diff options
Diffstat (limited to '75337-h/75337-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | 75337-h/75337-h.htm | 2389 |
1 files changed, 2389 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/75337-h/75337-h.htm b/75337-h/75337-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dee4c38 --- /dev/null +++ b/75337-h/75337-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2389 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + An Address to Highlanders respecting their native Gaelic | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +a { + text-decoration: none; +} + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap { + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + clear: both; + width: 65%; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; +} + +img.w100 { + width: 100%; +} + +div.chapter { + page-break-before: always; +} + +p { + margin-top: 0.5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +.center { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.footnotes { + margin-top: 1em; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.footnote { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 0.9em; +} + +.footnote .label { + position: absolute; + right: 84%; + text-align: right; +} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none; +} + +p.indent5 { + text-indent: 5em; +} + +.larger { + font-size: 150%; +} + +.mid { + font-size: 125%; +} + +.noindent { + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + right: 4%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; +} + +.poetry-container { + text-align: center; +} + +.poetry { + display: inline-block; + text-align: left; +} + +.poetry .stanza { + margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; +} + +.poetry .verse { + padding-left: 3em; +} + +.poetry .indent0 { + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poetry .indent2 { + text-indent: -2em; +} + +.poetry .indent4 { + text-indent: -1em; +} + +.poetry .indent6 { + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.smaller { + font-size: 80%; +} + +.smcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; +} + +.allsmcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; + text-transform: lowercase; +} + +.titlepage { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + text-indent: 0em; + line-height: 2.5em; +} + +.x-ebookmaker img { + max-width: 100%; + width: auto; + height: auto; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .poetry { + display: block; + margin-left: 1.5em; +} +.illowp100 {width: 100%;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75337 ***</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">AN</span><br> +<span class="larger">ADDRESS TO HIGHLANDERS</span><br> +<span class="smaller">RESPECTING THEIR</span><br> +<span class="larger">NATIVE GAELIC:</span><br> +<span class="smaller">SHOWING</span><br> +ITS AND THE BROAD SCOTCH’S SUPERIORITY<br> +OVER THE ARTIFICIAL ENGLISH<br> +<span class="smaller">FOR THE</span><br> +<span class="mid">FAMILY AND THE SOCIAL CIRCLE,</span><br> +<span class="smaller">AND ALSO FOR</span><br> +<span class="mid">LYRIC POETRY.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br> +<span class="mid">ARCHIBALD FARQUHARSON.</span></p> + +<p class="center allsmcap">EDINBURGH: MACLACHLAN AND STEWART.<br> +GLASGOW: W. LOVE. OBAN: J. MILLER.<br> +INVERNESS: J. NOBLE. STORNOWAY: MACPHERSON & CO.<br> +1868.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span></p> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of the Press</span>,</p> + +<p class="indent5">Aware of your great powers, I stand before your bar +to plead, that ye may plead for my countrymen, that they may be +taught first to read their mother tongue, which would not only be +the most rational, but also the most natural way of teaching them.</p> + +<p>What an encouragement would it be to children to find their +mother tongue in their lessons—the very words they heard from her +lips and their playmates. How different from groping their way in +the dark, in reading a language they know nothing about. In the +former case their judgment would not only be in exercise, but +would also assist and help to keep them right; whereas in the latter +case their judgment would give them no aid, the whole depending +upon their memory.</p> + +<p>Were they thus taught first to read the Gaelic, and then to commence +with the English alphabet and the English pronunciation, +and when reading, to translate every word into Gaelic, it would +not only exercise their memory, but their judgment also, and +encourage them to persevere, seeing they were enabled to master +the difficulties, being aided by one another as well as by the teacher.</p> + +<p>Is there no native Scotchman also that will stand at your bar to +plead for his mother tongue? Is that not the tongue, gentlemen, +that many of you heard from your mother’s lips, and that soothed you +in the days of your childhood? And ought you not to have the +natural instinct to plead for it yourselves?—to plead that the +Broad Scotch should be the first language taught in every part of +Scotland, except where the Gaelic is spoken; and when they could +read their mother tongue, to commence at once with the English +alphabet and the English pronunciation, and when reading it to +translate every word into broad Scotch, such as <i>have</i>, hae; <i>so</i>, sae; +<i>of</i>, o’; <i>with</i>, wi, &c.</p> + +<p>Before the time of the singing of birds shall ever dawn upon +Scotland, the Scotch must not only return to their native tongue +but to their native melodies also. Is it not a fact that there are no +songs listened to in the city of London with so much pleasure as +the Scotch. I would not be surprised although the native language +and the native melodies of Scotland are destined to give songs of +praise to every part of the world where the English language is +spoken.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span></p> + +<h1>ADDRESS TO HIGHLANDERS.</h1> + +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 12.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/line.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">My Fellow-Countrymen</span>,</p> + +<p class="indent5">I lately considered it my duty to address the +Highland Proprietors on a subject which has been most painful +to us all, namely, on “Highland Clearances,”<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and the same spirit +which urged me to write that address, urges me to write the +present. A lover of my country I am, and ever have been; and +if there is anything more than another that is peculiar to my +native country which I love, it is the language. It was the +language that gave us a name, and that made us to differ from +the rest of Scotland. If there is anything more than another that +makes me feel proud as a man, it is this: that the Gaelic is my +native tongue, and the Highlands of Scotland my native country. +A language more glittering with a refined imagination than the +former, and a country more glittering with the same than the +latter, in the names given to the different places, is not, I believe, +to be found on earth. I am also a great lover of the native +melodies of my country. I am aware that many of a serious turn +of mind, not putting a distinction between songs and the melodies +accompanying them, have been led to look upon them as something +bad, calling them cursed songs and cursed bagpipes. But they +might as well call the Gaelic by the same name, because wicked +men use it for a bad purpose. The Gaelic may be used for a good +purpose, and so may these beautiful melodies. There are many +who use instruments of music in their parlours for a good purpose, +and why might not the bagpipes be used in the same way? Any +music that surpasses the melody of the bagpipes, in a Highland +glen, resounding from rocks, I have never listened to. I am sorry +that the old beautiful melodies of the Highlands are only to be +found now, in most places, amongst the aged, and that the young +race have lost them almost entirely. As the friend of our race, I +would say to them: Gather them all up, that none of them be lost. +You can scarcely leave a better inheritance for your children. I +would willingly part with everything I have in the world to be in +possession of them.</p> + +<p>Do not suppose that when a man becomes a Christian he ceases +to be a patriot—a lover of his country. No doubt he ceases to be +a lover of everything sinful peculiar to his countrymen, but I have +no idea of that religion that would make a man cease to be a man. +Did the great Apostle of the Gentiles ever forget that he was a +Hebrew of the Hebrews? No doubt he renounced it as the foundation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span> +of his hope before God, but to the latest day of his life he +never forgot it. The highest degree of patriotism that ever existed +in the soul of man existed in his great heart. Hear his language: +“I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing +me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and +continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were +accursed from Christ [was willing to be appointed by Christ to +suffering and death, if by that means he could save his countrymen.—<i>Barnes</i>], +for my brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh.” +<i>Romans</i> ix. 1-3. Did religion drive away patriotism from the +hearts of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Nehemiah? No; instead of that, +it made them patriots in the highest sense of the term.</p> + +<p>As a lover of my country, I cannot but be grieved to see the +Gaelic dying away in many parts. In several districts where, +thirty or forty years ago, the great body of the people remained +after the English service, now the great body of the people retire. +In those districts where Buchanan’s, Grant’s, and M’Gregor’s poems +were read and sung, now the great body of the people cannot read +a word of them; and as for their beautiful airs, they have lost them +almost entirely. This has arisen, no doubt, from the youth not +having been taught to read it in their schools; and the reason of +that again is, that it is generally considered as a barrier in the way +of their education. Parents wish to make scholars of their children, +and they think the best way to do so is by renouncing the Gaelic +altogether. This, I have no hesitation in saying, is a false, and +quite an erroneous view of the subject. The Germans, the greatest +scholars in the world—I have been told that the first language +which many of them study is the Gaelic; and I can tell those +parents who wish to make scholars of their children, by all means +to give them a good English education, but never, never lay aside +the Gaelic, but have them well grounded in it. Where is the man +that ever attempted to acquire the knowledge of Latin, Greek, or +Hebrew, that did not feel how greatly he was aided in doing so by +a knowledge of it? Were one to see two boys at school together +enjoying equal advantages, the one having the Gaelic and the other +not, he would generally see the Highlander actually rising above +his fellow; and I believe that were Highlanders to enjoy equal +advantages with others, they would be found generally rising +above their fellows at college. Were there two brothers of equal +talents—the one to neglect the Gaelic entirely, and to commence +with the English, then Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; and the other +with greater patience, while engaged with the English, to have +himself well grounded in the Gaelic, and then, although more tardy +and apparently behind his brother, to commence with Latin, Greek, +and Hebrew, he would in the long run fairly outstrip his brother. +It has been remarked that, in the time of the Peninsular war, none +in the British army could more readily hold intercourse with the +inhabitants than the Highland regiments. The Governor of Auckland, +New Zealand, is a Highlander, and the reason why he succeeded<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span> +to that honourable post was because he was enabled to +act as an interpreter between the British and the natives. How +was he so successful? His knowledge of the Gaelic accounts for it.</p> + +<p>Another thing that has a tendency to do away with the Gaelic +is because individuals from the low country are getting in amongst +them, and as they find the people able to converse with them, they +do not put themselves to the trouble of acquiring a knowledge of +their language. I would not wish my countrymen to act uncivilly +towards such, yet I think they might show them at least that they +respect their own language; and as they have chosen the Highlands +as their place of residence, they would also choose their language +as their own. I have known many who could not speak one +word of Gaelic, and who in a short time could speak it quite well.</p> + +<p>Another thing that has a tendency to do away with the Gaelic, +is, that many Highland ministers marry wives who cannot speak +one word of Gaelic. Their children, especially their daughters, +follow the mother, and not one word of Gaelic is spoken in the +family, nothing but genteel pure English. So that the man, however +hearty a Highlander he might have been, is fairly vanquished +in his own house. He loses heart in the Gaelic; not accustomed +to speak it in his family, he loses his relish to preach in it. He gets +careless about it in his sermons, in the school, and in the whole +parish; and perhaps whispers in the ears of some that it is in vain +attempting to keep it up, and that it is as well that it should die a +natural death. The daughters are no doubt taught music and +drawing, and, of course, French, but not one word of Gaelic, which +is considered too vulgar for young Misses. And these the daughters +of a Highland clergyman—a Gaelic preaching minister! Tell it +not in London, publish it not in the streets of Paris, lest the +daughters of the former rejoice, lest the daughters of the latter +triumph. I think that a minister’s wife should be humble, and so +condescending as that when she enters the manse she should +provide herself with Munro’s Grammar and M’Alpine’s Dictionary, +and with the aid of her husband and female servants, to master the +Gaelic, which would be more to her credit than—while their union +lasted—to be in the habit of leaving her pew, and retiring with the +genteel, the fashionable, and the gay, when her husband was about +to commence the Gaelic service; proving to a demonstration that +she had no great regard either for himself or for the truths which +he preached.</p> + +<p>It has a tendency likewise to do away with the Gaelic that the +genteel, the polite, and the fashionable do not speak it. Genteel! +That man does not deserve the name of a Highland gentleman who +does not speak, not only the English, but the Gaelic properly. It +is true that there are many Highland proprietors going about +through the country dressed in the Highland garb, who cannot +speak one sentence properly in the Gaelic. Were I to meet any +such I think I would be disposed to give them the following salutation:—“I +am glad, sir, to see you in that dress, but how dare you<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> +wear that kilt without speaking the Gaelic?” Were these gentlemen +to know the commanding influence which the Gaelic would give +them in the affection and esteem of the people, and how their very +names would be cherished by them, not only during their life-time, +but embalmed after their death, they would consider it a perquisite +to a Highland proprietor to speak the Gaelic. If there is an individual +on earth that I would be disposed to envy, he is a Highland +proprietor who speaks the Gaelic, who appears among his tenants,—not +as the haughty lord, not as the sectarian bigot, not as the +foreigner, not in his representative, the factor—but in his precious +self; as the warm-hearted, the noble, the homely Highland gentleman. +The command of such a man would move the whole country, +because he who gave it had a place in the affections of the inhabitants. +His threatenings would have a greater influence in keeping +down roguery than all the police in the world, and his frown would +be more dreaded than transportation for life. There was a very +touching account given in the <i>Perthshire Advertiser</i> of the late John +Stewart Menzies, Esq., of Chestill, not more touching than true. +I know the thrill of delight it spread, not only amongst his own +tenants, but over the whole country, when it was known that he +would not allow his servants to speak anything to his children but +the Gaelic. I remember seeing him upwards of twenty years ago, +when in the prime of manhood—the day that the Queen arrived at +Taymouth Castle. The impression is still fresh upon my mind,—the +noble appearance of the man dressed in the Highland garb, +the sonorous sound of his voice as he addressed the Highlanders in +Gaelic, requesting them to give three hearty cheers, so loud as to +be heard at Benmore (a mountain upwards of twenty miles distant.) +He gave a similar address in English, but it made no impression +on me compared with the Gaelic. There was a majestic tone that +accompanied the Gaelic which the English could not imitate. The +Breadalbane Gaelic is the most appropriate that could be used from +the lips of commanding officers of any in the Highlands. I could +easily conceive what a powerful effect an address from a Chieftain +would have over his clan in ancient times.</p> + +<p>I know that we have been accustomed to look upon ourselves as +a sociable and warm-hearted race, and to look upon our neighbours +as cold-hearted. Now, the Lowland Scotch are anything but cold-hearted; +they are also warm-hearted; but compared with us they +are cold—at least we think them so. We cannot be called a cruel +people; no doubt there are such among us—it is not our characteristic. +We cannot be called proud or haughty. There is a good +deal of that amongst us, but it is generally confined to a certain +class, and more in the west than in the east—it is not our characteristic. +We cannot be called a deceitful race; there is certainly +too much of that amongst us, but it is not universal, it is confined +to certain individuals. I have known some long-headed fellows +amongst us, as perfectly up to the art of deception as any I have +ever seen—still it is not our characteristic. Revenge cannot be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> +called the characteristic of Highlanders. Revengeful certainly they +are, and perhaps as much so as any in Britain, so that I cannot, I +dare not say that revenge may not be characteristic of some of them—still +it is not their characteristic. This then is the characteristic +of our race—<i>a warm-hearted Highlander</i>. I know, without fear of +contradiction, that this will find a response in every mind that knows +them properly. It is also characteristic of the native Irish. If +Robert Burns saw that nasty thing amongst us which he called +“Hieland pride,” he saw something else that caught his attention, +namely, “a Hieland Welcome;” and what can that be but the welcome +that the warm-hearted give to their friends. I know a young lad +who was in a certain glen for a week in search of sheep who had +wandered. He was in many a house, but in none of them did they +ask him “Had he dined?” No such questions were put, but in every +house they put meat on the table, and urged him with a heartiness +peculiar to themselves, to partake of it. Now, I ask, where in +Scotland or in England would a man meet with such warm-hearted +hospitality. The same lad was in a house at another time, where +the wife was a Baptist, who asked him, “Have you breakfasted?” +He reasoned with himself—If I say “No,” it will be the same as +asking my breakfast, so he said “Yes.” The consequence was that +he was that day in the hills without breakfast, well chastised for +telling a falsehood. But was the good woman to be justified after +all; ought she not to have entered more into the feelings of bashful +youth. I know two ministers who were in a certain glen preaching +the Gospel together. The one a Highlander, the other asked him +two or three times, “Where shall we rest all night?” The other had +no anxiety on the subject, knowing that the difficulty would be how +to refuse invitations, answered, “Do you see that slated house on +the other side of the river?” “Yes,” he replied. “Well, I do not +know who is there, but if we get no other place we’ll go there.”</p> + +<p>Now, a warm heart is one of the most agreeable features of +human nature. Whatever a man may have, if this be awanting in +him, he is destitute of that which would render him an object of +affection. A man may be wise, shrewd, clever, intelligent, patient, +and even sincere; but if he has not a warm heart, he is destitute +of the brightest ornament that can adorn his nature. Now, I ask, +what is it that gives us this feature in our character? Is it because +we entered into the world with kinder dispositions than others? +I have no idea of that. I believe it is our Gaelic that has done it. +Whether it was our warm hearts that gave us the Gaelic, or the +Gaelic that gave us the warm hearts, is a difficult question. The +influence, I believe, has been mutual. And I am certain, if there +is a language upon earth that might be called the language of a +warm-hearted people, it is the Gaelic. So that, as a race, we have +received our shape from the mould into which we have been cast, by +the lips of our fond mothers pouring the eloquence of their affectionate +souls into our tender minds. I have known mothers in the Highlands, +who could speak the English as well as any in Edinburgh<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> +who, when their children, being hurt, came crying to them, would +fling away their grammatical English as quite unsuited for the +occasion, and begin to address them in the endearing epithets of +the Gaelic, which alone could express their feelings.</p> + +<p>Let any person compare the endearing epithets in the Gaelic +with those in the English, and even in the broad Scotch, which is +far in advance of the English in that respect, and he cannot but +see how far short they come. They are few in the English—“love,” +“my love;” “dear,” “my dear;” “darling,” “my darling.” They +are not only few, but they are entirely without melody. There is no +melody in “love:” the lips are closed in pronouncing it, and entirely +exclude melody. “Dear” is equally destitute of melody: it ends +with the driest, and the letter that has the least melody in the whole +alphabet. “Darling” is not so bad, but comparatively has no melody. +Now, to say that melody has no effect upon the human mind the +whole world would contradict. It is a principle of nature’s teaching, +that melody affects the human mind. The English language +is artificial, and not the language of nature, and consequently is +entirely without melody.</p> + +<p>Let these endearing epithets be put into the lips of that +enchantress, the Scotchwoman, who sets to music almost everything +that passes through her fingers:—“Love,” “lovie,” “my +lovie;” “dear,” “dearie,” “my dearie;” “my wee darling,” “my +darling petty,” “my darling Johnnie;” “my wee lammie,” “my +darling lammie;” “my sweetie,” “my sweet babie.” There is +melody for you that would charm the very adders. Ah! but it is +vulgar. “They are sour, they are sour,” said the fox, when he +could not reach at the grapes. It is vulgar when the pride of a +refined style of pure English prevents many from using it. If there +is vulgarity in it, it is such as the English language cannot produce—not +indeed, on account of its vulgarity, but on account of its +true refinement.</p> + +<p>Let us turn now to the endearing epithets in the Gaelic, and +we shall find them towering as high above the English and the +broad Scotch as our Highland mountains tower high above theirs. +<i>Gradh</i>, <i>a ghraidh</i> (love, my love), the <i>dh</i> almost silent; <i>a ghraidh</i> +is equally strong with “my love,” and full of melody; <i>gaol</i>, <i>a ghaoil</i> +(love, my love, or dear, my dear). “<i>Ghaoil, a ghaoil, do na fearaibh</i>,” +(M’Lachlan), the most endearing expression which could come from +the lips of man, which the English cannot imitate, and which it is +impossible properly to translate. The nearest approach that can +be made to it—“Thou dearest, or most beloved, or most loving of +men.” How touching <i>Mo ghaolan</i>, <i>mo ghaolag</i>, the former the +diminutive masculine, the latter the diminutive feminine, the <i>an</i> +being the sign of the one and the <i>ag</i> the sign of the other, and +being the same as in broad Scotch affectionate. <i>Cheist</i>, <i>a cheist</i>, +<i>mo cheist</i>, <i>mo cheistean</i>, <i>mo cheisteag</i> (the question, thou art the +question, thou art my question, thou art my wee question, boy or +girl). What is the question with the fond mother? What shall<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> +I do with my child? How shall I comfort him? How shall I +make him happy? <i>Eudail</i>, <i>m’ eudail</i>, <i>m’ eudail bheag</i>—(thou art +property, thou art my property, thou art my wee property). <i>Eudail</i> +literally means cattle or property of any kind. <i>Run</i> literally means +intention, secret, disposition, inclination, regard; but when used as +an endearing epithet, it is the strongest in any language, and means +an object where all the desires and affections of the soul meet as +in a focus, an object on which they are fixed.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O’n bha Iosa, mo rùn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Greis ’n a luidh anns an ùir,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rinn e’n leaba so cùbhraidh dhomhs.—<span class="smcap">M’Gregor.</span></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">This is the epitaph which I wish to place on my grave-stone, which +cannot properly be translated.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Because Jesus, my run,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was asleep in the uir (dust),</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This bed he perfumed to me.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>How often such expressions as the following are heard from +the lips of mothers, and are still more powerful when they come +from the lips of a father:—<i>O! a ruin, gabh mo chomhairle</i> (O my +child, take my advice); <i>Mo runan beag</i> (My wee dear boy); <i>Mo +runag bheag</i> (My wee dear girl); and, used as an adjective, <i>Runach, +mo bhalachan runach</i> (My wee loving boy); <i>Mo chaileag runach</i> (My +wee loving girl). We have another word, which is the sweetest in +the language and full of melody, <i>Luaidh</i>, the <i>dh</i> being almost +silent. It literally means “mention,” “to make mention;” but when +used as a noun it means “a beloved person,” “an object of praise,” +“an object on which to expatiate or to talk about by way of praise.” +How powerful from the lips of parents or friends—<i>Mo luaidh, a +luaidh nan gillean</i> (thou dearest of lads); <i>a luaidh nan nighean</i> (thou +dearest of girls).</p> + +<p>It adds greatly to the force of these epithets when used along +with <i>mo chridhe</i> (my heart), as <i>a ghraidh</i>, <i>a ghaoil</i>, <i>a cheist</i>, <i>eudail</i>, <i>a +run</i>, <i>a luaidh mo chridhe</i>. Any one of these epithets used along with +<i>mo chridhe</i>, from the lips of an affectionate mother, is as much calculated +to soften the heart, and to bring tears from the eyes, as +any sounds that can come from the lips of a human being. And +equally strong, if not more so, <i>a laoidh mo chridhe</i> (thou calf of my +heart). Do not laugh at us, ye Lowland mothers—ye have your +ain “wee lammies,” and we have our ain “wee calfies,” and recollect +that our calfies are bonnier than yours. And, besides, I suppose +it is seldom you give milk to the ewe’s lammies; that is not, +however, the case with our mammies—they frequently give milk to +the cow’s calfies, and hence it cannot but occur to them that each +has a calfie of her own to give milk to. The proper pronunciation +of this word is impossible for an Englishman to come to, and might +be called the shibboleth. There is no sound in the Gaelic that has +more of that melody that subdues and softens. The tongue has +scarcely anything to do but merely to touch the upper teeth in pronouncing +the <i>l</i>, and then to withdraw, and, remaining passive, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> +sound is made by the gullet, and is as if it proceeded from the +heart.</p> + +<p>For “my sweet lammie,” we have <i>m’uanan</i>, <i>m’uanag mhilis</i>, masculine +and feminine. For “darling,” “my darling,” we have <i>chiall</i>, +<i>mo chiallan</i>, <i>mo chiallag</i>—both in the diminutive masculine and +feminine; and let it be borne in mind that the diminutive in the +Gaelic is expressive of affection like the broad Scotch. For “kind,” +“kindness,” we have <i>caoimhneas</i>, <i>caoimhneil</i>, full of melody. But +we have also <i>caoin</i> (kind), which is taken from the verb <i>caoineadh</i> +(weeping). We know that weeping is generally expressive of kindness. +It is very extraordinary that <i>guil</i> (to weep), is taken from +<i>guth shuil</i> (the voice of the eyes). There is another word still, and +equally melting, and more soothing to the feelings, <i>caomh</i> (kind), +<i>caomhail</i> (kindly), <i>caomhach</i> (a kind person), <i>caomhan</i>, <i>caomhag</i>, masculine +and feminine diminutive. <i>Mo dhuine caomh</i> (my kind man), +the most endearing expression that can come from the lips of a +woman to her husband. I have never had the pleasure of listening +to the endearing epithets expressive of the maternal feelings of a +Northumberland, a Yorkshire, or an Essex mother; but I am pretty +certain that nature has supplied them with something more expressive +of their feelings than the English language can do.</p> + +<p>Ye Lowland Scotch, look at our language! Many surly critics +amongst you have hitherto been listening to it with the ear, and +looking at it with the scowling eye of contempt. Look at it again—look +at it aright, and that contempt will give place to admiration! +Ye refined, ye learned Englishmen, enter this our vale of Athol +through the Highland mouth’s paradise, Dunkeld; not with railway +speed, but at your leisure. Let your ears be charmed with the +melody of our groves, and let your cold hearts be warmed with +the comforts of our Highland homes.</p> + +<p>Now, my countrymen, look at your own language. Have you +any cause to be ashamed of it? Have you not cause rather to be +proud of it, and even to bless God for giving you such a language? +Would you wish to renounce that language, so expressive of the +kindest feelings of the heart, and which has made us what we are—a +warm-hearted, sociable race? Would you wish to renounce it, +and to receive in its place the language taught in your schools? +Should you ever do so, let me tell you that you will renounce your +warm hearts along with it—both shall be buried in the same grave +together, and you will make but a very poor exchange; as poor, +as if you passed from sunny France to Greenland, the land of snow +and frost. The language taught in your schools is for the head, +but not for the heart—for the understanding, not for the soul; +yes, for the mental faculties, not for the affections. And as such +study it; you will never be great scholars without a knowledge of +it; it is essential to obtaining the knowledge of the different +branches of education. But let it never be the language of your +firesides, of your parlours, of your social gatherings. The language +taught in your schools is the language of scholars, of learned men<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> +(these dry mortals); and may be called the language of art, or an +artificial language. But your language is the language of nature, +of affectionate parents, kind-hearted companions, of your countrymen; +and while speaking it you act as natural a part as the sheep +in bleating.</p> + +<p>Men’s great effort in the present time is to do away, not only +with the Highland Gaelic, but also with the Provincial dialects in +Scotland and in England; and to substitute in their place pure +English. All are drilled with the same grammars—regulated by the +same vocabularies, without one word but proper English; and every +word to be pronounced with the same accuracy. This is what they +aim at, and rejoice in their success; and are apt to pity those poor +creatures that are not willing to be ruled by them. Well, should +they be successful and reach the summit of their ambition, to which +they no doubt look forward with pleasure; when they shall get +every man, woman, and child, from John o’ Groat’s to Land’s End, +under the sway of pure English, and, standing on the highest pinnacle +of the pyramid which they have reared, what shall they +behold? One universal, uniform level. No rising ground, no +elevated spots, no sloping eminences, no ranges of mountains to +relieve the mind and please the eye. Should they be successful, +instead of being a source of rejoicing to them, they would have a +greater cause to weep over the havoc they have made in the +beautiful variety of nature; more resembling the work of locusts +than of rational men. Man’s great effort is uniformity, perfect +uniformity. God’s method is variety. Which the most glorious—man’s +uniformity or God’s variety? The former like the work of +a man, the latter like the work of a God. The former would sicken +my soul, the latter would put me in ecstasy. And the same effort +is made by all the different denominations of Christians. Uniformity +of creed and of worship is their great aim and wish; and the more +successful they are, the more they are pleased with themselves. +But by persevering in the course they are taking, never, never shall +they reach millennial glory. Before they shall reach that, they +must not only give over their present attempt, but retrace their +steps, and rest satisfied with God’s method of a glorious variety. +In this way, and in this way alone, shall God’s people be properly +united, and enjoy one another.</p> + +<p>Who is not delighted with the different varieties of Gaelic spoken +in the Highlands? Is it not much more agreeable than were the +whole under the sway of our standard Gaelic. The same words +used, the same pronunciation, the same tones everywhere; which +would make the whole Highlands, as regards the Gaelic, a perfect +level. Whereas, in its present state, there is a variety of scenery +to relieve the mind—towering mountains here and there.</p> + +<p>There Ben Nevis lifting its head above the rest, as if bidding +defiance to the whole for having the best Gaelic. That was the +native place of M’Lachlan, one of the best Gaelic scholars that +ever lived, and a first-rate poet too. The Fort-William people may<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> +ascend the top of Ben Nevis with the elegy that he composed to +Professor Beattie, Aberdeen, and defy, not only the English, but +even the broad Scotch to produce its equal. The air of that piece +is one of the most plaintive that ever I have listened to, being the +air of that old song called “The Massacre of Glencoe.”</p> + +<p>Ben Cruachan, again, at the other end of that range of magnificent +mountains, representing the mainland of Argyleshire. And +although it may not vie with the other in point of height, it may +surpass it in point of rich pasture, and be almost its equal in point +of an extensive survey from its summit.</p> + +<p>Ben Lawers represents the Breadalbane Gaelic, <i>a’ chainnt shocrach, +choir</i>. Some consider it too drawling; yet I am delighted with it, +being the best suited and the most appropriate that could come +from the lips of a Breadalbanite. They are the best people for +being heard in the distance that I know. A person would be +almost led to think they acquired that habit by their forefathers +having been accustomed to talk with one another across Loch Tay.</p> + +<p><i>Si-chailinn</i>, again, representing the Glenlyon, the Strathtummel, +and the Rannoch Gaelic, which I believe is a corruption of “<i>Ciche +chailinn</i>.” Our Lowland neighbours have retained the sense, “The +Maiden’s pap.” Rannoch has perhaps the best Gaelic in Perthshire.</p> + +<p><i>Benaglo</i> represents the Blair Athol and the Strathardle Gaelic. +May a race ever surround it that will understand</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Beinn a ghlodh nan eag,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beinn a bheag ’us airgead mheann,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beinn a bhuirich ’us damh na croic ann,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S allt nead ’n coin ri ceann.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p><i>Beinn a bhrachdaidh</i> represents the Athol Gaelic, rich in pasture, +noble in appearance; but let it take care of a colony forming at +its base, that they will not undermine it and blow it up. Pitlochrie +is extending its cottages, filled with foreigners. May it ever be a +source of protection to the Atholites from the cold northern blasts +of the language taught in their schools.</p> + +<p><i>Ghlaismhaol</i>, on whose summit the three counties of Perth, Forfar, +and Aberdeen meet, we may almost score out of our list, as it +has almost deserted us.</p> + +<p><i>Benmacdui</i>, representing the Badenoch and the Braemar Gaelic; +but let it take care that it will not be in the descending scale.</p> + +<p><i>Beinn Bhiogair</i>, in Islay, raises its head as high as it can, representing +the Islay Gaelic, which is certainly good. The females in +Islay, with the exception of those in North Uist, are the sweetest +speakers of Gaelic that I know. Islay is the native place of +M’Alpine, the author of the pronouncing dictionary, which is very +good, only there are a few words with the Islay pronunciation +which do not suit other places.</p> + +<p><i>’Bheinnmhor</i>, in Mull, raises its head high, and so it may, for its +Gaelic is excellent. Its inhabitants speak it generally with great +correctness and fluency. But I am not sure if it can look down +upon all its neighbours. There is an island beyond it, namely,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> +Tiree, which, though it has no large mountains like those in Mull +to boast of, still the few it has are beautiful, and green to the top, +whose inhabitants are amongst the prettiest and the most fluent +speakers in the Highlands. They have no tone whatever like many +others, and it is seldom they commit a grammatical blunder; their +very peculiarities are pretty; a person would be almost led to think +that they are born grammarians. A boy six or eight years of age +might teach grammar to one-third of the Highland population. +Their only fault is having too many English words in their vocabulary. +As this is not a fault peculiar to the Tiree people, I would +caution Highlanders against the practice. If they can find a Gaelic +word to suit the purpose, why use an English word? I have known +Highlanders that had dogs, and that disdained to call them by an +English name, or to speak one word to them in English, and who +pitied those poor fellows that thought their dogs could not be +taught to answer in Gaelic.</p> + +<p><i>Chuillinn Sgiathanach</i>, the chief mountain in Skye, raising its head +aloft as if saying, “We have the best Gaelic in the Highlands.” Certainly +they have good Gaelic, and they speak it in a way peculiar +to themselves, which is delightful to listen to, but still no one but a +simpleton would attempt to imitate them.</p> + +<p><i>Hough mor</i>, South Uist (<i>Hough</i> means mountain), raises its head +as if determined not to be behind the rest; and so it may, for it is +second to no other place in the Highlands. As for Lewes, it is +like a kingdom by itself. There we have the only individual that +attempted to write the history of Scotland in Gaelic. Thanks to +him for his effort. May he not be disappointed in his expectation. +Let my countrymen show that they appreciate his labours, by +putting themselves in possession of his work. Should he publish a +second edition, the names of places, I think, would be better as +they are in English, or, if translated, to be put in the margin. As +there is a good deal of provincialism in the Gaelic of Lewes, I +think, in writing, it would be better if possible to follow our standard +of Gaelic.</p> + +<p>As I have never been in Sutherlandshire, nor on the mainland +of Ross and Inverness-shires, I am not prepared to speak from +personal knowledge of the various shades of difference there, resembling +their chief mountains; but I know there are differences. +Let each class not be ashamed of their own peculiarity. It is the +language of their nature, and they act according to their nature +when they speak it. For a Ross-shire man to attempt to imitate +an Argyleshire man would make him ridiculous, and for the latter +to attempt to imitate the former would make him equally so. I +have known men who, when they sold their stirks, spoke their own +language, but when engaged in prayer to God, spoke in the language +and tones of Ross-shire. Are they so stupid as not to know +that it is not to the tones of the voice that God will listen, but to +the earnest pleadings of believing hearts? There are several districts +in the Highlands where the Gaelic has sadly degenerated;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> +their best plan would be to get teachers from those parts where it +is not so.</p> + +<p>The great object, then, at present is not only to do away with +our Gaelic in all its beautiful variety, but to do away with the +broad Scotch in all its beautiful variety likewise, and to establish +upon their ruins pure English. Now, I have not one word to say +against the English. I admire it as the best that could be used +for our halls of learning, for discussing any public question, and +for handling any intricate subject. But I must declare that it has +a baneful effect on society. It is the worst language that could be +used for parents, children, brothers, sisters, companions, and for the +social gathering. Being an artificial language, it makes society so +too. It has a tendency to puff them up with pride. Instead of +making them pliable, it makes them stiff; distant and reserved +instead of being homely; unnatural instead of natural; unsociable +instead of sociable; and instead of making them easy, imposes its +own yoke of ceremonial bondage upon its votaries; and I have no +hesitation in affirming, without fear of contradiction, that pure English, +instead of regenerating society, has the contrary effect. It is +probable that I may be sneered at for so affirming, but it will remain +a fact when the sneering is over, and will yet be acknowledged +when I am dead and laid in the grave. Let any person seriously +consider the fearful havoc it has made, not only in the Highlands, +but also in our large cities. It has divided society into two—the +refined and the vulgar; the genteel and the homely; the upper and +the lower class; the select and the common. What has it made of +the most of our Highland proprietors? Are they what they used +to be, the men of the people, standing on a common level with them +in speaking their native Gaelic? No, they are now as if they were +a race of foreigners amongst them, high up above their heads, +without any sympathy with them, disdaining to speak one word to +them but in pure English. It has likewise a baneful effect on the +middle class of society, those who aspire after it, who put themselves +amongst “the would-be genteel,” who in the pride of their +hearts, although they can speak Gaelic, deny that they can, and +become ashamed of it at home and abroad. The consequence is, +that when the English sermon is over, they must retire with the +genteel and the fashionable, and disdain to remain amongst a company +of vulgar Highlanders, listening to a vulgar discourse in Gaelic. +To what shall I compare these “would-be gentlemen and ladies?” +Shall I compare them to the vain peacock showing his beautiful +tail, or to the ass showing its long ears? I think I will compare +them to both. There they are retiring as if saying, “See what +beautiful tails we have got.” “O yes, yes,” might those within say +to them, “we see them, we see them, but we see your long ears +likewise.”</p> + +<p>Were there a discourse in broad Scotch delivered in the Lowlands +after the superfine English, depend upon it your fine +ladies and gentlemen would retire all in a band before their ears<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> +would be horrified by its sweet melody, and it would be a first-rate +excuse to pretend that they had lost their broad Scotch.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>You are in danger also, not from the chains and slavery of proud +Edward’s power, but from another quarter you never suspect, +namely, the <i>Dominie’s tawse</i>. Take care that he’ll not rob you of +your wifies, weans; your Johnnies, Tammies, Willies; your Jessies, +Katies, and Betsies; yes, your bonnie lammies, and from many other +wee bits o’ things which you hae tingling about your hearths, and +around your affections, which make you so sociable and happy, and +moreover gives you such unparalleled tongues for melody and music. +Again, as your friendly neighbour, I say take care.</p> + +<p>I am convinced, that were the broad Scotch mixed with an +English vocabulary, and pronounced as it is generally by educated +Scotsmen, we would have a language for all the purposes of life, +far surpassing the pure English, and which, instead of it being our +envy, ours would actually be the envy of Englishmen. Such a +language would not only give us clear heads, but also warm hearts; +would not only be the best for the higher departments of literature, +but the best for our homes, as husbands and wives, parents and +children, brothers and sisters; for friends; and in the social circle; +and put us in possession of lyric poetry, such as the English +language has not, and never can produce. It is most extraordinary +that intelligent well educated Scotsmen never attempt to speak +their own language but when they wish to be humorous. Now, +that really implies that they see something pretty in it after all, but +that what is fashionable and customary amongst educated men prevents +them from using it but for such a purpose. But I think that +the pretty thing should not be altogether laid aside, but freely used, +not merely for making the social circle smile, but also for warming +their hearts, and making each feel that he is quite at home—in an +honest, homely, cheerful Scotsman’s home.</p> + +<p>How highly would I esteem that learned professor who, after +delivering his lecture to the students in pure English, would no +sooner leave his professional chair, and meet his friend, than he +would salute him, not as the learned professor, but as the homely +Scotsman;—that when he would enter his own dwelling and sit at +the head of his family, he would appear there in the same garb, and +would set an example before his children, not so much for correct +speaking as for affability, kindness, and homeliness of manner;—who, +when he would appear in the social circle, would be its life and +soul—not indeed as the learned professor, but as the man of feeling, +of intelligence, and of sociality. Is it not a known fact that great +learning in a sermon actually destroys its effect, and that great +scholarship in a man eclipses the affectionate friend, the social companion. +A man brimful of learning we may admire but we cannot +love.</p> + +<p>Now, such is the English, a learned language. The Scholar is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> +seen almost in every sentence. I may admire it, and in doing so I +feel that it puffs me up, but love it I cannot. It is not like the +Gaelic and the broad Scotch—the language of nature—but the +language of art. In the Gaelic I see my own image reflected, but +in the English the image of the scholar. As the Gaelic reflects the +image of the Highlanders, and the broad Scotch that of the Lowlanders, +I cannot but love them. I may admire the works of art, +but love them I cannot; but the works of nature I not only admire, +but actually love them also, and I cannot but do so.</p> + +<p>The English language is not only to a great extent foreign to +the Scotch people, but it is almost equally so to the great body of +the people of England; and is it not extraordinary, that before men +are considered qualified for preaching the gospel to the native inhabitants, +they must do so in a language which they do not speak, +and in a style of elocution which is not natural to them. An +Englishman’s elocution is the most unlikely for moving a Scotchman, +and far less a Highlander. I once attended an elocution class, whether +the better of it or not I cannot say; but one day in the Highlands +I opened the door and saw a woman within twenty yards, beyond a +dyke—the upper part of the body only seen, her hair dishevelled, +her hand raised, her fist shut, and scolding at a fearful rate. I +heard her tones, caught her expressions, noticed the eloquence with +which she spoke, and returned into the house, saying to myself—“It +was quite needless for me to have attended Mr Hartley’s class, +when elocution is to be found so near, and that of the right kind, +the elocution of nature.”</p> + +<p>Is it not a fact that some of the Methodists are sneered at by +the Press for attempting to speak to the people in their provincialism. +Go on, ye lively Methodists; never heed their sneers. You +are doing the very thing which the Holy Ghost enabled the +Apostles to do—to speak unto men in their own tongues. I question +if the present style of preaching the Gospel will ever gain the hearts +of the Scotch people to God. And I would not be surprised +although God would show their folly to those who attempt to do +so by raising up Evangelists—men endowed with a good fund of +common sense and natural talent—men fired with zeal for the glory +of God—moved on with warm hearts and compassionate souls, who +will preach the Gospel to them in that language which is a part of +their nature and the best medium for getting at their hearts. We +know that conversion is the work of God, but when he deals with +men he uses appropriate means. He does not lay aside the natural +laws of their nature, but acts in accordance with them. When He +unlocks the door of the heart He uses a key fitted for the purpose; +and is it possible that a pure English style can be the proper key +for unlocking the heart of that man who has been accustomed all +his life long to speak broad Scotch. Had the Gospel ever such an +effect as when it was preached in the native language of the country? +There is not only an orthodox creed, but there must also be an +orthodox language and even an orthodox elocution. It is to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> +feared that men with their orthodoxy will allow poor sinners to go +to hell.</p> + +<p>The orthodox creed, language, elocution, and even melodies, are +all artificial—the handiwork of that being man, who would be as +gods, and which are impossible to admire without being puffed up +with a vain conceit of his great powers. O! how different the +effects in admiring the handiwork of the Great Supreme as they are +seen in nature—in birds, beasts, fish, flowers, mountains, and dales, +the native languages and melodies of our races. The chattings of +Highlanders and Lowlanders to one another is as much the +language of nature as the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, +and the chirping of birds. And our native melodies are as much +the melodies of nature as the singing of larks and nightingales. But +proud man must do away with them by introducing his own artificial +language and melodies, on which he puts the stamp of orthodoxy.</p> + +<p>The pure English has not only committed a great havoc amongst +us, both in the Highlands and Lowlands, but there is also an +Englified style accompanying it in many places which is disgusting. +Were there an English lady to settle in one of our Highland towns +she would soon be surrounded by a goodly number of mimicking +parrots. Cockneyism in Cockneydom does very well; I would almost +dance with delight to listen to it there; but Cockneyism from the +lips of a Scotchman, and far more from a Highlander, I abominate. +I have been quite ashamed of some of my own countrymen, who, +when they go South, are not satisfied with merely imitating Scotchmen, +but they must become regular Cockneys. Ah! the pride of +their hearts is contemptible. I would say to a Scotchman—if you +wish to show yourself a man, show yourself a Scotchman; and I +would say the same to a Highlander—if you also wish to show +yourself a man, show yourself a Highlander. Is an Englishman +alone to have the privilege and the honour of showing himself a +man? Is he and his artificial English to be exalted as a god in +every part of the United Kingdom? Must every knee bow and +every tongue confess to him? I declare, in the name of my countrymen, +that we shall not worship at his shrine; we shall not fall down +and worship the golden image which he has set up. As a race, we +and our language have hitherto been unjustly and contemptuously +treated. But as we have in times past made others feel that we +were alive, we shall not only make Scotland, but England also, +feel that as a race we are still alive and have a language of our +own. So that, from this time henceforward, should one Highlander +show his peacock-tail to another by addressing him in any other +language but his native Gaelic—considering it more genteel—let +him be told at once without any ceremony, <i>Tha mi ga fhaicinn, tha +mi ga fhaicinn, ach ata mi faicinn cluasan fad na h-asail mar an +ceudna</i>; and in like manner, should a Scotchman show his peacock-tail +to another by addressing him in any language but that of his +native country, let him also be told at once, “I see it, I see it, but +I see your long ears also.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span></p> + +<p>There was an individual at one time called “the Flower o’ Dumblane.” +I wonder if there was one in the present time that might +be called the Flower of Glasgow, what like would she be. I suppose +she would be good-looking, a handsome body, and good +features; I don’t say either pretty or beautiful, but good; her +expression sweet, amiable, intelligent; her manner easy, graceful, +natural; nothing awkward, nothing artificial, but the spontaneous +outflow of a kind heart, good taste, and an enlightened mind. But +how would the Flower be dressed? Of course many would answer—quite +in the fashion. I am not very sure about that; I think +quite in the fashion would disfigure the Flower. How then? Just +in such a manner as that no person would notice the dress at all, +but have the attention fixed upon the Flower, and that nothing +could be said about it but that it was befitting. But the Flower of +Glasgow would not require to be dumb, she must speak occasionally, +but in doing so would not put herself in the front rank of +speakers. She would, however, be an acute observer of what was +said and done, and should anything deserve a laugh, she would of +course give a hearty one to show her white teeth and her kind +nature. When, however, any remark was made, or any question +put to her, demanding her saying something, she would of course +speak out. Bearing in mind that she is a native of Glasgow, that +her mother was that before her, a truly Scotch woman, who spoke +the broad Scotch, but considerably refined by her intelligence and +good taste. Now, what would be her style of speaking? Many +would answer, no doubt, “In first-rate English style.” I declare +that that again would destroy the beauty of your flower. There +must be nothing artificial in a flower. The moment art lays its +hand upon it, or even touches it, its beauty fades. No doubt there +are many flowers in Glasgow, but many of them are artificial, and +differ as much from the real flower as the flowers in their shop +windows differ from those in the West End Park. There +are many Scotch parents who send their daughters to English boarding-schools +to be as perfectly Englified there as possible, but it is +the same as if they put their flowers into a hot-house in the month +of July. A flower will never show its beauty but in connection +with its parent stem; remove it from that and it fades.</p> + +<p>In order that a man may be a good member of society, he must +be affable and agreeable in his manner; but he can neither be the +one nor the other unless he is homely. And how can that man be +homely who assumes an Englified style of speaking foreign to his +nature. I am aware that in certain circles to say that a man is +homely is nothing to his praise, but implies that in their estimation +he is awanting in something that would make him a better member +of society. He is too homely in his dress, in his style, in his +expressions—too homely in his manner as he sits and holds his +head, laughs and smiles; in short, he is too homely in everything. +But I wonder how they would improve the homely man. I suspect +the improvement would be something like the improvement that a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> +number of drunkards would make upon a sober man. They are +intoxicated themselves with a vain conceit of a certain standard of +refinement, and they must do their best to get him intoxicated also. +In order to come up to their standard, he must make a fop of himself—must +make a fool of himself by assuming a style of speaking +not natural to him. He must sit and hold his head in the fashionable +position; if that is not its natural position, he would require +a person to sit behind him, and with a hand on each side to keep it +in the genteel position. His laughing must be all feigned, not +hearty, not natural; his smiling must be the same. In short, in +order to come up to their standard, he must make himself a regular +play-actor, a hollow hypocrite, a downright mimicking parrot. See +that female, how straight she holds her head. Is that its natural +position? Does she keep it that way at <i>hame</i>? I suspect not—there +is evidently an effort. My young woman, I am sorry for the +misery you are inflicting upon yourself. That which is generally +called refined society is a society for inflicting misery upon their +dupes, and upon their race; and the females of that society might +be called sisters of cruelty, and not “sisters of mercy.”</p> + +<p>Were there a society formed for improving nature as seen in +birds and four-footed animals, I suppose all men would look upon +such as a society of fools. But a society formed for improving +nature as seen in the human species, is more highly thought of than +any society on earth. I leave wise men to judge if there is not more +of the fool in such a society than they are aware of. And the first +attempt that has been made to improve the human species in Scotland +is to do away with their native languages, which are the +languages of their nature, and which God hath given them to +make their feelings and their thoughts known to one another, +and to impose upon them a language which is foreign to their nature +and not in accordance with the feelings of their hearts. God knows +what is better for Highlanders than they know, and their best plan +is, if they would not set themselves up in opposition to him, to aid +them in obtaining more knowledge of their own language, for certainly +they will obtain the knowledge of salvation more readily +through the medium of their own than any language they can teach +them. There are various ways in which men attempt to improve +nature as seen in the human species. I would say leave them, let +them alone to be guided by their own natural instincts under the +guidance of their parents. The only improvement that ought to be +attempted is giving them spiritual instincts—to impart the knowledge +of God to them through the medium of their own language—to +make them acquainted with God’s method of saving men through +Christ—bringing them under the influence of the love of God, giving +them the hope of glory—making them to rejoice in God their +Saviour, and uniting them to Christ and to one another in love. Then +there will indeed be a refined society, with heaven’s stamp upon it—natural, +beautiful, glorious: as far above what is called refined +society as the heavens are high above the earth.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span></p> + +<p>It is true that the Gaelic is not to be compared as a learned language +with the English, being very deficient in those technical terms +that are used in the various branches of education. But for ordinary +purposes, the Gaelic is not only equal but in many things surpasses +the English. The tongue of a Highlander surpasses any that I +have listened to for sarcasm, wit, and good humour. For showing +the good qualities of one, or the bad qualities of another, it is before +the English. For expressing sympathy with a fellow sufferer—for +the house of prayer—for the family and the social circle—for expressing +the conjugal, the parental, the filial, the brotherly, the +friendly feelings and affections of the heart, it is far in advance of +the English. For preaching the gospel, for expatiating on the +love of God, for holding forth Jesus Christ and him crucified, for +catching and keeping the attention, for reaching and searching the +conscience, and for applying the subject to the heart, I have always +preferred it; and I am convinced that those who know it properly, +and are in the habit of using it, have the same feelings. Its very +simplicity gives it a power which the English does not possess. Who +does not see that the very simplicity of Judah’s pleading with +Joseph for his brother Benjamin gave it greater force than had it +been delivered by Lord Brougham. Many of the translations +which I have seen in Gaelic are far too literal and stiff. A literal +translation will never tell on the minds of Highlanders. The best +way is to catch the ideas, and to express them as they would do +themselves.</p> + +<p>What the Gaelic is capable of doing is clearly seen from the +<i>Gaelic Messenger</i> and Dr. M’Leod’s Collection, also the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i> +with notes, and other works of John Bunyan, translated and +edited by Dr. M’Gilvray, Glasgow, which has not only come up to +the original, but in some things surpasses it. If <i>Good Words</i> in the +hands of the son are good, good words in the hands of the father +are not behind. Any periodical more expressive, more telling, more +touching, and more entertaining than the <i>Gaelic Messenger</i> I have +never read; and the principal reason why that periodical had not +been more extensively circulated, and why it has ceased to exist, is +the great misfortune connected with Highlanders—that the great +body of them are not taught to read the Gaelic. This misfortune +is their disgrace—the disgrace of parents—the disgrace of noblemen +and gentlemen who are native proprietors; yes, and the disgrace +of ministers and schoolmasters. Let them all awake and wipe +away the disgrace from their native country. It is with blushing +shame for my country that I have to declare that never in my +younger days did I get a single lesson in the Gaelic in any school +that I attended, and I feel the ill effects of it to this day.</p> + +<p>There is one thing, however, in which the Gaelic greatly exceeds +the English, namely, in lyric poetry. From the very constitution of +the two languages the English will not even make a near approach +to it. It is capable of a great many contractions that the English is +not capable of, <i>agus</i> and <i>’us</i>, <i>’s</i>. All monosyllables and trisyllables<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> +ending with <i>a</i>, or <i>e</i>, may drop the last. Such words as <i>saoghalta</i> +(worldly), <i>saoghalt</i>, <i>saogh’lt</i>; participles of verbs, such as <i>riarachadh</i> +(satisfying), <i>riarach’</i>, or <i>riar’chadh</i>; the verb to be, <i>is maith</i> (it is +good), <i>’s maith</i>; <i>bithidh</i> (will, or shall be), <i>bi’dh</i>; <i>bithibh</i> (be ye), +<i>bi’bh</i>; <i>bi thusa</i> (be thou), <i>bi’-sa</i>. But what makes the Gaelic so +superior to the English, is, not merely that it is capable of more +contractions, but as the vowels are more distinctly sounded and the +consonants less so, we are satisfied if we get the vowels to rhyme; +but that will not do in the English, the consonants must rhyme also. +The vowels in the Gaelic have only the two sounds, the short and +the long, and are pronounced as in the broad Scotch. We have +several sounds which are not in the English at all, sounds formed +by the union of two and even three vowels, which are the most +melodious in the language. Union of two vowels—<i>ao</i>, <i>gaol</i>, <i>saor</i> +(love, free); <i>ia</i>, <i>grian</i>, <i>srian</i> (sun, bridle); <i>ei</i>, <i>greine</i>, <i>srein</i> (the genitive +of sun, bridle); <i>eu</i>, <i>speur</i>, <i>neul</i> (sky, cloud); <i>ua</i>, <i>fuachd</i>, <i>shuas</i> +(cold, up); <i>ai</i>, <i>baigh</i>, <i>traigh</i> (kindness, seashore); <i>io</i>, <i>fior</i>, <i>dion</i> (true, +protection); <i>eo cleoc reota</i>, (a cloak frozen). The union of three +vowels, the sweetest sounds in the language—<i>aoi</i>, <i>aoibhneas</i> (joy); +<i>uai</i>, <i>buaidh</i> (victory). Besides these, there are many words where +<i>eu</i> may be changed into <i>ia</i>, as <i>feur</i>, <i>geur</i>, <i>neul</i> (grass, sharp, cloud), +<i>fiar</i>, <i>giar</i>, <i>nial</i>. The former is the standard Gaelic, but the latter +is more common in the west and north.</p> + +<p>To translate lyric poetry from English into Gaelic is comparatively +easy, but to translate it into English is not only more difficult, +but we have many pieces which cannot be translated at all so as to +rhyme. Let any person compare our metrical version of the +Psalms of David with the English, and he cannot but see how +superior it is; and even the paraphrases, although originally composed +in English, the Gaelic not only comes up to it, but actually +surpasses it in many places. In the English, in common metre, the +last syllable of the second and fourth line only rhyme, whereas frequently +in the Gaelic the last syllable of the first, and the fourth of +the second rhyme.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“C’arson a struidheas sibh ’ur maoin</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Air nithibh faoin nach biadh;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S a chailleas sibh ’ur saoth’ir gach la,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Mu ni nach sasuich miann?”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">How smoothly and sweetly does that rhyme flow compared with +the English. I have seen a book called the <i>Highland Bards</i>, translated +by a great scholar, and although done as well as possible in a +translation, yet every one who knows Gaelic cannot fail to see how +far short it comes of the strength and beauty of the original. No man, +however great, can do an impossibility. I have also seen translations +of Dugald Buchanan’s Poems, and these by men who were +greater scholars than himself; and on looking at them, I saw as +great a change between them and the original as if I had seen +Dugald himself when in his prime, and again at seventy, when it would +be all I could do to recognise his features, but O how changed!<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> +Taking his poem on the day of judgment, I defy the English +language to produce its equal as a piece of lyric poetry. In the +language there is scarcely a single word coined from another +language, perhaps a few from the broad Scotch that came to be +naturalized—all the language of his native country, extraordinary +for its simplicity and expressiveness. The rhyme of that poem is +smooth, it is perfect. I have attempted, or should rather say, I +have endeavoured to improve what others attempted, and the best +I could make of some of the verses I give in the following:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My worldly thoughts, O God inspire,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And touch my lyre that it may play,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I may put in solemn rhyme</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Thy most sublime and awful day.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O! listen all ye sons of men,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">This world’s last end is come to pass,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Start all ye dead to life again,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The great Amen has come at last.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The sun, great majesty of lights,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To his great brightness shall succumb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The shining radiance of his face,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">His light with haste shall overcome.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Was it enough that nature’s sun</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Aghast did shun the deed to see,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why did not the creation die</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When Christ expired upon the tree?</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">These are equally strong, and rhyme well, but where is the melody +compared with the Gaelic, and it is most extraordinary that I cannot +sing them without feeling that I am puffed up with the language, +whereas in the Gaelic I have no such feelings. The English will +never come up to the following, sublime in their simplicity:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mu mheadhon oidhch’ ’nuair bhios an saogh’l,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Air aomadh thairis ann an suain;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grad dhuisgear suas an cinne daoin,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Le glaodh na trompaid ’s airde fuaim.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Look at the rhyme how smooth and agreeable to the ear—the +language how simple and artless, the scene presented how solemn. +We can scarcely conceive of any thing more so, than the world +having reclined over in sleep’s soft repose, and then suddenly to be +awakened with the trumpet’s loudest sound.</p> + +<p>The English language completely fails in giving a proper translation; +being an artificial language, it disfigures almost every thing +it handles.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When the whole world in midnight’s lull,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In silent slumbering sleep is found,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their rest shall quickly be disturb’d</div> + <div class="verse indent2">By the last trumpet’s awful sound.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The following are sublime:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tha’m bogha frois muo’n cuairt d’a cheann;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Mar thuil nan gleann tha fuaim a ghuth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mar dhealanaich tha sealla ’shul,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A sputadh as na neulaibh tiugh.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span></p> + +<p class="noindent">Not a single expression but what a herd lad, who was never at +school, could use, and yet how sublime. Put it into the hands of +the mistress of arts, and see how it will appear.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The rainbow bright surrounds his head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like flood of glens his voice divine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like lightning flashes ’mid dark clouds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The astounding glances of his eyes.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">There it is pretty strong, but where is the melody so agreeable to +the ear? The English will never make it rhyme without divesting +it of its sublimity.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tha mile tairneanach ’na laimh</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A chum a naimhdean sgrios a’m feirg,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S fonna-chrith orr gu dol an greim,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Mar choin air eill ri am na seilg.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Try that again.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A thousand thunders in his hand</div> + <div class="verse indent2">At his command his foes to crush,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shivering, eager to be engaged</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Like hounds restrained by the leash.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>This is not so far amiss, only “crush” and “leash” as it regards +the vowels, do not rhyme. Look at the Gaelic—how simple; every +word forged and hammered on the anvil of a Highlander’s method +of making his thoughts known. Consider the sublimity of the +passage. Dugald was not a classical, but one of nature’s scholars, +who had learned his lessons well, and I am certain that in learning +them he was not puffed up as they are, but rather humbled. +Thunder, one of the most awful agents conceivable. When the +thunder roars the earth keeps silence. A thunder held in the hand—how +sublime? A thousand thunders, a thousand times more so. +How are these thunders held? Like hounds restrained by the +leash. Anything more expressive could not come from the lips of +man. A hound at first sight of the game would almost choke +himself at the first spring, if restrained. Are these things so; and +how perilous the condition of those who are the enemies of the +Great Judge? The air to which that poem is sung is also most +appropriate; so that in singing it, one never thinks either of the +language or the melody, any farther than that they are expressive; +but has his mind wholly occupied with the sublime, the awful, and +the beautiful imagery presented before it. I have heard that poem +sung to a crowded audience, and I have never listened to anything +spoken or sung that had a greater effect. Every eye fixed; all +attention; awe, anxiety, concern depicted on every countenance. +And I can tell Ministers of the Gospel all over the Highlands, that +could they get two or three to sing that poem properly to their +congregations, that it would have a far greater effect than most of +their sermons. And I can tell them, moreover, that that poem +sung once had a more blessed effect than all my sermons for a +whole twelvemonth.</p> + +<p>There are three poems of M’Gregors composed to suit the air of +an old song, called “<i>Gaoir nam ban Muileach</i>” (The wail of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> +Mull women). There are seven lines in the stanza, and the last is +repeated twice. In singing it it resembles the regular flow of a +torrent, but when it reaches the sixth line it comes to a climax as +if the torrent had become a beautiful waterfall. Or to use another +simile. The first part of it resembles the Atlantic waves as they +roll majestically to the shore, rolling and rolling along with a good +deal of monotony till at length they reach the climax, when they +break forth with a tremendous crash like rolling thunder. Were +there a few individuals who could sing it together till they reached +the sixth line, and then the whole to unite with them, there would +be such singing as I have seldom listened to.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thaom e spiorad neo-ascaoin</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Air a naoimh ’us air ’abstoil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S rinn iad saighdearachd ghasda,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mine, macanta ’n gaisge;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cha do phill iad le masladh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ach troimh Chriosd a thug neart dhoibh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Chuir iad cath gus ’n do chaisg iad an namhaid.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Chuir iad cath, &c.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Perhaps some of my countrymen do not know what <i>neo-ascaoin</i> +means; <i>caoin</i> means kind; <i>ascaoin</i>, unkind; <i>neo-ascaoin</i>, the reverse, +that is great kindness. I will endeavour to give a translation as +near as possible.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He poured his spirit most kindly</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On his saints and apostles,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who acted most soldierly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Meekly and lowly in heroism,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not turning disgracefully,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But through Christ that strengthened them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They fought till they routed the enemy.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Although all the masons in the world were to go on hammering at the +English for a century, they could not make it rhyme like the Gaelic +in this verse. I have composed a considerable number of poems. +I suppose, when published together, they will form the largest collection +in the language. I attempted to translate two or three of +them, but found it impossible to do so by strictly following the +rules of English versification. I attempted to translate more, but +found I could not translate one verse to my satisfaction, and I +wish that scholars would understand this—that it is utterly impossible +to give them anything like a correct idea of our poetry, +unless we are allowed to follow the Gaelic rules of versification, and +even with that licence we cannot come up to it. I saw in a periodical +a review of the lyric poetry of Wales, which showed that it +was impossible to give a proper expression of it in an English +translation. The same is equally true of the Gaelic. The strict +rules to which he is tied down who would attempt to compose +English verse prevent him from soaring like the eagle, and his productions +must be comparatively tame, and awanting in energy.</p> + +<p>Singing has a mighty power over the human mind, which the +church to a great extent has neglected, and a power which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> +she never wields aright but when in a revived state. I once went +into a house; but the moment I entered, the youngsters, some of +them men and women, all fled. “See,” said the mother, (a pious +woman), “how they have all gone.” “Yes,” I said, “but we’ll soon +bring them back,” and so commenced to sing a poem, not to the +tunes of Martyrdom or Oldham (these would not bring them back), +but to the tune, “Whistle o’er the lave o’t,” and they all returned +immediately.</p> + +<p>How shrewd the remark, “Give me the songs of a nation, and I +care not who gives them laws.” It has been stated that the poems +of the great reformer, sung to the native melodies of Germany, had +a greater effect in promoting the Reformation than all his writings. +I have heard melodies, but any that come up to our native melodies, +both Highland and Lowland, I have not heard. If the songs of +our country, many of them, have such a bad effect, and the melodies +so sweet and fascinating, why not regenerate the song? By so +doing the instrument would be wrested from the hands of the +enemy; the sword taken from the great Goliath to cut off his own +head, and to destroy the Philistines. In this respect we are in +advance of our neighbours; our songs to a considerable extent +are regenerated already. Dugald Buchanan’s Poems I place first, +being superior to any that has appeared yet, so far as poetry is +concerned. Duncan M’Dougall, a native of Mull, but ultimately +residing in Tiree, has a considerable number, I suppose, with the +exception of Peter Grant, the largest collection we have. His +poems are good, most of them sung to the airs most common in +Tiree and Mull. Daniel Grant, a native of Strathspey, but residing +in Athol, comes next to M’Dougall in point of number, and although +he is not his superior either as a Gaelic scholar or as a poet, +he is his superior for conveying real spiritual instruction to the +mind. He has picked up some of the airs in Athol and Strathspey, +and even some from the low country. Donald Henry, I believe, +a native of Arran, has also left some very sweet poems, of which +many are very fond. J. Morrison, Harris, was an extraordinary genius. +His language is superior to Dugald Buchanan, and is not his inferior +as a poet. He had more of the language of the Highland bards +that puffs up. Dugald had nothing of that, but was powerful in +his simplicity. The former resembles David clad in Saul’s armour, +the latter David with the sling and the stones. In singing Morrison’s +we cannot but think of the bard, but in singing Dugald’s he +is not thought of at all, and almost every word tells. Dr M’Donald +has left a considerable number of poems; some of them are elegies. +He was certainly the most powerful preacher in the Highlands in +his time, and anything said in his praise is superfluous, as it is all +over the Highlands. Yet it strikes me that he did not shine so +much as a poet as he did as a preacher. His poetry is certainly +good, but there is nothing extraordinary about it, as there is about +his preaching. “The Christian on the Banks of Jordan” is excellent, +and very expressive; but there are some pieces of his containing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> +his own views of disputed points of doctrine, with an evident +intention to give a hit at those who differed from him, which are +not suitable for being sung in the praises of God. Songs of praise +should be for the whole church. No doubt he considered those +opposed to him as holding error, but they consider that he holds +error too, and how is the matter to be settled? Is it not possible +to hold the doctrine of election, and at the same time to hold that, +in a certain sense, Christ died for all men? Is it not possible to +lay the blame at the sinner’s door, where it shall be left at the last +day, without denying the necessity of Divine influence in his conversion?</p> + +<p>I come now to my great favourite, M’Gregor. Buchanan was +his superior as one of nature’s poets, and perhaps his superior in +point of style. He did not show so much of the scholar. The +scholar seen in lyric poetry, instead of adding to it, rather detracts +from it. But, notwithstanding, M’Gregor was his superior by far +as a theologian for bringing varied and important truths before the +mind. I have seen many a book, but a book of its size which contains +more important truth I have never seen. Every truth that is +important for the Christian to know is systematically laid down; +every poem is like a well-composed discourse, the subject experimentally +handled in all its bearings; and all that in language excellent, +in versification perfect, and suited to be sung to some of +the most beautiful melodies of our country. I have never quarrelled +with a single idea, a single word, a single line. There is not a +book in existence, apart from the Bible, from which I have derived +more benefit to my soul. Every one knows what a hold a truth +sung takes of the mind. I am sorry for the tame manner in which +these poems are recommended in their introduction, as if Dr +M’Gregor was nothing but a mere imitator of the poets. How +ridiculous! Did not these poets imitate those who went before them, +taking the measure of their verses from them. I am also sorry to +see some of his pieces sadly disfigured and maimed in the last edition, +especially his poem on the judgment. He must indeed have +had a very high opinion of himself, the man that would come after +Dr M’Gregor and endeavour to improve his versification.</p> + +<p>I come now to <i>Grant’s Poems</i>, which is the largest collection we +have. His melodies are delicious; and no wonder, they are from +the land of melody. The finest melodies in Scotland are called +strathspeys. I believe that <i>Grant’s Poems</i> and the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i> +have done as much good in the Highlands as any publications +that have been circulated among them, apart from the Bible. They +are extraordinary for their simplicity. There is not only milk for +babes in abundance, but also strong meat for men. His “Glory of +the Lamb” is splendid, and his “Love Song” is beautiful. Were +these poems to pass through the hands of Archd. Sinclair, printer, +62 Argyle Street, Glasgow, they would be greatly improved. He +is a good Gaelic scholar, and one of the best printers of that language +in Scotland.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span></p> + +<p>Let us now turn our attention to our neighbours. Is it to be +credited that, in the year of our Lord, 1868, Christian Scotland, +the land of creeds, bibles, ministers, churches, and Sabbath schools, +has still nothing to play on their instruments of music but the old +unregenerate songs of their country? They are so very orthodox, +not only in their creeds, but also in their language and melodies, +that they would look upon hymns composed in broad Scotch and +sung to their native melodies as a kind of heresy not to be tolerated. +Scotsmen have generally as much shrewdness, sagacity, and common +sense as any people on the face of the earth. To call such blockheads +would be considered the greatest falsehood that ever came +from the lips of man. But consider what they have done. They +have renounced their own language, which is a natural language, +and the language of their nature, and their native melodies, which +are the melodies of their nature. They have turned their backs +on them. They have rejected their own; and what have they +chosen in their place? An artificial language and artificial +melodies quite foreign to their nature. Had Robert Burns as many +hard consonants on his tongue as an Englishman has, he never would +have set his country in a <i>lowe</i> with his sweet melodies as he hath +done. It has been remarked that England has no national melodies. +Is that to be wondered at? England has no language for +melody. The crows have no melody; and before they can have +any, they would require either to get another language, or to send +up a Scotchwoman amongst them to add her affectionate <i>ie</i> to it, +which would give it beautiful melody. <i>Gira-ie</i>, which would sound +something like our <i>ghraidh</i>, the vocative of <i>gradh</i> (love).</p> + +<p>Let any person say, “My wee bonnie lammie;” let him continue +doing so, placing the accent upon one word after another, and +while he continues doing so, a sweet melody proceeds from his lips, +which is the melody of nature, as if he held a tinkling bell in his +hand. But let him say, “My little pretty lamb,” and the melody +ceases, as if he struck the bell flat upon the table, and held nothing +but a piece of cork in his hand. It is true that the English may +be covered over with a tinsel of artificial melody, but what will be +its effect? Will it affect the Scottish mind like its native melodies? +These have seized the Scottish heart; have ingratiated themselves +with the very feelings and nature of Scotsmen, which makes them +their own natural melodies as much as the melody of larks and +nightingales is their own.</p> + +<p>I heard two females, beautiful singers, singing some revival +hymns, one of them a very tame piece of lyric poetry; while singing +it, they were in raptures about it. Now, I am certain it was +the bursts of artificial melody that put them in raptures. It was +the sound of their own voices, and not what they were singing, that +affected them. They were puffed up with a puff of empty air, so +that, in listening to them, I was led to put the question, What is +all that noise about?</p> + +<p>Now, I am convinced that were that masterpiece of lyric poetry,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> +“Scots wha hae,” with the child’s simplicity, but the giant’s grasp +in seizing the Scotch heart, to be sung to a regiment of Scotch +warriors, or even played on the Highland Bagpipe in approaching +the front of battle’s lower; the question, “What is all that noise +about?” would be answered by their daring feats in the field of +strife. And I put it to the good sense, and to the enlightened +mind of Scottish Christianity—were there a piece composed in +broad Scotch, as much calculated to fire the soul of the Christian +warrior, as the other is calculated to fire the soul of the Scottish +warrior, and sung to the same tune, what would be its blessed effect? +Would it not put all their Anthems, their Old Hundreds, their +artificial, their drawling slow march melodies entirely into the shade?</p> + +<p>But our neighbours are so sensitive and have such fine and +delicate feelings, that the vulgarity of the broad Scotch, and the +associations connected with Scottish melodies, make them shrink +back as the patient would shrink back from the surgeon’s knife. +I was in a place of worship on one occasion, where a few individuals +commenced to sing a Revival Hymn to the air of “Annie +Laurie;” a grave Deacon rose from his seat and silenced them, +stating that he could not bear the associations of that tune. I +declare “Annie Laurie” was the most beautiful singer I heard +amongst them; and as that was the first time I heard her voice, I +would like to hear it again. If I could I would pick it up, and do +with it as I have done with other pearls which as swine they are +trampling under their feet. The late Mr Campbell, Oban, who had +a fine ear for music, had a servant girl from Uist who was a beautiful +singer; she was constantly singing a love song she had learned. +The sweet melody of the piece caught the ear of the saint, and +soon became his own; the words began to pour in also, and what +could he do? The air he could not hate, but how to keep it without +keeping the words along with it was the difficulty. He however +fell on a plan; he went into his study, took his pen and wrote +down some verses suited to the air. In his circumstances did he +not do the best thing he could do? Let our neighbours follow his +example. Sounds take a long time in coming. It is a long time +since the sound was heard from Rowland Hill’s lips—“What a +pity that the devil should have the prettiest tunes.” These words +have at last found a response in the bosom of a Highlander, which +he returns as from the rocky mountains of his country, saying—“The +devil shall not have the prettiest tunes.” That again to +find a response in rocky Wales, louder and louder still—“The devil +shall not have the prettiest tunes,” and like the sound of thunder +rolling and rolling over the United Kingdom, finding a response in +all Churches and Chapels as it rolls along.</p> + +<p>Have we not our associations in the Highlands as well as they? +Two of the finest pieces we sing, Grant’s “Glory of the Lamb,” +and M’Gregor’s “Righteousness of Christ,” we sing to the air of +that song which Duncan Ban M’Intyre composed to his spouse (a +piece of lyric poetry that the English can never imitate), and in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> +singing them we never think that there was such a woman as +Mhairi bhan òg in existence. The Scottish people prove that they +find a sweetness in their native melodies, which they do not find in +others. At their soirees do they not as it were cross over their +fences in search of them? How ridiculous at the soirees of Christian +Churches to hear “Scots wha hae,” “Ochone, Widow Machree,” +and such like pieces sung. What vulgar beings they are to be sure!</p> + +<p>I had a strong prejudice for the most part of my life against the +broad Scotch. I looked upon it as I would from an eminence look +down upon a number of tinkers and <i>donkeys</i> below me. I saw +a <i>Magazine</i> several years ago, which contained two pieces of +poetry on opposite columns. The one was composed with all the +power of the mistress of arts in pure English, and the other in +the artless simplicity of the broad Scotch. The title of the former, +if I recollect well, was “The Houseless Children;” that of the latter +“There’s nae room for twa.” I read the former, and it did not +awaken a single emotion in my soul; I began to suspect I was not +scholar enough to comprehend it: the title was the most moving of +the whole. I read the other piece, and it almost set me a dancing, +and perhaps, had I only been twenty-five years of age, I would +have risen up and danced the Highland Fling. The piece gives an +account of a Jamie, and of a Katie, and a Janet who were in love +with him. When crossing over a very narrow bridge, Jamie said, +“Janet must walk behind, there’s nae room for twa.” Jamie’s +words, “There’s nae room for twa,” went to Janet’s heart. The +result was that Katie was his bride, and while the sun shone upon +her, poor Janet was left under the dark clouds. She, however, +began to bethink herself, and said—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ll gi’e to God my lingrin’ time,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And Jamie drive awa;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in this weary heart o’ mine</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There’s nae room for twa.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">There’s nae room for twa, ye ken,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">There’s nae room for twa;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The heart that’s giv’n to God and Heav’n,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Has nae room for twa.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Can the English language produce such a piece of artless simplicity, +so natural, so touching, and so telling! No, never. The only +fault that I could find with it, is, that there is some of it broader +than the broad Scotch itself. I am not aware that “sheen” is ever +used for “seen;” and I am not sure that it is strictly true, that there +is nae room for twa in the grave to which we all must go. That’s +a piece I would recommend to be sung at soirees; it will sing nicely +to the air, “There’s nae luck aboot the house.” I was so delighted +with the last verse, that I composed a poem in Gaelic on the same +subject, suited to the same air.</p> + +<p>Let us now bid <i>farewell</i> to our neighbours, leaving them to bake +their own cakes the best way they can, and let us retrace our steps +to the land of our birth, and to the language of our nature; and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span> +in doing so, let me put a question to those who would wish to do +away with our native language; can you supply us with a better +language for our homes? I defy you. Is there a language upon +earth by which our youth can attain the knowledge of God as the +author of the great salvation, so readily and with so little trouble +and expense, as through the medium of their own native Gaelic? +What then shall we say to those parents and to those who have +the management of our Schools in the Highlands, who do not teach +our youth to read it and to understand it better? I have no hesitation +in declaring that they were guilty of a very great crime—of +an act of cruelty towards our youth, and of an act of rebellion +against God. If God has given a revelation to men, he has appointed +the Gaelic to the Highlanders, as the proper medium for +obtaining the knowledge of that revelation; and how dare men in +their shallow wisdom act towards Highlanders contrary to God’s +appointed method of instructing them. The great stumbling-block +with ministers, schoolmasters, and proprietors in the Highlands, is, +that they do not consider the Gaelic genteel and fashionable, and +do not put themselves to the trouble of studying it. I know no +study that would repay better than the study of the Gaelic. It is +not such a dry, such a complicated affair at all as the study of the +English. In studying the Gaelic a man finds himself as among the +living, but in studying the English as among the dead. In studying +the former he finds himself as it were at home, in studying the +latter as among foreigners. The more I study the Gaelic, the more +I admire it, and the more am I astonished at the refined imagination +which our forefathers had. I have no fears of the Gaelic because +it has God for its author. I have no fears of it, because I believe +that the spark is still alive in my countrymen which can be kindled +into a flame.</p> + +<p>When a boy, and at the end of our house (slated, substantially +built, two-storey high) and raising my voice, every word that I +spoke was repeated by the house. I had a younger brother, who +was a great mimic, and thought he was mocking me; so I turned +about and addressed the supposed brother: “If you’ll take my +advice you’ll be quiet.” “If you’ll take my advice you’ll be quiet,” +instantly replied the mimicking brother. “I tell you again to hold +your tongue.” “I tell you again to hold your tongue,” as quickly +replied. “If you’ll not be quiet I’ll thrash you,” was as quick as +lightning repeated. So having spent all my threats, and becoming +more and more furious, the mimicking brother becoming equally so, +I had at last to desist, being fairly mastered; he on my top, in spite +of me. Now I am certain that were I to cry “Shame, shame,” or the +more expressive Gaelic, “<i>Mo naire, mo naire</i>” (my shame, my shame), +it would with equal distinctness be repeated by the house. So I +would have all the Highlanders, from John o’ Groat’s to the Mull of +Kintyre, and from Dunkeld to the Butt of Lewes and Cape Wrath, +to raise their voices, and, with the strength of their lungs, to cry out +“<i>Mo naire, mo naire</i>,” to those parents, those native proprietors,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> +and those ministers and schoolmasters who wish to do away with +the Gaelic by not teaching them to read it, so as to make all their +castles, palaces, mansions, manses, school-houses, and dwelling-houses +to resound “<i>Mo naire, mo naire</i>,” with such a terrific rattling +noise as to startle the whole of them out of their houses; and seeing +them still standing, each to address the troublesome noise, “<i>Mo +naire</i>”—“If you’ll take my advice you’ll be quiet.” “If you’ll take +my advice you’ll be quiet,” quickly repeated. “I tell you again to +hold your tongue.” “I tell you again to hold your tongue,” instantly +repeated. “If you’ll not be quiet I’ll thrash you.” “If +you’ll not be quiet I’ll thrash you,” still repeated; and becoming +more and more furious, the mimicking something becoming equally +so, one and all of them be forced to give way, being fairly mastered, +with the hearty Highlanders on their top.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<h2>CATECHISM.</h2> + +<p>A Catechism on the first principles of Divine teaching both by +nature and revelation:—</p> + +<p>Who are the two great teachers of mankind?—Nature and +Revelation.</p> + +<p>Who is the author of both?—The great God.</p> + +<p>Is the teaching of both unerring or inspired?—Yes; because +God is their author.</p> + +<p>Is the teaching of both in anything opposed the one to the other?—In +nothing, and cannot be so, because they have the same God +as their author.</p> + +<p>How ought the teaching of both to be received?—With an +humble, teachable disposition of mind.</p> + +<p>Does God teach the animal species?—Yes; he teaches them by +putting what is called natural instincts in them.</p> + +<p>Seeing that the human species have not only an animal body but +also a rational soul, how does God teach them?—He teaches them +by nature and revelation.</p> + +<p>How does God teach them by nature? He teaches them by +nature, by putting natural instincts in them, though not to the same +extent as in animals.</p> + +<p>How does God teach them by revelation?—By putting spiritual +instincts in them. The unconverted have no spiritual instincts, are +entirely influenced by a depraved nature, under the power of sin and +Satan. But when God teaches them, he destroys the power of sin, +puts spiritual instincts in them; they get an unction from the Holy +One. The spiritual instincts of the converted differ as much from +those of the unconverted as the natural instincts of the sheep differ +from those of the wolf.</p> + +<p>The same God who by instinct taught the ewe and the moor-hen +to love their young and to care for them; the same God by instinct +has taught the mother to love her child and to care for it. And<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> +as the same God by instinct has taught the former a language to +express their kindness which by instinct their young can comprehend; +so in like manner he has taught a language to mothers to express +their kindness, which the instinct and ultimately the reason of their +offspring can comprehend. The native languages of the Highlands +and Lowlands are as much the languages of nature, of what nature +taught them, as the bleating of sheep or the lowing of cattle. +God has given the best languages to beasts and birds that could +be given to them. The Gaelic (and I say the same of the broad +Scotch) is the best that could be given to Highlanders in all the +relations of life, and for keeping them a united, a happy, and a +contented people. Yes, and the best medium for conveying the +knowledge of God our Saviour to their minds. This, then, is the +language which a gracious God in great kindness gave unto them.</p> + +<p>But there is another great being—man—who frequently sets +himself up in opposition to the great God, as if he were wiser and +disposed to be kinder than what he is. He also must give a +language of his own making, which he has made up in a great +measure from dead languages. He looks upon his own language +as greatly superior to theirs—more learned, more refined, more +respectable, and more genteel. Sets his extraordinary machinery +agoing, gets schools and schoolmasters established all over the +kingdom to teach, not one word of the languages which God +taught the people, but his own; gives prizes to his scholars, and +rewards the best of them by giving them honorary titles—Bachelor +of Arts, and Master of Arts, &c.—puffing them up to the very +skies. Thus the artificial English comes in direct opposition to the +native languages of the country, calling them vulgar. God their +author might as well be called so.</p> + +<p>It comes and ingratiates itself with the pride and the vanity of +the higher class of society. They were too high before, but it gives +them their heart’s desire, it exalts them to the very clouds. It +comes, and instead of bringing a blessing in its train, brings a curse; +instead of regenerating, actually degenerates society. It found +people united—the rich and the poor, the high and the low—in a +society of brotherhood, knit together by the same language. The +Highlanders by their Gaelic and the Lowlanders by their broad +Scotch, living together in mutual friendship, the one looking upon +the other’s language as that which the God of nature taught them. +But the great man comes with his pure English and snaps the link +in the chain asunder that united the rich and the poor, the high and +the low together—puts a complete separation between them—removes +the former from the common brotherhood, and exalting them +as high above their heads as if they were a race of foreigners and +not of the same species at all. There is your handiwork, proud +man, who would be as gods. Those who have received the +language you have prepared for them are exalted, many of them, +above common mortals, as if they were gods. Yet they shall die +like men. Both parties are injured, but especially the Englified, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> +genteel, and the fashionable. They are puffed up with pride—filled +with a vain conceit of their own superiority—their feelings of affection +are dried up, being so far removed from the commonality as +to have no sympathy with them. The others are injured also, +being disheartened and discouraged from a conviction and a feeling +of shame arising from it, that they are despised and treated +with disrespect. This was not the case in former times. I knew +proprietors in my younger days who not only spoke the Gaelic, but +spoke it even better than the common people, and who, when they +spoke English, spoke it in broad Scotch. At that time they were +the men of the people, standing on a common level with them as +regarded the language, and entered into their feelings. But how +is the case now? All the answer that I will give to the question +is, “God be merceful to my countrymen when foreigners are their +proprietors!” Who has produced the melancholy change? Has it +been brought about by God’s teaching, either by nature or revelation? +Not at all; it is the doing of vain man, by introducing his +artificial language. Is it not possible for men to receive all the +benefits from the English which it is calculated to give without +renouncing their own language and choosing it as the language of +society.</p> + +<p>Nature’s teaching and man’s teaching come contrary, the one to +the other, in another respect. Nature teaches a beautiful variety, +but the master of arts a dull uniformity. I have already referred +to the beautiful varieties of the Gaelic, as spoken in the different +parts of the Highlands. There is also the same variety in the +different counties where the broad Scotch is spoken; but the +master of arts comes with his artificial English, and with its rolling +waves disfigures and spoils the whole, and leaves nothing but his +own dull uniformity on their ruins. I believe that the time has +come when God, as the great author of nature, and consequently +as the author of the native languages of Scotland, shall say to the +proud waves of man’s language, “Hitherto shalt thou come and no +farther,” and “Here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” May all +hearty Highlanders and all hearty Scotchmen say, “Amen, God grant +it.” The great man does not duly set himself against the great God +by going to the languages of nature and bringing a language out +of them, which he sets up in opposition to the native languages as +better and more genteel, but he must set himself up in opposition +to Him likewise, as if he were wiser than he, by going to the +other fountain of God’s teaching, Revelation, and bringing a creed +and confession out of it, to be set up as the best and the most +fashionable, and brands as a heretic every man who would differ +from him. What do all the denominations of Christians attempt +but to bring a creed and a confession out of Revelation as a bond +of union and uniformity. But nature teaches a very different +lesson. It teaches union and not uniformity, but union and variety. +It teaches it in the human countenance, the human race, in trees +and plants, four-footed clean animals, clean birds; in the Gaelic,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> +broad Scotch, and, I am sure, in the French. Revelation teaches +the same—a Trinity in unity. The bond of union amongst Highlanders +is their Gaelic, and still there is no uniformity, but a +beautiful variety. The bond of union amongst Christians is their +Christianity. Christianity cannot exist without Christians. Christian +union cannot exist amongst men without Christianity, and a real +unity cannot exist amongst Christians without a glorious variety. +This lesson nature teaches with perfect inspiration. Let Christians +then treat Christianity as Highlanders treat the Gaelic. Let them +follow their own views of it conscientiously and allow others to +do the same, without attempting to set up their views as a confession +of faith to others. Let the people of God then separate +themselves from the unconverted world, and let this principle of +nature’s Divine teaching be admitted by them, namely, unity and a +glorious variety—unity as it regards the great essentials of +Christianity, and variety as it regards the non-essentials. In that +way, and in that way alone, shall they be properly united; in that +way alone shall they enjoy one another, and, instead of living in +the cold, narrow cell of sectarian selfishness, they will live in the +expansive, the benign, the benevolent region of a glorious variety, +and their minor differences, instead of detracting from, will actually +add to the pleasure, the harmony, and the happiness of the whole.</p> + +<p>There is a text which I would give to all the ministers in Scotland +as the subject of their discourse on the first Sabbath of +January, 1869—“Doth not nature itself teach you.”—<i>1 Cor.</i> xi., 14.</p> + +<p>I am convinced that the teaching of nature has not been attended +to as it ought. A person properly influenced by it, and humbly +receiving its teaching, is conscious that he is under the guidance +of a safe teacher. I will give one instance of nature’s teaching. +I have two grandchildren in my house, a boy and a girl, about +four years of age, who are very fond of their grandpapa, so +fond that they wish to be oftener with him than he considers +desirable. Should he only request them to go out in the usual +way, they only laugh at him. If he rises to put them out, they +run under the table like kittens. When he is on the one side +they are on the other, where his hand cannot reach them. He +then has to take the strap and threaten them severely and, even +when putting them out with that severity, they put their +backs to the door to prevent him from shutting it, and sometimes +weep bitterly, which is very painful to his feelings. Nature, however, +has taught him a different lesson: to speak kindly to them in +a low tone of voice, and instantly they go out quite happy, and +even saying, “Put the snib on the door, grandpapa.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span></p> + +<h2>THE GAELIC BANNER.<br> +<span class="smaller">BRATACH NA GAELIC.</span></h2> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">’S gu’m b’éibhinn, gu’m b’éibhinn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Gu’m b’éibhinn a’ Bhrataich i,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S gu’n leumainn, gu’n leumainn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Gu’m leumainn le h-aiteas rith:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Teannaibh dlùth le aon rùn,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Teannaibh dlùth gu cabhagach,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cuiribh ’n àird i ’s gach àit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Biodh gu h-aluinn ’crathadh i,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S aig éigheach, aig éigheach,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Aig éigheach gur maireann i.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S gur spéiseil, gur spéiseil,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Gur spéiseil ri labhairt i!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S gibht o Dhia i gach ial</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Chaoidh nan cian cha dealaich rith?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fhuair i àit ann ar gràdh,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Tha ri ’r nàdur ceangailte,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S cha tréig sinn, cha tréig sinn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Cha tréig sinn ’n ar n-anam i;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S cha ghéill sinn, cha ghéill sinn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Cha ghéill sinn, do’n t-Shasunnach,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent6">An e so seana Chabair-féidh?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cumaibh suas a’ Ghàelic ghrinn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ann ’ur srathaibh ’us ur glinn;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deanaibh ’teagasg do ur cloinn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S na cuireadh Goill fo’n casan i.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Labhraibh i gu sgairteal dàn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gun aon rugh ’n ’ur gruaidh le nàir;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Anns a’ bhaile ’s air an t-sràid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ged bhiodh e làn do Shasunnach.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cainnt na h-aoigheachd ’us na fàilt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cainnt a’ chaoimhneis ’us a’ ghràidh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A bheir aoibhneas ’s gean gu fàs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S a chuireas blàth’s ’n ’ur n-aignidhean.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cha b’ionnan i ’s Bhanshas’nnach mhòr</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Rinn àrd sgoileirean na h-Oigh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Le Gréigis thioram, ’s Laidionn reòt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S ann chuir iad còmhdach’ sneachdaidh oirr.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cha’n’eil i tioram, <a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>crainntidh, fuar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mar bhean mhòr-chuiseach na h’uaill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mu bhios sibh pòsda ri bidh truagh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Us ni le fuachd ’ur <a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>meileachadh</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">’S dh’ fheumadh pige dh’ uisge sgàld,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A chuir fo bhonn ’ur cos ’se làn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S còmhdach tlàth o’r ceann gu’r sàil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mu’m blàthaich sibh ’san leaba leth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cha b’ionann i ’s a’ <a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>chruinneag chòir,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nighinn a’ Ghàel ’s a’ cridh a’ teòth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tha innte blàth’s ’us tlus gu leoir,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S i gun mhòrchuis ceangailt rith.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A bhan-<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>Ephiteach ’s a’ bhan-tràill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Na gabhaibh steach an caidreamh blàth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Na bean-taigh’ na biodh gu bràth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Biodh i ghnàth ’na ban-oglaich.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cumaibh i ri obair chruaidh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Biodh i mach ri am an fhuachd,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Ged tha i làn do ’n stràichd ’s do ’n uaill);</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oir tha <a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>ghruagach cleachdta ris.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tha ’feachd ’sa h-armailt ri dian strì,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gach bochd ’us beairteach thoirt fo ’cìs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S a cuir ’n a suidhe mar bhanrìgh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Anns an tìr mar <a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>Ealasaid.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ach fhad ’s a bhios an fhuil gu blàth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Ruith ann an cuislibh nan Gàel,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cha dean iad strìochdadh dhi gu bràth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ged ni sgàin ’s a chraicionn i.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cha cheadaich iad d’am <a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>Màiri ghrinn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mhàlda, bhanail, cheolmhòr bhinn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bhi gun tròcair call a cinn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leis a’ mhilltear Shasunnach.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Am maighstir-sgoile anns gach àit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deanaibh ghrad chuairteachadh gun dàil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S abraibh ris gu daingean, dàn’,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Cha leig ’ur cànain seachad sinn!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“’S dean thusa ’teagasg do ar cloinn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A chum ’s gu ’n leugh iad i le sgoinn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S nach bi iad uimpe mar na doill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Us na Goill ri fanaid orr’.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“’Us àill leinn thu dhoibh theagasg beurl,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A chum ’s gu ’n tuig iad i ’s gu ’n leugh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ach do ’n Ghàelic thug sinn spéis,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S thoir-sa éisdeachd ealamh dhuinn.”</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">’S gach neach ’n ur measg a chi ’ur sùil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Us earball peacaig air a chùl,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Le uaill ’s le mòr-chuis a chion-tùir</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A’ diùltadh bhi ga labhairt ruibh.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Labhraibh ris gun mhodh gu grad,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Abraibh ris gun sgeig, gun mhag’;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tha sinne ’faicinn mach troimh t’aid’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cluasan fad na h-asail ort!</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tha Goill ’us Sas’nnaich tigh’nn ’nam brùchd</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A nios le carbadan ’n a smùid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S ni iad a fògradh as an dùth’ch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mar grad dhùisg na h-Athalaich’.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Dùisgibh, dùisgibh, ’luchd mo ghaoil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seasaibh le dùrachd air a taobh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Bratach gu sùrdail deanaibh sgaoil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A chum ’s a ghaoth gun crathadh i.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">’S na bodaich dhubh ’n taobh thall <a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>Lochbraon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Abraibh riu le h-iolaich glaoidh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nach ’eil sibh uile gabhail nàir,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S gu’n d’fhàg sinn n’ ur <a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>cadal sibh?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Nach ’eil fo nàir sibh thaobh ’ur dùth’ch’,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ris a bhan Ghàel bhi cuir ’ur cùl,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S mar na tràillean lub ’ur glùn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S toirt ùmhlachd do ’n bhan Shasunnaich!</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Gach creag ’us coire, stùchd ’us càrn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gach lag ’us cnochd, ’us slios, ’us learg,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gach glaic ’us tullaich, eas ’us allt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tha ’labhairt cainnt ar n-athraichean,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tha guth ri chluiantinn o gach fonn,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gach dail, ’us bail’, ’us dùn, ’us tòm,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gach beinn, ’us coill, ’us leachduinn lòm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tha gu pongail ’labhairt iad.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Nach ro mhuladach an sgeul,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ma bhios ’ur gincil thig ’n-’ur déigh</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gun aon smid dhi ann am beul,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ach i gu lèir mar Laidionn doibh.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>Dal-an-amair an Gleann Ile?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cha tuig aon anam tha ’s an tìr</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An <a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>t-alltan <i>burn</i> rinn iad na bhurn;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ach ’n a bhurn ’us cabhbaig air.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cumaibh suas, &c.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Not published yet.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Parching.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Chill.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> A tidy young woman.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> The Egyptian Hagar was +a foreigner, not a free-born; so is the English not to be permitted to assume +authority, but to keep her own place as a slave, and not as the mistress.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> A word taken from <i>gruag</i> (hair), and given to females on +account of the long hair which they wear, and means a young woman, also a +household goddess, and is often used in irony, as here.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Elizabeth, the Queen of England.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> Mary, a name given to the Gaelic, which was the name of the Queen of the +Scots whom Elizabeth beheaded.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> A loch between Athole and Strathardle.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> The Atholites used to provoke the Ardleites with a tune which they played +on the bagpipes when leaving them—<i>Bodaich dhubh Sratharduil, gu’n d’fhag +sinn nan cadal iad</i>—The black churls of Strathardle we have left them asleep. +In the Free Church of Kirkmichael, Strathardle, there has been no Gaelic +preached for several years, and it is going and almost gone in the Established +Church. I wish with all my heart that a company of the Atholites would +cross over with a piper at their head, and play the following on the street of +Kirkmichael:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Bodaich dhubh Srathàrduil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cha Ghàel iad ach Sasannuich,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thréig iad mar na tràillean</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cainnte bhlath an athraichean.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">And that they on their part would play the following:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tosdaibh, bithibh sàmhach</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cha n’ àill leinn sibh bhi magadh oirnn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bheir ar crìdh do n’ Ghàelic,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Sa chaoidh gu bràth cha dealaich ri.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’S ’n uair thig rìs do ar tìr</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Le ceòl pìob ’us cridhcalas,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Aran grinn, ’s còmhdach’ ìm’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Agus cīr-mheala leis</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gheibh sibh uainn gu càirdeal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A shàsachadh ’ur stamagan,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Us seinnibh do na Ghaelic</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Na h’-Ardlich ’s na h’-Athalich.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nuair bhios Goill mar na doill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Us an oidhch a’ luidhe orr,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gu ro thruagh, crith gu luath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Us le fuachd ’g am meileachadh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bidh sinne air ar blàth’chadh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Sa Ghàelic ’gar teasachadh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Us caoimhneas, gean ’us càirdeas</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Siòr fhàs ann ar n-anamaibh.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Although my native country, I am quite ashamed of them. Is the schoolmaster +a Highlander? Was it he who wrote the inscription “<i>Mile failte</i>” +(a thousand welcomes) on the top of the arch on the occasion of a certain +gentleman up the country taking home his English bride? I passed under it, +and expressed my astonishment to see it, as the children spoke nothing but +English on the street. Is the spark still alive in his soul? Is that spark +capable of being enkindled into a flame? <i>A thraill! Na’m bithinn ann ad ait, +bheirinn oidhearp air mo chainnt-mhathaireil a theasairginn, ged a bhiodh i mar an +t-uan ann am fiaclan casgraidh an leomhainn.</i> Ye slave! Were I in your place, +I would endeavour to rescue my mother-tongue, should it be like the lamb in +the devouring teeth of the lion.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> A channel from a river to a mill, or a mill-dam.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> <i>An t-alltan burn.</i> When the Gaelic was spoken in Glenisla, the name of the +stream was <i>an t-alltan</i>, the same as we would say in broad Scotch, the burnie, +that is the small stream. But when the Gaelic ceased to be spoken, and the +broad Scotch came in its place, they called it an t-alltan-burn. Now burn is +taken from the Gaelic word <i>burn</i>, which means water, as the word whisky +is taken from <i>uisge</i> (water), also. In singing this poem, where two, or three, +or four verses are following one another without the chorus, let them be sung +to the same key. It will sing to the air of “<i>Och nan och, ’us och mo leon!</i>”</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<p class="titlepage">GLASGOW: PRINTED BY WILLIAM GILCHRIST, HOWARD STREET.</p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75337 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + |