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.
----
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]
----
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.
----
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
----
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.
----
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 :-)
----
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
----
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
----
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
----
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
-----------------
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)
------------------------------------------
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
OUR NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
-----------------------
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