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on the Poems of Ossian. 69
had flourislied ; to recall the affecting incidents of
his life ; to dwell upon his past wars, and loves, and
friendships; till, as he expresses it himself, "there
comes a voice to Ossian and awakes his soul. It
is the voice of years that are gone ; they roll before
me with all their deeds ;" and under this true
poetic inspiration, giving vent to his genius, no
wonder we should so often hear, and acknowledge
in his strains, the powerful and ever-pleasing voice
of nature.
It is necessary here to observe, that the beauties
of Ossian 's writings cannot be felt by those who
have given them only a single or a hasty perusal.
His manner is so different from that of the poets
to whom we are most accustomed ; his style is so
concise, and so much crowded with imagery ; the
mind is kept at such a stretch in accompanying the
author : that an ordinary reader is at first apt to
be dazzled and fatigued, rather than pleased. His
poems require to be taken up at intervals, and to
be frequently reviewed ; and then it is impossible
but his beauties must open to every reader who is
capable of sensibility. Those who have the high-
est degree of it, will relish them the most.
As Homer is, of all the great poets, the one
whose manner and whose times come the nearest
to Ossian 's, we are naturally led to run a parallel
in some instances between the Greek and the Celtic
bard. For though Homer lived more than a
thousand years before Ossian, it is not from the
age of the world, but from the state of society,
that we are to judge of resembling times. The
Greek has, in several points, a manifest superiority.
He introduces a greater variety of incidents ; he
possesses a larger compass of ideas ; has more
diversity in his characters, and a much deeper
knowledge of human nature. It was not to be ex-