Ossian Collection > Gaelic bards

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4 MODERN GAELIC BARDS.
that the side of MacDonalcl's head, which rested on the
ground, became quite grey in a single night.
After this, he lived a short time in Edinburgh, teaching
the children of some of his Jacobite friends. But he soon
returned again to the Highlands, where he remained till
his death, which happened (in what year is not stated),
when he had reached " a good old age."
Reid, in his "Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica," gives a
description of the poet's personal appearance and habits,
which is certainly very far from flattering.
" In person," Mr. Reid says, " MacDonald was large
and ill-favoured. His features were very coarse and
irregular. His clothes Avere very sluggishly put on, and
generally very dirty. His mouth was continually fringed
with a stream of tobacco-juice, of which he chewed a very
great quantity. His manner of composition was to lie on
his back, in bed in winter, or on the grass in summer,
with a large stone on his breast, muttering to himself in
a low whisper his poetical aspirations."
It is in reference to this and other parts of Reid's
notice of MacDonald, that MacKenzie in his "Beauties of
Gaelic Poetry " says, " Like most men of genius, who
have made some noise in the world, Mac Mhaighstir
Alastair has been much lauded, on the one side, by the
party whose cause he espoused, and as much vilified, and
as much falsified, by the other jDarty. Mr. Reid in his
book, ' Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica,' seems to have had his
imformation from the last mentioned source."
The grotesque description of MacDonald then, just
quoted, is probably a total fabrication ; or at any rate,
a gross caricature by one of his enemies. Who ever
heard of a poet, or any sane man, lying on his back in
his bed, or on the grass, with a stone on his breast when
he was composing ! A small spice of malice, or a drop of
envy to anoint the eyes, and a description of Burns might
very readily be given about as bad as the above ;
substituting the smell of whisky for tobacco-juice, and