Ossian Collection > Morison's edition of the Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

THE POEMS OF CS3IAN. S'Xi
ftiuiftion of her kiiifinan and people. In the other poems,
ghofts fametiiTies appear when invoked to foretel futurity;
IVequently, according to the notions of thefe timesj they
come as forerunners of misfortune or death, to thofe ".vhom
they vifit ; fomctimes they inform their friends at a diftance,
of their own death : and fometimes they are introduced to
lieighten the fcenery on fome great and folemn occafion.
" A hundred oaks burn to the wind : and faint light gleam-j
over the heath. The ghofts of Ardven pafs through the
beam ; and fliew their dim and diftant forms. Comala is
half-unfeen on her meteor; and Hidallan is fullen and dim.'*
" The awful faces of othc. times, looked from the clouds
of Crona." " Fercuth ! I faw the ghoft of night. Silent
he "rood on that bank ; his robe of mift fiew- on the wind,
I could behold his tears. An aged man he fecmed, and full
of thought,"
The ghofts of ftrangers mingle not with thofe of the na-
tives. " She is feen ; but not like the daughters of the hill.
Her robes arc from the ftrangers land ; and flie is ftill alone."
When the ghoft of one whom he had formerly known is in-
troduced, the propriety of the living charadter is ftill pre-
.(orved. This is remarkable in the appeatance of Calmar's
ghoft, in the poem ihtitled The Death of Cuchullin. He
f^ems to forebode Cnthullin's death, and to beckon him to
hie cave. CuchuUin reproaches him for fuppolirig that he
could be intimidated by fuch pi-ognbftics. " Why doft:
thou bend thy dark eyes on me, ghoft cf the car-borne Cal-
mar ! Would'ft thou frighten me, O Matha's fon ! from
, the battles of Cormac ? Thy hand was not feeble in war ;
* neither w^s thy voice for peace. How art thou changed,
chief of Lara ! if nott' thou doft advife to fly ! Retire thoa
to thy cave : Thou art not Calmar's ghoft : He delighted
in battle ; and his arm was like the thunder of heaven."
Vol.. II. . S sl CaliHytr