The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume II. | Page 4

and depict the beauties of the
deer forest.
The various kinds of Highland minstrelsy admit of simple classification.
The _Duan Mor_ is the epic song; its subdivisions are termed _duana_
or _duanaga_. Strings of verse and incidents ([Greek: Rhapsôdia]) were
intended to form an epic history, and were combined by successive
bards for that purpose. The battle-song (_Prosnuchadh-catha_) was the
next in importance. The model of this variety is not to be found in any
of the Alcaic or Tyrtæan remains. It was a dithyrambic of the wildest
and most passionate enthusiasm, inciting to carnage and fury. Chanted
in the hearing of assembled armies, and sometimes sung before the van,
it was intended as an incitement to battle, and even calculated to
stimulate the courage of the general. The war-song of the Harlaw has
been already noticed; it is a rugged tissue of alliteration, every letter
having a separate division in the remarkable string of adjectives which
are connected to introduce a short exordium and grand finale. The
_Jorram_, or boat-song, some specimens of which attracted the
attention of Dr Johnson,[21] was a variety of the same class. In this,
every measure was used which could be made to time with an oar, or to
mimic a wave, either in motion or sound. Dr Johnson discovered in it
the proceleusmatic song of the ancients; it certainly corresponds in real
usage with the poet's description:--
"Stat margine puppis,
Qui voce alternos nautarum temperet ictus,
Et
remis dictet sonitum pariterque relatis,
Ad numerum plaudet

resonantia cærula tonsis."
Alexander Macdonald excels in this description of verse. In a piece
called Clanranald's _Birlinn_, he has summoned his utmost efforts in
timing the circumstances of a voyage with suitable metres and
descriptions. A happy imitation of the boat-song has been rendered
familiar to the English reader by Sir Walter Scott, in the "Roderigh
Vich Alpine Dhu, ho! ieroe," of the "Lady of the Lake." The _Luineag_,
or favourite carol of the Highland milkmaid, is a class of songs entirely
lyrical, and which seldom fails to please the taste of the Lowlander.
Burns[22] and other song-writers have adopted the strain of the
_Luineag_ to adorn their verses. The _Cumha_, or lament, is the
vehicle of the most pathetic and meritorious effusions of Gaelic poetry;
it is abundantly interspersed with the poetry of Ossian.
Among the Gael, blank verse is unknown, and for rhyme they entertain
a passion.[23] They rhyme to the same set of sounds or accents for a
space of which the recitation is altogether tedious. Not satisfied with
the final rhyme, their favourite measures are those in which the middle
syllable corresponds with the last, and the same syllable in the second
line with both; and occasionally the final sound of the second line is
expected to return in every alternate verse through the whole poem.
The Gael appear to have been early in possession of these coincidences
of termination which were unknown to the classical poets, or were
regarded by them as defects.[24] All writers on Celtic versification,
including the Irish, Welsh, Manx, and Cornish varieties, are united in
their testimony as to the early use of rhyme by the Celtic poets, and
agree in assigning the primary model to the incantations of the
Druids.[25] The lyrical measures of the Gael are various, but the
scansion is regular, and there is no description of verse familiar to
English usage, from the Iambic of four syllables, to the slow-paced
Anapæstic, or the prolonged Alexandrine, which is not exactly
measured by these sons and daughters of song.[26] Every poetical
composition in the language, however lengthy, is intended to be sung
or chanted. Gaelic music is regulated by no positive rules; it varies
from the wild chant of the battle-song to the simple melody of the
milkmaid. In Johnson's "Musical Museum," Campbell's "Albyn's

Anthology," Thomson's "Collection," and Macdonald's "Airs," the
music of the mountains has long been familiar to the curious in song,
and lover of the national minstrelsy.[27]
[1] We are indebted for these observations on the Highland Muse to the
learned friend who has supplied the greater number of the translations
from the Gaelic poets, which appear in the present work.
[2] Highland Society's Report on Ossian, pp. 16-20.
[3] Genealogists or Antiquaries.
[4] Letter from Sir James Macdonald to Dr Blair.
[5] M'Callum's "Collection," p. 207. See also Smith's "Sean Dana, or
Gaelic Antiquities;" Gillies' "Collection" and Clark's "Caledonian
Bards."
[6] Highland Society's Report on Ossian, pp. 99, 105, 112.
[7] Boswell's "Life of Johnson," p. 320, Croker's edition, 1847.
[8] "Poems by Mrs Grant of Laggan," p. 395, Edinburgh, 1803, 8vo.
The original is to be found in the Gaelic collections.
[9] Mrs Grant's Poems, p. 371; Mackenzie's "Gaelic Poets," p. 1.
[10] See Mrs Grant's "Highland Superstitions," vol. ii. p. 249. The
original is contained in