Ossian Collection > Essay on the authenticity of the poems of Ossian

78 ON THE AUTHENTICITY
undoubtedly accustomed to commit to me-
mory, as many verses, at least, as are con-
tained in the Poems of Ossian, as we now
have them. We may, every day, meet with
instances of the extraordinary perfection to
which, from particular application of the
memory, this faculty may be carried. We
meet, for example, with persons, unskilled
in writing, who can, by a mental process,
carry on long calculations, which, without
the aid of his pen, would baffle the most
skilful arithmetician. But, as the memory,
when thus exercised, is capable of very
wonderful efforts, so, when freed from the
necessity of exertion, and accustomed to re-
ly on subsidiary aids, it becomes feeble and
unretentive. I know a person, who has been,
for more than twenty years, versant in the
poetry of ancient and modern Europe, who
cannot, at this moment, repeat twenty lines
together of poetry, in any language what-
ever ; and yet, such is the memory of this