The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

75^
The Highland Monthly.
chithinn roimhe so na sheasamli Icis fhcin air cnoc, chi mi
nise 'na dhithis na triuir c."
Fear an Rudha—My eyesight is failing" me very rapidly.
Ronald—You may think it strange, sir, but my eye-
sight is getting better.
Fear an Rudha—That is strange, indeed, for you are
quite as old as I am.
Ronald—Yet so it is. For the man that formerly I
would see single on a hillock, I now see double or triple.
ANGUS SHAW.
Angus Shaw, Aonghas MacLighiehe, was a native of
Lynedale. He was a soldier. Many of his songs are still
rehearsed in the west of the island. His song to Buoneparte
is one of his most vigorous songs. It appeared in one of
the Highland papers some years ago, with the following
note prefixed :
—
At the request of a recent writer in your .columns, I beg
to send the enclosed x^erses by a Skye troubadour on " the
disturber of the peace of Europe." The warrior-bard must
have suffered much at the hands of the French ere he
expresses himself so bitterly towards their leader. The
excess of vituperation displayed is apt to produce a reaction
in favour of the object of it, and this is probably one reason
why the song is not more popular, it being, in fact, very
rare even in its native soil. Piocaid in the sixth verse is a
slight transformation oi'' -^^xco^woX" gasaidean \x\ the eighth
refers to reports of casualties in the Army and Navy
" Gazette." Other borrowed words explain themsehes.
[ have endeavoured, as far as practicable, to adapt the
spelling to the local pronunciation.
OKAN BIIONIPAIR'r.
Na'in b'fl-icar-focail bhidh giar mi gun lochd na mo
bhriathran,
(ju fiachainn am b'fhiacli dhuinn a sgiala so th' ann,
Mas a h-cachdraidh tha fior i, thug a phacaid bho 'n iari,
G'eil na naimhdcan a phian sinn air an cioslachadh
tcann.
'S anu 's a mhilc 's ochd ciad agus coig bliadhna diag
Thanaig neadhachd na sithc bho cbriocha na l-'raing,
Bha sinn fada ga h-iarraidh, 's bha Hreatunn Ian riaraicht'
J*ha na naimhdean air striochdadh Ic diobhail ar lann.