179 



Trenmor, king of Morven, the powerful monarch of a populous 



kingdom, situate in a corner of the present Argyleshire, 



in Scotland. 



Trathal 



Comhal 



Fingal = Roscrana 



Ossian 

 the Poet. 



I 

 Oscar, killed 

 by Cairbre 

 Lord of Atha. 



Conar, Monarch of 

 Ireland 



Cormac, Mon. of Ireland 



Cairbre Men. of Ireland 



Artho, Mon. of Ireland 



I 

 Cormac, a minor 

 ut the death of his 

 father, murdered 

 at Temora, by 

 Cairbre, Lord of 

 Atha. 



Ferad-artho, 

 who, upon the 

 defeat and death 

 of the usurper 

 Cairbre of Atha 

 by Fingal, as- 

 cended the 

 throne of Ire- 

 land. 



It now remains for us to inquire into the periods at which these 

 celebrated personages flourished. In this inquiry let us take Mr, 

 Macpherson for our guide. He tells us, n. ed. p. 12, that " the ex- 

 ploits of Fingal against Caracul," (Caracalla) " the son of the king 

 of the world, are among the first brave actions of his youth." This 

 war happened in the year 211, in which year the emperor Severus, 

 the father of Caracalla, died. Let us suppose that these *' first brave 

 actions of Fingal" happened when he was not more than twenty 

 years of age, his birth must be therefore, at the latest, about the year 

 190. Macpherson says the Irish histories place the death of Fionn 

 Mac Cubhail, the Fingal of Macpherson, to the year 283, and in this 

 date he says they are correct. The poem of Temora represents Fin- 

 gal in that " last of his battles," as in full possession of all his mental 

 and physical powers, and that battle was fought but a very short 

 period before his death, when he could not be less than ninety years 



VOL. XVI. 



B B 



