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

THE POEMS OF OSSIAlv 269
(.f the Irifh Offian's poems, promifed more than a year
■fince, to the public. The author dc fcends fometimcs from
the region of the fublime to low and indecent defcription ;
nhe laft of which, the Irifli tranflator, no doubt, will choofe
to leave in the obfcurity of the original. In this piece Cu-
chullin is ufed with very little ceremony, for he is oft call-
ed the Dog o/Tara, in the coimty of Meath. This fevere
title of the redoubtahle Ci(chu!Un, the molt renowned of Irifh
champions, proceeded from the poet's ignorance of etymo-
logy. Cu, voice, or commander, fignifies alfo a dog. The
poet chofe the laft, as the moft noble appellation for his hero.
The fubjeit of the poem is the fame with that of the epic
poem of Fingal. Gctrihh Mac-Starn is the fame with Of-
fian's Swaran, the fon of Starno. His fmgle combats with,
and his victory over all the heroes of Ireland, excepting the
celebrated dig of Tara, i. e. Cuchullin, afford matter for
two hundi-ed lines of tolerable poetry. Garibh's progrefs
in fearch of Cuchullin, and his intrigue with the gigantic
Eniir-bragaJ, that hero's wife, enables the poet to extend
his piece to four hundred lines. This author, it is true,
makes Cuchullin a native of Ireland ; the gigantic Emir- bra-
gal he calls the guiding Jlar of the ivomen of Ireland. The
property of this enormous lady I fhall not difpute with him,
or any other. But as he fpeaks with great tendernefs of
the d.iughters of the convent., and throws out fome hiiits a-
gainft the Englifli nation, it is probable he lived in too mo-
dern a period to be intimately acquainted with the genea-
logy of Cuchullin.
Another Irifli Offian, for there were many, as appears
from their difference in language and fentiment, fpeaks ve-
ry dogmatically of Fion Mac Comnal, as an Irifhman. Lit-
tle can be faid for the judgment of this poet, and lefs for
his delicacy of fentiment. The hiftory of one of h's epi-
fodes.