Ossian Collection > Galic antiquities

AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN's POEMS. 91
verfation is, of courfe, figurative and poetical ; adorned with fuch
tropes of rhetoric as a modern would fcarce venture to ufe in the
boldefl flights of poetry. This character, therefore, fo confpicu-
ous in the poems of Oflian, could be imprefled fo deeply on them,
only by one who faw, and felt, and bore a part in the fcenes he is
defcribing. A poet in his clofet could no more compofe like Oflian,
than he could act like him in the field, or on the mountain.
The compofition alfo, though it is, like the language, bold, ner-
vous, and concife, is yet plain and artlefs ; without any thing of
that modern refinement, or elaborate decoration, which waits on
the advancement of literature. No foreign ornaments are hunted
after. The poet is always content with thofe which his fubject
naturally fuggefts, or which lie within his view. Further than that
tract of heaven, earth, air, and fea, which lay, I may fay, within his
ftudy, he rarely makes any excurfion. Whatever fuited his pur-
pofe within this circle, feldom efcaped his notice ; but his imagi-
nation, though quick and rapid, feldom chofe to travel abroad for
any materials which might be had at home. The wild and grand
nature with which he was familiar, and his own vaft genius, were
the only refources to which he cared to be indebted for his orna-
ments. By this means his compofltions are marked with a figna-
ture which they could never receive from the lamp or from the
clofet : a fignature which he alone could imprefs, who faw before
him, in that apartment in which he mufed, thofe objects which
he defcribes ; who bore a part in thofe expeditions which he cele-
brates ; and who fought in thofe battles which he flngs *.
M 2 Before
* For further fatisfadtion on this head, in his Sketches of Man produces many
■we beg leave to refer the reader to the direct and collateral proofs for theautheu-
learned and ingenious lord Kaims, who ticity of Oflian'* poems.