Ossian Collection > Fingal of Ossian

394 F I N G A L. Book VI,
The Hunter, leaning on a mofly Stone,
Will fay fometimes, when mufing here alone ;
" Fingal and Swaran, with their martial Pow'rs,
In bloody Conflid: met upon thefe Shores.
275 Thus fhall he meditate in after Days,
And down to latefl Ages hand our Praife.
Fingal made Anfwer — Ruler of the Sea 1
Life like a Vifion pafTes foon away.
To-day vi£torious, our full Honours blow ;
280 To-morrow Death unplumes, and lays us low !
No
in the Year 1014, after the celebrated Battle then fought on the Plains of
Clontarfe, not far from that Neighbourhood. Two other Mounts of the
fame Kind lie each within Half a Mile of the former, which, if opened,
might afford frefh Difcoveries.
V. 278. Life like a Vijion pajfes foon away.'] Fingal is not more eminent
for Prowefs and Valour, than he is for Goodnefs of Heart, and Sublimity
of moral Sentiment. His Reflexions here on the Shortnefs of Life, and
the Vanity of human Greatnefs, are not unlike thofeofyfiiZ>, Chap. XIV.
Ver. I, and 2. " Man born of a Woman, living but a fhort Time, is
filled with many Miferies. He cometh forth like a Flower, and is de-
ftroycd ; and fleeth as a Shadow, and never continueth in the fame State."
V. 287.