Glen-Shira." True to her Celtic character his muse seems to revel with special delight among the scenes of the poet's early youth. We give a few stanzas: "Lo, dawning o'er yon mountain grey The rosy birth-day of the May! Glen-Shira knoweth well 'tis Beltane's blissful day. "Hark! from yon grove that thrilling gush Of song from linnet, merle, and thrush! To hear herself so praised, the morning well may blush. "O May! thou'rt an enchantress rare- Thou wavest but thy wand, and joy is everywhere. "Thou comest and the clouds are not Rude Boreas has his wrath forgot The gossamer again is in the air afloat. "The foaming torrent from the hill Thou changest to a gentle rill— A thread of liquid pearl, that faintly murmurs still. "Around me in this dewy den Wild flowers imparadise the scene-- Some look up to the Sun-his worshippers, I ween." The volume is prefaced by a short biographical sketch of the author by the Editor of the Celtic Magazine. The pleasing fact that Mr MacColl is alive and hearty, leaves the biography happily unfinished. Long may it be ere any equally enthusiastic admirer will be called upon to add the final chapter. The volume is very neatly got up, and is one that ought to be in every Highlander's library. The author deserves it ; the poetry merits it; and the book will be in every respect an ornament, and ought to be a treasure in the possession of the sons of the Gael wherever located. We trust soon to welcome a complete collection of Mr MacColl's Gaelic poems, now, we understand, passing through the press. THE HISTORY OF CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND. BY JOHN MR MACKINTOSH, in the third volume of his "History of Civilisation in Scotland,” deals practically with the seventeenth century epoch, the period between the union of the Crowns and the union of the Parliaments. He does, indeed, give the History of Scotland down to the end of the Rebellion of 1745, because he believes the separate "political" history of Scotland ends there; and in the next, which is also the last volume, he will deal only with the social, religious, and philosophical aspects of Scottish history. At the period at which Mr Mackintosh takes up the thread of his narrative in this volume, King James the VI. was firmly established on the English Throne. The kingdom had passed through the struggle between the King and the oligarchy, which almost all the European nations of Aryan descent had to undergo, but without the kingly power yielding finally to the power of the nobles. In fact, under James, the Royal prerogative was more firmly established than ever. This was due to the despotic power bequeathed him by the Tudors from the exhausting Wars of the Roses; a power which he extended over Scotland from his wider and more independent sway, acquired by his position as King of England. He was, therefore, enabled with comparatively little resistance to introduce more than the edge of the Episcopal wedge into Scottish ecclesiastical matters; but this he did, not by force, but by his acquired Imperial position and his cunning. Charles, his son, was a more honest but far rasher man, and he soon ran tilt against the prejudices of the people by his bold innovations. The incident in St Giles' Cathedral, when Jenny Geddes threw the stool at the prelate's head, was one of the turning points of the struggle. The great English King was set at defiance; a covenant was signed by the Scottish Presbyterians which it defied the King to overthrow. Cromwell allowed the Scots to have their own way, after punishing them for their allegiance to the youthful prince. But when that prince was restored to his throne he entered into a most cruel persecution of the Presbyterian Church-as short-sighted and disgraceful a persecution as exists in any history. It is quite astonishing how they did not succumb to such a fearful and exterminating process. The only good result we may claim from it is its effect on the Scottish character. There is little question that the sturdy individualism characteristic of the Scot, is due to the history of the seventeenth contury. His constant appeal to private judgment, his conservatism in matters relating to religion itself, and his determined liberalism in regard to central authority and most social matters, are features of his character due to his struggles for religious independence in the seventeenth century. Combined with all this defiance of kingly authority, the Scot professed great reverence for the Crown in the abstract. But it was left for the Celt to vindicate the kingly right in the concrete and the Stuart dynasty in particular. The Highlanders did not feel the oppressions of the century; they, indeed, were called down to oppress Lowland Presbyterianism in the reign of Charles II. What the religious state of the Highlands then was, we cannot gather from Mr Mackintosh's pages; he has left the seventeenth century history of the Highlands yet to be written, both ecclesiastically and politically. The history of the two Rebellions he has traced well and graphically within the limits he could devote to the matter, but they belong to the last century and not to the period of history to which the volume is devoted, and where we should wish to have some idea of the ecclesiastical state of the Highlands. We quite acknowledge the difficulty of gathering the necessary information. The records of the period lie still unpublished in the Presbytery records of our northern parishes. Mr Mackintosh gives merely what he can get from already printed material, and we can only testify to the excellent use he has made of it. He details the political and ecclesiastical history of the seventeenth century in the first half of his book, and describes fairly and graphically all the weary details of that long period of strife-the Acts of Parliament, the persecutions, the wars and the miseries of the time. He goes to the fountain-head; he quotes the historians of the time, and the Acts of Council, Parliament, and Assembly. It is an excellent historical account; but it is lacking in the fact that though he “adorns the tale," he "does not point the moral;" at least not with that fulness and clearness which we would like to see done by a historian of civilisation. We have indicated what we believe the effect of that history has been on the subsequent Scottish character, but it is not found in Mr Mackintosh's pages. His chapter on the social state of the country is the most interesting in the volume Not merely is the subject interesting, per se, but the author has showed himself at his best in his presentment of it and in his selected examples. Every considerable town in Scotland is laid under contribution to supply him with material; nor does Inverness escape. "In the year 1659, the tailors of Inverness," we are told, "petitioned the Magistrates that they were much injured in their trade by its being encroached upon and taken away by outlandish men dwelling around the borough and evading the taxes, and yet they came and stole away the trade of the place, 'to our great and apparent ruin.' The authorities listened to their complaint, and empowered them to restrain all outlandish tailors and seize their work." But to no avail; they had to make another appeal two years later against “unfreemen" keeping apprentices and employing servants. That is a specimen of the manners of the century in regard to trade; guilds and monopolies were supreme. Church discipline was greatly exercised, but its effect was but too often counteracted by lawlessness and force. Sabbath desecration was strenuously battled with; in 1609 the town piper of Aberdeen was forbidden to play his pipes on Sunday, and sport of all kinds, especially fishing, was successfully put down. Mr Mackintosh gives interesting details about the towns, their lighting and their sewerage (non-existent), and about postal arrangements : “Till 1635 there had been no constant intercourse between England and Scotland ;” “till 1669 there was no regular postal communication between Aberdeen and Edinburgh," and in the same year "a foot-post was established between Edinburgh and Inverness, and was to go and return twice a week to Aberdeen, and once to Inverness, if wind and weather served.'" The charge for a letter to Inverness from Edinburgh was four pence. Mr Mackintosh gives a good and concise account of the literature of the century, which consisted mainly of ballad poetry and ecclesiastical pamphlets and histories. He further extends his sketch of the ballad literature so as to include the "Jacobite ballads," to whose pathos and Celtic characteristics of natural description, colour, and humour he does justice. The chapter on education is cleverly written and exceedingly interesting in its details of the subjects taught in the higher schools. The vernacular tongue was a nuisance, which had to be endured in the school curriculum, because without it Latin could not be learnt. The volume closes with a chapter of some eighty pages on European philosophy in the seventeenth century, intended as an introduction to the history of Scottish philosophy, and to Mr Mackintosh's next volume. We cannot help admiring the success with which he has compressed into his space the philosophic tendencies of the age, and the accuracy and grasp with which he has sketched the leading features of the doctrines of Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, and Berkeley. The volume is superior both in spirit and style to Mr Mackintosh's former two, and that means giving the highest praise to its excellence as a work of industry, great research, and unmistakable genius. CELTIC AND LITERARY NOTES. THE recent visit of Mr Mundella, the Minister for Education to Scotland, is likely to prove of great importance to the cause of education in the Highlands. The concession made in the Code a few years ago, of permission to teach Gaelic during school hours, though hailed at the time as an important step in the proper direction, was, how ever, felt by many of those who knew the circumstances, to be, after all, of little practical value in the absence of any inducement to the teachers to teach the language, and still further, from the inability of many of them to use it, even were more tangible encouragement held out to them. Various important Highland Societies consequently availed themselves of Mr Mundella's visit, and waited upon him, by deputation, to urge the matter still further upon his attention. The spirit and manner in which they were received, and the intelligent and favourable view which Mr Mundella takes of the whole situation, leaves little room to doubt that very important changes will be introduced into the Code, at no distant date, to give full effect to the view of those who have all along maintained the reasonableness and the propriety of using the native language of the people, as well as the employment of native teachers, in communicating instruction in the Highlands. Mr Mundella quite admitted the absurdity of the system at present prevailing, and promised to give the matter his careful and early attention. The Committee in Inverness, charged with the selection of the Ettles lecturer, have this year made a singularly appropriate choice. The gentleman chosen is Dr Joseph Anderson, the learned Secretary of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, and the subject of his lectures will be one which will be looked forward to with keen interest, and one which he has made specially his own-Celtic Art. A specific grievance, requiring the most earnest attention of our educational authorities, is the ruinously high rate of fees which the sparseness of the population renders it necessary to impose in certain Highland districts, notably the Island of Lewis, where it has actually been known to amount to 10s. in the pound. Attention was called to this fact in a most pointed and forcible manner at the recent dinner of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, by Mr Morrison, of Dingwall Academy. One consequence of such a state of matters is that, instead of the Education Act and the school and schoolmaster being regarded as advantages, they are looked upon as a grievous burden which impinges much more upon poor people than would the absence of the complete educational machinery which now covers the length and breadth of the land Another matter, not perhaps connected directly with education, but which comes under the cognisance of Mr Mundella, and to which attention has been directed in Parliment, is the attempts made, in the case of the Lewis at least, to enlist the aid of the Board School teachers in support of candidates for election to Parliament. A circular was recently addressed by Mr Mackay, Chamberlain of the Lewis, and Chairman of all the School Boards in the Island, appealing to the teachers for their assistance in promoting the political interests of one of the candidates for Ross-shire. The unwisdom and impropriety of such interferences with public officials is so conspicuous that we wonder at the infatuation of those who practise them. The whole subject of the present condition of Highland education is under investigation of a committee of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, with Mr Alexander Macbain, M.A., as convener. The task imposed upon the committee is to collect information, and report to a meeting of the Society. Classes for the teaching of Gaelic are verness, by members of the Gaelic Society. being conducted in Raining's School, InThere are upwards of 100 pupils in all stages of advancement, and of both sexes, and admirable progress is being made. The class-books used are Professor Mackinnon's Collection, Mr Lachlan Macbean and Mr D. C. Macpherson's Grammars, and the New Testament. An important paper, on the subject of the "Druidical" Circles, which are so frequently met with over the face of the country, was read before the Gaelic Society of Inverness last month, by Mr Alexander Macbain, M.A., Mr Macbain believes that the Circles in question are neither Druidic nor Celtic, but are the work of a pre-Celtic race, probably the Finnish or Pictish, and were erected for purposes of worship and burial; his opinion being that the people who erected them were ancestor worshippers. He illustrated his various positions by pictorial and descriptive references to stone-circles in other countries which are devoted to similar purposes, even at the present day. The interest of the paper was much increased by the aid of several illustrations supplied by Mr P. H. Smart, artist, Inverness. A metrical English translation of the poems of Dugald Buchanan is in the press, and will appear early this month. The translator is Mr Lachlan Macbean, well known in Celtic circles as the author of a very handy and useful Gaelic grammar, and a successful translator of Gaelic poetry. Several of his productions-very favourably noticed at the time-appeared in Vol. I. of the Celtic Magazine, under the nom de plume of Minnie Littlejohn." THE PROPOSED "SCOTTISH HIGHLANDER." WE are daily receiving batches of subscribers for the proposed "Scottish Highlander," often from very unexpected quarters It must, however, be kept in mind that the number required is large, and cannot be got without the active aid of every friend of the Highland cause in their respective districts and among their friends. It must be distinctly understood that the paper cannot be proceeded with unless the necessary number of subscribers send in their names, and this cannot be expected without an effort on the part of leading men throughout the Highlands to secure names in their several localities. Many gentlemen have already done handsomely in this way, and we most heartily thank them. The following are a few extracts from hundreds of of letters received, in a similar strain, from gentlemen sending in their names : Cluny Macpherson of Cluny says :-- "It affords me much pleasure to add my name to your list of subscribers to the Scottish Highlander,' and I wish you every success. Mr Joseph Dunbar, of the Huntly Express, writes:-"I trust you may receive many thousand signatures, and every encouragement. Your object is worthy of all support and sympathy, and ought specially to commend itself to Highlanders-nay, to every true Scotchman.” Mr Evan MacColl, "The Bard of Lochfyne," writing from Kingston, Canada, says:-"I wish you joy of your brave, patriotic undertaking-one which all true Highlanders should look upon with favour, and do their best to make it a success. With such outside literary support as you are sure to command, added to your own indomitable pluck and ability, I feel quite confident that you will be able to make the Scottish Highlander' such a paper as all good Scotsmen should be proud to patronise.” Mr William Allan, Sunderland, writes:- This is a step in the right direction, and merits the support of all Highlanders who have a heart and love their country. I wish you all success--my son of the soil." Mr John Macrae, Ballintian. Kingussie, writes:-"I trust your proposal of starting an independent newspaper will meet with every success. Every individual having a drop of Highland blood in his veins should put his shoulder to the wheel to support such an arduous and patriotic undertaking, so that the Highlanders may have an organ of their own to help them in exposing the injustice done to them for the last century, and to make a repetition of these impossible in future. I am confident that there is no other man in broad Scotland who can advocate the various claims of Highlanders with the same effect that you can." |