FINGAL. BOOK II. CONNAL lay by the sound of the mountain stream, beneath the aged tree. A stone, with 'The scene here described will appear natural to those who have been in the Highlands of Scotland. The poet removes him to a distance from the army, to add more horror to the description of Crugal's ghost, by the loneliness of the place. MACPHERSON. "The scene of Connal's repose, so familiar to those who have been in the Highlands," (first edit.) betrays the real original of the poems. The supposed translator, forgetting that the scene was laid in Ireland, thought only of that which he beheld and described in the Highlands of Scotland. But Macpherson's early poetry abounds in ghosts, which are introduced without reserve, in the Hunter and Highlander, and in the verses on an officer killed at Quebec. its moss, supported his head. Shrill through the heath of Lena, he heard the voice of night. At distance from the heroes he lay; the son of the sword feared no foe! The hero beheld, in his rest, a dark-red stream of fire rushing down from the hill. Crugal sat upon the beam, a chief who fell in fight. He fell by the hand of battle of heroes. Swaran, striving in the face is like the beam of the setting moon. His His robes are of the clouds of the hill. His eyes are two decaying flames 3! Dark is the wound 2 Shrill through the heath of Lena, he heard the voice of night.] And, at the close of the preceding book, "Far distant in the dark silence of Lena, the feeble voices of death were faintly heard." A repetition from THOMSON's Winter. Supra, i. 54. Through all the burdened air Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and distant sighs, Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death. "His 3 His face is like the beam of the setting moon; his robes are of the clouds of the hill; his eyes are two decaying flames.] voice like the gale of the recdy Lego." Iliad, xxiii, 66. Πάντ ̓ αὐτῶ μέγεθός τε καὶ ΟΜΜΑΤΑ κάλ ̓ εἰκυῖα, Καί ΦΩΝΗΝ καὶ τοῖα περὶ χροῒ ΕΙΜΑΤΑ ἕστο. In the same robe he living wore, he came, In stature, voice, and pleasing look, the same. POPE. Achilles was impressed with the appearance of the ghost of Patroclus, because it was ExTo de boxe aur, in stature, voice, of his breast! "Crugal," said the mighty Connal, "son of Dedgal famed on the hill of hinds! Why so pale and sad, thou breaker of the shields? Thou hast never been pale for fear! What disturbs the departed Crugal ?" Dim, and in tears, he stood, and stretched his pale hand and eyes, and even in its robes, the very image of his friend ; and the same circumstances, diversified only by similes, are preserved in Ossian. But Crugal, sitting on a beam of fire, his face like the beam of the setting moon, his eyes two decaying flames, (in a setting moon-beam!) his robes of the clouds of the hill, Lights up the clouds, those beauteous robes of heaven; THOMSON. his voice, like the gale of the reedy Lego, and his departure like the darkened moon; present nothing distinct, or even intelligible to the mind. The belief of all ages is, that ghosts are an exact resemblance of the deceased, like the image in a mirror, unsubstantial, and perceptible to the sight alone; but, in the moon-beams, clouds, and in the decaying flames of Crugal's face and person, Connal never could have recognised his dark red friends. In assuming the garb of antiquity, Macpherson, solicitous to avoid the appearance, either of classical or of modern poetry, degenerated into bombast, on departing from the common opinion of mankind. 4 Dim and in tears he stood,] and above, "Dark is the wound of his breast. Why so pale and sad." From the Highlander, v. 189. Silent and sad the spectre stood confessed, And shewed the streaming flood gates of his breast. "And stretched his pale hand over the hero." MACPHERSON'S Hunter. Then stretched his skinny hand, and thus he spoke. over the hero. Faintly he raised his feeble voice, like the gale of the reedy Lego! "My spirit, Connal, is on my hills: my corse on the sands of Erin. Thou shalt never talk with Crugal, nor find his lone steps in the heath. I am light as the blast of Cromla. I move like the shadow of mist! Connal, son of 5 Faintly he raised his feeble voice.] XETO TETPITYIA.--Iliad, xxiii. 10. And hears a feeble lamentable cry. РОРЕ. "Like the gale of the reedy Lego." Highlander, v. 195. He hissed his way along, As breezes sing through reeds their shrilly song. 6 Thou shalt never talk with Crugal, nor find his lone steps POPE's Iliad, xxiii. 96. on the heath.] No more shall meet Achilles and his friend, No more our thoughts to those we loved make known, Nor quit the dearest to converse alone. Yea though I walk 7 I move like the shadow of mist.] through the valley of the shadow of death. Psalms, xxiii. 4, converted immediately into "The cloud of death, that hovers, dark, over the plains of Lena," from THOMSON's Summer. Where frequent o'er the sickening city, plague- She draws a close incumbent cloud of death. And Thomson, again, from Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, A. iii. S. 1. 1.3. Be as a planetery plague, when Jove Will o'er some high-viced city, hang his poison In the sick air. Colgar, I see a cloud of death: it hovers dark over the plains of Lena. The sons of green Erin must fall. Remove from the field of ghosts." Like the darkened moon he retired 8, in the midst of the whistling blast. "Stay," said the mighty Connal, " stay, my dark-red friend. Lay by that beam of heaven, son of the windy Cromla! What cave is thy lonely house? What green-headed hill the place of thy repose? Shall we not hear thee in the storm? In the noise of the mountain-stream? When the feeble sons of the wind come forth, and, scarcely seen, pass over the desert ?" The soft-voiced Connal rose, in the midst of his sounding arms. He struck his shield above Cuthullin. The son of battle waked. "Why," said the ruler of the car, comes Connal through my night? My spear might turn against the sound; and Cuthullin mourn the 66 8 Like the darkened moon he retired.] MILTON, Par. Lost. 1. 596. Or from behind the moon Perplexes monarchs: Darkened so, yet shone. |