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

ON THE AUTHENTICITY
ted real, he embellishes these facts by every
species of fiction, and hesitates not to call
in to his aid every sort of supernatural ma-
chinery. In the Odyssey, again, he makes
the supposed wanderings of his hero the
vehicle for a surprising tissue of adventures,
and for a pleasing description of the man-
ners and customs of various nations. In a
plan like this, there was ample room for
every species of embellishment, and the in-
troduction of every image, that is calculated
to please, might justly be expected.
But the object of the Celtic bard, upon
the other hand, was to relate, in verse in-
deed, or in a measured diction, for the ease
of the memory, subjects of true history. He
was limited, by his office, to the celebration of
illustrious events, and the transactions of il-
lustrious persons, chiefly his own contempo-
raries ; but, to the detail of domestic events
and characters, he could as seldom descend
as Thucydides or Livy. He was not preclu-