families of the Frasers of Stratherrick, Erchit, Farraline, Balnain, Ledclune, Knockie, Foyers, Errogie, etc., etc.

Regarding as east the wall flanking the road, we have let into the south wall a tombstone to Donald Fraser of Erchit, who died in 1729. A burial was taking place near the spot shortly after Culloden. While the funeral party were at the grave, a cart with military provisions was passing to FortAugustus. One of the mourners seized a loaf of bread from out of the cart and threw it to the dogs; he was immediately arrested and taken to the Fort. The soldiers fired a volley indiscriminately into the funeral party. The marks of the bullets are still plain to see in the above tombstone. Next morning the minister of Boleskine, who, like that of Dores, was an ardent supporter of the Government, appeared at the Fort at an early hour and had a long interview with the Duke of Cumberland, walking backwards and forwards on the green. Finally the minister took his leave, and was allowed to take his parishioner home along with him.

The parish church occupied the middle of the churchyard, the old walls at the north end having been built to protect the burial places of old Fraser families. There was a notorious wizard known as An Crùnair Friseal (the Fraser crowner), "A man of the devil," according to James Gow, who by his dire incantations once raised the dead bodies in the churchyard. Mr Thomas Houstoun, who lived hard by (1660), came in haste and laid them again. Just inside the churchyard gate, in order, according to Gow, that he may rise first at the Resurrection, is the grave of one Duncan MacPhail, a man well known for his piety. Once, along with a party, he dined at Aldourie, and on being asked to say Grace, continued so protractedly that the whole company slipped away except the hostess and one other lady.

There was a little estate further along the loch from Foyers, now forming part of Knockie, called Fothar Beag or Pother, owned by a separate family of Frasers.

The proprietor was one time called Iain Cinn Mhunghaidh, and was courting the daughter of the Laird of Invermoriston. To hide the scantiness of his wardrobe

he used to take a sack stuffed with hay from the mouth of which protruded his one pair of yellow breeches. In the morning his man-servant would shout through the door, "Laird of Pother, what suit shall we bring forth to-day?" and the Laird would reply, "For to-day it will be enough to bring out the yellow breeches which you will find in the bag." When waiting on his master at dinner, the man would say on a stormy night, "Ah, Laird of Pother, what will become of the black-horned and white-horned cattle of the herd of Pother to-night?" upon which the Laird would reply manfully, "What of them the byres cannot hold, let them be sent to the Yew Tree Gorge for shelter." The whole stock consisted of one cow. The couple got married, and on going to live at her new home the lady occupied herself in composing sarcastic songs describing the conditions which she found there. Either this lady or another used to go to seek advice in regard to certain legal rights of Pother with regard to the estate, to Fraser of Gorthlick, an Edinburgh lawyer. Eventually, being bothered with her, he sent her to a meal with the servants, all her means being gone by this time.

CEOL MÓR-THE CLASSICAL MUSIC OF THE

BAGPIPES

By the Rev. NEIL Ross, B.D., D.Litt.

16th JANUARY, 1925

Captain Horace L. Kemble, M.V.O., presided over a large attendance at a meeting held on this date. The Secretary made fitting reference to the recent death of Mr J. G. Mackay, M.B.E., Portree, and Mr David MacRitchie, C.A., Edinburgh, both of whom had been valuable contributors to the Transactions of the Society.

The undernoted, who had been duly nominated at the previous meeting of the Society, were unanimously elected members of the Society :-Mr A. J. MacKenzie, Donnville, Inverness; Rev. Donald Campbell, the U.F. Manse, Croy; Mr Donald MacLeod, Rangemore Road, Inverness; Mr John Campbell, The Camp, Inverness; Dr Fraser, The Infirmary, Inverness; Mr John Fraser, J.P., Dunrobin Street, Helmsdale; Rev. Norman MacKenzie, M.A., the U.F. Manse, Helmsdale; Rev. Wm. Sutherland, M.A., the U.F. Manse, Petty; Mr Donald Mackay, M.A., Stornoway; Mr Donald Anderson, Dalbeattie; Mr Atholl Gordon Mackintosh, Solicitor, Inverness; Dr Angus MacPhail, Inverness, and Mr D. J. MacDonald, M.A., The Royal Academy, Inverness. The Saint Andrew Society of Philadelphia, U.S.A., was also affiliated.

The Secretary submitted contributions to the Society's Library received from Major I. H. Mackay Scobie and from Mr John MacLeod Campbell, Captain of Saddell Castle.

The Chairman introduced the Rev. Neil Ross, B.D., Laggan, who read a paper on "Ceòl Mór-The Classical Music of the Bagpipes." The lecture was illustrated by

selections on the pìob-mhór, played by Pipe-Major John MacDonald, piper to the Society. The Rev. Dr Ross's paper was. as follows:

The modern Scottish Gael, however far he may advance in academic studies in English, Latin or Greek, must feel that he derives a considerable share of his education from the native Gaelic culture. If he is at all fairly conversant with Gaelic as his mother tongue he must surely realize how much he owes to the ancient tales which were the first food of his. imagination; to the proverbs in which he found, in a very concise form, the wisdom of his people; and to the Gaelic songs which conveyed to him a vivid picture of natural beauty, of danger and adventure, and above all, of the yearnings and passions of the human heart. As for the arts, our fathers may not have made much progress in those arts which appeal to the twentieth century. In certain directions we may point to the wonder and glory of the illuminations in the Book of Kells, where a Gael attained a standard of brilliance which the twentieth century cannot equal: and we may also point to the grandeur of Ceòl Mór, the classical music of the bagpipes. It is true that this form of Celtic music is not widely appreciated or generally understood in our day. But enough remains of the ancient tunes to show us what a wonderful conception of music our fathers possessed. In this branch alone the artistic capacity and the heroic fire of our ancestors are blended in a strange manner. Have you ever seen a Gael who has lost his conscious heritage? Such a Gael is the man who is ignorant of, or indifferent to, the noble and inspiring traditions of his race. There have been insidious forces in our time and in our upbringing that have helped to cut us off from our heritage. We owe much of course to our English education. But it cannot be denied that the mental fare on which many of us have been reared has never been of the kind that cast a glamour on our Gaelic

culture or on the arts which were cultivated by our forebears. Our English education has never encouraged us to regard with any serious interest an old-fashioned piper of the true .stock. But such a figure is almost the only survival of the musical culture of the Gael as it was in its prime. The exponent of vocal music has learned new ways, and has sadly departed from the traditional style. But the piper or true player of piobaireachd stands for a class of music which was peculiar to our Scottish Gael, and for which no other people so far have shown much appreciation.

Another mental feature of our modern Gael is that he can hardly realize the antiquity of any piece of Gaelic music unless you give him chapter and verse, in print, proving the history, with dates, of every tune that has survived. The oldest existing manuscript of Homer does not bring us within many centuries of the original; and the same may be said of Virgil and of many poets and sages whose works are read and accepted without demur. But it is the misfortune of the average modern Gael that when you invite him to accept the antiquity of piobaireachd, he becomes immediately a sceptic, and asks for a written proof-nothing else will bring conviction. He has not the patience to weigh the internal evidence. He will not meditate long enough on this matter until its wonder may have a chance of dawning on his mind. The fact is that the structure of pibroch with all its elaborate details was brought to perfect form long before any written record of it was committed to parchment or to paper. The golden age of pibroch was long past before any tune of that kind was published.

It was only towards the end of the eighteenth century that a volume containing some twenty pieces was given to the world by Donald MacDonald, a native of Skye. About 1836 another book was published by Angus Mackay. Further volumes in due time appeared under the hand of such men as Ross, Glen, Macphee and Maclennan. Over twenty years