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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General Introduction
- Introduction to Volume 2
- Chronology of the Life and Major Works of Andrew Lang
- A Note on the Text
- Acknowledgements
- I CRITICS AND CRITICISM
- 2 REALISM, ROMANCE AND THE READING PUBLIC
- 3 ON WRITERS AND WRITING
- 4 SCOTLAND, HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
- ‘The Celtic Renascence’, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (February 1897)
- Introduction to Sir Walter Scott, Waverley, Or ’Tis Sixty Years Since (1893)
- ‘At the Sign of the Ship’, Longman's Magazine (November, 1887)
- ‘At the Sign of the Ship’, Longman's Magazine (July 1896)
- ‘At the Sign of the Ship’, Longman's Magazine (August 1896)
- Introduction to J. Vyrnwy Morgan, A Study in Nationality (1911)
- ‘History As She Ought To Be Wrote’, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
- ‘At the Sign of the Ship’, Longman's Magazine (May 1896)
- ‘New Light on Mary Queen of Scots’, Blackwood's Magazine (July 1907)
- ‘M. Anatole France on Jeanne d'Arc', Scottish Historical Review (1908)
- From The Maid of France: Being the Story of the Life and Death of Jeanne d'Arc
- 5 THE BUSINESS AND INSTITUTIONS OF LITERARY LIFE
- APPENDIX: Names Frequently Cited By Lang
- Explanatory Notes
- Index
‘At the Sign of the Ship’, Longman's Magazine (November, 1887)
from 4 - SCOTLAND, HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 October 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General Introduction
- Introduction to Volume 2
- Chronology of the Life and Major Works of Andrew Lang
- A Note on the Text
- Acknowledgements
- I CRITICS AND CRITICISM
- 2 REALISM, ROMANCE AND THE READING PUBLIC
- 3 ON WRITERS AND WRITING
- 4 SCOTLAND, HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
- ‘The Celtic Renascence’, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (February 1897)
- Introduction to Sir Walter Scott, Waverley, Or ’Tis Sixty Years Since (1893)
- ‘At the Sign of the Ship’, Longman's Magazine (November, 1887)
- ‘At the Sign of the Ship’, Longman's Magazine (July 1896)
- ‘At the Sign of the Ship’, Longman's Magazine (August 1896)
- Introduction to J. Vyrnwy Morgan, A Study in Nationality (1911)
- ‘History As She Ought To Be Wrote’, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
- ‘At the Sign of the Ship’, Longman's Magazine (May 1896)
- ‘New Light on Mary Queen of Scots’, Blackwood's Magazine (July 1907)
- ‘M. Anatole France on Jeanne d'Arc', Scottish Historical Review (1908)
- From The Maid of France: Being the Story of the Life and Death of Jeanne d'Arc
- 5 THE BUSINESS AND INSTITUTIONS OF LITERARY LIFE
- APPENDIX: Names Frequently Cited By Lang
- Explanatory Notes
- Index
Summary
It is not uncomplimentary to the Celtic spirit, I hope, to say that the Celtic spirit is a little impracticable. ‘They don't know what they want, and they won't be satisfied till they get it,’ said an Irish orator of his own countrymen. This is the aspiring temper, incapable of yielding to circumstances, which Mr. Matthew Arnold calls ‘Titanic’ when it exhibits itself in literature. The ancient Celts had a law, it appears, which punished a man who, when arrayed in line of battle, ‘stuck out too much in front.’ This contempt of circumstances, which made the Celts of old decline to be frightened even by earthquakes, displays itself in the whole Celtic land difficulty. Land cultivated in a certain fashion, that is in small lots, does not pay in some places. A Teuton would therefore give up his farm. But the Celt won't; he just stops there.
A few weeks ago I had the chance to see a very wretched sight, a Highland eviction, which illustrated these Titanic Celtic qualities.
It was a very wet afternoon, and I was walking along Strathwhacket (let us call it), in conversation with a charming old Highlander. He carried my rod and creel (empty), but his conversation was as good as any one is likely to find anywhere. He spoke of Montrose's wars, and was not on the side of the Argyles. He spoke of the Taishtaragh (I think he called it) or second sight. ‘Every man sees three sights in his lifetime they say,’ he remarked, and confessed that he had not even seen one ‘sight’ yet. ‘But there is a man at Fort William who sees everything that is going to happen.’ I suggested that this gentleman might make a rapid fortune if he would turn his inspired gaze on the British Turf, but at that moment we noticed a great brown smoke hanging in the wet air. It was an eviction. The ‘sight’ was not of the supernatural kind which the gillie spoke of, but it was fit to make a mark on the memory. Beyond the river there was a high, wooded hill, all blue in the rain.
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- The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Selected Writings of Andrew LangLiterary Criticism, History, Biography, pp. 198 - 199Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2015