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

S42 A CRITICAL DISSERTATION ON
purfue his fall, and ill lie the blue arms of Gaul." Never
was a finer piflure drawn of the ardour of tv/o youthful
warriors than the following : " I faw Gaul in his armour,
and my foul was mixed .with his : For the fire of the battle
xyas in his eyes ; he looked to tlie foe with joy. We fpoke
the words of friendlhip in fecret ; and the lightening of our
fvvords poured together. We drew them behind the wood,
and tried the ftrength of our arms on the empty air."
GiTian is always concife in his defcriptions, which adds
much to their beauty and force. For it is a great miftake
to imagine, that a crowd of particulars, or a very- full and
extended ftyle, is of advantage to defcription. On the con-
trary, fuch a difFufe m.ajiner for the nwDft part weakens it.
Any one redundant circuinftance is a nuifance. It encum-
bers and loads the fancy, and renders the main image in-
fliilindt. " Obftat," as Quintilian fays with regard to
iftyle, " quicquid npn adjuyat." To be concife in defcrip-
tion, is one thing ; and to be general, is another. No de-
trription that refts in generals can poITibly be good ; it can
convey no lively idea ; for it is of particulars only that we
have a diftind conception. But at ^he fame time, no ftrong
iniagination dwells long upon any one particular ; or heaps
together a mafs of trivial ones. By the happy choice of
fome on,e, or of a few that are the moft ftriking, it prefents
the image more complete, (hows us more at one glance,
than a feeble imagination is able to do, by turning its ob-
jed round and round into a variety of lights, Tacitus is
of all profe writers, the moft concife. He has even a de-
gree of abruptness in reiembling our author : Yet no writer
is more eminent for lively defcription. 'Vllien Fingal, after
having conquered the haughty Swaran, propofes to difmifs
hun with honour : " Raife to-morrow thy white fails to
the wind, thou brother of Agandecca!" he conveys, bjr
th'4S