their foul. Thy voice fhall remain in their ears, they fhall think with joy on the dreams of their reft. Meteors gleam around the maid, and moon-beams lift her foul! ARGUMENT. Fingal, returning from an expedition which he had "made into the Roman province, refolved to vifit Cathulla king of Iniftore, and brother to Comála, whose story is related at large in the preceding dramatic poem. Upon his coming in fight of Carricthura, the palace of Cathulla, he obferved a flame on its top, which, in those days, was a fignal of diftrefs. The wind drove him into a bay, at fome distance from Carric-thura, and he was obliged to pass the night on the fhore. Next day he attacked the army of Frothal king of Sora, who had befieged Cathulla in his palace of Carric-thura, and took Frothal himself prifoner, after he had engaged him in a fingle combat. The deliverance of Carricthura is the fubject of the poem; but feveral other episodes are interwoven with it. It appears from tradition, that this poem was addreffed to a Culdee, or one of the first Christian miffionaries, and that the ftory of the Spirit of Loda, supposed to be the ancient Odin of Scandinavia, was introduced by Offian in oppofition to the Culdee's doctrine. this as it will, it lets us into Offian's notions of a fuperior being; and fhews that he was not addicted to the fuperftition which prevailed all the world. over, before the introduction of Chriftianity. Be [53] CARRIC-THURA: A POE M. AST * thou left thy blue courfe in H heaven, golden-haired fon of the sky! The weft has opened its gates; the bed of thy repofe is there. The waves come to behold thy beauty. They lift their trembling heads. They fee thee lovely in thy fleep; they fhrink away with fear. Reft, in thy fhadowy cave, O fun! let thy return be in joy. But let a thousand lights arise to the found of the harps of Selma: let the beam spread in the hall, the king of fhells is returned! The ftrife of Carun is past †, like founds * The fong of Ullin, with which the poem upens, is in a lyric measure. It was ufual with Fingal, when he returned from his expeditions, to fend his bards finging before him. This fpecies of triumph is called by Offian, the fong of victory. + Offian has celebrated the ftrife of Crona, in a particular poem. This poem is connected with it, E 3 but |