ARGUMENT.

FINGAL, on his return from Ireland, after he had expelled Swaran from that kingdom, made a feast to all his heroes: he forgot to invite Ma-ronnan and Aldo, two chiefs, who had not been along with him in his expedition. They resented his neglect; and went over to Erragon, king of Sora, a country of Scandinavia, the declared enemy of Fingal. The valour of Aldo soon gained him a great reputation in Sora: and Lorma, the beautiful wife of Erragon, fell in love with him. He found means to escape with her, and to come to Fingal, who resided then in Selma on the western coast. Erragon invaded Scotland, and was slain in battle by Gaul, the son of Morni, after he had rejected the terms of peace offered him by Fingal. In this war Aldo fell, in a single combat, by the hands of his rival Erragon; and the unfortunate Lorma afterwards died of grief. MACPHERSON.

The subject is taken from an Irish ballad concerning the invasion of Ireland by Airgin Mac Annir, converted into Erragon, king of Lochlin, whose wife had eloped with Aildo (Aldo), one of the Fions. But St Patrick, to whom the tale is addressed in the ballad, is transformed into a Culdee ; and, in the first edition, the poem itself is entitled, Duan a Culdich, The Culdee's Poem; as if there were Culdees in Scotland before the conversion of the Picts by Ninian (anno 412), and Columba (585); and even before the first introduction of monks into the west of Europe, anno 370.

THE

BATTLE OF LORA:

A POEM.

SON of the distant land, who dwellest in the secret cell! do I hear the sound of thy grove? or is it thy voice of songs? The torrent was loud in my ear; but I heard a tuneful voice. Dost thou praise the chiefs of thy land; or the spirits of the wind'? But, lonely dweller of

1 Alluding to the religious hymns of the Culdees. MAC

PHERSON.

Alluding rather to Thomson's Ode on Æolus's harp, from which this address to the hermit, the lonely dweller of the rocks, is derived.

"Son of the distant land, who dwellest in the secret cell, do Į hear the sound of thy groves? or is it thy voice of songs?"

rocks! look thou on that heathy plain. Thou seest green tombs, with their rank whistling grass With their stones of mossy heads. Thou

Etherial race, inhabitants of air,

Who hymn your god amid the secret grove :
Ye unseen beings, to my harp repair,

And raise majestic strains, or melt in love.

"The torrent was loud in my ear; but I heard a tuneful voice." But, hark! that strain was of a graver tone,

On the deep string his hand some hermit throws ;

Or he, the sacred bard, who sat alone,

In the drear waste, and wept his people's woes.

"Dost thou praise the chiefs of thy land? or the spirits of the wind?"

Methinks I hear the full celestial choir,

Through heaven's high dome their awful anthem raise,
Now chaunting clear, and now they all conspire,
To swell the lofty hymn from praise to praise.

Let me, ye wandering spirits of the wind,

Who, as wild fancy prompts you, touch the string,
Smit with your theme, be in your chorus joined ;
For till you cease, my muse forgets to sing.

Such are the modern improvements of the Irish ballad of Erra-
gon, beginning, "One day when Patrick had no Psalms to sing."
2 Green tombs, with their rank whistling grass; with their
stones of mossy heads.] From MACPHERSON's Nightpiece.
A tomb its dreary honour shews!

Three stones exalt their heads of moss;

Dry tufts of grass around it rise;

The wind along the brushwood sighs.

In the next paragraph, "Four mossy stones in the midst of wi

seest them, son of the rock; but Ossian's eyes have failed.

A mountain-stream comes roaring down, and sends its waters round a green hill. Four mossy stones, in the midst of withered grass, rear their heads on the top. Two trees, which the storms have bent, spread their whistling branches around. This is thy dwelling, Erragon3; this thy narrow house: the sound of thy shells have been long forgot in Sora. Thy shield is become dark in thy hall. Erragon, king of ships! chief of distant Sora! how hast thou fallen on our mountains? How is the mighty low? Son of the secret cell! dost thou delight in songs? Hear the battle of Lora. The sound of its steel is long since past. So thunder on the darkened

thered grass, rear their heads on the top. Two trees, which the winds have bent, spread their whistling branches around."

3 Erragon, or Ferg-thonn, signifies the rage of the waves; probably a poctical name given him by Ossian himself; for he goes by the name of Annir in tradition. MACPHERSON.

The

4 Erragon, king of ships! chief of distant Sora, how hast thou fallen on our mountains? How is the mighty low.] beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places; how are the mighty fallen? How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan! thou wast slain in thine high places. 2 Sam. i. 10. 25. Quoted by Macpherson, 1st edit.