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is on its steel. He came first to the fhore, ftrong in the grey hair of age. Full rofe his finewy limbs, as he ftrode in his might. That fword is by his fide, which gives no fecond wound. His fhield is terrible, like the bloody moon, afcending through a ftorm. Then came Offian king of fongs. Then Morni's fon, the first of

men.

Connal leaps forward on his fpear. Dermid fpreads his dark-brown locks. Fillan bends his bow, the young hunter of ftreamy Moruth. But who is that before them, like the terrible course of a stream! It is the son of Offian, bright between his locks! His long hair falls on his back. His dark brows are half-inclofed in fteel. His fword hangs loofe on his fide. His fpear glitters as he moves. I fled from his terrible eyes, king of high Temora!"

"THEN fly, thou feeble man," faid Foldath's gloomy wrath. Fly to the grey streams of thy land, fon of the little foul! Have not I feen that Ofcar? I beheld the chief in war, He is of the mighty in danger: but there are others who lift the fpear. Erin has many fons as brave, king

This was the famous fword of Fingal, made by Luno, a fmith of Lochlin, and after him poetically called the Son of Luno: it is faid of this fword, that it killed a man at every ftroke; and that Fingal never used it but in times of the greatest danger.

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of Temora of Groves! Let Foldath meet him in his ftrength. Let me ftop this mighty stream. My fpear is covered with blood. My fhield is like the wall of Tura!"

"SHALL Foldath* alone meet the foe ?" replied the dark-browed Malthos. <<< Are they not on our coaft, like the waters of many ftreams? Are not these the chiefs, who vanquished Swaran, when the fons of green Erin fled? Shall Foldath meet their braveft hero? Foldath of the heart of pride! take the ftrength

of the people! and let Malthos come. My fword is red with flaughter, but who has heard my words +?"

"SONS of green Erin," said Hidalla ‡," let not Fingal hear your words, The foe might rejoice, and his arm be ftrong in the land. Ye are brave, O warriors! Ye are tempefts in war. Ye are, like storms, which meet the rocks without fear, and overturn the woods. But let us move

* The oppofite characters of Foldath and Malthos are ftrongly marked in subsequent parts of the poem. They appear always in oppofition. The feuds between their families, which were the fource of their hatred to one another, are mentioned in other poems.

+ That is, who has heard my vaunting? He intended the expreffion as a rebuke to the self-praife of Foldath.

Hidalla was the chief of Clonra, a fmall district on the banks of the lake of Lego. The beauty of his person, his eloquence and genius for poetry are afterwards mentioned.

in our strength, flow as a gathered cloud! Then fhall the mighty tremble; the fpear fhall fall from the hand of the valiant. We fee the cloud of death, they will fay, while fhadows fly over their face. Fingal will mourn in his age. He fhall behold his flying fame. The fteps of his chiefs will cease in Morven. The mofs of years

fhall grow in Selma."

CAIR BAR heard their words, in filence, like the cloud of a fhower: it ftands dark on Cromla, till the lightning-burfts its fide. The valley gleams with heaven's flame; the fpirits of the ftorm rejoice. So ftood the filent king of Temora; at length his words broke forth. "Spread the feast on Moi-lena. Let my hundred bards attend. Thou, red-haired Olla, take the harp of the king. Go to Ofcar chief of fwords. Bid Ofcar to our joy. To-day we feaft and hear the fong to-morrow break the fpears! Tell him that I have raised the tomb of Cathol* that bards gave his friend to the winds., Tell him that Cairbar has heard of his fame, at the

* Cathol the fon of Maronnan, or Moran, was murdered by Cairbar, for his attachment to the family of Cormac. He had attended Ofcar to the war of Inis-thona, where they contracted a great friendship for one another. Ofcar, immediately after the death of Cathol, had sent a formal challenge to Cairbar, which he prudently declined, but conceived a secret hatred against Ofcar, and had beforehand contrived to kill him at the feaft, to which he here invites him.

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stream of refounding Carun*. Cathmor† my brother is not here. He is not here with his thousands, and our arms are weak. Cathmor is a foe to strife at the feaft! His foul is bright as that fun! But Cairbar muft fight with Oscar, chiefs of woody Temora! His words for Cathol were many the wrath of Cairbar burns. He fhall fall on Moi-lena. My fame fhall rife in blood."

THEIR faces brightened round with joy. They spread over Moi-lena. The feaft of fhells is prepared. The fongs of bards arife. The

*He alludes to the battle of Ofcar against Caros, king of fhips; who is fuppofed to be the fame with Caraufius the ufurper.

+ Cathmor, great in battle, the fon of Borbar-duthul, and brother of Cairbar king of Ireland, had, before the infurrection of the Firbolg, paffed over into Inis-huna, fuppofed to be a part of South Britain, to affift Conmor king of that place against his enemies. Cathmor was fuccefsful in the war, but, in the course of it, Conmor was either killed, or died a natural death. Cairbar, upon intelligence of the defigns of Fingal to dethrone him, had difpatched a messenger for Cathmor, who returned into Ireland a few days before the opening of the poem.

Cairbar here takes advantage of his brother's abfence, to perpetrate his ungenerous defigns against Ofcar; for the noble fpirit of Cathmor, had he been prefent, would not have permitted the laws of that hofpitality, for which he was so renowned himself, to be violated. The brothers form a contraft: we do not deteft the mean foul of Cairbar more, than we admire the difinterefted and generous mind of Cathmor.

chiefs of Selma heard their joy *. We thought that mighty Cathmor came. Cathmor the friend' of ftrangers! the brother of red-haired Cairbar. Their fouls were not the fame. The light of heaven was in the bofom of Cathmor. His towers rofe on the banks of Atha; feven paths led to his halls. Seven chiefs ftood on the

* Fingal's army heard the joy that was in Cairbar's camp. The character given of Cathmor is agreeable to the times. Some, through oftentation, were hofpitable; and others fell naturally into a custom handed down from their ancestors. But what marks ftrongly the character of Cathmor, is his averfion to praise; for he is represented to dwell in a wood to avoid the thanks of his guests; which is still a higher degree of generofity than that of Axylus in Homer: for the poet does not fay, but the good man might, at the head of his own table, have heard with pleasure the praise bestowed on him by the people he entertained,

No nation in the world carried hospitality to a greater length than the ancient Scots. It was even infamous, for many ages, in a man of condition, to have the door of his houfe fhut at all, LEST, as the bards express it, THE STRANGER SHOULD COME AND BEHOLD HIS CONTRACTED SOUL. Some of the chiefs were poffeffed of this hospitable disposition to an extravagant degree; and the bards, perhaps upon a private account, never failed to recommend it, in their eulogiums. Cean uia' na dai' or the point to which all the roads of the ftrangers lead, was an invariable epithet given by them to the chiefs; on the contrary, they distinguished the inhofpitable by the title of the cloud which the frangers fhun. This laft however was fo uncommon, that in all the old poems I have ever met with, I found but one man branded with this ignominious appellation; and that, perhaps, only founded upon a private quarrel, which fubfifted between him and the patron of the bard, who wrote the poem,

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