204 



p. 167, 0. ed. "Blest be thy soul, O Cormac." — Temora, B. I. p. 397. 

 These prayers are to be found also in those Gaelic poems published 

 by the Highland Society, as the " Gaelic originals of Ossian's 

 Poems/'— See Fionghal, Duan I. vol. ii. v. 295. — Duan III. v. 512. 

 Temora, Duan I. v. 645. The " originals " of the " Battle of Lora," 

 or of the " Death of CuchuUin," have not been published by the 

 Society. — See before, p. 194. We can easily acquit Mr. Macpherson of 

 the charge of popery, which might be imputed to him from these ex- 

 pressions of his son Ossian, who, though he makes use of them, must 

 not be supposed a papist no more than his father. It may be asked, 

 then, how did these prayers find their way into the poems of the 

 Scotch Ossian ? The answer is plain, Macpherson stole them with 

 other things, from the Irish Ossian, who was a papist, and who makes 

 use of such prayers in almost every one of his poems. To this " inter- 

 nal proof" also, the advocates of Ossian's authenticity are heartily 

 welcome. 



VII. Castles and Towers. 



Castles and towers are so often mentioned in the poems of 

 Ossian, that one would be inclined to think that in his time Scotland 

 and Ireland were crowded with such buildings. Let us pass over 

 " Tura's wall," with which the poem of Fingal opens, for it may be 

 said that a wall is not a castle or a tower, though there can be very 

 little doubt that the poet intended that we should take "Tura's wall " 

 for either. In Fingal, B. V. p. 72, o. ed., we are told of '-'■ Lamderg" 

 that "He came to Selma's mossy towers." — B. VI. p. 84, we find 

 "the mossy towers of Gormal." — In the war of Inisthona, p. Ill, we 

 again meet with the " towers of Selma." It is scarcely necessary to 

 mention more of these splendid structures particularly : those who are 



