OF THE PASSIONS. 



515 



situation he was left by the dastardly enemy to pine and die without suc- 

 cour. His wife Evirchomji anxious for his fate, embarked, with her in- 

 fant son Ogall at her breast, in quest of her lord, whom she found in this 

 pitiable condition ; when rousing all her inight to ^ssi^t him, she just suc- 

 ceeded in dragging him to the boat, and then fainted away over his body ; 

 in which state, speechless and in the act of dying, they were both disco- 

 vered the next morning by Ossian, who had sailed in que^tof them, and 

 who was only able to save the child. From the poem thus introduced, and 

 which is not generally known in this part of the island, I must beg leave 

 to offer an extract or two. The following is Ossian's description of 

 Evirchoma, as she witnessed the mournful departure of her husband : 



In the light ship of rough wsfves 



The hero followed us on the second raorning^. ' 

 But who is she on the rock like n)ist, 

 Looking, through tears, on Gaul ? 

 Her dark hair wanders on the wind, 



And her soft hand, white as foam, surrounds her forelock.-^ 



Young is the boy on her bosora, 



Sweet is her lullaby in his ear. 



But a sigh has wafted away the song : — 



On Gaul are thy thoughts fixed, Etirchoma, 



The following is an exquisite picture of mingled and overwhelming 

 passions — courage, heroism, and tenderness, flaving chivalrously planted 

 liis standard, and singly defied all the enemy, a rushing thought of his wifc 

 and his child, of Evirchoma and Ogall, damps his resolution for a moment ; 

 but he is instantly recalled to himself by the idea of the spirit of his heroic 

 father hovering over him : 



Morni ! behold me from the mountain. 

 Thy own soul was an impetuous current, 

 Foaming white within a rocky strait : 

 Such is the soul of thy son. — 

 Evirchoma ! — Ogall ! — 

 But mild beams belong not to ihe storm ; 

 The soul of Gaul is in the roar of battle. 



The conflict of passions in the breast of Evirchoma, oji teaching the 

 hostile shore, is described with equal force — her desire to proceed in quest 

 of her husband, and her fear of leaving her babe behind her in the boat. 

 It w?is now late in the evening : 



* She glanced by the scanty beam 



On the beautiful face of her son, 

 When about to leave bim in her narrow skiff; 

 " Babe of my love ! be here unobserved 

 As a dove on the rock of Ulacha, 

 When gathering berries for her tender brood, 

 Returns often without tasting them. 

 While the hawk rises in her thoughts ; — 

 So returned three times Evirchoma : 

 Her soul, as a wave that is passed , 

 From breaker to breaker when the tempest blows, 

 Till she heard a mournful voice from the tree of tli? shore. 



I have said that the generous Ossian pursued them in another boat, 

 and found them both in the act of dying. The following is his own in- 

 imitable description : it is strikingly impressive, and especially the manner 

 in which the faint and dying mother commends her son to his care ; and 

 calls forth a sigh from his heart that his own wife Evirallin is no more 



