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Electric Scotland News
Politics really sucks these days. The Western World seems incapable of doing anything on a sensible basis.
All countries need to be able to defend themselves. I wonder if Ukraine had kept their nuclear weapons would Russia still have invaded? I suspect not. Then I read how one Royal Navy Destroyer having shot down drones were then unable to get resupplied as there were no supply ships available. Naval ships having to be moth balled as there are not enough sailors to man them. Also not enough army or police. We can't even build decent aircraft carriers as they keep breaking down and in any event we can't afford to put sufficient aircraft on them. I haven't actually found out how many drones we have or their capabilities but it's clear we need a lot of them given how the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and playing out.
Then housing is an issue with our planning system in an abismal state. We need lots more affordable homes and I can't see any reason why we can't build them by designing sensible planning systems.
We also need to sort out the NHS system. It's clear we can't afford it so it needs to be part funded by private health care.
Food supply is also an issue and we really need to grown more of what we need. Basic food like bread, milk, potatoes, fruit and vegetables are the base we need and of course some meat. We need to purchase what we need from countries in the world with opposite weather patterns so when we can't grow strawberries we can source them from countries that are able to grown them. Also we need to be able to purchase good vegetables that might not look good but otherwise are perfectly ok.
Then immigration is an issue where we seem to lose tens of thousands of immigrants. Surely a better system can be devised that will allow us to track them and remove them when necessary.
Then the state is paying for tens of thousands of people who don't want to work. It's now not an issue of unemployment but an issue of people not prepared to work at anything. I think we need to have a system where to get a government hand out you need to do something for that handout.
Then taxes are too high as the state is now so large and our debts are so large that we need more money to pay for it all.
Then of course you have the decline in religion where we no longer have even basic standards of life. I've been watching the increase in violence in our children and young adults. School teachers are increasingly being attacked by children. Where have our standards gone?
OBITUARY NOTICE:
Today we mourn the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense.
Common Sense lived a long life but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes, factories and offices, helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness. For decades, petty rules, silly laws and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense.
He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as to know when to come in out of the rain, the early bird gets the worm, and life isn't always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adults are in charge, not the kids), and it's okay to come in second.
A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Technological Revolution, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including feminism, body piercing, whole language and "new math."
But his health declined when he became infected with the "If-it-only-helps-one-person-it's-worth-it" virus. In recent decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal regulation. He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers and enlightened auditors. His health rapidly deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero tolerance policies, reports of six year old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teen suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student. It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but cannot inform the parent when the female student is pregnant or wants an abortion.
Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment than victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional sports. As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments, regarding questionable regulations for asbestos, low flow toilets, "smart" guns, the nurturing of Prohibition Laws and mandatory air bags. Finally when told that the homeowners association restricted exterior furniture only to that which enhanced property values, he breathed his last.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers: Rights, Tolerance and Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Here is what caught my eye this week...
Hundreds gather to take part in the annual medieval Jedburgh ba'
The game is a form of medieval football, which takes place in the streets around the market place in Jedburgh town centre.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...nnual-32136667
Police Scotland officer numbers continue to plummet with dreadful morale blamed on cut-backs
Scottish Police Federation boss David Kennedy said victims of crime were being let down by cut backs to the national constabulary.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/p...tinue-32142624
TRUMP vs. BIDEN | 2024 Election Map Based on New Polling Averages
Let’s fill out a 2024 presidential election map based on the latest polling averages in every state, and then compare it to the same map I made in January to see if there are any noticeable changes in the all-important race to 270 electoral votes.
View this at:
https://youtu.be/Etvfw6BT9zo?si=ctm0T670VPgPyNRz
Nimby Watch: Tesco's 'toxic towers'
In a new series, CapX is celebrating the way our planning system tries its very best to save the country from affordable housing or decent infrastructure. This week, Jonn Elledge examines the local outcry in Redbridge over the strange case of Lorimer Village and Tesco’s ‘Toxic Towers
Read more at:
https://capx.co/nimby-watch-tescos-toxic-towers
Scotland's NHS cannot meet growing demand, warns watchdog
Scotland's NHS is unable to meet the growing demand for health services, a spending watchdog has warned. A review by Audit Scotland said the increased pressure on the NHS was now having a direct impact on patient safety and experience.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-68348618
UK's favourite sweets named in new list - as 150-year-old retro classic takes top spot
A survey carried out to find the country's best-loved confectionary has revealed that vintage choices are making a comeback - even with younger generations.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifest...d-new-32176680
Conrad Black: The United Nations is contemptible. Here's how to fix it
The discovery by the Israeli Defense forces of comprehensive electrical and communications connections between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency headquarters in Gaza and a large Hamas terrorist barracks and command centre and tunnel complex immediately beneath it illustrated as brazenly as possible the hypocrisy and political corruption of the United Nations Organization.
Read more at:
https://archive.is/uJS4x#selection-2081.0-2081.384
Stephen Flynn calls for investigation following chaotic Gaza vote
The Commons Speaker was warned by his clerks that the move was unprecedented, and appeared in the chamber to apologise to MPs.
Read more at:
https://news.stv.tv/politics/stephen...use-of-commons
Harvard’s Plagiarism Problem Multiplies
Another administrator at the Ivy League university appears to have plagiarized her dissertation.
Read more at:
https://www.city-journal.org/article...lem-multiplies
Westminster's Gaza pomposity
Last night's ludicrous debate on Gaza in the House of Commons has exposed the sheer arrogance of our political class. That any of the politicians involved think their posturing will influence a conflict happening across the world is absurd. But while our MPs squabble, the war in the Middle East rages on.
Read more at:
https://capx.co/the-gaza-conflict-ha...ers-arrogance/
Electric Canadian
Rising Wolf - The White Blackfoot
Hugh Monroe's Story of his first year on the Plains by James Willard Schultz (1919) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...eb00schu_0.pdf
Our Families
Unable to find the source of this publication but includes many wee stories.
You can read these accounts at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...ilyStories.pdf
Pioneer Literary Endeavor in Western Canada
From The Cayuidian Magazine, February 1894 by Henry Scadding (pdf)
You can read this article at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...arye00scad.pdf
Sir John William Dawson
Fifty Years of Work in Canada, Scientific and Educational being Autobiographical Notes by Sir William Dawson, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S ETC. ETC., Late Principal of McGill University, Montreal edited by Rankine Dawson, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.S.E. (1901).
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...iam-dawson.htm
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - the 18th day of February 2024
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this homily at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...-february-2024
Constitutionalism: Lessons from Canada by Conrad Black
This speech was given on September 13, 2023, during a Hillsdale College Constitution Day Celebration.
You can watch this at:
https://freedomlibrary.hillsdale.edu...ns-from-canada
Canadian Baptists at work in India
By Rev. W. L. Orchard, M.A., B.D., Missionary Education Department of the Foreign Mission (1922) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/Reli...orkinIndia.pdf
Electric Scotland
Killin Perthshire Scotland
Killin in Perthshire Scotland, in this video we travel around the village of Killin in Perthshire Scotland. This video tries to capture the mood of the Village with soothing music and some history of the village.
You can watch this at:
https://youtu.be/ttcWgXKtKb8?si=JNn9hC_TcRi9BQ-G
Russia and the Peace
By Sir Bernard Pares (1945) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...c006173mbp.pdf
Gordon Researching the Early Kingdoms of Scotland
Added tthis video to our History page which you can watch at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/index.htm
King Charles Built A Town And It Surprised Everyone
Creating the town of Poundbury in Dorset. Added a couple of videos to the foot of our Kind Charles page.
You can learn more about this town at the foot of our page at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ngcharles3.htm
The Salmon
By the Hon. A. E. Gathorne-Hardy with chapters on the Law of Salmon-Fishing by Claud Douglas Pennant, Cookery by Alexander Innes Shand (1898) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...00gathgoog.pdf
Runs with the Lanarkshire & Renfrewshire Fox-Hounds
And other Sporting Incidents by "Stringhalt" (1874) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...rksh00stri.pdf
A Record of the Descendants of John Alexander of Lanarkshire, Scotland
And his wife, Margaret Glasson, who emigrated from County Armagh, Ireland to Chester County, Pennsylvania A. D. 1736 by the Rev. John E. Alexander (1878) (pdf)
You can read about them at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...enda00alex.pdf
Hongkong Daily Press
Established in 1857 and got up a copy of the January 29, 1936 edition which covered the King's death.
You can read this newspaper at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...hongkongdp.htm
The Tower of Craigietocher
Got in a final update on the build to 2024. Scroll to the end of the page for the update.
Those older readers will remember how we profiled this build from breaking ground many years ago now to it's now final completion. The family have now all moved in and are now offering a couple of rooms for B & B accommodation and links are provided to where you can book your room.
You can get to this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...agietocher.htm
The Indian in the United States
By Mrs. Fred S. Bennett (1942)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/america/indian.htm
Makers of the Scottish Church
By Rev. W. Beveridge, M.A. New Deer (1908)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/makers.htm
Scone Palace
The Crowning Place of Scottish Kings
You can watch the videos at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...conepalace.htm
Story
An Attempt to trace some of its Lost Treasures.
OF the fate of the venerable repository of St. Columb-Cille some scattered traces yet remain. It is known that the records of the monastery, written upon parchment, were destroyed by order of a provincial Synod held in the Island soon after the Reformation; and of what remained there is traditionary belief and circumstantial evidence that the greater part, if not the whole, fell into the possession of the “Lord Justicer of the Isles,” the Marquis of Argyll. Wheii the old Castle of Inverara was taken down to make room for the new building, it was remarked that many old books appeared in the town; and that, long after, the surrounding peasantry, in making their small purchases at the little merchant’s shop—then the only one in Inverara—received their pennyworths of salt and ounces of
TOBACCO WRAPPED IN ANCIENT WRITINGS—
“ Craicionn dealbhach ”— painted vellum—or pages of dark yellow paper, covered with “Litrichean dubha tiugha”—“thick black letters.” When a late Duke of Montague was at Inverara, some of these remains came under his notice, and he saw some remnants of the MSS. “ used in the shop as snuff paper.” Few, perhaps none, of the very aged are now left in the surrounding Straths; but eighty years ago it was still fresh in the memory of old people in Glen Urcha and Glen Eitive, the wonder and admiration with which, after their return from market, they had sat round their hearth fire, or the light of the splintered fir, and pored upon the beautiful colours and unknown figures, and—“Na litrichean mdra dubha iongantach, nach b’urraiu iad a leugh” —the thick black strange letters which they could not read. The antiquary need not be told that these were the wreck of illuminated MSS.; neither, when he considers that the “Red Book of Argyll” itself has disappeared, and that the MSS. of Clanranald were divided into tailors’ measures, will he feel astonished that the obsolete and dusty volumes of a suppressed monastery should have been lost in the lumber of an old house.
But of the value of the works which thus perished a glimmering t ray of light is left. Disregarding the romance of Boethius, repeated by Usher, and perhaps believed by Stillingfleet and Lluyd—that Fergus II., accompanying Alaric the Goth into Italy, sent to Iona a coffer of books which he pillaged in the sacking of Rome, there is evidence that, in the sixteenth century,
THE LIBRARY OF ST. COLUMB-CILLE
contained many ancient chronicles and royal charters, and a collection of classic literature, so important^ that the lost books of Livy were expected to be discovered among its stores. "ln the church of Iona,'’ says Paulus Jovius, “there are preserved very ancient annals and parchment rolls, containing laws and charters signed by the Kings, and sealed with their effigies on seals of gold or wax. It is also reported that in the same library there are ancient works of Roman history, from which we may expect the remaining decades of Titus Livius.
According to Boethius, this expectation was so strong, even in the fifteenth century, that ^Eneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius II., was about to undertake a journey to Iona to make search for the anticipated discovery, when he was prevented by the confusion which followed the assassination of James V How just his expectations might have been is proved by the result of a subsequent investigation related by Boethius. In 1525, with the same expectation entertained by ^Eneas Sylvius, a small parcel of the MSS. were sent to Aberdeen for the examination of the historian himself, then a student in that city; but neglect, time, and ill usage had rendered them so frail and illegible that little could be discovered, except that they appeared to be rather a fragment of Salust than a portion of Livy. That they should, however, have been a part of any classic author, is an evidence of the nature and the value of the library to which they belonged. Beothius also mentions that with the supposed fragment of Salust there was delivered to him the History of Scotland, written by Vermundas, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, and it seems implied that this MS. also was a part of the same collection as the others. If this should be admitted, it is an additional proof of the interest of the repository from whence they came, and corroborates the assertion of Paulus Jovius, that there existed in Iona a depository of chronicles. Though credulous, romantic, and even fabulous, in tales of superstition or traditions of a far anterior time, Boethius ir sufficient authority for the incidents of his own; and since he asserts that the volumes examined belonged to Iona, and were actually sent to himself, his evidence cannot be invalidated.
But, notwithstanding the destruction of written literature, something might yet have been gathered from the
ORAL POEMS AND TRADITIONS
preserved among the old people; but the gloomy fanaticism which had overthrown the sacred repositories of ancient learning was also opposed to its popular cultivation, and forbade the recitation of those venerable songs and histories with which the people were accustomed to indulge the hours of repose or beguile the long dark evenings of winter. When Dr. Carswell, the Protestant Bishop of the Isles, published his Gaelic edition of the Common Prayer, he lamented that “in such as taught, wrote, and cultivated the Gaelic language, there was great blindness and sinful darkness,” insomuch as “they were more desirous to compose vain, lying, tempting, worldly histories concerning the Tuatha de dan nan, and concerning wa rriors and champions, and Fingal the son of Cumhal, with his heroes, than to teach and maintain the faithful works of God, and the perfect way of truth”— by which it is understood that the Islanders were steadfast Catholics, and averse to conversion into the Calvinistic faith.
In the same spirit, many of the ministers and missionaries of the later Scottish Church laboured to suppress the remains of poetry and tradition which had survived to their time. “The best Gaelic poems,” said the Rev. Mr. Pope, one of the most respectable of the Established Church in the Highlands, “are now lost—partly owing to our clergy, who were declared enemies to these poems; so that the rising generation scarcely know anything material of them.” This proscription has not been abated by the popularity of Ossian, or the attention now awakened to “ Celtic researches.” Frequently, during the progress of this work, those employed to collect the reliques of the bards and seanachies have been repulsed with the intimation that the “ministry” were “solicitous to discourage these profane compositions, for the substitution of Watts’ Hymns and other divine songs; and that, therefore, though much had been possessed by many of the old people who had died in recent years, it was now entirely lost among the younger inhabitants.” “The people,” observes an intelligent gentleman in a letter from the Northern Isles, (t are wholly under the
INFLUENCE OF A FANATICAL CLERGY,
who denounce dancing as a crime, and set the young men and women upon the stool of repentance for singing the songs of their ancestors; hence their bardic lore and ancient traditions, with all the fine feelings connected with them, are fast disappearing.
Such were the causes, producing that disappearance of Gaelic literature, which has weakened the position of its friends, and armed its enemies with scepticism and reproach. But if we have lost all which was most valuable in composition and record, no less fatal has been the destruction in the monuments of our arts. During two successive centuries the ravages of “Reformation,” and the violence of civil war, defaced, obliterated, and diminished the sculptures, the architecture, the arms, and decorations which bore testimony to the taste, the talents, and the acquirements of preceding generations. Of these, in all countries and in all ages, the most important memorials have been the edifices of the Church. In these were preserved the earliest records, the richest labours, the truest imagery. In the illuminations of the glass, the carvings of the choir, the painting of the walls, the traces of departed times return; and on the sculptured tombs, those who sleep below—though their race should be extinct, their language obliterated, their dominion changed, perhaps their very nation extinguished—still appear before posterity with the forms, the arms, the habits which had illuminated the field of battle where the dead are now forgotten, and the splendour of halls long mouldered in the dust.
In Beauly, Rosemarkie, Dornach, Glen-sagadul, Oransay, and Iona, corbels, and tracery, and sculptured capitals, splendid crosses, and numerous altar-tombs and their recumbent figures,
BORE TESTIMONY TO THE ARTS,
the arms, the manners, and costume of the country, and the age in which they were produced. Neither were these confined to the cathedrals and great monastic edifices—in glens where now no roof sends up a smoke into the still air, and where no bell now sounds upon the deserted solitude, ruined walls and shattered arches reveal decayed tracery and half obliterated mouldings. Among the green hills of Bute, on the rugged shore of Morven, in the desolate moors of Harris and the Lewis, and amidst the waters of Loch Awe and Loch Maree, the churches of St. Blane, Kiels, Rewdil, Eie, Inisail, and St Maree, recall to the traveller of France and England the Norman and Saxon chapels of his- own country, and bear testimony that the people to whom they belonged, possessed as well the arts as the rites of that religion to which they were raised. Almost every parish church and solitary chapel had its Kunie cross and broad blue stone, sculptured with the two-handed sword or Lochaber axe, which commemorated the “Rob Roy” or “Iain na Tuaidh” of the district; and in many a green spot amidst the lonely heath, and many a solitary ruin on the shore of the western ocean, where the encroaching surge now heaps its sand amidst the graves, the helmit and the shield appear between the grass, and the wave of the spring tide throws its spray on the gray stones, and washes the “biorlin” of Clan Ranald, sculptured as it had ridden over the sea, gleaming with the shields, and arms, and banners of the Isles.
A FEW MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES
yet remain to represent the people who are now no more. In Rewdil, Kilkivan, Saddel, Oransay, and Iona, and some remote cemeteries of the mainland chiefs, the linked habergeon and quilted acton, the pointed basinet and mail coif, the plate corselet, the engraved pullanes, splents, vambraces, and gorgets, appear on the recumbent figures, and restore to sight the chiefs and warriors of the clans—the very names of whose arms are now lost to their descendants, as those of the Croisades to the peasantry of France and England.
Even in Iona, the venerable mother of the Western Church, “that illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion,”9 the mind pauses with astonishment and looks round with incredulity upon what it once was, and the ruin and sacrilege by which it is now desecrated and despoiled. Beneath those aisles, and within the sanctuary of the surrounding cemetery, reposed the illustrious dead of various and distant countries—the lords and chiefs of the Isles, the princes of Ireland, the sea-kings of Vikengr, and the sovereigns of Scotland.
Even the prelates of hostile nations sought repose within that venerable cloister, and among the humbler names of its native abbots appeared the inscription—“Hie Jacet Johannes Turnbull,quondainEpiscopusCanterburiensis.” “That man,” says Johnson, “is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.” Yet, when at the “Reformation,”
IONA ESCAPED THE DESTRUCTION OF A MOB
because its people remained Catholic, though its walls were preserved for the service of a new faith, its possessions were dispersed by alienation and pillage. The plate, vestments, bells, and venerable library, fell a prey to various noble depredators, and even the Protestant prelates of its own diocese spared not its remains. The fate of its inestimable volumes is involved in uncertainty; but there is existing testimony that MacLean of Duart, who usurped many of the abbey lands in defiance of the Crown,12 also possessed some of the most valuable pieces of the church plate; and in 1633, Andrew Knox, the Protestant Bishop of the Isles, upon his translation to the see of Rapho, took from Iona two of the principal bells for the use of one of his churches in Ireland.
WHEN THE FALL OF EPISCOPACY
gave up the last remnants of ecclesiastical antiquities to destruction, Iona was abandoned to decay and ruin, and the greater part of those numerous sculptures, crosses, and inscriptions, which had now illustrated the arts and history of the Western Isles, are pillaged, lost, or destroyed.
Glengarrie and the Iona Chalice.
There is in the possession of the Right Reverend Dr. Scott, Bishop of Glasgow, a chalice preserved in the family of Glengarrie since the seventeenth century, as one of those which had belonged to the Abbey of Iona. It is of fine gold, very little ornamented, and of a simplicity and form which bears testimony to the arts of a middle age. It came into the possession of the Glengarrie family in the time of Eneas, afterwards Lord MacDonnell and Arross, and under the following circumstances:—Sir Lauchlan MacLean and his son, Sir Hector, having distinguished themselves as Loyalists and supporters of Montrose, drew down the enmity of the Marquis of Argyll, who availed himself of their opposition to the Republican government to obtain an entry upon their lands, and having brought forward some obligations said to have been incurred under the usurpation, obtained from Sir Hector a bond upon his estate, by which it was finally adjudicated to the Marquis. The clan, however, resisted their dispossession to the utmost in their power, and during the hostilities which followed, MacLean, expecting an invasion of the lands of Mull by Argyll, applied to Glengarrie for assistance. Eneas of Glengarrie marched with five hundred followers to the castle of Ardtornish, and with a few of his chieftains crossed over to Duart to concert with MacLean the transportation of his men across the Sound. MacLean rejoiced at the arrival of his powerful ally, welcomed him with all the hospitality of the ancient barons of the Isles, and at the feast which followed, the wine was circulated in a golden chalice, which the ancestor of MacLean had acquired in the spoliation of Iona. When the consecrated cup was presented to Glengarrie, he folded it in a cloth, and pouring out the wine, rose from the table. “MacLean", said he, “I came here to defend you against vour mortal enemies, but since by sacrilege and profanation you have made God your enemy, no human hand can give you aid.” Glengarrie immediately returned to his biorlin, and MacLean having consulted with his friends, sent after him a deputation to induce his return, and to present to him, not only the chalice, but some other pieces of plate which haa belonged to the altar of Iona. Glengarrie received into his protection the venerable relique, but insisted in his resolution, pursuing his march home. His example was followed oy other of the Catholic chiefs who had prepared for the assistance of MacLean. From that period the Iona chalice was preserved in the charter closet of Glengarrie, until it was presented by the late chief to Dr. Ronald MacDonald, Vicar Apostolic of the Western District, by whom it was given to Dr. Scott, Bishop of Glasgow, who used it in the church of St. Mary in that city. The above tradition of its preservation was communicated to Dr. John MacEachen MacDonald of Tirim-Moidart, by the late Bishop John Chisholm, and Mr. John MacEachen (uncle to the Marechal Duc de Tarentum), the latter of whom died at the house of Tirim, in Moidart, upwards of a hundred years of age.
It is with regret that we have to add to the notices of this venerable relic, that, after having so long survived the destruction and dispersion of all sacred objects in Scotland, it has at last perished. On the night of the 26th of December 1843, the church of St. Mary in Glasgow was broken open, and the chalice of Iona, with several other objects of the altar, and much gold lace rent from the vestments, were taken away by the thieves. No traces have since been obtained of the depredators or their spoil, and there is every reason to believe that the chalices were immediately melted down to prevent discovery.
Crosses and Charm Stones of Iona.
Before the “Reformation” there were upon the island
THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY CROSSES,
all of which, with the exception of two, were destroyed by a provincial assembly held in the island soon after the Reformation. In 1693 the pedestals were still visible, and of the beauty and admirable sculpture of the whole, an estimate may be formed by the two which yet remain.—MacFarlane’s Geographical Collections. Of the above-mentioned number of crosses, sixty stood within the cemetery and sanctuary of St. Ouran, and marked the graves of the most noble of the Isles. At the Reformation they were all broken down and thrown into the sea-Pennant’s Voyage, p. 251. At the same period of destruction perished three other memorials, which, if not greatly estimable as works of art, were infinitely precious as monuments of a Druidical origin and unknown antiquity. These were three beautiful globes of white marble, called
“Clathan-Broth”—the Doomsday Stones,
and placed in three stone basins, in which they were turned “sunways,” in performance of the celebrated charm of the “Deiseil” These were undoubtedly the spherical emblems of the Divinity used before the use of statues, and which, named by the ancients “ Bytelus” have been mentioned by various of the earliest authors, and found in Syria, Greece, and Italy. The venerable emblems of the Druids shared the same fate as the symbols of Christianity, and the Clachan-Br&th were thrown into the sea by order of the synod—Pennant’s Voyage, p. 251. Besides the clachaii-brath there were nine other small bytelae which were turned for the same charm. At the time of Pennant’s visit they were placed upon the pedestal of a ruined cross, and were supposed by the traveller to be the fragments of a tomb. They were, however, the same “Clachan-Bnadh” or “stone of power,” and though removed from time to time, it is only within a recent period that the last have been taken from the island. By the natives it was believed fatal to remove them, but at length they were stolen by the master of an English vessel; being, however, overtaken in the same night by a violent storm, he was struck with a conviction of their fatality, and resolved to restore them should he escape the tempest; and the weather becoming fair on the ensuing day, he sailed back to Iona and returned them to their place. Future strangers made similar attempts without interruption from the elements, and the robbery being once committed with impunity, the reverence for the stones abated, and they were successively carried away by those visitors who exhibit their veneration for works of art by mutilating for memorabilia, the effigies of monuments and the tracery of sculpture— who have broken features from the recumbent figures in Iona, and stolen the gilt lions from the gauntlets of the Black Prince in the cathedral of Canterbury.
END
You can read this volume at:
https://www.electricscotland.com/his...onthlyam14.pdf
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair
Politics really sucks these days. The Western World seems incapable of doing anything on a sensible basis.
All countries need to be able to defend themselves. I wonder if Ukraine had kept their nuclear weapons would Russia still have invaded? I suspect not. Then I read how one Royal Navy Destroyer having shot down drones were then unable to get resupplied as there were no supply ships available. Naval ships having to be moth balled as there are not enough sailors to man them. Also not enough army or police. We can't even build decent aircraft carriers as they keep breaking down and in any event we can't afford to put sufficient aircraft on them. I haven't actually found out how many drones we have or their capabilities but it's clear we need a lot of them given how the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and playing out.
Then housing is an issue with our planning system in an abismal state. We need lots more affordable homes and I can't see any reason why we can't build them by designing sensible planning systems.
We also need to sort out the NHS system. It's clear we can't afford it so it needs to be part funded by private health care.
Food supply is also an issue and we really need to grown more of what we need. Basic food like bread, milk, potatoes, fruit and vegetables are the base we need and of course some meat. We need to purchase what we need from countries in the world with opposite weather patterns so when we can't grow strawberries we can source them from countries that are able to grown them. Also we need to be able to purchase good vegetables that might not look good but otherwise are perfectly ok.
Then immigration is an issue where we seem to lose tens of thousands of immigrants. Surely a better system can be devised that will allow us to track them and remove them when necessary.
Then the state is paying for tens of thousands of people who don't want to work. It's now not an issue of unemployment but an issue of people not prepared to work at anything. I think we need to have a system where to get a government hand out you need to do something for that handout.
Then taxes are too high as the state is now so large and our debts are so large that we need more money to pay for it all.
Then of course you have the decline in religion where we no longer have even basic standards of life. I've been watching the increase in violence in our children and young adults. School teachers are increasingly being attacked by children. Where have our standards gone?
OBITUARY NOTICE:
Today we mourn the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense.
Common Sense lived a long life but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes, factories and offices, helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness. For decades, petty rules, silly laws and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense.
He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as to know when to come in out of the rain, the early bird gets the worm, and life isn't always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adults are in charge, not the kids), and it's okay to come in second.
A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Technological Revolution, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including feminism, body piercing, whole language and "new math."
But his health declined when he became infected with the "If-it-only-helps-one-person-it's-worth-it" virus. In recent decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal regulation. He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers and enlightened auditors. His health rapidly deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero tolerance policies, reports of six year old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teen suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student. It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but cannot inform the parent when the female student is pregnant or wants an abortion.
Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment than victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional sports. As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments, regarding questionable regulations for asbestos, low flow toilets, "smart" guns, the nurturing of Prohibition Laws and mandatory air bags. Finally when told that the homeowners association restricted exterior furniture only to that which enhanced property values, he breathed his last.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers: Rights, Tolerance and Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Here is what caught my eye this week...
Hundreds gather to take part in the annual medieval Jedburgh ba'
The game is a form of medieval football, which takes place in the streets around the market place in Jedburgh town centre.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...nnual-32136667
Police Scotland officer numbers continue to plummet with dreadful morale blamed on cut-backs
Scottish Police Federation boss David Kennedy said victims of crime were being let down by cut backs to the national constabulary.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/p...tinue-32142624
TRUMP vs. BIDEN | 2024 Election Map Based on New Polling Averages
Let’s fill out a 2024 presidential election map based on the latest polling averages in every state, and then compare it to the same map I made in January to see if there are any noticeable changes in the all-important race to 270 electoral votes.
View this at:
https://youtu.be/Etvfw6BT9zo?si=ctm0T670VPgPyNRz
Nimby Watch: Tesco's 'toxic towers'
In a new series, CapX is celebrating the way our planning system tries its very best to save the country from affordable housing or decent infrastructure. This week, Jonn Elledge examines the local outcry in Redbridge over the strange case of Lorimer Village and Tesco’s ‘Toxic Towers
Read more at:
https://capx.co/nimby-watch-tescos-toxic-towers
Scotland's NHS cannot meet growing demand, warns watchdog
Scotland's NHS is unable to meet the growing demand for health services, a spending watchdog has warned. A review by Audit Scotland said the increased pressure on the NHS was now having a direct impact on patient safety and experience.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-68348618
UK's favourite sweets named in new list - as 150-year-old retro classic takes top spot
A survey carried out to find the country's best-loved confectionary has revealed that vintage choices are making a comeback - even with younger generations.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifest...d-new-32176680
Conrad Black: The United Nations is contemptible. Here's how to fix it
The discovery by the Israeli Defense forces of comprehensive electrical and communications connections between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency headquarters in Gaza and a large Hamas terrorist barracks and command centre and tunnel complex immediately beneath it illustrated as brazenly as possible the hypocrisy and political corruption of the United Nations Organization.
Read more at:
https://archive.is/uJS4x#selection-2081.0-2081.384
Stephen Flynn calls for investigation following chaotic Gaza vote
The Commons Speaker was warned by his clerks that the move was unprecedented, and appeared in the chamber to apologise to MPs.
Read more at:
https://news.stv.tv/politics/stephen...use-of-commons
Harvard’s Plagiarism Problem Multiplies
Another administrator at the Ivy League university appears to have plagiarized her dissertation.
Read more at:
https://www.city-journal.org/article...lem-multiplies
Westminster's Gaza pomposity
Last night's ludicrous debate on Gaza in the House of Commons has exposed the sheer arrogance of our political class. That any of the politicians involved think their posturing will influence a conflict happening across the world is absurd. But while our MPs squabble, the war in the Middle East rages on.
Read more at:
https://capx.co/the-gaza-conflict-ha...ers-arrogance/
Electric Canadian
Rising Wolf - The White Blackfoot
Hugh Monroe's Story of his first year on the Plains by James Willard Schultz (1919) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...eb00schu_0.pdf
Our Families
Unable to find the source of this publication but includes many wee stories.
You can read these accounts at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...ilyStories.pdf
Pioneer Literary Endeavor in Western Canada
From The Cayuidian Magazine, February 1894 by Henry Scadding (pdf)
You can read this article at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...arye00scad.pdf
Sir John William Dawson
Fifty Years of Work in Canada, Scientific and Educational being Autobiographical Notes by Sir William Dawson, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S ETC. ETC., Late Principal of McGill University, Montreal edited by Rankine Dawson, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.S.E. (1901).
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...iam-dawson.htm
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - the 18th day of February 2024
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this homily at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...-february-2024
Constitutionalism: Lessons from Canada by Conrad Black
This speech was given on September 13, 2023, during a Hillsdale College Constitution Day Celebration.
You can watch this at:
https://freedomlibrary.hillsdale.edu...ns-from-canada
Canadian Baptists at work in India
By Rev. W. L. Orchard, M.A., B.D., Missionary Education Department of the Foreign Mission (1922) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/Reli...orkinIndia.pdf
Electric Scotland
Killin Perthshire Scotland
Killin in Perthshire Scotland, in this video we travel around the village of Killin in Perthshire Scotland. This video tries to capture the mood of the Village with soothing music and some history of the village.
You can watch this at:
https://youtu.be/ttcWgXKtKb8?si=JNn9hC_TcRi9BQ-G
Russia and the Peace
By Sir Bernard Pares (1945) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...c006173mbp.pdf
Gordon Researching the Early Kingdoms of Scotland
Added tthis video to our History page which you can watch at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/index.htm
King Charles Built A Town And It Surprised Everyone
Creating the town of Poundbury in Dorset. Added a couple of videos to the foot of our Kind Charles page.
You can learn more about this town at the foot of our page at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ngcharles3.htm
The Salmon
By the Hon. A. E. Gathorne-Hardy with chapters on the Law of Salmon-Fishing by Claud Douglas Pennant, Cookery by Alexander Innes Shand (1898) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...00gathgoog.pdf
Runs with the Lanarkshire & Renfrewshire Fox-Hounds
And other Sporting Incidents by "Stringhalt" (1874) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...rksh00stri.pdf
A Record of the Descendants of John Alexander of Lanarkshire, Scotland
And his wife, Margaret Glasson, who emigrated from County Armagh, Ireland to Chester County, Pennsylvania A. D. 1736 by the Rev. John E. Alexander (1878) (pdf)
You can read about them at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...enda00alex.pdf
Hongkong Daily Press
Established in 1857 and got up a copy of the January 29, 1936 edition which covered the King's death.
You can read this newspaper at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...hongkongdp.htm
The Tower of Craigietocher
Got in a final update on the build to 2024. Scroll to the end of the page for the update.
Those older readers will remember how we profiled this build from breaking ground many years ago now to it's now final completion. The family have now all moved in and are now offering a couple of rooms for B & B accommodation and links are provided to where you can book your room.
You can get to this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...agietocher.htm
The Indian in the United States
By Mrs. Fred S. Bennett (1942)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/america/indian.htm
Makers of the Scottish Church
By Rev. W. Beveridge, M.A. New Deer (1908)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/makers.htm
Scone Palace
The Crowning Place of Scottish Kings
You can watch the videos at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...conepalace.htm
Story
THE SPOILATION OF IONA
From the Celtic Monthly
A Magazine for Highlanders edited by John MacKay, Glasgow, Vol. XIV (1906)
From the Celtic Monthly
A Magazine for Highlanders edited by John MacKay, Glasgow, Vol. XIV (1906)
An Attempt to trace some of its Lost Treasures.
OF the fate of the venerable repository of St. Columb-Cille some scattered traces yet remain. It is known that the records of the monastery, written upon parchment, were destroyed by order of a provincial Synod held in the Island soon after the Reformation; and of what remained there is traditionary belief and circumstantial evidence that the greater part, if not the whole, fell into the possession of the “Lord Justicer of the Isles,” the Marquis of Argyll. Wheii the old Castle of Inverara was taken down to make room for the new building, it was remarked that many old books appeared in the town; and that, long after, the surrounding peasantry, in making their small purchases at the little merchant’s shop—then the only one in Inverara—received their pennyworths of salt and ounces of
TOBACCO WRAPPED IN ANCIENT WRITINGS—
“ Craicionn dealbhach ”— painted vellum—or pages of dark yellow paper, covered with “Litrichean dubha tiugha”—“thick black letters.” When a late Duke of Montague was at Inverara, some of these remains came under his notice, and he saw some remnants of the MSS. “ used in the shop as snuff paper.” Few, perhaps none, of the very aged are now left in the surrounding Straths; but eighty years ago it was still fresh in the memory of old people in Glen Urcha and Glen Eitive, the wonder and admiration with which, after their return from market, they had sat round their hearth fire, or the light of the splintered fir, and pored upon the beautiful colours and unknown figures, and—“Na litrichean mdra dubha iongantach, nach b’urraiu iad a leugh” —the thick black strange letters which they could not read. The antiquary need not be told that these were the wreck of illuminated MSS.; neither, when he considers that the “Red Book of Argyll” itself has disappeared, and that the MSS. of Clanranald were divided into tailors’ measures, will he feel astonished that the obsolete and dusty volumes of a suppressed monastery should have been lost in the lumber of an old house.
But of the value of the works which thus perished a glimmering t ray of light is left. Disregarding the romance of Boethius, repeated by Usher, and perhaps believed by Stillingfleet and Lluyd—that Fergus II., accompanying Alaric the Goth into Italy, sent to Iona a coffer of books which he pillaged in the sacking of Rome, there is evidence that, in the sixteenth century,
THE LIBRARY OF ST. COLUMB-CILLE
contained many ancient chronicles and royal charters, and a collection of classic literature, so important^ that the lost books of Livy were expected to be discovered among its stores. "ln the church of Iona,'’ says Paulus Jovius, “there are preserved very ancient annals and parchment rolls, containing laws and charters signed by the Kings, and sealed with their effigies on seals of gold or wax. It is also reported that in the same library there are ancient works of Roman history, from which we may expect the remaining decades of Titus Livius.
According to Boethius, this expectation was so strong, even in the fifteenth century, that ^Eneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius II., was about to undertake a journey to Iona to make search for the anticipated discovery, when he was prevented by the confusion which followed the assassination of James V How just his expectations might have been is proved by the result of a subsequent investigation related by Boethius. In 1525, with the same expectation entertained by ^Eneas Sylvius, a small parcel of the MSS. were sent to Aberdeen for the examination of the historian himself, then a student in that city; but neglect, time, and ill usage had rendered them so frail and illegible that little could be discovered, except that they appeared to be rather a fragment of Salust than a portion of Livy. That they should, however, have been a part of any classic author, is an evidence of the nature and the value of the library to which they belonged. Beothius also mentions that with the supposed fragment of Salust there was delivered to him the History of Scotland, written by Vermundas, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, and it seems implied that this MS. also was a part of the same collection as the others. If this should be admitted, it is an additional proof of the interest of the repository from whence they came, and corroborates the assertion of Paulus Jovius, that there existed in Iona a depository of chronicles. Though credulous, romantic, and even fabulous, in tales of superstition or traditions of a far anterior time, Boethius ir sufficient authority for the incidents of his own; and since he asserts that the volumes examined belonged to Iona, and were actually sent to himself, his evidence cannot be invalidated.
But, notwithstanding the destruction of written literature, something might yet have been gathered from the
ORAL POEMS AND TRADITIONS
preserved among the old people; but the gloomy fanaticism which had overthrown the sacred repositories of ancient learning was also opposed to its popular cultivation, and forbade the recitation of those venerable songs and histories with which the people were accustomed to indulge the hours of repose or beguile the long dark evenings of winter. When Dr. Carswell, the Protestant Bishop of the Isles, published his Gaelic edition of the Common Prayer, he lamented that “in such as taught, wrote, and cultivated the Gaelic language, there was great blindness and sinful darkness,” insomuch as “they were more desirous to compose vain, lying, tempting, worldly histories concerning the Tuatha de dan nan, and concerning wa rriors and champions, and Fingal the son of Cumhal, with his heroes, than to teach and maintain the faithful works of God, and the perfect way of truth”— by which it is understood that the Islanders were steadfast Catholics, and averse to conversion into the Calvinistic faith.
In the same spirit, many of the ministers and missionaries of the later Scottish Church laboured to suppress the remains of poetry and tradition which had survived to their time. “The best Gaelic poems,” said the Rev. Mr. Pope, one of the most respectable of the Established Church in the Highlands, “are now lost—partly owing to our clergy, who were declared enemies to these poems; so that the rising generation scarcely know anything material of them.” This proscription has not been abated by the popularity of Ossian, or the attention now awakened to “ Celtic researches.” Frequently, during the progress of this work, those employed to collect the reliques of the bards and seanachies have been repulsed with the intimation that the “ministry” were “solicitous to discourage these profane compositions, for the substitution of Watts’ Hymns and other divine songs; and that, therefore, though much had been possessed by many of the old people who had died in recent years, it was now entirely lost among the younger inhabitants.” “The people,” observes an intelligent gentleman in a letter from the Northern Isles, (t are wholly under the
INFLUENCE OF A FANATICAL CLERGY,
who denounce dancing as a crime, and set the young men and women upon the stool of repentance for singing the songs of their ancestors; hence their bardic lore and ancient traditions, with all the fine feelings connected with them, are fast disappearing.
Such were the causes, producing that disappearance of Gaelic literature, which has weakened the position of its friends, and armed its enemies with scepticism and reproach. But if we have lost all which was most valuable in composition and record, no less fatal has been the destruction in the monuments of our arts. During two successive centuries the ravages of “Reformation,” and the violence of civil war, defaced, obliterated, and diminished the sculptures, the architecture, the arms, and decorations which bore testimony to the taste, the talents, and the acquirements of preceding generations. Of these, in all countries and in all ages, the most important memorials have been the edifices of the Church. In these were preserved the earliest records, the richest labours, the truest imagery. In the illuminations of the glass, the carvings of the choir, the painting of the walls, the traces of departed times return; and on the sculptured tombs, those who sleep below—though their race should be extinct, their language obliterated, their dominion changed, perhaps their very nation extinguished—still appear before posterity with the forms, the arms, the habits which had illuminated the field of battle where the dead are now forgotten, and the splendour of halls long mouldered in the dust.
In Beauly, Rosemarkie, Dornach, Glen-sagadul, Oransay, and Iona, corbels, and tracery, and sculptured capitals, splendid crosses, and numerous altar-tombs and their recumbent figures,
BORE TESTIMONY TO THE ARTS,
the arms, the manners, and costume of the country, and the age in which they were produced. Neither were these confined to the cathedrals and great monastic edifices—in glens where now no roof sends up a smoke into the still air, and where no bell now sounds upon the deserted solitude, ruined walls and shattered arches reveal decayed tracery and half obliterated mouldings. Among the green hills of Bute, on the rugged shore of Morven, in the desolate moors of Harris and the Lewis, and amidst the waters of Loch Awe and Loch Maree, the churches of St. Blane, Kiels, Rewdil, Eie, Inisail, and St Maree, recall to the traveller of France and England the Norman and Saxon chapels of his- own country, and bear testimony that the people to whom they belonged, possessed as well the arts as the rites of that religion to which they were raised. Almost every parish church and solitary chapel had its Kunie cross and broad blue stone, sculptured with the two-handed sword or Lochaber axe, which commemorated the “Rob Roy” or “Iain na Tuaidh” of the district; and in many a green spot amidst the lonely heath, and many a solitary ruin on the shore of the western ocean, where the encroaching surge now heaps its sand amidst the graves, the helmit and the shield appear between the grass, and the wave of the spring tide throws its spray on the gray stones, and washes the “biorlin” of Clan Ranald, sculptured as it had ridden over the sea, gleaming with the shields, and arms, and banners of the Isles.
A FEW MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES
yet remain to represent the people who are now no more. In Rewdil, Kilkivan, Saddel, Oransay, and Iona, and some remote cemeteries of the mainland chiefs, the linked habergeon and quilted acton, the pointed basinet and mail coif, the plate corselet, the engraved pullanes, splents, vambraces, and gorgets, appear on the recumbent figures, and restore to sight the chiefs and warriors of the clans—the very names of whose arms are now lost to their descendants, as those of the Croisades to the peasantry of France and England.
Even in Iona, the venerable mother of the Western Church, “that illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion,”9 the mind pauses with astonishment and looks round with incredulity upon what it once was, and the ruin and sacrilege by which it is now desecrated and despoiled. Beneath those aisles, and within the sanctuary of the surrounding cemetery, reposed the illustrious dead of various and distant countries—the lords and chiefs of the Isles, the princes of Ireland, the sea-kings of Vikengr, and the sovereigns of Scotland.
Even the prelates of hostile nations sought repose within that venerable cloister, and among the humbler names of its native abbots appeared the inscription—“Hie Jacet Johannes Turnbull,quondainEpiscopusCanterburiensis.” “That man,” says Johnson, “is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.” Yet, when at the “Reformation,”
IONA ESCAPED THE DESTRUCTION OF A MOB
because its people remained Catholic, though its walls were preserved for the service of a new faith, its possessions were dispersed by alienation and pillage. The plate, vestments, bells, and venerable library, fell a prey to various noble depredators, and even the Protestant prelates of its own diocese spared not its remains. The fate of its inestimable volumes is involved in uncertainty; but there is existing testimony that MacLean of Duart, who usurped many of the abbey lands in defiance of the Crown,12 also possessed some of the most valuable pieces of the church plate; and in 1633, Andrew Knox, the Protestant Bishop of the Isles, upon his translation to the see of Rapho, took from Iona two of the principal bells for the use of one of his churches in Ireland.
WHEN THE FALL OF EPISCOPACY
gave up the last remnants of ecclesiastical antiquities to destruction, Iona was abandoned to decay and ruin, and the greater part of those numerous sculptures, crosses, and inscriptions, which had now illustrated the arts and history of the Western Isles, are pillaged, lost, or destroyed.
Glengarrie and the Iona Chalice.
There is in the possession of the Right Reverend Dr. Scott, Bishop of Glasgow, a chalice preserved in the family of Glengarrie since the seventeenth century, as one of those which had belonged to the Abbey of Iona. It is of fine gold, very little ornamented, and of a simplicity and form which bears testimony to the arts of a middle age. It came into the possession of the Glengarrie family in the time of Eneas, afterwards Lord MacDonnell and Arross, and under the following circumstances:—Sir Lauchlan MacLean and his son, Sir Hector, having distinguished themselves as Loyalists and supporters of Montrose, drew down the enmity of the Marquis of Argyll, who availed himself of their opposition to the Republican government to obtain an entry upon their lands, and having brought forward some obligations said to have been incurred under the usurpation, obtained from Sir Hector a bond upon his estate, by which it was finally adjudicated to the Marquis. The clan, however, resisted their dispossession to the utmost in their power, and during the hostilities which followed, MacLean, expecting an invasion of the lands of Mull by Argyll, applied to Glengarrie for assistance. Eneas of Glengarrie marched with five hundred followers to the castle of Ardtornish, and with a few of his chieftains crossed over to Duart to concert with MacLean the transportation of his men across the Sound. MacLean rejoiced at the arrival of his powerful ally, welcomed him with all the hospitality of the ancient barons of the Isles, and at the feast which followed, the wine was circulated in a golden chalice, which the ancestor of MacLean had acquired in the spoliation of Iona. When the consecrated cup was presented to Glengarrie, he folded it in a cloth, and pouring out the wine, rose from the table. “MacLean", said he, “I came here to defend you against vour mortal enemies, but since by sacrilege and profanation you have made God your enemy, no human hand can give you aid.” Glengarrie immediately returned to his biorlin, and MacLean having consulted with his friends, sent after him a deputation to induce his return, and to present to him, not only the chalice, but some other pieces of plate which haa belonged to the altar of Iona. Glengarrie received into his protection the venerable relique, but insisted in his resolution, pursuing his march home. His example was followed oy other of the Catholic chiefs who had prepared for the assistance of MacLean. From that period the Iona chalice was preserved in the charter closet of Glengarrie, until it was presented by the late chief to Dr. Ronald MacDonald, Vicar Apostolic of the Western District, by whom it was given to Dr. Scott, Bishop of Glasgow, who used it in the church of St. Mary in that city. The above tradition of its preservation was communicated to Dr. John MacEachen MacDonald of Tirim-Moidart, by the late Bishop John Chisholm, and Mr. John MacEachen (uncle to the Marechal Duc de Tarentum), the latter of whom died at the house of Tirim, in Moidart, upwards of a hundred years of age.
It is with regret that we have to add to the notices of this venerable relic, that, after having so long survived the destruction and dispersion of all sacred objects in Scotland, it has at last perished. On the night of the 26th of December 1843, the church of St. Mary in Glasgow was broken open, and the chalice of Iona, with several other objects of the altar, and much gold lace rent from the vestments, were taken away by the thieves. No traces have since been obtained of the depredators or their spoil, and there is every reason to believe that the chalices were immediately melted down to prevent discovery.
Crosses and Charm Stones of Iona.
Before the “Reformation” there were upon the island
THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY CROSSES,
all of which, with the exception of two, were destroyed by a provincial assembly held in the island soon after the Reformation. In 1693 the pedestals were still visible, and of the beauty and admirable sculpture of the whole, an estimate may be formed by the two which yet remain.—MacFarlane’s Geographical Collections. Of the above-mentioned number of crosses, sixty stood within the cemetery and sanctuary of St. Ouran, and marked the graves of the most noble of the Isles. At the Reformation they were all broken down and thrown into the sea-Pennant’s Voyage, p. 251. At the same period of destruction perished three other memorials, which, if not greatly estimable as works of art, were infinitely precious as monuments of a Druidical origin and unknown antiquity. These were three beautiful globes of white marble, called
“Clathan-Broth”—the Doomsday Stones,
and placed in three stone basins, in which they were turned “sunways,” in performance of the celebrated charm of the “Deiseil” These were undoubtedly the spherical emblems of the Divinity used before the use of statues, and which, named by the ancients “ Bytelus” have been mentioned by various of the earliest authors, and found in Syria, Greece, and Italy. The venerable emblems of the Druids shared the same fate as the symbols of Christianity, and the Clachan-Br&th were thrown into the sea by order of the synod—Pennant’s Voyage, p. 251. Besides the clachaii-brath there were nine other small bytelae which were turned for the same charm. At the time of Pennant’s visit they were placed upon the pedestal of a ruined cross, and were supposed by the traveller to be the fragments of a tomb. They were, however, the same “Clachan-Bnadh” or “stone of power,” and though removed from time to time, it is only within a recent period that the last have been taken from the island. By the natives it was believed fatal to remove them, but at length they were stolen by the master of an English vessel; being, however, overtaken in the same night by a violent storm, he was struck with a conviction of their fatality, and resolved to restore them should he escape the tempest; and the weather becoming fair on the ensuing day, he sailed back to Iona and returned them to their place. Future strangers made similar attempts without interruption from the elements, and the robbery being once committed with impunity, the reverence for the stones abated, and they were successively carried away by those visitors who exhibit their veneration for works of art by mutilating for memorabilia, the effigies of monuments and the tracery of sculpture— who have broken features from the recumbent figures in Iona, and stolen the gilt lions from the gauntlets of the Black Prince in the cathedral of Canterbury.
END
You can read this volume at:
https://www.electricscotland.com/his...onthlyam14.pdf
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair