Read Ebook: The Scottish Journal of Topography Antiquities Traditions &c. Vol. I No. 22 January 29 1848 by Various

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No. 22. Edinburgh, Saturday, January 29, 1848. Price 1 1/2 d.

SOME PARTICULARS REGARDING THE FAMILY OF INVERNAHYLE.

COPIED FROM A MANUSCRIPT IN THE POSSESSION OF DR THOMSON, LATE OF APPIN, BY JOSEPH TRAIN.

Donald was accordingly educated in the family of Rab a Pheti, the blacksmith. When he acquired some strength, he was often called to assist his supposed father in carrying on his trade. Being of a strong, athletic make, he performed every task proposed to him with ease, little thinking he had any right to be otherwise employed. One day, when about eighteen years of age, it being his turn to work in the smithy, he took hold of a large hammer, which required the strength of any ordinary man to wield with both hands, and, of course, deemed too unweildly for a stripling of his age, yet he found so little difficulty in managing it, that he wrought it with one hand; and not satisfied with this exertion, he took another hammer of the same size in his other hand, and beat away with both alternately, without much apparent exertion. His supposed father, Rab a Pheti, seeing this, gave up his work and went to the faithful nurse to tell what he had seen. This honest couple, who had as much affection for Donald as though he had been their own child, came to the resolution of disclosing to him the secret they had so long kept of his birth and parentage. Donald was called, and the mournful tale of his father's death, and the risk he ran of sharing the same fate, was circumstantially laid before him. If we can judge by his future actions, we may conclude that he listened to the mournful story with strong emotions. The smith took him in his arms and embraced him. "Your education," he said, "has been necessarily obscure, but I trust the blood that runs in your veins, and the spirit of your fathers, will ever inspire your conduct and direct your steps." The smith then presented him with a sword, tempered with all the art of his trade, praying it might be the means of clearing his way through difficulties, and extricating him from every danger. Donald received it as a valuable token of love. Nor did he allow it long to remain peaceful in its scabbard. Previous to his setting out for Appin, he, by the advice of his foster-mother, Morag, waited on his mother's brother, Macdonald of Moidart, who gave him a very warm and hearty reception, and offered freely to support him with his interest and influence in recovering his paternal property, which had been taken back to the family, on the supposition of his death when a child.

There is still handed down a little roundlet, which narrates this transaction--

"Donal nan Ord, dalt a gothain Alleagan nan luarach leabhair, Thog thu creach o' thaogh Locho, Nach dean Mhac Callen a thoghadh, Na Mhac, na Earo na Otha."

Argyle, much enraged at the affront offered him by Donald, began to think of serious revenge, by raising his whole clan and followers to destroy him; but wisely seeing that this could not be done without some noise, and aware that Donald might be supported by his mother's powerful friends, and also by the Camerons, set on foot a negotiation with the Laird of Appin, to get Donald to make restitution and be peaceful. The result was, that Appin, and his other friends, insisted with Donald that he should come to terms with Argyle, threatening, if he did not comply, to leave him to his fate. Donald, unwilling to split with his friends, and thinking that he had done enough in revenging his father's death, complied, and actually went to Inverary with a single attendant, to hold a conference with Argyle, at his own place, and among his numerous friends. Argyle, who was a man of the world, conceived that, from Donald's rusticity, he could easily, by persuasion, get him into a scrape that might prove fatal to him. But Donald, though he agreed all at once to the terms proposed, got himself easily extricated. Upon Donald's reaching Inverary, he met Argyle in the fields, and is said to have accosted him thus--

"A Mhic Callen griomach ghlais, Is beag an hachd a thagad dhiom, Is nar a Phillis mi air mais Mas a mo a thaghain dhiot."

"Gaire Granda as ainm don Chreig, Is fanaidh i mar sin a ghna; Gheabh a leitheid agad fein, Nan sealadh tu nan eadan do mhna."

When at length they came to talk of business, the terms upon which Argyle offered peace were, that Donald should raise a hership in Moidart, and another in Athole, thinking probably that he would be cut off in these attempts; or if successful against such powerful people, that his disgrace would be less in what was done to his own lands. Donald readily agreed to the terms. He set out openly for Moidart, discovered to his uncle the engagement he had come under, and asked his advice. His uncle told him that the people of certain farms in that neighbourhood having offended him, to go and spoil them; that he, to save appearance, when it came to his knowledge, should pursue him to retake the spoil; but should not be in such haste that Donald ran any risk of being overtaken. Donald did so; carried off his spoil; set fire to two or three farms, and got safe off. The affair made a great noise, and reached Argyle's ears, who was astonished at Donald's rashness. He went next to Athole, and played the same card with equal success; came back to Argyle, and a peace was concluded, though not with much cordiality upon either side.

There is a well-known anecdote, which we cannot pass over in silence. Donald was, on a time, returning from an expedition into Stirlingshire, and, passing through Monteith, called at a tenant's house, where they were preparing a wedding dinner. The Earl of Monteith was at the marriage, and was to partake of the dinner. Donald and his men were hungry, and asked for a supply of meat, which being refused, they were so unpolite as step in and eat up the whole dinner. Upon the Earl's arrival with the marriage people, they were enraged at the affront put upon them. They pursued Donald, and soon came up with him. They called to him to halt, which he did, and one of the Earl's men cried out ironically to Donald and his men, alluding, no doubt, to the quantity of broth they had consumed--

"Stuarticdh bhuidh nan tapan, A bheiradh glag air a chal."

One of Donald's men, with great coolness, drawing an arrow out of his quiver, replies--

"Ma tha'n tapan again mar dhuchas, Is du dhuin gun tarin sin tarsid."

And with this took his aim at the Monteith man, and shot him through the heart. An engagement ensued betwixt the parties, in which the Earl was killed, and a number of his followers.

Donald's mother was left a widow when young. She married Maclean of Inverscadale, of whom the present Inverscadale.

DONALD, the fifth Invernahyle, was married to Margaret Campbell, daughter to the Laird of Lochnell, and had issue four sons and two daughters: 1. Alexander, who succeeded him; 2. Duncan, of whom Strathgarry; 3. Donald, married to Margaret Stewart, daughter to Alexander Stewart of Acharn, issue, sons; 4. Allan, married to Margaret Campbell, daughter to John Campbell of Achaoran, issue, sons. His oldest daughter, Margaret, married Donald Campbell of Greenyards, Secretary to the Bank of Scotland. The second daughter, Anne, married Maccalman of Arivian, and had issue.

ALEXANDER, the sixth Invernahyle, married Mary Macdonnell, daughter to Macdonnell of Fersid, by whom he had issue, Duncan, who succeeded him, and a daughter, Catharine, who was married to James Stewart in Ardnamurchan. But Alexander was first married to Isabel Campbell, daughter of John Campbell of Kirktown, in Mucharn, by whom he had two daughters: 1. Anne, married to Dugald Stewart of Achnacon, of whom the present Achnacon; 2. Margaret, married to Duncan Stewart, son to Innishchaorach.

DUNCAN, the seventh Invernahyle, was bred to the law in Edinburgh, where he had an opportunity of cultivating a fine natural taste for music, to the enjoyment of which he very much devoted himself in his latter days. He married, when young, Mary Campbell, daughter of Alexander Campbell of Barcaldine, and by her had a numerous offspring, of whom there came to maturity--1. Alexander, the present Invernahyle, who is married to Catharine Stewart, daughter to Robert Stewart of Appin, and has issue; 2. John, who died while at his education, and was buried at the church of Kilmadock, in Perthshire; 3. Dugald was bred to the Church, but preferred going abroad, to push his fortune, and after being successful for some time in Jamaica was robbed by a partner. He went to America, and died there; 4. Robert, who was bred a wine merchant in Leith, died abroad; 5. Allan, who has all along followed the army, is now on half-pay, a Lieut.-Colonel; 6. James, who was educated for the Church, and also as a physician, made choice of the occupation of a farmer and merchant. He is married to Robina Edmondstoune, daughter to John Edmondstoune of Cambus-Wallace, and has issue: 1. Margaret, married to Campbell of Achraran, issue, sons; 2. Mary, married to Macnicol of Sonoch, and has issue; 3. Anne, married to the Rev. John Connochar, and has issue.

DESCENDANTS OF INVERNAHYLE.

John, the third Ballechelish, married a daughter of Stewart of Ardsheils, and had issue. He was succeeded by his nephew, Alexander, son to Alisdair More.

Alexander, the fourth Ballechelish, was first married to a daughter of Stewart of Ardsheils, issue, sons. He married after her, Isabel Stewart, daughter to Alexander Stewart of Annat, in Perthshire, and had issue: 1. John, the present Ballechelish; 2. Alexander, who was killed at Falkirk in 1746; and one daughter, Isabel, married to Donald Stewart, nephew to Alexander Stewart, fourth Ballechelish, and son to Donald Mac Alisdair Mhoir.

Dugald, second son to Duncan the third Invernahyle, purchased from Campbell of Lawers the lands of Innishchaorach, Duaireachan, and Innishdainh, in Glenlochy, Breadalbane. He married and had issue: 1. Allan, who succeeded; 2. Neil, who married a daughter of Stewart of Druimcharrie, in Perthshire, and had issue.

Neil, second son of Dugald, the first Innishchaorach, was the male heir to Innishchaorach. He was wadsetter to Ledcharrie and Edarramhionoich, in Glendochart, and had issue, John, Charles, and Neil. Charles succeeded to the wadset, which was paid up to him, and with the money he bought the lands of Bohalic, in Athole, of which he died possessed. He left them to his daughter, having no male issue.

James, second son to Alexander, the fourth Invernahyle, was wadsetter of Inverkinglass, in Glenkinglass. He was married, and had a son, Allan, who settled in Ardnamurchan. Allan married a daughter of Mr Maccalman, minister of Appin, by whom he had four sons--James, John, Allan and Dugald. Dugald had an estate in Jamaica, called Mounstewart. It was sold and divided among his relations. Allan had a son called Andrew, who settled in Perth, and left a son, a glover. Andrew has two sons, Peter, a glover, and Thomas, a shipmaster and an heritor.

Alexander, third Strathgarry, was minister of Blair, in Athole. He married Isabel Robertson, daughter of Mr Patrick Robertson, brother of Lude, and left issue, the present Strathgarry, Mr Duncan Stewart, minister of Balquhidder, Mr Alexander, minister of Mullien, and three daughters.

Allan, first son by the second marriage of Mr Duncan Stewart, son to Donald, the fifth Invernahyle. He married Christian Macnab, daughter to the Laird of Macnab, and left two sons, Duncan, the present Inverchaddan, and Allan.

HOLY ISLAND PRIORY.

BY HENRY CLARKE, M.D.

I have been induced to draw up the following sketch of the Priory of Holy Island, from its being the most beautiful fragment of antiquity in the district to which our researches are confined, as well as from its presenting one of the most remarkable architectural remains of the period to which it belongs in the kingdom.

It need scarcely be mentioned that, in the earlier periods of Christian history, the choice of so unattractive a site was in obedience to the idea which indicated the remote and scarcely accessible island, and the lone and unfrequented desert, as spots peculiarly fitted for that contemplative life, and withdrawal from the world, in which the perfection of religion was supposed to consist.

When the monastic system was introduced into the West, this was its leading and characteristic feature, and the same spirit which had selected the inhospitable island of Iona, induced the monk who issued thence for the conversion of Northumberland, to prefer the bleak sands of Lindesfarne to the present valleys of the adjacent continent.

It would be needless also to dwell upon the advantages derived from monastic establishments during the darker periods of history--their preservation of literature and religion--the solace they afforded to the way-farer and the pilgrim--the asylum they furnished to the poor, the sick, the impotent, and the aged--the influence which they exerted in alleviating, where they could not prevent, the various evils incident to a barbarous age--the peaceful arts which they cultivated, and especially that which enabled them to raise those august and sumptuous edifices, which still remain the grandest examples of architectural skill, and defy all approaches of the moderns to a parity of excellence.

The exercise of these and kindred virtues ought to redeem the monastic institution, when reviewed in a candid and equitable spirit, from the unmeasured obloquy and censure which the license and misrule of some of its branches in later times have drawn down upon it.

There is no doubt, however, that the very virtues, which originally inspired awe and attracted esteem, tended, by a natural process, frequently renewed, and always with similar results, to the gradual corruption and final overthrow of the monastic system.

Long before the Reformation the elements of discontent had been at work, and the clamour against the monasteries had been gradually acquiring force and fixedness, when in the person of

"the majestic lord Who broke the bonds of Rome,"

was found a fitting instrument for the expression of the popular will.

In the year 1536, the lesser monasteries were doomed to destruction by the execrable tyrant who wielded the sceptre of England, and the Priory of Holy Island was included in the general wreck.

From that hour it dates its gradual decay and present state of irretrievable ruin. Sir Walter Scott has thus described it in "Marmion:"

There are no buildings in this country with the characteristic forms of this church, or the distribution into nave and aisles, that belong to so early a period. A few rude structures there certainly are which may have been erected by Saxon architects, one of which occurs in our own district--the tower of Whittingham Church, Northumberland--characterised by a peculiar sort of quoining--consisting of long and short stones, placed alternately over each other--small round-headed apertures divided by a rude balastre, and the absence of buttresses. The term Norman may be safely used, if it be understood simply to designate a style which appeared in this country at the conquest, and prevailed for 125 years, during the Norman rule; but it is in reality Roman, and was derived from the imperial city by the architects who diffused it over Europe, with the religion to which these structures were consecrated. It flourished during the first thousand years of the Christian era, with long interruptions during the dark ages, but its rudiments maybe discerned at this day in the Temple of Peace at Rome, erected during the first century, and in the Halls of the Baths--those colossal structures in which the grandeur of thought and magnificent aims of the Roman people are most conspicuously combined. In these edifices we perceive the general arrangement of our Norman and Gothic churches--a wide central space arched over at top, with the vaults resting on pillars corresponding to our nave; between these pillars lofty arches open into as many vaulted apartments on either side intercommunicating by similar archways and constituting side-aisles. The roof of the side-aisles being considerably lower than that of the central vault, admits the insertion of lights in the main wall looking into the cave, which correspond with our clerestory windows.

The general character of Holy Island Priory is Norman, or to speak more correctly, Romanesque. The West front is almost perfect--remarkably so when we consider that, in buildings of that period, this part has generally undergone a change, by the insertion of windows of a later style, leaving only the Norman door below to point to the real date of the structure. Here, we have a door of great depth and richness of effect from the number and boldness of the ornaments. On either side are plain semicircular blank arches--but not intersecting--and the whole were flanked by towers, one of which still exists. Of the nave, the southern portion as well as the south aisle, is entirely gone, but that on the north is tolerably complete. The piers, with their capitals, which bore up the arches, are of various patterns, channelled, lozenged, shafted, and shewing in their sculptured surfaces, and the various fretwork of the arches, that is, in the only decoration which the style admitted--the germ of that inexhaustible variety and multiplicity of ornament which was in the sequel to characterize the Gothic.

The nave, as well as aisles, has been vaulted in stone, as is evidenced from the vaulting shafts, and commencing springers still seen at the junction of the nave and transepts, and from the curve of the vault itself, yet traceable at the west end, but denuded of its ribs. This is a remarkable and almost singular instance of the centre aisle of a Norman building receiving a vault of stone. Both in England and on the Continent, the nave was covered simply by a flat boarded roof, to which were in a great degree owing the frequent and destructive fires of our early churches.

There are six arches in the nave, but the last is of smaller dimensions than the rest. This peculiarity is not unfrequent in Norman and Gothic churches, as if the architect had not previously calculated the space to be occupied by his arcade. The effect here has been to produce a horse-shoe instead of a semicircular arch, from its being of the same height, but lesser span, than the others. This arch is very rare, even in Norman buildings.

Above the pier-arches there has existed a triforium, of which the only remains are a single shaft at either end of the nave, the beginning and termination of the arcade. The Norman triforium is in England simply a row of openings or pannels in the wall, to fill up, ornamentally, what would otherwise have been a blank space. In Germany it is a real gallery, and appropriated to the young men, and called the M?nner-chor.

We now reach the intersection of the nave and transepts. Here in the strong and massive piers, we have slender circular shafts set in square recesses--a style of transition from the short and heavy Norman to the loftiness and exility of the Gothic, by which the weights above being distributed to different and independent props, an air of lightness and grace is produced without any diminution of security or strength.

Above, arose the tower which crowned the whole structure, but of its existence the only remaining evidence is the most singular and beautiful feature of the ruin. It is the great cross rib traversing the vault diagonally from N.W. to S.E., and spanning the mid-air free and unconnected with the building but at its spring. Had this been a pointed arch, it would have fallen with its superstructure, but the pressure of the round arch being only at the sides, it is likely to endure as long as the parts which buttress it up.

The chancel beyond the transepts had originally a semicircular termination, as is still discernible on the floor--a feature retained in all the Norman churches abroad. In this part of the edifice, it is to be regretted, is a departure from the unity of style which pervades the rest of the fabric--the circular apse has given place to a rectangular, lighted by pointed windows, in compliance with the fashion of the day, and in violation of the grave simplicity of the rest of the structure.

Buttresses of slight projection run all round the building. They were scarcely needed by the Norman architects, from the enormous thickness of their walls, and their inferior height; but in them we may trace the rudiments of what became, in the hands of the Gothic builders, so beautiful and necessary a member, shooting up into airy pinnacles and spires, and impressing a lofty and majestic character upon the whole.

Of the conventual buildings the traces are few and indistinct. The most important to their comforts--the vast kitchen chimney yet remains in all its original strength and completeness. The large walled space adjoining was probably the Refectory, with which the kitchen would communicate by the buttery-hatch.

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