Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

ON THE POEiMS OF ObSlAN. iol
the field.' Nothing could be more proper than
to end his songs with recording an exploit o.
the father of that Malvina, of whom his heart
was now so full ; and who, from first to last,
had been such a favourite object throughout all
his poems.
The scene of most of Ossian's poems is laid
in Scotland, or in the coast of Ireland, opposite
to the territories of Fmgai. When the scene
is in Ireland, we perceive no change of man-
ners from those of Ossian's native country.
For as Ireland was undoubtedly peopled with
Celtic tribes, the language, customs, and re-
ligion of both nations were the same. They
had been separated from one another by mi-
gration, only a few generations, as it should
seem, before our poet's age ; and they still
maintained a close and frequent intercourse.
But when the poet relates the expeditions of
any of his heroes to the Scandinavian coast, or
to the islands of Orkney, which were then part
of the Scandinavian territory, as he does in
Camc-thura, Sul-malla of Lumon, and Cath-
loda, the case is quite altered. Those coun-
tries were inhabited by nations of the Teutonic
descent, who, in their manners and reiigioiis
rites, differed widely from the Celtse ; and it is
curious and remarkable, to find this difference
clearly pointed out in the poems of Ossian.
His descriptions bear the native marks of one
who was present in the expeditions which he
relates, and who describes what he had seen
with his own eyes. No sooner are we carried
to Lochlin, or the islands of Inistore, than we
perceive we are in a foreign region. New ob-
jects begin to appear. We meet every where
with the stones and circles of Loda, that is,
Odin, the great Scandinavian deity. We meet
with the divinations and cncliantments foi