thought that mighty Cathmor came. Cathmor the friend of ftrangers! the brother of redhaired Cairbar. Their fouls were not the fame. The light of heaven was in the bofom of Cath

mor.

which fubfifted between him and the patron of the bard, who wrote the poem.

We have a ftory of this hofpitable nature, handed down by tradition, concerning one of the first Earls of Argyle, This nobleman, hearing that an Irishman, of great quality, intended to make him a vifit, with a very numerous retinue of his friends and dependants, burnt the castle of Dunora, the feat of his family, left it should be too small to entertain his guests, and received the Irish in tents on the shore. Extravagant as this behaviour might feem in our days, it was admired and applauded in those times of hofpitality, and the Earl acquired confiderable fame by it, in the fongs of the bards.

The open communication with one another, which was the confequence of their hofpitality, did not a little tend to improve the understanding and enlarge the ideas of the ancient Scots. It is to this caufe, we must attribute that fagacity and fenfe, which the common people, in the highlands, possess, still, in a degree fuperior even to the vulgar of more polished countries. When men are crowded together in great cities they fee indeed many people, But are acquainted with few. They naturally form themfelves into fmall focieties, and their knowledge fcarce extends beyond the alley or fireet they live in: add to this that the very employment of a mechanic tends to contract the mind. The ideas of a peasant are ftill more confined. His knowledge is circumfcribed within the compass of a few acres ; or, at moft, extends no further than the nearest

market

2

mor. His towers rofe on the banks of Atha: feven paths led to his halls. Seven chiefs flood on the paths, and called the ftranger to the feaft! But Cathmor dwelt in the wood to avoid the voice of praise.

OLLA came with his fongs. Ofcar went to Cairbar's feaft. Three hundred warriors ftrode along Moi-lena of the ftreams. The grey dogs bounded on the heath, their howling reached afar. Fingal faw the departing hero: the foul of the king was fad. He dreaded Cairbar's gloomy thoughts, amidst the feast of shells.

My fon raised high the fpear of Cormac : an hundred bards met him with fongs. Cairbar concealed with fmiles the death that was dark in

market-town. The manner of life among the inhabitants of the highlands, is very different from thefe. As their fields are barren, they have fcarce any domeftic employment. Their time is spent therefore in an extenfive wilderness, where they feed their cattle, and these, by straying far and wide, carry their keepers after them, at times, to all the different fettlements of the clans. There they are received with hofpitality and good cheer, which, as they tend to display the minds of the hofts, afford an opportunity to the guests to make their obfervations on the different characters of men; which is the true source of knowledge and acquired fenfe. Hence it is that a common highlander is acquainted with a greater number of characters, than any of his own rank living in the moft populous cities.

his foul. The feaft is fpread, the fhells refound: joy brightens the face of the hoft. But it was like the parting beam of the fun, when he is to hide his red head in a storm.

CAIRBAR rofe in his arms; darkness gathered on his brow. The hundred harps ceafed at once. The clang of fhields was heard. Far diftant on the heath Olla raifed his fong of woe. My fon knew the fign of death; and rising seized his fpear.

OSCAR! faid the dark-red Cairbar, I behold the fpear † of Inisfail. The fpear of Temora ‡ glitters in thy hand, fon of woody Morven! It was the pride of an hundred || kings, the death of

* When a chief was determined to kill a perfon already in his power, it was ufual to fignify that his death was intended, by the found of a fhield ftruck with the blunt end of a spear; at the fame time that a bard at a distance Taifed, the death-fong. A ceremony of another kind was long used in Scotland upon fuch occafions. Every body has heard that a bull's head was ferved up to Lord Douglas in the castle of Edinburgh, as a certain fignal of his approaching death.

t, Cormac, the fon of Arth, had given the spear, which is here the foundation of the quarrel, to Ofcar when he came to congratulate him, upon Swaran's being expelled from Ireland.

Ti-mor rath, the house of good fortune, the name of the royal palace of the fupreme kings of Ireland.

Hundred here is an indefinite number, and is only intended to exprefs a great many. It was probably the

hyper

of heroes of old. Yield it, fon of Offian, yield

it to car-borne Cairbar.

gave

SHALL I yield, Ofcar replied, the gift of Erin's injured king: the gift of fair-haired Cormac, when Ofcar scattered his foes! I came to Cormac's halls of joy, when Swaran fled from Fingal. Gladness rofe in the face of youth: he the fpear of Temora. Nor did he give it to the feeble, O Cairbar, neither to The darkness of thy face is nor are thine eyes the flamesof death. Do I fear thy clanging fhield? Tremble I at Olla's fong? No: Cairbar, frighten the feeble; Oscar is a rock.

the weak in foul. no ftorm to me;

And wilt thou not yield the fpear? replied the rifing pride of Cairbar. Are thy words fo mighty because Fingal is near? Fingal with aged locks from Morven's hundred groves! He has fought with little men. But he must vanish before Cairbar, like a thin pillar of mist before the winds of Atha*.

WERE he who fought with little men near Atha's darkening chief: Atha's darkening chief

hyperbolical phrafes of bards, that gave the firft hint to the Lifh Senachies to place the origin of their monarchy in so remote a' period, as they have done.

*

Atha, fhallow river; the name of Cairbar's feat in Connaught.

would

would yield green Erin his rage. Speak not of the mighty, O Cairbar! but turn thy fword on me. Our ftrength is equal: but Fingal is renowned the firft of mortal men!

THEIR people faw the darkening chiefs. Their crowding fteps are heard around. Their eyes roll in fire. A thoufand fwords are half unfheathed. Red-haired Olla raised the song of battle: the trembling joy of Ofcar's foul arofe : the wonted joy of his foul when Fingal's horn was heard.

DARK as the fwelling wave of ocean before the rifing winds, when it bends its head near a coaft, came on the hoft of Cairbar.-Daughter of Tofcar* ! why that tear? He is not fallen yet. Many were the deaths of his arm before my hero fell !---Behold they fall before my fon like the groves in the defert, when an angry ghoft rushes through night, and takes their green heads in his hand!, Morlath falls: Maronnan dies: Conachar trembles in his blood. Cairbar fhrinks before Ofcar's fword; and creeps in darkness behind his ftone. He lifted the spear in fecret, and pierced my Ofcar's fide. He falls forward on his fhield: his knee fuftains the

* The poet means Malvina, the daughter of Tofcar, to whom he addreffes that part of the poem, which relates to the death of Ofcar her lover.. C

chief.