Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 3

222 A CRITICAL DIbSERTATION
The concifenefs of Offian's defcription:.
is the more proper on account of his fub-
jefts. Descriptions of gay and fmiling
icenes may, without any difadvantage, be
amplified and prolonged. Force is not the
predominant quality expeded in thefe. 1 he
defcriplion Txiay be weakened by being dif-
fufe, yet, notwithflanding, may be beauti-
ful ilill. Whereas, with refpccft to grand,
folemn, and pathetic fubjefis, which are
OiTian's chief field, the cafe is very dif-
ferent. In thefe, energy is abore all things,
required. The imagination mull be feized
at once, or not at all ; and is far more
deeply impreiTed by one flrong and ardent
image, than by the anxious minutenefs ci
laboured illuftration.
But Oilian's genius, though chiefly turn-
ed towards the fablime and pathetic, wss
not confined to it. In fubjecSlii alfo of grace
and delicacy, he difcoveis the hand of a
mafter. Take, for an example, the follow-
ing elegant defcription of Agandecca,v» here-
in the tcndernefs of Tibullus feems united
with the majefty of Virgil. '* The daugh-
*' ter of the fnow overheard, and left the
" hall of her fecret figh. She came in all
** her beauty ; like the moon from the
*' cloud of the Eafl. Lovelinefs was a-
** round her as light. Her fleps were like
*' the mufic of fongs. She faw the youth
** and loved him. He was the flolen figh