209 



story of king Richard the Second's last voyage to Ireland, translated 

 from the French, by George Earl of Totness, in which is given a 

 description of Mc. Morough, king of Leinster, The author says, 

 "Between two woodes, not far from the sea, Mc. Morough (attended 

 by multitudes of the Irish) descended from a mountain, mounted 

 upon a horse without a saddle, which cost him, as it was reported, 

 four hundred cows. * * * * His horse was fair, and in his descent 

 from the hill to us, he ran as swift as any stagg, hare, or the swiftest 

 beast that I have ever seen. In his right hand he bear a great long 

 dart, which he cast from him with much dexterity. At a wood's side 

 his men stood behynd him, and he met the Erie at a little ford. He 

 was tall of stature, well composed, strong and active." Here we have 

 no armour, either upon Mc. Morough or his men. What then is the 

 conclusion to be drawn from the silence of authors on this head ? Is 

 it not that the Irish did not wear armour in the early ages, notwith- 

 standing that Ossian cases their sides in " shining steel," and loads 

 them with " sounding mail." If this be an " internal proof" of the 

 authenticity of the poems of Ossian, the advocates for that authenti- 

 city will, doubtless, thank us for calling it into notice. 



X. Culdees. 



Ossian's commentator tells us, that in some parts of the poems, 

 by the " Son of the Rock," Ossian means a Culdee, in other places, a 

 Druid, and in other places an Echo, in which last place only he is 

 perfectly right.— See o. ed. pp. 73, 97, 119, 129, 237, 240, &c. 

 We have already, p. 174, made some observations on the mention 

 made of Culdees by Mr. Macpherson, in his " Dissertation on the 

 Era of Ossian," p. 173, and we have shewn, from his etymology of the 

 name of Ci< Wees, that he was so Kttle skilled in the Gaelic language. 



