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Weekly Mailing List Archives
14th March 2008


It's your Electric Scotland newsletter meaning the weekend is nearly here :-)

You can view what's new this week on Electric Scotland at http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php and you can unsubscribe to this newsletter by clicking on the link at the foot of this newsletter.

See our Calendar of Scottish Events around the world at http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/calendar_help.htm 

CONTENTS
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Electric Scotland News
Scotland on TV
The Flag in the Wind
The Scottish Nation
New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845)
Book of Scottish Story
Good Words - Edited by the Rev Norman MacLeod
Clan Information
Poetry and Stories
Recipe Program
History of Ulster
Sketches of The Character, Manners, and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland
Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland 1881
Household Encyclopaedia
Scottish Art Trading Cards
Antiquarian Scottish Books in Adobe Reader format
The Scottish Tradition in Canada
Sketches of Early Scotch History


ELECTRIC SCOTLAND NEWS
----------------------
Lots of news to tell you about this week...

My first task this week is to advise you that we now have our new newsletter software working and so this will be the last newsletter email sent to you from our old software apart from possibly one further short email which will remind everyone to sign up for the new newsletter. After that all email addresses will be deleted.

And so if you wish to continue to get the newsletter you need to sign up for our new list at http://www.electricscotland.com/maillist.htm

I took the view that as this new software should be with us for years it would be worthwhile to get you all to sign up for it and that way we can also personalize it so we can greet you with your own name. The new software will also allow us to better handle spam and should be able to get it to more of you.

And so if you would please sign up for the new newsletter list we'll be able to continue to bring it to you each week.

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As to our new community service that we're working on I can tell you it is a lot of work. We're using software from the USA, Canada, Australia and Turkey to pull together the whole community offerings. Working on this variety of time zones is also doing my head in. This past Sunday I worked all day and then through to 7.30am on Monday morning. I am having regular sessions through to 2.30am my time this week. We are however making good progress and hopefully it won't be too long before you see some of the results.

As it happens Steve sent me an old email he got from me in "2001" outlining what I wanted to see in a community service. Of course it's taken us 7 years to actually start to bring this about :-)

Here is the email header...

Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 1:52 AM
Subject: Re: Electric Scotland's Baronial Home.htm

Isn't it amazing that Steve actually keeps emails this long? [grin]

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As to communications with me it seems Microsoft is the main culprit for not sending emails to me or at least returning your email saying it couldn't be delivered. They won't talk to me direct as I'm not the account holder and so at a bit of a loss on how to resolve this problem. So far it's anyone with a Hotmail account, msn account and also from Sympatico.

You can use my new gmail account at electricscotland@gmail.com as that does work right now.

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I am trying to keep up with adding content each day to the site but it's getting a touch harder due to all the work on the community side of things. I would also remind you that we are getting regular submissions into our Article Service so more stuff to read in there. You can read the service at http://www.electricscotland.com/article

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We also have a new "What's New" page. You can find it at http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php 

This is as a result of getting our RSS feed going so that now populates this page automatically. We've capped the news items at 100 so when the 101st item is added the bottom item will be deleted.

I know some of you didn't know what an RSS feed is so I thought I'd explain...

What is RSS?

RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

Why RSS? Benefits and Reasons for using RSS

RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site's email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly and includes big names like Yahoo News.

What do I need to do to read an RSS Feed?

RSS Feed Readers and News Aggregators Feed Reader or News Aggregator software allow you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use.

A variety of RSS Readers are available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available. My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers. The newest versions of IE and Firefox also have built in readers.

Once you have your Feed Reader, it is a matter of finding sites that syndicate content and adding their RSS feed to the list of feeds your Feed Reader checks. Many sites display a small icon with the acronyms RSS, XML, or RDF to let you know a feed is available.

And so there you have it :-)

Should you have a web site you can include our RSS feed into your own web site. You just need to go to http://www.blinkbits.com/feed/build.php and when you get there just add our RSS url of http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/rss.xml into the Feed box and then complete the balance of the form. It will then generate some java code that you insert into whatever page you want on your web site and that will mean you'll get constantly updated information appearing. Note that the code needs to be inserted in code view of your web page.

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Another change to the header of our site this week. Our advertisers were not being decently displayed in our header so I re-designed them so that they are clearer and so hopefully easier to read. Of course if it weren't for our advertisers we'd not be able to make all the content free so please support them where you can :-)

We are currently seeking a large advertiser that is willing to pay big bucks for our top Google Box. We're looking for around the price they'd pay for a full colour page in a decent circulation magazine. As this is a large amount of space for a web site to offer and on all our tens of thousands of pages this is actually far more powerful that any magazine advert for the price. And so if you know of anyone that might like to use this space do let me know :-)

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Center for Scottish Studies Spring Colloquium will be held on Saturday 5th April in Toronto and you can get more information on this at
http://www.electricscotland.com/ssf/2008%20SPRING%20COLLOQIUM%20FLYER3.pdf

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Tartan Day in Toronto at the Top of the Tower is now fully organised and more details on this event can be found at http://scottishstudies.com/950tartanday08.htm

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Stan Bruce is looking for War Pictures of MacDuff. This local area in Grampian are re-issuing a book giving the "Roll of Honour" of local people that served in the various wars. They are looking to update the book and so include more people and pictures. Should you be able to help then please visit
http://www.electricscotland.com/lifestyle/bmha/BMHA%20MACDUFF%20ROLL%20OF%20HONOUR%20FLYER.pdf

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And finally we have added the Aois Community Resource Centre. This is intended to become a good resource for scripts and add ons for those wanting to build their own web sites. Steve has a huge number of resources to add to this service but at the moment we just have the basic service up with no resources added as yet. With everything else we're working on we have little time to populate some of our new resources but we'll get to it :-)

Should you want to see the layout you'll find it as http://www.scotchat.org/resources/


ABOUT THE STORIES
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Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's New" section at the link at the top of this newsletter or on our site menu.


Scotland on TV
--------------
Visit their site at http://www.scotlandontv.tv 

The Edinburgh Old Town Weaving Company

Have you ever wondered how tartans are designed and kilts are made? And how tartan came into being in the first place? Well, it certainly had us wondering, so we set out to find out more for the viewers of Scotland on TV.

And where better to start than Geoffrey (Tailor) Kiltmakers' Edinburgh Old Town Weaving Company in the Scottish capital? Situated at the top of the majestic Royal Mile, right next to Edinburgh Castle, in this old five-floor building over 200 clan and family tartans are woven, and, as the only working weaving mill left in the city, visitors get to see the tartan-making process from start to finish.

The Company is still a family business, and, in Part 1 of the Scotland on TV series’ look at tartan, Managing Director Geoffrey's son, Howie R Nicholsby, gives a fascinating tour of the building and talks about the traditional weaving methods used for different tartan fabrics.

Part 2 takes a look at the history of tartan. With hundreds of clan and family tartans - as well as bespoke patterns - woven on the premises, the Edinburgh Old Town Weaving Company is the busiest working weaving mill left in the city. Howie shares his thoughts on the history of tartan itself: that fabric so distinctly Scottish. Or so many of us believe. Woven woollen material like tartan and tweed may have its place in Scottish history, but the muted colours our ancestors wore are a far cry from the vibrant colours of ‘tartan’ we know today, itself a product of the Industrial Revolution and Victorian Age.

Howie is certainly the man in the know when it comes to traditions changing through the ages - next week on Scotland on TV, he looks at the kilt making process, and talks about how he, with his company 21st Century Kilts, has evolved this Scottish icon into a modern day fashion.

Watch the series by clicking here:
http://www.scotlandontv.tv/scotland_on_tv/video.html?Channel=Kilts%20More&vxClipId=1380_SMG1894


THE FLAG IN THE WIND
--------------------
This weeks Flag is compiled by Ian Goldie, and I note a couple of interesting comments...

1. YOU JUST CAN’T WIN!!

I just loved this exchange on “Scotland at Ten’ on 25 February.

Lord George Foulkes:

‘The SNP are on a very dangerous tack. What they are doing is trying to build up a situation in Scotland where the services are manifestly better than south of the border in a number of areas.’

Interviewer Colin Mackay:

‘Is that a bad thing?’

Lord George Foulkes:

‘No, but they are doing it deliberately.’

Don’t ya just luv it!!

2. PAISLEY GOES

So the Reverend Ian Paisley is to give up as Stormont First Minister in May. Strange how reputations can change with the passing of time.

From the 1960s to just a very few years back, Ian Paisley for me represented all that is most detestable in politics. Loud-mouthed, bigoted, and uncompromising, he saw life in black and white: Irish and catholic bad, British and Protestant good.

But times changed, and Ian Paisley – eventually - changed with them. The extraordinary sight of the friendly bonhomie surrounding him and his Sinn Fein deputy Martin McGuinness have given the pair the title of ‘The Chuckle brothers’. It surely must lift the hearts of those who see so many intractable problems throughout the world.

We can only hope that the good start is allowed to continue.

It’s just sad that so much time and agony have to be gone through before people come their senses.

In Peter's cultural section I thought I'd bring you his dates in history for a wee change.

14 March 1701
All illegal cargoes of grain brought to the West of Scotland from Ireland were ordered to be sunk.

14 March 1960
Jock Stein was appointed manager of Dunfermline and after only six weeks he had saved them from relegation. He went on to build Dunfermline into a powerful force and in 1961 led them to their first-ever success in the Scottish Cup with a 2-0 final victory over Celtic in a replay at Hampden Park. He briefly then managed Hibernian before taking over the helm at Celtic, leading the Glasgow club to European Cup glory in 1967.

14 March 2007
The House of Commons voted to renew the UK’s nuclear weapon system, but a majority of Scottish Westminster MPs voted against the motion.

15 March 1949
Clothes rationing ended after eight years.

15 March 2007
The Scottish Parliament welcomed its one-millionth visitor: Eilidh Willis, 11, from Lismore.

16 March 2007
Top Scottish businessman and banker Sir George Mathewson attacked the Labour Party and backed the Scottish National Party’s case for Independence.

17 March 1969
The crew of eight died when the Longhope lifeboat, TGB, capzised in a storm while on her way to aid Libernian-registered Irene, ashore on South Ronaldsway. The coxswain, his two sons, and five other men, all lived on the island of Hoy. The Irene’s crew of 17 were rescued by South Ronaldsway Rocket Brigade.

17 March 2007
Stagecoach-founder Brian Soutar donated £500,000 to the Scottish National Party in the run-up to the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election.

19 March 2007
St Mark’s Primary School (264 pupils), in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, was officially named as Scotland’s best school after it received 11 ‘excellent’ classifications, over 15 categories, in a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education.

20 March 1746
Following a successful military engagement near Dornoch Jacobite forces, pursuing Hanoverians under Lord Louden, captured Captain Aeneas Mackintosh of Mackintosh, 22nd Clan Chief. Prince Charles Edward Stewart paroled him into the hands of his wife and Jacobite supporter, Lady Ann Mackintosh of Invercauld, who was known as ‘Colonel Ann’. In spite of her husband being a serving Hanoverian officer she raised Clan Chattan for the Jacobite cause., and it was led in the field by Alexander MacGillivray of Dunmaglas, who died valiantly at Culloden.

You can read other dates in history at http://www.scotsindependent.org/dates.htm

And he also tells us...

The date of Pasch ( Easter ) is that of the Jewish Passover, which, in turn, coincides with the great pagan festival that celebrated the Spring Equinox - thus Easter is the season of renewal in nature. In pagan times, offerings were made to the Goddess of Spring. The Scandinavians called her Frigga; the Saxons, Eastre or Ostara, whence the English name Easter. In Scots, however, Easter is called Pasch or Pesse, a derivative of the Hebrew pesach, passover, and in Gaelic,Caisg.

Like the Passover, Easter was a lunar date - that of the first Sunday after the full moon, following the Spring Equinox, hence the old Scots rhyme -

First comes Candlemass,
Syne the new mune;
The neist Tyseday aifter that
Is aye Fester Een.
That mune oot
An the neist mune fou,
The neist mune aifter that
Is aye Pasch true.

The custom of baking cakes in honour of their gods and goddesses was widespread among the pagan peoples; the Egyptians made a cake marked with a cross in honour of the Moon; and in Greece and Rome bread similarly marked was used in the worship of Diana, the round bun representing the full moon and the four quarters. After the introduction of Christianity, the cross became a Christian symbol and the Hot Cross Bun became a feature of Good Friday - this year 21 March. In Scotland the Hot Cross Bun is usually more highly spiced than the English variety and has a kenspeckle cross of pastry on the glossy brown surface. Marilyn's recipe makes twelve Hot Cross Buns in readiness for Good Friday.

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients: 1/2 level teasp sugar: 5 tablesp lukewarm water: 3 level teasp dried yeast: 1 lb strong plain flour: 1 level teasp salt: 1 level teasp mixed spice: 1/2 level teasp cinnamon: 1/2 level teasp nutmeg: 2 oz butter: 2 level tablesp castor sugar: 4 oz mixed dried fruit: 2 oz chopped mixed peel: 5 fl oz lukewarm milk: 1 large egg, beaten: a little extra milk: 2 oz shortcrust pastry: Glaze - 2 tablesp milk: 2 level tablesp sugar.

Method: Dissolve sugar in the water, sprinkle yeast on top. Leave in a warm place until frothy, about 20 minutes. Sift flour, salt and spices. Rub in fat lightly. Stir in castor sugar, fruit and peel. Hollow the centre. Pour milk, egg and yeat liquid into hollow. Mix to soft dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and no longer stickie, about 10 minutes. Cover and put in a warm place until double in size - about 2 hours. Turn on to floured surface, knead until smooth. Cut into 12. Knead each piece into a smooth ball, place on greased baking sheet, cover and leave until almost double in size. Preheat a hot oven ( 220 deg C, 425 deg F, Gas 7 ), centre shelf. Roll pastry out thinly, cut into narrow strips 2 to 3 in long. Brush buns with milk, place pastry crosses on top. Bake 20 - 25 minutes until they sound hollow when tapped on base. Dissolve sugar in milk, boil 1 minute. Brush hot buns with glaze. Cool. Eat and enjoy on Good Friday.

You can read the Flag, listen to the Scots Language, enjoy the Scots Wit and lots more at http://www.scotsindependent.org

Christina McKelvie MSP's weekly diary is available at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mckelvie/080313.htm


The Scottish Nation
-------------------
My thanks to Lora for transcribing these volumes for us.

We are now onto the M's with Man, Mansfield, Maormor, Mar, March, Marchmont, Marischal and Marjoribanks added this week.

The Marischal is quite interesting and starts...

MARISCHAL, Earl, a title (attainted in 1716) in the Scottish peerage, conferred by James II., before 4th July 1458, on Sir William Keith, great marischal of Scotland. The first earl died before 1476. His son, William, second earl, joined the confederacy against King James III., in 1488, and sat in the first parliament of King James IV., the same year. He had four sons. From John, the youngest son, descended the Keiths of Craig, to which family belonged Sir Robert Murray Keith, K.B., British ambassador to Vienna, St. Petersburgh, and Copenhagen; his brother, Sir Basil Keith, governor of Jamaica; and their sister, Mrs. Murray Keith, the well-known Mrs. Bethune Baliol of Sir Walter Scott.

William, the eldest son, succeeded as third earl Marischal. In 1515, when the castle of Stirling was surrendered by the queen-mother to the regent Albany, the young king, James V., and his infant brother, the duke of Ross, were committed to the keeping of the earl Marischal, with the lords Fleming and Borthwick, whose fidelity to the crown was unsuspected; and in 1517, when Albany went to France, the young king was conveyed to the castle of Edinburgh, and intrusted to the charge of Lord Marischal and Lord Erskine. The earl died about 1530. With four daughters he had four sons. Robert, Lord Keith, and his brother, William, the two eldest sons, fell at the battle of Flodden, 13th September 1513. The pennon of the earl Marischal borne in that fatal battle, having on it three stags’ heads, and the motto, “Veritas Vincit,” is preserved in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh. Lord Keith had, with three daughters, two sons; William, fourth earl Marischal, and Robert, commendator of Deer, whose son, Andrew Keith, was created Lord Dingwall, in 1587, but died without issue. From the earl’s youngest son, Alexander Keith, descended Bishop Hubert Keith, author of the Catalogue of Scottish Bishops.

William, fourth earl, the elder of the two sons of Lord Keith, succeeded his grandfather in 1530. He accompanied King James V., on his matrimonial expedition to France in 1536, and was appointed an extraordinary lord of session 2d July 1541. At the meeting of the Estates, 12th March 1543, he was selected, with the earl of Montrose, and the lords Erskine, Ruthven, Lindsay, Livingston, and Seton, to be keepers of the young Queen Mary’s person, and nominated one of the secret council to the regent Arran. Sir Ralph Sadler, the English ambassador in Scotland, describes him at this time, in a letter to his sovereign, as “a goodly young gentleman,” and as well inclined to the project of the marriage of Queen Mary with Prince Edward. He also mentions him as one “who hath ever borne a singular good affection” to Henry. In the list of the English king’s pensioners in Scotland, we find the earl Marischal, John Charteris and the Lord Gray’s friends in the North, set down at 300 marks. On the 18th December of the same year (1543), his place in the council, with that of the earls of Angus, Lennox, and Glencairn, was filled up, on the ground that they were absent and would not attend. He was one of the principal nobles who signed the agreement in the following June, to support the authority of the queen-mother as regent of Scotland, against the earl of Arran, declared by that instrument to be deprived of his office. (Tytler’s Hist. of Scotland, vol. v. p. 369, Note.)

You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/marischal.htm

You can read the other entries at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/index.htm


New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845)
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The first volume I am dealing with is the one on Aberdeenshire. There are some 85 parishes in this volume and a write up on each.

This week have added...

Parish of Glenmuick, Tullich and Glengairn at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/statistical/glenmuick.htm

Here is a bit from the account...

Name.—Glenmuick is compounded of two Gaelic words, Glean Muic, signifying the swine's valley or glen. There is a tradition that wild hogs once abounded in an oak forest, skirting both sides of a small river, called the water of Muick, from which the parish takes its name.

Tullich is a corruption of a Gaelic word, Tulach, signifying hillocks; and on such a situation stands a small village, named Tullich, which gives name to this parish, and also to the burying-ground around the walls of its old church, now in ruins.

Glengairn is a corrupted compound of three Gaelic words, Glen-garbh-amhain, signifying the glen of the rough water; and this is very applicable to a small river intersecting this parish, and giving name to it, called the Gairn, or rough water, on account of its rocky and precipitous channel.

In many places, these united parishes are 18 miles long, by 15 miles broad; but, as their figure is very irregular, their average length and breadth is computed to be only 14½ by 12½ miles, making their extent to be about 180 square miles, that is 82 for Glenmuick, 66 for Tullich, and 32 for Glengairn. They are bounded by the following parishes, viz. Strathdon, on the north; Coldstone, on the north-east; Aboyne, on the east; Glentanner, on the south-east; Lochlee, on the south; Clova, on the southwest; and Braemar and Crathie, on the west. They are mountainous and hilly, and mostly fit for pasture only.

Mountains.—The principal mountains are Lochnagar, Cairn-taggart, Mountkeen, and Morven. But these mountains are all on the confines, and none of them wholly within these united parishes. By a medium of barometrical observations, made by different persons at different times, the elevation of Lochnagar, partly in Glenmuick, and partly in Braemar, and distant from this church about ten miles west, is 8814 feet; the elevation of Cairntaggart, partly in Glenmuick, and partly in Braemar, and distant from this church about fifteen miles south-west, is said to be 3000 feet; the elevation of Montkeen, partly in Glenmuick, and partly in Lochlee, and distant from this church about seven miles south, is 3126 feet; and the elevation of Morven, partly in Tullich, and partly in Coldstone, and distant from this church about six miles north, is 2934 feet.

You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/statistical/glenmuick.htm

On the index page of this volume you can see a list of the 85 parishes and also a map at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/statistical/volume12.htm 


Book of Scottish Story
----------------------
Our thanks to John Henderson for sending this in for us.

This week have added...

The Minister's Widow by Professor Wilson

And here is how the story starts...

The dwelling of the minister's widow stood within a few miles of the beautiful village of Castle-Holm, about a hundred low-roofed houses that had taken the name of the parish of which they were the little romantic capital. Two small regular rows of cottages faced each other, on the gentle acclivity of a hill, separated by a broomy common of rich pasturage, through which hurried a translucent loch-born rivulet, with here and there its shelves and waterfalls overhung by the alder or weeping birch. Each straw-roofed abode, snug and merry as a beehive, had behind it a few roods of garden ground; so that, in spring, the village was 'covered with a fragrant cloud of blossoms on the pear, apple, and plum trees ; and in autumn was brightened with golden fruitage. In the heart of the village stood the manse, and in it had she who was now a widow passed twenty years of privacy and peace. On the death of her husband, she had retired with her family— three boys—to the pleasant cottage which they now inhabited. It belonged to the old lady of the castle, who was patroness of the parish, and who accepted from the minister's widow of a mere trifle as a nominal rent. On approaching the village, strangers always fixed upon Sunnyside for the manse itself, for an air of serenity and retirement brooded over it, as it looked out from below its sheltering elms, and the farmyard with its corn-stack, marking the homestead of the agricultural tenant, was there wanting. A neat gravel-walk winded away, without a weed, from the white gate by the roadside, through lilacs and laburnums; and the unruffled and unbroken order of all the breathing things that grew around, told that a quiet and probably small family lived within those beautiful boundaries.

The change from the manse to Sunnyside had been with the widow a change from happiness to resignation. Her husband had died of a consumption; and for nearly a year she had known that his death was inevitable. Both of them had lived in the spirit of that Christianity which he had preached ; and therefore the last year they passed together, in spite of the many bitter tears which she who was to be the survivor shed when none were by to see, was perhaps on the whole the best deserving of the name of happiness of the twenty that had passed over their earthly union. To the dying man Death had lost all his terrors. He sat beside his wife, with his bright hollow eyes and emaciated frame, among the balmy shades of his garden, and spoke with fervour of the many tender mercies God had vouchsafed to them here, and of the promises made to all who believed in the Gospel. They did not sit together to persuade, to convince, or to uphold each other's faith, for they believed in the things that were unseen, just as they believed in the beautiful blossomed arbour that then contained them in its shading silence. Accordingly, when the hour was at hand in which he was to render up his spirit into the hand of God, he was like a grateful and wearied man falling into a sleep. His widow closed his eyes with her own hands, nor was her soul then disquieted within her. In a few days she heard the bell tolling, and from her sheltered window looked out, and followed the funeral with streaming eyes, but an un-weeping heart. With a calm countenance and humble voice she left and bade farewell to the sweet manse, where she had so long been happy; and as her three beautiful boys, with faces dimmed by natural grief, but brightened by natural gladness, glided before her steps, she shut the gate of her new dwelling with an undisturbed soul, and moved her lips in silent thanksgiving to the God of the fatherless and the widow.

You can read the rest of this story at http://www.electricscotland.com/books/story/story40.htm

The other stories can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/books/story/index.htm


Good Words - 1860 Edition
-------------------------
Edited by Rev. Norman MacLeod

You should note that as this is a weekly publication you'll find larger articles are continued week by week.

This week have added articles on...

A Summer's Study of Ferns (Pages 366-367)
Good Words for Every Day of the Year (Pages 367-368)
The Happy Warrior (Pages 369-373)
The Story of Cornelius (Pages 373-376)
Clouds (Page 376)

Here is how the account of "The Happy Warrior" starts...

There is a noble English poem, worthy to be read and studied and cherished in his heart by every English soldier, in which is drawn, with a golden pen, the character of the Happy Warrior. It is not without reason that we associate this poem with the life of Major-General Sir Henry Havelock. In the year 1813, two youths were leaning over Westminster Bridge. One of them came afterwards to be Mr Justice Talfourd, and died on the bench in 1854, in the very act of urging upon the various classes of men in this country to cultivate a genuine sympathy with each other, as the true cure for social evil and crime. The other died in Lucknow, within the circle of insurrection, through which he had cut a bloody way to save the children of his people. But on that day, forty-seven years ago, the two youths, each in the happy glow of his eighteenth year, and under the April sunshine, (and April is sweet, even in London,) were repeating Wordsworth's poetry, and Talfourd's recital of the "Sonnet on Westminster Bridge," on the spot where it was composed, "made me," says Havelock, "a Laker for life." Nor after he became a soldier was he likely to forget a poem of his favourite poet, upon which his whole life might seem to have been moulded; and when, forty years later, his brother, Colonel William Havelock, flung away his life in battle against the Sikhs, Henry, proudly writing that ''my grief is more than half absorbed in admiration, and I would scarcely give my dead brother for any living soldier in the three Presidencies," justifies it by describing how "Will Havelock" rode "happy as a lover" to his death. But it is not such casual allusions as these that make us connect the poem of Wordsworth and the life of Havelock. It is because, as the life was an exposition of the poem, so the poem is a commentary on the life; and in sketching the one we shall ever and anon listen to the stately music of the other.

Havelock bears the name of Havelok the Dane, who ruled or ravaged the eastern counties before Hengist and Horsa visited them. Whether he was also descended from him does not appear. It is much more satisfactorily established that he was the son of a Sunderland shipbuilder, who, having made his money by the sea, like those old Norse pirates, retired, not like them, to some solitary wave-washed rock, but to a comfortable park in the county of Kent, where his son Henry was born. At school, seeing a big boy thrashing a little one, he interfered, and was accordingly thrashed by the big one, and thereafter thrashed by the master for having been thrashed before. At the age of ten he left this reverberant pedagogue, and went to the Charter House, where he was thrashed incessantly, and came, like the famous eels, rather to like it. We are told, indeed, that the severity of discipline here, and the custom of fagging and being fagged, had a great influence on his afterlife; he was a terrible disciplinarian in the army, never sparing others, and, it must be added in justice, never sparing himself. Among the boys who scampered about the Charter House in Havelock's time were Fox Maule, now Lord Panmure, Eastlake, the President of the Royal Academy, and Grote and Thirlwall, the well-known historians. But a little knot of more intimate friends—Sam Hinds, and Daphne Norris, and Phlos Havelock, and Julius Charles Hare, had some stranger and deeper thoughts in their heads, and used to creep away to one of the dormitories to read sermons, and perhaps to pray, at the risk of much "crackling of thorns " if they were discovered. The friendship thus laid in honest young hearts lasted through life; and in 1850 Archdeacon Hare, one of the noblest Christian men and English writers of our day, welcomed back the bronzed little warrior from India, having ''longed continually to know what fruit the bright and noble promise of your boyhood had borne." In more than one respect, therefore, does Havelock's life at the Charter House, compared with his subsequent history, recall to us Wordsworth's

"Generous spirit, who, when brought
Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought
Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought."

When the victory at Futtehpore shot the first ray of light across the darkness of Indian mutiny, he sat down and wrote his wife, "One of the prayers oft repeated throughout my life since my school days has been answered, and I have lived to command in a successful action. . . . Norris would have rejoiced, and so would dear old Julius Hare, if he had survived to see the day."

Havelock had intended to be a lawyer, but owing to "an unhappy misunderstanding with his father," of which we have no details, he, like his three brothers, entered the army at the age of twenty. For some ten years thereafter, he occupied the position which Lord Burleigh characterised as "a soldier in peace—a chimney in summer;" but our young officer refused to acquiesce in this view of his profession. He studied Vauban, and Lloyd, and Templehoff, and Jomini, read every military memoir within his reach, made himself familiar with the events of every modern and ancient campaign, got up the history and exploits of all the regiments of our army, and made himself a well furnished and accomplished soldier before he saw a single skirmish. Nor was this all; our lieutenant, who is described at this date as "diminutive in stature, but well built, with a noble expanse of forehead, and an eagle eye," "With a natural instinct to discern What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn, Abides by this resolve, and stops not there, But makes his moral duty his prime care."

You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/goodwords/goodwords178.htm

You can read the other articles at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/goodwords/index.htm 


Clan Information
----------------
Clan MacIntyre Winter 2008 Newsletter at http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/macintyre/index.htm

Mar/Apr 2008 newsletter of the Utley Family at http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/utley/11_2_MarchApril2008.pdf

Clan MacKenzie of the Americas has updated their DNA database which is in Excel spreadsheet format and you can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/mackenzie


Poetry and Stories
------------------
Further articles have been added to our Articles Service where the likes of Donna have been adding poems and recipes at http://www.electricscotland.com/article/ 

Andrew Bruce's Boats section has more Scottish Fishing boat pictures added which you can see at http://www.electricscotland.com/lifestyle/fishing_boats.htm

John sent in a new doggerel which is a poem in the dorric language called "Twa Leids" which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerel252.htm


Recipe Database
---------------
Our Recipe Database is now running at http://www.electricscotland.com/recipe 

While we still don't have too many recipes up we'd be more than happy for you to visit and add your own favourite family recipes should you have a few minuted to spare :-)

This week we've added three video recipes, including Finnan Haddie with potato champ and a Mornay sauce, Balmoral Chicken with Clapshot and Cream Whisky Sauce and lastly, Kedgeree.


The History of Ulster
------------------------------
We have now completed this 4 volume publication. Added this week are...

XXVII. Sir Edward Carson and the Covenant
Ulster in the War

Ulster in the War is actually a very large chapter and it starts...

The record of Ulster in the war is one of which her people have no reason to feel ashamed, and it will compare favourably with that of any other part of the Empire. Both in the actual fighting services and in work at home, the people of Ulster threw themselves heart and soul into the struggle against Germany.

All that was done by the Ulster troops has not been generally recognized, owing to one rather curious fact, that not a single battalion which is recruited in Ulster bears the name of the province. It is quite different with regard to other parts of Ireland. Leinster's two regiments are known as the Leinster Fusiliers and the Dublin Fusiliers. Munster, beside the Royal Irish Regiment, has its Munster Fusiliers. Connaught's solitary regiment is known as the Connaught Rangers. On the other hand, the three famous Ulster regiments, all of them among the most distinguished in the army, are known as the Royal Irish Rifles, Royal Irish Fusiliers, and Inniskilling Fusiliers; where much more appropriate names would be the Royal Ulster Rifles, and the Royal Ulster Fusiliers. Thus it often happened that when war correspondents or commanding officers reported acts of gallantry, as they often did, by the "Irish Rifles" or "Irish Fusiliers", no one outside Ireland understood that these were in fact Ulster battalions. For the same reason, a great many people imagine that Ulster's total contribution of fighting men was comprised in the famous 36th (Ulster) Division, although in addition there were actually six battalions of the regular army from Ulster, as well as five Ulster battalions in the 10th (Irish) Division and five more in the 16th (Irish) Division.

Taking the various regiments and battalions, it may be mentioned that there are eight regiments in the regular army drawn from Ireland, of which three come from Ulster and five from the other provinces. Each had two battalions, so that Ulster contributed six battalions, and the rest of Ireland ten battalions.

Of the Ulster regiments, the Royal Irish Rifles, with depot at Belfast, are recruited from Belfast, County Antrim, and County Down. The Royal Irish Fusiliers, with depot at Armagh, are recruited from Armagh, Cavan, and Monaghan; and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, with depot at Omagh, are recruited from Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh, and Donegal.

You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/ulster/vol4chap28.htm

The rest of the chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/ulster/ 


Sketches of The Character, Manners, and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Major-General David Stewart (1822)

We have now moved on to Volume II and the next several chapters are now covering the Fencible Regiments.

This week we've added...

Argyle, or Western Fencible Regiment, 1778
Gordon, 1778
Sutherland, 1779
Grant, or Strathspey, 1793
Breadalbane, three Battalions, 1793 and 1794
Sutherland, 1793
Gordon, 1793
Rothsay and Caithness, two Battalions, 1794

Here is how the account of Breadalbane starts...

He who gave glory to his country," said an illustrious statesman, "gave that which was far more valuable to it than any acquisition whatever. Glory alone was not to be taken away by time or accidents. Ships, territories, or colonies, might be taken from a country, but the mode of acquiring them could never be forgotton. The acquisitions that were the consequence of the glorious days of Cressy and Poictiers, had long since passed to other hands, but the glory of these illustrious achievements still adhered to the British name, and was immortal." [Mr Wyndham's Speech on the vote of thanks for the battle of Maida.]

Such being the imperishable attributes of military glory, those men may well be styled patriots, who essentially contributed to its attainment, if not by their personal services in the field, at least by the proper application of that influence which their rank, property, and general estimation in society, ensure to them. In this high station stood several Highland noblemen and gentlemen, who, with much barren land and moderate revenues, but with great personal and family influence, could, on any emergency, step forward at the head of a body of brave and hardy men, to assert and support their country's claim to the glorious distinction so eloquently described by the enlightened statesman whose opinions have been just quoted.

Among Highland proprietors the Earl of Breadalbane holds a pre-eminent rank. Possessing an estate superior in extent to many Continental principalities, and but little inferior to some of them in the number of its people, he made an early offer of his services to raise two Fencible regiments, which were rapidly completed in the summer of 1793. [Lord Breadalbane's estate, which supports a population of 13,537 persons, commences two miles east of Tay Bridge, in the county of Perth, and extends westward ninety-nine and a half miles to Easdale, in Argyleshire; varying in breadth from three to twelve and fifteen miles, and interrupted only by the property of three or four proprietors, who possess one side of a valley or glen, while Lord Breadalbane has the other, so that, varying his direction a little to the right or left, he can travel nearly one hundred miles from east to west on his own property, on the Mainland, besides several small islands on the coast of Argyleshire.] In a few months afterwards, a third battalion was embodied; the whole force amounting to 2300 men, of whom 1600 were from the estate of Breadalbane. Thus, while Lord Breadalbane managed his great estate so as to preserve many able men in those pastoral and agricultural occupations which generally ensure virtuous contentment and happiness; they, in gratitude for such patriarchal kindness, and in the hope that the same fatherly protection would be continued, came forward, at the call of their Chief, in the numbers just mentioned. And certainly the man who can command the services of such a body contributes in no small degree to lay the foundation of that "glory to his country which is far more valuable to it than any acquisition whatever;" for, without good and brave men to fight our battles, we should soon have neither country, independence, nor glory. And next to the commander, whose talents and courage lead the soldiers of his country to victory, is the person who, by a humane and judicious management of a numerous body of people placed by Providence under his charge and control, promotes those habits, and that prosperity and independence, which are necessary to form virtuous men and good soldiers. Such was Lord Breadalbane when he presented his King and country with 1600 able men ; nor is it to be doubted that he will continue the same course, and preserve an independent, virtuous, and high-spirited peasantry, and not, like more northerly proprietors, forget the claims of an ancient and valuable race; banish them from their native land, or reduce those who are permitted to remain to the situation of day-labourers; [See Note N, in the Appendix.] a situation not well calculated to foster that independence of spirit which lays the foundation of the "glory of those illustrious achievements which adhere to the British name, and are immortal."

You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/sketches/highlandsketches93.htm

You can read the other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/sketches/highlandsketchesndx.htm 


Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland 1884
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This week have added an account of Scotch Cheese-making and here is how it starts...

Introduction.—It is not expected that the following report will take any place of merit as a literary production ; the writer happening to be one of those at whose instance the Cheddar system made considerable advance in the south-west, being the only claim to notice by the Highland Society of Scotland. The history, the improvements, due either to the discoveries of our own, or imitation of foreign makers; what science has done, what left undone, in enlightening us in dairy management; and what is perhaps most important, a detailed description of principles and practice which should guide any intelligent person in making fine cheese, will be faithfully sketched. In all of which the standard of a practical farmer, who has given this subject considerable study, spent time and money on the mechanical appliances, and either on his own account, or through consultation with the best scientists with whom he came in contact, is that by which it may be judged.

The Dairy District.—It has often been remarked how nearly the results of haphazard, continuous, ordinary and rather unintelligent practice, coincide with the sager and more abstrusely reasoned conclusions of the best theorists ; and the general outlines, which dairy husbandry has formed for itself in Scotland, lend considerable force to this position. The counties of Argyll, Renfrew, Ayr, Lanark, Wigtown, Kirkcudbright, and Dumfries, or speaking more roughly, the western half of the country, is embraced in the dairy belt; the bleaker and north-western portion of the "Highlands and Islands" —to which it might even have a profitable extension—being the most notable exception. It is now well known—what probably was not formerly even guessed—that the precipitation of the moist-laden winds from the Atlantic favours the district for dairying ; and not only the moisture, but the high temperature to which it is raised by the breath of the Gulf Stream, still further aid in developing the early and bulky herbage, and large crops of turnips for which the west is famous. The drier and colder east may have an advantage in cattle and sheep feeding, but except in the vicinity of large populations, where butter and milk bring an exceptional and relatively high price, compared with cheese averages, dairying will have a slow growth and disappointing results. The west, then, is the dairy country par excellence.

You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/agriculture/page65.htm

The other articles can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/agriculture/index.htm


Household Encyclopaedia
-----------------------
I have added a few more pages to the B's which you can see at http://www.electricscotland.com/household/b.htm

The index page of this publication can be seen at http://www.electricscotland.com/household/ 


Antiquarian Scottish Books in Adobe Reader format
-------------------------------------------------
I said I'd do my best to add a book each week and so this week I've added...

Urquhart and Glenmoriston in Olden Times By William MacKay LL.D. (1914).

You can see from the Preface that many sources have been drawn from to build this book...

THE following pages are the result of much gathering, begun during my school and college days, of the traditions and legends and songs of my native Parish, and of much searching, in more recent years, for written records referring to it. I have endeavoured to give in them a plain and accurate account of the Olden Times, and a true picture of the Past. The work is, however, that of a novice in book-writing, who has written it, for his own diversion and recreation, during hours of freedom from the labours and anxieties of a busy professional life; and, while no effort has been spared to ensure accuracy of statement, the book is probably not without blemishes of a literary nature which it might have escaped in other hands, and under more favourable circumstances.

I have received generous help in connection with the work. My parents, whose wonderful store of legend and song first suggested it, and the old people, all over the Parish, whose tales at many a ceilidh are still a pleasing recollection, are now beyond the reach of this expression of my gratitude; and so is The Chisholm, who placed his family papers at my disposal. Others who helped are, happily, still with us. To Caroline, Countess Dowager of Seafield, I am specially indebted, for free access to the numerous and invaluable ancient papers preserved at Castle Grant.

My thanks are also due to Mr Eraser-Mackintosh of Drummond, for the use of interesting documents in his possession; to Dr Dickson, Curator of the Historical Department, Register House, Edinburgh; Mr Clark, of the Advocates' Library; Mr Law, of the Signet Library; the Rev. Walter Macleod, Edinburgh; Mr Francis James Grant, W.S., Edinburgh (a worthy descendant of the learned James Grant of Corrimony); the Clerks of the Synod of Moray and of the Presbyteries of Inverness and Abertarff; and the officials of the Record Office, London, for much courtesy and aid in the course of my researches; to Provost Ross, Inverness, for the very successful "restoration" of the Castle, which forms the frontispiece, and for the architectural description and ground plan of the Castle; to Mr Mackintosh, artist, Inverness, for the sketches of the Bridge of the Leap and Mac Uian's Pool; to Mr Grant of Glenmoriston, for the loan of the Killicrankie Shield, of which an illustration is given, and for the portrait of Patrick Grant, the protector of Prince Charles; to Mrs Grant, senior, of Glenmoriston, for the drawings of Iain a' Chragain 's Sword and the Glenmoriston Pillory; to Miss Cameron, late of Lakefield, for the drawing of , the Urquhart Brooch; to the Council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, for the illustrations of the Balnalick Urn and Bronze Blade, and of the Balmacaan Sculptured Stones; to Mr J. E. N. Macphail, M.A., advocate, Edinburgh, who has, at great trouble, revised almost all the proof-sheets; to Mr Alexander Macbain, M.A., Inverness, who, in connection with the appendix on Place-Names, has freely given me out of the abundance of his Celtic learning; to my father-in-law, Mr John Mackay, Hereford, author of "Sutherland Place-Names," for valuable suggestions on the same subject; and to my Wife, who has relieved me of much of the labour connected with the transcription of old writings.

It has been the will of Fate that the story of the Parish should be told by the last man who has a home or a holding in it of a family who, for centuries, acted some little part in that story. I hope I am doing the old place a service and not a wrong by publishing it. I trust, also, that no one will find cause of offence in anything I have recorded concerning his or her forefathers. It is the duty of the historian, however humble he or his subject may be, to tell his tale truthfully and without favour; and I have, in endeavouring to act up to that duty, experienced the pain of having to record unpleasant things, not only about my own forbears, but also regarding ancestors and relatives of some of my best friends on earth. The only comforting reflection is that the men of the Past ought not to be judged by the moral standard of the Present.

WILLIAM MACKAY.

CRAIGMONIE, INVERNESS,
Christmas, 1893.

You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/books/pdf/urquhart.htm

The index page for this section can be reached at http://www.electricscotland.com/books/pdf/index.htm



The Scottish Tradition in Canada
--------------------------------
Edited by W. Stanford Reid

This week have added two chapters...

The Scot in the Fur Trade by Elaine Allan Mitchell

Here is how the chapter starts...

It would be almost impossible to overemphasize the pre-eminent position which Scots of every stripe, Highlander, Lowlander and Islander, attained during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the North American fur trade. The same political, economic and social pressures which forced them as a people to emigrate in such large numbers, brought them as a matter of course into this expanding trade. But it is clear that, in addition to the paramount need to earn a living, they possessed certain advantages of character or education, or both, which admirably fitted them for the service of the two principal and diverse interests in the northwest, the Canadians operating from Montreal and the English on Hudson's Bay. If the dashing Highlanders of the North West Company have captured the imagination of the general public, still they must yield pride of place to the less spectacular Orkneymen of the Hudson's Bay Company, who preceded them in that part of North America formerly known as Rupert's Land. In later years, too, the sons of both groups, the majority of them born of marriages with Indian women, were frequently to succeed their fathers and grandfathers, and themselves to play a substantial and worthy part in the continent-wide and virtually monopolistic corporation on whose foundations the modern Canadian nation has been built.

You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/tradition/tradition5.htm

You can read the other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/tradition/index.htm


Early Scotch History
--------------------
By Cosmo Innes

Thanks Alan McKenzie for sending this into us and this week we have...

Cawdor Papers,
Scotch Thanes—Their office and rank—First Thanes of Cawdor —Minority of James II.—The Earldom of Moray—Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray, slain at Arkinholme, 1455— Thane William in Office at Court—Chamberlain beyond Spey—His Accounts in Exchequer—Domestic History of King James II.—The King comes to Moray—Lives at Elgin —Hunting at Darnaway—Cawdor Castle—Old Cawdor— The Hawthorn Tree—The present Castle built, 1454— Thane William the last male of the old race—Muriel the Heiress—The Campbells—Sir John—John Campbell of Cawdor murdered at Knepoch—Isla—Family Misfortunes— John the Fiar cognosced—Contracts for Building—Civil War—General pillage—Sir Hugh—Familiar Letters begin— The Knight's Education—Marries Lady Henrietta Stewart—Parliamentary Life in Edinburgh—Produce of Isla— Occupants of the hills, grouse, sheep, deer—Housekeeper's Commissions—Inverness merchant, general dealer, and banker —The Lady of Cawdor notable—Education of the Children —Girls' Schooling—The Library at the Castle—Persecuting Laws mitigated by neighbourly kindness—New Building Contracts—Essay on the Lord's Prayer—Sir Hugh's Correspondence with the Church Courts—Highland Dress—Political Opinions—Sir Hugh sends his Grandson to join Mar in 1715—His Death and Funeral—Report on the State of the Property, 1726-Notices of early Planting and Gardening—The Family change their residence to Wales-Cawdor as it is.

You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/earlyhistndx.htm


And that's it for now and I hope you all have a great weekend :-)


Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com 

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