page_title: Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair
section_title: An Airce
hierarchical_section_title: Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair / Life / Ais-Eiridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich / An Airce
context_page_description: Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, legal name Alexander MacDonald, was a Scottish war poet, satirist, lexicographer, political writer and memoirist. He was one of the most famous Scottish Gaelic Bards of the 18th century. He served as a Jacobite military officer and Gaelic tutor to Prince Charles Edward Stuart.
context_section_description: Ais-Eiridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich included the poem, An Airce "The Ark," a biting satire aimed at the Whigs of Clan Campbell. 
  Like the Irish language Bard Brian Merriman, Alasdair begins by parodying the conventions of the Aisling, or Vision poem. In the Aisling genre, the poet is out in the countryside and meets a figure, usually a woman, from the Otherworld. The figure will lament her lot under foreign tyranny, call upon her sons to liberate her, and prophesy the return of justice when the House of Stuart regains the throne. In Alasdair's hands, the convention is given an cynical and comedic twist.
  Instead of a woman, the Bard describes a meeting with the ghost of a Campbell who was beheaded for supporting the Stuart claim to the throne. The ghost then tells the Bard that the Campbells will soon be punished for committing high treason against their lawful King, first being visited by the Ten Plagues of Egypt and then by another Great Flood upon their lands.
  The Bard is instructed to emulate Noah by building an Ark for carefully selected Campbells. The moderates will be welcomed aboard the Ark's decks after being purged of their Whiggery by swallowing a heavy dose of seawater. Campbell redcoats are to be tied with millstones and thrown overboard. 
  A female poet of the clan who had mocked Prince Charles and accused him of illegitimacy was to be treated to a fitting punishment before being delivered right into the Bard's hands.
  Ma Thig a bhan-bhárd na d'lionamh
  Ostag mhío-narach an an Obain,
  Ceanagail achdair r'i do bhrandi,
  Go bi toirt dram do'n a rónamh:
  Ach ma chinnis i na Jonah
  'S a sluggadh beo le muic-mhara:
  Go meal i a cairstealan fheólain;
  Ach a sgeith air córsa Chana.
  "If the poetess comes into your nets,
  The shameless little female pubkeeper from Oban,
  Tie an anchor of brandy to her
  To give a dram to the seals.
  "But if she becomes a Jonah,
  And is swallowed alive by a whale,
  May she enjoy her fleshy quarters
  Provided she be spewed up on the coast of Canna."
  Also, Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure, who has been appointed as the Crown's Factor on the forfeited lands of Clan Stewart of Appin, is one the few Whigs for whom the ghost confesses a certain respect: 
  Ge toil leam Cailean Glinn Iubhair
  B' fheàrr leam gu 'm b' iubhar 's nach b' fheàrna;
  Bho 'n a threig e nàdur a mhuinntreach,
   'S gann a dh' fhaodar cuim thoirt dà-san.
  Cuir boiseid de ionmhas Righ Deorsa,
  De smior an òir mu theis-meadhon;
   'S ìobair e 'Neptun ge searbh e,
  Mur grad-ainmich e 'n righ dlighneach.
  "Though Colin of Glenure I much esteem,
  Would that he was not alder but true yew;
  Since he forsook the allegiance of his sires,
  To be reprieved is not his due.
  "A girdle of the treasure of King George
  Of finest gold around his middle fling,
  And to the sea-king offer him, though hard,
  Unless at once he name the rightful King".
caption: Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes: An Aisling, 1883
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