Ossian Collection > Morison's edition of the Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

5<S4 A DISSERTATION XJONCERNING
matter of wonder to me, how any one could dream of thei*"
antiquity. They are entirely writ in that romantic tafte,-
v/hich prevailed two ages ago. ' Giants, inchanted caftles,
dwarfs, palfreys, witches and magicians form the whole
circle of the poet's invention. The celebrated Fion could
fcarcely move from one hillock to another, without encoun-
tering a giant, or being entangled in the circles of a magi-
cian. Witches, on broom-fticks were continually hovering
round him, like crows j aiad he had fi-eed inchanted virgins
in every valley in Ireland. Jin fiiort, Fion, great as he was,
paffcd a dilagreeable life. Not only had he to engage all
the mifchicfs in his own country, foreign armies invaded
him, affiftcd by magicians and witches, and headed by Icings
as tall as the main-maft of a firft rate. It muft be owned,
however, that Fiov was not inferior to them in height.
A chos air Cromleach, druim-ard,
Chos eile air Crom-meal dnbh,
Thoga Fion le laroh mhoir
An d'uifgeo Lubhair na fruth.
With one foot on Cromleach his brow.
The other on Crommal the dark,
Fion took up with his large hand
The water from Lubar of the ftreams.
Cromleach and Crommal were two mountains in the neigh-
bourhood of one another, in Ulfter, and the river Lubar
ran through the intermediate valley. The property of fucfi
a monfter as this Fion, I fiiould never have difputed with
any nation. But the bard himieif, in the poem, from which
the above quotation is taken, cedes him to Scotland.
FiOK o Albin, fiol nan laoich.
V ion from Albion, race of heroes I
Were it allowable to contradicft the authority of a bard, at
this Jiftarce of time, 1 fliould hnve given as my opinion,
that