CHAPTER XXIV.

MORE STORIES AND A MORAL.

“Pipe of the simple peasant—still

Through Caledonia’s proud domains,

Thou cheer’st the rustic cottage hearth

With thy enlivening strains.

“And in the far, far distant west,

Where deep and pathless forests lower,

Thou sooth’st the drooping exile’s breast

Through many a lonely hour.”

—_J. T. Calder._

The Clan Stewart March—Mac Gregor of Ruaro—The Braes of the Mist—

Episode at a Dunvegan competition—A Mac Crimmon surpassed—Mac

Pherson’s Lament—Burns and the story—Rob Roy’s lament—The Mac

Lachlans’ March—_Gille Calum_—The Reel o’ Tulloch—The Periwig Reel—

Jenny Dang the Weaver—Mac Donald’s salute—Mac Leod’s Salute—

Disappearing lore—Something to be done.

The Royal House of Stuart should perhaps have been mentioned earlier,

but, like other names famous in history, they did not leave much to

posterity in the way of music or poetry. Enough has been composed and

written about them, but that is another matter.

“THE MARCH OF CLAN STEWART”

is known in Perthshire as the “Sherramuir March,” because it was played

at that battle by the pipers of the clan. According to tradition this

tune was played both when the clan were marching to battle and in honour

of a victory. It was played at Pinkie, Inverlochy, Sheriffmuir, and

Prestonpans, and it was all along recognised as a tune peculiarly

pertaining to the Stewarts. In accordance with Highland custom, the

clansmen were in the habit of marching in the intervals of pipe music to

improvised singing, and when or how the present words emerged from all

previous improvisations and became a song it is impossible to say. At

the battle of Pinkie in September, 1547, the clan was commanded by

Donald Stewart, of Invernayle, the real chief being an old man. On the

march homeward in October, when passing through Menteith, the clan found

prepared at the house of one of the tenants a marriage dinner, at which

the Earl of Menteith was to be present. Being hungry, Donald and his

followers ate up the feast, and when Menteith arrived he was very angry,

and instantly pursued the Stewarts. On overtaking them one of his men

taunted them thus:—

“Yellow-haired Stewarts of smartest deeds,

Who could grab at the kail in your sorest needs,”

to which Stewart replied:—

“If smartness in deeds is ours by descent,

Then I draw, and to pierce you this arrow is sent,”

and he shot the man who had taunted his clan. A conflict ensued, in

which the Earl and many of his men were killed, and then the Stewarts

went off in triumph, their pipers playing the Stewarts’ March. The words

now in use are the composition of an _Iain Breac Mac Eanric_

(Henderson), a celebrated piper of the time of Montrose, and a resident

in the Glencoe district. There would probably be older words, but those

here given are those now associated with the tune:—

“The heath-clad Ben we’ll soon ascend,

Through Glen Laoigh we’ll soon descend,

Our points of steel we’ll swiftly send

Thro’ every loon that bars us.

We will up and march away,

We will up and march away,

We will up and march away,

Daring let of all men.

“O’er the hills we’ll speed along,

Thro’ Glencoe the march prolong;

Our King the burden of our song,

Asking leave of no man.

We will up, etc.

“To Glengarry and Lochiel,

Ever with us true and leal,

Keppoch, too, who seeks our weal,

Is there in spite of all men.

We will up, etc.

“Mac Phersons come, in deeds not small;

Mac Kenzies also at our call;

Whose battle frenzy will appal

And fill our foes with awe then.

We will up, etc.

“Mac Gregors fierce when man to man,

Join with the Royal Stuart clan;

Blow up the pipes, march in the van,

Daring let of all men.

We will up, etc.”

The chorus is sung before the first verse, as well as after each.

“Daring let of all men” means “Defying the hindrance of all men.”

One of the most tragic of stories is associated with another Clan Mac

Gregor air—

“MAC GREGOR OF RUARO.”

The clan, as is well known, were terribly persecuted by the ruling

powers. When, after the ’45, most of the other Highland chiefs accepted

Crown charters for their lands, the Mac Gregors refused, their clansmen

backing them vigorously in their attitude. For this independence of

theirs they were hunted like wild beasts, pursued by bloodhounds, and

executed whenever caught. Even so early as 1603 the clan found

themselves so persecuted and hemmed in that their chief, Mac Gregor of

Glenstrae, considered it necessary to deliver himself and a score of his

principal men to the Government, under promise of being allowed to leave

the country. This promise was given, but ruthlessly broken, for they

were all hanged at Edinburgh. In the group was Gregor Mac Gregor of

Ruaro, the subject of the lament and the song. The author of neither is

known:—

“There is sorrow, deep sorrow,

Heavy sorrow down-weighs me;

Sorrow deep, dark, and lonesome,

Whence nothing can raise me.

Yes, my heart’s filled with sorrow,

Deep sorrow undying,

For Mac Gregor of Ruaro,

Whose home was Glenlyon.

For the bannered Mac Gregor,

So bravely who bore him,

With the roar of the war pipe

Loud thundering before him.

His emblem the pine tree

On mountain side swinging;

His trim-tapered arrows

The true bird was winging.”

And so on in very much the same strain for other nine verses.

There is another tune of the “Children of the Mist,” as the Clan Mac

Gregor were known, that deserves mention. It is a wild and melancholy

pibroch, called _Cruachan a’ Cheathaich_, or

“THE BRAES OF THE MIST.”

To it is sung a ballad, and connected with the air and song there is an

interesting story. The singer, a Mac Gregor, concealed in her house her

husband and two sons when some bitter enemies of the clan were

approaching. There was no time for escape, and so she hid her friends in

a bed, and, sitting down by the fire, proceeded to sing:—

“I sit here alone by the plain of the highway,

For my poor hunted kin, watching mist, watching byeway;

I’ve got no sign that they’re near to my dwelling;

At Loch Fyne they were last seen—if true be that telling.”

And so on, representing herself as waiting in solitude for her

persecuted kindred, and saying that as they had not returned they must

either be at Loch Fyne—as when she last heard of them—or far away in the

glens of the mist, hunting and fishing, and compelled to pass the night

in some poor hut, where she had previously left some things for them.

After a prayer for their safety—

“May the King of the Universe save you for ever

From the flash of the bullet and the store of the quiver,

From the keen-pointed knife, with the life-blood oft streaming,

From the edge of the sharp claymore, terribly gleaming,”

she concluded with expressions of her own sadness on account of their

dangers. The enemies stopped outside her cottage and listened to the

song, and believing it to be from the singer’s heart—as it was, but not

in the way they supposed—they passed on without disturbing her, and her

husband and sons were saved.

The Gaelic proverb, “The apprentice surpasses his master,” or

“THE APPRENTICE SURPASSES THE MAC CRIMMON,”

is associated with two tunes. There was to be a piping competition at

Dunvegan at which pipers from all parts of the country were to be

present. The leading Mac Crimmon of the day, the head of the college—

“Professor” he would now be called—and a nephew of his had “entered,”—if

that formality was necessary in these days—and Mac Crimmon had taught

his nephew all he himself knew, with the exception of one tune, which he

hoped would give him the lead in the competition. The two of them, man

and boy, on their way to Dunvegan, slept one night at a wayside inn,

sharing a bed. When the old man slept he dreamed of the morrow, and in

his dreams he seized the boy’s arm and fingered on it the notes of the

special tune he had reserved for himself. The youth was smart enough to

realise that this meant something, and also smart enough to commit the

notes to memory as his uncle fingered them on his arm. When the

competition began he stepped out first and immediately played his

uncle’s tune, and carried off the principal honours of the day. Then,

the story goes, the people began to speak of _An gille ‘toirt bàrr air

Mac Crimmon_—the lad that surpasses the Mac Crimmon.

But it is the other version of the story that is connected with the

origin of a pipe tune. One of the Mac Crimmons, well known as _Padruig

Caogach_ or “Winking Peter,” owing to his inveterate habit of winking

while playing, once endeavoured to compose a new pipe tune. He managed

two measures, which in time became very popular, but he could not for

the life of him complete it. Two years elapsed, and still _Padruig’s_

muse had failed to come to his assistance, and the fragment began to be

called _Am port leathach_—the half-completed tune. Then a young piper—

_Iain Dall_ it was—inspired with the music of the tune, set himself to

complete it, naming it _Lasan Phadruig Chaogaich_, and renouncing all

share in the honours of authorship. But _Padruig_ did not like being

outstripped in this way by Mac Kay, who was but a beardless boy, and, in

his anger, he persuaded the other students at the college to make away

with his rival. He succeeded the better in his scheme that Mac Kay had

previously given great offence to his classmates by his proficiency, of

which they were jealous, and with which the master piper taunted them.

So one day as they were all walking together at _Dun Bhorraraig_, they

came to a rock twenty-four feet in height, over which they pushed the

blind “apprentice.” But he alighted on his feet without sustaining much

injury, and the spot over which he was thrown was known for a long time

after as _Leum an doill_—the leap of the blind. _Iain Dall_ ultimately

returned to Gairloch and succeeded his father as family piper to the Mac

Kenzies of Gairloch, dying at the age of ninety-eight.

“MAC PHERSON’S LAMENT”

will always be associated with Burns’s song and with the noted Highland

freebooter who in 1700, after holding the counties of Aberdeen, Banff,

and Moray in fear for a long time, was captured, tried before the

Sheriff of Banffshire, along with certain gipsies taken in his company,

and executed on the Gallow Hill of Banff. But it is not generally known

that Burns’s words can hardly be called original. As a matter of fact,

Mac Pherson himself, tradition says, composed both the pibroch and a set

of words wonderfully like those afterwards composed by Burns. The

pibroch he composed long before his capture, and the words he gave to

the world when he was executed, under the name of “Mac Pherson’s

Farewell.” Here they are:—

“My father was a gentleman

Of fame and lineage high,

Oh! mother, would you ne’er had born

A wretch so doomed as I!

But dantonly and wantonly

And rantonly I’ll gae,

I’ll play a tune and dance it roun’

Below the gallows tree.

The Laird o’ Grant, with power aboon

The royal majesty,

He pled fu’ well for Peter Brown,

But let Mac Pherson die.

But dantonly, etc.

But Braco Duff, in rage enough,

He first laid hands on me;

If death did not arrest my course,

Avenged I should be.

But dantonly, etc.

I’ve led a life o’ meikle strife,

Sweet peace ne’er smiled on me,

It grieves me sair that I maun gae

An’ nae avenged be.

But dantonly, etc.”

Burns, on his tour through the Highlands, probably learned the air and

the tradition of how Mac Pherson, when in prison under sentence of

death, wrote the song, sang and played it on the scaffold, and concluded

by breaking his violin to pieces because no one would accept it as a

present, and promise to play the tune over his body after his execution.

Neither the old version nor the words of Burns have much of the ring of

a lament about them, but both are in accordance with the notorious

character of the man. Burns, by the way, perpetrates a rather curious

Irishism in first saying Mac Pherson

“Played a spring and danc’d it round

Below the gallows tree;”

and immediately afterwards making him say—

“Untie these bands from off my hands

And bring to me my sword.”

How a man could play a spring and dance it round while his hands were

tied, he does not take the trouble to explain.

“ROB ROY’S LAMENT.”

Rob Roy himself, the most celebrated of all the clan who had “a name

that was nameless by day,” had a lament specially composed by his wife,

Helen Mac Gregor, on an occasion when the family were compelled by the

law to leave their fastnesses and take refuge in Argyllshire. Helen was

a woman of fierce and haughty disposition, and, feeling extreme anguish

at being expelled from the banks of Loch Lomond, she gave vent to her

feelings in a fine piece of music, still known as “Rob Roy’s Lament.” “I

was once so hard put at,” Scott makes Rob say, “by my great enemy, as I

may well ca’ him, that I was forced e’en to gie way to the tide and

remove myself and my people and my family from our native land, and to

withdraw for a time into _Mac Cailein Mòr’s_ country—and Helen made a

Lament on our departure, as well as Mac Crimmon himself could hae framed

it—and so piteously sad and waesome that our hearts amaist broke as we

sat and listened to her—it was like the wailing of one that mourns for

the mother that bore him—the tears came down the rough faces of our

gillies as they hearkened—and I would not have the same touch of

heartbreak again, no, not for all the lands that ever were owned by Mac

Gregor.”

“THE MAC LACHLANS’ MARCH.”

A touch of the romantic is found in the story of _Moladh Mairi_, a well-

known Mac Lachlan tune. Angus Mac Kay, son of _Iain Dall_, the blind

piper of Gairloch, attended a competition in Edinburgh on one occasion,

and the other competitors were so jealous of him and afraid of his

superior talents that they conspired together to destroy his chances,

They obtained possession of his pipes and pierced the bag in several

places. When Mac Kay began to practise on the day of the competition he

discovered the injury, and was in despair. But he had a fair friend of

the name of Mary who quickly procured for him a sheep’s skin, from

which, undressed as it was, they between them formed a new bag. With

this the piper carried off the first prize, and in gratitude to his

helper Mac Kay composed _Moladh Mairi_. He afterwards married a Mary

Fraser of Gairloch, but we have nothing to show that this was the same

Mary. In a proper story it certainly would have been.

Another, and a more probable, story is associated with this tune. A

daughter of Mac Lachlan of Strathlachlan, chief of the clan, made a

present of a wether’s skin to the family piper to make a bag for his

pipes. He was delighted with the present, and composed the tune in her

honour. This story is the more likely, inasmuch as it is well known that

pipers always had a high sense of honour, as they still have, and would

never think of treating a competitor in the way the first story says Mac

Kay was treated.

“_GILLE CALUM_,”

or “The Sword Dance,” is one of the best known of pipe tunes. There is

the jocular story to the effect that it made its first appearance in the

world after the Deluge, when the Ark had landed on Ararat, and Noah

expressed his joy by dancing over two crossed twigs. That the tune, or

at anyrate the dance, is an heirloom from the ancients, is highly

probable, as the sword dance in a modified form was the special antic of

the priests of Mars. The real _Gille Calum_, however, is said to have

been _Callum a’ chinn mhoir_—Malcolm Canmore, who incurred the

displeasure of the Highlanders by removing the ancient Court from

Dunstaffnage Castle, in Argyllshire, to Dunfermline, by marrying the

Saxon Princess Margaret, which led to the change of Court language from

Gaelic to English, and also by having added to the coinage a very small

coin, the bodle, equal in value to one-third of our halfpenny, and so

small as to be contemptible in the eyes of his Highland subjects. The

translation, by “Fionn,” of the Gaelic associated with the name shows

considerable wit and a pretty strain of sarcasm:—

“Gillie-Callum, twa pennies,

Gillie-Callum, twa pennies,

Twa pennies, twa pennies,

Gillie Callum, ae bawbee.

I can get a lass for naething,

I can get a lass for naething,

Lass for naething, lass for naething,

My pick and wale for ae bawbee.

Gillie-Callum, etc.

I can get a wife for tuppence,

I can get a wife for tuppence,

Wife for tuppence, wife for tuppence,

A useless ane for ae bawbee.

Gillie-Callum, etc.”

“THE REEL O’ TULLOCH”

has two alleged origins, but one at least is discredited by the known

character of the people concerned. It was on a wild Sunday in the parish

of Tulloch, Aberdeenshire, that the minister, thinking his people would

not venture out, stayed at home. His congregation, however, to whom the

kirk was a trysting-place, turned up as usual. For a time they waited

patiently enough, but by and bye, moved by the stormy weather and their

minister’s absence, they proposed refreshments. The collection ladle was

sent round, and the proceeds invested in “yill” at the neighbouring

change-house. As the liquor took effect the fun grew more furious, and

at last a dance was suggested. The enthusiasm rose even to this height,

the village cobbler mounted the pulpit, the blacksmith from the

precentor’s box roared out the ditty “John, come kiss me now,” and the

floor rang with the flying feet of the dancing congregation. The

fiddler, impressed for the occasion, allowed his bow to get more and

more into the spirit of the gathering; it went madder and madder as the

excitement increased, and at last, in a sudden burst of inspiration, he

improvised the dance tune of all dance tunes—“Reel o’ Tulloch.”

Tradition is silent as to what befel the revellers in so sacred a place,

as well it may. It is hardly possible to imagine a company of Scottish

Established Church people looking at a fiddler on the Sabbath, much less

dancing in church to his music.

Strathspey also claims the tune, and in competition with Deeside, it has

a fierce tradition on the subject. The district of Tulloch lies at the

back of the Abernethy forest, and here is said to have occurred the

incident that inspired the maddest of Highland reels. A certain John Mac

Gregor, commonly known as _Iain Dubh Gearr_, was at Killin at a market

held somewhere between 1550 and 1580. In the house of call there, known

as “Streethouse,” he was set upon by eight men, but being powerful and a

splendid swordsman, he discomfited all his adversaries, killing some and

wounding others. Then he fled to Strathspey, where he married a woman

named Isabel Anderson (one version of the story has it that Mac Gregor

got into trouble with some Robertsons through having married this

Isabel, who was sought by a Robertson, and that these and not market

acquaintances were his enemies). His foes followed him, and one night

thirteen of them arrived at his house, determined to take him dead or

alive. John was sleeping in the barn when they came, and when he was

wakened and told of his danger he determined to fight it out. Isabel and

he had a gun and a pistol and plenty of ammunition, and they defended

the barn against all comers. John fired the weapons one after the other

alternately through crevices in the walls, and Isabel kept them loaded.

The thirteen outside, handicapped as they were by the shelter from which

the defenders worked, were very soon all wounded, whereupon John sallied

out and cut off their heads. Then Isabel in her glee gave him a big

draught of beer, which he drank, and seizing his spouse by the waist

they improvised and danced those reel steps which have ever since been

so popular. The music must have been old, but the words are of the date

of this incident:—

“At Streethouse at _Feill Fhaolan_,

On him they made an onset dead;

And were he not most manly brave,

Eight sturdy men had mastered him.

From Tullechin to Ballechin,

From Ballechin to Tullechin;

If beer we don’t in Tullechin,

We’ll water get in Ballechin.”

The song then, at considerable length, tells the story until:—

“Says Black John, turning towards his bride,

‘Since I did what I meant to do,

Give me a drink of beer to quaff,

And we will dance the Tullechin.’

From Tullechin, etc.”

The story has two traditional endings. In the one John became a

peaceable and prosperous man, and as his name appears in authoritative

documents of date 1568, it is the more likely to be true. The other is

tragic. Mac Gregor’s enemies, according to it, still hunted the couple,

and Isabel was thrown into prison. Then Mac Gregor himself was shot, and

his head brought to Isabel. At the sight she was so struck with sorrow

that she suddenly expired.

It may not be inappropriate to conclude these stories of tunes with two

which are associated with ministers.

“THE PERIWIG REEL”

can always be depended on to provoke laughter when well played. It is

probably the composition of Mr. Fraser of Culduthal. This gentleman was

at a baptismal “entertainment” at the house of Fraser of Knockie, where

the presence of a very old and venerable minister could not restrain him

from exciting mirth. He sat next but one to the minister, and found

means over his neighbour’s shoulder to tickle below the parson’s large

wig with a long feather or a blade of corn. As the glass went round the

old man became uneasy, but suspected nobody. At last he got into a rage,

dreading an earwig or spider, and shook out his wig over a blazing fire,

which unfortunately got hold of it. It was too greasy to admit of its

being saved. Amid great laughter, it simmered in the fire till it had

almost suffocated the company. The minister’s bald head produced more

laughter at his expense, in which he himself joined, and he enjoyed the

joke thoroughly when it was told to him. The real name of the air is

“The Fried Periwig.”

The other tune is

“JENNY DANG THE WEAVER,”

and its story is somewhat interesting. Rev. Mr. Gardner, minister of the

parish of Birse, in Aberdeenshire, was well known for his musical

talents and his wit. One Saturday he was arranging his ideas for next

day’s service in his study, which overlooked the courtyard of the manse.

Outside his wife was beetling potatoes for supper. To unbend his mind a

little, Mr. Gardner took up his fiddle and begun to run over the notes

of an air he had previously jotted down, when suddenly an altercation

arose between Mrs. Gardner and Jock, the minister’s man, an idle sort of

weaver fellow from the neighbouring village of Marywell, who had lately

been engaged as man of all work about the manse. “Here, Jock,” cried the

mistress as Jock came in from the labours of the field, “gae wipe the

minister’s shoon.” “Na,” said Jock, “I’ll dae nae sich thing. I came

here to be yir ploo’man, but no yir flunkey, and I’ll nae wipe the

minister’s shoon.” “Deil confound yir impudence,” said the enraged Mrs.

Gardner, and she sprang at him with a heavy culinary implement, and

giving him a hearty beating, compelled him to perform the menial duties

required of him. The minister, who viewed the scene from his window, was

hugely diverted, and gave the air he had just completed the title of

“Jenny Dang the Weaver.” This is supposed to have occurred in 1746.

There is a well-known Gaelic song entitled “Trousers for meagre shanks,

and bonnets for the bald,” sung to the air.

OF OTHER CLAN TUNES

there are not many stories of general interest. The tunes are there, but

whence they came, or when they came, must ever remain a mystery. “Mac

Donald’s Salute” and “Mac Leod’s Salute” were composed by Donald _Mòr_

Mac Crimmon on the reconciliation of the Mac Leods and the Mac Donalds

after the battle of Bencuillein in Skye, and played when the chiefs met

at Dunvegan. There had been a feud between the clans, in the course of

which much blood was spilt. This feud at last became so notorious that

in 1601 the Privy Council interfered and requested the chiefs concerned

to disband their forces and leave Skye. It being known that both

intended to “mass togider grit nowmeris and forceis of thair kin and

freindschip,” and pursue each other “with fyre and sword and other

hostilitie by say and land,” they were required to release peacefully

all prisoners, and to observe the King’s peace. Ultimately a

reconciliation was effected, on which the chief of the Mac Leods invited

the chief of the Mac Donalds to a banquet at Dunvegan Castle. When

Donald Gorm _Mòr_ Mac Donald appeared in sight of the castle, he was met

by Mac Leod’s famous piper, Donald _Mòr_ Mac Crimmon, who welcomed him

by playing “Mac Donald’s Salute,” which he had composed for the

occasion. In connection with the same banquet he composed and played for

the first time “Mac Leod’s Salute.”

The stories I have given are, after all, but the merest pickings from

the wealth of lore which has now almost disappeared from the Highlands.

It irritates one considerably to find here and there fragments of what

were once fine tales, with perhaps important bearings on social life or

current history, and to realise the impossibility of ever obtaining them

complete. For this we have to thank the Sassenach over-running of the

Highlands, which resulted in the extinction of clan bard and clan piper—

who between them took the place of a literature—and did not even try to

introduce in their stead the blessings of that wider education which

preserves the life of a nation by better means, until after much of what

was worth preserving had vanished into a misty past. We have, for

instance, the “Lament for the Harp Tree,” connected either with some

tree on which the bards were wont to hang their harps, like captives in

Babylon of an even earlier age, or with the disappearance of the harp

itself, or, as the tune is called _Bean Sith_ in the North, with the

fairies in some way or other; _A mhic Iain mhic Sheumais_, which

celebrates some battle between the Mac Donalds and the Mac Leods;

another on _Blar léine_, or the “Shirt Battle,” fought at Kinloch Lochy

between the Frasers of Lovat and the Mac Donalds of Clan Ranald, and so

called from the parties having stripped to their shirts; “The Sister’s

Lament for her Brothers”; a lament expressive of the aged warrior’s

regret that he is no longer able to wield his sword; “Grim Donald’s

Sweetheart,” a salute of very ancient origin; _A Ghlas Mheur_, an

ancient pibroch composed by _Raonull Mac Ailean Oig_, a Mac Donald of

Morar, to which there is supposed to have been a wild story attached;

_Cogadh na Sith_, “war or peace,” one of the best known of tunes, and

one which, as its composition indicates a determination either to obtain

an honourable peace or engage in immediate war, must have had a story;

and any number of others, around which stories of love or adventure or

war must at one time have clustered. Tunes of later generations have no

stories to speak of. They have been composed on special occasions, or in

honour of certain people, but that is all. It is the old tunes we would

know more about, and the old stories. Several writers, notably Mr. J. F.

Campbell, of Islay; Alexander Mac Kenzie, of Inverness; Angus Mac Kay,

and Hector Mac Lean, of Ballygrant, Islay, did much good work by

gathering at first hand Highland legends and traditions; and in our own

day Henry Whyte, (“Fionn”), the _Celtic Monthly_, and others, are doing

a great deal to preserve what is left to us of Highland life and story.

But there is much yet to do, and to do quickly, for the generation that

knows of these things is fast passing away. This volume makes no claim

to originality. It is only a gathering together of material that is

common to Highland tradition and Highland literature, but if it shows

what an amount of such material, even on one side phase of Highland

life, really exists, it will have served a good purpose. In every hamlet

in the Highlands there is surely some individual patriotic enough to

take an interest in its folk-lore, and intelligent enough to see the

necessity for saving still more of it, and these people can do more to

preserve it, if only by giving it a place in the columns of the weekly

papers, than any one collector or writer. And why should there not be a

Highland Publishing Society, which would sell every known book on the

Highlands, take the financial risk of gathering material for new books,

and publishing them, and do the educational and other work now being

attempted by various societies? There are already enough of county

societies and clan societies working only for their own county or clan.

Such distinctions have been broken down by the march of civilisation,

and with the intermixing of the clans and the free movement of the

people all over the country, the societies have little more than the

sentiment of the past, a sound enough reason, no doubt, to justify their

existence. But there is the Highlands and the language and the music,

the scattered literature and half-Anglicised people, and if Highlanders

with a craze for organising will but think on these things and build up

some organisation that will become the natural rallying point of

everything Highland, it is not yet too late to let the world see that

the Scottish Highlands has a history and a literature worthy of a far

higher place among the nations of the earth than the earth has yet given

them. As to its music:—

“Long may its lays be heard on Scotia’s hills,

Which call no more her clans in fray to meet,

And dye with kindred blood their native rills;

And, as blythe echoes the shrill notes repeat,

May Scottish hearts with kindling raptures beat;

For valour’s throb no more obeys the call,

Than laughs the eye with mirthful jollity

When the pipe sounds at village festival.

Such power, loved pibroch, has thy magic minstrelsy.

Thee from her hall let heartless fashion spurn,

For softer warblings of the Italian string;

Let luxury or wantoned dalliance burn,

Yet into hearts that round our Scotia cling,

With thy dear lays shall patriot raptures spring;

And he who can o’er faded glory sigh,

Who to oppression’s children gives the tear,

Will say, while awful transport lights his eye,

No generous soul is theirs, unmoved thy strains who hear.”

APPENDIX.

It was at first intended that the Appendix to this book should contain a

tutor to the bagpipe. It was, however, seen that to do this would not

only be departing from the avowed character of the undertaking—the

production of a thoroughly untechnical book, and one that would appeal

to players and non-players alike—but it would also be encroaching on the

preserves of the publishers of pipe music, nearly all of whom preface

their volumes with a tutor. Other, and it is hoped, equally interesting

matter has been substituted.

Appendix.

I.—THE SCALE OF THE PIPES.

BY JOHN MAC NEILL, LANGHOLM.

In making a few observations on the scale of the bagpipe (_Piob-mhorna

h-Alba_) it is not necessary to go deeply into the evolution of

instrumental music, but it may be well to state shortly that the

earliest instruments devised for expressing musical sounds, that is

sounds having a definite relation to one another, were of two distinct

orders, the first probably being the reed or pipe, made of various

materials, such as straw, reeds, bone, wood, or metal, blown by the

mouth and giving a single note which varied in pitch according to the

diameter and length of the tube or pipe through which the wind escaped.

The second order was a stringed instrument wherein cords varied in

length and thickness were fixed at both ends upon a suitable frame, and

the sound was produced by plucking with the finger and allowing the cord

to vibrate freely.

The next stage was to make vents or holes in the pipe, arranged so that

they could easily be covered by the fingers, and as the sound always

escaped by the hole nearest the reed, it was easy to produce a series of

sounds by removing one or more fingers in succession. In a somewhat

similar way, a series of sounds were obtained from the vibrations of a

single cord by pressing, or merely touching, it at certain points, and

thus shortening the portion which was allowed to vibrate.

The primary object of all music is to give pleasure through the ear by

imitating, or reproducing, more or less correctly, the sound of the

human voice, and other natural sounds, so we find that as early

instruments began to be improved they were so constructed as to produce

various notes having the same intervals between them as are found

between the tones of the human voice. In this way instruments with a

fixed scale were obtained, and we know that in course of time various

nations improved the instruments they had in use, the ancient Greeks

especially bringing the art of music and their favourite stringed

instrument, the lyre, to a high degree of perfection.

The great defect of all the more ancient instruments was their limited

compass, most of them containing from five to ten notes only, thus

rendering it impossible to play anything upon them except by the same

series of notes and at the same pitch. This was gradually remedied, both

as regards wind and stringed instruments, by adopting various devices

whereby their compass was extended, and by introducing, with more or

less accuracy, new notes called semi-tones between the original notes.

The modern method of tuning musical instruments by “equal temperament”

was unknown until the time of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) who,

disregarding the custom which had prevailed until his day, of writing in

a few keys only, and tuning instruments so as to render these keys

nearly perfect at the expense of the rest, himself tuned the instruments

on which he played in “equal temperament.” When he first began to play

music on the harpsicord, tuned in the old way, in other than the keys in

which it was originally composed, the effect was almost unbearable, and

it thus became necessary to alter the relation of the notes throughout

the whole scale by framing a complete chromatic scale having exactly the

same interval between each semi-tone. In this way every note was

slightly altered from the true natural scale, but not to such an extent

as to seriously offend the ear.

It is obvious that to have a perfect chromatic scale a separate string

or pipe is required for each note in such instruments as the organ and

pianoforte, while it is obtained in those of the flute and oboe class by

making additional holes in the tube at the correct intervals and

covering them with close-fitting pads with levers (keys) within

convenient reach of the fingers. (Having mentioned the oboe, it may be

remarked in passing that its tone has been called “bagpipe music

sublimated.”) Various attempts have been made to adapt similar

appliances to the chanter of the bagpipe, but the results have not been

satisfactory, and its scale remains practically the same as it was two

centuries ago. It will be shown, however, with the aid of the table of

vibrations appended to this article, that it does not differ so widely

from the natural or “equal temperament” scales as the critics allege.

The scale of the bagpipe closely resembles what is known as the Greek

scale, having a flat seventh, if we take it as running from A to A^|,

with a supplementary note G (the lowest on the instrument). While this

is true, a reference to the table of vibrations shows that other scales

can be rendered with a fair amount of correctness. A great deal has been

written on this subject, much of it tending to show that the bagpipe is

hardly, if at all, entitled to be considered a musical instrument. One

writer starts with the assumption that the first or lowest note is the

keynote of its scale, and thereby, very easily, comes to the conclusion

that all the rest of the notes are out of tune. As well might it be

asserted that the lowest note in any piece of music is the keynote of

such piece; and it is obvious that taking the highest note on the

bagpipe for the keynote and descending, quite a different result would

be arrived at. There are various other writers who seem unable to

distinguish between the Great Highland Bagpipe and the Italian and

French bagpipes. With these it has hardly anything in common except the

name.

It is pretty certain that the pipe chanter was at first used without a

bag, and blown directly from the mouth, as a practising chanter still

is, and that its key was D, thus giving an equal number of notes above

and below. Afterwards two drones were fitted into the bag along with the

chanter, probably in unison with one another, and with the lower A on

the chanter, the key of the Greek scale already referred to. The

instrument remained in this form for a long period. In the seventeenth

century probably a third and longer drone (_dos mor_) was added, tuned

an octave below the others. The drones form a fixed bass, and, according

to the well-established principle in music that the bass always ends

with the keynote, this may furnish very good ground for saying that the

true scale is A, with which, indeed, a very large proportion of pipe

music ends. But taking the note D on the chanter as the keynote, it is

found that the notes _above_ it are nearly in perfect tune, as can be

easily observed by playing any well-known air in that key that falls

within the compass of the _piob mhor_. Of course, it can be seen at a

glance from the table of vibrations annexed that the scale of D is very

nearly the same as that of A with a flat seventh. The use of this flat

seventh descending is so common in minor scales as to form, after the

minor third, one of their chief characteristics; and it does not greatly

offend even the critical cultivated modern ear, when not an accented

note nor leading directly to the key note. According to the principle

mentioned already, that the bass always ends with the key note, it must

be assumed that A is really the key note of the bagpipe scale, seeing

the drones are tuned to that note; and starting from that point we find

that A, C, E, A^| are Do, Mi, So, Do^| of the scale of A. Taking the

higher Do of this scale and descending a fifth, we find D (Fa), and

taking this as the key of a new scale, we find that D, F, A^|, A are Do,

Mi, So, Soˌ of the scale of D. In the same way, taking the fifth below

D—that is, G—we find that G, B, D, G^| are Do, Mi, So, Do^| of the scale

of G. On referring to the table of vibrations it will be seen that all

these notes are very nearly correct in the scales mentioned, whatever

their Sol-Fa names, the only differences being that B should be a little

sharper in the key of A than in D and G, and that E should be a little

flatter in the key of G than in D and A. For comparison there is a

column inserted in the table giving the vibrations according to “equal

temperament” of the chromatic scale from G to A^| . None of the notes of

the bagpipe admit of being sharpened or flattened except the upper G,

which can be slightly sharpened by opening the E hole along with G and

E. The notes D, C, B can be slightly flattened by lifting one finger

only, with all those below it closed, but passages requiring this

fingering are hardly met with except in pibrochs (_Ceòl mor_). The scale

given in the annexed table is, I venture to submit, the true scale of

the bagpipe. It is as perfect as can constructed upon an instrument of

such limited compass without the aid of valves, and places it much on a

level with the other instruments in use up to the time of Bach, already

referred to, whereby the approximate correctness of a few keys was

obtained by the sacrifice of all the others. It is possible that pipe

chanters may not always be bored with perfect accuracy, and that in the

case of very old instruments the holes may get enlarged by wear so as to

be more or less out of tune, but I think that the true “bearings” are as

I have stated.

Is is to be noted that but very few of the airs of our Gaelic songs can

be played on the bagpipe, a fact which we think goes far to prove that

the instrument was designed and used for martial purposes in the open

air. Indeed the _timbre_ of the instrument renders it unsuitable for

playing in concert with the human voice.

It is, I think, a matter of great satisfaction to all Highlanders and to

those who love the race, that so many intelligent and praiseworthy

efforts are being made at the present time to preserve and cultivate our

national music.

The following is the table of vibrations of musical scales forming the

foundations of the scale for the bagpipe:—

┌───────┬────────────────────────────────┬────────────┬──────────────────────────┐

│ Notes │Sol-fa Names with Vibrations in │ Equal │ True Pipe Scale. │

│on the │ │Temperament.│ │

│staff. │ │ │ │

├───────┼───────┬───────┬───────┬────────┼────────────┼──────────────┬───────────┤

│ │ C │ G │ D │ A │ │ Staff. │Vibrations.│

├───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼────────┼────────────┼──────────────┼───────────┤

│A │l 880 │rˈ 891 │so 891 │doˈ 891 │891 │[Illustration]│891 │

│G sharp│ │ │ │t │841 │ │ │

│ │ │ │ │835⁵⁄₁₅ │ │ │ │

│G │so 792 │doˈ 792│f 792 │ │794 │ │792 │

│F sharp│ │t 742½ │m 742½ │l 742½ │750 │ │742½ │

│F │f 704 │ │ │ │706 │ │ │

│E │m 660 │l 660 │r 666¼ │so 668¼ │666 │ │668¼ │

│D sharp│ │ │ │627 │ │ │ │

│D │r 594 │s 594 │do 594 │f 594 │592 │ │594 │

│C sharp│ │ │tˌ 556⅞│m 556⅞ │559 │ │556⅞ │

│C │do 528 │f 528 │ │ │528 │ │ │

│B │tˌ 495 │m 495 │lˌ 495 │r │499 │ │495 │

│ │ │ │ │501³⁄₁₀ │ │ │ │

│A sharp│ │ │ │ │471 │ │ │

│A │lˌ 440 │r 445½ │soˌ │doˌ 445½│445½ │ │445½ │

│ │ │ │445½ │ │ │ │ │

│G sharp│ │ │ │tˌ │420 │ │ │

│ │ │ │ │417²¹⁄₃₂│ │ │ │

│G │soˌ 396│do 396 │fˌ 396 │ │397 │ │396 │

└───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴────────┴────────────┴──────────────┴───────────┘

NOTE.—These calculations are made assuming that C in the middle of the

staff has 528 vibrations, but of course whatever pitch be taken the

relative proportion of the notes remains the same. Fractions, except in

the case of one note, are omitted in the scale of equal temperament.

II.—PRACTICAL HINTS.

BY PIPE-MAJOR A. D. CAMPBELL, BONAR BRIDGE.

I.—CARRIAGE OF THE PIPES.

If the player is standing the body should be perfectly upright, head

erect, and eyes carelessly fixed on some object as high as himself.

Great care should be taken that the shoulder on which the big drone

rests is not allowed to rise, or yield in any way to the weight or

blowing of the pipes; the head must not incline towards the big drone or

droop backwards or forwards; the chest must be kept inflated and the

shoulders square.

If the player is marching the shoulders should be allowed to swing to

and fro, the motion proceeding from the haunches only and not exceeding

what will suffice to give a free and easy step. His bearing should be

stately and lofty in accordance with the warlike instrument on which he

plays. In playing marching tunes the performer should never stand, if

possible, and when marching should beware of taking short stilted steps.

He should also practise reels in marching time, and play over irregular

ground, in order to gain confidence and command over his instrument.

II.—BLOWING THE PIPES.

In blowing the bagpipe, the cheeks must never be inflated nor the face

distressed in any way. There is really no hard work required, only a

little careful practice, and everything should be done as easily and

freely as possible. The bag does not at all times require to be filled

to its full extent, a little more than three-fourths being usually

sufficient. The player must not expend all his breath without resting,

as by so doing he will not only hurt but disable himself. The arm should

be pressed lightly on the bag, but allowed to yield gently to the wind

as it comes from the mouth, the pressure being gentle and steady and

according to the strength of the reeds. The player will at first find

some little difficulty in satisfactorily managing the bag, but when he

has succeeded he will be able to play in a free and commanding style,

and will have surmounted a difficulty which is a great bugbear to all

inexperienced players.

III.—TUNING THE PIPES.

When the pipes are first struck in, the big and outer drones should be

stopped by placing a finger over the hole of the bell of each. In doing

this or at any time when only one hand holds the chanter, the E note

should be sounded. The centre drone being nearest to the ear should, as

a rule, be tuned first. Should this drone not be in tune with the

chanter reed, a discord between them will ensue, and to get a chord the

point of the drone must be moved up or down, as the case may require. By

carefully listening to the chanter reed and moving the joint at the same

time, the player will easily discover whether the sounds are

assimilating or the discord increasing, and be able to suit his action

accordingly, until the sounds blend into one. The low A must now be

sounded, and the drone tuned to that note. (We may, however, tune to E,

high G, or in fact any note, providing the chanter reed is true to all

the notes, but in order to prove the reed and tune the pipes at the same

time, low A is generally preferred.) Afterwards sound high A to prove

whether the chanter reed is properly set, and true from low to high A.

If it is, the drone also will be in perfect chord with the latter note.

But should this not be the case and the drone cannot be brought to the

exact pitch with both notes. The discord, however slight, must be

divided between the two notes, and not left wholly on either. If the

pipe or the reeds are not defective, this should never occur, and the

reeds if properly fitted should tune about the centre of the joint.

After the centre drone is properly tuned, the outer should be begun by

placing the finger on the air-hole of the bell, or suddenly easing the

arm. This drone is not tuned to the chanter reed but to the drone

already tuned, in the same manner as that was tuned to the chanter reed.

The big drone is tuned to the other two in a similar manner.

After the centre drone has been tuned to the chanter reed, raising the

others to the same height in the tuning joint or in line with it, does

not always put the drones in tune. The reeds may differ materially in

tone, and they must be brought to the same pitch by studying the sounds

only. When the pipes are in tune all four reeds will chord. One may be

stronger or harsher than another, and still chord with it. It is

sometimes difficult for the learner to find the tuning mark, as it is

very exact. Care and practice makes it easy.

Young pipers should never play with their instruments out of tune, as

this will accustom their ears to discords, and they will eventually be

unable to tell when their pipes are in tune and when they are not.

Suddenly moving the joints up or down to their full extent will be found

capital practice for the beginner, as he cannot then fail to distinguish

discords. He should then move them cautiously back as if feeling for

something, and he will hear the jarring sounds gradually dying away

until they blend in chord. In tuning, care must be taken that the

pressure of wind on the reeds is exactly the same as when playing,

otherwise discord is inevitable.

Beginners should use reeds in the centre and big drones only, as the

pipes will then he easier blown, as well as easier tuned. The practice

can be discontinued when the player is able to blow freely. The further

down the drones are tuned the sharper the sound becomes, and the further

up the flatter or deeper. So if the chanter should have a sharp sound

the drone must also be made sharp, or _vice versa_. All new reeds are

generally sharp, and become flatter the longer they are played on.

IV.—REEDS AND THEIR DEFECTS.

Reeds have many defects, and nothing but experience combined with care

will make a piper thoroughly at home in dealing with them.

A new reed before being put into the chanter should be placed in water

for a few minutes. If it has lain past for some time it should be left

in the water longer, as the wood may have shrunk or the blades become

too open or close. New reeds can never be thoroughly depended on, as

they alter more or less with use. They should therefore never be cut or

interfered with before being tried. They are also, as a rule, harder to

blow than reeds which have been in use for some time; and, if after a

fair trial, they are still found to be too strong, they may then be

weakened at the discretion of the player. When a reed has a “dirling”

sound on the low hand (generally A or G), it is either too weak or too

lightly built. In the latter case, it will, combined with the “dirling”

sound, have a want of fulness of tone, and cannot be readily improved.

Should it be only too weak, it can be easily strengthened by being

opened carefully and gradually with a specially made implement of some

kind until it has a firm sound. This, of course, has to be done with

great care, or the reed may be rendered useless. When a reed is too

flat, the staple should be lowered into the chanter until the correct

sound is produced. If the staple is as far down as it can be got a

hairsbreadth may be cut from the point of the reed and the staple raised

or depressed as required. If after this the reed becomes too strong, the

blades may be slightly reduced with sandpaper. If the blades are already

sufficiently thin, but the point of the staple too open, it can be made

considerably closer by inserting a tapered instrument into the staple,

and giving the latter a slight tap with a small hammer. In this, care

must be taken that the instrument used is shaped as like the inside of

the staple as possible. In the event of the reed being too sharp, the

staple should be raised in the chanter as high as possible, when should

it still prove too sharp, it may be opened in the way already described.

This, however, should only be done when the staples or blades are too

close, as although the tone is rendered flatter by the process the reed

is more or less strained, which is apt to give it a sound insufficiently

full, and render the playing laborious without any object being gained.

The player should always bear in mind that the longer reeds are in use

the flatter they become. In cases where a reed is not very much out, it

can be toned down by frequent playing, rather than by experimenting with

it. When it is too strong and not too open in staples or blades it may

be partly because it contains too much wood, a matter which can be

easily rectified with fine sandpaper. A reed that is too strong owing to

its being too open in the blades can be made considerably closer and

easier to blow by taking a common cork, making a deep cut in the end of

it, and inserting the blades of the reed into the cut, then tying a

piece of cord round the cork sufficiently tight to close the blades, and

leaving it in that position for a few days. The width of the staple

should, however, be tested before this is done, as if it is too open

making it closer by the process already explained will make the blades

closer also, and save the trouble of using the cork.

It should be noticed that when chanter reeds have certain false notes,

such as a sharp high A or a flat high G or E, this is caused by the

reeds being improperly fitted, the points of the blades being too thin

or the sides of the reed being too thick. Care must therefore be taken,

when fitting a reed, that all the different notes are true, after which

it should never again be touched except when actually requiring

attention.

The beginner may find some difficulty in distinguishing the true sound

when the chanter reed is in his mouth. He should therefore put it unto

the pipe and sound it, when he will be better able to judge, as he will

hear the sound from a greater distance. The chanter reed should always

have a clear, distinct, shrill sound, accompanied with a full and firm

tone in every note.

V.—DRONE REEDS.

The small drone reeds should sound smooth and firm, with a clear humming

sound, and the big drone reed deep and bass, and strong enough to bear

the pressure of wind required for the chanter reed. New reeds are often

hard to “strike in,” and have a rough or sharp tone. This is owing to

their newness and dryness, and goes away with playing. They are also

frequently inclined to close or stop. This is caused by the steam of the

breath swelling the wood, and causing it to fall into its natural set.

In this case, the tongue of the reed should be raised as high as it will

admit of without straining, and the centre pressed down. Should it after

this become too rough or flat, it can be rectified by bringing the

tuning string a little towards the point of the tongue. Should this make

it too weak for the strength of the chanter reed, the best plan is to

raise the tongue and put a hair (out of the head) between the tongue and

body of the reed, and as far back as the tuning string will permit.

When a drone tunes too far up, that is when the tuning mark is higher

than the joint can be raised, it will be too sharp to admit of its

chording with the chanter reed. In that case the reed should be lowered—

_i.e._, given a smaller catch in the joint or drone. Should it still

prove too sharp, the tuning string should be moved backwards towards the

end placed in the joint. This ought to correct any ordinary reed. Should

it fail, the reed must be too short and cannot be amended except by

altering the chanter reed, which should never be done for such a

purpose, the chanter reed being always first set and the others set to

it.

When the tuning mark is too far down for the joint, and the tone cannot

be rendered sufficiently sharp, the required sound will in most cases be

produced by moving the tuning string towards the point of the tongue.

Should this fail, the reed may be put further into the joint of the

drone, or a very little cut off the end which goes into the joint.

When reeds have a rough, roaring sound they may be rectified by bringing

the tuning string nearer the point of the tongue, as before described. A

reed may have a burring, squealing, or double tone when blown up to the

full pitch of the chanter reed. This may be caused by the tuning string

being too tight, or it may be caused by the tongue being too heavy, in

which case the proper note may be obtained by cutting one or more

notches across the tongue. This will weaken the false sound, and with

regular playing it will disappear.

It must be remembered that over-blowing a reed will cause it to “dirl,”

and half covering any of the holes will cause the reeds to squeal. In

blowing, also, if the regular strength of wind is withheld from the

reeds, even for an instant, they will stop, or “hiccough,” as pipers

term it. The results of these mistakes must not be attributed to the

reeds.

An old reed may be made to wear much longer by putting one or more hairs

under the tongue where the tuning string is placed and using a new

tuning string.

A reed is said to be “water-locked” when it has become soft through

continuous use. Drone reeds only are liable to become water-locked, and

should never be over-played. When the mischief is done they must be laid

aside until properly dry.

Wet reeds should be taken out before the pipes are laid past, and the

water blown out of them. They should then be rolled between the hand and

knee and the tongue slightly lifted, after which they should be replaced

in the joints. Reeds should not be exposed to the air to dry. A common

bottle makes an excellent receptacle for them.

Young pipers should on no account tamper or experiment with their reeds,

unless they are perfectly certain of what they are to do, why they are

to do it, and what the result will be.

VI.—THE BAG, AND HOW TO KEEP IT.

For making the bag tight a paste composed of resin, beeswax and sweet

oil boiled together is here recommended. This, when cool, should be

slightly thicker than cream. After the stocks have been inserted a few

spoonfuls of this paste should be put in (lukewarm), then the stocks

stopped up and a little wind left in the bag to prevent its sides

sticking. The skin should be rubbed and wrought until it becomes

impregnated with the paste.

When pipes are much used, and the bag draws a good deal of water, the

reeds will always be damp. To remedy this, a little salt may be put into

the bag, which will cause the damp to be discharged through the skin.

This, however, might make an old bag give way altogether. Water should

never on any account be put into the bag.

The bag should always be soft and pliable. This can be managed in

several ways. After being dried, say half a teacupful of melted brown

sugar may be passed into it, and worked with the hands, the skin being

then hung up overnight for the surplus sugar to run out.

VII.—KEEPING THE PIPES IN ORDER.

Pipes as a rule should be cleaned thoroughly at least once a month, and

if much played on once a week. Cocoa-nut oil will be found to serve the

purpose best. When the pipes are to be cleaned the reeds should first be

removed, and either placed in a bottle or rolled in a damp rag. The

different joints should then be detached and the pieces cleaned outside

and inside with an oily rag, a long feather saturated with oil being

passed through the joints. If not required immediately, and after the

reeds have been reinserted, the instrument should then be laid past in

its oily state for a few hours. Before being used, the reeds should be

again abstracted and all the parts carefully cleaned. Care must be taken

that the warping on the joints is never allowed to get ragged or soaked

with water, as this will cause the joints to crack, or swell the hemp,

and render them difficult to move. The player cannot be too particular

in satisfying himself that none of the joints are too tight. New pipes,

especially in hot weather or warm climates, should before being used be

laid up for a few days in cocoanut oil and exposed daily to the sun;

care, however, being taken that they are not allowed to dry and that

they are frequently turned and well wetted with oil. This will season

the wood, and lessen the danger of splitting.

* * * * *

The young piper must not forget that it is the practice chanter that

makes the piper, and he should never attempt to play a tune on the full

set until he can play it thoroughly on the chanter. Quick and careless

playing should always be avoided. Also, the player should endeavour to

get into the spirit of the music by understanding the circumstances

under which each particular tune was composed and the feelings it is

meant to express. No man other than a Highlander can fully appreciate

the _piobaireachd_ or do justice to the wild, though majestic, strains.

The histories of the various tunes, with the words to which they are

set, would be invaluable to the player, and it is to be hoped that the

present volume will do something towards emphasising all the grand old

associations that cling round the Highland Bagpipe, and thus enable the

public to appreciate it all the more and pipers to play it all the

better.

III.—BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PIPE MUSIC.

The list of books of pipe music is not very long, but the difficulties

of making it complete and accurate are more than may at first appear.

The principal difficulty is in the matter of dates, publishers, no doubt

for good reasons, nearly always refraining from giving on their title

page the year in which the book was first issued. Some of the older

books, too, are now very rare, and there are not many people who have

anything like a complete set. The following list has been compiled with

every possible care:—

1784—MAC DONALD—A collection of Highland Vocal Airs with a number of

Country Dances or Reels of the North Highlands, a few Bagpipe

Strathspeys and Reels set for the Violin, and also four

Pibrochs, viz.:—Mac Intosh’s Lament, Mac Crimmon’s Lament, The

Finger Lock, and Peace or War. Compiled and published by Rev.

Patrick Mac Donald, minister of Kilmore, Argyllshire. Out of

print.

1803—MAC DONALD—A Treatise on the Theory, Principles and Practice of

the Great Highland Bagpipe, to which is added one pibroch for a

beginner; prepared by Joseph Mac Donald, Sutherlandshire, and

published by his brother, Rev. Patrick Mac Donald, Kilmore. Out

of print.

1818—“AMATEUR”—A Preceptor for the Great Highland Bagpipe, with a few

favourite simple airs; written and edited by “An Amateur,” and

published by Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh. Price 3s. Out of print.

1822—MAC DONALD—A collection of the Ancient Martial Music of

Caledonia, called _Piobaireachd_, consisting of 23 pieces, as

performed on the Great Highland Bagpipe. Now also adapted to the

pianoforte, violin and violincello; with a few old Highland

lilts purposely set for the above modern instruments; to which

is prefixed a complete tutor for attaining a thorough knowledge

of pipe music. Respectfully dedicated to the Highland Societies

of London and Scotland by Donald Mac Donald, and published by

Alex. Robertson & Co., Edinburgh. Republished in 1855 by Messrs.

J. & R. Glen. Price £1 1s.

1828—MAC LEOD—_Canntaireachd_, a collection of twenty _Piobaireachd_

or pipe tunes, as verbally taught by the Mac Crimmon pipers in

the Isle of Skye to their apprentices; published as taken from

John Mac Crimmon, piper to the old Laird of Mac Leod and his

grandson, the late John Mac Leod of Mac Leod. Edited by Captain

Neil Mac Leod of Gesto. Reprinted in 1880 by Messrs. J. & R.

Glen, Edinburgh.

1829—MAC DONALD—A collection of Quicksteps, Strathspeys, Reels and

Jigs, consisting of 120 tunes, arranged for the Highland

Bagpipe. Edited and published by Donald Mac Donald & Son, pipe

makers, Edinburgh. Republished by Messrs. J. & R. Glen in 1848

and frequently afterwards. Now in fifth edition. Price 2s.

1838—MAC KAY—A collection of Ancient _Piobaireachd_ or Highland Pipe

Music, consisting of sixty-one tunes, many of them adapted to

the pianoforte, with instructions for learners of pipe music,

sketches of the principal hereditary pipers, and historical and

traditional notes respecting the origin of the various pieces.

Edited and published by Angus Mac Kay, piper to the Queen.

Second Edition published in 1839, also by Mac Kay. Price, £1

15s. Reprinted in 1899 by Logan & Co., Inverness. Price, £1 1s.

1841—MAC KAY—The Complete Tutor for the Great Highland Bagpipe, with a

compendious selection of Marches, Quicksteps, Strathspeys,

Reels, and Jigs, consisting of 100 tunes. The whole selected and

arranged specially for the instrument by William Mac Kay, piper

to the Celtic Society of Scotland. Published by Alexander Glen,

Edinburgh. Corrected and improved by Angus Mac Kay in 1843 and

republished by Mr. Glen. Price 4s. Out of print.

1843—MAC KAY—The Pipers’ Assistant, a collection of Marches,

Quicksteps, Strathspeys, Reels, and Jigs, consisting of 155

tunes. Edited by Angus Mac Kay, piper to the Queen. Edinburgh,

published by Alexander Glen, bagpipe maker, 30 West Regent

Street, London, by Angus Mac Kay. Price 8s. Out of print.

1847—GUNN—The Caledonian Repository of Strathspeys, Reels, Jigs, and

Quicksteps, consisting of about 200 pieces. Edited and published

by William Gunn, piper, Glasgow. Enlarged by about a dozen tunes

in 1867, and republished by Gunn. Republished in 1892 and 1889

by Peter Henderson, Glasgow. Price 6s.

1853—MAC LACHLAN—The Pipers’ Assistant, containing 120 tunes. Compiled

by John Mac Lachlan, piper to Neil Malcolm of Poltalloch, and

published by Alex. Glen, Edinburgh. Price 6s. Out of print.

1860—GLEN—The Caledonian Repository of Music for the Great Highland

Bagpipe, consisting of Marches, Strathspeys, Reels and

Quicksteps to the number of 120 tunes. Edited and published by

Alexander Glen, Edinburgh. Revised and republished by David Glen

in 1882. Price, 6s. Out of print.

1869—ROSS—A collection of Marches, Strathspeys, Reels, and Pibrochs,

consisting of 243 pieces. Edited and published by William Ross,

piper to the Queen. Several editions since published, and book

now contains 41 pibrochs and 437 marches, etc. Republished in

1900 by Mrs. Ross. Price, £1 10s.

1870–1871—GLEN—Parts I., II., and III. of Glen’s collection for the

Great Highland Bagpipe, consisting of about 160 tunes. Edited

and published by J. & R. Glen, Edinburgh. Price, originally 3s.

each part, now 1s.

1876–1901—GLEN—Parts I. to XVII. of a collection of Bagpipe Music,

consisting altogether of about 1000 pieces. Edited and published

by David Glen. Edinburgh, at different times between 1876 and

1901. Price, each part, 1s; complete volume, with tutor, £1.

1876—MAC PHEE—A selection of Music for the Highland Bagpipe,

consisting of about 150 Quicksteps, Marches, Strathspeys, Reels,

etc., with a complete tutor. Edited and published by Donald Mac

Phee, Glasgow. Price, 6s., in cloth 7s. Republished in 1895 by

Messrs. Logan & Co., Inverness, in two volumes, at 2s. each.

1880—MAC PHEE—A collection of Pibrochs, consisting of 37 tunes. Edited

and published by Donald Mac Phee, bagpipe maker, Glasgow.

Republished in 1885 by Messrs. Logan & Company, Inverness.

Price, 8s.

1880–1899—GLEN—Parts I. to IV. of a collection of Ancient

_Piobaireachd_ or Highland Pipe Music, consisting altogether of

55 tunes; arranged, revised, and published by David Glen,

Edinburgh, at different times between 1880 and 1899. Price 4s.

each part.

1881—GLEN—David Glen’s Highland Bagpipe Tutor, with a selection of

Quicksteps, Strathspeys, Reels, and Jigs, amounting to 50 tunes.

David Glen, Edinburgh. Price, 3s. Now in 13th thousand, price,

1s.

1887—MAC KINNON—A collection of Highland Pipe Music, consisting of

Marches, Strathspeys, and Reels to the number of 82 tunes, with

a complete Tutor. Edited and published by Robert Mac Kinnon,

bagpipe maker, Glasgow. Republished by Mr. Mac Kinnon in 1898.

Price 4s.

1888—HENDERSON—Henderson’s Bagpipe Collection of Marches, Strathspeys,

and Reels, extending to 138 tunes. Edited and published by Peter

Henderson, bagpipe maker, Glasgow. Price 5s.

1891—HENDERSON—Henderson’s Bagpipe Tutor and Collection of Marches,

Strathspeys, and Reels, to the extent of 56 pieces. Price 2s.

1899—BETT—A Collection of Pibrochs, Marches, Strathspeys, and Reels,

consisting of 198 tunes. Edited and published by James Bett,

Strathtay. Price, £1 1s.

1899—LOGAN—A collection of Marches, Quicksteps, Laments, Strathspeys,

Reels, and Country Jigs, consisting of sixty pieces. Logan &

Co., Inverness. Price 1s.

1900—GLEN—The Music of the Clan Mac Lean, consisting of 25 pieces,

compiled under the auspices of the Clan Mac Lean Society of

Glasgow. Edited and published by David Glen, Edinburgh. Price,

in paper, 5s., in cloth gilt, 7s. 6d.

1900—HENDERSON—Henderson’s Tutor for the Bagpipe and collection of

Marches, Strathspeys, Reels, Country Dances, Jigs, etc.,

consisting of 197 pieces. Peter Henderson, Glasgow. Price 7s.

6d.

1900—THOMASON—A collection of _Piobaireachd_ as played on the Great

Highland Bagpipe—_Ceol Mòr_—compiled, edited, and rendered in a

new and easily acquired notation by Major-General C. S.

Thomason, R.E. (Bengal). Published by C. S. Thomason, c/o S.

Sidders & Co., 17 and 19 Ball Street, Kensington, London, W.

IV.—GOLD MEDALISTS OF THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY OF LONDON.

In 1781, the Highland Society of London instituted competitions in

pibroch playing. It was not, however, until 1835 that the gold medal now

so well known as the highest honour attainable by pipers, was first

awarded. The following is a list of the first prize winners and gold

medalists so far as it has been found possible to obtain them.

Unfortunately for the absolute authenticity of the list, the records of

the Highland Society were lost in a fire sometime ago, and the

secretary, therefore, could not supply them officially. It has, however,

been carefully compiled from Angus Mac Kay’s book of pipe music, the

files of the _Glasgow Herald_ and those of the _Inverness Courier_, and

it may be relied on as thoroughly accurate:—

1781 —Patrick Mac Gregor, Ardradour, Perthshire.

1782 —John Mac Allister, West Fencible Regiment.

1783 —Neil Mac Lean, Airds.

1784 —John Mac Gregor, senr., Fortingall.

1785 —Donald Mac Intyre, senr., Rannoch.

1786 —Roderick Mac Kay, North Berwick.

1787 —Archibald Mac Gregor, Glenlyon.

1788 —John Mac Gregor, Strathtay.

1789 —Duncan Mac Nab, Lorne.

1790 —Robert Mac Intyre.

1791 —Donald Mac Rae, Applecross.

1792 —John Mac Kay, Raasay.

1793 —John Mac Gregor, Breadalbane Fencibles.

1794 —Angus Cameron.

1795 —Peter Mac Gregor.

1796 —Donald Fisher, Breadalbane.

1797 —Alexander Mac Gregor, Glenlyon.

1798 —Donald Mac Earchar.

1799 —Dugald Mac Intyre.

1800 —George Graham.

1801 —William Forbes.

1802 —John Buchanan, 42nd Highlanders.

1803 —Donald Robertson, Edinburgh Volunteers.

1804 —Malcolm Mac Gregor.

1805 —Duncan Mac Master, Coll.

1806 —John Mac Gregor, London.

1807 —Donald Mac Nab.

1808 —John Mac Gregor, 73rd Regiment.

1809 —Peter Forbes, Foss.

1810 —Allan Mac Lean, Mull.

1811 —John Mac Gregor.

1812 —Donald Mac Gregor.

1813 —Finlay Mac Leod.

1814 —Robert Mac Kay, Sutherlandshire.

1815 —John Mac Kay, Sutherlandshire.

1816 —Donald Mac Kay, Glasgow.

1817 —Donald Mac Donald, Argyllshire.

1818 —Allan Mac Donald.

1819 —John Campbell.

1820 —William Mac Kay, piper to Celtic Society.

1821 —Adam Graham.

1822 —Donald Mac Kay.

1823 —John Mac Kenzie.

1824 —Donald Scrimgeour.

1825 —Donald Stewart.

1826 —John Gordon.

1829 (First triennal competition)—John Mac Nab, 92nd Highlanders.

1832 —Roderick Mac Kay, Abercairney.

1835 (First competition for gold medal)—John Mac Kenzie, piper to the

Marquis of Breadalbane.[17]

1838 —John Mac Beth, piper to Highland Society of London.

1841 —Donald Mac Innes, late piper to Colonel Mac Neill of Barra.

1844 —Donald Cameron, piper to Sir James J. R. Mac Kenzie of Scatwell.

Footnote 17:

In Chapter XIX., page 278, the date 1838 is given by mistake instead

of 1835, as the year of this competition. Also, on page 284, it is

stated that John Bane Mac Kenzie and Donald Cameron were the only

players who held the title of “King of Pipers.” That there were at

least two others is, however, shown by this list.

There is a blank between 1844 and 1859 which it has not been found

possible to bridge. In 1844 we leave the competitions being held

triennially at Edinburgh; in 1859 we find the Gold Medal being competed

for at the Northern Meeting, Inverness, as “a new feature.” Several

other competitions are reported during these fifteen years, and well-

known names are given as prize-winners, but there is no mention of the

Highland Society’s Gold Medal. It would be interesting to know if the

competition was discontinued during these years.

1859 (First competition under auspices of Northern Meeting,

Inverness)—Donald Cameron, piper to Seaforth.

1860—Alex. Mac Lennan, pipe-major, Inverness Militia.

1861—D. Mac Kenzie, 25th Borderers, Shorncliffe.

1862—Alex. Cameron, Greenock Rifle Volunteers.

1863—Ronald Mac Kenzie, 78th Highlanders.

1864—Alex. Mac Donald, piper to Mac Pherson of Glentruin.

1865—Colin Cameron, piper to Mr. Malcolm of Glenmarog.

1866—Wm. Mac Kinnon, 74th Highlanders, Limerick.

1867—John Mac Lennan, piper to the Earl of Fife. Donald Cameron, piper

to Mr. K. W. S. Mac Kenzie, of Seaforth, was this year “Champion

of Champions.”

1868—Andrew Gordon, piper to the Earl of Seafield, Balmacaan, Glen-

Urquhart.

1869—Wm. Mac Donald, piper to the Prince of Wales.

1870—Alex. Cameron, piper to the Marquis of Huntly.

1871—Malcolm Mac Pherson, piper to Cluny Mac Pherson.

1872—Donald Mac Kay, piper to Sir George Mac Pherson Grant, Bart., of

Ballindalloch.

1873—Duncan Mac Dougall, piper to the Earl of Breadalbane. Champion of

Champions, Ronald Mac Kenzie, 78th Highlanders.

1874—John Smith, 93rd Highlanders, Lochgilphead.

1875—Ronald Mac Kenzie, piper to Neil Mac Donald of Dunach.

1876—John Mac Kenzie, Royal Caledonian Asylum, London. Champion of

Champions, Duncan Mac Dougall, piper to the Earl of Breadalbane.

1877—John Mac Bean, piper to Lord Middleton.

1878—Lewis Grant, piper to the Earl of Seafield. 1879—William Mac

Lennan, Dundee. 1880—John J. Connan, piper to John H. Dixon,

Inveran. 1881—Angus Mac Rae, piper to Mr. E. H. Wood of Raasay.

1882—Angus Mac Donald. South Morar. 1883—A. D. Longair, 2nd A.

and S. Highlanders. 1884—John Mac Coll, Oban. 1885—Pipe-Major J.

Mac Dougall Gillies, Glasgow. 1886—R. Meldrum, 93rd Sutherland

Highlanders. 1887—Alex. Fletcher, Invermoriston. 1888—William

Boa, piper to Mr. Dixon of Inveran. 1889—John Mac Kay, 4th A.

and S. Highlanders. 1890—John Mac Donald, Glentromie Lodge,

Kingussie. 1891—Colin Thomson, 3rd Seaforth Highlanders. 1892—

John Cameron, 2nd Cameron Highlanders. 1893—Pipe-Major Matheson,

3rd Highland Light Infantry. 1894—Pipe-Major D. Campbell,

Scottish Rifles. 1895—Murdo Mac Kenzie, piper to Mr. A. G.

Butter of Fascolly. 1896—Alec. Mac Kenzie, Resolis, Invergordon.

1897—Wm. Campbell, second piper to the Queen. 1898—Murdoch Mac

Kenzie, Church Street, Inverness. 1899—D. C. Mather, Lochcarron.

1900—W. G. Meldrum, Moy Hall.

The Highland Society of London, have also, since 1875, presented a gold

medal at the Argyllshire Gathering, to be competed for under the same

conditions as that at the Northern Meeting. The two medals are of about

equal value, and, though neither can be won twice by the same

competitor, one piper may win both. The following are the prize winners

at the Argyllshire Gathering, as kindly supplied by the secretary, Mr.

Alexander Sharp, Oban:—

1875, Sept. 8.— John Mac Bean, Culloden.

1876, „ 13.— Malcolm Mac Pherson, Cluny.

1877, „ 12.— John Mac Bean, Culloden.

1878, „ 11.— William Mac Lennan, Inverness.

1879, „ 10.— George Mac Donald, South Morar.

1880, „ 15.— Pipe-Major Robert Mac Kinnon, Skipness.

1886, „ 8.— Pipe-Major Robert Meldrum, Argyll and Sutherland

Highlanders.

1887, „ 14.— Pipe-Major John Mac Kay, 4th Argyll and Sutherland

Highlanders, Paisley.

1888, „ 12.— Kenneth Mac Donald, Braemar.

1889, „ 11.— John Mac Pherson, Cluny.

1890, „ 10.— Norman Mac Pherson, Loch Lomond.

1891, „ 9.— D. C. Mather, Loch Carron.

1892, „ 14.— A. R. Mac Coll, Oban.

1893, „ 13.— Pipe-Major Wm. Robb, 91st Highlanders.

1894, „ 12.— Pipe-Major George Ross, Black Watch.

1895, „ 11.— John Mac Kenzie, Glasgow.

1896, „ 9.— Gavin C. Mac Dougall, Aberfeldy.

1897, „ 8.— John Mac Donald, Kingussie.

1898, „ 14.— Farquhar Mac Rae, Glasgow.

1899, „ 13.— Murdo M’Kenzie, Inverness.

1900, —— No Gathering.

From 1880 till 1886 no Medal was given.

V.—DIRECTORY OF BAGPIPE MAKERS.

The making of bagpipes is almost, if not quite confined to Scotland. One

or two firms in London profess to be makers, but they either make very

little or get the instruments from Scotland. There are no makers abroad,

but a large trade is done by Scottish makers with colonial customers.

The following is a list of all the makers of any professional standing:—

ABERFELDY—

Gavin Mac Dougall.

DUNDEE—

David Thow, 45 and 47 Gellatly Street.

EDINBURGH—

John Centre & Sons, 12 Grove Street.

David Glen, 8 Greenside Place.

J. & R. Glen, North Bank Street.

J. & W. Hutcheon, 3 Niddry Street.

GLASGOW—

Peter Henderson, 100 Renfrew Street.

Robert Mac Kinnon, 59 Renfrew Street.

VI.—THE LARGEST KNOWN LIST OF PIBROCHS.

The following list of pibrochs, which is the index to Major-General

Thomason’s _Ceol Mor_,[18] is the most complete that has ever been

published. With the exception of three new tunes included in _The Music

of the Clan Mac Lean_, and one or two others, it contains all the

pibrochs known to present day players, while the particulars as to

composers’ names and dates of origin are more full than anyone else has

attempted:—

Footnote 18:

See page 110.

ENGLISH. GAELIC. AUTHOR AND

DATE.

Abercairney’s Salute _Fàilte Aberchàrnaig_

Aged Warrior’s Lament, The _Cumha Chlaibh_

Allan, Lament for Young _Cumha Ailein Oig_

Altearn, The Battle of _Blàr Allt-Eire_ 1645.

Anapool, Lament for Lady _Cumha Ban-tighearna

Anapuil_

Antrim, Lament for the Earl _Cumha Iarla Antruim_

of

Argyll’s Salute _Fàilte Marcus

Earraghaidheal_

Army, The Red Tartaned _An t-arm breac dearg_

Athole, The Battle of _Blàr Athol_

Athol Salute, The _Fàilte Dhiuc Athol_

Away to your tribe, Ewen, or _Gu do bhuidheann Eoghainn_

Lochiel’s Salute

Balladruishaig, The Battle _Blàr Bhaile Dhruisheig_

of

Battle of the Bridge (or _Ceann drochaid Pheairt_

Inch) of Perth, The

Battle of Doirneag, The _Blàr nan Dòirneag_

Battle of Glenshiel, The _Blàr Ghlinn Seile_ J. D. Mac

Kay.

Bealach na bròige, The _Blàr Bealach na bròige_

Battle of

Beinn na Greine _Beinn na Gréine_

Bells of Perth, The _Cluig Pheairt_

Beloved Scotland, I leave _Albainn bheadarach’s mise

Thee gloomy ’gad fhàgail_

Berisdale Salute, The _Fàilte Morair Bharisdail_ A. Mac

Lennan.

Bicker, The _Port a’ Mheàdsair_

Big Spree, The, or You’re _An Daorach mhor (Tha’n

drunk and had better sleep daorach ort’s feairrd thu

cadal)_

Black Donald of the Isles, _Piobaireachd Dhomhnuill

March of Duibh_

Black Watch’s Salute, The _Fàilte an Fhreiceadain J. Mac

Duibh_ Donald,

1730.

Blind Piper’s Obstinacy, The _Crosdachd an Doill_ J. D. Mac

Kay.

Blue Ribbon, The (the _Riobain Gorm nan Granndach_

Grants)

Blue Ribbon, The (Isle of _Riobain Gorm an Eilein

Mull) Mhuilich_

Boat Tune, The _Port a’ Bhàta_

Boisdale Salute, The _Fàilte Fir Bhaosdail_

Borlum’s Salute, The Laird _Fàilte Thighearna Bhorluim_

of

Breadalbane, Lament for Lord _Cumha Morair Braidalbainn_

Brothers’ Lament, The _Cumha nam Bràithrean_

Cameron, Donald, Lament for _Cumha Dhomhnuill Chamaroin_ K. Cameron,

1893.

Camerons’ Gathering, The _Cruinneachadh nan

Camaronach_

Campbell, G., of Calder’s _Fàilte Sheòrais òig

Salute Tighearna Chaladair_

Campbell of Kintarbet’s _Fàilte Mhic Néill Chinn- J. Mac Kay,

Salute, Lachlan Mac Neill tairbeart_ Snr., 1837.

Carles wi’ the Breeks, The _Bodaich nam Briogaisean_

Carles of Sligachin, The _Bodaich Shligeachain_

Catherine’s Lament _Cumha Chatriona_

Catherine’s Salute _Fàilte Chatriona_

Castle Menzie or Fraser’s _Caisteal a’ Mheinneirich—

Salute Piobaireachd Uaidh, Fàilte

Cloinn Shimidh_

Charich’s, Alastair, March _Spaidsearachd Alastair

Charaich_

Cheerful Scotland _Albainn Bheadarach_

Children, The Lament for the _Cumhna na Cloinne_ P.M. Mac

Crimmon.

Chisholm’s Salute _Fàilte ’n t-Siosolaich_

Chisholm of Strathglass’s _Fàilte Siosalach Srath-

Salute Ghlais_

Choaig, Patrick, A Satire on _Lasan Phadruig Chaoig Mhic D.M. Mac

Cruimein_ Crimmon.

Ciar, Lament for John _Cumha Iain Chéir_

Ciar, Salute for John _Fàilte Iain Chéir_

Clan Chattan, The Gathering _Cruinneachadh Chloinn

of Chatain_

Clan Ranald’s Salute _Fàilte Chloinn Raonuill_

Claverhouse, Lament for _Cumha Chléibheir_

Cleaver, General, Lament for _Cumha Chléibheir_ 1689.

(?) Claverhouse

Comely Tune, The _Ant-Ailteachd_

Company’s Lament, The _Cumha na Cuideachd_

Contullich, Lament for the _Cumha Fir Chontullaich_ 1714.

Laird of

Craigellachie, The Grants’ _Creag Ealachaidh_

Gathering

Crun-luath Tune, The _Port a’ Chrunluaith_

Daughter, Lament for the _Cumha na h-ìghne_

Davidson of Tulloch’s Salute _Fàilte Tighearna Thulaich_

Dead, Lament for the _Cumha nam Marbh_

Desperate Battle Cuchulin, _Cath fuasach Chuchulinn_

The

Donald Gruamach’s Lament for _Spaidsearachd Dhomhnuill D. Gruamach.

his elder Brother Ghruamaich_

Doyle’s, Lady, Salute _Fàilte Bain-Tighearna J. Mac Kay.

Dhoile_

Drizzle on the Stone _Ceob air cloich_ R. Mac

Dougal.

Duke of Perth’s March, The _Spaidsearachd Dhiùc Finlay _Dubh_

Pheairt_ Mac Rae,

1715.

Duncan Mac Rae of Kintail’s _Cumha Dhonnachaidh Mhic

Lament Iain_

Duntroon’s Salute _Fàilte Dhùntròin_

Duntroon’s Warning _Caismeachd Dhuntroin_

Dunyveg, Lament for the _Cumha Caisteal Dhun- 1647.

Castle of Naomhaig_

Earl of Ross’s March, The _Spaidsearachd Iarla Rois_ D. M. Mac

Crimmon,

1600.

Earl of Seaforth’s Salute _Fàilte Uilleam Duibh Mhic Finlay _Dubh_

Coinnich_ Mac Rae,

1715.

Elchies Salute, or Mac Nab’s _Fàilte Elchin, na Fàilte

Salute, Chloinn an Aba_

End of the Great Bridge, The _Ceann na Drochaide mòire_

End of Isheberry Bridge, The _Ceann Drochaid Iseberri_

End of the Little Bridge _Ceann na Drochaide bige_ 1645.

Ewen of the Battles _Eoghan nan cath_

Extirpation of the Tinkers, _Sgrios nan Ceàird_

The

Fair Honey _A mhil bhraonach_

Fairy Flag, The _A’ bhratach Shìth_

Fare thee well, Donald _Soiridh leat a Dhómhnuill_

Finger Lock, The _A’ Ghlas Mheur_

Finlay’s Lament _Cumha Fhiounlaidh_

Forbes, Lament for Colonel _Cumha Chorneil Forbes_ D. Fraser.

Frenzy of Meeting, The (or _Faoin Bhaile na Coinneimh_ J. Mac Kay,

Lament for Brian O’Duff) or Donald

Mac Dougal.

Frisky Lover, The _An Suiriche sîogach_

Fuinachair _Fiunnachair_

Glen is mine, The _’S leam fheim an Gleann_

Glengarry, Lament for _Cumha Mhic-Alastair_ A. Munro.

Glengarry’s March _Cille Chriosda_

Gordon’s Salute, The _Fàilte nan Gordonach_

Gower, Lament for Lord Fred _Cumha Morair F. L. Gobhair_

Leveson

Grain in Hides and Corn in _Grain an Seicheannan ’s

Sacks siol am pocannan_

Great Supper, Lament for the _Cumha na Suipearach móire_ Mac Dougal.

Groat, The _An Gròta_

Gunn’s Salute _Fàilte nan Guineach_

Hail to my Country _Fàilte do m’ dhùthaich_ Ed. June,

1896.

Half-Finished Piobaireachd, _Am Port leathach_ P. M. Mac

The Crimmon and

J. D. Mac

Kay.

Hamilton, Lament for the _Cumha Dhiùc Hamiltoin_

Duke of

Harp Tree, Lament for the _Cumha Craobh nan teud_

Hen’s March o’er the Midden, _Glocail nan cearc_ John Dall Mac

The Kay.

Hey! for the old Pipes _Dastriom gu’n seinnam piob_

Highland Society of London’s _Fàilte Comunn Gaidhealach John Mac Kay.

Salute, The Lunainn_

Highland Society of _Fàilte Commun Gaidhealach Prof. Mac

Scotland’s Salute, The Albainn_ Arthur,

1796.

I got a kiss of the King’s _Fhuair mi pòg o laimh an D. M. Mac

hand Righ_ Crimmon,

1651.

Inveraray, Salute to _Fàilte Ionaraora_

Inverness _Inbhirneis_

Islay, Farewell to the Laird _Soraidh Tighearna Ileath_ A. Mac Kay,

of 1840.

Isle of Skye _Eilean a’ Cheo_ a Mac Crimmon

James VI.’s Salute _Cumha Righ Seumas an

seathamh_

King George III., Lament for _Cumha Righ Seoras a tri_

King James’ Departure, _Siubhal Sheumais_ 1688.

Lament for

King’s Taxes, The _Màl an Righ_

Kinloch Moidart’s Salute _Fàilte Fir Cheannloch-

Mùideart_

Kinloch Muideart—Lament for _Fàilte Fir Cheannloch-

Mac Donald of Mùideart_

Laggan Salute, The _Fàilte Lagain_ D. Mac Kay,

1871.

Laird of Anapool, Lament for _Cumha Fir Anapuil_

the

Lament for Abercairney _Cumha Aberchàrnaig_

Leaving Kintyre _Fàgail Chinntire_

Leigh, Col., Farewell to _Soraidh Chòirneil Leigh_ C. S.

Thomason,

1893.

Little Finger Tune, The _Port na Lùdaig_

Little Spree, The _An Daorach bheag_

Little Supper, Lament for _An t-Suipear bheag_

the

Loch Carron-point, The _Blàr an t-Srian_ 1602.

Battle of

Lord Lovat, Lament for _Cumha Mhic Shimidh_

Mac Cruimein, Donald Ban, _Cumha Dhòmhnuill Bhain Mhic

Lament for Cruimein_

Mac Cruimein, Patrick Og, _Cumha Phàdruig Oig Mhic J. D. Mac

Lament for Cruimein_ Kay.

Mac Cruimein will never _Cha till, cha till, cha D. B. Mac

return till mi tuille_ Crimmon,

1746.

Mac Cruimein’s Sweetheart _Mal Dhonn_

Mac Donald of the Isles, _Cumha an Ridire Seumas Mac C. Mac

Lament for Sir James Dhomhnuill nan Eilean_ Arthur.

Mac Donald of the Isles, _Cumha an Ridire Seumas Mac W. Mac Donald

Lament for Sir James Dhomhnuill nan Eilean_ of Vallay.

Mac Donald of the Isles _Fàilte Mhic Dhòmhnuill nan

Salute Eilean_

Mac Donald of the Isles, Sir _Failte an Ridire Seumas Mac

James, Salute Dhòmhnuill nan Eilean_

Mac Donald, Lament for Lady _Cumha Bain-tighearna Mhic Angus Mac

Dhomhnuill_ Arthur,

1790.

Mac Donald, Lord, Lament for _Cumha Morair Chloinn A. Mac

Dhomhnuill_ Arthur,

1796

Mac Donald of Morar, Ronald, _Cumha Raonuill Mhic Ailein

Lament for óig_

Mac Donald’s, Angus, Assault _Ionnsaidh Aonghais Bhig

Mhic Dhomhnuill_

Mac Donalds are simple, The _Tha Clann Dòmhnuill

socharach_

Mac Donalds of Clanranald’s _Cruinneachadh Chloinn 1715.

gathering at Sheriffmuir Roonuill (Sliabh an t-

Siorra)_

Mac Donalds of Clan Ronald, _Cnocan Ailean Mhic Iain_

The Gathering of the

Mac Donald’s, Lady Margaret, _Fàilte Bain-tighearna

Salute Mairearad_

Mac Donalds, March of the _Spaidsearachd Mhic

Dhòmhnuill_

Mac Donald’s Salute, Lady _Fàilte Bain-tighearna Mhic

Margaret Dhomhnuill_

Mac Donalds’ Salute, The _Fàilte Chloinn Domhnuill_ D. M. Mac

Crimmon.

Mac Donalds, The Parading of _Uaill Chloinn Dòmhnuill_

the

Mac Donald’s Tutor _Oide-ionnsachaidh Mhic

Dhòmhnuill_

Mac Donell, Alex., of _Cumha Alastair Dheirg_

Glengarry’s Lament

Mac Donell of Laggan’s _Cumha Dhomhnuill an Lagain_

Lament,

Mac Dougall, Lament for _Cumha Chaiptein ’Ic Ronald Mac

Captain Dhughaill_ Dougall.

Mac Dougall’s Salute, The _Fàilte Chloinn Dùghaill_ R. Mac

Dougall.

Mac Duffs’ Gathering, The _Cruinneachadh Chloinn

Duibh_

Mac Farlanes’ Gathering, The _’Thogail nam bò_

Mac Gregors’ Gathering, The _Cruinneachadh nan

Griogarach_

Mac Intosh, Lament for _Cumha Mhic an Toisich_

Mac Intoshs’ Banner, The _Bratach Mhic an Toisich_

Mac Intyre’s Salute _Fàilte Mhic an t-saoir_

Mac Kays’ Banner, The _Bratach Chloinn Mhic Aoidh_

Mac Kay’s, Donald Dugal, _Cumha Dhomhnuill Dhughail D. M. Mac

Lament, or Lord Reay’s Mhic Aoidh_ Crimmon

Lament,

Mac Kays’ March, The _Spaidsearachd Cloinn Mhic

Aoidh_

Mac Kenzie of Applecross’s _Fàilte Tighearna na A. Mac Kay.

Salute Coimirich_

Mac Kenzie, Donald—his _Cumha Dhòmhnuill Mhic

Father’s Lament for Coinnich (le’Athair)_

Mac Kenzie of Gairloch’s _Cumha Tighearna Gheárloch_ J. Mac Kay.

Lament,

Mac Kenzie of Gairloch’s _Fàilte Thigearna Gheàrloch_

Salute

Mac Kenzie, Lament for Colin _Cumha Chailein Ruaidh Mhic

Roy Coinnich_

Mac Kenzie’s, Capt. D., _Cumha ’Chaiptein D. Mhic

Lament Coinnich_

Mac Kenzies’ Gathering, The _Tulloch Ard_

Mac Kenzies’ Gathering, The— _Cruinneachadh Chloinn

Tulloch Ard Choinnich (Tulloch Ard)_

Mac Lean, Great John, Lament _Cumha Ian Ghairbh Mhic

for Illeathain_

Mac Lean of Coll, Lament for _Cumha Iain Ghairbh Mhic

Sir John Garve ’Illeathain_

Mac Lean, Lachlan Mor, _Latha Sron a’ Chlachain_

Lament for

Mac Leans’ Gathering, The _Cruinneachadh Chloinn

Ghilleathain_

Mac Leans’ Gathering, The _Spaidsearachd Chloinn

Ghilleathain_

Mac Lean’s, Hector, Warning _Caismeachd Eachain Mhic 1579.

Ailein nan Sop_

Mac Leans’ March, The _Spaidsearachd Chloinn

Ghilleathain_

Mac Lean, Lament for Hector _Cumha Eachainn Ruaidh nan A. Mac Lean,

Roy, cath_ 1650.

Mac Leod, A Taunt on _Port Geàrr Mhic Leòid_

Mac Leod of Colbeek, Lament _Cumha Mhic Leòid Cholbec_ J. Mac Kay.

for

Mac Leod, dispraise of, _Di-moladh Mhic Leòid_

Mac Leod of Gesto’s Salute _Fàilte Fir Gêosta_

Mac Leod John, Lament for, _Cumha Iain Mhic Iain

Ghairbh_

Mac Leod of Mac Leod, Lament _Cumha cinn-cinnidh nan D. M. Mac

for Leòdach_ Crimmon,

1626.

Mac Leod of Mac Leod’s _Port Iomram Mhic Leòid, na D. M. Mac

Rowing Pibroch or Salute Fàilte nan Leòdach_ Crimmon.

Mac Leod, Mary, Lament for _Cumha Màiri Nic Leòid_

Mac Leod of Raasay, John _Cumha Iain Ghairbh Mhic P. M. Mac

Garve, Lament for Gille Chaluim_ Crimmon,

1548 (?)

Mac Leod of Raasay’s lament _Cumha Mhic Gille Chaluim D. M. Mac

Rathasadh_ Crimmon,

1648.

Mac Leod of Raasay’s Salute _Fàilte Mhic Gille Chaluim A. Mac Kay,

Rathasadh_ Gairloch.

Mac Leod, Roderick More, _’Nann air mhire tha sibh?_ P. M. Mac

Salute at Birth of Crimmon,

1715.

Mac Leod of Tallisker’s, _Fàilte Bain Tigearna

Mrs., Salute Thailasgear_

Mac Leod of Tallisker’s _Failte Tighearna

Salute Thailesgear_

Mac Leod’s Controversy _Iomradh Mhic Leòid_ D. M. Mac

Crimmon,

1503.

Mac Neill of Barra’s Lament _Cumha Mhic Nèill Bhara_

Mac Neill of Barra’s March _Spaidsearachd Mhic Nèill

Bhara_

Mac Neill of Kintarbert’s _Aon tlachd Mhic Nèill_

Fancy

Mac Phees, The Rout of the _Ruaig air Cloinn a Phi_

Mac Pherson’s March, Cluny _Spaidsearachd Thighearna

Chluainidh_

Mac Pherson’s Salute, Cluny _Fàilte Fir Chluainidh_

Mac Raes’ March, The _Spaidsearachd Cloinn Mhic 1491.

Rath_

Mac Suain of Roaig, Lament _Cumha Mhic Shuain á Roaig_

for

Maolroy, The Battle of, or _A mhuinntir a cháil chaoil

Isabel Mac Kay thugadh am bruthach oirbh_

Mary’s praise for her Gift _Moladli Màiri_

Massacre of Glencoe _Mort Ghlinne Comhann_

Melbank’s Salute _Fàilte Fir Bhlabhne_

Menzies’ Salute, The _Fàilte ’Mhèinneirich_

Men went to drink, The _Chaidh na fir a dh’òl_

Middling Spree, The _An Daorach mheadhonach_

Monros’ Salute, The _Fàilte nan Rothach_

My dearest on earth, give me _Thoir domh pòg, a luaidh mo

your kiss chridhe_

My King has landed in _Thàinig mo Righ air tir am

Moidart Mùideart_

Old Sword’s Lament, The _Cumha an tseana

Chlaidheimh_

Old Woman’s Lullaby, The _Crònain na Cailliche_

Only Son, Lament for the _Cumha an aona mhic_ P. M. Mac

Crimmon.

Park, Battle of _Blàr Pairc Shruithleith_ 1477.