Ossian Collection > Critical dissertation on the poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

xxxii A D I S S E R T A T I O K.
modern period. The pious ejaculations they contain, their allufiony
to the maniiers of the times, fix them to the fifteenth century.
Had even tlie authors of thefe pieces avoided all allufions to their
own times, it is impofiible that the poems could pafs for ancient, in
the eyes of any perfon tolerably coaverfant with the Iridi tongue.
The idiom is fo corrupted and fo many words borrowed from the
EngliHi, that that language muft have made conuderable progrels iu
Ireland before the poems were writ.
It remains now to fhew, how the Irifh bards begun to appropri-
ate Oman and his heroes to their own country. After the Englifli
conqueft, many of the natives of Ireland, averfe to foreign yoke,
either aftually were in a flate of hoftility with the conquerors, or at
leaft, paid little regard to their government. The Scots, in thofe
ages, were often in open war, and never in cordial friendiliip with
the Engiilli. The fimilarity of manners and language, the tradi-
ons concerning their common origin, and above all, their having to
do with the fame enemy, created a free and friendly intercourfe be-
tween the Scotch and Iriih nations. As the cuftom of retaining
bards and fenachies was common to both j fo each, no doubt, had
formed a fyftem of hiftory, it matters not how much foever fabalous,
concerning their refpective origin. It was the natural policy of the
times, to reconcile the traditions of both nations together, and, if
poffible, to deduce them from the fame original flock.
The Saxon manners and language had, at that time, made great pro-
grefs in the fouth of Scotland. The ancient language, and the tradi-
tional hiitory of the nation, became confined entirely to the inhabitants
of the Highlands, then fallen, from feveral concurring circumftances,
into ti:ie kft degree of ignorance and barbarijfm. The Irilli, who,
for