Ossian Collection > Critical dissertation on the poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

A DISSERTATION. xxiii
come from the Irifh poems, concerning Fion. I have juft now, in
my hands, all that remain, of thofe compofitions; but, unluckily
for the antiquities of Ireland, they appear to be the work of a very
modern period. Every ftanza, nay almoft every line, affords ftrik-
ing proofs, that they cannot be three centuries old. Their allu-
fions to the manners and cuftoms of the fifteenth century, are (b
many, that it is matter of wonder to me, how any one could dream
of their antiquity. They are entirely writ in that romantic tafte,
which prevailed two ages ago. — Giants, enchanted caftles, dwarfs,
palfreys, witches and magicians form the whole circle of the
poet's invention. The celebrated F/(J« could fcarcely move from one
hillock to another, without encountering a giant, or being entangled
in the circles of a magician. Witches, on broomfticks, were con-
tinually hovering round him, like crows ; and he had freed enchant-
ed virgins in every valley in Ireland. In fhort, Fion, great as he
was, had but a bad fort of life of it. — Not only had he to engage
all the mifchiefs in his own country, foreign armies invaded him,
aflifted by magicians and witches, and headed by kings, as tall as
the main-maft of a firft rate. — It muft be owned, however, that
Fion was not inferior to them in height.
A chos air Cromleacb, druim-ard,
Chos eile air Crom-meal dubh,
Thoga Fion le lamh nihoir
An d'uifge o Lubhair na fruth.
«♦ Fion, fays the Irilli bard, fometimes placed one foot on the moun-
tain Cromleacb, his other foot on the hill of Crommal, and, in that
pofiticn, wafhed his hands, in the river Lubar, which ran thro' the
intermediate vaiJey." The property of fuch a monfter as th|s Fion,
i-fliould