Between the 1715 and 1745 rebellions, an English official called Burt wrote from the Highlands, describing the process which so greatly increased the number of Smiths there. He referred to Glengarry. "Some few years ago, a company of Liverpool merchants contracted with the chieftain of this tribe, at a great advantage to him, for the use of his woods and other conveniences for the smelting of iron; and soon after, they put their project in execution, by building of furnaces, sending ore from Lancashire, etc."The decimation of English forests for this most wasteful of purposes had been forbidden, and so the Highlands were stripped instead, and the scanty soil of their hills exposed to galloping erosion. Burt described the strife between competitive Smiths, resulting in a murder followed by a public hanging of the culprit.
Of course, the profession is as ancient as the skill of the Celtic iron-workers who swept across Europe and colonised Britain before Caesar' s invasion. Margaret Fay Shaw recorded a Gaelic ballad of the Smiths in her Folksongs and Folklore of South Uist. With its fusion of Ossianic and old Norse themes, it remained one of the most popular in the entertainer' s repertoire. One name for a smith is Ceard, and to this day people refer to vagrants as 'Ceardan' , after the travelling tin-smiths, often descendants of broken clans, who used to travel the Highlands, mending pots and pans. But the Smithy Ballad (Duan na Ceardaich) also calls the smith Gobhainn, and with his long tradition of hereditary professions the Gaelic Smith signs himself Mac a' Gho bhainn.
The island of Lewis, that last bastion of Scottish Gaelic culture, has naturally produced distinguished Sons of Smiths to this day. John Angus Smith, wartime naval commander, distinguished educationalist, Vice-Principal of Jordanhill College since 1956, belongs to Lochs, although he was born in North Uist and reared in Mull. lain Mac a' Ghobhainn, the most distinguished poet and author of this name in Scottish history, was born at Bayble in Lewis. In 1965 his collection of Gaelic poetry Biobuill is Sanasan-Reice was published, while he has issued three volumes of short stories, An Dubh is an Gorm, Burn is Aran and Maighstearan is Ministearan. Amongst his English poetry, 'Deer on the High Hill' was received with particular acclaim. Under the English form of his name, lain Crichton Smith, he has also published several novels and short stories.
He has himself published a translation of the Gaelic poem in which he expresses the stresses of his bilingual heritage. "In the dress of the fool, the two colours that have tormented me-English and Gaelic, black and red, the court of injustice, the reason for my anger, and that fine rain from the mountains and these grievous storms from my mind streaming the two colours together so that I will go with poor sight in the one colour that is so odd that the King himself will not understand my conversation."The poem does not use the word Breacan: the colours of the tartan have run.
Another poet of this name presents a rare example of quite different origins. In contrast to those Scots who have earned distinction after emigrating abroad, Sydney Goodsir Smith was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and came to Scotland to become a leading poet using the Lowland Scots tongue. His Skall Wind was published in 1941, Figs and Thistles in 1959, and Carotid Cornucopiusin 1964.