Ossian Collection > Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the poems of Ossian

UQ REPORT ON THE
even in the Lowlands of Scotland, the poems or Ufa*
ditionary tales that related their exploits were no^
objecls of curiofity in that part of the country, and
neither the antiquarian nor the fcholar ever thought
of
' My foir grandfyr hecht Fyn Makowll,
That dang the Deil and gart him yowil.'
And again, p. 261. ft. 9.
* My fader, meikle Gow Macmorn,
Out of hie moderis wame was fhorne.' .
Lord Hailes, with his ufual acutenefs and ingenuity, has ob-
served the coincidence between this circumftance of Fingal's ' ding-
ing the deil and garing him yowl,' mentioned by Dunbar, and
that of his conteit with the fpirit of Loda, contained in one of
the poems tranflated by Macpherfon.
The following pafiage is of a graver fort, taken from Hcftor.
Boethius.
' Conjiciunt quidam, in hcec tempora Fynnanum iilium Cceli,
'Fyn Mak Coul, vulgari vocabulo) virum uti ferunt immaui fta--
rura (fepteaum enim cubitorum hominem fuifle narrant) Scotici
fanguinis, venatoria arte infignem, omnibufque infolita corporis
mole formidolofum : Circularibus fabulis, et iis quae de Arthuro rege
paffim apud noftrates leguntur, fimillimis, magis quam eruditorum
teftimonio, decantatum. Hujus itaque viri mirabilibus quod ab
hiftorica fide haud parum abhorrere omnibus funt vifa, confultq
fuperfedentes, Eugenii regis geita deiuceps profequemur.' Hec-
tor. Boetbii Scot. Hi/lof. L. 7. p. 128-9. Foh Far. 1574.
This, and the other authorities above quoted, give Fingal and
bis heroes decidedly to Scotland ; others, fuch as Gavin Doug-
las, fpeak of them as-
* Greit Gow Macmorne and Fyn Mac Coul, and how
They fuld be gods in Ireland, as they fay.'
Without