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

OF OSSIAN'S POEMS, 19
gal,) were addicted to eating human flesh.
This also Mr Laing very candidly rejects.
Such is the amount of the testimony of
those ancient writers, concerning the barba-
rism of the Caledonians. But why did Mr
Laing, in elaborating this point, throw the
unquestionable authority of Tacitus into the
shade ? For I must, in this instance, as be-
fore, call his authority unquestionable ; be-
cause he enjoyed the best opportunities of
being informed. His father-in-law, Agri-
cola, had been, during the space of about
seven years, commander of the Roman forces
in Britain; he had penetrated farther into
Caledonia than any that had preceded him ;
and, after his return to Rome, his son-in-law
lived with him, for many years, in habits of
the utmost confidence and intimacy.
In speaking of the Britons in general,
Tacitus furnishes us with an instance of ci-
vilization, which is commonly, and most
justly, esteemed the criterion of polished so-