Where, o'er the stream the knarred oak reclin'd,
Affords protection from the chilly wind:
A tuft of wither'd fern is waving near,
Which, as it moves, will mix in Ossian's hair.
On Mora's stream-worn side, dost thou not see,
Expos'd to the rude blast, a leafless tree?
There, on a bough, hangs up my harp in air.
E'en now its low vibrations reach my ear;
Is it the passing winds that make thee play,
Or passing ghosts that would their skill essay?
Perhaps Malvina's! Her soft touch I know,
She lov'd the melancholy joy of woe.
But now thy master's hand shall make thee speak,
And all thy pow'rs of melody awake:
Another song shall rise, and on the lay
To heaven my parting soul shall wing its way.
From high, ye spirits of my sires, descend,
To the last sound of Cona's voice attend;
Resort with joy to hear its last essay,
Then to your airy halls my soul convey.
And now I strike my harp, and strike again;
A fuller tone, a more sonorous train!
Ye winds, with all your rustling wings, be near;
To great Fingal the solemn numbers bear;
They are his plaints, to whose heroic theme,
The mighty owe their never-dying fame.
Forc'd by the northern blast, heav'n's gates unfold,
Their cloudy valves, and I aloft behold
Fingal in arms, dim gleaming to the sight,
That mighty form once terrible in fight!
But now the chief, a phantom light as air,
Is like a mist, through which dew-bath'd appear
The twinkling stars-his shield a moon decay'd-
A half-extinguish'd fire his dreaded-blade-
An unsubstantial shadow, thin and wan,
With but th' external figure of a man,-
A fleeting vapour, wanders through the sky,
The ghost of him, who once made armies fly.
But though the valiant dread no more his form, In darkness clad, he rides the desart storm; The winds are in his hand; the sun he rolls In gloomy mists, and veils in night the poles; His lightnings fly, the skies descend in show'rs And trembling mortals own superior pow'rs. Yet when in mildness, issuing from his bow'r, He fans with balmy gales the morning hour; The clouds disperse; in majesty serene Looks forth the sun, and laughing gilds the scene: Each blooming shrub, each dew-bespangled spray, Wave to the breeze, in vernal florets gay; Bright down the vales meand'ring glide the rills, And roes swift bounding seek the desart hills.
Again the winds abate, their distant breath, In fainter murmurs, dies along the heath. Delusion mocks, or great Fingal I hear,
(His voice hath long been absent from my ear) He calls his son.-" Come Ossian, come away! "Thou must at length the debt of nature pay! "Then join those friends, whose never-dying praise "Shall in thy songs descend to future days. "Though short, our lives were bright: like flames that cast "A temporary blaze, we shone—then past. "But though extinct, and silent are the plains "That echo'd once; we live still in thy strains! "The harp in Selma was not idly strung,
"And long shall last the themes our poet sung! "Then come my son! no more delay, but join "Aloft on clouds, the heroes of thy line."
Unconquer'd king of men, I come, I come!
The life of Ossian verges to the tomb.
In Selma's hall no more his voice is heard,
His steps on Cona's hills have disappear'd;
Age summons to repose, the blast may shake
These hoary locks, but not from sleep awake!
Night closes round.-Depart, O winds! your breath
Cannot remove the lethargy of death.
When enter'd once the dreary tomb's domain,
To rescue thence all human force is vain!
Why then this qualm, this unavailing fear,
Now that the doom allotted man draws near?
What must befal, the bravest cannot shun!
The mighty chiefs of former years are gone:
Like them the sons of future times will cease,
And be succeeded by another race.
As ocean rolls its billows to the shore,
The waves behind impelling those before;
As leaves unnumber'd, which the woods supply,
In summer flourish, and in autumn die ;
So generations pass, at nature's call
They rise successive, and successive fall.
Not Ryno's beauty could elude the grave,
Nor car-borne Oscar's strength the hero save;
Fingal himself a similar fate hath found;
Fingal! the great, the matchless, the renown'd.
When these the fell destroyer hath not spar'd,
Why wish to shun the evil they have shar'd?
But though this frame must moulder in the tomb,
The garland genius form'd, still fresh shall bloom.
Like Morven's oak, far shooting to the skies,
That meets the winds, and all their rage defies.
Amidst the storms of time my songs shall live
And in succeeding ages rapures give.
J. M'Creery, Printer, Houghton-Street, Liverpool.
ERRATA IN THE PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.
P. 33, note, l. 7, for list, read lies-p. 55, l. 19, after found, insert a full stop-p. 85, l. 22, for is, read are-p. 140, l. 5, for any, read my p. 142, l. 2, for had reached, read had never reached-p. 169, l. 15, for were more, read were others more.
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