P. 150. v. 81. Air fraoch Lena's doirche gruaim, &c.] The poet returns to his subject. If one could fix the time of the year in which the action of the poem happened, from the scene described here, I should be tempted to place it in autumn. The trees shed their leaves, and the winds are variable, both which circumstances agree with that season of the year. P. 166. v. 299. A thriath eachraidh nan ard leum, &c.] The custom of encouraging men in battle with extempore rhymes, has been carried down almost to our own times. Several of these war songs are extant, but the most of them are only a group of epithets, without either beauty or harmony, utterly destitute of poetical merit. P. 170. v. 359. Thog sinn Deò ghreine ri crann, &c.] Fingal's standard was distinguished by the name of sun-beam; probably on account of its bright colour, and its being studded with gold. To begin a battle is expressed, in old composition, by lifting of the sun-beam. DUAN V. P. 204. v. 258. LAMH-DHEARG] Signifies red-hand, i. e. a bloody hand. P. 204. v. 266. Tuathal.] Sinister, unlucky, surly. P. 206. v. 272. Gealachos.] White-legged. P. 206. v. 284. Bran.] Bran is a common name of grey-hounds to this day. It is a custom in the north of Scotland, to give the names of the heroes mentioned in this poem, to their dogs; a proof that they are familiar to the ear, and their fame generally known. P. 206. v. 298. Gabh gu Allaid a's leithe cùl, &c.] Allad is a druid: he is called the son of the rock, from his dwelling in a cave; and the circle of stones here mentioned is the pale of the druidical temple. He is here consulted as one who had a supernatural knowledge of things; from the druids, no doubt, came the ridiculous notion of the second sight, which prevailed in the Highlands and Isles. DUAN VI. P. 230. v. 35. THA neart nan corn a dol mu'n cuairt.] The ancient Celta brewed beer, and they were no strangers to mead. Several ancient poems mention wax lights and wine as common in the halls of Fingal. The Caledonians, in their frequent incursions to the province, might become acquainted with those conveniencies of life, and introduce them into their own country, among the booty which they carried from South Britain. P. 232. v. 58. Bha Treunmor, &c.] Trenmor was great grandfather to Fingal. The story is introduced to facilitate the dismission of Swaran. P. 248. v. 295. Bha Righ Chraca o choill r'a lann, An crom Bhrumo nam mor thonn, &c.] This passage alludes to the religion of the king of Craca. P. 256. v. 397. 'Nuair a d'fhag treith an domhain a' bheinn, &c.] This is the only passage in the poem wherein the wars of Fingal against the Romans are alluded to: the Roman emperor is distinguished in old composition by the title of king of the world. P. 256. v. 599. 'S lionor d' fhocail thuirt Conan gun chliu, &c.] Conan was of the family of Morni. He is mentioned in several other poems, and always appears with the same character. The poet passed him over in silence till now, and his behaviour here deserves no better usage. P. 258. v. 428. 'Si'g eisdeachd toirm oiche o'n t sliabh 'S fonn fial o ghaisgich nan ramh ;] The practice of singing when they row is universal among the inhabitants of the northwest coast of Scotland and the Isles. It deceives time, and inspirits the rowers. NOTES TO TEMORA. DUAN I. P. 268. v. 8. AIR bruaich an uild an Cairbear fein.] Cairbar, the son of Borbar-duthul, was descended lineally from Lathon, the chief of the Firbolg, the first colony who settled in the south of Ireland. The Gael were in possession of the northern coast of that kingdom, and the first monarchs of Ireland were of their race. Hence arose those differences between the two nations, which terminated, at last, in the murder of Cormac, and the usurpation of Cairbar, lord of Atha, who is mentioned in this place. P. 270. v. 33. Morla] Signifies great in the day of battle. P. 270. v. 37. Malthos.] Slow to speak. P. 270. v. 39. Foldath.] Generous. Foldath, who is here strongly marked, makes a great figure in the sequel of the poem. His fierce, uncomplying character, is sustained throughout. He seems, from a passage in the second book, to have been Cairbar's greatest confidant, and to have had a principal hand in the conspiracy against Cormac king of Ireland. His tribe was one of the most considerable of the race of the Firbolg. P. 272. v. 48. Mor-anail.] Strong breath, a very proper name for a scout. P. 272. v. 63. Chunna mi roimh 'n treun a shleagh shuas, &c.] Moranail here alludes to the particular appearance of Fingal's spear. If a man, upon his first landing in a strange country, kept the point of his spear forward, it denoted in those days that he came in a hostile manner, and accordingly he was treated as an enemy; if he kept the point behind him, it was a token of friendship, and he was immediately invited to the feast, according to the hospitality of the times. P. 272. v. 70. Air thaobh an trein a chlaidheamh fiar, An dara beum a chaoidh nach d'iarr.] This was the famous sword of Fingal, made by Luno, a smith of Lochlin, and after him poetically called the son of Luno: it is said of this sword, that it killed a man at every stroke; and that Fingal never used it but in times of the greatest danger. P. 276. v. 105. An coinnich Foldath na aonar na daimh Thuirt Malthos nam fabhrad ciar.] The opposite characters of Foldath and Malthos are strongly marked in subsequent parts of the poem. They appear always in opposition. The feuds between their families, which were the source of their hatred to one another, are mentioned in other poems. P. 276. v. 117. Ach co chuala gu fiar mo ghuth] That is, who has heard my vaunting? He intended the expression as a rebuke to the selfpraise of Foldath. P. 276. v. 119. Triath Chlaonrath.] Hidalla was the chief of Clonra, a small district on the banks of the lake of Lego. The beauty of his person, his eloquence, and genius for poetry, are afterwards mentioned. P. 278. v. 153. Innis da gu'n thog mi suas Uaigh Chathuil fo luaidh nam bard. &c.] Cathul, the son of Maronnan, or Moran, was murdered by Cairbar for his attachment to the family of Cormac. He had attended Oscar to the war of Inis-thona, where they contracted a great friendship for one another. Oscar, immediately after the death of Cathul, had sent a formal challenge to Cairbar, which he prudently declined, but conceived a secret hatred against Oscar, and had beforehand contrived to kill him at the feast, to which he here invites him. P. 278. v. 157. Air a chliu aig sruth fuaimear Charuinn.] He alludes to the battle of Oscar against Caros, king of ships; who is supposed to be the same with Carausius the usurper. P. 280. v. 159. Cha'n eil Cathmor nan ceud ri m' thaobh, &c.] Cathmor, great in battle, the son of Borbar-duthul, and brother of Cairbar, king of Ireland, had, before the insurrection of the Firbolg, passed over into Inis-huna, supposed to be a part of South Britain, to assist Conmor, king of that place, against his enemies. Cathmor was successful in the war, but, in the course of it, Conmor was either killed, or died a natural death. Cairbar, upon intelligence of the designs of Fingal to dethrone him, had dispatched a messenger for Cathmor, who returned into Ireland a few days before the opening of the poem. Cairbar here takes advantage of his brother's absence, to perpetrate his ungenerous designs against Oscar; for the noble spirit of Cathmor, had he been present, would not have permitted the laws of that hospitality, for which he was so renowned himself, to be violated. The brothers form a contrast: we do not detest the mean soul of Cairbar more, than we admire the disinterested and generous mind of Cathmor. P. 280. v. 174. Chuala triatha Shelma an sòlas, &c.] Fingal's army heard the joy that was in Cairbar's camp. The character given of Cathmor is agreeable to the times. Some, through ostentation, were hospitable; and others fell naturally into a custom handed down from their ancestors. But what marks strongly the character of Cathmor, is his aversion to praise; for he is represented to dwell in a wood to avoid the thanks of his guests; which is still a higher degree of generosity than that of Axylus in Homer: for the poet does not say, but the good man might, at the head of his own table, have heard with pleasure the praise bestowed on him by the people he entertained. No nation in the world carried hospitality to a greater length than the ancient Scots. It was even infamous, for many ages, in a man of condition, to have the door of his house shut at all, lest, as the bards express it, the stranger should come and behold his contracted soul. Some of the chiefs were possessed of this hospitable disposition to an extravagant degree; and the bards, perhaps upon a private account, never failed to recommend it, in their eulogiums. Ceann uidhe na daimh or, the point to which all the roads of the strangers lead, was an invariable epithet given by them to the chiefs; on the contrary, they distinguished the inhospitable by the title of the cloud which the strangers shun. This last, however, was so uncommon, that in all the old poems I have ever met with, I found but one man branded with this ignominious appellation; and that, perhaps, only founded upon a private quarrel, which subsisted between him and the patron of the bard who wrote the poem. P. 282. v. 207. Chualas screadan nan sgiath mu'n cuairt. &c.] When a chief was determined to kill a person already in his power, it was usual to signify that his death was intended, by the sound of a shield struck with the blunt end of a spear; at the same time that a bard at a distance raised the death song. P. 282. v. 213. "Tha mi faicinn sleagh buaidh na h-Eirinn.] Cormac, the son of Arth, had given the spear, which is here the foundation of the quarrel, to Oscar, when he came to congratulate him upon Swaran's being expelled from Ireland. |