FINGAL. BOOK I. CUTHULLIN sat by Tura's wall: by the tree of the rustling sound". His spear leaned against Cuthullin, the son of Semo and grandson to Caithbat, a druid celebrated in tradition for his wisdom and valour. Cuthullin, when very young, married Bragela, the daughter of Sorglan, and, passing over into Ireland, lived for some time with Connal, grandson, by a daughter, to Congal, the petty king of Ulster. His wisdom and valour in a short time gained him such reputation, that, in the minority of Cormac, the supreme king of Ireland, he was chosen guardian to the young king, and sole manager of the war against Swaran, king of Lochlin. After a series of great actions, he was killed in battle somewhere in Connaught, in the twenty seventh year of his age. MACPHERSON. The opening of Fingal was inserted among the Fragments, written at Moffat, when Toland's History of the Druids was the chief source of Macpherson's early information concerning a rock. His shield lay on grass, by his side. Amid his thoughts of mighty Carbar, a hero slain by the chief in war; the scout of ocean comes, Moran, the son of Fithil 3! the Celts. "Several of these druids rendered themselves very remarkable; as the druid Trosdan; Cabadius, grandfather to the most celebrated champion Cuculand; Tages, the father of Morna, mother to the no less famous Fin Mac Cuil;" or, according to the Irish orthography, in Toland's notes, Cathbait, Cuchulaid, Tadhg, Fin mac Cubhail, Hist. Druids. 55. Fragments, accordingly, Cuthullin was termed Cuchulaid; and, in the first edition of Ossian, Cuchullin, which was altered afterwards to "Cuth-Ullin, the voice of Ullin, a poetical name given to the son of Semo, by the bards;" (Ossian, 3d edit.) and, as these names were all mentioned by Toland, in the same sentence, Macpherson was early led into the strange anachronism, of rendering Cuthullin, a real or fabulous hero of the first century, contemporary with Fingal of the third. As Keating was silent, he was also ignorant, on completing the poem, that Cuthullin's wife was Emeria, not Bragela, a fictitious name of his own invention; and that Cuthullin himself was the son of Sualtach, not of Semo, the name employed by O'Flaharty, for the patriarch Shem.-Ogygia, 62. 280. WARNER'S Remarks on Fingal, Dublin, 1762.-Journal des Sçavans, September 1764. 2 The tree of the rustling sound.] In the first editions, "The tree of the rustling leaf;" " The aspin, or poplar tree," as explained in the Fragments: From Thomson's Spring: Or rustling turn the many-twinkling leaves Of aspin tall. The original of Gray's many-twinkling feet. 3 Cairbar, or Cairbre, signifies a strong man: Moran signifies many; and Fithil, or rather Fili, an inferior bard. MAC PIERSON. Arise," says the youth," "Cuthullin, arise, I see the ships of the north! Many, chief of men, are the foe. Many the heroes of the seaborne Swaran!" "Moran," replied the blueeyed chief, "thou ever tremblest, son of Fithil! Thy fears have increased the foe. It is Fingal, king of desarts, with aid to green Erin of streams." "I beheld their chief," says Moran, "tall as a glittering rock 5. His spear is a blast These etymologies are all fictitious. "For the pronouncing of which celestial judgements, the most famous were Forchern, Neid, Conla, Eogan, Modan, Moran, king Cormac, his chief justice Fithill," &c. "King Cormac's institution of a prince, or precepts to his son and successor, Carbre Liffecair (Cairbre Lifiochair)."-TOLAND, 49. 51. Hence the mighty Carbar, or Cairbre, and the "scout of ocean, Moran, the son of Fithill," chief justice to Cormac, the supreme king of Ireland. Fingal, the son of Comhal, and Morna, the daughter of Thaddu. His grandfather was Trathal, and great-grandfather Trenmor, both of whom are often mentioned in the poem. MACPHERSON. Supra, Note 1. Trenmor, in Irish history, was Fingal's grandfather, and Trathal, whom our author interposes between them, is a fictitious personage. 5 Tall as a glittering rock.] "Tall as a rock of ice," in the first edition; from Pope's Temple of Fame: High on a rock of ice the structure lay, Steep its ascent, and slippery was the way. And even the alteration, " tall as a glittering rock," is taken from a simile that follows, a few lines afterwards, in the same poem: ed pine. His shield the rising moon! He sat on the shore like a cloud of mist on the silent hill! Many, chief of heroes! I said, many are our hands of war. Well art thou named, the Mighty Man: but many mighty men are seen from Tura's windy walls. "He spoke, like a wave on a rock 7, Who in this land appears like me? Heroes stand not in my presence: they fall to earth from my hand. Who can meet Swaran in fight? Who but Fin So Zembla's rocks, the beauteous work of frost, 6 His spear is a blasted pine. His shield the rising moon.J MILTON, Paradise Lost, I. 284. His spear, to equal which the tallest pine, Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast His ponderous shield Hung on his shoulders, like the moon, whose orb At evening; when the moon rises; and, in converting Satan into Swaran, it was only necessary to suppress those images that are derived from the sciences, or from the arts of civilized life. 7 He spoke like a wave on a rock.] Ὡς οτε ΚΥΜΑ-προβλητι ΣΚΟΠΕΛΩ. HOMER'S Iliad. ii. 394. The monarch, spoke, and strait a murmur rose, POPE. gal, king of Selma of storms? Once we wrestled on Malmor; our heels overturned the woods. Rocks fell from their place; rivulets, changing their course, fled murmuring from our side 8. Three days we renewed our strife; heroes stood at a distance and trembled. On the fourth, Fingal says, that the king of the ocean fell! but Swaran says, he stood! Let dark Cuthullin yield to him, that is strong as the storms of his land!" "No!" replied the blue-eyed chief, "I never yield to mortal man! Dark Cuthullin shall be great or dead! Go, son of Fithil, take my spear. Strike the sounding shield of Semo?. It hangs at Tura's rustling gate. The sound of peace is not its voice! My heroes shall hear 8 Rocks fell from their place; rivulets, changing their course, fled, murmuring, from our side.] VIRG. Æneid. viii. 239. Dissultant ripæ, refluitque exterritus amnis. Imitated in MACPHERSON'S Ode on the Earl Marischal's Return. When from their native rocks, the frighted springs retire. 9 Cabait, or rather Cathbait, grandfather to the hero, was so remarkable for his valour, that his shield was made use of to alarm his posterity to the battles of the family. We find Fingal making the same use of his own shield in the 4th book. A horn was the most common instrument to call the army together, before the invention of bagpipes. 3d edit. MACPHERSON. |