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

ON THE POEMS OF O S S I A N. 53
coantry; but they are abfurdly ufed for illuflratlon by us, who know
them only at fecond hand, or by defcription. To moft readers of
modern poetry, it were more to the purpofe to defcribe Lions or
Tvgers by fimiles taken from men, than to compare men to Lions.
Offian is very correct in this particular. His imagery is, without
exception, copied from that face of nature, which he faw before his
eyes; and by confequence may be expedled to be Hvely. We meet
with no Grecian or Italian fcenery ; but with the mifts, and clouds,
and llorms of a northern mountainous region.
No poet abounds more in fimiles than Offian. There are in this
colle<fi:ion as many, at leaft, as in the whole Iliad of Homer,
though that be a longer work. I am indeed inclined to think, that
the works of both poets are too much crowded with them. Similes
are fparkling ornaments ; and like all things that fparkle, are apt to
dazzle and tire us by their luftre. But if Offian's fimiles be too
frequent, they have this advantage of being commonly fliorter than
Homer's ; they interrupt his narration lefs ; he juft glances afide to
fome refembling objeft, and infl:antly returns to his former track.
Homer's fimiles include a wider range of objedls. But in return,
Offian's are, without exception, taken from objeds of dignity,
which cannot be faid for all thofe which Homer employs. The
Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, Clouds and Meteors, Lightning and
Thunder, Seas and Whales, Rivers, Torrents, Winds, Rain, Snow,
Dews, Mifl:, Fire and Smoke, Trees and Torrents, Heath and Grafs
and Flowers, Rocks and Mountains, Mufick and Songs, Light and
Darknefs, Spirits and Ghofls ; thefe form the circle, within which
Offiian's comparifons generally run. Some, not many, are taken
from Birds and Beafts ; as Eagles, Sea Fowl, the Horfe, the Deer,
and the Mountain Bee ; and a very few from fuch operations of arc
as were then known. Homer has diverfified his imagery by inany
more allufions to the animal world ; to Lions, Bulls, Goats,
Herds of Cattle, Serpents, Infedls; and to the various occupations
of rural and palloral life. Offiian's defed: in this article, is plainly
owing to the defert, uncultivated flate of his country, which fug-
gelled to him few images beyond natural inanimate objeds, in their
rudell form. The birds and animals of the country were probably
not numerous j and his acquaintance with them was flender, as they
were little fubjeded to the uf;s of man.
The.