The moon's faint beams beheld the frantic deed, By her pale light my kindred host shall bleed. Once more I feel my wonted ardour burn,'Once more I go, but never to return!' * NOTES ON MORDUT H. No. 1. Blest be the meek-ey'd virgin of thy love.-P. 374. THERE is an affecting delicacy in this address to the hunter, whom the bard evidently means to address in such a strain of soothing gratitude as would be most likely to please and interest him. He does not directly compliment him, but seems to know this tender mention of "The meek-ey'd virgin of his love," any would gratify the sincere and artless lover more than expression of kindness directed to himself:-the succeeding allusion to his manner of life is equally appropriate. No. 2. Cold LOCHLIN's smooth ships thro' the stormy surge. P. 375. on, and What proves this poem to be of considerable antiquity, is, the Norwegian vessels Somadh-leng, smooth ships, in contradistinction to those of our ancestors, which were covered with skins with the hair appear indeed to have been little more than currachs, or round vessels formed with osier twigs and covered with hides, which have been used to cross ferries in Argyleshire in the memory of many now living. Yet the period in which this poem was composed appears to have been long subsequent to the FINGALIAN times; for we hear of cills, or tombs, on the sca-side, and of one sovereign under whose sway all the chiefs seem united, In the age of Fingal the four grey stones seem to have been the only memorial of the warrior or the hunter, No. 3. Said MORFOLT, " let no warrior further come.-P. 386, MORFOLT appears to have been a Norwegian, thrown by a tempest in his youth upon the British coast, where receiving much kindness, and being captivated with the beauty of a maiden whom he calls BOSMINA, smooth soft hand, he had been induced to reside in the land of her kindred; but now, in sorrow for her death, and remorse for fighting against his own countrymen, devotes himself to certain destruction. The fragment breaks off abruptly, and leaves the sequel of the story in obscurity, THE AGED BARD'S WISH: TRANSLATION OF A GAELIC POEM COMPOSED IN THE ISLE OF SKY. "As when a minstrel, taught by Heav'n to sing, "Awakes high raptures to the vocal string. POPE'S ODYSSEY. I. OH! lay me by yon peaceful stream That glides away so softly slow, Where boughs exclude the noon-day bean, And thou, O sun! with friendly eye Regard my languid limbs of age; While on the new spring grass they lie, Their warmth restore, their pains assuage. *See note No. 1. III. Then on the pure stream's sloping side, IV. The primrose pale, of lovely dye, And golden blooms bedeck my bed. From lofty banks that bound my glen, While sweetly from each rocky den, VI. Where from yon crag, with age so grey, The fresh stream bursts with rushing sound, And echo bears the din away, While ocean's distant waves resound. VII. Each rock and hill returns the strain Of nature's joy that wakes around, While sportive kids in frolic vein, And roes in sprightly gambol bound. VIII. The low of herds on yonder gale IX. And near me let the hinds repose, Oh! wake the chace where I may hear My cheek glows youthful at the sound. I feel youth's cheerful spirit rise, Then quick I see the goats rebound, The verses after this correspond with those of the same number in the original. |