An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Deo-gréine > Volume 3, October 1907-September 1908

BOOK REVIEWS.
An Neo-Greine.
Dear ■ Editor,—When you asked me to review
“ Am Bolg So!air” “Sop as gach Seid,” and
“ Na Daoine Sidhe” you gave me the oppor¬
tunity of reading three of the most charming
books I have come across for many a day. On
my arrival in Glasgow during the progress of
Feill a’ Chomuinn Ghaidhealaich, from
that “ somewheres east of Suez,” where I
usually reside, I was not quite prepared for
the widespread interest in, and enthusiasm
for, the language, music, arts and industries of
the Gael which I found prevailing, and of
which I received indubitable proofs at the
Feill. The books you sent me for review—
concerning which, with your permission, I
shall chat in an informal fashion—add one
more proof that even on its purely intellectual
side the Gaelic movement is making solid
progress. “ Am Bolg Solair ” is brimful of
good things. The contents, comprising 26
contributions in prose and verse, are of more
than average merit, some of the pieces being
the work of literateurs whose contributions
would confer distinction on any book. It
opens with an article on “ The Fords of the
Outer Isles,” written with all the literary
grace and artistic skill which have placed the
author of “The Children of the Tempest” in
the front rank of modern novelists. Than
Neil Munro no writer has so unerringly seized
upon the “ atmosphere ” peculiar to these
Outer Isles, and in this article he has portrayed
it for his readers with rare subtlety and sure
touch. Miss Amy Murray, like Neil Munro
and Mr. Alexander Carmichael, has also felt
the fascination of these Outer Isles, and her
article entitled “ The last Ferry ” is dainty in
style and tender in feeling. To many readers
who had the pleasure and privilege of
knowing the late Father Allan MacDonald,
a melancholy interest must attach to his
vigorous Gaelic verses in praise of Eriskay.
Mr. Carmichael gives eight verses of “ Ora
nam Buadh,” a poem which he ‘ rescued ’ in
South Uist. Being of irregular metre only four
of its verses can be sung to the quaintly
beautiful tune composed for it by Mr. W. B.
Moonie. Kuno Meyer describes briefly how
he happened quite recently to discover in the
Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, an Ossianic
poem of the ninth century. It tells the story
of Fothaid Canainne, a warrior king of the
third century who had an intrigue with the
wife of Ailill MacEogainn. Ailill discovered
the intrigue, and having challenged Fothaid
to battle, both fell in mutual combat. It was
given, however, to the spirit or ghost of
Fothaid to appear and keep tryst with the
woman to whom he bequeaths all he died
possessed of. The poem contains 49 stanzas
and is on the eve of being published with a
translation in the Tod Lecture series. Madam
Gwyneth Vaughan writes a beautiful prose
poem entitled “ The Old Song and the New,”
which will repay careful perusal on the part
of the reader. “ Dalua ” by the late Fionna
MacLeod has all the delightful mystery and
witchery which distinguished the writings of
that gifted author. Professor Henderson con¬
tributes a Gaelic version of Lady Lyndsay’s
beautiful and touching ballad—“ Auld Robin
Gray.” The learned professor considers this
song to be “ possibly the choicest song in the
world’s literature,” and he informs us the
Gaelic translation was made by a Mr. Stewart
about the year 1779. I wish the professor
would tell us who this Mr. Stewart was. In
addition to this splendid table of contents
“ Am Bolg Solair ” also contains poems and
articles of very considerable merit by the
Duchess of Sutherland, Duke of Argyll, Lauch-
lan Maclean Watt, Pittendrigh Macgillivray,
Neil MacLeod, David MacRitchie and others.
In a book so ably edited as this, a book, too,
specially published in the interests of the Feill
and with a view to help the Gaelic movement,
I must express my regret and amazement to
find so depressing, so pessimistic an article as
that on “ The Gaelic Outlook ” by Dr. Magnus
MacLean. Dr. MacLean must know that
pessimism is not a-creed from the preaching of
which practical assistance and vigorous effort
result. His article proves that he knows this,
for, towards its close, he makes irrelevant
attempts to becorne cheerful and to give cheer¬
ing advice to his readers. Unfortunately he
founds his arguments in that article on false
premises, and, accordingly, his conclusions are
illogical. In all the islands on the West Coast
of Scotland, in Western Ross and Inverness,
throughout the whole of Argyleshire and very
specially in such populous centres as Easdale
and Ballachulish, Gaelic is the language of
“ the home, public life, religion, and even of
business. Gaelic is the language in which
shopping is done even though the customers
must use such terms as tea, cocoa, coffee, sugar
—terms which are no more indigenous to
English than to Gaelic. If Highland farmers
dispense with Gaelic at the weekly sales it is
because the buyers are Sassenachs and uni-
lingual. Dr. MacLean ought to know that
instead of “ an increasing dearth ” there is
a much greater number of Gaelic books,
grammars and magazines being published
than ever before. There is a larger percentage
of Highlanders than he supposes who read and
write Gaelic correctly, and that percentage is
steadilv increasing, thanks to the more eti-