Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

A riU.I.IMIN \UY DISCOURSE. 2'>
' From these fra!j:ments, continues Baron
(le Harold, ' I have composed the following
p lems. They are all founded on tradition;
1> It the dress they now appear in is mine. It
will appear singular to some, that Ossian, at
tijfies, especially in the songs of Comfort, seems
rather to be an Hibernian than a Scotchman,
and that some of these poems formally contra-
dict passages of great importance in those
handed to the public by Mr. Macpherson, es-
pecially that very remarkable one of Evir-allen,
where the description of her marriage with Os-
sian is essentially different in all its parts from
that given in former poems.' P. v.
\^'e refer the reader to the opening of the
fourth book of Fingal, which treats of Ossian's
courtship of Evir-allen. The Evir-allen ol
Baron de Harold is in these words :
EVIR-ALLEN:
A POK^r.
Thou fairest of the maids of Morven, young
beam of streamy Lutha, come to the help ol
the aged, come to the help of the distressed.
Thy soul is open to pity. Friendship glows
in thy tender breast. Ah come and sooth
away my woe. Thy words are music to my
soul.
Bring me my once-loved harp. It hangs
long neglected in my hall. The stream of
years has born me away in its course, and roll-
ed away all my bliss. Dim and faded are my
eyes ; thin-strewed with hairs my head. Weak
is that nervous arm, once the terror of foes.
Scarce can I grasp my statf, the prop of my
jembling limbs.
Lead me to yonder craggy steep. The mur-