412
AN GAODHAL.
world in an English dress, could have preserved
the name and honor of Ossian from many a rude
assault and many an unfair suspicion. MacPher¬
son did not froge the poems of Ossian. Overwhelm¬
in evidence is available to show that long before
MacPherson appeared on the scene, Ossianic
poems had been in circulation in the Highlands
of Scotland. Let Cothrom na Feinne or the fair
play of the Fingall ns obtain in dissecting the ev¬
idence which pertain to the poems of Ossian, and
it must appear that they belong to a remote past,
and that, however great the services were which
James MacPherson rendered in bringing those
poems in an English attire before the literary world
the distinct affirmation of the celebrated Dr. Blair
is to be accepted; "Of all the men I ever knew,
MacPherson was the most unlikely and unfit to
continue and carry on such an imposture, as some
people in England ascribed to him." It was not
without carefully weighing the importance of his
language, that one of MacPherson's coadjutors in
arranging the poems of the Bard of Selma, thus
wrote — "MacPherson could as well compose the
prophecies of Isaiah, or create the Island of Skye,
as compose a poem like one of Ossian's."
Irish scholars have chosen to employ very warm
and severe language in condemning MacPherson,
and in pronouncing his Ossian to be a forgery.
Ireland, as Irish scholars assert, must be ac¬
knowledged to be the birthplace of Ossian, and
the true home of Ossianic poetry. "But it is vain
for the perverse of Alba any longer to maintain the
field of imposture. I would not dishonor my na¬
tive language with quotations from MacPherson's
jargon." Such is a specimen of the opinion which
an Irish writer advanced in the Transactions of
the Gaelic Society of Dublin in 1808. So far as the
existence of Ossianic or Fenian poems, as he
chooses to designate them, in Irish literature is
concerned, there can be no better authority than
Eugene O'Curry, who asserts, that there are nine
Ossianic or Fenian poems to be found in Ireland
before the 15th century. It is clear, therefore,
that it is vain to look to Ireland for the originals
of the poems of Ossian. MacPherson was never
in Ireland, and never had access to Irish MSS.
The Dean of Lismore's Book, which was compil¬
ed about the year 1512, and which was published
by Dr. MacLachlan in 1862, — contains no less
than 28 Ossianic poems, extending over 2,500 lines
— thus refuting the famous allegation of Johnson,
and exhibiting most satisfactorily that it contains
a much larger amount of Ossianic poetry than is to
be found in the entire range of Irish literature.
Fiugal and Temora are the longest poems in Mac¬
Pherson's translation of Ossian. The scene of
both poems is laid in Ireland, and, although that
is the case, Fingal and Ossian, and their heroes
preserve their distinctive existence as the King
and heroes of Morven in Scotland. They are re¬
resented as going from Morven to Ireland, and no
sooner have they gained their purpose, than they
return to Selma. There is evidence to show that
before MacPherson's translation appeared, there
was an earlier MS. of the poems of Ossian at Dou¬
ay in Flanders, which contained the poems of Fin¬
gal and Temora. The MS. in question was taken
from Strathglass in Scotland to Douay, It is a
singular fact that when Macpherson's translation
of Ossian first appeared, there was residing in Vir¬
ginia, a native of Mull, — the Rev Charles Smith,
who, when a portion of Temora was read to him,
remarked that he knew the poem, and afterwards
repeated a great part of it from memory, intimat¬
ing at the same time that he remembered such
poems from his earliest years. Moladth gach
duine an t ath mar gheibh.
To be continued.
PROF. ROEHRIG ON THE IRISH LANG¬
UAGE.
Continued from page 401.
And here, the very name of Ireland (— which
has been analyzed and "explained" in so manifold
and often, in so contradictory a manner, and by the
various historical and philological "authorities" —)
seems to mean simply the land of the Ires or Eres;
— in other words, the country of the Argas, — that
is, the "nobles," "warriors," "heroes". In the
same way, Persia is called Iran, just as we meet,
in India, with Arya varta Aryan country]. Thus
the most western of the Aryan family seems to
have still retained that original, old family name,
which the other languages are no longer able to
show.
It is, furthermore, worthy of remark, that Irish
is the most prominent and perfect of the Celtic
group. It is superior to Scotch, — particularly in
the system of conjugation, — where, with a few ex¬
ceptions, the ancient personal terminations have
been lost. It surpasses, in richness, beauty and
elegance, many other languages, and among them
even some of those most cultivated and best organ¬
ized. In poetry and romance, in tales and songs,
the Irish language displays its greatest charms,
and all its wonderful beauty; and, it has lost noth¬
ing, it seems of its excellence and perfection, not¬
withstanding the many and great vicissitudes to
which it has been subjected. The intense energy
and power, the refined elegance, the exquisite
beauty and marvelous flexibility of the Irish lan¬
guage have made it possible to represent, by a
most successful translation, all the original perfec¬
tion of Homer's Iliad, turned into Irish by Dr.
MacHale, the illustrious Irish patriot and Arch¬
bishop of Tuam. The Celtic is extremly rich in
words which have come down to us, with all their
primitive freshness, in their unadulterated origin¬
al form, and that, from the remote ages of dim
prehistoric times, when it still presented, in Asia,
