CONNAL

ONNAL* lay by the sound of the mountain ftream, beneath the aged tree. ftone, with its mofs, fupported his head. Shrill

A

thro'

* The fcene of Connal's repose is familiar to those who have been in the Highlands of Scotland. The poet removes him to a diftance from the army, to add more horror to the description of Crugal's ghoft by the loneliness of the place. It perhaps will not be disagreeable to the reader, to fee how two other ancient poets handled a similar subject.

Ηλθη δ' επι ψυχὴ Πατροκλῆος δειλοῖο

Παντ ̓ αὐτῷ μεγέθος τε καὶ ὄματα κατ ̓ εἰκυῖα
Kai Povny, &c.

HOM. II. 23.

When lo! the shade, before his closing eyes,
Of fad Patroclus rofe or feem'd to rife,

In the fame robe he living wore, he came
In ftature, voice, and pleafing look the fame.
The form familiar hover'd o'er his head,
And fleeps Achilles thus the phantom said.
In fomnis ecce ante oculos mæftiffimus Hector
Vifus addeffe mihi, largofque effundere fletus,
Raptatus bigis, ut quondam, aterque cruento
Pulvere perque pedes trajectus lora tumentes.

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POPE.

Hei

thro' the heath of Lena, he heard the voice of night. At distance from the heroes he lay, for the fon of the fword feared no foe.

My hero faw in his reft a dark-red ftreamt of fire coming down from the hill. Crugal fat upon the beam, a chief that lately fell. He fell by the hand of Swaran, striving in the battle of heroes. His face is like the beam of the fetting moon; his robes are of the clouds his robes are of of the hill his eyes are like two decaying flames. Dark is the wound of his breaft.

CRUGAL, faid the mighty Connal, fon of

Dedgal famed on the hill of deer.

Why fo pale and fad, thou breaker of the fhields?

Hei mihi qualis erat! quantum mutatus ab illo
Hectore, qui redit exuviis indutus Achilli,
Vel Danaum Phrygios jaculatus puppibus ignes;
Squalentem barbam concretos fanguine crines
Vulneroque illa gerens quæ circum plurima muros
Adcepit patrios.

En. lib. 2.

When Hector's ghost before my fight appears :
A bloody fhroud he feem'd, and bath'd in tears.
Such as he was, when, by Pelides flain,
Theffalian courfers drag'd him o'er the plain.
Swoln were his feet, as when the thongs were thruft
Through the bor'd holes, his body black with duft.
Unlike that Hector, who return'd from toils,
Of war triumphant, in Aacian spoils:
Or him, who made the fainting Greeks retire,
And launch'd against their navy Phrygian fire.
His hair and beard stood ftiffen'd with his gore;
And all the wounds he for his country bore.

DRYDEN.

-Thou

Thou haft never been pale for fear. difturbs the fon of the hill ?

-What

DIM, and in tears, he ftood and ftretched his pale hand over the hero.--Faintly he raised his feeble voice, like the gale of the reedy Lego.

My ghoft, Ó Connal, is on my native hills; but my corfe is on the fands of Ullin. Thou fhalt never talk with Crugal, or find his lone steps in the heath. I am light as the blast of Cromla, and I move like the shadow of mist.

Connal, fon of Colgar *, I fee the dark cloud of death it hovers over the plains of Lena. The fons of green Erin fhall fall. Remove from the field of ghosts.Like the darkened moon he retired, in the midst of the whistling blaft.

STAY, faid the mighty Connal, ftay my dark-red friend. Lay by that beam of heaven, fon of the windy Cromla. What cave of the hill is thy lonely houfe? What green-headed

Connal the fon of Caithbat, the friend of Cuchullin, is fometimes, as here, called the fon of Colgar; from one of that name who was the founder of his family.

+ Ψυχη δέ κατα χθονός, ηὔτε καπνὸς

hill is the place of thy reft? Shall we not hear thee in the ftorm? In the noife of the mountain-ftream? When the feeble fons of the wind come forth, and ride on the blaft of the defart. THE foft-voiced Connal rofe in the midst of his founding arms. He ftruck his fhield above

Cuchullin. The fon of battle waked.

WHY, faid the ruler of the car, comes Connal through the night? My spear might turn against the found; and Cuchullin mourn the death of his friend. Speak, Connal, fon of Colgar, fpeak, thy counfel is like the fon of heaven.

SON of Semo, replied the chief, the ghost of Crugal came from the cave of his hill.The ftars dim-twinkled through his form; and his voice was like the found of a diftant ftream. He is a meffenger of death. He fpeaks of the dark and narrow houfe. Sue for peace, O chief of Dunfcaich; or fly over the heath

of Lena:

HE fpoke to Connal, replied the hero, though ftars dim-twinkled through his form. Son of Colgar, it was the wind that murmured in the caves of Lena. Or if it was the form of Crugal,

The poet teaches us the opinions that prevailed in his time concerning the state of feparate fouls. From Connal's expreffion,

"That

Crugal, why didft thou not force him to my fight. Haft thou enquired where is his cave? The house of the fon of the wind? My fword might find that voice, and force his knowledge from him. And small is his knowledge, Connal, for he was here to-day. He could not have gone beyond our hills, and who could tell him there of our death?

GHOSTS fly on clouds and ride on winds, faid Connal's voice of wisdom. They reft together in their caves, and talk of mortal men.

THEN let them talk of mortal men; of every man but Erin's chief. Let me be forgot in their cave; for I will not fly from Swaran.If I must fall, my tomb shall rise amidst the fame of future times. The hunter fhall fhed a tear on my ftone; and forrow dwell round the highbofomed Bragéla. I fear not death, but I fear to fly, for Fingal faw me often victorious. Thou dim phantom of the hill, fhew thyself to me! come on thy beam of heaven, and fhew me my death in thine hand; yet will I not fly, thou feeble fon of the wind. Go, fon of Colgar, ftrike the fhield of Caithbat, it hangs be

That the ftars dim-twinkled through the form of Crugal," and Cuchullin's reply, we may gather that they both thought the foul was material; fomething like the idea of the ancient Greeks.