J. F. Campbell Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 3

AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN's POEMS. 499
The foUowing passages from the poems of Ossian
are descriptive of Selma, and its supposed situation,
both before, and after its fall.
Sguir an t sealg, a's choidil na feigh
Fo dhubhar gheùg air a choinich;
Thuit brat na hoiche air na sleibhte,
A's feisd aig seoid an Seallama.
Bha dàn, a's dàn ann mar bu nòs,
Bha sud ann a's ceòl nan clàr,
Le donnal chon am fè na greis
O'n chreig fo 'n geal an tràigh.
See Dr. Smitìis Ancient Poems. Dearg-mac Drui-
bheil, verse 17, 8^x.
Literal Translation,
The chase had ceased, and the deer slept
Under the shadow of trees on the moss ;
The curtain of night descended on the hiUs,
And heroes were feasting in Selma.
There was song after song, as the custom was,
There was that and the music of harps,
With the barking of dogs in the interval of action
From the rock which rises over the white beach.
The white beach, mentioned in the last line,
answers exactly the present aspect of the white
sand which covers the shore around part of the hill
on which Selma stood. The rock from which the
dogs were heard to bark is here also ; for that part
of the hill, washed by the waves, is composed of
rock, and rises almost perpendicular to the sea.