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diff --git a/40267-0.txt b/40267-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f088223 --- /dev/null +++ b/40267-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1795 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40267 *** + +THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. + +No. IV. FEBRUARY 1876. + + + + +THE STATE OF THE OSSIANIC CONTROVERSY. + +[CONCLUDED.] + + +IN prosecuting the geological and geographical confirmation of Ossian on +which we have lately been engaged, the most convincing proofs and the +greatest difficulties alike are to be found in the Frith of Clyde. The +levels of the water in that frith penetrating far inland, by Paisley, +Rutherglen, and Kilsyth, assumed unconsciously as matter of fact in the +text of Ossian, are in such obvious harmony with every word of the poems +which relate to that region, that the poems in question cannot otherwise +be understood; and we therefore cannot help believing not only that the +poems themselves are genuine, but that they represent a geological +phenomenon hitherto unsuspected in the world--are, in fact, a revelation +in science. On the other hand, the levels thus assumed are so very far +beyond anything admitted by geologists within the era assigned, as to +seem not only extravagant but incredible; and if they cannot be +maintained, their assumption as a fact will destroy the credibility of +the poems in which the assumption is made. As regards the authenticity +of these poems, however, the assumption itself is conclusive; for the +translator did not see it, and could therefore never have fabricated the +poems in which it appears. Such poems must have been written by some +eye-witness of the fact, who did not require to exaggerate; and the only +question as regards reliability now to be settled, is whether he did +exaggerate or no? Was the Clyde a sea to Rutherglen, as he seems to +affirm? Was the Kelvin a fiord to Kilsyth, or nearly so, as he implies? +Was the Leven an estuary to Loch Lomond, as we are bound to conclude? +Was the Black Cart a marine canal to Ardrossan in the days of Agricola? +If so, the Clyde must have been from 60 to 80 feet above its present +level at the date supposed--and then, where was the Roman Wall? Traces +of that wall upon the Clyde at a much lower level, it is said, still +exist; and the old fortifications between Dunglass and Kilpatrick +only 50 feet or thereby above the present level, put an end to the +reliability, if not to the authenticity of Ossian. This is the +difficulty now to be disposed of; and of which, in passing, we need only +say, that if Macpherson had seen it he would certainly have avoided it; +and therefore, that whoever was the author of the poems in which it +occurs, Macpherson was not. + +But it is with the difficulty itself we are now concerned, and not with +the authorship. I. First then, suppose any statement, direct or +indirect, had occurred in any Greek or Roman writer of the time--Cæsar, +Tacitus, Dion Cassius, or Ptolemy--affirming, or even implying, such a +level in the Clyde at the date in question, notwithstanding the Roman +Wall, would the testimony of such authors have been rejected? If not, +how would our geologists have disposed of it? or how would they have +reconciled it with existing matters of fact? One can imagine the +jealousy with which such texts would have been criticised; the assiduity +with which every crevice on the coast would have been surveyed, not to +contradict but to confirm them; and the fertility of invention with +which theories would have been multiplied to harmonise them. Strange as +it may appear, however, facts and statements amounting very nearly to +this do occur, and have hitherto been overlooked, or purposely omitted +in silence. The Roman Wall, for example, stops short with a town at +Balmulzie on one side of the Kelvin, and begins again with another town +at Simmerton, nearly a mile distant, on the opposite side of the Kelvin; +but why should such a gap be there, if the Kelvin, which flows between, +had not been something like a fiord at the moment? Again, it is +distinctly affirmed by Herodian that the marshes of Clydesdale south of +the Wall were constantly--end of the third, or beginning of the fourth +century--emitting vapours which obscured the sky. But how could this be +the case, if volcanic heat had not already been operating underneath, +and the waters of the frith were then beginning to subside from their +original higher levels? + +On the other hand, not only do statements to the effect alleged occur +frequently in Ossian, but whole poems are founded on the assumption of +their truth, and cannot be understood without them. Why then are not +these taken into account by our geologists as contemporaneous testimony, +in the same way as similar statements, if they had occurred in Cæsar or +in Tacitus, would have been? Because Ossian hitherto has been looked +upon by men of science as a fable; as a witness utterly unfit to be +produced in court, and no more to be cared for or quoted in an +ordnance survey, or in a professor's chair, than the Arabian Nights' +Entertainments are in a pulpit. By which very oversight or contempt, the +most important revelations have been lost, and the most elaborate +theories will soon be rendered useless. Ossian, in fact, is as much an +authority as either Cæsar, or Tacitus, or Ptolemy; and in estimating the +physical conditions of the world to which he refers, and which he +describes, can no longer be either ignored or doubted. If his text seems +to be at variance with existing facts, it must be more carefully +studied; and if new theories are required to harmonise details they must +be accepted or invented. We have had theories enough already, which have +perished with the using; something more in harmony with facts, or that +will better explain the facts, must now be forthcoming. + +II. But the Roman Wall itself, which is supposed to be the greatest +barrier in the way of our accepting Ossian, has actually a literature of +its own, little understood, in his favour. The three forts farthest +west, and on which so much reliance has been placed as indicating the +levels of the Clyde when they were built and occupied, are those at +Chapel Hill, near Old Kilpatrick, at Duntocher, and at Castlehill a +little farther to the east; all under the ridge of the Kilpatrick Hills, +and all--one of them very closely--overlooking the Clyde. But in +excavating the remains of Roman architecture in these forts, stones have +been found with symbolical sculptures upon them which are still in +existence, or which have been accurately copied for public use. On one +of the stones at Chapel Hill, farthest west, we have the figure of a +wild boar in flight; on one at Duntocher we have another wild boar, on +two more there we have sea-dogs or seals and winged horses; on two more +at Castlehill we have another boar, and another seal, and an osprey or +sea-eagle on the back of the seal; but beyond this to the eastward, +although a boar still occurs, not another seal appears. How then is all +this descriptive or symbolical sculpture, so plain and so significant, +to be accounted for, if the Frith of Clyde had not then been a sea +flowing up into the recesses of the land, as high almost as Duntocher +and Castlehill? The wild boar is traceable throughout, for he inhabited +the woods on the Kilpatrick range, as far eastward, perhaps, as +Simmerton; and we find him eating acorns, even beyond that. On the other +hand, no seal is represented at Chapel Hill, for the water there was too +deep, and the banks too precipitous. It appears first at Duntocher, and +again at Castlehill, because the sea flowed up into quiet bays and +inlets there, where such amphibia could bask--of which, more hereafter; +but it totally disappears beyond that, because the salt water ceased in +the distance. The winged-horse, or pegasus, is more difficult to account +for, and has greatly perplexed the learned antiquarians who have +commented on him; but if the Roman Legionaries who built and occupied +these western stations ever heard the Caledonian harp, or listened to a +Celtic bard, or received an embassy, as we are expressly told they did, +from men like Ossian as ambassadors--the difficulty requires no farther +explanation. The Romans were neither blind nor senseless, and knew well +enough how to represent the poetical genius of the country which they +were attempting in vain to conquer, as well as the wild boars of its +woods, and the sea-dogs in its estuaries; and have thus left behind +them, in rude but significant sculpture, as true a picture as could be +imagined of the men on the soil, and the beasts in the field, and the +fish so-called in the sea, and the bird in the air--between Simmerton +and Duntocher, in absolute conformity with the text of Ossian. Nor is +there any possible reply to this by our antiquarian friends. The Roman +Wall itself, to which they constantly appeal, supplies the evidence, and +they are bound, without a murmur, to accept it. + +III. But the levels of the Wall, it may be said, as now ascertainable by +actual survey--what other sort of evidence do _they_ afford? This +question implies--(1) A range of observation from the Kelvin at +Simmerton westward to Duntocher in the first place, and then to Chapel +Hill between Old Kilpatrick and Dunglass. The intermediate forts on that +line are separated by equal distances, nearly as follows:--From +Simmerton to New Kilpatrick, 1¾ miles; from New Kilpatrick to Castlehill, +1¾ miles; from Castlehill to Duntocher, 1¾ miles; the lowest point +in which range at Duntocher is from 155 to 200 feet above the level +of the Clyde, leaving sufficient room, therefore, for the Wall above +the highest level assumed in the text of Ossian. From Duntocher to +Chapel Hill there is a distance of 2½ miles, with no trace whatever +of the Wall between. Chapel Hill is considerably lower than Duntocher, +undoubtedly; but why is there so great a gap there, and no trace of a +wall in the interval? Either, because there never was a wall so close to +the tide; or because the tide itself washed the wall away, having been +built too close to its confines; or for some other more probable reason +yet to be assigned. The fort at Chapel Hill itself, indeed, is the most +indistinct of them all; and if a regular fort of any importance ever +existed there, it must have suffered either partial inundation, or some +other serious shock, unquestionably. + +(2) It implies also a corresponding survey of the ground intermediate +between the Wall and the river. Now the intervening ground along the +banks of the Clyde, from Chapel Hill to the Pointhouse at Glasgow, is a +low-lying flat with a gradual rise inland, at the present moment, of not +more than 25 or 30 feet. But according to Professor Geikie's latest +survey, the Clyde must have been about 25 feet higher in the time of the +Romans than it now is--and Professor Geikie, we presume, is an authority +on such subjects, who may be quoted along with Hugh Miller and Smith of +Jordanhill:--therefore the whole of that strath, and the strath on the +opposite side, from Renfrew to Paisley, on this assumption, must have +been submerged at the same time; and there could be no dwelling-place +for human beings--neither local habitation nor a name--within the entire +compass of that now fertile and populous region. But two or three Gaelic +names survive on the northern verge of it, which not only indicate the +presence of the sea there, but fix the very limits of its tide. Dalmuir, +for example, which means the Valley of the Sea; and Garscadden, which +means the Bay of Pilchards or of foul herring, must, in fact, have +carried the waters up their respective streams to within less than a +mile of the Roman Wall at Duntocher and Castlehill. It was in such +retreats, then, that both salmon and herring (as the name of one of them +imports) would take refuge in the spawning season; it was into such +retreats also, they would be pursued by the seals; it was on the shore +of such inlets the seals themselves would bask, when the Romans saw +them; and it is at the two forts respectively at the head of these +inlets--Duntocher and Castlehill--that they have been actually +represented in Sculpture. Could anything be more conclusive as to the +proximity of the tide, and very character of the shore, within a bowshot +or two of the Wall in that neighbourhood, where there is now a distance +of more than two miles between it and the river? and yet even more +conclusive, in connection with this, is the fact that on the southern +verge of the strath, right opposite to these, are other Gaelic names +equally significant--such as Kennis, the Head of the island; Ferinis, +the Hero's island; and Fingal-ton, which speaks for itself--at the same +or a similar level with Dalmuir and Garscadden, that is from 100 to 200 +feet above the present level of the Clyde, which seems to demonstrate +beyond doubt that the whole intervening space of seven miles in breadth, +with the exception of such small islands as those named above, was then +an arm of the sea to the depth of 50 feet at least, if not more. + +(3) Our survey is thus narrowed to a single point--the existence and +alleged position of the fort at Chapel Hill, between Old Kilpatrick and +Dunglass, on the banks of the river; and here it should be observed as +between the two extremities of the Wall, east and west, that where it +touches the Frith of Forth at Carriden the height of its foundation +ranges from about 150 to 200 feet above the level of the sea, and where +it approaches the Clyde at Duntocher it is nearly the same--which was +probably its terminus. There is scarcely a vestige of it now traceable +beyond that, and that it was ever carried farther in reality is a matter +of acknowledged uncertainty. But scattered fragments of masonry, as we +have seen, and the dimmest indications of a fort deep down in the earth +have been discovered or imagined at Chapel Hill to the westward, which +seems to be about 50 feet above the level of the Clyde--leaving still a +very large margin beyond Professor Geikie's estimate; and a great deal +of conjecture about what might, or might not have been there, has been +indulged in by antiquarians. For the present, however, until proof to +the contrary has been shown, let us accept as a fact that some military +station had really been established there in connection with the +Wall--then, how have its fragments been so widely scattered? how has it +been so completely entombed that it can only be guessed at under the +soil? and how has the connection between it and the Wall, more than two +miles distant, been obliterated? No other fort on the line, that we know +of, is now in the same condition; and therefore, we repeat, either the +Romans were foolishly contending with the tide, by building too close to +its confines, and the tide drove them back and overthrew their works; or +the fort itself was originally on a higher level, and the shock of an +earthquake, or a landslip from the mountains, or both together, carried +the whole mass of masonry and earthwork at this particular point down to +their present level, where they would be washed by the tide and silted +up in their own ruins. This is a view of the matter, indeed, which no +antiquarian, so far as we are aware, has hitherto adopted; but any one +who chooses to look with an unprejudiced eye, for a moment, at the +enormous gap in the hills immediately behind, reaching down to the shore +and including this very region, must be satisfied that the case was so; +and recent discoveries--one of a quay-wall or foundation of a bridge at +Old Kilpatrick, about 4 feet deep in a field; and another of a causeway, +more than 20 feet submerged and silted up under sea-sand, on the same +side of the river, near Glasgow, will most probably confirm it. + +One other question, however, yet remains, touching this mysterious fort, +which we may be allowed to say only "Ossian and the Clyde" can enable us +to answer--Why was such a fort ever thought of there at all? It was +either to receive provisions and reinforcements from the sea; and if so, +then it must have been on the very verge of the frith, and the water +must have been sufficiently deep there. Or it was to watch the estuary +of the Leven, and to prevent the native Caledonians either landing from +the sea, or coming down from the hills to turn the flank of the Wall at +Duntocher, and so surprising the Romans in the rear; and this, beyond +doubt, was its most important purpose as a military station on the line. +But we have elsewhere explained (in the work above alluded to) that +there was a regular route for the Caledonians from Dunglass to Campsie, +which still bears the name of Fingal; and Fyn-loch, the very first +rendezvous on that line, is on the top of the hill immediately above the +fort in question. The Romans, who must have been fully aware of this, +made their own provision accordingly. In sight of that fort, therefore, +Fingal and his people might embark or disembark on their expeditions +through Dumbartonshire at pleasure; but it would require to be at a +reasonable distance westward, on the sides of Dumbuck or in the quiet +creek at Milton, if they wished to escape the catapults and crossbows of +the conquerors of the world. Now the earthquake, which extended up the +whole basin of the Clyde, seems to have changed all that. The fort was +sunk or shattered, as we suppose, and the frith began to fall; and +antiquarians who do not believe in Ossian, or who do not keep such +obvious facts in view, have been puzzled ever since, and will be puzzled +ever more, attempting to account for it. + +IV. In adducing this evidence--partly antiquarian and partly +geological--we have restricted our survey exclusively to the Roman Wall, +for it is on this important barrier between the Forth and Clyde that +those who object to the geography of Ossian are accustomed to fall back. +But the sort of testimony it affords might be easily supplemented by a +survey of the Clyde itself, which can be shown, and has been shown, by +incontestable measurement on the coast of Ayrshire, to be sinking at the +rate of ¾ of an inch annually for the last forty or fifty years at +least; and if such subsidence has been going on for fifteen hundred +years at the same rate, the level of the frith in the days of the Romans +must have been even higher than we now allege. A critic in the +_Scotsman_, who, himself, first demanded such a survey, and to whom the +survey when reported in the same paper--August 30th, 1875--was +troublesome, appeals boldly in an editorial note to the authority of +Hugh Miller, and again demands that the survey be transferred from +Girvan to Glasgow, because "the height to which the tide rises is a very +fluctuating quantity"--in Ayrshire, we presume. As for Hugh Miller, we +can find nothing whatever in his pages to the purpose; and if such a +distinguished authority is to be relied on in the present controversy, +we must insist on his very words being quoted. As for the fluctuation of +the tide, if it fluctuates in one place more than another, what is the +use of appealing to it at all? and as between the Ayrshire coast, and +the Renfrewshire or Lanarkshire coast, on the same side of the frith, +unless "the moon and one darn'd thing or another" have special +disturbing influence in Ayrshire, what difference can there be in the +regularity of flow between Girvan and Glasgow? This learned adversary in +the _Scotsman_ must surely have been at his wit's end when he took +refuge in such an absurdity, and we may safely leave him where he is, to +revise his own calculations and recover his composure. + +All this might be insisted on anew; but the object of the present +argument is simply to show to the readers of the _Celtic Magazine_ that +the Ossianic controversy must of necessity be removed to another and a +higher sphere than ever. There are certain points, indeed, on which +philological inquiries may still be of the utmost importance as regards +the Gaelic original, and these we cheerfully consign for discussion to +those whom they most concern; but these will never decide the question +of authenticity in its proper form, or establish Ossian in his proper +place as a witness-bearer of the past. The sense of Macpherson's +translation, as it stands, must be honestly ascertained; its testimony +verified, or otherwise, by direct appeal to the subject matter of its +text; and its value in the literature of the world determined, on the +same principles, and by the very same process as that of any other +public record would be in the history of the world. Such investigation +has now become indispensable. In Ossian's name alike, and in that of +science, as well as of common sense, we demand it, and will never be +satisfied until it has been accorded. + + P. HATELY WADDELL. + + * * * * * + + + + +We direct the reader's careful attention to the following interesting +statistics regarding occupiers of land in Ireland:--The agricultural +statistics of Ireland recently completed for 1873 show that in that year +there were in that country 590,172 separate holdings, being 5,041 less +than in the preceding year. The decrease was in the small holdings. The +number of holdings not exceeding one acre fell to 51,977, a decrease of +908, and the number above one acre and not exceeding 15 acres, shows a +decrease of 3,777. The holdings above one acre can be compared with the +numbers in 1841. Since that date the total number has decreased 22 per +cent. The number of farms above one and not exceeding five acres has +fallen to 72,088 (in 1873), a decrease of 76.8 per cent.; the number of +farms above five and not exceeding 15 acres has diminished to 168,044, a +decrease of 33.5 per cent.; the number above 15 and not exceeding 30 +acres has risen to 138,163, an increase of 74.1 per cent.; and the +number above 30 acres has increased to 159,900, an increase of 228.8 per +cent. Of the total number of holdings in 1873, 8.8 per cent. did not +exceed 1 acre; 12.2 per cent. were above 1 and not exceeding 5 acres; +28.5 per cent., 5 to 15 acres; 23.4 per cent., 15 to 30 acres; 12.4 per +cent., 30 to 50 acres; 9.4 per cent., 50 to 100 acres; 3.7 per cent., +100 to 200 acres; 1.4 per cent., 200 to 500 acres; 0.2 per cent., above +500 acres. More than 60 acres in every 100 of the land comprising farms +above 500 acres are bog or waste. As the farms diminish in size, the +proportion under bog and waste decreases until it amounts to only 7.1 +per cent. on the smallest holdings. The average extent of the holdings +not exceeding 1 acre is 1 rood and 32 perches, and of farms above 500 +acres 1,371 acres and 19 perches. As in many instances landholders +occupy more than one farm, it has been considered desirable to ascertain +the number of such persons, and it has been found that in 1873 the +590,172 holdings were in the hands of 539,545 occupiers, or 2,293 fewer +than in the preceding year. There were in 1873 50,758 occupiers whose +total extent of land did not exceed 1 acre; 65,051 holdings above 1 and +not exceeding 5 acres; 150,778 holdings above 5 but not exceeding 15 +acres; 124,471 holdings above 15 but not exceeding 30 acres; 65,991 +holdings above 30 and not exceeding 50 acres; 50,565 holdings above 50 +but not exceeding 100 acres; 20,764 holdings above 100 but not exceeding +200 acres; 8,799 holdings above 200 but not exceeding 500 acres; and +2,368 holdings above 500 acres. The whole 590,172 holdings extended over +20,327,196 acres, of which 5,270,746 were under crops, 10,413,991 were +grazing land, 13,455 fallow, 323,656 woods and plantations, and +4,305,348 bog and waste. The estimated population of Ireland in the +middle of the year 1873 was 5,337,261. + + + + +NEW YEAR IN THE OLD STYLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. + + +Old Mr Chisholm sat at his parlour fire after a hearty New Year dinner. +His wife occupied the cosy arm-chair in the opposite corner; and +gathered round them were a bevy of merry grand-children, enjoying New +Year as only children can. Their parents were absent at the moment, and +the family group was completed by a son and daughter of the old couple. + +Mr Chisholm was in a meditative mood, looking into the bright blazing +fire. "Well," he observed at last with an air of regret, "The New Year +is not observed as it was when we were children, wife. It's dying out, +dying out greatly. When these children are as old as we are there will +be no trace of a Christmas or a New Year holiday. What did you say you +had been doing all day Bill?" he asked, turning to his son. + +"Shooting," said Bill, "and deuced cold I was. Catch me trying for the +'silver medal and other prizes' another New Year's Day." + +"Shooting may be interesting" said Mr Chisholm, "but as you say it is +cold work. We had sometimes a shot at a raffle in my young days, but +usually we had more exciting business. Shinty my boy, shinty was our +great game," and Mr Chisholm looked as if he greatly pitied the +degeneracy of the latter days. + +"I have played shinty myself" said Bill, "and I see it is still played +in Badenoch and Strathglass, and among wild Highlanders in Edinburgh. +But it's too hard on the lungs for me, and besides we never play it +here." + +"The more's the pity, Bill. There's no game ever I saw I could compare +to shinty. Talk about cricket, that's nothing to it. Shinty was suited +to a New Year's day; it kept the spirits up and the body warm. I should +like to have a turn at it yet--wouldn't I run?" And the old man's heavy +frame shook as he chuckled at the idea. "However, there's no use +speaking; is tea ready wife?" + +"No, and it won't be for half-an-hour yet, perhaps longer" said Mrs +Chisholm. "You know we have to wait Bella and John," indicating her +married daughter and her husband. + +"Then," said the old man, "come here bairns and I shall tell you how I +spent one of my early New Year's days." + +"Yes, do, grandfather," shouted a happy chorus; "now for a story." + +"Not much of a story" replied Mr Chisholm, "but such as it is you shall +have it. I was born and bred in the country, you know, my father being a +small farmer. The district was half-Lowland, half-Highland, and we mixed +the customs of both. At that time shinty was a universal winter game, +and greatly we prided ourselves on our smartness at the sport. And it +was a sport that required a great deal of smartness, activity, strength, +presence of mind, and a quick sure eye. Many a moonlight night did the +lads contend for the honour of hailing the ball. On this particular day +there was to be a match between two districts--twenty men a-side, and +the stake £5 and a gallon of whisky. Our leader was a carpenter, named +Paterson, who was the hero of many a keenly contested shinty match. + +"The eagerly expected morning at last arrived. The New Year was taken in +by the young folk trying for their fortune in 'sooans.' Bless me bairns, +don't you know what 'sooans' is? No; then the thin sooans was made for +drinking like good thick gruel; the thick was like porridge, but that we +never took on a Christmas or New Year morning. About four o'clock I came +down to the kitchen, and there found my mother superintending the +boiling of the 'sooans,' and the place filled with the servants, girls, +and men, and some of our neighbours. My friend Paterson, who had an eye +to one of the servants (a pretty country lassie) had walked four miles +to be present. Wishing them all a happy Christmas I sat down to share +the 'sooans' with the rest. + +"'Well Paterson,' said I, 'how do you feel this morning? Nothing, I +hope, to interfere with your running powers.' + +"'No thank ye, Willie,' said he, 'I'm as supple as a deer.' + +"'Supple enough,' said one of the men with a grin; 'he was here first +this morning. Wasn't he, Maggie?' + +"''Twould be lang afore ye were first,' retorted Maggie; 'the laziest +loon on the whole country side.' + +"By this time the 'sooans' were ready, and we were all unceremoniously +turned out of doors. In our absence ten bowls were filled. In two of +these a ring was placed, signifying, of course, speedy marriage; a +shilling put into two others represented the old bachelor or old maid; +and a half-crown in another represented riches. Called in, we had each +to choose a dish, beginning at the youngest. Great was the merriment as +we drained our dishes, but at the last mouthful or two we paused, as if +afraid to peer into dark futurity. + +"'Here goes,' exclaimed Paterson first of all, and he emptied his dish. +At the bottom lay a shilling, which he exhibited amidst a general shout +of laughter. + +"'What have _you_ got Maggie,' was the next exclamation. With a titter +Maggie produced a ring. + +"'And here's the other ring' cried Jock, the 'laziest loon in the +country side.' 'Maggie, you're my lass for this year anyway.' + +"Maggie tossed her head in superb disdain. + +"'I'll try my luck now,' said I, and drained my dish. My luck was to get +the second shilling. So you see wife, though I got you I was intended to +be a bachelor. The half-crown, I think, fell to a man who could never +keep a sixpence in his purse. + +"After breakfast we started for the place of meeting. Our men joined us +one by one, and many more came to see the game. As we passed the +cottages the girls called to us to see that we supported the honour of +the place, and returned victorious, to which we replied 'ay, that we +will,' and flourished our clubs with vigour. Before we reached the +appointed ground the procession had greatly increased in numbers, and a +large crowd at the spot welcomed us with tossing up of bonnets and +rounds of cheering. Soon afterwards our opponents arrived, headed by a +piper, and their leader Jack Macdonald. Their appearance also excited +hearty cheering, and preliminaries were soon arranged. + +"The sides were very equally matched. Macdonald was an active young +ploughman, who came neatly dressed in a velveteen jacket and corduroy +trousers, the latter adorned with rows of buttons. Paterson, of course, +was our mainstay; and besides him, we had an innkeeper, as stout and +round as one of his own barrels, who, singular to say, was a capital +shinty player. Our opponents had the assistance of an enthusiastic +schoolmaster, who, even in those days, encouraged sports among his +pupils, in spite of the remonstrances of some of the wiseacres. Our +clubs were carefully selected. Some preferred a sharp square crook, +some a round one, just as they happened to excel in hitting or +'birling'--that is, in getting the ball within the bend, and running it +along upon the ground. The ball, composed of cork and worsted, was at +once strong and elastic. + +"The hails, four hundred yards apart, were duly measured out and marked +by upright poles. Then the players ranged themselves in the centre of +the field, Macdonald and Paterson hand to hand; and at the understood +sign the ball was thrown down and the strife commenced. I don't know +whether the rules were the same in all places, but with us no kicking or +throwing of the ball was allowed. We could stop it by any means we +pleased, but we could strike it forward only with our clubs. The players +were ranged in opposing ranks; and it was against all rule for a player, +even in the heat of contest, to turn round to his opponents' side, +though he might, by so doing, obtain a more convenient stroke. Should +such a thing happen, the roar of "Clipsides ye" from a dozen throats, +and the thwack of two or three clubs on his legs would soon apprise the +unlucky individual of his fault. + +"As long as the ball was in the midst of the players there was great +scrambling and confusion. The lads pushed and shouted; club stuck fast +in club; and the ball was tossed from side to side without any advantage +to either party. Paterson watched his opportunity, and cleverly picking +the ball from the other clubs, he gave it a hasty stroke which brought +it close to me, eagerly waiting for it outside the thick of battle. In a +moment I had caught it, and sped along the field, 'birling' rather than +hitting, followed by the whole troop, cheered by my friends and stormed +at by my opponents. Macdonald, rushing fast and furious, first came up +and seized my club with his as I was about to administer a stroke. For a +second or two we were both helpless; Macdonald first succeeded in +extricating his weapon, and struck the ball backwards two or three +yards. The other players were almost upon us, when I struck up +Macdonald's club, caught the ball again and shot a-head. Macdonald +overtook me with a few bounds, for he was now thoroughly roused and +heated; but stretching too far to hit the ball he fell on his knee. The +schoolmaster, however, was now upon me, and the ball was hurled back by +him among the troop of players. Macdonald had sprung to his feet almost +in an instant, and darted back to the contest. + +"Again the scene of confusion recommenced. Backwards and forwards, +backwards and forwards, swayed the excited crowd, every face flushed, +and every muscle strained to the utmost. Shins and arms received some +awkward blows in the strife, but no one cared as long as the injuries +were unimportant. Macdonald at last succeeded in pulling out the ball, +and getting it for a moment into a clear space, he delivered a +tremendous blow, which drove it far on the road to hail. There was a +race who should reach it first. Paterson succeeded, and drove the ball +far down the field, but out of the direct way and into a whin bush. +'Hands,' shouted his nearest opponent; and at this call the stout +innkeeper, who was nearest the bush, caught up the ball and brought it +into the open field. + +"'High or low' said the innkeeper, holding his club in his right hand +and the ball in his left. + +"'High,' said his opponent. + +"The ball was immediately thrown into the air and both tried to strike +it as it fell. The innkeeper was successful, but the blow was +necessarily a feeble one, and carried the ball but a few yards. + +"The contest continued during the greater part of the day, neither side +being able to claim a decided advantage. During a momentary pause +Paterson flung off his boots, sharp frost as it was, and was followed by +Macdonald, the innkeeper, and myself. The innkeeper freely regaled +himself from his pocket-flask, and actually became more eager and +active. Late in the afternoon he got a-head with the ball, and skipped +forward, sometimes 'birling' and sometimes hitting it, until he was +within twenty yards of hail. Another blow would have finished the match, +when Macdonald caught the ball and ran back with it, most wonderfully +eluding all the clubs, now wielded by arms for the most part greatly +fatigued. Paterson, thrown off his guard by the suddenness of the +movement, was left behind. The innkeeper pursued Macdonald closely--so +closely, indeed, that his bulky body obstructed all movements but his +own. Macdonald was in high spirits, when, running against an opponent in +front, he turned round for a moment to our side to secure a better +stroke. The innkeeper, foaming with rage and disappointment, roared out +'Clipsides ye,' and administered a blow to Macdonald's leg that caused +him to halt for an instant. That halt was fatal. I darted past and +hoisted the ball to Paterson, who seized it and carried it easily +through the now scattered ranks of our opponents. Once out into the open +field it was a direct chase. Paterson had better wind than any man on +the field, and having got so far ahead he made the most of his +advantage. Macdonald pursued him hotly. Twice he came up with Paterson, +twice he struck at the ball, and both times struck the ground just as +the object of his pursuit was carried forward by our leader's weapon. +After that all was over. Paterson took the ball to within twenty yards +of hail, and then with a well-directed blow sent it between the winning +posts. A loud shout rent the air. In the excitement of the moment I +attempted leapfrog over the stout innkeeper, and both came to the +ground. + +"After this the whisky was broached, and mutual healths followed. The +game had been so well contested that there was no ill-feeling; and we +promised to give our opponents an opportunity of revenge another day. +Late at night we returned to my father's house, where a good supper was +spread for us in the barn. A hearty dance followed, and so New Year's +Day, old style, came to a close. Don't you think it was a jovial day?" + +"Not a doubt about it" said Bill, "only the sport was rather rough. Do +you really mean to say that you threw off your boots for the play?" + +"That we did my boy in the heat of the match, and it was not so unusual +as you may suppose. Highlanders were tough lads in those days, and they +didn't fear a blow or a bruise." + +"Did many accidents happen?" asked Bill. "When clubs were swinging about +freely I should think heads were in danger." + +"Serious accidents were rare" replied Mr Chisholm. "Ankles and legs and +hands did get some smart knocks, but heads generally escaped. In the +thick of the strife there was no use swinging clubs in the air. We could +only push and thrust, and pull the ball out with the crook. In a race we +struck as we ran, giving short rapid strokes; and when a player +delivered a sweeping blow, he had generally space for the swing of his +club. I remember a boy getting his face laid open by an awkward fellow; +but such an occurrence was rare among experienced players. We could +handle our clubs as you handle your guns--scientifically. There are not +usually many casualties at a shooting match--eh Bill?" + +"But, grandfather, what came of Paterson?" asked little Mary. "Did he +marry Maggie?" + +"Oh, that's the subject of interest to you, lassie. No, he didn't. Women +are always contrary. Maggie married the 'lazy loon' Jock; he made the +most of his good fortune in getting the ring, and the marriage was long +cited as a proof of the unfailing certainty of the oracle." + +"Grandfather," cried Henry, "have you made us the totum? Didn't you used +to play the totum on New Year's Day?" + +"That we did boy" said Mr Chisholm. "The youngsters thought it a capital +game, and the elders did not refuse to join in it. Yes, Harry, I made +you the totum, and by-and-bye we shall have a game." + +"Let us have it now" cried the children springing up in eager +excitement. "Let us have it now; we have all brought our pins." + +Mr Chisholm cheerfully acquiesced. The group gathered round a little +table, each with a stock of pins displayed, to be staked on the game now +about to be commenced. Look at the totum as Harry takes it up and +balances it between the thumb and second finger of the right hand. It is +only a piece of wood about half an inch long, cut away to a sharp point +below, and having a slender spike thrust in at the top to serve as a +handle. It is four square, and a letter is carved on each side--namely, +"T," "D," "N," and "A." Each player stakes a single pin, and each in +rotation gets his chance of whirling the totum. If, after whirling, the +totum falls with the letter "A" uppermost, all the stakes become the +prize of the player; if "T" is the uppermost letter he only takes one; +if "N" appears he gets nothing at all; while "D" obliges him to +contribute a pin from his private stock to the heap in the centre. +Every whirl comes to be watched with as much eagerness as if a fortune +depended on the result. + +The nature of the game having been made sufficiently plain, Mr Chisholm +leads off with a whirl which sends the totum spinning round so fast as +to be almost invisible; but gradually relaxing its speed it falls at +last, exposing upon its upper surface the letter "N," carved, if not +with elegance, at least with sufficient plainness to show that it is a +veritable "N" and no other letter of the alphabet. + +"Nickle nothing," shout the children, as they clap their hands with +delight. + +Then Harry takes his turn. He holds the totum very carefully between his +finger and thumb, poising it with intense gravity; then looks at the +letter next him, twirls the toy backward and forward, and finally +propels it by a sudden jerk from his fingers. It whirls like a top for a +few seconds, watched by eager faces, and ultimately falls with the +letter "D" uppermost. + +"D put down" bursts from the merry group; and the boy looks very +disappointed as he withdraws a pin from his private stock and places it +among the general deposit. Grandfather enters into the fun with as much +enthusiasm as the children, and the spirit of gambling has taken +possession of the New Year party. + +The smallest girl--four years old--next takes the totum. She places it +between the thumb and forefinger, screws her mouth to make an effort, +and placing the point on the table gives it a whirl. It goes round three +or four times with a convulsive staggering motion, and at last falls, +"A" uppermost, amidst a general shout of laughter and applause. + +"A, take them all--Lizzy has got the pins"--and the surprised and happy +child, proud of her success, gathers the heap to her own stock, while +the others each replace a stake. + +So the lively little game proceeds amidst varying success. Possessions +grow and diminish as the totum makes its rounds; and before the game +ends Mr Chisholm is reduced to his last pin. He holds it up with rueful +countenance, confessing himself a ruined man, while the children clutch +their treasures, and boast of their success. + +"Grandfather is beaten--is beaten at the totum" cried Mary as her father +and mother at length arrived. "He showed us how to play, and look at the +pins we have gained." + +"May you always be as happy with your gains," said the old man resuming +his paternal attitude. "Now you know how we spent our Old New Years. +Sooans and shinty, and the totum--they were all simple maybe, but there +was pleasure in them all. Many a heart was lost at the 'sooans'; many a +hand made strong at shinty; and many a little head got its first notion +of worldly competition from the totum. Take your seats, boys and girls, +for here's the tea!" + + KNOCKFIN. + + + + +CUMHA----MHIC-AN-TOISICH. + + + Why shrouded in gloom is Clan Chattan? + Clan Chattan! Clan Chattan! + Tears circle the crest of Clan Chattan! + Clan Chattan! Clan Chattan! + Ochone! our light is reft, + Burning too brief, + Ochone! the darkness left, + Fills us with grief. + Streamlets are singing woe, + Torrents in sorrow flow, + Flow'rets on ev'ry leaf, + Bear the red dew of grief. + Ochone! the Beam of Clan Chattan is low.-- + + Deep-bosomed the woe of Clan Chattan! + Clan Chattan! Clan Chattan! + Far rings the lament of Clan Chattan! + Clan Chattan! Clan Chattan! + Ochone! our joy-lit star, + Sunk in the night. + Ochone! his soul afar, + Swiftly took flight: + Hero-sires welcomed him, + Pealing their deathless hymn, + Loud on their happy shore, + Angels the pæan bore: + Ochone! the Pride of Clan Chattan sleeps on.-- + + Still brightly he smiles on Clan Chattan! + Clan Chattan! Clan Chattan! + His spirit is guarding Clan Chattan! + Clan Chattan! Clan Chattan! + Ochone! his mem'ry lives, + Ever in bloom. + Ochone! its beauty gives + Light to his tomb: + Matrons and maidens mourn, + Life in its glory shorn, + Stalwart sons, fathers grey, + Dash the sad tear away. + Ochone! the _Love[A] of Clan Chattan ne'er dies_. + + WM. ALLAN. + + SUNDERLAND. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] "Love" here means the Chief. + + + + +THE GAME LAWS. + + + [The conductors of the _Celtic Magazine_ in their prospectus, and in + their first number, state that "they will at all times be ready to + receive contributions from both sides on any question connected with + the Highlands, and of interest to Highlanders." In whatever light + the subject of the following remarks may be viewed, it will readily + be admitted that it has an interest for Highlanders sufficient to + entitle it to temperate discussion in these pages]:-- + +The Game Laws in Scotland, as our readers are aware, consist chiefly of +various statutes designed to secure to landed proprietors what the +common law, while it leaves them without the means of effectually +securing, declares them entitled to, the exclusive possession and use of +their land. The common law maxim, that an owner is entitled to the sole +enjoyment of his own ground, the legislature has practically given +effect to from time to time by passing various enactments pointing to +that end. These somewhat numerous statutes are almost identical in +effect in the three kingdoms, to which some of them extend; nor does the +common law throughout materially vary. It is not our intention, however, +to emulate Sir Roger de Coverley, whose explanations of the Game Acts +used to gain great applause at quarter sessions, by entering upon a +minute analysis of them here. We mean to confine ourselves simply to a +critical examination of the various attacks to which they have been +subjected, and an endeavour to make a brief and impartial survey of +their effect on the prosperity of the Highlands. + +In entering upon the consideration of adverse criticisms, we find that +they are easily resolved into two classes:--First, there are those as to +what opponents term the unnecessary severity and injurious influence of +the Game Laws upon poachers; and secondly, the injury indirectly +effected by them upon tenant-farmers, agricultural and pastoral. + +Sympathy for the poacher is frequently proclaimed by anti-game law +agitators. They will tell you that the disposition to pursue game is +inherent in human nature; that the indulgence of this irrepressible +propensity ought to be regarded with a lenient eye: that game cannot be +identified as property, and that the man who takes it should not be +considered or treated as a thief; dilating the while on the sad +misfortunes that an occasional lapse into the fields in search of a hare +or a rabbit may bring upon an agricultural labourer and his family, +ultimately it may be involving them in ruin. These arguments, however, +though at first sight appearing to have some foundation in reason, do +not satisfactorily stand the test of serious scrutiny. They are such as +could be brought to bear for what they are worth against the operation +of almost all repressive laws in the kingdom. Smuggling, for instance, +is not generally looked upon as a breach of the moral law, nor does it +present itself to common eyes in an odious light; yet it is a crime +punishable by penal laws for the sake of increasing revenue. The man +who takes his own agricultural produce and converts it into a wholesome +and refreshing beverage for his own domestic use is liable to a very +much heavier penalty than he who steps on to his neighbour's property +and puts out his hands to take what he has neither laboured for nor +purchased. In the one case we can imagine an honest industrious +labourer, actuated only by a desire for the comfort of himself and his +family, manufacturing his own goods into nourishing and sustaining ale, +heavily punished for his untaxed enjoyment of the bounties of +Providence; whereas, in the other case, the poacher, as a rule, is a +person with a turn for idleness, an aversion to all honest and steady +labour, and a taste for luxurious indulgences above his means, who +persists in illegally invading another's property in the pursuit and +seizure of its produce. + +This character is specially applicable to the poaching class in the +Highlands. Any one familiar with prosecutions in poaching cases there +must see that the offenders brought up for trial form a limited list +of mean-spirited cringing creatures, upon whom any sort of sympathy +would be sadly thrown away, whose faces are well known to the +procurator-fiscal as they appear in rather regular succession in the +dock. It may be said that almost nine poaching prosecutions out of ten +are instituted against old and habitual offenders, who calculate, like +blockade runners, that a few successful raids will enable them +cheerfully to pay the fines inflicted on the occasions of their capture. +As deer-stalking and grouse shooting, to be effective, require +day-light, and pheasant breeding is the exception not the rule in the +north, cases of night poaching, the worst and most severely punishable, +are of unfrequent occurrence, while fines of two pounds, the highest +that can be inflicted for day poaching, in the most aggravated cases, is +not heavy enough even when coupled with costs to make habitual and +systematic poaching an altogether unprofitable occupation. We have no +difficulty therefore in saying that the Game Laws do not press with +undue severity upon the labouring classes in the Highlands, by whom, on +the whole, poaching is now an offence rarely committed; and we believe +that in saying so we express the opinion of those classes themselves. +Any complaints that have been made have not proceeded from them but from +third parties who have endeavoured to range themselves as pretended +friends to compass their own ends. There is just one direction in which +we might hint that improvement is possible. We would wish to see a +sliding scale of fines legalised, by which lighter penalties would be +exigible for first offences and repeated transgressions less leniently +punishable than at present. + +We have now to consider that more vexed and intricate portion of our +subject, the operation of the Game Laws upon the position of the +tenant-farmer. This we have stated to be indirect, because, in reality, +many of the results complained of might be continued in existence +independently of the operations of these laws. The points at issue +between landlord and tenant, over which such torrents of discussion have +been poured, are really questions of contract been individuals, which +could and would arise, were the Game Laws abolished. But as complaints +are coupled with a demand for the abolition of these laws as a panacea, +we cannot avoid briefly examining their relation to the interests of +agriculture. Whether owing to bucolic trust in the friendly intentions +of a Conservative Government, or to hopelessness of there being any +advantages derivable therefrom, it is worthy of observation that the +recent agitation on this question, as well as on the kindred subjects of +unexhausted improvements and hypothec denominated by Mr Hope in his +observations in "Recess Studies," "Hindrances to Agriculture," have now +entered upon a quiescent phase. A few years ago an agricultural dinner +was no sooner eaten by the assembled agriculturists than the Game Laws +were tabled with the toddy, and both hotly, and in some cases ably +discussed. But a change for the better is now noticeable in the +atmosphere of Cattle Club Meetings and Wool Fair dinners whereat the +voices of game preservers may even be heard amid applause. Monotony was +the rock on which the agitation was in danger of being shipwrecked, and +as the results did not appear to be commensurate to the labour, as the +stone seemed to be rolled up the hill in vain, so far as concerned the +passing of any favourable parliamentary measure, swords have again been +turned into more useful ploughshares, and spears into less ornamental +pruning hooks. The opportunity is therefore not an unfavourable one for +a calm survey of the situation. + +It is a well-known principle in jurisprudence that a contract between +two parties capable of contracting in respect to a subject matter known +to both, if adhered to by either, is inviolably binding; and with the +free action of this principle as between parties, except in a matter of +life and death, the legislature always has had, and we confidently +believe, always will have a delicacy in interfering. If there is no +vital principle, or specialty in a contract between landlord and tenant +in regard to an heritable subject, such as an arable farm, that +necessarily takes it out of the list of ordinary contracts, no +Government would seriously entertain or assist the passing of a measure +for imposing fetters upon one of the parties to that contract, +exceptional legislation to obtain an advantage for the lessee to the +detriment of the lessor. Are there then such specialties? Tenant-farmers +allege (1) that land is not an ordinary subject of contract owing to the +extent being limited, and is a possession the owners of which stand in +the relation merely of national trustees, bound to administer in the way +most beneficial to the people; (2), that tenants are not capable of +contracting on equal terms with their landlords, and that the weaker +party should receive legislative protection in the shape of an +inalienable right to ground game; and (3), that in being compelled to +sign game preservation clauses, the subject matter of that part of their +agreement is one the full extent of which must, from its nature, be +unknown to them. To this reply is made--(1), That the possession of land +is no more a monopoly than the possession of cattle or any other +commodity, that is continually in the market and sold to the highest +bidder; that the fact of the supply being limited, and necessarily in +the hands of the few, in comparison with the many who wish to use it, is +no reason why exceptional restrictions should be placed on its being let +out for hire, but rather the reverse; as well might the possessors of +money, who are few in comparison with those who wish to borrow it, be +statutorily bound to lend it out at less than it would otherwise bring; +and that those who invest money in land, having no contract with the +State, cannot be interfered with by the State in the management of it in +the way they believe most advantageous to themselves; (2), that farmers +as a rule, and particularly those who make the greatest noise about the +Game Laws, are quite capable of attending to their own interests in any +contract with proprietors as to leasing of land; that if they are glad +to obtain it on the proprietors' terms, that is occasioned by the +legitimate operation of the laws of supply and demand, which equally +affect all other contracts; and that to give them an inalienable right +to ground game, which they would immediately convert into money value by +sub-letting, would simply amount to confiscation of part of the +enjoyment of property, and in effect amount to depriving proprietors of +a considerable part of the equivalent for which they gave their money; +and (3), that when a tenant makes an acceptable offer for a farm, he +does so after the fullest investigation as to its capabilities and +disadvantages, and with a good knowledge of the amount of game on the +ground, and the damage likely to be occasioned thereby; and, as thus, +the amount of rent offered is fixed by him after all these points have +received due consideration at his hands, he is precluded from afterwards +crying out against the one-sidedness of his contract. It will thus be +seen that there is just as much to be said on the one side as the other; +and clamour notwithstanding, we believe, the day is still distant when +the legislature will step in to interfere with free contract between +landlord and tenant, by laying down conditions which even both parties +with their eyes open, and of mutual consent, will not be allowed to +alter. In other words, in an age when the cry is for freedom from all +special advantages to owners of land, such as hypothec and entail, so as +to place it on an open footing with all other subjects, it would be +strange, indeed, were exceptional legislation required for the lessees +of land to give them the special advantages which the spirit of the age +denied to their landlords. Are we to have landlord right levelled down +while tenant right is to be levelled up? We have yet to see it. It +cannot, however, in fairness be denied that there are certain +circumstances in which the tenants' third complaint above-mentioned is +just and reasonable. While a tenant is strictly tied down under the +conditions of his lease to a certain rotation of cropping, and various +other regulations regarding his use of the land, the proprietor is left +practically unfettered as to the extent of increase of game that he may +allow to take place. Immunity in such an event is secured to the latter, +either by a clause to that effect in the lease or by the prudent +reluctance of the tenant to pursue his landlord through court after +court in the knowledge that even the extra-judicial expense of such +procedure would quickly amount to more than the ultimate damages +awarded, if awarded at all, and that the feelings engendered by the +contest would stand in the way of a renewal at the expiry of the lease. +There is here, undoubtedly, a manifest hardship to the tenant, for which +the legislature would be justified in passing a remedial measure. It +would quite consist with the acknowledged and equitable principles of +jurisprudence that cheap and speedy redress for the tenant against such +uncontemplated and undue increase of game should be provided by +legislative enactment. All wrongs have their remedies; but the remedy in +such a case is not the giving an inalienable right to ground game to the +tenant, as that would amount to a wronging of the landlord, who might +wish to reserve such right at any cost of compensation to the tenant for +damage really inflicted. What is desirable is, that such damage should +be assessable, and the value thereof recoverable with the least possible +trouble and expense to the tenant. We think that this could be most +effectually secured by the statutory appointment in each county of a +competent, impartial, and reliable assessor whose duty it would be to +inspect and record the amount of game existing on every farm in that +county at the entry of the tenant, and who would be bound at any future +season on the application, either of the proprietor or of the tenant, to +re-inspect that farm and report as to whether there was any appreciable +increase in the stock of game thereon, and if so to issue an award and +valuation of the amount of damage thereby occasioned, the amount of +which the tenant would be legally entitled to deduct at payment of the +next half-year's rent. The expense of this inspection, according to a +fixed scale of charge, should be payable by the landlord where damages +were found exigible; but, otherwise, where the tenant's claim was +decided to be unfounded, the whole expense would, in equity, be payable +by him to the assessor. Of course, there are objections that can be +raised to the adoption of this, as of any other proposed compromise; but +on a careful consideration they will not be found insuperable. +Enthusiasts there are and will remain who will demand that an +inalienable right to ground game be gratuitously conferred upon them. +But by the great majority of agriculturalists who think temperately it +is agreed that the only possible settlement of the ground game question +is one of compromise. We have been credibly informed that in the +counties of Forfar and Caithness, farmers, to whom the right to ground +game had been made over, after short experience of the unexpected +trouble and expense connected with the due keeping down of hares and +rabbits, had entreated their landlords to relieve them of the burden, +which they had at first unreflectingly and gladly assumed. + +The damage done by game on agricultural farms in the Highlands is +altogether inconsiderable in affecting the agricultural prosperity of +the country. Our opinion is that if the truth were fairly told farmers +would confess that where the shoe pinches is in the pressure of high +rents caused by their own mutual competitions for farms, rather than the +trifling damage done by game. The bringing forward of the game question +has been merely the trotting out of a stalking horse. There were no +complaints of game or game laws in the good old times when the rents +were low. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were rejoiced to +furnish the laird with a good day's sport, in the fruits of which they +generally participated. Game must have done as much harm then as now, +but farmers in those days did not feel pushed to meet the rent day. They +could live on a smaller income; they did not seek or require the same +luxuries, and had less outlay in labour. Of course, a great deal has +happened since then, but it cannot be said that for this the lairds are +entirely to blame. Then to rent a farm was synonymous with making money; +now it as often means losing it. With higher rents, the result of a +keener demand, a farmer's profits have been sadly diminished, and he too +often exerts his ingenuity in discovering grounds of deduction from a +rent he feels to be burdensome. On the sound enough principle of +abolishing special privileges of all kinds he can fairly advocate the +abolition of hypothec, but when in the same breath he turns his back +upon that principle by calling for the creation of the extraordinary +privilege of an inalienable right to ground game, he asks too much and +has every probability of getting too little. + +There is no necessity for saying anything in reply to the attacks of a +few pastoral tenants or large sheep farmers. It is now matter of history +that by repeated and uncontradicted assertion a comparatively small and +uninfluential sheep-farmer clique had thoroughly convinced themselves, +and almost persuaded a portion of the public, that deer forests were +responsible for all the misery and poverty in the Highlands, for all the +cruel evictions which were carried out to make room, not for deer, but +for those very farmers who made such a noise. Having succeeded in +infecting some impressionable people, including not a few writers in the +press who knew as little of a deer forest and its surroundings as they +did of the great Sahara, there was at one time some danger of the outcry +becoming general; but the report of the Parliamentary Commission so +completely exposed the nakedness of the land, so thoroughly demonstrated +the absence of anything like reasonable foundation for complaint, as to +convince even the most extreme politician of the utter absurdity of the +position assumed. The cry never did find an echo in the heart of the +Highlander. He knew too well that the same justice had been meted out to +him and his by the predecessors of those very farmers, as they +themselves were then receiving at the hands of the wealthy Sassenach. He +knew that the evil of depopulation had been accomplished in the +Highlands, not by the introduction of deer, but of sheep on a large +scale by Lowland farmers before ever deer forests had come to be +considered a source of revenue. It was, therefore, somewhat amusing to +the Highland people to witness the descendants of these Lowland _novi +homines_ smitten upon the thigh and roaring lustily. The only bribe they +promised allies was the offer of mutton a twentieth of a penny per pound +cheaper, and Highlanders refused to be bought over at that price, +especially as its payment was more than doubtful. The deer forest +agitation has died a natural death. Peace to its ashes. + +We have hitherto confined ourselves to discussing the so-called +disadvantages of the Game Laws: we have yet to consider the facts on the +other side of the question, by which those disadvantages are altogether +overbalanced. As the space allotted to us in this Magazine, however, has +its limits, we will meanwhile content ourselves with enumerating +_seriatim_ a few of the manifold benefits accruing to the Highlands from +Game Laws and game. These are--(1), The great increase of rental from +land, which is manifestly beneficial, not only to the proprietors, but +to all classes in the country in which they spend their incomes; (2), +The residence in the Highlands for so many months yearly of wealthy +sportsmen, who, if game were unpreserved and consequently non-existent, +would have no inducement so to reside; (3), The remunerative employment +afforded by those sportsmen to the labouring classes; (4), The profits +made by shopkeepers and others in the various Highland towns, by +supplying the requirements of such sportsmen; (5), The opening up of the +country by railways, which could not have been remuneratively effected +for years yet to come in the Highlands without the traffic afforded by +the conveyance of sportsmen and their belongings; (6), The advancement +of civilization in the north, by the opening up of roads and the +building of handsome Lodges in remote localities, and the circulation of +money involved in the execution of these improvements. + +This enumeration might be extended to various minor details, but we +think we have said enough to satisfy every candid and impartial reader +that a very serious blow would be inflicted upon the prosperity of the +Highlands by the abolition of the Game Laws--laws which are by no means +the antiquated and useless remains of feudalism so strongly denounced by +Radicalism run mad. The truth of this need not be altogether left to +abstract speculation. We have a crucial instance in the case of the +American Republic, where the absence of such laws was felt to be so +prejudicial to the general welfare that game regulations were passed +much more stringent than in this country, and where, at present, as Mr +J.D. Dougall in his admirable treatise on "Shooting" informs us, "there +exist over one hundred powerful associations for the due prosecution of +Game law delinquents, and these associations are rapidly increasing, and +appear to be highly popular." "Here," he adds, "we have one struggling +Anti-Game Law League: in the States there are over one hundred +flourishing Pro-Game Law Leagues. The cry of a party here is:--Utterly +exterminate all game as vermin; leave nothing to shoot at. The +increasing general cry across the Atlantic is:--Preserve our game and +our fish for our genuine field sports." So long as our Game Laws +continue to increase the prosperity of the country without infringing +upon the liberty of the people, they stand in little need of defence; +are not much endangered by attack. + + EVAN MACKENZIE. + + + + +A REMARKABLE FEUDAL CUSTOM. + + +It is happy for the present age that the ancient manners and customs, +which were practised in the Highlands and Islands under the Feudal +system, have long since fallen into oblivion. It would fill volumes to +relate the numerous practices which were then resorted to by the feudal +lords, many of which were cruel in themselves, and entailed great +hardships on their submissive vassals who were bound to obey. As the +chiefs had full power over the life and death of their retainers, such +of them as betrayed any disobedience or opposition to the stern demands +of their superiors, rendered themselves liable to the severest +punishment, and frequently to nothing less than the penalty of death. +The national laws of Kings and Queens had then but little influence in +checking or counteracting the peremptory enactments of Feudalism. + +The following striking instance of the remarkable practices alluded to +will furnish a specimen to the readers of the _Celtic Magazine_, of what +took place in Skye, not much more than a century and a half ago. + +No sooner did the death of a tenant take place than the event was +announced to the laird of the soil. The Land-Stewart, or ground-officer, +incurred the displeasure of his master unless that announcement were +made no later than three days after it had occurred. Immediately after +the deceased farmer had been consigned to the grave, the disconsolate +widow, if he had left one, was waited upon by a messenger from the +landlord, to deliver up to him the best horse on the farm, such being +reckoned then the legal property of the owner of the soil. This rule was +as unalterable as the laws of the Medes and Persians. On large and +extensive farms the demand was submitted to without much complaint, by +the widow, children, or heirs of the deceased, but it pressed hard upon +the occupiers of small tenements of land, and particularly so on +helpless widows. But whoever refused, or attempted to evade this +heartless enactment, forfeited every right to their farms in future, and +became liable to have all their goods and chattels confiscated to the +laird. It frequently happened that a poor farmer had but one horse, yet +even this circumstance did not mitigate the cruelty of the practice; for +the solitary animal was taken away, and frequently so to the great +distress of the younger branches of the orphan family, who mourned +bitterly, and often shed tears for the loss of their favourite animal. + +A circumstance took place in the parish of Strath, which was, it is +said, the means of abolishing this abominable rule. About the beginning +of the seventeenth century a farmer, of the name of Mackinnon, was +gathered to his fathers in the parish, and after his interment the +laird's messenger visited the afflicted widow, and, as usual, demanded +the best horse on her little farm. Her husband having been a kinsman of +the laird, and expecting, in her distress, to receive some sympathy from +her chief, and at all events, some relaxation of that rule which had +been all along so resistlessly put in force, she showed much reluctance +to part with the animal. Seeing this, the officer became more and more +determined to have it. The widow, in the same manner, became more and +more determined in her refusal, and appealed to him in vain to submit +the case to the decision of her chief. The officer was inexorable, and +becoming incensed at the woman's pertinacity he turned from words to +blows, and inflicted some severe wounds on the helpless female to the +effusion of blood. She, however, retaliated, and through desperation, +assuming more courage, addressed her little son, a boy of four, that +stood weeping by her side, and said to him in her own emphatic +vernacular:-- + + "Cha mhac mar an t-athair thu, a' Lachlainn Oig, + Mar diol thu le fuil droch caithreamh do mhàthar; + 'S mar smàil thu gu bàs, le diòghaltas air chòir, + Am borb-fhear fiadhaich so, am mòrtair gu'n nàr!" + + _Literally translated:--_ + + "Thou art not a son like the father, my young Lachlan, + Unless thou requite with blood the ill-treatment of thy mother; + And unless thou dash to death, with due revenge, + This fierce and savage fellow--this bare-faced murderer!" + +The mother's charge to her boy cannot be said to be tempered with much +Christian feeling or principle, yet it was according to the generally +cherished practices of the system under which she lived. Then it was +that might was right, and revenge bravery. But to return to the +subject--the widow's cries and tears, excitement and eloquence, were all +in vain. The officer made off with the horse and delivered it to his +chief. + +Matters went on in this way, in various quarters, for a considerable +time, until at length, and about twenty years thereafter, the same +officer appeared on the same errand at a neighbouring widow's door, and +deprived her as usual of her best horse. The circumstance was brought +under the notice of Lachlan Og, and having been, no doubt, frequently +reminded of the cruelty inflicted by that official on his mother, was +determined to embrace the present befitting occasion for displaying his +dire revenge. It may be stated that young Lachlan was noted in the +district for his great agility and muscular strength. He made no delay +in pursuing the officer, and having come up to him at the distance of +some miles, he seized him by the neck and sternly demanded the widow's +horse, reminding him, at the same time, of the treatment inflicted by +him on his mother twenty years before. The officer stood petrified with +fear, seeing fierceness and revenge depicted so very unmistakably in +young Mackinnon's face. Yet still he grasped the animal by the halter, +and would not permit his youthful assailant to intermeddle with it. The +strife commenced, and that in right earnest, but in a few moments the +officer fell lifeless on the ground. Mackinnon, seizing his dirk, +dissevered the head from the body, and washed it in a fountain by the +wayside, which is still pointed out to the traveller as "_Tobar a' +chinn_," or "The Well of the Head." He then, at once, mounted the horse, +and galloped off to the residence of his chief, carrying the bloody head +in his left hand on the point of his dirk. His appearance at the main +entrance, with the ghastly trophy still bleeding in his hand, greatly +alarmed the menials of the mansion. Without dismounting he inquired if +Mackinnon was at home, and being told that he was, he said, "Go and tell +my Chief that I have arrived to present him with the head of his officer +'Donnuchadh Mor,' in case that he might wish to embalm it and hang it up +in his baronial hall as a trophy of heartlessness and cruelty." The +message was instantly delivered to the laird, who could not believe that +such a diabolical deed could be perpetrated by any of his clan, but +still he came out to see. On his appearance in the court, Lachlan Og +dismounted, did obeisance to his chief, and prominently exhibited the +dripping head, by lifting it up on his dirk. "What is this, Lachlan, +what murder is this?" asked the excited chief. Lachlan explained the +whole in full detail, and related the circumstances of the present +transaction, as well as of the inhuman treatment which his mother had +received when he was a child. The chieftain pondered, paused, and +declared that these cruelties had been practised unknown to him. He +granted a free pardon to Lachlan Og, appointed him his officer in room +of Donnuchadh Mor, and issued an edict over all his estate that +thereafter neither widow nor orphan, heir, nor kindred, would ever be +deprived by him of their horse, or of any other part of their property. + + SGIATHANACH. + + + + +GENERAL SIR ALAN CAMERON, K.C.B., + +COLONEL 79TH CAMERON HIGHLANDERS. + +[CONTINUED]. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +These acts of loyalty by the Highlanders in recognition of their Stewart +Princes were not long concluded when the same virtue was called into +action to defeat the intentions of _other rebels_ (as they were rudely +termed) from disputing the authority of the British Sovereign, or +dismembering any portion of his territory in the American colonies. An +abridged outline of what came to be the War of Independence may not be +out of place or uninteresting even at this distant date. + +North America had been chiefly colonised by the British people--the +settlements of the Dutch and French were few and unimportant. The +colonists were in the enjoyment of liberal institutions, and the country +being fertile, the population rapidly increased; while, at the same +time, immigrants from Europe continued to arrive annually on its shores. +The mother country being oppressed with debt, it was proposed to make +her Transatlantic subjects contribute a portion towards her relief. This +resulted in the imposition of a stamp duty on various articles. The +Americans would neither afford assistance, nor would they sanction the +taxation proposed to be placed on tea, &c.; and at a meeting of Congress +resolutions of separation were adopted, followed by the Act of +Declaration of Independence. George III. and his Parliament determined +on chastising the recusants, and hence the commencement of the American +Civil War. Jealousy of Great Britain, and a desire to humble her, +induced France to join the Americans, as also did Spain. Against the +combined efforts of these allies, however, the British sustained +unsullied their ancient renown. The war continued with alternate +successes, and disappointments to the contending parties for about six +years, at the end of which honourable peace was concluded between them, +and America was henceforth declared an Independent State; and in +acknowledgment of the able services rendered to her, the colonists +elected General Washington as the first president of the new Republic. + +During the progress of the war the Americans were guilty of many acts of +cruelty to whomsoever fell into their hands, some of which fell to the +share of Alan Cameron. The Royal Highland Regiment, to which he was +attached, was stationed in Quebec when Canada was threatened with +invasion by General Arnold at the head of 3000 men. The colonel of +Alan's regiment (Maclean) who had been detached up the river St +Lawrence, returned by forced marches and entered Quebec without being +noticed by Arnold. The fortifications of the city had been greatly +neglected, and were scarcely of any use for the purposes of defence. The +strength of the British within its walls was under 1200, yet they +repulsed the repeated attacks of the American generals. Here it was that +Alan Cameron came for the first time into hostile contact with the +enemy, and both his regiment and himself acquitted themselves with +great gallantry--on one occasion in particular, when an assault was made +by Generals Arnold and Montgomery, in which the latter was killed and +the other wounded. Arnold foiled in this attempt, established himself on +the heights of Abraham, thus blockading the town and reducing the +garrison to great straits; but this was all he succeeded in, as he was +beaten in every attempt to gain possession of the lower town, by the +intrepid gallantry of Colonel Maclean and his Highlanders. + +On the approach of spring General Arnold despairing of success, withdrew +his forces, raised the siege, and evacuated the whole of Canada. +Released from this defence the battalion entered on enterprises in +different parts of the province, and to enable it to do so more +effectually, Colonel Maclean transformed a limited number of it into a +cavalry corps, for out-post duties and otherwise acting as _scouts_. +Of this body Alan Cameron got the command. Daring and sometimes +over-zealous, he often led himself and his company into situations of +desperate danger. On one occasion they were surrounded by a strong force +of the enemy, from which they escaped with the utmost difficulty, and +only by the personal prowess of each individual and the fleetness of +their steeds. The Americans communicated with the British commander to +the effect that "this fellow (Alan) and his men had been guilty of the +_un_military proceeding of tampering with the native Indians in their +loyalty to American interests," stating a determination of vengeance as +the consequence. It is not known whether Alan was apprised of this +charge or not; at any rate he continued his incursions for some time. +The threat was not unintentional, as the succeeding events proved, and +an unfortunate opportunity enabled the enemy to give it effect. Alan and +nearly one-half of his company were seized. The latter they made +prisoners of war, but committed him to the jail of Philadelphia as a +common felon, where he was kept for two years and treated with the most +vindictive harshness. This proceeding was denounced by the British +General as "contrary to all military usage," but his representations +proved unavailing. + +The ardent nature of the imprisoned Highlander chafed under restraint, +and finding no hope of release he was constant in vigilance to procure +his escape. This he was at last enabled to effect through his jailer +having neglected to fasten the window of his place of confinement, which +was on the third storey. His ingenuity was put to the severest test. He, +however, managed to tie part of the bed-clothes to the bars of the +window, and descended with its aid. The blanket was either too short, or +it gave way; anyhow Alan came to the ground from a considerable height, +and being a heavy man, in the fall he severely injured the ankles of +both feet. In this crippled state he was scarcely able to get away to +any great distance, but somehow managed to elude the search of his +enemies. + +Although the Americans, as a nation, were in arms against Great Britain, +still among them were many families and individuals who were slow to +forget their ties of kinship with the people of the "old country," and +Philadelphia contained many possessing such a feeling. Alan, on his +first arrival in that country, became acquainted with and obtained the +friendship of more than one of these families. To the house of one of +them, in his emergency, he decided on going. This was a Mr Phineas Bond +(afterwards Consul-General in that city) who received the prisoner +without hesitation, and treated him with the utmost consideration. Alan, +however, before he would accept shelter and hospitality, explained to Mr +Bond his condition and how he became a prisoner, adding that he merely +desired rest for a day or two to enable him to escape towards the +British cantonments. Mr Bond made him welcome and promised him every +assistance. Both were fully impressed with the danger and delicacy of +their position, and Alan like an honourable soldier was now more anxious +about that of his host than his own. He, therefore, embraced the very +first opportunity of relieving his chivalrous friend of so undesirable a +guest. + +Without entering into details as to the nature of his escape, it is enough +to state that after frequent chances of being recaptured, he arrived at a +station where some British troops were quartered. Among these were some +officers and men with whom he had served in the early part of the +campaign, but he had become so altered in condition that they scarcely +believed him to be the Alan Cameron they knew. His relative (Colonel +Maclean) sent his aide-camp to have him conveyed to head-quarters, on +arrival at which he was most attentive to do everything that could be +done. Medical inspection however, pronounced Alan unfit for active service +for at least a year. This was disappointing news to him, as he feared his +career in the army was likely in consequence to come to an untimely end. +Colonel Maclean recommended him to repair at once to Europe and procure +the most skilful advice for the treatment of his wounds and broken limbs. +Alan concurred and returned to England on sick leave, where he arrived in +1780. + +He had not been many months at home when news arrived of the conclusion +of the war; and with that happy consummation Colonel Maclean's corps was +reduced, the officers were placed on the "provincial list"--a grade not +known in the army at the present day--Government, in addition to their +pay, giving them and the other men grants of lands in the following +proportions--5000 acres to a field officer; 3000 to a captain; 500 to a +subaltern; 200 to a sergeant; and a 100 to each soldier. These +conditions were applicable only to those who remained in or returned +within a given time to the colony. In the case of absentees one-half of +the above number of acres was the extent of the grants, but they were +allowed to sell their lots. As Alan had been promoted to the rank of +Captain he had 1500 acres which he turned into cash. This capital and +his pay was the only means possessed by this "provincial officer." He +was, however, only one of many similarly situated on the termination of +the American War. + + +CHAPTER V. + +The transport ship brought home other invalids besides Alan Cameron, one +of whom, Colonel Mostyn, and himself came to be on terms of warm +friendship. This gentleman, descended from one of the best families in +Wales, and having many relatives resident in London, was of considerable +service to Alan in the matter of introductions to the society of these +relations and other friends. "American officers," as those returned from +the war, were termed, were welcomed wherever met with. Among them Alan was +not the least distinguished, perhaps the more so on account of his +unfortunate adventure with his Lochaber adversary in the duel; and his +subsequent distinguished career in America. + +At the house of one of Colonel Mostyn's relatives, Alan met a young lady +who was destined not many months after to become his wife. This was the +only child of Nathaniel Philips of Sleebeich Hall, Pembrokeshire. The +heiress of a wealthy squire was beyond Alan's expectations; besides he +understood there were more than one aspirant for her hand, who were +themselves possessors of many broad acres, therefore it could scarcely +occur to the mind of the "provincial officer" to enter the lists against +such influential competitors. However that may be, Alan's success with +the lady may have been much the same as that of another with Desdemona: +"Her father bade me tell the story of my life, the battles, sieges, and +fortunes I had passed. I ran it through, even from my boyish days; of +the moving accidents by flood and field; of the hair-breadth 'scapes and +the imminent deadly breach; and of being taken by the insolent foe. To +these things would Desdemona seriously incline, and devour up my +discourse. When I did speak of some distressful stroke, that I had +suffered, she gave me a world of sighs. She wished she had not heard it; +but bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, I should teach him how to +tell my story, and _that_ would woo her." Duke--"I think this tale would +win my daughter too." + +Alan Cameron became the favoured suitor of Miss Philips, but both felt +the barrier of the Squire's consent to be insurmountable. Nor was there +any circumstance likely to arise in favour of Alan's worldly position to +make him acceptable to Mr Philips as his son-in-law. Honourable conduct +acted on Alan's feelings, and directed the proper course to be pursued. +He made his visits to the house of their mutual friend less often and at +greater intervals. Squire Philips was at the time, and had for some few +years, been a widower; and it was reported and believed that he was +contemplating a second marriage. Moreover, the intended spouse was +scarcely yet out of her teens, while he was past middle age, and his +daughter was also her senior. Her father's intentions created +disappointment, if not dissatisfaction in Miss Philips' mind, which, it +is alleged, was one of the causes that moved her not to view elopement +with serious objection. There is no record of the occurrence to guide +further reference than that Alan Cameron and Miss Philips had betaken +themselves to Gretna Green without the knowledge or consent of her +father, where marriages were solemnised without the preliminary +formalities necessary at Hanover Square. Notwithstanding that a pursuit +ensued either by the parent or other friends, it was not successful in +interrupting the marriage of the runaway pair. + +Instead of returning to London with his bride, Alan went towards the +capital of his native country, where he and his wife remained for +several months. It now, however, became almost a necessity that he would +get into some office, the emoluments of which would add to his slender +income. After some delay he was fortunate in getting an appointment +through the intercession of a friend with whom he had served in America. +This appointment was on the militia staff of one of the English +counties. Alan retained it until the fortune of events reduced the +displeasure of the father-in-law to that state when mutual friends +thought they could do something to induce the Squire to forgive and +forget. These friends did not fail to take advantage of this state of +feeling, and embraced the opportunity to obtain for Alan an interview +with his wife's father, which resulted, as desired by all, in full +forgiveness to both son and daughter. This reconciliation, like the +wooing of Miss Philips, was also somewhat after the manner of that of +Desdemona's father, who replied, "I had rather adopt a child than get +it. Come hither. I do give thee that with all my heart, which--but thou +hast already--with all my heart, I would keep from thee. For your sake I +am glad I have no other child, thy escape would teach me tyranny." This +act of grace was important to Alan, as the allowance to his wife, which +followed, enabled them to live in affluence in comparison with their +past state. + +Squire Philips had not married at the time rumour had formerly assigned, +but he did enter into that state, and that after he had become a +sexagenarian. By the second marriage the Squire--unlike the father in +the play--"had another child." This child is yet living, in the person +of the venerable Dowager Countess of Lichfield, herself the mother of a +numerous family of sons and daughters, including the present peer, as +also the wife of the noble lord the member for the county of Haddington. + +_(To be Continued)._ + + + + + HIGHLAND MELODIES.--The Gaelic Society of London finding that regret + has been frequently expressed that the plaintive melodies of the + Highlands should be allowed to pass away, have, we are glad to + learn, taken steps to preserve them in a permanent form, and are now + preparing for publication a selection of the best and most popular + airs. The verses will be given in Gaelic and English, and the + pianoforte accompaniments are arranged with special attention to + their distinctive characteristics by Herr Louis Honig, Professor of + Music, London; while slight variations are introduced to render the + melodies more acceptable to the general taste. Editions of the Dance + Tunes of our country are numerous, but the Gaelic vocal airs, set to + music, have not hitherto been attainable. The issue is limited to + 250 copies, which the Society are patriotically supplying at cost + price--namely, 10s 6d per copy; or free by post to the Colonies for + 12s. We feel assured that this want has only to be known to secure + the necessary number of subscribers for the few remaining copies. + + + + +_LITERATURE._ + + +_THE "ARYAN ORIGIN OF THE CELTIC RACE AND LANGUAGE."_ + +The above is the title on the outside of a book by the Rev. Canon +Bourke, president of St Jarlath's College, Tuam, Ireland. The book is in +every respect a wonderful and interesting one to the Celt, at home and +abroad, whether he be Scotch or Irish. Time was when the Scottish Celt +looked with great suspicion on his Irish cousin, while the Irishman had +no great love for his Scottish neighbour. Even yet a good deal of this +feeling prevails, particularly among the uneducated. + +Our own experience, however, has been that the Irish Celt is not behind +the Scotch Gael in generosity and all the other virtues which are the +special characteristics of the race. The book before us is in several +respects calculated to strengthen the friendship which is being rapidly +formed, and which ought to subsist among the intelligent of each of the +two great branches of the Celtic family--Scotch and Irish. Frequent +references of an appreciating and commendable kind are made in this work +to the labours of Scotchmen in the field of Celtic literature. Canon +Bourke, like a true-hearted son of Ireland, with that magnanimity +characteristic of the race, holds out his right hand to every Scottish +scholar in the field of Celtic or Keltic research, and says in +effect--_Cia mar a tha thu? Buaidh gu'n robh air d'obair!_ + +Although the "Aryan Origin of the Celtic Races and Language" is all the +title on the cover, inside the book, the title is much more comprehensive, +consisting, as it does, altogether of 27 lines. But even this large and +comprehensive title-page does not give anything like an adequate idea of +the extent and variety of the contents of the book. Taking it up with the +expectation of finding a learned treatise on the Aryan origin of the +Celtic race and Celtic languages one will be disappointed; but no one will +be disappointed with the work as a whole, for though its contents do not +bear throughout on the above subject, they are all thoroughly Celtic; and +as a collection of Celtic gleanings, will well repay a perusal. It is, +indeed, a sort of Celtic repository--the writer's Celtic reading for many +years being apparently thrown into a crucible, and having undergone a +certain process there, are forged out into the handsome and bulky volume +before us. It has, however, all the appearance of having been very hastily +got up. Indeed, in the preface, which is dated, "Feast of the Nativity of +the B.V.M., 1875," we are told that a mere accident has given the first +impulse to the composition of the work, and that accident appears to have +been that at a social meeting of Irish clergymen in 1874 the subject of +conversation turned on the language and antiquities of Ireland. + +After doing justice to the "Four Masters," of whom Irishmen are, with +good reason, so very proud, the decay of the Gaelic language in Ireland +is alluded to, and the cause of that decay described at some length, and +it is pointed out that, in consequence of this neglect, when an Irish +patriot appeals to the sentiment of his race, the appeal must be made, +not in the language of old Ireland, but in the language of the +conquering Saxon. Father Mullens in his lament for the Celtic language +of his countrymen "must wail his plaint in Saxon words and Saxon idiom, +lest his lamentation should fall meaningless on the ears of Ireland." +And this decay Father Mullens pathetically describes:-- + + It is fading! it is fading! like the leaves upon the trees, + It is dying! it is dying! like the Western Ocean breeze, + It is fastly disappearing as the footsteps on the shore, + Where the Barrow and the Erne, and Loch Swilly's waters roar; + Where the parting sunbeam kisses the Corrib in the west, + And the ocean like a mother clasps the Shannon to its breast: + The language of old Eire, of her history and name, + Of her monarchs and her heroes, of her glory and her fame; + The sacred shrine where rested through her sunshine and her gloom + The spirit of her martyrs as their bodies in the tomb! + The time-wrought shell, where murmured through centuries of wrong + The secret shrine of freedom in annal and in song, + Is surely fastly sinking into silent death at last, + To live but in the memory and relics of the past! + +In Ireland as in some other countries (perhaps we may say with some +degree of truth in our own Highlands of Scotland) the simple uneducated +peasants are, in the law courts, treated with the greatest display of +harshness because they cannot give evidence in the English tongue. Canon +Bourke refers to a case of this nature that occurred during the last +year in Tuam. A witness, Sally Ryan, who appeared to have understood +English, but could not speak it, and consequently would not give her +evidence in that language, was removed as an incompetent witness! Is +that justice? We know that in the courts in Scotland a good deal of +harshness is occasionally used towards witnesses who cannot speak +English. + +The fact remains, that in the Highlands there are many whose only +language is Gaelic, and if their Saxon rulers have a desire to +administer the law justly they must learn to deal more gently with such +as are ignorant of the English language. We also know from personal +observation that Gaelic witnesses frequently give evidence by means of +very incompetent interpreters, thoroughly ignorant of the idiom of the +language, and are thus very often misrepresented. A bungling interpreter +bungles a witness, and nothing is more calculated to invalidate evidence +than being given in a loose incoherent manner. On this point we are at +one with the learned Canon Bourke. + +Considerable space is devoted to the pronunciation of the word +Celtic--the question being whether it should be pronounced Keltic or +Seltic. Professor Bourke argues, and gives good reasons, that it should +be written Keltic and pronounced Keltic. He is unquestionably right in +his contention for the pronunciation, but as we have no K in the Scotch +or Irish Gaelic alphabet it is difficult to agree with him as to the +spelling, but the fact remains that it is almost universally pronounced +Seltic and written Celtic, and has in that form taken such a root that +it can scarcely be ever altered. What then is the use of fighting over +it? In the compass of this necessarily short review it is quite +impossible to give an adequate idea of the work before us. While the +work exhibits great learning and research, we think the rev. author +might have bestowed more care on such a valuable work. Several +typographical errors present themselves, and in many cases the +Professor's composition exhibits clear evidence of undue haste in the +writing and arrangement. But _humanum est errare_. Nothing is perfect, +and the book before us is no exception to the general rule. The Celtic +student will, however, find it invaluable, and no one who takes an +interest in Celtic philology, antiquity, manners, and customs (indeed +everything and anything Celtic), should be without a copy; for it is a +perfect store of Celtic learning. + + + + +_THE SCOTTISH GAEL, OR CELTIC MANNERS AS PRESERVED AMONG THE +HIGHLANDERS. By the LATE JAMES LOGAN, F.S.A.S. Edited with Memoir +and Notes by the_ REV. ALEX. STEWART, "Nether Lochaber." _Issued in 12 +Parts at 2s each. Inverness: Hugh Mackenzie, Bank Lane. Edinburgh: +Maclachlan & Stewart. Glasgow:_ John Tweed. + +We have before us the first and second parts of this valuable work. The +Frontispiece is a coloured plate of two Highland Chiefs dressed in the +Stewart and Gordon tartans; and the other engravings, which are well got +up, are in every case _fac-similes_ of those in the original Edition, +which had become so scarce that it was difficult to procure it even at a +very high price. Logan's _Scottish Gael_ has long been held as the best +authority on the antiquities and national peculiarities of Scotland, +especially on those of the Northern or Gaelic parts of the country where +some of the peculiar habits of the aboriginal race have been most +tenaciously retained. + +The valuable superintendence and learned notes of "Nether-Lochaber," +one of our best Celtic scholars and antiquarians, will very materially +enhance the value of the work, which is well printed in clear bold +type, altogether creditable to the printer and to the editor, but, +particularly so, to the public-spirited publisher. We have no hesitation +in recommending the work to all who take an interest in the Literature of +the Gael. + + + + +SONG OF THE SUMMER BREEZE. + +_Dedicated by permission to the_ REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN. + + When balmy spring + Has ceased to wring + The youthful bud from the old oak tree, + And the sweet primrose + No longer glows + On the glad hill-side by the sunfilled sea; + When the Cuckoo's wail + Has ceased to go + O'er hill and dale + In a pensive flow, + And the deepest shade + In the woods is made, + And the brightest bloom on the fields is laid; + When the lord of light + With a lover's pride + Pours a beauty bright + O'er his blushing bride, + That lies below + His glowing gaze, + In a woodland glow, and a flowery blaze; + When winter's gloom + Of wind and rain + Is lost in the bloom + Of the flower-lit plain, + And his ruins grey + Have died away + In the love-sent breath of the smiling day; + When the beauteous hours + Of the twilight still + With dewy tears in their joy-swelled eyes + See the peaceful flowers + On the cloudless hill + Send scented gifts to the grateful skies; + And the wave-like grain + O'er the sea-like plain + In peaceful splendour essays to rise;-- + From my silent birth in the flowery land + Of the sunny south + At time's command. + As still as the breath of a rosy mouth, + Or rippling wave on the sighing sand, + Or surging grass by the stony strand, + I come with odour of shrub and flower + Stolen from field and sunny bower + From lowly cot and lordly tower. + Borne on my wings the soul-like cloud-- + That snowy, mountain-shading shroud + That loves to sleep + On the sweet hill's crest, + As still as the deep + With its voice at rest,-- + Is wafted in dreams to its peaceful nest; + At my command + The glowing land + Scorched by the beams of the burning sun, + Listing the sounds of the drowsy bees, + Thirsting for rain, and the dews that come + When light has died on the surging seas, + Awakes to life, and health, and joy; + I pour a life on the sickening trees, + And wake the birds to their sweet employ, + Amidst the flowers of the lowly leas; + From the sweet woodbine + That loves to twine + Its arms of love round the homes of men, + Or laugh in the sight + Of the sun's sweet light + 'Midst the flower gemmed scenes of the song-filled glen, + And the full-blown rose that loves to blush + 'Midst the garden bowers + Where the pensive hours + Awaiting the bliss of the summer showers + List to the songs of the warbling thrush,-- + I steal the sweets of their fragrant breath; + From the lily pale + That seems to wail + With snow-like face + And pensive grace + O'er the bed that bends o'er the deeds of death, + I brush the tears + That she loves to shed + For the early biers + Of the lovely dead. + When still twilight with dew-dimmed eye + Sees the lord of light from the snow-white sky, + Descend at the sight + Of the coming night, + 'Midst the waves of the deathful sea to die! + When glowing day + Has passed away + In peace on the tops of the dim-seen hills, + That pour from their hearts the tinkling rills + That dance and leap + In youthful pride, + To the brimming river, deep and wide, + That bears them in rest to their distant sleep; + And the gladsome ocean + That ever presses + The bridal earth in fond caresses, + Rages no more in a wild commotion; + When the distant hills appear to grow + At the touch of evening bright, + And the sunless rivers seem to go + With a deeper music in their flow, + Like dreams thro' the peaceful night, + I fade away + With the dying day, + Like the lingering gleam of the sun's sweet ray! + + DAVID R. WILLIAMSON. + + + * * * * * + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + +The spellings "ahead" and "a-head" are both used in this text. + +The following amendments have been made to the text: + +p. 106 "wont" changed to "won't"; + +p. 114 "familar" changed to "familiar"; + +p. 115 "buccolic" changed to "bucolic"; + +p. 122 "Soverign" changed to "Sovereign"; + +p. 124 "similiarly" changed to "similarly"; + +p. 129 "errane" changed to "errare"; + +p. 130 full stop added after "DAVID R". + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Celtic Magazine, Vol I, No. IV, +February 1876, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40267 *** |