analogue in the Gaulish mythology in _Hesus_ (also _Esua_, _Aesus_, and
_Heus_), a mysterious (supreme?) god of ancient Gaul, surviving still in
Armorican legend. If so, Hesus or Aesus may be identical with the "lost"
Gaelic god _Aesar_ or _Aes_. _Aesar_ means "fire-kindler," whence the
Creator. (In this connection I would ask if _Aed_, an ancient Gaelic god
of fire, also of death, be identical with (as averred) a still more
ancient Greek name of Fire, or God of Fire = _Aed_?). Be'al, the Source
of All, may take us back to the Phoenician _Baal_: but the Gaelic _Aes_
and the Gaulish _Aesus (Hesus)_ take us, with the Scandinavian _Aesir_,
further still: to the Persian _Aser_, the Hindoo _Aeswar_, the Egyptian
_Asi_ (the Sun-bull), and the Etruscan _Aesar_. The _Bhagavat-Gita_ says
of Aeswar that "he resides in every mortal."
_Pages 199-203._ This section, slightly adapted, is from an unpublished
book, in gradual preparation, entitled _The Chronicles of the Sidhe_.
_Page 225. The Culdees._ Though I have alluded in the text to the
probable meaning of a word that has perplexed many people, I add this
note as I have just come upon another theoretical statement about the
Culdees as though they were an oriental race or sect. The writer
evidently thinks they are the same as Chaldaeans, and builds a
startlingly unscientific theory on that assumption. In all probability
the word is simply _Cille-De_, _i.e._, [the man of the] Cell of
God--_Cille_ being Cell, a Church--and so a Cille-De man would be "man
of God," a monk, a cleric. A much more puzzling problem obtains in the
apparent traces of Buddha-worship in the Hebrides. It may or may not be
of much account that the author of _Lewisiana_ "admits reluctantly" that
"we must accept the possibility of a Buddhist race passing north of
Ireland." I have not seen _Lewisiana_ for some years, and cannot recall
on what grounds the author arrives at his conclusion. But from my notes
on the subject I see that M. Coquebert-Montbret, in the _Soc. des
Antiquaires de_ _France_, argues at great length that the Asiatic
Buddhist missionaries who penetrated to Western Europe, reached Ireland
and Scotland. He asks if the ancient Gaelic Deity named _Budd_ or
_Budwas_ be not _Buddh_ (Buddha). Another French antiquary avers that
the Druids were "an order of Eastern priests adoring Buddwas." Some
light on the problem is thrown by the fact that the Gaulo-Celtic museum
in St. Germain is an ancient Celtic "god"--the fourth in kind that has
been found--with its legs crossed after the manner of the Indian Buddha.
It is more interesting still to note that in the Hebrides spirits are
sometimes called _Boduchas_ or _Buddachs_, and that the same word is (or
used to be) applied to heads of families, as the Master.
_Pages 242, 248._ These two sections, rearranged, and in part rewritten,
are excerpted from what I wrote in Iona, some five years ago, for a
preface to _The Sin-Eater_.
_Page 256._ In its original form this was written about a book of great
interest and beauty, _The Shadow of Arvor: Legendary Romances of
Brittany_. Translated and retold by Edith Wingate Rinder.
_Arvor (or Armor_) is one of the bardic equivalents of _Armorica_, as
Brittany is called in many old tales. The name means the Sea-Washed
Land, _Vor_ or _Mor_ being Breton for "sea," as in the famous region
_Morbihan_ the Little Sea. Neither the Bretons for their Cymric kindred,
however, call Brittany _Arvor_, or the Latinised _Armorica_. Arvor is
the poetic name of a portion of Basse Bretagne only. Bretons call
Brittany _Breiz_, and their language _Brezoned_, and themselves
_Breiziaded_ (singular _Breiziad_)--as they keep to the French
differentiation of _Bretagne_ and _Grande Bretagne_ in _Bro-Zaos_, the
Saxon-Land, as they speak of France (beyond Brittany), as _Bro-chall_,
the Land of Gaul. In Gaelic I think Brittany is always spoken of as
_Breatunn-Beag_, Little Britain. The Welsh call the country, its people,
and language, _Llydaw_, _Llydawiaid_, _Llydawaeg_.
F. M.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
By Mrs. William Sharp
The first edition of _The Divine Adventure: Iona: By Sundown Shores_ was
published in 1900 by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. The Titular Essay (since
revised) appeared first in _The Fortnightly Review_ for November and
December, 1899. A large portion of "Iona" (though in different sequence)
appeared also in _The Fortnightly_, March and April, 1900. Both
"spiritual histories" were published separately in book form in America
by Mr. T. Mosher; "Iona," curtailed and rearranged under the title of
"The Isle of Dreams," in 1905. The Essay "Celtic" in its original form,
first printed in _The Contemporary Review_, will now be found, revised
and materially added to, in _The Winged Destiny_. In this Uniform
Edition of the writings of "Fiona Macleod" (William Sharp) the following
stories, etc., have been transferred to the present volume: "The White
Fever" and "The Smoothing of the Hand" from _The Sin-Eater_; "The White
Heron" which relates to the earlier story of Mary Maclean in _Pharais_,
is from _The Dominion of Dreams_, and in its earliest version appeared
with illustrations in the Christmas number of _Harper_ in 1898. "A
Dream" appeared first in the _Theosophical Review_ of September, 1904.
Finally I have added to this volume the latter portion and some detached
fragments from _Green Fire_, a Romance by "Fiona Macleod" dealing with
Brittany and the Hebrid Isles and published in 1896 by Messrs. A.
Constable, and in America by Messrs. Harper Bros. But William Sharp
considered that the book suffered from grave defects of design and
construction and decided that, when out of print, it should not be
republished. "The Herdsman," however, is--as he stated in a note to the
first Edition of _The Dominion of Dreams_, "a re-written and materially
altered version of the Hebridean part of _Green Fire_ of which book it
is all I care to preserve." Nevertheless, in accordance with the wishes
of several friends, I have very willingly put together a series of
detached fragments from the book and placed them beside "The Herdsman"
as, in our opinion equally worthy of preservation, since the author's
prohibition precludes the possibility of reprinting the book in its
entirety.
* * * * *
WOODS & SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, LONDON, N.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
THE COLLECTED WORKS OF FIONA MACLEOD
(WILLIAM SHARP)
In Seven Volumes. Crown 8vo. Price 5s. net.
With Photogravure Frontispieces from
Photographs and Drawings by D. Y. Cameron,
A.R.S.A.
I. PHARAIS: THE MOUNTAIN LOVERS
II. THE SIN EATER; THE WASHER OF THE FORD AND
OTHER LEGENDARY MORALITIES
III. THE DOMINION OF DREAMS: UNDER THE DARK
STAR
IV. THE DIVINE ADVENTURE: IONA: STUDIES IN
SPIRITUAL HISTORY
V. THE WINGED DESTINY: STUDIES IN THE
SPIRITUAL HISTORY OF THE GAEL
VI. THE SILENCE OF AMOR: WHERE THE FOREST
MURMURS
VII. POEMS AND DRAMAS
ALSO UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE
SELECTED WRITINGS OF WILLIAM SHARP
In Five Volumes
I. POEMS
II. STUDIES AND APPRECIATIONS
III. PAPERS CRITICAL AND REMINISCENT
IV. LITERARY GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL SKETCHES
V. VISTAS: GIPSY CHRIST AND OTHER PROSE
IMAGININGS
AND
MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM SHARP
(FIONA MACLEOD)
Compiled by MRS. WILLIAM SHARP
(In two volumes)
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Transcriber's Notes: |
| |
| Obvious punctuation errors repaired. |
| |
| Printer errors corrected. These include: |
| - Page 34, word "creening" corrected to be "creeping" (night-jar |
| creeping forward) |
| - Page 40, word "it's" corrected to be "its" (for its need) |
| - Page 94, word "lighed" corrected to be "lighted" (whose flame |
| lighted) |
| - Page 189, word "do" corrected to be "no" (speak no more) |
| - Page 196, word "bu" corrected to be "but" (had nane but) |
| - Page 224, word "Colnm" corrected to be "Colum" (Colum the |
| White) |
| - Page 314, word "lonroid" corrected to be "loneroid" (bracken |
| and loneroid) |
| - Page 344, word "thonght" corrected to be "thought" (as he |
| thought) |
| - Page 347, word "npon" corrected to be "upon" (here upon Rona) |
| - Page 377, word "sale" corrected to be "sail" (useless sail) |
| - Page 378, word "Allen" corrected to be "Alan" (to affect Alan) |
| - Page 384, word "commume" corrected to be "commune" (enjoyed |
| the commune) |
| - Page 390, word "mavellous" corrected to be "marvellous" (so |
| many marvellous) |
| - Page 402, word "hs" corrected to be "he" (he dreamed his) |
| - Page 416, word "treasures-trove" corrected to be |
| "treasure-troves" (many treasure-troves rescued) |
| |
| The author's variable spelling (both in English and Gaelic) has |
| been kept. This includes: |
| - Both "airidh" and "airidh" |
| - Both "Amadan-Dhu" and "Amadan Dhu" |
| - Both Angus "Og" and "Og" |
| - Both "Beite" and "Beithe" |
| - Both Buachaill "Ban" and "Ban" |
| - Both "bhuachaile" and "bhuachaille" |
| - Both "chlarsach" and "chlarsaich" |
| - Both "Coolins" and "Coolin" mountain |
| - Both "Eachainn" and "Eachain" MacEachainn |
| - Both "Feinn" and "Feinn" |
| - Both "fore-knowledge" and "foreknowledge" |
| - Both "foretell" and "fortell" |
| - Both "hill-slope" and "hillslope" |
| - Both "maighdean-mhara" and "Maigh-deann-M'hara" |
| - Both mo "ghraidh" and "ghraidh" |
| - Both "mythopoeic" and "mythopoeic" |
| - Both "n'Aondruim" and "n'-Aondruim" |
| - Both "Oisin" and "Oisin" |
| - Both "re-born" and "reborn" |
| - Both "re-written" and "rewritten" |
| - Both "Reilig" and "Reilig" Odhrain |
| - Both "sea-fowl" and "seafowl" |
| - Both "sea-weed" and "seaweed" |
| - Both "sheiling-hymn" and "shealing-hymn" |
| - "Sliochd-nan-Ron," "Sliochd nan Ron," and "Sliochd-nan-ron" |
| - Both "Sidhe" and "Sidhe" |
| - Both "sun-down" and "sundown" |
| - Both "Uain-ghil" and "Uain ghil" |
| |
| Some advertisements for other books published by William |
| Heinemann were moved from the start (before the title) to the |
| end of the text(after the Bibliographical Note). |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+