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

ON THE POEMS OF O S S I A N.
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fometimes introduced, and the circumftances of the perfons flain
To much diverfified, as fliow that he could have embellidied his
military Ibenes with an abundant variety of particulars, if his genius
had led him to dwell upon them. One man " is ftrctched in the
*' dull of his native land ; he fell, where often he had fpread the
" feafi, and often raifed the voice of the harp -f-." The maid of
Iniftore is introduced, in a moving apoftrophe, as weeping for
another :j; i and a third, " as rolled in the duft he lifted his
*' faint eyes to the king," is remembered and mourned by Fingal
as the friend of Agandecca [[. The blood pouring from the wound
of one who is flarn by night, is heard " hiffing on the half extinguifhed
" oak," which had been kindled for giving light : Another, climbing
a tree to efcape from his foe, is pierced by his fpear from behind ;
" fhrieking, panting he fell j whilft mofs and withered branches
" purfue his fall, and flrew the blue arms of Gaul §." Never
was a finer pidlure drawn of the ardour of two youthful warriors
than the following: " I faw Gaul in his armour, and my foul
*' was mixed with his: For the fire of the battle was in his eyes ;
*' he looked to the foe with joy. We fpoke the words of friend-
" fliip in fecret ; and the lightening of our fwords poured together.
" We drew them behind the wcod, and tried the ftrength of our
" arms on the empty air ^."
Oflian is always concife in his defcription?, which adds much
to their beauty and force. For it is a great miflake to imagine, that
a crowd of particulars, or a very full and extended flyle, is of advan-
tage to defcription. On the contrary, fuch a difFufe manner for the
mofl part weakens it. Any one redundant circumltance is a nui-
fance. It encumbers and loads the fancy, and renders the main
image indiftin<3:. " Obftat," as Quintilian fays with regard to
ftyle, " quicquid non adjuvat." To be concife in defcription, is
one thing ; and to be general, is another. No defcription that refts
in generals can poffibly be good ; it can convey no lively idea j for
it is of particulars only that we have a diftindl conception. But
at the fame time, no Itrong imagination dwells long upon any one
particular ; or heaps together a mafs of trivial ones. By the happy
choice of fome one, or of a few that are the moil llriking, it pre-
+ P. 28. t P 14. I P. 59. § P. 236. tr P. 232.
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