Blair Collection > Galic antiquities

G A U L':
A POEM.
The argument.
OssiAN, having retired, through night, to the ruins of Fingal's palace, to lament
thfc his reverfe of fortune, lights upon a piece of an old {hield, which he recog-
nives to be that of Gaul, the fon of Morni.-This circumftance introduces the
b.iftory of an expedition of Fingal to Ifrona, whither Gaul had followed him, but
did not arrive there till Fingal had departed. Gaul, after a brave refiflance, is at
length overpowered by numbers, and left upon the (hore dangeroufly wounded.
Here his fpoufe Evirchoma (whofe anxiety had led her to come with her child to
meet him) finds him, and attempts to carry him home. But the wind proving con-
trary and Gaul dying of his wounds, (he is fo overcome with toil and grief, that
(lie is' obliged todefift, and ftop in the (belter of a fmall ifle, where Offian, who
had gone in quell of her and Gaul, finds both expiring. He carries them to
Strumon ; the defolate appearance of which is defcribed, with the lamentation of
Fingal over Gaul, who had been one of his chief heroes.—Thispoem isaddrefled
to Malvina, the daughter of Tofcar.
AWFUL is the filence of night. It fpreads its mantle over the
vale. The hunter fleeps on the heath. His gray dog ftretches
his neck over his knee. In his dreams he purfues the fons of the
mountain, and with joy he half-avi^akes.
Sleep
* Gaul the fon of Morni was a diftin- Ur-fgeuh, or " later tales." It begins
guifhed charafter in the wars of Fingal, in this manner:
and confequently in the poems of Offian. Nach tiamhaidb tofd fo na h oidhche,
Thispiece, which celebrates his memory, si nofgadh a dm'neoil air gUannuidh!
, • ■ 1 ■n^AT'- ^Tk,,;!! Tt Dh'aom fuain air iuran na feilgc
,s m the original caHed Tiomna Ghmll. It ^.^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^,^_^
is dill pretty well known ; but the moft ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ thae 'raaga'
common editions of it are a good deal Naalfling, '6 (buain ga ihrcisfin.
adulterated by the inteipolations of the