Ossian Collection > Temora, an ancient epic poem, in eight books

[ i8i }
CATH-LODA:
o
E
M.
DUAN* FIRST.
A Tale of the 'times of old ! — Why, thou wanderer unfeen,
that bendeft the thiiUe of Lora, — why, thou breeze of the
valley, haft thou left mine ear ? I hear no diftant roar ef ftreams,
no found of the harp, from the rocks ! Come, thou huntrefs of
Lutha, roll back his foul to the bard.
I LOOK
* The bards diftinguifhed thofe compo-
Jdtions, in which the narration is often in-
terrupted, by cpifodes and apoftrophes, by
the name of Duiin. Since the eixtiniSion
of the order of the bards, it has been a
general name for all ancient compofitions in
verfe. — The abrupt manner in which the
ftory of this poem begins, may render it
obfcure to feme readers ; it may not there-
fore be improper, to give here the tradi-
tional preface, whicK is generally prefixed
to it. Two years after he took to wife
Ros-crana, the daughter of Cormac, king
of Ireland, Fingal undertook an expedition
into Orkney, to vifit his friend Cathulla,
king of Iniflore. After flaying a few days