[ [89] Hospitality was one of the highest qualifications of a Celtic chief. Ossian never fails to sing the generous, open-handed hospitality of his father Finn. Till a late period the same feature of character distinguished the Scottish Highlander, although modern civilisation is fast uprooting it, and overlaying the character of the simple Highlander with the selfishness peculiar to itself. Even now, in most part of the Highlands, the door of a hut is never closed by day,—a practice said to originate in the universal sense of the ready reception due to the wayfarer and the stranger. Is the seven sides of Fingal’s house an orientalism?
[ [90] This Poet is obviously a Scotchman; but judging from another of his compositions in this volume, he was, like the Scottish bards of his time, well acquainted with the bardic literature of Ireland. This arose from the frequent intercourse between the two countries during their early history, and the number of Scotchmen educated both in the Medical and Bardic Schools of Ireland. This is one of the circumstances which renders it so difficult now, in the absence of authentic historical documents, to extricate much of the social history of the two countries. Hence the rival Scottish and Irish claims to many of our Celtic literary remains. There is no doubt that the poets of both countries interwove with their compositions the traditions of the race, without much regard to whether these were Scotch or Irish. The Irish trace this common literature to the fact of the Irish colonization of Scotland, which they maintain was the origin of the Celtic population of the latter country; but it is by no means necessary to go so far back in order to find sufficient cause for the fact. Christianity seems to have formed the first solid basis of union between the two countries, and a common Christianity was without doubt the means of long maintaining it. This composition is usually called “Bàs Dhiarmaid,” The death of Diarmad.
[ [91] A valley in the eastern part of Perthshire, where the grave of Diarmad is pointed out to this day. M’Rorie appears to have been an inhabitant of the neighbourhood, for he speaks of Glenshee as being close beside him. The name of Glenshee is derived from the word “Gleann,” a valley, and “sìth,” a hill of a peculiar form. This word is found in the names of several Scottish hills, as “Sìth challain,” Schihallion; “Beinn shìth,” Ben Hi; “An t-Sìth mhòr,” the great pointed hill. “Sìthan,” a hillock. The word has been often mistaken for “Sìth,” peace, whence the name “Sitheach, sithichean,” a fairy, fairies, has been absurdly rendered the peace folk, instead of the folk of the hills, referring to their reputed residence in earthen mounds.
[ [92] “Ben Gulbin,” the mountain of the beak, lies at the head of Glenshee. There is a hill with a similar name in Ireland, whence Conall Gulbain, one of the kings of Ulster, took his designation. There is a “water of Gulbin,” and a “Torgulbin,” in the braes of Lochaber; but the reference to Glenshee fixes the scene of the death of Diarmad in Perthshire. There is, as is common in Highland topography, a stream called Gulbin, whence a valley of the same name, and then a mountain. The names in similar cases seem to have been primarily attached to the streams, whence they ascended through the valleys to the hills. We have an instance of this in the River Nevis, Glen Nevis, Ben Nevis, the “neamhais,” referring to its impetuosity, having been in all likelihood originally applied to the stream.
[ [93] Mac O’Duine is the patronymic of Diarmad. Hence the Campbell clan, besides being called “Clann Diarmaid,” The race of Diarmad, are called also “Clann O’Dùine,” or The children of O’Duine.
[ [94] The chase of the boar was a favourite employment among the ancient Celts. It is celebrated in many of their tales. Besides this, the sow enters largely into their ancient mythology. Even in this case the boar was possessed of magical properties, as will be seen in the subsequent portion of this poem. It is not unlikely that at an early period the Celts worshipped the sow like the Egyptians, whose worship of it might have been one reason why it was pronounced unclean. Whether the Celts worshipped it or not, it is manifest that it was held in high esteem, for its figure is engraved on most of the ancient sculptured stones of Scotland. Among the Welsh it is a national emblem, and hence one argument for the ancient Picts being British, as these stones are found confined to the ancient Pictish territory. The word “muc,” a sow, enters largely into Scottish topography. We have “Eilean nam muc,” the Isle of muck, or Sow island. The ancient name of St. Andrews was “Muc ros,” the Sow’s headland, and we know that the sow is associated with the memory of St. Regulus. There is a “Bridge of Turk,” or the Boar’s bridge, near the Trosachs. There is a “Slochd muice,” or the Sow’s hollow, near Inverness, on the Highland road, a name derived from a hillock shaped like a sow’s back, in the bottom of the chasm a little to the west of where the coach road crosses; and there is “Sròn muice,” The Sow’s snout, on the north side of Loch Ness, derived from the resemblance of a hill-face to that part of the animal. These two latter names are manifestly derived from natural resemblances, and have nothing to do with mythology.
[ [95] The “schools,” referred to frequently in Ossianic tales, were probably military, although there can be no doubt that there was a learned class among the ancient Celts. Cæsar tells us, as already observed, that the Gauls used the Greek letters, and that their priests were educated in Britain. The “oghum” character, whose antiquity is pretty thoroughly established, is another evidence of ancient literary cultivation.
[ [96] The Gaelic is “tan-lann,” the thin sword. Was this steel or merely bronze? The thinness would seem to indicate steel.
[ [97] It is hardly necessary to point out the resemblance here between the sole of Diarmad and the heel of Achilles. Achilles could only be wounded in the heel, Diarmad only in the sole of the foot. The Adonis of the ancient Greeks was slain by a boar. There are remarkable analogies between classical and Celtic tradition.
[ [98] Essaroy, vide supra, p. 18, n. This is manifestly the Essaroy of Scotland, which is in the heart of one of the finest hunting regions in the world. Nor is it at any great distance from either of the Gulbins.