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SPECIMEN

OF THE

ORIGINAL OF TEMORA.

BOOK VII.

ADVERTISEMENT.

poems.

It is thought proper to give a specimen of the original Gaelic, for the satisfaction of those who doubt the authenticity of Ossian's The Seventh Book of TEMORA is fixed on for that purpose, not from any other superior merit, than the variety of its versification. To print any part of the former collection was unnecessary, as a copy of the originals lay, for many months, in the bookseller's hands, for the inspection of the curious. Though the erroneous orthography of the bards is departed from, in many instances, in the following specimen, yet several quiescent consonants are retained, to shew the derivation of the words. This circumstance may give an uncouth appearance to the language, in the eyes of those who are strangers to its harmony. They ought, however, to consider, that a language is put to the severest test, when it is stripped of its own proper characters; especially when the power of one of them requires, sometimes, a combination of two or three Roman letters to express it. MACPHERSON.

[graphic]

A

SPECIMEN

OF THE

ORIGINAL OF TEMORA.

BOOK VII.

O LINNA doir-choile na Leigo,
Air uair, eri' ceo taobh-ghórm nan tón;
Nuair dhunas dorsa na h'oicha

Air iulluir-shuil greina nan speur.
Tomhail, mo Lara nan sruth,
Thaomas du'-nial, as doricha cruaim:
Mar ghlas-scia', roi taoma nan nial,
Snamh seachad, ta Gellach na h'oicha.
Le so edi' taisin o-shean

An dlu'-ghleus, a measc na gaoith,
'S iad leamnach, o osna gu osna,
Air du'-aghai' oicha nan sian.
An taobh oitaig, gu palin nan seoid,
Taomas iad ceäch nan speur,
Gorm-thalla do thannais nach béo,
Gu ám eri' fón marbh-rán nan teud.

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