We have received various other communications on this subject, from a few of which we make the following short quotations, being unable to find room for all the letters : "MAC IAIN" writes :-"I agree with every word of the article in the last number on the Poetry and Prose of a Highland Croft.' Neither the Highlander nor any other unprejudiced person can gainsay a single point of what the able writer of that article has adduced in support of his theory, for the simple reason that all the statements made are incontestable facts. That many of the West Highland crofters are living in a state of semi-starvation is beyond dispute. I myself have more than once seen a family of the class described making a meal of whelks and other shell-fish along with a very scanty allowance of bread." Another correspondent "Who knows the Facts" says:-"I suspect you will be having Professor Blackie down on you again, for your sensible and truthful article on the Prose of a Highland croft. What had been written from time to time on the Poetic side of the question by humane theorists needed the practical information your article gives to put them right." "A SON OF A CROFTER" writes:-"Your article upon "Highland Crofts" is the best you have ever written. It is Al, and true to the letter, as I have long known by experience." The Ross-shire Journal says:-"It is refreshing to read so able and interesting an essay on this important topic. From personal observation, we might almost say experience, we can cordially homologate the graphic description of the difficulty that the smaller tenantry in the West Highlands, ay, and in the East too, have in making ends meet. It can never be otherwise while the crofter population continues to be so dense as it stilk is in some districts. We have perused this whole paper with profit, and so we feel confident, will all who have at heart the amelioration of the West Highland population." "BONNIE DUNDEE." TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. SIR,-There is no reason why my reply to "J. M. W. S.'s" letter should be otherwise than very brief, for I am glad to see that upon the whole he is content to agree with me as to the military talents and general high chivalrous character of Lord Viscount Dundee. It is amusing to find that "J. M. W. S." seems to think that no one has read the Memoirs of Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel but himself. Let me assure him, however, that it is now well on to five-and-twenty years since I firstst read and studied that very interesting volume, by the courtesy of the late Cameron of Lochiel. More recently, by the kindness of the present-i Lochiel, the volume has been more than once in my possession for the express purpose of consulting it as to Dundee's movements from the day he rode down the "sanctified bends of the Bow," till his famous victory and death at Killiecrankie. Upon the whole, I do not think it at all likely that "J. M. W. S." has given the history of that time half the careful attention and study I have bestowed upon it. "J. M. W. S." has probably read the very interesting note by the Editor of the Inverness Courier as to the two or three generally acknowledged to be authentic portraits of the famous royalist.* That he was dark, darkish, or swarthy, is certain. The Highlanders had a habit, as they still have, of bestowing a fitting sobriquet, founded on the personal characteristics, both of those whom they honoured and loved, and those whom they hated and despised; and depend upon it, when in Highland song and story we find Lord Dundee styled "Ian Dubh nan Cath" (Swarthy John of the battles), swarthy, be sure, he was, let the portraits be read in what light they may. One of the Argyles, Archibald the 9th Earl, who was beheaded for high treason, a doom he richly merited, was styled by his Gaelic contemporaries Gilleaspuig Gruamach, Archibald the morose, the sullen, or more correctly, perhaps, the grim. The Anglo-Saxon grim or grum and the Gaelic gruaim being the same word; and when I find him so styled in Gaelic tradition and song, I shall continue to believe that he was grim, that, as a rule, he was sour, and sullen, and sulky of visage, although for all I know to the contrary, there may be half a dozen or more authentic portraits which give him a more amiable expression. One of the Macleans of Duart, chief of his name, is known in Gaelic tradition and song as Eachainn Ruadh nan Cath-Red (haired) Hector of the battles, Hector Rufus Bellicosus; and you will not easily persuade me, or any one else conversant with the manners and traditions of the Highlands, that the colour of his hair and beard was any other than ruadh, or red. Sir Walter Scott's reading of the Abbotsford portrait differs from that given by "J. M. W. S.," and your correspondent need not be angry if I say that I believe Scott's reading to be the correct one. Here is Scott's description of Lord Dundee, as given in "Old Mortality": : "Grahame of Claverhouse was in the prime of life, rather low of stature, and slightly, though elegantly, formed. His gesture, language, and manners were those of one whose life had been spent among the noble and the gay. His features exhibited even feminine regularity—an oval face, a straight and well-formed nose, dark hazel eyes, a complexion just tinged with brown, to save it from the charge of effeminacy; a short upper lip, curved upwards like that of a Grecian statue, and slightly shaded by a small moustache of light brown, joined to a profusion of long, curled locks, of the same colour, which fell down on each side of his face, contributed to form such a countenance as limners love to paint and ladies to look upon.' That he was even darker or swarthier than Scott, reading probably from the portrait before him, describes him, I have no *The following is the note referred to by "Nether-Lochaber":"There are three reputed original portraits of Dundee. First, the Glammis portrait, adopted by Scott as genuine. It is said to be by Lely, but this is doubtful. It is the representation of a handsome young cavalier elaborately dressed, with a profusion of darkish brown hair. Second, the Leven portrait, long in possession of the noble family of Leven and Melville. This was exhibited among the "National Portraits" at South Kensington in 1867; we remember it distinctly, the features delicate and finely cut, the hair long and dark. Third, the Airth portrait, in possession of Graham of Airth, which Napier says displays the type of the other portraits. All of them have been repeatedly engraved, and agree in general character-the countenance singularly handsome, yet with all its feminine beauty of outline and colour, the expression is not such as to inspire affection or confi. dence."--Inverness Courier, 30th August, difficulty at all in affirming. The epithet dubh, applied to him by the Highlanders who knew him well, and loved him with all their heart, settles the question beyond all dispute, let the portraits be read and interpreted as they may. Like William Edmonstoune Aytoun, I can very honestly say that "I am not ashamed to own that I have a deep regard for the memory of Lord Dundee, founded on a firm belief in his public and private virtues, his high and chivalrous honour, and his unshaken loyalty to his sovereign." There are three Grahames or Graems prominent in Scottish song and story of whom we may all of us well be proud. James Grahame, the great Marquis of Montrose; John Grahame, Lord Viscount Dundee, and General Grahame, Lord Lyndoch. In his "Vision of Don Roderick," Scott has the following very fine stanza in honour of these worthies, and of an earlier Grahame still, Sir John the Graeme, the stelfast friend of "Wallace wight." Apostrophizing Lord Lyndoch, he exclaims : O! hero of a race renown'd of old, Whose war-cry oft has waked the battle-swell, Wild sounding when the Roman rampart fell! But ne'er from prouder field arose the name Than when wild Rouda learn'd the conquering shout of Graeme. -I am, etc., "NETHER-LOCHABER." A HYMN OF YOUTH. I gazed upon the eastern sky As the rosy morn was dawning, And I felt a rapture in my eye, For Hope was blushing bright on high, Oh! how the hoary mountains smiled, As they wakened from their dreaming; And all in the sunlight beaming. But sweeter far was the mystic rite, I thought of the dawn of youthful years- MACHAON MO RUN GEAL DILEAS. Slow and Plaintive. Is truagh nach robh mi an riochd na faoilinn, A shnamh-as aotrom air bharr nau tonn, Chorus-Mo run geol di leas, di- leas, di- leas, Mo run geal di - leas nach till thu rium, A's bheirinn sgriobag do'n Eilean Il- each Far bheil an ri bhinn dh' fhag m'inntinn trom. KEY E FLAT. .d: m.,s d'r'.d' 1 .d's : m.d: m.,s d'r' .d' :1 .,s | 1:-. .1 : d' .,fm:s.m:r .dr: m.s: d'.,1 sm.dr „r | d :-.|| Thug mi mios ann am fiabhrus claoidhte, Tha d' anail chubhraidh mar fhaile ubhlan, Cha bhi mi 'strith ris a' chraoibh nach lub leam NOTE. The above is one of the most popular of our Highland Melodies. It is undoubtedly very old, and, so far as I know, its author is quite unknown. There is nothing particularly worthy of remark about the words, which appear to have suffered in their transmission to us.-W. M‘K. THE following note has been received from Her Majesty the Queen:LOCH MAREE, September 14th, 1877. Major-General Ponsonby is commanded by the Queen to thank Mr Mackenzie for the copies of the Celtic Magazine which he has forwarded to Her Majesty. MONUMENT TO JOHN MACKENZIE OF "THE BEAUTIES OF GAELIC POETRY." THE time has now arrived, we think, when active steps should be taken to carry into effect the proposal, originated by the Celtic Magazine, to erect a monument to this excellent, though hitherto almost forgotten Celt. He has, in his "Beauties," raised a monument to the Highlands and to Geltic genius which shall not perish as long as the language remains a spoken or written speech. Keeping this in view, and the fact that there is not the slightest mark of any description at present to indicate the grave of such a man, we are disappointed to find-at a time, too, when such a noise is made by so many Celtic Societies throughout the country-such a poor response to the appeal made to our Highland countrymen for erecting a Carn Cuimhne to one who so pre-eminently deserves it. The amount of subscriptions received and promised will be found below to amount to £41 13s 6d. True, this will enable us to erect a fairly respectable monument, but certainly not such as the memory of John Mackenzie deserves. An appeal has been made to several of the leading Gaelic, Highland, and Celtic Societies in London, Glasgow, and Inverness, but, much to our surprise, not a single penny has been subscribed by any of them, nor are we aware of any steps taken by either of them to raise funds among their members, or other Highlanders in their respective districts, except the Gaelic Society of Inverness, which has appointed a committee to collect subscriptions. As the promoters of this monument, we now propose that all subscribers of £1 sterling and upwards be formed into a committee to carry the proposal into effect, with Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, as chairman; and that the local members of committee be appointed an acting sub-committee, to arrange the details, to prepare a suitable inscription in Gaelic and English, and to complete, and erect, the monument by July of next year. There is one remarkable and gratifying peculiarity about the subscription list, which is creditable to Mackenzie's native parish, and which is a marked exception to the old saw, that "a prophet has no honour in his own country' -more than two-thirds of the whole amount is subscribed by natives of Gairloch, or their descendants. The following sums have been received and paid into the "Monument Account," opened with the Caledonian Bank, Inverness : Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, M.P. Donald Macgregor, Newington Butts, London £2 2 0 2 2 0 2 20 2 2 Per John Mackenzie, Auchinstewart, Wishaw John Mackenzie, Auchinstewart H. Munro Mackenzie, Whithaven Mrs R. Robertson Walker, do. George Mackenzie, do. Angus Nicolson, Skipton Per Alexander Burgess, banker, Gairloch John Macleod, teacher, Openham, do. Carried over |