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The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume II. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century By: Charles Rogers (1825-1890) |
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THE MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL; BY CHARLES ROGERS, LL.D.
F.S.A. SCOT. VOL. II.
ALTRIVE.
THE RESIDENCE OF THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. EDINBURGH:
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE,
BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS TO THE QUEEN.] [Illustration: [Signature: James Hogg] THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD Lithographed from an original Portrait in the possession of his widow
by Schenck & McFarlane, Edinburgh.]
THE MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL; OR, THE SONGS OF SCOTLAND OF THE
PAST HALF CENTURY.
WITH Memoirs of the Poets, AND SKETCHES AND SPECIMENS
IN ENGLISH VERSE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED
MODERN GAELIC BARDS.
BY CHARLES ROGERS, LL.D.
F.S.A. SCOT.
IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. II.
EDINBURGH:
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE,
BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS TO HER MAJESTY. M.DCCC.LVI.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY,
PAUL'S WORK.
TO JOHN BROWN, ESQ., OF MARLIE. My dear Sir, I dedicate to you this second volume of "THE MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL,"
as a sincere token of my estimation of your long continued and most
disinterested friendship, and of the anxiety you have so frequently
evinced respecting the promotion of my professional views and literary
aspirations. I have the honour to be,
My dear Sir,
your most obliged,
and very faithful servant,
CHARLES ROGERS. Argyle House, Stirling,
December 1855.
INTRODUCTION TO The Modern Gaelic Minstrelsy.[1]
The suspicion which arose in regard to the authenticity of Ossian,
subsequent to his appearance in the pages of Macpherson, has unjustly
excited a misgiving respecting the entire poetry of the Gael. With
reference to the elder poetry of the Highlands, it has now been
established[2] that at the period of the Reformation, the natives were
engrossed with the lays and legends of Bards and Seanachies,[3] of which
Ossian, Caoillt, and Cuchullin were the heroes. These romantic strains
continued to be preserved and recited with singular veneration. They
were familiar to hundreds in different districts who regarded them as
relics of their ancestors, and would as soon have mingled the bones of
their fathers with the dust of strangers, as ventured on the alteration
of a single passage. Many of the reciters of this elder poetry were
writers of verses,[4] yet there is no instance of any attempt to alter
or supersede the originals. Nor could any attempt have succeeded. There
are specimens which exist, independent of those collected by Macpherson,
which present a peculiarity of form, and a Homeric consistency of
imagery, distinct from every other species of Gaelic poetry. Of an uncertain era, but of a date posterior to the age of Ossian, there
is a class of compositions called Ur sgeula ,[5] or new tales , which
may be termed the productions of the sub Ossianic period. They are
largely blended with stories of dragons and other fabulous monsters; the
best of these compositions being romantic memorials of the
Hiberno Celtic, or Celtic Scandinavian wars. The first translation from
the Gaelic was a legend of the Ur sgeula . The translator was Ierome
Stone,[6] schoolmaster of Dunkeld, and the performance appeared in the
Scots Magazine for 1700. The author had learned from the monks the
story of Bellerophon,[7] along with that of Perseus and Andromeda, and
from these materials fabricated a romance in which the hero is a
mythical character, who is supposed to have given name to Loch Fraoch,
near Dunkeld. Belonging to the same era is the "Aged Bard's Wish,"[8] a
composition of singular elegance and pathos, and remarkable for certain
allusions to the age and imagery of Ossian. This has frequently been
translated. Somewhat in the Ossianic style, but of the period of the
Ur sgeula are two popular pieces entitled Mordubh [9] and Collath .
Of these productions the imagery is peculiarly illustrative of the
character and habits of the ancient Gael, while they are replete with
incidents of the wars which the Albyn had waged with their enemies of
Scandinavia... Continue reading book >>
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