ought to shine in war; who ought to be two beams of light near the steps of his departure."

"Son of Fingal," replied the youth," it is not long since I raised the spear. Few are the marks of my sword in battle, but my sword is fire, the chiefs of Bol. ga crowd around the shield of generous Cathmor. Their gathering is on the heath. Shall my steps approach their host? I yielded to Oscar alone, in the strife of the race, on Cona."

"Fillan, thou shalt not approach their host; nor fall before thy fame is known. My name is heard in song; when needful I advance. From the skirts of night I shall view their gleaming tribes. Why, Fillan, didst thou speak of Oscar, to call forth my sigh? I must forget the warrior, till the storm is rolled away. Sadness ought not to dwell in danger, nor the tear in the eye of war. Our fathers forgot their fallen sons, till the noise of arms was past. Then sorrow returned to the tomb, and the song of bards arose."

"Conar was the brother of Trathal, first of mortal men. His battles were on every coast. A thousand streams rolled down the blood of his foes. His nations gathered in Ullin, and they blessed the king; the king of the race of their fathers, from the land of hinds.

"The chiefs of the south were gathered in the

The southern parts of Ireland went, for some time, under the name of Bolga, from the Firblog or Belge of Britain, who settled a colony there. Bolg, signifies a quiver, from which proceeds Firbolg, i. e. bow-men, so called from their using bows more than any of the neighbouring nations.

It is remarkable, that after this passage, Oscar is not mentioned in all Temora. The situations of the characters who act in the poem are so interesting, that others foreign to the subject could not be introduced with any lustre. Though the episode, which follows, may seem to flow naturally enough from the brothers, yet I have shown, in a preceding note, and more at large in the Dissertation prefixed to this collection, that the poet had a farther design in view.

Conar, the first king of Ireland, was the son of Trenmor, the great-grandfather of Fingal. It was on account of this family connection that Fingal was engaged in so many wars in the cause of the race of Conar. Though few of the actions of Trenmor are mentioned in Ossian's poems, yet, from the honourable appellation bestowed on him, we may conclude, that he was, in the days of the poet, the most renowned name in antiquity. The most probable opinion concerning him is, that he was the first who united the tribes of the Caledonians, and commanded them, in chief, against the incursions of the Romans. The genealogists of the North, have traced his family far back, and given a list of his ancestors to Cuan-mor nan lan, or Con-mor of the swords; who, according to them, was the first who crossed the great sea to Caledonia, from which circumstance his name proceeded, which signifies Great Ocean. Genealogies of 30 ancient a date, however, are little to be depended upon.

The chiefs of the Firbolg, who possessed themselves of the south of Ireland prior, perhaps, to the settlement of the Cael of Caledonia and the Hebrides in Ulster. From the sequel, it appears, that the Firbolg were by much the most powerful nation: and it is probable that the Cael must have submitted to them, had they not received succou from their mother-country under the command of Conar.

darkness of their pride. In the horrid cave of Moma, they mixed their secret words. Thither often, they said, the spirits of their fathers came; showing their pale forms from the chinky rocks, and reminding them of the honour of Bolga. Why should Conar reign, the son of streamy Morven ?

"They came forth, like the streams of the desart, with the roar of their hundred tribes. Conar was a rock before them: broken they rolled on every side. But often they returned, and the sons of Ullin fell. The king stood, among the tombs of his warriors, and darkly bent his mournful face. His soul was rolled into itself; he marked the place where he was to fall; when Trathal came, in his strength, the chief of cloudy Morven. Nor did he come alone; Colgar' was at his side; Colgar the son of the king, and of white-bosomed Solin-corma.

"As Trenmor, clothed with meteors, descends from the halls of thunder, pouring the dark storm before him over the troubled sea; so Colgar descended to battle, and wasted the echoing field. His father rejoiced over the hero: but an arrow came. His tomb was raised without a tear. The king was to revenge his son. He lightened forward in battle, till Bolga yielded at her

streams.

"When peace returned to the land, and his blue waves bore the king to Morven; then he remembered his son, and poured the silent tear. Thrice did the bards, at the cave of Furmono, call the soul of Calgar. They call him to the hills of his land; he heard them in his mist. Trathal placed his sword in the cave, that the spirit of his son might rejoice.”

Colgar", son of Trathal," said Fillan," thou wert renowned in youth! But the king hath not marked my sword, bright-streaming on the field. I go forth with the crowd: I return, without my fame. But the foe

Colg-er, fiercely looking warrior.' Sulin-corma, blue-eyes. Colgar was the eldest of the sons of Trathal: Comhal, who was the father of Fingal, was very young when the present expedition to Ireland happened. It is remarkable, that, of all his an cestors, the poet makes the least mention of Comhal; which, prohably, proceeded from the unfortunate life, and untimely death of that hero. From some passages concerning vim, we learn, indeed, that he was brave, but he wanted conduct,

approaches, Ossian. I hear their murmur on the heath. The sound of their steps is like thunder, in the bosom of the ground, when the rocking hills shake their groves, and not a blast pours from the darkened sky.'

Sudden I turned on my spear, and raised the flame of an oak on high. I spread it large on Mora's wind. Cathmor stopt in his course. Gleaming he stood, like a rock, on whose sides are the wandering of blasts; which seize its echoing streams and clothe them over with ice. So stood the friend" of strangers. The winds lift his heavy locks. Thou art the tallest of the race of Erin, king of streamy Atha!

"First of bards," said Cathmor, "Fonar ", call the chiefs of Erin. Call red-haired Cormar, dark browed Malthos, the side-long-looking gloom of Maronnar. Let the pride of Foldath appear: the red-rolling eye of Turlotho. Nor let Hidalla be forgot; his voice, in danger, is like the sound of a shower, when it falls in the blasted vale, near Atha's falling stream."

They came, in their clanging arms. They bent forward to his voice, as if a spirit of their fathers spoke from a cloud of night. Dreadful shone they to the light; like the fall of the stream of Brumo*, when the meteor lights it before the nightly stranger. Shuddering, he stops on his journey, and looks up for the beam

of the morn.

y

Why delights Foldath," said the king, to pour the blood of foes by night? Fails his arm in battle, in

The poet begins here to mark strongly the character of Fillan, who is to make so great a figure in the sequel of the poem. He has the impatience, the ambition, and fire, which are peculiar to a young hero. Kindled with the fame of Colgar, he forgets his untimely fall. From Fillan's expression in this passage, it would seem, that he was neglected by Fingal on account of his youth.

vCathmor is distinguished by this honourable title, on account of his generosity to strangers, which was so great as to be remarkable, even in those days of hospitality. w Fonar, the man of song. Before the introduction of Christianity, a name was not imposed upon any person, till he had distinguished himself by some remarkable action, from which his name should be derived.

* Brumo was a place of worship (Fing. B. VI.) in Craca, which is supposed to be one of the isles of Shetland. It was thought that the spirits of the deceased haunted it, by night, which adds more terror to the description introduced here. The horrid circle of Brumo, where often, they said, the ghosts of the dead howled round the stone of

fear.

From this passage it appears, that it was Foldath who had advised the night attack The gloomy character of Foldath is properly contrasted to the generous, the cr Cathmor.

the beams of day? Few are the foes before us; why should we clothe us in mist? The valiant delight to shine in the battles of their land. Thy counsel was in vain, chief of Moma; the eyes of Morven do not sleep. They are watchful as eagles on their mossy rocks. Let each collect beneath his cloud the strength of his roaring tribe. To-morrow I move, in light, to meet the foes of Bolga! Mighty was he that is low, the race of Borbar-duthul!"

ལ

a

"Not unmarked," said Foldath, were my steps before thy race. In light, I met the foes of Cairbar; the warrior praised my deeds. But his stone was raised without a tear! No bard sung over Erin's king; and shall his foes rejoice along their mossy hills? No: they must not rejoice: he was the friend of Foldath. Our words were mixed, in secret, in Moma's silent cave; whilst thou, a boy in the field, pursuedst the thistle's beard. With Moma's sons I shall rush abroad, and find the foe on his dusky hills. Fingal shall lie without his song, the grey-haired king of Selma."

"Dost thou think, thou feeble man," replied the chief of Atha; "dost thou think that he can fall without his fame, in Erin? Could the bards be silent, at the tomb of the mighty Fingal? The song would burst in secret; and the spirit of the king rejoice. It is when thou shalt fall, that the bard shall forget the song. Thou art dark, chief of Moma, though thine arm is a tempest in war. Do I forget the king of Erin, in his narrow house? My soul is not lost to Cairbar, the brother of my love. I marked the bright beams of joy which travelled over his cloudy mind, when I returned with fame to Atha of the streams."

Tall they removed, beneath the words of the king; each to his own dark tribe; where humming, they rolled on the heath, faint-glittering to the stars: like waves in a rocky bay, before the nightly wind. Beneath an oak, lay the chief of Atha: his shield, a dusky

By this exclamation, Cathmor intimates that he intends to revenge the death of his brother Cairbar.

a To have no funeral elegy sung over his tomb, was, in those days, reckoned the greatest misfortune that could befal a man: as his soul could not be otherwise admitted to the airy hall of his fathers.

round, hung high. Near him, against a rock, leaned the stranger of Inis-huna: that beam of light, with wandering locks, from Lumon of the roes. At distance rose the voice of Fonar, with the deeds of the days of old. The voice fails, at times, in Lubar's growing roar. "Crothar," begun the bard, "first dwelt at Atha's mossy stream. A thousand oaks, from the mountains, formed his echoing hall. The gathering of the people was there, around the feast of the blue-eyed king. But who, among the chiefs, was like the stately Crothar? Warriors kindled in his presence. The young sigh of virgins rose. In Alnecma was the warrior honoured; the first of the race of Bolga.

"He pursued the chase in Ullin: on the moss-covered top of Drumardo. From the wood looked the daughter of Cathmin, the blue-rolling eye of Con-lama. Her sigh rose in secret. She bent her head, midst her wandering locks. The moon looked in at night, and saw the white-tossing of her arms; for she thought of the mighty Crothar, in the season of her dreams.

"Three days feasted Crothar with Cathmin. On the fourth they waked the hinds. Con-lama moved to the chase, with all her lovely steps. She met Crothar, in the narrow path. The bow fell, at once, from her hand. She turned her face away, and half-hid it with her locks. The love of Crothar rose. He brought the white-bo

By the stranger of Inis-huna, is meant Sulmalla, the daughter of Conmor king of Inis-huna, the ancient name of that part of South Britain which is next to the frish Coast. She had followed Cathmor in disguise. Her story is related at large in the fourth book.

Crothar was the ancestor of Cathmor, and the first of his family who had settled in Atha. It was in his time, that the first wars were kindled between the Firbolg and Cael. The propriety of the episode is evident; as the contest, which originally rose between Crothar and Conar, subsisted afterwards between their posterity, and was the foundation of the story of the poem.

d From this circumstance we may learn, that the art of building with stone was not known in Ireland so early as the days of Crothar. When the colony were long settled in the country, the arts of civil life began to increase among them; for we find mention made of the towers of Atha in the time of Cathmor, which could not well be applied to wooden buildings. In Caledonia they began very early to build with stone. None of the houses of Fingal, excepting Ti-foirmal, were of wood. Ti-foirmal was the great hall where the bards met to repeat their compositions annually, before they submitted them to the judgment of the king in Selma.

Alnecma, or Alnecmacht, was the ancient name of Connaught. Ullin is still the Irish name of the province of Ulster. To avoid the multiplying of notes, I shall here give the signification of the names in this episode. Drumardo, high ridge. Cathmin, calm in battle.' Con-lamha, soft hand. Turloch, man of the quiver.' Cormul 'blue eye.'