I left

my native mountains blue

For Erin's shore to steer,

And see, upon this bloody plain,

Half of my numerous thousands slain.

XIV.

OSSIAN. Such is my tale, thou reverend sage,

And sweeter to me far

To hear the din of battle rage

And tell of glorious war;

Of Lochlin's fleet and Lochlin's king,
And of their gallant darings sing,
Than listen to the drowsy strain
Of all thy sad psalm-singing train.
Oh! wert thou by the Southern shore,
Where Lory's beauteous streamlets pour,
By thy right hand, O sage, I deem
Not small would be thy just esteem
For the noble Fenian race;
Though poor am I, and stricken old,
No children mine, no wife to fold
Within my fond embrace;

But dull and sad I linger here,
Without a sword, a helm or spear,
Still listening to th' eternal chime

Of psalms that want both sense and rhyme.

DEPARTURE, RETURN,

AND

FALL OF MAGNUS.

DIFFERENT historians give various colouring to the conduct and exploits of Magnus, but all agree in their account of the final catastrophe. Keating informs us, on the authority of Hacluit's Chronicle, that, "so impatient was this cruel Dane to put his designs into execution, he landed with his wife, a few of his nobility, and a small number of soldiers, before the body of his fleet approached the shore, and set the country about him on fire. But the rest of the Irish were prepared to receive him, for they had laid ambushes to cut him off before. the rest of his forces arrived, and surprised him with such success, that Magnus and all his men were destroyed. When the rest of the fleet arrived, they were so astonished with the misfortune of their captain and companions, that they made all the sail they could homewards, and bade a final adieu to the island."

In the preceding poem Magnus is only vanquished and captured, but not slain. The Bard thought it would redound more to the honour of Finn to act the part of a generous conqueror, and restore his prisoner to liberty, with permission either to remain in Ireland or return to his native country. Magnus, full of gratitude for such generosity, vows that he would never again unsheath his sword against so

generous a victor, and laments that he had ever engaged in so disastrous an expedition. Here we might suppose that the adventures of Magnus in Ireland terminated. But we learn from other sources, that he broke his vow, and though he embarked with his surviving troops, to return to Lochlin, he was compelled by their importunity to change his intention, and try, by a new attempt, to recover his lost glory. Of the poem which records this attempt, which in the issue was fatal to Magnus and his followers, Miss Brooke does not appear to have had any knowledge. We are indebted to the researches of the Highland Society of Scotland for the conclusion, which is printed at the end of the Report, in the original Gaelic, with a literal translation into English, from which the annexed metrical version is made.

If a genuine copy of this poem is extant in any Irish manuscript collections, Mr. Eugene Curry, to whom the students of Irish literature and antiquities are largely indebted, should he turn his attention to the subject, will discover it, and it is worthy of investigation, for in all the Fenian poems which have as yet become known to the curious inquirer, few surpass or equal this. The onslaught of the Fenians on the army of Lochlin is magnificently described, and with all the fire of Bardic inspiration-the comparison of their advance to that of a thunder-cloud fraught with the artillery of heaven-the overthrow of Lochlin's warriors to that of a withered forest on the mountain tops before the sweeping whirlwind-and the fall of Magnus in the whirl of spears to that of a fiery meteor into the roaring vortex of conflicting tidesmay well be designated as matchless in sublimity.

* Kennedy's Edition-Report pp. 330–332.

I.

Now Magnus with his shattered host
Was steering on from Erin's coast,
Swift o'er the waves his gallies flew,
And Erin lessened to their view.

II.

His warriors, stung with shame and grief,
Now eager pressed around their chief;
And said they felt their bosoms burn
Again to Erin to return.

"For oh!" they cried, "'tis better far
Again to try the chance of war,
Again in battle's fierce turmoil,
To fight for victory and spoil;
Yea better that our bones should lie
And bleach beneath a wintry sky,
Than thus to flee with blasted fame ;-
Oh grief! oh infamy! oh shame!"

III.

Their burning words like shafts of fire
Thro' Magnus shot, and roused his ire;
And now he swore, from Fenian king
That he, both spouse and dog would bring,
Or in a glorious conflict fall-

And thus they swore both one and all.

IV.

Now changed their course, with sail and oar
They sought the late forsaken shore,
And soon upon the echoing strand
We saw their glittering legions land.
On like the roaring waves they passed
When swept before the Northern blast;
To the dark heath their march they took,
With stern defiance in their look.

V.

To know th' invaders' bold intent,
Our chief his trusty herald sent.
"Great Magnus and ye warriors bold,
Where has your honour flown?
Do ye your plighted faith uphold
By the left hand alone?

If here as foes ye come, declare

Where are your vows, great Magnus, where?"

MAGNUS.-We left them yonder on the grass
With dews o'er which the South-winds pass;
And now upon this heath-clad plain
We come lost glory to regain.

VI.

Such furious onslaught then we made
As ne'er before these eyes surveyed.
With sword and lance we on them broke
Impetuous as the thunder-stroke.

As comes a cloud upon the gale
Surcharged with lightning, storm, and hail,

And smites the earth beneath;

So dauntless on our foes we rushed,
Their helmets, shields, and corslets crushed,
And trampled on the heath.

And fiercely as our anger burned,
Ranks upon ranks we overturned,
And like the whirlwind's rapid sweep
Thro' withered trees that crown
The headland rock or mountain steep,
We struck the warriors down;
And down their fallen ranks we trod
Beneath our feet on the blood-drenched sod.

VII.

In the vortex of the battle-field

Where the bravest fought and the strongest reeled,