liberty to pass the borders of a severe morality. Religion tempered his culture, and culture gave lustre to his religion. Thus his bearing was frank, open, unrestrained to the man who had a cultivated reason (saor ri fear rensouta), but set his face as a flint against all who threw off the restraints of righteousness. As a consequence he was a true king of men in his own sphere, a power which at least frightened vice into the dark caves of the earth, and which encouraged, led, fostered the goodness he was himself the instrument of calling into activity. His death, we are told, was the signal for rebellion against God and morality to stalk abroad again, while it overcast the firmament of the good. Friends and foes twit our Scottish clergy with their Boeotian innocence of the profounder learning. The charge is too well founded, but it should include more than ministers. Where are the great books of our professors, our lawyers, doctors, and gentry? Many of these cannot plead the excuse which ministers for the most part may justly plead that they cannot gratify their love of learning at the expense of their immediate duties. Every generous mind, even though its present cares compel it to see the star of learning as a thing far off, must be grateful to men like Flint, Blackie, and others, who point out our weakness in this respect, not in malice, but in an honest desire to see our reproach wiped off. The end of their severity, to use an expression in the elegy before us, is love. We are sure that the the men Rob Donn honoured would be delighted to see their own profession more richly furnished out of the past stores accumulated in the progress of humanity. Some Highland contemporaries of his might be named who could read Greek at least, and to whom Latin was familiar as their garter. The more shame to their successors if they have fallen and not ascended in this respect. But let not the champions of learning forget that there are men labouring in the Highlands who are "unlearned" by deliberate choice, who lay aside their Virgil, their Homer, their Plato, as Augustine did, feeling their fascination, and conscious of their use, and let them do justice to that aspect of the question. Great books are valuable, the men who produce them are to be honoured when they appear, and every means should be taken to prepare and till the peculiar soil in which they grow, but more valuable still are the triumphs of men who raise the fallen, who comfort the distressed, who bring hope to the mind which vice and misery have rendered wretched-who help to form a peasantry worthy of being their country's pride. Many Highland ministers without much learning, tho' not without a fair share of it, have won renown in this field. We have done by transcribing a description by Rob Donn of one of these :

"Thou wast sober-minded, watchful, reverent, meditative, eloquent, and laborious. In thy sacred duties, not an hour was wasted in idleness. Thy days were spent in working earnestly for the welfare of men, without seeking worldly reward, or one step of advancement. At a time when the beautiful virtues are perishing for want of use, not wealth nor rank are to be envied; but men of thy ways, who pass through a life of bitterness, in severe conflict, to the heavens of perfection, there to enjoy a perpetual reward."

Long may we have men among us to whom these touching and powerful words may apply.

KINBRACE,

H

THE CLAN MACNAUGHTON AND THEIR CHIEF.

WE are glad to see the growing interest in Celtic and Highland questions, the most recent illustration of which we find in the general meeting, on Thursday, the 8th March, of the Clan Macnaughton, in the hall of the Literary Institute, Edinburgh, for the purpose of electing a chief, vicepresident, and bard, and for taking steps to elucidate their history and promote their social intercourse and general welfare; also to form a Clan Macnaughton Association, the objects of which are intended to be antiquarian, social, and charitable. Some forty or fifty ladies and gentlemen responded to the invitation sent out, many of whom had come considerable distances to be present. Mr Alex. Macnaughton, 39 York Place, having been called to the chair, Mr Daniel Macnaughton stated that there were between seventy and eighty letters of apology, some of them from people 80 and 90 years of age. He also read a letter from the Lyon Clerk-Depute, Mr R. R. Stodart, in regard to the chiefship of the clan, in which it was stated that there could be no doubt that Sir Francis Edmund Macnaughten, Bart. of Dundarave, county Antrim, was entitled to occupy the position. There was also submitted a report by a committee who had been appointed at a preliminary meeting to investigate this matter. The origin of the clan, it was stated, was involved in obscurity, but authorities admitted that it was very ancient, and that the misfortunes by which it was overtaken arose mainly for its unswerving loyalty to the causes it from time to time espoused. Some authors appear to come to the conclusion that the clan was Scoto-Irish, or belonged to the Dalriads of Argyllshire, who came from Ireland; others held that it was Pictish or Caledonian. It would have been impossible, it was remarked, to have traced the chiefship back through the labyrinth of intricacy which surrounded the early history of the clan; but fortunately there was an admirable stepping-stone more than half-way down the long period that had elapsed since the clan first came on the scene in connection with the early annals of Albyn. That stepping-stone was Gilchrist Macnaughton, who, in the year 1267, received from Alexander III. a patent granting to him and his heirs the Castle of Fraoch, in Loch Awe, and hence Eilean Fraoch was long the war cry of the clan. In his day, Gilchrist Macnaughton was chief, and that being the opinion also of the Lyon Clerk-Depute, the committee did not consider it necessary to go further back. Among Gilchrist's descendants were Duncan Macnaughton, who in 1330 embarked for the Holy Land with the heart of Robert the Bruce; Sir Alexander Macnaughton, who in 1513 accompanied King James to the fatal field of Flodden, where he was slain; John Macnaughton, who joined Viscount Dundee with a body of the clan, and greatly contributed to the victory at Killiecrankie. This John left two sons, who died without issue, and the representation of the clan fell to the descendants of John, the third and youngest son of Alexander Macnaughton, who fell at Flodden. This John, who was known as "Shane Dhu," had settled in county Antrim; and the lineal descendant of that branch of the family at the present day was Sir Francis Edmund Macnaughten, Bart., whom the committee had no hesitation in saying was the

hereditary chief of the clan. In that opinion, as already stated, the Lyon Clerk-Depute coincided. The thanks of the committee were recorded in the report to Mr R. R. Stodart, of the Lyon Office, for his courtesy in making these inquiries. The Chairman having made a few remarks, the nomination of the Chief of the Clan was made by Mr Macnaughton, banker, Callander, in these terms:

The meeting having considered the report of the committee and other information laid before it, finds that the Chief of the Clan Macnaughton is Sir Francis Edmund Macnaughten of Dundarave, Bushmills, Ireland -a lineal descendant of the ancient line of chiefs of the clan, and otherwise qualified to occupy the position of chief, and the meeting confirms him in that position accordingly.

This was seconded by Mr Duncan G. Macnaughton, Stirling, and was unanimously agreed to. The nomination as vice-president of Mr Alex. Macnaughton, 39 York Place, Edinburgh, who was the originator of the present movement, was also cordially accepted. It was resolved to defer the appointment of a bard for the clan until the next meeting in 1879. On the motion of Mr D. Macnaughton, Stonefield, Blantyre, it was unanimously resolved "That an Association be formed to be called 'The Clan Macnaughton Association.'"

66

LITERARY FAME!-A paragraph under this heading appeared in our last issue, in which it was stated, on the authority of a biography of the late Mr Macphun, publisher, Glasgow, which appeared in the Glasgow Highland Echo of 22d September 1877, and which has never been contradicted, that "Macleod & Dewar's Dictionary was entirely compiled by the Macfarlanes (father and son); and the late Mr Macphun, for whom the work was got up, to secure the Dictionary a literary status and rapid sale, offered Tormod Og' and Dr Dewar £100 each for the mere use of their names on the title-page ;" that they accepted the bribe, and robbed the Macfarlanes of their well-merited reputation." We are now informed, on the best authority-" Tormod Og's" eldest son, John N. Macleod, Kirkcaldy that the paragraph. in so far as it refers to his famous father, has no foundation in fact. Mr Macleod writes:"Without any disparagement to the late Principal Dewar, I know as a fact, and can testify along with others thereto, that nearly the entire burden and labour of compiling the Dictionary fell on Dr Macleod; that it was compiled in the Manse of Campsie, where, also, the late respected Mr P. Macfarlane took up his abode and residence, as his amanuensis and corrector for the press." We have no hesitation in accepting this statement as the actual facts of the case, and we much regret having published the objectionable statement, founded on the false information supplied by the Echo, which, however, until it was reproduced by us, has never been contradicted by those interested. Though sorry for having published what we are now informed, on such good authority, is contrary to the facts, we are glad to be placed in a position to clear, as far as we can, the fair fame of "Tormod Og" from the charges unfortunately taken over by us from the Highland Echo. The words "bribe" and "robbed" were, of course, only used in a literary sense,

Literature.

DUILLEAGAIN A LEABHAR CUNNTAS AR BEATHA ANNS A GHADHALLTACHD BHO 1848 gu 1861. Agus Aithris air Turusain Roimhe do dh'Albainn, a dh'Eirionn, agus do dh'Eileanain a Chaolais, Eadartheangaichte le Ughdaras a Morachd leis an NAOMHAIR I. P. ST. CLAIR, Ministear Eaglais Naomh Stephan am Peairt. Edinburgh: EDMONSTON & COMPANY.

THE above imposing title, we may inform the reader, is Mr St Clair's equivalent for "Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands, &c.," more widely known as the Queen's Book. We commence this notice with very mingled feelings, and delayed doing it so long to allow them to get back into their normal condition after the shock produced by the first perusal of this so-called translation. We also felt that it might be well to let the rev. gentleman dispose of as many copies as possible before we expressed our opinion on the wretched manner in which he has executed his selfimposed task. This was hardly just to those of our readers who place confidence in our views; but they must forgive us for having been favourably pre-disposed towards what we hoped would have been a fair representation of the original, and for sympathising not a little with Mr. St Clair in what we considered to have been, with him, a labour of love. The work is so execrably done that we cannot account for it on any other hypothesis than the absolute incapacity of the rev. gentleman to complete the task he in an evil hour imposed upon himself. Apart from all consideration of the literary merit and success of the work, the want of ordinary commercial forethought exhibited by the imbecile proceeding of translating Her Majesty's Bock into the provincial dialect of Perthshire is amazing-a dialect, as represented in this work, which is infinitely more difficult for an ordinary Gaelic reader to understand than that of Ireland. It is just as unwise a proceeding to translate in such a wretched jargon as if an English writer wrote a popular book in the dialect of the Lancashire or Somersetshire hind. We are well acquainted with all the different dialects in the Highlands except that of Perthshire as given in this work. We know several Perthshire Highlanders out of the county who can speak and read intelligible Gaelic, but we have not met with any who can read and understand the hotch-potch presented as the Gaelic of Perthshire in this so-called translation of "Leaves from our Journal in the Highlands," by the Rev. Mr St Clair. We submit the following conundrum to our Gaelic readers. If any of them can make sense of it, or translate it back into intelligible English, without the aid of the original, it is more than we, or any Gaelic scholar with whom we are acquainted, have been able to do. Here it is, from page ix. of the preface :

Chan eil gin do am mûmha dùrachd na do'n Bhanrighinn, nach bitheadh sgarachdainn cas sam bith eadar an àon bhuidheann agus a bhuidheann eile, ach a mhàin gum bitheadh masgadh càoin measg cheile ann bhitheadh air thoirt mun cuairt troimh làn chomhachadh bhuanachdain čatorrach, troimh malairt dhian a dheág õidhichean, agus troimh urram càirdeil bhith air fhaireachdain agus air fhoillseachadh leis gach buidheann do'n uile bhràthrean anns a bhràthreachas mhór a tha deanamh nàird cinneach.

This is simply barbarous. original :

Contrast it with its simple and graceful

Nor does any one wish more ardently than Her Majesty, that there should be no abrupt severance of class from class, but rather a gradual blending together of all classes -caused by a full community of interests, a constant interchange of good offices, and a kindly respect felt and expressed by each class to all its brethren in the great brotherhood that forms a nation.

The preface, Mr St Clair informs us, was translated after he had arrived at perfection-after compiling "A Short Analysis or Grammar of Gaelic." We have no hesitation in admitting that we prefer the rev. gentleman in his imperfect state, corrupt even as he is.

In his preface the translator informs us that the dialect which he adopts is allowed to be spoken "very purely and uncorrupted with foreign elements." Let us see. The following are a few specimens out of hundreds of corruptions and foreign terms which could be given from this work :

These specimens of foreign corruptions from a few pages of the book could be multiplied ad libitum. Every page actually bristles with such; and this is the pure (!) dialect which we are to accept as our Gaelic standard in the future! Besides, we have innumerable instances of mistranslations, which entirely alter the sense of the original, in addition to a total disregard, or rather an entire contravention of the genius and mode of expression peculiar to the language. To point out all the errors and examples of bad taste throughout the book would take a volume at least equal in size to the work itself. And this is the writer who takes upon himself to teach others, and lay down rules for writing and spelling the language -a language, if we may judge by the work before us, of which he has himself yet to study the rudiments. We regret to have to write thus of any work of a Celtic character, and especially so of Her Majesty's Book on the Highlands; but our duty to the language and posterity compels us to speak out.

There are some fifty excellent engravings in the book, which appeared in the original English edition. The publishers and the printers have done their part in a manner which does them great credit-far exceeding what the contents of the book deserve.