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

A N E P I C P O E M. 257
Nor by that llream , nor wood, ^'are they I —
I hear the clang of arms ! —^ — Their fliife is
in the bofom of mift. — ^ — Such Is the con-
tending of fplrits in a nightly cloud, when
they ftrive for the wintry v/ings of winds, and
the lolling- of the foam -covered waves.
I rufh-
dercriptioiis of fiiigle combat's had already exhauft-
ed the fubject. Nothing new , nor adequate to
our high idea of the kings, could be faid. Ollt-
an , therefore , throws a column of mifl over the
whole , and leaves the combat to the imagina-
tion of the reader. Poets have aJmoft nnl-
verfally failed in their defcriptioas of this fort.
Not all the ftrength of Homer could fustain ,
with dignity , the vtiimtia of a fingle combat.
The throwing of a fpear , and the braying of
a fhicld, as fome of our own poets moll ele«
gantly exprefs it, convey iio grand ideas. Our
imagination ftretches beyond, and, confequently,
deCpiies , the defcription. It were , therefore ,
well , for fome poets , in my opinion , ( tho' it
is, perhaps, fomewhat fingular) to have, In-
metimes , like OHian , thrown viijl over their
fi'ngle combats.