When she was no longer able to read to herself she liked a visitor to read to her. The performance was perfunctory enongh. Her wonderful memory kept her, often quite audibly, a word ahead of the reader, perhaps to make sure she was not being imposed on. Among my latest visits one not actually the last, is cherished as such in my memory, because of its pleasantness and her softened mood. She had asked me to read the metrical version of the forty-fifth Psalm. When we came to the verse:—
‘They shall be brought with gladness great,
And mirth on every side,
Into the palace of The King,
And there they shall abide,'
her unusual silence made me lift my eyes. There were tears in the furrows of the strong, old face; her eyes were raised, and her hands clasped, as she said with holy rapture, ‘And that’s what’s before me.’ The Orphan was nearing her Father’s house.
QUERIES
St. Columba of the Graves
In a reaping blessing quoted in Mr. A. Carmichael’s interesting Carmina Gadelica (vol. i. p. 249) the following lines occur:—
For the sake of Michael head of hosts,
Of Mary fair-skinned branch of grace,
Of Bride smooth-white of ringleted locks,
Of Columba of the graves and tombs,
Colomba of the grares and tombs.’
Why is St Golumba specially associated with graves?
St. Maolrithe and St. Maolruan
In Mr. Carmichael’s book, named above (vol. i. p. 285), a prayer is quoted in connection with ‘Guarding the Flocks,’ in which the following lines are found:—‘May Maolrithe keep the sheep . . . From the fox and the wolf,’ ‘May Maolruan keep the kine On soft land and hard land.’
Is Maolrithe to be identified with St. Maolrise, otherwise St. Finlagan, who is believed to have given name to Knock Mulreesh in Islay near which is his chapel—Cill Fheileagan?
Is Maolruan simply a diminutive of St. Maelrubha’s name? Bishop Reeves in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (vol. iii. pp. 271-2) gives nearly forty variants of Maelrubha’s name, but Maolruan is not one of them.J. M. Mackinlay.
