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

26 A CRITICAL DISSERTATION
ning to end the fcene is never fhifted from the heath of Lena,
along the fea-fhorc. The duration of the aftion in Finga!, is much
ihorter than in the Iliad or JEneld. But fure, there may be
fhorter as well as longer Heroic Poems ; and if the authority of
Ariftotle be alfo required for this, he fays exprefly that the Epic
compolition is indefinite as to the time of its duration. Accordingly
the Adion of the Iliad lafts only forty-feven days, whilft that of
the JEne\d is continued for more than a j'ear.
Throughout the whole ofFingal, there reigns that grandeur of
fentiraent, ftyle and imagery, which ought ever to diftinguifli this
high fpecies of poetry. The ftory is conduced with no Imall art.
The Poet goes not back to a tedious recital of the beginning of the
war with Swaran ; but haftening to the main aftion, he falls in ex-
adly, by a moft happy coincidence of thought, with the rule of
Horace.
Semper ad eventum feftinat, & in medias res,
Non fecus ac notas, auditorem rapit
Nee geminobellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo.
De Arte Poet.
He invokes no mufe, for he acknowledged none ; but his occa-
lional addrefles to Malvina, have a finer effedt than the invocation of
any mufe. Hefets out with no formal propofition of his fubje<fl ;
but the fubje<ft naturally and eafily unfolds its felf; the poem
opening in an animated manner, with the fituation of Cuchullin,
and the arrival of a fcout who informs him of Swaran's lajuling.
Mention is prefently made of Fingal, and of the expefted afliftance
from the fliips of the lonely ifle, in order to give further light to
the fubjedi. For the poet often^ (liows his addrefs in gradually pre-
paring us for the events he is to introduce; and in particular the pre-
paration for the appearance ofFingal, the previous expectations that
are riiifed, and the extreme magnificence fully anfwering thefe ex-
pedlations, with which the hero is at length prefented to us, are all
worked up with fuch fkiilful condud as would do honour to any
poet of the moft refined times. Homer's art in magnifying the
charader of Achilles has been univerfally admired. Oflian cer-
tainly fhows no lefs art in aggrandizing Fingal. Nothing could be
more