Antiquity! thou wondrous charm, what art thou? that being nothing, art everything! When thou wert, thou wert not antiquity—then thou wert nothing, but hadst a remoter _antiquity_, as thou calledst it, to look back to with blind veneration; thou thyself being to thyself, flat, jejune, _modern_! What mystery lurks in this retroversion? or what half Januses are we, that we cannot look forward with the same idolatry with which we for ever revert? The mighty future is as nothing, being everything; the past is everything, being nothing. CHAPTER XIV HIGHLAND BARDS BEFORE THE FORTY-FIVE “The Owlet”—Three Macgregor songs—The old bardic system superseded—Era of modern Gaelic poetry—Mary Macleod—Details of her life—Famous songs—Iain Lom—Ardent poet and politician—His “Vow”—Eventful career—Poems—Created Gaelic Poet-Laureate—Influence on Highland history—Other minor bards and bardesses—Imitations by Sir Walter Scott—The blind harper, and the blind piper—A comic poet—Two major bards—Maccodrum’s Muse—Characteristics of the group before the Forty-five. The Book of the Dean of Lismore may be regarded as having gathered up the best of the available, medieval, Gaelic poetry, and as having closed the old bardic period. After it there came a break of nearly a hundred years. It is true that there are some pieces which hail from this interval, but they are isolated and few, with no certain dates. Of these, the most remarkable is that styled “The Owlet,” and it is worthy of notice here as being the only composition of the kind in the language. The poem is attributed to Donald Macdonald, a native of Lochaber, and perhaps the most expert archer of his day. Withal a famous wolf-hunter, he appears to have lived in the days before firearms, and to have composed the verses when old. Their occasion is briefly summarised by Mackenzie of “The Beauties,” in a footnote. In his declining years the poet had married a young woman who proved a very unmeet helpmate. For when he and his dog were worn down with the toils of the chase, and infirmities rendered them stiff and decrepit, this “crooked rib” took a pleasure in teasing them. Finding an old feeble owl one day, she installed it in the house as a more fitting companion than herself for the aged bard and his dog. The poem is an ingenious performance in the form of a dialogue between the outraged husband and the bird. Three Macgregor songs of that period have likewise a wonderful charm and pathos. They are entitled “Macgregor’s Lullaby,” “Macgregor’s O’Ruara,” and “The Braes of the Ceathach.” The authoress of the first laments the death of her husband, who, with his father and brother, were beheaded at the instigation of Colin Campbell of Glenorchy; her own sire, Campbell of Glenlyon; and Menzies of Rannoch. The following verses are from Pattison’s rendering:—