The author has all along very prudently made use of pure idiomatic Gaelic, except in some few instances where he has properly allowed some proverbs to remain in the provincial phraseology in which he received them.

We hope that the publication will be attended with the eminent success it so richly merits. Every Highlander of character and of genuine patriotism, every philanthropic gentleman who feels any pleasure in promcting the intelligence and welfare of the hardy sons of the mountains and the glens, every philologist and lover of Highland folk-lore, every Gaelic-speaking person ought never to rest satisfied until he furnishes his home with a copy of the work, which gives in thousands the wise sayings of his remote ancestors. Nor is this the duty and privilege of Highlanders alone-by no means. The Lowlanders-the Saxons and the Sasanach literati-will find the volume one of deep interest and of no small source of enlightenment. Professor Blackie must have long ere now rejoiced over its beautiful pages. We indeed fancy the distinguished Grecian, reading proverb after proverb, glancing rapidly over them, and chuckling with genuine delight, as he expresses his own translation into English, without waiting to consult that given in the book before him. It is true that many of these Saxon savants may not be able, as Professor Blackie is, to understand these wise sayings in their Celtic attire, but still they cannot fail to be benefitted by these gems of ancient times, having before them literal equivalents in their own vernacular, as well as their force and meaning in a horde of other European tongues. The volume, in short, is one of universal interest, and its intrinsic value merits a circulation co-extensive with the great importance and variety of its instructive details. We cordially join with the thousands of Highlanders who will unite in tendering ceud mille beannachd to the learned author, and in cherishing the confidence that his pure Celtic gems will meet with the eminent success they so well deserve.

CELTIC LITERATURE.—A series of papers on the Literature of the Highlands has been commenced in the Glasgow Weekly Herald, by Mr Nigel Macneill, which promises to be the most complete and comprehensive account of every phase of the subject yet published. Mr Macneill is not unknown to the readers of the Celtic Magazine, and we have no hesitation in saying that few if any of our literary Celts are better qualified to do justice to Celtic literature and the Gaelic bards than he. He is one of our most accurate and best informed Gaelic scholars, well up in all the forms of our literature, and a very pleasant writer. In the papers which are to appear from week to week in the Herald, we understand that no less than one hundred and fifty Highland bards will receive biographical and critical notices, along with a brief survey of Welsh and Irish literature. It is to be hoped that Highlanders will show such an appreciation of the step taken by the Herald as will justify a continuation of the good work so well begun.

THE INVERNESSIAN has been enlarged to sixteen pages-price One Penny; One Shilling per annum ; by Post, One Shilling and Sixpence.

SIR,-I find that my statements (page 170 of your last number) regarding the indebtedness of Dr Maclauchlan to Ewen Maclauchlan are not sufficiently precise, and suggest that the former owes more to the latter than he really does. The facts are as follows:-(1) Ewen Maclauchlan's transcript of the Dean's book did not come into Dr Maclauchlan's hands until his own work of transcribing was all but complete. (2) Ewen Maclauchlan merely transcribed in modern characters the old phonetic Gaelic without in any way changing the spelling, and gave no English translation.

Thus Dr Maclauchlan had to master the old handwriting, had to give the modern equivalent for the oid Gaelic, and had to translate it into English, independently of extraneous help. Honour to whom honour is due.

There is a misprint at the foot of page 176, which makes the sentence absurd. For inspired read insipid.-I am, &c.,

STRATHBRAAN.

A. C. SUTHERLAND.

THE CHISHOLMS AND THE FRASERS-DISPUTED VASSALAGE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE.

SIR,-In the Celtic Magazine for February, p. 124, you quote a passage from Lord Lovat's "Account of the taking of Inverness," in 1715. In a portion of this passage his Lordship says that "Alexander Mackenzie of Fraserdale, whose assumed command of the name Fraser, and his lady, had forced four hundred of that name, which, with the hundred men that Chisholm (who is a vassal to that family) had made up five hundred under Fraserdale's command." Further on his Lordship writes, “But the four hundred Frasers that Mr Mackenzie had brought there four days before to Dunblane, hearing that the Lord Lovat was come home, deserted that cause, and came home full armed, with their affection to their natural chief and their love to the Protestant interest."

Presumably the vassalage here alluded to is military service, in which case it looks as if it contradicted itself. Had the Chisholms been vassals to the family of Lovat, the Frasers would have commanded them, probably would have compelled them to do as they had done themselves return home from Dunblane without offending their olfractory organs by the unsavoury smell of gunpowder on the field of Sheriffinuir; but the Chisholms-over two hundred in number-took their place there and acted their part in the far-famed Highland line, under the Earl of Mar. Even The Chisholm's piper, Ian Beag, distinguished himself at Sheriffmuir. After the Highlanders carried all before them down the declivity towards Dunblane, a halt was called, and the pipers were ordered to play "Buaidh-larach," but, strange to say, the only piper among them who could play a note was the little, cool, hardy John Beag from Strathglass. It was at that moment that the whole line from end to end (pipers only excepted) shouted in admiration-"Sud suas e piobaire an t-Siosalaich." In consequence of the action of the Chisholms at Sheriffmuir, the lands of their chief were forfeited to the Crown and sold. Twelve years afterwards, however, he obtained a pardon under the Privy Seal, dated 4th of January 1727.

President Forbes, writing of The Chisholm, says—“His lands are held of the Crown, and he can bring out two hundred men." In an old family manuscript I find the following :-"The men from Strathglass, headed by John Chisholm of Knockfin, were united with 300 Frasers, and formed one body or regiment at the battle of Sheriffmuir, under the command of an ancestor of Fraser, Lord Saltoun." I have examined authentic copies of the charters in possession of Lord Lovat and The Chisholm, and failed to discover the remotest allusion to vassalage from beginning to end in any of these documents. We all know that Lord Lovat came home from France smarting under some real or imaginary slight he had received at the Court of St Germains. On his arrival in Scotland he found his clansmen were at Dunblane under another leader and all his estates poising in the balance, likely to slip through his hands for ever. In this frame of mind, heaving and surging in a sea of turmoil and anxiety, and trembling between fear and hope, he began to curry favour with the Court of England. His Lordship wrote strange and imaginary things. Among them all I see nothing that makes so heavy a demand on the credulity of his readers as the state. ment that Mr Forbes of Culloden hurled a successful defiance at the combined might and forces of the Earl of Seaforth, Sir Donald Macdonald of Sleat, the Laird of Mackinnon, Mackenzie of Fraserdale, and The Chisholm.

On the eve of the mismanaged battle of Culloden, when Prince Charles Edward met the assembled Highlanders and their chiefs a little to the west of Inverness (I think on Dail-an-eich), Lovat ordered Rory, The Chisholm's youngest son, who commanded the Strathglass men-and who held the rank of Colonel in the army of Prince Charles-to come under the Fraser standard with the Chisholms, which order Rory peremptorily and indignantly refused to obey; and, going to Prince Charles and his staff, complained of Lovat's attempt to deprive him of his own standard. After a long argument between the Frasers and young Colonel Rory Chisholm, the case was decided by the Prince in favour of the Chisholms, who retained their own standard. Lovat, annoyed at this decision, went over to the Chisholms, where he had noticed a man of the name Fraser, and, taking him by the arm, led him over to his own followers. Seeing this young Colonel Rory did the same thing to a Chisholm whom he observed among the Frasers; and this interchange of civilities continued until no Chisholms were left among the Frasers, nor Frasers among the Chisholms. It was on this occasion that young Rory placed his standard in the hands of William Chisholm, Fear.

innis-nan-ceann, who fell so gloriously on the following day at Culloden, together with his spirited young commander, Colonel Rory, and too many other brave followers of the Chisholm in defending it. For a beautiful elegy and memoir of this heroic standard-bearer, see John Mackenzie's "Beauties of Gaelic Poetry," pp. 373-374.

I have no wish to say one word in support of the chorus of abuse heaped on the memory of the famous Lord Lovat of 1745, but so far as my knowledge goes, I think his Lordship's statement relative to the vassalage of the Chisholms to the Frasers has no foundation in fact. If, however, it can be proved that such a thing as a bond of manrent, or any other bond indicating vassalage, ever existed between the two clans, no one will be readier than I to acknowledge the obligation of fulfilling its conditions. -I am, &c.,

INVERNESS, March 1881.

COLIN CHISHOLM.

THE GAELIC UNION OF IRELAND.-A most interesting little pamphlet has just reached us, being a report of the proceedings of the Gaelic Union brought into existence about a year ago for the preservation and cultivation of the Irish language, and thereby promote its extension as a spoken tongue. They have established a publication and prize fund to encourage teachers and pupils in all schools where the language is taught, and to publish or assist in the publication of Gaelic books for the use of schools, and such other means of forwarding the movement as the funds subscribed will admit of. This is practical as well as patriotic work, and we are glad to find that already considerable success has been attained. In 1879 only 19 students presented themselves in Celtic at the Intermediate Examinations, while in 1880 not less than 117, or more than six times the number, came forward; and of these 13 secured prizes from the Union, ranging from £1 to £5, while not less than 49 made a very excellent appearance in the Education Commissioners' Report. Full information is given regarding the subjects for examination in 1881 and a long list of places and associations where and by whom Irish is taught throughout the country in addition to a great amount of other valuable and most interesting information. How such an amount of real good work can be performed for the small sum of £82 1s 6d placed at the disposal of the Union by the subscribers is difficult to understand, until we discover the fact that the association mainly consists of the gentlemen who had previously founded the well-known "Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language," among them the most active members of the council of that Society. Among the subscribers here, as in all other good Celtic work, we meet with the name of "John Mackay, Esq., Rogart House, Swansea.' But the list of subscribers is most instructive in another direction. It positively only includes the name of one Irish Member of Parliament, Mr George Errington. Where is Mr Parnell and his followers in the House of Commons? We always believed in their patriotism, however much we may have differed from their manner of displaying it. But a patriotism which ignores the language and the literature of the Irish people, and the efforts made in their interest by the Gaelic Union of Ireland, is in our view very lobsided and not at all like the genuine article. A very excellent and eloquent speech made by Mr John O'Connor Power in the House of Commons in favour of the Celtic language on the second reading of the "Intermediate Education Bill" for Ireland is reproduced from Hansard at length, but the hon. gentleman's name is not to be found among the subscribers to the fund. Possibly this apparent want of interest on the part of the Irish Home Rule Members may be attributed to pure oversight. If so, we shall have done good service by calling attention to the damaging fact. Next year's list will show how they come up to our ideas of real Irish patriots. We could take some really practical lessons from the Irish Gaelic Union in the Scottish Highlands. What has, for instance, become for several years back of the prizes instituted by the Gaelic Society of Inverness, for proficiency in Gaelic in Schools throughout the Highlands? That was practical work.

THE HIGHLAND CLEARANCES; OR, A STRANGE RETURN BY THE HIGH. LAND CHIEFS FOR THE FIDELITY OF THE CLANS.-A Pamphlet, in paper cover, by Alexander Mackenzie, F.S.A., Scot., Editor of the Celtic Magazine, &c., &c., in the press, and will be issued almost immediately-price 6d, by post 7d, A. & W. Mac. kenzie, publishers, Inverness.

THE

CELTIC MAGAZINE.

Conducted by ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A. Scot.

XV. DONALD MACDONALD, eighth of Glengarry, who has a charter under the Great Seal as "Donaldo MacAngus MacAllister filio et heredi apparenti Angusii MacAllester de Glengarrie-et heredibus suis masculis de corpore suo legitime procreandis," &c.-of the lands of Glengarry, "Drynathane, insula de Sleuchmeine," &c., proceeding upon the resignation of Angus, dated 19th of July 1574.* He was known among the Highlanders. as Domhnull Mac Aonghais ic Alastair (Donald, son of Angus, son of Alastair), and styled "of Morar, Knoydart, and Glengarry." He has a Special Retour before the Sheriff-Depute of the County of Inverness, by a Respectable Inquest, dated 5th November 1584, in the following terms: -"Qui Jurati Dicunt quod quondam Margreta Ylis avia Donaldi MacAngus MacAlester de Glengarrie latoris presentium obiit ultimo restitus et saisitus ut de feodo ad pacem Matris supremi Domini nostri de omnibus et singulis terris de dimidietate terrarum de Achiult et dimidietate terrarum de Torrurdane cum piscariis," &c. Et quod dictus Donaldus de Glengarrie est Legitimus et Propinquior hæres quondam Margarete Ylis avie sue, &c.†

He has a General Retour at Edinburgh, under date of 27th April 1629, before the Sheiff-Deputes of the county and a "distinguished" jury, among whom we find the names of the direct male ancestors of the Chiefs of Sleat and of Clanranald of Castletirrim as "principal members," and expressly swearing to the legitimacy of Celestine of the Isles and Lochalsh, and the descent of Glengarry from him, and from John, last Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles, through this Donald, and, of course, through Margaret of the Isles and Lochalsh. Yet the modern representatives of Sleat and Clanranald of Moydart maintained, at least for a time, the opposite of this, and by so doing would have us believe that their own ancestors, who lived at a time when they had far better means of knowing than their modern representatives, committed perjury when their own interests were altogether in the opposite direction-against