John Leyden

“ The fine spirit of poetry which it breathes, its classic air, but above all the noble enthusiasm he discovers for his country, cannot fail to make it agreeable to such as have a taste for that simplicity of nature, and that beautiful diversification of epithets, which constitute the principal excellencies of antiquity." From the following passage of the poem itself, the author appears to have been twenty-four years of age at the time of its composition:
Shall I forget thy tenderness? ”

“ Kilda and the Western Isles of Scotland, and some other topographical works which were published about the commencement of last century. Some of the superstitions, however, to which he alludes, it is difficult to trace to any of these authors, and they seem to have been peculiar to the east coast of Scotland. To these remarks on Albania it may not be improper to subjoin the poem addressed by Aaron Hill to the original editor. That ingenious author, while he pronounces the numbers of the poem bold, and the ideas strong, censures the patriotism which it breathes, as too confined and partial. ”

“ They seem rather to have been carelessly selected; and sometimes, from the order in which they occur, they exhibit too violent a contrast. The topics are such as would be naturally suggested to a young, ardent, and enthusiastic mind, by the perusal of the common histories and descriptions of Scotland; and the impropriety of their selection is rather to be attributed to unformed taste, than to the defect of poetical spirit. The personification of Albania, or the Genius of Scotland, is not accurately preserved. Sometimes she is a goddess, sometimes a country ”

“ Beattie of Aberdeen, in a note to his Essays on Poetry and Music, in which he introduces the fine passage which describes invisible hunting; a superstition of which many traces still remain in the Highlands of Scotland. "I am sure," says he, "I shall not be blamed for quoting from (Albania) a poem little known, the following very picturesque lines; which may show, that what in history or philosophy would make but an aukward figure, may sometimes have a very charming effect in poetry [2] ." To the taste of the ingenious author of "The Minstrel," the preservation of Albania must be attributed. ”

“ Drake observes, that "the singular, yet pleasing tradition, of the souls of the deceased pursuing the chase upon their native hills, is no where described with more spirit and effect than in some noble lines quoted by Dr. ”