Ossian Collection > Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the poems of Ossian

62 REPORT ON THE
die. His wife Evircho?na, anxious for his fate, em-
barked in a fkiff, with her infant fon Ogall at her
breaft, in quell of her lord, whom (he found in the
pitiable fituation we have defcribed, and was able to
carry to her boat, where they were difcovered next
morning by Offian, who had failed in queft of them,
fpeechlefs and dying. He was only able to fave the
child.
The opening of the poem is in that fpirit of me-
lancholy which Offian indulges, when he recals the
deeds of the heroes of his race.
* Is not this filence of night mournful,
While fhe fpreads her dark clouds over the vales ?
Sleep has defcended on the youth of the chace
Upon the heath, his dog refting againft his knee.
The children of the mountains he purfues
In his dream, while his deep is forfaking him. —
Sleep, ye children of fatigue,
While each ftar but afcends the height.
Sleep, fwift dog of the courfe,
Offian wall not interrupt your flumbers.
I am watching alone :
Soothing to me is the gloom of night,
While I travel from dell to dell.
Without hope of morning or dawn. —
Spare thy light, O fun !
And do not confume fo fail thy torches :
Like the king of the Fingahans, generous is thy foul,
But thy hberality will hereafter fail.
Spare the torches of thoufand flames
In thy blue hall, when thou goeit
Under the duflcy gates to fleep,
Beneath the darken'd flcirt of the weflern iky.
Spare them, before they leave thee alone,
As