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Whom time and honeft fcars another made;. And friendly hope long plac'd among the dead;; At first his fire looks with indifference on,

But foon he knows, and hangs upon his fon

So all the chiefs the royal youth embrace ;; While joys, tumultuous, rend the lofty place. While thus the king, and noble chiefs rejoice,,. Harmonious bards exalt the tuneful voice:

A felect band by INDULPH's bounty fed,
To keep in fong the mem'ry of the dead!
They handed down the ancient rounds of time,
In oral story and recorded rhyme.

The vocal quire in tuneful concert fings-
Exploits of heroes, and of antient kings:
How firft in FERGUS CALEDONIA rofe;

What hosts she conquer'd, and repell'd what foes.
Thro' time in reg'lar feries they decline,

And touch each name of the FERGUSIAN line;
Great CARACTACUS, FERGUS' awful fword;

That bravely loft his country, this reftor'd:
HIBERNIA'S fpoils, GREGORIUS' martial fire;
The ftern avenger of his murder'd fire:
Beneath his fword, as yet, whole armies groan,
And a whole nation paid the blood of ONE.

At

At length defcend the rough impetuous ftrains To valiant DUFFUS, and the flaughter'd DANES:: The battle lives in verfe; in fong they wound; And falling fquadrons thunder on the ground.

Thus, in the ftrain, the bards impétuous roll, And quaff the gen'rous fpirit of the bowl; At length from the elab'rate fong respire; The chiefs remove, and all to reft retire..

End of Canto fifth

CANTO VI

CANTO VI.

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OW, in the blufhing caft, the morn arofe; Its lofty head, in grey, the palace shows. Within, the king and valiant chiefs prepare

To urge the chace, and wage the mountain-war. The bufy menials thro' the palace go;

Some whet the shaft, and others try the bow; This view'd the toils; that taught the horn to found; Another animates the sprightly hound..

For the fleet chace the fair CULENA arms,

And from the gloom of forrow 'wakes her charms: The Hero's royal birth had reach'd her ear,

And sprightly hope affum'd the throne of care :
Around her flender waift the cincture flides;

Her mantle flows behind in crimson tides.
Bright rings of gold her braided ringlets bind;
The rattling quiver, laden, hangs behind.

She feiz'd, with fnowy hand, the polish'd bow,
And mov'd before, majestically flow..

The chiefs behind advance their fable forms;
And with dark contraft heighten all her charms.
Thus,, on expanded plains of heavenly blue,
Thick-gather'd clouds the queen of night pu

And as they croud behind their fable lines,.
The virgin-light with double luftre fhines..

The maid her glowing charms thus onward bears,
His manly height, afide, young Duffus rears.
Her beauty he, his manhood she admires;

Both mov'd along, and fed their filent fires.
The HUNTERS to the lofty mountains came :
Their eager breafts anticipate the game:

The foreft they divide, and found the horn;
The gen'rous hounds within their bondage burn:
Struggle for freedom, long to ftretch away,
And in the wind already fcent the prey.

At the approaching noife the starting deer
Croud on the heath, and stretch away in fear;
Wave, as they spring, their branchy heads on high,
Skim o'er the wild, and leave the aching eye...
The eager hounds, unchain'd, devour the heath;
They shoot along, and pant a living death:
Gaining upon their journey, as they dart,
Each from the herd felects a flying hart.
Some urg'd the bounding ftag a different way,
And hung with open mouth upon the prey :
Now they traverse the heath, and now affail
The rifing hill, now fkim along the vale:

::

Now

Now they appear, now leave the aching eyes,
The mafter follows with exulting cries;

Fits, as he flies, the arrow to the string;
The rest within the rattling quiver ring :
He, as they shoot the lofty mountains o'er,
Pursues in thought, and fends his foul before.
Thus they with fupple joints the chace purfue,
Rife on the hills, and vanifh on the brow.

On the blue heav'ns arofe a night of clouds;
The radiant lord of day his glory shrouds:
The rushing whirlwind speaks with growling breath,
Roars thro' the hill, and fcours along the heath:
Deep rolling thunder, rumbling from afar,
Proclaims with murm'ring voice th' aerial war:
Fleet light'nings flash in awful ftreams of light,
Dart thro' the gloom, and vanish from the fight:
The bluft'ring winds thro' heav'ns black concave
found,

Rain batters earth, and fmokes along the ground.
Down the steep hill the rushing torrents run,
And cleave with headlong rage their journey on;
The lofty mountains echo to the fall;

A muddy deluge stagnates on the vale.

CULENA

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