Ossian Collection > Fingal

xvi A DISSERTATION, 6cc.
name of Scandinavia in the Galic language. CuchuUin, general of
the Irifh tribes in the minority of Cormac king of Ireland, upon in-
telligence of the invafion, affembled his forces near Tura, a caftle
on the coaft of Ulller. The poem opens with the landing of Swa-
ran, councils are held, battles fought, and Cuchullin is, at laft,
totally defeated. In the mean time, Fingal, king of Scotland, whofe
aid was follicited before the enemy landed, arrived and expelled
them from the country. This v.'ar, which continued but fix days
and as many nights, is, including the epifodes, the whole ftory of
the poem. The fcene is the heath of Lena near a mountain called
Cromleach in Ulfter.
All that can be faid of the tranllation, is that it is literal, and
that fimplicity is ftudied. The arrangement of the words in the
original is imitated, and the inverfions of the ftyle obferved. As the
tranflator claims no merit from his verlion, he hopes for the indul-
gence of the public where he fails. He withes that the imperfect
femblance he draws, may not prejudice the world againft an origi-
nal, which contains what is beautiful in fimplicity, and grand in
the fublime.
A D V E R