Blair Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 4

PUBLISHED AJ^B TRADITIONAL. 1 93
acli, supi^lied with powcler-liorns ;* so lie describes the
dresses which he saw ; but, yet, in a song composed
in praise of the Marquis of Breadalbane, occur the
hnes —
I " 'S tu thog na ciadan
A shliochd nam Fianntan ;"
It is thou who hast raised hundreds
Of the offspring of the Fenians ;
from which it appears that the poet considered his coun-
tiymen to be the descendants of the Ossianic heroes.
He has a song to breeches, in which he complains
sadly of being obliged to wear them ; the tightness
about the knees he considers extremely inconvenient.
" Putanan na gluinean,
As bucalan gan dunadh,"
Buttons in its knees.
And buckles enclosing them.
Like Eoss, Macint}Te rejoiced at having the dress
of his country restored, and at being no longer obliged
to wear —
" Cota ruigeadh an t-sàil,
Cha tigeadh e daicheil duinn."
A coat that would reacli the heel
It would not become us well.
* These words made into English of the same construction,
do not convey the meaning. " Daggery, powdery, horny," would
be absurd in English poetry, but they are the words in Gaelic. —
J. F. C.
VOL. IV. O