|
DR.
SKENE’S first and most popular work, "The
Highlanders of Scotland," appeared in two small volumes sixty-five years
ago, and for the greater part of that period it has been out of print, and
is now extremely scarce, with the consequent enhancement of price. The
author did not produce a second edition, as he had in view the production
of a more elaborate work covering the same ground; and this he published
in 1876 - 1880 in three volumes, under the title of " Celtic Scotland." In
this work Dr. Skene did not, however, condescend to the writing of an
account of the origins of the individual Highland clans as he did in the
earlier work, that, indeed, forming the bulk of the second volume of the
"Highlanders." The consequence of this has been that those of the public
who interest themselves in clan history— and they are many—have to consult
the second volume of the "Highlanders," and there is thus a much-felt want
for a second and accessible edition. Besides this, it is well known that
the smaller book, with its definiteness of narrative and youthful
assurance, is still read in preference to the elaboration and judicial
balancing of "Celtic Scotland." It is to meet this public preference and
public want that this—the second— edition of the early book has been
undertaken; but it was felt that the defects of a work, published at a
time when modern Celtic scholarship was only just beginning in Ireland and
on the Continent the great career which it has been running ever since
with ever-increasing volume, should he pointed out in notes and
appendices. Some errors in the book are continually reproduced in
treatises and articles bearing on Highland history, though these errors
have been carefully, if silently, eradicated in Celtic Scotland." The
Editor’s first duty has been to bring the work up, in his notes, to the
standard of Dr. Skene’s latest expressed views; he has also made the
corrections that two decades of scholarship (1880-1902) have made
necessary.
The Editor has, besides,
taken advantage of this occasion to emphasise and make clear the one great
disservice which Dr. Skene has done to the history of his country; and
that is his theory that the Picts,
in language and race, were Gaelic. In the preface to
the present work Skene warns his readers that the system of history
developed in it is "diametrically opposed to all the generally received
opinions on the subject, and that it is itself of a nature so startling as
to require a very rigid and attentive examination before it can be
received." This is very true; Skene had reversed all that the Scottish
Chronicles told of the Picts and of the Scottie Conquest, and had rejected
the testimony of contemporaries that the Picts spoke a language of their
own, and had manners and customs peculiar to themselves. Few now, even of
those that write histories, seem to know that Skene’s views of Scottish
ethnology and early history are entirely revolutionary. His
"uniformitarian" theory of Gaelic-speaking Picts seems so natural that
people forget to look at the original authorities and see for themselves
how extraordinarily Skene has dealt with these. County histories, Clan
histories, and general Scottish histories presently in course of
publication, accept Skene’s views, either without doubt or with little
demur, or even with a jocose gaiety that makes the latest of them "go one
better." And yet no present-day celtic scholar—and many have
written on the subject—holds Skene’s views that the Picts spoke Gaelic.
It is full time now that this should be recognised, and that the old
position of the Chronicles should be once more reverted to.
The original text and notes of the
"Highlanders of Scotland" have been reproduced intact, first and separate
from all editorial matter, which comes at the end of the book. Even the
misprints of the earlier edition have been left; they were so unimportant
that it was thought best to leave them in a work claiming to be an exact
reproduction of the original text. A portrait of Dr. Skene and an edition
of Ptolemy’s map of Scotland are also added, together with a much-needed
index.
ALEXANDER MACBAIN. |
