Macpherson to recover this poem (Fingal),
and other fragments of antiquity."
FINGAL.--On his return, in 1762, he published _Fingal_, and, in the same
volume, some smaller poems. This Fingal, which he calls "an ancient epic
poem" in six duans or books, recounts the deliverance of Erin from the
King of Lochlin. The next year, 1763, he published _Temora_. Among the
earlier poems, in all which Fingal is the hero, are passages of great
beauty and touching pathos. Such, too, are found in _Carricthura and
Carthon, the War of Inis-thona_, and the _Songs of Selma_. After reading
these, we are pleasantly haunted with dim but beautiful pictures of that
Northern coast where "the blue waters rolled in light," "when morning rose
In the east;" and again with ghostly moonlit scenes, when "night came down
on the sea, and Rotha's Bay received the ship." "The wan, cold moon rose
in the east; sleep descended upon the youths; their blue helmets glitter
to the beam; the fading fire decays; but sleep did not rest on the king;
he rode in the midst of his arms, and slowly ascended the hill to behold
the flame of Sarno's tower.
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