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CONTENTS
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Electric Scotland News
What's new on ElectricCanadian.com
The Flag in the Wind
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Fighter for Justice
Through the Long Day
An Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees of Iona
Nether Lochaber
The Social and Industrial history of Scotland, from the Union to the present time
Annals of Auchterarder and Memorials of Srathearn
Traits and Stories of the Scottish People (New Book)
The Cottagers of Glenburnie (New Book)
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language (New Book)
Electric Scotland News
----------------------
Well I did attend the Knights Templar investiture in Windsor and we had many visitors from the USA as well as further afield in Canada. It was a good event as was the banquet afterwards.
I did however forget about the clocks going back so when Nola asked to be woken up at 5.30 to catch the 6.15 train to get back to Toronto I ended up waking her at 4.30 <ooopps>. She had to leave that early so she could get back in time to take her church service which starts at 10.30 so she would have made that easily. However the train hit something on the track so she didn't actually reach Toronto until just gone 12 noon.
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While I was away in Windsor my chimney was removed and the roof fixed and then this week they removed thr rest of the chimney from the Attic which now leaves me one huge room as a blank canvas to do with as I want.
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I note there is yet another push to regulate clan tartans and gifts so that folk can easily identify Scottish made products. This has been an issue for many years and they keep talking about it but they seem to not be able to make any progress. I certainly think it would be an excellent move if they can make it happen.
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Three new books have been started for which read more below.
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If you are in the area or close to it you might add the following event to your diary...
Triad Highland Games
6275 Bryan Park Road
Greensboro, NC 27214
April 27-28, 2012
See http://triadhighlandgames.org/
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 in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/whatsnew.htm and also http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
ElectricCanadian.com
--------------------
http://www.electriccanadian.com
History of Toronto and County of York in Ontario (work in progress)
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...york/index.htm
Containing an outline of the history of the Dominion of Canada, a history of the city of Toronto and the County of York, with the townships, villages, churches, schools, general and local statistics, biographical sketches, etc.
I've now completed Part IV and almost finished the final section of this volume with just another two chapters to go. And then it will be onto Volume II.
CBC
http://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/media/cbc.htm
In 2011 the CBC celebrated their 75th anniversary. Here are a few stories about the old days from a former news editor.
I might add that we're continuing to make progress with the site from the following stats...
604 Montly Visits
2,924 Pageviews
4.84 Pages/Visit
00:08:07 Avg. Time on Site
This is tending to suggest that folk are taking the time to explore the site and read some of the content.
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
--------------------
This weeks Flag was compiled by Jim Lynch. In this issue he's covering some interesting ground and well worth a read.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
----------------------------------------
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 4 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
Added this week...
Early Christians in Britain
Fights and Forays in Braxholme
Exploits of Colkitto
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Fighter for Justice
---------------------------------------------
An Appreciation of his Social and Religious Outlook by Ian M. Fraser (2002).
Added another two chapters to this account...
Relationships with Keir Hardie
Scottish Nationalism
You can get to this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/graham/
Through the Long Day
--------------------
Or Memorials of a Literary Life during half a century by Charles MacKay LL.D. (1887)
This week have added...
Chapter III - The "Star and Garter". Little dinners at Richmond.
You can get to all this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mackay/
An Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees of Iona
----------------------------------------------------
And of their settlements in Scotland, England and Ireland by John Jamieson D.D. (1811)
Added...
Chapter XV
Objections considered.—The supposed Inconsistency of the Monks of lona sending Bishops, or Improbability of their being applied to for such a Mission, if unfriendly to the Order.— The Culdees said to have been merely the Episcopal Chapter of the Diocese in which they resided.—Asserted, that there were never any Culdees at lona, or within the Territories of the Ancient Scots; and that they made their first Appearance at St Andreas.
Appendix.
Accounts of the Editions and MSS
And this now completes this book.
These can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/bible/culdees/index.htm
Nether Lochaber
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The Natural History, Legends and Folk-Lore of the West Highlands by Rev. Alexander Stewart FSA Scot, (1883)
We're now up to chapter 49.
Chapter 46 starts...
The hero of one of our most popular old Fingalian tales is described as very marvellously gifted. In order to secure the hand of a beautiful Scandinavian princess, whose locks are as the beams of the setting sun, about the time the summer sea is flecked and barred with gold, and with whom he has long been in love, he has to undertake the most strange and startling adventures; and not the least important of his qualifications for combating the frequent difficulties of his position is a preternatural acuteness of eye and ear, of sight and hearing. His keenness of sight, for instance, is indicated by his being able to count the beats of the swallow's wings in all the gyrations of its flight over the summer grove; and as for his acuteness of ear, enough is said when the veracious chronicler does not hesitate to assert that his hero could hear the grass grow? "We, in our unheroic and degenerate day, cannot boast of anything like this. We are content to know that the swallow skims the pool with a swiftness due to a motion of wing too rapid to be detected in its separate beats by the acutest eye, and that the grass does grow, and at times with marvellous rapidity, albeit the stir and tumult of its upward rush is inaudible to human ears.
But if we cannot hear the grass grow, we can safely aver that in such exceptionally splendid seasons as this [July 1875], and without fear of being charged with any very culpable exaggeration, we can see it grow, not only from day to day, but almost literally from hour to hour—so rapid, so marked, and visibly perceptible is the progress towards a large and lusty maturity of grass and grain and every green herb of the field. Anything, indeed, to equal the sturdy vigour and upward rush of vegetation during the month of June last past we never did see before, and had it not come immediately under our own observation, we could hardly have believed it possible anywhere outside the tropics. The harvest must necessarily be a late one, though not quite so late as it was at one time feared must be the case. If we say that the season of ingathering will be later than usual by ten days, or a fortnight at the most, we are probably not far from the mark. But, late or early, it is sure to be an exceedingly abundant harvest, there being at present all over the West Highlands every promise of very heavy returns, the heaviest, perhaps, that, under any circumstances whatever, the land could safely bear, with the hope of an eventually fully ripe and lusty maturity.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter46.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...aber/index.htm
The Social and Industrial history of Scotland, from the Union to the present time
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By James MacKinnon (1921)
We now have the following chapters up...
THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES
7. The Rise and Extension of Railways
8. Commercial Enterprise
9. The Scottish Trade Union Movement
10. Education
11. Culture
12. Printing and Publishing
Here is how the chapter on Commercial Enterprise starts...
The progress of modern commerce has been enormously facilitated by improved transport. The raw materials, imported by steamship, are expeditiously distributed by railway to the manufacturing centres. Coal, the first requisite of production, can easily be carried to these centres in the large quantities necessary to keep the factories working. The manufactured goods, for home consumption and export, can be as easily transported to their inland destinations, or to the seaports for shipment. Road transport has also been greatly developed in recent years by the advent of steam and especially motor lorries and vans. These advantages are palpable to everyone to-day. In the days when railway enterprise was but a problematic experiment, they were not so obvious. Mr Charles MacLaren wrote a series of papers in The Scotsman of December, 1824, in which he foretold the possibilities of railway locomotion and the social and commercial effects of such locomotion, with remarkable foresight. His forecast was received with scepticism, and he was regarded as a presumptuous visionary by some of his critics. Time, however, ere long proved him to be a true prophet. "We cannot scan the future march of improvement; and it would be rash to say that even a higher velocity than 20 miles an hour may not be found applicable". Tiberius travelled 200 miles in two days, and this was reckoned an extraordinary effort. But in our times a shopkeeper or mechanic travels twice as fast as the Roman emperor, and twenty years hence he may probably travel with a speed that would leave the fleetest courser behind. Such a new power of locomotion cannot be introduced without working a vast change in the state of society. With so great a facility and celerity of coinmunication, the provincial towns of an empire would become so many suburbs of the metropolis— or rather, the effect would be similar to that of collecting the whole inhabitants into one city. Commodities, inventions, discoveries, opinions would circulate with a rapidity hitherto unknown, and, above all, the intercourse of man with man, nation with nation, and province with province would be prodigiously increased."
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter19.htm
You can read this book as we get it up at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/union/index.htm
Annals of Auchterarder and Memorials of Srathearn
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By Alexander George Reid (1899)
We've now added...
The Lone Lady of Kildeis
Wanderings of Strowan Robertson
after Culloden
Account of the Ruins of the Abbey of Inchaffray
Auchterarder 1837-97
And this now completes this book.
I enjoyed the story of "Wanderings of Strowan Robertson" which starts...
DUNCAN ROBERTSON of Drumachin was an ardent supporter of Prince Charles Edward, but through illness was unable to be out in 1745. He, however, did much for the Prince's cause in Atholl. After Culloden he skulked in the hills till the death, in 1749, of his kinsman, Alexander Robertson of Strowan, the Jacobite poet. By that event he succeeded to the chieftainship and estate. His wife and children were threatened with military execution if they stayed in a little hut where they had sought shelter. His tenants struggled in vain against the Government, which was bent on his ruin. He was in hiding in numerous places in Scotland until his escape to Holland in 1753. He reached Paris in this year with his wife and four children, having 39 louis in his pocket. His family had to live in exile for thirty-nine years. His two sons, Alexander and Colzear, were officers in the Scottish Brigade in the Dutch service.
Strowan was intimately connected with the principal Jacobite families of Scotland. He married one of the eight daughters of the second Lord Nairne. One of her sisters was the wife of Lord Strathallan, another of Lord Dunmore, another of Oliphant of Gask, another of Robertson of Lude, and another of Graham of Orchill. Her father, Lord Nairne, was a son of John, Marquis of Atholl, by Amelia Stanley, the daughter of James, Karl of Derby, whose mother was a daughter of the Duke of Tremouille.
As above stated, Strowan skulked in Scotland for seven years after the ruin of the Prince's cause, wandering, like him, from place to place. Looking to the number of places he was in—no fewer than 157, it is wonderful how he escaped, more particularly as the search after him was not allowed to drop. In a letter of Lady Gask of 26th April, 1753, referring to the arrest of Dr Cameron, the brother of Lochiel, and the last who suffered for the Stuart cause, she says:—"Doctor Cameron was carried to London. Great search has been made for Dune, and others," the Dune, here being Strowan.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter21.htm
You can get to the other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rder/index.htm
Memoir of Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay
-----------------------------------
By Sir Archibald Geikie (1895)
We have now completed this biography which I hope you enjoy. The final chapters are available at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../ramsayndx.htm
Traits and Stories of the Scottish People
-----------------------------------------
By the Rev. Charles Rogers LL.D., FSA Scot
There is a very substantial introduction to this book which really sets the scene for the book so while long I thought it worthwhile to place it all before you...
Encouraged by the success of my "Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Life," and at the request of my Publishers, I have prepared the present work. I have been indebted to many sources of information— some rare, others familiar. Possessing a store of Scottish traditions which have been transmitted in my own family, I have used these amply. My friend, Dr. Hugh Barclay, Sheriff Substitute of Perthshire, has again favoured me with a budget of interesting Lore.
The Work may not be unacceptable. A new story adds to the sources of human enjoyment. The Traits and Characteristics of a people are worthy of preservation. The Scots were formerly a most peculiar race. Their domestic habits and social customs differed materially from those of the south. Their legal system and ecclesiastical arrangements still differ; but international prejudices are subsiding. I know of only one living Scotsman who bears a grudge at England and protests against southern supremacy. Scottish grumbling has yielded to English generosity. The Rose and the Thistle have been intertwined, and grow lovingly together.
In the course of a few generations the distinctive peculiarities of Scotsmen will entirely disappear. During the last half-century there have been changes of a remarkable description. English manners have been penetrating northward. Many northern customs, "more honoured in the breach than the observance," have become obsolete. Domestic comforts have been increasing. ( Certain obnoxious social practices have disappeared^ others have been ameliorated: The superfluous population have, in the mercantile centres of the south, and in our prosperous Colonies, successfully employed their energy and intelligence. The plain fare of brose and bannocks has prepared the Scotsman to endure hardships, and, irrespective of comforts by the way, to press on to the goal of honour and emolument.
In the present Work have been described the Traits and Peculiarities of the Scots during the latter half of the past Century and earlier portion of the present. There are likewise Illustrations of the habits of conspicuous persons at earlier periods, and some Anecdotes relating to men of genius and learning who have lately departed from the scene.
The manners and customs of the peasant population of the Scottish Lowlands were first delineated by Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton in "The Cottagers of Glenburnie," while Mrs. Grant, of Laggan, in her "Letters from the Mountains," depicted the peculiarities of the Scottish highlander. Sir Walter Scott followed, describing in his own inimitable manner the entire edifice of Caledonian society. He has left nothing undone. Yet the historical inquirer may be interested to discover further illustrations of the evidence, on which the great, novelist has founded the Characters in his Fictions.
The deep religious earnestness of the Seventeenth Century considerably waned after the termination of the struggles which ceased at the Revolution. From the middle till the close of the Eighteenth Century, Scotland could lay no claim to religious superiority. The bulk of the people were uncultivated and rude. Licentiousness prevailed among all classes. Riotous excess became the characteristic of a gentleman.
The upper ranks dined early and sat late. When the substantiate of dinner were consumed, the gentlewomen were expected to return to the spinet or the distaff. The punch-bowl, now copiously filled, was placed before the host. There was a succession of public and family toasts and numerous sentiments, to all of which a glass of the potent liquor was drained off. The drinking-glasses of the period contained twice as much as those of the present time. Special toasts were drunk with peculiar honours,—each guest mounting upon his chair, and resting his right foot upon the table, quaffed his liquor; he then raised his glass aloft in upturned fashion, and gave nine loud huzzas. On such occasions the overthrow of the table was not an unfre-quent occurrence.
When tea or coffee was announced, the host accompanied his guests to the drawing-room. The younger gentlemen tarried with the ladies, but the seniors soon returned to the dining-room to renew their potations. There were instances in which hard drinkers died in their chairs. A West country laird at one of these social meetings was seized with apoplexy and immediately expired. "The laird's looking unco gash," said the host, who had at length remarked the altered appearance of his guest. "'Deed is he," answered a neighbour, "for he's been with his Maker this hour and mair. I didna like to spoil the fun by speaking o't." This anecdote, which is perfectly authentic, presents a shocking picture of the convivial habits of the last century.
Saturday dinner-parties were common; they were protracted till the Sunday had closed. Every guest was expected to drink till he fell under the table. When all had reached this degrading position, the male attendants of the family entered and carried them to their chambers. When the apartments were insufficient for the number of guests, those who were unaccommodated with beds were extended on the floor, and covered, their neckcloths being loosened to prevent the risk of suffocation. The servants expected handsome gratuities from the guests as they departed.
The administrators of the law indulged in copious libations of brandy and claret. "To be drunk as a judge" was a proverb. The Senators of the College of Justice continued their festivities until morning hours. Circuit dinners terminated by the members of the court sinking under the tables from which they had been feasting.
Synod suppers did not terminate till considerably after midnight. On one occasion, at four a.m., the Moderator of the Synod of Aberdeen requested Boots, who is the youngest member of the court, to ring the beH. The waiter appeared. "Is the kettle bilin'?" inquired the Moderator. "It is, your reverence," responded the attendant. "See, then," added the Moderator, "that ye keep it aye fou an' aye bilin'." A distinguished clergyman of the capital was fond of claret. Paying a morning visit to a parishioner, he was entertained with a pint bottle of the liquor, which the host pronounced to be very old. "It's unco sma' o' its age!" said the reverend gentleman, significantly.
When drunkenness abounded, profane swearing was common. Persons of rank distinguished themselves by the grandeur of their oaths. They swore loftily, but were sometimes disconcerted. A landowner in Roxburghshire was a noted swearer. Walking in his demesne one day with a friend he was indulging his habit, when one of the labourers on the estate suddenly presented himself. The hind was known for his piety. "Whisht," said the landowner, "let that fellow pass; I am never free to swear when he is in sight."
Illicit distillation was another practice consequent on the national love of potent beverages. It was lamentably prevalent. The idle highlander planted his still in the remote glen or the mountain corrie, and prepared his usquebaugh by the light of the moon. He was an incorrigible offender. An Argyleshire highlander was reproved by his minister for engaging in this illegal traffic. "Ye mauna ask me," said the smuggler, "to gie't up, for it supports the family. My faither an' his faither afore him made a drappie. The drink is gude—far better for a bodie than the coorse big-still whusky. Besides, I permit nae swearin' at the still, an' a' is dune dacently an' in order. I dinna see muckle harm in't." The speech contained arguments which were cogent to the utterer, and determined his resolution.
A parish minister in Fifeshire had succeeded in obtaining the modification of a heavy penalty, imposed on a parishioner who had a second time been found guilty of smuggling. The offender had solemnly promised to abandon the practice. When his difficulty was overcome, he waited on the clergyman to thank him for his intercession. "I hope, John," said the pastor, "that, as you have promised, you will carefully avoid everything of this sort for the future." "Surely, sir, surely," said John; but as he was leaving the apartment he shook his benefactor heartily by the hand, and exclaimed, as he made his retreat, "Ye'll get a bottle o' the best o't yet."
Smugglers were generally detected through "informations" communicated to the excise by their neighbours. These received, as a reward, one-half the proceeds of the confiscation, and their names were not publicly divulged. I was informed by an aged supervisor that nearly all his detections were made consequent on the "informations" of neighbours. It is difficult to conceive a state of society more despicable than that in which there obtained such an habitual violation of neighbourly confidence.
Sheepstealing was a common vice of the last century, though hanging was its legal penalty. Many ghost stories had their origin in the sheep-stealer throwing a white sheet over his shoulders, for the threefold purpose of concealing his person and his plunder, and of frightening those who might otherwise have guessed his intent, and sought his detection.
Deception largely prevailed. Many of the landed gentry were noted bouncers. They magnified their own importance by practising on the credulity of their retainers. A laird or highland chief, who had once visited London, or had been a few days on the Continent, possessed sufficient materials to astonish his dependants during the remainder of his life. The peasantry were adepts in the art of dissimulation. They generally boasted of their independence, but were ready to obey the laird, both in matters where obedience was due, and where acquiescence in his wishes might more creditably have been resisted.
In small burghs the traders depended chiefly on a few leading persons, to whom they attached themselves. Unlike the highland clansmen, who clung to their landless chiefs with the same ardour of affection as when their hospitalities were administered to a thousand followers, the lowland shopkeeper conserved his personal interest by countenancing only the opulent or those in authority. While Mr. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, the future martyr, retained public favour, the burgesses flocked to his ministrations. But when he incurred the displeasure of the Court, his parishioners discovered that his prayers lacked unction, and that his discourses were unedifying. The Stirling butchers hounded him with their dogs. His congregation permitted him to be executed without venturing on any petition for his release.
The old Municipal system was tainted with many corruptions. Votes of electors for offices in the Corporation were bought and sold. Bribery at Parliamentary elections was so common that municipal councillors regarded these unlawful gains as the occasional perquisites of office. The rise, of certain families in the smaller burghs may be traced to the acceptance of bribes by their founders. There was much contention among municipal rulers for individual ascendency. They wasted the public funds in interminable litigations. In the course of the last century many of the Burghs were placed under trust. When funds for political purposes were required, burgh magistrates exposed their privileges at public auction to the highest bidder. They sold their Church Patronages. They sold their Landward Superiorities. They bartered the public rights of the burgesses to the neighbouring proprietors for personal advantages. They violated hospital and other charitable trusts. They sold the office of chief magistrate to those who would promise best, but did least, for the public benefit.
This burghal picture was even exceeded in the rural hamlets. There the roads or streets were nearly impassable, the bridges were decayed or broken down, and dungsteads were placed in front of every dwelling. No hind of the last century possessed more than one apartment; his peat fire blazed in the centre, and the smoke, which was intended to find egress by an aperture in the roof, more frequently, after encircling the chamber, escaped by the open door and unglazed windows.
With the commencement of the present century began an era of physical and moral reformation. Agriculture was encouraged; commerce received new impulses. The Clergy were now better educated, and better acquainted with human affairs: they began to exercise a salutary influence on the manners and habits of the people. The farmer now united the well-cultivated field with the well-kept garden, in the tidy courtyard with the clean fireside. The hine procured a better class of dwellings. Streets as alleys were threaded with underground sewers, which removed noxious vapours and more noxious disease. By a system of thorough drainage, morasses and the beds of lakes were converted into fields, producting rich cereals and abundant pasture.
The morals of the people have shared in the amelioration of their physical condition. Drunkenness has subsided; illicit distillation has ceased; the old vices have departed, and the national virtues have become more conspicuous.
Scotsmen have ceased to rejoice in national isolation. Though continuing to glory in her independence and ancient liberties, Scotland owns that the proudest day of her history was that of her union with England. The perfermdum ingenium remains, but its acrimony has departed. Scotsmen proceed everywhere; and wherever they are found, they are esteemed for their probity and honour, and are characterized by an energy which knows not how to yield, and a determination which is invincible.
C. R.
London, May 10, 1867.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...aits/index.htm
The Cottagers of Glenburnie
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By Elizabeth Hamilton (1898)
Writing in the late 18th and early 19th century, Elizabeth Hamilton produced fiction, satire, comical sketches, philosophical essays, historical biography, theological treatises, and essays on educational theory. She is best known for her novel The Cottagers of Glenburnie (1808) with its vivid depictions – and biting satires – of Scottish peasant life. A lively and entertaining tale, The Cottagers of Glenburnie also skilfully discusses and dissects class issues, British imperialism, and war.
This book can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...gers/index.htm
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
----------------------------------------------
This is an enlarged edition of this work and as the Scots Language was Scotland's official language for several centuries it is well worth making this work available. You'll often see quoted in many histrorical works acts of Parliament which means they are in the then Scottish language so as a reference source it is worth knowing it's available.
Our thanks to John Henderson for undertaking this work for us.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...eson/index.htm
And finally...
According to a survey in 1985 American's claimed to have an average of 3 friends. Given the power of social networking and the number of so called friends that you have on places like facebook the survey for 2011 were eagerly being anticipated. The result... American's now claim to have an average of 2 friends.
And that's it for now and hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
--------
Electric Scotland News
What's new on ElectricCanadian.com
The Flag in the Wind
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Fighter for Justice
Through the Long Day
An Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees of Iona
Nether Lochaber
The Social and Industrial history of Scotland, from the Union to the present time
Annals of Auchterarder and Memorials of Srathearn
Traits and Stories of the Scottish People (New Book)
The Cottagers of Glenburnie (New Book)
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language (New Book)
Electric Scotland News
----------------------
Well I did attend the Knights Templar investiture in Windsor and we had many visitors from the USA as well as further afield in Canada. It was a good event as was the banquet afterwards.
I did however forget about the clocks going back so when Nola asked to be woken up at 5.30 to catch the 6.15 train to get back to Toronto I ended up waking her at 4.30 <ooopps>. She had to leave that early so she could get back in time to take her church service which starts at 10.30 so she would have made that easily. However the train hit something on the track so she didn't actually reach Toronto until just gone 12 noon.
-----
While I was away in Windsor my chimney was removed and the roof fixed and then this week they removed thr rest of the chimney from the Attic which now leaves me one huge room as a blank canvas to do with as I want.
-----
I note there is yet another push to regulate clan tartans and gifts so that folk can easily identify Scottish made products. This has been an issue for many years and they keep talking about it but they seem to not be able to make any progress. I certainly think it would be an excellent move if they can make it happen.
-----
Three new books have been started for which read more below.
-----
If you are in the area or close to it you might add the following event to your diary...
Triad Highland Games
6275 Bryan Park Road
Greensboro, NC 27214
April 27-28, 2012
See http://triadhighlandgames.org/
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 in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/whatsnew.htm and also http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
ElectricCanadian.com
--------------------
http://www.electriccanadian.com
History of Toronto and County of York in Ontario (work in progress)
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...york/index.htm
Containing an outline of the history of the Dominion of Canada, a history of the city of Toronto and the County of York, with the townships, villages, churches, schools, general and local statistics, biographical sketches, etc.
I've now completed Part IV and almost finished the final section of this volume with just another two chapters to go. And then it will be onto Volume II.
CBC
http://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/media/cbc.htm
In 2011 the CBC celebrated their 75th anniversary. Here are a few stories about the old days from a former news editor.
I might add that we're continuing to make progress with the site from the following stats...
604 Montly Visits
2,924 Pageviews
4.84 Pages/Visit
00:08:07 Avg. Time on Site
This is tending to suggest that folk are taking the time to explore the site and read some of the content.
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
--------------------
This weeks Flag was compiled by Jim Lynch. In this issue he's covering some interesting ground and well worth a read.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
----------------------------------------
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 4 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
Added this week...
Early Christians in Britain
Fights and Forays in Braxholme
Exploits of Colkitto
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Fighter for Justice
---------------------------------------------
An Appreciation of his Social and Religious Outlook by Ian M. Fraser (2002).
Added another two chapters to this account...
Relationships with Keir Hardie
Scottish Nationalism
You can get to this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/graham/
Through the Long Day
--------------------
Or Memorials of a Literary Life during half a century by Charles MacKay LL.D. (1887)
This week have added...
Chapter III - The "Star and Garter". Little dinners at Richmond.
You can get to all this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mackay/
An Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees of Iona
----------------------------------------------------
And of their settlements in Scotland, England and Ireland by John Jamieson D.D. (1811)
Added...
Chapter XV
Objections considered.—The supposed Inconsistency of the Monks of lona sending Bishops, or Improbability of their being applied to for such a Mission, if unfriendly to the Order.— The Culdees said to have been merely the Episcopal Chapter of the Diocese in which they resided.—Asserted, that there were never any Culdees at lona, or within the Territories of the Ancient Scots; and that they made their first Appearance at St Andreas.
Appendix.
Accounts of the Editions and MSS
And this now completes this book.
These can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/bible/culdees/index.htm
Nether Lochaber
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The Natural History, Legends and Folk-Lore of the West Highlands by Rev. Alexander Stewart FSA Scot, (1883)
We're now up to chapter 49.
Chapter 46 starts...
The hero of one of our most popular old Fingalian tales is described as very marvellously gifted. In order to secure the hand of a beautiful Scandinavian princess, whose locks are as the beams of the setting sun, about the time the summer sea is flecked and barred with gold, and with whom he has long been in love, he has to undertake the most strange and startling adventures; and not the least important of his qualifications for combating the frequent difficulties of his position is a preternatural acuteness of eye and ear, of sight and hearing. His keenness of sight, for instance, is indicated by his being able to count the beats of the swallow's wings in all the gyrations of its flight over the summer grove; and as for his acuteness of ear, enough is said when the veracious chronicler does not hesitate to assert that his hero could hear the grass grow? "We, in our unheroic and degenerate day, cannot boast of anything like this. We are content to know that the swallow skims the pool with a swiftness due to a motion of wing too rapid to be detected in its separate beats by the acutest eye, and that the grass does grow, and at times with marvellous rapidity, albeit the stir and tumult of its upward rush is inaudible to human ears.
But if we cannot hear the grass grow, we can safely aver that in such exceptionally splendid seasons as this [July 1875], and without fear of being charged with any very culpable exaggeration, we can see it grow, not only from day to day, but almost literally from hour to hour—so rapid, so marked, and visibly perceptible is the progress towards a large and lusty maturity of grass and grain and every green herb of the field. Anything, indeed, to equal the sturdy vigour and upward rush of vegetation during the month of June last past we never did see before, and had it not come immediately under our own observation, we could hardly have believed it possible anywhere outside the tropics. The harvest must necessarily be a late one, though not quite so late as it was at one time feared must be the case. If we say that the season of ingathering will be later than usual by ten days, or a fortnight at the most, we are probably not far from the mark. But, late or early, it is sure to be an exceedingly abundant harvest, there being at present all over the West Highlands every promise of very heavy returns, the heaviest, perhaps, that, under any circumstances whatever, the land could safely bear, with the hope of an eventually fully ripe and lusty maturity.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter46.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...aber/index.htm
The Social and Industrial history of Scotland, from the Union to the present time
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By James MacKinnon (1921)
We now have the following chapters up...
THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES
7. The Rise and Extension of Railways
8. Commercial Enterprise
9. The Scottish Trade Union Movement
10. Education
11. Culture
12. Printing and Publishing
Here is how the chapter on Commercial Enterprise starts...
The progress of modern commerce has been enormously facilitated by improved transport. The raw materials, imported by steamship, are expeditiously distributed by railway to the manufacturing centres. Coal, the first requisite of production, can easily be carried to these centres in the large quantities necessary to keep the factories working. The manufactured goods, for home consumption and export, can be as easily transported to their inland destinations, or to the seaports for shipment. Road transport has also been greatly developed in recent years by the advent of steam and especially motor lorries and vans. These advantages are palpable to everyone to-day. In the days when railway enterprise was but a problematic experiment, they were not so obvious. Mr Charles MacLaren wrote a series of papers in The Scotsman of December, 1824, in which he foretold the possibilities of railway locomotion and the social and commercial effects of such locomotion, with remarkable foresight. His forecast was received with scepticism, and he was regarded as a presumptuous visionary by some of his critics. Time, however, ere long proved him to be a true prophet. "We cannot scan the future march of improvement; and it would be rash to say that even a higher velocity than 20 miles an hour may not be found applicable". Tiberius travelled 200 miles in two days, and this was reckoned an extraordinary effort. But in our times a shopkeeper or mechanic travels twice as fast as the Roman emperor, and twenty years hence he may probably travel with a speed that would leave the fleetest courser behind. Such a new power of locomotion cannot be introduced without working a vast change in the state of society. With so great a facility and celerity of coinmunication, the provincial towns of an empire would become so many suburbs of the metropolis— or rather, the effect would be similar to that of collecting the whole inhabitants into one city. Commodities, inventions, discoveries, opinions would circulate with a rapidity hitherto unknown, and, above all, the intercourse of man with man, nation with nation, and province with province would be prodigiously increased."
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter19.htm
You can read this book as we get it up at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/union/index.htm
Annals of Auchterarder and Memorials of Srathearn
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By Alexander George Reid (1899)
We've now added...
The Lone Lady of Kildeis
Wanderings of Strowan Robertson
after Culloden
Account of the Ruins of the Abbey of Inchaffray
Auchterarder 1837-97
And this now completes this book.
I enjoyed the story of "Wanderings of Strowan Robertson" which starts...
DUNCAN ROBERTSON of Drumachin was an ardent supporter of Prince Charles Edward, but through illness was unable to be out in 1745. He, however, did much for the Prince's cause in Atholl. After Culloden he skulked in the hills till the death, in 1749, of his kinsman, Alexander Robertson of Strowan, the Jacobite poet. By that event he succeeded to the chieftainship and estate. His wife and children were threatened with military execution if they stayed in a little hut where they had sought shelter. His tenants struggled in vain against the Government, which was bent on his ruin. He was in hiding in numerous places in Scotland until his escape to Holland in 1753. He reached Paris in this year with his wife and four children, having 39 louis in his pocket. His family had to live in exile for thirty-nine years. His two sons, Alexander and Colzear, were officers in the Scottish Brigade in the Dutch service.
Strowan was intimately connected with the principal Jacobite families of Scotland. He married one of the eight daughters of the second Lord Nairne. One of her sisters was the wife of Lord Strathallan, another of Lord Dunmore, another of Oliphant of Gask, another of Robertson of Lude, and another of Graham of Orchill. Her father, Lord Nairne, was a son of John, Marquis of Atholl, by Amelia Stanley, the daughter of James, Karl of Derby, whose mother was a daughter of the Duke of Tremouille.
As above stated, Strowan skulked in Scotland for seven years after the ruin of the Prince's cause, wandering, like him, from place to place. Looking to the number of places he was in—no fewer than 157, it is wonderful how he escaped, more particularly as the search after him was not allowed to drop. In a letter of Lady Gask of 26th April, 1753, referring to the arrest of Dr Cameron, the brother of Lochiel, and the last who suffered for the Stuart cause, she says:—"Doctor Cameron was carried to London. Great search has been made for Dune, and others," the Dune, here being Strowan.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter21.htm
You can get to the other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rder/index.htm
Memoir of Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay
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By Sir Archibald Geikie (1895)
We have now completed this biography which I hope you enjoy. The final chapters are available at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../ramsayndx.htm
Traits and Stories of the Scottish People
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By the Rev. Charles Rogers LL.D., FSA Scot
There is a very substantial introduction to this book which really sets the scene for the book so while long I thought it worthwhile to place it all before you...
Encouraged by the success of my "Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Life," and at the request of my Publishers, I have prepared the present work. I have been indebted to many sources of information— some rare, others familiar. Possessing a store of Scottish traditions which have been transmitted in my own family, I have used these amply. My friend, Dr. Hugh Barclay, Sheriff Substitute of Perthshire, has again favoured me with a budget of interesting Lore.
The Work may not be unacceptable. A new story adds to the sources of human enjoyment. The Traits and Characteristics of a people are worthy of preservation. The Scots were formerly a most peculiar race. Their domestic habits and social customs differed materially from those of the south. Their legal system and ecclesiastical arrangements still differ; but international prejudices are subsiding. I know of only one living Scotsman who bears a grudge at England and protests against southern supremacy. Scottish grumbling has yielded to English generosity. The Rose and the Thistle have been intertwined, and grow lovingly together.
In the course of a few generations the distinctive peculiarities of Scotsmen will entirely disappear. During the last half-century there have been changes of a remarkable description. English manners have been penetrating northward. Many northern customs, "more honoured in the breach than the observance," have become obsolete. Domestic comforts have been increasing. ( Certain obnoxious social practices have disappeared^ others have been ameliorated: The superfluous population have, in the mercantile centres of the south, and in our prosperous Colonies, successfully employed their energy and intelligence. The plain fare of brose and bannocks has prepared the Scotsman to endure hardships, and, irrespective of comforts by the way, to press on to the goal of honour and emolument.
In the present Work have been described the Traits and Peculiarities of the Scots during the latter half of the past Century and earlier portion of the present. There are likewise Illustrations of the habits of conspicuous persons at earlier periods, and some Anecdotes relating to men of genius and learning who have lately departed from the scene.
The manners and customs of the peasant population of the Scottish Lowlands were first delineated by Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton in "The Cottagers of Glenburnie," while Mrs. Grant, of Laggan, in her "Letters from the Mountains," depicted the peculiarities of the Scottish highlander. Sir Walter Scott followed, describing in his own inimitable manner the entire edifice of Caledonian society. He has left nothing undone. Yet the historical inquirer may be interested to discover further illustrations of the evidence, on which the great, novelist has founded the Characters in his Fictions.
The deep religious earnestness of the Seventeenth Century considerably waned after the termination of the struggles which ceased at the Revolution. From the middle till the close of the Eighteenth Century, Scotland could lay no claim to religious superiority. The bulk of the people were uncultivated and rude. Licentiousness prevailed among all classes. Riotous excess became the characteristic of a gentleman.
The upper ranks dined early and sat late. When the substantiate of dinner were consumed, the gentlewomen were expected to return to the spinet or the distaff. The punch-bowl, now copiously filled, was placed before the host. There was a succession of public and family toasts and numerous sentiments, to all of which a glass of the potent liquor was drained off. The drinking-glasses of the period contained twice as much as those of the present time. Special toasts were drunk with peculiar honours,—each guest mounting upon his chair, and resting his right foot upon the table, quaffed his liquor; he then raised his glass aloft in upturned fashion, and gave nine loud huzzas. On such occasions the overthrow of the table was not an unfre-quent occurrence.
When tea or coffee was announced, the host accompanied his guests to the drawing-room. The younger gentlemen tarried with the ladies, but the seniors soon returned to the dining-room to renew their potations. There were instances in which hard drinkers died in their chairs. A West country laird at one of these social meetings was seized with apoplexy and immediately expired. "The laird's looking unco gash," said the host, who had at length remarked the altered appearance of his guest. "'Deed is he," answered a neighbour, "for he's been with his Maker this hour and mair. I didna like to spoil the fun by speaking o't." This anecdote, which is perfectly authentic, presents a shocking picture of the convivial habits of the last century.
Saturday dinner-parties were common; they were protracted till the Sunday had closed. Every guest was expected to drink till he fell under the table. When all had reached this degrading position, the male attendants of the family entered and carried them to their chambers. When the apartments were insufficient for the number of guests, those who were unaccommodated with beds were extended on the floor, and covered, their neckcloths being loosened to prevent the risk of suffocation. The servants expected handsome gratuities from the guests as they departed.
The administrators of the law indulged in copious libations of brandy and claret. "To be drunk as a judge" was a proverb. The Senators of the College of Justice continued their festivities until morning hours. Circuit dinners terminated by the members of the court sinking under the tables from which they had been feasting.
Synod suppers did not terminate till considerably after midnight. On one occasion, at four a.m., the Moderator of the Synod of Aberdeen requested Boots, who is the youngest member of the court, to ring the beH. The waiter appeared. "Is the kettle bilin'?" inquired the Moderator. "It is, your reverence," responded the attendant. "See, then," added the Moderator, "that ye keep it aye fou an' aye bilin'." A distinguished clergyman of the capital was fond of claret. Paying a morning visit to a parishioner, he was entertained with a pint bottle of the liquor, which the host pronounced to be very old. "It's unco sma' o' its age!" said the reverend gentleman, significantly.
When drunkenness abounded, profane swearing was common. Persons of rank distinguished themselves by the grandeur of their oaths. They swore loftily, but were sometimes disconcerted. A landowner in Roxburghshire was a noted swearer. Walking in his demesne one day with a friend he was indulging his habit, when one of the labourers on the estate suddenly presented himself. The hind was known for his piety. "Whisht," said the landowner, "let that fellow pass; I am never free to swear when he is in sight."
Illicit distillation was another practice consequent on the national love of potent beverages. It was lamentably prevalent. The idle highlander planted his still in the remote glen or the mountain corrie, and prepared his usquebaugh by the light of the moon. He was an incorrigible offender. An Argyleshire highlander was reproved by his minister for engaging in this illegal traffic. "Ye mauna ask me," said the smuggler, "to gie't up, for it supports the family. My faither an' his faither afore him made a drappie. The drink is gude—far better for a bodie than the coorse big-still whusky. Besides, I permit nae swearin' at the still, an' a' is dune dacently an' in order. I dinna see muckle harm in't." The speech contained arguments which were cogent to the utterer, and determined his resolution.
A parish minister in Fifeshire had succeeded in obtaining the modification of a heavy penalty, imposed on a parishioner who had a second time been found guilty of smuggling. The offender had solemnly promised to abandon the practice. When his difficulty was overcome, he waited on the clergyman to thank him for his intercession. "I hope, John," said the pastor, "that, as you have promised, you will carefully avoid everything of this sort for the future." "Surely, sir, surely," said John; but as he was leaving the apartment he shook his benefactor heartily by the hand, and exclaimed, as he made his retreat, "Ye'll get a bottle o' the best o't yet."
Smugglers were generally detected through "informations" communicated to the excise by their neighbours. These received, as a reward, one-half the proceeds of the confiscation, and their names were not publicly divulged. I was informed by an aged supervisor that nearly all his detections were made consequent on the "informations" of neighbours. It is difficult to conceive a state of society more despicable than that in which there obtained such an habitual violation of neighbourly confidence.
Sheepstealing was a common vice of the last century, though hanging was its legal penalty. Many ghost stories had their origin in the sheep-stealer throwing a white sheet over his shoulders, for the threefold purpose of concealing his person and his plunder, and of frightening those who might otherwise have guessed his intent, and sought his detection.
Deception largely prevailed. Many of the landed gentry were noted bouncers. They magnified their own importance by practising on the credulity of their retainers. A laird or highland chief, who had once visited London, or had been a few days on the Continent, possessed sufficient materials to astonish his dependants during the remainder of his life. The peasantry were adepts in the art of dissimulation. They generally boasted of their independence, but were ready to obey the laird, both in matters where obedience was due, and where acquiescence in his wishes might more creditably have been resisted.
In small burghs the traders depended chiefly on a few leading persons, to whom they attached themselves. Unlike the highland clansmen, who clung to their landless chiefs with the same ardour of affection as when their hospitalities were administered to a thousand followers, the lowland shopkeeper conserved his personal interest by countenancing only the opulent or those in authority. While Mr. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, the future martyr, retained public favour, the burgesses flocked to his ministrations. But when he incurred the displeasure of the Court, his parishioners discovered that his prayers lacked unction, and that his discourses were unedifying. The Stirling butchers hounded him with their dogs. His congregation permitted him to be executed without venturing on any petition for his release.
The old Municipal system was tainted with many corruptions. Votes of electors for offices in the Corporation were bought and sold. Bribery at Parliamentary elections was so common that municipal councillors regarded these unlawful gains as the occasional perquisites of office. The rise, of certain families in the smaller burghs may be traced to the acceptance of bribes by their founders. There was much contention among municipal rulers for individual ascendency. They wasted the public funds in interminable litigations. In the course of the last century many of the Burghs were placed under trust. When funds for political purposes were required, burgh magistrates exposed their privileges at public auction to the highest bidder. They sold their Church Patronages. They sold their Landward Superiorities. They bartered the public rights of the burgesses to the neighbouring proprietors for personal advantages. They violated hospital and other charitable trusts. They sold the office of chief magistrate to those who would promise best, but did least, for the public benefit.
This burghal picture was even exceeded in the rural hamlets. There the roads or streets were nearly impassable, the bridges were decayed or broken down, and dungsteads were placed in front of every dwelling. No hind of the last century possessed more than one apartment; his peat fire blazed in the centre, and the smoke, which was intended to find egress by an aperture in the roof, more frequently, after encircling the chamber, escaped by the open door and unglazed windows.
With the commencement of the present century began an era of physical and moral reformation. Agriculture was encouraged; commerce received new impulses. The Clergy were now better educated, and better acquainted with human affairs: they began to exercise a salutary influence on the manners and habits of the people. The farmer now united the well-cultivated field with the well-kept garden, in the tidy courtyard with the clean fireside. The hine procured a better class of dwellings. Streets as alleys were threaded with underground sewers, which removed noxious vapours and more noxious disease. By a system of thorough drainage, morasses and the beds of lakes were converted into fields, producting rich cereals and abundant pasture.
The morals of the people have shared in the amelioration of their physical condition. Drunkenness has subsided; illicit distillation has ceased; the old vices have departed, and the national virtues have become more conspicuous.
Scotsmen have ceased to rejoice in national isolation. Though continuing to glory in her independence and ancient liberties, Scotland owns that the proudest day of her history was that of her union with England. The perfermdum ingenium remains, but its acrimony has departed. Scotsmen proceed everywhere; and wherever they are found, they are esteemed for their probity and honour, and are characterized by an energy which knows not how to yield, and a determination which is invincible.
C. R.
London, May 10, 1867.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...aits/index.htm
The Cottagers of Glenburnie
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By Elizabeth Hamilton (1898)
Writing in the late 18th and early 19th century, Elizabeth Hamilton produced fiction, satire, comical sketches, philosophical essays, historical biography, theological treatises, and essays on educational theory. She is best known for her novel The Cottagers of Glenburnie (1808) with its vivid depictions – and biting satires – of Scottish peasant life. A lively and entertaining tale, The Cottagers of Glenburnie also skilfully discusses and dissects class issues, British imperialism, and war.
This book can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...gers/index.htm
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
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This is an enlarged edition of this work and as the Scots Language was Scotland's official language for several centuries it is well worth making this work available. You'll often see quoted in many histrorical works acts of Parliament which means they are in the then Scottish language so as a reference source it is worth knowing it's available.
Our thanks to John Henderson for undertaking this work for us.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...eson/index.htm
And finally...
According to a survey in 1985 American's claimed to have an average of 3 friends. Given the power of social networking and the number of so called friends that you have on places like facebook the survey for 2011 were eagerly being anticipated. The result... American's now claim to have an average of 2 friends.
And that's it for now and hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com