54 



of my departure is at hand," 2 Tim. iv. 6. But the translator discovered that the Earse had 

 no word equivalent to departure, as expressive of death, which was therefore omitted, and . 

 from the poverty of language, the voice of departed bards, was translated, guth nam bard nach 

 beo ; not being, not alive." 



We have quoted this passage from Laing, to shew not only the modern date of the Gaelic, 

 but to give the reader an opportunity of comparing it with the second original which Mac- 

 pherson produced, and Sir John Sinclair published. 



The latter runs thus : 



Se |i;utb ciain mo ruin a t' ann ! 

 Neo-mhinic gann ga m'aisUng fein tha. 

 Fosglaibh siblis' bhur talla thall. 

 Shinns're Thoscair nan ard spear ; 

 Fosglalbh sibhse dorsa nan neul. 

 Tba Malmbina ga dian fo dheur. 



Est vox lenii mei amantls quae adest.! 



Inrreqnens rara ad ineam ipsins somnium tu Tenia. 



Aperite vos vestrum domiciliam ultra (nubes) 



Proari Toscaris arduarum spbaeraram 



Aperite vos portas nabiam. 



Est Malvina vehementer snb lacr^mis. 



There is such a marked discrepancy between the two versions, both in diction and ortho- 

 graphy, that one might be excused for supposing them to be extracted from different compo- 

 sitions. The fact seems to be, that the former was the first literal translation from the 

 English, and that the second is an improved copy, which has undergone the same process 

 of alteration as translations generally experience, and as is particularly exemplified in the spe- 

 cimens quoted by Doctor Johnson of Pope's translation of the Iliad, in his life of that poet. 



The Highland Society, in the XVth Number of the Appendix, has published " Passages 

 extracted from ancient Gaelic Poems, in the possession of the Committee, with a literal trans- 

 lation by Doctor Donald Smith, compared with parts of the Epic Poem of Fingal, as pub- 

 lished by Mr. Macpherson." 



These passages are collected from different sources, and have but a very distant resem- 

 blance to Macpherson's English Fingal, and, of course, to its Gaelic translation. Some of 

 them, we suppose, are borrowed from old Irish poems, lines and phrases at least ; others are 

 of modem fabrication. " Son of Cairbre, from the red tree," chraoibh ruaidh of the red 

 haanch, is evidently indicative of the Irish knights who were designated by that title. Instead 

 of Cuchullin sitting by the wall of Tura, Daol, is represented in the first of these passages, as 

 watching the ocean, and then hastening to apprize the king of Tara of an approaching fleet of 

 invaders, led, not by Macpherson's Swaran, but by Garve, the son of Stamo. His description 

 of the chief shall be given here both in the Gaelic and the English, that the reader may com- 

 pare them with Macpherson's. 



