O G H 
O G I 
one fenfible reading', it is probable I Ihould not have 
thought of tracing it farther than the rules in our grammars 
might direct ; and thofe I find are totally infufficient.” 
(Irilh Tranfaftions, vol. i.) Here is a full and complete 
acknowledgment, that his mode of interpreting the in- 
feription was entirely arbitrary; and, as the rules laid 
down in the grammars for the interpretation of the vir- 
gean ogham mult be fuppofed to have been drawn from 
all the known varieties of this mode of writing, Mr. 0 ‘Fia- 
nagan’s method mult be regarded, not only as arbitrary, 
but as utterly unfounded and unlupported. Indeed, Mr. 
O'Flanagan appears to have been fufpicious of the found- 
nefs of the opinion fuggefted by his friend Mr. Burton ; 
and therefore applied to Mr. O'Connor, an “ antiquarian 
ot credit,” who decides very peremptorily on the fubjeft: 
“ That the Milelian family,” fays he, “ imported letters 
into Ireland, and that their ancellors learned them from 
the Phoenicians, lam certain; and Mr. Burton judged 
well in averring that our earlielt feribes wrote from the 
right hand to the left; but they changed to the more com¬ 
modious manner of writing from the left to the right, 
and laid afide the uncouth crooked char after of the Phoe¬ 
nicians, when the beautiful Greek and Roman characters 
were made known here in the fourth and fifth centuries.” 
On the Milelian origin of the Irilh nation, and on the 
Phoenician origin of theMiiefians, it is not here necelfary 
to fay any thing; but on the other pofitions, or rather 
aflertions, of Mr. O'Connor, a few remarks may be of¬ 
fered. He alferts that the earlieft Irilh feribes wrote from 
tiie right hand to the left: in proof and defence of this 
allertion he does not offer a fingle argument or authority ; 
and indeed that would have been impoflible ; for all the 
Irilh MSS. are written from the left hand to the right, and 
there is not the fmalleft trace of any evidence that they 
ever wrote in any other manner. It can hardly be ex- 
pefted, therefore, by the moll warm admirer of Mr. O'Con¬ 
nor's antiquarian knowledge, that his bare and unfup- 
p.ofted affertion Ihould be admitted againft all other evi¬ 
dence on this fubjeft: But Mr. O'Connor, in his zeal to 
make out his point, unfortunately proves too much : ac¬ 
cording to him, the Irilh feribes changed to the more 
commodious mode of writing from the left to the right 
at the fame time that they adopted the beautiful Greek 
and Roman charafters, i. e. “ in the fourth and fifth cen¬ 
turies.” But, if this new mode of writing was not 
adopted till 'thefeurth or fifth centuries, what becomes of 
the genuinenefs of the irifeription on the monument of 
Conan, who is faid to have been buried A.D. 295. 
Fifthly. None of the firft four readings would be made 
out if the letters F and N, wherever they occur, were not 
commuted; but for this commutation no authority is 
given: it feems to have been entirely a thought of Mr. 
O'Flanagan’s, in order to make out fome meaning from 
this infeription, or at lead fuch a meaning as Ihould 
prove the monument to be that of Conan ; for, be it ob- 
ferved, he does not commute them in every cale, but only 
“ as the fenfe fliall direft.” Can any thing be conceived 
more loofe and unfatisfaftory than this ? "it was, indeed, 
neceffary that Mr. O'Flanagan Ihould limit the rule he 
himfelf had laid down ; for, had the letters F and N been 
commuted in every inltance where they occur in this in¬ 
feription, the name of Conan would not have been found 
either in the firft or fecond readings ; and, as it does not 
occur in the third, fourth, or fifth, readings, the monument 
might have been that of any other hero as well as Conan’s. 
So completely does Mr. O'Flanagan follow his rule of com¬ 
muting the letters F and N only as the fenfe (hall direft, 
that in the word Conan the firlt n is got by retaining that 
letter, and the fecond n, by commuting the ogham mark 
for/into that letter. 
But on this point it is almoft needlefs to add anything 
to the opinion and teftimony-of Mr. Aftle, contained in 
the following paffage : “ It appears that the Irilh have 
neither written monuments nor coins to prove their pre- 
tenfions to the ufe of letters at fo early a period as they 
- Vol. XVII. No. 11£8. 
4’20 
contend for. The tables of wood upon which they are 
faid to have written, no author of any authority ever pre¬ 
tended to have feen. But the evidence which we might 
have expefted to have derived from ancient MSS. is de- 
feftive indeed; for the oldelt Irilh manufefipt which we 
have difeovered is the Pfalter of Cafhel, written in the lat¬ 
ter end of the tenth century.” 
Mr. Innes, in his Efiay on the Antiquities of Scotland 
and Ireland, and Mr. James Macpherfon; in the third 
,edition of his Introduftion to the Hiftory of Great Bri¬ 
tain and Ireland, produce inconteltible evidence to inva¬ 
lidate the reports of the Irilh. Thefe authors contend, 
that Ireland was firlt peopled from Britain; that the former 
nation was fo far from being the feat of polite learning for 
many years before the neighbouring nations, or even 
Greece itfelf, had emerged from ignorance, as hath been 
pretended, that they were generally deemed, by the mod 
refpeftable writers of antiquity, to have been lefs civi¬ 
lized than any of their neighbours ; that the manners of 
the old Irilh were inconfident with the knowledge of 
letters ; that the ogham was a fpecies of dereography, or 
writing in cipher; and they thus conclude with dec.ifive 
proofs againft the pretended literature of the ancient Irilh. 
They invalidate the.accounts of the emigration of the 
Milefian colony, and difpute their pretended extraftion 
from any of the nations of Scandinavia. Great drefs hath 
been laid, as appears above, by the advocates for the an¬ 
tiquity of letters among the Irilh, that their alphabet dif¬ 
fers from all others in name, order, number, and power. 
Mr. Innes, in his Effay above quoted, delivers it as his 
opinion, that the Bdh, Luis, Nion, or alphabet of the 
Irilh, was nothing but an invention of the Irilh feanachies, 
who, after they received the ufe of letters, put the Latin 
alphabet into a new arbitrary order, and alfigned to each 
letter the name of fome tree ; and that this was not a ge¬ 
nuine alphabet of the Irilh in ancient times, or peculiar 
to them, but was a bare inverfion of the Latin alphabet. 
To conclude this head, it is impollible to fay whether all 
which hath been advanced will operate upon the minds 
of thofe of the Irilh nation who are fuperftitioufiy de¬ 
voted to the legendary tales of their ancellors ; for it is 
in vain to oppol’e rational doubts, arguments, or even 
fafts, to popular credulity; although we may with great 
reafon fuppofe, that the fiftions which the vanity and pa- 
triotifm of the Irilh have been railing for ages, will gain 
no credit with the lenfible and judicious part of mankind, 
but will vanilh before the llrong beams of hiftory and cri- 
ticifin. 
The following are the general conclufions which may 
be drawn from the authorities and arguments brought 
forward in this article. 1. That the virgular ogham can¬ 
not have an origin prior to the introduftion of Greek and 
Roman literature into Ireland, fince it is adapted to an 
alphabet, the arrangement of which took place at that 
time. 2. That the Irilh alphabets bear llrong marks of 
having been borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants 
of England. 3. That the Irilh claim to literature, in very 
early periods of their hiftory, and efpecially their claim 
to Druidic literature, is utterly unfounded. 
OGHA'O, a frnall illand in the South Pacific Ocean, 
weft of Annamooka. 
OGIDOO', a town of Bengal: twenty four miles fouth- 
weft of Ramgur, 
OGI'ER (Charles), a man of learning, was born at 
Paris in 1595. He lludied at Bourges and Paris, and then 
went to Valence to attend leftures in law, of which fa¬ 
culty he was made a doctor. He followed for fome time 
the profefiion of an advocate ; but, becoming difgufted 
with this employment, he accepted the poll of fecretary 
to Claude de Melrnes count d’Avaux, in his embaffy to 
the northern courts. Ogier accompanied him during his 
million in the years 1634.and 1635, and drew up an account 
of his travels, which the count d’^vaux, finding himfelf 
highly complimented in it, defired him to keep in ma- 
nufcript for twenty years. Accordingly, it was firll pub- 
5 R liflted 
