" Vertice montis ; 



»»»*****■ 



Horridus in jaculis, et pelle Libystidis urste." 



-(En. v. 35. 



And Macpherson informs us, that " Arindal descended from the 

 hill, rough in the spoils of the chase." Would it not have been better 

 to have rolled him in the folds of a bear-skin at once? Yes, but 

 then the imitation had been too visible ; and though such a dress was 

 suitable enough for one of Virgil's heroes, it was too barbarous for 

 a hero of Ossian ! 



The imitations from Gray are equally striking : 



" Nor yet beside the rill. 

 Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he." 



Macpherson reiterates, '* nor by the rock, nor by the stream is 

 he," preserving the very measure and cadence of the line : and again, 

 " nor by that stream nor (by that) wood are they." 



Gray says at the beginning of one of his sublime odes : 



" Ruin seize thee ruthless king ! 

 Confusion on thy banners wait !" 



And Comala exclaims, " confusion pursue thee over thy plains ; 

 ruin overtake thee, thou king of the world !" 



1) 



Gray had written : 



" Full many a flower is born to blush unseen. 

 And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 



Macpherson, to emulate these lines, writes of "the flower of the 

 rock that lifts its fair head unseen ; and strews its withered leaves in 

 the blast " 



