P88 9 
of thofe Irifh ballads and romances which have, in thefe lat= 
ter ages, become the foundation of the numerous ideal fuperftruc-. 
tures relative to the hiftory and antiquities of this ifland. 
MARBH-RANN OSCAR. 
faye SEE eee 
Mo laoch cael u, laoch mo Jaoch. Leanabh mo leanabh, ghil cha--6mh 
O my own youth, youth of my youth, Child of my child, ‘gentle, _valiant,. 
sass eee 
rich Of—car. 
My heart cries like a blackbird’s. For ever gone, never to rife, O Ofcar, 
Mo chroidhe lium—-nich mar long, Gulath bhrath cha n’ei 
As the verfification of this poem is evidently bardic, if we 
could be certain of the mufic being the original air we might 
form fome idea of the ftate of that art among the Hibernian . 
bards. One circumftance, however, feems in fome meafure to 
confirm its authenticity; the tune to which the fong of the 
death of Ofcar is fung, both in the weft of Ireland and Hitghs: 
lands of Scotland, is nearly the fame.. 
THE 
