Chapter XVII: The Gaelic Revival

“Dùisg a leoghain euchdaich, ’s dean éirich gu faramach,
Air brat ball-dearg, breid-gheal, ’s fraoch sleibhe mar bharan air;
Tog suas do cheann gu h-eutrom, ’s na speuraibh gu caithreasach,
’S theid mi-fhìn cho géire ’s a dh’fheudas mi d’arabhaig:
Togam suas do mholadh prîseal, ’s do cheann ríoghail farasda,
Cha’n’eil ceann no corp ’s an rioghachd an cruaidh-ghniomh thug
barrach ort,—
An ceann cruadalach àrd sgiamhach, maisach, fior-dheas, arranta,
’Stric agairt ri uchd an fhuathais, ri âm luchd t’fhuatha tarruinn
riut.
—MACDONALD.

ENGLISH:

Awake thou furious lion! awake with lusty roar,
On thy bright blood-stained standard, heath-circled as of yore;
Thy head lift up full lightly in heaven with raging might,
And I will rush with fervour to mingle in thy fight:
I raise thy praises precious round thy calm regal head;
None e’er throughout the kingdom excelled thy deeds of dread;—
That head of strength and valour where fearless beauty glows,
Oft roared it out its terrors when onward pressed the foes.

This was the spirit and manner in which the great poet Alex. Macdonald went about rousing his countrymen to lofty deeds of valour in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. He lavished all his poetic enthusiasm on the “praises” of the national lion, and the inspiration of his muse and of that of a hundred-others bore fruit a century afterwards. Such poems as Macdonald’s have had a profoundly formative influence on the minds of the young Highlanders of our own times,—especially the more susceptible and less sordid spirits, who would not deny their country, race, or language for all the golden success that self-effacement as Gaels could secure. These enduring sons of the Highlands and Islands succeeded at last, although in the midst of much obloquy and secular loss, in accomplishing a Gaelic revolution;—in creating a Gaelic revival, and ultimately a powerful agitation that bore a fruit that has justified the more sanguine expectations and claims of bards and patriots. This has been the fruit of a century of Gaelic effort devoted to the study of the language, history, and interests of the people. While the foes of such an endeavour have been numerous and supercilious, even in selfish Highland quarters, let it not be forgotten that a great deal of sympathy and practical help came from many kindly hearts and hands among our Lowland fellow-countrymen.

It is interesting to trace the influences that have brought about this bloodless revolution in the Highlands, some of whose people a little over a century ago were engaged in rebellion against the present dynasty. A healthy form of Christianity and common sense have done it all. The meaning of the one came to them through the translation of good religious writings and the Gaelic Bible: and the exercise of the other became possible through the instructed good qualities of the Highlanders themselves. I therefore in this last chapter devote some paragraphs to the results that the chief forms of Gaelic endeavour have produced.

THE GAELIC BIBLE.

The first portion of the Bible translated was the New Testament, in 1767, by the Rev. James Stewart of Killin. Dugald Buchanan, the poet, accompanied Mr Stewart to Edinburgh to superintend the work through the press. The title-page bears that the translation was undertaken at the request and at the expense of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. The translator adopted an orthographical system, which has been perfected into a standard of Gaelic by succeeding scholars. The first edition of the translation of the Old Testament was published in the following order:—