dark. There she is seen, Malvina; but not like the daughters of the hill. Her robes are from the stranger's land, and she is still alone! Fingal was sad for Carthon; he commanded his bards to mark the day when shadowy autumn returned: and often did they mark the day and sing the hero's praise. "Who comes so dark from "ocean's roar, like autumn's shadowy cloud? "Death is trembling in his hand! his eyes are "flames of fire! Who roars along dark Lora's "heath? Who but Carthon, king of swords! "The people fall! see how he strides, like the "sullen ghost of Morven? But there he lies a "goodly oak, which sudden blasts overturned! "When shalt thou rise, Balclutha's joy? When, "Carthon, shalt thou arise? Who comes so dark "from ocean's roar, like autumn's shadowy cloud?" Such were the words of the bards in the day of their mourning: Ossian often joined their voice, and added to their song. My soul has been mournful for Carthon: he fell in the days of his youth; and thou, O Clessámmor! where is thy dwelling in the wind? Has the youth forgot his wound? Flies he on clouds with thee? I feel the sun, O Malvina! leave me to my rest. Perhaps they may come to my dreams; I think I hear a feeble voice! The beam of heaven delights to shine on the grave of Carthon: I feel it warm around! O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! Whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty; the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave; but thou thyself movest alone. Who can be a companion of thy course? The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven; but thou art for ever the same, rejoicing in the brightness of thy course. When the world is dark with tempests, when thunder rolls and lightning flies, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. But to Ossian thou lookest in vain, for he beholds thy beams no more; whether thy yellow hair flows on the eastern clouds, or thou tremblest at the gates of the west. But thou art perhaps, like me, for a season; thy years will have an end. Thou shalt sleep in the clouds, careless of the voice of the morning. Exult then, O sun, in the strength of thy youth! age is dark and unlovely; it is like the glimmering light of the moon when it shines through broken clouds, and the mist is on the hills; the blast of the north is on the plain, the traveller shrinks in the midst of his journey. ARGUMENT.-AFTER an address to Malvina, the daughter of Toscar, Ossian proceeds to relate his own expedition to Fuärfed, an island of Scandinavia. Mal-orchol, king of Fuärfed, being hard pressed in war by Ton-thormod, chief of Sardronlo (who had demanded in vain the daughter of Mal-orchol in marriage), Fingal sent Ossian to his aid. Ossian, on the day after his arrival, came to battle with Ton-thormod, and took him prisoner. Malorchol offers his daughter Oina-morul to Ossian; but he, discovering her passion for Ton-thormod generously sur renders her to her lover, and brings about a reconciliation between the two kings. |