“Dr. Johnson, who strenuously opposed the idea of Ossian being the work of a Scotch bard of the third century, asserts that the ‘Erse never was a written language, and that there is not in the world a written Erse manuscript a hundred years old.’ He adds, ‘The Welsh and Irish are cultivated tongues, and two hundred years back insulted their English neighbours for the instability of their orthography.’ Even the ancient Irish letter was unknown in the Highlands in 1690, for an Irish version of the Bible being given there by Mr. Kirk, was printed in the Roman character.
“When Dr. Young, ** led by tasteful enterprize,
* “Some of the remaining footsteps of these old warriors are
known by their first names at this time [says Keating] as
for instance, Suidhe Finn, or the, Palace of Fin, at Sliabh
na Mann, &c., &c.” There is a mountain in Donegal still
called Alt Ossoin, surrounded by all that wild sublimity of
scenery so exquisitely deliniated through the elegant medium
of Macpherson’s translation of Ossian; and in its environs
many Ossianic tales are still extant.
In an extract given by Camden from an account of the manners
of the native Irish in the sixteenth century—“they think,
[says the author] the souls of the deceased are in communion
with the famous men of those places, of whom they retain
many stories and sonnets—as of the giants Fin, Mac Huyle,
Osker, Mac Osshin, &c., &c., and they say, through illusion,
they often see them.”
** Dr. Young, and Bishop of Clonfert, who united in his
character the extremes of human perfection; the most
unblemished virtue to the most exalted genius.
visited the Highlands (on an Ossianic research) in 1784, he collected a number of Gællic poems respecting the race of the Fiens, so renowned in the annals of Irish heroism, * and found, that the orthography was less pure than that among us; for, he says, “the Erse being only a written language within these few years, no means were yet afforded of forming a decided orthographic standard.” But he augurs, from the improvement which had lately taken place, that we soon may expect to see the Erse restored to the original purity which it possesses in the mother country. And these very poems, whence Mr. Macpherson has chiefly constructed his Ossian, bear such strong internal proof of their Irish origin, as to contain in themselves the best arguments that can be adduced against the Scottish claimants on the poems of the bard. But in their translation, ** many passages are perverted, in order to deprive Ireland of being the residence of Fingal’s heroes.”
* See Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 1786.
** “From the remotest antiquity we have seen the military
order distinguished in Ireland, codes of military laws and
discipline established, and their dress and rank in the
state ascertained. The learned Keating and others, tell us
that these militia were called Fine, from Fion Mac Cum-hal;
but it is certainly a great error; the word fine, strictly
implying a military corps. Many places in the island retain
to this day the names of some of the leaders of this body of
men, and whole volumes of poetical fictions have been
grafted upon their exploits. The manuscripts which I have,
after giving a particular account of Finn’s descent, his
inheritance, his acquisitions from the king of Leinster and
his great military command, immediately adds, ‘but the
reader must not expect to meet here with such stories of him
and his heroes as the vulgar Irish have.’”—Dr. Warner.
“I remember,” said the Prince, “when you read to me a description of a sea fight between Fingal and Swaran, in Macpherson’s translation, that I repeated to you, in Irish, the very poem whence it was taken, and which is still very current here, under the title of Laoid Mhanuis M’hoir.”
“True,” returned the priest, “a copy of which is deposited in the University of Dublin, with another Irish MS. entitled, ‘Oran cadas Ailte agus do Maronnan’ whence the battle of Lora is taken.”
The Prince then, desiring Father John to give him down a bundle of old manuscripts which lay on a shelf in the hall dedicated to national tracts, after some trouble produced a copy of a poem, called “The Conversation of Ossian and St. Patrick,” the original of which, Father John assured me, was deposited in the library of the Irish University.
It is to this poem that Mr. Macpherson alludes, when he speaks of the dispute reported to have taken place between Ossian and a Culdee.
At my request he translated this curious controversial tract. The dispute was managed on both sides with a great deal of polemic ardour. St.