Notebook of Donald MacPherson containing rough drafts of poetry., [1848, or before.]
Scope and Contents
The notebook is inscribed (folio 2 recto) 'Original Songs By Donald Macpherson – Dedicated to Alexander Halley Esqre MD 21 Nov. 1848'.
Later versions of many items appear in MSS.14891 and 14894. The manuscript is water-marked 1822.
The contents are as follows.
(i) “I’ve pined and breathed infected air”, 2 stanzas (folio 5 recto);
(ii) ‘All hail, lovely Laggan! Thou sole spot of earth’, 4 stanzas (folio 7 recto);
(iii) ‘Innis, fhir nan iomad eol’, 8 lines (folio 8 verso);
(iv) ‘Often through my native glen’, 4 quatrains + chorus (folio 9 recto);
(v) “Ema, though stern Fate’s decree”, 4 quatrains + chorus (folio 11 recto);
(vi) “Give misers their treasures to count oer and o’er”, 4 quatrains + chorus (folio 12 verso);
(vii) ‘The World has many things I love’, 6 stanzas (folio 13 recto);
(viii) ‘Ma chi thu an sluagh eile beud’, 8 lines. With original by Saint Bernard beginning ‘Si quid mali vides in alio’ (folio 16 verso);
(ix) ‘Go care, with thy frowns where thy frowns are more welcome’, 4 stanzas (folio 17 recto);
(x) ‘Unstained as a friend, unsubdued as a foe’, 5 stanzas. ‘Caledonia’ (folio 18 recto);
(xi) “Since in Eden’s garden”, 5 quatrains + chorus. ‘Imitated from…Rob Donn’ (folio 20 recto);
(xii) ‘Say why should not poor bodies kiss?’ 6 stanzas (folio 23 recto);
(xiii) ‘The first time I saw thee I loved thee’, 3 quatrains + chorus (folio 25 recto);
(xiv) ‘See yon lovely, lovely rose’, 2 stanzas. From Ariosto’s “La verginella è simile alla rosa” (folio 26 recto);
(xv) ‘One morn I took my way to the wild wood’, 50 lines (folio 27 verso);
(xvi) “‘S airidh do chliu, Thobair ghrinn”, 28 lines (folio 32 recto);
(xvii) ‘Come send round the claret’, 5 stanzas. ‘The Gathering of the Earl of Mar, 1715’ (folio 33 recto);
(xviii) ‘O lay me by the streams that glide’, 3 quatrains. “The Aged Bard’s Wish” (folio 35 recto);
(xix) ‘O Spring that ilka spring surpasses!’ 6 stanzas. From Lobkowitz’s Latin poem on Karlsbad. See above, folio 32 recto, and MS.14891, page 102 (folio 36 recto);
(xx) ‘Twixt the man who has riches, to use or abuse’, 3 stanzas (middle of 37 recto);
(xxi) English imitations of three Latin epigrams (folio 38 recto);
(xxii) “Bho n’ tha sinn air tachairt gu ‘r n’ arsenal chuir uainn”, 4 quatrains (folio 39 recto);
(xxiii) “S’ clarchleas an saoghal gu leir”, 30 lines. From Shakespeare, ‘As You Like It’, II.vii.139 (folio 39 verso);
(xxiv) ‘Caithemid, mo chailinn chaoin’, 5 quatrains. From Catullus (middle of folio 40);
(xxv) “Dh fhalbh Mari gu tùirseach gu bruaichean na Danuib”, 3 stanzas (folio 41 recto);
(xxvi) ‘Tu quicunque es, qui Sceptra Tenes’, 14 lines (folio 41 verso);
(xxvii) “Ge bith thus’ tha t-uachran mor”, 15 lines (folio 42 recto);
(xxviii) ‘Am fear gun uaill a inbhe mhoir’, 10 lines (folios 42 verso);
(xxix) ‘Do chorp seang cho fallain eatrom’, 12 stanzas + chorus (folio 43 recto);
(xxx) ‘An sguel thainig bho thuath oirnn’, 10 stanzas (folio 44 recto);
(xxxi) “‘Ged tha sinn togarrach air ceol”, 4 stanzas (folio 46 recto);
(xxxii) “Cia iomad mile dhe m’ chuid iochdran aircail”, 29 lines (folio 47 recto);
(xxxiii) “Tha miltean de m’ iochdarain sinnt’”, 38 lines (folio 47 verso);
(xxxiv) “An cuimhne leats’ a Mhari”, 4 stanzas (middle of folio 48 recto);
(xxxv) ‘Seinnar suas air chruit nan teudan’, 8 quatrain + chorus (bottom of folio 48 verso);
(xxxvi) “Latha dhom ‘s mi air an airidh”, 4 quatrains + chorus (folio 49 verso);
(xxxvii) ‘Ge do their na feara faoin’, 4 quatrains + chorus (folio 50 recto);
(xxxviii) ‘Cearcag riamhach nan carn’, 3 quatrains + chorus (folio 50 verso);
(xxxix) “Feuch miltean bla’ a cheitain mhaoth”, 18 lines (folio 51 recto);
(xl) ‘S binn seinn loin Doire-charn!’ 9 quatrains (folio 51 verso);
(xli) “Gu tiamhaidh bochd truadh, ‘s an trom fhuar-dhealt air eididh”, 5 stanzas (folio 52 verso);
(xlii) ‘Ge fad air chuairt mi gur tric mo smuantean’, 11 stanzas (folio 53 verso);
(xliii) “Air madinn chuin ‘s mhios ‘am bruchd”, 4 stanzas (folio 56 verso);
(xliv) “Tho’ gay are the fields and tho’ green are the vallies”, 4 stanzas. ‘Composed during a walk on the Banks of the Wear, near Durham, July 1834’ (folio 58 recto);
(xlv) “Up! Follow me! I’m Gothred Doo”, 2 stanzas (folio 59 recto);
(xlvi) “I’m the Mavis of Clan Cattan”, 1 quatrains + chorus (folio 60 recto);
(xlvii) ‘Where is that spirit fled that mortal clay’, 10 lines (folio 62 verso);
(xlviii) “An am na dubhlachd, ‘s’e glean an t-sugraidh”, 8 lines (folio 64 recto).
Dates
- Creation: [1848, or before.]
Conditions Governing Access
Normal access conditions apply.
Conditions Governing Use
Normal reproduction conditions apply, subject to any copyright restrictions.
Extent
71 Leaves ; Octavo.
Arrangement
71 folios.
Genre / Form
Repository Details
Part of the National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division Repository
Archives and Manuscript Division
National Library of Scotland
George IV Bridge
Edinburgh EH1 1EJ
0131 623 3700
manuscripts@nls.uk