Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volume 1

THE POEMS OF OSSlAN. 4I
came to a narrow pafs, poiTeflld by the celebrated Ton*
iofal. This name is very fignificant of the fmgular
property of the hero who bore it. Ton-iofal, though
brave, was fo heavy and unwieldy, that, when he fat
down, it took the whole force of an hundred men to
let him upright on his feet again. Luckily for the
prefervation of Ireland, the hero happened to be Hand-
ing when the enemy appeai:ed, and he gave fo good an
account of them, that fion^ upon his arrival, found little
to do, but to divide the fpoil among his foldiers.
All thefe extraordinary heroes, Fion, Offian, Ofcar,
and Ca-olt, fays the poet, were
Sio! Erin na gorm lann.
The fons of Enn oi blue Reel.
Neither fhall I much difpute the matter with him: He
has my confent alfo to appropriate to Ireland the cele-
bra) :ed Ton-iofal. I fhail only fay, that they are diffe-
rent perfons from thofe or- the famfc name, in the Scots
poems ; and that though the ftupendous valour of the
firfl is £0 remarkable, they have not been equally lucky
with the latter, in their poet. It is fomewhat extraor-
dinary, that Flnt', who lived fome^ ages before St. Fa-«
trick, fwears like a very good Chriflian.
Air an Dia do clia.n gach cafe.
By God, who Cir-ped every cafe.
It is worthy of being remarked, that, in the line quoted,
OfTian, who lived in St. Patrick's days, feems to have
undc-rllood fomething of the Englifh, a language not
then fubfifting. A perfon, mere fanguine for the ho-
nour of his country than I am, might argue, from this
circumflance, that this pretendedly Irifh Ofiian was a
native of Scotland ; for my countrymen are univeriiilly
allowed to have an exclufive right to the fecond-fight.
From the inftances given, the reader may form a
complete idea of the Iriih compolitions concerning the
Fiona. The greateft part of them make the heroes o£
Fioiif
Siol A'.bin a n'nioma raoUe.
Th2 race of AVuion of many friths.
The reft make them natives of Ireland. But, the truth
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