I hear thee, from thy darkness, in Selma, thou that watcheft, lonely, by night! Why didft thou with hold the fong, from Offian's failing foul? As the falling brook to the ear of the hunter, defcending from his ftormcovered hill; in a fun - beam rolls the ecchoing ftream; he hears, and fhakes his dewy locks: fuch is the voice of Lutha, to the friend of the fpirits of heroes. My fwelling bofom beats high. I look back on the days that Come, thou beam that art lo are paft. nely, from the watching of night. In the ecchoing bay of Carmona *) we faw, one day, the bounding fhip. On high, *) Car - mona, bay of the dark - brown hills, an arm of the fea, in the neighbourhood of Selma. In this paragraph are mentioned the fignals prefented to Fingal, by thofe who came to demand his aid. The fuppliants held, in one hand, a fhield covered with blood, and, in the other, a broken spear; the first a symbol of the death of their friends, the laft an emblem of their own helpless fituation. If the king chofe to grant fuccours, which generally was the cafe, he reached to them the fhell of feafts, as a token of hung a broken fhield; it was marked with wandering blood. Forward came a youth, in armour, and ftretched his pointlefs fpear. Long, over his tearful eyes, hung loofe his disordered locks. Fingal gave the fhell of kings. The words of the ftranger arose. In of his hofpitality and friendly intentions towards them. it to one 3 It may not be disagreeable to the reader, to lay here before him the ceremony of the Crantara, which was of a fimilar nature, and, till very lately, used in the Highlands. When the news of an enemy came to the refidence of the chief, he immediately killed a goat with his own fword, dipped the end of an half-burnt piece of wood in the blood, and gave of his fervants, to be carried to the next hain. let. From hamlet to hamlet this teffera was carried with the utinoft expedition, and, in the fpace of a few hours, the whole clan were in arms, and convened in an appointed place; the name of which was the only word that ac. compainied the delivery of the Cran-tara. This fymbol was the manifefto of the chief, by which he threatened fire and fword to thofe of his clan, that did not immediately appear at his ftandard, F In his hall lies Cathmol of Clutha, by the winding of his own dark ftreains. Duth-carmor faw white-bofomed Lánul *), and pierced her father's fide. In the rufhy defart were my fteps. He fled in the feafon of night. Give thine aid to Cathlin, to revenge his father. I fought thee not as a beam, in a land of clouds. Thou, like that fun, art known, king of ecchoing Selma. In his pre Selma's king looked around. fence, we rose in arms. But who fhould lift the fhield? for all had claimed the war. The night came down; we ftrode, in filence; each to his hill of ghofts: that fpirits might defcend, in our dreams, to mark us for the field. We ftruck the fhield of the dead, and raifed the hum of fongs. We thrice called the ghofts *) Lánul, full-eyed, a furname which, according to tradition, was bestowed on the daughter of Cathmol, on account of her beauty: this tradition, however, may have been founded on that partiality, which the bards have fhewn to Cathlin of Clutha, for, according to them, no falfhood could dwell in the foul of the lovely. ghofts of our fathers. We laid us down in dreams. Trenmor came, before mine eyes, the tall form of other years. His blue hofts were behind him in half-distinguished rows. Scarce feen is their ftrife in mift, or their ftretching forward to I liftened; but no found was there. The forms were empty wind. deaths. I ftarted from the dream of ghofts. On a fudden blast flew my whiftling hair. Low-founding, in the oak, is the departure of the dead. I took my fhield from its bough. Onward came the rattling of fteel. It was Ófcar *) of Lego. He had feen his fathers., As rufhes forth the blaft, on the bofom of whitening waves; fo careless fhall my courfe be, thro' ocean, to the dwelling of foes. I have feen the dead, my father. My beating foul *) Oscar is here called Ofcar of Lego, from his mother being the daughter of Branno, a powerful chief, on the banks of that lake. It is remarkable, that Offian addreffes no poem to Malvina, in which her lover Ofcar was not one of the principal actors. His attention to her, after the death of his fon, fhews, that delicacy of fentiment is not confined, as fome fondly imagine; to our own polished times. foul is high. My fame is bright before me, like the freak of light on a cloud, when the broad fun comes forth, red traveller of the fky. Grandfon of Branno, I faid; not Ofcar alone fhall meet the foe. I rush forward, thro' ocean, to the woody dwelling of heroes. Let us contend, my fon, like eagles, from one rock; when they lift their broad wings, against the ftream of winds. We raifed our fails in Carmona. From three fhips, they marked my. fhield on the wave, as I looked on nightly Ton-thena *), red wanderer between the clouds. Four days came the breeze abroad. Lumon came forward in mist. In winds were its hundred groves. Sun-beams marked, at times, its brown fide. White, leapt the foamy streams from all its ecchoing rocks. À green *) Ton-thena, fire of the wave, was that remarkable ftar, which, as has been mentioned in the feventh book of Temora, directed the courfe of Larthon to Ireland. It feems to have been who failed on that fea, well known to thofe, |