He is a messenger of death.He speaks of the dark and narrow house. Sue for peace, O chief of Dunfcaich, or fly over the heath of Lena.

"He spoke to Connal, replied the hero, though stars dimtwinkled through his form. Son of Colgar, it was the wind that murmured in the caves of Lena. Or if it was the form of Crugal, why didft thou not force him to my fight? Haft thou enquired where is his cave? The houfe of the son of the wind? My fword might find that voice, and force his knowlege from him. And fmall is his knowlege, Connal, 'for he was here to-day. He could not have gone beyond our hills, and who could tell him there of our death?

"Ghofts fly on clouds and ride on winds, faid Connal's voice of wisdom. They reft together in their caves, and talk of mortal men.

"Then let them talk of mortal men; of every man but Erin's chief. Let me be forgot in their cave; for I will not Ay from Swaran.If I must fall, my tomb fhall rise amidst the fame of future times. The hunter fhall fhed a tear on my ftone, and forrow dwell round the high-bofom'd Bragéla, I fear not death, but I fear to fly, for Fingal faw me often victorious. Thou dim phantom of the hill, fhew thyself to me! Come on thy beam of heaven, and fhew me my death in thine hand, yet I will not fly, thou feeble fon of the wind."

Again, when Swaran offers Peace, on certain terms of fubmishon, Cuchullin heroically answers, "Tell Swaran, tell that heart of pride, that Cuchullin never yields.-I give the dark-blue rolling ocean, or I give his people graves in Erin. But never fhall a ftranger have the lovely fun-beam of Dunfcaich; or ever deer fly on Lochlin's hills before the nimblefooted Luath." *

In confequence of this refolution the fight is renewed, and the army of Cuchullin is routed. After which they retreat to the mountains, where, fays the Poet, "On the rifing fide of

Dunfcaich, the fair high-bofom'd fpoufe, and Luath, the fwiftfooted dog of Cuchullin; the being put in poffeffion of which, Swaran proposes as the condition of Peace. One might, from this offer, have entertained a very high opinion of the lady, were the not fo odly coupled. Cur ftag-hunting Readers, if by fuch we are honoured with a perufal, however, are better judges perhaps than we, whether it could ever be natural in lovers of the chafe, to rank their fair spouses and fleet buck-hounds upon fo equal a footing.

K 3

Cromla

Cromla ftood Erin's few fad fons: like a grove through which the flame had rufhed, hurried on by the winds of the ftormy night." There is inimitable beauty in this allufion, and the shattered remains of an army of defeated heroes are, in these few words, most admirably reprefented. In this fituation, Cuchullin is informed, by a scout, that the fhips of Fingal are in fight; at which information, elated with the profpect of fuccours, and fired at the idea of revenge, he breaks into the following fpirited exclamation: "Blow all ye winds that rufh over my lovely ille of mift. Come to the death of thoufands, O chief of the hills of hinds. Thy fails, my friend, are to me like the clouds of the morning, and thy fhips like the light of heaven; and thou thyself like a pillar of fire that giveth light in the night," ..

-Night again coming on, two other Epifodes are introduced, in both which the puerilities and improprieties are too manifeft to need pointing out; nor can we think that they justly reflect the real manners of the people and the times.

In the third book the hero of the Poem begins to figure : previous to his landing, however, we have an Epifode relative to his former atchievements in Lochlin, whither he had been invited in his youth, by Starno, under the pretence of beftowing on him his beautiful daughter Agandecca; but, in fact, with a malicious defign in that King to affaffinate him. This tale, nevertheless, does no honour to any thing but the military prowess of Fingal, His neglect, indeed, to preferve the fair Agandecca, who falls a facrifice to her father's refentment, for faving the life of her lover, appears ungenerous and ungrateful, We are told, "She faw the youth and loved him, he was the ftolen figh of her foul: her blue eye rolled on him in fecret, and the bleft the chief of Morven." If we add to this the obligation he lay under to her, for divulging her father's treachery in placing his chiefs in ambush to deftroy him, it must appear highly unbecoming both in the hero and the lover, not to take proper meatures for her fecurity, when the repeatedly enjoined him to remember and fave her from the wrath of her father. When it was too late, indeed, and Starno had pierced her white fide with fteel, he could take up arms, rout the murderer, and bring off the dead body of her who had preferved his life, at the hazard and expence of

her own.

The martial virtues of Fingal, however, were thofe Cuchullin stood in need of; who, at the clofe of the ftory, therefore, expreffes his confidence in the valour of his ally; 'dif

miffing

miffing the foul of Agandecca, like a good Chriftian, with a bleffing, and praying heartily for the fafe arrival of the fleet, "Bleffed be her foul, faid Cuchullin, and bleffed be the mouth of the song. Strong was the youth of Fingal, and ftrong is his arm of age. Lochlin fhall fall again before the King of echoing Morven. Shew thy face from a cloud, O moon; light his white fails on the wave of the night: and, if any strong spirit of heaven fits on that low-hung cloud, turn his dark fhips from the rock, thou rider of the storm. !" The latter part of this paffage is exceedingly beautiful, and seems to indicate a fenfe of religion in Cuchullin. The Tranflator obferves, however, that notwithstanding this appearance of religious fentiment, as the apoftrophe is attended with an if, it implies a doubt, which makes it not eafy to determine whether the hero meant a Superior Being, or the departed spirit of fome deceased warrior, whofe ghoits, were in those times, fuppofed to rule the ftorms, and to tranfport themselves in a guft of wind from one country to another. It is most probable, in our opinion, that Cuchullin did believe in the exiftence of fuch fuperior beings, and that his doubt only extended so far as to the uncertainty whether or not any fuch fpirit was the prefent agent. As to the ghofts of deceased warriors, thefe are conftantly called, in the Poem, feeble fons of the wind; whereas he ftyles that to which he addreffes himself a strong spirit of heaven: by which it appears it was of the particular prefence only, and not of the general exiftence, of fuch a fpirit that he doubted.

We have already given a notable example of that exceffive hyperbole, which prevails in many parts of this Poem; in juftice, however, to our Celtic Bard, we muft obferve, that we have heard many paffages cenfured, as inftances of ridiculous bombaft and falfe fublime; which, on a due confideration of the fuppofed manners and fuperftition of the times, are lefs liable to objection. Of these the following, wherein the blustering, though wounded and feeble, Calmar, gives an account of himself and ancestors, is a remarkable one. "I am of the race of steel; my fathers never feared.

"Cormar was the first of my race. He fported through the storms of the waves. His black skiff bounded on ocean, and travelled on the wings of the blaft. A spirit once embroiled the night. Seas fwell, and rocks refound. Winds drive along the clouds. The lightning flies on wings of fire. He feared, and came to land: then blushed that he feared at all. He rushed again among the waves to find the son of K 4 the

the wind. Three youths guide the bounding bark: he flood with the fword unfheathed. When the low-hung vapour patied, he took it by the curling head, and fearched its dark womb with his fteel. The fon of the wind forfook the air. The moon and ftars returned."

Should a Poet, indeed, make an hero of thefe times express himself in such a strain, he would certainly be guilty of intolerable bombaft; but, if we take with us the fuppofition, that the people of thofe days believed departed fouls to be material, there is no abfurdity in fuppofing they might go farther, and conceive them vulnerable too. Thus, confiftent with the fame notion, Cuchullin, speaking of the ghost of Crugal, fays to Connal, as in the paffage already quoted, "If it was the form of Crugal, why didft thou not force him to my sight? Haft thou enquired where is his cave? My fword might find, and force his knowlege from him."

At length Fingal arrives; and, perceiving the fate which had attended the army of Cuchullin, by the dead bodies laying on the heath of Lena, he orders his fons, Ryno and Fillan, to found the horn of war, and call the children of the foe, Swaran appears; at fight of whom, Fingal, recalling to mind the fate of his fifter Agandecca, and that he had lamented her with the tears of his youth, fends Ullin to invite him to the feast. This incident, though not perfectly corresponding to what the Stagyrite calls the Avayvapisis, poffeffes a truly-poetic excellence. It is true, Swaran was before known by Fingal to be the enemy he was coming to engage; and there is no doubt but the circumstance of his having lamented the fate of his fifter, might have frequently recurred to his mind: it was yet very natural it should return with greater energy, at the fight of him; and thus the friendly invitation made him was attended with a proprietyy totally wanting in the former one of Cuchullin. As Swaran refufes to accept it, however, it is certain the repetition of fuch circumstances, where the event is the fame and answers no end, is a manifeft proof of the want of poetic genius in the Writer, to invent and diverfify the incidents of the Epopeia.

On the King of Lochlin's refufal to come to the feaft, and to put off the battle till the morrow, the two armies came to immediate action; which, together with fome of the chiefs, our Poet defcribes with all the pomp (though little variety) of expreffion. But, furely, Fingal's prowess is too highly defcribed, when the rocks are faid to fall down before him! None of these death-difpenfing heroes, however, particularly

fignalize

fignalize themselves by their actions; none of the flain are feen to fall by the fword or fpear: all is vague and indistinct. The reflections of the Poet, in his own perfon, are indeed very natural and affecting." My locks (fays he) were not then fo grey, nor trembled my hands of age; my eyes were not clofed in darkness, nor failed my feet in the race.Often have I fought, often won in battles of the fpear; but blind, and tearful, and forlorn, I now walk with little men."

In the fourth book, the Poet introduces the Epifode of Everallin, his wife; whofe ghoft appears to him, and informs him of the dangers by which her fon Ofcar is furrounded, in fighting with the fons of Lochlin. In confequence of this information, Offian armed himself and fet forward to his affiftance; and by humming, as he was wont in danger, the fongs of heroes of old, drove the affrighted fons of Lochlin before him. This appears to be too extravagant, not only from the confideration that the Poet is fpeaking of himself, but, from the figure he makes in the work, his valour justifies no fuch fear in the enemy. The Tranflator compares it to that paffage in the eighteenth iliad, wherein the voice of Achilles is faid to frighten away the Trojans from the body of Patroclus.

Forth march'd the chief, and diftant from the crowd
High on the rampart rais'd his voice aloud.

So high his brazen voice the hero rear'd,'

Holts drop'd their arms, and trembled as they fear'd. POPE.

There is a very material difference, however, in the circumftances. Homer, it is true, has reprefented the Trojans as retiring, intimidated by the voice of Achilles; but it should be obferved that, though Achilles was the hero of the Poem, the Poet faw fuch a conduct would be unnatural without the intervention of fome fupernatural power. Minerva therefore throws her is over his fhoulders, furrounds his head with a cloud, from which ifiues a fplendid flame; [Iliad, lib. 18, ver. 203, &c.] and, when he spoke aloud to the Trojans, fhe affifted him, by joining in, and increafing, the found. In this cafe, the terror occafioned by his voice was increafed by an object of fight, and both were owing to the fuperior powers of a Divinity. Whereas Offian alone hums a tune, and the hoft of Lochlin flies before him. This exceeds, in the effect, even the roaring of Mars; which, though we are told it equalled the fhout of ten thoufand men joining in battle, only fpread terror through the hofts of the Greeks and Trojans, without putting them to flight. [Iliad, lib. 5. v. 859, &c.]

The