dressing the saint who had requested of him a detail of the engagement in which Magnus had been defeated Thus was the mighty battle won On Erin's sounding shore; And thus, O clerk! great Comhal's son *, The palm of valour bore! Alas! far sweeter to mine ear The triumphs of that day Than all the psalming songs I hear, Where holy zealots pray. Thou hast my tale ;-though memory bleeds, And sorrow wastes my frame, Still will I tell of former deeds, Now old,-the streams of life congeal'd, Bereft of all my joys! No sword this wither'd hand can wield, No spear my arm employs. Among thy clerks, my last sad hour Its weary scene prolongs; And psalms must now supply the pow'r Of victory's lofty songs. It is nevertheless to the opening of The Chase, a legendary poem, which, from its mention of church bells, cannot be attributed to a period earlier than * Fingal. the middle ages, that we are indebted for the fullest developement of the character of Ossian as drawn by the Irish bards. This piece also, like the former, displays a glowing picture of the head and heart of the king of Morven, to whom, as the fair translator has remarked, every quality is attributed that is either interesting, amiable, or great *. The delineation, indeed, either of Ossian or his royal father, being precisely such as we find drawn in the poems translated by Macpherson, would answer the purpose which I have in view; but as the character of the bard is, from the splendor of his genius, from his blindness, and his being the last of his race, perhaps still more endeared to us than that of the warrior, I shall confine myself principally to the picture which has been given us of the former. The saint and the poet are represented as usual, conversing familiarly together, when the latter exclaims with his customary courtesy, O son of Calphruin !-sage divine! * Reliques, p. 99. Did e'er my tale thy curious ear The chase, which singly o'er the plain, Nor one of all his valiant train Its wond'rous progress view'd? A query to which the holy anchorite replies, O royal bard! to valour dear, Whom fame and wisdom grace, But let me now, O bard, prevail ! Now let the song ascend; And through the wonders of the tale, The insinuation which the saint here throws out against the veracity of the bard very naturally and very deservedly calls forth a rebuke, but delivered in a tone of energy and moral dignity which has seldom been surpassed: O Patrick! to the Finian race A falsehood was unknown; No lie, no imputation base On our clear fame was thrown; But by firm truth and manly might Our foes before us flew. Not thy own clerks, whose holy feet With thee to hymn, in concert sweet, Not thy own clerks in truth excell'd By honour train'd, by fame impell'd O Patrick of the placid mien, And voice of sweetest sound! Not one more faithful didst thou know The chief who gloried to bestow The prize the bards had won! Were Morni's* valiant son alive, *The celebrated Gaul Mac Mevrni, well known to the reader of Ossian's Poems. "Great as is Oisin's partiality," remarks the translator," in favour of the heroes of his own race, yet we find him, on all occasions, doing ample justice VOL. II. E Or Mac O'Dhuivne, graceful form, Joy of the female sight; The hero who would breast the storm, Or he whose sword the ranks defy'd, Or could Mac-Ronan now appear, Or,-Oh my Osgar* ! wert thou here, Not then, as now, should Calphruin's son With bells and psalms the land o'er-run, If Fergus + lived, again to sing As erst, the Fennii's fame; Or Daire, who sweetly touch'd the string, And thrill'd the feeling frame; to the character and valour of a chief, who was not allied to his family, and whose tribe had even, at different times, been their very bitterest enemies."-Reliques, p. 76, 77. * Oscar the son of Ossian, who is said by the Irish bards to have been killed at the battle of Gabhra. + Fergus, one of the brothers of Ossian, and equally celebrated in the poetical annals of Ireland for the gift of song. He is beautifully and characteristically distinguished in the poem of Magnus the Great, to whom he had been sent |