Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 1, 1893

THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT
SCOTTISH GAELS.
By Colonel Charles Stewart (Tigh n di in),
i " TlIK < I M I.I. Kl v,.imiM I \ Si .1
i. ii : " ■• Kiu.ix Collection of
r^HP7?-II EN 1 was a youth at the University,
■ '\ if NVl ' wtM ' e taught that all nations start-
' v v ing from barbarism rose up gradually
to the culture that many now enjoy. Modern
research, however, and its discoveries has dis-
sipated this theory, and shown that culture, like
the tides of the ocean, has its advances and
ii . So lias it been in the history of our
Scottish Oaeldom, and also in that of Ireland,
whose association, both in peace and war (espe-
cially during the third century) is so unmistak-
ably given in the records of these countries.
I speak, however, of the Scottish Gaels; but
it is impossible not to bear the Irish in mind, as
there arc so many points of oneness and contact,
as to make continual illustrations and confirma-
tions of real historical facts.
First, I will take as points of comparison the
third century and the fifteenth. The former
was distinguished for its glorious freedom,
national and personal, under Fingal, in the
Scottish, and Cuchullin and Cormac MacAirt in
the Irish Gaeldom. Mark well, however, that
that freedom was no! license, but restrained
both for high and low by the legal and tradi-
tional bounds which Cormac MacAirt has
formulated in his celebrated " Book of Acaill "
(circa a.i>. 267). It was also the century of
the highest bardic literature, which Goethe and
many others place above Homer. Its greatesl
exponents were Ossian, Ullin, and Carrill : but
not them only. Few will now dispute the
genuineness ut Homer since the discoverii at
His-ar-lik, and few the genuineness of Ossian
since the di coverj of the oneness in facts, as
related Ii;, t he I rish and Scot t ish hi itOl -
this earlj era., and their indisputable concur
fence in the great events common to both all
which was unknown to MacPherson, whose
explanations (called ly him " argument ') are
superbly ridiculous and ignorant. The history
given by these bards is continually shown more
and more to be truthful; their tales are n,,t
fables, but genuine incidents, clothed in whole
si i filiation ; their biographies were real;
and their ethics, culminating in the inn talitj
of our 8piritS, was such, that, though in some
respects imperfect, in others it points hack to
the "law of God," w ritte i man's heart at the
beginning. Turning from this to the fifteenth
century, we find the rulers autocrats, and the
people thralls, without national freedom, or
personal freedom either, in body, soul, or spirit.
Since the days of Adamnan their biographies
i tiall\ falsitied. and so, I ft en. was
their bistorj . Some of the upper cli
ducation at the monasteries, but the
lower orders were in pitiful ignorance. The
tales which they delighted in •
childish and ridiculous, whilst the literature of
these later cent uries w ill no limn- compare to
that of the third centurythan Samuel Johnson's
poet iy w ill \\ i til Shakespeare's.
Fully to realise the cul oi the early cen-
turies, we must realise the position of the bard l,
They were a great order, consisting of several
seven it is said. Both males and
females were eligible for even the highest orders.
The children of those in high rank were taught
in their colleges, whilst the people were effec-
tually taught by their chanted poetry, especially
in history, which was an indispensable- adjunct
to their continual feasts and assemblies. The
curriculum extended to twelve veins, in order to
take the lowest degree ; and for some degrees it
is said to have been twenty. History, music,
law, poetry, literature, and philosophy formed
part of the subjects taught by them. We find
that at Tuaui Drecain, in the sixth century,
there w ere three professorships of different sub
jects. We have also proof of the existence of
these colleges at earlier dates. Thus w e know
that Cormac MacAirt called the bardic leaders
to him at Acaill (circa A.D. 267), to help him in
composing his celebrated code of laws, called
the " Book of Acaill." The same is true of
Celts elsewhere. Thus Ammianus, writing in
the fourth century, tells us that amongst the
Cells of (hud three classes of professors existed,
who taught history, the system of nature, and a
philosophy which pronounced the spirits of men
to lie immortal (Book xv., c. 10). Strabo
( I'.i ink i\.) also refers in part to the same fa. -Is.
1 have said that woman attained In a high
rank amongst the hauls, and perhaps I can in
no other way show the high culture of
the third century Gaels than by comparing the
position bestowed on her to that given by the
Fathers of the Church in the third and fourth
centuries. To realise this, just compare Ossian's
pictures, in his poetry, of F viral Ian, Covalla, and
Malvina, with Tertullian's "Devil's Gateway,"
( Ihrysostom's " I *esirable Calamity," and others
i .". ..It in- tor in\ reproduction in your pages,
(See i ;.„/, ,>,/„„, a// i:,riew of September, 1889,
article bj Dr, Donaldson). When we eoine to
music the same high Culture meets us. and
1st The ancient Gaelic music was charac-
terised by the nature of the chant. It still, in
ii modern SOng form, hears the same analogy.
2nd. It was harmonical, as we mad of its
being constantly accompanied by the harp. We