thousand streams? Are not these the chiefs who vanquished Swaran, when the fons of Erin fled And shall Foldath meet their braveft hero? Foldath of the heart of pride! take the ftrength of the people by thy fide; and let Malthos come. My fword is red with flaughter, but who has heard my words (1) ? Sons of green Erin, begun the mild Hidalla, let not Fingal hear your words: left the foe rejoice, and his arm be strong in the land. Ye are brave, O warriors, and like the tempefts of the defart; they meet the rocks without fear, and overturn the woods in their courfe.-But let us move in our ftrength, and flow as a gathered cloud, when the winds drive it from behind.Then shall the mighty tremble, and the fpear drop from the hand of the valiant.We fee the cloud of death, they will fay; and their faces will turn pale. Fingal will mourn in his age; and fay that his fame is ceafed.-Morven will behold his chiefs no more the moss of years shall grow in Selma. Cairbar heard their words, in filence, like the cloud of a shower: it ftands dark on (1) That is, who has heard my vaunting? He intended the expreffion as a rebuke to the self-praise of Foldath. Cromla, till the lightning burfts its fide; the valley gleams with red light; the fpirits of the ftorm rejoice.-So ftood the filent king of Temora ; at length his words are heard. Spread the feaft on Lena: and let my hundred bards attend. And thou, red-hair'd Olla, take the harp of the king. Go to Ofcar king of fwords, and bid him to our feaft. To-day we feaft and hear the fong; tomorrow break the fpears. Tell him that I have raised the tomb of Cathol (1); and that my bards have fung to his ghoft. Tell him that Cairbar has heard his fame at the ftream of diftant Carun (2). Cathmor (3) is not here; the generous (1) Cathol the fon of Maronnan, or Moran, was murdered by Cairbar, for his attachment to the family of Cormac. He had attended Ofcar to the war of Inis-thona, where they contracted a great friendship for one another. Ofcar, immediately after the death of Cathol had fent a for mal challenge to Cairbar, which he prudently declined, but conceived a fecret hatred against Ofcar and had beforehand contrived to kill him at the teaft, to which he here invites him. (2) He alludes to the battle of Ofcar againft Caros, king of ships; who is fupposed to be the fame with Caraufius the ufurper. (3) Cath-mór, great in battle. Cairbar takes adbrother brother of Cairbar; he is not here with his thousands, and our arms are weak. Cathmor is a foe to ftrife at the feaft: his foul is bright as the fun. But Cairbar shall fight with Ŏfcar, chiefs of the high Temora! His words for Cathol were many; and the wrath of Cairbar burns. He shall fall on Lena: and my fame shall rife in blood. The faces of the heroes brightened. They fpread over Lena's heath. The feast of shells is prepared. The fongs of the bards arofe. We heard (1) the voice of joy on the coaft, and we thought that the mighty Cath mor came. Cathmor the friend of strangers! vantage of his brother's abfence, to perpetrate his ungenerous defigns against Ofcar; for the noble fpirit of Cathmor, had he been prefent, would not have permitted the laws of that hofpitality for which he was fo renowned himself,, to be violated. The brothers form a contraft: we do not deteft the mean foul of Cairbar more than we admire the difinterested and generous mind of Cathmor. (1) Fingal's army heard the joy that was in Cairbar's camp. The character given of Cathnior is agreeable to the times. Some, through oftentation were hofpitable; and others fell naturally into a custom handed down from their ancestors. But what marks ftrongly the character of Cathmor, is his averfion to praife; for he is reprefented to dwell in a wood to avoid the thanks of his guests i VOL. II. E : the brother of red-haired Cairbar. But their fouls were not the fame for the light of heaven was in the bofom of Cathinor. His towers rofe on the banks of Atha: seven paths led to his halls. Seven chiefs ftood on thofe paths, and called the ftranger to the feast. But Cathmor dwelt in the wood to avoid the voice of praise. Olla came with his fongs. Ofcar went to Cairbar's feaft. Three hundred heroes attended the chief, and the clang of their which is ftill a higher degree of generofity than that of Axylus in Homer: for the poet does not fay but the good man might, at the head of his own table, have heard with pleasure the praise bestowed on him by the people he entertained. Αξυλον δ ̓ ἄρ ἔπεφνε βοὴν ἀγαθὸς Διομήδης HOM. II. 6. 12. Next Teuthra's fon diftain'd the fands with blood, In fair Arisbe's walls, his native place, arms is terrible. The gray dogs bounded on the heath, and their howling is frequent. Fingal faw the departure of the hero: the foul of the king was fad. He dreads the gloomy Cairbar but who of the race of Trenmor feared the foe? : My fon lifted high the fpear of Cormac : an hundred bards met him with fongs. Cairbar concealed with fmiles the death that was dark in his foul. The feaft is spread, the shells refound; joy brightens the face of the hoft. But it was like the parting beam of the fun, when he is to hide his red head in a storm. Cairbar rofe in his arms; darkness gathers on his brow. The hundred harps ceased at once. The clang (1) of shields is heard. Far diftant on the heath Olla raised his fong of woe. My fon knew the sign of death; and rifing feized his spear. (1) When a chief was determined to kill a man that was in his power already, it was ufual to fig nify, that his death was intended, by the found of a shield truck with the blunt end of a spear; at the fame time that a bard at a distance raised the death-fong. A ceremony of another kind was long ufed in Scotland upon fuch occafions. Every body has heard that a bull's head was ferved up to Lord Douglas in the castle of Edinburgh, a a certain fignal of his approaching death. 2983151 |