there; on its banks ftood Cairbar (1) of Atha. His fpear fupports the king: the red eyes of his fear are fad. Cormac rifes in his foul, with all his ghaftly wounds. The grey form of the youth appears in darknefs; blood pours from his airy fides.-Cairbar thrice threw his fpear on earth; and thrice he ftroked his beard. His fteps are short; he often ftops and toffes his finewy arms. He is like a cloud in the defart, that varies its form to every blaft: the valleys are fad around, and fear, by turns, the shower.

The king, at length, refumed his foul; and took his pointed fpear. He turned his

The reader will find some alterations in the diction of this book. Thefe are drawn from more correct copies of the original which came to my hands fince the former publication. As the most part of the poem is delivered down by tradition, the text is fometimes various and interpolated. After comparing the different readings, I always made choice of that which agreed best with the fpirit of the

context.

(1) Cairbar, the fon of Borbar - duthu!, was defcended lineally from Larthon the chief of the Firbolg, the first colony who fettled in the fouth of Ireland. The Caël were in poffeffion of the northern coaft of that kingdom, and the first monarchs of Ireland were of their race. Hence arofe thofe differences between the two nations which terminated, at laft, in the murder of Cormac, and the ufurpation of Cairbar, lord of Atha, who is mentioned in this place.

eyes to Moi-lena. The scouts of blue ocean came. They came with fteps of fear, and often looked behind. Cairbar knew that the mighty were near, and called his gloomy chiefs.

The founding fteps of his warriors came. They drew, at once, their fwords. There Morlath (1) ftood with darkened face. Hidalla's long hair fighs in wind. Red-haired Cormar bends on his fpear, and rolls his fide-long-looking eyes. Wild is the look of Malthos from beneath two shaggy brows.

-Foldath ftands like an oozy rock, that covers its dark fides with foam. His fpear is like Slimora's fir, that meets the wind of heaven. His shield is marked with the ftrokes of battle; and his red eye defpifes danger. These and a thousand other chiefs furrounded car-borne Cairbar, when the scout of ocean came, Mor-annal, from fireamy Moi-lena.

(1) Mór-lath, great in the day of battle. Hidalla's mildly looking hero. Cor-mar, expert at fea, Málthflow to speak. Foldath, generous.

os,

Foldath, who is here ftrongly marked, makes a great figure in the fequel of the poem. His fierce, uncomplying character is fuftained throughout. He feems, from a paffage in the fecond book, to have been Cairbar's greatest confident, and to have had a principal hand in the confpiracy against Cormac king of Ireland. His tribe was one of the most confiderable of the race of the Firbolg.

-His eyes hang forward from his face, his lips are trembling, pale.

Do the chiefs of Erin ftand, he said, filent as the grove of evening? Stand they, like a filent wood, and Fingal on the coaft? Fingal, the terrible in battle, the king of ftreamy Morven.-Haft thou feen the warrior? faid Cairbar with a figh. Are his heroes many on the coaft Lifts he the fpear of battle? Or comes the king in peace?

In peace he comes not, Cairbar. I have feen his forward fpear (1). It is a meteor of death: the blood of thousands is on its fteel. He came firft to the shore, ftrong in the grey hair of age. Full rofe his finewy limbs, as he strode in his might. That fword is by his fide, which gives no fecond (2)

(1) Mor-annal here alludes to the particular appearance of Fingal's fpear. If a man, upon

kept the

his firft ianding in a ftrange country, point of his fpear forward it denoted in thofe days that he came in a hoftile manner, and accordingly he was treated as an enemy; if he kept the point behind him, it was a token of friendship, and he was immediately invited to the feast, according to the hofpitality of the times.

(2) This was the famous fword of Fingal, made by Luno, a finith of Lochlin, and after him poetically called the fon of Luno: it is faid of this fword, that it killed a man at every ftroke; and that Fingal never ufed it but in times of the greatest danger,

wound. His shield is terrible, like the bloody moon afcending thro' a ftorm.-Then came Offian king of fongs; and Morni's fon, the first of men. Connal leaps forward on his fpear: Dermid fpreads his dark-brown locks. -Fillan bends his bow, the young hunter of ftreamy Moruth (1).-But who is that before them, like the dreadful course of a ftream! It is the son of Offian, bright between his locks. His long hair falls on his back.His dark brows are half inclosed in fteel. His fword hangs loofe on his fide. His fpear glitters as he moves. I fled from his terrible eyes, king of high Temora!

Then fly, thou feeble man, faid Foldath in gloomy wrath: fly to the grey ftreams of thy land, fon of the little foul! Have not I feen that Ofcar? I beheld the chief in war. He is of the mighty in danger: but there are others who lift the fpear.-Erin has many fons as brave, king of Temora of Groves! Let Foldath meet him in the ftrength of his courfe, and ftop this mighty ftream.-My fpear is covered with the blood of the valiant; my shield is like the wall of Tura.

(1) In fome traditions Fergus the fon of Fingal, and Ufnoth chief of Etha immediately follow Fillan in the lift of the chiefs of Morven; but as they are not afterwards mentioned at all in the poem, I look upon the whole fentence to be an interpolation, and have therefore rejected it.

Shall Foldath (1) alone meet the foe? replied the dark-browed Malthos. Are they not numerous on our coaft, like the waters of many ftreams? Are not these the chiefs who vanquished Swaran, when the fons of Erin fled? And shall Foldath meet their braveft heroes? Foldath of the heart of pride! take the ftrength of the people; and let Malthos come. My fword is red with flaughter, but who has heard my words (2) ?

Sons of green Erin, faid Hidalla (3), let not Fingal hear your words. The foe might rejoice, and his arm be strong in the land.-Ye are brave, O warriors, and like the forms of the defart; they meet the rocks without fear, and overturn the woods.-But let us move in our strength, flow as a gathered

(1) The oppofite characters of Foldath and Malthos are ftrongly marked in fubfequent parts of the poeni. They appear always in oppofition. The feuds between their families, which were the fource of their hatred to one another are mentioned in other poems.

(2) That is, who has heard my vaunting He intended the expreffion as a rebuke to the selfpraife of Foldath.

(3) Hidalla was the chief of Clonra, a fmall diftrict on the banks of the lake of Lego. The beauty of his perfon, his eloquence and genius for poetry are afterwards mentioned.