Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

THE POEMS OF OSSIAX. 417
than In Berrathon, which is reckoned the conclusion of his songs,
" The last sound of the Voice of Cona."
Qualis olor noto positurus littore vitam,
Ingemit, et mxstis mulcens concentibus auras
Prsesago queritur venicntia funera cantu.
The whole train of ideas is admirably suited to the subjeft.
Every thing is full of that invisible world, into which tlie aged
bard believes himself now ready to enter. The airy hall of Fingal
presents itself to his view ; **' he sees the cloud that shall receive
*' his ghost ; he beholds the mist that shall form his robe when he
" appears on his hill •," and all the natural objects around him
seem to carry the presages of death. " The thistle shakes its
** beard to the wind. The flower hangs its heavy head — it seems
" to say, I am covered with the drops of heaven -, the time of my
*' departure is near, and the blast that shall scatter my leaves."
Malvina's death is hinted to him in the most delicate manner by
the son of Alpin. His lamentation over her, her apotheosis, or
ascent to the habitation of heroes, and the introduction to the
story which follows from the mention which Ossian supposes the
father of Malvina to make of him in the hall of Fingal, are all in
tlie highest spirit of poetry. " And dost thou remember Ossian,
" O Toscar, son of Comloch ? The battles of our youth were
" many ; our swords went together to the field." Nothing could
be more proper than to end his songs with recording an exploit of
the father of that Malvina, of whom his heart was now so full ;
and who, from first to last, had been such a favourite object
throughout all his poems.
The scene of most of Ossian's poems is laid in Scotland, or in
the coast of Ireland opposite to the territories of Fingal. Wlien
the scene is in Ireland, we perceive no change of manners frorn
those of Ossian's native country. For as Ireland was undoubtedly
peopled with Celtic tribes, the language, customs, and religion of
both nations were the same. They had been separated from one
another by migration, only a few generations, as it should seem,
before our poet's age ; and they still maintained a close and fre-
quent intercourse. But when the poet relates the expeditions of
any