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
