Chapter I: Preface

Celtic studies have grown apace within recent years. The old scorn, the old apathy and neglect are visibly giving way to a lively wonder and interest as the public gradually realise that scholars have lighted upon a literary treasure hid for ages. This new enthusiasm, generated in great part on the Continent—in Germany, France, and Italy, as well as in Britain and Ireland, has already spread to the northern nations—to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and is now beginning to take root in America.

A remarkable change it certainly presents from the days when Dr. Johnson affirmed that there was not in all the world a Gaelic MS. one hundred years old; and the documents were so derelict and forgotten, so little known and studied, that though this prince of letters travelled in the Highlands expressly to satisfy himself, Celtic knowledge of the existing materials and Celtic studies were so deficient that they proved wholly inadequate to the task of disproving his bold statement.

It was left to the scholarship of the nineteenth century to unearth the ancient treasures and to show that Gaelic was a literary language long before English literature came into existence, and that there are still extant Celtic-Latin MSS. almost as old as the very oldest codexes of the Bible.

There is undoubtedly a charm in the thought that all over the Continent of Europe, in the libraries of many of its romantic cities and towns, there are scores of MSS., some of them upwards of a thousand years old, fugitives in the early times from these much harassed islands; and that European scholars of the highest erudition, such as Zeuss, Ebel, Nigra, Ascoli, Windisch, Zimmer, and Whitley Stokes, have been profoundly interested in these literary relics, and have devoted much of their time to the work of studying, translating, elucidating, and editing the Gaelic texts or glosses found in them.

To-day the number of those engaged in similar research at home and abroad is vastly on the increase, and augurs well for the future of this department of knowledge.

Professor Kuno Meyer, Ph.D., himself a distinguished German Celticist, in reviewing the present state of Celtic studies last year at Dublin, made the following significant statement:—

“I cannot conclude without casting a glance into the future. I am convinced that the present is but the beginning of an era of still greater activity in all departments of Celtic studies. Everything points to that.

“The more reliable text-books and hand-books will be published, the greater will be the numbers of those taking up Celtic studies. As the fields of other more ancient and more recognised studies become exhausted, there will come a rush of students on to the fresh, and often, almost virgin soil of Celtic research, to study the great Celtic civilisation at its source, to collect the last lingering remnants of a mighty tradition.

“Again and again it has happened during recent years that workers in other subjects have in their researches finally been led on to the Celtic soil, where lie the roots of much medieval lore, of many institutions, of important phases of thought.

“And another thing, too, I will foretell. The re-discovery, as it were, of ancient Celtic literature will not only arouse abroad a greater interest in the Celtic nations, but it will lead to beneficial results among those nations themselves.”

Mr. W. B. Yeats, in the _Treasury of Irish Poetry_, 1900, gives pen to similar reflections and anticipations:—

“Modern poetry,” he writes, “grows weary of using over and over again the personages and stories and metaphors that have come to us through Greece and Rome, or from Wales and Brittany through the Middle Ages, and has found new life in the Norse and German legends. The Irish legends in popular tradition and in old Gaelic literature are more numerous and as beautiful, and alone among great European legends have the beauty and wonder of altogether new things. May one not say then, without saying anything improbable, that they will have a predominant influence in the coming century, and that their influence will pass through many countries.”

The interest thus lately evolved in the literature of the Celts, who were among the earliest inhabitants of the country, and whose blood still courses in our British veins, has naturally awakened a desire in many minds to know the nature and extent of the literary legacy they have bequeathed—its substance and quality, and also to gain some acquaintance with the opinions and results of recent scholarship on the subject.

But, strange to say, notwithstanding the activity of Celticists, no book has yet appeared which professes to give in short compass a general survey of the whole field. There is thus, I venture to think, room for such a volume as the present, which is intended to serve as a popular introduction to the study of the literature. Containing, as it does, the gist of two series of lectures which I delivered under the Maccallum Bequest in the University of Glasgow during the sessions 1900–1 and 1901–2, it is now prepared and issued with a view to meeting the demands not only of the general reader, but also of the private student in quest of a guide to the original sources, the authorities, and books on the subject.

In its preparation, in addition to the numerous published works mentioned in the text, I have received valuable help from Professor Mackinnon, Edinburgh University, and Dr. Alexander Macbain, Inverness, both of whom supplied me not only with many of their printed papers embodying the fruits of their own personal research, but also with other useful information. To the former I am still further indebted for interesting details regarding the life and work of several of the scholars, and to Professor Rhys of Jesus College, Oxford, for kindly reviewing in MS. form the chapter on Welsh Literature.

And, finally, I have to record my special indebtedness to the kind assistance of my friend, Mr. David Mackeggie, M.A., whose knowledge of Celtic history and literature is both extensive and accurate, and who, besides giving me much suggestive aid in the preparation of the lectures, read the proofs of this volume.

MAGNUS MACLEAN.

THE TECHNICAL COLLEGE,
GLASGOW, _May, 1902_.

This volume has already appealed to so wide a circle of readers that a
reprint is now called for; and it is very gratifying to the author to
find that his confidence in the growing demand for a book of this kind
has been amply justified.

MAGNUS MACLEAN.

_November, 1906._

In the present reissue no alteration of the reprint has been required.

MAGNUS MACLEAN

_June, 1926._

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE ARRIVAL OF THE CELT IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE

PAGE

The Celts in primitive Europe—Advent in British Isles—Two
branches—Observations of Cæsar and Tacitus—Main facts of Celtic
progress on the Continent—A vast empire—Interview with Alexander
the Great—Colony in Galatia—Cup of conquest
full—Disintegration—The scattered remnants—Recent statistics—The
ancient Celts as seen through Greek and Roman eyes—Literary
awakening—Ogam writings—First men of letters—Earliest written
Gaelic now extant—Modern linguistic discovery—The place of
Celtic in the Aryan group 1

CHAPTER II

ST. PATRICK, THE PIONEER OF CELTIC WRITERS

The historical Patrick—Authentic records—Earliest known Gaelic
litterateur—Dates elusive—Birthplace—Autobiographical details of
his youth—Taken captive—Escape—Obscure wanderings—Return
home—The rôle of missionary in Ireland—Epoch-making
career—Remarkable Patrician Dialogues—His own literary work—The
“Confession”—“Epistle to Coroticus”—“Deer’s Cry”—Ireland’s
oldest book—Three other antique compositions from the Book of
Hymns—A curious prophecy—Personal character—Death 22

CHAPTER III

ST. COLUMBA AND THE DAWN OF LETTERS IN SCOTLAND

The fugitive MSS.—Gaelic a literary language for ages—Scotland’s
first writer—St. Columba one of the rarer master-spirits—His
peculiar qualities—Intellectual standpoint—Birth—Early life—A
fateful incident—Set sail for Pictland—Motive—Arrival in pagan
Scotland—His missionary enterprise—Light the lamp of
literature—An ardent scholar, penman, and poet—The famous
“Cathrach”—His Gaelic poems—Latin hymns—The Columban
renaissance—Encouragement of bards and scholars—The _Amra
Choluimcille_—Iona as an educational centre—European fame and
influence 40

CHAPTER IV

ADAMNAN’S “VITA COLUMBÆ”

Oldest Scottish book in existence—A sturdy survival—Criteria of
age—Dorbene the copyist—Romantic history of the MS.—Now in
Schaffhausen—Adamnan, a rare personality—Abbot and
scholar—Influential career—Attitude to the two great questions
that divided the Celtic churches—Pathetic estrangement—“Lex
Adamnani”—A mighty social revolution—Death—His writings—“The
Vision of Adamnan”—His _Life of Columba_ in three
parts—Remarkable contents—Most valuable monument of the early
Celtic Church—List of MSS. in which preserved—Latin _versus_
Gaelic 58

CHAPTER V

THE BOOK OF DEER

An ancient curio—Second oldest book of Scotland—Where did it come
from?—Its contents threefold—Gaelic colophon from the ninth
century—The work of a native scribe of Alba—Peculiarities—The
ecclesiastical art of the period—The Gaelic entries—“Legend of
Deer”—Drostan’s tears—Some very quaint history—The earliest
source for Scottish Gaelic—Authentic glimpses into the Celtic
condition of Scotland—Origin of shires, parishes, burghs,
individual freedom, and the use of the English language—Three
editions of the Gaelic of the Book of Deer—Now one of the very
oldest MSS. of native origin that Cambridge can boast of 79

CHAPTER VI

THE MS. LEGACY OF THE PAST

A fresh start in the study of Celtic literature—Advent of foremost
scholars—The new basis found by Zeuss—Resurrection of ancient
texts—Unexpected light—H. d’Arbois de Jubainville and his
mission to this country—The numbers, dates, and localities of
Gaelic MSS.: (1) on the Continent; (2) in the British
Isles—Subject matter—Examples of the oldest written Gaelic
poetry in Europe—The great books of saga—Leabhar Na
h’Uidhre—Books of Leinster, Ballymote, and
Lismore—Quotations—Account of the Ancient Annals—Tighernach—The
_Chronicon Scotorum_—The _Four Masters_—Romance of the fugitive
documents 96

CHAPTER VII

THE SCOTTISH COLLECTION OF CELTIC MSS.

Cabinet in Advocates’ Library—Curious assortment of vernacular
literature—Number and character—Origin of the
collection—Highland Society and Kilbride MSS.—Subsidiary
additions—Work for the expert—Fate of some luckless
documents—Value of MSS. XL., LIII., and LVI.—Three literary
monuments of the Western Highlands: (1) The Book of the Dean of
Lismore—History, description, value, contents, extracts, names
of contributors; (2) The Fernaig MS.—Characteristics—Interesting
details of supposed author; (3) The Book of Clanranald—Quaint
relic—Two MSS., the Red and the Black—History and contents, with
specimen prose-poem and elegy 115

CHAPTER VIII

THE MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE

A rich and abundant saga literature—Three leading periods or
cycles—The myths and folk-tales—Problems to men of science—The
philologists and anthropologists take opposite sides—Their
theories—Attitude of the annalists and romancists of
Ireland—Their craze for genealogy—Early settlers in Erin—Advent
of the Milesians or Gaels—The Three Sorrows of Gaelic Storydom:
(1) “The Tragedy of the Children of Tuireann”; (2) The
fascinating “Aided of the Children of Lir”; (3) Story of
“Deirdre and the Sons of Uisneach”—Extraordinary interest
evinced in this saga—Marvellous output of texts and translations 134

CHAPTER IX

THE HEROIC CYCLE

The golden age of Gaelic romance—Number of the tales—Cuchulinn—His
early adventures—The Wooing of Eimer—Training in Skye—The Bridge
of the Cliffs—Tragedy of Conlaoch—Elopement—The “Táin Bó
Chuailgné,” and exploits of Cuchulinn—Ferdia at the ford—The two
champions of Western Europe—Cuchulinn in the Deaf
Valley—Death—The Red Rout of Conall Cearnach—Instruction of
Cuchulinn to a prince—His “Phantom Chariot”—Modern translations
of these rare sagas 153

CHAPTER X

THE OSSIANIC CYCLE

The old order changes—Who were the Feinn?—Ossian, his name and
relation to the bardic literature—The Ossianic tales and poems
very numerous—Earliest references—First remarkable
development—Original home of the Ossianic romance—The leading
heroes—A famous tract—Legends, regarding Fionn, and curious
details of his warrior-band—The literature divided into four
classes—Most ancient poems of Ossian, and the
Feinn—Quotations—“The Dialogue of the Ancients”—Ossian and
Patrick—Story of Crede—Miscellaneous poems—Prose tales—“Pursuit
of Diarmad and Grainne”—“Lay of Diarmad”—Norse Ballads—Dream
figures, a remarkable Gaelic tradition 174

CHAPTER XI

THE INFLUENCE OF THE NORSE INVASIONS ON GAELIC LITERATURE

The dreaded Vikings—In English waters—Descents on Iona—Monasteries
favourite objects of attack—Destruction of books—Their own eddas
and sagas—Modern discovery of the wonderful Icelandic
literature—The Northmen in a new light—Literary effects of their
invasions—Arrested development—Lamentable dispersion of the
literary classes—Pilgrim Scots—The rise of Scottish
Gaelic—Present-day differences between it and Irish—Introduction
of Norse words—Decay of inflection—Gaelic examples of Viking
beliefs and superstitions—The Norseman still with us 198

CHAPTER XII

THE FOUR ANCIENT BOOKS OF WALES

The _Myvyrian Archaiology_—Oldest texts—The Black Book of
Caermarthen—The Book of Aneurin—The Book of Taliessin—The Red
Book of Hergest—Gildas and Nennius—The ancient Laws and
Institutes—A great dialectic battle—The princes of song—“I
Yscolan”—A Welsh Ossianic poem—Characteristics of the early
poetry—The medieval romances—Their history—Modern translations
of the Mabinogion—Two classes of tales—The legend of
Taliessin—His curious odes—Kilhwch and Olwen—The Lady of the
Fountain—Three striking features of the Arthurian romances—Their
influence on Western Europe 217

CHAPTER XIII

CELTIC LITERARY REVIVALS

Sixth century awakening throughout Celtdom—Illustrious
names—Brittany’s wonderful cycle of song—Charming
examples—Dearth of tenth century—A strange trait of Celtic
life—The brilliant medieval renaissance—Output of Ireland,
Wales, and Brittany—The Cornish dramas—Last speaker of that
dialect—Period of inactivity and decline—Recrudescence—1745–1800
the high-water mark of Highland production—A galaxy of
poets—Splendid lyrical outburst—New Ossianic cycle—Seana
Dana—Caledonian Bards—The Welsh Eisteddfod—Latest Celtic
renaissance—Some characteristic features, results,
manifestations—Antiquity, thou wondrous charm! 239

CHAPTER XIV

HIGHLAND BARDS BEFORE THE FORTY-FIVE

“The Owlet”—Three Macgregor songs—The old bardic system
superseded—Era of modern Gaelic poetry—Mary Macleod—Details of
her life—Famous songs—Iain Lom—Ardent poet and politician—His
“Vow”—Eventful career—Poems—Created Gaelic
Poet-Laureate—Influence on Highland history—Other minor bards
and bardesses—Imitations by Sir Walter Scott—The blind harper,
and the blind piper—A comic poet—Two major bards—Maccodrum’s
Muse—Characteristics of the group before the Forty-five 262

CHAPTER XV

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH ON GAELIC LITERATURE

The origins of Celtic literature—Two streams—The Pagan—The
Christian—Influence of the early Celtic Church as patron of
letters—Originates a written literature—Attitude towards the
ancient sagas—Medieval obscurantism—The Dialogues between Ossian
and Patrick quoted and discussed—Their significance—Bishop
Carsewell and the Reformation—The rival influences of Naturalism
and the Church—Decline of Gaelic oral literature—The Nineteenth,
a century of gleaning rather than of creative
work—Reasons—Present-day return to nature—Splendid services of
individual Churchmen 286

CHAPTER XVI

THE INFLUENCE OF CELTIC, ON ENGLISH LITERATURE

Earliest contact—Loan-words—Three periods of marked literary
influence—Layamon’s “Brut”—A fascinating study for critics—The
development of the Arthurian Romance—Sir Thomas Malory—Question
as to origin of rhyme—A Celtic claim—Elements in Scottish
poetry—in English literature—Gray’s “Bard”—Macpherson’s
“Ossian”—Influence on Wordsworth and his contemporaries—Moore’s
“Irish Melodies”—Sir Walter Scott—Tennyson—Interesting
comparison—Arnold, Shairp, Blackie—Novelists after Scott—Living
writers 304

CHAPTER XVII

THE PRINTED LITERATURE OF THE SCOTTISH GAEL

Two interesting bibliographies—Surprising revelations—First Gaelic
printed book—Meagre output prior to the Forty-five—Earliest
original works issued—No complete Bible in type before
1801—Nineteenth century activity—The Highlander’s favourite
books—A revelation of character—His printed literature mainly
religious—Translations—The two books in greatest demand—Dearth
of the masterpieces of other languages—The most popular of
English religious writers—of native bards—Gaelic poetry—The
printed succession—Notable books—Account of the Gaelic
grammars—Dictionaries—Periodicals—Value of the literature 325

CHAPTER XVIII

THE MASTER GLEANERS OF GAELIC POETRY

The work of the gleaner—Authors of the three most precious relics
of Celtic literature, Leabhar Na h’Uidhre, Book of Hymns, and
Book of Leinster—of the three Highland treasures, Book of the
Dean of Lismore, Fernaig MS., and Book of Clanranald—Advent of
Macpherson—Collections and collectors between 1750 and
1820—First printed gleaning—Four nineteenth-century monuments,
Campbell’s Leabhar na Feinne, Mackenzie’s Beauties of Gaelic
Poetry, Sinclair’s Songster, and Carmichael’s Carmina
Gadelica—Other recent gleaners and their books 347

CHAPTER XIX

THE MASTER SCHOLARS OF CELTIC LITERATURE

The bards and seanachies—Six men of outstanding literary
eminence—The earliest pioneer of the modern philological
movement—Representatives of the older scholarship—Those of the
new—The brilliant Zeuss—Foreign periodicals dealing with
Celtic—Foremost scholars of the various
nations—Italian—German—French—Danish—Scandinavian—American—British,
including English, Irish, Welsh, Manx, and Scottish—Many
literary problems solved—The promise of future harvests 367

INDEX OF NAMES 387

INDEX OF SUBJECTS 397