Ossian Collection > Works of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volumes 3 and 4

A N E P I C P O E M. 87
ftafF is thy fpear : no harmlefs beam of light
thy fvvord. Son of Morni of fteeds, behold the
foe; deftroy. > Fillan , obferve the chief:
he Is not cahn in ftrife: nor burns he, lieedlefs,
in battle ; my fon ^ obferve the king. He is
ftrono- as Lubar's ftream , but never foams and
roars. High on cloudy Mora , Fingal fhall he-
hold the war. Stand, Offian*), near thy fa-
ther, by the falling ftream. - — Raife the
voice, o bards; Morven , move beneath the
found. It is my latter field ; clothe it over with
light.
As the fudden riling of winds ; or diftant
rolling of troubled feas , when fome dark ghoft,
in wrath, heaves the billows over an ifle, the
feat
war. Wiiere the king addrefles Fillan , the
verfification changes to a regular and fmooth
meafure. The firft is like torrents rufhing over
broken rocks ; the fecund like th^ courfe of a
full -flowing river, cahn but majeftic This iu-
ftance ferves to fhew, how much it asfifts a poet,
to al^er the meafure, according to the particu-
lar paflion , that he intends to excite in his read-
er.
-■) Ullin being fent to Morven with the body of Ollar,
Offiau attends his father , in quality of chief bard.
F4