Matheson Collection > Gaelic songs of Mary MacLeod

ii8 NOTES
force of 700 men raised by Sir Roderick of Talisker in 1650
in response to a proclamation issued by King Charles II on
his arrival in Scotland.
413. For the MacLeods' Norse descent see note to 1. 696.
416. We need not trouble to take literally this poetic ex-
aggeration; cf. 5. 113, Or an do Lochiall, le Gille-easbuig Domh-
nallach:
Chan 'eil fineadh feadh Alba am bheil buaidh
Nach 'eil Camshronaich fuaight' riu gu beachd.
417. A reference to the Irish connexions of the MacDonalds,
to whom Sir Norman was related through his second wife,
the daughter of Sir James MacDonald of Sleat, and through
his mother, Isabel, daughter of Donald MacDonald of Glen
Garry, after whom Sir Roderick Mòr's five sons were called
" coignear mhac uasal Iseabail " .
Eire, f. gen. Èireann, dat. Èirinn.
433 ff. We do not know when Sir Norman's two younger
brothers, William of Hamer and Donald of Greshornish, died;
his elder brothers, Iain Mòr and Sir Roderick of Talisker,
died in 1649 and 1675 respectively; the poem is therefore
later than 1675.
438. Note niov with pres. subj. expressing a negative wish;
now obsolete. Nior is n\ (neg.) and the particle ro.
459 ff. It is noticeable that the place given to the bow is
now secondary to that of firearms. Mr. James Fraser, who
was born in 1634, died in 1709, and commenced his Poli-
chronicon in 1666, notes there that " that manly art " (of
archery) " is wearing away by degrees, and the gun takeing
place ". The last battle fought in Scotland in which bows
are recorded to have been used was also the last clan battle,
that of Maol Ruadh (Mulroy) in Lochaber, between the Mac-
Donalds of Keppoch, under CoUa nam bo, and the Mackin-
toshes of Moy (see T., p. 142, 143 ff.); it took place in 1688.
See further BGh. 310.
471. The translation adopts the conjecture crann.
474. Commerce between Gal way and the western isles may
have been direct, or through the Lowland ports. It is interest-
ing to note that sioda na Gailbhinn is still known in Skye
and Lewis as applied to a delicate kind of grass.