The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. VIII] OF SCOTLAND 139
driven out of the Orkneys by Theodosius. Another objection
is, that Ossian places the Plain of Moylena in Ulster, while
in fact it is in IVIeath.i To answer this, I must refer again
to the Irish annals, and to the best Irish antiquaries, from
whom it appears that there existed an extensive and wellknown
plain in Ulster under that name. O'Flaherty mentions,
p. 193 — " Tuathal built Rathmor, or the Great Palace, in the
Plains of ]\Ioylena, in Ulster." O'Connor also, the best and
most learned of the Irish antiquaries, under the word " Rathmor
Moylena," says—"Arx magna canipi Lena amplissima et antiquissima
UltonicE post Eamnaniam etsi ab aliis constructa
babeatur regnante Tuathalie," a.d. 130.
The place is mentioned three times in Tighernac, under
the }'ears 161, 565, and 682. It will be unnecessary to enter
into a detailed examination of these passages, and it will be
sufficient to mention that they show very clearly that the Plain
of Moylena was in Ulster. A third objection is, that Ossian
places Temora, the well-known palace of the kings of Ireland,
in Ulster, while its situation is known to have been in Meath;
but in this objection very great injustice is done to Ossian, for
it is assumed that the Tura of Ossian, which he undoubtedly
places in Ulster, was the same with Temora, but in Ossian the
most marked distinction is made between Tura and Teamharr,
or Temora ; the former appears in Ossian to have been a seat
of the Cruithne in Ulster, and was probably the same place
with the Rathmore Moylena of the Irish annalists, while he
places the latter considerably to the south, without marking
out. its exact situation, and implies that it was the seat
of the Irish kings. From these few remarks it will appear,
the value of Ossian as an historical poet must stand in the
highest rank, while, whether the chief part of these poems
are of ancient or modern composition, there can remain little
doubt that in him we possess the oldest record of the history
of a very remote age.
'
This is a most dishonest objection, Ireland a -work that would have been
;
for every Irish antiquary knows that more valuable if he had not adopted
there was a plain of Moylena in Ulster. the absurd and untenable system of
I regret much to see it repeated by Sir William Betham.
Mr. Moore, in his excellent History of