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

146 OESERVATIOXS
The words which are here translated ^//r own are plural
in the original: So that the whole of the six -verses nottr
quoted, express in the clearest manner, that Fingal and his
venerable son, with the heroes whom he celebrates, were
inhabitants and natives of Scotland.
■As tlie two songs which we have just examined, show'
Scotland to have been the cojintry of Fingal and his heroes ;
so, two other ancient songs with whicl), Mr. Hill has fa--
voured the public, will jjrove them to have an intimate
connection wiih the " peculiarities and traditions" of that
kingdom.
" The first cf them relates to the Death of Dermid:"
On a passage of v/hich, as translated in Smith's Gaelic An- ,
tiquilies, p. 194. Mr. Hill has this note : " Smith add»,
" that the elan of Campbell, said to be descended from
••' Dermid, assume the boar's head for their crest from this
'' eventf ." And he afterwards remarks in aiiother note,
*' As Hengist, Horsa, and the other Saxon chiefs, derived
'■*■ tlieir pefdigree from- Odin, so the Campbells, &.c. derive
** theirs from Dermid and the rest of the Fingalians |.^*
And, in truth, it is a genei-al belief over all the Highlands
»ftd Western Isles of Scotland, that' the Campbells are de-
scended of this very Dermid : a strilting instance of which
belief is remarked by the Rev. Mr. Pope of Reay, in a let-
ter to Dr. Blair*. Biit the tradition of it is peculiar to
Scotland ; for the account of Irish history is, that the illus^
trious house of Argyll took its rise from Fathod Canaiin,
son of Lughad Mac Con, who succeeded to the kingdom of
Ireland in the year 250+.
f Ancient Erse Poems, p. 15. ^ Ibid. p. S3. * See p. 54.
f " Fathodjus Canann Macconii' regis fillus, Argatheliae in Scotia Comiii- >
" bus Cambellis (Hibernicè Mac Cathlin) — origineni dedit." Koderic. O'Fbf*^ '
fteitii Ogj-g. p. S30.