Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 1

THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. 113
had it been the work of one to whom tlie ideas
of Christianity were famihar from his infancy ;
and who had superadded to them also the
bigoted superstition of a dark age and country ;
it is impossible but in some passage or other,
the traces of them would have appeared. The
other circumstance is, the entire silence which
reigns with respect to all the great clans or
families which are now established in the High-
lands. The origin of these several clans is
known to be very ancient : and it is as ^^ell
known that there is no passion by which a
native Highlander is more distinguished than
by attachment to his clan, and jealousy for its
honour. That a Highland bard in forging a
work relating to the antiquities of his country,
should have inserted no circumstance which
pointed out the rise of his own clan, which
ascertained its antiquity, or increased its glory,
is, of all suppositions that can be formed, the
most improbable; and the silence on this head,
amounts to a demonstration that the author
lived before any of the present great clans
were formed or known.
Assuming it then, as well we may, for cer-
tain, that the poems now under consideration,
are genuine venerable monuments of very re-
mote antiquity ; I proceed to make some remarks
upon their general spirit and strain. The two
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