Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

my friends, feveral fragments of old tradi-
tionary fongs , which were very fublime,
and particulary remarkable for their fimpli-
city and elegance. I compii'dthefe fragments,
which are the more valuable as the tafte for
this fpecies of ancient poetry every day
decreafes in the country, and that the old
language threatens vifibly to be foon extin-
guifh'd, for it loofes ground in proportion
as the englifh tongue becomes predominant,
the progrefs of which is very fenfible to
any perfon who has hesn occupied in dif-
quifitions of this nature. From thefe frag-
ments I have compof'd the following Poems.
They are all founded on tradition; but the
drefs they now appear in is mine. It will
appear fmgular to fome that Oflian, at tim.es,
efpecially in the fongs of Comfort, feems
rather to be an Hibernian than a Scotch-
man, and that fome of thefe poems formally
contradict paiTages of great importance in
thofe handed to the public by Mr.Macpherfon,