ss 



Highland Society's ancient Gaelic. 



Gum be sad am fear madhant 

 I> e na staaigb alia mara cliogain 

 Cbite an laoch mar aiteal ceo 

 B'amhail is crann ginsaicb (a mhoid) 

 A no an corag nan cothao dlutb 

 Mar am fenr fn an osaig cbiuia. 



Translation by Br. Donald Smith. 



Tbeir chief, dexterous in arms. 



Is a rock bending orer our shore, 



I beheld the hero like a spreading mist ; 



(Tall) be seemed as a pine of the forest 



In the array of the hosts, close waving 



Like the grass that is mored b; the gentle breeze. 



Maepherson's Gaelic. 



Coimeas do 'n charraig an triath, 



A sbleagh mar ghiubhas air scor-bheina, 



jMar ghealaich ag eirigh a sgiath : 



Shiudh e air carralg san traigh 



Maran ceo tha thall air a bbeinn 



'S lionar, a chinn-nidhe nan daimb 



Lamh chombraig, a dh'eireas leat fein. 



Ross's Translation. 



The hero is like a rock, 



His spear like a fir on the moantain cliff. 



Like the rising moon his shield ; 



He sat upon the rock on the shore. 



Like the mist on yonder hill. 



Leader of strangers, nnmeroas 



Are the impetaons hosts which rise with tbee. 



Maepherson's English. 



Tall as a glittering rock. 



His spear is a blasted pine. 



He sat on the shore. 



Like a cloud of mist on tbe silent bill. 



FiMGAt, Book I. London, 1773. 



Which of these is the original ? We have no hesitation in boldly affirming, the last, 

 Maepherson's English ; because it is more brief and simple than the others, which are evi- 

 dently amplified improvements. It is not to be imagined that Macpherson, with a Gaelic ori- 

 ginal before him, containing the simile of the shield to a moon, would have omitted it in 

 his version. In the subsequent edition of 1789, after he had time to embellish, he inserted 

 " his shield the rising moon." which has accordingly been translated into the Gaelic, and pre- 

 sented to a credulous public, as the genuine original composition of Ossian ! 



