FACSIMILES-(I.) GENEALOGY of M'Gregor, BY DOUGAL THe Servitor. (II.) LINES BY COUNTESS OF ARGYLE, ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF POEMS SELECTED FROM IT, WITH NOTES, BY THE REV. THOS. M'LAUCHLAN, ORIGINAL TEXT, WITH TRANSLATION INTO MODERN Frontispiece INTRODUCTION. In the heart of the Perthshire Highlands, and not far from the northern shore of Loch Tay, there lies a secluded vale of about six miles long. The river Lyon, which issues from the long and narrow valley of Glenlyon through the pass of Chesthill, hardly less beautiful than the celebrated pass of Killichranky, meanders through it. On the east bank of a small stream which falls into the Lyon about the centre of the vale, is the Clachan or Kirkton of Fortingall, anciently called Fothergill, from which it takes its name; and on the west or opposite bank is the mansion of Glenlyon House, anciently called Tullichmullin. A stranger stationed at the clachan or little village of Fortingall, would almost fancy that there was neither egress from nor ingress to this little district, so secluded and shut in among the surrounding mountains does it appear to be. It is a spot where one could well suppose that the traditions of former times, and the remains of a forgotten oral literature, might still linger in the memories of its inhabitants; while the local names of the b mountains and streams about it are redolent of the mythic times of the Feine. On the west is the glen of Glenlyon, the ancient Cromgleann nan Clach or Crooked Glen of the Stones, associated with many a tradition of the Feine, and where the remains of those rude forts, termed Caistealan na Feine, crown many a rocky summit; and the vale is bounded on the south and east by the ridge of Druimfhionn or Finn's Ridge. In the latter part of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, there dwelt here a family of the name of Macgregor. They were descended from a vicar of Fortingall, who, at the time when, during the century preceding the Reformation, the Catholic Church was breaking up, and their benefices passing into the hands of laymen, secured for himself and his descendants the vicarage of Fortingall and a lease of the church lands. Of the history of this family we know somewhat from an obituary commenced by one of his descendants, and continued to the year 1579 by the Curate of Fothergill, which is still preserved. His son, whether legitimate or illegitimate we know not, was Ian Rewych, or John the Grizzled, termed Makgewykar or son of the Vicar.1 His grandson was Dougall Maol, or Dougall the Bald or Tonsured, called patronymically Dougall Johnson, or the son of John. This Dougall Johnson appears in 1511 as a notary 1 Obitus Katherine neyn Ayn Weyll Sponsse Johannis M'Ayn Rawych Mac Gewykar apud Aychly in Mense Decembris anno Domini M ve xlij.--Chron. Fort. public,' and dwelt at Tullichmullin, where his wife Katherine, daughter of Donald M'Clawe, alias Grant, died in 1512.2 He is twice mentioned in the obituary or Chronicle of Fortingall; in 1526, as repairing the cross in Inchadin, or the old church of Kenmore, situated on the north bank of the river Tay, nearly opposite Taymouth Castle; and in 1529, as placing a stone cross in Larkmonemerkyth, the name of a pass among the hills which leads from Inchadin to the south." Of Dougall the Bald, the son of John the Grizzled, we have no further mention; but of his family we know of two sons, James and Duncan. James was a Churchman. He appears as a notarypublic, an office then held by ecclesiastics, along with his father, in the year 1511, and he early attained to honour and influence, through what channel is unknown; for, in 1514, we find him Dean of Lismore, an island in Argyllshire, lying between the districts of Lorn and Morvern, which was at that time the Episcopal seat of the Bishops of Argyll. He was, besides, Vicar of Fortingall and Firmarius or tenant of the church lands; and died possessed of these benefices in the year 1551, and 1 Charter Robert Menzies of that ilk to Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchy, dated at the Isle of Loch Tay, 18th September 1511. Inter test. Dugallo Johneson Notario et domino Jacobo Obitus Catherine neyn Donyll Memorandum solium crucis in Inchadin compositum fuit per Dougallum Johnson. Anno domini M°Vexxvj°. Crux lapidea fuit posita in Larkmonemerkyth in magno lapide qui alio nomine vocatur clachur per Dougallum Johnson primo Octobris anno domini, etc., Vexxix.-Chron. Fort. ▲ Origines Parochiales, vol. ii. pt. i. P. 161. |