June1762. Fingal, an ancient epic poem. own. 317 he fays, that "The land was apprehended his life, at the hazard an expence of her to be a fpecies of benefice, which was the original conception of a feudal property.” On the contrary, we may venture to affert, on the authority of Sir H. Spelman, that feuds did not take the denomination of benefices, till they were granted for life. At first, they were given at will, and were called Munera, which feems more properly to be the original conception of feudal property. As to our historian's style, it is fo well known, and fo deservedly approved, that it is almost needless to say, it is close, nervous, and correct; though we may fometimes meet with thofe macula, which incuria fudit, and from which no human production is exempt. Thus when we read that PRINCE OFFA made a vow of virginity, we apprehend, that continence would be a more proper expression; as virginity is ufually appropriated to denote maiden chastity. M.. [To this laft criticism the paffage in Rev. xiv. 4. may be oppofed, as our tranflation of the Bible is an authority approved of by Johnfon.] Fingal, continued. [261.] IN the third book the hero of the poem begins to figure. Previous to his landing, however, we have an episode relaEtive to his former atchievements in Lochlin, whither he had been invited in his youth, by Starno, under the pretence of beftowing on him his beautiful daughter Agandecca; but, in fact, with a malicious defign in that king to affaffinate him. This tale, nevertheless, does no honour to any thing but the military prowefs of Fingal. His neglect, indeed, to preferve the fair Agandecca, who falls a facrifice to her father's refentment, for faving the life of her lover, appears ungenerous and ungrateful. We are told, She faw the youth, and loved him, he was the stolen figh of her foul: her blue eye rolled on him in fecret, and fhe bleft the chief of Morven." If we add to this the obligation he lay under to her, for divulging her father's treachery in placing his chiefs in ambush to destroy him, it must appear highly unbecoming, both in the hero and the lover, not to take proper measures for her fecurity, when the repeatedly injoined him to remember, and fave her from the wrath of her father. When it was too late, indeed, and Starno had pierced her white fide with steel, he could take up arms, rout the murderer, and bring off the dead body of her who had preferved VOL. XXIV. The martial virtues of Fingal, however, were thofe Cuchullin ftood in need of; who, at the close of the ftory, therefore, expreffes his confidence in the valour of his ally; difmithing the foul of Agandecca, like a good Chriftian, with a blefling, and praying heartily for the fafe arrival of the fleet "Bleffed be her foul, faid Cuchullin, and bleffed be the mouth of the fong. Strong was the youth of Fingal, and ftrong is his arm of age. Lochlin fhall fall again before the King of echoing Morven. Shew thy face from a cloud, O moon; light his white fails on the wave of the night: and, if any strong fpirit of heaven fits on that low-hung cloud, turn his dark fhips from the rock, thou rider of the storm!" The latter part of this passage is exceedingly beautiful, and feems to indicate a fenfe of religion in Cuchullin. The trar.flator obferves, however, that notwithstanding this appearance of religious fentiment, as the apo ftrophe is attended with an if, it implies a doubt, which makes it not eafy to determine whether the hero meant a superior being, or the departed spirit of fome deceased warrior, whofe ghofts were in thofe times fuppofed to rule the ftorms, and to transport themselves in a gust of wind from one country to another. It is most probable, in our opinion, that Cuchullin did believe in the existence of fuch fuperior beings, and that his doubt only extended fo far as to the uncertainty whether or not any fuch spirit was the prefent agent. As to the ghosts of deceased warriors, thefe are conftantly called, in the poem, feeble fons of the wind; whereas he ftyles that to which he addreffes himself a ftrong (pirit of heaven: by which it appears it was of the particular prefence only, and not of the general existence, of such a spirit, that he doubted. We have already given a notable example of that exceffive hyperbole which prevails in many parts of this poem; in j ftice, however, to our Celtic bard, we muft obferve, that we have heard many paffages cenfured, as inftances of ridicu lous bombaft and falfe fublime, which, on a due confideration of the fuppofed manners and fuperftition of the times, are lefs liable to objection. Of these the following, wherein the bluftering, though wounded and feeble, Calmar, gives an account of himself and ancestors, is a remarkable one. U u "I "I am of the race of fteel; my fathers never feared. Cormar was the first of my race. He fported through the ftorms of the waves. His black skiff bounded on ocean, and travelled on the wings of the blaft. A fpirit once embroiled the night. Seas fwell, and Jocks refound. Winds drive along the clouds. The lightning flies on wings of fire. He feared, and came to land: then blufied that he feared at all. He rushed again among the waves to find the fon of the wind. Three youths guide the bounding bark he ftood with the fword unfheathed. When the low-hung vapour pafied, he took it by the curling head, and fearched its dark womb with his fteel. The fon of the wind forfook the air. The moon and ftars returned." Should a poet, indeed, make an hero of thefe times exprefs himself in fuch a ftrain, he would certainly be guilty of intolerable bombaft; but if we take with us the fuppofition, that the people of those days believed departed fouls to be material, there is no abfurdity in fuppofing they might go farther, and conceive them vulnerable too. Thus, confiftent with the fame notion, Cuchullin, fpeaking of the ghost of Crugal, fays to Connal, as in the paffage already quoted, "If it was the form of Crugal, why didft thou not force him to my fight? Haft thou inquired where is his cave? My fword might find, and force his knowledge from him." At length Fingal arrives; and, perceiving the fate which had attended the army of Cuchullin, by the dead bodies lying on the heath of Lena, he orders his fons, Rvno and Fillan, to found the horn of war, and call the children of the foe. Swaran appears; at fight of whom, Fingal, recalling to mind the fate of his fifter Agandecca, and that he had lamented her with the tears of his youth, fends Ullin to invite him to the feaft. This incident, though not perfectly correfponding to what the Stagyrite calls the Avayap'sis, poffefes, a truly-poetic excellence. It is true, Swaran was before known by Fingal to be the enemy he was coming to engage; and there is no doubt but the circumftance of his having lamented the fate of his fifter, might have frequently recurred to his mind: it was yet very natural it thould return with greater energy, at the fight of him; and thus the friendly invitation made him was attended with a propriety, totally wanting in the former one of Curullin. As Swaran refules to accept it, however, it is certain, the repetition of fuch circumstances, where the event is the fame and anfwers no end, is a manifeft proof of the want of poetic genius in the writer, to invent and diverfify the inci dents of the Epopeia. On the King of Lochlin's refufal to come to the feaft, and to put off the battle till the morrow, the two armies came to im- i mediate action; which, together with fome of the chiefs, our poet defcribes with all the pomp (though little variety) of expreffion. But, furely, Fingal's prowess is too highly defcribed, when the rocks are faid to fall down before him! None of these death-difpenfing heroes, however, particularly fignalize themselves by their ac tions; none of the flain are seen to fall by the fword or fpear: all is vague and indiftinct. The reflections of the poet, in his own perfon, are indeed very natural and affecting. My locks (fays he) were not then fo gray, nor trembled my hands of age; my eyes were not closed in darknefs, nor failed my feet in the race.Often have I fought, often won in battles of the fpear; but blind, and tearful, and forlorn, I now walk with little men.". 66 In the fourth book, the poet introdu. I ces the epifode of Everallin, his wife; whofe ghoft appears to him, and informs him of the dangers by which her fon Ofcar is furrounded, in fighting with the fons of Lochlin. In confequence of this information, Offian armed himself, and fet forward to his affiftance; and by humming, as he was wont in danger, the fongs of heroes of old, drove the affrighted fons of Lochlin before him. This appears to be too extravagant, not only from the confideration that the poet is speaking of himfelf, but, from the figure he makes in the work, his valour juftifies no fuch fear in the enemy. The tranflator compares it to that paffage in the 18th Iliad, wherein the voice of Achilles is faid to frighten away the Trojans from the body of Patroclus: Forth march'd the chief, and diftant from the There is a very material difference, however, in the circumftances. Homer, it is true, has reprefented the Trojans as retiring, intimidated by the voice of Achilles; but it fhould be obferved, that though Achilles was the hero of the poem, the poet faw fuch a conduct would be un natur In June 1762. Fingal, an ancient epic poem. natural without the intervention of fome tit fupernatural power. Minerva, therefore, throws her agis over his fhoulders, furrounds his head with a cloud, from which iffues a fplendid flame, [Iliad xviii. 203. &c.]; and when he spoke aloud to the Trojans, the aflifted him, by joining in, and increasing, the found. In this cafe, the terror occafioned by his voice was in creased by an object of fight, and both were owing to the fuperior powers of a divinity. Whereas Ollian alone hums a tune, and the hoft of Lochlin flies before him. This exceeds, in the effect, even the roaring of Mars; which, though we are told it equalled the fhout of ten thoufand men joining in battle, only spread terror through the hofts of the Greeks and Trojans, without putting them to flight. [Iliad v. 859. &c.]. The ghoft of Agandecea appears next to Fingal in a dream; but feeins to come for no other purpose than to disturb his fleep. The poet had here a favourable opportunity of applying the fuperftition, of which he appears fo fond, and yet makes fo little ufe. It had been extremely poetical to have made the ghost of Agandecca intercede for her brother and countrymen, and to have implored for them the mercy of Fingal, by the love he had formerly profeffed. At length the two heroes, Swaran and Fingal, meet in battle, and the fame undiverfified accidents happen to both. Their dark-brown fhields are cleft in twain; their steel flies broken from their helmets; and lastly, this dreadful preparation of death ends in a wrestling bout, which is defcribed, like the former, with intolerable hyperbole, and concludes in favour of Fingal. Homer, in defcribing the conteft between Ulyffes and Ajax, in the games inftituted at the funeral rites of Patroclus, has affigned the caufe of the former's prevailing over the latter, and admirably preserved his character, [Iliad xxiii. 725. Here nothing is particular ly mentioned to fpecify the caufe of Fingal's fuperiority, or to diftinguifh his character; but, as in almost all our poet's defcriptions, every thing is general, confufed, and indiftinct. From this great defect in the work, we are induced to doubt its ever having been written, as fuppofed, by a person who was prefent in the actions defcribed. Indeed we can hardly think it poffible a bard who faw, and acted therein, could be fo very imperfect in his reprelentation of them. With respect to 66 319 character and manners, he is in general not more indiftinct in marking them, than inconfiftent in their prefervation. That of Fingal has been represented, by the implicit admirers of this poem, as ftrongly delineated, well preferved, amiable, and heroic. It must be owned he is made now and then to talk very fpeciously, and, in one part of the work, addreffes his grandion Ofcar in the following beautiful apoftrophe. "O Ofcar! bend the strong in arm, but fpare the feeble hand. Be thou a ftream of many tides against the foes of thy people, but like the gale that moves the grafs to thofe who ask thine aid.. -So Trenmor lived; fuch Trathal was; and fuch has Fingal been. My arm was the fupport of the injured; and the weak refted behind the lightning of my fteel." Could any one imagine fo humane, fo generous a perfonage, as he here seems to be, could be the fame noble Fingal, who neglected the prefervation of his mifreis, that had bleffed him with her charms, and rifqued her life for his fafety? the fame noble Fingal who, after the defeat of Swaran, and taking him prifoner, (which muft naturally terminate the war), cruelly bids his fons make a general flaughter, left the enemy fhould fave themselves by flight? "Sons of the King of Morven, faid the noble Fingal, guard the King of Lochlin.But, Ofcar, Fillan, and Ryfo, ye children of the race, pursue the reft of Lochlin over the heath of Lena; that no vessel may hereafter bound on the dark-rolling waves of Iniftore." Very different was the heroism of the truly noble Piercy and Douglas, recorded in the famous fong of Chevy-chace; who, in order to fave the harmless blood of their numerous attendants, agreed to decide the quarrel between themselves by fingle combat. And infinitely inferior, in eve ry relpect, must the character of Fingal appear in compariton with that of the amiable and heroic Hector in the Iliad! a perfonage diftinguished by every public and private virtue; one in whom, not only perfonal bravery, but filial duty, paternal tenderness, manly affection, zeal for justice, love to his country, and piety to the Gods, were eminently conípicu Druids; the Metempsychosis, or tranfimigration of fouls, being a doctrine inconfiftent with their notions of ghosts. And though the latter be not altogether incompatible with the Christian system, yet the properties and powers attributed to fuch ghosts by the poet, fuch as the confulting together concerning their friends, their revealing future events, affifting their countrymen, directing the ftorms, and the like, are not very confiftent with the earlieft notions of Chriftianity. Again, there is too manifeft an incongruity in the reprefentation of things, which could hardly exist at the fame time and place. Cuchullin's car and harness are adorned with gems, and yet he has nothing better to drink out of than a fhell*. The echoing hall of Fingal is magnificently fupported by white pillars, and yet not a chief in the army has a tent to cover him. There is frequent and pompous mention made of feafts, and yet they had not a common porridge-pot to dress their provifions. Such circumftances as the fe appear totally incompatible. Surely that art which could frame and ornament a chariot and harness with gems, might have advanced to fome degree of perfection the moft neceflary articles of household-furniture! The men who feafted in fuperb halls at home, would doubtlefs have contrived fome means, to defend themselves from the inclemency of the weather when in the field, and have invented utenfils to prepare their viands. Indeed we are apt to think the tranflator is mistaken, in fixing the era of the poem at the conclusion of the third century. He conceives the epoch determined, among other fimilar reafons, by the resemblance of the names Caros and Caraufius, Caracal and Caracalla; a circumftance overbalanced, in our opinion, by more weighty confiderations, than any depending on a mere fimilitude of names. And firft, ac cording to Ufher, and all thole who have fludied the Irih antiquities, the Danes (or Scandinavians, as they are here termed) never vifited Ireland till near five hundred years after the time laid down for their undertaking this expedition. Now we find, in the Irifh hi. ftory, that a war did fubfift, between the Danes and the Irifh kings, foon after the *It is faid, indeed, the highlanders to this day drink out of theils. This we do not at all doubt; but we imagine a chariot fudded with gems, is at the fame time not to be found in all the high lands, if indeed in any part of Europe. former had got footing in that kingdom; t in the accounts of which the name of Fingal is mentioned, together with other in circumstances that render it more pro- de bable that the subject of the poem was im taken from the events of thofe times, mi than from fo early an æra as the tranflator fupposes. pit the epifode of Agandecca, that Fingal had tim It appears, farther, from rel been in Lochlin, whofe fons, as they are the called, had been alfo engaged in frequent | De wars with the Irish and Scottish princes; ob a circumstance which, fuppofing Lochlin ne to mean Scandinavia, finds no fupport in from history at so early a period. It ap-var pears, however, that as the word Lochlincha fignifies, in the Celtic tongue, the fons of ers the fea, it may be very indefinitely ap-to plied. If we add to this, that in the dif- to fertation prefixed to this poem, Fingal is exprefsly called the King of Scotland, is it not strange that no mention is made in Anderson's tables of fuch a prince, about that time? But whether or not there be any mistake about the time or parties of action, certain it is, the manners of no age or people could be so inconfiftent as they are reprefented in the poem. in which the great merit of this produc. To come, laftly, to the ais or diction, tion confifts, it is certain there are many paffages not inferior to any of the Maonian or Mantuan bard. It were, however, needlefs to point out the particular inftances of this excellence, fince the reader must be void of all fenfibility not to have perceived this beauty and energy of ftyle, even from the fhort extracts we One of the highest embellishments to poehave occafionally made from the work. try lies undoubtedly in the use and application of fimiles; in thefe, as we have already obferved, Offian is very redundant; most of them are striking, and many are applied with inimitable beauty and propriety. In as many others he is ety and want of fimilitude we so often as remarkably defective. The impropri. meet with, however, is even less displeafing than the conftant return of the fame comparifons and modes of expreffion. Thus every battle is a storm, the beroes being compared to inanimate objects. are flames, winds, or torrents; almost all And though, in many, the fublimity is vaft and striking, yet their frequent repetition is to the laft degree fatiguing and difguftful. On the whole, this poem appears deficient in all the superior parts of the HR June 1762. Fingal, an ancient epic poem, &c. the Epopeia; its principal, and indeed we may lay, its fole excellence, confifting in the force of words, and in the glow of defcription. In the latter, the powers of imagination are, on many occafions, admirably exerted, and carried to the highest pitch of perfection, particularly in what relates to inanimate fubjects. As to fentimental or intellectual faculties, both the poet's fancy and judgment appear generally poor and defective. The former objects are painted with truth and bold. nefs; but then they are always delineated in the fame manner, and have little or no variety of colouring: while, in drawing characters, the poet refembles thofe painters who can give no variety of features to their figures, all appearing to belong to the fame family, or having the fame unmeaning expreffion of countenance. 32L.. Two letters to the Rev. 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