MELILCOMA.

Defcend, ye light mifts from high; ye

moon- beams, lift her foul.

Pale lies the

maid at the rock! Comala is no more!

FINGAL.

Is the daughter of Sarno dead; the whitebofomed maid of my love? Meet me, Comala, on my heaths, when I fit alone at the ftreams of my hills.

HIDALLA N.

Ceafed the voice of the huntrefs of Galmal? Why did I trouble the foul of the maid? When fhall I fee thee, with joy, in the chace of the dark brown hinds?

FINGAL.

Youth of the gloomy brow! no more fhalt thou feaft in my halls. Thou shalt not purfue my chace, and my foes fhall not fall by thy fword *). Lead me to the place

of her reft, that I may behold her beauty. Pale fhe lies at the rock, and the cold winds lift her hair. Her bow-ftring founds in the blast,

*) The fequel of the ftory of Hidallan is introduced, as an episode, in the poem which immediately follows in this collection.

blast, and her arrow was broken in her fall. Raife the praife of the daughter of Sarno, and give her name to the wind of the hills.

BARDS.

See! meteors roll around the maid; and moon-beams lift her foul! Around her, from their clouds, bend the awful faces of her fathers; Sarno *) of the gloomy brow; and the red-rolling eyes of Fidallan. When fhall thy white hand arife, and thy voice be heard on our rocks? The maids fhall feek thee on the heath, but they will not find thee. Thou fhalt come, at times, to their dreams, and fettle peace in their foul. Thy voice fhall remain in their ears **), and they fhall think. with joy on the dreams of their reft. Meteors roll around the maid, and moon-beams lift her foul!

*) Sarno the father of Coinala died foon after the flight of his daughter. Fidallan was the

firft king that reigned in Inistore.

**) The angel ended, and' in Adam's ear
So charming left his voice, that he a while
Thought him ftill speaking, ftill stood fix'd to hear.

MILTON.

THE

(15)

THE

WAR OF CAROS*):

A POEM.

ring, daughter of Toscar, bring the harp; the light of the song rifes in Offian's foul.

Bithe

It is like the field, when darkness covers the

hills around, and the fhadow grows flowly on the plain of the fun.

I be

*) Caros is probably the noted ufurper Caraufius,
by birth a Menapian, who asfumed the purple
in the year 284; and, feizing on Britain, defeat-
ed the emperor Maximian Herculius in feveral
naval engagements, which gives propriety to his
being called in this poem the king of ships.
He repaired Agricola's wall, in order to obftru&
the incurfions of the Caledonians; and when he
was employed in that work, it appears he was
attacked by a party under the command of Oscar
the fon of Offian. This battle is the foundation
of the prefent poem, which is addreffed to
Malvina the daughter of Tofcar.

near the

I behold my fon, o Malvina, moffy rock of Crona *); but it is the mist **) of the defart tinged with the beam of the west. Lovely is the mift that asfumes the form of Ofcar! turn from it, ye winds, when ye roar on the fide of Ardven.

Who comes towards my fon, with the murmur of a fong? His ftaff is in his hand, his gray hair loofe on the wind. Surly joy lightens his face; and he often looks back to Caros. It is Ryno ***) of the fong, he that went to view the foe.

What does Caros king of fhips? faid the fon of the now mournful Offian: fpreads he the wings ****) of his pride, bard of the times of old?

He

*) Crona is the name of a finall ftream, which runs into the Carron. On its banks is the fcene of the preceding dramatic poem.

**) Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness, like pillars of fioke? SOLOMON'S Song.

*** Ryno is often mentioned in the ancient poetry. He seems to have been a bard of the first rank, in the days of Fingal.

****) The Roman eagle.

He fpreads them, Ofcar, replied the bard, but it is behind his gathered heap *). He looks over his ftones with fear, and beholds thee terrible, as the ghost of night that rolls. the wave to his flips.

"

Fix a flame

the winds of advance, and Tell to Caros, that my bow is

Go, thou first of my bards, fays Ofcar, and take the fpear, of Fingal. on its point, and shake it to heaven. Bid him, in fongs, to leave the rolling of his wave. that I long for battle; and weary of the chace of Cona. mighty are not here; and that my arm is young.

Tell him, the

**

He went with the found of his fong. Os car reared his voice on high. It reached his heroes on Ardven, like the noise of a cave * ) ; when the fea of Togorma rolls before it; and its trees meet the roaring winds.

They

gather round my fon, like the freams of the hill; when, after rain, they roll in the pride of their course.

Ryno came to the mighty Caros, and ftruck his flaming spear. Come to the battle

*) Agricola's wall which Caraufius repaired,

**)

As when the hollow rocks retain

The found of bluttering winds.

B

of

MILTON,