acters as reciting their opinions in poetry. It is the dramatic and narrative forms combined, but it is not for a moment implied that Cuchullin, Conchobar, Fergus, Finn, Ossian, Oscar, or the others were poets, but only that they said or sung the piece that followed. In the Dean's book Ossian and the others are actually named as the authors, not the sayers, reciters, or singers merely of the pieces. Then as to the character of these Ossianic ballads contained in the Dean's book; most of them are common to Ireland and Scotland, and belong clearly to the 13th on to the 16th centuries, but not later. The language in every case is Middle Gaelic; they are often in a Christian setting-Ossian and St Patrick speaking; and they are always apart from the prose narrative, which ought to include them. It is not safe to postulate any great antiquity for them; five or six hundred years must be their utmost age. As to Macpherson's Ossian, it is a thing by itself; it has no relation to any other Celtic poetry, ancient or modern, save to imitations of itself. In its love of natural scenery, it is Celtic; in its weird mythology and its historical references, it is Norse; in its vagueness and sentimentality, it is quite 18th centuryish and modern. The language is excellent, but it is very modern Gaelic. To sum up; we cannot claim any Celtic poetry to be much older than the MSS. on which they are written, for their language is of that date; hence little or no Celtic poetry can be traced back a thousand years, and the bulk of the older poetry is later than half that period.

The second point to be discussed is the heroism in Gaelic poetry, which is, in fact, one of its most characteristic features. The poetry breathes a spirit of magnanimity which was but the reflection of the character inherent in the Celtic race. Their battles, their feasts, and their every-day life were all conducted on principles of Homeric heroism-" they were like the people in Homer's time," says Diodorus. If animosities were keen, if cruelty was not absent, yet friendship and tenderness were correspondingly intense. An act of dishonour was unknown. How changed are the times now! Their frequent single combats form a proof as to the magnanimity and generosity of their charactercombats in which any mean advantage was scorned. Scott caught the idea of the ancient Gael excellently in his Roderick Dhu. And the Fenian ballads, both those of genuine origin and those of Macpherson, breathe a spirit of heroism and old-world life and generosity that can only be compared to Homer and the early Greek heroes. Indeed, the Celts and Greeks were much alike; of course they were descended from the same Aryan stock, but, all the same, they kept a wonderful similarity to each other in their

separate existence and under widely different conditions. Both races were poetic and æsthetic; the Greeks were the originators of poetic form in ancient times, and the Celts gave the magic of rhyme to modern poetry.

Our third point is the patriotism of Gaelic poetry. The Highlanders have a remarkable position among the nations--a mountaineer people deeply and passionately fond of their country. For it they were at all times prepared to sacrifice their allthemselves. Whether under their chiefs, inspirited by the chants of their bards and the strains of their music, or fighting for our general country of Britain, in regiments--"all plaided and plumed in tartan array "—where have they ever been known to turn their backs on the foe? The poetry is full of their patriotic feeling; their country, its institutions and its glory, are perennial themes, potent to inspire both bard and people. We need only refer to the last Rebellion as a proof of our position. The Highlanders clung to the old Stuart race with a passion, deep and abiding, and the mark which that struggle has left on the literature of the Gaels is correspondingly prominent, for a great part of Gaelic poetry and prose has Prince Charlie for its theme. Alexander Macdonald was in arms for the cause, and his most vigorous poems were written for it; while Duncan Ban, a soldier of the Crown at the time, was delighted to run his best in flight before his Highland kinsmen. He could even be a coward in appearance for his country's sake-possibly a higher pitch of self-sacrifice than any else. The history of Ireland presents another instance of Celtic patriotism. The struggle is also deeply imprinted on its literature. When Wales irrevocably lost its liberty, it turned to its ancient stores of literature, and lived over again in imagination the Homeric times of King Arthur, "who is to come again, and thrice as fair." The beautiful Arthurian legends, which attracted Milton, and inspired Tennyson to produce in them his masterpieces, belong to the Bretonic branch of the Celts; they sprung up in Britanny and in Wales. From these countries they overran medieval Europe, and fired the songs of the troubadours and poets of both the Teutonic and Romance nations.

Our next point deals with the love-songs of the Gael. Few nation in the world can boast of such tender and affecting productions on the subject of love; the Gaelic language seems here "to the manner born" made, like Anacreon, to sing of love alone. Their songs glow forth from their hearts, pure as the crystalcoloured waters that stream out from the mountainous recesses

of their native country. At the shrine of this divine power,
this all-pervading essence-love-was poured out nearly three-
fourths of all their poetry. In adversity and in prosperity,
in sorrow and in joy, the Highlander was equally mindful of
breathing his feelings to woman. He lived for her, and died for
her. She always exercised a peculiar influence over him that
never failed to inspire and enliven his soul, however conditioned.
He seemed to possess a very clear conception of the relation in
which woman stands to man socially, and we seldom or never find
him to have betrayed her confidence or dishonoured her fidelity.
It was not as the phlegmatic, materialistic generations of our time
do that the Highlanders of old loved. They might have been
simple; but whether or not, they were certainly truthful. In
this respect they can be compared to the Minno-singers of Ger-
many, and to the Italians of past ages. This similarity, perhaps,
can be accounted for through the affinity that exists between the
languages of these nations, and the probable inheritance of some
manners and customs at once common to all of them.
under the impression that neither the Italians nor the Germans
possess love-songs that are more pathetic, more pregnant with in-
tense feeling, more innocently natural, more sublimely spontane-
ous than the Highlanders of Britain. In this we hope we are not
claiming too much for them. But where can we find anything more
characteristically human, more true to nature under the fervent
emotions of love, than the "Mair iBhan Og" of Donnachadh Ban.
We quote in proof these lines from William Ross, the
"Burns of the Highlands:"-

"Ge binn cuach 's ge binn smeorach,
'S ge binn coisir 's gach crann,
'Seinn ciuil domh 'n coill smudain,
Theich mo shugradh-s' air chall—
Tha mi daonnan a' smaointeach'
Air mo ghaol anns a' ghleann,
'S mi air tuiteam am mighean,
Gun a briodal bhi ann.

"'N uair a bhithinn-s' mo mhin-mhal'
An gleannan riomhach na cuaich,
No 'n doire fasgach na smeoraich,
Gabhail solais air chuairt;
Cha mhalairtinn m' eibhneas
O bhi ga h-eugmhais car uair,
Airson beartas fhir-stata

'Dh' aindeoin airdead an uaill,"

But we are

In the frozen atmosphere of our day, all this ennobling, edifying, and beautifying element in our poetry, may very likely be sneered at. Love is now, like friendship, very much a condition of self-interest from a business point of view. But such it

was not before now; and a true-hearted Highlander will admire his ancestors as much for their highly advanced ideas of this passion as for any other good qualification which they are known to have ever possessed. We find those nations always the best and the most civilised where woman is loved and respected. In giving her the position of trust and eminence to which she is virtually entitled, man raises himself considerably beyond such as cannot appreciate her. Love therefore is never to be despised. It is the sunshine of life, and the light of the social world.

The descriptive element of Gaelic poetry is, in our opinion, the most poetic of all that enters into the constitution of it. When describing the magnificent scenery of the land of the heather and craggy bens, the Gaelic poet was more truly himself than at any other time. The sublimity of conception, the variety of idealities, and the striking felicity of expression displayed in all songs and poems descriptive of our hills and glens, of our mountains and valleys, of our streams and rivers, and of our woods and forests, are undoubtedly the masterpieces of Gaelic poetry. Here the Gaelic poet drew his inspiration from all the glorious manifestations of nature on earth known to him; and the harmony with which he evolved his poetic creations from such betrays the unlimited use of that Heavenly gift of humanising and transubstantiating nature's external world peculiar to a poet. In reading the poetry of the Highlands of Britain, it is evident that the reflective organs of the poets' minds were remarkably impressionable to the beautiful scenery of their native land, and that their representations or reproductions of those impressions affected deeply the race to whom they were delivered. The Highlanders seem to have been as susceptible to the beauty of their native country as they were to that of their women. It was the source of their patriotism, the nucleus around which nearly all their affections revolved, and the centre from which their most ambitious aspirations took their rise. The poets knew this, and failed not to make extensive use of it in appealing to the passions of the people. From the bards of heroic times down to the poets of our own day, nearly all have dwelt more or less upon this idea, and interspersed their works with direct or indirect references to the all-glorious charms of the picturesque magnificence of Highland scenery. There is no better criterion by which to go in judging the mental

advancement of a nation than its descriptive poetry; for it is from this that we can have revealed to us, not only the impressionability of a nation, but, more particularly, the civilisation of a nation, which is of incomparably greater consequence from a philosophical stand-point. In this light the Highlanders of old present to us, as now conceived through their descriptive poetry, a picture of refinement that truly astonishes us.

Little now remains to be added regarding the last part of our subject—the Poetic Value of Gaelic Poetry--in other words, how many or how few of the elements that constitute poetry are to be met with in the Gaelic poetry of the Highlands of Britain ? We need not recapitulate what we have written regarding it to confirm here the genuineness of it as poetry. Does it not create worlds of love and friendship in the minds of the brave sons of the Gael? Does it not engender the tenderest affections in their hearts? Does it not, even now, awaken the most glorious associa tions in their souls? And, not only in these respects, but in all others that mark true poetry, we have in the Gaelic portions of Celtic poetry, as a whole, something that approaches to poetic perfection. They are an ocean of poetic passion, a sea of poetic intensities, a forest of poetic fancies, they teem with poetry's soul-stirring sentiments, and are all alive with poetry's life-sweetening dreamings; even the very language in which they are written is peculiarly and supremely poetic.

1ST APRIL 1885.

On this date, after the transaction of some routine business, Mr D. Campbell, of the Northern Chronicle, proceeded to give, with the aid of maps specially prepared, a brief account of the provinces and the divisions of the old Kingdom of Alba, after which he went on to show that Alba had two main lines of defence. The northern one extended from the Moray Firth to Inverlochy. The southern one, which before the appearance of the Scandinavians was by far the more important of the two, began on the Drumalban watershed, passed down Glenlyon to Fortingall, called of old Fotherchill, and thence to Dunkeld, where it bi-forked. Inverammon, or Rathammon, at the mouth of the Almond, and Perth, in Gaelic Baile Feairt, formed a sort of front defence to the regal seat of Scone, while from Dunkeld following the hills, then crossing Strathmore to Dunsinnane, and thence curving along the chief range of the lower Grampians, stretched a long chain of fortified places to Dunottar, which was of old variously written Dun-fother and