| It will be seen that a large proportion of
the existing Gaelic literature of the early period is poetical. Not that it is so
altogether, by any means; and if any large amount of it had come down to us, there is no
reason for believing that so large a share of it would be poetical. But the prose MS.
writings of the ancient Gael have, with the few exceptions already referred to, perished;
and have left us with such poetical compositions as adhered to the national memory. As we enter upon the era of printing, we are disposed to look for a
more extensive literature, and no doubt we find it. But with the era of printing came the
use of another language, and the Gaelic ceased to be the vehicle for carrying abroad the
thoughts of the learned. Religion still continued to make use of its services, but it
ceased to be the handmaid of science and philosophy.
The first printed Gaelic book which we find is Bishop
Carsewell's Gaelic translation of the Liturgy of John Knox. It is well known that Knox
compiled a prayer-book for the use of the Scottish Reformed Church, and that it was
thought desirable that this prayer-book should be translated into the Gaelic language for
the use of the Highlanders. The translation was undertaken by Mr. John Carsewell, who was
appointed superintendent of the ancient diocese of Argyle, which office he filled for many
years. The book was printed at Edinburgh, in 1567. The language is what is in modern times
called Irish, but might in Carsewell's time be called Scotch, for none other was written
in Scotland in so far as Gaelic was written at all. There are but three copies of this
book known to exist - an entire copy in the library of the Duke of Argyle, and two
imperfect copies, one in the library of the University of Edinburgh, and one in the
British Museum. This book was printed before one line of Irish Gaelic was printed.
Extracts from the volume will be found in the Highland Society's Report upon
Ossian, and in M'Lauchlan's Celtic Gleanings. The former extract is made to show
that the names of Fingal and the Fingalians were well known in the Highlands at the period
of the Reformation. In 1631 a translation of Calvin's Catechism appeared, probably
executed by Carsewell.
In 1659 appeared the first fifty of the Psalms of David in
metre by the Synod of Argyle. It is called "An ceud chaogad do Shalmaibh Dhaibhidh a
meadrachd Gaoidhilg," the fist Fifty of the Psalms of David in Gaelic Metre.
The language of the original here is what is called Irish, although it is, as is the
Gaelic of Carsewell, the ordinary written Gaelic of the period. This translation forms the
groundwork of all the editions of the Psalms that have been used since in the Scottish
Church. The rest of the Psalms followed the first fifty in 1694, and the Psalter of the
Argyle Synod became then complete. The introduction to the little volume of 1659 details
the difficulties which the authors met in converting the Psalms into Gaelic metre, one of
which, they say, was the necessity of adapting them to the structure of the English Psalm
tunes. How Gaelic congregational singing was conducted in the Highlands previous to this
little book appearing, it is hard to say. The introduction concludes with the words,
"And now, reader, strive to use this little work, and
pray the Lord that He himself would bless the gospel in these Gaelic lands, and that He
would make a bright flame full of heat of this little spark which has been now lighted in
it."
This volume is now scarce, but full of interest to the
Gaelic student.
Alongside of the Synod of Argyle, another indefatigable
labourer in the same field was at work. This was Mr Robert Kirk, minister at Balquhidder.
There seems to have been no Rob Roy in the district at the time, and Mr Kirk appears to
have had a quiet life in his Highland parish; more so, indeed, than other Scottish
ministers of the time, for he seems to have been engaged in his translation during the
heat of the persecution of the Covenanters, and it was published in 1684, four years
before the Revolution. Kirk is said to have been so anxious to have precedence of the
Synod of Argyle, that he invented a machine for awakening him in the morning by means of
water made to fall upon his face at a certain hour. His Psalter preceded that of the Synod
by a period of ten years.
Mr Kirk dedicates his volume, which is published with the
sanction of the Privy Council, and with the approbation of "the Lords of the Clergy,
and some reverend ministers who best understand the Irish language," to the Marquis
of Athole, &c, of whom he says that his "Lordship has been of undoubted courage
and loyalty for the king, and still alongst inflexible to the persuasions or threats of
frozen neutralists or flaming incendiaries in Church or State." Kirk further states
that the work was "done by such as attained not the tongue (which he calls
Scottish-Irish) without indefatigable industry," manifestly pointing to himself as
one who had so acquired it.
This little volume of the minister of Balquhidder is a most
interesting contribution to our Gaelic literature. The language is what many writers call
Irish, although there is no reason to believe that Mr Kirk ever was in Ireland, or
conversed with speakers of Irish Gaelic. He knew and used the dialect which writers of the
Gaelic language had used for centuries, and used at the time. No Irish writer could use a
dialect more purely Irish than that found in Kirk's Gaelic preface. Kirk concludes his
preface with the following lines :-
Imthigh a Dhuilleachain gu dàn,
Le Dan glan diagha duisg iad thall.
Cuir failte air Fonn fial na bFionn,
Ar garbh-chriocha, 's Indeadh gall.
English translation
Go, little leaflet, boldly,
With pure holy songs wake them yonder,
Salute to the hospitable land of the Fingalians,
The rugged borders, and the Isles of the strangers.
"The land of the Fingalians," was the Highlands
generally; "the rugged borders" was the west coast of Inverness-shire and
Ross-shire; and "the Isles of the Strangers" were the Hebrides, so called from
being long in possession of the Norsemen. |
