Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire Part 24

Chapter XX.

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, BARD TO SIR HECTOR.

This famous bard of Gairloch is remembered in his native parish as Alastair Buidhe Mac Iamhair, or the "yellow-haired Alexander M'Iver."

The surname Campbell is called M'Iver in Gairloch. He was born in 1767, probably at Melvaig, in Gairloch. On his mother's side he was descended from the Mackenzies of s.h.i.+eldaig. His father's ancestor is said to have come from the Lorne country as attendant to Anna, daughter of Macdougal of Dunolly, who, about 1440, became the wife of Alexander the Upright, sixth lord of Kintail, father of Hector Roy Mackenzie. It is said that from the days of Hector Roy the bard's ancestors had always been ground-officers under the lairds of Gairloch.

Alastair Buidhe spent his youthful days at Melvaig, and a.s.sisted his father in the usual avocations of a small farmer. One of his best songs was composed whilst he was herding his father's cattle on the hill at Melvaig.

When he came to man's estate Alastair was appointed by Sir Hector Mackenzie to be one of his ground-officers, as well as his family bard.

He seems to have displayed considerable tact in performing his duties.

Here is an anecdote of him which ill.u.s.trates not only his own character but the footing he was on with Sir Hector. It appears that Sir Hector had been much annoyed with a tenant at Poolewe, who was in arrear with his rent, and would not pay up any part of it. So he called Alastair Buidhe and instructed him to go and demand the rent once more, and in default of payment to take the roof off the house. On the tenant still refusing to pay up, Alastair got on the roof and removed one divot from the ridge at the very top of the roof, and one other from the top of the wall at the lowest part of the roof. Sir Hector, whose kind heart had by this time repented of the order he had given, met Alastair on his return. Sir Hector inquired if he had done the job. Alastair replied that he had. Sir Hector said he hoped he had not done as bad as he had been told. Alastair then told him he had put the highest divot from the roof as far down as the lowest. On this Sir Hector expressed his vexation, and remarked that Alastair had done very badly. Then Alastair said it was not so bad but that it could yet be made better, for that he had only taken off the two divots altogether. Sir Hector said, "Sandy, you are a wiser man than I am."

As bard to Sir Hector, Alastair regularly attended two or three days a week at Flowerdale House, as well as at other times when his services were required. He was much appreciated by every member of the family. Dr Mackenzie, Sir Hector's only surviving son, writing of him under date of 30th August 1878, said:--"I see honest Alastair Buidhe, with his broad bonnet and blue greatcoat (summer and winter), clearly before me now, sitting in the dining-room at Flowerdale, quite 'raised' like, while reciting Ossian's poems, such as 'The Brown Boar of Diarmid' and others (though he had never heard of Macpherson's collection), to very interested visitors, though as unacquainted with Gaelic as Alastair was with English. This must have been as early as 1812 or so, when I used to come into the room after dinner about nine years old." Dr Mackenzie says in his "Odd and End Stories" that it was Alastair who told them the story of Hector Roy and "The Gairloch" (see Part I., chap. ix.). The Doctor adds:--"One of our summer evening amus.e.m.e.nts was getting him (Alastair) to the dining-room after dinner, where, well dined below stairs and primed by a b.u.mper of port wine, he would stand up and with really grand action and eloquence give us poem after poem of Ossian in Gaelic. Alastair could not read, and only understood Gaelic, and these poems came down to him through generations numberless, as repeated by his ancestors around their winter evening fires."

When Alastair became ground-officer and bard to Sir Hector, he took up his abode at Inverkerry near Flowerdale. In his later years he removed to Strath, and Sir Hector allowed him to hold his land there rent free for the rest of his days. He survived his beloved patron seventeen years; he died in 1843, at the age of seventy-six, and was buried in his family grave in the Gairloch churchyard.

Alastair was of middle height, and had, as his Gaelic _soubriquet_ implies, yellow hair; he was a slender man, and never strong at his best. In his later years he suffered from bad health, and was very weakly long before his death.

His character is described as peculiarly attractive; he was of a gentle kindly disposition, highly esteemed by all who knew him of whatever rank, and children loved him as well as their seniors. He had a great fund of humour, combined with a deep sense of the pathetic, and was "splendid company."

William Ross, "the Gairloch bard," and he were intimate friends. As Alastair was wading the Achtercairn river one day, on his way to a sister's wedding, he met William Ross, and humorous verses were hurled from one to the other across the stream in reference to Alastair's coat, which was a "Cota gearr" of homespun cloth slightly dipped in indigo, the colour being between a pale blue and a dirty white. Alastair was also on good terms with Alexander Grant, the great bard of Slaggan.

Alastair was married, and left five sons, viz., Roderick (grandfather of Alexander Mackenzie the historian of the Mackenzies, and editor of the _Celtic Magazine_), Alastair Buidhe, Iain Buidhe, and Donald Buidhe (who was a cripple and became a tailor). Roderick, a son of Evander Buidhe, is now shepherd at Tollie, and has supplied much of the information here given about his grandfather. Another son of Evander Buidhe was in a shop at Inverness, where he died; he made a capital song to his grandfather's old house at Strath, ent.i.tled in Gaelic "Tigh mo Sheanair." So the poetic afflatus of the old bard has not altogether disappeared in his descendants.

It is remarkable that two such bright stars should have illuminated the poetic firmament at the same time in Gairloch as William Ross and Alexander Campbell. It is difficult for a southerner to appreciate the fame of these two Gairloch poets, but it may be said almost to correspond with that of Southey and Wordsworth. The poetry of William Ross appeals most strongly to the cultured mind, whilst Alastair's is more in tune with the simpler instincts and impulsive heartiness of a rural life. As we should expect, the poems of Alastair Buidhe are in the present day preferred in Gairloch to the compositions of his friend. No complete collection has been published of the poems of Alastair Buidhe, though several pieces have appeared in the _Celtic Magazine_. It is feared that many of the poems, which only live in the memories of the people, may soon be lost.

Chapter XXI.

ALEXANDER GRANT, THE GREAT BARD OF SLAGGAN.

Alexander Grant, known as "Bard mor an t' Slaggan," or "the great bard of Slaggan," was born at Mellon Charles about 1742. His ancestor came to Gairloch from Strathspey, as attendant to Anne, daughter of Sir John Grant of Grant, who was married in 1640 to Kenneth Mackenzie, sixth laird of Gairloch. Most of the bard's life was pa.s.sed at Slaggan, but shortly before his death he removed with his son to Tournaig, where he died in 1820 (or perhaps later), being about eighty years of age. The t.i.tle bestowed on Sandy Grant of the "great bard" would perhaps be more correctly translated as the "big bard," for it was given him on account of his enormous stature and strength rather than for his merits as a poet. In height he was a giant, far exceeding in size any man then or now living in Gairloch; nor had he his equal in point of muscular strength. He did not fight; but on one occasion there was a row, to quell which the great bard caught Donald Morrison, of Drumchork, and held him fast by the hand. Donald, though himself a giant as compared with most men, was a pigmy by the side of Sandy Grant, and neither he nor all the bystanders could pull the bard's hand from his. Another proof of his great strength is remembered. In that day black periwinkles were plentiful, and were a favourite article of food; only two men in the country could break or crush a handful of them by the mere force of their grasp, viz., Sir Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch and the "great bard." It is doubtful whether any man could be found in Gairloch to perform this feat in the present day.

Sandy Grant was not so eminent a bard as were his contemporaries William Ross and Alastair Buidhe. He composed comparatively few songs or poems.

In manner he is described as having been a "blunt" man. In appearance he was most remarkable for his gigantic form, already alluded to. I can get no positive information what was his exact height in inches; he far exceeded the height generally considered that of a tall man, and I am told he certainly stood more than seven feet in his stockings. The bard was a fine-looking man in face, features, and expression. A portrait of him, which they say was an excellent likeness, appeared in the first edition of John Mackenzie's "Beauties of Gaelic Poetry." John Mackenzie made a collection of Sandy Grant's poems, intending to publish them in a new edition of the "Beauties," but death frustrated this design, and the poems seem to have been lost.

The "bard mor" was a canny man, if we may judge from the following amusing anecdote, which is quite authentic, and ill.u.s.trates the superst.i.tions of the times. It was told me by James Mackenzie:--There was a man in Loch Carron who had his cheeses stolen from his barn by a neighbour. Now Sandy Grant, the "bard mor," was reputed to have the power of discovering things that had been lost, by the faculty of second-sight. The worthy but simple-minded man who had been robbed of his cheeses sent a message immediately he discovered his loss to the bard at Slaggan, and requested that he would find out who had stolen them. The bard, who thought he saw a chance of earning an "honest penny," at once started on foot for Loch Carron. The man who had stolen the cheeses heard that the bard had been sent for, and was terrified; every day he walked out three miles on the road towards the north, hoping to intercept Sandy Grant. At last he met Sandy. Says he, "Are you not a stranger coming to Loch Carron?" "Yes," said Sandy, "I come from Slaggan." "Well," he says, "I am the man that stole the cheeses, and I'll give you fifteen s.h.i.+llings if you will not tell that I am the man."

The bard replied, "Of course I know it was you that stole the cheeses, but where did you put them?" "Oh, dear!" said the man, "I put them in a peat-stack at the back of the towns.h.i.+p." "Yes; I know that," said Sandy, "but which stack did you put them in?" He replied, "The one that's farthest from the towns.h.i.+p altogether." "Are you sure that you put all the cheeses there?" again asked the cautious bard. "Yes," the man said, "I put them all there, but one cheese is out of count." "Well," said the bard, "I will not tell your name; when once they get the cheeses they will be satisfied." The Loch Carron man gave him the fifteen s.h.i.+llings, and as they pa.s.sed his house he pressed the bard to come in and have a dram. "Oh, no, no," said Sandy; "be off, that they may not suspect we have been together." Then they parted, and the bard went to the house of the man who had sent for him. After refres.h.i.+ng the inner man, Sandy was asked to state who had stolen the cheeses, and where they now were.

"Well," he said, "I will not tell you who stole them, but I will tell you where they are." He then asked what he was to receive for coming all the way from Slaggan. The man inquired how much he asked. Sandy named twenty-five s.h.i.+llings, and that sum was paid to him. "When to-morrow comes," said he "I will tell you where the cheeses are; but I must warn you that there will be one cheese missing." The next day the cheeses were duly discovered and restored to their rightful owner, and the "bard mor" returned to Slaggan with both the fifteen s.h.i.+llings and the twenty-five s.h.i.+llings in his pocket, making two pounds,--in those days a more considerable sum than it is now.

The Grants, who formerly lived at Mellon Udrigil but are now at Londubh, are descendants of the "Bard mor an t' Slaggan."

Chapter XXII.

JOHN MACKENZIE OF THE "BEAUTIES."

John Mackenzie, piper, poet, and author, is best remembered as having been the collector and editor of the work ent.i.tled the "Beauties of the Gaelic Language." He was born 17th July 1806, at Mellon Charles. He was the eldest son of "Alastair Og," who, like his father before him, was tacksman of all the lands on the north side of Loch Ewe belonging to the lairds of Gairloch. John Mackenzie's mother was Margaret, daughter of Mr Mackenzie of Badachro. On the father's side he was fifth in direct male descent from Alastair Cam, youngest son of Alastair Breac, fifth laird of Gairloch. He was educated primarily at home, afterwards at a small school on Isle Ewe, and finally at the parish school of Gairloch. From childhood he evinced a peculiar delight in reading, and especially devoted himself to the study of the songs and music of his native district. While a mere child he made a fiddle for himself, and later on a set of bagpipes, using no other instrument or tool than his pocket-knife. He became an excellent piper, and could also play the piano, fiddle, flute, and several other instruments. His parents, seeing his skill with his knife, apprenticed him to a travelling joiner named William Ross. During his travels with his master, John Mackenzie found congenial employment in noting down the Gaelic songs and tales floating among his countrymen. While executing some work at the manse of Gairloch he received a severe blow on the head, which for a time incapacitated him. On partially recovering he went to a carpenter at Conan Bridge to complete his apprentices.h.i.+p, but he soon found that the injury to his head was of such a permanent character as to unfit him to pursue his trade further. Nor was he sorry to give up what was by no means congenial to his taste. He returned to Gairloch, and employed himself in collecting the poems of William Ross, most of which he obtained from Alexander Campbell. He spent twenty-one nights taking down Ross's poems from the lips of Alastair Buidhe. He seems from this time to have given himself up to literary work, and strenuously he laboured at it, spending some twelve years in travelling through the Highlands collecting materials for his great work the "Beauties of Gaelic Poetry." While thus travelling he procured a large list of subscribers for this work and other publications. In 1833 he left his native parish, and in the same year appeared "The Poems of William Ross, the Gairloch bard," with "The History of Mac Cruislig; a Highland Tale," in one volume; and several other works of minor importance. Within the year a second edition of Ross's poems was called for. In 1836 he obtained a situation as bookkeeper in the Glasgow University Printing-office. The "Beauties"

appeared in 1841. He disposed of the copyright for a mere trifle to a publis.h.i.+ng firm in Glasgow, he himself engaging to superintend the work while pa.s.sing through the press, a labour which undermined his never very robust const.i.tution. His next work of importance was the "History of Prince Charles," in Gaelic, which was published by an Edinburgh firm.

This was a translation, but poor John Mackenzie received very small remuneration for his skill and labour. The publication of these works brought him considerable fame in literary circles, and he soon after obtained an engagement with Messrs Maclachlan & Stewart, Edinburgh, at one pound per week. He produced for them translations into Gaelic of Baxter's "Call to the Unconverted;" Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," "Come and Welcome," "World to Come," "Grace Abounding," "Water of Life," and "Sighs from h.e.l.l;" as also, Dyer's "Christ's Famous t.i.tles," and Guthrie's "Christian's Great Interest." John Mackenzie was also the author of the English-Gaelic part of the dictionary known as MacAlpine's. He produced an enlarged edition of the poems of Duncan Ban Macintyre, and various other works. In all he composed, edited, or translated above thirty publications. His last completed work was "MacAlpine's Dictionary." In 1847 he issued a prospectus for an enlarged edition of the "Beauties." He was also the sub-editor of the _Cuairtear nan Gleann_; and he wrote some original Gaelic sermons, for Highland ministers who were too ignorant of the language to compose their own sermons in it. At the time of his death he was preparing a new edition of the Gaelic Bible, which he left in an incomplete state. Being in very weak health he returned in May 1848, after an absence of fourteen years, to his father's house at Kirkton, or Inverewe, where, after a lingering illness, he died on 19th August 1848, aged forty-two years. He was buried in the old chapel in the churchyard at Gairloch. Almost the whole population of the district attended the funeral.

John Mackenzie was slenderly built, fair-haired, and sharp-featured. He was from his youth upwards considered quite a character in his native district. He composed several pieces of his own, but not of the highest order. He made a song in 1830 to Mary Sudge (with whom he had fallen in love), and published it in his "Cruitear; or Gaelic Melodist." He also composed an excellent song to a weaver's loom. He became well known as a good piper; he and John Macrae of Raasay used to be judges of pipe music at the Edinburgh compet.i.tions.

Several anecdotes are related exhibiting his originality and humour. One is worth recording here. He was travelling through Skye and the Islands gathering materials for his own works, and collecting accounts for the _Inverness Courier_. He had collected a considerable sum and paid it into a bank at Portree, where he was invited by the banker to spend the night. Next morning he strolled down to the pier, and there saw a s.h.i.+p with the form of a woman as figurehead. At this he stared so intently and earnestly, a.s.suming at the same time his usual comic att.i.tudes, that the captain's son noticing him asked, "Is she not really a very beautiful woman?" "Oh, yes," answered John, "I wish you would sell her to me." "You had better buy the s.h.i.+p," said he. "Oh, I cannot; it's not every man who could buy the s.h.i.+p, and it's her figurehead I want." The captain's son, still chaffing one whom he took to be a mere simpleton, and referring to John's long overcoat, answered, "I have seen many a man with a shorter coat than yours who could buy her." "Well, if she is cheap, I would like to buy her for the figurehead. Have you any cargo in her?" "Yes; I have five hundred bolls of meal in her; and you shall have the whole for three hundred pounds." John jumped on board, handed a five-pound note to the captain's son, who was part owner and was working the vessel, and said, "The s.h.i.+p is mine as she stands, cargo and all; come to the bank at twelve to-morrow, and you shall have the money."

John went to the banker, related what had pa.s.sed, informed the banker he had no money to pay for the s.h.i.+p, but that she was a good bargain, and that they must watch lest the captain's son should get away with her and the five pounds. Inquiries were made, and the banker agreed to pay for the s.h.i.+p, which was really worth more than three hundred pounds. They went at once to the captain's son, and offered him the money. He was in great distress, and begged to be relieved of the foolish bargain, finally offering John sixty pounds for himself if he would give up his right to the s.h.i.+p. This sum he magnanimously declined, and gave up the s.h.i.+p, strongly advising the captain's son to be more careful in future; not to chaff any one who had no intention of interfering with him or his; and, particularly, never to judge a man by his appearance, or by the length of his coat.

On 26th July 1878 a monument to the memory of John Mackenzie, which had been erected on a projecting rock outside the Gairloch churchyard, near the high road, was uncovered by Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch, in presence of a large number of spectators. The monument, which is a granite column thirteen feet six inches high, was raised by a public subscription, originated and carried through by Mr Alexander Mackenzie of the _Celtic Magazine_. There are suitable inscriptions in Gaelic and English, that in English being as follows:--"In memory of John Mackenzie (of the family of Alastair Cam of Gairloch), who compiled and edited the 'Beauties of Gaelic Poetry;' and also compiled, wrote, translated, or edited, under surpa.s.sing difficulties, about thirty other works. Born at Mellon Charles, 1806; Died at Inverewe, 1848. In grateful recognition of his valuable services to Celtic literature, this monument is erected by a number of his fellow-countrymen, 1878."

Chapter XXIII.

LIVING GAIRLOCH BARDS.

There are several Gairloch men now living who essay the poetic vein in their own language.

One of them is Alexander Mackenzie, of Oban, or Opinan, near Mellon Udrigil. He is called "the bard," and has composed, it is said, some good songs. He lives the ordinary life of a crofter.

Perhaps the best known of living Gairloch bards is Duncan Mackenzie, the Kenlochewe bard. He was born in 1831, on the Culinellan farm near Kenlochewe. His father Hector was a weaver at Kenlochewe, and composed some poems, but his muse was neither so prolific nor so notable as that of his son. Duncan's mother was of the Loch Carron Mackenzies, some of whom were also poets. Duncan Mackenzie was never at school, and only learned to read Gaelic after attaining manhood. He had a brother named Malcolm, who was a piper, and died some years ago. The bard displayed his talents at an early age, for he composed several pieces when only eleven years old. The first which attracted public attention to his talents as a bard was a dialogue in verse between himself and Fionnla Leith, which he composed at the age of fifteen. The bard is a crofter at Kenlochewe. Like his father he is a good weaver; at times he has also proved himself an efficient shoemaker, mason, and carpenter. He is not a great singer, but he sometimes, though rarely, renders his own songs in a low voice but with expression. He has composed a large number of songs. A dozen of them have been published by Mr Alexander Mackenzie, under the auspices of the Gaelic Society of Inverness. Many of his pieces are forgotten by himself, though remembered by his neighbours. He has over fifty in ma.n.u.script. He excels in satire, and a vein of sometimes rather strong humour pervades his poems. He is a tall slender man, with plenty of beard, and still frequently dons the kilt.

The following poem was composed by the Kenlochewe bard on the marriage of Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch. Appended is an English version of the song which Professor Blackie has kindly made for this book. It is a close translation:--

ORAN DA s.h.i.+R COINNEACH GHEARRLOCH AN OIDHCHE A PHOS E.

Chuala mi naigheachd ro thaitneach ri h-eis 'neachd, Sgeula chaidh aithris am baile Dhun-eidin, Sir Coinneach bhi seachnadh ard bhan-tighearnan Shasuinn, Sa posadh ri ainnir, cho maiseach ri te dhiu'.

Nighean tighearn Ile tha cinnteach ro uasal, Cho fad sa theid firinn a sgriobhadh man cuairt d', Eireachdail, finealta, direach, ro-stuama, Ailleagan priseil, bho s.h.i.+n i air gluasad.

'S ciatach a charaid 's iad Gaidh'lach le cheile, Tha uaisle nan nadur thug bar air na ceudan, "Ban-tighearn og Ghearrloch" an trath sa dha h-eigheachd, 'S cupaichean lana dha 'n traghadh le eibhneas.

Tein-aighir 's gach aite, le gairdeachas inntinn, Bho iosal Strath Ghearrloch gu Braighe na tire An tuath-cheatharn laidir dha'm b-abhaist bhi dileas, A dearbhadh an cairdeas 's an daimh nach da dhiobair.

Tha i' slean 'us uaislean san uair so aig feasda, Ag innse gach buaidh a bha dualach dha'n teaghlach, Nan suidhe gu h-uallach an guaillean a cheile Ag guidhe bhi buan doibh, le suaibhneas 'us eibhneas.

A bhan-tighearn og aluinn tha'n traths air an tir so, A dh-fhior fhuil nan Armunn bha tamh ann an Ile, Na Caimbeulaich laidir, bho chrioch Ar-a-Ghaidheil, Toir buaidh air an namhaid 's gach ait anns am bi iad.