“In Ireland there were soldiers called _Fynne Erin_, appointed to keep the sea-coast, fearing foreign invasion, or foreign princes to enter the realm; the names of these soldiers were Fin M’Cuil, Coloilon, Keilt, Oscar, M’Ossyn, Dermot, O’Doyne, Collemagh, Morna, and divers others. These soldiers waxed bold, as shall appear hereafter, and so strong, that they did contrary to the orders and institutions of the Kings of Ireland, their chiefs and governors, and became very strong and stout, and at length would do thing without license of the King of Ireland, &c., &c--It is added, that one of these heroes was alive till the coming of St. Patrick, who recited the actions of his compeers to the Saint. This hero was Ossian, or, as we pronounce it, _Ossyn_; whose dialogues with the Christian missionary is in the mouth of every peasant, and several of them preserved in old Irish manuscripts. Now the Fingal of Mr. Macpherson (for it is thus he translates _Fin M’Cuil_, sometimes pronounced and spelled Fionne M’Cumhal, or _Fion_ the son of Cumhal) and his followers appear like the earth-born myrmidons of Deucalion, for they certainly have no human origin; bear no connexion with the history of their country; are neither to be found in the poetic legend or historic record * of Scotland, and are even furnished with appellations which the Caledonians neither previously possessed nor have since adopted. They are therefore abruptly introduced to our knowledge as living in a barbarous age, yet endowed with every perfection that renders them the most refined, heroic, and virtuous of men. So that while we grant to the interesting poet and his heroes our boundless admiration, we cannot help considering them as solecisms in the theory of human nature. * I know but of one instance that contradicts the assertion of Father Johu, and that I borrow from the allegorical Palace of Honour of Gavvin Douglass, Bishop of Dunkeld, who places Gaul, son of Morni, and Fingal, among the distinguished characters in the annals of legendary romance; yet even _he_ mentions them not as the heroes of Scottish celebrity, but as the almost fabled demi-gods of Ireland. “And now the wran cam out of Ailsay, And Piers Plowhman, that made his workmen few Great Gow Mac Morne and Fin M’Cowl, and how They suld be goddis in Ireland, as they say.”