Ossian Collection > Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the poems of Ossian

l^y SPECIMEN OF POEMS
2. St. Patrick. 2.
Bheirinnsa mo dheurbha dhuil I assure thee,OOssian !
Oishein nan glonn father of many children *''
Nach bhetl Neamh aig t athair that heaven is not in the
Aig Oscar no aig Goll. possession of thy father,
nor of Oscar, nor of Gaulf.
3. Ossian. 3.
'Sdona'n sgeula Phadruig It is a pitiful tale, O Pa,
'La agad damhsa Chlerich trick ! that thou tellest me
Com'am bethinnsa ri cràbha the Clerk of : Why should
* This is ever accounted a great honour among Barbarians. Sue also O3-
sian agus an Clerich, v. 47, p. 15.
+ I copied at .Mac-Nab's, out of one of his MSS. the following lines rela-
tive to Gaul abovementioned ; which relate an incident remarkably similar to
the stories told of Achilles, Hercules, the Jewish Samson, and the Teutonic.
jrlant Thor, &c. Gaul is generally esteemed one of the greatest of the giants i
this extract describes one still mightier than he.
Cho drugain mo sgian do riogh na do Fhlath
No do dhuin air bith gun amhith no mhath
Naoid guinuiran do sgun achuire anamsa Gqu'l
'Scho na fhuigin a thri annan biodh mo sgian nam dhcr.r
Ach dom gan tug luthadh lamh-ada anancean Ghuill anathadh
Gheig' e rann bhris e enai geal anceaumhum horn a mh; lean ta
Chuir emhala faraseal mhaoidh eain adheud rum h'or
Chuir e falam hors aghuiuidi agus enig me air na truighe
Sb'huin adsiann don tallamh 'sgula bhath belhidh fhaiil 'ami
Farnach deanadh andan ach ball gorm na glas
Se ruda dheanadh an sgian an riach sanrrachadh abhor.
The sense cf these lines, Mac-Nab gave me as follows : " Gaul and
" had a violent conflict : Gaul had tl knife, TJvavat had none : Gar.! tabb I
• Uvavat nine times with his knife : Uvàvat said, if he had hatf his k
■« would not have suffered a third part so much ; at last, lifting up his arm,
" he struck Gaul on the skull, and fractured it ;] broke his bone ; removed hi i
" brow ; knockt out his teeth ; knockt o*T his knee-pan, and his five toes ; all
«' at one blow. The mark of the blow {hall remain in the ground for ever."
Gaul's kr.ife, mentioned here, seems to have been a kind of dirk ; w hick, like
th« dagger of IT.-.dibras, served in these rude times,
Either for fighting, or for drudging;
And when't had stabb'd, or broke a- In
It would scrape trenchers, or chip bread