THE LITERATURE OF THE HIGHLANDS MAGNUS MACLEAN LL.D. BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED Printed in Great Britain THE LITERATURE OF THE HIGHLANDS THE LITERATURE OF THE HIGHLANDS BY MAGNUS MACLEAN M.A., D.Sc, LL.D. New and Extended Edition BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED 50 OLD BAILEY, LONDON; GLASGOW, BOMBAY — —— — — — SOME PRESS OPINIONS ON THE FIRST EDITION "The book altogether is a very sound and readable account of the development of modern Gaelic literature in Scotland." The Glasgow Herald. " Dr. Maclean has written a book which readers who are already moderately well versed in Gaelic literature will find refreshing, and those who do not know the language will find both attractive and informative." — The Scotsman. "Professor Maclean's book is a very attractive volume on a subject for which the material is not very copious; he combines biography and criticism effectively; his material is presented in an easy and pleasant style." The Daily Chronicle. "An admirable volume. ... It will be a revelation to many Scotsmen themselves, who are unaware of the rich treasures of poetry which their compatriots have produced in the past among the hills, lochs, torrents, and glens of the Highlands." The Daily Telegraph. "This work, which is bright, well-written, and well-arranged, is an admirable and trustworthy textbook of its subject." 7he Spectator. "Those who appreciate the Highlands and the character of their people will find it a delightful task to glance at The Literature of the Highlands under the guidance of Dr. Magnus Maclean." The Morning Post. " This is a book written on popular lines, written in a clear and attractive style, full of information, and certainly one of the best books on the litera- ture of the Highlands." Aberdeen Free Press. Printed in Great Britain by Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow PREFACE The favourable reception given to The Literature of the Celts has encouraged me to issue The Literature of the Highlands as a companion volume. Owing to the close affinity that subsisted between the different Celtic nationalities in the earlier periods of their literary activity, it was possible for me in my former book to treat of their literature as a whole. The greater divergence of production among these peoples in more recent times renders it desirable and even necessary that their literary history during this modern period should be detailed in separate volumes. Accordingly for the third series of Celtic Lectures delivered in the University of Glasgow during the Session 1902-3, and now published in this form, leaving the later contribu- tions of Ireland, Wales, and Brittany to writers more intimately conversant with these, I selected for treatment the Literature of the Highlands, the history of which has hitherto probably received less attention than that of the others above mentioned. Two pioneer efforts to supply this deficiency as regards the Highlands had, indeed, been made towards the end of last century ; the first by Professor Blackie, who founded his account of the poets largely on the biographical notes furnished in Mackenzie's Beauties of Gaelic Poetry ; the V vi Preface second by Dr. Nigel Macneill, a worthy exponent of Gaelic poetry, and himself no mean poet. In design and arrangement the present volume differs from both these earlier works. It is intended to supply a succinct and popular account of the Gaelic literature of the Highlands after the Forty-five,—the golden age of Highland poetry,—with information from the best available sources regarding the lives of the bards, their choice poems, the charming heritage of hymn and song and proverb peculiar to the Celts of Scotland, translations and translators, travellers and historians. For full information regarding the Highland bards before the Forty-five, the printed literature of the Scottish Gael, and the gleaners of their poetry, the reader is referred to the chapters on these topics in my previous volume, The Literature of the Celts. Distinctively English books by modern Highland authors do not fall within the scope of this work. They belong more appropriately to the wider field of English literature. My sincere thanks are due to Mr. Henry Whyte, " Fionn," for supplying me with various books, pamphlets, and papers containing information of a kind not otherwise easily obtain- able; and to my friend Mr. David Mackeggie, M.A., who has again accorded me his efficient aid. MAGNUS MACLEAN. The Technical College, Glasgow, Septonber, 1903. NOTE In the present edition opportunity has been taken to add a chapter on " Popular and Anonymous Songs of the Highlands". March, 1925. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE Highland Literature i CHAPTER II Alexander Macdonald and the Jacobite Bards . 21 CHAPTER III Duncan Ban Macintyre and the Poets of Nature . 47 CHAPTER IV Macpherson and his Ossian 69 CHAPTER V Rob Donn and the Elegiac, Amatory, and Satiric Poets 91 CHAPTER VI DuGALD Buchanan and the Religious Poets and Hymn- Writers 113 CHAPTER VII Gaelic Proverbs 137 vii viii Contents CHAPTER VIII PAGE English Renderings of Gaelic Poetry and their Authors 159 CHAPTER IX The Gaelic Bards of the Nineteenth Century . 178 CHAPTER X The Literature of Travel and of History . 206 CHAPTER XI Popular and Anonymous Songs of the Highlands . 232 INDEX OF NAMES 267 CHAPTER 1 HIGHLAND LITERATURE In the literary studies upon which we now enter we have to do with the Highlands of Scotland almost exclusively, since it is there chiefly that the Gaelic has perpetuated itself to this day. Contemplating the position of Gaelic Literature after the Forty-five, we are confronted with the remarkable fact that up till the time of the Rising that romantic part of the country — so full of the pathos and poetry of the past—had not a single original production of its own in print, if we except a vocabulary compiled by Alexander Macdonald. The Gaelic volumes in circulation did not exceed half-a-dozen, and these consisted of transla- tions of the following religious works — Knox's Liturgy, The Psalter, Calvin's and the Shorter Catechisms, and the Confes- sion of Faith. Bookless, indeed, must have been the Highlands then, so far as its own vernacular was concerned, and if a rigid scrutiny were made as to the written material in evidence, it seems not unlikely that the net result might prove corre- spondingly disappointing and meagre ; for there was as yet no standard of grammar or orthography, and in the chief documents that have since come to light—the Book of the Dean of Lismore, and the Fernaig MS. — the language is spelt phonetically. So that even admitting — what some have asserted—that there was more literary culture among the Gaels before the Reformation than for two centuries (B 99) -R 2 The Literature of the Highlands thereafter, it is still true that, without printing and almost without writing, the Highland literature had to struggle into existence. Nor were these the only drawbacks to authorship. For centuries the land was an arena of strife. Clan feuds and national convulsions, incessant raids, and frequent battles were not conditions favourable to the cultivation of the more peaceful and settled arts of life. Literature could not flourish among a people so violently distracted by war- like movements as the Highlanders were. The struggle for existence had to be somewhat relaxed before the intellect could well assert itself in literary production. And thus we find that what remain of pre-Reformation compositions are but the beginnings of our Highland literature — the first rude attempts at versification. The poems are interesting in many ways, but chiefly for the light they shed on those medieval times in which they came into existence, on the language, and the stage bardic enterprise had reached. It is to the Book of the Dean of Lismore we are most indebted for their preservation, and if we set aside the more ancient Ossianic fragments which have so much in common with the Irish literature dealing with similar subjects, we recognise that, judged by later standards, these early pro- ductions are not of a high order. Some of them are moral and aphoristic, others are mere rhymed genealogies, and family histories, while a certain number consist of eulogies and war-songs. The Gael was aye the Gael, and in these origins we have the germs of what was to follow. The topics handled from the first are those that are largely in evidence all through Highland literature. For example, Muireach Albannach in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century leads the van with religious poetry. Finlay Macnab sings the praises of his patron, as subsequent bards were wont to do of their own. The two poetesses Efric Maccorqudale and Isobel, Countess of Argyll, among other elegists, knew how to express the sorrows of love and death, quite as — !! Highland Literature 3 characteristically as the renowned Lady Macintosh or the authoress of Macgregor's Lullaby. Nor were the producers of martial strains and impassioned amatory effusions unre- presented. Witness the Brosnachadh-Catha,^ Lachlan Mor Macvurich's " O children of Conn of the Hundred Fights," and the number of love poems. An amorous John Macvurich seems to have experienced a similar disappointment to Rob Donn and William Ross in after days, for it is in this manner he salves his feelings : My rage and wrath are great For how she's grieving me ; I see her sweet soft skin Like white foam on the sea. So rosy is her hand ; Her lips like berries red : My soul she holds while sleep At night flies from my bed. I fancied she was nigh, And that she smiled on me ; But since my grief began The maid I cannot see.