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THE BEAUTIES OF GAELIC POETRY

A

\

SAR-OBAIR NAM BARD GAELACH

THE BEAUTIES OF GAELIC

POETRY AND LIVES OF THE

HIGHLAND BARDS

EDITED BY

JOHN MACKENZIE

WITH AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE MANNERS, HABITS, ETC., OF THE ANCIENT CALEDONIANS

BY JAMES LOGAN, F.S.A.S.

EDINBURGH: JOHN GRANT

31 GEORGE IV. BRIDGE 1907

INTRODUCTION.

Those who compose the ])ocm.s and melodies whicli stimulate or mollify the passions of mankind, possess a much greater influence in society than can be readily conceived.

If national airs, in ages of refinement and artificial feeling, are tound to have so strong a power (jver the mind, as in the " Ran/, dcs vaches," or "Erin gu brath,'' how much more fijrciljly must the bold chanting of heroic verse — the plaintive tones of injured innocence — the impresssive ncjtes of impa.ssioned exhortation, or the keen touch of satiric spirit, have affected a people like the Gael, imbued with all the fervour cjf unaffected nature, and who paid ardent devotion at the shrine of freedom ? How highly nmst an order have been venerated which possessed an influence the effects (;f which were so deeply and so universall)' felt, and how greatl\- must the general applause have fanned the flame which burned so ardently in the poet's heart ? The deference paid to the professors of poetry and music was prompted b)' a sense of the utility of their labours, and by enthusiastic apjirobaticm.

The retention of the Celtic Language and Manners by the unmixed descendants of the most ancient people of Europe is a singular phe- nomenon in the history of mankind ; and not the least remarkable trait in the character of the race is their genius for the sister arts of jjoetry and music. The patriarchal system, as incompatible with an altered state of society, has been broken up, and much indeed of national charac- teristic has been lost since its abolition. The different condition of the Highland population has lowered the Bardic ])rofession from its former high standing. The ptwerful stinmlus of " the man of song " is no longer required to animate the clansmen for the_j2altle_fLuld,-Qr-t'A pre- serve by his captivating recitatioii.s the memory ()£thedays^ of old. His tIseTTn"^^services as the Laureat, moral preceptor, and historical instructor, are not now rewarded by the free po.ssession of a good farm and other rights, but the innate love of poetry has still preserved the unbroken

a

n INTRODUCTION.

generation of Bards. The people yet highly appreciate the pcjet's lays, and the feelings of unabated delight with which the Highlander con- tinues to cherish the Song, show that the ancient spirit has not decayed.

The numerous collections of Gaelic pieces which have from time to time appeared evince the national taste and display the poetical acquirements of the writers, but how small a proportion these bear to the stores yet floating in oral record, selections from which are now submitted to the public I The following pieces will gives natives a more extended idea of the value of poetic treasure in their rugged and roman- tic country, while to the reader who is a stranger to the language in which the immortal Bard (jf Selma formed his imperishable composi- tions, the varied lives of so many remarkable and talented individuals must prove an interesting novelty.

An appropriate introduction to the Beauties of the Gaelic Poets, appears to be a brief account of that long descended race, which so justly demands regard, and of which they ever formed so important a class. Connected with thi:.; is a demonstration that the language in which the following poems appear is that handed down to their authors from ancestors the most remote.

The Celtic race were the first known inhabitants of Europe, which was occupied throughout by various tribes or clans. The appropriate name which this remarkable people gave themselves was Celtai, but the terms Calatje, Galat?e, or Gallatians, and Galli, or Gauls, were adopted by the Greeks and Romans, and were the appellations by which in later ages they were usually distinguished.'

Various etymological conjectures are advanced as explanatory of these designations. A name descriptive of locality does not appear reasonably applicable to nations spread over an extensive continent and its numerous islands ; they could neither be described as living in woods, nor on the hills, nor beside the waters, with any propriety, either by themselves or by others.-' A more pnjbable derivation is from the fair complexion by which the ancients characterised the race. This is the etymon given by Greek scholars as if the body was " Galactoi," milky coloured ; and as G and C are commutable letters, it must be confessed that the Gaelic Gealta or Cealta, has the ckjsest possible resemblance to Celta.

The original seat of the human race was undoubtedly the fertile plains of Asia, but when the Celtic stream first rolled from that produc tive storehouse of nations, is never likely to become known.^ Succes- sive waves of migratory hordes must have flowed Worn the east, impelled

' .Vppian, I'ausiiiias.

- A host of original writers, Britisli and foreign, have exercised their ingenuity to give this word a satisfactory signification.

3 Pritchard demonstrates their (>astern origin from the language. See many curious analogies with the Hebrew \e. , in Maclean's j-lisl. of the Celtic Language— -1840.

IXI'KODUCriOK. iii

by a want of food, or a thirst for coiKiUfSt, long before the Trojan war, when the Keltoi were lust known to the Greeks, or when Herodotus, the father of histor)', informs us they inhabited to the farthest west.' 'J'heir daring enterprise and mighty concjuests had shaken the well-seltled empires of Greece and Rome, wlicn tliese nations were yet unactjuainted with the regions whence issued the overwhehning hosts, and scarcely knew their terrific foes, save through the disturbed vision of a frightened imagination.^

Various sections cjf the dense population of western Europe came alternately under historical notice, as their power and influence brought them more prominently into view. The Cimmerii, or Cimbri, the Getas or Goths, the Scyth.ne or Celto Scyths, the Germanni, the 'J'eutcmi, and the three divisions of Gallia proper; the Celts, Eelgs, and Aijuitains, successively occupy a predominant share in the eventful page of history. From the testimony of numerous ancient authorities, these appear rather subdivisions of an identic race, than different nations. If Celtic gii'^ti place to Galli, Scythee became Germanni, <S:c. The name Lochlin and Lychlin was applied by the British tribes to Germany, and they considered it the same country as Gaul.j

There can be no doulit, that local position, c(jmmerce. and other circumstances will, in process of time, occasion .so much difference between branches of an original race that they will apjjcar, and may he justly considered, different nations. Thus, the Greeks and IJarbarians .so closely resembled each other, previous to the time of Homer, that no distinction in manners or language appears to have then existed.''

\Mien continental Europe had become fully peopled, emigration t(j the British isles must have speedily taken place, and the obvious njute was from the opposite coast of Gaul, to South Britain, but at what period the lirst adventurers arrived can only be matter of conjecture. Some part of the maritime populati(jn were known t(j the Romans as mercantile settlers from the continent, but those who inhabited the in- terior had lost all tradition of their origin, and, like their Ciaulish ancestors, believed themselves the indigenous possessors of the island. 5 To the early Greeks and Romans it was unknown, but the assertion has been reiterated that the Phcenicians had established a connnercial relation with the natives ui)wards of 2,800 years ago, and carried on a lucrative trade with them in lead and tin.''

' Book IV. c. 3. He Hourished 500 ye;irs, A.C.

= Livy, Appiaii, Plutarch, on the Ciiiibrian war, &c.. &c., &•:.. show wliat frightful beings fear had painted these formidable invaders.

"i Welsh authorities, and the Highland .Society's Report on the i'ocnis uf Ossian, .App. 309-

•* Thucydides. 3 Ca;sar, of the Gallic wars, Ixjok V. chap. 12.

* The Cassiterides. or Tin islands, are believed to be the Scillies. See various authori- ties cited " Scottish Gael," i. 34.

iv INTRODUCTION.

The author of the Argonautica, writing nearly 600 years before our era, speaks of lernis, which, signifying the western island, [lar-innis,] would apply to either Britain or Ireland, and Aristotle, who flourished two centuries and a half later, calls the former both Albiuni and Brettania. These and other scanty nt)tices of a certain island opposite Craul are more curious than satisfactory or important : the fact of an early colonization is proved by the numerous population at the period of the Roman advent, 55 A. C.,' and the whol(> was composed of vari-^ ous tribes represented as arriving at different times from the continent, forcing back the previous settlers and presenting those great divisions, in the illustration of whose descent historians have so laboriously em- ployed themselves.

The AA'elsh or Cumri, from their general appellation of Ancient Britons, are considered as the original inhabitants,- but it is admitted by their own antiquaries, and shown by others, that the Gael, or in their own lingual form, the C/wyddel must have preceded them.^ The Welsh authorities preserve the names of other colonies which arrived at imcertain periods. The Lloegrws came from Gwasgwn or Gascony, and were the pr(jgenitors of those who possessed England, and the Brython, from Lhydaw or Bretagne, who it is said gave name to the island, liolh being of Cumraeg descent. +

The Romans found the southern coasts occupied bv tril)es of lielgic origin, wh(^ are supposed to have arri\ed three tjr four centuries before the birth of Christ. Successive emigrations forced the inhabitants west- ward, and to the north, but certainly nothing is recorded to warrant the belief that the whole were not (jf Gaulic origin. s Scotland was possessed by a Celtic people, divided into twenty-one tribes, some of whom became at times conspicuous from more daringly contending with their ambi- tious foes, or being chosen to direct the national confederations, but the collective inhabitants were, as they have ever been, denominated by themselves and their brethren in Ireland, Albanich, Albanians : natives of Alban or Albion, a name of which they still are justly proud, thus vindicating their claim to be considered the primordial race.

Several of the great divisitjns lost their names in the fluctuations of a predatory and unsettled state of society, and were ultimately incorpor- ated with more powerful neighbours. The Maeatai, (Magh-aitich), dwellers (jii the jjlain, whose situation between the praitentures, a sort of debateable land, exposed them more particularly to the devastations of war, but gave ample scope for the accjuisition of military renown, lost their prominence when the Romans succeeded in forming their terri- tories into the- province ol \'alentia, and when the legions were finally

' Caesar, Dioilorus Sic-ulus. - Welsh Triads and other auth(5ritics.

3 F,<lw. Lhywd, ivc. J 'I'allioscii, WhiUakcr.

5 Clialnier's Caledonia, I.

INI'RODUCTION.

coiTipe1]f(l to leave \hv island, the Meats, losing their consequence, were quick!)' anialgamatrd with the general body. 'I'hc (L\lf:donii, who were the ruling tribe in the great confederation which Galgacus led to battle at the Grampians, ceded their warlike pre-eminence to other branches who came into power. The term liy which they were distin- guished, whatever ma) be its precise meaning, displays in its composi- tion (^ael or (rael, the appropriate name of the most ancient inhabitants of both Albion and Erin, and it still subsists as, if not the native, yet the classical appellation.' The redoubted I'icts themselves were at last embodied with their more successful countrymen the Scots, l)ut long retained the evidence of their descent in the designation of Gaelwe- dian.s, and Galloway is still applied to a greatly reduced portion of their ancient kingdom.

No more prolific subject of literary contention has offered itself to the national controvi;rsalists than the lineage of the Pictish nation, that powerful division which scj long shared the sovereignty of the kingdom. A prevailing tradition from most early ages held them as the original inhabitants := the Roman writers identified them with the Caledonians,3 and in later ages they were recognised as Scots. -t One opinion has many able advocates : it is that they were a Cumraeg nation, using that branch of the Celtic language, but were expelled by the Gael. Certainly we look in vain for a proof of this in the names which remain, even in the territories of the Strathclyde Welsh, which are l)elieved to have ex- tended to Cumberland — all are Gaelic.^ But reverting to another opinion not less keenly supported : were the Picts of Gothic extract ? It is not probable that at so early an epoch the Scandinavian wastes could furnish such a force as would be sufficient to expel the Celts an^i supplant their language, for except there was a very considerable number of colonists, the- strangers would inevitably lose their own tongue in nu'xture with the natives. Language, like manners, is liable to change from man)' operating causes, and differences in one which is widely spread, especially when unwritten, will greatly increase by the long estrang- ment of the branches who own a common descent. Grammarians raise the polished structures, but the simple vocables attest the kindred alliance. The affinity of languages most certainly evinces the ancient connexion of nations, that in course of time become very widely separ- ated. The Greek and Gothic have satisfactorily displayed to the learned their common parentage, and we knf)w that (lallic words pre- dominated in the Latin, derived through that most ancient (x;ltic race, the LIml)ri, who were the aborigines of Italy, and this classic tongue in grammatical construction bore close resemblance to the Gaelic.^

' Upwards of twenty etymologies .ire given of this n.-xme.

- Bede. See tlie arguments of Innes. Crit. Essay.

< F,umenius, &c. -t Galfridiis MonumiUensis. '-• Pinkerton,- lii'thnm.

" Quintilinn. Appendix to Report on the Poems of Ossirni, 263.

vi INTRODUCTION.

The assertion has hecn confidL-nlly repeated that the Ik'lgic portion of the British tribes, Gotliic as the Tic-ts, hke tlieni, ol)truded a different language, which in the form of Saxon and EngUsh has superseded in the greater portion of Britain the primeval tongue. How far this argument can i,ie supported it will be satisfactory to inc[uire. 1 )o the names applied to natural objects on record, and as yet preserved in those parts which the two nations inhabited, favour the assumption, or do tlie Roman historians, our only guides, afford their evidence in its favour? Cfesar describes the South Britons as being in all respects like the people of Gaul, from which country he says they were.' Tacitus informs us, the Gothinian was the Gaelic, and he particularizes two distinguished Belgic tribes, the Cimbri and yl'Istii, as using the proper British lan-

guage.

The Gothic tribes came to the west of Europe long after the Celtic migrations had spread population over the land, but the Getfe were Sc}ths, and these retained the name of Celto-.St;)'ths^^ when their ancient brethren and precursors, the Keltas, had fixed themselves far distant in the west. The Gothic first prevailed in England, and a striking evidence of the progressive change of language among nations of dissimilar pur- suits is the fact related in the Sagas that widely different as the present English is from the northern tongues, a Saxon could converse so easily with a Scandinavian in the loth century, that he could not discover him to be a foreigner.* The Gothic did not become the language of the low country of Scotland until comparatively recent times. The whole inhabitants were originally of one race, whatever shades of difference may have been observable in separate districts, of which a clear demon- stration is afforded by tlie entire coincidence of local names, personal appellations, similar modes of interment, and relics of superstition throughcnU the whole extent of the country ; that this race was Celtic is satisfactorily, proved by the terms being significant in the Gaelic language, and in no other. In the years 547 and 650 the kings of Northumberland ravaged the southern districts, and seizing the country between the l''orth and the Tweed, filled the province with their Anglo- Saxon vassals, thus first inducing the adoption of the Anglo-Saxon lan- guage ; and the events of the Norman conquest, 1066, when the royal family, the nobility and their followers were compelled to seek the pro- tection of Malcolm III., mightily assisted in the introduction ; for the kingdom became so filled with them, that there was not a farm-house or cottage in the south which did not contain English men and women servants Is 'I'ht- refugees were located on the borders and east coast by the ]K)licy of our kings as a good means of defence against the English

' De Bello Gallico. = De moribus Uermanorum.

3 Aristotle, Stratjo Plutarch. 4 (kinlaug saga, &c.

Simecxi Dunclmensis, L, II. c. 34.

INTRODUCTION. vii

and Danes, and it may not have been so practicable to plant them in the inland, the Highlanders bearing such intruders no good will. Moreover, the enterprise of the .Saxons led them to prefer the east coast, where the powerful stinuilus of commercial advantage hastened the adoption of their .speech; finally, the Scottish kings, from Malcolm Cean-mor to Ale.\ander II., spent part of their lives in England, where tliey acquired the language and married jMincesses of that country, and when the seat of government was removed from the Highlands, theirs became the court language, which gradually extended in the maritime parts. In the heights and distant isles the pastoral and agricultural population clung with increased tenacity to their original tongue, the patriarchal institutions of clanship being peculiarly calculated to prevent any disturbance of their social state.

Another portion of the inhabitants remains to be noticed, whicli had the fortune to preserve its Appropriate name and impart it to the whole. The appellation Scon, or rather Scuite, is apparently a modificati(jn of Scyth, the name Ity which the great unsettled branch of the continental Celts were distinguished, and is descriptive of the wandering life which a large portion of the inhabitants led through their predatory habits, and for the easy pasturage of their numerous flocks.' I'hose who had store of herds possessed the only riches of the pastoral state. In Ireland, which was inhabited by tlie Britons," who were forced over, as we are told, on the arrival of the Belgs in England,^ the Scots were the dominant and noble class, the natives or aborigines being considered an inferior order.'* The epithet was adopted by the monkish writers, but does not appear to have been acknowledged by the Gael, at least in Scotland, where they have stedfastly adhered to their national distinction.

In Erin, as in Albion, the Scotic people were named thf Pictish, and were known also as Cruthenick, a name indicative of peculiar habits.^ The close connexion between the Scots of both countries was such as became nations owning a common origin in which they had an equal pride. The Dalriadic Kinglet, which the county of Antrim nearly represents, was long subject to the Scottish line, but at last the regal seat was removed to Argyle, and from this little sovereignty came the race of princes who crushed the vigorous independence of the Pictish throne, and so long ruled over the united Gael. This tnuisfer of the dynasty, whatever may have been the motives which swayed the minds of those who favoured it, was not accomplished without a display of "the high hand."^

' "The wandering nation" of the .Seanachics and "restless wanderers" of Ossian. Ammianus, Dio, Sec, attest the vagrant habits of the .Scots; Herodotus, Horace, Am - mianus, &c. , of the Scyths.

^ Diodorus Sic, Dionysius Periegetes. * Ricard. Cirencestrensis. * Bade.

5 " Platers of corn." MacPherson. It is not iniprol)al)le that this is the term Dhraonich, Agriculturists. Grant's Thoughts on the Gael. '' The Albanic Dinn

Vlll

INTRODUCTION.

Did the Dalriadic colony, as a different people, bring to Scotland their own language, and heconie the fi^st disseminators of the Gaelic, vul'^arly called Erse? 'i'his has heen rashly asserted, hut after wliat has been said on the subject of language, it seems unnecessary to devote more time in disproving an evident absurdity.' The Gaelic, the primor- dial tongue used by the whole inhabitants of both countries, has gradually given way on the south and east sides of Scotland. In Carrick it was only lately extinguished; in Galloway it was spoken in the reign of Queen Mary— 1542-1566=^ — and during tlie same reign we find it the common language in the Gariach district of Aberdeenshire, from the upper parts of whicli it has receded in our own memory.' This much is to be observed, that within the Garlih-Criochan, or boundaries of the High- lands, where the recession of the Gaelic has not heen in consequence of Saxon settlements, the manners of the people are essentially Gaelic, and they retain at home and abroad the predilections of their birth, par- ticularly cherishing a just admiration of the* liardic art, and ])ossessing the characteristic taste for national melody.

'J'he foregoing opinions are not newly formi'd: the writer of these pages having in another publication, some years ago, gone at greater length into the subject, is happy to find that his views are now generally adopted.

The Celts, from whom it was reluctantly acknowledged by both Greeks and Romans that they had derived many of the useful arts and sciences, nay, even their philosophy,^ were distinguished by very remark- able habits and customs, many of which still characterise their descen- dants; and their personal appearance offered a striking contrast to that of the inhabitants of Italy and Greece. To whatever cause is to be attributed the general mixture of dark-complexioned individuals among the Gael, inducing the assertion, so often repealed, that they display the genuine Celtic hue, nothing is more particularly noticed than the fair- ness of skin, the blue eyes and yellow hair of all branches of the race. So anxious were the Gauls to improve the glowing brightness of their flowing locks, that in the desire to heighten, by frequent washing and other artificial means, its natural colour, they hit on the manufacture of soap."^ The general appearance of the Celts must have been very peculiar to excite the notice of so many writers,^' and their aspect must liavc been a matter of ostentation when its preservation was an object of national care. 7 The bardic effusions have always extolled the golden ringlets as im{)arting beauty to Ijoth sexes, comparing them to the grace-

' Sec tlic authorities quoted. Ritson's Annals of the Scots, Picts, etc.

- lUichanan, &c. "i Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. i. ■'Diogenes Laertius.

5 Pliny, ,\xviii. 12. '' Herodottis, Ca-sar, Strabo, Lucan, Livy, Silius, Diodorus, Tacitus, Pliny, Isidorus, etc., all describe the Celts as fair. 7 Amm. Marc, xxvii. 1. Tacitus lVc.

INTRODUCTION. ix

fulness of llowiiig i^old lo iln- Idvcliucss of the golden-haired sun, whik' one of an 0|)[jositc colour is alludi.Al iu as an exception. The Welsli are perhaps the darkest of the race, for they called the others Gwyddil coch, the red-haired Gael. The careful arrangement of tlu' hair was one of the most particular dutii'S of a Celtic toilet, and tlie practice of tiinnning or "glibbing" it was pul down in Ireland an ViU anti-I'aiglish practice \>\ act of Parliament.

The comeliness and great stature ol the Celts were acknowledged: the Britons and Caledonians particularly exhibiting that stately appear- ance which in early society would be an object of pride and a favourite theme for bardic compliment. The connnanding figures of the Kingalian heroes, and those of later date, are always kej)t in view.

'i'he dispositions of a people are, however, more worthy of considera- tion, personal appearance being dependent on physical causes, while the mental affections and moral feelings are influenced by other circum- stances.

( )n the ministers of religion devolve the care of forming the morals, aud on legislators the regulation of society by the enaction of laws, the coercion of the wicked, and encouragement of the virtuous. These twc; important functions, so naturally allied, were combined in one individual among the early Celts. That highly interesting and venerable order, the Druids, who presided over a religion the most ancient, included the singularly important class, the liards, the disseminators of knowledge, or rather as some maintain, they were in truth the body of which the Druids formed a part, if more exalted in rank, certainly not a more numerous nor popular division.

Britain seems to have been the hyperborean island alluded to by Hecata^us, a very ancient writer, who describes it as lying op])osite to Gaul, and being as large as Sicily. The inhabitants led the most happy lives, spending great part of their time in playing on the harp, and wor- shipping the gods in groves and circular temples.' It is certain that m Britain was the grand seminary for Druidic learning, to which the youth from Gaul resorted to complete their course of education, and to which reference was made in all cases of controversy or doubt. In the southern province, therefore, we find the wondrouJi remains of the stui)endous works of Avebury and Stonehenge, with many other circular erections of the Clachan vior of le.ss note throughout I'higland and Wales. In Angiesea was the sacred fane and last retreat of the British l)ruid.s, while seeking to escape tlie R.oman sword. In Ireland the great Feis, or bardic convention, was held on the hill (jf Tara, ('J'eamhair) in Meath, and the science studied in different seminaries. In Scotland, besides other consecrated precincts, was Elian Druinich, now lona, the isle wherein the chief establishment of bards was ])laced, which the celebrated

' Diodorus.

INTRODUCTION.

Colum or Columki supplanted by a college of the scarcely less famous Christian order of Culdees, as he did with that sacred grove where now stands the town of Derry in Ireland.' To this latter country the bards are supposed to have been first introduced by the colony of Danas, and the name, believed to have come from Dan a song, is noticed as a cor- roborative i)roof. Tliey would no doubt accompany the first Celtic settlers, and in all proliability held their appropriate place among the Milesian adventurers.

Legislation, the services of religion, and the poetic art, were blended in primitive society, and the united duties performed by one person; the priests, the historians, and tlie law-givers were consequently of the bardic order. xMthough it cannot be admitted as true that " poetry preceded prose," yet it is not paradoxical to assert that verse was anterior to prose as the medium of record. It was used in intercession with the Deity, and was the vehicle of all praise. The ethics of antiquity were delivered and orally i)reserved in ])ith) rhymes. In this way the earlier decrees of Greece were iHomulgated, and remained for ages ere they were engraven on tablets in the public ways, and even then the metrical form was not abandoned, nor did the people find another word for law than verse. "^ Strong indeed was the attachment to oral record, but still stronger was the predilection for rhyme. Even after writing had come into use, the form of versification was fondly retained. The Brehons or Gaelic judges delivered their decrees in sententious poetry, and Columba, who is him- self believed to have been of the bardic order, and other early ecclesiastics delivered their moral precepts, as no doubt was the common practice, in impressive verse.3 It was in this style of composition that the Gaelic genealogies of the Scottish kings, repeated by the seanachies at coronations, were formed.^ In AVales, numerous moral triplets are confidently ascribed to the Druids: in the Highlands, many such apothegms, handed down from the Sean'ir, or men of antiquity, are of similar origin.

The 1 )ruids, like the Pythagoreans, a similar sect, were most careful to exercise the memory, and it was a positive law that there should be no written record. The first deviation from which appears to have been as far as respected religion, but the poems were too mystical to be understood, save by the initiated, and it was not permitted to speak openly of the ceremonials or secrets of their profession ; to sing in heroic verse the praises of illustrious men was the unrestricted and most con-

' Hence the name, from Darticit, an oak.

=^ Wood on the genius of Homer. The Spartans would not permit their laws to be written.

J Dr. Macpherson's Dissertation, 215.

* The last repetition of a Gaelic genealogy was at the coronation of Alexander III., in 1249.

INTRODUCTION. xi

genial duty of the bnrd. How admirably fitted for the assistance of recollection was tlie use of pocU) how well adapted for diffusing throughout the ccjnnnunity a knowledge of the laws by which foreign and internal relations were directed, of the misfortunes which depressed, or the successes which brightened the national prospects; — the song kept alive the memory of tranactions which gained the friendship of neigh- bours or exalteil military renown — it transmitted to succeeding genera- tions the history of illustrious individuals — the woes and calamities of the unfortunate ! How little even now are the people in general indebted for their acquaintance with events to the pages of the historian ! It is the record of vocal song which so long preserves among the illiterate the remembrance of bygone transactions.

There is much truth in what has been observed on this sort of vehicle for the conveyance of opinion ; " songs are more operati\e than statutes, and it matters little who are the legislators of a country compared with the writers of its [)opular ballads." With the Celts the statutes were really poems, and the observation of Macpherson is just: "The moral character of our ancestors owed more to the compositions of the bard than to the precepts of the Druids."' The Druidic injunction for culti- vating the power of recollection long affected the national character, and in the Highland districts it cannot be said to have altogether ceased as a popular object. Thi' Gael frequently met for the purpose of friendly contest in the repetition and singing of their ancient poems, and poetic talent was one of the most respected accomplishments. In Wales, its possession elevated one to rank. A Highland anmsenient which John- son describes is illustrative of the poetic spirit. A person enveloped in a skin enters the house, when the company, affecting to be frightened, rush forth ; the door is then closed, and before they are admitted, for the honour of poetry, says the doctor, each must repeat at least a verse. The young men who celebrate the festival of Colain, or bringing in of the new year, are obliged to recite an extempore rhyme before they are admitted to any house. 'I'he Dronn, or rump, was called the bard's portion ; whoever received it was obliged to compose a verse, and many a humorous couplet has the present elicited. This is called Bean neachadh Bhaird, or the Hard's Blessing, and it was customary to give a metrical salutation as a mark of respect ; a composition in praise of one whose kindness or hos]Mtality had been experienced was an equally common effort of the muses. Dr. Donald Smith, speaking of MS. poems of Ossian, and those collected by Duncan Kennedy, which scarcely differed, observes: "The test which such an agreement affords at a distance of almost three hundred years of the fidelity of tradition cannot but seem curious to such as have not had an opportunity of

' Introduction to the- Hist, of l'>rit.iin.

f»5

xii INTRODUCTION.

observing the strength whicli memory can ultnin, when unassisted by writing, and prompted to exertion by the love of poetry and song."'

The Fear Sgeulachd or reciter of tales in Ireland, although now jjer- haps reduced to an itinerant mendicant, was formerly a personage whose entertaining and instructive rehearsals always procured becoming respect. These men were walking chroniclers, the dejiositaries of what was oUl, and the disseminators of passing noveltii's. A favourite pastime among the Gael was recitations of the old poems in manner of dramas, for which they were excellently adapted, if not originally so intended.

The chief ol)jects of the Celts in the nurture and education of their children being to promote hardiness of constitution and corporeal strent/lh, and to mstil into the mind a sense of justice and the highest notions of freedom and of warlike renown, their institutions were of a serious and martial cast.^ The populatK)n were stinuilatCLLh:^^ the bardic exhortations from earlj ch2l5Jj}OOjitp.ci)iit.eiiin inglori(^us ease and death itself, and^o emulate the heroic virtues for which their ancestors were so highly extolled, as the only means by which they could attain distinction here and happiness Hereafter. The labours of those national preceptors were eminently successful, and the bloody and protracted wars which they so intrepidly sustained in Gaul against the conquerors of the world, tarnishing their arms, before unsullied,-^ bear ample testi- mony to the love of freedom. In our own country was the influence of those patriots U^ss strong ? " Neither by Romans, Saxons, I )anes, nor Normans could they ever be conquered either in Britain or Ireland ; but as they could not successfully resist the overwhelming numbers and superior discipline of their enemies in the plain country, they retreated with the highest spirited and most intractable of their countrymen into the mountains, where they successfully defied the legions of the Rf)man and Saxon barl)arians. For more than a thousand years they maintained their country's independence in the mountains of Wales and Scotland, whence they constantly made inciu'sions upon their enemies. Here it was where, with their native wild and beautiful music, and in poetry which would not disgrace a Homer, being the production of passion, not of art, their venerable Druids deplored their country's misfortunes, or excited their heroes to the fight." 'I'hese are the words of a Saxon writer who made the history of the Druids and their mysterious religion subjects of the most profound research.'*

.\njorder which possessed the^power of inflaming their countrymen to ^hcfiercest resistance of invasion and unextinguishablejpassion for liberty was subjected to the direst persecution of their implacable

' Report of llie Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland on the niithcnticity of Ossian, p. 302.

- Tacitus, t'tc. 5 Ibid. c. 53. .\nim. Marc. (■. .nxm. Toucan.

'' Higgins' History of tlic Celtic nruids, 410. p. 276.

INTRODUCTION. xiii

enemies. The cruelty with which the Ruinan.s accoinpUshcd the .slaughter of the British Druids, even in the sacred Isle of .Mona, had (joly a parallel in the massacre of the Welsh bards by Edward the iMrsl of En*gland. The indomitable spirit of resi.stance to aggression which these illustrious patriots so effectively cherished in their countrymen aroused the sanguinary vengeance of their ambitious foes, and the same policy, with a subdued severity, animated Queen Elizabeth and Henry the Eighth in their pro.scriptive legislation for the natives of Ireland.

Many instances are on record of the extraordinary power of music, which wasalways in ancient times an accompaniment to the song. Tyrtitus, by the chanting of his heroic verses, so inspirited the sinking Lacedemo- nians that, rallying, they gained a triumphant victory, and saved the State. Terpander succeeded in appeasing a seditious outbreak by singing an appropriate composition to the sound of his lyre, and Alca;us rescued his country by the same means. The bards not only inflamed the martial zeal of rhe ppople, ronsintz them to arms in defence of all they held dear, but they accompanied the armies to the field, and their persons being;_held_Jnyiolable by friend and foe, they employed them- selves ij2_aimi]ig^^^uU--^-iistaining the coura<:e of ihe.troops, .m -tb e heal_otJ_battle ; charging them to acquit themselves like men, and thereby obtain the approbation of their country, assuring them of ample fame on earth and a joyful existence hereafter should they bravely fall. " Ve bards, raise high the praise of heroes that my soul may settle on their fame!" was an appropriate Celtic ejaculation. To die without this fame was a misfortune felt beyond the grave — the spirit rested not when iiothing had been dune on earth to ensure its posthumous meed of praise.

llje bards were also the heralds who summoned the clans to the strife of arms, a duty which was afterwards effected by the fleet bearers oi the C'ran taradh, and that important official in the establishment of a chief, the Piobair-mor. An linstance occurs in the poem of Temora, where a bard performs the ceremony ; he proceeds to the hall of Shells, where the chiefs were assembled, and raising aloud the song of war, he calls on the spirits to come on their clouds and be witness to the heroism of their descendants. The bards were, in fact, called upon by the leaders as those on whose well-directed exertions rested the fate of battle, to rehearse the glorious exploits of former heroes, and by urging every motive to exertion, endeavour to carry the day by es/>n7 dn corps, not unlike the way in modern times of calling upon the pipers sfid suns, play up ! I!ul they stood in no need of coiiiinand: they acted in their vocation co// ainon\ and they could excite or appease the warlike passions at their will : nay, with such awe were these men of song regarded that they would step between armies which had drawn swords and levelled spears for innnediate action ; and the ireful combatants,

xiv INTRODUCTION.

as if tliL'ir fur\' had been turned by a charm, instaiilly drui)ped their arms.' The shaking of the "Chain of Silence" by the Irish bards produced the sam.e effect. -

Their prophetic chilracter jidded gicajdy totheir inllm^nce : for they professed~to~fortell the fate of wars and the destiny of individuals. So nearly allied are the gifts of poetry and prophecy, that the same indi- viduals were professors of both, and hence it is that we lind tiie Romans using the terms indiscriminately, especially with reference to those in their Gaulish provinces. Of the prophecies of the Gauls man)' in- stances are related ; they were held in much estimation for their auguries and predictions, and were consulted by even the emperors of Rome. Those soldiers who were in their armies, perhaps from their national gravity and dark and figurative manner of expression,' com- pared with their Italian comrades, were looked on as seeing more clearly into futurity than others. The spirit descended on their successors in the British Isles. In the Principality the facult) in the bardic order was tacitly acknowledged, and Irish history affords many proofs of the conjunction, while amcjng the Scottish Gael the ability to prognosticate unerringly was repeatedly claimed and respectfully conceded. Fingal himself, by concurrent tradition, is allowed, with other attributes of one so illustrious, to have possessed in an eminent degree the ability to predict coming events. The court poets, about 1323, delivered a prophecy respecting King David which was fully credited.-*

Numerous proofs <5f the unabated inlluence of l)ardic exhortations on individuals, clans, and confederated armies could be adduced. ^V^hen the orator, standing on acairn or other eminence, harangued the assembled host, in energetic verse, descanting in glowing terms on the well-earned glcjries of the race — their heroism and other virtues, reminding tliem that on present exertions depended their country's fate, — their own, their wives and children's safety ; that the freedom which their sires be- queathed, it was for them to maintain and faithfully transmit to follow ing generations ; and when he warned them that the shades of their nobU: ancestors hovered near to witness their prowess, and bear them to the realms of bliss if they bravi'ly fell, tlie climax was attained, and in the paroxysm of generous resolution, with a simultaneous shout, the whole rushed forward to the melee.

Ili^se, who_sin-vived jvvere .^.velcomed by the fair_ with the songs of praise, the bards extolling their exploits in the most liuidatory strains.

'i'hc War Song of Gaul in the l'\)urth Book of Fingal shows the usual style ol the I'rosnachadh cath, which is the name aijjjlied to it, corresponding to the Irish Rosga cath and the Welsh Arymes prydains. The address of that intrt'pid chief of the Caledonian Confederation,

' I'iotloius. -• Walkers Hist. Ir. Bards.

3 Uiod. Marcel. 4 j^'orduii, xiii. 5. 5 Cambrian Register.

INTRODUCTION. xv

Calgacus, delivered to his troops previous to the great battle of the Grampians, is highly interesting for its antiquity, the elocjuence it dis- plays, and the light it throws on the sentiments of that unconquerable race to whom the Britons of the south alleged the gods themselves were scarcely equal. The famed Caraclacus would animate his forces in a similar manner ; and it is probable both delivered their harangues in verse, and may indeed have been of the bardic order. The strife was truly "kindled by the songs of the bards."' "Go UUin -go my aged bard! remind the mighty Gaul of battle — remind him of his fathers — support the yielding fight; for the song enlivens war," .says the king of Morven. , . .

It IS Imneces.Sdry to multiply examples, the practice was retained as long as clanship was entire. The Brosnachadli cath Gariach. composed by Lachlan Mac Mhuireach, the bard of Donald of the Isles, at the bloody field of Harlaw in 141 1, is a specimen curious for the subject and the strict alliteration in its composition. It has been observed as scarcely credible that a bard could compose and deliver such lengthened exhortations in the battle-field, and impossible to preserve such effusions afterwards, except he was "attended by a secretary 1" These and many similar objections to the authenticity of the ancient remains of (iaelic bards, have, been offered by the late Rev. Edward Davies, author of " Celtic Researches," in a very rare work, entitled " The Claims of Ossian Considered." The writer, whose remarks we shall have occasion again to allude to, is the most severe as.sailant of the venerable bard whtj has yet appeared, and it is to be regretted that the asperity, promoted by ignorance of the subject, which is evinced throughout his in(|uiry, tar- nishes much the fame he acquired by his other learned productions. The bards doubtless studied the subject of their compositions previous to rehearsal, and polished or perfected them afterwards. Ossian was as capable of composing Fingal and Temora as Homer was to form the Iliad, and the deep misfortune of being " blind, palsied, destitute, broken-hearted, and illiterate " (p. 53), and tht last of his race, was rather favourable to his poetic genius, while it imparted a melancholy sfjirit. He might not be provided with an " amanuensis,'" but he had zealous admirers and attehtive auditors to his frequent repetiticjns ; and although Malvina might l)e 80 years of age by Mr Davies' chronology, she could well store her memory, less disturbed by the passions of youth, witli those affecting songs which it delighted the hoary bard to repeat.

A striking instance of the irresistible impression of these vigilant monitors occurs in Irish history. "I'he Primate of Ireland, in a con- ference with P'itzgerald, succeeded in convincing him of llie follv and the guilt of a contemplated rebeilion, when Nelan, the bard, lifting up his voice with his harp, poured forth a touching effusion commenKM'ative of the heroism of that noble's ancestors — of their wrongs and the ines-

XVI

INTRODUCTION.

J^.

tiniablc value of frt-edom, and cvokini; (juick revenge . ihe gaUanl Thomas rushed forth and tiew to arms.

^Vhen aid was sou;;ht from neji^ hour ing_clans the bard was tlie fitting me.ssenger_to_arou^e the sympathy of friends. In late and altered Tinies the"poets exercised by means of their compositions a power scaro^ly inferior to that of iheir predecessors in the days of Druidism. If the)' could not command the favour of a chief, they could neutralise his efforts by their songs, which took the desired effect on the less ]jolitic clansmen. Iain Lorn and others performed wonders by the uower of verse and respect for their profession., fJob Donn was more useful by the effect of his cutting poems in favour of Prince Charles than his chief was prejudicial in his operations with an unwilling clan.

It is necessary here to notice with attention the religious tenets main- tained by the Druids, that celebrated priesthood which held unlimited power over a mighty race — which instilled for many centuries of uninter- rupted sway those generous precepts that not only (operated on the mental faculties of the bard, himself so important a member of the community, but formed a national character which is not even yet effaced. The progress and fall of a system are to be traced, which became like other institutions, corrupt and injurious, through the venality of the professors of poetry who had sur\ived the religion whence they emanated, which had long been abandoned by the human race, but which left nmch, long entwined with the holy faith we now maintain, strongly embuing the poetic genius of the Gaelic bards. The wild imagination of the en- thusiastic Celts led them to indulge in many superstitious ideas, but if like other Pagans, they openly and emblematically admitted a plurality of Gods; the belief in one supreme disposer of human events was the fund;iniental creed of the bardic hierarchy; and if the people were persuaded of the truth of metempsychosis, or transmigration of spirits into other bodies, the more enlightened portion believed the immor- tality of the soul, in a state of happiness or misery. In the work of that itilelligenl Roman soldier and historian, Marcellinus, who was well a((|uanited with the Gauls, he thus speaks: "The Druidte of a higher polish and imagination, as the authority of Pythagoras decreed, being formed into societies or fellowships, were addicted wholly to the consideratioii of matters of divipie and hidden import, and, despising all human things they confidently affirmed that the souls of men were inunortal." ' The siuij)le and sublime doctrines, if it is permitted so to di.'signate them, which the Druids taught, were to reverence the Deity, to abstain from evil, and to behave with bravery: and they enforced their observance with unremitting energy. To the Almighty being they paid adoration under the open canopy of heaven, esteeming

' l?ook XV. , ch. Q.

INTRODUCTION. xvii

it unbecoming to confine within a covered edifice the worship of Him who created all things. At His mysterious shrine — circular, as the type of eternal duration -they invoked divine favour under the striking symbol of the resplendent sun, the apparent source of universal life. The appellations 15c il and O'-ian or Granais were applied to the glorious luminary, and they are still used by the Gae-l, although they do not attach to them those unchristian ideas which darkened the mind of his ancestors, or perhaps being at all aware of the origin of terms formerly repeated with feelings of gratitude and veneration. • Many superstitions which yet maintain a hold on his imagination are traceable to the ni)sterious dogmas of Druidism. Feelings carried along from ages the most remote imbued the minds of the Gaelic poets, wh(j indulged the fond persuasion that the aerial spirits of departed friends ho\ered near their earthly relatives, rejoicing in their .success and happines.s, warning them of impending misfortunes, and ready, when meeting death, to bear their spirits on clouds to a happier retrion. This cannot be called a debasing belief.

The onl\- names which the Gael yet appl\- to Heaven and Hell proclaim their origin in days of Paganism. The ideas concerning Klath-innis, the island of the brave or noble, which was supposed to lie far distant in the Western Ocean, and Ifrinn, the cold and dismal isle in which the wicked were doomed to wander in chilling solitude, so inconsistent with, and diametrically oppo.sed to, the Christian faith, could never have been imbibed from the sacred records of divine will. The numerous imaginary beings with which the Celts filled earth, air, and water were admirable accessories to the poetic machinery; they were perhaps originally deified, and although not yet discarded from popular belief, they are reduced to the less awful forms of phocas, fairies, beansiths, Glasligs, etc.

]5y all people heaven has been pictured as an indescribable refine- ment of all that imparts pleasure to the inhabitants of earth, and it is otherwise impossible to form any idea of the joys awaiting the righteous, the reality of which " it hath not entcrerl the heart of man to conceive." With the Gael, all the amusements in which they took delight, whilst dwellers in the lower world, were pursued without alloy in their aerial abode. All descriptions of the Celtic paradise mu.st fall short of their own conception of its glories, but the following effort of an ancient bard to impart some notion of its imaginary excellence is highly interesting, abounding as it does in that h\perbolic style which is impressed on all similar compo.sitions. It gives also a curious picture ' of one of the (Celtic sages. " In former davs there lived in Skerr a Druid of high renown. The blast of wind waited for his commands at the gate; he rode the tempest, and the troubled wave offered it.self

' The Koiiuiiis, or konianised Celts, raised altars to them, b

^viii INTRODUCTION.

as a pilU.w for his repose. His eye followed the sun by day: his thoughts travelled from star to star in the season of night. He thirsted after things unseen; he sighed over the narrow circle which surrounded his days. He often sat in silence heneath the sound of his groves; and he blamed the careless l.ill-.ws that rolled between him and the green Isle of the west." One day as he sat thoughtful upon a rock a storm arose on the sea: a cloud, under whose squall)- skirts the foaming waters complained, rushed suddenl) into the bay, and from its dark womb at once issued forth a boat, with its white sails bent to the wind, and around were a hundred moving oars; but it was void of mariners, itself seeming to \iw and move. An unusual terror seized the aged Druid: he heard a voice, though he saw no human form. "Arise! behold the boat of the heroes; arise! ana see the green Isle of those who have passed away!" He felt a strange force on his limbs; he saw no person, but he moved to the boat. The wind immediately changed ; in the bosom (jf the cloud he sailed away. Seven days gleamed faintly round him; se\en nights added their gloom to his darkness. His ears were stunned with shrill voices; the dull murmur of winds passed him on either side. He slept not, but his eyes were not heavy ; he ate not, but he was not hungry. On the eighth day the waves swelled into mountains; the boat rolled violently from side to side; the darkness thickened around him, when a thousand voices at once cried aloud: " The Isle, the Isle! " " The billows opened wide before him ; the calm land of the departed rushed in light on his eyes. It was not a light that dazzled, but a pure, distinguishing, and placid light, which called forth every object to view in its most perfect form. The Isle spread large before him like- a pleasing dream of the soul, where distance fades not on the sight, where nearness fatigues not the eye. It had its gently sloping hills of green ; nor did they wholly want their clouds ; but the clouds were bright and transparent, and each involved in its bosom the source of a stream; a beauteous stream which, wandering down the steep, was like the faint notes of the half- touched harp to the distant ear. The valleys were open and free to the ocean; trees loaded with leaves, which scarcely waved to the light breeze, were scattered (jn the green declivities and rising grounds. The rude winds walked not on the mountain ; no storm took its course through the sky. All was calm and bright ; the pure sun of autumn shone from his blue sky on the fields. He hastened not to the west for repose ; nor was he seen to rise from the east. He sits in his mid-day height, and looks obliquely on the Noble Isle. In each valley is its slow-moving stream. The pure waters swell over its banks, yet abstain from the fields. The showers disturb them not, nor are they lessened by the heat of the sun. On the rising hill are the halls of the departed; the high-roofed dwellings of the heroes of old." *

'Macpherson's Introduction, i§o,

INTRODUCTION. xix

There is here none of tlie liarliaious ideas wliicli disliiimiished the Scandinavians. 'I'he Cells never (h'eaiiil of such j()\s as were found in Odin's Hall, or of t^arrying vindictive feelings beyond the grave iv> quaffing beverage from the skulls of enemies, and (Jther marks of ferocious minds. There is here no purgatorial state no such horiid passage as led to the I'.lvsiuin of the Greeks; the transit of the spirit from earth is on clouds, accompanied b\ those of relatives long before removed. There was, indeed, an intermediate position occupied by the shades (jf those who had escaped the more awful penalty, but had no position in the abode of the virtutnis. So difficult is it to control the vicious propensities of mankind, that the Druids not onl_\' were empowered to pass a sentence of the most strict excomnumication, rendering it highly criminal in an)' to show the smallest favour to the proscribed, but the)- carried their pretensions farther, and debarred them from entering Flath-innis. For those who were guilty of venial crimes, or had shown "the little soul " by coming short of the standard of goodness through cowardice, injustice, etc., which did not incur the severer ban, it was impossible ever to reach the island of the brave. Their sluggish spirits heard no song of praise; they were doomt-d to hover in miserable solitude beside fens and marshes, tormented by unavailing regrets.

To a northern people, as warmth is of all .sensations the most desirable, so cold is the most to be- a\()ided- Exposure to chilling winds and a state of intense and continued frigidity, is a calamity which those who were ill clad must ha\e dreaded even more than the want of food. It was therefore with them a natural imagination that the place of final punishment should be wrapt in an atmosphere of everlasting frosts. Ifrinn ' was therefore contemplated with feelings of horror, and the dread of being consigned for evermore to its indescribable rigour operated as a powerful check on the unworthy passions.

Besides piety to the objects of their worship, and unflinching bravery in the battle field, Druidic morality required the exercise of other duties to merit the beatitude of the Isle of the exalted. The profession of bardism ensured a becoming degree of respect and awe towards itself, while the patriarchal feelings of clanship bound closely the followers to their natural chiefs and protectors.

Hospitality js^ a virtue of primitive society — its exercise was a positive law among the Gauls and Germans of old.'' It continued unrestricted among the Gael while their ancient system remained entire, and it is now only cooled where modern civilization and refinement have intruded on the unsophisticated manners of an open-hearted race. "The red oak is in a blaze; the spire of its flame is high. The traveller sees its light

'] fuair fhuiim, the isle of the cnlii .itnio^ijlv-ie or climitc. -Tacitii.= . i; Dioflorus, 5

XX INTRODUCTION.

on the dusky heatli, as night spreads around him her raven wings. He sees it and is glad; for he knows the hall of the king. There," he .says to his companion, "we pass the night; the door of Fion is always open. The name of his hall is the stranger's home." The feast is spread; the king wonders that no stranger from the darkly heath is come. " I will listen," says he, "if I may hear tlieir wandering steps. He goes. An aged bard meets him at the door." This para- graph is from the fall of 'I'ura, and on it Dr. .Smith remarks, that "hospitality is one of . those virtues which lose ground in proportion as civilization advances. It still subsists to a high degree in the High- lands, though vanishing so fast that, in some years hence, its existence in some parts may be as much doubted as that of some other virtues ascribed by Ossian to his heroes. It is not many years since it was the general practice to look out evei\ evening, whether any stranger appeared, before the doors were shut. When any had c-ast up, the host had manifestly more pleasure in giving, than the guest in receiving the entertainment."' The Gauls never closed the doors of their houses lest they should miss the opportunity of entertaining strangers.^ Cean uai na dai, the point to which the way of the stranger leads, was the poetical appellation of the house of a chief. In the praise of this \irtue the bards ever indulged, and these portions may well be ranked among the beauties of their compositions. " Hospitality stood at the outer gate, and with the linger of invitation waved to the traveller as he passed on his way. "3 " 'I'urlach lived at Lubar of the streams. Strangers knew the way to his hall. In the broad ]Dath there grew no mountain-grass ; no door had he to his gate. ' \Vhy,' he .said, should the wanderer see it shut?'"'* So a Cumraeg bard exclaims: "Cup-bearer! fill the horn with joy; bear it to Rhys in the court of the hero of treasure — the court of Owain, that is ever supported by spoils taken from the. foe. It supports a thousand — its gates are ever o[)en." 5 Hut the entertainment of strangers and travellers was not left to individual feeling. In the Highlands were numerous spida/s (Hospitia) which, like the Irish Fonnteach, were provided for at the public expense by Rrehon appointment, and directed by the Bruighe or fuiuer of the opeii house.

Lest the Gael might have an enemy under the roof, t(j whom they were equally bound b)- the honour and the rules of hospitality, the name and business of a stranger were not recjuired until after a con- siderable sojourn; a year and day was often suffered to elapse ere a ([uc^tion on tlie subject was put — an extraordinary effort with a people so naturally intjuisitive.

(]aUic Antiquities, 317. = Agrtthias, 1. , 13. ' Cave of Creylrx. t Finan and Lorma. sCyveiliog, Prince of Powis, f[. 1160.

JNTRODUCTION. xxi

The Druids would doubtless show an example of benevolence and condescension, which the extreme deference they received could enable them to do without k)wcring their dignity. Had their rule been other wise than benign, it would have been impossible for them to have maintained their undiminished influence so very long among a people proverbially impatient of severity and coercion; yet more power was vested in them than e\en in their princes. It was to them as to magistrates that the settlement of all disputes was referred, whence they obtained the name (jf Co' retich, peace-makers, the (anetes of the Romans. Being physicians alsi;, their aid would be freiiueiilly re<iuired, and their kind offices were cheerfully afforded. The promptitude with which they threw their protection over the distressed is commemorated in a saying y(^t current in the Highlands: —

" Ge fagus clach do lar, 'S faigse na sin cobhair Choibhi."

"The stone lies not clcjser to the earth than the help of Coivi is to those in distress." This personage was no other than the Ard Druid' or chief Druid. Coivi is supposed to have been the title of the primate: it is that given to the (jne who attended a council called by Edwin of Northumberland when about to renounce paganism. Of their prescrip- tions one is preserved in tradition, the xjbservance of which would much conduce to health: " Bi gu sugradh, geanmnaidh mecheir each." Be cheerful, temperate, and rise earl)', or take exercise.

As those who entered the order were obliged to bear an unblemished character,' they were eminent in the practice of the virtues t-hey sedu- lously inculcated. " \\'ithin this bosom there is a voice — it comes not to other ears: it bids Ossian help the helpless, in their hour of need."' In the same poem, the bard shows the impropriety of sons reviving the ([uarrels of their fathers. Had his excellent advice been attended to in later times, it would have prevented many unfortunate feuds which were unhappily fomented, often for sinister purposes : " Your fathers have been foes ; forget their rage, ye warriors — it was the cloud of other years!"- It was a high compliment to say that " none ever went sad from Fingal ; " and pr(judly might a Celtic hero declare, "My hand never injured the weak, nor did my steel tcjuch the feeble in arms. O Oscar! bend the strong in arms, but .spare the feeble hand. Be thou a storm of many tides against the foes of thy people, but like th6 gale that moves the grass, to those who ask thine aid. So Trenmor lived — so Trathal was — such has Fingal been. M)' arm was the sup[){;rt of the injured; the weak rested behind the lightning of my steel." 3 More examples could be given of these just and generous sentiments of the bards, who, while they could determine war, had also authorit)' to

'Welsh. Irish, and Highland authoritits. - C)iiia morul. ' Lora.

xxii INTRODUCTION.

command peace and denounce its disturbers. Deeds of cruelt\-, or the indulgence in a spirit of re^■enge, wa.s abhcjrrent to l:)ardic ))rinciple, at least before the profession became mercenary and parasitical.

" If we allow a Celt to have been formed of the same materials with a Greek and R(jman, his religion might certainly to have made him a better man and a greater hero."

Some have maintained that there were no Druidesses. Among the C.ael celebacy was certainly not a rule ; for we hear of the bards having wives — Ossian among others. The Isle of Sena, now Isle de Sain[ts], off the coast of iMance, contained a college of Druidesses, who, like him of Skerr, had power over the winds, which they wurv in the practice of selling to credulous mariners. These imfortunate damsels fell at last victims to the sanguinary system of persecution to which the votaries of bardism were everywhere subjected. Conan, Duke of Hretagne, in the fervour of his zeal committed them to the flames.' Thtjse who acted .so conspicuous a ])art, when in de.speration they defended themselves against Suetonius and his legions in Anglesea, were most probably the wives of the British Druids. Arrayed in black garments, they ran wildly to and fro with dishevelled hair and drawn swords, forcing back, like the Cimbric females of old, those who were retreating. "They are for this looked upon with detestation by those whcj, at Eton or Westminster, imbibe the notion that everything is good which a Greek or Roman could do: wluj triumph with .-J'^neas over the unfortunate Turnus, or glory with the Romans over the fall of Carthage. But if these women had been Roman matrons defending the capitol, we should never have heard the last of their gallantry and patriotism."'-'

Old poems show that the bard had no ])artiality for a single life ; and the Irish, b\- the ilbreacht laws, regulated the price of his wife's, a.s well as his own, dress — in fact, the successi(jn was hereditary.

Before dismissing the subject of religious belief, wjiich gave so peculiar a character of wild sublimity to their poetical compositions, the settled conviction that the spirits of their ancestors " came to the ear of rest," and frequenth appeared to men, acting as guardian angels, must be noticed as ha\ing had a strong effect on the sensitive mind, and fur- nishing to the bards a subject of the grande.st description. It was a topic not to be overlooked by bard or druid in addressing themselves to their c(juntrymen. The system of morality was adapted for this world, and to please the great and secure the approbation of their immortal countrymen was all else they expected. The appearance of Crugal, with his melanchol)- iiresages, is an extraordinary effort of the |)oet. "Dim and in tears he stood and stretched his pale hand over the hero. Faintly he laised his feeble voice like the gale of the reedy Lego. My

' Rojou.x, Dues de Hretagne, i, 135. ^ Higgins' Celtic Druids.

IXTRODt'CllON.

will

ghost, O Coniuii: is on ni)' native hills, hut my corse is on the sands of Ullin. Thou shalt never talk with Crugal, or find his lone steps in the heath. I am light as the blast of Cromla and I move like the shadow of mist. Connal, son of Colgar, I see the dark cloud of deatli. It hovers over the plain of Lena. The sons of green Erin shall fall — remove from the field of ghosts." 'i'his was n(jt a dream, l)ut the supjxjsed actual appearance of the fallen warrior. At times their appearance was wishfully invoked, for the Celts seemed to have had no feelings of dislike to such meetings. How sturdily Cuchullin steeled himself against the argument of Calmar, wh(j had appeared to give him a friendly warning against the perils of the approaching war! He would not he i)ersuaded by him ; but in rejecting the admonition he gave him the ever grateful meed of praise, which sent him off in his blast with joy. Departed bards were pleased with earthly music, and would come to listen while the harpers were performing. Agandecca, before the engagement with Swaran, mourns the approaching death yf the people, a circumstance which coincides with the wailing of the Bean-sith, so well known to give presage of family bereavements in Ireland, where its existence is not doubted.

The entertaining Mrs. Grant of Laggan gives in her " Superstitions of the Highlanders " many interesting and affecting anecdotes of their belief in supernatural appearances.

So highly esteemed was the profession of a bard that those most dis- tinguished foj^ rank were proud. to_.be_ enrolled in the fiat' riiity ; some- times even those of royal lineage were ftuind in it. I'lie p()>session of poetical genius entitled one to claim the daughter (;f nobility as his con- sort, and the alliance was deemed honourable among (.'elts and Scandi- navians.' Some of the Continental (Jellic Kings are mentioned as ])oets. In ^Vales we find Aneurin, a prince of the Ottadini, Llvwarch hen, and many others, who gloried perhaps p.iore in their bardic i]ualifications than in their nobility of birth. Among the Gael, Ossian stands conspicu- ous ; Fingal is celebrated for his poetical talent, and more of the chiefs might be enumerated as exercising the bardic spirit : indeed, the national taste led the Celts to deliver themselves, especially on matters of serious imi)ort, in a magniloquent and poetic strain.^ 'Fhe -l-Kvrd.s were, it istrue,^ lijve^ other professions, hereditar3- : but this rule must have been modified by circumstances. One with no ear for music or soul for poetry could not take the place of his father, And we know, besides, that aspirants were admitted. We are assured that an irreproachable charac- ter was indispensable, and a personal defect would incapacitate one from entering the fraternity : hence they were a class of superior a[)pearance, while their ctmsciousness of importance gave them a commanding air.

' Torf(x;us. - Diodonis, .NhirccUinus.

XXIV INTRODUCTION.

Extraordinary honours were paid to the liards, and they enjoyed many important privileges. The}' were exempted from all tax and tribute, and were not compelled to serve in the arm,\', although not pre- vented if they chose to do so : their persons were inviolable, their houses were sanctuaries, and their lands and flocks were carefully i)rotecled, even amid the ra^'ages of war. In the latter ages of their prosperity ample farms were given to nian\' in perfect freehold, and they were entitled to live almcjst solely at the public expense. The Welsh laws of Hwyll Dda gave the bards and their disciples liberty and free mainten- ance. The various ])ri\i!eges and immunities enjoyed by the different classes v.'ere strictly regulated b}' the Irish, who divided the order into seven gradations. The ilrst was entitled when travelling to a horse and a greyhound and two nie)i as attendants for live days ; he was then en- titled to be kept for one da}- where he might stop, be supplied with all necessaries, and rewarded by a gift (jf two heifers or a large C(nv ibr his recitations or other duties. The second was entertained in like manner for three days, and was furnished with three attendants when travelling. As a gratuity he recei\-ed three cows. The third had four attendants provided for him on a journey, and his reward was from one t(j live cows, according to the character of his recitations (;r compositions. The fourth was allowed six attendants to accompany him for eight days. The fifth, accompanied by eight students in ])oetry, was entertained for ten days, and was rewarded by live cows and ten heifers. The sixth was enter- tained for fifteen da)'s, haxing a retinue of twehe students, and twenty cows were his reward. Fhe seventh, or Ollamh, was entitled to be freely and ampl}' entertained for a month, and had on all occasions twenty-four attendants ; his reward for the services he might render was twenty cows. The last four, we are told, were s[)ecial]\' i)rotected. Considering their number and the erratic li\-es the\' led. the contrilnitions they levied were by no means light. Keating says that by law they were empowered to live .six months at the public expense, and it was therefore the custom to quarter themselves throughout the country from All-Hallow tide until Ma)', from which they were designated as " ('leir na shean chain" — the songsters of the ancient tax. A wandering life seems to have been con- genial to their feelings, from a desire to disseminate their works as wyU as pro\ide for themseUes, and they Ijelieved that their public utility fully justilied the ])raclice of '' sorning," which was afterwards so grave a charge against them. " The world," says an ancient bard, " is the countr)-, and mankind the relations of every genuine poet." The northern Scalds were held in e(|ual esteem and enjoyed extraordinar)' privileges. Among the Welsh the institutions of bardism became ultimately much refuied and cc^mplieated, although there were originally only the three primitive classes, as in Gaul; and they regulated the duties and im- nmnitics ol the different individuals with great precision by express laws

INTRODUCTION. xxv

which existed from an unknown age, but were first embodied in a written code by llie famous Hwyll Ddain the tenth century. Jiesides enjoying the same privileges as those among the (iael respecting their persons, i)roj)erty, and doiiiit-iles, and being permitted lo solicit a largess or gift b)' ai\ appropriate poem t'-ndered without troublesome' impor- tunity, which, no doubt, was often successful, the following pertjuisites were allowed them : — The Court bard, who was the eighth officer in the Royal household, and sat at festivals next to the Comptroller, received on his aj)pointment a harp and other ])resents from their Majesties ; the King pnnided him with a horse and all his apparel, which was formed of wool, the (Jueen supplying him with that which was of linen. In war he received the most valuable animal of the spoil, after the leader had got his share, and this was for singing the accustomed war-song lo rouse the courage of the troops when in battle. At the Christmas, Easter and \\'hilsunday banquets, he received from the Queen the harp on which he performed, and had the ComptrcjUer's garment as his fee. On making his Clera or professional t(;ur he was entitled to double fees. \Vhoever did him an injury was mulcted in six cows and 120 pence: and for his slaughter 126 cov\-s were exacted. He paid as Gabr merch the fine on the marriage <jf his daughter, 120 pence; for her Cowyll or nuptial gift, one ])ound and 120 pence; and for her eyweddi or dowr\, three pounds. His mortuary or heriot was three pounds.

The chief bard of the district was the tenth officer in the iKHisehold, and sat next the judge of the palace. An insult offered to him subjected the offender to a fine of six cows and 120 pence, and 126 cows were tlie expiation of his death. AVhen a musician had advanced so far in his art as to drop his Tel_\n rawn, or hair-strung harp, he paid this chiet bard twenty-four pence, and ever)' wonum. on her first marriage gave a like sum. His daughter's marriage fine was 120 pence and his heriot was as nmch. These were the onl\- two bards who i)erff)rmed before the sovereign ; when desired, the latter was to give tw(j songs — one in praise of the Almighty, the other extcjlling the king's virtues and exploits, re- counting all the famous deeds of his ancestors : the fcjrmer then sang a third.

In I 100, (}ruffudd ap Cynan, or Gryff}th ap Conan, linding the establishment rather disorganised, called a congress of liards, to which those of Ireland were invited ; and with their assistance he not only im- proved the music of the Principality, but reformed the (jrder and intro- duced many judicious alterations in the rules of gowrnmenl. Wy these "statute privileges for the profession of vocal son and lor instrumental music of the harp and of the crwth," the bard was to enjoy ihc free acres, and the chief district bard was to receive at each (jf the three great festivals and on (jccasion of royal nuptials forty ])ence and a suitable gift : at weddings the fee was settled at twent) four peni e. I'he bard next in

xxvi INTRODUCTION.

gradation had also forty pence for the festivals ;ind royal inarriaL^e, but only twelve pence for attendance at weddings of others. The next in degree was allowed twenty-four pence on the first two occasions and eight[)ence for the latter ; while the two lower had twelve pence and sixpence on the first occasion : and the lowest in the profession did not officiate at weddings, but his inunediate superior did so, and received sixpence. The genealogist got but twopence for a jjcdigree, except he accompanied the bardic cavalcade on the triennial circuit, when the fee was doul)led. The Clerwr, or itinerant bards were allowed ;i penny from every plough-land in the district, and this humble incfjme was secured to them by a jxnver to distrain for payment. There was a peculiar amusement afforded by the bards of Wales to the company assembled at their great meetings, which was a source of some hcMiour- able emolument to an individual, 'i'he most witty and satiric of the fust Older was appointed to an office called the Cyff-cler, in which he was to be the butt of all the jests and sarcasms of the others, which he was patieiith' to hear and afterwards re])ly to in extemporaneous \erses, withtnit betraying any heat or loss of temper. For supporting this rather un])leasant character he was rewarded by a gratuity of eighty pence, and the doublet next to the best which a bridegroom possessed.

The heavy eric or compensation demanded for the manslaughter of a bard, and for insulting or wronging him, is an indication (jf the regard in which lie was held.' It would indeed have been reckoned a grievous crime to put one of these public monitors to death whatever his offence might have been, and some individuals have had their names carried down with the stigma of having avenged themselves on members of this privileged class. In the "Fall of Tura " is an affecting tale, which shows that the most savage dispcjsition would relax its fur\' in the case of a bard. It is thus given in translation bv the talented compiler. " The bard with his harp goes trembling to the dcjor. His steps are like the warrior of many years, when he bears, mournful, to the tomb the son of his son. The threshold is slippery with Crigal's wandering blood^ across it the aged falls. The spear of 1 )uarma over him is raised, but the dying Crigal tells — it is the bard." So infuriated was the chief that on a passing dog he wreaked the vengeance he intended for a human being had he not been the " voice of song.^"

The F^nglish settlers sometimes massacred the Irish clergy ; but it d(jes not api)ear that the)' ccjmmitted the .same atrocities on the bards. One of the Triads conmirmoiates the three heinous strokes of the battle- axe: they fell on the heads of Aiieurin and Colydhan, who were bards, and on Avaoii, who was the son of the famed Taliesen.

' 'nif Wesi.<;oths cstcenifjd it a four-lold gi'ealer crime to strike n Iwrd than any <jthLT person.

■ .Smith's Gallic Antiquities.

INTRODUCTION. xwii

The cstinialion in which the hards were held was e(iually the cause and effect of (heir exlraordinar)' influence. They were tlie indispensihle followers of a Celtic army and members of the eslablishmcuL-ui_CA'!tiL" nobility at home and abroad. .Struck with tliis fact, they were viewed b)- many as insatiable parasites rather than necessary attendants.

Their utility was extetisive, and as in the pastoral and prelatory state of society there were alternate seasons for active exertion and inactivity, the bard was not less useful in solacing his master in the hours of retire- ment and entertainini^ his companv at their assemblies, than in aiding the military efforts of the clan in war. He jconyey^d Jnfornuition of warlike movements over the land, and laboured as hard with his poetic weapons to vaoi^uish an. enemy as others_with their sword : and liis was the grateful task to extol the heroes ofvicttjry, singing loudly to his harj) at the head of the returning ho.st.

Their eager spirits often urged them to mix ni Vne battle ; but they were usually stationed where their war songs could be most advantageously poured out, and where they could best observe the gallant bearing of their friends. Care was always taken so to place the Scalds; and should the fight have been one at sea, which was of frequent occurrence with these "sons of the waves," they looked attentively from the land, pro- tected by a guard, and qualifying themselves to perpetuate in song the prowess of the warriors. It was no slight stimulus for such men to know that their deeds were marked by the bard who was to chruiiidi; their vajour in lasting verse, and thus convey their names with fame to late posterity.

^^'hen Iain I ^oni _ s.t po don the battlements of IiTy;erlo(-hy Castle rrmrkinp; the rircumstanci-g (^f thi- battle raging below, he wa>S tauuted by Montrose for having avoided parti(:i[)atiori iri the conflict. " Had I," says he, with somewhat of the ])ride of profession, "mixed in tlu' en- gagement, how c-ould I have marked the manv deeds of valour so nobly achieved, and had I fallen who would have sung your |iraise ?' The heroic Bruce carried with him his bard to celebrate the heroism of the Scots at Bannockburn ; and Edward of England likewise took with him a rhyming monk of Scarborough in the .same capacit)- that he might delight the nation with the glorious account of the annihilation (jf the rebel Scots. The issue of that dire collision would ])robably have left us no specimen of his talents had he not fallen into the victor's hands, who made the poet sing the praise of those whose fall he never dreamed of mourning for. Poor Richard Bastwick did his best in the doggerel Latin of the time, which has been rendered into l-Lngiisli o( a similar cast. DolefuU)' did the bard invoke the nine.

' ' With barren verse this rhyme I make, RewaiHng, whilst this theme I take, &c.

He nevertheless describes in graphic, though uncouth language the deeds of strength and valour which he had witnessed.

xxviii INTRODUCTION.

Another hard, with more congenial feeling, celebrated the wliole acts and deeds (^f his sovereign the Bruce in verse elegant tor the age. Archdeacon Barbour of Aberdeen, no doubt, had the feeling of a Celtic bard, and had in his eye the Gaelic duans, for he was well acquainted with the exploits of " Fin Mac Cowl " and his ccjinpatriots.

The above mishap at liannockburn is similar to what befel the h^arl of Argyle at Aultacholachan, when he took the field in 15(J7 against the Catholic lords. In confidence of success, and greatly pleased with his bard's prophecy, that he should play his harp in the castle of Slains ere the victorious army returned, he was proudly taken along, when

Mac Callai:«-nior went IVa' the west

Wi' niatiy a bow and bran' ; An' vow'd to waste as he thought best,

'l"hc Earl o' Hunlly's Inn'."

On his defeat, htjwever, the bard was made prisoner, and verified his claim to the fiaculty of fore-knowledge, much to the delight of the con- federates and Lord Errol, who gladly afforded him the opportunity.

Before the chiefs in the Highlands began to think it unnecessary to number a bard among their personal retainers, either from a considera- tion that their actions no longer required the tribute of so antiquated a recorder, or by an unavoidable departure from the former simplicity of living, linding it expedient to add the bard's farm, like that of the piper and other hereditary olificers in their establishment, to the rent-roll, he was one (^f the most respected in tlie number. The chiefs of Clan- Ranald retained a bard until about a hundred years ago, when Laihlan Mac Nial Mhuireach, the 17th in regular descent, lost his farm, and naturally dropped as useless the profession l)y which he and his ancestors had so long held it. Iain Breac MacLeod of I )unvegan, who died in 1693, was perhaps the last chief who upheld the ancient state by num- bering in his retinue bard, harper, piper, jester, and the full number of what has been, with an attempt at wit, designated the tail. 1 )r. Mac- Pherson mentions one who kept two bards, and they held a seminary for the instruction of students. About 1690, John Glass and John Macdonald, the bards of two lairds in different parts of the country, met by ai)[)ointment in Lochaber to vindicate in a poetical contest their own excellence and their chief's honour ; but the result of this duel is not related. Such challenges were not unfrequent, and it was a well-known practice for the Highlanders to make small bets as to who could repeat the most of the Sean dana, or old poems.

The bards who exercised so beneficial an influence on their country- men while alive, rendered the necessary and becoming services to the dead. The mode of sepulture is well known : '' the grey stones of the dead," half hid in the moss of ages, and the funeral hillocks and cairns appear on all sides where the industrv of man has not laid the heath

INTRODUCTION. xxix

under tlie operation of the jjlough- the ^^trikini; monuments of ;il;cs far distant, but now the useless record of those who were honoured in their day and generation. The stones of memorial were raised amid the united voices of all around and the plaintive music of the harpers, who gave out the funeral chant.

" Bend forward from your clouds, ghosts of my fathers, bend '. lay by the red terror of your course and receive the falling chief : let his robe of mist be near, his spear that is formed of a cloud. Place a half- extinguished meteor by his side in the form of the hero's sword. And O ! let his countenance be lovely, that his friends may delight in his presence. Bend from your clouds, ghosts of my fathers, bend !" In the same poem is the affecting lament for the beauteous Darthula. " 1 )augh- ter of Colla, thou art low !" said Cairbar's hundred bards ; " silence is at the blue streams of Selma, for Trathul's race have failed. A\'hen wilt thou rise in thy beauty, first of Erin's maids ? Thy sleep is long in the tomb, aud the morning distant far. The sun shall not come to thy bed and say. Awake. Darthula 1 Awake thou first of women ! the wind of spring is abroad. The flowers shake their heads on the green hills ; the woods wave their opening leaves. Retire, O sun ; the daughter of Colla is asleep I She will not come forth in her beauty ; she will not move in the steps of her loveliness."

The duty of performing the obsequies of a hero seems to have been imperative, although his life might not have offered those traits of charac- ter which so well suited the bard's eulogium. They, however, did justice to his memory, neither suppressing any allu.sion to his vices nor refusing the praise he might deserve. A chief had broken his oath. " His tomb was raised, but what could the bards say ? Manos remembered not his words. When asked what he had done with his oaths — 'Alas!' he said, ' where I found, I left them.' Manos, thou wert generous, but wrathful and bloody was thy darkened soul."

It has already been noticed that without the funeral dirge the spirit would be subjected to wander in forlorn suffering about the place where the body had been laid : it was therefore a matter of the utmost solici- tude that this should be performed, and the ceremonial was ob.served in the Highlands to the days of our fathers. It is now discontinued as a vocal tribute, but the " Lament " of the piper, played in front of the funeral procession, is a most characteristic substitute. Many remains of the Coronach music are believed to be still preserved, and it is reason- ably supposed that the species of piobaireachd appropriate to the melancholy event has, in many cases, retained in the urlar or ground- work the spirit of the orieinal dirge.''

' Pat. Macdonakl on " The Influence of PoeUy and Music on the Highlanders,' prefixed to his admirable collection of their vocal music.

\.\x

INTRODUCTION.

The followins detail of ihe ceremonial at the interment of an old Celtic hero, as given by the Irish authorities, is comformable to what is otherwise related. 'I'he Druid fa-st performed those rights which maybe called religious : the Senachie then repeated the eulogium of the hero departed, detailing the illustrious descent and personal titles of the deceased. He was follov.ctl by the Filea, who recited the Caoine or funeral song, which having been adapted to music by the Oirfidighe or musician, was sung by the Racaraide or rhapsodist, who was joined by the wailing notes of all present.'

The practice of ('aoining at funerals is still practised b)' the native Irish, but since the suppression and neglect of the order of bards the niourntrs in Ireland have been mercenary females, generally of advanced years, and their hackneyed or extemporaneous lamentations are not par- ticularly creditable to the art. They, however, tenaciously hold to this rite, whether in Ireland or elsewhere, and it is evident that there is no Christianity in it. Take a specimen. " O son of Connal, why didst thou die ? — royal, noble, learned youth; valiant, active, warlike, eloquent I why tlidst thou die ? Oigh ! oin-oigh !" Here follows the UilaRiia or chorus, fist gone half through, poured forth in the wildest notes of extreme grief, being indeed the chief part of the performance, and, as may be supposed, not the most regular nor musical. "Alas! alas! he who sprung from nobles of the race of Heber, warlike chief! O men of Connal. O noble )()uth, why did you die? Alas! alas!" The semi-chorus again is given, and then the full or^oll. " Alas ! alas ! he who was in possession of flowery meads, verdant hills, lowing herds, fruitful fields, flowing rivers, and gracing flocks : rich — gallant. Lord of the golden vale, why did he die ? Alas ! alas !" Uilalaia, &c. "Alas! alas! why didst thou die, O son of Connal, before the spoils of victory by thy warlike arm were brought into the hall of the noble.s, and thy shield with the ancients? Alas ! alas ! Uila — luia, luia, luia, lu lu, ucht o ong," isrc, all which had the most thrilling effect. After the interment the bard was formerly accustomed to perform the Elegy or Connthal sitting on the grave, which mark of affectionate respect like the Christian services for the dead in the Romish Church, was repeated at the new and full moon for several months.^ The Scriptural lamentations, as that over Saul and Jonathan, are of no whit more religious character.

Adverting to the classification of the members of the bardic brother- hood, it will be seen at first simple and vigorous, subsequently undergoing alterations and sub-divisions. The Druidical order was originally divided into three classes, which are distinguished as the Druids proper, who were the priests and legislators ; the Vates, Ovates, Euvates or JCubages and the I'.ards. 'l"he duties of the first have been briefly re-

' The harcis compose poems whicli ihc Rhapsodists repeat.— />//<//(///,(//.

= Hcauford, Trans, of the Irish .\ca Iciiiy. Vol. IV,, where tlir whole is set to music.

INTRODUCTION. xxxi

ferred to, and a general view of the bardic office has been presented, but scanty as our knowledge respecting it is a few more particulars may be given to improve a picture unfortunately but meagre.

The \'ates have been considered by some writers an order infi-rior to the bards, iind by others to liavi' held an internifdiate [)laci- in the triad, but many regard the term as simi)!)' denoting a more advanced noviciate. "The Euvates," sa)s Marcellinus, " more deeply considering nature, made attemps to discover the highest arcana, and lay open its most secret workings, and amongst these the I )ruids," from which it would seem that they were bardic aspirants for druidic preferment. Lucan classes them with the bards, but allows them superiority to a simple poet. It is very probable that a claim to a prophetic spirit was the cause of distinction. All three were accustomed to compose and to sing, but all did not claim the faculty of foreknowledge. Vates, which in Latin is a prophet or interpreter, is a word no doul)t borrowed from the " barbarians," and the Gaelic Faid, signifying the same, appears to be the original word. Dr. .Smith, however, thinks Euvates ma\ be Eu-phaisde, promising youths.

To ascertain the etymology of names often clears up the obscurity which envelopes a subject ; on this occasion the attempt is more curious than useful. The general opinion is that the appellation Druid is derived from the name of the oak tree, which in Greek is Drus, Derw in Welsh, Duir in Irish, Dair in Gaelic, Druith in the Cornish, ("onsider- ing the similarity of these words, the estimation which the Druids, like others, had for the oak, and the veneration they paid to the mistletoe — the all-heal which grew thereon — it has appeared a satisfactory origin for their name, and the Welsh bards of later days ha\e on the tree- s)-stem raised a very ingenious allegory. The letters dd, ha\"ing the sound of th, form a common termination, so Derwydd is the trunk cjf an oak : bardd, from bar, the top, is significant pf the full-grown branches ; and Owydd, from o\, raw, pure, indicates the saplings. Sii" Samuel Meyrick gives less fanciful derivations — Der, superior ; vvydd, instructor ; and o-wydd, subordinate instructor. In Whiters method of determining the affinity of words by the cfmsonants as radices, we see the same con- sonants running through these words; the tr, pervading a series of terms, indicates activity, industr)-, improwment ; and dr. or tr. were connected with the mystical T, a Druidical and Pythagorean symbol. The above laborious and profound etymologist, alluding to the Gaelic " draonaich," so well illustrated by Coirernonadh' as intimating a diligent i:ulti\aloi, pronounces Druid to signify a teacher.- The apjjellation is undoulitedly Celtic, originating with that people, and not imposed by Greeks or others. The sense in which it is still used is that of an artist, a learned person,

' Thoughts on the tincl, S:c-., hyJmuesGr.ini, Esq, ^Etyinologicon magnum.

xxxii INTRODUCTION.

c

or vulgarly a magician, and it is the word in the Scripture translation for the wise men or priests. It is equally ap[)lied in Teutonic^ languages to denote a dexterous individual or enchanter.

The word Bard has been pronounced insoluble. It is uncertain whether the peculiar chant called barditus is the origin of the term or its derivative. Bardachd in (iaelic is poetry and history, literally the hard's work: barddae-th in Welsh is also bardism.

The profession has given names to many localities, as Monadh- bhaird, ach na' m bard, TuUoch-bardin, etc., and respectable families may trace their origin to those distinguished poets. There are many ancient charters in which different individuals are designated le bard and le harper; the liards, Bairds, MacBhairds, and Wards are their descendants ; in Ireland and Argyle are the Mac Faids and Mac Faidzeans. Throughout the principality are numerous names indi- ating the residences and haunts of the different branches, as Tre'r ISeirdd, the bard's villages : Croes y Beirdd, the bard's cross ; Tre'r and Bod 1 )rudan, the villages and houses of the Druids; Bod-Ovyr, the Ovyd's dwelling, etc., etc. The Baile-bhairds in the Highlands and Harper's lands in the low country, are memorials of the golden age of Celtic minstrelsy.

A sketch of the personal appearance of the different characters seems an appropriate accessory to a detail of their duties. Bodily imperfection being sufficient f(M- exclusion horn the order, it gave an imposing specimen of the Gaulish race, and their dignities were marked by suitable distinctions in dress. Their garments differed from others in amplitude: they were "the wearers of long robes.'' The costume, as may be supposed, was of a peculiar form, calculated for the attraction of notice, as well as the becoming denotation of rank. The beard, which the Celtic nations always shaved, the Druidic officials wore long, and the hair of the head they cut close. The robes flowing to the heel, whilst those of the commonalty, and even of the nobles, fell only to the knee, as sufficiently distinguished the superiority of the order as the episcopal costume marks the sacer dotal degree. \\^hite, denoting purity, was the appropriate colour of the Druid's robes.

In (^athlava, one of the poems translated by Dr. Smith, is a picture of Sean'ear, a Druid, then a subject of persecution but believed to possess supernatural acquirements, and consulted as an oracle by those who, like the Roman general, might be disposed to say, " I scorn them, yet they awe me." Under the awful shade of his oak he finds him, leaning on liis own trembling staff His head of age stoops to the ground, his grey beard hangs down on his breast, and his dim eyes are fi.\ed on the earth. But his soul is mixed with the spirits of. air, and his converse is with ghosts. " ' What secst thou

INTRODUCTION. xxxiii

of my love,' said Ronan ; 'what seest thou of Sulmina?'" The figure was that of a solitary and proscribed anchorite, who submitted to his evil destiny, doubtless, for his conscience' sake, like many fellow devotees. In the original the description is singularly

striking : —

" An crith-thaice ri luirg fein, Fui' gheug dhoilleir dharaich, Lan ogluidheachd : — a chrom aomadh, 'S fheasag aosda sios mu bhroHach. -air lar tha shuil a dearcadh Ach anani ann co'radh thaibhse."

The figurative and laconic reply is very characteristic : —

" Macan an fas cruaidh, Barca, thar cuan, na dean ; Shuilnihine ! 's cruaidh leam do glaodh, A 'taomadh air tiunn gun fhurtachd! " '

In happier ages, the raiment was an object of careful attention among the Celtic people, with whom everything was precisely regu- lated ; even the colours of the robes were apportioned by invariable law. In A\'ales, the bards wore a dress of sky-blue, the emblem of peace and fideUty ; and that of the Ovydd was a vivid green, the prevailing colour of verdant nature. The Awenydd, or disciple, showed in his vestment, as an escutcheon of pretence, the three colours, white, blue, and green. When officiating at religious ceremonies, the bard had a cowl attached to the cloak, like that worn by the Capuchin friars; it was called Barddgwccwll, and is the bardo-cucullus of the Romans. The Druidesses are described by Strabo as arrayed in white garments, fastened with girdles and brazen clasps. Among the Gael a very remarkable difference prevailed with respect to the vesture. A variety of colours was introduced, and the number which the gradations in society were permitted to display was regulated by a prevailing rule. It was a striking mark of the estimation in which the bards were held that they were allowed six colours, being two more than the nobility, and only one less than royalty itself. This was the well-known law in Ireland, and there can be no doubt it was equally observed by the Gael of Albion. In Meyrick's splendid work on British Costume, coloured prints of the various classes are given, among which we remark the two figures found near Autun, one of which carries the "slat an drui' achd," or ensign of authority, and the other bears the "cornan," or crescent, emblematic of the " cead rai re," the first quarter of the moon.^ The robe is fastened by a brooch on the left shoulder.

'Gallic Ant., 335. From the Druid's appearance, it is generally called "the song of the grey man."

= Pliny says of the Celts, " ante omnia sexta luna." C

xxxiv INTRODUCTION.

Sumptuary laws were not forgotten in the Brehon code. In a.d. 192, as Irish annals inform us, such enactments settled, among other matters, the value of a bodkin of refined silver for the king or a bard at thirty heifers. The clothes of a poet and his wife cost three milch cows, and the raiment of an OUamh, and of an Anshruith, the next in rank, five cows.

Some proof is found that the Cochal or upper garment, which was evidently, from the name, of coarse texture, was fringed and orna- mented with needlework.' The full dress is described as consisting of the Cathanas, cota or body covering, and the Triuse, the gathered or girded up portion.

The shoes were wooden and of a pentagonal form,^ and an Ollamh was entitled to wear the barred or cap of honour. Thus in all resj^ects did the bardic order appear strikingly different from others. On the extinction of Druidism it is probable that the peculiarity of costume was abandoned, the Christian missionaries naturally discouraging a distinction which was calculated to prolong a reverence for the professors of a pagan creed.

The course^of bardic study was long and arduous. So rigid was the term of probation that the education of a student in the science of Druidism was not completed in a shorter period than perhaps twenty years, during which time he was obliged to commit to memory a prodigious number of verses ; twenty thousand by the lowest com- putation, but Chambray, the Celtic professor at Paris, says the number for those of the highest class was not less than sixty thousand.

In later ages, as we learn from Irish authorities, the time occupied in acquiring the necessary bardic instruction was twelve years, three of which were devoted to each of the four principal branches of poetry. Another writer gives them sixteen or twenty years to complete their education, and he tells us he has " seen them where they kept schools, ten in some one chamber, grovelling upon straw, their books at their noses ; " and although their seminary was thus rude, those men were well grounded in the classics, and invoked the muses with great success. The accom- modation, it is presumed, was not in all cases so homely. We can scarcely suppose that the practice described by Martin, adopted by some in the Highlands to produce inspiration, was very usual. They would shut both doors and windows, wrap their plaids about their heads, and lie with their eyes closed, and a large stone on their bellies, for a whole day. 3 Poets are sometimes sufficiently eccentric.

If a vassal obtained permission from his lord to exercise a poetical or musical talent he would, according to his genius, obtain rank by the courtesy of Cambria, but no one, whatever his merit might be, was

' Beauford. ^ Dr. Smith. 3 Description of the Western Isles.

INTRODUCTION. xxxv

classed among the bards except he went through the regular curriculum. There were three individuals of no little celebrity otherwise, who were in this way unciualified : the gr' at kings Arthur and Cadwalon, and Rhyhawd ap Morgant.

It is much to be regretted that the Scottish Gael adhered so faith- fully to the Druidic injunction not to commit their knowledge to writing. Those of the sister island were haply less obstinate, and have preserved many of the Breith-neimhe or laws of their native judges. Those which relate to the bards have been collected with praiseworthy care and given to the world, and although they are likely to show considerable innovation on the primitive institutions, upon the whole we may believe the regulations in both countries were not materially different.

The order presented three principal classes, in which were several gradations, viz. : the Ollamh re dan, graduate of song, or bard properly so called; the Seanachadh, or historian and genealogist; and the Brehon, Breith, or judge, which last, in the eleventh century, was separated from the bardic establishment.

The following were the gradations in the order of Fileas or bards, and the qualifications required in each: —

The Fochlucan, the youngest student, was required to be able to repeat twenty poems or historical tales.

The Mac Fuirme was required to have forty tales, any of which he should be able to repeat when desired.

The Dos was qualified by being perfect in fifty poems or stories.

The Canaith, although a degree higher, was not obliged to learn more than the Dos.

The Cli, whose duties are not given in the authority we have consulted. The Anra, or Anshruith, had to commit to memory one hundred and seventy-five compositions on different subjects.

Lastly, the Ollamh or Doctor, who was the bard, the others being noviciates. He was required to possess a perfect knowledge of the four principal branches of poetry, and be able to repeat three hundred and fifty pieces.'

The \o\s dana preceded even the Ollamh, and sat with the chiefs in the circle. This class, however, does not appear earlier than the seven- teenth century.

The Welsh had a division of bards no less complicated, the depart- ment of each class being pointed out with tedious minuteness, a comparatively modern alteration.^ With them there were six classes of bards, three being poets and three musicians.

» Walker. Several of these terms are of uncertain etymology ; anshruith may be from an, good; srath knowing. OUav will strike the scholar as resembling the Heb. Altif, a prince. ^ Borlase.

xxxvi INTRODUCTION.

The poetical bards were first, historical or antiquarian, who sometimes mixed prophecy with their effusions. Their duty was to sing in praise of virtue — to censure vice and immorality, and it was specially permitted them to address the clergy and married ladies upon fitting subjects and in becoming language.

The second class, who were domestic bards, exhorted the people to a strict practice of the social virtues, and celebrated those who were patterns to others for their upright conduct and patriotism.

The third order, who were denominated the Cleirwr Arwyddveirdd, or heraldic bards, with their other duties, were assigned the composition of poems on amusing and jocular subjects.

After passing through the gradations of the Awen, or muse, the title of bard was conferred, and, retaining the ancient claim of superiority, the addition of ' Ynnys Prydain was always given.

The activity of Welsh genius led them to remodel and refine the bardic institutions with the same care as they have cultivated their language, so that in modern times it must exhibit a very different aspect from what it originally displayed. There were eight orders of musicians four of which only were admitted to be bards; the Harper, Crwther, and Singer were regularly invested poets, the Pencerdd being their chief. The four inferior orders were the Piper, the Taborer, the Juggler, and the performers on the humble Crwth with three strings ; the fee of these minstrels was a penny each, and they were to stand during their performance.

The Irish Oirfidigh, or musical order, was in like manner classified, taking their appellations from the instruments on which they performed, of which there were a considerable variety. The following enumeration is given : —

The Ollamh re ceol, or Doctor of music, presided over the band con- sisting of the Crutairaigh who played on the cruit or fiddle. The Ciotairigh, The Tiomponaich, who played on the horn, and the Cuilleanach.

These musicians were of much consequence as a constituent portion of the Fileacht, and being good vocalists, after the introduction of Christianity, they added much to the effect of the bard of choristers for which many abbeys were famed in both islands. It may be observed that as the Welsh held the harp to be the indispensable instrument of a gentleman, so we find many instances of bishops and abbots excelling in their skilful playing. We have a curious intimation in the venerable Bede anent the harp ; he describes an individual who at an entertain- ment being unable to perform on the instrument which was always handed round, slunk away ashamed of his deficiency. Want of a musical taste was accounted an indication of a bad disposition.

INTRODUCTION. xxxvii

The decline and fall of an institution which existed so long, was so widely diffused, and, after the cessation of its direct influence, left so deep an impression on the national character, is a subject of much interest, and affords ample matter for reflection. Like all human establishments, it is seen to advance from simplicity and usefulness to refinement, corruption, and decay. The epoch of Christianity was the commencement of druidic decadence ; but with the pertinacity which animates the professors of prescribed opinions, the ancient system was clung to for several subsequent centuries, and, indeed, where full conversion was found impossible, the apostles and missionaries accepted the profession of the Christian faith, with the retention of many of the established superstitions, wisely considering it better to accomplish the great end by judicious conciliation of long-rivetted prejudices. When the Pagan priesthood was annihilated the bardic branch, as an order of acknowledged utility, retained its place in Celtic society. Many who were touched with zealous fervour in the true religion became clergymen, and were not the less pious, in that they continued to exercise their poetic talents and solace themselves with the melody of the harp.' So long were the Welsh in abandoning the institutes of Druidism that Prince Hwell, who died in 1171, invokes the Deity to protect his worship in the groves and circles. This is sufficiently curious, but it is still more so to find that a small society, still existing, allege that they are the descendants, and possess a knowledge of the ancient mysteries of the Druids, which has been transmitted purely by a succession of the initiated who could explain many of the mysterious triads, etc., were they at liberty to divulge their knowledge.^

The Highland traditions are copious on the subject of the fall of the Druids, which, from the particulars related, was not a sacrifice to the cause of Christianity. The frequent wars in which the Scottish tribes were engaged increased the power of the Feargubreith, while it lessened that of the Druid, who had long been the arbiter of all transactions. Treunmor, grandfather of Fin Mac Cumhal, was appointed commander of the Caledonian forces by general election, on which the Druids sent Garmal Mac Tarno requiring the chief to lay down his office, with which order he had the fortitude to refuse compliance. On this a civil war immediately ensued, which, after much bloodshed, ended in the discomfiture of the Druids, whose resistance was so obstinate that few survived the desperate contest. The bards — who it may be readily believed were prone to flatter the powerful and avenge real or imaginary wrongs by the sharpness of invective, being no longer under the salutary control of their superiors, the Druids — became exceedingly presump- tuous, abusing their ample privileges, and drawing on themselves severe

' In Wales the bardic clergy sometimes accompanied the chanting of the service with the harp. ^ Cambrian Mag.

xxxviii INTRODUCTION.

chastisement. The Irish legends detail the circumstances of their expulsion twice before the celebrated Council of Drumceat, held in 580, where the whole order was doomed to p:oscription for their oppressive exactions, having gone so far as to demand the golden brooch which fastened the plaid or cloak of Aodh, the King of Ulster ! The good Columba, the apostle of the Highlands, left his charge in the college of li for the purpose of interposing his influence to avert the destruction of an order which, under proper regulations, was so well suited to the genius of his countrymen, and he was successful in softeniiig very materially the severity of their sentence. The bards were on this occasion reduced to the number of 200, one only being allowed to each of the provincial kings and lord of a cantred, and he was enjoined for no cause to prostitute his talents in flattering the vanity of the great or covering vice by adulatory strains. He was to compose and sing to the glory of God, honour of the country, praise of heroes and females, and exaltation of his patron and followers. There was evident necessity for restriction, the numbers having so greatly increased that they were estimated at no less than one-third of the population ! The propensity which those who were so highly favoured and possessed such influence, had, like most others, to exceed moderation, required a check. Cupidity, it has been observed, is an inherent passion, and the posses- sion of much begets a desire for more. The bards subjected themselves to much obloquy and dislike by their arrogance and neglect of their proper duties, which eventually led to sundry curtailments of their personal immunities.

In Wales they were not less inclined to abuse their privileges. Several regulations had been passed previous to the time of Gruffudd ab Cynan, who, much concerned to find the bardic profession in disorder, held a congress of all who had any knowledge of the science throughout Wales and Ireland, when a great reformation was accomplished ; the three classes of poets, heralds, and musicians being then instituted, whereas the offices were formerly held by one individual, and they were forbidden to demand the prince's horse, hawk, or greyhound, or any property from others above a reasonable value.

There is a curious account of this notable convention given in an ancient MS. preserved in the library of the Welsh School, London, from which it appears there were four chief judges who decided, with the approbation of the audience, as to forming the song, preserving it in memory, and performing it correctly. The names of the four were ^Iban ab Cynan Rhydderch the bald, Matholwch the Gwythelian (Gael), md Alav the songster. Mwrchan, Lord of Ireland, was umpire, and by lis power confirmed the proceedings at Glen Achlach.' The judicious

' About iioo. The harp and style of its music were on this occasion introduced from Ireland.

INTRODUCTION. xxxix

improvements introduced at this time were the means of restoring bardism to a sound and flourishing state, which continued until the death of Llewelyn, the last prince, in 1282. From the strictness of these coercive laws it is evident the bards were a little unruly at times. If any one left a party for which he had been engaged, offered an insult to a female, etc., he was fined, imprisoned, and his circuit fees for a proportionate time were forfeited to the church. In fine, although Edward the First actually carried a harper with him to the Holy Land, he subsequently considered the bards a dangerous body ; and although they were retained at the courts of his successors, along with minstrels, whose proper occupation was originally that of historians, yet they certainly gave at times great offence by their freedom and assumption ; hence such enactments were passed as one in 1315, to restrain them from resorting in unreasonable numbers to the houses of the great ; and another by Edward III., which provided that bards who perverted the imagination by romantic tales, and those who were tale-tellers, and seduced the lieges by false reports, should not be entertained in the mansions of the great, or harboured by the people. This is like the decree passed to repress the insatiable curiosity of the ancient Gauls, who were the greatest known encouragers of those who could amuse them with stories — compelling strangers to stop even on the highways, and entertain them with some recital, in consequence of which they were misled by the mendacious tales to which their importunity gave so much encouragement.

Long after the maintenance of a bard as a retainer in a Celtic estab- lishment was confined to these portions of the kingdom, their services continued in partial requisition elsewhere ; but from the advancing change in society, this neglected class with difficulty maintained a degree of respectability, but were obliged to itinerate in considerable numbers, and trust for their support to casual employment by those who made their efforts to please a subject of rude jest. The following no doubt excited a laugh at the expense of the Gael ; it is a curious allusion to their manners by a lowland poet —

" Then cried Mahoun for a hieland padzean, Syn ran a feynd to fetch Makfadzean,

Far northwart in a nuke ; Be he the coronach had shout, Earse men so gatherit him about,

In hell grit rowni they tuke : That tarmagants in tag and tatter, Full loud in Earse begoud to clatter,

An' rowp like ravin rowk ; The deil sae deivit was wi ther yell. That in the deipest pot of hell

He smorit them wi' smouk." '

I The Daunce. Ramsay's Evergreen, I. p. 246.

xl INTRODUCTION.

In Saxonized England and Scotland the bards and minstrels were denounced as idlers who lived on the useful and industrious, levying their contributions on an unwilling people. In the reign of James II., 1449, an Act was passed which declared that " gif there be onie that makis them fiules, and are bairdes, thay be put in the kingis waird, or in his irons for thair trespasses, as lang as they have onie gudes of thair awin to live upon, that thair ears be nailed to the trone, or till ane uther tree, and thair eare cutted off, and banished the cuntrie." By a statute of James VI., in 1579, those who were sangsters, tale-teller.s, etc., and not in the special service of Lords of Parliament or boroughs as their common minstrels, were to be scourged and burned through the ear with a hot iron.

When the court of the Scottish kingdom was Gaelic, the ancient usages were closely observed, and the class whose history is now under investigation, continued, at least occasional services, for ages afterwards. At coronations a Highland bard attended in his heraldic capacity to repeat a poem on the royal genealogy. His attendance at the enthrone- ment of Malcolm II., 1056, and the oration then delivered, are recorded, and the same duty was performed to Alexander III., in 1249, when the poet, we are informed, was clad in a scarlet dress. Various notices are found in the Lord Treasurer's accounts of the services of seanachies and minstrels at royal entertainments, an extract from which will not be thought uninteresting. Blind Harry, the author of the metrical life of Sir William Wallace, sang his compositions to the king and nobility,^ and received frequent gratuities. In 1490 and 1491 he was paid eighteen shillings. In the former year, " Martin Clareschaw and ye toder Ersche Clareschaw, at ye kingis command," were paid eighteen shillings, and shortly afterwards the same payment was made " till ane ersche harper." In 1496 are these entries : —

April. Gififin to James Mytson, the harpar at the

kingis command, - - - - xiii s. iiij d.

June. To twa wemen that sang to the king, - xiii s.

Aug. I. That same day giffin to the harpar with

the ae hand, - - - - - ix s.

That samyn day, to a man that playit on

the clarscha to the king, - - - vii s. 1503. Item to Pate Harper, clarscha, - - - - xiiij s.

Item to Alexander Harper, Pate Harper, Pate Harper Clarscha, Hew Erabanar and the blind harper, harperis, ilk ane, . . . . xiiij s.

Item to Hog the tale-teller, ----- xiiij s.

Item to the Countes of Crawfurdis harper, - - xiiij s.

' Major, Lib. iv.

INTRODUCTION. xli

In this year there weie also sundry ])ayments to minstrels : eight of which were English and four Italian. In 1507 there was paid xiiij to tne "'crukit vicar of Dumfricse that sang to the king."

In 1512 gevin till ane barde wife called Agnes

Carkell, ------- xlii s.

Item, to O Donelis (Irlandman) harpar quhilk past

away with him, --.--. yii l. In the household book of the C'luntess of Mar, under the dates 1638- 1642, we find :

To ane blind singer, who sang the time of dinner, - xii s.

To twa hieland singing women, - - - - vi s.

To ane woman clarshochar, - - - - - xii s.

The kings of England, with few exceptions, continued to employ one or more A\'elsh harpers in the royal establishment. The marriage of Catherine, widow of Henry V., with Sir Owen Tudor, a nobleman of Mona or Anglesea, from whom Henry VII. was descended, brought the bards into more notice, and the title of the eldest son of the reigning monarch offered a sufficient reason for compliment to so worthy a portion of the British subjects. When James VI. succeeded to the English throne, Henry, Prince of A^^ales, appointed one Jones as his bard. The author of the work, whence so many curious particulars of this class have been transcribed, Edward Jones of Henblas was the talented bard to the last of our princes who bore the title.

Th3i_<^hp hardir institutions have been SO entirely neglected in the Highlands is only to be accounted for by the very different position of the. tHf£L countries. Wales has been for many centuries a province of England ; their wars of independence have long ceased, and even internal dissensions have for a great length of time been unknown. In peace and tranquility the natives could therefore cultivate their poetry and music as an agreeable source of rational amusement, and if they continued to chant forth their ancient martial lays, it was a pleasing solace to have reflection drawn to departed renown. An indulgence in reminiscences of a state which no more can be reverted to is some slight alleviation of regret.

The Gael, on the contrary, who had ever to struggle for national independence were between energetic resistance of the common enemy ; the civil wars in which they were involved, and the clamiish feuds which were fomented by designing foes, at last plmiged inio a -state of sanguinary turmoil, which was but ill calculated for the fosterage of such a system as their happier brethren wer_e permitted to cheriah in peace. In these inauspicious circumstances the soft and melting strains of the clarsach might be well suited for the enlivenment of their enter- tainments, and as an accompaniment for the grateful themes of love

xlii INTRODUCTION.

and pastoral pursuits ; but the utmost fervour of the harper's efforts would fail to rouse the vengeful ardour of the Ciaelic heroes. It was the piobaireachd's shrill summons, thrilling in their ears the sad tale of their devastated glens and their houseless friends, which gathered them for the war by notes which had often sounded to hard-earned victory ; speaking in strains which made their blood I -oil with glowing emulation as they marched to the foe, and which pealing to survivors of the battle- field in notes re-echoed by the frowning crags, drowning by its piercing tones the loud wailings of the bereaved and the woeful shrieks of the despairing women, called in a maddening voice for speedy and unspar- ing retribution.

The pipes supplanted the harp as the instrument for war among the Gaelic tribes. The potency of bagpipe music as a stimulus to heroism was acknowledged by the Irish, who always used pipes in their warlike operations. " As others with the sound of trumpets, so those with tlie sound of the pipes are inspired with ardour for the fight." Derrick likewise alludes to its martial use, and in the representations of battles we observe the pipers in a prominent position, but do not perceive a harper. The great pipe has survived, an equally national instrument, w^hich is much better adapted for an accompaniment at the festive board. The exhilarating but loud-toned Piob is less suited to appear in place of the bard at the feast of Shells, w^ho by his sweet-sounding harp and vocal melody afforded a double gratification.

These remarks are by no means to be taken as in disparagement of the professors of this admirable instrument, the sound of which strikes so surely a responding chord in a Scotsman's heart. It is matter of delight to perceive its use so nobly upheld, and its music preserved with so much patriotic zeal. The frequent " competitions " of per- formers in different parts of Scotland present a becoming counterpart to the means so successfully pursued in Wales and Ireland for the pre- servation of their poetry and music ; and this ancient regulation, especially in the former country, is so peculiar, bearing as it does on the subject, that it cannot with any propriety be omitted.

It appears that King Cadwaladdr, about 670, presided in a meeting assembled for the purpose of hearing the bards recite old compositions and their own productions. Those meetings were called Eisteddvodau, and were like the Clera or circuits, held triennially. Prince Gruffudd, who, with the approbation of his Gaelic friends, did so much for the repression of abuse and introduction of improvement in poetry and music, laid down express rules for the guidance of these meetings, regulating the mode of competition, qualification of candidates, etc., the chief object being " to extinguish falsehood and establish certainty in the relation of events," the proper observance of which excellent practice

INTRODUCTION. xliii

served so well to perpetuate the true history of transactions. Invention or propagation of falsehood was declared punishable by imprisonment and fine, and the like penalty was exacted for mockery, derision, or undeserved censure. Rhys ap GruflFudd, Prince of South Wales, gave a magnificent entertainment in the manner of the country to King Henry II., when a large assemblage of baids attended, and received a confirma- tion of all their franchises. Similar meetings have been held at various times and places, sometimes by royal summons ; at others under the auspices of the nobility. Henry VIII. issued a commission for one to be held at Caerwys, in Flintshire, 1523, "for the purpose of instituting order and government among the professors of poetry and music, and regulating their art and profession, according to the old statute of Grufifudd ap Cynan, Prince of Aberfraw." Queen Elizabeth appointed another to assemble at the same place in 1568, and those who were not found worthy to hold so honourable a calling were charged to betake themselves to honest labour on pain of punishment as vagabonds. On the 22nd September, 1792, "a congress of the bards of the Isle ot Britain" was held on Primrose Hill, in a suburb of London, with the view of " recovering druidical mythology and bardic learning." ' Since then the Cymrodorion Society has given frequent Eisteddvods in the metropolis, and they are held periodically throughout Wales. The kindred people of Bas Bretagne have been desirous of a similar conven- tion being held there, and we have heard some literati of the Principality observe that a gathering of bards on the same principle in lona, where, in the days of persecution, the Cumraeg druids found refuge with their Gaelic brethren of the same order, would be a highly interesting and appropriate commemoration, and productive of much advantage to the bardic cause. Some degree of literary character was at first given to the competitions in pipe music, when prizes were awarded for poetic compositions, and when the admirable Donchadh-Ban nan orain was accustomed to present the Comunn Gaelach na h-Alba with a compli- mentary effusion in his happiest style. If the idea of the liberal-minded Archdeacon Williams, rector of the Edinburgh Academy, and several other gentlemen of literary character and respectability is ever matured, we shall have a grand union of the three divisions still remaining unmixed in these realms — the Gael of both islands and the Cumri, "jointly and severally," engaged in the prosecution of Celtic literature, of which the bards were from unsearchable antiquity the only con- servators.

The Irish, less affected by those unpropitious circumstances which operated on the Highlanders, have retained the use of the harp and its appropriate melodies.

' Gentleman's Mag. LXII.

xliv INTRODUCTION.

They, however, had their golden age of bardism, to which the iron naturally succeeded. They escaped the visitation of Roman persecu- tion ; but from the time of Henry XL, it was an object of solicitude with the invaders to repress the order as seriously inimical to English designs. 1 aking advantage of their privileges, they mixed with the enemy and acted as spies, while they e\cited their countrymen to unceasing opposition. In the statutes of Kilkenny, 1309, it was attempted to abolish the influence they possessed by Celtic usage, but with little effect. In the 13th of Henry VI., 1434, it being found that Clarsaghours, Tympanours, Crowthores, Kerraghers," Rymours, Skel- laghes,^ Bardes, and others, ccnitrary to that statute, were constantly passing between the armies, exeicising their " minstrelsies " and other arts, and carrying all information to the Irish camp, means were taken in order to repress so dangerous a practice. The mercenary spirit was but in few cases sufficiently strong to extinguish the patriotic ; yet if any of these bards would officiate in the same vocation on the English side, he was taken under protection and amply provided for. A precept occurs in the 49th, Edward III., 1375, ^"^ ^^e remuneration of Dowenald O Moghane, a bard, wlio did great service to the English in this way.3 Henry VIII. received with much satisfaction "a Breviate " of certain regulations for the good of the country, by Lord Finglass, in ■vrhich it is recommended that no Irish minstrels, Rymers, Shannaghes,4 nor Bards be " messengers to desire any goods of any man dwelling within the English pale, upon pain of forfeiture of all their goods, and their bodies to be imprisoned at the king's will."5 Their habits were no wise changed in the succeeding reign. An Act was passed in 1563, for reformation of the enormities which arose in Limerick, Kerry and Cork, by certain idle men of lewd demeanour, called Rymers, Bards and Carraghs, who, under pretence of their travail, carried intelligence between the malefactors inhabiting these countries, to the great des- truction of true subjects ; it was tRerefore ordered that none of these sects be suffered to travail within these territories, against the statutes. " And for that these Rymers do by their ditties and rhymes to lords and gentlemen, in commemoration and praise of extorsion, rebellion, &zc., &c., encourage these lords and gentlemen rather to follow those vices than to leave them, and that for making of such rhymes rewards are given, ike, for abolishing so henious an abuse, orders be taken, that none of them, from henceforth, do give any manner of reward for any such lewd rhymes, and he that shall offend to pay to the Queen's majesty, double the value of that he shall so pay, and the Rymer that shall make any such rhymes or ditties, shall make fine according to the discretiance of

1 Players at chess, gamesters. => Tellers of tales. 3 Rotul. Patentium, 258, 94.

4 Sheanachies. 5 Harris' edition of Wares' Hibernia, 98.

INTRODUCTION. xlv

commissioners, and that proclamation be made accordingly." That a bard should vent his indignation on occasion of such a stigma, is not to be wondered at. The Hibernian warmth is natural :

" When England would a land enthral, She doomed the muses' sons to fall , Lest Virtue's hand should string the lyre, And feed with song the patriot's fire. Lo ! Cambria's bards her fury feel ; And Erin mourns the bloody steel."

The " factions " which have continued to agitate the Irish peasantry so unhappily to the present day, had an injurious effect on the poetical character, the bards becoming mercenary and sycophantic followers of the great. The poet Spenser, who otherwise had a proper respect for the profession, gives a quaint and curious, but on the whole we may believe, a just picture of the bards.

" They were brought up idly," he says, " without awe of parents, without precepts of masters, and without fear of offence ... for little reward or the share of a stolen cow, they wax most insolent, and half- mad with love of themselves. As of a most notorious thief and wicked outlaw, which had lived all his lifetime by spoils and robberies, one of their bards will say that he was none of the idle milk-sops brought up by the fireside, but that most of his days he spent in arms and valiant enterprises ; that he did never eat his meat, before he had won it with his sword ; that he lay not all night slugging in a cabin under his mantle ; but used commonly to keep others waking to defend their I'ves, and did light his candle at the flame of their houses to lead him in the darkness ; that the day was his night, and the night his day ; that his music was not the harp, nor lays of love, but the cries of people, the clashing of arms, and ' finally,' that he died, not bewailed of many, but making many wail when he died, that dearly bought his death." " Such a song," he adds, " might be purchased for 40 crowns."^

Many who could not themselves compose, acted the rhapsodist, which Buchanan notices as a practice in the Highlands also, and sang the poems of others as a profession. In fact, the bards in Ireland became a public annoyance, and frequent petitions were made for their suppression.

Most part were extremely profligate, and consequently poor, but some became affluent, and renounced a profession become disreputable.^ A genuine bardic feeling animated Richard Roberts, a poor harper, who performed at a late Eisteddvod at Caernarvon, who, on receiving his fee, observed, " this money has been of service for my wants, but it has spoiled my music, for I never play so well for hire, as from my love of the art, and desire to please."

'View of the state of Ireland. - In the book of Fermoy is a collection of mercenary rhapsodies. Lawless.

xxxvi INTRODUCTION.

The poetical bards were first, historical or antiquarian, who sometimes mixed prophecy with their effusions. Their duty was to sing in praise of virtue — to censure vice and immorality, and it was specially permitted them to address the clergy and married ladies upon fitting subjects and in becoming language.

The second class, who were domestic bards, exhorted the people to a strict practice of the social . virtues, and celebrated those who were patterns to others for their upright conduct and patriotism.

The third order, who were denominated the Cleirwr Arwyddveirdd, or heraldic bards, with their other duties, were assigned the composition of poems on amusing and jocular subjects.

After passing through the gradations of the Awen, or muse, the title of bard was conferred, and, retaining the ancient claim of superiority, the addition of ' Ynnys Prydain was always given.

The activity of Welsh genius led them to remodel and refine the bardic institutions with tlie same care as they have cultivated their language, so that in modern times it must exhibit a very different aspect from what it originally displayed. There were eight orders of musicians four of which only were admitted to be bards; the Harper, Crwther, and Singer were regularly invested poets, the Pencerdd being their chief. The four inferior orders were the Piper, the Taborer, the Juggler, and the performers on the humble Crwth with three strings ; the fee of these minstrels was a penny each, and they were to stand during their performance.

The Irish Oirfidigh, or musical order, was in like manner classified, taking their appellations from the instruments on which they performed, of which there were a considerable variety. The following enumeration is given : —

The Ollamh re ceol, or Doctor of music, presided over the band con- sisting of the Crutairaigh who played on the cruit or fiddle. The Ciotairigh, The Tiomponaich, who played on the horn, and the Cuilleanach.

These musicians were of much consequence as a constituent portion of the Fileacht, and being good vocalists, after the introduction of Christianity, they added much to the effect of the bard of choristers for which many abbeys were famed in both islands. It may be observed that as the Welsh held the harp to be the indispensable instrument of a gentleman, so we find many instances of bishops and abbots excelling in their skilful playing. We have a curious intimation in the venerable Bede anent the harp ; he describes an individual who at an entertain- ment being unable to perform on the instrument which was always handed round, slunk away ashamed of his deficiency. Want of a musical taste was accounted an indication of a bad disposition.

INTRODUCTION. xxxvii

The decline and fall of an institution which existed so long, was so widely diffused, and, after the cessation of its direct influence, left so deep an impression on the national character, is a subject of much interest, and affords ample matter for reflection. I>ike all human establishments, it is seen to advance from simplicity and usefulness to refinement, corruption, and decay. The epoch of Christianity was the commencement of druidic decadence ; but with the pertinacity which animates the professors of prescribed opinions, the ancient system was clung to for several subsequent centuries, and, indeed, where full conversion was found impossible, the apostles and missionaries accepted the profession of the Christian faith, with the retention of many of the established superstitions, wisely considering it better to accomplish the great end by judicious conciliation of long-rivetted prejudices. \Vhen the Pagan priesthood was annihilated the bardic branch, as an order of acknowledged utility, retained its place in Celtic society. Many who were touched with zealous fervour in the true religion became clergymen, and were not the less pious, in that they continued to exercise their poetic talents and solace themselves with the melody of the harp.^ So long were the Welsh in abandoning the institutes of Druidism that Prince Hwell, who died in 1 171, invokes the Deity to protect his worship in the groves and circles. This is sufficiently curious, but it is still more so to find that a small society, still existing, allege that they are the descendants, and possess a knowledge of the ancient mysteries of the Druids, which has been transmitted purely by a succession of the initiated who could explain many of the mysterious triads, etc., were they at liberty to divulge their knowledge.^

The Highland traditions are copious on the subject of the fall of the Druids, which, from the particulars related, was not a sacrifice to the cause of Christianity. The frequent wars in which the Scottish tribes were engaged increased the power of the Feargubreith, while it lessened that of the Druid, who had long been the arbiter of all transactions. Treunmor, grandfather of Fin Mac Cumhal, was appointed commander of the Caledonian forces by general election, on which the Druids sent Garmal Mac Tarno requiring the chief to lay down his office, with which order he had the fortitude to refuse compliance. On this a civil war immediately ensued, which, after much bloodshed, ended in the discomfiture of the Druids, whose resistance was so obstinate that few survived the desperate contest. The bards — who it may be readily believed were prone to flatter the powerful and avenge real or imaginary wrongs by the sharpness of invective, being no longer under the salutary control of their superiors, the Druids — became exceedingly presump- tuous, abusing their ample privileges, and drawing on themselves severe

' In Wales the bardic clergy sometimes accompanied the chanting of the service with the harp. ^ Cambrian Mag.

xxxviii INTRODUCTION.

chastisement. The Irish legends detail the circumstances of their expulsion twice before the celebrated Council of Drumceat, held in 580, where the whole order was doomed to p:oscription for their oppressive exactions, having gone so far as to demand the golden brooch which fastened the plaid or cloak of Aodh, the King of Ulster ! The good Columba, the apostle of the Highlands, left his charge in the college of li for the purpose of interposing his influence to avert the destruction of an order which, under proper regulations, was so well suited to the genius of his countrymen, and he was successful in softenijig very materially the severity of their sentence. The bards were on this occasion reduced to the number of 200, one only being allowed to each of the provincial kings and lord of a cantred, and he was enjoined for no cause to prostitute his talents in flattering the vanity of the great or covering vice by adulatory strains. He was to compose and sing to the glory of God, honour of the country, praise of heroes and females, and exaltation of his patron and followers. There was evident necessity for restriction, the numbers having so greatly increased that they were estimated at no less than one-third of the poi)ulation ! The propensity which those who were so highly favoured and possessed such influence, had, like most others, to exceed moderation, required a check. Cupidity, it has been observed, is an inherent passion, and the posses- sion of much begets a desire for more. The bards subjected themselves to much obloquy and dislike by their arrogance and neglect of their proper duties, which eventually led to sundry curtailments of their personal immunities.

In Wales they were not less inclined to abuse their privileges. Several regulations had been passed previous to the time of Gruffudd ab Cynan, who, much concerned to find the bardic profession in disorder, held a congress of all who had any knowledge of the science throughout Wales and Ireland, when a great reformation was accomplished ; the three classes of poets, heralds, and musicians being then instituted, whereas the offices were formerly held by one individual, and they were forbidden to demand the prince's horse, hawk, or greyhound, or any property from others above a reasonable value.

There is a curious account of this notable convention given in an ancient MS. preserved in the library of the Welsh School, London, from which it appears there were four chief judges who decided, with the approbation of the audience, as to forming the song, preserving it in memory, and performing it correctly. The names of the four were \lban ab Cynan Rhydderch the bald, Matholwch the Gwythelian (Gael), ind Alav the songster. Mwrchan, Lord of Ireland, was umpire, and by ais power confirmed the proceedings at Glen Achlach.' The judicious

■ About 1 100. The harp and style of its music were on this occasion introduced from Ireland.

INTRODUCTION. xxxix

improvements introduced at this time were the means of restoring bardism to a sound and flourishing state, which continued until the death of Llewelyn, the last prince, in 1282. From the strictness of these coercive laws it is evident the bards were a little unruly at times. If any one left a party for which he had been engaged, offered an insult to a female, etc., he was fined, imprisoned, and his circuit fees for a proportionate time were forfeited to the church. In fine, although Edward the First actually carried a harper with him to the Holy Land, he subsequently considered the bards a dangerous body ; and although they were retained at the courts of his successors, along with minstrels, whose proper occupation was originally that of historians, yet they certainly gave at times great offence by their freedom and assumption ; hence such enactments were passed as one in 1315, to restrain them from resorting in unreasonable numbers to the houses of the great ; and another by Edward III., which provided that bards who perverted the imagination by romantic tales, and those who were tale-tellers, and seduced the lieges by false reports, should not be entertained in the mansions of the great, or harboured by the people. This is like the decree passed to repress the insatiable curiosity of the ancient Gauls, who were the greatest known encouragers of those who could amuse them with stories — compelling strangers to stop even on the highways, and entertain them with some recital, in consequence of which they were misled by the mendacious tales to which their importunity gave so much encouragement.

Long after the maintenance of a bard as a retainer in a Celtic estab- lishment was confined to these portions of the kingdom, their services continued in partial requisition elsewhere ; but from the advancing change in society, this neglected class with difficulty maintained a degree of respectability, but were obliged to itinerate in considerable numbers, and trust for their support to casual employment by those who made their efforts to please a subject of rude jest. The following no doubt excited a laugh at the expense of the Gael ; it is a curious allusion to their manners by a lowland poet —

" Then cried Mahoun for a hieland padzean, Syn ran a feynd to fetch Makf;idzean,

Far northwart in a nuke ; Be he the coronach had shout, Earse men so gatherit him about,

In hell grit rowm they tuke : That tarmagants in lag and tatter, Full loud in Earse begoud to clatter,

An' rowp like ravin rowk ; The deil sae deivit was wi ther yell. That in the deipest pot of hell

He smorit them wi' smouk." '

'The Daunce. Ramsay's Evergreen, I. p. 246.

1 INTRODUCTION.

moss of time shall grow in Temora ; after the blast of years shall roar in Selma." Fergus, Ullin, Orain, Daol, were his contemporaries, but we know not who was the author of the "Tain bo, Cualgne," a poem co-eval with the epoch of redemption. The Duan Albanach, repeated at the coronation 1056, was formed from some similar record of much higher antiquity.

The era of Ossian is fixed by concurring opinion formed from the evidence contained in the poems in the third century. The composi- tions of several who lived in his own time, as well as the immediately succeeding ages, have come down to our own times, owing their preservation to that peculiar beauty which characterises the works which preceded the full establishment of Christianity. Collections of the Sean-dana have been published under the general affiHation to those ancient bards ; but as it cannot in the case of several pieces be with certainty shown whether it was the "voice of Cona" which gave them being or the others, the descriptive appellation of Ossianic poetry seems an appropriate designation. At the same time it must be observed that the judgment of the Highlanders may in general be relied on. Some of the anonymous poems given in the following collection, although evidently formed by those who had not embraced Christianity, and compositions of acknowledged merit, are nevertheless so far from the ne plus idira of the acknowledged standard of excellence that they are never ascribed to Ossian Mac Fhinn.' The authors of some of those ancient compositions are known as of Mordubh and Collath, but many others are anonymous or of uncertain authorship.

It will scarcely be expected that the question of the authenticity of the poems of Ossian, which so long agitated the literary world, shall be resumed in the pages of this short essay. The ample proofs of the existence of those poems in the oral record of the unlettered Highlanders, as well as in several MSS., long before MacPherson undertook the labour of collecting and translating them, obtained by the searching investigation of the Highland Society and of individuals, have, we should think, settled the controversy to the satisfaction of the unprejudiced. The evidences which the poems were supposed to exhibit of their recent composition, as urged by Laing and others ignorant of the language, have been happily overthrown by natives of the country who well understood the originals, while the correspondence of the chronology of those compositions with the events in Scottish history is an extraordinary proof of their being the genuine production of antiquity.

■ There were others of the name. Those poems in which matters relative to Christianity are introdviced, which are current in Ireland, were in all probability the composition of that Ossian who became St. Patrick's disciple.

INTRODUCTION.

"The history of the bards is perhaps of all others the most extraordinary," is the expression of an eminent writer on poetry and music ; ' and another has said that " on the construction of the old Celtic poetry we want much information."- Since this wish was expressed the subject has been treated by writers qualified by a competent knowledge of the language. The Triads, which form so curious a record, commemorate Tydain, who first made an order and regulation for the record of vocal song ; and it is laid down that there are three requisites for a poetical genius — an eye that can see nature, a heart that can feel it, and boldness that dares to follow it. In Ireland Ceanfaela (who flourished about 500), we are told, wrote or revised what is called the " uraicepht na neagir," or rules for poets, a very useful work, since we find there were upwards of 100 kinds of poetical construction. In " Anglia Sacra " mention is made of a Scot who was acquainted with 100 different sorts of verse, with the modulation of words and syllables to music, to which letters, figures, poetic feet, tone, and time were necessary. ■

The Triads are a sort of oracular stanzas, composed with much art in three lines. This triplet form was not unknown to the Highlanders, but it was more peculiarly Welsh, and appears to be, as is uniformly asserted, the favourite Druidic style. It is generally termed Englyn Milwr, the warrior's song, which points to its use as the "cerdd voliant prosnachadh," or stimulating address which animated the troops in war. It was in this measure doubtless that the famed Unbeniaeth Prydain, or heroic poem called the Monarchy of Britain, was composed. This is now lost ; but it had a wonderful effect on the hearers, referring to the pristine glories of the Britons when they held the sovereignty of the island. It was Eydeyrn, the golden-tongued, in the reign of Gruffudd, Prince of Aberfraw (1258-82), who made an analysis of the metres of vocal song "to be as a record and a code."" Those who wish further information respecting the Welsh bards will be amply gratified by consulting the elaborate works of Jones and Evans. It may be sufificient to say that the three divisions of Englyn, Cywydd, Awdl — close, parallel, and lyric metre — were divided into twenty-four, the last of which was "the masterpiece."

The poetical genius of the Highlanders has been often subject of remark. Pastoral occupations and an Alpine situation are congenial to it. The mountains of Boeotia were the favourite abode of the Muses, and the Arcadians, who were the Highlanders of Peloponnesus, became famous in the most early ages for their poetry and music. The modes of Gaelic versification are various, but on a close examination are not so

' Dr. Brown. » Pinkerton " the Goth."

3ll. p. 213. « Owen's Dictionarj.

lii INTRODUCTION.

numerous as at first would appear. It is evident, however, that the ancient poets did not cramp their genius by adherence to any rule, although there was an attention to rhyme and cadence. In later times the system was rendered intricate and complicated by a curious classification of the letters, in which the Irish particularly distinguished themselves. The Gaelic language is well adapted for poetry, but it cannot, we think, except in a few cases, be successfully scanned according to the rules of Latinists, although this has been attempted.'

In the scarce work of Mr. Davies before referred to, this learned Cambrian — endeavouring to prove that the poems of Ossian, if allowed to be older than the days of our fathers, are the production of an age long posterior to their believed era — enters very particularly into the systems of versification, which his elaborate " Celtic Researches " and intimate acquaintance with such matters enabled him to do with great critical acumen. Nevertheless most of his dicta may be con- fidently repelled. " Rhime," he admits, "was peculiarly known to the Celtse," and with alliteration it formed the true mark of antique composition, with which observations we readily agree. He subse- quently says that alliteration was a more recent invention than rhyme, and that rhyming verses are the nearest resemblance to the style of versification used by the Druids. The Welsh were ignorant of alternate rhymes of quatrains, their poetry being usually of such a form as the following : —

Mor yw gwael gweled, Cyniwro cynnired, Brathau a brithred, Brithwyr ar gerdded.

It is rather surprising that this people should not have this style of versification in their heroic pieces, for which Dryden recommends it as most suited, and in which style the Ossianic poems are generally composed. Mr. Davies's object is to test the antiquity of this poetry, but he does so by a comparison with the Irish system, which he allows to be so full of art and so fanciful that it could not be of ancient origin nor the manner " of any Celtic tribe whatever ! "

The system, as Gaelic scholars know, is by a complex and arbitrary classification of the letters and the strict application of the rule of " caol ri caol, agus leathan ri leathan," short to short, and broad to broad. Mr. Davies acknowledged that their table must have been the work of time, and says the oldest specimen in which he found it in full force was of the time of Queen Elizabeth ; certainly the oldest Gaelic poetry does

I Dr. Armstrong in his excellent dictionary and Mr. Munro in his grammar have reduced the bardic works to this classical mode of testing their merit.

INTRODUCTION. liii

not exhibit this feature. If "both nation versified on the same principle," is there not some inconsistency in saying that the Highlanders were bungling copyists of the Irish ? The roughness ot this charge is, indeed, a little smoothed down by the subsequent admission that whatever they copied they much improved, having, he confesses with unexpected candour, a genius for poetry !

The war-song of Goll he accounts a fair specimen of the poetry of tke age of Ossian. He takes it from an Irish version, and a short specimen will be quite sufficient for a Gaelic scholar to determine whether the Hibernian or Caledonian displays the finest genius or bears the strongest marks of antiquity.

Goll mear mileata Laoch gu Ian ndealbhnaig

Ceap na ciodhachta Reini an richuraibh

Laimh filial arachta Leomhan luatharmach

Mian na mordhasa A leonadh biodhbhaidh

Mui" leim lanteinne Ton ag tream tuarguin

Fraoch nach bhfuarthear Goll nan gnath iorguil, etc.

It is within the range of our observations to consider our author's opinion a little farther. He brings forward many instances of what he terms defective rhyme, but it is evident he was not sufficiently master of his subject, for he errs in supposing that the final syllables ought to rhyme ; it is the penult syllables which do so. He gives four lines which are certainly as perfect rhymes as could be produced.

Triath na trom channa, Briathra bin nihala Mile mear dhanna Dlightheach diongmhala.

Mr. Davies dwells at considerable length on the sounds of the consonants and their combinaiions according to the Irish table; but although he notices Shaw's observation "that the Highland poets, following their example, had also a classification," he does not let his readers know that the two differed. The sound of ch by the Irish is accounted rough ; by the Gael of Alban it is deemed soft, sprightly, forcible, etc. His objections therefore to laoich, which he maintains should be laoigh to agree in character with faoin ; fithich, which ought to be the Irish fiaigh ; oigh and seod and other words, which he asserts do not rhyme, are therefore groundless. He may have satisfied himself and been able to persuade others that the genuine Ossianic poetry is not a production of the Highlanders, because, until late years, they had neither grammars nor dictionaries ; but surely it will not be gravely maintained that the grammarian preceded the poet ! Ingenious persons would endeavour to reduce to rule, and innovate upon, or improve the acknowledged, although sometimes rather obscure laws of verse, but

liv INTRODUCTION

they no more formed those original laws than Shaw formed the language of which he first gave the " Analysis." The Irish poetical letter-table was not thought perfect until little more than 260 years ago. Mr. Davies allows the very ancient rann on the Lia-fail, or palladium of Scotland, to rhyme very well, although he suspects it to be Irish ; but in truth so much time should not have been given to the consideration of his objections to the authenticity of these poems did not his defiance call for some reply and the weight of so great an authority require it, the subject at the same time being so appropriate to that in hand. Both nations versified on the same principle, and as few countries produce a Homer or an Ossian it is not surprising that there should be contending claims for the honour of their birthplace. It no doubt astonished the antiquaries of other countries to find that such extra- ordinary compositions should be the production of " a people who had never boasted of their literary treasures," but our learned objector could not find many, except among the hopelessly prejudiced, to believe that *' the Scotch poems are the trivial songs of the illiterate peasant in the reign of George III. ! " To close these remarks, we are happy to insert Mr. Davies's own opinion of the same poems, which doubtless was not hastily formed, being expressed in more elegant language than we could readily command or becomingly use for ourselves.

"The Fingal and Temora, upon subjects so interwoven with the feelings of the people, set this corner of the island far above poetic competition, not only with any Celtic tribe, but we may almost say with any nation in Europe. What people now existing can boast of epic poems so interesting, so original, so replete with generous sentiment, and at the same time so nationally appropriate? The man who believes himself descended from Fingal, from either of his heroes, or even from the nation which produced such characters, must be a degenerate wretch indeed if he can do otherwise than think nobly and act honourably." '

Previous to displaying more particularly the beauties of the Gaelic bards, their system of versification requires to be more fully developed ; but it is a difticult task to convey a clear idea of that which is so much "sui generis" and constructed on principles in many cases at entire variance with the laws which govern in other languages. The variety of measure in Gaelic poetry is not more remarkable than its complication of rhythm and cadence, often presenting a wild excellence which, to those unacquainted with the language, appears to be a perfectly lawless arrangement of lines. Some of the early productions of untutored

' Besides several literal and versified translations in English, the Poems of Ossian have appeared in Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Danish, Swedish, etc.

INTRODUCTION. Iv

bards, and even portions of the Ossianic poetry, are in verse so irregular as to present the aspect of disjointed prose. The natural flow of the passions is not restrained by attention to measure or adherence to rule, and events which produce strong mental agitation are not likely to be commemorated in soft, flowing, and well-adjusted lines. The ancient bards do not appear to have composed under any fixed laws of versification, yet the wildest effusions were not without a certain rule ; their poems, although in blank verse, had a peculiar adjustment of cadence and feet, easily discoverable to a practical ear.

Polymetra, or verses of different measures, employed according to the poet's taste or feeling — a style capable of being rendered extremely effective— is held to be the first form of composition, and has been frequently used by both the ancient and modern Gael. It was adopted by other nations, and successfully practised by the French and Spaniards. In England it is first seen in the works of Ben Johnson.'

Much of the Gaelic poetry might be scanned, but a great deal of it cannot be properly subjected to this classical test by the most ingenious ; and yet a Celtic ear will tell that it is good. We are of opinion that the rules for scanning, by which Latin verses are governed, are alien to the Gaelic, which certainly does not owe the art of poetry to the Romans. The concord does not always depend on the coincidence of final words, but rests on some radical vowel in corresponding words, and these not terminal alone, but recurring in several places throughout the verse, which will be best understood from examples.

Muir, cuir ; each, creach ; gleann, beann, etc., are quite perfect, but in fios, gion ; lamh, bas ; feidh, sleibh ; beur, speur, etc., the rhyme is in the corresponding vowels. In the same poem, especially if ancient, we frequently meet with good regular versification, and portions in which there is no rhyme at all; indeed, in one piece, there are often various sorts of verse.

Rhyming lines which are thought to be the nearest resemblance to the style of versification used by the Druids are common.

Bha geal-lamh air clarsach thall ; Chunnaic mi a gorm-shuil mall Mar ghlan thaibhs an iomairt a' trial! Le Cheilte an cearb nan dubh niall.

Tighmora, Duan IV. Vol. III. p. 52.

Here is a specimen of alternate rhymes which exemplifies their independence of the final consonants. The cadence in the middle of the line is also observable : —

' See Transactions of Irish .\cadeniy.

IVi INTRODUCTION.

O ! m' anani faic an ribhinn Og, ' '" "

Fo sgeith an daraich, righ nam flath,

'S na lamh shneachd meisg a ciabhan oir,

'S a meall-shuil chiuiii air ug a griidh.

Esan a' seinn ri taobh 's i balbh, Le cridhe leum, 'sa snamh 'na chOol, An gaol bho shuil gu suil a falbh, Cuir stad air feidh nan sleibhtean nior.

Miann a Bhoird aosda, p. i8.

Heroic verse is usually of seven, eight, nine, or more syllables.

Again : —

Latha do Phadruic na nihur Gun sailm air uigli ach ag ol Chaidh e thigh Oisein 'ic Fhinn On san leis bu bhinn a gloir.

Ossian.

Na h-eoineanan boidheach a's Ordamail ponng, Stn marceach nan sranneach a's farrumach ceum.

MacLachlan.

Some modes of versification are very singular, having a curious concord of vowels, without alliteration, running through the whole, and occurring in different parts of the lines, forming compound rhymes ; for example : —

Sin fliuil bhan cuisl' ar SINNSEAK,

San INXSGINN a bha nan aignQ

A dh' fhagadh dhuinn mar dhu.ik.

Bhi RIOGHAIL : be sin am Vaidir. p. 142.

Again : —

Is mor a ghreis a thug na seoid 'Sna SLOiGH a coinhead an euch Ian ; Ach chlaon iad araon air an fhraoch, 'S fail CHRAobhach a ruith o' n creuchdinhh.

Morduth.

Besides the regular rhymes there is a sort of melodious cadence pervading the verse, which, of course, is more or less beautiful according to the genius of the poet. The following anonymous composition shows the harmonious adaptation of the language for versification ; it seems to flow with the greatest facility in the happiest agreement of rhythm and measure. It is usually sung to the fine old air of "Johnny's grey breeks."

A nighean donn na b?/aile Gam bheil an gh/asad fARusda, Gun tug mi gaol co bwan duit. 'Snach gl?/ais e air an F.ARrach so ;

INTRODUCTION. Ivii

Mheall thu mi le d' shiigradh

Le d' bhriodal a" le d' chiiine,

Liib thu mi mar fhiiiran,

'S cha diichas domb bhi fALLain ?/aith.

Here is another specimen of a similar style : —

Fhuair mi sgeula moch dicedin

Air laimh fheunia bha gu creuchdacli,

'S leor a gheurad aims An leflmsa

Anal on trend bha b?/aghar.

O Dhun Garanach ur allail

Na'n trup meara' s na'n steucl seanga,

Na'n gleus glana s' ceutach sealladh,

Reichdail allaidii //aibhreach.

Mary MacLeod, better known as Nighean Alastair ruadh, the daughter of red Alexander, had so fine a genius that she appears to have struck out some new measures. Here are two specimens of a very

plaintive cast :-

Righ ! gur muladacli 'tha mi, 'S mi gun mliire gun mhanran, Anns an talla 'm bu gna le Mac-Leoid, Righ gur, etc.

Taigh mor macnasach, meaghrach. Nam niacaibh 's nam maigedean. Far 'm bu tartarach gleadhraich nan corn, Taigh mor, etc.

See p. 27.

Tha mo dhuils' ann an Dia, Guir muirneach do thriall, Gu Dim ud nan cliar. Far bu duthchas do' m thriath, Bhiodh gu fiughantach fiall foirnieii, Bhiodh gu, etc.

See p. 34.

The following variety is by the celebrated John MacDonald, not Iain Lorn, but Iain dubh Mac Iain 'ic Ailein, the Eigg bard : —

Si so 'n aimsir an dearbhar

An targanach dhuinn, 'S bras meinmnach fir Alba

Fon armaibh air thus ; Nuir dh' eireas gach treun-laoch

Na' n eideadh ghlan ur, Le run feirg agus gairge

Ge seirbhis a chruin,

Donchadh Ban, or Doncan Maclntyre, the boldness and originality of whose conceptions, clothed in poetry of the most genuine excellence,

Iviii INTRODUCTION.

unassisted by the slightest education, have obtained for him a comparison with Ossian himself, offers many a beauty scattered profusely throughout his numerous works. In that admirable poem called Beinn Dourain he has adapted the verses to the piobaireachd notes, commencing with the urlar, the groundwork or air ; the second part is the suibhal or quickening, arranged in a different measure, to which succeeds the crun-luath, swifter running music, to which a suitable measure is likewise adapted. It is a curious effort, and his model seems to have been an older piece which accompanied Moladh Mairi, the praise of Mary, otherwise the MacLachlan's salute.

His lines are extremely mellifluous, and his compositions show a great poetical versatility. Let us present a verse of his Coirre-Cheathaich, scanned according to Dr. Armstrong.

'S ft' mhadftinn | chii'iiii gheftl, | hnn am dhonih | dusgftdh,

Aig bun nfi | st/?/Ve | b e'n s/Fgrftdh | leani,

A chearc IS | sgiuc&n \ a gabhSil | tuchftin,

'Sfl.n coileich | c/?/rteil | ftg dilrdkW \ trom.

An dreathan | sCirdail, | 's ft ribhid | ch\it\ ftige,

A cur nftn | smCi/d dbeth | gu luthftr | binn ;

An truz'd s&m | bru dheftrg | le moriin unaich,

Re ceileir | s.!?nntftch | bii shi^?bhlftch | rann.

The measure is repeated at every second line. It will be observed that there is an agreement in sound between the first syllable of the second and third foot — in the second and third lines, between the first syllable of the second, and the middle of the third foot.

His beautiful song to Mairi bhan 6g, fair young Mary, "so often imitated, but never equalled," is another captivating beauty in the composition of " Fair Duncan of the songs."

In the fourth book of Fingal is the war song, prosnachadh, or exhortation, which the bard chanted to inspirit the renowned Gaul when engaged in the heat of a desperate battle. So expressive is the language, and with such skill did the bard compose his address, that the very sound echoes the sense; it could never, we apprehend, be mistaken, even by one totally unacquainted with the Gaelic, for a gentle pastoral. An English translation is given, which is not so elegant as that by MacPherson, but it is more literal, and will, therefore, be considered more fair, i.e., if it were from this version he translated.

I. I.

A nihacain cheann, Offspring of chiefs,

Nan ciirsan srann, Of snorting chiefs,

Ard leumnach, Righ nan sleagh. High bounding, King of spears !

II. II.

Lamh threun 's gach cas ; Strong hand in every trial ;

Cridhe ard gun sgk ; Proud heart without dismay,

Ceann airm nan rinn geur-goirt. Chief of the host of deadly, sharp weapons.

INTRODUCTION.

lix

HI.

Gearr sios gvi bas,

Gun bharc sheol ban,

Bhi snamh ma dhubh Innistoir,

III.

Slay down to death, That no white-sailed bark May sail by dark Inistore.

IV.

Mar ihairneanach bhail

Do bhuille, a laoich !

Do shuil mar chaoir ad cheanii.

IV.

Like the thunder of destruction,'

By thy stroke, O hero !

Thy darting eye like the flaming bolt.

Mar charaic chruinn, Do chridhe gun roinn ; Mar lasair oidhch* do lann.

As the firm rock.

Unwavering be thy heart ;

As the flame of night be thy sword.

VI.

•Cum suas do sgia, Is crobhuidhe nial, Mar chith bho reull a bhais.

VI.

Uplift thy shield, Of the hue of blood, Portentous star of death.

vn. A mhacan ceann, Nan ciirsan stann, Sgrios naimhde sios gu lar.

VII.

Offspring of the chiefs,

Of snorting steeds.

Cut down the foe to earth.

In the poem entitled Conn' is preserved an incantation or invoca- tion to Loda the .Scandinavian deity, which seems to partake of the stern character of northern poetry, and has but a very slight approxi ma- lion to rhyme in the final syllables.

Cheo na Lanna

Aom nan 'cara ;

'S buair an cadal,

Chruth Loda nan leir-chreach.

Sgap do dhealan ;

Luaisg an lalamh ;

Buail an anam :

'S na maireadh ne beo dhiubh.

The Duan Albanach is on a subject which did not admit of any copious introduction of the graces of poetry. A portion of it will nevertheless be thought curious, as exhibiting a production of the middle age, presuming that the bard who repeated it in 1056 was the author, in Gaelic of an orthography now rather obsolete. There are 27 verses, of which the following are the first and last : —

A eolcha Alban uile, A shluagh feta folt bhuidhe, Cia ceud ghabhail an eol duil)h, Ro ghabhustar Alban lihruigh.

' Qr. of Ba'il ?

" Smith's Gallic Antiquities.

Ix INTRODUCTION.

Da Righ for chaogad, cluiiie, Go mac Donncha dreach ruire, Do shiol Eric ardgloin a noir, Ghabhsad Albain, a eolaigh.'

One of the most curious alliterative poems is that composed by Lachlan mbr Mac Mhuireach, bard to MacDonald of the Isles, to animate his troops at the battle of Harlaw, fought 141 1. The bard gives a part for every letter of the alphabet, and each contains the most felicitous collection of epithets under the respective letter. Towards the end the strict alliteration is abandoned, and the piece concludes as usual in heroic poems, with the opening lines which call on the children of Conn, "of the hundred battles," to behave with becoming hardihood in the day of strife.'' A portion will be found p. 69.

Another selection from " the voice of Conn " will exemplify the freedom with which the ancient bards versified, presenting events in the most impressive language without restraining the flow of the muse for the mere sake of making the lines " clink," as Burns would say.

Mar cheud gaoth an daraig Mhoirbheinn,

Mar cheud sruth o thorr nan aonach,

Mar neoil a' curadh gu dubhlaibh,

Mar chuan mor air traigh a' taomadli,

Cho leathean, beucach, dorcha, borb,

Thachair laoich fo cholg air Lena.

Bha gairm an t-sluaigh air cruach nam beann,

Mar thorrunn an oidhch' nan sian,

'N uair bhriseas nial Chona nan gleann

'S mile taibhs' a' sgreadadh gu dian

Air gaoith, fhaoin, fhiar, nan earn.

Ghluais an Righ na' neart gu hiath,

Mar thannas Threinmhoir, fuath gun bhaigh,

'N uair thig e' n crom-osag nan stuadh

Gu Morbheinn, tir sinns're a ghraidh.

Here in some parts the final syllables rhyme extremely well ; in others there appears no such agreement. The fifth and eleventh lines prove how truly Mr. MacLean speaks in his " History of the Celtic Language," when he says it is the voice of nature — an echo, reflection, or vocal painting, so to speak, of passion and action. Celtic versifica- tion is indeed one of the most venerable remains of European literature, and its correspondence with the Hebrew style indicates the most remote antiquity.

■ Rerum Hib. scriptores veteres.

»The farm, heretofore Muir of Harlaw, is on the north side of the river Urie, about 17 English miles from Aberdeen. It is in the Gariach or rough district, whence the battle is called by the Highlanders *' cath gariach." On the field of conflict were to be seen the sepulchral cairns of the slain — MacLean, M'Intosh, etc., but the industrious utilitarian now raises his crops on the soil which enwraps the undistinguished remains of the gallant warriors who fell in that well-contested field.

INTRODUCTION. Ixi

This extract is truly one of the bardic beauties, but no translation can do it justice. MacPherson was certainly deeply imbued with the spirit which animated those who composed the poems he rendered into English, and although not always strictly literal, they are undoubtedly the most happy attempts to convey in one language the feelings displayed in another. He thus translates the passage : —

" As a hundred winds on Morven ; as the streams of a hundred hills ; as clouds fly successive over heaven ; as the dark ocean assails the shore of the desert — so roaring, so vast, so terrible, the armies mixed on Lena's echoing heath. The groan of the people spread over the hills ; it was like the thunder of night, when the clouds burst on Cona, and a thousand ghosts shriek at once on the hollow wind. Fingal rushed on in his strength, terrible as the spirit of Treunmor, when in a whirlwind he comes to Morven to see the children of his pride." '

How much has the Celtic poet here made of a simple battle — what striking accessories he has introduced, and what grandeur of simile he has employed, to impart a conception of the fiercest of fights in which his hero appears so conspicuously ! In " revolving a slender stock of ideas," how admirably he has here availed himself of his scanty imagery !

It would certainly be impossible to preserve in any translation the native simplicity, force, and beauty of Gaelic poetry. To those acquainted with the language the representations are highly graphic and often sublime ; but the feeling and felicity of description could not be clothed in an English dress without lamentable deterioration. Could MacDonald's lorram for instance be translated so as to carry all its force of expression with it ? Language is used to convey ideas and express action and feeling. In a primitive tongue it does so emphatically to a natural mind ; when society becomes artificial language undergoes a similar change. It is to be regretted that to the English reader the beauties in this work will be almost unknown, except from the instances submitted in this introduction, and they are merely sufficient to convey a general idea of the peculiar merit of Celtic poetry. The language is no doubt happily adapted for metrical composition, but the people possess a poetical genius, in no incon- siderable degree diffused throughout the community ; for it is a fact that numerous bards were perfectly illiterate, some of the sweetest being

■ A translator may lose the spirit and sense of an author if too metaphrastic ; \vc shall, however, be forgiven for making a few remarks on the above, prestmiing it was the original from which the translation was made. The oaks of Morven are forgotten in the first line ; Borb is more correctly — dorcha, darkening is omitted. The gairm was not a groan or cry of affright, but the battle-shout of defiance. For the " hollow wind," the eleventh line would be more literally "on the idle, eddying wind of the cairn." It is curious to find sinns're, ancestors, instead of progency ! These unimportant criticisms can never deteriorate from the just fame of MacPherson, and are by no means penned in a spirit of detraction.

Ixii INTRODUCTION.

ignorant of the ABC. Duncan Maclntyre is a celebrated instance^ and a long list of others who lived in comparative obscurity could be given, many of them in the humblest walks of life. The feeling which animated these plebeian composers was reciprocated by the taste of their countrymen, and many a popular song is the work of obscure or unknown peasants and seafaring men. Such are Fhir a bhata. Air mo run geal bg, and numerous others. The rebellions, particularly that conducted by Tearlach og Stiuart, 1 745, inspired many an individual of both sexes with poetic fervour, who never, before or after, felt the same irresistible impulse to invoke the muse.

The Gaelic poetry and music are usually of a melancholy cast, and this has been attributed to the atrabilious temperament of a depressed people. Such a character is surely unsuitable to a people who have been characterised as liigh-spirited, proud, and pugnacious. Yet the tender and affecting poems of the ancient bards and the titles of popular airs have been considered as satisfactory proofs of the justice of the assertion.' The unhappy situation of Ossian will fully account for the plaintive character of most of his pieces, but admitting that the muses are most frequently invoked in seasons of trouble and adversity,, and that in general the poems are of that gloomy and sorrowful cast, it will show undoubtedly a keenness of sensibility towards affliction, yet it will not follow that the Highlanders are naturally a querulous, dejected people. Poems commemorative of calamity and distress took stronger hold on the memory, and more powerfully excited the feelings than those of an opposite character, according well with a grave and reflective race. Dr. Beattie speaks thus on the subject : — " The Highlands are a picturesque, but in general a melancholy country. Long tracts of mountain desert, covered with dark heath, and often obscured by misty weather; narrow valleys thinly inhabited and bounded by precipices,, resounding with the fall of torrents ; a soil so rugged and climate sO' dreary as in many parts to admit neither the amusements of pasturage nor the labours of agriculture ; the mournful dashing of waves along the friths and lakes that intersect the country ; the portentous noises which every change of the wind, and every increase or diminution of the waters, is apt to raise in a lonely region, full of echoes and rocks and caverns ; the grotesque and ghastly appearance of such a landscape b) the light of the moon ; objects like these diffuse a gloom over the fancy, which may be compatible enough with occasional and social merriment^ but cannot fail to tincture the thoughts of a native in the hour of silence and solitude. What then would it be reasonable to e.xpect from the fanciful tribe, from the musicians and poets of such a region — strains expressive of joy, tranquility, or the softer passions ? No ; their

I IJauiicv — Ancient Scottish Mt-lodie.? : a curious and valuable work.

INTRODUCTION. Ixiii

style must have been better suited to their circumstances ; and so we find in fact that their music is. The wildest irregularity appears in its composition ; the expression is warlike and melancholy, and approaches even to the terrible.

No doubt there is much truth in this, but it will not account for a similar character in the composition of the Irish, whose country is com- paratively champaign, and who are blessed with a genial climate and fruitful soil. Whence also the plaintive and tender melodies of the low country and southern counties of Scotland ? But people were imbued with the same feelings — they used the same musical scale to poetry, constructed on the same principle.

The prevalence of poems which detail the calamities of war, deaths of heroes, disappointments of lovers, ravages of storms, disasters at sea, etc., with melodies suitable to such lamentable subjects, shows that tragic events leave a deep and enduring impression ; while convivial, humorous and satiric effusions are usually forgotten with the persons or incidents from which they arose." The bards sought not to avoid the melancholy vein — they rather gave way to the feeling, and in this mood many of their best productions were executed. " Pleasant is the joy of grief! it is like the shower of spring when it softens the branch of the oak, and the young leaf lifts its green head." That mind must be little susceptible of the softer feelings of human nature which does not sympathise with the poet in the recital of a moving tale of woe. The sensitive bards are represented as at times bedewing the harp-strings with their tears while repeating the sad story which the sterner chiefs could not listen to unmoved. A bard of A\'ales, about 1450, describes a similar effect.

" The harper blest with lofty muse, His harp in briny flood imbrues."

"Cease the lightly trembling sound. The joy of grief belongs to Ossian amid his dark-brown years. Green thorn of the hill of ghosts that shakest thy head to nightly winds ; I hear no sound in thee ; is there no spirit's windy skirt now rustling in thy leaves? Often are the steps of the dead in the dark-eddying blasts, when the moon, a dun shield from the east, is rolled along the sky.'''' Beautifully does the bard again express himself. " I am alone at Lutha. INIy voice is like the last sound of the wind when it forsakes the woods. But Ossian shall not be long alone. He sees the mist that shall receive his ghost — he beholds the cloud that shall form his robe, when he appears on his hills. The sons of feeble men shall behold me, and admire the stature

• It must strike a student in the poetry of the Highlanders as remarkable that it exhibits much more to indicate the state of hunters than of shepherds or agriculturists.

» Tighmora, 404.

Ixiv INTRODUCTION.

of the chiefs of old ; they shall creep to their caves.'" The closing portion of the aged bard's wish is of a similar cast. See page i8.

The generous sentiments which animated the Caledonian heroes are worthy of the brightest age of chivalry,

' * Fuil mo nanih cha cV iaras riamh Nam bu mhiaiin leis triall an sith."

"The blood of my foe I never sought if he chose to depart in peace." Female beauty was a very congenial subject for bardic eulogium. The berries of the mountain-ash afforded a simile for the complexion of health, and snow, or the Canach, the white, flossy down of a plant which grows in moors and marshy ground, with the plumage of the swan for the fairness of the skin.

" Bu ghile bian na canach sleibhte, No ur-sneachd air bharra gheuga.*' ^

"The star of Gormluba was fair. White were the rows within her lips, and like the down of the mountain under her new robe was her skin. Circle on circle formed her fairest neck. Like hills beneath their soft snowy fleeces rose her two breasts of love. The melody of music was in her voice. The rose beside her lip was not red ; nor white beside her hand the foam of streams. Maid of Gormluba, who can describe thy beauty ! Thy eyebrows, mild and narrow, were of a darkish hue ; thy cheeks were like the red berry of the mountain-ash. Around them were scattered the blossoming flowers on the bough of the spring. The yellow hair of Civadona was like the guilded top of a mountain when golden clouds look down upon its green head after the sun has retired. Her eyes were bright as sunbeams ; and altogether perfect was the form of the fair. Heroes beheld and blessed her."

What a poetical picture of a vessel in a gale does Alexander Mac- Donald in his Prosnachadh Fairge or stimulus to a Biorlin's crew, give us : the imagined bellowing and roaring of the monsters of the deep, whose brains were scattered on every wave by the prow, the boat being damaged in the furious collision ! etc., evince a truly imaginative genius.

The old bards called Echo "the son of the rock "— Maclntyre's "ghost of sound" is much more poetical.

There is fortunately less necessity for extending the number of examples, inasmuch as the bardic " beauties " are so liberally spread before the reader in the succeeding pages : yet before closing our extracts it will not be accounted a digression to give a short specimen from the compositions of the sister-kingdom. " The Songs of Deardra " are held by the Irish to be of equal, if not greater, antiquity than those

» Berrathon^ * Bas Airt 'ic Ardair. Smith's Antiquities, 350.

INTRODUCTION. Ixv.

of Selma. As the poetry of a kindred people, it is similar in character ; but those who are conversant with the subject of ancient Gaelic versifi- cation and its peculiar idioms will be able to say whether it carries the mark of so remote an era as is claimed for it,

I. II.

Soraidh soir go h Albain uaim, larla maithe Albann ag ol,

Faith maith radharc cuan is gleann, Is clann Uisneach dar coir cion,

Fare clann Uisneach a seilg, Dingean thiarna Dhun na Ttreoin,

Aobhinn sughe os leirg a mbeann. Gu thig Naoise pog gan fhios, etc.

" Farewell for ever, fair coasts of Albion, your bays and vales shall no more delight me. There oft I sat upon the hill, with Usno's sons, and viewed the chase below. The chiefs of Albion met at the banquet. The valiant sons of Usno were there and Naesa gave a kiss in secret to the fair daughter of the chief of Duntroon. He sent her a hind from the hill and a young fawn running beside it. Returning from the hosts of Inverness he visited her by the way. My heart was filled with jealousy when I heard the news. I took my boat and rushed upon the sea, regardless whether I should live or die," etc' This is the " Clan Uisneachan " of the Highlanders.

A few passages, too, from Cumraeg poets, will serve for comparison with their brother-bards among the Gael. David ap Guilym, who is called the Welsh Ovid, flourished about 1370. His Ode to the Sun is a feeble effort compared with that of Osrian, and is less striking than those by Milton or Thomson. The allusions are commonplace, as " ruler of the sky," " ornament of summer," " looking on the manly race of Cambrians," etc., David ap Edmwnt, about 1450, composed a Monody on Sion Eos, a bard who was executed for manslaughter. The poet makes good use of the epithet Eos, nightingale, which was given for his mellifluous strains, and he sorely laments that the unfortunate man was not tried by the impartial law of Howel the Good, which would have found the act justifiable. " A man," says David, " punished for an act in his own defence ! Let misfortune fall on such as fail therein — of evils the lesser the better. Is the soul of the slain made happier, or his ghost appeased by life for life as an atonement? . . . Neither the passions of man, nor the virtue of angels was unmoved by the melody of his harp, which whirled the soul upon wings of ecstasy. . . . What have I said ? they deprived him of life : he has life — their verdict only changed the scene of mortality for that of immortality. Their wilful judgment will have no effect in that court of equity, which is held at the gates of heaven. He now sings before the throne of mercy with an incorruptible harp," etc. It seems the weight of John the Nightingale

1 Nalson, Introduction to the Irish language — i8o8. Another version is given by Gillies.

/

Ixvi. INTRODUCTION.

in gold was offered for his ransom, but the days were long gone when the law would be satisfied with an eric of any amount for such a crime.

Sion Tudor, who lived about 1580, is the author of an elegy on the death of twenty poets and musicians who departed this life in his own time. He names each individual with varied terms of praise and regret. The expressions are peculiarly bardic, and approximate to those of a much older generation. " It was God's pleasure," he observes, " to send for these men to hold a feast with him in heaven ; may their souls enjoy the celestial mansion ! Peace to their shades ; their Hke will never more be seen. They are gone to their heavenly abode ; let us hasten to follow." '

There is a decidedly Celtic and pleasing vein in these compositions^ • but there is not wild grandeur and elevated sentiment, that originality of conception and nervous expression which characterise the works of the Gaelic bards.

The Celtic poems were framed by the bard to suit the melody of the harp, the instrument sacred to the order ; and to its music they were sung — a music simple and natural, which long preceded the artificial and complicated. The peculiarity of the Scottish scale is well known as the enharmonic, consisting of six notes in the key of C, with C D E G A C, corresponding to the black keys in a piano. Defective as this scale may appear to be, it is admirably suited to express the passions in the effective tones of nature, the harmony of which is felt long previous to the adoption of scientific rules, and it strengthens our arguments for the unity of the ancient inhabitants of Scotland, that the melodies of the high and low country are invariably formed on the same scale and possess the same character. The larger harp was strung with wire and was the clarsach of the Gael, the lesser being the cruit.

Cambrensis describes the Irish performances on this Celtic mstrument in terms of great praise ; and, had he visited North Britain he would have had no reason to speak otherwise of the Scottish harping,

" The attention of this people to musical instruments I find worthy of commendation ; ^he was a bard himself,) in which their skill is beyond all comparison superior to any nation I have ever seen," etc. And he then describes the music as being quick, not slow and solemn as that of Britain, yet at the same time sweet and pleasing. Girald entertained a strong dislike to the Irish, which adds to the value of his favourable testimony. Major, the Scottish historian, who was rather willing to underrate his " upthrough " countrymen, in speaking of the musical acquirements of James I., says, in performing on the harp, he excelled the Hibernians or Highlanders, who were the best of all players on it,^

1 Jones. One of those commemorated, is David ap Hywell Grigor.

2 Book VI. Ilibernienses aut sylvestres Scotos. The sylvestrian Scots were the Cearnaech a choile, the Highlanders of the woods, a term formerly applied to these

INTRODUCTION. Ixvii.

Roderick Morrison, better known as Rorie dall, being blind, was the last professional harper in the Highlands. He lived about 140 years ago, was of a respectable family and well educated, three brothers being clergymen.^

The Ossianic class of poetry is usually sung or chanted in a kind of recitative, executed with the gravity due to such revered compositions. An old Highlander considered it becoming to take off his bonnet when reciting them, and the term laoidh, hymn, by which many are distin- guished, indicates the veneration with which they were regarded. The Highlanders were accustomed to sing at all their employments and it was an excellent stimulus, serving also to relieve the irksomeness of labour. Those Highlanders of Greece, the Arcadians, were remarkable for a similar practice, and it is thus very rationally accounted for by an ancient historian, whose observations are strikingly applicable to the Gael. " Singing is useful to all men, but truly necessary to the Arcadii, who undergo great hardships ; for as the country is rugged, their seasons inclement, and their pastoral life hard, they have only this way of rendering nature mild and bearable ; therefore they train up their children from their very infancy, until they are at least thirty years of age, to sing hymns in honour of gods and heroes. It is no disgrace to them to be unacquainted with other sciences, but to be ignorant of music is a great reproach, etc.3 We have a very curious account of the vocal attainments of the people by Giraldus, from which it appears they understood counterpoint ! " In the northern parts of Britain, the inhabitants use, in singing, less variety than the Welsh. They sing in two parts, one murmuring in the bass, the other warbling in the treble. Neither of the two nations acquired this by art, but by long habit which has made it familiar and national, and it is now uimsual to hear a simple and single melody well sung, and what is more wonderful, their children from infancy sing in the same manner ! "

There is nothing more remarkable in the Gaelic mode of singing, than the repetitions of a verse, one or two lines, or sometimes a part of one in chorus, which adds much to the effect, and is a great means of diffusing a knowledge of songs, since by repeatedly joining in them, the

active warriors. Hardiman, a compiler of Irish poetry who delivers himself with sufficient confidence on matters extremely doubtful, says, "Ireland gave its music to Scotland ! " with equal justice the assertion may be made in the exact reverse, but would it prove the fact? Speaking of the harp mentioned in the ancient poem which had passed through so many hands; "this," says Mr. H., "like every other research connected with the natives of the Highlands, leads to their Irish origin." If any discovery were made to prove this notion, it would save authors from filling their pages with much unmeaning observation, and groundless and illiberal conceit. If we thought the acerbity of feeling in Mr. Davies unbecoming, how could we have grappled with O'Reilly, whose work on the same sore subject, displays so transcendent a share of national prejudice !

^ See Gunn's able work on the use of the harp in the Highlands.

3PoIybius IV,

Ixviii. INTRODUCTION.

whole must soon be impressed on the memory. These tunes or Luinigs are simple and touching, and the effect in a harvest-field is particularly pleasing. The person who sings leaves the chorus to the others, who all join, the leader taking up each succeeding verse.

The lorrams or boat-songs are those by which seafaring men likewise alleviated the labour of rowing and managing the vessel, keeping time by the motion of the oars, and relieving the singer by carrying out the chorus. When at home, and at social entertainments, the whole company join hands or modulate time by plaids and handkerchiefs passed from one to another. All these songs were formed for the harp or the voice alone — there could be no vocal accompaniment to the bagpipe.

There is a very curious method of singing peculiar to the Welsh. It is called Penillion, and consists in adapting verses to the harper's tunes while performing, without any previous knowledge of the order in which they will follow, and it is thus performed, as we have observed at a bardic Eisteddvod. A harper is brought forward, and around him are seated several persons who are the Penill singers. He commences playing, when one of the party joins him by a song — the harper presently changes the tune ; the other as promptly alters his verse, and when he chooses to stop, another takes up the air, and so it goes round. But the true penillion is the extemporary production of a verse or verses to the tune, and it is remarkable that this improvisitorial feat is frequently accomplished with astonishing success, by persons quite illiterate. Many of those "poetical blossoms"' display great command of language and considerable genius.'

After the period when Ossian, Orain, Ullin, F'ergus, Fonar, Douthal, and other unknown bards flourished, which reaches to the union of the Pictish and Scottish kingdoms, there seems to have been for a long time few poets of any note. About the end of the 15th century, a revival took place ; and, since then, numerous bards of acknowledged excellence have from time to time appeared, besides those of lesser

' Walter in Dissert, de Bardis, gives a couplet which he pronounces grand.

' ' Tan a dvvr yn ymwriaw,

Yw'r taranau dreigiau draw." The roaring thunder, dreadful in its ire, Is water warring with aerial fire.

Many of these epigrammatic stanzas are preserved. The following on a silkworm is curious as being formed without a consonant.

O'i wiw wy i weu e a, aia weuau

O' i wyau y weua ;

E weua ei we aia

A'i, weuau yw ieuau ia !

I perish by my art ; dig my own grave ; I spin my thread of life ; my death I weave I

INTRODUCTION. Ixvix.

note whose songs were of too local and circumscribed a range for general popularity. Had any compositions of sufificient worth been produced in this dark interval in the history of Highland bardism, they would no doubt have been handed down, like those of older date.

In this essay, to illustrate that distinguished order in Celtic society, the bards — the system under which they so long flourished, beneficially exerting their accorded power, a picture has been given, rather of that which formerly existed, than what could have been witnessed in many by-gone generations. It was among the Gael, • that the primitive manners and usages were preserved, when elsewhere they were suppressed or amalgamated with those of the conquerors. Under pretence of abolishing a mischievous superstition, the Emperors pro- hibited the practice of druidism ; but although the " Romans carried their gods as far as they did their eagle, they were not able to extend the one or the other over the mountains of Caledonia." Little, how- ever, it has been seen, is to be found here or elsewhere concerning this religious belief. Most of the historians, who allude to druidism, flourished when the phenomenon had nearly disappeared, and "all that they have done, serves only to excite our curiosity without satisfying it, and to make us regret the want of a history, which seems to have been replete with instruction and entertainment."

If the age of bardism, in its primary sense, is gone, it is satisfactory to preserve a memorial of what it was, and evidence of its present state. In the following pages are the flowers and blossoms of Gaelic poetry, culled with careful discrimination, and without the encumbrance of redundant stems and foliage.

The piper is now held in the same esteem as the harper of old, and his performance is a noble substitute for the softer strains of the clarsach ; but would not a bard in his multifarious office, combining poet, historian, genealogist, etc., be a useful and becoming personage in the train of a chief? At a Highland banquet about fifty years ago, a call was made for the bards to be brought to the upper end of the room. "The bards are extinct," observed Mac Nicail of Scoirebreac. "No," quickly rejoined Alastair buidh Mac Ivor, "but those who patronised them are gone ! "

AN CLAR-INNSIDH.

TAOBH DUILr.EAG

DUTHAU

Mordubli, .....

FONNOK.

Collath,

AM BARD AOSDA.

Miann a Bhaird Aosda,

DOMUNULL iMAC-FHIUNNLAlDH NAN DAN.

A Chomhachag, ....

IMAIRI NIGHEAN ALASDAIK RUAIDH.

Fuaim an t-Saimh, .... Oran do dh' Iain, Mac Shir Tormod

Mhic-Leoid, ....

An Talla 'm bu ghna le Mac-Leoid, Cumha do Mhac-Leoid, Marbhrann do dh'fhear na Coniraich, Marbhrann do dh' Iain Garbh Mac 'lUe-

Chalum, ..... Cumha Mhic-Leoid,

Luinneag Mhic-Leoid, ... An Cronan, .....

IAIN LOM.

Mort na Ceapach, ....

A' Bhean leasaich an stop dhuinn,

Oran do Shiol Dughail, ...

An Ciaran Mal.iach

Latha Inbhir-Lochaidh,

Latha Thom-a-Phubail, ...

Latha Airde Reanaich,

Oran air Righ Uilleam agus Bannrigh

Mairi, - _ - An lorram Dharaich, do bhata Sir Seumais, Marbhrann do Shir Seumas Mac-Domhnuill, Marbhrann do dh' Alasdair Dubh

GhHnne-Garaidh, Cumha IMhontroise, ...

Cumha do Shir Domhnull Shleibhte,

AN CIARAN MABACH.

B'annsa Cadal air Fraoch, Marbh-rann do Shir Seumas Dhomhnuill,

Mac-

DIORBHAIL NIC-A-BHRIUTHAINN.

Oran-do dh' Alasdair Mac Cholla,

SILIS NIGHEAN MHIC-RAONAILL,

Marbhrann air Bas a Fir,

Marblirann do dh' Alasdair Dubh

Ghlinne-Garaidh, Tha mi a'm' Chadal, na duisgaibh mi,

NIALL MAC-MHUIRICH.

Oran do Mhac Mhic-Ailein, Marbhrann Mhic 'Ic-Ailein, Seanachas Sloinnidh na Pieba bho thus.

10

16

20

25

26 27 28 29

30 31 32 34

50 60

63

64

65 66

72 73 74

IAIN UUBH MAC IAIN

Oran do Mhac-Mhic-Ailein, Marbhrann do Mhac Mhic-Ailein, Marbhrann do Shir Iain Mac 'Illeain Oran nam Fineachan Gaelach, Cros-Dhanachd Fhirnan Druimnean,

TAOBH DUILLEAG IC-AILEIN.

76 76

77 80 81

AN T-AOSDANA MAC-MHATHAIN.

Oran do'n larla Thuathach, . . 83

Marbh-rann do dh' Alasdair Dubh Ghlinne-Garaidh, • - - 84

AN T-AOSDANA MAC 'iLLEAN.

Marbhrann do Shir Lachuinn Mac-Ghillean, 85 Oran do Lachunn Mor Mac-Ghillean, - 87

LACHUNN MAC THEARLAICH.

Latha siubhal Sleibhe, - - - 89

Oran do Nighean Fhir Gheambail, . 91

Sgian Dubh an Sprogain Chaim, - 92

Curam Nam Banntraichean, - . 93

AN CLARSAIR DALL.

A Chiad Di-luain De'n Raidhe, . . 96

Oran do dh' Iain Breac Mac-Leoid, - 98

Creach na Ciadain, . - - 100

Oran Mor Mhic-Leoid, - . . 102

Cumha do dh-Fhear Thalasgair, - - 103

AM PIOBAIRE DALL.

I'eannachadh Baird do Shir Alasdair

Mac-Choinnich, .... lOG

Dan Comh-Fhurtachd, - . - 107

Cumha Choir'-an-Easain, - . 108

ALASDAIR MAC MHAIGHSTIR ALASDAIR.

Moladh air an t-seana Chanain Ghaelach, 117

Moladh Moraig, .... ny

Oran an t-Samhraidh, - - . 122

Oran a Gheamhraidh, . . . 124

Oran nam Fineachan Gaelach, - . 125a

Oran air Prionnsa Tearlach, . - 126

Oran Rioghail a Bhotail, - . . 127

AUt-an-t-siucair, .... 128

Oran Luaighe no Fucaidh, . - 131

Smeorach Chloinn-Raonuill, - - 133

Oran do Phrionnsa Tearlach, - - 135

Oran eile do Phrionnsa Tearlach, - 185

Failte na Mor-thir, - - - 136

lorram Cuain, .... 133

A Bhanarach Donn, . . . 189

Oran eadar Prionnsa Tearlach agus na

Gaeil, ..... 140

Am Breacan Uallach, ... 141

Tearlach Mac Sheumais, - . - 143

Mo Bhobug an Dram, - . - 143

Marbhrann do Pheata Calaman, - - 144

Moladh a Chaim-beulaich Dhuibh, - 145

Moladh an Leoghainn, • . - 146

Beannachadh Luinge, - - - 148

AN CLAR-INNSIDH.

Ixxi.

TAOBH DUILI.BAC; IAIN MAC-COUKUM.

Smeorach Chlann-Domlinuill, - • 158

Caraid agus namhaid an Uisge-Bheatha, lfi'>

Di-moladh Piob' Dhomhnuill Bhain • 162

A' Chomh-Stri, - - " . " ^^'^

Oran do Shir Seumas MacDhomhnuill, • 104

Marbhrann do Shir Seumas, - ■ 167

Moladh Chlann-Domhnuill, • - 1«9

Oran don Teasaich, • • ■ 171

Oran na h-Aoise, ... - 171

EACHUNN MAC-LEOID.

Moladh do Choileach Smeoraich, - 174

Moladh Eas Mor-thir, - - - 175

Moladh Coille Chrois, - - - 176

An Taisbean, .... 176

GILLEASPUIG NA CIOTAIG.

Marbhrann do dh' Iain Ruadh Piobair, . 178

Aiseirigh lain Ruaidh, - . - 179

Oran Cnaideil don Olla Leodach, • 180

Banais Chiostal Odhair, - - - 181

DUGHALL BOCHANNAN.

Latha' Bhreitheanais, ... 185

An Claigeann, .... 191

Am Bruadair, .... 194

An Geamhradh, .... 195

DAIBHIDH MAC-EALAIR.
Laoidh Mhic-Ealair,	197
ROB DONN.
Oran do Phrionnsa Tearlach,	206
Oran nan Casagan Dubna,	207
Iseabail Nic-Aoidh,	208
Piobaireachd Bean Aoidh,	209
Rann air Long Ruspiunn,	210
Oran nan Suiridheach,	210
Am Bruadair, ....	212
An Duine Sanntach agus an Saoghal,	214
Oran do'n Olla Moiriston,	214
Marbhrann do dhithis Mhinistearan,	215
Marbhrann do Mhaighstir Murchadh,	216
Cumha do'n Duine Cheudna,	218
Oran a Gheamhraidh,	219
'S trom ieam an airidh, ...	220
An ribhinn aluinn eibhinn og.	221
Oran eile do'n' mhaighdein Cheudna,	222
Briogais Mhic Ruairidh, -	222
Oran air sean Fhleasgach, &c., -	224
Oran nan Greisichean beaga.	224
Oran na Caraide Bige,	226
Oran a ghamha thochraidh,	226
Am Boc Glas, ....	22(i
Oran a ghille mhath Ruaidh,	227
Oran Fhaolain, ....	228
Turus Dhaibhi do dh' Arcamh,	229
Oran an ainm dithis nighean.	230
Marbhrann lain Ghre,	231)
Marbhrann Uilleim Mhuillear an Ceard,	231
Marbhrann do thriuir Sheann Fhleasgach,	232
Marbhrann do dh' lain Mac Eachunn, -	233
Marbhrann Eoghainn, ...	234
Rainn an da Bhard,	235

DONNACHADH BAN.

Oran do Bhlar na h.Eaglaise Brice,

Oran do 'n Mhusg,

Moladh Beinn-dorain,

Coire Cheathaich, .

Oran Nic-Coiseam,

Oran seacharan Seilg,

Cead Deireannach nam Beann,

Cumha Choire-Cheathaich,

Oran Gaoil, ....

An Nighean Donn og,

Mairi Bhan og,

Oran do Leanabh Altrom, ,

239 240 241 246 248 249 249 250 252 253 254 256

TAOBH DU

Oran do'n t-seann Fhreiceadan Ghaelach

Oran Ghlinn-Urchaidh,

Moladh Dhun-eideann,

Oran Dutcha,

Oran do dh' larla Bhraid-Albann

lain Caimbeul a' Bhanca, .

Cumhadh larla Bhraid-Albann,

Cumha' Chailein Ghlinn-iubhaii,

Oran an t-Samraidh,

Oran na Briogsa, .

Oran do'n Eideadh Ghaelach,

Oran a Bhotail,

Oran a' lihranndai,

-Vlasdair nan Stop, .

Nighean Dubh Raineach,

Rann Gearradh-.A.rm,

Oran Luaidh,

.\oir an taileir,

.\oir .\nna, .

Aoir Uisdean Phiobair',

.\oir lain Fhaochaig,

Rann Leannanachd,

Marbh-rann do Chu,

Rann Co-dhunaidh,

Marbhrann an Ughdair dha fein,

FEAR SRATH-MHAISIDH.

Cumha do dh' Eobhon Mac-Phearson,

Comunn an uisge-bheatha,

A bhanais bhan

A Bhrigis Lachdunn,

IAIN RUADH STIUL'HAHT.

Latha Chuilodair, . _ . _ Oran eile do latha Chuilodair, Urnaigh Iain Ruaidh, Cumha do Bhaintighearna Mhic-an Toisich, ....

COINNEACH MAC-CHOINNICH.

Moladh na Luinge, .■\in Feile Preasach, Mairearad Mholach Mhin, An Te Dhubh, _ . Drobhair nan Caileaean, ,

UILLEAM ROS

Oran do Mharcus nan Greumach,

Oran an t-Sainhraidh,

Oran air gaol nn h-oighe do Chailean,

Marbhrann do Phrionnsa Tearlach,

Miann an oganaich Ghaelich,

Miann na h-oige Gaelich, .

Oran air aiseadh an fhearuinn, &c.,

Feasgar Luain, . . _ .

Moladh a Bhaird air a thir fein, .

Oran a rinneadh ann an Dun-eideann,

Mo run an Cailin, .

Moladh an Uisge-Bheatha,

Mac na Bracha,

Moladh na h-oighe Gaelich,

An Ladie Dubh,

Cumhadh a' Bhaird air son a Leannain,

Cuachag nan Craobh,

Caileach mhilleadh-nan-dan,

ISrughaichean Ghlinne-Braon,

Oran Cumhaidh,

Oran Cumhaidh eile,

AILEAN DALL.

Oran do Mhac 'Ic-Alasdair, Oran do na Ciobairean Gallda, Oran Leannanachd, Duanag do'n Uisge-Bheatha, Oran do 'n Mhisg, Smeorach Chloinn-Dughaill, Trod mna-an-taighe ri fear, E-san a' Labhairt air a shon fein, Gearan na mnatha an aghaidh a fir, Oran na Caillich, .

ILLEAG

257 253 259 260 261 262 264 265 267 269 270 271 272 273 27S 274 275 275 277 278 279 281 281 281 282

283 284 286 280

289 290 291

293

295 296 297 298 299

303 304 805 307 308 309 309 310 311 312 312 S13 314 315 316 317 X18 319 320 321 322

326 327 828 329 330 331 332 333 333 335

Ixxii.

AN CLAR-INNSIDH.

TAOBH DUILLEAC BARD LOCH-NAN-EALA.

337

338 339 340

Oran do dh' Fhionnla Marsanta, .

Bi'dh fonn oirre-daonnan, .

Oran do Bhonipart,

Duanag do Mac-an t-Saoir Ghlinne-nogha,

SEUMAS AIAC-GHRIOGAIR.

An Soisgenl,	343
An Gearan, ....	345
An Aiseirigh,	346
Air foghlum nan Gael,	347
EOBHON MAC-LACHUINN.
An Samhradh,	356
Am Foghar,	357
An Geamhradh,	359
An t-Earrach,	361
Marbhrann, do Mr Seumas Beatlie,	364
Smeorach Chloinn-Lachuinn,	365
Ealaidh Ghaoil,	367
Rann do'n Leisg, .	368
Clach-Chuimhne, Ghlinne-garadh,	368

ALASDAIR MAC-IONMHUIN'N

Oran air del air lir anns an P^ipheit, Oran air blar na h-Eiphit, Oran air blar na h-Olaind, An Dubh-Ghleannach,

AM BARn-CONANACH.

Oran do Bhonipart, Oran d'a Leannan, .

AM BARD SGIATHANACH.

Oran do Reiseamaid Mhic-Shimidh, Smeorach nan Leodach,

BARD LOCH-FINE.

Loch-Aic, . . • . •

Rannan air Bas Bannacharaid, Duanag Ghaoil,

371 372 S74 376

379 381

383

385

389 390 390

TAOBH DUILLEAG

aIREAMH taghta.

Moladh Chabair-feidh,

Mali Chruinn Donn,

Calum a Ghlinne, .

Clachan Ghlinn Da Ruail,

Mali Bheag og,

Mairi Laghach (original .ff /),

Mairi Laghach (second set),

Cuir a chun dileas (original si:/),

Cuir a chun dileas (modern set),

A nochd gur faoin mo chadal dhomh,

Oran Ailein (a fragment),

Cumha Phrionnsa, .

Mo run geal og,

Mort Ghlinne-Comhann, .

Bha Claidheamh air Iain, .

Fear a Hhata,

Oran Gaoil do Mhaighdin uasail.

An nighean bhuidh' than,

Oran le Nighean fhir na Rilig,

Duanag Ghaoil,

Mo nighean chruinn donn,

A nighean dubh,

Ochoin ! mo chailin,

Tha mo chadal luaineach, .

Nighean donn na buaile, .

An cailin dileas donn,

'S tu Mhorag rinn.

An Gile dubh Ciar-dhubh,

Cruinneag a chruidh,

Fear an leadain bhain,

Failte dhut a's slainte leat,

Hi-ri-ri 's ho ra-ill-o,

Oran do dh-Eachuinn Ruadh nan caih,

Oran do Shir Eachuinn Mac'Illean,

An Lair dhonn,

lorram do Sheumas Beton,

Oran le Forsair choir'-an-t-si,

lorram na truaighe,

Oran Gaoil, .

Comhradh eadar dithis nighean, .

Oran do nighean Fhir na Comraich,

Cumha' Alasdair Dhuinn_, .

Mairi dhonn Thorra-Chaisteil,

Mairi Ghreannar, . _ .

Tha tighinn fodham eiridh,

Oran alabain suiridh,

Oran sugraidh,

Gaoir nam ban Muileach, .

Oran sugridh,

Oran Ducha,

391 394 398 400 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 408 409 410 412 413 414 415 416 417 417 418 418 419 420 429 421 422 422 423 424 424 42i 42G 427 428 429 430 4S1 432 433 434 436 436 437 438 439 440 441 442

SAR-OBAIR NAM BARD GAELACH ;

OR

THE BEAUTIES OP GAELIC POETRY, &c.

M O R DU B H,

A' Cheud Earran.i

Am beil thus' air sgiathan do luathais, A ghaoth, gu triall le t-uile neart ? Thig le cairdeas dh'ionnsuidh m' aois — Thoir sgriob aotrom thar mo chraig. Co-aois m' oige ghlac an t-aog, S uaigneach m' aigne 'n uamh mo bhroin S' mbr mo Icon fo lamh na h-aois. Osag tha 'g astar o thuath, Na dean tuasaid rium, 's mig lag. Bha mi uair gii'n robh mo cheum Cho aotrom riut fein, a ghaoth ; Mo neart mar chraig a Chruaidh-mhill, 'S iomadh cath 's na bhuail mi beum ; 'S trie taibhse mo naimhdean ag astar, I.e ceum lag, o bheinn gu beinn. Ach thig am do bhroin-sa, ghaoth, 'N uair dhireas tu 'n t-aonach gu mall. Cha'n imrich thu neoil thar coil), 'S cha liib a choille fo d' laimh, 'S cha gheill am fraoch anfliann fein. — Ach togaidh gach geug an ceann. Bi-sa baigheil rium-s', a ghaoth, Oir tha 'n aois ort fein ro theann.

Cuir lasair ri geug do'n ghallan, A shealgair coire 's aille snuadh. Tha 'n oidhche siubhal o'n ear,

' The Author of this Poem, whose name is Douthal, was both a Chief and a f^ard of g reat repute. The accounts which tradition gives of him are varions ; but the most pro- bable makes him the Poet of Mordubh, King of the Caledonians. A fragment of this Poem has been published in Gillies' Collection, in two Parts, consisting of the First, and nearly half the Second Part. It is now given in three Parts entire ; and differs not materially from the Translation given in " Clark's Caledonian Bards" — a small Volume published in the last century.

Tha ghrian a' critheadh 's an iar. D'fhosgail eilean Fhlaitheis sa' chuan, Tri uairean dorsan nan nial, A glaodhaich, "Dean cabhag thar a

chuain Le d' chuach-f halt aluinn, a ghrian." Tha neoil dubh siubhlach na h-oidhche, Gun aoibhneas air chid nan tonn ; 'S trie iad ag amharc do thriall, A ghnuis aluinn tha 'g astar o'n ear. Ach eiribh le 'r sgiathan o'n chuan, A neoil dhorch nan iomadh gruaim. Tha sgailean nan sonn o shean, Tabhairt cuireadh do'n ghrein go flath-

innis.^

Beannachd le ribhinn chiuin do ruin, Buaidh le d' shaigheid air gach beinn, A shealgair, tha tabhairt dhomh treoir, 'S mi leointe fo laimh na h-aois' ! Ach suidh thusa ann am uaimh, A's eisd ri tuasaid ghaoth a's chrag ; Innsidh mi dhut sgeul is mor brigh. Air suinn tha sinte fo'n lie : 'S taitneach na smaointean a thriall ; 'S miannach dreach nam bliadhna dh-

fhalbh ! Pill thusa, m' oige, le t-uile ghniomh, A's feuch do m' anam bliadhn' mo ncitt; Feuch gach cath 's na bhuail mi beum, A's airm nan laoch bha treubhach borb, Thugaibh suil o neoil 'ur suain. 'Fheara bha cruaidh anns gach cath,

' The Sun was supposed to sleep in Flath- innis, //le Isle of Heroes, in the western ocean. The human mind has been in every age ambitious of obtaining a happy hereafter. The Kelts, indulging in this pleasant pre- sentiment, sent the ghosts of their departed friends to this imaginary paradise.

SAR-OBAIR NAM BARD GAELACH.

Cluinnidh 'ur clann fuaim 'ur cliu.

'S thig sileadh an sul gu lar.

Tha m' anam a soillseacliadh le gniomh,

Nam bliadhna dh-fhalbh, a's nach pill.

Dh-fhalaich a ghealach a ceann, Bha cadal reulUan air chul neoil ; Cabhag ghaolh a's chuan o chian, Bugharbli an cath 'bha edar stiiaidli, A's sileadh ghailbheach nan speur, N uair dh' eirich ro-shamhla Shailmhoir,' O leabaidh fhuair sa' gharbh chuan ; A siubhal air bharraibh nan stuagh, 'S a ghaoth' cur nieanbh chalh niu'n cuairt. Dh' eirich mac an aoig air sgialh Na h-osaig, gu gruaidh Chraigmhoir ; 'S bha anail fhiadhaich nan nial, Ag eiridh ma shleagh gun ghuin. Ag amharc anuas o leabaidh fhuair, Bu mh^r a bridh a bha 'na ghuth : " Duisgibh ! chlann Alba nambuadh, 'S garbh colg " ur naimhdean o thualh ; A' gluasad air bharraibh nan tonn, Tha clanna Lochluinn^ nan lorn long. Eiribh ! chlann Alba nam buadh ; 'S mor naert ur naimhdean o thuath." Air sgiath na h-osaige fuair' Dh-fhalbh mac na h-oidhche gu luath. Lub an darach garbh fo chasan, 'S chrith gach gallan roi' fheirg. " Tionailibh mo shuinn o'n t-seilg," Thubbairt Ceann-feadhna na h-Alba, " Soillsichibh srad air Druim-Feinne, A's thig mo laoich o ghruaidh gach beinne.'' Labhair Mordubh, Righ nan srath, 'S lionar crag tha 'g innseadh sgeil. Chuala clann a chalh am fonn,