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

THE POE?/IS or OSSIAN. 367
pcM% In order to acquire any high degree of poetical me-'
rit, they miift alfo be fublime and pathetic.
The fubHme is not confined to fentiment alone. It be-
longs to defcription alfo ; and whether in defcription or in
fentiment, imports fuch ideas prefented to the mind, as
raife it to an uncommon degree of elevation, and fill it with
admiration and aftonifhment. This is the higheft effcA ei-
ther of eloquence or poetry : And ;to produce thrs effect,
requires a genius glowing with the ftrongeft and warmed:
conception of fome objed awful, great, or magnificent.
That this charader of genius belongs to Offian, may, i
think, fuflRcient^y appear from many of the paffkges I have
already had occafion to quote. To produce more inftan-
ces, were fuperfluous. If the engagement of Fingal with
the fpirit of Loda, in Carric-thura ; if the encounters of thrr
armies, in Fingal ; if the addrefs to the fun, in Carthon ; if
the fimilies founded upon ghofts and fpirits of the night, all
formerly mentioned, be not admitted as examples, and il-
luftrious ones too, of the true poetical fivblime, I confefs
myfclf entirely ignorant of this quality in wnting.
All the circumftances, indeed, of Oflian's compofition,
a.re favourable to the fublime, more perhaps than to any o«
thcr fpecies of beauty. Accuracy and corrcsftnefs ; artfully
tonnefled narration ; exadt method and proportion of parts,
we may look for in polifiied times. The gay and the beau-
tiful, will appear to more advantage in the midft of fmiling
fcenei-y and pleafurable themes. But amidft the rude fcene j
of nature, amidft rocks and torrents,- and whirlwinds and
battles, dwells the fublime. It is the thunder and the light-
ning of genius. It iS the offspring of nature, not of art.
It is negligent of all the leffer graces, and perfectly confifrent
with a certain noble diforder. It affociates naturally with
that grave and folemn fpirit, which diftinguiPaes oar author.
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