Hew Morrison Collection > Minor poems, and translations, in verse

THE AGED BARD'S WISH.
Th e following Gaelic poem, of which a translation has been hei-e attempted,
is certainly a curious and valuable relic of antiquity. That it was composed
subsequent to the times of Ossian is manifest from the author's having
adopted the pastoral style of composition, which does not appear to have
been a characteristic of the Ossianic era.
This production is held in great estimation by native Highlanders, and
deservedly so ; for there is an ardour of enthusiasm and a force of expres-
sion pervading it, to v.hich no translation can do justice.
More than one metrical version of the " Aged Bard's Wish " has, some
time ago, appeared, though certainly none is deserving of notice excepting
that of the late Mrs Grant of Laggan. But, in the opinion of the present
translator, that lady must have met with a very garbled and mutilated
copy of the original, as several stanzas have been totally omitted. And,
without disparaging or depreciating her acknowledged merit, she appears
occasionally, in her poetic enthusiasm, to have lost sight of the actual sen-
timents of the bard. Whatever may be deemed the merits or defects of the
translation now offered, the author of it has been fortunate enough to
obtain what he considers an entire and genuine copy of the Gaelic poem.
He has also availed himself of a suggestion made by Henry Mackenzie, the
Addison of Scotland, to IMrs Grant, (which she did not adopt,) by insert-
ing the Gaelic original ; and such of his readers as may happen to be con-
versant with the peculiarities of that language will, he flatters himself,
feel disposed to make some allowance for the difficulties he had to encoun-
ter ; for, in his zeal to adhere as rigidly as possible to the archetype, he
has frequently found himself inevitably compelled to make use of words and
phrases, which, if merely a matter of option, he would have avoided.