Lo don rabh PADRIC na mhúr, Gun Sailm air uidh, ach a gól, The title of this poem is Teantach mor na Fiona. It appears to have been founded on the fame ftory with the battle of Lora, one of the poems of the genuine Offian, The circumftances and catastrophe in both are much the fame; but the Irish Offian dif covers the age in which he lived, by an unlucky anachronifim. After defcribing the total route of Erragon, be very gravely concludes with this remarkable anecdote, that none of the foé escaped, but a few, who were allowed to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This circumftance fixes the date of the compofition of the piece fome centuries after the famous croifade: for, it is evident, that the poet thought the time of the croifade fo antient, that he confounds it with the age of Fingal.Erragon, in the courfe of this poem, is often called, Riogh Lochlin an do shloigh,. King of Denmark of two nations, which alludes to the union of the kingdoms of Norway and Denmark, a circumftance which brings down the date of the piece to an æra not far remote. Modern, how 2. ver, as this pretended Offian was, it is certain, he lived before the Irish had dreamed of appropriating Fion, or Fingal, to themfelves. He concludes the poem, this reflection: Na fagha fe.comhthróm nan n'arm, with Had Erragon, fon of Annir of gleaming fwords, avoided the equal conteft of arms, (fingle combat) no chief should have afterwards been numbered in ALBION, and the heroes of Fion should no more be nam, ed. » The next poem that falls under our obfervation is Cath-cabhra, or, The death of Ofcar. This piece is founded on the fame ftory which we have in the first book of Temora, So little thought the author of Cathcabhra of making Ofcar his countryman, that, in the courfe of two hundred lines, of which the poem confifts, he puts the following expreffion thrice in the mouth of the hero : ALBIN an fa d'roina m'arach. ALBION where I was born and bred. The poem contains almoft all the incidents in the first book of Temora. In one circumftance the bard differs materially from Offian. Ofcar, after he was mortally wounded by Cairbar, was carried by his people to a neighbouring hill which commanded a profpect of the fea. A fleet appeared at a distance, and the hero exclaims with joy, Loingeas mo shean athair at án It is the fleet of my grandfather, coming with aid to our field, from ALBION of many waves! -The teftimony of this bard is fufficient to confute the idle fictions of Keating and O'Flaherty; for, though he is far from being antient, it is probable, he flourished a full century before thefe historians.He appears, however, to have been a much better chriftian than chronologer; for Fion, though he his placed two centuries before St. Patrick, very devoutly recommends the foul of his grandfon to his Redeemer. Duan a Gharibh Mac-Starn is another Irish poem in high repute. The grandeur of its images, and its propriety of fentiment, might have induced me to give a tranflation of it, had not I fome expectations of feeing it in the collection of the Irish Offian's poems, promised more than a year fince; to the public. The author defcends fome times from the region of the fublime to low and indecent description; the last of which, the Irish tranflator, no doubt, will choose to leave in the obfcurity of the original.In this piece Cuchullin is ufed with very little ceremony, for he is oft called the dog of Tara, in the county of Meath. This fe vere title of the redoutable Cuchullin the moft renowned of Irish champions, proceeded from the poet's ignorance of etymology. Cu, voice, or commander, fignifies also a dog. The poet chofe the laft, as the moft noble appellation for his hero. The fubject of the poem is the fame with that of the epic poem of Fingal. Garibh MacStarn is the fame with Offian's Swaran, the fon of Starno. His fingle combats with, and his victory over all heroes of Ireland, excepting the celebrated dog of Tara, i. e. Cuchullin, afford matter fortwo hundred lines of tolerable poetry. Garibh's progress in search of Cuchullin, 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 Cuchullin a native of Ireland; the gigantic Emir-bragal he calls the guiding ftar of the women of Ireland. The property of this enormous lady I shall not difpute 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 in timately acquainted with the genealogy of Cuchullin. Another Irish Offian, for there were ma ny, as appears from their difference in language and fentiment, fpeaks very dogmatically of Fion Mac Comnal, as an Irishman. 1 Little can be faid for the judgment of this 1 poet, and lefs for his delicacy of fentiment. The hiftory of one of his epifodes may, at once, ftand as a fpecimen of his want of both. Ireland, in the days of Fion, happened to be threatened with invafion, by three great potentates, the kings of Lochlin, Sweden, and France. It is needlefs to infift upon the impropriety 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 invafion, fent Ca-olt, Offian, and Ofcar, to watch the bay, in which, it was apprehended, the enemy was to land. Ofcar was the worst choice of a scout that could be made: for, brave as he was, he had the bad property of falling very often asleep on his post, nor was it poffible to awake him, without cutting off one of his fingers, or dashing a large ftone against his head. When the ene |