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

OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 73
" they take with them associates, whom,
says he, " they call Parasites, who sing
" their praises, either in pubhc assembhes,
" or to those who wish to hear them pri-
" vately. These poets," he adds, " are call-
'' ed Bards:'*
We know, from unquestionaljle authority,
that the order of Bards was continued in
Wales, till towards the end of the thirteenth
century, when they were destroyed by the
cruel policy of Edward I. But it must be
remarked, that the Bards were not entirely
extinct, in England, before the reign of
Queen Elizabeth ; till which period, there
was a regular public competition of harpers
maintained ; and there is, at this day, as Mr
Pennant informs us, in his Tour through
Wales, a silver harp, awarded during that
period, in the possession of the Mostyn fa-
mily.
* Cited by Athenaeus, fol. ed. p. 246.