251 



himself and his son Oisin, were all Irishmen. It is on this account 

 that the Irish poems are represented by the Scotch as corrupted, and 

 more modern compositions than those of Scotland. 



The scene of the first of these poems is laid in Ireland, and the 

 author, whoever he may have been, addresses Saint Patrick in the 

 character of Ossian, and relates several things concerning Fionn and 

 his companions. The very first stanza following what the Committee 

 has given us of this poem, implores the prayers of Saint Patrick, — 

 thus : 



" Sir a Phadruig diiinne air Dhia 

 Fios a nionadh a mbiaidh sinn 

 Agas saorfadh manam air olc 

 Fada anocht a naolfinn." 



" Beseech God for us, O Patrick, 

 ^ That we may know our situation, 



And that my soul may be delivered from evil ; 

 1- Tedious is this night in Elfin." 



The next stanza speaks of Fionn as " chief of the Feinne of Ire- 

 land, — Ceannus air Fiannaibh Eirionn." This, however, is very 

 wisely suppressed by the Committee. 



The second poem is also Irish. It is a corrupted copy of an old 

 Irish poem called " Laoidh Mhoighre hhuirh" or " Laoidh an Easa 

 ruaidhy" which has been translated and published by Miss Brooke 

 in her " Reliques of Irish Poetry," and from which Macpherson stole 

 his episode of Borbar and Fainasollis, in the third Book of his 

 Fingal. The scene of this poem is laid at Eas ruadh, or, as it is now 

 called, Ashroe, near Ballyshannon, in the County of Donegal. We 

 give the first three stanzas of the Scotch copy, together with the cor- 

 responding ones of the ancient Irish poem, in which every Gaelic 

 scholar will discover the corruption of the one and the purity of the 

 other, both in language and versification. 



VOL. XVI. L L 



