205 



not satisfied with this sample, may consult pages li24, 169, 170, 

 171, 268, 274, 278, and several other places, which, for brevity's 

 sake, are not here noticed. 



Let us now inquire how the existence of towers or castles at this 

 early period agrees with historic truth. We are told, and truly so, 

 that the ancient Scots of both nations were originally one poeple, 

 having the same languge, and the same manners and customs. If 

 this be true, and that it is so, there can scarcely be a doubt, castles and 

 towers must be coeval in both countries. Ossian says they were so, 

 and that they were of such antiquity in his time, that they were over- 

 grown with moss : for so we must understand him when he speaks 

 of " mossy towers." But this is in opposition to all English authors 

 who have written on the antiquities of Ireland, who deny that any 

 stone buildings were over erected in Ireland, until some short time 

 before the English invasion in the twelfth century, except the round 

 towers and some ecclesiastical edifices. And this is confirmed by 

 the authority of Irish writers. The Irish had splendid buildings, but 

 these structures were of timber ; and the erection of the first stone 

 castle is recorded by the Irish annalists as an extraordinary thing, 

 even so late as the year 1161. This was the castle of Tuam, erected 

 by Roderick O'Conor, king of Connaught, and was at that time called 

 the wonderful castle. Where then did Ossian find " mossy towers " 

 in Ireland and Scotland in the third century ? Truth compels us to 

 declare, that there were none such then in existence in Ireland. The 

 mention of such buildings by Ossian is another " internal proof" of 



the modern fabrication of those poems ascribed to him. 



H,.":;.uiRliiOii I ^■•■r 

 VIII. White sailed Ships with Groves of Masts. : 



Ships with white sails and groves of masts are frequently met 

 with in Ossian's poems ; so often, indeed, that one would think the 



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