^"^^^ ^z^fei^^ y/£i '^^^' V^^^ *.<^c<^ /,t^< Cuà f^ ìòajnA^<^t>^f^ ^U^L ho ^^-^JM^- ^XJ<J^ /^tj2^ Cajvx^'-^ fr^iyi^^/i^-^ ^fyuT/xyty^^ effk^ Cc/tAyy^ o^^r^ (7 r /^i^' THE DEAN OF LISMORE'S BOOK FDINBHROII : PRINTED BY THDMAS rON.STABI.E, KiiR EDMONSTOX AND DOUGLAS. LONDON HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND (( CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN AND CO. DUBLIN W. ROBERTSON. (iLASGOW lAMES MACLEHOSE. w. ^S::::\si'^ 4 'a <& i.^ t' ^ àj rx .^--r THE DEAN OF LISMORE'S BOOK A SELECTION OF ANCIENT GAELIC POETRY FEOM A MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION JIADE BY SIR JAMES M'GREGOE, DEAN OF LISMORE, IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. EDITED WITH A TRANSLATION AND NOTES BY THE EEV. THOMAS M'LAUCHLAX AND AN INTRODUCTION AND ADDITIONAL NOTES BY WILLIAM r. SKENE Esq. EDINBURGH EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS ] 8 G 2. fl CONTENTS. J''ACSIMILES—(I.) GENEALOGr of M'Geegoe, by Dougal the Servitou. (II.) Lines by Countess of Akgyle, . Frontit^])ÌPce INTRODUCTION, BY WILLIAM F. SKENE, Esq., . page i TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE'S MS., . xci FACSIMILES—(I.) Adtogeaph of Dean M'Geegoe. (II.) Paet of Ossian's Ode to Finn, . xcvi ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF POEMS SELECTED FROM IT, WITH NOTES, BY THE REV. THOS. M'LAUCHLAN, 1-161 ORIGINAL TEXT, WITH TRANSLATION INTO MODERN SCOTCH GAELIC, BY THE REV. THOS. M'LAUCHLAN, , . 2, 3 NOTE BY TRANSLATOR 129 ADDITIONAL NOTES, BY WILLIAM F. SKENE, Esq., . -137 INDEX, 153 INTRODUCTIOK In the heart of the Perthshire Higlilands, and not far from the northern shore of Loch Tay, there lies a seckided vale of about six miles long. The river Lyon, which issues from the long and narrow valley of Gleulyon through the pass of Chesthill, hardly less l:>eautiful than the celebrated pass of KiUichranky, meanders through it. On the east bank of a small stream which falls into the Lyon about the centre of the vale, is the Clachan or Kirkton of Fortingall, anciently called Fothergill, from which it takes its name ; and on the west or opposite bank is the mansion of Glenlyon House, anciently called TuUichmullin. A stranger stationed at the clachan or little village of Fortingall, would almost fancy that there was neither egress from nor ingress to this little district, so secluded and shut in among the surrounding mountains does it appear to be. It is a spot where one could well suppose that the traditions of former times, and the remains of a forgotten oral hterature, might still linger in the memo- ries of its inhabitants ; while the local names of the h 11 INTRODUCTION. mountains and streams about it are redolent of the mythic times of the Feine, On the west is the glen of Glenlyon, the ancient Crom<:>ieanno nan Clach or Crooked Glen of the Stones, associated wdth many a tradition of the Feine, and where the remains of those rude forts, termed Caistealan na Feine, crown many a rocky summit ; and the vale is bounded on the south and east by the ridge of Druimfhionn or Finn's Kidge. In the latter part of the fifteenth and Ijcginning of the sixteenth centuries, there dwelt here a family of the name of Macgregor. They were descended from a vicar of Fortingall, who, at the time when, during the century preceding the Eeformation, the Catholic Church was breaking up, and their benefices passing into the hands of laymen, secured for himself and his descendants the vicarage of Fortingall and a lease of the church lands. Of the history of this family we know somewhat from an obituary commenced by one of his descendants, and continued to the year 1579 by the Curate of Fothergill, which is still preserved. His son, whether legitimate or illegitimate we know not, was Ian Eewych, or John the Grizzled, termed Makgewykar or son of the Vicar. ^ His grandson was DougaU Maol, or Dougall the Bald or Tonsured, called patronpnically Dougall Johnson, or the son of John. This Dougtdl Jolmson appears in 1511 as a notary- 1 Obitus Katherine nejni Ayu Weyll Gewykar apud Ayclily in Menae Decem- Sponsse Johannis M'Ayn RawT-ch Mac- InisaunoDommiMvcxlij.— Chrmi.Foit. INTRODUCTION. Ill public/ and dwelt at Tullichmiilliii, where his wife Katherine, daughter of Donald M'Clawe, alias Grant, died in 1512.^ He is twice mentioned in the obituary or Chronicle of Fortingall; in 1526, as repairing the cross in Inchadin, or the old church of Kenmore, situated on the north bank of the river Tay, nearly opposite Tay- mouth Castle ; and in 1529, as placing a stone cross in Larkmonemerkyth, the name of a pass among the hills wliicli leads from Inchadin to the south,^ Of DougaU the Bald, the son of John the Grizzled, we have no further mention ; but of his family we know of tw^o sons, James and Duncan. James was a Churchman. He appears as a notary- public, an office then held by ecclesiastics, along with his father, in the year 1511, and he early attained to honour and influence, tlirough what channel is unknown; for, in 1514, we find him Dean of Lismore,"* an island in Argyllshire, lying between the districts of Lorn and Mor- vern, which was at that time the Episcopal seat of the Bishops of Argyll. He was, besides. Vicar of Fortingall and Firmarius or tenant of the church lands ; and died possessed of these benefices in the year 1551, and 1 Charter Robert Menzies of that ilk Memorandum solium crucis in Inch- to Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchy, adin eompositum fuit per Dougallum dated at the Isle of Loch Tay, 18th Johnson. Anno domini M°V'xxvj''. September 1511. Inter test. Dugallo Crux lapidea fuit posita in Lark- Johneson Notario et domino Jacobo monemerkyth in niagno lapide qui alio M'Gregour notario-publico. —Reg. Mag. nomine vocatur clachur . per Sig. xvii. 69. DougallumJohnsonprimoOctobrisanno ^ Obitus Catherine neyn Donyll domini, etc., V'xxix. —Chron. Fort. M'Clawe alias Grant uxoris Dougalli Johnson apud Tullychmollin xxij. die * Origines Parocliiales, vol. ii. pt. i. Julij anno domini M^Vx). ]). 161. — IV INTEODUCTION. was buried in the choir of the old church of Ineh- adin."^ In 1552, a year after his death, Gregor Macgregor, son of the deceased Sir James Maco;rep;or, Dean of Lismore, as became the head of a small but independent sej^t of the ISIacgregors, and with a due regard to its safety, bound himself to Colin Campbell of Glenurchy and his heii's, " taking him for his chief, in place of the Laird of Macgregor, and giving him his calp." ^ In 1557 Gregor and Douo^all MacQ-reo-ors, natural sons of Sh' James Macgregor, receive letters of legitimation ;^ and, in 1574, Dougall Macgi'egor appears as Chancellor of Lismore.^ It is unnecessary for our purpose to follow the history of this family any further ; suffice it to say, that the two brothers, James and Duncan,^ members of a clan which, though under the ban of the Government, and exposed to the grasping aggression of their powerful neighljours, the Campbells of Glenurchy, considered themselves as peculiarly Higliland, and had high pretensions, as descended from the old Celtic monarchs of Scotland connected wdth the Church, and as such, possessing some ' Obitus honorahilis viri ac egregii ^ Pi-ecept of Legitimation in favour of Viri Domini Jacobi (M'Gregor) lilii Gregor and Dougal MacGregors, natural Dougalli Johnson ac decani Lesmorensis sons of Sir James MacGregor.— Privy Vicarii de Fortyrgill et Firmarii diets Seal, xxis. 46. * ecclesie . bone memorie in noete Charter by Dougall Macgregor, Sancte Lucie virginis bora . post Chancellor of Lismoir, with consent of meridiem et sepultus in die Lucie vide- Sir Colin Campbell of Glenurchy, of the licet . Anno Domini M V'lj°. landsofAuclmacroftie, dated at Ballocli, in choro de Inchadin.—Chron. Fort. 25th December 1574. ^ Duncan nicCowle voil vie Eoyne - Black Book of Tayniouth, p. 19G. Reawjxh.— MS., p. 223. INTRODUCTION, V cultivation of mind and such literary taste as Churchmen at that time had, yet born and reared in the farm-house of TullichmuUin, in the secluded vale of Fortingall, and im- bued with that love of old Highland story and cherished fondness for Highland song, which manifests itself in so many a quiet country Highlander, and which the scenery and associations around them were so well calculated to foster—the one, from his high position in the Church of Argyll, having peculiar facilities for collecting the poetry current in the West Hio-lilands—the other, though his brother, yet, as was not uncommon in those days, liis servitor or amanuensis, and himself a poet—and both natives of the Perthshire Higlilands—collected and tran- scribed into a commonplace book Gaelic poetry obtained from all quarters. This collection has fortunately been preserved. It is, unquestionably, a native compilation made in the central Highlands, upwards of three hundred years ago. It con- tains the remains of an otherwise lost literature. In it we find all that we can now recover of native composi- tions current in the Highlands prior to the sixteenth century, as well as the means of ascertaining the extent to which the Highlanders were familiar with the works of Irish poets. It is a quarto volume of some 311 pages, and is writ- ten in the current Roman hand of the period. Though much injured by time, the leaves in part worn away, and the ink faint, it is still possible to read the greater part of its contents. — VI INTRODUCTION. With the exception of a short Latin oljitiiary, and one or two other short pieces, it consists entirely of a collec- tion of Gaelic poetry made by the two brothers.