20

in war! Pursue the dark-brown deer of Cromla: stop with thine arrows the bounding roes of Lena. But, blue-eyed son of Semo, Cuthullin, ruler of the field, scatter thou the sons of Lochlin *°; roar through the ranks of their pride. Let no vessel of the kingdom of Snow, bound on the dark-rolling waves of Inistore". Rise, ye dark winds of Erin, rise! roar, whirlwinds of Lara of hinds! Amid the tempest let me die, torn, in a cloud, by angry ghosts of men ** mid the tempest let Calmar die, if ever chace

22

: a

20 The Gallic name of Scandinavia in general. MACPHER

SON.

"The Orkney islands. MACPHERSON.

22 Amidst the tempest let me die, torn in a cloud by angry ghosts of men.] Par. Lost, ii. 185.

While we perhaps

Designing, or exhorting glorious war,
Caught in a fiery tempest shall be hurled,

Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey
Of wracking whirlwinds.

The introductory incidents are all from Milton. Cuthullin summons his troops, musters them on the heath, and calls a council of war, like Satan; and the speeches of Connal and Calmar, are obviously in imitation of those of Belial and Moloch, for peace or war. "We," says Belial, " caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled, each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey of wracking whirlwinds." Roar, whirlwinds of Lara, of hinds," says Calmar in return; "amidst the tempest let me die," transfixed on a rock, or, "torn in a cloud by angry

was sport to him, so much as the battle of

shields !"

"I never

"Calmar!" Connal slow replied, fled, young son of Matha! I was swift with my friends in fight; but small is the fame of Connal! The battle was won in my presence; the valiant overcame! But, son of Semo, hear my voice, regard the antient throne of Cormac. Give wealth and half the land for peace, till Fingal shall arrive on our coast. Or, if war be thy choice, I lift the sword and spear. My joy shall be in the midst of thousands; my soul shall lighten through the gloom of the fight!"

"To me," Cuthullin replies, "pleasant is the noise of arms! pleasant as the thunder of heaven, before the shower of spring! But gather all the shining tribes 23, that I may view the sons

ghosts of men;" the sport and prey of wracking whirlwinds, “if ever chase was sport to me like the battle of shields." Here, not only the transposition of images (the sport and prey, if ever chase was sport to me), but the author's peculiar mythology is observable, in converting the wracking whirlwinds into angry ghosts of men.

23 But gather all the shining tribes.] POPE's Iliad, ii. 520. He said; the monarch issued his commands,

Strait the loud heralds call the gathering bands.
The chiefs enclose their king, the hosts divide
In tribes and nations, ranked on either side.

of war! Let them pass along the heath, bright as the sun-shine before a storm; when the west wind collects the clouds, and Morven echoes over all her oaks! But where are my friends in battle? The supporters of my arm in danger? Where art thou, white-bosom'd Cathbar? Where is that cloud in war 24 Duchomar? Hast thou left me, O Fergus! in the day of the storm? Fergus, first in our joy at the feast! son of Rossa! arm of death! comest thou like a roe from Malmor? like a hart from thy echoing hills *? Hail thou son of Rossa! what shades the soul of war ?"

Four stones," replied the chief, " rise on the grave of Cathba. These hands have laid in earth Duchomar, that cloud in war! Cathba, son of Torman! thou wert a sun-beam in Erin. And thou, O valiant Duchomar, a mist of the marshy Lano; when it moves on the plains of autumn, bearing the death of thousands along 26.

24 Cloud in war.] Пoλuμolo vεpos. Iliad. xvi. 243.

25 Comest thou like a roe from Malmor, like a hart from thy echoing hills.] "Behold he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Be thou like a roe, or a young hart in the mountains of Bether." Song of Solomon, ii. 8. 17.

26 When it moves on the plains of Autumn, bearing the death

Morna! fairest of maids! calm is thy sleep in the cave of the rock! Thou hast fallen in darkness, like a star, that shoots across the desart 27 ; when the traveller is alone, and mourns the transient beam!"

"Say," said Semo's blue-eyed son, say, how fell the chiefs of Erin? Fell they by the sons of Lochlin, striving in the battle of heroes? Or what confines the strong in arms to the dark and narrow house 28 "

of thousands along.] A concealed imitation of Homer's dogstar. Iliad, xxii. 26.

Παμφαίνονθ', ὥς ασερ, ΕΠΕΣΣΥΜΕΝΟΝ πεδίοιο

Ο, Τ' ΟΠΟΡΗΣ εἰσιν.

κακον δε τε ζημα τετυκται

Και τε ΦΕΡΕΙ ΠΟΛΛΟΝ ΠΥΡΕΤΟΝ ΔΕΙΛΟΙΣΙ ΒΡΟΤΟΙΣΙΝ.

the nations of

And, to conplain, like the

"Bright he strode along the plain, like the star, which, in Autumn ascends---pouring heat and fell disease on hapless men." MACPHERSON's Homer, ii. 328. ceal the imitation, Achilles, rushing along the dog-star that rises in Autumn, is converted into the mist of marshy Lano," when it sails over the plains of Autumn, bringing death to the people." First edit.

27 Like a star that

Par. Lost, iv. 556.

shoots athwart the desert.] First Edit.

Swift as a shooting star,

In Autumn thwarts the night;

Or, as imitated by Thomson,

Or frequent seems to shoot athwart the gloom. Winter. 28 The dark and narrow house.] GRAY'S Elegy.

Each in his narrow cell for ever laid.

"Cathba," replied the hero," fell by the sword of Duchomar, at the oak of the noisy streams. Duchomar came to Tura's cave; he spoke to the lovely Morna. Morna, fairest among women 29, lovely daughter of strong-armed Cormac ! Why in the circle of stones? in the cave of the rock alone? The stream murmurs along. The old tree groans in the wind. The lake is troubled before thee; dark are the clouds of the sky! But thou art snow on the heath; thy hair is the mist of Cromla; when it curls on the hill; when it shines to the beam of

"If I wait, the grave is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness." "For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living." Job, xvii. 13. xxx. 23. "All the kings of the nations, even all of them lie in glory, every one of them in his own house."---Isaiah, xiv. 18. From the large family cemeteries of the Jews, divided into a number of distinct cells, the house of the dead was a natural metaphor ; (LOUTH'S Prælect. 64.) but, in what terms is this combination of the dark and narrow house, from Gray, and the scriptures, expressed in Earse?

29 Morna, (thou) fairest among women.] Frag. "If you know not, O! thou fairest among women." "What is my beloved more than another beloved, O! thou fairest among women.' "Whither is thy beloved gone, O! thou fairest among women." Song of Solomon, i. 8. v. 9. vi. 1.