Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

88 A CRITICAL DISSERTATION
♦* ghosts of Ardven pass through the beam ; and shew
** their dim and distant forms. Comala is half-unseen
*' on her meteor; and Hidallan is sullen and dim."
" The awful faces of other times looked from the clouds
*' of Crona." '* Fercuth I I saw the ghost of niuht,
" Silent he stood on that bank ; his robe of mist tiew
*' on the wind. I could behold his tears. An aged
*^ man he seemed, and full of th>;ught."
The ghosts of str.m'^ers mingle not with those of the
natives. " She is seen ; but not like the daughters o!
*' the hill. Her robes are from the strangers land ; anc
*' she is still alone." When the ghost of one who-n he
had formerly known is introduced, the propriety of the
living character is still preserved. This is remarkable
in the appearance of C^lmar's ghost, in the poem inti
tuled. The Death of Cuthuliin. He seems to forebod(
CuthuUin's death, and to beckon him to his cave
Cuthuliin reproaches him for supposing that he coul
be intimidated by such prognos'ics. " Why dost thoi
*' bend thy dark eyes on me, ghost of the car-born«
" Calmar 1 Wouldst thou frighten me, O Matha's son
" from the battles of Cortnac ? Thy hand was not fee
*' ble in war ; neither was thv voice for peace Hov
** art thou changed, chief of Lara 1 if now thou dos
** advise to fly 1 Retire thou to thy cave : thou art no
" Calmar's ghost ; He delighted in battle ; and his arn
*' was like the thunder of heaven." Calmar makes n.
return to this seeming reproach : bur, " he retired i'
*' his blast with joy ; foi he had heard the voice of hi
" praise." This is precisely the ghost of Achilles i
Homer ; who, notwithstanding all the dissatisfactio
he expresses with his state in the region of the dead, a
soon as he had heard his son Neoptolemus praised fc
his gallant behaviour, strode away with silent joy t
rejoin the rest of the shades'.
It is a great advantage of Ossi-m's mythology, that
is not local and temporary, like that of most other ar
cierit poets ; which of course is apt to seem ridiculou
after the superstitions have passed away on which
iOUyss.lib.il.