of the mighty Swaran 53; when, in the midst of thousands, he roared; like the shrill spirit of a storm 54. He sits dim, on the clouds of the north, and enjoys the death of the mariner. Nor slept thy hand by thy side 55, chief of the 53 They fell, like two hinds of the desart, by the hands of the mighty Swaran.] MILTON's Par. Lost. iv. 403. Then, as a tyger, who by chance hath spied, 54 Like the shrill spirit of a storm.] The genius of the coming storm, in THOMSON'S Winter. Then too, they say, through all the burdened air, Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and distant sighs, Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death. "And enjoys the death of the mariner," But, " He sits dim on the clouds of the north :" from MILTON, Par. Lost, V. 156. Who sit'st above these heavens, To us invisible, or dimly seen In these thy lowest works. And in the Hunter, an early poem of Macpherson's; He sits incumbent on each sable wave. 55 Nor slept thy hand by thy side.] MILTON's phraseology was familiar to Ossian. Par. Reg. iv. 413. " isle of mist 5! Many were the deaths of thine arm, Cuthullin, thou son of Semo! His sword was like the beam of heaven when it pierces the sons of the vale "; when the people are blasted and fall, and all the hills are burning around. Dusronnel snorted over the bodies of heroes. Nor slept the winds Within their stony caves. 56 The Isle of Sky; not improperly called the isle of mist, as its high hills, which catch the clouds from the western ocean, occasion almost continual rains. MACPHERSON. The Isle of mist, Innis Ceathach; Macpherson's etymological corruption of Innis Sgiath, the isle of SKY, so named (Scia) by Adomnan, in the seventh century. PINKERTON'S Vita Sanct. 82. The Irish Innis, the Scottish Inch, and the English Isle, are all corruptions of the Latin Insula. 57 His sword was like the beam of heaven, when it pierces the sons of the vale.] THOMSON's Summer. And yet, its flame unquenched, Th' unconquerable lightning struggles through, And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. Stands a sad shattered trunk, and black below, A lifeless group, the blasted cattle lie. "And fires the mountains, &c." "When the people are blasted and fall, and all the hills are burning around," &c. See Darthula, 19. Sifadda bathed his hoof in blood 58. The battle lay behind him, as groves overturned on the desart of Cromla; when the blast has passed the heath, laden with the spirits of night 59! Weep on the rocks of roaring winds, O maid of Inistore! Bend thy fair head over the waves, thou lovelier than the ghost of the hills; when it moves, in a sun-beam, at noon, over the silence of Morven "! He is fallen! thy youth is 58 Dusronnal snorted over the bodies of heroes. Sifadda bathed his hoof in blood.] POPE's Iliad, xx. 581. So the fierce coursers, as the chariot rolls, Tread down whole ranks, and crush out heroes' souls. 59 As groves overturned in the desert-when the blast has passed the heath, laden with the spirits of night.] See note 55. From Par. Reg. iv. 413. Nor slept the winds Within their stony caves, but rushed abroad, See also the Highlander, iii. 1. from POPE's Iliad, xvi. 923. mer. low! pale beneath the sword of Cuthullin"! No more shall valour raise thy love to match the blood of kings. Trenar, graceful Trenar died, O maid of Inistore! His grey dogs are howling at home; they see his passing ghost. His bow Here frequent at the visionary hour, When musing midnight reigns, or silent noon, And voices chanting from the wood crowned hill. From Paradise Lost, iv. 608. Often from the steep Of echoing hill or thicket, have we heard Sole, or responsive to each others note. Summer "These," says Blair, "are gentle spirits; descending on sunbeams; fair moving on the plain; their forms white, and bright; their voices sweet; and their visits to men propitious." From his own description of those gentle spirits, Blair might have surely perceived, that they are no other than Milton's angels descending on sun-beams. 61 Pale beneath the sword of Cuchullin.] "Weep on the rocks of roaring winds---bend thy fair head over the waves---he is fallen, thy youth is low," &c.; from the original apostrophe to Emma, in Hardyknute. Infra, 76. On Norway's coast the widowed dame May wash the rocks with tears, Before her mate appears. Cease, Emma, cease to hope in vain, is in the hall unstrung. No sound is in the hill of his hinds! As roll a thousand waves to the rocks, so Swaran's host came on. As meets a rock a thousand waves, so Erin met Swaran of spears. Death raises all his voices around, and mixes with the sounds of shields. Each hero is a pillar of darkness; the sword a beam of fire in his hand 63. The field echoes from wing to wing, as a hundred hammers that rise, by turns, on the red son of the furnace 64... Who are these on 62 As roll a thousand waves to the rocks--as meets a rock a thousand waves.] So in the Highlander, ii. 127---37. The Scots, a stream, would sweep the Danes away, The Danes, a rock, repel the Scots array.--The ranks of Sweno stand in firm array, As hoary rocks repel the raging sea. 63 Each hero is a pillar of darkness. The sword a beam of fire in his hand.] From the pillar of the cloud, and the pillar of fire, that went alternately before the Jews. 64 As an hundred hammers-on the red son of the furnace.] "Like the strokes of two hammers, was the battle of the two kings;" (Irish ballad of Fingal and Magnus,) converted, by a classical amplification, into the hundred hammers that rise by turns. Illi inter sese---brachia tollunt in numerum. En. viii. 452. Infra, iv, n. 14. By turns their arms advance in equal time, By turns their hands descend, and hammers chime. DRYDEN. |