Chapter XVI

Prophetic Verse--Druids called Bardi--The Bardi as
Instructors--Virtue of Serpents' Eggs--Bards
maintained by Noblemen--Queen Elizabeth and the
Bards--Effects of Prophetic Sayings, and of Pipe
Music--Message, how conveyed to another World--Voices
of Deceased Friends heard in the Gale--Human Forms in
the Clouds--Evenings in the Highlands--Michael
Scott--Constant Work for Evil Spirits--Stemming the
Tweed--How the Eildon Hills were formed--Place of
Torment--Ropes of Sand--Scott and his Magic Books
buried at Melrose--Ossianic Poems--Stories by Bards.

Poets have done much to fan the flame of superstition. They have indulged in prophetic verse, and handed down to posterity the strange belief of our ancestors. Certain Druids, called Bardi, were well known to be versed in astrology. They are supposed to have been the same, in particular respects, among the Britons as the Sophi among the Greeks, or the Magi among the Persians. Having been chosen from the best families in the land, the Bardi were held in the highest esteem by the common people; and the children of the chiefs were instructed by them. Their practical verses were never written, but given to their pupils _viva voce_, that they might assist in conveying them orally to the people. The Bardi dealt in particular charms, such as serpents' eggs, gathered in a particular way, and under certain phases of the moon. These eggs were imagined to be effectual for the gaining of law-suits, and for the securing of the good graces of princes. The Vates (another class of Druids), if not the Bardi, sought for omens among the entrails of victims offered in sacrifice.

The Bards, at various periods, possessed uncommon privileges, but these were from time to time diminished or increased, according to the caprice of those under whose government they lived. Almost every nobleman of distinction maintained bards in his family, and treated them with great consideration. Queen Elizabeth, however, acted differently: she ordered bards and minstrels to be hanged as traitors, as she believed they instigated rebellion by their songs. Bards followed clans to the field, where they eulogized the chiefs, and sang in extravagant verse the deeds of the favourite warriors. Before a battle, they went from tribe to tribe, or from clan to clan, exhorting and encouraging by prophetic sayings, in which success to friends was foretold and the doom of enemies pronounced. In the tumult of fight, when the bards' voices could not be heard, they were succeeded by pipers, who with inspiring warlike strains kept alive the enthusiasm the composers of verse had kindled. After the contest was sounded, the bards were employed to honour the memory of the brave that had fallen in battle, to celebrate the deeds of those who survived, and to excite to future acts of heroism. The piper was called upon, in turn, to sound mournful lamentations for the slain. In poetical language, the people were told that the dead sympathized with the living left behind to maintain the honour of their clans or country. Messages were given to dying friends, that they might be delivered to the spirits of relatives in another world. Highlanders imagined they heard, in the passing gale, the voices of departed relatives, and in their solitude they beheld the forms of their fathers in the bright clouds. In cases of emergency, the spirit of the mountains gave friendly warnings, which enabled cautioned ones to avoid dangers, that otherwise could neither be foreseen nor prevented.

Traditional poetry is highly esteemed by the mountaineers. It is a favourite pastime with the Highlanders, when seated round the evening fire, to relate and listen to tales of witches, fairies, etc., and to sing the soul-stirring songs of their native bards. Formerly, those who could recount the deeds of Fingalian times were special favourites. To such persons every door was open, and every table free. Nothing but ignorance could lead inhabitants of towns to suppose that Highlanders spend their winter months in gloomy solitude. Except where poverty or sickness prevails, the winter evenings among the mountains have something bewitching about them. The day's toil being over, neighbours come in, and parents and children, masters and servants, friends and relations, hold social intercourse in the same apartment, where there blazes a hearty fire of peats and bog-fir. None of the young women remain idle; for while the joke and merry laugh go round, one knits, a second sews, a third spins, and a fourth handles a distaff. Once the happy conversation has commenced, the wind may blow, the tempest roar, without disturbing the friendly group. There may be now less highly-gifted bards in the Highlands, romance and chivalry may have yielded to other ideas and pursuits, but still much of the same characteristic spirit remains: the love of ancient tradition and song exists, and the superstitions of bygone ages are unforgotten. Those who do not venerate their poets, and have respect to the early history of their country, are a dull, besotted people.

Not unfrequently were poets and other men of genius regarded as wizards or magicians. As an instance, we refer to the history of Michael Scott, the celebrated philosopher and poet, who lived in the thirteenth century. He was a native of Fife, and in early life became versant in occult science. After studying in Scotland, he went to Oxford and Paris, where he attained wonderful proficiency in philology, mathematics, natural philosophy, and theology. He visited other foreign countries--in particular, Norway, Germany, and Spain. His fame spread over the whole of Europe. His knowledge of natural magic procured for him the appellations of enchanter, magician, wizard. His works recommended him to the favourable notice of Frederick II. of Germany, by whom he was appointed his royal astrologer. To Scott, it is reported, the heavens were as a great book, wherein was written not only the history of nations, but of individuals also. In the vaulted heavens, he declared, man might read his own fortune. He predicted when, where, and how the Emperor Frederick's death would take place. Scott returned to Scotland, when he had the honour of knighthood conferred on him. He performed almost innumerable miracles; and so thoroughly was he believed to be in league with the Devil, that he was tried for sorcery, but through his influence in high quarters, or his subtle arts, he escaped the fangs of the law. Tradition says that upon a certain occasion, being embarrassed by evil spirits, he undertook to find the wicked ones constant employment. Not a few strange feats were gone through, which Scott thought were impossible for Satan himself to perform. Nevertheless, they were done. One day, the spirits demanded more work; and the wizard ordered that a dam-head should be built across the Tweed at Kelso, to prevent the flow of the river. Next morning the work was found completed. More work was demanded; and this time Scott requested that the Eildon Hill, which had only one cone, should be divided into three parts. Away went the infernal spirits in great glee to perform the task assigned them. On the sun rising the following day, the hill had three cones, as are to be seen at the present time. Back came the wicked beings to intimate that the task was accomplished. This Sir Michael well knew meant a determination to have more work, or to claim him in accordance with an agreement between him and Satan. Scott remembered he had sold himself to his Satanic Majesty, but did not forget that he was entitled to a respite so long as he could procure diabolical work for Satan's favourite imps. "What," Scott asked himself; "is next to be done? Am I to order the world to be turned upside down, and perhaps perish in the ruins? or am I to demand the evil spirits, which torment me night and day, to bring down the sun, moon, and stars, and leave the universe in perpetual darkness? No," replied he, mentally; "to do so, would be to make myself more of a fiend than they that take pleasure in gathering together into the place of torment those who have persistently disobeyed the dictates of reason. Shall I then at once surrender myself to the merciless tyrants, and thereby free the world from an instrument of unrighteousness? Ah!" exclaimed Scott, "life is sweet, and death bitter; let me prolong my days to the utmost limits allowed to man." Exhausted, Sir Michael leaned back on the seat whereon he sat. Long watching, deep study, and vexatious encounters with the evil ones so exhausted him that he fell into a disturbed sleep. In his dreams he beheld the place of torment with all its horrors. The fiery lake looked more dismal than anything he had heard described, or what he could have imagined. Within were many known faces; every one endeavoured to excel the other in his endeavour to make the place what it was intended to be--a place of torment. No one repented of his wicked deeds or expected mercy. The gates of the unholy place were thrown open, and in went the chief spirit that had so often communed with Scott. Like a furnace door, the gate was closed after him. What took place may be imagined. Again the red-hot gate turned on its hinges, and out came Satan, with a thousand of his swiftest messengers, to bring home Sir Michael, against whom a charge was pending of breach of bargain. Horror-stricken, the sleeper started to his feet, and to his great relief found none but his old familiar spirits before him. "Work, more work," said the spirits. "Yes, work, endless work," shouted Scott. "Go," said he, "and make the sea-sand into ropes." With a gloomy countenance the fiends departed, never to return to molest the enchanter. For aught that is known, says the legend, the spirits may still be endeavouring to perform the impossible task of making ropes out of sea-sand. All parties are not agreed as to how Sir Michael Scott died, nor where he was interred, but the general belief as to where his remains rest is, that he was buried, together with his magic books, at Melrose Abbey.

Assuming that the poems asserted to be those of Ossian are authentic, we see there was in his time a general belief that ghosts and spirits floated through the air, that the dead revisited the earth, that the destiny of man was under the control of supernatural beings, and that the astonishing power of witches was real, and not imaginary. This is abundantly proved (always assuming the authenticity of the Ossianic poems) by the work before us, from which we take the following quotations:--

"Fingal advanced his steps wide through the bosom of
night, to where the trees of Loda shook amid squally
winds.... I beheld the dark moon descending behind thy
resounding woods. On thy top dwells the misty Loda,
the house of the spirits of men. I saw a deer at
Crona's stream; a mossy bank he seemed through the
gloom, but soon he bounded away. A meteor played round
his branching horns; the awful faces of other times
looked from the clouds of Crona. These are the signs
of Fingal's death. The king of shields is fallen, and
Caracul prevails. 'Rise, Comala, from thy rock;
daughter of Sarno, rise in tears. The youth of thy
love is low; his ghost is on our hills.'...

"Autumn is dark on the mountains; grey mists rest on
the hills. The whirlwind is heard on the heath. Dark
rolls the river through the narrow plain. A tree
stands alone on the hill, and marks the slumbering
Connal. The leaves whirl round with the wind, and
strew the grave of the dead. At times are seen here
the ghosts of the departed, when the musing hunter
alone stalks over the heath....

"The deer of the mountain avoids the place, for he
beholds a dim ghost standing there. The mighty lie, O
Malvina! in the narrow plain of the rock.

"Often did I turn my ship, but the winds of the east
prevailed. Nor Clutha ever since I have seen, nor
Moina of the dark-brown hair. She fell in Balclutha,
for I have seen her ghost. I knew her as she came
through the dusky night, along the murmur of Lora: she
was like the new moon, seen through the gathered mist,
when the sky pours down its flaky snow, and the world
is silent and dark. 'Raise, ye bards,' said the mighty
Fingal, 'the praise of unhappy Moina. Call her ghost,
with your songs, to our hills, that she may rest with
the fair of Morven, the sunbeams of other days, the
delight of heroes of old.'...

"The night passed away in song; morning returned in
joy. The mountains showed their grey heads; the blue
face of ocean smiled. The white wave is seen tumbling
round the distant rock; a mist rose slowly from the
lake. It came in the figure of an aged man along the
silent plain. Its large limbs did not move in steps,
for a ghost supported it in mid air. It came towards
Selma's hall, and dissolved in a shower of blood.

"The king alone beheld the sight; he foresaw the death
of the people....

"'My spirit, Connal, is on my hills: my corse on the
sands of Erin. Thou shalt never talk with Crugal, nor
find his lone steps in the heath. I am light as the
blast of Cromla. I move like the shadow of mist!
Connal, son of Colgar, I see a cloud of death: it
hovers dark over the plains of Lena. The sons of green
Erin must fall. Remove from the field of ghosts.' Like
the darkened moon, he retired in the midst of the
whistling blast. 'Stay,' said the mighty Connal,
'stay, my dark-red friend. Lay by that beam of heaven,
son of the windy Cromla! What cave is thy lonely
house? What green-headed hill the place of thy repose?
Shall we not hear thee in the storm? in the noise of
the mountain stream? when the feeble sons of the wind
come forth, and, scarcely seen, pass over the
desert.'...

"'Sons of Cona!' Fingal cried aloud, 'stop the hand of
death. Mighty was he that is low; much is he mourned
in Sora! The stranger will come towards his hill, and
wonder why it is so silent. The king is fallen, O
stranger! The joy of his house is ceased. Listen to
the sound of his woods. Perhaps the ghost is murmuring
there! But he is far distant, on Morven, beneath the
sword of foreign foe.'

"Lorma sat in Aldo's hall. She sat at the light of a
flaming oak. The night came down, but he did not
return. The soul of Lorma is sad. 'What detained thee,
hunter of Cona? thou didst promise to return. Has the
deer been distant far? Do the dark winds sigh round
thee on the heath? I am in the land of strangers; who
is my friend but Aldo? Come from the sounding hills, O
my best beloved.'

"Her eyes are turned towards the gate. She listens to
the rustling blast. She thinks it is Aldo's tread. Joy
rises in her face! But storm returns again, like a
thin cloud on the moon.... His thin ghost appeared on a
rock, like a watery beam of feeble light, when the
moon rushes sudden from between two clouds, and the
midnight shower is on the field. She followed the
empty form over the heath. She knew that her hero
fell. I heard her approaching cries on the wind, like
the mournful voice of the breeze, when it sighs on the
grass of the cave!

"She came. She found her hero! Her voice was heard no
more. Silent she rolled her eyes. She was pale, and
wildly sad! Few her days on Cona. She sank into the
tomb. Fingal commanded his bards; they sang over the
death of Lorma. The daughters of Morven mourned her
for one day in the year, when the dark winds of autumn
returned."

In Ossianic times there were prophets and prophetesses, who were consulted by the chiefs of armies and by the common people on important occasions. Even a thousand years after the time of Ossian, the bards uttered their prophetic sayings. We have the story of five bards passing an October night in the house of a chief, who, like his guests, was a poet, entertaining their hearers with poetic descriptions of the night. The first bard delivered himself thus:

"Night is dull and dark. The clouds rest on the hills.
No star with green trembling beam; no moon looks from
the sky. I hear the blast in the wood, but I hear it
distant far. The stream of the valley murmurs, but its
murmur is sullen and sad. From the tree, at the grave
of the dead, the long-howling owl is heard. I see a
dim form on the plain! It is a ghost! it fades, it
flies. Some funeral shall pass this way: the meteor
marks the path. The distant dog is howling from the
hut of the hill. The stag lies on the mountain moss:
the hind is at his side. She hears the wind in his
branchy horns. She starts, but lies again. The roe is
in the cleft of the rock; the heath-cock's head is
beneath his wing. No beast nor bird is abroad, but the
owl and the howling fox. She on a leafless tree; he in
a cloud on the hill. Dark, panting, trembling, sad,
the traveller has lost his way. Through shrubs,
through thorns he goes, along the gurgling mill. He
fears the rock and the fen. He fears the ghost of
night. The old tree groans to the blast; the falling
branch resounds. The wind drives the weathered burs,
clung together, along the grass. It is the light tread
of a ghost! He trembles amidst the night. Dark,
dusky, howling night, cloudy, windy, and full of
ghosts! The dead are abroad! My friends, receive me
from the night."

The second bard says:

"The wind is up. The shower descends. The spirit of
the mountain shrieks. Woods fall from high. Windows
flap. The growing river roars. The traveller attempts
the ford. Hark! that shriek! He dies! The storm drives
the horse from the hill, the goat, the lowing cow.
They tremble as drives the shower, beside the
mouldering bank. The hunter starts from sleep, in his
lonely hut; he wakes, the fire decayed. His wet dogs
smoke around him. He fills the chinks with heath. Loud
roar two mountain streams, which meet beside his
booth. Sad on the side of the hill the wandering
shepherd sits. The tree resounds beside him. The
stream roars down the rock. He waits for the rising
moon to guide him to his home. Ghosts ride on the
storm to-night. Sweet is their voice between the
squalls of wind. Their songs are of other worlds. The
rain is past. The dry wind blows. Streams roar and
windows flap. Cold drops fall from the roof. I see the
starry sky. But the shower gathers again. The west is
gloomy and dark. Night is stormy and dismal. Receive
me, my friends, from night."

The third bard sings:

"The wind still sounds between the hills, and whistles
through the grass of the rock. The firs fall from
their place. The turfy hut is torn. The clouds
divided, fly over the sky, and show the burning stars.
The meteor, token of death, flies sparkling through
the gloom. It rests on the hill. I see the withered
form, the dark-browed rock, the fallen oak. Who is
that in his shroud beneath the tree by the stream? The
waves dark tumble on the lake, and lash its rocky
sides. A maid sits sad beside the rock, and eyes the
rolling stream. Her lover promised to come. She saw
his boat, when yet it was light, on the lake. Is this
his broken boat on the shore? Are these his groans on
the wind? Hark! the hail rattles around. The flaky
snow descends. The tops of the hills are white. The
stormy wind abates. Various is the night, and cold.
Receive me, my friends, from night."

The fourth bard takes up the theme thus:

"Night is calm and fair; blue, starry, settled is
night. The winds, with the clouds, are gone. They sink
behind the hill. The moon is up on the mountain. Trees
glister; streams shine on the rock. Bright rolls the
settled lake; bright the stream of the vale. I see the
trees overturned; the shocks of corn on the plain.
The wakeful hind rebuilds the shocks, and whistles on
the distant field. Calm, settled, fair is night! Who
comes from the place of the dead? That form with the
robe of snow; white arms with dark-brown hair! It is
the daughter of the chief of the people--she that
lately fell! Come, let us view thee, O maid! thou that
hast been the delight of heroes! The blast drives the
phantom away; white, without form, it ascends the
hill. The breeze drives the blue mist slowly over the
narrow vale. It rises on the hill, and joins its head
to heaven. Night is settled, calm, blue, starry,
bright with the moon. Receive me not, my friends, for
lovely is the night."

The fifth bard chants:

"Night is calm, but dreary. The moon is in a cloud in
the west. Slow moves that pale beam along the shaded
hill. The distant wave is heard. The torrent murmurs
on the rock. The cock is heard from the booth. More
than half the night is past. The housewife, groping in
the gloom, rekindles the settled fire. The hunter
thinks the day approaches, and calls his bounding
dogs. He ascends the hill, and whistles on his way. A
blast removes the clouds. He sees the starry plough of
the north. Much of the night is to pass. He nods by
the mossy rock. Hark! the whirlwind is in the woods! A
low murmur in the vale! It is the mighty army of the
dead returning from the air. The moon rests behind the
hill. The beam is still on the lofty rock. Long are
the shadows of the trees. Now it is dark all over.
Night is dreary, silent, and dark. Receive me, my
friends, from the night."

The chief replies:

"Let clouds rest on the hills, spirits fly, and
travellers fear. Let the winds of the woods arise, the
sounding storms descend. Roar streams, and windows
flap, and green-winged meteors fly! Let the pale moon,
from behind the hills, enclose her head in clouds!
Night is alike to me, blue, stormy, or gloomy the sky.
Night flies before the beam when it is poured on the
hill. The young day returns from his clouds, but we
return no more.... Raise the song, and strike the
harp; send round the shells of joy. Suspend a hundred
tapers on high. Maids and youths, begin to dance. Let
some grey bard be near me to tell the deeds of other
times, of kings renowned in our land, of chiefs we
behold no more. Thus let the night pass until morning
shall appear on our hills. Then let the bow be at
hand, the dogs, the youths of the chase. We shall
ascend the hill with day, and awake the deer."

From the foregoing, we obtain a glimpse of the superstitions and customs of remote ages. Greek mythology is confessedly the creation of poets; and to the bards of our own country we are indebted for some of our strangest fictions. Fletcher of Saltoun must have been fully aware of the poetic influence; for he expressed himself as willing to let any one who pleased make the laws, if he were permitted to compose the national ballads.