Ossian Collection > Original collection of the poems of Ossian, Orrann, Ulin, and other bards, who flourished in the same age

PREFACE. Ixxili
preserve tJiein by oral recitation, during fifteen
centuries, was it so difficult a matter to preserve
the name of their author. In this case, they had
neither difficulty to encounter on the one hand,
nor prejudice to induce them on the other, to as-
cribe these poems to a fictitious author. The
single name of Ossian was no great burthen to
the memory; and it is the most absurd and unrea-
sonable of arguments, that the Gael, who set such
a value on these poems, and preserved them for
.-so many centuries, should at last throw them
away, by ascribing them to a non-entity. The
people among whom he lived, by whom his he-
roes are still held in the highest esteem, and by
whom his works were preserved, are certainly the
best judges of the matter; and their uniform testi-
mony that Ossian was the author of the poems in
question, is sufficient proof of their authenticity.
The last argument we shall advert to, is that so
often urged — that had these poems been composed
upwards of fifteen centuries ago, they would long
since have been lost or unintelligible, owing to the
natural lapse and alteration of language, and tJie
difficulty of retaining them. But tliere was no
difficulty ill preserving these poems; men of the
present day approach the merits of this argument,
with their minds greatly bemisted. We can have
no adequate idea of the gigantic efforts of me-
mory, prior to the invention of letters ; and this is
the reason why verse preceded prose in all na-