An gaidheal - National Library of Scotland

——April, 1873. THE GAEL. 61from Ireiiffiiis, who, in tlie introductionto his great work on heresies,written when he was Bishop ofLyons, apologises for tlie "rustiuess"of his Gi"eek, on the ground that theLanguag-e which he has long beenaccustomed to speak is that of theCelts among whom he labours. Andher character and experience are depictedby the Church herself, in aletter to the Christians in Smyrnaand Asia, which is deservedly regardedas one of the finest memorialsof early Christian antiquity. Thoughwritten in Greek, it is characterizedby an oriental profusion of imageryscarcely consistent with our Westernfeelings of severe good taste,and altogether incompatible withbrevity.The letter was transcribed byEusebius, the father of ecclesiasticalhistory, about thi-ee hundred yeai'safter the resurrection of Christ. Butit was written about A.D. 171, onoccasion of a fierce persecution whichin that year had tried the faith of theCluu'ch which sent it. The book ofL'ena>us and letter of the Churchwere written in Greek, the thenlanguage of the learned; while, as wehave seen, the pastor spoke Gaelic-,because Gaelic was the language ofthe mass of his flock.— 27/e FamilijI'l-edsuvij.It is not a little remarkable that theone island of Skye should have sent forthfrom her wild shores since the beginningof the last wars of the French revolution,21 lieutenant-generals and major-generals;48 lieutenant-colonels; 600 commissionedofficers; 10,000 soldiers; 4 governors ofcolonies; 1 governor-general; 1 adjutantgeneral;1 chief baron of England; and 1judge of the Supreme Court of Scotland.I remember the names of 61 officers beingenumerated, who, during "the war," hadjoined the army or navy from farms whichwere visible fi-om one hill-top in "theParish." These times have now passedaway. The Highlands furnish few soldiersor officers. Bev. Dr. JV. Mackod.MACDONALD OF CLANRANALD.The representative of an old race,once potent in the Hebrides, ReginaldGeorge Macdonald, Captain and ChieffCapitamts sen Princeps) of Clanranald,died on the 11th March, at hishouse in Clarendon Road, Kensington.He was born in Edinburgh onthe 29th of August, 1788, and consequentlywas in his 85th year at thetime of his death. The deceased wasthe son of Captain John Macdonaldof the 22d Dragoons, by a daughterof Macqueen of Braxfield, the famousTory Lord Advocate and Judge, ofwhom so many stories are told by SirWalter Scott and Lord Cockburu.The late Chief was a deputy-lieutenantof Liverness-shire, and representedthe borough of Plympt(jn (disfranchisedby the Reform Act) from 1812to 1824. He was first mariied to adaughter of the Earl of M(junt Edgcumbe,and secondly to the widow ofRichai-d Barre Dunning, Loixl Ashburton.He is succeeded by his son,Reginald John James George, a retiredcaptain in the Royal Navy, andmarried to a daughter of tlTe late, andsister of the present, Lord Vernon.The deceased Chief was a good typeof the gentleman of the old schoollively, courteous, and alTable. Abouttwo 3'ears since he visited Scotland,and delighted his friends by hisnever-failing vivacity and comparativelyyouthful appearance.As the head of one branch of thegreat house of Macdonald of the Isles,the Chief of Clanranald, of course,had a long pedigree. Allan Macdonald,gi'andson of the last Kingand Lord of the Isles, commandedthe clan at the battle of Harlaw in1412. Another Chief, AlexanderMacruari, was one of the HighlandChiefs seized by James I. at Invernesshi 1427, and soon after beheaded.Subsetiuently we find the clan in