tale; and, as with my 3rd Sonata, the music is more a commentary
on the subject than an actual depiction of it."

[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A PASSAGE FROM THE ORIGINAL MS. OF THE
"KELTIC" SONATA]

The "lines anent Cuchullin" I quote below. They do not, as he said,
have a parallel in the sonata as a whole; but in the _coda_ of the
last movement (of which I shall speak later) he has attempted a
commentary on the scene which he here describes:

"Cuchullin fought and fought in vain,
'Gainst faery folk and Druid thrall:
And as the queenly sun swept down.
In royal robes, red gold besown,
With one last lingering glance
He sate himself in lonely state
Against a giant monolith,
To wait Death's wooing call.
None dared approach the silent shape
That froze to iron majesty,
Save the wan, mad daughters of old Night,
Blind, wandering maidens of the mist,
Whose creeping fingers, cold and white,
Oft by the sluggard dead are kissed.
And yet the monstrous Thing held sway,
No living soul dared say it nay;
When lo! upon its shoulder still,
Unconscious of its potent will,
There perched a preening birdling gray,