The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

690 The Highland Monthly^
the Macleods, She was employed as nurse in the family
of the Macleods of Dunvegan, and is said to have nursed
five lairds of the Macleods and two of the lairds of
Applecross,
It appears she received no education, yet her songs are
remarkable for boldness and originality, both in matter
and metres. John Mackenzie, in his " Beauties of Gaelic
Poetry," says of her :
—
" Mary Macleod, the inimitable poetess of the Isles, is
the most original of all our poets. She borrows nothing.
Her thoughts, her verse, her rhymes, are all equally her
own. Her language is simple and elegant; her diction
easy, natural, and unaffected. Her thoughts flow freely
and unconstrained. There is no straining to produce
effect ; no search after unintelligible words to conceal the
poverty of ideas. Her versification runs like a mountain
stream over a smooth bed of granite. Her rhymes are
often repeated, yet we do not feel them tiresome nor
disagreeable. Her poems are mostly composed in praise
of the Macleods, yet they are not the effusions of a mean
and mercenary spirit, but the spontaneous and heartfelt
tribute of a faithful and devoted dependant."
Nine of her songs are given in the " Beauties of Gaelic
Poetry."
In "The Gaelic Bards," by Rev. A. Maclean Sinclair,
a " Cumha do Shir Tormaid Mac-Leoid " is gi ven,
begins :
—
O, mo chradhghal bochd,
Mar a tha mi an nochd
'S mi gun tamh, gun fhois, gun sund.
Mi gun surd orm ri stath.
Is gun dull ri bhi slan,
Chaidh mo shugradh gu brath air chul.
Another song of Mary Macleod is given in the Glen-
bard Collection, entitled, " Do Ruairidh Mac-Leoid 's na
Hearradh."
Tha mo chion air an Ruairidh
Fear na misnich 's a chruadail
Choisinn cliu 's a fhuair buaidh ann san Olaint.