Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

ox THE POKMS OF OSSIAX. 187
why she weeps ? He shali lift his eyes to the
wall, and see his father's sword. "Whose sword
is that? he will say; and the soul of his mother
IS sad.' Soon after Fingal had shown all the
grief of a father's heart for Ryno, one of his
sons, fallen in battle, he is calling, after his ac-
customed manner, his sons to the chase. ' Call,
says he, * Fillan and Ryno — But he is not here
— My son rests on the bed of death.' This un-
expected start of anguish is worthy of the high-
est tragic poet.
If she come in, she'll sure speak to ray wife —
My wife ! — my wife ? — What wife ? — I have no wife— ■
Oh, insupportable J Oh, heavy hour ! Othello.
The contrivance of the incident in both poets
is similar : but the circumstances are varied
with judgment. Othello dwells upon the name
of wife, when it had fallen from him, with the
confusion and horror of one tortured with guilt.
Fingal, with the dignity of a hero, corrects him-
self, and suppresses his rising grief.
The contrast which Ossian frequently makes
between his present and his former state, diffuses
over his whole poetry a solemn pathetic air which
cannot fail to make impression on every heart.
The conclusion of the songs of Selma is particu-
larly calculated for this purpose. Nothing can be
more poetical and tender, or can leave upon the
mind a stronger and more affecting idea of the
venerable and aged bard. ' Such were the words
of the bards in the days of the song ; when the
king heard the music of harps, and the tales of
other times. The chiefs gathered from all their
hills, and heard the lovely sound. They praised
the voice of Cona ;* the first among a thousand
bards. But age is now on my tongue, and my
soul has failed. I hear, sometimes, the ghosts
• Ofsian himself is poetically called the voice of Cona.