[ [175] These satirical lines on the family of Dunolly are given as a specimen of the strain indulged in at times by the bards, to gratify their animosity against hostile clans. It need hardly be added, that the Macdougalls of Lorn were a race as distinguished for the antiquity of their descent, as for the high character of many of the name.
[ [176] This John M’Muirich, or M’Vurrich, was in all likelihood a member of the family who were so long bards to Clanranald, and who derived their name from their great ancestor in the thirteenth century, Muireach Albanach. A list of the names of these bards is given for eight generations by Lachlan, who lived in 1800, in his declaration, as given in the Report of the Highland Society on Ossian, but it does not embrace this John. The piece is chiefly interesting from the historical references at the close.
[ [177] This writer was probably an ecclesiastic, but nothing is known of him.
[ [178] This composition is one of the few of the more recent fragments in this MS. which appear elsewhere. We have a copy of it in the collection of Gaelic poems made by Ronald M’Donald, schoolmaster of Eigg, son of Alexander M’Donald, the famous Skye bard. M’Donald’s edition was most likely taken down from oral recitation, and it is remarkable how little it differs from this of the Dean’s, 250 years before.
[ [179] Alexander was a family name of the Macgregors of Glenstrae. In the obituary contained in this MS. is the following entry:—1526. Obitus Gregorii filii Johannis M’Gregor, alias M’Evine M’Allester de Glenschray. This would indicate the period of Alexander as about the middle of the fifteenth century.
[ [180] This Finlay is the author of several pieces in this miscellany. He is apparently the Finlay M’Nab to whom another composition is attributed, and is called in one place “Am bard maith,” The good poet. He seems to have been the family bard of M’Gregor, the praise of whose horse he here proclaims in most poetic strains.
[ [181] Duseivlin was one of the famous steeds of the Feinn.
[ [182] The beast of Lamacha, “Aidhre an Lamacha,” is entirely unknown to the Editor. The animal is called “Beisd,” a beast, in a subsequent part of the poem. It must have been some animal famous in the country for its ugliness.
[ [183] The girdle of gold would seem to have been the prize conferred upon the victor in a race.
[ [184] The schools of the bards. Many Highland bards at this period were trained in Ireland, of which these poems bear evident marks.