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

THE POEMS OF 0S3IAN. 24S
manners ; and the powers of the foul, without an opportu-
nity of exerting them, lofe their vigour. The times of re-
gular government, andpolifhed manners, are therefore to be
^vifhed for by the feeble and weak in mind. An un fettled
ftate, and thofe convulfions which attend it, is the proper
field for an exalted charader, and the exertion of great
parts. Merit there rifes always fuperior; no fortuitous
event can raife the timid and mean into power. To thofe
who look upon antiquity in this light, it is an agreeable pro-
fpedt ; and they alone can have real pleafure in tracing na-
tions to their fource.
The eftablifhment of the Celtic ftates, in the north of Eu-
rope, is beyond the reach of their written annals. The
traditions and fongs to which they trufled their hiftor^',
were loft, or altogether corrupted in their revolutions and
migrations, which were fo frequent and univerfa!, that no
kingdom in Europe is now poffefled by its original inhabi-
tants. Societies were formed, and kingdoms eredted, from
a mixture of nations, who, in procefs of time, loft all know-
ledge of their own origin.
If tradition could be depended upon, it is only among
a people, from all time free of intermixture with foreigners.
We are to look for thefe among the mountains and inaccef-
fible parts of a country : places, on account of their bar-
rennefs, uninviting to an enemy, or whofe natural ftrength
enabled the natives tq repel invafions. Such are the inhabi-
tants of the mountains of Scotland. We, accordingly, find,
that they differ materially from thofe who poffefs the low
and more fertile part of the kingdom. Their language is
pure and original, and their manners are thofe of an ancient
and unmixed race of men. Confcious of their own antiqui-
ty, they long defpifed others, as a new and mixed people^
As they lived in a country only fit for pafture, they were
H h 3 free