Ossian Collection > Fingal

Book I. AnEPICPOEM. 5
war ! or yield green Innisfail * to Lochlin ! O Connal -f- fpeak,
thou firft of men ! thou breaker of the flnelds ! thou haft often fought
with LochUn ; fhalt thou lift up thy father's fpear ?
CuCHULLiN ! calm the chief replied, the fpear of Connal is
keen. It delights to ihine in battle, and to mix with the blood of
thoufands. But tho' my hand is bent on war, my heart is for the
peace of Erin :{:. Behold, thou firft in Cormac's war, the fable fleet
of Swaran. His mafts are as numerous on our coaft as reeds in the
lake of Lego. Hisfliips are like forefts cloathed with mift, when
the trees yield by turns to the fqually wind. Many are his chiefs
in battle. Connal is for peace. Fingal would fhun his arm the
firft of mortal men : Fingal that fcatters the mighty, as ftormy
winds the heath ; when the ftreams roar thro' echoing Cona : and
flight fettles with all her clouds on the hill.
Flv, thou chief of peace, faid Calmar || the fon of Matha ; fly,
Connal, to thy filent hills, where the fpear of battle never fhone >
•Ireland fo called from a colony that his name, were called Tir-chonnuil or Tir-
fettled there called Falans. — Innis-fail, /. connal, z. <r. the land of Connal.
e. the ifland of the Fa-il or Falans. J Erin, a name of Ireland; from ear
f Connal, the friend of Cuchullin, was or /ar Weft, and /;z an ifland. This name
the fon of Cathbait prince of the Ton- was not always confined to Ireland, for
gorm^ or Ihe ijland tif blue waves, prohMy there is the higheft probability that the
one of the Hebrides. His mother was lerne of the ancients was Britain to the
Fioncoma the daughter of Congal. He North of the Forth. — For lerne is faid to
had a fon by Foba of Conachar-nefTar, be to the North of Britain, which could
who was afterwards king of Ulfter. For not be meant of Ireland,
his fervices in the war againft Swaran he Strabo, 1. 2. & 4. Casaue. 1. i.
had lands conferred on him, which, from [[Calmer, ajhon^ man.
pnrfue