41 



. " Gather all the shining tribes^" reminds us of the gathering of 

 the clans, a comparatively modern practice. Men in arms and in 

 orderly array before a battle, may be compared to sunshine before a 

 storm. But what similitude have they sweeping along the heath, i. e. 

 the plain, to Ross's sun-beam on the mountain top ? Ross gives us 

 in the four concluding lines, what Macpherson expresses with more 

 force and beauty in two. " Morven echoing over all her oaks," is 

 truly grand and poetical. How cold and insipid after this is the "sound 

 heard from the tufted Morven and from the leafless oak on the plain ?" 

 Can any one doubt that the latter is an attempt to improve upon the 

 former, as tasteless as it is abortive ? 



Macpherson, 193. 



Morna ! fairest of maids ! 



Calm is thy sleep in the cave of the rock, 



Thou hast fallen in darkness, like a star 



That shoots across the desert ; 



When the traveller is alone. 



And mourns the transient beam. 



Ross. 



Morna ! fairest of maids ! 



Calm is thy sleep in the cave of the rock ; 



The delight of the people is fallen 



As a nightly star sparkling in the vale : 



The lonely traveller is sad 



When the light begins to fail. 



Macpherson's apostrophe is beautiful. What could more strikingly 

 express the premature fate of Morna fallen in darkness, than the com- 

 parison to a star shooting across the desert ? Ross's nightly star spark- 

 ling in the vale, presents an image of permanent rural tranquillity. 

 The original conception is totally mistaken and misrepresented in the 

 Gaelic version, translated by Ross. What can be more flat and spirit- 

 less than " The light beginning to fail ?" In the image of the genuine 

 poet, there is no beginning nor progression. It is instantaneous, and 

 conveys the most striking idea of transient, evanescent existence. 



VOL. XVI. G 



