If our readers, however, are of another opinion, they may look
at it.
'Ah! gentle, fleeting, wav'ring sprite,
Friend and associate of this clay!
To what unknown region borne,
Wilt thou now wing thy distant flight?
No more, with wonted humour gay,
But pallid, cheerless, and forlorn.' p. 72.
However, be this as it may, we fear his translations and imitations are
great favourites with Lord Byron. We have them of all kinds, from
Anacreon to Ossian; and, viewing them as school exercises, they may
pass. Only, why print them after they have had their day and served
their turn? And why call the thing in p. 79 a translation, where _two_
words ([Greek: thelo legein]) of the original are expanded into four
lines, and the other thing in p. 81, where [Greek: mesonychtiois poth'
ho rais], is rendered by means of six hobbling verses?--As to his
Ossianic poesy, we are not very good judges, being, in truth, so
moderately skilled in that species of composition, that we should, in
all probability be criticizing some bit of the genuine Macpherson
itself, were we to express our opinion of Lord Byron's rhapsodies.
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