Mithich domh triall gu tigh Pharais, ’N uair a’ ghuin gun e soirbh. Cosnaim an tigh treun gun choire, Gun sgeul aig neach ’eil oirnn. Dean do sriuth ri do shagairt ’S coir cuimhne ach gu dlù umad ole. Na beir do thigh righ gun agh Sgeul a’s priomh ri agradh ort. Na dean folchainn a’d pheacadh, Ge grain ri innseadh a h-ole; Leigeadh de’d chuid an cleith diomhar, Mur be angair a gabhail ort. Dean do shith ris an luchd-dreuchd, Ge dona, ge anmhuinn le’d chor, Sguir ri’d lochd, do ghul dean domhain, Mu’m bi olc ri fhaighinn ort. Mairg a threigeadh tigh an Ardrigh, Aig ghràdh peacaidh, turagh an ni, An t-olc ni duine gu diomhair Iomadh an sin fiachan mu’n ghniomh. Aig so searmoin do shiol an Adhaimh, Mar shaoilim nach bheil se an bhreug, Fulang a bhais seal gu seachainn An fear nach domh gu’n teid. Fhir a cheannaich siol an Adhaimh D’fhuil, a cholla, ’us da chridhe, Air a reir gu’n deanadh sealga, Ger ge dian ri ’m pheacadh mi. _English Translation._ ’Tis time for me to go to the house of Paradise While this wound is not easily borne, Let me win this house, famous, faultless, While others can tell nought else of us. Confess thyself now to thy priest, Remember clearly all thy sins; Carry not to the house of the spotless King Aught that may thee expose to charge. Conceal not any of thy sins However hateful its evil to tell; Confess what has been done in secret, Lest thou expose thyself to wrath; Make thy peace now with the clergy That thou mayst be safe as to thy state; Give up thy sin, deeply repent, Lest its guilt be found in thee. Woe to him forsook the great King’s house For love of sin, sad is the deed; The sin a man commits in secret Much is the debt his sin incurs. This is a sermon for Adam’s race, I think I’ve nothing said that’s false, Though men may death for a time avoid, ’Tis true they can’t at length escape. Thou who hast purchased Adam’s race, Their blood, their body, and their heart, The things we cherish thou dost assail However I may sin pursue[101] It is not necessary to give farther specimens of Murdoch of Scotland’s poetry here, as those existing are very similar to the above; but several specimens will be found in the Dean of Lismore’s Book, from which the above is taken. The original has been difficult to read, and in consequence to render accurately, but there is little doubt that the real meaning of the poem is given. If the Book of Deer be a specimen of the Gaelic at the close of the 12th century in the east of Scotland, the above is a specimen of the same language from the west, probably from the Hebrides. GAELIC CHARTER.