joiced at thy burning oak". Why, son of Duthcaron, art thou laid in blood! The blasted tree bends above thee. Thy shield lies broken near. Thy blood mixes with the stream", thou breaker of the shields! Ossian took the spear in his wrath. But Gaul rushed forward on Foldath. The feeble pass by his side; his rage is turned on Moma's chief. Now they had raised their deathful spears: unseen an arrow came. It pierced the hand of Gaul. His steel fell sounding to earth. Young Fillan came, with Cormul's shield! He stretch 16 The stranger heard the winds without, and rejoiced at thy burning oak.] Here, if I am not much mistaken, our author had HAMMOND'S version of the First Elegy of Tibullus in view. Quam juvat immites ventos audire cubantem. What joy to hear the tempest howl in vain, And clasp a fearful mistress to one's breast. Hammond's Thirteenth Elegy was inserted in the Union, a collection of poems published by Warton, which Macpherson must have seen, as it was reprinted at Edinburgh, and contained the Chorus of Mason's Elfrida, and other pieces repeatedly imitated. Johnson has strangely mistaken Hammond's paraphrastical translations from Tibullus for original poetry. 17 Thy blood mixes with the stream.] Highlander, v. 54. Tay circles round, and mingles with his blood. 18 Fillan had been dispatched by Gaul to oppose Cormul, who had been sent by Foldath to lie in ambush behind the Caledonian army. It appears that Fillan had killed Cormul, otherwise he ed it large before the chief. Foldath sent his shouts abroad, and kindled all the field: as a blast that lifts the wide-winged flame, over Lu. mon's echoing groves 19. "Son of blue-eyed Clatho," said Gaul, "O Fillan, thou art a beam from heaven, that, coming on the troubled deep, binds up the tempest's wing. Cormul is fallen before thee. Early art thou in the fame of thy fathers. Rush not too far, my hero. I cannot lift the spear to could not be supposed to have possessed himself of the shield of that chief. MACPHERSON. 19 Foldath-kindles all the fields; as a blast that lifts the wide-winged flame, over Lumon's echoing groves.] Supra, i. 32. From the triumph of Pallas in the Eneid, x. 405. Ac velut optato, ventis æstate coortis, per Ille sedens victor flammas despectat ovantes. Non aliter socium virtus coit omnis in unum : Teque juvat, Palla! 20 Thou art a beam from heaven, that binds up the tempest's wing.] The beam of heaven, of joy, love, beauty, &c. so frequent in Ossian, is the common cant of the Night Thoughts, where we meet with sprightly, and even with agonizing beams; but the beam that binds up the tempest's wing (Gaul's wounded hand), is the most extraordinary application of the metaphor that has hitherto occurred. aid. I stand harmless in battle; but my voice shall be poured abroad. The sons of Selma shall hear, and remember my former deeds." His terrible voice rose on the wind. The host bends forward in fight. Often had they heard him, at Strumon, when he called them to the chace of the hinds. He stands tall, amid the war, as an oak in the skirts of a storm, which now is clothed on high, in mist; then shews its broad waving head ". The musing hunter lifts his eye from his own rushy field! My soul pursues thee, O Fillan, through the path of thy fame. Thou rolledst the foe before thee. Now Foldath, perhaps, may fly: but night comes down with its clouds. Cathmor's horn is 21 He stands tall, amidst the war, as an oak in the skirts of a storm, which now is clothed on high, in mist, then shews its broad waving head.] Infra, vi. 4. A variation of Virgil, Æneid, iv. 441. Ac velut annoso validam cum robore quercum Eruere inter se certant. And of POPE's Iliad, xii. 145. As two tall oaks before the walls they rise; And their deep roots for ever brave the storm. heard on high. The sons of Selma hear the voice of Fingal from Mora's gathered mist. The bards pour their song, like dew **, on the returning war. "Who comes from Strumon," they said, “amid her wandering locks? She is mournful in her steps, and lifts her blue eyes toward Erin. Why art thou sad, Evir-choma? Who is like thy chief in renown? He descended dreadful to battle; he returns, like a light from a cloud. He raised the sword in wrath: they shrunk before blue-shielded Gaul!" "Joy, like the rustling gale, comes on the soul of the king. He remembers the battles of old; the days wherein his fathers fought. The days of old return on Fingal's mind, as he beholds the renown of his son. As the sun rejoices, from his cloud, over the tree his beams have raised", as it shakes its lonely head on the heath; so joyful is the king over Fillan!" 22 The bards pour their song like dew.] My speech shall distil as the dew. Deut. xxxii. 2. 23 As the sun rejoices, from his cloud, over the tree his beams have raised.] Quam mulcent auræ, firmat sol, educat imber. Catullus. But the subsequent repetition of this passage betrays its secret allusion to GRAY's Bard. "As the sun is above the "As the rolling of thunder on hills, when Lara's fields are still and dark; such are the steps of Selma, pleasant and dreadful to the ear. They return with their sound, like eagles to their darkbrowed rock, after the prey is torn on the field, the dun sons of the bounding hind. Your fathers rejoice from their clouds, sons of streamy Selma !" Such was the nightly voice of bards, on Mora of the hinds. A flame rose, from an hundred oaks, which winds had torn from Cormul's steep. The feast is spread in the midst: around sat the gleaming chiefs. Fingal is there in his strength. The eagle-wing *4 of his helmet sounds. The 24 vapours which his beams have raised. They roll dark before him; he rejoices in the robe of his beams." Infra, iv. 10. Fond impious man, thinkst thou yon sanguine cloud, And warms the nations with redoubled ray. "Rejoices in his robe of beams," or over the cloud, or tree, "which his beams have raised.” 24 The kings of Caledonia and Ireland had a plume of eagle's feathers, by way of ornament, in their helmets. It was from this distinguished mark that Ossian knew Cathmor, in the second book. MACPHERSON. Supra, i 15. Pope not unfrequently converts the horse-hair crest, into a snowy plume; a modern ornament, which is here transformed |