Blair Collection > Treatise on the language, poetry, and music of the Highland clans

204 THE MUSIC
Mo bhoid gu gramail thoirt do'n eala * And vow by the swan,*
mo voyd gu gramayl lioyrt don ella
Dh-f heuch an lean mo chliu rium, So as my reputation may adhere to me,
yeych au len mo clili-u ri-um
Cha teid deur a stigh fo m' dheudaich. That not a drop shall pass my teeth,
oha teyd deyr a sti' fom yeyd-aych
'S fheudar tighinn as iunais, Of necessity I must eschew drink,
'3 ey-dar ti'-inn sa i-u-nays
Cha'n fhaigh fear falamh seol air aran For a moneyless man can only make
chan ay' fer falav so-ol ayr aran his bread
Ach le fallas gnuise. By the sweat of his brow,
ach le fallas gnuyse
The following song was written by Captain Duncan Campbell, better known
as " Fear Marg-na-ha," when from home doing duty with the Black-Watch or
" Freiceadan-dubh" of which.he was pay-master, before they enlisted into the
anny, when he retired, being a thorough Jacobin. It is beyond my space and
object to notice all the writers of the poems quoted in this treatise ; but I
make this an exception, Marg-na-ha being my father's fother, and because Mr
Mackenzie in his Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, has, with his usual carelessness,
given the credit of the song to Aillean Macthearlaich. The song itself,
fortunately contradicts this statement, for it says in the opening verse, " Na
faighinn cead," (if I could get leave of absence ;) and in another verse, " Ge fad
air chuairt mi," (though long on my rounds) — visiting and paying the
companies at their different detached station : — words entirely military, and
which could not be used by a country proprietor, who was his own master,
like Aillean Macthearlaich. The disinherited Duncan, Lord Ormalie, was
the great-great-grandfather of Margnaha, whose sloineadh or pedigree was
Donnachadh Mac Phadruic, mhic Iain, mhic Iain oig, mhic Dhonnachaidh,
mhic Iain ghlais, Bhraidhealaban. He and his son Iain Og were both at the
battle of Sherifi-muir with the clan; in consequence of which they were
disinherited by the Earl, who was at home, bed-ridden from age, and favourable
to the Hanoverian succession. Although Lord Ormalie was above sixty years
of age at the time of the battle, he so led his clan as to make them one of the
most distinguished in the engagement. They are referred to in the following
extract of one of the many merry little ditties called forth by a battle which
was looked on as a burlesque by the Highland bards, although many brave
men lost their lives there : —
* Never ha\ing before met with this expression in Cielic Poetrj', so far as I can recollect, I
begged of my friend Mr Paterson, whose voluminous works show so much intimacy with the poetry,
history, and antiquities of the Lowlands, to favour me with some explanation on the subject; and I now
submit his very interesting
•' Note. — The vow was made over a roasted swan. Dunbar refers to it in his verses to the king called
■ Johan Tamson's man.' —
' I wad gif all that ever I have. That ye had vowit on the swan,
To that condition, so God me save, Ane year to be Johan Tamson's man.'
' Johan Tamson's man' seems to be a hen-pecked husband ; and Duubar stood in such favour with the
queen, that, if she had her way, he could be certain of his long promised benefice."