death of his friend. Speak, Connal; son of Colgar, speak, thy council is the sun of heaven!" "Son of Semo!" replied the chief, of Crugal came from his cave. twinkled through his form. the sound of a distant stream. "the ghost The stars dim His voice was like ger of death! He speaks of the dark and narrow house! Sue for peace, O chief of Erin! or fly over the heath of Lena." "He spoke to Connal," replied the hero, though stars dim-twinkled through his form! Son of Colgar, it was the wind that murmured across thy ear. Or if it was the form of Cru 9 The poet teaches us the opinions that prevailed in his time concerning the state of separate souls. From Connal's expression, "That the stars dim-twinkled through the form of Crugal," and Cuthullin's reply, we may gather, that they both thought the soul was material, something like the sidhor of the ancient Greeks. MACPHERSON. The stars dim-twinkling through his form, is a picturesque image, fortuitously produced by the adaptation of old Malcolm's ghost in the Hunter, to Crugal's in Fingal. Her twinkling eyes, night's gloomy goddess shrouds, In a dark vail of rain-condensed clouds. Hunter. "The stars dim-twinkled through his form," or, as in other passages, "from behind a cloud." 10 gal, why didst thou not force him to my sight? Hast thou enquired where is his cave? The house of that son of wind? My sword might find that voice, and force his knowledge from Crugal. But small is his knowledge, Connal 1°; he was here to-day. He could not have gone beyond our hills! who could tell him there of our fall?" "Ghosts fly on clouds, and ride on winds," said Connal's voice of wisdom. "They rest together in their caves, and talk of mortal men.” "Then let them talk of mortal men; of every man but Erin's chief. Let me be forgot in their cave. I will not fly from Swaran! If fall I must, my tomb shall rise, amidst the fame of future times. The hunter shall shed a tear on my stone; sorrow shall dwell round the highbosomed Bragèla. I fear not death, to fly I fear! Fingal has seen me victorious! Thou dim phantom of the hill, shew thyself to me! come on thy beam of heaven, shew me my death in thine hand; yet I will not fly, thou feeble son 10 But small is his knowledge, Connal;] Arag éves oix îní άμа.---Il. xxiii. 104. "But all knowledge departs from the dead." MACPHERSON'S Homer, ii. 359. of the wind! Go, son of Colgar, strike the shield. It hangs between the spears. Let my warriors rise to the sound, in the midst of the battles of Erin. Though Fingal delays his coming with the race of the stormy isles; we shall fight, O Colgar's son, and die in the battle of heroes!" The sound spreads wide. The heroes rise, like the breaking of a blue-rolling wave. They stood on the heath, like oaks, with all their branches round them; when they echo to the stream of frost, and their withered leaves are rustling to the wind"! High Cromla's head of clouds is grey. Morning trembles on the halfenlightened ocean. The blue mist swims slowly by, and hides the sons of Inis-fail! "Rise ye," said the king of the dark-brown shields, " ye that came from Lochlin's waves. 11 They stood on the heath like oaks with all their branches round them; when their withered leaves are rustling to the wind.] MILTON, Par. Lost. i. 611. Yet faithful how they stood, Their glory withered: as when heaven's fire Hath scathed the forest oaks, or mountain pines, The sons of Erin have fled from our arms; pursue them over the plains of Lena! Morla, go to Cormac's hall. Bid them yield to Swaran; before his people sink to the tomb; and silence spread over his isle." They rose, rustling like a flock of sea-fowl, when the waves expel them from the shore". Their sound was like a thou sand streams that meet in Cona's vale, when, after a stormy night, they turn their dark eddies beneath the pale light of the morn. As the dark shades of autumn fly over the hills of grass', so gloomy, dark, successive came the chiefs of Lochlin's echoing woods. Tall as of Morven, moved stately before them, the stag 12 Rose, rustling like a flock of sea-fowl, when the waves expel them from the shore.] En. vi. 310. Aut ad terram gurgite ab alto, Quam multæ glomerantur aves, ubi frigidus annus DRYDEN. 13 As the dark shades of Autumn fly over the hills of grass.] From THOMSON's Autumn. A frequent imitation. The clouds fly different, and the sudden sun, "So gloomy, dark, successive, &c." the king 14. His shining shield is on his side, like a flame on the heath at night "5. When the world is silent and dark, and the traveller sees some ghost sporting in the beam! Dimly gleam the hills around, and shew indistinctly their oaks! A blast from the troubled ocean, removed the settled mist. The sons of Erin appear, like a ridge of rocks on the coast; when mariners 14 Tall as the stag of Morven, moved stately before them, the king.] In the first edition, The king of groves. 'HUTE BOUS ἀγέλφι. Il. ii. 480. The king of kings, majestically tall, Towers o'er his armies, and outshines them all, Like some proud bull. POPE. 15 His shining shield is on his side, like a flame on the heath at night.] And, though omitted in the first editions, "Dimly gleam the hills around, and shew indistinctly their oaks." From the shield of Achilles. POPE'S Iliad, xix. 402. And, like the moon, his broad refulgent shield Streams from some lonely watch-tower to the sky. And, to conceal the imitation, the light on the far-seen mountain is converted into a flame on the heath at night; and the night-wandering sailors, pale with fears, into " The traveller," who " sees some ghost sporting in the beam." |