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This new enthusiasm, generated in +great part on the Continent—in Germany, France, and Italy, as well as in +Britain and Ireland, has already spread to the northern nations—to +Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and is now beginning to take root in +America. + +A remarkable change it certainly presents from the days when Dr. Johnson +affirmed that there was not in all the world a Gaelic MS. one hundred +years old; and the documents were so derelict and forgotten, so little +known and studied, that though this prince of letters travelled in the +Highlands expressly to satisfy himself, Celtic knowledge of the existing +materials and Celtic studies were so deficient that they proved wholly +inadequate to the task of disproving his bold statement. + +It was left to the scholarship of the nineteenth century to unearth the +ancient treasures and to show that Gaelic was a literary language long +before English literature came into existence, and that there are still +extant Celtic-Latin MSS. almost as old as the very oldest codexes of the +Bible. + +There is undoubtedly a charm in the thought that all over the Continent +of Europe, in the libraries of many of its romantic cities and towns, +there are scores of MSS., some of them upwards of a thousand years old, +fugitives in the early times from these much harassed islands; and that +European scholars of the highest erudition, such as Zeuss, Ebel, Nigra, +Ascoli, Windisch, Zimmer, and Whitley Stokes, have been profoundly +interested in these literary relics, and have devoted much of their time +to the work of studying, translating, elucidating, and editing the +Gaelic texts or glosses found in them. + +To-day the number of those engaged in similar research at home and +abroad is vastly on the increase, and augurs well for the future of this +department of knowledge. + +Professor Kuno Meyer, Ph.D., himself a distinguished German Celticist, +in reviewing the present state of Celtic studies last year at Dublin, +made the following significant statement:— + +“I cannot conclude without casting a glance into the future. I am +convinced that the present is but the beginning of an era of still +greater activity in all departments of Celtic studies. Everything points +to that. + +“The more reliable text-books and hand-books will be published, the +greater will be the numbers of those taking up Celtic studies. As the +fields of other more ancient and more recognised studies become +exhausted, there will come a rush of students on to the fresh, and +often, almost virgin soil of Celtic research, to study the great Celtic +civilisation at its source, to collect the last lingering remnants of a +mighty tradition. + +“Again and again it has happened during recent years that workers in +other subjects have in their researches finally been led on to the +Celtic soil, where lie the roots of much medieval lore, of many +institutions, of important phases of thought. + +“And another thing, too, I will foretell. The re-discovery, as it were, +of ancient Celtic literature will not only arouse abroad a greater +interest in the Celtic nations, but it will lead to beneficial results +among those nations themselves.” + +Mr. W. B. Yeats, in the _Treasury of Irish Poetry_, 1900, gives pen to +similar reflections and anticipations:— + +“Modern poetry,” he writes, “grows weary of using over and over again +the personages and stories and metaphors that have come to us through +Greece and Rome, or from Wales and Brittany through the Middle Ages, and +has found new life in the Norse and German legends. The Irish legends in +popular tradition and in old Gaelic literature are more numerous and as +beautiful, and alone among great European legends have the beauty and +wonder of altogether new things. May one not say then, without saying +anything improbable, that they will have a predominant influence in the +coming century, and that their influence will pass through many +countries.” + +The interest thus lately evolved in the literature of the Celts, who +were among the earliest inhabitants of the country, and whose blood +still courses in our British veins, has naturally awakened a desire in +many minds to know the nature and extent of the literary legacy they +have bequeathed—its substance and quality, and also to gain some +acquaintance with the opinions and results of recent scholarship on the +subject. + +But, strange to say, notwithstanding the activity of Celticists, no book +has yet appeared which professes to give in short compass a general +survey of the whole field. There is thus, I venture to think, room for +such a volume as the present, which is intended to serve as a popular +introduction to the study of the literature. Containing, as it does, the +gist of two series of lectures which I delivered under the Maccallum +Bequest in the University of Glasgow during the sessions 1900–1 and +1901–2, it is now prepared and issued with a view to meeting the demands +not only of the general reader, but also of the private student in quest +of a guide to the original sources, the authorities, and books on the +subject. + +In its preparation, in addition to the numerous published works +mentioned in the text, I have received valuable help from Professor +Mackinnon, Edinburgh University, and Dr. Alexander Macbain, Inverness, +both of whom supplied me not only with many of their printed papers +embodying the fruits of their own personal research, but also with other +useful information. To the former I am still further indebted for +interesting details regarding the life and work of several of the +scholars, and to Professor Rhys of Jesus College, Oxford, for kindly +reviewing in MS. form the chapter on Welsh Literature. + +And, finally, I have to record my special indebtedness to the kind +assistance of my friend, Mr. David Mackeggie, M.A., whose knowledge of +Celtic history and literature is both extensive and accurate, and who, +besides giving me much suggestive aid in the preparation of the +lectures, read the proofs of this volume. + + MAGNUS MACLEAN. + + THE TECHNICAL COLLEGE, + GLASGOW, _May, 1902_. + + This volume has already appealed to so wide a circle of readers that a + reprint is now called for; and it is very gratifying to the author to + find that his confidence in the growing demand for a book of this kind + has been amply justified. + + MAGNUS MACLEAN. + + _November, 1906._ + + In the present reissue no alteration of the reprint has been required. + + MAGNUS MACLEAN + + _June, 1926._ + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + + THE ARRIVAL OF THE CELT IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE + + PAGE + + The Celts in primitive Europe—Advent in British Isles—Two + branches—Observations of Cæsar and Tacitus—Main facts of Celtic + progress on the Continent—A vast empire—Interview with Alexander + the Great—Colony in Galatia—Cup of conquest + full—Disintegration—The scattered remnants—Recent statistics—The + ancient Celts as seen through Greek and Roman eyes—Literary + awakening—Ogam writings—First men of letters—Earliest written + Gaelic now extant—Modern linguistic discovery—The place of + Celtic in the Aryan group 1 + + + CHAPTER II + + ST. PATRICK, THE PIONEER OF CELTIC WRITERS + + The historical Patrick—Authentic records—Earliest known Gaelic + litterateur—Dates elusive—Birthplace—Autobiographical details of + his youth—Taken captive—Escape—Obscure wanderings—Return + home—The rôle of missionary in Ireland—Epoch-making + career—Remarkable Patrician Dialogues—His own literary work—The + “Confession”—“Epistle to Coroticus”—“Deer’s Cry”—Ireland’s + oldest book—Three other antique compositions from the Book of + Hymns—A curious prophecy—Personal character—Death 22 + + + CHAPTER III + + ST. COLUMBA AND THE DAWN OF LETTERS IN SCOTLAND + + The fugitive MSS.—Gaelic a literary language for ages—Scotland’s + first writer—St. Columba one of the rarer master-spirits—His + peculiar qualities—Intellectual standpoint—Birth—Early life—A + fateful incident—Set sail for Pictland—Motive—Arrival in pagan + Scotland—His missionary enterprise—Light the lamp of + literature—An ardent scholar, penman, and poet—The famous + “Cathrach”—His Gaelic poems—Latin hymns—The Columban + renaissance—Encouragement of bards and scholars—The _Amra + Choluimcille_—Iona as an educational centre—European fame and + influence 40 + + + CHAPTER IV + + ADAMNAN’S “VITA COLUMBÆ” + + Oldest Scottish book in existence—A sturdy survival—Criteria of + age—Dorbene the copyist—Romantic history of the MS.—Now in + Schaffhausen—Adamnan, a rare personality—Abbot and + scholar—Influential career—Attitude to the two great questions + that divided the Celtic churches—Pathetic estrangement—“Lex + Adamnani”—A mighty social revolution—Death—His writings—“The + Vision of Adamnan”—His _Life of Columba_ in three + parts—Remarkable contents—Most valuable monument of the early + Celtic Church—List of MSS. in which preserved—Latin _versus_ + Gaelic 58 + + + CHAPTER V + + THE BOOK OF DEER + + An ancient curio—Second oldest book of Scotland—Where did it come + from?—Its contents threefold—Gaelic colophon from the ninth + century—The work of a native scribe of Alba—Peculiarities—The + ecclesiastical art of the period—The Gaelic entries—“Legend of + Deer”—Drostan’s tears—Some very quaint history—The earliest + source for Scottish Gaelic—Authentic glimpses into the Celtic + condition of Scotland—Origin of shires, parishes, burghs, + individual freedom, and the use of the English language—Three + editions of the Gaelic of the Book of Deer—Now one of the very + oldest MSS. of native origin that Cambridge can boast of 79 + + + CHAPTER VI + + THE MS. LEGACY OF THE PAST + + A fresh start in the study of Celtic literature—Advent of foremost + scholars—The new basis found by Zeuss—Resurrection of ancient + texts—Unexpected light—H. d’Arbois de Jubainville and his + mission to this country—The numbers, dates, and localities of + Gaelic MSS.: (1) on the Continent; (2) in the British + Isles—Subject matter—Examples of the oldest written Gaelic + poetry in Europe—The great books of saga—Leabhar Na + h’Uidhre—Books of Leinster, Ballymote, and + Lismore—Quotations—Account of the Ancient Annals—Tighernach—The + _Chronicon Scotorum_—The _Four Masters_—Romance of the fugitive + documents 96 + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE SCOTTISH COLLECTION OF CELTIC MSS. + + Cabinet in Advocates’ Library—Curious assortment of vernacular + literature—Number and character—Origin of the + collection—Highland Society and Kilbride MSS.—Subsidiary + additions—Work for the expert—Fate of some luckless + documents—Value of MSS. XL., LIII., and LVI.—Three literary + monuments of the Western Highlands: (1) The Book of the Dean of + Lismore—History, description, value, contents, extracts, names + of contributors; (2) The Fernaig MS.—Characteristics—Interesting + details of supposed author; (3) The Book of Clanranald—Quaint + relic—Two MSS., the Red and the Black—History and contents, with + specimen prose-poem and elegy 115 + + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE + + A rich and abundant saga literature—Three leading periods or + cycles—The myths and folk-tales—Problems to men of science—The + philologists and anthropologists take opposite sides—Their + theories—Attitude of the annalists and romancists of + Ireland—Their craze for genealogy—Early settlers in Erin—Advent + of the Milesians or Gaels—The Three Sorrows of Gaelic Storydom: + (1) “The Tragedy of the Children of Tuireann”; (2) The + fascinating “Aided of the Children of Lir”; (3) Story of + “Deirdre and the Sons of Uisneach”—Extraordinary interest + evinced in this saga—Marvellous output of texts and translations 134 + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE HEROIC CYCLE + + The golden age of Gaelic romance—Number of the tales—Cuchulinn—His + early adventures—The Wooing of Eimer—Training in Skye—The Bridge + of the Cliffs—Tragedy of Conlaoch—Elopement—The “Táin Bó + Chuailgné,” and exploits of Cuchulinn—Ferdia at the ford—The two + champions of Western Europe—Cuchulinn in the Deaf + Valley—Death—The Red Rout of Conall Cearnach—Instruction of + Cuchulinn to a prince—His “Phantom Chariot”—Modern translations + of these rare sagas 153 + + + CHAPTER X + + THE OSSIANIC CYCLE + + The old order changes—Who were the Feinn?—Ossian, his name and + relation to the bardic literature—The Ossianic tales and poems + very numerous—Earliest references—First remarkable + development—Original home of the Ossianic romance—The leading + heroes—A famous tract—Legends, regarding Fionn, and curious + details of his warrior-band—The literature divided into four + classes—Most ancient poems of Ossian, and the + Feinn—Quotations—“The Dialogue of the Ancients”—Ossian and + Patrick—Story of Crede—Miscellaneous poems—Prose tales—“Pursuit + of Diarmad and Grainne”—“Lay of Diarmad”—Norse Ballads—Dream + figures, a remarkable Gaelic tradition 174 + + + CHAPTER XI + + THE INFLUENCE OF THE NORSE INVASIONS ON GAELIC LITERATURE + + The dreaded Vikings—In English waters—Descents on Iona—Monasteries + favourite objects of attack—Destruction of books—Their own eddas + and sagas—Modern discovery of the wonderful Icelandic + literature—The Northmen in a new light—Literary effects of their + invasions—Arrested development—Lamentable dispersion of the + literary classes—Pilgrim Scots—The rise of Scottish + Gaelic—Present-day differences between it and Irish—Introduction + of Norse words—Decay of inflection—Gaelic examples of Viking + beliefs and superstitions—The Norseman still with us 198 + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE FOUR ANCIENT BOOKS OF WALES + + The _Myvyrian Archaiology_—Oldest texts—The Black Book of + Caermarthen—The Book of Aneurin—The Book of Taliessin—The Red + Book of Hergest—Gildas and Nennius—The ancient Laws and + Institutes—A great dialectic battle—The princes of song—“I + Yscolan”—A Welsh Ossianic poem—Characteristics of the early + poetry—The medieval romances—Their history—Modern translations + of the Mabinogion—Two classes of tales—The legend of + Taliessin—His curious odes—Kilhwch and Olwen—The Lady of the + Fountain—Three striking features of the Arthurian romances—Their + influence on Western Europe 217 + + + CHAPTER XIII + + CELTIC LITERARY REVIVALS + + Sixth century awakening throughout Celtdom—Illustrious + names—Brittany’s wonderful cycle of song—Charming + examples—Dearth of tenth century—A strange trait of Celtic + life—The brilliant medieval renaissance—Output of Ireland, + Wales, and Brittany—The Cornish dramas—Last speaker of that + dialect—Period of inactivity and decline—Recrudescence—1745–1800 + the high-water mark of Highland production—A galaxy of + poets—Splendid lyrical outburst—New Ossianic cycle—Seana + Dana—Caledonian Bards—The Welsh Eisteddfod—Latest Celtic + renaissance—Some characteristic features, results, + manifestations—Antiquity, thou wondrous charm! 239 + + + CHAPTER XIV + + HIGHLAND BARDS BEFORE THE FORTY-FIVE + + “The Owlet”—Three Macgregor songs—The old bardic system + superseded—Era of modern Gaelic poetry—Mary Macleod—Details of + her life—Famous songs—Iain Lom—Ardent poet and politician—His + “Vow”—Eventful career—Poems—Created Gaelic + Poet-Laureate—Influence on Highland history—Other minor bards + and bardesses—Imitations by Sir Walter Scott—The blind harper, + and the blind piper—A comic poet—Two major bards—Maccodrum’s + Muse—Characteristics of the group before the Forty-five 262 + + + CHAPTER XV + + THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH ON GAELIC LITERATURE + + The origins of Celtic literature—Two streams—The Pagan—The + Christian—Influence of the early Celtic Church as patron of + letters—Originates a written literature—Attitude towards the + ancient sagas—Medieval obscurantism—The Dialogues between Ossian + and Patrick quoted and discussed—Their significance—Bishop + Carsewell and the Reformation—The rival influences of Naturalism + and the Church—Decline of Gaelic oral literature—The Nineteenth, + a century of gleaning rather than of creative + work—Reasons—Present-day return to nature—Splendid services of + individual Churchmen 286 + + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE INFLUENCE OF CELTIC, ON ENGLISH LITERATURE + + Earliest contact—Loan-words—Three periods of marked literary + influence—Layamon’s “Brut”—A fascinating study for critics—The + development of the Arthurian Romance—Sir Thomas Malory—Question + as to origin of rhyme—A Celtic claim—Elements in Scottish + poetry—in English literature—Gray’s “Bard”—Macpherson’s + “Ossian”—Influence on Wordsworth and his contemporaries—Moore’s + “Irish Melodies”—Sir Walter Scott—Tennyson—Interesting + comparison—Arnold, Shairp, Blackie—Novelists after Scott—Living + writers 304 + + + CHAPTER XVII + + THE PRINTED LITERATURE OF THE SCOTTISH GAEL + + Two interesting bibliographies—Surprising revelations—First Gaelic + printed book—Meagre output prior to the Forty-five—Earliest + original works issued—No complete Bible in type before + 1801—Nineteenth century activity—The Highlander’s favourite + books—A revelation of character—His printed literature mainly + religious—Translations—The two books in greatest demand—Dearth + of the masterpieces of other languages—The most popular of + English religious writers—of native bards—Gaelic poetry—The + printed succession—Notable books—Account of the Gaelic + grammars—Dictionaries—Periodicals—Value of the literature 325 + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + THE MASTER GLEANERS OF GAELIC POETRY + + The work of the gleaner—Authors of the three most precious relics + of Celtic literature, Leabhar Na h’Uidhre, Book of Hymns, and + Book of Leinster—of the three Highland treasures, Book of the + Dean of Lismore, Fernaig MS., and Book of Clanranald—Advent of + Macpherson—Collections and collectors between 1750 and + 1820—First printed gleaning—Four nineteenth-century monuments, + Campbell’s Leabhar na Feinne, Mackenzie’s Beauties of Gaelic + Poetry, Sinclair’s Songster, and Carmichael’s Carmina + Gadelica—Other recent gleaners and their books 347 + + + CHAPTER XIX + + THE MASTER SCHOLARS OF CELTIC LITERATURE + + The bards and seanachies—Six men of outstanding literary + eminence—The earliest pioneer of the modern philological + movement—Representatives of the older scholarship—Those of the + new—The brilliant Zeuss—Foreign periodicals dealing with + Celtic—Foremost scholars of the various + nations—Italian—German—French—Danish—Scandinavian—American—British, + including English, Irish, Welsh, Manx, and Scottish—Many + literary problems solved—The promise of future harvests 367 + + + INDEX OF NAMES 387 + + + INDEX OF SUBJECTS 397 + + + + + CHAPTER I + THE ARRIVAL OF THE CELT IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE + + The Celts in primitive Europe—Advent in British Isles—Two + branches—Observations of Cæsar and Tacitus—Main facts of + Celtic progress on the Continent—A vast empire—Interview with + Alexander the Great—Colony in Galatia—Cup of conquest + full—Disintegration—The scattered remnants—Recent + statistics—The ancient Celts as seen through Greek and Roman + eyes—Literary awakening—Ogam writings—First men of + letters—Earliest written Gaelic now extant—Modern linguistic + discovery—The place of Celtic in the Aryan group. + + +Emerson, looking forth from the new time on the nations of Europe, gave +pen to the reflection, “The Celts are of the oldest blood in the world. +Some peoples are deciduous or transitory. Where are the Greeks? Where +the Etrurians? Where the Romans? But the Celts are an old family of +whose beginning there is no memory, and their end is likely to be still +more remote in the future, for they have endurance and productiveness—a +hidden and precarious genius.” + +A sweeping statement withal, yet the thoughtful finding of an eminently +studious and dispassionate mind. + +When the curtain lifts over primitive Europe, and authentic history +first begins, the Celts are already there, and loom formidable in the +heart of the Continent. Not the earliest inhabitants by any means; +archæology points to anterior races. These the ethnologists designate +according to the shape of their heads and supposed colour of their hair. +Their remains have been found in caves, and in what are known to science +as the Neolithic or Stone Age barrows. And they present types of +humanity widely differing from the succeeding so-called Aryans.[1] But +beyond their material survivals, and the people who were supposed to +have been descended from them, there is absolutely no record of these +vanished races. They belong to prehistoric times. + +So do the Celts in great part, but unlike their predecessors they have +emerged in history, and projected themselves on its pages to this day. +They have stepped out of the impenetrable haze, and appear at the +opening of the written drama of Europe. + +History finds them for the first time located about the upper reaches of +the Danube, in the lands corresponding to modern Bavaria, Wurtemburg, +Baden, and the country drained by the Maine to the east of the Rhine. +The idea of an ingress from Asia has lately been abandoned. Research +seems to have effectively exploded it.[2] + +They were barbarians from our point of view, not savages; not civilised, +but apparently a good stage onward from earlier types. It was they who +gave names to many of the rivers and mountains of Europe—“names which +are poems,” says Matthew Arnold, “and which imitate the pure voices of +nature.” + +Hyperboreans they seemed to have been called by the original Greeks, but +since the time of Hecatæus and Herodotus, that is, from about 500 B.C., +they came to be known to the classic writers as κελται or κελτοι—a name +which at that early period the Greeks applied indiscriminately to all +the people of north and west Europe who were not Iberians. + +To them, as well as to the Romans, all that stretch of the Continent +appeared to be occupied mainly by κελτοι. And though the Germans lived +from time immemorial beyond them in the north, not till the first +century B.C. did the Romans discover that they were a different people. +Cæsar himself was one of the earliest to observe and chronicle the fact. + +But there were reasons for this apparent ubiquity of the Celts. Apart +from their chronic unrest and frequent migrations, we can well +understand why the Germans appeared merged in them. The Germans were +early deprived of their independence, and held in slavish subordination +till they recovered their freedom about 300 B.C. For centuries before +that date, conqueror and conquered apparently lived under a common +regime, obeying the same chiefs, and fighting in the same armies, though +generally in the relation of dominant masters and subject slaves. In +this way they even came to have many words in common, as their +respective languages show. + +At what time the Celts entered Gaul, Britain, and Ireland is a question +unhappily beyond the knowledge of man. The seventh century B.C., or even +the tenth as the Irish tradition maintains, is given as an approximate +date. But of this there is no authentic record. Nor yet of a second +immigration assumed to have followed in the third century B.C. + +That there were two such invasions of Britain with a considerable +interval between them is one of the pet theories of philology. For two +branches of an originally parent stock may be traced, known as the +Gadelic and the Brittonic, or more recently as the Q and P groups. The +one includes the Irish, Manx, and Gaelic-speaking peoples, and was the +earlier to arrive; the other embraces the Welsh, Cornish, and Breton, +who came later. + +This linguistic fact might be represented tabularly, thus:— + + Celtic + | + +-----------+-----------+ + | | + Gadelic Brittonic + | | + +------+------+ +-------+-------+ + | | | | | | + Irish Manx Gaelic Welsh Cornish Breton + +The main difference between those two branches is, that in Gadelic the +original guttural of the Aryan tongue came gradually to be _c_ with the +sound _k_, ogam _qu_, and that in Brittonic it became _p_. So we say:— + + English Gaelic Welsh Latin + Four _c_eithir _p_edwar quatuor + Five _c_oig _p_imp quinque + +Such a distinction points to a great change from the common speech of +earlier Celtic times. It existed prior to the Christian era, and is +still strikingly in evidence. Edward Lhuyd, the illustrious Welsh +antiquary, writing in the early part of the eighteenth century, noted +that there were scarcely any words in the Irish that began with _p_, +beyond what were borrowed from Latin or some other language. So much was +this the case, that in an ancient alphabetical vocabulary which he had +beside him, the letter _p_ was entirely omitted. Other instances might +be given. For example, in O’Reilly’s Irish Dictionary, out of upwards of +700 pages, only twelve are occupied with that letter; and when we come +to examine the most recent Gaelic collection of words—the etymological +dictionary of Dr. Macbain—we find about 270 beginning with _p_ out of a +total of well over 7000; and even of these, the majority are derived or +borrowed from Norse or English. There is a MS. of the eighteenth century +in the Laing collection of Edinburgh University, which puts the case +succinctly, when in the sections of what promised to be a good Gaelic +grammar, it observes that of old no word, except _exotic_ words, began +in Gaelic with a _p_. Fastening on so characteristic a distinction +Professor Rhys, some years ago, decided to call the Brittonic the P, and +the Gadelic the Q group, as the more simple and fundamental +classification. + +Thus far philology helps to differentiate between the two branches, and +points to a remote advent of the Gael in Britain. + +But when we turn to history we find there is nothing definite on this +most attractive subject till Cæsar arrives and makes personal +observation. Speaking of the south—for he had not penetrated the +northern parts—he tells us that he found two races in possession: one in +the interior, which considered itself indigenous; the other on the +sea-coast, roving adventurers from the Continent who arrived later. +Tacitus, writing nearly a century and a half after Cæsar, namely, about +82 A.D., practically confirms Cæsar’s report of a double occupation, and +adds the further interesting details, that the one race was dark +complexioned and had curly hair, while the other, resembling the Gauls, +had red hair and were tall of stature. In the eighth century A.D. we +know, on the authority of Bede, that there were in these islands five +written languages, viz. those of the Angles, the Brythons, the Scottis, +the Picts, and the Latins, the first four[3] of which were spoken. It is +the ever-puzzling yet fascinating work of philology and ethnology to +trace the origin and exact racial connection of these—a work which +hitherto has proved as elusive as the finding of the North Pole. Who are +the dark complexioned race of the South? and who the Picts of the North? +are questions of perennial interest to the experts. + +But though early British and German history is so elusive, we are on +sure ground with the main facts of Celtic progress on the Continent from +the fifth century B.C. Authentic history then opens with the advent of +the classical writers just at the time when the Celts were entering upon +a series of conquests which for the next 200 years made them the +dominant race in Europe.[4] It is needless to follow their various +migrations, even if it were possible. As their territories became +congested on the Danube, they sent forth horde after horde of conquering +tribes who surged every way. Now westward for the most part, till, in +the graphic language of Galgacus, uttered centuries after, “there was +now no nation beyond—nothing save the waves and the rocks” (Nulla jam +gens ultra; nihil nisi fluctus et saxa), then, like the back-rushing +tides, they receded eastwards. + +“Tumults,” the Romans called these irrepressible outbursts, and most +felicitously too, for they were the terror of Europe. + +A cursory glance at some of the more famous of their invasions suffices +to show the restless energy of the Celts and their far-reaching +conquests. + +From Gaul, where they appear to have established themselves north of the +Garonne and about the Seine and Loire, the hungry tribes made a dash for +Spain, shortly before 500 B.C., and wrested the peninsula from the hands +of the Phœnicians. One hundred and twenty years later North Italy shared +the same fate. Surging through the passes of the Alps they overthrew the +Etruscans on their own ground in the great battle of Allia, 390 B.C., +and annexed their territory. Flushed with the victory they pressed +forward, and within three days stormed and sacked the town of Rome +itself. Indeed, it is with this momentous incursion that authentic Roman +history begins. + +One more mighty invasion of the East, and the Illyrians along the Danube +are vanquished, thus rendering the conquerors masters of a vast +territory extending from that river and the Adriatic to the Atlantic, +and bounded on the north by the Rhine and Mid-Germany, and on the south +by Mid-Italy and Mid-Spain, and including the British Isles—a +magnificent empire rivalling that of Alexander or of Cæsar in their +palmy days. Goldsmith’s lines might well apply to them— + + One only master grasps the whole domain, + And half a tillage stints the smiling plain. + +So formidable, indeed, were the Celts during the period of their +ascendency that it served the purpose of the classic nations—Greeks and +Romans—to keep the peace with them as best they could, and even to play +them off against their own hereditary foes. And so the expansive tribes +were for the most part on friendly terms with both, especially with the +Greeks. We have an account in Strabo of an interview which Alexander the +Great had with their ambassadors. It is given on the authority of +Ptolemy, his general. The young potentate knew well the advantage of +cultivating good fellowship with his powerful neighbours, and when the +tribes of the Adriatic sent delegates he received them with all due +courtesy and respect. + +While they were drinking, says the general, Alexander asked them what +was the object of their greatest fear, thinking they would say himself. +But the imaginative Celts had quite other views. They feared no man. One +thing only alarmed them, they replied, and that was lest the heavens +should one day fall and crush them. Still, they added, that they valued +the friendship of such a man as he was above everything. + +“How vainglorious these Celts are!” muttered the young autocrat to his +courtiers, a little piqued, perhaps, at their rejoinder. Yet, if such +were really the object of their superstitious dread, the promise they +made was not without its own grim cogency. “If we fulfil not our +engagement,” they said, “may the sky falling upon us crush us, may the +earth opening swallow us, may the sea overflowing its borders drown us.” + +With Alexander they kept their pledge, but in 280 B.C., when another +king ruled Macedonia, they over-ran his territories, slew him in battle, +and pillaged the temple of Delphi itself—an act of vandalism so shocking +to the Greeks that it roused their patriotism to such a pitch that they +were able to repulse the enemy in the neighbouring gorges. + +Thus compelled to evacuate Greece, the Celts invaded Asia Minor in 278 +B.C., and established there the well-known colony of Galatia. It was to +their descendants that St. Paul addressed his trenchant epistle, and the +words, “O foolish Galatians, who hath druided you?” + +For six centuries after they continued to speak their language there, so +that St. Paul must have heard one dialect at least of the ancient +tongue. + +It may surprise students of the classics to learn that the Celts claim +Hercules as one of their own potentates. In an old Gaelic MS. in the +Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, we find the renowned hero figuring thus: +“Ercoill mac Amphitrionis, mhic Antestis, mhic Andlis, mhic Mitonis, +mhic Festime, mhic Athol, mhic Gregais, mhic Gomer, mhic Jafed, mhic +Noe”—a truly wonderful genealogy, tracing him up to Noah through the +Cymric Gomer. + +The Greek version of the myth is interesting. It tells how Hercules, on +his expedition against Geryon, turned aside into Gaul and married there +a handsome Gaulish lady, by whom he had a son, Galates. This Galates, +surpassing all his countrymen in strength and prowess, led the way to +conquest, and exercising a wide sway, his territory and subjects +eventually came to be named after him—the one Galatia, the other Galatæ. + +In whatever way the classic story originated, it is matter of history +that after the Celtic invasion of Greece, Galatæ became the popular +Greek name for the people hitherto known as κελτοι, even as Galli was +the favourite Roman one. + +But already, before the Greek repulse, the Celtic cup of conquest was +full, and their vast empire began to crumble and disintegrate. The first +great shock was given by the revolt of their born thralls, the Germans, +about 300 B.C. In the struggle for independence these recovered their +liberty and big stretches of territory. Besides falling out with the +Greeks, the flurried tribes in that wild consternation of defeat came to +blows with the Romans also, who in two different battles got the victory +over them. Forced to ally themselves with former foes, now with the +Etruscans, again with the Carthaginians, the Celts still fought +desperately, but all in vain. Their dominion was doomed. And as if to +hasten the swift debacle, the various sections of the same great people +attacked and dispossessed each other. It was probably in the pressure of +those times that the Brittonic invaders surged into Britain and elbowed +their Gaelic kinsmen into more straitened circumstances; for all the +continental Celts were simultaneously in the throes of a lamentable +dispersion. Reverse followed reverse with singular fatality. Every +attempt to redeem their desperate fortunes seemed to fail. “They went to +the war, but they always fell,” said their own sad bard afterwards, +summing up in one terse antithesis the history of their collapse. + +The failure was crushing and irretrievable. They lost Spain, they lost +the north of Italy, they lost Gaul, and subsequently Britain. + +The story of Cæsar’s conquests needs no rehearsal. By 80 A.D. all +Britain south of the Firth of Forth figured as a Roman province. + +Meantime the Celtic dialects of Gaul and Spain were gradually being +superseded by the Latin, and even the laws, habits, and civil +administration of the people were becoming Roman, until in the third +century of our era scarcely a vestige of the ancient régime remained +outside of the British Isles and Brittany, except to the south of the +latter, where the influence of the discarded dialect on the adopted +Latin might be traced.[5] + +In Britain the Romanising process was suddenly arrested by the hasty +departure of the conqueror; and in the helpless abandonment that ensued +the Saxons found an open door. The same fate that they had themselves +formerly inflicted on their kinsmen now overtook the Britons, who were +hustled in great numbers into the wilds of Cornwall, of Wales, and +Strathclyde. And the last stage of the driving west remained to be +accomplished in the case of the Irish, when the Anglo-Celts arrived in +the twelfth century. + +Since the great debacle of their race the Celtic remnants have continued +to speak one or other of the dialects bequeathed from their ancestors. +Five of these are living tongues. Apart from the number that speak them +abroad, it is estimated there are upwards of 3,000,000 people in +Brittany and the British Isles whose mother tongue is Celtic. The +distribution and proportion, according to the latest available +statistics,[6] are full of interest, in view of the long struggle for +existence of the language and people, and the extraordinary vitality +they have evinced in defying the tooth of time. These facts may be +crisply tabulated thus:— + + Gaelic.[7] 254,415. Chiefly in the Highlands of Scotland. + Irish. 679,145. West of a line in Ireland from Dungarvon Bay to + Loch Swilly. + Manx. 3,000. West Coast, Isle of Man. + Welsh. 900,000. Over Wales. + Cornish. Extinct. Formerly Cornwall. + Breton. 1,300,000. In Brittany, N.W. corner of France. + +A sadly dwindling minority are these fag-ends of once so mighty a race. +There can be no doubt that we see the isolated parts gradually expiring +on the horizon, and with more accelerated speed within the last few +decades than for centuries before. Modern industrialism now woos them +away from the strongholds of their own characteristic life, and the +separate units get absorbed in the common national life and the common +civilisation. Numbers of them—of the Irish especially—are still seeking +a home, following the hereditary instincts of their ancestors, and +hiving westwards to America, only to lose their distinctive Celtic +existence and to be merged in the larger life of that great nation. + +The facts are sufficiently patent, but to show the rapidity with which +the disintegration is going on it may be mentioned that since 1851, +3,925,133 persons have emigrated from Ireland alone—a number larger than +that of all the remaining Celtic-speaking population in Europe. In 1899 +the number was 43,760; in 1900, 47,107; in 1901, 39,870, the vast +majority of whom were from the western Irish-speaking provinces; and, as +in the depopulation of the Highlands, it is largely a drain of the best +blood, the land being left in the hands of the old and the feeble. + +There are those who still write and dream of laying the foundations of a +new Celtic civilisation, but in view of the present subtle and swift +dissolution it is hard to know what they mean, unless indeed it be a +leavening of the existing civilisation by a recrudescence of the Celtic +spirit and Celtic aspirations. + +In the main the race has already become fused with the population of +Europe, disappearing as Gallo-Grecians in the east, as Celt-Iberians in +Spain, as Gallo-Franks and Anglo-Celts in the north-west—all but the +Celtic fringes that are shedding their past. + +Thus far the history, and from what we have said it will appear that the +Celts first emerge in literature in the fifth century B.C., from which +time the classical writers make frequent, though generally short and +meagre allusions to them. Dr. W. Z. Ripley,[8] one of the latest +authorities on ethnology, would discount their evidence as of little +value for the purposes of modern scientific research into race origins +and affinities, yet, nevertheless, so far as it goes, it is highly +interesting and important. + +The earliest of all the Greek authors to mention the Celts, if we except +the geographer Hecatæus (520 B.C.), is Herodotus (484–425?), who twice +refers to them in his history as dwelling at the sources of the Danube +and bordering on the Kunesii, the westermost inhabitants of Europe. +Xenophon, at a later period (390), speaking of them as mercenaries with +Dionysius of Syracuse in 368 B.C., remarks that “the ships brought +Keltoi and Iberes.” Plato, Ephorus, Pytheas, and Scylax all furnish +hints in the same century. Aristotle also knew about this extraordinary +people, who, he was told, feared “neither earthquake nor floods,” living +in a country so cold that even the ass did not thrive there, yet putting +little clothing on their children. It appears he had also heard that +they had sacked Rome. Timæus popularised the new name Galatæ in bringing +into notice Galatia, which, he avers, is named after “Galates, son of +Cyclops and Galatia.” + +From this time onward we get fuller details of the Celtic character, +manners, and customs. And to show the number and variety of authorities +from which information may be gleaned, the following may be selected: +Polybius, a Greek writer of the second century B.C., and Posidonius of +the first. Julius Cæsar and his contemporary Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, a +geographer of the early part of the first century A.D., Virgil, Cicero, +Livy, Tacitus, Dion Cassius, Pliny, Ptolemy, and Ammianus Marcellinus, +the latter bringing the list down towards the end of the fourth century, +when the Roman Empire in its own turn began to break up, and the Gaels +were at length prepared to enter the arena of literature and speak for +themselves. + +It is outwith the scope of this chapter to go into many of the +interesting details which these various authors furnish, but a few of +those which astonished the writers may be noted in passing, such as, the +Celts’ intellectual cleverness; their numbers and great size; the +magnificence of their funerals, and their belief in the immortality of +the soul. Their cities were forests, and though otherwise cleanly in +their eating, lion-like, they were wont to take up huge joints and gnaw +at them. Other features of striking peculiarity were their figurative, +exaggerated language; the functions of bards and druids; their chariots +and excellent horsemanship; the fierceness and noise of their first +onset in battle; their readiness to be disheartened by reverse; their +astounding clothes,—dyed tunics, flowered with various colours, flaming +and fantastic, striped cloaks buckled on their shoulders, and breeches. +Their chiefs generally appeared with a retinue of followers. Of old, the +Celts devoted themselves to plundering other people’s countries. The +heads of their fallen enemies they cut off and hung to their horses’ +manes; they were warlike, passionate, and always ready for fighting; +otherwise simple, frank, hospitable to strangers, but vain, quarrelsome, +fickle, and ever prone to waste their strength on personal feuds and +factions. Such were some of the curious traits and customs of our Celtic +progenitors as seen through Greek and Roman eyes. + +Scarcely had the Romans finally abandoned Britain than the Celts enter +upon a new rôle. They annex the Roman script, the Roman language for +literary work, and the Roman art of writing. And thus equipped, they +proceed to produce a literature of their own in Latin and Gaelic. The +wonder is that with their natural quickness and thirst for knowledge +they did not achieve a record in this direction before. + +When we reflect on the other great nations of antiquity, we find that +they generally had a literature of some kind, written down, if not in +books, then on skins or slabs and in temples. The Egyptians had their +“Book of the Dead,” the Indians their “Rig-veda,” the Persians their +“Zend-avesta,” the Chinese and Hebrews their “Sacred Books,” the Greeks +and Romans their classics, and we naturally ask, “What had the Celts in +the zenith of their power?” say between 500 and 300 B.C. No writing at +all that we know of. At this day only a few inscriptions remain in the +Gaulish language of Cæsar’s time and later, but nothing earlier. These +nomadic warrior populations may have had their bardic compositions and +tales floating by oral tradition, but we have no evidence that they +developed a literature, though some of them may have known Greek +letters. + +It is to the insular Gaels, to those of Ireland and Scotland in the +fifth and sixth centuries of our era, that we have to look for the early +beginnings of Celtic literature. The Irish first showed signs of a rude +awakening to activity in this direction. They invented a system of +writing peculiar to themselves, simple and ingenious, and good enough +for rough inscriptions on stones, but too cumbrous for the needs of +literature. + +Their earliest records are to be found in this Ogam script, which +consists of a number of short lines drawn straight or slanting, either +above, below, or through a long stem-line. Thus— + + | || ||| |||| ||||| + +-----++-----+++-----++++-----+++++---------- + h d t c qu + +represents the letters h, d, t, c, qu, being the first letters of the +first five numerals in Gaelic, h’aon, dha, tri, ceithir, coig; the last +in Manx is queig; in Irish cuig; and in Latin quinque. + +The vowels are similarly represented, broad vowels, a, o, u; small +vowels, e, i— + + | || ||| |||| ||||| + +-----++-----+++-----++++-----+++++---------- + | || ||| |||| ||||| + a o u e i + +Over two hundred stones have been found inscribed with Ogam writing, +most of them in the south-west of Ireland, from twenty to thirty in +Wales and Devonshire, and ten in Scotland. The Book of Ballymote, a MS. +of the fourteenth century, fortunately contains a key to some of these +inscriptions, so that many of them have been read, though not all. + +Who introduced this peculiar mode of writing? and when? are questions +that have never yet been determined. Brash, who made personal inspection +of most of the stones, was of opinion that they are of pre-Christian +origin, whereas Dr. Graves has attempted to prove that they belong to a +period between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D. + +References to Ogam inscriptions are frequently met with in the earliest +Celtic literature, and some examined contain grammatical forms alleged +to be older than those of the most ancient MSS., and corresponding even +with the archaic forms of the antique Gaulish monuments. + +The Ogam used to be written on wood and stone, and it is not improbable +that many of the genealogies and bits of legendary lore may have been +handed down from generation to generation in this way, as well as by +oral tradition. + +It is with the great wave of Christian evangelisation that passed over +Ireland and Scotland successively, through the labours of St. Patrick +and St. Columba, that the use of the Roman script became widely general, +and we trace the dawn of letters. Round the names of these two men there +shines a lustre which the lapse of ages has failed to dim. They not only +kindled the torch of a higher faith and purer life among their Celtic +brethren, but they lighted also the lamp of literature, which has +continued to burn with more or less radiance for 1500 years. + +St. Patrick, as the earlier of the two, is really the Cædmon of Gaelic +literature. Born in Scotland, probably, as the later critics think, at +Old Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, he was, while yet a youth of sixteen, +carried captive to Hiberio, and though he escaped after six years from +his hard fate as his master’s thrall and feeder of cattle, his +missionary zeal, new kindled, urged him to return as evangelist to the +land of his former oppression. The visions of his early captivity, as he +lay down to rest of nights near the cattle, remind us of Cædmon’s vision +in the stable at Whitby, upwards of two hundred years after—a vision +which issued in the birth of English literature, as did those of St +Patrick in that of Gaelic. + +And so the unassuming herd emerges as the first known writer of the +ancient Celtic people, the first of whom we have any definite authentic +knowledge. + +Three literary compositions stand in his name, namely, his “Confession,” +written in rugged Latin, his “Epistle to Coroticus,” in similar language +and style, and the “Deer’s Cry,” a lorica or prayer in Gaelic. This hymn +has always been regarded, and rightly too, as a gem of sacred song. + +The religious and literary dawn that lit up Ireland in the fifth century +reached Scotland in the sixth through the advent of the heroic Columba. +He too, by unhappy circumstances driven over sea, lived an exile in “the +land of his adoption tried,” and with even more brilliance and learning +did for Scotland what St. Patrick did for Ireland. So that the school of +Iona became for centuries after his death a centre of light and leading +in religion and letters, not only for Scotland and Ireland, but also for +many parts of Europe. + +His own special contributions to literature include several beautiful +poems in Gaelic and Latin, and many transcripts in Latin of parts of +books of Scripture, such as the Cathrach, a copy of the Psalter believed +to have been made while he was yet a student, and perhaps also the Book +of Durrow and the Book of Kells—two wonderful specimens of penmanship +and early Celtic art. If these latter are not exactly the work of his +own hands they belong at least to the Columban period, an era of great +literary activity, which produced, among other well-known works, the +_Amra Choluimcille_ of Dallan Forgaill, Adamnan’s _Life of Columba_, and +the Book of Deer. + +It will thus be seen that the earliest written MSS. of the Celtic people +are essentially a Christian literature, which ignored almost entirely +the pagan traditions of the race in its effort to supersede them. But +the atmosphere was heavy with these, and apparently from pre-Christian +times there had come floating down by oral transmission a great mass of +heroic saga which at length found written expression in the seventh or +eighth century A.D. So that now to the purely Christian literature there +was added the purely pagan, which much more faithfully reflected the +characteristic flavour of the race, its strength, and its weakness, its +facts, its fancies, and its foibles. Professing to go back to a remote +antiquity, it is significant that the setting of this ancient saga is +confined exclusively to these islands. None of the stories belong to +Europe or the doings of the parent stock in its palmy days. As compared +with the Christian, this pagan contribution is by far the more important +from a literary point of view. Yet it must be borne in mind that though +there are still extant in Ireland Celtic Latin MSS. which reach up to +the time of St. Patrick and St. Columba, there is none existing which +contains actual Gaelic writing prior to the eighth century. + +Almost the only specimen of continuous prose written by the end of the +eighth century now known to exist is a portion of a Gaelic sermon on +temperance and self-denial from the text, “If any man will come after +me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” This +curious relic is in the town library of Cambray, in a MS. containing the +canons of an Irish council held in 684. The MS., however, bears direct +evidence that it was not written until about a century afterwards. + +The earliest written Gaelic is contained in MSS. on the Continent, such +as those at Milan, Cambray, Vienna, St. Gall, and other places. And even +these are not books of saga, but generally Latin books with some Gaelic +poems jotted on the leaf margins, or glosses, and other explanatory +writing. There are a few such literary monuments also in the British +Isles, containing ancient Gaelic. The Book of Armagh, for example, dates +from 807, and in addition to vernacular notes, preserves the Latin +“Confessions” of St. Patrick, copied, it is believed, from the apostle’s +own autograph MS. The Book of Deer, almost equally venerable, with a +Gaelic colophon, belongs to the same century. To its original contents +were added in the eleventh and twelfth centuries Gaelic entries which +are of uncommon philological and historical interest and value. + +But setting aside these Latin books in which the Gaelic jottings are +purely incidental and secondary, we need to come down as far as the +eleventh century to reach the existing sources of the earliest written +compositions in the native tongue. It is in such MSS. as the Leabhar Na +h’Uidhre, the Book of Hymns, and the other great MiddleAge gleanings of +after days that we find the Patrician and Columban literature as well as +the ancient sagas. + +Till within very recent times the Celt had no idea that he was heir to +such a vast literary inheritance as really exists. As in the olden times +men sometimes buried their wealth to save it from the hands of ruthless +foes, and, dying themselves or falling in the fray, lived not to +indicate to others the site of their hid treasures, so it has happened +in the case of Gaelic literature. Much of it perished at the hands of +the enemy and the avenger. What was saved from the wreck of the more +stormy and turbulent periods of our history owes its existence to-day +very largely to concealment and neglect. And as the plough or the spade +occasionally turns up an old stone cist, or a casket of ancient coins, +or a canoe of primitive man, so the casual researches of antiquarians +and scholars have brought to light a hidden mass of ancient writings +which appear to have been scattered broadcast over Europe and the +British Isles. These Gaelic relics are now jealously preserved in +various countries, and within the last century have been made the +subject of the most interested scrutiny by leading Continental and +British philologists, with the result that they have thrown a welcome +light on some of the darker problems of history, philology, and +ethnology. For example, as late as the first quarter of last century few +people had any idea that the Celtic populations were allied with the +southern nations of Europe, or that their language had any connection +whatever with the Romance and Teutonic tongues. One solitary scholar,[9] +indeed, threw out the hint as early as 1786, but offered no proof; and +it remained a visionary hypothesis until the long list of documents +reappearing one by one enabled scholars to establish the point beyond +question, that linguistically the Celtic people are a branch of the +great Aryan family, and thus closely allied with the Teutonic, and still +more nearly with the Greek and the Latin peoples. Roughly, this +relationship may be represented as under. The table is not meant to +indicate race affinities, which it is very far indeed from doing, but +simply to exhibit the affinities of language which modern philological +studies have traced:— + + Aryan + | + +--------------------------+-----------------------------+ + | | + European Branch Asiatic Branch + | + +------------------------+-----------------------+ + | | | + | Slavonic Teutonic + | | | + | +-----+--------+ | + | | | | + | Russians Old Prussians | + | | + +------+-------+ +-------+--------+ + | | | | | | + Greek Latin Celtic English Germans Norse + +It is this important and surprising discovery, that we are a part of a +vast Indo-European family spread to the east over a great part of Asia, +and to the west over the most of Europe including Russia, that has given +such impetus to Celtic studies within recent years. The Gaelic has been +found to have roots which go far down towards the parent stock. And its +literature, therefore, is of the utmost value to all who seek to read +the riddle of the past and to push back the horizons of knowledge beyond +the age even of Herodotus, “the father of history.” + +There is a fascination and refining influence in the study of the Greek +and Roman classics, but for the man of large outlook and broad human +sympathies there is much also to interest and attract in the literature +of the Gael—so old, so weird, so fanciful. + +Wordsworth, as he listened to the song of the Highland maid in the +harvest field, felt the pathos of the past in that moving Gaelic +product, and would fain learn its story. Hence his reverie— + + Will no one tell me what she sings? + Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow + For old unhappy far-off things, + And battles long ago. + +That is just what they do; dealing with much brighter things too. For +the spirit of the race is enshrined in these old writings, and the +fortunes of the race in their history. + + APPENDIX TO CHAPTER I + NUMBER OF PERSONS SPEAKING GAELIC AND ENGLISH, AND GAELIC ONLY, IN + SCOTLAND IN 1891 AND 1901. + ┌───────────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────┐ + │ County. │ │ Gaelic and │ │ + │ │ Population. │ English. │Gaelic only. │ + ├───────────────────┼─────────┬─────────┼───────┬───────┼──────┬──────┤ + │ „ │ 1891. │ 1901. │ 1891. │ 1901. │1891. │1901. │ + ├───────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────┼───────┼──────┼──────┤ + │Inverness │ 89,317│ 89,796│ 44,084│ 43,179│17,276│11,721│ + │Ross and Cromarty │ 77,810│ 76,135│ 37,437│ 39,235│18,577│12,171│ + │Argyll │ 75,003│ 73,083│ 36,720│ 34,224│ 6,042│ 3,313│ + │Lanark │1,046,040│1,337,886│ 22,887│ 26,695│ 84│ 101│ + │Sutherland │ 21,896│ 21,239│ 14,786│ 14,076│ 1,115│ 469│ + │Perth │ 126,199│ 123,276│ 13,847│ 11,446│ 304│ 78│ + │Renfrew │ 290,798│ 268,459│ 8,435│ 5,585│ 63│ 40│ + │Edinburgh │ 434,159│ 487,702│ 6,308│ 5,745│ 19│ 75│ + │Caithness │ 37,177│ 33,623│ 4,068│ 2,865│ 76│ 20│ + │Dumbarton │ 94,495│ 113,627│ 3,556│ 3,040│ 36│ 14│ + │Bute │ 18,404│ 18,641│ 3,482│ 2,713│ 29│ 20│ + │Nairn │ 10,019│ 9,291│ 2,487│ 1,325│ 53│ 10│ + │Elgin │ 43,453│ 44,749│ 2,263│ 1,860│ 12│ 2│ + │Stirling │ 125,608│ 141,847│ 1,840│ 2,021│ 2│ 10│ + │Ayr │ 226,283│ 254,165│ 1,827│ 1,654│ 14│ 16│ + │Aberdeen │ 281,332│ 303,908│ 1,534│ 1,331│ 8│ 8│ + │Forfar │ 277,773│ 283,736│ 1,461│ 1,303│ 8│ 13│ + │Fife │ 187,346│ 218,347│ 726│ 840│ 6│ 3│ + │Banff │ 64,190│ 61,440│ 639│ 499│ 3│ │ + │Haddington │ 37,485│ 38,656│ 575│ 459│ 7│ 7│ + │Linlithgow │ 52,808│ 64,796│ 486│ 575│ 2│ 5│ + │Clackmannan │ 28,432│ 31,994│ 215│ 170│ 1│ 1│ + │Dumfries │ 74,221│ 72,564│ 201│ 176│ │ 1│ + │Roxburgh │ 53,741│ 48,804│ 177│ 132│ │ │ + │Kincardine │ 35,647│ 40,896│ 116│ 103│ 1│ │ + │Berwick │ 32,406│ 30,793│ 89│ 74│ │ 1│ + │Orkney │ 30,453│ 27,727│ 88│ 70│ │ │ + │Selkirk │ 27,353│ 23,356│ 73│ 57│ │ │ + │Peebles │ 14,761│ 15,066│ 70│ 72│ │ 1│ + │Kirkcudbright │ 39,985│ 39,335│ 69│ 98│ │ │ + │Wigton │ 36,062│ 32,593│ 68│ 84│ │ │ + │Shetland │ 28,711│ 27,736│ 67│ 52│ │ │ + │Kinross │ 6,280│ 6,981│ 56│ 55│ │ │ + │Persons on Board │ │ │ │ │ │ │ + │ Ship in Scottish │ │ │ │ │ │ │ + │ Waters │ │ 9,856│ │ 887│ │ 6│ + ├───────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────┼───────┼──────┼──────┤ + │ Total │4,025,647│4,472,103│210,677│202,700│43,738│28,106│ + └───────────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴───────┴───────┴──────┴──────┘ + +In the census of 1901 the schedule restricts the entries in the Gaelic +column to persons over three years of age. According to the previous +census the number of persons under three years of age amounted to 7½ per +cent of the whole population. This must be taken into account in order +to institute a fair comparison between the returns of the +Gaelic-speaking population in 1891 and 1901. + + + + + CHAPTER II + ST. PATRICK, THE PIONEER OF CELTIC WRITERS + + The historical Patrick—Authentic records—Earliest known Gaelic + litterateur—Dates elusive—Birthplace—Autobiographical details of + his youth—Taken captive—Escape—Obscure wanderings—Return + home—The rôle of missionary in Ireland—Epoch-making + career—Remarkable Patrician Dialogues—His own literary work—The + “Confession”—“Epistle to Coroticus”—“Deer’s Cry”—Ireland’s + oldest book—Three other antique compositions from the Book of + Hymns—A curious prophecy—Personal character—Death. + + +It is a characteristic of our age to doubt, if not to deny, the +historical reality of many of the heroic figures that hover in the +background of history. And such a doubt has extended even to St. +Patrick, due largely to the fact that he is not mentioned by the early +historians Prosper of Aquitaine (402–463) and Bede (673–735), both of +whom attribute the conversion of Ireland to Palladius. + +But this seeming omission has been explained on the highly probable +assumption that Patrick[10] was the Palladius of these writers; and +against the merely negative inference there is the positive and almost +overwhelming voice of history and tradition, which puts the essential +features of Ireland’s apostle beyond all doubt. + +The authentic records of his career are numerous and very old, dating +back, we may say, to his own handwriting. For in the Book of Armagh we +have what professes to be a copy of the autobiographical “Confession” +which he wrote himself late in life. This Book of Armagh, one of the +most ancient and exquisite of the Irish MSS., is itself nearly 1100 +years old, having been written in 807 by a scribe Ferdomnach, and, in +addition to the “Confession” and other interesting contents, it has +preserved to us various Patrician documents. That the writer had before +him the actual autograph MS. of the saint when copying the “Confession” +is inferred from his own words, “Thus far the volume which Patrick wrote +with his own hand. On the seventeenth day of March was Patrick +translated to the heavens.” And also from his frequent marks of +interrogation and casual hints, such as, “The Book is uncertain here,” +showing that during the intervening centuries since Patrick wrote the +writing must have become faded and even illegible in some places. + +Besides his own personal account, there is no lack of early lives by +other authors. Among those that may still be consulted are: (1) the +biographical Hymn by Fiacc of Sletty, one of the saint’s own +contemporaries; (2) two seventh-century Lives known as Tirechan’s and +Muirchu Mac Cumachteni’s, found in the Book of Armagh; (3) the +Tripartite Life, largest of all, from three very ancient Gaelic MSS., +believed by Colgan, though not by later critics, to belong to the early +part of the sixth century, and translated by him in his _Trias +Thaumaturga_, 1645; (4) the Monk Jocelin’s memoir, twelfth century; and +(5) other MSS. of the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. Subsequent +authors, of course, are mainly dependent on these. + +A great historic character was this St. Patrick, who could not be buried +in documents. His own words have far-reaching significance, beyond even +what he himself meant to convey when he wrote, “He who is mighty came +and in his mercy supported me, and raised me up and placed me on the top +of a wall.” On this eminence St. Patrick is great, not merely as apostle +of Ireland, but also as occupying a niche in the origins of Celtic +literature. Essentially a man of religious initiative, and making no +claim to distinction as a writer, he is nevertheless the earliest known +pioneer of letters in Ireland—the first of whose work we have definite +records to attest the authenticity. + +What share he had in making the latter a literary country it is +difficult to say; but from his missionary advent in Ireland a knowledge +of letters seems to have spread rapidly over the land. His monasteries +and churches were centres and nurseries of learning. “He used,” as +Tirechan tells us, “to baptize men daily and to read letters and +abgatoriae with them.” + +There is a high probability that the Ogam writing peculiar to Ireland +originated before his time, and even the beautiful modification of the +Roman alphabet found in Irish books. These are still matters for +research. But one thing, at least, is claimed for the saint and his +Christian followers, that they made the use of the Roman script for the +first time widely general. And this had far-reaching results for the +future, since only by its adaptation, as apart from the rude and +cumbrous though ingeniously simple Ogam, was any real literature +possible. + +In view of the mass of biographical material that has collected round +the venerated name of St Patrick, it might be supposed that every event +of his life would stand out clear and luminous. Yet such is the +perversity of historic authorship, that names and dates and even +oft-told incidents are hard to get at in their true setting. The career +of the apostle is inextricably jumbled up and confused with that of two +others—the traditional Palladius and another Patrick, both of which +semi-mythical characters appear and disappear again and again, crossing +his path like his double; insomuch that it has been conjectured that the +incidents of one life are often transferred to another, and the saint is +credited with experiences which really belonged to the history of the +other two, such, for example, as his alleged mandate from the Pope and +the superior continental training under Germanus. + +Dates especially are wonderfully elusive. The usual chronology for St. +Patrick’s career is given as follows: Birth, 387; missionary advent in +Ireland, 432; death, 492 or 493. Yet each of these dates is still under +discussion. Dr. Whitley Stokes puts the advent as early as 397; Dr. Todd +as late as 439 or 440. And so, after all that has been said and +searched, we are dependent for the essential features and outstanding +facts of his life upon the apostle’s own writings. + +Such historical details as are generally accepted may be briefly given. +But in this case there is an advantage in quoting the _ipsissima verba_ +of the saint, and thus allow him to tell his own tale at critical points +of his career, for his style and matter are themselves a revelation of +character. + +He first projects himself on the canvas of literary history by relating +early circumstances and the pregnant event which changed the whole +aspect of his life, and gave it the direction it afterwards took. Thus +he begins:— + + I, Patrick, a sinner, the rudest and least of all the faithful and the + most despicable among most men, had for my father Calpornius a deacon, + son of the late Potitus a presbyter, who was of the town of Bonaven + Taberniæ; for he had a farm in the neighbourhood where I was taken + captive. I was then sixteen years old. I knew not the true God, and I + was carried in captivity to Hiberio with many thousands of men + according to our deserts, because we had gone back from God and had + not kept His commandments, and were not obedient to our priests who + used to warn us for our salvation. + +Bonaven Taberniæ has been the subject of much eager inquiry to this day. +Where is it? or Nemthur, the alternative name furnished by Fiacc of +Sletty? Many places claim the honour of being the birthplace of the +saint. Boulogne, Bristol, Glastonbury, Carlisle, Tours, Caerleon, and +Ireland have all contended at one time or another for the prestige. But +the best authorities in recent times seem to favour Old Kilpatrick, near +Dumbarton, as the most likely locality from which sprung the saint, and +as fulfilling better than any of the others the actual suggestions of +the records. In the river opposite the town there is a rock visible at +low water, called St. Patrick’s stone, tradition alleging that the ship +in which he sailed away to Ireland struck against it, but continued its +voyage unharmed. + +In captivity in Antrim he remained for six years, his daily employment +being to feed cattle. Then the love of God entered his heart, he tells +us, and a spirit of prayer grew upon him. Often he would say a hundred +prayers in a day, and rise of nights to resort to the woods and +mountains in snow, and frost, and rain, for the same purpose. + +While thus exercised, one night, in a dream, a voice came to him saying, +“Thy fasting is well; thou shalt soon return to thy country.” Later on, +the dream was repeated, the same voice assuring him that the ship was +now ready, 200 miles away. + +Waiting no longer, the poor enthused slave fled from his master, and, +after long wandering, reached the port, where he found indeed a ship, +but the captain of it proved rough and hostile, and refused to have +anything to do with him. On the way back to his hut he was recalled by a +sailor, the upshot of the parley being that he accompanied the crew on +the voyage. Afterwards he seems to have been detained by them on shore, +perhaps in Gaul, as they wandered in a desert and suffered great +hardships. “How is it, Christian?” said the captain one day when no food +could be had. Patrick gave a characteristic reply, and he tells us that +they were saved from starvation on that occasion by a herd of swine soon +after appearing, some of which they killed and ate. + +There is no mention in his account of any Continental sojourn,[11] +though almost all the Lives make reference to such. Fiacc of Sletty +waxes poetical over it:— + + He went across all the Alps—great God, it was a marvel of a journey— + Until he staid with German in the south, in the south part of Latium; + In the isles of the Tyrrhene Sea he remained, therein he meditated, + He read the Canon with German; it is this that writings declare + To Ireland God’s angels were bringing him in his course, + Often was it seen in vision that he would come thither again. + +If such wandering took place, it was probably after he escaped from the +mariners. For, over twenty-two years of his life at this period seem to +be a blank, unless accounted for by some such sojourn in this country or +abroad. At length, after great privations and lonely struggle, he made +his way back to his parents, who received him “as a son, and earnestly +besought him not to expose himself to fresh dangers, but to remain with +them henceforth.” + +For a while he did stay, and then the apostolic spirit came upon him. +“In the dead of night,” he says, “I saw a man coming to me as if from +Hiberio, whose name was Victoricus, having innumerable epistles. And he +gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of it, which contained the +words, ‘The voice of the Irish.’ And whilst I was repeating the +beginning of the epistle, I imagined that I heard in my mind the voice +of those who were near the wood of Foclut, which is near the Western +Sea, and then they cried, ‘We pray thee, holy youth, to come and +henceforth walk amongst us.’” + +He is supposed to have been forty-five years of age then. His mission, +we see, he attributed solely to an inward call or divine command. There +is no mention of any authority from the Pope, of any visit to Rome or +Gaul, or even of the superior education he is credited with having +received on the Continent under Germanus. On the contrary, he speaks of +himself in his early condition as “a rustic, a fugitive, unlearned, and +not knowing how to provide for the coming day;” spiritually, “like a +stone lying in the deep mud.” And in later life, in reference to the +“Confession,” “Wherefore I thought of writing long ago, but hesitated +till now, for I feared I should not fall into the language of men; +because I have not read like others who have been taught sacred letters +in the best manner, and have never changed their language from infancy, +but were always adding to its perfection; for my language and speech is +translated into a foreign tongue. Indeed, it can be easily perceived +from the childishness of my writing after what manner I have been +instructed and taught.” + +He had used Latin, no doubt, as his mother tongue in boyhood, but, not +having received much instruction in it, he had never cultivated it as a +literary language, and consequently it had, during his captivity, fallen +very much into abeyance, so that it was difficult for him in later days +to write this language of the learned as fluently as he would wish. + +His father was of Roman descent. His mother is said to have been +British—a merely conjectural statement. + +Like St. Columba in after years, St. Patrick addressed the tribesmen +through their chiefs and kings, and was tolerant of contemporary +superstitions, seeking rather to graft the new faith upon the old. He +adopted the pagan festivals and associated them with Christian events. +At Tara, however, he attacked paganism in its stronghold and burnt the +druidical books, extorting from King Laoghaire a reluctant acquiescence +in his work. From the chief, Daire, he obtained the site for his famous +monastery at Armagh, which became his headquarters. He threw down, in +what is the present county of Cavan, the great idol Crom Cruach—object +of immemorial veneration and savage rites. From the huge stone, which +bowed westward on that day of doom, the demon is reported to have fled +to hell, leaving his fallen image leaning over, so that what was once +called “The Chief of the Mound” was henceforth known as “The Crooked one +[Crom Cruach] of the Mound.” + +As his work advanced, a vast following of missionaries, bishops, and +even chiefs and sub-kings, with their subjects, came under his +influence. He had a share also in reforming the ancient druidical laws +of Ireland, and bringing them more into harmony with Christian +principles. According to the “Four Masters,” it was in 438 the part of +the Brehon Law known as the Seanchus Mor, and still preserved in +venerable documents, was redacted. Much of the work may be of later +dates, but tradition credits St. Patrick with having undertaken the task +along with others, and with having effected a drastic purification in +his own lifetime. + +Many legends have gathered round his name during the ages, and +superstitious beliefs, as one might expect. Yet, so great is his +prestige in the land of his adoption to this day, that not only are +thousands called by his name, but the peasantry of Ireland actually +believe that St. Patrick banished snakes from the island. + +The historical records know nothing of any meeting between Ossian and +the saint; yet in some of the older MSS. there are Dialogues[12] in the +heroic style reported as having been carried on between them, the bard +representing the pagan ideal of his ancestors, the saint the Christian +ideal of the Church. They are evidently the work of later times, some +centuries, no doubt, after the saint’s time. But, both from a literary +and religious point of view, they are profoundly interesting. + +Besides these characteristic Dialogues reported in the Book of Lismore +and other ancient MSS., and assumed to have taken place between St. +Patrick and Ossian, there is a romantic and beautiful one recorded by +Tirechan, and repeated with more or less variations in the Lives of St. +Patrick, and consequently of great antiquity. It is taken from the Book +of Armagh. + +The saint had come to the well called Clebach, and before sunrise sat +down beside it with his followers. + + And lo! the two daughters of King Laoghaire, Ethne the fair and Fedelm + the ruddy, came early to the well to wash after the manner of women, + and they found near the well a synod of holy Bishops with Patrick. And + they knew not whence they were or in what form or from what people, or + from what country; but they supposed them to be divine sidhe, or gods + of the earth, or a phantasm, and the virgins said unto them, “Who are + ye! and whence come ye?” And Patrick said unto them, “It were better + for you to confess to our true God, than to inquire concerning our + race.” + + The first virgin said, + “Who is God? + And where is God? + And of what (nature) is God? + And where is His dwelling-place? + Has your God sons and daughters, gold and silver? + Is He ever living? + Is He beautiful? + Did Mary foster His Son? + Are His daughters dear and beautiful to men of the world? + Is He in heaven or in earth? + In the sea? + In rivers? + In mountainous places? + In valleys? + Declare unto us a knowledge of Him, + How shall He be seen? + How is He to be loved? + How is He to be found? + Is it in youth? + Is it in old age that He is to be found?” + +With swift strides the narrative goes on to tell how the saint +enlightened the two maidens, how they believed and were baptized, how +they received the eucharist of God and slept in death. Thereafter they +were laid on the same bed, covered with garments, while their friends +raised great lamentation for them. + +Such is a summary of the chief events in St. Patrick’s long and +epoch-making career in Ireland, taken generally to have lasted sixty +years, so that he must have lived to a ripe old age, if the records +report with any exactness. + +Leaving now the biographical and coming to the purely literary aspect of +his life, we find that there are three pieces of literature assigned to +him, namely, the “Confession” and the “Epistle to Coroticus,” both in +Latin, and the “Deer’s Cry” in Gaelic. The two former are sometimes +styled his epistles, numbered I. and II., the history of whose +preservation to our own time is not without its peculiar interest. + +Besides the copy of the “Confession” in the Book of Armagh, there are +four other MSS. in existence: (1) the Cottonian, in the British Museum; +(2) two MSS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, formerly preserved in the +Salisbury Cathedral; (3) one MS. in the Public Library of Arras. The +text of the Bollandist Fathers was taken from the Arras MS. and +published at Antwerp in 1668 in their _Acta Sanctorum_. A copy of the +“Epistle to Coroticus” accompanies each of the above except that in the +Book of Armagh. + +Of the “Confession,” the style and gist may be gathered from the +extracts given as we recounted his life. It is perhaps the earliest +piece of authentic Celtic literature we have, inasmuch as it is the +first of which the authorship can be definitely and historically +asserted. Its Latin is rude and archaic, answering to the description +St. Patrick gives of his own writing. It quotes from the pre-Vulgate +version of the Scriptures, and contains nothing inconsistent with the +period in which it professes to have been written. + +The saint appears to have penned this document as a kind of defence of +his apostolic work against the attacks of men who regarded the whole +undertaking as arrogant and presumptuous in view of his own rusticity. +“The rustic condition was created by the Most High,” he gently reminds +them, and adds some plain truths which show that, like Jesus, and St. +Paul, and St Francis of Assisi, and other great master-spirits of the +Christian Evangel, he did not disdain poverty, but voluntarily assumed +it for the promotion of the Gospel. It would be tedious, he says, to +relate even a portion of the many toils and dangers he had gone through. +Twelve times his life was in imminent peril. Never one farthing did he +receive for all his preaching and teaching. He challenges his detractors +to say if he did and it will be returned. The people, indeed, were +generous and offered innumerable gifts, which, out of principle, he +refused, lest it might furnish an opportunity for cavil against the +disinterestedness of his mission. On one occasion, on being told that +his own nephew declared that his preaching would be perfect if he +insisted a little more on the necessity of giving, he gave the noble +reply, that “for the sake of charity he forebore to preach charity.” + +The “Epistle to Coroticus” is evidently from the same pen. The Latin and +the literary style are similar. It also quotes from the pre-Vulgate +version, and there is no internal evidence against the assumption that +it was written by the saint. Though not found in the Book of Armagh, it +is preserved in the other MSS. cited, some of which may be as old as the +eleventh and twelfth centuries. + +Certain authorities identify Coroticus with the Welsh prince Caredig. +Other more recent scholars, such as Drs. Skene, Whitley Stokes, and +Douglas Hyde, contend that he was a prince of Strathclyde, Ceretic by +name, who had his capital at Alclwyd, the modern Dumbarton, and thus +that he hailed from St. Patrick’s own district. + +At any rate, the soldiers and allies of this nominally Christian king +suddenly made a descent on the eastern shores of Ireland, which they +harried, carrying away many of St. Patrick’s converts to be sold as +slaves, and ruthlessly killing numbers of them on the very day after +their baptism, while the symbol of their faith, as he says, was still +wet upon their foreheads, and these neophytes were yet clad in their +white vestments. The letter was sent as a remonstrance against such +barbarous conduct, and to urge the lawless prince to restore the +captives. But to little effect, for the invader treated messengers and +letters alike with ridicule and contempt, delivering the converts +abducted into the hands of the Picts and Scots. + +In this letter, as in the “Confession,” St. Patrick gives interesting +personal details. A few extracts are worth quoting. For example:— + + I, Patrick, an unlearned sinner do truly acknowledge that I have been + constituted a bishop in Ireland. I accept it of God that I am. I dwell + among barbarians a proselyte and an exile for the love of God. + + I have written these words to be given and delivered to the soldiers + and by them to Coroticus.... I do not say to my fellow-citizens nor to + fellow-citizens of pious Romans, but to fellow-citizens of demons, + through their evil deeds.... I was of noble birth according to the + flesh, my father being a Decurio. For I bartered my nobility—I do not + blush nor regret it—for the benefit of others. No thanks to me. But + God hath put in my heart the anxious desire that I should be one of + the hunters or fishers who as God formerly announced should appear in + the last days.... What shall I do, Lord? I am greatly despised. Lo thy + sheep are torn to pieces around me and plundered by these aforesaid + marauders under the command of Coroticus. + +In this letter he mentions also that he is constrained by the Spirit not +to see any of his kindred. + +For St. Patrick’s beautiful hymn, the “Deer’s Cry,” we are indebted to +the Book of Hymns of the eleventh century, which, like the Book of +Armagh, contains several Patrician pieces. It is a Gaelic composition +alleged to have been made by the saint while on his way to the great +Court of Tara. It was celebrated for generations before the English +conquest as a _lorica_ or prayer for protection. Dr. Todd says, “That +this hymn is a composition of great antiquity cannot be questioned. It +is written in a very ancient dialect of the Irish Celtic. It was +evidently composed during the existence of pagan usages in the country. +It makes no allusion to Arianism or any of the heresies prevalent in the +Continental Church. It notices no doctrine or practice of the Church +that is not known to have existed before the fifth century. In its style +and diction, although written in a different language, there is nothing +very dissimilar to the Confession and the letter about Coroticus, and +nothing absolutely inconsistent with the opinion that it may be by the +same author.” Beyond this no positive proof can be given. + +In the _Liber Hymnorum_ it is prefaced by the following distinctive +account in Gaelic:— + + Patrick made this hymn. In the time of Laoghaire son of Nial it was + made. The cause of making it however was to protect himself with his + monks against the deadly enemies who were in ambush against the + clerics. And this is a corselet of faith for the protection of body + and soul against demons and human beings and vices. Every one who + shall say it every day with pious meditation on God, demons shall not + stay before him. It will be a safeguard to him against every poison + and envy; it will be a comna to him against sudden death; it will be a + corselet to his soul after dying. Patrick sung this when the + ambuscades were sent against him by Laoghaire that he might not go to + Tara to sow the faith, so that there seemed before the ambuscaders to + be wild deer and a fawn after them, to wit, Benen;[13] and faed fiada + (guard’s cry) is its name. + +Apparently the assassins mistook the chanting of the lorica for the cry +of the deer. This saved the party, and furnished a name for the hymn. + +A very remarkable and striking piece of literature it is, and one that +does credit to the language in which it is clothed. “For its glow of +imagination and fervour of devotion,” says Dr. Dowden, the author of the +_Early Celtic Church in Scotland_, “it will always challenge a high +place in the history of Christian hymnology.” + +It it well worth transcribing also as exhibiting the saint’s creed, his +belief in contemporary superstitions and attitude towards them, his +piety and poetic gift. In all probability we have here a very fair +representation of the gist of his teaching. Like the authors of the +Vedic hymns, and the votaries of all primitive religions, he invokes the +powers of nature, a phase of the religious spirit which seems to have +fallen devotionally in abeyance in modern times. What strikes our age +perhaps as more curious and superstitious, he prays for protection +against the spells of women, smiths, and Druids, like any good heathen. + + I[14] bind myself to-day to a strong virtue, an invocation of (the) + Trinity. I believe in a Threeness with confession of an Oneness in + (the) Creator of (the) Universe. + I bind myself to-day to the virtue of Christ’s birth with his baptism, + To the virtue of his crucifixion with his burial, + To the virtue of his resurrection with his ascension, + To the virtue of his coming to the Judgment of Doom. + I bind myself to-day to the virtue of ranks of Cherubim, + In obedience of angels, + (In service of archangels), + In hope of resurrection for reward, + In prayers of patriarchs, + In predictions of prophets, + In preachings of apostles, + In faiths of confessors, + In innocence of holy virgins, + In deeds of righteous men. + I bind myself to-day to the virtue of Heaven, + In light of sun, + In brightness of snow, + In splendour of fire, + In speed of lightning, + In swiftness of wind, + In depth of sea, + In stability of earth, + In compactness of rock. + I bind myself to-day to God’s virtue to pilot me, + God’s might to uphold me, + God’s wisdom to guide me, + God’s eye to look before me, + God’s ear to hear me, + God’s word to speak for me, + God’s hand to guard me, + God’s way to lie before me, + God’s shield to protect me, + God’s host to secure me, + Against snares of demons, + Against seductions of vices, + Against lusts (?) of nature, + Against every one who wishes ill to me, + Afar and anear, + Alone and in a multitude, + So have I invoked all these virtues between me (and these) + Against every cruel, merciless power which may come, against my body + and my soul, + Against incantations of false prophets. + Against black laws of heathenry, + Against false laws of heretics, + Against craft of idolatry, + Against spells of women, and smiths, and Druids, + Against every knowledge that defiles men’s souls, + Christ to protect me to-day. + Against poison, against burning, against drowning, against death + wound, + Until a multitude of rewards come to me! + Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me! + Christ below me, Christ above me, Christ at my right, Christ at my left, + Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height! + Christ in the heart of every one who thinks of me, + Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks to me, + Christ in every eye who sees me, + Christ in every ear who hears me. + I bind myself to-day to a strong virtue, an invocation of (the) Trinity, + I believe in a Threeness with confession of an Oneness in (the) Creator + of (the) Universe + Domini est salus, Domini est salus, Christi est salus, + Salus tua Domine, sit semper nobiscum. + +The oldest book in Ireland is now believed to be the _Domhnach Airgid_, +a copy of the four Gospels in Latin presented, according to the +“Tripartite Life,” by St. Patrick to St. Aedh Maccarthenn of Clogher. +For protection it has a triple shrine of yew, silver-plated copper, and +gold-plated silver. Shrine and MS. are to-day among the most prized +treasures of the Royal Irish Academy. It is highly probable, says +Professor G. T. Stokes and Dr. Wright, that it was the veritable copy +used by St. Patrick himself. + +The Book of Hymns has also three other very interesting compositions, +which profess to date back to his time. + +First there is Sechnall’s Hymn in praise of St. Patrick, supposed to +have been written during his lifetime, and generally regarded as +genuine. St. Sechnall, or Secundius as he is sometimes called, was the +nephew and disciple of Patrick, and associated with him in the See of +Armagh, either as contemporaneous bishop or as his successor. It was he +who annoyed the saint by his sordid remark about preaching on the +necessity of giving. To condone for the pain he gave his uncle, the +penitent Sechnall composed this poem of twenty-two stanzas in his +praise, thus constituting himself, if written before the “Deer’s Cry,” +the first known poet of Christian Ireland. In view of its alleged +acceptance by St. Patrick, the hymn has been held in great veneration, +and sung as one of his honours on the days of his Festival. + +A second Patrician piece in the Book of Hymns is Fiacc of Sletty’s +metrical life—also called a Hymn. It is purely biographical, and written +after St. Patrick’s death, according to the introduction in the above +ancient MS. Here we are told in Gaelic, with Latin words curiously +interpolated, that Patrick said to Dubthach, chief bard of Ireland, +“‘Seek for me a man of rank, of good race, well-moralled, one wife and +one child with him only.’ ‘Why dost thou seek that, to wit a man of that +kind?’ said Dubthach. ‘For him to go into orders,’ said Patrick. ‘Fiacc +is that,’ said Dubthach, ‘and he has gone on a circuit in Connaught.’ +Now while they were talking, it is then came Fiacc from his circuit. +‘There,’ said Dubthach, ‘is he of whom we spake.’ ‘Though he be,’ said +Patrick, ‘yet what we say may not be pleasing to him.’ ‘Let a trial be +made to tonsure me,’ said Dubthach, ‘so that Fiacc may see.’ So when +Fiacc saw he asked, ‘Wherefore is the trial made?’ ‘To tonsure +Dubthach,’ say they. ‘That is idle,’ said he, ‘for there is not in +Ireland a poet his equal.’ ‘Thou wouldst be taken in his place,’ said +Patrick. ‘My loss to Ireland,’ says Fiacc, ‘is less than Dubthach’s +(would be).’ So Patrick shore his beard from Fiacc then, and great glee +came upon him thereafter, so that he read all the ecclesiastical ordo in +one night—or fifteen days, as some say—and so that a bishop’s rank was +conferred on him, and so that it is he who is Archbishop of Leinster +thenceforward and his successor after him.” + +Dr. Todd thinks it impossible to attribute so high an antiquity to the +Hymn as Fiacc’s own time, since it contains an allusion to the +desolation of Tara. Colgan 250 years previously met the difficulty by +regarding the latter reference as prophetic. + +We must not omit a very curious prophecy regarding St. Patrick which the +Scholiast on Fiacc’s Hymn has preserved. It is in the copy of the Book +of Hymns now in the convent of St. Isidore at Rome, a MS. of the +eleventh or twelfth century. From internal evidence it may be recognised +that the stanza cannot be older than the beginning of the seventh +century, but it is written in a very ancient dialect of the Gaelic, and +purported to be an old-time prediction by a pagan Druid. + + Ticfa tailcend + Tar muir murcend, + A brat tollcend, + A crand chromcend, + A mias in iarthur a thigi, + Frisgerad a muinter uili + Amen, Amen. + + He comes, he comes, with shaven crown, from off the storm-toss’d sea, + His garment pierced at the neck, with crook-like staff comes he, + Far in his house, at its east end, his cups and patens lie, + His people answer to his voice. Amen, Amen, they cry. + Amen, Amen. + +A third Patrician fragment in the Book of Hymns, eleventh century, is +entitled Ninine’s Prayer, with the explanatory head-line, “Ninine the +poet made this prayer, or Fiacc of Sletty.” It runs:— + + We put trust in St. Patrick, chief apostle of Ireland, + Conspicuous his name, wonderful; a flame that baptized Gentiles, + He fought against hard-hearted Druids; he thrust down proud men with the + aid of Our Lord of fair heavens. + + He purified the great offspring of meadow-landed Erin, + We pray to Patrick, chief apostle, who will save us at the Judgment from + doom to the malevolences of dark demons. + God be with me with the prayer of Patrick, chief apostle! + +In all this varied literature, reaching from his own time till ours, the +Apostle of Ireland stands forth a commanding personality, as different +from St. Columba as St. Francis was from St. Bernard. Genial, earnest, +humble, sensitively sympathetic, with commanding force of character and +irresistible determination as the agent of a Divine Mission, his +enthusiasm made way for him. Less impulsive, less warlike, and less +learned than Columcille, he carried on his spiritual campaign in a +spirit of self-denying devotion and love of men. “Patrick, without +loftiness or arrogance,” as Fiacc describes him, “it was much of good he +thought.” At the end of the day we find him in poverty and misery +writing his Confession, not sure but the morrow of his life may bring a +violent death, or slavery, or some other dread evil. + +Yet true to the last in his unquenchable zeal, his own words seem to sum +up the high aim of his life: “Therefore it is very fitting that we +should spread our nets that a copious multitude and crowd may be taken +for God, and that everywhere there may be clergy who shall baptize a +needy and desiring people.” + +He died at Saul, while on a visit there from Armagh, and his grave is +believed to be at Downpatrick, to which place tradition says the remains +of St. Columba were transported from Iona in the more troublous times, +and re-interred beside those of his great forerunner. + + + + + CHAPTER III + ST. COLUMBA AND THE DAWN OF LETTERS IN SCOTLAND + + The fugitive MSS.—Gaelic a literary language for ages—Scotland’s first + writer—St. Columba one of the rarer master-spirits—His peculiar + qualities—Intellectual standpoint—Birth—Early life—A fateful + incident—Sets sail for Pictland—Motive—Arrival in pagan + Scotland—His missionary enterprise—Lights the lamp of + literature—An ardent scholar, penman, and poet—The famous + “Cathrach”—His Gaelic poems—Latin hymns—The Columban + renaissance—Encouragement of bards and scholars—The _Amra + Choluimcille_—Iona as an educational centre—European fame and + influence. + + +Modern research and historical criticism have done much for Celtic +literature. Not long ago the subject might be regarded as a tangled web +of fact and fiction. Inquirers found it hard to thread their way through +the unsifted mass of materials, to know the true from the fabulous, +authentic history from myth and legend. + +All the more because the original documents, like the graves of a +household, were “severed far and wide by mount and stream and sea,” and +for the most part inaccessible. It must be matter of astonishment to +many to learn that very few of our older Celtic MSS.—MSS. written in +these islands—have found a home in Scotland. They have long ago been +transferred to the Continent, to France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, +Austria, and Germany. So that to-day scores of these venerable relics +are preserved in places as distant and far apart as Milan, St. Gall, +Würzburg, Carlsruhe, Brussels, Turin, Vienna, Berne, Leyden, Nancy, +Paris. Even the oldest MS. now existing that can be proved to have been +written in Scotland, is kept not in Edinburgh or Glasgow, but in the +public library of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. + +One reason for this seems to have been that the Irish or Scots gave so +many evangelists and professors in those early days to the Continent, +men like Columbanus and St. Gall, and their followers; and another, when +the books were in danger in the British Isles from the depredations of +the Norsemen, they were removed for security to the monasteries and +seats of learning presided over by these Celtic scholars. + +The records thus available, here and there, carry us back over a period +of well nigh 1500 years to the days of St. Patrick and St. Columba. As +Cædmon was the pioneer of English literature, so is St. Patrick the +first known litterateur of Ireland, and St. Columba the first of +Scotland. From the time of the introduction of Christianity by these +men, Celtic literature has a history, continuous and verifiable. Beyond +their day all is uncertain and cloudy. Pagan Scotland lies in the dim +background enveloped in haze. Sagas and myths and poems and romances it +undoubtedly had in abundance, floating by oral tradition, but no written +record. In almost every instance of its old-time lore, authorship is +unknown. That by-past is the region of conjecture, and we can be as +little certain of the origins as Greek scholars are of the genesis of +the _Iliad_ or of the _Odyssey_. + +In this study, then, we go back to the march between Pagan and Christian +times, and leaving behind at present the doubtful and uncertain, we +shall endeavour to trace the dawn of letters in Scotland. + +On that far horizon the first man we encounter with a pen and a passion +for writing is the wonderful St. Columba. Across the ages his impressive +figure still stands out massive and strong in the background of history. +Among the men of fame—the rarer master-spirits who have helped to make +Scotland what she is—Columcille stands earliest. Vividly and terribly in +earnest himself, he stamped his religious convictions not only upon many +districts of Ireland, but also upon heathen Alba. + +He possessed just the qualities that were best fitted to give him an +ascendancy over men in that rude age. Unlike most of the great +evangelists of Christianity, he was of princely origin, descended both +on his father’s and his mother’s side from illustrious Irish kings. This +noble lineage, combined with the patronage of his own kinsman Conall, +King of Dalriada—our modern Argyllshire—gave him an immense influence in +an age when the tribes, even in matters of religion, followed their king +or chief. + +But Columcille was personally a born leader of men. Physically and +intellectually he towered above his fellows. Of a tall and commanding +appearance, powerful frame, broad face, close and curly hair, his grey +eyes large and luminous, he looked the saint he was, joyful and radiant, +with a love for everything beautiful in nature, animate and inanimate. +Withal he had a loud and resonant voice, well adapted for impassioned +speech. When preaching, tradition says that he could be easily +understood across the Sound of Mull. And Adamnan assures us that when +singing with his brethren in the church, the venerable man raised his +voice so wonderfully that it was sometimes heard at the distance of 1000 +paces, while from the “Old Irish Life” we learn that his reading carried +even farther. A voice to soothe the savage breast with its plaintive +sweetness, and yet of power and range sufficient to awe the pagan mind. + +For this apostle of Scotland, despite his name, was no mere cooing dove. +He could be very terrifying when roused. Of a hot and passionate temper, +he was in reality a perfervid Celt; stern and even vindictive at times, +he would fight his battles with the carnal weapons, if need be, just as +readily as he would with the spiritual. Three battles at least, fierce +and sanguinary, stand to his account in history, he their instigator, +two of these even after he became Abbot of Iona. + +Altogether a strange character to contemplate was this father and +founder of monasteries, especially when viewed from our scientific +age—the intellectual standpoint of his time was so wholly different from +ours. He continually moved in a halo of miracles, prophecies, and +angels, as real to him as physical laws and nerves and germs are to us. +So credulous was he that he never seemed even to question the magical +impostures of his opponents, the Druids. He is not represented as trying +to expose their marvels, but rather as endeavouring to outrival them by +greater miracles of his own. The one set he believed to be from the evil +one, the other of God. For him the seen always merged in the unseen; the +natural is construed in terms of the supernatural. Science, of course, +had not then formulated laws or facts as we know them, and St. Columba +was a child of his age, imbued with the same credulity as the +contemporary heathen around him, and very much the same superstitions. +He believed he could bless men or blight them by his intercessions, and +sometimes in the exercise of this power he did not even hesitate to +curse irreconcilables and consign them to future destruction. + +On one occasion, exasperated with a thief of noble birth who had twice +plundered the house of a man of humble condition, and mocked and laughed +at the rebukes of the saint himself, the irate Columba—and this is a +picture for an artist—followed him to the water’s edge, and wading up to +the knees in the clear green sea-water, raised both his hands to heaven +and solemnly invoked a curse on the man. Returning to the dry ground he +sat down, and forthwith told his companions what the fate of the scamp +would be. No maudlin saint was the imperious Columcille. Gentle, +affectionate, and kind, yet a man to impress the wild Pictish tribes +with awe and reverence. + +Born at Gartan, Donegal, in the north of Ireland in 521, and brought up +from youth in Christian principles, he was trained under the best +masters, and apparently caught up in the wave of evangelisation that +swept over Ireland from St. Patrick’s time. At any rate, when +twenty-five years of age he founded the Church of Derry, and seven years +later the Monastery of Durrow. Other establishments soon followed, +springing up here and there under his initiative and fostering care, +until when full forty years old an event occurred which in a manner +changed the whole aspect of his career, and gave a new direction to his +energies. This was the battle of Cooldrevna, of far-reaching import. + +Two causes are usually assigned for the fight. St. Finnian of Moville, +under whom the future abbot first studied, brought back with him from +Rome a copy of the Psalms, supposed to be the first copy of St Jerome’s +Vulgate that appeared in Ireland. This the master treasured, and wished +to keep private and reserved. But Columcille, then an ardent student and +rapid writer, sat up for nights together and surreptitiously transcribed +the book for his own use. Hearing of this, Finnian claimed the copy, but +in vain. His disciple refused to part with it, and the matter was +referred to King Diarmad at Tara. This monarch, to whom no doubt a legal +quarrel over a book was new, could find nothing in the Brehon Law to +adjudicate the case by, except the practical adage, _le gach boin a +boinin_ (with every cow her calf), and being perhaps more disposed to +favour Finnian, as of his own kin and jurisdiction, he, not unnaturally, +adapted this precedent to the case in point, giving the judgment, “As +with every cow her calf, so with every book its son.” + +This decision is the first we know in the law of copyright. It gave dire +offence to Columba, which was greatly heightened some time after by +another regal affront. It happened at the Great Convention of Tara that +a young prince, in utter violation of the law of sanctuary, slew the son +of the king’s steward, and knowing the penalty to be certain death, fled +for refuge to the northern princes, who placed him under the sheltering +wing of their kinsman, the sacred Columba. Ignoring the saint’s +authority, the king had the refugee promptly seized and put to death. +This, it appears, exasperated the imperious Columcille to the last +degree, and he immediately made his way north, and roused to arms the +race of Hy-Neill, the northern branch against the southern. And with the +King of Connaught, whose son had been slain, they marched their forces +southward. A furious battle ensued at Cooldrevna, in the red ruin and +carnage of which King Diarmad was defeated with the loss of 3000 men. + +Two years after, the Hegira took place, when the saint fled or migrated +on his great mission to Scotland—henceforth an exile from Erin. + +Speculation has been rife as to the real motive that drove this +intensely patriotic Irishman over the wave. Many would fain believe, in +view of its epoch-making significance, that this momentous step was +purely voluntary “for the love of Christ,” as the “Old Irish Life” puts +it. Adamnan, while connecting it with the battle, also puts this +construction upon it. “In the second year after the battle of +Culdreimhne,” he says, “and in the 42nd year of his age, St. Columba +resolving to emigrate for Christ sailed from Scotia (that is Ireland) to +Britain.” Many other saints had wandered elsewhere on similar missions. +But there is a persistent tradition that this unique missionary was +banished by the Synod of the Saints in Ireland for the bloodshed he had +caused; and that this sentence was confirmed by St. Molaise, whom the +unhappy Columba consulted, and who advised him to seek as many souls in +conversion among the heathen as there fell of men in battle. Some, on +the other hand, construe his action as a voluntary penance, +self-inflicted. Others find mainly a political motive in his removal to +Dalriada, where he might be of immense service to his kinsmen in helping +to avert the ever increasing and harassing incursions of the Picts. +Certainly he became a bulwark to them. + +Imbued with a high missionary zeal, there is no doubt that ultimately he +went forth to the new spiritual campaign voluntarily, but, as in the +case of most fateful careers, it is evident that circumstances wound him +up to the task, the most conspicuous and compelling of which was +Cooldrevna. That the parting from Erin was bitter, a very tearing of the +heart, is matter of history. The verses, the records attributed to +himself on this occasion, reveal the depths of his feelings. “How rapid +the speed of my coracle and its stern turned toward Derry. I grieve at +the errand over the proud seas, travelling to Alba of the Ravens. There +is a grey eye that looks back upon Erin, it shall not see during life +the men of Erin nor their wives. My vision over the brine I stretch from +the ample oaken planks; large is the tear from my soft grey eye when I +look back upon Erin. Upon Erin is my attention fixed, upon Loch Leven, +upon Linè, upon the land the Ultonians own; upon smooth Munster, upon +Meath.” + +As Dr. Douglas Hyde has sympathetically observed, “Columcille is the +first example in the saddened page of Irish history of the exiled Gael +grieving for his native land and refusing to be comforted, and as such +he has become the very type and embodiment of Irish fate and Irish +character.” + +A pity it is that history has not photographed the dramatic scene when +the great monk, forty-two years old, tall and powerful, lands from his +curach the “Liath Bhalaidh,” with twelve followers on the island of Hy, +now the famous Iona. It was in 563 that he took possession of this +future home, of which he had received a grant from the King of Dalriada, +which was afterwards confirmed by King Brude. Modern Scotland had not +yet emerged, being in early fragments. And it is important to note, for +it has been very confusing to historians, that in Columba’s day Ireland +was Scotia, from whence in earlier days the Scots had come, who then +occupied Dalriada, or, as it is known to-day, Argyllshire. North and +east were the Picts, possessing the body of Alba, as modern Scotland was +then called; and in Strathclyde the Britons. Not till centuries after +was the name of Scotia or Scotland finally transferred from Erin to +Alba. + +The Dalriadic Scots, though not destitute of a primitive civilisation, +were rude and barbarous. Slavery and polygamy were common, blood feuds +incessant. Women fought side by side with the men in battle, until first +Columba and afterwards Adamnan obtained exemption for them. The heathen +Picts were even more degraded, under the tyranny of a Druid regime, full +of sorcery and superstition. No ray of Christianity seemed as yet to +have penetrated their darkness. + +Such were the wild and waste lands into which the devoted Columba threw +himself as a deliverer. For two years he remained in Hy, organising his +base, and, it is thought, learning the Pictish language, before setting +out on his visit to “the powerful king of the Pictish nation.” + +His missionary labours for the next thirty-two years, in collaboration +with the devoted band of men who imbibed his spirit and adopted his +methods, have caught the eye of the world. + +But there is another aspect of his enterprise, far-reaching and +magnificent, which has been largely overlooked and overshadowed by our +one-sided veneration for his religious genius. And that is the +significance of his literary work. It is not so generally known that the +Apostle of Scotland was a patron of letters, intensely interested in +literature, an ardent writer and disseminator of knowledge—one in fact +who has left his literary mark on the ages, and who was the first to +help to raise Scotland to the proud eminence in education which she +occupies to-day. + +As in the great awakening in Europe in the sixteenth century there were +two movements, independent of each other and yet going on side by side—a +revival of religion and a revival of learning, known as the Reformation +and the Renaissance; so, in St. Columba’s enterprise two similar +movements were fostered, not as separate and hostile to each other, but +as mutually helpful and conjoined. + +The abbot was from youth a great lover of books and an unwearied scribe. +His standard biographer, Adamnan, says that he never could spend the +space even of one hour without study, or prayer, or writing, or some +other holy occupation, watching or fasting. This love of books continued +in his case to the very end. Not till the day of his demise was the pen +finally laid aside. On that day, after blessing the Monastery, he +descended from the hill and sat in his hut transcribing the Psalter. But +the vitality of that once deft hand and brain was now well-nigh spent, +and answered feebly, like the diminishing flow of water from a spout. +“Here,” cried the saint, at length, conscious of the impending change, +“at the end of the page I must stop, and what follows let Baithene +write.” + +It was his love of literature that got him into trouble with St. +Finnian, and in the “Calendar of Aengus” the story goes that he once +visited a man, Longarad, noted for his collection of books. In +anticipation of the visit, and mindful perhaps of Cooldrevna, the _sai_ +or saoidh (wise man) hid his treasures, whereupon Columba left “a word,” +that is, a curse, on the books, so that when in after ages they had +become unintelligible from various causes, this was deemed the full and +sufficient reason. “May your books be of no use after you, since you +have exercised inhospitality in withholding them.” + +He composed a book of hymns for the office of every day in the week, and +in the “Old Irish Life” he is credited with having written “three +hundred gifted, lasting, illuminated noble books.” It is highly probable +that those thus referred to were simply transcribed by him, for we have +no evidence that he wrote any prose literature. + +The three books still existing in Ireland which tradition and some high +authorities regard as the work of his own hand are simply transcripts. +They are certainly very ancient, even if they do not quite reach up to +his day. Two of them are in Trinity College, Dublin, and the third in +the Royal Irish Academy. The former, known as the Book of Durrow and the +Book of Kells,[15] are copies of the Gospels in Latin, the one finished, +the other not, but the Book of Kells, which is the unfinished one, +contains on its blank pages copies of charters of the eleventh and +twelfth centuries, connected with the endowment of the Institution. The +other book referred to as in the Royal Irish Academy is the famous +“Cathrach,” believed to be the identical copy of the Psalter that +Columba made when he was a student. The skill displayed in the +penmanship and decoration of these ancient MSS. is astonishing, and they +have covers which are brilliant specimens of early Celtic art. The Book +of Kells, in particular, is spoken of as “the unapproachable glory of +Irish illumination.” In fact, the codex known as the “Four Masters” +alleges that “it was the principal relic of the western world on account +of its remarkable cover.” + +Great interest attaches to the celebrated “Cathrach” or “Battler,” so +called from the circumstance that a battle was fought on account of it. +It continued an heirloom in the successive generations of the saint’s +family, the O’Donnells, until a comparatively recent representative, +exiled as a supporter of James II. carried it with him to the Continent +in the beautiful shrine prepared for it at the end of the eleventh +century. In early days it used to be carried three times round the army +when Cinal Conaill went to battle, in the belief that if thus carried on +the breast of a cleric free from mortal sin it would get them the +victory. + +In 1802 the precious relic was recovered from the Continent and opened. +Within was found a decayed wooden box covering a mass of vellum stuck +together and hardened into a single lump. By careful moistening +treatment, the various leaves at length came asunder, and proved a real +Psalter, written in Latin in a “neat but hurried hand.” Fifty-eight +leaves remained, containing from the 31st to the 106th Psalm, and an +examination of this text has shown that it is precisely a copy of the +second revision of the Psalter from the Vulgate of St. Jerome, which +strengthens the belief so long and tenaciously held, that this may have +been the very book for which 3000 warriors fell. + +From very early times Columba was spoken of as a poet. That he wrote +verse and befriended the bards is attested by the oldest tradition and +some of the most ancient records. Many Gaelic poems are attributed to +him. “Thrice fifty noble lays,” says one poet— + + Some in Latin which were beguiling, + Some in Gaelic, fair the tale. + +Among his reputed Gaelic poems may be mentioned three that Colgan +considered genuine, 250 years ago, and were printed by Dr. Reeves in his +first edition of Adamnan’s _Life of St. Columba_: his “Farewell to Ara,” +published in the _Gaelic Miscellany_ of 1808; and another on his escape +from King Diarmad, reproduced in the _Miscellany of the Irish +Archæological Society_. There are three verses composed as a prayer at +the battle of Cooldrevna, ascribed to him in the _Chronicon Scotorum_; +and there is a collection of fifteen poems in the O’Clery MSS. at +Brussels. But by far the largest collection is contained in an oblong +MS. of the Bodleian Library at Oxford. This document embraces everything +in the shape of poem or fragment anywhere believed as his, and that +could be collected about the middle of the sixteenth century. + +None of these are found in the oldest MSS., though not a few are +apparently very ancient and beautiful, breathing the intensity of +feeling and passion so characteristic of the Gael. Dr. Hyde is perhaps +not far off the mark when he says that of the great number of Irish +poems attributed to him, only a few—half a dozen at the most—are likely +to be even partly genuine. It is very hard to say how much or how little +is his. But this authority is inclined to agree with Dr. Healy, author +of _Ireland’s Schools and Scholars_, that at least the three considered +genuine by Colgan represent substantially poems that were really written +by the saint. “They breathe his pious spirit,” says Healy, “his ardent +love for nature, and his undying affection for his native land. Although +retouched, perhaps, by a later hand, they savour so strongly of the true +Columban spirit that we are disposed to reckon them amongst the genuine +compositions of the saint.” + +A few specimens are worth quoting, by way of illustrating Columba’s +poetic genius:— + + Were the tribute of all Alba mine, from its centre to its border, I + would prefer the sight of one house in the middle of Derry. The reason + I love Derry is for its quietness, for its purity and for the crowds + of white angels from the one end to the other.... My Derry, my little + oak-grove, my dwelling and my little cell, O eternal God in heaven + above, woe be to him who violates it. + +Ara was a little isle, like Iona, in the west of Ireland, where St. Enda +lived, and was visited by the saints. + + Farewell from me to Ara. It anguishes my heart not to be in the west + among her waves, amid groups of the saints of heaven. It is far, alas! + it is far, alas! I have been sent from Ara West out towards the + population of Mona to visit the Albanachs. Ara Sun, oh Ara Sun, my + affection lies buried in her in the west, it is the same to be beneath + her pure soil as to be beneath the soil of Paul and Peter. Ara + blessed, O Ara blessed, woe to him who is hostile to her, may he be + given shortness of life and hell. + +The next, so characteristic of the saint’s love of nature, is taken from +the poem on Cormac’s visit—one of the three considered genuine:— + + It were delightful, O Son of my God, with a moving train, + To glide o’er the waves of the deluge fountain to the land of Erin, + O’er Moy-n Eolarg, past Ben-Eigny. O’er Loch Feval, + Where we should hear pleasing music from the swans, + The host of gulls would make joyful, with eager singing, + Should it reach the port of stern rejoicers, the _Dewy Red_, + I am filled with wealth without Erin, did I think it sufficient. + + In the unknown land of my sojourn of sadness and distress, + Alas, the voyage that was enjoined me, O King of secrets, + For having gone myself to the battle of Cuil. + How happy the son of Dima of the devout church + When he hears in Durrow the desire of his mind + The sound of the wind against the elms when ’tis played, + The blackbird’s joyous note when he claps his wings, + To listen at early dawn in Ros-grencha to the cattle, + The cooing of the cuckoo from the tree on the brink of summer, + Three objects I have left, the dearest to me on this peopled world, + Durrow, Derry, the noble angelic land, and Tir-Luighdech, + I have loved Erin’s land of cascades, all but its government. + My visit to Comgall and feast with Cainnech was indeed delightful. + +Of his Latin hymns only three remain. They are preserved in the _Liber +Hymnorum_, a MS. probably of the end of the eleventh century, and are +known as the “Altus,” “In te Christo,” and “Noli Pater.” No doubt exists +as to the genuineness of the “Altus.” It is the most famous of the +three, and is supposed to have been written after the battle of +Cooldrevna. The poem takes its name from the first word, and each of its +twenty-two stanzas begins in order with a letter of the alphabet, +probably as a help to the memory. The stanzas are rudely constructed, +with a kind of rhyme between every two lines. The poem has enjoyed a +great reputation, and has been variously rendered into English. Perhaps +the best translation is that of the Rev. Anthony Mitchell:— + + Ancient of Days; enthroned on high; + The Father unbegotten He, + Whom space containeth not nor time, + Who was and is and aye shall be; + And one-born Son and Holy Ghost, + Who co-eternal glory share. + One only God of Persons Three + We praise, acknowledge and declare. + +Attention has been directed by Dr. Dowden, Bishop of Edinburgh, to the +saint’s curious conceptions of the physical causes of clouds, and rain, +and tides, in the stanza beginning with I:— + + In the three quarters of the sea, + Three mighty fountains hidden lie, + Whence rise through whirling water-spouts, + Rich-laden clouds that clothe the sky: + On winds from out his treasure house, + They speed to swell bud, vine, and grain; + While the sea-shallows emptied wait + Until the tides return again. + +In the R stanza we have a picture of the judgment not unlike the “Dies +Iræ”:— + + Riseth the dawn:—the day is near + Day of the Lord, the King of Kings; + A day of wrath and vengeance just, + Of darkness, clouds, and thunderings: + A day of anguish, cries, and tears, + When glow of women’s love shall pale; + When man shall cease to strive with man, + And all the world’s desires shall fail. + +What now are we to think of this new literature and the other +productions, Latin and Gaelic, to which the monasteries of the period +gave rise? Is the Columban renaissance really a decadence in comparison +with what went before, the old unwritten inheritance? “Yes,” says +Darmesteter, and if we accept the antiquity of the oral tradition, I +think we must admit the truth of it. The sagas and historic tales, and +the poetry that is mingled with them, are of far greater importance from +a purely literary point of view. With a wild freedom of imagination and +an old-time conception of life untouched by Christian thought, they +breathe the spirit of pre-Christian ages, very much in the primitive +manner of Homeric poetry; and being intensely human and heroic, they +have a charm even for minds set to later ideals. + +For example, in the _Colloquy or Dialogue of the Ancients_, it is +recorded that St. Patrick himself felt a little uneasy at the delight +with which he listened to the stories of the ancient Feinn, and in his +over-scrupulous sanctity he feared it might be wrong to appreciate and +enjoy so much, these worldly narratives. But when he consulted his two +guardian angels they not only assured him that there was no harm in +listening to the tales, but even desired him to get them written down in +the words of ollamhs, “for,” said these wise counsellors, “it will be a +rejoicing to numbers and to the good people to the end of time to listen +to these stories.” + +Yet for all this the Columban period _was_ a renaissance. You cannot +spring a new creed and new ideas upon a nation without a reawakening of +thought and corresponding progress. + +Over and above his own personal contributions to literature, Columba +helped forward the cause of letters in two other ways, namely, by +encouraging the bards and the scholars. + +In his day the bards in Ireland had become an intolerable nuisance—idle, +numerous, and insolent; in fact they had developed into a loafing class, +who quartered themselves on the working-classes, on the chiefs and +farmers. They went about the country in bands, carrying a silver pot, +nicknamed by the people “the pot of Avarice.” Their tyranny was such +that he who refused to contribute was mercilessly satirised and +disgraced. Three attempts had been made to suppress them, but hitherto +to no purpose. At length Aedh, the High King of Ireland, considering +them to be too heavy a burden on the land, resolved to banish the whole +profession. Summoning a great Convention of all Ireland to Drumceat in +590 to settle important national affairs, he made this one of the chief +items. And the fate of the bardic institution would most certainly have +been sealed had not Columcille averted it. With 140 followers he had +crossed over to attend the Conference, and besides obtaining exemption +from military service for the women, and independence and freedom from +taxation for Dalriada, which was henceforth simply to help the parent +kingdom in affairs of war, he also succeeded in moderating the fury of +the chieftains against the bards. Their numbers were reduced and their +prestige abated, but the profession was amply compensated for this by +acquiring a new and recognised position in the State. No bards except +those specially sanctioned were to pursue the poetic calling. But for +the maintenance of these latter distinct public estates in land were set +apart for the first time, in return for which they were obliged to give +public instruction to all comers in the learning of the day, after the +manner of university professors. The rate of reward for their poems was +also legally fixed, so that from this time down to the seventeenth +century the bardic colleges, as distinct from the ecclesiastical ones, +taught poetry, law, and history, educating the lawyers, judges, and +poets of the Irish nation. + +In recognition of the service rendered them on this occasion the bards +appeared before Columba in a body, with Dallan Forgaill, their chief, at +their head, bringing the famous “Amra” or elegy which the latter had +composed in his praise. This poem is in the Fenian dialect, so ancient +and obscure as to be very baffling and almost unintelligible to +scholars. It has come down to us heavily annotated with gloss and +commentary in the eleventh century MS. (Leabhar Na h’Uidhre). So far as +can be made out, it speaks of the saint in relation to the people as +“their soul’s light, their learned one, their chief from right, who was +God’s messenger, who dispelled fears from them, who used to explain the +truth of words, a harp without a base chord, a perfect sage who believed +in Christ; he was learned, he was chaste, he was charitable, he was an +abounding benefit of guests, he was eager, he was noble, he was gentle, +he was the physician of the heart of every age; he was to persons +inscrutable, he was a shelter to the naked, he was a consolation to the +poor, there went not from the world one who was more continual for a +remembrance of the cross.” + +But a recent writer, Dr. Strachan of Manchester, casts doubts upon the +antiquity of its present form, thinking it belongs, as transcribed, to a +later date. + +The other way in which St. Columba helped forward the cause of letters +was by encouraging the scholars. The monasteries became great schools of +learning as well as missionary centres. In all the institutions he +founded, ample provision was made for the multiplication of books. The +knowledge of Hebrew and Greek was fostered among the monks as well as of +Latin and Gaelic. To the monastic houses founded throughout Pictland by +the Columban clergy the tribes sent their youth to be trained. And for +several centuries, as Skene has observed, there was not a Pictish boy +taught his letters but received his education from a Columban monk. In +later times students from the Continent flocked to the more famous of +the Celtic seats of learning in Ireland and Scotland, and we even hear +of Iona sending professors to Cologne, Louvain, and Paris. + +There is no evidence that the northern Picts had a knowledge of letters +before Columba taught them. There is even doubt as to what language +these tribes spoke. Yet in 710 A.D., a little more than a hundred years +after his death, a knowledge of letters was common in Pictland. With +reference to subsequent ecclesiastical changes, it is known that King +Naitan sent a proclamation “by public command throughout all the +provinces of the Picts to be transcribed, learned, and observed.” This +we have on the authority of Bede, a statement which shows that learning +must have made considerable progress among the people even at that early +date. So that in this respect we may very well endorse the opinion of +Professor Mackinnon, when he says that “we have not yet perhaps fully +realised the part which the School of Iona had in shaping the destinies +of the Scottish nation.” When in Scotland we discuss the past history of +our national education, the figure of John Knox invariably rises before +us as prime inaugurator of the first real system, but the great Abbot of +Iona was at it 1000 years before him. + +Shaping the destinies of the Scottish nation; ay, and might we not add +of literature? For a further striking claim has been repeatedly put +forward on behalf of the Celtic poets in the Columban period, namely +this, that they taught Europe to rhyme. And this claim has been made not +so much by partisans as by some of the foremost European scholars, +including Zeuss and Nigra, who have remarked and pointed out that the +Latin verses of Columcille and other early saints, either rhyme or have +a strong tendency to rhyme. Referring to the advance towards final +assonance in later times made by the English in their Latin poems, Zeuss +says, “We must believe that this form was introduced among them by the +Irish, as were the arts of writing and of painting and of ornamenting +manuscripts, since they themselves, in common with the other Germanic +nations, made use in their poetry of nothing but alliteration.” It is +only some 500 years after Columba that we find rhyme beginning to appear +in English literature. + +The other foreign writer of note, C. Nigra, with equal emphasis asserts +that “final assonance or rhyme can have been derived only from the laws +of Celtic phonology.” Meanwhile this must be regarded as a moot point. +For other eminent scholars, Thurneysen and Windisch, have professed +their opinion that it may be traced to the Latin. But “this at least is +clear,” observes Dr. Hyde, who has gone very carefully into the matter, +“that already in the seventh century the Irish not only rhymed, but made +intricate Deibhidh and other rhyming metres, when for centuries after +this period the Germanic nations could only alliterate.” + +It is our proud boast as an English-speaking people that we can go back +as far as Cædmon to the beginnings of our literature; yet how few +British subjects realise that Gaelic was a literary language long before +then in the hands of men like St. Patrick, St. Columba, and Dallan +Forgaill, and that there are Latin MSS. still extant associated with +Columba and the School of Iona which are almost as old as the very +oldest existing codex of the Bible. + +It is worth our while to think of this, and of the remarkable man who, +in the obscurity of his island home, recognised the value and permanence +of his own work, giving utterance to a sentiment which the ages have +amply verified: “Small and mean though this place is, yet it shall be +held in great and unusual honour, not only by Scotic kings and people, +but also by the rulers of foreign and barbarous nations, and by their +subjects; the saints also even of other churches shall regard it with no +common reverence.” And it is so. Systems and dynasties have since +fallen, yet the fame of Iona still stands secure, and continues to +attract the saint and the foreigner. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + ADAMNAN’S “VITA COLUMBÆ” + + Oldest Scottish book in existence—A sturdy survival—Criteria of + age—Dorbene the copyist—Romantic history of the MS.—Now in + Schaffhausen—Adamnan, a rare personality—Abbot and + scholar—Influential career—Attitude to the two great questions + that divided the Celtic churches—Pathetic estrangement—“Lex + Adamnani”—A mighty social revolution—Death—His writings—“The + Vision of Adamnan”—His _Life of Columba_ in three parts—Remarkable + contents—Most valuable monument of the early Celtic Church—List of + MSS. in which preserved—Latin _versus_ Gaelic. + + +Many Scottish visitors visit Schaffhausen, on the Rhine in Switzerland, +and perhaps few of them are aware that in the public library there, is +deposited one of the rarest and most interesting relics of Scotland. + +It is a parchment MS. of sixty-eight leaves, each about eleven inches by +nine. The volume looks as if in the original binding. Its sides are of +beechwood, greatly worm-eaten and covered with calfskin, the sewing of +the back very rude and curious, and the front would seem to have been +formerly secured by clasps. + +This is not a Gaelic work, though Gaelic names appear in it. It is +written in Latin in double columns. Capital letters abound, some of them +of great size and adorned with red and yellow paint. The summaries at +the beginning, the headings of chapters, and the colophon of the scribe +are all in rubric which on the whole is wonderfully fresh and beautiful. + +Three handwritings may be traced: the first, that peculiar to the +greater part of the book; the second, in evidence towards the end, in +all probability the work of the same writer, but with different pen and +ink and in smaller, rounder letters; the third, corrections in spelling +by a later and much inferior penman. + +The ink is dark, almost jet-black, except in some places where it has +turned brown. + +Such is the general appearance of the relic. And marvel not if a vague, +far-away look steals into the eye when one reflects that this book which +he sees and handles is well nigh, if not quite, 1200 years old; that it +is, in fact, the oldest now existing, known to have been written in +Scotland, and separated by the lapse of 100 years from the next most +ancient. + +A copy of Adamnan’s _Life of St. Columba_, made by one of his +contemporaries in Iona—this, the sturdy survival is taken to be. And if +the criteria of its age are not misleading, it dates from before 713 +A.D. These criteria are in themselves profoundly interesting. + +1. It is recognised that the handwriting is that peculiar heavy kind +found in the oldest Gaelic MSS.—not quite so round as that in the Books +of Kells and Durrow, but possessing many features in common, and +certainly anterior to that of the Book of Armagh, fixed at 807. + +2. Similarly the Latin spelling corresponds with that of the more +ancient Celtic MSS. at home and abroad. + +3. The Greek characters which appear in the text are in the semi-uncials +of the period, without accents or breathings. + +4. The later corrections, supposed to have been made on the Continent, +are reckoned by Dr. Ferdinand Keller, an expert in the handwriting of +Charlemagne’s time, to belong to the period between 800 and 820. + +5. The parchment is in goat-skin, in colour and condition extremely +ancient. + +6. But more conclusive still is the remarkable colophon of the scribe at +the end of the volume, where he says, “I beseech those who wish to +transcribe these books, yea, rather, I adjure them by Christ, the judge +of the world, after they have diligently transcribed, carefully to +compare and correct their copies with that from which they have copied +them, and also to subjoin here this adjuration: ‘Whoever readeth these +books on the virtues of St. Columba let him pray to the Lord for me +Dorbene that after death I may possess eternal life.’” + +Here we have actually the name of the scribe—a splendid clue to the age +of the MS. which critics have not been backward in availing themselves +of. The name is so rare in the records that they had only a choice +between two, one anterior to Adamnan’s day, the other his contemporary, +and Abbot-elect of Iona in 713. But this latter Dorbene died that same +year before assuming office, and only nine years after Adamnan himself. +He in all probability it was who copied the _Life_. + +To the objection, Why not by another of the same name? Dr. Reeves +replies in effect, “Not likely, as the name is almost unique and +pointedly connected with the Columban society.” And to the further +objection that it might possibly be by a later hand from the autograph +of this Dorbene, he answers, “Even less likely, as the colophon in Irish +MSS. is always peculiar to the actual scribe, and usually omitted by +other transcribers. And this is the only MS. of Adamnan’s _Life_ that +has the name and the colophon.” + +The interest attaching to it on account of its extraordinary age and +subject-matter is greatly enhanced when we consider its history. For the +old document had hairbreadth escapes and adventures, and if it could +speak for itself doubtless could unfold a tale infinitely more +surprising, because more real and tragic, than many of the miraculous +incidents it does record. All the long agony of the early, the middle, +and the modern ages has transpired since first it went a-wandering. +Invasions, crusades, and revolutions, the rise and fall of systems and +nations—whole populations passing swiftly and stormfully across the +bosom of Europe into oblivion, and the book in the heart of the troubled +area survives them all and emerges at length, as if from the debris, to +reassert that “there lived a man.” + +Adamnan, ninth Abbot of Iona, wrote the original in the years 691 to +693—that is, ten or twelve years before his death, which occurred in +704. In the second preface—for there are two—he tells us that it is the +substance of the narratives learned from his predecessors, and is +founded either on written authorities anterior to his own time or on +what he heard himself from ancient men then living. And we know that he +was sufficiently near the fountainhead, both in time and place, to be +able to draw from authentic sources; for he wrote just a century after +St. Columba’s death, and at the urgent request of his brethren. In his +boyhood he had frequent opportunities of conversing with those who had +seen and known the saint, and he was surrounded in the monastery and in +the island with all the halo of association and piety in which the +memory of his hero was enshrined. + +The written material he could rely on was not meagre even at so early a +date. There was the narrative of Cummene the Fair, seventh abbot of +Iona, and thus one of his own immediate predecessors. His account +Adamnan transferred entire and almost verbatim into the third book of +his own work. It was really a tract entitled _De virtutibus sancti +Columbæ_. In addition to this he had at least one other Latin memoir and +various Gaelic poems in praise of the saint, such as the “Amra” of +Dallan Forgaill, and those of Baithene Mòr, and perhaps of St. Mura. + +In another of his books (_De Locis Sanctis_) the author informs us how +he generally set about composing his literary efforts. He wrote the +first draft on waxen tablets, revised and corrected it, and then from +the text so prepared, a clean copy was neatly written out on parchment. + +Dorbene the Scribhnidh may have copied the _Life_ in Adamnan’s own time; +if not quite so early, then shortly after his death. And whatever became +of Adamnan’s original, Dorbene’s copy appears to have remained in the +monastery till the beginning of the ninth century, when it was probably +taken to Germany. At that time a strong tide of Scotic pilgrims set in +towards Central Europe, owing no doubt to the Norse invasions, which +rendered life and property insecure in Iona and elsewhere. + +In 825 Blathmac was murdered in the monastery, along with several of the +brethren, because he refused to tell where the Columban relics were hid. +The likelihood is that after that narrow escape one of the fleeing monks +carried the book to St. Gall or Reichenau on the Rhine. At any rate it +is significant that Walafridus Strabus, formerly Dean of the Irish +monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, and then Abbot of Reichenau from +842–849, knew of the tragic event and wrote a poem in Latin on the death +of Blathmac. And it was in this very house of Reichenau, that used to be +frequented so much by Scotic missionaries, that the MS. was ultimately +found. And quite casually too. + +Ages had elapsed when, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, +Stephen White, a learned Irish Jesuit in search of Gaelic documents on +the Continent, luckily discovered it. He immediately transcribed the +venerable codex, and gave Ussher, Colgan, and the Bollandists the +benefit of his copy. Both the latter published the text—Colgan in 1647, +the Bollandists in 1698. + +Thereafter, a second time the original vanished. When or how it was +removed from Reichenau is not known, but it must have been before that +monastery was suppressed in 1799. Once more it emerged, this time at +Schaffhausen, rediscovered by Dr. Ferdinand Keller of Zurich, the +distinguished archæologist. + +Writing of the interesting find in January 1851, Dr. Keller tells the +story of its reappearance, showing into what sorry neglect it had fallen +before it reached its ultimate coign of vantage. “The present +_proprietor_ of the MS. of St. Columba,” he says, “is the town-library +of Schaffhausen. Here I found this codex in 1845 at the bottom of a high +book-chest, where it lay pell-mell with some other MSS. and old books +totally neglected, bearing neither title nor number.” It was twice +borrowed by Keller, and on the last occasion in 1851 he made a valuable +collection of facsimiles from it. + +Finally the aged record, after well-nigh 1200 years’ vicissitudes, was +published by Dr. Reeves, Bishop of Down, in 1856, and his work +republished in 1874 by the publishers of the Series of Scottish +Historians, this time with English translation and re-arrangement of the +Notes, which Dr. Reeves permitted in order to adapt the book to a wider +circle of readers. + +A truly romantic history, taking it all in all, is this story of the +ancient wanderer which has come to honour in a foreign land, but has not +yet found a way home to its native soil. What would Schaffhausen take +and part with it? Scotland has never asked. Some day she may, when she +awakens to the fact that the very oldest and, at the same time, one of +the most intensely interesting monuments of her literary history is an +alien in a strange country. + +Apart from the book itself, the hero of the book, and its faithful +copyist, there is a fascination and much insight to be drawn from a +study of the personality of its author. Adamnan, like Boswell, has +achieved immortality through an enthusiastic and almost self-effacing +hero-worship. His great object, as he tells us again and again, is to +show up the wonderful character of the saintly Columba, and any deed or +tale that he thinks will enhance the prestige of this “great father and +founder of monasteries” goes down with unfailing devotion. + +Born about the year 624 in Donegal, Adamnan, like Cummene, was a kinsman +of St. Columba. Indeed, the three men were descended from three +brothers, all of royal lineage. His peculiar name is understood to be a +diminutive of Adam, and is frequently followed by the patronymic Ua +Tinne, meaning grandson of Tinne. Of his father Ronan, or his mother +Ronnat, we know absolutely nothing beyond their descent, which was of +high degree. And of his own childhood and youth there remains only a +single legend, supposed to be the creation of a later age, reporting his +first meeting with Finnachta, afterwards monarch of Ireland, with whom +Adamnan was on the most friendly terms. This Finnachta, as his +biographer relates, was riding along one day to his sister’s house with +a numerous cavalcade, when he met a schoolboy with a jar of milk on his +back. In his haste to get out of the way the stripling knocked his foot +against a stone, and tripping, down went the jar with its contents upon +the ground. Whereupon the great prince spoke kindly to the boy and +assured him of protection, bidding him not to sorrow over it. To whom +the latter replied, “O good man, I have cause for grief, for there are +three goodly students in one house and three more of us are attendants +upon them. And how we act is this: one attendant from among us goes out +in turn to collect sustenance for the other five, and it was my turn +to-day; but what I had gathered for them has been spilled upon the +ground, and what grieves me more, the borrowed jar is broken and I have +not wherewith to pay for it.” + +These are the boyish and dramatic circumstances in which Adamnan emerges +on the canvas of tradition. From his youth it would thus appear that he +was inured to hardship, and consequently qualified for the rigorous +discipline of the monastic life. Plain living went with high thinking, +and the quiet, thoughtful student soon acquired a reputation for +scholarship. He was just the kind of man to obtain entrance into the +distinguished circle of Iona, and though we cannot trace his career as +subordinate there, with certainty, we know that in 679, when fifty-five +years of age, he became head of the institution. At that period the +monastery was already known far and near for its learning. And there +seems little doubt that the new abbot was, taking him all in all, the +ablest and most accomplished of St. Columba’s successors. A great +linguist, he knew not only Latin, but, it may be inferred from his +writings, Hebrew and Greek also. + +Four years prior to his own promotion, Finnachta had become king in his +native country. That monarch, it would appear, never lost sight of the +boy with the jar, whose whole bearing indicated a youth of rare promise. +The latter was afterwards invited to his court, and ultimately +constituted the king’s spiritual adviser (anamchara). This we have on +the authority of an ancient bardic composition in a vellum MS., formerly +in the possession of W. Monck Mason, Esq. + +Besides his interesting relations with Finnachta, Adamnan was fortunate +in possessing the friendship of King Aldfrid of Northumbria. This +intimacy probably dates from the time when the latter as prince had +occasion to seek refuge in Ireland from his intriguing foes. At that +time he may have even been, as Duald Mac Firbis’s annals affirm, a pupil +of Adamnan. + +At any rate, with two such royal friends, the influence of the Ionan +abbot was very great. And on important occasions he served as ambassador +or “go-between” in matters of State betwixt the two kings. For example, +after a raiding expedition by the North Saxons on Meath, Finnachta got +him to undertake a mission to his friend Aldfrid to negotiate for the +return of the captives, and the abbot had the satisfaction of personally +conducting sixty of them back to Erin in 686. + +Two years later he paid another visit to the Court in Northumbria. On +both occasions a dreadful plague was raging in that country, and +throughout a great part of Europe. In his usual ultra-rational manner +Adamnan attributes his own immunity from the pestilence, and that of the +Picts and Scots in general, to the intercession of his holy patron St. +Columba. + +On these tours he made the acquaintance of the leading clergy in the +north of England. It is supposed he met Bede, then a young man, at the +Court also. This distinguished historian gives various facts regarding +the abbot and his movements. He appears to have read Adamnan’s book on +the “Holy Places,” though it may be that he never saw the biography, +which was a much later production. At least he makes no mention of it +anywhere. + +There were two great questions that then divided the Celtic churches—the +celebration of Easter and the tonsure. Through his intercourse with the +English clergy in Northumbria, and more especially, it is affirmed, +through a lively discussion he had with the learned Ceolfrid, Abbot of +Jarrow, Adamnan was persuaded to adopt the Catholic in preference to the +Celtic usage in these matters. On his return to Hy the brethren +strenuously opposed the innovation, and there was a lasting difference +of opinion thus originated by his change of views. For years the abbot, +who was pre-eminently a man of peace and unity—and, like the great and +pious scholar he was, always open to conviction,—earnestly strove to win +them over to what he deemed to be the better method, but did not succeed +in his own lifetime, though in after years the change was ultimately +adopted. In 692 he visited Ireland, and again in 697, between which +years he wrote the book that has made his name and memory immortal. A +man of great energy and incessant diligence, he was much on the move +convening synods and negotiating affairs. Like his extraordinary patron, +he interested himself in politics as well as in religion and literature, +of which he was a shining light. + +Unhappily the law which St. Columba had got enacted, exempting women +from fighting in actual warfare, had soon fallen into abeyance, and +Adamnan resolved to have it re-enacted. According to a legend in the +Leabhar Breac and Book of Lecain, his attention was called to the +inhuman custom in the following accidental way. One day he happened to +be travelling through the plain of Bregia, says the legend, with his +mother on his back, when they saw two armies in deadly conflict. During +the heat of the combat his mother’s eye caught sight of a woman dragging +another woman by means of an iron reaping-hook from the opposing +battalion. The hook was fastened in the unfortunate victim’s breast. +Sitting down overcome by the sight, the distressed Ronnat said to her +son, “Thou shalt not take me from this spot until thou exemptest women +for ever from being in this condition and from excursions and hostings.” +Adamnan promised it. And at the important Synod of Tara, convened in +697, with the approval of King Finnachta, the point was carried, +involving a mighty social revolution from henceforth in the life and +customs of the Gael. For under the old regime, men and women went +equally to battle. + +The enactments of this synod were afterwards known in Latin as “Lex +Adamnani,” and in Gaelic “Cain Adhamhnain.” In addition to a certain +privilege conceded to him and to his successors of levying contributions +for sacred purposes, Dr. Reeves thinks it was on this occasion that the +questions of Easter and the tonsure were publicly discussed, and +Adamnan’s views and usage adopted in Ireland. + +Afterwards he seems to have been some years in that country promoting +his reforms. He certainly was there in 701; and Bede mentions that he +crossed from Erin to Hy the summer of the year that he died, and +indicates that he had been there a considerable time previously. His +death occurred on September 23rd, 704. It is thus touchingly +commemorated by the great historian. “For it came to pass that before +the next year came round he departed this life; the Divine goodness so +ordering it that, as he was a man most earnest for peace and unity, he +should be taken away to everlasting life before the return of the season +of Easter he should be obliged to differ still more seriously from those +who were unwilling to follow him in the way of truth.” He had apparently +celebrated his last Easter in Ireland, and died at the mature age of +seventy-seven. + +His fame rests on his writings, chiefly the _Life of St. Columba_, and +his book on the “Holy Places”—_De Locis Sanctis_. Adamnan himself saw +not these Holy Land localities, but a French bishop on his return from +the east was driven by a storm to spend the winter with Adamnan, who +took down on waxen tablets his interesting accounts of the chief places +visited, and afterwards wrote out, _brevi textu_, on parchment. It is +better written and more fluent even than the biography, and when found +many years after, it was published as “the earliest account coming from +modern Christian Europe of the condition of Eastern lands and the cradle +of Christianity.” + +Adamnan presented the book to King Aldfrid of Northumbria. There are +extant MSS. of it as old as the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries still +on the Continent—at Rome, Corbey, Saltzburg, and other places. + +Besides these chief Latin works he is credited with a _Life of St. +Patrick_; poems, quoted by Tighernach, the “Four Masters,” and the Book +of Lecain; a _History of Ireland_ to his own times, and _An Epitome of +Irish Laws in Metre_. These two latter are only mentioned by Ward[16] +(on what authority is not known), and may be probably only compilations +of more modern times. + +In the _Liber Hymnorum_, however, there is a short hymn in Gaelic +entitled Adamnan’s Prayer. It may be read in Dr. Stokes’ _Goidelica_. +And in the Leabhar Na h’Uidhre there is a more lengthy production known +as “Fis Adhamhnain.” It is in the form of a sermon, and may have been +written down some two hundred years after the abbot’s time. In this +remarkable vision Adamnan figures as “the high sage of the western +world,” and like Aeneas or Dante, he is privileged on the festival of +St. John the Baptist to visit heaven and hell. The scenes he beheld are +depicted in the original Gaelic with a realism and power of vivid +imaginary detail that puts even Thomas Boston in the shade. As Dante +found his Florentine enemies in not too comfortable circumstances in the +Inferno, so Adamnan is here represented as seeing the Aircinnich—the lay +administrators of the church lands, who too often abused their trust, in +similar dool. But this sentiment alone is sufficient to show that the +composition is of later date than Adamnan’s day, for such Aircinnich had +yet to arise, and the broad acres they mismanaged. + +It is said that at the time of the great Synod in 697 the public mind +had for long been kept in such a state of suspense and alarm by the +prevailing pestilences and portents, that the report of the abbot having +some such vision made it so susceptible to his influence that he had far +less difficulty in carrying into effect his revolutionary measures than +he would have had in ordinary circumstances. + +But all these things—writings and traditions alike—tend to show how this +quiet, intellectual, studious, pious, and—from our point of +view—amazingly credulous, yet influential scholar, impressed his own and +succeeding ages. + +Adamnan’s best known book is essentially a Life of St. Columba, written +not in any chronological order, but on a characteristic plan of his own. +There are two prefaces, and what would really be the gist and +subject-matter of a modern biography is condensed by him into one short +paragraph at the end of the second of these. The work is then divided +into three parts or books. The first deals with prophetical revelations, +the second with miracles, the third with visions of angels; and under +these titles he groups all the most striking stories of the saint’s +life. All the collateral information—and it is not much—regarding the +history of the time, the social life, the manners, customs, language, +topography, etc., we get merely by the way in the telling of the tale. +Adamnan apparently had no thought that his readers would wish to know +something of these, or if he had he did not deem it any part of his task +to enlighten them. He was writing for his own times, and he could not +conceive that the eye of any monk or other reader could wander off from +the central luminary to mere details of the environment. It is at once +the limitation and strength of the enthusiast and the specialist. How +could he know that he was writing for the far-distant future?—this +unassuming monk in his cell, unconsciously addressing a people who have +emerged from his theory of the universe, and who listen and wonder at +his stories, which to them have all the charm and interest of fairy +tales. + +_Tempora mutantur, eheu!_ The little facts that incidentally dropped +from his pen are those most sought and valued now, while the miracles, +visions, and prophecies which he took to be the soul and substance of +the book, wear a different aspect to modern eyes. It is these trifling +details, sometimes mere names, that give us glimpses into the state of +society in Ireland and Pictland, and into the civil and ecclesiastical +history of the time. + +Adamnan’s consuming desire at all times is to present “the evidences +which the venerable man gave of his power.” And when we reflect that he +believed that “by some divine intuition” St. Columba, “through a +wonderful experience of his inner soul, beheld the whole universe drawn +together and laid open to his sight, as in one ray of the sun,” we need +not be surprised at the wonders unfolded. In the first chapter of Book +I., and before entering upon illustrative examples, he gives a summary +of his hero’s supernatural qualities. For example, he healed diseases; +expelled from the island “innumerable hosts of malignant spirits, whom +he saw with his bodily eyes assailing himself and beginning to bring +deadly distemper on his monastic brotherhood.” The surging waves quickly +became quiet at his prayer, and contrary winds changed into fair. He +took a white stone from the river Ness and blessed it for healing +purposes. This famous pebble floated like an apple when placed in water. +In the country of the Picts he raised a dead child to life, and while +yet a young man in Hibernia turned water into wine. An immense blaze of +heavenly light was occasionally seen to surround him in the light of +day, and he was frequently favoured with the society of bright hosts of +celestial beings. He often saw just men carried by angels to the highest +heavens, and reprobates hurried by demons to hell. The blessed man even +foretold the destinies of individual men, pleasing or painful, according +to their deserts. And “in the dreadful crash of wars he obtained from +God by the virtue of prayer, that some kings should be conquered and +others come off victorious.” + +And now, coming to the substance of the separate books in order, we need +not dwell on the prophetical revelations, numerous and curious though +they are, beyond giving one or two as typical examples. The credulity of +the author and his capacity for belief are passing strange, and even +foreign to an age like our own. A peasant, he tells us, once asked the +saint by what death he would die. “Not in the battlefield nor at sea,” +came the ready response, “but the travelling companion of whom thou hast +no suspicion shall cause thy death.” And the man died through the +effects of a wound accidentally caused by his own knife. + +One wonderful experience may be quoted, as quite in line with Professor +James’ argument in his Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh University (May, +1901). In discussing “The reality of the Unseen,” this brilliant +exponent of the new Psychology instanced a number of curious cases of +the occurrence of a “presence” to individuals, and he maintained that +the sentiment of reality could indeed attach itself to things of which +the representative faculty could frame only the dimmest sort of an idea. +And abstractions other than the ideas of pure reason had the power of +making us feel presences that we were impotent articulately to describe. +No more striking example of his contention could be desired than the +following. It is entitled, “Of the consolation which the monks when they +were weary on their journey, received from the saint visiting them in +spirit.” + +Baithene and the brethren were returning in the evening to the monastery +from the harvest work when something strange and unusual was felt by +them all. It is thus described by an elder brother. “I perceive,” he +said to the others, “the fragrance of such a wonderful odour, just as if +all the flowers on earth were gathered together into one place. I feel +also a glow of heat within me, not at all painful, but most pleasing, +and a certain unusual and inexpressible joy poured into my heart, which +on a sudden so refreshes and gladdens me that I forget grief and +weariness of every kind. Even the load, however heavy, which I carry on +my back, is in some mysterious way so lightened from this place all the +way to the monastery that I do not seem to have any weight to bear.” + +King Brude and his Druids had rather a different sensation when, outside +their fortifications near Inverness, some of the latter tried to prevent +the saint from chanting the evening hymns. Very much in the flesh this +time, St. Columba began to sing the 44th Psalm so wonderfully loud, like +the rattle of thunder, that king and people were terror-struck with the +awful noise, and forthwith relented. Columba seems to have been more +than a match for these pagan opponents. For in the second book, where +the miracles are recorded, among other confusions to which he drove the +resisting Picts, the following is recorded. When first he visited Brude, +it happened that the king, elated by the pride of royalty, acted +haughtily and would not open his gates to his distinguished visitors. +But the man of God, observing this, approached the folding doors with +his companions and, having first formed upon them the sign of the cross, +he knocked and then laid his hand upon the gate, which instantly flew +open of its own accord, the bolts sliding back with great force. The +saint and his followers then passed through, and ever after, as long as +he lived, king Brude knew how to respect and reverence his imperious +visitor. It was to him that the latter gave the remarkable white pebble +which effected cures. “And what is very wonderful,” says our author, +“when this same stone was sought for by those sick persons whose term of +life had arrived, it could not be found.” Even King Brude himself was +abandoned _in articulo mortis_ by the fateful pebble. + +After giving examples of miraculous punishments inflicted on those who +were opposed to St. Columba, Adamnan instances a few encounters with +wild beasts, and as they relate to our own Scotland they are of ancient +and exceptional interest. + +“On one occasion,” to quote our author, “when the blessed man was +staying some days in the Scian island (Skye), he left the brethren and +went alone a little farther than usual to pray; and having entered a +dense forest he met a huge wild boar that happened to be pursued by +hounds. As soon as the saint saw him at some distance he stood looking +intently at him. Then raising his holy hand and invoking the name of God +in fervent prayer, he said to the beast, ‘Thou shalt proceed no farther +in this direction; perish on the spot where thou hast now reached.’ And +no sooner were these fateful words uttered than it appears his +formidable opponent collapsed, expiring on the spot.” + +But an experience on the mainland of the Picts seems to have been even +more exciting. One day he had to cross the river Ness. And when he +reached the bank of the river he saw some of the inhabitants burying an +unfortunate man, who, according to the accounts of those who were +burying him, was a short time before seized as he was swimming, and +bitten most severely by a monster that lived in the water; his wretched +body was, though too late, taken out with a hook by those who came to +his assistance in a boat. The blessed man, on hearing this, was so far +from being dismayed that he directed one of his companions to swim over +and row across the coble that was moored at the farther bank. And Lugne +Mocumin, hearing the command of the excellent man, obeyed without the +least delay, taking off all his clothes except his tunic and leaping +into the water. But the monster, which, so far from being satiated, was +only roused for more prey, was lying at the bottom of the stream, and +when it felt the water disturbed by the man swimming, suddenly rushed +out, and giving an awful roar darted after him with its mouth wide open, +as the man swam in the middle of the stream. Then the blessed man, +observing this, raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as +well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and invoking the name of +God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the +ferocious monster, saying, “Thou shalt go no farther, nor touch the man; +go back with all speed.” Then at the voice of the saint the monster was +terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with +ropes, though it had just got so near Lugne as he swam that there was +not more than the length of a spear staff between the man and the beast. +Then the brethren, seeing that the monster had gone back, and that their +comrade Lugne had returned to them in the boat safe and sound, were +struck with admiration and gave glory to God in the blessed man. And +even the barbarous heathens who were present were forced, by the +greatness of this miracle which they themselves had seen, to magnify the +God of the Christians. + +The raising of the hand and forming the sign of the cross in the air +seems to have been a frequent and effective expedient. In the case of a +youth who was returning from the milking of the cows with his pail on +his back, and who stopped at the door of the cell where the blessed man +was writing, it was the means of driving out a demon that lurked in the +milk pail. No sooner had he left than the saint made the sign. Instantly +the air was greatly agitated. The bar which fastened the lid of the pail +being pulled back through the two openings which received it, was shot +away to a great distance, while the lid fell to the earth and the +greater part of the milk was spilled upon the ground. The demon that +lurked in the bottom of the pail could not endure the power of the sign, +and fled thus violently in terror. + +Such is the unvarying style of Adamnan. That he himself credited those +versions of stories reported is beyond question. “Our belief in the +miracles which we have recorded,” he says, “but which we did not +ourselves see, is confirmed beyond doubt by the miracles of which we +were eye-witnesses.” Three times in his own experience he saw +unfavourable gales changed into propitious breezes. + +As Book III., dealing with visions and angels, embodies Cummene’s +contribution, it is of the highest interest to consider some of its +choice memories. “On a certain night,” proceeds chap. ii., “between the +conception and birth of the venerable man, an angel of the Lord appeared +to his mother in dreams, bringing to her as he stood by her a certain +robe of extraordinary beauty, in which the most beautiful colours, as it +were, of all the flowers seemed to be portrayed. After a short time he +asked it back and took it out of her hands, and having raised it and +spread it out he let it fly through the air. But she, being sad at the +loss of it, said to that man of venerable aspect, ‘Why dost thou take +this lovely cloak away from me so soon?’ He immediately replied, +‘Because this mantle is so exceedingly honourable that thou canst not +retain it longer with thee.’ When this was said, the woman saw that the +forementioned robe was gradually receding from her in its flight, and +that then it expanded until its width exceeded the plains, and in all +its measurements was larger than the mountains and forests. Then she +heard the following words, ‘Woman, do not grieve for the man to whom +thou hast been bound by the marriage bond; thou shalt bring forth a son +of so beautiful a character that he shall be reckoned among his own +people as one of the prophets of God, and he hath been predestined by +God to be the leader of innumerable souls to the heavenly country.’ At +these words the woman awoke from her sleep.” + +A priest, to whose care the sacred youth had been confided, upon +returning home from the church after mass found his house illuminated +with a bright light, and saw in fact a ball of fire standing over the +face of the little boy as he lay asleep. And in after years a higher +personage, St. Brendan, reported that he observed a most brilliant +pillar wreathed with fiery tresses preceding the same wonderful +individual. + +It was not to be supposed that such a distinguished ornament of the +church militant could escape the attention and intrigues of its +arch-enemy. And so, on another day, while the holy man went to seek in +the woods of Iona for a place more remote from men and fitting for +prayer, he suddenly beheld, as he afterwards told a few of the brethren, +a very black host of demons fighting against him with iron darts. These +wicked demons, as the Holy Spirit revealed to the saint, wished to +attack his monastery and kill with the same spears many of the brethren. +But he, single-handed, against innumerable foes of such a nature, fought +with the utmost bravery, having received the armour of the apostle Paul. +And thus the contest was maintained on both sides during the greater +part of the day, nor could the demons, countless though they were, +vanquish him; nor was he able by himself to drive them from his island +until the angels of God—as the saint afterwards told certain persons—and +they few in number came to his aid, when the demons in terror gave way. + +The chapter, which is far and away the most thrilling and humanly +interesting, is the last of the volume, entitled, “How our patron Saint +Columba passed to the Lord.” It lingers with loving memory over the +closing scene of this remarkable life, giving a minute account of the +saint’s last words and acts, his preparations for the impending change, +and the manner and circumstances of his death. But as this is an +oft-repeated and well-known passage, it need not be quoted here. + +Adamnan’s _Vita Columbæ_ is not the only ancient _Life of St. Columba_ +after Cummene’s, but it is undoubtedly the standard classic one, from +which most of the subsequent biographies draw their facts and +inspirations, with the exception, perhaps, of the “Old Irish Life,” +which furnishes particulars not mentioned in this one. + +Neither is the Schaffhausen document the sole existing MS. copy of the +great biography. Dr. Reeves consulted as many as seven distinct MSS., +three of which contained a longer and four a shorter text. Besides these +he had heard of five other extant copies, more or less complete. + +The seven from which he obtained his own various readings are the +following:— + +I. Codex A.—The famous Schaffhausen one, the oldest of all, dating from +the early years of the eighth century. + +II. Codex B.—A vellum of the middle of the fifteenth century, preserved +in the British Museum. + +III. Codex C.—The Canisian text, which was published in 1604 from a MS. +in the monastery of Windberg, Bavaria. + +IV. Codex D.—The second tract in a large vellum of the thirteenth +century, in Primate Marsh’s library, Dublin. + +V. Codex F.—A vellum consisting of fifty leaves, now in the Royal +Library of Munich. + +VI. Codex G.—A small quarto MS. on vellum of the early part of the ninth +century, in the Library of St. Gall. + +VII. Codex Cottonianus in the British Museum, also a vellum of the +latter part of the twelfth century. + +The others, which he had not seen, are variously distributed in Austria, +Bavaria, Switzerland, and Belgium. + +With all its defects, Adamnan’s masterpiece is the most valuable +monument of the early Celtic Church which has escaped the ravages of +time; imaginative, superstitious, magical, and steeped in hero-worship, +it is characteristically Celtic and of surpassing interest to the +archæologist and philologist. + +Its value as such would have been vastly enhanced in these times had it +been written in Gaelic, and doubtless, too, had the author condescended +more on social and historical details. But Adamnan apparently had no +high opinion of his native language as a literary medium. In his first +preface he almost apologises for using Gaelic names of men and tribes +and obscure places in the “base Scotic tongue,” which he thinks rude in +comparison with the languages of foreign nations, and begs his readers +not to despise a record of useful deeds on account of these native words +inserted. + +Dr. Reeves seems to regret that Adamnan did not follow the method of +Bede and give us an ecclesiastical history instead of a biography. We +cannot all share his sentiment. Had it been other than it is—had it even +been in Gaelic—the probability is that it might not have survived. In +Gaelic it certainly never could have attained the celebrity it enjoyed +on the continent of Europe during the Middle Ages, and which helped to +perpetuate it. On the other hand, without the memoir as thus preserved, +the life of St. Columba, the greatest pioneer of Scottish history, +religion, and literature, would now be as vague and jumbled as that of +any mythical hero, even as that of the historical St Patrick outside his +own “Confession” unfortunately is; and we should be ignorant of many +points concerning which we have now first-hand information. + +As it stands, the _Vita Columbæ_ is still the most authentic voucher we +have for various important particulars in the civil and religious +history of the Picts and Scots, and the severe Pinkerton himself was +perhaps never nearer the truth on Celtic subjects than when he +pronounced it “the most complete piece of such biography that all Europe +can boast of, not only at so early a period, but even through the whole +Middle Ages.” + + + + + CHAPTER V + THE BOOK OF DEER + + An ancient curio—Second oldest book of Scotland—Where did it come + from?—Its contents threefold—Gaelic colophon from the ninth + century—The work of a native scribe of Alba—Peculiarities—The + ecclesiastical art of the period—The Gaelic entries—“Legend of + Deer”—Drostan’s tears—Some very quaint history—The earliest source + for Scottish Gaelic—Authentic glimpses into the Celtic condition + of Scotland—Origin of shires, parishes, burghs, individual + freedom, and the use of the English language—Three editions of the + Gaelic of the Book of Deer—Now one of the very oldest MSS. of + native origin that Cambridge can boast of. + + +In the year 1860, Mr. Henry Bradshaw, Librarian of Cambridge University, +while rummaging among old books, came upon a curious production which at +once usurped his attention. Here, thought he, is surely a survival from +some remote time. And examining the MS., he found it to consist of +eighty-six parchment leaves, six inches long, four and a half wide, and +closely written on both sides. + +The language was Latin, written in the Irish character, “not very unlike +the Bodleian Cædmon.” Each page showed marks of ruling with a sharp +instrument, and the letters hung from the ruled lines instead of resting +on them. The pages were surrounded by ornamented borders, most of them +filled in with interlaced work in panels, and with fretwork of a +peculiar kind. + +On a casual inspection of the subject-matter, the accomplished librarian +had no difficulty in ascertaining that it consisted of the first six +chapters of St Matthew’s Gospel, and part (verses 1–22) of the seventh; +the first four chapters of St. Mark, and part of the fifth (to middle of +verse 35); the first three chapters of St. Luke, with the first verse of +the fourth; the whole of the Gospel of St. John; a fragment of an Office +for the Visitation of the Sick, in a later hand; and the Apostles’ +Creed. The writing of the Gospels was all in one uniform hand, the ink +dark-brown with age, and the initial letters of paragraphs designed in +fanciful dragonesque forms and variously coloured. At the end of the +book, just after the Apostles’ Creed, the writer had added a colophon in +another language, which looked like Gaelic, and on the margins and +vacant spaces of the volume there was a number of entries in the same +vernacular, but evidently inserted much later. + +What greatly enhanced the rarity and interest of this remarkable codex, +in the finder’s eyes, was that it also contained a collection of +coloured pictures and ornamental designs contemporary with the writing, +executed in the same style, and apparently by the same hand that penned +the Gospels. + +Where did this ancient curio come from? It was easy for him to trace its +entrance into the Library, for he found it among the remainder of the +books of John Moore, at one time Bishop of Norwich, and later of Ely. +These books had come into the possession of the University in a very +interesting way. After the prelate’s death, which took place in 1714, it +appears that King George the First, acting on the suggestion of Lord +Townshend, bought the extensive library of the deceased for the sum of +6000 guineas, and gifted it to the College Library. + +The small octavo MS. of which we are speaking, and now known as the Book +of Deer, had formed part of Bishop Moore’s collection in 1697, and +strange to say, after its removal to Cambridge, it lay apparently +neglected for a century and a half on the shelves of that University +Library, until the discriminating eye of Mr. Bradshaw singled it out as +of exceptional antiquity and value—as, in fact, one of the very oldest +MSS. of native origin that Cambridge can boast of. + +Thus far the history of the quaint foundling. For the rest, it must tell +its own tale. + +Obviously one of the few relics of the Celtic Church now extant, it +required an expert in the Gaelic language and antiquities to elicit the +desired information regarding its origin and long past. And when Whitley +Stokes sought a perusal, we can almost fancy the eager Bradshaw +addressing his fellow-linguist in the language of Marcellus to Horatio +when the ghost of Hamlet’s father suddenly appeared, “Thou art a +scholar; speak to it.” Here was the worn and faded form of a book +resurrected from the dust of oblivion, and, like the shade of the dead +king, once more catching the eye of men, and making their hearts quiver +with eerie curiosity. + +A rising Celticist, Mr. Whitley Stokes soon applied himself to the +interesting inquisition, following the venerable scroll back for a +thousand years to the ancient time when it first took shape. And in the +_Saturday Review_ of December 1860 appeared an anonymous article from +his pen, in the form of an appreciative notice, giving translations of +the Gaelic, and otherwise making known to the public the importance of +this latest literary discovery. + +In the contents of the volume he found sufficient internal evidence to +be able to trace its past, so far as many details of its early origin +and environment are concerned. + +These contents, as already hinted, are threefold. First, the original +substance of the book; second, its ornamentations; and third, the notes +and memoranda inserted at a later time on the margins and blank pages. + +And into what age and environment, we naturally ask, do these lead us? + +As on receipt of an unknown letter, the receiver turns with eager eyes +to scan the signature at the end, so here the expert first directs his +attention to the colophon or postscript of the scribe. + +In this particular instance it happens to be in Gaelic, and may be +rendered thus: “Be it on the conscience of every one in whom shall be +for grace the booklet with splendour, that he give a blessing on the +soul of the poor wretch (truagain) who wrote it” (“Forchubus caichduini +imbia arrath inlebran colli aratardda bendacht forainmain in truagain +rodscribai”). + +This Gaelic, says Whitley Stokes, is identical with the oldest Irish +glosses given by Zeuss in his _Grammatica Celtica_, and “certainly as +old as the ninth century.” Professor Westwood, from a study of the +written characters, which are those at that time common to the Irish and +Anglo-Saxon schools, came to the same conclusion as to the age of the +book. + +The version of the Gospels which it contains is one of a class which has +been called “Irish,” because, while mainly corresponding with Jerome’s +Vulgate, it preserves occasional readings from versions of earlier +dates. The text, in other words, agrees with the text of the various +Books of Gospel used in the Scoto-Irish monasteries of the period, such +as the Books of Durrow, Kells, Dimna, Moling, Armagh, etc. + +It would appear that Jerome’s recension made its way early among Gaelic +scholars, and during the isolation of the Celtic Church, there had been +a sort of revision which produced a native version exhibiting +characteristics peculiar to itself and common to all the above-mentioned +texts. Hence the wonderful uniformity alike in the text and in the +peculiarities of spelling found in all the surviving Gaelic MSS. of that +early period. + +It is not known whether the book was produced in the place whose name it +bears or in Iona, or whether it was written by a Pict or a Scot. +Scholars are content to affirm their opinion that it is the work of a +native scribe of Alba, without particularising too confidently. + +Dr. Stuart, who edited it for the Spalding Club in 1869, observed that +though the handwriting is good and uniform, casual examination of the +MS. will show that it is a careless transcript of a corrupt text. The +spelling is frequently barbarous and capricious. There are many +violations of grammar, with omissions, transpositions, repetitions and +interpolations of various kinds, while the prepositions are almost +always joined to the word which they govern. + +Generally speaking, this Book of Deer exhibits many of the peculiarities +of spelling which Tischendorf noted in the Vulgate, for example:— + + Magdalen_æ_ for Magdalen_e_. + Ba_b_tismum for ba_p_tismum. + O_cc_ulus for o_c_ulus. + Abra_ch_am for Abra_h_am. + _Ch_anna for _C_ana. + Pro_f_eta for pro_ph_eta. + Dic_ie_ns for dic_e_ns. + _Z_abulus for _d_iabolus. + _H_oriens for _o_riens, etc. + +But the copying is otherwise of such a kind that it appears very +doubtful if the scribe really knew Latin well. It certainly indicates a +great falling away from the high scholarship of Adamnan and the verbal +accuracy of Baithene. And this itself might confirm us in the idea that +it may have been written in Deer or somewhere in Buchan rather than in +Iona. Very curious blunders might be quoted; but perhaps none more +grotesque than that in the genealogy in St. Luke, where Seth is set down +as the first man and father of Adam, or again in John xviii. 22, “Sic +respondis Pontifici” (Answerest thou the high priest so?) is written +“Sicrespem dispontifici.” In other cases words are introduced which +entirely destroy the sense. + +The second feature of this remarkable codex to arrest the attention, is +the decoration, which also is found to exhibit the character of the +ecclesiastical art of the period at which it is presumed to have been +written. The style of ornament of the illuminations is in fact entirely +similar to that used in the well known Irish Books of Gospel prior to +the ninth century, and on its own account is exceedingly interesting. +The first folio has its page divided into four panels by a plain Latin +cross, with a rosette in the centre. In these are four figures +representing, most likely, the four evangelists, though they might very +well stand for clerics. Fronting the beginning of the first Gospel is a +figure, full-page size, taken to represent St. Matthew, the author of +that Evangel. He appears with a beard, and clothed in ecclesiastical +vestments, all but the feet, which are bare. In his right hand he holds +a sword of unusual form, turned downwards with the point of the scabbard +resting between his feet; the handle is guarded before and behind, the +guards being curved and reversed. + +On either side of the evangelist there looks forth a smaller figure, +which seems to be intended for an angel. + +At the beginning of St. Mark’s Gospel is another figure in the same +style, with an object in front of his breast like a book in ornamental +binding. In his own place, St. Luke appears in the attitude of prayer, +his arms outspread. St. John is surrounded by six smaller figures, +similar to those accompanying St. Matthew. The two last pages of the MS. +have also designs of which one repeats with variations that at the +beginning of the book; while the other is a combination of similar +figures with geometric ornament. Throughout the volume are found here +and there small drawings—quaint little flourishes representing fern +leaves, birds, and animals, curiously wrought, and words as if in trial +of the pen, some of which show very delicate and correct lines. The +initial letter of each Gospel is enlarged and ornamented with patches of +different colours, about two inches high, and the ends of the principal +strokes of the letters terminate in dogs’ heads. + +Yet it must be added that with all its similarity of style and +attractive colouring, the art is poor in comparison with that of +contemporary Irish MSS. + +Such are the original contents of the codex. There remain the later +notes and memoranda on the margins and blank spaces. And these are of +two kinds—those written in Latin and those in Gaelic. The Latin ones +consist of (1) the fragment of an Office for the Visitation of the Sick +inserted between Mark and Luke, and with a single line of Gaelic rubric +in the body of it, namely, “Hisund dubeir sacorfaic dau” (“Here give the +sacrifice to him”); (2) a Charter by King David confirming to the monks +of Deer their lands and their privileges. As the Office for the Sick may +have been the first insertion, perhaps 200 or 250 years after the +original book was written, so the King’s Charter, granted some time +before his death in 1154, was with a single exception apparently the +last, for in declaring that the clerics of Deer were free from all lay +interference and undue exaction, “as it is written in their book,” it is +implied that the rest of the entries had already been made. + +These latter are the six Gaelic ones, and they contribute the chief +value to the Book of Deer. They all relate to grants of land and other +privileges given from time to time to the Monastery of that name. At +Banff and Aberdeen, in the early part of the twelfth century, the book +was produced in the King’s Courts in evidence of the rights of the +clerics to the land in question, and their claim was thereby +substantiated. The entries were made at different times, from the end of +the tenth or the beginning of the eleventh century down to the middle of +the twelfth. They occur in the earlier part of the book, and though +inferior in point of penmanship and even of ink to the original contents +of the MS., they are well written and perfectly legible throughout. +Inscribed as they were in the Gaelic of the place and of the period, +these entries introduce us direct and at once into the community of +monks who owned the codex. + +The first is of exceeding great interest. It is known as the “Legend of +Deer.” Based upon a tradition of some 500 years, it cannot be regarded +as strictly historical, which all the others are. The tradition was that +the monastery of Deer was founded by St. Columba. According to the +legend, the great Abbot came with his pupil Drostan from Hy (Iona) to +Abbordoboir, the modern Aberdour in Aberdeenshire, but whether by land +or sea is not stated. The record simply says, “As God had directed +them.” Bede the Pict was, at the time, Mormaer or Grand Steward of +Buchan, and gave them the town in freedom for ever from mormaer and +toisech (chieftain). They came after that to the other town of the +district, now known as Deer, and “it was pleasing to Columcille because +it was full of God’s grace,” and he asked Bede to give him that one too, +but the Pict refused. + +Then a son of this ruler took ill and was at the point of death, when +his father sent to the clerics—Columba and his pupil—to pray for the lad +that he might recover, and he gave them in offering the land from “Cloch +in tiprat to Cloch pette meic Garnait” (“From the stone of the well to +the stone that marks the bounds of the son of Garnat’s place”). They +offered a prayer and health came to the dying youth. After that, +Columcille departed from the district, gifting the town to Drostan. But +before he set out he blessed it, and left as his “word,” “Whosoever +shall come against it, let him not be many-yeared or victorious.” + +Drostan’s tears (deara), we are told, flowed freely on parting with his +famous Chief, whereupon the immortal Columba said, “Let Dear be its name +henceforward.” And thus the town and monastery derived their name, since +variously spelt as Dear, Der, Deir, Dere, and Deer. + +The facts underlying the legend are not at all improbable. On the +contrary, they are quite in keeping with the character of St. Columba +and the range of his mission. Arguing from the circumstance that no +Drostan is mentioned in history in connection with the saint, an attempt +has been made by Dr. Macbain to show that the founder of the monastery +may have been another individual of that name who lived about 700 A.D., +but there is no sufficient data. The word is a diminutive of the British +name Drust. And whoever Drostan was, as a saint he has been held in +honour in the Buchan district from very early times. The church of +Aberdour was dedicated to him, and Drustie’s fair used to be held +annually at Deer on the 14th of December. + +In connection with the “word” said to have been left by Columcille, +there is some very quaint history in after years. The Celtic Earls of +Buchan, partly influenced by it, no doubt, showed a munificent spirit +towards the Church of Deer till the fall of their House with the Comyns, +when Robert the Bruce came to the throne. + +The Comyns had opposed the latter and were so utterly overthrown that, +according to a chronicle of the period, of a name which numbered at one +time the three Earls of Buchan, Mar, and Menteith, and more than thirty +belted knights, there remained no memorial in the land “save the orisons +of the monks of Deer.” + +Sir Robert de Keith, the influential Marischal of Scotland and staunch +supporter of the Bruce, got a grant of some pleasant lands in the +neighbourhood of the monastery from the King as a reward for his +services. Thereafter, partly through intermarriage, the Marischals in +succession became the leading family in the district, and at the time of +the Reformation were tenants of the abbey lands. By authority of a +member of the family who had become “Abbot and Commendator of Deer,” the +property was by a certain process rather mendaciously made over to the +Earl of the day. But the Earl’s wife, “a woman both of a high spirit and +of tender conscience, forbade her husband to leave such a consuming moth +in his house as was the sacrilegious meddling with the Abisie of Deir.” +Unfortunately, however, “fourteen chalders of meill and beir was a sore +tentatione, and he could not weel indure the randering back of such a +morsell.” Her demand was met with “absolut refusall.” So she had a +vision of the impending ruin of the house. It is thus curiously recorded +by Patrick Gordon, a writer of the eighteenth century, in his book +entitled, _A Short Abridgement of Britanes Distemper from the year of +God 1739 to 1749_. + + The night following, “in her sleepe, she saw a great number of + religious men in their habit, cum forth of that Abbey to the stronge + Craige of Dunnoture which is the principall residence of that familie. + She saw them also sett themselves round about the rock, to gett it + down and demolishe it, having no instruments nor toilles wherewith to + perform this work, but only penknyves; wherewith they foolishly (as it + seemed to her), began to pyk at the Craige. She smyled to sie them + intend so frutles are interpryse; and went to call her husband to + scuffe and geyre them out of it. When she had fund him and brought him + to sie these sillie religious monckes at their foolishe work, behold! + the wholl Craige, with all his strong and statly buildings, was by + their penknyves undermynded and fallen in the sea, so as ther remained + nothing but the wrack of ther rich furniture and stufe flotting on the + waves of a raging and tempestuous sea. Som of the wiser sort, divining + upon this vission, attrebute to the penknyves the lenth of time befor + this should com to pass; and it hath bein observed, by sundrie, that + the Earles of that house before wer the richest in the kingdom, having + treasure in store besyd them; but ever since the addition of this so + great revenue, they have losed their stock by heavie burdeines of debt + and ingagment.” + +The writer who relates this wonderful vision did not live to see the +downfall of the House in the following century, or, it is surmised, he +would have regarded it in the light of a literal fulfilment. + +But a much more distinguished author in recent times, the French Comte +de Montalembert, has not hesitated to connect the ruin of the family +fortunes with the sinister “word” of the famous Columcille: “Whosoever +shall come against it, let him not be many-yeared or victorious.” The +scribes who inserted the later entries had kept up the ominous +prediction by concluding the fourth with the sentence, “And the Lord’s +blessing on every mormaer and on every toisech who shall fulfil this, +and to their seed after them;” and the fifth, with the alternative, “And +his blessing on every one who shall fulfil this after him, and his curse +on every one who shall go against it.” + +In Gaelic entry No. 2 we suddenly emerge from the traditionary elements +of the first into the region of historical fact. We need not detail the +various grants referred to in the entries 2 to 6 or the names of the +donors. Our chief interest in these vernacular addenda lies in the +circumstance that they throw an ancient and fresh light on the language +and history of the period. Philologically, they are of great value as +the earliest specimens of Scottish Gaelic extant. In Adamnan’s _Life of +St. Columba_ there are, of course, some Celtic words, but these are +merely names of persons or places and the book is the work of a scholar +born and educated in Ireland. + +Hitherto, therefore, so far as the Gaelic literary monuments of Scotland +have survived, they may all be regarded as more or less of Irish origin, +character, and inspiration. But here at length and for the first time we +have one that is distinctly Scottish, both in language and the manner of +writing. As Windisch has expressed it in his _Celtic Speeches_, “the +oldest source for Scottish Gaelic is the Book of Deer.” After it there +is no other for 400 years, till the Dean of Lismore’s book is produced +between 1512 and 1526. + +Before the sixteenth century you will look in vain for a scrap of any +literature or even record in Scottish Gaelic outside the Book of Deer. +The arguments that may be adduced to show that in the latter we have the +genuine native vernacular, as distinct from the Irish Gaelic in vogue in +contemporary MSS., are these. + +First, the book was evolved in a corner of Scotland as remote as could +be from Ireland. The district formed part of the country of the Picts, +who had asserted a kind of independence in ecclesiastical affairs. + +Second, the Norsemen by their frequent incursions had inserted a wedge +as it were between the two countries that hitherto had so much in +common. They destroyed Iona and forced the Church to adopt Dunkeld as +its chief abbatial centre. Since Malcolm Canmore’s time, Scotland was +thus becoming a separate kingdom, independent of English and Irish +influences, and the establishment of bishoprics by the Kings Alexander +and David freed even the Church from both England and Ireland. The +twelfth century was therefore a likely time for the birth of a native +literature. + +Third, the writing in the Book of Deer is of a thoroughly practical +kind, relating to business transactions, and the Gaelic of the district +must have been used. The very purpose of the memoranda was to +substantiate claims against future mormaers and toisechs who might be +disposed to dispute their legality. + +Fourth, it is believed that even in the Western Highlands, not to speak +of Buchan, the difference between Irish and Scottish Gaelic was then +wider than the literature would lead us to infer. For this reason, that +the Gaelic MSS. of the period were produced by men who derived their +culture from Ireland and naturally followed the Irish standard in their +written compositions. The contents of the Book of Deer fully justify +that conclusion. + +The Gaelic text is of the same age with that in the Leabhar Na h’Uidhre +and Book of Hymns. Yet a comparison with these typical Irish monuments +shows that the monks of Deer had developed peculiarities in writing +Gaelic which differed considerably from the standard of the Irish +scholars. Windisch, commenting upon this circumstance, says, “The manner +of expression, words, and forms are as in the Irish, but the manner of +writing shows already a stronger phonetic decay; whether it be that the +Scotch Gaelic has lived faster, or that only the manner of writing has +remained less ancient, and has fitted itself more exactly to the +pronunciation of the time.” + +It is in this respect more like the Middle than the Ancient Irish. + +Those who are interested in the study of archaic words and grammatical +forms will find the Book of Deer not a bad quarry; in fact our very +oldest bed-rock for Scottish idioms. There are few declensional +specimens, it is true, but these suffice to show, as Dr. Whitley Stokes +observed, that the Highlanders declined their nouns in the eleventh +century as fully as the Irish, which is very far from being the case +to-day. Some of the peculiarities of the newly-fledged Scottish Gaelic +may here be noticed. For example, that distinction of vowels so +noticeable in the Authorised Version of the Scriptures, where we have +the Irish _o_ in _focal_ instead of the Scottish _a_ as in _facal_, may +be observed in the colophon of the Book of Deer, where we have +_truagain_, “the poor wretch,” and not _trogan_ as in the Irish Priscian +of St. Gall. Another feature is the confusion of vowels if ending words, +as _i_ for _e_, the sinking of _c_ and _t_ to _g_ and _d_, and the +assimilation of _ld_ and _ln_ to _ll_. The spelling has further local +characteristics, perhaps due to Pictish influence, as, for example, _cc_ +for _ch_; thus _imacc_ is for _imach_, modern _a mach_, “out of,” +“henceforth;” _buadacc_ is for _buad(h)ach_, “victorious.” + +The aspirated _d_ or _g_ is dropped, as in _blienee_, just as from +Jocelyn of Furness (1180) we learn that the pronunciation of _tighearn_ +was at that time _tyern_, though in Irish _tigerna_. Another Gaelic +Scotticism is the manner of treating _n_ in the preposition _in_. In +early Irish the _n_ disappears before _s_ and _p_; here it is retained, +as _insaere_, _inpett_. We also find _ibbidbin_ for _im-bidbin_ and +_ig-ginn_ for _in-cinn_. Thus the two peculiar features of Celtic +grammar known as aspiration and eclipsis, or vocalic infection and nasal +infection of tenues, are observed. + +The great rule for spelling known as “Leathan ri leathan is caol ri +caol,” that is, “broad (vowel) to broad, and small (vowel) to small,” +forced on Scottish Gaelic from Ireland, is, with very rare exceptions, +ignored in the Book of Deer. The orthography of the latter has many +contractions, and is more phonetic than that of the Irish MSS. All of +which peculiarities and circumstances point to the conclusion arrived at +by Celtic scholars in general, that the Scottish Gaelic dialect of the +eleventh and the twelfth centuries, and especially the accent, differed +much from the language of educated Irishmen. + +The next two literary monuments of this vernacular, namely, those of the +Dean of Lismore and of Duncan Macrae of Inverinate, both of whom wrote +phonetically, bring out this difference between the two dialects still +more clearly. It is an interesting fact, apparent from the Book of Deer, +that the present Aberdeenshire, now so Teutonic, was, when the entries +were made, a Gaelic-speaking district. The names of the kings, mormaers, +and toisechs mentioned are all Celtic, indeed most of them are common +enough names to-day in the Highlands,—Cathal, Domnall, Muridach, +Maelcolum, Cainnech, Donnchad, Gartnait, Aedh, Comgall, Maledoun, +Matadin; Nectan was Bishop of Aberdeen, Leot Abbot of Brechin, +Domangart, a ferlegin or “man of learning,” and Cormac Abbot of Turiff. +A few are non-Celtic, such as Andrew, Samson, and David. Unhappily, in +these records the names of women do not figure much. Two very euphonious +and beautiful ones, however, are given,—Eua, the “wedded wife” of +Colban, and Ete, daughter of Gillemichel. It is a wonder that these +delightful names, especially Ete or Eite, have gone out of use in the +Highlands. + +The Celts seem to have had a genius for coining melodious appellations, +sweet and endearing, as well as strong, rough, and uncouth. + +Unlike Adamnan’s _Vita Columbæ_ and Bede’s _History_, there is no hint +in this MS. of any language other than Latin and Gaelic. The latter was +in evidence in the Courts of Banff and Aberdeen, and we would gather +from the line of vernacular inserted in the Latin fragment of an Office +for the Visitation of the Sick that the monks of Deer were more familiar +with their Gaelic than their Latin; for in the Irish Book of Dimna the +direction is not the Gaelic “Hisund dubeir sacorfaic dau,” but it is the +Latin “Das ei Eucharistan.” + +But apart from their philological value, the memoranda in the Book of +Deer throw a welcome light on an early and obscure period of our +national history. Where the student of the social, political, and +ecclesiastical machinery of the time would otherwise have to grope his +way among dim and doubtful hints and analogies, he has here authentic +glimpses into the Celtic condition of Scotland. + +And these notices are all the more valuable because they were made at +the time when a great social and ecclesiastical revolution was +impending. There was, on one side, the change from the primitive +patriarchal polity to the feudal regime, and on the other, from the +monastic to the parochial system. The period covered by the entries is +towards the close of the Celtic epoch, before this momentous transition +had taken place. We see the old order ready to depart, and we get some +light on the origin of the new institutions which were about to +supersede it. + +Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore, had much to do with the +remoulding of the ancient structure of society in Scotland. This old +system of inherited peculiarity was first confronted with one founded on +different principles, when the Celtic clergy of Scotland met in council, +to listen during three days to the addresses of the Saxon princess, +whose speeches were translated into the language of the Gael by her +husband the King. Just as in the other great social movements of later +times in the Highlands, the influences that undermined the old order +were not the result of natural progress in the Celtic polity, but of +foreign ideas and principles introduced from without. It was these that +led to the destruction of the civil and ecclesiastical institutions on +which the old regime rested. In the train of Queen Margaret had come +into Scotland a race of Saxon, and afterwards of Norman settlers, whose +presence in the country led to a quickening of the national life, and +the awakening of a feeling of unity such as could find no place among +the divided clans of a Celtic people. + +In the Book of Deer we still have the old patriarchal system in full +swing. There is the Ardrigh or High King. Under him and over the +provinces are the mormaers, and under the mormaers the tribal or +district chieftains known as toisechs. All these had their exactions out +of the land, besides having their own fat manor lands. They had rights +of personal service, civil and military; of entertainment when +travelling; and of exacting rent in kind or in money. There were neither +dioceses nor parishes as yet. The patriarchal idea was carried out even +in the monastic system. Each tribe or tuath had a monastery. Its abbot +belonged to a leading family of the tuath or of the founder, in which +family the office was hereditary. The system gave rise to great abuses; +for as the monastery grew rich in lands the abbot took to do more with +the temporal than with the spiritual management, and often the lands +passed out of the possession of the monastery altogether into the hands +of the laymen. + +“It was not so in the case of Deer, the clerics of which down to the +middle of the twelfth century were still receiving from the bounty of +the Gaelic chiefs of this district additions to their monastic +inheritance, in the whole of which they were secured by King David I., +with full immunity from all secular exactions.” It is plain, however, +from the terms of the royal charter, that attempts had been made to +fleece them, and that they were able to maintain their rights in virtue +of the grants recorded in their book. + +The abuses of the lay abbacies, though not wholly removed, were fairly +checked by Queen Margaret and her sons, through the creation of +bishoprics and the gradual supersession of the monastic by the parochial +system. Soon, dioceses and parishes, which cannot be traced farther back +than the time of Alexander I., began to appear in the records. They had +been established in England much earlier. + +Other new civil divisions and distinctions emerge. The old “countries” +and “provinces” become shires. Towns spring up, and the number of +individuals and corporations holding personal property and corporate +rights increased. A large part of the best land was given by charter +from King David to men who held of the crown in feudal tenure. + +The mormaer became merged in the Earl, and the toisech in the Thane. In +short, with the growth of feudal law, and the change to the parochial +system, the old Celtic regime was fast becoming a thing of the past, +though many of the customs and traditions associated therewith lingered +on till the great overthrow of the Forty-five, and even in some +localities almost to our own times. + +We are thus able, through the medium of this venerable Book of Deer, to +reach a hand over time to Columcille and his faithful Drostan, to Bede +the Pict, to the monks of Buchan, and that succession of the Ardrighs, +mormaers, and toisechs who lived in the old and primitive conditions, +before the new institutions and the regime under which we ourselves +exist were evolved. We can hardly think of Scotland to-day apart from +the categories of parishes, burghs, individual freedom, English +language, and many others, and yet in these far-off times the monks of +Deer and their contemporaries had to be doing without them. For all +this, these men were not lacking in culture or pious devotion. Their +book shows us that they revered the spiritual Columba as their Chief, +and founder of their monastery, and besides being expert caligraphists, +having some skill in painting and illumination, they were educated with +a sufficient knowledge of Latin to transcribe it intelligently and use +it in the services of the church. “This is not much to say of them,” +says Dr. Anderson in his Rhind Lectures, “but,” he adds, “it is a great +deal more than we have it in our power to say of any other community or +institution from similar evidence, if we except the parent community of +Iona itself.” + +Of the Gaelic of the Book of Deer there are three editions. The first +was prepared, Latin and Gaelic together, with valuable preface and +facsimile plates, by Dr. Stuart, and published by the Spalding Club in +1869. It is one of the many excellent and beautifully printed volumes we +owe to that distinguished Association. Mr. Stokes was responsible for +the English translation. The second publication he has given himself, in +his own _Goidelica_. There we find all the later entries of the codex +with translation, notes, and glossary. A similar service has since been +rendered by Dr. Macbain of Inverness, who provides the text with +translation, notes, and glossary of his own, founded on the work of the +previous editors, but throwing additional light on the vocabulary. This +contribution appears in the eleventh volume of the _Transactions of the +Gaelic Society of Inverness_ (1884–85), and is a welcome aid to the +study of the text. + +As in the case of the oldest book of Scotland, so in the case of this +second oldest, it is to be regretted that the Book of Deer has strayed +outwith our own land, yet no doubt, it is to this fact that we owe the +existence of both to-day; for no other book of so ancient a calibre has +been able to survive the many stormy convulsions and turbulent ferments +known as Scottish history. Cast up like flotsam and jetsam in a late +age, and treasured in the high places of learning, they both add a +lustre and a glory now to our ancient language and literature which we +would otherwise in vain desiderate. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + THE MS. LEGACY OF THE PAST + + A fresh start in the study of Celtic literature—Advent of foremost + scholars—The new basis found by Zeuss—Resurrection of ancient + texts—Unexpected light—H. d’Arbois de Jubainville and his mission + to this country—The numbers, dates, and localities of Gaelic MSS.: + (1) on the Continent; (2) in the British Isles—Subject + matter—Examples of the oldest written Gaelic poetry in Europe—The + great books of saga—Leabhar Na h’Uidhre—Books of Leinster, + Ballymote, and Lismore—Quotations—Account of the Ancient + Annals—Tighernach—The _Chronicon Scotorum_—The “Four + Masters”—Romance of the fugitive documents. + + +It is practically within the last fifty years that the great revival in +the study of Celtic literature has taken place. About the middle of last +century the foremost scholars began to arrive, and since then there has +been quite a galaxy of experts, both on the Continent and in the British +Isles, who have approached the subject on scientific lines, and by +careful literary research have not only opened to us the treasures of +the past, but have also thrown a flood of light on them. + +Prior to their advent, Celtic studies had no solid basis, for the +sufficient reason that the materials were not available. Old-time +convulsions had dispersed the documents to the four winds, and they +remained where they lay, buried for ages from the public eye. + +Such learned men as occupied themselves with these studies before the +middle of last century confined their attention in great part to the +languages and literatures of the Neo-Celtic races—the Welsh and the +Bretons. They sought in these light to dissipate the obscurity that hung +over the early history of the Celtic race—the period anterior to the +conquest of Gaul by the Romans. They consulted grammars and dictionaries +published in Brittany, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, during the last +three centuries. Of the texts themselves, the oldest they knew were +Welsh, dating from about the thirteenth century; and some poems of Welsh +bards preserved in MSS., of which the most ancient went no farther back +than the end of the twelfth century. These were literary treasures +indeed, with the characteristic Celtic flavour, as may be seen from the +beautiful critiques of Renan and Matthew Arnold, both of whom were +charmed by the spirit and sentiment they breathe. + +But in general it may be said that the early scholars had only mastered +the more modern forms of the language, and it was from texts +comparatively recent that they sought illumination of a past removed +from them by more than nineteen centuries. + +Such was the stage Celtic study had reached—a kind of arrested +development—when suddenly a unique resuscitation took place. + +The first of the new scholars to arrive were O’Donovan and O’Curry. +Eugene O’Curry, Professor of the Catholic University of Ireland, went +straight to the necessities of the case by publishing in 1849 a +catalogue of the Gaelic MSS. in the British Museum, and then, of those +in the Royal Academy of his native land. Afterwards, besides other +valuable contributions, he gave to the world his _Lectures on the MS. +Materials of Irish History_, enhancing the interest of the work by +putting a very large and varied selection of facsimiles of the ancient +writings in the appendix. A very Tischendorf was this indefatigable MS. +hunter and interpreter. Very aptly indeed did he speak of himself as an +underground worker. Much had been done by other labourers, but the +foundation was still to seek and still to lay. And it is significant of +former methods, that he knew not one man previous to his own time who +had qualified himself for the work in hand, either by mastering the +ancient Gaelic, or by making himself acquainted with the MSS. And yet +these are the genuine sources of historical and antiquarian knowledge in +this department. + +Close after O’Curry came the great Continental savant Zeuss, who may be +regarded as the real founder of the new and solid basis on which Celtic +studies now rest. His monumental work, the erudite _Grammatica Celtica_, +appeared in Leipzig in 1853, giving a new impetus all over Europe to a +study which hitherto had attracted but a languid, or at the best, a +restricted attention. And when, following up this great work, the German +grammarian published the glosses found in some of the oldest Gaelic MSS. +on the Continent, it was recognised that he had opened up a new and most +fertile field for future explorers. These latter were immediately +forthcoming—learned authorities, like Nigra, Ascoli, Ebel, Stokes, +Windisch, and Zimmer, who brought to light other important documents and +explained their significance. Thus was the new movement in Celtic study +duly inaugurated, with what results we shall see. + +The glosses published by Zeuss, though they furnish no fresh ideas, +offer to the learned world a grammatical interest of the highest kind. +They belong, some to the eighth century, others to the ninth, and the +venerable Gaelic in which they are couched presents certain antique and +curious characteristics which are entirely lacking to the Welsh of the +same period, and still more to that of the twelfth and following +centuries—the only forms known to the scholars before Zeuss. + +Since his time the new basis which he found for Celtic studies has been +wonderfully enlarged, chiefly through the discovery of other Gaelic +texts contemporary with some of those that served for his own beautiful +work. And then the remarkable publications of erudite men in Dublin, and +the excellent work of Windisch, Professor of Sanskrit at Leipzig, have +called the attention of experts on the continent to a great mass of +documentary material in the British Isles. Under the transcription and +retouching of many of these MSS. by later copyists, there are found +original compositions, primarily in the ancient Gaelic of which Zeuss +was the first interpreter. + +Unlike the glosses, they furnish us with a vast storehouse of new ideas +and traditions of every sort, comprising especially the mythological and +legendary, the legal also, and even the grammatical under various forms. +Their originality is unquestionable. These texts, in carrying us back to +pagan times, throw quite unexpected light on the incomplete though +precious accounts which ancient writers like Cæsar, Diodorus of Sicily, +and Strabo have given of the primitive civilisation of the Gauls. We +should expect to find in this mass of curious heroic literature some +expression of the traditions common to all the Celtic race before the +settlement of the different branches in the countries which now bear +their name, and we are not disappointed. The MSS. preserved do give us a +crowd of fresh thoughts on the beliefs and customs of the Celts in the +most ancient epochs of their history. + +In this respect they help to gratify the longing desire of living men to +know something of the actions, the range of thought, the character of +mind, the habits, the tastes, the arts, the religion, and, in short, the +everyday life of so old and venerable a race as our own, which has +played such a wonderful part in the drama of history. + +The French authorities have been fully alive to the value of these +studies, and on one occasion, at least, the Minister of Public +Instruction showed his interest in a very practical and laudable way. In +February of 1881 Jules Ferry, who was in office at the time, appointed +H. d’Arbois de Jubainville, Professor of Celtic in the College of +France, as a special commissioner to visit the British Isles, and +investigate and make a list of all the Gaelic MSS. he could find. This +literary mission De Jubainville carried out the same year, subsequently +embodying his report in a book which gives not only his catalogue of +MSS. inspected in England and Ireland, but also a list of those on the +Continent. For some reason or other he omitted to include Scotland in +the area of his research, and so the large collection of valuable +documents in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, is not chronicled in his +interesting résumé. Yet still, we have now for the first time a pretty +general estimate of all the more important material available. + +We need not follow this enthusiastic MS. hunter in his peregrinations +through the British Isles and on the Continent, entering, as he +frequently did, the precincts of ancient universities, cloisters, and +museums, sitting in odd corners in libraries, poring over musty leaves, +deciphering antique characters, looking at some documents through glass +cases which he would fain see opened, handling others with eager, +hurried scrutiny, while a verger or a monk mounts sentry over the +inquisitive foreigner, watching the precious relics with jealous care, +and limiting the time for observation. + +What concerns us most are the tabulated results; and we might look in +the passing at some of the more striking facts which they exhibit. + +And first of all it is not a little surprising to learn that, while the +libraries of the Continent possess twenty MSS., or more correctly twenty +portions of MSS., written in the Gaelic language before the eleventh +century, in the libraries of England and Ireland there are only seven of +that remote age. But after that date the British libraries take the +lead, since the number of their Gaelic MSS. before the seventeenth +century amount to 133, whereas the total on the Continent down to the +seventeenth century is only thirty-five. Of course this excludes the +Celtic Latin MSS., of which there are upwards of 200 in European +libraries. + +Altogether there are just fifty-six Gaelic documents that are known to +be on the Continent of dates ranging from the eighth to the nineteenth +century, and these are distributed as follows:— + + 8th century 2 Milan, Cambray. + 8th to 9th century 2 St. Paul in Carinthia, Vienna. + 9th century 13 Berne, Carlsruhe (2), Dresden, Laon, Leyden, + Nancy, Paris (2), Rome, St. Gall (2), Turin. + 9th to 10th century 1 Würzburg. + 10th century 2 Paris. + 11th century 6 Carlsruhe, Rome (2), St. Gall, Vienna (2). + 11th to 12th century 1 Klosterneuburg. + 12th century 1 Engelberg. + 13th to 15th century 1 Rennes. + 14th to 16th century 1 Paris. + 16th century 1 Stockholm. + 17th century 12 Brussels (11), Paris. + 18th century 5 Paris (4), Rouen. + 19th century 4 Paris (2), Rouen (2). + Dates uncertain 4 Berne, Florence, Milan (2). + +Besides the number, antiquity, and wide distribution of these MSS., we +are struck with two things. First, the fact that Milan and Cambray, two +Continental cities, have the honour of possessing the two most ancient +Gaelic MSS. now extant. One of these relics is a Latin commentary on the +Psalms, the other a Latin sermon, but in both there are glosses in Irish +or Gaelic written in the eighth century. Earlier than that we cannot go +for actual writing still extant in the native tongue. + +The other striking thing about the list is the entire absence of Gaelic +MSS. in the northern countries of Europe, such as Norway, Sweden, and +Denmark, where we should most expect to find them. There is one indeed +at Stockholm, but it is merely a copy written in the sixteenth century. +Surely this goes far to confirm the sinister reputation of the marauding +Danes and Norsemen with regard to learning. Keating, writing 250 years +ago, asserts their destructiveness. “It was not allowed to give +instruction in letters.... No scholars, no clerics, no books, no holy +relics, were left in church or monastery through dread of them. Neither +bard nor philosopher nor musician pursued his wonted profession in the +land.” + +Apparently these northern pillagers, who laid waste so many monasteries, +instead of removing the rare and precious books to their own lands, were +no better than the Vandals in their mad business of burning and +destroying on the spot what they evidently themselves could not value or +appreciate. + +But coming now to the British Isles, we might briefly consider the +literary legacy which the learned Frenchman found in those libraries of +England and Ireland that he visited. In all, he mentions 953 as the +number of MSS. to which he had access, and these were located as +follows:— + + At Cambridge 3 + „ British Museum 166 + „ Oxford 15 + „ Royal Irish Academy 560 + „ Trinity College, Dublin 63 + „ Franciscans, Dublin 22 + „ Lord Ashburnham 63 + „ Some special libraries 61 + ——— + Total 953 + === + +So far from being exhaustive, our literary commissioner thinks these +figures very far below the actual number of Gaelic MSS. in the British +Isles. Though he makes no reference in this respect to Wales or +Scotland, he is aware that there must be many in private libraries that +he has not indicated. And he admits that, according to O’Curry, Trinity +College has 140 instead of the 63 he mentions. And besides its 559 +catalogued MSS., the Royal Academy of Ireland possesses about as many +more not catalogued, of which only one, the Book of Fermoy, was +described to him as worthy of his special attention. + +Though in point of antiquity there is none of all these British MSS. to +compare with the oldest glosses on the Continent, there are two which +come near it. They date from the ninth century, and are both located in +Trinity College. These are the Book of Armagh and the Book of Dimna. +Next in order, between the ninth and tenth centuries, come (1) the Irish +Canons at Cambridge; (2) the Gospel of Maeielbrid Mac Durnâin, tenth +century, at Lambeth Palace; (3) the Psalter of Southampton, end of the +tenth century or beginning of the eleventh, at St. John’s College, +Cambridge; (4) The Book of Deer, with its Latin, ninth to tenth, and +Gaelic entries tenth to twelfth, also at Cambridge in the University +Library; and (5) the Gaelic portion of the Missal of Stowe, bought by +the British Government with the rest of Lord Ashburnham’s collection for +their Museum. + +These seven MSS. are the most ancient, the only ones, in fact, in which +you find Gaelic written before the eleventh century within the British +Isles. Yet they are not Gaelic MSS., strictly speaking, but Latin ones +in which are found some words or phrases or paragraphs written in the +native tongue. The Gospel of Maeielbrid, for example, contains only a +line and a half of Gaelic, the Book of Armagh four pages. + +To find what we would strictly call Gaelic documents, we must come down +as far as the closing years of the eleventh century, which yields us +four. Henceforth there is no lack of abundant and rich material. The +twelfth century is credited with seven, the thirteenth with eight, the +fourteenth with eleven, the fifteenth and sixteenth with ninety-six, the +seventeenth with sixty-six, the first half of the eighteenth with +seventy-seven. Total down to the year 1750, 276 MSS. in the British +Isles of the whole number 953 catalogued by De Jubainville. So that the +remainder, the vast majority of the British MSS., are of comparatively +recent date, subsequent in fact even to the days of Macpherson of +Ossianic fame. + +More important than the number, dates, and distribution is the +subject-matter of our literary legacy, and this now falls to be +considered. It is very difficult to classify the MSS. according to their +contents, as so many of them are miscellaneous. Yet they do admit of +being brought under certain categories. Leaving aside for the present +all the later ones written after 1600, we have in all 168 Continental +and British documents to deal with. + +Of these we must place in a section apart all the Latin ones that only +contain glosses or poems or notes in Gaelic which are additional or +secondary to the original text. This is the case with all the +Continental MSS. concerned, except three, one at Rennes, one at Paris, +and one at Stockholm. It is also the case with ten Britishers, viz. (1) +the Book of Deer, (2) the Irish Canons, (3) the Psalter at Cambridge, +(4) the Gospel of Maelbrigte hua Maelûanaig, (5) the Book of Dimna, (6) +the Book of Armagh, (7) the Book of Kells, (8) the fragment of Psalter +attributed to St. Camin, (9) the Missal of Stowe, and (10) the Gospel of +Maeielbrid Mac Durnâin at Lambeth Palace. + +That makes a total of forty-two in which the Gaelic is only added in +notes to a Latin original. Yet they comprise the most ancient of all we +have, and though their grammatical value is very considerable, their +literary interest is but meagre—almost nil in fact—with the exception of +the few poems at Milan, St. Gall, Dresden, St. Paul in Carinthia, and +Klosterneuburg. + +As these poems seem to lie like wayside flowers in our path, it is worth +our while, before passing on, to turn aside for a little to cull some of +the verses. + +Of the two poems in the Milan codex, Dr. Stokes declares they are +difficult to decipher and more difficult to translate. But of the four +quatrains on the margin of the Priscian of St Gall, here are two +charming examples, very characteristic of the Gael’s love of nature and +learning, as well as reminiscent of his wild environment. The first is +not unlike the lyric of Columcille himself, when he describes the peace +of Durrow:— + + A grove surrounds me: + The swift lay of the blackbird makes music to me— + I will not hide it; + Over my much-lined little book, + The song of the birds makes music to me. + +The author of the second, as Professor Mackinnon has fancied, must often +have seen the storm burst upon a wild spot on the west of Ireland, or, +more likely still, on Iona, Tiree, Oronsay, or Skye. + + Is acher in gaith innocht: + Tufuasna fairggae findfholt; + Ni ágor reimm mora minn + Dond laechraid lainn oa Lochlind. + + Wild blows the wind to-night: + The white-haired billows rage; + The bold warriors from Norway + Fear not the path of a clear sea. + +In the Codex Boernerianus of Dresden we have the following lines. +Translated literally, they run thus:— + + To go to Rome is much of trouble, little of profit. The King whom thou + seekest here, unless thou bring him with thee thou findest not. + + Great folly, great madness, great loss of sense, great folly since + thou hast proposed (?) to go to death, to be under the unwill of + Mary’s Son. + +It was the late Herr Mone, Archivdirektor at Carlsruhe, who discovered +the Gaelic poems in the MS. belonging to St. Paul in Carinthia, and sent +the first verse of the first of these poems to Dr. Reeves. Thereafter +Dr. Whitley Stokes wrote him requesting to be favoured with the +remainder, with which request he not only complied, but also sent two +other extracts from the same codex, and a letter dated Carlsruhe, +January 24th, 1859. There are in all five short Gaelic poems or +fragments in the MS. + +The first, of eight stanzas, is in praise of Aedh, son of Diarmad, and +has been translated by Eugene O’Curry. + +We give here simply the first and last verses:— + + Aedh great to institute hilarity, + Aedh anxious (desirous) to dispense festivity, + The Straight Rod, the most beautiful, + Of the hills of cleared Ro-er-enn. + + At ale-drinking, poems are sung + By companies among people’s houses + Sweet-singing bards announce + In pools of ale the name of Aedh. + +The next to be quoted is part of a longer poem found in the Books of +Leinster, Ballymote, Glendaloch, Lismore, and a Bodleian MS. The copy +from the Book of Leinster is given in full by Dr. Whitley Stokes in his +_Goidelica_, but here are the two quatrains of it in the Carinthian +codex:— + + He is a bird round which a trap shuts, + He is a leaky bark in dangerous peril, + He is an empty vessel, he is a withered tree, + Who so doth not the will of the King above. + + He is pure gold, he is a heaven round the sun, + He is a vessel of silver full of wine, + He is an angel, he is wisdom of saints, + Every one who doth the will of the King. + +The third poem, Dr. Stokes says, is exceedingly obscure. It seems to +mean— + + There remains a fort in Tuain Inbir ... with its stars last night, + with its sun, with its moon. + + Gobhan made that: let its story be perceived by you: my heartlet, God + of heaven, he is the thatcher that thatched it. + + A house wherein thou gettest not moisture; a place wherein thou + fearest not spear-points. More radiant it is than a garden, and it + without an _udnacht_ around it. + +Another of the pieces in this Carinthian MS. is of a very different +order. A monk in a humorous and facetious strain, according to Professor +Zimmer, contrasts his own serious studies with the very different +pursuits of another person whom he calls Pan Gurban (or Panqur ban, +Windisch), a Slavonic name, meaning, as Zimmer thinks, “Mr. Hunchback.” + +Omitting the forty-two Gaelic documents from the 168, we have 126 +remaining which have been written before the year 1600, and these deal +with a great variety of subjects: religion, law, medicine, astronomy, +grammar, history, and legendary history. + +The texts that treat of theology, mysticism, lives of saints, and +martyrologies, are very numerous; those of law few. Medicine figures in +a class apart. Astronomy gets even a smaller place than medicine. Its +most ancient monument dates from the fourteenth century. + +One of the most curious and least known of all the Gaelic relics is a +treatise on Gaelic grammar, written in Gaelic. It is divided into four +books, and is preserved to us in ten MSS. of the fourteenth, fifteenth, +and sixteenth centuries. The four books of which it is composed are +attributed, the first to Cennfaelad, an historic personage who died in +678; the other three to mythical, prehistoric authors, such as +Fercertné, Amergin Glûngel, and Fenius Farsaid. The antiquity and +ability of the latter grammarian for the work, may be inferred from the +somewhat startling statement that he is said to have composed the Gaelic +tongue out of seventy-two languages, and afterwards his son Nial visited +Egypt to teach the languages after the confusion of Babel. Verily the +Celts were an enterprising race to have a grammarian first in the field, +and the nebulous Fenius Farsaid deserves a grave as high as Browning’s +hero, for even before Moses “ground he at grammar.” It is a pity that +this rare old treatise which Ireland possessed in the Middle Ages has +not been published. The MSS. are in the British Museum, Royal Academy of +Ireland, Trinity College, and with the Franciscans of Dublin. + +But not in any of the above-named categories do we find the body and +soul of Celtic literature. The real breathing spirit of the past speaks +to us rather in the great MSS. of the Middle Ages, those which deal with +romance and history—the earlier sagas and the later annals; and these +deserve more than a passing reference. The saga or heroic literature is +far and away the most curious and abundant. De Jubainville himself +chronicles no less than 540 pieces of this class. But its greatest +monuments are the miscellaneous MSS. known as the Leabhar Na h’Uidhre, +the Book of Leinster, Book of Ballymote, Book of Lecain, and Book of +Lismore. + +No more precious and important document in the whole range of ancient +Gaelic literature has reached us than the Leabhar Na h’Uidhre, or Book +of the Dun Cow, said to be so called after an original text of that name +now lost, but of which it contains a copy. St. Ciaran, it appears, wrote +down from the dictation of the risen Fergus, the tale of the “Táin Bó +Chuailgné,” in a book which he had made from the hide of his pet cow. +This favourite from its colour was called the Odhar (or Dun), of which +Na h’Uidhre is the genitive. The existing Leabhar Na h’Uidhre is a MS. +of the end of the eleventh century, and, even more than the Book of +Hymns, its contemporary, it merits the distinction of being the earliest +exclusively Gaelic document that we have. Besides preserving St. +Ciaran’s version of the Táin, it contains a copy of Dallan Forgaill’s +famous “Amra” in praise of Columcille, and quite a number of ancient +sacred and secular pieces, some of which are of great interest. The +compiler of this venerable codex was Maelmuiri, son of the son of Conn +nam-Bocht, a writer who met his death in 1106 in the middle of the great +stone church of Clonmacnois, at the hands of a band of robbers. There is +a quaint inscription at the top of folio 45 in his own original +handwriting. The words run, “This is a trial of his pen here by +Maelmuiri, son of the son of Conn.” + +Next in importance to Leabhar Na h’Uidhre comes the Book of Leinster, +written fifty years later. Rich in saga, it contains the fullest account +of the “Táin Bó Chuailgné.” O’Curry sets so high a value upon this codex +that he writes: “I think I may say with sorrow that there is not in all +Europe any nation but this of ours that would not long since have made a +national literary fortune out of such a volume, had any other country in +Europe been fortunate enough to possess such an heirloom of history.” + +The Book of Ballymote belongs to the end of the fourteenth century—that +of Lismore to the fifteenth. The latter is the property of the Duke of +Devonshire, having been discovered in his Castle of Lismore, county of +Waterford, Ireland, so late as the year 1814. Besides containing Lives +of saints, etc., it is considered specially important in point of view +of the Ossianic cycle. + +Of all the heroic sagas the greatest and the longest is that for which +we are indebted to the Book of Leinster and Leabhar Na h’Uidhre—the +“Táin Bó Chuailgné.” This is not the place to deal with such a lengthy +story; but by way of illustrating the quality and literary interest of +these old world MSS., preserving as they do the most characteristic +traits of Celtic genius in the age before writing, we give two +quotations from this wonderful saga. + +And the first will show the keen perception, the wealth of pictorial +detail, and descriptive power of language so characteristic of the +Gaelic ursgeuls and poems. It is the personal account of the Ulster +chiefs as given in the Táin. + + “There came another company there,” said Mac Roth; “no champion could + be found more comely than he who leads them. His hair is of a deep-red + yellow, and bushy; his forehead broad and his face tapering; thin red + lips; pearly shining teeth; a white smooth body. A red and white cloak + flutters about him; a golden brooch in that cloak at his breast; a + shirt of white kingly linen with gold embroidery at his skin; a white + shield with gold fastenings at his shoulder; a gold-hilted long sword + at his left side; a long, sharp, dark-green spear with a rich band and + carved silver rivets in his hand.” “Who is he, O Fergus?” said Ailill. + “The man who has come there is in himself half a battle; the fury of + the slaughter hound,” etc. + +Truly a wonderful accoutred warrior was this, and gorgeous in his +apparel for his age. Like our Oriental Nabobs and savage chiefs he +believed in colour and luxurious display. + +But I fancy it would be hard to beat the second quotation as an +illustration of the riotous luxuriance of the Celtic imagination in the +days when it was at its best, unsobered by science, unrestricted by +reason. The quotation is from the description of the fight between the +two rival bulls in Queen Meve’s country. In the poetic language of the +tale, “the province rang with the echoes of their roaring, the sky was +darkened by the sods of earth they threw up with their feet, and the +foam that flew from their mouths; faint-hearted men, women, and children +hid themselves in caves, caverns, and clefts of the rocks, whilst even +the most veteran warriors but dared to view the combat from the +neighbouring hills and eminences. The Finn-bheannach or White-horned at +length gave way, and retreated towards a certain pass which opened into +the plain in which the battle raged, and where sixteen warriors bolder +than the rest had planted themselves; but so rapid was the retreat and +the pursuit that not only were all these trampled to the ground, but +they were buried several feet in it. The Donn Chuailgne at last coming +up with his opponent, raised him on his horns, ran off with him, passed +the gates of Meve’s palace, tossing and shaking him as he went, until at +last he shattered him to pieces, dropping his disjointed members as he +went along. And wherever a part fell, that place retained the name of +that joint ever after.” And thus it was that “Ath Luain, now Athlone, +which was before called Ath Mor or the Great Ford, received its present +name from the Finnbheannach’s luan or loin having been dropped there.” + +This “Táin Bó Chuailgné” opens a window upon the past, and were it only +for the rich and abundant historical details it so lavishly furnishes, +must be held a treasure. “Notwithstanding the extreme wildness of the +legend,” says O’Curry, “I am not acquainted with any tale in the whole +range of our literature in which the student will find more of valuable +details concerning general and local history; more of description of the +manners and customs of the people; of the druidical and fairy influence +supposed to be exercised in the affairs of men; of the laws of Irish +chivalry and honour; of the standards of beauty, morality, valour, +truth, and fidelity exercised by the people of old; of the regal power +and dignity of the monarch and the provincial kings, as well as much +concerning the division of the country into its local dependencies; +lists of its chieftains and chieftaincies; many valuable topographical +names; the names and kinds of articles of dress and ornament; of +military weapons; of horses, chariots, and trappings; of leechcraft as +well as instances of perhaps every occurrence that could be supposed to +happen in ancient Irish life. All of these details are of the utmost +value to the student of history, even though mixed up with any amount of +the marvellous or incredible in poetical traditions.” + +So much for the sagas and monuments of heroic literature. There remain +the other great class of MSS. to which we have referred—the Annals. They +serve as a basis for Irish history, and only the more quaint and +important need be mentioned here, such as the Annals of Tighernach, the +_Chronicon Scotorum_, the Annals of Innisfallen, the Annals of Boyle, +the Annals of Ulster, the Annals of Loch Cé, the Annals of Clonmacnois, +and most important of all, the book called the “Four Masters.” + +Of all these the Annals of Tighernach is the most ancient and most +reliable, having for author the abbot of that name who died in 1088. It +is supposed that in compiling this work he had as basis a chronicle kept +by the monks from the founding of the abbey in 544. The MS. of this +history belongs to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. A considerable +part of it is in Gaelic, interspersed with numerous quotations from +Latin and Greek authors. Dr. O’Conor, commenting on this, remarks that +Tighernach’s balancing of these authorities against each other manifests +a degree of criticism uncommon in the early age in which he lived. + +The precious historical composition known as the _Chronicon Scotorum_ +exists in a copy written towards 1650 by Duald Mac Firbis. The original +belonged to the twelfth century, the chronicle itself ending in 1135. It +begins with the following title and short preface by the compiler:— + + The chronicle of the Scots (or Irish) begins here— + + Understand, O Reader, that it is for a certain reason, and + particularly to avoid tediousness that our intention is to make only a + short abstract and compendium of the history of the Scots in this + book, omitting the lengthened details of the historical books; + wherefore it is that we beg of you not to criticise us on that account + as we know that it is an exceedingly great deficiency. + +He then passes rapidly over the first three ages of the world,—the +earlier colonisation of Ireland, the death of the colonists at Tallaght +in the county of Dublin, and the visit of Nial, the son of Fenius +Farsaid, to Egypt to teach the languages. With winged speed the compiler +reaches the year 375, when St. Patrick was born, and then the red letter +date 432 which witnessed his arrival in Ireland. Columcille’s prayer at +the battle of Cooldrevna is given under the year 561, and numerous +scraps of poems here and there quoted as authorities. A large deficiency +occurs between 722 and 805 A.D., where the compiler has written, “The +breasts (or fronts) of two leaves of the old book out of which I write +this, are wanting here, and I leave what is before me of this page for +them, I am, Dubhaltach Firbisigh.” A similar defect, it may be noted, +occurs in the Annals of Tighernach from 756 to 973. + +The other Annals above-mentioned carry the history down towards the end +of the sixteenth century. + +Almost contemporary with the _Chronicon Scotorum_ arose the greatest of +all, _The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters_, +commonly cited as the “Four Masters,” a name given to its authors by +Colgan. It was the work of Michael O’Clery and other three great +scholars, begun in 1632 and finished in 1636. All the best and most +copious Annals he could find throughout Ireland were collected by him +for this _magnum opus_. Like so many others of these historical +compilations, it begins far back, in the year of the world 2242, and +finishes in 1616 A.D. “There is no event of Irish history,” says Dr. +Hyde, “from the birth of Christ to the beginning of the seventeenth +century, that the first inquiry of the student will not be, ‘What do the +“Four Masters” say about it?’ for the great value of the work consists +in this, that we have here in condensed form the pith and substance of +the old books of Ireland which were then in existence, but which, as the +Four Masters anticipated, have long since perished.” + +The work has been published by O’Donovan in 1851. His is regarded as the +best and most complete edition in translation and notes. It forms six +volumes, without counting the supplementary index. The autograph MS. +still exists, composed of two volumes, of which the first, stopping at +the year 1169, forms No. XXI. of the Stowe Collection. Of the second +volume there are two autograph copies: the one complete, in the library +of the Royal Academy of Ireland; the other, comprising only the years +1335 to 1605, is preserved at Trinity College, Dublin. + +And now looking back over this long legacy of vellum, is there not +something eerie in the thought of these old-world musty MSS. creeping +out once more into the light, after ages of gravelike oblivion? + +If we could follow their actual history, from their slow genesis under +the pen of ancient amanuenses through their subsequent fortunes, when +perhaps some of them under the cloak of a fleeing monk, or in a shaky +coracle at sea, barely escaped the fury of illiterate warriors or the +waves; some of them other perils on land in their wanderings through the +British Isles and the Continent,—what a revelation of life and destiny +that would be! They have slept a long sleep through turbulent ages since +then, apparently unappreciated, buried, neglected, and forgotten, but +now in this new age, as we have seen, there is a mighty hunt and +scramble for the resurrected relics. Many of them have been already +published, and there is a movement afoot by the Irish Text Society to +print the more important of the rest. Libraries and individuals compete +with each other for possession of the originals. So that now, in the +eyes of the wise and the wealthy, the hitherto obsolete MSS., often cast +aside in odd chests and closets as mere brown rubbish, are more prized +and coveted as rare treasure than even their rivals of to-day. And what +a legacy of vellum all-told we owe to the old scribes of cell and +cloister; from the legended Fenius Farsaid all the way down to the “Four +Masters.” + + + + + CHAPTER VII + THE SCOTTISH COLLECTION OF CELTIC MSS. + + Cabinet in Advocates’ Library—Curious assortment of vernacular + literature—Number and character—Origin of the collection—Highland + Society and Kilbride MSS.—Subsidiary additions—Work for the + expert—Fate of some luckless documents—Value of MSS. XL., LIII., + and LVI.—Three literary monuments of the Western Highlands: (1) + The Book of the Dean of Lismore—History, description, value, + contents, extracts, names of contributors; (2) The Fernaig + MS.—Characteristics—Interesting details of supposed author; (3) + The Book of Clanranald—Quaint relic—Two MSS., the Red and the + Black—History and contents, with specimen prose-poem and elegy. + + +In a cabinet in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, may be seen what +looks like the decayed and mouldering remains of some obsolete +literature. Very rarely is the case opened, and only once in a while +does the casual observer show any more than a passing interest in these +faded and tattered remnants. Why should he? In comparison with the vast +variety of neatly printed and handsomely bound volumes around, their +appearance is uninviting. Handwritten, many of them with frayed edges, +leaves missing, ink faded, words illegible, it is only too apparent they +have not escaped the marks of age, damp, soot, and moths. + +Here is No. IX., for example, a portion of a single leaf of dirty +paper—no more. And No. LII., loose leaves and scraps gathered together +under one cover; XXXVII., one of the best known of all, with several of +its leaves torn, and in many places quite illegible. No. XL., five +layers of different origin stitched together in a vellum cover. And what +shall we say of the curious little volume only two inches long and one +and a half in breadth and thickness, bound together with thongs in quite +primitive fashion? On a page in the middle is written: “Is e so leabhar +Neil Oig” (“This is Neil the Younger’s book”). And here and there on +some other musty records we find such entries as these: “Is mise Eoin o +Albain” (“I am John from Scotland”), or “Is mise Domhnall a foghlumach +Maigbeathadh” (“I am Donald Bethune the Scholar”). + +All are not equally tattered and faded. The handwriting in several is +fresh and clear as on the day of production. It varies from the coarse +and careless to the highly finished and artistic, from the merest daubs +to the richly coloured and ornamental. + +Yet to the superficial observer with no antiquarian tastes, there is +little here to attract, the more because most of these torn and dirty +fragments exhibit a language and orthography hard to decipher, and much +harder to read and understand. It took the late Dr. Maclauchlan of +Edinburgh five years to decipher and copy a single MS.—No. XXXVII., and +he tells us pathetically that it was the hardest piece of work he was +ever engaged in. + +The interested spectator, on the other hand, if his eye happens to be +directed to the obscure and tattered miscellany, naturally inquires, and +learns to his surprise that this is the Scottish collection of Gaelic +MSS., all that could be gathered into one place in this country of the +vernacular MS. literature of the past. A swift inspection shows upwards +of threescore documents, of which thirty-six at least are parchments, +the rest paper or paper and parchment combined. Alongside lie later +volumes—transcripts of tales, ballads, and other lore. A few of the +parchments hail from the fourteenth century, but the majority were +written in the fifteenth and sixteenth. The paper MSS. were all produced +within the last 350 years, mainly in the end of the seventeenth and the +first half of the eighteenth centuries, while the adjacent accretions of +transcripts and books belonged to men who lived within the last 100 +years. + +It is easy to tell the tale of this assortment. Ireland, England, and +the Continent had their rich collections long ago. With Scotland such a +thing seems to have been an afterthought. Only in 1861 were these +literary monuments of the past brought together and deposited as a kind +of national treasury in the Advocates’ Library, and this laudable result +is due mainly to the energy and interest of Dr. Skene, author of _Celtic +Scotland_, and formerly Historiographer-Royal in Edinburgh. + +He knew of two collections fairly large and representative that had been +made earlier, and exerted himself to have them united and housed where +they might be reasonably accessible. These belonged, one to the Highland +Society, the other to the Kilbride family. + +The former was made in the opening years of the nineteenth century, +while the battle still raged over the authenticity of Macpherson’s +Ossian. With Mr. Henry Mackenzie, author of the _Man of Feeling_, as +their chairman, the Society instituted an inquiry into the whole +question, and scoured the country far and near for Ossianic MS. +literature. In this way they secured a good many documents, the greater +number of which came from London through Macpherson’s literary executor. +It was well known that in his lifetime Macpherson had carried away from +the North-West Highlands and Islands some very old literary MSS., which +he afterwards deposited with his London publishers for public +inspection. But so few cared to see them that the originals thus +exhibited cannot now be identified. + +It is highly probable that some of those which the Highland Society +received from the Metropolis were among the number. The rest came to +them from other quarters. Some were purchased, and the whole reported on +in the Proceedings of 1805. + +The history of the Kilbride[17] collection is even more fortuitous. A +letter from Lord Bannatyne to the Chairman of the Society and Committee +tells how it was first discovered. Acting on the suggestion of Lord +Hailes, Bannatyne when Sheriff of Bute, and accustomed to attend the +Circuit at Inverary, made inquiries among the Highland gentlemen he met +there regarding any fugitive Gaelic MSS. they might happen to be +cognisant of, and in this way there came into his hands one of the +Kilbride collection, belonging to Major Maclachlan. It appears that from +the time of the Reformation, the Kilbride family had cultivated a taste +for Celtic antiquities, as a result of which they possessed a very large +number of Celtic documents, gleaned partly in the Highlands and partly +in Ireland. Following up the clue thus incidentally found, the +enthusiastic Sheriff obtained permission for a delegate “to take +inspection and bring an account of the MSS. in Major Maclachlan’s +possession.” These were found to number twenty-two, exclusive of five +that were lent. They are catalogued V. to XXXI. in the Edinburgh +Cabinet. + +We need not dwell upon the subsidiary additions to this original and +double nucleus in the Advocates’ Library. But it may be noted, there are +besides in the University Library of Edinburgh, a Gaelic medical MS.; +one collection of poetry made in the middle of the eighteenth century, +by Jerome Stone; another in the beginning of the nineteenth, by Irvine, +and a fragment of a Gaelic grammar. The Library of Scottish Antiquaries +also exhibits a Gaelic curio in the form of a translation of the “Lilium +Medicinæ” of Bernardus Gordonus, a foreign physician. And counting the +few extra productions in private hands, these comprehend all the MS. +literature of the Gael now extant in Scotland, so far as known. + +Not a satisfying sum-total by any means. The harvest truly was plentiful +but the gleaners were few, and this forlorn remnant hardly does credit +to our national prestige and veneration for the past. It cannot compare +either in number, variety, antiquity, or content, with the rich +assortments elsewhere, such as those in Ireland, England, and the +Continent. Yet this collection, such as it is, has a value of its own, +and in some important respects supplements the material of other more +ancient and valued documents. + +The wonder is that so many of these manuscripts have survived to tell +their tale of dool, considering the haphazard way in which they have +been preserved. There is something to be said for the apparent apathy +and neglect, when we remember the stormy past, the national vicissitudes +and convulsions that continued down almost to last century. + +And how should our Scottish ancestors know that there was any purpose to +be served in preserving books which nobody could read? The peculiar +idiom and orthography had long since become obsolete. Until fifty years +ago no scholar could interpret the scrolls, and the wiseacres of the +past, no less than the multitude of illiterate clansmen, might well be +pardoned if it never occurred to them that the brain of a modern critic +would some day forge a key for these old-world hieroglyphics, and +through the study of the derelict parchments, make a dead language +speak. + +Instances are on record of the fate of some luckless MSS., which serve +to illustrate the doom of many more. + +Before the Forty-five, for example, a valuable collection of old Gaelic +poetry was made in Strathglass, which afterwards found its way to the +Catholic College of Douay. The last heard of this vagrant volume was +that the Principal, while yet a student there, saw the leaves of the +mutilated document torn out to kindle the fire in their stove. + +A similar vandalism overtook the library of the Macvurichs, seanachies +of Clanranald, who had been accumulating material for seventeen +generations, from the time of Muireach Albanach, about 1200. There were +many parchments, according to the testimony of a recent illiterate +descendant, and among them the Red Book made of paper, but none of these +are now to be found, because, when deprived of their lands, his family +lost their literary taste and zeal. He knew not what became of the +parchments. Two or three he saw cut down by tailors to make measuring +tapes, and although he himself fell heir to some after his father’s +death, being without education, he set no value upon them and they +disappeared. + +Dr. Skene has prepared a general catalogue of the Scottish collection. +But half of the documents have never been read or described. No Zeuss or +Zimmer has yet arisen in Scotland with leisure or patience enough to +decipher them. + +Strange that the cry “Made in Germany” should apply even to the key to +the ancient Gaelic, that the Continent had to come to our aid to +interpret our own literature, and that now, the key having been handed +over, these remaining relics should continue, hieroglyphically locked in +the land of their nativity. Yet it is so. With the exception of a few +specimens culled here and there, we have no English rendering of some of +the finest pieces of this MS. literature. + +Though poor in history and law, and destitute of dramatic writings, the +collection is fairly rich in the poetic, the heroic, the legendary, and +more wonderful still, the medical. The latter treatises have a quaint +interest of their own, and offer a basis of comparison for measuring the +progress in the medical department of science. What would our modern +savants, for example, think of the “Notes according to Jacques de +Forli”? Even the old-fashioned doctor himself might be puzzled to get at +their meaning. + + Jacques de Forli says that there are two ways of administering an + electuary; according as it is intended for the vitals or the + extremities. For the extremities there is tria sandaili for the side, + and diamargariton for the head, and pliris for the brain, and sweet + electuary to strengthen the parts of the bladder, and diacostum in the + folds of the diaphragm, and each of these is to be given before food, + that they may affect the part at a distance from the stomach; for the + food prevents the moving of the electuary towards the parts which it + is necessary to invigorate. + +Dr. Kuno Meyer has described MS. XL. as one of the most important. Its +principal claim on our attention lies in the fact that it contains a +considerable number of old texts, of which no other versions or no other +equally old and good versions are known to exist. The handwriting of the +oldest part is of the fourteenth century. Initial letters are coloured, +and the contents are seven Aideda or Death-tales of the heroic cycle of +early Irish legend. It supplements the Book of Leinster by relating the +death of Conchobar, who was hit in battle by a ball made of lime mixed +with the brains of a slain foeman known as Mesgedra, and though the +bullet could not be removed from his head, the wound was stitched with +thread of gold to match his auburn hair. Afterwards when debarred from +physical exertion, an awful trembling shook creation, and on inquiring, +the king learned from his Druids that Christ was pitilessly crucified +that day. Whereupon a great rage seized Conchobar for the iniquity +thereof, and drawing his sword he rushed against a wood, attacking the +trees till the wood was level. And with the fury the brains of Mesgedra +started out of his head, his own brains following after, so that he fell +dead. + +From the versions in LIII, and LVI., much valued by scholars, Dr. +Whitley Stokes has published the Tale of the Sons of Uisneach (_Irische +Texte_: Stokes and Windisch, Leipzig, 1887). + +Specially interesting, from the purely Scottish point of view, are the +three well-known literary monuments hailing from the Western Highlands, +and they deserve more than a passing reference. + +The first figures in the Advocates’ Library as a MS. collection of +Gaelic poetry taken down from oral recitation as early as 1512 to 1526. +It is known as “The Book of the Dean of Lismore,” the accepted belief +being that Sir James Macgregor, at that time Dean of Lismore in +Argyllshire, and his brother Duncan were the compilers. + +Originally it was brought into notice by John Mackenzie, Esq., of the +Temple, London, literary executor of Macpherson, who gave it among the +other documents to the Highland Society. How it came into his hands or +where it lay for the 300 years that elapsed between the Dean’s time and +the beginning of last century is not known. + +The book, as it stands, consists of 311 quarto pages. Several are +amissing at the beginning and at the end. Many of the leaves are stained +and almost illegible from the effects of damp. Others are worn by use +and exposure. But apart from these defects, which are common to other +codexes, the MS. differs from all the MSS. in the Scottish collection in +two essential features. It is written in the current Roman hand of the +period, and the spelling is phonetic. + +There are two distinct handwritings, and thus apparently two compilers. +On the lower margin of the 27th page stands the inscription:— + + Liber Domini Jacobi Macgregor Decani Lismoren, + +the handwriting of which has a striking resemblance to that of the major +part of the volume. And this is really all there is to show that the +Dean was compiler. + +The other Macgregor, whose name occurs on page 144, is for good reasons +identified as his brother:— + + Duncha deyr aclyth Mac Dhowl vic Eone Reawych + “Duncan (the ‘deyr aclyth’ is untranslatable), son of Dugald, son of + John the Grizzled.” + +The book is of great interest on account of its age, orthography, and +contents. It has a double value, as Dr. Skene has pointed out—linguistic +and literary. Linguistic, because its peculiar orthography presents the +language at the time in its aspect and character as a spoken language, +and enables us to ascertain whether many of the peculiarities which now +distinguish the Gaelic were in existence 400 years ago. Literary, +because it contains poems attributed to Ossian, and to other poets prior +to the sixteenth century which are not to be found elsewhere; and thus +presents to us specimens of the traditionary poetry current in the +Highlands prior to that period, which are above suspicion, having been +collected nearly 400 years ago, before any controversy on the subject +had arisen. + +In other words, we have here the oldest written Scottish Gaelic, except +that in the Book of Deer, with numerous productions of the time +antecedent to the Reformation, and some even of the fourteenth century, +for comparison with our modern Gaelic. And we have the complete +refutation of Dr. Johnson’s bold assertion that the language had nothing +written. “The Erse never was a written language,” said that vigorous +critic; “there is not in the world an Erse (that is, a Gaelic) MS. a +hundred years old.” Into what strange neglect had our literature fallen +when such an emphatic dictum could be made on the housetops. + +This one was at that time over 200 years old, and could it have been +resurrected from its nameless obscurity would surely have satisfied the +unconvinced and sceptical Doctor. + +Voluminous and various are its contents, culled from about sixty-six +different authors, the whole extending to 11,000 lines of Gaelic poetry, +with 800 in the genuine Ossianic style. The pieces vary from +half-a-dozen to a hundred lines. And a peculiarity of the Ossianic +fragments in this MS. is the frequent introduction of St. Patrick, who +is represented as holding dialogues with the bard. Seeing that in the +poems of Macpherson the saint never emerges, it is surmised that he +regarded all references to him as unauthentic, interpolations of later +times, when the Church ideas and dogmas crept into vogue. The Dean’s +collection is divided naturally into two parts, one more ancient and +untouched by Christian sentiment, the other more modern, and not free +from ecclesiastical leaven. To the former category belong those poems +superscribed “The author of this is Ossian,” and of these the finest is +the bard’s eulogy of his father Finn. “The ideal here set forth is +perfectly Homeric,” wrote Professor Blackie; “Achilles in his best +moments and most favourable aspect might have stood for it.” + +In its English rendering, which is poetically inferior to the original, +it runs thus:— + + ’Twas yesterday week, + I last saw Finn; + Ne’er did I see + A braver man; + Teige’s daughter’s son, + A powerful King; + My fortune, my light, + My mind’s whole might. + Both poet and chief, + Braver than kings, + Firm chief of the Feinn + Lord of all lands, + Leviathan at sea, + As great on land, + Hawk of the air, + Foremost always, + Generous, just. + Despised a lie, + Of vigorous deeds, + First in song, + A righteous judge, + Firm his rule, + Polished his mien, + Who knew but victory, + Who is like him, + In fight or song? + Resists the foe + In house or field. + Marble his skin, + The rose his cheeks, + Blue was his eye, + His hair like gold. + All men’s trust, + Of noble mind, + Of ready deeds, + To women mild, + A giant he, + The field’s delight. + + Ne’er could I tell, + Though always I lived, + Ne’er could I tell, + The third of his praise, + But sad am I now + After Finn of the Feinn! + +and so on. + +As it is quite impossible to produce in English the euphonious effect of +the peculiar rhythm of the original Gaelic, with its alliteration and +vocalic concords, here is an example from the above description:— + + DEAN TEXT MODERN VERSION + Fa Filla fa flaa Fa filidh, fa flath, + Fa ree er gire Fa righ air gach righ, + Finn flah re no vane Fionn flath righ nam Fiann, + Fa trea^t er gy^t teir Fa triath air gach tir, + Fa meille mor marre Fa miol mor mará + Fa lowor er lerg Fa luthmhor air leirg, + Fa schawok glan gei Fa seabhag glan gaoithe + Fa sei^t er gi carde Fa saoi air gach ceird. + Fa hillani^t carda Fa h’ oileamhnach ceirde + Fa m’ky^t nor verve Fa marcach nar mheirbh, + Fa hollow er znei^t Fa ullamh air gniomh, + Fa stei^t er gi scherm Fa steidh air gach seirm, + Fa fer chart a wrai Fa fior cheart a bhreith, + Fa tawicht toye Fa tabhach tuaith, + Fa Ly’seich naige Fa ionnsaigheach ’n aigh + Fa bra^ta er boye. Fa breadha air buaidh. + +At page 87 there is a curious fragment on Tabblisk, supposed by some to +be chess, by others backgammon:— + + Ruinous is Tabblisk, few men but know it, + Of what I know myself, I have a little tale to tell, + On a certain day I was travelling through Foytle. The land, + Variegated, beautiful, pleasing. I came there at noon, + When a maiden of red lips met me in the town, + And asked me to join in one of these games; + She produced a chess-board, etc. + +Here follows the description of this game. + +They made much of blood in those days, even as we do of heredity now:— + + The blood of forty and three kings in the blood of the Great King, + The blood of many races is thy pure blood which we cannot name, + The blood of Arthur in thy gentle veins.... + The blood of Conn of the two Conns beneath thy soft skin; + The blood of Grant, as also of the race of Neil, etc. + +It is quite interesting to note the names of some of the contributors to +the Dean’s book. They are so various in rank and character. + +Of these Duncan Mor O’Daly was Abbot of Boyle in 1244. Some of his +pieces have reference to persons and events in Irish history. One of +them, beginning, “Mayst thou enjoy thy belt, O Cathal,” gives a very +full description of that ornamented article of attire and its adjuncts. +There is another whose name has been preserved by tradition, namely, +Muireach Albanach, and he has been claimed by Scottish Gaels as the +first of the celebrated Macvurichs. + +Four of the poems in the MS. are by Campbell, the Knight of Glenorchy, +who fell in the battle of Flodden; three by the Earl of Argyll, and +other three by the Countess Isabella. + +The compositions generally are very difficult to read, yet the book is +not lacking in colour. Here are aphorisms from Phelim Macdougall, +reflecting, no doubt, the fashionable virtues and vices and partialities +of the age:— + + ’Tis not good to travel on Sunday, + Not good to be of ill-famed race; + Not good to write without learning, + Not good is an Earl without English. + Not good is a sailor if old, + Not good a priest with but one eye, + Not good a parson if a beggar. + Not good is a lord without a dwelling, + Not good is a woman without shame, + Not good is fighting without courage, + Not good is entering a port without a pilot; + Not good is a maiden who backbites, + Not good is neglecting the household dogs, + Not good is disrespect to a father, + Not good is the talk of the drunken, + Not good is a knife without an edge, + Not good is the friendship of devils; + And thy Son, oh Virgin most honoured, + Though he has saved the seed of Adam, + Not good for himself was the cross. + +The Fernaig MS. is another Highland production that was not known in +Johnson’s day. In 1807 it was in the west of Ross-shire, at the place +whose name it bears, and afterwards came into the possession of Dr. +Skene. This collection was made between the years 1688 and 1693, in the +country of the Macraes, in far Kintail, and breathes the spirit of the +times, politically and religiously, as then reflected in Highland +Jacobite circles. + +The MS. consists of two paper volumes in brown pasteboard cover, +containing 4200 lines of poetry. There are several leaves loose, and +others blank, a few half pages written upon, and one folded in. The +second part was never finished. In one place six leaves closely written +on both sides have been neatly removed. + +Like the Dean of Lismore’s, the handwriting is in the current Roman +character, and the spelling phonetic. The collection includes +compositions by different authors within the area extending from South +Argyll to the north of Sutherland, Bishop Carsewell being among the +number. Some of the pieces date back to the beginning of the sixteenth +century. Strange to say for a Highland gleaning, there is no love or +drinking song. Wine and women have scant notice here. The Gaelic in +great part is practically the dialect still spoken in Kintail and +district. + +Little is indicated of the history of the book or of the author in the +text itself. But on the first page of volume I. occurs the significant +and suggestive superscription:— + + Doirligh Loijn Di + Skrijvig Lea Donochig + Mack rah 1688. + +Professor Mackinnon, adopting this clue, made careful search, and is +satisfied that the writer was Duncan Macrae of Inverinate, chief of that +name. In the course of his investigation, the professor alighted upon +some curious and interesting facts, full apparently of local colour. + +It appears there were two Duncan Macraes of some note living on the +shores of Loch Duich at that time. Big Duncan of Glenshiel, a warrior +who fell at Sheriffmuir, and whose mighty claymore, said[18] to be +preserved in the Tower of London as “the great Highlander’s sword,” with +one terrible stroke cut through trooper and steed, ere he succumbed +himself in the onslaught. The other, Donnachadh nam Piòs, or Duncan of +the silver plate, so called from the magnificence of his table service, +was our author. Born about 1640, in early life he studied in the +University of Edinburgh, and was known as a man of unique ingenuity and +mechanical skill. As evidence thereof it is said he had something to do +with bringing the water into Edinburgh, and it is related how, on one +occasion, a foreign vessel having got dismasted in passing through Kyle +Rhea, he made a new mast for the craft by splicing pieces of wood +together. For this the captain, deeply grateful, gave him the famous +silver herring, which remained in the family for generations, and was +reputed to attract the herring from far and near into Loch Duich. + +The oak trees now at Inverinate he reared from French acorns. + +Like his brother John, who graduated at the University, King’s College, +Aberdeen, on July 12th, 1660, Duncan possessed the bardic gift. Poems +attributed in the MS. to “an certain harper” and “Tinkler” are, by good +authorities, set down to his own Muse, these being simply _noms de +plume_. + +Cultured, liberal, and deeply religious, he was ecclesiastically an +ardent Episcopalian, politically a vehement Jacobite. His wife, the +heiress of Raasay, it appears, diddled him out of her property by +conveying the title-deeds to a relative to keep the lands for her own +clan. Blood was thicker than the marriage bond. + +But in spite of this the Kintail chief prospered, and bought lands in +Glen Affaric from the Chisholm. Like the passing of Arthur, his death +was rather dramatic. He had gone to Strathglass, attended by a single +follower, to settle about this new property, and was returning with the +papers in his possession. On coming to Dorisduan he found the Connag +River in high flood, but ventured to cross, only to be carried away in +the attempt. Unfortunately for him, his companion possessed the fatal +gift of _or na h’Aoine_, by which, according to local belief, he could +cause the death, if he wished, of any one seen by him crossing the +stream on a Friday. And at this juncture the unhappy man, seeing his +master battling with the flood, and unable to keep from looking at him, +much less to render assistance, in his distress exercised his sinister +gift, thereby drowning the poetic Duncan, his own chief. + +The Fernaig MS., apart from other considerations, is of great value as +representing the literary output of the seventeenth-century period in +the Highlands, and so helping to fill the gap between the Dean of +Lismore’s time and the pregnant Forty-five. + +One other very interesting relic of Highland MS. literature remains to +be noticed. It is the Book of Clanranald, found in two MSS. known as the +Red and the Black. The latter, a thick little paper codex strongly bound +in black leather boards, is of the size of a New Testament and of the +nature of a commonplace book, containing accounts of the families of the +Macdonalds, and the exploits of the great Montrose, together with some +of the poems of Ossian. + +The history of the book is obscure. Many years ago Dr. Skene picked it +up among some old Irish MSS. at a bookstall in Dublin, and, buying it, +sent the fugitive back to the family of Clanranald, in whose possession +it now is. + +But of the two MSS. the Red is far and away the more famous, as it +figured largely in the Ossianic controversy, and gives the Macdonald and +Montrose histories fuller. On Macpherson’s visit to the West he received +this MS., by consent of Clanranald, from Nial Macvurich, and it was only +after Macpherson’s death that the present Red Book was restored. +Authorities are not certain that this is the real original, but +Clanranald believes that it is, and the editors of _Reliquiæ Celticæ_ +are of the same opinion. + +Since its return it has been much consulted by Ossianic inquirers, as +well as by the historians of the country. A transcript and translation, +not very accurate, were made of the historical parts early in last +century. Sir Walter Scott made use of these in his notes, _Lord of the +Isles_, and Mark Napier in his _Montrose_, to throw light upon the +obscurer points of Highland conduct in that great chief’s campaign. In +later times a better rendering has been given by the great Irish +scholar, O’Curry, who translated the history for Dr. Skene’s _Celtic +Scotland_. + +Both MSS., the Red and the Black, are closely allied and supplement each +other. The only English in the former is a satire on Bishop Burnet, +whereas nearly the whole of the last half of the latter is in that +language. The writers were the Macvurichs, hereditary bards of the +Clanranald chiefs, who traced their descent from Muireach Albanach. The +early history of the Macdonalds, down to about 1600, was probably +composed by successive members of this line, but the record of the +Montrose wars and following events is evidently the work of Nial +Macvurich, whose life extended from the reign of Charles the First +beyond Sheriffmuir. It may have been written prior to 1700. Its chief +purpose is to vindicate the Gael in his marvellous exploits under +Montrose. Here Alasdair Macdonald and not the brilliant Lowland leader +is hero. + +Needless to say, besides Ossianic fragments, old as the _Ages of the +Feinn_ and _Cnoc an Air_, the MSS. contain genealogies, chronologies, +history, poetry, geography, grammar, and various disconnected jottings. + +A most curious production is the genealogy of Clanranald as far back as +Adam, often with name and date, and some of the names are portentously +long. + +The Macdonald history begins with the superscription, “The age of the +World at the time the sons of Milé came into Ireland 3500” (that is, +1700 B.C.), and in the opening sentence announces that Amergin Whiteknee +was poet and historian and judge to them, and the first Gaelic author. + +There is a wonderful prose poem on page 210 of the Red Book, on the +“Army and Arming of the Last Lord of the Isles,” part of which is worth +quoting for the way in which it hits off the characteristics of the +clans, and the graphic description it gives of the armour of this +supreme King of the Gael. + + And they were in well arranged battalions, namely, the proud, luminous + countenanced, finely-hued, bold, right-judging, goodly, gifting Clan + Donald; the ready, prosperous, routing, very bold, right judging + Clanranald; the attacking, gold shielded Clan Alister; the protecting, + firm, hardy, well-enduring Macphees; the fierce, strong men, the + Maclachlans; the lively, vigorous, liberally-bestowing, courageous, + austere, brown-shielded Macdougalls; the cheerful, chief-renowned, + battle-harnessed Camerons; the inimical, passionate, hardy Macneils; + the manly, sanguinary, truly noble Mackinnons; the fierce, undaunted, + great-feated Macquarries; the brave, defending, foraging, valiant, + heroic, ale-abounding Mackenzies; the active, spirited, courteous, + great-bestowing Clan Morgan (or Mackay) and the men of Sutherland came + as a guard to the Royal Prince; and the powerful, lively, active, + great-numbered, arrogant Mackintoshes in a very large powerful force + around the Chief of Clan Chattan in active, hardy battalions with + their champions. There came along with these warriors earls, princely + high chiefs, knights, chiefs, lords, barons and yeomen, at one + particular place, to the noble son of Alexander, and these numerous, + rejoicing, heroes, and powerful, active, fierce, sounding hosts + gathered together. + + This is the manner in which they appointed the powerful, fierce, + active, mighty-deeded, white-armoured, supreme King of the Gael, viz., + the terror-striking, leopard-like, awful, sanguinary, opposing, + sharp-armed, fierce, attacking, ready, dexterous, powerful, steady, + illustrious, full-subduing, furious, well-prepared, right-judging + Earl, as he received on him the armour of conflict and strife against + every tumult, that is, his fine tunic, beautifully embroidered, of + fine textured satin, ingeniously woven by ladies and their daughters; + and that good tunic was put upon him. + + A silk jerkin which was handsome, well-fitting, rich, + highly-embroidered, beautiful, many-coloured, artfully-done, gusseted, + corded, ornamented with the figures of foreign birds, with branches of + burnished gold, with a multiplicity of all kinds of embroidery on the + sides of the costly jerkin. That jerkin was put upon him to guard him + against dangers. + + A coat of mail which was wide, well-meshed, light, of substantial + steel, beautifully-wrought, gold-ornamented, with brilliant Danish + gems. Such a mail coat as that was possessed by the lithe Luga of Long + Arms. + +We may conclude this brief account of the Book of Clanranald by a +specimen of its poetry—an elegy for Sir Norman Macleod, which Nial +Macvurich made. It illustrates how to the Gael, when in grief, all +nature seems to suffer and reciprocate his feelings; and the mighty +portents associated in the olden days with the birth or demise of a +chief. + + A death of the deepest anguish it is + To his friends and his followers; + Over his grave as they perform a _neachd_ + They have their turn at the tomb which we cannot get. + + The women of every country are in sadness, + Also their heroes and ecclesiastics; + Their faithful freemen are in grief, + The extremity of severe affliction is among them. + + The hospitality, the pure generosity, + The joyous exclamation, the ready welcome, + They have all gone with him into the earth, + For an age after him there will be but lamentation. + + We are in want of gold and cattle, + Since the Chief of Rushgarry died; + The learned men since the hour of his death, + Have forsaken their havens of watching. + + Flaming troubles pervaded the stars of heaven, + They poured forth the showers of lightning; + The hills are not illumined by day, + Their grief for him mastered them. + + The rivers are rising over the woods, + There is a scarcity of fish in the bays; + The fruitage is not found in the land, + The roaring of the sea is very coarse. + + At the last hours of his death, + Dreadful tokens appeared to us; + Foreboding clouds which denoted grief, + Were of gold colour in the Northern region. + +Such is our heritage of Celtic MSS. in this country, and, in view of the +paucity of these existing relics, may we not reiterate the lines of +Horace?— + + Full many a chief and warrior lived + Ere Agamemnon saw the day, + Of whom no record hath survived + The glories that have passed away. + Unwept, unsung, unknown they lie, + For want of hallowed Poesy. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + THE MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE + + A rich and abundant saga literature—Three leading periods or + cycles—The myths and folk-tales—Problems to men of science—The + philologists and anthropologists take opposite sides—Their + theories—Attitude of the annalists and romancists of Ireland—Their + craze for genealogy—Early settlers in Erin—Advent of the Milesians + or Gaels—The Three Sorrows of Gaelic Storydom: (1) “The Tragedy of + the Children of Tuireann”; (2) The fascinating “Aided of the + Children of Lir”; (3) Story of “Deirdre and the Sons of + Uisneach”—Extraordinary interest evinced in this saga—Marvellous + output of texts and translations. + + +With the arrival of Christianity and its literary promulgators, St. +Patrick and St Columba, authentic history may be said to have begun, +first in Ireland, and then in Scotland. Before the fifth century there +existed a rich and abundant saga literature transmitted by oral +tradition. But even the very oldest of the tales we now have, could +hardly have been written down in MS. form before the seventh or eighth +century. Such is the general belief of scholars who have sifted and +examined the earliest records. + +The mass of saga carried over from pagan times, goes back over ages +untold and immemorial. And yet it is found to sort out under great +leading periods or cycles, three of which seem to stand out distinct and +pre-eminent. These are known as the Mythological, the Heroic, and the +Ossianic. + +Roughly speaking, the Mythological cycle, beginning away back in the +vague and dim past, stretches to near the beginning of the Christian +era. The other cycles follow, filling up the 400 odd years that elapse +before the dawn of written history. + +The mythological stories are fewer than the rest, and of course more +absurd and unintelligible. Most of them are found in O’Clery’s _Leabhar +Gabhala, or Book of Invasions_, 1630, of which the more important MSS. +are the Books of Leinster and Ballymote. Their chief interest lies in +the light they throw upon the early religious ideas of the Celt. + +In a practical age like our own, most people are impatient of ancient +myth and fairy tales. They seem so utterly unreal, absurd, and +impossible, that it is hard to conceive how any sane mortal could have +given them credence for one moment. And yet so universal are such +stories among every race of mankind, and so credible and far-reaching in +their influence in early times, that they have survived when multitudes +of recorded facts have perished. They show that men, and especially +primitive men, have the same kind of thoughts, desires, fancies, habits, +and institutions all the world over. + +The myths and folk-tales have a wonderful similarity, reappearing in +different guise but in substance the same, among the most varied races +and peoples, so that savages to-day in different continents and islands +have beliefs and customs corresponding to those which stagger us in the +sagas of our own Celtic ancestors, and quite as fantastic. + +It is this which lends the fascination to students of comparative +mythology and to the folk-lorist. What seems arrant nonsense and the +height of absurdity to ordinary intelligence, lures them on to seek in +these wild stories for the origins of belief, for the early conceptions +which influenced men in their religion and in their life. Removed from +primitive man by centuries of progress, and ruled as we are by a +scientific view of the world, it is hard for us to put ourselves at the +centre of vision and standpoint of our early ancestors, to whom the +facts of life were more confused than they appear to us, and in a manner +more uncanny and mysterious. Like the savage of to-day, judging from +their myths, they conceived all things as animated and personal, capable +of endless interchange of form. Men might become beasts, beasts might +change into men. Even the gods appeared in human or bestial forms. +Animals, plants, stones, earth, winds and waters, spoke and acted like +human beings, changing their shapes accordingly. + +This is the very essence of myth and fairy tale. Or as Professor Max +Müller has expressed it, “What makes mythology mythological in the true +sense of the word is what is utterly unintelligible, absurd, strange, or +miraculous.” + +What appears most incredible and repugnant, the ugly blots and scars of +these narratives are just the problems to men of science. How to account +for them? How to explain their origin? Over this, contending schools are +constantly engaged in a kind of guerilla warfare. Leaving the +archæologists to pursue their own studies among the material +“survivals,” the philologists and anthropologists take opposite sides +each in defence of his own particular theory. + +Briefly stated, the difference between them is this: the philologists +maintain that language—language as it were in a state of disease—is the +great source of the mythology of the world. Professor Max Müller held +this view and gave it a widely accepted vogue. The ugly scars he +explained as due to the old words and popular sayings lingering on in a +language after their original harmless and symbolic meanings had been +lost. Thus what might have been originally a poetical remark about +nature, might in process of time be interpreted colloquially and become +an obscene, brutal, or vulgar myth. To go no further afield than the +Hebrew sacred writings, when we think of an impassioned apostrophe to +the sun, and the subsequent popular legend that the sun and the moon +stood still, we see that the philologist argument is not without force +and cogency. + +Yet the anthropologists are more in the line of evolution, for they +maintain that mythology on the whole represents an old stage of thought, +from which civilised men have slowly emancipated themselves. This is +also the view of Mr. Andrew Lang, who recently contributed a work on the +subject. The scars so-called are the remains of that kind of taste, +fancy, customary law, and incoherent speculation that prevail in human +nature in its primitive barbarian state. And indeed when we contemplate +the credulity, superstition, and readiness to accept the grotesque and +fabulous, that dominate such inhabitants even of a civilised country as +are kept ignorant and isolated, this theory seems to point to the main +source of myth and fairy tale. + +As in the early literature of Greece the gods and heroes are mixed up, +so in the records of the Gael. But the annalists and romancists of +Ireland, who had a passion for writing history, evidently had no inkling +of this. The thought of mythology was far enough removed from their way +of thinking, and such floating tales and personages and events as they +found wafted towards them on the stream of tradition they took for +actual fact. At any rate, they wove them into the story of the past of +their nation in such a way as to lead us to believe that the mythical +beings were as real to them as the kings and warriors of their own age. +And these historians had quite a craze for genealogy; never satisfied +unless they could trace their chiefs or heroes and ancestors up to Adam, +which they invariably succeed in doing, bridging the gaps with very +fertile ingenuity. + +Thus the last great chasm to be spanned in the line of pedigree is the +Deluge—to surmount which was a work more intricate and needing more +skill in a manner than the Forth Bridge; for if they could once connect +with Noah, the Bible record does the rest. + +The feat is accomplished, set down by the annalists of the Middle Ages +with all the plausibility of sober fact. Forty days before the Flood, +the Lady Cæsair, niece or granddaughter of Noah—it is immaterial +which—with fifty girls and three men came to Ireland. This, we are to +understand, was the first invasion or conquest of that country. All +these were drowned in the Deluge, except Finntan, the husband of the +lady, who escaped by being cast into a deep sleep, in which he continued +for a year, and when he awoke he found himself in his own house at Dun +Tulcha. It is charming to note with what precision and _sangfroid_ names +are quoted in this legended history. At Dun Tulcha he lived throughout +many dynasties down to the sixth century of our era, when he appears for +the last time with eighteen companies of his descendants engaged in +settling a boundary dispute. Being the oldest man in the world, he was +_ipso facto_ the best informed regarding ancient landmarks. + +After the Flood various peoples in succession stepped on to the platform +of Irish history. First the Partholans; then the Nemedians, Firbolgs, +Tuatha de Danann, and last of all the Milesians, thus carrying the +chronology down to the time of Christ. From the arrival of the earliest +of these settlers, the Fomorians or “Sea Rovers” are represented as +fighting and harassing the people. Sometimes in conjunction with the +plague, at other times with the Firbolgs and Gaileoin and Fir-Domnann, +they laid waste the land. The Partholans and Nemedians were early +disposed of. And then appeared from the north of Europe, or from heaven, +as one author says, the Tuatha de Danann, who at the great battle of +Moytura South overcame the Firbolgs, scattering them to the islands of +Aran, Islay, Rathlin, and the Hebrides, and afterwards defeating the +Fomorians at Moytura North, thus gaining full possession of the land. +Much of this fabulous history is taken up with these early struggles +between the Fomorians and the Tuatha de Danann, of whom Breas and Lugh +of the Longhand, and Dagda are the great heroes. + +At length from Spain and the East came the last invaders, known under +various names, as the Milesians, the Scots, or Gaels. They are the +ancestors of our modern race, called Milesians from an ancestor Milé, +and Gaels or Gaidels from an ancestor Gadelus. When they arrived at +Tara, a vast army from over the seas, they met the three kings and +queens of the Tuatha. The latter complained that they were taken by +surprise, and entreated the Milesians to embark again on their ships +that they might have a fair chance of opposing them. This they did, +retreating for “nine waves” on the sea. But on facing about, lo! Ireland +was not to be seen. The Tuatha de Danann by their enchantment had made +the island as small as a pig’s back, and therefore invisible from the +ships. Besides, they raised a violent storm with clouds and darkness. +Many Milesian ships were wrecked, and a crisis was only averted by their +leader, Amergin, who was also a Druid, pronouncing a Druidic prayer or +oration, addressed it would seem to the Tuatha, when the storm +immediately ceased and they landed in peace. After some skirmishes, the +Tuatha eventually retire to the Land of Promise, the country of the +_Sìdh_—fairy mounds, where in the popular lore they were till lately, +taking considerable interest in the affairs of their quondam conquerors. + +Druidism, it will be seen, enters largely into all these ancient +contests, the opposing parties using spells as well as blows. + +The Milesians we are supposed to have some knowledge of—with more or +less of their blood in our veins. They are regarded as the main body of +the Gaelic people. But who were the Tuatha de Danann and the Fomorians? +Personifications of the forces of nature, or the Gaelic gods of the +upper and lower worlds, argue writers on mythology. As Zeus, Poseidon, +Pluto, and the rest of the Greek deities rule over the heavens, the +earth, the sea, and the shades, so do the Tuatha, the pagan gods of the +Gaelic people; while the Fomorians, vicious and troublesome as they +were, may in their origin be none other than the sea powers—the rough +chaotic tumult of the Atlantic Ocean, against which in the west of +Ireland the various settlers had to contend. + +But the early introduction of Christianity, throwing the pagan gods and +traditions, as it did, into the limbo of perdition, renders it very +difficult for us now to arrive at any definite and certain conclusions +on these matters. + +The literary interest of the mythological cycle centres largely in the +“Three Sorrows of Story-telling,” two of which belong exclusively to it, +the third to the Cuchulinn cycle. Though connected with the period of +the Tuatha de Danann, it is well to remember that these two as well as +the third were actually written later than the earliest of the heroic +tales. + +First comes the “Aided or Tragedy of the Children of Tuireann.” It is +mentioned by Cormac in his Glossary (ninth or tenth century), and by +Flann of Monasterboice (ob. 1056). The story is partially told in the +Book of Lecain (cir. 1416), and is found in several MSS., including No. +LVI. of the Scottish collection. O’Curry, O’Duffy, and Joyce have each +at various times edited and published it with translation; the first in +the _Atlantis_, vol. iv.; the second for the Society for the +Preservation of the Irish Language in Dublin, 1888; and the third in his +_Old Celtic Romances_, London, 1879. + +The scene opens near the ramparts of Tara, in the reign of Nuada of the +silver arm. Two handsome, young, and well-formed men are seen +approaching. Accosted by the doorkeeper, who had only one eye, they +announced themselves as physicians, and subsequently offered to put his +cat’s eye in the place of the one he had lost. This done, the substitute +proved convenient and inconvenient, for when he desired to take sleep or +repose, then the eye would start at the squeaking of the mice, the +flying of the birds, and the motion of the reeds; whereas, when he +wished to watch a host or an assembly the same organ continued in deep +sleep. Similarly, but to better effect, the king was fitted with a new +arm, namely, that of the swineherd, of equal length and thickness with +his own. The bones only were removed from its original owner and set by +the one leech, while the other sought herbs to put flesh and muscle upon +it. + +This introduction apparently has no bearing upon the story proper, which +now begins. + +The Fomorians who dwelt in Lochlann laid Ireland under heavy tribute. +Whoever paid not the tax had his nose cut off. One day, when the King of +Sire held a fair upon the hill of Balar, the Tuatha de Danann, who were +there assembled, saw a goodly host coming towards them. This was Lugh +Lamhfhada and the fairy cavalcade from the Land of Promise. Lugh was +mounted on a steed which was as swift as the bleak, cold wind of spring, +and sea and land were equal to her, and her rider was not killed off her +back. When the troop came where the king was they presently saw a grim +and ill-looking band advancing towards them—eighty-one Fomorian +ambassadors come to lift the tax. Lugh arose and slaughtered them, +leaving only nine to bring back the news. Incensed, the Fomorians, under +Breas, the son of Balor of the mighty blows, resolved to invade Ireland +and take revenge on Lugh. “And after ye have overcome him and his +people,” said Balor to the departing warriors, “put your cables round +this island of Erin which gives us so much trouble, and tie it to the +stems of your ships; then sail home, bringing the island with you, and +place it on the north side of Lochlann, whither none of the Tuatha will +ever follow it.” Thus the Irish difficulty is not of yesterday, and +Balor proposed to settle it in a very drastic way. + +Lugh heard of their arrival and sent to assemble the fairy cavalcade +from every place where they were. Cian, his father, traversing the plain +of Muirtheimhne on this quest suddenly encountered three warriors—the +sons of Tuireann, with whom, though relatives, he was at deadly feud. +The only ruse he could think of for defence in this awkward plight was +to strike himself with a Druidical wand into the shape of a pig, and +join the herd of swine he saw feeding near him. But the brothers +detected the trick, and Brian the eldest, with one swift stroke of a +magic wand transformed the others into two slender fleet hounds, who +gave tongue ravenously upon the trail of the Druidical pig. While the +latter made for a wooded grove Brian’s spear transfixed her in the +chest, and the pig screamed in human speech, imploring quarter. The only +concession granted the unhappy beast was that she might return into her +original shape and therein get killed. In this Cian had his revenge, +for, instead of the _eric_ of a pig, he assured them they would now be +liable for an _eric_ altogether oppressive, because of his rank. + +Six times they buried the body and the earth refused it, but the seventh +time they put it under the sod the earth took to it. + +Meanwhile Lugh had joined issue with the Fomorians and got the victory. +And after the slaughter and triumph of the battle, missing his father, +he set out with the fairy cavalcade to find out what had befallen him. +When lo! as he crossed the scene of his sire’s sad fate, the earth spoke +to him and said:— + +“Great was the jeopardy in which your father was here, O Lugh, when he +saw the children of Tuireann, for he was obliged to go into the shape of +a pig; nevertheless they subsequently killed him in his own shape.” + +The body was thereupon dug up and examined. Lugh kissed it three times, +uttering words of lamentation, and ending with a mournful lay. + +“Cian was again placed in the grave after that, his tombstone was +erected over his tomb, his dirge was sung, and his name inscribed in +Ogam.” + +And now it will be ill with the sons of Tuireann. Having reached Tara, +and as he sat in honourable position next the King of Erin, Lugh looked +round on the miscreants and ordered the Chain of Attention of the Court +to be shaken, that all present might listen. Of the entire company the +children of Tuireann were the best in agility and dexterity; they were +the handsomest as well as the most honoured. So Lugh approached the +subject of the death of his father and the vengeance due with +circumspection and inquiry. Brian denied: “Nevertheless,” he said, +speaking for himself and his brothers, “we shall give _eric_ for him to +thee, as though we had done the act.” + +Thereupon, in presence of all, Lugh announced the compensation required, +“namely, three apples, the skin of a pig, a spear, two steeds, a +chariot, seven pigs, a whelp, a cooking spit, and three shouts on a +hill.” A mere trifle this eric may seem, but it turned out afterwards, +when the special items demanded were characterised, that there was as +much hazard involved in getting any one of them as there was for the +youthful David in another Court, and for another king, to get one +hundred foreskins of the Philistines. Brian suspected treachery, but he +accepted the bill, and with his two brothers went forth to seek the +payment. Daring feats of valour have to be faced to get those wonderful +apples from the Garden of Hesperides, and the skin of the pig of the +King of Greece, and the well-poisoned spear of the King of Persia, and +all the rest. But they got a loan of Lugh’s curach to ferry them over +the wave wherever they wished, and their sister Eithne, going down to +the harbour, uttered a lay over them as the warrior band put out from +the beautiful and clearly-defined borders of Eire. + +Success crowned their extraordinary adventures, much to the chagrin of +Lugh, who sent a spell of magic after them to bring them back. They +present him with their spoils, taken in strange and distant lands, only +to be reminded that the full measure of the _eric_ has yet to be +discharged. On the morrow they went to their ship, and the maiden, with +moist eyes, sees them off once more. Again they are successful. +Thereafter, in attempting the last feat of all, namely, to give three +shouts on the hill of Midkena in Lochlann, they got severely wounded by +the spears of its champion guardians. And on their return they +despatched their aged father, Tuireann, to Tara with all haste to seek +from Lamhfhada the gifted skin to relieve them, but Lugh refused; and +the life went forth from the brothers three at the same time. + +Their father sang their death song, and “after that lay, Tuireann fell +upon his children and his soul left him;” and they were interred, parent +and sons, and, it is even alleged, sister too, all in one grave. + +The “Tragedy of the Children of Lir” is the second in order of the Three +Sorrows. Though set in the earliest cycle, it is not represented in any +of the ancient MSS. The oldest as yet known to contain it is No. +XXXVIII. of the Scottish collection, written at the latest in the early +seventeenth century. There is a copy also in MS. LVI. All the other +copies, which are pretty numerous, belong to the eighteenth and +nineteenth centuries, and are in the MSS. of Dublin and the British +Museum. Monsieur H. d’Arbois de Jubainville in his survey noted no less +than seventeen of these. The comparative lateness of the records has led +Mr. Alfred Nutt to surmise that this story may simply be the Gaelic +version of the “Seven Swans” _märchen_, once common in the country, and +worked up by a monk of the sixteenth century—a suggestion Professor +Mackinnon thinks not at all unlikely. O’Curry published the tale with a +translation in the _Atlantis_, and Dr. P. W. Joyce included it in his +_Old Celtic Romances_. + +The incidents of this once very popular tale are as follows: In a +conflict with the Milesians the Tuatha de Danann were defeated, and +found it necessary to deliberate on the policy they must pursue and the +king they should elect. Various candidates are eligible, but Bodhbha +Dearg is ultimately chosen. In high dudgeon, Lir, who sought the exalted +position for himself, left the assembly and returned to his own _Sìdh_. +So far from retaliating, the new ruler, when Lir’s wife died, sent for +him and offered him his choice of three of the most beautiful and +best-instructed maidens in all Erin. He took the eldest of these sisters +and married her. But she died, leaving four handsome children, a +daughter and three sons. A second time Lir had his choice, and Eva, +sister number two, came as spouse to his home at _Sìdh_ Fionnachaidh. A +devoted stepmother she proved to the children, till by and by green-eyed +jealousy infected her. She saw that their father would often rise from +his bed in the dawn of the morning and go to theirs to fondle them. And +fancying herself slighted, “she lay in bed a whole year filled with gall +and brooding mischief.” + +The outcome of this passion was a plot to do away with the children, +whom for the purpose she enticed to a lonely spot and bribed her +servants to slay. This they refused to do, and although she made the +attempt herself she had not the nerve to execute it. “Her woman’s +weakness prevented her.” Yet she had her revenge in a curious way. She +got the children to bathe in Lake Dairbhreach, and once there, by +Druidical enchantment she transformed them into four beautiful +snow-white swans. As such for 300 years they swim back and fore on the +smooth lake, then for 300 in the Sruth na Maoile (off Kintyre), and 300 +more at Iorus Domnann and Innis Gluaire, in the Western Sea. And in no +way could they escape their bird life “until the union of Larguen, a +prince from the north, with Becca, a princess from the south,” or as the +Irish version adds, “until Talchend Adzehead (that is, St. Patrick) +shall come to Erin, bringing the light of a pure faith, and until ye +hear the voice of the Christian bell.” + +The vindictive Eva repented her evil deed, but could not undo the +mischief. To ameliorate their lot, she granted her enchanted victims the +use of their Gaelic speech, of their human reason, and the power of +singing sweet, plaintive, fairy music, surpassing all known in the world +in its harmony and soothing influence. + +Swift retribution ultimately overtook this once beautiful woman; for +when the king heard of her cruel deed, he asked her “what shape of all +others on the earth, or above the earth, or under the earth she most +abhorred?” To which she replied, “A demon of the air.” “A demon of the +air you shall then be to the end of time,” said the angry Bodhbha Dearg. + +Meanwhile the centuries roll over the children of Lir on the peaceful +Lake Dairbhreach, not altogether without sunshine, since the +people—Milesians and Tuatha de Danann alike—were wont to crowd on its +shore to hear their music and watch their graceful movements. But the +time came when they found themselves in “the current of Mull,” tossed on +the stormy seas twixt Erin and Alba, and here they had to dree their +weird with much suffering for another cycle; sometimes separated from +each other in the storm and darkness; at other times almost frozen to +death on Carraig-nanròn. Hapless birds! the slow moving ages bring them +to the third stage, which is pretty much a repetition of their +experiences in the second. For in the Western Ocean round Glora Isle +they are still tormented by the restless wave and the cold and vicious +winds of winter, till their three hundred years therein are +accomplished. + +And then at last St Kemoc comes; they hear the sound of the Christian +bell and their spell is broken. Thereafter the children of Lir, no +longer swans, receive Christian baptism and die. For rashly attempting +to take the birds prematurely away from his protection one of the MSS. +asserts that St. Kemoc cursed King Larguen with righteous energy. And +after their death, in the manner of the previous interments, he buried +these ill-starred children all in one grave, sang their death-song, +performed their funeral rites, raised their tomb, and wrote their names +in Ogam. Thus ended their chequered career, which lasted well-nigh a +millennium. + +The third Sorrow of Gaelic storydom, that of “Deirdre and the Sons of +Uisneach,” does not belong, strictly speaking, to the mythological +cycle; yet it is prehistoric and mythical in every other respect, though +devoid of the absurd and fantastical elements so characteristic of the +other two. Indeed it may have sprung, as Mr. J. F. Campbell maintains, +from some Indo-European romance, the common heritage in one form or +other of the Aryan family from India to Ireland. The tale is at once the +oldest and most famous of the three Aideds, and must have had a wide +vogue in early times, for it is mentioned in so ancient an authority as +the Book of Leinster, that it was one of the _primscela_ that the bards +were bound to know. Many versions of the saga exist, but chiefly in +ballad form. + +The oldest and shortest is that in the Book of Leinster, twelfth +century, with which may be classed one in the Yellow Book of Lecain, +fourteenth century, and in the Egerton MS., British Museum. The best and +fullest version, now published, is generally held to be that obtained +from MSS. LIII. and LVI. of the Scottish collection, the former a vellum +of the fifteenth century. In addition to various other documents in the +Advocates’ Library, such as Nos. V. and XLVIII., which contain +fragments, Monsieur H. d’Arbois de Jubainville found seventeen copies of +the legend in later MSS. in London and Dublin. + +The extraordinary interest evinced in this saga is not confined to +ancient or medieval times, but continues unabated down to our own day, +if we may judge by the attention it has received at the hands of +authors, editors, and translators. Nearly every foremost scholar of the +nineteenth century has dealt with it in text, or notes, and translation. + +Of many and various publications in modern times, the following will +suffice to show the place it holds in Celtic literature. The texts, +printed sometimes with notes and translation, are usually of different +versions. + +O’Flanagan, _Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Dublin_, 1808; +O’Curry, _Atlantis_, vol. iii. 1860, from Yellow Book of Lecain; +Campbell, _Leabhar na Feinne_, 1872; Windisch, _Irische Texte_, vol. i. +Leipzig, 1880; Dr. Whitley Stokes, _Irische Texte_, vol. ii. Leipzig, +1887, the former from Book of Leinster, the latter from MSS. LIII. and +LVI., Advocates’ Library. Dr. Cameron’s _Reliquiæ Celticæ_, also from +MS. LVI. Windisch, O’Curry’s and O’Flanagan’s texts, reprinted _Gaelic +Journal_, Dublin, 1882–84. Carmichael, _Transactions of the Gaelic +Society of Inverness_, vol. xiii. 1887, an admirable folk-lore version +taken down in the Western Isles from oral recitation. Angus Smith, in +his _Loch Etive and Sons of Uisneach_, treats it fictionally in dialogue +form, 1879. + +Keating tells the tale in his _History of Ireland_. It is found in part +in the Welsh story of Peredur, taken apparently from a fifteenth century +MS. Mr. Joseph Jacobs has given in English dress, in _Celtic Fairy +Tales_, an abridged account from Carmichael’s version. Of French +translators, H. d’Arbois de Jubainville, M. Georges Dottin, and M. Louis +Ponsinet may be mentioned. Of poetical English versions there is no +lack. Macpherson treated it specially in Darthula, Sir James Ferguson +dramatised it, Dr. Joyce published it in America (Deirdre: Boston and +Dublin), and Drs. Todhunter and Douglas Hyde have given other +renderings. Mr. T. W. Rolleston made it the subject of the Prize Cantata +of the Fèis Ceoil in Dublin in 1897. + +Truly a marvellous output of texts and translations, rivalling any in +the whole range of our Gaelic literature. And the above catalogue does +not by any means exhaust the list. The wonder is that the saga should be +found in remote and outlying corners of the Highlands floating by oral +tradition down to our own time. Fletcher got a version about 1750, +Irvine took down part of the verse about 1801 from a fox-hunter on +Tayside, Carmichael from an old Macneill in Barra in 1871. The story is +of additional interest to us because it is laid partly in Ireland and +partly in Scotland, among that beautiful scenery around Loch Etive so +well known to native and tourist. + +The story opens at Emain Macha, or Emania, where, with the nobles of +Ulster, King Conchobar is feasting in the house of Feidhlim the bard. +During the entertainment Feidhlim’s wife gave birth to a daughter; and +Cathbad the Druid forthwith prophesied that the child would grow up “a +maiden fair, tall, long-haired, for whom champions would contend.” Her +lips would be cherry-red over pearly teeth; her lovely form the envy of +high queens. Deirdre, the Druid named her, and thrilled the company by +announcing that her queenly beauty would yet involve the province in +heavy woes. + +All the nobles present, instantly wished to circumvent such destiny by +having the child put to death. Conchobar intervened: “Let not that be +done,” said he; “I will take her with me and send her to be reared that +she may become my own wife.” Deirdre was accordingly removed and kept +apart in a fortress, seeing no one but her tutor and nurse and +Lebarcham, the king’s _banchainte_ or conversation woman. Shot up at +length into the fair maiden of Cathbad’s prediction, she happened one +snowy day to be looking out, when she observed her _oide_ (tutor) +killing a calf, and a raven came to drink the blood. “Dear to me” she +exclaimed, “would be the man who would have the three colours yonder on +him, his hair like the raven, his cheek like the blood, and his body +like the snow.” “Such an one is Naois, son of Uisneach,” suggested the +_banchainte_. + +They met, Deirdre and he. A kinsman of the king and one of three gifted +brothers, this Naois stood head and neck taller than any man in Erin, +and peerless in strength, courage, and manly beauty. When he or his +brothers sang, the cows gave two-thirds additional milk and people were +enchanted. Their prowess was such that the three together could meet all +Ulster in arms. + +Deirdre adored Naois, and proposed that they twain should elope. At +first he refused, but bewitched by her charms and entreaties he yielded. +The brothers went off, taking their followers, 150 men with their wives +and greyhounds. For a time they were pursued round Erin to Ballyshannon, +Howth, Rathlin, till they sought refuge in Alba and sailed for Loch +Etive. From that beautiful centre they made many excursions inland, +living in hunting booths, chasing the deer on the mountains, assisting +the King of Alba, who needed their help, and living joyous and free; a +most romantic life, full of incident and full of happiness. + +After a time Conchobar hatched a plot to lure them back. First he +approached Cuchulinn and Conall Cearnach to undertake a mission. But +these champions, suspecting treachery, gave blunt refusal. At length +Fergus Mac Roich was induced to go, not without misgivings. When he +arrived with his two sons and bargeman, Naois and Deirdre were sitting +together in their hunting booth playing at chess. Fergus went into the +glen and raised his sweet-voiced warning cry, after the manner of a +hunter. Naois heard the sound and said, “I hear the cry of a man of +Erin.” Deirdre dissimulated at first, “That was not the cry of a man of +Erin but the cry of a man of Alba.” Afterwards she explained it was +because of a dream she had had, which she felt foreboded evil. The +emissaries spend the night with them and win over Naois. + +Next morning they all sail away, returning to Erin, and as the land +fades from her view, Deirdre with mingled regret and presentiment, sings +or recites a beautiful lay, describing the shores of Loch Etive and the +charms of the life she led in the glens. The following rendering is from +Dr. Skene, the few verses here quoted indicating the feeling and passion +of the old lyric:— + + Glen Etive! O Glen Etive! + There I raised my earliest house; + Beautiful its woods on rising + When the sun fell on Glen Etive. + + Glen Orchy! O Glen Orchy! + The straight glen of smooth ridges; + No man of his age was so joyful + As Naois in Glen Orchy. + + Glenlaidhe! O Glenlaidhe! + I used to sleep by its soothing murmurs; + Fish and flesh of wild boar and badger, + Was my repast in Glenlaidhe. + + Glendaruadh! O Glendaruadh! + I love each man of its inheritance, + Sweet the noise of the cuckoo on bended bough, + On the hill above Glendaruadh. + + Glenmasan! O Glenmasan! + High its herbs, fair its boughs; + Solitary was the place of our repose, + On grassy Invermasan. + +The upshot of this fateful voyage was that Fergus, their guardian, was +unwittingly decoyed to a feast through the King’s strategy, his son +Buinne Borb was bribed to act the traitor, and the sons of Uisneach were +slain. But not before they had done mighty execution against the hosts +of Conchobar, and kept them at bay till his Druid put a sea with high +waves across the plain before them, while their foes had the benefit of +dry land on which to attack from behind. + +Deirdre was distracted at the loss of her lover. Taken to the King’s +palace, for the space of a whole year even the raising of her head or +the giving of a smile she did not concede, till Conchobar, chagrined +with such moping, resolved to send her away for a time with Eogan who +slew Naois. On the way the evil man flung her a brutal taunt, suggestive +of her defencelessness, which when Deirdre heard she gave a start, made +a wild leap from the chariot, and her brains were dashed in fragments +against a pillar stone that stood opposite. But the manner of her death +is otherwise told in the popular version, apparently with more romantic +effect and less probability. All through, the narrative is interspersed +with touching lays, expressive of the heroine’s feelings at various +times. Thus after her loss:— + + Long is the day without Uisneach’s children, + It was not mournful to be in their company, + Sons of a king by whom pilgrims were rewarded; + Three lions from the hill of the cave. + + Thou that diggest the tomb, + And that puttest my darling from me, + Make not the grave too narrow; + I shall be beside the noble ones. + +Cathbad, the Druid, in retaliation for Conchobar’s dissimulation, curses +Emain Macha; and Fergus Mac Roich, resenting the dastardly treachery +that brought the noble sons of Uisneach to an untimely grave, took +service under Queen Meve of Connaught and harassed Ulster for years. At +length Nemesis overtook the guilty Conchobar. Emania is levelled to the +ground, never again to be rebuilt. None of his race inherit the proud +walls of that ancient citadel. + +Thus, like Helen of Troy, was Deirdre the unhappy cause of strife and +calamity to the land and its people, to the lover and friends she held +so dear—fateful Deirdre and hapless sons of Uisneach! + + + + + CHAPTER IX + THE HEROIC CYCLE + + The golden age of Gaelic romance—Number of the tales—Cuchulinn—His + early adventures—The Wooing of Eimer—Training in Skye—The Bridge + of the Cliffs—Tragedy of Conlaoch—Elopement—The “Táin Bó + Chuailgné,” and exploits of Cuchulinn—Ferdia at the ford—The two + champions of Western Europe—Cuchulinn in the Deaf Valley—Death—The + Red Rout of Conall Cearnach—Instruction of Cuchulinn to a + prince—His “Phantom Chariot”—Modern translations of these rare + sagas. + + +The Heroic, or, as it is sometimes called, the Cuchulinn, or Red-Branch +cycle, corresponds with the period immediately before and after the +opening of the Christian era. + +This was really the golden age of Gaelic romance, at once the most +complete, productive, and brilliant of the three traditional epochs. And +happily of it almost all the larger and more important tales have been +preserved. What a world of human interest is conjured up even by the +names and titles of these old-world sagas. Among them we find the “Táin +Bó Chuailgné”; Deirdre and the Sons of Uisneach; Conchobar’s Vision; The +Battle of Rosnaree; Conchobar’s Tragedy; The Conception of Cuchulinn; +His Training; The Wooing of Eimer; Death of Conlaoch; Cuchulinn’s +Adventure at the Boyne; Intoxication of the Ultonians; Bricriu’s +Banquet; Eimer’s Jealousy; Cuchulinn’s Pining; Conall’s Red Rout and the +Lay of the Heads; The Capture of the Sìdh; The Phantom Chariot of +Cuchulinn; and that hero’s Death; The Recovery of the Táin through the +Resurrection of Fergus. These and many other episodes, quaint and +suggestive, give us curious glints into the past. + +In her recent book on the Cuchulinn saga, Miss Eleanor Hull has +classified the tales of this cycle under eight heads, which may be +briefly summarised as follows:— + + I. Tales personal to Conchobar 5 + II. „ „ Cuchulinn 16 + III. „ „ Fergus Mac Roich 5 + IV. „ „ Conall 4 + V. „ „ Celtchar 2 + VI. „ „ Curigh 4 + VII. „ prefatory to “Táin Bó Chuailgné” 24 + VIII. Miscellaneous 36 + —— + Total 96 + == + +A goodly aggregate, indeed, to survive the dim forgetfulness of time! +These narratives now constitute the main body of early Celtic tradition. +They breathe the spirit of the race in the long distant past, and +consequently are of unique value and import. + +It is evident they bear marks of pre-Christian origin, but we must +remember they have reached us through the transcription of monks, and +hence be prepared to find in them many interpolations, suppressions, and +alterations. Indeed one very old legend represents the longest—the +“Táin,” as having been taken down by St. Ciaran at the grave of Fergus +Mac Roich, and to the dictation of that hero, who, it appears, was +conjured up from the dead for the purpose. St. Columba and the other +chief saints of Ireland are reported as witnesses of this proceeding, +and on their departure with the coveted writing, after they had offered +up thanksgiving, Fergus also retired to his lone tomb. + +There are Scotch versions of some of the sagas, but the vast majority +are Irish. The earliest written copies are those in the Leabhar Na +h’Uidhre and Book of Leinster—the latter the fullest of all the saga +documents. + +Ulster was the chief theatre of the Heroic drama. In that province, +under the patronage of King Conchobar, arose the renowned order of +knighthood which included such celebrities as Conall Cearnach, +Cuchulinn, and the sons of Uisneach. Yet of all the knights of the Royal +Branch, the second, above-named, was _facile princeps_, the most +outstanding and representative man; in fact, a kind of demigod, round +whom whole armies and many champions fatefully gyrated. + +_Fortissimus heros Scotorum_, says the Annals of Tighernach, “vii years +was his age when he took arms, xvii when he was in pursuit of the ‘Táin +Bó Chuailgné,’ xxvii when he died.” The Book of Ballymote, a later MS., +gives him a much longer career, asserting that the year of the “Táin” +was the fifty-ninth of Cuchulinn’s age, from the night of his birth to +the night of his death. + +To get at once a direct and luminous glimpse into the literature of his +cycle, we have only to follow this champion in his varied fortunes and +exploits. And so we turn to the story of his extraordinary career, +recognising that the Celtic imagination has here full play, untrammelled +by the limitations of physical science or modern thought, and that in +these rich and varied creations of fancy we have fact and fiction so +intricately commingled that it is vain to try to differentiate between +them. + +Some of the sagas tell us that Cuchulinn was supernaturally descended +from the god Lugh. But later versions with more restraint affirm that +his father’s name was Sualtam, his mother’s Dechtine, and that she was a +sister of King Conchobar. When a boy he was known as Setanta, till he +got the name Cuchulinn, which came to him in a manner quite +characteristic and worthy of mention. + +Culand, a smith and Ulster retainer, it appears, had asked the king and +his retinue to spend a night and a day with him. In response to this +invitation “all the Ultonian nobles set out: a great train of +provincials, sons of kings and chiefs, young lords and men-at-arms, the +curled and rosy youth of the kingdom, and the maidens and fair-ringleted +ladies of Ulster. Handsome virgins, accomplished damsels, and splendid +fully-developed women were there; satirists and scholars were there; and +the companies of singers and musicians, poets who composed songs and +reproofs, and praising-poems for the men of Ulster. There came also with +them from Emania, historians, judges, horseriders, buffoons, tumblers, +fools, and performers on horseback. They all went by the same way behind +the king.” + +Late that evening Culand inquired if any more were expected, and on +receiving a reply in the negative, he closed the doors and let loose the +house-dog. No sooner was the place thus shut up for the night than the +boy Setanta arrived, and was set on by the dog. A fierce struggle +followed, but the youth got the better of his canine assailant and laid +him lifeless. For this loss Culand demanded _eric_. Unable to pay, +Setanta offered to watch the house himself until a pup of its slain +guardian grew up. Hence the name Cu-Chulaind, that is, Culand’s dog, by +which he was subsequently known. So runs the myth. + +Afterwards, with the consent of his mother, he paid a visit to his uncle +the king. Happening to arrive at Emania when the boys were playing +shinty, the mischievous frolics began to throw their balls and _camags_ +at him. Whereupon Cuchulinn’s “war-rage seized him,” and “he shut one +eye till it was not wider than the eye of a needle; he opened the other +till it was bigger than the mouth of a meal goblet.” No wonder that the +terrified youngsters fled in every direction. + +Presently King Conchobar recognised his nephew when he presented himself +at the Court, and he introduced him to his youthful compeers. Suitable +arms, a suitable chariot and charioteer were given him, and he soon +proved himself a unique warrior. + +The women of Ulster admired him “for his splendour at the feat, for the +nimbleness of his leap, for the excellence of his wisdom, for the melody +of his language, for the beauty of his face, and for the loveliness of +his look.” “There were seven pupils in his royal eyes, four in the one +and three in the other; seven fingers on each of his two hands, and +seven toes on each of his two feet.” “I should think,” says the writer +of one text, “it was a shower of pearls that was flung into his head. +Blacker than the side of a black cooking-spit, each of his two eyebrows, +redder than ruby his lips.” + +He was too young, too daring, too beautiful, in the opinion of the +chiefs, to be a gallant unwed; for their women and maidens loved him +greatly. So they took counsel with the king to have him married. + +Emissaries were sent to the courts and princes of all Erin in quest of a +partner whom it might please Cuchulinn to woo, but they returned after a +year unsuccessful. + +Left to fend for himself, the hero got ready his chariot and set out for +the house of Forgaill of Lusk, whose daughter Eimer was renowned for the +six victories she had upon her: the gift of beauty, the gift of voice, +the gift of music, the gift of embroidery and all needlework, and the +gifts of wisdom and virtuous chastity. In the pleasure-ground of the +mansion, surrounded by the fair daughters of the neighbouring chiefs and +men of wealth, the lady descried the famous chariot in the distance, and +one of her maidens describes the appearance of the horses, the chariot, +charioteer, and hero. The latter she reports thus:— + + Within the chariot a dark sad man, comeliest of the men of Erin. + + Around him a beautiful crimson five-folded tunic, fastened at its + opening on his white breast with a brooch of inlaid gold, against + which it heaves beating in full strokes. A shirt with a white hood, + interwoven red with flaming gold. Seven red dragon gems on the ground + of either of his eyes. Two blue-white, blood-red cheeks, that breathe + forth sparks and flashes of fire. A ray of love burns in his look. + Methinks a shower of pearls has fallen into his mouth. As black as the + side of a black ruin each of his eyebrows. On his two thighs rests a + golden hilted sword, and fastened to the copper frame of the chariot + is a blood-red spear with a sharp mettlesome blade, on a shaft of wood + well-fitted to the hand. Over his shoulders a crimson shield with a + rim of silver, ornamented with figures of golden animals. He leaps the + hero’s salmon-leap into the air and does many like swift feats. + +Such was Cuchulinn in the damsel’s eyes. Eimer declined his suit at +first on the plea that she was a younger daughter, and advised him to +approach her father for leave to pay court to her elder sister, whose +brilliant accomplishments she fully rehearsed. This suggestion the hero +spurned and love sprang up between them. + +After he departed Forgaill heard of the visit of the remarkable unknown +stranger, and quickly divined who he was. Not wishing to have this +professional champion as son-in-law, the wily father disguised himself +as a Gaulish or Scandinavian envoy and set out for Emania. There he was +well received by the king, and while witnessing the feats of the knights +he took occasion to recommend the king to send his nephew to Skye to +complete his special training in arms, at the celebrated school of the +lady Scathach. His sinister idea was that so many dangers and +difficulties would beset Cuchulinn on the way that he would never +return. The latter vowed he would go. And on setting out he encountered +many perils. Among others he had to traverse “the plain of misfortune,” +which he did by the aid of a wheel and of an apple given him by a chance +acquaintance. He took instruction from the Albannach Donall by the way, +and declined the love of his ugly daughter. But departing from their +home he arrived in safety at Dun Scathach. + +The Grianan or sunny house of his future instructress, “built upon a +rock of appalling height,” “had seven great doors and seven great +windows between every two doors of them, and thrice fifty couches +between every two windows of them, and thrice fifty handsome +marriageable girls in scarlet cloaks and in beautiful and blue attire, +attending and waiting upon Scathach.” + +Here he met his one match in arms, Ferdia Mac Daman, the Firbolg +champion. Naois, Ardan, and Ainnle, the three sons of Uisneach, were +also pupils. To pass the “Bridge of the Cliffs” was the first great feat +to be learned. “Wonderful was the sight that bridge afforded when any +one would leap upon it, for it narrowed until it became as narrow as the +hair of one’s head, and the second time it shortened until it became as +short as an inch, and the third time it grew slippery as an eel of the +river, and the fourth time it rose up on high against you until it was +as tall as the mast of a ship.” + +It was while practising the feat of the bridge that Scathach’s lovely +daughter Uathach fell in love with him as she spied the hero from one of +the windows of the Grianan. And then “her face and colour constantly +changed, so that now she would be as white as a little white flowret, +and again she would become scarlet.” Cuchulinn and she were afterwards +married. During his sojourn at the Dun, Scathach was carrying on war +against other tribes over whom her rival the Princess Aoife (Eva) ruled. +When the two hosts met, Aoife challenged Scathach to single combat, and +Cuchulinn went out instead to encounter the heroine. This was his chance +introduction to the lady who bore him his famous son Conlaoch. Before he +went back again to his native land, he left instructions with her that +the child to be born if a girl would be hers, if a boy she was to train +him In all hero feats, except the gaebolg or belly dart—a mysterious +weapon that could only be cast at fords on water. Then she was to send +him to Erin, bidding him tell no man who he was. + +Conlaoch’s amazing exploits in his father’s country are related in a +special tale, which tells how he killed the Ulster warriors sent against +him, and how Cuchulinn himself unwittingly opposed him in arms till, +hard pressed by his skilful opponent, he called for his gaebolg and +despatched him. + +It was then the unhappy father discovered that he had killed his own +son. + +This is apparently the Gaelic version of the well-known Persian tale of +Sohrab and Rustum—a story of Aryan origin. Just as Cuchulinn recognised +when too late his kinship with Conlaoch, and mourned over him, so did +the father of the young Tartar, for the brief moments the latter +survived his mortal wound. + +On his return from Skye, prior to the birth of his ill-fated son, +Cuchulinn had been joyously welcomed home by King Conchobar and his +knights. Losing no time he proceeded to Lusk to claim Eimer. The young +lady had in his absence become deeply enamoured of him, though her +father and brothers remained obdurate. Fortifying themselves against the +intrusion of the champion for a whole year, they denied him entrance, or +even a sight of his faithful lover, until Cuchulinn, getting desperate, +scaled the walls, overcame his opponents and carried off Eimer, her +maid, and much treasure in his chariot. All the way north to Emania he +had frequent combats with the men who followed to frustrate this heroic +elopement. + +Commenting on the story, O’Curry makes the interesting remark that +“there is scarcely a hill, valley, river, rock, mound, or cave in the +line of country from Emania in the present county of Armagh to Lusk in +that of Dublin of which the ancient and often varying names and history +are not to be found in this singularly curious tract,” namely, the +Wooing of Eimer. “So that, if we look upon it even as a highly-coloured +historic romance, it will be found one of the most valuable of our large +collection of ancient compositions on account of the light which it +throws not merely on ancient social manners, and on the military feats +and terms of those days, but on the meaning of so vast a number of +topographical names. And it records, too, I may add, very many curious +customs and superstitions, many of which to this day characterise the +native Irish people.” + +Other exploits of the wonderful Cuchulinn are related in the “Táin Bó +Chuailgné” or “Cattle Raid of Cooley”—the greatest and longest of the +heroic sagas. Here we encounter that remarkable Amazon, Queen Meve of +Connaught, and her third husband, Ailill. When at Rath-Cruachan it seems +they had spread their royal couch, and between them there ensued a +pillow conversation, ending in a controversy as to which of the two was +the richer. In this debate comparison was made between their mugs and +vats and iron vessels, their urns and brewers’ troughs, and kieves. +Their jewels also were brought out, such as finger-rings, clasps, +bracelets, thumb-rings, diadems, and gorgets of gold; their apparel of +crimson, blue, black and green, yellow and chequered and buff, +wan-coloured, pied and striped. Comparison was made between their flocks +of sheep and steeds and studs, and herds of swine and droves of cows. +But all were found to be exactly equal. + +Then Ailill recollected that he had a young bull named “Finn-bheannach” +or “White-horned,” which had been calved by one of the Queen’s cows, but +which had left her herd and joined his own because the high-minded +animal did not “deem it honourable to be under a woman’s control.” +Meve’s disappointment was keen that no bull of hers was found to match +this one; so, when Fergus Mac Roth the herald assured her that Daré, in +Cuailgne, Ulster, possessed a brown one, the best in all Erin, she +immediately sent him with nine subordinates to fetch it, offering its +owner liberal terms for a year’s loan. Daré treated the messengers with +kindly hospitality, and agreed to the royal request. But, unhappily, +while the men were imbibing too freely that night, his steward overheard +one of them boasting that if the bull had not been willingly sent they +would have taken it by compulsion. + +On this coming to Daré’s ears, he swore by the gods that now they would +not have his Donn Chuailgne either by force or consent. + +Meve was not a woman to be thus lightly denied or insulted. _Nolens +volens_ she would have the bull, and summoned her native forces for +action. She also invited the men of Leinster and Munster to join her in +avenging past indignities received at the hands of the men of Ulster. +Fifteen hundred men from the latter province, who happened to be at feud +with King Conchobar for his treachery to the sons of Uisneach, were +prevailed upon to answer her summons, and a great army set out. At a +place near modern Louth, where they halted on the march, a feast was +held, at which the Queen contrived to promise to each of the leaders, +without the knowledge of the rest, the hand of her beautiful daughter +Finnamhair in marriage as a stimulus to valour and fidelity. “On one of +the nights the snow that fell reached to men’s legs and to the wheels of +the chariots, so that it made one plain of the five provinces of Erin, +and the men never suffered so much before in camp. None knew throughout +the whole night whether it was his friend or his foe who was next him +until the clear shining sun rose early on the morrow.” + +Though the Ulster men had sufficient warning of the approach of this +host, they were not in readiness. A childish helplessness, to which they +were subject for an unmanly crime, had overtaken them and left them at +the mercy of their foes. + +It was Cuchulinn’s country the enemy had invaded, and he kept them at +bay. Hovering around them unseen all day, he killed as many as a hundred +each night with his sling. In vain Meve tried to buy this boyish hero +off, first by a mutual conference, with the glen between them, and +second by sending an embassage with Mac Roth as messenger-in-chief. On +this occasion Cuchulinn discarded the twenty-seven cunningly prepared +undershirts which with cords and ropes were secured about him. And this +he did to escape the difficulty that would arise in throwing them off, +should his paroxysm come to boiling point and he in them still. Anon for +thirty feet all round the hero’s body the snow melted with the intense +heat generated in his system. His charioteer, we are told, durst not +come nigh him. From a safe distance he informed his master of Mac Roth’s +approach and described him. + +Cuchulinn demands single combat, enjoining his opponents by the laws of +Irish chivalry not to pass the ford till he was overcome. Queen Meve +reluctantly consents, deeming it better to lose one warrior a day than a +hundred each night. With her messenger came a youth anxious to see the +renowned hero, and he, deceived by the boyish appearance of Cuchulinn, +determined to fight him. To warn the rash stripling of his danger, the +latter plays upon him two sword-feats. By the first, “the under-cut,” he +slices away the sod from under this Etarchomal’s soles and lays him +supine, with the sod upon his upturned chest. By the second, “the +vigorous edge-stroke,” he takes off all his hair from poll to forehead +and from ear to ear, as clean as though he had been shaven with a razor, +but without drawing blood. Finally, he despatches him with the “oblique +transverse stroke,” whereby in three simultaneously fallen segments the +youth reaches the ground. + +Champion after champion falls in single combat, until Meve, getting +desperate, had at length to call in the aid of magic. So we read that +one warrior was helped by demons of the air in bird shape, but in vain; +and the great magician Cailatin and his twenty-seven sons, despite their +spells, also met their doom. Cuchulinn was further persecuted by the +war-goddess, the Morrigan, who appears in all shapes to plague him and +to frighten the life of valour out of his soul. He himself is not behind +in demoniac influence, for with the help of the Tuatha de +Danann—Manannan especially—he does great havoc among Meve’s troops, +circling round them in his chariot and dealing death with his sling. + +It was during one of these exploits that he gave his chariot the heavy +turn, so that its iron wheels sank into the earth and their track was in +itself a sufficient fortification, for the stones and pillars and flags +and sand rose back high on every side round the wheels. + +His foes are baffled. Impatient Meve cannot forget that the Ulster men +will soon be rid of their childish feebleness, and then the game is up. +So she approaches Ferdia, the only warrior fit to match Cuchulinn, with +the view of arranging a combat whereby the latter may be laid low. +Ferdia at first refuses to fight his former comrade, with whom he had +made a compact of undying friendship while attending the lady Scathach’s +school in Skye. The Queen then promises him Finnamhair for wife, with +land and riches. It is probable that even this bait would not have +fetched the unwilling warrior had she not further threatened that her +druids and ollamhs would “criticise, satirise, and blemish him,” enough +to “raise three blisters on his face,” if he refused. Thereafter he +consented, thinking it better to fall by valour and championship than by +druids and reproach. + +Fergus was accordingly sent forward to tell Cuchulinn that his friend +Ferdia was coming to fight him. “I am here,” retorted the champion, +“detaining and delaying the four great provinces of Erin from Samhain +till Feill Brighde, and I have not yielded one foot in retreat before +any one during that time, nor will I, I trust, before him.” The +charioteer gets ready the chariot, and into it sprang “the +battle-fighting, dexterous, battle-winning, red-sworded hero, Cuchulinn, +son of Sualtam, and there shouted around him Bocanachs and Bananachs and +Genîtî Glindi, and demons of the air. For the Tuatha de Danann were used +to set up shouts around him, so that the hatred and the fear and the +abhorrence and the great terror of him should be greater in every +battle, in every battlefield, in every combat, and in every fight into +which he went.” + +The heroes met at the ford. After the first day’s fight, “each of them +approached the other forthwith and each put his hand round the other’s +neck and gave him three kisses. Their horses were in the same paddock +that night, and their charioteers at the same fire; and their +charioteers spread beds of green rushes for them with wounded men’s +pillows to them. The professors of healing and curing came to heal and +cure them, and they applied herbs and plants to the stabs and cuts and +gashes and to all their wounds. Of every herb and of every healing and +curing plant that was put to the stabs and cuts and gashes and to all +the wounds of Cuchulinn, he would send an equal portion from him +westward over the ford to Ferdia, so that the men of Erin might not be +able to say, should Ferdia fall by him, that it was by better means of +cure that he was enabled to kill him.” + +As the days pass the fighting becomes more serious. Early on the fourth +Ferdia arose and went forward alone to the ford. He knew that that day +would decide the contest, and that either or both of them would fall. +Having put on his wonderful suit of battle, he displayed many +extraordinary feats which he never learned from any other,—not from +Scathach, or Uathach, or Aoife, but which were invented by himself. + +On seeing these, Cuchulinn said to his charioteer, “I perceive there, my +friend Laeg, the noble, varied, wonderful, numerous feats which Ferdia +displays on high, and all these will be tried on me in succession. +Therefore if it be I who shall begin to yield this day thou must excite, +reproach, and speak evil to me, that the paroxysm of my rage and anger +shall grow the more. If it be I who shall prevail then thou shalt laud +and praise and speak good words to me, that my courage may be the +greater.” + +“It shall be so done indeed, O Cuchulinn,” replied the faithful Laeg. + +The champions then arranged to try the ford feat. And the saga remarks: +“Great was the deed, now, that was performed on that day at the ford—the +two heroes, the two warriors, the two champions of Western Europe, the +two gifted and stipend-bestowing hands of the north-west of the world, +the two beloved pillars of the valour of the Gael, and the two keys of +the bravery of the Gael, to be brought to fight from afar through the +instigation and intermeddling of Ailill and Meve.” + +First, they began to shoot with missive weapons, till, getting more +furious, Cuchulinn sprang at his opponent twice for the purpose of +striking his head over the rim of his shield, but each time Ferdia gave +the shield a stroke of his left knee or elbow, and cast Cuchulinn from +him like a little child on the brink of the ford. + +Laeg perceived that act, and, true to the instructions of his master, +began taunting him. “Alas! indeed,” said he, “the warrior who is against +thee casts thee away as a lewd woman would cast her child. He throws +thee as a mill would grind fresh malt. He pierces thee as the felling +axe would pierce the oak. He binds thee as the woodbine binds the tree. +He darts on thee as the hawk darts on small birds, so that henceforth +thou hast not call, or right, or claim to valour or bravery to the end +of time and life, thou little fairy phantom.” + +At that word up sprang the fallen hero with the rapidity of the wind, +and with the readiness of the swallow, and with the fierceness of the +dragon, and the strength of the lion, into the troubled clouds of the +air the third time, and he alighted on the boss of the shield of Ferdia, +but with the same humiliating result. + +“It was then that Cuchulinn’s first distortion came on, and he was +filled with swelling and great fulness, like breath in a bladder, until +he became a terrible, fearful, many-coloured Tuaig, and he became as big +as a Fomor, or man of the sea, the great and valiant champion in perfect +height over Ferdia.” + +So close was the fight they made now that the Bocanachs and Bananachs, +and wild people of the glens, and demons of the air screamed from the +rims of their shields, and from the hilts of their swords, and from the +hafts of their spears. + +At length Ferdia found an unguarded moment upon his opponent and wounded +him sorely. Cuchulinn, unable to endure this, or Ferdia’s stout quick +strokes and tremendous great blows at him, called for the gaebolg. It +was a weapon that used to be let down the stream and cast from between +the toes. It made the wound of one spear in entering the body, but it +had thirty barbs to open, and could not be drawn out of a person’s body +until it was cut out. So Laeg set the gaebolg down the stream, and +Cuchulinn caught it between the toes of his foot and threw an unerring +cast of it at Ferdia. + +“That is enough now indeed,” said the wounded man. “I fall of that.” + +Thereafter a trance, a faint, and a weakness fell on Cuchulinn as he saw +the body of Ferdia. But Laeg roused him, and then he began to lament and +mourn, and to utter a panegyric over his slain rival as David did over +Jonathan:— + + O Ferdia (he said) treachery hath defeated thee. + Unhappy was thy fate— + Thou to die, I to remain,— + Grievous for ever is our lasting separation. + + When we were far away, yonder + With Scathath, the gifted Buanand, + We then resolved that till the end of time + We should not be hostile one to the other. + + Dear to me was thy beautiful ruddiness, + Dear to me thy perfect form, + Dear to me thy clear grey-blue eye, + Dear to me thy wisdom and thine eloquence. + + There hath not come to the body-cutting combat, + There hath not been angered by manly exertion, + There hath not borne shield on the field of spears + Thine equal, O ruddy son of Daman. + + Never until now have I met, + Since I slew Aoife’s only son, + Thy like in deeds of battle, + Never have I found, O Ferdia. + + Finnamhair, daughter of Meve, + Notwithstanding her excellent beauty, + It is putting a _gad_ on the sand or sunbeam + For thee to expect her, O Ferdia. + +He continued to gaze on his fallen friend, and when at length, tempted +by his charioteer to come away and get healed of his grievous wounds, he +said, “We will leave now, O my friend Laeg, but every other combat and +fight that ever I have made was to me but as a game and a sport compared +to the combat and the fight of Ferdia.” + +There is a most beautiful rendering of his further eulogy in Dr. +Sigerson’s _Bards of the Gael and Gall_. Here it is. The repetition and +rhythm have been adapted from the original:— + + Play was each, pleasure each, + Till Ferdia faced the beach; + One had been our student-life, + One in strife of school our place, + One our gentle teacher’s grace, + Loved o’er all and each. + + Play was each, pleasure each, + Till Ferdia faced the beach, + One had been our wonted ways, + One the praise for feat of fields, + Scathach gave two victor shields— + Equal prize to each. + + Play was each, pleasure each, + Till Ferdia faced the beach; + Dear that pillar of pure gold, + Who fell cold beside the ford. + Hosts of heroes felt his sword + First in battle’s breach. + + Play was each, pleasure each, + Till Ferdia faced the beach; + Lion, fiery, fierce, and bright, + Wave whose might nothing withstands, + Sweeping, with the shrinking sands, + Horror o’er the beach. + + Play was each, pleasure each, + Till Ferdia faced the beach; + Loved Ferdia, dear to me; + I shall dree his death for aye, + Yesterday a mountain he,— + But a shade to-day. + +Queen Meve with her army ravaged the province of Ulster and secured the +Donn Chuailgne. Ultimately, through the recovery of the Ultonians from +their temporary debility, she was thoroughly defeated. Yet, +notwithstanding the loss of so many warriors, the masterful woman +congratulates herself on having accomplished the two great objects of +her expedition—the securing of the brown bull and the chastisement of +her former husband, King Conchobar. + +The story of the Táin ends in an anti-climax, relating in the most +ludicrous and fantastic manner the tragic fate of the bulls,[19] the +unwitting cause of all this frenzy. + +But Queen Meve was determined to avenge herself on Cuchulinn, and in the +course of time collected another large army. Among all his foes none was +more venomous than were the descendants of the wizard Cailatin, who, +with his twenty-seven sons, had been killed at the ford combat. The +malignant efforts of these sorcerers to get the warrior into their power +are vividly described. For a time he was kept and entertained in the +royal palace by his wife Eimer and the ladies of Emania, and poets, and +musicians, and wise men. The wizards made noise as of battle, and when +Cuchulinn looked out he imagined he saw battalions drawn up upon the +plains smiting each other unsparingly. It was with difficulty he was +withheld from going out. + +So, by Conchobar’s command he was taken at length by the druids and +ladies of the Court to a far away lonely glen, called the Deaf Valley. +Even here the wizards found him, and in consequence the very dogs were +terrified with the goblins, prodigies, and eldritch things with which +the place was haunted. A full account is given of the manner in which +they ultimately decoyed him from his retreat, and it is related how all +the omens were against him. For example, his brooch fell and pierced his +foot. His noble steed, the Liath Macha, refused to be yoked, and when +finally persuaded, let fall down his cheeks two large tears of dusky +blood. + +But Cuchulinn met his foes in battle array. And as many as there were of +grains of sand in the sea, of stars in heaven, of dewdrops in May, of +snowflakes in winter, of hailstones in a storm, of leaves in a forest, +of ears of corn in Magh Breagh, of stalks of grass beneath the feet of +the herds on a summer’s day, so many halves of heads and of shields, so +many halves of hands and of feet, so many red bones, were scattered by +him throughout the plain of Muirtheimhne. Grey was that field with the +brains of his enemies, so fierce and furious the hero’s onslaught. + +When he fell, he fell pierced with his own spear, which Lewy, the son of +Curigh, had hurled back upon him, but rising again, he went against a +pillar of stone that he might die standing up. And the Liath Macha +defended him with teeth and hoofs to the last, killing as many as thirty +in the struggle. So died the mighty Cuchulinn. + +In the Red Rout of Conall Cearnach we read how that famous knight, who +had been previously sent for, came back from Pictland to avenge the +death of his friend, and how he brought the heads of the chief offenders +to Eimer. + +Satisfied with this retribution, Eimer desired Conall to dig a grave for +Cuchulinn wide and deep; and she laid herself down in it with her mate, +saying, “Love of my soul, O friend, O gentle sweetheart, many were the +women who envied me thee until now, and I shall not live after thee.” +After she expired Conall performed the customary funeral obsequies, +wrote their names in Ogam, and raised the stone over their tomb. + +In the Leabhar Na h’Uidhre there is a detached episode entitled, “The +Instruction of Cuchulinn to a Prince.” It occurs in the romance known as +“The Sickbed of Cuchulinn,” and on the authority of the Brehon Law we +know that many of the precepts therein enjoined were rules legally +incumbent on the chieftains in aftertimes. + +The occasion was the election of a king to rule over Erin in Tara. + +Lugaid, destined for this exalted office, was at the time the pupil of +Cuchulinn, sitting over his pillow as he lay ill. When news came, +suddenly the prostrate hero arose and began to instruct the young +prince. Among other precepts he gave voice to these, which show not only +the traditional estimate of the hero’s character, but also the high +moral qualities expected in the chief ruler of Erin and his satellites. + +“Speak not haughtily. Discourse not noisily. Mock not, insult not, +deride not the old. Think not ill of any. Make no demands that cannot be +met. Receive submissively the instructions of the wise. Be mindful of +the admonitions of the old. Follow the decrees of your fathers. Be not +cold-hearted to friends; but against your foes be vigorous. Avoid +dishonourable disputes in your many contests. Be not a tattler and +abuser. Waste not, hoard not, alienate not. Submit to reproof for +unbecoming deeds. Do not sacrifice justice to the passions of men. Be +not lazy lest you become weakened, be not importunate lest you become +contemptible.” + +“Do you consent to follow these counsels?” the distinguished tutor +asked. + +To which the prince made answer, “These precepts without exception are +worthy to be observed. All men will see that none of them shall be +neglected. They shall be executed, if it be possible.” + +Little wonder that in later Christian times the old pagan hero was held +in high esteem, and even exalted into a medium for the conversion of +King Laoghaire, whom the preaching of St. Patrick himself failed to +convince. In the “Phantom Chariot of Cuchulinn” it is related that +Patrick went to Tara to enjoin belief upon the King of Erin, that is, +upon Laoghaire, son of Nial, for he was King of Erin at the time, and +would not believe in the Lord, though he had preached unto him. “By no +means will I believe in thee, nor yet in God,” said the heathen monarch +to the saint, “until thou shalt call up Cuchulinn in all his dignity, as +he is recorded in the old stories, that I may see him, and that I may +address him in my presence here; after that I will believe in thee.” + +Upon this St. Patrick conjured up the hero, so that he appeared to the +King in his chariot as of old. Laoghaire’s description of Cuchulinn as +thus seen in his phantom chariot is even more graphic than that of the +maid in the Wooing of Eimer. + +The spectre proved a most earnest preacher, endeavouring to persuade his +royal hearer to believe in God and Patrick, and so escape the pains of +hell, of which it appears he had had some experience. + + My little body was scarred— + With Lugaid the victory: + Demons carried off my soul + Into the red charcoal. + + I played the swordlet on them, + I plied on them the gae-bolga; + I was in my concert victory + With the demon in pain. + + Great as was my heroism, + Hard as was my sword, + The devil crushed me with one finger + Into the red charcoal. + +It is somewhat ludicrous to read that he practised the gaebolg even on +the spiteful units of the under world, though apparently with less +success than on Ferdia and the rest. + +The tale consistently enough concludes that “great was the power of +Patrick in awakening Cuchulinn, after being nine fifty years in the +grave.” + +To appreciate the vigour and spirit of these remarkable sagas as they +figure in the original, one requires to read them through. No +quotations, however well chosen, can do full justice to their wealth of +imagination and descriptive power, especially when depicting stirring +incidents, curious customs, men, horses, chariots, arms, ornaments, +vesture, and colours. Then they are profuse, fantastic, minute, and +boldly original, tedious, sometimes through the very prodigality of +their adjectival resources. In perusing them the reader feels that he is +in a fresh field of literature and breathing an atmosphere entirely +different to anything modern. + +Though Homeric in form, there is always the Celtic tinge in the literary +style as well as in the facts seized on and made prominent. Within the +last half century these early tales have been frequently translated into +various languages, and excellent versions are now available from the +pens of such distinguished scholars as Eugene O’Curry, Dr. Whitley +Stokes and O’Flanagan, M. d’Arbois de Jubainville and M. Louis Duvan, +Dr. Ernst Windisch, Dr. Kuno Meyer, Standish Hayes O’Grady and O’Beirne +Crowe. + + + + + CHAPTER X + THE OSSIANIC CYCLE + + The old order changes—Who were the Feinn?—Ossian, his name and + relation to the bardic literature—The Ossianic tales and poems + very numerous—Earliest references—First remarkable + development—Original home of the Ossianic romance—The leading + heroes—A famous tract—Legends regarding Fionn, and curious details + of his warrior-band—The literature divided into four classes—Most + ancient poems of Ossian, and the Feinn—Quotations—“The Dialogue of + the Ancients”—Ossian and Patrick—Story of Crede—Miscellaneous + poems—Prose tales—“Pursuit of Diarmad and Grainne”—“Lay of + Diarmad”—Norse Ballads—Dream figures, a remarkable Gaelic + tradition. + + +The Ossianic cycle brings us down to the middle of the third century +A.D. It is clearly much later than the Heroic. For in the interval the +old order peculiar to the days of Cuchulinn has passed away, and new +manners and customs are in vogue. No longer is our attention engrossed +with descriptions of chariots and war-horses and cow-spoils. The heroes +are an organised body of men, who engage in the peaceful pastimes of +hunting and feasting when not occupied with the more serious business of +warfare. They appear less mythical than the demi-gods and champions of +earlier times; yet they move in that dim background of history where +figures are always seen in chiaroscuro, and we cannot even be remotely +confident of their historical reality. + +Indeed, it has long been a moot question who the Feinn[20] were, and we +still have the most conflicting opinions on the subject. For example, +the native Irish have always regarded them as an actual martial caste, +maintained during several reigns by the kings of Erin for national +defence. And there is documentary evidence to show that as early as the +seventh century Fionn[21] was generally looked upon as a quondam popular +hero. Eugene O’Curry shared the belief of his countrymen, for he says: +“I may take occasion to assure you that it is quite a mistake to suppose +Finn Mac Cumhaill to have been a merely imaginary or mythical character. +Much that has been narrated of his exploits is, no doubt, apocryphal +enough, but Finn himself is an undoubtedly historical personage; and +that he existed about the time at which his appearance is recorded in +the Annals is as certain as that Julius Cæsar lived and ruled at the +time stated on the authority of the Roman historians.” And O’Curry +supports this opinion with the statement that the hero’s pedigree is +fully detailed in the Book of Leinster, and his death is chronicled in +the _Annals of the Four Masters_, as having taken place in 283 A.D. + +Yet more recent scholarship inclines to other and very different views. +Dr. Hyde fancies the school of Mr. Nutt and Professor Rhys would +recognise in the Feinn tribal deities euhemerised or regarded as men. +Dr. Skene and Mr. Macritchie believed they were a race distinct from the +Gaels, probably allied to, or even identical with, the Picts, the latter +venturing the opinion that they might be the _sìdh_ or fairy folk of the +mounds so frequently in evidence in Gaelic literature; while Dr. +Alexander Macbain speaks of Fionn as probably the incarnation of the +chief deity of the Gaels, and his band of heroes as a kind of +terrestrial Olympus. + +From these latter the popular Ossian, son of Fionn, has been singled out +as the representative bard of early times. The most ancient forms of the +name were Ossin, Oisin, or Oisein, meaning “the little fawn.” It is +variously spelt in the Book of the Dean of Lismore. And only in +Macpherson’s time and through his usage did the word acquire its modern +familiar orthography. + +In the same manner as the name of David is traditionally associated with +the Hebrew Psalter, or the name of Homer with the Homeric poetry, so is +that of Ossian the warrior bard with the classic poems of the Gael. His +will always be identified with the bardic literature that celebrates the +deeds of the Feinn, even though scholars cannot affirm with historic +certainty that he actually lived or was the real author of one of the +ballads attributed to him.[22] + +The Ossianic tales and poems are very numerous. Indeed O’Curry says that +if printed at length in the same form as the text of O’Donovan’s edition +of the _Four Masters_ they would occupy as many as 3000 pages of such +volumes. And that statement was made before the publication of +Campbell’s Scottish collection, known as _Leabhar na Feinne_. Apart from +the tales, it is believed that the poetry alone extends to upwards of +80,000 lines. + +Yet, compared with the wealth of ancient texts that represent the Heroic +saga, we have very few old vellum MSS. representing the Ossianic. Of +many of the pieces there are two redactions, one on vellum, the other on +modern paper—the latter usually the longer and more profuse. It would +seem as if the Ossianic tales took hold of the imagination of the Gael +much more powerfully than did those of the Heroic cycle, with the result +that they have been in process of evolution down almost to the present +day—certainly to the end of the eighteenth century, which witnessed that +wonderful recrudescence of production, associated in Scotland with the +names of Macpherson, Smith, Clark, Maccallum, and others. + +The earliest references to Fionn occur in two Irish poets, one of the +tenth and the other of the eleventh century; in the Annals of +Tighernach, who died in 1088; and in the venerable Leabhar Na h’Uidhre +and Book of Leinster. So that as early as the origin of these latter two +MSS. we have written Ossianic or Fionn tales; and, seeing these literary +monuments were compiled from older documents it is at least possible, as +scholars affirm that some of the tales may have been written down in MS. +before the end of the seventh century. + +The first remarkable development in the evolution of the saga took place +between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, the most characteristic +feature of the change being the prominence given to foreign invasion, +especially the invasion of Lochlanners. Fionn is no longer a tribal +chief in one locality, but the acknowledged leader of all Gaeldom +against the intruding aliens. + +The stories of his own exploits and of those of his warrior band are +Gaelic variants of tales common to all Celtic, indeed to all Aryan +races. In his essay on the “Development of the Ossianic or Fenian Saga,” +printed in vol. ii. of _Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition_, Mr. +Alfred Nutt says that “in the redactions which substantially reach back +to the twelfth century, these tales are profoundly modified in two ways: +firstly, the euhemerising process begun in the ninth to tenth centuries +has fully developed, and the saga has been fitted into a framework of +tribal and personal conditions, which necessarily determine the growth +along certain lines; secondly, mythic features and incidents have been +translated, as it were, into historic terms, borrowed from the +comparatively recent history of the race, and the saga has in +consequence been enriched by a new series of personages, and by a wider +geographic horizon. At this stage it is taken up by the literary class +of the day, the professional story-tellers, and metrically fixed. It is +literary in so far as the form is artificial, that is, due to a given +man who did not hesitate to embellish and amplify out of his acquired +stock of knowledge; popular in so far as it is kept in close touch with +tradition. This semi-literary form continued to develop until the +eighteenth century in both divisions of Gael-land, but the guiding +impulse ever came from Ireland. During the last hundred years and more, +large fragments of it have been preserved in Scotland orally, and offer +the most instructive object lesson with which I am acquainted to the +student of traditional diffusion and transmission. Side by side with the +semi-literary development, the purely popular forms continued to exist +and grow. With regard to Scotland, the chief Ossianic problem is, how +far these may be looked upon as independent of the semi-literary twelfth +century forms, that is, as derived substantially from the earlier +traditions brought by the Gael to Scotland in the early centuries of the +Christian era. There is much to be said for and against this view. There +is practically nothing to be said in favour of the Fenian saga being +older on Scotch ground than the Dalriadic colonisation. Both Scotland +and Ireland have an equal claim to the saga in this sense—that both +countries were inhabited by Gaels, who told and localised it wherever +they went; but Ireland’s claim is so far superior that these tales were +told in Ireland earlier than in Scotland; that whatever admixture of +fact there is in them is Irish fact, and that the chief shapers of the +cycle have been Irish, and not Scotch Gaels. On the other hand, the +Gaels seem both to have preserved the popular form in a more genuine +state, and the semi-literary form orally with greater tenacity.” + +Ireland we may therefore regard as the original home of the Ossianic +romance, which in time diffused itself to the west of Scotland, to the +Hebrides, and even to the Isle of Man. And it is significant that while +the theatre of the Cuchulinn drama was mainly the north of that +country—Ulster and Connaught, that of the Feinn was the south—Leinster +and Munster. + +The leading heroes of this cycle were:— + +1. Fionn, son of Cumhail, son of Trenmor, who is represented as having +been a druid. + +2. Gaul Mac Morna, leader of the clan Morna in Connaught. The first name +of Gaul was Aedh Mac Morna, but in the battle of Cnucha he lost an eye +and was henceforth known as Gaul, that is, the _Blind_ Mac Morna. In +this battle he slew Cumhail, Fionn’s father, the leader of the Leinster +band, and though he afterwards served under Fionn, they had no great +love for each other. + +3. Ossian, son of Fionn, who in later times became famous as the great +poet of the Celtic people. + +4. Oscar, son of Ossian, and grandson of Fionn, who is represented as +handsome and kind-hearted, and generally one of the bravest of the +Feinn. + +5. Diarmad O’Duibhne, with the beauty spot—“ball seirc”—which compelled +any woman who saw it to fall in love with him. + +6. Caoilte Mac Ronan, a nephew (or cousin) of Fionn, the swiftest of all +the Fenian heroes. + +7. Fergus Finne-bheoil, “the eloquent,” who figures as a wise counsellor +as well as a great warrior. + +8. Conan Maol, the fool and coward of the party. + +The greater number of the incidents of this cycle are represented as +having taken place during the reign of Cormac Mac Art Mac Conn of the +hundred battles, and that of his son, Cairbre of the Liffey. The former +reigned from 227 to 268 A.D., but it was during the reign of the latter +that the battle of Gabhra was fought, in the year 283 A.D., which for +ever put an end to the Fenian power. + +In O’Flaherty’s “Ogygia” it is said, “_Cormac_ exceeded all his +predecessors in magnificence, wisdom, and learning, as also in military +achievements. His palace was most superbly adorned and richly furnished, +and his numerous family proclaim his majesty and munificence; the books +he published and the schools he endowed at Temor bear unquestionable +testimony of his learning; there were three schools instituted, in the +first the most eminent professors of the art of war were engaged, in the +second history was taught, and in the third jurisprudence was +professed.” + +There is a famous tract entitled, “The Instruction of a Prince,” +ascribed to this king, which has evidently been redacted in Christian +times. It is preserved in the Book of Ballymote, and takes the form of +question and answer between the son Cairbre and his royal father. + + “O Grandson of Conn, O Cormac,” said Cairbre, “what is good for a + king?” + + “That is plain,” said Cormac, “it is good for him to have patience and + not to dispute, self-government without anger, affability without + haughtiness, diligent attention to history, strict observance of + covenants and agreements, strictness mitigated by mercy in the + execution of laws ... let him enforce fear, let him perfect peace.” + + “O Grandson of Conn, O Cormac,” said Cairbre, “what is good for the + welfare of a country?” + + “That is plain,” said Cormac, “frequent convocations of sapient and + good men to investigate the affairs, to abolish each evil and retain + each wholesome Institution, to attend to the precepts of the elders; + let the law be in the hand of the nobles, let the chieftains be + upright and unwilling to oppress the poor.” + + “O Grandson of Conn, O Cormac,” said Cairbre, “what are the duties of + a prince at a banqueting house?” + + “A Prince,” said Cormac, “should light his lamps and welcome his + guests with clapping of hands, procure comfortable seats, the + cup-bearers should be respectable and active in the distribution of + meat and drink. Let there be moderation of music, short stories, a + welcoming countenance, a welcome for the learned, pleasant + conversations, and the like.” + + “O Grandson of Conn, what is good for me?” to which Cormac answers:— + + “If thou attend to my command, thou wilt not mock the old although + thou art young, nor the poor although thou art well-clad, nor the lame + although thou art strong, nor the ignorant although thou art learned. + Be not slothful, nor passionate, nor penurious, nor idle, nor + jealous....” + +Again Cairbre asks how he is to conduct himself among the wise and among +the foolish, among friends and among strangers, among the old and among +the young, to which Cormac, his father, replies:— + + Be not too knowing nor too simple; be not proud, be not inactive, be + not too humble nor yet haughty; be not talkative but be not too + silent; be not timid, neither be severe. For if thou shouldst appear + too knowing thou wouldst be satirised and abused; if too simple thou + wouldst be imposed upon; if too proud thou wouldst be shunned; if too + humble thy dignity would suffer; if talkative thou wouldst not be + deemed learned; if too severe thy character would be defamed; if too + timid thy rights would be encroached upon. + +There are various versions of the story of Fionn’s birth. In Leabhar Na +h’Uidhre it is told shortly as follows: Tadg, chief druid of Conn, had a +beautiful daughter called Muirne. Cumhail, son of Trenmor, who was head +of the Militia in King Conn’s time, asked Muirne in marriage, but her +father Tadg refused to give her, because he knew from his druidical +knowledge that if Cumhail married her, he himself would lose his +ancestral seat at Almhain, now Allen, in Leinster. So Cumhail took +Muirne by force and married her. Tadg appealed to King Conn, who sent +his forces after the delinquent, resulting in the battle of Cnucha being +fought, in which Cumhail was killed by Aedh son of Morna, who in turn +lost his eye. Muirne fled to Cumhail’s sister, and gave birth to a son, +who was at first called Demni. When he grew up he demanded _eric_ of his +grandfather Tadg for the death of his father, and so, according to +druidical anticipation, he got possession of Almhain. He also made peace +with Gaul, who afterwards figured as one of his band of warriors. + +In the Bodleian Library, Oxford, there is a MS. written about the +fifteenth century, in which is preserved a treatise entitled “Boyish +exploits of Fionn.” It is interesting to note here how he was reputed to +have come by the gift of seeing into the future. At that time on the +banks of the Boyne there lived a famous poet called Finn Eges, and young +Fionn was sent to him to complete his education. There was a prophecy +that if one of the name of Fionn ate a salmon caught in Fiacc’s pool on +the Boyne he should no longer be in ignorance of anything he might wish +to know. The poet had industriously fished the pool for seven years and +never landed a single fish. However, one was caught shortly after +Fionn’s arrival, and Finn Eges sent the lad to cook it, with strict +injunctions not to taste it. While turning the salmon on the fire Fionn +burnt his thumb, and instinctively thrust it into his mouth to cool. On +reporting the incident to his master, the poet asked him his name. +“Demni,” said the lad. “Your name is Fionn,” muttered the poet, “and it +is you who were destined to eat of the salmon of knowledge, you are the +real Fionn!” + +Thus it was that knowledge came to the young hero. Through the chance +incident of suddenly inserting his thumb in his mouth, the hidden was +revealed to him. + +The legend, as given in a vellum MS. in Trinity College, Dublin, is +somewhat different. It says that on a certain occasion Fionn was hunting +near _Sliabh nam Ban_, and while standing at a spring, presently a +strange woman came along, filled a silver tankard at the well, and +without saying a word walked away with it. The hero’s curiosity was +aroused. He followed, unperceived, until she reached the side of the +hill, where a concealed door opened to admit her. In by this entrance +she walked, and Fionn attempting to do likewise got his thumb trapped +between the door and doorpost as the former suddenly swung back. It was +with great difficulty he managed to extricate the _ordag_, but having +succeeded, he at once thrust it, bruised as it was, into his mouth to +ease the pain. And no sooner had he done this than he found himself +possessed of the gift of foreseeing future events. Hence the expression, +“ordag mhor an eolais” (the great thumb of knowledge). + +Irish scholars invariably represent the Feinn as a band of Militia, or +kind of standing army, that fought battles, and defended the kingdom +from invasion. Before a soldier could be admitted into this select +corps, he had to promise, “first, never to receive a portion with a +wife, but to choose her for good manners and virtues; second, never to +offer violence to any woman; third, never to refuse any one in the +matter of anything he might possess, that is, he ought to be charitable +to the weak and the poor; and fourth, no single warrior should ever flee +before nine champions.” It was necessary that “both his father and +mother, his tribe, and his relatives should first give guarantees that +they would never demand an _eric_ or revenge from any person for his +death.” + +In a fifteenth century MS. in the British Museum it is stated that (1) +Not a man was taken until he was a prime poet versed in the twelve books +of poetry. (2) No man was taken till in the ground a large hole had been +made such as to reach the fold of his belt, and he put into it with his +shield and a forearm’s length of a hazel stick. Then must nine warriors +having nine spears, with a ten-furrows’ width between them and him, +assail him, and in concert let fly at him. If he were then hurt past +that guard of his, he was not received into the Fian-ship. (3) Not a man +of them was taken until his hair had been interwoven into braids on him, +and he started at a run through Ireland’s woods, while they seeking to +wound him followed in his wake, there having been between him and them +but one forest bough by way of interval at first. Should he be overtaken +he was wounded, and not received into the Fian-ship after. (4) If his +weapon had quivered in his hand he was not taken. (5) Should a branch in +the wood have disturbed anything of his hair out of its braiding he was +not taken. (6) If he had cracked a dry stick under his foot, as he ran, +he was not accepted. (7) Unless that, at full speed, he had both jumped +a stick level with his brow, and stooped to pass under one on a level +with his knee, he was not taken. (8) Unless also without slackening his +pace he could with his nail extract a thorn from his foot, he was not +taken into the Fian-ship. But if he performed all this he was of Fionn’s +people. + +Keating, who wrote about 1630, and who had access to documents now no +longer extant, gives some curious details:— + + The members of the Fenian body (he says) lived in the following + manner. They were quartered on the people from November Day till May + Day, and their duty was to uphold justice and to put down injustice on + the part of the kings and lords of Ireland, and also to guard the + harbours of the country from the oppression of foreign invaders. After + that, from May till November, they lived by hunting and the chase, and + by performing the duties demanded of them by the kings of Ireland, + such as preventing robberies, exacting fines and tributes, putting + down public enemies, and every other kind of evil that might afflict + the country. In performing these duties they received a certain fixed + pay.... However, from May till November the Fenians had to content + themselves with game, the product of their own hunting, as this right + to hunt was their maintenance and pay from the kings of Ireland. That + is, the warriors had the flesh of the wild animals for their food, and + the skins for wages. During the whole day, from morning till night, + they used to eat but one meal, and of this it was their wont to + partake towards evening. About noon they used to send whatever game + they had killed in the morning by their attendants to some appointed + hill, where there were wood and moorland close by. There they used to + light immense fires, into which they put a large quantity of round + sandstones. They next dug two pits in the yellow clay of the moor, and + having set part of the venison upon spits to be roasted before the + fire, they bound up the remainder with _sugans_—ropes of straw or + rushes—in bundles of sedge, and then placed them to be cooked in one + of the pits they had previously dug. There they set the stones which + they had before this heated in the fire round about them, and kept + heaping them upon the bundles of meat until they had made them seethe + freely, and the meat had become throughly cooked. From the greatness + of these fires it has resulted that their sites are still to be + recognised in many parts of Ireland by their burnt blackness. It is + they that are commonly called _Fualachta nam Fiann_, or the Fenians + cooking spots. + + As to the warriors of the Fenians, when they were assembled at the + place where their fires had been lighted ... there every man stripped + himself to his skin, tied his tunic round his waist, and then set to + dressing his hair and cleansing his limbs, thus ridding himself of the + sweat and soil of the day’s hunt. Then they began to supple their + thews and muscles by gentle exercise, loosening them by friction, + until they had relieved themselves of all sense of stiffness and + fatigue. When they had finished doing this they sat down and ate their + meal. That being over, they set about constructing their + hunting-booths, and preparing their beds, and so put themselves in + train for sleep. Of the following three materials did each man + construct his bed—of the brushwood of the forest, of moss, and of + fresh rushes. The brushwood was laid next the ground, over it was + placed the moss, and lastly rushes were spread over all. It is these + three materials that are designated in our old romances as the _Tri + Cuilcedha nam Fiann_ (the three beddings of the Fenians). + +The literature of the Ossianic cycle is divided by O’Curry into four +classes— + +1. The first consists of poems in ancient MSS., ascribed to Fionn Mac +Cumhail, to his sons Ossian and Fergus Finnbheoil, and his nephew +Caoilte. There are seven in Fionn’s name, five in the Book of Leinster, +and two in the Book of Lecain. Other two are attributed to Ossian in the +Book of Leinster, of which one is a description of the battle of Gabhra, +which took place in the year 283, and in which Oscar, the brave son of +Ossian, and Cairbre Lifeachair, the monarch of Erin, fell by each +other’s hands. + +The original of this latter has both alliteration and assonance, which +we miss in the English version here given:— + + An Ogam on a stone, and a stone on a grave, + Where once men trod; + Erin’s prince on a white horse + Was slain by a slender spear. + + Cairbre made a cruel cast, + High on his horse good in the fray; + Shortly before they both were lamed— + He struck Oscar’s right arm off. + + Oscar made a mighty cast, + Raging bold like a lion: + Killed Cairbre, grandson[23] of Conn, + Whom warriors bold obeyed. + + Youths, mighty and daring, + They met their death in the strife; + Not long before their combat, + More heroes had fallen than lived. + + I myself was in the fight, + Southward there of Gabor green; + Twice fifty men I slew— + With my own hand I slew them. + + The Ogam is here on the stone, + Round which many ill-fated fell; + Were Finn, in prowess great, alive + Long in mind would be the Ogam. + +The facts of Cairbre fighting on horseback and the Ogam on the stone +seem to point back to early times, though alternatively the ideas might +be used afterwards to give an air of antiquity to the piece. + +Ossian’s second describes the great fair and festival games of Liffey, +and sketches a visit he paid with his father and accompanying warriors +to the court of the King of Munster. These are the only poems of the +bard that O’Curry knew, that could positively be traced as far back as +the twelfth century. The earliest written pieces superscribed with his +name that we have in Scotland are the nine in the Book of the Dean of +Lismore. Mr. J. F. Campbell was of opinion that the Dean regarded them +as actual compositions of the warrior-bard, contemporary with Cormac Mac +Art. + +Of one of these, well known as a lament of Ossian in his old age, +Professor Blackie has given an English rendering from the Dean’s text, +and Dr. Douglas Hyde another more recently from a similar text in the +Belfast Museum. The latter runs thus:— + + Long was last night in cold Elphin, + More long is to-night on its weary way. + Though yesterday seemed to me long and ill, + Yet longer still was this dreary day. + + And long for me is each hour new-born, + Stricken, forlorn, and smit with grief + For the hunting lands and the Fenian bands, + And the long-haired, generous, Fenian chief. + + I hear no music, I find no feast, + I slay no beast from a bounding steed, + I bestow no gold, I am poor and old, + I am sick and cold, without wine or mead. + + I court no more, and I hunt no more, + These were before my strong delight + I cannot slay, and I take no prey; + Weary the day and long the night. + + No heroes come in their war array, + No game I play, there is nought to win; + I swim no stream with my men of might, + Long is the night in cold Elphin. + +Ask, O Patrick, thy God of grace, To tell me the place he will place me +in, And save my soul from the Ill One’s might, For long is to-night in +cold Elphin. + +As in the beautiful poem entitled “Finn’s Pastimes,” so in the following +verses from the Dean’s Book, the bard shows that he is in intimate touch +with nature, revelling in her sights and sounds:— + + Binn guth duine an tir an ôir, + Binn a ghlòir a chanaid na h’eoin; + Binn an nuallan a ni a chorr, + Binn an tonn am Bun-da-treoir, + Binn am fabhar a ni a ghaoth; + Binn guth cuach os Cas-a’choin, + Aluinn an dealradh a ni grian, + Binn a nithear feadail nan lon, etc. + + Sweet is man’s voice in the land of gold, + Sweet the sounds the birds produce; + Sweet is the murmur of the crane, + Sweet sound the waves at Bundatreor, + Sweet the soft murmuring of the wind; + Sweet sounds the cuckoo at Cas-a’choin, + How soft and pleasing shines the sun, + Sweet the blackbird sings his song, etc. + +There is one genuinely ancient poem ascribed to Fergus, the bard’s +brother. It was copied from the lost “Dinnsenchus” into the Book of +Lecain and Book of Ballymote. It tells of a remarkable adventure Ossian +once had. While out hunting with a few followers he was decoyed into a +mountain cavern by some of its fairy inhabitants, and detained there +with his companions for a whole year. During all that time the bard was +in the habit of cutting a small chip from the handle of his spear, and +casting it upon the stream that issued from his rocky prison. Fionn, who +had searched in vain for his missing men, happened one day to come to +this river, and observing a floating chip, picked it up, and knew at +once that it was from Ossian’s spear, and intended for a sign. He +thereupon followed the stream to its source, entered the cavern, and +rescued the captive hunters. + +A poem by Caoilte Mac Ronan, found in the same two MSS. as the last, and +copied from the same source, is not a legend of the Feinn, but a love +story, in which Cliodhna, a fair-haired, foreign lady, figures as +heroine. + +2. The second class of Ossianic literature consists of tracts made up of +articles in prose and poetry, attributed to one or other of the bards +already mentioned, but related by some other person. The most important +in this category, and perhaps the only genuine one now existing, is that +known as “Agallamh na Seanórach,” or “Dialogue of the Ancients,” the +latter being Ossian and Caoilte. Full of curious and really valuable +historical information, it is the largest Fenian or Ossianic tale, and +has recently been edited by Dr. Whitley Stokes. The text preserved in +the Book of Lismore, and more or less fully in other collections, +asserts that after the battle of Gabhra, the Feinn were so shattered and +diminished in numbers that they dispersed themselves over the country. + +Ossian and Caoilte survived their brethren in arms, and after wandering +for a time among the new and strange generation that had grown up, they +agreed to separate. + +The former went to his mother in the enchanted mansion of Cleitech, as +some MSS. say, to “Tir nan Og.” The latter passed over Magh Breagh +southwards, and ultimately joined St. Patrick, who was delighted to add +so remarkable a convert to his following. + +Nearly 150 years passed since their early warrior days, when Ossian +suddenly returned from “Tir nan Og” and the enchanted mansion to seek +his old friend and comrade Caoilte. On finding him, henceforth they both +became St. Patrick’s constant companions in his missionary journeys +through Erin. They give him the history and topography of every place +they visit and of numberless other places, all of which is noted down by +Brogan, the saint’s faithful scribe, for the benefit of future +generations. So says the wonderful “Colloquy of the Ancients.” As an +instance of this service, Patrick and his company were one day sitting +on the hill Finntulach, now better known as Ard-Patrick, in the county +of Limerick, when the saint inquired regarding the origin of the name. +Caoilte explained how it used to be called Tulach na Feinne until Fionn +altered it; and went on to relate how that great leader of men and his +following were once on this same hill when Cael O’Neamhain came to him, +and the conversation of the two heroes turned on Crede, the daughter of +Cairbre, King of Kerry. + +“Do you know,” said Fionn, “that she is the greatest flirt of all the +women of Erin; that there is scarcely a precious gem in the land that +she has not obtained as a token of love; and that she has not yet +accepted the hand of any of her admirers.” “I know it,” said Cael, “but +are you aware of the conditions on which she would accept a husband?” +“Yes,” replied Fionn, “whoever is so gifted in the poetic art as to +write a poem descriptive of her mansion and its rich furniture will +receive her hand.” “Good,” said Cael, “I have with the aid of my nurse +composed such a poem, and if you will accompany me, I will now repair to +her court and present it to her.” + +Fionn consented, and setting out on their journey they in due time +reached the lady’s mansion, which was situated at the foot of the +well-known Paps of Anann in Kerry. On their arrival, the lady asked +their business. Fionn answered that Cael came to seek her hand in +marriage. “Has he a poem for me?” queried she. “I have,” said Cael. And +he then recited his poem, of which the following are a few +characteristic verses:— + + Happy the house in which she is, + Between men and children and women, + Between Druids and musical performers, + Between cup-bearers and door-keepers. + + Between equerries without fear, + And distributors who divide (the fare); + And over all these the command belongs + To fair Crede of the yellow hair. + + It would be happy for me to be in her _dùn_, + Among her soft and downy couches, + Should Crede deign to hear my suit, + Happy for me would be my journey. + + A bowl she has whence berry-juice flows, + By which she colours her eyebrows black, + She has clear vessels of fermenting ale; + Cups she has and beautiful goblets. + + The colour (of her _dun_) is like the colour of lime + Within it are couches and green rushes, + Within it are silks and blue mantles, + Within it are red, gold, and crystal cups. + + Of its grianan the corner stones + Are all of silver and of yellow gold, + Its thatch in stripes of faultless order, + Of wings of brown and crimson red. + +Crede seems to have been very well pleased with this song, for she +married Cael. But, sad to tell, on being called away soon after to the +battle of Finntraigh, he was there killed. His widowed partner gave vent +to her grief in an elegy replete with interest, because it exhibits the +Celtic characteristic of imputing to all nature—birds, deer, waves, and +rocks, one’s own mournful feelings; and because it contains allusions to +ancient customs. Her wail sounds like a Highland coronach of other days: +“A woeful note, and O a woeful note is that which the thrush in +Drumqueen emits, but not more cheerful is the wail which the blackbird +makes in Letterlee. A woeful sound, and O a woeful sound is that the +deer utters in Drumdaleish. Dead lies the doe of Drumsheelin, the mighty +stag bells after her sore suffering, and O suffering sore is the hero’s +death, his death, who used to lie by me. Sore suffering to me is Cael, +and O Cael is a suffering sore, that by my side he is in dead man’s +form; that the wave should have swept over his white body, that is what +hath distracted me, so great was his delightfulness. A dismal roar, and +O a dismal roar is that the shore’s surf makes upon the strand.... A +woeful booming, and O a boom of woe is that which the wave makes upon +the northward beach, butting as it does against the polished rock, +lamenting for Cael, now that he is gone.” + +3. The third class of this literature consists of miscellaneous poems +attributed chiefly to Ossian, with a few also to his brother poets, and +a large number without any ascription of authorship. They are found +mostly in paper MSS. of the last 250 years, and are generally +transcripts from older books. In whole or in part they often take the +form of dialogues between Patrick and Ossian. Apparently following the +idea suggested by the “Colloquy of the Ancients,” the Gaelic dreamers +have instituted talks and debates between these representatives of +Paganism and Christianity. Such dialogues are to be found in earlier +MSS., like those of the Book of Lismore and the Book of the Dean of +Lismore, but more frequently in later ones. Besides dealing with the +exploits of the Feinn, they somewhat humorously accentuate the +antagonism between the pagan and ecclesiastical ideals. Specimens of the +more famous of these may be seen in the chapter dealing with the +influence of the Church on Celtic literature. Of the other poems of this +class, the best known is perhaps that entitled “Cath-Chnuic-an-Air,” or, +more shortly, “Cnoc-an-Air.” In addition to giving an account of the +battle, it describes the treasures of the Feinn hidden under Loch Lenè +(Killarney). + +The delightful “Ossian and Evir-Alin” may also be noted here. Pattison +thought it possibly one of the oldest of all the Ossianic fragments, but +he was well aware that it is not easy to determine its age. These verses +from his English rendering suggest its peculiar charm:— + + We came to the dark Lake of Lego; + There a noble chief came to meet + And conduct us with honour to Branno— + With honour and welcomings sweet. + + · · · · · + + Branno inquired, “What is your purpose? + What would you have of me?” + And Cailta said, “We seek thy daughter, + Her would we have of thee.” + + · · · · · + + “So high the place, O Ossian, + Do men’s tongues to thee assign, + If I twelve daughters had,” said Branno, + “The best of them should be thine.” + + Then they opened the choice and spare chamber, + That was shielded with down from the cold; + The posts of the door were of polished bone, + And the leaves were of good yellow gold. + + Soon as generous Evir-Alin + Saw Ossian Fingal’s son, + The love of her youth, by the hero + By me, young maid, was won. + + Then we left the dark Lake of Lego + And homeward took our way; + But Cormac, fierce Cormac, waylaid us + Intent on the furious fray. + +Ossian and Cormac fight for the lady. The personal combat is described, +and the victorious Ossian continues— + + I swept the head from his shoulders + And held it up in my hand; + His troops they fled, and we came with joy + To Fingal’s mountain land. + +4. The fourth class consists of prose tales, describing in a romantic +style the exploits and daring deeds of Fionn and of individuals of his +band. The two best known are the “Pursuit of Diarmad and Grainne,” and +the “Battle[24] of Ventry Harbour.” Of the former the leading details +are these:— + +Fionn in his old age asked the monarch Cormac Mac Art for the hand of +his celebrated daughter Grainne in marriage. The king agreed to the +hero’s proposal, and invited him to Tara to obtain the princess’s own +consent, necessary in those days as in these to their union. Accepting +the invitation, he proceeded thither, attended by a chosen body of his +warriors, among whom were his son Ossian, his grandson Oscar, and a +chief officer Diarmad O’Duibhne. A grand feast was provided, over which +the monarch presided, and the Feinn were entertained with every mark of +favour and distinction. + +It appears to have been a custom on such occasions in ancient Erin, says +O’Curry, for the mistress of the mansion or some other distinguished +lady to fill her own rich drinking cup with choice liquor, and send it +round by her maid-in-waiting to the leading gentlemen at the banquet, +who in turn passed it on to certain others next them, in order that +every guest might enjoy the distinction of participating in the special +favour. The lady Grainne in this instance did the honours of the +occasion, and all, with the exception of Ossian and Diarmad, had drunk +from her cup. But while the imbibing company were yet proclaiming their +praises of the liquor and their profound acknowledgments to the hostess, +they fell one by one into a heavy sleep. + +The slim hostess had caused the drink to be drugged, and, as soon as she +recognised the effect, went and sat beside Ossian and Diarmad, +addressing the former, and complaining to him of the folly of his father +Fionn in expecting that a maiden of her youth and beauty should ever +consent to become the wife of so old and war-worn a veteran. Had it been +Ossian himself, gladly would she accept him; but since that could not be +in the circumstances, she saw no chance of escaping the evil her +father’s rash promise threatened to bring upon her than by flight. +Ossian could not dishonour his own sire by being partner to such a +course, so she conjured Diarmad, by his manliness and chivalry, to take +her away, make her his wife, and thus save her from a fate more tragic +in her eyes than death itself. + +After much persuasion, for the step was serious in view of his leader’s +ire, Diarmad consented, and they both eloped, gaining the open country +before the somnolent company awoke. + +But no sooner had Cormac and Fionn rallied than they perceived how they +were duped, and, raging desperately, they vowed vengeance against the +absent pair. Organising a party for pursuit, the jilted lover +immediately set out to scour the country. In this search he sent forward +advance parties of his swiftest and best men in every direction. +Apparently to little purpose at first, for Diarmad was a favourite with +his brethren-in-arms, and the peculiar circumstances of the elopement +invested it with such an element of romance, and of sympathy on the part +of the young heroes, that those in pursuit never could discover the +retreat of the lovers. Even if Fionn himself did happen to get on their +track, he was thwarted by means of some wonderful stratagem on the part +of Diarmad. + +Such is the outline of “The Pursuit of Diarmad and Grainne,” a pursuit +which extended all over Erin. In the course of its narration in the +original a large amount of curious information on social manners, +ancient tales, superstitions, topography, and the natural products of +different parts, is introduced. The absconding pair were caught at last, +but the Fenian heroes would not permit Fionn to punish Diarmad. + +Ultimately, the chief had his own peculiar revenge. When at the hunt of +the magic boar Diarmad killed that formidable quarry, and escaped +scatheless, with sinister intention Fionn asked him to measure its +length against the bristles. In doing so Diarmad’s foot, his only +vulnerable part, was pierced by one of the poisonous points. And +although Fionn could have restored him by a draught from his life-giving +shell, he would not. Thus died the hapless Diarmad O’Duibhne, an officer +of fine person and most fascinating manners. Famous in family annals +too, for from him the Campbells trace their descent. Not only does he +figure in their genealogical tree,[25] but the Dukes of Argyll still +have the boar’s head on their coat-of-arms. + +The “Lay of Diarmad” has for generations been very popular. There are +various versions of it. Pattison’s English rendering is mainly from the +text in Maccallum’s collection. Fionn afterwards repenting that he did +not save his young rival, lamented thus:— + + Alas, that, said Fionn, for a woman + I’ve slain my own sister’s son— + For an ill woman slain him! too noble + To be slain for the loveliest one. + + Sad stood the heroes beside thee, + O youth of the noble race; + And dim grew the eyes of each maiden + When the mould went over thy face. + + And now like the tree, I stand lonely— + Wither’d and wasted and sear; + With the rude howling tempest to tear me, + Where the shade of no green bough is near. + +Quite a large collection of ancient Ossianic ballads are concerned with +the wars between the Feinn and the Norse invaders from Lochlann. They +are quite manifestly of dates posterior to the Viking age, and might +constitute a class by themselves. In “The Banners of the Feinn,” the +heroes are marshalled before us one by one. And here also Diarmad +O’Duibhne takes the lead. The ballad, in rollicking modern verse, has +been thus rendered by Dr. Macneill:— + + The Norland king stood on the height + And scanned the rolling sea; + He proudly eyed his gallant ships + That rode triumphantly. + + And then he looked where lay his camp + Along the rocky coast, + And where were seen the heroes brave + Of Lochlann’s famous host. + + Then to the land he turn’d, and there + A fierce-like hero came; + Above him was a flag of gold, + That waved and shone like flame. + + “Sweet Bard,” thus spoke the Norland king, + “What banner comes in sight? + The valiant chief that leads the host, + Who is that man of might?” + + “That,” said the bard, “is young MacDoon, + His is that banner bright; + When forth the Feinn to battle go, + He’s foremost in the fight,” etc., etc. + +Dream-figures of the dim and distant past, Fionn and his warriors have +not quite lost their sway over the Celtic imagination. Indeed, Gaelic +popular tradition has it that they are not dead, but sleeping under +great green knolls somewhere in the Highlands, and that one day they +will awake to restore the Gael to his ancient power, just as the Cymri +look for the return of Arthur. It is even related that once a wight +obtained entrance to their place of rest, and was asked to blow three +times on the _dudach_ or horn. This he did, and, after the first blast, +behold! the sleeping forms of men and dogs moved to life; after the +second, the Feinn warriors got up on their elbows and stared at him. The +sight so unnerved the rash intruder that, throwing down the instrument, +he fled in terror from the ghostly place; while after him came the awful +imprecation, “Milè mollachd, is miosa dh’fhag na fhuair” (“A thousand +curses on you; you left us worse than you found us”). These were the +last words he heard as he made good his escape—the last account of the +Feinn borne to the upper world. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + THE INFLUENCE OF THE NORSE INVASIONS ON GAELIC LITERATURE + + The dreaded Vikings—In English waters—Descents on Iona—Monasteries + favourite objects of attack—Destruction of books—Their own eddas + and sagas—Modern discovery of the wonderful Icelandic + literature—The Northmen in a new light—Literary effects of their + invasions—Arrested development—Lamentable dispersion of the + literary classes—Pilgrim Scots—The rise of Scottish + Gaelic—Present-day differences between it and Irish—Introduction + of Norse words—Decay of inflection—Gaelic examples of Viking + beliefs and superstitions—The Norseman still with us. + + +Britain owes her proud pre-eminence among the nations as much to the sea +as to any other external factor. Her empire seems to sit stable upon the +waves. So far from disconnecting the broadcast parts, it is the ocean +that links them well together into one mighty whole which keeps “the +fretful realms in awe.” Thus as citizens of the British Empire we are +wont to regard the sea as our most powerful ally and friend. We connect +with it the idea of national defence. It is our bulwark. With it we +associate also the spirit of freedom, and pleasure in summer time, when +multitudes frequent the coast and drink in new life and energy there. +And in reflective moments it wafts our thoughts to larger issues, and we +recognise that the sea helps towards the realisation of the brotherhood +of man, for it brings the nations into close touch with one another, and +through the quiet channels of trade and commerce, tends to exorcise old +and distant race antagonisms. And so in this country we are born to view +the ocean with kindly eyes, and to rely upon it almost as our national +foster-parent. + +Yet it was not ever thus. We go back to a time in these western lands +when the briny wave was a terror to men, for out there, in storm and +shine, lurked their chief danger. Any morning they awoke, or any evening +they retired to rest, they might see the dragon-prowed galleys of the +wild Norsemen bearing down upon them. And in the night, when the winds +howled or there came a moaning from the deep, they could not be sure but +the dreaded Vikings were upon them. No part of the coast of these +islands or of north or west France was safe from their incursions. The +blue waves and the distant horizon of the watery main were then scanned +with different feelings from ours. A secret fear haunted the imagination +as it saw or fancied it perceived a distant sail on the seascape. The +very children inherited the awe inspired by these ruffians of the deep; +for ruffians they were, many of them, who massacred and laid waste, +sparing not even the peaceful abodes of piety and learning. + +Sometimes they bore down upon a reach of coast when the unsuspecting +inhabitants had not the faintest presentiment of peril from the waves. A +medieval writer (Monachi Sangale, Gesta Caroli, II. 14) tells how +Charlemagne himself and his courtiers were thus surprised. They were +seated at a banquet one day in the town of Narbonne, when all of a +sudden some swift barks were seen putting into the harbour. The company +started up, wondering who the strangers might be. Were they Jews, or +Africans, or simply British traders? None could tell. The keen eye of +the king alone hastily divined the situation. “No bales of merchandise,” +said he, “are borne hither by yonder galleys. They are manned by +terrible foes.” And then advancing to the window, he stood for a long +time reflecting, his eyes moist with tears and bent on vacancy. No one +durst ask him the cause of his foreboding, till at length he broached it +himself. “It is not for myself,” muttered he, “that I am weeping, nor +for any harm that yonder barks can do to me; but it grieves me sore to +think that during my lifetime they have made bold to approach these +shores, and greater still is my dejection when I reflect on the evils +they will yet inflict on those who come after me.” And he was right. The +crews that he saw in the offing were plundering Northmen, who were soon +to be followed by kindred sea-rovers bent on conquest. Of little avail +in his own time were his strong forts and garrison towns built to +withstand the foe, and after his death his less imperious successors +hardly dared lift a dagger to stem the tide of invasion that laid waste +their fairest lands and cities. “Take the map,” wrote Sir Francis +Palgrave in his history of _Normandy and England_, “and colour with +vermilion the provinces, districts, and shores which the Northmen +visited, as the record of each invasion. The colouring will have to be +repeated more than ninety times successively before you can arrive at +the conclusion of the Carlovingian dynasty. Furthermore, mark by the +usual symbol of war—the two crossed swords—the localities where the +battles were fought by or against pirates,—where they were defeated or +triumphant, or where they pillaged, burned, or destroyed; and the +valleys and banks of the Elbe, Rhine and Moselle, Scheldt, Meuse, Somme +and Seine, Loire, Garonne and Adour, the inland Allier, and all the +coasts and coastlands between estuary and estuary, and the countries +between the river streams will appear bristling as with _chevaux de +frise_. + +“The strongly-fenced Roman cities, the venerated abbeys and their +dependent bourgades, often more flourishing and extensive than the +ancient seats of government, the opulent seaports and trading towns were +all equally exposed to the Danish attacks, stunned by the Northmen’s +approach, subjugated by their fury.” + +According to Paul B. du Chaillu, one of the more recent and exhaustive +writers on the subject, the Viking age extended from the second to the +middle of the twelfth century A.D. For a long time—centuries no +doubt—individuals were wont to come as traders, and in that capacity may +have been welcomed. But towards the end of the eighth century an +alarming development took place. Issuing from the viks or bays of Norway +and Denmark, the notorious Vikings appeared as depredators and +conquerors. 787 is given as the date when first their hostile vessels +were seen in English waters. And henceforward concerted attempts were +made to land on our shores and annex our territory. In 793 the work of +plunder was effectively inaugurated by an attack on Lindisfarne and +other points in Northumbria. The monastery on that island was laid +waste, and the Northumbrian kingdom itself so crippled that it lost the +commanding influence it wielded in the days of Adamnan and Bede and +their friend King Aldfrid. + +Next year the marauding Norsemen emerged in the Western Isles, which +from this time till the middle of the thirteenth century were destined +to be favourite haunts and special theatres of their operations. + +They quickly found and sacked defenceless Iona, and for years took +spoils of the sea between that Island and Erin. The Hebrides and the +Isle of Man were at their mercy in 798, and still insatiate with former +booty, in 802 they revisited Iona and burned its sacred buildings to the +ground. Returning four years later, they put the whole community to the +sword, numbering no fewer than sixty-eight persons. + +Iona truly had cause to dread the unceasing attentions of these terrible +strangers, for each visit seemed more appalling than the other. Baulked +in their efforts to get the silver shrines and relics of the departed +Columba, the freebooters made another swift and dire descent upon the +island in 825. Trained by sad experience, the monks on this occasion had +taken the precaution to bury their treasure-trove in a hole in the +earth, covering the surface with sods. And when their fierce assailants +burst upon the unprotected sanctuary, they found the holy St. Blathmac, +who was probably acting-abbot at the time, standing before the altar. Of +him they impetuously demanded the way to the hidden objects of their +pursuit—the precious silver shrines—and when he calmly refused, +insisting that he did not know the place of concealment which his +brethren had selected, they savagely murdered him on the spot. The +Annals of Ulster record the martyrdom, and Walafridus Strabo, a +contemporary on the Continent, gives an interesting metrical account of +the event in Latin, gathered no doubt from one or other of the monks who +had fled to him from these islands through terror of the Norse. + +Once more, on Christmas eve in 986, the famous monastery of Hy, ever +rising on its own ashes, was attacked and destroyed by the successors of +these old Danes, and this time the abbot and fifteen monks were put to a +violent death. From Orkney and Shetland, and the coasts of Caithness and +the Hebrides the hardy Norsemen swooped down upon Eastern Scotland as +well as upon the English and Irish seaboards, until at length they made +themselves for a time masters of a great part of the country. + +How they went to work may be gathered from their own records. For +example: Harold Fairhair’s saga, c. 22, says, “They ravaged in Scotland +and took possession of Katanes (Caithness) and Sudrland (Sutherland) as +far as Ekkjalsbakki. Sigurd slew the Scotch Jarl, Melbrigdi, and tied +his head to his saddle-straps; the tooth which protruded from the Jarl’s +head wounded the calf of Sigurd’s leg, which swelled and he died +therefrom; he is mounded at Ekkjalsbakki.” + +From these details it will be seen that they had much of the Vandal and +the rough buccaneer in their composition. Monasteries were favourite +objects of attack. They contained the richest plunder, and from their +nature, as religious centres, offered the least resistance. And not +content with merely carrying off the loot, the rovers mingled blood with +their depredations. Hence the peculiar fitness of the introduction into +the Litany of the significant petition: “From the fury of the Northmen, +good Lord, deliver us.” And this coarse grain in their character +accounts for their reckless conduct in other directions. They seem to +have had a special aversion to monks and clerics and learning. They made +short work of the books and bells of monasteries. We have contemporary +evidence of their vandalism towards literature in a remarkable book of +the period entitled, _Wars of the Gael with the Gaill_ (Northmen). It is +in Gaelic, and appears in the Book of Leinster, copied about 1150. The +author may have been an eye-witness of many of the scenes, and +particularly of the battle of Clontarf, which he so realistically +describes. His accuracy on matters of fact has been fully attested. We +can, therefore, credit his statement when he affirms regarding the few +men of learning who had survived the Viking ordeal that “their writings +and their books in every church and in every sanctuary where they were, +were burnt and thrown into water by the plunderers from beginning to +end” (of the Norse invasion). + +Countless numbers of the illuminated books of the men of Erin and Alba +thus perished. It was a mania with these illiterate rovers to destroy +all learning. Eloquent testimony to this is borne by the historian +Keating also. “It was not allowed,” he says, “to give instruction in +letters.... No scholars, no clerics, no books, no holy relics were left +in church or monastery through dread of them. Neither bard nor +philosopher nor musician pursued his wonted profession in the land.” + +And if modern evidence were necessary it might be found in the fact that +while Gaelic MSS. of the Viking age are to be found in almost every +other country of Europe, there is not one to be gleaned in the lands +whence the Norsemen came. From which circumstance it may be inferred +that they set so little value upon these literary acquisitions that they +took no care to preserve them, or even to carry them away to their own +territory. When the tide of invasion had well nigh spent itself, +Ireland, once so rich in native literature, was found to be so depleted +that King Brian Boru had to send delegates abroad, “to buy books beyond +the sea and the great ocean,” as the records affirm, so scarce had they +ultimately become. + +Yet even in their roving days the strenuous Norsemen had rare _eddas_ +and _sagas_ of their own, to which they were passionately devoted. These +were not then written down, but recited orally, like the Celtic tales, +till they found a literary embodiment in MS. books. + +It was only towards the middle of the last century that their wonderful +national sagas burst upon Europe, and thrilled and surprised the learned +quite as much as if they had felt a whiff of the old Viking breath upon +them. Prior to that time historians were largely dependent upon the +English, Irish, and Frankish chronicles for their knowledge of this +northern race and their deeds of spoliation, but since the discovery in +Iceland of the literary remains of their immediate descendants, quite a +fresh light has been cast upon their disposition and habits. And we +recognise that they were not quite the demons and fiends the monkish +scribes believed them to be. It is clear that, having suffered so much +from the hardy invader the latter had the tendency to exaggerate his +ferocity. For example, the author of the _Wars of the Gael with the +Gaill_: “In a word, although there were an hundred sharp, ready, cool, +never-resting brazen tongues in each head, and a hundred garrulous, +loud, unceasing voices for each tongue, they could not recount nor +narrate nor enumerate nor tell what all the Gael suffered in common, +both men and women, laity and clergy, old and young, noble and ignoble, +of hardship and of injury and of oppression in every house from these +valiant, wrathful, foreign, purely pagan people.” + +In every war and conquest there are dreadful happenings, and the Viking +was not troubled with sentiment or too much conscience in his +proceedings. He was rough and ready—like his trade, as we should say—as +he needed to be in that age if he meant to be master or even to get a +living. + +Great upheavals, we must remember, were taking place in his mother +country and driving him from his home. + +To take one example, Harold Fairhair, in bringing the whole of Norway +under his sway effected quite a revolution, changing the old ödal tenure +by which the land was held into a feudal one. Rather than submit to the +new order many nobles and people simultaneously sought freedom +elsewhere. They settled in Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, +occasionally raiding back to harass the king. But by the year 872 the +latter had so far established his rule at home that he was free to +tackle these islands with their Norwegian rebels and annex the territory +to Norway. Whereupon the more daring and independent spirits who had +settled there and in Ireland, and had contracted alliances in marriage +with leading native families, once more hived off, this time sailing +away for Iceland to join friends and relations who had migrated thither +from the mother country. And these were the nucleus of the colony whose +descendants produced the wonderful Icelandic literature which is now +reckoned among the most valuable assets of medieval Europe. Among the +settlers were men who bore Gaelic names and left their impress upon this +Norse heritage. From the parchments lately discovered upon which the +history of the Vikings is written, and which are begrimed by the smoke +of the Icelandic cabin and worn by the centuries that have passed over +them, we learn many things that tend to show the Northmen in a new +light. These men, who held undisputed sway of the seas for more than +nine centuries, were not by any means barbarians. They had a +civilisation rivalling that of the Gael, though of a different warp and +woof, and they were not even without a script or mode of writing. The +characters they used are known as runes, and may have been in use as +early as the second or third century. + +In the sagas we are often told that drawings on shields and embroidery +on cloth were made by them to preserve the memory of heroic deeds and +important events. And though the set who invaded our shores, in the +stress of war and sailing were not likely to trouble much with learning +or letters, their nation had doubtless retired _literati_ just like our +own. + +To trace the effect of these Norse invasions on Celtic literature will +now be our main endeavour. + +I. The first and immediate influence was doubtless to arrest its +progress. After ages of apparent barrenness, the genius of the +Gaelic-speaking peoples had at length produced the germ of a literature +which in the days of St Patrick and St. Columba took root and began to +grow. For well-nigh four centuries it had gone on developing in a most +promising way. The quiet and leisure of the monasteries furnished the +atmosphere most suitable for its inception and subsequent growth. These +religious retreats were then the centres of learning and nurseries of +thought, and many men were arising within their sacred walls who had a +genuine love and taste for writing—a love so great that they were not +merely content with copying books, composing poems, or writing history, +but they embellished them in a way which has excited the admiration of +modern times. + +Gaelic literature both in Ireland and Scotland was thus bidding fair to +yield a rich and abundant harvest when the blight of the Norse invasion +fell suddenly upon it, and effectually hindered its farther advance for +several centuries. The history of literary work in every age and country +shows that it is mostly in times of peace that this delicate plant +flourishes. In the stormier periods, when wars are waged, changes +frequent, and a spirit of unrest abroad, production of books is rare or +even non-existent. + +When the Celts themselves were a warrior race, living for the most part +by the sword, and migrating from land to land, they had no literature +that we know of. The conditions of life were not such that men could +quietly cultivate the art and practice of writing. Life was too full of +change, too turbulent, and too uncertain. + +Similarly the Norsemen during the Viking age, till they gained a +peaceful retreat in Iceland, were no litterateurs. Sailing and fighting +were more exciting, and with these the habits of the scribe or of the +author were not entirely compatible. And so when the tide of invasion +burst upon the monasteries of Ireland and Scotland, when rest from +strife and security from change could no longer be had, authorship, if +it did not entirely cease, became more rare and spasmodic. This is +particularly true of Scotland, for with the exception of the Book of +Deer, with its Latin contents of the ninth century, and its Gaelic +entries written towards the end of the Viking period, we have nothing to +show, of known Scottish origin, from the beginning to the end of these +incursions. Ireland was more fortunate in that in spite of invasion her +literary output was more continuous, especially in the department of +poetry. + +II. Contemporary with this arrested development, the sinister influence +of the Norse depredations may be traced in another result, and one which +has left a deep and permanent mark in the history of Celtic literature. +It is the lamentable dispersion of the literary classes—monks and +missionaries—to the Continent with such books and MSS. as they were able +to save from the violence of the invaders. Long before the inroads of +these Norsemen became a terror to the Gael, we know that Irish +missionaries had spread themselves over England, France, Germany, +Switzerland, and Italy. And in addition to their peripatetic preaching, +they had established monasteries and colleges for the diffusion of +Christianity and learning. From MSS. preserved in St. Gall, Switzerland, +we gather that these pilgrim Scots usually travelled in companies, +provided with long walking-sticks, leathern wallets, and water-bottles. +They wore long flowing hair, and were clad in rough garments. Though +thus rude and uncouth in appearance, they were accomplished scholars, +many of them, and easily acquired the languages of the countries through +which they passed, or in which they settled and preached with all the +perfervid eloquence so natural to the Celt. To show the extent of their +wanderings, and the distinguished calibre of the missionaries +themselves, a few names may be given which still live in books and +tradition. St. Columbanus, perhaps the best known of all, died in 615. +His name is perpetuated in the town of San Columbano. It was he who +founded the monasteries of Luxueil in France, and Bobbio among the +Apennines. Almost equally prominent as an evangelist was St. Gall, his +companion, who gave his name not only to the town which subsequently +grew up beside his monastery, but also to a whole canton of Switzerland. +Then there were St. Catald, from the school of Lismore in Ireland; St. +Donnatt his brother, Bishop of Lupice in Naples; St Kilian the apostle +and martyr of Franconia, still annually commemorated at Würzburg. At a +monastery near Strasburg, also founded by an Irish bishop, there is a +charter of date 810, which specifies grants made to that house, to the +poor, and to the pilgrim Scots—the nine of whom therein mentioned are +all bishops except the abbot. In the ninth century there was a convent +of Scots at Mont St. Victor near Feldkirk. Dungall, of the same Scotic +nationality, figures as the author of the famous letter to Charlemagne +on the eclipses of 810, and he held the office of preceptor at the +cathedral school at Pavia. Besides the numerous other places in which +they laboured, from the middle of the seventh to the twelfth century, +Scotic monasteries were founded at Ratisbon, Vienna, Eichstadt, +Würzburg, Erfurt, Kelheim, and Constance. + +These earlier retreats served as so many houses of refuge for the poor +monks and scholars flying from the fury of the Norsemen, when life and +property became insecure at home, in Iona, and elsewhere. It is known +that a fresh tide of Gaelic pilgrims set out for the Continent from the +time that the new peril appeared, seeking safe custody for themselves +and their books among their countrymen abroad. + +And thus it has come to pass that there are to-day hundreds of Celtic +MSS. in Latin and Gaelic widely scattered throughout Europe, in places +as far apart as Paris, Brussels, Dresden, Berne, Vienna, Rome, Florence, +Milan, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, etc. And while in the British Isles we +have only seven of these with Gaelic writing prior to the eleventh +century, on the Continent there are as many as twenty. + +It is surmised that it was in this manner in 825, after the attack on +Iona and murder of St. Blathmac, that the famous _Vita Columbæ_ of +Adamnan found its way to Reichenau on the Rhine, where it remained for +nearly a millennium, till it was ultimately transferred to Schaffhausen. + +These are two far-reaching and long-lasting effects of the Viking +troubles—the arrest of the literary development and the dispersion of +the documents, but they by no means exhaust the category. + +III. We have now to take into account the severance of Ireland from +Scotland. Anterior to the Norse invasions the language and literature of +both were one. There is no distinction to be made, for they were common +to both countries from the time of St. Columba, and there was constant +coming and going between Scotland and Ireland. But when the Norsemen +came they effectually put a stop to this. For two centuries they kept +the kindred realms apart, and never again was the original unity +restored. + +During the period of disjunction the separated parts began to travel on +different lines, and when the Viking sway ceased to sever them, the +language and literature of each had already taken on a character of its +own sufficiently divergent to keep them for ever asunder. The Book of +Deer is the first monument of this departure in Scotland, even as the +Leabhar Na h’Uidhre and _Liber Hymnorum_ are the earliest in Ireland. + +The Norse invasions were thus directly responsible for the rise of the +Scottish Gaelic and our native vernacular literature as distinct from +the Irish. Had it not been for their interception there is no knowing +how long the two dialects might have continued as one. + +As it was, notwithstanding the growing divergence, the written, though +not the spoken language of both countries might be regarded as still, +for the most part, the same in form till the fourteenth century. After +that they ceased to be even apparently identical, and to-day the chief +differences between the two tongues are these four:— + +1. The Irish has a future in the verb, whereas Gaelic uses the present +tense to indicate futurity. + +2. Inflection is fuller in written Irish than in written Gaelic. + +3. In Irish (south especially) the accent remains on the end syllable, +whereas in Gaelic it is nearly always on the first. + +4. In Gaelic every noun outside the _o_ declension forms the plural in +_n_, whereas in Irish _n_ is shown very rarely. + +IV. Instead of the parent Irish, there was from henceforth a Norse +linguistic influence upon the language of Scotland. There can be no +doubt that the new element thus imported into the Gaelic is very +considerable. Yet this is a department of philology which has never been +adequately worked. It offers an interesting field for further research +and inquiry, and it is gratifying to know that the study of Irish-Norse +relations, in its various aspects, claims the attention of such eminent +writers as Professor Zimmer, Professor Sophus Bugge, Dr. Alexander +Bugge, Dr. Craigie of Oxford, and Miss Faraday. + +We have to reckon with the fact that the Norsemen came in large numbers, +and freely intermarried with the native races, so that to-day the +inhabitants of Orkney, North-east Caithness, North and West Sutherland, +and North Lewis, differ very little in physique and general appearance +from the people of Norway and Iceland. And in Skye, Islay, and Kintyre +there is a large admixture of Viking blood, as well as in the other +Hebridean Islands, though not so marked in Mull and Jura. + +As we should expect, the Norse element in the Gaelic is most in evidence +in maritime terms and place names. + +As examples of the former, we have _vata_, a boat; _sgoth_, a skiff; +_birlinn_, a yacht; _sgioba_, a crew; _stiuir_, a rudder; _ailm_, a +helm; _sgod_, the sheet of the sail; _rac_, the masthoop; _stagh_, the +stay; _reang_, the rib; _tobhta_, the thwart; _tearr_, tar; _spor_, a +flint. + +Then we have _eilean_ for island; _haf_, the open sea; _ob_, a +land-locked bay, as in Oban; _uig_, a creek; _aoi_, an isthmus; +_geodha_, a gully; _sgeir_, a reef; _bodha_ and _roc_, sunken rocks; +_cleit_, a cliff; _grunnd_, the bottom; _bruic_, sea-weed. + +Of place names there is no lack. It has been calculated that in Lewis, +Norse are still to Gaelic names as three or four to one; in Skye as +three to two; in Islay as one to two; in Kintyre as one to four; in +Arran and the Isle of Man as one to eight. + +The Minch they called Skottlandsfjord. The smaller isles were nearly all +renamed, Eriskay, Eric’s isle; Jura, deer’s isle; Pladda, flat isle; +Staffa, stave isle; Sanda, sand isle. To the larger islands the invaders +left their original names, though these were occasionally sounded in +Norse fashion, as, for example, Sgith (Skye) as Skiō with long vowel. + +Personal names were also imported; Rognvald as Raonall or Rao’all, +Ragnhilda as Raonailt, Torcull, Goraidh, etc. The Latin Magnus, which +was common as a personal name in Norway, we borrowed in the Gaelic form +Manus; and such surnames as Macleod, Nicolson, Macaulay, and Macaskill +with the Celtic Mac prefixed. + +Other common words of Norse derivation are _traill_, a slave; _nabuidh_, +a neighbour; _sgillinn_, a penny; _mòd_, a court of justice, meeting; +_gadhar_, a greyhound; _toraisgean_, a peat knife, half Norse, half +Gaelic; _suith_, soot; _shearradair_, towel; _mal_, rent; _gleadhraich_, +noise. + +The Vikings were called _sumarlidi_, “summer wanderers,” because they +were most abroad at that season, and from this came the name once famous +in the West—“Somerled” of the Isles. To the Norse is also attributed the +insertion of _t_ in words like _struth_ for _sruth_, _stron_ for _sron_. + +V. But more important even than the introduction of new words was the +influence upon the structure of the language. And competent authorities +hold that to it we must assign the main share in accelerating the decay +of inflection noticeable in the Scottish Gaelic and Manx as compared +with the Irish. The latter was not so much exposed to Norse influence as +the former. And it is very apparent that the change referred to began to +assert itself soon after the Norse had ostracised the Irish, and taken +its place as a rival language in the West, destined to influence the +local Gaelic. + +It is not contended that the Gaelic writers derived any help from the +Norsemen. They were themselves the more advanced of the two. On the +other hand, the Icelandic scholar Viglisson has traced Gaelic rhymes and +measures as well as Gaelic ideas in the old Norse literature, and +Professor Zimmer even suggests that the Icelander owes to the Gael his +prose style. In the Islendinga Book, c. 1., we read that when Iceland +was first settled from Norway in the days of Harold Fairhair there were +Christian men, whom the Norsemen called Papa, but who afterwards went +away because they would not remain with the heathen, and left behind +them Irish books and croziers and bells, from which it could be seen +that they were Irishmen.[26] + +VI. How far the Norse ideas have entered into the warp and woof of +Gaelic literature is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the whole +subject, and one that offers a wide field for research. It cannot yet be +said that we have sufficiently differentiated between the two sets of +legends, beliefs, and customs to be able to affirm with certainty that +such and such belong to the one race, and such and such belong to the +other. The mythologies of peoples have so much in common, so much that +seems characteristic of the thinking of the whole human race at certain +stages of its development, that many ideas and legends have no exclusive +value, and cannot be claimed as the original heritage of one people more +than another. + +Yet conceptions pass from land to land and folk to folk, like an +epidemic, and become assimilated by each new race that breathes or +imbibes them, and as the Gaels have contributed to the thought of the +Norsemen, so have the Vikings in turn impressed their ideas, especially +their legends and beliefs, upon the imaginative race with whom they +mingled, and by whom they ultimately became absorbed. + +When we remember that, in the opinion of the best authorities, even the +very oldest of the Gaelic sagas could hardly have been written down +before the seventh or eighth century, and that many of them are of much +later date, we can well conceive how a Norse element might enter largely +into them. + +It is well known that the Lochlanners or Norsemen figure largely in the +Ossianic poems, and “it is quite evident,” says Dr. Hyde, “that most of +them, at least in the modern form in which we now have them, are +post-Norse productions.” + +In the Mythological, which is really the latest in point of writing, +while the Fomorians who dwelt in Lochlann, vicious and troublesome +invaders as they were, may in their origin be conceived as none other +than the sea-powers personified—the rough chaotic tumult of the Atlantic +Ocean, against which in the west of Ireland the various settlers had to +contend, they might more literally represent the Viking rovers which +later ages had to encounter, and by whom they were so often harassed and +overcome. + +In such stories as The Children of Lir, and more particularly The +Children of Tuireann, we have Gaelic examples of Norse beliefs and +superstitions. Take, for instance, shape-changing, of which there are +many illustrations in the Viking sagas. We are reminded at once of the +unhappy fate of the children of Lir, when we read in the Hrolf Kraki, +cc. 25, 26, that “King Hring of Uppdalir in Norway had a son Björn, and +when his wife died, he married a woman from Tuinmôrk. She changed her +stepson into a bear in this way. She struck him with a wolf-skin glove, +and said that he should become a fierce and cruel lair-bear, and use no +other food than the cattle of his father.” She went on to say, “Thou +shalt kill it for thy food, so much of it that it will be unexampled, +and never shalt thou get out of this spell, and this revenge shall harm +thee.” + +Then it is told that the king’s cattle were killed in large numbers, as +a big and fierce grey bear began to attack them. One evening the Bondi’s +daughter (Björn’s sweetheart) happened to see this fierce bear, which +came and fondled her much. She thought she recognised in the animal the +eyes of her lover, and followed him to his den, where, strange to +relate, she saw, not the bear, but a man. And Björn, for he was no +other, told her he was a beast by day and a man by night. + +As in this Norse saga we have the marriage, the stepmother, the revenge, +the striking with the wolf-skin glove, the spell, all corresponding to +the similar details in the Gaelic tale, with the exception that in the +latter the objects are usually struck by a magic wand instead of by a +wolf-skin glove. And comparing it with the story of the children of +Tuireann, Cian went into the shape of a pig, while Björn figured as a +bear. + +The two Gaelic stories above referred to, though they profess to belong +to the Mythological age, centuries before Christ, were actually written +down much later than the Heroic tales. The Norse story, on the other +hand, is supposed to be laid in the sixth century A.D., and it would be +hard to say, we daresay, which originated first or found the earliest +expression in writing. + +Another Viking idea which has found its way into Gaelic literature is +the belief in a Valhalla, or hall of the slain. It was held that to fall +gloriously on the field of battle secured undisputed entrance into this +heaven. In the “Aged Bard’s Wish,” an attractive poem of the Macpherson +period, we find the bard desirous of obtaining entry at death into the +hall where dwell Ossian and Daol. This conception of the future was +evidently adopted from Norse traditions, for the Gael, so far as is +known, had not originally the idea of a Valhalla. Transmigration was +more in his line. And curious was the occupation of the warriors in the +hall of the slain. + +“Every day after having dressed, they put on their war clothes, and go +out into the enclosure and fight and slay each other. This is their +game; near day meal they ride home to Valhalla and sit down to drink” +(later edda, c. 40). + +The unworthy and fushionless had not this bliss. Their portion was a +region cold, foggy, and cheerless. And it is thought that the author of +Adamnan’s vision may have got his cold and wet imagery of the place of +woe from the pagan invaders. St. Brendan, in his _Navigatio Brendani_, a +book well known in medieval Europe, gives a legend which is one of the +most singular products of Celtic imagination. He found Judas upon a rock +in the midst of the Polar seas. Once a week he passes a day there to +refresh himself from the fires of Hell. A cloak that he had given to a +beggar is hung before him and tempers his sufferings. As St. Brendan +lived in the middle of the sixth century the subject of the legend is +pre-Norse, and it is the heat that is represented as infernal. Dante, it +will be remembered, reserves the ice and cold for the last degree of +torment in the Inferno. And of Highland bards, Duncan Macrae, David +Mackellar, and others, down to the eighteenth century, have introduced +the same idea. Indeed, it has even been hinted that the tendency of the +Highland preacher to dwell upon the sterner aspects of our faith may +well be due to the lingering influence of the northern paganism. But +this we think rather far-fetched and unlikely, for other less ancient +influences, local and potent, have been at work to depress the outlook +of the Gael. + +The Norseman, however, is still with us in hidden and often unknown +corners of our life, our literature, and our history. Perhaps to him we +owe our continuance as a race to this day. He has carried with him over +the wave the breath of freedom and strenuous endeavour, and infused them +into the life of this great nation, helping Britain to build up and +maintain a world-wide empire and supremacy upon the seas. + +But judging his influence upon Gaelic literature solely, we cannot say +that, so far as it is known, it was of a helpful or even far-reaching +kind. In the first shock of invasion it would rather seem to have been +ruinous and deleterious in its effects, arresting development and +dispersing the rising literary activity. + +But what if it could be proved by further research that while distinctly +hostile to the ecclesiastical order in all its manifestations and +productions, and therefore its books, the appearance of the Norsemen in +these islands revived the interest in the native sagas, so that the +scribes were encouraged to write them down and preserve them for future +ages. Then verily it might with strictest veracity be said that to the +Vikings we owe the cream of our literature, for it is a recognised fact +that “the sagas and historic tales, and the poetry that is mingled with +them, are of far greater importance from a purely literary point of +view” than all the ecclesiastical transcriptions and contributions of +the period. But this is a suggestion we offer as not at all improbable, +and, like the whole subject of Norse influence, is worthy of a fuller +investigation than any it has yet received. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + THE FOUR ANCIENT BOOKS OF WALES + + The _Myvyrian Archaiology_—Oldest texts—The Black Book of + Caermarthen—The Book of Aneurin—The Book of Taliessin—The Red Book + of Hergest—Gildas and Nennius—The ancient Laws and Institutes—A + great dialectic battle—The princes of song—“I Yscolan”—A Welsh + Ossianic poem—Characteristics of the early poetry—The medieval + romances—Their history—Modern translations of the Mabinogion—Two + classes of tales—The legend of Taliessin—His curious odes—Kilhwch + and Olwen—The Lady of the Fountain—Three striking features of the + Arthurian romances—Their influence on Western Europe. + + +The arrival of James Macpherson marks a great moment in the history of +Celtic literature. It was the signal for a general resurrection. It +would seem as if he sounded the trumpet, and the graves of ancient MSS. +were opened, the books were read, and the dead were judged out of the +things that were written in them. + +This is true not only of the Highland and Irish barderie, but also of +the poetry of Wales. The sudden popularity of the Ossianic publications +led to a desire on the part of the Welsh to show that they also were in +possession of a body of native poems not less interesting, and with far +better claims, as they thought, to authenticity. It is significant to +note that though Edward Lhuyd gave an account of the Welsh MSS. in the +_Archæologica Britannica_ as early as 1707, none of the poems were +printed till the era of Macpherson. His famous _Fragments of Ancient +Poetry Collected in the Highlands of Scotland_, 1760, was soon followed +by a succession of rival publications from the sister country, such as +_Specimens of the Poetry of the Ancient Welsh Bards_, 1764; _Musical and +Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards_, 1784; “Poems of Taliessin,” in the +_Gentleman’s Magazine_, 1789–90; _The Heroic Elegies and other Pieces of +Llywarch Hên_, 1792, and in the year 1801 the text of the whole of the +poems. This latter figures as the now oft-quoted _Myvyrian Archaiology +of Wales_, containing all the chief productions of Welsh literature, and +was published in 1801–1807 by Owen Jones, a wealthy furrier in Thames +Street, London. Interested scholars, among them Aneurin Owen, Thomas +Price, William Rees, and John Jones set themselves to finish the work of +the Myvyrian peasant. + +There was no lack of venerable MSS. from which to draw, for many +transcripts had been made from time to time in the past. But the sources +to which we must go for the oldest texts are mainly four, known as _The +Four Ancient Books of Wales_, namely:— + + The Black Book of Caermarthen. + The Book of Aneurin. + The Book of Taliessin. + The Red Book of Hergest. + +The Black Book of Caermarthen is the oldest. It is a MS. of the twelfth +century in the Hengwrt collection, and contains only poems. It consists +of fifty-four folios of parchment in small quarto, with illuminated +capitals. There are four different handwritings, apparently of the same +period, with the exception of a few insertions made by a subsequent +writer. The MS. belonged originally to the six black Canons of the +priory of Caermarthen. Hence the name. After the dissolution of that +religious house at the Reformation, it passed into the hands of Sir John +Price, a native of Brecnockshire, and before the year 1658 was in the +Hengwrt collection. Last century it changed hands again, when the whole +of the latter most valuable collection was bequeathed to W. W. E. Wynne, +Esq., of Peniarth. + +The Book of Aneurin, second in point of antiquity, belongs to the +thirteenth century. It also is a small quarto, consisting of nineteen +folios of parchment. Here we have, perhaps, the most ancient copy now +extant of that truly venerable and illustrious relic of Welsh poetry +called the “Gododin,” as well as the four Gorchanau, not quite so old. +The capitals which mark the beginning of the stanzas are coloured +alternately red and green. This literary monument belonged formerly to +the Hengwrt collection, but in more recent times was bought from Mrs. +Powell of Abergavenny by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., of Middle Hill. + +The Book of Taliessin, third in order, is still in the same collection. +A small quarto MS. written on vellum, in one hand throughout, of the +early fourteenth century, it consists now of thirty-eight leaves, and +wants the outer page both at the beginning and at the end. Hence it +begins in the middle of one poem and ends in that of another. + +The last, but certainly not the least of this wonderful series, is the +Red Book of Hergest in Jesus College, Oxford. It is a thick folio +containing 360 leaves of vellum, and has been written at different times +from the early part of the fourteenth century till the middle of the +fifteenth. From this valuable codex Lady Charlotte Guest got eleven of +her far-famed stories. + +The book takes its name from Hergest Court, a seat of the Vaughans, near +Knighton, Radnorshire, and before it was finally gifted to Jesus College +in 1701, it passed through several hands. + +It is written in double columns, in three different handwritings. There +is reason to infer that it was begun in 1318 at the very latest, a date +given in one of the columns, and that it was finished in 1454. The book +is an enormous compilation of Welsh compositions in prose and verse, of +all the periods from the sixth century till the middle of the fifteenth. + +Embellished lately in a magnificent binding of red morocco with steel +clasps, and preciously preserved in a case, it is now shown as one of +the curiosities of Oxford. + +If we except this codex and others in Jesus College, and those in the +British Museum, most of the Welsh MSS. are in private hands. They used +to belong to the religious institutions, but when these were done away +with in the reign of Henry VIII., the ancient documents were dispersed. +Various leading families of Wales afterwards made collections, thus +helping to preserve the MSS. from destruction, but more than one of +these collections have since been destroyed by fire. + +It must be understood that though the four great books of poetry and +romance here considered have been called _The Four Ancient Books of +Wales_, they are not the only compositions of a remote origin. For there +are three other notable works represented in very old MSS. These are, +first, the history and epistle of Gildas, forming one Latin treatise on +the early history of the country, and written by him in the year 560. Of +this work there have been three MSS. The oldest perished, but not before +a printed copy had been taken of it in 1568. The other two, one of the +thirteenth and the other of the fourteenth century, are still extant in +the public library of Cambridge. + +Next to this very ancient history of Gildas is that of Nennius—an +edition of the _History of the Britons_ made by him in 858. There are +three MSS. extant of this venerable book dating as early as the tenth +century—one in the Vatican, one in Paris, and one in the British Museum. + +Not less celebrated is the great native compilation entitled _The +Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales_. The oldest of them, namely, The +Laws of Howeldda, belong to the tenth century. + +Wales thus possesses a literature which for antiquity carries us back as +far as the age of St. Columba. In the sixth century, when the Abbot of +Iona was opening the page of poetic history in Scotland, the little land +in the west had many distinguished bards, such as Aneurin, Taliessin, +Llywarch Hên, Myrddin, Kian, Talhaiarn. For the preservation of their +pieces we are mainly indebted to _The Four Ancient Books_. + +As in the case of the Ossianic compositions, a great dialectic battle +was fought over the origin of these Cymric poems, some, such as Malcolm +Laing and John Pinkerton, denying, and others affirming their antiquity, +but the outcome of the controversy has been to establish their genuine +authenticity. While it is freely admitted by the best critics that many +of the pieces traditionally attributed to Taliessin are not older than +the twelfth century, no one now disputes that Aneurin, Taliessin, +Llywarch Hên, and Myrddin were famous bards who lived and composed in +the sixth century, and that we have some of their poems preserved in the +above-mentioned books with the exception, perhaps, of Myrddin’s. The +honour of the title “King of the bards” lies between the first two, both +of whom have been so designated. Stephens, in his _Literature of the +Cymry_, gives the palm to Aneurin. His great poem, the “Gododin,” has +attracted much attention on account of its peculiar character and +recognised historic value. It is practically divided into two parts by +stanza forty-five, where the author speaks in his own name. The first +part is consistent throughout, and Dr. Skene regards it as the original, +as distinguished from the second, which may be a later continuation made +up of other incidents. The poem is found in the Book of Aneurin, and +various theories have been advanced as to the locality and date of the +battle it treats of. One of these assumed that the subject was a +struggle between the tribe Ottadeni and the Saxons in the sixth century. +Another, that it referred, on the contrary, to the traditional slaughter +of the British chiefs at Stonehenge by Hengest in “The Plot of the Long +Knives.” A third would find in it the battle mentioned by Bede as having +been fought between Aidan, King of the Scots of Dalriada, and Ethelfrid, +King of Northumbria, in 603. A fourth theory suggests _that_ between +Oswy and Penda. But the name of the Scottish Donald Brec emerges in the +story, “A phen dyvynwal vrych brein ae cnoyn,” which in English means, +“And the head of Donald Brec the ravens gnawed it.” The scene of the +struggle appears to have been Catraeth and Gododin. And it is +interesting to note that one of the editors of the _Myvyrian +Archaiology_ (Mr. Edward Williams) locates it in Roxburghshire, as the +battle fought between the Cymry and Saxons in 570. Villemarqué, on the +other hand, in his, _Poems des Bardes Bretons_, places the contest on +the banks of the Calder in Lanarkshire in 578. While Dr. Skene is +equally sure that the requirements of the case are met “in that part of +Scotland where Lothian meets Stirlingshire in the two districts of +Gododin and Catraeth, both washed by the sea of the Firth of Forth, and +where the great Roman wall terminates at Caredin, or the Fort of +Eidinn.” + +The style of the poem may be gleaned from the following rendering:— + + A grievous descent was made on his native place, + The price of mead in the hall, and the feast of wine; + His blades were scattered about between two armies; + Illustrious was the Knight in front of Gododin, + Eithinyn the renowned, an ardent spirit the bull of conflict. + A grievous descent was made in front of the extended riches, + The army dispersed with trailing shields— + A shivered shield before the herd of the roaring Beli, + A dwarf from the bloody field hastened to the fence; + On our part there came a hoary-headed man to take counsel + On a prancing steed bearing a message from the golden-torqued leader. + Twrch proposed a compact in front of the destructive course, + Worthy was the shout of refusal. + We cried, Let Heaven be our protection; + Let his compact be that he should be prostrated by the spear in battle. + The warriors of the far-famed Alclud + Would not contend without prostrating his host to the ground. + +Like Ossian, Aneurin appears to have been a warrior-bard. Where he +speaks of himself he says:— + + I am not headstrong and petulant. + I will not avenge myself on him who drives me. + I will not laugh in derision. + Under foot for a while, + My knee is stretched, + My hands are bound + In the earthen house, + With an iron chain + Around my two knees. + Yet of the mead from the horn, + And of the men of Catraeth, + I, Aneurin, will compose, + As Taliessin knows, + An elaborate song + Or a strain to Gododin + Before the dawn of the brightest day. + +Taliessin, on the other hand, was no warrior, simply a bard. Several of +his pieces possess more real poetry than any part of the “Gododin.” As +Stephens has remarked, they show more skill in composition, finer ideas, +bolder images, and more intense passion than any poet of the same age. +There are seventy-seven pieces attributed to him, twelve of which, this +critic thinks, may be genuine, and as old as the sixth century; among +these the “Battle of Gwenystrad,” the “Battle of Argoed Llwyvain,” the +“Battle of Dyffryn Gwarant,” and some of the Gorchanau. In after life +Taliessin became the bard of Urien Rheged, to whom and to his son Owain +his chief poems are addressed. These contain some passages of exquisite +beauty. + +Llywarch Hên does not rival the other two as a prince of song, yet his +poems are not lacking in poetic excellence. They are undoubtedly old, +and valuable from his descriptions of manners, and the incidental +allusions he makes that are strikingly illustrative of the age, and all +the more interesting because we have so few other authorities to +enlighten us as to its manners. His forte lay not so much in heroic +poetry as in elegies and pathetic lamentations. Of the poems attributed +to him in the Red Book of Hergest the following is a specimen:— + + Sitting high upon a hill, battle inclined is + My mind, and it does not impel me onward. + Short is my journey, my tenement is laid waste. + + Sharp is the gale, it is bare punishment to live, + When the trees array themselves in gay colours + Of summer, violently ill I am this day. + + I am no hunter, I keep no animal of the chase, + I cannot move about; + As long as it pleases the cuckoo, let her sing. + + The loud-voiced cuckoo sings with the dawn, + Her melodious notes in the dales of Cuawg; + Better is the lavisher than the miser. + + At Aber Cuawg the cuckoos sing + On the blossom covered branches; + The loud-voiced cuckoo, let her sing awhile. + + At Aber Cuawg the cuckoos sing, + On the blossom covered branches; + Woe to the sick that hears their contented notes. + + At Aber Cuawg the cuckoos sing, + The recollection in my mind; + There are that hear them that will not hear them again. + + Have I not listened to the cuckoo on the ivied tree? + Did not my shield hang down? + What I loved is but vexation; what I loved is no more. + +In such doleful strains the bard continues his parable. The sad note of +the Gael is not lacking in him. + +Myrddin is the fourth great poet of the sixth century. Various poems are +reputed his in the _Myvyrian Archaiology_, but they are all probably of +a much later date, as Stephens and others think. One of the most +interesting to us of these traditional Myrddin pieces is the “I +Yscolan.” It appears in the Black Book of Caermarthen. Yscolan is +represented as having held a dialogue with Myrddin. To have done so he +must have lived in the sixth century. Welsh writers, like Davies and +Stephens, identify the name as St. Colan or Columba. “Instead of being +unknown to the Cymry of the Middle Ages, no person was better known than +Yscolan,” says Stephens. From their view Dr. Skene dissents, and +Professor Rhys also holds it utterly impossible that Yscolan was St. +Columba, as the two names cannot be connected, _Columba_ being in Welsh +_Cwlum_. It is not maintained by any of these critics that the poem, as +it stands, is anything like so old as the period of Myrddin. But older +it evidently is than the time of Edward I., and this shows, as the Welsh +writers affirm, the existence among the bards, from an early date, of a +tradition that St. Columba had, in his zeal for Christianity, destroyed +some druidic books. This tradition got mixed up with a later one about +the books of Cambria, which had been sent to the White Tower of London +for security, having been destroyed there by some Vandal of an Yscolan, +who must have lived after the twelfth century. + +But whoever the Yscolan of the dialogue was, Myrddin assails him thus +(Stephens’ version):— + + Black is thy horse, and black thy cap, + Black thy head, and black thyself, + Black-headed man, art thou Yscolan? + +And Yscolan answers:— + + I am Yscolan the Scholar, + Light is my Scottish knowledge. + My grief is incurable for making the ruler take offence[27] at thee. + + For having burnt a church,[28] destroyed the cattle of a school, + And caused a book to be drowned, + I feel my penance to be heavy. + + Creator of all creations, + And greatest of all supporters, + Forgive me my fault. + + A full year I have been + At Bangor on the pole of a weir. + Consider thou my sufferings from sea-worms. + + If I had known as well as I now do + How clearly the wind blows upon the sprigs of the waving wood, + I should not have done what I did. + +Had he known of certain proofs of druidic excellence he would have +refrained. Though the tradition of St. Columba having destroyed some +pagan books may have actually been current among the Welsh bards, it is +very unlikely that he ever met Myrddin. As Dr. Skene suggests, the black +Yscolan may well have been one of the black Canons of Caermarthen +connected with some book-episode in the Tower. For we know from Adamnan +that the dress of Columba was white, and the above sketch hardly fits in +with his history. It is interesting to note that in the book called +Taliessin, there is “The Death-song of Corroi, son of Dayry,” curiously +enough the only specimen of a Welsh Ossianic poem which has come down to +us. It tells the story of Curigh of Munster; and Cuchulinn, the famous +hero of Ulster:— + + Tales will be known to me from sky to earth + Of the contention of Corroi and Cocholyn, + Numerous their tumults about their borders. + +This poem is fully noticed by Dr. Skene in his edition of the _Book of +the Dean of Lismore_, p. 141. + +Taking the Welsh poems as a whole, the difficulty has always been to +differentiate between the historical and the mythological. They are +usually so obscure in themselves, especially the so-called mythological +ones, that some think there lurks in them a system of mystical and +semi-pagan philosophy handed down from the Druids, and which our age +cannot fathom. + +Others think that they are nothing but the wild and extravagant +vapourings of bards of the twelfth and subsequent centuries. Referring +to this, Dr. Skene wrote in his edition of the poems, and translations +of the poems, in _The Four Ancient Books of Wales_, vol. i. pp. 15, 16:— + + I consider that the true value of these poems is a problem which has + still to be solved. Whether they are genuine works of the bards whose + names they bear, or whether they are the production of a later age, I + do not believe that they contain any such system of Druidism or + Neo-Druidism as Davies, Herbert, and others attempt to find in them, + nor do I think that their authors wrote, and the compilers of these + ancient MSS. took the pains to transcribe, century after century, what + was a mere farago of nonsense and of no historical or literary value. + I think that these poems have a meaning, and that, both in connection + with the history and literature of Wales, that meaning is worth + finding out; and I think further, that if they were subjected to a + just and candid criticism, we ought to be able to ascertain their true + place and value in the literature of Wales. + +Renan, on the other hand, held that bardism lasted into the heart of the +Middle Ages under the form of a secret doctrine, with a conventional +language and symbols almost wholly derived from the solar divinity of +Arthur. “This,” he says, “may be termed Neo-Druidism, a kind of Druidism +subtilised and reformed on the model of Christianity, which may be seen +growing more and more obscure and mysterious until the moment of its +total disappearance.” + +One remarkable fact in connection with these early poems is how few of +them contain any notice of Arthur. Out of the whole number there are +only five which mention him at all, and then it is the historical +Arthur, the Guledig, to whom the defence of the wall was entrusted, and +who fought the twelve battles in the north, perishing at Camlan. + +For accounts of the ideal Arthur we need to turn to the medieval +romances, and this is the part of Welsh literature which has most +fascinated the world and influenced the literatures of Europe. It is +well known how there arose on the Continent in the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries a body of Romance, popular in England, France, +Germany, Norway, Sweden, and even Iceland, down to the Reformation, and +it is equally well known that the origin of these tales may be traced to +Wales through the north-west of France—the modern Brittany. + +First appeared the _Historia Britonum_ of Gruffydd ap Arthur, commonly +known as Geoffrey of Monmouth, who was a Welsh priest, born in 1128. In +this book he professed to have translated into Latin from an ancient +Welsh MS. the history of Britain from the days when the fabulous Brut, +the great-grandson of Aeneas, landed on its shores, down through the +whole period of King Arthur and his Round Table to Cadwaladr, a Cymric +king who died in 689. From the Latin the stories were put into French +verse by Gaimar, and getting to France they fell into the hands of +Robert Wace, a native of Jersey (and Norman trouvère), who, with the +help of other independent sources of information, made them into a poem +in 1155, which he called the “Brut.” + +In this form the Romance found its way back to England, and about 1205 +was told for the first time in English verse by Layamon, an English +priest who dwelt on the banks of the upper Severn, and who was thus, +besides being indebted to Wace, near enough the original source to have +access to the great body of Welsh literature then current on the +subject. + +Through these, and French authors, the Cymric tales soon passed to other +Continental lands, and since then have been retouched, paraphrased, and +amplified in all the languages of Europe. They belong to the age, and +breathe the spirit of chivalry. + +In modern times these romances have again attracted attention, and +become famous through the publication of Lady Charlotte Guest’s English +translations of the Mabinogion, 1st edition, 1837–49, and reprint, 1877; +Vicomte de la Villemarqué’s French translations of the Welsh poems and +Round Table romances in 1841 and subsequently; and later still, +Professor Loth of Rennes’ translation of the Mabinogion. + +As in the case of the Gaelic sagas, traditions had been floating among +the Welsh people for hundreds of years, and when the general awakening +of the twelfth century took place, a natural desire sprung up to have +these collected, arranged, and written down. The Mabinogion were thus +originally tales penned to be repeated at the fireside, to while away +the time of young chieftains and their following, but ultimately they +reacted very powerfully upon the national literature and character. The +name Mabinogion was not at first so generally applied to all the tales +as it is to-day. Only four were so designated. + +In point of antiquity these tales sort out into two distinct +classes,—one older, the other less ancient. The latter celebrate heroes +of the Arthurian cycle, and are full of ecclesiastical terms and of +allusions to Norman customs, manners, arts, arms, and luxuries. The +former refer to persons and events of an earlier period, are more +mythological, and contain very few of these later allusions. As +Professor Rhys[29] thinks, they are essentially Goidelic stories, and +their machinery is magic, not the laws of chivalry. + +To the older class belong— + + The Tale of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed. + The Tale of Branwen, daughter of Llyr. + The Tale of Manawyddan, the son of Llyr. + The Tale of Math, son of Mathonwy. + +These only are the Mabinogion. + + The Contention of Llud and Llevelys. + The Story of Kilhwch and Olwen. + The Dream of Rhonabwy. + +This last Professor Rhys regards as a hash or after-composition, in +spite of the respectability of the MS. + +To the later class— + + The Tale of the Lady of the Fountain. + The Story of Peredur, son of Evrawc. + The Story of Geraint, son of Erbin. + The Dream of Macsen Gudelig. + +And to these eleven, in her third volume published in 1849, Lady +Charlotte Guest added the Hanes Taliessin, compiled in the fourteenth +century, but, according to Ernest Renan, belonging to the more ancient +of the two classes above mentioned. The great beauty, originality, and +antique flavour of these stories may here be exhibited by means of a few +characteristic extracts. + +And the first to be given is from the legend of Taliessin. + +“In times past (it begins) there lived in Penllyn a man of gentle +lineage, named Tegid Voel, and his dwelling was in the midst of the lake +Tegid, and his wife was called Caridwen. And there was born to him of +his wife a son named Morvran at Tegid, and also a daughter named +Creirwy, the fairest maiden in the world was she; and they had a +brother, the most ill-favoured man in the world, Avagddu. Now Caridwen +his mother thought that he was not likely to be admitted among men of +noble birth by reason of his ugliness, unless he had some exalted merits +or knowledge. For it was in the beginning of Arthur’s time and of the +Round Table. + +“So she resolved, according to the arts of the books of Fferyllt, to +boil a cauldron of Inspiration and Science for her son, that his +reception might be honourable, because of his knowledge of the mysteries +of the future state of the world. + +“Then she began to boil the cauldron, which, from the beginning of its +boiling, might not cease to boil for a year and a day, until three +blessed drops were obtained of the Grace of Inspiration. + +“And she put Gwion Bach, the son of Gwreang of Llanfair in Caereinion in +Powys, to stir the cauldron, and a blind man named Morda to kindle the +fire beneath it, and she charged them that they should not suffer it to +cease boiling for the space of a year and a day. And she herself, +according to the books of the astronomers, and in planetary hours, +gathered every day of all charm-bearing herbs. And one day towards the +end of the year, as Caridwen was culling plants and making incantations, +it chanced that three drops of the charmed liquor flew out of the +cauldron and fell upon the finger of Gwion Bach. And by reason of their +great heat he put his finger to his mouth, and the instant he put these +marvel-working drops into his mouth he foresaw everything that was to +come, and perceived that his chief care must be to guard against the +wiles of Caridwen, for vast was her skill. + +“And in very great fear he fled towards his own land, and the cauldron +burst in two, because all the liquor within it, except the three +charm-bearing drops, was poisonous, so that the horses of Gwyddno +Garanhir were poisoned by the water of the stream into which the liquor +of the cauldron ran, and the confluence of that stream was called the +Poison of the Horses of Gwyddno from that time forth. + +“Thereupon came in Caridwen, and saw all the toil of the whole year +lost. And she seized a billet of wood and struck the blind Morda on the +head until one of his eyes fell out upon his cheek. And he said, +‘Wrongfully hast thou disfigured me, for I am innocent. Thy loss was not +because of me.’ + +“‘Thou speakest truth,’ said Caridwen; ‘it was Gwion Bach who robbed +me.’ + +“And she went forth after him running. And he saw her and changed +himself into a hare and fled. + +“But she changed herself into a greyhound, and turned him. And he ran +towards a river and became a fish. And she in the form of an otter-bitch +chased him under the water until he was fain to turn himself into a bird +of the air. She as a hawk followed him, and gave him no rest in the sky, +and just as she was about to stoop upon him, and he was in fear of +death, he espied a heap of winnowed wheat on the floor of a barn, and he +dropped among the wheat and turned himself into one of the grains. Then +she transferred herself into a high-crested black hen, and went to the +wheat and scratched it with her feet, and found him out and swallowed +him, and, as the story says, she bore him nine months, and when she was +delivered of him she could not find it in her heart to kill him, by +reason of his beauty. So she wrapped him in a leathern bag, and cast him +into the sea, to the mercy of God, on the 29th day of April.” + +And, Moses-like, was Taliessin afterwards found in the Weir of Gwyddno +by that prince’s only son Elphin, who took him to the house of his +father. Some of the extraordinary tales which this prodigy of a boy told +in verse are given, and it is related how he bewitched the bards of King +Mælgron by pouting out his lips after them, and playing “Blerwm, blerwm” +with his finger upon his lips as they went to court. His own answers to +the king are always in song. Among the curious odes that he sang are +those known as— + + The Excellence of the Bards. + The Reproof of the Bards. + The Spite of the Bards. + One of the Four Pillars of Song. + +This latter begins:— + + The Almighty made + Down the Hebron Vale, + With his plastic hands + Adam’s fair form. + + And five hundred years, + Void of any help, + There he remained and lay + Without a soul. + + He again did form, + In calm paradise, + From a left side rib, + Bliss-throbbing Eve. + + Seven hours they were + The Orchard keeping, + Till Satan brought strife + With wiles from Hell. + + Thence were they driven, + Cold and shivering, + To gain their living + Into this world, etc. + +Of the story of Kilhwch and Olwen, which has a particularly antique +character, Renan felicitously says that by its entirely primitive +aspect, by the part played in it by the wild boar in conformity to the +spirit of Celtic mythology, by the wholly supernatural and magical +character of the narration, by innumerable allusions, the sense of which +escapes us, it forms a cycle by itself. Passing by the unique adventures +of Kilhwch, he quotes as a typical sample the remarkable passage on the +finding of Mabon, where his followers said unto Arthur, “Lord, go thou +home; thou canst not proceed with thy host in quest of such small +adventures as these,” and Arthur commissions Gwrhyr, because he knew all +languages, and was familiar with those of the birds and the beasts, to +accompany others, whom he named, in search of the lost cousin. They went +forward first to the ousel of Cilgwi, and got its weird and quaint +answer, then to the stag of Redynvre. From him to the owl of Cwm +Cawlwyd, to the eagle of Gwern Abwy, and, lastly, to the salmon of Llyn +Llyw. Each tells its tale, and passes them on to the next. The speeches +of these ancient denizens of the land are very old-fashioned and +curious, typical of all the primitive extravagance of the Celtic +imagination. + +But it is in tales like the “Lady of the Fountain” and “Peredur” that we +tap the later, full-blown, and most characteristic Arthurian romance. +The former begins: “King Arthur was at Caerlleon upon Usk; and one day +he sat in his chamber, and with him were Owain, the son of Urien, and +Kynon, the son of Clydno, and Kai, the son of Kyner, and Gwenhwyvar and +her handmaidens at needlework by the window. And if it should be said +that there was a porter at Arthur’s palace, there was none. Glewlwyd +Gavaelvawr was there, acting as porter to welcome guests and strangers, +and to receive them with honour, and to inform them of the manners and +customs of the court; and to direct those who came to the hall or to the +presence chamber, and those who came to take up their lodgings. + +“In the centre of the chamber King Arthur sat upon a seat of green +rushes, over which was spread a covering of flame-coloured satin, and a +cushion of red satin was under his elbow. Then Arthur spoke, ‘If I +thought you would not disparage me,’ said he, ‘I would sleep while I +wait for my repast; and you can entertain one another with relating +tales, and can obtain a flagon of mead and some meat from Kai.’ And the +king went to sleep.” + +Kynon tells a tale: “I was the only son of my mother and father, and I +was exceedingly aspiring, and my daring was very great. I thought there +was no enterprise in the world too mighty for me, and after I had +achieved all the adventures in my own country, I equipped myself and set +forth to journey through deserts and distant regions. And at length it +chanced that I came to the fairest valley in the world, wherein were +trees of equal growth, and a river ran through the valley, and a path by +the side of the river. And I followed the path until midday, and +continued my journey along the remainder of the valley until the +evening, and at the extremity of the plain I came to a large and +lustrous castle, at the foot of which was a torrent. And I approached +the castle, and there I beheld two youths.” + +He describes the wonderful dress of these, and of a man in the prime of +life clad in a robe and a mantle of yellow satin with band of gold lace, +shoes of variegated leather fastened by two bosses of gold. This man +went with him towards the castle. “And there I saw four-and-twenty +damsels,” he says, “embroidering satin at a window. And this I tell +thee, Kai, that the least fair of them was fairer than the fairest maid +thou hast ever beheld in the island of Britain, and the least lovely of +them was more lovely than Gwenhwyvar, the wife of Arthur, when she has +appeared loveliest at the offering on the day of the Nativity or at the +feast of Easter. They rose up at my coming, and six of them took my +horse and divested me of my armour; and six others took my arms and +washed them in a vessel until they were perfectly bright. And the third +six spread cloths upon the table and prepared meat. And the fourth six +took off my soiled garments, and placed others upon me, namely, an under +vest and a doublet of fine linen, and a robe and a surcoat, and a mantle +of yellow satin with a broad gold band upon the mantle, and they placed +cushions both beneath and around me, with coverings of red linen, and I +sat down. Now, the six maidens who had taken my horse unharnessed him as +well as if they had been the best squires in the Island of Britain. +Then, behold, they brought bowls of silver wherein was water to wash, +and towels of linen, some green and some white; and I washed, and in a +little while the man sat down to the table, and I sat down next to him, +and below me sat all the maidens except those who waited on me.” + +After he divulged the object of his journey, the host directed him to a +black man of great stature on the top of a mound, ill favoured, with but +one foot, one eye in the middle of his forehead, a club of iron, and a +thousand wild animals grazing around him. + +Next day Kynon set out and found this giant. And when I told him, he +says, “who I was and what I sought, he directed me. ‘Take,’ said he, +‘that path that leads towards the head of the glade, and ascend the +wooden steep until thou comest to the summit; and there thou wilt find +an open space like to a large valley, and in the midst of it a tall +tree, whose branches are greener than the greenest pinetrees. Under this +tree is a fountain, and by the side of the fountain a marble slab, and +in the marble slab a silver bowl attached by a chain of silver, so that +it may not be carried away. Take the bowl and throw a bowlful of water +upon the slab, and thou wilt hear a mighty peal of thunder, so that thou +wilt think that heaven and earth are trembling with fury. With the +thunder there will come a shower so severe that it will be scarce +possible for thee to endure it and live. And the shower will be of +hailstones. And after the shower the weather will become fair, but every +leaf that was upon the tree will have been carried away by the shower. +Then a flight of birds will come and alight upon the tree, and in thine +own country thou didst never hear a strain so sweet as that which they +will sing. And at the moment thou art most delighted with the song of +the birds thou wilt hear a murmuring and complaining coming towards thee +along the valley. And thou wilt see a knight upon a coalblack horse, +clothed in black velvet, and with a pennon of black linen upon his +lance; and he will ride unto thee to encounter thee with the utmost +speed. If thou fleest from him he will overtake thee, and if thou +abidest there, as sure as thou art a mounted knight he will leave thee +on foot, and if thou dost not find trouble in that adventure thou +needest not seek it during the rest of thy life.’” + +In these tales the principal part belongs to the women, and here it is +the Lady of the Fountain. In reading the romances we instantly find +ourselves on the top wave of chivalry. Three things strike the modern +reader. + +First, the ideal here presented of King Arthur and his Queen Gwenhwyvar, +the pure and homely atmosphere of their Court in that wild and barbarian +age, and the sterling qualities and integrity of the Knights of the +Round Table. Each fights not for any national cause, but to show his +personal excellence and satisfy his taste for adventure. It is an epic +creation representing the dream of medieval times. + +Second, not less surprising to us is the _sangfroid_ with which the +warriors carry out their adventures, the supreme indifference to danger, +or to the pain and death they inflict when they set to, to try each +other’s mettle. Knight attacks knight for no other reason than that he +is superior in prowess to himself, and he will risk his life any day to +get the mastery over a rival in arms. They reck nothing of sword cuts. +Enough for them that it is in accordance with the laws of chivalry. + +Third, and perhaps most wonderful of all, is the delicacy of the +feminine feeling breathed in these romances. There is nothing sensual in +the love here portrayed. It is angelic. Never an impropriety or gross +word is to be met with in all these pages, never a prurient suggestion +for all the roughness of that rude age. Women figure as divine, the most +charming creatures in the world, to protect whose honour and win whose +love and esteem, danger and even death are freely braved. This was a new +element introduced into European literature—the creation of woman’s +character and the place given her in chivalry. “Nearly all the types of +womankind known to the Middle Ages,—Guinevere, Iseult, Enid,”—says +Renan, “are derived from Arthur’s court.” + +The influence of these tales upon the literature, the taste, the social +life of the whole of Western Europe has been immense, and they are still +as fresh and enchanting to the intelligent reader as any Arabian Nights’ +Entertainment. + +Lady Charlotte Guest’s literary monument is for English readers the +standard classic. There we find a charming translation with luminous +notes of these famous Mabinogion, a collection which Renan has called +“the pearl of Gaelic literature, the completest expression of the Cymric +genius,” and for the early Welsh poetry, both in the original and in +translation, we have the sumptuous edition of Dr. Skene, culled from +_The Four Ancient Books of Wales_, to delight us. The poetry and romance +of the Cymry are really two literatures essentially distinct from each +other. Springing from the same soil, each reflects in its own way the +same national character which had so much in common with that of our own +ancient Gaelic ancestry, so that we feel to-day with regard to that long +past, that “distance only lends enchantment to the view.” + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + CELTIC LITERARY REVIVALS + + Sixth century awakening throughout Celtdom—Illustrious + names—Brittany’s wonderful cycle of song—Charming examples—Dearth + of tenth century—A strange trait of Celtic life—The brilliant + medieval renaissance—Output of Ireland, Wales, and Brittany—The + Cornish dramas—Last speaker of that dialect—Period of inactivity + and decline—Recrudescence—1745–1800 the high-water mark of + Highland production—A galaxy of poets—Splendid lyrical + outburst—New Ossianic cycle—Seana Dana—Caledonian bards—The Welsh + Eisteddfod—Latest Celtic renaissance—Some characteristic features, + results, manifestations—Antiquity, thou wondrous charm! + + +There comes a time in the history of races when, passing from simplicity +to reflection, their deepest nature finds expression in some form of +literature. That time for the Celtic people has been the late fifth, but +more especially the sixth century of our era. And the remarkable fact +confronts us then of a simultaneous poetic awakening in all the chief +groups into which the Celtic remnant had been divided. Ireland, +Scotland, Wales, and Brittany were all involved in this primal literary +activity. + +A most curious phenomenon to contemplate is this racial renaissance. +When the great Celtic empire had crumbled, and its defeated fragments +were driven to their last resorts on the outmost confines of Europe, +vanquished by the alien who kept them at bay, suddenly the sundered +remnants burst into song. Plaintive and sad for the most part has been +this utterance, but full of the wealth of sentiment, fancy, and old-time +peculiarities of conception so characteristic of this ancient people. + +St. Patrick, St. Sechnall, Dubthach, Fiacc, Dallan Forgaill, and others, +inaugurated the new time in Ireland; St. Columba and his following +accomplished a similar transition for Scotland, opening the pages of +literary history with beautiful hymns and lyrics, which have continued +to this day. In Wales the pregnant sixth century which gave us +Columcille was _the_ great age of bardic literature—the age of such +princes of poetry as Aneurin, Taliessin, Llywarch Hên, and Myrddin. + +These are among the most illustrious names of the Celtic past. And in +Brittany the same period is believed to have produced that wonderful +cycle of song, some of which has been taken down from oral recitation so +late as last century by the learned and enthusiastic M. de +Villemarqué,[30] the Macpherson of Brittany, and published in his +delightful _Barzaz-Breiz, Chants populaires de la Bretagne_, a number of +which Mr. Tom Taylor has rendered into English. Those entitled— + + The Wine of the Gauls, + The Prediction of Gwenc’hlan, + The Lord Nann and the Fairy, + The March of Arthur, + The Plague of Elliant, + The Drowning of Kaer-Is— + +are held to belong to the period with which we are dealing, and to have +been in existence prior at least to the close of the sixth century. They +are all distinguished by the presence of alliteration as well as rhyme, +by a more or less complete division into triplets, like the ancient +Welsh triads, as well as by a distinctly archaic impress in the manners +described, and the feelings of the singer. + +The names of the authors have not come down to us, as in the other three +countries, but, having already quoted specimens of the fifth and sixth +century poetry of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, it might not be +uninteresting now to give characteristic examples of the early +compositions of Brittany. + +The Wine of the Gauls is undoubtedly ancient, so ancient indeed, that +Part II. is regarded as a fragment of the song that accompanied the old +Celtic sword-dance in honour of the sun. It runs thus:— + + Blood wine and glee + Sun to thee— + Blood wine and glee. + Fire! Fire! steel, oh! steel! + Fire! fire! steel and fire. + Oak! Oak! earth and waves, + Waves, oak, earth and oak. + + Glee of dance and song + And battle throng. + Battle, dance and song. + Fire! fire, etc. + + Let the sword blades swing + In a ring, + Let the sword blades swing. + Fire! fire, etc. + + Song of the blue steel + Death to feel, + Song of the blue steel. + Fire! fire, etc. + + Fight, whereof the sword + Is the Lord, + Fight of the fell sword! + Fire! fire, etc. + + Sword, thou mighty King + Of battle ring, + Sword, thou mighty King! + Fire! fire, etc. + + With the rainbow’s light + Be thou bright, + With the rainbow’s light. + Fire! fire, etc. + +Far more charming is the episode of Lord Nann and the Fairy, and +genuinely typical of the powerful fancy and natural magic of the Celt. + + The good Lord Nann and his fair bride, + Were young when wedlock’s knot was tied— + Were young when death did them divide. + + But yesterday that lady fair + Two babes as white as snow did bear: + A man-child and a girl they were. + +For making him a manchild’s sire, Lord Nann offered to get his bride any +dainty food she liked, “meat of the woodcock from the lake or of the +wild deer from the brake.” She chose the latter, while she grudged +sending him to the wood. + + The Lord of Nann when this he heard + Hath gripp’d his oak spear with never a word, + + His bonny black horse he hath leap’d upon; + And forth to the greenwood he hath gone. + + By the skirts of the wood as he did go, + He was ’ware of a hind as white as snow; + + Oh fast she ran and fast he rode, + That the earth it shook where his horse-hoofs trode. + + Oh fast he rode, and fast she ran, + That the sweat to drop from his brow began, + + That the sweat on his horse’s flanks stood white + So he rode and rode till the fall o’ the night. + + When he came to a stream that fed a lawn + Hard by the grot of a Corrigaun. + + The grass grew thick by the streamlet brink, + And he lighted down off his horse to drink. + + The Corrigaun sat by the fountain fair, + A-combing her long and yellow hair; + + A-combing her hair with a comb of gold— + (Not poor, I trow, are those maidens cold)— + + Now who’s the bold wight that dares come here + To trouble my fairy fountain clear? + + Either thou straight shalt wed with me + Or pine for four long years and three, + Or dead in three days’ space shalt be. + +This proposal he spurned, asserting that he was already married, and +would die on the spot ere he would take a Corrigaun to wife. Her spell +she cast, and instantly he feels sick. On return he bids his mother make +his bed, for in three days she would hear his passing-bell, but adjures +her never to tell the tale to his bride. The three days expire, and the +latter inquires of her mother-in-law why the Church bells toll and the +priests chant in the street below, all clad in their white vestments? “A +strange poor man had died,” was the evasive answer. Then she asks +whither her husband had gone, and on being assured he would soon be +back, the unsuspecting lady concerns herself with the kind of gown she +would wear for her churching. Said her mother-in-law:— + + “The fashion of late, my child, hath grown, + That women for churching black should don.” + +And then:— + + As through the churchyard porch she stept + She saw the grave where her husband slept. + +And the dialogue proceeds:— + + “Who of our blood is lately dead + That our ground is new raked and spread?” + + “The truth I may no more forbear, + My son—your own poor lord—lies there.” + + She threw herself on her knees amain, + And from her knees ne’er rose again. + + That night they laid her, dead and cold + Beside her lord beneath the mould; + When lo!—a marvel to behold!— + + Next morn from the grave two oak trees fair + Shot lusty boughs into the air; + + And in their boughs—oh wondrous sight— + Two happy doves all snowy white— + + That sang as ever the morn did rise + And then flew up—into the skies. + +In addition to the songs, Villemarqué published _The Breton Bards of the +Sixth Century_, but Renan preferred the songs as by far the better. + +The impulse given by the first literary awakening continued in Ireland, +Scotland, and Wales for two or three centuries, until the confusion and +disintegration of the Norse invasions put an end to it. During this +early and brilliant period the Celt poured forth the richest treasures +of his nature. Before the foe triumphed, many valuable pieces of +literature, including the heroic sagas, had been committed to writing, +and thus preserved for posterity, though it is known that much was +destroyed by the reckless invader. It was a bright morning—this dawn of +letters—too suddenly clouded and overcast. + +For a century or two after, the Celtic field in its various parts +remained singularly barren and unproductive. Ireland was not altogether +without poets and scholars, though greatly fallen from her pristine +glory, but in Wales, from the middle of the seventh century till the +year 1080, hardly any poetry of merit was produced, and the same might +be said of Scotland, and, it would appear, of Brittany also. + +No illustrious bards or outstanding writers redeemed the general dearth +of the tenth century. That was the darkest hour before another brilliant +dawn. + +Ossian, St. Patrick, and Columcille; Dubthach and King Laoghaire; Prince +Arthur and his knights; Taliessin and the Royal Urien, Aneurin, Llywarch +Hên; what were these but memories? vanished heroes and bards of the +past. Already the walls of Balclutha were desolate, the harp hung mute +in Tara’s hall; nay, Tara itself was now a simulacrum,—a ruin, deserted +for ever. And even from Caerleon and Dun-Reged had not the glory +departed? Too soon the sun, late-risen, had sunk upon the unhappy Celts, +defeated in war and now dumb and helplessly inarticulate in literature. +It seemed as if, swan-like, the pathetic remnants of this old race had +at length sung their dying song, and sunk into silent and finished +oblivion. + +To such a pass to all appearance, through Carlyle’s “star-fire and +immortal tears,” had Destiny led these hapless peoples by the advent of +the tenth century, that he would be a visionary indeed who should +prophesy any renaissance, and a true seer, for the time being, who +should say— + + ... Look + Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there. + +Yet, phœnix-like, is it not ever the fate of the hidden and precarious +Celtic genius to rearise from its ashes and reassert its vitality? And +so in the eleventh and twelfth centuries there was such a wonderful +literary awakening throughout Celtdom, that it was as when:— + + ... A sable cloud + Turns forth her silver lining on the night. + +And this new activity, be it noted, was not confined to the Gaels of +Ireland and Scotland, but, as in the sixth century, comprehended the +Cymri of Wales and Brittany also. + +Herein lies a strange trait of Celtic life, that the great literary +revivals should be thus simultaneous, and common to all the sundered +groups, though these latter are isolated so much linguistically and +locally. Not once or twice in their history has this curious affinity of +genius and sentiment been evinced. + +In the case of the Gael, no sooner was the grip of the Vikings relaxed +than the bards and schools began to flourish again. The new Irish king, +the semi-usurper Brian Boru, helped much towards this happy +consummation, as he was a real patron of letters and worked hard to +restore the fallen fortunes of Gaelic literature. Early in the eleventh +century he was on the throne, and that and the following century +witnessed the new and copious revival of art and learning. To this +period belong the great monuments, such as the Leabhar Na h’Uidhre, the +Book of Hymns, the Book of Leinster, as well as the Scottish Book of +Deer. + +During these two centuries a host of poets and some annalists lived, the +chief of whom were Flann of Monasterboice and Tighernach. Quite a number +of the names of prominent bards who wrote then are given by Dr. Hyde in +his _Literary History of Ireland_. And we know that from this time the +interest taken in the past gave rise to that rich and abundant medieval +succession of books of saga common to Ireland and Scotland. But though +these latter were compiled, some of them after the twelfth century, the +actual revival did not last beyond the Norman Conquest of Ireland, which +culminated at the close of that same twelfth century, arresting Irish +development and disintegrating Irish life. So that for 300 years after, +Erin produced nothing comparable to her former achievements. + +Turning to the Cymri, on the other hand, we find the remarkable +intellectual awakening of the eleventh and twelfth centuries ushered in +in a similar way as in Ireland, by the advent of new rulers. Rhys ap +Tewdwr, who had taken refuge in Brittany, returned in 1077 and ascended +the throne of South Wales, to which he laid claim as true heir. And +Gruffyd ap Kynan, similarly exiled in Ireland, came back to reign in +North Wales in 1080. Uniting their forces in one first great attempt, +these two hereditary princes overthrew the reigning monarch, and were +confirmed on the thrones of their ancestors. + +Like Brian in Ireland, they also in their own fatherland were +instrumental in introducing a new era of literature. In North Wales it +showed itself in a revival of poetry, while in South Wales it took the +form of prose. Thomas Stephens mentions no less than seventy-nine bards +who lived between 1080 and 1400, many of whose pieces are still extant +in MSS. + +To this period belong the greatest monuments of Welsh genius—_The Four +Ancient Books of Wales_, and the wonderful cycle of romance treasured +for us in the Mabinogion, besides those numerous compositions +traditionally attributed to Taliessin, Myrddinn, and others. Chronicles, +romances, poems, mabinogion, and a large collection of moral and +historical triads—these constitute the result of that extraordinary +outburst of creative energy which dates from the days of Gruffyd ap +Kynan. + +Nor was Brittany asleep during this literary activity, for she too had +her share in common with Wales in the origin and dissemination of the +Arthurian romance. + +It is one of the problems of criticism to-day, rightly to apportion the +credit between the two countries. + +Robert Wace undoubtedly drew from independent Breton sources as well as +from Geoffrey of Monmouth. And from the eleventh century onwards date +the historic and narrative ballads so characteristic of Brittany. A +selection of these have been translated into English by Mr. Taylor, and +all of those he gives came into existence, he assures us, before the end +of the fourteenth century. So we have such medieval titles as, “The Evil +Tribute of Nomenöe,” “Bran,” “The Return from Saxon-land,” “The +Crusader’s Wife,” “The Clerk of Rohan,” “Baron Jauïoz,” “The Battle of +the Thirty,” “Jean of the Flame,” “Du Guesclin’s Vassal,” and “The +Wedding Girdle”—titles not unlike Chaucer’s own. + +Bran, the hero of the second ballad, is believed to have been taken +prisoner in the great battle recorded in history as having been fought +in the tenth century near Kerloän, between the Norsemen and the Bretons, +under Ewen the Great. + + Sore wounded lies the good knight Bran + On the foughten field of Kerloän. + + On Kerloän’s field, hard by the shore, + Lieth the grandson of Bran-Vor. + + Maugre our Bretons won the day, + He’s bound and o’er sea borne away. + + Borne over sea, shut up, alone, + In Donjon tower he made his moan. + +Bran dies in captivity. + + On the battlefield of Kerloän + There grows a tree looks o’er the lan’; + + There grows an oak in the place of stour, (_i.e._ battle) + Where the Saxon fled from Ewen-Vor. + + Upon this oak, when the moon shines bright, + The birds they gather from the night. + + Sea-mews, pied-black and white are there + On every forehead a bloodspeck clear. + + With them a corbie, ashgrey for eld + And a young crow[31] aye at her side beheld. + + Wayworn seem the twain, with wings that dreep, + As birds that flight o’er sea must keep. + + So sweetly sing these birds, and clear, + The great sea stills its waves to hear. + + And aye their songs one burden hold + All save the young crow’s and the corbie’s old. + + And this is ever the crow’s sore cry, + “Sing, little birds, sing merrily.” + + “Sing, birds o’ the land, in merry strain, + You died not far from your own Bretayne.” + +Besides these narrative ballads, Brittany produced at various periods +idyllic songs and religious canticles. + +As for Cornwall, whose dialect is now extinct, she never produced much +of a Celtic literature. What there is still extant is preserved in MSS. +of the fifteenth century, representing possibly all the ancient +literature she ever had, and dates from that or the preceding fourteenth +century. These pieces consist of one poem, entitled “Mount Calvary,” and +three dramas, or miracle plays, with nothing distinctly Celtic about +them save the language. With the exception of these and another drama of +the seventeenth century (1611), and the Lord’s Prayer translated, the +obsolete and defunct Cornish dialect has no literature to show, and +therefore is not concerned in the special Celtic revivals characteristic +of the literature in the other dialects. A translation of the ancient +dramas from the original Cornish has been made and published thirty +years ago by Edwin Norris. Their value now is almost solely linguistic. +“The last survivor of those who spoke in their youth pure Cornish is +said to have been Dolly Pentreath of Mousehole near Penzance, who died +in 1778, aged 102. And even she would not have talked Cornish in her +youth if she had not lived in one of the few parishes along the coasts +of Mount’s Bay and St Ive’s Bay, and a few districts to the west of +those bays, where alone at the beginning of the last century +(eighteenth) the ancient dialect existed.” (Morley’s _English Writers_, +vol. i. p. 750.) + +After the brilliant medieval renaissance came another period of +inactivity and decline. From the sixteenth century it is true that a new +series of poets and prose writers began to arrive in the different +Celtic nationalities. In Ireland, during the first half of the +seventeenth century, there was quite a distinguished recrudescence of +national scholarship, associated with the names of Geoffrey Keating, the +Four Masters, and Duald Mac Firbis, all of whom were prose writers of +eminence; and in the Highlands of Scotland flourished Mary Macleod and +her contemporaries. + +But we must come down to the period immediately following the Forty-five +to encounter a more general and splendid resuscitation. + +And this time the Highlands especially were prominently to the front. +Hitherto, though possessing bards of mark, not since the days of +Columcille did the Scottish Gael burst so richly and abundantly and +tunefully into song. It seemed as if the accumulated and pent-up +sentiments of generations, at last overflowing, had found outlet and +expression. The great Jacobite risings furnished the incentive. +Involving, as they did, the profoundest issues for the individual, the +family life, and the whole structure of society in the Highlands, these +far-reaching events stirred the deepest emotions in the Gaelic breast, +which found utterance on tongues which otherwise might for ever have +remained silent. + +Surpassing the story even of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, +because more near, more real and historical, the romance of Prince +Charlie and the Highland chiefs has taken a lasting hold of the popular +imagination. It has woven itself into deathless song and story. The +poetry and music it has elicited in the Highlands alone are among the +sweetest creations of Celtic genius. They convey a pathos of sound, +richness of rhythm, and perfection of harmony that is captivating even +to foreign ears. + +The period between 1745 and 1800 may be regarded as the high-water mark +of Highland poetry. For quality and quantity combined, it has never been +reached in the past, and is not likely now ever to be rivalled in the +future. Never before in Gaelic Scotland had there been such a quick and +splendid succession of bards. In fact, within those fifty years after +Culloden we have nearly all the great names of Highland poetry—certainly +those best known and which rank highest in the national esteem. A mere +list of the more important is sufficient to attest this. + +There were living then Alexander Macdonald, better known as Alasdair +Macmhaighstir Alasdair; John Maccodrum, the North Uist bard; Hector +Macleod of South Uist; Dugald Buchanan; David Mackellar; Rob Donn; +Duncan Macintyre, popularly called Donnachadh Bàn; Lauchlan Macpherson, +John Roy Stuart, Kenneth Mackenzie, James Macpherson, Dr. John Smith, +John Clark, Mrs. Grant of Laggan, William Ross, Allan Macdougall, James +Shaw, James Macgregor, Ewan Maclachlan, Alexander MacKinnon, Donald +Macdonald, and Donald Macleod—a goodly number and highly representative +to appear in that single half century. + +It is somewhat remarkable that Ireland, too, shared in the Jacobite +poetic reawakening, though she had so partial and distant a hand in the +actual warfare. Without doubt, her people thoroughly sympathised with +the gallant attempt of Prince Charlie. And this is abundantly evidenced +by the popularity and amount of the national poetry. Not only might a +list of names be given, similar to the above, though fewer in number, +but Dr. Hyde assures us that the Jacobite poems of Ireland would, if +collected, fill a large-sized volume. Hardiman printed about fifteen in +the second volume of his _Irish Minstrelsy_, and O’Daly about +twenty-five more in his _Irish Jacobite Poetry_, second edition. + +Comparing this splendid lyrical outburst of that period in the two +countries, Dr. Hyde expresses his own opinion in the following +interesting criticism: “There seems to me,” he says, “to be perhaps, +more substance and more simplicity and straightforward diction in the +poems of the Scottish Gaels, and more melody and word-play, purchased at +the expense of a good deal of nebulousness and unmeaning sound in those +of the Irish Gaels; both, though they utterly fail in the ballad, have +brought the lyric to a very high pitch of perfection.” + +But the literary revival of the eighteenth century was not by any means +confined to the work of the lyrical poets either in Scotland, Wales, or +Ireland. It was this period, the latter half of the century, that +witnessed the new Ossianic cycle, associated with the name of +Macpherson. Though popularly supposed to be, the latter was not the +earliest pioneer of this movement. In 1756, four years before +Macpherson’s _Fragments_ appeared, Jerome Stone, who was in youth a +packman, and afterwards a teacher at Dunkeld, gave to the public the +first translation of old Gaelic poems ever published. On his death, that +same year at the age of thirty, he left a collection, gleaned by +himself, of ancient Ossianic ballads, which has recently passed into the +possession of Edinburgh University. + +Stone undoubtedly had the bardic gift; his rendering of the original is +quite as free as Macpherson’s own. The following may be quoted as an +example of his style. It is taken from “Fraoch’s Death,” published in +the _Scots Magazine_, 1756, shortly before he died:— + + But now he’s gone and nought remains but woe + For wretched me; with him my joys are fled; + Around his tomb my tears shall ever flow, + The rock my dwelling, and the clay my bed; + Ye maids and matrons from your hills descend, + To join my moan and answer tear for tear; + With me the hero to the grave attend, + And sing the songs of mourning round his bier, + Through his own grove his praise we will proclaim, + And bid the place for ever bear his name. + +Stone did not catch on, like his more brilliant successor. + +Before then, except for the fragments that survived, mainly on the lips +of oral tradition throughout the Highlands, the old-time volume of saga +and heroic poetry had well nigh sunk into oblivion. The MSS. lay +neglected in odd and distant corners of the land, hidden and +inaccessible, so that the new generations of Gaels as they appeared were +wholly ignorant of their existence. The stirring events of the times +themselves were not conducive towards the more peaceful study and +pursuit of literature. Hence, with the better known publication of +Macpherson’s contributions there came to the view of modern times, with +startling suddenness, an old deposit of literary wealth, which quite +astonished the age. It was as if by some convulsion, ancient strata of +underlying rock had suddenly upheaved and found access to the surface, +much to the wonder and curiosity of all. + +The heather was immediately ablaze. A new enthusiasm was awakened in the +past. Gaelic scholarship was taxed to the uttermost to substantiate the +credit of this new fame. Libraries were scrutinised, ancient houses +searched, memories ransacked, and every remote township and glen scoured +to find material. And when material was not forthcoming in sufficient +amount, the Muses were invoked to supply the deficiency. + +It is now well understood that the period was one of abnormal activity +in the production of Ossianic poetry. This might be inferred from the +existing British collections of Gaelic MSS., most of which are posterior +to the age of Macpherson. Many imitators sought to emulate the ancient +bards, and even to palm their modern productions upon the public as part +of the original deposit. So late as the day of Mackenzie of “The +Beauties” such pieces as “Mordubh,” “Collath,” and “The Aged Bard’s +Wish” were regarded as ancient and authentic, though there are few +people now, and certainly no recognised authority on the subject, +prepared to maintain that. + +Certain of these eighteenth century creations are of great merit. Though +they lack the antiquity they profess, they are worthy to rank alongside +the poetry of the period. Dr. Smith’s _Seana Dana_ or _Old Lays_, for +example, are reckoned fully as interesting and poetical in the original +Gaelic as Macpherson’s _Ossian_; yet, unlike the latter, his English +translation is a poor substitute for the really fresh and idiomatic +vernacular which he published. One of his finest poems, “Dan an Deirg,” +has been rendered into English, edited, and annotated by an accomplished +Englishman, Mr. C. S. Jerram, a scholar and graduate of Cambridge. + +In Mr. Pattison’s _Gaelic Bards_ we have a translation in dainty verses +of another of his poems, entitled “Finan and Lorma.” Here the young +people around the ancient Ossian are represented as addressing the bard +in these lines:— + + While on the plains shines the moon, O Bard! + And the shadow of Cona holds; + Like a ghost breathes the wind from the mountain, + With its spirit voice in its folds. + + There are two cloudy forms before us, + Where its host the dim night shows; + The sigh of the moon curls their tresses, + As they tread over Alva of roes. + + Dusky his dogs came with one, + And he bends his dark bow of yew; + There’s a stream from the side of the sad-faced maid, + Dyes her robe with a blood-red hue. + + Hold thou back, O thou wind! from the mountain, + Let their image a moment stay; + Nor sweep with thy skirts from our eyesight, + Nor scatter their beauty away. + + O’er the glen of the rushes, the hill of the hinds, + With the vague wandering vapours they go; + O! Bard of the times that have left us, + Aught of their life can’st thou show? + +To which Ossian replies:— + + The years that have been they come back as ye speak, + To my soul in their music they glide; + Like the murmur of waves in the far inland calm, + Is their soft and smooth step by my side. + +Smith’s translation appeared in 1780, and the originals, nominally from +the Gaelic of Ossian, Ullin, and Orran, etc., in 1787. The poems were +fourteen in number, with titles as follow: “The Lay of the Red,” “The +Death of Gaul,” “The Lay of Duhona,” “Diarmad,” “Clan Morni,” or “Finan +and Lorma,” “The War of Linne,” “Cathula,” “The War of Manus,” including +“The Lay of the Great Fool,” “Trahul,” “Dargo,” “Conn,” “The Burning of +Taura,” “Calava,” and “The Death of Art.” + +In the lay of Taura there occurs the much admired word-portrait +entitled, “Aisling air dhreach Mna,” or “The Vision of a Fair Woman.” +This is how she looked in the eye of her Gaelic admirer, and one can +judge if her charms match those of Aspasia or of Cleopatra:— + + Innseam pàirt do dreach nan reul; + Bu gheal a deud gu h-ùr dlù; + Mar channach an t-sléibh + Bha cneas fa h-eideadh ùr. + + Bha a bràighe cearclach bàn + Mar shneachda tlà nam beann; + Bha a dà chich ag eiridh làn; + B’e’n dreach sud miann nan sonn. + + Bu shoitheamh binn a gloir; + S’ bu deirge na’n ròs a beul; + Mar chobhar a sios n’a taobh + Sinte gu caol bha gach meur. + + Bha a dà chaol mhala mhine + Dûdhonn air liomh an loin. + A da ghruaidh dhreachd nan caoran; + ’Si gu iomlan saor o chron. + + Bha a gnuis mar bharra-gheuga + Anns a cheud-fhás ûr; + A falt buidhe mar óradh shleibhtean; + ’S mar dhearsadh gréine bha sûil. + +The Gaelic is not easily translated into felicitous English, but it has +been given by Dr. Macneill, somewhat literally thus:— + + Tell us some of the charms of the stars; + Close and well-set were her ivory teeth; + White as the cannach upon the moor + Was her bosom the tartan bright beneath. + + Her well-rounded forehead shone + Soft and fair as the mountain snow; + Her two breasts were heaving full; + To them did the hearts of the heroes flow. + + Her lips were ruddier than the rose, + Tender and tunefully sweet her tongue; + White as the foam adown her side + Her delicate fingers extended hung. + + Smooth as the dusky down of the elk + Appeared her two narrow brows to me; + Lovely her cheeks were like berries red; + From every guile she was wholly free. + + Her countenance looked like the gentle buds + Unfolding their beauties in early spring; + Her yellow locks like the gold-browed hills, + And her eyes like the radiance the sunbeams bring. + +In the same year, 1780, in which Dr. Smith issued his renderings, +another small volume of translations of so-called ancient Gaelic poetry +appeared under the title _Caledonian Bards_. It was by John Clark, +apparently a very much poorer imitator of Macpherson, and hailing from +the latter’s own native district, Badenoch. Among the poems submitted, +appears the “Mordubh,” already referred to, and which in its vernacular +garb has misled more than one Celtic enthusiast. Of the latter, besides +Mackenzie, Mrs. Grant of Laggan, 1755–1838, was so far deceived that, +taking Clark’s eighteenth century contribution for genuine ancient +poetic material, she set herself to render some of it into more +beautiful verse of her own. A contemporary and friend of Sir Walter +Scott, this lady takes a high place in the Highland English literature +of the period. A third who lived in her time, and who had no mean poetic +gift, was the Rev. Duncan Maccallum of Arisaig, the author of “Collath,” +that other composition which passed for a time as a specimen of ancient +poetry. But enough has been said to show the range of this derived and +imitative activity. + +It will be seen that while on the one hand the Jacobite romance gave +rise to a new poetic revival, the Ossianic compositions, on the other +hand, proved also a source of general Celtic inspiration during the +latter half of the eighteenth century, and for two decades, at least, of +the nineteenth. Though the impulse of the Prince Charlie episode did not +carry to Wales as it did to Ireland, that of the Ossianic cycle did, and +issued in a similar enthusiasm in the production and publication of +books of Welsh poetry. This interest became so widespread that in 1819 +the national Eisteddfod was revived once more at Caermarthen, and +regained its old place in the hearts of the people. Without discussing +the tradition that ascribes its origin to the sixth century, it is now +fairly well ascertained that it is, at least, as old as the twelfth or +thirteenth century. History shows that Prince Griffith of South Wales +held a great Eisteddfod at Caermarthen in 1451, at which the twenty-four +metres of Welsh poetry were settled for all time. Since then it has had +a chequered career; officially patronised by the Tudors, it seems to +have declined under the Stuarts, and nearly perished under the first +three Hanoverians. But now, since its revival in 1819, nearly every +hamlet in Wales holds its annual Eisteddfod, and the national one has +grown to such a magnitude that it tends not only to keep alive the +Celtic spirit, but also to foster the love of music and poetry in the +Principality. + +Like much of our own Highland barderie, the Welsh poetry is the product +of workmen who have never been taught to read or write their own +language in the schools. Yet such is their natural taste and sense of +style that some of their best modern lyrics need not fear comparison +with those of Tannahill or even of Burns. Undoubtedly such poetry has +serious limitations, but it has a charm and beauty of its own, and is as +fresh and limpid as the mountain streams. The fragrance of the heather +is upon it quite as much as it is upon the lyrics of our own bards in +the Highlands. And as these latter felt the charm of the towering +mountain, the gloomy glen, the forest solitude, the lonely mysterious +sea, the bubbling stream, the wildflower, and the changing seasons, and +gave felicitous and sympathetic expression to the emotions these +awakened in their breasts, so did the peasant poets of Wild Wales. All +through last century, both in the Highlands and in that country, there +have been a succession of minor bards who have maintained the native +tongue sweet and warm and tuneful by their lyrics, though in Ireland the +same cannot be said, as the language there until quite recently had not +been fostered so much as in the sister countries. + +But to-day we constantly read of ourselves as passing through another +Celtic renaissance, and this is the last which falls to be noticed. It +took its rise half a century ago in the work of the scholars, and +doubtless was the natural sequence of the widespread interest aroused at +home and abroad by the Ossianic compositions. It was recognised that +there was material to work upon, which could be dealt with from a +scientific as well as a literary point of view. And so the renaissance +in the first instance was a revival of interest in the language itself, +and the ancient MS. monuments that contained its oldest forms. + +Two sets of scholars interested themselves in this new line of research. +On the one hand, distinguished Irishmen like John O’Donovan and Eugene +O’Curry devoted themselves to the task of bringing to light the +neglected and hidden MS. remains, which had hitherto for centuries lain +in the obscurity of religious or public libraries unread and +uncatalogued. And through these treasures they sought to interpret the +Gaelic past. On the other hand, Continental savants such as Bopp, Zeuss, +and Ebel, deeply absorbed in philological studies, were already at work +on the linguistic problem, which has rescued the Celtic dialects from an +unnatural isolation and equally unmerited contempt. + +Zeuss’s book in particular, published in 1853—the Gaelic part of it +founded on the study of Gaelic Continental MSS., illuminated the whole +field, just as much as if the searchlight had been turned on a dark and +hidden landscape. From that day a Celtic renaissance was assured. His +philological results, and the fact that the ancient dialects had now +been proved beyond question to belong to the great Aryan group, and +closely akin to the classic languages of Europe, gave the Celtic a new +importance and fired the enthusiasm of that subsequent galaxy of +scholars, who have made Celtic studies famous. + +Surprised and charmed with the prestige their own language and +literature had thus suddenly acquired in the eyes of Europe, and +especially of learned philologists, many of the Celts themselves now +began to look with kindlier interest upon their own literary legacy and +to recognise its value. The attention thus drawn to the past gradually +aroused enthusiasm for every surviving relic of tradition, of +literature, of history, of social custom, and of music. It has led to +the foundation of Celtic chairs for the study of the language and +literature, notably at Oxford, Edinburgh, and Berlin. It has given rise +to the Gaelic Mòd, Irish Text Society, and numerous other Highland, +Irish, and Welsh Associations, and kindred periodicals, British, +American, and Continental. Never before has such a mass of Celtic +tradition and lore been brought to view, and published in book or +magazine, as there has been within the last few decades. + +It cannot indeed be said that this renaissance has added any new +masterpieces to the native literatures, either in prose or poetry. A +wonderful outburst of literary activity there has been, and +distinguished authors have arrived; but the remarkable thing is, and it +is worthy of note, that the so-called Celtic renaissance, if we regard +it solely from its literary side and apart from the work of scholars, +has found its fullest expression in English, and addresses itself not so +much to the native Gaels or Cymri as to the English-speaking world in +general. Highland, Welsh, and Irish litterateurs have taken to placing +their wealth of dream, of poetic sentiment and imagination, as well as +their marvellous gift of story-telling, at the service of English +literature, which is accordingly enriched, while the old river dries up +in proportion as the number of readers and writers of the original +tongue declines. + +There are some things that we cannot hope to resuscitate. They pass in +the nature of things. Some that we would not wish to recall even if we +might. They have served their day. And if the current Celtic renaissance +has not contributed as much to the vernacular literature as might be +desired, it has certainly immensely enhanced the glories of the past, +and it has otherwise exhibited a revival of Celtic _esprit de corps_ +which shows that— + + The ancient spirit is not dead— + Old times, methinks, are breathing there. + +That this race-feeling survives, this kinship of blood, and is ever and +anon reasserting itself, may be inferred from the recent Pan-Celtic +Congress in Dublin, where representatives of Wales, of Brittany, of the +Highlands, of Ireland, and even of Celtdom beyond the seas, assembled in +all their ancient _tailoring_ to do homage to the past, to reckon with +the present, and formulate afresh their aspirations—to ask, in fact, +what does this latest renaissance mean? and whither tends it? + +A truly heterogeneous gathering, and eminently characteristic of the +race, who still look wistfully for the return of Arthur or of the Feinn, +and some new age of magic and romance, and whose forte it is unceasingly +to pursue the unknown, the undefinable, the ideal. + +We can picture the bewildered surprise and irrepressible mirth of the +average, unimaginative, unbelieving Sassenach, as he suddenly encounters +the extraordinary Pan-Celtic pageant on the living streets of Dublin. +Whence this resurrection of phantoms—these apparitions of long dead +ancestors? “Nay, good citizen, ’tis no phantasy,” sober reason replies, +“but one of various manifestations, perhaps the most evanescent of the +present Celtic renaissance, which finds little in our modern, +materialistic civilisation answering to its deepest aspirations.” And, +falling into reverie over the unwonted spectacle, we ourselves in our +wonderment musingly repeat the words of Charles Lamb:— + + Antiquity! thou wondrous charm, what art thou? that being nothing, art + everything! When thou wert, thou wert not antiquity—then thou wert + nothing, but hadst a remoter _antiquity_, as thou calledst it, to look + back to with blind veneration; thou thyself being to thyself, flat, + jejune, _modern_! What mystery lurks in this retroversion? or what + half Januses are we, that we cannot look forward with the same + idolatry with which we for ever revert? The mighty future is as + nothing, being everything; the past is everything, being nothing. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + HIGHLAND BARDS BEFORE THE FORTY-FIVE + + “The Owlet”—Three Macgregor songs—The old bardic system superseded—Era + of modern Gaelic poetry—Mary Macleod—Details of her life—Famous + songs—Iain Lom—Ardent poet and politician—His “Vow”—Eventful + career—Poems—Created Gaelic Poet-Laureate—Influence on Highland + history—Other minor bards and bardesses—Imitations by Sir Walter + Scott—The blind harper, and the blind piper—A comic poet—Two major + bards—Maccodrum’s Muse—Characteristics of the group before the + Forty-five. + + +The Book of the Dean of Lismore may be regarded as having gathered up +the best of the available, medieval, Gaelic poetry, and as having closed +the old bardic period. After it there came a break of nearly a hundred +years. It is true that there are some pieces which hail from this +interval, but they are isolated and few, with no certain dates. + +Of these, the most remarkable is that styled “The Owlet,” and it is +worthy of notice here as being the only composition of the kind in the +language. The poem is attributed to Donald Macdonald, a native of +Lochaber, and perhaps the most expert archer of his day. Withal a famous +wolf-hunter, he appears to have lived in the days before firearms, and +to have composed the verses when old. Their occasion is briefly +summarised by Mackenzie of “The Beauties,” in a footnote. In his +declining years the poet had married a young woman who proved a very +unmeet helpmate. For when he and his dog were worn down with the toils +of the chase, and infirmities rendered them stiff and decrepit, this +“crooked rib” took a pleasure in teasing them. Finding an old feeble owl +one day, she installed it in the house as a more fitting companion than +herself for the aged bard and his dog. The poem is an ingenious +performance in the form of a dialogue between the outraged husband and +the bird. + +Three Macgregor songs of that period have likewise a wonderful charm and +pathos. They are entitled “Macgregor’s Lullaby,” “Macgregor’s O’Ruara,” +and “The Braes of the Ceathach.” The authoress of the first laments the +death of her husband, who, with his father and brother, were beheaded at +the instigation of Colin Campbell of Glenorchy; her own sire, Campbell +of Glenlyon; and Menzies of Rannoch. The following verses are from +Pattison’s rendering:— + + Early on a Lammas morning, + With my husband was I gay; + But my heart got sorely wounded + Ere the middle of the day. + + (chorus) Ochan, Ochan, Ochan uiri, + Though I cry, my child, with thee— + Ochan, Ochan, Ochan uiri, + Now he hears not thee nor me. + + Malison on judge and kindred— + They have wrought me mickle woe; + With deceit they came about us, + Through deceit they laid him low. + + Had they met but twelve Macgregors, + With my Gregor at their head; + Now my child had not been orphaned, + Nor these bitter tears been shed. + + On an oaken block they laid him, + And they spilt his blood around; + I’d have drunk it in a goblet + Largely, ere it reached the ground. + + · · · · · + + When the rest have all got lovers + Now a lover have I none; + My fair blossom, fresh and fragrant, + Withers on the ground alone. + + While all other wives the night-time + Pass in slumber’s balmy bands; + I, beside my bedside weary, + Never cease to wring my hands. + + Far, far better be with Gregor + Where the heather’s in its prime, + Than with mean and Lowland barons + In a house of stone and lime. + + · · · · · + + Bahu, bahu, little nursling— + Oh! so tender now and weak; + I fear the day will never brighten + When revenge for him you’ll seek. + + Ochan, Ochan, Ochan uiri, + Though I cry, my child, with thee— + Ochan, Ochan, Ochan uiri + Yet he hears not thee nor me. + +We pass by the few existing lines of Bishop Carsewell and Sir John +Stewart of Appin, who both lived in the sixteenth century, and forthwith +emerge upon the new time, the era of modern Gaelic poetry. Almost +simultaneously in Scotland and Ireland, a great change took place in the +form and complexion of this vernacular poetic literature. From the early +part of the seventeenth century, the intricate metres and technicalities +of the old bardic system, which had been in vogue for a thousand years, +began to be discarded and superseded, and more freedom in versifying +introduced. Dr. Douglas Hyde sums up the principles of this new +departure in two sentences: first, the adoption of vowel rhyme in place +of consonantal rhyme; second, the adoption of a certain number of +accents in each line in place of a certain number of syllables. And in +consequence of these changes, he holds that the Gaelic poetry of the +last two centuries is probably the most sensuous attempt to convey music +in words ever made by man. He who has once heard it and remains deaf to +its charm can have little heart for song or soul for music. It is +absolutely impossible, he says, to convey the lusciousness of sound, +richness of rhythm, and perfection of harmony in another language. The +sweetest creation of all Gaelic literature, this new outburst of lyric +melody was a wonderful arrangement of vowel sounds, so placed that in +every accented syllable, first one vowel and then another fell upon the +ear in all possible kinds of harmonious modifications. Some verses are +made wholly on the à sound, others on the ò, ù, è, or ì sounds, but the +majority on a unique and fascinating intermixture of two, three, or +more; as, for example, in Mary Macleod’s vowel-rhyming over the drowning +of Mac-Ille Chalum in the angry Minch between Stornoway and Raasay:— + + Mo bhèud, ’s mo bhròn, + Mar dh’eirich dhò + Muir beucach, mòr, + Ag leum mu d’bhòrd, + Thu féin, ’s do shèoid + ’Nuair reub ’ur seòil, + Nach d’fhaod sibh treòir + A chaitheadh orr. + + ’S e an sgeul’ craiteach + Do’n mhnaoi a d’fhag thu, + ’S do t-aon bhrathair, + A shuidh na t’aite, + Diluain Càisge, + Chaidh tonn bàit ort, + Craobh a b’aird’ de’n ubhal thu. + +To give the effect in English the original has been somewhat freely, +though not quite accurately, rendered thus:— + + My grief, my pain, + Relief was vain + The seething wave + Did leap and rave + And reeve in twain, + Both sheet and sail, + And leave us bare + And foundering. + + Alas! indeed, + For her you leave. + Your brother’s grief + To them will cleave. + It was on Easter + Monday’s feast + The branch of peace + Went down with you. + +It has been acknowledged even by Dr. Hyde, one of our greatest Irish +authorities of the present, that the Scottish Gaels led the way in this +great change that transformed the Celtic poetry of both Islands, and to +Mary Macleod, popularly known as “Mairi nighean Alasdair Ruaidh,” has +been assigned the honour of being the first of the modern Highland bards +to inaugurate the new system. + +Before her day most of the Gaelic poetry was Ossianic, or of uncertain +authorship; fugitive, and generally in the ancient style. The poets were +bound by the rules of their order, and to excel within the very narrow +limits of the old-world prosody, hedged about as it was with so many +technicalities, required years of severe bardic study and preparation. +Mary, apparently without any tuition, without even the power to read or +write, suddenly burst these unnatural bonds asunder, and gave to the +spirit of her poetry the freedom of the elements, unhampered and +unfettered by the intricate metres of the Schools. She invented rhythms +of her own, often making the music of sound an echo of the sense. And +from her time scores of new and brilliant metres have made their +appearance. + +Only a few biographical details of this remarkable woman are known, but +they are characteristic, and extremely interesting, revealing a +personality outside the common order of Highland intellect. Born in +Roudal, Harris, in the year 1569, she was the daughter of Alexander +Macleod, son of Alasdair Ruadh, a descendant of the chief of that +distinguished clan; and at an early age, apparently, she became a nurse +in the family of the Macleods at Dunvegan Castle. Though otherwise +illiterate, the poetic Mary must have derived some culture, +independently of book learning, from her association with the chiefs and +their following in the ancestral home where, nearly 200 years +afterwards, Dr. Johnson and his friend were so hospitably entertained. +In the course of her long career, for she lived to be 105 years old, she +nursed no less than five lairds of the Macleods,[32] and two of the +lairds of Applecross. + +There is no evidence that she was much addicted to the making of poetry +until somewhat advanced in life. It was then at least that she composed +those pieces that have survived and made her name illustrious in +Highland literature. Most of them have reference to events that happened +in the Macleod family. + +Thus the song, “An Talla ’m bu ghna le Mac Leoid,” was produced +extempore during the last illness of one of the lairds. Happening to ask +Mary facetiously what kind of a lament she would make for him after he +was gone, she declared in response that it would be a very mournful one. +“Come nearer me,” said the aged chief, “and let me hear part of it,” +whereupon the clever bardess sang this pathetic dirge. The power of +extemporising poetical compositions still lingers in the Highlands. + +Again, “Hithill, uthill agus hò,” owes its existence to the gift of a +snuff-mull bestowed on Mary by a son of Sir Norman. + +All her barderie, however, did not suit the proud chief of Dunvegan, who +objected to the scope of the publicity he and his menage received at the +hands of the family nurse, exercising, as she freely did, the privileges +of the poet. And therefore he banished her to the island of Mull, under +the care of a relative. + +But if one song sent her away, another brought her back. It was hard to +be exiled from Eilean-a-Cheo, and the castled seat of the clan, and so +seizing the opportunity which the advent of the young laird’s birthday +offered, she composed the now well-known “Luinneag Mhic Leoid,” or “Ode +to Macleod,” in which she presented a portrait so flattering that the +stubborn chief relented and sent a boat to bring her back, on condition +that henceforth she should no more exercise her gift of song. The +delighted poetess readily assented. + +Yet even on the way from Mull to Skye she could not restrain the poetic +afflatus, and though for a time after her return she kept her word, as +Blackie says, “a bird is a bird and will sing”; and Mary Macleod, this +irrepressible daughter of the red-haired clansman, once more incurred +the displeasure of her chief by composing a new poem on the recovery of +his son from some illness; and in extenuation of the charge laid against +her, she naively maintained, “It is not a song; it is only a crònan,” +that is, a crooning. + +The ode she produced in Mull in the days of dreary exile is one of the +finest of her poems; wild and beautiful, with a very peculiar charm. It +generally appears in all the best collections of Gaelic songs, and has +been translated into English verse both by Pattison and Blackie. The +rendering of the latter is, perhaps, the more euphonious, and brings out +better the repetition at the beginning of each stanza, as:— + + I sit on a knoll, + All sorrowful and sad, + And I look on the grey sea + In mistiness clad, + And I brood on strange chances + That drifted me here, + Where Scarba and Jura + And Islay are near. + + Where Scarba and Jura + And Islay are near; + Grand land of rough mountains, + I wish thee good cheer, + I wish young Sir Norman + On mainland and islands + To be named with proud honour, + First chief of the Highlands! + + To be praised with proud honour + First chief of the Highlands, + For wisdom and valour, + In far and nigh lands; + For mettle and manhood + There’s none may compare + With the handsome Macleod + Of the princeliest air. + + And the blood through his veins, + That so proudly doth fare, + From the old Kings of Lochlann + Flows richly and rare. + Each proud earl in Alba + Is knit with his line, + And Erin shakes hands with him + Over the brine. + + And Erin shakes hands with him + Over the brine; + Brave son of brave father, + The pride of his line, + In camp and in council + Whose virtue was seen, + And his purse was as free + As his claymore was keen. + + · · · · · + + With my heart I thee worship + Thou shapeliest Knight, + Wellgirt in the grace + Of the red and the white; + With an eye like the blaeberry + Blue on the brae, + And cheeks like the haws + On the hedge by the way. + + With a cheek like the haws + On the hedge by the way, + ’Neath the rarest of locks + In rich curly display; + And the guest in thy hall + With glad cheer shall behold + Rich choice of rare armour + In brass and in gold, etc. + +It needs some of Mary’s own imagination to picture her going about in +after days wearing a tartan _tonnag_, fastened in front with a large +silver brooch, and carrying a silver-headed cane. Hardy to a degree in +mind and constitution, the venerable nurse and poetess, when long past +the natural span of years, was much given, we are told, to gossip, +snuff, and whisky. After her death, which took place at Dunvegan in +1674, she was buried in her native isle of Harris. + +Mackenzie of “The Beauties” appraised this quaint personage as the most +original of all our poets, who borrowed nothing. Her thoughts, her +verse, and rhymes were all equally her own; her language simple and +elegant; her diction easy, natural, and unaffected. There is no +straining to produce effect; no search after unintelligible words to +conceal the poverty of ideas. Her thoughts flow freely, and her +versification runs like a mountain stream over a smooth bed of polished +granite. She often repeats her rhymes, as in the above instance, yet we +never feel them tiresome or disagreeable, for, more than most of her +Gaelic compeers, Mary was mistress of the poetic lyre. + +After her came another striking figure in the history of Highland bardic +literature. This was John Macdonald, the Lochaber poet, popularly known +as Iain Lom, probably from lack of hair either on his head or face, and +sometimes styled Iain Manntach, from an impediment in his speech. +Singular in these physical respects, he was no less remarkable for his +mental characteristics. A man of great force of character, he combined +in his personality the ardent poet and the keen politician, the +intuitive dreamer and the restless man of action. + +Macdonald belonged to the Keppoch family, lived through the stirring +times of Charles I., Charles II., James II., the Revolution, and +subsequent reign of William and Mary, dying at an advanced age in 1710, +when Anne was on the throne. + +This is the wonderful schemer whom some regard as the real genius of the +Montrose Campaign during the Civil War. Were it not for him, it is +certain, events could not have developed so favourably and so +brilliantly for the victorious Marquis as they did. Keen Jacobite as he +always was, he accompanied the latter on most of his marches, and it is +marvellous that the great Border minstrel, Sir Walter Scott, especially +in his account of the battle of Inverlochy in the _Legend of Montrose_, +makes no reference to him. + +The Keppoch bard first came into prominence as a man to be reckoned +with, in connection with the murder of his chief, which, it is said he +foresaw, but was unable to avert. Sent abroad as a minor to be educated, +the heir of Keppoch was supplanted in his absence by his own faithless +and intriguing cousins, who murdered both him and his brother on their +return home. The dastardly crime rankled in the bosom of the fiery bard. +Among the faithless clansmen he alone remained fearlessly true to the +stricken family, and he determined to have revenge. “The Vow of Iain +Lom,” published in Mrs. D. Ogilvy’s _Highland Minstrelsy_, graphically +depicts his state of mind at the time. He went from house to house, and +castle to castle, calling for vengeance on the assassins, and having at +last obtained a commission from Government to take them dead or alive, +he first addressed himself to Glengarry, who declined the dangerous +task, and then to Sir Alexander Macdonald, who put a company of chosen +men at his disposal, the “Ciaran Mabach,” poet and soldier, at their +head. + +Under the Keppoch bard’s directions the murderers were summarily +attacked and beheaded in their own barricaded house. A gruesome monument +of seven heads, representing those of the father and six sons, now marks +the well on Loch Oich side, known as _Tobar-nan-ceann_, where these +bleeding trophies are said to have been washed on their way to Glengarry +Castle, whence they were carried to Skye as a tribute to the Knight of +Sleat. + +The bard has a poem on “Mort na Ceapach,” the murder of Keppoch; and +another entitled “A Bhean Leasaich,” in which he begins by praising Sir +Alexander Macdonald of Sleat and his son Sir James, evidently with the +intention of provoking Glengarry for his remissness in the matter of +retribution upon the usurpers. His own persecution by the traitors +furnished the poet with another theme. From this time he became a man of +mark in the Highlands, feared and respected. Though not a soldier +himself, when the Civil War broke out he identified himself with the +cause of the Stuarts, and was the means of bringing the armies of Argyll +and Montrose into deadly conflict at Inverlochy on February 2nd, 1645. +The wily John, a willing spectator, evaded taking a personal hand in the +encounter by the following ruse. When asked to make ready to march to +the fight, by the Macdonald commanding the Irish contingent, he slyly +replied, “If I go along with thee to-day, and fall in battle, who will +sing thy praises to-morrow? Go thou, Alasdair, and exert thyself as +usual, and I shall sing thy feats, and celebrate thy prowess in martial +strains.” + +The result was that the bard feasted his eyes from a safe distance on +the disaster of the Campbells, with whom he was ever at feud, and moved +by all the passion and prejudice of the event composed the heroic +stanzas entitled, “The Battle of Inverlochy.” So realistic and graphic +is the description given in the original Gaelic that it seems to +photograph many of the details just as they happened. “The spirit of +poetry, the language, and boldness of expression,” says Mackenzie, with +perhaps the Celtic leaning to hyperbole, “have never been equalled.” Yet +to-day we read these vindictive strains with different feelings from +those that animated the bard. + +A few verses may be quoted from the rendering of Professor Blackie, +which, though they lack the fire and intensity of the original, give a +good idea of the gist of the poem:—[33] + + Did you hear from Cille Cummin + How the tide of war came pouring? + Far and wide the summons travelled, + How they drave the Whigs before them! + + From the Castle tower I viewed it + High on Sunday morning early, + Looked and saw the ordered battle + Where Clan Donald triumphed rarely. + + Up the green slope of Cuil Eachaidh + Came Clan Donald marching stoutly; + Churls who laid my home in ashes, + Now shall pay the fine devoutly! + + · · · · · + + Many a bravely mounted rider, + With his back turned to the slaughter, + Where his boots won’t keep him dry now, + Learns to swim in Nevis water. + + On the wings of eager rumour + Far and wide the tale is flying, + How the slippery knaves, the Campbells, + With their cloven skulls are lying! + + O’er the frosted moor they travelled, + Stoutly with no thought of dying; + Where now many a whey-faced lubber, + To manure the fields is lying! + + From the height of Tom-na-harry + See them crudely heaped together, + In their eyes no hint of seeing, + Stretched to rot upon the heather! + + Warm your welcome was at Lochy, + With blows and buffets thickening round you, + And Clan Donald’s groovèd claymore, + Flashing terror to confound you! + + Hot and hotter grew the struggle + Where the trenchant blade assailed them; + Sprawled with nails on ground Clan Duiné, + When the parted sinew failed them. + + Many a corpse upon the heather, + Naked lay, once big with daring, + From the battle’s hurly-burly, + Drifting blindly to Blarchaorainn. + + · · · · · + + If I could, I would be weeping + For your shame and for your sorrow, + Orphans’ cry and widows’ wailing, + Through the long Argyll to-morrow. + +All this to the weird and exulting chorus:— + + H-i rim h-ŏ-rò, h-ò-rò leatha, + H-i rim h-ŏ-rò, h-ò-rò leatha, + H-i rim h-ŏ-rò, h-ò-rò leatha, + Chaidh an la le Clann-Dòmhnuill. + +His dangerous strategy and stinging sarcasm at length roused the Marquis +of Argyll to offer a reward for his head, and it is characteristic of +the impetuous John that he appeared in person in the audience-hall of +this mighty chief to claim it, relying for safety, no doubt, on the +sacred regard in which Highlanders always held the professional bard. +The Marquis received him courteously, and as they passed through a room +hung round with heads of moor-fowl, he asked him, “Have you ever seen, +John, so many black-cocks together?” “Yes,” he replied. “Where?” “At +Inverlochy.” “Ah! John,” muttered Argyll, “will you never cease gnawing +at the Campbells?” “I am only sorry,” added the implacable bard, “that I +cannot swallow them.” + +For his services in the Stuart cause he was created Gaelic +poet-laureate, and received from Charles II. a yearly pension. Iain Lom +thus holds the unique distinction of having been the first and only +Gaelic poet-laureate. Altogether his poems would occupy a considerable +volume, though they have never been so issued.[34] Pattison has not +translated any, but Iain Lom has nevertheless obtained a well-merited +niche in Messrs. Blackie, the publishers, _Poets and Poetry of +Scotland_, 1876, compiled by James G. Wilson; and the romantic side of +his character is charmingly represented incidentally in Neil Munro’s +novel, entitled _John Splendid_. + +Long after his death his Jacobite effusions still exercised a powerful +influence over his countrymen, counteracting in no small degree the +efforts of the Government to suppress the Stuart factions. “Children +were taught to lisp them,” says the _New Statistical Account of +Scotland_. “They were sung in the family circle on winter nights, and at +weddings, lykewakes, fairs, and in every company. They attributed to the +Stuarts and their adherents the most exalted virtues, and represented +their opponents as incarnate fiends. In 1745, Moidart and Kilmonivaig +were called ‘The Cradle of the Rebellion,’ and they were the very +districts where the songs of Iain Lom leavened the whole mass of society +with Jacobite sentiments.” + + Mightier was the verse of Iain + Hearts to nerve, to kindle eyes, + Than the claymore of the valiant, + Than the counsel of the wise. + +Contemporary with Iain Lom, and his confederate in bringing retribution +upon the Keppoch traitors, was a minor bard, known as Archibald +Macdonald, or “An Ciaran Mabach,” an illegitimate son of Sir Alexander +Macdonald, sixteenth baron of Sleat. In after life he lived in easy +circumstances, well adapted for the cultivation of his poetic tastes, on +an estate granted him in North Uist by his influential father, in return +for numerous services rendered as a sagacious and practical man of +affairs. Otherwise his life was uneventful and his poetry limited in +amount. + +But the field held various other less prominent bards, for to this +period belonged several of those whose productions appear in the Fernaig +MS. of Duncan Macrae. Nor was the Highlands then lacking in poetesses. +Two at least figure in the record of the remembered. + +Dorothy Brown, a native of Luing Island, Argyllshire, composed many +poems, of which perhaps that to Alasdair Maccolla is the only one now +extant, yet as a poetess she alone of women in that age approached the +standard of Mary Macleod. + +Cicely Macdonald, her contemporary, was daughter of Ronald of Keppoch, +in youth a frolicsome maiden and clever at epigrams. Marrying a +gentleman of the Lovat family, she lived with him farther north, and +came to be known for her bardic gifts. Songs and laments were her chief +productions, but after her husband died at Inverness in a fit of +inebriety, she took to hymn-making. The names of her earlier pieces are +suggestive, such as: “Moràghach Mhic Shimidh,” “Slan gu bràth le ceòl na +clarsaich,” and “Alasdair a Glinne-Garaidh.” The latter beautiful one, +Mackenzie assures us, has served as a model for many Gaelic songs. + +The next name in the succession is that of Nial Macvurich, family bard +and historian of Clanranald, distinguished also as a descendant, through +a long line of bardic ancestors, from the ancient and historic Muireach +Albannach, whose poetry figures in the Book of the Dean of Lismore. To +Nial we are indebted for the history of his illustrious clan, written in +Gaelic and preserved in the Red Book of Clanranald. But it is to be +regretted that of his own poems none is now extant, except two pieces +treasured in “The Beauties.” Solicitous to perpetuate the history and +ancient poetry of others, it appears that Nial took no thought for his +own to have them written down, and so they have mostly disappeared. He +lived to a great age, like the majority of these early Highland bards, +and was an old man living on his farm in South Uist at the time of the +first Jacobite rising in 1715. + +Still another poet of Clanranald fame, John Macdonald, or Iain Dubh Mac +Iain ’Ic-Ailein, born about 1665, and resident in Eigg; and then we +reach the Aosdan Matheson, who was bard to the Earl of Seaforth in the +seventeenth century. Appurtenant to this post he held free lands in +Lochalsh, Ross-shire, and composed as many poems as would fill a large +volume, but most of these, like Nial Macvurich’s, and for the same +reason, have long been forgotten. One of those preserved has been very +freely rendered or imitated in English by Sir Walter Scott, under the +title “Farewell to Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail,” 1815. + +The original verses are arranged to a beautiful Gaelic air, of which the +chorus is adapted to the double pull upon the oars of a galley, and +which is therefore distinct from the ordinary boat-songs. They were +composed on the occasion of the embarking at Dornie, Kintail, of the +Earl of Seaforth, who was obliged to take refuge in Spain, after an +unsuccessful effort in favour of the old Chevalier in 1718. Sir Walter’s +version runs thus:— + + Farewell to Mackenneth, great Earl of the North, + The Lord of Lochcarron, Glenshiel, and Seaforth; + To the Chieftain this morning his course who began, + Launching forth on the billow his bark like a swan. + For a foreign land he has hoisted his sail, + Farewell to Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail! + + O swift be the galley, and hardy her crew, + May her captain be skilful, her mariners true, + In danger undaunted, unwearied by toil, + Though the whirlwind should rise, and the ocean should boil; + On the brave vessel’s gunnel, I drank his bonail, + And farewell to Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail! + + Awake in thy chamber, thou sweet southland gale! + Like the sighs of his people, breathe soft on his sail; + Be prolong’d as regret, that his vassals must know, + Be fair as their faith, and sincere as their woe; + Be so soft, and so fair, and so faithful, sweet gale, + Wafting onward Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail! + + Be his pilot experienced, and trusty, and wise, + To measure the seas and to study the skies; + May he hoist all his canvas from streamer to deck, + But oh! crowd it higher when wafting him back— + Till the cliffs of Skooroora, and Conan’s glad vale, + Shall welcome Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail! + +Hector Maclean, of the same period, was bard to Sir Lachlan Maclean of +Duart, from whom he had a small annuity. Two poems of his, the “Chief’s +Elegy” and “Song,” are reckoned among the beauties of Gaelic poetry, and +have also attracted the attention of Sir Walter Scott, who translated or +imitated in the abrupt style of the original a fragment of the latter, +entitled “War-Song of Lachlan, High-Chief of Maclean.” This song, like +many of the early Gaelic productions, makes a rapid transition from one +subject to another. From the situation of a forlorn maiden of the clan, +who opens with an address to her absent lover, it passes finally to an +eulogium over the martial glories of the chieftain. Thus:— + + A weary month has wandered o’er + Since last we parted on the shore; + Heaven! that I saw thee, Love, once more, + Safe on that shore again! + ’Twas valiant Lachlan gave the word; + Lachlan, of many a galley lord; + He call’d his kindred bands on board, + And launched them on the main. + + Clan Gillian is to ocean gone, + Clan Gillian, fierce in foray known; + Rejoicing in the glory won + In many a bloody broil; + For wide is heard the thundering fray, + The rout, the ruin, the dismay, + When from the twilight glens away + Clan Gillian drives the spoil. + + Woe to the hills that shall rebound + Our banner’d bagpipes’ maddening sound; + Clan Gillian’s onset echoing round, + Shall shake their inmost cell. + Woe to the bark whose crew shall gaze + Where Lachlan’s silken streamer plays! + The fools might face the lightning’s blaze + As wisely and as well! + +Lachlan Mackinnon of Strath, Isle of Skye, is the next to figure in this +succession. Unlike so many of the others, he was not unlettered, nor +ignorant of such knowledge of the language as may be gleaned from a +critical study of its structure. Hence his Gaelic is wonderfully pure +and correct. In early life he filled the rôle of a strolling musician, +carrying his violin about with him from place to place, till certain +personal considerations obliged him to desist. + +After him came a blind harper and a blind piper, both famous in Highland +minstrelsy. The harper was Roderick Morrison, son of an Episcopal +clergyman in the island of Lewis. He was born in the year 1646, and in +his boyhood had been sent along with his two brothers to be educated at +Inverness, all three having been destined by their father for the +ministry of the Church. But, unhappily, while there the youthful +islanders were seized with smallpox, which was then epidemic in the +town. His two brothers recovered from the effects of the dread scourge, +and afterwards became ministers, one at Contin, the other at Poolewe in +Ross-shire. Roderick himself was the chief sufferer, for not only was +his face disfigured and contracted, but he also lost the use of his +eyes. Incapacitated thus for a profession, he turned his attention to +music, and in addition to the skill he acquired in playing other +instruments, became an adept at the harp. Hence the name “An Clarsair +Dall,” by which he was generally known throughout the Highlands. + +Visiting Ireland, it is thought he profited by tuition from his +fellow-harpers there, who had achieved fame in that form of minstrelsy; +and on his return to Scotland he took occasion to call at every baronial +residence on the way to exhibit his art. It so happened at the time that +many of the Scotch nobility and gentry were at the Court of King James +in Holyrood, Edinburgh, and thither the blind musician wended his way, +where he found an excellent friend in the person of the Highland +chieftain, John Breac Macleod of Harris, who readily engaged him as his +family harper. + +While holding this office Morrison composed several beautiful tunes and +songs, living the life of a farmer at Totamòr in Glenelg, on a piece of +land which his patron granted him rent-free. On the death of the latter +he returned to his native island, and died there in a good old age, and +was buried in a country churchyard near Stornoway. + +Morrison was a poet of power and culture. His elegy, “Creach nan +Ciadan,” on the chieftain who befriended him, is reckoned one of the +most pathetic, plaintive, and heart-touching of Highland laments. + +The blind piper, John Mackay of Gairloch, was a contemporary, though +twenty years his junior. Like his father before him, who hailed from the +Reay country, this Mackay was born blind. Taught music first of all +under the paternal roof, he was sent later on to the Isle of Skye to +perfect his studies under the direction of the celebrated Mac Crimmon. +There he excelled all other pupils, and soon learned to compose +pipe-music himself. In fact, it is recorded that one of the Mac +Crimmons, jealous of his powers as a pipe-music composer, bribed some of +the youths to throw him over a precipice, which they did one day, the +blind stripling falling a distance of twenty-four feet, but without +physical hurt. The rock is still known as “Leum an Doill,” or “The Blind +Man’s Leap,” since he had the good fortune to land on his soles. + +After seven years’ tuition in Skye he returned to his native parish, +succeeding his father as family piper to the Laird of Gairloch, and +subsequently marrying. Numerous pibrochs, strathspeys, reels, and jigs +are placed to his credit. When at length he was superannuated on a small +but competent annuity, the old man used to pass his time visiting +gentlemen’s houses in the Reay country and the island of Skye. On one of +these peregrinations in Sutherlandshire he composed the beautiful +pastoral “Coire an Easain,” lamenting Lord Reay. Of this poem Mackenzie +says, “It is not surpassed by anything of the kind in the Celtic +language—bold, majestic, and intrepid, it commands admiration at first +glance, and seems on a nearer survey of the entire magnificent fabric as +the work of some supernatural agent.” Could Highland admiration go +farther? + +The “Piobaire Dall” lived till he was about ninety-eight years of age, +and sleeps with his father Ruairidh Dall within the clachan of his +native parish in the west. + +Other minor bards of the period were, John Whyte, William Mackenzie, +John Maclean, Malcolm Maclean, the poet Macdonald of Muck, who composed +the “Massacre of Glencoe,” Angus Macdonald, Hector Macleod, Archibald +Macdonald, and Zachary Macaulay. + +Archibald Macdonald excelled as a comic bard—one of the few that +Highland Gaeldom has produced. His “Elegy” on Roy while living—a piper +and favourite companion of his own—and his “Resurrection” of the same +individual, are counted very clever. He it was who composed the famous +satire, “Tha biodag air Mac Thomàis,” which, when played at a wedding +memorable in Highland history, ended so tragically for the player, and, +indeed, for Mac Thomàis himself, the alleged heir to the Lovat estates, +who had to fly from the country, and whose descendants have on more than +one occasion in recent times contested the right of the present Lovat +family to the ancient inheritance. + +Tradition still pathetically relates how on that occasion, enraged at +the playing of the piece which so cleverly satirised himself, this young +Master of Lovat stabbed the bag of the piper, to silence it, with his +biodag, but the weapon entered the player’s heart also, and bag and +piper both collapsed with a mournful groan. + +Zachary Macaulay is worthy of note on another account. From his family +was descended the brilliant Lord Macaulay, so famous in letters, and it +may very well have been from this source that the gifted essayist and +historian derived his vivid pictorial style. Zachary was born in the +island of Lewis early in the eighteenth century, and was the son of an +accomplished Episcopalian clergyman there. His productions as a poet +exhibit true bardic power, though he is believed in his youth to have +been given to writing wanton songs. The air of one of his popular pieces +was in after days a great favourite with Burns. + +Two major bards remain to be noticed, who lived partly before and partly +after the Forty-five—John Maccodrum and Alexander Macdonald. The latter, +the more distinguished of the two, claims fuller mention hereafter. +Meanwhile, no more fitting subject might be found wherewith to conclude +this chapter than an account of the original and witty Maccodrum, with +examples of his poems. + +Born in North Uist, he became in manhood bard to Sir James Macdonald of +Sleat, who died at Rome in 1766. It was a curious circumstance that +first commended him to the notice of this nobleman. The poet happened to +make a satire on the tailors of the Long Island, who were so exasperated +that they refused one and all to make him any clothing. Consequently he +went about for a time in tatters, and meeting Sir James one day, the +latter naturally inquired the reason why his trousers were so ragged. +Maccodrum explained, and was asked to repeat the offending verses. On +complying he was there and then promoted to be bard to the family, and +obtained, as was usual in such circumstances, free lands on the estate +for his maintenance. + +A lively wit and biting sarcasm seem to have been characteristics of +Maccodrum’s Muse. Yet he could be very tender, as on the occasion when +he laments the untimely death of his patron, at the early age of +twenty-five. Then was the bard unusually serious and even pious:— + + As I awake it is not sleep + That strives with me in troubles deep; + My bed beneath the tears I weep + Is in disquiet; + My bed beneath, etc. + + Of him, my patron bright, bereft, + I have no fair possession left; + While pain of loss my soul has cleft + In sight and hearing; + While pain of loss, etc. + + Sore tears are ours; joy is no more, + No hope of smiles; no cheer in store; + We seem like the brave Fianns of yore + And Finn forsaken; + We seem like the brave Fianns, etc. + + Ah! true it seems the tale to tell; + Our cup is filled with doings fell; + Provoking in a rage of hell + Bless’d God the Highest; + Provoking in a rage, etc. + + Blest One, from Thee let us not swerve; + Above with Thee he goes to serve; + O Christ! do Thou for us preserve + Our loving brothers; + O Christ! do thou for us preserve, etc. + +Maccodrum was deemed a witness of no mean weight in the Ossianic +controversy, on the strength of the following statement by Sir James +Macdonald, in a letter dated from Skye, October 10th, 1763. Addressing +Dr. Blair, on that occasion he writes: “The few bards that are left +among us repeat only detached pieces of the Ossianic poems. I have often +heard them and understood them, particularly from one man, called John +Maccodrum, who lives on my estate in North Uist. I have heard him repeat +for hours together poems which seemed to me to be the same with +Macpherson’s translations.” + +The bard once met the hero of Ossianic fame when the latter had gone to +the Outer Hebrides to collect fragments of ancient poetry. From +Lochmaddy, Macpherson happened to be travelling across the moor towards +the seat of the younger Clanranald of Benbencula, and falling in with a +native, he took occasion to ask him if he had anything on the Feinn. +This man, who was none other than the quick-witted and sarcastic +Maccodrum, taking advantage of Macpherson’s badly expressed and +ambiguous Gaelic, retorted literally to the effect that the Feinn did +not owe him anything, and even if they did, it were vain to ask for +payment now. Unaware of the personality of the bard, and direly offended +at the character of the reply, which reflected on his own knowledge of +the language, the proud collector passed on his way without more ado. +Both men thus met and parted as ignorant of each other as ships that +pass in the night. + +Maccodrum’s poems have never been published separately. A few appeared +in Alexander Macdonald’s collection. Many of the rest, entrusted to +memory, are now merged in oblivion. He had not the versatility either of +Mary Macleod or of Alexander Macdonald, for he sometimes imitates the +poems of bards more original than himself, yet in purity and elegance of +language he frequently approaches Macdonald. His satire on “Donald +Bain’s Bagpipe,” and his poems on “Old Age” and “Whisky,” are considered +excellent, witty, ingenious, and original. And “Smeorach +Chlann-Domhnuill,” or “The Mavis of Clan Donald,” which has been +rendered into English verse by Professor Blackie, is a delightful pæan +in praise of his own native Uist. + + The Mavis of Pabal am I; in my nest + I lay long time with my head on my breast, + Dozing away the dreary hour, + In the day that was dark, and the time that was sour. + + But now I soar to the mountain’s crest, + For the chief is returned whom I love best; + In the face of the sun, on the fringe of the wood, + Feeding myself with wealth of good. + + On the tip of the twigs I sit and sing, + And greet the morn on dewy wing, + And fling to the breeze my dewy note, + With no ban to my breath, and no dust in my throat. + + Every bird will praise its own nest, + And why shall not I think mine the best? + Land of strong men and healthy food, + And kindly cheer, and manners good. + + A land that faces the ocean wild, + But with summer sweetness, mellow and mild, + Calves, lambs, and kids, full many a score, + Bread, milk, and honey piled in the store. + + A dappled land full sunny and warm, + Secure and sheltered from the storm, + With ducks and geese and ponds not scanted, + And food for all that live to want it, etc. + +The poet, apparently, made the most of his own rugged island, and now +lies buried in an old churchyard not far from the village of Houghary, +where a rough boulder of gneiss, of uneven, battered surface, spotted +with nodules, but without any inscription, marks his grave. He himself, +while living, had picked it out from the beach and destined it for this +purpose. + +The Highland bards before the Forty-five were thus a goodly company, and +they had this in common, that they were independent for the most part of +writing, in some cases even of education; yet they had a wonderful +command of their native Gaelic, and an extraordinary ear for the +beauties of sound that may be expressed through the medium of language. +They were all more or less attached to chiefs, whose praises they sang, +and almost without exception these early bards lived into an extreme old +age, and died in the land they had never left, and among the friends +they had never forsaken. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH ON GAELIC LITERATURE + + The origins of Celtic literature—Two streams—The Pagan—The + Christian—Influence of the early Celtic Church as patron of + letters—Originates a written literature—Attitude towards the + ancient sagas—Medieval obscurantism—The Dialogues between Ossian + and Patrick quoted and discussed—Their significance—Bishop + Carsewell and the Reformation—The rival influences of Naturalism + and the Church—Decline of Gaelic oral literature—The Nineteenth, a + century of gleaning rather than of great creative + work—Reasons—Present-day return to nature—Splendid services of + individual Churchmen. + + +As we work our way back through history towards the origins of Celtic +literature, we recognise two streams issuing from two very different +sources. One has its rise in pre-Christian times, welling up from the +pagan heart of the race from a remote antiquity. It is represented by +the sagas and the poetry that is mingled with them. These sagas breathe +the spirit of the Celtic people in the long past, and are the most +characteristic of all their literary products. So old are they, that +very few of them deal with events posterior to the eighth century, and +those that do are the less meritorious. + +In this respect it may be said that the Celts produced their best +literature first. This literature was long in coming to the birth. It +took centuries to evolve. But when it did appear it proved a new +creation. The mind of a people lived in it, spoke through its tales. +Generations of ancestors, lost and speechless in the slumber of the +ages, found in it life and utterance. + +So far as this stream has gained in volume through its course down the +centuries, it has done so by expansion. Each succeeding age harks back +to the past and draws from the original, imitating and transcribing, +until now in the great books of sagas and modern literature thereon, we +have a mighty river of Gaelic lore. + +Yet nothing so original, nothing so characteristic in this line has ever +been added to the early contribution. The Celtic genius seems to have +found its fullest and most distinctive expression then, in the days +before writing, and before Christianity was introduced, and ever since +it has been drawing inspiration from its oldest creations. + +Take away this stream, and the peculiar interest of Celtic literature is +gone. How many centuries the sagas were in the making before they took +final shape as we read them, can never be known. They passed from +generation to generation by oral delivery, and it was only in the +seventh or eighth century of our era that they ultimately found +embodiment in writing. This much can be inferred, though we have no +copies earlier than the end of the eleventh century and middle of the +twelfth, those from which these latter drew their texts having perished +long ago. + +But as this stream flowed on from a past as remote and mysterious as the +sources of the Nile were in the days of Herodotus, suddenly a new and +independent one takes its rise. And this latter stream can be traced to +its source in the fifth century of our era. It emanated not, as in the +other case, from the pagan heart of the race in its more primitive +phase, but in that heart overtaken and surprised by the new doctrines of +Christianity. + +This was really a new departure—a new beginning. The two streams had +little in common. In essence and colour they seemed as if they belonged +to two different worlds, which indeed was the case, in point of outlook +and underlying thought. + +As literature the old was better. It represented the real quintessence +of the Celtic genius before it was diverted into new channels. And this +is what makes critics like M. Darmesteter, while fully admitting the +glorious significance of the new stream as a literary renaissance, yet +consider it a decadence in contrast with the earlier. + +For all this, the far-reaching significance of the new creation must not +be lost sight of. It is probable that even then the ancient stream had +reached its full flood, and but for the advent of the latter, which came +with the new thought, it may have gradually subsided with the old order +and never have found a way to posterity. + +Historically, then, it is with the introduction of Christianity that +Celtic literature first finds its embodiment, and when we consider the +condition of continental Europe at the time, this early beginning in the +writing of books is quite marvellous. It is to the Church, therefore, in +the person of its missionary pioneers, that we owe the initial force +that resulted in a written Gaelic literature. + +In bringing Christianity to bear on the old pagan life and thought of +the race, the missionaries effected a reanimation, which brought latent +powers into action in a new direction. They furnished the people with +fresh ideas, new material for thought, and an entirely changed outlook. +The movement, indeed, might be described as the passage from Celtic +naturalism to Christian spiritualism. And when we consider what the old +paganism really was in many of its features, this emancipation cannot be +regarded in any other light than that in which history uniformly regards +it, as a salvation of the country, preparing the way for the realisation +of all those grand possibilities that lay in the future. + +With the coming of St. Patrick Ireland entered upon a new epoch, and +with the advent of St. Columba the political and literary history of +Scotland may be said to have begun. Every credit is due to the Church, +therefore, as the importer and originator of a written literature, as +well as of a true religion. To it we owe the remarkable arrival of +letters which not only tapped a new fountain head, causing a new stream +of literary composition to flow, but which also secured for us the +preservation and continuance of the old to this day. + +“Few forms of Christianity,” wrote Renan, “have offered an ideal of +Christian perfection so pure as the Celtic Church of the sixth, seventh, +and eighth centuries. Nowhere, perhaps, has God been better worshipped +in spirit than in those great monastic communities of Hy or Iona, of +Bangor, of Clonard, or of Lindisfarne.” + +And it is this purity of motive and sincerity of purpose that led the +early missionaries, in contrast to the obscurantists of later ages, to +recognise the high value of literature and use it in the service of +religion. In the primitive Celtic Church we find no conflict between the +two, such as the sickly piety of some more modern periods has instituted +and maintained. Learning and culture were then never regarded as enemies +to religion. On the contrary, they were deemed not only helpful, but +even indispensable to the progress of Christianity in the land. And they +were encouraged as such. They were the most powerful agents for the +removal of racial ignorance, superstition, and prejudice. + +All honour, therefore, to the Church that first kindled the lamp of +literature and the love of knowledge in these once dark islands. + +The attitude of this early Celtic Church towards the original oral +traditions and compositions of the people was perfectly consistent, and +can be easily understood. It simply ignored them as far as that was +possible, offering in their stead a substitute infinitely better fitted, +as it thought, to elevate the life and character of these pagan peoples. + +With a zeal that is entirely praiseworthy, it set itself to the +multiplication of copies of the Psalter, of the Gospels, and other parts +of Scripture. It is really marvellous, when we consider that these had +to be patiently and laboriously and beautifully handwritten, how much +was accomplished in this way by the early missionaries. St. Columba +alone was credited with having written “three hundred gifted, lasting, +illuminated, noble books,” all of them transcriptions of some portions +of the Bible, no doubt. + +It is this which accounts for the fact that almost all the existing +literary monuments of the early Celtic Church are copies of the Gospels +or of the Psalter, with or without Gaelic or Latin glosses. + +Thus the “Domhnach Airgid,” the “Cathrach,” the Books of Durrow, Dimna, +Kells, Molling, Armagh, Deer, the “Gospel of Maeielbrid Macdurnain,” the +“Psalter of Southampton,” with correlative books like the “Irish Canons” +and “Missal of Stowe,” in the British Islands, besides those on the +Continent. + +It is significant that the missionaries used the Latin versions of the +Scriptures rather than Greek or Hebrew ones, with the reading and +writing of which latter they seemed to have been less familiar. They did +not attempt, so far as we know, to make a Gaelic translation of the +original, but contented themselves, no doubt, with rendering from Latin +into the Gaelic in course of their preachings and expositions. + +One thing is evident, that these scholarly men had no aversion to +textual criticism or any fear of it, like so many of their Highland and +Irish successors to-day, for they freely indulged in it for their own +and the popular benefit. Thus the Celtic Church of Scotland and Ireland +had Jerome’s recension of the Vulgate almost as soon as it was issued, +and, to judge from the youthful Columba and his master St. Finnian’s +avidity for it, welcomed it with great enthusiasm. And more than that, +the Celtic Church appears to have collated Jerome’s text with older +native texts of their own, to make if possible even a better version, +such as they might use in all their monasteries, and such as we find to +this day in most of their great books of Gospel, as quoted above. + +But in the same way that Knox unfortunately found it expedient to +destroy many beautiful buildings, books, and customs of the Roman +Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation, so the early Celtic +Church in conflict with an ancient and debasing paganism felt it +necessary, while tolerating many ancient customs and superstitions, to +resist the leaven of heathenism in every shade and form, and thus even +to ignore the compositions which breathed so freely its spirit and +atmosphere. + +There is a high probability that the best minds felt the hardship of +having to turn their backs upon the most beautiful of these literary +products of their race. For example, in the “Dialogue of the Sages,” +found in the Book of Lismore, it is recorded that St. Patrick himself +felt rather uneasy at the delight with which he listened to the stories +of the ancient Feinn, and feared it might be wrong in him to enjoy or +show his appreciation of those pagan narratives, yet when he consulted +his guardian angels, they not only assured him that there was no harm in +listening to the tales, but even counselled him to have them written +down in the words of ollamhs, “for,” said they, “it will be a rejoicing +to numbers and to the good people to the end of time to listen to these +stories.” + +The missionaries appear to have been too earnest and consistent in their +struggle with the gnarled roots of paganism to indulge their taste in +writing what they could not help admiring as tales of great literary +beauty, and very fascinating. And so for two or three centuries, though +the cultivation of writing and bardic compositions went steadily on, +none of the ancient pagan products found patrons sufficiently literary +to commit them to MSS. + +The new school followed a style and trend of its own, and in addition to +endless transcribing, produced Latin prose works of its own, prominent +among which may be mentioned St. Patrick’s _Confession_, and “Epistle to +Coroticus,” Cummene’s and Adamnan’s _Lives of St. Columba_, Brendan’s +_Navigatio_ or _Voyaging_, each of which have had a wide vogue +throughout the Middle Ages, and since. + +Among its Gaelic contributions are many beautiful poems, some of ancient +renown, on account of their theme or author, such as Dallan Forgaill’s +_Amra Choluimcille_, St. Columba’s own numerous lyrics—that on Derry, on +Cormac’s visit, his “Farewell to Ara,” all breathing love of nature and +affection for home. + +Then we have the verses of Cennfaelad, who died in 678; Aengus the +Culdee’s “Feilire,” or Calendar, about 800; the poems in the Monastery +of St. Paul, Carinthia; and the verses in the Codex Boernerianus; the +“Saltair na Rann,” about the year 1000, a collection of 162 poems in +early middle Irish. + +Of hymns and prayers, both in Gaelic and Latin—compositions of the early +Celtic Church—there is no lack. The most famous of the Latin ones are +those of Sechnall (on St. Patrick) and of Columcille (“The Altus,” “In +te Christo,” and “Noli Pater”); and of the Gaelic ones, St. Patrick’s +“Deer’s Cry,” Colman’s and Fiacc’s hymns, “Ninine’s Prayer,” Ultan’s and +Broccan’s hymns, both in praise of Brigit, “Adamnan’s Prayer,” and the +hymns of Sanctain and Mael-isu. + +When to these we add specimens of homiletic literature and “Cormac’s +Glossary” (Cormac, King-Bishop of Cashel, 837–903), which is reckoned by +far the oldest attempt at a comparative vernacular dictionary made in +any language of modern Europe, and the same author’s “Saltair of +Cashel,” we have a very fair representation of what the new literature +initiated by the monks and missionaries contained. + +It is mainly a religious literature, as contrasted with the purely pagan +war-stories and romances of the heroes. This ethical movement for a time +tended to supplant the natural spontaneous poetical output of the race, +yet it could not crush out these older creations, which were independent +of books and MSS., and as intense in feeling and true to nature as +anything which the classical literatures contain. + +And so in course of time there came a reaction. The votaries of +naturalism so far triumphed in their zeal for the ancient sagas and +romances, that they began to have them written down. Zimmer thinks that +the earliest redaction of the “Táin Bó Chuailgné” dates from the seventh +century. But it is difficult to ascertain when the sagas first found +embodiment in ink. The interest in them appears to have been revived +immediately before or at the time when the Norsemen arrived and were +devastating the country. The devotion of the latter to the +characteristic sagas of their own race and nation may have quickened the +enthusiasm of the Gael for his own. And the new atmosphere which this +rough pagan element introduced to the land, breaking for a time the +influence and sway of the Church and of the men of learning in the +monasteries, may have conduced further to bring into popular favour the +old heroic war-poetry, nerving the heart of the people to withstand the +onslaught of the invader in the spirit of the dead heroes. + +Christianity suffered eclipse for a while, and with it the interests of +learning and the religious literature, cultivated so assiduously in the +monasteries. + +By the time that the sagas had come to be written down, the old feeling +which had prompted the early missionaries to ignore them was apparently +giving way, since there were scribes within the Church eager to commit +them to MS. This was a natural and inevitable reaction. + +But monastic Christianity, ever on its guard against nature, was +constantly seeking after the strange and paradoxical. For it, abstinence +was worth more than enjoyment, happiness must be sought in its opposite. +And so there sprung up afresh, this time a more blind and uncompromising +orthodox antagonism to the early paganism and all its creations. + +The Dialogues between Ossian and Patrick are our witness. These, while +professing to bring the spirit of paganism and of early Christianity +together in the person of the last great representative of the one and +the first of the other, were evidently the work of monkish scribes in +the twelfth century or earlier, and they throw a significant sidelight +on the situation. In reality they reflect the posture of affairs, not as +it was in the early days when Christianity was first introduced, but as +it existed later, when ecclesiastical doctrines had taken on their more +lurid, medieval colour. + +In form and setting the Dialogues are the nearest approach to a drama +that the Gael has ever produced. And Miss Hull thinks that they were +designed simply to popularise the ancient tales. But such a view seems +to us to miss the whole aim and point of these compositions, which are +clearly the undisguised result of a reaction,—nay, even revolt in the +minds of thoughtful and patriotic men, monks or clerics or laymen, +against the narrow and captious spirit that can see no good in any form +of natural life and religion other than the contracted faith in which it +was itself reared. + +Evidently the Church had descended from the high level of faith and +policy it had maintained in the days of St. Patrick and St. Columba, and +measures which the latter had found necessary as temporary expedients +till the need for them had vanished, smaller minds had elevated into +principles; and even the simple tenets of Christianity they had +distorted by casting them into an ecclesiastical mould, and opposing +them to the most natural instincts and enthusiasms of the human heart. + +The writers of the Dialogues, we can see, are thoroughly in earnest, and +not sparing in their irony and banter of the grim theology which found +no place for the natural virtues of the Celts, or for the story of the +dreams and ideals of a thousand years. A mocking, derisive humour runs +through these pieces, but the humour is all on one side. There can be no +mistaking the sympathies of the writers, who themselves are +intellectually emancipated from the narrow tenets and intolerant spirit +that would consign the heroes without reflection and without scruple to +endless pain. + +In these Dialogues paganism at its best is brought face to face with +ecclesiastical Christianity, and is made to appear more just, more +humane, and desirable in every way. + +To the spirit of these conversations, or to the form in which they are +cast, no exception can reasonably be taken. In one respect only might +students of history dissent, and that is, to the selection of St. +Patrick as spokesman for the bigotry that is here pilloried. + +Those who are familiar with the authentic records of his life and the +spirit of his teaching will feel that an injustice is done the apostle +of Ireland, by associating his name with such counterfeit sentiment. Had +a typical medieval monk or cleric been selected as advocate of the +repulsive theology represented here, the rôle would have been more true +to life and historical fact. As it is, one feels that a noble character +is traduced and put in a false setting. These Dialogues are profoundly +interesting, not only because of the struggle between nature and dogma, +between the cosmic process and the ethical, here brought into +irreconcilable antagonism, but also because the two original and +independent streams of Gaelic literature seem here to meet, and, like +the rushing together of contrary tides or of two confluent currents, to +mingle their waters together in a wild tumult of angry waves, which only +subsides as each again gradually finds its own channel. + +One of the most interesting of the Dialogues is that which is known as +“Ossian’s Prayer,” and is about 150 lines in length. The bard begins by +asking the saint if the Feinn of Erin are in heaven. When he is informed +that his father, Gaul, and Oscar cannot be there, he not unnaturally +retorts, “If Erin’s Feinn are not in heaven, why should I Christian be?” +Thereupon the saint taunts him with irreverent fierceness of language, +adding “What are all the Feinn of Erin to one hour with God alone?” But +Ossian declares he would prefer to see one battle waged by the valiant +Feinn than to see the Lord of Heaven and his cleric (Patrick) chanting +sin. + +The saint tries to impress him with God’s omniscience by telling him in +effect that it would be impossible for the smallest midge to enter +heaven without God’s knowledge. “How different from Finn,” exclaims the +bard, “thousands might enter, partake of his cheer, and depart without +notice.” + +The argument throughout shows complete divergence in their thought. + +“Finn is in hell in bonds,” says Patrick. “He is now in the house of +pain and sorrow, because of the amusement he had with the hounds and for +attending the (bardic) schools each day, and because he took no heed of +God.” And to an interpolation of Ossian, “Misery attend thee, old man,” +he continues, “who speakest words of madness; God is better for one hour +than all the Fenians of Erin.” + +To which the bard retorts, “O Patrick, who makest me that impertinent +answer, thy crozier would be in atoms were Oscar present. Were my son +Oscar and God hand in hand on Knock-na-veen, if I saw my son down, it is +then I would say that God was a strong man. + +“How could it be that God and his clerics could be better men than Finn, +the chief king of the Fenians, the generous one, who was without +blemish? All the qualities that you and your clerics say are according +to the rule of the King of the Stars, Finn’s Fenians had them all, and +they must be now stoutly seated in God’s heaven. Were there a place +above or below better than heaven, ’tis there Finn would go and all the +Fenians he had.” + +Baffled in his attempt to initiate the pagan into his new doctrines, and +curious to hear, Patrick relents and calls for a tale. The following is +an example of the usual metre of the original mellifluous Gaelic:— + + Ossian, sweet to me thy voice, + Now blessings choice on the soul of Finn, + But tell to me how many deer + Were slain at Slieve-na-man-finn. + +And warming to the task, the bard recites the glorious character and +deeds of the vanished heroes. “The Fenians never used to tell untruth. +There never sat cleric in church, though melodiously ye may think they +chant psalms, more true to his word than the Fenians, the men who shrank +never from fierce conflicts.” And then when he adds, “I never heard that +any feat was performed by the King of the saints, or that _He_ reddened +his hand,” the exasperated and dogmatic Patrick stops him short with the +assertion, “Let us cease disputing on both sides, thou withered old man, +who art devoid of sense; understand that God dwells in heaven of the +orders, and Finn and his hosts are all in pain.” Ossian, pathetically, +“Great then would be the shame for God not to release Finn from the +shackles of pain; for if God himself were in bonds, my chief would fight +on his behalf. Finn never suffered in his day any one to be in pain or +difficulty without redeeming him by silver or gold, or by battle and +fight, until he was victorious. + +“It is a good claim I have against your God, I to be among these clerics +as I am, without food, without clothing or music, without bestowing gold +on bards, without battling, without hunting, etc.” The idea of his +well-meaning instructors was to starve the bard into submission, in the +intolerant spirit of the Inquisition of later times, or of boycotting in +more modern days. + +Elsewhere the bewildered Ossian laments as follows:— + +“Alas, O Patrick, I did think that God would not be angered thereat; I +think long, and it is a great woe to me, not to speak of the way of Finn +of the Deeds.” To which Patrick: “Speak not of Finn nor of the Fenians, +for the Son of God will be angry with thee for it. He would never let +thee into his court, and He would not send thee the bread of each day.” + +“I will, O Patrick, do his will. Of Finn or of the Fenians I will not +talk, for fear of bringing anger upon them, O cleric, if it is God’s +wont to be angry.” + +Mingled with these arguments are passages which quiver with the Gaelic +enthusiastic love of nature. In _Finn’s Pastimes_, for example, we have +a lyric of extraordinary beauty. After a couple of verses addressed to +his opponent, ending, “Can his doom be in hell, in _the house of cold_?” +Ossian goes on to tell of his father’s delight in nature. The passage is +held to be in the very best style, rhyme, rhythm, and assonance, all +combined with a most rich vocabulary of words expressive of sounds, +nearly impossible to translate into English. But we quote from Dr. +Sigerson’s beautiful rendering of the original:— + + The tuneful tumult of that bird, + The belling deer on ferny steep; + This welcome in the dawn he heard, + These soothed at eve his sleep. + + Dear to him the wind-loved heath, + The whirr of wings, the rustling brake; + Dear the murmuring glens beneath, + And sob of Droma’s lake. + + The cry of hounds at early morn, + The pattering deer, the pebbly creek, + The cuckoo’s call, the sounding horn, + The swooping eagle’s shriek. + +These Dialogues are quoted at some length, because they bring into clear +outline permanent tendencies—the rival influences of naturalism and the +Church—Celtic literature struggling to be free, and the Church seeking +to saturate it with its own sentiment, and use it solely for its own +propaganda. That is the history down to this day. Nature, love, and war +on the one side, and religious themes on the other. The one timid of the +other, and each on its guard against the undue ascendency of its rival. + +Thus it is assumed that James Macpherson ignored these ancient +compositions, namely, the Dialogues, as modern and counterfeit, because +of the intrusion of the ecclesiastical element into the purely pagan +domain. Into none of his own so-called translations did he admit any +flavour of Christianity, regarding that only as the genuine and original +Ossianic residuum which breathed the spirit of pre-Christian times. + +But he lived in the days before textual criticism. We cannot credit the +Church as a whole with disinterested love of literature and its +encouragement. But in every age there have been men within its fold who +were passionately devoting themselves to authorship on their own +account, and to the preservation of books and MSS., and literary lore of +the past. Every monastery in the Middle Ages was thus more or less a +place in which reading and writing were cultivated, and some were active +centres of literary work. So that indirectly, and especially in +troublous times, we owe to the Church the splendid heritage of a Gaelic +literature continuous from the days of St. Patrick and St Columba to our +own. Down to very recent times, in fact, the men connected with +religious institutions have been the real custodiers, if not always +themselves the authors, of Gaelic productions. Thus it was Maelmuiri in +Clonmacnois that enriched posterity with the wonderful Leabhar Na +h’Uidhre, while his contemporary did for the hymns in the _Liber +Hymnorum_ what he so bravely and intelligently did for the sagas. From +their time the fatuous hostility to the sagas had evidently broken down. +Perhaps the Dialogues between Ossian and Patrick had been as effective +in their own way in pouring ridicule and contempt upon the opposing +faction as the poems of Burns in withering the hyper-orthodox tyranny of +later times. At any rate, from the monasteries of Ireland in these +Middle Ages came the great books of sagas and romance, such as the Books +of Leinster, Ballymote, Lecain, Lismore, etc.; and in Scotland in the +corresponding period we have the Glenmasan MS. of the thirteenth +century; MS. XL. of the fourteenth; and, besides others, the great Book +of the Dean of Lismore, which covers the period down almost to the +Reformation in Scotland. + +But with the Reformation the old spirit of mistaken evangelical zeal +against the ancient heroic literature seems to have revived in an +aggressive form, for we find no less a man than Bishop Carswell, the +most representative Churchman in the Highlands of that age, inveighing +against the popularity of the sagas. In the epistle to the reader, which +he prefixed to Knox’s Liturgy, the first book printed in Gaelic, he +says:— + + And great is the blindness and sinful darkness and ignorance and + perverseness of those who teach and write and compose in Gaelic, that + with the view of obtaining for themselves the vain rewards of this + world, they are more desirous, and more accustomed to preserve the + vain, extravagant, false, and worldly histories concerning the Tuath + de Dananns and Milesians, Fionn, the son of Cumhail, and his heroes + the Feinn, and many others, which I shall not here mention, nor + attempt to examine, than they are to write, and to teach, and to + compose the sincere words of God and the perfect way of truth. For the + world loves falsehood more than the truth, and as a proof of it, + worldly sinful men will pay for falsehood, and will not listen to the + truth though they have it for nothing. + + A great portion of the darkness and ignorance of such persons arises, + too, from the aforesaid truths not being taught in good books, + understood by all who speak the general language or habitual Gaelic + tongue. + +This was a volte-face from the sympathetic attitude of the Dean of +Lismore, and no doubt included him in its sweeping indictment. Yet we +may take it as representing the attitude of the leaders of the +Reformation towards the literature as well as the beliefs and cults +tolerated by the Latin Church. For a time the great evangelical +movement, which had spread from Germany over England and Scotland, had +little effect in the Highlands. The people remained widely indifferent +to religious influences of every kind, except such lingering influence +as the Roman Catholic Church continued to exert upon them; but when at +length they came once more under the influence of evangelical preachers, +like Robert Bruce and others, the precedent set by Carsewell and the +reformers seems to have been less or more uniformly followed; and with +every revival of clerical authority there appeared an unmistakable +tendency towards a revival of clerical intolerance, painfully +detrimental to wholesome literature, as well as to music, athletic +sports, and amusements of every kind. + +Consequently since the Reformation Gaelic oral literature has been +gradually disappearing, until, in the words of Mr. Alexander Carmichael, +“it is now becoming meagre in quantity, inferior in quality, and greatly +isolated.” + +In his own collection, which represents the latest gleaning in this +field of Gaelic lore, we see the influence of the Church and the old +pagan traditions strangely intermingled. The very title, “Hymns and +Incantations,” suggests the double influence, the two streams which have +been running parallel, approaching each other, mingling and separating +all through Celtic literature. + +However much the Church may have gained the ascendency over rival +influences, it has never been able to stifle the heroic poetry of the +race. At periods when the latter seemed most to have gone under, and +disappeared beneath the ban of religion, it came to life again with +amazing vitality, as, for example, in the days of Maelmuiri and after, +when the ecclesiastical seemed to have conquered the pagan; and again in +the days of Macpherson, when the Reformation appeared to have made a +clean sweep of the heroic saga in the land, leaving neither name nor +memorial. And the MSS. had so completely disappeared that they were not +known to exist. + +But forth they came to testify once more to the hidden and precarious +genius of the Celtic people, which produced such diverse characters as +Fergus and Ossian, Patrick and Columcille. + +While the nineteenth century has been exceptionally brilliant in the +department of English literature, the same cannot be said of Gaelic +literature. In the former great works of creative genius have appeared, +which have added immense lustre to the language in which they were +conceived. In the latter the output by comparison has been very poor and +meagre, no lengthy sustained production of any originality having seen +the light either in prose or poetry. It would seem as if the genius of +the Gaelic language had found more congenial expression in English, for +not a few of those who have enriched the younger literature, from Sir +Walter Scott onwards to William Black and Robert Buchanan, have derived +their inspiration, and sometimes their themes, from Celtic sources. Of +native compositions we have nothing to show beyond elegies, songs, and +lyrics, some of them of great beauty, and as spontaneous and true to +nature as the beating of men’s hearts. But no epic, no heroic poetry, no +drama, no great prose work worthy to be classed with the masterpieces of +English literature, or even with the minor works, has appeared within +the last century. Instead of being a century of creative work, as in +English, it has rather been a century of gleaning. All the best works in +Gaelic are collections—gleanings from the past. + +It would be difficult to assign the real reason for the barrenness of +production in recent times. Many causes seem to combine. The derelict +condition of the Highland and Irish populations in the beginning of last +century may have had something to do with it; the decline and limited +use of the language; the invasion of English and English literature, of +Lowland people and Lowland ways. + +Gleaners and native lovers of Celtic literature generally ascribe a +large share of the decadence to the influence and attitude of the Church +in its local testimony. During the greater part of last century, +especially in the Highlands, that influence has been such that, had the +Dialogues been produced any time within that period, they would have hit +the mark quite as surely as in the age in which they were written, if we +conceived St Patrick as orthodox cleric and Ossian as the native genius +of the Celtic people. + +But times have changed. The lights and shadows on the canvas have again +shifted. Our modern habits of thought are different. Like Ossian, men +look askance on morbid teaching, and have no great enthusiasm for +unnatural asceticism. The prevailing theory of life, impatient of +ethical dualism, objects to the identification of nature with evil quite +as much as the bard did. If nature is not evil, it asks, where, then, is +the necessity or the benefit of a renunciation which is incompatible +with the conditions under which men have to exist? And so, concurrent +with the decadence of ecclesiastical ideas and ecclesiastical authority, +there is a return to nature; and in many quarters a fresh interest is +being taken in the language, literature, and lore of the Gael. And new +writers have arisen who breathe the spirit of the race, and voice its +longings, yearnings, strivings, free from theological bias. + +Their medium is no longer the Gaelic, but the English, into which they +have carried many quaint idioms, sentiments, and expressions. Indeed it +is doubtful if ever the Gaelic will again adapt itself to any great +literary work, since the gifted have adopted English as the more +comprehensive vehicle. + +Yet now, looking dispassionately over the vicissitudes of Gaelic +literature from the time it was first cradled in the rough bosom of the +race, and nurtured by Christianity, we cannot forget the splendid +services rendered by monks and Churchmen in the early days and during +the Middle Ages down to the Reformation. Adverse periods of obscurantism +there have been, blighting enough and painfully retrograde. But for ages +the Church figured as the patron of letters, and even in later times +there have been enthusiastic literary workers within its pale. In +Scotland men like Sage, Macnicol, Smith, Maccallum, Drs. Norman Macleod, +Macdonald, Clerk, Maclauchlan, Cameron, Dowden, Henderson, and Macneill; +in Ireland Drs. Reeves, Todd, Wright, Stokes, and many others. + +And taking the influence of the Church at its best, we may surely apply +to it, in its relation to literature, the remark of Dean Church in a +wider connection: “History teaches us this, that in tracing back the +course of human improvement, we come in one case after another upon +Christianity as the source from which improvement derived its principle +and its motive. We find no other source adequate to account for the new +spring of amendment, and without it no other source of good could have +been relied on.” + +So here Christianity, through its medium, the Church, besides saving the +soul of a departing oral literature, has been the fruitful spring and +inspiration of much that is beautiful, pure, and enduring in our Gaelic +heritage. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + THE INFLUENCE OF CELTIC, ON ENGLISH LITERATURE + + Earliest contact—Loan-words—Three periods of marked literary + influence—Layamon’s “Brut”—A fascinating study for critics—The + development of the Arthurian Romance—Sir Thomas Malory—Question as + to origin of rhyme—A Celtic claim—Elements in Scottish poetry—in + English literature—Gray’s “Bard”—Macpherson’s “Ossian”—Influence + on Wordsworth and his contemporaries—Moore’s “Irish Melodies”—Sir + Walter Scott—Tennyson—Interesting comparison—Arnold, Shairp, + Blackie—Novelists after Scott—Living writers. + + +Anglo-Saxon or Old English came into contact with Celtic from the year +449 onwards. By the end of that century the latter had the beginnings of +a literature, the former had not. Cædmon’s poem dates from nearly 200 +years later. + +English literature could not, therefore, have been influenced by Celtic +for centuries after the first Saxon invasion, as it had not then come +into existence. But the English language was so influenced. From the +earliest contact it doubtless bore traces of the Celtic in the form of +loan-words. + +Yet, strange to say, very few such native vernacular words passed over +into Old English till the Norman invasion. The reason may have been, as +suggested by Sweet, that the Britons were themselves to a large extent +Romanised, especially those of the cities, who were for the most part +descendants of Roman soldiers. + +After the Conquest many more Celtic words found their way into English +through the Norman-French, and, as might be expected, it is very +difficult to discriminate between the contributions of the earlier and +the later period. Names of persons and places, on the other hand, are +easily distinguished, because they were generally taken over without +change. + +Not till the fateful Forty-five had finally broken down the ancient +barriers of racial seclusion was there any further great accession of +this Celtic element. But owing to the interest awakened then in the +Highlands, the freer intercourse established with England and the +Lowlands of Scotland, and especially through the writings of historians +and travellers, and of great authors like James Macpherson and Sir +Walter Scott, a number of new words passed from this time direct from +the Highland Gaelic as well as from the Irish into the English language. +From the former came the well-known clan, claymore, ghillie, plaid, +pibroch, sporran, slogan, whisky, reel; and from the latter, brogue, +kern, Tory, shamrock, shillelagh, usquebaugh, bother, and a few others. +Words had been dribbling from the Welsh also, as we might expect, from +time to time. + +The influence on the literature began later, but it has been very marked +and continuous down to the present day. Three periods stand out as +particularly potent. The first begins from the end of the twelfth +century and extends to the Reformation. The second, taking its impetus +from the Forty-five and the Ossianic revival, carries us forward to the +time of Tennyson. And the third, coeval with the modern Celtic +renaissance, reaches from Tennyson to the present time. + +Though the different branches of the Celtic people had been producing a +literature from the sixth century, that literature does not seem to have +affected English authorship, until in the Middle Ages it created the +captivating Arthurian romances. Then, like the other Continental +literatures, the English for the first time fell under the sway of the +Celtic imagination. + +The earliest great poem written in the English language after the Norman +Conquest owes its inspiration and theme entirely to that source. In the +opening passage the author introduces himself thus: “There was a priest +in the land, whose name was Layamon; he was son of Lovenath; may the +Lord be gracious unto him! He dwelt at Ernley at a noble church on +Severn’s bank, good it seemed to him, near Radstone, where he read +books. It came in mind to him and in his chiefest thought that he would +of England tell the noble deeds, what the men were named, and whence +they came, who first had English land.” + +This Layamon, travelling widely over the land in search of information, +found three valuable books on which he based his tale—an English +translation of Bede, a Latin book made by St. Albin and the fair Austin, +and the French one by Wace. + +His own poem he called the “Brut,” after the fabulous Brutus, the +great-grandson of Aeneas, who, according to Welsh writers, became the +ancestor of the Kings of Briton. It deals chiefly with the materials of +Wace, but it gives the story of Uther Pendragon and his famous son +Arthur in much fuller detail. For example, while Wace’s “Brut” contains +15,300 lines, Layamon’s has 32,250, more than double, and the +composition is characterised by a somewhat rude attempt at alliteration +and rhyme. + +There are two MSS. still extant of this interesting work, both of them +in the British Museum. The oldest is held to have been written not later +than 1205, and the language is so purely English, notwithstanding its +source, that less than fifty words of French origin have been found in +it by Sir Frederick Madden, who in 1847 first edited these texts. + +Almost a hundred years pass after Layamon wrote before another English +book of the kind appears. And this time it is the rhyming chronicle of +Robert of Gloucester, who goes over some of the ground of Geoffrey of +Monmouth, and brings the history down to 1272. + +A fascinating study for critics is the wonderful way in which the +Arthurian romance seems to have developed from a small beginning. This +gradual evolution can in the main be traced. + +So far as our modern knowledge goes, the Arthur of real life was a +Cornish chief with a following in Wales, who met Cedric of Wessex in the +stricken field, but who himself at length fell fighting the Picts, most +probably in our own native Scotland. Gildas chronicles a great victory +won over the Saxons, but omits to record who was the victorious chief. +It is Nennius who first mentions Arthur by name, in the ninth century. +His story is vastly amplified by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote about +1154, and by the time it comes from the pen of Robert Wace, some ten +years later, there is the splendid addition of the Round Table. Layamon +is able to go into details, not hitherto mentioned, of the construction +of this famous Board, which obviated quarrels over uppermost seats, +since no one could have precedence owing to its shape. Up to this point +the legend bore no Christian character. It is saturated with the magic, +and slaughter, and revenge of the old Pagan North, rich in stories of +giants, dwarfs, serpents, and heathen enchantments, far enough removed +from the spirit of medieval Christianity. But by the beginning of the +thirteenth century it suddenly underwent a great development, and new +incidents were added with which the earlier writers could not have been +acquainted. + +Thomas Arnold thinks that this transformation is due to the genius of +Walter Map (_circa_ 1210), who introduced the religious element with the +view of converting the Arthurian legends, and employing them in the +service of Christianity. + +From this time we have in French the Story of the Holy Grail, the +History of Merlin, Sir Launcelot of the Lake, the Quest of the Holy +Grail, and the Death of Arthur. The first two have been attributed to +Robert Borron, the latter three to Walter Map himself. But the whole +subject appears to be wrapped in singular obscurity, and offers a field +for considerable divergence of opinion. The latest dissertation on the +question is that by Jessie L. Weston in her recent publications. (Nutt: +London, 1901.) After the above, five more stories followed, such as +Tristram and the history of King Pellinore by other writers. These later +series of romances seem to have caught on better in France than in +England. For only a few metrical compositions of this class are found in +English MSS. prior to the days of Sir Thomas Malory, and these in +documents of the fifteenth century. One alliterative tale, indeed, that +of _Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight_, first printed by Sir F. Madden in +1839, and re-edited by Dr. Morris, is held by the latter to have been +written about 1320. Sir Gawayne was Arthur’s nephew, and figures in the +early stories as one of the purest models of knighthood, though very +differently represented by the author of Tristram and subsequent +writers, including even Malory, who drew from French sources. About the +middle of the fifteenth century Henry Lonelich translated into English +verse the prose narrative of the sacred Grail, and possibly this may +have led Malory, the author of the more famous _Morte d’Arthur_, to +produce, as he did about the year 1470, the remainder of the romances +connected with the Holy Grail in English prose. It was one of the +earliest books printed by William Caxton (1485), and certainly one of +the finest examples of the prose of the pre-Elizabethan period. + +Sir Thomas Malory compiled it out of the French versions of “Merlin,” +“Launcelot,” “Tristram,” the “Queste du Saint Graal,” and the “Mort +Artur.” His own postscript at the end of the book fitly describes its +scope in very quaint terms. It runs as follows:— + + Heere is the end of the whole booke of King Arthur and of his noble + Knights of the round table, that when they were whole together there + was ever an hundred and fortie. Also heere is the end of the death of + King Arthur. I pray you all, gentlemen and gentlewomen, that read this + book of King Arthur and his Knights from the beginning to the ending, + pray for me while I am alive, that God send mee good deliverance. + + And when I am dead, I pray you all pray for my soule. For this booke + was finished the ninth yeare of the raigne of King Edward the Fourth, + by Sir Thomas Maleor, Knight, as Jesu help me for his great might, as + hee is the servant of Jesu both day and night. + + Thus endeth this noble and joyous booke entitled _La Mort Darthur_, + notwithstanding it treateth of the birth, life, and acts of the said + King Arthur and of his noble Knights of the round table, and their + mervailous enquests and adventures, the achieving of the holy + sancgreall, and in the end the dolorous death and departing out of + this world of them all. + +As literature, this work of Malory is very interesting, and has been +frequently edited within the last hundred years. + +Beyond the powerful influences exerted by the Celtic romances, there +falls to be noticed another way in which the Gaelic genius is believed +to have affected and even moulded English poetry in the later Middle +Ages. It is well known that down to Chaucer’s time English poetry was +characterised chiefly by alliteration. Scarcely any authors attempted +rhyme. And those, like Layamon, who tried to combine both, often seem to +achieve neither the one nor the other. They failed to produce the real +effect of metre. But after Chaucer, rhyme gradually supplanted +alliteration. And it is held by various learned authorities that this is +due to Celtic influence. The Celts first invented rhyme, they say, and +in proof of this it is shown that they used it centuries before the +English or any other western nation. “Outside of Wales and Ireland,” +says Dr. Hyde, “there probably exists no example in a European +vernacular language of rhymed poetry older than the ninth century.” + +And Matthew Arnold, in a footnote to his _Study of Celtic Literature_, +asserts that “rhyme,—the most striking characteristic of our modern +poetry as distinguished from that of the ancients, and a main source, to +our poetry, of its magic and charm, of what we call its _romantic +element_,—rhyme itself, all the weight of evidence tends to show, comes +into our poetry from the Celts.” And in this opinion these litterateurs +are supported by the earlier testimony of great philologists like Zeuss +and Count Nigra. + +From the time of John Barbour, too, it is recognised that the bards of +Scotland who wrote English poetry have been influenced in various ways +not peculiar to their own contemporaries in England, by their connection +with and descent from the Celt. Stopford Brooke mentions three elements +of Scottish poetry that he regards as distinctly Celtic contributions. +These are, first, the love of wild nature for its own sake—the +passionate, close, and poetical observation and description of natural +scenery, which is not found in the poetry of England till near the end +of the eighteenth century; second, the love of colour so characteristic +of Gaelic and Cymric authorship; and, third, the wittier, more +rollicking humour, which contrasts with the Teutonic humour, which has +its root in sadness. The humour of Dunbar is thus as widely different +from that of Chaucer as the humour of Burns is from that of Cowper, or +of a modern Irishman is from that of a modern Englishman. + +But if there is really humour in the ancient Celtic literature it is +entirely unconscious. Many passages tickle our risible faculties now, +and we smile as we read some of the narratives, such as the fight +between Queen Meve’s bull and his opponent in the old saga, but this is +because of the very wealth of the Gaelic imagination and the mendacity +of its exaggerations. It is questionable if the original Gael, the slave +of such a powerful fancy, saw anything in his own extravagant +descriptions to laugh at. More likely he perpetrated these fictions +quite as unconsciously as his Irish descendant of to-day perpetrates his +bulls. + +All the same it is quite conceivable that from this early tendency to be +carried off the ground by flights of fancy, the Scottish sense of +humour, conspicuous in the poets from pre-Reformation times, may have +developed. + +That Celtic literature revelled from a remote antiquity in nature and +love of colour is very manifest from the earliest Gaelic, Welsh, and +Breton tales. Take, for instance, the following description of Olwen +from the Welsh:— + + The maiden was clothed in a robe of flame-coloured silk, and about her + neck was a collar of ruddy gold, on which were precious emeralds and + rubies. More yellow was her head than the flower of the broom, and her + skin was whiter than the foam of the wave, and fairer were her hands + and her fingers than the blossoms of the wood anemone amidst the spray + of the meadow fountain. The eye of the trained hawk, the glance of the + three-mewed falcon, was not brighter than hers. Her bosom was more + snowy than the breast of the white swan, her cheek was redder than the + reddest roses. Whoso beheld her was filled with her love. Four white + trefoils sprang up wherever she trod. + +The old sagas and romances are full of this sort of vision. It was +impossible that such Celtic compositions could exist without imparting +some of their charm, their brilliant colouring, their observation, and +delight in nature and the unknown, to English literature. Naturally, +Scottish poetry first felt this influence. But the wonder is that +English literature as a whole was so late in being permeated therewith. +When it did enter, it effected a mighty change both in the style and +subject matter. + +Beyond rhyme, love of nature, love of colour, and a certain type of +humour, which we have just glanced at, Matthew Arnold recognised three +elements which are in a manner distinct from these. “If I were asked,” +he says, “where English poetry got these three things—its turn for +style, its turn for melancholy, and its turn for natural magic, for +catching and rendering the charm of nature in a wonderfully near and +vivid way—I should answer, with some doubt, that it got much of its turn +for style from a Celtic source; with less doubt, that it got much of its +melancholy from a Celtic source; with no doubt at all, that from a +Celtic source it got nearly all its natural magic.”... + +“The Celt’s quick feeling for what is noble and distinguished gave his +poetry style; his indomitable personality gave it pride and passion; his +sensibility and nervous exaltation gave it a better gift still, the gift +of rendering with wonderful felicity the magical charm of nature. The +forest solitude, the bubbling spring, the wildflowers are everywhere in +romance. They have a mysterious life and grace there; they are nature’s +own children, and utter her secret in a way which makes them something +quite different from the woods, waters, and plants of Greek and Latin +poetry. Now, of this delicate magic Celtic romance is so pre-eminent a +mistress, that it seems impossible to believe the power did not come +into romance from the Celts. Magic is just the word for it—the magic of +nature; not merely the beauty of nature,—_that_ the Greeks and Latins +had; not merely an honest smack of the soil, a faithful realism,—_that_ +the Germans had; but the intimate life of nature—her weird power and her +fairy charm.” What better example of this distinction between the magic +and beauty of nature might be wished for than the following beautiful +conception? “Well,” says Math to Gwydion, “we will seek, I and thou, to +form a wife for him out of flowers. So they took the blossoms of the +oak, and the blossoms of the broom, and the blossoms of the +meadow-sweet, and produced from them a maiden, the fairest and most +graceful that man ever saw. And they baptized her, and gave her the name +of Flower-Aspect.” + +Shakespeare, in handling nature, while he had the Greek touch, is also +credited with sometimes striking the more exquisite and inimitable +Celtic note. Thus:— + + The moon shines bright. In such a night as this, + When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees, + And they did make no noise, in such a night + Troilus, methinks, mounted the Trojan walls— + ... In such a night + Did Thisbe fearfully o’er-trip the dew— + ... In such a night + Stood Dido with a willow in her hand, + Upon the wild seabanks, and waved her love + To come again to Carthage. + +But we must pass on to the second period, the period after the +Forty-five, to see a more abundant entrance of the Celtic elements into +English literature as a whole. It might be detected in isolated +instances, but during the latter half of the eighteenth century both +prose and poetry were influenced by Celtic in a very marked degree. + +Collin’s ode on the “Popular Superstitions of the Highlands” was perhaps +the first contribution after the memorable Rising to herald the new +time. If we except Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” it is almost the earliest +inroad by an English poet into the wild and romantic regions beyond the +Grampians. + +After him came Gray, with a similar interest in Celtic lore. His +well-known poem “The Bard” appeared in 1755. This ode is founded on a +tradition current in Wales that Edward I., when he completed the +conquest of that country, decreed the death of all the bards who should +fall into his power. The original argument of this fine production is +set down in the author’s commonplace book as follows:— + + The army of Edward I., as they march through a deep valley, are + suddenly stopped by the appearance of a venerable figure seated on the + summit of an inaccessible rock, who, with a voice more than human, + reproaches the king with all the misery and desolation which he had + brought on his country; foretells the misfortunes of the Norman race, + and, with prophetic spirit, declares that all his cruelty shall never + extinguish the noble ardour of poetic genius in this island; and that + men shall never be wanting to celebrate true virtue and valour in + immortal strains, to expose vice and infamous pleasure, and boldly + censure tyranny and oppression. His song ended, he precipitates + himself from the mountain, and is swallowed up by the river that rolls + at its foot. + +Gray deviated a little from this original sketch, but the above is, in +the main, the gist of the poem. + + “Ruin seize thee, ruthless King! + Confusion on thy banners wait! + Though fanned by conquest’s crimson wing, + They mock the air with idle state. + Helm nor hauberk’s twisted mail, + Nor e’en thy virtues, Tyrant, shall avail + To save thy secret soul from nightly fears, + From Cambria’s curse, from Cambria’s tears!” + Such were the sounds that o’er the crested pride + Of the first Edward scatter’d wild dismay, + As down the steep of Snowdon’s shaggy side + He wound with toilsome march his long array. + Stout Glo’ster stood aghast in speechless trance: + “To arms!” cried Mortimer, and couched his quivering lance. + + On a rock, whose haughty brow + Frowns o’er old Conway’s foaming flood, + Robed in the sable garb of woe, + With haggard eyes the poet stood; + (Loose his beard, and hoary hair + Stream’d like a meteor, to the troubled air;) + And, with a master’s hand and prophet’s fire, + Struck the deep sorrows of his lyre. + “Hark! how each giant oak, and desert cave, + Sighs to the torrent’s awful voice beneath: + O’er thee, oh King! their hundred arms they wave, + Revenge on thee in hoarser murmurs breathe; + Vocal no more, since Cambria’s fatal day, + To high-born Hoël’s harp, or soft Llewellyn’s lay,” etc. + +In addition to “The Bard,” Gray translated into English verse fragments +of the “Gododin” and “The Triumphs of Owen” from Mr. Evans’s _Specimens +of the Welsh Poetry_, published in London in 1764. + +After Gray came the renowned Macpherson, representing the very soul of +the Celtic genius, and Europe listened surprised as it felt the thrill +of the new notes which he struck from the old instrument—the passionate, +penetrating regret, the deep melancholy, the sensitiveness to the powers +of nature. In his _Ossian_ we are made to feel “the desolation of dusky +moors, the solemn brooding of the mists on the mountains, the occasional +looking through them of sun by day, of moon and stars by night, the +gloom of dark cloudy Bens or cairns, with flashing cataracts, the ocean +with its storms.” And when the wind shrieks and the elements do +frightful battle, there is the eerie sensation of ghostly presences +hovering around the warriors on the hillside or out on the ocean. + +And through all the sadness of sorrow and the clang of conflict there +break gleams of tender light and soothing reflection, as, for example:— + + Come, thou beam that art lonely, from watching in the night! The + squally winds are around thee, from all their echoing hills. Red, over + my hundred streams, are the light-covered paths of the dead. They + rejoice on the eddying winds, in the season of the night. Dwells there + no joy in song, white hand of the harps of Lutha? Awake the voice of + the string; roll my soul to me. It is a stream that has failed. + Malvina, pour the song. + + I hear thee from thy darkness in Selma, thou that watchest lonely by + night! Why didst thou withhold the song from Ossian’s failing soul? As + the falling brook to the ear of the hunter, descending from his + storm-covered hill, in a sunbeam rolls the echoing stream, he hears + and shakes his dewy locks: such is the voice of Lutha to the friend of + the spirits of heroes. My swelling bosom beats high. I look back on + the days that are past. Come, thou beam that art lonely, from watching + in the night! + +No wonder these plaintive notes struck the heart of modern times with +overpowering emotion, awakening a sympathy with the past, and opening a +new avenue of vision into the life of nature. Englishmen especially, who +had hitherto beheld the bleak mountains, the moors, and the naked rocks +with feeling almost akin to aversion, began to see a hidden beauty and +majesty in these sublime and lonely objects. And a passion for nature +gradually crept into English poetry. Thomson had made a beginning in +this direction with his _Seasons_ as early as 1726–30, but it cannot be +said that he quite struck the notes which afterwards so moved and +enchanted the readers of Macpherson, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, and +Tennyson. + +The new Ossian had a wonderful mastery of style, rhythmical flow, +pathos, and sometimes even sublimity of language, though it can scarcely +be said that he represented the realistic force and vivid exactness of +the Gaelic he sought to imitate in his English style. Of his +_Fragments_, when they appeared, the poet Gray wrote: “I was so struck, +so extasié with their infinite beauty, that I writ into Scotland to make +a thousand enquiries.” And he adds, “In short, this man is the very +demon of poetry, or he has lighted on a treasure hid for ages.” + +English poets and litterateurs from this time found a new well-spring of +inspiration in the ancient Celtic fountain thus wondrously and +unexpectedly tapped. And so we find men like Pennant, Dr. Johnson, +Boswell, and numerous other interested travellers and historians, making +pilgrimages through the Highlands, with the view of observing for +themselves the old life surviving there, and of gathering up materials +for literary work. Each of the above-named, well known in the pages of +English literature, have contributed books which are now classic +authorities on the social customs and conditions of the Highlands at the +time of their visit, and thus helped to carry a stream of Celtic thought +and feeling into the prose of the period, which was afterwards more +fully developed by the great magician, Sir Walter Scott. + +Meanwhile the new elements had entered into the warp and woof of English +poetry, and may be traced in all the great masters of the period—Cowper, +Burns, Wordsworth, Crabbe, Byron, and their numerous contemporaries. +Blake was so enthusiastic that he is generally regarded as an imitator +of Macpherson, and Southey, going even farther back, edited, with +introduction, in 1817, the _Morte d’Arthur_ of Sir Thomas Malory before +mentioned. + +Yet more characteristically Celtic as a poet than all these, because +himself an Irishman, was Thomas Moore, author of _Lalla Rookh_, an +Indian tale; and _Irish Melodies_. It is with these latter lyrics that +we are here most concerned, because they exhibit so much the quality of +the Gaelic muse in English verse. Take, for example, the following +delightful pieces—euphonious, melancholy, and touching—so full of the +Ossianic sadness and Celtic sentiment for the past, and for the dead +heroes:— + + The harp that once through Tara’s halls + The soul of music shed, + Now hangs as mute on Tara’s walls + As if that soul were fled. + So sleeps the pride of former days, + So glory’s thrill is o’er; + And hearts that once beat high for praise + Now feel that pulse no more! + + No more to chiefs and ladies bright + The harp of Tara swells; + The chord alone, that breaks at night, + Its tale of ruin tells. + Thus freedom now so seldom wakes, + The only throb she gives, + Is when some heart indignant breaks + To show that still she lives. + +This one, too, sounds a similar note. It is entitled “After the +Battle”:— + + Night closed around the conqueror’s way, + And lightnings show’d the distant hill, + Where those who lost that dreadful day + Stood few and faint, but fearless still! + The soldier’s hope, the patriot’s zeal, + For ever dimm’d, for ever crost— + Oh! who shall say what heroes feel + When all but life and honour’s lost? + + The last sad hour of freedom’s dream + And valour’s task mov’d slowly by, + While mute they watch’d, till morning’s beam + Should rise and give them light to die. + There’s yet a world where souls are free, + Where tyrants taint not nature’s bliss; + If death that world’s bright opening be, + Oh! who would live a slave in this? + +From Moore it is but a step to the great master-hand of Celtic romance, +the heroic Sir Walter Scott, who has done more than any modern writer to +popularise the literature of the Gael, and to make the Gael and his +country interesting to Englishmen. With his magic power he threw a halo +over the land and the people, and made their past live again in his +enchanting pages. What a world of forgotten romance he brought to light +alike in his prose and his poetry! In the _Lady of the Lake_, _Tales of +a Grandfather_, _Waverley_, and _Rob Roy_, we have Celtic life and +tradition depicted in a way which has vastly influenced and enriched our +English literature, besides showing the gate to subsequent authors into +a field near at hand, into which English imagination, much less English +sympathy and literary art, had hardly as yet found its way. What +Wordsworth in England did for the Lake District, Scott in Scotland did +for the Highlands, fostering the love for scenery which the English +poets had already begun to awaken. + +Yet, more than any of his predecessors who cultivated the poetry of +natural description, Scott carried into English literature the Celtic +imagination and sentiment, the Celtic magic and wistful veneration for +the past, which made him the wizard of modern literary romance. + +The enthusiasm aroused by Macpherson, and even more by himself, had not +died down before another great period of Celtic influence arrived—the +last, and, in certain respects, the most potent and extensive of all. As +early as 1842, the _Morte d’Arthur_ and some other pieces of Tennyson +appeared, but it was in 1859, contemporary with the Celtic renaissance +at home and abroad, that he published _The Idylls of the King_. Founding +on the old Arthurian romances, as told in English by Sir Thomas Malory, +Tennyson depicts anew the more picturesque characters and incidents, +idealising them in his own inimitable poetic style. So we have, in +twelve books,— + + The Coming of Arthur, + Gareth and Lynette, + The Marriage of Geraint, + Geraint and Enid, + Balin and Balan, + Merlin and Vivien, + Lancelot and Elaine, + The Holy Grail, + Pelleas and Ettarre, + The Last Tournament, + Guinevere, and + The Passing of Arthur. + +The charm of these Idylls, which rank among the Poet-Laureate’s best +work, may be gathered from the opening passage, describing the coming of +Arthur:— + + Leodogran, the King of Cameliard, + Had one fair daughter, and none other child; + And she was fairest of all flesh on earth, + Guinevere, and in her his one delight. + + For many a petty king ere Arthur came + Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war + Each upon other, wasted all the land; + And still from time to time the heathen host + Swarm’d overseas, and harried what was left. + And so there grew great tracts of wilderness, + Wherein the beast was ever more and more, + But man was less and less, till Arthur came. + For first Aurelius lived and fought and died, + And after him King Uther fought and died, + But either fail’d to make the kingdom one. + And after these King Arthur for a space, + And thro’ the puissance of his Table Round, + Drew all their petty princedoms under him, + Their King and head, and made a realm and reign’d. + + And thus the land of Cameliard was waste, + Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein, + And none or few to scare or chase the beast; + So that wild dog, and wolf and boar and bear + Came night and day, and rooted in the fields, + And wallow’d in the gardens of the King. + And ever and anon the wolf would steal + The children and devour, but now and then, + Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat + To human sucklings; and the children, housed + In her foul den, there at their meat would growl, + And mock their foster-mother on four feet, + Till, straighten’d, they grew up to wolf-like men, + Worse than the wolves. + +This, surely, puts us back into the old days. But “Arthur heard the call +and came; and Guinevere stood by the castle walls to watch him pass.” +The Celtic ideal of woman and the Celtic pursuit of the unknown and +mysterious, and the delicacy and passion that characterise the early +romances, pervade these nineteenth century Idylls throughout. + +It is interesting to compare the Passing of Arthur, for example, as +recorded by Layamon, with Tennyson’s more elaborate and developed +idealisation. According to the former, these were the words of the +king’s dying speech to Constantine:— + + I will fare to Avalun to the fairest of all maidens, to Arganté the + Queen, an elf most fair, and she shall make my wounds all sound; make + me all whole with healing draughts. And afterwards I will come again + to my kingdom and dwell with the Britons with mickle joy! Even with + the words there approached from the sea a little short boat floating + with the waves; and two women therein wondrously formed; and they took + Arthur anon and bare him quickly and laid him softly down, and forth + they gan depart. Then was it accomplished that Merlin whilom said, + that mickle care should come of Arthur’s departure. The Britons + believe yet that he is alive, and dwelleth in Avalun with the fairest + of all elves, and the Britons even yet expect when Arthur shall + return. + +Compare with this the appearance from the wave of Tennyson’s wondrous +barge with its fair occupants, and the famous farewell speech Arthur +made before setting out. After the well-known passage beginning, “The +old order changeth, yielding place to new,” he goes on:— + + But now farewell. I am going a long way + With these thou seést—if indeed I go + (For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)— + To the island-valley of Avilion; + Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, + Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies + Deep-meadow’d, happy, fair with orchard lawns + And bowery hollows crown’d with summer sea, + Where I will heal me of my grievous wound. + + So said he, and the barge with oar and sail + Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan + That, fluting a wild carol ere her death, + Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood + With swarthy webs. Long stood Sir Bedivere + Revolving many memories, till the hull + Look’d one black dot against the verge of dawn, + And on the mere the wailing died away. + + But when that moan had past for evermore, + The stillness of the dead world’s winter dawn + Amazed him, and he groan’d, “The King is gone.” + And therewithal came on him the weird rhyme, + “From the great deep to the great deep he goes.” + +Sir Bedivere was thus the sole survivor of the Knights of the Round +Table. In the final battle all that remained of them perished except the +king himself and two knights, who escaped wounded. But first one and +then the other passed, dying from his hurt. With what a halo of colour +and real Celtic enchantment poets and romancers have covered up the last +grim tragedy of the wounded knight watching his master, the royal Arthur +die, after all the rest were fallen and gone, and the Round Table was +from henceforth to be but a memory. + +Macaulay must have inherited the Celtic power of pictorial detail and +vivid colouring, though he might not willingly acknowledge it. Where did +he get that brilliant turn for style and those suggestive tricks of +lively fancy if not from his Celtic ancestry? + +After him came three Celtic enthusiasts of great literary standing, who +put Macaulay’s apathy towards the Gaelic and Cymric tradition to the +blush. These were Matthew Arnold; John Campbell Shairp, Professor of +Poetry at Oxford, and Principal of the United College, St. Andrews; and +Professor Blackie of Edinburgh. + +Over the first, the apostle of culture, and otherwise dispassionate +critic, the Celtic past undoubtedly cast a spell. The finding of its +literature seemed to have influenced him in a similar manner as the +hoving of a new planet into his ken thrills the eager astronomer. And we +have his personal contribution in his well-known _Study of Celtic +Literature_ (1867), a book which, like Renan’s French essay, has done +much to enhance the reputation and influence of our ancient heritage in +modern times. It was through his strenuous advocacy that the Celtic +chair which Professor Rhys now occupies in Oxford was established. + +Principal Shairp published _Kilmahoe: a Highland Pastoral, with other +Poems_, in 1864; his _Poetic Interpretation of Nature_ in 1877; and +_Aspects of Poetry_ in 1881. These books revel in the Celtic sentiment, +its melancholy, and love of nature. Their author exhibited the same +spirit of admiration for the Gaelic muse that Matthew Arnold did for the +Cymric. + +In one of his Highland lyrics, entitled, “A Dream of Glen Sallach,” +Shairp showed that he could be overpowered by the gloom pervading the +land of the heather as much as any Gael:— + + In deep of noon, mysterious dread + Fell on me in that glimmering glen, + Till as from haunted ground I fled + Back to the kindly homes of men. + + Thanks to that glen! its scenery blends + With childhood’s most ideal hour, + When Highland hills I made my friends, + First owned their beauty, felt their power. + +And in “The Forest of Sli’-Gaoil” he muses thus of other days:— + + And doth not this bleak forest ground + Live in old epic song renowned? + Of him the chief who came of yore + To hunting of the mighty boar, + And left the deed, to float along + The dateless stream of Highland song, + A maid’s lorn love, a chief’s death toil. + Still speaking in thy name Sli’-Gaoil! + Well now may harp of Ossian moan + Through long bent grass and worn grey stone: + But how could song so long ago, + Come loaded with some elder wo? + Were then, as now, these hills o’er-cast + With shadows of some long-gone past! + Did winds, that wandered o’er them, chime + Melodies of a lorn foretime? + As now, the very mountain burns + For something sigh that not returns! + +Professor Blackie in later life had a similar passionate regard for +Celtic literature, and not only did much by poetic renderings into +English from the Gaelic, and in other ways, to introduce English readers +to the best treasures of the Gaelic past, but also, like Matthew Arnold, +was instrumental in founding a Celtic chair, namely, that in Edinburgh +University. + +Of novelists who, like Sir Walter Scott, have drawn their themes and +inspiration from Celtic sources, there has been a splendid succession +from the days of Tennyson till now. Among others, besides the veteran +Dr. George Macdonald, we may mention William Black, Robert Buchanan, and +Robert Louis Stevenson, all three now dead, but recognised in their time +as men of considerable literary genius. Black’s descriptions, his scenes +and incidents and characters in those graphic stories laid in the West +Highlands, are well known, and are as full of nature as Stevenson’s +thrilling tales of _Kidnapped_ and _Catriona_ are of Celtic passion and +adventure. Buchanan’s _Child of Nature_ is now perhaps not so well known +as these others, but the plot is laid in the extreme north-west corner +of Sutherlandshire, and interprets Gaelic life and character with +wonderful verve and insight. All the three writers seem to have caught +the magic glamour of the North, and to have been influenced in their +style by the Celtic elements. + +Of living novelists to carry on the succession we have still a +distinguished contingent. Besides names, less familiar, the following +have achieved a wide reputation, namely, Dr. John Watson (Ian Maclaren), +Neil Munro, Fiona Macleod, Katherine Tynan, and W. B. Yeats. These +writers are distinctly Celtic in style, idiom, and sentiment. They have +all the passion, yearning, imagination, and emotion of the Gael, +combined with his wonderful gift of story-telling and of local colour. + +There are other writers of distinction, such as Andrew Lang, Dr. Douglas +Hyde, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Dr. Sigerson, Dr. Todhunter, Stopford A. +Brooke, Edmund Jones, T. W. Rolleston, Miss Eleanor Hull, Miss Jessie L. +Weston, Miss Goodrich Frere, and Miss Emily Lawless, who have done much +of later years to popularise the Celtic lore and literature, and to +extend its sway over English letters. + +Through books of history and philology which have been issuing from the +press in a steady flow for decades past, the tide of Celtic influence +still continues to rise and permeate every department of English +literature. So that from that little spring we saw welling up in the +fifth century, and which at first yielded but a few words of Celtic +import to incipient English, we have been able to trace a continuous +stream, gaining in volume and momentum through the centuries, until now +it is like a mighty Missouri which mingles its waters with the broader +and more potent Mississippi, to be carried to the great ocean of human +intercourse, and lose itself in the common good. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + THE PRINTED LITERATURE OF THE SCOTTISH GAEL + + Two interesting bibliographies—Surprising revelations—First Gaelic + printed book—Meagre output prior to the Forty-five—Earliest + original works issued—No complete Bible in type before + 1801—Nineteenth century activity—The Highlander’s favourite + books—A revelation of character—His printed literature mainly + religious—Translations—The two books in greatest demand—Dearth + of the masterpieces of other languages—The most popular of + English religious writers—of native bards—Gaelic poetry—The + printed succession—Notable books—Account of the Gaelic + grammars—Dictionaries—Periodicals—Value of the literature. + + +A close study of the printed literature of the Scottish Gael leads to +some surprising and even wholly unexpected revelations. Happily, we have +the materials for such a scrutiny within moderate compass, a fact which +cannot be predicated of the more comprehensive and ubiquitous English. + +It is an amazing circumstance—indeed the _Spectator_, some seventy years +ago, dubbed it “a piece of Highland dilettanteism”—that one should be +found enthusiastic enough to attempt to make an exhaustive bibliography +of the printed Gaelic output of Scotland. Yet such a devotee has emerged +not once, but twice within the last century. + +First, in the person of John Reid, a Glasgow bookseller of Lowland +birth, who published in 1832 his _Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica_, or “an +account of all the books which have been printed in the Gaelic +language,” down to that date. + +Second, in the person of the Rev. Donald Maclean, minister of Duirinish, +Skye, who brought the catalogue forward to 1900, arranging the authors’ +names alphabetically, and giving the various editions, with their dates +and places of publication. This MS., which has not yet been printed, +contains in addition a complete transcript of the title of each work, an +account of the author or translator so far as known, the number of +copies printed, size of paper, and published price, and in the case of +the very rare books, an account of the copies known to exist, and the +price they fetched on transfer. + +Had it not been for the earlier researches of Reid, it is not likely so +elaborate an effort would have ever been attempted. Even Reid seems to +have been lured on gradually, all unconscious at first of the magnitude +of the task, for he says that his book was not written with the view of +being published. On the contrary, its _raison d’être_ is thus explained +by him in the preface:— + + While studying the Gaelic language in 1825 a friend wished me to make + up a catalogue of his Gaelic books. It appeared, after the list was + made up, scarcely probable that many more should exist, and under the + idea of having almost already completed the list, the present work was + undertaken. All the Gaelic books in the neighbourhood were examined, + but I found the work increase so rapidly on my hands that it became + necessary to class them and re-write the whole; and the longer I + searched the more I was convinced that the literature of the Gael was + richer than even its friends imagined. The number of translations, + song-books, etc., which I now met with, many of them works which I had + never previously heard of, obliged me four times to extend the plan + originally adopted, and to re-write the MS. + +Reid ransacked the principal libraries in this country and on the +Continent in search of Gaelic books, yet he admits the list must +necessarily be imperfect. When finished, the work was awarded a premium +by the Highland Society of London in 1831, and printed the following +year. It has been the aim of his bibliographic successor to supplement +and complete the list by a new classification up to date. + +Both men deserve credit for having patiently and persistently pursued +what was undoubtedly an interesting but eminently thankless task, so far +at least as financial remuneration was concerned. + +When we hark back to the period when MS. writing first began to pass +into modern type, we discover that no book of any kind was printed in +this country before 1477. In that year Caxton issued in London the +earliest publication from an English printing press. Other books quickly +followed, but nearly a century elapsed before any Gaelic writing passed +through the inky mill. + +The first printed work in that language is the translation of John +Knox’s _Liturgy_ by Bishop Carsewell, published in Edinburgh in 1567. +Carsewell, or Carsuel, as the name is sometimes spelt, a native of +Kilmartin, was superintendent of the diocese of Argyll, and well versed +in the Highland vernacular. It was he who, in the preface to his work, +denounced the ancient _ursgeuls_ or Gaelic prose tales as lying fables, +and inaugurated a clerical campaign against the popular ballads. Yet he +merits our approbation for getting into print so early a book which +modern philologists regard as uncommonly valuable. + +Only three copies exist of the original issue,—one, complete, in the +possession of the Duke of Argyll, and two others imperfect. Of the +twain, one is now in Edinburgh University Library, the other in the +British Museum. + +The Duke’s was lost for a time, but recovered in 1842, and doubtless +restored to its ancient place in Inverary Castle. + +This rare book is five inches long and three and a half broad, +containing 247 pages, on the 246th of which occurs the couplet:— + + Gras Dé is na thós atáimid + Ni ránuic sé fós finid. + +And on the last page the following:— + + DO BVAILE + + adh so agclo an + Dvn Edin Le Ro + ibeart Lekprevik + 24 Aprilis 1567. + +In 1872 the Rev. Dr. Maclauchlan transcribed it entire for a new edition +which was published the following year, 1873. + +Nearly another century glides slowly by after the printing press +disgorged Carsewell’s translation before any further Gaelic +printing—that we know of—took place, if we except the translation of +Calvin’s Catechism issued at Edinburgh in 1631. In fact, three +psalm-books complete the list for the whole of that seventeenth century, +namely, the first fifty Psalms of David with the Shorter Catechism, +published by the Synod of Argyll in 1659, exactly ninety-two years after +the Liturgy; another Psalter by John Kirke in 1684, and the Synod of +Argyll’s finished in 1694. Thus in the sixteenth century we have just +one Gaelic printed book; in the seventeenth, three and a catechism; and +all these merely translations from other languages. + +Not till 1741 do we encounter any original work, and even then it is +simply a Gaelic Vocabulary by Alexander Macdonald, the gifted bard of +Ardnamurchan. So that till after the Forty-five, Gaelic Scotland had no +printed literature of its own—neither poetry nor prose of any kind. + +Indeed, with the exception of a few reprints between 1702 and 1725 of +the Synod of Argyll’s Psalter and Catechism, and Kirke’s Irish version +of the Bible and Vocabulary in 1690, Lhuyd’s Vocabulary in Nicholson’s +_Historical Library_, 1702, and Macdonald’s, 1741, there were no +additions to the printed list of the Highlands till Baxter’s _Call to +the Unconverted_ was issued in Gaelic in 1750, Macdonald’s _Songs_ in +1751, and David Mackellar’s _Hymns_ in 1752. These two latter volumes +were the early precursors in type of that considerable output of song +and hymn and story with which we have been familiar in later years. + +After them came, in 1752, a small book entitled _Hymn of Praise_ +(English and Gaelic), Willison’s _Mother’s Catechism_, and next year +Macfarlane’s _Translation of the Psalms, with forty-five of the +Paraphrases_. + +Between 1753 and 1767, Reid could not find that any Gaelic work was +printed, with the exception of reprints of the Mother’s and Shorter +Catechisms and Macdonald’s songs. + +Like some slow-moving stream, the output was at first very feeble and +irregular, and drawn for the most part from imported sources. + +In 1767, however, an event occurred in the Gaelic printing world worthy +of special notice. This was the issue of the New Testament for the first +time in the language of the Highland people. It was translated by +Stewart of Killin, with the assistance of Dugald Buchanan and other +eminent Gaelic scholars, and was published by the Society for +Propagating Christian Knowledge. Strange to say, the language of this +translation was looked upon at that period as perfectly free from Irish +idiom, and yet in Reid’s day, half a century later, it was regarded as +savouring more of Irish than of Gaelic. + +The same year in which the New Testament saw the light in the ancient +dialect there appeared also the celebrated hymns of Dugald Buchanan, and +the year after the no less famous songs of Duncan Ban Macintyre. + +As yet no Bible existed in the language of the Highlands, and attention +having been drawn to this fact, the Society for Propagating Christian +Knowledge set themselves to supply the defect. It was arranged to have +the Old Testament translated and issued in four parts, which were +ultimately published in Edinburgh as follows:— + + Part I. in 1783. + Part IV. in 1786. + Part II. in 1787. + Part III. in 1801. + +The first part contained the Pentateuch, to which was prefixed a +vocabulary of five pages and general rules for reading the Gaelic +language. The second comprised from Joshua to the end of 1 Chronicles. +The third, published last, contained 2 Chronicles and on to the end of +the Song of Solomon. The fourth was made up of the Prophets, and to it +was prefixed an advertisement, stating the use that had been made of +various English translations. + +The Rev. Dr. John Stuart of Luss was responsible for the rendering from +Hebrew into Gaelic of the first three parts, and the Rev. Dr. John Smith +of Campbeltown for the fourth, which appeared second in point of +publication. + +Their MS. translations were, before being sent to press, submitted for +revision to a Committee of Highland clergymen specially selected; and by +order of the General Assembly of 1782 a collection was made in all the +parishes to defray the expense. This appointment was renewed in 1783 and +1784, as the funds of the S.P.C.K. were reduced, and the outlay on +publication amounted to £2300 for some 5000 copies, with an additional +number of Part I. containing the Pentateuch. The whole work was printed +on fine and common paper; and until the early decades of last century +was looked upon as the standard of Gaelic orthography. + +Considering that the Bible has since come to be regarded as a kind of +fetich in the Highlands, it is somewhat surprising to learn that there +was no complete rendering of it in the language earlier than 1801, just +a century ago. And apparently not till 1807 were the Gaelic Old and New +Testaments finally printed together in one volume. In that year they +were thus issued in England for the first time on behalf of the British +and Foreign Bible Society, who chose two different colours of paper for +the purpose—the one blue for the Old Testament, and the other yellow for +the New, which gave the book rather a polychrome appearance. The +impression amounted to 20,000 copies, each of which cost the Society 6s. +6d., though they issued them to subscribers at half that price. + +Of the Gaelic Scriptures there have been fourteen different recensions. + +From the time of the publication of Dugald Buchanan’s and Duncan Ban +Macintyre’s compositions in 1767–68, may be reckoned the real beginning +of the new era of printing, so far as the production of original Gaelic +literature was concerned, and that mainly poetry, for of prose the land +was singularly barren, except in translations. And it will hardly be +credited that from the introduction of printing down to the end of the +eighteenth century, just about a hundred years ago, if we exclude the +translations from other languages, and extra editions of books already +published, there were not in all three dozen printed original +Scottish-Gaelic works to be found. The day of copious issue had not yet +arrived for the sweet and tuneful Gaelic. + +Even the collected MSS. of Macpherson did not appear in type till 1807, +almost half a century after his so-called translations electrified the +literary world. + +Thus it will be seen that the nineteenth century was really the golden +age of Gaelic printing, for, with the exception of the straggling +volumes indicated above, the literature we now have passed into printed +book form within the last hundred years. From the beginning of the +century there was a marked increase in the rate of publication—an +activity which has been growing in volume and momentum to the present +day. + +And now it will be found highly informing and even entertaining to +review the printed literature of the Gael, to consider its character, +its general features, and specially to note what the Highlander deemed +worthy of putting into type—his favourite books. Such a survey, in fact, +amounts to a revelation of character, and throws a wonderful light on +his recent past, his outlook on life, and peculiar habits of thought. +Indeed, the glimpse we get here of the mental composition and literary +limitations of the purely Gaelic-speaking or Gaelic-reading section of +our countrymen is really amazing, and if we did not know that they now +rely so much for their knowledge and information on the English +language, would simply be incredible. + +It surprised Reid beyond measure that there were so many Gaelic printed +books to catalogue seventy years ago, and probably he thought the work +was well-nigh complete for all time, but had he lived to-day to scan the +amended and supplemented list, it would almost take his breath away, for +he expected the Gaelic long before now to be as extinct as the +Waldensian or the Cornish. He just gave it fifty years in which to “die +down and drone and cease.” People in general, even Highlanders, are +scarcely aware of the very considerable number of printed books that +exist in the native tongue. + +But a cursory glance at the catalogue shows the derived nature of the +material. A large proportion of the volumes consists of translations, +and these translations, if we except the Scriptures, are almost, if not +entirely from the English. And here we are face to face with a most +striking fact. The literature represented, both in the original and in +translations, is mainly religious. + +You will search in vain for the masterpieces of other languages and +other nations. The Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament, _The Arabian +Nights’ Entertainments_, parts of Homer’s _Iliad_, and Thomas à Kempis’ +_Imitatio Christi_, are perhaps the solitary exceptions. All the best +literature of the world has been given a silent go-by. + +And this is true even of the greatest English and Scottish works of +genius. You will not find Chaucer, or Shakespeare, or Bacon, or Gibbon, +Scott or Dickens, Thackeray, Carlyle, or Tennyson here. Two poems alone +of Burns are translated, “Tam o’ Shanter” and “Auld Langsyne,” but the +great masters are to Gaelic print as if they had never existed. Science +is unknown, and art and philosophy; history, too, we may say, and the +drama. Whole departments of human thought remain practically +unrepresented, as if they were alien to the Gaelic mind. + +On the other hand, works of religion, pious devotion, theology, and +ecclesiastical polemics abound, showing the peculiar cast of the modern +Celtic temperament. + +And of all the books, that which has been most in demand, if we may +judge by the extraordinary frequency with which it has been printed, has +been the Shorter Catechism. We are confronted with the curious fact that +between the year 1651 and the Disruption in 1843 no less than seventy +editions or reprints of this document were issued, and this +notwithstanding the circumstance that it was also usually published with +the oft-printed Psalter. The version far and away the most in evidence +seems to have been the Synod of Argyll’s, though other versions, such as +Dr. Ross’s, Dr. Macdonald’s, Dr. Smith’s, and Morrison’s were in +circulation, besides various other Catechisms, of which Willison’s and +Watt’s were prominent examples. The Gael seems to have had a perfect +mania for Catechisms. And next to these in his estimation comes the +Psalter, with nearly eighty editions or reprints between the year 1659 +and the Disruption. + +These editions represent six important versions, without taking into +account other four unauthorised ones. The select six may be given in +chronological order, as follows:— + + 1. The Synod of Argyll’s translation of the first fifty Psalms, + entitled, “An Ceud Chaogad do Shalmaibh,” 1659; and the whole, + 1694. + + 2. Kirke’s Psalter—a translation by the Rev. Robert Kirke, + Balquidder, 1684. This was the first complete version issued, + ante-dating the former when finished by ten years. + + 3. Macfarlane’s translation, which is just the Synod of Argyll’s + amended and altered by the Rev. Alex. Macfarlane, M.A., of + Kilninver and Kilmelford, who excluded many of the Irishisms and + added forty-five of the paraphrases, 1753. + + 4. Smith’s revised version, including all the Paraphrases, by the + Rev. Dr. Smith, Campbeltown, 1787. + + 5. Ross’s Psalter, also an amendment, by the Rev. Thomas Ross, LL.D., + Lochbroom, 1807. + + 6. The General Assembly’s authorised translation, 1826. + +Of these the most extensively used seems to have been Dr. Smith’s, which +ran through no less than thirty or thirty-five editions in half a +century. Next to his, in popular esteem, came Macfarlane’s, represented +by twenty. Ross’s and the General Assembly’s have also had a wide vogue, +especially in more recent times. + +Besides the Shorter Catechism and Psalter, the _Confession of Faith_ has +been printed in Gaelic eleven times, and _The Book of Common Prayer_ +eight times, and Prayers from it once. + +Of English religious writers who have captivated the Highland emotions, +Bunyan takes first place with his _Pilgrim’s Progress_, eleven editions; +_Death of Mr. Badman_, one edition; _The Barren Fig-tree_, one; _The +World to Come_, seven; _Visions of Heaven and Hell_, four; _Heavenly +Footman_, three; _Water of Life_, five; _Holy War_, two; _Come and +Welcome_, four; _Grace Abounding_, three. + +Then Baxter’s _Call to the Unconverted_ went through nine editions, and +his _Saints’ Rest_, seven. Alleine, Boston, Doddridge, Dyer, Jonathan +Edwards were also prime favourites, whose works were represented by many +editions, especially _The Sinner’s Alarm_, _The Fourfold State_, _The +Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul_, _Christ’s Famous Titles_, +and _Doomed Sinners_. + +Though the Gaelic-reading Highlanders had apparently little appetite for +general English literature in their own tongue outside works of +religion, they had a surprising avidity for hymns, elegies, and sermons, +for books on the Church, Christian doctrine, Baptism and the Sacraments. +And we meet with such varied titles as _Voluntaryism Indefensible_, +_Christ is All_, _Apples of Gold_, _Village Sermons_, _Letters to +Sinners_, _The Unspeakable Gift_, _Fame of the Branch_, _The Rose of +Sharon_, _Call to Awaken_, _Salvation by Grace_, _Sacramental +Exercises_, _The Believer’s Hope_, _A Parting Exhortation_, _Blair’s +Sermons_, _Token for Mourners_, _On the Guidance of the Holy Spirit_, +_Short History of the Baptists_, _Lessons on the Sabbath_, _The +Declaratory Act_, _A Word of Warning to the People_, _Assurance of +Salvation_. + +Topics of this kind abound. They formed the favourite pabulum of the +more pious of our countrymen, and to this day some of these or similar +theological productions may be found in almost every Gaelic household of +the North and West Highlands. + +While English printing concerned itself first with such works as _The +Game and Playe of the Chesse_, _The Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers_, +_The Æneid of Virgil_, _The Poems of Chaucer_, _Lydgate and Gower_, _The +Golden Legend_, and the _Morte d’Arthur_, Gaelic printing took to do +with religion. Knox’s Liturgy, Catechisms, Psalters, and Vocabularies +were its main concern; and only after the lapse of nearly two hundred +years did it give any attention to poetry or native literature of any +kind. The original bards, like all other English and foreign writers, +had to wait in the outer court of the Gentiles. But after Baxter’s _Call +to the Unconverted_ was issued in 1750 they began to come straggling in, +Mackellar with his hymns and Macdonald with his songs. And in addition +to Dugald Buchanan’s and Macintyre’s we have, during the following half +century, these books:— + +A volume of Hymns published in 1770 by Macfadyen, a Glasgow University +student; and about the same time an Elegy and one or two other Gaelic +poems by another Glasgow student. Ronald Macdonald, son of Alexander, +published the first issue of old Gaelic poems, including some of his own +and his father’s, in 1776. Then followed in 1777 an anonymous collection +of Mirthful Songs, and in 1780 another of Curious ones; and a volume +entitled _Loudin’s Songs_. + +John Brown’s, Margaret Cameron’s, and A. Campbell’s appeared in 1785; +and next year the better known collections of John Gillies, bookseller, +Perth, and Duncan Kennedy, schoolmaster, Kilmelford. + +In 1787 Dr. Smith published his alleged poems of Ossian, Orran, Ullin, +etc., and those entitled _Dargo and Gaul_. And before the century closed +Kenneth Mackenzie’s, Alexander Macpherson’s, Duncan Campbell’s, and +Allan Macdougall’s compositions were all in type, issued separately. + +The subsequent years, from 1800 to 1831, were most prolific in the +output of poetical publications. It seemed as if the Highland bards had +made a rival rush for the printing presses, and kept the busy machines +clicking. Among the names of those whose poems were then issued occur +the following: Dr. Dewar, Rob. Donn, William Gordon, George Ross Gordon, +Peter Grant, Angus Kennedy, A. and J. Maccallum, J. Macdonald, John +Macgregor, Dr. James Macgregor, P. Macfarlane, D. Macintosh, A. Mackay, +J. Maclachlan, J. Maclean, D. Macleod, D. Matheson, J. Morrison, James +Munro, A. and D. Stewart, R. Stewart, P. Stuart, P. Turner. And in +addition to theirs, and some other ten volumes of anonymous poetry, +partly original and partly collected, there were published within that +period the Highland Society’s edition of Ossian’s poems, and its +reprint, the one in London, 3 volumes, 1807, the other in Edinburgh, +1818. + +If the Gaelic muse was at first slow in committing its productions to +modern printing, it appears to have cast off all reserve after 1800, and +every type of bardic effusion went to the press. + +But of all the bards whose poems were appearing then, undoubtedly the +most popular was Dugald Buchanan. No other book in Gaelic, if we except +the Shorter Catechism and Psalter, has gone through so many editions as +his Hymns. In the comparatively short period of 110 years from their +first appearance they have been issued from the press forty times—so +great has been the demand for these vivid and impressive products of +Gaelic genius. + +Next in general vogue to Buchanan’s comes Peter Grant’s _Spiritual +Hymns_, a book which has been printed at least nineteen times. + +These three instances alone—the Psalter, Dugald Buchanan’s and Peter +Grant’s Hymns—would indicate that this is the type of literature that +has gone highest with the Gael, even if we did not observe how +frequently volumes of spiritual hymns occur in the list of printed +books. + +By comparison such a classic as Alexander Macdonald’s _Gaelic Songs_ has +only reached eight editions, Duncan Ban Macintyre’s ten, and Rob Donn’s +three. + +And this bias, so unmistakably exhibited by the Gaelic printed +literature, is not confined to poetry, but may be traced even in the few +original prose works that the language possesses. + +Only ten such books appeared during the early decades of the nineteenth +century, and they are all religious ones of quite indifferent merit. +While of forty-five prose translations which were printed, either +through the munificence of private individuals, or as booksellers’ +ventures, forty-two were of a religious and three of a moral kind. + +There can be no doubt that this extraordinary preponderance of the +religious over every other type of printed literature in the Gaelic +list, has exercised its own baneful influence on the Highland character +of last century, leaving it lop-sided in some obvious directions and +rendering the Gael blind to the wider issues of life, and therefore more +or less impervious to new ideas. We can well understand his limitations, +if, ignorant of English or other modern languages, he were confined to +the books of his native tongue, as many Highlanders of the past +generations were. These books absolutely give him no knowledge of +science, philosophy, art, or even of the great literatures of the world. +And his own poets occupied, as we have seen, a somewhat subordinate +place in his list. Taught to look through one particular medium, and +deprived of most other means of vision, the unsuspecting Gael grew up +almost entirely oblivious of the march of mind, and for the most part +ignorant of the thoughts that shake mankind. + +It is through the introduction of English, therefore, that he has been +getting emancipated of late years from the narrow outlook which his own +ill-chosen and limited printed literature affords. And it is the sudden +intrusion of this higher knowledge, rendering many of his theories +obsolete, which has so painfully convulsed the older generation of +Gaelic-speaking Highlanders in recent times, and left them so ill at +ease. + +Though printing made its first inroad on the Gaelic language as early as +1567, it is characteristic of the race that the cream of the literature +only found type within the nineteenth century. After the early editions +of Ossian, Peter Grant, and Rob Donn, the following may be quoted as the +most noteworthy literary books that have appeared in the last hundred +years from the Highlands, namely: Dr. Norman Macleod’s _Caraid nan +Gaidheal_; Mackenzie’s _Beauties of Gaelic Poetry_, 1841; Campbell’s +_West Highland Tales_, 1860–62; Dr. Clerk’s _Ossian_, 1870; Campbell’s +_Leabhar na Feinne_, 1872; Sinclair’s _Oranaiche_, 1876–79; Nicolson’s +_Gaelic Proverbs_, 1882; Henry Whyte’s _Celtic Garland_, 1880–81; +_Celtic Lyre_, 1883–95; Mary Mackellar’s _Poems and Songs_, 1881; Neil +Macleod’s _Clarsach an Doire_, 1883; Dr. Cameron’s _Reliquiæ Celticæ_, +1892–94; Dr. Nigel Macneill’s _The Literature of the Highlanders_, 1892; +and Alexander Carmichael’s _Carmina Gadelica_, 1900. + +In addition to the purely literary works, there are three other classes +of Gaelic books, intimately associated with the history of the language, +which have received considerable attention from the printer, and which +are worthy of our notice here. These are School-books, Grammars, and +Dictionaries. + +Of school-books there were three series that ran through many editions +during the first half of last century, namely, the Gaelic Society’s +School series, the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge series, +and the General Assembly’s series. Besides ordinary class books, +portions of Scripture, especially from Proverbs, Psalms, Job, and the +Gospels were printed for use as reading books in schools. The first of +the above series dates from 1811, the second from 1815, and the third +from 1826. + +John Reid apparently never heard of Fenius Farsaid or the “Uraicept na +n-Éigeas,”[35] or of the other MS. fragments, for he has the following +interesting modern account of Gaelic Grammars. + +“The first attempt that we have on record of a Celtic Grammar was one +written by Florence Gray, a monk who was born in Humond about the end of +the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century; but we have +never been able to find a copy of it, or ascertain if it was printed. It +is probable that if it was printed it appeared about 1620, as we know +that he was living in Dublin in 1630. + +“In 1639 Tobias Stapleton, an Irish priest, published at Louvain a small +quarto Catechism for the use of the Irish students on the Continent, in +parallel columns, Latin and English. To the end of the Catechism is +added a small tract in Latin and Irish, entitled, ‘Modus perutilis +legendi linguam Hibernicam.’ + +“After this there appeared various little imperfect compends of Irish +Grammar, but nothing of any real value until 1677, when there appeared +at Rome Molloy’s _Grammatica Latino-Hibernica Compendiata_, which, +although deficient in syntax and other important requisites, was +decidedly the most important work on the subject until 1728, when Hugh +M‘Cuirtin published his _Elements of the Irish Language_,[36] which +again appeared enlarged in his Dictionary, published in 1732. + +“In 1742, Donlevy published at Paris a Catechism in Irish and English, +to which he appended ‘The Elements of the Irish Language.’ This has been +followed by the Irish Grammars of General Vallancy, Dr. William Neilson, +Dr. Paul O’Bryan, William Halliday, and one or two anonymous +authors.[37] It is said by Lhuyd, in the year 1707, that a Scottish +gentleman had then some thoughts of publishing a Scottish Gaelic +Grammar; but the earliest attempt known to us is by Malcolm, who, about +the year 1736, published _Some Elements of the Ancient Scottish, or +Caledonian Celtick, with some Observations_. In the year 1778 Shaw’s +work appeared, with the following title: _An Analysis of the Gaelic +Language, by William Shaw, A.M., Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit. +Virg., Edin._, 1778.” + +A second edition followed the same year, the published price of the book +being 4s. sewed. It is now very rare, but not of much account. + +The next work of the kind to appear was Stewart’s, announced as follows: +“Elements of Gaelic Grammar, in four parts. I. Of Pronunciation and +Orthography. II. Of the Parts of Speech. III. Of Syntax. IV. Of +Derivation and Composition. By Alexander Stewart, Minister of the Gospel +at Dingwall, Honorary Member of The Highland Society of Scotland, +Edinburgh. Printed by C. Stewart & Coy.; for Peter Hill, Edinburgh; and +Vernon and Hood, London, 1801.” + +A second edition, corrected and enlarged, was issued in 1812, a third in +1876, and a fourth in 1879. It is very much superior to that by Shaw, +and is still the best and the one in common use. + +A smaller volume appeared in 1828, entitled, _The Principles of Gaelic +Grammar, designed to facilitate the study of that language to youth_, by +Archibald Currie, formerly Master of the Grammar School, Rothesay, but +at the time of publication Tutor at Prospect, Duntroon, Argyllshire. It +has never been reprinted. After him Neil Macalpine, of Dictionary fame, +produced one which went through four editions. The other grammarians +have been Munro, 1835–43; Forbes, 1843–48; Dr. Macgillivray, 1858; L. +Macbean; D. C. Macpherson, 1891; Malcolm Macfarlane, for the Highland +Association, 1893; Reid, 1895; and Gillies, 1896, the latter based on +Stewart’s. + +A good Grammar of the Gaelic language is still a desideratum. Students +feel that those already in existence follow too slavishly the model of +grammars of other tongues, from which the Gaelic diverges, and thus +exceptions to the rules abound. Only a man of the Zeuss type, well +versed in philology and the original structure and peculiar idioms of +this ancient speech, would be likely to bring order out of the existing +chaos, and produce a book which would be a real help to the study of the +language. Meanwhile the student has to fall back upon Stewart, whose +outlines were put together when philological research was yet in its +infancy. Though Zeuss and Windisch have Gaelic Grammars, they are in +Latin and German. + +The history of the Dictionaries is even more interesting. Michael +O’Clery is credited with the first attempts to produce a Gaelic one.[38] +His _Seanasan Nuadh_, or glossary of old words, was published at Louvain +in 1643. Other Irish lexicographers followed, as many as six +Dictionaries appearing before the year 1817 was ended, among them that +of the learned Lhuyd of Wales and Oxford in 1706. + +The earliest in the Scottish Gaelic, was Kirke’s Vocabulary, printed at +the end of the Irish Bible in 1690, and consisting of five and a half +pages, on which the words were arranged alphabetically. Later, in 1702, +another Vocabulary of thirteen pages by him, including additions by +Lhuyd, was published in _Nicholson’s Scottish Historical Library_. This +one is not arranged alphabetically, but under twelve heads or divisions. +Neither of Kirke’s was issued by itself, apart from other +subject-matter. + +Afterwards, about the year 1732, the Rev. Dr. Malcolm or M‘Colm of +Duddingston made an attempt to compile a lexicon, the material for which +was said to have been prepared by Lhuyd. He published a prospectus and a +specimen of the work, entitled “Focloir Gaoidheilge-Shagsonach,” but +although he was encouraged by the General Assembly and received a grant +of £20, the work never appeared. + +Thus the first Gaelic Dictionary published in separate form was +Macdonald’s Vocabulary, 1741, written for the use of the Charity Schools +founded and endowed in the Highlands by the Society for Propagating +Christian Knowledge. Like its predecessor, it is not arranged +alphabetically but divided into subjects or chapters, like the +syllabaries used by the ancient Assyrians. + +A more ambitious work was “A Galic and English Dictionary, containing +all the words in the Scottish and Irish dialects of the Celtic that +could be collated from the voice, and old books, and MSS., by the Rev. +William Shaw, A.M., followed by an English and Galic Dictionary, +containing the most useful and necessary words in the English language, +explained by the correspondent words in the Galic,” by the same author, +1780. The published price was two guineas, though it was frequently sold +for three and a half. Shaw’s knowledge of the language was defective. A +most furious Highland storm burst over his head on account of his open +championship of the Johnsonian side in the Ossianic controversy. +Consequently some of the subscribers returned their copies, but on the +plea that there were a good many Irish words in the book. Others, who +did not return them within a reasonable time, were found liable to pay. +The case had gone to the Court of Session, and the author won, the +judges finding that though he did not fulfil the terms of his prospectus +he was not guilty of fraud or deceit in the preparation of the book, and +when a definition of a Gaelic Dictionary was given they held that his +legally answered the description. From Shaw himself the curious fact was +elicited that, when picking up words among the Highlanders, he found the +task nearly impossible, as he had to pay them all except the most +educated, the natives being impressed with the idea that he was going to +make a fortune out of the language, and of course they should have a +share. In consequence he turned to the Irish peasantry, who received him +more graciously; and he had access to Colonel Vallancy’s MSS. But the +upshot was that the Dictionary did ultimately contain more Irish words +than Gaelic. And this, combined with his own unpopularity, gave his +controversial foes the opportunity to thwart him, which he resisted, as +we have indicated, by litigation. Ultimately he had to seek refuge in +the Church of England, where through the influence, it is supposed, of +Dr. Johnson, he got a living worth £200 a year. + +“A new Alphabetical Vocabulary, Gaelic and English, with some directions +_for writing and reading_ the Gaelic,” by Robert Macfarlane, Edinburgh, +appeared in 1795; and in 1815 another, in two parts, by Peter +Macfarlane, the Gaelic translator of Bunyan’s _Pilgrim’s Progress_, +Doddridge’s _Rise and Progress_, and Blair’s _Sermons_. The two parts +were also published separately in the same year. This was the only +really practical Gaelic Dictionary up to date, but on account of its +limited size was still very deficient + +A prospectus for a more comprehensive lexicon was issued in 1803 by +Alexander Robertson, schoolmaster, Kirkmichael, and a few parts +appeared. Thereafter the Highland Society bought his MS., as an aid to +the Dictionary contemplated by themselves. + +Since then there have been issued as many as five good ones, all more or +less well known and serviceable at the present time. The first of these +was by Rev. A. Armstrong, A.M., “in which the words in their different +acceptations are illustrated by quotations from the best Gaelic writers; +and their affinities traced in most of the languages of ancient and +modern times, with a short historical appendix of ancient names deduced +from the authority of Ossian and other poets; to which is prefixed a new +Gaelic Grammar, 1825.” The work was published at three guineas. + +On the other hand, the rival, issued by the Highland Society of +Scotland, three years later, on somewhat similar lines, cost seven +guineas in demy quarto, and ten in royal. To an advertisement from the +publisher the following is attached: “This great work has occupied the +attention of the Society since 1814, and presents not only a fully +illustrated view of the Gaelic of Scotland, but surpasses in extent any +lexicon of the Celtic Language ever offered to the public in this or any +other country.” Armstrong’s and this one are by far the largest and the +best. + +Next in order comes that projected by the Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod, +Minister of Campsie, and the Rev. Dr. Daniel Dewar of Glasgow, 1831. It +was superintended through the press and indeed mainly compiled by the +Peter Macfarlane already mentioned and his son Donald—both accredited +Gaelic scholars; and sold for a guinea. It is now known as Macleod and +Dewar’s. + +Contemporary with it we may say, there appeared, in 1832, the first +attempt at a Gaelic pronouncing Dictionary, sold in parts by all the +teachers in the Highlands. It was originally issued as “A Pocket +Pronouncing Gaelic Dictionary for Schools in the Highlands and Islands”; +containing a far greater number of pure Gaelic words than any other +Dictionary, and three times, in some instances ten times, the number of +illustrations and examples in the large Gaelic Dictionaries, from the +Bible and other sources; also all words that are exclusively Irish +pointed out, and reasons given for rejecting them by N. Macalpine, +student in Divinity and Parochial Schoolmaster in Islay. + +While Armstrong’s and the Highland Society’s Dictionary have only had +one edition, and Macleod and Dewar’s five, Macalpine’s has reached as +many as twelve, and was last printed in 1890. A small volume of +recognised merit by the Rev. Ewen Maceachen bears the date 1842. It has +now been re-edited by Dr. Macbain and Mr. John Whyte. + +Lately Dr. Macbain’s own _Etymological Dictionary_, the most scholarly +work of the kind, has been published at Inverness in 1896, of which +interesting book a new edition may shortly be expected, so that Highland +Vernacular Dictionaries have had a goodly record. + +One other department of this study remains to be noted, namely the +periodicals, a mere list of which suffices to show their character and +history. But indirectly this list throws a pathetic sidelight on the +waning fortunes, or may we not say, the expiring struggles of our +ancient tongue, as well as upon the number and variety of efforts that +have been put forth to resuscitate it. + + PERIODICALS + ┌──────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬───────┬────────┐ + │ Name. │ Place. │ Date. │ Nos. │ + ├──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────┼────────┤ + │Ros-Roine (The Rose of the │Glasgow │1803 │ 4│ + │ Field) │ │ │ │ + │An Teachdaire Gaidhealach │ „ │1829–31│ 24│ + │ (Highland Messenger) │ │ │ │ + │An Teachdaire Ur Gaidhealach │ „ │1835–36│ 9│ + │ (New Messenger) │ │ │ │ + │Cuairtear nan Gleann │ „ │1840–43│ 40│ + │An Cuairtear Og Gaidhealach │Antigonish │1851 │ 13│ + │Cuairtear nan Coillte │Ontario │1840 │ │ + │Teachdaire Gaidhealach │Antigonish │1837 │ │ + │ Thasmania │ │ │ │ + │An Fhianuis (The Witness) │Glasgow │1845–50│ 36│ + │Eaglais Shaor na h’Alba │ „ │1875–93│ 74│ + │ (Quarterly) │ │ │ │ + │An Fhianuis (Continuation of │ „ │1893– │ │ + │ above) │ │ │ │ + │A Bheithir Bheuma (The │ „ │1845 │ │ + │ Satirist, No. 1) │ │ │ │ + │Teachdaire nan Gaidheal │ „ │1844 │ 8│ + │Caraid nan Gael │ „ │1844 │ 5│ + │Caraid nan Gaidheal (No. 1) │Inverness │1853 │ │ + │Fear Tathaich (The Mountain │Glasgow │1848–50│ 25│ + │ Visitor) │ │ │ │ + │An T-Aoidh Miosail │Edinburgh │1847–48│ 17│ + │An Gaidheal (The Gael) │Toronto │1871–77│ 6 vols.│ + │ Issued afresh │Glasgow and Edinburgh│ │ │ + │Monthly Visitor │ „ │1858– │ │ + │The Celtic Magazine │Inverness │1876–88│13 vols.│ + │The Highland Magazine │Oban │1885 │ 8│ + │The Banner of Truth │Glasgow │1872–74│ 2 vols.│ + │The Highland Monthly │Inverness │1889 │ 51│ + │Cuairtear na Coille │ „ │1881 │ │ + │MacTalla │Sydney, Cape Breton │1892 │ │ + │Supplement to _Life and Work_ │Glasgow │1879– │ │ + │Scottish Celtic Review │ „ │1881–85│ 4│ + │The Celtic Monthly │ „ │1892– │ │ + └──────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴───────┴────────┘ + +Of these it will be seen the most died in their infancy. The only +survivors in Scotland to-day are the Church Quarterly _An Fhianuis_, the +Monthly Supplement to _Life and Work_, and the _Celtic Monthly_. There +have been about twenty monthly periodicals tried since the beginning of +last century. Of the _Gaelic Messenger_, to take a single example, Dr. +Nigel Macneill says that the late Mr. W. R. Macphun, the publisher, +informed him in 1873 that the parcels of _Messengers_ sent to the +Highlands and Islands came back at the end of the year, _after they had +been read_, without any accompanying payment. Dr. Macleod, the editor, +and his enterprising publisher saw then that it was time to give up the +business. “Some who have lost time and money in recent times over Gaelic +affairs,” adds Dr. Macneill sententiously, “may find some cold comfort +in this incident in the experience of our greatest of prose writers.” + +Further comment on that score is surely unnecessary. Yet is it not +suggestive of much that the only paper at present wholly written in +Scottish Gaelic is one published in Cape Breton, 3000 miles without and +beyond the Celtic fringe of the Old World? + +Taken as a whole, we may see from this survey that the printed Gaelic +books extant belong to the past. They represent a type of thought which +has been largely superseded. And no modern outside the world of Gaelic +dream could live and thrive on them exclusively. Nevertheless they +represent the literature of a people, ancient and venerable, and as such +they will have a value and interest for the future historian, +litterateur, philologist, and ethnologist far exceeding what they have +to-day; and in translations the best of the bards will be read when the +language in which they breathed their poetry is no longer heard on the +lips of men. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + THE MASTER GLEANERS OF GAELIC POETRY + + The work of the gleaner—Authors of the three most precious relics of + Celtic literature, Leabhar Na h’Uidhre, Book of Hymns, and Book of + Leinster—of the three Highland treasures, Book of the Dean of + Lismore, Fernaig MS., and Book of Clanranald—Advent of + Macpherson—Collections and collectors between 1750 and 1820—First + printed gleaning—Four nineteenth-century monuments, Campbell’s + Leabhar na Feinne, Mackenzie’s Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, + Sinclair’s Songster, and Carmichael’s Carmina Gadelica—Other + recent gleaners and their books. + + +To the gleaners of the poetic heritage of the past we are indebted +almost as much as to the poets themselves; for what mattered it to us +that some Homer or Ossian had sung, if none of their contributions ever +reached us? An unappreciative age may allow its masterpieces to be lost, +but the gleaners will not suffer that. They treasure the best, many a +time snatching the fugitive poems from the verge of oblivion. + +Sometimes they glean for the pure pleasure of possessing, as the miser +amasses his gold. Often they do it to share with others. In any case, +like the middlemen of commerce, they are the true distributers, for +sooner or later their wares reach the market. + +Unlike that of the poet, the work of the gleaner demands no originality; +only a certain devotion and enthusiasm for the compositions admired, and +a certain critical judgment, the latter not always in evidence, and not +necessarily indispensable. Posterity does the winnowing. + +To the gleaners we owe the original compiling of the three most precious +relics of Celtic literature now in the world—the Leabhar Na h’Uidhre, +the Book of Hymns, and the Book of Leinster. + +It is away back in the latter end of the eleventh century and early part +of the twelfth that we encounter the authors of these. When the gloom of +the Middle Ages was settling down upon Europe, and weird apparitions +hovered round the camp fires and the cloisters; when the feudal lords +were building their strong castles and the men of peace their churches +and monastic retreats, to escape from war and disorder and general +wickedness, one might enter the precincts of the great monastery of +Clonmacnois in Ireland and find Maelmuiri, the son of the son of Conn +nam Bocht, busy with his pen compiling the Leabhar Na h’Uidhre. Many +times already had the sacred edifice been attacked and pillaged by the +marauding Norsemen, and even then it was surrounded by people rendered +violent and half savage by the disorders of the time, so that the +studious Maelmuiri with his literary tastes was not secure in his quiet +retreat, but in the midst of his peaceful avocations was set upon one +night in the church and murdered by a band of robbers, to whom +literature, most likely, had no meaning. + +But Maelmuiri had already reared his monument, more lasting than brass, +in the book which happily escaped the hands of the ruffians. + +It is the oldest miscellaneous gleaning we have, and contains, among +many valuable productions in prose and poetry, such ancient poems as +Dallan Forgaill’s “Amra” or “Praise of Columcille,” and a pretty large +transcript of the “Táin Bó Chuailgné.” The Gaelic of the former in the +Fenian dialect was so ancient even in Maelmuiri’s time that it had to be +heavily glossed and commented upon. + +Of his contemporary, the compiler of the Book of Hymns, nothing seems to +be known. His monument too has survived the ravages and vicissitudes of +time, but without his name. A wonderful anthology it is, carrying us +back, as in the case of the other, to the days of St Columba, and even +further, to the period of St. Patrick. For here, in the _Liber +Hymnorum_, we have the Gaelic hymns of Patrick, Colmán, Fiacc, Ultán, +Broccán, Sanctáin, Dallan Forgaill, Máel-ísu, the prayers of Níníne and +Adamnan; a Quatrain on the Apostles; besides a variety of beautiful +Latin hymns with Gaelic glosses and prefaces. Among the more famous of +the latter may be mentioned the “Te Deum,” the “Magnificat,” the “Gloria +in Excelsis Deo,” and the “Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel,” so well +known to worshippers throughout the ages since then; and the three Latin +hymns of St. Columba—the “Altus,” “In te Christo,” and “Noli Pater.” + +Many of these occur only in the Book of Hymns, except when copied from +it elsewhere, and may have been lost to posterity, but for the industry +of the unknown gleaner now no more remembered. + +Maelmuiri and he, in all probability had made their collection before +the close of the eleventh century; and fifty years later appeared the +compiler,[39] who produced the Book of Leinster, containing no less than +187 romances in prose and poetry. After the Leabhar Na h’Uidhre this is +reckoned the most important monument of Gaelic literature. + +The stories recorded relate to events which for the most part happened +before the year 650, and their interest and variety may be inferred from +the following category of subjects, into which they have been +classified, namely: destructions of fortified places, cow-spoils, +courtships, battles, cave-stories, voyagings, tragic deaths, feasts, +sieges, adventures, elopements, slaughters, water-eruptions, +expeditions, progresses, and visions. A book of old-time and abundant +human incident is this middle-age document. + +In succession to these three master-gleaners there arose numerous other +less famous ones in Ireland. + +But our special quest carries us over from this time to the land famed +in later song and story as the home of the Gaelic tongue. And coming to +Scotland three other monuments of Celtic industry and literary taste +arise to view, covering the period extending from the fourteenth century +to the Forty-five. They are the Book of the Dean of Lismore, the Fernaig +MS., and the Book of Clanranald. These having been described in detail +in Chapter VII., demand no more than a passing reference here. Happily, +more is known of their authors than of the compilers of their famous +precursors. + +It was in that wild and turbulent period of clan feuds in the Northern +and Western Highlands, and family quarrels between the Douglases and +their rivals in the Lowlands, almost half a century before the Scottish +Reformation, that the Dean of Lismore in his island home near Oban, set +about collecting his fund of Gaelic poetry. In 1512, just the year +before Flodden, he began to write down what he gleaned from oral +recitation throughout the Highlands and Ireland, and continued with the +help of his brother down to the year 1526, thus conserving not only the +poetry of his own generation and of two previous centuries, but also +most beautiful and characteristic fragments of Ossianic poems, some of +which, but for him, would have been irretrievably lost. + +A hundred and sixty years pass stormfully by before we meet the next +gleaner in this field of poetic literature. And then arose among the +wild Macraes of Kintail the chief of that name, Donnachadh nam Piòs, +full of piety and song. Amid the tumults of the Revolution of 1688, +while Claverhouse was leading the clans on to fateful Killiecrankie, and +Cannon and Buchan were ravaging the Northern Highlands, this friend of +the Muses, and learned chieftain, found a pastime in making of verse and +committing to manuscript, thousands of lines of poetry current in his +own district, from Carsewell’s day down to his own, and in point of +place from Southern Argyllshire north to the borders of Caithness. + +This representative gleaning carries the bardic succession over the long +interval since the Dean’s time, and it is a pity that though the Fernaig +manuscript has been transcribed and annotated by Professor Mackinnon, +and again transcribed by Dr. Cameron and Dr. Macbain, and partly +transliterated by Dr. Henderson, no English rendering has yet been +published. + +The poems in the Book of Clanranald are not of the same high order as +the earlier survivals, with the exception of the two or three Ossianic +fragments, which are likewise to be found elsewhere. But they supplement +the Fernaig collection, and help to bring down the poetic tradition +nearer the Forty-five. It is to the Macvurichs—the descendants of +Muireach Albanach, and the hereditary bards of Clanranald—that we owe +this contribution to the gleanings of poetising in by-gone days. They +collected throughout their successive generations chiefly elegies and +eulogies, from the time of Charles the First to George the Second. + +A new era of enthusiasm for bardic compositions opened with the advent +of Macpherson and his publication in June 1760 of “Fragments of Ancient +Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland.” The rich field of Celtic +lore in the past was by this time almost unknown. Few interested +themselves in the Celtic literature of their country. The Book of the +Dean of Lismore lay in obscurity, nobody now knows where. For centuries +it had never been heard of. The Fernaig MS. and the Book of Clanranald +were equally buried, perhaps in old clan chests or lumber-rooms. No +better evidence of the great dearth in the land of master-gleaners could +be adduced than the challenge of Dr. Johnson, that there were not in the +whole world Gaelic MSS. one hundred years old, and the feeble way in +which it was met. + +Interest in these days had reached a very low ebb indeed, when the +controversy over Macpherson’s _Ossian_ set the Celts a-searching. + +Macpherson himself, first in the field of these newly awakened +enthusiasts, is believed, in the course of his journey through the +North-West Highlands, to have gleaned the best of what remained of the +treasure. But for him it is highly probable there would be no Scottish +collection of Gaelic MSS. in the Advocates’ Library to-day. Many of them +were already on their way to decay, as their tattered appearance shows. + +Besides the work of the Highland Society and the stock in hand of the +Kilbride family, it is quite remarkable the number of minor collections +that were made between the years 1750 and 1820. This period was, in +fact, a resurrected Ossianic cycle. It would be tedious, and quite +unnecessary here to catalogue all the names, but we may mention the +Turner, the Jerome Stone, the Macnicol, the Fletcher, the Campbell, the +Gillies, the Irvine, the Macpherson, the Kennedy, the Sir George +Mackenzie, the Sinclair, the Sage, the Macfarlane, the Grant, and the +Maccallum collections. And among these gleaners, the baronet, the +clergy, the teacher, the farmer, the printer, the soldier, the advocate, +the traveller, are all represented. + +It is curious now, looking back on the great Macpherson Ossianic +controversy, which called forth all this industry, this laborious +writing and research, to reflect on its rise and progress. Doubtless it +was felt then, as it is recognised now, that the only real way to solve +the riddle was to glean in the fields of poetry and history—a task prior +to that period too much neglected. They wanted data. Had they the +records we now possess, and had they been able to read the ancient +scrolls, there would have been no literary wrangle. How quietly and +naturally the question, then a problem, has with the advent of +scientific scholarship solved itself. As a controversy the Macpherson +squabble is now as extinct as the dodo. And the Celtic champions who +heralded the dawn of last century, as we did of this, would perhaps be +almost as much taken aback with the issue could they know, as with the +wonders of steam or electricity and the camera. + +It is an interesting fact that the earliest to achieve a printed +collection of ancient Gaelic poetry was Ronald Macdonald, son of the +Ardnamurchan bard, who published a volume in 1776, presumably from +materials treasured by his father. + +But if through the past centuries the master gleaners appeared only at +rare intervals, the nineteenth has not been thus barren. For almost +simultaneously with the Celtic renaissance abroad, enthusiastic +harvesters entered the field at home. Four works especially, all +produced within the last sixty years, call for particular attention. +Following the modern method, their authors have each taken up a special +line, ransacking the past and the present for their own peculiar pearls. +And thus for the first time the whole Scottish field of Gaelic poetry +has been well-nigh gone over, and representative poems of every age and +class have been gleaned and printed. + +First in the order of the antiquity of its contents, though not first in +the field, comes Campbell’s _Leabhar na Feinne_. It appeared in 1872, +its title page announcement sufficiently indicating its aim and scope. +As a sub-title, the latter runs as follows:— + + “Heroic Gaelic Ballads + Collected in Scotland + Chiefly from 1512 to 1871 + +copied from old manuscripts preserved at Edinburgh and elsewhere, and +from rare books; and orally collected since 1859; with lists of +collections and of their contents; and with a short account of the +documents quoted. + + Arranged by + J. F. Campbell, + Niddry Lodge, Kensington, London, W.” + +The author, who was a barrister, and of an ancient and illustrious +Highland family in Islay, spent twelve years from 1859 collecting +folk-lore and poetry as opportunity offered throughout the Highlands, a +work in which he was assisted by various contributors and coadjutors. +His first book, entitled _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, orally +collected, was published in Edinburgh in 1862. There are four volumes, +and they contain mainly prose stories, such as were wont to be repeated +round the firesides in the Highland Ceilidh in days of yore. Yet, +commingled with the Sgeulachdan, are to be found Ossianic fragments +which had filtered down by oral tradition. + +This publication, however, was but a stepping-stone to the author’s real +_magnum opus_, the _Leabhar na Feinne_. + +For it, he collected about 54,000 lines of heroic poetry, and these it +will be observed are independent of the Irish MSS., and almost of the +Scottish MSS. written in the Irish character before the year 1512. With +regard to the latter he says, “To publish them is more than I am able to +do. Where extracts have been made I have quoted a few passages to show +what the language is like, and how these ancient writings correspond to +later writings.” + +Since in many cases he had two or more versions of the same ballad, and +in some cases five or six, it was his original intention to collate and +make one perfect copy. This idea he had ultimately to abandon, and +wisely followed the plan of printing the oldest, with selections from +later versions. Of the first Ossianic fragment he attempted to collate +from two versions, namely, Garbh Mac Stairn, he says, “not a line of +Macpherson’s Gaelic was in either version, but the story seemed to be +the foundation of the first book of Fingal, and therefore a literary +curiosity.” It is significant that when Campbell issued his first book +he favoured the authenticity of Macpherson’s _Ossian_, but by the time +_Leabhar na Feinne_ appeared he was strong the other way. His early +attitude he attributed to “unformed opinions affected by old beliefs.” + +The ballads of _Leabhar na Feinne_ are arranged under nine heads, +according to their chronological sequence, as follows:— + + I. The Story of Cuchulinn. + + II. The Story of Deirdre. + + III. The Story of Fraoch. + + IV. The Story of Fionn and the Feinn, including the Norse Ballads. + + V. Parodies. + + VI. Later Heroic Ballads. + + VII. Mythical Ballads. + + VIII. Poems like Macpherson’s _Ossian_. + + IX. Pope’s collection of ten Ballads. + +These heroic tales read like the _Arabian Nights_, often with the +exaggerated fancy of _Don Quixote_. The extraordinary variety and human +interest of the ballads may be gleaned even from their names. For +example: The Story of Cuchulinn and Eimer, his wife; his sword; his +chariots; Garbh Mac Stairn; and Conlaoch; and Connal’s revenge. The +Story of Fionn and his Feinn; his pedigree; stories about his birth; +Ossian and Padruig; Ossian’s last hunt; how he got his sight; the loss +of the Fenian history; Ossian’s controversy with Padruig; his lament for +his comrades; their names; their favourite music; how nine went forth to +seek a whelp. Caoilte; how he slew a magic boar and a giant. + +The following would pass as the titles of chapters in the great classic +of Cervantes: The adventure with the timbrel player; With Silhalan; The +adventure of the hag; The stealing of Fionn’s cup; The adventure with +the enchanter’s family; Roc, the King’s one-legged runner; The smithy +song, how they got swords; The one-eyed giantess and her ships; The +battle with Manus; Fionn’s expedition to Lochlan; His puzzle; His +enchantment in the rowan booth; The adventure of the nine with a +horseman; The adventure in the house of the king of the fair strangers; +The Black Dog slain by Bran; The adventure of the six at the golden +castle; The tightest fight of the Feinn; The expedition of eight or of +the six to foreign lands; The distressed maiden; The battle of Fair +Strand, in which the Feinn defeated the whole world in arms; The maid of +the fair white garment; Ossian’s courting; How Bran was killed and +Gaul’s dog; Fionn’s encounter of wits with Ailbhe, Cormac’s daughter; +The elopement of Grainne, Fionn’s wife, with Diarmad, Fionn’s nephew; +Diarmad’s lament for his comrades; The story of Gaul Macmorna; his +adventure with Lamh-fhad; Gaul’s last words to his wife. + +The parodies have these headings: The black wrapper; A dream; The tailor +and the Feinn; The truiseal stone; Diarmad’s speech. + +Among later heroical ballads occur subjects like these: The lay of the +great fool; Oscar and the giant; Muirchadh Mac Brian and the heiress of +Dublin; Muirchadh Mac Brian’s riding dress; Hugh O’Neil’s horse. + +Such sumptuous narrative, spiced with no lack of imaginative detail, +might satisfy even Chaucer’s merry group as they foregathered to listen +to the story-telling at the Tabard Inn centuries ago. + +In 1841, some thirty years before _Leabhar na Feinne_, Mackenzie’s +_Beauties of Gaelic Poetry_ appeared. It is a work of more general +interest than the other, in so far that it gives gems of every type of +poem. Here are to be found in concise compass the best productions of +the best bards during the last 300 years, with brief biographical +sketches, critical and explanatory notes, and other elucidations. + +John Mackenzie, the compiler, was born in 1806 of humble parentage in +Gairloch, Ross-shire. Educated in the parish school there, and +afterwards at Tain Academy, he developed a taste for reading and music, +and became very proficient in the making of musical instruments. His +father had him started in life as an apprentice joiner in Dingwall. This +occupation he soon left, however, for more congenial literary work, such +as the collecting of poetical material for publication. On leaving his +native strath to push his way in the great cities of the South, he acted +for a time as book-keeper in the Glasgow University printing office, and +in addition to compiling “The Beauties,” wrote much in prose. Afterwards +the late Gaelic publishers, Maclachlan and Stewart, Edinburgh, employed +him on various undertakings for several years. Besides “The Beauties” he +wrote a “History of Prince Charlie,” the English-Gaelic Dictionary, +usually bound with Macalpine’s, the “Gaelic Melodist,” and compiled, +wrote, translated, or edited under surprising difficulties, about thirty +other works. + +A man of talent and industry, Mackenzie has produced a book which not +only enhances the prestige of our native literature, but also places +himself in the front rank of Gaelic gleaners. + +Like the Dean of Lismore, however, he has inserted certain matters which +critics feel might, with advantage, be omitted, as they detract from the +dignity of the work as a whole. + +On the other hand, the author of _Leabhar na Feinne_ feels aggrieved +that Mackenzie has not included among “The Beauties” some of the ancient +heroic ballads of Ossianic origin. As well might objection be taken to +Mr. Campbell himself for omitting the heroic poetry in the Irish MSS. +and the Scottish MSS. written in the old Gaelic script. As a matter of +fact, Mackenzie does give as samples three very beautiful pieces, the +“Mordubh,” “Collath,” and “The Aged Bard’s Wish,” which he took to be +ancient, but which are now held to belong to the Macpherson period. + +Both compilers did well to follow each his own plan and work out his own +ideal. The field has thus been all the better harvested. + +Mackenzie’s undertaking seems to have early undermined his health, and +though usually resident in the South, he died at Inverewe on the 19th +day of August 1848, among his own people, and was buried with his +fathers in the old chapel in the churchyard of Gairloch, near which, at +the roadside, a monument now stands to his memory. + +A few specimen extracts from “The Beauties” may here be quoted to +illustrate their quality. Of the three earlier poems “The Aged Bard’s +Wish” is the best known, and of it our author gives both the text and a +literal translation. It was Mrs. Grant of Laggan who first brought it +under public notice, and then it was considered ancient because there is +no flavour of Christianity in its composition. On the contrary, the bard +desires entrance at death into the hall where dwell Ossian and Daol, and +expresses the wish that there be laid by his side at the last a harp, a +shell full of liquor, and his ancestor’s shield. In other respects both +the language and sentiment are modern. + + O càiraibh mi ri taobh nan allt + A shiubhlas mall le ceumaibh ciuin + Fo sgâil a bharraich leag mo cheann + ’S bi thùs’ a ghrian ro-chàirdeil rium. + + O place me by the purling brook, + That wimples gently down the lea, + Under the old tree’s branchy shade, + And thou, bright sun, be kind to me! + + Where I may hear the waterfall, + And the hum of its falling wave, + And give me the harp and the shell and the shield + Of my sires in the strife of the brave. + +Of Macintyre’s “Ben Dorain,” which is also included, Professor Blackie +says, “I shall be surprised to learn that there exists in any language, +ancient or modern, a more original poem of the genus which we may call +venatorial. What Landseer, in a sister art, has done for animals in +general, that Macintyre, in this singular work, has done for the deer +and the roe.” And then Blackie himself gives a characteristic rendering +into English of the poem, very free, but catching the spirit of its +Gaelic author. For example:— + + My delight it was to rise + With the early morning skies + All aglow, + And to brush the dewy height + Where the deer in airy state + Wont to go; + At least a hundred brace + Of the lofty antlered race, + When they left their sleeping place + Light and gay; + When they stood in trim array, + And with low deep-breasted cry, + Flung their breath into the sky, + From the brae; + When the hind, the pretty fool, + Would be rolling in the pool + At her will; + Or the stag in gallant pride, + Would be strutting at the side + Of his haughty-headed bride + On the hill. + And sweeter to my ear + Is the concert of the deer + In their roaring, + Than when Erin from her lyre + Warmest strains of Celtic fire + May be pouring; + And no organ sends a roll + So delightsome to my soul, + As the branchy-crested race, + When they quicken their proud pace, + And bellow in the face + Of Ben Dorain. + O what joy to view the stag + When he rises ’neath the crag, + And from depth of hollow chest, + Sends his bell across the waste, + While he tosses high his crest, + Proudly scorning. + And from milder throat the hind, + Lows an answer to his mind + With the younglings of her kind + In the morning; + With her vivid swelling eye, + While her antlered lord is nigh, + She sweeps both earth and sky, + Far away; + And beneath her eye-brow grey, + Lifts her lid to greet the day, + And to guide her turfy way + O’er the brae. + O how lightsome is her tread, + When she gaily goes ahead, + O’er the green and mossy bed + Of the rills; + When she leaps with such a grace + You will own her pretty pace + Ne’er was hindmost in the race, + When she wills; + Or when with sudden start, + She defies the hunter’s art. + And is vanished like a dart + O’er the hills. + +At the end of the book Mackenzie gives a select number of “Beauties” by +individuals who invoked the muse only on rare occasions, or whose +history is little known to the world. Among these we find the anonymous +yet exquisitely beautiful and pathetic “Mali Bheag Òg.” Our author +claims to be the first to give the whole of it correctly in print.[40] +There is much uncertainty as to the history, circumstance, and locality, +but the occasion of the poem was the elopement of two lovers, who were +pursued. The gallant, a young officer, stood to the defence of his +beautiful fiancée, who stole behind him in the melée. Unhappily his +sword accidentally in the swing struck her so violent a blow that she +expired at his feet. It was in jail awaiting execution that he composed +this heart-melting song:— + + Nach truagh leat mi’s mi’m priosan, + Mo Mhàli bheag òg + Do chairdean a’ cuir binn’ orm, + Mo chuid de’n t-saoghal thù. + A bhean na mala mìne, + ’S na’m pogan mar na fiòguis, + ’S tu nach fagadh shios mi + Le mi-rùin do bheoil. + + ’S mise bh’air mo bhuaireadh + Mo Mhàli bheag òg, + ’Nuair ’thain an ’sluagh mu’n cuairt duinn + Mo ribhinn ghlan ùr; + ’S truagh nach ann san uair ud, + A thuit mo lamh o m’ ghualainn, + Mu’n dh’amais mi do bhualadh, + Mo Mhàli bheag òg. + +As another independent gleaning, and valuable supplement to Mackenzie’s +work, there falls to be mentioned Archibald Sinclair’s _An T’ +Oranaiche_, or the _Gaelic Songster_, published in 1879. “If a man were +permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the +laws of a nation,” said a wise man. And certainly the songs occupy no +mean place in Celtic life and poetry. Of these there is no collection in +Gaelic like Sinclair’s—humorous, patriotic, satiric, and sentimental. He +gleaned, as he tells us, in many a field, saving some from oblivion. +Others he snatched from fugitive pieces of paper, ere these latter +became food for the moth. In all there are 290 songs in the volume, and +upwards of fifty names of composers, some of whom are still living. The +songs are mainly of last century, and were compiled in Glasgow by their +editor, who was a publisher in that city. + +By the well-known gleaners above mentioned, the heroic ballads, the +lyric poems, and the songs have been securely garnered. But there still +remained one large section of the field from which hitherto there had +been no great ingathering, necessary to complete the harvest up to our +time. And happily, ere the century closed, the crowning work appeared. +It is a remarkable book and sumptuous, published in two volumes, in +1900, by Alexander Carmichael, who was for many years a member of Her +Majesty’s Inland Revenue staff, and an enthusiastic admirer of Gaelic +lore. The work is styled “_Carmina Gadelica_,—hymns and incantations, +with illustrative notes on words, rites, and customs, dying and +obsolete; orally collected in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and +translated into English,” by the author. Undoubtedly it places the +compiler in the very front rank of Celtic gleaners, and will carry its +testimony forward to posterity, as a monument of a phase of thought and +life now passing away. Even already its weird and old-world “ortha, +urnan agus ubagan,” sound like the echoes of a far-off time, from which +the race has long since emerged. + +Yet its cultured author tells us that this work consists of old lore +collected during the last forty-four years, forming but a small part of +a large mass of oral literature written down from the recital of men and +women throughout the land of the Gael, from Arran to Caithness, and from +Perth to St. Kilda. The greater portion, however, was made in the +Western Isles, the last refuge of the distinctive Celtic life “expiring +on the horizon before the growing tumult of uniform civilisation.” + +For three centuries Gaelic oral literature has been disappearing, and, +as our author tells us, it is now becoming meagre in quantity, inferior +in quality, and greatly isolated. + +“Several causes have contributed towards this decadence,” he says, +“principally the Reformation, the rebellions, the evictions, the +Disruption, the schools, and the spirit of the age. Converts in +religion, in politics, or in aught else are apt to be intemperate in +speech and rash in action. The Reformation movement condemned the +beliefs and cults tolerated and assimilated by the Celtic Church and the +Latin Church. Nor did sculpture and architecture escape their +intemperate zeal. The rebellions harried and harassed the people, while +the evictions impoverished, dispirited, and scattered them over the +world. Ignorant school teaching and clerical narrowness have been +painfully detrimental to the expressive language, wholesome literature, +manly sports, and interesting amusements of the Highland people.” + +Mr. Carmichael has classified the contents of his extensive gleaning +under the following five sub-titles: Invocations, Seasons, Labour, +Incantations, Miscellaneous, and in the general introduction explains +his mode of gathering the materials. + +The glimpses of Highland life he gives in connection with his visits and +colloquies with the people are highly interesting. + +“Whatever be the value of this work,” he says, “it is genuine folk-lore, +taken down from the lips of men and women, no part being copied from +books. It is the product of far-away thinking, come down on the long +stream of time. Who the thinkers and whence the stream, who can tell? +Some of the hymns may have been composed within the cloistered cells of +Deny and Iona, and some of the incantations among the cromlechs of +Stonehenge and the standing stones of Callarnis. These poems were +composed by the learned, but they have not come down through the +learned, but through the unlearned—not through the lettered few, but +through the unlettered many, through the crofters and cottars, the +herdsmen and shepherds of the Highlands and Islands.” + +“The poems were generally intoned in a low, recitative manner, rising +and falling in slow modulated cadences, charming to hear but difficult +to follow. The music of the hymns had a distinct individuality, in some +respects resembling and in many respects differing from the old +Gregorian chants of the Church. I greatly regret that I was not able to +record this peculiar and beautiful music, probably the music of the old +Celtic Church.” + +Following the advice and example of his acquaintance, J. F. Campbell of +Islay, whom he knew for a quarter of a century, Mr. Carmichael gives the +words and names of the reciters. But, unlike Campbell and Mackenzie and +Sinclair, he gives an English rendering of the original in every +instance. Thus, while to the vast majority of this nation _their_ +felicitous poems are locked up in the Gaelic, _his_ are available to +all, in chaste and beautiful language, with charming letterpress, +embellished by old Celtic letters, artistically copied by his wife from +the ancient MSS. in Edinburgh and elsewhere. + +Speaking of the original, he maintains that, although in decay, the +poems are in verse of a high order, with metre, rhythm, assonance, +alliteration, and every quality to please the ear and to instruct the +mind. Simple dignity, charming grace, passionate devotion, characterise +most of these pieces. Again and again he laid down his self-imposed +task, feeling unable to render the intense power and supreme beauty of +the original Gaelic into adequate English; but he persevered, thus +placing a stone as it were upon the cairn of those who composed and of +those who transmitted the work. + +And now, a few characteristic specimens from the book may fitly close +this study. The first is an incantation beginning:— + + The wicked who would do me harm, + May he take the (throat) disease + Globularly, spirally, circularly, + Fluxy, pellety, horny-grim, etc. + +But scarcely any English can convey the vengeance of the vernacular. +Even the sounds are terrifying:— + + Ulc a dhean mo lochd, + Gu’n gabh e’n galar gluc gloc, + Guirneanach, goirneanach, guairneach, + Gaornanach, garnanach, gruam. + +Next, we quote two verses from “The Invocation of the Graces,” +interesting as containing beautiful names from the ancient sagas:— + + A shade art thou in the heat, + A shelter art thou in the cold, + Eyes art thou to the blind, + A staff art thou to the pilgrim, + An island art thou at sea, + A fortress art thou on land, + A well art thou in the desert, + Health art thou to the ailing. + + Thine is the skill of the Fairy Woman, + Thine is the virtue of Bride the calm, + Thine is the faith of Mary the mild, + Thine is the tact of the woman of Greece, + Thine is the beauty of Eimer the lovely, + Thine is the tenderness of Darthula delightful, + Thine is the courage of Meve the strong, + Thine is the charm of Buine-bheul. + +Now follows an example of a charm for sprain:— + + Christ went out + In the morning early, + He found the legs of the horses + In fragments soft; + He put marrow to marrow, + He put pith to pith, + He put bone to bone, + He put membrane to membrane, + He put tendon to tendon, + He put blood to blood, + He put tallow to tallow, + He put flesh to flesh, + He put fat to fat, + He put skin to skin, + He put hair to hair, + He put warm to warm, + He put cool to cool. + As the King of power healed that + It is in his nature to heal this, + If it be in his own will to do it. + Through the bosom of the Being of life + And of the Three of the Trinity. + +And, finally, we may take this as a good specimen of an invocation:— + + Bless, O Chief of generous Chiefs, + Myself and everything anear me, + Bless me in all my actions, + Make Thou me safe for ever. + Make Thou me safe for ever. + + From every brownie and ban-shee, + From every evil wish and sorrow, + From every nymph and water-wraith, + From every fairy mouse and grass-mouse, + From every fairy mouse and grass-mouse. + + From every troll among the hills, + From every siren hard pressing me, + From every ghoul within the glens, + Oh! save me till the end of my day. + Oh! save me till the end of my day. + +In recent years, Dr. George Henderson has done useful work in +transliterating several poems from the Fernaig MS., which, along with +many songs collected in the West Highlands, he has published in his +_Leabhar nan Gleann_. And to Henry Whyte and Malcolm Macfarlane the Gael +is indebted for an extensive gleaning in the field of vocal music. In +addition to numerous Gaelic melodies, they have rescued a variety of +excellent songs from impending oblivion and enhanced their value, +especially to those who are unacquainted with the original, by giving +literal renderings in English, which serve to exhibit their simple +beauty. + +Nor have the three sister nationalities been behind in work of this +kind. The first important Irish gleaning has been Miss Brooke’s +_Reliques of Irish Poetry_, consisting of heroic poems, odes, elegies, +and songs, which she published in the original with English translations +and notes, Dublin, 1789. In more recent times we have the interesting +collections in English of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Dr. Hyde, Dr. +Sigerson, Yeats, and others, besides the _Treasury of Irish Poetry_ +lately edited by Stopford A. Brooke, and T. W. Rolleston. The latter +deals simply with the nineteenth century, but Dr. Sigerson’s _Bards of +the Gael and Gall_ is an Anthology of nearly a hundred and fifty poems +metrically translated, “covering the ground from the earliest unrhymed +chant ascribed to the first invading Milesian down to the peasant days +of the eighteenth century.” + +Wales is well represented by the extensive Myvyrian Archaiology of Owen +Jones, 1801–1807, which capable Welshmen, such as Aneurin Owen, Thomas +Price, William Rees, John Jones and others, set themselves to finish; +while M. de la Villemarqué has done for Brittany, in his now famous +books, perhaps all the ancient gleaning it was possible to do at a +period so late as the middle of last century. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + THE MASTER SCHOLARS OF CELTIC LITERATURE + + The bards and seanachies—Six men of outstanding literary + eminence—The earliest pioneer of the modern philological + movement—Representatives of the older scholarship—Those + of the new—The brilliant Zeuss—Foreign periodicals + dealing with Celtic—Foremost scholars of the various + nations—Italian—German—French—Danish—Scandinavian—American—British, + including English, Irish, Welsh, Manx, and Scottish—Many literary + problems solved—The promise of future harvests. + + +In the company of the scholars we still breathe the atmosphere of the +past. It is they who have resurrected the MSS. These monuments of +by-gone days are the quarries among which they work. As Burns “eyed with +joy the general mirth,” so do they scrutinise with eager glance the +much-prized vellum. + +Only a scholar can know the pleasure it gives to hap upon a long-lost +relic of literature, to turn over its leaves, steeping the book in +water, if need be, to make its pages come asunder, and even using acid +to help the time-worn ancient one to deliver up its secret. + +“Why bother with such defunct lore?” asks the man in the crowd, “the +past is over and gone. It is long since superseded.” Therein lies the +difference between him and the scholar. The scholar thinks it worth +while. Nay, he will sacrifice much—we shall repeatedly see—to search out +the contribution of the past, and determine its meaning. As Plato, +Aristotle, and the master-minds of ancient Greece wrote their books and +carried on their studies, knowing full well that these would be read and +assimilated by very few in their own day, there being no +printing-presses as now, and only a limited education; so many of the +Celtic scholars of our own time labour on in solitude, conscious also +that even with the printing-press the circle of their readers must be +small, yet knowing they are doing a work which in its own way is ever +widening the horizons of knowledge and enriching the common heritage of +mankind. + +In the bards and seanachies, there have not been lacking from remote +times men who have interested themselves in the lore and learning of +their race; but we need to come down to more recent times to encounter +the class of writers we have specially in view in this study. + +Happily, they are not confined to any one age or any one country. Yet +Ireland, as we might expect from its place in the Celtic group, figures +early and largely in the domain of Gaelic scholarship. + +During the first half of the seventeenth century—to go no farther +back—it produced six men of outstanding literary eminence, who +represented a national scholarship in that country, the lustre of which +has never since been surpassed. These were Geoffrey Keating, Duald Mac +Firbis, and the Four Masters. + +Keating, though born in Ireland, was of Norman extraction, and educated +abroad for the office of priest. On his return from Spain, a +full-fledged Doctor of Divinity, he was appointed to a church and +attracted great crowds as a preacher, till an incident, the most trivial +and fortuitous in its origin, drove him from the pulpit into literature. +The incident is worth recording as a determining factor in his +illustrious career. It seems that in his audience one day a young lady, +who was reputed to have questionable relations with a high dignitary of +the Province, happened to appear, curious, like all the rest, to hear +the great preacher. Keating, as fate would have it, was discoursing on +this occasion on a theme not likely to commend itself to the dissolute +girl; still less, since all eyes pointed the moral in her direction. + +She had her revenge, for forthwith soldiers were dispatched by her +lordly patron to arrest the offending priest and make him prisoner. But +the latter hearing of this in time, made good his escape to the famous +glen of Aberlow, where he lived for years a hidden life. It was while +thus cashiered and ostracised that he conceived the idea of writing the +history of Ireland, from the earliest times to the Norman conquest, +afterwards travelling through the country in disguise, with Aberlow as +base, to consult the ancient MSS., which were then in the families of +the hereditary brehons and in the proximity of the old monasteries. Many +documents which existed in 1630, and which he perused, have since +disappeared. And his work is thus of great value, as he rewrote and +redacted their contents in his own words, like another Herodotus. + +Duald Mac Firbis, his contemporary, was equally indefatigable in +ransacking the past for the benefit of the future. His _magnum opus_ is +_The Book of Genealogies_. O’Curry thinks it perhaps the greatest +national genealogical compilation in the world. In addition, he compiled +the _Chronicon Scotorum_, various glossaries, and, according to himself, +a dictionary of the Brehon laws. + +Almost at the same time that Keating was writing his history in the +south of Ireland, the Four Masters were busy with theirs in the north. +Michael O’Clery, born at Donegal about 1580, was author of the Leabhar +Gabhala, or Book of Invasions, and other important works, but in +compiling the famous Annals, the greatest of all, he had the assistance +of other three eminent scholars, known as Farfasa O’Mulchonry, Peregrine +O’Clery, and Peregrine O’Duigenan. Hence the name “Four Masters,” given +by John Colgan of Louvain, himself worthy to rank after them as the +author of the _Trias Thaumaturga_, a book which owes its origin to the +vast collection of material amassed by Michael O’Clery throughout his +busy life. The latter work consists of two enormous Latin quartos, the +first containing the lives of Patrick, Brigit, and Columba; the second, +those of a number of other distinguished Irish saints. + +From the middle of the seventeenth century we are carried forward to the +beginning of the eighteenth. And the next great name that illuminates +the pages of Celtic scholarship is that of a Welshman, Edward Lhuyd. A +peculiar interest and distinction attach to the work of this man, +inasmuch as he was the earliest pioneer of the modern philological +movement, and almost stumbled on the discoveries of Grimm and Rask, +which were only reached upwards of a century after his time. + +An Oxford don, of Jesus College, he clearly saw the necessity of laying +a solid foundation for the scientific study of his own and kindred +languages, and, following up his ideal, he set about publishing +specimens of the literature and preparing vocabularies of the various +dialects. In pursuit of this laudable object he visited Ireland and +Scotland, and when his great work, the _Archæologica Britannica_, began +to appear about 1703, enthusiastic Celts from far and near sent him +congratulatory odes, some of which he afterwards printed. These poems +were either in Latin or in the mother tongue of their contributors. +Among the specimens sent from the Scottish Highlands, one, composed by +the Rev. John Maclean of Kilninian, Mull, has been justly described by +Professor Mackinnon as a “really admirable composition.” + + Great praise and thanks, O noble Lhuyd, be thine, + True learned patriot of the Cambrian line! + Thou hast awaked the Celtic from the tomb, + That our past life her records might illume. + Engraved in every heart in lettered gold + Thy name remains; thy silent words unfold + To future ages what our sires had seen, + While others say, “A Gaelic race hath been.” + +Such is one verse of the ode, as rendered in English by Dr. Nigel +Macneill. + +Completed and printed at Oxford in 1707, the _Archæologica Britannica_ +was, according to the title page, “delivered to the subscribers at 9s. +6d., being the remainder of their payment, and to others at 16s.” + +As a scientific linguist, the reputation of its brilliant author was at +once established. His calibre may be inferred from the following +pregnant note, which he appended to an edition of Kirke’s Gaelic +Vocabulary in 1702. The note is in Latin to this effect:— + + Of these 360 Gaelic words, 160 agree, in sound and sense, with the + British (Welsh) language. The letter _p_ in Welsh equates with the + letter _c_ in Gaelic, _e.g._, pren, crann (tree); plant, clann; pen, + ceann; pedwar, ceithir; pymp, cuig; pwy, cia; pasc, casg. _Gw_ of + Welsh equates with Gaelic _f_, _e.g._, gwyn, fionn; gwin, fion; gwr, + fear; gwair, feur; gwirion, firinneach. The Welsh _h_ corresponds with + the Gaelic _s_, _e.g._, hen, sean; helig, seileach; heboc, seabhag; + hil, siol; halen, salann; hyn, sin. + +What was to prevent a man of such critical insight travelling towards +the interesting discovery of the position of the Celtic in the Aryan +group, or even the generalisation formulated in Grimm’s Law? Already he +was on the track, observing sound changes. He began with the Celtic +dialects, but had he lived, in all likelihood he would have carried his +equations to other languages of the Aryan group, and anticipated some at +least of the modern results. As it was, his early death occurred before +he had time to work out the idea on the wider platform; and the honour +of having laid a sure foundation for the new sciences of philology, +ethnology, and literary criticism passed a century and a half later to +the great German masters. + +After Lhuyd’s time, unhappily in this country, his studies were not +followed up. On the contrary, the investigation of Celtic questions was +determined more by sentiment than by scholarship. Wrangling and +partisanship took the place of learning and scientific veracity. And so +far were the methods and results of later criticism from being +anticipated, that biassed men like Pinkerton and the Ossianic +controversialists had a loud voice in the land. + +Gradually a better type of scholarship began to emerge both in Scotland +and Ireland. Not at first the representatives of the new order, but +representatives of the traditional seanachies, scholars of the long +past, who interested themselves afresh in the literature, history, and +antiquities of the race; and who began with unwearied zest to unearth +and bring to light the long lost and forgotten monuments of the past. Of +these, in Scotland, the brothers Donald and John Smith, Ewen Maclachlan, +Dr. Thomas Maclauchlan, and Dr. Archibald Clerk, were perhaps the most +prominent. As scholars they were rather uncritical, and do not rank in +the same category with the great names of later times; but they had +strong Gaelic sympathies and a large assortment of traditional +knowledge. + +In Ireland, on the other hand, there were far more who occupied +themselves with the earlier periods. Of these it would be hard to rival +in patient, conscientious, and solid learning such men as O’Reilly, +Petrie, O’Donovan, O’Curry, Todd, Reeves, Hennessy, and Healy. + +The first three were associated with the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, and +in that sphere found excellent scope for their Celtic studies, in +connection with the place-names of the country. + +John O’Donovan was born in 1809. His father, though a small farmer, had +been descended from the celebrated O’Donovans of County Cork, and when +he died in 1817 his son John, then eight years of age and one of a +family of nine, was sent to Dublin to be educated. From the age of +seventeen he began to devote himself systematically to Celtic study, and +three years later was brought under the notice of the Survey Commission +as a youth singularly well qualified to conduct the archæological +department of their enterprise. Accordingly he entered the service in +1829, and forthwith instituted a careful investigation of the printed +books, MSS., and inscriptions bearing on topography; in due course +contributing articles to the _Dublin Penny Journal_, and laying the +first instalment of his research before the British Association in 1835. +Subsequently, Petrie and he published the full report. + +In 1836 he set about preparing an Analytical Catalogue of the Irish MSS. +in Trinity College, and from 1841 was editor of the works published by +the Irish Archæological Society. Ever since he undertook the work of the +Ordnance Survey, he had in view the idea of writing a _Grammar of the +Irish Language_, and after seventeen years’ study the book appeared in +1847, and was received with enthusiasm both at home and abroad. It is +characteristic of the way in which British scholarship followed in the +rear of that on the Continent, that so well informed and interested an +exponent as O’Donovan did not know when he published his valuable +Grammar that aspiration and ellipsis had been explained in Germany eight +years before then. Thus he arrived too early to benefit much by the +study of comparative philology, though deeply interested in the science. + +His masterpiece is really the edition he issued of the _Annals of the +Four Masters_ (1848–51). Of this vast effort Dr. Hyde affirms that it is +the greatest that any modern Irish scholar ever accomplished. “So long +as Irish history exists, the _Annals of the Four Masters_ will be read +in O’Donovan’s translation.” + +In 1847 he was called to the Bar, but sacrificed his prospects in that +line for his Celtic studies. Later, he received the degree of LL.D. from +Trinity College, Dublin, and a Government pension of £50 a year, and was +appointed Professor of the Irish Language in Queen’s College, Belfast. +But having a large family to support on a small income, he contemplated +emigrating to America or Australia, when in 1852, most opportunely, the +Government resolved to appoint a Royal Commission to publish the ancient +Laws and Institutions of Ireland, and he and O’Curry, the two greatest +savants on that subject, were chosen for the office. Eight years’ more +arduous work undermined his constitution, and he succumbed to an attack +of rheumatic fever about the middle of November 1861. + +Eugene O’Curry did not long survive him. Neither of them lived to +complete the vast undertaking, though they both wrote and translated +volumes of text, which have since been published. + +The immense labours and success of O’Curry in the difficult fields of +Gaelic research are even more astonishing than those of his coadjutor, +as he had never received an academical education, and was mainly +self-taught, and had to forge his way in new and unexplored directions. +In view of this his surprise was great when offered the Professorship in +the Catholic University of Ireland, and so diffident was he that it was +with difficulty he was persuaded to accept it. His catalogues, editions +of texts and translations, and, above all, his famous books, the +_Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History_ (Dublin, +1861), and _On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish_ (London, +1873), have rendered him a kind of quarry for subsequent scholars, +British and Continental. + +To Dr. Todd is mainly due the inception, in 1841, of the Irish +Archæological Society for publishing original documents. He figures also +as the first editor of the _Liber Hymnorum_, Dublin, 1855, and as the +biographer of St. Patrick, while Dr. Reeves has done masterly service as +editor and biographer of Adamnan. + +Of the line of scholars we have just passed in review, William Maunsell +Hennessy is probably the last great representative. The better part of +forty years he spent in close familiarity with the great tomes in +Dublin, publishing, translating, and annotating, till the list of his +works have become too numerous to mention here. Among the chief of these +are his edition of the _Chronicon Scotorum_, in the Master of the Rolls’ +Series, 1858; and his translation of the _Tripartite Life of St. +Patrick_, printed by Mary Frances Cusack, 1871, and by O’Leary, New +York, 1874. + +“Hennessy,” says Standish O’Grady, “was born at Castle Gregory, some +twelve miles west of Tralee, and in early life visited the United +States. Upon his return to Ireland he became a journalist, and was +appointed to the Public Record Office, Dublin, in 1868. He enjoyed the +friendship of the Cavaliere Nigra, himself an accomplished Celticist, +and was his guest at the Italian Embassy in Paris. In 1885 he was +visited by a family bereavement, almost tragic in sadness, and this +again was before long followed by a second blow, the effect upon his +sensitive and affectionate nature being such that he never fairly +rallied, but died at the age of sixty.” + +Having thus glanced briefly at the representatives of the older +scholarship and their work, we shall now have occasion to retrace our +steps to consider the representatives of the new critical and +philological movement. After Edward Lhuyd’s demise no further progress +seems to have been registered in the elucidation of Celtic philology +till the time of Franz Bopp. Even as late as the first quarter of the +nineteenth century, Gaelic was regarded by scholars as a peculiar +language, unconnected with the other European tongues. It is true that +Sir William Jones, from his study of Sanskrit, had thrown out the hint +as early as 1786, that Celtic was of the same original stock with the +other languages of Europe and South-Western Asia; but when Bopp first +published his _Comparative Grammar_ Celtic was omitted. It was Dr. +Pritchard, an English ethnologist, who, in 1832, really demonstrated on +the lines laid down by Grimm and Bopp, that the Celtic language is a +member of the Indo-European group. + +His book, entitled _The Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations_, from this +time drew the attention of continental scholars to the excluded and +hitherto neglected language, with the result that three important works +soon after appeared, namely, first, one _On the Affinity of the Celtic +Languages with the Sanskrit_, by Adolph Pictet (Paris, 1837); second, +the _Die Celtischen Sprachen_, or _Celtic Philology_, by Bopp (Berlin, +1839); and the _Celtica_ of Dr. Diefenbach (Stuttgart, 1839–40). + +By this time Bopp had studied the Celtic dialects, and published the +above work as a supplement to his great _Comparative Grammar of the +Sanskrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, German, and Sclavonic +Languages_. Some features of Gaelic phonetics, such as initial +aspiration and ellipsis, taking the place of declension, seems hitherto +to have baffled scholars, but Bopp’s sagacity enabled him to perceive +that these are nothing else than the relics and results of the +after-action of the old case-endings, and that the rational explanation +is to be found in the final sound of the previous word, or, as we now +say, vocalic and nasal auslaut. This discovery has since been fully +confirmed by Zeuss, Ebel, and Windisch. + +It was with the publication of the _Grammatica Celtica_, however, that +the great moment in the evolution of Celtic scholarship arrived. Its +gifted author, J. Caspard Zeuss, stands supreme as the real founder of +Celtic philology. He did for it what Grimm did for the Teutonic, and +Diez for the Romance. Since the appearance of his monumental work it has +been definitely settled that the Celtic languages are pure Indo-European +tongues, without any admixture of foreign elements, and thus that they +are members of the family in the same sense that Latin or Gothic is. In +addition, it has furnished the means of interpreting the most ancient +forms of the Gaelic language found in the very old MSS., which before +then had defied the efforts of translators. + +Zeuss was born in Bavaria in July 1806, and after a brilliant school +career, he went to the University of Munich, as his friends intended +that he should be a clergyman. But the youth preferred linguistic +studies, for which it soon transpired that he had a unique genius; and, +college life over, he taught for seven years (from 1832–39) in the +Gymnasium of Munich. Meantime he pursued his own favourite science, +publishing in 1837 a work which is still authoritative. It dealt with +the German chiefly, but from the first his studies included the oriental +languages. + +To settle in Berlin and support himself by teaching there had now become +the objective of his desire, as the Metropolis would furnish him with +exceptional opportunities, but being a Catholic, he found this +impossible. In 1839, however, he succeeded in getting a professorship in +the Lyceum in Spires, and went there from Munich. It was then he began +to study Celtic. How enormous the difficulties were for a man in his +position one can readily imagine, when it is remembered how widely +dispersed, unknown, and unintelligible the materials for the most part +were at that time. His income was small, but in order to economise his +resources, and have the wherewithal to pursue his researches, it is said +that he decided to remain a bachelor. It was his custom annually during +the vacation to visit the great libraries of London, Oxford, Würzburg, +St. Gall, and Milan for the perusal of the Gaelic documents. In the +preface to his great work, he even apologises for not having made full +use of the Milan glosses. This we know was not altogether his fault, for +he went twice there to study the MS. On the first occasion there +happened to be a convention of savants in the city, and the library was +closed, much to his disappointment. An epidemic of fever prevailed when +he returned the second time, and feeling certain sensations, he imagined +he had caught the infection, and left the place without accomplishing +the object of his visit. No doubt the overwrought student was nervous on +that occasion, and his fears may have got the better of him. + +In 1847 he was appointed Professor of History in Munich. But his health +not being very robust, though he accepted the chair, he was obliged a +few months afterwards to resign. Fortunately, however, he received a +similar appointment in the Lyceum of Bamberg, which he was able to +maintain. This was his last. The _Grammatica Celtica_, which was to take +the learned world by surprise and revolutionise Celtic studies, appeared +in 1853, after thirteen years’ close and laborious work. It is written +in Latin, and is so profoundly erudite that it has the reputation, like +some other great German books, of being very difficult to grasp. The +numerous sources consulted in the production of this masterpiece of +scientific scholarship are all carefully given in the preface. Its +publication at once established his fame, but the work killed him. In +1855 he was compelled to resign his chair through broken health. That +same year Professor Siegfried of Dublin saw him, and afterward wrote the +following interesting impression which the appearance of the devoted +scholar made upon him. “I paid a visit,” he says, “to this remarkable +man in the vacation of 1855, when his health was fast sinking. He was a +tall, well-made, rather spare man, with black hair and moustache, giving +on the whole more the impression of a Sclavonian or a Greek than a +German.” He did not long survive his retirement, for in November 1856, +less than three years after the completion of his Grammar, this +illustrious linguist but modest and retiring man died in his native +village in Bavaria. To him, mindful of his outstanding influence, Dr +Whitley Stokes has not inaptly applied the Greek line— + + Ζεὺς ἀρχή, Ζεὺς μέσσα, Διὸς δ’ ἐκ πάντα τέτυκαι. + +After the publication of the _Grammatica Celtica_, Celtic studies +received a mighty impetus and took great strides forward. Now that the +Celtic dialects were proved to be Aryan, their further study became a +necessity in connection with the comparative grammar of the whole +family. Already in Germany there was the well-known _Zeitschrift für +vergleichende Sprachkunde_ (Journal of Comparative Philology), a journal +specially devoted to the Germanic, Greek and Latin languages; but now in +1856, the _Beiträge zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung_ (Contribution to +Comparative Etymology) was started in Berlin to deal with the Aryan, +Celtic, and Sclavonic tongues, and giving particular attention to the +Celtic. The periodical went through eight volumes, one appearing in four +parts every two years; and when it came to an end the _Zeitschrift_, +edited by Dr. Kuhn, began to receive articles on Celtic subjects, and +continues to do so still. + +Among the contributors to the _Beiträge_ Dr. Hermann Ebel was the most +notable. His Celtic studies in the journal were afterwards translated +and issued in book form by the late Professor Sullivan of Dublin (1863). +Of these the most important are _On Declension_, and _The Position of +the Celtic_. Ebel taught for thirteen years in Schniedmuhl, and when the +Chair of Comparative Philology, once occupied by Bopp, in Berlin, fell +vacant, he was appointed thereto, but he did not live long to fulfil its +duties, for he died in 1875, only two years later. He left, it is said, +in MS. a dictionary of Old Gaelic. His greatest Celtic work, however, is +the second edition of Zeuss’s Grammar published in 1871, which embodies +the results of Celtic scholarship down to that year. + +In 1870 another important periodical, wholly devoted to Celtic studies, +began to be published in Paris, namely the _Revue Celtique_. It was the +appearance of this quarterly that ultimately led to the appointment of +D’Arbois de Jubainville as Commissioner to the British Isles, to report +on the Gaelic MSS. found there. This paper, which still flourishes, has +for over thirty years done good service in the interests of scholarship, +there being among its contributors such eminent writers as Ebel, +Windisch, Max Müller, Count Nigra, Pictet, Jubainville, Stokes, Rhys, +Macbain, and others. + +Occasional articles continue to appear in several German papers, but it +may be of moment in passing to note that a few years ago a new +periodical, entitled _Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie_, was +floated, as well as an _Archiv für Celtische Lexicographie_, which shows +the interest that is still taken by the German philologists in this +department of study. + +As the great succession of Celtic scholars after Zeuss and Ebel are more +or less contemporary, it will be most convenient to deal with them in +the order of nationality. Among foreigners of the first rank are two +Italians, Count Nigra and Ascoli of Milan. Nigra was for a time his +country’s ambassador in London and Paris. It will be remembered that +Hennessy, who enjoyed his friendship, was entertained by him at the +Italian Embassy in the latter city. His most important contribution, +founded on his own researches in Italy, is the _Reliquie Celtiche_, +published in that land in 1872. Ascoli did similar good work in +connection with the Gaelic glosses in the ancient MSS. of Milan and St. +Gall, supplementing the labours in that field of Zeuss, Ebel, and Nigra. + +In Germany, on the other hand, there are four still actively engaged who +rank among the masters. First comes the brilliant Professor Windisch of +Leipzig. He is best known for his _Irische Texte_ (vol. i.), published +in Leipzig, 1880; and again a second series of the same, in +collaboration with Dr. Stokes, in 1884. It is a learned work with a +vocabulary arranged alphabetically, which goes most minutely into the +structure of the words. Such pieces as Cuchulinn’s Sickbed, the Vision +of Adamnan, the Tale of the Sons of Uisneach, Hymns from the _Liber +Hymnorum_, and Irish glosses from the MSS. in the monastery of St Paul +in Carinthia are among its varied contents. Windisch is Professor of +Sanskrit in Leipzig, and besides an Irish Grammar has published other +books bearing on Celtic philology. In some instances he has corrected +Zeuss, and in various directions developed and extended his principles. +At present he is engaged on a second edition of the above-mentioned +grammar, and on an elaborate edition with translation of the Táin Bó +Chuailgné. + +Next to him comes Professor Zimmer, formerly of Greifswalde, now +Professor of Celtic in Berlin University. Two books stand to his credit +in 1881, _Irish Glosses_ and _Celtic Studies_. As a writer he expresses +fresh and interesting opinions on a great variety of subjects, such as +the pagan character of Irish literature, the ancient Celtic Church, the +“Táin Bó Chuailgné,” Old Middle Irish MSS., the Irish scholars upon the +Continent, Fiacc’s _Life of St. Patrick_, and the scansion of the +classical Irish metres. + +Professor Thurneysen of Jena (now of Freiburg) distinguished himself by +preparing, along with B. Gütterbock, an elaborate index to the +_Grammatica Celtica_, which renders that work more complete and +accessible. It was published in 1881. + +He, along with Dr. Christian Stern, Librarian of Berlin, complete the +quartette of famous German Celticists who have been for some time in the +field, though not the list of able scholars engaged in like studies in +that country. Other significant names are Drs. Holder, Finck, Zupitza, +Foy, and Sommer. + +Nor has France in recent years been lacking in eminent men of similar +research. M. de la Borderie, Gaidos, De Jubainville, Lotti, Ernault, +Dottin, and Professor Loth of Rennes have all greatly advanced the +interests of Celtic philology and literature. Of these, D’Arbois de +Jubainville is perhaps the best known, on account of his literary +mission to the British Isles on behalf of the French Minister of Public +Instruction in 1881, and his subsequent catalogue of the MSS. As +Professor at the College of France and editor of the _Revue Celtique_, +he made numerous interesting contributions in journal and book form to +the modern literature of the subject, such as _Grammatical Studies on +the Celtic Languages_ and _Epopée Celtique en Irlande_. + +Ernault occupied himself more with the Breton dialect and folk-lore, +Professor Loth with the Mabinogion and Welsh metrics. + +Other Continental savants of great promise remain to be mentioned. They +belong to the northern nations, which have recently begun to develop a +lively enthusiasm for Celtic studies. Denmark is well to the front with +Professor Holger Pedersen, a pupil of Zimmer’s, and Dr. Sarauw of +Copenhagen, while Scandinavia is represented by Dr. Liden of Gothenburg. +Much is expected of these men on the lines on which scholarship now +travels. Hitherto America, so much engrossed with the problems of the +present, has been slow to enter upon a research which burrows so deeply +in the past, yet within the last few years two names have emerged which +are intimately associated with this subject, namely, those of the Rev. +Professor Henebry and Professor Robinson of Harvard. The one is +concerned with the translation of O’Donnell’s _Life of St. Columcille_, +the other with the collection of certain early Irish poems and sagas. + +And now, returning to our own shores after contemplating the masters +abroad, it is pleasing to find so many who have distinguished themselves +in one way or another in this field. England, Ireland, Wales, the Isle +of Man, and Scotland have each furnished enthusiastic and capable men. + +Foremost of these British scholars, and apparently now of all living +Celticists, stands Dr. Whitley Stokes. Next to Zeuss he has done more +than any other single man in this particular department of study and +research. His publications are a library in themselves, and deal with +Cornish, Breton, Old Welsh, as well as Irish and Gaelic. He has made +himself master of the field in a very thorough and scientific manner. +Perhaps his best known books are the _Irische Texte_, vol. i., 2nd +series, 1884; vol. ii., published at Leipzig, 1887; _The Tripartite Life +of St. Patrick_, 1887, and his _Goidelica_ (old and early-middle-Irish +glosses, prose and verse) which appeared twenty years before the others, +and reached a second edition in 1872. In it are given accurate +translations of the Gaelic prefaces and hymns of the _Liber +Hymnorum_—that ancient anthology which dates from the eleventh century. + +Dr. Stokes, who is a son of Professor William Stokes, Dublin, studied +Irish with O’Donovan, and Sanskrit and Comparative Philology with +Professor Siegfried in Dublin. After a distinguished career in the +Indian Civil Service he retired and took up residence in London. It was +in Calcutta that the foundation of his great reputation as a Celtic +scholar was laid, and it was from that city that he first issued his +_Goidelica_. The preface is striking in its brevity and simplicity:— + + I have three objects in printing this book—one, to save the contents + of my transcripts of the glosses at Turin, Milan, and Berne from the + destruction which in this country anything solely entrusted to paper + MSS. must sooner or later meet with; another, to give those excellent + German philologists who, like Schleicher and Ebel, have expressed a + desire for trustworthy copies of Old Irish compositions, material on + which they may look with confidence; and, thirdly, to lay the first + stone of the cairn which I hope to raise to the memory of my beloved + friend and teacher, Siegfried. + +The cairn has since been raised, and it is indeed a notable one. Besides +his books, contributions from Dr. Stokes may be found in Continental +journals, such as the _Beiträge zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung_ of +Berlin, and the _Revue Celtique_ of Paris. He is still busy in his +island home at Cowes, editing and translating texts, of which the +_Annals of Tighernach_, the _Amra Choluimcille_, _Agallamh na +Seanorach_, and the _Bruiden Da Derga_ have lately been published. + +Other great names in this country are those of Professor Rhys of Oxford, +a Welshman; Professor Atkinson of Dublin, a Yorkshireman; Dr. Kuno Meyer +of Liverpool, a German; Dr. Strachan of Manchester, Professor of Greek +and Comparative Philology, a native of Keith, Banffshire; Dr. Douglas +Hyde, whose interesting book on the _Literary History of Ireland_ has +just recently appeared; Dr. Norman Moore, the poetical Dr. Sigerson, and +the Professors Gwynne, father and son. Of these Principal Rhys has +hitherto perhaps been the most prolific in dealing with the early +history and problems of Celtic Britain, while the others have interested +themselves more in the language and literature. + +There are two other outstanding names very familiar to the student of +Celtic, the erudite Standish Hayes O’Grady, author of _Silva Gadelica_, +and friend of Windisch for many years, and Mr. Alfred Nutt, an authority +on folk-lore and literary antiquities. Besides Rhys, Wales has produced +such indefatigable workers as Gwenogfryn Evans and Canon Silvan Evans, +the veteran of Welsh philology; Professors Morris Jones and Lewis Jones, +of Bangor; the late Charles Ashton; Professor Anwyl of Aberystwyth, and +Mr. Brynmor Jones; while the Isle of Man has Mr. A. W. Moore and Mr. +Kermode. + +In Scotland during the middle of last century Dr. Skene did much to +revive interest in the history and monuments of the past, by collecting +MS. materials, editing the _Four Ancient Books of Wales_, and publishing +his own voluminous _Celtic Scotland_. + +The first scholar north of the Tweed to assimilate the results of +Zeuss’s labours and follow his lead was the late Dr. Cameron of Brodick; +very industrious, as may be seen from his contributions to the +magazines, and his posthumous work, the _Reliquiæ Celticæ_, but sadly +lacking in system and method. After him come Dr. Macbain of Inverness, a +distinguished philologist, whose Gaelic Dictionary is a valuable +contribution to Celtic etymology, and the Rev. John Kennedy; the late +Sheriff Nicholson; Professor Mackinnon, occupant of the Edinburgh Chair +of Celtic Literature, and Dr. Henderson, a former student of his, who +has since studied abroad and written various papers and books, and +edited poems or tales collected in the Highlands. + +These all represent the forces of scholarship in the highways and +by-ways of Celtic literature. They are not all masters, in the technical +sense of the word; not a few of them are, as we have already seen, and +the marvel is, looking back for fifty years, the number of men of the +first rank who have appeared, in great part on the Continent but also in +our own land. It is truly a recrudescence or re-arising of the Celt. +Spent forces seem suddenly to have re-emerged and overflowed the +foremost files of time, taking science captive and using it as their +instrument. And yet people wonder and inquire and continue to ask for +evidence of a Celtic renaissance. + +Many literary problems have within the last half-century been solved, +but many more remain to be unravelled—questions too, of history, +ethnology, and sociology. But so much has already been done—so much that +a century ago seemed visionary and impossible, and had not even appeared +on the horizon of dreamers, that there is the promise of future +harvests, and still unlimited scope for the masters. + +Thus the progress. First the available materials had to be ascertained, +catalogued, sifted, and examined in every land. Then followed the work +of publishing and interpreting the texts which have already yielded such +interesting philological and ethnical results, and now we look for a +further synthesis in other directions from the hints and suggestions +scattered all over these published records, which will throw light on +the fascinating problems which confront the students of history, +ethnology, archæology, and of the beliefs and customs of the race in its +earlier stages—a study in keeping with the human experience, that to go +on we must often go back. + + + + + INDEX OF NAMES + + + Achilles, 133 + + Adam, 63, 83, 126, 130, 232 + + Adamnan, 5, 16, 42, 45, 46, 47, 50, 58–77, 83, 88, 92, 201, 209, 215, + 226, 291, 292, 349, 374, 380 + + Aedh, 54, 105 + + Aedh, 91 + + Aedh Mac Morna, 178, 181 + + Aeneas, 68, 228, 306 + + Aengus, 48, 292 + + Aidan, 221 + + Ailbhe, 355 + + Ailill, 109, 160, 161, 165 + + Ainnle, 158 + + Albin, St. 306 + + Aldfrid, 65, 68, 201 + + Alexander I., 89, 94 + + Alexander the Great, 6, 7 + + Alleine, 334 + + Amergin, 131, 139 + + Amphitrionis, 8 + + Anderson, Dr., 95 + + Andlis, 8 + + Andrew, 91 + + Aneurin, 218–223, 240, 244 + + Anne, Queen, 270 + + Antestis, 8 + + Anwyl, Prof., 383 + + Aoife, 159, 165, 167 + + Ardan, 158 + + Arganté, 320 + + Argyll, Earl of, 126, 272, 274, 327 + + Aristotle, 12, 367 + + Armstrong, Rev. A., 343, 344 + + Arnold, Matthew, 2, 97, 309, 311, 321–323 + + Arnold, Thomas, 307 + + Art, 179, 186, 193, 254 + + Arthur, 125, 128, 227–240, 344, 250, 260, 306–308, 318–321 + + Ascoli, 98, 379, 380 + + Ashburnham, 103 + + Ashton, Charles, 383 + + Aspasia, 254 + + Athol, 8 + + Atkinson, Prof., 383 + + Attila, 2 + + Aurelius, 319 + + Austin, 306 + + Avagddu, 230 + + + Bach, Gwion, 331 + + Bacon, Francis, 332 + + Baithene, 48, 61, 71, 83 + + Balan, 318 + + Balin, 318 + + Balor, 141 + + Bannatyne, Lord, 117, 118 + + Barbour, John, 309 + + Baxter, Richard, 328, 334, 335 + + Becca, 145 + + Bede, 5, 22, 56, 65, 77, 93, 201, 221, 306 + + Bede, the Pict, 85, 86, 94 + + Bedivere, 321 + + Beli, 222 + + Benen, 34 + + Benignus, St., 34 + + Bernard, St., 39 + + Bethune, Donald, 116 + + Björn, 213, 214 + + Black, William, 301, 323 + + Blackie, Prof., 123, 186, 268, 272, 284, 322, 323, 358 + + Blair, Dr., 283, 343 + + Blake, William, 316 + + Blathmac, St., 62, 201, 208 + + Bodhbha, Dearg, 144, 145 + + Bollandist Fathers, 31, 62 + + Bondi, 214 + + Bopp, Franz, 258, 375, 376, 379 + + Borderie, M. de la, 381 + + Borron, Robert, 307 + + Boston, Thomas, 68, 334 + + Boswell, 63, 316 + + Brachet, A., 9 + + Bradshaw, Henry, 79–81 + + Bran, 247, 248, 355 + + Branno, 192 + + Branwen, 229 + + Brash, 14 + + Breas, 138, 141 + + Brec, Donald, 222 + + Brendan, St., 75, 215, 291 + + Brian, 141–143 + + Brian Boru, 203, 246 + + Bricriu, 153 + + Bride, 365 + + Brigit, 292, 369 + + Broccán, 292, 349 + + Brogan, 189 + + Brooke, Miss, 366 + + Brooke, Stopford, 310, 324, 366 + + Brown, Dorothy, 276 + + Brown, John, 335 + + Browning, Robert, 107 + + Bruce, Robert the, 86, 87 + + Bruce, Robert, 300 + + Brude, 46, 72 + + Brutus, 306 + + Buchan, Earls of, 87 + + Buchanan, Dugald, 250, 329, 330, 335, 336 + + Buchanan, Robert, 301, 323 + + Bugge, Dr. Alex., 210 + + Bugge, Prof. Sophus, 210 + + Buinne Borb, 151 + + Bunyan, 334, 343 + + Burnet, Bishop, 130 + + Burns, Robert, 257, 282, 299, 310, 367 + + + Cadwaladr, 228 + + Cædmon, 15, 41, 57, 79, 304 + + Cael, 189–191 + + Cæsair, Lady, 137 + + Cæsar, 3, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 99 + + Cailatin, 163, 169 + + Cailta, 192 + + Cainnech, 51, 91 + + Cairbre, 179, 180, 185, 189 + + Calpornius, 25 + + Calvin, John, 328 + + Cameron, Dr., 147, 303, 338, 351, 384 + + Cameron, Margaret, 335 + + Camin, St., 104 + + Campbell, A., 335 + + Campbell, Alex., 352 + + Campbell, Colin, 263 + + Campbell, D., 274 + + Campbell, Duncan, 335 + + Campbell, J. F., 146, 147, 176, 186, 338, 353, 354, 357, 363 + + Campbell, Knight of Glenorchy, 126 + + Campbell of Glenlyon, 335 + + Canmore, Malcolm, 89, 92 + + Caoilte, 179, 185, 188, 189, 355 + + Caredig, 32 + + Caridwen, 230, 231 + + Carlyle, Thomas, 245, 332 + + Carmichael, A., 147, 148, 300, 338, 361, 362, 363 + + Carsewell, Bishop, 127, 264, 299, 300, 327, 328, 350 + + Cassius, Dion, 12 + + Catald, St., 208 + + Cathal, 91, 126 + + Cathbad, 148–151 + + Cathula, 254 + + Caxton, William, 308, 327 + + Cedric, 307 + + Celtchar, 154 + + Cennfaelad, 107, 291 + + Ceolfrid, 66 + + Ceretic, 32 + + Chaillu, Paul B. du, 200 + + Charlemagne, 59, 199, 208 + + Charles I., 130, 270, 351 + + Charles II., 270, 274 + + Charlie, Prince, 250, 251, 256 + + Chaucer, 309, 310, 332, 335 + + Church, Dean, 303 + + Cian, 141, 142, 214 + + Ciaran, St., 108, 154 + + Cicero, 12 + + Clanranald, 129, 130, 276, 283 + + Clark, John, 176, 250, 256 + + Cleopatra, 254 + + Clerk, Dr. A., 303, 338, 372 + + Cliodhna, 188 + + Clydno, 234 + + Cocholyn, 226 + + Colan, St., 225 + + Colban, 92 + + Colgan, 23, 50, 62, 112, 369 + + Collin, 313 + + Colmán, 292, 349 + + Columba St. (Columcille), 15–17, 28, 39–72, 76, 77, 85–88, 94, 95, 104, + 112, 134, 154, 201, 206, 209, 220, 225, 226, 240, 244, 250, 288–294, + 299, 301 349, 369, 381 + + Columbanus, St., 41, 207 + + Comgall, 91 + + Comyns, 86, 87 + + Conaill, Cinal, 49 + + Conall, 42 + + Conall Cearnach, 149, 153–155, 170, 355 + + Conan Maol, 179 + + Conchobar, 121, 148–156, 160, 161, 169 + + Conlaoch, 153, 159, 355 + + Conn, 108, 125, 179, 180, 254, 348 + + Cormac, Abbot of Turiff, 91 + + Cormac, 51, 140, 291, 292, 341 + + Cormac Mac Art, 179–181, 186, 192–194, 355 + + Coroticus, 15, 30, 32, 33 + + Corroi, 226 + + Cowper, 310, 316 + + Crabbe, 316 + + Craigie, Dr., 210 + + Crede, 189, 190 + + Creirwy, 230 + + Cuchulinn, 149, 153–174, 178, 226, 354, 355, 380 + + Culand, 155, 156 + + Cumhail, 178, 179, 181, 185 + + Cummene, 61, 63, 74, 76, 291 + + Curigh, 154, 170, 226 + + Currie, Archibald, 340 + + Cwlum, 225 + + Cyclops, 12 + + + Dagda, 138 + + Daire, 28 + + Dante, 68, 215 + + Daol, 214, 357 + + Daré, 161 + + Dargo, 254 + + Darmesteter, 53, 288 + + Darwin, Charles, 2 + + David I., 84, 89, 94 + + David, 91, 143, 167, 176, 328 + + Davies, 225, 227 + + Dayry, 226 + + Dechtine, 155 + + Deirdre, 146, 148–153, 354 + + Demni, 181, 182 + + Devonshire, Duke of, 109 + + Dewar, Dr., 336, 344 + + Diarmad, King, 44, 45, 50, 105, 106 + + Diarmad O’Duibhne, 179, 193–196, 254, 355, 356 + + Dickens, Charles, 332 + + Dido, 312 + + Diefenbach, Dr., 375 + + Diez, 376 + + Dima, 51 + + Diodorus, 12, 99 + + Dionysius, 12 + + Doddridge, 334, 343 + + Domangart, 91 + + Domnall, 91 + + Donall, Albanach, 158 + + Donlevy, 339 + + Donn, Rob., 250, 336–338 + + Donnatt, St., 208 + + Dorbene, 60, 61 + + Dottin, Georges, 148, 381 + + Dowden, Dr., 34, 52, 303 + + Drostan, 85, 86, 94 + + Drust, 86 + + Dubthach, 37, 240, 244 + + Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, 324, 366 + + Duhona, 254 + + Dunbar, 310 + + Dungall, 208 + + Duvan, Louis, 173 + + Dyer, 334 + + + Ebel, Dr. Herdmann, 98, 258, 376–382 + + Edward I., 225, 313 + + Edward IV., 309 + + Edwards, J., 334 + + Eimer, 153, 157, 160, 169–172, 355, 365 + + Eite, 92 + + Eithinyn, 222 + + Eithne, 143 + + Elaine, 319 + + Elphin, 232 + + Emerson, 1 + + Enda, St., 29 + + Enid, 237, 318 + + Eogan, 151 + + Eoin o Albain, 116 + + Ephorus, 12 + + Erbin, 230 + + Ercoill, 8 + + Ernault, 381 + + Etarre, 319 + + Ete, 92 + + Ethelfrid, 221 + + Ethne, 29 + + Eua, 92 + + Eva, 144, 145 + + Evans, 314, 383 + + Eve, 233 + + Evir-Alin, 192 + + Evrawc, 230 + + Ewen, 247, 248 + + + Fairhair, Harold, 202, 204, 212 + + Faraday, Miss, 210 + + Farsaid, Fenius, 107, 112, 114, 338 + + Fedelm, 29 + + Feidhlim, 148 + + Fercertné 107 + + Ferdomnach, 23 + + Fergus Finne-bheoil, 179, 185, 188 + + Ferguson, Sir James, 148 + + Ferry, Jules, 99 + + Festime, 8 + + Fferyllt, 230 + + Fiacc, 23, 25, 26, 37–39, 240, 292, 349 + + Finan, 253, 254 + + Finck, Dr., 381 + + Finn Eges, 181, 182 + + Finnachta, 64, 65, 67 + + Finnamhair, 162, 163, 167 + + Finnian, St., 44, 48, 290 + + Finntan, 137 + + Fionn (Finn), 123, 124, 174–196, 283, 295, 296, 299, 354, 355 + + Flann, 140, 246 + + Fletcher, 148, 352 + + Forbes, 340 + + Forgaill, Dallan, 16, 55, 57, 61, 108, 240, 291, 348, 349 + + Forgaill of Lusk, 157, 158 + + Forli, Jacques de, 120 + + Foy, Dr., 381 + + Francis, St., 31, 39 + + Fraoch, 354 + + + Gadelus, 138 + + Gaidos, 381 + + Gaimar, 228 + + Gairloch, Laird of, 280 + + Galates, 8, 12 + + Galgacus, 6 + + Gall, St., 41, 208 + + Garbh, 354, 355 + + Garnat, 86 + + Gartnait, 91 + + Gaul, 178, 181, 254, 295, 355 + + Gavaelvawr, 234 + + Gawaine, Sir, 308 + + Geoffrey of Monmouth, 228, 247, 306, 307 + + George I., 80 + + George II., 351 + + Geraint, 230, 318 + + Germanus, 24, 27 + + Geryon, 8 + + Gibbon, 382 + + Gildas, 220, 307 + + Gillemichel, 92 + + Gillies, H. C., 340 + + Gillies, John, 335, 352 + + Glengarry, 271, 272 + + Glewlwyd, 234 + + Gloucester, Robert of, 306 + + Glûngel, 107 + + Gobhan, 106 + + Goldsmith, 7 + + Gomer, 8 + + Goraidh, 211 + + Gordon, George Ross, 336 + + Gordon, Patrick, 87 + + Gordon, William, 336 + + Gordonus, 118 + + Grainne, 193, 355 + + Grant, 352 + + Grant, Mrs., 250, 256, 357 + + Grant, Peter, 336, 338 + + Graves, Dr., 14 + + Gray, 313–315 + + Gray, Florence, 339 + + Gregais, 8 + + Griffith, Prince, 257 + + Grimm, 370, 371, 375, 376 + + Gruffydd ap Arthur, 228 + + Gruffydd ap Kynan, 246, 247 + + Gudelig, 230 + + Guesclin du, 247 + + Guest, Lady Charlotte, 219, 229, 230, 237 + + Guinevere, 237, 319, 320 + + Guledig, 227 + + Gurban, 106 + + Gwenc’hlan, 240 + + Gwenhwyvar, 234–236 + + Gwreang, 231 + + Gwrhyr, 233 + + Gwyddno Garanhir, 231, 232 + + Gwydion, 312 + + Gwynne, Prof., 383 + + + Hael, Rhydderch, 225 + + Hailes, Lord, 118 + + Halliday, William, 339 + + Hamlet, 81 + + Hardiman, 251 + + Healy, Dr., 50, 372 + + Hecatæus, 2, 11 + + Helen of Troy, 152 + + Hên Llywarch, 218, 221, 223, 240, 244 + + Henderson, Dr. George, 303, 351, 366, 384 + + Henebry, Prof., 381 + + Hengest, 221 + + Hennessy, W. M., 372, 374, 379 + + Henry VIII., 220 + + Herbert, 227 + + Hercules, 8 + + Herodotus, 2, 11, 19, 287 + + Hoel, 314 + + Holder, Dr., 381 + + Homer, 176, 332, 347 + + Horace, 133 + + Horatio, 81 + + Howeldda, 220 + + Hring, 213 + + Hull, Eleanor, 154, 293, 324 + + Huxley, 2, 6 + + Hyde, Dr. Douglas, 32, 46, 50, 57, 113, 148, 175, 186, 213, 246, 251, + 264, 266, 309, 324, 339, 366, 373, 383 + + + Irvine, 118, 148, 352 + + Isabella, Countess of Argyll, 126 + + Iseult, 237 + + + Jacobs, Joseph, 147 + + Jafed, 8 + + James II., 49, 270, 279 + + James, Prof., 71 + + Jauïoz, 247 + + Jerome, St., 44, 49, 82, 290 + + Jerram, C. S., 253 + + Jocelin, 23 + + John, St., 68, 80, 83, 84 + + Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 123, 127, 267, 316, 343, 351 + + Jonathan, 167 + + Jones, Brynmor, 383 + + Jones, Edmund, 324 + + Jones, John, 218, 366 + + Jones, Prof. Lewis, 383 + + Jones, Prof. Morris, 383 + + Jones, Owen, 218, 366 + + Jones, Sir William, 18, 375 + + Joyce, Dr., 140, 144, 148 + + Jubainville, H. d’Arbois de, 99, 103, 108, 144, 147, 148, 173, 379, 381 + + Judas, 215 + + + Kaer-Is, 240 + + Kai, 234, 255 + + Keating, Geoffrey, 101, 147, 183, 203, 249, 368, 369 + + Keats, 315 + + Keith, Sir Robert de, 87 + + Keller, Dr., 59, 62, 63 + + Kemoc, St., 146 + + Kempis, Thomas à, 332 + + Kennedy, 352 + + Kennedy, Angus, 336 + + Kennedy, Duncan, 335 + + Kennedy, Rev. John, 384 + + Kermode, 383 + + Kian, 221 + + Kilhwch, 230, 233 + + Kilian, St., 208 + + Kirke, John, 328, 341, 371 + + Kirke, Rev. Robert, 333 + + Knox, John, 56, 290, 299, 327, 335 + + Kuhn, Dr., 378 + + Kynan, 246, 247 + + Kyner, 234, 235 + + Kynon, 234 + + + Laeg, 165–167 + + Laing, Malcolm, 221 + + Lamb, Charles, 260 + + Lamh-fhad, 355 + + Landseer, 358 + + Lang, Andrew, 137, 324 + + Laoghaire, King, 28, 29, 34, 171, 244 + + Larguen, 145, 146 + + Launcelot, Sir, 307, 319 + + Lawless, Emily, 324 + + Layamon, 228, 306–308, 320 + + Lebarchan, 149 + + Lekprevik, Roibeart, 327 + + Leodogran, 319 + + Leot, 91 + + Lewy, 170 + + Lhuyd, Edward, 4, 217, 328, 370, 371, 375 + + Liden, Dr., 381 + + Lir, 144–146, 213 + + Lismore, Dean of, 89, 91, 121–123, 127, 129, 175, 186, 187, 191, 262, + 299, 300, 357 + + Livy, 12 + + Llevelys, 230 + + Llewellyn, 314 + + Llud, 230 + + Llyr, 229 + + Lonelich, Henry, 308 + + Longarad, 48 + + Lorma, 254 + + Loth, Prof., 229, 381 + + Lotti, 381 + + Lovat, 281 + + Lovenath, 306 + + Lugaid, 170, 172 + + Lugh, 138, 141–143, 155 + + Luke, St., 80, 83, 84 + + Lynette, 318 + + + Mabon, 233 + + Macalpine, Neil, 340, 344, 356 + + Macaulay, Lord, 281, 321 + + Macaulay, Zachary, 281 + + Macbain, Dr. Alex., 4, 86, 95, 175, 344, 351, 379, 384 + + Macbean, L., 340 + + Macbeth, 313 + + Macbrian, 356 + + Maccallum, 352 + + Maccallum, A., 336 + + Maccallum, Rev. Duncan, 176, 195, 256, 303 + + Maccallum, J., 336 + + Maccarthenn, 36 + + Maccodrum, John, 250, 282–284 + + Maccolla, Alasdair, 276 + + Mac Crimmon, 280 + + M‘Cuirtin, Hugh, 339 + + Mac Cumachteni, 23 + + Mac Daman, Ferdia, 158, 163–168, 172 + + Macdonald, Alasdair, 130, 272 + + Macdonald, Alexander, 250, 282, 284, 328, 329, 335, 336, 341 + + Macdonald, Sir Alexander, 271, 272, 275 + + Macdonald, Angus, 281 + + Macdonald, Archibald, 281 + + Macdonald, Archibald (An Ciaran Mabach), 271, 275 + + Macdonald, Cicely, 276 + + Macdonald, Donald, 251, 262 + + Macdonald, Dr., 303, 338 + + Macdonald, Dr. George, 323 + + Macdonald, Sir James, 272, 282, 283 + + Macdonald, John (Iain Dubh), 276, 336 + + Macdonald, John (Iain Lom), 270, 275 + + Macdonald of Muck, 281 + + Macdonald, Ronald, 335, 352 + + Macdougall, Allan, 250, 335 + + Macdougall, Phelim, 126 + + Macdurnain, 103, 104, 290 + + Maceachan, Rev. Ewen, 344 + + Macfadyen, 335 + + Macfarlane, Rev. Alex., 328, 333, 334 + + Macfarlane, Donald, 344 + + Macfarlane, Malcolm, 340, 366 + + Macfarlane, P., 336, 343, 344 + + Macfarlane, Robert, 343 + + Mac Firbis, Duald, 65, 112, 249, 368, 369 + + Macgillivray, Dr., 340 + + Mac Gormann, Finn, 349 + + Macgregor, Duncan, 121, 122 + + Macgregor, Gregor, 263, 264 + + Macgregor, James, 251, 336 + + Macgregor, Sir James, 121, 122 + + Macgregor, John, 336 + + Mac-Ille Chalum, 265 + + Macintosh, D., 336 + + Macintyre, Duncan Ban, 250, 329, 330, 335, 337, 358 + + Mackay, A., 336 + + Mackay, John, 280, 281 + + Mackellar, David, 215, 250, 328, 335 + + Mackellar, Mary, 338 + + Mackenzie, Alexander, 267 + + Mackenzie, Sir George, 352 + + Mackenzie, Henry, 117 + + Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail, 277 + + Mackenzie, John, 121 + + Mackenzie, John, 250, 282, 284, 328, 329, 335, 336, 338, 356, 357, 360, + 361, 363 + + Mackenzie, Kenneth, 250, 335 + + Mackenzie, William, 281 + + Mackinnon, Alexander, 251 + + Mackinnon, Prof. D., 56, 105, 127, 144, 351, 384 + + Mackinnon, Lachlan, 279 + + Maclachlan, Ewen, 251, 372 + + Maclachlan, I., 336 + + Maclachlan, Major, 118 + + Maclaren, Ian, 324 + + Maclauchlan, Dr. T., 116, 303, 328, 372 + + Maclean, Rev. Donald, 325 + + Maclean, Hector, 278 + + Maclean, John, 281, 336 + + Maclean, Rev. John, 370 + + Maclean, Sir Lachlan, 278 + + Maclean, Malcolm, 281 + + Macleod, Alexander, 267 + + Macleod, Donald, 251, 336 + + Macleod, Fiona, 324 + + Macleod, Hector, 250, 281 + + Macleod, John Breac, 279 + + Macleod, Mary, 249, 265–270, 276, 284 + + Macleod, Neil, 338 + + Macleod, Dr. Norman, 303, 338, 344, 346 + + Macleod, Sir Norman, 132, 267, 269 + + Macneill, Dr. Nigel, 196, 255, 303, 338, 345, 346, 370 + + Macnicol, 303, 352 + + Macpherson, Alex., 335 + + Macpherson, D. C., 340 + + Macpherson, James, 103, 117, 121, 123, 129, 148, 176, 214, 217, 240, + 250–256, 283, 298, 301, 305, 314–316, 318, 331, 351–355 + + Macpherson, Lachlan, 250 + + Macphun, W. R., 345 + + Macrae, Duncan, 91, 127–129, 215, 275, 350 + + Macrae, John, 128 + + Macritchie, 175 + + Mac Roich, Fergus, 108, 149–154, 301 + + Mac Roth, Fergus, 109, 161–164 + + Macsen Gudelig, 230 + + Macvurich, Nial, 129–132, 276, 277 + + Macvurichs, 119, 126, 130, 351 + + Madden, Sir Frederick, 306, 308 + + Maelbrigte, 104 + + Maelcolum, 91 + + Mælgron, 232 + + Mael-isu, 292, 349 + + Maelmuiri, 108, 299, 301, 348, 349 + + Magnus, 211 + + Malcolm, 339 + + Malcolm, Dr., 341 + + Maledoun, 91 + + Malory, Sir Thomas, 308, 309, 316, 318 + + Malvina, 315 + + Manawyddan, 229 + + Manus, 211, 254, 355 + + Map, Walter, 307 + + Mar, Earl of, 87 + + Marcellinus, 12 + + Marcellus, 81 + + Margaret, Queen, 92–94 + + Mark, St., 80, 84 + + Mary, Queen, 270 + + Mason, W. Monck, 65 + + Matadin, 91 + + Math, 229, 312 + + Matheson, Aosdan, 276 + + Matheson, D., 336 + + Mathonwy, 229 + + Matthew, St., 79, 84 + + Menteith, Earl of, 87 + + Menzies of Rannoch, 263 + + Merlin, 307, 319, 320 + + Mesgedra, 121 + + Meve, Queen, 110, 151, 160–169, 310, 365 + + Meyer, Dr. Kuno, 120, 173, 383 + + Milé, 130, 138 + + Mitchell, Anthony, 52 + + Mitonis, 8 + + Mocumin Lugne, 73, 74 + + Molaise, St., 45 + + Molloy, 339 + + Mone, 105 + + Montalembert, 88 + + Montrose, 129, 130, 271, 272 + + Moore, A. W., 383 + + Moore, Bishop, 80 + + Moore, Dr. Norman, 383 + + Moore, Thomas, 316 + + Morda, 231 + + Morley, 249 + + Morna, 178–181 + + Morni, 254 + + Morrigan, 163 + + Morris, Dr., 308 + + Morrison, 333 + + Morrison, J., 336 + + Morrison, Roderick, 279, 280 + + Mortimer, 314 + + Morvran, 230 + + Moses, 107, 232 + + Muireach, Albanach, 119, 126, 130, 276, 351 + + Muirne, 181 + + Munro, James, 274, 336, 340 + + Munro, Neil, 275, 324 + + Müller, Max, 136, 379 + + Mura, St., 61 + + Muridach, 91 + + Myrddin, 221, 224–226, 240, 247 + + + Naitan, 56 + + Nann, Lord, 240, 242 + + Naois, 149, 150, 158 + + Napier, Mark, 130, 272 + + Nectan, 91 + + Neil, Oig, 116 + + Neilson, Dr. William, 339 + + Nennius, 220, 307 + + Nial, 34, 107, 112, 171 + + Nicholson, 328 + + Nicolson, 338, 384 + + Nigra, Count, 56, 57, 98, 309, 374, 379, 380 + + Ninine, 38, 292, 349 + + Noah, 8, 137 + + Noe, 8 + + Nomenöe, 247 + + Norris, Edwin, 249 + + Nuada, 140 + + Nutt, Alfred, 144, 175, 177, 383 + + + O’Beirne, Crowe, 173 + + O’Bryan, Dr. Paul, 339 + + O’Clery, Michael, 50, 112, 135, 341, 369 + + O’Clery, Peregrine, 369 + + O’Connor, 111 + + O’Curry, 97, 98, 102, 108, 110, 130, 140, 144, 147, 160, 173, 175, 176, + 185, 186, 193, 258, 369, 372, 373 + + O’Daly, 126, 251 + + O’Donnell’s, 381 + + O’Donnells, 49 + + O’Donovan, 97, 113, 176, 258, 339, 372, 373, 374, 382 + + O’Duffy, 140 + + O’Duigenan, 369 + + O’Flaherty, 179 + + O’Flanagan, 147, 173 + + Ogilvy, Mrs. D., 271 + + O’Grady, S. H., 173, 374, 383 + + Olwen, 230, 233, 310 + + O’Mulchonry, 369 + + O’Reilly, 4, 372 + + Orran, 254 + + Oscar, 179, 185, 193, 295, 296, 356 + + Ossian, 29, 122, 123, 129, 175–194, 214, 222, 244, 253, 254, 293–302, + 314, 315, 323, 336, 343, 347, 355, 357 + + Oswy, 221 + + Owain, 223, 234 + + Owen, Aneurin, 218, 366 + + + Palgrave, Sir Francis, 200 + + Palladius, 22, 24 + + Patrick, St., 15–17, 22–43, 53, 57, 68, 78, 112, 123, 134, 145, 171, + 172, 187, 189, 191, 240, 244, 288, 291–302, 349, 355, 369, 374, 382 + + Pattison, 195, 253, 263, 268, 274 + + Paul, St., 8, 31, 76 + + Pedersen, Prof., 381 + + Pelleas, 319 + + Pellinore, King, 308 + + Penda, 222 + + Pendragon, Uther, 306 + + Pennant, 316 + + Pentreath, Dolly, 249 + + Peredur, 147, 230, 234 + + Petrie, 372 + + Phillips, Sir Thomas, 219 + + Pictet, Adolph, 375, 379 + + Pinkerton, 78, 221 + + Plato, 12, 367 + + Pliny, 12 + + Polybius, 12 + + Ponsinet, Louis, 148 + + Posidonius, 12 + + Potitus, 25 + + Powell, Mrs., 219 + + Price, Sir John, 218 + + Price, Thomas, 218, 366 + + Pritchard, Dr., 375 + + Prosper, 22 + + Ptolemy, 7, 12 + + Pwyll, 229 + + Pytheas, 12 + + + Quixote, Don, 355 + + + Ragnhilda, 211 + + Rao’all, 211 + + Raonailt, 211 + + Raonall, 211 + + Rask, 370 + + Reay, Lord, 280 + + Rees, William, 218, 366 + + Reeves, Dr., 50, 60, 63, 67, 76, 77, 105, 303, 372, 374 + + Reid, D., 340 + + Reid, John, 325–331, 338 + + Renan, 97, 227, 230, 233, 237, 244, 289, 322 + + Rheged, Urien, 223 + + Rhys, Principal, 4, 175, 225, 229, 230, 322, 379, 383 + + Rhys ap Tewdwr, 246 + + Rhonabwy, 230 + + Ripley, Dr. W. Z., 11 + + Robertson, Alex., 343 + + Robinson, Prof., 381 + + Roc, 355 + + Rognwald, 211 + + Rolleston, T. W., 148, 324, 366 + + Ronald of Keppoch, 276 + + Ronan, 63 + + Ronan, 179, 188 + + Ronnat, 63, 67 + + Ross, Rev. Thomas, 333, 334 + + Ross, William, 250 + + Ruadh, Alasdair, 267 + + Rustum, 159 + + + Sage, 303, 352 + + Samson, 91 + + Sanctain, 292, 349 + + Sangale, Monachi, 199 + + Sarauw, Dr., 381 + + Scathach, Lady, 158, 159, 163, 165, 167 + + Schaafhausen, 2 + + Schleicher, 382 + + Scott, Sir Walter, 130, 256, 271, 277, 278, 301, 305, 316–318, 323, 332 + + Scylax, 12 + + Seaforth, Earl of, 276, 277 + + Sechnall, 36, 37, 240, 292 + + Secundius, 36 + + Setanta, 155, 156 + + Seth, 83 + + Shairp, Principal, 321, 322 + + Shakespeare, 312, 313, 332 + + Shaw, James, 250 + + Shaw, Rev. William, 340, 342 + + Shelley, 315 + + Siegfried, Prof., 378, 382, 383 + + Sigerson, Dr., 167, 297, 324, 366, 383 + + Sigurd, 202 + + Sinclair, Archibald, 338, 361, 363 + + Sinclair, Sir John, 352 + + Skene, Dr., 32, 55, 117, 120, 127, 129, 130, 150, 175, 195, 221–227, + 238, 383 + + Smith, Angus, 147 + + Smith, Dr., 176, 250, 253–256, 303, 330, 333, 335, 372 + + Smith, Donald, 372 + + Sohrab, 159 + + Somerled, 211 + + Sommer, Dr., 381 + + Southey, 316 + + Stairn, 354, 355 + + Stapleton, Tobias, 339 + + Stephens, Thomas, 221–225, 247 + + Stern, Dr. Ludwig Christian, 174, 176, 380 + + Stevenson, R. L., 323 + + Stewart, A., 336, 340, 341 + + Stewart, D., 336 + + Stewart, Sir John, 264 + + Stewart, R., 336 + + Stokes, Prof. G. T., 36, 303 + + Stokes, Dr. Whitley, 25, 26, 32, 34, 68, 81, 82, 90, 95, 98, 104–106, + 121, 147, 173, 188, 378–383 + + Stokes, Prof. William, 382 + + Stone, Jerome, 118, 251, 252, 352 + + Strabo, 7, 12, 99 + + Strabo, Walafridus, 202 + + Strabus, 62 + + Strachan, Dr., 55, 383 + + Stuart, Dr., 82, 95, 330 + + Stuart, John Roy, 250 + + Stuart, P., 336 + + Sualtam, 155, 156 + + Sweet, 304 + + + Tacitus, 5, 12 + + Tadg, 181 + + Talchend, 145 + + Talhaiarn, 221 + + Taliessin, 218–223, 226, 230, 232, 240, 244, 247 + + Tannahill, 257 + + Taylor, Tom, 240, 247 + + Teige, 124 + + Tennyson, 305, 315, 318, 320, 323, 332 + + Tewdwr, 246 + + Thackeray, 332 + + Thisbe, 312 + + Thomson, 315 + + Thurneysen, Prof., 57, 380 + + Tighernach, 63, 111, 112, 155, 176, 246 + + Timæus, 12 + + Tinne, 63 + + Tirechan, 23, 24, 29 + + Tischendorf, 83, 97 + + Todd, Dr., 25, 33, 38, 303, 372, 374 + + Todhunter, Dr., 148, 324 + + Torcull, 211 + + Townshend, Lord, 80 + + Trahul, 254 + + Trenmor, 178, 181 + + Tuireann, 140–143, 213, 214 + + Turner, P., 336, 352 + + Tynan, Katherine, 324 + + + Uathach, 159, 165 + + Uisneach, 146, 149–155, 158, 161, 380 + + Ullin, 254 + + Ultán, 292, 349 + + Urien, 234, 244 + + Ussher, 62 + + Uther, 319 + + + Vallancy, 339, 342 + + Victoricus, 27 + + Viglisson, 212 + + Villemarqué, 222, 229, 240, 244, 366 + + Virgil, 12, 335 + + Vivien, 319 + + Voel Tegid, 230 + + + Wace, Robert, 228, 247, 306, 307 + + Ward, 68 + + Watson, Dr. John, 324 + + Watt, 333 + + Weston, Jessie L., 307, 324 + + Westwood, Prof., 82 + + White, Stephen, 62 + + Whyte, Henry, 338, 366 + + Whyte, John, 281, 344 + + William King, 270 + + Williams, Edward, 222 + + Willison, 328, 333 + + Wilson, James G., 275 + + Windisch, Dr. Ernest, 57, 89, 90, 98, 121, 147, 173, 341, 376, 379, 380 + + Wordsworth, 19, 315–318 + + Wright, Dr., 36, 303 + + Wynne, W. W. E., 218 + + + Xenophon, 12 + + + Yeats, W. B., 324, 366 + + Yscolan, 224–226 + + + Zeuss, J. Caspard, 56, 82, 98, 99, 120, 258, 309, 341, 376–379, 380, + 382, 384 + + Zimmer, Prof., 22, 98, 106, 120, 210, 211, 292, 380, 381 + + Zupitza, Dr., 381 + + + + + INDEX OF SUBJECTS + + + Adamnan, 58–79; + his biography, 61–68; + writings, 67–79; + his Life of Columba, 16, 58, 69–79; + Adamnan’s Prayer, 68; + his Vision, 68 + + Aged Bard’s Wish, 253, 357, 358 + + Alexander the Great and Celts, 7 + + American scholars, 381 + + _Amra Choluimcille_, 55, 108 + + Ancestors of the Gael, 138, 139 + + Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, 220 + + Aneurin, the Book of, 218, 219 + + Annals, Irish, 111–113 + + _Archæologica Britannica_, 217, 370, 371 + + Armagh, the Book of, 17, 22, 23, 82 + + Arnold’s _Study of Celtic Literature_, 309–312, 321–323 + + Arthurian Romances, 227–238, 306–309 + + Aryan group of languages, 19 + + + Ballymote, the Book of, 109 + + Bards, the Irish, 54 + + _Bards of the Gael and Gall_, 167, 168, 297, 298, 366 + + _Barzaz-Breiz, Chants populaires de la Bretagne_, 240–244, 366 + + _Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, the_, 356–360 + + _Ben Dorain_, 358–360 + + Bible, Gaelic, 328–330 + + Bibliographies, Gaelic, 325–327 + + Bopp’s discovery, 375, 376 + + _Breton Bards of the Sixth Century, the_, 244, 366 + + British scholars, 382–385 + + Brittany, early ballads of, 240–244; + medieval ballads of, 247, 248 + + Buchanan, Dugald, his hymns, 329, 336 + + + Caermarthen, the Black Book of, 218 + + _Caledonian Bards_, 256 + + _Carmina Gadelica_, 361–366 + + Cathrach, the, 16, 48, 49 + + Celtic elements in English literature, 309–312 + + Celtic literary revivals, 239–261 + + Celtic renaissance, latest, 259, 353 + + Celts, early history of the, 1–9; + arrival in British Isles, 3; + Continental empire, 5–9 + + Christianity, introduction of, 27, 28, 47, 287–290 + + _Chronicon Scotorum_, the, 112, 369, 374 + + Church, the, its influence on Gaelic literature, 286–303 + + Churchmen, splendid services of, 303 + + Clanranald, the Book of, 129–133 + + Classical authors on early Celts, 11–13 + + Columba, St., 16; + his biography, 41–78, 226; + writings, 47–58; + his poems, 49–53 + + Confession of St. Patrick, 15, 25, 30 + + Cornish dialect, last speaker of, 249 + + Cornish literature, 248, 249 + + Coroticus, Epistle to, 15, 30 + + Cuchulinn, 155–173 + + + Danish scholars, 381 + + Decay of inflection in Scottish Gaelic and Manx, 211 + + Decline of Gaelic Oral literature, 300 + + Deer, the Book of, 16, 17, 79–95, 209, 246 + + Deer’s Cry, the, 15, 31, 33 + + Deirdre and the sons of Uisneach, 146–152 + + _Dialogue of the Ancients_, 53, 188, 189 + + Dialogues between Ossian and Patrick, 29, 292–299 + + Dictionaries, Gaelic, 341–344 + + Differences between Irish and Gaelic, 209, 210 + + _Domhnach Airgid_, the, 36 + + Durrow, the Book of, 16, 48, 82 + + + Early Celtic Church and oral traditions, 289 + + Early missionaries and the Scriptures, 289, 290 + + Edinburgh libraries in which are Celtic MSS.: + Advocates’, 115–118; + University, 118; + Scottish Antiquaries’, 118 + + Eisteddfod, Welsh, history of, 237 + + English literature, 305–324 + + English loan-words from Celtic, 304, 305 + + + Fate of MSS., 119, 120 + + Feinn, the, 174–197 + + Fernaig MS., the, 127–129, 350, 351 + + Fiacc’s Hymn, 37, 38 + + Fionn, 175–197 + + Foundation of Celtic Chairs, 259 + + Four Ancient Books of Wales, 217–238, 247 + + Four Masters, the Annals of, 112, 113, 373; + authors, 369 + + French scholars, 381 + + + Gadelic and Brittonic, linguistic difference, 3, 371 + + Gaelic, earliest written, 17; + earliest distinctly Scottish, 89; + first printed book, 327 + + _Gaelic Bards_, Pattison’s, 253 + + Galatian colony, 8 + + _Genealogies, the Book of_, 369 + + Genealogy, Irish, 137 + + German scholars, 379–381 + + Gildas, works of, 220 + + Gleaners, Gaelic, 347–366 + + Gododin, the, 221, 222 + + Grammars, Gaelic, 107, 338–341, 373 + + _Grammatica Celtica_, 98, 376–378 + + Gray’s _Bard_, 313, 314 + + + Hergest, the Red Book of, 218–220, 224 + + Heroic Cycle, the, 153–173 + + Highland bards before the Forty-five, 263–285 + + Highland bards after the Forty-five, 249–251 + + Highland Society Collection of Gaelic MSS., 117 + + _Historia Britonum_, 228 + + Hymns, the Book of, 17, 36, 209, 246, 348, 349, 374, 382 + + + Icelandic literature, 205 + + Influence of Celtic on English literature, 305–324 + + Iona, 46; + ravages of Norsemen, 201 + + Irish Annals, 111–113 + + Irish missionaries on the Continent, 207 + + _Irische Texte_, 380, 382 + + Italian scholars, 379, 380 + + + Jacobite poems of Ireland, 251 + + Jones, Sir William; + his suggestion, 375 + + Jubainville, M. d’Arbois de; his mission to the British Isles, 99–104 + + + Keating’s work, 368, 369 + + Kells, the Book of, 16, 48, 82 + + Kilbride collection of MSS., 117, 118 + + Knox’s _Liturgy_, 327, 328 + + + Layamon’s “Brut,” 305, 320 + + _Leabhar Gabhala_, 135, 369 + + _Leabhar na Feinne_, 353–356 + + _Leabhar nan Gleann_, 366 + + _Leabhar Na h’Uidhre_, 17, 108, 209, 246, 348 + + Learning and culture, 289 + + Leinster, the Book of, 108, 109 + + _Liber Hymnorum_, 17, 36, 209, 246, 348, 349, 374, 382 + + Lir, Tragedy of the Children of, 144–146 + + Lismore, the Book of, 109 + + Lismore, the Book of the Dean of, 121–126, 226, 350, 351 + + _Literary History of Ireland_, Dr. Hyde’s, 246 + + Literature, Gaelic, printed, 325–346 + + Literature of the Early Celtic Church, 288–292 + + Llywarch Hên’s poetry, 223–224 + + + Mabinogion, 229–238 + + Maccodrum’s Muse, 282–285 + + Macdonald, Alexander, his work, 328, 336, 337 + + Macdonald, John, life and poetry, 270–275 + + Macgregor songs, 263 + + Macleod, Mary, life and poetry, 264–270 + + Macpherson’s Ossian and other poems, 117, 217, 252, 314–316, 331, 351, + 352 + + Malory, Sir Thomas, his _Morte d’ Arthur_, 308, 309, 316 + + Manuscripts, Celtic, 17, 40; + on the Continent, 96, 100, 101; + in England and Ireland, 97, 102; + in Scotland, 115–134; + antiquity of MSS., 102–104; + MSS. of the Middle Ages, 107; + MSS., XL., LIII., LVI., 120, 121; + Welsh, 217–238 + + Milesians, 138, 139 + + Minor collections of Ossianic poetry, 352 + + Minor Highland bards, 275–282 + + Mòd, Gaelic, 259 + + Modern novelists, 323–324 + + Moore’s _Irish Melodies_, 316, 317 + + Myrddin’s poetry, 224–226 + + Mythological Cycle, the, 135–152 + + Myth and folk-tale theories, 135–137 + + Mythical races in Ireland, 137 + + _Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales_, 218, 224, 366 + + + _Navigatio Brendani_, 215 + + Nennius’ _History of the Britons_, 220 + + Nineteenth century output of Gaelic literature, 301, 302 + + Ninine’s Prayer, 38 + + Norris, Edwin, translation of Cornish dramas, 249 + + Norse eddas and sagas, 204, 205 + + Norse ideas in Gaelic literature, 212–215; + Norse words, 210, 211 + + Norse invasions, 198; + influence on Celtic literature, 205–217; + and upon the structure of the Gaelic language, 211, 212 + + + O’Curry’s research, 97, 373, 374 + + O’Donovan’s life and work, 97, 372, 373 + + Ogam writing, 14, 15 + + Origin of shires, burghs, and parishes in Scotland, 84–95 + + Ossian, 175; + poetry, 185–188 + + Ossianic cycle, 174–197; + heroes of, 178; + literature, 185–197; + poetry, 123, 185–188; + tales, 176, 188–197 + + + _P_, rarely used in Irish or Gaelic, 4; + group, 5 + + Patrick, St., 15; + Lives of, 23; + biography, 23–39; + writings, 15, 30–39 + + Patrick and Ossian, 29, 293–298 + + Periodicals, foreign, 378, 379; + Gaelic, 345, 346 + + Picts, the, 45, 56 + + Poetesses, Gaelic, 275, 276 + + Poet-laureate, Gaelic, 274 + + Poetry, Gaelic, in Continental MSS., 104–106 + + Psalters, Gaelic, 328, 333 + + + _Q._, the Aryan guttural changed into _p_, 4; + group, 5 + + + Reid’s _Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica_, 325–327 + + _Reliquiæ Celticæ_, 384 + + _Reliques of Irish Poetry_, 366 + + Renan, Ernest, on Welsh literature, 227, 230 + + Rhyme, Celtic claim, 56, 57, 309 + + Rise of the Scottish Gaelic, 89, 209 + + + Scandinavian scholars, 381 + + Scholars, modern Celtic, 367–385 + + School-books, Gaelic, 338 + + Scott, Sir Walter, renderings from Gaelic, 277, 278, 323; + influence, 317, 318 + + Scottish collection of Celtic MSS., 115–133 + + _Seana Dana_, 253–256 + + Severance of Scotland from Ireland, 209 + + Shairp, Principal, writings, 322, 323 + + Skene, Dr., Collection of MSS., 117; + on Welsh poems, 227, 237 + + _Songster, Gaelic_ (_An T Oranaiche_), 361 + + Sorrows of Gaelic Storydom, the Three, 140–152 + + Statistics of Celtic-speaking peoples, 10, 20, 21 + + Stephens’ _Literature of the Cymry_, 221 + + Stone, Jerome, a pioneer, 251 + + + Táin Bó Chuailgné, 108–111, 160 + + Tales of Heroic Cycle, 153–173 + + Taliessin, the Book of, 218, 219; + the bard, 223; + legend of, 230–232; + odes, 232, 233 + + Taylor’s translations of Breton ballads, 240–244, 247, 248 + + Tennyson’s _Idylls of the King_, 318–321 + + Tighernach, the Annals of, 111 + + _Treasury of Irish Poetry_, 366 + + _Trias Thaumaturga_, 369 + + Tuireann, Tragedy of the Children of, 140–143 + + + Uisneach, Tale of the Sons of, 121, 146–152 + + + Valhalla, 214, 215 + + Vikings, 198–216 + + Villemarqué, M. de, Breton ballads and folk-lore songs, 240–248 + + _Vita Columbæ_, Adamnan’s, 58–79, 92; + criteria of age, 59; + copyist, 60, 61; + history of MS., 62; + contents, 69; + other MSS. of, 76, 77 + + + _Wars of the Gael with the Gaill_, 203, 204 + + Welsh bards of the sixth century, 221 + + Welsh intellectual awakening of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, 246 + + Welsh MSS., 220 + + Welsh poetry, 217, 218, 257 + + Wordsworth and his contemporaries, 316 + + Whyte, Henry, his gleanings, 366 + + + Yscolan, 225, 226 + + + Zeuss’ life and work, 98, 99, 376–378 + + Zimmer’s books, 380 + + + THE END + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + “In Europe the ancient races were all, according to Schaafhausen, + ‘lower in the scale than the rudest living savages,’ they must + therefore have differed to a certain extent from any existing + race.”—Darwin’s _Descent of Man_, chap. vii. p. 281. + +Footnote 2: + + “There is no proof of any migration of Asiatics into Europe west of + the basin of the Dnieper down to the time of Attila.”—Huxley. + +Footnote 3: + + Adamnan refers to the same four peoples. + +Footnote 4: + + “The first great movements of the European population of which there + is any conclusive evidence are that series of Gaulish invasions of the + east and south which ultimately extended from North Italy to Galatia + in Asia Minor.”—Huxley. + +Footnote 5: + + “Two centuries after Cæsar’s conquest the Celtic tongue had all but + disappeared from Gaul, still that language did not perish without + leaving behind it slight but yet distinct traces.”—A. Brachet. + +Footnote 6: + + Census, 1891. + +Footnote 7: + + The number in Scotland who could speak Gaelic in 1901 was 230,806, and + who could speak Gaelic only, 28,106. The census of 1891 gave 43,738 + speaking Gaelic only, and 38,192 speaking Irish only. + +Footnote 8: + + _Races of Europe._ + +Footnote 9: + + Sir William Jones. + +Footnote 10: + + Professor Zimmer, among others, believes that they were one and the + same person. + +Footnote 11: + + Dr. Whitley Stokes thinks this sojourn took place between his first + missionary advent to Ireland in 397 and his second in 432. + +Footnote 12: + + For examples, see Chap. XV. + +Footnote 13: + + Benen, name of Saint’s follower, St. Benignus. + +Footnote 14: + + Version by Whitley Stokes in his Goidelica. + +Footnote 15: + + The Book of Kells is held by the more competent authorities to belong + to the end of the seventh century. + +Footnote 16: + + Ward or Vardaus, author of _Acta Sancti Rumoldi_. + +Footnote 17: + + There are various Kilbrides in Scotland, several even in Lorn, but + this one is in the island of Seil, near Easdale. + +Footnote 18: + + Professor Mackinnon, in _Transactions of the Gaelic Society of + Inverness_, vol. xi. + +Footnote 19: + + See p. 110. + +Footnote 20: + + Fiann, gen. Feinne, means the band, troop; the plural Fianna, the + troops or the soldiers.—Dr. Ludwig Stern. + +Footnote 21: + + Said to be so named from his white head.—Dr. Macbain. Finn, ancient + form. + +Footnote 22: + + The age of the oldest existing Ossianic poems, according to Dr. Ludwig + Stern, is the eleventh and twelfth centuries, though a few of them may + be more venerable. + +Footnote 23: + + Really great-grandson. + +Footnote 24: + + Finntraigh. + +Footnote 25: + + Dr. Skene has shown, _Celtic Scotland_, vol. iii. p. 459, that another + O’Duibhne is in question. + +Footnote 26: + + Iceland, first settled by the Irish in 795, perhaps sixty-five years + earlier than the Norse. According to M. Letronne, 860 is the date of + the arrival of the latter. + +Footnote 27: + + The belief was that Myrddin was persecuted by Rhydderch Hael at the + instance of Yscolan. + +Footnote 28: + + Stephens has here, “For having hindered school instruction,” wrongly + translated, we believe. + +Footnote 29: + + “I don’t believe that Goidelic was extinct in Wales till the seventh + century; the bulk of the people of the north and the south of Wales + are in point of race to this day probably more Goidelic than + Brythonic. The Ordovices of Mid Wales were the Brythons of the west, + and hardly any others in Wales.”—Prof. Rhys. + +Footnote 30: + + He collected Breton ballads and folk-lore songs, added to them, + revised and altered, and published the collection as authentic. + +Footnote 31: + + Bran means crow in Breton dialect. + +Footnote 32: + + The late Mr. Alexander Mackenzie has offered other suggestions. See + _Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness_, Vol. XXII. pp. + 43–49. + +Footnote 33: + + There is a spirited translation also by Mark Napier, Esq., in his + _Life of Montrose_. + +Footnote 34: + + D. Campbell, in his _Language, Poetry, and Music of the Highland + Clans_, says that Mr. James Munro was preparing his poems for + publication with a memoir. This projected book has never appeared. + +Footnote 35: + + Preserved in the Books of Ballymote and Lecain and MS. I. of the + Scottish collection. + +Footnote 36: + + “This was no work to commend him to the powers that were, and he + appears to have been cast into prison, for, in a touching note at page + 64 of the last edition of his Grammar, he asks his readers’ pardon for + confounding an example of the imperative with the potential mood, + which he was caused to do ‘by the great bother of the brawling company + that is round about me in this prison.’ What became of him ultimately + I do not know.”—Dr. Douglas Hyde, _Literary History of Ireland_, pp. + 599, 600. + +Footnote 37: + + O’Donovan’s, 1847, published since Reid wrote, is the best Irish + Grammar. + +Footnote 38: + + Of course Cormac’s Glossary is the earliest, but does not count among + printed ones, because only in MS. + +Footnote 39: + + Finn Mac Gormann, Bishop of Kildare, most probably. + +Footnote 40: + + Second stanza he printed for first time. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + + ● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + ● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last + chapter. + ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. + ● The caret (^) serves as a superscript indicator, applicable to + individual characters (like 2^d) and even entire phrases (like + 1^{st}). + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76961 *** |