Ossian Collection > Ossian, his principal poems

THE HARP IX THE HIGHLANDS. 339
at the head quarters of an army* had been occasionally kept
up among the Highland chiefs, at least had not been alto-
gether laid aside at that period. It could be here shewn that
from the middle of the sixth century, about the time of St.
Columba's establishment at Icohnkill. and until the end of
the twelfth century, the superior clergy were generally per-
formers on the harp ; that singing to the harp was considered
an indispensable part of the education of the upper ranks of
society during that period ; and that at their festivals it was
custoiuary for the harp to be handed round, and each of the
company in his turn to sing to it, as was done by the heroes
of the ancient Gaelic poems already alluded to. This cus-
tom, together with the peculiar notions of shame which
were associated with the want of this accomplishment, were
introduced from Asia with the harp itself, by our Cale-
donian ancestors, from whom the custom, accompanied by
the very same notions, descended successively to the Cmhi-
bro Britons, and to the Anglo Saxons. It was probably
at this period that the separation of poet and musician in
the same person, — at least, that the separate profession of a
mins^trel, or merely instrumental performei', — took place in
Ireland and the Highlands, and that, from the cultivation of
the harp by the clergy of that time, some additional strings
may have been added to it, and its practice may have been
conducted on improved principles, which ultimately led to
that surprising degree of command of the instrument, to
which we shall now see the harpers of Ireland and of the
Highlands attained in the twelfth century.
* The Earl of Aigyle's harper was present at the battle of Strath-
aven, on the third of October, 1594.