Chapter V

The transport ship brought home other invalids besides Alan Cameron, one of whom, Colonel Mostyn, and himself came to be on terms of warm friendship. This gentleman, descended from one of the best families in Wales, and having many relatives resident in London, was of considerable service to Alan in the matter of introductions to the society of these relations and other friends. "American officers," as those returned from the war, were termed, were welcomed wherever met with. Among them Alan was not the least distinguished, perhaps the more so on account of his unfortunate adventure with his Lochaber adversary in the duel; and his subsequent distinguished career in America.

At the house of one of Colonel Mostyn's relatives, Alan met a young lady who was destined not many months after to become his wife. This was the only child of Nathaniel Philips of Sleebeich Hall, Pembrokeshire. The heiress of a wealthy squire was beyond Alan's expectations; besides he understood there were more than one aspirant for her hand, who were themselves possessors of many broad acres, therefore it could scarcely occur to the mind of the "provincial officer" to enter the lists against such influential competitors. However that may be, Alan's success with the lady may have been much the same as that of another with Desdemona: "Her father bade me tell the story of my life, the battles, sieges, and fortunes I had passed. I ran it through, even from my boyish days; of the moving accidents by flood and field; of the hair-breadth 'scapes and the imminent deadly breach; and of being taken by the insolent foe. To these things would Desdemona seriously incline, and devour up my discourse. When I did speak of some distressful stroke, that I had suffered, she gave me a world of sighs. She wished she had not heard it; but bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, I should teach him how to tell my story, and _that_ would woo her." Duke--"I think this tale would win my daughter too."

Alan Cameron became the favoured suitor of Miss Philips, but both felt the barrier of the Squire's consent to be insurmountable. Nor was there any circumstance likely to arise in favour of Alan's worldly position to make him acceptable to Mr Philips as his son-in-law. Honourable conduct acted on Alan's feelings, and directed the proper course to be pursued. He made his visits to the house of their mutual friend less often and at greater intervals. Squire Philips was at the time, and had for some few years, been a widower; and it was reported and believed that he was contemplating a second marriage. Moreover, the intended spouse was scarcely yet out of her teens, while he was past middle age, and his daughter was also her senior. Her father's intentions created disappointment, if not dissatisfaction in Miss Philips' mind, which, it is alleged, was one of the causes that moved her not to view elopement with serious objection. There is no record of the occurrence to guide further reference than that Alan Cameron and Miss Philips had betaken themselves to Gretna Green without the knowledge or consent of her father, where marriages were solemnised without the preliminary formalities necessary at Hanover Square. Notwithstanding that a pursuit ensued either by the parent or other friends, it was not successful in interrupting the marriage of the runaway pair.

Instead of returning to London with his bride, Alan went towards the capital of his native country, where he and his wife remained for several months. It now, however, became almost a necessity that he would get into some office, the emoluments of which would add to his slender income. After some delay he was fortunate in getting an appointment through the intercession of a friend with whom he had served in America. This appointment was on the militia staff of one of the English counties. Alan retained it until the fortune of events reduced the displeasure of the father-in-law to that state when mutual friends thought they could do something to induce the Squire to forgive and forget. These friends did not fail to take advantage of this state of feeling, and embraced the opportunity to obtain for Alan an interview with his wife's father, which resulted, as desired by all, in full forgiveness to both son and daughter. This reconciliation, like the wooing of Miss Philips, was also somewhat after the manner of that of Desdemona's father, who replied, "I had rather adopt a child than get it. Come hither. I do give thee that with all my heart, which--but thou hast already--with all my heart, I would keep from thee. For your sake I am glad I have no other child, thy escape would teach me tyranny." This act of grace was important to Alan, as the allowance to his wife, which followed, enabled them to live in affluence in comparison with their past state.

Squire Philips had not married at the time rumour had formerly assigned, but he did enter into that state, and that after he had become a sexagenarian. By the second marriage the Squire--unlike the father in the play--"had another child." This child is yet living, in the person of the venerable Dowager Countess of Lichfield, herself the mother of a numerous family of sons and daughters, including the present peer, as also the wife of the noble lord the member for the county of Haddington.

_(To be Continued)._

HIGHLAND MELODIES.--The Gaelic Society of London finding that regret
has been frequently expressed that the plaintive melodies of the
Highlands should be allowed to pass away, have, we are glad to
learn, taken steps to preserve them in a permanent form, and are now
preparing for publication a selection of the best and most popular
airs. The verses will be given in Gaelic and English, and the
pianoforte accompaniments are arranged with special attention to
their distinctive characteristics by Herr Louis Honig, Professor of
Music, London; while slight variations are introduced to render the
melodies more acceptable to the general taste. Editions of the Dance
Tunes of our country are numerous, but the Gaelic vocal airs, set to
music, have not hitherto been attainable. The issue is limited to
250 copies, which the Society are patriotically supplying at cost
price--namely, 10s 6d per copy; or free by post to the Colonies for
12s. We feel assured that this want has only to be known to secure
the necessary number of subscribers for the few remaining copies.

_LITERATURE._

_THE "ARYAN ORIGIN OF THE CELTIC RACE AND LANGUAGE."_

The above is the title on the outside of a book by the Rev. Canon Bourke, president of St Jarlath's College, Tuam, Ireland. The book is in every respect a wonderful and interesting one to the Celt, at home and abroad, whether he be Scotch or Irish. Time was when the Scottish Celt looked with great suspicion on his Irish cousin, while the Irishman had no great love for his Scottish neighbour. Even yet a good deal of this feeling prevails, particularly among the uneducated.

Our own experience, however, has been that the Irish Celt is not behind the Scotch Gael in generosity and all the other virtues which are the special characteristics of the race. The book before us is in several respects calculated to strengthen the friendship which is being rapidly formed, and which ought to subsist among the intelligent of each of the two great branches of the Celtic family--Scotch and Irish. Frequent references of an appreciating and commendable kind are made in this work to the labours of Scotchmen in the field of Celtic literature. Canon Bourke, like a true-hearted son of Ireland, with that magnanimity characteristic of the race, holds out his right hand to every Scottish scholar in the field of Celtic or Keltic research, and says in effect--_Cia mar a tha thu? Buaidh gu'n robh air d'obair!_

Although the "Aryan Origin of the Celtic Races and Language" is all the title on the cover, inside the book, the title is much more comprehensive, consisting, as it does, altogether of 27 lines. But even this large and comprehensive title-page does not give anything like an adequate idea of the extent and variety of the contents of the book. Taking it up with the expectation of finding a learned treatise on the Aryan origin of the Celtic race and Celtic languages one will be disappointed; but no one will be disappointed with the work as a whole, for though its contents do not bear throughout on the above subject, they are all thoroughly Celtic; and as a collection of Celtic gleanings, will well repay a perusal. It is, indeed, a sort of Celtic repository--the writer's Celtic reading for many years being apparently thrown into a crucible, and having undergone a certain process there, are forged out into the handsome and bulky volume before us. It has, however, all the appearance of having been very hastily got up. Indeed, in the preface, which is dated, "Feast of the Nativity of the B.V.M., 1875," we are told that a mere accident has given the first impulse to the composition of the work, and that accident appears to have been that at a social meeting of Irish clergymen in 1874 the subject of conversation turned on the language and antiquities of Ireland.

After doing justice to the "Four Masters," of whom Irishmen are, with good reason, so very proud, the decay of the Gaelic language in Ireland is alluded to, and the cause of that decay described at some length, and it is pointed out that, in consequence of this neglect, when an Irish patriot appeals to the sentiment of his race, the appeal must be made, not in the language of old Ireland, but in the language of the conquering Saxon. Father Mullens in his lament for the Celtic language of his countrymen "must wail his plaint in Saxon words and Saxon idiom, lest his lamentation should fall meaningless on the ears of Ireland." And this decay Father Mullens pathetically describes:--

It is fading! it is fading! like the leaves upon the trees,
It is dying! it is dying! like the Western Ocean breeze,
It is fastly disappearing as the footsteps on the shore,
Where the Barrow and the Erne, and Loch Swilly's waters roar;
Where the parting sunbeam kisses the Corrib in the west,
And the ocean like a mother clasps the Shannon to its breast:
The language of old Eire, of her history and name,
Of her monarchs and her heroes, of her glory and her fame;
The sacred shrine where rested through her sunshine and her gloom
The spirit of her martyrs as their bodies in the tomb!
The time-wrought shell, where murmured through centuries of wrong
The secret shrine of freedom in annal and in song,
Is surely fastly sinking into silent death at last,
To live but in the memory and relics of the past!

In Ireland as in some other countries (perhaps we may say with some degree of truth in our own Highlands of Scotland) the simple uneducated peasants are, in the law courts, treated with the greatest display of harshness because they cannot give evidence in the English tongue. Canon Bourke refers to a case of this nature that occurred during the last year in Tuam. A witness, Sally Ryan, who appeared to have understood English, but could not speak it, and consequently would not give her evidence in that language, was removed as an incompetent witness! Is that justice? We know that in the courts in Scotland a good deal of harshness is occasionally used towards witnesses who cannot speak English.

The fact remains, that in the Highlands there are many whose only language is Gaelic, and if their Saxon rulers have a desire to administer the law justly they must learn to deal more gently with such as are ignorant of the English language. We also know from personal observation that Gaelic witnesses frequently give evidence by means of very incompetent interpreters, thoroughly ignorant of the idiom of the language, and are thus very often misrepresented. A bungling interpreter bungles a witness, and nothing is more calculated to invalidate evidence than being given in a loose incoherent manner. On this point we are at one with the learned Canon Bourke.

Considerable space is devoted to the pronunciation of the word Celtic--the question being whether it should be pronounced Keltic or Seltic. Professor Bourke argues, and gives good reasons, that it should be written Keltic and pronounced Keltic. He is unquestionably right in his contention for the pronunciation, but as we have no K in the Scotch or Irish Gaelic alphabet it is difficult to agree with him as to the spelling, but the fact remains that it is almost universally pronounced Seltic and written Celtic, and has in that form taken such a root that it can scarcely be ever altered. What then is the use of fighting over it? In the compass of this necessarily short review it is quite impossible to give an adequate idea of the work before us. While the work exhibits great learning and research, we think the rev. author might have bestowed more care on such a valuable work. Several typographical errors present themselves, and in many cases the Professor's composition exhibits clear evidence of undue haste in the writing and arrangement. But _humanum est errare_. Nothing is perfect, and the book before us is no exception to the general rule. The Celtic student will, however, find it invaluable, and no one who takes an interest in Celtic philology, antiquity, manners, and customs (indeed everything and anything Celtic), should be without a copy; for it is a perfect store of Celtic learning.

_THE SCOTTISH GAEL, OR CELTIC MANNERS AS PRESERVED AMONG THE HIGHLANDERS. By the LATE JAMES LOGAN, F.S.A.S. Edited with Memoir and Notes by the_ REV. ALEX. STEWART, "Nether Lochaber." _Issued in 12 Parts at 2s each. Inverness: Hugh Mackenzie, Bank Lane. Edinburgh: Maclachlan & Stewart. Glasgow:_ John Tweed.

We have before us the first and second parts of this valuable work. The Frontispiece is a coloured plate of two Highland Chiefs dressed in the Stewart and Gordon tartans; and the other engravings, which are well got up, are in every case _fac-similes_ of those in the original Edition, which had become so scarce that it was difficult to procure it even at a very high price. Logan's _Scottish Gael_ has long been held as the best authority on the antiquities and national peculiarities of Scotland, especially on those of the Northern or Gaelic parts of the country where some of the peculiar habits of the aboriginal race have been most tenaciously retained.

The valuable superintendence and learned notes of "Nether-Lochaber," one of our best Celtic scholars and antiquarians, will very materially enhance the value of the work, which is well printed in clear bold type, altogether creditable to the printer and to the editor, but, particularly so, to the public-spirited publisher. We have no hesitation in recommending the work to all who take an interest in the Literature of the Gael.

SONG OF THE SUMMER BREEZE.

_Dedicated by permission to the_ REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN.

When balmy spring
Has ceased to wring
The youthful bud from the old oak tree,
And the sweet primrose
No longer glows
On the glad hill-side by the sunfilled sea;
When the Cuckoo's wail
Has ceased to go
O'er hill and dale
In a pensive flow,
And the deepest shade
In the woods is made,
And the brightest bloom on the fields is laid;
When the lord of light
With a lover's pride
Pours a beauty bright
O'er his blushing bride,
That lies below
His glowing gaze,
In a woodland glow, and a flowery blaze;
When winter's gloom
Of wind and rain
Is lost in the bloom
Of the flower-lit plain,
And his ruins grey
Have died away
In the love-sent breath of the smiling day;
When the beauteous hours
Of the twilight still
With dewy tears in their joy-swelled eyes
See the peaceful flowers
On the cloudless hill
Send scented gifts to the grateful skies;
And the wave-like grain
O'er the sea-like plain
In peaceful splendour essays to rise;--
From my silent birth in the flowery land
Of the sunny south
At time's command.
As still as the breath of a rosy mouth,
Or rippling wave on the sighing sand,
Or surging grass by the stony strand,
I come with odour of shrub and flower
Stolen from field and sunny bower
From lowly cot and lordly tower.
Borne on my wings the soul-like cloud--
That snowy, mountain-shading shroud
That loves to sleep
On the sweet hill's crest,
As still as the deep
With its voice at rest,--
Is wafted in dreams to its peaceful nest;
At my command
The glowing land
Scorched by the beams of the burning sun,
Listing the sounds of the drowsy bees,
Thirsting for rain, and the dews that come
When light has died on the surging seas,
Awakes to life, and health, and joy;
I pour a life on the sickening trees,
And wake the birds to their sweet employ,
Amidst the flowers of the lowly leas;
From the sweet woodbine
That loves to twine
Its arms of love round the homes of men,
Or laugh in the sight
Of the sun's sweet light
'Midst the flower gemmed scenes of the song-filled glen,
And the full-blown rose that loves to blush
'Midst the garden bowers
Where the pensive hours
Awaiting the bliss of the summer showers
List to the songs of the warbling thrush,--
I steal the sweets of their fragrant breath;
From the lily pale
That seems to wail
With snow-like face
And pensive grace
O'er the bed that bends o'er the deeds of death,
I brush the tears
That she loves to shed
For the early biers
Of the lovely dead.
When still twilight with dew-dimmed eye
Sees the lord of light from the snow-white sky,
Descend at the sight
Of the coming night,
'Midst the waves of the deathful sea to die!
When glowing day
Has passed away
In peace on the tops of the dim-seen hills,
That pour from their hearts the tinkling rills
That dance and leap
In youthful pride,
To the brimming river, deep and wide,
That bears them in rest to their distant sleep;
And the gladsome ocean
That ever presses
The bridal earth in fond caresses,
Rages no more in a wild commotion;
When the distant hills appear to grow
At the touch of evening bright,
And the sunless rivers seem to go
With a deeper music in their flow,
Like dreams thro' the peaceful night,
I fade away
With the dying day,
Like the lingering gleam of the sun's sweet ray!

DAVID R. WILLIAMSON.

* * * * *

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

The spellings "ahead" and "a-head" are both used in this text.

The following amendments have been made to the text:

p. 106 "wont" changed to "won't";

p. 114 "familar" changed to "familiar";

p. 115 "buccolic" changed to "bucolic";

p. 122 "Soverign" changed to "Sovereign";

p. 124 "similiarly" changed to "similarly";

p. 129 "errane" changed to "errare";

p. 130 full stop added after "DAVID R".