their race, while they behold them lonely in the midst of woe. Call me, my father, when the king is low on earth; for then I shall be lonely in the midst of woe. gloominess of the fcenes around them was apt to beget that melancholy difpofition of mind, which moft readily receives impreffions of the extraordinary and fupernatural kind. Falling afleep in this gloomy mood and their dreams being difturbed by the noife of the elements around, it is no matter of wonder, that they thought they heard the voice of the dead. This voice of the dead, however, was, perhaps, no more than a shriller whistle of the winds in an old tree, or in the chinks of a neighbouring rock. It is to this caufe I afcribe thofe many and improbable tales of ghofts, which we meet with in the highlands: for, in other refpects we do not find that the highlanders are more credulous than their neighbours. the Offian, after a short addrefs to the harp of Cona, defcribes the arrangement of both armies on either fide of the river Lubar. Fingal gives the command to Fillan : but, at the fame time orders Gaul fon of Morni, who had been wounded in the hand in the preceding battle to affift him with his counfel. The army of the Fir-bolg is commanded by Foldath. The general onfet is defcribed. The great actions of Fillan. He kills Rothmar and Cuimin. But when Fillan conquers, in one wing, Foidath preffes hard on the other. He wounds Dermid, the fon of Duthno, and puts the whole wing to flight. Dermid deliberates with himself, and, at last, refolves to put a stop to the progress of Foldath, by engaging him in fingle combat-When the two chiefs were approaching towards one another, Fillan came fuddenly to the relief of Dermid; engaged, Foldath, and killed him. The behaviour of Malthos towards the fallen Foldath. Fillan puts the whole army of the Firbolg to flight. The book clofes with an addrefs to Clatho, the mother of that hero. TEMORA: AN EPIC POE M. BOOK FIFTH. (1) THOU dweller between the shields that hang on high in Offian's hall, defcend from (1) Thefe abrupt adreffes give great life to the poetry of Offian. They are all in a lyric measure. The old men, who retain, on memory, the compofitions of Offian shew much fatisfaction when they come to thofe parts of them, which are in thime, and take great pains to explain their beauties, and inculcate the meaning of their obfolete phrases on the minds of their hearers. This attachment does not proceed from the fuperior beauty of these lyric pieces, but rather from a tafte for rhime which the mo dern bards have eftablished among the highlanders. Having no genius themselves for the fublime and pathetic, they placed the whole beauty of poetry in the returning harmony of fimilar founds. The feducing charms of rhime foon weaned their countrymen from that attachment they long had to the recitative of Offian: and, tho' they ftill admired his compofitions, their admiration was founded more on his antiquity, and the detail of facts which he gave, than on his poetical excellence. Rhiming, in procefs of time, became fo much reduced into a system, and was so universally understood, VOL. III, H thy place, O harp, and let me hear thy voice.-Son of Alpin, ftrike the ftring; thou muft awake the foul of the bard. The murmur of Lora's (1) ftream has rolled the tale away. I ftand in the cloud of years : few are its openings towards the paft, and when the vifion comes, it is but dim and dark. I hear thee, harp of Cona; my foul returns, like a breeze, which the fun brings back to the vale, where dwelt the lazy mist. (2) Lubar is bright before me, in the that every cow-herd compofed tolerable verses. These poems, it is true were a defcription of nature; but of nature in its rudeft form; a group of uninteresting ideas dreffed out in the flowing harmony of monotonous verfes. Void of merit as those vulgar compofitions were, they fell little short of the productions of the regular bards; for when all poetical excellence is confined to founds alone, it is within the power of every one poffeffed of a good ear. (1) Lora is often mentioned; it was a small and rapid ftream in the neighbourhood of Selma. There is no veftige of this name now remaining; tho' it appears from a very old fong, which the tranflator has feen, that one of the fmall rivers on the north-west coast was called Lora fome centuries ago. (2) From feveral paffages in the poem we may form a diftinct idea of the fcene of the action of Temora. At a finall distance from one another rose |