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feized the fword. The fword which he brought from Strumon, when the ftrength of Morni failed (1).

(1) Strumon, ftream of the hill, the name of the feat of the family of Gaul, in the neighbourhood of Selma. During Gaul's expedition to Tromathon, mentioned in the poem of Oithona, Morni his father died. Morni ordered the fword of Strumon, (which had been preferved, in the family, as a relique from the days of Colgach, the most renowned of his ancestors) to be laid by his fide, in the tomb : at the fame time, leaving it in charge to his fon, not to take it from thence, till he was reduced to the last extremity. Not long after, two of his brothers being flain, in battle, by Coldaronnan, chief of Clutha, Gaul went to his father's tomb to take the fword. His addrefs to the spirit of the deceafed hero, is the only part now remaining, of a poem of Offian, on the subject. I shall here lay it before the reader.

GAUL.

« Breaker of echoing shields, whose head is deep in shades; hear me from the darkness of Clora, O fon of Colgach, hear!

No rustling, like eagle's wing, comes over the courfe of my ftreams. Deep-bofomed in the mist of the defart, O king of Strumon, hear!

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Dwelleft thou in the shadowy breeze, that pours its dark wave over the grafs Ceafe to ftrew the beard of the thistle; O chief of Clora, hear ! VOL. III.

F

On his fpear ftood the fon of Clatho ( 1 ) in the wandering of his locks. Thrice he

Or rideft thou on a beam, amidst the dark trouble of clouds ? Poureft thou the loud wind on feas, to roll their blue waves over ifles? hear me, father of Gaul; amidst thy terrors, hear!

The rustling of eagles is heard, the murmuring oaks shake their heads on the hills: dreadful and pleasant is thy approach, friend of the dwelling of heroes.

MORNI.

Who awakes me in the midst of my cloud, where my locks of mift fpread on the winds? Mixed with the noife of ftreams, why rifes the voice of Gaul:

GAUL.

My foes are around me, Morni: their dark ships defcend from their waves. Give the fword of Strumon, that beam which thou hideft in thy night.

MORNI.

Take the fword of refounding Strumon; I look on thy war, my fon; I look, a dim meteor from my cloud blue-shielded Gaul :

destroy

(1) Clatho was the daughter of Cathulla, king of Iniftore. Fingal, in one of his expeditions to

atho raised his eyes to Fingal : his voice thrice failed him, as he spoke.-Fillan could not boaft of battles; at once he ftrode away. the Bent over a distant ftream he stood: the tear hung in his eye. He ftruck, at times, the thiftle's head, with his inverted fpear.

!

Nor is he unfeen of Fingal. Sidelong he beheld his fon. He beheld him, with bursting joy; and turned, amidst his crowded foul. In **filence turned the king towards Mora of woods. He hid the big tear with his locks.→ At length his voice is heard.

(1) First of the fons of Morni; thou

that island

fell in love with Clatho, and took her wife, after the death of Rof-crána, the daughter of Cormac, king of Ireland.

, one

Clatho was the mother of Ryno, Fillan, and Bofmina, mentioned in the battle of Lora of the leffer poems printed in Vol. I. Fillan is often called the fon of Clatho to diftinguish him from those fons which Fingal had by Rof-crana.

(1) Gaul, the fon of Morni next to Fingal, is the most renowned character introduced by Offian in his poems. He is, like Ajax in the Iliad, diftinguished, by his manly taciturnity. The honourable epithets bestowed on him here by Fingal, amazingly expreffive in the original. There is not a paffage in all Temora which lofes fo much in the tranflation as this. The first part of the fpeech is rapid and irregular, and is peculiarly

arc

rock that defieft the ftorm! Lead thou my battle, for the race of low-laid Cormac No boy's ftaff is thy fpear: no harmless beam of light thy fword. Son of Morni of fteeds, behold the foe; deftroy.-Fillan, obferve the chief: he is not calm in ftrife: nor burns he, heedless, in battle; my fon, obferve the king. He is ftrong as Lubar's ftream, but never foams and roars. High on cloudy Mora, Fingal shall behold the war. Stand, Offian (1), near thy father, by the falling ftream.-Raife the voice, O bards; Morven, move beneath the found. It is my latter field; clothe it over with light.

As the fudden rifing of winds; or distant rolling of troubled feas, when fome dark ghoft, in wrath, heaves the billows over an ife, the feat of mift, on the deep, for many dark-brown years: fo terrible is the found

calculated to animate the foul to war. Where the king addreffes Fillan, the verfification changes to a regular and fmooth measure. The firft is like torrents rushing over broken rocks; the fecond like the courfe of a full-flowing river, calm, but majeftic. This inftance ferves to shew, how much is aflifts a poet to alter the meafure, according to the particular passion, that he intends to excite in his reader.

(1) Ullin being fent to Morven with the body of Ofcar, Offian attends his father, in quality of chief bard.

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of the hoft, wide-moving over the field. Gaul his tall before them: the ftreams glitter within his ftrides. The bards raised the song by his fide; he ftruck his shield between. On the skirts of the blaft, the tuneful voices rofe.

On Crona, faid the bards, there burfts at ftream by night. It fwells, in its own dark courfe, till morning's early beam. Then comes it white from the hill, with the rocks and their hundred groves. Far be my steps from Crona: Death is tumbling there. Be ye a ftream from Mora, fons of cloudy Morven.

Who rifes, from his car, on Clutha? The hills are troubled before the king! The dark woods echo. round, and lighten at his fteel. See him, amidst the foe, like Colgach's (1)

(1) There are fome traditions, but, I believe, of late invention, that this Colgach was the fame with the Galgacus of Tacitus. He was the ancestor of Gaul, the fon of Morni, and appears, from fome, really ancient, traditions to have been king, or Vergobret, of the Caledonians; and hence proceeded the pretentions of the family of Morni to the throne which created a good deal of difturbance both to Comhal and his fon Fingal. The first was killed in battle by that tribe; and it was after Fingal was grown up that they were reduced to obedience. Colgach fignifies fiercely-looking, which is a very proper name for a warrior, and is probably the origin of Galgacus; tho' I