Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/455

 10 s. xi. MAY s, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

375

THE RHINE A FRENCH BOUNDARY (10 S. xi. 307). The answer appended to SIR J. K. LATJGHTON'S query is incorrect in one par- ticular. Alfred de Musset's " Nous 1'avons eu, votre Rhin allemand," was an answer, not to ' Die Wacht am Rhein,' but to a feeble effusion called the ' Rheinlied,' which begins : Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, Den freien deutschen Rhein.

It appeared in 1840, and made a great sensation ; a prize was offered for the best setting, but the accepted tune is no better than the words. ' Die Wacht am Rhein ' was written about the same time by Max Schneckenburger ; but the tune by Car Wilhelm, which made it famous, was no composed till 1854.

I do not remember that De Musset' answer to the ' Rheinlied ' was sung by th French in 1870. H. DAVEY.

MACNAB LEGEND (10 S. xi. 208). Dean Ramsay in his ' Reminiscences ' gives (p. 1 70 an anecdote about the " last Laird of Mac nab, before the clan finally broke up anc emigrated to Canada " ; and another is recorded in Black's ' Picturesque Tourist o Scotland ' in a foot-note to the article on Killin. I need not repeat the anecdote, but we are told in the text that Killen 4< was the ancient abode of the clan Macnab, whose burial-ground is situated in a pine-covered island in the midst of the river Dochart, a little

above the village This departed clan, though

mall had remarkable renown in its day. Their country was the glen of the Dochart, and the house of their chief was Kinnell, close to Killin. The whole of this property, with various other petty estates, has been merged within the vast area of the Breadalbane possessions."

In an article in these pages on the origin of the word " Cymry " I quoted (10 S. v. 366) from a very interesting little work, 4 Antiquities of Strathearn,' by John Shearer. It contains an account of the feuds of the "Neishes and M'Nabs," apparently the local traditions. The M'Nabs at some remote period all but exterminated the Neishes in a pitched fight at Glenbolrachan, " which divides two hills rising due north of Lochearnfoot." A large stone marks the spot where the chief of the Neishes fell,

covered^with dagger wounds ; and stains of blood, " which cannot by any means be effaced," are still visible on it. After an indefinite lapse of time, we find the chief of the M'Nabs located at Kinnel in the reign of James V., and the Neishes occupying as banditti the island in Lochearn. The band robs M'Nab's man-servant on his way home from Crieff, laden with his master's purchases.

On learning of the outrage, M'Nab, who had twelve sons, the weakest of whom could drive his dirk through a two-inch board, and among them loin mion Mac an Appa ("smooth John M'Nab"), exclaimed before his formidable progeny : " Bhi'n oiach an oiddch na 'm bu ghillean an gillean" ("The night is the night if lads were but lads "). On the hint, his sons, led by Smooth John, started off across the hills from Loch Tay to Loch Earn, carrying with them a " pleasure boat " ; and at the end of their journey they espied in the robber's gloomy mansion old Neish sitting alone by the fire, and gave a loud tap at the door. In answer to the old man's question, they said : " Co bhu dorra leat a' bhi arm ? " ( " Who would you like worst were here ? ") and he replied, " Smooth John M'Nab." They then burst the door in, and Smooth John, seizing the old man by his remaining grey hairs, " twisted him below his knee " and severed his head from his body. The other members of the family were quickly butchered in their various hiding-places, except one little boy, who had crept under a bed, and who after- wards settled peaceably in the neighbour- hood, to become the ancestor of all the Neishes of the present day inhabiting Strathearn and Strathallan. The M'Nabs left the island with the chief robber's head, and, abandoning their boat on the hillside, " where some of its mouldering timbers were seen not long ago," returned with their ghastly trophy to their father's hall. On seeing it, M'Nab cried out " Na boidh fromgh oirbh ! " (" Dread nought "). Hence the arms and motto of the M'Nabs, a motto since known on mightier waters than the little loch of Strathearn. J. P. OWEN.

ERNISIUS : A PROPER NAME (10 S. x. 388 471 ; xi. 33, 155). I am afraid MR. ELLIS did not notice my letter at xi. 33. His

nstances are very interesting, and after MR. MARTIN'S testimony that there is a name

Srnisus, I am quite disposed to believe in

hem.

In the face, however, of the evidence I lave given of cases in which the name of

his particular Nevill, when examined for

this special purpose, proves to be Hervey or Herve, I am, I think, entitled to say that MR. ELLIS' s entries, which I understand to be taken from printed Calendars or books, are not of any value until they have been re-examined as to this particular point. It is conceivable that the n ought in all

cases to have been read this has been settled by

as u, and until reference to the