moved, on Dora, to the chase of the dark-brown hinds his bow was unerring on the mountains. He spoke of mighty men. He told of the deeds of my fathers; and I felt my joy. But sit thou at the feast, O bard, I have often heard thy voice. Sing in the praise of Cuthullin; and of that mighty stranger."

Day rose on woody Temora, with all the beams of the east. Trathin came to the hall, the son of old Gellama. "I behold," he said, "A dark cloud in the desart, king of Inis-fail! a cloud it seemed at first, but now a crowd of men. One strides before them in his strength; his red hair flies in wind. His shield glitters to the beam of the east. His spear is in his hand."

"Call him to the feast of Temora," replied the king of Erin. "My hall is in the house of strangers, soul of the generous Gellama! Perhaps it is the chief of Etha, coming in the sound of his renowǹ. Hail, mighty stranger! art thou of the friends of Cormac? But Carril, he is dark and unlovely; and he draws his sword. Is that the son of Usnoth, bard of the times of old?"

"It is not the son of Usnoth," said Carril, "but the chief of Atha. Why comest thou in thy arms to Temora, Cairbar of the gloomy brow? Let not thy sword rise against Cormac! Whither dost thou turn thy speed?" He passed on in his darkness, and seized the hand of the king. Cormac foresaw his death, and the rage of his eyes arose. Retire, thou gloomy chief of Atha: Nathos comes with battle. Thou art bold in Cormac's hall, for his arm is weak. ed the side of the king: he fell in the halls of his fathers. His fair hair is in the dust, his blood is smoking round.

The sword enter

"And art thou fallen in thy halls", O son of noble Artho? The shield of Cuthullin was not near, nor the spear of thy fathers. Mournful are the mountains of

e Nathos the son of Usnoth.

f Geol-lamha, white-handed.'

8 From this expression, we understand, that Cairbar had entered the palace of Te mora in the midst of Cormac's speech. Althan speaks.

Erin, for the chief of the people is low! Blest be thy soul, O Cormac thou art darkened in thy youth."

His words came to the ears of Cairbar, and he closed us in the midst of darkness. He feared to stretch his sword to the bards, though his soul was dark. Long had we pined alone: at length, the noble Cathmor' came. He heard our voice from the cave; he turned the eye of his wrath on Cairbar.

"Chief of Atha!" he said," how long wilt thou pain my soul! Thy heart is like the rock of the desart; and thy thoughts are dark. But thou art the brother of Cathmor, and he will fight thy battles. But Cathmor's soul was not like thine, thou feeble hand of war! The light of my bosom is stained with thy deeds: the bards will not sing of my renown. They may say, Cathmor was brave, but he fought for gloomy Cairbar. They will pass over my tomb in silence; my fame shall not be heard. Cairbar! loose the bards; they are the sons of other times. Their voice shall be heard in other years; after the kings of Temora have failed."

"We came forth at the words of the chief. We saw him in his strength. He was like thy youth, O Fingal, when thou first didst lift the spear. His face was like the plain of the sun, when it is bright: no darkness travelled over his brow. But he came with his thousands to Ullin; to aid the red-haired Cairbar: and now he comes to revenge his death, O king of woody Morven."

"And let him come," replied the king; I love a foe like Cathmor. His soul is great; his arm is strong; his battles are full of fame. But the little soul is a vapour that hovers round the marshy lake: it never rises on the green hill, lest the winds should meet it there its dwelling is in the cave, it sends forth the dart of death. Our young heroes, O warriors, are

iThat is, himself and Carril, as it afterwards appears.

The persons of the bards were so sacred, that even he, who had just murdered his sovereign, feared to kill them.

Cathmor appears the same disinterested hero upon every occasion. His humanity and generosity were unparalleled; in short he had no fault, out too much attachment to so bad a brother as Cairbar. His family connection with Cairbar prevails, as he expresses it, over every other con ileration, and makes him engage in a war, of which e did not approve.

like the renown of our fathers. They fight in youth; they fall: their names are in the song. Fingal is a midst his darkening years. He must not fall, as an aged oak, across a secret stream. Near it are the steps of the hunter, as it lies beneath the wind. How has the tree fallen? He, whistling, strides along.

"Raise the song of joy, ye bards of Morven, that our souls may forget the past. The red stars look on us from the clouds, and silently descend. Soon shall the grey beam of the morning rise, and show us the foes of Cormac. Fillan! take the spear of the king; go to Mora's dark-brown side. Let thine eyes travel over the heath, like flames of fire. Observe the foes of Fingal, and the course of generous Cathmor. I hear a distant sound, like the falling of rocks in the desart. But strike thou thy shield, at times, that they may not come through night, and the fame of Morven cease. I begin to be alone, my son, and I dread the fall of my rer.own."

The voice of the bards arose. The king leaned on the shield of Trenmor. Sleep descended on his eyes; his future battles rose in his dreams. The host are sleeping around. Dark-haired Fillan observed the foe. His steps are on a distant hill: ye hear at times his clanging shield.

The Argument.

This book opens, we may suppose, about midnight, with a soliloquy of Ossian, who had retired, from the rest of the army, to mourn for his son Oscar. Upon hearing the noise of Cathmor's army approaching, he went to find his brother Fillan, who kept the watch, on the hill of Mora, in the front of Fingal's army. In the conversa tion of the brothers, the episode of Conar the son of Trenmor, who was the first king of Ireland, is introduced, which lays open the origin of the contests between Cael and Firbolg, the two nations who first possessed themselves of that island. Ossian kindles a fire on Mora; upon which Cathmor desisted from the design he had formed of surprising the army of the Caledonians. He calls a council of his chiefs; reprimands Foldath for advising a night attack, as the Irish army were so much superior in number to the enemy. The bard Fonar introduces the story of Crothar, the ancestor of the king, which throws further light on the history of Ireland, and the original pretensions of the family of Atha, to the throne of that kingdom. The Irish chiefs lie down to rest, and Cathmor himself undertakes the watch. In his circuit round the army, he is met by Ossian. The interview of the two heroes is described. Cathmor obtains a promise from Ossian, to order a funeral elegy to be sung over the grave of Cairbar; it being the opinion of the times, that the souls of the dead could not be happy, till their elegies were sung by a bard. Morning comes. Cathmor and Ossian part: and the latter, casually meeting with Carril the son of Kinfena, sends that bard, with a funeral song, to the tomb of Cairbar.

BOOK II.

FATHER" of heroes, Trenmor! dweller of eddying winds! where the dark-red course of thunder marks the troubled clouds ! Open thou thy stormy halls, and let the bards of old be near: let them draw near, with their songs and their half viewless harps. No dweller of misty valley comes; no hunter unknown at his streams; but the car-borne Oscar from the folds of war. Sudden is thy change, my son, from what thou wert on dark Moi-lena! The blast folds thee in its skirt, and rustles along the sky.-Dost thou not behold thy father, at the stream of night? The chiefs of Morven sleep far distant. They have lost no son. But ye have lost a hero, chiefs of streamy Morven! Who could equal his

The

m Though this book has little action, it is not the least important part of Temora. The poet, in several episodes, runs up the cause of the war to the very source. first population of Ireland, the wars between the two nations who originally possessed that island, its first race of kings, and the revolutions of its government, are important facts, and are delivered with so little mixture of the fabulous, that one cannot help preferring this account to the improbable fictions of the Scottish and Irish historian. The Milesian fables of those gentlemen bear about them the marks of a late invention. VOL. II. K

strength, when battle rolled against his side, like the darkness of crowded waters? Why this cloud in Ossian's soul? It ought to burn in danger. Erin is near with her host. The king of Morven is alone. Alone thou shalt not be, my father, while I can lift the spear.

I rose, in my rattling arms. I listened to the wind of night. The shield of Fillan" is not heard. I shook for the son of Fingal. Why should the foe come, by night and the dark-haired warrior fail? Distant, sullen murmurs rise: like the noise of the lake of Lego, when its waters shrink, in the days of frost, and all its bursting ice resounds. The people of Lara look to heaven, and foresee the storm. My steps are forward on the heath; the spear of Oscar is in my hand. Red stars looked from high. I gleamed along the night. I saw Fillan silent before me, bending forward from Mora's rock. He heard the shout of the foe; the joy of his soul arose. He heard my sounding tread, and turned his lifted spear.

"Comest thou, son of night, in peace? or dost thou meet my wrath? The foes of Fingal are mine. Speak, or fear my steel. I stand, not in vain, the shield of Morven's race."

"Never mayest thou stand in vain, son of blue-eyed Clatho. Fingal begins to be alone; darkness gathers on the last of his days. Yet, he has two sons who

n We understand, from the preceding book, that Cathmor was near with an army When Cairbar was killed, the tribes who attended him fell back to Cathmor; who, 2s it afterwards appears, had taken a resolution to surprise Fingal by night. Fillan was dispatched to the hill of Mora, which was in the front of the Caledonians, to observe the motions of Cathmor. In this situation were affairs, when Ossian, upon hearing the noise of the approaching enemy, went to find out his brother. Their conversation na turally introduces the episode-concerning Conar the son of Trenmor, the first Irish m narch, which is so necessary to the understanding the foundation of the rebellion and usurpation of Cairbar and Cathmor. Fillan was the youngest of the sons of Fingel, the a living. He and Bosmina, mentioned in the battle of Lora, were the only children the king, by Clatho the daughter Cathulla king of Inistore, whom he had taken to wai after the death of Ros-crana the daughter of Cormac Mac-Conar king of Ireland.

That is, two sons in Ireland, Fergus, the second son of Fingal, was, at that tire, on an expedition, which is mentioned in one of the lesser poems of Ossian. lie, accor ing to some traditions, was the ancestor of Fergus, the son of Erc, or Arcath, conmonly called Fergus the second in the Scottish histories. The beginning of the nig Fergus, over the Scots, is placed, by the most approved annals of Scotland, in t fourth year of the fifth age: a full century after the death of Ossian. The genealogy his family is recorded thus by the Highland senachies; Fergus Mac-Arcath, MS Chongeal, Mac-Fergus, Mac-Fiongael na buai :' i. e. Fergus the son of Arcath, the of Congal, the son of Fergus, the son of Fingal the victorious. This subject is tota me more at large, in the Dissertation prefixed to the poems.