Sir Duncan Campbell is described as “Duncan MacCailein, the good knight.” He was Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, son of Sir Colin, who died in 1478. He must have been a knight of some courtly and literary importance in his day, for he not only wrote poetry in Gaelic, but he obtained from the powers that were charters to extensive lands in Perthshire, and became one of the Earls of Breadalbane. He is the author of several pieces of poetry which have been characterised as remarkable for caustic humour, indulged in sometimes at the expense of the female sex. A published poem of his is a satirical elegy on a miser, a species of beggar humanity that the world has not yet succeeded in extinguishing. I give a literal metrical translation of some of the verses:—
Who is now the chief of beggars
Since the best of them is gone?
Sorely down our tears are streaming
Since his begging face has flown.
Piteous is the orphan’s case;
Death to begging ill has brought;
In each homestead there is sorrow,
As the begging can’t be taught.
Ever since our God created