Matheson Collection > Modern Gaelic bards

HENRY WHYTE, 225
edition or are entirely out of print. His " Celtic Lyre "
is, without doubt, the most popular collection of Gaelic
song and music ever published, and his " Martial Music
of the Clans " dealt exhaustively with a subject which
has not hitherto been adequately treated by any
previous writer. As a translator of Gaelic poetry he
has few equals, and in his " Celtic Lyre " and " Celtic
Garland " he has given to English literature translations
from the Gaelic, not only beautiful and faithful to the
original, but with the additional merit of being singable
to their native Gaelic airs.
In the field of Highland music and song no writer
of our time has contributed so extensively to the
literature on the subject, or has done more to create
the present-day popularity of Highland music than
" Fionn." Not only has he written many original and
popular songs in the vernacular tongue, but he has also
composed the music of one of the most popular Gaelic
songs at present sung at Highland gatherings, " Suas
leis a' Ghaidhlig " (for the song and biographical sketch
of its author see Vol. II.) — " Up with the Gaelic " —
and many other pleasing melodies.
He has also done solid work in Highland history,
many of the sketches of the clans which appear in
Messrs. W. & A. K. Johnston's work, " The Tartans of
the Clans and Septs of Scotland," being from his pen.
This publication, in two volumes, is admittedly the most
exhaustive and sumptuous work ever published on this
subject.
Mr. Whyte's many articles on the history, social
condition, and folk-lore of the Highlands, which have
appeared in numerous newspapers, would, if collected,
form material for many interesting volumes.
He was assistant secretary of the Glasgow Inter-
national Exhibition of 1901, but since the close of that
successful undertaking, he has devoted himself entirely
to Celtic journalism. In September, 1906, the King
was graciously pleased to confer on Mr, Whyte a Civil