58. 



the freshness and simpUcity of an original. Such being our judgment 

 from passages of Sir John's, or Ross's own selection, how much a for- 

 tiori would it be strengthened, were we to institute a comparison with 

 passages selected by ourselves ? But we waive our advantage, being 

 fully satisfied that the Gaelic, from which Ross made his version, is a 

 translation from Macpherson's English Ossian; and that the materials 

 of the latter are to be found in the Greek, Latin, and English poets, 

 in the Hebrew Scriptures, and the Irish Fenian tales. 



ADDENDA. 



Mr. Laing informs us that " the original Earse of Malvina's dream, was produced by the 

 translator at Lord Kaims's request. The greatest difficulty was to produce the English ori- 

 ginal : for a ballad in blank verse of eight syllables, with a few occasional rhymes, may enable 

 us to conceive the extreme facility of composition in his vernacular tongue. In the following 

 verses there are neither the numbers of ancient, nor the ryhmes of modern poetry, nor the 

 artful alliteration of the Scalds and of the Irish bards, but the same rude rhythm or cadence, 

 with his measured prose." > 



Se gatb nnaim mo ilun at ano ! 

 0'>' ainmic ga aisliag Mhaliuhin, tha 

 Fosglaibhse ialla nau speur, 

 Aitbriclie Tlioscair nan cruai bbeam , 

 Fosglaibbse dorsa nan nial, 

 Tha ceaina Mbalmbioe gu dian. 



It was tbe voice of m; love. 



Seldom art tbou in tbe dreams of Malviua. 



Open jour airy balls, (balls of tbe sky,) 



O fatbers of Toscar of sbields, (bard blows,) 



Open tbe gates (doors) of your clouds ; 



The steps of Malvina (Malvina's departure) are near. 



On these lines he observes, that "if the massy halls of Selma, its towers, and its shaded walls, 

 are inconsistent with the wattled huts of the third century, we discover here the gothic hall, 

 and its doors by name. Talla, a corruption of hall, occurs neither in O'Brian nor in the old 

 description of Tigh Teamhra, the hall or house of Temora ; — and dorus, a door, is a word 

 equally universal among the northern nations, and inconsistent with Ossian. Speur, spier, 

 the sky, is confessedly the Latin spheera. * * * * The last line, the steps of Malvina 

 in the first edition, of Malvina's departure, are near, is transcribed from Scripture, " the time 



