As this--
Sweet May! sweet May!

For, ah! the belov'ed at length has come,
Like the breath of May from afar;
And my heart is lit with gentle eyes,
As the heavens by the evening star.
'Tis this that brightens the darkest sky,
And lengthens the faintest ray,
And makes me feel that to the heart or eye
There was never so sweet a May
As this--
Sweet May! sweet May!



FERDIAH;[28]
OR, THE FIGHT AT THE FORD.

An Episode from the Ancient Irish Epic Romance, "The Tain Bo Cuailgne;
or, the Cattle Prey of Cuailgne."

["The 'Tain Bo Cuailgne'" says the late Professor O'Curry, "is to Irish
what the Argonautic Expedition, or the Seven against Thebes, is to
Grecian history." For an account of this, perhaps the earliest epic
romance of Western Europe, see the Professor's "Lectures on the
Manuscript Materials of Irish History."

The Fight of Cuchullin with Ferdiah took place in the modern county of
Louth, at the ford of Ardee, which still preserves the name of the