Cuckoos in the greenwood
Warbling to the May.
It is of course impossible to preserve the music of the original in any translation; the renderings given above are intended merely to indicate something of the spirit of the lyric treasures enshrined in Gaelic. Any one turning to our collections of poetry, especially to Sinclair’s “Oranaiche,” will at once see that the Highlands are as rich as the Lowlands in song literature, and that the poetry produced, is of an equally high order. There are hundreds of pieces nameless and claimless on the lips of thousands which will continue to be sung as long as there will be a tongue to speak the Gaelic language. Such has been the poetic literature which for ages the Gael has chiefly loved and cherished, and the better recognition of which would enable the Highlander and Lowlander alike to show to the world a body of song such as no country of the size of Scotland has ever yet produced. Many suppose that the ancient language of Caledonia is dead or dying;—it was never read nor written so extensively as now. And it ought to be further remembered that the lyric genius of the Highland Celt is not confined to what we have in Gaelic. Many men of Gaelic extraction have exhibited their gift of song and music in other spheres. Not to speak of the poets Ferguson and Burns, in whose veins Celtic blood largely flowed, Thomas Campbell, was one of these. Hector Macneill, the hope of Scotland [after the death] of Burns, was another. The connection of Lord Macaulay with the lyric genius of the Gael has been already pointed out. The songs of Dr Charles Mackay are known to all the readers of English poetry; and those of Peter Macneill of Tranent are on the full tide of popular esteem. The names of George Macdonald and Robert Buchanan are familiar to all the students of contemporary literature. In the kindred spheres of music and the drama we come across the names of Mr Hamish MacCunn, Dr A. C. Mackenzie, President of the Royal Academy of Music, and the prima donna Miss Macintyre. Scores of others might be mentioned whose genius is traceable to their Gaelic extraction, there being scarcely a Highland clan name that has not its representative among the crowned sons of song. In the ecclesiastical world the stars of Celtic or Gaelic names are a legion. The position of Archbishop in the great see of York has been attained successively by two men of Gaelic extraction—the eloquent Magee being a descendant of the Mackays of Islay, and his successor MacLagan being a member of a distinguished Highland family which has given us the Gaelic bard MacLagan, a profound Professor of Theology, late of Aberdeen—and now the Archbishop himself.
The survey which we have just taken of our popular poetry clearly indicates that the Gaelic is still the language in which many compose and write. Many would heartily sing thus with Professor Blackie:—
Is there a Gael that dare despise
His mither tongue and a’ that,
And clips his words in Saxon wise?
He’s but a cuif for a’ that,
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their hums and ha’s and a’ that,