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"Never mayst thou stand in vain, son of blue-eyed Clatho! Fingal begins to be alone. Darkness gathers on the last of his days. Yet he has two

ought to shine in war.

*

sons who

Who ought to be two beams

of light, near the steps of his departure."

"Son of Fingal," replied the youth, "it is not

long since I raised the spear.

Few are the marks of

my sword in war. But Fillan's soul is fire! The chiefs of Bolga +† crowd around the shield of generous Cathmor. Their gathering is on that heath. Shall my steps approach their host? I yielded to Oscar alone, in the strife of the race, on Cona!"

"Fillan, thou shalt not approach their host; nor fall before thy fame is known. My name is heard in song: when needful I advance. From the skirts of night I shall view them over all their gleaming tribes.

* That is, two sons in Ireland. Fergus, the second son of Fingal, was, at that time, on an expedition, which is mentioned in one of the lesser poems. He, according to some traditions, was the ancestor of Fergus, the son of Erc or Arcath, commonly called Fergus the second in the Scotch histories. The beginning of the reign of Fergus over the Scots, is placed, by the most approved annals of Scotland, in the fourth year of the fifth age: a full century after the death of Ossian. The genealogy of his family is recorded thus by the Highland Senachies; Fergus Mac-Arcath, Mac-Chongael, Mac-Fergus, Mac-Fiongael na buai'; i. c. Fergus the son of Arcath, the son of Congal, the son of Fergus, the son of Fingal the victorious. This subject is treated more at large, in the dissertation annexed to the poem.

The southern parts of Ireland went, for some time, under the name of Bolga, from the Fir-bolg or Belgae of Britain, who settled a colony there. Bolg signifies a quiver, from which proceeds Fir-bolg, i. e. low-men; so called from their using bows more than any of the neighbouring nations.

Why, Fillan, didst thou speak of Oscar! Why awake my sigh? I must forget the warrior, till the storm is rolled away. Sadness ought not to dwell in danger, nor the tear in the eye of war. Our fathers forgot their fallen sons, till the noise of arms was past. Then sorrow returned to the tomb, and the song of bards arose." The memory of those, who fell, quickly followed the departure of war: When the tumult of battle is past, the soul, in silence, melts away, for the dead.

Conar was the brother of Trathal, first of mortal men. His battles were on every coast. A thousand streams rolled down the blood of his foes. His fame filled green Erin, like a pleasant gale. The nations

*After this passage, Oscar is not mentioned in all Temora. The situations of the characters who act in the poem are so interesting, that others, foreign to the subject, could not be introduced with any lustre. Though the episode, which follows, may seem to flow naturally enough from the conversation of the brothers, yet I have shewn, in a preceding note, and, more at large, in the dissertation annexed to this collection, that the poet had a farther design in view.

+ Conar, the first king of Ireland, was the son of Trenmor, the great-grand-father of Fingal. It was on account of this family-connection, that Fingal was engaged in so many wars in the cause of the race of Conar. Though few of the actions of Trenmor are mentioned, he was the most renowned name of antiquity. The most probable opinion concerning him is, that he was the first, who united the tribes of the Caledonians, and commanded them, in chief, against the incursions of the Romans. The genealogists of the North have traced his family far back, and given a list of his ancestors to Cuan-mór nan lan, or Conmor of the swords, who, according to them, was the first who crossed the greut sea, to Caledonia, from which circumstance his name proceeded, which signifies Great ocean. Genealogies of so ancient a date, however, are little to be depended upon.

gathered in Ullin, and they blessed the king; the king of the race of their fathers, from the land of Selma.

The chiefs of the south were gathered, in the darkness of their pride. In the horrid cave of Muma they mixed their secret words. Thither often, they said, the spirits of their fathers came; shewing their pale forms from the chinky rocks: reminding them of the honor of Bolga. "Why should Conar reign," they said, "the son of resounding Morven ?"

They came forth, like the streams of the desert, with the roar of their hundred tribes. Conar was a rock before them: broken they rolled on every side. But often they returned, and the sons of Selma fell. The king stood, among the tombs of his warriors. He darkly bent his mournful face. His soul was rolled into itself: and he had marked the place, where he was to fall; when Trathal came, in his strength, his brother from cloudy Morven. Nor did he come alone. Colgar was at his side; Colgar the son of the king and of white-bosomed Solin-corma.

*The chiefs of the Fir-bolg who possessed themselves of the south of Ireland, prior, perhaps, to the settlement of the Caël of Caledonia, and the Hebrides, in Ulster. From the sequel, it appears that the Fir-bolg were, by much, the most powerful nation; and it is probable that the Caël must have submitted to them, had they not received succours from their mothercountry, under the command of Conar.

+ Colg-er, fiercely-looking warrior. Sulin-corma, blue eyes. Colger was the eldest of the sons of Trathal: Comhal, who was the father of Fingal, was very young when the present expedition to Ireland happened. It is remarkable, that, of all the

As Trenmor, cloathed with meteors, descends from the halls of thunder, pouring the dark storm before him over the troubled sea: so Colgar descended to battle, and wasted the echoing field. His father rejoiced over the hero but an arrow came! His tomb was raised, without a tear. The king was to revenge his son. He lightened forward in battle, till Bolga yielded at her streams!

:

When peace returned to the land: When his blue waves bore the king to Morven then he remembered his son, and poured the silent tear. Thrice did the bards, at the cave of Furmono, call the soul of Colgar. They called him to the hills of his land. He heard them in his mist. Trathal placed his sword in the cave, that the spirit of his son might rejoice.

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Colgar, son of Trathal!" said Fillan," thou wert renowned in youth! But the king hath not marked my sword, bright-streaming on the field. I forth with the crowd. I return, without my fame. But the foe approaches, Ossian! I hear their murmur

go

ancestors of Fingal, tradition makes the least mention of Comhal; which, probably, proceeded from the unfortunate life and untimely death of that hero. From some passages, concerning him, we learn, indeed, that he was brave, but he wanted conduct.

* The poem begins here to mark strongly the character of Fillan, who is to make so great a figure in the sequel. He has the impatience, the ambition and fire which are peculiar to a young hero. Kindled with the fame of Colgar, he forgets his untimely fall. From Fillan's expressions in this passage, it would seem, that he was neglected by Fingal, on account of his youth.

on the heath. The sound of their steps is like thunder, in the bosom of the ground, when the rocking hills shake their groves, and not a blast pours from the darkened sky!"

Ossian turned sudden on his spear. He raised the flame of an oak on high. I spread it large, on Mora's wind. Cathmor stopt in his course. Gleaming he stood, like a rock, on whose sides are the wandering of blasts; which seize its echoing streams, and clothe them over with ice. So stood the friend of strangers! The winds lift his heavy locks. Thou art the tallest of the race of Erin, king of streamy Atha !

"First of bards," said Cathmor, "Fonar,† call the chiefs of Erin. Call red-hair'd Cormar: darkbrowed Malthos: the side-long-looking gloom of Maronan. Let the pride of Foldath appear. The redrolling eye of Turlotho. Nor let Hidalla be forgot; his voice, in danger, is the sound of a shower, when it falls in the blasted vale, near Atha's falling stream. Pleasant is its sound, on the plain, whilst broken thunder travels over the sky!"

They came, in their clanging arms. They bent forward to his voice, as if a spirit of their fathers spoke from a cloud of night. Dreadful shone they to

* Cathmor is distinguished, by this honourable title, on account of his generosity to strangers, which was so great as to be remarkable even in those days of hospitality.

+ Fónar, the man of song. Before the introduction of Christianity a name was not imposed upon any person, till he had distinguished himself by some remarkable action, from which his name should be derived.

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