IL

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BOOK SECOND.

FATE FATHER of heroes, Trenmor! dweller of eddying winds! where the dark-red course of thunder marks the troubled clouds! Open thou thy ftormy balls, and let the bards of old be near let them draw near, with their fongs and their half viewless harps. No dweller of mifty valley comes; no hunter unknown

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(1) Addreffes to the fpirits of deceafed warriors are common, in the compofitions of Offian. He, however, expreffes them in fuch language as prevents all fufpicion of his paying divine honours to the dead, as was ufual among other nations. - From the fequel of this apoftrophe it " that appears, Offian had retired from the reft of the army to mourn, in fecret, over the death of his fon Ofcar. This indirect method of narration has much of the nature of the Drama, and is more forcible than a regular historical chain of circumftances. The abrupt manner of Olian may often render him obfcure to inattentive readers. Thofe who retain his poems, on memory, feem to be fenfible of this; and ufually give the hiftory of the pieces minutely, before they begin to repeat the poetry.

at his ftreams; but the car-borne Oscar from the folds of war. Sudden is thy change, my fon, from what thou wert on dark Moi-lena! The blaft folds thee in its skirt, and ruftles along the sky.

Doft thou not behold thy father, at the ftream of night? The chiefs of Morven fleep far-diftant. They have loft no fon. But ye have loft a hero, Chiefs of ftreamy Morven! Who could equal his ftrength, when battle rolled against his fide, like the darkness of crowded waters ? Why this cloud on Offian's foul? It ought to burn in danger. Erin is near with her hoft. The king of Morven is alone.-Alone thou shalt not be, my father, while I can lift the fpear.

I rofe, in my rattling arms. I liftened to

Tho' this book has little action, it is not the leaft important part of Temora. The poet, in feveral epifodes, runs up the caufe of the war to the very fource. The first population of Ireland, the wars between the two nations who originally poffelfed that ifland, its first race of kings, and the revolutions of its government, are important facts, and are delivered by the poet, with fo little mixture of the fabulous, that one cannot help preferring his accounts to the improbable fictions of the Scotch and Irish hiftorians. The Milefian fables of thofe gentlemen bear about them the marks of a late invention. To trace their legends to their fource would be no difficult task; but a difquifition of this fort would extend this note too far.

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the wind of night. The shield of Fillan (1) is not heard. I shook for the fon of Fingal. Why should the foe come, by night; and the dark-haired warrior fail? Diftant, fuilen murmurs rife like the noise of the lake of Lego, when its waters shrink, in the days of froft, and all its bursting ice refounds. The people of Lara look to heaven, and foresee the ftorm.-My steps are forward on the heath: the fpear of Oscar

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my hand. Red stars looked from night.— I faw Fillan filent before me, bending forward from Mora's rock. He heard the shout of the foe; the joy of his foul arose.

(1) We understand, from the preceding book that Cathmor was near with an army. When Cairbar was killed, the tribes who attended him fell back to Cathmor; who, as it afterwards appears, had taken a refolution to furprize Fingal by night. Fillan was dispatched to the hill of Mora, which was in the front of the Caledonians, to obferve the motions of Cathmor. In this fituation were affairs when Offian, upon hearing the noife of the approaching enemy, went to find out his brother. Their converfation naturally introduces the episode concerning Conar the fen of Trenmor the first Irish monarch, which is fo neceffary to the understanding the foundation of the rebellion and ufurpation of Cairbar and Cathmor.Fillan was the youngest of the fons of Fingal, then living. He and Bofmin, mentioned in the battle of Lora, were the only children of the king, by Clatho the daughter of Cathulla king of Inis-tore, whom he had taken to wife, after the death of Ros-crana, the daughter of Cormac Mac-Conar king of Ireland.

He heard my founding tread, and turned his lifted fpear.

Comeft thou, fon of night, in peace? Or doft thou meet my wrath: The foes of Fingal are mine. Speak, or fear my fteel.-I ftand, not in vain, the shield of Morven's race.

Never mayft thou ftand in vain, son of blue-eyed Clatho. Fingal begins to be alone; darkness gathers on the laft of his days. Yet he has two (1) fons who ought to shine in war. Who ought to be two beams of light, near the steps of his departure.

Son of Fingal, replied the youth, it is not long fince I raised the fpear. Few are the marks of my fword in battle, but my foul

(1) That is, two fons in Ireland. Fergus, the fecond fon of Fingal, was, at that time, on an expedition which is mentioned in one of the leffer poems of Offian. He, according to fome traditions, was the ancestor of Fergus, the fon of Erc or Arcath, commonly called Fergus_the fecond in the Scotch hiftories. The beginning of the reign of Fergus, over the Scots, is placed, by the moft approved annals of Scotland, in the fourth year of the fifth age: a full century after the death of Offian. The genealogy of his family is recorded thus by the highland Senachies; Fergus Mac-Accath Mac-Chongael, Mac-Fergus, Mac-Fiongael na buai' : i. e. Fergus the fon of Arcath, the fon of Congal, the fon of Fergus, the fon of Fingal the victorious. This fubject is treated more at large, in the dif fertation prefixed to the poem.

is fire. The chiefs of Bolga (1) crowd around the shield of generous Cathmor. Their gathering is on that heath. Shall my fteps approach their hoft?I yielded to Ofcar alone, in the ftrife of the race, on Cona.

Fillan, thou shalt not approach their hoft; nor fall before thy fame is known. My name is heard in fong: when needful I advance.— From the skirts of night I shall view their gleaming tribes.-Why, Fillan, didst thou fpeak of Ofcar, to call forth my figh? I must forget (2) the warrior, till the ftorm is

(1) The fouthern parts of Ireland went, for fome time, under the name of Bolga, from the Fir-bolg or Belge of Britain, who fettled a colony there. Bolg fignifies a quiver, from which proceeds Fir-bolg, i. e. bow-men; fo called from their ufing bows, more than any of the neighbouring nations.

(2) It is remarkable, that, after this paffage, Ofcar is not mentioned in all Temora. The fituations of the characters who act in the poem are fo interesting, that others, foreign to the subject, could not be introduced with any luftre. Tho' the episode, which follows, may feem to flow naturally enough from the converfation of the brothers, yet I have shewn in a preceding note, and, more at large, in the differtation prefixed to this collection, that the poet had a farther design in view. It is highly probable, tho' the Irish annalifts do not agree with Offian in other particulars, that the Conar here mentioned is the fame with their Conar-mór, i. c. Conar the great, whom they place in the first century.