JOHN STUART BLACKIE. (1809-1895.)
[PAGE 222]
The late Professor Blackie was born in Glasgow and brought up for the law. This he forsook for literature, and ultimately, in 1852, was appointed to the Greek Chair in Edinburgh University. All particulars of the brilliant Professor’s life and writings will be found in the recently-published biography by Miss Anna Stoddart. Professor Blackie’s name will always be held in affectionate regard for his unselfish efforts to preserve and cultivate the Gaelic language and literature, and because of his having been mainly instrumental in founding the Chair of Celtic Literature in the University of Edinburgh. His poetical writings are mostly to be found in Lays and Legends of Ancient Greece (1857), Lyrical Poems (1860), and Lays of the Highlands and Islands (1872).
ROBERT BUCHANAN.
[PAGE 224]
The foremost Scoto-Celtic poet of our time, was born in Glasgow, 1841. It would be needless to give particulars concerning the life and work of so eminent a contemporary. Lovers of the Celtic Muse will doubtless be familiar (or if not, ought to be) with Mr Buchanan’s Book of Orm. Much of his early poetry is strongly imbued with the Celtic atmosphere. Those who have read his several volumes of verse need no further guidance, but readers unacquainted with the poetical work of one of the foremost poets of our day should obtain the collective edition of his poems published by Messrs Chatto & Windus. “The Flower of the World” (page 224), “The Dream of the World without Death” (pages 228-234) are from The Book of Orm; “The Strange Country” comes from Miscellaneous Poems and Ballads (1878-1883). No more memorable poem than “The Dream” has been written by an Anglo-Celtic poet.
LORD BYRON. (1788-1824.)
[PAGES 238-239]
Byron is represented in Lyra Celtica by virtue of his Celtic blood and undoubtedly Celtic nature, rather than because there is much trace of Celtic influence in his poetry. The two lyrics given here may be taken as fairly representative of that part of his poetical work which may with some reason be called Celtic, though, of course, there is nothing in them which radically differentiates them from the lyrics of any English poet. More than one eminent critic, foreign as well as British, has claimed for Byron that he was the representative Celtic voice of the early part of the century; but Byron was really much more the voice of his own day and time than anything more restricted.
CRODH CHAILLEAN.
[PAGE 240]
This familiar Highland Milking Song is given in the translation of Dr Alexander Stewart of Nether Lochaber.
MACCRIMMON’S LAMENT.
[PAGE 241]
Perhaps the most famous pipe-tune in the Highlands is the “Cumha mhic Criomein,” composed by Donald Bàn MacCrimmon, on the occasion of the Clan MacLeod, headed by their chief, embarking to join the Royalists in 1746. The Lament is said to have been composed by Donald Bàn under the influence of a presentiment that he as well as many others of the clan would never return; a presentiment fulfilled, for he was killed in a skirmish near Moyhall. The tune and the chorus are old, but it is commonly believed the poem was composed by Dr Norman Macleod; at any rate, they first appeared in a Gaelic article on the MacCrimmons, which he contributed in 1840 to “Cuairtear nan Gleann” (“Fionn,” the Celtic Monthly). The translation here given is that of Professor Blackie.