filently defcend. Soon fhall the grey beam of the morning rife, and fhew us the foes of Cormac Fillan! my fon, take thou the fpear of the king. Go to Mora's darkbrown fide. Let thine eyes travel over the heath. Obferve the foes of Fingal: Observe the course of generous Cathmor. I hear a diftant found, like falling rocks in the defert. But ftrike thou thy fhield, at times, that they may not come thro' night, and the fame of Morven cease. I begin to be alone, my fon. I dread the fall of my renown!" The voice of bards arose. The king leaned on the fhield of Trenmor. Sleep defcended on his eyes. His future battles arofe in his dreams. The hoft are fleeping around. Dark-haired Finlan obferves the foe. His fteps are on a diftant hill. hear, at times, his clanging fhield. We ARGUMENT to Book II. This book opens, we may suppose, about midnight, with a foliloquy of Offian, who had retired, from the rest of the army, to mourn for his fon Ofcar. Upon hearing the noife of Cathmor's army approaching, he went to find out his brother Fillan, who kept the watch on the hill of Mora, in the front of Fingal's army. In the converfation of the brothers, the episode of Conar, the fon of Trenmor, who was the firft king of Ireland, is introduced, which lays open the origin of the contests between the Caël and Firbolg, the two nations who firft poffeffed them felves of that Ifland. Offian kindles a fire on Mora; upon which Cathmor defifted from the defign he had formed of furprizing the army of the Caledonians. He calls a council of his chiefs; reprimands Foldath for advifing a night-attack, as the Irish army were so much fuperior in number to the enemy. The bard Fonar introduces the ftory of Crothar, the ancestor of the king, which throws further light on the hiftory of Ireland, and the original pretenfions of the family of Atha, to the throne of that kingdom. The Irish chiefs lie down to rest, and Cathmor himself undertakes the watch. In this circuit, round the army, he is met by Offian. The interview of the two heroes is described. Cathmor obtains a promife from Offian, to order a funeral elegy to be fung over the grave of Cairbar; it being the opinion of the times, that the fouls of the dead could not be happy, till their elegies were fung by a bard. Morning comes. Cathmor and Offian part; and the latter, cafually meeting with Carril the fon of Kinfena, fends that bard, with a funeral fong, to the tomb of Cairbar. FA ATHER of heroes! O Trenmor! High dweller of eddying winds! where the dark-red thunder marks the troubled clouds! Open thou thy ftormy halls. Let the bards of old be near. Let them draw near, with fongs and their half-viewlefs harps. No dweller of misty valley comes! No hunter Though this book has little action, it is not the leaft important part of Temora. The poet, in feveral epifodes, runs up the cause of the war to the very source. The first population of Ireland, the wars between the two nations who originally poffeffed that island, its first race of kings, and the revolutions of its government, are important facts, and are delivered by the poet, with fo little mixture of the fabulous, that one cannot help. preferring his accounts to the improbable fictions of the Scotch and Irish hiftorians. The Milefian fables bear about them the marks of a late invention. To trace their legends to their fource would be no difficult task; but a difquifition of this fort would extend this note too far. unknown unknown at his ftreams! It is the car-borne Ofcar, from the fields of war. Sudden is thy change, my fon, from what thou wert on dark Moi-lena! The blaft folds thee in its fkirt, and ruftles through the sky! Doft thou not behold thy father, at the ftream. of night? The chiefs of Morven fleep fardiftant. They have loft no fon! But ye have loft a hero, chiefs of resounding Morven! Who could equal his ftrength, when battle rolled against his side, like the darknefs of crowded waters? Why this cloud on Offian's foul? It ought to burn in danger. Erin is near with her hoft. The king of Selma is alone. Alone thou shalt not be, my father, while I can lift the spear! I rofe, in all my arms. I rofe and liftened to the wind. The fhield of Fillan * is not *We understand, from the preceding book, that Cathmor was near with an army. When Cairbar was killed, the tribes who attended him fell back to Cath→ mor; who, as it afterwards appears, had taken a refolution to furprize Fingal by night. Fillan was difpatched to the hill of Mora, which was in the front of the Caledonians, to obferve the motions of Cathmor. In this fituation were affairs when Offian, upon hearing the noife of the approaching enemy, went to find out his brother. Their converfation naturally introduces the episode, concerning Conar the son of Trenmor, the firft Irish monarch, which is fo neceflary to the underftanding the foundation of the rebellion and ufurpation of Cairbar and Cathmor. Fillan was the youngeft of the |