Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volume 2

r TEMORA:
THE ARGUMENT.
-H This book begins about the middle of the tlnril r.igJit from t!ie open-
irig ot' tlie poem. The yoet describes a kind of mist, which, rose,
by night, from the lake of Lego, and was the usual residence of
the souls of the dead, during the interval betv.ee:i their decease
and the funeral song. The appearance of the ghost of l-'illan a-
hove the cave where his body lay. His voice conies to Fingal, on
the rock of Cormul. The king strikes tlie shield of Trcnmor,
v.-hich was an infallible sign of his appearing in arms himself. Tlie
extraordinary eircct of the sound of the shield. Sul-malla, start-
ing from sleep, awakes Cathmor. Their afu'cting discourse. She
juoists with him, to sue for peace'; he resolves to continue the w ar.
He directs her to retire to tlic neighbouring valley of Lona, which
was the residence of an old druid, until the battle of the next day
should be over. He awakens his army with the sound of his
ihield. The shield described. Fonar, the bard, at the desire of
Cathmor, relates tJie first settlement of the Firbolg in Ireland, un-
der tl'.eir le.ider Larthun. Morning comes. Sul-malla retires to
the valley of Lona. A lyric song co.acludes the book.
BOOK VII.
FROM the wood-skirted waters of Lego, ascend, at
times, grey-bosomed mists, when the gates of the
west are closeci on the sun's eagle-eye. Wide, over
Lara's stream, is poured the vapour dark and deep : the
moon, like a dim shield, is sv\^imming through its folds.
Willi this, clothe the spirits of old their sudden gestures
on the wind, v/hen they stride, from blast to blast, a-
long the dusky face of the night. Often blended with
the gale, to some warrior's grave ^i they roll the mist,
a grey dwelling to his ghost, until the songs arise,
d As the mistjv.liich rose from the lake of Lego, occasioned disea-
ses and death, the bards feigned, as here, that it was the residence of
the ghosts of the deceased, during the interval between their death
and the pronouncing of the funeral elegy over their tombs ; for it was
not allowable, without that ceremony was performed, for the spi-
rits of the dead to mix with their ancestors, in their airy halls. It
was the business of the spirit of the nearest relation to the deceased,
ty taLs the miit of Lego, and pour it ever the grave. We find hers