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CONTENTS
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Electric Scotland News
Electric Scotland Community
The Flag in the Wind
Geikie's Etchings
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
William McTaggart, R.S.A., V.P.R.S.W.
History of India - An Historical Disquisition
Ten Tales by Sir Harry Lauder
The Lairds of Glenlyon: Historical Sketches
Lossiemouth Project - "Our Fishing Heritage" (New Book)
Scotland, Social and Domestic
Traditions of Perth
Glasgow and it's Clubs
The Scot in England (New Book)
Fallbrook Farm Heritage Site
Robert Burns Lives!
Electric Scotland News
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I got a nice surprise this week. It seems that I am due to start receiving a pension from the 1st of February. This is just a wee pension as I only paid into it for 4 years but it does provide a nice wee lump sum. However the surprise was when I was talking to Harold in Toronto about it. He asked if it was in dollars or UK pounds... and of course it's in UK pounds so what I thought I was getting went up by 50% as I'd just assumed in was in dollars <grin>
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We finally got some decent snow in Chatham... and just as well I have an arrangement with a local chap to clear my drive as otherwise I'd have had real problems in getting my car into the garage when I got back from Toronto.
I was over there to see the doctor about my hand and you can tell that they are very hi-tech over there as the best advice was to join my two smaller fingers together using selotape and keep them together for around 6 weeks. I was also amused when she asked me to make motions with both hands like "quack quack". I did wonder why she had a cuddly duck on her desk but now I know why! <grin>
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I mentioned in last weeks newsletter about doing a shopping mall. Due to the annoucement that Amazon are greatly extending their operations in Scotland creating some 950 new full time jobs and up to 1500 part time ones I thought I might work at bringing you an Amazon shopping mall. That way we can offer the three major countries of USA, UK and Canada. And of course these countries are where we get the bulk of our visitors from. I could then make a point of highlighting particular Scottish products and thus encourage even more jobs to be created in Scotland :-)
So we'll see where this might take us.
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I got a copy of an email in which made me think. Some folk like John Henderson, Donna Flood, Frank Shaw and others often contribute stories, poems, articles, etc for all of us to enjoy. They do all this for the pleasure it gives them and ask not one cent for their contributions. It would thus be very nice if you are enjoying their contributions to send them an email saying thanks. It doesn't cost you anything other than a little time but it does make a huge difference to them to know that their efforts are appreciated. It would be a nice thing to do!
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 in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php
Electric Scotland Community
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Getting quite busy in our forums this week with lots of interesting new messages. I note this newsletter got 910 views at time of writing this newsletter so I guess the later reminder was worthwhile :-)
I added a wee video tutorial on How to add a YouTube video to our message forums which you can view at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...into-a-message
And how about sharing some of your favourite recipes to the Food and Drink Forum?
Our community can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.org/forum.php
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks issue is now available compiled by Ian Goldie.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Geikie's Etchings
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This week we've added more articles...
A Youthful Artist
Ech! I Am As Fou And As Thankfu'
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ikie/index.htm
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
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And of the Border Raids, Forays and Conflicts by John Parker Lawson (1839). This is a new publication we're starting on which is in 3 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
This week we've added...
Conflict At Thurso - 1649
Battle Of Dunbar - 1650
Cromwell In Scotland Glasgow - 1650
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
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By Cuthbert Bede (1861)
This week we put up Chapter XVI - Highlanders and Highland Dress
Preparations for the Moors. — The Shooting-cart. — Highland Roads and Carriages. — Ossian's Chariots. — The Head-Keeper. — The Dogs. — Old Viscount. — A teetotal Highlander. — Old Rudd. —
Our little Weaknesses - A Whiskey Formula. — A Cross-examination. — Old Rudd offended. — Ditto the Scotch Cook. — Archie. — Barley-sheaves and Whiskey, — The Shooters' Departure. — Rarity of the national Dress. — Scotch' d but not kilt. — The Poetical and Practical. — The Scotch Bonnet. — A royal Example. — A kilted Morning-caller. — Detractors of the Dress. — Age of the Kilt. — An
extravagant Bishop! — Mr. Pinkerton's Modesty shocked. — Royal Toleration. — The ancient Briton and modern Highlander. — Heraldic Tartans. — The Cantire Farmer and his Wardrobe.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/glencreggan/
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
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A Series of Anecdotal Biographies chiefly of Scotchmen, Mostly by James Paterson and Edited by James Maidment (1885)
This week we have added...
Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, Banker in Edinburgh
The Marquis of Huntly, afterwards Duke of Gordon
Sir James Montgomery of Stanhope, Lord Chief Baron of Exchequer
The Rev. Greville Ewing
James, Third Earl of Hopetoun
Here is how the account starts of Sir William Forbes...
The words of the engraving, "The good shall mourn a brother—all a friend," were never more appropriately applied than in allusion to the character of Sir William Forbes. In the language of the Rev. Mr. Alison, there was no person of the age "who so fully united in himself the same assemblage of the most estimable qualities of our nature; the same firmness of piety, with the same tenderness of charity; the same ardour of public spirit, with the same disdain of individual interest; the same activity in business, with the same generosity in its conduct; the same independence towards the powerful, and the same humanity towards the lowly; the same dignity in public life, with the same gentleness in private society."
Sir William Forbes was born at Edinburgh on the 5th of April, 1739. He was descended (both paternally and maternally) from the ancient family of Monymusk, and by his paternal grandmother from the Lords Pitsligo. His father, who was bred to the bar, died when Sir William was only four years of age. His mother, thus left with two infant sons, and very slender means of support, retired among her friends in Aberdeenshire. His younger brother did not long survive. Though nurtured in rather straitened circumstances, Sir William by no means lacked an excellent education, which he received under the superintendence of his guardians—Lord Forbes, his uncle; Lord Pitsligo, his maternal uncle; Mr. Morrison of Bogny; and Mr. Urquhart of Meldrum, among whom he was trained to the habits and ideas of good society; but it was principally to the sedulous care of his widowed mother, who instilled into his young mind the sentiments of rectitude and virtue, that, as he frequently in after life declared, he "owed everything." Both his parents belonged to the Scottish Episcopal Church, to which communion Sir William remained during his life a steady and liberal adherent.
In 1753 Lady Forbes returned to Edinburgh, with the view of choosing some profession for her son, who had now attained his fourteenth year. Fortunately, through the influence of a friend, Mr. Farquharson of Haughton, he was taken into the banking-house of Messrs. Coutts, and bound apprentice to the business the following year.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/vol137.htm
The other entries can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/index.htm
William McTaggart, R.S.A., V.P.R.S.W.
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Painter and Artist and a man of considerable talents.
Chapter IX. Pictures of the Sea, 1889-1910
Born within sight and sound of the Atlantic, where it flashes and thunders on the sands of Machrihanish, the call of the sea was strong in McTaggart's blood. He loved it in all its moods, and he painted it as only a great painter, who was also a lover of its might and magic and an initiate into its haunting secrets, could. To unique imaginative apprehension, he added an equally wonderful power of rendering in pictorial terms the material and dynamic qualities of the sea—its vastness and unity; its liquidity and marvellous colour ; the endless variety of its evanescent forms; its never-ceasing and irresistible movement. From dawn to sunset, and from calm to storm, he painted every phase of the sea's fascination with insight and mastery, and so his sea pictures attained, naturally and without conscious effort, an infinite variety which " time cannot wither nor custom stale." And often upon these ever varying waters, fishers, engaged in their perilous calling, sailed their boats fearlessly, or beside them children, singing in glee or silently intent, played amongst the rough seaweed tangled rocks or on the smooth yellow sands. The sea and incidents associated with it had, of course, figured in his pictures for many years prior to 1889, and had been treated with splendid spirit, sincerity and skill. But, through the more radiant light and colour, the finer sense of movement, the greater unity between incident and setting and between subject and style, and the maturer and subtler technical skill which vitalise them, his later pictures give fuller, freer, and more significant expression to the poetic feeling which had always underlain his treatment of such themes.
The culmination of his achievement in this direction, they not only surpass anything McTaggart had done previously, but, in their vivid beauty, imaginative appeal, and vital power of execution, are incomparable as pictures of the sea. While others have also made admirable, and at times affecting, records of the sea's colour and form and movement, McTaggart is almost alone in that he invariably used these elements of beauty, which he understood profoundly, to express that mysterious sense of inner life and unbroken continuance which the insensate and everchanging sea holds for those to whom it is perhaps the most living and wonderful thing in the world. He stands to painters of the sea in much the same relationship as Mr. Conrad does to the authors who merely write about it. The heart-beat of the tides pulsates in his pictures, and from them "murmurs and scents of the infinite sea" seem to be wafted. For more than any man who ever painted old ocean, except Turner perhaps, he appeals to the imagination. Turner, however, obtained his effects by dramatic contrast and through the introduction of subsidiary and striking incident rather than by his rendering of the sea itself. On the other hand, without the aid of exaggeration or the associations sprung upon one by sight of shipwreck or disaster, McTaggart touches the innermost chords of feeling more poignantly because more simply and directly. Pregnant with the sea's hidden witchery, each of his finer pictures is a realisation of some aspect of its mighty magic never before captured by painting. In the broad daylight of his pictures, the immensity and mystery of the sea knock more calamity at the heart than the reality usually does, except in twilight or storm.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rt_william.htm
History of India
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by William Robertson
We've now added the Appendix in which he makes some observations upon the genius, the manners, and institutions of the people of India.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...a/indiandx.htm
Ten Tales
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By Sir Harry Lauder (1908)
We found this charming wee book and thought we'd add it to the site. We've added the next tale...
"Billy the Brasher"
and you can view this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...entalesndx.htm
The Lairds of Glenlyon: Historical Sketches
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Relating to the Districts of Appin, Glenlyon and Breadalbane by Duncan Campbell (1886)
We now added chapters 14 to 18.
Chapter 6 tells us something about the MacGregors and starts...
DOWN to the reign of James IV. the M'Gregors, broken as they lately were into contending sections, and without a chief, had still been able to hold their own safely. The Campbells of Glenorchy, from 1452 downwards, had been gradually acquiring heritable and leasehold titles to large tracts in the Breadalbane district; but the royal and Charter-house possessions there were yet extensive, and upon these the M'Gregors held their settlements unquestioned, The Campbells, upon the lands they actually acquired, were not yet in a position to exercise coercive measures with a high hand. In 1473, John Stewart of Fortingall, and Neil his son, had a nineteen years' lease from James III. of the royal lands and lordships of Apnadull, Glenquaich, Glenlyon, Strathbrawin, and Rannoch. They held the important office of bailairy of the same lands for the period of their lease.
The house of Roro, and the off-shoot branches in Rannoch, Fortingall, &c, flourished and robbed under the sway of Neil—for his father died soon after the lease was obtained. The M'Gregors amply repaid the kindness, and exhibited for Neil a degree of fidelity which was no less honourable than fatal for both parties. Neil, at the head of his own men and the faithful M'Gregors, fought fiercely for his unfortunate monarch, and relative, James III., through the last sad troubles of his melancholy reign. After the death of the king, Neil appears to have kept up for some time a predatory band, and to have set the M'Gregors loose upon some of the neighbouring barons who had espoused the side of the prince in the late war. Whatever compunctions James IV. might have felt for the death of his father, he did not always show friendly feelings for those who had manfully espoused his side. Neil's lease expired in 1492, and was not renewed. James IV. visited Kinloch-Rannoch and the rest of the district, and saw fit, in his royal wisdom, to confer the power which he had taken from the hands of Neil upon the Lairds of Glenorchy and Weem.
In 1502, Glenorchy had a charter of the Barony of Glenlyon. A similar charter, of the same date, was granted to Sir Robert Menzies of Weem, of the north side of Loch Rannoch, at that time and long afterwards the very stronghold of the M'Gregors. Neil Stewart died at Garth, 31st January, 1499, and was succeeded by his son, also called Neil. This impetuous young man, maddened by the slight put on his house, hurled immediately, with all the relentless vigour of his forefather, the redoubtable "Wolf of Badenoch," the fiery torrent of his Highland vengeance upon Sir Robert Menzies. The M'Gregors of Rannoch, and indeed of the whole house of Roro, were his willing associates. The charter of the lands of Rannoch is dated 1st September, 1502; and in the same month, Niall Gointe of Garth, and his wild followers surprised, pillaged and burned Weem Castle, took Sir Robert Menzies prisoner, and laid all his property waste. They took with them all they could carry or drive, and what they could not take with them they burned.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter16.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lyon/index.htm
Lossiemouth Project
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I was delighted to receive a book by David Thomson on "Our Fishing Herritage". David says... The following are selected chapters from a new book by a former Lossie fisherman. They recount the town’s fishing heritage from the 19th century and detail its fleet’s rise to prosperity and its subsequent demise under the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy. The chapters go on to describe similar fisheries and fishery cultures in other parts of the world.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/thomson/fishing.htm
We also got in a wee description of Lossiemouth back in 1811 which we posted on the index page of the project at http://www.electricscotland.com/lossiemouth/
I might add that the SDA have just published their paper on Fishing Policy for an Independent Scotland which makes interesting reading and can be viwed at http://scottishdemocraticalliance.or...id=9&Itemid=18
Scotland, Social and Domestic
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Memorials of Life and Manners in North Britain by Rev. Charles Rogers LL.D., FSA Scot (1869)
we now have up...
General Folklore
Demons and Apparitions
Witchcraft
Church Discipline
which now concludes this book.
Under General Folklore we read...
The kingdom of superstition has not been quite subdued. What Scotsman would hazard his connubial happiness by marrying in May! What Highlander could enjoy a festive entertainment at which the bottle was passed round from right to left, opposite to the sun's course? What housewife would invite a party of thirteen? What Scottish peasant is without alarm on hearing that particular sound known as the death-drop? The occult influence of a strong will is largely credited in the Highlands.
The curative powers of certain wells were early recognised. Mineral waters were recommended by the physicians of ancient Greece. The Romans were familiar with the efficacy of thermal and other springs. Among less enlightened peoples, the virtues of healing fountains were ascribed to supernatural agency. Orientals attributed the powers of mineral waters to the operation of angels. The ancient Britons thought that particular wells were originally constructed by devils for the destruction of mankind, but that these had been converted to healing purposes through the prayers of saints. Adamnan relates that there was a well in Pictland, worshipped as a malignant deity,—whoever touched its waters being seized with leprosy or some other ailment; but St. Columba invoked a blessing on the fountain, which henceforth became healing.
Owing to exposure, and the want of proper provisions in his adverse days, King Robert the Bruce was seized with a scorbutic disorder, which was called leprosy. He experienced benefit from a medicinal spring, near Ayr. On his gaining the throne, he founded a priory of Dominican monks at the spot, and made an endowment for eight lepers. According to the tradition, King Robert attached the right of placing persons in the lepers' endowment to the descendants of Sir William Wallace, in acknowledgment of the services of that great patriot.
The more reputed fountains in the Scottish Lowlands were, Christ's Well in Menteith, St.Fillan's in Strathearn, the springs at Huntingtower and Trinity-Gask, near Perth, St. Anthony's Well at Edinburgh, and another spring dedicated to St. Anthony at Maybole. A spring in the cave of Uchtrie Mackin, near Portpatrick, was especially famed for its supernatural virtues. In upland districts, the more renowned wells were those of Craigach, in Avoch, Chader, Isle of Lewis, Drumcassie, Kincardine O'Neil, and the spring of Tobar-na-demhurnich, Ross-shire. The Dow Loch, in Dumfriesshire, and the White Loch of Merton were much celebrated.
You can read more of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...l/social05.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../socialndx.htm
Traditions of Perth
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Containing Sketches of the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants during the last century by George Penny (1836)
We've now added Pages 20 to 38 and the first article is about the Dress and Habits of the People which starts...
The dress of the working classes was wont to be of a very coarse fabric, commonly hodden gray; and the broad blue bonnet was universal. The cut of a fashionable coat of former days differed considerably from onr ideas of elegance. This important article of dress was made with a very long waist, and gradually widened as it came down to the haunches; the tails were short, and spread round in front of the thighs; the sleeves were very wide, with immense cuffs folding back nearly to the elbows, and were ornamented with a profusion of very large buttons. Neither coat nor waistcoat had any neck, and the shirt was merely secured at the neck by a button; very few, except on holidays, indulging in the extravagant luxury of wearing a neck-cloth. The waistcoat was an important and substantial article of dress, and, at pinch, might have stood in place of a whole wardrobe. It descended nearly to the knees, parting at the top of the thighs into what was called flaps, each of which contained a pocket so capacious, as might lead to the idea that the worthy owners were in the habit of carrying their whole moveables about with them. The breeches were very short, extending from the knee to the haunches, upon which they hung, without the aid of braces. The stockings were a stout, and, generally, home-made article, produced by the females of the family. Many aged people, who had become incapable of more active employment, procured a living by knitting stockings. The hair was worn long, flowing over the shoulders.
The common every-day dress of the women consisted of coarse blue plaiding petticoats, and a short-gown of the same. The married women wore a close mutch, which on Sundays they ornamented with some showy ribbons. Their Sunday dress was composed of linsey-woolsey, which was chiefly spun in the family, and given out to weave.
You can get to these pages at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/perth/
Glasgow and it's Clubs
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Or Glimpses of Conditions, Manners, Characters and Oddities of the City By John Strang LL.D. (1857)
This week we've added "The Glasgow Tobacco Aristocracy—Hodge-Podge Club"
If the world has had its ages of iron, silver, and gold, Glasgow also assuredly had, during even the last century and a half, its peculiar and distinctive mercantile ages. It had, for example, its salmon and herring, its tobacco, its sugar, its cotton, its iron, and its steam-boat building ages
in regular progressive succession,—one peculiar business or handicraft generally holding for a season its paramount sway, and then calmly yielding the supremacy to another.
You can read this book as we get it up at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...w/clubsndx.htm
The Scot in England
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By John Herries McCulloch (1935)
The Preface sets the scene for this book...
To tell the story of the Scot in England, in all its detail, would be a formidable task, requiring the space of many volumes. I have contented myself with telling the story briefly, but have made an effort to touch on the various aspects of the Scots' influence on English life, in such a way that the whole picture is discernible in the background.
One pleasant feature in connection with the writing of the book has been the co-operation I have received from busy and distinguished men whom I have never met, and who were not even aware of the purpose of my inquiries. I am particularly indebted, for information that could not have been supplied without considerable trouble, to Sir Alexander Gibb, Queen Anne's Lodge, Westminster, London; Alan C. Don, Chaplain, Lambeth Palace; Mr. G. Bernard Nicolson, 57 Grosvcnor Street, Toronto, Canada; Alexander Dunlop Lindsay, Master of Balliol College, Oxford; Sir E. John Russell, D.Sc, F.R.S., Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpcnden, Herts; Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., Monreith, Wigtownshire; Mr. W. Robinson, Gravetye Manor, East Grinstcad, Sussex; the Curator of Historical Records, H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh; Mr. Alexander Sutherland, Editor of the Scottish Farmer, Glasgow; The Registrar, General Medical Council, London; N. G. Horner, M.D., Editor of the British Medical Journal; the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; Mr. F. H. Allan, The Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh; and Mr. David Rorie, 17 Hazledene Road, Aberdeen.
In the preparation of a book of this sort it is advisable to find a librarian who can indicate useful references. It was my good fortune, at the outset, to enlist the co-operation of Mr. G. W. Shirley, Librarian at the Ewart Public Library, Dumfries. Few men have a wider knowledge of Scotland's history, and over a period of many months he has placed a great deal of invaluable information in my hands. I am also deeply indebted to die Mitchell Library, Glasgow, where many rare books were produced for my perusal, and where considerable research work was voluntarily undertaken on my behalf by Mr. Alexander R. Mirrilees.
It was my intention to append a list of the books which I have consulted, but when the number exceeded four hundred I gave up the idea. I do wish, however, to mention History of Scottish Medicine, by John D. Comric, and Publishing and Bookselling, by F. A. Mumby. From these excellent histories I was able to glean a great deal of information, and to verify and co-ordinate my own researches. I am most grateful to both authors.
My feeling is that Scotland is at the beginning of an epoch. Her glory lies in the past. Her population is decreasing, her industries are disappearing, and her ancient vigour and independence become less and less noticeable as the years pass. That is the fate of every country which comes under the benign but remote control of a government which is not, essentially, a part of the country.
Our blood has been too cold and temperate. Unapt to stir at such indignities.
The older generations in Scotland have become so accustomed to this pleasant supervision that it is quite impossible, as the advocates of Scottish Home Rule have discovered, to rouse them out of their apathy, but there are signs that the younger generations are aware that their country is affected by creeping paralysis. Something will have to be done, and that soon, to save Scotland from becoming a summer resort, and it will not be done by staging amateurish and unwieldy historical pageants. These absurd demonstrations illustrate the sense of bizarre unreality that is encouraged in modern Scotland. We are cavorting clumsily on the sacred sods of Bannockburn while the silence of poverty steals up the Clyde.
Scotland, to-day, could do with less conceit and more pride. The quiet pride that once dwelt in cottages will come back to us again when we really understand the history of our wonderful little country — not the history of Edinburgh, with its endless list of vulgar political intrigues that have no meaning except for exclamatory tourists and keepers of curio-shops — but the history of the able and courageous men and women who have defended the honour of the country, and of those who have gone out from it to do things that have reflected honour upon our race. These Scots belong to the past, but, please God, we shall see their like again, if the youth of the country are taught to face realities and to distinguish between the tinsel and gold that are so closely interwoven in Scottish history.
I have written this book for the youth of Scotland, and for Scotsmen who live in England and abroad, for with them lies the future of our country.
Colvend, via Dalbeattie, J. H. McC.
Scotland.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...nd/scotndx.htm
Fallbrook Farm Heritage Site
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Got in Update 54 which includes a 4 chapter account of a Scottish family in Paisley where one of the sons emigrated to Canada. This is well worth reading.
You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...allbrook54.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
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By Frank Shaw
Auld Lang Syne by Kate Taylor
If this was a newspaper article, I would begin with Dateline: Knightsbridge, London. I am sitting in a wee flat Susan and I rented while on our way to speak at the University of Glasgow’s annual Robert Burns conference hosted by The Centre for Robert Burns Studies. There is something thrilling about renting a flat in this great city, shopping for groceries at Harrods, and cooking your own dinner. Completing this article on a unique lady while here - Kate Taylor - is simply icing on the cake. She is a talented folk singer, songwriter, and gifted artist and has done for Auld Lang Syne what Robert Burns did with this special song many years ago – improved the lyrics. Auld Lang Syne has become a New Year’s song which occupies a special spot in the lives of Scots in particular. The world at large also celebrates this song at the close of one year and the beginning of another. Thus, many people do not know or care that the song as we know it was written by Robert Burns and that Scots in general claim the song as theirs. Yet, the world has taken possession of it. Guy Lombardo is responsible for most Americans knowing about Auld Lang Syne. He heard a group of Scots just off the boat from the auld country singing it in his homeland of Canada, and for thirty years he ended his New Year’s programs, first on radio and then television, with Auld Lang Syne. Most feel New Year’s Eve would not be the same if it was not played or sung as the old year ticked down to welcome in the new. Even though most revelers do not know the lyrics, it has become a focal point of New Year’s Eve all around the world.
I ran across Taylor’s interpretation of Auld Lang Syne recently while going through our Christmas CDs to celebrate the recent season. According to the printed label, back in 2003 an acquaintance went to the trouble to gift us a homemade holiday CD and the last song recorded was Kate Taylor’s version of Auld Lang Syne. Several days later while traveling I played the CD and would immediately punch the replay button to hear Kate again sing the song. The music in the old truck never sounded better! As I drove along the highway I listened to other Christmas music but kept going back to Taylor’s great adaptation of Robert Burns’ song. After finishing my appointment and heading for home, I found myself doing the same thing – going back to Taylor’s interpretation of the song. I knew I was on to someone and something very special – Kate Taylor and her rendition of Auld Lang Syne.
You can read more on this and also listen to an mp3 recording of her song at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives104.htm
You can also read Frank's other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
And to finish...
Listen To Me
A friend told me that he was picking up his wife from her friend’s house and found himself sitting in the car for ages as the two woman continued to gab at the front door. When his wife eventually joined him in the car, and he pointed out that they were now running late, she replied: “It’s not my fault. She wouldn’t stop listening to me.”
And that's it for now and hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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Electric Scotland News
Electric Scotland Community
The Flag in the Wind
Geikie's Etchings
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
William McTaggart, R.S.A., V.P.R.S.W.
History of India - An Historical Disquisition
Ten Tales by Sir Harry Lauder
The Lairds of Glenlyon: Historical Sketches
Lossiemouth Project - "Our Fishing Heritage" (New Book)
Scotland, Social and Domestic
Traditions of Perth
Glasgow and it's Clubs
The Scot in England (New Book)
Fallbrook Farm Heritage Site
Robert Burns Lives!
Electric Scotland News
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I got a nice surprise this week. It seems that I am due to start receiving a pension from the 1st of February. This is just a wee pension as I only paid into it for 4 years but it does provide a nice wee lump sum. However the surprise was when I was talking to Harold in Toronto about it. He asked if it was in dollars or UK pounds... and of course it's in UK pounds so what I thought I was getting went up by 50% as I'd just assumed in was in dollars <grin>
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We finally got some decent snow in Chatham... and just as well I have an arrangement with a local chap to clear my drive as otherwise I'd have had real problems in getting my car into the garage when I got back from Toronto.
I was over there to see the doctor about my hand and you can tell that they are very hi-tech over there as the best advice was to join my two smaller fingers together using selotape and keep them together for around 6 weeks. I was also amused when she asked me to make motions with both hands like "quack quack". I did wonder why she had a cuddly duck on her desk but now I know why! <grin>
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I mentioned in last weeks newsletter about doing a shopping mall. Due to the annoucement that Amazon are greatly extending their operations in Scotland creating some 950 new full time jobs and up to 1500 part time ones I thought I might work at bringing you an Amazon shopping mall. That way we can offer the three major countries of USA, UK and Canada. And of course these countries are where we get the bulk of our visitors from. I could then make a point of highlighting particular Scottish products and thus encourage even more jobs to be created in Scotland :-)
So we'll see where this might take us.
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I got a copy of an email in which made me think. Some folk like John Henderson, Donna Flood, Frank Shaw and others often contribute stories, poems, articles, etc for all of us to enjoy. They do all this for the pleasure it gives them and ask not one cent for their contributions. It would thus be very nice if you are enjoying their contributions to send them an email saying thanks. It doesn't cost you anything other than a little time but it does make a huge difference to them to know that their efforts are appreciated. It would be a nice thing to do!
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 in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php
Electric Scotland Community
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Getting quite busy in our forums this week with lots of interesting new messages. I note this newsletter got 910 views at time of writing this newsletter so I guess the later reminder was worthwhile :-)
I added a wee video tutorial on How to add a YouTube video to our message forums which you can view at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...into-a-message
And how about sharing some of your favourite recipes to the Food and Drink Forum?
Our community can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.org/forum.php
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks issue is now available compiled by Ian Goldie.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Geikie's Etchings
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This week we've added more articles...
A Youthful Artist
Ech! I Am As Fou And As Thankfu'
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ikie/index.htm
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
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And of the Border Raids, Forays and Conflicts by John Parker Lawson (1839). This is a new publication we're starting on which is in 3 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
This week we've added...
Conflict At Thurso - 1649
Battle Of Dunbar - 1650
Cromwell In Scotland Glasgow - 1650
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
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By Cuthbert Bede (1861)
This week we put up Chapter XVI - Highlanders and Highland Dress
Preparations for the Moors. — The Shooting-cart. — Highland Roads and Carriages. — Ossian's Chariots. — The Head-Keeper. — The Dogs. — Old Viscount. — A teetotal Highlander. — Old Rudd. —
Our little Weaknesses - A Whiskey Formula. — A Cross-examination. — Old Rudd offended. — Ditto the Scotch Cook. — Archie. — Barley-sheaves and Whiskey, — The Shooters' Departure. — Rarity of the national Dress. — Scotch' d but not kilt. — The Poetical and Practical. — The Scotch Bonnet. — A royal Example. — A kilted Morning-caller. — Detractors of the Dress. — Age of the Kilt. — An
extravagant Bishop! — Mr. Pinkerton's Modesty shocked. — Royal Toleration. — The ancient Briton and modern Highlander. — Heraldic Tartans. — The Cantire Farmer and his Wardrobe.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/glencreggan/
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
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A Series of Anecdotal Biographies chiefly of Scotchmen, Mostly by James Paterson and Edited by James Maidment (1885)
This week we have added...
Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, Banker in Edinburgh
The Marquis of Huntly, afterwards Duke of Gordon
Sir James Montgomery of Stanhope, Lord Chief Baron of Exchequer
The Rev. Greville Ewing
James, Third Earl of Hopetoun
Here is how the account starts of Sir William Forbes...
The words of the engraving, "The good shall mourn a brother—all a friend," were never more appropriately applied than in allusion to the character of Sir William Forbes. In the language of the Rev. Mr. Alison, there was no person of the age "who so fully united in himself the same assemblage of the most estimable qualities of our nature; the same firmness of piety, with the same tenderness of charity; the same ardour of public spirit, with the same disdain of individual interest; the same activity in business, with the same generosity in its conduct; the same independence towards the powerful, and the same humanity towards the lowly; the same dignity in public life, with the same gentleness in private society."
Sir William Forbes was born at Edinburgh on the 5th of April, 1739. He was descended (both paternally and maternally) from the ancient family of Monymusk, and by his paternal grandmother from the Lords Pitsligo. His father, who was bred to the bar, died when Sir William was only four years of age. His mother, thus left with two infant sons, and very slender means of support, retired among her friends in Aberdeenshire. His younger brother did not long survive. Though nurtured in rather straitened circumstances, Sir William by no means lacked an excellent education, which he received under the superintendence of his guardians—Lord Forbes, his uncle; Lord Pitsligo, his maternal uncle; Mr. Morrison of Bogny; and Mr. Urquhart of Meldrum, among whom he was trained to the habits and ideas of good society; but it was principally to the sedulous care of his widowed mother, who instilled into his young mind the sentiments of rectitude and virtue, that, as he frequently in after life declared, he "owed everything." Both his parents belonged to the Scottish Episcopal Church, to which communion Sir William remained during his life a steady and liberal adherent.
In 1753 Lady Forbes returned to Edinburgh, with the view of choosing some profession for her son, who had now attained his fourteenth year. Fortunately, through the influence of a friend, Mr. Farquharson of Haughton, he was taken into the banking-house of Messrs. Coutts, and bound apprentice to the business the following year.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/vol137.htm
The other entries can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/index.htm
William McTaggart, R.S.A., V.P.R.S.W.
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Painter and Artist and a man of considerable talents.
Chapter IX. Pictures of the Sea, 1889-1910
Born within sight and sound of the Atlantic, where it flashes and thunders on the sands of Machrihanish, the call of the sea was strong in McTaggart's blood. He loved it in all its moods, and he painted it as only a great painter, who was also a lover of its might and magic and an initiate into its haunting secrets, could. To unique imaginative apprehension, he added an equally wonderful power of rendering in pictorial terms the material and dynamic qualities of the sea—its vastness and unity; its liquidity and marvellous colour ; the endless variety of its evanescent forms; its never-ceasing and irresistible movement. From dawn to sunset, and from calm to storm, he painted every phase of the sea's fascination with insight and mastery, and so his sea pictures attained, naturally and without conscious effort, an infinite variety which " time cannot wither nor custom stale." And often upon these ever varying waters, fishers, engaged in their perilous calling, sailed their boats fearlessly, or beside them children, singing in glee or silently intent, played amongst the rough seaweed tangled rocks or on the smooth yellow sands. The sea and incidents associated with it had, of course, figured in his pictures for many years prior to 1889, and had been treated with splendid spirit, sincerity and skill. But, through the more radiant light and colour, the finer sense of movement, the greater unity between incident and setting and between subject and style, and the maturer and subtler technical skill which vitalise them, his later pictures give fuller, freer, and more significant expression to the poetic feeling which had always underlain his treatment of such themes.
The culmination of his achievement in this direction, they not only surpass anything McTaggart had done previously, but, in their vivid beauty, imaginative appeal, and vital power of execution, are incomparable as pictures of the sea. While others have also made admirable, and at times affecting, records of the sea's colour and form and movement, McTaggart is almost alone in that he invariably used these elements of beauty, which he understood profoundly, to express that mysterious sense of inner life and unbroken continuance which the insensate and everchanging sea holds for those to whom it is perhaps the most living and wonderful thing in the world. He stands to painters of the sea in much the same relationship as Mr. Conrad does to the authors who merely write about it. The heart-beat of the tides pulsates in his pictures, and from them "murmurs and scents of the infinite sea" seem to be wafted. For more than any man who ever painted old ocean, except Turner perhaps, he appeals to the imagination. Turner, however, obtained his effects by dramatic contrast and through the introduction of subsidiary and striking incident rather than by his rendering of the sea itself. On the other hand, without the aid of exaggeration or the associations sprung upon one by sight of shipwreck or disaster, McTaggart touches the innermost chords of feeling more poignantly because more simply and directly. Pregnant with the sea's hidden witchery, each of his finer pictures is a realisation of some aspect of its mighty magic never before captured by painting. In the broad daylight of his pictures, the immensity and mystery of the sea knock more calamity at the heart than the reality usually does, except in twilight or storm.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rt_william.htm
History of India
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by William Robertson
We've now added the Appendix in which he makes some observations upon the genius, the manners, and institutions of the people of India.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...a/indiandx.htm
Ten Tales
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By Sir Harry Lauder (1908)
We found this charming wee book and thought we'd add it to the site. We've added the next tale...
"Billy the Brasher"
and you can view this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...entalesndx.htm
The Lairds of Glenlyon: Historical Sketches
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Relating to the Districts of Appin, Glenlyon and Breadalbane by Duncan Campbell (1886)
We now added chapters 14 to 18.
Chapter 6 tells us something about the MacGregors and starts...
DOWN to the reign of James IV. the M'Gregors, broken as they lately were into contending sections, and without a chief, had still been able to hold their own safely. The Campbells of Glenorchy, from 1452 downwards, had been gradually acquiring heritable and leasehold titles to large tracts in the Breadalbane district; but the royal and Charter-house possessions there were yet extensive, and upon these the M'Gregors held their settlements unquestioned, The Campbells, upon the lands they actually acquired, were not yet in a position to exercise coercive measures with a high hand. In 1473, John Stewart of Fortingall, and Neil his son, had a nineteen years' lease from James III. of the royal lands and lordships of Apnadull, Glenquaich, Glenlyon, Strathbrawin, and Rannoch. They held the important office of bailairy of the same lands for the period of their lease.
The house of Roro, and the off-shoot branches in Rannoch, Fortingall, &c, flourished and robbed under the sway of Neil—for his father died soon after the lease was obtained. The M'Gregors amply repaid the kindness, and exhibited for Neil a degree of fidelity which was no less honourable than fatal for both parties. Neil, at the head of his own men and the faithful M'Gregors, fought fiercely for his unfortunate monarch, and relative, James III., through the last sad troubles of his melancholy reign. After the death of the king, Neil appears to have kept up for some time a predatory band, and to have set the M'Gregors loose upon some of the neighbouring barons who had espoused the side of the prince in the late war. Whatever compunctions James IV. might have felt for the death of his father, he did not always show friendly feelings for those who had manfully espoused his side. Neil's lease expired in 1492, and was not renewed. James IV. visited Kinloch-Rannoch and the rest of the district, and saw fit, in his royal wisdom, to confer the power which he had taken from the hands of Neil upon the Lairds of Glenorchy and Weem.
In 1502, Glenorchy had a charter of the Barony of Glenlyon. A similar charter, of the same date, was granted to Sir Robert Menzies of Weem, of the north side of Loch Rannoch, at that time and long afterwards the very stronghold of the M'Gregors. Neil Stewart died at Garth, 31st January, 1499, and was succeeded by his son, also called Neil. This impetuous young man, maddened by the slight put on his house, hurled immediately, with all the relentless vigour of his forefather, the redoubtable "Wolf of Badenoch," the fiery torrent of his Highland vengeance upon Sir Robert Menzies. The M'Gregors of Rannoch, and indeed of the whole house of Roro, were his willing associates. The charter of the lands of Rannoch is dated 1st September, 1502; and in the same month, Niall Gointe of Garth, and his wild followers surprised, pillaged and burned Weem Castle, took Sir Robert Menzies prisoner, and laid all his property waste. They took with them all they could carry or drive, and what they could not take with them they burned.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter16.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lyon/index.htm
Lossiemouth Project
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I was delighted to receive a book by David Thomson on "Our Fishing Herritage". David says... The following are selected chapters from a new book by a former Lossie fisherman. They recount the town’s fishing heritage from the 19th century and detail its fleet’s rise to prosperity and its subsequent demise under the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy. The chapters go on to describe similar fisheries and fishery cultures in other parts of the world.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/thomson/fishing.htm
We also got in a wee description of Lossiemouth back in 1811 which we posted on the index page of the project at http://www.electricscotland.com/lossiemouth/
I might add that the SDA have just published their paper on Fishing Policy for an Independent Scotland which makes interesting reading and can be viwed at http://scottishdemocraticalliance.or...id=9&Itemid=18
Scotland, Social and Domestic
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Memorials of Life and Manners in North Britain by Rev. Charles Rogers LL.D., FSA Scot (1869)
we now have up...
General Folklore
Demons and Apparitions
Witchcraft
Church Discipline
which now concludes this book.
Under General Folklore we read...
The kingdom of superstition has not been quite subdued. What Scotsman would hazard his connubial happiness by marrying in May! What Highlander could enjoy a festive entertainment at which the bottle was passed round from right to left, opposite to the sun's course? What housewife would invite a party of thirteen? What Scottish peasant is without alarm on hearing that particular sound known as the death-drop? The occult influence of a strong will is largely credited in the Highlands.
The curative powers of certain wells were early recognised. Mineral waters were recommended by the physicians of ancient Greece. The Romans were familiar with the efficacy of thermal and other springs. Among less enlightened peoples, the virtues of healing fountains were ascribed to supernatural agency. Orientals attributed the powers of mineral waters to the operation of angels. The ancient Britons thought that particular wells were originally constructed by devils for the destruction of mankind, but that these had been converted to healing purposes through the prayers of saints. Adamnan relates that there was a well in Pictland, worshipped as a malignant deity,—whoever touched its waters being seized with leprosy or some other ailment; but St. Columba invoked a blessing on the fountain, which henceforth became healing.
Owing to exposure, and the want of proper provisions in his adverse days, King Robert the Bruce was seized with a scorbutic disorder, which was called leprosy. He experienced benefit from a medicinal spring, near Ayr. On his gaining the throne, he founded a priory of Dominican monks at the spot, and made an endowment for eight lepers. According to the tradition, King Robert attached the right of placing persons in the lepers' endowment to the descendants of Sir William Wallace, in acknowledgment of the services of that great patriot.
The more reputed fountains in the Scottish Lowlands were, Christ's Well in Menteith, St.Fillan's in Strathearn, the springs at Huntingtower and Trinity-Gask, near Perth, St. Anthony's Well at Edinburgh, and another spring dedicated to St. Anthony at Maybole. A spring in the cave of Uchtrie Mackin, near Portpatrick, was especially famed for its supernatural virtues. In upland districts, the more renowned wells were those of Craigach, in Avoch, Chader, Isle of Lewis, Drumcassie, Kincardine O'Neil, and the spring of Tobar-na-demhurnich, Ross-shire. The Dow Loch, in Dumfriesshire, and the White Loch of Merton were much celebrated.
You can read more of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...l/social05.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../socialndx.htm
Traditions of Perth
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Containing Sketches of the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants during the last century by George Penny (1836)
We've now added Pages 20 to 38 and the first article is about the Dress and Habits of the People which starts...
The dress of the working classes was wont to be of a very coarse fabric, commonly hodden gray; and the broad blue bonnet was universal. The cut of a fashionable coat of former days differed considerably from onr ideas of elegance. This important article of dress was made with a very long waist, and gradually widened as it came down to the haunches; the tails were short, and spread round in front of the thighs; the sleeves were very wide, with immense cuffs folding back nearly to the elbows, and were ornamented with a profusion of very large buttons. Neither coat nor waistcoat had any neck, and the shirt was merely secured at the neck by a button; very few, except on holidays, indulging in the extravagant luxury of wearing a neck-cloth. The waistcoat was an important and substantial article of dress, and, at pinch, might have stood in place of a whole wardrobe. It descended nearly to the knees, parting at the top of the thighs into what was called flaps, each of which contained a pocket so capacious, as might lead to the idea that the worthy owners were in the habit of carrying their whole moveables about with them. The breeches were very short, extending from the knee to the haunches, upon which they hung, without the aid of braces. The stockings were a stout, and, generally, home-made article, produced by the females of the family. Many aged people, who had become incapable of more active employment, procured a living by knitting stockings. The hair was worn long, flowing over the shoulders.
The common every-day dress of the women consisted of coarse blue plaiding petticoats, and a short-gown of the same. The married women wore a close mutch, which on Sundays they ornamented with some showy ribbons. Their Sunday dress was composed of linsey-woolsey, which was chiefly spun in the family, and given out to weave.
You can get to these pages at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/perth/
Glasgow and it's Clubs
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Or Glimpses of Conditions, Manners, Characters and Oddities of the City By John Strang LL.D. (1857)
This week we've added "The Glasgow Tobacco Aristocracy—Hodge-Podge Club"
If the world has had its ages of iron, silver, and gold, Glasgow also assuredly had, during even the last century and a half, its peculiar and distinctive mercantile ages. It had, for example, its salmon and herring, its tobacco, its sugar, its cotton, its iron, and its steam-boat building ages
in regular progressive succession,—one peculiar business or handicraft generally holding for a season its paramount sway, and then calmly yielding the supremacy to another.
You can read this book as we get it up at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...w/clubsndx.htm
The Scot in England
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By John Herries McCulloch (1935)
The Preface sets the scene for this book...
To tell the story of the Scot in England, in all its detail, would be a formidable task, requiring the space of many volumes. I have contented myself with telling the story briefly, but have made an effort to touch on the various aspects of the Scots' influence on English life, in such a way that the whole picture is discernible in the background.
One pleasant feature in connection with the writing of the book has been the co-operation I have received from busy and distinguished men whom I have never met, and who were not even aware of the purpose of my inquiries. I am particularly indebted, for information that could not have been supplied without considerable trouble, to Sir Alexander Gibb, Queen Anne's Lodge, Westminster, London; Alan C. Don, Chaplain, Lambeth Palace; Mr. G. Bernard Nicolson, 57 Grosvcnor Street, Toronto, Canada; Alexander Dunlop Lindsay, Master of Balliol College, Oxford; Sir E. John Russell, D.Sc, F.R.S., Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpcnden, Herts; Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., Monreith, Wigtownshire; Mr. W. Robinson, Gravetye Manor, East Grinstcad, Sussex; the Curator of Historical Records, H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh; Mr. Alexander Sutherland, Editor of the Scottish Farmer, Glasgow; The Registrar, General Medical Council, London; N. G. Horner, M.D., Editor of the British Medical Journal; the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; Mr. F. H. Allan, The Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh; and Mr. David Rorie, 17 Hazledene Road, Aberdeen.
In the preparation of a book of this sort it is advisable to find a librarian who can indicate useful references. It was my good fortune, at the outset, to enlist the co-operation of Mr. G. W. Shirley, Librarian at the Ewart Public Library, Dumfries. Few men have a wider knowledge of Scotland's history, and over a period of many months he has placed a great deal of invaluable information in my hands. I am also deeply indebted to die Mitchell Library, Glasgow, where many rare books were produced for my perusal, and where considerable research work was voluntarily undertaken on my behalf by Mr. Alexander R. Mirrilees.
It was my intention to append a list of the books which I have consulted, but when the number exceeded four hundred I gave up the idea. I do wish, however, to mention History of Scottish Medicine, by John D. Comric, and Publishing and Bookselling, by F. A. Mumby. From these excellent histories I was able to glean a great deal of information, and to verify and co-ordinate my own researches. I am most grateful to both authors.
My feeling is that Scotland is at the beginning of an epoch. Her glory lies in the past. Her population is decreasing, her industries are disappearing, and her ancient vigour and independence become less and less noticeable as the years pass. That is the fate of every country which comes under the benign but remote control of a government which is not, essentially, a part of the country.
Our blood has been too cold and temperate. Unapt to stir at such indignities.
The older generations in Scotland have become so accustomed to this pleasant supervision that it is quite impossible, as the advocates of Scottish Home Rule have discovered, to rouse them out of their apathy, but there are signs that the younger generations are aware that their country is affected by creeping paralysis. Something will have to be done, and that soon, to save Scotland from becoming a summer resort, and it will not be done by staging amateurish and unwieldy historical pageants. These absurd demonstrations illustrate the sense of bizarre unreality that is encouraged in modern Scotland. We are cavorting clumsily on the sacred sods of Bannockburn while the silence of poverty steals up the Clyde.
Scotland, to-day, could do with less conceit and more pride. The quiet pride that once dwelt in cottages will come back to us again when we really understand the history of our wonderful little country — not the history of Edinburgh, with its endless list of vulgar political intrigues that have no meaning except for exclamatory tourists and keepers of curio-shops — but the history of the able and courageous men and women who have defended the honour of the country, and of those who have gone out from it to do things that have reflected honour upon our race. These Scots belong to the past, but, please God, we shall see their like again, if the youth of the country are taught to face realities and to distinguish between the tinsel and gold that are so closely interwoven in Scottish history.
I have written this book for the youth of Scotland, and for Scotsmen who live in England and abroad, for with them lies the future of our country.
Colvend, via Dalbeattie, J. H. McC.
Scotland.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...nd/scotndx.htm
Fallbrook Farm Heritage Site
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Got in Update 54 which includes a 4 chapter account of a Scottish family in Paisley where one of the sons emigrated to Canada. This is well worth reading.
You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...allbrook54.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
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By Frank Shaw
Auld Lang Syne by Kate Taylor
If this was a newspaper article, I would begin with Dateline: Knightsbridge, London. I am sitting in a wee flat Susan and I rented while on our way to speak at the University of Glasgow’s annual Robert Burns conference hosted by The Centre for Robert Burns Studies. There is something thrilling about renting a flat in this great city, shopping for groceries at Harrods, and cooking your own dinner. Completing this article on a unique lady while here - Kate Taylor - is simply icing on the cake. She is a talented folk singer, songwriter, and gifted artist and has done for Auld Lang Syne what Robert Burns did with this special song many years ago – improved the lyrics. Auld Lang Syne has become a New Year’s song which occupies a special spot in the lives of Scots in particular. The world at large also celebrates this song at the close of one year and the beginning of another. Thus, many people do not know or care that the song as we know it was written by Robert Burns and that Scots in general claim the song as theirs. Yet, the world has taken possession of it. Guy Lombardo is responsible for most Americans knowing about Auld Lang Syne. He heard a group of Scots just off the boat from the auld country singing it in his homeland of Canada, and for thirty years he ended his New Year’s programs, first on radio and then television, with Auld Lang Syne. Most feel New Year’s Eve would not be the same if it was not played or sung as the old year ticked down to welcome in the new. Even though most revelers do not know the lyrics, it has become a focal point of New Year’s Eve all around the world.
I ran across Taylor’s interpretation of Auld Lang Syne recently while going through our Christmas CDs to celebrate the recent season. According to the printed label, back in 2003 an acquaintance went to the trouble to gift us a homemade holiday CD and the last song recorded was Kate Taylor’s version of Auld Lang Syne. Several days later while traveling I played the CD and would immediately punch the replay button to hear Kate again sing the song. The music in the old truck never sounded better! As I drove along the highway I listened to other Christmas music but kept going back to Taylor’s great adaptation of Robert Burns’ song. After finishing my appointment and heading for home, I found myself doing the same thing – going back to Taylor’s interpretation of the song. I knew I was on to someone and something very special – Kate Taylor and her rendition of Auld Lang Syne.
You can read more on this and also listen to an mp3 recording of her song at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives104.htm
You can also read Frank's other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
And to finish...
Listen To Me
A friend told me that he was picking up his wife from her friend’s house and found himself sitting in the car for ages as the two woman continued to gab at the front door. When his wife eventually joined him in the car, and he pointed out that they were now running late, she replied: “It’s not my fault. She wouldn’t stop listening to me.”
And that's it for now and hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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