The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume II.

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Title: The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume II.
The Songs of Scotland of the past half century
Author: Various
Release Date: June 19, 2006 [EBook #18619]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN
SCOTTISH MINSTREL ***
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[Illustration:
THE
MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL;
BY
CHARLES ROGERS, LL.D.
F.S.A. SCOT.
VOL. II.

ALTRIVE.
_THE RESIDENCE OF THE ETTRICK
SHEPHERD._
EDINBURGH:
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE,

BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS TO THE QUEEN.]

[Illustration:
[Signature: James Hogg]
THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD
Lithographed from an original Portrait in the possession of his widow
by Schenck & McFarlane, Edinburgh.]

THE
MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL;
OR,
THE SONGS OF SCOTLAND OF THE
PAST HALF
CENTURY.
WITH
Memoirs of the Poets,
AND
SKETCHES AND SPECIMENS
IN ENGLISH VERSE OF THE
MOST CELEBRATED
MODERN GAELIC BARDS.
BY

CHARLES ROGERS, LL.D.
F.S.A. SCOT.
IN SIX VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
EDINBURGH:
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE,

BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS TO HER MAJESTY.
M.DCCC.LVI.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY,

PAUL'S WORK.
TO
JOHN BROWN, ESQ., OF MARLIE.
My dear Sir,
I dedicate to you this second volume of "THE MODERN SCOTTISH
MINSTREL," as a sincere token of my estimation of your long
continued and most disinterested friendship, and of the anxiety you
have so frequently evinced respecting the promotion of my professional
views and literary aspirations.
I have the honour to be,
My dear Sir,
your most obliged,
and very faithful servant,
CHARLES ROGERS.
Argyle House, Stirling,
_December 1855._
INTRODUCTION

TO
The Modern Gaelic Minstrelsy.[1]
The suspicion which arose in regard to the authenticity of Ossian,
subsequent to his appearance in the pages of Macpherson, has unjustly
excited a misgiving respecting the entire poetry of the Gael. With
reference to the elder poetry of the Highlands, it has now been
established[2] that at the period of the Reformation, the natives were
engrossed with the lays and legends of Bards and Seanachies,[3] of
which Ossian, Caoillt, and Cuchullin were the heroes. These romantic
strains continued to be preserved and recited with singular veneration.
They were familiar to hundreds in different districts who regarded them
as relics of their ancestors, and would as soon have mingled the bones
of their fathers with the dust of strangers, as ventured on the alteration
of a single passage. Many of the reciters of this elder poetry were
writers of verses,[4] yet there is no instance of any attempt to alter or
supersede the originals. Nor could any attempt have succeeded. There
are specimens which exist, independent of those collected by
Macpherson, which present a peculiarity of form, and a Homeric
consistency of imagery, distinct from every other species of Gaelic
poetry.
Of an uncertain era, but of a date posterior to the age of Ossian, there is
a class of compositions called _Ur-sgeula_,[5] or _new-tales_, which
may be termed the productions of the sub-Ossianic period. They are
largely blended with stories of dragons and other fabulous monsters;
the best of these compositions being romantic memorials of the

Hiberno-Celtic, or Celtic Scandinavian wars. The first translation from
the Gaelic was a legend of the _Ur-sgeula_. The translator was Ierome
Stone,[6] schoolmaster of Dunkeld, and the performance appeared in
the _Scots Magazine_ for 1700. The author had learned from the
monks the story of Bellerophon,[7] along with that of Perseus and
Andromeda, and from these materials fabricated a romance in which
the hero is a mythical character, who is supposed to have given name to
Loch Fraoch, near Dunkeld. Belonging to the same era is the "Aged
Bard's Wish,"[8] a composition of singular elegance and pathos, and

remarkable for certain allusions to the age and imagery of Ossian. This
has frequently been translated. Somewhat in the Ossianic style, but of
the period of the _Ur-sgeula_ are two popular pieces entitled
_Mordubh_[9] and _Collath_. Of these productions the imagery is
peculiarly illustrative of the character and habits of the ancient Gael,
while they are replete with incidents of the wars which the Albyn had
waged with their enemies of Scandinavia. To the same period we are
disposed to assign the "Song of the Owl," though it has been regarded
by a respectable authority[10] as of modern origin. Of a portion of this
celebrated composition we subjoin a metrical translation