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MACVUIRICH, the
surname of a family which for several generations held the office of
bard and genealogist to the Macdonalds of Clanranald. Niel
MacVuirich, the last of the bardic race, lived to a great age in
South Uist, and died in 1726. He wrote in the Gaelic language the
history of the Clanranald, as well as collected some ancient poetry,
and the annals of past times. All his own compositions have been
lost, excepting three pieces which are given in Mackenzie’s
‘Beauties of Gaelic Poetry,’ pp. 65-67.
The following curious and interesting declaration of Lachlan
MacVuirich, son of Niel, taken by desire of the Committee of the
Highland Society of Scotland, appointed to inquire into the nature
and authenticity of the poems of Ossian, will throw much light on
the bardic office, as well as furnish some information regarding the
celebrated Red Book of Clanranald. It is a translation of the
original written in Gaelic, and addressed to Henry Mackenzie, Esq.,
at the time he was writing the Society’s report of Ossian. “In the
house of Patrick Nicolson, at Torlum, near Castle Burgh, in the
shire of Inverness, on the ninth day of August, compeared, in the
fifty-ninth year of his age, Lachlan, son of Niel, son of Lachlan,
son of Niel, son of Donald, son of Lachlan, son of Niel Mòr, son of
Lachlan, son of Donald, of the surname of MacVuirich, before
Roderick M’Niel, Esq. of Barra, and declared, that, according to the
best of his knowledge, he is the eighteenth in descent from Muireach,
whose posterity had officiated as bards to the family of Clanranald;
and that they had from that time, as the salary of their office, the
farm of Staoiligary, and four pennies of Drimisdale, during fifteen
generations; that the sixteenth descendant lost the four pennies of
Drimisdale, but that the seventeenth descendant retained the farm of
Staoiligary for nineteen years of his life. That there was a right
given them over these lands, as long as there should be any of the
posterity of Muireach to preserve and continue the genealogy and
history of the Macdonalds, on condition that the bard, failing of
male issue, was to educate his brother’s son, or representative, in
order to preserve their title to the lands; and that it was in
pursuance of this custom that his own father, Niel, had been taught
to read and write history and poetry by Donald, son of Niel, son of
Donald, his father’s brother.
“He remembers well
that works of Ossian written on parchment, were in the custody of
his father, as received from his predecessors; that some of the
parchments were made up in the form of books, and that others were
loose and separate, which contained the works of other bards besides
those of Ossian.
“He remembers that his father had a book, which was called the Red
Book, made of paper, which he had from his predecessors, and which,
as his father informed him, contained a good deal of the history of
the Highland clans, together with part of the works of Ossian. That
none of those books are to be found at this day, because when they
(his family) were deprived of their lands, they lost their alacrity
and zeal. That he is not certain what became of the parchments, but
thinks that some of them were carried away by Alexander, son of the
Rev. Alexander Macdonald, and others by Ronald his son; and he saw
two or three of them cut down by tailors for measures. That he
remembers well that Clanranald made his father give up the Red Book
to James Macpherson from Badenoch; that it was near as thick as a
Bible, but that it was longer and broader, though not so thick in
the cover. That the parchments and the Red Book were written in the
hand in which the Gaelic used to be so written of old both in
Scotland and Ireland, before people began to use the English hand in
writing Gaelic; and that his father knew well how to read the old
hand. That he himself had some of the parchments after his father’s
death, but that because he had not been taught to read them, and had
no reason to set any value on them, they were lost. He says that
none of his forefathers had the name of Paul, but there were two of
them who were called Cathal. He says that the Red Book was not
written by one man, but that it was written, from age to age, by the
family of Clan Mhuirich, who were preserving and continuing the
history of the Macdonalds, and of other heads of Highland clans.
“After the above
declaration was taken down, it was read to him, and he acknowledged
it was right, in presence of Donald M’Donald of Balronald, James
M’Donald of Garyhelich, Ewan M’Donald of Griminish, Alexander M’Lean
of Hoster, Mr. Alexander Nicolson, minister of Benbecula, and Mr.
Allan M’Queen, minister of North Uist, who wrote this declaration.”
The last Lachlan above mentioned as father of Niel Mòr and son of
Donald, was called for distinction’s sake, Lachunn Mòr Mac Mhuirich
Albannaich, or Lachlan Mòr MacVuirich of Scotland. He lived in the
15th century, and was the author of a remarkable war-song, composed
wholly of epithets arranged in alphabetical order, to rouse the clan
Donald previous to the battle of Harlaw (See Mackenzie’s Beauties of
Gaelic Poetry, p. 62, Note.)
Every great Highland
family had their bard, whose business it was to recite at
entertainments the immense stores of poetry which he had hoarded up
in his memory, and to preserve the genealogy and commemorate the
military actions of the heroes or chief. When Niel MacVuirich, the
last of the bards, died in 1726, the bardic order became extinct in
Scotland. |
