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

50-* temora: Book \ :.
they ! I hear the clang of arms ! Their strife is iv. -:-
hosom of mist." Such is the contendir,g of spirits m a
n'ghtiy cloud, when they strive for the wintry v.ings
of winds, and the rolling of the foam-covered waves.
I rushed along. The grey mist rose. Tall, gleam.-
ing, they stood at Lubar. Cathmor leaned n gainst a
rock. His half-fallen shield received the stream, that
leapt from the moss above. Towards him is the stride
of Fingal ; he saw the hero'sblocd. His sword fell slow-
ly to his side. He spoke, amidst his darkening joy,
" Yields the race of Borbar-duthul ? Or still does he
lift the spear ? Not unheard is thy name, in Selma, in
the gicen dwelling of strangers. It has c<>me, like the
breeze of his desert, to the ear of Fingal. Come to my
hill offcasts : the miighty fail, at times. No fire am I
to low-laid foes : I rejoice not over the fall of the brave.
Tc close*' the wound is mine : I have known the herbs
of the hills. I seized their fair heads on high, as they
waved by their secret streams. Thou art dark and si-
lent, king d' Atha of strangers." .
sage is remarkable. His nurrcroi^s descriptions of single combats
l.ad already exh. '.listed the subject. Notlu.Tg new, or adequate to
^be high idea of the kings, could be said. Ossian, therefore, throws
a co'iimu of inist over the whole, and leaves the combat to the
3mapi;.at:on of tl>e reader. '. PfittS bjive almost iinivers.illy failed itv
thcr o: scriptions of this sort. Not all the strd'ngth ef Hon.er coiil^
Ei;sca:i; w"ch di^raty, the minutift: of a single combat. The throw-
ing ;■ i ; irear. and tiie brayirisi of a shield, as some of or.r ov.n'poefs
jnost elegant'y exgre.^^ it, cc nvcy no grand ideas. Our imaf/ii atioa
stretclics beyond, and con«equently, despises the de.scri;7tian. It
were therefore, well for srme poets, in my opinion, (though it is,
pevL'.f s, f.omcwhat singtdar) tohave,scmetinies, like Qssian, thrown «
jn'st over their sinp.le c(itril)?.t3. . ,
b Hngiil is very much celebrated, in tradition, for his knrv\Ie'!ge
in the \ a rues of herbs. 'Die Irish 'poems concerning him, oftoi re-
prese/'' I'm . curing the wounds which his chiefs received in h.iii ••.
'! hey l.-.Mc corcerning him, that he was in possession of a cup, ccn-
t;.iiVRg the cs'^^.r.cc of hcibs, which in-tataneously healed wouihIk,
The knowle .^'C of rui.i'g tlie wounded, was till of late, univer.„Tl, a-
niong the I.:;. h!:ir,..ers. \\'« hear ef no other ff^so'der, whicli re».
quired the ski'i of physic. The wholejiomencis of ilx cliu-.ate, aH'i. ,
^n itctivc life, sf cnt in hunting; excluded diseaiies, V '