Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volume 2

IDS temora: Book VIII.,
of youth, js Ferad-artho ^'•; blae-eyed king, the son of:
broad-shielded Caii bar, from Ullin of the roes. He '
listens to the voice of Coudan, as grey, he bends in'
teeble light. Ke listens, for his foes dwell in the echo-l
w FeradaTtho was the son of Cairbar Mac-Corinac king of Ire-
land, lie was the only one remaining of the race of Conar, the son
f)f lYenmor, the first Irish monarch, according to Ossian. In order
to make this passage thoroughly undcrhtood, it may not te in. pro-
per to recapitulatt some part of v.iiat has been said in preceding
notes. Upon tUe death of Conar the son of Trenmor, his so:; Ccr-
mac succeeded on the Irish throne. Cormac reigned long- Mis
children were. Cairbar, who succeeded him, and Roscrana, the first
wife of Fingal. Cairbar, long before the death oi his father Ccrmac.
Jiad taken to wife Eos-gala, the daughter of Colgar, one of the most
rcwcifu! chiefs in Connauglit, and had, by her, Artho, afterwards
king of Ireland. Soon after Artho arrived at man's estate, liis iro-
tlier, Eos gala died, and Cairbar took to wife Beltanno, the dai:gh-
ter of Conacliar of Uiiin, wlio brougtt him a son, whom he called-
ferad artho, i. e. a man in the place of Artho, The occasion of
the name was this. Arlho, wlien his broflier was hum, was absent,
on an expedition in the south of Ireland. Afalse report wasbroug! t :o
his fatlier that he was killed. Cairbar, to use the words of the poi. m ,
on the subject, darkened for his fair-haired soa. He turned to the
young beam cf light, the son of Beltanno of Conachar. 'I hou shalt
be Ferad-artho, he said, a five before thy race. Cairbar soon after
died, nor did Artho long sur\ive him. Artho was succeeded, in the
Irish tJirone, by his sou Cormac, who, in his minority, was murder-
ed by Cairbar, the son of Borbar-duthuh Ferad-artho, says tradi-
tion, was very young, when the expedition of Fingal tosettle hirn on
tl^c throne of Ireland, happened. During the short reign of young
Cormac, Ferad-artho lived at the royal palace of 'Femora. Upon.'
the murder of the king, Condan, the baid, conveyed Ferad-artho ■
privately to ti.e cave of China, behhid the mountain Crommal, in
Ulstcir, where they Loth lived conctaled, during the usurpaLiou cf
tliefaniily of Atha. All these particulars, concerning Ferad-aniio,
may be gathered from the compositions of Ossian : A bard, lev an-
cient, b.as delivered the whole history, in a poem just now i;i ny
possession. It has little m.erit, if we except the scene between ler ul-
artho, and llie messengers of Fingal, upon their arrival in the v.tlliy
cf Cluna. After hearing of the great actions of Fingal, the young
prince proposes the fellow ing questions concerning him, to Gaul and
Cermid- " Is the king tall as the rock of my cave ! Is his spear a
fir of China? Is he a rough-winged blast on the mountain, which
takes the green oak by the head, an4 tears it from its hill ? GHtters
Lubar within his stridts, w Uer. he sends fais stately steps along { N»