Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 1

C A CRITICAL DISSERTATION
occasion, by humanity and generosity. Tie is
merciful to his foes;* full of alfection to his chil.
dren; full of concern about his friends; and ne-
ter mentions Agandecca, his first lore, without
the utmost tenderness. He is the universal jn'o--
tector of the distressed; '' None ever went sad
^^ from Fingal." " O, Oscar! bend the strong
^'inarms; but spare the feeble hand. Be thou
''• a stream of many tides against the foes of thy
'^ people ; but like the gale that moves the grass,
'• to those who ask thine aid. So Trenmor lived;
'-^ such Trathal was; and such has Fingal been.
^' My arm was the support of the injured; the
^^ weak rested behind the lightning of my steel."
These were the maxims of true heroism, to which
he formed his grandson. His fame is represented
as every where spread; the greatest heroes ac-
knowledge his superiority; his enemies treuible at
his name ; and the highest encomium that can bo
J)estowed on one whom the poet would most ex-
3-lt, is to say, that his soul was like the soul of
Fingal.
To do justice to i^i\^ poet's merit, in supporting
such a character as this, I must observe, what is
not commonly attended to, that there is no part
pf poetical execution more difficult, than to draw
* When he commands his sons, after Swaran is taken pri-
foner, to "pursue the rest ofLochlin, over the heath of
"'Lena; that no vessel may hereafter bound on ihe dark-
'^' rolling waves of Inistore;" he means not a-sure,dl:y, as
some have misrepresented him, to order a general slaughter
of the foes, and to prevent their ■ aving themselves by flight ; .
but, like a wise general, he command his chiefs to render
the victory complete, by a total rout of the enemy ^ that
they might adventure no more for the future, to fit out ^^^y
fleet against hiiii or his alhes.