Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 2

^6S A CRITICAL DISSERTATION
follows, when the fate of Fill;m Is drawing neat,
Offian, If any where, excclls himfelf. Foldath
being flain, and a general rout begun, there
was no refourcc left to the enemy but in the
great Catlimor himfelf, who in this extremity
defcends from the hill, where, according to the
cuftom of thofc princes, he furveyed the battle.
Obferve how this critical event is wrought up by
the poet. '•' Wide fpreading over echoing
Lubar, the flight of Bo!ga is rolled along.
Fillan hung forvv'ard on their lieps ; and
ftrewed the heath with dead. Fingal rejoiced
over his fon. Blue-lhielded Cathmor rofe.
Son of Alpln, bring the harp I Give
Fillan's praifc to the wind ; raife high his
praife in my hall, while yet he ibincs in war.
Leave, blue-eyed Clatho ! leave thy hall !
behold that early beam of thine ! The liofl Is
withered in its courfe. No farther look -
it Is dark — light-trembling from the harp,
ftrike, virgins ! ftrike the found." The fud-
den interruption, and fufpenfe of the narration
on Cathmor's rifmg from his hill, the abrupt
burfting into the praife of Fillan, and the paf-
fionate apoftrophe to his mother Clatho, are
admirable efforts of poetical art, in order to
intercft us in Fillan's danger; and the whole is
heightened by the immediately following fimile,