Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volume 1

ON THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. 9!
merit, however, of Temora, requires that we fliould
not pafs it by without fome remarks.
The fcene of Temora, as of Fingal, is laid in Trelanc;
and the acflion is of a poiterior date. The fubjedl: is,
an expedition of the hero, to dethrone and punifh a
bloody ufurper, and to reftore the poirelTion of the king-
dom to the pofterity of the lawful prince ; an under-
taking worthy of the juftice ?.nd heroifm of the great
Fingal. The action is one, and complete. The po-
em opens with the defcent of Fingal on the coafl, and
theconfultationheldamongthechiefsof the enemy. The
murder of the young prince Cormac, w^hlch was the
caufe of the war, being antecedent to the epic acftion, is
introduced with great propriety as an epifode in the
firft book. In the progrefs of the poem, three battles
are defcribed, which rife in their importance above one
another ; the fuccefs is various, and the ifTae for fome
time doubtiul ; till at laft, Fingal brought into difLrefs,.
by the wound of his great general Gaul, and the-
death of his fon Fillan, aflum^es the command himfelf,
and having (lain the Irifh king in fingle combat, reftores
the rightful heir to his throne.
Temora has perhaps lefs fire than the other epic po-
em ; but in return it has more variety, more tcnder-
nefs, and more magnificence. The reigning idea fo
often prefentcd to us of " Fingal in the lafl of his
fields, is venerable and afTccfting ; nor could any more
noble conclufion be thought of, than the aged hero, of
terfo many fuccefsful atchievements, taking his leave
of battles, and with all the folenmities of thofe tim'.s
refigning his fpear to his fon. The event? are lefs
crowded in Temora than in Fingal ; a6tions and cha-
radlers aie more particularly difplayed ; we arc let inro
the tranfa<flionG of both hofts ; and informed of the ad-
vcntiu-es of the night as well as of the day The fiill
])a".hetic and the romantic fcenery of fevera! of the
night adventures, fo remarkably fuited to Offian's geni-
us, occafion a fine diverfity in the poem ; and are hap-
pily coiitraftcd with the mditary operations of the. day.