of Cath-cabhra of making Oscar his countryman, that in the course of two hundred lines, of which the poem consists, he puts the following expression thrice in the mouth of the hero. Albin an sa d'roina m' arach. Albion, where I was born and bred. The poem contains almost all the incidents in the first book of Temora. In one circumstance the bard dif fers materially from Ossian. Oscar, after he was mor. tally wounded by Cairbar, was carried by his people to a neighboring hill which commanded a prospect of the A fleet appeared at a distance, and the hero ex claims with joy, sea. Loingeas no shean-athair at an "It is the fleet of my grandfather coming with aid to our field, from Albion of many waves!" The testimony of this bard is sufficient to confute the idle fic. tions of Keating and O'Flaherty, for, though he is far from being ancient, it is probable he flourished a ful! century before these historians. He appears, however, to have been a much better Christian than chronologer; for Fion, though he is placed two centuries before St. Patrick, very devoutly recommends the soul of his grandson to his Redeemer. "Duan a Gharibh Mac-Starn" is another Irish poem in great repute. The grandeur of its images, and its propriety of sentiment, might have induced me to give a translation of it, had I not some expectations, which are now over, of seeing it in the collection of the Irish Ossian's Poems, promised twelve years since to the public. The author descends sometimes from the region of the sublime to low and indecent description; the last of which, the Irish translator, no doubt, will choose to leave in the obscurity of the original. In this piece Cuthullin is used with very little ceremony for he is oft called the "dog of Tara," in the county of Meath. This severe title of the redoubtable Cuthul. lin, the most renowned of Irish champions, proceeded from the poet's ignorance of etymology. Cu, "voice" or commander, signifies also a dog. The poet chose the last, as the most noble appellation for his hero. The subject of the poem is the same with that of the epic poem of Fingal. Caribh Mac-Starn is the same with Ossian's Swaran, the son of Starno. His single combats with, and his victory over, all the heroes of Ireland, excepting the "celebrated dog of Tara," i. e. Cuthullin, afford matter for two hundred lines of toleerable poetry. Cribh's progress in search of Cu. thullin, and his intrigue with the gigantic Emirbragal, that hero's wife, enables the poet to extend his piece to four hundred lines. This author, it is true, makes Cuthullin a native of Ireland: the gigantic Emir-bragal he calls the "guiding-star of the women of Ireland." The property of this enormous lady I shall not dispute with him or any other. But as he speaks with great tenderness of the "daughters of the convent,' ," and throws out some hints against the English nation, it is probable he lived in too modern a period to be intimately acquainted with the genealogy of Cuthullin. Another Irish Ossian, for there were many, as ap pears from their difference in language and sentiment speaks very dogmatically of Fion Mac Comnal, as an Irishman. Little can be said for the judgment of this poct, and less for his delicacy of sentiment. The history of one of his episodes may, at once, stand as a specimen of his want of both. Ireland, in the days of Fion, happened to be threatened with an invasion by three great potentates, the kings of Lochlin, Sweden, and France. It is needless to insist upon the impro. priety of a French invasion of Ireland; it is sufficient for me to be faithful to the language of my author. Fion, upon receiving intelligence of the intended invasion, sent Ca-olt, Ossian, and Oscar, to watch the bay in which it was apprehended the enemy was to land. Oscar was the worst choice of a scout that could be made; for, brave as he was, he had the bad property of very often falling asleep on his post, nor was it possible to awake him, without cutting off one of his fingers, or dashing a large stone against his head. When the enemy appeared, Oscar, very unfortunately, was asleep. Ossian and Ca-olt consulted about the method of wakening him, and they at last fixed on the stone as the less dangerous expedient Gun thog Caoilte a chlach, nach gan, Agus a n' aighai' chiean gun bhuail; "Ca-olt took up a heavy stone, and struck it against the hero's head. The hill shook for three miles, as the stone rebounded and rolled away." Oscar rose in wrath, and his father gravely desired him to spend his rage on his enemies, which he did to so good purpose, that he singly routed a whole wing of their army. The confederate kings advanced, notwithstanding, till they came to a narrow pass possessed by the celebrated Ton-iosal. This name is very significant of the singular property of the hero who bore it. Toniosal, though brave, was so heavy and unwieldy, that when he sat down it took the whole force of a hundred men to set him upright on his feet again. Luckily for the preservation of Ireland, the hero happened to be standing when the enemy appeared, and he gave so good an account of them, that Fion, upon nis arrival, found little to do but to divide the spoil among his soldiers. All these extraordinary heroes, Fion, Ossian, Oscar, and Ca-olt, says the poet, were Siol Erin na gorm lánn. The sons of Erin of blue steel. Neither shall I much dispute the matter with him; he has my consent also to appropriate to Ireland the cele brated Ton-iosal. I shall only say that they are dif. ferent persons from those of the same name in the Scots Poems; and that, though the stupendous valor of the first is so remarkable, they have not been equally lucky with the latter, in their poet. It is somewhat extraordinary that Fion, who lived some ages before St. Patrick, swears like a very good Christian. Air an Dia do chum gach case. By God who shaped every case. It is worthy of being remarked, that, in the line quoted, Ossian, who lived in St. Patrick's days, seems to have understood something of the English, a language not then subsisting. A person more sanguine for the honor of his country than I am, might argue from this circumstance, that this pretendedly Irish Ossian was, a native of Scotland; for my countrymen are universally allowed to have an exclusive right to the second sight. From the instances given, the reader may form a complete idea of the Irish compositions concerning the Fiona. The greatest part of them make the heroes of Fion, Siol Albin a n'nioma caoile. The race of Albion of many firths. The rest make them natives of Ireland. But the truth is, that their authority is of little consequence on cither side. From the instances I have given, they appear to have been the work of a very modern period. The pious ejaculations they contain, their allusions to the manners of the times, fix them to the fifteenth cen tury. Had even the authors of these pieces avoided all allusions to their own times, it is impossible that the poems could pass for ancient in the eyes of any person tolerably conversant with the Irish tongue. The idiom is so corrupted, and so many words borrowed from the English, that the language must have made considerate progress in Ireland before the poems were written. It remains now to show how the Irish bards began appropriate the Scottish Ossian and his heroes to their own country. After the English conquest, many of the natives of Ireland, averse to a foreign yoke, ither actually were in a state of hostility with the conquerors, or, at least, paid little regard to government. The Scots, in those ages, were often in open war, and never in cordial friendship, with the English. The similarity of manners and language, the traditions concerning their common origin, and, above all, their having to do with the same enemy, created a free and friendly intercourse between the Scottish and Irish nations. As the custom of retaining bards and senachies was common to both, so each, no doubt, had formed a system of history, it matters not how much soever fabulous, concerning their respective origin. It was the natural policy of the times to reconcile the traditions of both nations together, and, if possible, to deduce them from the same original stock. The Saxon manners and language had, at that time, made great progress in the south of Scotland. The ancient language, and the traditional history of the nation, became confined entirely to the inhabitants of the Highlands, then falling, from several concurring cir cumstances, into the last degree of ignorance and barbarism. The Irish, who, for some ages before the conquest, had possessed a competent share of that kind of learning which then prevailed in Europe, found it no difficult matter to impose their own fictions on the ignorant Highland senachies. By flattering the vanity of the Highlanders with their long list of Herinorian |