Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 1

X PREFACE.
The chase she lovM ; when morn, with doubtful beam
Came dimly wandering o'er the Bothnia stream,
On Sevo's sounding sides she bent the bow.
And rous'd his forests to his head of snow.
Nor mov'd the maid alone j &c.
One of the chief improvements on this
edition, is the care taken in the arrange-
ment of the Poems, and the writer now re-
signs them for ever to their fate. That
they have been well received by the Public,
appears from an extensive sale : that they
shall continue to be well received, he may
venture to prophesy without the gift of
that inspiration, to which poets lay claim.
Through the medium of version upon ver-
sion, they retain, in foreign languages, their
native character of simplicity and energy.
Genuine poetry, like gold, loses little, when
properly transfused; but when a composi-
tion cannot bear the test of a literal ver-
sion, it is a counterfeit which ought not to
pass current. The operation must, how-
ever, be performed with skilful hands. A
Translator, who cannot equal his original,
is incapable of expressing its beauties.
London, Aug. 13, 1/73.