to have been in Skye at the time, and so also ap-
parently was his dog. Therefore, the demand could never have
been complied with by the one, although it might have been by the
other — a difference which Macpherson, if he had been an impostor
writing down the very words, would certainly have avoided or ex-

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN. 73

plained, for his own credit. But in point of fact, Magnus never
made any such demand— had neither time nor opportunity to
make it. He landed with a small company on the coast, with a
view to examine the country, but he was surrounded in an ambus-
cade by the Irish, and cut to pieces on the spot. Finally, Fingal
purports to be of the third century, and every word corresponds.
Magnus also purports to be of the third century, but not rehearsed
by Ossian till the end of the fifth century, and the event itself,
which is celebrated — namely, the death of Magnus — did not occur
till the beginning of the twelfth century ! — that is, it was written
by Ossian 900 years and more before the event happened, and
about 200 years after Ossian himself was dead ; so that falsehood
and forgery throughout are manifest on the face of it. This is one
of their greatest historical epics, from which Fingal is supposed to
have been plagiarised !

In like manner, it is alleged that there is a suspicious resem-
blance between a certain part of Temora and the Death of Oscar.
There is not the slighest resemblance in any way — in language,
place, or time, except that Oscar is mortally wounded by Cairbre,
and that Cairbre is killed by Oscar before he dies. Those who
have read Temora, as delineated in " Ossian and the Clyde," will
know how the assassination of Oscar happened — when and where,
on the low road between Larne and Connor, or in the valley there.
In the Irish ballad, it was not an assassination at all, but a fair
fight on the field of Gavra near the palace of Tara, in Meath, after
a great deal of preliminary slaughter on both sides — and the style
of it was this : — Oscar, before he falls, cuts off with his own steel
blade 100 champions, 100 stout heroes, 100 keen arcliers, 100 stal-
wart spearmen, 100 illustrious chiefs — 500 in all, the most of them
in armour, or protected at least by sword and shield like himself.
After these exertions — by which Samson himself would have been
slightly exhausted — he receives through the body, " sheer through
his manly frame," a poisoned dart of " seven blunt barbs," which
ultimately drinks up his life blood ; but whilst agonised by this
wound, and with the dart projecting through his body, he first
strikes Cairbre, his assailant, dead, by a blow on the forehead with
his " nine barbed steel," and then Cairbre's lieutenant with an-
other dart, through the sounding mail. The remnant of the dis-
comfited hosts on his own side then bear him to his grandfather
Finn's house, on their spears, where Finn himself arrives unex-
pectedly— either from Rome or from the south of Ireland — it is not
quite certain which— -where (that is, in the south of Ireland) he

74 TRANSACTIONS.

was performing the annual feat of jumping over a dreadful chasm,
in fulfilment of a vow to some lady, who had fancied him in his
youth ; and which nobody in Ireland but himself, althotigh he was
then a grandfather, could do. Arriving thus in time, he proposes
to heal Oscar by the application of salves ; but Oscar objects to this
as needless, and so dies. Now, this is not only what is called epic
history — like our own Chevy Chase, but is part of the history of
of one of the most important battles said ever to have been fought
in Ireland — in which the rebel Fenians under Oscar were utterly
routed, and their power in the kingdom abolished. It was fought
296 A.D. ; and the story is rehearsed by Ossian to St Patrick, who
flourished in Ireland 450 A.D. ; so that the poet himself — poor,
blind, pitiful, and discontented — no wonder ! must have been then
about 250 years old, being above 80 years old when it happened.
This, we repeat, is not only quoted, but relied on as history ; and
there is a great deal more of the same sort of history in the ballads.

2. Let us now take a specimen of what may be called histori-
cal romance. A.t the Chase of Slieve-na-man, besides Finn and his
sons, there were 3000 chiefs of the Fenian race, in satin vests,
polished mail, helmets inlaid with gems and gold, shields of bright
and emerald green, with two glittering lances each, and a blade of
tempered steel ; each of these gentlemen had also two dogs — that
is, more than 6000 dogs in all ; and each of these dogs, in a few-
hours, from a herd of deer beyond number on the mountain,
brought down a couple to his own share — that is, 12,000 odds.
They then go in pursuit of the boars, which assemble in such mul-
titudes— the old ones outside, the younger ones inside — and show
such ferocity that many of the huntsmen themselves are discom-
fited and destroyed, besides hundreds of dogs, before the carnage of
the brutes is effected ; and all this in the course of one forenoon ap-
parently, on the side of a single mountain ! This is a specimen of
historical romance, and is also rehearsed to St Patrick : — 3000
men, 6000 dogs assembled ; 12,000 deer slain, as many wild boars
apparently, and multitudes of men — all on one hillside, and all in
one day before sunset ! The only wonder is, how, among so many
dogs, deers, and wild boars in the same country-side, human beings
could survive at all !

3. Of foolish, or what is politely called mythical fiction —
which, however, seems to have been very highly relished — we may
take the following specimen in brief, from the Chase of Glenasmol.
Finn, in that ballad, accompanied by his friends, and by the
Fenians, of course, with their dogs, unleashes his own supernatural

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN. "5

hounds — two human beings, in fact, brother and sister, in the
shape of dogs ! They start a hornless doe, black as night on one
side, and bright as light on the other ; the doe flies, the dogs pursue ;
and the entire pack, with the exception of Bran, is immediately de-
stroyed. At this crisis of consternation, Finn and his friends are
invited by a lady of surpassing beauty to advance, which, with
some trepidation they do. They are then confronted by a hideous
giantess, who, with a fleet behind her of a thousand ships, and an
inconceivable store of satins, silks, and shining ore. with many a
cask of rosy wine, and many a spit with haunch of deer — repre-
sents herself to be the Princess of Greece, and demands Finn on
the spot — who is always much in request among the ladies — for a
husband. This the wary chief, however, who suspects that she is
the Doe in a new form, declines to accede to ; and the giantess then
proceeds, with magic cruelty, to the indiscriminate slaughter of his
friends, by scores and hundreds, and tens of hundreds at a time.
This process continues for several days, till three thousand men or
more have been despatched by the lady, till she herself is ultimately
despatched by Gaul and Ossian together, who come often to the
rescue in such cases, when Finn himself, who seems to be a great,
cowardly, hulking villain, can do nothing. This, again, is a speci-
men of their romance, properly so-called, and there are nine-tenths
of it of the same character, with a good deal that is indecent and
unreadable besides.

Now, if Irish antiquaries and critics can accept such history
and extol such romance, it would be in vain to reason with them.
They must be allowed to exercise their own privilege of selection
and admiration at pleasure ; but when they insist that we shall
accept such history, or admire such romance, the case is different.
Above all, when they maintain that such poems are the ORIGINALS
of Ossian ; that Macpherson by stealth obtained possession of them,
and out of such unspeakable rubbish manufactured the sublime
epics of Fingal and Temora — we must confront them sternly, and
demand once for all, in the hearing of the world, if they take us to
be fools or madmen ? And it is the more necessary to do this, be-
cause certain critics among ourselves, who seem not to be able to
distinguish between the sublimest fact and the supremest folly, or
are perversely bent on substituting folly for fact, support this egre -
gious calumny, and expect intelligent readers to believe it. If
such an idea were conceivable at all, then Macpherson at the age
of eighteen or twenty, with Irish MSS. in his hands, did more than
all the Seanachies, of all the Provinces of all Ireland, for more than

76 TRANSACTIONS.

500 years together, could do ; and yet en their own admission (the
admission of his detractors, English and Irish alike), Macpherson
could not read a word of Irish Gaelic, and could not have trans-
lated a word of it correctly, if he had had the world for a recom-
pence ! On the other hand, is it not manifest that these childish fables
or atrocious lies are the shameless corruptions of more ancient and
really heroic traditions, falsified and interlarded with outrageous
nonsense to gratify the taste of the vulgar • and then ascribed by
their own degraded authors to Ossian, because Ossian was known
to be a poet, and had once visited the region, and because it was
desirable to convert both himself and his people into Irishmen1? It
was desirable, above all, to make him a Catholic, and to give St
Patrick, with his Psalm-singing crew, the honour of his conversion.
That is the simple, natural, and indubitable explanation of it ; of
all which Macpherson was as innocent, as if he had not yet been
born.

4. The only Irish traditions of any value whatever, in con-
nection with the authenticity of Ossian, are the " Historical He-
mains oT Tighernagh " and the " Four Masters ; " and these are
valuable in the way of confirmation, by indirect circumstantial evi-
dence alone. By carefully collating their contents with the text of
Ossian, the clearest corroboration of his narratives, in many essen-
tial particulars, may be obtained. But so far was Macpherson from
knowing anything about this, that the most scholarly Irishman,
from the days of the " Four Masters " themselves, was not aware of
it. Dr O'Donovan himself, the editor and translator of the " Four
Masters," must have traversed with his own feet, again and again,
the very ground where Fingal fought, where Oscar fell, and where
Ossian sang, and yet never recognised it ! The Irish themselves in
that neighbourhood, at the present moment, are as comfortably ig-
norant, and as provokingly unconscious of the fact as anybody else ;
and a tourist, with Ossian in his hand, may visit the scenes of the
oldest and most romantic events in their history, with far more
ease and certainty than by listening to their most eloquent, most
obliging, and most bewildering misdirections on the subject, and
on the very spot !

III. CHARACTERISTICS OP OSSIAN : INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL.
CONCLUSION.

I. — 1. On the supposition then that Macpherson himself did
not fabricate these poems on the one hand, and that they could not

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN. 77

have been fabricated out of Irish mediaeval ballads on the other ;
but must have been translated from some original extant in the
eighteenth century, although now apparently lost, or at least im-
perfectly preserved — to whom ought the authorship of that original
to be ascribed ] To WHOM ] To the man assuredly whose name it
bears on every second pag*e and in every poem ; who describes him-
self as the son of a king, as the grandson of a king, as the great-
grandson of a king, as the great-great-grandson of a king ; as the
representative 'of a race of kings and heroes, himself a hero and a
king ; above all, as the king of songs — the type, the voice, the
musical embodiment ; the vital history, the perpetual jight and
glory ; the last conscious remnant of his race, blind but beatified ;
and the living monument, sorrow-stricken but immortal, of his
people. Such an outline ; alone of the man — of his personality, of
his function, and of his fate ; of what he was, and did, and claimed
through all coining ages to be— is proof enough of his identity, of
his authorship, of his works, to anyone who knows how to read or
how to interpret human life and action. Claims like these, re-
hearsed in a catalogue, might possibly have .been invented ; but
claims and characteristics like these, with words to correspond —
wrought into the very fabric of his speech in .so, many coherent
syllables, in scattered yet consistent intimations ;; reiterated, yet not
obtruded; shadowed forth and yet< incorporated,- in .the long-con-
tinued strain, from year to year,. and from poem to poem— were
beyond the reach, beyond the conception even, of. any, mere inven-
tor ; must have been the natural and spontaneous outcome of the
life itself that was so embodied, the speech of the man that was so
represented, the record of the soul that was so inspired. If there
had been a flaw anywhere, it would be noticed ; if there had been
an incongruity, it would be suspicious ; if a contradiction could be
proved, it might be fatal. But there is no flaw, no incongruity,
no contradiction. It is all one long, lofty, melodious, profoundly
sad and proudly melancholy monologue ; interrupted only by
apostrophes to. the sun, to the moon, to the stars, to the winds, to
the souls of heroes ; relieved only by the lingering radiance of a
love that was once supreme, and of a heroism once unrivalled ;
sustained only and always by the prophetic assurance of an im-
mortality co-equal with the heavens. It was Fingal always that
he idolised and worshipped ; it was Roscrana always, that queenly
mother, he adored ; it was Oscar always, that dear lost son, he
lamented ; it was Evirallin always that he loved ; it was Malvina,
for her own and for Oscar's sake, that he always cherished ; it was

78 TRANSACTIONS.

his brothel's, and his brethren in arms, that he always eulogised ;
it was his noble enemies that he honoured ; it was courage and
magnanimity he extolled ; it was moral grandeur always that he
reverenced ; it was the worthy alone he celebrated — and it was
himself alone, the sole survivor of all this magnificence, he be-
moaned in his blindness and solitude. [Compare apostrophe and la-
ment in Berrathon, " Bend thy blue course, O stream," &c.] Fingal
had been for him as the sun in the firmament, the concentrated
effulgence of heroic light for centuries — but Fingal had departed.
Oscar might have been another such — an emanation of his own —
but Oscar, alas ! had been quenched in the shadow of premature
death, although not without glory in the gloom. Malvina herself,
who in a daughter's place had been his solace hitherto, " with all
her music and with all her songs " — she also was now gone. The
rest, who had been all like separate sunbeams — tender and bright,
or fierce and dazzling as the case might be — they, too, were gone ;
they were all gone ! and there was no power known, in heaven or
on earth, to restore them. For him these had irradiated the world
— but they had been removed ; and his own eyesight had followed,
as if in sympathetic darkness. He looked for them wistfully,
through the long dark-brown years — but they came not, would
never come ; it was midnight and eclipse now, for himself and for
his people for ever ! and this to such a pitch of shade that it in-
volves the very heavens. The sun himself may fail, and the moon
may fade, because Fingal had faded, and because Ossian fol-
lowed ; and the poor, pale, green-eyed children of the sky may yet
obtain a brief supremacy, because the sons of little men should
succeed in the room of such heroes ! [Compare again apostrophe
to the sun in Oarthon, " O thou that rollest above, round as the
shield of my fathers ! " and to the moon in Darthula, " Daughter
of Heaven, fair art thou ! the silence of thy face is pleasant."]

This grief, which assails the skies, might be excessive, but it was
not fictitious ; this despair, which clouds the earth, might be selfish,
but there was no relief; it may be oppressive sometimes even to
hear it, but it must be heard. Those who prefer other themes —
such as the hunter's song, or the festive chorus — are not to be con-
demned ; but exalted sorrow like this is for the world's most solemn
hearing. Deer-stalking at your leisure on some Highland hillside
is one thing ; to meet the conquerors of the world in arms on the
open field, or Scandinavian pirates by hundreds and thousands on
the storm-beaten shore, was another. To see a stag fall to your
own rifle on Ben Dorain is one thing ; to see son after son, brother

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN. 79

after brother, mother, wife, and daughter sink in blood, by the
sword, by the spear, by the bow of your triumphant adversary —
was another and a very different thing ; and gifted critics of the
present day, who prefer less sorrowful subjects, should try to
understand the difference before they underrate the so-called mo-
notony of Ossian. Ossian was without father and without mother ;
without son, without daughter ; without people, without prospect ;
without God, and without hope in the world — when he uttered
the most melancholy of his strains. His only refuge then was
with the spirits of his kindred in the clouds ; and Macpherson with
all his alleged power of lying could not, for his life, by any trick of
translation have made Ossian speak otherwise than thus.

2. But Ossian's SPEECH implies much more than this. This
accumulated sorrow was by no means all his own ; this profound
melancholy was not for himself exclusively. It was the accumu-
lated sorrow of races already extinct, with melancholy forebodings
superadded for a race now rapidly disappearing ; which he had
preserved and arranged as it reached his ears in fragments ; and
which he recited for the instruction, or the consolation of others,
in sympathetic cadence. It was the growth, the echo, the rehear-
sal, and manifold musical articulation of eventful centuries. It
came, and it still comes to us thus, like a sonorous river of many
streams, with sorrowful murmur through desolate continents of
mist and clouds, where long-bearded bards assemble, and the ghosts
of the mighty condole. It is swollen with affluents of melancholy
music — with dirges, and with songs of death — through de-
serted glens ; and with tingling torrents of victory from the
verge of rocks, where the eagle screams and where thunders
roll. It murmurs hoarse through mazes of moorland strewn
with slaughter, or exults in briefer and higher notes, among straths
in the fitful sunshine, which seems to be always passing away.
Crowded with armies on its brink, and tinged with blood,
it eehoes sad among the caverns of the dead, and surges at
last above the din of battle, like the triumphant sea. Snow-drifts,
in the meantime, from Iceland and Norway, are whitening its
banks, the rumble of earthquakes is heard underneath, and the
shriek of discomfited demons mingles with the wail of its waters.
Its accompaniment throughout is the chime of harps, and the deep
gong at midnight signalises an epoch in its histoiy. Yet, in all
this multitudinous combination of sounds there is but one voice —
distinct, unmistakable, supreme — the voice of the King of Songs,
the voice of the Bard of Cona ; all which could no more be a work

80 TRANSACTIONS.

of fiction — a feigned, or fictitious rehearsal— than the sound of an
Eolian harp, or the sighing of the wind among the woods at mid-
night.

II. — 1. But not alone is his voice significant: his EYESIGHT,
and the loss of it alike, are alike characteristic and remarkable.
His own power of vision, with intense distinctness of perception
whilst the faculty lasted, and his power of realising also vividly
what others had been and described, are beyond the ordinary range
even of poetic seers ; and when eyesight failed, his power of recall-
ing and reproducing, in pictorial terms of the strictest accuracy,
what he had once seen, is unrivalled by anyone since the days of
Homer. Only in one solitary case, so far as I can now recollect,
does he confess himself at fault ; and in the poem referred to a
slight indistinctness as to certain features of the scene seems in-
deed to supervene. Darkness comes down on the horizon, in spite
of him ; the outlines of the landscape seem to fade from his view ;
"the vision grows dim on his mind ;" and he lays the harp aside
at last, in sorrow and vexation. And no wonder that this should
have been the case, for the date of the tragedy in question — Con-
lath and Cuthona — was in his early manhood, and the scene had
been surveyed by him then only in passing. Yet the scene can be
identified at this moment [see " Ossian and the Clyde "] with almost
as much certainty as any other in the range of his writings, which
implies an amount of truthfulness and accuracy in description that
no impostor in the circumstances could ever have attained, if any
impostor in his senses could either have imagined or admitted such
circumstances at all. What liar would first confess that he could
not see, and then proceed to describe a scene which he never saw,
because it never existed ; which, nevertheless, could be identified a
hundred years afterwards by his own description, because it really
did exist and corresponded exactly ? The very idea is preposter-
ous, and transcends anything we have yet attained to in the way
of spiritual clairvoyance and necromancy. For places " to be and
not to be ; " for men to see and not to see, at one and the same
moment — " these are the questions ! "

2. By means of this wonderful faculty in Ossian before it was
impaired, we have geographical outlines supplied to us of a double
range of coast, extending from Ireland to the Orkneys, including
all the most important features — such as islands, lochs, friths,
rivers, and indentations, with mountain ranges and sequestered
valleys — on the line ; and we have topographical landmarks in ad-
dition, for the most interesting points alluded to in the poems

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAJf. 81

•which refer to the region, so exactly given that mistake about their
identity or whereabouts is impossible. With most of these he
seems to have been personally acquainted ; of others beyond, as in
Iceland and Norway, he had obtained and embodied equally graphic
accounts from his father, from his son, from his kinsfolk and com-
panions in arms ; and, upon the whole, whether from his own ob-
servation, or from the description of others embodied by him, these
geographical outlines have been found so absolutely true to nature,
both as it now is, and as it then must have been, that they may be
all accepted with as much confidence as the details of a gazeteer or
the measurements of a surveyor. In the whole of which survey
we find that earthquakes have been travelling since he was there,
and that volcanoes have been opened ; that the land has risen, or
that the sea has fallen ; that friths have dwindled to rivers ; that
islands have ended in peninsulas ; that lakes have disappeared in
valleys ; and that fertile straths are now expanding, wheie it was
once the rolling sea — insomuch, that without the aid of Ossian
the west coast of Scotland and the north of Ireland ; the "Voes of
Orkney and the face of Iceland, as they then were, would not be
recognisable at the present moment. Ossian, in short, although he
knew it not himself, and although Macpherson knew it not, was
the father of modern geology ; and rightly understood, is still the
most important geological authority extant in Great Britain.
Murchison, Lyell, and Miller never realised his revelations ; and
the students of that science, if they wish to understand it thoroughly,
must take the poems of Ossian at last for their oldest reliable guide.
To say that all this was imposture is surely worse than foolish.
The Clyde and the Solway themselves must be liars, if Macpherson
invented all this ; Lough Lame and Lough Neagh, with all be-
tween them, must be a delusion, if Fingal and Temora, be false ;
Arran must be a mistake, if Berrathon be a fable ; and Iceland
should have no volcanoes, no geysers, no exhausted fountains, no
burning soil, if Oscar was never in Inisthona !

3. It is at this point, perhaps (Dr Waddell continued) I should
now observe, before passing on, that the great weakness — the self-
contradiction, in fact — of a certain half-and-half theory maintained
by some distinguished modern, critics, who would like to unite the
two opposite extremes of truth and falsehood, if they could — dis-
plays itself. I allude to the sort of compromise these gentlemen
wish to establish between the opposite extremes of an honest trans-
lation on the one hand, and downright audacious forgery on the
other, by a supposed interlarding of poor original scraps with grand"

r

82 TRANSACTIONS.

poetic interpolations, or the patching up of fine original fragments
with mere links of modern invention. It would be desirable if
those who maintain this theory — who thus affect to believe, and
yet not to believe in Ossian, at one and the same moment, and so
damage his authenticity from beginning to end — would put their
finger on some of the passages so introduced, and show, once for
all, where such forgeries appear. If the passages in question be
the splendid ones, then according to their own account they could
not be the work of Macpherson, for he was no more able to pro-
duce such passages or anything like them, they admit, than to
compose the Prophecies of Isaiah, or to create the Island of Skye.
If they are mere verbal links to hold the important pieces to-
gether, then what is the use of making such an ado about them, or
of discrediting the whole for their sake 1 You will find the same
sort of links in Genesis, in Exodus, in Job, and even in Isaiah ;
yet nobody seriously doubts their authenticity.

But I deny that Macpherson introduced either splendid pas"
sages or petty links ; for a single passage so introduced, by a man
who knew nothing of the ground work, would have obliterated the
geography not only of any entire poem where such interpolation
was made, but of all other poems connected with it. But the
geography of every poem now within reach, and in relation to
every other poem, is as perfect, I repeat, as the details of an Ord-
nance Survey ; and what is yet more to the purpose, certain of
these poems — Berrathon, for example, and the War of Inisthona,
just referred to — where the geography is as easily traceable as if
the scenes in both had been photographed, have no Gaelic original
now extant at all*. Yet the Gaelic scholars in question seem to
maintain that we have the originals of Ossian now all before us ;
and yet that these very originals so-called are but a piece of cunning
patchwork, of which they themselves can tell neither "head nor
tail " ; and from which a still more cunning translation, with no
end of glosses, fine flourishes of fancy, and grand interpolations to
set it off, has been executed by an unscrupulous rogue — although
you can see almost every inch of the many-sided field reflected till

* There Are, in point of fact, eleven entire poems, besides fragments,
many of them most important, and easily identitied, for which no Gaelic
has yet been found — including War of Caros, War of Inisthona, Battle of
Lora, Death of Cuthullin, Darthula, Songs of Selma, Lathmon, Oithona,
Berrathon, Cathlin of Clutha, and Sulmalla ; one-half in point of number,
although certainly not in extent, being only more than a third, or as 117 to
315 pp. of the whole.

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAJf. 83

this hour, on the face of Scotland, Ireland, and Iceland — tens and
hundreds of miles distant from where the rogue imagined it to be ;
and in regions where the rogue himself never set either finger, foot,
or eye : and this to such an extent of ignorance on his part, that
although he had actually claimed in face of Europe to be the
author of these poems as they now stand, one could prove him to
be thus a liar out of his own mouth. He was never at Ferad
Artho's Cave, he was never at the Pass of Gleno ; he was never at
Malvina's grave ; he was never at Balclutha ; for anything we
know, he was never even on the Clyde ; he certainly was never on
the K elvin at Colzam, or on the Bonny Water at Comala's Rock ;
far less was he ever at Carricthura in Orkney, or at the head of
Reikum Bay in Iceland — or if he was, he did not know them.
Yet all these points, and a hundred more, have been described
with such minute topographical accuracy in his text, that only an
eye-witness of the events which occurred there, or one who had an
account of the regions from other eye-witnesses, could possibly
have been the author of the original ; and what is more remark-
able than all that, is that half-a-dozen wrong syllables in any one
of these poems would have destroyed the geographical identity
both of such poem itself, and of almost all the rest of them. What
then (asked the rev. gentleman) are we to say about the alleged
" high-handed dealing," and the " grand interpolations," which no-
body can name? or about the fancy links of lies which connect
whole continents together, but which nobody can see 1 The very
idea of such intermeddling is absurd. One might as well say that
the reliques of Priam, or the treasures of Agamemnon, were pur-
posely hidden by Dr Schliemann at Troy or at Mycenae, that Dr
Schliemann himself might afterwards discover them. I have no
such reliques, it is true, no treasures of gold and silver to assist me
in this Ossianic investigation ; but I have the reliques of nature
herself, and the reliques of nations now no more, equally significant,
to support me. I have the caves and the hiding places, the tombs
and the monuments, of kings, of heroes, of princes, and princesses ;
I have magnificent Caledonian oaks and fragile Roman pottery,
and stone-hammers and canoes — entombed, one may say together,
among sea sand in the very heart of a great city ; I have the surf
of the retiring sea itself, and the crumbling banks of decaying
rivers ; I have the very beauty spots and scars on nature's own
face, and the ravages of fire in her bosom — all hitherto unknown,
hitherto unsuspected — to bear testimony to the truth of my posi-
tion ; and I claim now to be thus doing for Ossian what Dr

F2

84 TRANSACTIONS.

Schliemann has done for Homer and ^Eschylus — the only real
difference being this, that because it is at your own doors and
before your own eyes, and with reference to the oldest and one of
the most glorious types of your own national existence, you, the
people of Scotland and the representatives of Ossian, will only half-
and-half believe it. You cannot, it seems, realise your own privi-
lege ; and would rather have a lying Macpherson, just clever
enough to cheat you, to your own disgrace, than a genuine, gifted
Ossian, heaven-taught and truthiul, to your eternal honour I
(Laughter and applause.)

4. But what Ossian imagined is not less remarkable than what
Ossian said and saw : his IMAGINATION, however, differed from
that of almost all other poets, inasmuch as for himself it was the
highest spiritual reality. It consisted not, either in mere figures
of speerV, on the one hand — which are common to all poets ; or in
fabulous exaggeration, or lying invention on the other — which are
peculiar to some. He uses figures of speech undoubtedly, but
these were only as similes and superlatives of the loftiest sort, to
represent more vividly what he saw. They implied no effort of
imagination on his own part at all, but were the mere exuberance
of eyesight, so to speak, converted for the moment into speech.
Far less did he indulge in flights of creative fancy, as the Irish
Seanachies incessantly did — to describe what never happened, to
relate what he never saw. We have no monsters, no magicians,
no giants or ogres among his dramatis personce ; no incredible
achievements, no mythical stories, no impossible events ; no out-
rageous adventures, no contradictions of nature, no burlesques upon
fact : not one of these. The most wonderful of all the achievements
related in his text wei e scientific realities only half-understood, and
recorded in the language of poetry — as where Fingal, for example,
is said to have dislodged with his spear the demon of electricity in
a thunder-cloud at Carricthura. The region where Ossian's imagi-
nation displayed itself was the atmosphere — the region of the
clouds, and of whatever was beyond the clouds ; and this region,
more than any other man that ever looked at it, he has made his
own. His fancy dwelt and revelled there with a kind of creative
prodigality, and peopled it for himself with such an assemblage of
glorified beings, that to this day it seems to be tenanted exclusively
with his immortal kindred. This occupation of the heavens by
him was of a piece, so far, with the invisible world of the ancients,
but it was fresher and finer, and could never have been borrowed
from them. It was the transformation of actual atmospheric

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAJf. 85

phenomena within sight of the earth — of clouds and vapour, and
flakes of fire, and wandering sunbeams in their endless variety of
outlines — into spiritual entities having moral and emotional affini-
ties with earth, surveying its inhabitants with affectionate interest,
directing their actions, inspiring their courage, lamenting their
failures, and rejoicing in their successes. To mere materialistic
readers this may all be a dream, but for Ossian it was a vital
faith ; for Ossian it was a divine reality. Not a drift drove over
him, in which he did not see some glorified array of the departed ;
not a cloud hovered nearer the earth, from which some sympathetic
ghost did not bend, in pride or sorrow, over the funeral pyre or
grave of some fallen relative ; not a wreath of mist unfolded its
bosom, in which the face or form of some lost loved one — of sister,
daughter, mother, wife, or bride — was not revealed, ineffably
tender, interceding for the vanquished, or lamenting the dead.
Not a vista in heaven was opened, or a recess in the distance
illumined, that was not thronged with an assemblage of heroes —
among whom the demigods of his own race were supreme — in
council for the advantage of their children. When the thunder
shrieked, it was a warning from them j when the red fire ran along
the hill, ifc was a message from them ; when the lightning flashed,
it was help from them j when the clouds dispersed in glory, it was
triumph among them ! — a faith in which he so far resembled David,
with this important difference — that whereas to David's eye it was
all an actual revelation, or direct interposition of the Deity ; to
Ossian's, it was but the result of natural affinities expressed by
atmospheric means. The atmosphere, in short, was heaven for
him, where the highest forms of human existence were developed
and embodied ; for David, it was the nearest dwelling-place of the
Most High God : a difference between him and David which
Macpherson, if he had been a liar, would never have allowed to
appear. Yet so far was Macpherson from realising this, that he
did not even understand it ; and some of the finest, most delicate,
and touching, as well as sublime, manifestations of Ossian's genius,
in this very region of poetic faith and vision, have been misrepre-
sented by him in consequence.

III. — In conclusion, what may be called the HIGHER MORALITY
of Ossian was founded upon, or identified with the approval, with
the will, with the sympathy of this aerial world — where all human
deeds were to be judged of, and to which only the noblest and the
purest spirits could rise. His common morality, so to speak — that
is, the code of life and manners he represented among his people —

86 TRANSACTIONS.

has been often enough quoted and relied upon indeed, as a mere
poetic reproduction of the morals and manners — of the civilisation,
in short, of the eighteenth century, which could never have existed
in the third ; and therefore as a proof of falsehood, or of fiction at
least to that extent, in the translation of his remains. But if by
civilisation in the eighteenth century, we understand the civilisa-
tion of the Georges and their contemporaries ; and by Christian
morality of the same era, the Christianity of nine-tenths of Chris-
tendom— such as then prevailed, for example, under every Govern-
ment,and in almost every Court of Europe, from St. Petersburg to
London — including slave-dealing, press-ganging, kidnapping, and
indiscriminate outrage ; commercial knavery ; public, private,
national, legal, and ecclesiastical blackguardism of every type and
dye ; political despotism, culminating in revolutions that shook the
earth ; a political serfdom that degraded humanity to the level of
the brutes ; and revelations of indecency in domestic life, from the
palace to the pavilion, that shocked the very heavens — if this is
the sort of morality referred to, one may thank God honestly that
Ossian and his people, with all their paganism, knew nothing about
it ; had nothing like it ; could not imagine it ; would not tolerate
it ; and that not a syllable — I say it advisedly — not a syllable is
to be found, from beginning to end of his text, conniving at or
excusing it. Where conflicts are rehearsed with praise, they were
in a fair field ; where victory is proclaimed, it is with mercy and
even with honour to the vanquished ; where assassinations, from
jealousy or anger, occur, they are lamented, condemned, and pun-
ished ; where adultery or misconduct is proved, the parties separate,
and the wife takes the wealth away with her that she brought.
Honour, magnanimity, truth, and love are everywhere extolled as
the foundations of human greatness, prosperity, and happiness ;
falsehood, meanness, trickery, selfishness, cowardice, and fraud, are
simply reprobated as contemptible everywhere and for ever ! That
was the sort of morality taught by Ossian ; and would to God the
spirit of it were a little better realised in what we now call civilisa-
tion, both among Christians and Turks — at St. Petersburg, at
Vienna, at Constantinople, at Rome ; among the frequenters of
the Bourse at Paris, among the members of the stock-jobbing
fraternity of London, and the Railway-Rings at New York : it
would be better for us all, both in Europe and America. But the
principle of morality itself — the guiding principle of human life —
by which all actions were to be regulated, and by which the highest
perfection was to be attained, was conformity of life and motive to

THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN. 87

the characters, to the example, to the hopes and wishes, to the
yearning love and sympathy, of all the best and bravest who had
gone before ; who were seated there among the clouds, in anxious
council for the welfare and happiness of their descendants ; who
shone forth resplendent in the light of heaven, as examples of glory
to their children ; who followed them with wistful eyes from above,
in every combat and through every danger, to see that they ac-
quitted themselves like honourable men ; who exulted in all their
triumphs, where their triumphs were generous and brave ;. and
who opened their aerial ranks at last, to receive and welcome them
when they fell in glory ! It was thus that human greatness was
cherished by Ossian ; thus that human virtue was taught by him ;
thus that human sorrow was consoled in his sad but sublimest
strains ; and thus that human self devotion was consecrated and
encouraged for the honour of the people, and for the practical
salvation, if that were still possible, of the race. Heroes in their
lives accepted this as the rule of their actions, and heroes already
departed ratified it in heaven with their approval. " Angels ever
bright and fair," are not more truly now a part of our faith in the
nineteenth century, than this grand poetic ideal of moral perfection
in the clouds, with aerial embodiment there, was a part of Ossian's
faith in the third ; before Christianity was known, or a Divine
Intercessor within the veil had been proclaimed in Western Europe.
As truly then might the poor Celtic heathen in his darkness say —
who had only Ossian, and not the Apostle, to teach him — " Seeing
that we also are compassed about with' so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin that may most easily beset
us ; and let us run with patience the race of self-sacrifice that is S£t
before us," in all heroic deed and in all manly daring, that our
fathers may behold and rejoice ! Y"et teaching like this has been
called the teaching of a liar ; morality like this, the morality of a
ruffian and a cheat ! One might as well say that the dream of
Joseph realised in Egypt, the triumph of Esther, and the reward
of Ruth ; the visions of Ezekiel, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, or
the Expostulations of Job, were mediaeval additions to the Bible !
(Cheers.)

A cordial vote of thanks was awarded to Dr Waddell on the
motion of Mr Jolly ; and a vote of thanks was also awarded to the
Provost for taking the chair.

N.B. — T/ie copyright of this lecture is reserved by the Autlwr.

TRANSACTIONS.

25TH JANUARY, 1877,

At this meeting the Rev. John Eraser, Free Church Minister
of Rosskeen, was elected an ordinary member of the Society. The
election of office-bearers for 1#77 was the principal business before
the meeting.

IST FEBRUARY, 1877.

•

At the meeting on this date, the Secretary, in behalf of Mr P,
G. Tolmie, 3 Great Woodstock Street, Nottingham Place, London,
read the following paper in Gaelic on

REMAINS OF ANCIENT RELIGION IN THE NORTH.

CHA 'n eil ach tearc de dh-iarmad nan amanna cein mu thim-
chioll am bheil beachdan dhaoine foghluimte ni's eas-aonaichte na
mu chuid de na h' aitreibhean cloiche tha ri fhaicinn, cha 'n e a
mhain air feadh na tire so, ach anns gach cearna ach beag d' an
chruinne-che. Tha iad sud a dh-iomadh seorsa — am measg am
faodar ainmachadh a' chrom-leac, a' chistbhan, a chuairteag no
'n clachan, an earn, 's mar sin sios. Agus tha samhuil againn dhe
gach aon dhiu so 'n iomadh aite air feadh na duthcha.

Tha caochladh barail am measg arsairean mu dheighein na
crich araidh air son an do thogadh cuid dhiubh air tus. A reir
breth iomadh, bha dluth-cheangal aca ri crabhadh an t-sluaigh ; air
chor 's nach 'eil iad an teagamh bhi ag radh gur ann o sin tha a'
cfyrom-leac toirt a h-ainn — an leac fa chomhair an robh muintir a'
cromadh, no chlacJ^shleuchdaidh — agus tha iad gu cumanta ag
ainmeachadh na cloiche so, cho maith ri priorch-chlach na cuairte,
mar altair, no leac-iobairt ; agus uime sin 's minig a bhitheas mac-
meanmna sealltainn orra mar gu'in b' aun a' sruthadh sios le fuil
dhuine 's ainmhidh. Ach cha 'n 'eil e idir lan-shoilleir gu'm bheil
an sin, an cuid mhor, ach dealbh-inntinn gun bhonn. Tha e
cheana fior gu'n robh a' chlac/i-s/ieasaimh agus gu h-araidh an
clachan a' deanamh an gniomhaich mar aitean-aoraidh ; ach cha 'n
'eil e dearbh-chinnteach eadhon mu'n deighinn-san gu'm b' ann air
son so a chaidh an cur suas an toiseach.

Tha e na aobhair doilgheis nach 'eil seann e.ichdraidh duthcha
sam bith fa-lei h a' laimhseachadh nithe mar so ach mi-thoirtefl ; no
toirt iomraidh air seann ghnathan an t-sluaigh, anns na linnean
chaidh tharais o chionn fhad, cho soillseach 's bu mhia"nn leinn —

REMAINS OF ANCIENT RELIGION. 89

gidheadh, le bhi tional 's a' cnuasachadh chomharraidhean 's rabh-
aidh-eolais tha tachairt ruinn thall 's a bhos, tha e comasach
dhuinn, le beagan dichill, a bhi faotainn soluis ciiimsich air a'
ghnothach, agus a thaobh ouid a phuingean, a bhi ruigsinn, maith
a dh' fheudta, sar-chinnteis.

Anis, gun bhi gabhail os laimh an drasta bhi toirt mion-chunntais
air gach aon air leth, faodair a radh an coitchiontas, gu'm b' e 'n
t-aobhar sonruichte air son togail a leithid so dh'aitreibh air tus (a
chuairte amhain an leth a muigh) gu bhi na'n comharraidh-cuimhne
— 's e sin ri radh, gu bhi mar fhianuisean faicsinneach, bho linn
gu linn, air gniomharan fiuthail, air buaidhean iomraiteach, air
tubaistean craidhteach, no air tuiteamais iongantach sam bith.
Tha e car duilich dhuinne 's an la 'n diugh, cleachdte mar tha sinn
ri sgriobhaidhean is leabhraichean, bhi meas air nihodh iomchuidh,
ce cho feumail 'sa bha innleachd dhe leithid so gu bhi gleidheadh
cuimhne air nithibh airidh, air feadh linntean tur-aineolach air
leughadh, agus gu bhi toirt cion-fath do na seanachaidh bhi ag
aithris do 'n oigridh gniomharan agus cleachdainnean an athraich-
ean. Agus is amhuil mar sin tha Oisean a' toirt fo 'r comhair
oganaich a' feoraich d'an t-sean nihuinntir mu 'chlach-chinn fhein —

" Labhraidh e mu chloich an raoin,
Agus freagraidh an aois r' a iarraidh —
So an liath-chlach thog Oisean nach faoin,
Sar-cheannard rnu 'n d' aom na bliadhna."

Bheireadh so air an ogarach os-barr bhi feoraich, Co e Oisean bha
'n sin 1 a,g\is ciod e mu dheighinn-san 7 agus mar so toirt cothroim
do 'n t-sean duine gu bhi 'g ath-aithris sgeul an laoich 's a' toirt
lan-iomraidh air a bheatha 's a bhuadhan.

So cuideachd an dearbh reusan, mar tha sinn a' foghlum bho
'n t-seann Tiomnadh, tha losua toirt d'a mhuinntir fein air son a
bhi togail charragh ; gu. bhi mar mhathair-aobhair dhoibh a bhi
ag ath-aithris sgeul an athraichean do 'n cloinn, 's mar sin a' toirt
seacbad eachdraidh a' chinne bho al gu al.

Ach gu bhi cail-eigin ni's eagnuidhj thugamaid fainear a'
chlach-sheasaimh no 'n carragh. B' i so, a reir coslais, a' cheud
aitreibh a chuir duine suas a bharr air tigh-comhnuidh, 's tha i
uirne sin anabarrach sean. Agus tha mi deanamh dheth nach 'eil
fath teagaimh nach ann mar chomharradh air ni-eigin ion-chuimh-
neachail a chaidh a cur suas an toiseach. An cursa tiom, thainig
i gu bhi riarachadh mar ionad-aoraidh, no seapail. Na bitheadh e

90 TRANSACTIONS.

idir neonach leibh bhi ag radh seapail ri aon chloich. Oir cho
fada 's bha 'n sluagh tearc an a'ireimh, sgapte air aghaidh na
duthcha, gabhail comhnuidh fad o cheile, agus roar sin, bochd is
anfhann mar chinnich, cha robh e na 'n comas ni's mo na bha e na
chleachdadh aca bhi togail arois sgiamhach air son feum crabhaidh.
Agus a bharr air sin, bha iad gu curnanta coimhlionadh an dleasan-
ais dhiadhaidh mu thiomchioll an teallaich. Oir cha bu ghnath
dhoibh bhi tional cuideachd gu aoradh coitchionnta, agus ge be
aite bha iad a' cur air leth mar aite naomh, bha gach neach a' dol
leis fein dh' ionnsuidh an ionaid choisrigte sin le iaratas no le
buidheachas, uair sain bith a thigeadh fodha — air choir 's gu'n
deanadh aon chlach an gnothaah mar aite comhdhail cho maith ris
an teampul bu riomhaiche. Agus bha aobhar araidh eile air son
an robh aitean aoraidh fosgailt ri aghaidh. nan speur, dha 'm bi
sinn a toirt an aire gu h-ath-ghearr.

A nis ged nach robh anns na clachan so air tus ach comhar-
raidhean, tha e furasda bhi tuigsiun cia mar thigeadh muinntir,
an uine ghearr, gu bhi saoilsinn gu'n robh iad a' sealbhachadh
bhuadhan sonruichte annta fein, dluth-cheangailte mar bha iad na
'n cuimhne ri nithe comharraichte, agus gu bhi 'g amharc orra
mar ionadan aig an robh lathaireachd a chuspair-aoraidh a comh-
nuidh air mhodh araidh — agus uime sin far am biodh aoradh ni bu
taitniche dhasan agus ni bu bhuanachdaile dhoibh fein, na 'n aite
sam bith eile. Agus mar a dh' fhaodar a shaoilsinn, o bhi cur
eifeachd as leth ni corparra, cha robh 'n uidhe ach goirid bu bhi
meas an ni fein mar dhearbh chuspair-aoraidh. Tha lan-dhearbh-
adh a^ainn gu 'n robh ar seann luchd-duthcha cleachdadh a bhi
sleuchdadh fa chomhair nan clachan-seasaimh, agus, aig aman, a'
tairgseadh ofrail bhig de thoradh na talmhuinn, gu bhi faotainn an
iarrtais ni b'ullaimh bho spiorad-gleidhidh an aite. Tha fianuis
againn air so 'n Sasunn am measg iomadh eile ann an reachd le
righ Chanuit (Canute), 's an aon-ceud-deug, anns am bheil e toir-
measg a chJeachdaidh gu h-iomlan. Ach 's fada 'n deigh sin a bha
e mu 'n deach an cleachdadh suarrach.

Tha clach chomharraichte dhe leithid so an sgire Srath 's an
Eilean Sgiathanach, carragh garbh ris an can iad " Clach-na-h-
Annait," laiinh ris am bheil fuaran dha 'n ainm Tobar-na-h-Annait,
tobar a bha muinntir na duthcha, nuas ach beag gus an latha 'n
diugh, meas ion-eifeachdach gu leigheas gach gne easlainte. Bha
a' chlach so ma tha coisrigte do 'n bhan-dia Annat a thathar ag
aithneachadh fo chaochladh ainm an caochladh aite — fo ainrn Bhrid
an eilean He, agus Shony ann an Leoghas. Tha Oisean a dean-

REMAINS OF ANCIENT RELIGION. 91

amh iomraidh air a leithid so chloich gu minig — mar so — " Chlach
Loduin nam fuar thaibhs " — B'i sin clach a bha coisrigte do Loduin,
mar bha clich-na-h-Annait do dh-Annat. Agus a rithist : —

" Bha righ Chraca
An crom Bhmmo nam mor thorn.
Bha 'n sonn an cainnt ri clach nam fuath."

'S e sin, bha 'n sonn a' guidhe,-air neo 'g iarraidh taisbean o thaobh
" clath nam fuath." B' i chlach-sheasaimh comharradh-aoraidh na
greine agus mar sin samhladh Apollo, ughdar faisneachd, agus esan
a bha toir, eolais do dhaoine air nithe diomhair. Oir mar tha
ghrian le gathanna soilleir a faadach dorachadas na h-oidhche,
soillseachadh aghaidh naduir agus a' toirt gach ni am follais, 's
amhuil mar sin a bha 'n dia soillseachadh na h-inntinn 's a' toirt
roimh-aithne air nithe ri teachd. Agus uime sin, bhithid a taghal
air a' charragh gu bhi faotainn taisbean, gu h-araidh ma bha fuaran
laimh ris.

Tha na clachan so lionmhor air feadh eileanan Alba, Wales,
agus Chornwall agus iomadh tir eile, ach gu h-araidh anns na cearna
dhe 'n Roinn-Eorpa anns an robh cinnich Ghaidhealach a' gabhail
comhnuidh.

Tha e soilleir dhuinn cuideachd gu'n robh fineachan Arabia
cleachdadh a bhi deanamh aoraidh, nuas gu am an fhaidh
Mohammed. Agus ged bu rnhor ughdarras-san na'm measg, cha
robh e na chomas, re a la, an t-iodhal-aoradh so chur fodha gu
h-iomlan. Agus tha e feuchaimi dhuinn cia cho deacair 's tha e do
mhuinntir a bhi gu builleach ga 'n sgaradh fhein o chleachdaidhean
crabhach, eadhon an deigh dhoibh an seann chreideamh a threi-
geadh, gu 'm bheil fuigheall dheth air a ghleidheadh fathast an
teampull Mhecca. Is e so gun teagamh am nor bhun-sinnsir aig
a' chloich dhuibh san teampull ud, a tha luchd-leanmhuinn Mho-
hammed a' cunntadh cho ion-luachmhor, ged a tha iad a' toirt tuar-
sgeil eile mu deigheinn an diugh. Agus, os-barr, 's fiu a thoirt
fainear gur ann o 'n chloch so tha iad a' gairm an teampuill, Beit-
Allah (Bethel — Tigh Dhe). Agus is amhuil mar an ceudna bha iad a'
goireadh nan clachan seasaimh an Eirinn o shean Botliail, 's e sin.
tighean Dhe. Tha 'n t-Ollamh Lee (the late Dr Lee. of Cambridge),
ag radh gu'n robh iad o chionn ghoirid a' leantuinn a' chleachaidh
cheudna am fagus do Edrisi, ann an eilean air taobh shios nan
Innseachan, far an robh e mar gnath aca bhi coisrigeadh na cloiche
le oladh, direaA mar a rinn lacob a' chlach a chuir e suas air

92 TRANSACTIONS.

machair Luz, 'miair a bha e dol air fogradh — 'n trath sin mar
chuimhneachan air a dheadh ruin, ach dhe 'n d'rinn e bliadhna
'n deigh sin tigh-aeraidh dha fein agus d' a theaghlach na dheigh,
agus dha 'n d'thug e mar ainm Bethel (Tigh Dhe).*

Tha 'n Seann Tiomnadh a' toirt fo ar 'n aire gu minig, c' arson
a chaidh carraigh a chur suas an toiseaoh am measg nan Eabh-
ruidheach — agus a' leigeadh ris dhuinn cia mar thainig muinntir gu
bhi dha 'n cur am mi-bhuil. Bhathar ga 'n togail gu bhi na 'n
comharraidh-cuimhne 's na 'm fianuisean air nithe cudthromach do
na h-ail ri teachd. Ach thainig iad, an tamul beag, gu bhi na 'n
cion-fath iodhal-aoraidh do 'n t-sluagh, ga 'n taladh gu cleachdaidh-
ean saobh-chiabhaidh, ris an do dhian-lean iad gu am na braigh-
deanais, a dh-aindeoin gach bagraidh lagh 's earalachaidh faidh.
Agus cha 'n 'eil mise faicinn aobhair airidh sam bith a bhi comh-
dhunadh gu 'n robh ceud-thoiseach ionann aitreibh air dhoigh eug-
samhuil am measg fhine sam. bith eile.

A nia mu thiomchioll na crom-lic, 's na ciste-bain, 's an earn —
tha iad so uile 'ghnath a chomharrachadh aitean adhlacaidh. Cha
'n 'eil eadar-dhealachadh sam bitli eile eadar a' chromleac 's a' chis-
te-bhan ach so, gu'n robh a' chiste-bhan air a folach fo 'n talamh,
co dhiiu a b' ann fo thorn no fo charn, agus a' chromleac an comh-
nuidh air uachdar an talaimh. B' e an t-ordugh suidhichte ceithir
chlachan seasaimh, air an cur ceithir-chearnach agus a' chromleac
na luidhe os an cinn. Ach 's e 'n riaghailt a bhathar a' leantuinn
gu cumanta 's an duthaich so, tri chlachan seasaimh, ged 'bha 'n
uaigh math gu leor le dha.

" Da chloich gu an leth anns an uir,
An coinneach fo smuir air an raoin " —

mar tha Oisean ag radh an CartJionn.

Tha mion-chunntais againn o chionn ghoirid bho Fhrangach
foghlumte bha siubhal an Algeria, air aon aite anns an d' thainig
e air corr 's ceithir fichead dhiubh, a chuid mhor na'n seasamh
fathast, air blar mu mheud deich no dusan acair. Agus bha iad
uile air 'n aon doigh, ceithir nan seasamh agus leac air an uachdar.

* Note from Dr Ruppell's travels in Abyssinia, 1828. — "I had an

opportunity of noticing a curious relic of old pagan worship,

women from the neighbouring villages assembled in considerable numbers at
a spring which gushed up under a clump of trees — washed their hands and
feet in the water ; then prostrated themselves before a rough-hewn cube of
freestone. ... I could get no satisfactory explanation of the ceremony."

IIEMAIXS OF ANCIENT RELIGION. 93

Gun teagamli sam bith is e aite adhlacaidh bha 'n sin. Ach tha
'n leithid ceudna lionnanor anns na h-Innseachan, an Arabia, 's an
Siria. Agus tha so a' dearbhadh dhuinn gu'n robh, o chian^n'neachas
dluth agus aonachd ghnathan 's bheacbdan ead ar cinnich 'tha 'n
Jiugh fad o cheile agus eu-cosmhail 'n creidimh 's an cleachdaidh-
ean.

Is ann a mhaim do dhaoine inbheach 's do ghaisgich anmeil a
bhthar a' togail uaighean maireannach mar so, gu bhith cumail an
cliu 's an iomraidh fo sgaoil. 'S uime sin tha Conall ag radh an
Carthonn, na'm faodadh e bhith gu'n tuiteadh e 's a' chath : —

" Ach togsa m' uaigh,

Chridh-mhor nam buadh. Biodh liath-charn
'Us meall de 'n uir air taobh nan stuadh,
A chur m' ainm 's mo chliu troimh am."

Bhathar a' tiodhlacadh laoch le 'n armachd, agus a' cur na'n coia
nithe sam bith eile 'bha miaghail aca, no 'bhuineadh air leth do'n
dreuchd. So cleachdadh a bha rnoran fhineachan a' leantuinn.
Arsa Ajax, an deigh dha chlaidheainh a thiomnadh dha mhac : —

" Theid m.' armachd eile fo ^n uir mar rium."

— Soph. Ajax.

'Sann ri so tha 'm faidh aig amharc 'san earruinn so (Eseciel 32.27).
" Agus cha luidh iad leis na cumhachdaich, a thuit do na neo-
thiomchioll-ghearrta, a chaidh sios do ifrinn (i.e., do 'n uaigh) le 'n
armaibh cogaidh." Tha e coslach cuideachd gu 'n robh na h-Eabh-
ruidhich a' coimhead a' chleachdaidh so na 'm measg fein uair-eigin ;
a reir mar a tha e air a radh ECU losua (los. 24.30). "Agus dh'
adhlaic iad e ann an crich oighreachd fein ann an Timnat-Serah."
Ach tha 'm Bioball Greugais (the Septuagint) a' car ri sin, mar
so—" Agus chuir iad an sin maille ris anns an uaigh aims an d'
adhlaic iad e, na sgeanan cloiche leis an do thiomchioll-ghearr e

cloinn Israel aig Gilgal Agus tha iad an sin gus an

la 'n diugh."

Bha cinnich nan duthcha tuath gle churamach a bhi mar so ag
onorachadh an curaidhean 's an cinn-fheadhna inbheach, agus a'
togail thuama mora dhoibh. ( Wormius. Dan. Monuments^* Bha

* " Harold employed a whole army and a vast number of oxen in.
dragging one huge stone to adorn the monument of his mother." Borlase
Ant. of Cornwall.

94 TRANSACTIONS.

meudachd na tuama, mar ghnath, an coimeas ri iubh an neach a
dh' f halbh.

Bha 'n earn, am measg nam fineachan Greugaich amhuil mar
am measg nan Eabhruidheach, na chomharradh-maslaidh, agus mar
sin a' nochdadh far an deach closach eucoireach uamhair air choir-
eigin a thilgeadh, mar bha Achan, agus Laius a mharbhadh leis an
tubaisteir (Edipous, mar gu 'm be fear-reubainn a bh' ann. Tha
sean-fhocail na 'r measg fathasb a tha feuchuinn nach robh an
cleashdadh so neo-aithnichte am Breatuinn — mar so, " Fear air
charn" (an outlaw) — " B' fhearr learn a bhi fo charn ohlach, &c."
Ach ann an Wales, cha 'n 'eil mallachd a' tighinn a beul duine is
oillteile na so — " Carn air do cheann." Ach is ann air chuimhne
neach inbheil no ceann-feachd urramach bha cinnich nan tirean.
tuath gu cumanta togail charn. Agus is ann o sin a tha an radh
so againn — " Cuiridh mi clach air do charn " — is e sin, bithidh
mi, mar bu dual dhomh bhi buintinn ri duine coir, a' cur ri do
chliu an deigh do bhais.

Ach cha b' ann an aon la chaidh an earn ni's mo na baile na
Roimh, a thogail. B' e dleasannas gach neach a rachadh seachad
a bhi leasachadh an torr gu h-araidh am fad 's a bha cuimhne air a
mhathair-aobhar, air neo bha e coltach nach b' fhada gus am
bitheadh aithreachas air air son a mhi-thoirt. Oir b'e am beachd
gu 'n robh taibhse an duine mhairbh a' taghal a ris agus aig iadhadh
mun 'charn, gu h-araidh an dubhar na h-oidhche ; agus uime sin,
gu'm b'e gliocas an fhir a shuibhladh ni-eigin a chur air. Tha
maighstir Armstrong, ughdar an Fhoclair Ghaidhlig, ag radh gu
'n robh an fhaoineachd so cho suidhichte na 'inntinn 's nach do
ghabh e air riamh a dhol seachad air earn, a bha 'm fagus d' a aite-
comhnuidh 'n uair bha e na ghuillan, gu h-araidh 's an anmoch,
gun chlachag a thilgeil air '11 a chabhaig.

Ach a rithist — bhathar aig aman a' togail charn an onair nam
fear a thuit am blar, 's a chaidh fhagail, co dhiubh 'b ann le eiginn
no 'thaobh tuitearaais, dh'easbhuidh adhlaicidh ; air eagal 's gu'm
bitheadh anman nan laoch chion fois, air faontradh mu'n cuairt na
'n tacharain chianail mar bha taibhse Thrathuil, a reir a' bhaird —

" Ach 's leir leat, a sholuis an la,
Taibhse Thrathuil na cheo glas."

Oir 'dh easbhuidh caradh ciatach agus tiodhlaiceadh freagarrach an

REMAINS OF ANCIENT RELIGION. 95

uaigh, 's coslach nach bitheadh am fois samhach, sitheil. 'Sana
ri sin tha 'm bard aig amharc 's an rann so, an Temora : —

" A Charuill, chinn-fheadhna nan laim,
Gabhsa bard, 's tog an uaigh :
A nochd bidh Conal fo phramh
'N a thigh caol gun leus an suain."

Agus, os-barr, mas bitheadh anam aon dhe na laoich a thuiteadh
" air seachran an ciar na gaoithe," tha e 'g radh : —

" Tog clachan fo bhoillsge 'tha fann
Doibhse uile thuit thall 's a' bhlar,"

oir so leibh mar thachair do chuid a chaidh dhearmad : —
" O na neoil tha dluth mu'n cuairt,
Chithear tannais nan sonn a dh'fhalbh."

A nis ged nach 'eil e furasda bhi comh-dhearbhadh gu soilJeir
ciod am beachd a bha aig ar seann-sinnsir mu chor an anaim an
deigh bais, bha iad a' lan-chreidsinn gu 'n robh e an comas aog an
neach a dh'fhalbh a bhi tighinn air ais, 's a' tathaich mu'n uaigh
fada 'n deigh dha falbh. Bha so, ma's a fior, a feuchainn gu'n
robh ni-eigin a' cur luasgain air, no gu'n robh cuis-ghearan aige
'dh'fheumadh e bhi comh-phairteachadh ris na beo mus faidh-
eadh e fois. Is e so bun-sinnsir a bheachd sin tha bitheanta
fathast am measg nan Gaidheal, gu'n robh tasg an duine mhairbh,
tacan mu'n d! eug e, na dhearbh-chruth 's eugasg, a' dol roimhe
dh' ionnsuidh na h-uaighe, a' caoineadh gu cianail, amhuil mar
ghnomhan an eugnaich, agus aig uairean a' toirt sgal ghoirt a
bheireadh oillt air na chluinneadh e. Agus is fada nan cian o'n
bha beachd mar so measg mhuinntir ; oir tha Homer ag radh mu
dheighinn suinn a thuit an cath : —

" Chaidh 'anam le geur sgread sios mar cheo do'n uaigh."

Is ionann mar sin a their iad gus an la diugh an taobh tuath
Shasuinn — an aite bhi 'g-radh gu'rn fac na gu'n cual iad an tasg,
's e their iad, "chunnaic mi waff" (that is, without doubt, the
whiff, or the last breath) — an ceo glas."

Bhitheamaid a nis a' tiomulaidh ar 'n aire car sealain ris a
chuairte. Dheth uile aitreibh ar sinnsir, is i so air iomadh doigh

9 TRANSACTIONS.

is ro-iomraidiche agus is mo tha 'n comhnuidh. dusgadh iongaiitais
's a' brosnachadh sgrudadh sgoilearan. Agus, co dhiubh 'tha 'n
t-ainm ceart no dochair, thathar a nis le co-aontachadh cumanta ga
gairm, " Teainpuill Dhruidh." Tha feadhainn dheth na teampuill
so ion-chomharraichte air son meud agus ailte na togalaich, mar
tha Carnac am Brittane — Stonehenge — Calernish an Leoghas —
Stennis an Arcamh — a' taisbeanadh seoltachd mhoir agus ealantas
air taobh nam fear ceairde 'thog iad ; air uthart 's gun robh muinn-
tir an linntean an aineolais dearbhte gu'm b' ann le buidseachd, no
le cobhair an deamhain chaidh an togail.

Bha chuairt a' riarachadh caochladh gnothaich. Is ann aice bha
ard-chomhairle a chinneadh a coinneaehadh agus a cur ghnoth-
aicliean riaghlaidh an ordugh, agus a bhathar cuideachd a fritheal-
adh ard fheillean solaimte na bliadhna. Agus, mar tha ranns-
achadh arsairean o chionn ghoirid a cuir thar teagamh, bhi a
suidheachadh an comhnuidh air run a bhi na h-inneal cuideachaidh
do speur-eolas. Agus 's ann o dheas-ghnathan comh-cheangailte
rithe dh'eirich na faoin-bheachdan 's fhaide tha mairsinn am measg
an t-sluaigh agus na cleachdaidhean 's deireannaich a tha iad a'
leigeadh dhiubh.

Bha chuairt air mhodh sonraichte, na h-ionad naomh, coisrigte
do aoradh an teine no, mar a theirear, aoradh na greine — do bhrigh
's gur i ghrian am foillseachadh is aluinne 'san domhan dhe
maitheas an Fhreasdail, agus an samhladh as oirdheirce dhe 'n
t-solus neo-chruthaichte. Agus 's ann air son sin 'bha i fosgailte ris
an athar, agus togte air fireach no air blar reidh, gus am bithid a
faicsinn eirigh agus luidhe na greine o n;eadhon. Bhathar mu
dheireadh, an aitean, ga dunadh 's a cuir mullaich oirre.*

'Sann aig a chuairt a bha reachdan ur dha 'n cuir a mach, 'bha
laghan dha 'n deanamh follaiseach, 'bha righrean 's flaithean dha'n
taghadh agus a' gabhail seilbh gu follaiseach air an dreuchdan.
Tha Dr Clarke, na thuras an righeachd na Suain, a' toirt iomraidh
air cuairt mhor a tha laimh ri Upsal, seann phriomh-bhaile na
righeachd, do 'n ainm Morasteen (Clachaii a nihonaidh) agus ag
innseadh dhuinn gu robh righrean na duthcha 'ghnath air an
taghadh agus air an an coisrigeadh an sin, a nuas gu am a tha
faisg dhuinn. Agus bha an righ, an deigh dhoibh a roghnachadh,
a gabhail a sheasaimh air a' chloich mhoir am rneadhon na cuairte,
'n lathair a' cho-chruinneachaidh na 'n seasanih tiomchioll #gus an

* The Pantheon at Rome, consecrated to Christian worship in the eighth
century, and the Temple of Vesta, were originally circles like Stonehenge,
devoted to sun-worship. A few round churches still remaining in England
had probably a similar origin.

REMAINS OF ANCIENT RELIGION. 97-

sin a toiv nan geallaidhnean dligheach 's a' gabhail ughdarrais
riaghlaidh o laimli an t-sluaigb. Agus tha 'n cleachadh ceudna
air doigh, air a chumail suas lathast, gup dad a dh' atharrachadh
's an Eilc-an Mhanainneach. Oir cha 'n 'eil statb. an lagh no 'n
achd gus an teid a leughadh a mach gu follaiseach aig Ouairt
Tinwald, am meadhon an eilein, an lathair a' phobuill comh-
chruinnichte mu'n cuaivt di. Agus, ged nach ann 's a chuairt a
tha i o cbioiin fhad, is fin a thoir fainear gur ann air clach a tha
righrean Bhreatuinn air an crunadh — clach-na-cineamhuin a
tbainig o Eirinn a dh-Alba, agus o Alba do Shasuinn. Tha seann
bheul-aitbrisanEirinnmudeighinn, a' cumail amachgu'm bitheadh
i toir fuairn neonach 'nuair a bhitheadh fear de fhior ghineal nam
Milesianaich air a chrunadh oirre, ach fo chois fear sara bith eile,
bha i cho samhach ri cloich.

Mar so, ma tha, bha chuairt na h-aite coinneimh ehomhairliche
— 'na tigh-seallaidh reul-eolais — \ia talla-moid agus, gn h-araidh, 'na
teampull iiaornh, far an robh gach deas-ghnath a bhuineadh do
aoradh na greine air a h-ordachadh, am modh aoraidl: is farsuinge
a sgaoil riamh am nieasg a chinneadh-dhaoine. Agus cha 'n e an t-
aobhar iongantais is lugha an greim teann a rimi e air aig-
nidhean a luchd-leannihuinn.*

An tomad 's am morachd, tha Carnac a' toirt brrrachd air na h-
uile 's aithne dhuinn. Cha 'n e a mhain gu'm bheil a' chuairt fein
anabarrach, ach cho maith ri sin, an cruinneachadh fuathasach de
chlachan mor a tha mu 'n cuairt dhi, cuid dhiu corr as tri fichead
troidh air airde agus mu cheithir-deug air leud. Ach ged tha
iomadh ni mu deighinn an iom-cheist, tha e lan-chinnteach gu'n
robh i na h-ionad seallaidh reul-eolais agus na h-inneal-tomhais
aimsir. Agus tha 'm beul-aithris a tha fathast am measg mhuinn-
tir an aite, mar ghne dhearbhadh air sin — gu'n robh iad o shean a
ghnath a cur clach ur ris an aireimh na h-uile bliadhna, am
meadhon an t-samhraidh, an deigh tein'-aighear (no mar bu choir
a radh, teine-Bhaal) a' dheanamh an oidhche roimh sin. Agus ma
tha sin nor, 's ann gun teagamh gu bhith cumail cunntais chearfe
air aireamh nam bliadhna bha iad 'ga dheanamh. Agus cha 'n
'eil e mi-choltach nach 'eil bunchar firinn aig an t-seann-sgeul so, 'n
uair a bhithear a' toirt fainear aireamh fhuathasach nan clachan,
— corr a's ceithir mile.

*The Druidical remains in the Decan are precisely like those in Britain
and France — the exact counterfeit of Carnae, Stonehenge and Kits Cotty-
houee, as in other parts of India. — Captain Taylor, in Irish Academy Trant-
action*.

a

98 TRANSACTIONS.

Tim saobh-sgeul eile ann anns am faodar bhi 'g aithneachadh
faoin oidhirp mac-meanmna an deigh dhoibh eachdraidh fhior na
togalaich a chall — is e, gu'm Ve obair nan Orion bh' innte gu leir
— obair dhaoine crion, na fir bheag, bheag, dha 'm bu ghnath bhi
tional 's a' dannsadh mu'n cuajrt oidhchean araidh dhe 'n
bhliadhna. Ach mo thruaighe leir am fear-astair a thigeadh tar-
suinn orra 'n trath sin — gu dearbh bhitheadh a leoir dannsaidh
aige mu'n tigeadh a' mhaduinn.

Ach co am fear, air feadh na Gaidhealtachd, a dh'eisd ri sgeulachan
na seann mhuinntir mu'n teallaich air feasgair geamhraiadh,
beagan bhliadhnaidh roimhe so, nach 'eil eolach gu leoir air fineadh
nam fear beag — air an teintean 's an dannsadh, air mullach chnoe
a's thoman ? Agus cha robh sin iongantach ; oir bha an teine so
na ni aig an robh dearbh bhith mu dheireadh na h-ochd-ceud-deug;
agus faodar a bhith cinnteach nach robh an dannsadh air di-
chuimhn.*

Cha robh 'san dannsadh, air a' chuid is mo ach righligeadh le
eeum cubhaidh an cuartalan mu thiomchioll an teine, na m»
chlachan na cuairt, ma bha iad sin am fagus — cha robh 's a' chleas
o chionn fhad ach raeasgan de dh-abhacas agus de sheann nosan.
Is ann aig tionndaidh na greine, am meadhon an t-samhraidh, a
bha iad a' beothachadh teine Bhaal air na cnuic an Eirinn ; agus
tha e coslach gum b' e sin an t-am ceart, ged a b' ann air ceud la a'
Cheitein a bha iad a coimhid " La buidhe Bcaltuinn" an Albainn.
Tha cuimhne mhaith aig cuid fathast air cleachdadh a bha cumanta
's a' Ghaidhealtachd m'an d' thainig an t-inneal-beothachaidh sin,
Ivxifer matches, an cumantas. Bhitheadh feadhainn a' leigeadh an
teine as an oidhche roimhe, agus moch air madxiinn Bealtuinn a'
dol do thigh nabuidh a dh' iasachd tein'-eiginn, nach bithead iad
an comhnuidh faighinn le deadh ghean ; air eagal 's gu'm bitheadh
iad a' toirt ni's mo na 'n teine leo. Is e bh' anns a' ghiseag so
fuigheall dhe 'n t-seann chleachdadh a bhith cuir as an teine aon
nair 's a' bhliadhna co dhiu, agus ga bheothachadh as ur le fior
theine-eiginn, a bha naomhachadhna teallaich re na h-ath-bhliadhna.
Ach mar bha e rud-eigin doirbh a bhi beothachadh tein'-eiginn,
bhathar a' cleanamh a' ghnothaich le teine Bhaal o na cnuic gu
bhith ag ath-bheothachadh teine '11 tighe ; ged tha Dr Martin 'g
radh gu 'n robh iad 'a deanamh tein'-eiginn 'san EileanSgiathanach
an am a thurais an sin. Agus bha iad a' meas a' cheud bhurn a

* Hayman Rook, writing in 1786, says that the custom of lighting the
Taal-fire at the Druid temple near Harrogate, on the eve of the Summer
solstice, was regularly observed at that time.

REMAINS OF ANCIENT RELIGION. 99

racbadh a ghoil air an teine ur na ioc cumhachdach gu gleidheadh
an spreidhe o phlaigh no tubaiste, agus air son sin, chrathadh
orra. Agus 's math tha cuimhne aig feadhainn fathast air
cleachdadh eile 'bha ri fhaicinn 'san Eilean Dubh. Air maduinn
La Calluinn, moch roimh eirigh na greine, bhithid a' losgadh
gheugan aiteil anns a' bhathaich 's a' smudadh a' chruidh leis an
toit fhallain, air son an aobhair cheudna. Dh' eirich na nosan so,
maille ri iomadh eile, o gnath nan Druidh, a bhi glanadh gach
creutair beo, duine 's ainmhidh, le teine, aon uair's'abhliadhna air
a chuid bu lugha. Agus o dheas-ghnath an ath-ghlanaidh so tha
'n radh so againn — "A' dol eadar da theine.'' Bha iad an Eirinn
ga chunntadh gle shealbhach a bhith leum troiuahe 'n teine.

Is coslach gu'm b' ann an siorramachd Pheairt bu deireannaich a
bhathar a' beothachadh teine Bhaal an Albainn, air mullach cnoc
Tulaich-Bhealtainn an Auchtergaven, dluth dha 'm bheil teampull
Dhruidh. Bithidh mi 'n so a' giorrachadh a' chunntais a tha
Pennant a' toir air a' chleas. Air dhoibh an teine bheothachadh
agus comaidh de mhin, 's uibhean, ';> im &c., adheasachadh air,
thilg iad pairt bheag air an teine mar iobairt-dibhe. An deigh
sin, a' seasamh mu'n cuairt le an aghaidh ris an teine, ghabh gach
neach inir na 'laimh 's a' briseadh spiel gaig dheth, thilg e sid thair
a ghualainn do fhear gleidhidh no fear millidh a mhaoin 's a gradh
— " So dhuts', a mhadaidh-ruaidh, seachainn mo chearcan is m'
uain. Sodhutsa, chlamhain riabhaiche, 's bi caomhain air na
h-iseanean &c." Bha iad a rithist a' cuairteachadh an teampuill
naoidh uairean 's an deigh sin ag ith 's ag ol 's a dannsadh. Bha
beagan atharrachaidh air an doigh-so aig Calasraid — an aite bhi
tilgeil nan criomanan arain air an cul-thaobh, bha iad an toiseach
a' dubhadh aon dhiubh le guaillean, 's ga 'n tilgeadh fcroimh cheile
am boineid. Agus bha 'm fear am thfirrtiingeadh a mir dubh cois-
rigte do Bhaal, 's bhitheadh aige ri leum tri uairean troimh 'n
teine mar gu'm b' ann ga iobradh.

Laimh ris an Eaglais-Bhric, bha na maighdeannean a' dol a
mach moch air maduinn Bealtuinn a thional an dealt na 'm bois 's
ga thilgeadh thair an gualainn mar thabhartas reiteachaidh gu bhi
faighinn suiridhich. Ach 's ann a bhitheadh fortanach te a ghla-
cadh seilcheag air adharcean an trath sin (Stat. Account of Scotland'
1826}. Bha cuid mhaith de nosan diadhachd nan Druidh comh-
sheasamh an tabhartais, dheth 'm faodar a bhith lorgachadh cuid
fathast, mar tha " Deoch na Gruagaich." Is rud so mu dheighinn
nach 'eil e furasda bhith toir iomraidh chinntich, do bhrigh 's nach
eilear a' cordadh mu'n Ghmagaich, co 'bho innte. B' e a tabhartaa

o 2

100 ThANSACTIONi.

sileag bhainne 'bha bhanarach a' dortadh dhi an deigh bleoghan a
chruidh. Ged a tha an t-ainm a' filleadh gu'm b' e boirionnach a
bha innte, tha cuid a curnail a1 rnach gum b' i'n t-aon ni i ris an
Uruisg ; mun 'bha 'n Uruisg gle gheocach air bainne. So leibh
bodach a bha taghal air uillt 's glaic aonaraich ; ach mu dheireadh
an fhoghar a bha fas ni bu chaidrea'maich 's ag ealadh mu'n bhaile.
Agus mun bha e cho miannach air bainne, bha banaraich a' fagail
sileig dha, gu bhith ga chum ail air ghean. Aig an fheasgar, bha
iad a' fagail suidheachan falarnh dha rl taobh an teinteaii, agus cha
d' thoireadh an saoghal air neach suidhe an sin, air eagal a bhi cur
stuirte air an uruisg — oir 's e an daighear bha ann na 'n tig-
eadh braghadh air.

Na'm bitheadh neach a lathair aig an robh an da shealladh
d.h' fheudadh e bhi fnicinn na h-uruisg, an coslas leth-sheanu
duine, aigeannach. sultmhor, an deise chiar-ghlas, fait buidhe,
dosach tuiteam mu guallainnean, boineid mhor, leathaun air a
ceann, agus cuaille tapaidh na dorn. Is gann a bha tigh mor
sam bith uairegin gun uruisg bhith taghal air. Agus 'n uair a
thigeadh fodha bheireadh e srann air obair an trath a bhitheadh
muinntir eile na 'n suain chodail. Tha Milton a' cur so gu h-aillidh
anna an dan L' Allegro.

Tells how the drudging goblin sweat
To earn his cream-bowl duly set,
When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn
His shadowy fLil has threshed the corn,
That ten day-labourers could not end ;
Then lies him down the lubber fiend,
And, stretched out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength.

An uiread so mu'n uruisg — Ach tha cuid eile dearbhadh iru'm
bitheadh sinn ni bu phoncail le bhith tuigsinn na Gruagaich mar
fhleasgach og deadh-mhaiseach, le dualan donn, bachlach a' tuiteam
na 'n tuinn mu mhuineal, agus uaithe sin a comh-dhunadh nach
bu ni sam bith eile e ach a ghrian, no Apollo nan dual riomhach
neo-bhearrta, dha 'bu shloinneadh am Breatuinn, Grannus, ged
chaidh an t-ainm car air iomrall na ath-chumadh. Agus tha mi
deanamh dheth gur e so am beachd is coslaich ; oir tha e dearbhta
gu'n robh seann f hineacheau Bhreatuiim gu leir 'a leaiituinn aoradh
Apollo — agus mar sin gu'm b' ann do n' ghrein a bha na banach-
agan a' toir an dibhe bainne, ge b' e dealbh sam bith a bha na 'n
inntinn fein, no 'n smuaintean muinntir neo-fhoghluimt« an
coitchiontas.

REMAINS OF ANCIENT RELIGION. 1.01

Tha Mi- Mac-Cuinn a bha na mhinisteir an Cille-Mhuire 'san
Eilean Sgiathanach (1770) ag innseadli gu'n robh iad cho deidheil
air a chleas so ann an earuinn dheth 'n sgii'e, 's gu'n robh e ni
uspairn chruaidh dha bhi gu 'n aomadh gu a leigeadh dhiubh. B'
abhaist dhoibh na h-uile la, an deigh bleoghainn a' chruidh, a bhi
fagail dileig bhainne ann an lagan air mullach cloiche do 'n Ghrua-
gaich, mar thabhartas buidheachais. Agus faodaidh sinn a bhi
creidsirn gu'n robh a' Ghruagach a'gabhail ris an of rail, oir cha b'
fhada bitheadh a ghrian a' sughadh suas 's a' tiormachadh dileag
bhainne, gu h-araidh air la teth sainhraidh.

Tha sinn uile eolach air cleachdadh eile tha fathast cumanta air
feadh na duthcha sin 's am bheil iad, aig deireadh an fhoghar, an
deigh ceann a chur air a' bhuain, a' ceangal dorlach dhiasan 's
ga 'n tasgadh suas ann an tigh a BJiaintigJiearna-arbJiair no
mhaighdean mar their iad rithe an Sasuinn. Mai%-ri sin bithidh
seann tuathanaich a' our dorlach ghrainn ann am pocan 's ga
chrochadh suas air an doigh cheudna. Is e bha 'n sin o chian,
ofrail ceud thoradh na talmhuinn do Apollo La Liunasduinn
— agus tha " siubhal a Ghabhair Bhacaich," cleachdadh neonach
eile 'bha o chionn ghoirid cumanta 's an taobh tuath, a' cur gne
chomhdhearbhadh air so. A' cteud fhear a chuir ceann air a'
bhuain, bha esan a' ceangal sguabaig 's ga toirt an laimh gille luath-
chasach, a's ga chur leatha dh' ionnsuidh a nabuidh a bha air
dheireadh 's bha am fear so a rithist, air dha ciioch a chur air a'
bhuain, ga cur air adhart gus an ath-fhear a bha air dheireadh leis,
<fec. Ach cho luath 's a liubhradh e an " Gabhar" bha aige ri
chasan a thoirt-as — oir cha robh 's a' chleachdadh mu dheireadh ach
gne' raiteachais gu bhi cur an tuathanaich an cxiimhne gu'n robh e
ro-mhaU air obair an fhoghar. A nis tha earrann an eachdraidh
Pansanias, seann sgriobhaiche Greugach, a tha mi am barail a tha
deanamh ciall agus tus a' " Ghabhar Bhacaich" soilleir dhuinn ;
agns a' dhearbhaclh gu 'm bheil an so againn gne atharrais air aii
rian 'san robh ar sinnsirean a cur an tiodhlaic naomh a dh' ionn-
suidh eilean Delos, do Apollo — ga chur o threubh gu treubh gua
an ruigeadh e an t-eilean. So-leibh mar tha Pansanias ag radh.
Is co math dhomh chur am Beurla. "The Hyperboreans sent
the holy offering to the Arimaspi, they sent it on to the Isidoneans,
these sent it to the Scythians, and these again to Sinope, whence
the Athenians transported it to Delos."

Tha Calimachus cuideachd a' deanamh luaidh, no laoidh an
onair Delos, air a leithid ceudna 's ag radh gu'n robh gach cearn*
dheth 'n domhan a' cur ofrail a cheud-thoraidh gu Delos.

102 TRANSACTIONS.

Acli mar-ri sin, bha ar n-athraichean, avuhuil inar ua fineachau
eile, toir aoraidh do chumhachdaidh Naduir, agus do Spioradan-
gleidhidh aitean air leth. Is e samhuil dhaibh so ofrail Shony an
Leoghas, air Oidhche Shamhna. Gu bhi deanamh sgeula fhada
goirid, bha iad an sin a' cruinneachadh gu aite freagarrach 'a a'
taghadh fear dhe 'n chuideachd le tuiteam-chrann, 's bha esan a' dol
sios gu mheadhon do 'n luhuir, le cuach leanna na laimh 's ga
thaomadh air an uisge, an deigh dranndan athchuinge id Shony gu
bhi cur pailteas feamuinn thun na traighe air a gheamhradh.

Co-ionann ri sin bha " Leabaidh Bhrighd" ann an eilean lie 's an
Colonsa. Bha iad an sin a' deanamh suas sguabag arbhair 's ga
cur seachad am bascaid, agus, an deigh focail failte do Bhrighd, dol
gu fois, an duil gu'm faighteadh an lath 'r na mhaireach lorg coise
Bhrighd anns an luath air a' cLagailt, ma ghabh i ris an ofrail le gean
math. Agus bhasud mar choniharradh dhoibh gu'm bitheadh iad
a' faotainn an iarrtais, an fhad so.

Tha muinntir fathast beo aig am bheil cuinihne air cleachdadh
ni-eigin coslach ri so a bha cuid a' leantuinn 'san Eilean Dubh. Ann
an teaghlach 's an do chaoehail neach bhitheadh iad oidhche
Challuinn, a' racadh na giiosaich dheth na chagailt, a cur na luath
comhnard, min, agus air maduinn na bliadhna uir gheibhteadh,
ma's a nor, lorg coise an neach a dh' fhalbh air an luath. Ach
cha 'n 'eil e furasda bhi deanamh tnach ciod e bu bhonn na bu
chiall do 'n chleas. Ach is iomadh nis a's cleas a b'fhearr na so a
chaidh o chionn fhada gu tur air dhi-chuimhne le ar mi thoirte, agus
mu 'm bu mhath leinn an diugh iniou-chunntais a bhi againn.

STH FEBRUARY, 1877.

At this meeting the Rev. Mr Watson, Kiltearn, read the fol-
lowing paper on

"THE COLLECTING OF HIGHLAND LEGENDS AND
THE NECESSITY FOR COLLECTING THEM NOW."

WHILE undoubtedly a great deal has of late years been done
in the way of encouraging the study of the Celtic language and
literature, especially in reference to the departments of mythology
and folk-lore, I cannot but think that much more could be accomp-
lished ID the way of collecting legends by our scholars, who are
scattered over all parts of the Highlands, if only they directed
their attention to the subject.

HIGHLAKr LEGENDS. 103

This being my opinion, I had little difficulty in determining on
what subject to write when this large and well known society did
me the honour of requesting me to prepare an essay with the view
of its being read here, and so I venture to make the following re-
marks on " the Collecting of Highland Legends and the Necessity
for Collecting them now."

I. — A. preliminary question meets us on the very threshold of
our subject, viz., are there any legends to gather ] are we sur«
that they have not all been collected already 1

(1) This question, I think, scarcely requires an answer. Every
one who has in his youth lived in a Highland country parish, and
who in his after years became a student of the language and cus-
toms of his people, knows, or thinks he knows, that a tithe has not
yet been collected of what might have been. The language is to
its very greatest depths saturated with legends, while its modern
surface is tattooed (if we may use the expression) with those mytho-
logical images which have descended from the days of yore. In
all countries men cling with extraordinary tenacity to the customs
and to the thoughts of their ancestors. In this respect all races
are conservative ; for example, we read of Icelandic kings, like
Hegli, who having been converted to Christianity, trusted in
Christ, except when they got into any difficulty or when they
were about to put out to sea and incur the dangers of the great
deep. Then they invoked the aid of Thor, the god of their fore-
fathers.

What we might call the most glaring of the legends, the most
sensational, have, generally speaking, found their way into print ;
but there are whole hosts of modest, unobtrusive, shy stories
which are yet pure in their native element. Nature does not
wear her most useful lessons on her sleeve : and nothing can be
more natural than that these retiring, shy legends should have
escaped the observation of collectors, while the more vigorous,
forward and highly coloured succeeded in exalting themsalves into
the high places of literature. But it does not follow that those
legends which have hitherto escaped notice are less interesting,
or would give less information or would throw less light upon the
past than tlieir fellows. In the physical world the more boisterous
agents are generally, if not always, the weaker. The sunbeam is
strongci and more useful than the volcano, and gravitation is more
powerful than the thunderstorm ; for while the latter may hurl
down a few buildings, or wreck a few ships, or lash the ocean into
fury, the former guides worlds as they roll in their orbits and

104 TRANSACTION*.

rules suns as they travel through the immensities of space. The,
same law holds true in the realms of language. What appears
strong language, what is called strong language, is invariably weak
in comparison with the calm deductions ol reason, or the almost
still small voice of the demonstrative sciences. And, may it not hap-
pen that those legends which, on account of their timid bashfulness,
have hitherto escaped the printing-press, as the silent force of
electricity eluded for ages the grasp of the students of natural
philosophy, will turn out to possess far more beauty and far more
energy than other legends which, at the first blush, appear strong,
— indeed than any one would be inclined to give such modest
legends credit for, before a thorough examination of their details
and history had been made ? To all the sciences, but especially to
the science of language we can apply the immortal words of the
poet Gray : —

How many a gem of purest ray serene ,

The dark, un fathomed caves of ocean bear ;

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Have we in our Highland straths and glens no students who will
put themselves to the trouble of collecting the gems which are
scattered in our language ? Some of our Highland friends may be
unable to separate the valuable from the valueless, but let that
not prevent them from collecting the ore since other scholars can
perhaps be found who will distinguish the grains of gold from the
heaps of sand.

(2) But let us suppose that the idea of there being uncollected
legends still floating in the language of our people, is a false one ;
let us suppose that not only has every legend been gathered, but
also every scrap and edition of every legend ; that every local
name and peculiar expression, every ancient custom and fragment
of poetry, every riddle and proverb has been collected ; and
having supposed all this, let us ask, what good can it do to direct
attention to the collecting of them now ?

I put this question in as strong a form as possible, because
there are persons in this country, who are not slow to tell us that
all that could be done in this department of science has been al-
ready done.

The answer to this is very simple, viz., that we have no more
proof that the collection has been so thorough, so complete and so
searching as is here indicated, than that a dream casts a shadow.
It is easy to make strong statements but not, by any means, •<>

HIGHLAND LEGENDS. 105

easy to verify them ; and even were all legends gathered it would
be no small boon to the Celtic student to have a clear proof that
they were gathered.

The botanist is not satisfied until he knows that he has ex-
amined all the flowers and plants in the district in which he-
resides, and so the real student of language cannot rest contented
until he is convinced that all the legends, &c., of his country have
been collected and classified. And as the botanist examines the
most common grasses and worthless weeds, as well as the most
gorgeous flowers and towering trees, the student of the science of
language brings the lens of criticism to bear on the most childish
fable as well as on the most soul-inspiring poetry.

For a long time many enthusiastic men wasted large portions
of their lives as well as treasures of wealth in the search of the so-
called perpetual motion ; and it is said that there are men still
engaged in this barren investigation, under the delusion that the-
perpetual motion is a lost but recoverable invention, and that our
Government some years ago laid aside a great reward to be be-
stowed on the successful re-discoverer. Is it no small boon to the
scientific world to be convinced that the perpetual motion is
impossible ) This allows many an enthusiast to direct his energies
into another aud more useful channel ; while, the very assumption
of the principle that the perpetual motion is impossible, has led to
the discovery of new and important scientific truths.

For a long time it was a question with astronomers whether
there were inhabitants in the moon or not. Did astronomy gain
nothing by proving that our satellite has no atmosphere, and in
consequence, that there can be no inhabitants there who resemble
us in the least ] Omitting the satisfaction attending the solution
of an interesting scientific problem, did not the settling of this
question enable both those who were and those who would have
been interested in it, to pursue, undisturbed by it, other important
scientific investigations ? If the key which unlocked this riddle
had not been discovered, its want would have haunted the minds
of many of them, would have tended to wean away their attention
from other pursuits and thus would have rendered them less able
to extend the confines of discovery.

The same principle holds good in reference to our legends. So
long as we are not certain that they have all been gathered up,
there will, in all probability, be men whose minds will be haunted
with the thought that something more could be done in this field
than has yet been accomplished, and therefore whoee usefulness in

106 TRANSACTIONS.

other departments of Celtic literature and science will inevitably
be diminished.

Thus standing upon the lowest level possible — assuming, for
the sake of argument, that every legend, nursery story and quaint
saying, that every proverb, riddle and scrap of poetry has been
already collected, we come to the conclusion that even in such cir-
cumstances it would be no vain task to draw attention to the sub-
ject were it even to obtain a proaf of the thorough character of the
previous research. How much more incumbent, therefore, is it
upon us all to enter this region of scientific labour with renewed
vigour, since we are well-nigh certain that no more than a tithe of
the legends, &c., which are floating in the language of the High-
lander has yet been observed and examined.

The number of men in our age who work their way into print
is very large, yet there are thousands, especially in the remote
Highlands for whom it is no easy task to pass any writing of
theirs through the press. Here, however, in the collecting of
legends and in the describing of ancient customs we have a rich
field in which any one possessing a fair share of common sense, and
rather more than a fair share of perseverance, can make for him-
self a name. The more remote the glen in which the student lives,
the further away from the steam-ship and railroad the better, since
here in the dark, the legends, like certain flowers, have a better
chance of living than in the full daylight of modern civilisation.

II. — Bat this leads us to- put our second question — what good
can it do to the Highlander, or to any one else, to gather and clas-
sify these apparently silly stories 1

It has been proved that there is a science of language and
and that this science can be classed among the physical sciences.
It is not yet an old science, like chemistry and geology ; it really
belongs to the nineteenth century. Now, the science of language
has not only supplied a new basis but has also thrown a new
light on the science of mythology, and this again has illuminated
with its rays the hitherto dark regions of storiology and folk-
lore. " Even classical philology," says the distinguished German
philosopher, Helmholtze, " even classical philology is no longer
restricted to the study of those works which, by their artistic per-
fection and precision of thought, or because of the importance of
their contents, have become models, of prose and poetry to all ages.
On the contrary we have learnt that every lost fragment of an
ancient author, a very gloss of a pedantic grammarian, every
allusion of a Byzantine court-poet, every broken tombstone found

HIGHLAND LEGENDS. 107

in the wilds of Hungary or Spain or Africa, may contribute »
fresh fact, or fresh evidence, and thus serve to increase our
knowledge of the past;' but if this be true of words and fragments,
of sentences, it is also true of myths, legends and ancient customs.
Now, since the study ol legends must be classed among the
scientific studies, it at once becomes manifest that such a study can-
not but do good if wisely pursued. The intellectual energy
elicited helps to invigorate the student's mind, while the new and
interesting truths which h,e discovers go to increase his store of
knowledge. Further, as every planet in the universe modifies the
motion of every other, we find that every new science, and every
new truth has a tendency to improve and enlarge those sciences
which are already adorned with the majesty of years. " The
study of words may be tedious to the school boy as the breaking
of stones is to the wayside labourer,, but, to the thoughtful eye of
the geologist, these stones are full of interest — he sees miracles on
the high-road, and reads chronicles in every ditch;" and so while
the uneducated observer sees no beauty in legends and no in-
struction in nursery stories, the student of language reads in many
of them the history of the far past. When, Galileo discovered
spots on the sun's surface no one imagined that it would be dis-
covered in a subsequent age that these spots were in some way
associated with the Aurora Borealis of our planets, with the
motions of our magnetic needles, and even wiih our terrestrial
rainfall and cyclones ;. so we know not yet what our new science
may lead to.

When the geologist finds a new fossil in the strata of the earth,
he preserves it and ceases not to examine it until it reveals its
secret to him, until it tells its fascinating story of the animal or
vegetable life which existed on our planet during ages that have
long since vanished into the cycles of the past. Is there no use in
this ] Does any sane man despise the science of geology ] Now
language has been beautifully called fossil poetry. Professor Max
Muller, after explaining some stories in his excellent lecture on the
Philosophy of Mythology, exclaims, " I wish I could tell you some
more of these stories which have been gathered from ail parts of
the world, and which, though they may be pronounced childish
and tedious by some critics, seem to me to glitter with the
brightest dew of nature's own poetry, and to contain those very
touches that make us feel akin, not only with Homer and Shakes-
peare, but even with Lapps, and Finns, and Kaffirs."

When the student discovers a myth or a legend of the far

108 TRANSACTIONS.

distant, dim past, petrified in the strata of language, he preserves
it and begins to examine it. The ignorant may think his conduct
foolish, and 1m eagerness to gather up those nursery tales and
school-day rhymes which they were accustomed to regard as silly
in the extreme, may be considered by them as an indication of a
mind more fit for confinement in a lunatic asylum than for, per-
haps, a proud position in the temple of learning ; yet, he is not
discouraged, for he knows chat the pioneers of every great science
were in their day despised and dishonoured. Astronomy is now
the prince of the physical sciences, yet " we find the4whole genus
of astronomical men soundly castigated by Socrates (the wisest of
the ancients), who thought astronomy was desirable for determin-
ing the day of the month, or the hour of the night; but that to
carry it further was waste of valuable time and that ' speculators
on the universe and on the laws of Heavenly bodies were no better
than madmen.'" (Solar Physics by N". Lockyer).

If the childhood even of astronomy was thus dishonoured can
we wonder should the labours of the students of the science of
storiology not be respected 1 But, notwithstanding this disrespect
when the student of the Celtic language and literature finds a fossil
he wishes to preserve every fragment of it that he may put it
through the ordeal of a cross-examination; and if he can prevail upon
it to reveal its secret he feels that he has learned a higher truth
than that which thrills the geologist, since it is a truth pertaining
not to the history of the vegetable or animal worlds, but to the
history of human beings possessing immortal souls — to the history
of human beings whose blood, in all probability, pulsates through
his own veins.

"^ords have been called casts from the primeval picture gallery
of the human mind, and to a certain extent the same title might
be applied to legends also. From the study of words, myths, and
legends, that is, from the archives of language we have already
learned much of what the Aryan civilisation was during ages stretch-
ing further back far than the dawn of documentary history; but very
much more remains to be done, and it is to be hoped that worthy
labourers will ere long be seen at work in every Highland strath
and glen.

The Brothers Grimm, Dr Dasant, Dr Bleek, Dr Callaway, &c.,
and our own distinguished Highland scholar, Mr Campbell, have
taught us that our popular stories, however unmeaning they
may appear, have a meaning of their own, that indeed they " yield
most valuable materials for the palaeontology of the human race."

HIGHLAND LEGGED*. 109

No one denies that it does much good to throw light on the
languages, customs, and laws of the present, but legends compose
one element of the conversational life of our people, and the more
fully we master them the more thoroughly do we understand the
significance of what we hear ahuost every day.

Again, no one denies that we derive much benefit from study-
ing the history of the past ; but to many a mind the word " his-
tory" has unfortunately a peculiar and hence a limited signification,
and that, of course, by no means, the highest. To many people
(readers and writers) history signifies the description of • court
intrigues, battles, revolutions and all such phenomena. It never
seems to dawn upon their minds that there was an under-current
of force, out of which battles and revolutions sprung in the past ;
and out of which also the phenomena of the present developed
themselves by a slow but sure process. The philosophical historian
makes it his primary business to understand and describe this
under-current, to point out the general in the midst of the particu-
lar, and the fundamental underlying the superficial. He is as sure
that this force existed as that there were fern forests previous to the
formation of our coal fields. Now, the further back we can trace
any chain of which the links are cause and effect, the more really
do we understand that portion of the series which is under im-
mediate observation, and so nothing surely can be more manifest
than that the more thoroughly we understand that out of which
the present was developed, the more completely are we masters of
the knowledge of the life which we live, the laws which we obey,
and the customs which we follow. But, in relation to our theme,
it has been proved, and that satisfactorily, that the scientific study
of language, of myths, legends, and customs reveals this dim hidden
history of the far past, out of which the present was developed,
better than the study of any other science or set of sciences does,
and hence we cannot but conclude that those who are engaged in
collecting the legends which are floating among the people are
employed in a task which is anything but a vain one. The
student who collects the legends may not be able to understand
their significance, but that is no more a reason why he should not
collect them, than that the mechanic who makes the piston of a steam
engine should refuse to work until he comprehends every detail of
that wondrous engine which imparts life to our factories and
speed to our locomotives. Let him be persuaded that not only
has every legend which he hears a history but also every word
which he utters. As the artist never dreams that the clay which

1 10 TRANSACTION'*.

he handles contains the remnants of organic life we are uncon-
scious of the full historic beauty of the words which we speak, and
of the legends at which \ve smile. We do not feel, for example,
when we utter the word " daughter" that we are speaking of a
" milkmaid," nor that the word " father" originally meant " pro-
tector."

Let us confine our attention for a little to the word " daughter,"
and ask ourselves briefly what is involved in the fact that this
word originally meant " milkmaid"? This word, we are told, is
the same in all the Aryan languages except Latin ; that is to say,
this word was in common use in those primeval days before the
Aryan language had broken up into its several branches, and
before the Aryan races had scattered from their primeval home.
How long ago this was we cannot tell, but we do know (v. Max.
Muller's Lectures on the science of Language, vol. i.) that one at
least of the Aryan languages (the Sanskrit) was old in the days of
King Solomon. The argument by which this has been proved
commends itself by the coherence of its parts and the reasonable-
ness of its conclusions. We cannot enter into details here, but
perhaps we may give some idea of the nature of the argument.
If the Gaelic language were to die out, and if some tens of
thousands of years after this scholars were endeavouring to deter-
mine when Gaelic was a spoken language, they would feel almost
if not absolutely certain that it was spoken at the time at which
such Gaelic wordsase&m and pibroch were imported into the English.
Now we read in the 10th chap, of 1st Kings that Solomon's navy
brought him from some foreign port or ports, "algum-trees, gold and
silver, ivory, and apes and pea cocks." The names for algum-trees, apes,
peacocks, and ivory are foreign words in Hebrew, as much as gutta-
percha and tobacco are in English. But it has been shown that
these are not foreign words in Sanskrit, and therefore the con-
clusion is that they were borrowed from Sanskrit, and so that
Sanskrit was a spoken language in the days of the Hebrew King
Solomon. This being so, the word " daughter" must have been in
common use, not only in Solomon's time, but long before. The
same holds true of the word " father." (Sanskrit — pitar).

We know that as nations advance in civilisation, the family
tie becomes more firm and the family relationship more compact.
There are nations in the world to-day so deeply sunk in barbarism
that descent is reckoned not through the father's line, but through
the mothers'. The reason of this is manifest and need not here be
dwelt upon. But the word " father" here shows us that the Aryan

HIGHLAND LKCiEXDS. 1 1 1

race, to which we belong, had so far advanced in civilisation that,
even befoi-e the time of King Solomon, the father was regarded as
the protector of the family, and " the name of ' milkmaid' given to
the daughter of the house opens before our eyes a little idyll of the
poetical and pastoral life of the early Aryans. One of the few
things by which the daughter before she was married might make
herself useful in a nomadic household, was the milking of the
cattle, and it discloses a kind of delicacy and humour even in the
rudest state of society, if we imagine a father calling his (little)
daughter (as he dandled her on his knee) his little milkmaid,
rather than suta, his begotten, or filia, the suckling." (M. M.)

But the fact that the Sanskrit language throws light upon the
history of the word " daughter," and to a certain small but beau-
tiful extent on the early history of the Aryan races, may not tend
to make the more sceptical of our Highland friends believe that
gems of valuable truth can be discovered in the beautiful lauguage
which is their mother tongue and far less that there is meaning in
those stories which gladdened their childish years.

We shall therefore examine one little myth and endeavour to
find what its meaning is. The bane of philosophy is pomposity,
and so we shall confine our attention to one of the simplest of the
sayings of some of our people, and what to many may appear one
of the silliest of such sayings.

In the days of my boyhood, I used to hear in the Island of
Lewis a greut many stories (to me at that time fascinating stories)
about ghosts, second-sight, peculiar remedies, fairies, trolls,
brownies, <fec. I became particularly interested in the elfin in-
habitants of hillocks green, and although I somewhat feared them,
I had, I suppose like most boys, a strong desire to see them ; and
in consequence I often asked those who, in my opinion should
know such mysteries, what had become of the fairies ? Where
were they now 1 Were they ever seen in our day ? The invariable
answer which I got is the myth to which I now wish to direct
your attention. It was the following : — " T/iey left this country
when the gospel came, and they have not re-appeared since, and
inhere tJwynow are we cannot tell."

Has this language any meaning1? Is it one of the myths that
an ordinary collector would be ready to write down in his note
book 1 or would he be more likely to pass it over as a silly High-
land superstition ? If it can be proved that even this has a mean-
ing— that even this apparently foolish answer contains a beautiful
kernel-of truth are, we not justified in expecting that other similar

U2 TRANSACTIONS.

sayings have also a signification of their own, although that signi-
fication may not yet have been discovered ?

I need scarcely say that no educated man believes, in our day,
that fairies once lived in a mysterious fashion in hillocks green,
or that they really performed the various deeds of wonder as-
cribed to them in the legends of almost all lands. At the same
time no educated man doubts that they existed somewhere. If
we doubt this, we must believe what is still more incredible, viz.,
that in the dark ages a certain number of men were clever enough
to weave together a tissue of incredible lies which other men, no
less clever, were stupid enough to believe. Nor can there scarcely
be a greater mistake than to imagine that whole nations, at a cer-
tain period of their history, were seized with a frenzy for manu-
facturing incredible stories ; and yet stories which, taken literally,
are incredible can be found among all races.

The truth is that fairies did exist in those dark ages which
proceeded the dawn of knowledge — they existed in the minds and
imaginations of men. It is not our present business to determine
how they came 'there, but even this difficult problem has been
grappled with and to a certain extent solved. Fairies once lodged
in the imaginations of men, but when that beautiful light from
on high began to shine — that beautiful light which we call the
Gospel — the darkness with its delusions and shadows vanished, the
college of fairies and the ghastly regiment of ghosts disappeared —
disappeared not from green hillocks or dismal glens, for they never
were there, but from the minds of those men in whose imagin-
ations they had found a habitation. Thus, then our Highland
friendsare notwrong when they tell usthatthe fairies disappeared, —
left the country when the Gospel came ; but they do not all under-
stand the full beauty and significance of the language which they
employ.

Thus we see that the saying which some of us once thought
so silly gives us a valuable lesson ; it lifts the curtains and gives us
at least one peep through the vistas of the past enabling us to
behold one interesting stage in the development of mind. We see
the delusions of the dark ages disappearing before the beams of
the Sun of Righteousness, as the shadows and darkness of night
vanish before the rays of the morning.

Our time forbids us to follow up this department of our sub-
ject any further ; but I may, perhaps, be allowed to add that if
any one doubts that much good and much pleasure can be derived
from the studying of this branch of science, he will find that his

HIGHLAND LEGENDS. 113

doubts will vanish before the light which the science itself will
bring, as the fairies and trolls of the days of old vanished before
the light of the centuries in which we live.

It is undeniable that a great deal of nonsense has been spoken
and written about legends, but let this discourage no one, for it is
equally true that botany was once in a crude condition, and that
the Ptolemaic system of astronomy was based on a wrong con-
ception. The study of geology is now established on a scientific
foundation, and no one is kept back from it on account of the fact
that there was once a time when the theory was advanced that
fossils were due to the agency of the devil. So with us, it is not
with the failures of our science that we have to deal but with the
sti'ides which it has been making into the kingdom of truth. Dis-
coveries have been already made in this mine which in the opinion
of some of our very best thinkers are " not inferior, whether in
novelty or importance, to the most brilliant discoveries of our
age."

III. — In the third place, I think that now is the time when a
society such as oiirs should put forth its best energies to collect all
the legends and all that belong to legendary lore in the Highlands.
Unless we are ah-eady too late, we are not too early. Languages
grow and decay ; and, as the Provengal, in which the poetry of
the Troubadours was written, attained, at one time, a high degree
of literary excellence, but is now degenerated into a mere patois, we
find that the Gaelic which shortly before the time of the Reformation
possessed a literary vigour of which its socs might well be proud,
has since been on the wane. [t seems to me that we have
one proof that our language is dying out, even in the fact that
the Celtic Chair in Edinburgh is being established, not by an
enthusiastic Celt, but by a distinguished Saxon. Should, however,
the Gaelic die out in a few years, it would leave behind it a legacy
of which we have no reason to be ashamed; but that is no argu-
ment why we should not endeavour to increase its literature now
if we can. Many a language has died svithout leaving any litera-
ture, while that left by the other dead languages is very small; for
example, all that we have of the old Prussian which died in the
1 7th century is an old catechism ; while all the literary work that
remains of the Gothic is a trannlation of the Bible. In comparison
with such languages the Gaelic stands high, yet the stern fact
remains that its sun is setting. And it is just because the Gaelic
language is dying that we should now put forth our utmost efforts
to glean from it as much as can be gleaned ere the harvest is past.

H

114 TRANSACTIONS.

Let us suppose that a range of lofty mountains like the Andes,
were split from summit to base by volcanic action and that in the
immense rents and fissures formed, there were laid bare myriads
of fossils both flora and fauna. If all species of known fossils
were there as well as petrifactions of innumerable species that
hitherto had escaped geological research, it would seem as if then
the science of geology was made easy. If, however, it was dis-
covered that through some mysterious chemical agency a large
number of specimens was continually disappearing, the anxiety of
geologists would naturally become very intense ; and, to save the
whole from passing into oblivion, deputations would be sent from
all civilised countries to examine and place on record what yet
remained visible. Further, the geologists would arrange them-
selves into convenient classes ; and the members of each class
would proceed bo study those strata with which they were most
familiar. This would be desirable and natural. But in one sense
the opening has been made into the strata of language by the
discovery of Sanskrit. By this discovery the student of
language is enabled to examine the fossil poetry of the Aryan
races through the strata of many centuries, and " if Hegel calls the
discovery of the common origin of Greek and Sanskrit the dis-
covery of a new world, the same may be said with regard to the
common origin of Greek and Sanskrit mythology ;" nay further,
it may be said with regard to the still more interesting discovery
that the myths and legends of all the Aryan nations are closely
related to one another, and seem to have sprung from a common
source. Whether we examine the songs of the Edda or
the hymns of the Verla, whether we walk among the sno\vs
of Iceland or along the borders of the Seven Rivers, stories
closely resembling one another can be heard. This is a modern
discovery and therefore we who know this should be more in-
terested in the collecting of myths and legends than our predeces-
sors who did not and could not know it. Are we so interested 1
The students of geology aue legion, why are the students of this
interesting branch of the science of language so few 1 Geology is
an interesting study, but it does not surely possess so much human
interest as the study of the language, the legends, the scraps of
poetry and the fragments of prose, which have floated down to us
on the tide of yeai-s from the time when they were living realities
in the minds of our ancestors. To know what our ancestors in
the far distant past hoped and feared, thought and desired, should
be of more interest to us than to know what weeds once grew on

HIGHLAND LEGENDS. 115

the soil which we cultivate, or what reptiles crawled over the
landscapes which we admire, or what Crustacea once lived in the
ocean over the billows of which we sail. The tablets of Karnak,
the palaces of Nineveh, the cylinders of Babylon, the catacombs
of Rome and of Egypt and the earthquake shaken forum of guilty
Pompeii have all been examined ; but these tell us little of the
past in comparison with myths, words and legends. The
study of ancient ruins is interesting, and the study of the
flora and fauna which we find imbedded in the solid rocks is
perhaps no less so, but the study of those fossils whish we find in
language transcends them all. Therefore we trust that willing
labourers will be found in our Highland glens, especially since we
know that, although their is not much danger of a chemical agency
which will destroy the writings inscribed on the foundations of the
everlasting hills, yet the fossils petrified in the strata of language are
dying out, and the probability, nay almost the certainty, is that
each year sees the obliteration of specimens which can never be
recovered. Only forty-two years have elapsed since the Brothers
Grimm published the "Mahrchen," yet Professor Max Muller says,
" Fifty years hence the collection of these stories may become as
valuable as the few remaining bones of the DoJo. Stories, become
extinct like Dodos and Mega the ria, and they die out so rapidly
that in Germany for instance, it would be impossible at preesnt to
discover traces of many of the stories which the Brothers Grimm
and their friends caught up from the mouth of an old granny or a
village doctor half a century ago." This being so, it is manifest
that all the legends which are still floating in the language of our
people should be gathered as soon as possible. We know not
what havoc the decay of our language may be making among our
legends. It is probable that, at this very hour, there are legends
trembling on the confines of the land of oblivion. Let us capture
them ere they vanish into the undiscovered country from whose
bourn no traveller returns.

But if our subject is more interesting than geology, which also
is interesting, why do we find so few among us studying it while
enthusiasts in the latter science may be found in all civilised lands.
In answer to this, let me ask why do those who live in the
neighbourhood of a battlefield, show less interest in it than those
who come to visit it from a distance 1 If a beaut ful plant were
brought to Inverness from one of the Coral Islands of the Pacific,
we would all take pleasure in examining its root, stem, leaves,
flower, calyx, stamina and pistils. How many persons in our

H 2

116 TRA NS ACTIONS.

country have put themselves to the trouble of studying that per-
haps no less beautiful crimson tipped flower which not only adorns
every lawn, but which also kindled the poetic spirit of Robert Burns
into song. We overlook and almost forget the constant, while our at-
tention is ri vetted by the variable; the phenomena with which we are
the most familiar, are just those which are the moie ready to
escape our notice. Words which we hear every hour, customs
which we see every day, legends which we have heard repeated
scores of times seem so common-place and natural that we never
dream, of asking what they mean. We must mentally place our-
selves outside the familiar and gaze upon it from a distance as if
through a telescope, before the fact that it has a meaning begins to
dawn upon our minds. It is then that the familiar

"Will inn

A glory from its being far
And orb into the perfect star,
We saw not, when we moved therein. "

Even customs which in themselves appear trivial, have a history
and signification of their own. We saw gentlemen a thousand
times removing their gloves previous to shaking hands with a lady,
before we thought of asking what this custom meant. But when
we learned that there was once a time when a knight's glove was
a steel gauntlet, a squeeze with which would not be pleasant, light
dawned upon our eyes and the apparently useless habit had a
halo of meaning shed around it. We welcome our friends in this
country by shaking hands with them, or if our affection be very
strong and mutual we may kiss them. We are so familiar with
these customs that we call them natural and imagine that all
human beings do the same ; yet, in New Zealand, in
some parts of China and of the Lapland Alps, the salutation
is made by a rubbing of noses. It is when we learn such
facts that we begin to be really convinced that we are the slaves of
habit. Nay, so thoroughly are we the slaves of habit that it is
impossible for us to imagine that New Zealanders, when their
noses rub together, experience the waves of feeling similar to those
of which we are conscious when we clasp the hand of a friend. -

Every custom has its own meaning and history, as certainly as
the fact that a lady when walking with a gentleman places herself
on his left hand side, or that the Highlander's settle is always
placed in a definite position relative to the door, has a meaning.
Customs like flora and fauna are fossils, and it is a truism to

HIGHLAND LEGENDS. 117

remark that we in the Highlands have customs which to a certain
extent are peculiar to ourselves ; and, as each custom grew in a
definite way and has its meaning, it cannot be called a
vain study to inquire what that meaning is. Further, now is the
time to inquire what our customs are, and what their signification
is, for, as our language is dying out before the ix>yal advance of
the English language, so are our customs vanishing before the
encroachments of the steam-ship, the railroad and the daily news-
paper.

IV. — In the fourth and last place, it is not to be denied that
while the collecting of legends and myths is a pleasant and profi-
table study, it has, like all other branches of learning, difficulties
peculiar to itself.

(1). I discovered in some parts of the North, what has been
indeed discovered in other parts ol the world, that some of the old
people who are the repositories of ancient stories are often ashamed
of them. They can haixlly believe that the collector's enthusiasm
is real ; they imagine that it is his intention to ridicule them ;
and hence one requires to practise very great care and modesty and
skill to induce them to reveal all they know. Their mind like a
sensitive plant, closes up its petals at the first nide contact. It is
only in the full sunshine of genial intercourse that the petals
spread and shed their fragrance. This should not be. Neither
we nor our people have any reason to be ashamed of that which in
itself or in its relations is not wrong. Legends, myths, customs
and words are natural phenomena worthy of the philosopher's
deepest study, and he who knows the legend or is familiar with the
custom, should not hesitate to make the facts known, for facts are
important factors in all branches of science.

(2). It will be difficult for those collectors Avho have been
reared in the North, and who have from their earliest years
breathed the very atmosphere which contains the phenomena to be
observed, to make themselves conscious of even the existence of
these phenomena. In other words it will not be easy for them to
have the seeing eye and the hearing ear. In a culti-
vated community the child soon learns to understand what
pictures mean and to distinguish one picture from another,
while a gr^wn up savage can see in the best picture only lines and
sci-atches and colour. The savage is so utterly unfamiliar with
pictures, that he must pass through a long course of training before
he perceives their significance. We, on the other hand, are so
exceedingly familiar with the phenomena at play around us that

118 TRANSACTIONS.

we require a course of training to make us capable of perceiving
that there are phenomena to study and that these phenomena, how
familiar soever they are, have phases of which the ignorant never
dream.

Very much can be done in the way of clarifying the perceptive
vision, by studying the legends and customs of distant nations and
divers races, especially those of Iceland. We are told by the very
best authorities that " the Icelandic contains the key to many a
riddle in the English language, and to many a mystery in the
English character," but the more we understand the English
character the better will we measure that of the Celt.

(3). The last difficulty to which we shall refer is that of getting
the legends in their natural condition. As fossils run the risk of
being destroyed both in the quarry in which they are found, and
in the hands of an unskilled geologist, so both those who have the
legends to tell and those who have them to write may, unless they
are careful, destroy the beauty and obscure the meaning of the
specimens. There is a strong temptation to improve upon legends,
i.e., of course, to improve upon them from the improver's point of
view. There is a risk that certain portions may be lopped off as
worthless, and that certain words may be dropped in favour of
others which may perhaps be thought to have a more poetic ring.

Imagine a quarrier or a mason finding some splendid speci-
mens of fossils and then endeavouring to improve their appearance
by polishing or otherwise, before bringing them to the geologist ;
imagine a ploughman discovering an urn containing very ancient
coins and trying to increase the value of his treasure-trove by
drawing new figures on the urn or inscribing new writings on the
coins ; imagine some one finding a rare and beauteous flower and
then lopping off certain leaves and painting others before bringing
it to the botanist ; imagine a servant fond of loud colours, trying
to improve the paintings on the walls of some baronial hall by
giving some tints a brighter hue and some figures a more bold
appearance, and when you have imagined this you have imagined
nothing more absurd than what is sometimes done by those who
attempt to adorn legends and myths. Therefore we would venture
to say to those who are young in this department of science — as
you would make it a rule to bring the fossil in its native condition
to the geologist, as you would bring the ancient coins untouched
to the antiquarian, as you would bring the fair and beauteous
flower unimpaired to the botanist, as you would not try to im-
prove the frescoes of an Angelo, or the paintings of a Raphael, so

HIGHLAND LEGENDS. 119

bring all the legends which you can find and all the myths which
you can discover, to the Secretary of the Inverness Gaelic Society,
and bring them in their natural condition. Let him have, not
improved editions, but the ipsissima, verba. Every word which
is changed, in a legend every line which may seem to be
improved, every tint which is made more vivid, may tend to make
the fossil appza/r more beautiful, but it is not necessarily in the
beauty (from this point of view) of its words, or the rhythm of its
sentences that the value of a legend lies, but in the germ of truth
which it encases, and while improving the legend you may, perhaps,
extinguish its life.

As an illustration of how important single words are ; nay, as
an illustration of what vast consequences may follow the changing
of even a portion of a word let us refer to India where it was
for centuries a custom to burn widows in the same flame in which
the bodies of their dead husbands were consumed. The Brahrnans
maintained that this cruel rite was commanded in their
sacred books. The Rig-Veda has been examined by European
scholars and no such command was found in it, but it was
discovered that the Brahrnans changed in the verse which was
said to contain the command referred to, the word agre (altar) to
the word agnzh (fire). This seems a trivial change, yet it was,
we are told, sufficient to consign thousands upon, thousands of
females to a cruel death.

Of course no such dire results as the above can possibly follow
any changes which we may make upon our legends, yet it shows
how the modifying of even a single syllable may make the unravel-
ling of a legend's meaning more difficult ; and it shows further the
importance of our gathering every attainable edition of each
legend, so as to be enabled, by making cornpai-isons between them
all to arrive at what we may designate the true meaning. If a
single word is lost or modified, it might be the very word on which
the meaning hinges. Therefore in collecting our legends let us
remember that they are "when unadorned, adorned the most." The
fact that a legend has already found its way into print, is no reason
why it should be omitted in a new collection if a difference be
found to exist between the new edition and the old.

The great German philosopher Leibnitz, "pointed out long ago
the importance of dialects, and even of provincial and local terms,
for elucidating the etymological structure of language" and the
principle as we have endeavoured to prove, is no less true of
mythology and folk lore.

120 TRANSACTIONS.

22ND FEBRUARY, 1877.

At the meeting on this date, Mr Win. Nicolson, Whitecroft,
Lydney, and Mr John G. Mackay, 118 Plantation Street, Glasgow,
were elected ordinary members. Thereafter, the Secretary, on be-
half of Mr Donald Ross, M.A., H. M.'s Inspector of Schools, read
the following paper on

"THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS, IN ITS
RELATION TO THEIR ETHICS."

PART I.

The past few years form a remarkable era in the history and
growth of general Celtic and especially of Gaelic scholarship. Our
age has not yet worked itself out of the dull inheritance of com-
promise, nor laid itself free from the grossness of its preceding
unreason. But, with all the grossness of its heritage and its
undoubted tendency to ignore the spiritual interpretation of the
Universe, or, at best, to profess itself satisfied with an uncertain
reflection of high spiritual truths in such imperfections as the
gospel of success and its adjuncts, this age, this latter half of the
nineteenth century, embraces conditions which in their interaction
are already converting its outcome into the hopeful basis of more
enlarged science. For one thing and markedly it has grasped,
not indeed universally, nor with equal emphasis in all quarters,
though for the first time in this country, the great principle of
evolution or development — the active result of a will or power
which no effort of man, or of any combination of men can
thwart or in any way repress. We have not, it is true, grasped
that principle in its entirety, or purely in itself ; we express it, as
we gi-asp it, in the dull, untechnical forms of our age and nation —
in terms of experience, or in terms of fact. But this very narrow-
ness of range and feebleness of interpretative effort mean an intense
concentration upon fact. And so, mainly it is, that it justly claims
to be an age of strict scrutiny, of research carried to the verge of
scepticism, and, along with these, a keen sense for facts, which it
gathers with diligence and treasures up for the interpretation
which the stronger light of a less gross and less genei-ally distrust-
ful era will reveal. Though, in the main, it has hitherto clung to
small doctrines, and pinned its faith, especially in late years to the
meagre and somewhat pert gospel of isolated facts, there is no
reason why we should picture out a lugubrious future, or confine

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 121

our thoughts to the things which are at hand, partly because, in its
keen spirit of distrust, it deals as mercilessly with the shains and
vivid unrealities of the past as with the loftier aspirations of the
pre.sent ; partly also because keen criticism and active research have
always heralded calm, firm and purer eras ; but mainly because
one already sees the vast accumulations of gathered facts yielding
up their meaning, gradually though slowly transforming themselves
into truths, principles and laws, one of which is this partial
expression of evolution and development. The past is being
closely questioned, through every discovered fragment of its
remains, and these fragments have been brought to light from many
quarters of whose existence our grandfathers have had no idea.
Development was known to all great minds, in all ages, at least
from that of Plato downwards, but not as stretching along the
lines in which we now see its effects. Posterity will trace the
course of development, if not through other and clearer forms,
then certainly in a clearer light, and through its laws and the
aid of higher principles which govern even those laws, run up the
gathered facts and inductions of our era into a fabric of rationally
deduced and rationally constructed truth.

One notable way in which the spirit of this age shows itself is
the thorough sifting of the things of outer sense from those of inner
•fancy, or in laying open the line between the world around us and
the world within us. The result seems to me to be one of high
literary significance. Into this very fertile field I do not now
enter ; bub I tacitly pre-suppose a few literary canons which
research and criticism have brought to the clearer exposition of
history.

But, do the Gaelic people, does the average Celtic mind, share
in the dominant spirit of the age, or in the general ideas, opinions
and principles which the progressive mind of modern Europe now
enunciates and articulates 1 Whether or not there be a sneaking
mendacity beneath the surface of our institutions, above it at all events
we see an intense reverence for fact, for things which are, and which
are at hand. Along with this we see, not indeed an intolerance of the
luxuries of the imagination, but a laudable desire to push literary
fiction within well defined and profitable limits, a keen recognition
of mythopoeic elements, tendencies and laws, a severance along
the lines of history of the actualities of fact from their subsequent
excrescences, and a dogged desire to verify principles through
examples. Aggressive people that had won solid empire in various
directions, have always possessed a keen and strong faculty for the

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objects of outer sense, as well as patience, hope and the power to
grasp, group and analyze the data of sense-experience. But the
Celtic races, it has repeatedly been argued, have not, at least for
many centuries, been remarkable for the possession of these or any
such microscopic faculties ; and hence the Celtic niind has never
been face to face with a large class of realities. Fire, brilliancy,
uncertain insight, were allowed, though often under protest, to be
factors in the Celtic niind and genius, but persistence, concentra-
tion, and a sense for objective reality and gathered, or transmitted
facts, were denied to its composition. The Teutonic world, with
some degree of justice to prompt its verdict and the expression of it,
has hitherto been in the habit of disposing of the claims of Gaelic
effort, if not by a patronising sneer, then at best by relegating its
literary products to what was assumed, without much scrutiny, to
be the proper platform in the pyramid of thought. That, however,
is of the past ; and now the verdict of criticism on the Celtic
modes of thought and the general Celtic heritage of the country is
rather the other way. Those who analyse the character of our
institutions and the phases of our literature, in a competent spirit,
no longer refrain from pointing to the source of much of what is
purest and best in our rules of taste, our types and ideals of beauty,
and in our appreciation of the lofty, the indefinite and the spiri-
tual. The admission is now not only much more common than '
formerly, but even backed up with more than a mere semblance of
earnest emphasis, that the slow and silent infusion of Celtic forces,
of fire, brilliancy and energy into the national fibre, and generally
into the growth and working of our institutions, has saved the
nation from grosser courses — from the sway of gross methods.

There is a wide and hopeful significance in the efforts which
Gaeldom itself in particular is now putting forth both to per-
petuate its spirit, moods and forms, and to renew its past, partly
through the perpetuation and partly otherwise. That there is and
can be no permanence, except that of change itself is a truth which
only a few can recognise ; but it is a truth — pei'haps the radical
truth — nevertheless. And it clustres around the set of ideas
which we vaguely construe as evolution. As a living, spoken,
actual language, Gaelic must soon pass away. What was best in the
Gaelic spirit, must remain, although in alien forms. Partly
through conscious effort, but chiefly through means of which it is
not conscious, the races who spoke and formed that language, which
is now yielding in favour of the stronger and more aggressive
Saxon tongue, seem resolved wisely to accept the inevitable and

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIEXT GAELS. 123

to preserve and fructify the treasures wrapt up in the obscure
recesses of the vanishing Gaelic. It will probably be the case that
the same relationship will be established between the Gaelic of the
North Highlands and the Celtic Chair at Edinburgh, that already
seems to be springing up between Welsh and the corresponding
chair at Oxford. That a fine halo of enthusiasm surrounds the
founding of the former, and that general Gaelic scholarship owes
much to this enthusiasm and its collateral feelings are pleasing
facts, which have their meaning. Research in the possible field of
Celtic scholarship and keen analysis of its results assume more
productive forms than mere enthusiasm, and certainly than that
not uncommon kind of it which falls short of positive purpose.
For the present, I do not, in any way, refer to the
effect upon philological activity or scholarship as such of
the founding of these Celtic Chairs. That interesting pro-
blem is now passed over in favour of a few indefinite
thoughts which some of the antecedenes or causes, concomitants or
effects of the enthusiasm suggest. Nor, again, is reference here
made to the more outstanding products of scholarly and other
research — to such work as Celtic Scotland, the most substantial
piece of literary workmanship affecting Celtic scholarship yet pro-
duced in this country, to what may be called the Cymric section of
the Revue Celtique, to the brilliant but disjointed volume on
Ossian and the Clyde, or to the multitudinous assemblage of
unsifted myth and story that enter into the pages of the existing
Gaelic monthlies and even into those of the Gaelic. Society. That
heterogeneous though somewhat chaotic mass of fact and fiction has
its distinct value, and is worthy of the research to which un-
doubtedly it shall be subjected. For the purpose now in view, Mr
J. F. Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands and his
Leabhar na Feinne, are of the highest valxie. Mr Campbell
dashes into his field with much humour and keen appreciation of
possibilities. This field, though hitherto but little explored, is
merely a corner of a large area from which much may yet be
gathered to elucidate the course of history and the growth of
thought in its ruder and therefore more conservative stages.
What is near is really what is most unreadable. The whole of
the western sea-board of this island is studded with curious frag-
ments of general heroic, and special Arthurian and Fingalian
myths, set in songs, wrapped up in transmitted stories, embedded
in local traditions, preserved in usages, customs and rites, and even
to some appreciable extent, engraved upon the deepest life of the

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people, and affecting what is best and deepest in their nature.
What the capabilities of these fragments for poetical purpose-- arc
and yet may be, is known to intelligent readers of English poetry
— not to the admirers of Ossian alone. In days when Wagner,
the apostle of deep unrest, seeks to plant our highest musical art in
the solemn remoteness of the mythos, we get a fresh proof of how
Spenser, the dullest idealist amongst British poets, no less than
Tennyson, who alone invests the commonplaces of the modern
drawing-room with the finer chivalry of former days, and the
wider philosophy of days to come, has drawn much of his inspir-
ation from the side of Arthurianism, which appears in Jeoffrey of
Monmouth. But the consideration of this also must be excluded.
A valuable contribution to our literature is to be found in the con-
nection between these and the Fablieux and Contes of the middle
ages. Native thought, native virtues, no less than native stories
seem for a while to have been obscured by the encroachment of the
latter. Both in themselve ; and in their affinity with others
coloured by sterner conditions, the series of myths, which yet cling
around Cornish institutions, and circle about the mountains and
valleys of Wales, are a subject of inviting study. Equally so is
the connection between these — the outcome of the Cymric mind —
and the Tales of the West Highlands, of which Mr Campbell has
given us a good presentation. On the other hand, these West
Highland Tales have a close affinity with the -Norse Tales of
Asbjorsen and the Marchen of the Brothers Grimm. After all,
ther, there is ample work for the new professors in collecting,
classifying and analyzing material, and ample scope for deduction
from this fertile but neglected field.

My present purpose is merely to give one crude illustration of
what may be effected in this wide sphere. I confine myself in the
main to Mr Campbell's delightful volumes/ and to literature equally
conditioned, chiefly the book of the Dean of Lismore and the
fragments out of which the poems of Ossian have been worked up.
The question of the authenticity of the latter need not be discussed
by one who after self-satisfying examination of their form and
matter endeavours to draw upon their contents. Even in this
restricted area my aim was not very ambitious ; only it was
guided by the radical presupposition of law, progress, orderliness,
all -reaching and universal. It was to read back through facts, and
to translate the great, remote past into niy own small familiar
moods. I aimed at brushing away materials thrown into the tales
from foreign and recent sources, at sifting the new from the old,

THE COSMOS OF THE AXCIEXT GAELS. 125

at following material literary contents through the shifting variety
of their forms, and thus, by getting back to the working concep-
tion of the universe which the ancient Gaels entertained, at ascer-
taining their rudimental, moral and religious ideas, and at bring-
inar these within the modes of thought peculiar to this centtny.
This was an exercise in method, which is absolutely devoid of all
dogmatism. In this attempt, I trusted, in the main, to a careful
analysis of the rudimentary thought concealed under the grotesque
garb in which the tales appear. Tn trying to make a fairly
accurate analysis of the material contents of the heroic and quasi-
heroic Gaelic fragments, I faced a task of which the results would
be as meagre as the labour leading up to them would be formidable.
A miscellaneous, in many respects a nondescript collection of silly,
crude, or childish stories, of rugged poemlets of uncertain source
and date, and of loose literary debris, worn down by the friction
and battered by the convulsions of many ages, and now full of
anachronisms, and charged with exotic elements, does not, at best,
form a promising subject for logical treatment, or a very solid
basis upon which to construct a system of philosophy foreign to
modern ways of thinking. This mass — loose literary debris as it
was — comprised all the material at command; and here, for the
present at all events, the basis must be laid. How to discover
the old in the modern seemed more hopeless the more the mass
was examined. Part of the difficulty lay in the habitual mood of
the worker and part in the outstanding pre-supposition against the
character of the old Gaelic mind and its products. Much of the
real, the permanent and the best life of every one of us is in deep
alliance with unconscious forces; in the depths of this unconscious,
which is a part of our mental equipment, lurk also the worst and
most insidious forms of error, prejudice, and class, and other forms
of bias ; and the resulting limitation is one cause why we find it
so hard to transport om-selves into the conditions of other minds
and of bye gone days. Fertility or vividness of imagination can-
not here come to our aid ; for the reconstructions of fancy, based
upon recent experiences, do not parallel or accord with the pro-
cesses of external fact.

The preliminary step is the recognition of the difficulty, and of
the width of the gulf which these concrete tales represent. They
are relics of a mode of thought altogether alien to our age. It is
only, however, by recognising not only this element, but also the
presence of calculable law in the formation of the most hetero-
geneous and random products, which literature or tradition has

1 26 TRANSACTIONS.

conserved, that it is at all possible with any certainty to work
ourselves back into, or reconstruct the thought of past ages. And
the pi-e-supposition, not merely of general orderliness and law, bat
also of some particular form of development, is necessary to the fair
treatment of the detritus of these tales. There was and probably
there still is, a wide-spread opinion thit philosophy, even in its
rudimentary form was a thing altogether beyond the range of the
old West Highland mind ; which it was assumed, could never
invent, or create terms of thought, even though, perhaps it might
read them fitfully and inaccurately. This was the special pre-
supposition against the speculative value of the tales ; and in
fairness we must admit that the appearance of the fact tallies with
the nature of the pre-supposition. So destitute of any apparent
plan or pui'pose, of any bond of connection Or logical coherence, is
the miscellaneous collection of Mr Campbell, that on the first
scrutiny of it, it affords some degree of proof against the Gael,
whom it represents as a creature of fitful impulse, uncertain feel-
ing, and turbulent idea, incapable of framing any orderly system
of thought, or of construing any moderately complex scheme. At
the very outset, as onward in his progress, the question faces the
critic : — Can scientific treatment be extended to this mass of
crumbled -down story ? Is it possible to reproduce or deduce a
rationally coherent system out of this crude conglomerate, on
whose surface at least no sign of system or progressive orderliness
can be traced ?

These tales are doubtless one omnium gatherum. Their nucleus
belongs to the indefinite past, whose bounds no one dare mark out;
they have been tossed about in all sorts of ways and transmitted
through all kinds of minds ; they have gathered volumes of
accretions from all quarters, and they have been put into their
present form by various collectors, differing in capacity and manner
of expression. With all their singularity, however, they are not an
exception to the laws under whose action rudimentary national
literature grows. In the rise of any my.th, the preservation of
any popular tale, or the consolidation of any popular philosophy,
however fragmentary or obscured, there never has been any
haphazard or random growth or action. The transmutations of
these tales were those of spoken, not of written, speesh. Hence
they ramified into n?any versions, through the influence of locality
and similar causes. OfCathnaneun and Ursgeul no, Feannaig, e.g.,
there are versions from various parts of the country ; but, in all
essential elements, these versions are identical. They are both

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 127

natural, native products of a rugged soil ; they draw their meaning
from early times ; and that meaning has survived through a long
series of transformations.

We know now that survivals and revivals are not confined to
any one department of nature. The doctrine extends to literary
products and to the impress of thought. What is best endures.
Race itself is a survival, in harmony with the locality in which
it is found, and which conditions it. The peculiar qualities of
races ; their language, habits of thought and action, are due to the
peculiar pressure of their surroundings. Latitude, altitude, the
distiibution of land and sea, currentsand the like, determine climatic
conditions, which in their turn determine the character of the soil
and its products. But these again, singly or together, give direc-
tion to the industries, occupations, habitual modes of thought,
ethical ideas of the population. Between the physical, intellectual
and moral energies of a people the interaction is complete. Given
the conditions now, the law of change in the retrogression, and the
products as they are, and we can form some approximation to the
products as they were in earlier stages. Certain factors being
given, the remainder may be found, the sequence of rigid law being
pre-supposed. But the geographical conditions along the whole
line of the historic and geological past may be traced, and is
gradually being traced ; the climatic conditions, within certain
broad limits, are equally traceable, ov indirectly calculable ; and
thus we may ascertain the social products and obtain a key to
the moral and intellectual outcome of the people, and to their
forms of religious beliefs.

With the pre-supposition of law, definite and supreme, in change
and growth, I sought for the key of what lay beyond the present
form of these crude stories, and attempted to extract as much as
possible of their meaning from the loose debris of the Gaelic tales,
by forming an analysis of their contents, by grouping the legends,
sayings and incidents under certain heads, by tracing the central
idea or burden of each, back from their present form, as fireside
narrative, or nursery literature, through its various phases of story,
legend, myth and gathering heroic incident, expressive of the
struggle between races and their circumstances, to its remotest
source as a crude elemental description of the powers of nature as
these impressed themselves upon the mind, in opposing and
thwarting the aggressive will of the old Scottish Celt. This
attempt as an exercise in method, involved more. In thrusting
back maxims and gnomes, more or less abstract in their oresent

128 TRANSACTIONS.

dress, but in the main an extract from early concrete passed through
various intermediate stages, I had also to consider how much in
each story was gathered into it from eastern and especially Scandi-
navian influences, how much Avas inherited, genuinely native of
the Gaelic soil, and especially how much was genuine myth, con-
tributed by the native mind. In thus following the stream, back
through rough channels I aimed at elucidating the transmission of
Gaelic thought, the opening up of the antique world of the Celts
through the application of principles wider than their own, and
the formulating of the ' ultimate notions which the Gael of the
Western Isles had formed regarding his origin, his nature and
destiny. From this, or along with this, some conception of the
code of practical Gaelic ethics might be formed.

When the tales are put through such a process, the result is
slightly disappointing. Sift them, classify them ; trace their
exotic elements ; remove what is foreign and imported ; sti'ip oft
their exci'escences; and the residuum is somewhat small. At its
best and richest, the Gaelic literary heritage is meagre in quantity
and of unmistakeable quality. The best rudiinental thought of a
nation is what survives longest. The residuum of these stories
bears all the clearest marks of a high, almost an indefinite
antiquity. For one thing it is in singular contrast with modern
Gaelic poetry, and all modern Gaelic literature, which is not
coloured or strengthened by inore comprehensive or less local
phases of thinking, is confined within narrow limits, and
abundantly charged with the characteristics of the fleshly or
sensuous school. Partly because the more sensuous characteristics
are also the more ephemeral, and partly, perhaps, because the
actions were of a sterner nature, the myths and tales are singulai ly
devoid of pruriency. The voluptuousness of the Greek or of
Eastern mythology does not appear here ; and the questionable
wit and more questionable double entendre which bristle in ceitain
sections of Gaelic poetry are conspicuous by their absence. If
their range is not comprehensive, or their structure brilliant, their
spirit is lofty and their teaching stern.

In one notable respect these Tales from the West Highlands
differ widely from the tales from the Norse and the Fjeld, and,
what is more surprising from the whole mass of the Marchen and
Nibelungenlied of North Germany. The plot in them all is gener-
ally simple : the mechanism is pretty much alike, and resembles
the ordinary machinery of the popular transmitted tales of the
rest of Northern Europe. In tsie West Highland Tales, as in

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 129

most folk-lore and rustic mythology, we find a strange admixture
of the supernatural in strange circumstances. Much stress is laid
upon the malevolence or occasional beneficent intents of witches
and the like ; ghosts condescend to sharp practices and sly tricks ;
and wraiths display activity in human affairs ; the contest
between the powers that are from beneath and those that are from
above is painted in hurricanes and thunderstorms j pictured out
tLrough the miraculous intervention of the lower part of creation,
or even, on an emergency, through the aid of inanimate matter ;
the persistency of hate, the force of love and the fickleness of human,
feeling and emotion are bodied forth, not merely in alliances and
meetings and wars, of all degrees of confusion between friends and
foes and middlemen, but also in clumsy intrigues, obscure relations
of princes and princesses, in the strong and steadfast affection of
young maids and in the revenges and petty spites of abnormal
hags. Underneath all this grotesque commonplace, there runr,
through these legends, traditions and stories, a much more violent
current of energy and feeling than what marks the flow of the
German and Norse mythology. The Northern Holda is a less
seductive and less intense power than Yenus of the sensuous
South ; and there is an element of austerity and even asceticism in
the northern characters for which we have no equivalent elsewhere.
Odin is thus a more outstanding figure than Baal. Whilst how-
ever, the valour of Odinism is a prominent and daring sort of
energy, that of the typical Gaelic personality is formidable, if not
always dangerous, through the resources of a quicker, more plianl
ingenuity. In the oldest known Saxon product, Beowulf, the grasp
of a strong human hand crushes the supernatural agent, in spite of
ail its devices ; but in the Highland Tales, cunning meets cunning,
device over-reaches force, instead of merely humanly foi-ce breaking
down the ingenuity of sly device. On the surface of the narrative,
the Trolls in Dr Dasent's Tales on the whole may seem capable of
greater fury and more extravagant effort than any personage in
Mr Campbell's Tales, although the extravagance and expansive
action oiMagach Colgar equal those in The Trolls of Hedah Wood,
and the Co)wn of the former has several qualities that would do
credit to the Mephistopheles in Faust. We admit of course that
the sternest fragments in popular mythology, like the hardest
rocks in the surface of a country, survive longest, and that the
oldest and most rugged masses of this detritus are the oldest and
most valuable to the student of philosophical development. The
energy, and even the cunning of these stories is intensely Pagan ;

130 TRANSACTION'S.

and a kind of rude titanic vehemence at turns centres in this
Paganism, as, for example, when the clang of the hammer of Fionn
resounds through Scandinavia into Ireland, and in the pathos that
encircles the death of Diarinid. Greatest forces are always beneath
the surface ; marked merely by surface signs. In this Gaelic
heritage we find Paganism of an uncompromising type at the
surface and at the core. Its spirit is Pagan; the prevailing influences
are Pagan. Its Christianity is as oil to water ; it is not of it.
Christian rites and symbols are frequently inti-oduced to work out
the action of the stories ; but they are often anachronisms, aiier-
thought embellishments ; and the meek and gentler spirit of
Christianity is altogether awanting.

This is a fact of high significance ; for in the absence of the
gospel of submission, and of the gentler teaching of Christianity,
consists one strong proof, perhaps the strongest, of the great
antiquity of these Tales. For myself I was not prepared for this
dominance of Paganism. The great influence of lona, in an era
probably anterior to the time of St. Columba, and the extent
and evident antiquity of the ruins of Ecclesiastical buildings along
the west coast of Scotland, and especially in Argyle, and the
character of local traditions, had prepared me to expect that
Christianity was the greatest social force, at all events along the
Western sea-board. I did not believe that the Culdees were
" Albyn's earliest priests of God."

But they were earnest, zealous and powerful ; and much of
their missionary zeal must have been spent in uprooting the
native Paganism. Either the existing fragments of old Gaelic
literatui'e and thought, belong to a date anterior to the era of St.
Columba, or Gaelic moods must have had a singular antagonism
to the gentler and holier doctrines of the imported Christian
religion. In any case, Culdee zeal has not been more successful
than other modes of doctrinal propaganda that go counter to, or
ignore the claims of, existing phases of thought and feeling. No
one with moderate insight and knowledge, has ever denied the
susceptibility of the Celts to religious and spiritual impressions ;
yet there is unquestionably a certain hai-dness iu the result. In
Wales where the morality of the triads afforded a firm basis for the
practical ethics of Christianity, Methodism and its adjuncts have
often gone the length of quaint extravagance ; and the doctrine
preached in the Highland Presbyterian Churches outdoes any
other development of advanced Calvinism in its sternness and
emphasis of doom. So far from being distasteful, this rigid

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 131

Calvinism finds an energetic response in the bosom of the Gaelic
race. It lias before now been noticed that a popular clergyman
in the North, is one powerful in the exposition of the sterner
doctrines, in a general reference. The ultimate ground of this is
in the permanence of the elements transmitted, both socially and
mentally, from generation to generation. There is deep signifi-
cance in the singular fact. The sterner phases of the Christian
doctrine and spirit, have received a more hearty reception among
the Gaelic people than the side whose gospel is that of broad
humanly charity, love, submission of self-will, to its universal
repentance through suffering and the salvation that comes through
sorrow. Apart from the transmitted propensities and structure of
the race, which have their meaning, a partial explanation of this is
found in the superstitions which still influence fireside opinion, and
in the traditions which satisfy rustic curiosity and influence
courage. Reared in wild, barbarous, and in a manner, isolated con-
ditions, and trained to seek their deeds of excellence in deeds of
war and bloodshed, these ancient Gaels, as they are vaguely outlined
here, never eager to extend a friendly welcome to opinions sprang
from new soils, would look with some degree of coldness and
contempt upon a new system, whose advocates sought an avenue
for it in the purity and abnegation of their own lives ; which
required its pi'ofessors to regard men as brethren, and honour the
lowly in station equally with the mighty in rank ; to relinquish a
life of fierce excitement and varied gaiety for one of penance, self-
denial and gloom ; to cast aside the pleasures and the glory of war
in order to receive the pleasures and the joy of a distant heaven in
which there was no room for hunting or feats of strength; and to take
up the cross in the life that is, in order to prepai'e for the alien one
to come. If the popular tales of a nation, rather than its earlier
lyrics or fireside ballads, embody its oldest literature or its first
efforts at thinking, and constitute the most enduring element in
the life of the nation itself, we have some illustration of this in
Highland customs still extant. In the extravagant love for
mystery, in their stubborn belief in supernatural action and
interference, the natives of some of the more remote isles and
lonely glens conserve many Pagan elements.

A careful analysis of the thought of the West Highland Tales
points t) an antiquity beyond the introduction of Christianity into
Scotland. But the surprising thing is that in their course down-
wards through many troubled centuries, they have absorbed so
little of the encroaching Christian doctrine and ideal, and have

i 2

132 TRANSACTIONS.

retained so large a measure of the pre-Christian ritual and spirit.
Whatever amount of zeal may have been spent by the followers of
St. Columba, St. Blane and their followers the history of surviving
Gaelic literature and of local customs declai'e to have received but a
meagre reward in leaving the race still Pagan in their fibre — their in-
mostand truest nature. The natives of the straths and conies seem to
have contented themselves with employing the priests to perform the
rites of marriage and baptism, to assist at funerals, and to adjust
minor squabbles, whilst they seem to have appropriated such
new ceremonies as fitted in with their own Pagan institutions, or
formed useful adjuncts to them. They did not penetrate very
much beneath the surface of the Christian ritual and had not a
clear consciousness of its fine underlying ideas. Fven now, in the
remote parts of the country, when tested by dire emergency, their
religious ideas and beliefs are found to contain a residuum of the
old Pagan faith. Were Thompson's prayer-gauge, which shocked
the correct feeling of the religious public some years ago, tried in
Lewis or Skye, Pagan ceremonies would be resorted to as possibly
efficacious, after an appeal to the Christian Deity had produced no
manifest result. To the strength of the same inherited elements
is due, partly, the depths to which the shrewder and more accommo-
dating section of the Christian Church has rooted its power amongst
Celtic people. The stern concrete of an earlier stage has been
assimilated with a purer doctrine of higher aims. The natives of
the Loanda district in Western Africa still employ the same cure
for the effects of the evil eye that I have seen a native of the North
of Scotland using as a last resource not many years ago ; and the
popular festivals, those great land-marks of time, have as much of
Paganism as of every posterior influence. All this tallies with the
inner content of these Tales.

When, therefore, we study the Celtic races both in their
oldest literary heritage and in their surviving institutions, we meet
with evidence of a positive and negative kind, that the powerful
impulses of Paganism, always persistent elements when hereditary
in the national fibre, were not, and could not be, counteracted or
removed by any alien or outwatd force which was not complemen-
tary or which did not absorb them. For that reason alone, even
were there no other, I think Dr M'Lauchlan has given too great
prominence to the regenerating influence of lona on contemporary
thought around it. In his own Book of the Dean of Lismore — not
to go further — we find the keen antagonism of the old faith to the
new, along with rather supercilious treatment of the ritual and

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 133

machinery of the latter. Alike in Gaelic and Norse Tales and in
the JVibelungerdied, one follows the self assertion of the stern old
Pagan spirit, but in different degrees, against the calmer attitude
and holier lessons of Christian thought ; but the West Highland
Tales, without the unity of emotion and feeling so conspicuous in
the myths of the A' ibelungenlied, have also no equivalent of the hea-
then hero Zigurd, who is converted to the new faith and devoutly
conforms to the rites of the Southern Church. In their treatment
of the new faith the Tales are sometimes grotesquely irreverent ; in
this respect they are in contrast to the North German ones.
Sermons are preached and doctrines expounded ; but not un-
frequently the audience is bent upon secular thoughts, and the
occasion is made into an opportunity for courtship and flirtation.
Although the priest is often found gracing the marriage feast with
his presence, he is not represented as a check upon the boundless
excess, which marked out these events. Baptism was practised by
the agents of the Church ; but it had no deeper spiritual meaning
than the christening of a ship or the naming of a street. The
clergy take their share in secular struggles ; but they are often
overpowered in hand to hand conflict with the more insignificant
agents of the myth. Apart from this levity of treatment, and
the occasional conquest of the priestly power by evil agencies,
we find a tolerably well marked line drawn throughout the whole
extent of Fingalianism, between Christian truth and earlier creeds.
I quote from, the book of the Dean of Lismore by way of
specimen : —

" Were the sons of black Garry alive,
Neither the sound of bells nor priests.
Would now be heard in Rath-Cruachan."

The same attitude is. indicated in the following violent threat : — •

" Were the blue eyed hero alive,
Bold Conan, the son of Fion,
Cleric, though thy office be sacred,
With his fist he would strike thee down."

When Patrick gives religious advise to Ossian, and tries to turn
his attention to higher topics than the deeds of his forefathers,
thus,

"Ossian, prince's son, 'twill be thy soul's great loss,
That thou now thinkest of the battles of the Fuine, *

134: TRANSACTIONS.

The bard rejects this suasion through this savage rejoinder —

" Didst thou hear the hounds and the sound of the hunt,
Thou wouldst rather be there than in the holy city."

Here is a declaration of Ossian that casts a not unpleasant light
upon the current ideas of mortality : —

" I cared little for any blessedness above,

Unless shared with Caoilt and Oscar and my father."

In the distinct, uncompromising recognition of this antagonism we
have a key to a part of the practical ethics of the Gaelic people. Our
modern ethics have gathered both compass and strength from the
influx of Christian doctrine. To the shallow compromises of our
traditional school of moral philosophy we owe a mass of confusion
on the growth of moral ideas, which are rational products, though
complex and spiritual beyond other rational products. As human
experience, the result of human will in perpetual antagonism to its
surroundings, has widened and deepened, and as intellect has
developed itself, ethical ideas have been purified and enlarged, law
has acquired authority, and spread its influence, and conscience,
individual and general, has become a keener, clearer and more
sensitive index of what is right and wrong. There is no greater
stability in morals than in truth, and no reason why the moral
sense in the individual should not be as capriciously capable of
culture as the perception for beauty or harmony. Gaelic ethical
ideas, judged from the detritus, had not yet been purified by the
influx of wider unselfishness and humanitarianism ; and hence, did
not embrace many ethical doctrines familiar to us now, such as
the extent and significance of Free Will, the relation of human
personality to the Divine Will, the subjective sanction of duty, and
the basis of moral laws.

Pagan at its core, as we have it here, Gaelic thought is
intensely concrete. It does not even rise to the level at which the
troubled concrete of present experience meets the facts of actual
history — a point far below that at which abstract thought begins.
Progress is from the known to the unknown, from the narrow, crass
concrete of fact, to the wider truths of abstraction, and consists in
dropping the weight of the concrete out of thought, or in trans-
lating its imagery and sensuous symbols into propositions of wider
generality. In the process of advance the faculty to grasp truth

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 135

apart from its individual image or symbol, which alone is accessible
to the popular mind, is created or enlarged. Thus it is that a
common English clod-hopper, or an Aberdeenshire hind goes
through the dull expanse of life without concern or relation to
anything that does not lie within the sweep of his animal wants, the
coarse routine of his work, and the intellectual circle of his favourite
alehouse, His mind is intensely, even narrowly concrete. But far
different from this local, material concrete was that of the ancient
Gael, which consisted rather in the excess of the imagery of sensi-
tive fancy, and in the more fleeting symbols of memory.

There is one other respect in which this kaleidscopic concrete
differs from other literary products ; but it is not easy to describe
the difference. We may call it an excess of sensitiveness, a
peculiar delicacy of nerve-action, a rush of troubled feelings, or a
keen consciousness of sorrow. Or, looking at the concrete from
without we are amazed at the rapidity of its change of colour,
rather than at the general character of the colouring itself. There
is in all Fingalian literature, and characteristic of it, a peculiarity
somewhat difficult to be defined, in virtue of which two such dis-
tinct minds as that of Goethe and that of Napoleon, were drawn
to Ossian's poems. Goethe eminently appreciative of energy, beauty
and all that art cc/uld accomplish or embrace, could not hive been
attracted by anything in the mere matter of the poems ; and
Napoleon, whose own life was a turbulent epic in strong shades,
found nothing in the plan or substantive contents of M'Pherson's
ill-jointed fragments, to create an attachment for the Fingalian
poet, as great as that of Alexander for his Homer. The magnet in
both cases was in the form and colouring • in the wild and pic-
turesque imagery ; in the rapid whirling rush of all man-
ner of shades across the gloomy surface ; and in the fierce
struggle which it all means. Nor is this form and colouring a
reproduction, or a modern semblance of antiquity ; it is not t1 e
design of a creative modern artist ; it is not the work of r.ny
Chatterton Whatever general theory of the rise or growth, of
literature we adopt, or whatever be our conception of poetry, we
tacitly admit that the phases of the one and the imagery of the
other, are alike the reflex of the moods and circumstances of the
artist or writer. In the same way as the epithets, illustrations
and imagery of Homer transport one into the picturesque mag-
nificence of early Greece, and as Spenser, the least realistic of
English poets, even in his most phantastic creative moods, con-
structs his fairy-land out of English dells, groves, hedges and

136 TRANSACTIONS.

flowers, and drapes his characters with delicately defined hues ot
Elizabethan-age conditions, so there is in Fingaliau literature a
remarkable back ground of form and colouring which reflects the
storms of the West Highland valleys, and the struggling fury of the
Atlantic and all that these embrace. And not only is this colour-
ing not modern, but modern art could not produce it. What one
gees in looking at the kaleidoscopic concrete of Fingalian literature,
is an unique combination of sea, land and mist ; a long indefinite
series of frowning mountains lashed by waves whose foam at times
whitens the dark cliffs up to their very summits; dark, precipitous
glens, often crowded with troubled wreaths of mist, and awful
from, their dark store of mystery, stretching from the ocean inwards,
irregularly into gloomier space ; a tearful sky weeping for the
dead which it encloses ; tumultuous clouds rushing across and
dragging darkened shadows in their train ; the force of winds
struggling with the cliffs and vanishing with many sighs ; and in
the midst of all this and such as this, human beings, resolute and
brave, opposing a cruel destiny with the cool consciousness of
approaching defeat, but meanwhile holding bravely on. The
supernaturalisru of the Tales has been degraded through the
attrition of the common-place through which it has passed ; but if
we extract it, we have a residuum of but little interest : and
Ossianic literature would be poor indeed without its grand imper-
sonations of mist and mystery. The scenery is that of a great
struggle, which has had 110 historian, beyond retrospective induc-
tion, to hand it down ; we gaze at it the more wraptly because
it is so indefinite and in such violence of change. Through its
imagery of deepening shadows, of rushing winds, and infinite
struggles of clouds, of mists ever changing in their hue, we get a
melancholy glimpse of a world which was great at least in its
sorrows.

Meteors dashing across the sky, bolts of lightning cleaving the
rocks, and peals of thunder rending the air form, a fitting back-
ground, along with those for the action of supernatural beings —
spirits seen in the lightning flash, ghosts leaping from cairn to
cairn, or shrieking in the wind, mysterious sighs, moans and
sounds of sorrow. Beneath all the supernaturalism or behind it,
there is the human element in a race with a will to do and to dare,
baffling or being baffled, in perpetual antagonism to the world
around, and bent on beating nature back within narrower limits.
The colouring after all is a mass of symbolism ; and, if we only
could read it aright, we should add another page to the great

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 137

drama in which each of us is an actor, but whose end no one sees
or wisely predicts.

What, then, was the image of the great material encroaching
world, which the ancient Gael construed to himself ? He was far
above the state of the savage, who divides the non-ego into what
he eats and what eats him. But did he look upon the outer
world as finite or infinite, upon the earth as a plain or a disc 1

His language throws some light on this special point. It is
most copious in terms of abuse and depreciation, whereas savage
languages generally are rather deficient in expressions for malevo-
lence, fierce antipathy, and violent feeling. His expressive and
copious command of abusive epithets cannot be explained
altogether upon the theory that he was rude and untutored. It
opens up the way to a period of long and bitter negation, in which
the Gaelic mind, struggling to free itself, passed through experience
of keen sorrow and pain, and framed a vocabulary expressive of
that experience.

The same conclusion is strongly borne out by the Gaelic canons
of truth and modes of reasoning, into the logic of which I do not
now propose to enter. That is reserved for a later stage.

Nearly all the tales are tinged with anthropomorphistic
doctrines. The plot usually is not intricate ; the characters are
rather few, and with little difficulty can be grouped into two
classes. The qualities that cluster around a good-humoured
easy-natured man of the world are nearly altogether awanting.
They contain several types of Mephistophiles, but more of Puck
or Arjel ; and probably this defect has some radical connection
with the singularly severe character of Highland wit, and the
practical way in which Highland humour shows itself. In banter
and rough humour a London cabman is more than a match for a
whole clan of Gaels, each of whom is infinitely his superior in
general faculty and resource.

The actors are few and sombre ; the back-ground is generally
desolate and wild. The range of motive, plan and execution is not
wide. The Gael opposed to nature, is keenly conscious that he
has not conquered her forces, but he is not conscious of their
extent. In reading these Gaelic Tales I was struck with the
part which the melancholy hoodie plays in the plot. Wherever
this creature is, sorrow is not far off. It sits, like the inau-
spicious crow, a bird of ill-omen, heralding evil, and on the side of
the great world against the human race in their efforts to subdue
it. The hoodie has many of the resources of a human being in its

1 38 TRANSACTIONS.

dark bosom. Anthropomorphism goes lower than even the hoodie,
down tln-ougli objects that perform many marvellous deeds. Needles
stitch without the guidance of the human hand ; hatchets cut down
forests without the aid of man ; eggs dance frantically around ;
and these, moved by their own voluntary impulse, have the cause
of action immanent in themselves. Human qualities are trans-
ferred to reptiles, birds and inanimate objects ; man peopled his
universe out of his own imagination by multiplying analogues of
himself. By this process of transference the Gael got his idea of
cause and effect, and obtained a chain of casuality, often composed
of a long series of concrete links. But, in every case, the chain
leads back to mind, or some analogue of it. This running up of
effects to mind, by these primitive people, who consciously had no
mastered scheme of philosophy, throws a strong flash of light on
the rise of cosmology as a theory.

Contemplating the past from the narrow stand-point of the
present, we are apt to overlook the significance of this attribution
of personal qualities to non-personal objects. At a time when
causality was not understood as we now understand it, when
experience was too thin and weak to lay open the sweep of natural
laws, and when the deposit of moral sentiment, which has since
assumed the plastic form of objective conscience, was not yet con-
solidated, man, as in the Highlands, face to face with opposing
powers, naturally hit upon iheir shortest explanation in the
violence and virulence of beings like himself. Much of the grand
personifications of Fingalian literature may be traced to the strong
tendency of the Gaelic mind towards anthropomorphism. On the
intellectual side of their philosophy, they were at the opposite
pole to that of a modern cultured apostle of Celtic genius, and to
an important school of modern thought, markedly German, which
explains all by reference to an impersonality — an " Eternal not
ourselves that maketh for righteousness." Yet, in spite of this
intellectual divergence, both have much in common as regards their
utilitarian ethics ; and whilst the impersonal deity of the brilliant
critic is really an extract from a very limited range of experience,
a residuum of moral sentiment outside of us, and making his
power " felt by many a sharp lesson," the God of the Gael was
also outside of him, and draped awfully by his imagination.

Those old Gaels had not a very clear notion of personality.
Like Thales and the Ionics they regarded the soul as a material or
physical substance, having in itself life and a kind of organisation ;
highlv attenuated in its c om position ; performing its function in

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAKLS. 139

various ways ; and existing for a season in union with its crass
cell, the body, but also capable of separate or independent exis
tence.

The Kosmos of the Gaels was indefinite in extent, fluctuating,
luxuriant, kaleidoscopic. Warlike from choice and necessity, noma-
dic in character, restless, therefore, and quick by habit, and with-
out any centre of permanent industry, they led a life of extreme
uncertainty and were familiar with ideas of decay and evanescence.
They could not escape the manifold influences ot storm and flood,
rushing torrent and foaming inlet, precipitous ro\ks and sombre
valleys. From this and from their familiarity with ebb and flow in
all around, arose their keen and highly susceptible organisation,
the lively luxuriance of their inner sense, their passionate phan-
tasy and their extremely fertile faculty, projecting itself fitfully
and with a sort of melancholy power and emphasis into all around.
Above all, their sense of life was passionately keen, and their
range of emotion fluctuating and profound ; hence, partly, the
undue projection of troubled ideality into their efforts at thinking.
Thus, not given to introspection and incapable of making a subtle
analysis of feeling, they translated mental acts into objective
facts and laws. Hence their image of the objective material world
— of tne totality of things — was altogether different from
any modern philosophical conception of it. For one thing, it was
larger in its compass, studded all over with a boundless series of
particulai-s dissipated by modern analysis, more sensuous on its
surface, and from end to end in closer sympathy and communion
with the personal self than the non-ego which surrounds our
conscious life.

Critical and keen, we separate what is real in fact from what
is merely ideal. Whilst the ideal concrete of the modern poet is
consciously bodied forth, that of the ancient Gael was the residuum
of unconscious effort ; in the mythologic stage, physical and hyper-
physical agencies were blended into one, and looked upon as phases
of personal ones. Thus it arose, that supernatural interference in
ordinary affairs was a central doctrine in the gathering faith, and
that all nature from the ripple of the smallest wave, or the pebble
upon the sea shore, up to the most awful of demons, or the most
terrible of spirits, was regarded as an analogue or reflex of personal,
self-externalizing energy. The sphere of actual sensation was not
marked off from the province of its possibilities ; fancy ran itself
into fact; and the universe, with all its material garniture, was based
upon the analogy of the will. Hence, also arose the inordinately

140 TRANSACTIONS.

prolific sense — consciousness of t^e Gaelic people ; their sensible
world peopled by a multitudinous assemblage of spirits of protean
form, and of all dfgi'ees of cunning, shrewdness, dexterity and
strength ; and their cosmology so markedly anthropomorphic as
well as so large and intricate.

A philosopher, in great repute amongst those of his cotmtry-
men wno are content with the common place compromises of the
shallow age of unreason, found guarantee for the existence of an
external world antipodal to mind in the infallible dictum ot the
common sense of mankind. But the Gaelic race possessed common
sense, as defined by this sagacious thinker ; it was the uncritical
sense of the crowd ; it bore testimony to the existence of an outer
world in many essential res,oects different from that of our day.
Indeed what was fact and sense then would be fiction and nonsense
now. Around the tops of the Highland mountains, in wreaths of
mist, or in the drifting snows of winter, spirits, melancholy and
feeble, or violent and relentless, struggled together when not
engaged in preparing terror, or other evil tor men ; spectres hovered
gloomily over the reedy marsh or the moor, or arrayed themselves
on the blasts of the wind ; and pale ghosts, messengers of the
unseen world, brought back the secrets of the grave, and proclaimed
the lessons of nether experience — upneaving glens as they ap-
peared, and shattering mountains through their departure. Deep
beneath the sward of any circular green knoll, in mysterious
caverns of intricate access, a vast and indefinite population of
Frir Sheiyh had their abode. And as every knoll covered its
population, on mischievous tricks intent, so every loch concealed
its monsters ; Proteus-like creatures, deceitful and dangerous ;
every stream and shore had its mermaid, capable of transforming
itself into the most beautiful of women and then of vanishing into
vapoury air. The outer world swarmed with other creatures far
too marvellous for our modern faculty — witches of every degree of
rascality, cyclops of forbidding look, giants of monstrous size, but
of fierce, relentless moods and combative tendencies ; boars, eagles,
and hoodies that often excelled mankind in wisdom and in cunning
as well as in fleetness and strength ; apples that prattled about
the weather and discussed local questions ; pebbles that of their
own accord could leave the beach and outspeed the bwiftsst charger
in the chase, and scores of other objects equally marvellous, if not
equally grotesque to our sense ot propriety, were all realities in the
troubled kosmos of the Gaelic people. To the existence of these
and such as these the practical common sense of this age does not

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 141

testify. On the contrary, it relegates them all to the sphere of
unweeded or savage imagination, forgetting that the facts of one
age degenerate into the crumbled down fiction of another.

We are in this age so practical in our methods, so common-
place in our Saxon modes of thought, and so intolerant of what
now does not square with the little world of our own ways, that
few of us can enter with any appreciation into the fabric of the
old Gaelic world. With genuine Philistinic faculty, we find it
easier to call it all a worthless man of superstition than to under-
stand it — forgetting that we, too, and all that belong to us, shall
in our turn form sport for even more genuine Philistines than our-
selves. If we could only turn from the mere look of the world of
which we form a part, and ask ourselves the question — What does
it mean ? we would be in a better position to induce broadly and
dispassionately. The question is an intensely interesting one, but
cannot here be discussed with fair fulness. Consciousness being
judge, the kosmos is a varying, perhaps a diminishing, faetor.
The common sense of the old Gaels and that of the age of
Dr Reid could not agree regarding its content or extent,
its permanence or reality. Whatever assurance consciousness
gave twenty or thirty thousand years ago regarding that
part of the outer world which Dr Reid admits, it gave also
in support of that position which he does not admit to
exist as an external reality. The Gael could not possibly separate
objective reality from subjective concrete — in truth, be beieved in
the reality of both with equal and unquestioning firmness. We
do not and cannot; but are we wiser for all that ?

It has been seen how spirit and the general garniture of spirit-
land predominated in the Gaelic image of the world, arrd how to
the mind of the Gael spirit or a spiritual entity, was simply a
material substance — a body of somewhat finer organisation than
the one of flesh and blood. And this conception of spirit regulated
the prevailing idea of immortality, and therefore practical morality,
to some extent. The bridge between the life that now is and that
which is to come was a short one ; for to their far-reaching imagi-
nation the latter was merely a reflex of the present scene, and
immortality was but the present state of existence, stripped of
some of its coarser conditions. Both spheres, here and hereafter,
were represented in the main as under the same restrictions, mag-
nified or depressed, governed by the same standard of happiness
and worth, and, consequently, sharing in the same pleasure and
pursuits. It is not easy to reconstruct their heaven and their
hell.

142 TRANSACTIONS.

They held a mollified form of Pythagorean metempsychosis :
for the soul is represented as migrating into the lower animals, and
even into trees, stones, and other inanimate objects.

Great value was attached to the kind of subjective immortality
which fame conserved in the songs of the local bards, who were
honoured, as their logical descendants, the clergy, still are, amongst
other reasons, on account of their supposed influence with the
authorities of spirit-land, and whose verdict, therefore, carried with
it much of the consecrated power of prophecy. Such spiritual
insight as the race could claim rested with these bards, who were
philosophers as well as poets, prophets as well as literary authori-
ties, and who did much more than merely cheer the idle and
amuse the vain, as we now suppose. Keener analysists than their
neighbours, they were more reliable guides in forecasting the
future, and sinoe they could interpret a small fraction of the signs
of their time, they were credited with the power of penetrating
through the mystery of the remainder, and of controlling what
they could forecast. To secure a place in undying song was thus
the highest ambition of the warrior — hence, deeds of noble daring
and striking cruelty. This gathering up of fame was a kind of
immortality verging, in some respects, on that demanded by some
apostles of Comtism.

" Time downwards will bear our praise,
The strength of song will cloudless rise."

But they went beyond this abstract species of subjective immor

tality —

" It will not profit us to live in song,

When we are weak and pale beneath the ground."

They looked, but not with the authority of strong hope, for an
immortality, more substantial than the rewards of fame, in a heroic
state in the far off spirit-land, to which the bards, it would appear,
issued the passport. Somewhere in the indefinite bosom of the
western sea the souls of heroes dwelt in fellowship. There, in the
homes of the winds, in the hall of clouds, lay the realms of mystery,
beyond " the roofless house of lasting doom," and thither, after
some experience, after hovering in agonising gloom over the chill
vapour of the marsh, illustrious spirits passed. According to a
Skye tale, there was a happier region beyond this, but from, which
there was no return.

In this exaggerated mixture of Druidic doctrine and pure

THE COSMOS OF THE AXCJEXT GAELS. 143

Fingalianism there is one outstanding image. The sun is always
central, and light is life. In the distant isles of the west heroes
lived happily, if their happiness was possible, in the light of the
sun, which was superior to death. The noblest strains in all
Gaelic literature are in praise of the sun,

" Which alone does triumph evermore
In joyousness of light its own ;"

and which is also represented as the ultimately inexplicable factor
in the universe. That fire-worship was practised there can be no
rationally-grounded doubt. In the sun the Gaels found the two
highest attributes of divinity — power and pui'ity. If they had not
consciously grasped what we call monism, they certainly came
within sight of it, and the ultimate inexplicable principle which
stood before them was light, or the " Sun of purest face." In the
face of the strong personifying faculty of the Celtic people, we
conclude at once that personal agency was ascribed to this prin-
ciple. How the spirit- world was related to this source of power
and pui'ity need not be discussed here, though it is a question of
great interest.

Notwithstanding their ideas of continuity, it is noteworthy
that the journey to the land of spirits is sometimes pictured out as
dreary and perilous — over rocks, precipices, ravines, and dark
gulfs, guarded by monsters as fierce as Cerberus, whilst at other
times they are ferried across by professional rowers. But, in
either case, however, the spirits came within sight of it.
For my present purpose it matters not whether the Celts
regarded the spirits of the departed as subject to the rarer
contingencies of the present life, or whether they had consci-
ously grasped the idea of infinite extension or duration, if it can
be shown that for all phases of being they had nearly found one
ultimate principle of explanation.

But, whatever was the nature of this ultimate working con-
ception, an analysis of these tales pi-oves that they had got some
dim notion of the difference between being to us and being in itself.
This question is started, but it is not solved. That the present
totality of things is but the shadow of some deeper reality, be-
yond the compass of sense or the power of thought ; that the
universe, with its material garniture, is in change, and must pass
away as a dream ; and that time itself must perish, are doctrines
frequently roughly enunciated in Firigalian poetry. Time and

144: TRANSACTIONS.

-what is inscribed on it are the objects that endure, the only ones ;
yet these endure only whilst light continues to be shed on them.
They exist only in the light : and the light shall fade. Time is
always described as a finite, limited concrete roll. But we know
not its beginning ; we cannot encompass its reality ; our faculties,
at their utmost tension, can grasp no more than the narrow image
of reality. What is more significant, time itself wouM be imper-
ceptible and beyond oxir ken had it not been inscribed with the
records of heroic actions, which give character to its roll. Men
are seen passing as shadows on the surface of time, or are com-
pared to streams that flow downwards into the indefinite mist.
But few, indeed, are they who succeed in impressing their deeds
on the " far off side of time," or in marking the mountain with
their valour as they pass across the field of view. Thus the uni-
verse is pictured forth as a shadow of perhaps a deeper shade.
Yet, amongst all the flux and unreality, there was one element of
some degree of permanence, valorous action stamping itself on time;
the tissue of time combining with the outgoing effort of man, and
forming, at the best, only something like the phenomenal world of
Emmanuel Kant. Valour, strength, courage, resolute will — this,
on the human side, is the ultimate. To the Gaels, this, no less
than the Cosmic ultimate, was infinite ; and yet advanced thinking
in the nineteenth century expresses it far otherwise.

Now, as pure doctrine, the moral philosophy of the Gaelic
people is of no high value in itself. It is singularly meagre and
rudimentary. As illustrating a definite class of ethical ideas, it is
of some importance to the student of historical philosophy. My
conception of what it resolved itself into can best be expressed by
the phrase, ethics of ingenuity, or ethics of cunning. A modern
philosopher has said thai; a state of nature was a state of perpetual
warfare, and has founded a popular system of morals upon this
sentence. However that may be, the age pourtrayed in these
Tales was one of war, and contest with nature. Man was in a
state of chronic strife with nature, wnich he feared and suspected,
and which he tried to check and baffle. In their semi-conscious
state, with subjective phantasy blending itself with objective fact,
and in consequence central to a life of infinite fulness and profound
mystery, our ancestoi s, according to Mr Campbell's Tales, were in that
stage, in which self or the energy of tne individual, is pre-eminently
assertive and negative — partly freeing itself from nature, with-
drawing into its own resources, and partly combating external
forces. In his gloomiest hour the Gael could not separate the

THE COSMOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 145

creation of his own melancholy faculty from inroads from without;
to him the bracken bush in the pale light of the moon seemed an
emissary from the nether-world ; the creeping mist on the moor
transformed itself into a subtle spectre. Death was before him
and around ; and he brooded over the melancholy prospect. He
saw strange sights, heard strange sounds, and had forebodings
almost perpetually. The Western Celts had not learned the Ba-
conian lesson of mastering nature by submitting to her laws, for in.
fact they knew little of those laws ; and their antagonism
to the outer world was not much keener than their warfare with
their own imagination, which filled the gulf between self and not-
self with a teeming population of uncertain mood. Thoroughly
eudaimonistic, as they were by ihe force of necessity, they aimed
at self-preservation, which is a lower phase of individual happiness.
Whatever could secure happiness was right and proper. To baffle
nature in its physical forces, to break down the intermediate con-
crete, secured this. Hence general intellectual resource, insight
into relations, adroitness, quickness and cunning are highly prized.
Virtue centres in these. Success is prized almost universally.
The radical part of the practical morals of the Gaelic race is based
upon the relation of the individual to his circumstances ; the
ethics propounded in their gnomes, proverbs and popular maxims
are all backed up by prudential considerations. Much, indeed, of
their old fragmentary literature is taken up with this contest
between human skill, on the one hand, and physical and hyper-'
physical forces on the other. In this perpetual contest, whatever
resource the former can devise is regarded as proper, virtuous and
right. Every tale differs from all others in respect of incident,
machinery and colouring ; but the moral is almost always the
same : — Overcome yoar foes ; giants, monsters and supernatural
powers and all opposing forces, by physical energy, if possible; but,
if not possible, then try intellectual skill ; over-reach them some-
how ; if other weapons fail, fall back upon their own fraud, de-
ception, treacheiy, or any conceivable method ; study them ;
discover their weakness ; the greatest power amongst them all has
a vulnerable spot. Search for that ; baffle your foes ; subdue them ;
in this way alone you secure not only happiness but even life
itself; it is a struggle for dear life, which it is your duty, your
interest, your happiness to preserve. Something like this is the
moral of the Tales in which the struggle, under various disguise?,
between man and nature is described. No wonder that practic; 1
wisdom, shrewdness and dexterity, rather than the gentler force s

146 TRANSACTIONS.

of love and the milder gospel of submission and self-abnegation,
underlie the ethics and the moral actions of the Celtic race, whose
code, moreover, could not embrace many of the more important
modern rules, amongst other reasons, since the rights and duties
attached to property were not developed amongst them. And it
is easy to see how upon this radical basis the popular virtues of
bravery, hospitality and generosity were reared.

There is some propriety, then, in the phrase which I have em-
ployed, to express the central part of Gaelic morals. Giants and
other monsters, according to the legends and stories of the collec-
tion, opposed themselves to human interests and were often over-
come ^>y the clever ingenuity of man, when we would naturally
expect that superior strength alone coirld overpower them. The
ethical end to which this pointed was subjective, individual hap-
piness ; but the undue prominence of this narrow element in the
end is one proof that an enlarged conception of moral doctrines was
impossible in the circumstances of the race ; and hence the circle
really on the side of the individual was small, the multitude of his
antagonists was always large, and hostility to all foes, human,
natural, and supernatural, was regarded as highly meritorious.
Here, too, we have an explanation of the singular development of
the Gaelic conscience, which is an eminently correct moral guide
within its own narrow field, but which takes no cognisance of wide
relations. Honesty, for example, was a virtue among the ancient,
as it is among the modern, British Celts. Yet we find theft, when
not followed by detection, to have been rather a reputable act. It
is not correct to say that, even in their most barbarous days, when
their reputation abroad was not high for honesty, the Highland
people disregarded the moral differences between meum and tuum,
or that the plundering propensities of the clans were due to any
blunders of moral feeling in their guides or chiefs. It is quite
true that the inhabitants of ' whole glens lived for years upon
the proceeds of their plundering expeditions into fertile spots be-
yond, and that they were at any time ready to steal whatever
wealth Lowland weakness would allow, without experiencing a
single twinge of conscience or pang of remorse. I have known a
man of otherwise correct morals, a pious smuggler, reverently in-
voke the Divine blessing on his cup of whisky just taken from his
illicit still. And this man was moral and possessed a conscience
thoroughly keen and purified by high influences. "What Highland
morality gained in intensity, it lost in compass. The clan that
passed beyond the Trossachs, and plundered the valley of the

THE CC3MOS OF THE ANCIENT GAELS. 147

Forth, was scrupulously honest within its own border ; treachery,
which was a heinous offence when practised against a Gaelic friend
was a cardinal virtue when brought to bear on the ruin of a Low-
land foe. The Hrcle of the individual, or the family, or latterly
of the clan, was the limit of truth ; falsehood had lost its character
beyond that line. To defraud the British revenue was, if not
exactly meritorious, at least a colourless action, quite compatible
with the general goodness of Providence. The attitude of the old
British Celt towards nature and the moral code which it created
had their appropriate effect in influencing the national character-
istics of his successor; his moral standpoint was narrow; his
conscience was loc<d ; his ethics a secretion of only one stage of
time. His virtues wove not eternal. He opposed strength to
strength, and when strength failed, artifice to force; and if he suc-
ceeded he congratulated himself in being a moral being. He was
not in any sense a Yahoo, even although the practical moral code
of this century endorses a central doctrine on his shifting one.

The ethical standard which runs through these tales of the
West Highlands is, for the most part, grossly sensuous and
epicurean. Singularly enough pruriency, which disfigures the
Gaelic poetry of the eighteenth century, is at its minimum in the
Fingalian Ballads, and women are almost always referred to in
respectful and chivalrous terms. The finest and purest imagery is
that which surrounds the form, and virtues of woman. A happy
marriage is generally the reward of valour and virr.ue after hard-
ships and trials ; and special value is attached to a sumptuous and
protracted marriage feast, which, in ordinary cases, extended over
a period of seven, nine, or twenty days. In extraordinary cases
the wedding festivities were prolonged during seven years. This
is sufficiently gross ; but in otber respects, happiness is sensuous,
sensual, or associated with gross means, such as excessive eating
and drinking. The Aristotelian maxim of moderation is nowhere
here; not in a medium, but in excess; not in the centre, but at
the limits, the Gael sought for his Sttmum bonum as a rule. We
must not, however, infer that unrestrained licence is commended.
On the contrary, those stories show that the notion of retribution
had been mastered, and that it was known that there was an inex-
orable sequence in the course of human action, that in the sphere
of his destiny a man would reap what he had sown, that pain,
wretchedness and privation were the fruit of imprudence and
excess, and that good cannot be the moral antecedent to evil. In
this the ethical end is the same narrow and selfish element; present

J2

148 TRANSACTIONS.

restraint is inculcated, not from high ideas of duty, but simply that
the distant pleasure may be all the keener when it is attained.
In one of the most truthful of Mr Campbell's Tales, the Rider of
Grianig, this is the moral, as in others ; but it is noteworthy that
in this Tale, the lesson to postpone present blandishment to
futm-e joy is not an induction from experience, but the revelation
of a higher and wiser power.

The ethical standard of the Celts, then was selfish and utili-
tarian, subjective and 'particular. They possessed a practical
moral faculty in the shape of conscience ; but its range was narrow
and its authority beyond that range feeble. Correct within its own
•domain, it sanctioned what a modern conscience, tolerably well
educated in general rn3ral principles, would as certainly condemn.
From this and such as this, I think the conclusion is inevitable
that individual conscience, as an ethical function, is a development
and a growth from rudimentary conditions, just as morality itself
is a growth.

Out of this primitive stock of ethical ideas the more' generous
virtues of the Celtic people sprung. Valour, fidelity, friendship,
hospitality and the like are all utilitarian, not Kantian virtues.
Fidelity, intense within its limits and to that extent reliable in its
character, was confined to a narrow class of relations. Hospitality
"was common, but it is sanctioned by utilitarian considerations.
"Valour was higher than these ; and, if associated with modesty,
it is almost a sublime virtue ; but it is nobly rewarded and its
•glory reflects upon itself. Friendship among friends was a sacred
duty ; but this duty was not fixed upon moral principles common
to all mankind. The Gaelic proverb, C/ta do threig Fionn riabh
caraid a lamh dheis, expresses the extent to which Gaelic friend-
ship could be relied on.

It is no part of my present task to follow out the ramifications
of Celtic virtues. My aim was simply to give a rough sketch of
the rise and nature of the radical ideas of Gaelic morals. On some
other occasion I may return to the subject and show how : —

" Fion was
Generous, just.

A righteous judge

To woman mild,

Three hundred battles he bravely fought,

Anything false

Hia lips ne'er spoke."

149

GAELIC COMPETITION.

The annual Gaelic competition in connection with the Society
took place within the School-house at Drumnadrochit on Saturday
3d March 1877. The competition was open to all schools in the
united parishes of Urquhart and Glenmoriston, and the parish of
Kiltarlity. No competitor from the latter parish appeared, and
with the exception of Drumnadrochit, it did not appear as if great
interest was taken in the matter in the schools in Glen-Urquhart.
Four schools were represented — Drumnadrochit, Blairbeg, Balnain,
and Invermoriston. Mr Grant, Drumnadrochit, presented eight
pupils, and the other teachers one each. The number presented
was thus only eleven. For the smallness of the number there
were several reasons. One of these was that Gaelic instruction
had to be given after the work prescribed in the time-table was
finished, and the energy and will of the pupils exhausted. Though
the Society will no doubt feel disappointed at the want of interest,
as manifested by the numbers presented, the proficiency of those
brought forward exceeded the most sanguine expectations. The
subjects announced for competition were — (1) An essay, in Gaelic,
written in presence of the examiners on any of the following subjects
which they might choose, viz.: — " Oidhche Challuinn a's la na
Bliadhn' uire," " Oidhche Sharnhna,' ' " La buain na moine," or, a
"Descriptive account of the parish";(2)Readingandspellingin Gaelic
fromany ot the four Gospels; (3) Translating any portion of the four
Gospels to English and English to Gaelic ; (4) Dictation, the pas-
sage to be chosen from any source ; (5) an essay, in Gaelic, written
at home, on " La paidheadh a' mhail"; (6) an essay, also to be
written at home, and in Gaelic, on " Togail nan creach" ; (7)
singing — a prize to the boy who would sing the song by the Glen-
rnoriston Bard,

" Mo bheannachd do gach sean a's og,

Tha'n Coire-Mhonaidh thainh."

And to the girl who would sing best the Strathglass Jacobite song
— " Mo run geal og." To encourage competition a prize was
offered to the competitor who would come the longest distance.

Besides these prizes, Mr Burgess, factor, Glenmoriston, offered,
on the day of Examination, a first prize to the competitor who
would sing best any Gaelic song whatever, and at the same time
Major Grant offered a second and third prize in the same com-
petition. The examiners appointed by the Society were the Rev.

150 TRANSACTIONS,

Mr Macrae, Glen-TTrquliart ; Major Grant, do. ; Mr Hugh Rose,
Inverness ; Mr William Mackenzie, Secretary to the Society ; and
Mr John Whyte, The HighUunder Office. Major Grant and
Messrs Mackenzie and Whyte were present, and conducted the
examination. The other gentlemen representing the Society were
Mr Burgess, factor, Glenmoriston ; Mr William Mackay, solicitor;
Mr Charles Mackay, builder ; and Mr James Fraser, C.E. Rev.
Mr Cameron, the Manse, Glen-Urquhavfc, presided and there was a
large number of the people of the district present.

The examination began about eleven, and was not finished till
about four o'clock. For the reading and spelling all the pupils
competed, and the excellence of the work was such that the ex-
aminers had the utmost difficulty in making their awards. The
reading was exceedingly good, and the spelling far beyond the
expectation of any. The passage for dictation was chosen from
Mackenzie's History of Scotland (Gaelic), and though the children
had not seen the passage before they were marvellously correct
The first boy had only three errors in hal f-an-hour's writing, whilst
the succeeding three had only five each. To decide the tie be-
tween the 2d, 3d, and 4fch, another trial had to be given to those
three, the passage being chosen fi-om the current number of the
Gaid/ieal. When the writing was examined it was found that one
of the boys had committed one error, whilst the other two were
correct. The first and fourth prizes were now decided, and another
trial had to be given to settle the second and third. The ti-ans-
laiions were very well done. Of the four Essay subjects named
by the Society, the examiners chose ^Oidhche Shamhna." Seven
pupils competed and the work was highly creditable to them all.
Considering that the children were not trained to sing Gaelic songs,
their rendering of several Highland melodies was remarkably good.
The Society offered upwards of £6 in money prizes ; Mr Noble,
bookseller, gave three copies of the Rev. Angus Mackenzie's
"History of Scotland;" Mr Colin Chisholm, Namur Lodge, Inver-
ness, gave three Gaelic Testaments ; Mr Wm. Mackay gave two
copies of Mackenzie's " Beauties of Gaelic Poetry ;" Mr Alex,
Mackenzie, Hamilton Place, Inverness, gave the Celtic Magazine
fora, year; Mr Charles Mackay gave 20s; Mr Burgess, 10s; Mr
James Fraser, C.E., 10s 6d ; and Major Grant, 7s 6d. These
prizes were awarded as follows : —

Essay on "Oidhche Shamhna." — 1, John Macdonald, Drum-
nadrochit School, 20s ; 2, Alex. Macdonald, Invermoriston School,

GAELIC COMPETITION. 151

15s; 3, George Anderson, Lakefield School, 7s 6d; 4, Evan
Campbell, Drnmaadrochit School, Rev. Angus Mackenzie's His-
tory of Scotland in Gaelic, the gift of Mr Noble, bookseller.

Reading and Spelling. — 1, Mary Campbell, Drumnadrochit
School, 15s ; 2, George Anderson, Lakefield School, 10s ; 3, John
Macdougall, BJairbeg School, Celtic Magazine for one year,
presented by the publisher ; 4, John Macdonald, Drumnadrochit
School, Gaelic New Testament, presented by Mr Colin Chisholm,
Namur Cottage ; special prize, presented by Mr Whyte, Evan
Fraser, Drumnadrochit School.

Translation. — 1, Mary Campbell, Drumnadrochit School, 15s;
2, Evan Campbell, 10s ; 3, John Macdonald, Gaelic History of
Scotland ; 4, John Macdougall, Gaelic New Testament, presented
by Mr Chisholm.

Dictation. — 1, John Macdonald, 20s ; 2, John Macdougall,
12s 6d ; 3, Alex. Macdonald, Invermoriston School, Gaelic His-
tory of Scotland, presented by Mr Noble ; 4, Alex. Fraser, Drum-
nadrochit School, Gaelic New Testament, presented by Mr
Chisholm.

Special Prizes. — By Mr Wm. Mackay, solicitor, Inverness : —
Best Essay on "La paidheadh a' mhail" — John Macdonald, Drum-
nadrochit School, Mackenzie's " Beauties of Gaelic Poetry." Best
Essay on " Togail nan creach" — Mary Campbell, Drumnadrochit
School, Mackenzie's "Beauties of Gaelic Poetry." By Mr Mackay,
builder, Inverness : — 1, Girl who will sing best " Mo run geal og"
— Mary Campbell, 10s ; 2, Boy who will sing best " Mo bhean-
nachd do gach sean a's og," &c. — John Macdouald, 10s. For best
rendering of any Gaelic Song — 1, Alex. Macdonald, 10s, by Mr
Burgess; 2, Evan Campbell, 5s, by Major Grant; 3, Donald
Fraser, Drumiiadrochit School, 2s 6d, by Major Grant. For Com-
petitor who comes the Longest Distance — 10s 6d, by Mr Fraser,
C.E., Inverness — Alex. Macdonald, Invermoriston.

The songs sung in the last competition in singing were " A
Song to Victoria," by the Glenmoriston Bard ; " Mairi Laghach,"
and " Fear a' Bhata."

The prizes having been distributed, the Chairman spoke highly
of the efforts of the Gaelic Society to promote the literary interests
of the Highlands, and before sitting down called for three cheers
for the Society and the Secretary, which were cordially awarded.
Mr Mackenzie, the Secretary, in replying, regretted that a larger
number of pupils had not come forward, but complimented the

152 TRANSACTIONS.

competitors on the general excellence of their work. He conveyed
the thanks of the Society to the teachers who prepared pupils for
the competition, and especially to Mr Grant, Drumnadrochit, who
presented eight. Major Grant, Mr Wm. Mackay, and Mr Clia'-les
Mackay, made some remarks expressive of the pleasure they had
in being present at such a successful competition. A call was
then made for a Gaelic song, when the Messrs Mackay gave " An
Ribhinn, eibhinn, aluinn og," in true Highland style. A vote of
thanks having been awarded to the Chairman, the proceedings,
which throughout were highly successful, were brought to a close.

22D MARCH, 1877.

At this meeting a paper (in Gaelic and English), by Mr
Farquharson, Tiree, on a variety of subjects relating to the High-
lands, but particularly Highland education, was read.

29ra MARCH, 1877.

At this meeting it was resolved that the next Gaelic Competi-
tion in connection with the Society would be open to the parishes
of Inverness and Bona, Kirkhill, Petty, Daviot, and Dunlichity,
and the old parish of Boleskine. Some routine business was tran-
sacted, and thereafter Mr William Mackay, Solicitor, Inverness,
read the following paper on

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GLEN AND ROYAL
CASTLE OF URQUHART.

Tha mo shealladh air linnte a' dh' aom,
Cha'n fhaicear ach caol na bh' aim ;
Mar dhearrsa na gealaich tha faoin
Air lirme tha claon 'sa' ghlearm.

In the beautiful lines which I have quoted Ossian poetically
deplores his lack of knowledge of the times t^at were. "I bend
mine eye," sings he, " upon the ages fled : seen but in slender
gleams is all that was — like to the glimmer of a sickly moon on
"water winding through the glen." The difficulties which the
minstrel-historian of the Fingalians experienced still beset him.
who would look into the past of our country ; and in my humble
endeavours to weave a somewhat consecutive narrative of the
history of my native Glen, and its hoary Castle, I need not say

HISTORY OF GLEN AND CASTLE OF URQUHART. 153

that I have found no exception to the rule. Our romantic vale is
rich in legendary lore ;* but slender, indeed, and few, are the
gleams which as yet have met mine eye, of what kmay be truly
looked upon as undoubted history. Not unfrequently, however,
do tradition and authentic record agree in a striking manner, and
if one had the time and ability judiciously to blend these together,
the story thus told would be a sufficiently interesting and stirring
tale of the olden time. In writing this paper, at the request oi
the Society, necessity for brevity precluded my introducing much
of the legendary element ; and I may thus safely promise that this
night, to quote the opening lines of an ancient ballad,

I shall you telle as trewe a tale

As ever was herde by nyghte or daye.

Peering into the distant past, as far as our limited vision will
carry us, the first slender gleams of light bearing upon the history
of the North come from the pages of the Latin writers who cele-
brated the deeds of the Roman armies in Britain. From Lucan
and other writers of the first century we learn that in their time
our part of the island was inhabited by the Caledonian Britons
(Caledonii Britanni), the same who so valiantly withstood the
Roman legions at the battle of Mons Grampius, and to whose
valour we Highlanders owe the proud boast that our ancestors
successfully stemmed the advance of the conquerors of the world.
From the geographer Ptolemy, who wrote about the year 120, we
gather that in his day the district "extending from Loch Long
(Lemannonius Sinus) to the Beauly Firth ( Varar jEsttiarium), and
embracing Glen-Urquhart and the surrounding districts, was
peopled by the Caledonii, one of fourteen independent tribes into
which the Caledonian Britons were then divided. In the time
of Severus (A.D. 208) those tribes were combined into two nations,
the Caledonii and Maeatse, which, a century later, appear undei
the general name of Picti — a name well known and much dreaded
during the remaining years of the Roman occupation. To the
south of the Grampians were the Southern Picts ; the north,
corresponding pretty nearly with what is now called the High-
lands, was occupied by the Northern Picts, or Cruithne Tuath,
whose king had his seat at Bona, at the east end of Loch Ness.
Still later, we find the consolidated Kingdom of Alban divided

* I have already given some of the Legends of Glen-Urqahart. Se«
Transactions of the Gaelic Society, Vol. I., page 43; and Vol. II., pa$:e 74

154 TRANSACTIONS.

into seven large provinces, and the name Moray applied to that
which extended on the one hand from the Spey to the Forne
(Beauly), and on the other from the Moray Firth to Lochaber and
the western sea. Hence, in our early records and historians, our
glen is distinguished as " Urcliard in Moravia," or " Urquhart in
Murrayland," and henco, too, the mistake into which modern
writers have sometimes fallen of confounding it with the parish of
Urquharb in the present shire of Moray.

At what period the rude fort was first raised upon the Rock
of Strone, which is now crowned by the noble ruins of the Royal
Castle, it is impossible to determine ; certain it is that at the veiy
dawn of our Scottish history the fortress was one of no mean
strength. Leslie, Bishop of Ross, who wrote a history of Scotland,
published at Rome in 1578, describes it as the most ancient castle
belonging to the king (antiquissimum regis castettum), and the
old cavalier, Sir Thomas Urquhart of Oromarty, states in his " True
Pedigree," written in 1652, that it was erected by his ancestor,
Conachar, in the sixth century before Christ. Of this Conachar,
who actually lived in the twelfth century after Christ, I shall
presently speak ; but although he may have added to the castle, I
am not inclined to think that he was its founder.

In ancient Irish manuscripts and in the oral traditions of
Ireland and the Highlands, no warriors are more frequently
or more favourably mentioned than Naois, Aillean, and
Ardan, the sons of IJisneach, and cousins of Conachar Macnessa,
King of Ulster, in the first century. Naois, we are told, falling
in love with the beautiful Dearduil (pronounced Jai'dil), whom
King Conachar himself intended to marry, fled with her and his
brothers to Scotland, where they built a castle on the shore of
Uisge Naois (Loch Ness), from the window of which they could
slay the salmon and from the door the bounding stag. The
retreat of the lovers became known to Conachar, and he sent
Fear-char MacRo to them with an apparently friendly invitation to
be present at a great feast which he intended to give. Naois and
his companions assented, but not without evil forebodings, and
Dearduil sang a touching farewell to Scotland and her beloved
Glen-Urquhart, in Gaelic words which are still preserved in a
manuscript, dated 1208.

" Beloved land, that eastern land,
Alba, with its lakes ;
Oh, that I might not depart from it,
Bat I go with Naois.

HISTORY OF GLEN AND CASTLE OF URQUHART. 155

Glen Urchain, 0, Glen Urchain,
It was the straight glen of smooth ridges ;
Not more joytul was a man of his age
Than Naois in Glen Urcham."

The king's promises were fair bat his heart was false ; and
Naois and his brothers were treacherously slain. But Naois and
Dearduil were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their
death they were not divided, for she, casting herself into his grave,
expired. The king caused her to be buried on the opposite bank
of a neighbouring stream ; and a tender pine sprang out of the
grave of Naois and another out of the grave of Dearduil and the
pines grew and joined above the stream.*

As Naois is believed to have given his name to Loch Ness, so
that of his love is perpetuated in the vitrified fort of Duc-Jardil
on the south shore of the lake.

The wars of the Picts, and the subsequent invasions of the
Norsemen I shall merely mention. During those events the pro-
vince of Moray was one great scene of blood. The Pictish king-
dom of the North ceased to exist, and a new order of rulers appeared
in the Maormors. The Maormors of Moray claimed the inde-
pendence which of old belonged to the Pictish kings. In the
Irish Annals they are frequently styled JRi or kings, and two of
them, Malcolm and the famous Macbeth, not only maintained the

* This was a favourite mode among Celts and Saxons of closing tragic
tales and poems. Thus in the old English ballad of "Fair Margaret and
Sweet William" we have the following : —

" Margaret was buried in the lower chancel,

And William in the higher ;

Out of her breast there sprang a rose,

And out of his a briar.

They grew till they grew into the church top

And then they could grow no higher ;

And there they tyed in a true lover's knot,

Which made all the people admire.

The words of the Scottish ballad of the " Douglas Tragedy" are similar : —

Lord William was buried in St Marie's Kirk,

Lady Margaret in Marie's Qnire

Out o' the lady's grave grew a bonny red rose,

And. out o' the knight's a brier ;

And they twa met and they twa plat,

And fain they wad be near ;

And a' the world might ken right weel

They were twa lovers dear.

156 TRANSACTIONS.

independence of their native province, but ultimately seated them-
selves on the Scottish throne. Towards the end of the ninth cen-
tury the Norse firmly established themselves in the district north
of the River Beauly, and for a century thereafter a continuous war
waged between them and the sturdy men of Moray. In connection
with those struggles tradition relates that Mony the son of the
king of Scandinavia (Monaidk Mac High Lochlainn) landed on the
West Coast with his sister and a large force. Their retreat to
their vessels having been cut off by the Gael, they were pursued
northwards until they reached Glen Urquhart whei'e they made a
stand on the high rock of Craig Mony. Here they bravely held
their own for a time, but driven at last to the plain below, still
called Dal Mony, they had to give battle and were defeated with
great lo;s. Mony escaped with his sister ; but at Corrimony, ten
miles off, he was slain, and his body buried in the cave still known
as Uaigh Mhonaidh. The people of the Glen took kindly to the
hapless Princess and she lived among them many a day. A cre-
vice in Craig Mony, called the Bed of the King's Daughter
(Leabaidh nighean an RigJi) is still pointed out as the place in
which she sought shelter during the fight on the Craig.

The men of Moray were for sometime forced to acknow-
ledge the supremacy of the Norse ; but on the death of King
Thorfinn in 1064, the native chiefs regained their independence.
But the Scottish Kings looked with a covetous eye upon the fair
province, and a struggle commenced which continued for upwards
of a century. In 1130 the Celts sustained a disastrous defeat
which the Irish Annals of Innisfallen record in the signifi-
cant words, " Ar fer Muriamh in Attain" — the death of the men
of Moray in Alban ; and their ever reviving spirit of independence
was further crushed in 1160 In that year, we are told by Fordun,
King Malcolm " removed them all from the land of their birth,
and scattered them throughout the other districts in Scotland both
beyond the hills and on this (the south) side thereof, so that not
even a native of that land abode there, and he installed therein his
own peaceful people." It is impossible to believe that the exten-
sive province was entirely swept of its ancient inhabitants, and it
is more probable that Malcolm merely removed the chief families
and so deprived the people of their leaders.

Among those thus dispossessed were the Macraes and Macleans,
who inhabited Urquhart, the Aird, Abriachan, and Kilfinnan.
Urquhart and the Castle were granted to an Irish adventurer of
the name of Conachar, well known for having slain a monster

HISTORY OF GLKJf AND CASTLE OP URQUHART. 157

boar of great ferocity. From this hero are descended the clans of
Mackay, Forbes, and Urquhart, in whose respective shields appear
three boars' heads in honour of their ancestor's great adventure ;
and to the same source may be traced the presence of the boar's
head in the arms of the families of Chisholm, Rose, and Mackin-
tosh each of whom had at subsequent periods an interest in Con-
achar's glen and castle.

The Mackays were descended from Conachar through his son
Alexander, who, about the year 1180, was sent into Caithness by
William the Lion to expel the Danes. He succeeded, and received
as his reward a grant of the lands which they had possessed, and
became the first chief of the clan. Some of the name were, how-
ever, left behind in our glen, as we shall hereafter see.

The family of Forbes are descended from Conachar's son John,
who, in the reign of William the Lion, got a grant of the lands of
Forbois in Aberdeenshire, and took his surname from the estate.

In the curious work entitled " The True Pedigree and Lineal
Descent of the most ancient and honourable Family of the
Urquharts in the House of Cromarty from the Creation of the
World until the year of God 1652," by Sir Thomas Urquhart of
Cromarty, that eccentric antiquarian relates that, in the year 554
before Christ, " Beltistos married Thomyris. This BeHistos was
surnamed Conchar, for which cause a certain progeny descended
of him is, till this hour, called the generation of the Ochoncbars, a
race truly of great antiquity and renown in the dominion of
Ireland. Belistos founded the Castle of Urquhart above Inner-
nasse, which being afterwards completed by his posterity, hath
ever since been called the Castle Vickichonchar." Sir Thomas
wrote his Pedigree, as Bunyan wrote his Pilgrim, in prison,
where he was confined for two years by Oliver Crom-
well, and we can, perhaps, pardon him for having placed
his renowned ancestor seventeen hundred years anterior to
the time in which he actually lived. From the antiquarian Nisbet
(born 1672) we learn that a brother of the Lords Forbes " having
in keeping the Castle of Urquhart, took his name from the place ;"
and William Forbes, who wrote in 1667, states that Conachar's
second son " was called Urquhart, of qm. is descended the Laird
of Cromartie and the Urquharts ; and to testifye to all posteritie
that they descended of him that killed the beast, they caused erect
just the like monuments at the Castill of Urquhart as is lying at
Logie, which is yet to be seen there as is alleadged." This son,
then, who was called Urquhart, settled in Ross-shire, and gave his

158 TRANSACTIONS.

name to Urquhart of Ferrintosh, and it is interesting to find that
his father's name is still preserved in Bad-Ochonachar, near In-
vergordon, as it is in Innis-Ochonochar in Glen-Urquhart.

Led by topography, we cross the Moray Firth from Ross to
Elginshire, where we find a place called Tnnis within the parish
of Urquhart. This was anciently the seat of the family of Innes.
Their crest is the boar's head. The first of the family on record is
Berowald Flandrensis, to whom the lands of Innes and Easter-
Urquhart were granted by Malcolm Caninore after the expulsion
of the ancient Moray families. From his name, he is generally
supposed to nave been a native of Fianders ; but, as remarked by
Forbes of Cullo'len, who wrote an account of the family in 1698,
he may have received that name from his having travelled in that
country-, just as the Frasers of Foyers were called /Sliockd Huistein
Fhrangaich, from one of them having visited France ; and their
crest and the topography of their possessions lead me to suppose
that the family of Innes may in some way have been connected
with Conachar.

Saint Coiumba himself first preached the Gospel in Glen
Urquhart. Born in Ireland about the year 518, he early evinced
a strong missionary zeal and this spirit was encouraged by his
tutor, Finian of Clonard, to wbom the ancient church of Abriachan,
still known in Gaelic as Gill Fhianain, was dedicated. Crossing
from Ireland about the year 563, he established the famous insti-
tution of Tona, and then resolved to convey the message of redemp-
tion into the veiy palace of the Pictish King Brude, who resided
at Bona. Adamnan, who wrote in the year 695, tells us that on
his way the missionary came to a place on the north shore of Loch
Ness, called Airchartdan —a name in which we easily recognise
Urckudainn the modern Gaelic name of our Glen. Here he
preached to Emchadus, an old man whom he found at the point of
deai'h. Emchadus, we are told, believed, and ascended to Heaven
in the company of angels ; and his son Yirolecus and his whole
house were likewise converted and baptized. Thereafter Coluinba
proceeded to Bona, where he worked many miracles, for an account
of which, I refer you to Adanman and to Dr M'Lauchlan's "Early
Scottish Church."

The good work which Coiumba commenced was, says tradition,
continued by his nephew, Drostan or Crostan, after wbom our Glen
is called Urchudainn Maith Chrostan — St t)rostan's Urquhart —
to this day. In the immediate vicinity of Balmacaan House are
St Drostan's croft (Croit Maith Chrostan) and the Monk's Hollow

HISTORY OF GLEN AND CASTLE OF URQUHART. 159

(Glaic a MJian/rain), names which go far to shew that tradition is
correct, and that Drostaii laboured in the Glen.

The simple Culdee Church of St Columba through time merged
into the Church of Rome ; and the province of Moray was erected
into a diocese and a bishop appointed, in the time of Alexander
I., who reigned from 1107 to 1124. About the end of that century
a church was built in Urquhart, and .shortly thereafter Glenmoris-
ton received a chapel. The former was a parsonage dedicated to
the virgin — hence th e name Gill M/toire, now corr; i pted into Kilmore ;
thechurch of Glenmoriston was dedicated to St Richard. Thefirstmeu-
tion I find of the Church of Abriachan (Gill FMaiiain) is in a deed
dated ] 239, in which Bishop Andrew declares, " ecclesia de
Abirihacyn," to \vhich considerable lands were annexed, to be
the common property of the Canons of Moray, except one-half
davoch of land which exclusively belonged to the Bishop himself.
To the Church of Kilmore also certain lands were attached, the
revenue of which was enjoyed by the Chancellor of Moray, who
resided at Inveravon in Strathspey.

During the time of Bricius, who was Bishop of Moray from
1203 to 1222, the Celts of the province again rose in open re-
bellion against the Scottish king. They were led by Gillespic
MacScolane, who claimed the rights of the ancient Maormors,
from whom he was descended. MacScolane and his followers
looked with no friendly eye on the Church and the feudal institu-
tions which it fostered, and so freely did it suffer at their
hands that Pope Innocent III. had, in January 1215, to issue
from his far-off home on the banks of the Tiber, a special protection
over several churches in the diocese. Among them was that of
our glen — " ecclesia de UrcJuird ultra Inuernys." By this document
the indignation of Almighty God and of the blessed Apostles Peter
and Paul wis declared against all who interfered with the churches
named or their possessions ; but the men of Moray cared for none
of these things, and it was not until MacScolane and his two sons
were treacherously slain in 1222 that the Church enjoyed peace
and felicity.

Upon the suppression of MacScolane's insurrection — the last
attempt of the sturdy Celts of Moray to restore their ancient insti-
tutions— the old plan of bestowing the lands of the offenders upon
strangers was resorted to. Urouhart and Boleskine were granted
to Thomas Durward or Hostiarius, who possessed extensive estates
in various parts of the kingdom. At the same time he was ap-
pointed Sheriff of Inverness. He was succeeded by his son, Sir

160 TRANSACTIONS.

Allan Hostiarius, Great Justiciary or Chief-Justice of Scotland,
who was married to Marjory, an illegitimate daughter of King
Alexander TIL Sir Allan coveted and claimed the lands in Glen-
TJrquhart which belonged to the Church, and the revenue of which,
as we have seen, went to the Chancellor of Moray. William, who
was Chancellor at the time, resisted the claim, but at last a com-
promise was effected, and its terms embodied in a Latin deed,
which does credit to the lawyers of that remote period. The noble
person, Sir Allan Hostiarius, says this document, " for the sake of
peace, has given to the church of Urquhart half the lands sought,
viz.- the half of the half davoch, which is called the half davoch
of the foresaid church, in pure, free, and perpetual elimosina. But
he and his heii'S will possess the other half of the half davoch in
perpetual feu farm : giving therefor yearly to the church of
Urquhart ten shillings, viz. — 5s at Pentecost (Whitsunday), and
5s at the feast of St Martin (Martinmas) in winter next following.
But further, the said church of Urquhart will have one whole croft
and one toft of four acres assigned to the said church near it,
in a suitable and convenient place, in gift of the said noble person,
in pure, free, and perpetual elimosina." This agreement is dated
10th March 1233, and among the witnesses to it is " Gilereoch de
Urchard," perhaps the parson of the time. The half davoch in
dispute was Achmony, which was church property very eai-ly,
and was feued by the Bishop to Sir B,obert Lauder in 1334,
and thereafter successively to other governors of the Castle, until
it was purchased in 1554 by John Mackay of Achmony. The
croft and loft of four acres near the Church mentioned in the
agreement, probably agree pretty nearly with the present Glebe.

In 1275, Hostiarius died, leaving no male heir, and his estates
were divided among his three daughters. His great rivals, the
Cummings of Badenoch, seem soon afterwards to have obtained
possession of the Castle, which they retained until the wars of
Edward of England.

The sad death of King Alexander the Third in 1286 ; the
equally disastrous death of his heiress, the Maid of Norway, in
1290, the consequent appearance of several competitors for the
Crown of Scotland ; the award of Edward I. of .England in favour
of Baliol ; the irksome position which Baliol occupied as vassal of
Edward ; his renunciation of his allegiance ; and the consequent
invasion of Scotland by the English King — these events are well
known to every reader of Scottish history. Baliol was crushed.
Edward marched victoriously as far as Elgin, from whence he sent

HISTORY OF GLEN AND CASTLE OF URQUHA.RT. 161

out detachments of his army to occupy the northern castles. John
de Warreue, Earl of Surrey, was appointed Governor of the
Kingdom ; and William Fitz Warrene, probably a son of Surrey,
was made Constable of Urquhart. The King returned to England,
leaving Scotland, as he thought, subdued, and taking with him the
flower of the Scottish leaders, among whom was John of Glen
Urquhart, who was imprisoned in the Castle of Berkhamstead,
until 30th July, 1297, when he was liberated upon condition of
serving with the English army in France.

And now arose in the South a deliverer, in the person of Sir
William Wallace. Sir Andrew Moray, younger of Bothwell, his
companion in arms, was proprietor of Petty and Avoch, in our
vicinity, and had influence in the North ; and to him was entrusted
the duty of raising the Highlanders. Gathering before the Castle
of Urquhart, they sorely beleagured Fitz Warrene and his
English garrison. Ominous reports reached the English King,
and on the llth June, 1297, he addressed letters to Henry le
Chen, the warrior Bishop of Aberdeen, and to Gratney, Earl of
Mar, requesting them to proceed with all speed to the relief of
the Castle. Obedient to those instructions, the Bishop and the
Earl led an army towards our Glen. At Inverness, they were
met by the Countess of Ross, who, we are told, gave them aid in
counsel and men ; and the Constable of Scotland, too, sent forward
all the troops he could muster. Upon the approach of the large
army thus thrown into our now peaceful vale, the Highlanders
prudently raised the siege and betook themselves to the neighbour-
ing fastnesses. But it was only for a season, for soon afterwards
the fort was wrested from the English by Wallace and his band of
patriots. Fitz Warrene, was expelled ; and Sir Alexander Forbes
(de Forbois sometimes contracted into Bois), great-great-grands( n
of Conachar, was appointed in his stead *

Edward, thus baffled and disappointed in his fondest desire, in
1303 concluded a treaty of peace with France, and with an
immense army of English, Welsh, Irish and Gascons invaded
Scotland, determined finally to crush the nation. Meeting with
little opposition, he marched north as far as Lochandorb, near
Forres, burning and laying waste the country. From Lochandorb,
he sent forth his army against the neighbouring castles. Those of
Elgin, Forres, Nairn, and Inverness, awed by the near presence of

* Sir Alexander was the son of Duncan de Forbois, who was the son of
Fergus, who waa the son of Jehn, who was the son of Conachar.

K

1 62 TRANSACTIONS.

the Hammer of the Scottish nation, opened their gates without
resistance ; but it was otherwise with the Castle of Urquhart.
In the letters which, as we have seen, Edward addressed to Le
Chen and Gratney in June, 1297, he directed them, upon their
arrival in Urquhart, to consult with Fitz Warrene as to the best
mode of adding to the strength of the Castle so as to prevent its
ever being taken by the Highlanders. The result of the consulta-
tion probably was the erection by the English of those massive
entrance towers which guard the only landward approach to the
fort, and which are said to be in the peculiar style of architecture
practised by Edward. Those towers, built to withstand the
Highlanders, had now become their defence; and when the
English commander summoned the garrison to surrender, Forbes
declined with scorn. The English, therefore, encamped on the
level neck of land connecting the high rock on which the Castle is
built, with the adjacent Hill of Strone, and resolved to starve the
Castle into submisssion. Winter was near, and Edward returned
south and took up his quarters at Dunferrnline.

During the winter and spring months, the English army
patiently lay before the Castle, supporting themselves at the ex-
pense of the surrounding country ; while the brave band on the
rock husbanded their scanty provisions to the utmost. But
towards the close of the spring (1304) the last morsel was doled
out, and Forbes and his companions resolved to fight their way
through the enemy or die in the attempt. The English saw with
joy the drawbridge lowered ; but the only person who crossed
was an ill clad beggarly-looking female. Is this one of those
knowing women in whom the superstitious Highlanders believe,
chosen by them to negotiate terms of surrender 1 Upon her ap-
proach she informs the English that she is a poor person, who
happened to be within the Castle when the siege commenced, and
that her present condition — for she is about to become a mother —
necessitates her venturing out. Her story is believed ; she is
generously permitted to pass ; and she betakes herself to the
neighbouring hill, from which, as from the gallery of a theatre,
she may witness the next step to be taken by her husband — for
she is none other than the wife of the Governor, clad in beggar's
garb, the more easily to escape detection.

When Forbes saw his wife safely ascend the opposite hill,
the draw-bridge was again made to span the moat, and he and

HISTORY OF GLEN AND CASTLE OF CRQUHART. 163

his followers dashed across and "at the astonished Saxons. The
devoted band fought long and well —

1 ' They fought together as brethren true,

Like hardy men and bolde,
Many a man to the ground they thrue,

And many a harte made colde. "

But it was not possible for them to pierce through the mass of
soldiery which confronted them, and they were cut down to a
man.*

Such, as we gather from 'Boece (born 1465), Abercromby and
other old writers, is the history of one of the most remarkable
sieges in the history of our country. Forbes' wife, " with her life
saved," observes old Holingshed, "being suffered to depart, got
over into Ireland, where she was delivered of a son, that was
named at the font-stone Alexander, who when Scotland was
recovered out of the Englishmen's hands, came to King Robert the
Bruce, requiring him to be restored into his father's heritage, being
as then in the occupation of other possessors. King Robert
doubtful what to do herein, for he thought it neither convenient
that a Prince should take lands or possessions from noblemen
which had been given to them in reward of their manhood, showed
in defence of the realise ; neither judged he it reason to keep
him from his rightfull inheritance, that had lost his father, his
friends and all his whole substance in the like cause and quarell
by injurie of the common enemies. Wherefore to qualine the
matter he devised this means ; he gave into this Alexander Boyis
certaine other lands in Mar, nothing lesse in value (considering the
largenesse and fertilitie) than the other of Urquhaid were ; and
willed him to content himself with those, in recompense of such as
belonged to Fhis father ; to the intent that all parties might be
satisfied, and no man should seeme to have wrong in being deprived
of his rightful possessions."

The year 1305 saw Wallace betrayed by the false Menteith,
conveyed to London, and put to death with cruelty and tortures
which stamp the character of Edward the First of England with
indelible infamy. But a second bright star arose to lead the Scot-
tish Patriots ; and the year after that in which Wallace died saw
Bruce crowned king of Scotland. The king's nephew and warm
supporter, the renowned Sir Thomas Randolph, was created Earl

* The Castle contained accommodation for 600 men, and it was possible
that Forbes' company numbered that.

v 9

164 TRANSACTIONS.

of Moray, and received a grant of that province, including our
glen ; and it was thus that the king, as we have seen, was after-
wards unable to restore the Glen and Castle to young Forbes, on
his arrival from Ireland to claim his father's possessions. At the
Battle of Bannockburn, Randolph led the centre of the Scottish
army, and among his soldiers, says Holingshed, the Englishman
whom I have already quoted, were three thousand fierce ard for-
ward Irish Scots, otherwise called Katerans, or Red Shanks. In
the men thus described, we need have no difficulty in recognising
the impetuous and kilted Gaelic-speaking Highlanders of Ran-
dolph's northern possessions. And here let me protest against
the ignorance and prejudice which have led men who were looked
upon as authorities on the subject, to state that the Highlanders
had no share in the glorious and stirring events which secured the
independence of Scotland. We have seen what the Highlanders
of TJrquhart did under Sir Andrew Moray and Forbes. General
Stewart mentions no less than eighteen Highland Chiefs who
fought under Bruce at Bannockburn ; and no unbiassed man who
has any knowledge of the history of the Highlands and of the
relationship which existed between the chiefs and their people,
under the clan system, can suppose that the chiefs were in the
army of Bruce unaccompanied by their respective clans.

In 1329 the good King Robert died, having bequeathed his
Crown to his infant son, David II., and, with his dying breath,
appointed Randolph regent. Edward Baliol claimed the Crown,
and he was supported by the English, who entered on a new war
against Scotland. The year 1332 saw the great Randolph die. He
was su-^ceededin his title and lands by his eldest son Thomas who, on
his death in the same year on the fatal field of Dupplin, gave place
to his brother John Randolph. The result of the battle of Dupplin
was that Baliol was crowned King ; but the people were against
him, and he was soon expelled the country. Thereupon the
English King resolved personally to lead his army against the Scots,
and resist the usurper. At Halidon Hill (1333) the Scots were de-
feated with great carnage, and then followed the almost entire sub-
mission of their country. Five of the principal castles, however,
refused to submit to the English or acknowledge Baliol King ;
and, as of old, Urquhart was found among the faithful few. * Its
governor was Sir Robert Lauder of Quarrelwood, one of the

*The other loyal castles were Dumbarton, Lochleven, Kildrummie,
and Lochdown in Carrick.

HISTORY OF GLEN AND CASTLE 'OF URQUHART. 165

doughty Lauders of the Bass. Hastening north from the fatal
hill of Halidon, he garrisoned the Castle and resolved to defend it
to the utmost. Next year (1334) the invaders appeared in our
glen, and assaulted and besieged the Castle ; but so well was
Lauder prepared for them that they were obliged to raise the siege
and return south.

Sir Robert Lauder probably occupied the lands which formed
the Barony of TJrquhart, as tenant of Randolph, Earl of Moray.
In 1334, in consideration of his many services to the church and of
an annual feu-duty of four merks sterling, he received a charter
from John Pilmore, Bishop of Moray, of the " half davoch of our
land of Aberbreachy (Abriachan) lying between the Barony of
Bonach (Bona) on the east, on the one side, and the Barony of
Orchard (TJrquhart) on the west, with our land of Auchmunie
(Achmony) lying between the land of Drumbuy on the east side
and the land of Cartaly on the west." I have already mentioned
that Abriaohan and Achmony belonged to the Church from a very
early period.

About the year 1336, the Castle seems to have been for a time
under the immediate charge of Richard Cumming, who held it in
faithful allegiance to King David. Sir Robert Lauder was still
the Constable, and we find him one of the witnesses to a
charter granted by- the Earl of Ross to Reginald, son of
Roderick of the Isles, and executed at the Castle on 4th July
1342. To show you how important were the gatherings of that
remote period within those walls whose ruins still speak of their
former grandeur, I shall give you the other witnesses to that
charter. They were : The Venerable Fathers in Christ, Lords
John and Roger, by the grace of God, Bishops of Moray and Ross;
Robert- de Lauder , James de Kerdale, and William de Mowbray,
knights ; Sir Thomas de Lichtoun, Canon of Moray, John de
Barclay, Adam de TJrcharde, John Yong de Dingwall, and many
others cleric and laic.*

Sir Robert Lauder's only daughter, Anne, was married to Sir
John Chisholm, son of the Lord of 'Chisholm in Roxburghshire.
Their son, Sir Robert Chisholm, received, in 1345, a charter from
John Randolph, Earl of Moray, of " two davochs af land within

* " Venerabilis in Christo dominis Johanne et Rogero Die gracia
Morauie et Rossie episcopis dominis Roberto de Lawedre Jacobe de Kerdale
et Willielmo de Mowbray militibus domino Thoma de Lichtoun canonico
Morauiensi Jphanne de Berclay Adam de Vrcharde Johanne Yong de
Dyngvale et multis aliis clericis et laicis."

166 TRANSACTIONS.

our Barony of Urquhart, viz., the half davoch of Innermorchen
(Invermoriston), the quarter davoch of Blare (Blary), and the
quarter davoch of Lochletare (Lochletter), the three-quarter's
davoch of Inchebrene (Inchbrine), and the quarter davoch of Duls-
hangy (Dalshangy)." These lands were the first Highland pos-
sessions of the family of Chisholm.

In 1346 John .Randolph, the proprietor of the Castle and
Barony of Urquhart, was killed at the battle ot Durham. His
sister, " Black Agnes," famous in Scottish song and story, suc-
ceeded to his vast estates, and her husband, the Earl of Dunbar,
assumed the title of Earl of Moray. It would appear, however,
that the Castle and Barony were retained in the hands of the
King, by whom they were in 1359, granted to William, Earl of
Sutherland. They soon afterwards were again in his majesty's
possession ; and he in 1371 specially excepted them from his grant
of the Earldom of Moray to John of Dunbar, son of " Black
Agnes," and gave them to his own son David, Earl of Strathern,
and; failing him to his (the King's) son Alexander, well known in
history as the " Wolf of Badenoch.''

Sir Robert Chisholm, who, as we have seen, acquired the lands
of Invermoriston, Blary, Dalshangy, Lochletter, and Inchbrine, in
1345, became Constable of the Castle in 1359, in succession to his
grandfather, Sir Robert Lauder, whom he also succeeded in the
lands of Achmony and Abriachan. He subsequently became
Justiciary or Chief Justice of the North, and one of the most
influential men in Scotland. On 2nd January 1364, a contract
was entered into between " the noble men, Sir Robert Chisholm,
keeper of the Castle of Urquhart, on the one part, and Hugh Rose,
Lord of Kilravock, on the other part," by which Kilravock bound
himself to marry Sir Robert's daughter, Janet, in consideration of
•which Sir Robert agreed to give to "the said Hugh and his heirs
between Hugh himself and the foresaid Janet, ten merks of land
of Cantrabundie, with all its pertinents, within Strathnairn." One
clause of this ancient marriage contract is worthy of preservation
as a model for modern writs of the same nature : — " From the day
of the celebration of the said marriage the said Sir Robert shall
keep and entertain his said daughter for three whole year's in meat
and drink, but the said Hugh shall find and keep her in all
needful garments and ornaments."

Sir Robert, in his old age, ceased to be Constable of the Castle,
and resigned his lands of Invermoriston, Blary, Dalshangy, Loch-
letter, and Inchbrine into the hands of the King, and the lands of

HISTORY OF GLEN AND CASTLE OP URQUHART. 167

Achmony and Abriachan into those of the Bishop of Moray. The
former were, consequently, in 1384, granted by the King to his
son, the Wolf of Badenoch, who, about the same time acquired
the Castle and Barony in feu from his brother David. The Wolf,
however, would neither pay David the stipulated feu-duty, nor give
up possession, and, consequently, David in 1385 complained to
Parliament, by whom the matter was remitted to the King's other
children for amicable settlement.

On 3d February 1386, the Wolf got a charter from the Bishop
of Moray of the lands of Achmony and Abriachan ; but for this
and other " church privileges " of a similar nature that worthy,
four years later, paid the bishop in a characteristic manner, by
burning " the town of Forres, and the choir of the church of St.
Lawrence, and the manor of the Archdeacon within the town,"
and also " the whole town of Elgin and the church of St. Egidius
therein, the House of God near Elgin, eighteen noble and beautiful
mansions belonging to the canons and chaplains, and, what must
be more bitterly deplored, the noble and beautiful church of Moray,
the mirror of our native country and the honour of the Kingdom,
with all the books, charters, and other valuable things of the
country therein kept for security." For these ruthless and
sacrilegious deeds he subsequently did penance in the Blackfriars
Church of Perth. He died in 1394 without lawful issue.

The reign of Robert the Third (1390 to 1406), and the early
part of the reign of James the First, form a sad page in the history
of Scotland. The first years of Robert's reign were, as we have
seen, disturbed by the evil deeds of his brother, the Wolf of
Badenoch. That miscreant was worthily succeeded by his bastard
son, Duncan Stewart — " the ferocious son of a fieixie father," — who,
sweeping down from his mountain fastnesses, for a time kept the
Lowlands in terror; while the Highlands, and particulai-ly the
districts about Inverness, were harrassed by the Islemen under
Alexander, — the Alasdair Carrach of Gaelic song and story. In
those circumstances Parliament, in 1398, placed the Castle of
Urquhart "in the King's hands, who shall entrust the keeping of it
to worthy captains, until the Kingdom be pacified, when it shall
be restored to its owners." But the pacification anticipated
by the Act of Parliament which I have quoted was far dis-
tant. South of the Grampians anarchy and confusion increased ;
Highland clans waged internecine wars in the North. In 1411,
Donald, Lord of the Isles, renouncing his allegiance to the Scottish
king, entered upon that insurrection the great event of which was

168 TRANSACTIONS.

the battle of Harlaw. The Island chief ultimately surrendered ;
but lawlessness and rapine were still rampant in the- Highlands,
and although James the First and his Parliament visited Inver-
ness in 1427, and seized about forty of the most turbulent chiefs,
some of whom were put to death, matters were not much mended,
and the Castle of Urquhart was never " restored to its owners."
From the Rolls of the Great Chamberlain of Scotland, we find
that the sum of 40s was expended on the fabric of the Castle in
1428-29. Subsequently Thomas Ogilvy was Captain of it as well
as of the Castle of Inverness, and the Great Chamberlain's accounts
for 1448-50 show that he paid £14 8s to William, Thane of Caw-
dor, for corn for the garrisons.

In 1451 the great Douglas rebellion broke out in the south.
In the north the Earl of Ross took the field in support of it, and
seized the royal castles of Inverness, Urquhart, and Ruthven in
Badenoch. Ruthven was demolished ; Urquhart was committed
to the charge of Sir James Livingstone, Ross' father-in-law, who
upon the first news of the northern rising, escaped from Court to
the Highlands ; and Inverness was supplied with military stores
and strongly garrisoned. The war continued until 1456, when,
after the defeat of the Douglas and forfeiture of his estates, Ross
submitted to the king, and was pardoned. In the meantime Par-
liament, on 4th August, 1455, passed an Act by which, " foras-
rnekill as the povertie of the Crowne is oftymis the caus of the
povertie of the realme and mony other inconvenients," the Castle
and Barony of Urquhart were " annext to the Crowne perpetually
to remane, the quhilk may not be gifiyn away."

Notwithstanding the prohibitory terms of that Act, the King,
on the Earl of Ross's submission, granted him a lease of the Castle
and of the lands of Urquhart and Glenmoriston, for all the days
of his (the Earl's) life, at a rent of £50 Scots a year. But the
Earl was ungrateful, and upon the King's death in 1460, he again,
entered upon his schemes of personal aggrandizement, and, with his
kinsman the famous Donald Balloch, and the Douglas, entered
into a treaty with Edward the Fourth of England, with a view to the
conquest of Scotland. Ross's army, under the command of his illegi-
timate son Angus, and Donald Balloch, became masters of the High-
lands ; and from Inverness were issued proclamations in the Earl's
name which show that he had already assumed the airs of a King.
But his rule was short-lived, and the rebellion expired. The
Crown dealt leniently with him, and he was permitted to retain
his estates until 1475, when, the treaty between Edward the

HISTORY OF GLEN AND CA3TLE OF URQUHART. 169

Fourth and himself having come to light, a decree of forfeiture was
pronounced against him. Next year he made a humble submis-
sion to the King, who not only pardoned him but also restored -to
him the Earldom of Ross and the lordship of the Isles. He im-
mediately resigned the Earldom, and it thus became vested in the
Crown.

About the close of the fourteenth century, Charles MacGillean,
a scion of the house of Maclean, a follower of the Lord of the Isles,
and a renowned warrior, settled in Glen Urquhart, possessed
certain lands there, and was Constable of the Castle about the
year 1398, when, as we have seen, it was annexed to the Crown.
From him sprang the Macleans of the North, (after him called
Clann Thearlaich) and the family of Dochgarroch, chiefs of that
clan, are his lineal descendants. By his wife, a daughter of
Gumming of Dalshangie, he had a son, Hector Buie Maclean, who
succeeded him. In Hector's time, and for centuries thereafter,
the herds of cattle reared on the lich pastures of Urquhart and
Glenrnoriston were an irresistible temptation to the cattle lifters
of Lochaber, and numerous were the raids made by the Camerons
and the Kennedies (Clann Mhic Uaraig) into our Glen, and deadly
were the feuds that consequently arose. Hector Buie retaliated
by marching a band of Urquhart men into Lochaber, while
Lochiel happened to be in Ireland. " Donald, Chief of the
Camerons," says the old historian of Lochiel, with reference to the
invasion, " was soon recalled from Ireland by the groans of the
people, who were cruelly oppressed and plundered by a robber
from the North, called Hector Bui Maclean, who, with a party of
ruffians, took the opportunity of his absence to infest the country.
Being joined by a siifficient party of his clan, he pursued the
robbers, who fled before the news of his arrival, and overtook
them at the head of Lochness. But Hector with his prisoners, for
he had taken many, and among them Samuel Cameron of Glenevis,
head of an ancient tribe of that clan, escaped him by taking
sanctuary in a strong house called Castle Spiriten, where he
barbarously murdered them. In revenge of their death, Donald
caused two of Hector's sons, with others of the gang who had
fallen into his hands, to be hanged in view of the father, a wretch
so excessively savage that he refused to deliver them by way of
exchange though earnestly pressed to do so." From these deeds
of blood, and the consequent belief amongst the people that the
spirits of the murdered haunted the Castle of Bona, it has ever
since been called Caisteal Spioradan.

170 TRANSACTIONS.

Hector Buie married a daughter of Malcolm Mackintosh of
Mackintosh, and attached himself to Clan Chattan. He is said
to have been killed at Castle Spioradan, arid was succeeded by his
son Ewen.

After the forfeiture of the Lord of the Isles (1475), the Earl of
Huntly, acting on behalf of the Crown, let the lands of Urquhart
and Glenmoriston on lease to Hugh Rose, Baron of Kilravock.
This led to hostilities between Rose and Duncan Mackintosh of
Mackintosh, and his brothers Allan and Lachlan, who desired
either to have the lands for themselves, or to sesure the interests
of their relative, Ewen Maclean. The matter in dispute was at
last referred to the judgment of six "honourable men," among
whom were Duncan Grant of Grant and his son John • and upon
26th March, 1479, the arbiters gave their award, finding that
Rose was entitled to enjoy the peaceful possession of the lands in
question. For a time the Mackintoshes paid no respect to this
decision, but on 25th July, 1481, the chief of that clan and his
son Farquhar granted their bond of manrent to K ilravock, binding
themselves and their kin to respect his rights " under the panis of
inhabilite perjure and infame." Notwithstanding the terms of
this bond Ewen Maclean refused to submit, and on 23rd Septem-
ber 1481, Farquhar Mackintosh granted a new bond to Kilravock,
binding himself, in the event of Ewen continuing his resistance,
" to take lawful part with the said baron, his barns (children)
and party aganis the said Ewlne and his party." The Micleans,
thus deserted by their powerful friends, were forced to submit :
and in June 1482, we find Rose in possession of Urquhart and
Glenmoriston, and Huntly discharging him of the rents thereof in
consideration of his keeping the Castle of Redcastle for the Earl,
The Macleans subsequently acquired Dochgarroch, a property
which they held until 1832, when it was sold to Mr Baillie of
Dochfour. The late Mr Allan Maclean, Drummond, was chief
of Clann TJiearlaich, and since his death in 1876, the family is
represented by his nephew, Mr Allan Maclean, London.

Balmacaan, the seat of the Earl of Seafield, is in the charter of
1509 by which the Grants acquired Urquhart, as well as in
other ancient writings which I have seen, written, " Balma-
kauchane " — that is, the town of the son of Hector. From
this it would appear that it was called after Ewen Maclean,
who, as we have seen, was the son of Hector Buie.

The close of the fifteenth century, and the opening years of the
sixteenth, were greatly disturbed by the insurrections of Alexander

HISTORY OP GLEN AND CASTLE OF URQUHART. 171

of Lochalsh and Donald Dubh of the Isles. Alexander, followed
by a large Jbody of West Highlanders, and? joined by Hugh Rose
younger of Kilravock and Farquhar Mackintosh, took the Castle
of Inverness, and probably that of Urquhart, and devastated the
surrounding country. Huntly, appointed Lieutenant of the North,
was commissioned to quell those disturbances. A long war
followed, in which the Grants distinguished themselves by their
zeal in the King's cause, and to them was entrusted the keeping
of the Castle and barony of Urquhart, in room of the Roses. The
men of Urquhart, led by the Clan Mhic Uian, were hostile to the
Grants, and bloody were the fights between the opposing parties,
and many the deeds of valour performed on both sides. The
traditions of the Glen regarding this period are still interesting,
and even at the present time there are men who pride themselves
on their descent from the heroic Glann Mhic Uian.* But the
Grants prevailed, and on 8th December, 1509, the King liberally
rewarded them for their loyalty. To their chief, John Grant of
Freuchie, called the Bard on account of his poetical talents, his
Majesty granted a charter of the barony of Urquhart, including
the Castle. To the Bard's second son, John Og, the barony of Corri-
mony was granted, and the barony of Glenmoriston was given to
another son, also named John.

These charters, which made the family of Grant absolute
owners of the whole united parish of Urquhart and Glenmoriston,
with the exception of the estate of Achmony, close the period
which I have promised to sketch to you, and although the history
and traditions of the Glen for the next two centuries and a-half
are full of interest, I must not at this time enter upon them,
except so far as shortly to refer tp the families who held sway in
the parish from that remote period to the present time.

I have said that the charters of 1509 conveyed to the family
of Grant the whole parish, with the exception of Achmony.
That estate, including Kilmichael, belonged, as you will remem-
ber, at a very early period, to the Church. Tn 1557, the Bishop,
foreseeing the storms of the Reformation, sold it to John Mackay,
who already possessed it under a nineteen years' lease dated the
last day of March, 1554. The charter, which is dated at Elgin
the 6th day of May, 1557, is in favour of Mackay and his wife

* I write this name according to the modern pronunciation, but may it
not originally have been Claim Mhic Eogha'mn — the clan of the son of
Ewen, that is, Ewen Maclean 1

172 TRANSACTIONS.

Catherine, Lady Oarrycht, (Catherinoe Domince Carrycht ejus
Sponsce) in liferent and to their son Duncan and his heirs male in
fee. John Mackay was in all likelihood a descendant of one
of those Mackays who remained in the Glen when the Chief of
the clan settled in the North about the year 1180, and who,
according to the ancient Wardlaw Manuscript inhabited Abriachan
and TJrquhart in the thirteenth century. Of what family his lady
was T have not been able to ascertain. Their son Duncan, upon
the 13th day of May, 1592, entered into a marriage contract with
Margaret Chisholm, daughter of The Chisholm, and their descen-
dants, possessed the estate until 1779, when it was sold by
Alexander Mackay with consent of his wife Agnes, a daughter of
Macdonell of Glengarry, to Sir James Grant of Grant, grandfather
of the present Earl of Seafield. My father, who is old enough to
remember Agnes Macdonell, is now the representative of the
family, as well as the only man of the name of Mackay resident
in our Glen, which, as we have seen, was the cradle of the clan.

The other families of position in the parish were the Grants of
Sheuglie and Lochletter, and the Cummings of Dalshangie. These
possessed their lands for upwards of two hunured years under
wadsets which were terminated before the close of the last century.
The Grants of Sheuglie had considerable influence, and one of
them, Alexander, led the Urquhart men on the side of Prince
Charles, in the Forty-five. Taken prisoner, he was sent to England
and died in Tilbury Fort. He was a good bard, and an excellent
player on the violin, and also, it is said, on the pipe and harp.
From him was descended the late Colonel Grant of Redcastle,
father of Mr Charles Grant, now of Hazel Brae. The most dis-
tinguished members of the family of Sheuglie, which is now repre-
sented by the Rev. Alister Ronald Grant, Rector of Hikham,
Suffolk, were Charles Grant, Chairman of the East India Company
(who was born in a lowly cottage in the Glen only a few hours be-
fore his father was killed at Culloden), and his sons, Lord Glenelg
and Sir Robert Grant, Governor of Bombay.

The last of the Grants of Corrimony who possessed that estate
was that genuine Highlander, James Grant, advocate, who died in
1835, at the patriarchal age of ninety-two. His learned and
exhaustive works on the origin and descent of the Gael, on
Ossian, and on the Origin of Society and Government, are, I hope,
known to you all. The family is now represented by Dr Grant of
Montreal, while the estate is divided between Mr Ogilvy of Cor-
rimony and Dr Cameron of Lakefield.

HISTORY OF GLEN AND CASTLE OP URQUHART. 173

The Grants of Urquhart (now the noble family of Seafield) and
the Grants of Glenmoriston still possess their ancient patrimonies,
and distant be the day when the stranger will take their place.
We all regret the circumstances which have made so many of our
old Highland families alien to the land which once knew them
so well ; and we desii'e to see such of them as are still left to us
continue chiefs of their clans as in the olden time — not now, in-
deed, to lead them in battle against the inhabitants of some
neighbouring glen, but to go before them and lend them a helping
hand in the arts of peace, and, by a proper use of the influence of
their position and of the old feelings of clanship which still exist,
to encourage them to become better and more useful people, and
to strive to attain the highest possible measure of happiness and
prosperity.

P.S. — Should any who may happen to read the foregoing sketch
possess information, however insignificant, regarding the history or
traditions of Urquhart and Glenmoriston, or of the Castle, I shall
deem it a great favour if they will kindly communicate the same
to me.

W. M.
STH APRIL, 1877.

At the meeting of this date, Mr Archibald Sinclair, Printer
and Publisher, 62 Argyle Street, Glasgow, was elected an. ordinary
member. It was agreed to appoint a committee to collect subscrip-
tions, from the Members of the Society, towards the funds of the
Memorial to John Mackenzie of the " Beauties of Gaelic Poetry."
Mr John Whyte read a paper in Gaelic, entitled, " An Gaidheal
anns a' Bhaile," which he declines to publish.

174 TRANSACTIONS,

19ra APRIL, 1877.

At thi? meeting, Mr Geoi'ge Macbean, writer, 42 Union Street,
was elected an ordinary member ; and after some routine business
had been transacted, Mr Colin Chisholm, Namur Cottage, Inver-
ness, (late President of the Gaelic Society of London) read the
following paper, entitled —

THE CLEARANCE OF THE HIGHLAND GLENS.

After forty years absence from this part of the country I shall
state the opinions that I now entertain of matters in the High-
lands. I shall as briefly as possible place before you the impres-
sions on my mind with regard to the most prominent changes in
the Highlands during this long interval.

In the first place I feel bound to express my sincere pleasure at
the sight of the noble efforts of the Gaelic Society of Inverness to
rescue our ancient and venerable language from decay and disso-
lution. Professor Geddes of Aberdeen says that " it can boast a
pedigree better far than that spoken in the highest places in the
land, and can claim the start of English on the soil of Britain by
ten centuries, and that in a literary form." Professor Morley, of
London, states that " a man cannot be a thorough English scholar
without a knowledge of Celtic"; and Professor Allison, of Glasgow,
said " that the man who speaks two languages is equal to two men,
and advances in usefulness at the same ratio for every language
he speaks." It augurs well for the development and success of
your Society that the Provost, the Chief Magistrates, and Town
Councillors of Inverness have opened the Town Hall of the largest
county in Scotland for your deliberations. All thanks to them
for it, and for their friendly appearance among us at our principal
meetings.

It is a source of pleasure for me to state without favour or
prejudice that this town of Inverness has improved in every
imaginable respect during the forty years alluded to. In sanitary
respects the town is unquestionably 500 per cent, better than it
was in my early recollection. In well-designed and stately houses
there are portions of Inverness that will compare favourably with,
if not surpass, equal lengths of London streets and London shops.
Large and spacious hotels with every accommodation, comfort and
civility ; an abundant meat, vegetable, and fish market ; suburban

THE CLEARANCE OF THE HIGHLAND GLENS. 1 75

villas, and every fanciful architecture. Add to this the daily
arrival and departure of railway trains to and from every part of
the Kingdom, aswellasthe steamboats plying both by salt and fresh
water. Old nature seems to have designed the town and environs of
Inverness as the Madeira of Scotland, but it remained for the
scientific acumen of our friend Mr Murdoch to demonstrate the
salubrity of the town ; and it is satisfactory to note that his laboui^s
on this score stand unanswered and unchallenged. My house
being on a rising ground above the town where, according to tra-
dition, the Cross or centre of Old Inverness stood, I can see from
my windows for many miles, and it is' most gratifying to sea tho
surrounding country studded with small but substantial stone and
slated houses and offices to coi-respond with the moderate size of
the farms on which they are built. All honour to the proprietors
of these estates. They belong principally to the Baillies of Doch-
four, Leys, and Redcastle.

Let us now leave the immediate neighbourhood of Inverness
and wend our way North, South, East or West, and what do we
see on all sides? Large farms infested with game and burrowed
like honey-comb by rabbits. If we extend our walk to the
Glens, we find them thoroughly cleared — the native population
sent to the four quarU'rs of the globe, wild beasts, wild birds, and
game of eveiy description in quiet p-ssession and feeding among
the crumbled walls of houses where we have seen happy families
of stalwart Highlanders reared and educated ! This is no exaggera-
tion. During the last twelve months I travelled through the
counties of Inverness, Ross, (Jromarty, Sutherland, Moray, Banff,
Perth and Argyle ; and I can bear testimony to the general de-
ptessionand desolation caused throughout the Highlands, I maintain,
by the operation of the iniquitous Class Laws called Game Laws.
They are like the Upas Tree, withering all within their \inhallowed
atmosphere, sending the bone and sinew of the Highlands to
foreign lands. They tin-n large tracts of country into cheerless and
inhospitable deserts. They sever the proverbial and ancient bond
of union and attachment between chief and clansman. Tlie chief
is distrusted frequently for. his acts, communicated through his
factor, and the clansman is thereby disheartened.. Thus another
town-land or perhaps a whole Glen is laid waste and placed at the
disposal of wild beasis. The work of destruction and depopulation
in the Highlands has gone on so regularly for nearly a hundred
years, and especially during the last fifty years, that the few farmers
left on the Lowlands have a difficulty in finding servants and

176 TRANSACTIONS.

labourers to work their farms. Every part of the Highlands
through which I have passed seemed to be much in the same way
— the surface of the land, as it were, in sombre mourning covered
with heather lamenting the absence of the strong arm that used to
till and ought to reclaim it, to enable it to fulfil the purposes for
which land was given to man, viz., to make it support the greatest
possible number of human beings in the greatest possible degree of
comfort and happiness. The law that enables one man to say
to another ; "I will not cultivate one acre, and I will not
allow you to do so," is most unnatural and most iniquitous in its
results.

It is most satisfactory to know, I think, that the British Govern-
ment has ignored freedom of contract between landlord and tenant
in Ireland by the Ulster Tenant Right and the Irish Land Bill of
1870. Since the Bill of 1870 was passed into law the landlord
in Ireland is not the judge between his tenants and himself. It
is the Chairman of Quarter Sessions, a Government Officer, in-
dependent of both landlord and tenant, who must decide whether
the rent demanded is excessive or not. There may be legal
quibbles still in the way of amicable settlements between landlord
and tenant in Ireland; but the Land Bill of 1870 (which I read
over and over again) seems to me to bear this construction. It is
not long since a tenant farmer got £700 damages from his land-
lord in Ireland for raising his rent and thereby compelling him to
leave the farm. At this moment English good sense stands like a
bulwark between the landlord and cultivator of the soil in Ireland.
Landlords, factors, and leases are no longer supreme in Ireland.
The Chairman of Quarter Sessions is arbitrator from this time
forward. England abolishes landlordism in Ireland by advancing
money through the Board of Works to every honest tenant who
has ambition to purchase his farm in fee simple from his landlord.
The repurchase system has made rapid progress in some of the Conti-
nental kingdoms of Europe. Notably in Prussia. From the day
that Napolean I. crossed the Rhine the Government of Prussia
looked with sorrow and astonishment at the number of young
Germans who flocked around Napoleon's standard. They soon
discovered that these men were flying from landlord tyranny.
Having discovered the cause, they applied the remedy; they valued
every farm on large estates throughout Prussia ; enacted laws to
enable tenants in possession to purchase their farms, and on
certain conditions advanced money to enable the farmer to pay
for his land. In Austria they have a re-purchase system also.

THE CLEARANCE OF THE HIGHLAND GLENS. 177

They have a land system of their own in France since 1789, one
feature of which (I think) is, that no man can derive more than.
.£5000 per annum from land in France. Large lauded estates
have often beeu the cause o f revolutions and bloodshed.

Macaulay, in his review of Mitford's History of Greece, justly
says — " In Rome the oligarchy was too powerful to be subverted
by force, and neither the tribunes nor the popular assemblies,
though constitutionally omnipotent, could maintain a successful
contest against men who possessed the whole property of the
State. Hence the necessity for measures tending to unsettle
the whole frame of Society and to take away every motive of
industry — the abolition of debts and the agrarian laws — pro-
positions absurdly condemned by men who do not consider
the circumstances from which they spring. They weie the des-
perate remedies of a desperate disease. In Greece the oligarchical
interest was not in general so deeply rooted as in Rome. The
multitude, therefore, redressed by force grievances which at Rome
were commonly attacked under the form of the Constitution.
They drove out or massacred the rich and divided their property."
This is ancient history, but the French Revolution of 1789 is
modern. Thus we see in ancient and modern history, that the
land was the bone of contention. The first grand error of Britons
was selling what did not belong to us. That which is on the land
belongs to man, because he made it, or helped to rear it, but the
land itself, belongs to no man, and no generation of men because
they did not make it. The law of England, interpreted by the
ablest, expressly declares that man can only hold an estate in land.
The modern theory of a general commerce in land was unknown in
England, till the demise of the Stuart dynasty. More than one
half of some English counties was held in common. On the lowest
computation, says a report of the Commons Preservation Society,
" 5,000,000 acres of common land have been enclosed since the
reign of Queen Anne." It is not easy in the various and conflict-
ing statements set forth occasionally to estimate the amount of
land still unenclosed and subject to common rights in England and
Wales. I have seen it put as low as 2,600,000 acres. On the
other hand it is stated that so recently as the reign of George III.,
eight million acres of commonage still remained. There was no
pauperism under such a system. Milk, butter, cheese, bacon,
poultry and some sheep were within the reach of all. There was
no absolute ownership of land either by great or small, but there
was fixity of tenure during good behaviour to all.

178 TRANSACTIONS.

The King or Queen, as representing the public, exercised strict,
just, and impartial control. We are no more than trustees for our
successors. But we have divested ourselves of the power of com-
pelling any man to cultivate an acre. Yet history tells us that
this want of cultivation has on several occasions been very nearly
the downfall of England.

In the face of all former experience, it is melancholy to see our
landed proprietors through the Highlands encouraging a system
among us that would not be tolerated in England. The noblemen
and capitalists who come among us from England to elbow out
of house and home our native population know too well that it
would be not only impolitic but most dangerous to try such ex-
periments on their own countrymen.

Forty years' residence in England convince me that the free,
brave, independent, and justice-loving people of England would not
tolerate or brook oppression from any man or from any class of
men. Instance — how quickly the voice and press of England
brought the Earl of Darnley to his knees when he attempted to
dispossess one of his tenants near Gravesend some three or four
years ago. It may be urged that the Dukes and nobles, capitalists
and sportsmen who come among the ruins of farms and villages
in the North had no hand in clearing the people out of the way
of sheep, deer, and game. Be that as it may, they are in posses-
sion, and it was in anticipation of such unscrupulous tenants that
the people were driven out and deprived of farms, houses and
homes. In such cases as these the strong arm of the law ought
to interpose between enormous wealth and honest industry.

To prevent you from thinking that I am dealing in generalities
only, just imagine that such men as the Duke of Westminster
and the Duke of Portland come from England annuallv to imitate
our Highland Duke of Athole and Northern Duke of Sutherland,
in increasing their stock of deer and extending the size of the
Ducal Forests. I ask what chance would the cultivator of the
soil have in the same atmosphere with the Ducal Deer 1 One
would think that some, if not all, of these forests were extensive
enough. Let us hear what Thomas Graham Murray, Esq., said of
the Forest of Athole while he was under examination by a com-
mittee of the House of Commons on the 26th July, 1872. In
answer to a question, Mr Murray said, " you will find that in Mr
Scrope's book he gives a calculation of the number of acres. His
book was written in the time of Duke John, about the year 1828
or 1829, and he makes the whole forest 135,000 acres ; but of that

THE CLEARANCE OF THE HIGHLAND GLENS. 179

51,000 acres were then under deer, the rest being grouse ground.
And you will observe that it is just about the quantity that it is
now. I do not think there has been any change scarcely since
that time." Further on in his evidence Mr Murray, speaking of the
Athole Forest, says: — " It has been a forest from time immemorial."
Mr Murray is one of the first, and probably one of the most
honourable lawyers in the kingdom. He tells us the extent of
Athole Forest, but cannot tell us how long that enormous amount
of land has been lost to the community.

Ordinary mortals might think this extent of forest, with its
" five to seven thousand deer as estimated by Mr Sciope," ought
to satisfy the slaughtering propensities even of a Duke. But
nothing of the sort. Last year his Grace of Athole added about
10,000 acres to his old deer forest. The lands cleared for that
purpose are Glenmore and Glenbeg, with the Glen of Cromalt and
the different smaller glens and corries that branch off from the
above mentioned glens.

Be it remembered, however, that all this misappropriation of
land is perfectly legal and legitimate according to the present
usages of Society. Nay, more, if the four noblemen alluded to, or
any other capitalists, had the means and the chance of purchasing
every inch of land (perhaps boroughs excepted) in the Highlands
of Scotland, convert it into Deer Forests and turn the present
remnant of the Highlanders out of house and home, they would
be quite within the pale of the law as interpreted by Society in
modern times. We see this principle acted on year by year, and
it is against this irresponsible power that every well-wisher of
justice ought to appeal. It appears to me that some of our Mem-
bers who are learned in the law might tell us whether the original
Charters of our landed proprietors justify them in substituting wild
beasts for human beings 1 If the Charters empower landlords to
destroy the people, by depriving them of their birth-light, the land
on which they were born, they are quite at variance with recent
legislation, in as much as the pauper has now a life interest in the
land of his birth. Yes, the proprietors and the paupers are the
only two classes of the community who have any hold of the land
of this country. There is not a man in Europe so completely
divorced from the land of his birth as the Highlander of Scotland.

Now, lest you should imagine that I content myself with
making statements and then conveniently forgetting to prove
them, let me briefly revert to the time and circumstances which
inaugurated the unhallowed system of depopulation in Inverness-

L2

180 TRANSACTIONS.

shire. As to the time, I have heard Edward Ellice, Esq., of Glen-
Cuaich, stating before a committee of the House of Commons, on
the 28th March, 1873, that " the great depopulation was in 1780
and 1790, when the Colony of Glengarry was founded in Canada,
by the number of people that were sent out from Scotland to
obtain their low lying crofts for the sheep in the winter." Fur-
ther on in his evidence, Mr Ellice, in answer to a question, says,
" Yes ; I may mention one single case that I am well acquainted
with. When the depopulation began in 1780, the people were
then cleared off to make way for sheep. They had turned out
700 to 800 fighting men in the Rebellion, consequently the
population could not have been under 5000 or 6000." It seems to
me that Mr Ellice has Glengarry in his mind's eye. If I am right
in this supposition, it appears to be one of the severest reflections
ever made on the depopulation of Glengarry. For every pound ster-
ling of the rental of the particular estate a fighting man was sent from
that estate, to support the cause of the Prince whom they believed
to be their lawful Sovereign. Imagine that Britain might be threa-
tened in these times either by Turk or Christian, how many
fighting men would the estate alluded to be able to send to the
service of our Sovereign ] I venture to say that it could not raise
50 men. Nay, if you keep clear of the village of Fort- Augustus,
which is Lord Lovat's property, I do not think that even 20 men
could be sent out of Glengarry with all its sheep and deer. Not
that the men are less patriotic now than they were in 1745, but for
this simple reason, there are reither M'Donnells nor any other men
in Glengarry. In justice to Mr Ellice, I must say, however, that
he seemed to me to be the most humane and most favourable to
Highlanders of all the Members of Parliament that gave evidence
at the committee alluded to. During the two days he was under
examination, not a word escaped his lips that could be construed
into slight or disrespect for Highlanders. It is quite true that
Mr Ellice spoke of them as " Crofters." This was the lingo in
which Highlanders were generally spoken of at the Game Law
Committee. But the Earl of Chatham dignified them on a former
occasion with the name of " Mountaineers." Speaking of them
with great respect in Parliament soon after the mis-managed affair
of 1 745, his Lordship said in effect : — That the Mountaineers had
well nigh changed the dynasty and upset the constitution of the
Kingdom.

Now as to the circumstances that inaugurated the depopulation
alluded to. They are simple but melancholy, and they occurred as

THE CLEARANCE OF THE HIGHLAND GLENS. 181

follows : — Marsalaidh JBhinneach, the mother of the last popular
" Glengarry," had the management of the whole properties of
Cnoideart and Glengarry, while her son was a minor. The fasci-
nating demon of old unfolded its golden coils before her avaricious
mind ; and in an evil Lour she surrendered the birthright of her
husband's clansmen to his crafty wiles. To begin with, she gave
Glen Cuaich to one unscrupulous south country shepherd, and
thereby deprived over 500 persons of houses and home. This was
the beginning only of a series of misfortunes which laid the
foundations of complications and embarrassments that ended in the
sale of the whole of the Glengarry estates. I forbear to mention
the maiden name of this woman on account of the esteem in which
her noble chief is held. It is said that he is by far the best land-
lord in the Highlands. However, The Chisholm of Strathglass
married her eldest daughter Eliza in 1795.

The Chisholin was rather delicate and often in bad health, and
this threw the management of the estate into the hands of his wife.
Hence the cause of the great clearance of Strathglass in 1801.
The evicted people from that strath crossed the Atlantic and
settled principally in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island. They
gave the names of some Strathglass farms to their freehold lands
in their adopted country. In the Island there is even the county
of Inverness.

In 1810 an heir was born for The Chisholm. He succeeded to
the most of the estates on the death of his father in 1817. I say
the most, because a poi'tion of the land was still in the hands of
his uncle's widow. It will be necessary here to explain this
reserve on entailed land : —

Alexander^ the eldest surviving son of the The Chisholm who
entailed the estates in 1777, married Elizabeth, datighter of Dr
Wilson of Edinburgh. He died on the 17th February, 1793, aged
forty-four years, and left an only child, Mary, who married James
Gooden, Esq., merchant, of London. The estates reverted to his
half-brother William, who died in 1817,as stated above. The widow
alluded to was Dr Wilson's daughter. Alexander The Chisholm,
her husband, made a fair settlement in case of widowhood. He
left for her, the option of a certain sum of money annually or
the rental accruing from a number of towiilands or joint farms.
Through the advice of her only child Mary, Mrs Chisholm made
choice of the townlands and kept them intact, and kept the
tenantry on these farms in easy circumstances until the day of her
death, which took place on the 23rd January, 1826, and then the

182 TRANSACTIONS.

whole of The Chisholm's estates reverted to the young heir of
Strathglass.

By and bye, I "will tell you how the tenantry were treated by
ths young Chief and his advisers. But I feel bound to tell you
first, that repeated efforts were made by some of those who were
acting for the Chief to get hold of the land still in possession of the
widow. However, the great good sense of this noble-minded
Edinburgh lady, and the sincere attachment of her daughter, Mrs
Gooden, to her father's tenantry stood firm against all the ad-
vances made to deprive her of the faithful Highland tenantry en-
trusted to her care.

For the long space of thirty-three years she kept her tenantry
intact, never turned one of them out of a farm, nor did she ever
deprive any man of an acre of land. As The Chisholm, her hus-
band, left them at the time of his death in 1793, so they were left
by his beloved widow at the time of her death in 1826. This
excellent lady was well known and distinguished in the Highlands
by the endearing term of " A Bhantigheama-Bhan " — the English
equivalent of which is " the fair lady."

When Mary (afterwards Mrs Gooden) was a young lassie in
her teens, four south countrymen (Gillespie of Glen Cuaich, I
think, was one of the number) came to see The Chisholm and
passed the night with him at Comar, where the Chief was staying
at that time. In the course of the evening it transpired that the
Southerns wanted the most and best portions of Strathglass as
sheep walks. In short, the object of their mission was to treat
the Chisholms of Strathglass as the Macdonnells of Glengarry were
treated a few years before that time.

Mary listened for a time quietly to their proposals ; at last she
mildly put her veto on the whole transaction. She was ordered
off to her room. But, with tears in her eyes, Mary found her way
to the kitchen, and called all the servants around her and explained
to them the cause of her grief.

Never was Grann-Tara sent through any district with more
rapidity than this unwelcome news spread through the length and
breadth of Strathglass. Early next morning there were about a
thousand men, including young and old, assembled on the ground at
Comar House. They demanded an interview with The Chisholm.
He came out among them and discussed the impropriety of alarm-
ing his guests. But the Chief was told that the guests were
infinitely worse than the freebooters who came on a former
occasion with sword in hand to rob his forefathers of their

THE CLEARANCE OF THE HIGHLAND GLENS. 183

patrimony, etc. [This was an allusion to a sanguinary battle
fought on the plain of Aridh-dhuiean many years before that time
between Clann-'ic-an-Lonathaich, who wanted to take possession,
and the Chisholms, who succeeded in keeping possession of Strath-
glass to this day.] The guests were at first anxiously listening, at
the drawing-room windows, to the arguments between the Chief
and his clansmen ; but they soon got quietly down stairs and
made the best of their way, (I think through the back door and
garden) to the stable where they mounted their horses, galloped
off helter-skelter, followed by the shouts and derision of the as-
sembled tenantry, across the river Glass, spurring their horses and
never looking behind until they reached the ridge of Maoil Bhuidhe,
a hill between Strathglass and Corriemon/. Imagine their chagrin
on turning round and seeing a procession being formed at Comar
— pipers playing, and The Chisholm being carried to Invercannich
House on the brawny shoulders of his tenantry.

Instead of this being cause of sorrow, it was the happiest day
that ever dawned, on Strathglass ; Chief and Clansmen expressing
mutual confidence in each other, and renewing every manner of
ancient and modern bond of fealty ever entered into by their
forebears. All this extraordinary episode in the history of Strath-
glass I heard related over and over again ~by some of the men
who took their part in chasing the Southrons out of that district.

About thirty years ago, I reminded Mrs Gooden, in London,
of what was said of her in the North, in connection with the hasty
exit of the would-be shepherds, every word of which I found to be
substantially correct, and Mrs Gooden then added : — " When
my father died in 1793, 1 felt that the welfare of the tenantry left
in charge of my mother depended in a great measure on myself.
I was brought up among them, I used to be the Gaelic interpreter
between them and my mother, and they had great confidence in me.
However, it was in after years, when old age began to impair
my mother's memory, that I had the greatest anxiety least the
agents* of The Chisholm should succeed in depriving her of the
tenantry. I had two objects in view. The first was to keep the
people comfortable, and the second was to hand them over as an
able class of tenantry to my first cousin, the young Chisholm, at
the demise of my mother."

This determination was so well arranged and so completely

*One of these was Wm. Mackenzie, W.S., Edinburgh— a Ross-shire
man.

184 TRANSACTIONS.

carried out, that when the Dowager Mrs Chisholm, of whom I
have spoken as " the fair lady" died, the tenantry on the
portion of The Chisholm's estate she managed so long and so suc-
cessfully, were able and willing to rent every inch of the whole
of Strath gtass, as I will soon prove to you. But let me first fulfil
my promise of acquainting you of the manner in which the new
accession of property with its native population were treated by
the young Chief and his advisers. For a few years the people were
left in possession of their respective farms. This, however, was in
order to adjust matters for future and more sweeping arrangements,
as all the leases in Strathglass were about to expire. To the best
of my recollection it was in the year 1830 that all the men in
Strathglass were requested to meet the young Chisholm on a
certain day at the Inn at Cannich Bridge. The call was readily
complied with, the men were all there in good time, but The
Chisholm was not. After some hours of anxious waiting, sundry
surmises, and well-founded misgivings, a gig was seen at a distance
driving towards the assembled men. This was the signal for a
momentary ray of hope. But on the arrival of the vehicle it was
discovered that it contained only the " sense carrier " of the pro-
prietor, viz., the factor, who told the men that The Chisholm was
not coming to the meeting, and that, as factor, he had no instruc-
tions to enter on arrangements with them. T was present, and
heard the curt message delivered, and I leave yon to imagine the
bitter grief and disappointment of men who attended that meeting
with glowing hopes in the morning, but had to tell their families
and de[ endents in the evening that they could see no alternative
before them except the emigrant ship and choose between the
scorching prairies of Australia and the icy regions of North
America.

In a very short time after this abortive meeting, it transpired
that the very best farms and best grazing lands in Strathglass were
let quite silently, without the knowledge of the men in possession,
to shepherds from other countries, leaving about half the number
of the native population without house or home.

Let me now prove to you how the native tenantry at that
time in Strathglass were both able and willing to rent every inch
of it, if they were only allowed to retain their farms at the rent
given for them by the strangers. I will prove it by plain incon-
trovertible facts. Here they are : — When the late generous Lord
Lovat heard of the ugly treatment of the tenantry alluded "to, he
entered on negotiations with the late Mr George Grieve, the only

THH CLEARANCE OP THE HIGHLAND GLENS. 185

sheep farmer or flockmaster on his Lordship's estates at Glen-Strath-
farrar, and arranged to take the sheep stock at valuation. His
Lordship sent for the evicted tenants to Strathglass, and planted
— so to speak — every one of them in Glen-Strathfarrar. The stock
was valued for the new tenants by Mr Donald McRae, who died
some years ago at Fearnaig, Lochalsh, and by Mr Donald McLeod,
who died lately at Coulmore, Redcastle. These gentlemen were
supposed to be two of the best judges in the Highlands, and were
also well known to be two of the most honourable men anywnere.
I was, along with other young men from Glencanaich, iti Glen-
Strathfarrar at the time, and saw the stock valued. To the best
of my recollection, it was at "Whitsunday in 1831. Well, then,
at the ensuing Martinmas every copper of the price of the stock
was duly paid to Mr Grieve by the new tenants. This is ample
proof of their ability to hold their own had they been allowed to
remain in Strathglass.

Some fourteen years afterwards, when the rage for deer forests
began to assert its unhallowed territorial demands, Lord Lovat
informed these self-same tenants that he wanted to add their farms
to his deer-forest. However, to mitigate their distress at the
prospect of another clearance, his Lordship stated that he did not
wish to part with one of them, and pointed out that he intended
breaking up the large farms on the estate. I remember seeing
twelve ploughs, the property of one farmer, all at the same time at
work on the plains of Beauly. But, to his credit, and in honour
of his memory be it stated and remembered, the late Lord Lovat
made this one and almost all other farms on his estate accessible to
ordinary farmers, so that every man he brought to Glen-Strathfarrar,
and every one he removed from it, were comfortably located on
other parts of his Lordship's estates. In short, the management
on The Chisholin's estate left only two of the native farmers in
Strathglass, the only surviving man of whom is Alexander Chisholm,
Raonbhrad. He is paying rent as a middle-class farmer to the
present Chisholm for nearly twenty years back, and paid rent in
the same farm to the preceding two Chisholms from the time they
got possession one after the other until they died. He was also a
farmer in a townland or joint-farm in " Balanahann," on " the fair
lady's" portion of Strathglass. So far, he has satisfied the demands
of four proprietors and seven successive factors on the same estate.
And, like myself, he is obeying the spiritual decrees of the fifth
Pope, protected by the humane laws of the fourth Sovereign, and
living under the well-meaning but absent fourth Chief. All the

186 TRANSACTIONS.

rest of the Strathglass tenantry found a home on the Lovat
estates, where their sons and grandsons still are among the most
respectable middle-class farmers in Inverness-shire.

Glenstrathfarrar, by far the most fertile glen alloted to forestry
in the Highlands, has been from that time and still is the free
domain of foxes, eagles, and hundreds of red deer, strictly pre-
served in order to gratify the proclivities of sportsmen. I am very
Borry for it, and in obedience to the dictates of my conscience I
must add, that in my humble opinion it is a serious misappropria-
tion of much excellent grazing and some good arable lands. My
firm belief is, that every portion of God's earth should be occupied
by Christians and made to support the greatest possible number of
human beings in the greatest possible degree of comfort and happi-
ness.

As I stated, there were only two native farmers left in Strath-
glass. But the only one who left his native country of his own
free accord at that time was my own dear father. So that when
the present Chisholm came home from Canada to take possession
of the estate about nineteen years ago, there were only two of his
name and kindred in possession of an inch of land in Strathglass.
At the first opening he doubled the number by restoring two more
Chisholm^ from Lord Lovat's estate. But I am sorry to say that
restoration is a plant of slow growth in Strathglass. It is only
right, however, to state that The Chisholm generously re-established
and liberally supported one of the tenants in the farm from which
he was evicted nineteen years previously. This man's father and
grandfather lived and died as tenants on that same farm, and his
great-grandfather, Domhnul MacUilleam, was killed on Druimossie-
moor, (better but more detestably known as Cuilloder-maor.) I
heard it said that this faithful clansman was shot when carrying
his mortally wounded commander, The Chisholrn's youngest son,
in his arms.

Some years ago I remember reading, I think in the Inverness
Advertiser, observations made by a tourist or a traveller who
pissed through Glencanaich, on the number of broken houses and
crumbled walls he saw in the glen. The writer concluded from
such unmistakeable signs that there must have been a consider-
able number of inhabitants at one time in Glencanaich. He was
quite right in his conclusions. Even within my own recollec-
tion, there were a number of people comfortably located in the
Glen. Of the descendants of Glencanaich men there were living in
my own time, one Bishop and fifteen Priests ; three Colonels, one

THE CLEARANCE OP TH1 HIGHLAND GLENS. 187

Major, three Captains, three Lieutenants and seven Ensigns.
There is not one of all these military men now alive. There are
seven of the Priests alive. An elderly man in that district assured
me that Colonel Chisholm, who died some years ago at Alexandria,
in Upper Canada, was a Glencanaich man. The last of the military
men alluded to, died about a year ago, and a Priest was since
ordained. This will account for the discrepancy between this
statement and that of " Fear Monaidh" in " The Gael" of August,
1875, page 235. Such were the men mostly reared, and who
had the rudiments of their education, either in this Glen or in
Strathglass. And now there are eight shepherds, seven game-
keepers, and one farmer only, in Glencanaich. Pray forgive me
if you think I have said too much about the depopulation of Strath-
glass. You have repeatedly expressed a wish to hear how the
people were cleared out of that district. In obedience to that
wish I have given you a mere outline, intentionally passing over
the recent clearances on the estate of Giusachan, because they
are well known to all who interest themselves about High-
landers. The future historian may find an account of the doings at
that time in Giusachan recorded as "Improvements" in the columns
of the Inverness Courier. He may find them also closely criticised
and openly censured in the Inverness Advertiser ; and they occu-
pied the time and attention of a Committee of the House of
Commons for a portion of three days.

It was not with any degree of pleasure that I approached the
subject, and I will leave it for the present. But before doing so I
may tell you there is not a human being in Strathglass of the de-
scendants of those who were instrumental in driving the people out
of it. I believe the same may be said of Glengarry, and I heard
it stated lately by a man who knows Sutherland and the Reay
country well, that there are only two families living in those
countries who had any hand in or on whose behalf the infamous
clearances of 1806 were commenced. It need scarcely be stated
here that the wholesale clearances alluded to were inaugurated
tinder the cruel auspices of Elizabeth the sixteenth Countess of
Sutherland, and now it appears that the whole race of the Crowbar
Brigade, their progeny and abettors, are (by some mysterious
agency) fast gliding away from the country they have so ruthlessly
desolated.

Glengarry was cleared by " Marsali Bhinnach," Strathglass was
cleared by her daughter Eliza, and Sutherland was cleared by
Elizabeth the sixteenth Countess of Sutherland. These three ladies

188 TRANSACTIONS.

may have been good wives and good mothers ; I have nothing to
say against their private character. But their public acts in land
clearances ought to stand forth as landmarks to be avoided by the
present landed proprietors and by all future owners and adminis-
trators of land.

In conclusion, let me repeat what 1 have said, that it is totally
beyond my comprehension how our forefathers could have divested
themselves of every species of control and power over the land of
thes^ countries. I have seen it stated in an Edinburgh paper that
nineteen men own half the land in Scotland.

Be that as it may, we know that less than nineteen miserable
landed proprietors brought the present desolation on the Glens of
the Highlands. And now the simple but important question is
— Will you do all in your power to alter this state of things 1
Will you collectively and individually endeavour to leave the ten-
ure of land in the Highlands in a better state than you found it 1
My own humble opinion is, that you ought to petition Parliament
forthwith, praying that they may be pleased to interpose between
misapplied capital and the cultivators of the land in the Highlands.
It would perhaps be presumption on my part to propose or even
to suggest any of the terms which ought to be employed in your
petition. But I think you might with good grace remind the pre-
sent Government of what the late Gladstone Government did for
the cultivators of the soil in Ireland. Let your petition be legally
conceived, wisely worded, numerously signed, or signed by your
Chairman only on behalf of the meeting, respectfully presented
and patiently discussed in the Parliament of Great Britain and
Ireland. In one word, let all your proceedings be strictly within
the pale of the ten commandments, and, by the help of Him who
made them, you will be sure and certain of success.

MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

HONORARY CHIEFTAINS.

Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie of Gairlochj Bart.
Professor John Stuart Blackie, Edinburgh University
Charles Fraser-Mackintosh of Drummond, M.P.
Duncan Davidson of Tulloch

LIFE MEMBERS.

Cluny Macpherson of Cluny Macpherson

Forbes, Alexander, 143 West Regent Street, Glasgow

Fraser, Alexander, 74 Church Street, Inverness

Fraser-Mackintosh, Charles, of Drummond, M.P.

Mackenzie, Sir Kenneth S., of Gairloch, Bart.

Burgess, Peter, factor for Glenmoriston, Drumnadrochit

Mackay, Donald, Gampola, Kandy, Ceylon

Mackay, George F., Roxburgh, Otago, New Zealand

Mackay, James, Roxburgh, Otago, New Zealand

Mackay, John, C.E., Swansea (late of Shrewsbury)

Mackenzie, Allan R., yr. of Kintail, Achnagairn House, Inverness

HONORARY MEMBERS.

Anderson, James, solicitor, Inverness

Black, Rev. Dr, Inverness

Blackie, Professor John Stuart, Edinburgh University

Bourke, Very Rev. Canon, Pres., St Jarlath's College, Tuam

Buchan, Dr Patrick, Lancashire Insurance Company

Cameron, Cap tain D. C., Talisker

190 TRANSACTIONS.

Campbell, George Murray, Gampola, Ceylon

Carruthers, "Walter, " Courier " Office, Inverness

Chisholm, Captain A. Macra, Glassburn, Strathglasa

Cooper, William, Highland Railway, Inverness

Davidson, Donald, solicitor, Inverness

Davidson, Duncan, of Tulloch, Ross-shire

Farquharson, Rev. Archibald, Tyree

Ferguson, Mrs, 6 Charles Street, Lowndes Square, London

Fraser, A. T. F., clothier, Church Street, Inverness

Fraser, Huntly, Kinnmyles, Inverness

Grant, John, Cardiff", Wales

Grant, General Sir Patrick, G.C.B., Chelsea, London

Grant, Robert, of Messrs Macdougall & Co., Inverness

Grant, Major W., Drumbuie, Glen-Urquhart

Innes, Charles, solicitor, Inverness

Jerram, C. S., M.A., Woodcote House, Windlesham

Jolly, William, H.M. Inspector of Schools, Albyn Place, Inverness

Macalpin, Ken. Grant, A.I.C.E., F.R.G.S., Pembroke, South Walea

Macalpin, Donald Alex., R.N., F.R.G.S., Pembroke, Wales

Macandrew, H. C., Sheriff-Clerk, Inverness-shire

Macdonald, Alexander, Balranald, Uist

Macdonald, Allan, solicitor, Inverness

Macdonald, Andrew, solicitor, Inverness

Macdonald, Captain D. P., Ben-Nevis Distillery

Macdonald, John, Marine Hotel, Nairn

Macdonell, Patrick, Kinchyle, Dores

Macfarquhar, John, M. A, Inverness

Macgregor, Rev. Alex., M.A, Inverness

Mackay, Charles, LL.D., Fern Dell Cottage, near Dorking

Mackay, Donald, San Francisco, California

Mackay, John, of Ben Reay, at Fortrose

MacKay, John Stuart, San Francisco, California

Mackay, Neil, Penylan House, Pencoed, Bridgend, Wales

Mackenzie, Rev. A. D., Free Church, Kilmorack

Mackenzie, Colonel Hugh, of Parkmount, Forres

Mackenzie, John, M.D., of Eileanach, Inverness

Mackenzie, Osgood H., of Inverewe, Poolewe

Mackenzie, Major Thomas, 78th Highlanders, Curragh

Mackenzie, Thomas, Broadstone Park, Inverness

Mackintosh of Mackintosh, Moyhall

Mackintosh, Angus, of Holme

Mackintosh, Eneas W., of Raigmore

UBMBEKS. 191

Mackintosh, P. A., C.E., Bridgend, Glamorgan

Maclennan, Alexander, of Messrs Masdougall & Co., Inverness

Macrae, D. A., Englishton House, near Inverness

Macrae, Ewen, (of Ardtulloch, Australia,) Glenvargillj £•

Menzies, John, Caledonian Hotel, Inverness

Nicolson, Angus, LL.B., late Editor of The Gael, Glasgow.

O'Hara, Thomas, Inspector of National Schools, Gort, Ireland.

Reidhaven, Lord, Balmacaan, Glen Urqunart

Ross, Rev. William, Rothesay

Scott, Roderick, solicitor, Inverness

Seafield, the Right Hon. the Earl of, Castle Grant

Shaw, A. Mackintosh, Secretary's Office, G.P.O., London

Small, James, of Dirnanean, Pitlochry

Stewart, John, Duntulm, Skye

Stoddart, Evan, Mudgee, N.S. Wales, Australia

Sutherland, Alexander, Taff Brae Cottage, Cefn, Merthyr-Tydvil

Sutherland- Walker, Evan Charles, of Skibo.

Wilson, P. G., Inverness

ORDINARY MEMBERS.

Alison, James Mackenzie, Redcastle

Baillie, Peter, Inverness

Bain, Wm., " Courier" Office, Inverness

Bannatyne, Wm. Mackinnon, Stirling

Barclay, John, accountant, Inverness

Barron, James, " Courier" Office, Inverness

Bisset, Rev. Mr, R. C., Stratherrick

Black, George, banker, Inverness

Burgess, Alex., Caledonian Bank, Gairloch

Cameron, A. H. F., of Lakefield, 2 Shield Road, Liverpool

Cameron, Archibald, Glenbarr, Kintyre

Cameron, Rev. Mr, the Manse, Glen

Cameron, Donald, of Lochiel, M.P.

Cameron, Hugh, Clunes, Lochaber

Campbell, Alexander, supervisor, Kyleakin, Skye

Campbell, D. A., builder, Crown Street, Inverness

Campbell, Donald, draper, Bridge Street, Inverness

Campbell, Duncan, merchant, Fort Augustus

Campbell, Fraser, (of Fraser and Campbell), High Street, Inverness

Campbell, George J., solicitor, Inverness

192 TRANSACTIONS.

Campbell, T. D. (of Gumming and Campbell), Ness Bank, Inverness

Carmicbael, Alexander A., Inland Revenue, Benbecula, Lochmaddy

Charleson, Hector, Railway Refreshment Rooms, Forres

Charleson, Kenneth, Forres

Chisholm, Colin, Namur Cottage, Inverness

Chisholm, Simon, Flowerdale, Gairloch

Clarke, Alexander, Balnafroig, Dores

Colvin, John, solicitor, Inverness

Gumming, James, " Advertiser" Office, Inverness

Gumming, James, Allanfearn, Inverness

Dallas, Alexander, Town-Clerk, Inverness

Davidson, Andrew, sculptor, Inverness

Davidson, John, Grocer, Inglis Street, Inverness

Davidson, Lachlan, banker, Kingussie

Dott, Donald, Caledonian Bank, Lochmaddy

Douglas, Win., Aberdeen Town and County Bank, Inverness

Duncan, Dr George, Conchra, Lochalsh

Duncan, John M., "The Highlander" Office, Inverness

Falconer, Peter, plasterer, Inverness

Ferguson, Charles, Raigrnore House, Inverness

Ferguson, Lachlan, schoolmaster, -Guisachan, Strathglass

Finlayson, Simon, commercial traveller, 3 Jamaica Street, Glasgow

Forbes, DrG. F., of the Bombay Army, Viewfield House, Inverness

Forbes, Duncan, of Culloden

Forsyth, Ebenezer, " Inverness Advertiser" Office, Inverness

Forsyth, John H., wine merchant, Inverness

Forsyth, "W. B., of the " Inverness Advertiser," Inverness

Fraser, ./Eneas, care of Innes and Mackay, Inverness

Fraser, Alexander, solicitor, Inverness

Fraser, Andrew, builder, Inverness

Fraser, Andrew, cabinetmaker, Union Street, Inverness

Fraser, A. R., British Linen Company Bank, Stirling

Fraser, D., Glenelg

Fraser, Donald, solicitor, Nairn

Fraser, Hugh, inspector of poor, Inverness

Fraser, Hugh, Balloch, Culloden

Fraser, Hugh C., Haugh, Inverness

Fraser, James, commission agent, Lombard Street, Inverness

Fraser, James, C.E., Inverness

Fraser, James, Mauld, Strathglass

Fraser, James, manufacturer, 41 North Albion Street, Glasgow

Fraser, Rev. John, Free Church Manse, Rosskeen

MEMBERS. 193

Fraser, Kenneth, writer, Church Street, Inverness

Eraser, Miss, Farraline Villa, North Berwick

Fraser, Peter, Beauly

Fraser, Siinon, banker, Lochcarron

Fraser, William, jeweller, High Street, Inverness

Galloway, George, chemist, Inverness

Garden, Archibald, Beaufort Gardens, Glasgow

Gillies, H. C., Glasgow, late of Culloden.

Gillanders, John, teacher, Denny

Glass, C. C., North Street, St Andrews

Grant, Rev. J., E. C. Manse, Ullapool

Gunn, Wm., Draper, Castle Street, Inverness

Hood, Andrew, commercial traveller, 39 Union Street, Inverness

Hood, Miss, 39 Union Street, Inverness

Joass, "W. C., architect, Dingwall

Kennedy, Donald, farmer, Drumashie, Dores

Kennedy, Neil, Kishorn, Lochcarron

Krauze, Fritz, Waverley Hotel, Inverness

Livingstone, Colin, Fort- William

Loban, Robert Gumming, Caledonian Bank, Invergarry

Macbean, ex-Baillie Alexander, Inverness

Macbean, George, 42 Union Street, Inverness

Macbean, James, 77 Church Street, Inverness

Macbean, Lachlan, " Fifeshire Advertiser" office, Kirkcaldy

Macaskill, D., saddler, Dun vegan

Macculloch, Duncan, teacher, Achnacarry, Fort- William

Macdonald, Alexander, messenger-at-arms, Inverness

Macdonald, Alexander, flesher, New Market, Inverness

Macdonald, Alexander, mason, Abriachan

Macdonald, Donald, farmer, Culchraggie, Alness

Macdonald, Donald, painter, Inverness

Maodonald, Finlay, Druidag, Kintail

Macdonald, John, banker, Buckie

Macdonald, John, Ballifeary, Inverness

Macdonald, John, gamekeeper, Dunphail

Macdonald, John, Inland Revenue, Edinburgh

Macdonald, John, live stock agent, Inverness

Macdonald, John, merchant, Exchange, Inverness

Macdonald, John, care of Innes & Mackay, Inverness

Macdonald, Thomas, builder, Hilton Village, Inverness

Macdonald, Dr William, Inverness

Macdonald, William, Hilton Village, Inverness

194 TRANSACTIONS.

Macdonald, William, contractor, Badcall, Glen-TJrquhart

Macdonald, Murdo, Row House, by Doune, Pitlochry

Macdonel], F. D., Hastings, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

Macdougall, Donald, Craggan, Grantown

Macgillivray, Finlay, solicitor, Inverness

Macgregor, Donald, 42 Glassford Street, Glasgow

Macgregor, John, hotelkeeper, Invermoriston

Macgregor, Rev. Malcolm, F.C. Manse, Ferrintosh

Maciver, Donald (student of Aberdeen University), Inverness

Maciver, Duncan, Church Street, Inverness

Maciver, Finlay, carver, Church Street, Inverness

Macinnes, John, innkeeper, Invergarry

Macintyre, Donald, schoolmaster, Arpafeelie

Mackay, Alexander, builder, Academy Street, Inverness

Mackay, Charles, builder, Culduthel Road, Inverness

Mackay, D. J, solicitor, Inverness

Mackay, John G., 118 Plantation Street, Glasgow

Mackay, Wm., solicitor, Church Street, Inverness

Mackay, William, bookseller, High Street, Inverness

Mackenzie, Alexander, editor, " Celtic Magazine," Inverness

Mackenzie, Alexander, wine-merchant, Church Street, Inverness

Mackenzie, A. 0., teacher, Mary burgh, Dingwall

Mackenzie, Andrew, ironmonger, Alness

Mackenzie, C. D., 102 Linthorpe Road, Middlesboro'-on-Tees

Mackenzie, Evan, solicitor, Inverness

Mackenzie, Dr F. M., Inverness

Mackenzie, H. F., Caledonian Bank, Inverness

Mackenzie, Hugh, bookbinder, Inverness

Mackenzie, Hugh, postmaster, Alness

Mackenzie, James H., bookseller, High Street, Inverness

Mackenzie, Malcolm J., teacher, Public School, Lochcarron

Mackenzie, Murdoch. Inland Revenue, Fort- William

Mackenzie, Simon, (Earrison & Co.), Chambers Street, Edinburgh

Mackenzie, William, factor, Ardross

Mackenzie, William, solicitor, Dingwall

Mackenzie, William, " Aberdeen Free Press" Office, Inverness

Mackenzie, William, draper, Bridge Street, Inverness

Mackinnon, Deputy Surgeon-General W. A., C.B., Aldershot

Mackintosh, Charles, commission-agent. Church Street, Inverness

Mackintosh, Donald, The Hotel, Glenelg

Mackintosh, Duncan, Bank of Scotland, Oban

Mackintosh, Duncan, draper, 57 High Street, Inverness

MEMBERS. 195

Mackintosh, Ewen, Roy Bridge Hotel, by Kingussie
Mackintosh, Rev. John, Mauld, Strathglass
Mackintosh, Lachlan, Milton of Farr, Daviot
Mackintosh, Miss, The Brae, Denny

Mackintosh, Peter, Messrs Macdougall & Co.'s, Grantown
Maclachlan, Duncan, publisher, 64 South Bridge, Edinburgh
Maclachlan, Rev. Lachlan, Established Church, Tain
Maclean, Alexander, Drumrnond Street, Inverness
Maclean, Alexander, teacher, Abriachan
Maclean, John, Holm Maics, Inverness
Maclean, Roderick, Ardross, Alness
Macleay, W. A., birdstuffer, Inverness
Maclennan, Kenneth, clothier, Colchester
Macleod, Alexander, grocer, Bridge Street, Inverness
Macleod, Robert, commercial-traveller, Leith
Maclure, Alexander, 21 Whittall Street, Birmingham
MacDcillan, Archd., Kaituna, Havelock, Marlborough, If.Z.
Macmillan, Duncan, Bundalloch, Kintail
Macmillan, John, Kingsmills Road, Inverness
Macnee, Dr, Inverness
Macneil, Nigel, Dumbarton Road, Glasgow
Macphail, Alexander, farmer, Cullaird, Dores
Macphail, Angus, 35 Lothian Street, Edinburgh
Macpherson, D., Glenn ess Place, Inverness
Macpherson, Duncan, 3 Union Street, Inverness
Macpherson, James, Rose Street, Inverness
Macpherson, Rev. John, F. C. Manse, Lairg
Macpherson, Mrs Sarah, Alexandra Villa, Kingussie
Macrae, Alexander M., Glenoze, Skye
Macrae, Rev. A, Free Church Manse, Clachan, Kintyre
Macrae, Rev. Angus, Glen-TJrquhart
Macrae, Donald, High School, Inverness
Macrae, Duncan, Ardintoul, Lochalsh
Macrae, Ewen, Braintrath, Lochalsh
Macrae, Ewen, (late of Leacaehan,) Ness Bank, Inrerness
Macrae, R., postmaster, Beauly
Macrae, Roderick, Island of Eigg, by Greenock
Macrae, Donald, Glenvargill, Skye
Macrae, Thomas, Glasnakill, Skye
Macrae, Duncan, Camusunary, Skye
Macrae, John, medical student, Braintra, Lochalah
Macrae, Kenneth, Achlorachan, Strathconon

M 2

196 TRANSACTIONS.

Macraild, A. R., Inverness

Matheson, Captain A., Dornie, Lochalsh

Matheson, Dr Farquhar, Soho Square, London

Matheson, John, supervisor, Alness

Melven, James, bookseller, Inverness

Menzies, Duncan, farmer, Lairg

Middleton, David, coal merchant, Inverness

Morrison, Robert, jeweller, Inverness

Morrison, William, schoolmaster, Ding-wall

Mundell, John, Gorthlick

Munro, A. R., 57 Cainphill Road, Birmingham

Munro, John, wine-merchant, Inverness

Murdoch, John, " The Highlander," Inverness

Murray, William, chief-constable, The Castle, Inverness

Nicholson, Jonathan, wine merchant, Pershore Street, Birmingham

Nicolson, Wm., Whitecrpft, Lydney

Noble, Andrew, Lombard Street, Inverness

Noble, Donald, baker, Muirton Street, Inverness

Noble, John, bookseller, Castle Street, Inverness.

Noble, Wm., The Grocery, Inverness

O'Leary, Dennis A., Charleville, County Cork

Ramsay, Donald, teacher, Reformatory, Inverness

Rhind, John, architect, Inverness

Robertson, George, Bank of Scotland, Inverness

Rose, Rev. A. Macgregor, F. C. Manse, Evie and Rendall, Orkney

Rose, Hugh, solicitor, Inverness

Ross, Alex., architect, Inverness

Ross, Alex., teacher, Alness

Ross, Alex., " Journal" Office, Dingwall

Ross, D. R., Gas Office, Inverness

Ross, John, Glenalbyn Hotel, Inverness

Ross, Jonathan, draper, Inverness

Ross, Rodk., Middlesboro'-on-Tees

Shaw, Hugh, tinsmith, Inverness

Shaw, John D., accountant, Inverness

Simpson, Provost, Inverness

Sinclair, Archibald, printer, 62 Argyle Street, Glasgow

Sinclair, Duncan, teacher, Parish School, Lochalsh

Sinclair, Roderick, High Street, Inverness

Sinton, Thomas, Nuide, Kingussie

Smith, Rev. F., Arpafeelie

Smith, Thomas A., clerk, Steam Saw Mills, Inverness

MEMBERS. 197

Smith, "Wm. Alex., Scottish Imperial Assurance Coy., Manchester

Stewart, Colin J., Dingwall

Stewart, Robert, shipbuilder, Inverness

Stratton, Dr, 4 Valletort Terrace, Stoke, Devenport

Sutherland, J. M., Barrock, School, Bower

Sutherland, Rev. A. C., Strathbraan, Perthshire

Tait, G. G., solicitor, Tain

Thompson, Robert, grocer, Tomnahuricb Street, Inverness

Tulloch, John, painter, Inverness

Watson, Rev. William, Kiltearn, Evanton

Whyte, David, Church Street, Inverness

Whyte, John, " The Highlander" Inverness

Wilson, George, S.S.C., H Hill Street, Edinburgh

APPRENTICES.

Fraser, John, 11 Argyll Street, Inverness

Macdonald, Murdoch, Ullapool

Macdougall, Charles, Lombard Street, Inverness

Macgillivray, William, assistant grocer, High Street, Inverness

Mackay, James John, Diumrnond, Inverness

Mackenzie, Alex., assistant grocer, High Street, Inverness

Mackintosh, John, 57 High Street, Inverness

Matheson, Alexander, stonecutter, Academy Street, Inverness

Packman, James, Church Street, Inverness

Ross, Donald, Union Street, Inverness

DECEASED MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

LIFE MEMBER.
Halley, Alex., M.D., F.G.S., London

HONORARY MEMBERS.

Macrae, D. J., Inverslriel, Kintail
Neaves, Hon. Lord, LL.D., Edinburgh
Stewart, Charles, of Brin

ORDINARY MEMBERS.

Campbell, Alex., Grant Street, Inverness
Davidson, James, solicitor, Inverness
Macaskill, John, Scourie, Lairg
Masdonald, Angus, Queen Street, Inverness
Macdonald, Coll, Lochend, near Inverness
Macdonald, Robert, Telford Road, Inverness
Macdonald, Andrew L., late Sheriff-Substitute, Lews
Macinnes, Neil, Hotel Keeper, Kyleakin
Mackenzie, Rev. Dr, Silverwells, Inverness
Macpherson, Col. A. F., of Catlodge
Urquhart, Murdo, Inverness

LIST OF BOOKS IN THE SOCIETY'S LIBRARY.

NAMES OF BOOKS. DONOR.

1871.

Ossian's Poems (H. Society's edition, ) Colonel Mackenzie,

Gaelic and Latin), 3 vols. J Poyntzfield.

Smith's Gaelic Antiquities . . . ditto

Smith's Seann Dana .... ditto

Highland Society's Report on Ossiau's

Poems ...... ditto

Stewart's Sketches of the Highlands. 2 vols. ditto

Skene's Picts and Scots .... ditto

Dan Oisein Mhic Fhin1 .... ditto

Macleod's Oran Nuadh Gaelach . . ditto

An Teachdaire Gaelach, 1829-30 . . ditto

Carew's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland Mr W. Mackay

Grain Ghilleasouig Grannd, 2 copies . Mr Charles Mackay

Macconnell's Reul-eolas .... ditto

Maclauchlan's Celtic Gleanings . . Rev. Dr Maclauchlan

1872.

Maclauchlan's Early Scottish Church . ditto

The Dean of Lismore's Book . . . ditto

Macleod & Dewar's Gaelic Dictionary . ditto

Highland Society's do., 2 vols. . . Sir Ken. S. Mackenzie

of Gairloch, Bart.

Ritson's Caledonians, Picts, and Scots, 2 vols. ditto

Dr Walker's Hebrides, 2 vols . . . ditto
Campbell's Language, Poetry, and Music of

the Highland Clans . . . Mr John Murdoch
Macnicol's Remarks on Dr Johnson's Tour

in the Hebrides .... ditto

Somer's Letters from the Highlands . ditto

200 TRANSACTIONS.

NAMES OP BOOKS. DONOR.

Cameron's Chemistry of Agriculture . Mr John Murdoch
Sketches of Islay ..... ditto

Cameron's History of Skye .... ditto

Kennedy's Bardic Stories of Ireland . . ditto

Hicky's Agricultural Class-book . . . ditto

Grain Gaelach Mhic Dhunleibhe . . . ditto

The Wolf of Badenoch .... ditto

Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Life . . ditto

Antiquity of the Gaelic Language . . ditto

The Dauntless Red Hugh of Tyrconnell . ditto

The Kilchoman People Vindicated . . ditto

Carad a Ghael — Sermon .... ditto

Highland Clearances the cause of Highland

Famines . . . . . . ditto

Co-operative Associations . ditto

Lecture ....... ditto

Review of " Eight Days in Islay" „ ,:,0 . ditto

Gold Diggings in Sutherland . . . ditto

Review of Language of Ireland . . . ditto

Highland Character ..... ditto

An Teachdare Gaelach 1829-30 . . '. ditto

The Scottish Regalia ditto

Campbell's West Highland Tales, 4 vols Mr Alex. Mackenzie

Bliadhna Thearlaich ditto

Macfarlane's Collection of Gaelic Poems Miss Hood

Old Gaelic Bible (partly MS.) .; "."" J. Mackenzie, M.D.,

of Eileanach

Machale's Irish Pentateuch. . . Professor Bourke

Irish Translatian of Moore's Melodies . . ditto

The Bull " Ineffabilis" (Latin, English,

Gaelic, and French) .... ditto

Celtic Language and Dialects . . . ditto

Bourke's Irish Grammar .... ditto

Bourke's Easy Lessons in Irish . . . ditto

Mackenzie's Beauties of Gaelic Poetry . Rev. W. Ross, Rothe-

say

Macrimmon's Piobaireachd . . . Rev. A. Macgregor

Stratton's Gaelic Oiigin of Greek and Latin ditto

Gaelic Translation of Apocrypha (by Rev.

A. Macgregor) .... ditto

Buchanan's Historia Scotise . . Mr William Mackay

BOOKS.

201

NAMES OP BOOKS.

The Game Laws, by R. G. Tolmie .
St James's Magazine, vol. i .

Fingai (edition 1762) . • .

Collection of English Poems (2 vols)
Philologic Uses of the Celtic Tongue
Sco to-Celtic Philology ....

1873.

Dana Oisein (Maclauchlan's edition)
Munro's Gaelic Primer ....
M' Alpine's Gaelic Dictionary .
M'Mhuirich's " Duanaire "...
Munro's Gaelic Grammar
Grain Mhic-an-t-Saoir ....
Grain Uilleam Bos ....

Ceithir Searmoin, le Dr Dewar
Carsewell's Prayer Book (Gaelic)
Scot's Magazine (1757) .
History of the Bebellion, 1745-46 .

Welsh Bible

Old Gaelic New Testament

Adhamh agus Eubh (Adam and Eve)

Old Gaelic Bible

Orain Ailein Dughalach ....
Macpherson's Poems of Ossian.

1874.

An Gaidheal for 1873 .
Orain, cruinnichte le Mac-an-Tuairnear .

The Gospels, in eight Celtic dialects .
Eraser of Knockie's Highland Music

1875.

The Clan Battle at Perth, by A. M. Shaw
The Scottish Metrical Psalms
Sailm Dhaibhidh Ameadreachd (Ed. 1659).

DOITOR.

Mr William Mackay

Mr Mackay, book-
seller, Inverness

C. Eraser-Mackintosh,
Esq., M.P.

Mr D. Mackintosh

Mr D. Maciver

Lord N"eaves, LL.D.,
F.RS.E.

Maclachlan & Stewart

ditto

ditto

ditto

ditto

ditto

ditto

ditto

Purchased
Mr A. Macbean
Mr D. Mackintosh
Mr L. Mackintosh
Mr L. Macbean

ditto

ditto

ditto

ditto

The Publishers
Mr A. M. Shaw, Lon-
don
Mr J. Mackay,

Shrewsbury
Mr Mackenzie, Bank
Lane, Inverness

The Author

Mr J. Eraser, Glasgow

202 TRANSACTIONS.

NAMES OF BOOKS. DONOR.
1876.

Biographical Dictionary of Eminent ) Mr A. R. Macraild,

Scotsmen (9 vols.) . . . . J Inverness

Grain Ghilleasbuig Grannd . . . Mr J. Craigie, Dundee

CJarsacb nan Beann .... ditto

Fulangas Chriosd •. ditto

Dain Spioradail ..... ditto

Spiritual Songs (Gaelic and English) . ditto

Alexander Macdonald's Gaelic Poems . ditto

Grain Mhic-an-t-Saoir .... ditto

Leabhar nan ceist ..... ditto

Co-eigneachadh Soisgeulach (Boston) . ditto

History of the Druids (Toland's) . . ditto

Melodies from the Gaelic . . . ditto

Maclean's History of the Celtic Language ditto

Leabhar Sailm ..... ditto

Origin and Descent of the Gael . . ditto

Stewart's Gaelic Grammar . . . ditto
Macpherson's Caledonian Antiquities

(1768) ditto

Biboul Noimbh (London 1855) . . ditto

Searmona Mhic Dhairmaid . . . ditto

Dain Oisein ...... ditto

Fingal (1762) ditto

Life of Columba (1798) . . . . ditto

Grain Rob Duinn Mhic Aoidb. . . ditto

Dain leis an Urr. I. Lees . . . ditto

Searmona leis an Urr. E. Blarach . . ditto
Eaglais na h-Alba, leis an Urr. A. Clare,

Inbhirnis . . . . . ditto

Bourke's Aryan Origin of tae Gaelic Race Mr J. Mackay,Shrews-

bury

Reed's Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica . . ditto

Munro's GaelicPrimer (Scopiesinlibrary). Purchased
Eachdraidh na h-Alba, le A. Mac Coinnich

(3 copies in library) . . . The Author

Dain Gailig leis an Urr. I. Lees . . Rev. Dr Lees, Paisley
Philologic Uses of the Celtic Tongue, by

Professor Geddes (1872) . . . The Author
Philologic Uses of the Celtic Tongue

(1873). ditto

BOOKS. 203

NAMES OF BOOKS. DONOR.

Poems by Ossian, in metre (1796) . . Mr Alex. Kennedy,

Inverness

Proceedings of the Historical and Archaeo-
logical Association of Ireland (1870-3) The Society

Shaw's Gaelic Dictionary (1780) . . Rev. A. Macgregor

History of the Culdees, Maccallum's . . ditto

Macdiarmid's Gaelic Sermons (MS., 1773) . ditto

Gaelic Grammar, Irish character (1808) .. ditto

Gaelic Pentateuch, Irish character . . ditto

Gaelic Book of Common Prayer (1819) . ditto

Gaelic Psalter, Irish character . . . ditto

Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inver-
ness, vols. L, ii., iii., and iv .

Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica ....

Orian le Rob Donn . . . . .

Leabhar Oran Gaidhealach.

Vible Casherick, Manx ....

Biobla Naomtha, Irish ....

Dr Smith's Seann Dana ....

Evans's Welsh Grammar and Vocabulary .

Orian Uilleam Ros .....

Orian Dhonncha Bhain

Co-chruinneachadh Orain Gailig .

Book of Psalms, Irish ....

Orain Nuadh Gaidnelach, le A. Macdhornh-
nuill .......

Laoidhean o'n Sgriobtuir, D. Dewar .

Leabhar Oran Gailig ,

Am Biobla Naomhtha (1690) .

The family of lona

Grant's Origin and Descent of the Gael

Rathad Dhe gu Sith

Dain Spioradail, Urr. I. Griogalach .

Dara Leabhar airson nan Sgoilean. Gaidh-
ealach ......

Treas Leabhar do. do .

What Patriotism, Justice, and Christianity
demand for India ....

Orain Ghaidhealach . . .

Priolo's Illustrations from Ossian . Purchased

204 TRANSACTIONS.

NAMES OF BOOKS. DONOR.

Photograph of Gaelic Charter, 1408 , . Rev. W. Ross,

Rothesay

The Celtic Magazine, vol. i The Publishers

Elementary Lessons in Gaelic ... . The Author

1877.

Stewart's Gaelic Grammar . . . Mr D. Mackintosh.

Proceedings of the Historical and Archse- ")

ological Association of Ireland, 1874-5 >The Society.

(2 parts) J

Do., Do., 1876 (3 parts) ditto

Irish Pedigrees, by O'Hart . . The Author.

Dan an Deirg agus Tiomna Ghuill (English

Translation), 2 copies . . . Mr C. S. Jerram
Transactions of the Gaelic Society of In- \

verness, vol. v. . J

Gaelic and English Vocabulary (1741) . Rev. A. M'Gregor.
Aryan Origin of the Celtic Race and ) Mr John Mackay,

Language . , . . . J Swansea.

Old Map of Scotland (1745) .- ' . . Mr Colin M'Cal-

lum, London.

Collection of Harp Music .... Mr Cbas. Ferguson.
Valuation Roll of the County of Inverness ) j.,,

(1869-70) . . . . . /

Do., Do., Ross (1871-72) . ditto

Inverness Directory (1869-70) . . ditto

Greek Testament ..... ditto

Greek Lexicon ...... ditto

Italian Exercises ..... ditto

Gospel of St John adapted to the Hamil- ) ,., ,

j. • o L /T j.- \ f ditto

toman System (Latin) . . . J

Histoire de Gil Bias de Santillane (French) ditto

Prophecies of the Brahan Seer, 2d edition Mr A. Mackenzie.
My Schools and Schoolmasters . . . Mr James Reid.

205

ORAN DO CHAIPTEAN SIOSAL, FEAR ALLT-
NA-GLAISLIG.

"We give here the following spirited song by Mrs Mary Mac-
Kellar, the bard of the Society, composed to celebrate the right
hearty and Highland spirit with which Captain Chisholm of Glass-
burn presided at the annual supper of the Society in January
1878. It appears with music in the Celtic Magazine for March,
1878, with the subjoined note which fully explains the circum-
stances under which Mrs MacKellar composed it : —

'Ghaidheil a's ciataich, do bhliadhna mhath ur,
Ged chosgadh i 'n t-or dhomh, gu'n olainn le sunnd ;
A Phiobair' anjfheadam.vfhir leadanaich, dhuinu, ji
'S tu fein' chuir le d' sheannsair gu dannsa na suinn. ;

Bu shiubhlach an ribheid, 'a bu mhilis an gleus,
A's b' fhileant' na meoir 'thug an ceol a bha reidh ;

Gu'm b'uaibhreach an aigne bh'ais; gaisgeach mo ghaoil,
'S bu rioghail an gaidheal mac aillidh nan laoch.

O Shiosalaich ghasda, 'a ceann-feacbd thu le buaidh, "^
Bar bhai-hdear gun gbealtacbd, gun mheatachd dhut dual ;
Thu shiol nam fear calm', agus dhearbh thu do choir
Air giulan ard ainm agus meamna do sheors'.

'S i 'n deise bu mhiann leat, an deise bu dual.
An deise 'bha ghradhach le annuinn do shluaigh ;
Cha bi' bhriogais lachdunc a thaitinneadh ribh,
Ach feile cruinn, socair, an cogadh 's an sith.

O Fhir Allt-na-Glaislig gur math thig dhut fhein
A' bhoineid 's am breacan aig clachan no feill,
Am feile beag cuaiche 's do shuaicheantas ard,
'S do leugan a' boillsgeadh mar dhaoimean gu h-aillt' !

A lasgaire chiataich, 's tu 's fiachail' 's gach cuia,
Tha seirc agus maise a' lasadh na d' ghnuis ;
O c'ait an robh caachag 'measg ghruagach na tir
Nach rachadh am fuadach leat, uasail mo chridh' !

'S tu aealgair an fheidh agus sealgair an eoin,

'S tu sealgair na h eal', agus sealgair a' gheoidh,

Le d' ghunna neo-chearbach 's tu dh' fhalbhadh an fhrith,

'3 a shiubhladh an fhuar-bheinn air cruaidhead na sin'.

Do mhiann 'bhi 's a' chreacbann 'sam faight' an damh donu —
Ged 's luthor e 'learn bithidh e reubt' air an fhonn
'Nuair 'chuiieas tu 'n cuilbhear gu cuiruseach ri d' shuil,
'S a shradas gu buadhor do luaidhe mu Vbul.

206 TRANSACTIONS.

A Phiobair' an fheadain, ged 's beadarach binn
'Bhi 'd eisdeachd 'an seomar 'n am ceol bhi ga aheinn,
Tha d' aigne cho ard ann an ar-f haich nan tuagh,
, 'S an taobh air am bi thu gur cinnteacb dha buaidh.

O 's rioghail an Gaidheal thu, ghraidh nam fear treun',

'S e caismeachd do phioba 'chuir m' inntiun gu crleus,

Thu laantuinn seann dualchas nam fuar-bheannaibh fraoich —

An tir ghlan a b' abhaist 'bhi 'g arach nan laoch !

O ard biodh do bhratach a'a tartrach do phiob,
Fhir-labhairt na G-ailig gu manranach binn ;
Tha m' earbsa, 'fhir chalma, a d' ainm 'bhi ga ghairm
Le cliu mar is coir dha, na d' choirneal air airm.

A mhor-Ghaidheil chiataich, do bhliadhna mhath ur,
Ged chosgadh i 'n t-or dhomh, gu'n olainn le sunnd :
A phiobair' an fheadain, fhir leadanaich, dhuinn,
'S tu fhein 'chuir le d' shbannsair gu dannsa na suinn !

NOTE.— It is not necessary to say a word in praise of the above. The air is
old and deservedly popular. The words are the composition of Mrs Mary
MacKellar, the bard of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, and are in praise of
Capt. Archibald MacRa Chisholm, Glassburn, Strath^lass, who discharged the
duties of chairman with so much success at the last Dinner of the Society ; and
their merit augurs well for their future popularity. As an illustration of his
thoroughly Highland spirit, it may be stated that when asked for a song, the
gallant Captain responded by saying he would give them "a song on the bag-
pipes." Then taking a piob-mhor which belonged to the last Marquis of Sea-
forth, he played, in excellent style, several tunes, which had the effect of
creating so much genuine Highland enthusiasm as is rarely witnessed anywhere.
Again, when the programme was finished, the Captain took his pipes to play
a parting tune, and so soul-stirring did the music prove, to quote the words of
The Highlander, " that the table which stood in the middle of the hall seemed
to be whisked to a side, as if by magic, and a party of nimble Celts were irresis-
tibly drawn into the mazes of the Reel of Tulloch, which closed the proceedings."
Suffice it to say, that when the Bard read the account of the proceedings in the
newspapers, the muse had to find expression in the above song.

WILLIAM MACKENZIE.

PB
1501
G3
v.6

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