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Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl114

pulchellus,

Orange Admiral Cone.

—See Pl. 65.

 * C. testâ aurantiacâ, fasciis albis interruptis ornatâ; spiræ subdepressæ, anfractibus suturam juxta simpliciter sulcatis; suturâ alveatâ; basi granosâ, purpureâ.

 * Shell orange, with two interrupted white bands; spire slightly depressed, the volutions with a single groove near the margin; suture channelled; base granulated and purple.

I cannot find this very beautiful shell enumerated among the new and unfigured species known to Lamarck; and the representations given by the oldest conchologists of this intricate family, are too inaccurate to be cited without much risk.

In form it approaches nearest to Conus vitulinus of Bruguiere, having the spire not quite depressed, each volution being slightly raised above the last, gradually to the apex; the upper margin of the body whorl is convex: each volution of the spire has a broad and deep groove nearest the upper edge, which thus becomes elevated, while the convexity of the lower part of the whorl forms a channel round the suture, which separates it from the next; this formation of the spire is very remarkable, and unlike what I have seen in any other Cone. Another distinguishing character is, that the whole shell is crossed by very faint, broad, and almost imperceptible punctured lines, very near each other; in some parts discernible with the naked eye, in others almost obliterated by the longitudinal lines of growth: the granulations towards the base are very sharp and nearly white, and the base itself crossed with rough, thick-set, elevated striæ. No doubt the colour of this species will be found to vary, when more specimens are discovered. The only one I have ever seen, came with some other very rare shells from Amboyna, and is in my own collection.

If the descriptions of C. canaliculatus (Malacanus Brug.) be correct, (for it is a shell I have not seen), it must be quite distinct.

title: Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl114


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chamberlain, Robert (d.1798?)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl115

cancromus. fem.

Short-tailed Flatbill.

 * Platyrhinchos, Temminck. Sw. Zool. Ill. (div. I.) Vol. i. pl. 13.

 * Rostrum tenue, breve, valdè depressum, frontis latitudinem superans, mandibulæ superioris abruptè aduncæ, et ad apicem emarginatæ, marginibus dilatatis, et inferioris margines superplicantibus. Nares medii, basi membranâ pennis minutis instructâ obtectâ, aperturâ parvâ, rotundâ, terminali, tantùm non nudâ. Rictus ampli, ad mandibulæ superioris basin vibrissis rigidis armati. Pedes sedentes, graciles, digitis lateralibus imparibus, digito exteriore ad medii digiti articulum primum annexo, halluce valido.

 * Bill thin, short, very much depressed, broader than the front of the head; the upper mandible abruptly hooked and notched at the tip; the margins dilated, and folding over those of the under mandible; nostrils central, the base covered with a membrane having minute feathers, the aperture small, round, terminal, and nearly naked; mouth large, armed above with stiff bristles; feet sitting, slender; lateral toes unequal, exterior united to the middle as far as the first joint; hinder claw strongest.

 * P. (fem.) suprà olivaceo-fuscus, infrâ pallidè fulvus; jugulo albo; genis pennisque spuriis nigris; strigâ ante et pone oculum, maculoque auriculari albentibus.

 * (Female) above olive-brown; beneath pale fulvous; throat white; ears and spurious quills black; stripe before and behind the eye, and spot on the ears whitish.

 * Platyrhinchos cancromus. (male?) Temminck and Laugier. Pl. Col. Pl. 12. f. 2.

The remarkable breadth of the bill, and the extreme shortness of the tail, in this bird, render it a very singular little creature. Though a native of Brazil, I never met with it during my travels in that country; and the only specimen I have yet seen belongs to Mr. Leadbeater. The figure of P. cancromus of Professor Temminck, differing only from this bird in having a yellow crest, leads me to believe they are sexes of the same species; this being the female bird. The tail in the male appears to be somewhat longer, but this may be an error of delineation, and the description has not yet been published.

The figure is of the natural size, and below is an outline of the bill and nostrils; these latter are depressed, and the base covered with thickset feathers; the aperture is naked, round, and piercing the membrane in a lateral direction, midway between the ridge and margin of the bill, and at the end of the nasal membrane. The plumage above fulvous brown: darker, and tinged with reddish on the margin of the quills and tips of the wing covers: spurious quills and stripe beneath the eyes black: the upper part of the ears are also black, the lower half whitish yellow; chin and throat whitish; breast and body beneath pale fulvous brown; tail remarkably short, and not projecting beyond the wings; upper mandible black, lower white.

Since the publication of the remarks on this genus at Plate 14, a further consideration of the subject induces me to adopt the opinion of Professor Temminck, in placing the Todus Platyrhynchos, Gm., and its allies, under a distinct genus; or, in other words, of detaching from this group the second division annexed to my former definition of this genus. Still, however, the close affinities I have there pointed out, render the generic situation of several of these birds very doubtful; because the transition from one to the other is so gradual that even the most accurate set of generic characters, founded on the bill, will not clearly define the limits between the genera Platyrhynchus and Muscipeta. Their anatomy might do so, but on this subject we are quite ignorant.

I can gather nothing from the characters which Dr. Horsfield has given in the Linnæan Transactions of his new genus Eurylaimos; which does not perfectly agree with those of Platyrhynchus. It appears to have precisely the same formation of bill, nostrils, legs, &c. as P. cancromus, but in a higher state of development; thus strengthening the opinion I have above expressed.

title: Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl115


text:
Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl116

barbata,

Whiskered Flycatcher.

 * Rostrum latum, valdè depressum, lateribus aliquando dilatatis, culmine prominente, mandibulæ superioris apice adunco, plerumque emarginato, marginibus mandibulæ planæ inferioris margines superplicantibus. Nares basales, membranâ obtectæ, aperturâ terminali, ovatâ, vibrissis longis armatâ.

 * Ob. Pedes mediocres vel breves, digito exteriore ad medii articulum secundum annexo, interiore et medio ad basin modò annexis.

 * Bill broad, much depressed, the sides sometimes dilated, ridge prominent; tip of the upper mandible hooked, and mostly notched, the margins folding over those of the under mandible, which is flat; nostrils at the base of the bill covered by a membrane; the aperture terminal, oval, and defended by long stiff bristles.

 * Ob. Feet moderate or short; the external toe united to the middle as far as the second joint, the inner and middle toes united only at their base.

 * Generic Types (Tem.) Todus plumbeus, Muscicapa borbonica, Flabellifera, &c.

 * M. Supra olivacea, subtus fulva, aureâ cristâ (maribus) insignis; jugulo albido; uropygio pallidè flavo; caudâ nigrâ.

 * Above olivaceous, beneath fulvous, (male,) with a golden yellow crest; throat whitish; rump pale yellow; tail black.

 * Muscicapa barbata. Gmelin. i. 933. Lath. In. Orn. 2, p. 488. n. 86. mas.

 * Whiskered Flycatcher (male). Lath. Syn. 364.

I once shot a pair of these little birds in the forest of Pitanga, about twenty leagues west of Bahia: this is the only instance which I know of their having been found in Brazil. The same bird appears, however, more frequent in Cayenne, according to the older ornithologists. But whether the bird described by them as the female be really such, admits of great doubt, because Dr. Latham (probably on the authority of Buffon) describes it as having a smaller bill, and a few short hairs, instead of long bristles, at the base; the crown with a spot of yellow, a longer tail, &c. None of these are, in general, sexual distinctions, and, moreover, are at complete variance with the female here figured. The sexes I ascertained by dissection. It follows, therefore, that either the bird found in Cayenne is a distinct species, or that the bird described as its female is not such in reality. This latter supposition I apprehend is nearest the truth.

The figures are of the natural size, the upper representing the female, and the lower the male bird: the head of the former is entirely destitute of the crest which distinguishes the latter; in every other respect the resemblance is uniform. This crest, when not erected, is concealed, being nearly covered by the olive feathers around it. When erected, however, it discloses a stripe down the middle of the head of deep straw-coloured feathers, some of which are tipped with olive. The upper mandible of the bill is triangular, and much hooked, notched, and depressed; the colour is black, the perforations of the nostrils are rather large, and would be naked, were they not partially covered by numerous stiff bristles, which spring from the base of the bill and angle of the mouth; between the eye and bill a pale stripe. The plumage above is dull olive green, with a broad band of very pale yellow across the rump. Wings and their covers brown; tail and upper covers blackish; beneath, the plumage is yellowish, the chin almost white, and the breast and vent tinged with ferruginous; the two first quill feathers are progressively shorter than the third and fourth, which are equal, and longer than the others. Legs and claws short, slender, and pale.

This bird would obviously belong to the second division which I had proposed in my former remarks on Platyrhynchus, and it is in every respect allied to P. Ceylonensis, Pl. 13. My reasons for disturbing this previous arrangement have been already given; and, until a complete investigation is made of the immense genus of Flycatchers, I concur with M. Temminck in the distribution which he has proposed; viz. the arrangement of the European species under the old genus of Muscicapa, and of the exotic under that of Muscipeta; the characters of which, however, are very imperfect: they are, indeed, at variance with this bird, which has the outer and middle toe connected only to the first joint, and the inner toe cleft to the base.

title: Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl116


text:
Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl117

cyanocephala,

Blue-headed Nectarinia.

 * Nectarinia. Illiger. Cuvier. Cæreba Brisson. Temminck. Certhia. Motacilla Linn.

 * Rostrum longius, gracile, acutum, sub-arcuatum, basi crassâ, latâ, trigonâ, lateribus compressis, mandibulâ superiore apicem juxta leviter emarginatâ. Nares basales, ovatæ, breves, membranâ nudâ, in medio ovatè fissâ tectæ. Lingua longa, bifida, apice fibroso, haud extensibilis. Remigum pennæ primæ tres vix pares. Cauda mediocris, emarginata, rectricibus 12, sub-paribus.

 * Bill slender, acute, slightly curved, of variable length, base thick, broad, trigonal, the sides compressed; upper mandible near the tip slightly notched; nostrils basal, oval, short, covered by a naked membrane, in the middle of which is an oval aperture; tongue long, bifid, not extensible, the tip fibrous; the three first quills of nearly equal length, and longer than the rest; tail moderate, emarginate, of 12 nearly equal feathers.

 * Generic Types, Div. 1. Certhia cyanea, cayana. Div. 2. Certhia spiza, &c. Linn.

 * N. (mas.) cyanea; jugulo, dorso, caudâ alisque nigris, remigibus margine cyaneo ornatis. (Fem.) Viridis; capite, genis scapulisque cærulescentibus; jugulo cano.

 * (Male.) Changeable blue; throat, back, tail, and wings black; the quills edged with blue. Female green; head, cheeks, and scapulars bluish; throat grey.

Male.

 * Motacilla cayana. Linn. Gmelin, 1. 990.

 * Sylvia cayana. Lath. In. Orn. 2. 545. Gen. Zool. 10. 655.

 * Pepit bleu de Cayenne? Brisson, Ois. vol. 3. pl. 28. 1.

 * Cayenne Warbler. Lath. Syn. 4. 502. Gen. Zool. 10. 655.

 * Sylvia Cayenensis cærulea. Brisson, Orn. 1. p. 455.

Female.

 * Motacilla cyanocephala. Gmelin, 1. 990.

 * Sylvia cyanocephala. Lath. In. Orn. 2. 546. Gen. Zool. 10. 684.

 * Sylvia viridis. Brisson, Orn. 1. p. 455.

 * Le Pepit verd. Brisson, Ois. 3. pl. 28. f. 4.

 * Blue-headed Warbler. Lath. Syn. 4. p. 503.

 * Blue-headed Creeper? Lath. Syn. 2. p. 727.

Few birds require more illustration than this very beautiful though common species; described by most ornithological writers, but hitherto so little understood, that the two sexes stand as distinct species in a family of birds to which they have, in reality, no natural affinity. According to the Linnæan system it should have been rather placed with the Creepers than the Warblers; an error which has been continued by every subsequent writer, even by Professor Temminck, whose skilful and accurate perception of natural affinities is, in general, so remarkably correct.

That these two birds, however dissimilar in colour, are the sexes only of one species, repeated dissections in their native country have put beyond all doubt; and that it is a genuine Nectarinia (or Cæreba of Temminck) will appear from submitting it to a rigorous comparison with the characters the Professor himself has laid down for that genus.

Its habits are no less perfectly the same as the rest of the Nectariniæ; it is one of the commonest birds of Brazil, and appears spread over the whole extent of that country. It frequents the same trees as the Humming-birds, hopping from flower to flower, and extracting the nectar from each; but this is not done on the wing, because its formation is obviously different from the Humming-birds, which, on the contrary, poise themselves in the air during feeding. The shortness of the bill has evidently given rise to this bird being placed with the Warblers; but this organ is not shorter in proportion than it is in Nectarinia spiza, (Certhia spiza of Latham).

I am unacquainted with the other varieties of this species mentioned by authors. Of the bird here described, I have never seen any variety, either in Brazil or in our museums. The young males, as usual before moulting, have the colours of the female; one of them, in an intermediate state, is in my possession. As both the figures are of the size of life, and accurately coloured, a fuller description is unnecessary. The rich sky-blue of the male, in some lights, becomes greenish, and in others dark blue. The bill, like that of all the genuine Nectariniæ, is slightly notched a little way from the tip, and the base is much broader than high.

title: Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl117


text:
Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl118

Generalis,

Flambeau Cone.

—See Pl. 65.

 * C. testâ gracili, fuscâ, fasciis albidis strigis undatis longitudinalibus interruptis ornatâ; spiræ productæ apice acuto, anfractibus concavis, lævibus; basi nigrâ.

 * Shell slender, brown, with white bands, interrupted by longitudinal stripes; spire produced, the tip acute, whorls concave, smooth; base black.

 * Conus Generalis. Gmelin, p. 33. 75. var. a. Dillwyn, 359. var. a. Martini, vol. 2. p. 58. f. 645, 646. (dark variety) f. 648 to 652. (pale varieties). Gualt. 20 f. G.

 * Conus Generalis. Brug. p. 642. Lam. Ann. vol. 15. p. 363.

It becomes necessary to figure this elegant, but not uncommon Cone, in order to show the young conchologist the little importance that should be attached to colour in the discrimination of species: the figures will likewise point out more fully the distinctions between the present shell, C. maldivus, and C. cinctus; three species, whose close affinity require illustration.

These relative distinctions may be comprised in a few words; they rest principally on the spire, which in C. generalis has the upper half much lengthened, slender, and acuminated: in C. maldivus the spire is thick and much shorter: the whorls in both these species are quite plain, and nearly flat: the spire of C. cinctus resembles the last in form, but is deeply concave and striated. These characters are, I think, very satisfactory as specific distinctions.

On the other hand, some attention to these shells lately, has convinced me that many of the species formed both by Bruguiere and Lamarck should be more correctly considered as varieties; inasmuch as their specific distinctions rest, for the most part, on colour alone: this appears, indeed, to be the leading character selected by these eminent conchologists, and to which, therefore, they have attached the greatest importance. From this opinion, however, I completely dissent; on the principle, that no character which is variable can, with any consistency, be made use of to express permanent distinctions, when not supported by peculiarity of formation or sculpture. The great art in framing the description of a species consists in singling out those characters alone which are most permanent, and exist in every variety of that species; for, when once a character is found to be variable, it no longer becomes a distinction by which a species can be recognised. I consider, therefore, formation and sculpture as the only certain characters of species, and that variation of colour should alone distinguish varieties.

It is therefore not surprising that the specific characters given by MM. Bruguiere and Lamarck, and resting principally on the colours of these shells, are frequently obscure, and always long; two inevitable evils attending every attempt to describe minutely the colour, form, and disposition of the markings of shells. In justice, however, to these great naturalists, it should be observed, that in this attempt they have done that best which no writer has ever done well.

The spire of C. generalis is generally spotted, and the white band on the margin of the body whorl, more or less crossed by broad waved stripes of a dark brown. It is an inhabitant of many parts of the Indian Ocean.

title: Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl118


text:
Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl119

globosa,

Round Apple Snail.

—See Pl. 103.

 * A. testâ globosâ, lævissimâ, olivaceâ; spirâ depressâ; aperturæ margine crasso, fulvo, sulcato; umbilico parvo, contracto, juxta basin posito; operculo testaceo.

 * Shell globose, very smooth, olive; spire depressed; margin of the aperture thick, fulvous, grooved; umbilicus small, contracted, placed near the base; operculum shelly.

 * Helix Ampullacea. var. Gmelin, p. 3626. no. 43. Chemnitz, 9 tab. 128. fig. 1133. 1134. p. 105.

This is the most common of the two shells of this genus, which have their mouths closed by a shelly operculum. It is well described by Chemnitz, and his figures are very tolerable; yet, like all the authors of that period, he considered it as a variety of Helix ampullacea. From all these supposed varieties it is, nevertheless, quite distinct; the spire is more depressed than that of any other species, and the umbilicus is placed near the bottom of the inner lip: the whole shell is very smooth, and, although generally of a uniform yellowish olive colour, is sometimes marked by narrow bands of purple brown. The margin of the outer lip is slightly reflected, and the colour, beneath the epidermis, almost white. It is a native of the rivers of India.

From the remarks on this genus, made at Plate 103, the fact of their opercula being either shelly or horny, is sufficiently established. These formations, however, there is every reason to suppose, may generally be detected by the following indications. In such species as have a shelly operculum, the margin of the aperture is thickened all round, and has a parallel internal groove for its reception: the probable use of this groove I have detailed elsewhere. On the other hand, in those species which are known to have horny opercula, this margin and groove do not exist; and that part of the shell which is between the top of the aperture and the umbilicus, is thin and unprotected. This latter formation is by far the most frequent, and leads to the conclusion that the majority of these shells have their opercula horny.

On the distinctions between this genus and Planorbis, little need be said. The principal difference consists in the latter having no operculum; but another, and a very remarkable one, (which seems to have escaped all writers,) is, that the shells of the latter genus are destitute of any columella. The Planorbis cornu-arietis of Lamarck, has been removed by Mr. G. Sowerby to this genus. This shell, it is true, appears to be intermediate between one and the other; but the only affinity which it bears to Ampullaria, is in the oval form of the aperture; while it is allied to Planorbis by its discoid form, want of the columella, and being universally described as without an operculum: the preponderance of evidence is clearly in favour of the situation originally assigned to it by Lamarck.

The characters, therefore, given to the genus Ampullaria by Mr. G. Sowerby, will be found incorrect. There was no necessity for explaining, much less for altering, (in this instance,) the masterly definitions of Cuvier and Lamarck. With regard to the second species given by Mr. Sowerby to illustrate this genus, he is no less in error; for the real A. rugosa, of all authors, is a strikingly distinct shell from that which he has figured under this name. This will be sufficiently obvious by referring to the figures either of Lister, Chemnitz, or Lamarck.

Having offered these remarks on a subject to which I have paid some attention, I wish to refrain from pointedly noticing other errors and misconceptions into which Mr. G. Sowerby has fallen; rather wishing that greater experience, and more matured judgment, may lead him to do this himself, prior to the publication of the system of Conchology which he has announced.

title: Zoological Illustrations/VolII-Pl119


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chamberlain, Thomas


text:
The New International Encyclopædia/Elohist and Yahwist

EL′OHIST AND YAHWIST, or. Terms adopted by certain modern biblical scholars to denote the authors of two literary works which they believe to have been used as historical sources in the composition of the Pentateuch as we have it, and to have been embodied in it. The terms are purely conventional names assigned because the one source is supposed to be characterized by the use of ../Elohim/ (q.v.) as the designation of the national deity of the Hebrews; the other by the use of Yahweh (see, ), which is the specific, and as it were personal, designation of the national deity. Commonly both the works and their authors are referred to as E (= Elohist) and J (= Jehovist). According to the views of such critics, the work of the Yahwist is, in all probability, the older. In its original form it represented an attempt to give a history of the Hebrew theocracy down to the permanent occupation of the West Jordan district by the Hebrew tribes. It began with the traditions regarding the beginning of the world, related the current stories of early mankind, etc., the narratives of the patriarchs, the oppression in Egypt, and the Exodus, the revelation at Mount Sinai, the wanderings in the wilderness, the death of Moses, who is succeeded by Joshua, and under the latter the work of conquest is actively taken in hand. While, however, presenting an outline of his people's history, the purpose of the original compiler of the legends, traditions, and historical recollections was to make his work serve as an illustration of Yahweh's relationship to His chosen people, and of His providential guidance as seen in this history. As a religious history, therefore, it begins with creation to show that at the beginning of things Yahweh was already in existence and that it was He who made all things. This Yahwistic compilation has, however, passed through several hands. Even as traced in the Pentateuch by means of literary criticism, it no longer appears in its original form (though we can still determine to a certain extent what that form was), but represents the result of rearrangement and adjustment by several hands, so that it has become customary among scholars to refer the Yahwistic history not to a single writer, but to a school of Yahwistic writers. In its original form the Yahwistic document was a product of the northern kingdom, but in its revision it has passed through the hands of writers whose point of view was that of the southern kingdom. These distinctions manifest themselves in certain details of the stories of the patriarchs, and in the greater or lesser prominence accorded to the old sanctuaries of the north and south respectively.

It is not possible to assign any definite date to the compilation of the Yahwistic history. The earliest date assigned is the age of Solomon

(c.950 B.C.) for the oldest sections of the work, though it is safer to bring it down to the ninth century, for its general tone indicates that the struggle between the Yahweh and Baal cults, which reached its climax in the days of Ahab, is past. The relations to the surrounding nations are of a friendly character and the outlook hopeful, which points to a time prior to the menaces of the Assyrian period. The Yahwistic history is marked by the easy flow of the narrative. The stories and traditions are related in a vivid manner and in a style that is full of charm. The piety of the writers is also an impressive feature. Their confidence in Yahweh is unbounded, and corresponding to this confidence is the feeling of gratitude and devotion to Yahweh for all the mercies shown to His people.

The second historical compilation which consistently uses ‘Elohim’ as the designation of the deity is of a different character. It also is a product of the northern kingdom of about the middle of the eighth century B.C., but is considered to have been revised by a Judæan editor. Like the Yahwistic history, the Elohistic compilation views the past from a religious point of view, but the point is more clearly defined. The general tone indicates a large amount of self-consciousness, and, in keeping with the avoidance of the personal name of the national deity, we find the relations between Elohim and his worshipers less direct. Elohim does not converse directly with men, but by means of a heavenly or divine voice. The Elohist, moreover, aims to remove some of the features in the old stories which appeared objectionable to a more advanced view of divine government. There is also an element of sadness in the work which is lacking in the Yahwistic history. The text is full of sombre recollections which do not augur well for the future. While the outlook is still hopeful, it is the profound faith of the writer which prompts his optimism; but there is an undercurrent of gloom and there are traces of the depression which begins to settle upon Jewish history as the roar of the advancing Assyrian power is heard in the distance. The first distinct traces of this history are met with in the narrative about Abraham, so that it is not certain whether the Elohist began his work with the creation of the world, but it also extends through the period of the conquest of Canaan.

About the middle of the seventh century the Yahwistic and Elohistic histories were combined by a ‘Yahwistic’ editor into a single work whose purpose it was to preserve the variant versions of the old narratives which had assumed by this time a decidedly sacred character. His plan consists in giving a story according to that source which is the most complete, interspersing it or adding to it details derived from the other. It is this combined source, designated conventionally as JE, which the post-exilic compiler (c.400 B.C.) who combined JE with the various legal codes (see ) into the present Pentateuch had before him.

Consult the Introductions to the Old Testament by Driver, Strack, Bleek-Wellhausen, Coruill; and, especially, Kautsch, History of Old Testament Literature, translated by Taylor (London, 1898).


text:
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FFC 90

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chamberlain, William


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72

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chamberlaine, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chamberlane, Robert


text:
The New International Encyclopædia/Jehovah

JEHO′VAH. A word used four times in the Authorized Version of the English Bible as the name of the national deity of the Hebrews. This name was carried over from the earlier religious period of that people to the later post-exilic time, when, largely through the influence of the prophets, the transformation of the national god into the one universal God of a monotheistic faith took place. In consequence, the pronunciation of the name of the old tribal deity

was avoided, partly because of associations which seemed to imply limitations to His being, partly because of the growth of the sentiment that the genuine name of the one God was too sacred, too powerful to be used except on extraordinary occasions and by any but those who were commissioned as His representatives on earth — the high priests. The name was expressed in writing, according to the usual method in Hebrew, without vowels, by the four consonants corresponding to our YHWH — the tetragrammaton, as it is called. When the vowels were added to the consonantal text of the Old Testament, several centuries after the birth of Christ, as a means of preserving the pronunciation of the sacred literature, those of Adonai, ‘my lord,’ were attached to the tetragrammaton as an indication that the holy name was to be pronounced as though it were adonai (q.v.). By a misunderstanding, Christian scholars in the sixteenth century combined the vowels of Adonai with the consonantal frame, thus producing the form Yehowah or Jehovah, j being used for the Hebrew y and v for w, as was very customary. The earliest occurrence of this word is 1520. In the English Bible the tetragrammaton is usually represented by ‘the .’ The avoidance of the use of the name of the Supreme Deity led to the loss of the true pronunciation, and we have no absolutely certain data for determining what it was. It is very probable, however, that it was Yahweh, and this form and pronimciation are now universally used by scholars. .Jehovah is often used as a name of God, connoting especially His power and majesty. The name of the Hebrew deity is also found in abbreviated form as Yah (as in hallalu Yah, ‘praise ye Yah’), Yahu, Yeho, and Yo, particularly in proper names. The origin and meaning of the name are not known. It has been connected with the verb haya, to be, with the meaning ‘he is,’ implying existence without limitation. Another theory connects it with the causative form of the same verb with the meaning ‘he causes to be,’ i.e. the Creator. Still another theory makes it mean ‘he who causes to fall’ (i.e. rain or lightning), a view which has some support by analogy with the use of similar terms for the Greek Zeus. Others have sought to identify Yahweh with some foreign deity, or consider it a piece of popular etymologizing like the English derivation of God from good. Consult: Dalman, Der Gottesname Adonai (Leipzig, 1896); Driver, “The Tetragrammaton,” in Studia Biblica (Oxford, 1885); Smend, Alttestamentliche Religionsgeschichte (Freiburg, 1893); Schultz, Alttestamentliche Theologie (Göttingen, 1889).


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FFC 90

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chamberlayne, Edward (1484?-1543?)


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74

title: Page:FFC90.djvu/76


text:
The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Colburn, Warren

COLBURN, Warren, an American mathematician, born at Dedham, Mass., March 1, 1793, died at Lowell, Sept. 15, 1833. He was the eldest son of a large family. His parents were poor, and during his childhood made frequent removals to different manufacturing villages,

where Warren as well as some of the other children found employment in the factories. He early manifested a remarkable taste for mathematics, and having acquired the trade of a machinist, he entered Harvard college in 1816. He graduated in 1820, and soon afterward opened a select school in Boston. In the autumn of 1821 the first edition of his “First Lessons in Mental Arithmetic” was issued. While in college the necessity of such a work had been forced upon his mind, and its plan digested. He was accustomed to say that “the pupils who were under his tuition made his arithmetic for him;” that the questions they asked, and the necessary answers and explanations which he gave in reply, were embodied in that book. No other elementary work on arithmetic ever had such a sale. It has been translated into most of the languages of Europe, and into several of those of India. After teaching nearly three years, he accepted the situation of superintendent of the Boston manufacturing company at Waltham, in April, 1823; and in August, 1824, he was appointed superintendent of the Merrimack manufacturing company at Lowell. Here he projected a system of lectures of an instructive character, presenting commerce and useful subjects in such a way as to gain attention. In the autumn of 1825 he commenced a course of lectures on the natural history of animals. This he followed in subsequent years with lectures on light, the eye, the seasons, electricity, hydraulics, astronomy, &c. His “Sequel” had been published just before he left Waltham. In 1828 he published his “Algebra.” In May, 1827, he was elected a fellow of the American academy of arts and sciences. He was also for a number of years one of the examining committee on mathematics in Harvard college, and some time superintendent of schools at Lowell.


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174 century, St. Aidan was ordained bishop in lona and sent to convert the Anglo-Saxons of Northumberland. The story of the Irish Church in the north is one of effective mission work, but unsuccessful organization, wherein it was inferior to the Roman Church. Its representatives suffered defeat at the Synod of Whitby in 664. Fifty years afterward lona gave up its separate usages and accepted the Roman Easter.

The missionary labours of the Irish were not confined to Great Britain, but extended far and wide through the west of Europe. In the sixth and seventh centuries, Irish monasteries were founded in Austrasia and Burgundy, Italy, Switzerland, Bavaria; they were established among Frisians, Saxons, Alemanni. And as centres of Latin education as well as Christianity, the names of Bobbio and St. Gall will occur to every one. Of these, the first directly and the second through a disciple were due to Columbanus. With him we enter the larger avenues of Irish missions to the heathen, the semi-heathen, and the lax, and upon the question of their efficacy in the preservation of Latin education throughout the rent and driven fragments of the western Roman Empire. The story of Columban's life is illuminating and amusing.

He was born in Leinster. While yet a boy he felt the

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chamberlayne, James


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CHAP. IX conflict between fleshly lusts and that counter-ascetic passion which throughout the Christian world was drawing thousands into monasteries. Asceticism, with desire for knowledge, won the victory, and the youth entered the monastery of Bangor, in the extreme north-east of Ireland. There he passed years of labour, study, and self-mortification. At length the pilgrim mission-passion came upon him (coepit peregrinationem desiderare) and his importunity overcame the abbot's reluctance to let him depart. Twelve disciples are said to have followed him across the water to the shores of Britain. There they hesitated in anxious doubt, till it was decided to cross to Gaul.

This was about the year 590. Columban's austere and commanding form, his fearlessness, his quick and fiery tongue, impressed the people among whom he came. Reports of his holiness spread; multitudes sought his blessing. He traversed the country, preaching and setting his own stern example, until he reached the land of the Burgundians, where Gontran, a grandson of Clovis, reigned. Well received by this ruler, Columban established himself in an old castle. His disciples grew in numbers, and after a while Gontran granted him an extensive Roman structure called Luxovium (Luxeuil) situated at the confines of the Burgundian and Austrasian kingdoms. Columban converted this into a monastery, and it soon included many noble Franks and Burgundians among its monks. For them he composed a monastic regula, stern and cruel in its penalties of many stripes imposed for trivial faults. "Whoever may wish to know his strenuousness (strenuitatem) will find it in his precepts," writes the monk Jonas, who had lived under him.

The strenuousness of this masterful and overbearing man was displayed in his controversy with the Gallican clergy, upon whom he tried to impose the Easter day observed by the Celtic Church in the British Isles. In his letter to the Gallican synod, he points out their errors, and lectures them on their Christian duties, asking pardon at the end for his loquacity and presumption. Years afterwards, entering upon another controversy, he wrote an extraordinary letter to Pope Boniface IV. The superscription is

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The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Colburn, Zerah

COLBURN, Zerah, an arithmetical prodigy, born at Cabot, Vt., Sept. 1, 1804, died March 2, 1840. In his 6th year he began to give evidence of those extraordinary powers of computation which afterward excited the wonder of the learned and curious in the United States and Europe. His father decided to exhibit them in public, and accordingly left Vermont with Zerah in the winter of 1810-'11. Passing through Hanover, N. H., Dr. Wheelock, then president of Dartmouth college, offered to take upon himself the whole care and expense of his education, but his father rejected the offer. At Boston the performances of the boy excited much attention. He was visited by the professors of Harvard college, and by eminent men in all professions, and the newspapers were filled with articles concerning his wonderful powers of computation. Questions in multiplication of four and five places of figures, reduction, rule of three, practice, involution, evolution, compound fractions, and the obtaining of factors even of large numbers, were answered with accuracy and with a rapidity to which the most experienced mathematicians could not

At this time he was unable to give any account of the mental processes by which these results were reached; but a few years later he could explain them satisfactorily, and from these explanations it appeared that his processes did not differ materially from those ordinarily adopted in mental computation. Among the questions proposed to him were the following: How many days and hours in 1,811 years? His answer, given in 20 seconds, was 661,015 days, 15,864,360 hours. How many seconds in 11 years? The answer, given in four seconds, was 346,896,000. When 8 or 9 years of age, he gave answers with a delay of but a few seconds to such questions as these: What is the square of 999,999? Multiply the square twice by 49 and once by 25. (The answer requires 17 figures.) What are the factors of 4,294,967,297? (=2$32$ + 1). The French mathematicians had announced this as a prime number. Colburn immediately gave 641 × 6,700,417. What are the factors of 247,483? He replied, “941 and 263, which are the only factors.” The rapidity of his mental processes and the power of his memory must have been at this time almost inconceivable. After leaving Boston, Mr. Colburn exhibited his son for money throughout the middle and part of the southern states, and in January, 1812, sailed with him for England. After travelling over England, Scotland, and Ireland, they spent 18 months in Paris. Here young Colburn was placed in the lycée Napoléon, but was soon removed by his father, who at length, in 1816, returned to England in the deepest penury. The earl of Bristol soon became interested in the boy, and placed him in Westminster school, where he remained till 1819. In consequence of his father's refusal to comply with certain arrangements proposed by the earl, he was removed from Westminster, and Mr. Colburn now proposed to his son that he should qualify himself to become an actor. Accordingly, he studied for this profession, and was for a few months under the tuition of Charles Kemble. His first appearance, however, satisfied both his instructor and himself that he was not adapted for the stage, and accordingly he accepted a situation as assistant in a school, and soon afterward commenced a school of his own. To this he added the performing of some astronomical calculations for Dr. Thomas Young, then secretary of the board of longitude. In 1824, on the death of his father, he was enabled by the earl of Bristol and other friends to return to America. He went to Fairfield, N. Y., as assistant teacher of an academy; but not being pleased with his situation, he removed in March following to Burlington, Vt., where he taught French, pursuing his studies at the same time in the university. Toward the end of 1825 he connected himself with the Methodist church, and after nine years of service as an itinerant preacher, he settled in Norwich, Vt., in 1835, where he was soon after appointed professor of languages in

university. In 1833 he published his autobiography. From this it appears that his faculty of computation left him about the time he reached the age of manhood; and aside from his early talent for calculation, he gave no evidence of remarkable abilities.


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176 Hibernian: "To the most beautiful head of all the churches of entire Europe, the most sweet pope, the most high president, the most reverent investigator: O marvellous! mirum dictu! nova res! rara avis!—that the lowest to the loftiest, the clown to the polite, the stammerer to the prince of eloquence, the stranger to the son of the house, the last to the first, that the Wood-pigeon (Palumbus) should dare to write to Father Boniface!" Whereupon this Wood-pigeon writes a long letter in which belligerent expostulation alternates with self-debasement. He dubs himself "garrulus, presumptuosus, homunculus vilissimae qualitatis," who caps his impudence by writing unrequested. He implores pardon for his harsh and too biting speech, while he deplores to him who sat thereon—the infamia of Peter's Seat, and shrills to the Pope to watch: "Vigila itaque, quaeso, papa, vigila; et iterum dico: vigila"; and he marvels at the Pope's lethal sleep.

One who thus berated pope and clergy might be censorious of princes. Gontran died. After various dynastic troubles, the Burgundian land came under the rule nominally of young Theuderic, but actually of his imperious grandmother, the famous Brunhilde. In order that no queen-wife's power should supplant her own, she encouraged her grandson to content himself with mistresses. The youth stood in awe of the stern old figure ruling at Luxeuil, who more than once reproved him for not wedding a lawful queen. It happened one day when Columban was at Brunhilde's residence that she brought out Theuderic's various sons for him to bless. "Never shall sceptre be held by this brothel-brood," said he.

Henceforth it was war between these two: Theuderic was the pivot of the storm; the one worked upon his fears, the other played upon his lusts. Brunhilde prevailed. She incited the king to insist that Luxeuil be made open to all, and with his retinue to push his way into the monastery. The saint withstood him fiercely, and prophesied his ruin. The king drew back; the saint followed, heaping reproaches on him, till the young king said with some self-restraint: "You hope to win the crown of martyrdom through me. But I am not a lunatic, to commit such a crime. I have a

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CHAP. IX better plan: since you won't fall in with the ways of men of the world, you shall go back by the road you came."

So the king sent his retainers to seize the stubborn saint. They took him as a prisoner to Besançon. He escaped, and hurried back to Luxeuil. Again the king sent, this time a count with soldiers, to drive him from the land. They feared the sacrilege of laying hands on the old man. In the church, surrounded by his monks praying and singing psalms, he awaited them. "O man of God," cried the count, "we beseech thee to obey the royal command, and take thy way to the place from which thou camest." "Nay, I will rather please my Creator, by abiding here," returned the saint. The count retired, leaving a few rough soldiers to carry out the king's will. These, still fearing to use violence, begged the saint to take pity on them, unjustly burdened with this evil task—to disobey their orders meant their death. The saint reiterates his determination to abide, till they fall on their knees, cling to his robe, and with groans implore his pardon for the crime they must execute.

From pity the saint yields at last, and a company of the king's men make ready and escort him from the kingdom westward toward Brittany. Many miracles mark the journey. They reach the Loire, and embark on it. Proceeding down the river they come to Tours, where the saint asks to be allowed to land and worship at St. Martin's shrine. The leader bids the rowers keep the middle of the stream and row on. But the boat resistlessly made its way to the landing-place. Columban passed the night at the shrine, and the next day was hospitably entertained by the bishop, who inquired why he was returning to his native land. "The dog Theuderic has driven me from my brethren," answered the saint. At last Nantes was reached near the mouth of the Loire, where the vessel was waiting to carry the exile back to Ireland. Columban wrote a letter to his monks, in which he poured forth his love to them with much advice as to their future conduct. The letter is filled with grief—suppressed lest it unman his beloved children. "While I write, the messenger comes to say that the ship is ready to bear me, unwilling, to my

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178 country. But there is no guard to prevent my escape, and these people even seem to wish it."

The letter ends, but not the story. Columban did not sail for Ireland. Jonas says that the vessel was miraculously impeded, and that then Columban was permitted to go whither he would. So the dauntless old man travelled back from the sea, and went to the Neustrian Court, the people along the way bringing him their children to bless. He did not rest in Neustria, for the desire was upon him to preach to the heathen. Making his way to the Rhine, he embarked near Mainz, ascended the river, and at last established himself, with his disciples, upon the lake of Constance. There they preached to the heathen, and threw their idols into the lake. He had the thought to preach to the Wends, but this was not to be.

The time soon came when all Austrasia fell into the hands of Brunhilde and Theuderic, and Columbanus decided to cross over into northern Italy, breaking out in anger at his disciple Gall, who was too sick to go with him. With other disciples he made the arduous journey, and reached the land of the Lombards. King Agilulf made him a gift of Bobbio, lying in a gorge of the Apennines near Genoa, and there he founded the monastery which long was to be a stronghold of letters. For himself, his career was well-nigh run; he retired to a solitary spot on the banks of the river Trebbia, where he passed away, being, apparently, some seventy years of age.

It may seem surprising that this strenuous ascetic should occasionally have occupied a leisure hour writing Latin poems in imitation of the antique. There still exists such an effusion to a friend:

The verses consist mainly of classic allusions and advice of an antique rather than a Christian flavour: the wise will cease to add coin to coin, and will despise wealth, but not the pastime of such verse as the

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CHAP. IX

was wont to make. "Now, dear Fedolius, quit learned numbers and accept our squibs—frivola nostra. I have dictated them oppressed with pain and old age: 'Vive, vale, laetus, tristisque memento senectae.'" The last is a pagan reminiscence, which the saint's Christian soul may not have deeply felt. But the poem shows the saint's classic training, which probably was exceptional. For there is no evidence of like knowledge in any Irishman before him; and after his time, in the seventh century, or the eighth, Latin education in Ireland was confined to a few monastic centres. A small minority studied the profanities, sometimes because they liked them, but oftener as the means of proficiency in sacred learning.

The Irish had cleverness, facility, ardour, and energy. They did much for the dissemination of Christianity and letters. Their deficiency was lack of organization; and they had but little capacity for ordered discipline humbly and obediently accepted from others. Consequently, when the period of evangelization was past in western Europe, and organization was needed, with united and persistent effort for order, the Irish ceased to lead or even to keep pace with those to whom once they had brought the Gospel. In Anglo-Saxon England and on the Carolingian continent they became strains of influence handed on. This was the fortune which overtook them as illuminators of manuscripts and preservers of knowledge. Their emotional traits, moreover, entered the larger currents of mediaeval feeling and imagination. Strains of the Irish, or of a kindred Celtic temperament passed on into such "Breton" matters as the Tristan story, wherein love is passion unrestrained, and is more distinctly out of relationship with ethical considerations than, for example, the equally adulterous tale of Lancelot and Guinevere.

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180

The Saxon invasions of the fifth and sixth centuries drove Christianity and letters from the land where the semi-Romanized Britons and their church had flourished. To reconvert and instruct anew a relapsed heathen country was the task which Gregory the Great laid on the willing Augustine. The story of that famous mission (A.D. 597) need not be told; but we may note the manner of the presentation of Christianity to the heathen Saxons, and the temper of its reception. Most impressive was this bringing of the Faith. Augustine and his band of monks came as a stately embassy from Rome, the traditionary centre of imperial and spiritual power. Their coming was a solemn call to the English to associate themselves with all that was most august and authoritative in heaven and earth. According to Bede, Augustine sent a messenger to Ethelbert, the Kentish king, to announce that he had come from Rome bearing the best of messages, and would assure to such as hearkened, eternal joys in heaven and dominion without end with the living and true God. To Ethelbert, whose kingdom lay at the edge of the great world, the message came from this world's sovereign pontiff, who in some awful way represented its almighty God, and had authority to admit to His kingdom. He was not ignorant of what lay within the hand of Rome to give. His wife was a Catholic Christian, daughter of a Frankish king, and had her own ministering bishop. Doubtless the queen had spoken with her lord. Still Ethelbert feared the spell-craft of this awe-inspiring embassy, and would meet Augustine only under the open sky. Augustine came to the meeting, a silver

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 He graduated from a teachers' college. • institute. Научно иссле́довательский институ́т. Scientific research institute.

инстру́ктор (/P -а, -ов/) instructor.

инстру́кция instruction.

инструме́нт instrument. На како́м инструме́нте вы игра́ете? What kind of instrument do you play? • tool. Я сейча́с сбе́гаю за инструме́нтами и починю́ кран. I'll get my tools immediately and fix the faucet. □ хирурги́ческий инструме́нт surgical instrument.

интеллиге́нция intelligentsia.

интере́с interest. Я прочёл э́ту кни́гу с больши́м интере́сом. I read this book with great interest. — В ва́ших интере́сах пое́хать туда́ поскоре́й. It's to your interest to go there as quickly as possible.

интере́сный interesting. Его́ ле́кции всегда́ интере́сны. His lectures are always interesting. — У неё интере́сное лицо́. She has an interesting face. — Он о́чень интере́сный челове́к. He's a very interesting man. □ интере́сно interestingly. Он расска́зывает так интере́сно, что его́ мо́жно слу́шать часа́ми. He speaks so interestingly that you can listen to him for hours. • interesting. Вам э́то интере́сно? Do you find it interesting? • I wonder. Интере́сно, куда́ э́то он ушёл. I wonder where he went. интере́сно знать I wonder. Интере́сно знать, что с ним пото́м ста́ло? I wonder what's happened to him since?

интересова́ть to interest. Э́то вас интересу́ет? Does this interest you?

-ся to be interested in. Я не интересу́юсь те́хникой. I'm not interested in technical subjects. — У нас здесь о́чень интересу́ются поли́тикой. We're very interested in politics here. • to take interest in. Он совсе́м не интересу́ется свое́й рабо́той. He doesn't take any interest in his work.

интернациона́л international. Коммунисти́ческий интернациона́л. Communist International.

интернациона́льный international. Интернациона́льный съезд. International convention.

информа́ция information. Он вам даст подро́бную информа́цию по э́тому вопро́су. He'll give you detailed information about this question. □ Иностра́нная информа́ция в америка́нских газе́тах о́чень хорошо́ поста́влена. Foreign news is very well presented in American papers.

инциде́нт incident. Тут вчера́ произошёл неприя́тный инциде́нт. An unpleasant incident took place here yesterday. — Инциде́нт исче́рпан! The incident is closed.

иод ([yot]) iodine.

ипподро́м race track (horse).

ирони́ческий ironic.

иро́ния irony.

искажа́ть (dur of искази́ть) to twist. Вы искажа́ете мой слова́! You twist my words.

искажу́ See искази́ть.

искази́ть (pct of искажа́ть) to misrepresent. Вы соверше́нно искази́ли фа́кты в ва́шем отчёте. You completely misrepresented the facts in your report. • to distort. У вас соверше́нно искажённое представле́ние об э́том собы́тии. You have a completely distorted idea about this event.

иска́ть (ищу́, и́щет) to look for. Что э́то вы и́щете? What are you looking for? — Я иска́л э́тот переу́лок на пла́не, но не нашёл. I looked for this small street on the map, but I didn't find it. — Я ищу́ кварти́ру. I'm looking for an apartment. — Вы и́щете рабо́ты? Are you looking for work? • to look around. Я его́ иска́л глаза́ми по всему́ за́лу. I looked around the whole hall for him. □ Он давно́ уже́ иска́л слу́чая с ва́ми познако́миться. He's been wanting to meet you for some time now.

исключа́ть (dur of исключи́ть) to expel. Его́ уже́ второ́й раз исключа́ют из шко́лы. This is the second time he's been expelled from school.

исключе́ние expulsion. Ему́ грози́т исключе́ние из сою́за. He's threatened with expulsion from the trade union. • exception. Я э́то сего́дня сде́лаю в ви́де исключе́ния. I'll do it today as an exception. — Нет пра́вил без исключе́ния. Every rule has its exception. □ за исключе́нием except. Все пришли́ за исключе́нием одного́. Everybody came except one person.

исключи́тельный unusual. Он получи́л разреше́ние, но э́то был исключи́тельный слу́чай. He got the permit, but it was an unusual case. □ исключи́тельно solely. Мы гото́вим исключи́тельно на сли́вочном ма́сле. We use butter solely in preparing meals. • nothing but. Он чита́ет исключи́тельно приключе́нческие рома́ны. He reads nothing but adventure stories. • exceptionally. Э́то исключи́тельно интере́сный фильм. This is an exceptionally interesting movie.

исключи́ть (pct of исключа́ть) to expel. Его́ исключи́ли из па́ртии. He was expelled from the party. □ Така́я возмо́жность соверше́нно исключена́. Such a possibility is out of the question.

искра́ spark. Осторо́жнее, и́скры от костра́ мо́гут заже́чь сухи́е листья. Careful, the sparks from the bonfire may set the dry leaves on fire. • glimmer. Ещё оста́лась искра́ наде́жды. There's still a glimmer of hope. □ Уда́р был тако́й, что у меня́ и́скры из глаз посы́пались. The blow was so hard I saw stars.

и́скренний (sh и́скренен or искрен, -нна, -о, -ы; adv -нно or -нне) sincere. Прия́тно то, что он прямо́й и и́скренний челове́к. The nice part of it is he's a straightforward and sincere person. □ и́скренно sincerely. И́скренно сожале́ю, что так произошло́. I sincerely regret that it happened this way. — И́скренно вам пре́данный. Sincerely yours.

иску́сный skillful. Она́ иску́сная портни́ха. She's a skillful seamstress. □ иску́сно skillfully. Срабо́тано иску́сно, что и говори́ть! This is skillfully done — no question of it.

иску́сственный artificial. Здесь применя́ется иску́сственное ороше́ние. They use artificial irrigation here. • false. Вам придётся вста́вить иску́сственные зу́бы. You'll have to have a set of false teeth made. • forced. У неё кака́я-то иску́сственная улы́бка. She has a kind of forced smile.

иску́сство art. Я интересу́юсь но́выми тече́ниями в иску́сстве. I'm interested in the new trends in art. • skill. Председа́тель с больши́м иску́сством руководи́л пре́ниями. The chairman directed the discussion with great skill. □ прикладно́е иску́сство applied arts and crafts. □ Он за э́то ничего́ не получа́ет, а рабо́тает из любви́ к иску́сству. He doesn't get anything out of it, but does it simply for the love of it.

испа́чкать (pct) to soil. Чем э́то вы так испа́чкали брю́ки? How did you soil your pants so? • to dirty. У вас всё лицо́ испа́чкано. Your face is all dirty.

испёк See испе́чь.


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 испеку́ See испе́чь.

испе́чь (-пеку́, -печёт; p -пёк, -пекла́, -о, -и; pct of печь) to bake. Я вам испеку́ пиро́г. I'll bake a cake for you.

исполко́м (исполни́тельный комите́т) executive committee.

исполне́ние performance. Вам понра́вилось исполне́ние э́той сона́ты? Did you like the performance of that sonata? — Э́та роль о́чень выи́грывает в его́ исполне́нии. This part gains a lot by his performance. — Я ещё не приступи́л к исполне́нию обя́занностей. I haven't started performing my duties yet. • execution. Нача́льник наста́ивает на то́чном исполне́нии приказа́ний. The chief insists on exact execution of the orders. □ Пригово́р приведён в исполне́ние. The verdict has been carried out. • Исполне́ния жела́ний! I hope your wishes come true.

исполни́тельный thorough. Он о́чень исполни́тельный рабо́тник. He's very thorough in his work. □ исполни́тельный комите́т (исполко́м) executive committee.

испо́лнить (pct of исполня́ть) to carry out. Приказа́ние бы́ло неме́дленно испо́лнено. The order was carried out immediately. □ испо́лнить роль to play a part. Она́ блестя́ще испо́лнила свою́ роль. She played the part brilliantly. □ Я с ра́достью испо́лню ва́шу про́сьбу. I'll gladly do what you ask.

исполня́ть (dur of испо́лнить) to carry out. Ему́ ещё никогда́ не приходи́лось исполня́ть тако́го тру́дного поруче́ния. He never before had such a difficult mission to carry out. • to keep. Он ре́дко исполня́ет свой обеща́ния. He rarely keeps his promises. □ исполня́ющий обя́занности заве́дующего acting manager.

испо́льзовать (both dur and pct) to use. Вы мо́жете испо́льзовать э́тот материа́л для ва́шей кни́ги. You can use this material in your book. — Наш заво́д испо́льзует э́ти отхо́ды для произво́дства. Our plant will use these waste products in manufacture. • to employ. Он всё испо́льзует, что́бы доби́ться своего́. He will employ all means at his command to acbieve his goal.

испо́ртить (pct of по́ртить) to ruin. Осторо́жно! Э́ту маши́ну легко́ испо́ртить. Be careful! It's easy to ruin this machine. • to spoil. Его́ расска́з испо́ртил мне настрое́ние. His story spoiled my good mood. • to corrupt. Его́ тут совсе́м испо́ртили. They completely corrupted him there. □ Он мне мно́го кро́ви испо́ртил. He caused me plenty of worry.

испо́рченный (/ppp of испо́ртить/) ruined. Всё равно́ ве́чер уже́ испо́рчен. It doesn't make any difference; the evening is ruined anyway. — Что мне де́лать с мои́м испо́рченным костю́мом? What'll I do with my ruined suit? • spoiled. Испо́рченный мальчи́шка! Spoiled brat! • broken. Наш патефо́н испо́рчен. Our phonograph is broken. • out of order. У вас, ка́жется, телефо́н испо́рчен. Your telephone must be out of order. □ На́ше настрое́ние бы́ло испо́рчено в коне́ц. Our spirits dropped completely.

испо́рчу See испо́ртить.

испра́вить (pct of исправля́ть) to fix. Я сам испра́влю ваш радиоаппара́т. I'll fix your radio myself. • to improve. Он стара́ется испра́вить свой по́черк. He's trying to improve his handwriting. — Я хоте́л бы испра́вить своё англи́йское произноше́ние. I'd like to improve my English pronunciation. • to correct. Я хочу́ испра́вить свою́ оши́бку. I want to correct my mistake. □ *Горба́того одни́ моги́ла испра́вит. You can't change him; that's all there is to it.

исправля́ть (dur of испра́вить) to repair. Рабо́чие спе́шно исправля́ют железнодоро́жный путь. Workers are hurriedly repairing the railroad tracks.

испу́г fright. Она́ побледне́ла от испу́га. She turned pale with fright. □ Ло́шадь с испу́гу понесла́. The frightened horse got out of hand.

испуга́ть (pct of пуга́ть) to scare, to frighten. Ти́ше, вы мо́жете испуга́ть ребёнка. Quiet, you may scare the baby. — Ва́ша телегра́мма испуга́ла меня́ до сме́рти. Your telegram scared me out of my wits. — Прости́те, я не хоте́л вас испуга́ть. Excuse me, I didn't mean to frighten you.

-ся to get frightened, to get scared. Уви́дев толпу́ во́зле до́ма, она́ стра́шно испуга́лась. She got terribly frightened when she saw the crowd near the house. • to be scared, to be frightened. Ну, что вы испуга́лись? Ведь там бу́дут то́лько свой. What are you scared of? Nobody but our gang will be there.

испыта́ть (pct of испы́тывать) to try out. Вы уже́ испыта́ли но́вый мото́р? Have you tried out the new motor yet?

испы́тывать (dur of испыта́ть) to try. (no pct) Вы испы́тываете его́ терпе́ние! You're trying his patience. • to experience. Я никогда́ ещё не испы́тывал тако́го стра́ха. I've never experienced such fright.

и́стинный real, true. И́стинная суть де́ла такова́ ... The real meaning of the matter is ... — Он мой и́стинный друг. He's a real friend of mine. □ И́стинное наказа́ние с ним. He's a pain in the neck.

исто́рия history. Он преподаёт ру́сскую исто́рию. He's teaching Russian history. — Па́мять о них войдёт в исто́рию. History will remember them. • story Э́то соверше́нно неправдоподо́бная исто́рия. That's a likely story. □ ве́чная исто́рия the same old story. Ве́чная исто́рия с ним: он не мо́жет не опозда́ть! It's the same old story with him. He's always late. □ Кака́я неприя́тная исто́рия! What an unpleasant situation! • *Вот так исто́рия получи́лась. This is a pretty kettle of fish. • Ску́чная исто́рия! Придётся нача́ть всё снача́ла! We'll have to start all over again; what a bore! • *Об э́том исто́рия ума́лчивает. Things like that are better left unsaid.

исто́чник spring. Наш го́род сла́вится целе́бными исто́чниками. Our town has a name for its health-giving springs, • source. Он получа́ет информа́цию из како́го-то сомни́тельного исто́чника. He gets his information from a doubtful source.

истоща́ть (dur of истощи́ть) to sap. Э́та дие́та его́ стра́шно истоща́ет. This dieting saps his strength.

истощи́ть (pct of истоща́ть) to exhaust. Я, ка́жется, истощи́л все свой до́воды. I think I've exhausted all my arguments. • to be run down. Он о́чень истощён, ему́ на́до пое́хать на попра́вку. He's very much run down; he ought to go for a rest.

истра́тить (pct of истрачивать) to spend. Ско́лько вы истра́тили на поку́пку ме́бели? How much did you spend for furniture?


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Rh based upon any other model. For the upper room in the wing, ambitiously christened by somebody Gothic Hall, had a high pointed roof that made it an ice-house in winter and, for our sins, it was used as the Dormitory of the Sacred Heart where I slept. I can recall mornings when the water was frozen in our pitchers while the big stove, in the middle of the high-pitched room, burned red hot as if to mock at us as, with numbed fingers, we struggled to make our beds and wash ourselves and button and hook on our clothes. And the builders had so contrived that summer turned our fine Gothic Dormitory into a fiery furnace. How many June nights, contrary to all the rules, have I hung out of the little, horribly Gothic window at the head of my alcove, gasping in the warm darkness that was so sweet and stifling with the fragrance of the flowers in Madame Huguet's garden just below.

I had not been long at the Convent before another brown stone wing extended to the north and two stories were added to the main building which, for the sake of harmony, was now painted brown from top to bottom. In a niche on this new facade, a statue of the Sacred Heart was set, and all semblance to the old country house as gone, except for the broad porch without and the well-proportioned rooms within. But these, and later improvements, additions and alterations cannot make me forget the Convent as it was when I first came to it, growing up about the simple, solidly-built, spacious yellow house that was once the Philadelphian's ideal of suburban comfort,


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78 and so like the house where I spent my most memorable summer, so like, save for the size and the colour, my Great-Grandfather Ambrose White's old house on the Turnpike at Chestnut Hill, so like innumerable other country houses of the same date where I visited.

III.

The Convent rule and discipline could not alter the changing of the seasons as Philadelphia ordered them. They might appear to us mainly regulated by feasts and fasts—All Saints and All Souls, the milestones on the road to Christmas; Lent and the month of St. Joseph heralding the approach of spring; the month of Mary and the month of the Sacred Heart, Ascension and Corpus-Christi, as ardent and splendid as the spring and summer days they graced. But, all the same, each season came laden with the pleasures held in common by all fortunate Philadelphia children who had the freedom of the country or the countrified suburbs.

The school year began with the fall, when any night might bring the first frost and the first tingle in the air—champagne to quicken the blood in a school girl's veins, and make the sitting still through the long study and class hours a torture. The woods shone with gold; the Virginia creeper flamed on the front porch; sickel pears fell, ripe and luscious, from the tree close to the Chapel where it was against the law to go and pick them up but where no law in the world could have barred the way; chestnuts and


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Rh hickory nuts and the walnuts that stained my fingers black to open offered a substantial dessert after as substantial a dinner as ever children were served with. But those were the joyful years when hunger never could be satisfied and digestion was equal to any surfeit of raw chestnuts—or raw turnips for that matter, if the season supplied no lighter dainties, or of next to anything that could be picked up and eaten. I know I drew the line only at the huge, white, oversweet mulberries strewing the grass by the swings in Mulberry Lane, that favourite scene of the war to the knife we waged under the name of Old Man and Bands, primitive games not to be outdone by the Tennis and Hockey of the more sophisticated modern school girl.

The minute the Refectory was left for the noonday hour of recreation on a brisk autumn day, there was a wild scamper to the woods where, just beyond the gate that led into them, the hoary old chestnut trees spread their shade and dropped their fruit on either side the hill between the Poisonous Valley, a thrill in its deadly name, and the graveyard, few crosses then in the green enclosure which now, alas! is too well filled. The shadow of death lay so lightly upon us that I recall to-day only the delicious rustle of eager feet through the fallen leaves, and the banging of stone upon stone as hickory nuts cracked between them, I feel only the delicious pricking of the chestnut burrs in the happy, hardened fingers of the school girl. And these, anyway, are memories I share with every Philadelphian who, as a child, wandered in the suburbs or the near


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 and a life of William Nicholson (1782-1849) [q. v.] the Galloway poet.

 MACDONALD, ALEXANDER, third, and tenth (d. 1449), was the eldest son of Donald Macdonald, second lord of the Isles [q. v.] by Mary Leslie, daughter of the Countess of Ross. The Earl of Buchan, to whom his father the regent Albany had in 1415 granted the earldom of Ross, died in 1424 at the battle of Verneuil. Thereupon the earldom of Ross was restored by James I to the mother of Alexander of the Isles, who assumed the authority of the earldom, with the style of master of the earldom of Ross.

In 1425 Alexander of the Isles sat as one of the jury who condemned Murdac or Murdoch, duke of Albany. Not long afterwards he was engaged in rebellious proceedings in the north, and he was summoned to attend a parliament at Inverness in 1427, when he and other chiefs were at once seized and confined in separate prisons. The Countess of Ross was also apprehended and imprisoned (, Continuation of in Hearne's ed. iv. 1283–4). A large number of the chiefs were executed, but Alexander of the Isles, on promise of constant loyalty in future, was about 1429 set at liberty. Immediately afterwards he assumed the title of Earl of Ross, not, as has been supposed, on the death of his mother, for she was alive as late as 1435 (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1400–36, p. 633), but merely as an assertion of independence, and to enable him to assert his authority over the earldom. Having collected the full fighting strength of Ross and the Isles, he, at the head of ten thousand men, wasted the crown lands round Inverness, and rased the royal burgh to the ground (, ed. Hearne, iv. 1285). With great rapidity James collected a large force, and overtook him in Lochaber. On the approach of the royal army the Clan Chattan and Clan Cameron deserted their leader, and the highland warriors, thus weakened and disheartened, and cramped in their movements by the marshy nature of the ground, suffered on 29 June 1429 an overwhelming defeat (ib.) The pursuit was followed up so hotly that Alexander sent an embassy to treat for a peace, but the king, disdaining to deal with a subject on terms of equality, refused to enter into negotiations, and returned to Edinburgh, leaving directions that every effort should be made for his capture. Finding his position desperate, Alexander journeyed secretly to Edinburgh, and on the eve of the festival of St. Augustine presented himself, in suppliant attitude and clothed only in his shirt and drawers, before the king, queen, and court in front of the high altar of the church of Holyrood, and in token of submission delivered up his sword. The king spared his life, but sent him a prisoner to Tantallon, under the charge of William, earl of Angus, while his mother was also imprisoned in the island of Inchcolm (ib. p. 1286).

The imprisonment of their chief was deeply resented by the clan, and a cousin, Donald Balloch, resolved on revenge. Collecting a large force of islesmen, he sailed to Lochaber, which he ravaged with fire and sword. A powerful force, gathered to oppose him under the Earls of Mar and Caithness, and was completely routed at Inverlochy, the Earl of Caithness being slain, and Mar barely making his escape with the remnants of the royal army. Donald then continued the work of plundering and ravaging, and after amassing a large booty retreated to the Isles, whence he passed over into Ireland (ib. p. 1289). The king soon afterwards undertook an expedition against the Isles, but was met at Dunstaffnage by the chiefs, who gave in their submission (ib.) So satisfied was the king with their excuses that he not only refrained from punishing their insurrection, but shortly afterwards conferred on Alexander a free pardon for all his crimes, and set him and his brother at liberty.

During the remainder of the reign of James I, Alexander of the Isles gave him loyal obedience. In 1438, after the death of James I, he was appointed justiciar of Scotland north of the Forth, and took advantage of the prerogatives of his office to revenge himself on the chief of the Clan Cameron for his desertion by depriving him of his lands, and compelling him to seek refuge in Ireland. With the Earls of Douglas and Crawford he also in 1445 entered into a treasonable league against the infant prince, James II. He died at his castle of Dingwall, and according to the ‘Breve Chronicle of the Earles of Ross’ was interred in the chanonry of Ross on 8 May 1449.

By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Seton, lord of Gordon and Huntly, he had a son John [q. v.] who succeeded him. He had also two other sons, Celestine, styled also Archibald, and its Gaelic equivalent Gillespie, lord of Lochalsh and Lochearne; and Hugh (Gaelic, Huistean), also called Austin, and Augustine, lord of Sleat. These two sons are usually supposed to have been children of his lawful wife, but as entries in the Exchequer Rolls clearly show that John was younger than they, the presumption is that they were sons merely by


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A the daring partisans of the war, few have rendered such valuable services to the cause as Captain John S. Mosby.

His exploits would furnish material for a volume which would resemble rather a romance than a true statement of actual occurrences. He has been the chief actor in so many raids, encounters, and adventures, that his memoirs, if he committed them to paper, would be regarded as the efforts of fancy. Fortunately, there is very little fancy about "official reports," which deal with naked facts and figures, and those reports of these occurrences are on record.

It is only necessary to glance at the Captain to understand that he was cut out for a partisan leader. His figure is slight, muscular, supple, and vigorous; his eye is keen, penetrating, ever on the alert; he wears his sabre and pistol with the air of a man who sleeps with them buckled around his waist; and handles them habitually, almost unconsciously. The Captain is a determined man in a charge, dangerous on a scout, hard to outwit, and prone to "turn up" suddenly where he is least expected, and bang away with pistol and carbine.

His knowledge of the enemy's character is extensive and profound; his devices to deceive them are rarely unsuccessful. Take in proof of this a trifling occurrence some time since, in the neighbourhood of Warrenton. The enemy's cavalry, in strong force, occupied a position in front of the command which Captain

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 . Of several daughters, Margaret married John, twelfth earl of Sutherland, and Florence, Duncan MacIntosh, ninth of MacIntoch.

 MACDONALD or MACDONNELL, ALEXANDER or ALASTER (d. 1647), general, was a younger son of Coll Keitache (a name abbreviated into Colkitto in the lowlands, and sometimes incorrectly applied to his son Alaster). Coll Keitache is said to have married an O'Cahan, while tradition gives her the name of Macneill. He may have been married twice, but if so there is nothing to show which of the two wives was Alaster's mother. The father had long struggled against Argyll and the Campbells in the Western Isles, and was at last driven out in 1639. He migrated to the coast of Antrim, where other branches of the Macdonalds had long been settled, and where they were generally known as Macdonnells, a variant used by some branches of the clan remaining in Scotland. Coll Keitache was accompanied or followed by his son Alaster, a youth of gigantic frame and strength (, Macdonnells of Antrim, pp. 55–62).

The Macdonnells, with their head, the Earl (afterwards Marquis) of Antrim, were Roman catholics, and when the Ulster insurrection broke out in 1641, Alaster, who had before consented to serve in a regiment enlisted for the king by Archibald Stewart, threw up his post and took the side of the insurgents, carrying with him two companies. With these, on 2 Jan. 1642, he routed Stewart's six companies near Kilrea in co. Londonderry, surprising them in the early morning. He was soon joined by large numbers of Irish, routing Stewart a second time on 11 Feb. at the Laney, near Ballymoney in co. Antrim, and a third time on 8 April at Bendooragh, near the same place.

The arrival of a Scottish army under Robert Monro made resistance in Antrim for the present impossible, and Alaster retreated into the county of Londonderry, joined Phelim O'Neill, and shared in his defeat by Sir William Stewart on 16 June at Glenmayne, near Raphoe (ib. pp. 62–76).

Alaster appears to have been wounded in this fight, and does not come again into notice till 1644, when Antrim was fitting out an expedition with the help of the confederate catholics to recover the lands of the Macdonalds from the Campbells, and to hold out a hand to the projected enterprise of Montrose in Scotland. Alaster was placed in command of the expedition, which sailed on 27 June from Passage, near Waterford, in three ships and a pinnace, and consisted of sixteen hundred men levied from Antrim's tenants, most of them, if not all, being Scoto-Irish (ib. pp. 76–80). After five days he anchored in the Sound of Isla, and, landing in Ardnamurchan on 8 July, wasted the land with fire and sword, seizing on the castles of Mingary and Loch Alyne to secure his retreat. Finding that the Macdonalds in Scotland were too much under the fear of the Campbells to join him, he resolved to return, but found that the Campbells had burned or seized his vessels. He then marched off hoping to reach the territory of Huntly, the hereditary enemy of the Campbells. He was regarded with suspicion by the clans. Seaforth, the head of the Mackenzies, barred the way against him. Repulsed everywhere he reached Badenoch, where he received a summons from Montrose to meet him at Blairgowrie. But for Montrose's prompt arrival on the scene he would have been attacked, and perhaps crushed, by the Stuarts and Robertsons. Highland clans would serve under Montrose, they resented the intrusion of a Macdonald, who was but one of themselves.

Alaster's Scoto-Irish were invaluable to Montrose. They formed a steady nucleus round which the shifting highland levies might rally and wear themselves capable of martial discipline. They took part in the chase which is styled the battle of Tippermuir, and contributed much to the victory at Aberdeen. Then Alaster was sent off to secure his two castles in the west, and to gather recruits among the Macdonalds in those parts. He brought with him five hundred men to take part in the ravages of Argyll and the battle of Inverlochy, fought on 2 Feb. 1645. The Macdonald clans formed the bulk of the highland levies which fought under Montrose. Among them Alaster's services as a recruiting sergeant were invaluable. At Auldearn, on 9 May 1645, he commanded Montrose's right wing, where he showed himself a good soldier, somewhat of the Homeric kind, dashing out from the ranks, slicing off the heads of pikes, and slashing at the enemy with his broadsword (, chap. x.) He was present at the capture of Dundee and the subsequent masterly retreat, but was away on a recruiting expedition when the battle of Alford was fought on 2 July, though he returned soon afterwards, bringing with him fourteen hundred highlanders. He lent himself with difficulty to Montrose's tactical combinations, and at Kilsyth on 15 Aug. he


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 VIII. PELHAM " THE GALLANT." On the morning of the 17th of March, 1863, Averill s Federal Cavalry, three thousand in the saddle, crossed the Kappahan- riock at Kelly s Ford, and attacked about eight hundred of General Fitz Lee s command, who faced, without shrinking, these great odds, and fought them stubbornly at every point throughout the entire day. When the sun set on that tranquil evening sinking slowly down behind the quiet forest, unstirred by the least breath of wind the long and desperate struggle was decided. The enemy was retiring, " badly hurt," and General Stuart added in his dispatch : " We are after him. His dead men and horses strew the road." No harder battle was fought during the entire war. The Southern forces won the day by hard and desperate fighting, in charge after charge : but lost in the struggle some of the most valiant hearts that ever beat. Puller, Harris,, and Pelham were among the number the "gallant Pelham" of the battle of Fredericksburg. He was in the performance of his duty as Chief of Artillery, and was riding towards his General, when a regi ment of cavalry swept by him in a charge. He was waving his hat aloft, and cheering them on, when a fragment of shell struck him on the head, mortally wounding him. He lingered until after midnight on the morning of the 18th, when General Stuart telegraphed to Mr. Curry, of Alabama : "The noble, the chivalric, the gallant Pelham is no more.

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 precipitated the battle by an uphill charge, without orders from the general, a charge, however, which contributed greatly to the victory which followed.

After the battle Alaster entered Glasgow with Montrose, and was sent forward into Ayrshire, where he plundered and levied contributions (Letter of Neill Montgomery, 13 Sept., in, Macdonnells of Antrim). He was knighted by Montrose on 3 Sept., but he shortly afterwards forsook him, leaving, however, behind him seven hundred of his men, who shared Montrose's fortunes at Philiphaugh. There is not sufficient evidence to enable us to trace the motives of Alaster's withdrawal. He may have intended to return as he had returned before, and his leaving seven hundred behind, a number which must have been the entire remains of the force which he brought with him from Ireland, looks as if it was so. His Macdonald allies were anxious to return to resist the barbarities of the Campbells, and Alaster may very well have shared their feelings. He was never a royalist in the sense in which Montrose was a royalist. He fought for his race and religion, not for any special form of government.

At all events, Alaster held out in the western highlands. In the summer of 1646 he was joined by Antrim, and refused to disband at the bidding of the king, who was by that time in the hands of the Scots. He remained in arms after Montrose left Scotland. He was unable to hold out very long. In May 1647 he was attacked in Kintyre by the combined forces of Argyll and David Leslie (, i. 89;, Memoirs, pp. 45, 47; Montreuil to Mazarin, June 8–18, Archives des Affaires Étrangères at Paris, vol. lvi. fol. 145, 163). The greater part of his followers were butchered by the victorious covenanters, but he himself, with a few companions, escaped to Islay, and before long to Ireland.

Once in Ireland Alaster brought his sword, and the swords of men whom he had probably recruited among his kinsmen in Antrim, to the service of the confederate catholics. He was present on 8 Aug. at the battle of Dungan Hill, where the confederates were defeated by Michael Jones and four hundred of Alaster's men slain (‘Relation of the Battle of Trim’ in, Nunziatura, p. 243). After this he joined Lord Taaffe, the commander of the forces of the confederates in Munster; and at Knocknanuss, between Mallow and Kanturk, where Taaffe was defeated by Inchiquin on 13 Nov. 1647, he was killed by an officer of Inchiquin's while he was either negotiating for a surrender (ib. p. 268) or, according to other accounts, after he had been admitted to quarter (‘Aphorismical Discovery’ in, Cont. Hist. of Affairs in Ireland, i. 175; Hist. of the War in Ireland, by a British Officer, p. 73).

 MACDONALD, ALEXANDER, or MacIAN of (d. 1692), was the chief of a sept of the Macdonalds inhabiting Glencoe, a desolate valley on the borders of Argyll and Inverness. The founder of the clan was John, surnamed Fraoch, natural son of Angus Og of Isla, and brother of John Macdonald, first lord of the Isles [q.v.]. His mother was a daughter of Dougal MacHenry, then the leading man in Glencoe, where Fraoch settled as a vassal of the Lord of the Isles. This branch of the Macdonalds was also known as the Clan Ian Abrach, probably from the fact that one of their chiefs was fostered in Lochaber (, Western Highlands, p. 67). Macdonald of Glencoe was one of the chiefs who joined Graham of Claverhouse at Lochaber in 1689, and also took part in the rising in the northern highlands under General Buchan. He is represented in the ‘Grameid’ as ‘terrible in unwonted arms, covered as to his breast with raw hide, and towering far above his whole line by head and shoulders’ (p. 124). The author of the ‘Life of Ewan Cameron’ describes him as ‘a person of great integrity, honour, good nature, and courage,’ and as ‘strong, active, and of the biggest size, much loved by his neighbours, and blameless in his conduct’ (p. 321); but the eulogy must be interpreted according to highland notions of honour. The clan were probably the most inveterate robbers in the highlands; but as those they spoiled were for the most part either Campbells or lowlanders, their thieving exploits rather elevated than lowered them in the esteem of the other highland clans. They had, however, necessarily earned the special enmity of the Marquis of Breadalbane, who, when the government began negotiations for a settlement with the clans that had been in rebellion, gave MacIan to understand that he expected reparation for their long-continued depredations. As MacIan would thus at least be deprived of any share in the money distributed to win over the chiefs, he had no interest in the success of the negotiations, and he used every effort to thwart them. It was not till he learned that every other chief but himself had succumbed to bribes or


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 threats that he became convinced of the necessity of taking the prescribed oath and thus saving his clan. On 31 Dec. 1691, the day before the period of indemnity expired, he presented himself for this purpose at Fort William, but found no civil magistrate there to take his oath. This neglect was probably, both from a moral and legal point of view, sufficient to free him from responsibility, but on the advice of the governor, Colonel Hill [q. v.], he hastened to Inverary alone on foot through the mountain passes, then covered with snow, and ultimately, by his urgent request, induced Sir Colin Campbell of Ardkinglass, sheriff of Argyllshire, to administer to him the oath on 6 Jan. 1692. The declaration was sent to Colin Campbell, sheriff clerk of Argyll, who was then at Edinburgh, with instructions to lay it before the privy council, but Sir Gilbert Elliot, clerk of the council, refused to receive it, and other members of the council whom he consulted were of opinion that it could not be received without a warrant of the king. The matter, however, was not brought before the council, nor was MacIan informed that his declaration had not been received. It was generally known that he had subscribed the oath, but no formal notice was given to the government.

The government had taken for granted that some chiefs would refuse the oath, and such a contingency was regarded as rather desirable than not, especially in the case of the Macdonalds of Glencoe. Secretary Dalrymple wrote to Sir Thomas Livingstone: ‘Argyll tells me that Glenco hath not taken the oath, at which I rejoice’ (Papers relating to the Highlands of Scotland, p. 62). Instructions signed on 16 Jan. 1692 directed that ‘if M'Kean of Glencoe and that tribe can be well separated from the rest, it will be a proper vindication of public justice to extirpate that sect [sept] of thieves’ (ib. p. 65); and the instructions were supplemented by a letter of Dalrymple entreating that for ‘a just example of vengeance’ they should ‘be rooted out in earnest’ (ib. p. 66). To effect this purpose stratagem was necessary. It was determined to quarter on the clan 120 men of Argyll's regiment under Captain Campbell of Glenlyon. The captain declared to MacIan that his intentions were entirely friendly, and MacIan unsuspectingly received his guests with ungrudging hospitality. Campbell remained in Glencoe for a fortnight, making himself thorough master of all the peculiarities of its situation, and sending information to his superior, Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, in regard to the best method of massacring his hosts. Hamilton committed the duty of guarding the passes to Major Duncanson, and that officer, on Hamilton's instruction, transmitted the following orders to Campbell: ‘You are hereby ordered to fall upon ye M'Donalds of Glencoe and putt all to ye sword under seventy. You are to have a special care that the old fox and his son do on no account escape yor hands; this yow are to put in execution at 5 o'clock precisely’ (Major Duncanson's Orders to Robert Campbell, 12 Feb. 1692, ib. p. 73). The morning of 13 Feb. was the time fixed for the massacre. Boisterous weather prevented Major Duncanson from arriving in time to set a guard on the passes, but Campbell's orders were imperative. The doomed clan had no opportunity of fighting, and the assassins succeeded in massacring outright thirty-eight, while many women, old men, and children perished in the snow during their flight to the hills. MacIan himself was shot through the head while rising to give directions for the reception of his unexpected guests, and his wife died next day from the cruelties received from the soldiery. But a considerable number of the clan, including the two sons of MacIan, succeeded in escaping. Gradually details of the massacre became known, and as Dalrymple [see, first Earl of Stair] had many enemies among the Hanoverians, no less than among the Jacobites, the government found it necessary to consent to a parliamentary inquiry. The report of the commission, subscribed 20 June 1695, affirmed that the execution was ‘contrary to the lawes of humanity and hospitality;’ but the ‘excess of zeal,’ of which Dalrymple was declared guilty, was afterwards ‘remitted to him,’ and none of the principal or subordinate agents of the massacre were brought to justice.  MACDONALD, ALEXANDER or ALESTAIR (d. 1724). [See .] MACDONALD, ALEXANDER, (1700?–1780?), Gaelic poet, born at Dalilea on Loch Shiel, Argyllshire, it is supposed in 1700, was second son of Alexander MacDonald, M.A. (‘Maighstear Alasdair,’), the episcopal clergyman of Ardnamurchan. The father, a man


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 of great physical strength and endurance, belonged to a cadet branch of the family of Clanranald, and maintained the spiritual direction of his wide mountain parish long after his deposition from his living as a nonjuror in 1697. The poet was intended by his father for holy orders, and by his chief, Allan Macdonald (d 1715), twelfth of Clanranald, for the law, and, apparently with the assistance of the latter, attended several terms at Glasgow University. His university career appears to have been cut short, but his works abundantly illustrate his familiarity with classical literature. An early marriage with a clanswoman, Janet Macdonald of Dalaneas in Glenetive, tended to throw him early on his own resources. It appears from the records of the presbytery of Mull in September 1729 that he had then for some time occupied the position of teacher and catechist in his native parish of Ardnamurchan, in the service both of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in the Highlands and Isles, and of the committee for managing the royal bounty granted by George I to the general assembly in 1725. He thus associated himself with the presbyterian church, and becoming an elder as well as a schoolmaster, he moved his residence several times within the bounds of his wild and extensive parish, teaching first at Eilean-Fhionan (Ellan-Finnan), afterwards at Kilchoan, and finally at Corrieoulin, where his farm lay at the base of Ben Shianta, and near the ruins of Mingarry, with views over Tobermory and the Sound of Mull. At Corrieoulin he wrote his ‘Gaelic and English Vocabulary,’ published in Edinburgh in 1741, on behalf of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. It was the earliest book of the kind. Although successful as a teacher, his part as an elder was less happily sustained. He appeared as commissioner from his parish with a petition to the presbytery of Mull on 6 Dec. 1732, ‘to moderate a call’ for a minister, when his own candidate, Daniel Maclachlan, was a man of very bad character. In another case of ‘fama clamosa,’ he, in company with Kinlochmoidart and Hugh Macdonald [q. v.], Roman catholic bishop, lodged in March 1744 a complaint of immorality against Francis Macdonald, presbyterian preacher in Strontian, and at one time Roman catholic priest in Moidart. It is probable that at this time Macdonald had become a Roman catholic; at any rate he threw up his appointment under the presbyterian society at the beginning of the following year, and, as an avowed member of the old religion, joined the Jacobites in support of the Chevalier.

Macdonald held a commission in the highland army under his cousin, Charles MacEachainn, who mustered Clanranald's tenants in Arisaig and the neighbourhood; and in many an impassioned address to the clans, notably in the song still sung in the district, in which the Chevalier is addressed as a highland maiden, he proved himself the ‘sacer vates’ of ‘the '45.’ He took his full share of the campaign of 1745–6, and after Culloden wandered with his elder brother Angus from one hiding-place to another in his native district. The passing of the Act of Indemnity gave him again a settled home. He had lost his property, and Clanranald made him baillie or land-steward of the Isle of Canna, and afterwards gave him the farm of Eigneig on the Glenuig estate. There he seems to have composed most of his poems, which he published in a collected form in 1751 in Edinburgh, under the title of ‘Ais-eiridh na Sean Chanoin Albannaich.’ The volume breathes the most determined spirit of antagonism to the government and detestation of the Hanoverian family. Yet, except in its most virulent stanzas, it is a fine contribution to martial literature. Its publication so soon after the rising was an act of audacity which caused his friends much misgiving, and some verses of a licentious character, published by Macdonald about the same time, seem to have led to his expulsion from Eigneig, and enforced migration to Knoydart, treatment which he resented in very stinging verse. Later he was settled in Arisaig, first at Camus-an-Talmhuinn, and later at Sandaig. Here he lived to a great age, and died about 1780. His last act was to correct some of his own verses which two of the watchers in his chamber, thinking him asleep, were reciting to each other in low tones. He was buried in the cemetery of Kilmhoree, Arisaig.

His eldest son, Ranald, also a poet, removed to Eigg. The farm of Laig in that island remained in the family till the emigration of the poet's great-grandson Angus to the United States about 1850. Angus Macdonald, when the American civil war broke out, received a commission in the 11th Wisconsin regiment, and was distinguished for his gallantry. He was desperately wounded and died at Milwaukee after the war; with him seems to have ended the poet's direct line.

By common consent Macdonald was excelled by none in the merit of his war-songs, such as the ‘Moladh an Leoghainn’ and his addresses to the clans. The ‘Birlinn Chlainn Raonuill,’ with its redolence of the sea, is probably the best piece he wrote, and has been paraphrased by Professor Blackie with as much success as a translation of Gaelic poetry ever admits of. Macdonald's wealth of lan-