Selections from the Gaelic Bards : Metrically Translated With
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/i,/VÌ. I 7 EXLIBMS if HEW- MORRISON D|1 I J Vv T> SELECTIONS THE GAELIC BARDS. SELEOTIOISrS THE GAELIC BARDS, METRICALLY TRANSLATED, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACES AND EXPLANATORY NOTES. ORIGINAL POEMS, THOMAS PATTISON. GLASGOW: PRINTED BY ARCHIBALD SINCLAIR, 62 ARGYLE STREET. iLAUniSTON CASTLEI — PREFATORY NOTICE. Thomas Pattison was a native of Islay. He was designed for the Church, and after receiving a fair elementary education at the Parish School of Bowmore, was sent to the University of Edinburgh, and afterwHTds to that, of Glasgow. In the latter he completed his studies, and became thereafter a licentiate of the Church of Scotland. His excellent attainments, enthu- siasm in various departments of literature, and singular modesty of character, endeared him to his family and friends ; and his death, at an early age, was profoundly mourned. The friends of Mr. Pattison, on whom devolved the duty of ushering these Metrical Translations and other Literary Remains into the world, are indebted to one who was his early school companion and dear friend, now a clergyman of the Church of Scotland, for the following truthful and eloquent tribute to his sweet and gentle memory : " Without pronouncing an opinion on the merits of this work as a literary composition, I am disposed to think that those who are capable of estimating the difiSculties that surrounded the task of which these Translations are the performance, will hail them as at least a valuable contribution to a branch of study which has h VI PREFATORY NOTICE. hitherto received but scant measure of consideration. Perhaps it may be questioned whether Mr. Pattison did not attempt too much in the task which he set himself, and whether the result at which he aimed was not beset by unnecessary hindrances to a felicitous poetical translation. In presenting his readers with a version of Gaelic Poems, that conveys not only the substantial but the literal meaning of the originals, and that combines the original metres, line for line, with the English element of rhyme, it is plain that he had one fruitful source of embarrassment to contend with from which the Bards were free. At the same time, such as can compare the Translations w^ith the originals, must acknowledge the remarkable fidelity with which even the most difficult passages have been rendered ; and, although they may censure the plan on which the Translations were projected, they will not fail to make allowance for the difficulties it entailed. Even in this particular the Translator's aim was high. " But while anticipating for the volume a hearty welcome at the hands of all for whom the poetry and literary activity of an ancient and kindred people have attractions, I fear it will give the reader little insight into the fair proportions of the Trans- lator's mind. Those who knew his devotion to English Literature, his accurate and profound acquaintance with its history, his severe study of its greatest Masters, and the fine combination of strength and culture with which he latterly approached it, will feel with me that the translation of Gaelic Poetry was not a fair test of his literary powers, and that no amount of success in it can indicate the full extent of the loss sustained by us in his death. All who enjoyed his private friendship, are aware that his work on " The Gaelic Bards," was little more than an effi)rt in a bypath of his studies and pursuits. If I am not mistaken, the impulse to it may be traced, in a great measure, to the " Highland Tales," published by Mr. John Campbell, of Islay. Being asked to assist in the collection of materials for that work, Mr. Pattison responded by giving his cordial co-operation. The result was an enthusiasm in the cause of Gaehc Literature and PREFATORY NOTICE. VU Antiquities; an enthusiasm that gave a certain permanence and character of real lifework to a pursuit accepted in the first instance as a recreation. It led him step by step, insensibly, away from his first intention. The search for fugitive Gaelic lore in prose and verse, languishing in every remote glen of his native Highlands, led to independent researches, and a careful perusal of the compositions of the Bards known to be in print. With a feeling of sadness, pardonable in a Highlander, he saw that the men of Celtic blood were being rapidly absorbed into communities of Anglo-Saxon lineage — and to rescue the poetry of the Clansmen from dying with the Clans, he set himself the task of transfusing it into the English tongue. The field was new to him, but he entered on it with the ardour of one who was engaged in a labour of love. It brought him once more in contact with the scenes and associations of his boyhood. It opened up glimpses of a national life which had for him the freshness of the sea-breeze and the scented heather, in the rambles of a long vacation. The student of Dante and of Shakespeare, of Goethe and of Burns, felt that it was indeed holiday-time with him on Ben-Dorain and in Coire-Cheathalch with Duncan Ban, or with Macdonald and his boatmen aboard of the famous Birllnn of Clan-Ranald. " It was a vigorous and patriotic effort; a right pleasant recreation to begin with, conducted with infinite spirit and very rapidly completed. If it bears on it, as we see it now, in a posthumous volume, the marks of haste, I am convinced it is because he felt that the fruits of more important avocations were ripening, and that the claims of larger plans were pressing. Although, therefore, the subject to which he devoted himself thus heartily for a time, was congenial to his sentiments and feelings, it certainly was not what he himself would have regarded as most in harmony with the natural bent and development of his genius, or as the proper fruit of his life's true work. " At the time when these Translations were commenced, his health indeed was such as might well justify him in making a digression from the main course of his pursuits, for in youth he possessed the strength and litheness of an athlete; but, alas! the Vlli PREFATORY NOTICE. hand of death sta)'ed him, so that he returned not to the old paths. It may be said that in what was but an interlude in the great game of life, for which he had trained himself with rare patience and fortitude, he sank upon his shield. In this volume, hastily- prepared, we have at once his salutation and farewell : Moritui-us nos salutat. "We looked for his speaking to us from the heart of English Literature, with which few men of his years stood in such close relationship of thought and feeling. Old letters are beside me still, indicating a genuineness of discipleship to the leaders of thought in English speech, from Chaucer to Wordsworth and Tennyson, such as warranted the hope that he would, one day, himself become a master, the influence of whose teaching would be felt. " He wrote much (that must still be accessible) during the years in which his reading was most extensive and his plans were being matured. Even his letters alluding, as they do, from time to time, to the subjects on which he was engaged, are themselves full of critical notices and discussions of points of literary interest, with sonnet or song, or stanza in heroic verse, interspersed by way of offset to the prose, many of which are worthy of being recast in a form of greater permanence. Must we despair of seeing a selection made from these remains by a kindly and discriminating hand? I cannot but beUeve that some such selection would amply justify the expectations of his friends, if it would also embitter the poignancy of their regrets. FeeUngs of regret are already strong in the brea-sts of those who knew him best; —they feel that his sun went down, not while it was yet day, but before the radiant promise of the morning had broadened into noon. They could wish that years had permitted him to vindicate his devotion to letters, and his choice of a secluded and studious life, as weU as to prove to a wider circle, than that of friends, that he had rightly estimated his powers and understood his mission. Some of those who began life with him, may have made more of it in a way, and succeeded better in the world, as the world goes. Some, no doubt, regarded him as unpractical, dreamy, perhaps even PREFATORY NOTICE. IX indolent; for his life was a hidden life to such. They and he dwelt far apart. Yet few men were more sagacious, or less visionary, making allowance for difference of pursuits, and fewer still could have resisted for so long a period the drain made by protracted vigils and incessant mental effort on the vital powers. Few of the busiest, in your busy city, worked harder in his own way, or knew less of idleness. A disposition naturally retiring, joined to a sensitive and gentle spirit that was too just to take advantage of the weakness of others, and too proud to stoop to anything that partook of artifice, was somewhat out of joint, perhaps, with the usual conditions of success. There were others, however, who knew how to hold such a man in estimation. In their eyes, he was a man who had deliberately made choice of his vocation, and was following it out, in the spirit of an earnest faith ; but a man, besides of genial temperament, who was sincere in his friendship, and honourable in all things.