317 



around Fionn from all points. GoU, Oscar, Luigheach's son, Dermod 

 the brown and Faelan,* press forward to have the honour of fighting 

 the invading chief. The Irish forces march to the shore, but evening 

 having come on, they spend the night in feasting, and in the morning 

 they see the standard of the king of Lochlainn erect on the shore. The 

 "Gea/ Greine," Fionn's standard, and the ^'Fulaing Toraidh," Goll's 

 standard, are raised. The armies engage, and the invaders are defeated. 

 Fionn and Manus meet in conflict, and the former overcomes and 

 binds the latter. Fionn saves Manus from the hands of Conan, who 

 wanted to put him to death. Fionn tells the king of Lochlainn that 

 he never oppressed a fallen enemy, and offers him peace and amity. 

 Manus gladly accepts of the offer, declares his sorrow for his aggres- 

 sion, and declares he will never again raise a hand against Fionn. 



Such is the outline of the Irish poem, and we submit that it fur- 

 nished Macpherson with the plan of his poem of Fingal. In the 

 Scotch poem Macpherson introduces a number of episodes formed on 

 incidents contained in the poems of the Irish Ossian, some of which 

 we shall briefly point out. 



We have already, page 220, shown by an extract from the Irish 

 Tale called ^'Oidheadh Co7ichulainn,'" that the description of Cuchul- 

 Jin's chariot and horses in the first Book of Fingal, was stolen from 

 that Irish Tale. The description of the horses given by Doctor 

 Smith in his Cento, is so like the Irish original, that we are tempted 

 to give it here, without noticing the chariot, as we have not given its 

 description from the Irish. The Doctor's lines run thus : 



• For the manner in which Mr. Macpherson has introduced these heroes, and the stand- 

 ard of Finn, see Fingal, Book iv. in vol. ii. p. 170 of the Society's originals. The original 

 Irish is to be seen in Miss Brooke's work, p. 274. 



XT? 



