38 



Here Macpherson expresses with poetic energy in three mono- 

 syllables, a sentiment which Ross renders weak and insipid by ex- 

 pansion into nearly two whole lines, and one of them an heroic, con- 

 sisting of ten syllables ! Who can doubt which is the original ? 



Cucbullin's speech consists of eight short lines in Macpher- 

 son's version, in Ross's it is diluted into ten, of which the ninth con- 

 tains twelve syllables, and the tenth eleven. " My heroes shall hear 

 and obey " says the former version. The latter, of words more libe- 

 ral, repeats a command already given, " strike, son of Fithil, the 

 shield of Semo with speed," and adds, with colloquial bathos, " call 

 in our heroes from the copses and woods," and this is a specimen of 

 the genuine Ossian, which is to throw Macpherson into utter oblivion 

 or contempt ! 



Macpherson, line 74. 



Caolt stretch thy side as thou movest 

 Along the whistling heath of Mora, 

 Thy side that is white as the foam of the trou- 

 bled seas. 

 When the dark winds pour it on rocky Cu- 

 thon. 



Ross. 

 Stretch thy fair limbs, O Caolt, 

 Whilst moving with speed from Mora ; 

 Fairer than the drifted foam. 

 On the face of a stormy sea. 



The " whilst " of Ross is a heavy word that clogs the speed of 

 Caolt. " Drifted foam " is a happy expression. Macpherson's 

 description is more amplified, but it is also enriched with the images 

 of whistling heath, dark winds, and rocky Cuthon. 



Macpherson, 95. 



liike mist that shades the hills of autumn. 

 When broken and dark it settles high. 

 And lifts its head to heaven. 



Boss. 



Like the grey mist of autumn, 



Which closes round the mountain ridge. 



And binds its summit to the skies. 



