heard the white-bofomed maid. Daughter of Seláma! thou shineft on my foul. Come with thy thousands, Cairbar! the strength of Nathos is returned. And thou, O aged Ufnoth, shalt not hear that thy fon has fled. I remember thy words on Etha; when my fails begun to rife when I fpread them towards Ullin, towards the moffy walls of Tura. Thou goeft, he faid, O Nathos, to the king of shields; to Cuchullin chief of men who never fled from danger. Let not thine arm be feeble: neither be thy thoughts of flight; left the fon of Semo fay that Etha's race are weak. His words may come to Ufnoth, and fadden his foul in the hall. -The tear was on his cheek. He gave this shining fword...

I came to Tura's bay but the halls of Tura were filent. I looked around and there was none to tell of the chief of Dunfcaich. I went to the hall of his shells, where the arms of his fathers hung. But the arms were gone, and aged Lamhor (1) fat in

tears?

Whence are the arms of steel, faid the rifing Lamhor? The light of the fpear has long been abfent from Tura's dusky walls. -Come ye from the rolling fea Or from the mournful halls of Temora (2) ?.

(1) Lamh-mhor, mighty hand.

(1) Temora was the royal palace of the fupreme

We come from the fea, I said, from Uf noth's rifing towers. We are the fons of Slissáma (1), the daughter of car-borne Semo. Where is Tura's chief, fon of the filent hall? But why should Nathos ask for I behold thy tears. How did the mighty fall, son of the lonely Tura ?

He fell not, Lamhor replied, like the filent ftar of night, when it shoots through darknefs, and is no more. But he was like a meteor that falls in a distant land; death attends its red courfe, and itself is the fign of wars.Mournful are the banks of Lego, and the roar of ftreamy Lara. There the hero fell, son of the noble Uinoth.

And the hero fell in the midst of slaughter, I faid with a burfting figh. His hand was ftrong in battle; and death was behind his fword. We came to Lego's mournful banks. We found his rifing tomb. His companions in battle are there; his bards of many fongs. Three days we mourned over the hero: on the fourth, I ftruck the shield of Caithbat.

kings of Ireland. It is here called mournful, on account of the death of Cormac, who was mur dered there by Cairbar who ufurped his throne.

(1) Slis-feamha, foft bofom. She was the wife of Ufnoth and daughter of Semo the chief of the ife of mist.

The heroes gathered around with joy, and shook their beamy fpears.

Corlath was near with his hoft, the friend of car-borne Cairbar. We came like a ftream by night; and his heroes fell. When the people of the valley rofe, they faw their blood with morning's light. But we rolled away, like wreaths of mist, to Cormac's echoing hall. Our swords rofe to defend the king. But Temora's halls were empty. Cormac had fallen in his youth. The king of Erin

was no more.

Sadnefs feized the fons of Ullin, they flowly, gloomily retired: like clouds that, long having threatened rain, retire behind the hills. The fons of Ufnoth moved, in their grief, towards Tura's founding bay. We paffed by Seláma, and Cairbar retired like Lano's mift, when it is driven by the winds of the defart.

It was then I beheld thee, O maid, like the light of Etha's fun. Lovely is that beam, I faid, and the crowded figh of my bofom rofe. Thou cameft in thy beauty, Dar-thula, to Etha's mournful chief. But the winds have deceived us, daughter of Colla, and the foe is near.

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Yes! the foe is near, faid the rustling

ftrength of Althos (1). I heard their clang ing arms on the coaft, and faw the dark wreaths of Erin's ftandard. Diftinct is the voice of Cairbar (2), and loud as Cromla's falling ftream. He had feen the dark ship on the fea, before the dusky night came down. His people watch on Lena's (3) plain, and lift ten thousand fwords.

And let them lift ten thousand swords, faid Nathos with a fmile. The fons of carborne Ufnoth will never tremble in danger. Why doft thou roll with all thy foam, thou roaring fea of Ullin? Why do ye ruftle, on your dark wings, ye whiftling tempefts of the sky? Do ye think, ye ftorms, that ye keep Nathos on the coaft? No : his foul

(1) Althos had just returned from viewing the coaft of Lena, whither he had been fent by Nathos, at the beginning of the night.

(2) Cairbar had gathered an army, to the coaft of Úlfter, in order to oppofe Fingal, who prepared for an expedition into Ireland to re-establish the houfe of Cormac on the throne, which Cairbar had ufurped. Between the wings of Cairbar's army was the bay of Tura into which the ship of the fons of Ufnoth was driven : fo that there was no poffibility of their efcaping.

(3) The scene of the prefent poem is nearly the fame with that of the epic poem in this collection. The heath of Lena and Tura are often mentioned.

detains him, children of the night! - Althos bring my father's arms thou feeft them beaming to the ftars. Bring the spear of Semo (1), it ftands in the dark-bofomed ship.

He brought the arms. Nathos clothed his limbs in all their shining fteel. The ftride of the chief is lovely the joy of his eyes terrible. He looks towards the coming of Cairbar. The wind is ruftling in his hair. Dar-thula is filent at his fide: her look is fixed on the chief. She ftrives to hide the rifing figh, and two tears fwell in her eyes.

Althos! faid the chief of Etha, I fee a cave in that rock. Place Dar-thula there: and let thy arm be ftrong. Ardan ! we meet the foe, and call to battle gloomy Cairbar. O that he came in his founding fteel, to meet the fon of Ufnoth! Dar-thula! if thou shalt efcape, look not on the falling Nachos. Lift thy fails, O Althos, towards the echoing groves of Etha

(1) Semo was grandfather to Nathos by the mo ther's fide. The fpear mentioned here was given to Ufnoth on his marriage, it being the custom then for the father of the lady to give his arms to his fon-in-law. The ceremony ufed upon these occafions is mentioned in other poems.

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