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blue-eyed king, the fon of broad-shielded Cairbar, from Ullin of the roes. He liftens to the voice of Condan, as, grey, he bends

of what has been faid in preceding notes. - Upon the death of Conar the fon of Trenmor, his fon Cormac fucceeded on the Irish throne. Cormac reigned long. His children were, Cairbar, who fucceeded him, and Roscrana, the first wife of Fingal. Cairbar, long before the death of his father Cormac, had taken to wife Bos-gala, the daughter of Colgar, one of the most powerful chiefs in Connaught, and had, by her, Artho, afterwards king of Ireland. Soon after Artho arrived at man's eftate, his mother Bos-gala died, and Cairbar took to wife Beltanno, the daughter of Conachar of Ullin, who brought him a fon, whom he called Ferad-artho, i. e. a man in the place of Artho. The occafion of the name was this. Artho, when his brother was born, was abfent, on an expedition in the fouth of Ireland. A falfe report was brought to his father that he was killed.

Cairbar, to ufe the words of the poem on the fubject, darkened for his fair-haired fon. He turned to the young beam of light, the Son of Beltanno of Conachar. Thou shalt be Ferad-artho, he faid, a fire before thy race. Caitbar, foon after, died, nor did Artho long furvive him. Artho was fucceeded, in the Irish throne, by his fon Cormac, who in his minority, was murdered by Cairbar, the fon of Borbar-duthul. Ferad-artho, says tradition, was very young, when the expedition of Fingal, to fettle him on the throne of Ireland, happened. During the short reign of young Cormac, Ferad-artho lived at the royal palace of Temora. Upon the murder of the king, Condan, the bard conveyed Ferad-artho, privately, to the cave of Cluna, behind the mountain Crommal, in Ulfter,

in feeble light. He liftens, for his foes dwell in the echoing halls of Temora. He comes, at times, abroad, in the skirts of mist, to pierce the bounding roes. When the fun looks on the field, nor by the rock

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ftream, is he! He shuns the race of Bolga, who dwell in his father's hall. Tell him, that Fingal lifts the fpear, and that his foes, perhaps, may fail.

Lift up, O Gaul, the shield before him. Stretch, Dermid, Temora's fpear. Be thy voice in his ear, O Carril, with the deeds of his fathers. Lead him to green Moilena,

where they both lived concealed, during the ufurpation of the family of Atha. All these particulars, concerning Ferad-artho, may be gathered from the compofitions of Offian : A bard, lefs ancient, has delivered the whole hiftory, in a poem just now in my poffeffion. It has little merit, if we except the fcene between Ferad-artho, and the mefiengers of Fingal, upon their arrival, in the valley of Cluna. After hearing of the great actions of Fingal, the young prince propofes the following queftions concerning him, to Gaul and Dermid. Is the king tall as the rock of my cave? Is his fpear a fir of Cluna? Is he a toughwinged blaft, on the mountain, which takes the green oak by the head, and tears it from its hill? Glitters Lubar within his ftrides, when he fends his ftately steps along? Nor is he tall, faid Gaul as that rock nor glitter ftreams within his ftrides, but his foul is a mighty flood, like the ftrength of Ullin's feas. »

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to the dusky field of ghofts; for there I fall forward, in battle, in the folds of war. Before dun night defcends, come to high Dunmora's top. Look, from the grey rolling of mist on Lena of the ftreams. If there my ftandard shall float on wind, over Lubar's gleaming course, then has not Fingal failed in the laft of his fields.

Such were his words: nor aught replied the filent, ftriding kings. They looked fide-long, on Erin's hoft, and darkened, as they went.Never before had they left the king, in the midst of the ftormy field. Behind them, touching at times his harp, the grey-haired Carril moved. He forefaw the fall of the people, and mournful was the found! It was like a breeze that comes, by fits, over Lego's reedy lake; when fleep half-defcends on the hunter, within his moffy cave.

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Why bends the bard of Cona, faid Fingal, over his fecret ftream? Is this a time for forrow, father of low-laid Ofcar? Be the warriors (1) remembered in peace; when

(1) Ofcar and Fillan are here, emphatically called the warriors. Offian was not forgetful of them, when, to use his own expreffion, peace returned to the land. His plaintive poems, concerning the death of these young heroes, were very numerous. I had occafion, in a preceding note, to give a tranflation of one of them, ( a dialogue between Clatho

echoing shields are heard no more. Bend, then, in grief, over the flood, where blows the mountain breeze. Let them pass on thy

and Bos-mina) in this I shall lay before the reader a fragment of another. The greateft, and, perhaps, the moft interefting part of the poem, is loft. What remains, is a foliloquy of Malvina, the daughter of Tofcar, fo often mentioned in Offian's compofitions. She fitting alone, in the vale of Moi-lutha, is reprefented as defcrying, at a distance, the ship which carried the body of Ofcag to Morven.

« Malvina is like the bow of the shower, in the fecret valley of ftreams; it is bright, but the drops of heaven roll on its blended light. They say, that I am fair within my locks, but, on my brightness, is the wandering of tears. Darkness flies over my foul, as the dusky wave of the breeze, along the grafs of Lutha. Yet have not the roes failed me, when I moved between the hills. Pleafant, beneath my white hand, arofe the found of harps. What then, daughter of Lutha, travels over thy foul, like the dreary path of a ghoft, along the nightly beam? Should the young warrior fall, in the roar of his troubled fields! Young virgins of Lutha arife, call back the wandering thoughts of Malvina. Awake the voice of the harp, along my echoing vale. Then shall my foul come forth, like a light from the gates of the morn, when clouds are rolled around them, with their broken fides.

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« Dweller of my thoughts, by night, whofe form afcends in troubled fields, why doft thou ftir up my foul, thou fat-diftant fon of the king?

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foul, the blue-eyed dwellers of Lena. But Erin rolls to war, wide-tumbling, rough, and dark. Lift, Offian, lift the shield. I am alone, my fon!

As comes the fudden voice of winds to the becalmed ship of Inis-huna, and drives it large, along the deep, dark rider of the wave: fo the voice of Fingal fent Offian, tall, along the heath. He lifted high his shining shield, in the dusky wing of war: like the broad, blank moon, in the skirt of a cloud, before the ftorms arise.

Loud, from moss-covered Mora, poured down, at once, the broad-winged war. Fingal led his people forth, king of Morven of ftreams. On high fpreads the eagle's wing. His grey hair is poured on his shoulders broad. In thunder are his mighty ftrides. He often ftood, and faw behind, the widegleaming rolling of armour. A rock he feemed, grey over with ice, whose woods are high in wind. Bright ftreams leap from its head, and fpread their foam on blafts.

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that the ship of my love, its dak course thro' the ridges of ocean? How art thou fo fudden, Ofcar, from the heath of shields?»-

The reft of this poem, it is faid, confifted, of a dialogue between Ullin and Malvina, wherein the diftrefs of the latter is carried to the highest pitch

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