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Norris, Efq; of Barton in the county of Norfolk.

He was a young gentleman, who, with an elegant talte for the polite arts, had penetrated far into the abfrufe fciences. When he took his degree of batchelor of arts he was amongst the firft on whom the univerfity conferred its honours for their mathematical knowledge, and was fecond to none in defert. He laft year obtained the middle bachelors prize for the best compofition in Latin profe, and the fable of the Rainbow was one of his firft productions in English verse.

An Account of

Fingal, an ancient epic poem, in fix books, together with feveral other poems, compofed by Offian the fon of Fingal; tranflated from the Galic language, by James Macpher fon.

ROM the publication of thefe extraordinary poems, the ingenious editor has a double claim to literary applaufe. One, as having with equal industry and tafte recovered from the obfcurity of bar. barifm, the ruft of fifteen hundred years, and the fat breath of a dying language, thefe ineftimable relicks of the genuine fpirit of poetry and the other, for prefenting them to the world in an English tranflation, whofe expreffive fingularity evidently retains the majeftick air, and native fimplicity of a fublime original The venerable author, and his elegant tranflator, thus have mutually conferred immortality on each other.

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The poem, which stands firft in order as well as merit in the collection, is named from the principal hero of it, Fingal. This celebrated chief, influenced by the courage and generofity fo eminent in his character, leads his warriors from the Highlands of Scotland, and among them his fon Offian the poet, to aid the infant king of Ireland, whofe dominions, then under the guardianship of Cuchul lin, were invaded by Swaran king of Scandinavia; the most terrible warrior of his time, and the very reverfe of Fingal in every thing but perfonal valour. Immediately before the arrival of Fingal, the forces commanded by Cuchullin are defeated near Tura on the And whilft this coaft of Ulfter. gallant leader, regardless of his own fafety, takes every meafure which bravery or defpair can fuggeft to repel his enemy; the fhips of Fingal are defcryed, and

*The differtation prefixed to thefe poems, is, for its curious matter, inferted in another part of this work,

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call off Swaran from the purfuit. in their writings, "nor could his Senfibly affected by his defeat, invafion have happened under the. and too generous to feek a fhare reign of an infant king, bein Fingal's glory, Cuchullin re caufe by the established law, tires to a wood; and leaves the con- of fucceffion in that kingdom queft of Swaran to the better for no minor could be advanced to tune and fuperior prowess of his the royal dignity. It is therefriend. This is foon accomplished; fore, he fays, extremely probaSwaran in a perfonal engagement ble, that the poems in their oriwith Fingal is overcome, and ginal compofition made prifoner, but is fhortly after reftored to his liberty; and fubdued more by the noble behaviour than the arms of his conqueror, this fullen hero, and his magnanimous opponents, return after a campaign of fix days to their respective countries.

This, with the intervening epifodes, is the fubject of the poem ; and has the appearance of a real history written by one who was an eye-witness to, and a principal actor in that expedition. As fuch it is confidered by the editor, and in this view we read it with the greater fatisfaction, whilft we found ourselves captivated without fiction, by all the charms of an agreeable romance. But the credibility, and even the poffibility of the ftory as here related, is called in question by doctor Warner ; who as an Englishman unbiaffed to Ireland, and as an hiftorian now compiling the hiftory of that country, profeffes himself an impartial and in fome meafure an able judge on this occafion. According to him, "unless the writers of Irish affairs through feveral fucceeding ages have a greed to impofe on pofterity, Cuchullin lived two hundred and fifty years before Fingal." These heroes, with Offian, Gaul, &c. were abfolutely of that nation. But Swaran is not once mentioned

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fables finely imagined, and inimitably executed by an old Irish bard; but were afterwards changed. and mutilated by fome Caledonian, or elfe originally com pofed by him with a defign to give the honour of the heroes to his own country. He thinks them the production of an Irish bard, becaufe among other reafons,

the heroes are evidently Irish, and he fuppofes the Caledonians would have as little fcrupled to fteal the poem, as they did the heroes. But he fufpends his judgment on this laft article, till a tranflation of this, or fome fuch poem now preparing for the preís in Dub lin from an authentic manu fcript, fhall better illuftrate this doubtful matter." But leaving it to thofe who regard it as a point of national honour, to contest, as they will, the birth-place of their Celtic Homer, and the heroes whom he celebrates; if this were confidered merely as a modern com. pofition, it were no more hurt at this diftance of time by the anachronism between Cuchullin and Fingal than the Æneid was by that of Dido, who did not exist till near two centuries and an half after Eneas. As it ftands, however, it muft be confeffed that if this error be clearly made out, the error and the poem together muft T 3

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find fome other father befides Offian the fon of Fingal. He who bore fo diftinguifhed a rank in that expedition, could not, furely, without the leaft neceffity for it, have brought a man to life who was dead two hundred and fifty years before. We received fuch uncommon pleasure from the perufal of this performance, and thought it fo valuable an acquifition to English poetry, that we fhould be very glad if neither this, nor any thing elfe in the work, had given reafon to doubt its being, at leaft in its prefent form, the genuine offspring of him to whom it is afcribed. But the total filence of the poem with regard to the groffer parts of the druidical religion, and the retaining what was most pure and poetic, fuch as the notion of fpirits here fo happily introduced, with fome circumftances in the allufions and formation of the poem itself, induce a fufpicion of more art than fimplicity in the poet. But as these circumftances furnish arguments rather fpecious than conclufive against the genuineness of the work, we proceed with greater fatisfaction to thofe which tend. ftrongly to decide in favour of its antiquity.

Whether this poem, and the fmaller ones which accompany it, were compofed by the real or fome fictitious Offian, they have that primitive air, which, were we not informed they can't at the utmost be more than fifteen centuries old, would naturally incline us to fix their date in the earliest period of fociety. The file fo confonant to the ideas, the ideas fo agreeable to the fimple manners of remote ages, and both of a caft fo different from the modern modes of expreffion

and thinking; hunting the fubfiftence, and war the occupation of this priftine people, the favage groffness of their vices, and the wild fublimity of their virtues ; the extravagant heroifm of the principal characters, that spirit of hofpitality which invited the ftranger by feven different ways; their tokens of fubmiffion by delivering the spouse and dog; their fuperfti tious notions fo beautifully poetic; the fcaft of fhells; the fignal of battle by ftriking the fhield; the fongs of the bards which make fo many interefting epifodes; all thefe, whilst they give us a ftriking picture of the manners, the customs, the fuperftitions of the times; while they affect us with all that is pathetic, and elevate with all that is fublime; thefe, we think, are impreffed with fuch genuine, fuch peculiar, fuch original marks of antiquity, as feem utterly beyond the reach of any modern invention.

From a view of thefe circumftances, and of thofe on the other hand which argue against the genuineness of the poems; we incline to think them, or rather the greater part of their expreffions and ideas, the production of Offian whofe name they fo often mention. It is probable, that in his moments of inspiration, when, as he expreffes it," the light of the fong rofe upon his foul," he compofed the feveral parts of which the larger poem confifts, and among them the ftory of Cuchullin, in feparate pieces; but that in an age more enlightened, when the value of an epic compofition was better underflood, fome other bard collected the fcattered fragments, and without attending either to chronolo

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gical exactness, or to hiftorical truth,, they are faid to be tranflated, and united fuch of them as he imaginare really Irish in an Englith drefs.) ed related to, or did not feem in- Be it therefore the production of confiftent with the fame fubject, whom it will, we fubfcribe in the into one intire poem, which he main to its antiquity. The cir moulded and embellished in what- cumftances which look another ever manner best fuited his fancy; way, we imagine are the interpolabut fill left the honour of it to tions of fome fecondary bard," him, whom tradition had always from which it would be extreamly celebrated as the original author. hard to conclude against the geneWhether the ingenious editor has ral originalnefs of the performance." contributed to its further improve The works of Homer are not ment, can only be determined by effecmed a tittle the lefs original the very few who are qualified to from what they are fuppofed to examine into the merit of the poem have fuffered in the hands of thofe, in its native language. The tranf who joined together his loofe and lation, he tells us, is literal; and unconnected pieces, and prefented we eafily believe, a perfon of his them to the world in their prefent tate would chufe to leave as he form. found what he deemed a fine ori- But whilft the uncommon merit ginal. We also as readily agree, of Fingal, as the extraordinary "it would be a very uncommon production of uncultivated genius, "inftance of felf-denial, to difown is univerfally admitted, its degree "the performance were it really of of perfection, as an epic poem, "his compofition Had it been feems not to be fo well established, written by him, he might by infert- Some infift it has not only the fuing other names in the place of perior parts, but even the very Cuchullin and Swaran, have ea- minutie fo effential to this exalted fily obviated thofe objections fpecies of poetry; while others which he forefaw would arife to hold it defective in the most capithe truth of the ftory from the tal articles, the fable, the manners Irish history and traditions. In a and characters.' The fable, be word, if the intrinfic evidence re- caufe the fubject of the poem is fulting from the peculiarity of the fuppofed to be a real hiftory; in-TM work can receive any weight from vention, the greateft excellence in the teftimony of gentlemen whofe compofitions of this kind, is judgment can only be exceeded by therefore they fay) confeffedly their candour, and to whom molt wanting, For Ariftotle obferves, of the heroes mentioned in the "that if the works of Herodotus poem, were well known long before" were turned into verfe, they its publication, many of the ex-"would nevertheless compofe but preffions and ideas of which it con- "an hiftory in that state, as well fifts, are, in their manner, particular *** as they do in profe." It feems only to the language from which then, that thofe gentlemen who

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have queftioned its hiftorical veracity, have done the poem a fingular fervice, by removing in fome measure this weighty objection. But we cannot enter fo far into the fpirit of the apopeia as to perceive, how it now becomes in the leaft degree better as a fable (which that it is fo warmly afferted) than it was before as the genuine narrative of a military expedition... The Iliad is founded on an inconteftable event, the fiege of Troy, The incidents, the characters, the manners and the imagery of this fublime compofition, we owe however to the creative imagination of the poet. And though the ftory of this invafion may not be fabulous, yet furely in the management of it, much is due to the invention, as well as to the grand conceptions of the writer. In the firft battle we every moment expect to fee Swaran engaged arm to arm with Cuchullin; we are alarmed for the event; દર night however conceals the chiefs in her clouds, and ends the terrible fight." Again they are at the point of affailing each other, again our expectations are raised, and again the dreadful confequence of fuch a conflict is prevented by the appearance of Fingal's fleet. Gaul, a diftinguished hero, and Swaran meet, the fhield of Gaul is cleft in twain; but "Fingal rears his voice, and Swaran ftops in the midst of his courfe." Thus by incidents much more na tural than the intervention of a goddefs, are thefe favourite heroes Inatched from deftruction, and the prowess of Swaran is raifed to the highest pitch, that this Hector of the poem may fhine forth a conqueft worthy the arm of Fingal,

All this bears teftimony rather to the admirable invention, than to the hiftorical truth of the poet. And probably the poem is no more an hiftory of that invasion on which it is grounded, than the Iliad is an hiftory of the fiege of Troy. Befides, diverfified as it is with fo many beautiful epifodes, there is the lefs reason to charge it with any want of invention.

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With regard to the manners, that they are forcibly defcribed, been already obferved. But that the poem is comparatively defective in point of character, we in fome measure confess. The characters in general are neither fo varioufly nor fo ftrongly marked as thofe of Homer. But is this the fault of Offian, or of the age in which he lived? An age of artlefs fimplicity, when felf-taught genius wanted every aid to arrive at a knowledge of those complicated operations and windings of the mind, which in a more enlarged and better improved ftate of fociety conftitute the diftinguifhing marks of character. In thofe days all their views were directed to military glory; all their knowledge flowed from the fongs of their bards; and the subject of all thofe fongs was the heroic atchievements of their ancestors. Thus cherished and trained up in what became at laft a kind of fecond nature, it is no wonder that in fo fhort a work, and where the perfonages are fo few, there feems to prevail that famenefs of character, which fhould fo naturally and univerfally refult from the ruling paffion. One advantage indeed it has, it is a further indication that the work is genuine. however very far from thinking

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