Ossian Collection > Essay on the authenticity of the poems of Ossian

OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 5
was " Cares king of ships," we cannot hope
to be able, at this distance of time, precisely
to determine.
It may be remarked, that the very name
of Romans does not once occur in these
poems. As individuals are always denomi-
nated, by Ossian, from their personal quali-
ties, — a practice common amongst all na-
tions in the earlier stages of society, — so
nations and countries, mountains and rivers,
receive their appellations from the circum-
stances by which they are peculiarly distin-
guished. The Romans are, in these poems,
called " the Strangers :" one country is
denominated Innis-uaine, or, '' the Green
^' Isle ;" and another Erin, or " the West-
'' ern Isle :" a hill is denominated Gormal,
or " the Blue Hill:" and a river, Carun,
" the Winding Stream ;" or Balbha, '' the
" Silent."
But, except in the few, — the very few in-
stances, in which these places have retained