TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 BY THOMAS TRAVERS BURKE, ESQ. 
 
 H. P. llth Light Dragoons. 
 
 " Proceed in forceful sounds, and colour bold, 
 " The native legends of thy land rehearse." 
 
 COLLINS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, HURST, REES, OH ME, AND BROWN : 
 
 CONSTABLE, AND CO. EDINBURGH; 
 AXD RICHARD MILLIKEN, GRAFTON-STREET, DUBLIN. 
 
 1820.
 
 NOI/AN, Printer, 3, SufiUk-itreet, 
 Dublin.
 
 TO 
 
 LIEUTENANT GENERAL ROBERT STUART, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING POEM 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY 
 HIS OBLIGED AND 
 
 MOST DEVOTED SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 2061946
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 IN an age like the present when the public mind 
 appears ardently to thirst after works of taste and 
 genius that so rich a collection of poetic treasure as 
 the poems of Ossian, should be neglected, and even 
 viewed with decided apathy by the generality of the 
 British public, is indeed a circumstance which can- 
 not fail to create surprise in every mind alive to the 
 numerous, and unrivalled beauties of these inestimable 
 remnants of Celtic poetry. If any proof could be re- 
 quired of the little interest they excite, a most unequi- 
 vocal one may be had, in the coldness and indifference 
 with which the literary world received the report of 
 the Highland Society's patriotic exertions, to rescue 
 the venerable bard from the obloquy and contempt, 
 that prejudice and scepticism had endeavoured to heap 
 upon him. 
 
 B
 
 VI PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 With respect to the intrinsic merit of these poems, I 
 fancy that they will, if brought to the bar of criticism, 
 be found amply to possess all the qualities which can 
 entitle a work to immortality, even were we to keep 
 their claim to being genuine records of the transactions 
 and manners of our ancestors altogether out of the ques- 
 tion. In tenderness, in pathos, in sublimity, in just de- 
 lineation of character, in display of the most interesting 
 emotions of the human mind ; and above all, in being 
 admirably calculated to inspire us with a disgust at 
 vice, in whatever form it may present itself, and a love 
 of virtue and heroism ; what poems can produce more 
 brilliant specimens of excellence? Nor are they defi- 
 cient in systematic arrangement ; nor in any thing that 
 could tend to exalt the character of those whom the 
 poet has chosen to celebrate : a proof of which will be 
 had in the little piece now before us. It is true we are 
 not amused with those monstrosities, which (from early 
 prejudice in favour of the eminent authors, who, in 
 compliance with the absurd notions of their times, were 
 under the necessity of introducing them in their works) 
 some have been led to consider almost as the ground- 
 work of poetry. We have no Gods, with human pas- 
 sions, becoming actors in the different scenes, and 
 despoiling the heroes of almost every particle of that 
 merit which they might otherwise have had in our
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. Vll 
 
 eyes, making them worse than puppets. No : Ossian 
 knew the human heart too well to be ignorant, that 
 every artificial aid afforded must proportionally dimi- 
 nish our admiration of the individual: and therefore 
 we do not find even a ghost called in to the assis- 
 tance of his conflicting friends : although we perceive 
 from some passages in the poems, that it was not un- 
 usual in his day for others to invoke the vengeance of 
 supernatural powers against their enemies.* 
 
 And I would, by the way, call the reader's attention 
 to the above mentioned circumstance, as affording no 
 trifling testimony that the poems are of a remote an- 
 tiquity. For it is well known that a kind of mania ex- 
 isted, in favour of what is termed machinery in poetry, 
 even down to the period in which Macpherson wrote ; 
 and we must be aware how easy it would have been for 
 a person of any ingenuity to introduce a ghostly 
 agency, agreeable to the notions which then prevailed, 
 and which are not yet extinct in the Highlands of Scot- 
 land. Besides, if we go farther back, even for centu- 
 ries previous to that period, we shall find almost every 
 ballad interlarded with the terrible effects of ghosts, 
 witches, incantations, and such like foolery. So that, 
 in my opinion, consistency would lead us to refer these 
 
 * See Suilnmlla of Lumon.
 
 Vlll PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 poems to the aera to which they are assigned, in pre- 
 ference to any other whatsoever. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the strong prejudice 
 which has existed, ever since their first publication, 
 against the authenticity of these poems, must in a very 
 great degree have damped the public zeal for them. 
 But I imagine that even this circumstance could not 
 long have kept them back from becoming general 
 favourites, had they been given to the world in an 
 inviting form. In this opinion I am confirmed, by the 
 reception which they have met with on the continent, 
 especially in Italy: There, as I am informed, they 
 are even held in more estimation than the works of 
 the immortal Homer ; although translated by the very 
 same hand.* 
 
 It is highly probable that Mr. Macpherson adopted 
 the abrupt and unconnected style, which we find to 
 pervade the greater part of his translation, from an 
 idea that it would give it an air of genuineness, and help 
 to obviate the objections which existing prejudices 
 would be likely to urge against the originality of these 
 poems, had they been put into a strain of elegance and 
 ^eloquence, corresponding with the sentiments and the 
 
 * CRSAROTTI has given a translation, in Italian verse, both of Homer, and 
 Ossian : but the latter is far more admired than the former.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. IX 
 
 talents which they develope. For no one can be igno- 
 rant of the light in which the Highlanders were view- 
 ed at the time when Macpherson published ; that they 
 were looked upon, by the great majority of the British 
 nation, as the descendants of a refractory and barba- 
 rous race, living almost in a state of nature: and 
 Macpherson could hardly have been blind to the diffi- 
 culty of persuading those who held such an opinion, 
 that any thing like regular and systematic poetry could 
 have sprung up among the ancestors of this people ; 
 although they would naturally expect in their compo- 
 sitions much fire, blended with incoherence. There- 
 fore he might have imagined, that the singularity of 
 the style which he employed would tend to quiet such 
 objections against the authenticity of the poems, arrest 
 attention, and gain his translation a reading, even 
 among those who were prejudiced against his country : 
 who would exclaim, * this is just what we should 
 expect from a powerful but uncultivated genius, 
 pregnant with ideas, but struggling for words to ex- 
 press himself, from the barrenness of his language.' 
 
 In this opinion I am much strengthened by com- 
 paring his translation of the poem of Fingal (which, if 
 I mistake not, was the first that made its appearance,) 
 with his Temora, or indeed with almost any other of 
 the poems: in it we find a degree of finish, and care-
 
 X PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 fullness in the phraseology, which few of the rest can 
 boast of. And I fancy it was in consequence of his 
 having witnessed the objection above alluded to, 
 or, possibly, from its being hinted to him by some of 
 his acquaintances, that he was induced to vary his 
 method. Though it is not improbable that the impa- 
 tient and capricious temper attributed to him,* might 
 have hurried him into a slovenly execution, when he 
 found that the public curiosity was likely to insure 
 him a favourable reception. 
 
 Thus, in all probability, self-interest, carelessness, 
 and caprice, led him to introduce the anomaly, of an 
 exquisitely tender and refined poet whose composi- 
 tions display a most extensive experience, and a most 
 
 Mr. David Hume, in a letter to Dr. Blair, thus speaks of Macpherson : 
 " The absurd pride and caprice of Macpherson himself, who scorns, as he 
 pretends, to satisfy any body that doubts his veracity, has tended much to 
 confirm this general scepticism." Again, in a letter addressed to the same 
 gentleman, dated 6th of October, 1763, Mr. Hume says, " I am glad that 
 you have undertaken the task which I used the freedom to recommend to 
 you, (to make enquiries in the Highlands, and bring some proof of the 
 authenticity of the poems before the world.) Nothing less than what you 
 propose will serve the purpose. You need expect no assistance from 
 Macpherson, who flew into a passion when I told him of the letter I wrote 
 to you. But you must not mind so strange and heteroclite a mortal, than 
 whom I have scarce ever known a man more perverse and nnamiable. He 
 will probably depart for Florida with Governor Johnstone : and I would 
 advise him to travel among the Chickishaws or Cherokees, in order to 
 tame and cirilize him."
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XI 
 
 intimate acquaintance with the human heart whose 
 impetuosity had been tempered by age, and in whom 
 maturity of judgment must be supposed to have predo- 
 minated, and to have given him a command and con- 
 nexion of ideas often expressing himself with all the 
 abruptness and irregularity of an impatient boy who 
 spoke without reflection ! 
 
 Fortunately lyir. Macpherson has furnished us with a 
 proof that this was all his own doing not the style of 
 the amiable Ossian. By publishing the original of the 
 seventh C^nto of Temora, that very original from 
 which he professes to have translated, he has enabled 
 us to discover the difference between the diction of 
 Ossian himself, and that of Ossian a la Macpherson. 
 
 It is proper for me to inform the reader, that the can- 
 to of Temora above mentioned was given as a specimen 
 of the original Celtic poetry ; and a promise held out, 
 that the originals of all the poems should be put to 
 press, when a sufficient number of subscribers could be 
 procured. Becket, a London bookseller who was in 
 the habit of publishing for Mr. Macpherson, declared* 
 that manuscripts of the Gaelic originals were even lodg- 
 
 *See AN ESSAY ox THE AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN'S POEMS, by (he Rev. 
 Dr. Graham : published in 180T. Towards the latter end of the volume 
 n literal translation from the original is given. I have annexed several of 
 Dr. Graham's notes, to my versification of the VII Canto of TEMOHA.
 
 Xll PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 cd with him for the purpose of being published ; but 
 that Macpherson withdrew them, assigning for reason, 
 ' that a sufficient number of subscribers had not com,e 
 forward to remunerate him.' 
 
 I am mistaken, however, if there was not another, 
 and a more weighty reason for the originals not making 
 their appearance Some had taken the liberty to criti- 
 cise Macpherson's translation, and to compare it with 
 what of the Gaelic he had published : and from this 
 I fancy, he took the alarm ; as he must have been 
 conscious that he was not the best Celtic scholar in the 
 world ;* and obviously had to expect, if he were to give 
 the originals to the public, that some competitor might 
 arise, perhaps better qualified than himself, and eclipse 
 the translation which he had given. Thus should he be 
 deprived of a rich source of emolument. But of this 
 he could run no risk as long as he kept the originals 
 in his own hands : for there was no great prospect that 
 any one would undertake the toilsome task of col- 
 lecting them as he had done. 
 
 Every one who considers the circumstances in which 
 Mr. Macpherson was placed, must acknowledge that 
 it would have been an enormous sacrifice in him to have 
 published the originals a sacrifice which could not 
 
 * See Dr. Graham's Essay.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. Xlll 
 
 have been expected from any but a most liberal and in- 
 dependent person. But it certainly was incumbent on 
 him, at least, to have made some provision that they 
 should come into the hands of the public, after the 
 copy-right of his translation expired. 
 
 Perhaps what I have now mentioned may likewise 
 furnish a clue to all that impatience and irrascibility, 
 which Macpherson shewed, when called upon to give 
 the public a satisfactory proof of the authenticity of the 
 poems, or even when another person took any steps 
 to investigate the subject. It may also account for his 
 appearing indirectly to favour the suspicion of his being 
 himself the original author:* as this was the surest 
 way to stop all enquiry, in limine. 
 
 I am not ignorant that individuals are to be found 
 who look upon Macpherson's stile as most suitable 
 to the subject. There are even some who are capable 
 of pointing out his mistranslations, and palpable igno- 
 rance of the Gaelic idiom, and yet appear to consider 
 his mode as the best that could have been devised : 
 although they assert that he has " in general failed :" 
 
 It is likewise asserted that he was guilty of, what no person with the 
 feelings of a gentleman could have brought himself to do, namely, some 
 manuscripts of the originals which he had borrowed, under a promise of 
 returning them, could never be got out of his hands. 
 
 C
 
 XIV PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 they mean, I suppose, failed to convey the force and 
 beauty of the original, or the precise ideas of Ossian. 
 It appears to me that this prejudice in favour of what 
 they are pleased to call " the measured prose of Mac- 
 pherson," (a prose, by the bye, which to my ear seems 
 little short of a barbarous perversion of the English 
 language,) arose from their not having investigated 
 the actual cause of that pleasure which they received 
 from a perusal of his translation, from their not having 
 sufficiently discriminated between its general rugged- 
 ness, and the brilliancy and effect of particular (perhaps 
 I might venture to call them almost insulated) passages, 
 which strongly arrested their attention: like the splen- 
 did ruins of a once magnificent structure, amid their 
 surrounding rubbish. 
 
 I am free to confess that in some respects Mr. Mac- 
 pherson has been very successful ; he has very happily 
 rendered several of the simflies, and fine touches of 
 Ossian. No reader of sensibility can remain unmoved 
 while perusing numerous passages of his version. But 
 then I am obliged to declare, that, I consider his nar- 
 rative almost always unconnected and tiresome; the 
 similies, and descriptions, sometimes ambiguously, 
 feebly, and even unfaithfully given ; and his ex- 
 pression frequently bombastic, and puerile in the ex- 
 treme. Nor has he often preserved the genuine poetic
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XV 
 
 language of Ossian. In short, " the voice of Cona" 
 has been stript of its polished dignity, though some of 
 its nerve has been retained. 
 
 This opinion is not founded solely on my own judg- 
 ment, it is a sentence which I have heard pronounced 
 by many for whose critical knowledge I entertain the 
 highest respect: and I consider it one to which the 
 bulk of Macpherson's readers, at least tacitly, assent. 
 For how few, comparatively, are there who have the 
 resolution to wade through all the poems in his collec- 
 tion! how many who cannot uninterruptedly peruse 
 even a single poem, with any degree of interest! I 
 really have heard almost all those with whom I have 
 conversed on the subject assert, ' that they did not 
 consider the poems of Ossian calculated to be read in 
 a connected way that they were only fit to be looked 
 over in a detached manner.' (as if they were like a 
 book of proverbs, and derived no advantage from that 
 unity, and regularity of plot, which they invariably 
 possess). In fact, it is obvious that few read them for 
 any other purpose than to select some of the beautiful 
 similies, and energetic sentiments, with which they are 
 interspersed: Thus making the embellishments, which 
 should in every poem be only a secondary object, their 
 primary one. And this is the reason why we so sel- 
 dom meet individuals who have obtained any historical
 
 XVI PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 information from Ossian, or can accurately describe the 
 characters of his heroes: they have been dwelling on 
 other objects than those with which the original poet 
 meant principally to arrest their attention: and thus 
 have lost nine-tenths of the pleasure and advantage 
 that they might otherwise have derived. These are 
 facts which cannot be disproved : as they must be no- 
 torious to every one who looks round the circle of his 
 acquaintance. In short, I may safely assert that, to 
 the generality" of his readers, Macpherson's translation 
 of Ossian is very little better than a sealed book. 
 Where experience pronounces unequivocally, specula- 
 tion must submit to her decision. Nor will the fine- 
 spun sophistry which we hear from some people, 
 of the stile of Macpherson being ' admirably suited to 
 the subject simple, elegant, &c. &c.' be able to over- 
 rule the order of nature. The mind of man is not 
 constituted to admire long-continued abruptness and 
 incoherence : And it is as vain to expect that a work 
 in which these properties predominate will give general 
 satisfaction ; as that a person could feast deliciously 
 on food that he does not relish. 
 
 Those who have made the human mind their study, 
 and have examined into the nature of that species of 
 stile which has always been best received, ought not to 
 find much difficulty in explaining all the mystery ; as
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XV11 
 
 they must discern, that it was only on those embel- 
 lishments, which were originally intended to heighten 
 the painting, and to encrease the general effect, that 
 Macpherson bestowed any pains. From the very slo- 
 venly manner in which the intermediate parts are ex- 
 ecuted, a remarkable inequality pervades the work: 
 the ornaments are too prominent and too dazzling ; they 
 engross too much of the reader's attention ; and lie 
 scattered about, like jewels in the mire ; so that he 
 hurries on to pick them up, heedless of what inter- 
 venes. In fine, Macpherson's translation might, at 
 best, be compared to an anatomical picture, in which 
 a person well skilled in the art may discover the linea- 
 ments of symmetry and beauty: but an ordinary ob- 
 server descries little more than its singularity. 
 
 No extraordinary degree of penetration is necessary 
 to perceive, that the number of those is small who 
 will be at the trouble to supply an author's deficien- 
 cies. For the generality of readers he must do every 
 thing must remove all ambiguity all ruggedness; 
 and lead them on in a smooth and uninterrupted path, 
 to their journey's end. In works of fancy and ima- 
 gination this is particularly essential : Such are perused 
 principally for amusement and recreation; and we 
 are impatient at being obliged to call in the judgment, 
 at every step we take. Most people will be discou-
 
 XV111 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 raged at the very onset: and there are none who, 
 when they are soaring aloft, like continually to de- 
 scend. Really there is so nice a connexion, so po- 
 lished a surface necessary in the higher regions of 
 language, that the smallest link cannot be spared, nor 
 the minutest flaw viewed, without feelings of regret. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that it is putting an author 
 to a severe test, the depriving him of his native phrase- 
 ology, and compelling him to wear a foreign costume. 
 And the person who undertakes to do so (especially to 
 render poetry) enters on a task of much responsibility, 
 and delicacy. For if he endeavour to translate ver- 
 bally, he is almost sure of introducing ambiguity and 
 ruggedness; and if he translate too paraphrastically, 
 he runs the risk of changing the characteristics of the 
 original, for his own. In fact he has no less an opera- 
 tion than that of re-modelling the original : and can- 
 not be said to have done his duty, unless he transfuse 
 the author's ideas, with all their native force, grace, 
 and dignity, as far as the genius of the new language 
 will permit. In a word, his great aim must be, to 
 speak as it might be supposed that the original author 
 would have expressed himself, had he become intimate- 
 ly acquainted with the true character of the language 
 into which he is translated. 
 
 Doubtless, as the manners, customs, and civilization 
 of a people influence the character of their language ;
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XIX 
 
 so do the temper, habits, and refinement of an indivi- 
 dual in some measure characterise his stile. The calm, 
 the temperate, and the experienced, express themselves 
 very differently from the choleric, the rash, and the 
 unrefined. Nay farther, the very situation in which 
 the individual is placed, the very circumstances which 
 surround him, will also greatly influence the operations 
 of his mind, and, of consequence, his expression. Thus, 
 although a man violently agitated, and distracted with 
 strong and varied emotions, will naturally speak with 
 abruptness and irregularity ; it would be grossly incor- 
 rect to make the same person express himself in a similar 
 manner in narration, grief, or under any circum- 
 stances that bespeak reflection, and in which we may 
 suppose the mind to advance in an uninterrupted pro- 
 gression. Here, then, are considerations which the 
 translator must never overlook, if he would acquit him- 
 self faithfully ; and which will also furnish the reader 
 with a criterion by which to judge of Mr. Macpher- 
 son's performance: let him weigh well the character 
 of Ossian, serene, amiable, of great self-possession, 
 and of a reflecting turn of mind from his youth ; also 
 enjoying all the advantages of education that his sera 
 admitted of; a bard by profession ; and consequently 
 accustomed to arranging and combining his ideas : let 
 him, I say, take all this into consideration, and pro-
 
 XX PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 nounce whether Mr. Macpherson speaks as the " BARD 
 OF CONA" might be expected to have done. 
 
 But farther ; it may be of use to us, in our present 
 discussion, to glance at some peculiar objects of atten- 
 tion, which no translator of poetry ought to lose sight 
 of. These arise from the nature, and mechanical struc- 
 ture of verse from its artificial metre, and the rigid 
 attention to euphony, &c. This every one who has had 
 any practice in poetic composition will at once con- 
 ceive : He will be aware that the necessity of observ- 
 ing accent, quantity, and all the other characteristics of 
 this musical language, must, in some measure, deter- 
 mine the composer in his selection of words ; cause him 
 occasionally to employ some in a more extended sense 
 than he would have done were he writing prose, in 
 which (as there is no absolute standard for the disposi- 
 tion and arrangement, nothing determined or arbitrary 
 with respect to its cadences,) he is less fettered, and 
 has less to divert him from strict logicial accuracy in 
 his choice of expression. Not only will this artificial 
 disposition and arrangement of poetry influence the 
 choice of single words; it will even extend its effects 
 still farther will sometimes, perhaps, induce a greater 
 brevity, sometimes a greater diffuseness, than the author 
 might have observed, had he nothing more than the 
 bare communication of his ideas to attend to. Nay
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE XXI 
 
 more, it may sometimes affect even his descriptions ; 
 perchance, lead him to select different features, and 
 different circumstances, from what he might otherwise 
 have exhibited : and thus cause him to present the object 
 to us in somewhat a different (possibly a more un- 
 favourable) light than he might otherwise have done. 
 
 Doubtless, what we have here mentioned will less fre- 
 quently occur where the author has powerful talents, 
 and an extended vocabulary, than in the works of a 
 second-rate genius. But we find some traces of it even 
 in the compositions of the most refined and distinguish- 
 ed poets : though the pleasure which our ear derives, 
 from the delicacy and harmony of their periods, diverts 
 us from scrutinizing too narrowly, and makes us ima- 
 gine that every thing is as well as it could possibly have 
 been accomplished. But when we come to strip the 
 poet of all his native harmony when we transpose 
 him into another language; in which, perhaps, his 
 most sonorous words are changed for harsh and dis- 
 cordant sounds when all the ingenious mechanism of 
 his verse is destroyed, and he is left dependant on the 
 mere force of the ideas that he conveys what a test is 
 he put to! how apparent are all his foibles, without ^. 
 single extenuating circumstance ! Is this, I would ask, 
 
 > 
 
 the way to do justice to an author? Is this, think you. 
 the mode he would have adopted, had he himself be- 
 
 D
 
 XX11 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 come the translator ? No surely. And yet it will be pal- 
 pable, from comparing Mr. Macpherson's translation 
 with the original, that in many places he has observed 
 this method : Nor has he always even done Ossian the 
 justice to convey any thing like the naked unadorned 
 meaning ; for at times it would baffle the acutest judg- 
 ment to ascertain the true import of some passages in 
 his version. 
 
 From the above remarks we perceive how delicate 
 a task it is to translate poetry ; and may draw some 
 useful inferences, as to the mode most likely to prove 
 successful. Indeed, if we examine the most admired 
 translations of ancient or modern poetry into our 
 language, we shall find that the authors of them 
 seldom lost sight of the foregoing principles. They 
 sometimes condensed, sometimes expanded the original: 
 Sometimes rejected, altogether what they conceived to 
 have been inserted solely on account of the mechanism 
 of verse ; or replaced it by something more congenial 
 with the general strain of sentiment, and likely to make 
 a better figure in the new version. In short they en- 
 deavoured to enter fully into the spirit into the train 
 of ideas, in which the original author appeared to have 
 proceeded to pass him through the alembic of a sound 
 and critical judgment ; and boldly attempted even to 
 rectify his faults, (for what author is without them?)
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XX111 
 
 and to heighten his beauties. What the effect has been 
 any one may speedily satisfy himself, by inspecting 
 POPE'S immortal (though paraphrastic) translation of 
 Homer, and comparing it with MACPHERSON'S attempt 
 to give a literal version of the Iliad, in his jargon.* 
 And yet, though Mr. Macpherson failed so decidedly in 
 his attempt, in my opinion, he has done far more 
 justice to Homer than to Ossian. 
 
 And here I would remark, that the almost general 
 abruptness of Mr. Macpherson's translation, appears to 
 me to be far more the effect of art, than of either acci- 
 dent, or negligence. In many places we discover a studi- 
 ous attention to tmcouthness. He frequently introduces 
 a period, where a comma, or at all events a semi-colon 
 would have sufficed. And this of itself greatly tends 
 to break the chain of ideas in the mind of the reader ; 
 who is from habit led to conclude the sense complete, 
 where a period occurs. He likewise rejects expletives, 
 connectives, and even the article, when really neces- 
 sary, according to the genius of the English language. 
 But we also perceive evident marks of inattention and 
 
 In Mr. Macpherson's preface to his translation of the Iliad, he says, 
 " The translator will be much disappointed should the reader take this ver- 
 sion for mere prose." The learned gentleman need not have felt the least 
 uneasiness on the subject : for there was not the slightest danger that any 
 one could have made go egregious a mistake.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 carelessness, a bad choice of expression, and nume- 
 rous instances of words employed in an inappropriate 
 sense. Besides, after all his witicisms on Irish bulls, 
 he betrays strong symptoms of having himself caught 
 the contagion. I shall now make some extracts from 
 his translation, to exhibit his mode of proceeding: 
 
 " The blue waves of Erin roll in light. The moun- 
 tains are covered with day. Trees shake their dusky 
 heads, in the breeze. Grey torrents pour their noisy 
 streams. Two green hills, with aged oaks, surround a 
 narrow plain, (the word " surround " is here rather 
 unfortunate.) The blue course of a stream is there. 
 On its banks stood Cairbar of Atha. His spear supports 
 the king: the red eye of his fear is sad. Cormac rises 
 in his soul, with all his ghastly wounds. Blood pours 
 from his airy side. Cairbar thrice threw his spear on 
 earth, (how affected!) Thrice he stroked his beard. 
 His steps are short. He often stops. He tosses his si- 
 newy arms. He is like a cloud in the desert, varying 
 its form to every blast. The vallies are sad around, 
 and fear, by turns, the shower ! The king, at length, 
 resumed his soul. He took his pointed spear. He turn- 
 ed his eye to Moilena. The scouts of blue ocean came. 
 They came with steps of fear, and often looked behind. 
 Cairbar knew that the mighty were near! He called 
 his gloomy chiefs." TEMORA : BOOK 1.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XXV 
 
 In the next section we have : " There Morlath stood 
 with darkened face. * * * Foldath stands, like 
 an oozy rock, that covers its dark sides with foam. 
 (How much better to have used the verb "covers" 
 in the passive sense.) His spear is like Slimora's fir, 
 that meets the winds of heaven. (Would not " braves" 
 have conveyed the obvious meaning of the poet, far 
 better than "meets 2 " which, by the bye, savours 
 strongly of bull-making, as well as the rock covering 
 itself with foam.) * * These and a thousand other 
 chiefs surrounded the king of Erin, when the scout of 
 ocean came, Mor-annal, from streamy Moilena. His 
 eyes hang forward from his face. * His lips are trem- 
 bling pale!" 
 
 Mr. Macpherson is likewise frequently obscure: in- 
 deed, sometimes so ridiculously so, as almost to create 
 laughter on the most serious occasions. For instance, 
 when he is describing the assassination of Oscar by Cair- 
 bar, (TEMORA, Book I.) he says " Cairbar shrinks before 
 Oscar's sword! he creeps in darkness behind a stone. 
 He lifts the spear in secret ; he pierces my Oscar's side ! 
 He falls forward on his shield: his knee sustains the 
 chief. But still his spear is in his hand. See gloomy 
 
 * I do not know what the reader may think of this expression : but to 
 me it appears to be a singularly uncouth one, to say the least of it. 
 
 \
 
 XXVI PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Cairbar falls!" Here it is scarcely necessary for me to 
 observe, that, from the grammatical (or, I should rather 
 say, un grammatical) construction ; we are almost tempt- 
 ed to conclude that Cairbar himself does all this " He 
 pierces my Oscar's side ! He falls forward on his shield, 
 &c." but quite the contrary: it is Oscar that "falls 
 forward on his shield" it is Oscar who " supports him- 
 self on his knee," and, from this position, darts his spear 
 through Cairbar 's forehead.* 
 
 The learned gentleman sometimes also speaks (what 
 at least in my humble judgment appears to be) sheer 
 nonsense. For instance, when Carril, the bard, is des- 
 cribing the sons of Usnoth, (TEMORA, Book I.) he is 
 made to say, " Their stature is like young trees in a 
 valley, growing in a shower!" With the greatest pro- 
 priety a note of admiration is placed at the end of this 
 notable sentence : for indeed it is a most miraculous 
 one. The reader, I dare say, will agree with me, that, 
 either the gentry in those days must have had a more 
 than " microscopic eye," or that this is most wretch- 
 ed and unpardonable bombast. Had he said, " Their 
 stature was like young trees growing in a valley of 
 streams, or even in a valley of showers, (following 
 
 In a succeeding page, the whole of this passage is compared with a 
 verbal translation from the original.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XXV11 
 
 the Gaelic idiom,) a striking image would have been 
 presented to the understanding. For every one knows, 
 that trees will shoot up faster, and look far more ver- 
 dant by a river side, or (in a wet season) in a valley, 
 where the moisture is retained to their roots, than in 
 a high and mountainous situation ; where they are 
 stinted in their growth, and contract a shrivelled, and 
 less flourishing appearance. Now this is precisely the 
 idea which the poet wished to convey: that they 
 were stripplings, who had quickly shot up to the sta- 
 ture of a man, yet exhibiting all the vernal bloom of 
 youth. 
 
 I could produce numerous other specimens of the 
 evident injustice which Macpherson has done to the 
 venerable bard : evident, indeed, even to a person en- 
 tirely ignorant of the original. And no one can deny 
 that such slovenly work as this is enough to tire and 
 disgust any reader. 
 
 But lest it be said that we deal harshly with Mr. M. 
 in taking him to task for errors which possibly were in 
 the original from which he translated ; I shall here in- 
 sert a paragraph from his preface to an edition of the 
 poems, published in August 1773, eleven yuars after 
 they had first made their appearance. From this we 
 shall find that he openly professed to have made alter- 
 ations and improvements, and to have left the poems
 
 XXVI11 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 in & finished state. " Without encreasing his genius, 
 
 the author may have improved his language, in the 
 eleven years that the following poems have been before 
 the public. Errors in diction might have happened at 
 twenty-four, which the experience of a riper age may 
 remove ; and some exuberances in imagery may be 
 restrained, with advantage, by a degree of judgment 
 acquired in the progress of time. Impressed with this 
 opinion, he ran over the whole with attention and 
 Mccuracy; and, he hopes, he has brought the work to 
 a state of correctness, which will preclude all future 
 improvements." 
 
 Here then, it would appear that we have not taken 
 this very modest author* off his guard : For, as he de- 
 clares his pages to have undergone the labor limae, he 
 becomes a fair subject for criticism. Besides, we can 
 point out, very unequivocally, that he well knew how 
 to make suppressions and alterations, when it answered 
 
 * In another place he very plainly intimates the opinion he had of bis 
 own merit : " The writer has now resigned them (the poems) for ever to 
 their fate. That they have been well received by the public, appears from 
 an extensive sale ; that they shall continue to be well received, he may 
 venture to prophecy without the gift of.that inspiration, to which poets 
 
 lay claim. Again : " The operation (that is, of translating them into 
 
 foreign languages) must, however, be performed with skilful hands. A 
 translator, who cannot equal Iiis original, is incapable of expressing its 
 beauties."
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XXIX 
 
 his purpose when any phrase stood in the way of an 
 opinion which he wished to maintain. Of this we have a 
 bold example in Temora, Canto VII. In the Gaelic, 
 which we have before adverted to as published by Mac- 
 phergon, the poet takes occasion to remark, that the 
 star Tonthena, which was the most conspicuous orna- 
 ment on the shield of Cathmor, had by its fortunate 
 appearance saved Larthon, the ancestor of that hero, 
 from shipwreck, and guided him (as the original ex- 
 pressly states) to VICTORY " NAM BUADH." To pre- 
 vent ambiguity, I shall here mention that Larthon was 
 then proceeding with a colony of the Bolgi, from INIS- 
 OUAINE, (the island of Anglesey*) to Ireland; night 
 descended, and a storm came on: " Terror (as the poet 
 expresses it) seized on the sons of BOLGA :" (it was 
 their first voyage; and, as they had altogether lost 
 sight of the stars, they knew not whither to steer their 
 course.) "When bright Tonthena of the billows 
 smiled from her bursting clouds, mild-shining on the 
 
 *My reasons for considering the IMS-OUAINE (or, as Mr. Macpherson 
 calls it, the " Inishuna") of Ossian to be the isle of ANGLESEY, I think 
 are conclusive : they shall be given in another poem, of which the scene of 
 action is laid there. I am inclined to think that the bay of GCLBIN, into 
 which Larthon's ship is said to have run after the storm, was Dublin-bay. 
 For this latter supposition, it is true, I can offer nothing but probabilities ; 
 however these should certainly be allowed some weight, when there is no- 
 thing to bring against them. But of this more hereafter. 
 
 E
 
 XXX PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 sea of storms; she guided the joyful Larthon TO VIC- 
 TORY." But Macpherson suppresses the expression to 
 victory, and mutilates the whole passage ; for the very 
 obvious reason, that it is in direct opposition to an as- 
 sertion which he makes in another place, viz. that Lar- 
 thon' s colony was the first that settled in Ireland. For 
 the humblest understanding could not avoid drawing 
 the inference, that if Larthon's followers were the very 
 first inhabitants of Ireland, there were no enemies for 
 him to combat with. Besides, it militates against what 
 Mr. Macpherson most strenuously endeavours to prove, 
 namely, that the pretensions of Ireland to antiquity 
 are altogether unfounded, and evidently contradicted 
 by Ossian. 
 
 This is a point so important, that it would be highly 
 unpardonable in me to pass it over in a cursory man- 
 ner ; in-as-much as we shall, I expect, be able not only 
 fully to repel a charge, which some (relying on the 
 accuracy of Macpherson's statement) have brought 
 against the poems, ' of being in direct opposition to 
 well-established authorities, and therefore spurious ;' but 
 we shall also have an opportunity of displaying Mr. 
 Macpherson in his proper colours, and exposing the 
 shallowness of his judgment, and (strange as it may 
 appear,) his ignorance of the tendency of the very 
 poems which he attempted lo translate.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XXXI 
 
 But, before we proceed to make extracts from his 
 dissertation, and formally to compare his assertions 
 with the statement of Ossian ; it may be satisfactory to 
 the reader to have an epitome of the opinion which he 
 (Mr. M.) has advanced, as to the first settlement of 
 Ireland, and other circumstances connected with the 
 subject. It is as follows: That Ireland was first peo- 
 pled from Britain the southern parts by the Firbolg, 
 or Belgse, from South Britain, and the northern parts 
 by the Gael, who passed over, from Caledonia and the 
 Hebrides, into Ulster. He, in several places, admits 
 that the Firbolg appear to have been the first settlers. 
 But then he declares it to be an important fact, abso- 
 lutely established, that the first monarch of Ireland 
 was of the Caledonian race ; and that we cannot place 
 the sera of that monarch prior to the first century: He 
 triumphantly exclaims, " To establish this fact is to lay, 
 at once, aside the pretended antiquities of the Scots 
 and Irish, and to get quit of a long list of kings which 
 the latter give us for a millenium before." 
 
 The reader will perceive, from what follows, that, in 
 the above summary, I have not given a false tinge to 
 the opinions of Macpherson. In his DISSERTATION 
 CONCERNING THE POEMS OF OSSIAN, he says : "John 
 Fordun was the first who collected these fragments of 
 the Scots history, which had escaped the brutal policy
 
 XXX11 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 of Edward I, and reduced them into ordef. * * * 
 Some time before Fordun wrote, the king of England, 
 in a letter to the Pope, had run up the antiquity of his 
 nation to a very remote aera. Fordun, possessed of all 
 the national prejudice of the age, was unwilling that his 
 country should yield, in point of antiquity, to a people, 
 then its rivals and enemies. Destitute of annals in 
 Scotland, he had recourse to Ireland, which, according 
 to the vulgar errors of the times, was reckoned the 
 first habitation of the Scots. He found, there, that 
 the "Irish bards had carried their pretensions to anti- 
 quity as high, if not beyond any nation in Europe. 
 It was from them he took those improbable fictions, 
 which form the first part of his history." 
 
 Again, he says : " That Ireland was first peopled 
 from Britain, is, at length, a matter that admits of no 
 doubt. * * * I shall easily admit, that the colony 
 of the Firbolg, confessedly the Beiges of Britain, 
 settled in the south of Ireland, before the Cael, or 
 Caledonians, discovered the north : but it is not at all 
 likely, that the migration of the Firbolg to Ireland 
 happened many centuries before the Christian sera." 
 
 In another part of his dissertation he states that, 
 " Temora contains not only the history of the first mi- 
 gration of the Caledonians into Ireland, (I should be 
 glad to know where this history is to be found: for my
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XXXIII 
 
 part, I can neither find a history of, nor even an al- 
 lusion to this event,} it also preserves some important 
 facts, (yes, more than Mr. M. wished the public to 
 discover) concerning the first settlement of* the Fir- 
 bolg, or Belg<e of Britain, in that kingdom, under 
 their leader Larthon." * * * 
 
 The last quotation, on this subject, that I shall make 
 from his dissertation, is, where he roundly asserts, that 
 " The favourite chimera, that Ireland is the mother- 
 country of the Scots, is by Ossian totally subverted 
 and ruined." 
 
 We now come to examine what foundation he has, 
 in Ossian, for all those dogmatical assertions. I shall 
 quote, from Mr. Macpherson's translation, all the pas- 
 sages that can fairly be said to have a reference to the 
 point in dispute. " Conar was the brother of Trathal, 
 first of mortal men. His battles were on every coast. 
 A thousand streams rolled down the blood of his foes. 
 (Is this like the infancy of society?) His fame filled 
 green Erin, like a pleasant gale: (fame does not in 
 general extend but where there are tongues to pro- 
 pagate it). The nations gathered in Ullin, and blessed 
 the king; the king of the race of their fathers, from 
 the land of Selma:" (that is, as appears evident from 
 a subsequent passage, " the king from the land of 
 Selma, of the race of their fathers." This must be
 
 XXXIV PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 the passage which Mr. Macpherson alludes to, as the 
 history! ! of the first migration of the Cael into Ireland. 
 But I would ask every person of candour, whether any 
 positive conclusion can be drawn, from hence, as to the 
 disputed point? it barely declares that Conar was of 
 the race of their fathers, and came over from the land 
 of Selma: as we have it more unequivocally stated 
 afterwards, " The son of Trenmor came'; Conar, arm 
 of death, from Morven of the groves. He poured his 
 might along green Erin," &c. Although Mr. Mac- 
 pherson has taken no pains, whatsoever, to lay before 
 his readers the origin of Conar's pretensions to the 
 Irish crown, Ossian has not left us entirely without a 
 key to the enquiry. We find Conar first making his 
 appearance in the war between Turloch and Crothar, 
 two chiefs who were at variance on account of the 
 latter having married Conlama, a young lady to whom 
 the former had a previous attachment. Turloch, it 
 would appear, solicited the aid of Conar: who seems 
 to have come over from Caledonia with a band of 
 warriors for the purpose. With his assistance Turloch 
 prevailed. And Conar (who seems to have possessed, 
 in no small degree, the ambition of his father Tren- 
 mor,) had the address to get himself elected king. But 
 it is manifest, from the great opposition shewn to him, 
 that he was viewed as an usurper: " Why should Conar
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XXXV 
 
 reign," they said, "the son of resounding Morven?'" 
 In fact he had to wade to the sovereignty through 
 blood : " His battles were on every coast : a thousand 
 streams rolled down the blood of his foes." I shall 
 make a few more extracts from the poem of Temora, 
 on this subject ; to shew that T have not endeavoured to 
 wrest an isolated passage to my own purpose. 
 
 The poet, in continuation, says: " The chiefs of the 
 south were gathered, in the darkness of their pride. 
 In the horrid cave of Muma they mixed their secret 
 words. Thither often, they said, the spirits of their 
 fathers came : shewing their pale forms from the chinky 
 rocks: reminding them of the honour of Bolga. "Why 
 should Conar reign,' they said, " the son of resound- 
 ing Morven?" Observe here the expression, "re- 
 minding them of the honour of Bolga." Does not 
 this seem to intimate that the supreme authority was 
 in the hands of the FIRBOLG, previous to the usur- 
 pation of Conar? " Why should Conar reign? What 
 pretensions has he to the crown? We have ourselves 
 a prior right. But, as Conar was the grand-uncle of 
 Fingal, it was not Ossian's business to speak lightly of 
 his original claims: However, I must do him the jus- 
 tice to say, that he has not said a single word in their 
 favour. " They (the chiefs of the south) came forth, 
 like the streams of the desert, with the roar of their
 
 XXXVI PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 hundred tribes. (Again unlike the infancy of so- 
 ciety.) Conar was a rock before them : broken they 
 rolled on every side. But often they returned, and 
 the sons of Selma fell. The king stood, among the 
 tombs of his warriors. He darkly bent his mournful 
 face. His soul was rolled into itself: and he had mark- 
 ed the place where he was to fall ; when Trathal 
 came, in his strength, his brother from cloudy Morven. 
 * * * He (Trathal) lightened forward in battle, 
 till Bolga yielded at her streams!" 
 
 In a succeeding Episode, in the same (that is, the 
 second) Canto of Temora, after relating the marriage 
 of Crothar, a king of Alnecma (Connaught)> with Con- 
 lama, daughter to Cathmin, a chief of Ullin (Ulster) ; 
 the poet goes on to describe the progress of that war, 
 which appears first to have brought Conar into notice in 
 Ireland : " The pride of Turloch rose, a youth who 
 loved the white-handed Conlama. He came with battle 
 to Alnecma; to Atha of the roes. * * # Battle 
 on battle comes. Blood is poured on blood. The 
 tombs of the valiant rise. Erin's clouds are hung 
 round with ghosts. The chiefs of the south gathered 
 round the echoing shield of Crothar. He came with 
 death to the paths of the foe. The virgins wept, by 
 the streams of Ullin," &c. * * In this distressing 
 situation, they called in foreign aid. " Descending
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XXXV11 
 
 like the eagle of heaven, with all his rustling wings, 
 when he forsakes the blast, with joy, (and I would 
 add, equally greedy for his prey) the son of Tren- 
 mor came; Conar arm of death, from Morven of the 
 groves. He poured his might along green Erin. 
 Death dimly strode behind his sword. The sons of 
 Bolga fled from his course. * * # Crothar met 
 him in battle: but Alnecma's warriors fled. The king 
 of Atha slowly retired in the grief of his soul. He 
 afterwards shone in the south." * * * 
 
 Here then is all that Ossian says, which could throw 
 any light on the subject. And I am sure the reader 
 will agree with me, that there is no account " of the 
 first migration of the Gael into Ireland ;" no proof 
 that Conar was the first king ; nor any reason to con- 
 clude that Ireland was, in the time of Conar, any 
 thing like an infant country: Indeed, I think we have 
 presumptive evidence of its not being then thinly in- 
 habited: as Crothar, king of Atha, is said to have 
 " shone in the south," after he was defeated by Conar: 
 which evidently means, that he was successful in war 
 against some southern enemies. Another circumstance 
 which I think worthy of attention, as seeming to re- 
 fer the arrival of the colony of the Bolgi, under 
 Larthon to a very remote antiquity, is, it is said in the 
 seventh Canto of Temora, that " the maids turn their 
 
 F
 
 XXXV111 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 eyes away, lest the king should be lowly laid ; for 
 never had they seen a ship, dark-rider of the wave!"* 
 Thus, for the departure of this colony, we must go 
 back to a period when the first ship was launched in 
 Anglesey. But how long anterior to this was the first 
 colonization, Ossian does not afford us the least oppor- 
 tunity of judging: but he decidedly intimates that there 
 were inhabitants in Ireland previous to Larthon's arrival. 
 
 Where then is the ground of all Mr. Macpherson's 
 exultation ? has he proved a single one of his unquali- 
 fied assertions? It is true, Ossian declares the northern 
 Irish and the western Caledonians to have been origi- 
 nally the same people : but this has been always admit- 
 ted, on every side. But there certainly is not the 
 slightest intimation in any of the poems, as to Ireland 
 having, at any time, received a colony from Scotland : 
 therefore some other authority must decide the dispute. 
 
 One thing, however, is perfectly evident from the 
 foregoing examination, viz. that Macpherson was nei- 
 
 * Though I have, in the above passage, quoted from Macpherson's trans- 
 lation ; I must remark that it is miserably defective : The original inti- 
 mates the terror of the "virgins," lest Larthon should "fall from the 
 wing of the tempest," when they saw the vessel " obliquely sailing," 
 (that is, close-haul' d, and plying to wind-ward, as sailors term it) : In 
 short it beautifully describes their emotion, when, from " the heights of 
 Cluba," they beheld the ship hanging as it were, on "the wing of the 
 wind !" enclining so much to leeward, that they thought she must inevita- 
 bly upset.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. XXXIX 
 
 ther the composer, nor the compiler, of the poem of 
 Temora : as, in either case, he must have comprehended 
 its plot and bearing: though he might have translated, 
 sentence by sentence, and even have collated different 
 copies of the poem, and even have corrected senten- 
 tious and minute inaccuracies, without making himself 
 perfectly acquainted with the story that it conveyed. 
 This latter assertion, to some people, perhaps, will 
 appear rather strange : but it may be explained, thus : 
 in translating, the mind is principally occupied with 
 the minutiae of the author, the ideas are frequently in- 
 terrupted, and the attention somewhat divided ; hence 
 many obstacles occur to our carrying on a connected 
 view of all the bearings of the subject: the same may 
 be said of collating. But in original composition the 
 imagination is of necessity strongly impressed with the 
 general tendency of the story; the outline must be 
 sketched before the minutiae can be executed. In fact, 
 in the designment there must invariably be a continued 
 an uninterrupted exertion of the understanding, to 
 insure unity, and uniformity. Nor is this less called 
 for in compiling; which, perhaps, is still more a busi- 
 ness of industry, and one in which the judgment is 
 peculiarly engaged, in order to put the disjointed, 
 and often mutilated fragments together, and supply 
 the deficiencies, so as to give, at least, rationality in
 
 X PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 the general effect. The reader can himself apply this 
 to the case-in-point : he will see the absurdity of the 
 supposition, that Macpherson could have put together 
 the "shreds and patches" (as they have been called) 
 of various bards, have removed every thing contra- 
 dictory, supplied all deficiencies, and produced a 
 whole, exhibiting such admirable regularity and art, 
 (without, I may assert, the most trifling antilogy,) and 
 yet, after all, remain absolutely ignorant of the true 
 import of what he had accomplished with so much la- 
 bour. But, if we take into account the character given 
 him, by one who knew him personally by no less an 
 individual than DAVID HUME, we shall have little 
 difficulty in concluding (from the many errors in 
 judgment, and blunders which he has been guilty of, 
 but in particular, from that gross one, which I remark- 
 ed in my notes on DAR-THULA ; and which proves him 
 to have overlooked what might without impropriety 
 be called a corner-stone of the whole structure,) we 
 shall, I say, be enclined to think, that the man took up 
 his opinions with little or no consideration; and, by 
 his impetuous temper, was often hurried on to make 
 assertions without weighing them. Another thing 
 which must have tended to make him view the poem 
 of Temora with a jaundiced eye, was, he seems to 
 have got hold of the hypothesis that all the island of
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. xli 
 
 
 
 Great Britain was peopled, gradually, and progres- 
 sively, by settlers who landed in the south of 
 England, and, in process of time, extended themselves 
 northwards ; sending their colonies to Ireland as they 
 increased in numbers. He started, I dare say, with 
 this notion ; and every thing in Ossian which, at a 
 superficial view, appeared to favour it, was (fortutiate- 
 ly*) swallowed by him with avidity. It would, 
 likewise, be perfectly consistent with his disposition, to 
 have recourse to sophistry, in order to defend any of 
 the opinions advanced by him, (even had he afterwards 
 discovered his error,) rather than confess himself in 
 fault. And his obvious imprudence in mis-translating 
 the very specimen of the original which he gave to the 
 public, ought not to excite much surprise, when we 
 consider that inconsistencies were continually to be 
 expected from so " heteroclite a mortal:" who, in 
 addition to his other good qualities, held the under- 
 standing of his cotemporaries in most sovereign con- 
 tempt. But to return from our digression. 
 
 I shall here remark, that the reason is obvious, why 
 Ossian has left it undecided, when, and by whom 
 Ireland was first peopled, viz. it would have been 
 
 * Fortunately, I say ; for by his blunders we are in some measure able 
 10 discover the school-hoy part which he acted ia the transaction,-
 
 Xlii PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 entirely irrelevant to his subject to have gone into an 
 investigation on the question. The object which he 
 had in view, in the Episodes introduced in the second 
 Canto of TEMORA, was to point out the origin of the 
 war in which they were at that moment engaged ; and 
 therefore it was sufficient for him to trace the cause up 
 to those disputes between the Gael and Firbolg, which 
 we have before mentioned. But it is worthy of notice, 
 though he says not a word as to the origin of the Irish 
 Gael, he enters into particulars concerning the colony 
 of Larthon, the ancestor of his enemies. Very satis- 
 factory reasons can be assigned for this difference, 
 namely, the Caledonians, to whom Ossian addresses his 
 poems, were fully aware of the nature and origin of 
 that connexion which subsisted between the Gael of 
 Ireland and the Gael of Scotland ; it was therefore un- 
 necessary, and would even have been frivolous in him, 
 to have entered upon the detail of what every one 
 was acquainted with : however gratifying it may now 
 be to us, to have his direct evidence on this point. 
 But perhaps Mr. Macpherson has, unwittingly, hit off 
 the very reason of Ossian 's silence with respect to the 
 first migration of the Irish Gael, viz. even down to 
 the time of John Fordun, " according to the vulgar 
 errors of the times, Ireland was reckoned the first 
 habitation of the Scots." Now, for aught Mr. Mac-
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. xliii 
 
 pherson could say, those vulgar errors might have 
 extended to the very days of Ossian : for, " vulgar 
 errors" (a he is pleased to take upon himself to call 
 them,) are seldom without some foundation ; although 
 learned errors often have their origin in prbde, possi- 
 tivity, and a wish to appear singular, and to be count- 
 ed the author of original theories. With the greatest 
 propriety, however, Ossian enters into particulars 
 concerning the colony of Larthon ; as it served to ex- 
 plain why Cathmor took so active a part in the affairs 
 of Inishouaine, the mother-country of his ancestors: 
 and besides it was an historical fact with which 
 Ossian's countrymen, in general, were far less likely 
 to be acquainted, than with the other. 
 
 As for my part, it would have been one of the last 
 contests I should ever have interfered in, which was 
 the mother-country, Ireland, or Scotland, were it 
 not my duty to clear Ossian of any imputation that 
 could operate to his prejudice. I fancy that I sin- 
 cerely love my native land: although I can both 
 respect and esteem the Scotch ; and could wish that, 
 in many respects, we made them objects of our imi- 
 tation. All national prejudice I disclaim, as degrading 
 to a rational being. However, I cannot avoid saying, 
 that (at least in my opinion) the Irish, to this very 
 hour, exhibit evident marks of being a most compound
 
 Xliv PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 people. I have had an opportunity of knowing them 
 in every part of Ireland ; and am convinced that they 
 are the descendants of various of many colonies. 
 We can scarcely travel from one province to another, 
 without discovering striking characteristics of a dis- 
 tinct race from those we had left. And, what is wor- 
 thy of remark, we meet this great diversity among the 
 lower orders; who are, generally speaking, in the 
 habit of forming connexions with their immediate 
 neighbours. Any diversity of feature, &c. in the 
 higher classes, should not excite surprise, from their 
 frequent intercourse with the English, the Scotch, and 
 the Welsh. But my senses deceive me, if among the 
 peasantry of Ireland there are not indisputable cha- 
 racteristics, of several of them being of a different 
 origin from any people that I have seen in any or 
 either of the three countries now mentioned be they 
 Milesians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, or whatever they 
 may. Of this I conceive their eternal broils, (arising, 
 unquestionably, from their originally having had a diver- 
 sity of conflicting interests,) to be an unequivocal testi- 
 mony: not to mention several other marks, as their 
 great variety of dialects, &c. &c. Nor is this opinion 
 the least discountenanced by Ossian; but rather the 
 contrary : and I am sorry to say, that, instead of being 
 a boastful circumstance for Erin, I look upon it to
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 have been her bane ! the fertile source of many of her 
 misfortunes : and therefore far more to be deplored by 
 every true patriot, than if all our boasted annals all 
 our pretensions to national antiquity were at once 
 buried in oblivion. 
 
 I cannot here resist the temptation of drawing my 
 reader's attention, to the glaring contrast between the 
 illiberal and contemptible efforts of Macpherson, and 
 the calm and dispassionate opinion of the Rev. Henry 
 Rowlands, a Welshman, author of MONA ANTIQUA 
 RESTAURATA, the book of which I have spoken in 
 my notes to DAR-THULA a book teeming with useful 
 information respecting the antiquities of the united 
 kingdom. In speaking of the ancient inhabitants of 
 Ireland, he says ; " The Irish memoirs are undoubt- 
 edly in many things of good repute and credit, sup- 
 ported by the weighty reasons given in defence of them. 
 That the Irish people had early learning among them, 
 such at least as related to family-histories, and the like, 
 and that they made the best use of it, is not to be ques- 
 tioned. Their Druids, having less of power and au- 
 thority among the people, became, thereby, as more 
 tractable, so more obliging and kinder to posterity than 
 the British Druids were, (as will appear hereafter,) 
 who, humourously bigoted in their .way, by their 
 haughty disdain of letters and contempt of writing, 
 
 G
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 treasured all in their own noddles, whereas the Irish 
 Druids, less strict in the ancient rules of their profes- 
 sion, scrupled not to record in writing, and thereby 
 transmitted to succeeding times the many histories of 
 their monarchs and princes, the genealogies of their 
 chief tribes and families, and other occurrences of note, 
 many of which are to this day, to be seen among them. 
 All which helps the Britains in a great measure 
 wanted, by the inexcusable pride and folly of our 
 British Druids, who superstitiously avoided that way 
 of communicating. But how learned and knowing 
 soever they were in many things, they buried all with 
 them, to the exceeding loss of posterity, except what 
 the learned in other nations took notice of, and left in 
 their account of them. This unhappy temper of the 
 British Druids has left our nation so much in the 
 dark, that during their time, we hare very little to 
 depend on, but what the names of places, and other 
 footsteps of ancient things, will give us room to make 
 the best use we can, of guesses and conjectures. But 
 though our British Druids did religiously abstain from 
 the use of writing ; yet it is not unlikely, but that our 
 Bards and Genealogists were men of greater latitude, 
 and took the liberty to record in writing, the names 
 and descents, and some accounts also, of our British 
 kings and princes, for it is owned by Ccesar himself
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 that they had letters among them, and that they some- 
 times used them, in their public and private affairs, 
 though in things appertaining to religion, they very 
 strictly forbare the use of them, and communicated 
 their systems ore tenus, in rhythmical odes, and verses, 
 to their hearers." In many places this gentleman 
 bears a decided, and, unquestionably, an unbiassed 
 testimony to the antiquity of Ireland to its having 
 been a country of considerable importance, for ages 
 previous to the sera of Ossian. Likewise, it is worthy 
 of notice that nearly the whole of his elaborate volume 
 is strongly confirmatory of the view which I have 
 taken of the state of society about the time when we 
 suppose the poems to have been composed ; and (need 
 I add?) a most satisfactory refutal of what has been 
 urged as to the barbarity of our fore-fathers at that 
 period: But my present limits do not allow me to 
 pursue the subject, at that length which it would de- 
 mand: so that I must here content myself with this 
 general remark, that, in my opinion, the most unan- 
 swerable arguments in favour of the authenticity of 
 Ossian 's poems, might be drawn from Mr. Rowlands' 
 valuable researches. 
 
 The reader will probably expect me to notice the 
 various objections which have been urged against the 
 genuineness of these poems. This is a task which I
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 should rather have entirely deferred until a future 
 opportunity : as it is utterly impossible to do justice to 
 it, without giving at least a summary of the many, and 
 ingenious treatises, which have made their appearance, 
 on both sides of the question. I beg leave to observe, 
 that I have some idea of hereafter making an attempt 
 of this kind, perhaps in form of an appendix, 
 (should the public deem the proposed translation of the 
 poems worthy of their attention); and I mean to ac- 
 company it with a contribution of my humble mite, 
 by endeavouring to reply to those points in the con- 
 troversy which may appear to me as yet unanswered. 
 However, for the sake of the general reader, I shall 
 now proceed to glance over some of the principal ob- 
 jections which we hear constantly brought forward. 
 But I must claim the indulgence of any who may be 
 prepared to look for a detail that should provide for 
 every possible contingency, if in the following essay I 
 have left many of the fastnesses of the adversaries of 
 the poems unattacked.* 
 
 The assertion, that "it is entirely out of the nature 
 of things that the poems could be preserved by oral 
 
 I hope those who have a wish to see the controversy brought to a 
 clone, (which I feel convinced it can be, and the authenticity of the poems 
 established on an immoveable basis J will lend their aid in this (perhaps I 
 may venture to call it) national undertaking, by furnishing all the in- 
 formation iu their power on the subject.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 tradition, alone, for so many centuries," is, I think, 
 more specious than solid. In fact, it is solely from the 
 present state of society from our having so many ar- 
 tificial aids to memory, and, in consequence, being led 
 to neglect the improvement of that natural faculty, 
 and to under-rate the powers of which it is capable, if 
 cultivated to the utmost that this objection gathers all 
 its force. We are all aware that the memory, as well 
 as all the faculties of the mind and body, will acquire 
 exceeding strength by being habitually, and vigor- 
 ously exercised : But still it is difficult for us to form a 
 just estimate of what might be accomplished, in this 
 respect, by a distinct class of men, (such as the bards 
 undubitably were,) whose primary education, probably, 
 at one time consisted in committing these poems to 
 memory, as models for their future imitation; and 
 whose profession led them to an almost daily recital of 
 them. Besides we must hold in view, that, one bard 
 corrupting a passage, either wilfully, or through for- 
 getfullness, did not make it a necessary consequence 
 that others should fall into precisely the same error : 
 others might have preserved the identical passage per- 
 fectly pure, even had they become more defective in 
 other respects; and, thus, we have not only a pos- 
 sible, but also a probable mode of the genuine poetry 
 of Ossian being preserved in existence,
 
 1 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Here I am brought to remark, that the manner in 
 which Mr. Macpherson is said to have made his col- 
 lection, afforded a better prospect of obtaining the 
 genuine poetry of Ossian, than if he had translated 
 them all from manuscripts in the possession of any one 
 individual: as it enabled him to collate the different 
 copies of a poem ; to retain whatever he thought con- 
 sonant with the usual style of Ossian; and to reject 
 that which appeared to be an interpolation, or even a 
 vitiated passage. No one who is conversant with lite- 
 rature, will consider this a very difficult task : although 
 it was one that required some attention and delicacy. 
 Add the very same use may still be made of the various 
 copies, which have since been collected by the High- 
 land Society, with such praise-worthy zeal.* 
 
 * The above remark will also serve to invalidate any general objection 
 that may be urged against the poems in MacpbersonV collection, from 
 particular variations that sometimes exist between them and those since 
 obtained ; for it is not reasonable to expect that they should exactly cor- 
 respond. It should be observed, likewise, that Macpherson began to make 
 his collection when circumstances were far more favourable to accuracy ; 
 as the habits of the Highlanders have since his time undergone (in most 
 places,) nearly a to^al revolution ; in consequence of the efforts of the 
 British government to overturn the system of clan-ship, which proved so 
 inconvenient to them in the case of the Pretender, <fec. There may, 
 however, yet be abundant scope for the exercis* of a critical taste, and 
 sonnd judgment, in comparing those in Macpherson's publication with the 
 various other copies; for, although Macpherson's in the main bid fair to 
 be the most authentic, still the others nay in particular passages be 
 greatly superior. Some may object to this method, of endeavouring to
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. ll 
 
 If then the preliminary objection be not insuperable, 
 we may with the greatest propriety proceed to consider 
 those which have been rested on the internal evidence 
 of the poems. Much stress has been laid on the sup- 
 positions existence of a resemblance between them and 
 the writings of the classical poets of antiquity. And 
 hence it has been argued, that they bear evident marks 
 of plagiarism; and a conclusion drawn, that they were 
 a forgery of Macpherson's, who picked and culled, 
 in every quarter, whatever might tally with a few 
 traditionary scraps, which, possibly, he had found 
 somewhere in the Highlands. Now, I must in the 
 first place declare, that, after the closest investigation, 
 I am obliged to dismiss this charge, as totally unfound- 
 ed: and I may, without boasting of a superior 
 acuteness to my neighbours, claim, perhaps, a more 
 intimate acquaintance with the poems of Ossian than 
 
 extract the genuine poetry of Ossian, as wild, and visionary; but they will 
 please to recollect, that every individual author of sterling merit has a 
 style, in some respects, peculiarly his own ; and though a tolerable imi- 
 tation may when viewed separately deceive us, the forgery will be dis- 
 covered, on a close comparison there will always in this particular, as 
 between the hand-writing of two individuals, be found some minute dif- 
 ferences, which will enable us to give a verdict. I do really think the 
 genius of Ossian so transcendent I conceive that his original poetry 
 must have been such pure gold, that it will be no difficult matter to 
 discover it ; and that even the tarnish of ages will be easily made to 
 disappear! Those who would consider this point more at large, may 
 consult Dr. Graham's Essay.
 
 lii PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 most other persons ; as the nature of my undertaking 
 has necessarily led me to a laborious analysis of every 
 phrase, and expression.* But though, for argument 
 sake, we were to admit the charge of resemblance, to 
 the fullest extent that it could be urged by the most 
 decided stickler for the rejection of the poems, I can- 
 not deem it any proof that they were not actually the 
 composition of Ossian himself: Before it can be de- 
 clared such, it must first be demonstrated that Ossian 
 could not possibly have had access, either directly, or 
 indirectly, to the works alluded to a supposition which 
 (however the assertion may starkle my learned antago- 
 nists,) is absolutely at variance with tradition, history, 
 and, I think, even with reason. Are we not, I would ask, 
 unequivocally informed by tradition, and by the very 
 poems themselves, and is it not corroborated by the 
 history of that sera in which we place Ossian, that 
 many refugees, and in their number, doubtless, several 
 individuals of distinction and learning, sought an 
 asylum among the Caledonians, during the violent dis- 
 sentions, and especially, those ardent persecutions of 
 Christians, which then occurred? The poems have 
 
 I trust, after what I have before shewn, that it will no longer be said 
 that Macpherson was the original author : but we shall argue on the prin- 
 ciple, that some other modern might have been.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. IHi 
 
 many allusions to them ; and tradition speaks of con- 
 troversies, on the subject of religion, having been held 
 Between some of the Christian missionaries, or refugees, 
 and Ossian himself. Thus have we a door opened, 
 not only for Ossian's partial acquaintance with the 
 poets of antiquity, but also (if Mr. Laing will require 
 it) with the OLD TESTAMENT WRITERS. 
 
 I suspect that the generality of my readers will not 
 require me to pursue this argument farther. But, to 
 silence prejudiced quibblers, (and this is the age for 
 them,) I shall add, that such a person as Ossian was not 
 likely to be negligent of any favourable opportunity of 
 enquiring into the poetry of other nations, nor very 
 dull in receiving instruction therein. Neither would it 
 be an extravagant supposition, were I to conclude, that 
 most Romans of respectability,* in that enlightened 
 age, were qualified to give him any information that he 
 could require, and even possessed of copies of the 
 works in question. And surely it would have been 
 the height of ingratitude in those who were so gene- 
 rously received by him, to have omitted any means of 
 gratifying their amiable benefactor. 
 
 That there were many such amongst the prioiitm Christians, I need 
 not endeavour to prove. 
 
 H
 
 liv PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Nor will Mr. Laing's sagacious discovery, of a 
 resemblance between passages in these poems, and 
 some found in Milton, Shakespeare, &c. be a more , 
 effectual argument ; until he can prove that none of 
 these writers ever copied, or imitated their prede- 
 cessors. 
 
 But, although I have before declared that I think 
 the charge of plagiarism decidedly unfounded ; though 
 I am clearly of opinion, that if any poet could boast 
 of originality if any poet could safely depend upon 
 his awn resources it was Ossian ; yet do I not hesi- 
 tate to confess, that to me it does not appear an 
 improbable conjecture, that the general idea of com- 
 posing poems so extensive as his Fingal and Tcmora, 
 might have been suggested to him by his hearing a 
 recital of the ^Eneid, or by some such means: for they 
 differ materially, in plot and arrangement, from any 
 other poems that have descended to us, either as the 
 composition of Ossian, or of any other bard : besides, 
 they evidently were not undertaken until he was blind, 
 and far advanced in years. 
 
 No one will be puerile enough to enquire, how an 
 adequate knowledge of the works in question could 
 have been conveyed to him : for surely whatever me- 
 dium of communication sufficed for controversy on 
 the subject of religion, was equally applicable to the
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. lv 
 
 other. But why should we doubt Ossian's acquain- 
 tance with the Latin tongue? why fancy that he 
 could have 'been ignorant of the language of a people, 
 who, for centuries before, were such objects of atten- 
 tion to his nation who even were in possession of the 
 contiguous provinces ? What ! the son of a king a 
 bard by profession ; and consequently expected to act 
 as ambassador, and interpreter to be ignorant of the 
 language of a people with whom they so frequently 
 came in contact! It would be too absurd an idea 
 to entertain for a moment. 
 
 I feel equally inclined to question the opinion of 
 those who consider the style of Ossian too refined for 
 the state of society in which he was placed. For 
 though it were necessary, in compliance with the 
 authority of the Roman historians, to conclude the 
 bulk of the people to have been in a very rude state ; 
 by the same authority we are assured, that the bards 
 were both learned and refined. Indeed, this objection 
 seems the feeblest the most unfortunate one that 
 could be brought forward ; for I consider the internal 
 evidence, as unequivocally in favour of the authen- 
 ticity of the poems : at least, it flashed conviction on 
 my mind ; at a time, too, when I was strongly biassed 
 against them, by the opinion of a most distinguished 
 literary character.
 
 v PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Some have likewise attempted to refute the idea of 
 the poems being genuine, by declaring it inconsistent 
 with reason, that a people who were constantly em- 
 ployed in such cruel and destructive wars, could have 
 found leisure for the cultivation of their understanding ; 
 or have retained any of those traits of benevolence, 
 and noble feeling, which are so conspicuous in Ossiaii. 
 But this objection proceeds from their having taken a 
 very narrow and superficial view of the subject : Ossian 
 and his companions were not by any means so frequently . 
 employed in wars, as not to find sufficient opportunity 
 to cultivate the arts of peace ; nor were their wars 
 marked with a ferocious character, nor (in general) un- 
 dertaken through motives of ambition, or vindictive 
 feeling. Now, I would put one question to gentlemen 
 who argue thus ; is it not fully as unjust to brand the 
 Caledonians as a set of savages, because, forsooth, we 
 are furnished with an account of some expeditions in 
 which they were engaged ; as it would be to form a si- 
 milar notion of the modern Britons, from a perusal of 
 the history of our late sanguinary campaigns on the 
 Peninsula, &c.? Really, it grieves me to see men, 
 from whom I could expect far more consistancy, so 
 blinded by prejudice, as pertinaciously to maintain 
 opinions, which absolutely shrink from the test of reason. 
 Others, again, have asserted it to be contrary to ex- 
 perience that Osssian and his companions could have
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 possessed such strict notions of virtue, integrity, and 
 honour, and have acted in many cases so disinterested 
 a part, and, at the same time be (as they are pleased to 
 imagine) destitute of a system of religion : this some 
 of our objectors denominate an anomaly, which stamps 
 the poems as in opposition to the principles of human 
 nature, and therefore spurious. But it can be satisfac- 
 torily shewn that the poems maintain, throughout, a 
 mythology, and even a system of future rewards and 
 punishments, well calculated to inspire the mind with 
 the most heroic and generous sentiments. I have not 
 the least difficulty in pronouncing the mythology of 
 Ossian, not only more rational, but also many, many 
 degrees farther removed from licentiousness than that 
 handed down by either the Greek or Roman poets. 
 But we are likewise to remember that the poems of 
 Ossian are not treatises of Mythology, they are pro- 
 fessedly narratives of military expeditions ; and the 
 subject of religion could not, in my opinion, be dwelt 
 upon more extensively than we find it, without intro- 
 ducing inappropriate digressions. Ossian's design was 
 to record the deeds of his friends and companions, 
 not to inculcate the precepts of his faith. And we 
 should rather feel surprise at his amazing art, in being 
 able to convey to us so much of the religion, manners, 
 and customs of his countrymen, and others, in the way
 
 Iviii PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 of embellishment to his poems ; than stupidly displeased 
 with him for not initiating us into all his tenets. Besides 
 we must recollect that it is asserted to have been contrary 
 to the usage of the ancient Caledonians, to blend up 
 the mysteries of religion with their civil narratives. 
 
 A kindred inference to this, and in my opinion, a 
 very weak one, has been drawn from Ossian's having 
 abstained so much from alluding to commerce, agri- 
 culture, or manufactures, that, to be consistant, we 
 must conclude him to have lived in the very infancy 
 of society, that his countrymen had not at that time 
 made any advances toward civilization or, in other 
 words, that they were little better than savages; and 
 that it is as contrary to common sense to attribute 
 such poems to such a people, as to imagine that they 
 could be produced at present among the Indians of 
 North-America. This is most fallacious reasoning, and 
 proves that those who urge it, could scarce have given 
 the poems a single perusal : for we have, in numerous 
 passages, unequivocal evidence of Ossian's compatriots 
 not having been destitute of manufactures, or com- 
 merce ; and corn they must have had ; or how could 
 they have prepared that beverage which we find so 
 often mentioned, under the term of " the strength of 
 the shell," that is, " the strong liquor which the cup 
 contained?" Now I have not the slightest doubt that
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. lix 
 
 this was a malt liquor, similar to our whiskey. I could 
 moreover produce several passages to support the 
 opinion I have here advanced ; but it will be sufficient 
 for me to remark, generally, that their numerous ships, 
 and frequent intercourse with other nations satisfy the 
 conclusion that they were not without commerce ; 
 Ossian's distinction between the costume, or robes of 
 the Highland females, and those of the Lowlanders, 
 prove them not to have been destitute of manufac- 
 tures: not to mention the description of Fingal's 
 gold-embroidered standard ; the allusions to foun- 
 deries ; or the description of the hall of Selma. But 
 there is one passage in THE BATTLE OF LORA," which 
 proves the Caledonians of that day not to have been 
 unacquainted even with luxuries : it is where Bosmina 
 the daughter of Fingal goes, attended by Nartmor, 
 to propose terms of peace to Erragon, a Scandina- 
 vian king who had invaded the land of Morven, she 
 offered him " an hundred steeds, the children of the 
 rein: an hundred maids from distant lands: an hun- 
 dred hawks. # * * Ten shells (or goblets) 
 studded with gems, * * * the bright water 
 trembles on their stars, and seems to be sparkling 
 wine. They gladdened once the kings of the world 
 (the Roman Emperours) in the midst of their echoing 
 halls." Now these things were offered, not as the
 
 IX PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 property of Fingal, but of Aldo, one of his chiefs ! 
 Does this demonstrate a rude and barbarous state 
 of society? have we any right to conclude from hence 
 that Ossian and his companions were a poor, half- 
 naked banditti, as I have absolutely heard them called ? 
 However, I must admit them not to have arrived at 
 any thing like the state of luxury we have. But is 
 luxury indispensible to talent and refinement? This 
 would be indeed a strange doctrine: that the very 
 thing which proves so detrimental to the cultivation of 
 the understanding the very thing which tends to ener- 
 vate the mind, and to divert its attention from learn- 
 ing should at the same time be absolutely necessary 
 for the developement, and culture of genius. Expe- 
 rience, as well as reason, can show the absurdity of 
 this idea ; for we have in general found the brightest 
 literary characters to be men of simple and retired 
 habits. The truth is, that extreme poverty, and ex- 
 treme luxury are unfavourable to a progress in learn- 
 ing; for they both tend to draw the mind from 
 contemplation, though in a very different way. But 
 I would ask, in what does the great merit of Ossian 
 principally consist? is it not in a just display of the 
 human mind ; and in a correct, and striking descrip- 
 tion of the simplest and most august objects of nature? 
 Now it is scarcely necessary for me to remind the
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. Ixi 
 
 reader, that the country in which Ossian resided, as well 
 as those which he visited, gave him an opportunity of 
 'witnessing the latter, in their noblest features ; nor will 
 it be difficult to shew, that the stage of civilization which 
 these poems depict, is far more favourable to the obser- 
 vation of the former, than a more advanced one : For, 
 if we obtain a knowledge of human nature, by reflect- 
 ing on the operations of our own minds, and remarking 
 the actions, and expressions of others ; a state of lux- 
 ury and refinement is peculiarly ill-adapted to these 
 pursuits. Luxury, and the pleasures (or, perhaps, I 
 should call them the dissipations) attendant on it, are 
 too apt to intoxicate the mind ; and too often prove an 
 almost insurmountable barrier to contemplation, even 
 where there is natural genius : and in what we term a 
 very- refined state of society, the manners are so artifi- 
 cial, are formed on so uniform a system, that the 
 feelings of the heart are greatly concealed from our 
 view indeed, are often scarcely discernable ; unless 
 self-interest, or passion throw the individual off his 
 guard, remove the mask, and expose him to us in his 
 proper form. I need not bring many arguments to 
 defend this position ; as it is one from which few of my 
 readers will dissent. Therefore it is evident that if we 
 would study human nature in its true colours, we must 
 view man, while comparative simplicity existed, before 
 
 I
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 mental reservation and hypocrisy grew into a system. 
 In consequence, we find that most poets who have 
 written in a refined state of society, preferred attempting 
 a description of mankind in a ruder state : and yet 
 how tame and uniform are they in the display of cha- 
 racter, when compared with poets of a more unvar- 
 nished age ; where the bold energies of the human mind 
 are constantly called into action ! For an example of 
 this, compare Homer and Virgil. 
 
 I hope therefore that the reader will discover, from 
 what has been said, that no obstacle arises from the state 
 of society in which Ossian was placed, to our concluding 
 him to be the author of the poems ascribed to him. How- 
 ever, I am perfectly ready to admit him to have been a rara 
 avis in his day. His splendid, his super-eminent genius 
 seems to have gained him such a character among his 
 cotemporaries, that it became a kind of sacrilege to take 
 liberties with his poems ; they were looked upon as 
 a sacred standard for poetic excellence, and, de- 
 scending with such a feeling in their favour, were 
 long defended by the watchful eye of posterity from 
 contamination . * 
 
 . * It is my opinion, that the existence of one noble and energetic genius, 
 in an age, often tends more to the introduction and improvement of science, 
 and intellectual refinement, than any other circumstance we can well 
 imagine. A bold and extraordinary display of talent in an individual will
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. IxiH 
 
 As to the objection, which I have heard frequently 
 brought forward, " that no traces of the ceremonies 
 of the Druids are to be met with in the poems," I have 
 endeavoured to reply to it in my notes on DAR-THULA ; 
 and to them I beg leave to refer my readers. 
 
 of necessity attract the attention, excite the admiration, and bring forth 
 the praises of his cotemporaries. The reward which his merit obtains, 
 will not only stimulate him to fresh efforts, but likewise urge others to 
 explore that field which he had opened to their view. Thus many com- 
 petitors for fame arise ; the human mind, from exertion, becomes ex- 
 panded ; and the public, by comparing the numerous essays which make 
 their appearance, arrive, by degrees, even at a knowledge of criticism. 
 It is true that intellectual refinement amongst a people is, in general, 
 accompanied with improvement in what are called the arts of civil life. 
 But we greatly err, if, because they are usually concomitants, we con- 
 clude the existence of the one to be indispensible to that of the other : and 
 we err still farther if we suppose that they must actually keep pace to- 
 gether. Now it appears from Ossian's poems, that he lived in a kind of 
 classical age : poetry then appeared to be almost the order of the day. Nor 
 was it altogether confined to the bards ; for we hear the poetic talent of 
 Fingal, who does not appear to have been of that order, highly applauded 
 by Ossian. I have no doubt, however, but the superlative genius of 
 Ossian (like Homer among the Greeks) put all other competitors in the back 
 ground ; and has been the cause of many other composition* of great 
 merit not outliving the age in which they were produced. 
 
 Here some important reflections arise : In the first place we see the 
 happy results of public encouragement of genius : secondly, we have 
 reason to conclude that national supereminence in any science is to be 
 attributed rather to what might be called intellectual competition, than to 
 soil, climate, <fec. although the latter may operate as auxiliaries. A similar 
 mode of reasoning will apply to arts and manufactures. In short, as long 
 as human ingenuity, in any branch whatsoever, meets a reward, it will 
 continue to make progress toward perfection.
 
 Ixiv 
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 We had almost forgot to notice the pretensions of 
 Ireland to both Ossian, and his poems:* for many to 
 this hour look upon both the one and the other to be 
 Irish. It cannot be necessary for me to inform the 
 reader, to which side my opinion inclines. But it may 
 not be amiss to say a few words as to the origin of 
 those pretensions ; which, instead of being any proof 
 
 The affinity of the Caledonian, and Irish royal families, may be seen 
 from the following genealogy : 
 
 TRENMOR, King of Morven. 
 
 TRATHAL. 
 
 CONAR, King of Ireland. 
 
 COMHAL. 
 
 
 
 FINGAL. CAIRBRE. I . ROSCRANA, 
 
 the Mother of Ossian. 
 
 The latter Cormac was the youth who was murdered by Cairl;ar of 
 Atha. He was succeeded, as supreme king, by his uncle Ferad-artho, who 
 probably was not older than Limself.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 of the spuriousness of these poems, on the contrary I 
 look upon as a strong coroboration of their authenti- 
 city. That poems bearing some resemblance to those 
 of Ossian, both as to the names of the heroes, and, 
 sometimes, the incidents related ; and that many of those 
 poems were in existance for ages before Macpherson 
 was born ; I think cannot be disputed. Very ancient 
 manuscripts of several are yet to be found ; and trans- 
 lations of some of them, as well as copies of the origi- 
 nals, have been published. Now all this is not in the 
 least extraordinary it is just what might be expected, 
 from the relation in which Ossian declares himself to 
 have stood with respect to Ireland. In addition to the 
 very near affinity which subsisted between him and the 
 royal-family of Ulster, he was appointed by his 
 father to conduct his cousin Ferad-artho to the palace 
 of Temora, on the latter being raised to the throne, 
 after the murder of young Cormac, (TEMORA, Canto 
 VIII.) And, from the charge and instructions with 
 which Fingal accompanied this commission from his 
 resigning " the spear of Trenmor" (i. e. the command 
 of the army) to Ossian, and immediately after taking 
 his departure for Selma from the youth of the Irish 
 king, and the convulsed state of his dominions it is 
 more than probable I might say, almost certain, that 
 Ossian remained with him until tranquillity was entirely
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 restored, and all the refractory chiefs reduced to obe- 
 dience : which could not have been a very short 
 period. Doubtless, during his residence in Ireland he 
 neglected no means to conciliate the inhabitants, and 
 to make them view him as their friend and guardian. 
 Therefore it is not to be wondered at, if Ossian and his 
 memory became revered among the Irish, and his 
 poetry incorporated with that of the national bards: 
 who, besides, would not fail to represent him as their 
 own flesh and blood ; and would studiously avoid every 
 estranging expression every thing that could awaken 
 the jealousy of the nation, and remind them of the 
 foreign interference, which had restored the dynasty 
 of Conar. Hence it is probable that allusions to his 
 not being an Irishman would be carefully refrained 
 from, (at all events by the bards who were in the royal 
 interest) as he was, virtually, for some time their 
 ruler: And future bards, copying from their prede- 
 cessors, would hand down a description of his virtues, 
 and his talents, together with the heroic deeds of his 
 father, Fingal, (or Fion the Gael} without speci- 
 fying their not being natives. Nor is there the least 
 impropriety in Fingal being called general of the Irish 
 Militia (or trained bands) if he be the person alluded 
 to in Irish history: as he constantly put himself at the 
 head of the army, whenever an overwhelming danger
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. Ixvii 
 
 threatened the state ; and was really the main-spring of 
 the government. Besides, I think it probable, from 
 Temora, Canto IV. that Ossian was actually born in 
 Ireland : for we find that Fingal fell in love with, and 
 married his cousin Roscrana, the mother of Ossian, in 
 a few days after his arrival in Ulster, to the assistance 
 of her father Cormac. After his marriage a consider- 
 able time must have elapsed before he could have 
 returned to Morven ; for he had to wait until his cousin 
 Cairbre raised an army, to co-operate with his band, 
 in the war against Colc-ulla ; and the campaign, in all 
 likelihood, was not quickly terminated : so that (if 
 what tradition states be true that Fingal was blessed 
 with a son and heir in due time,) it is far more than 
 probable that Roscrana was not removed from her 
 friends and relatives previous to the birth of Ossian. 
 Be this as it may, it is most evident from the poems of 
 Ossian, that he must have spent no inconsiderable por- 
 tion of his time in Ireland:* he seems intimately 
 acquainted with every thing, and every person of 
 note in the country speaks of the bards, describes 
 their poetic talents, and even inserts several of their 
 
 I should not omit to state that he married an Irish lady, (Eoir-allen 
 (he daughter of Branno,) tradition says, before he was eighteen years of 
 age ; which proves him to have been in Ireland while very young.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 songs; as if they had been his most familiar compa- 
 nions. And, from the very high encomiums which he 
 bestows on them, we have no reason to imagine that 
 his taste suffered by his communion with them. But it 
 is worthy of remark, that whatever " shreds and 
 patches" of Ossian's composition are to be found in 
 the Irish poetry, appear blended with allusions to the 
 later aera : while the poems which have been preserved 
 in the Highlands as his, bear with them every mark of 
 authenticity, and are of an un-mixed character.* 
 
 I have some hopes that even the foregoing arguments 
 will be sufficient to convince all who give the subject a 
 dispassionate consideration, that the poems did not 
 originate with Macpherson. If any there be who still 
 hold this opinion, I beg to refer them to the Highland 
 Society's report, published in 1805; to Dr. Graham's 
 Essay on the authenticity of the poems ; and, in par- 
 ticular, to Dr. Hugh Blair's account of the result of the 
 inquiries which he undertook in compliance with Mr. 
 David Hume's request. A perusal of the above pub- 
 lications, will, I think, produce conviction in every 
 mind which is not entirely blinded by prejudice, that 
 
 * The poem of Dar-thula is among those claimed by Ireland : Ossian at 
 the termination of that poem, speaks of having composed something on 
 that subject, when bis father came over to attack Cairbar the usurper.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. IxiX 
 
 Macpherson must, at least, have collected numerous 
 Gaelic poems, to form the basis of his publication ; and 
 that poems bearing a strong resemblance to those he has 
 published were in existance long before he was born. 
 But a most important point to ascertain, is, what alter- 
 ations, what additions have the poems received from that 
 gentleman's hand ? 
 
 This question may by some be considered a vain spe- 
 culation, incapable of being brought to any useful 
 issue. Still however I am of opinion that we have suf- 
 ficient data to authorize the inquiry ; and may, by a 
 patient investigation, come to, if not a positive and 
 determinate conclusion, at least a rational one. 
 
 A very important clue to the investigation may be 
 obtained, by comparing Macp her son's translation of 
 the seventh canto of Temora, with the specimen of the 
 Gaelic original which he has published. As this com- 
 parison has been already made by Dr. Graham in his 
 Essay, to it I refer my reader. From this document we 
 may discern what was Mr. Macpherson's general man- 
 ner of translating the poems ; how far he has departed 
 from the original ; in how much he has conveyed to 
 his readers the genuine ideas and spirit of Ossian : in 
 short, to what degree of credit his translation is entitled. 
 I must here observe, that Mr. Macpherson, by sup- 
 pressing in his translation a passage to be found, in the 
 
 I
 
 1XX PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 original, has made it of superlative value to us ; as by 
 this he has set his seal to the authenticity of it : For (to 
 use his own language) to those who know how pertina- 
 cious he was of his opinion with respect to the Irish 
 history, it must be evident that a canto so subversive of 
 his system, could never have been composed by him. 
 This may serve as an answer (although it is not the only 
 one we could bring forward) to those who have affected 
 to believe that Macpherson fabricated that specimen, to 
 impose on the public. 
 
 In a critique published last year, (on the first four 
 cantos of my versification of Temora,) several extracts 
 from Macpherson's version have been contrasted with 
 a verbal translation of the original since obtained ; 
 and as we find the translation there given of the 
 passages brought under review, to have a variation 
 very nearly similar, both as to manner and degree, 
 from the version of Macpherson, with that which we 
 discover between his and Dr. Graham's translation of 
 the seventh canto of Temora ; I think myself authorized 
 in making use of Macpherson's acknowledged specimen, 
 as a test by which to judge of his general performance. 
 I shall now lay before my readers some extracts from the 
 Critique ; and leave them to draw a comparison between 
 the exposure there given, and that exhibited in Dr. 
 Graham's work.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Macpherson thus translates a part of Hidalla's 
 speech, intended to calm the angry feeling which 
 arose between Foldath and Malthos : " Ye are brave, 
 O warriors ! ye are tempests in war. Ye are like storms 
 which meet the rocks without fear, and overturn the 
 woods." Temora, Canto I. Here follows the verbal 
 translation*' : " Mighty are ye yourselves, race of 
 battles ! as a tempest from the ocean's roar as a storm 
 which meets the lofty cliff, and brings the wood from 
 its summit (brow) to the ground." 
 
 I shall also insert a verbal translation of the descrip- 
 tion of the combat between Oscar and Cairbar (Temora, 
 Canto I.) copied from the same work : " See how they 
 fall before the chief ; as the wood of the hill in the 
 desert : when in wrath comes the ghost of the stormy 
 blast, under night, fiercely from his abode : his hand 
 spread about the tops of the trees! Morla' fell. Ma- 
 ronnan under death. Connachar bent to the ground 
 in blood. Cairbar fled from the lance of the mighty 
 chief: dropping down, under a dark cover, behind a 
 
 * The original rnns thus: 
 '' Is trenn sibh fhein, 
 A thiol iirttn blar ! 
 Mar Ghaillion O Ghair a cbuain 
 Mar stoerm a tbachras re .- geir eird 
 Bhuir coille gu lar O chruaich !"
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 stone of forms and curves, in secret (or stealth) he 
 lifted his spear : he struck the side of Oscar ! On his 
 shield fell the hero on the face of the plain : on his knee 
 was the support of the chief : his own long spear in 
 his hand ! Behold Cairbar lying in dusty gloom : the 
 sharp " point" of the steel pierced his head, splitting 
 his red locks behind." Here we have an accurate, and 
 distinct picture. But when we view Macpherson's 
 translation of the same passage, we are forcibly struck 
 with the undecidedness and obscurity of his manner : 
 although it is evident that both translations are done 
 from the same original. " Behold they fall before my 
 son, like groves in a desert ; when an angry ghost rushes 
 through night, and takes their green heads in his hand ! 
 Morlath falls. Maronnan dies. Connachar trembles 
 in his blood ! Cairbar shrinks before Oscar's sword ! 
 he creeps in darkness behind a stone. He lifts the spear 
 in secret ; he pierces my Oscar's side ! He falls forward 
 on his shield : his knee supports the chief. But still his 
 spear is in his hand. See gloomy Cairbar falls ! The 
 steel pierced his forehead, and divided his red locks 
 behind." 
 
 The reader cannot fail to remark the manifest defi- 
 ciency in this translation : for not only is it unintelligible 
 in one place ; but also some striking features in the 
 simile are omitted, as the ghost " of the stormy blast ;"
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. Ixxiii 
 
 the wood " of the hill," (the hill as most exposed to the 
 action of the storm) : not to speak of the stone " of 
 forms and curves,"* which determines the sacred cha- 
 racter of the place, and conveys some idea to us that 
 religious ceremonies were performed at their solemn 
 feasts : which is agreeable to the customs of antiquity. , 
 In fact a school-boy, who had been a year at the lan- 
 guage, would deserve a flagellation, had he left so 
 incoherent, and defective a production after his hand. 
 No wonder then that the learned re viewer should exclaim, 
 *' as Macpherson has not translated Ossian, it is a pity 
 that some man * * * should not attempt it." 
 
 Perhaps it is needless for me to produce any more 
 specimens of that gentleman's mistranslations, as they 
 are all much in the same strain. But it may be satis- 
 factory to my readers to hear the learned critic's 
 opinion of his performance: He says, "He (Macpher- 
 
 * The author of the critique remarks : " It Would appear that Cairbar 
 took refuge in the sanctuary of the day, that is, the stone or stones 
 standing on end ; to which at this moment much respect is paid. Behind 
 one of these stones he slunk, where he would have been safe, had he not 
 abused the privilege of the sanctuary " Cloiche nan cruth s nan cram" 
 is not easily translated. Cruth refers to the forms or spirits worshipped, 
 who were supposed to meet the worshipper at the stone ; and Cram refers 
 to the bowing or prostration of the worshipper. Or Cruth refers to the 
 figures cut on the stone ; and Crom to the crooked lines OP circles repre- 
 senting the attributes of the divinity worshipped. Many such stones are 
 found in Scotland, as at Aber-lenmo, Glammis-Meigle, and other places."
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 son) has left most of the beauties of his original 
 im-noticed, or perverted them. Almost every line of 
 Ossian proves this: yet we are told that he himself is 
 Ossian; when in fact he can be, hardly called his 
 translator or imitator. As little can the Gaelic, as 
 some persons ignorant of it pretend, be a translation 
 from the English: for it bears in every line evident 
 marks of its originality or authenticity, whoever may 
 have been the author." Dr. Graham bears a similar 
 testimony; and fully exposes Macpherson's ignorance 
 of the Gaelic idiom : (see the notes to my versification 
 of Temora, Canto VII.) In short the characteristics 
 of his translation, too often, are indistinctness, slovenli- 
 ness, and affectation. We find him constantly intro- 
 ducing trivial expression, and several of his hacknied 
 epithets, which are not in the original ; and which take 
 greatly from the beauty and energy of the style: but 
 it does not appear that he often took the trouble to 
 make any very material alterations.* Several of his 
 
 The instance before insisted on, is certainly an exception; as the omis- 
 sion in that passage most materially affects the historical information 
 which it conveys. I know not whether I am right in the following con- 
 jecture, namely, that Macpherson bad committed himself by giving an 
 opinion with respect to the history of Ireland, previous to the publication 
 of his Temora; and on reviewing the'original of the VII. Canto, he 
 considered it better to omit, in his translation, the obnoxious expression 
 "to victory," and trust to the chance of his reader passing it over un- 
 noticed. That his calculation has hitherto been correct, the event has 
 proved.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. IxXV 
 
 notes prove that he must have given the subject very 
 little consideration; as he hazards conjectures com- 
 pletely contradicted by the whole tenor of the story. 
 This at once determines the share which he bore in the 
 performance; and leaves the historical authority, and 
 the real picture of the times, in a great measure un- 
 disturbed. In fact it is on the sentimental parts that he 
 seems to have committed most havoc : but, even in 
 these, the meaning of Ossian may in general be guessed 
 at, by the help of the context. 
 
 Another circumstance has come to light, which cor- 
 roborates the belief that Macpherson has not made any 
 more flagrant alterations in the poems, than what we 
 have pointed out ; namely, it appears that he had the 
 assistance of others in executing the translation : nay, 
 even some of their squabbles respecting the meaning of 
 certain passages, are upon record. * And this of 
 itself was likely to deter him from making serious 
 innovations: But, in my opinion, he was not a person 
 that would give himself the trouble of doing so: and 
 this opinion is greatly confirmed by every thing that I 
 have either heard, or read, concerning him. 
 
 It appears to me, therefore, from every enquiry I 
 have been able to make on the subject, that by com- 
 paring Macpherson's translation of the VII. Canto of 
 
 See Graham's Essay.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Temora, with that given in Dr. Graham's Essay, we 
 shall be able to form a tolerably accurate estimate of 
 his general mode of proceeding : But I would remark, 
 that he has evidently taken more pains in some places 
 than in others. 
 
 To every unprejudiced person, I trust enough has 
 been said, to prove the necessity of another version of 
 the poems : and likewise to point out the necessity of 
 carefully inspecting all the Gaelic poetry which has 
 been published since Macpherson's time. It is not a 
 very material question to us whether Macpherson 
 erred through carelessness, or from being actually un- 
 qualified for the undertaking: I fancy that both these 
 causes contributed ; for it has been proved by several 
 that he was not well-versed in the Gaelic language ; 
 and obvious marks of a slovenly hand are discernable 
 in various parts of his version: Besides he has fur- 
 nished us with unequivocal testimony of his having 
 been a superficial thinker. In short I believe he might 
 have succeeded better had he taken more pains: but 
 that, even with the best intentions, he was incapable 
 of doing justice to the immortal Ossian. * 
 
 * Oliver Goldsmith does not appear to have thought more favourably of 
 Macpherson: in his poem of RETALIATION we have the following line, 
 
 "Macpherson, write bombast and call it a style!" 
 He adds, in a marginal note, "James Macpherson, Esq. who, from the 
 mere force of his style, wrote down the first poet of all antiquity."
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 As to the question, whether verse or prose be the 
 best medium for translating poetry in general, or the 
 poems of Ossian in particular, I fancy that it will not 
 be easily decided ; because many arguments may be 
 brought in favour of either method. Either may be 
 eminently successful, provided the translator have 
 talent, and imbibe the genuine spirit of the original. 
 But I think it self-evident that a literal version of 
 poetry cannot, from the very nature of language, be 
 considered more than the elements of a translation - 
 the materials of a dilapidated fabric, which it will 
 require much patience and ingenuity to restore to their 
 primitive situations. 
 
 However I would here make one remark, which 
 appears particularly applicable to the English tongue ; 
 viz. that as verse has ever been considered the proper 
 vehicle for those fervid and exalted ideas, which are 
 the offspring of the imagination's most impassioned 
 moments ; so, when language assumes that form, we are 
 disposed not only to tolerate, but also to expect, 
 a figurative and exaggerated expression, which, if con- 
 veyed in the calm and argumentative form of prose, 
 might appear turgid, and almost offensive to the un- 
 derstanding: Just as we witness without surprise, 
 from a person labouring under the effect of any violent 
 stimulus, expressions and assertions, which, if uttered 
 
 L
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 *, 
 
 in his cooler moments, would lead us to view him as a 
 candidate for a lunatic asylum. I am hence disposed 
 to conclude that we are, in justice to the original 
 author, almost called upon to put his sentiments into 
 that form in which he himself has chosen to convey 
 them: It is perhaps the only way to enable him to 
 defend himself against the charge of occasional ex- 
 travagancies. The English tongue is so copious its 
 vocabulary so extended so enriched from other 
 languages, at abounds so much in synonyma ; that it 
 will be the translator's fault if even the sublime poems 
 of Ossian lose aught of their original dignity or grace, 
 by a translation into English verse. And, in my 
 opinion, any " particularity" (as it has been called), 
 any sententious brevity, of which they may be de- 
 prived in the process, will be amply compensated, (at 
 least to the generality of readers,) by the peculiar 
 advantages which verse can boast of: provided all 
 the obvious requisites be complied with. 
 
 Doubtless, where two languages differ so widely in 
 their idiom, as the Gaelic and English are known to do, 
 much precaution will be required ; lest, on the one 
 hand we deprive Ossian of all his original nerve, and 
 native simplicity ; or, on the other, introduce an un- 
 couthness or singularity of phraseology, ungrateful to 
 the ear of a modern Englishman. Fortunately, however,
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 1XX1X 
 
 one circumstance has operated to lessen the difficulty ; 
 namely, the exceedingly literal version of the OLD 
 TESTAMENT into the English tongue. This has, as it 
 were, naturalized, nay, even dignified, a form of ex- 
 pression, which, strictly speaking, is foreign to the 
 idiom of our language. Thus we can now hear with- 
 out reluctance, " the arm of might," instead of the 
 mighty arm, " the heart of pride," instead of the 
 proud heart, " the son of my love," instead of the 
 object of my affections, &c. What is more, this style 
 of expression has been patronized by some of our 
 ablest poets. Now it can be proved that the Hebrew 
 and the Gaelic bear a strong resemblance to each other, 
 both in their idiomatic structure, and in many other 
 respects: therefore, by the former having so exten- 
 sively spread its influence over the solemn and dignified 
 part of the English tongue, the way is paved for re- 
 taining in an English translation many peculiarities of 
 the latter y which perhaps could not otherwise with 
 propriety have been done.* 
 
 Mr. Rowlands, in an appendix to his work, gives " A COMPARATIVE 
 TABLE ; shewing the affinity and near resemblance, both in sound and 
 signification, of many words of the ancient languages of EUROPE, with the 
 original HEBREW tongue." From which it appears, that the Celtic, or 
 ancient language of Great Britain and Ireland, has far a greater number 
 in common with the Hebrew, than all the others put together. He makes
 
 1XXX PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 With respect to the translation, of which a specimen 
 is now submitted to the public, a few words will suffice. 
 The species of versification employed in the following 
 poem, has been likewise used in the greater number of 
 the lesser poems of Ossian. It has been chosen, as 
 presenting a greater freedom than the heroic couplet ; 
 and as corresponding better with the general strain of 
 those poems, which is, for the most part, elegiac. 
 Some, however, have been put into the ordinary couplet. 
 And a few (especially the dramatic poem of COMALA) 
 are in blank verse. This latter, had I only my own 
 
 one remark, which I shall copy, for the benefit of those who may feel 
 inclined to examine farther into this matter. " It is to be observed, that 
 letters of one and the same organ, are of common nse in the pronouncing 
 of words of different languages ; as for example, M, B, V, F, P, are 
 Labials: T, D, S, are Dentals: G, Ch, H, K, C, are Gutturals. And there- 
 fore, if the Hebrew word or sound begin with, or be made of, any one of 
 the Labials, any of the rest of the same organ will answer it in the deriva- 
 tive languages. The same is to be observed in using the Dental and the 
 Guttural letters : for in tracing out the origin of words, we are more to 
 regard the sound of them, than their literal form and composition, wherein 
 we find words very often, by the humours and fancy of people, trans- 
 posed and altered from their native sounds, and yet in their signification, 
 they very well fit their original patterns : I shall only exemplify in the 
 letters M, B, and V, which are of one organ, that is, are formed by 
 one instrument, the lip; and therefore are promiscuously used, the one 
 for the other. In pronouncing words of one language in another, the 
 Hebrew B is generally pronounced as a V consonant : and the Irish also, 
 most common in the middle of a word, do pronounce M as a J", as we 
 find the ancient Britains to have made use of V for M and B in many 
 Latin words.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 predilection to consult, should have been the species 
 employed throughout, as I look upon it to be the 
 proudest offspring of the English language. But it is 
 certain that rhymes are, by the majority of readers, 
 preferred : and it surely is the duty of every author to 
 conform to the reigning taste, as far as he can with 
 propriety. The songs of the bards are invariably in 
 a lyric strain : some of them adapted to favorite na- 
 tional airs. 
 
 Perhaps it may be here objected, that an uniform 
 method should pervade the whole translation. But we 
 must recollect, that, although the poems profess to be the 
 work of one man, they were composed at various times, 
 and on various occasions : and it seemed requisite to 
 put them, severally, into that species of versification 
 which appeared most applicable to the subject of each. 
 It is true, the kind of verse employed in Dar-thula 
 alternate rhymes, with occasional couplets, and even 
 triplets possessing in some places a freedom in the 
 cadence, approaching to that of blank-verseis not 
 (that I know of,) to be found in any author ; and, in 
 consequence, some may consider it an affectation of 
 singularity, thus to depart from the beaten track. For 
 my part, I shall not tire my reader with a detail of my 
 reasons for adopting it : it is for him to judge of its 
 suitableness or unsuitableness : but I request of him 
 not to view it through the focus of prejudice.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 The most serious difficulty which presents itself to a 
 versifier of the poems of Ossian, arises from a kind of 
 revolution which has taken place with respect to the ap- 
 plication of poetry, or measured language. In its 
 infancy, verse was employed as a vehicle for all historical 
 facts, apparently for the purpose of assisting the me- 
 mory ; and at that period it seems frequently to have 
 rested all its merit on the force of its numbers, and 
 artful arrangement. Thus we sometimes find in the 
 narrative of Ossian's poems, no elevation of sentiment 
 or style, above what would mark it out as a proper sub- 
 ject for the plainest and humblest prose. But in the 
 present age, verse is almost always confined to the 
 higher regions of sentiment, and considered as the 
 language of the imagination and passions : it is ex- 
 pected to assume a tone almost inconsistent with simple 
 narrative, and matter of fact ; which are assigned to 
 their proper province, unassuming prose. Thus we 
 now-a-days distinguish between a poetic, and a prosaic 
 style. It is probably from this circumstance that several 
 moderns have declared fiction to be essential to an epic 
 poem : for it, thus, being left to the author to make 
 choice of whatever sentiments he may think proper, it 
 is in his power to select such as will be suitable to that 
 elevation of style which modern taste has deemed indis- 
 pensible to poetry.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Hence the great difficulty, above alluded to : to 
 guard against a striking inequality to keep up an ele- 
 vation throughout ; so that no part may seem unworthy 
 of the dignity of verse ; and yet to be faithful to the 
 original. Unless this can be accomplished, the present 
 undertaking is vain. Whether it has or not the candid 
 reader must judge. 
 
 I ought to apologize for thus having spun out this 
 preliminary discourse, as well as the notes on DAR- 
 THULA, to a far greater length than was intended when 
 I put the poem to press to an extent, I fear, which 
 must have exhausted the patience of my readers. At 
 first I had purposed to give the following poem almost 
 without comment. But from conversing with some 
 literary characters, while the printing was in progress, 
 I became convinced of the existence of so strong a 
 prejudice against the poems of Ossian, and so gross 
 a misconception of their real nature, that it was vain 
 to expect any attention would be bestowed on them, 
 unless some appeal were made to the public judgment. 
 This consideration led me to attempt, what I fear will 
 be regarded as a rude and desultory essay. But should 
 I be so happy as to awaken the world to the merit of 
 the inimitable bard should I prove in any degree the 
 humble guide to a mine so pregnant with the noblest 
 and most virtuous feelings of human nature with
 
 1XXX1V PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 patriotism, with generosity, with heroism, with univer- 
 sal philanthropy should I succeed in exciting a 
 spirit of enquiry as to the authenticity of the poems ; 
 an enquiry which I doubt not will terminate in a most 
 decided conviction in their favour I shall scarcely 
 regret having so precipitately entered upon a subject, 
 which would have required an ability far beyond 
 what my rude and unpractised pen can pretend to. 
 
 To the rising generation we may fairly anticipate 
 an important advantage, from a connected and intel- 
 ligible version of Ossian's poetry. Its pages breathe 
 the most glowing sentiments, coupled with the most 
 spotless delicacy, and purity of language. In his com- 
 positions we have no gilded baubles: all is solid 
 bullion. Nor do we behold him exhibiting how long 
 he could skip on the very brink of licentiousness, 
 without actually plunging into its filthy gulph. In 
 vain shall we search in his poems for that detestable 
 double entendre, which, worse than the infernal apple 
 of Milton, . is found to contain, not only " soot and 
 cinders," but a most subtile poison. Nor does he follow 
 vice to its secret haunts, and display it to us in its most 
 abominable dalliance, covered with a veil so thin, that 
 it only serves to insult the understanding. No, No! 
 he who becomes intimately acquainted with Ossian, dis- 
 sonant indeed must his heart be, if it remain untuned to 
 virtue.
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. IxXXV 
 
 Some may consider me to have dwelt with unbe- 
 coming severity on Macpherson's faults. But I beg 
 leave to assure them that I have not been influenced by 
 any wish to indulge in personal invective : my sole desire 
 was to give the reader what to me appeared a just view 
 of the subject.* And I regret that Macpherson's con- 
 duct with respect to the poems, left me no other mode 
 of proceeding : as he obstinately refused to yield the 
 public the least satisfaction on the question of the au- 
 thenticity, which he could so easily have done. There- 
 fore, from his high and swaggering pretensions having 
 deceived many as to his real merit, while self-interest 
 led him to deny that information which the world was 
 justly entitled to ; he becomes obnoxious to the closest 
 scrutiny ; and has not, that I can perceive, the slightest 
 circumstance of extenuation in his favour. 
 
 Before I conclude, I have to notice a trifling innova- 
 tion which occurs in DAR-THULA. In the mode of 
 
 * I have here to retract an assertion made in a preceding part of thi 
 dissertation ; which proceeded entirely from an oversight, not discover- 
 ed 'till it was too late to alter it. In page XXXIV. I have said that 
 ' Mr. Macpherson had taken no pains to lay before his readers the origin 
 of Collar's pretensions to the Irish crown:" but I ought to have recol- 
 lected that, in his DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE POEMS OF OSSIAN, he 
 has an allusion to the circumstance. I shall always be most ready to 
 confess any error I may happen to fall into ; as it is far from my intention 
 to pervert any thing connected with the subject. 
 
 M
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 poetical elision which I have adopted, the servile e (or 
 e mute) is invariably retained in the participle past, and 
 preterit, (in all cases where it is found to terminate the 
 infinitive of the verb,) and is followed by a superior 
 comma; to indicate that the e does not form a separate 
 syllable with the final d; but is merely retained (ac- 
 cording to the original intention) to preserve to the 
 preceding vowel its open sound : as like, like'd, instead 
 of lik'd, as some would have it written. By this mode 
 the word is saved from that mutilated appearance, which 
 is so offensive to the eye ; while the superior comma 
 unequivocally points out the necessary contraction of 
 sound. Some modern poets, sensible of the absurd 
 effect which this mutilation sometimes caused, retained 
 the e mute as in prose writing: and hence were we 
 liable, at a first reading, to introduce a syllable more 
 than was compatible with the harmony of the line. 
 By the method here adopted, all suspense is avoided.
 
 --tliuU t 
 
 A POEM.
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 " It may not be improper here, to give the story which is the foundation 
 of this poem, as it is handed down by tradition. Usnoth, lord of Etha, 
 (which is probably that part of Argyleshire near Loch Eta, an arm of 
 the sea in Lorn,) had three sons, Nathos, Althos, and Ardan, by Slis- 
 *aiua, the daughter of Semo, and sister to Cuthullin. The three brothers, 
 when very young, were sent over to Ireland, by their father, to learn 
 the use of arms under their uncle, Cuthnllin, who made a great figure 
 in that Kingdom. They were just landed in Ulster when the new* 
 of Cuthullin's death arrived. Nathos, though very young, took the 
 command of Cuthullin's army, made head against Cairbar the usurper, 
 and defeated him in several battles. Cairbar, at last having found 
 means to murder Cormac, the lawful king, the army of Nathos shifted 
 sides ; and he himself was obliged to return into Ulster, in order to 
 pass over into Scotland. 
 
 Dar-thnla the daughter of Colla (with whom Cairbar was in love,) 
 resided, at that time in Selama, a castle in Ulster : she saw, fell in 
 love, and fled with Nathos ; but a storm rising at sea, they were unfor- 
 tunately driven back on that part of the coast of Ulster, where Cair- 
 bar was encamped with his army. The three brothers, after having 
 defended themselves for some time with great bravery, were over- 
 powered and slain ; and the unfortunate Dar-thnla killed herself 
 upon the body of her beloved Nathos. 
 
 The poem opens on the night preceding the death of the sons of Us- 
 noth ; and brings in, by way of episode, what passed before. It re- 
 lates the death of Dar-thula differently from the common tradition : 
 This account is the most probable, as suicide seems to have been un- 
 known in those early times ; for no traces of it are found in the old 
 
 poetry." 
 
 MACPHRHSON. 
 
 5* The scene of this poem is contiguous to that of Temora : For strong reasons, I 
 imagine it to lie in the barony nf Inishoan, County of Donegal ; a few miles froir 
 the City of Londonderry.
 
 POEM. 
 
 I. 
 
 to tfje 
 
 DAUGHTER of heaven, lovely is thy reign ! 
 
 In silent majesty thou dost ascend ! 
 The stars crowd round thee in refulgent train, 
 
 And through the limpid sky thy course attend. 
 The clouds, O Moon ! glide tow'rd thy steps with joy ; 
 
 Their dark-brown sides they brighten with thy beams. 
 Stern ocean smiling meets thy radiant eye : 
 
 Blithe through their valleys wind the burnish'd streams.
 
 4 DAR-THULA. I" 
 
 Thou fair dissolver of the mid-night shade, 
 
 What light in heav'n is like thy gentle ray ! 
 The stars of proudest beam beside thee fade : 
 
 Ashame'd, they turn their sparkling eyes away ! 
 But whither dost thou from thy course retreat, 
 
 When darkness o'er thy lovely visage grows? 
 Hast thou thy hall, like Ossian? Dost thou fleet 
 
 To pensive shades, and 'lonely, vent thy woes? 
 Have thy bright sisters fall'n from heav'n are they, 
 
 Who with thee cheer'd the gloomy night, no more? 
 Yes! they have fall'n, fair light! thy tristful ray 
 
 Doth oft retire, in silence to deplore. 
 But thou, thyself, one night shalt fail : * even thou 
 
 Shalt darkly leave thy blue path in the sky ! 
 The feeble stars, who shrink before thee, now, 
 
 Will, then, exulting, lift their heads on high. 
 In air thy splendour art thou now array'd : 
 
 Look from thy gates in heav'n, thou beam divine !- 
 Burst, O ye winds! yon cloud's unfriendly shade, 
 
 That night's fair daughter un-obscure'd may shine :
 
 DAR-THULA. 
 
 . 
 That the brown hills may gild their craggy height, 
 
 And ocean roll its silver waves in light. 
 
 II. 
 
 Their lofty heads the nightly billows rear, 
 
 The troubled ocean rolls in angry pride, 
 While Nathos,* Althos, and young Ardan steer 
 
 Their bounding vessel o'er the surgy tide. 
 The noble sons of generous Usnoth move, 
 
 Sad in the darkness of their gloomy course, 
 From Cairbar' of Atha's J wrath : for they had strove 
 
 In echoing war, against the traitor's force. 
 But who is that, dim by their side ? Inshrine'd 
 
 In cloudy night her beauty's orient beams! 
 Her lovely hair sighs on the ocean's wind: 
 
 In dusky wreaths her flowing robe wide-streams : 
 Like the fair spi'rit 4 of heav'n doth she appear; 
 When clothe'd in shadowy mist he glides along the air. 
 Who but Dar-thula s , first of Erin's maids! 
 
 From gloomy Cairbar's love she now doth fly,
 
 6 DAR-THULA. 
 
 With the blue-shielded Nathos, to the glades 
 
 Of woody Etha. But, the winds deny 
 Its groves, Dar-thula! to thy sails In vain 
 
 Thy wistful eyes are turned to the shore : 
 Those are not Nathos' hills, high-tow'ring o'er the main ; 
 
 Nor that his climbing waves' loud-echoing roar. 
 Fell Cairbar's halls are near thee, gentle maid ! 
 
 The lofty towers of thy foe arise ! 
 Green Erin stretches far her sea-beat head : 
 
 To Tura's bay the bounding vessel flies. 
 
 Ye southern breezes! where have ye delay'd, 
 
 When from their course my noble heroes veer'd ? 
 Alas! ye, sportive, o'er the valley stray'd, 
 
 Pursuing swift the thistle's wandering beard ! 
 O that ye had been rustling in the sails 
 
 Of Nathos, 'till the hills of Etha rose ! 
 'Till in their clouds they rose ; and his green vale.* 
 
 Beheld the chief returning from his foes ! 
 
 Long hast thou absent been, O Usnoth's son! 
 The day of thy return, alas! has flown!
 
 DAR-THLA. 
 
 III. 
 
 But lovely wast thou in the strangers' land ! 
 
 Lovely, O warrior ! in Dar-thula's eyes : 
 When the dread lightning of thy deathful brand 
 
 Did o'er the foes of Erin's king arise. 
 Thy face was like the east, when morn hath smile'd : 
 
 Thy jetty hair the raven's wing out-shone : 
 Thy soul, O youth! was noble, generous, mild 
 
 Serenely-radiant as the setting sun ! 
 Sweet as the gale 'mongst reeds thy accents flow'd 
 
 Soft as the murmuring Lora's gliding wave ! 
 But, when the deadly rage of battle glow'd, 
 
 O chief ! thou wast the stormy ocean's rave ! 
 
 The clang of thy resounding arms was dire: 
 The host quick vanish'd from thy course of fire ! 
 Twas then Dar-thula, Erin's fairest flow'r ! 
 
 Beheld thee, while her eyes with tears o'er-flow'd : 
 Beheld thee, from the summit of her tow'r ; 
 
 Selama's* 5 mossy tow'r, her warlike sires' abode.
 
 8 DAR-THULA. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Lovely art thou, O stranger!" said the maid; 
 
 The while her trembling soul for him arose. 
 " Fair art thou in thy battles: dire thy blade, 
 
 Thou terror of the fallen Cormac's foes ! 
 Why dost thou, ruddy youth! rush fearless on, 
 
 In pride of valour? Few thy hands in fight, 
 Against the force of Borbar-duthul's son 
 
 The dark-brow'd Cairbar, and his host of might ! 
 O that I from his hateful love were free ! 
 
 That I in Nathos' presence might rejoice ! 
 Ye dark-brown rocks of Etha ! blest are ye ! 
 
 Ye at the chase shall glad resound his voice ; 
 To you shall his white bosom oft appear, 
 When lambent breezes lift his flowing hairl" 
 
 V. 
 
 Such were thy words, Dar-thula ! in the tow'rs 
 
 Of high Selama such thy gentle wails. 
 But now the shadowy night around thee lours:
 
 DAR-THULA. 9 
 
 The winds, Dar-thula ! have deceiv'd thy sails : 
 
 Their blustering sound, their deep'ning howl prevails! 
 O North-wind ! cease a little while thine ire ! 
 
 That I may hear the maid of lovely form! 
 How sweetly doth her gentle voice transpire, 
 
 Between the fitful blasts of wildly-shrieking storm ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Are these," she cries, " the rocks of Nathos' home? 
 
 Hear I his mountain-streams' deep-echoing sound? 
 Doth yonder beam of light, faint-glimmering, come 
 
 From Usnoth's nightly hall ? Mist spreads around ; 
 The beam is feeble, it is distant-far : 
 
 But, 'tis in Etha's chief bright-dwells the light 
 Of his Dar-thula's soul ! the radiant star 
 
 Which turns to day dark sorrow's gloomy night! 
 Son of the woody Etha's generous chief ! 
 
 Why burst that broken sigh? why dost thou stand, 
 O noble youth ! thus silent in thy grief ? 
 
 Say, Nathos 1 are we in a stranger's land?" 
 
 c
 
 10 DAR-THULA. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Ah! these are not the rocks of Etha's shore!" 
 
 With mournful voice the sighing youth replies ; 
 " Dar-thula heareth not its blue streams' roar: 
 
 No light from Usnoth's halls now meets her eyes, 
 For they are distant-far! The faithless gales 
 
 Have now deceiv'd our hopes, beloved maid ! 
 Green Erin lifts her hills: our rustling sails 
 
 Are in the treacherous Cairbar's land delay'd. 
 
 Toward the north, O Althos! do thou go: 
 
 Ardan ! along the coast now watchful stray ; 
 Lest veil'd in darkness come the ruthless foe, 
 
 And all our hopes of Etha fleet away. 
 I'll seek yon tow'r, and vigilant explore 
 
 Who dwells about the glimmering beam of night. 
 Rest, my Darthula ! calmly on the shore : 
 
 Now rest thee here in peace, thou lovely light ! 
 The sword of Nathos doth around thee glow, 
 Like heav'n's dread flame, to save thee from the foe!"
 
 DAR-THULA. 11 
 
 VIII. 
 
 He went. She sat alone ; and heard the deep 
 
 Along the sounding coast its billows roll. 
 The big tears down her lovely cheeks now creep : 
 
 She looks for Nathos. Oft her gentle soul 
 Dark-trembleth at the blast. She turns her ear, 
 
 And fancies that she hears his tread: " Ah, no! 
 It is the gale ! my warrior is not near ! 
 
 Alas! I here must lonely sigh my woe! 
 Sun of my love! where art thou? Deeply howls 
 
 The blast around me ! dark the cloudy night : 
 Wild from the hill the louring tempest scowls: 
 
 But thou returnest not, O beam of might ! 
 
 Have nightly foes met Nathos in the fight?" 
 
 IX. 
 
 The chief return'd to his desponding maid : 
 But dark'ned was the face of Usnoth's son ! 
 
 At Tura's wall he had beheld the shade 
 
 v 
 Of great Cuthullin sadly stalk alone.
 
 12 DAR-THULA. 
 
 Faint from his breast arose the frequent sigh : 
 
 His eyes' decayed flame was dire to view : 
 His spear a misty column rose on high: 
 
 At times, the blood-red stars look'd dimly thro' 
 His oft-expanding form : His words appear 
 
 LiKe hollow winds which through a cavern roll : 
 His eye was like a light seen from afar. 
 
 He told the tale of grief: 7 Young Nathos' soul 
 Was gloomy as the sun's dim watery face, 
 When in the day of mist he runs his dubious race ! 
 
 X. 
 
 " Why art thou sad?" the lovely fair one cries. 
 
 " Hath not the chief of Etha's noble son 
 A pillar' of light before the joyful eyes 
 
 Of his Dar-thula ever brightly shone? 
 Where is my hope, my safety, but thy hand? 
 
 My father and my brother darkly fell! 
 Sadness spreads o'er the blue streams of my land : 
 
 Dfear silence doth on high Selama dwell.
 
 DAR-THULA. 13 
 
 My friends, alas! with Cormac were laid low; 
 
 In Erin's battles were the mighty slain. 
 Hear, son of Usnoth! hear my tale of woe: 
 
 Not small my grief, O valiant king of men ! 
 
 XL 
 
 " The dusky evening dark'ned on the vale; 
 
 The blue streams dimly fail'd before my eyes. 
 Inconstant blasts came rustling in the gale, 
 
 And thro' Selama's groves deep-swell'd their sighs. 
 Beneath a tree, whose verdant boughs entwine'd . ., t 
 
 Their leafy shade beside my father's walls, 
 I solitary sat. Oft in my mind 
 
 Rose Truthil, my loved brother. (From his halls 
 Absent, in battle, was the son of fame ; 
 
 'Gainst haughty Cairbar in dire war contending.) 
 With steps of grief the grey-hair'd Colla came : 
 
 He stood in silence, on his spear sad-bending. 
 His downcast face was dark : deep sorrow spread 
 
 Around his soul. His sword was at his side ; 
 
 '
 
 14 DAR-THULA. 
 
 The helmet of his fathers on his head.- 
 
 Within his breast wild battle swell'd its tide. 
 In vain he strove the bursting tear to hide ! 
 
 XII. 
 
 ' Dar-thula! daughter of my love!' he said, 
 
 ' Thou now alone remain'st of Colla's race ! 
 
 ' Truthil has fallen by the hostile blade: 
 
 * Ne'er, ne'er shalt thou behold thy brother's face ! 
 Cairbar' of Atha, in his gloomy ire, 
 
 ' Toward Selama leads his thousands on. 
 ' Ere 'morrow's beam shall from its course retire, 
 
 * Colla will meet him, and revenge his son ! 
 ' But, where shall I find safety from the foe 
 
 4 For thee, Dar-thula, with the dark-brown hair? 
 ' Alas, my child ! thy mighty friends are low ; 
 
 ' And as the heavenly sun-beam art thou fair!' 
 " Then, has the son of battle fallen?" I cried 
 
 " Has ruthless death the eye of valour seal'd? 
 Ceas'd Truthil's generous soul the warrior's pride ! 
 
 To lighten, dreadful, thro' the troubled field?
 
 DAR-THULA. 1 
 
 My safety, Colla! now is in that bow! 
 
 I've learned to pierce the mountain-deer in flight: 
 
 Is not proud Cairbar as the desert-roe, 
 Thou father of the fallen Truthil's might?" 
 
 XIII. 
 
 "' The face of age now brighten'd o'er with joy. 
 
 The lips of Colla trembled, as he cast 
 A lingering gaze. The tears pour'd from his eye. 
 
 His silvery beard low-sounded in the blast. 8 
 ' Thou art the sister of my Truthil!' cried 
 
 The weeping hero : ' With a kindred fire 
 
 * Thy soul doth blaze, O daughter of my pride ! 
 
 * Thou cheers't the lonely bosom of thy sire ! 
 
 * Take, my Dar-thula ! take, thou beam of heaven ! 
 
 ' That spear, that burnish'd helm, that brazen shield : 
 ' They are the gleaming spoils, which once were riven 
 ' From a young warrior, in his early field. 
 
 * When on Selama gleams the morning-ray, 
 
 * We go to meet dark Cairbar in the fight.
 
 16 DAR-THULA. 
 
 * But near the arm of Colla do thou stay 
 
 ' Beneath the shadow of his shield. The might 
 1 Of thy unhappy sire once could defend thee ! 
 
 * But age now trembles on his hand : My child ! 
 r Weak is the aid his nerveless arm can lend thee ! 
 
 * His soul dark-wanders sorrow's pathless wild!' 
 
 XIV. 
 
 " In grief we pass'd the night. The morn arose: 
 
 I shone in all the gleaming arms of war : 
 In sadness we repair'd to meet our foes. 
 
 The grey-hair'd warrior darkly move'd before. 
 Around the valiant Colla's shield, convene 
 
 Selama's warlike sons. But, few are they, 
 And hoary are their locks: The youths were slain. 
 
 With Truthil, in the noble Cormac's 9 fray. 
 
 XV. 
 
 * Friends of my youth!' began the king of men, 
 
 * Not thus you've seen me in the arms of might :
 
 toAR-THULA. 17 
 
 It was not thus I move'd to battle, when 
 
 * The great Confadan fell in mortal fight. 
 
 ' But grief, O warriors! dwells on every face. 
 
 * Alas! as desert mist gains o'er the field, 
 
 Dark age comes on! Now fixed 10 in its place 
 
 * Is Colla's sword ! worn with brown years his shield ! 
 ' I said, "thine evening shall be calm, my soul! 
 
 "A fading light shall thy departure be!" 
 ' But wild the loud returning storm doth roll : 
 
 ' I bend now leafless, like an aged tree : 
 
 ' My scatter'd bra'nches on Selama lie ! 
 ' O, my beloved Truthil ! whither, now, 
 
 ' With all thy fallen heroes art thou gone? 
 ' No answer from thy rushing blast giv'st thou ; 
 
 ' Thy doleful father must remain alone ! * 
 ' But he, my son! will not now tamely mourn; 
 
 ' Colla, or Atha's haughty chief must fall ! 
 
 * I feel the vigour of my arm return : 
 
 * My heart now boundeth at the battle's call!' 
 
 D
 
 18 DAR-THULA. 
 
 XVJ. 
 
 " The hero drew his shining sword: Amain, 
 
 The rising blades of all his people gleam'd. 
 In growing rage they strode along the plain: 
 
 Bright on the wandering breeze their grey hair stream'd- 
 As at the feast, in Lona's" silent vale, 
 
 The gloomy Cairbar sat, he, from afar, 
 Beheld the heroes coming o'er the dale ; 
 
 And quickly call'd his stormy chiefc to war. 
 Why" should a feeble maid attempt to show, 
 
 To Nathos, how the strife of battle grew? 
 I've seen thee, in the midst of thousands, glow, 
 
 Swift as the beam of heav'n's dread fire to view: 
 How beautiful! but deadly is its ray; 
 
 Along its course the people melt away! 
 
 The spear of mighty Colla flies around : 
 
 Now o'er his soul youth's proudest battles glide. 
 Alas ! an arrow came with fatal sound ; 
 
 The death-wing'd shaft deep-pierc'd the hero's side !
 
 DAR-THULA. 19 
 
 On his resounding shield he fell in blood : 
 
 My soul, O Nathof! started with afright: 
 With out-stretch'd buckler o'er my sire I stood; 
 
 My heaving bosom was expose'd to sight. 
 With wrathful spear the red-hair'd Cairbar comes : 
 
 He sees Selama's maid before him stand; 
 Joy o'er his dark-brown face now grimly roams: 
 
 He stays the lance in his uplifted hand. 
 The traitor rais'd the fallen Colla's tomb ; 
 And brought me to Selama in my woe. 
 He spoke the words of love: but deepest gloom 
 
 O'er-spread my soul ; I loathe'd the blood-stain'd foe! 
 I view'd the shields my warlike sires had rais'd ; 
 
 The sword of car-borne Truthil's arm of dread: 
 My sighs, my tears burst forth, while dark I gaze'd 
 
 On the memorials of the silent dead ! 
 Then didst thou come, O Nathos! in thy might; 
 
 Like timid ghosts, when morning-beams appear, 
 The gloomy- visage 'd Cairbar took to flight: 
 The tyrant's host, O hero! was not near; 
 And feeble was his arm against thy spear!
 
 20 PAR-THULA. 
 
 But why that deep-fetch'd sigh didst thou sad-heave V 
 Why does the pride of Etha's land now grieve?" 
 
 XVII. 
 " O maid ! I've met in youth," (the hero says,) 
 
 " The battle's rage, the frown of angry foes: 
 My arm could not the spear of combat raise. 
 
 When danger first around my steps arose. 
 My soul was bright'ned 'mid war's dusky clouds, 
 
 As the green narrow vale, when heav'n's fair light 
 Pours forth his streamy beams, ere yet he shroud.* 
 
 Within o'er-spreading storm his visage bright: 
 A mournful joy the lonely traveller feels; 
 
 He views the darkness as it onward steals. 
 
 My soul rejoice'd when danger's storm drew nigh. 
 
 Before I saw Selama's charming fair; 
 Ere thou, Dar-thula! met my ravish'd eye, 
 
 Like the soft lustre of a smiling star, 
 That mildly shineth on a hill by night : 
 
 But, the drear cloud, advancing, blacker grows.
 
 DAR-THULA. 21 
 
 And rudely menaces the lovely light !- 
 
 Alas! we now are in the land of foes! 
 The fickle winds have faithless prove'd, O maid! 
 
 The verdant groves of Etha are not nigh: 
 Nor our renowned friends our arm to aid. 1 ' 
 
 Daughter of mighty Colla! where shall I 
 Now find thee safety in a hostile land? 
 
 Brave are my brothers: my own sword hath shone; 
 But what avails our valour, to withstand 
 
 The host of Borbar-duthuPs dark-brow'd son! 
 O that the winds had brought thee, in thy might, 
 
 Great Oscar, king of men! Thou didst declare 
 That thou would'st come, in Erin's cause to fight 
 
 Would'st lift thy conquering steel in Cormac's war ! 
 Then, as the flaming arm of death, 14 my brand 
 
 Should thro' the stormy field of heroes glide ! 
 Cairbar should tremble 'midst his thousands; and 
 
 The beams of peace around my love abide ! 
 
 But why, O soul of Nathos ! dost thou fail ? 
 May not the sons of Usnoth still prevail?"
 
 22 DAR-THULA. 
 
 XVIII. 
 " And they, my Nathos! shall prevail!" replied 
 
 The rising soul of Erin's lovely maid. 
 
 " Ne'er, Truthil! shall the sister of thy pride 
 
 Be to the halls of gloomy Cairbar led ! 
 
 Give me those bra/en arms, which to the beam 
 
 Of passing meteor throw a glimmering light: 
 (In the dark-bosom'd ship I see them gleam.) 
 
 Selama's maid will lift them in the fight. 
 Ghost of the noble Colla! dost thou glide 
 
 On yonder sable cloud which passeth by? 
 Who is that sitteth dimly by thy side? 
 
 Is it the car-borne Truthil I espy? 
 Shall I behold the halls of him who slew 
 
 Selama's chief? No! spirits of my love! 
 Rather let me, in converse sweet with you, 
 
 On the dark bosom of the tempest rove!" 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Joy brighten'd o'er the face of Nathos, when 
 He heard the words of his white-boeom'd maid.
 
 DAR-THULA. 23 
 
 " Selama's daughter!" said the king of men, 
 
 " Thou shine'st along my soul ! thou hast allay'd 
 
 The darkling storm that in my bosom stray'd ! 
 Come, Cairbar ! with thy thousands now draw near ; 
 
 The strength of Nathos is return'd once more! 
 O aged Usnoth! thou shalt never hear 
 
 That thy son darkly shrunk from echoing war. 
 Thy words, on Etha's shore, I call to mind ; 
 
 When my white-bosom'd sails began to rise : 
 The- while we spread them to the rustling wind, 
 
 Tow'rds Erin toward Tura's walls: He cries; 
 ' Nathos 1 thou goest to the arm of dread 
 
 ' Thou goest to Cuthullin, king of spears! 
 ' A chief who ne'er from stormy danger fled ; 
 
 ' Who never from its wildest tempest veers ! 
 
 Let not thy hand be feeble, in the day 
 
 ' Of battle ; neither be thy thoughts of flight: 
 * Lest the great son of generous Semo say, 
 
 ' That Etha's race are impotent in fight:
 
 24 DAR-THULA. 
 
 ' The hero's words to Usnoth's soul may stray, 
 "* And cloudy sadness its calm eve benight!' 
 The tear was on my father's cheek, when he 
 Reach'd, with a sigh, this shining sword to me. 
 
 XX. 
 
 " To Tura's bay we came: but silence round 
 
 Its mossy towers deeply seem'd to" dwell. 
 I look'd about; but no one was there found 
 
 Of generous Semo's noble son to tell. 
 Straight to the hall of shells I then repaired: 
 
 But all the arms of his fame'd sires were gone ; 
 And aged Lamhor IJ sunk in woe appear'd, 
 
 In tears of grief he d'arkly Sat alone. 
 
 * Whence are the arms of steel?' he, rising, cried. - 
 
 ' Long hath the spear of war its gleaming ray 
 
 ' To mossy Tura's gloomy walls denied! 
 
 ' Sons of the mighty! whence now is your way? 
 
 * From high Temora's mournful halls come ye? 
 
 * Or are your footsteps from the rolling sea?'
 
 DAR-THULA. 25 
 
 XXI. 
 
 " From ocean's shore," quoth I, " our steps we trace ; 
 
 From Usnoth's rising tow'rs have steer'd our way. 
 We are Slissama's sons 16 of Semo's race. 
 
 Son of the silent hall ! I prithee, say, 
 Where is the lonely Tura's king of spears? 
 
 But why should Nathos ask, thou son of grief? 
 Doth he not now behold thy flowing tears? 
 
 Declare how fell green Erin's mighty chief?" 
 %' He fell not as the silent star of night, 
 
 * When it through darkness flies, and fails anon : 
 
 But he was like a meteor 17 , whose light 
 
 * Shoots into distant regions! death upon 
 
 * Its dreary course attends : itself appears 
 
 * The dreadful omen of approaching wars! 
 
 ' In midst of slaughter fell the son of fame! 
 
 ' The conquering hand of Tura's peerless lord 
 
 Was strong in battle, as a bursting flame ! 
 
 ' Death sat behind the lightning of his sword! - 
 
 * Lamhur speaks. 
 E
 
 26 DAR-THULA. 
 
 ' Mournful are Lego's banks; the voice of woe 
 ' Doth in the roar of streamy Lara swell ; 
 
 * There do his warriors weep the mighty low ! 
 c Son of the noble Usnoth! there the hero fell.' 
 
 XXII. 
 
 " We reach'd the misty Lego's sounding shore, 
 
 The rising tomb of brave Cuthullin found : 
 His friends in battle their great chief deplore, 
 
 His bards of many songs the grave surround. 
 Three days we o'er the fallen hero mourn'd : 
 
 The fourth, I struck the mighty Caithbat's 1 ? shield 
 The gathering host with joy of warriors burn'd ; 
 
 High-gleam'd their beamy spears along the field! 
 Corlath, the friend of Cairbar, then was near, 
 
 With all his host : Like a dark stream, by night, 
 We came ; his heroes swept before us were ! 
 
 The people of the valley with the light 
 Of morn beheld the blood of our proud foes. 
 
 We then like wreaths of mist quick roll'd away
 
 DAR-THULA. 27 
 
 To Cormac's echoing halls : Our swords arose 
 To save the youthful king from bloody fray. 
 
 But silent were the high Temora's halls ! 
 
 By treachery's sword had Cormac fallen, before 
 
 Our band's arrival empty were his walls! 
 The king of mournful Erin was no more!" 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 " Sadness seiz'd on the sons of Erin, they 
 
 Slowly and gloomily retire'd : as when 
 Black clouds behind the distant mountains stray, 
 
 After they long had darkly threatned rain. 
 The sons of Usnoth move'd on in their grief: 
 
 To Tura's sounding bay our steps incline'd. 
 We pass'd Selama: Atha's gloomy chief 
 
 Retire'd, like Lano's mist when driven by the wind ! - 
 'Twas then my eye beheld thee, gentle maid ! 
 
 Bright as the cloudless sun of Etha glows ! 
 How lovely is that orient beam!" I said 
 
 The crowded sigh of Nathos' soul arose!
 
 28 DAR-THULA. 
 
 Dar-thula! in thy beauty thou didst come 
 To Etha's mournful chief! But, tempest drear- 
 
 The angry North-wind doth relentless roam ; 
 Escape is hopeless! and the foe is near." 
 
 XXIV. 
 " Yes, Nathos, yes! the foe is near us!" cried 
 
 The rushing strength of Althos. " I have heard 
 Their clanging arms along the coast: descried 
 
 Erin's dark-waving standard proud uprear'd. 
 Distinct is Cairbar's voice loud as the roar 
 
 Of lofty Cromla's falling stream : zo For he 
 Had mark'd our distant bark along the shore, 
 
 Ere night o'er-spread the angry-rolling sea. 
 On Lena's plain now watch the tyrant's hordes ; 
 In stormy wrath they lift ten-thousand swords!" 
 " And let them lift ten-thousand swords!" replied 
 
 The noble-minded Nathos, with a smile. 
 " Shall Etha's race from danger darkly glide? 
 
 Shall fear their steps from glory's path beguile ?
 
 DAR-THULA. 29 
 
 Why do ye rustling on your dark wings come, 
 
 Ye whistling* tempests of the sky? Why dost 
 Thou roll thy troubled waves with all their foam, 
 
 Thou roaring sea! on Erin's trembling coast? 
 
 Think ye, ye storms, think'st thou, O sounding main, 
 
 That ye prevent the son of Usnoth's flight? 
 No it is Nathos' soul doth here detain 11 
 
 His steps, ye children of the dismal night! 
 
 Althos! my fathers' arms now quickly bring: 
 
 Thou seest them gleaming to the stars' faint light. 
 Bring me the spear of Semo, generous king! 
 
 In the dark-bosom'd ship it stands in night." 
 
 XXV. 
 
 He brought the arms. The son of Usnoth's pride 
 In all their shining steel his limbs arrays. 
 
 Majestic is the noble hero's stride ! 
 His beaming eye a dreadful joy displays! 
 
 His look is turn'd toward the foe's advance. 
 The wind sounds in his hair. In silent grief
 
 30 DAR-THULA. 
 
 Selama's maid stands at his side : her glance 
 Is mournful-fixed on the dauntless chief. 
 The fair one strives to hide the rising sigh ; 
 The growing tea.r bright-trembles in her eye ! 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 " Althos!" said Etha's chief, "I see a cave 
 
 In yonder rock; place there the white-arm 'd maid. 
 I know, my brother! that thy soul is brave: 
 
 Strong be thine arm to wield the deathful blade ! 
 Ardan ! we meet the foe ; do thou repair, 
 
 And tell the gloomy Cairbar we draw near. 
 O that he came, in all the steel of war, 
 
 To meet the son of Usnoth's lifted spear! 
 If thou escape, Dar-thula ! look not on 
 
 The fallen Nathos! Althos! let thy sails 
 Wide to the rustling brezes spread, anon, 
 
 Toward the woody Etha's streamy vales. 
 My brother ! fail thou not the chief to tell, 
 
 That Nathos' sword did not elude the fray
 
 DAR-THULA. 31 
 
 That I, with fame in midst of thousands fell: 
 
 Amid his sorrow joy shall blend its ray. 
 Daughter of Colla ! call the tuneful maids 
 
 To Etha's halls ; and let their songs arise 
 For Nathos, when returning Autumn's shades 
 
 Shall roll their echoing murmurs o'er the skies. 
 O that the bard of Cona that the voice 
 
 Of Ossian might in Nathos' praise be heard ! 
 Then should my ghost in its blue mist rejoice 
 
 Along its rushing blast be brightly cheer'd!" 
 And Cona's bard will Nathos' praise recall 
 
 The voice of Ossian shall for thee arise : 
 
 His strains shall echo thro' the airy hall, 
 \ 
 
 And glad thy course along the liquid skies! 
 
 Why was I not, O murder'd Cormac's friend! 
 On Lena, when the' unequal conflict rose? 
 
 Then should the sword of Ossian thee defend ; 
 Or he himself have fallen 'midst thy foes!
 
 32 DAR-THULA. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 In Selma's hall, that night, we glad surrounded 
 
 The glowing shell, at Fingal's festive board. 
 The winds without loud thro' the oaks resounded : 
 
 The spirit of the mountain wildly roar'd." 
 The blast came rustling thro' the hall of shells, 
 
 And gently touch'd my harp's resounding wire 
 Mournful and low the sound ; as distant swells 
 
 The tomb-song on the gale. My noble sire 
 First heard the sign of grief : The crowded sighs 
 
 Deep in the hero's generous breast contend. 
 ' Some of my warriors are laid low," he cries ; 
 
 * I heard the doleful sound of death descend 
 ' Upon the harp. O Ossian, let thy hand 
 
 ' Soft-touch the trembling string! bid sorrow rise; 
 ' That to the hills of Morven's woody land 
 
 ' Their sprites, with joy, may fly from distant skies !' 
 Before the king I pour'd the song of woe, 
 And touch'd the harp : the sound was sad and low !
 
 DAR-THULA. 33 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 to tfte &pmts 
 
 i 
 
 *' Ye ghosts of my fathers! that now darkly wander 
 
 That on the wild tempest swift glide 
 Bend forward thro' night from the clouds of your thunder, 
 
 And lay your red terrors aside ! 
 
 2 
 ' Receive ye the falling chief; whether he bendeth 
 
 His course from a far-distant land, 
 Or from the green wave of the ocean ascendeth: 
 To him let your clouds wide expand I 
 
 F
 
 34 DAR-THULA. 
 
 3 
 
 " A long-flowing robe of blue mist now provide him ; ! * 
 v His spear, of the cloud of deep shade ; 
 An half-quenched meteor 14 place ye beside him, 
 In form of his glittering blade. 
 
 4 
 " And oh! let his visage be lovely; that under 
 
 Its presence his friends may delight. 
 Bend forward, my sires ! from the clouds of your thunder ; 
 
 Receive ye the lone son of night 1" 
 
 XXIX. 
 Such was my song in Selma, to the sound 
 
 Of the light-trembling harp. But squally night, 
 In Erin's distant land, deep-spread around 
 
 Young Nathos, and his lovely beam of light. 
 At times, the foe-men's voice, amid the roar 
 
 Of tumbling waves, faint-reach'd the hero's ear:
 
 DAR-THULA. 35 
 
 Silent he heard them on the billowy shore, 
 
 And lean'd, with growing bosom, on his spear! 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Bright morn now streak'd the blushing east with day. 
 
 The sons of Erin spread along the coast: 
 Like grey rocks with their distant trees were they. 
 
 The gloomy Cairbar stood amid his host. 
 He grimly smile'd when he the foe espied. 
 
 The valiant Nathos in his strength rush'd on : 
 Nor would Dar-thula stay behind ; she hied, 
 
 Lifting her shining spear, with Usnoth's noble son ! 
 And who are these, that in their armour bright, 
 
 In pride of youth, move stately o'er the field? 
 Althos, and dark-hair'd Ardan, beams of might! 
 
 Their souls now burn the steel of strife to wield ! 
 
 . XXXI. 
 
 " Come, chief of high Temora!" Nathos cries. 
 " Come ! let us for the white-arm'd maid contend
 
 36 DAR-THULA. 
 
 Now let our conflict on the coast arise: 
 
 His people do not Nathos' steps attend ; 
 They are behind these rolling seas! Then, why 
 
 Dost thou with all thy thousands now draw near, . 
 Against the chief of Etha ? Thou didst fly JJ 
 
 From him in battle, when around his spear 
 
 His friends were found." 
 
 " Youth of the heart of pride 5 
 
 Shall Erin's King contend in fight with thee?* 6 
 Your sires do not in tuneful song abide ; 
 
 Nor are they of the Kings of men. Do we 
 Behold within their halls the arms of foes ? 
 
 Are the blue shields of other times there seen? 
 Cairbar's renown in high Temora glows ; 
 
 Nor doth he e'er contend with feeble men !" 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 The eyes of Nathos glisten'd bright with tears ; 
 
 He look'd toward the brothers of his might ; 
 Dreadful, at once, now flew their gleaming spears ;- 
 
 Three warriors lay on earth. Then did the light
 
 DAR-THULA. 37 
 
 Of their dire-flaming swords on high arise : 
 
 The floating ranks of Erin yield, aghast : 
 As a dark ridge of clouds in wintry skies 
 
 Before the sudden wind's transpiring blast! 
 Cairbar commanded, and his poeple drew 
 
 A thousand bows ; loud-whistling o'er the heath, 
 A thousand arrows at the heroes flew. 
 
 The noble sons of Usnoth fell in death ! 
 They fell, like three young oaks, which on the side 
 
 Of a drear hill stood verdantly alone : 
 The traveller the lovely trees espied, 
 
 And wonder'd how they had so lonely grown: 
 By night dark-came the desert's howling blast, 
 
 And laid their green heads low along the ground. 
 Next day, returning, o'er the mount he pass'd, 
 
 The heath was bare, their branches strew'd around! 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 In speechless horror stood Selama's maid ! 
 Her eyes are fixed on their fall ; but fail
 
 38 DAR-THULA. 
 
 To yield a tear! Her look is wildly sad ; 
 
 Her lovely cheek is now a death-like pale. 
 Her trembling lips broke-short an half-formed word 
 
 Disorder'd on the wind her dark hair flies. 
 In arms approached Alnecma's 17 gloomy lord ; 
 
 With taunting smile the hapless maid he eyes. 
 " Where is thy mighty lover, now ?" (he cried,) 
 
 " The car-borne chief of Etha? Haughty maid! 
 Hast thou beheld great Usnoth's halls of pride ? 
 
 Or o'er the dark-brown hills of Fingal stray'd ? 
 My battle should on Morven's shores have roar'd, 
 
 Had not the winds now met Dar-thula's sails : 
 Fingal himself have fall'n beneath my sword, 
 
 And sorrow darkly dwelt in Selma's vales." 
 Her gleaming shield dropt faintly from her hand : 
 
 The maiden's snowy bosom is descried ; 
 But it, alas! with wandering blood is stain'd: 
 
 An arrow deep is fixed in her side ! 
 She fell on Nathos, like a wreath of snow! 
 
 Her dark-brown hair is on his face wide-spread :
 
 DAR-THULA. 39 
 
 In mingling stream their blood around doth flow! 
 
 The song of grief swells o'er the lifeless maid! 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 i 
 
 " Daughter of Colla ! low, low art thou now laid ! 
 Selama's blue streams amid silence sad-glide. 
 
 The race of great Truthil * 8 hath fail'd with thee, maid ! 
 Green Erin is spoil'd of the flow'r of its pride! 
 
 " When wilt thou arise in the beam of thy beauty? 
 Ah ! deep is thy slumber within the dark tomb ! 
 
 Far-distant the morning ! ne'er shall it salute thee, 
 The sun shall not smile thro' the night of thy gloom!
 
 40 DAR-THULA. 
 
 " It shall not approach to thy bed, and say to thee, 
 * Darthula! thou fairest of women, awake! 
 
 ' The woods wave their young leaves, bright spring 
 
 now doth woo thee ; 
 ' The flowers their heads on the green hills now shake/ 
 
 4 
 " Retire thee, O sun! ne'er again will she greet thee! 
 
 Cold, reckless, she sleeps in the shadowy tomb! 
 She will not move forth in her beauty to meet thee ! 
 She will not in steps of her loveliness come I" 
 ' 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Thus did the hundred bards of Cairbar sing, 
 Around her rising tomb My voice arose 
 
 Over her grave; when streamy Morven's king 
 Came o'er to fight 'gainst fallen Cormac's foes.
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 r--tfml.?.
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 1 But thou, thyself, one night shaltfail! 
 
 IN this passage Ossian evidently alludes to more than 
 a temporary disappearance of the Moon : and immedi- 
 ately afterwards intimates his belief, that some of the 
 stars should out-live her. The fanciful, but beautiful 
 idea, that the Moon retired to mourn the loss of her 
 sisters, seems to have been built on the notion, which 
 no doubt prevailed in his day, that those meteors, vul- 
 garly called falling stars, were real stars sinking into 
 dissolution. From this, as well as from several other 
 passages in the poems, I am inclined to think that 
 Ossian and his corn-patriots held a doctrine, which
 
 44 NOTES. 
 
 some of the most respectable authors of antiquity 
 declare to have constituted a part of the tenets of the 
 ancient Druids ; namely, that, although the universe 
 was never to be annihilated, yet its various members 
 were to undergo a number of successive changes, 
 sometimes by the agency of fire, and sometimes by that 
 of water. 
 
 This doctrine, from the concurrent testimony of 
 authors of the highest authority, the Druids appear to 
 have had in common with almost every nation in the 
 then known world: and many have considered it to 
 have been the vitiated remnant of a tradition originally 
 received from the sons of Noah.- Be this as it may, a 
 striking correspondence will be discovered between the 
 popular notions and mythology interwoven through 
 the poems of Ossian, and those accounts of the doctrine 
 of the Druids, which are handed down to us by Caesar, 
 Strabo, Ammianus Marcellinus, Cornelius Tacitus, 
 Diodorus Siculus, &c. Perhaps I might even assert 
 that the poems of Ossian these valuable remains of 
 the manners, the opinions, and the religion of our 
 ancestors would serve as a commentary to what the 
 above-mentioned authors have written on the subject* 
 
 The intelligent investigator, who, with a critical, and 
 an unprejudiced eye, compares these poems with what 
 of the Druidical learning has escaped the ravages of
 
 NOTES. 4<5 
 
 time, will, I fancy, agree with me that they contain 
 strong internal evidence of their authenticity of their 
 having been the composition of a person actually educat- 
 ed in the notions which they inculcate. I am even of 
 opinion that there will be little difficulty in tracing to 
 their source the causes of those differences which do 
 occur: Or in other words, that the modifying, and even 
 obliteration of many of the ceremonies, and opinions of 
 the Druids, may be shown to have been a natural con- 
 sequence of that revolution which Trenmor, the great* 
 grand-father of Fingal, is said to have brought about. 
 I shall even go so far as to say, that the alterations 
 which appear to have taken place in the system, were 
 such as were loudly called for by the circumstances of 
 the times such as became indispensible, in order to 
 rescue the popular mind from its slavish dependence on 
 those crafty and designing priests, and to strengthen 
 the authority, and the dynasty of Trenmor. 
 
 In the proper places, I shall probably take an oppor- 
 tunity of comparing the mythology &c. of Ossian with 
 that which is attributed to the Druids : But in the mean 
 time beg leave to call the attention of my readers, to a 
 treatise of the antiquities &c. of the isle of Anglesea, by 
 the Rev. Mr. Rowland, entitled " MONA ANTIQUA 
 RESTORATA :" A book published about a hundred 
 years ago ; but which proves the Rev. author to have
 
 46 NOTES. 
 
 been both a man of research, and of much ingenuity. 
 But as this work is now, in all probability, confined to 
 the cabinets of the curious, 1 shall occasionally make 
 extracts from it, for the information of those who can- 
 not obtain access to the book itself. 
 
 I hope the reader will pardon this digression ; which 
 is intended to direct his view to what I expect will 
 prove to him an interesting enquiry : and what, if I am 
 not mistaken, will develope a most delicate, but con- 
 vincing proof of the authenticity of these poems. 
 
 II. 
 i 
 
 z Nathos signifies youthful, Ailthos, exquisite beauty, 
 Ardan, pride. 
 
 M. 
 
 3 From Cairbar' of AthcCs wrath : 
 
 Cairbar, the son of Borbar-duthul, a chief of Alnecma^ 
 (which is supposed to have been the ancient name for 
 Connaught,) who murdered Cormac king of Ireland, 
 and usurped the throne. He was afterwards killed by 
 Oscar the son of Ossian: See the poem of TEMORA, 
 Canto I. The poet, upon other occasions, gives Cairbar
 
 NOTES. 4t 
 
 the epithet of red-haired. ATHA was the name of Cair- 
 bar's family-seat. 
 
 4 Like the fair spi'rit of heav'n 
 
 I suspect that it would have been more correct to 
 have employed the indefinitive article here, a fair 
 spirit. But as it, possibly, might allude to some par- 
 ticular description of spirit, and be thus more empha- 
 tic, (had we the key to the expression,) I have suffered 
 it to remain as I found it. 
 
 - 
 
 5 Who but Dar-thula, first of Erin's maids ! 
 
 Dar-thula, or Dart-'huile, a woman with fine eyes. 
 She was the most famous beauty of antiquity. To this 
 day, when a woman is praised for her beauty, the com- 
 mon phrase is, that she is as lovely as Dar-thula. 
 
 M. 
 
 HI. 
 
 <* Selama's moss / /oteV, 
 
 The word signifies either beautiful to behold, or a 
 place with a pleasant prospect. In early times they 
 built their houses upon eminences, to command a view
 
 48 NOTES. 
 
 of the country, and to prevent their being surprised : 
 many of them, on that account, were called Selama. 
 The famous Selma of Fingal is derived from the same 
 root. 
 
 M. 
 
 
 
 IX. 
 7 He told the tale of grief. 
 
 There is some ambiguity here ; for it is not easy abso- 
 lutely to determine whether the poet means, that Na- 
 thos related to Dar-thula what he had seen, or, that the 
 ghost of Cuthullin, his uncle, had given him a des- 
 cription of the manner in which he himself had been 
 killed, or, (which, perhaps, is most agreeable to what 
 is represented to have occured on other occasions of 
 ghosts appearing to their relatives,) that Cuthullin 
 gave Nathos some intimation of the fatal catastrophy 
 which was about to occur. 
 
 8 His silvery beard low-sounded in the blast. 
 
 It appears strange that Ossian should so often intro^ 
 duce this circumstance in his descriptions, and I was at 
 first tempted to omit it : but have retained it, from the 
 consideration, that jt might here be somewhat des-
 
 NOTES. 49 
 
 criptive of the attitude of' Colla ; for, while he was 
 leaning on his spear in the act of anxiously gazing 
 on Darthula his long-flowing beard, thus unres- 
 trained by his garments, might, possibly, have made 
 some noise on a sudden blast. If I were inclined to 
 be extravigantly fanciful, I should perhaps assign 
 another reason, viz. that the blasts being conceived to 
 be animated by ghosts, that of his son Truthil had 
 thus approached his beloved father, who was just in 
 the act of bewailing his loss. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 9 The youths were slain, 
 With Truthil, in the noble Cormac's fray. 
 
 It would appear, from this, that Truthil had taken the 
 field against Cairbar, on that chief proceeding to attack 
 the young king ; or, perhaps, after he had committed the 
 murder. I am inclined to think that the palace of Te- 
 mora was not far distant from the scene of the present 
 poem. 
 
 10 Now fixed in its place 
 Is Colla' s sword! 
 
 It was the custom of ancient times, that every war- 
 
 H
 
 50 NOTES. 
 
 rior, at a certain age, or when he became unfit for the 
 field, fixed his arms, in the great hall, where the tribe 
 feasted upon joyful occasions. He was afterwards 
 never to appear in battle : and this stage of life was 
 called the time of fixing of the arms. 
 
 M. 
 
 11 Lona's silent vale 
 
 Lona, a marshy plain. Cairbar had just provided an 
 entertainment for his army, upon the defeat of Tru- 
 thil the son of Colla, and the rest of the party of 
 Cormac, when Colla and his aged warriors arrived to 
 give him battle. M. 
 
 The valley of Lona, here mentioned, is probably 
 the same as that to which Suilmalla is said to have 
 retired, TEMORA, Canto VII. If my conjectures, as 
 stated in the notes annexed to that poem, are correct, 
 it is that valley through which runs the projected road 
 from DERRY to BUNCRANA. It is one of the principal 
 passes, through the Bmrs'-TowN mountains, to the in- 
 terior of Inishoan ; and near the shore of Lough Foyle. 
 
 In addition to what I have annexed to the notes on 
 TEMORA, respecting the tract of country which I ima- 
 gine to have been the scene of that poem, I am 
 happy to have ii in my power to state, that the re-
 
 NOTE. 51 
 
 suit of every subsequent enquiry on the subject has 
 been strongly confirmatory of the opinion I before 
 advanced ; so much so, as to remove every shade of 
 doubt from my mind. Not only do the remarkable 
 places around preserve the same names,* as those men- 
 tioned by Ossian ; but the very peasantry assert, that 
 they have always heard the old people say, "that, in 
 former times, the Gentles^ (or fairies) had fought 
 great battles along those hills." Some tumuli, con- 
 cerning which 1 enquired, they also attributed to 
 the Gentles. 
 
 Besides those which I formerly mentioned, I have 
 likewise discovered several other striking features in 
 the surrounding country, exactly corresponding with 
 those described in the poems. 
 
 Colonel Maxwell, of Birds'-Town, (whose seat is in 
 the immediate vicinity of the place to which I allude; 
 and who is himself proprietor of a considerable tract 
 of the identical ground;) has been kind enough to show 
 
 * With a very slight appearance of corruption ; and that, probably, in a 
 great measure arising 1 from Mr. Macpherson's strong propensity to lata- 
 nize the gaelic proper names: from an idea, I suppose, that it gave them 
 a more poetic air. 
 
 f FOP my part, I am of opinion, that in the present instance, as well as 
 in many others, where only a very obscure tradition has descended, the 
 ignorant inhabitants attribute to the Fairies those remarkable events, said 
 to have occurred.
 
 52 NOTES. 
 
 me a map of the peninsula of Inishoan ; drawn, to a 
 very large scale, from actual survey : but never publish- 
 ed. In this map the original Irish names of the differ- 
 ent places are, as far as possible, retained: and they 
 will, of themselves, furnish a strong testimonial in fa- 
 vour of my conjecture. 
 
 Colonel Maxwell's seat was formerly called BAL- 
 LENA, which signifies, the town of Lena: The scene 
 of action of TEMORA is, by Ossian, called MOI-LENA. 
 that is, the plain of Lena. 
 
 Those who may feel inclined to visit the supposed 
 scene of action of TEMORA, will please to observe that 
 it is that very extensive plain, immediately at the 
 northern side of BIRD'S-TOWN mountains. It com- 
 prises two town-lands CARN-A-MOYLE,* (the stone, 
 or monument of the plain,) and TULLADISH; which 
 are separated from each other by a rivulet. 
 
 " Why should a feeble maid attempt to show, 
 To Nathos, how the strife of battle grew?" 
 
 The poet, by an artifice, avoids the description of 
 the battle of Lona, as it would be improper in the 
 
 * Tbe liquid /, often found at the termination of Irish words, seems to 
 have been placed there for the better sound's sake.
 
 NOTES. 63 
 
 mouth of a woman, and could have nothing new, 
 after the numerous descriptions, of that kind, in the 
 rest of the poems. He, at the same time, gives an 
 opportunity to Dar-thula to pass a fine compliment on 
 her lover. M. 
 
 XVII. 
 13 Nor our renowned friends, our arms to aid. 
 
 Oscar, the son of Ossian, had long resolved on the 
 expedition into Ireland, against Cairbar, who had as- 
 sasinated his friend Cathol, the son of Moran, an Irish- 
 man of noble extraction, and in the interest of the 
 family of Cormac. M. 
 
 14 Then, as the flaming arm of death, my brand 
 Should thro' the stormy field of heroes glide!" 
 
 " His hand is the arm of a ghost, 
 
 when he stretches it from a cloud ; the rest of his thin 
 form is unseen ; but the people die in the vale !" 
 
 THE WAR OF CAROS. 
 
 XX. 
 
 * .- 
 
 15 Lam-hmhor, mighty hand. 
 
 M.
 
 54 NOTES. 
 
 Lamhor was, probably, a super-annuated follower of 
 the family of Cuthullin, king of the isle of Sky; and 
 had remained in the castle of Tura, when his patron 
 went on the expedition to the lake of Lego, to chas- 
 tise some of the Irish chiefs, who, taking advantage 
 of the extreme youth of Cormac, then supreme king 
 of Ireland, had risen in rebellion against him. From 
 Cuthullin being elsewhere called " the ruler of high 
 Temora," he appears to have acted as protector to the 
 realm, and guardian to the young king: an office 
 which, in all likelihood, he undertook at the instance 
 of Fingal, king of Morven, whose first wife, Roscrana, 
 was aunt to Arth, the father of Cormac. It was for 
 this reason, in addition to the family connexion which 
 before existed, (see the poem of TEMORA,) that Fin- 
 gal took so much interest in the affairs of Ireland. 
 Cuthullin was killed in the expedition, as related in 
 the poem which treats of his death: and but feeble 
 opposition seems to have been afterwards made to the 
 designs of Cairbar, who was the instigator of the re- 
 bellion, and who, after he had murdered Cormac, 
 usurped the throne. 
 
 Mr. Macpherson remarks, in a note to his transla- 
 tion, that " Temora (the residence of the supreme kings 
 of Ireland,) is here called mournful, on account of
 
 NOTES. 55 
 
 the death of Cormac, who was murdered there by 
 Cairbar, who usurped his throne." 
 
 How the learned gentleman could have been guilty 
 of so decided a blunder, I cannot conceive: for, had 
 he allowed himself a moment to reflect, he must have 
 discovered that Lamhor could not possibly have al- 
 luded to the death of Cormac an event which did 
 not take place till several days after. 
 
 This is palpable, from the first Canto of Teniora; 
 where Carril, the bard, who brought the news of 
 Cuthullin's death, informs Cormac, that Nathos and 
 his brothers had arrived at the Jake of Lego, before 
 his departure, taken the command of the royal 
 army, and proved successful against the enemy. 
 
 Even without referring to the poem of Temora, the 
 absurdity of Mr. Macpherson's exposition may be 
 shown, from the poem before us: for, can it be ima- 
 gined that Lamhor, had he been aware of the death of 
 Cormac, would have suffered Nathos to depart in 
 ignorance of the circumstance? But this conclu- 
 sion is inevitable, if we admit Mr. Macpherson's in- 
 terpretation; as we find Nathos, after he had de- 
 feated Corlath, one of the rebel chiefs, proceeding in 
 all haste to the palace of Temora, to protect the 
 young king: probably, in consequence of his having 
 received intelligence of Cairbar's designs.
 
 56 NOTES. 
 
 The reader will perceive, that every difficulty, as 
 far as regards this poem, may be removed, and the 
 poet acquitted of any impropriety in the conduct of 
 it, by the supposition that Lamhor had taken for 
 granted that they had heard at Temora of the death 
 of Cuthullin. 
 
 But here, it must be confessed, that another diffi- 
 culty arises; for it is not easy to account satisfacto- 
 rily for the delay which took place, between the in- 
 telligence of Cuthullin's death having reached Tura, 
 and its being known at the palace of Temora. 
 
 I am afraid that the best way of getting over this 
 apparent incongruity, is to call it a poetic license: 
 For poets are not expected to be always strict mat- 
 ter-of-fact men ; they must be allowed the "privilege 
 of sometimes introducing imaginary circumstances: 
 and we should be content if those embellishments be 
 made to tally pretty well with the general tenor of 
 the narrative. Therefore, we must not be too severe 
 on Ossian, because there here appears a trifling in- 
 consistence with the poem of Temora. 
 
 However, we can readily assign a reason for Lamhor 
 being here made to announce the death of Cuthullin, 
 viz. that it gave Ossian an opportunity of displaying 
 the courage of his hero, Nathos, in a more favourable 
 light ; by shewing that he was not deterred from pro-
 
 NOTES. 57 
 
 ceeding on the expedition, aUhough an event occurred 
 which he had not at all calculated on ; and which ren- 
 dered the undertaking far more hazardous, if not 
 hopeless. 
 
 But what apology can be made for Mr. Macpher- 
 son, who here introduces an assertion absolutely at 
 variance with the next section but one? 
 
 And ^iow I would appeal to the common sense of 
 my reader Can he, after noticing the beautiful uni- 
 formity displayed throughout this little piece the 
 admirable connexion of its episodes with the subject 
 of the poem its inimitable transitions can he, I say, 
 observe all these marks of a master-hand, and, for an 
 instant, admit it to have been the composition of a 
 man, who appears scarcely to have given it a patient 
 perusal? No I will not insult his understanding by 
 the supposition. And yet, this is the person to whom 
 some have attributed the original composition of these 
 poems; while others have said, that he gleaned scraps 
 of poetry from different bards, and out of such shreds 
 and patches manufactured the poems himself. 
 
 I am mistaken if we shall not have a long list bf 
 errors of omission, and of commission, and not a few 
 gratuitous assertions to settle with Mr. Macpherson. 
 before we have finished 7his work. 
 
 i
 
 NOTES. 
 
 are Slissama's sons 
 
 Slis-seamha, soft bosom. She was the wife of Us- 
 noth, and daughter of Semo, (the father of Cuthullin) 
 chief of the isle of mist. M. 
 
 17 But he was like a meteor 
 
 We have here one of the most august and beautiful 
 similies, that ever entered the mind of a poet. But 
 much of its force and dignity will be lost, unless we 
 conceive the word meteor to signify a comet; which it 
 may, without the least violence. How strikingly, then, 
 will it depict the contrast between the warrior of ephe- 
 meral renown, and one who had grown old in glory ! 
 
 NOTE ; the appearance of comets has in all ages been 
 deemed to forebode awful events. 
 
 18 Mournful are Lego's banks 
 
 The lake of Lego, I believe to be the same with 
 Lough Neagh; the river Lara, to be the Four-mile- 
 water: and I am inclined to think that Cuthullin was 
 killed within a short distance of the town of Antrim. 
 
 It may not be improper for <fie to call the attention 
 of my reader to a circumstance, which has greatly as-
 
 NOTES. 59 
 
 sisted me in determining the scene of several of the 
 poems ; what I allude to, is, that Ossian very generally 
 draws his similies from the immediate vicinity of the 
 scene of his poem, whenever appropriate objects could 
 there be found. 
 
 This is an admirable method ; for, while he thus ren- 
 dered his embellishments far more interesting to his co- 
 temporaries, who were acquainted with the scene of ac- 
 tion, and confined all their attention to the spot, he 
 leaves an important clue for future generations. 
 
 19 1 struck the mighty Caithbafs shield. 
 
 Caithbat, the grandfather of Cuthullin, was r I pre- 
 sume, the most renowned of his ancestors ; as we find 
 his shield made use of as the war-signal for assembling 
 the troops. Thus, the shield of Trenmor is selected by 
 Fingal for the same purpose, in preference to that of 
 any of the rest of his Family. 
 
 10 Of lofty Cromla's falling stream 
 
 Cromla (Crom-leach) is here the proper name of a 
 hill in the neighbourhood of Tura (Ture). Crom-leach 
 signified a Druidical place of worship ; and is consider- 
 ed, by Mr. Rowlands, to be derived from the Hebrew
 
 60 NOTES. 
 
 n ^ ?. Ceerem-luach, a devoted stone or altar. 
 
 Althos had just returned from viewing the coast of 
 Lena, whither he had been sent by Nathos, the begin- 
 ning of the night." M. 
 
 " Cairbar had gathered an army, to the coast of Ul- 
 ster, in order to oppose FingaJ, who prepared for an 
 expedition into Ireland, to re-establish the house of 
 Cormac on the throne, which Cairbar usurped. Be- 
 tween, the wings of Cairbar's army was the bay of 
 Tura, into which the ship of the sons of Usnoth was 
 driven: so that there was no hope of their escaping." 
 
 M. 
 
 No! it is Nathos' soul doth here detain 
 His steps, ye children of the dismal night! 
 
 It must be confessed that there is here some appear- 
 ance of bravado, and contradiction to the former 
 expressions of Nathos ; who so frequently had lament- 
 ed that the winds should detain them, and seemed so 
 gloomy and dejected on the occasion. But we are to 
 recollect, that the most ardent mind will sometimes 
 betray symptoms of depression in a state of incertitude, 
 and when danger is comparatively distant, which en- 
 tirely vanish on its nearer approach. Those who 
 observe the progress of the poem the conversation,
 
 NOTES. 61 
 
 and circumstances which occurred will feel that Ossian 
 has not over-stepped the bounds of propriety by putting 
 this speech into the mouth of Nathos: When the for- 
 mer expressions had escaped him, he had a thousand 
 mournful reflections crowding on his mind : The peril 
 to which his beloved Dar-thula was exposed, the grief 
 that his aged father should endure, and the uncertain- 
 ty of what his fate should be whether he should not 
 be butchered in the night, without any opportunity of 
 distinguishing himself, the very gloom of the night it- 
 self all tended to harrow up his feelings, and, for a 
 moment, almost to un-man him. But his soul immedi- 
 ately recovers its wonted energy, at the prospect of the 
 brilliant opportunity which he should shortly have 
 (even should he fall) of gaining immortal honour 
 a consideration more dear to him than life itself. He 
 also appears to have some hopes that Cairbar might be 
 induced to meet him in single combat: and it likewise 
 became incumbent on him to stimulate his brothers by 
 his example. 
 
 I have been led into those remarks, by some objec- 
 tions which were offered to this passage. 
 
 ** Bring me the spear of Semo. 
 Semo was grandfather to Nathos by the mother's
 
 62 NOTES. 
 
 side. The spear mentioned here was given to Usnoth 
 on his marriage ; it being the custom then for the 
 father of the lady to give his arms to his son-in-law. 
 
 M. 
 
 - 
 XVII. 
 
 *s The spirit of the mountain wildly roar'd. 
 
 By the spirit of the mountain is meant that deep and 
 melancholy sound which precedes a storm; well knowo 
 to those who live in a high country. 
 
 M. 
 
 XVIII. 
 i4 A long-flowing robe of blue mist now provide him. 
 
 This address to the spirits of his ancestors, however 
 wild and absurd it may seem to the ordinary reader, 
 is nevertheless beautifully consonant with the notions 
 and mythology of the times. The ghosts they con- 
 ceived to be light aeriel substances, of an exceedingly 
 delicate texture liable to be discomposed by every 
 rugged blast, unless protected by some covering.
 
 NOTES. 63 
 
 As spirits were declared to be excluded from their 
 Elysium, or Airy hall, and forced to "wander on the 
 winds," until some bard could be prevailed on to 
 sing an elegy over their tombs, or pronounce their 
 praises in a formal manner, the poets fabled that some 
 relative of the deceased clothed him with thick mist, to 
 screen his tender form from the rude actions of the 
 elements. Thus in the seventh Canto of TEMORA, 
 CONAR, one of the kings of Ireland, is represented 
 as pouring the mist of Lego over the grave of Fillan. 
 
 Where the departed happened to be of so despicable 
 a character as to be deemed unworthy of funeral ho- 
 nours, and, in consequence, neglected by its ghostly 
 relatives, it had no other alternative than to lurk in 
 the vapour of some fen, or be tossed about, the sport 
 of every gale. 
 
 The spirit on its departure from the body they ima- 
 gined to be excessively timid : therefore we find Ossian 
 beseeching the ghosts of his fathers, to lay aside their 
 red terrors, or lightnings ; lest they should scare the 
 hovering stranger, and prevent his approaching them. 
 
 They likewise conceived that the deceased retained 
 all their former passions, and propensities, and amused 
 themselves in a similar manner to what they had been 
 accustomed to do on earth : they " pursued deer form- 
 ed of clouds, and bent their airy bow ;" feasted in
 
 64 NOTES. 
 
 their airy hall, and " stretched their hands of mist to 
 the same shell ;" and even had their contests and com- 
 bats in the air. In short, they transferred all the 
 manners, customs all the economy of society, from 
 this life to the next. It is therefore with great pro- 
 priety Ossian requests that the departed may be clothed 
 and armed ;* to enable him to enter upon his new vo- 
 cations, and to qualify him for the society of kindred 
 spirits. 
 
 From the whole tenor of the poems of Ossian, the 
 bards appear to have inculcated, that no address, in 
 favour of a departed spirit could be available, unless 
 it came from one of their privileged order. Nay, we 
 have sufficient reason to think, that (according to 
 them) the most transcendent merit the most brilliant 
 virtues and qualifications could not render their in- 
 terference unnecessary: While, at the same time, 
 their invocations were a passport to the most odious 
 of characters even to a Cairbar ! 
 
 At first sight it will indeed seem no easy matter to 
 ascertain on what the bards could have founded a 
 doctrine, so well calculated to aggrandize their order. 
 
 * By an half-quenched meteor, (which he mentions to be the sword of the 
 deceased,) probably is meant a receding comet: which sometimes, both in 
 shape and colour, bears no small similitude to a sword.
 
 NOTES. 65 
 
 Cut perhaps it might be no irrational conjecture were 
 we to conclude, that they impressed the popular mind 
 with the notion that those chiefs, who during their 
 life-time had held them in their confidence, and made 
 them the companions of their privacy, and probably 
 the repository of their secrets, retained, even in an 
 other state of existence, their previous attachment for 
 them, deigned occasionally to confer with them, and 
 readily to lend an ear to their introductions and re- 
 commendations, as they were wont to do in this 
 world. 
 
 This idea being once broached, i,t was not difficult 
 to improve on it, and to extend their pretensions to 
 a general communion with the invisible world ; on the 
 principle, that as they were invariably employed as am- 
 bassadors, and agents on the most important occa- 
 sions, their persons inviolable, and their communica- 
 tions treated with the utmost respect among men ; so 
 their suggestions and communications would be treat- 
 ed with the same respect by the aerial people; and 
 their eulogies be echoed by the departed members of 
 their order; whom, it is probable, they conceived to 
 be employed in the same capacity in the invisible 
 world, as they had been in this. 
 
 But it may be desirable, to proceed a step farther, 
 and endeavour to point out the origin and progress of 
 
 K
 
 66 NOTES. 
 
 that close connexion which subsisted between the chiefs 
 and their bards;* and how the latter came to be re- 
 tained in such numbers, after the subversion of the 
 Druids. Here we shall have something more than vague 
 conjecture to guide us in our researches; as it will ap- 
 pear, from the testimony of contemporary writers, that 
 the bards were early placed in a situation well suited 
 to gain them an influence and ascendency over the 
 public mind : they were the active organ of that cele- 
 brated society known to antiquity under the general 
 name of Druids.f To the bards was particularly en- 
 
 Mr. Rowlands observes (page 61 of his work) that, "Although they (the 
 Druids) made no nse of books, yet by what we read of them, we find that 
 their schemes extended to all the useful parts of learning, which they 
 couched under apt significant words, and deposited by them into Rhythmi- 
 cal Compositions, unto a peculiar class of their society whom they called 
 Beirdd, I take it (says he) from the original word Paradd, to divide and dis- 
 tinguish, that is, whom they separated and distinguished from the rest, for 
 their extraordinary talent of memory, unto that peculiar work (Cof-weithie 
 or Cof-wydde) of recording and reciting on occasions, the various theorems 
 and explications of their whole system of knowledge." 
 
 Plurima securi fudistis Carmina Bardi. Lucan. 
 
 f Strabo, (Lib. 4.) speaking of the Druids in general, divides them into 
 three classes, viz. A^vt&zi, Ovctle7s, & Bag^oi. Ammianus Marcellinus 
 (Lib. 15.) observes the same enumeration, and thus desrcibes them : "Bardi 
 quidem fortia riroruin illustrium facta, heroicis composita versibus, cum 
 dulcibus Lyrte modidis cantitarunt ; Eubates vero scrutantes summa, et sub- 
 lima Natures pandere eonabantur : Inter hos Druides ingeniis celsiores, ut 
 authoritas Pythagoree decrevit, sodalitiis astricti consortiisque, questionibus 
 occulliinitii rerum, altarumque erecti sunt, et despectantes Humana, pronun- 
 ciarunt Animus immortales:" that is, "The bards sung the mighty deeds of 
 
 I
 
 NOTES. 67 
 
 trusted the education of youth; and, in addition to 
 their thus having an opportunity of moulding the minds 
 of the young nobles, (who, we are told,* repaired to 
 their seminaries from all parts,) they seem likewise to 
 have been in the habit of attending the chiefs to their 
 wars, and probably on all important occasions; as we 
 find a part of their occupation was the recording and 
 celebrating the heroic acts of illustrious men: which 
 we can hardly suppose them capable of doing had 
 they not themselves been eye-witnesses to them. In 
 fact, they were the social link between the people in 
 general, and those more-secluded classes of the Dru- 
 idic society, who either gave themselves up to a life 
 of retirement and contemplation, or were employed in 
 functions more calculated to strike the popular mind 
 
 illustrious men, disposed (or artfully arranged) in heroic verses, and ac- 
 companied with sweet modulations of the harp : the Eubates, more dilli- 
 gently scrutinizing nature, endeavoured to lay open her highest and most 
 sublime secrets : and amongst these the Druids, of more exalted under- 
 standing, united into societies and fraternities, on the Pythagoraen system, 
 aspired to the contemplation of divine and hidden things, and, soaring 
 above human affairs, pronounced the soul of man to be immortal." 
 
 * Caesar, speaking of the Celts of Gallia, says : " Et mine qui diligentius 
 
 earn rem cognoscere volunt, plerunque illuc discendi causa proficiscuntur. 
 
 And at this present time those who are anxious to become more intimately 
 acquainted with this, (Druidical learning) frequently repair thither (to 
 Britain) for the purpose of compleating their studies."
 
 68 NOTES. 
 
 with awe and veneration nay, even with terror * than 
 to draw it by the cords of friendship and affection. 
 
 We may rest assured, although the bards were at one 
 time most useful instruments in preserving the people in 
 slavish subjection to Druidism, that, when they saw the 
 storm ready to break when they perceived that Dru- 
 iJic tyranny, together with other contingent circum- 
 stances, had brought matters nearly to a crisis they 
 did not fail to side with the strongest, did not forego 
 the opportunity which they now had of monopolizing 
 all the tenable fruits of their former exertions. There- 
 fore they would naturally attach themselves to the dif- 
 ferent chiefs. And the chiefs, on the other hand, finding 
 how serviceable the bards might now be to them,t in 
 bending the public mind to their authority, (now consi- 
 derably extended on the ruins of that of the Druids,) 
 gave them or, perhaps, rather preserved to them those 
 
 * Caesar thus describes the extensive judicial power of the Druids : " \tirn 
 fere de omnibus contrctersiis publicist pricatisque constituunt: ct siqvod e/tt 
 admissumf acinus, si Caedesfacta, si de Httreditate, si de finibus controtersia 
 est, iidem decei-nunt, proemia ptrnas/jue constituunt." " For they determine 
 in almost ail controversies, both public and private : and if any crime be 
 perpretrated, if any murder be committed, if any dispute concerning here- 
 ditary rights, or boundry of lands occur, they investigate the same, and 
 decree rewards and punishments." 
 
 t See the notes on TEMORA, Canto IV.
 
 . NOTES. 09 
 
 numerous and extravagant privileges which they en- 
 joyed. 
 
 Thus the bulk of the people (as indeed is the case in 
 most revolutions) seem to have gained but little advan- 
 tage by the change, and were only transferred from one 
 set of masters to another. While what of the ancient 
 religion escaped the convulsion, was deposited naturally 
 in the hands of the bards ; who, perhaps, retained little 
 more than that portion in which they had previously 
 been accustomed to take an active part, namely, the 
 theoretical. So that we are not to be surprised if we 
 find in the poems of Ossian no mention of sacrifices, 
 and other Druidic ceremonies ; as these were previous- 
 ly entrusted to a different class of the Druids, namely, 
 the EUBATES. Besides, it is highly probable that the 
 abominable custom of offering human sacrifices had 
 contributed, more than any thing else, to throw a ge- 
 neral odium on the religion of the Druids, (we know 
 at least, that it was a professed reason with the Romans 
 for persecuting them so ardently,) and it became abso- 
 lutely necessary to relinquish every thing that could 
 tend to recall even the recollection of so hateful a 
 rite. 
 
 As to the notion of the ghost being excluded from 
 the society of other spirits, until a bard had pro- 
 nounced his praises, I am clearly of opinion that it was
 
 TO NOTES. 
 
 founded on the Druidic practice of excommunicating; 
 which Caesar thus describes: " Siquis aut publicus mil 
 privatus eorum decreto non steterit sacrrftciis inter- 
 dicunt : H<BC pcena apud eos gravis.sima ; quibus ita 
 interdictum est, ii numero impiorum ac sceleratorum 
 habentur; ab Us omnes decedunt, adi turn eorum ser- 
 monemque defugiunt: Neque eis petentibus jus red- 
 ditur, neque Honos ullus communicatur :" that is, " If 
 any one, whether a public or a private character, dis- 
 obey (or refuse to submit to) their decree, they (the 
 Druids) interdict him their sacrifices. This punish- 
 ment amongst them is a most grievious one; for all 
 other people look upon "him, so interdicted, as impious 
 and polluted, shun his company; and even avoid 
 speaking to him: He is besides debarred every advan- 
 tage from the laws, and disqualified from holding any 
 situation of honour or trust." 
 
 It is highly probable that in the days of Druidic au- 
 thority, those individuals who had the misfortune to in- 
 cur this heavy penalty, were in the habit of employing 
 the Bards as mediators between them and the less ac- 
 cessible' order of the Druids, in whose hands the judi- 
 cial powers were lodged. This, I imagine, was the 
 origin of the bards' pretentious to mediatorship ; which, 
 doubtless, were considerably strengthened by the cir- 
 cumstances before alluded to.
 
 NOTES. 7 1 
 
 The belief that spirits had an influence over the ele- 
 ments, was not confined to the Celts: Perhaps no 
 nation ever existed which had not a gleam of this doc- 
 trine. We find the greatest of all authorities, Jesus 
 Christ himself, countenancing it, and speaking of Satan 
 under the denomination of " the prince of the power 
 of. the air" and that in such a manner as to leave us 
 no doubt of its being a title perfectly familiar to his 
 hearers. 
 
 As I look upon this and the immortality of the soul 
 as dogmas to which mere human reason could not of 
 itself extend to which indeed it had no clue whatso- 
 ever, (however constituted it might be to acquiesce 
 in the truth of them, when once proposed) I am of 
 opinion that they must have been in the first instance 
 supernaturally revealed to man, and afterwards have 
 descended by tradition from one common source : 
 though speculative geniuses soon expanded the origi- 
 nal proposition, and adapted it to their own wild 
 theories. 
 
 Thus have I hazarded a few conjectures on the origin 
 and progress of some of those superstitions,* which 
 
 * Lest I should here be misconceived, I beg leave to say that I rather be- 
 lieve an error, or deviation from truths once received, to be the cause of most, 
 if not of all those superstitions, than that they were the original offspring 
 of man's imagination. It would be well if we brought all our notions to
 
 12 NOTES. 
 
 appear to have held such dominion over the minds of 
 our forefathers, and which indeed are not yet quite 
 extinct, though somewhat modified. 
 
 The reader need not be told that it is impossible to 
 do any thing like justice to such a subject as this 
 within the bounds of a note, a subject which would 
 demand an extensive treatise to itself. I have only 
 been able to exhibit a few of the most prominent traits ; 
 and even on these have been obliged considerably to 
 abridge my ideas. I suspect that I could anticipate 
 some objections, and likewise reply to them, did our 
 limits permit. But perhaps we may hereafter have op- 
 portunities of recurring to the subject : and I am mis- 
 taken if it is one that will shrink from investigation. 
 
 One general remark, however, I would make, before 
 we conclude, namely, that, notwithstanding the testi- 
 mony of co-temporary Roman authors is entitled to the 
 utmost respect, in determining the nature of Druidism, 
 yet it is not to be received without some limitation. 
 Every one must be aware of the numerous obstacles 
 which present themselves to strangers, in their attempts 
 to pry into the religion and mysteries of others ; and 
 
 the touch-stone of reason and religion, (which have a stronger affinity 
 than some moderns will admit them to have) and net rest our belief on their 
 antiquity alone.
 
 NOTES. 73 
 
 likewise how apt the narrator would be (when convey- 
 ing the sum of his observations to his own nation) to 
 supply, or explain from his own mythology, those things 
 of which he had caught but an indistinct glimpse. Thus 
 the supposed polytheism of the Britons, might be no- 
 thing more than their invocations of the souls of depart- 
 ed heroes and illustrious characters, similar to those 
 which we meet with in the poems of Ossian. For how 
 was a Roman to discriminate? Is it likely that he could 
 have found an opportunity of investigating the minutest 
 shades of opinion, in those who held him in abhor- 
 rence, and would, as much as possible, avoid all com- 
 munication with him nay, who made even to their 
 own people a mystery* of their principles? Was it to 
 be expected that he could ascertain or indeed would 
 take the trouble to ascertain, the precise nature of that 
 worship which they appeared to pay to spiritual or su- 
 pernatural beings: whether they defied their renowned 
 men, (as was the custom among the Romans &c.) or 
 merely invocated them for the purposes before noticed ? 
 We have ourselves a living instance of a dispute some- 
 what similar having existed for ages, without yet being 
 
 * Diogenes Laertius says, Ka* (pacrt t 
 
 y$ <pAo?o^)jo-a. That is, the Druids couth their philosophy uuder eui- 
 
 mas and proverbs.
 
 74 NOTES. 
 
 brought to a close. Therefore those who make it an 
 argument against the poetry of Ossian, that it has no 
 trace of the polytheism, attributed to the Druids, should 
 pause, before they reject them as spurious on that ac- 
 count. But even if the difference were admitted their 
 objection would not be unanswerable. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Z5 Thou didst fly 
 From him in battle, 
 
 Nathos here alludes to the flight of Cairbar from 
 Selama. M. 
 
 16 Youth of the heart of pride! 
 Shall Erin's king contend in fight with thee? 
 
 In nothing is the merit of this amiable poet more pre- 
 eminent than in his delineation of character ; he traces 
 it to its inmost recesses ; and finely displays the mean 
 artifices of the coward, to keep up his sinking reputa- 
 tion. Here we see this mushroom king, who had just 
 murdered his legitimate sovereign in the basest manner,
 
 NOTES. 15 
 
 screening himself behind his assumed dignity, and refus- 
 ing to meet Nathos, (his superior in every thing but 
 crime); lest, forsooth, it should degrade him in the 
 eyes of the world, were he to engage in single combat 
 with a person not his equal in rank. 
 
 It is a powerful tribute to virtue, and a striking proof 
 of the general tendency of the human mind to appre- 
 ciate it, that we find even vice obliged to borrow its 
 garb, in order to escape detection. What a pity that 
 it should so often do so with success! 
 
 Nor can I avoid calling the attention of my reader 
 to that master-stroke of Ossian, in the first line of the 
 XXXII. Section; by which he so happily depicts the 
 burst of "sensation that a noble and generous mind 
 must experience, at hearing not only himself but his 
 family vilified, by a despicable ruffian, whom circum- 
 stances had placed out of his reach. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 In arms approached Alnecma's gloomy lord. 
 
 Though Ossian sometimes (especially in the charac- 
 ter of Foldath poem of Temora) exhibits ferocity with- 
 out cowardice, it is worthy of observation that he 
 never introduces a coward who is not unfeeling. In-
 
 76 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 deed a mind which is over-solicitous for its own safety. 
 
 V ' 
 
 can scarcely find room for a feeling of compassion 
 towards others. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 The race of great Truthil hath failed with thee, maid! 
 
 Truthil was the founder of Dar-thula's family. 
 
 M.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 J'age. 
 
 Ill line 12. For starkle, read startle. 
 lix 9. For prove, read proves- 
 Jxviii - 7. For the later era, read a later era. 
 Ixxvi - 8. For necessity, read propriety. 
 Ixxxiii - 22. For rude and desultory essay, read cratfc and deiultoiy 
 
 essay. 
 39 (Funeral Sonj?, verse I.) Forfail'd, read failed. 
 
 8^ The reader is requested to rectify the latter mistake, as it in- 
 terferes with the metre. 
 Notes, 
 
 [ 4. For now/and, read Rowlands. 
 L - 25. For Restorata, read Restaurata. 
 
 73 - 18. For defied, rea 
 
 8^- The last-mentioned error has only extended to a few copiet. 
 There are a few more typographical errors, which, as they are 
 unimportant, and easily discoverable by the reader, it is unnecessary 
 fo notice. 
 
 *** I forgot before to mention, that the Notes marked (Mj have 
 been copied from Macpherson.
 
 76 NOTES. 
 
 deed a mind which is over-solicitous for its own safety, 
 can scarcely find room for a feeling of compassion 
 towards others.