Ossian Collection > Authenticity of the poems of Ossian

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the l)arcls did for the literature of the CaleJonians.
And when we know that the order existed, as a distinct
class in society, down almost to our own time, wonder
begins to diminish if a few compositions of rare beauty
have reached us. What has i)erished we cannot tell.
From the time of Ossian, (and long before that, the
order must have been in full swing, for the praises of
Treunmor, the grandfather (if Fingal, and Trathal, his
great-grandfather, were in the mouths of Ullin and
other bards, who were old when Ossian was young,)
till the utter extinction of the order, somewhere in
the seventeenth century, they never ceased to exercise
their calling, reciting old compositions, and composing
originals of their own, the greater part of which, how-
ever has died out, while the productions of the great
genius of th3 race were preserved with sacred care ;
just as in our own times, notwithstanding the aid of
printing, all inferior compositions perish from popular
use, while the superior productions of the great master
minds are preserved. Nor need we be surprised at
this, when it is admitted that, till after the battle of
Culloden, the Highlanders were, by custom, manners,
and above all, language, excluded from all intercourse
with the other nations of Europe. So circumstanced,
what could they do but fall back with doating fondness
on the compositions of then- own immortal bard, the
tendency to which would be greatly strengthened by the
customs of society, as I can show, by referring to what
has prevailed within my own experience.
Thirty years ago, and more so previously, it was
the custom in Strathtay and all over the Highlands
for the young women of a district to meet with their
spinning-wheels, on every day of the week except Sa-
turday, at some house previously fixed on, every house-
liold taking its turn, to cheer each other at their labour.
Thither the young Avomen came, some in the forenoon
and some in the evening, carrying their wheels on
their shoulders. As the shades of evening fell, put-
ting an end to the out-door labours in which the young
men of the district might be engaged, they also came
to the rendezvous, and during the long winter night
the song went on unceasingly till about 10 o'clock. I
remember distinctly how, on these occasions, he or she
who could sing the greatest number of fine songs was
regarded as the very life of the company. I was never
a singer myself, and yet I still retain in my memory