Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

ON THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. 87
s to follow. *' Trenmor came from his hill, at the
voice of his mighty son. A cloud, like the steed of
* the stranger, supported his airy limbs. His robe is
f of the mist of Lano, that brings death to the people.
' His sword is a green meteor half extinguished. His
f face is without form,, and dark. He sighed thrice
over the hero : and thrice the winds of the night
f roared around. Many were his words to Oscar. He
slowly vanished, like a mist that melts on the sunny
hill." To appearances of this kind, we can nnd no
■arallel among the Greek or Roman poets. They brin^
mind that noble description in the book of Job :
In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep
sleep faileth upon men, fear came upon m.e, and
trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then
a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh
stood up. It stood still; but I could not discern the
form thereof. An image was before mine eyes.
There was silence ; and I heard a voice — Shall mor-
tal man be more just than God''?"
As Ossian's supernatural beings. are described with a
irprising force of imagination, so they are introduced
'ith propriety. We have only three ghosts in Fingai :
lat of Cruga:, which comes to warn the host of im-
endmg destruction, and to advise them to save them-
ilves by retreat ; that of Everallin, the spouse of Os-
an, which calls him to rise and rescue their son from
Bnger ; and that of Agandecca, which, just before the
St engagement with Swaran, moves Fingai to pitv, by
Fiiouniing fur the approaching destruction of her kins-
:en apd people. In the other poems, ghosts sorne^*
mes appear, when invoked, to foretell futurity ; fre-
y, according to the notions of these times, they
as forerunners of misfortune or death to those
-L 7) thev visit; sometimes they inform their friends
a n:stance, of their own death; and sometimes they
e in- reduced to heighten the scenery on some great
''id solemn occasion. " A hundred oaks burn to he
li wind ; and faint light gleams over the heath. The
l' rJobiv.lS-ir.