MACPHERSON'S TRANSLATION. Retire, for it is night, my love; "The dark winds sing in thy hair. "Retire to the halls of my feasts; 640 "Think of the times that are past. "I will not return till the storm of war is ceased. "O Connal! speak of war and arms, "Is the white-bosomed daughter of Sorglan." Connal, slow to speak, replied, "Guard against the race of ocean. "Send thy troop of night abroad, 650 "And watch the strength of Swaran. "Cuthullin! I am for peace, "Till the race of Selma come; "Till Fingal come, the first of men, "And beam, let the sun, on our fields !" 655 The hero struck the shield of alarms, 660 And swam on the gloomy clouds; And far distant, in the dark silence of Lena, The feeble voices of death were faintly heard. NEW TRANSLATION. "Retire from the rock; it is night (my love); "O Connal, by the tale of war, 645 "Banish from my mind the daughter of heroes, 650 "Whose face is fair, with her locks of gold, "The daughter of illustrious Sorglan." The soft-speaking Connal replied; "Set a watch over the strangers of ocean; “Place a troop in yonder grove, "To observe the motions of Swaran. "Cuchullin, my soul is for peace, Till, from lofty Alba, they come, 655 "The brave warriors, with Fingal, the king, "The chief of heroes in the strife of the field." 660 He struck, as a signal, his shield. The watch moved along on the hills. * Account of the battle. 665 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. IN a literal translation of almost seven hundred lines of epic poetry, executed in the vacant intervals of a few days, amidst a variety of important avocations, little choice of expression, or elegance of style can be expected. All that could be attempted or proposed was, to convey to the mind of the English reader, in plain and perspicuous language, the great and leading ideas of the Gaelic Bard. But nothing can be more unfair than to form an estimate of the beauty and sublimity of the original poem, from the present imperfect imitation. Nothing, indeed, could have induced the translator of this specimen, to intrude himself upon the public, in a situation in which he must be exposed to much criticism and censure from a variety of quarters, and in circumstances so unfavourable, but considerations which, he trusts, will plead for him in the mind of every candid reader. The preceding sheets of the accompanying Dissertation, were in the hands of the printer, and nearly printed off, before he was applied to for the present translation; and some days more elapsed before he could engage (on account of previous arrangements) to furnish it. For this reason, he wished to decline the undertaking. But no other person, at hand, was thought of, who could do it in so short a time; and the writer being urged to the performance, could not deny any assistance which he was thought capable of rendering to the gentlemen, who, with much personal trouble, were engaged in publishing the following edition of the poems of Ossian; nor appear wanting in any exertions in his power, to throw light on a subject which has so long and so keenly agitated the literary world. The foregoing translation is faithful, as far as the translator understood the meaning of the words in the two languages; and literal, as far as he was capable of rendering the words of the one language literally into the other. Of this, not only the Gaelic, but also the Latin scholar, will be able to form a judgment. The lines of each translation are numbered on the margin, and are referred to in the Notes, as follows, viz. M. T. Macpherson's Translation; and N. T. New Translation. 'N. T. line 1. Cuchullin.] Sometimes it is written Cuthullin. Let it here be observed, that in reading the poems of Ossian, the letters th in proper names, ought always to be pronounced as a gentle aspirate, or like h only. The letters c and g, ought always in the same circumstances, to be pronounced hard. 2 N. T. line 2. In the shade of a RUSTLING TREE.] "Literally, "Under the shadow of the tree of the sounding (not rustling) leaf." But as the sound of the leaves of a tree is a rustling sound, the translation is perfectly good, and abundantly literal. 3 N. T. line 3. His spear leaned against the ROCK OF CAVES.] It is well known to those who are in any degree acquainted with Gaelic composition and discourse, that in poetical language, and particularly in descriptive poetry, it is very common for the speaker, when describing any natural object, instead of using epithets expressive of the circumstances or qualities of that object, to use the genitive plural of the corresponding noun; as in the instance before us, of the rock of caves or caverns, instead of the caverned or clefted rock. It is equally well known to all who have attended to the subject, that this form of speech in Gaelic, is peculiar, or nearly so, to poetical language; and that the frequent use of it in common conversation, or in prose composition, would be laughed at by the most illiterate Highlander, as the effect of the grossest ignorance or affectation. The omission of these circumstances or qualities by a translator, when no appropriate epithets occur in his own language, is a manifest injustice to the original poet. Of this injustice, Mr. Macpherson is often guilty; an example of which occurs in this same line, which he translates, His spear leaned against a rock. This translation is the more faulty, as it is probable that the poet meant, not merely to say that Cuchullin's spear leaned against a rock in general; but that it leaned against some particular rock, near Tura, well known to those to whom the poem might have been recited, and distinguished from all other rocks in the neighbourhood of that place, by its containing several caves or caverns. The writer of the foregoing new translation, has retained the original form of expression, as often as it was possible consistently with the idiom of the English language. When this could not be done, he adopted the most appropriate epithets which occurred to him. Thus, in line 8, the description of the son of Fithil, who, in the original is said to be swift, and of high steps, is translated, “The swift high-bounding son of Fithil.” Both these epithets, so happily descriptive of a frightened scout, are omitted by Mr. Macpherson, who was not sparing of epithets, in many cases, where they could be used with much less propriety than the above. It may be proper to observe, that the frequent occurrence of the form of expression above alluded to, shews that the original work has at least high pretensions to poetical distinction. N. T. line 6. A hero he had slain in WAR.] The word garbhchòmhrag, here translated war, literally signifies fierce conflict, and its meaning does not necessarily require that war should be here understood in the general acceptation of that word. The circumstance, indeed, of Cuchullin's thoughts having dwelt so much on the death of this particular hero, seems to imply that the death of Cairbar was the consequence of a personal encounter with him. But as war, in those days, was generally carried on, and battles were fought by a species of multiplied single combat, in which man grappled with man, and chief with chief; and as the original does not positively bear that this event happened in single combat, as now understood, the word war has been retained in this translation as sufficiently literal. 5 N. T. line 11. Chief of the FEAST.] The word féill, here translated feast, does signify a feast, but it is a feast of a particular kind, for which the translator knows no name in the English vocabulary. The proper Gaelic of an English feast or entertainment is cuirm, or fleagh. The word féill signifies that entertainment which the chief gave to his vassals, and at which he himself presided; and it includes the company present, as well as the feast by which the company was entertained. Hence, in modern language, féill signifies a fair or market, which certainly includes the idea of the people, who in fact constitute the fair, as well as of the goods exposed for sale, and the amusements there expected or enjoyed. From these remarks may be seen the |