Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volume 1

.JO A DISSERTATION CONCERNING
fciTed, are tco local, to be admired, in another language;
to. thole who arc acquainted withtlie manners they re-
prtfent, and the fcenes they defcribe, they muft aiTord
the highefl: pleafure and iatisfadlion.
It -was the locality of his defcription and fentlment,
that, probablnt-, kept OfTian fo long in the obfcurity of
an almcft loft language. His ideas, though remarkably
proper for the times in which he lived, are fo contrary to
the prefent advanced ftate of fociety, that more than a
common mediocrity of tafte is required, to relifh his
poems as they deferve. Thofe who alone were capa-
ble to m.ake a tranflaticn were, no doubt, confcious of
this, and chofe rather to admire their poet in fecrct,
than fee him received, with coldnefs, in an Engliih,
drcfs.
I'hefe were long my own fentiments, and according-
ly my Srfl tranfiations, from the Galic, were merely ac-
cidental. The publication, m hich foon after followed,
w^as fo well received, that I was obliged to promife to
ray friends a larger colledlicn. In a journey through the
Highlands and ifles, and, by the airiHance of correipon-
dents, fmce I left that country, all the genuine remains
of the works of Oflian have come to my hands. In
the preceding volume f complete poems M'ere only giv-
en. Unfinifhed and imperfeA poems were purpofely
omitted ; even feme pieces were rejedled on account of
their length, and others, that they might not break in
upon that thread of connetilion, which fubfills in the
lefler compcfitlons, fubjoined to Fingal. That the com-
parative merit of pieces was not regarded, in tlie felec-
tion,wili readily appear to thofe who iliall read, atten-
tively, the prefent collection. It is animated with tlie
feme fpirit of poetry, and the fame flrength of fenti-
nient is fullaincd throughout.
Tlie opening of the poem of Temora made its ap-
pearance in the firft collection of Oflian's works. The
iecond book, and feveral other epifodes, have only fallen
t The Author alludes to the pocnis frtccciins Bciralhon, as Ui2t poem, fqr-
jicriy CAdcd tUe flrlt vuluutc.