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

A DISSERTATIOIS'. xxlx
The fubjeft of the poem is the fame with that of the epic poem
©f Fingal. Garibh Mac-Starn is the fame with Ofiian's Swaran,
the fori of Starno. His fingle combats with, and his vidlory
overall the heroes of Ireland, excepting ths ce/el^rated Jog of Tara'
i. e. CuchuUin, afford matter for two hundred lines of tolerable
poetry. Gariba^ progrefs in fearch of Cuchullin, and his intrigue
with the gigantic Emir-bragal, that hero's wife, enables the poet
to extend his piece to four hundred lines. This author, it is true,
makes Cuchullin a native of Ireland ; the gigantic Emir-bragal he
calls, the guiding Jiar of the "women of Ireland. The property of
this enormous lady I fhali not difpute with him, or any other. But,
as he fpeaks with great tendernefs of the daughters of the convent,
and throws out fome hints againft the Englhli nation, it is pro-
bable he lived in too modern a period to be intimately acquainted
with the genealogy of Cuchullin,
Another Irifh Ofllan (for there were many, as appears from
their difference in language and fentiment) fpeaks very dogmati-
cally of Fion Mac Comnal, as an Irifliman. Little can be faid for
the judgment of this poet, and lefs for his delicacy of fentiment.
The hiftory of one of his epifodes may, at once, ftand as a fpeci-
men of his want of both. Ireland, in the days of Fio;i, happened
to be threatned with an invafion, by three great potentates, the
kings of Lochlin, Sweden, and France. It is needlefs to infift up-
on the impropriety of a French invafion of Ireland;, it is fufficient
for me to be faithful to the language of my author. Fion, upon-
receiving intelligence of the intended invafion, fent Ca-olt, Ofilan,
and Ofcar, to watch the bay, in which, it was apprehended, the
enemy was to land. Ofcar was the worff choice of a fcout that
could be made, for, brave as he was, he had the bad property of
falling very often afleep on his poft, nor was it pofiible to awake
* hirti,.