Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

I08 CON LATH AND CUTHONA:
fkirts of thy robe ? Of what is thine airy bow ? But he
is gone on his blafl hke the fhadow of mift. Come from
thy wall, my harp, and let me hear thy found. Let the
light of memory rife on I-thona ; that I may behold my
friends. And Ollian does behold his friends, on the dark-
blue ifle. The cave of Thona appears, with its molTy rucks
and bending trees. A ftream roars at its mouth, and Tof-
car bends over its courfe. Fercuth is fad by his fide : and
the maid* of his love fits at a diflance and weeps. Does
the wind of the waves deceive me .'' Or do I hear them
fpeak ?
To/car. The night was flormy. From their hills the
groaning oaks came down. The fea darkly-tumbled be-
neath the blalt, and the roaring waves v/ere climbing a-
gainft our rocks. The lightning came often and fhewed
the blafled fern. Fercuth I I favv the ghoft of night f.
Silent he ilood, on that bank ; his robe of mill flew on
the wind. 1 could behold his tears : an aged man he feem-
ed, and full of thought.
Fercuth. It was thy fathar, O Tofcar ; and he forefees
fome death among his race. Such was his appearance
on Cromla, before the great Ma-ronnan J fell. Ullin I jj
with thy hills of grafs, how pleafant are thy vales I Silence
is near thy blue ftreams, and the fun is on thy fields.
Soft is the found of the harp in Selama§, and pleafant
the cry of the hunter on Cromla. But we are in the
dark I-thona, furrounded by the ftorm. The billows lift
their white heads above our rocks : and we tremble a-
midft the night.
To/car. Whither is the foul of battle fled, Fercuth
with the locks of age? 1 have feen thee undaunted in
danger, and thine eyes burning with joy in the fight.
Whither is the foul of battle fled? Our fathers never fear-
ed. Go : view the fettling fea : the llormy wind is laid.
The billows llill tremble on the deep, and feem to fear
the
* Cuthona the daughter of Rutnar, wkom Tofcar had carried away by force.
t It was long thought, in the north of Scotland, that ftorn-.s were raited by the
ghofls of the deceafed. This notion is llill entertained by the vulgar; for they
think that whirlwinds, atid fudden Iqualls of wind are occafioned by fpirils, whp
tranfport themfelves, in that manner, from one place to another.
} Ma-ronnan was the brother of Tofcar.
II Uliler in Ireland.
§ ^eMmzxh—btautiful to behold, the name of Tofcar's palace, on the coaft of
Uliler, near the mountain Cromla, the Iccne of the epic poem.