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

'^i A DISSERTATION CONCERUlN(b
and doubts arifen, ccncernirg their autlienticity. I
fhall, probably, hear more of" the fame khid after the
prefcnt poems fnall make theh- appearance. Whether
thefe fulpicions are fuggelled by prejudice, or arc only
the effects of ignoi-ance of fails, I fliall not pretend to
determine. To me they give no concern, as I have it
always in my power to remove them. An incredulity
of this kind is natural to pcrfons, who confine all merit
to their own age and country- Thefe are generally the
weakeft, as well as the molt ignorant, of the people,
indolently confined to a place, their ideas are nai'row
and circumfcribed. It is ridiculous enough to fee fuch
people as thefe are, braudmg their aiiceltors, with the
deipicable appellation of barbarians. Sober realbn can
cafdy difcem, where the title ought to be fixed with
more propriety.
As prejudice is always the efTcdt of ignorance, the
knowing, the m.en of true taile, dcipife and difroifs it.
If the poetry is good, and the chai'adters natural and
ftriking, to them it is a matter of incUfierencc, vviie-
ther the heroes were born in the little village of Angles
in Jutland, or natives of the barren heaths of Caledo-
nia. That honour which nations derive from anccftors,
wortliy, or renowned, is merely ideal. It may buoy
up the minds of individuals, but it contributes \-ery lit-
tle to tlieir importance in the eyes of others. But of
all thofe prejudices which are incident to narrow mindsj
that which meafures the merit of performances by the
vulgar opinion, concerning the country which produ-
ced them, is certainly tlie mofc ridiculous. Ridiculous,
however, as it is, few have the courage to reject it ; and
lam thoroughly convinced, that a few quaint lines of
a Roman or Greek cpigrammatiit, if dug out of the ruins
of Hcrculancum, would meet with more cordial and
univcrfal applaufe, than all the moll beautiful and natu-
ral rhapfodies of all the Celtic bards and Scandinaviau
fialdcrs that ever exifled.
\A'lnle fome doubt the airtlicnticity of the cmpofi;.;-
ons of Qflian, others ili'ciiuoufly cndcavuur ro appro-