Ossian Collection > Dean of Lismore's book

THE BOOK OF
Pity she 's not with me,
And others have her not.
That I myself might get
For evermore that friend.
Were I to suffer from,
Wliat other men have felt.
The spear of great CuchuUin,
The horse of white-steed Teagiie,
The pm-ple shield unbroken,
Famous all in war ;
The speed of Mac Erc's coursers,
Though much it is to say,
Alas, more sad for me
The trouble I endure.
Duncan M'Pherson.^
Alexander, hast thou left thy sadness,
Or is it so that thou canst not ?
Hast thou without God passed another year,
Or dost thou mean to live thus ever ?
Hast thou not found thy God,
Now that thou'rt aged and grey ?
If sadness be prosperity,
Eich are the gifts thou'st got from God.
Four men met at the grave,^
The grave of Alexander the great ;
They spoke the words of truth,
1 Tliis writer was probably an eccle- poemsmaJeliyRonaldM'Donald,scliool-
siastic, but nothing is known ol' him. master of Eigg, son of Alexander M'Don-
ald, the famous Skye bard. M 'Donald's
^ This composition is one of the few edition was most likely taken down from
of the more recent fragments in this MS. oral recitation, and it is remarkable how
which appear elsewhere. We have a little it differs from this of the Dean's,
copy of it in the collection of Gaelic 250 years before.