Scottish Literature

Dugald Buchanan.

In the lyrical outburst which followed the Forty-five religious poetry is well represented. The first re ligious poem to be printed in Scotch Gaelic was a long hymn by David Mackellar, published in 1752. But incomparably the greatest writer of hymns and sacred poems is Dugald Buchanan (1716-68). Buchanan was born in Strathyre in Perthshire and was the son of a miller. He received a desultory kind of educa tion and tried his hand at various trades. He was selected to assist Stewart of Killin in preparing the first Highland version of the New Testament for the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge (published 1767), and at the same time he issued an edition of his own poems. Of all Gaelic books this has been far and away the most popular, having gone through no less than 40 editions, the last in 1913. Buchanan seems to have been very susceptible to religious influences, and the stern Puritan doctrines of retribution and eternal damnation preached around him so worked on his mind that from his 9th to his 26th year he was a prey to that mental anguish so eloquently described by Bunyan. The awful visions which presented themselves to his vivid imagi nation find expression in his poems. In the "Day of Judgment," a poem of about 120 stanzas, we are given a vivid delineation of the crack of doom as the archangel sounds the last trump. But Buchanan's masterpiece is admittedly "The Skull," the subject of which, it seems certain, was suggested by Shakespeare. The poet seated by a grave espies a skull. He takes it up and muses on its history. This poem in 44 stanzas concludes with a picture of the torments of hell and the glories of heaven.

Macpherson's "Ossian..

The writers whom we have been discussing are practically unknown save to those who are able to read them in the original. Now we turn our attention to a man who plays a prominent part in the history of European literature. Though the precise origin of the Fenian cycle may remain a moot point to all time, the interest taken in Celtic studies since the middle of the 19th century in Ireland and Scot land and elsewhere has accumulated a body of evidence which has settled for all time the dispute as to the authenticity of Mac pherson's Ossian. James Macpherson (1736-96), a native of Kingussie, showed a turn for versification whilst yet a student at college. Whilst acting as tutor at Moffat he was asked by John Home as to the existence of ancient Gaelic literature in the High lands. After some pressing Macpherson undertook to translate some of the more striking poems, and submitted to Home a rendering of "The Death of Oscar." Blair, Ferguson and Robert son, the foremost men in the Edinburgh literary circles of the day, were enthusiastic, and at their instance Macpherson pub lished anonymously in 176o his Fragments of Ancient Poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland and translated from the Gaelic or Erse Language, containing 15 translations, preceded by a preface from the pen of Blair. In the preface it was stated that an epic of considerable length existed in Gaelic, and that, given sufficient encouragement, the author of the versions would undertake to recover and translate it. A subscription was raised and after a tour of exploration, on which he was accompanied by two or three competent Gaelic scholars, Macpherson published in London in 1762 his epic Fingal with 15 other smaller poems. In the following year a still larger epic in eight books appeared with the title of Temora.

The authenticity of Macpherson's translations was soon im pugned by Dr. Johnson, Hume and Malcolm Laing, and the author was urged by his friends to publish the originals. Macpherson at different times seems to have had some intention of publishing the Gaelic of his Ossian, but he was naturally deterred by the feeling that his knowledge of Gaelic was becoming shakier with his continued absence from the Highlands. At any rate he left behind a quantity of Gaelic matter in ms. which was ultimately published by the Highland Society of London in 1807. This ms.,

however, was revised and transcribed by Ross and afterwards destroyed, so that we are ignorant of its nature. Macpherson's claims still found ardent advocates, such as Clark, in the '7os, but the question was finally disposed of in papers by Alexander Macbain (1885) and L. C. Stern (1895). We can here only summarize briefly the main lines of argument. (I) Macpherson's Ossian is full of reminiscences of Homer, Milton and the Hebrew prophets. (2) He confuses the Ulster and the Fenian heroic cycles in unpardonable fashion. (3) The Gaelic text of 1807 only represents one-half of the English versions (r r poems out of 22 poems). Some Gaelic fragments from different pens appeared prior to 1807, but these differ considerably from the "official" version. (4) In the Gaelic text of 1807 the version of the passage from Temora is quite different from that published in 1763. (5) Macpherson's Gaelic is full of offences against idiom and un naturally strained language. (6) The names Morven and Selma are entirely of his own invention. (See also MACPHERSON, JAMES.) Later Poets.—The men we have dealt with above created a kind of tradition which others have attempted to carry on. Ewen Maclachlan (1775-1822), the first transcriber of the Dean's Book, translated the greater part of seven books of Homer's Iliad into Gaelic "verse," and he also had a large share in the compilation of the Gaelic-English part of the Highland Society's Dictionary. His poems, published in 1816, consist of poems of nature, e.g., Dain nan Aimsirean, Dan mu Chonaltradh, Smeorach Chloinn Lachuinn, and of a well-known love-song, the Ealaidh Ghaoil. William Ross (1762-9o), a schoolmaster at Gairloch, composed, among other popular poems, Feasgar Luain and Moladh na h-Oighe Gaelich. Another exquisite song Cuachag nan Craobh, is usually attributed to this poet, but it seems to go back to the beginning of the 18th century. A fifth edition of Ross's poems appeared in 1902. The most popular writer of sacred poems after Buchanan is undoubtedly Peter Grant, a Baptist minister in Strathspey, whose Dain Spioradail (first published in 1809) reached a 2oth edition in 1904. Two other well-known hymn-writers spent their lives in Nova Scotia—James Macgregor (1759-183o), and John Maclean, a native of Tiree. The compositions of the latter have been published under the title Clarsach na Coille (Glasgow, 1880. But John Morrison (179o-1852), the poet-blacksmith of Rodel, Harris, is the most worthy of the name of successor to Buchanan. His works have been carefully edited in two volumes by George Henderson (2nd ed. 1896). Two of his most characteristic poems are An Iondruinn and Tim loin' og agus seann damn' agam. William Livingston or MacOhunleibhe (r808-70) was a native of Islay. He was ever a fierce Anglophobe, and did his best to make up for the deficiencies of his early training. His poems, which have been at least twice published (1858, 1882), are powerful in the ex pression of ruthless fierceness and tearful sorrow. Livingston's contemporary, Evan Maccoll (1808-98), the son of a small farmer on Lochfyneside, is remembered for his Bas Mairi and Duanag Ghaoil. We can do no more than mention the names of John Maclachlan of Rahoy James Munro 1870), well known as a grammarian, Dugald Macphail (1818-87), and Neil Macleod (1843-1913), author of a popular collection Clarsach an Doire (1st ed., 1883). Neil Macleod was the writer of the popular song An Gleann's an robh mi og. The Poetry of Badenoch (5906) may be mentioned here. It is natural to com pare the state of affairs at the beginning of the 20th century with that obtaining in 1800. In the dawn of the 59th century every district in the Highlands had its native poet, whilst a century later not a single Gaelic bard of known reputation existed any where within its borders. It is only too evident that the new writers prefer English to Gaelic as a medium of literature, partly because they know it better, but also because in it they appeal to a far wider public.