Berrathon : p. 483 BERRATHON. ARGUMENT. Fingal, in his voyage to Lochlin, whither he had been invited by Starno, the father of Agandecca, touched at Berrathon an island of Scandinavia, where he was kindly entertained by Larthmor, the petty king of the place, who was a vassal of the supreme kings of Lochl...
Temora. Book V : p. 443 TEMORA BOOK V ARGUMENT. The poet, after a short address to the harp of Cona, describes the arrangement of both armies on either side of the river Lubar. Fingal gives the command to Fillan; but at the same time orders Gaul, the son of Morni, who had been wounded in the hand in the preceding...
Conlath And Cuthona : p. 479 CONLATH AND CUTHONA. ARGUMENT. Conlath was the youngest of Morni's sons, and brother to the celebrated Gaul. He was in love with Cuthona, the daughter of Rumar, when Toscar, the son of Kenfena, accompanied by Fercuth his friend, arrived from Ireland, at Mora, where Conlath dwelt. He w...
Fingal. An Ancient Epic Poem. Book Iii : p. 318 FINGAL BOOK III 1 ARGUMENT. Cuthullin, pleased with the story of Carril, insists with that bard for more of his songs. He relates the actions of Fingal in Lochlin, and death of Agandecca, the beautiful sister of Swaran. He had scarce finished, when Calmar, the son of Matha, who had advised...
Fingal. An Ancient Epic Poem. Book V : FINGAL BOOK V. ARGUMENT. Cuthullin and Connal still remain on the hill. Fingal and Swaran meet: the combat is described. Swaran is overcome, bound, and delivered over as a prisoner to the care of Ossian, and Gaul, the son of Morni; Fingal, his younger sons and Oscar still pursue the enemy...
A Preliminary Discourse : p. 5 A PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. As Swift has, with some reason, affirmed that all sublunary happiness consists in being "well deceived", it may possibly be the creed of many, that it had been wise, if after Dr. Blair's ingenious and elegant dissertation on "the venerable Ossian," all doubts...
Funeral Song : p. 181 FUNERAL SONG BY REGNER LODBROG TRANSLATED INTO LATIN FROM THE GOTHIC By Olaus Wormius NOTE. (see p. 93) Pugnavimus ensibus Haud post longum tempus Cum in Gotlandia accessimus Ad serpentis immensi necem Tunc impetravimus Thoram Ex hoc vocarunt me virum Quod serpentem transfodi Hirsutam...
Temora. Book I : p. 399 TEMORA. AN EPIC POEM. BOOK I. ARGUMENT. Cairbar, the son of Borbar-duthul, lord of Atha, in Connaught, the most Potent chief of the race of the Fir-bolg, having murdered, at Temora, the royal palace, Cormac, the son of Artho, the young king of Ireland, usurped the throne. Cormac w...
The War Of Inis Thona : p. 280 THE WAR OF INIS-THONA ARGUMENT. Reflections on the poet's youth. An apostrophe to Selma. Oscar obtains leave to go to Inis-thona, an island of Scandinavia. The mournful story of Argon and Ruro, the two sons of the king of Inis-thona. Oscar revenges their death, and returns in triumph...
Fingal. An Ancient Epic Poem. Book I : p. 293 FINGAL: AN ANCIENT EPIC POEM BOOK I. ARGUMENT. Cuthullin (general of the Irish tribes, in the minority of Cormac, king of Ireland) sitting alone beneath a tree, at the gate of Tura, a castle of Ulster (the other chiefs having gone on a hunting party to Cromla, a neighboring hill,) is...
Preface : p. 36 PREFACE. WITHOUT increasing his genius, the author may have improved his language, in the eleven years that the following poems have been in the hands of the public. Errors in diction might have been committed at twenty-four, which the experience of a riper age may remove; and some...
Fingal. An Ancient Epic Poem. Book Vi : FINGAL BOOK VI. ARGUMENT. Night comes on. Fingal gives a feast to his army, at which Swaran is present. The king commands Ullin his bard to give "the song of peace;" a custom always observed at the end of a war. Ullin relates the actions of Trenmor, great-grandfather to Fingal, in Scandinavi...
Oithona : p. 243 OITHONA. ARGUMENT. Gaul, the son of Morni, attended Lathmon into his own country, after his being defeated in Morven, as related in a preceding poem. He was kindly entertained by Nuth, the father of Lathmon, and fell in love with his daughter Oithona. The lady was no less enamored of Gaul...
The Battle Of Lora : p. 391 THE BATTLE OF LORA. ARGUMENT Fingal, at his return from Ireland, after he had expelled Swaran from that kingdom, made a feast to all his heroes: he forgot to invite Ma-Ronnan and Aldo, two chiefs, who had not been along with him in his expedition. They resented his neglect; and went over...
The Death Of Cuthullin : p. 383 THE DEATH OF CUTHULLIN. ARGUMENT. Cuthullin, after the arms of Fingal had expelled Swaran from Ireland, continued to manage the affairs of that kingdom as the guardian of Cormac the young king. In the third year of Cuthullin's administration, Torlath, the son of Cantela, rebelled...
Temora. Book Iv : p. 434 TEMORA BOOK IV ARGUMENT The second night continues. Fingal relates, at the feast, his own first expedition into Ireland, and his marriage with Ros-cranna, the daughter of Cormac, king of that island. The Irish chiefs convene in the presence of Cathmor. The situation of the king described...
Fingal. An Ancient Epic Poem. Book Ii : FINGAL BOOK II. ARGUMENT. The ghost of Crugal, one of the Irish heroes who was killed in battle, appearing to Connal, foretells the defeat of Cuthullin in the next battle, and earnestly advises him to make peace with Swaran. Connal communicates the vision; but Cuthullin is inflexible;...
Carthon : p. 222 CARTHON. ARGUMENT. This poem is complete, and the subject of it, as of most of Ossian's compositions, tragical. In the time of Comhal, the son of Trathal, and father of the celebrated Fingal, Clessmmor, the son of Thaddu, and brother of Morna, Fingal's mother, was driven by a storm ...
The Songs Of Selma : p. 285 THE SONGS OF SELMA. ARGUMENT. Address to the evening star. Apostrophe to Fingal and his times. Minona sings before the king the song of the unfortunate Colma, and the bards exhibit other specimens of their poetical talents according to an annual custom established by the monarchs...
Cathlin Of Clutha : p. 269 CATHLIN OF CLUTHA. ARGUMENT. An address to Malvina, the daughter of Toscar. The poet relates the arrival of Cathlin in Selma, to solicit aid against Duth-carmor of Cluba, who had killed Cathmol for the sake of his daughter Lanul. Fingal declining to make a choice among his heroes, who were...
Cath Loda. Duan Ii : CATH-LODA DUAN II ARGUMENT OF DUAN II. Fingal, returning with day, devolves the command on Duth-maruno, who engages the enemy, and drives them over the stream of Turthor. Having recalled his people, he congratulates Duth-maruno on his success, but discovers that that hero had been mortally wounded...
Dissertation Concerning The Poems Of Ossian : p. 57 DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. THE history of those nations who originally possessed the north of Europe, is less known than their manners. Destitute of the use of letters, they them. selves had not the means of transmitting their great actions to remote posterity. Foreign...
Lathmon : p. 358 LATHMON. ARGUMENT. Lathmon, a British prince, taking advantage of Fingal's absence on an expedition to Ireland, made a descent on Morven, and advanced within sight of Selma, the royal residence. Fingal arrived in the mean time, and Lathmon retreated to a hill, where his army was surprised...
Sul Malla Of Lumon : p. 275 SUL-MALLA OF LUMON. ARGUMENT. This poem, which, properly speaking, is a continuation of the last, opens with an address to Sul-malla, the daughter of the king of Inis-huna, whom Ossian met at the chase, as he returned from the battle of Rath-col. Sul-malla invites Ossian and Oscar...
Temora. Book Viii : p. 469 TEMORA BOOK VIII ARGUMENT. The fourth morning from the opening of the poem comes on Fingal, still continuing in the place to which he had retired on the preceding sight, is seen, at intervals, through the mist which covered the rock of Cormul. The descent of the king is described. He orders...
Temora. Book Iii : p. 424 TEMORA BOOK III. ARGUMENT. Morning coming on, Fingal, after a speech to his people, devolved the command on Gaul, the son of Morni; it being the custom of the times, that the king should not engage, till the necessity of affairs required his superior valor and conduct. The king and Ossi...
Temora. Book Ii : p. 413 TEMORA BOOK II ARGUMENT. This book opens, we may suppose, about midnight, with a soliloquy of Ossian, who had retired from the rest of the army, to mourn for his son Oscar. Upon hearing the noise of Cathmor's army approaching, he went to find out his brother Fillan, who kept the watch...
Carric Thura : p. 209 CARRIC-THURA. ARGUMENT. Fingal, returning from an expedition which he had made into the Roman province, resolved to visit Cathulla, king of Inistore, and brother to Comala, whose story is related at large in the preceding dramatic poem. Upon his coming in sight of Carric-thura, the palace...
Fingal. An Ancient Epic Poem. Book Iv : FINGAL BOOK IV. ARGUMENT. The action of the poem being suspended by night, Ossian takes the opportunity to relate his own actions at the lake of Lego, and his courtship of Everallin, who was the mother of Oscar, and had died some time before the expedition of Fingal into Ireland. Her ghost appears...
The War Of Caros : p. 261 THE WAR OF CAROS. ARGUMENT. Caros is probably the noted usurper Carausius, by birth a Menapian, who assumed the purple in the year 284; and, seizing on Britain, defeated the emperor Maximinian Herculius in several naval engagements, which gives propriety to his being called in this poem...
Calthon And Colmal : p. 254 CALTHON AND COLMAL. ARGUMENT. This piece, as many more of Ossian's compositions, is addressed to one of the first Christian missionaries. The story of the poem is handed down by tradition thus:--In the country of the Britons, between the walls, two chiefs lived in the days of Fingal...
Temora. Book Vii : p. 460 TEMORA BOOK VII. ARGUMENT. This book begins about the middle of the third night from the opening of the poem. The poet describes a kind of mist, which rose by night from the Lake of Lego, and was the usual residence of the souls of the dead, during the interval between their decease...
A Dissertation Concerning The Aera Of Ossian : p. 44 A DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE RA OF OSSIAN. INQUIRIES into the antiquities of nations afford more pleasure than any real advantage to mankind. The ingenious may form systems of history on probabilities and a few facts; but, at a great distance of time, their accounts must be vague...
Temora. Book Vi : p. 451 TEMORA BOOK VI. ARGUMENT This book opens with a speech of Fingal, who sees Cathmor descending to the assistance of his flying army. The king despatches Ossian to the relief of Fillan. He himself retires behind the rock of Cormul, to avoid the sight of the engagement between his s...
Cath Loda. Duan Iii : p. 199 CATH-LODA DUAN III. ARGUMENT Ossian, after some general reflections, describes the situation of Fingal, and the position of the army of Lochlin.--The conversation of Starno and Swaran.--The episode of Corman-trunar and Foina-bragal.--Starno, from his own example, recommends to Swar...
Title Page : THE POEMS OF OSSIAN; TRANSLATED BY JAMES MACPHERSON, ESQ. TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED A PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE AND DISSERTATION ON THE RA AND POEMS OF OSSIAN. BOSTON: PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & COMPANY, 110 Washington Street. [1851] (Reprint of 1773 edition) Prefatory Material (to Page 188) Scanned , April 2003...
Oina Morul : p. 235 OINA-MORUL. ARGUMENT. After an address to Malvina, the daughter of Toscar, Ossian proceeds to relate his own expedition to Furfed, an island of Scandinavia. Mal-orchol, king of Furfed, being hard pressed in war by Ton-thormod, chief of Sar-dronto (who had demanded in vain the daughter...
Comala, A Dramatic Poem : p. 203 COMALA, A DRAMATIC POEM ARGUMENT. This poem is valuable on account of the light it throws on the antiquity of Ossian's compositions. The Caracul mentioned here is the same with Caracalla, the son of Severus, who, in the year 211, commanded an expedition against the Caledonians. The variety...
Croma : CROMA. ARGUMENT. Malvina, the daughter of Toscar, is overheard by Ossian lamenting the death of Oscar her lover. Ossian, to divert her grief, relates his own actions in expedition which he undertook, at Fingal's command, to aid Crothar the petty king of Croma, a country in Ireland, against Rothmar...
Cath Loda. Duan I : p. 189 CATH-LODA. DUAN I. ARGUMENT OF DUAN I. 1 Fingal when very young, making a voyage to the Orkney Islands, was driven by stress of weather into a bay of Scandinavia, near the residence of Starno, king of Lochlin. Starno invites Fingal to a feast. Fingal, doubting the faith of the king...
A Critical Dissertation : p. 88 A CRITICAL DISSERTATION ON THE POEMS OF OSSIAN, THE SON OF FINGAL. BY HUGH BLAIR, D. D. One of the Ministers of the High Church and Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Edinburgh. AMONG the monuments remaining of the ancient state of nations, few are more valuable than their poems...
Dar Thula : p. 369 DAR-THULA ARGUMENT. It may not be improper here to give the story which is the foundation of this poem, as it is handed down by tradition. Usnoth, lord of Etha, which is probably that part of Argyleshire which is near Loch Eta, an arm of the sea in Lorn, had three sons, Nathos, Althos...
Colna Dona : p. 239 COLNA-DONA. ARGUMENT. Fingal despatches Ossian and Toscar, the son of Conloch, and father of Malvina, to raise a stone on the banks of the stream of Crona, to perpetuate the memory of a victory which he had obtained in that place. When they were employed in that work, Car-ul, a neighboring...