Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 1

122 A CRITICAL DISSERTATION ON
calculated to produce ; from the virtuous emo-
tions which the characters aud incidents raise,
whilst we read it ; from the happy impressions
which all the parts separately, as well as the
whole together, leave upon the mind. How-
ever, if a general moral be still insisted on. Fin-
gal obviously furnishes one, not inferior to that
of any other poet, viz. That Wisdom and Bra-
very always triumph over brutal force : or ano-
ther, nobler still ; That the most complete vic-
tory over an enemy is obtained by that modera-
tion and generosity which convert him into a
friend.
The unity of the Epic action, which, of all
Aristotle's rules, is the chief and most material,
is so strictly preserved in Fingal, that it must
be perceived by every reader. It is a more
complete unity than what arises from relating
the actions of one man, which the Greek critic
justly censures as imperfect ; it is the unity of
one enterprise, the deliverance of Ireland from
the invasion of Swaran : an enterprise, which
has surely the full Heroic dignity. All the in-
cidents recorded bear a constant reference to
one end ; no double plot is carried on ; but the
parts unite into a regular Avhole : and as the
action is one and great, so it is an entire or
complete action. For we find, as the critic far-
ther requires, a beginning, a middle, and an