Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

28 A PUELIMINARY DISCOUUSK.
Carrickfergus and people all Scollaiid with his
own hands,' and make these sons of the north
* alcgitiviafe ;' but we may observe, that from
the inclination of the baron's opinion, added
to the internal evidence of his poems, there
appears at least as much reason to believe their
author to have been a native of Ireland as of
Scotland. The success with which Maci)her-
son's endeavours had been rewarded, induced
the baron to inquire whether any more of this
kmd of poetiy could be obtaine(i. His search,
he confesses, would have proved fruitless, had
he expected to find complete pieces ; • for, cer-
tainly,' says he, ' none such exist. But,' he adds,
' in seeking with assiduity and care, I found,
by the help of my friends, several fragments of
old traditionary songs, which were very su-
blime, and particularly remarkable for their
simplicity and elegance.' P. iv.
' Like a true Scotchman, in order to make his compo-
sition more acceptable to his countrymen, Mr. Macpher-
son changes the name of Fion Mac Cumhal the Irishman,,
into Fingal ; which, indeed, sou>i(ls much better, and
sets him up a Scotch kin:^ over the ideal kingdom of Mor-
ven in the west of Scotland. It nail been a better argu-
ment for the authenticity, if h3 had allowetl him to be
an Irishman, and made Morven an Irish kingdom, as well
as Ireland the s-^ene of his battles, but as he must need
make the hero of an ej)ic poem a great character, it was
too great honour for any other country but Scotland to
have given birth to so considerable a personage. All the
authentic histories of Ireland give a full account of Fin-
gal or Fion Mac Cumhal's actions, and any one who will
take the trouble to look at Dr. Keating's, or any other
history of that country, will find the matter related as
above, whereas, in the Chronicon Scotorum , from wliich
the list of the Scotch kings is taken, and the pretended
MSS. they so much boast of to be seen in the Hebrides,
there is not one syllable said of such a name as Fingal.'—
An Enquiry into the Authenticity of the Poems of Ossian,
By W.Shaw, A.M., F.S..A. author of the Gaelic Dic-
tionary and drammar. London, 17K1.
Mr. S aw crowns his want of faith in Macpherons Os-
sian with this jiieceof information. ' A gentleman pro-
mised to ornament a scalloped shell with silver, if 1
should bring him one from the Highlands, and to ;wear
that it was the identical ihell out of which Fingal used to
drink.*— A gentleman I