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THE CELTIC MAGAZINE.
No. III. JANUARY 1876.
THE STATE OF THE OSSIANIC CONTROVERSY.
[CONTINUED.]
MR ARNOLD in that handsome, but slightly ambiguous admission of his,
that the Celts in their intellectual capacity come very near the secret
of nature and of natural magic, does not seem to imply more in reality
than that they have a subtler sense of certain natural affinities than
their Anglo-Saxon brethren have; that they apprehend more surely when,
where, and how the truest impress of physical nature occurs on the
percipient faculties of the soul, than men of a more phlegmatic
constitution do; and that they can draw from such intuitions of their
own a sort of inspiration, or second-sight of nature, comparable to
prophecy, which gives their highest poetic utterance a rapt
enthusiasm--and the accuracy of this estimate need not be disputed, but,
so far as Ossian is concerned, it must be considerably extended. To read
Ossian as we do, from the text of Macpherson, there was another sort of
insight, purely scientific, into the mysteries of nature, inherited and
expressed by him; a certain acquaintance with her hidden powers, and a
certain augury of her possible future development, if men could only
attain to it, far beyond the mere rapt enthusiasm of a poet, or the
so-called second-sight of a seer. Whether this peculiar faith of his was
derived by tradition, and if so, from whom; or whether it was the result
of practical experiment in his own generation, is foreign for the moment
to our present inquiry. But that it was relied upon as an endowment of
the most gifted heroes; that it was exercised by them in extremity, as
if to subdue nature from whom they had borrowed it, and to wrest the
very power of destruction out of her hand; and that such practical
conquest was sometimes achieved by them, or is said to have been
achieved by them, is just as certain as that Macpherson's translation is
before us now. What we refer to more especially for the present, is the
secret of extracting or discharging electricity from the atmosphere by
mechanical means--by the thrust of a spear, or of a sword, into the
bosom of the low-hanging cloud, or lurid vapour, and so dislodging the
imaginary spirit of evil by which they were supposed to be tenanted.
Only the very best, and bravest, and wisest could prevail in such
conflict with nature; but they did prevail, according to Ossian; and the
weapons of their warfare, and the mode of their assault, were precisely
similar to what an experimentalist in electricity might employ at the
present day, or to what the Egyptians employed in the days of Moses. We
shall not now go further back in the prosecution of this inquiry, but
would seriously recommend the reader who has any difficulty on the
subject to compare, at his leisure, the work of Moses on the top of
Mount Sinai and elsewhere, with an Egyptian "rod" in his hand, and the
exploits of Fingal in conflict with the Spirit of Loda on the heights of
Hoy, with a sword in his hand. There might have been a far-derived and
long traditional secret connection between the two, most edifying, or at
least most curious, to investigate; or they might both have resulted
from that sort of intuition which only the most gifted of any nation
enjoy independently, re-appearing again in Franklin, and now
familiarised to the world. Let those who doubt, or who differ on this
point, satisfy themselves. What we are now concerned to maintain and
prove is, that the fact is more than once described by Ossian, in
circumstances, in situations, and with instrumentalities, which render
the allegation of it at least indubitable. In the case above referred
to, for example, Fingal, challenged and assaulted in a thunderstorm by
the Spirit of Loda, encounters his antagonist with a sword, on the very
verge of a cliff overhanging the Atlantic; and by one or two scientific
thrusts, with incredible daring, disarms the cloud, dissipates the
storm, and sends his atmospheric adversary shrieking down the wind with
such violence that "Innistore shook at the sound; the waves heard it on
the deep, and stopped on their course with fear." The scene is described
in that well-known passage in _Carric-Thura_, which Macpherson himself
characterises as "the most extravagant fiction in all Ossian's poems."
Now the question as regards the authenticity or reliability of this very
passage, is whether Macpherson understood the meaning of it; what it
represented, where the conflict occurred, or how it happened? It has
been sufficiently demonstrated elsewhere--in "Ossian and the Clyde," pp.
311-324--that the encounter took place near the celebrated "Dwarfie
Stone" on the western headland of Hoy in the Orkneys--a region more
remarkable for its sudden electric gatherings and violent atmospheric
currents than almost any other in Great Britain, and at that particular
spot so much so, that the very scene described in Ossian has been
selected by Walter Scott for a similar electrical display in the
"Pirate." But of this obvious fact, and of all that is connected with it
in his own translation, Macpherson is so ignorant that he not only does
not point it out, but does not understand it, and cannot even conjecture
where it was. His great antagonist Laing is equally at fault on the
subject, and by way of exposing, as he believes, the dishonesty of
Macpherson, endeavours to show that in patching up his account
Macpherson had mistaken Thurso for Thura. Macpherson, in fact, knew
nothing either about Thurso or Thura--even less than Laing did; and it
is only in the work above cited that either the scene has been
identified, or the encounter explained.
Here, then, is a question, not of linguistic criticism, but of
scientific fact--of geographical position, of atmospheric agency--which
should be disposed of on its own merits, and which, like many others of
the same sort, must ultimately transfer the whole inquiry to a much
higher field than that of syllables and syntax.
But the description in question, it may be objected, is very much
exaggerated, and therefore cannot be relied on: which is the very
objection Macpherson himself urged--that it is "the most extravagant
fiction in all Ossian's poems." But if that was the case in his opinion,
how could the passage be his own? It was easy enough either to remedy or
explain it, if he could explain it, or not to introduce it. On the other
hand, when rightly understood, there is no undue exaggeration in the
account at all--not more than might be reasonably expected from a poet
of the highest sensibility and the most vivid imagination in describing
an incomprehensible natural phenomenon; not more, for example, than in
"the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words" on Mount Sinai. Still it
is not the question of descriptive exaggeration, but of scientific fact,
that is now before us; and if the whole of the so-called conflict of
Fingal with the Prince of the Power of the Air on Roraheid in Hoy was so
utterly inexplicable to Macpherson, both as to place and character, that
he speaks of it hopelessly as a story "concerning ghosts," on what
principle of critical consistency, or of common sense, can he be said to
have been the author of it? If the Septuagint translators, for example,
had added a note of their own on the giving of the Law at Sinai, to the
effect that it appeared "the most extravagant fiction" to them, at the
same time transferring, in defiance of their own text, the entire scene
from one end of the Red Sea to the other, would any reader in his senses
accuse the Seventy of having fabricated not only the two chapters in
question, but the whole Book of Exodus--even although the original had
been now lost? Their very simplicity and ignorance would have acquitted
them. Yet Macpherson, in similar circumstances, is to be held guilty,
although he could have more easily cleared himself by altering or
omitting the whole passage, than a man in London could prove by an
_alibi_ that he had been guilty of no forgery at Inverness or Edinburgh
six hours before! But if this hitherto incomprehensible passage in
Ossian be genuine then the entire poem of _Carric-Thura_, which is
identified with it in every word and syllable from beginning to end,
must be genuine also.
In the same sort of field, but without the addition of supernatural
agency, we have another scene of scientific import in the _War of
Inisthona_. Inisthona, according to Macpherson, was on the coast of
Norway--he did not know where; Inisthona, according to Laing, was a
wilful corruption of Inis-owen in Lough Foyle; Inisthona, in point of
fact, was Iceland--as clearly and distinctly so in Macpherson's own
text, as latitude, longitude, and physical configuration can make it;
far more distinctly recognisable than any _Ultima Thule_ of the Romans.
But here, in this Inisthona, we have first a fountain surrounded with
mossy stones, in a grassy vale, at the head of a bay; then a wilderness
of half a day's journey inland; then a lake at the end of the wilderness,
exhaling pestilential vapours, called Lake Lano--but no volcano visible
as yet: and in Iceland we have still the basin of the fountain,
surrounded with its mossy stones, petrified and dried up by volcanic heat,
at the head of the bay; we have still the dreary wilderness beyond it,
now scorched and blackened, ending in the Plain of Thingvalla, where the
King of Denmark was entertained more than a twelvemonth ago; we have
still the lake beyond that, where it should be, but now relieved of its
sulphurous vapours by eruptive jets of steam in its neighbourhood; and
besides, we have now Mount Hecla in active operation, by whose accumulated
fires and dreadful discharges, since Ossian's day, the whole island has
been torn and desolated. Here, therefore, again, the same question of
fact arises, and must be disposed of by all reasonable inquirers. In this
one identification we have geography, geology, history, and navigation
combined, beyond Macpherson's own comprehension--earthquakes, subterranean
fires, latent volcanic forces; a beautiful island where there is now
desolation; and a warlike people occupying its soil, subject to the Danes
600 years and more before the Danes themselves are supposed to have
discovered it. In the face of such a revelation as this, nowhere else to
be found but in Ossian, what does it signify that the Gaelic text of
_Inisthona_ has perished? The fact that it survives in English is only
a greater miracle, for which we are indebted solely to the patience and
fidelity of a man who has been called a liar and an impostor.
One more miracle has yet to be added in the same field--viz., that Lake
Lego or Lough Neagh in Ireland, and Lake Lano in Iceland, both emitting
pestilential vapours, are geographically connected in Ossian with
subterranean volcanic movements which pass from Ireland, by the west
coast of Scotland, through the Orkneys to Inisthona; and thus the latest
theories of the most accomplished geologists have been anticipated more
than a hundred years before their announcement, by the work of a man who
is supposed to have had no original to guide him, and who himself had
not the remotest idea of what his own words conveyed.
It remains then, after such illustrations, for those who still deny the
authenticity of Ossian to declare whether they have ever studied him;
and for those who still wrangle about the style of Macpherson's
so-called Gaelic to decide whether they will continue such petty warfare
among vowels and consonants, and ill-spelt mediæval legends, when the
science, the history, the navigation, the atmospheric phenomena, and the
impending volcanic changes of Western Europe fifteen hundred years ago,
are all unveiled and detailed, with an accuracy and a minuteness beyond
cavil or competition, in the matchless English translation before them.
Will our most erudite grammarians never understand? Would they abandon
Genesis, shall we say, because _Elohim_ and _Jehovah_ are sometimes
interchanged in the text? Can they believe that any Jew, who could
concoct a book like Genesis, did not also know that _Elohim_ was a
plural noun? Can they any more, then, believe that a Celtic man with
brains enough to fabricate poems like _Fingal_ and _Temora_ did not know
that the Gaelic name for the sun was feminine? Can they see no other way
of accounting for such alleged variations of gender, and number, and
case, than by forgery, when the very forger himself must have seen them?
Or do they seriously prefer some letter of the Gaelic alphabet to a law
of nature? Will they forego the facts of an epoch, for the orthography
of a syllable? If so, then the friends of Ossian, who is one great mass
of facts, must turn once more to the common sense of the public, and
leave his etymological detractors at leisure to indulge their own
predilections, and to entertain one another.
In the present aspect of the controversy, indeed, the only antagonists
entitled to anything like a patient hearing are the respectable,
perhaps venerable, geologists and antiquarians who still lodge or
linger about the Roman Wall; who talk, with a solemn air, about stern
facts; who are also fortified by the authority of Hugh Miller and Smith
of Jordanhill, and are led on to continuous defeat on their own ground,
under the auspices of the _Scotsman_, who knows well how to shut the
door politely in any man's face who pursues them. These gentlemen are
far from being either unimportant or unworthy antagonists, if they would
only speak intelligently for themselves and not allow their credit to be
usurped by some nameless reviewer in a newspaper, who may know less
about the whole matter in dispute than they do about Sanscrit. But let
them have patience. Their favourite haunts, and impregnable strongholds,
about Dunglass and Duntocher, shall be investigated with religious care;
and the waters of the Clyde, as high as they will honestly flow, let in
upon them without ceremony or remorse. As for the others, who, with no
great semblance of either grace or grammar to support them, persist in
affirming, with point-blank stolid effrontery, that Macpherson "must
have been an impostor," and that Ossian is a "fudge"--they may safely be
consigned in silence to their legitimate fate.
P. HATELY WADDELL.
(_To be Concluded in our next._)
TO PROFESSOR JOHN STUART BLACKIE.
A LOCHABER LILT.
A health to thee, Stuart Blackie!
(I drink it in _mountain dew_)
With all the kindliest greetings
Of a heart that is leal and true.
Let happen what happen may
With others, by land or sea;
For me, I vow if I drink at all,
I'll drink a health to thee.
A health to thee, Stuart Blackie!
A man of men art thou,
With thy lightsome step and form erect,
And thy broad and open brow;
With thy eagle eye and ringing voice
(Which yet can be soft and kind),
As wrapped in thy plaid thou passest by
With thy white locks in the wind!
I greet thee as poet and scholar;
I greet thee as wise and good;
I greet thee ever lord of thyself--
No heritage mean, by the rood!
I greet thee and hold thee in honour,
That thou bendest to no man's nod--
Amidst the din of a world of sin,
Still lifting thine eye to God!
Go, search me the world and find me;
Go, find me if you can,
From the distant Faroes with their mists and snows,
To the green-clad Isle of Man;
From John O' Groats to Maidenkirk,
From far Poolewe to Prague--
Go, find me a better or wiser man
Than the Laird of Altnacraig.
Now, here's to the honest and leal and true,
And here's to the learned and wise,
And to all who love our Highland glens
And our Bens that kiss the skies;
And here's to the native Celtic race,
And to each bright-eyed Celtic fair;
And here's to the Chief of Altnacraig--
And hurrah! for the Celtic Chair!
NETHER-LOCHABER.
GENERAL SIR ALAN CAMERON, K.C.B.,
COLONEL 79th CAMERON HIGHLANDERS.
A POPULAR writer[A] of the past generation, in some introductory
observations to his historical essay, makes the following on Scotland
and its natives:--Considering the limited population and extent of that
country, it has made a distinguished figure in history. No country in
modern times has produced characters more remarkable for learning,
valour, or ability, or for knowledge in the most important arts, both of
peace and of war; and though the natives of that formerly independent,
and hitherto unconquered kingdom, have every reason to be proud of the
name of _Britons_, which they have acquired since the Union; yet they
ought not to relinquish all remembrance of the martial achievements, and
the honourable characteristics of their ancestors. Acting on the
recommendation embodied in the foregoing quotation; and as the
conductors of the _Celtic Magazine_ have intimated their intention of
making biographies form occasionally part of its contents, the following
sketch of one who, in his day was not the least distinguished among our
Highland countrymen, but of whose eminent services to his country,
little or nothing has appeared, may prove interesting. Biography is
admitted to be one of the most interesting sections of literature. We
therefore trust that this feature in the Magazine will be appreciated.
The field will be found extensive, inasmuch that, happily for the
country, its benefactors have been numerous, the record of whose deeds
deserve to be remembered in this Celtic periodical for the
entertainment, and may be, the emulation of its readers.
The details of the life and public services of the gallant gentleman now
submitted, and deserving record, are supplied partly from oral
information collected at intervals, and partly from documents received
by the writer, but which, although imperfect, it is hoped may be
acceptable, even at this distance since the lifetime of the subject.
The absence of any adequate notice of Sir Alan Cameron's services, save
that in a couple of pages of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ at his death
(1828) may be ascribed much to his own reticence in supplying
information respecting them. Sir John Philliphart and Colonel David
Stewart, when collecting materials for their respective "Military
Annals," expressed their regret that Sir Alan's reply to their
applications for particulars of his life and career was of the most
meagre nature. Although in common with the majority of other
distinguished men, averse to giving publicity to the incidents of his
life, he was otherwise than reticent with his friends, and was never
happier than when surrounded by them. His house in Gloucester Place was
a rendezvous during many years for his companions in arms, and his
"Highland cousins" (as he fondly termed them) were always received with
a genial welcome. Notwithstanding the general absence of his name from
unofficial publications, it may be affirmed, without hesitation, that in
his day few were better known, and there was none whose fame stood
higher than _Ailean an Earrachd_. In the army he was held in universal
popularity, where, in consequence of his familiar habit of addressing
the Irish and Highland soldiers with the Gaelic salute of "_Cia mar tha
thu_," he was known as "Old cia mar tha." Indeed, he is so styled in Mr
Lever's novel of "Charles O'Malley," where he is represented (vol. 1,
chap, x.) as one of the friends of General Sir George Dashwood. Another
writer (Miss Sinclair's "Scotland and the Scotch") refers to him as "a
frequent visitor at her father's house in London, and a celebrity of the
past generation who was said to have been one of the principals in the
last duel fought with broadswords; and also known to his friends for the
more than hearty grasp he shook their hands with." These distinctions,
no doubt, combined many incidents for their existence. A tragic
adventure at the outset of his career; his imprisonment during the
American War; and afterwards his services with the Highlanders
throughout the wars of the period. He was remarkable for the immense
size and powerful structure of his person. In a verse from one of the
many Gaelic songs written in honour of _Fear an Earrachd_, alluding to
his majestic form and figure when in the Highland costume, the bard
says:--
Nuair theid thu 'n uidheam Gaidheil
Bu mhiann le Ban-Righ sealladh dhiot,
Le t-osan is math fiaradh,
Do chalp air fiamh na gallinné:
Sporan a bhruic-fhiadhaich,
Gun chruaidh shnaim riamh ga theannachadh,
Gur tric thu tarruing iall as
'S ga riachaidh a measg aineartaich.
He was the firm friend of the soldier, and considered every man in his
regiment committed to his personal care. In health he advised them; in
sickness he saw that their wants were supplied; and once any became
disabled, he was incessant in his efforts till he secured a pension for
them. Numerous are the stories told of the encounters between Sir Harry
Torrens (Military Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief) and himself for
his persistent applications for pensions and promotions. These poor
fellows, for whom he was never tired of interceding, were naturally
grateful for his fatherly feeling towards them. Such is an outline of
the characteristics of the subject of the following Biographical sketch.
CHAPTER II.
THE sires of the subject of our memoir were of the tribe of Camerons'
known as _Sliochd Eoghainn 'ic Eoghainn_, and descended directly from
the parent stock of the chiefs of the clan, to whom they stood next in
relationship after the Fassiferns. The lands assigned for their
occupation, and on which they lived from the earliest settlement of the
Camerons in Lochaber, were within a short distance of the castle of the
chiefs, and the homestead of Sir Alan's family was named _Earrachd_, and
situated on an elevated plateau at the entrance of _Gleann Laoidh_ (Glen
Loy) which leads off in a westerly direction. It is close to, and seen
from, the banks of that portion of the Caledonian Canal between
Gairlochy and Banavie Locks.
The parents of Alan were Donald Cameron and _Marsali_ (Marjory) MacLean
(of the family of Drimnin in Morvern). Two incidents connected with the
infancy of both father and son are peculiarly remarkable. The father was
an infant in the arms of his mother when she went to the gathering place
to support the Earl of Mar (1715) to bid farewell to her husband the day
the clan left; and Alan was an infant in the arms of his mother when
_his_ father marched out with the clan to meet Prince Charles at
Glenfinnan (1745). The battle of Sheriffmuir ended the career of Alan's
grandfather, and the disasters on the field of Culloden made the father
a wanderer from his hearth and home for the next three years, while his
family were subjected during that time to cruelties and indignities,
which were a disgrace to men calling themselves the soldiers of the
king. Domiciliary visits were made at frequent intervals, and on every
occasion numbers of cattle were driven off the lands for the use of the
garrison at Fort-William. These spoliations continued for several months
after the _rising_ was suppressed, and proved ruinous to the poor people
whose only crime was that they risked their lives in support of the
claims of one whom they believed to be the rightful heir to the Crown of
the United Kingdom. Their descendants, a quarter of a century
afterwards, risked their lives in another cause with equal fidelity and
bravery, asserting the rights and defending the honour of the British
Crown. It is known that the Clan Cameron was the first to appear in
support of the standard of the Prince. The gathering place of the clan
was at _Drochaid Laoidh_, and there ten of the _twelve_ tribes promptly
answered the _Cothionnal_ "_Thigibh a chlann na 'n con 's gheobh sibh
feoil._" The absentees were, the Camerons of Fassifern, and the Camerons
of Glen Nevis; the proverbial caution of the first forbade their
adherence, while the influence of the Whig Clan Grant prevailed with the
latter. The defection of the Fassiferns gave the place of second in
command, or Lieutenant of the clan, to Cameron of _Earrachd_ (Alan's
father). The clan turned out 600, but these were considerably augmented
a few days afterwards. After a spirited address from the chief (the
"gentle Lochiel"), the first march of that eventful movement commenced
with pipers playing and banners flying, wending their way with steady
demeanour and elastic step up Glen Loy, and over the hills that
separated them from Glenfinnan.
Many of the chiefs of Lochiel were, in addition to being men of great
military renown and martial ardour, shrewd politicians. They encouraged
other septs to dwell on their lands that they might be serviceable to
assist them in keeping the jealous or more turbulent spirits of their
own clansmen in subjection. At any rate, with the Camerons in this
campaign, a third was composed of Maclachlans, Macmillans, Kennedies,
Macphees, Mackinnons, &c.
The Governor of the garrison at Fort-William having heard of the
intended gathering at Glenfinnan, sent out a company of soldiers by way
of reconnoitring the proceedings. To avoid observance they followed a
devious path over the hills, and most opportunely fell in with the
Camerons, by whom they were surrounded, and without much difficulty made
prisoners. Besides the _eclat_ of this the first victory, the arms thus
possessed were of considerable advantage to the Highlanders, most of
whom were miserably equipped for the exigencies of the campaign.
A most cordial reception was given to Lochiel and his clan by the
Prince, after which the Marquis of Tullibardine unfurled the standard,
amidst unbounded enthusiasm. It was made of white and blue silk.
Meanwhile the Laird of Keppoch was observed advancing with a contingent
of 300 of his Macdonells. At the head of the diminutive force thus made
up, Prince Charles embarked on a contest with a power the most
formidable in Europe. And the daring of this small band was even more
conspicuous when they at once determined to march direct on the capital
of the kingdom. Glenfinnan, formed not unlike an amphitheatre, and easy
of access for all parts of the Western Highlands, was admirably fitted
for the rendezvous.
The morning march of the little army took the route alongside of an arm
of the sea named Lochiel (the same from which the chief takes his modern
title) to Corpach. Here they encamped the first night, afterwards
continuing their way up the Braes of Lochaber, Blair Athole, and towards
the City of Perth, which they occupied as an intermediate resting place.
A few days further march brought them within a short distance of
Edinburgh. On nearing the capital a halt was made at Duddingston, and a
council was held, at which it was decided to detach Lochiel's force to
make the advance and demand the surrender of the city. The Camerons
having been the first arrivals at Glenfinnan, may have been the cause of
this selection. Lochiel having received some injury from a fall off his
horse on the journey, he was unable to accompany his clansmen. Cameron
of Earrachd consequently succeeded to the command of this important
mission, and its success is matter of history. The events of the '45 are
introduced into the career of Alan (the son) somewhat irrelevantly, but
only to connect the latter with the singular incident that sixty-two
years afterwards it fell to _his_ lot to have been ordered by Sir Arthur
Wellesley to take possession of the Citadel of Copenhagen (1807). Taking
leave now of Prince Charles and his Highlanders, with their fortunes and
their failures, the narrative of Alan Cameron will proceed without
further divergence.
CHAPTER III.
IT was during these turbulent times that Alan Cameron passed his
infantile years--he was four years of age before he saw his father, and,
although it was hoped that the settlement of the difficulties which had
existed would favour his career in life, exempt from the toils and
strifes of war, it was not so ordained, as the narrative will prove.
Alan was the oldest son of a family of three sons and three daughters,
some of whom found meet employment subsequently in his regiment. Their
education was conducted as customary in those days by resident tutors
from Aberdeen and St Andrews. With one of these Alan, on reaching a
suitable age, went to the latter University for one or two sessions to
complete his education. As the oldest son, it was intended that on
arriving at a certain age he should relieve his father of the care and
management of the lands and stock, and become the responsible
representative of the family at home; while it was arranged that of the
other sons, Donald was to enter the naval service of the Dutch East
India Company, and the youngest, Ewan, was to find a commission in one
of the Fencible Corps of the county of Argyll. But this arrangement was
not to be, especially as regards the eldest and youngest sons. A
circumstance of melancholy interest occurred before the former had taken
to the succession of the farm, or the other had arrived at the age to be
an effective officer of his regiment, which had the effect of exactly
reversing these intentions. The occurrence referred to was of a tragical
nature, and caused the utmost sensation among the families of the
district, inasmuch as relationship was so general there that whatever
brought affliction to the hearth of one family, would leave its portion
also at the threshold of the others. Alan, like other youths, employed
much of his juvenile years in the sports of a Highland country
life--fox-hunting, deer-stalking, and fishing for salmon on the Lochy;
at all of which he was more than ordinarily successful. The nearest
house to his father's was that of another Cameron--chieftain of a
considerable tribe (_Mac Ile' Onaich_ or Sliochd Ile' Onaich), who had
recently died of wounds received at Culloden. His widow and children
occupied the house at Strone. The lady is reputed to have been very
handsome, and would apparently answer _Donachadh Ban's_ description of
_Isabel og an or fhuilt bhuidhe_, leastways, to borrow a word from the
Cockney--she was styled _par excellance_, _a Bhanntrach Ruadh_. Alan, like
a friendly kinsman, was most generous in sharing the successes of his
gun and rod with the widowed lady, for which, no doubt, she expressed
her acknowledgments to the youthful sportsman. The course of this
commendable neighbourship was rather unexpectedly interrupted by some
words of misunderstanding which occurred between Alan and a gentleman
(also a Cameron) who was closely related to the widow's late husband. He
was known as _Fear Mhorsheirlich_; had been _out_ in the '45 when quite
a youth, and escaped to Holland, from which he had only returned a few
months previous to the incident of this narrative. Contemporaries spoke
of him as being most accomplished, and of gallant bearing. The real
nature of the dispute has not descended sufficiently authentic to
justify more minute reference than that rumour assigned it to have been
an accusation that Alan was imprudently intimate with the handsome widow
of Strone (_a Bhanntrach Ruadh_). The delicate insinuation was resented
by Alan in language probably more plain than polite. Mr Cameron was
Alan's senior by some twenty years or so, but notwithstanding this, his
high spirit could not brook the rough retort of the accused; and, much
to Alan's confusion, the result was that he received a peremptory demand
to apologise or arrange a meeting for personal satisfaction. As he
declined to return the one, he was obliged to grant the desperate
alternative. Reading this account of men going out to engage in personal
combat for a cause so small, will lead us to consider that such a result
ought to have been prevented by the interposition of friends. But it
must not be overlooked that the customs of the times are very much
ameliorated from what prevailed in those days (1772). It is probable
that even then if the management of the affair had been confided to
skilful diplomatists the meeting might have been averted. Friends of
such conciliating habits were either not at hand, or they were not
consulted; and, as men equal in high spirits, the principals could not
volunteer any compromise. Alan's chief anxiety was how to keep the event
secret from his parents and family, therefore, he quietly repaired to a
relative to request his attendance the following morning as his friend
for the occasion. It is said that this gentleman used his utmost powers
of dissuasion, although unsuccessful--determination had, in the interval
of a few hours, become too settled for alteration. Alan, as the
challenged, was, according to duelling etiquette, entitled to the choice
of weapons and place of meeting. Although the pistol had in a measure
superseded the rapier in England, the broadsword remained the favourite
weapon in the north when required for the purpose of personal
_satisfaction_. Highlanders had always a preference for the weapon named
by Ossian--_An Lann tanna_--and by the modern bards--_Tagha nan Arm_.
Alan decided on making choice of the steel blade, and named a certain
obscure spot on the banks of the Lochy for the meeting on the following
day at the grey hour of the morning. His difficulty now was how to get
possession of one of these implements of war without exciting suspicion
or inquiries. They numbered more than one in the armory of every
Highland household, and in the case of those in his father's house they
were preserved with a care due to articles which had been often used
with effect in the past. Among them was one which had been _out_ in the
campaigns of 1689 (Dundee's), 1715 (Mar's), and in 1745-6. It was of
Spanish manufacture, and remarkable for the length and symmetry of its
blade, in consequence of which it received the sobriquet of _Rangaire
Riabhach_.[B] In his failure to find the keys of the arms depository, he
bethought him to make a confident and enlist the sympathies of an
elderly lady, who had been a member of the family since the days of his
childhood. The aged Amazon not only promised her aid, but highly
approved, and even encouraged, the spirit of her youthful relative.
Having access to the keys of the armory, the _Rangaire_ was soon in
Alan's hands, and with it he repaired to the place appointed, "to
vindicate his own honour and give _satisfaction_ to his antagonist."
The time of year when this event took place was in the early days of
autumn. Daylight and the combatants arrived on the scene together. Vague
particulars of the preliminaries between them have been variously
retailed, but they are not necessary to the narrative, and therefore not
referred to. The fact that the elder Cameron was reputed to be a skilled
swordsman, also that it was not the first time he had met his foes in
the field, may have had some effect on the nerves of his younger
opponent, but there was no outward indication of it. The home-taught
countryman, however, must have felt that he was standing face to face
with no ordinary opponent. Alan, like the generality of young men, had
such practice in the use of the weapon as to make him acquainted with
the _cuts_ and _guards_. The superiority of Mr Cameron was at first
apparent and proved, inasmuch as he not only kept himself for some time
uninjured, but inflicted a severe cut on Alan's left arm. This blow may
be said to have brought the conflict to its sudden and fatal
termination. The pain, together with the humiliation, roused Alan's
wrath to desperation. It became manifest to the only two friends
present, that the life of one, if not of the two combatants, would be
sacrificed; but they found themselves quite powerless to restrain the
rage of the wounded principal. Their anticipations were not long in
being confirmed. The elder Cameron fell from a blow delivered on the
head by the powerful arm of his opponent. The force may be imagined when
it is stated that it was what is known as No. 7 cut, and that the
wounded man's sword in defending was forced into his own forehead. He
lived just long enough to reach Strone house--a mile or so distant. It
is impossible, except to those who have experienced a similar trial, to
estimate the state of feeling such a painful scene produced on the three
now remaining on the field. Time, however, was not to be trifled with,
for, although, there were no "men in blue" to make prisoners of the
breakers of the peace; yet the vanquished combatant had friends who
would not hesitate to take life for life. Alan's _achates_ at once
thought of that probability, or of revenge in some form. They,
therefore, hurried him away from the field and across the river Lochy. A
short consultation decided that he should remove himself entirely from
the Cameron country for the time being. This was concurred in by Alan,
who girded his claymore and determined on making direct for his uncle's
house in Morvern--(Maclean of Drimnin)--distant about sixty miles, where
he arrived without resting or drawing breath. The advice of his counsel,
and the decision arrived at, proved to be not unnecessary, as the sequel
proved. The fallen man was one of the cadets of a numerous tribe, and
they would naturally, in accordance with the habit of the times, seek to
avenge the death of their kinsman. They sought for the slayer of their
friend with diligence and zeal. Their search was far and wide; but,
fortunately for the fugitive, and thanks to the vigilance of his
relatives, his pursuers were defeated in their attempt to capture their
intended victim. The consternation of the uncle (Drimnin), on learning
the cause of his nephew's sudden visit, may be surmised; but what was
done could not be undone. When the Laird was satisfied with Alan's
version, that _Morsheirlich_ fell in fair fight, brought about by
himself, his displeasure somewhat relented. Affection and sympathy
mingled in the old Laird's bosom, and he decided to befriend his
unfortunate nephew at all hazard. It was conjectured that the search of
the avengers would be directed towards this district, where Alan's
relatives were numerous, and where he would likely betake himself in
this emergency. That he might elude his pursuers with greater certainty,
the Laird of Drimnin had him escorted across the Sound of Mull by some
trusty kinsmen, to the charge of another Maclean (Pennycross), and with
whom he was to remain until he received further instructions respecting
his future destination. The grief and revenge of _Morsheirlich's_
friends had not yet subsided, and would not, for years to come, so that
Alan would be unwise to return to his native home, or place himself in
their path.
The Collector of His Majesty's Customs at the Port of Greenock was an
immediate relation to the Laird of Drimnin by marriage, and a
correspondence was entered on with him with the view of ascertaining his
opinion as to what was best to be done for Alan. Negotiations occupied
more time for their conduct at that time than in the present day; at any
rate nothing satisfactory was proposed to Alan, so that for a couple of
years he continued wandering up and down the island of Mull, and through
the glens of Morvern, entirely under the guidance of his uncle. At last
a request came from the Collector to send the fugitive to him, that he
might find employment for him in his own office. The uncle decreed,
rather against Alan's grain, that the offer of clerkship should
meanwhile be accepted. He remained in this occupation for several
months, until he received an invitation from another friend residing in
Leith. This gentleman wrote to say that there was now an opportunity of
giving him service in an enterprise likely to be congenial to "a man of
metal" such as he conceived Alan to be. The war of American Independence
had commenced, and the employment which the Leith friend proposed was
that Alan should join a privateer which was fitting out in an English
port, armed with letters of marque, to capture and destroy American
shipping. Alan answered the invitation by repairing to Leith in person
with all speed. The nature of the service offered, however, did not
accord with his ideas of honourable warfare; in fact, he considered it
more akin to piracy, and not such as a gentleman should take part in. He
had no affection, he said, for clerkship, but he had still less for the
life of a pirate.
While Alan was oscillating in this manner, he learned that another
relative of his mother's, Colonel Alan Maclean of Torloisk, who had
emigrated to one of the North American colonies some years previously,
had received a commission to embody a regiment of those of his
countrymen who had become residents on free-grants of land at the same
time with himself. To this gentleman Alan decided on going. Soldiering
was more genial to his nature than marine freebooting, and he calculated
on Colonel Maclean's assistance in that direction. (This Colonel
Maclean's grand-daughter was Miss Clephane Maclean, afterwards
Marchioness of Northampton.) Arrived in America, Alan was received
kindly by his relative, and being a soldier himself he viewed the past
event in Alan's life as of a nature not entirely without a certain
amount of recommendation to a wanderer in search of fame. Alan was not
long in the country when Colonel Maclean added him to his list of
volunteers, in a body, which was soon afterwards enrolled as the "Royal
Highland Emigrant Corps."
(_To be Continued._)
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: Sir John Sinclair.]
[Footnote B: Brown or brindled wrangler.]
A. R. wants to know "the best standard for Gaelic orthography?"
CABAR-FEIDH would like to know if any of Grant's [_Bard Mor an
t-Slagain_] Poems were ever published? If so, where? and by whom? It is
believed many of his pieces, which were famous in his day, are still
known in the Lochbroom and Dundonnell districts. _Cabar_ requests that
any of the readers of the _Celtic Magazine_ to whom any of the poems are
known would kindly forward them for publication. Grant knew more
Ossianic poetry than any man of his day--1746 to 1842. Any information
regarding him would be of interest.
MACAOIDH enquires to what sept of the clan the famous pipers--the
Mackays of Gairloch--belonged, and how did they find their way to that
part of the country? Are there any of their descendants still living in
this country or in North British America, where the last famous piper of
the race emigrated? The "Blind Piper" and bard was the most famous of
this remarkable family, and was a pupil in the celebrated College of the
Macrimmon's in Skye.
REPLY TO "GLENGARRY'S" QUERY.--There are words in English to
_Piobaireachd Mhic Ranuil_ or _Cilliechriost_, and they, with
particulars of the occasion on which the tune was composed, will appear
in the next instalment of the HIGHLAND CEILIDH in the _Celtic
Magazine_.
THE HIGHLAND CEILIDH.
BY ALASTAIR OG.
[CONTINUED.]
ON the conclusion of the "Spell of Cadboll" Norman received the hearty
and unanimous congratulations of the circle. The frail old bard, pulling
himself together, got up, went across the room, and shook him heartily
with both hands. This special honour was a most unusual one. It was
clear that _Alastair_ was just in the mood when a little persuasion
would suffice to get him to recite one of his own compositions. This he
was generally very chary of doing, but Norman getting the hint from one
of his immediate neighbours to ask the bard a special favour on this
occasion at once begged the honour of hearing one of the bard's
compositions from his own lips. The venerable old man bent himself
forward, began to work the fingers of both hands and beat time on his
leg as on a chanter, humming a quiet _cronan_. This was his usual
practice when composing or reciting poetry, and it was at once seen that
he would consent. "I will give you," says he, "a _Marbh-rann_, or Elegy
which no one ever heard, and which I have recently composed to the late
'Bailie Hector' of Dingwall, a son of my late esteemed friend
'Letterewe,' on condition that you, Sir, will give us another story when
I am done." Norman at once agreed, and the bard commenced as follows:--
MARBHRANN.
DO BHAILIDH EACHAINN, INBHIR-FEOTHARAN, MAC FEAR LEITIR-IUGH.
AIR FONN--"_'S mi 'm shuidhe 'm 'onar._"
O 's truagh an sgeula tha 'n diugh ri fheutainn,
Thug gal air ceudan a measg an t-sluaigh,
Mu Eachainn gleusta 'bha fearail, feumail,
Gun da ghlac an t-eug thu a threun-laoich chruaidh:
'S mor bron do Chinnidh, mar eoin na tuinne
Tha 'n cronan duilich 's an ullaidh uath
'S bho nach duisg an gair thu, 's nach cluinn thu 'n gailich,
Se chlaoidh do chairdean do bhas cho luath.
Tha do chairdean cianal, tha bron da'lionadh,
Tha 'n inntinn pianail bho n' ghlac thu 'm bas,
'S iad a ghnath fuidh thiorachd 's nach faigh iad sgial ort,
Ach thu bhi iosal an ciste chlar
Bu tu ceann na riaghailt 'us lamh na fialachd,
A sheoid gun fhiaradh, gun ghiamh gun sgath,
'Sa nis bho 'n thriall thu, 's sinn lan dha d' iargan,
'S nach eil 's na criochan fear a lionas d' ait.
Bha d' aite miaghail 's gach cas an iarrt' thu,
A reir mo sgiala bu teirc do luach:
Bha thu pairteach, briathrach, ri ard 's ri iosal,
Gun chàs gun dioghaltas air an tuath.
Bha foghlum Iarl' agad 's ciall fear riaghlaidh
Bu mhor an diobhail nach da liath do ghruag,
'S ann a bharc an t-aog ort mas d' thainig aois ort,
A ghnuis bha faoilteach air chaochladh snuaidh.
Bha do shnuadh cho aillidh 's nach fhaodainn s' aireamh,
Mar ròs a gharaidh ri maduinn dhriuchd,
Bu chuachach, faineach, do ghruag an caradh--
Mar theudan clarsaich an' inneal ciuil
Do ghruaidh dhearg dhathte, do shuil mar dhearcag,
Fuidh ghnuis na maise bu tapaidh sùrd
Rasg aotram, geanach, bho 'm b'fhaoilteach sealladh
Beul muirneach tairis, 's deud thana dhluth.
O! 's dluth bha buaidhean a stri mu'n cuairt duit,
Cha b' eol dhomh suairceas nach robh 'do chrè
Bha thu ciallach, narach, 's tu briathrach, pairteach,
'S tu rianail, daimheil, ri d' chairdean fhein:
Bu tu firean, fallain, bha rioghail, geanach,
'Sa leoghann tapaidh bu ghlaine beus;
Bhiodh min 'us gairg' air, bhiodh sith 'us fearg air,
Nuair chit' air falbh e bhiodh colg na cheum.
Se do cheum bu bhrisge 's bu shubailt iosgaid,
Bha moran ghibhtean ri d' leasraidh fuaight.
Bu tu glas nan Gaidheal, bho mhuir gu braighe
Gu crioch Chinntaile 's na tha bho thuath.
O! 's lionmhor oigfhear tha 'n diugh gu bronach
A fasgadh dhorn, 'us ruith-dheoir le ghruaidh,
'Bhiodh dana, sgaiteach, gun sgath gun ghealtachd,
Na 'm bu namhaid pears' bheireadh Eachainn bh' uainn.
Bha thu mor an onair, bu mhor do mholadh,
Bu mhor do shonas, 's tu gun dolaidh gibht'
Bu mhor a b'fhiach thu, bu mhor do riaghailt,
Bu mhor do mhiagh ann an ciall 's an tuigs',
Bu mhor do churam, bu mhor do chuisean,
Bu mhor do chliu ann an cuirt 'sa meas,
Bu mhor do stata, 's bu mhor do nadur,
'S cha mhor nach d'fhag thu na Gaidheil brist'.
O! 's priseil, laidir, a ghibhte 'dh-fhag sinn--
'S mios'da Ghaeltachd bàs an t-seoid,
Tha Mhachair tursach bho n' chaidh an uir ort,
'S tu dh-fhuasgladh cuis do gach cuirt mu bhord,
Bha 'Ghalldachd deurach ri cainnt ma d' dheighinn,
Gu ruig Dun-eidin nan steud 's nan cleoc,
'S cha ghabhainn gealtachd, air son a chantuinn,
Gur call do Bhreatuinn nach eil thu beo.
'S tu chraobh a b'aillidh bha 'n tus a gharaidh
'S i ùr a fas ann fuidh bhlath 's fuidh dhos,
O! 's truagh a dh-fhag thu ma thuath na Gaidheil
Mar uain gun mhathair ni'n sgath ri frois,
'S tu b'urr' an tearnadh bho chunnart gabhaidh,
'S an curaidh laidir, chuireadh spairn na tost,
Tha 'n tuath gu craiteach, 's na h-uaislean càsai,
'S bho 'n chaidh am fàd ort 's truagh gair nam bochd.
"_Ma ta 's math sibh fhein Alastair Bhuidhe; 's grinn comhnard a
bhardachd a th'air a mharbhrainn, ach cha 'n eil i dad nas fhearr na
thoill brod a Ghaidheil agus am fior dhuin' uasal dha'n d'rinn sibh i,"
arsa Ruairidh Mor._ (Well done yourself, _Alastair Buidhe_, the
composition of the Elegy is beautifully elegant and even, but not any
better than the memory of the best of Highlanders and the truest of
gentlemen, to whom you composed it, deserved, said Big Rory). This was
the general verdict of the circle.
Norman was now called upon to fulfil his part of the arrangement, which
he promptly did by giving the Legend, of which the following is a
translation:--
THE RAID OF CILLIECHRIOST.