Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

80 Critical Dissertation
and comforts him tmder his misfoi-tune. The
fierce, the proud, the high-spirited Swaran, is ad-
mirably contrasted with the calm, the moderate
and generous Fingal. The character of Oscar is
a fiivourite one throughout the whole poems. The
amiable warmth of the young warrior ; his eager
impetuosity in the day of action ; his passion for
fame ; his submission to his father ; his tenderness
for Malvina ; are the strokes of a masterly pencil ;
the strokes are few ; but it is the hand of nature,
and attracts the heart. Ossian's own character,
the old man, the hero and the bard, all in one,
presents to us, through the whole work, a most
respectable and venerable figure, which we always
contemplate with pleasure. CuthuUin is a hero of
the highest class : daring, magnanimous and ex-
quisitely sensible to honour. We become attached
to his interest, and are deeply touched with his
distress ; and after the admiration raised for him
in the first part of the poem, it is a strong proof
of Ossian's masterly genius that he durst adventure
to produce to us another hero, compared with
whom, even the great CuthuUin should be only an
inferior personage ; and who should rise as far
above him, as CuthuUin rises above the rest.
Here indeed, in the character and description of
Fingal, Ossian triumphs almost unrivalled : for we
may boldly defy all antiquity to show us any hero
equal to Fingal. Homer's Hector possesses several
great and amiable qualities ; but Hector is a second-
ary pei-sonage in the Iliad, not the hero of the
■work. We see him only occasionally ; we know
much less of him than we do of Fingal ; who not
only in this epic poem, but in Temora, and through-
out the rest of Ossian's works, is presented in all
that variety of lights which give the full display of
a character. And though Hector faithfully dis-
charges his duty to his country, his friends, and his
family, he is tinctured, however, with a degree of