Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 2

426 A CRITICAL DISSERTATION
among Fingal's warriors; no fpirit of avarice or
of infult ; but a perpetual contention for fame;
a dcHre of being difiingulllied and remembered
for gallant adions ; a love of juftice ; and a
zealous attachment to their friends and their
country. Such is the ftrain of fentiment in the
works of Ofiian.
But the fublimily of moral fentlments, if
they wanted the foftening of the tender, would
be in hazard of giving a hard and ftiif air to
poetry. It is not enough to admire. Admi-
ration Is a cold feeling, in comparifon of that
deep intereft, which the heart takes in tender
and pathetick fcenes ; where, by a myflerious
attachment to the obje^ls of compaflion, we are
pleafed and delighted, even wliilft we mourn.
With fcenes of this kind, Offian abounds ; and
his high merit in thefe, is inconteftable. He
may be blamed for drawing tears too often from
our eyes ; but that he has the power of com-
manding them, I believe no man, who has the
leaft fenfibillty, will queftion. The general
chara<5^er of his poetry, is the heroic mixed with
the elegiac ftrain i admiration tempered with
pity. Ever fond of giving, as he expreffes It,
" the joy of grief," it is vifible, that on all
moving fubjeds, he delights lo exert his genius;
and accordingly, never were there finer pathe-
tick