Colic was relieved by taking broth made of dulse, and for stitches the Skye-men, if bleeding was ineffectual, applied an ointment composed of camomile, or brandy and fresh butter, or a poultice of raw scurvy-grass chopped fine. It was cured in Jura by a vapour-bath formed of the fumes of ladywrack and redfog boiled in water, the patient sitting upon the vessel which contained the herbs. To expel worms the Highlanders took dried bruised dulse, or an infusion of tansy in whey or brandy, taken fasting. Bogmyrtle tea and the powdered roots of shield ferns in water were also used with success. Worms were expelled from the hands by washing them in salt water in which the ashes of burnt seaweed were mixed. Regarding ringworm, Nether-Lochaber informs us that, "There is a very wide-spread belief over the West Highlands and in the Hebrides that ringworm can be readily cured by rubbing it over and around once or twice with a gold ring—a woman's marriage ring, if it can be had, being always preferred." In FolkMedicine, we are told that "in Shetland a person affected with ringworm takes, on three successive mornings, ashes between the forefinger and thumb, before taking food, and, while holding them to the part affected, says 'Ringworm, ringworm red! Never may'st thou spread or speed But aye grow less and less And die away among the ase' (ashes.)” (To be continued.) H. R. M. THE CHIEF OF GRANT AND THE SEAFIELD ESTATES.-Intense feeling has been roused among the Grants in consequence of the late Earl of Seafield having left all the family estates unconditionally to his mother, the Countess Dowager. The facts, stated simply, are as follows:-The late Earl, by will, left the whole estates absolutely to his mother, without making any provision whatever for the head of the House of Grant and the holder of the title. So far, then, as the late Earl could, the estates were wholly alienated by him from his successor as Chief of Grant and Earl of Seafield. His mother has, however, come to the rescue, and, so far, saved the honour of the Clan by the execution of a deed in terms of which the estates will, at her death, revert to the Chief and Earl. In the meantime, he is to receive £4000 a-year for his maintenance. This allowance is equal, as near as possible, to £5 per cent. per annum on the gross rental of the family estates, which amounts to about 80,000! We fear this will scarcely be considered consistent with the general idea hitherto entertained of what is necessary for upholding an ancient Highland aristocracy. TUIREADH AIR SON PRIONNSA DONNACHADH * DIUC ALBANI. LE MAIRI NIC-EALAIR. O buailidh mi 'n téud òrbhuidh, Fann bhuailidh mi 'n téud, 'S mi 'sileadh nan déur, 'O n' chuala' mi 'n sgéul brònach. An t-ailleagan ciùin, Am fiuran deas ùr, 'Bha finealt'o thùs dige, 'Bhi paisgt' ann an lion, Gun aithne gun chli', Ann an ciste na 'n tri bòrdan. 'Bhi an glais aig an éug, An t-aintighearn' nach géill, 'S a chleachd feadh gach ré foirneart. O buailidh mi 'n téud òrbhuidh, Fann bhuailidh mi 'n téud, 'S bean òg a chùil réidh, A' sileadh nan déur brònach. 'S beag ioghna' an saogh❜l, An diugh dhi bhi faoin, 'S nach faic i a gaol bòidheach. Nach faic gu la' bhràth, Aghaidh mhìn-mhaiseach mhàld, 'S nach cluinn i a dhàn ceòlmhor. A beadragan maoth, Tha briodal ri 'taobh, 'S cha toir athair a gaoil pòg dhi. O buailidh mi 'n téud òrbhuidh, Fann bhuailidh mi 'n téud, 'S an dùthaich gu léir, A' sileadh nan déur brònach. Do mhathair tha caoidh, O! Bhanrigh ar gaoil, 'S luath sheargadh do chaoin ròs-geal. 'Se bu 'dealradh na gnùis, Aig céile do rùin, Rinn sona an tùs d'oig' thu. * Duncan was the Highland name of the Prince. 'An gliocas 's an ciall, 'An tuigse 's am fior eòlas. O buailidh mi 'n tèud òrbhuidh, Tha solus 's an spéur, Ged tha sinne air céum ceòdhar. 'S a mhoch-thrath tha ghrian, A lasadh nan sliabh, Le h-òr-ghathan fial glòrmhor. 'S i 'g innse 'gach là Mu mhaduinn an àigh 'N oidhche a bhàis fhògradh. Bi' am bàs ann an daors' Ceangailt' teann aig na maoir, 'S gheibh thu 'Bhanrigh do chaoin ròs-gea!, Is buailidh sibh tèud òrbhuidh, Ard bhuailidh sibh tèud, Gu suthainn le chéil, Aighearach, réidh, ceòlmhor. DUGALD BUCHANAN'S SPIRITUAL SONGS, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE. By L. MACBEAN. Stewart. 1884. Edinburgh Maclachlan and : IT were a work of the veriest supererogation to commend to Highlanders the spiritual poetry of Dugald Buchanan. There is no Highland poet so popular; and deservedly So. His sacred songs have been the constant companion of, and have afforded spiritual refreshment to, Highlanders in every part of the world from his own time to the present day. Various attempts have been made to set forth the poems in an English garb, both in prose and in rhyme. Some of these have been very successful, but the translation now before us by Mr L. Macbean is vastly superior to them all. It is both free and faithful; and, notwithstanding the double difficulty of reproducing in another tongue the forms of thought and expression peculiar to a very different language, and of translating these into the identical rhythm and measure of the originals, Mr Macbean has sacrificed little, if any, of the richness of the author's imagery or the power of his thought and language. It may be said of Dugald Buchanan's poetry that, though it may be some times quaint and familiar, reminding one somewhat of George Herbert's oddities of rhyme and phrase, it never descends to commonplace; and in The Day of Judgment" there are verses of quite Miltonic power. Indeed, there is a remarkable coincidence of language observable between Buchanan and not a few of his poetic predecessors and successors. Mr Macbean in his notes indicates a few of these, but a great many more might be added. A number of stanzas from Pollock's "Course of Time" might be compared with the words in which Buchanan, a quarter of a century earlier, describes the same event in his "Day of Judgment." "The Skull," in which the poet moralises and conjectures as to the life and character of the former tenant of the skull which he lifted from the heap of earth at the newly dug grave, might have received its suggestion from Hamlet's contemplations on a similar subject; and though it is true that Buchanan was quite familiar with the works of the great dramatist, such promptings were not at all required in the case of one of such fertility of imagination and artistic power as the schoolmaster of Rannoch. As a specimen of his manner, and an instance of the admirable character of the translation, we subjoin a few stanzas. Referring to the skull which he held in his hand, Buchanan says: "Or a lord of the land Do I hold in my hand, Whose acres were fertile and wide, To the naked and needy supplied. "Or wert thou wont to flay Sore grinding their faces with rent, And pressing them sore, Arresting their store, Though their need might have made thee relent? "Poor men would not dare With their heads bald and bare, Pinched, pallid, and palsied with years, In thy presence to stand But with bonnet in hand, Though the frost wind were piercing their ears. "But now without fear Thy slave may come near, Nor honour nor power thou hast. That conqueror by whom Thy sway has been broken at last!" For the work of the translator we have nothing but praise. He has placed his countrymen under deep obligation to him, inasmuch as he has done justice to the work of one of their best and most cherished bards. He has also afforded those who could not understand Buchanan in the original Gaelic an opportunity of enjoying the works of one whom Highlanders, very deservedly, delight to honour. The book is very neatly got up, and will be highly prized. CROFTER ELOQUENCE IN THE ISLE OF SKYE. A LARGELY attended meeting of the Stenscholl branch of the H. L. L. R. Association was held on the 6th of April, at Dun Raesburgh. Dun Raesburgh is a township in possession of Alexander Macleod, tacksman of Scudiburgh, described as holding "every civil office that can he imagined, from parish innkeeper and miller on the one hand, to sanitary inspector and boarder of parish lunatics on the other, and who, in addition to all that, is a land shark of no small voracity." The following is a translation sent us of the speeches made: Hugh Matheson, Stenscholl, after dealing at length with the injustice by which they had been not only impoverished, but actually enslaved, pointed out the necessity of united and earnest perseverance in agitating for the reforms that they want, so that they may either receive justice or fall together. He spoke of the encouragement and sympathy they had so far received from all quarters. He insisted that landlord was a false title, there being no absolute lord of the land but the One Almighty Creator who made the land, and gave it to his own creatures to live on during their pilgrimage here. He quoted from Scripture to show the land was meant by the Creator to belong to the people, and he wondered how landlords would dare, like so many gods, to say that the land was theirs, and that they would dispose of it according to their pleasure. The fish that was yesterday miles away from land was claimed by the landlord the moment it neared the shore, and so also were the birds of the air as soon as they flew over his land. The law made it so, because landlords were themselves the law makers, and it was a wonder that the poor man was allowed to breathe the air of heaven and drink from the mountain stream, without having the factors and the whole of the country police pursuing him as a thief. He believed they would soon have the landlords advocating wholesale emigration, but if the French or Russians should invade the county would the landlords shake themselves like so many Samsons against the Philistines, and put the enemy to rout with an army of factors, ground-officers, tacksmen, and Cheviot rams. Even with all those they would not be able to stand up for Queen and country as the men of Skye did seventy and eighty years ago. The crofters were not met to plot against either life or property, but to consider what should be done to secure redress of their grievances, and he hoped our gracious Queen and her councillors would seriously consider the matter, and put an end for ever to the oppression and cruelty with which her loyal subjects were being treated in Skye-a treatment which was a disgrace to the civilisation of the nineteenth century. Think of a poor widow gathering shell-fish on the sea-shore for her children's breakfast, and chased away by the landlord's orders, on the ground that she was trespassing. Think, too, of that poor delicate woman whose husband was far away earning the rent, while she was compelled to carry the peats on her back three-quarters of a mile through sleet and snow, because the tacksman wanted the small bit of pasture they used to rent. Here, too, was a poor old man in ragged trousers deprived of his croft because he could not now pay double the rent he paid a few years ago. He had a large family, but they had all been obliged to leave; one of them was wounded in the battle of the Alma, and some of them were still away fighting for their country, while the poor old man and his wife had no one to cheer their last days. He (the speaker), since he could no longer pay his full rent, saw no prospect before him but the Sheriff Court and eviction, unless the Government would speedily legis late on behalf of the oppressed crofters. He denounced the conduct of those crofters who were too chicken-hearted to join the agitation, and said they might frequently be seen about the kitchens of their oppressors selling their birthright for a mess of pottage. He eulogised the spirit of kindness and impartiality with which the Royal Commission received their evidence last year, and hoped that some good would soon come out of it. He condemned the action of landlords in Parliament, in making special laws to suit their own selfish ends, and expressed the hope that the people would soon be able to send their own representatives into Parliament. Murdo Maclean, Lealt, said that many things had been said since these meetings began, which had thrown light on the causes of the poverty now existing on various estates in the Highlands, and that was one good thing that the meetings had already done. He pointed out how, when the old chiefs lost the land, the new landlords made it their aim to screw as much money out of the land as they possibly could, and in this they were often assisted by traitors who were bribed from among the people themselves. By-and-bye the landlords came to the conclusion that they could get quite as much rent at less trouble by converting the land into large sheep farms, and so the evictions began, and at the same time the rents of the crofters, who were allowed to remain, were raised to an extraordinary extent, while at the same time the crofts were reduced, and the result was now so much misery, that if the Queen would only visit them, and see their women doing the work of horses, while the men were away earning the rent, he felt sure that out of the nobleness and greatness of her heart she would put a speedy stop to a system that has led to such cruel treatment of her loyal subjects. Norman Stewart, Valtos, in the course of a long speech, contrasted the treat |