J. F. Campbell Collection > Transactions of the Ossianic Society > Volume 4

TO
WILLIAM SMITH O'BRIEN, ESQ.,
PRESIDENT OF THE OSSIANIC SOCIETY.
Sir, — Pursuant to your wishes, and at your very kind suggestion, I
have undertaken the following translation of the Ossianic poem, on
CÍTI r)A i)-ó5 (" Land of Youtli,") in the bumble but confident hope that I
may, however, unpretending as an Irish scholar, be in some measure in-
strumental in restoring our neglected lore to its former style and stan-
dard.
From my knowledge of the Penian stories, and Ossianic poems which
circulate in this country, I would classify them under three different and
distinct heads, 1st, Fenian history, which comprises all based upon fact
and supported by the ancient records and chronicles of our country, such
as Cac 3AbnA, Cac Ci^uca and the like, which it would be absurd to dis-
credit against the forcible evidence of our trustworthy annals. 2nd,
inventions and poetic fictions which are entertaining, and intended by the
authors more to amuse the reader and to embellish history, than, as some
say, to impose on his understanding, and claim the credit of truth. 3rd,
the poems and prophecies of Pjorjn, CoittioU, CAOjlce, and others of the
FjATjijA ejniotjt) (Irish Militia), which are very interesting, and I should
think entitled to as much credit as the early traditions of any other
nation.
Some assume that the genuine old poems and stories cannot be dis-
tinguislied from the modern fictions, and consequently that they cannot
be credited, but that all must be considered worthless. This is a very
unjustifiable assumption. The Irish scholar will at once know the com-
position of the Fenian period, as the language and style is different
from that of latter times. From the fourteenth to the beginning of tlie