Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 1

OS Tin: I'or.Mi of 0iiJA.\. Ixxxix
It is not, in every little particular, exactly con-
fonnable to the practice of Homer and Virgil,
v/erc the mere squeainislmess and pedantry of cri-
ticism. Examined even according to Aristotle's
roles, it will be found to have all the essential re-
qiiisites of a true and regular epic; and to have
sereral of them in so high a degree, as at first view
to raise our astonishment on finding Ossian's com-
position so agreeable to rules of Avhicli lie was en-
tirely ignorant. But our astonishment y-ill cease,
TV'hen vTC consider from what source Aristotle
flr£v»^ those rules. Homer knew no more of the
laws of criticism than Ossian. But, guided by
nature, he composed in verse a regular story,
founded on heiroic actions, which all posterity ad-
mired. Aristotle, with great sagacity and penc.
tration, traced the causes of this general admira-
tion. He observed what it was in Homer's com-
positiottj, and in the conduct of his storv, which
gave it such power to please; from this observa-
tion he deduced tne rules which poets ought to fol-
low, w^ho would write and please like Homer;
and to a composition formed according to such
rules, he gave the name of an epic poem. Hence
his whole system arose. Aristotle studied nature
in Homer. Hom.er and Ossian both wro^e from
nature. No wonder that among all the three,
there should be such agreement and conformity.
The fundamental rules delivered by Aristotle,
concerning an epic poem, are these: That the ac-
tion, which is the ground^work of the poem,
should be one, complete, and great: that it should
be feigned, not merely liistorical ; that it should
be enlivened with characters and manners, and
beightened by the marvellous.
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