148 



script of the seventh century, in which we read that " the warhke 

 Irp conducted a fleet to Llychlyn ; on which Mr. Edward Llhuyd 

 remarks, that by this name we understand Sweden, Denmark, and 

 Norway." We think, with due respect to Doctor Graham, that Mr. 

 Laing does not indulge in gratuitous assumptions, but generally 

 assigns such reasons for his opinions as are more easily contradicted 

 than refuted. But another critic who has investigated the subject 

 more profoundly than either Mr. Laing or the Doctor, one to whom 

 all others must yield the palm. Doctor O'Conor, author of " Rerum 

 Hibernicarum Scriptores," one to whom all the stores of Celtic lite- 

 rature are laid open, and who treasured in his mind all its various 

 lore, is of the same opinion as Mr. Laing : 



"Nomen Lochlan,* quod in iistlem carminibus fictis centies pro Danis ponitur, penitus 

 ignotum fuit, et inauditum ante saculum chiistianum, quo tempore, Danis ab Hibernise incolis 

 impositum fuit, quia in laeubus Eachense, Ribhense, Feabhalinse, Orbsenense, ^c. hiemare sole- 

 bant, ut eo commodius Mediterraneas insulae regiones et monasteria infestarent. Pro canone enim 

 irrefragabili statuendum est, nullum esse, non modo codicem, verum etiam carmen, aut opus 

 quodcunque, in quo vox Lochlan pro Dano, vel Norwegio ponitur, quod non sit sseculo 

 decimo recentior, cum antea nullo alio vocabulo quam Gal, ullo unquam tempore, Hiber- 

 nice designati fuerint." — Hib. Script Ep. Nun. p. cxxii. 



Another mark of the true scenery of Ossian is found by Mr. 

 Stewart in " a great cataract, or waterfall, about two short miles 

 south of Selma, a short space above the ferry of Connuil, where 

 Loch Eite discharges itself into the sea. This fall answers so well to 

 the description of the Eas Laoire of Ossian, and Macpherson's Lora, 



* " Vox Lochlan proprie," Lacuum Incolas, " significat, et a saeculo nono in usu erat ad 

 indicandos Norwegos et Danes qui Hibemiae lacus abinde infestabant. Utrum antea in usu 

 fuerit ad indicandos Piratas Saxonicos ignoro. Danorum nomen ignotum fuit in Europa 

 ante ann. 570. Hiberniam primum agressi sunt anno serae com. 807, non. 832, ut scribit 

 Flahertus." — O'Conor, Tigher. ann. p. 24, note. 



