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1088, under the year Ant. C. 25, records the birth of Cuchullin in 

 these words : " Geneman Concullain herois^" — " The birth of the 

 hero Cuchullain ;" and, by the same author we find that this hero 

 was killed in the second year of the Christian era, when he was only 

 twenty-seven years old. The words of Tigernach are these : " Kl. 

 Mors Conchullain fortissimi herois Scotorum, la Lugaid mc. na tri 

 Con T la h Ere mc Cairbre Niafer vii. mbl. a aes in uair do gabh 

 gaisced, xvii. in tan bai andiaidh Tana bo Cuailgne, xxvii. an tan 

 adbath." i. e. " The death of Cuchullain, the most powerful hero of 

 the Scots,* by Lughaidh (Loo-ee,) son of the three Cons, and by 

 Ere, son of Cairbre Niafer. He Was seven years old when he 

 received knighthood, seventeen when he went in pursuit of the plun- 

 der of the Cows of Cuailgne, and twenty-seven at the time of his 

 death" In this account, all the Irish writers who have written on 

 the subject, concur, and no Scottish author before the days of Mr. 

 Macpherson ever said otherwise. Cuchullin, therefore, could not be 

 contemporary with Fingal or with Cormac, who is represented as 

 under the tutelage of Cuchullin, and whose kingdom, Ossian says, 

 Fingal came to protect against the invasion of Swaran, the king of 

 Lochlin. We have already seen, from Mr. Macpherson's own shew- 

 ing, that Fingal died in the year of Christ 283, and in this he concurs 

 with the Irish annalist. Yet, in defiance of historic truth, Ossian 

 makes Cuchullin and Fingal contemporaries. If Ossian were merely 

 a poet, and treated of events that happened long before his own 

 times, this anachronism might be allowable. But Ossian treats of 

 the occurrences of his own days, in wluch he says he was an actor; his 

 work, therefore, could not fail to produce disgust instead of delight 



* Scots. The Irish only were originally called Scots, and their country Scotia. In after, 

 times a distinction was made between the Scots of Ireland and Britain. Ireland was called 

 Scotia Major, and the Scottish nation of Britain was called Scotia Minor. 



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