Ossian Collection > Fingal, an ancient epic poem

126 The B A t T L E of L O R A :
fon, and Nemi's race : — ^Fercuth * fhcwcd his
gloomy form : Dcrmld fpread his dark hair on the
wind. Ol'lian came the laft, O fon of the rockf,
I hummed the fong of other time? : my fpear fup-
pcrted my fieps over the Httle ftreams, and my
thoughts were of mighty men. Fingal ftruck his
boQy fhield ; and gave the difm.al fign of war ; a
thoufand fwords X, at once unfhcathed, gleam on
the wa\ing heath. Three gray-haired fonsoFthe
fong raife the tuneful, mournful voice. — Deep
and dark with founding (leps, we rufh, a gloomy
ridge^ along : like the fhower of a fiorm when it
poitrs on the narrow vale.
The king of Morven fat on his hill : the fun-
beam II of battle flew on the wind : the compa-
nions of his youth are near, with all their waving
locks of age. — Joy rofe in the hero*s eyes when he
beheld his fons in war ; when he faw them araidfV
the lightning of fwords, and mindful of the deeds
of their fathers. — Erragon came on, in his ftrength,
jike the roar of a winter fiream : the batile falls
in his courfe, and death is at his fide.
Who comes, faid Fingal, like the bounding
* Fear cuth, the fame with Fergus, i/je man of the
nxiord, or a commander of an army.
•\ The poet addreffes himfeif to the Culdee.
X He fpake ; and to confirm his words out-flew,
Millions of flaming fwords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty Cherubim ; the fudden blaze
Far round iljumin'd hell. Milton.
II I have obferved in a former note, that the ftandard
of Fingal was called the fun-beam from its being ftudded.
with ftones and gojd.
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