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THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 23EEMNANTS OF GAELIC POETEY.The name of Laclilan Macpherson, Esq. of Stratlimashie, is well knownto those wlio are conversant with the dissertations on the i^oems of Ossian,Abont the year 1760 he accompanied his neighbour and namesake, JamesMacpherson, Esq. of Belville, in his journey through the Highlands insearch of those poems, he assisted him in collecting them, and in takingthem down from oral tradition, and he transcribed by far the greater partof them from ancient manuscripts to prepare them for the press, as statedby himself in a letter to Dr Hugh Blair of Edinburgh. He was beyondall doubt a man of great powers of mind, and a Celtic poet of no meanorder. He died at the comparatively earlj^ age of forty years, greatlylamented by his contemporaries, leaving behind him no written literaryproduction.Fragments of INIr Laclilan IMacpherson's poetry, hitherto unpublished,AviU be acceptable to those who have done so much of late to promote theinterests of Celtic literature. In some of his poems, composed in thesportive exercise of his poetic genius, he makes the same objects the subjectsof his praise and censure alternately. We give the followingspecimens :On the occasion of a marriage contract in his neighbourhood, the poethonoured the company with his presence. The important business of theoccasion having been brought to a close, the bridegroom departed, butremembering that he had left on the table a bottle not quite empty, hereturned and took it with him. The poet, viewing this as an act of extrememeanness, addressed the bridegroom as follows :Caineadh an Domhndllaich.'S toigh learn Ddmhnullach neo-chosdailnach coltach e ri each.'N uair bhios iadsan ag iarraidli fortainBidh esan 'n a phrop aio; fear caisMa bha do mhathair 'n a mnaoi choirCha do ghleidh i 'n leabaidh pbosda glan,Cha 'n 'eil cuid agad do Chloinn Domhnuill,'S Rothach no Eosach am fear.'N uair a bhuail thu aig an uinneigCha b' ann a bhuinnigeadh cliu,Dh' iarraidh na druaip bha 's a' bhotul,Mallachd fir focail a' d' ghiur.We give a free translation of the above into English, far inferior,however, to the Gaelic original :Macdonald Satirised.1 like to see a niggard man,One of the great Macdonald clan ;When others are in quest of gainThis man the needy will sustain.Your mother, if an honest dame,Has nut retained her wedlock fame ;No part is Mac from toi) to toe,You're either Kose or else Munro.When to the house you turned your face,Let it be told to your disgrace,'Twas for the dregs you had forgot,The Poet's curse be in your throat.