319 



the Doctor has printed his description in Hnes, as if it were verse, it is 

 as downright prose as the Irish. In some of the Doctor's Unes there 

 are ten syllables, and in others but six. In the Irish extract we have 

 not given the names of the horses, but it is not now too late to say 

 that they are the same, or very nearly the same, as those given by 

 Doctor Smith. In this particular Macpherson differs from both, 

 calling his first horse Sithfada, an epithet which the Doctor included 

 in his description, and told us his name was Liaomaishah. It is 

 foreign to our purpose to offer any criticisms on the translations of 

 either the Doctor or Mr. Macpherson, yet, we cannot avoid observ- 

 ing, that from the Doctor's translation of the lines " Gheibhte in tois- 

 each a charbaid," and " Gheibhte in deire a charbaid^" — " First in 

 the car is found" and " Last in the car is found," it would appear 

 that the horses were yoked one before the other, or, according to the 

 literal translation of his Gaelic words, one horse was yoked in the 

 front of the car, and the other in the rere. Macpherson, like the 

 Irish, more mechanically places his horses side-by-side. It is need- 

 less to observe that the Society's "original " is here, as in every other 

 place, by no means like ancient Gaelic verse, and in every respect 

 carries on its face marks of its modern fabrication. 



In the second Book of Fingal we find Swaran demanding from 

 Cuchullin his spouse and dog, which the latter indignantly refuses. 

 In Doctor Smith's Cento, p. 216, we find the story told in the fol- 

 lowing manner : 



" Thainig tiachdaire san uair 

 Origh Lochlain na mor shluagh, 

 Cis a thabhairt d'a lamh 

 No Eirinn uile f hagail." 



" Cha ghabh e ach corag dluth 

 No do bhean is do chu fa bhrieth." 



Se freogairt a chuir sinn uainn 

 Gu righ Lochlain na mor shluaeh 



