199 



bre, Lord of Atha, as asserted by the Scotch Ossian, is equally 

 untrue. No minor was ever suffered to enjoy the name, much less 

 to exercise the office of a king, or of even the chief of a tribe in Ire- 

 land. No one could be born a king. That was an office never com- 

 mitted to a fool or an infant. To provide a successor for the reigning 

 king, a Rioghdamhna, ( Ree-dauvna,) or king elect, was chosen out 

 of the family of the prince then on the throne, at whose demise the 

 king elect was to succeed. These kings elect were always chosen 

 from among those who appeared to be most able to govern the nation 

 by their wisdom in time of peace, and by their valour to secure 

 them victory in time of war. This is so well known to all who have 

 ever read any thing of Irish history, that it is unnecessary to dwell on 

 it. But this fact, it seems, was not known to Ossian, who, we are 

 taught to believe, was one of the avengers of the boy-king, Cormac. 

 The ignorance of the poet on that head is, therefore, another inter- 

 nal proof that the poems of Ossian are modern fabrications. 



It is worth inquiring who Cormac was. According to Mr. Mac- 

 pherson, he was the son of Artho, the son of Cairbre, the son of 

 another Cormac, the son of Conar, the son of Trenmor, king of Scot- 

 land. This Trenmor was also the father of another son, Trathal, who 

 was father of Comhal, the father of Fingal, — all kings of Scotland.* 

 The genealogies of these powerful Scottish monarchs, Mr. Macpher- 

 son has, it is to be supposed, gleaned from different parts of Ossian's 

 poems, where these heroes are mentioned. He could have no other 

 authority, for no writer of Scottish history, before the days of Mac- 

 pherson, ever mentioned such persons as Trenmon, Trathal, Comhal, 

 or Fingal, as kings of Scotland. But Ossian does mention such per- 

 sons, and this is another internal proof of the modern forgery of 

 the poems ascribed to him. 



♦ See before, page 179. 



