J. F. Campbell Collection > Temora, an ancient epic poem, in eight books

loo T E iM O R A:
alono- my foul. — Rife, wood-flcirted Mora, rife between the war
and me ! Why (liould Fingal behold the ftrife, left his dark-
haired warrior fliould fall ! — Amidil the fong, O Carril, pour the
found of the trembling harp : here are the voices of rocks, and
bright tumbling of waters. Father of Ofcar lift the fpear ; defend
the young in arms. Conceal thy fteps from Fillan's eyes. — He mufl
not know that I doubt his fteel. — No cloud of mine fliall rife, my
fon, upon thy foul of fire !
He funk behind his rock, amidft the found of Carril's fong. —
Brightening, in my growing foul, I took the fpear of Temora *.
I faw, along Moi-lena, the wild tumbling of battle, the ftrife of
death, in gleaming rows, disjoined and broken round. Fillan is a
beam of fire ; from wing to wing is his wafteful courfe. The
ridges of war melt before him. They are rolled, in fmoak, from
the fields.
might be induced, from feeing the inequa-
lity of the combat between Fillan and Cath-
mor, to come to battle himfelf, and (o
bring about the cataftrophe of the poem
prematurely. The removal of Fingal af-
fords room to the poet for introducing thofe
afFefling fcenes which immediately fucceed,
and arc among the chief beauties of the
poem. — They who can deny art to Offian,
in conducing the cataftrophe of Temora,
are certainly more prejudiced againft the
age he lived in, than is confiftent with
good fenfe. I cannot finifh this note,
without obfcrving the delicacy and proprie-
ty of Fingal's addrefs to Oflian. Ry the
appellation oi the father of Ofcar, he raifes.
at once, in the mind of the hero, all that
tendernefs for the fafety of Fillan, which
a fituation fo fimilar to that of his own fon,
when he fell, was capable to fuggeft,
* The /pear of Temora was that which
Ofcar had received, in a prefent, from
Cormac, the fon of Artho, king of Ire-
land. It was of it that Cairbar made the
pretext for quarrelling wiih Ofcar, at the
feaft, in the firft book. After the death of
Ofcar we find it always in the hands of
Oflian. It is faid, in another poem,
that it was preferved, as a relique, at Te-
mora, from the d.i) s of Conar, the fon of
Trcnmor, the firft king of Ireland.
Now