It is remarkable, that the genius of Ossianic style still
prevails over the wild effusions of the modern and
unlettered bards of Ireland; while even the remotest lay of
Scottish minstrelsy respires nothing of that soul which
breathes in “the voice of Cona;” and the metrical flippancy
which betrays its existence, seems neither to rival, or cope
with that touching sublimity of measure through whose
impressive medium the genius of Ossian effuses its
inspiration, and which, had it been known to ihe early bards
of Scotland, had probably been imitated and adopted. In
Ireland, it has ever been and is still the measure in which
the Sons of Song breathe “their wood notes wild.”
“But with us, Fingal and his chiefs are beings of real existence, their names, professions, rank, characters, and feats, attested by historic fact as well as by poetic eulogium. Fingal is indeed romantically brave, benevolent, and generous, but he is turbulent, restless, ambitious: he is a man as well as a hero; and both his virtues and his vices bear the stamp of the age and country in which he lived. His name and feats, as well as those of his chief officers, bear an intimate connexion with our national history.
“Fionne, or Finnius, was the grandsire of Mile-sius; and it is not only a name to be met with through every period of our history, but there are few old families even at this day in Ireland, who have not the appellative of Finnius in some one or other of its branches; and a large tract of the province of Leinster is called Fingal; a title in possession of one of our most noble and ancient families.
“Nay, if you please, you shall hear our old nurse run through the whole genealogy of Macpherson’s hero, which is frequently given as a theme to exercise the memory of the peasant children.” *
“Nay,” said I, nearly overpowered, “Macpher-son assures us the Highlanders also repeat many of Ossian’s poems in the original Erse: nay, that even in the Isle of Sky, they still show a stone which bears the form and name of Cuchullin’s dog.” **
* They run it over thus: Oscar Mac Ossyn, Mac Fion, MacCuil,
Mac Cormic, Mac Arte, Mac Fiervin, &c., &c. That is, Oscar
the son of Ossian, the son of Fion, &c.
** There is an old tradition current in Connaught, of which
Bran, the favourite dog of Ossian is the hero. In a war
between the king of Lochlin and the Fians, a battle
continued to be fought on equal terms for so long a period,
that it was at last mutually agreed that it should be
decided in a combat between Ossian’s Bran and the famous
Cudubh, or dark greyhound, of the Danish monarch. This
greyhound had already performed incredible feats, and was
never to be conquered until his name was found out. The
warrior dogs fought in a space between the two armies, and
with such fury, says the legend, in a language absolutely
untranslatable, that they tore up the stony bosom of the
earth, until they rendered it perfectly soft, and again
trampled on it with such force, that they made it of a rocky
substance. The Cudubh had nearly gained the victory, when
the baldheaded Conal, turning his face to the east, and
biting his thumb, a ceremony difficult to induce him to
perform, and which always endowed him with the gift of
divination, made a sudden exclamation of encouragement to
Bran, the first word of which found the name of the
greyhound, who lost at once his prowess and the victory.
“This is the most flagrant error of all,” exclaimed the Prince, abruptly breaking his sullen silence—“for he has scynchronized heroes who flourished in two distant periods; both Cuchullin and Conal Cearneath are historical characters with us; they were Knights of the Red Branch, and flourished about the birth of Christ. Whereas Fingal, with whom he has united them, did not flourish till near three centuries after. It is indeed Macpherson’s pleasure to inform us that by the Isle of Mist is meant the Isle of Sky, and on that circumstance alone to rest his claim on Cuchullin’s being a Caledonian; although, through the whole poems of Fingal and Temora, he is not once mentioned as such; it is by the translator’s notes only we are informed of it.”
“It is certain,” said the priest—“that in the first mention made of Cuchullin in the poem of Fingal, he is simply denominated ‘the son of Se-mo,’ ‘the Ruler of High Temora,’ ‘Mossy Tura’s Chief.’” * So called, says Macpherson, from his castle on the coast of Ulster, where he dwelt before he took the management of the affairs of Ireland into his hands; though the singular cause which could induce the lord of the Isle of Sky to reside in Ireland previous to his political engagements in the Irish state, he does not mention.
* The groves of Tura, or Tuar, are often noticed in Irish
song. Emunh Acnuic, or Ned of the Hill, has mentioned it in
one of his happiest and most popular poems. It was supposed
to be in the county of Armagh, province of Ulster.
“In the same manner we are told, that his three nephews came from Streamy Etha, one of whom married an Irish lady; but there is no mention made of the real name of the place of their nativity, although the translator assures us in another note, that they also were Caledonians. But, in fact, it is from the internal evidences of the poems themselves, not from the notes of Mr. Macpherson, nor indeed altogether from his beautiful but unfaithful translation, that we are to decide on the nation to which these poems belong. In Fingal, the first and most perfect of the collection, that hero is first mentioned by Cuchullin as Fingal, King of Desarts—in the original—-Inis na bf hiodhuide, or Woody Island; without any allusion whatever to his being a Caledonian. And afterwards he is called King of Selma, by Swaran, a name, with little variation given to several castles in Ireland. Darthula’s castle is named Selma; and another, whose owner I do not remember, is termed Selemath. Slimora, to whose fir the spear of Foldath is compared, is a mountain in the province of Munster, and through out the whole, even of Mr. Macpherson’s translation, the characters, names, allusions, incidents and scenery are all Irish. And in fact, our Irish spurious ballads, as Mr. Macpherson calls them, are the very originals out of which he has spun the materials for his version of Ossian. *