178 



until we come to treat of particular passages in the poems ; but as he. 

 has here entered so minutel}^ into the matter, and favoured us with 

 the names and genealogical table of the first five or six monarchs of 

 Ireland, of his and his son Ossian's creation, it will not be improper 

 to consider the subject here. 



According to " the father of Ossian," who cites his son's poem of 

 Temora for what he asserts, n. ed. p. 26. Conor, the son Trenmor, 

 King of Morven, and grand-uncle of Fingal, was the first monarch of 

 Ireland. " To Conor succeeded his son Cormac," who being opposed 

 by the Firbolg, was relieved by his cousin Fingal, to whom he gave 

 his daughter Roscrana in marriage, who, in good time, bore to him 

 their son, the celebrated Ossian. 



" Cormac was succeeded on the Irish throne by his son Cairbre ; 

 Cairbre, by Artho his son, who was the father of that Cormac, in 

 whose minority the invasion of Swaran happened, which is the sub- 

 ject of the poem of Fingal." 



In this pedigree of Cairbre, monarch of Ireland, the venerable 

 Ossian, and the heroic Fingal, Mr. Macpherson has, it must be con- 

 fessed, acquitted himself with as much dexterity as any of the gentle- 

 men in the offices of "Garter" or " Ulster," kings at arms; and has 

 created ancestors for his heroes with as much ease as the most expert 

 herald could create Red Lions, Green Dragons, Blue Boars, Black 

 Swans, Two-headed Eagles, &;c. &c., with which those gentlemen 

 are constantly supplied for the accommodation of all who have occa- 

 sion and money to purchase such articles. The thing has only one 

 defect, it is not exhibited in an heraldic form. This defect, for 

 the better understanding of the thing, we shall here endeavour to 

 supply. 



