Ossian Collection > Fingal of Ossian

268 . F I N G A L. Book IV,
For Foot to Foot, and Man with Man engaged,
From Wing to Wing at once the Battle rag'd.
Not with more Noife a hundred Hammers light
Upon the fparkling Steel with all their Weight,
330 Than fell the Strokes ; loud rung the batter'd Shields,
And mutual Clamours fill'd the echoing Fields.
Gaul^ like a Whirlwind that on Ardven blows,
Plunging amidft the thickeft of the Foes,
Bore down oppoUng Ranks, the Phalanx tore,
335 And fteep'd the Heath in Deluges of Gore.
No lefs impetuous, Swaran in his Ire
Laid Morven wafte, deftrudlive as a Fire,
That
In the latter Paflage, the moil ftriking Circumftances are felefted to fill the
Mind with Terror and Aftonifliment. The former is a CoUe^ftion of mi-
nute and low Circumftances, which fcatter the Thought, and make no
Imprefllon : it is at the fame Time full of verbal Antithefes, and low Con-
ceit, extremely improper in a Scene of Diftrefs.