looks on fcreaming fea-fowl, young wanderer of the field. Give the head of a boar to Candona *), tell him of his father's joy, when the briftly ftrength of I-thorno rolled on his lifted fpear,

Not

*) Cean- daona, head of the people, the fon of Duth

maruno. He became afterwards faindus, in the
expeditions of Offian, after the death of Fingal.
The traditional tales concerning him are very
numerous; and, from the epithet, in them, be-
towed on him ( Candona of boars) it would ap
pear, that he applied himself to that kind of
hunting, which his father, in this paragraph, is
fo anxious to recommend to him. As I have
inentioned the traditional tales of the Highlands,
it may not be improper here, to give fome ac-
count of them. After the expulfion of the bards,
from the houses of the chiefs, they being an in-
dolent race of inen, owed all their fubfiftence to
the generosity of the vulgar, whom they diverted
with repeating the compofitions of their predecef-
fors, and running up the genealogies of their
entertainers to the family of their chiefs.
this fubject was, however, foon exhaufted, they
were obliged to have recourfe to invention, and
form ftories having no foundation in fact, which

As

we.

Not forgetting my fathers, faid Fingal, I

have bounded over ridgy feas: theirs

times of danger, in the days of old.

was the

Nor ga-
thers

were wallowed, with great credulity, by an i
gnorant multitude.. By frequent repeating, the
fable grew upon their hands; and, as each threw
in whatever circumftance he thought conducive
to raise the admiration of his hearers, the ftory
becaine, at laft, fo devoid of all probability,
that even the vulgar themselves did not believe it,
They, however, liked the tales fo well, that the
bards found their advantage in turning profeffed
tale-makers. They then launched out into the
wildest regions of fiction and romance. I firmly
believe, there are more ftories of giants, enchant
ed cafles, dwarfs, and palfreys, in the High-
lands, than in any country in Europe. Thefe ta
les, it is certain, like other romantic compofitions,
have many things in them unnatural, and, con
fequently, disgustful to true taste: but, I know
not how it happens, they command attention mo-
re than any other fictions I ever met with.
The extream length of these pieces is very fur
prifing, fome of them requiring many days to
repeat them but fuch hold they take of the me-
mory, that few circumftances are ever omitted
by thofe, who have received them only from oral

tra

Y

thers darkness on me, before foes, tho' I am

young, in my locks.

Chief of Crathmo

craulo, the field of night is mine.

A

He rushed, in all his arms, wide-bounding over Turthor's ftream, that fent its fullen roar, by night, thro' Gormal's mifty vale. moon-beam glittered on a rock; in the midst, ftood a ftately form; a form with floating locks, like Lochlin's white-bofomed maids. Unequal are her fteps, and fhort: fhe throws a broken fong on wind. At times fhe toffes her white arms: for grief is in her foul.

--

Torcul-torno *), of aged lock! where now are thy fteps, by Lulan? thou haft failed, at

thine

tradition. What is more amazing, the very language of the bards is ftill preserved. It is curious to fee, that the descriptions of inagnificence, introduced in thefe tales, is even fuperior to all the pompous oriental fictions of the kind.

*) Torcul - torno, according to tradition, was king of Crathlun, a diftrict in Sweden. The river Lulan ran near the refidence of Torcul- torno. There

thine own dark ftreams, father of Conban - carglas! But I behold thee, chief of Lulan, fporting by Loda's hall, when the dark-skirted night is poured along the sky.

Thou,

is a river in Sweden, fill called Lula, which is probably the fame with Lulan. The war between Starno and Torcul- torno, which terminated in the death of the latter, had its rife at a hunting party. Starno being invited, in a friendly manner, by Torcul- torno, both kings, with their followers, went to the mountains of Stivamor, to hunt. A boar rufhed from the wood before the kings, and Torcul - torno killed it. Starno thought this behaviour a breach upon the privilege of guests, who were always honoured, as tradition expreffes it, with the danger of the chace. A quarrel arofe, the kings came to battle, with all their attendants, and the party of Torcul- torno were totally defeated, and he hifelf flain. Starno purfued his victory, laid waste the diftrict of Crathlun, and, coming to the refidence of Torcul- torno, carried off, by force, Conban carglas, the beautiful daughter of his enemy. Her he confined in a cave, near the palace of Gormal, where, on account of her cruel treatment, she became distracted.

1

Thou, fometimes, hideft the moon, with thy fhield. I have feen her dim, in heaven, Thou kindleft thy hair into meteors, and faileft along the night. Why am I forgot in my cave, king of fhaggy boars? Look from the hall of Loda, on lonely Conban-carglas.

"Who art thou, faid Fingal, voice of night?" She trembling, turned away. "Who art thou, in thy darknefs?" She fhrunk into the cave. The king loofed the thong from her hands; he asked about her fathers.

Torcul-torno, fhe faid, once dwelt at Lu but, now, in Loda's hall, he fhakes the founding fhell. He met Starno of Lochlin, in battle; long fought the dark-eyed kings. My father fell, at length, blue-fhielded Torcul - torno.

lan's foainy ftream: he dwelt

By

The paragraph, just now before us, is the fong of Conban - carglas, at the time she was discovered by Fingal. It is in lyric measure, and fet to music, which is wild and fimple, and fo inimitably fuited to, the fituation of the unhappy lady, that few can hear it without tears.