Ossian Collection > Morison's edition of the Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

DISSERTATION
CONCERNING THE
iERA OF OSSIAN.
TNQUIRIES into the antiquities of nations afford more
J. pleafure than any real advantage to mankind. The in-
genious may form fyftems of hiftory on probabilities and a
few fadts; but at a great diltance of time, their accounts
mufl: be vague and uncertain. The infancy of ftatcs and
kingdoms is as deftitute of great events, as of the means of
tranfmitting them to pofterity. The arts of polilhed life,
by which alone facts cai> be prefe/ved with certainty, are
the productions of a well-formed community. It is tliea
hiftorians begin to v/rite, and public tranfadions to be wor-
thy remembrance. The anions of former times are left in
obfcurity, or magnified by uncertain traditions. Hence
it is that we find fo much of the marvellous in the origin
of every nation ; pofterity being always ready to believe any
thing, however fabulous, that reflei^s honour on their an-
teftors. The Greeks and Romans were remarkable forthi.s
weaknefs. They fwallowed the mofl abl'urd fables concerji-
jng the high antiquities of their refpedive nations. Good
hiftorians, however, rofe very early amongft them, and tranf-
mitted, with luftre, their great adions to pofterity. It is
to them that they owe that unrivalled fame they now enjoy,
while the great adtions of other nations are involved in fable's,
or loft in obfcurity. The Celtic nations afford a ftriking in-
ilance of this kind. They, though once the mafters of Eu-
rope from the mouth of the river Oby*, in KulTia, to Cape
Finiftere, the weftern point of Gallicia in Spain, are very
little mentioned in hiftory. They truftcd their fame to tra-
dition and the fongs of their bards, which, by the vicifTitude
of human affairs, are long fince loft. Their ancient language
is the only monument that remains of them: and the traces
of it being found in places fo Vv^idely diftaut of each other,
ferves only to fhew the extent of their ancient power, but
throws very little light on their hiftory.
Of all the Celtic nations, that which poflefied old Gaul
is the moft renowned ; not perhaps on account of worth
fupcrior
* Plin. 1. 6.