305 



tween^e^a and folt-buidhe ; in the third between gahhail and duibh, 

 G and D being both of the same class of hard consonants ; and in 

 the fourth a Hke concord occurs in the words ghabhastar and bhruigh> 

 Bh and GH, being of the class of light consonants. Correspondence 

 is found in the diphthong ui in the last words of all quartans ; point 

 is found in the end of the first and third quartans ; and double 

 point in the end of the second and fourth ; and union or agreement 

 is found in the two vowels at the end of the two first quartans, and 

 in bh and gh in the end of the two last. The same requisites are 

 found in the other two stanzas above written, and in all the other 

 stanzas through the entire poem ; and as what we have now said is 

 equally applicable to all, we deem it unnecessary to pursue this sub- 

 ject further on the present occasion. We shall, therefore, proceed to 

 the comparison of those extracts with others from the originals of 

 Ossian's poems, published by the Society ; and as the Committee of 

 that Society has declared an opinion that the poem of Fingal is 

 superior in composition to that of Temora, and perhaps to others of 

 the poems, we shall, for the present, take the first seventeen lines of 

 Fingal in the Society's original, vol. ii. p. 4, and see if it will stand 

 the test of Gaelic prosody like the Duan Albanach.- t'-^'^--- 



• '• The first seventeen lines of Fingal run thus : 



" Shuidh CuchuUin aig balla Thura, 

 Fodhubhra craoibh dhuille na fuaim j 

 Dh' aom a shleagh ri carraig nan c6s, 

 A sgiath mhor r'a thaobh air an f heur. 

 Bha smaointean an fhir air Cairbre. 

 Ii Laoch a thuit bis an garb-chomhrag, 



'Nuair thainig fear coimh'ead a' chuain, 

 Luath mhac Fhithil nan ceum ard." ,„,. ,,i 

 " Eirich u ChuchuUin, eirich, 

 • Chi ni loingeas threun o thuath ! 



