as Fingal himself must have
done; and there, with _Fingal_ and _Temora_ in hand, let him survey the
entire region between Larne and Belfast. Let him march with his eyes
open by the pass of Glenoe, and try to ascend it on the old track--by
the "narrow way at the stream of the battle of thousands," round the
double-headed rock there by moonlight, or in the misty dawn; and before
attempting this, let him look carefully around among the limestone
cliffs for any other reasonable opening; and if he does not begin to
suspect, at least, that it was here Cuchullin stood, and Calmar fell,
against the invading Norse, he must be "hopelessly convinced" to the
contrary, indeed. Onwards let him prosecute his journey, looking
backwards occasionally to the sea, where the ships of Fingal should be
appearing--onwards among marshy Lenas, open Straths, half cultivated
Heaths--with an occasional monolith among the enclosures, testifying to
what has once been done there; onwards, with his eye now to the ridges
on the left--on one of which, below Carneal or thereabouts, the
head-quarters of Fingal must have been before the campaigns
began--onwards until he touches the source of the Six-Mile-Water above
Ballynure; and there, looking steadily westward down the strath where
the river winds, let him recall the very words of the text in his
hand--"Nor settled from the storm is Erin's sea of war; they glitter
beneath the moon, and, low-humming, still roll on the field. Alone are
the steps of Cathmor, before them on the heath; he hangs forward with
all his arms on Morven's flying host.... They who were terrible were
removed: Lubar winds again in their host":--and then ask himself
deliberately if the whole scene, with the relative changes of position
in the contending armies, the retreat of the one that had been
advancing, the pursuit of the other that had been retreating, the
recrossing of the stream by both over some of its hundred links, and the
temporary pause of battle in that valley, with hosts on either side of
the river which now flowed through the ranks of one of them, whilst the
other was in retreat up the ridge--could have been more truly described
by poet or geographer than it has been in these few words of Ossian?
Onward let him proceed, if he pleases, by Ballynure and Ballyclare to
Lough Neagh; or let him return again across the valley to the north, in
a line at right angles to the road between Larne and Connor. But before
he moves from