Chapter XLV: Gaelic Literature, Language, and Music (4)

Bha fear air astar uaireigin mu thuath, a réir coslais, mu
Shiorramachd Inbhirnis. Bha e a’ coiseachd là, ’us chunnaic e fear
a’ buain sgrath leis an làr-chaipe. Thainig e far an robh an duine.
Thubhairt e ris, “Oh, nach sean sibhse, ’dhuine, ris an obair sin.”
Thubhairt an duine ris, “Oh, nam faiceadh tu m’athair, is e a’s
sine na mise.” “D’athair” ars’ an duine, “am bheil d’athair beò
’s an t-saoghal fhathasd?” “Oh, tha” ars’ esan. “C’àite am bheil
d’athair” ars’ esan, “am b’urrainn mi ’fhaicinn?” “Uh, is urrainn”
ars’ esan, “tha e a’ tarruing dhathigh nan sgrath.” Dh’innis e an
rathad a ghabhadh e ach am faiceadh e ’athair. Thàinig e far an
robh e. Thubhairt e ris, “Nach sean sibhse, ’dhuine, ris an obair
sin.” “Uh,” ars’ esan, “nam faiceadh tu m’ athair, is e a ’s sine na
mise.” “Oh, am bheil d’athair ’s an t-saoghai fhathasd?” “Uh, tha,”
ars’ esan. “C’aite am bheil e” ars’ esan, “an urrainn mi ’fhaicinn?”
“Uh, is urrainn,” ars’ esan, “tha e a’ tilgeadh nan sgrath air an
tigh.” Ràinig e am fear a bha ’tilgeadh nan sgrath. “Oh, nach sean
sibhse, ’dhuine, ris an obair sin,” ars’ esan. “Uh, nam faiceadh
tu m’athair,” ars’ esan, “tha e mòran na ’s sine na mise.” “Am
bheil d’athair agam r’a fhaicinn?” “Uh, tha,” ars’ esan, “rach
timchioll, ’us chi thu e a’cur nan sgrath.” Thainig e ’us chunnaic
e am fear a bha ’cur nan sgrath. “Oh, a dhuine” ars’ esan, “is mòr
an aois a dh’fheumas sibse a bhi.” “Oh,” ars’ esan, “nam faiceadh tu
m’athair.” “An urrainn mi d’athair fhaicinn?” ars’ esan, “C’àite am
bheil e?” “Mata” ars’ an duine, is òlach tapaidh coltach thu, tha mi
’creidsinn gu’m faod mi m’athair a shealltuinn duit. “Tha e,” ars’
esan, “stigh ann an geadan clòimhe an ceann eile an tighe.” Chaidh
e stigh leis ’g a fhaicinn. Bha na h-uile gin diùbhsan ro mhòr,
nach ’eil an leithid a nis r’a fhaotainn. “Tha duine beag an so,”
ars esan, ’athair, “air am bheil coslas òlaich thapaidh, Albannach,
’us toil aige ’ur faicinn.” Bhruidhinn e ris, ’us thubbairt e, “Co
as a thàinig thu? Thoir dhomh do làmh, ’Albannaich.” Thug a mhac
làmh air seann choltair croinn a bha ’na luidhe làimh riu. Shnaim e
aodach uime. “Thoir dha sin,” ars’ esan ris an Albannach, “’us na
toir dha do làmh.” Rug an seann duine air a’ choltair, ’us a’ cheann
eile aig an duine eile ’na làimh. An àite an coltair a bhi leathann,
rinn e cruinn e, ’us dh’fhàg e làrach nan cuig meur ann, mar gu’m
bitheadh uibe taois ann. “Nach cruadalach an làmh a th’agad,
’Albannaich,” ars’ esan, “Nam bitheadh do chridhe cho cruadalach,
tapaidh, dh’iarrainnse rud ort nach d’iarr mi’ air fear roimhe.”
“Ciod e sin, a dhuine?” ars’ esan, “ma tha ni ann a’s urrainn mise
’dheanamh, ni mi e.” “Bheirinnse dhuit” ars’ esan, “fìdeag a tha an
so, agus fiosraichidh tu far am bheil Tòm na h-iùbhraich, laimh ri
Inbhirnis, agus an uair a theid thu ann, chi thu creag bheag, ghlas,
air an dara taobh dheth.” An uair a’ theid thu a dh’ionnsuidh na
creige, chi thu mu mheudachd doruis, ’us air cumadh doruis bhige air
a’ chreig. Buail sròn do choise air trì uairean, ’us air an uair mu
dheireadh fosgailidh e. Dh’fhalbh e, ’us ràinig e ’us fhuair e an
dorus.” Thubhairt an seann duine ris, “An uair a dh’fhosgaileas tu
an dorus, seirmidh tu an fhìdeag, bheir thu tri seirmean oirre ’us
air an t-seirm mu dheireadh,” ars’ esan, “eiridh leat na bhitheas
stigh, ’us ma bhitheas tu cho tapaidh ’us gun dean thu siu, is
fheairrd thu fhéin e ’us do mhac, ’us d’ ogha, ’us d’iar-ogha.” Thug
e a’ cheud sheirm air an fhìdeag. Sheall e ’us stad e. Shin na coin
a bha ’n an luidhe làthair ris na daoinibh an cosan, ’us charaich
na daoine uile. Thug e an ath sheirm oirre. Dh’éirich na daoine
air an uilnibh ’us dh’éirich na coin ’n an suidhe. Thionndaidh am
fear ris an dorus, ’us ghabh e eagal. Tharruing e an dorus ’n a
dhéigh. Ghlaodh iadsan uile gu léir, “Is miosa ’dh’fhàg na fhuair,
is miosa ’dh’fhàg na fhuair.” Dh’fhalbh e ’n a ruith. Thàinig e gu
lochan uisge, a bha an sin, ’us thilg e an fhìdeag anns an lochan.
Dhealaich mise riu.

_English Translation._

THE FINGALIANS.

THE MAN IN THE TUFT OF WOOL.

There was a man once on a journey in the north, according to all
appearance in the sheriffdom of Inverness. He was travelling one
day, and he saw a man casting divots with the flaughter-spade. He
came to where the man was. He said to him, “Oh, you are very old to
be employed in such work.” The man said to him, “Oh, if you saw my
father, he is much older than I am.” “Your father,” said the man, “is
your father alive in the world still?” “Oh, yes,” said he. “Where is
your father?” said he; “could I see him?” “Oh, yes,” said he, “he
is leading home the divots.” He told him what way he should take in
order to see his father. He came where he was. He said to him “You
are old to be engaged in such work.” “Oh,” said he, “if you saw my
father, he is older than I.” “Oh, is your father still in the world?”
“Oh, yes,” said he. “Where is your father?” said he; “can I see him!”
“Oh, yes,” said he, “he is reaching the divots at the house.” He came
to the man who was reaching the divots. “Oh, you are old,” said he,
“to be employed in such work.” “Oh, if you saw my father,” said he,
“he is much older than I.” “Is your father to be seen?” said he. “Oh,
yes, go round the house and you will see him laying the divots on the
roof.” He came and he saw the man who was laying the divots on the
roof. “Oh, man,” said he, “you must be a great age.” “Oh, if you saw
my father.” “Oh, can I see your father; where is he?” “Well,” said
the man, “you look like a clever fellow; I daresay I may show you my
father.” “He is,” said he, “inside in a tuft of wool in the further
end of the house.” He went in with him to show him to him. Every
one of these men was very big, so much so that their like is not to
be found now. “There is a little man here,” said he to his father,
“who looks like a clever fellow, a Scotchman, and he is wishful to
see you.” He spoke to him, and said, “Where did you come from? Give
me your hand, Scotchman.” His son laid hold of the old coulter of a
plough that lay there. He knotted a cloth around it. “Give him that,”
said he to the Scotchman, “and don’t give him your hand.” The old man
laid hold of the coulter, while the man held the other end in his
hand. Instead of the coulter being broad, he made it round, and left
the mark of his five fingers in it as if it were a lump of leaven.
“You have a brave hand, Scotchman,” said he. “If your heart were as
brave and clever, I would ask something of you that I never asked of
another.” “What is that, man?” said he; “if there is anything that
I can do, I shall do it.” “I would give you,” said he, “a whistle
that I have here, and you will find out where Tomnahurich is near
Inverness, and when you find it you will see a little grey rock on
one side of it. When you go to the rock you will see about the size
of a door, and the shape of a little door in the rock. Strike the
point of your foot three times, and at the third time it will open.”
He went away, and he reached and found the door. “When you open the
door,” the old man said, “you will sound the whistle; you will sound
it thrice. At the third sounding all that are within will rise along
with you; and if you be clever enough to do that, you, and your
son, and your grandson, and your great-grandson, will be the better
of it.” He gave the first sound on the whistle. He looked, and he
stopped. The dogs that lay near the men stretched their legs, and
all the men moved. He gave the second sound. The men rose on their
elbows, and the dogs sat up. The man turned to the door and became
frightened. He drew the door after him. They all cried out, “Left us
worse than he found us; left us worse than he found us.” He went away
running. He came to a little fresh water loch that was there, and he
threw the whistle into the loch. I left them.

These specimens give a good idea of the popular prose literature of the Highlands. Whence it was derived it is difficult to say. It may have originated with the people themselves, but many portions of it bear the marks of having been derived even, as has been said, from an Eastern source, while the last tale which has been transcribed above gives the Highland version of an old Scottish tradition.

POETRY.

Gaelic poetry is voluminous. Exclusive of the Ossianic poetry which has been referred to already, there is a long catalogue of modern poetical works of various merit. Fragments exist of poems written early in the 17th century, such as those prefixed to the edition of Calvin’s Catechism, printed in 1631. One of these, _Faosid Eoin Steuart Tighearn na Happen_, “The Confession of John Stewart, laird of Appin,” savours more of the Church of Rome than of the Protestant faith. To this century belongs also the poetry of John Macdonell, usually called Eoin Lorn, and said to have been poet-laureate to Charles II. for Scotland. Other pieces exist of the same period, but little would seem to have been handed down to us of the poetry of this century.

We have fragments belonging to the early part of the 17th century in the introduction to “Lhuyd’s Archæologia.” These are of much interest to the Gaelic student. In 1751 appeared the first edition of Songs by Alexander Macdonald, usually called Mac Mhaighistir Alasdair. These songs are admirable specimens of Gaelic versification, giving the highest idea of the author’s poetical powers. Many editions of them have appeared, and they are very popular in the Highlands. Macintyre’s poems appeared in 1768. Macdonald and he stand at the very top of the list of Gaelic poets. They are both distinguished by the power and the smoothness of their composition. Macdonald’s highest gifts are represented in his _Biorluinn Chloinn Raonuill_, “Clan Ranald’s Galley,” and Macintyre’s in his _Beinn Dobhrain_, “Ben Douran.”

Later than Macintyre, Ronald M’Donald, commonly called Raonull Dubh, or Black Ranald, published an excellent collection of Gaelic songs. This Ranald was son to Alexander already referred to, and was a schoolmaster in the island of Eigg. His collection is largely made up of his father’s compositions, but there are songs of his own and of several other composers included. Many of the songs of this period are Jacobite, and indicate intense disloyalty to the Hanoverian royal family.

Gillies’s Collection in 1786 is an admirable one, containing many of the genuine Ossianic fragments. This collection is of real value to the Gaelic scholar, although it is now difficult to be had.

In addition to these, and at a later period, we have Turner’s Collection and Stewart’s Collection, both of them containing many excellent compositions. We have, later still, M’Kenzie’s Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, and we have, besides these, separate volumes of various sizes; by the admirable religious bard, Dugald Buchanan; by Rob Donn, the Reay bard; William Ross, the Gairloch bard; and many others, who would form a long catalogue. As might be supposed, the pieces included in these collections are of various merit, but there is much really good poetry worthy of the country which has cultivated the poetic art from the earliest period of its history, and a country which, while it gave to Gaelic poetry such a name as Ossian, gave to the poetry of England the names of Thomas Campbell and Lord Macaulay.

GRAMMARS.

There are no early treatises on the structure and composition of the Gaelic language, such as the ancient MS. writings which still exist on Irish Grammar. Still, so early as the middle of last century, the subject had excited notice, and demands began to exist for a grammatical treatise on the Gaelic language. The first attempt to meet this demand was made by the Rev. William Shaw, at one time minister of Ardclach, in Nairnshire, and afterwards a resident in England; the author of a Gaelic dictionary, and an associate of Johnson’s in opposing M’Pherson and his Ossian, as it was called by adversaries. Shaw’s Grammar is made of no account by Dr Stewart, in the reference which he makes to it in his excellent grammar; but the work is interesting as the first attempt made to reduce Gaelic grammar to shape at all, and as showing several indications of a fair, if not a profound scholarship. That the volume, however, is to be held in any way as a correct analysis of the Gaelic language, is out of the question. Mr Shaw presents his readers, at the end of his volume, with specimens of Gaelic writing, which he intends to settle the orthography of the language. Anything more imperfect than the orthography of these specimens can hardly be conceived--at least it is of a kind that makes the language in many of the words unintelligible to any ordinary reader. Mr Shaw’s Grammar reached a second edition, showing the interest that was taken in the subject at the time.

An abler scholar, in the person of the Rev. Dr Stewart, of Moulin, Dingwall, and the Canongate, Edinburgh, successively, took up the subject of Gaelic grammar after Mr Shaw. Mr Stewart was an eminent minister of the Scottish Church. Few ministers stood higher than he did as a preacher, and few laboured more assiduously in their pastoral work; still he found time for literary studies, and to none did he direct more of his care than to that of his native Gaelic. A native of Perthshire himself, he made himself acquainted with all the dialects of the tongue, and gives an admirable analysis of the language as it appears in the Gaelic Bible. Few works of the kind are more truly philosophical. The modesty which is ever characteristic of genius distinguishes every portion of it, while the work is of a kind that does not admit of much emendation. If it be defective in any part, it is in the part that treats of syntax. There the rules laid down comprehend but few of those principles which govern the structure of the language, and it is necessary to have recourse to other sources for information regarding many of the most important of these.

A third grammar was published about thirty years ago by Mr James Munro, at the time parish schoolmaster of Kilmonivaig. This volume is highly creditable to Mr Munro’s scholarship, and in many respects supplied a want that was felt by learners of the language. The numerous exercises with which the work abounds are of very great value, and must aid the student much in its acquisition.

A double grammar, in both Gaelic and English, by the Rev. Mr Forbes, latterly minister of Sleat, presents a very fair view of the structure of the Gaelic language, while grammars appear attached to several of the existing dictionaries. There is a grammar prefixed to the dictionary of the Highland Society, another to that of Mr Armstrong, and a third to that of Mr M’Alpine. All these are creditable performances, and worthy of perusal. In fact, if the grammar of the Gaelic language be not understood, it is not for want of grammatical treatises. There are seven or eight of them in existence.

Mr Shaw, in the introduction to his grammar, says:--“It was not the mercenary consideration of interest, nor, perhaps, the expectation of fame among my countrymen, in whose esteem its beauties are too much faded, but a taste for the beauties of the original speech of a now learned nation, that induced me either to begin, or encouraged me to persevere in reducing to grammatical principles a language spoken only by imitation; while, perhaps, I might be more profitably employed in tasting the various productions of men, ornaments of human nature, afforded in a language now teeming with books. I beheld with astonishment the learned in Scotland, since the revival of letters, neglect the Gaelic as if it was not worthy of any pen to give a rational account of a speech used upwards of 2000 years by the inhabitants of more than one kingdom. I saw with regret, a language once famous in the western world, ready to perish, without any memorial; a language by the use of which Galgacus having assembled his chiefs, rendered the Grampian hills impassable to legions that had conquered the world, and by means of which Fingal inspired his warriors with the desire of immortal fame.”

That the Gaelic language is worthy of being studied, the researches of modern philologers have amply proved. For comparative philology it is of the highest value, being manifestly one of the great links in the chain of Aryan languages. Its close relation to the classical languages gives it a place almost peculiar to itself. In like manner its study throws light on national history. Old words appear in charters and similar documents which a knowledge of Gaelic can alone interpret, while for the study of Scottish topography the knowledge of it is essential. From the Tweed to the Pentland Frith words appear in every part of the country which can only be analysed by the Gaelic scholar. In this view the study of the language is important, and good grammars are of essential value for its prosecution.

DICTIONARIES.

At an early period vocabularies of Gaelic words began to be compiled for the benefit of readers of the language. The first of these appears attached to Mr Kirk’s edition of Bedell’s Irish Bible, to which reference has been made already. The list of words is not very extensive, and, as has been said, the equivalents of the words given are in many cases as difficult to understand as the words themselves. Mr Kirk’s object in his vocabulary is to explain Irish words in Bedell’s Bible to Scottish readers.

In 1707 Lhuyd’s _Archæologia Britannica_ appeared. It contains a grammar of the Iberno-Scottish Gaelic, and a vocabulary which is in a large measure a vocabulary of the Gaelic of Scotland. All that this learned writer did was done in a manner worthy of a scholar. His vocabulary, although defective, is accurate so far as it goes, and presents us with a very interesting and instructive view of the state of the language in his day. Lhuyd’s volume is one which should be carefully studied by every Celtic scholar.

In 1738 the Rev. David Malcolm, minister at Duddingstone, published an essay on the antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland, with the view of showing the affinity betwixt “the languages of the ancient Britons and the Americans of the Isthmus of Darien.” In this essay there is a list of Gaelic words beginning with the letter A, extending to sixteen pages, and a list of English words with their Gaelic equivalents, extending to eight pages. Mr Malcolm brought the project of compiling a Gaelic dictionary before the General Assembly of the Scottish Church, and he seems to have had many conferences with Highland ministers friendly to his object. The Assembly appointed a committee on the subject, and they reported most favourably of Mr Malcolm’s design. Still the work never seems to have gone farther; and beyond the lists referred to, we have no fruits of Mr Malcolm’s labours. Mr Malcolm calls the language Irish, as was uniformly done by English writers at the time, and spells the words after the Irish manner.

Three years after the publication of Mr Malcolm’s essay in the year 1741, the first attempt at a complete vocabulary of the Gaelic language appeared. The compiler was Alexander M’Donald, at the time schoolmaster of Ardnamurchan, known throughout the Highlands as Mac Mhaighistir Alasdair, and a bard of high reputation. The compilation was made at the suggestion of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, in whose service M’Donald was at the time. The Society submitted the matter to the Presbytery of Mull, and the Presbytery committed the matter to M’Donald as the most likely man within their bounds to execute the work in a satisfactory manner. M’Donald’s book is dedicated to the Society, and he professes a zeal for Protestantism, although he turned over to the Church of Rome himself on the landing of Charles Edward in the Highlands in 1745. The vocabulary is arranged under the heads of subjects, and not according to the letters of the alphabet. It begins with words referring to God, and so on through every subject that might suggest itself. It is upon the whole well executed, seeing that the author was the pioneer of Gaelic lexicographers; but the publishers found themselves obliged to insert a caveat in an advertisement at the close of the volume, in which they say that “all or most of the verbs in this vocabulary from page 143 to page 162 are expressed in the Gaelic by single words, though our author generally expresses them by a needless circumlocution.” M’Donald’s orthography is a near approach to that of modern Gaelic writing.

In 1780 the Rev. Mr Shaw, the author of the Gaelic grammar already referred to, published a dictionary of the Gaelic language in two volumes, the one volume being Gaelic-English, and the other English-Gaelic. This work did not assume a high place among scholars.

Following upon Shaw’s work was that of Robert M’Farlane in 1795. This vocabulary is of little value to the student.

Robert M’Farlane’s volume was followed in 1815 by that of Peter M’Farlane, a well known translator of religious works. The collection of words is pretty full, and the work upon the whole is a creditable one.

Notwithstanding all these efforts at providing a dictionary of the Gaelic language, it was felt by scholars that the want had not been really supplied. In those circumstances Mr R. A. Armstrong, parish schoolmaster of Kenmore, devoted his time and talents to the production of a work that might be satisfactory. The Gaelic language was not Mr Armstrong’s mother tongue, and he had the great labour to undergo of acquiring it. Indefatigable energy, with the genius of a true scholar, helped him over all his difficulties, and, after years of toil, he produced a work of the highest merit, and one whose authority is second to none as an exposition of the Scoto-Celtic tongue.

Mr Armstrong’s dictionary was succeeded by that of the Highland Society of Scotland, which was published in two quarto volumes in 1828. A portion of the labour of this great work was borne by Mr Ewen Maclachlan of Aberdeen, the most eminent Celtic scholar of his day. Mr Maclachlan brought the most ample accomplishments to the carrying out of the undertaking; a remarkable acquaintance with the classical languages, which he could write with facility, a very extensive knowledge of the Celtic tongues, and a mind of remarkable acuteness to discern distinctions and analogies in comparative philology. But he died ere the work was far advanced, and other scholars had to carry it through. The chief of these was the Rev. Dr M’Leod of Dundonald, aided by the Rev. Dr Irvine of Little Dunkeld, and the Rev. Alexander M’Donald of Crieff; and the whole was completed and edited under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr Mackay, afterwards of Dunoon, to whose skill and care much of the value of the work is due.

In 1831 an octavo dictionary by the Rev. Dr Macleod of Glasgow, and the Rev. D. Dewar, afterwards Principal Dewar of Aberdeen, appeared. It is drawn largely from the dictionary of the Highland Society, and is an exceedingly good and useful book.

There is a still later dictionary by Mr Neil M’Alpine, schoolmaster in Islay. It is an excellent vocabulary of the Islay dialect, with some features peculiar to itself, especially directions as to the pronouncing of the words, which, from the peculiar orthography of the Gaelic, the learner requires.

It will be seen from the above list that there is no lack of Gaelic dictionaries any more than of Gaelic grammars, and that some of the dictionaries are highly meritorious. And yet there is room for improvement still if competent hands could be found. The student of Scottish topography meets with innumerable words which he feels assured are of the Scoto-Celtic stock. He applies to his dictionaries, and he almost uniformly finds that the words which puzzle him are absent. There seems to have been an entire ignoring of this source for words on the part of all the Gaelic lexicographers, and from the number of obsolete words found in it, but which an acquaintance with ancient MS. literature helps to explain, a large supply, and a supply of the deepest interest, might be found. Irish dictionaries afford considerable aid in searching this field, but Gaelic dictionaries furnish very little. At the same time it must be remembered that topography is itself a recent study, and that men’s minds have only latterly been more closely directed to these words.

We have thus given a general view of the literature of the Scottish Gael. It is not extensive, but it is full of interest. That the language was at one time subjected to cultivation cannot be doubted by any man acquainted with the literary history of the Celtic race. The MSS. which exist are enough to demonstrate the fact, of which no rational doubt can exist, that an immense number of such MSS. have perished. An old Gaelic MS. was once seen in the Hebrides cut down by a tailor to form measuring tapes for the persons of his customers. These MSS. treated of various subjects, Philology, theology, and science found a place among Celtic scholars, while poetry was largely cultivated. The order of bards ensured this, an order peculiar to the Celts. Johnson’s estimate of the extent of ancient Celtic culture was an entirely mistaken one, and shows how far prejudice may operate towards the perversion of truth, even in the case of great and good men.

GAELIC LANGUAGE.

Of the Gaelic language in which this literature exists, this is not the place to say much. To know it, it is necessary to study its grammars and dictionaries, and written works. With regard to the class of languages to which it belongs, many and various opinions were long held; but it has been settled latterly without room for dispute that it belongs to the Indo-European, or, as it is now called, the Aryan class. That it has relations to the Semitic languages cannot be denied, but these are no closer than those of many others of the same class. Its relation to both the Greek and the Latin, especially to the latter, is very close, many of the radical words in both languages being almost identical. Natural objects, for instance, and objects immediately under observation, have terms wonderfully similar to represent them. _Mons_, a mountain, appears in the Gaelic _Monadh_; _Amnis_, a river, appears in _Amhainn_; _Oceanus_, the ocean, in _Cuan_; _Muir_, the sea, in _Mare_; _Caballus_, a horse, in _Capull_; _Equus_, a horse, in _Each_; _Canis_, a dog, in _Cu_; _Sol_, the sun, in _Solus_, light; _Salus_, safety, in _Slainte_; _Rex_, a king, in _Righ_; _Vir_, a man, in _Fear_; _Tectum_, a roof, in _Tigh_; _Monile_, a necklace, in _Muineal_. This list might be largely extended, and serves to bring out to what an extent original terms in Gaelic and Latin correspond. The same is true of the Greek, but not to the same extent.

At the same time there is a class of words in Gaelic which are derived directly from the Latin. These are such words as have been introduced into the service of the church. Christianity having come into Scotland from the European Continent, it was natural to suppose that with it terms familiar to ecclesiastics should find their way along with the religion. This would have occurred to a larger extent after the Roman hierarchy and worship had been received among the Scots. Such words as _Peacadh_, sin; _Sgriobtuir_, the scriptures; _Faosaid_, confession; _aoibhrinn_, mass or offering; _Caisg_, Easter; _Inid_, initium or shrove-tide; _Calainn_, new year’s day; _Nollaig_, Christmas; _Domhnach_, God or Dominus; _Diseart_, a hermitage; _Eaglais_, a church; _Sagart_, a priest; _Pearsa_ or _Pearsoin_, a parson; _Reilig_, a burying place, from _reliquiæ_; _Ifrionn_, hell; are all manifestly from the Latin, and a little care might add to this list. It is manifest that words which did not exist in the language must be borrowed from some source, and whence so naturally as from the language which was, in fact, the sacred tongue in the early church.

But besides being a borrower, the Gaelic has been largely a contributor to other languages. What is usually called Scotch is perhaps the greatest debtor to the Gaelic tongue, retaining, as it does, numerous Gaelic words usually thought to be distinctive of itself. A list of these is not uninteresting, and the following is given as a contribution to the object:--Braw, from the Gaelic _Breagh_, pretty; Burn, from _Burn_, water; Airt, from _Airde_, a point of the compass; Baugh, from _Baoth_, empty; Kebbuck, from _Càbaig_, a cheese; Dour, from _Dùr_, hard; Fey, from _Fé_, a rod for measuring the dead; Teem, from _Taom_, to empty; Sicker, from _Shicker_, sure, retained in Manx; Leister, from _Lister_, a fishing spear, Manx; Chiel, from _Gille_, a lad; Skail, from _Sgaoil_, to disperse; Ingle, from _Aingeal_, fire; Arles, from _Earlas_, earnest; Sain, from _Sean_, to consecrate. This list, like the former, might be much increased, and shows how relics of the Gaelic language may be traced in the spoken tongue of the Scottish Lowlands after the language itself has retired. Just in like manner, but arising from a much closer relation, do relics of the Celtic languages appear in the Greek and Latin. The fact seems to be that a Celtic race and tongue did at one time occupy the whole of Southern Europe, spreading themselves from the Hellespont along the shores of the Adriatic, and the western curves of the Mediterranean, bounded on the north by the Danube and the Rhine, and extending to the western shores of Ireland. Of this ample evidence is to be found in the topography of the whole region; and the testimony of that topography is fully borne out by that of the whole class of languages still occupying the region, with the exception of the anomalous language of Biscay, and the Teutonic speech carried by the sword into Britain and other northern sections of it.

Mere resemblance of words does not establish identity of class among languages, such a similarity being often found to exist, when in other respects the difference is radical. It requires similarity of idiom and grammatical structure to establish the existence of such an identity. This similarity exists to a remarkable extent between the Gaelic and the Latin. There is not space here for entering into details, but a few examples may be given. There is no indefinite article in either language, the simple form of the noun including in it the article, thus, a man is _fear_, Latin _vir_, the former having in the genitive _fir_, the latter _viri_. The definite article _am_, _an_, _a’_, in Gaelic would seem to represent the Latin _unus_; thus _an duine_ represents _unus homo_. The inflection in a large class of Gaelic nouns is by attenuation, while the nominative plural and genitive singular of such nouns are alike. So with the Latin, _monachus_, gen. _monachi_, nom. plur. _monachi_; Gaelic, manach, gen. manaich, nom. plur. manaich. The structure of the verb is remarkably similar in both languages. This appears specially in the gerund, which in Gaelic is the only form used to represent the infinitive and the present participle. The use of the subjunctive mood largely is characteristic of the Gaelic as of the Latin. The prepositions which are so variously and extensively used in Gaelic, present another analogy to the Latin. But the analogies in grammatical structure are so numerous that they can only be accounted for by tracing the languages to the same source. Another series of resemblances is to be found in the peculiar idioms which characterise both tongues. Thus, possession is in both represented by the peculiar use of the verb _to be_. _Est mihi liber_, there is to me a book, is represented in Gaelic by _tha leabhar agam_, which means, like the Latin, a book is to me.

But there is one peculiarity which distinguishes the Gaelic and the whole class of Celtic tongues from all others. Many of the changes included in inflection and regimen occur in the initial consonant of the word. This change is usually held to be distinctive of gender, but its effect is wider than that, as it occurs in cases where no distinction of gender is expressed. This change, usually called aspiration, implies a softening of the initial consonants of words. Thus _b_ becomes _v_, _m_ becomes _v_, _p_ becomes _f_, _g_ becomes _y_, _d_ becomes _y_, _c_ becomes _ch_, more or less guttural, _s_ and _t_ become _h_, and so on. These changes are marked in orthography by the insertion of the letter _h_. This is a remarkable peculiarity converting such a word as _mòr_ into _vòr_, spelled _mhòr_; _bàs_ into _vàs_, spelled _bhàs_; _duine_ into _yuine_, spelled _dhuine_. This peculiarity partly accounts for the number of letters _h_ introduced into Gaelic spelling, loading the words apparently unnecessarily with consonants, but really serving a very important purpose.

It is not desirable, however, in a work like this to prosecute this dissertation farther. Suffice it to say, that philologists have come to class the Gaelic with the other Celtic tongues among the great family of Aryan languages, having affinities, some closer, some more distant, with almost all the languages of Europe. It is of much interest to scholars in respect both of the time and the place which it has filled, and fills still, and it is gratifying to all Scottish Celts to know that it has become more than ever a subject of study among literary men.

THE MUSIC OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Among the Celts, poetry and music walked hand in hand. There need be no controversy in this case as to which is the more ancient art, they seem to have been coeval. Hence the bards were musicians. Their compositions were all set to music, and many of them composed the airs to which their verses were adapted. The airs to which the ancient Ossianic lays were sung still exist, and several of them may be found noted in Captain Fraser’s excellent collection of Highland music. They are well known in some parts of the Highlands, and those who are prepared to deny with Johnson the existence of any remains of the ancient Celtic bard, must be prepared to maintain at the same time that these ancient airs to which the verses were sung were, like themselves, the offspring of modern imposition. But this is too absurd to obtain credence. In fact these airs were essential to the recitation of the bards. Deprive them of the music with which their lines were associated, and you deprived them of the chief aid to their memory; but give them their music, and they could recite almost without end.

The same is true of the poetry of the modern bards. Song-singing in the Highlands was usually social. Few songs on any subject were composed without a chorus, and the intention was that the chorus should be taken up by all the company present. A verse was sung in the interval by the individual singer, but the object of the chorus was to be sung by all. It is necessary to keep this in view in judging of the spirit and effect of Gaelic song. Sung as songs usually are, the object of the bard is lost sight of, and much of the action of the music is entirely overlooked. But what was intended chiefly to be said was, that the compositions of the modern bards were all intended to be linked with music, sung for the most part socially. We do not at this moment know one single piece of Gaelic poetry which was intended merely for recitation, unless it be found among a certain class of modern compositions which are becoming numerous, and which are English in everything but the language.

The music to which these compositions were sung was peculiar; one can recognise a Gaelic air at once, among a thousand. Quaint and pathetic, irregular and moving on with the most singular intervals, the movement is still self-contained and impressive,--to the Celt eminently so. It is beyond a question that what is called Scottish music has been derived from the Gaelic race. Its characteristics are purely Celtic. So far as the poetry of Burns is concerned, his songs were composed in many cases to airs borrowed from the Highlands, and nothing could fit in better than the poetry and the music. But Scottish Lowland music, so much and so deservedly admired, is a legacy from the Celtic muse throughout. There is nothing in it which it holds in common with any Saxon race in existence. Compare it with the common melodies in use among the English, and the two are proved totally distinct. The airs to which “Scots wha hae,” “Auld Langsyne,” “Roy’s Wife,” “O’ a’ the airts,” and “Ye Banks and Braes,” are sung, are airs to which nothing similar can be found in England. They are Scottish, and only Scottish, and can be recognised as such at once. But airs of a precisely similar character can be found among all the Celtic races. In Ireland, melodies almost identical with those of Scotland are found. In fact, the Irish claim such tunes as “The Legacy,” “The Highland Laddie,” and others. So with the Isle of Man. The national air of the Island, “Mollacharane,” has all the distinctive characteristics of a Scottish tune. The melodies of Wales have a similar type. Such a tune as “The Men of Harlech” might at any time be mistaken for a Scottish melody. And if we cross to Brittany and hear a party of Bretons of a night singing a national air along the street, as they often do, the type of the air will be found to be largely Scottish. These facts go far to prove the paternity of what is called Scottish music, and show to conviction that this music, so sweet, so touching, is the ancient inheritance of the Celt.

A C D E G A C

No. 2.

A B C D E F G A B C

No. 3.]

The ancient Scottish scale consists of six notes, as shown in the annexed exemplification, No. 1. The lowest note A, was afterwards added, to admit of the minor key in wind instruments. The notes in the diatonic scale, No. 2, were added about the beginning of the fifteenth century, and when music arrived at its present state of perfection, the notes in the chromatic scale, No. 3, were farther added. Although many of the Scottish airs have had the notes last mentioned introduced into them, to please modern taste they can be played without them, and without altering the character of the melody. Any person who understands the ancient scale can at once detect the later additions.

“The Gaelic music consists of different kinds or species. 1. Martial music, the Golltraidheacht of the Irish, and the Brosnachadh Catha of the Gael, consisting of a spirit-stirring measure short and rapid. 2. The Geantraidheacht, or plaintive or sorrowful, a kind of music to which the Highlanders are very partial. The Coronach, or Lament, sung at funerals, is the most noted of this sort. 3. The Suantraidheacht, or composing, calculated to calm the mind, and to lull the person to sleep. 4. Songs of peace, sung at the conclusion of a war. 5. Songs of victory sung by the bards before the king on gaining a victory. 6. Love songs. These last form a considerable part of the national music, the sensibility and tenderness of which excite the passion of love, and stimulated by its influence, the Gael indulge a spirit of the most romantic attachment and adventure, which the peasantry of perhaps no other country exhibit.”

The last paragraph is quoted from Mr Logan’s eloquent and patriotic work on the _Scottish Gael_,[104] and represents the state of Gaelic music when more flourishing and more cultivated than it is to-day.

The following quotation is from the same source, and is also distinguished by the accuracy of its description.

“The ancient Gael were fond of singing whether in a sad or cheerful frame of mind. Bacon justly remarks, ‘that music feedeth that disposition which it findeth:’ it was a sure sign of brewing mischief, when a Caledonian warrior was heard to ‘hum his surly hymn.’ This race, in all their labours, used appropriate songs, and accompanied their harps with their voices. At harvest the reapers kept time by singing; at sea the boatmen did the same; and while the women were graddaning, performing the _luadhadh_, or waulking of cloth, or at any rural labour, they enlivened their work by certain airs called luinneags. When milking, they sung a certain plaintive melody, to which the animals listened with calm attention. The attachment which the natives of Celtic origin have to their music, is strengthened by its intimate connection with the national songs. The influence of both on the Scots character is confessedly great--the pictures of heroism, love, and happiness, exhibited in their songs, are indelibly impressed on the memory, and elevate the mind of the humblest peasant. The songs, united with their appropriate music, affect the sons of Scotia, particularly when far distant from their native glens and majestic mountains, with indescribable feelings, and excite a spirit of the most romantic adventure. In this respect, the Swiss, who inhabit a country of like character, and who resemble the Highlanders in many particulars, experience similar emotions. On hearing the national _Ranz de vaches_, their bowels yearn to revisit the ever dear scenes of their youth. So powerfully is the _amor patriæ_ awakened by this celebrated air, that it was found necessary to prohibit its being played, under pain of death, among the troops, who would burst into tears on hearing it, desert their colours, and even die.

“No songs could be more happily constructed for singing during labour than those of the Highlanders, every person being able to join in them, sufficient intervals being allowed for breathing time. In a certain part of the song, the leader stops to take breath, when all the others strike in and complete the air with a chorus of words and syllables, generally without signification, but admirably adapted to give effect to the time.” The description proceeds to give a picture of a social meeting in the Highlands where this style of singing is practised, and refers to the effect with which such a composition as “Fhir à bhàta,” or the _Boatman_, may be thus sung.

Poetical compositions associated with music are of various kinds. First of all is the _Laoidh_, or lay, originally signifying a stately solemn composition, by one of the great bards of antiquity. Thus we have “Laoidh Dhiarmaid,” The lay of Diarmad; “Laoidh Oscair,” The lay of Oscar; “Laoidh nan Ceann,” The lay of the heads; and many others. The word is now made use of to describe a religious hymn; a fact which proves the dignity with which this composition was invested in the popular sentiment. Then there was the “Marbhrann,” or elegy. Few men of any mark but had their elegy composed by some bard of note. Chiefs and chieftains were sung of after their deaths in words and music the most mournful which the Celt, with so deep a vein of pathos in his soul, could devise. There is an elegy on one of the lairds of Macleod by a famous poetess “Mairi nighean Alasdair Ruaidh,” or Mary M’Leod, which is exquisitely touching. Many similar compositions exist. In modern times these elegies are mainly confined to the religious field, and ministers and other men of mark in that field are often sung of and sung sweetly by such bards as still remain. Then there are compositions called “Iorrams” usually confined to sea songs; “Luinneags,” or ordinary lyrics, and such like. These are all “wedded” to music, which is the reason for noticing them here, and the music must be known in order to have the full relish of the poetry.

There are several collections of Highland music which are well worthy of being better known to the musical world than they are. The oldest is that by the Rev. Peter Macdonald of Kilmore, who was a famous musician in his day. More recently Captain Simon Fraser, of Inverness, published an admirable collection; and collections of pipe music have been made by Macdonald, Mackay, and, more recently, Ross, the two latter pipers to her Majesty, all of which are reported of as good.

The secular music of the Highlands, as existing now, may be divided into that usually called by the Highlanders “An Ceol mòr,” the great music, and in English pibrochs. This music is entirely composed for the Highland bagpipe, and does not suit any other instrument well. It is composed of a slow movement, with which it begins, the movement proceeding more rapidly through several variations, until it attains a speed and an energy which gives room for the exercise of the most delicate and accurate fingering. Some of these pieces are of great antiquity, such as “Mackintosh’s Lament” and “Cogadh na Sith,” Peace or War, and are altogether remarkable compositions. Mendelssohn, on his visit to the Highlands, was impressed by them, and introduced a portion of a pibroch into one of his finest compositions. Few musicians take the trouble of examining into the structure of these pieces, and they are condemned often with little real discrimination. Next to these we have the military music of the Highlands, also for the most part composed for the pipe, and now in general employed by the pipers of Highland regiments. This kind of music is eminently characteristic, having features altogether distinctive of itself, and is much relished by Scotsmen from all parts of the country. Recently a large amount of music of this class has been adapted to the bagpipe which is utterly unfit for it, and the effect is the opposite of favourable to the good name either of the instrument or the music. This practice is in a large measure confined to regimental pipe music. Such tunes as “I’m wearying awa’, Jean,” or “Miss Forbes’ Farewell to Banff,” have no earthly power of adaptation to the notes of the bagpipe, and the performance of such music on that instrument is a violation of good taste and all musical propriety. One cannot help being struck with the peculiar good taste that pervades all the compositions of the M’Crimmons, the famous pipers of the Macleods, and how wonderfully the music and the instrument are adapted to each other throughout. This cannot be said of all pibroch music, and the violation of the principle in military music is frequently most offensive to an accurate ear. This has, no doubt, led to the unpopularity of the bagpipe and its music among a large class of the English-speaking community, who speak of its discordant notes, a reflection to which it is not in the least liable in the case of compositions adapted to its scale.

Next to these two kinds follows the song-music of the Gael, to which reference has been made already. It abounds in all parts of the Highlands, and is partly secular, partly sacred. There are beautiful, simple, touching airs, to which the common songs of the country are sung, and there are airs of a similar class, but distinct, which are used with the religious hymns of Buchanan, Matheson, Grant, and other writers of hymns, of whom there are many. The dance music of the Highlands is also distinct from that of any other country, and broadly marked by its own peculiar features. There is the strathspey confined to Scotland, a moderately rapid movement well known to every Scotchman; there is the jig in 6/8th time, common to Scotland with Ireland; and there is the reel, pretty much of the same class with the Strathspey, but marked by greater rapidity of motion.

There is one thing which strikes the hearer in this music, that there is a vein of pathos runs through the whole of it. The Celtic mind is largely tinged with pathos. If a musical symbol might be employed to represent them, the mind of the Saxon may be said to be cast in the mould of the major mode, and the mind of the Celt in the minor. The majority of the ordinary airs in the Highlands are in the minor mode, and in the most rapid kinds of music, the jig and the reel, an acute ear will detect the vein of pathos running through the whole.

In sacred music there is not much that is distinctive of the Celt. In forming their metrical version of the Gaelic Psalms, the Synod of Argyll say that one of the greatest difficulties they had to contend with was in adapting their poetry to the forms of the English psalm tunes. There were no psalm tunes which belonged to the Highlands, and it was necessary after the Reformation to borrow such as had been introduced among other Protestants, whether at home or abroad. More lately a peculiar form of psalm tune has developed itself in the North Highlands, which is deserving of notice. It is not a class of new tunes that has appeared, but a peculiar method of singing the old ones. The tunes in use are only six, all taken from the old Psalter of Scotland. They are--French, Dundee, Elgin, York, Martyrs, and Old London. The principal notes of the original tunes are retained, but they are attended with such a number of variations, that the tune in its new dress can hardly be at all recognised. These tunes may not be musically accurate, and artists may make light of them, but sung by a large body of people, they are eminently impressive and admirably adapted to purposes of worship. Sung on a Communion Sabbath by a crowd of worshippers in the open air, on the green sward of a Highland valley, old Dundee is incomparable, and exercises over the Highland mind a powerful influence. And truly, effect cannot be left out of view as an element in judging of the character of any music. The pity is that this music is fast going out of use even in the Highlands. It has always been confined to the counties of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, and part of Inverness. Some say that this music took its complexion from the old chants of the mediæval Church. One thing is true of this and all Gaelic psalmody, that the practice of chanting the line is rigidly adhered to, although from the more advanced state of general education in the Highlands the necessity that once existed for it is now passed away.

Connected with the Gaelic music, the _musical instruments_ of the Celts remain to be noticed; but we shall confine our observations to the harp and to the bagpipe, the latter of which has long since superseded the former in the Highlands. The harp is the most noted instrument of antiquity, and was in use among many nations. It was, in particular, the favourite instrument of the Celts. The Irish were great proficients in harp music, and they are said to have made great improvements on the instrument itself. So honourable was the occupation of a harper among the Irish, that none but freemen were permitted to play on the harp, and it was reckoned a disgrace for a gentleman not to have a harp, and be able to play on it. The royal household always included a harper, who bore a distinguished rank. Even kings did not disdain to relieve the cares of royalty by touching the strings of the harp; and we are told by Major that James I., who died in 1437, excelled the best harpers among the Irish and the Scotch Highlanders. But harpers were not confined to the houses of kings, for every chief had his harper as well as his bard.