MONUMENTAL STONES.

497

This is, by Pennant, supposed to represent the musimon, an animal now extinct, and other writers have indulged their various conjectures as to what it is intended for. The Ceres of the Britons was represented under the figure of " a proud, crested mare," and also as a crested hen," in which form it appears on coins, brooches, &c. If the reader will turn to p. 369, this favorite symbol of the Britons will be seen on one of their coins, and it will be remarked that the legs have a very singular termination, both there and in the figure above shown. This goddess was regarded, as it were, in an amphibious character, and, per haps, the state of the arts, or certain rules, did not permit a nearer representation of this mystical character. Some Eastern relics have a resemblance to this figure in the circular formation, or ornament of the legs; and even in St. Nicholas's Church, Ipswich, is a figure of an animal, the upper parts of the haunches of which are finished in spirals. The white bull was much venerated, and where we can only conjecture, it is worth observation, that the moon was called bull-horned, in the Orphic hymns, from its crescent form, and the ancient priests of Ceres termed this planet a bull.* One of the Celtic fragments at Notre Dame, Paris, represents a beast like a bull in a wood, in which are also birds. This very much resembles some of the sculptured stones in Scotland that may have had allusion to hunting, concerning which many curious bardic traditions exist. It has been observed in a criticism on a slight essay of mine, published by the Society of Antiquaries of London, that such figures are indicative "of the acts, habits, or character of the person commemorated." This I will readily admit, but the explanation of the symbols from Olaus Wormius, I conceive, does not apply here. The wolf is an apt hieroglyphic of tyranny, and the lamb of gentleness and innocence, &c., but how will the above singular figures be explained? The intimations of the bards, dark enough I allow, afford us the only light by which we can venture to attempt any solution of the mystery, and as they appear in some cases tolerably satisfactory, there may still be an agreement, for it is probable that if sepulchral, the tracery, rods, and other insignia, point out the grave of one initiated in the mysterious tree system learning of the Celtic priesthood.

That stones were erected to mark the burial places of celebrated men is not to be disputed, and instances have already been noticed. It was

*Note on Pausanias, from Porphyry.

498

GAELIC LITERATURE.

an ancient practice, and yet survives in the churchyard tombstones. A circular column, six feet high, but supposed when entire to have been twelve, at Llangollen, in Wales, was raised in memory of Conceun, who was defeated at the battle of Chester in 607, as Lluyd found by an inscription. Stones were also placed in commemoration of remarkable events, even to late ages. A rude pillar indicates the place where the battle of Pentland was fought; and a great block, raised by the Highlanders, marks the spot where the brave Viscount Dundee fell in the conflict at Renruari.

.......

The ceremony observed in raising a stone of memorial is thus described in the poem of Colna-dona. "Beneath the voice of the king we moved to Crona. . . . . . . . .three bards attend with songs. Three bossy shields were borne before us: for we were to rear the stone in memory of the past. By Crona's mossy course Fingal had scattered his foes ...I took a stone from the stream amid the song of bards..... beneath I placed at intervals, three bosses from the shields of foes, as rose or fell the sound of Ullin's nightly song. Toscar laid a dagger in the earth, a mail of sounding steel. We raised the mould around the stone, and bade it speak to other years."

To conclude: the race, especially in the British Isles, were remarkable for their learning, and, to use the words of a popular writer, for "the cultivation of letters, that power of imagination which seems in them a trace of their Celtic origin." A most remarkable fact in the history of the Scots is, that from being the most learned people in Europe, they became less noted for their literary acquirements than the other Celtic nations. Yet that they did not entirely neglect literature, is evident from the manuscripts which still remain, and those which we find formerly existed.

There are at present upwards of three millions of people in the British Isles who speak Celtic, viz. about two millions in Ireland, about 400,000 in Scotland, and about 700,000 in Wales. This latter country began very early to pay considerable attention to the printing of books in the native language, and by a catalogue in 1710, there appears to have been then upwards of seventy. Almanacks, magazines, dictionaries, grammars, religious books, and even several scientific works, have been published, and the number is supposed now to exceed 10,000. The first Welsh bible, a black letter folio, was printed in 1568, the first in Ireland, I believe, was in 1609. Bishop Kerswell's Liturgy, 1566, appears to have been the first book printed in Gaëlic; the bible and many other books, among which is not to be forgotten the poems of Ossian, from the original manuscripts, by the Highland Society, have been since published, yet education and literature were certainly less attended to by the Highlanders than their characteristic thirst of knowledge might have

Thiery's Norman Conquest.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

499

led us to expect; but the cause is to be found in the unsettled state of society. Wales is nearly four times richer than Scotland, and supports seven or eight periodicals, while Scotland has only recently established one, the Teachdaire Gaëlach, or Highland Messenger, which, however, appears to meet with suitable encouragement.

The want of a Gaëlic dictionary was long felt in Scotland, but that of Mr. Armstrong, published in 1825, was hailed with satisfaction; and the labors of the gentlemen employed by the Highland Society have more recently appeared in the "Dictionarium Scoto Celticum," in two large volumes 4to., which will now preserve this pure and valuable dialect of a language once universal in Europe. It will also fix the orthography, which was previously so unsettled. The singularity of this, in many instances, the reader must have remarked, and it has not escaped the notice of the learned, who have suggested means of simplifying the spelling, by getting rid of numerous consonants which are retained without being at all sounded. The Celtic Society of Glasgow have this year offered four prizes for the best essays on the subject, but their exertions have come too late, it is to be feared, to produce any effect. The apparently useless consonants are retained to show the root, or primitive of a word, and thereby prevent confusion.

The Celtic language has been several times the object of legislative severity. In Ireland severe enactments were passed against it, as was the case in Wales, about 1700. Even so late as 1769, a plan was entertained by the bishops to extinguish Cumraeg, by having the church service performed in the English only; a circumstance that but too often occurs, it is to be feared, without such a design. In Scotland, I have often heard it complained, that clergymen were put into a living who were quite unable to preach to the people in their vernacular tongue. It was attempted to root out the Gaëlic, but as might be expected, the design was impracticable. I do not know if the French ever thought of abolishing the Breton language, which, by Lagonidec, is said to be still spoken by upwards of four millions of people;-a trial would have shown that no measures could accomplish this. The case of the Wends, whose language it was attempted to repress, shows the impracticability of forcibly changing the mother tongue of any people. In 1765, it was thought expedient to eradicate the Bohemian language, and the design was long prosecuted, before the impossibility of accomplishing the object was discovered.

The nobility and gentry of Ireland continued to speak their native tongue until the reign of Elizabeth, or James the First. The Highlanders relinquished the practice of writing in Gaëlic, before they had acquired any taste for conversation in English. Rory Mor, chief of the Mac Leods, is said to have been the last of the Gaël who continued to write in the language of his fathers.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

Notwithstanding the important assistance which, in acquiring other languages, would be derived from a knowledge of this primitive tongue, there is not a Celtic Professorship in any seminary of learning in the kingdom.

APPENDIX.

TABLE OF CLAN TARTANS.

The list here given is an Appendix to what has been said of Tartans in the Sixth Chapter of this work, and contains as many specimens as I could procure and authenticate. I have noticed some variations in the patterns worn by different families of the same name, but I have not inserted any fancy tartan. The plan which is adopted in the following table, in perfecting which I had the valuable assistance of Captain Mac Kenzie of Gruinard, is sufficiently simple, as will be seen by the accompanying plate, which exhibits a square of plaid in its full size. Should any one desire to supply himself with this pattern, for instance, by copying the scale, and applying it to the web, the object will be accomplished. In like manner these descriptions are a guide to manufacturers, who will now, it is hoped, produce the true patterns.

A web of tartan is two feet two inches wide, at least within half an inch, more or less, so that the size of the patterns make no difference in the scale. Commencing at the edge of the cloth, the depth of the colors is stated throughout a square, on which the scale must be reversed or gone through again to the commencement. There is, it may be observed, a particular color in some patterns which can scarcely admit of description, but which is known to the Highlanders, as, for example, the green of the Mac Kay tartan is light. The plaid which the clergy wore is popularly believed to have been used by the Druids and Culdees. The Highland ministers, it has been shown, went armed and generally dressed in the national costume. Martin describes a lay Capuchin, whom he met in Benbecula, clad in the breacan, and several within the memory of man continued to preach in their native garb.