blows and the flowing of blood. But Ossian has already described the result of the battle when he has painted the character of the heroes.
See an example in Callon and Colvala:
When I heard who the damsel was
Frequent dropped the warrior's tears.
I blessed the radiant beam of youth,
And bade the bard advance.
Dweller of the mountain cave,
Why should Ossian speak of the dead?
They are now forgot in their land,
And their tombs are seen no more, etc.;
or in Ca-Lodin:
We engaged, and the enemy won;
or in Croma:
We fought along the narrow vale;
The enemy fled; Romarr fell by my sword.
No poet has done such justice to the island of foggy fame.
What a contrast between the stern and desolate poetry of Ossian and that of Chaucer and the early English bards! The bard indeed seems to have lost much of his dignity and the sacredness of his profession. He
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