Proverbs

Gaelic proverbs mention the Feinne, and do not indicate the existence of a petty quarrelsome spirit in former days amongst them. 396.* Clanna nan Gael an guaillin a cheile.

Gaelic clans at each other’s shoulders.

Shews at least an appreciation of the blessings of concord, and it is a great pity that they will not now act up to this, their favourite sentiment. 379. Cha b’ ionan O’Brian is na Gael.

O’Brian and the Gael were unlike.

They certainly were once unlike those of the present day who quarrel with each other. These

77.‡ Is olc do beatha Chonain!

Bad ’s thy being Conan.

148. Cha d’ fhuair Conan riamh dorn gun dorn a thoirt g’a cheann. Conan never got cuff without giving cuff back. Their treatment of each other is

Conan’s kindness to the demons, i., “cuff for

This quarrelsome spirit was not that of the Druids.

Though a stone be near earth, nearer than that

(The arch Druid Coivi or Cefaeus. See Bede.) 147. Cho teomadh ri Coibhi Druidh.

As clever as Coivi Druid.

This was a wise helpful character. 24. Deas-ail air gach ni.

Sunwise (ready able) for everything.

Fionn was like him. 113. Cha d’ cHuir FIoNN RIAMH BLAR GUN CHUMH-ACHD

Fionn never joined fight without might (or (?)

Fionn never forsook his right hand friend.

His was the character of a sagacious, successful military leader, who agreed with his friends, though he did not forgive one great injury

As powerful-handed as Conloch.

It is probably something like the story of the Master Smith in the Norse Tales. 336. Cho laidir ri Cuchullin.

As strong as Cuchullin.

Are the characteristics of brave soldiers. 101. Cothram na Feinne dhoibh.

Be theirs the Feine’s advantage.

“Clean pith and fair play” (Kelly’s Prov.) is a soldier-like motto, but it is not quarrelsome. It does not indicate the life which modern

Conan’s life amongst the demons. If bad for

If not Bran, his brother.

A life of strife which destroyed the Fenians long ago, when they took to it, and fought till there

As Ossian was after the Fians.

A miserable old man in the house of a stranger to

A tale without warrant is worthless.

If lie from me it is, lie to me it was,

The Gael fell out amongst themselves, and thereby lost the plain long ago, according to the proverbs.

105. AN LON DUBH, AN LON DUBH SPAGACH! THUG MISE DHA CHOILLE FHASGA FHEURACH; ’S THUG ESAN DOMHSA AM MONADH DUBH FASAICH, The black elk, the shambling black elk, I gave him the sheltered grassy wood, and he gave me the

For whether the word means Elk or Ousel, and the proverb applies to Romans or Scandinavians, or to something else, it is applicable to the present time. The Gael have fought till they have been driven to find other fields) Many an American back-woodsman may turn his thoughts to the old

26. Is fad an eigh gu Lochodha, is cobhair o chlann

“Tis a far cry to Lochawe, and aid from the clan of

Whether the Fenians were Scotch or Irish it is the same. The most of their Gaelic descendants have left the hills and plains for which they fought, chiefly because they fought amongst

About 1706, Mr. Alexander Campbell, second son of Campbell of Craignish, was employed by John Duke of Argyll to examine and sort his archives and charters, and he left what is called the “Craignish manuscript.” He mentions old manuscripts in the Irish character then extant, genealogical and historical, and tells that Irish historians had traced the “clan Duin ” from the Dalruadinian colonists of Argyll.

“The Craignish manuscript” is quoted in a history of the Campbells which was written about the beginning of this century, and is now in my possession in MS. The following passages bear upon the Ossianic controversy:—.

“When but a boy, I listened with a greedy ear to the traditions and poems of my country, of which there are very many; ornate, flowery, and elegant as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and had they but as much art, might, for natural invention, stand in the roll of fame, and vie with the most celebrated poems of these ancient nations, which have been handed down to our times!”

It is thus proved that in the youth of a man who wrote more than fifty years before “the fragments” appeared, poems existed in the West Highlands, which a well-educated gentleman considered to be comparable to the works of the classical poets, and these could scarcely be the popular ballads now recited. But they were not the poems of 1807, whatever they may have been.

“With regard to the Fingalians,” he says, “they were an Irish militia, raised in the ninth century, under the command of Fion MacCouill, who was appointed by the provincial kings of Ireland General-in-Chief, with several inferior commanders, one of the most eminent of whom was Diarmid. This force consisted of 7000 men in time of peace, and 21,000 in time of war, and was levied and maintained for the purpose of repelling the Danes and Norwegians, whose frequent incursions and bloody invasions had desolated that country for many years before.”

To this quotation the writer of the history, who was an implicit believer in MacPherson’s Ossian, adds this note:—

“This mistaken idea, that Diarmid was an Irishman by birth, misled the ancient genealogists, of the family of Argyll and those of some of their kinsmen, as will appear afterwards; and they sought in Ireland for what was to be found in Argyll.”

Hence it appears that as late as 1707, the author of the Craignish MSS., like the early genealogists of one of the west country clans to whose records he had access, claimed a descent from Diarmid O’Duin, and believed his clan to be of Irish extraction.

About forty years later, the existence of this belief was referred to by Duncan Forbes in his “Memorial on the Clans,” drawn up for Government in 1745, when he wrote—

“The Campbells are called in Gaelic Clan Guin or O’Duine. The Duke of Argyll is their chief; he is called in the Highlands MacCalain Mor.”

It is thus made evident that Fingal’s kingdom of Morven had not been heard of in Argyll in 1707, for those who claimed to be descended from Fionn’s nephew would surely have mentioned Fingal’s misty dominions. The man who admired the poems which were current in his day would never have claimed a descent from the Fenians of Ireland if he had known of a Scotch historical epic about “Fingal” and “Diarmaid” and the ancient poets, and family bards and genealogists whom he quoted, must have heard of these poems, if they had existed in their day.

Several clan genealogists (e.g., the MacGregor’s) claim a descent from Arthur, “Art,” and Irish kings, but I have never heard of one that mentions “the King of Morven,” though it has been common to speak of the Highlanders as the descendants of the Feinne. Thus family history agrees with tradition. There probably were Fenians, whose chief was Fionn, but in the lapse of time these have acquired a fictitious history, in which the traces of a pagan mythology appear.

Note.—On referring again to MacNicol’s book, mentioned above under 1779, I find that he had read the Gaelic of the seventh book of Temora, and held that it was not composed by MacPherson.