white-bofomed Lanul fhall brighten, at her ftreams; Candona shall rejoice, at rocky Crathmo-craulo.

of

COLGORM*, replied the chief, was the first my race in Albion; Colgorm, the rider of ocean, thro' its watry vales. He flew his brother in I-thorno: he left the land of his fathers. He chofe his place, in filence, by rocky Crathmo-craulo. His race came forth, in their years; they came forth to war, but they always fell. The wound of my fathers is mine, king of echoing ifles!

He drew an arrow from his fide. He fell pale, in a land unknown. His foul came forth to his fathers, to their formy ifle. There they pursued boars of mift, along the skirts of winds.The chiefs ftood filent around, as the ftones of Loda, on their hill. The traveller

*The family of Duth-maruno, it appears, came origi nally from Scandinavia, or, at leaft, from fome of the northern ifles, subject in chief, to the kings of Lochlin. The Highland fenachies, who never miffed to make their comments on and additions to, the works of Offian, have given us a long lift of the ancestors of Duth-maruno, and a particular account of their actions, many of which are of the marvellous kind. One of the tale-makers of the north has chosen for his hero, Starnmor, the father of Duthmaruno, and, confidering the adventures thro' which he has led him, the piece is neither difagreeable, nor abounding with that kind of fiction, which fhocks credibility.

fees

fees them, thro' the twilight, from his lonely path. He thinks them the ghofts of the aged, forming future wars.

NIGHT came down, on U-thorno. Still flood the chiefs in their grief. The blaft hiffed, by turns, thro' every warrior's hair.-Fingal, at length, burfted forth from the thoughts of his foul. He called Ullin of harps, and bade the fong to rife.No falling fire, that is only feen, and then retires in night; no departing meteor was Crathmo-craulo's chief. He was like the ftrong-beaming fun, long rejoicing on his hill. Call the names of his fathers, from their dwellings old.

I-THORNO, faid the bard, that rifeft midft ridgy feas! Why is thy head fo gloomy, in the ocean's mift? From thy vales came forth a race,

This episode is, in the original, extremely beautiful. It is fet to that wild kind of mufic, which fome of the Highlanders distinguish, by the title of Fón Oi-marra, or, the Song of mermaids. Some part of the air is abfolutely infernal, but there are many returns in the measure, which are inexpreffibly wild and beautiful. From the genius of the mufic, I should think it came originally from Scandinavia, for the fictions delivered down concerning the Oi-marra, (who are reputed the authors of the mufic) exactly correfpond with the notions of the northern nations, concerning their dire, or, goddeffes of death.Of all the names in this episode, there is none of a Galic original, except Strina-dona, which fignifies, the firife of heroes.

fearless as thy ftrong-winged eagles; the race of Colgorm of iron thields, dwellers of Loda's hall.

IN Tormoth's refounding ifle, arofe Lurthan, ftreamy hill. It bent its woody head above a filent vale. There, at foamy Cruruth's fource, dwelt Rurmar, hunter of boars. His daughter was fair as a fun-beam, white-bofomed Strinadona!

MANY a king of heroes, and hero of iron fhields; many a youth of heavy locks came to Rurmar's echoing hall. They came to woo the maid, the stately huntress of Tormoth wild. -But thou lookeft carclefs from thy fteps, highbofomed Strina-dona !

IF on the heath fhe moved, her breaft was whiter than the down of Cana *; if on the feabeat fhore, than the foam of the rolling ocean. Her eyes were two ftars of light; her face was heaven's bow in fhowers; her dark hair flowed round it, like the ftreaming clouds.-Thou wert the dweller of fouls, white-handed Strinadona!

*The Cana is a certain kind of grafs, which grows plentifully in the heathy moraffes of the north. Its stalk is of the reedy kind, and it carries a tuft of down, very much refembling cotton. It is exceffively white, and, confequently, often introduced by the bards, in their fimilies concerning the beauty of women.

COLGORM

COLGORM came, in his fhip, and CorculSuran, king of fhells. The brothers came, from I-thorno, to woo the fun-beam of Tormoth's ifle. She faw them in their echoing fteel. Her foul was fixed on blue-eyed Colgorm.-Ul-lochlin's nightly eye looked in, and faw the toffing arms of Strina-dona.

*

WRATHFUL the brothers frowned.

Their

flaming eyes, in filence, met. They turned

away. They ftruck their fhields.

Their hands

were trembling on their fwords. They rushed into the ftrife of heroes, for long-haired Strina

dona.

CORCUL-SURAN fell in blood. On his ifle, raged the ftrength of his father. He turned Colgorm, from I-thorno, to wander on all the winds. In Crathmo-craulo's rocky field, he dwelt, by a foreign ftream. Nor darkened the king alone, that beam of light was near, the daughter of echoing Tormoth, white-armed Strina-dona .

* Ul-lochlin, the guide to Lachlin; the name of a star. + The continuation of this epifode is juft now in my hands; but the language is so different from, and the ideas fo unworthy of, Offian, that I have rejected it, as an interpolation by a modern bard.