"Story and Song from Loch Ness-Side"

[93]

We think it can be legitimately claimed for Glen moriston, more especially Invermoriston, that intellec- tually, even during what might be termed the illiterate ages, it occupied a position, to say the least of it, above the average. It was ,always strong in song and story, till the modernising tendencies of the past few generations or so diverted the people's mental activities and energies into other directions. These songs and stories, gray with the mists of time, and commonly enough heard till within recent years, carried far back into the old, old days. Unfortunately, however, too little has been preserved pertaining to prior to the seventeenth century, and much of what has been pro- duced since then has for ever disappeared. But there is every evidence that poetry was in the very atmosphere of Glenmoriston. At one time there were numerous families there who could number among their members more than one composer of verse. Things in general appealed artistically to an imaginative people, and ideas expressed themselves in apt, and frequently highly epigrammatic language. Joy and grief, and almost every experience of daily life, were turned into subjects for poetic expres- sion; nothing was considered too trivial for the exercise of the Muse.

Among the first of Glenmoriston bards of whom there is definite account is Iain Mac-Eobhain-Bhain. His name flourishes in an interesting story which will be [94] found under "Coire-Dho", further on. Mr William Mackay and Rev. A. Sinclair both give John's surname as Grant; but we have been assured by old people that he was a MacDonald, and they referred for proof to his descendants, living still in the Glen. He was known locally as "Iain Ruadh". He composed a beautiful poem on the MacPhadruig family, in which the follow- ing lines occur:

The next bard of note was Ewen MacDonald, who lived at Dalcattaig. He composed a poem on Coir'- Iararaidh, which is unmistakably one of the finest examples of descriptive poetry in the Gaelic language. It is understood to have formed the model of Duncan Ban MacIntyre's "Coire-Cheathaich". The composit ion is somewhat extravagant in ideality, but in execu tion it is worthy of a high place among the best of its kind. The word painting is on a masterly scale. Its not being so well known as it should be is our excuse for reproducing it here, and we make ready acknow ledgment to "The Grants of Glenmoriston", by Rev. A. Sinclair, for the following version of it:

Another excellent Glenmoriston poet was John Grant, the grandfather of Archie Grant (Archie Taillear), a poet of still greater abilities, and probably the best known of Glenmoriston bards. Grant lived at Tom-Bheallaidh, and had the distinction of being foster- father to Angus Og MacDonell of Glengarry, who was afterwards killed by the accidental discharge of a gun, after the battle of Falkirk (1746). Grant was very fond of his charge, and was much given to composing little lilts and ditties in praise of him and his connec- tions. Of those several fragments have survived, and are still occasionally to be heard, such as:

Grant in due time sent Angus Og back to his father, accompanied by twenty-one head of cattle, as was the custom then; and memories of his interest in the young gentleman continued green among the Glengarry family so long as one of them survived.

Grant's son, John, was still a better poet, and was a man of some distinction in his day. He served in the army for a time, and was present at the siege of Gibraltar, where story represents him as having dis- tinguished himself greatly by his bravery. He com posed some excellent poems and a few spirited hymns of merit. We quote one of his compositions - on the introduction of the big sheep into Glenmoriston - an innovation he evidently did not approve of. He seems to have foreseen that the good old relations between landlords and people were to be very seriously disturbed in the future. Referring in the opening lines to one [101] of the Glenmoriston Grants, who was then deceased, he goes on to say:

[102] Grant lived for most of his time in the Glen, at Aonach. He did not emigrate, as he seems to have intended to do. A beautiful hymn composed by him is included in the published works of his son, "Archie Taillear".

More or less contemporary with John Grant, and born at Achnanconeran, was Alexander Grant - "Alasdair Mac-Iain-Bhain," the son of "Ian Ban a' Phluic" - who composed poetry of exquisite sweetness. The melodies to which he set his words are exceedingly happy. "Fuinn Alasdair Mac-Iain-Bhain" (Alexander Grant's airs) we have frequently heard referred to as ex ceptionally perfect specimens of Gaelic melodies. Grant joined the army as a young man, and served many years as a soldier on the Continent and in the West Indies. His "Oran an t-Saighdear" ("The Soldier's Song") is a masterpiece on the subject of a soldier's life in his time. During all his wanderings his beloved Glen moriston never seemed absent from his mind. Sweet memories of it and its associations haunted him by night and by day, and he sang freely and fervently in fond praise of it and its people. He appears to have, many a weary day, longed for the solitude and sim- plicity of his Highland home; and eventually, having obtained his release, he returned to his native land. It has been said that he died at Drumnadrochit on his way to Glenmoriston. We submit the story of his return as we learned it from an old residenter in Achnanconeran. Grant arrived at his father's house after a long and tedious journey, but was, almost immediately, attacked by strong colic. He lingered in agonising pain for some time, and, after great suffering, appeared to have died. His remains were interred in Invermoriston Church yard - Cladh Chaluim-Chille.But a young woman to [103] whom he had plighted his troth, and whom he was to marry, felt the death of her lover so deeply that she made a pilgrimage to the burial-place the day after his interment, where, like the lady in the well known poem:

" Prone on the lonely grave of the dear man
She drops, whilst busy meddling memory
In barbarous succession musters up
The past endearments of their softer hours."

While thus occupied, the sorrowing maiden heard groans proceeding from beneath the newly-laid turf, a circumstance which both awed and terrified her. She lost no time in telling her story to the relatives, and they lost still less in setting about opening the grave. And what was their astonishment and horror to find that the body had turned in the coffin, and was lying face downwards - "air a-bhial-fodha"! It was rever-ently adjusted in its resting-place, and the dust left to mingle with the soil which the poet so ardently loved.

Most of Grant's songs appear in Vol. X. of the "Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness", contributed by Mr William Mackay; and selections are given in Rev. Mr Sinclair's "The Grants of Glen moriston," and in Appendix O to "Urquhart and Glenmoriston," and we do not wish to repeat in our pages except as little as possible of whatever is already well known. But we have, not very long ago, fallen in with another composition of his, which we think worth while including here. It was inspired by the tidings from home that Grant of Glenmoriston was lying seriously ill. It reveals with pleasing distinctness the nearness of landlord and people to each other in the olden time:

Archibald, the second son of John Grant referred to, ("Archie Taillear"), frequently mentioned in our story, was a poet of more than ordinary powers, and an excellent seanachie. His works were edited and pub lished by the mother of the writer of these chronicles - Mrs Angus MacDonald - in 1863. There was scarcely a phase of Irish or Scottish history on which he could not express an authoritative deliverance; and, as will be seen from a reading of his published works, some of his ideas are found to coincide with those still doing duty in our midst. There was, perhaps, in the history current in the Highlands in his day considerably too much of the spirit of romance; but, at the same time, there was underlying it all a very important substratum of much valuable knowledge. Archie was a great bard, and one of the last of that noble profession. He was all in all a remarkable man. Archie was beloved of all who knew him. He was such an idealistic, romantic character, and always so uncommonly interest- ing and intelligent. He lived largely in another world than the everyday one in which ordinary people move and have their being. Though an extravagant admirer of heroes and heroism, of battles and brave deeds, he [107] was himself one of the most timorous men of whom we have ever heard. He seemed to value life as beyond any price. In all circumstances whatever, his own personal safety was uppermost. After nightfall he could seldom be prevailed upon to go even to the door. Danger was everywhere; and if he saw so much as his own shadow, his imagination magnified it at once into a being of terrible proportions and demoniacal propensi ties. A full notice of Archie, and his poet ancestors, and their works, contributed by ourselves, is printed in. Vol. XII. of the Inverness Gaelic Society's "Trans actions"; and the histories of Glenmoriston, to which we have already occasionally referred, contain much that is interesting regarding all these Grants and their poetry. We have also frequent notices of both in the course of our narrative, and we think it unnecessary to give any further particulars regarding themselves, or extended specimens of their compositions, here.

But, while these poets we have mentioned were, perhaps, the principal composers in Glenmoriston, there were many others who diligently and successfully cultivated the Muse - an art which received enthusiastic encourage- ment from a thoroughly appreciative constituency. Further on will be found a number of collections of original poetry, composed by various persons not aspir ing to the name and status of poets, but yet who pro duced work, within its own compass, of exquisite merit. These, however, we allow to arise in what we consider the better place in point of sequence of narrative. We may be permitted to mention in this connection, as the last, and possibly the least, the writer of these pages, who had the temerity a few years ago to publish a book of Gaelic poems and songs under the name of "Coinneach is Coille", which met with a favourable reception.

Chapter 5