EDITED BY G. LAURENCE GOMME
_Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d., cloth extra._
After a Design by A. A. TURBAYNE.
With Illustrations of all the principal features, which include
reproductions of royal and historical signatures, coins, seals, and
heraldic devices.
The first three volumes are:--
HAROLD: Lord Lytton’s _Harold, the Last of the Saxons_, 1848.
WILLIAM I: Macfarlane’s _Camp of Refuge_, 1844.
WILLIAM II: _Rufus or the Red King_, 1838 (Anonymous).
The King’s Story Book
Edited by G. LAURENCE GOMME. With numerous full-page Illustrations
by C. HARRISON MILLAR. _Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s._
A Houseful of Rebels
A Fairy Tale.
By WALTER H. E. RHODES. Illustrated by PATTEN WILSON.
_Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s._
Beyond the Border
Fairy Tales for Old and Young.
By WALTER DOUGLAS CAMPBELL. With nearly 200 Illustrations
by HELEN STRATTON. _Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s._
Adventures in Legend
Tales of the West Highlands.
By the MARQUIS OF LORNE, K.T., M.P.
Westward Ho!
By CHARLES KINGSLEY. (Vol. 3 of Constable’s Historical Novels.)
Edited by G. LAURENCE GOMME.
_Illustrated, crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d., and handsomely bound
with cover design in gold, all gilt, 5s._
London Impressions
A Series of Pictures in Photogravure by WILLIAM HYDE, and
Essays by ALICE MEYNELL.
Imperial Quarto, strictly limited to 250 signed copies.
For particulars see Prospectus.
Through China with a Camera
By JOHN THOMSON, F.R.G.S.
With about 100 Illustrations. Foolscap 4to. This work contains the
finest series of pictures of China ever published.
By the Roaring Reuss
Tales of a Simple Folk.
By W. BRIDGES BIRTT. With Illustrations.
_Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s._
The Dark Way of Love
By CHARLES LE GOFFIC
Translated by EDITH WINGATE RINDER.
Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy
By JOHN HORSLEY MAYO. Profusely Illustrated with Coloured and
other Plates. _2 vols., Royal 8vo, cloth gilt, £3 3s. net._
The Paston Letters
Edited by JAS. GAIRDNER. A New Issue in three styles. _3 vols.,
Foolscap 8vo. Paper label and cloth, 16s. net; Cloth gilt, 16s. net;
Half-vellum, 21s. net._
The Principles of Local Government
By G. LAURENCE GOMME. _Demy 8vo, cloth gilt._
The Pupils of Peter the Great
By J. NISBET BAIN. With Portraits.
_Demy 8vo, cloth gilt._
Fidelis and other Poems
By C. M. GEMMER.
_Foolscap 8vo, cloth gilt._
A Tale of Boccaccio and Other Poems
By ARTHUR COLES ARMSTRONG.
_Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 5s. net._
Songs of Love and Empire
By E. NESBIT.
_Crown 8vo, cloth gilt._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In Gaelic, the name of Lir’s daughter is _Fionnghuala_, and is
variously given in English as Fionula, Fionnuola, Finoola, and Finola.
[2] Now Loch Derravaragh, in West Meath.
[3] That is, between the north-east of Ireland (the Giant’s Causeway)
and the south-west of the Scottish Highlands (the Mull of Cantire).
[4] The Tailcen: a name given by the early Irish to St. Patrick.
[5] Coineag, Gaelic for “rabbit.” The common English equivalent, Bunny,
is a Gaelic derivative, from _Bun_, a stump or tail.
[6] St. Patrick. (Druidic name.)
[7] With the advent of St. Kemoc, the story comes within historical
times. Lairgnen and Finghin were kings of Connaught and Munster, who
flourished in the seventh century A.D.
[8] It was the wont among the early Celtic peoples to bury their dead
erect, particularly in the case of kings, and great warriors, and sons
and daughters of kings.
[9] _i.e._, from the north of Norway to the coasts of Denmark.
[10] Probably Isberna is Hispania (Spain), and the apples the golden
apples of the Hesperides.
[11] _Alba._ That is, Gaelic Scotland, and in particular Argyll.
[12] _Naois_ in the old Irish Gaelic.
[13] Ulster.
[14] This song, adapted to Macha, is founded upon a portion of the poem
by Coel O’Neamhain, in honour of a beautiful queen named Crede, as
translated by Professor Sullivan and others.
[15] Given as in the Gaelic: _ciugear agus tri fichead agus tri chead_.
Large numbers are in Gaelic invariably built up thus (instead of, for
example, as here, four hundred and sixty). In an old Irish-Gaelic
version the particular number here is given as “five and three score
above six hundred and one thousand” (_i.e._, 1,760).
[16] In old Irish Gaelic, _Derdriu_, then _Deirdrê_, sometimes
_Darethra_. In Scotland, _Dearduil_ (pronounced Dart’weel, Darth-uil,
or “Darthool,” whence Macpherson’s “Darthula,” who rather loosely says
the name is _Dart’huile_, a woman of beautiful eyes). The oldest name
is said to signify alarm.
[17] The Gaelic original is _Beanchaointeach (Banchainte) Conchubhar
fein_, etc., and means literally Concobar’s Conversation-woman, which
perhaps might be rendered as “gossip.”
[18] I have adopted here, as more euphonious, the name given to the
eldest of the sons of Usna (Uisneach) by Macpherson in “Darthula.” The
old spelling is _Naoise_. _Ainnle_ (Ailne, Ailthos) means “beautiful,”
and _Ardan_, “pride.”
[19] The Cruithne, or Picts, had their chief stronghold at Beregonium,
overlooking the Bay of Selma, not far from the mouth of Loch Etive,
below the Falls of Lora, in West Argyll.
[20] To this day, the Highlander of Western Argyll and of
Inverness-shire is familiar with the Fort of the Sons of Usna, above
one of the lochs which constitute what is now known as the Caledonian
Canal.
[21] Western India.
[22] This is a free paraphrase of the original as given by Dr. Cameron
in the _Reliquiæ Celticæ_. The original consists of nine short
quatrains. In the second, the names mentioned are Dun Fiodha, Dun
Fionn, Innis Droighin, and Dun Suibhne. In the following quatrains the
old and modern names are practically identical. The modern Glendaruel
was formerly Glendaruay (Gleann da Ruadh), the Glen of the Two Roes, or
Glennaruay (Gleann na Ruadh), the Glen of the Roes. Innis Droighin is
again alluded to in the last verse. It is now called Innis Draighneach,
meaning the Island of Thorns, and is situate in Loch Awe.
[23] Literally “O d’chuala Feargus sin, do rinneadh rothnuall corcra
dhe O bhonn go bathas.” (When Fergus heard this, he became a crimson
mass from the foot-sole to the face.)
[24] This sentence is literal after the old Gaelic as translated by Dr.
Cameron. Apropos of the mention of the chessboard in the next sentence
(as once before), it may be added that the ancient Celtic kings and
lords had a passion for chess.
[25] _Agus d’ibh deoch, agus tainigh amach aris_, etc., “and he drank a
drink,” etc.
[26] Scandinavia.
TRANSCRIBER NOTES:
There are a number of blank pages in the original text of this book.
To conserve space, especially for handheld devices, blank pages have
been left out of this ebook.
This book contains Scoto-Gaelic variants. To retain the intended flavor
of the book, spelling and punctuation in dialect text have not been
altered.
Spelling of non-dialect wording in the text was made consistent when
a predominant preference was found in this book; if no predominant
preference was found, or if there is only one occurrence of the word,
spelling was not changed, unless noted below.
Single, oddly spelled words that could not be confirmed as
typographical errors were left unchanged. On page 159, “slao” was
considered to be a typographical error and changed to “slay”, which
fits the context.
Original punctuation has been retained.
Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved
with the following exception: Page 247 -- chess-board was changed to
chessboard. All seven other occurrences of the word chessboard that
were not end-of-line hyphens did not have a hyphen.
The name “Ae” is used twice and “Aé” used once within the text. The
name “Taillken” was used once in the text and “Taillkenn” used twice.
No change was made in either because it could not be confirmed that they
were typographical errors.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Laughter of Peterkin, by Fiona Macleod