Ossian Collection > Fingal

A P O E M. 221
LATH M O xN : A P O E M *.
SELMA, tliy halls are illcnt. Tl.ere is no
found in tiie woods of Morven. The wave
tumbles alone on the coaft. The filent beam of
the llin is on tlie field. The daughters ctTvlorven
come forth, like the bow of the fnou er ; they look
towards green Ul.lin for the white fails oi: the
king. Ke had promiled to return, but the winds
of the north aroie.
Who pours from the eaftern hill, likeallreani
of darknefs ? It is the hoil: of Lathmon. He has
heard of the abfence of Fin gal. He trufts in the
wind of the north. His foul brightens with joy.
Why doil thou ccme, Lathmon ? The mighty are
not in Selma. Why comeft thou with thy forward
fpear ? Will the daughters of Morven fight? But
ilop, O mighty fiream, in thy courfc. Does not
Lathmon behold thefe fails? Why doft thou vaniili,
Lathmon, like the mift of the lake ? But the fqual-
ly ftorm is behind thee ; Fingal purfues thy fteps !
The king of Morven ftarted from flcep, ss v/e
rolled on the dark-blue wave. He ftretched his
hand to his fpear, and his heroes rofe around. We
L 3 knew
* Lathmcn a BritiA prince, tr.king advantage of Fin-
gal's abfence in Ireland, made adefcent on Morven, and
advanced within fight of Selnia the royal palace. Fin-
gal arrived in the mean tiaie, and Lathmon retreated to
a hill, where his army was fiirprized by niglit, and hini-
felf taken prifoner by Oilian and Gaul the fen of Morn!.
This exploit of Gaul and Ofikn bears a near refemblance
to the beautiful epifode of Nifus and Eurvalus in Vir-
gil's ninth -^neid. The poem opens, with the firil: ap-
pearance of Fingal on the coait of Morven, and ends,
it may be fuppofec, about noon the next day. The firft
paragraph is in a lyric meafure, snd appears to have
been fung, of old, to the harp, as a prelude to the nar-
rative part of the poem, which is in heroic verf,^