Aperi domicilium cœlorum præstanti-(viro); Fuga tu cum cantu torvitatem

A spectro atro-rufo Carbaris.

TOMI SECUNDI FINIS.

Ex Officina Gul. Bulmer et Soc.

in Vico Cleveland Row, St. James's.

NOTES TO FINGAL.

DUAN I.

P. 4. v. 1. CUCHULLIN. 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. He was so remarkable for his strength, that to describe a strong man it has passed into a proverb, " He has the strength of Cuthullin." They shew the remains of his palace at Dunscaich in the Isle of Skye; and a stone, to which he bound his dog Luath, goes still by his name.

P. 4. v. 5. Cairbar or Cairbre, signifies a fierce strong man.

P. 4. v. 7. 'Nuair thainig fear coimheid a chuain,] Cuthullin having previous intelligence of the invasion intended by Swaran, sent scouts all over the coast of Ullin, or Ulster, to give early notice of the first appearance of the enemy, at the same time that he sent Munan the son of Stirmal to implore the assistance of Fingal. He himself collected the flower of the Irish youth to Tura, a castle on the coast, to stop the progress of the enemy till Fingal should arrive from Scotland. We may conclude from Cuthullin's applying so early for foreign aid, that the Irish were not then so numerous as they have since been; which is a great presumption against the high antiquities of that people. We have the testimony of Tacitus, that one legion only was thought sufficient, in the time of Agricola, to reduce the whole island under the Roman yoke; which would not probably have been the case had the island been inhabited for any number of centuries before.