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, A'weary of the dying day; And all the watchers knew the lore: Cuchullin was no more." To Mr.Corey MacDowell wrote: "...

Even though you are not on intimate terms with Deirdre, Cuchullin, etc., you will easily perceive from the music that something extremely unpleasant is happening.

Joking aside, I will confess to a certain fascination the subject has for me.

So much so that my 'motto' [the original motto--the verses which I have quoted above] spread beyond the music; therefore I am going to make a different work of the former, and for the sonata I adopted the modest quatrain that is printed in it....