Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 1

ox THE POEMS OF OSSIAN-. clxv
** tlicr together, son of car-borne ISIorni! The
I *■'■ narrow house is pleasant to me, and the grey
*• stone of the dead ; for never more Avili I leave
*' thy rocks, sea-surrounded Tromathon! — Chief
*' of Strum on, why earnest thou over the waves
*' to Nuath's mournful daughter? Why did not
" I pass away in secret, like the flower of the
" rock, that lifts its fair head unseen, and strews
*' its with' red leaves on the blast? Why didst
*' thou come, O Gaull to hear my departing
[ *' sigh ? — O had I dwelt at Duvranna, in the bright
! *' beaims of my fan)e! Then had my years come
*' on with joy; and the virgins would bless my
*' steps. But 1 fall in youth, son of Morni, and
'*■' my father shall blush in his hall."
Oilhona mourns like a woman; in Cuthullin's
expressions of grief after his defeat, we behold
the sentiments of a hero, generous, but despond-
ing. The situation is remarkably fine. Cuthul-
lin, rorsed from his cave, by the noise of battle,
sees Fingal victorious in the field. He is de-
scribed as kindling at the sight. " His hand is
" on the sw ord of his fathers ; his red-rolling eyes
*' on the foe. Ke thrice attempted to rush to
*■' batde; and thrice did Connal stop him;" sug-
gesting that Fingal was routing the foe: and that
he ought not, by the shew of supertiuons aid, to
-deprive the king of any part of the honour of a
Tictory, which w as owing to him alone. Cuthul-
lin yields to this generous sentiment; but we see
it stinging him to the heart with the sense of his
own disgrace. "• Then, Carril, go," replied the
chief, '' and greet the king of Morven. When
'^ Lochlin falls away like a stream after rain, and
'' the noise of the battle is over, then be thy voice