Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 1

ON THE POEMS OF O^SIAN. CXl
''' v.Ind;" are fail of the most amazing and ter.'-lble
majesty. I know no passagcMnore sublime in the
writings of any uninspired author. The fiction is
calculated to aggrandise the hero; which it does
to a high degree; nor is it so unnatural or Avild a
fiction as might at first be thought. According to
the notions of those times, supernatural beings
■were material, and, consequently, vulnerable. The
spirit of Loda was not acknowledged as a deify by
Fingal ; he did not worship at the stone of liis
power; he plainly considered him as the god of
his enemies only ; as a local deity, whose dominion
extended no farther than to the regions where he
was worshipped ; who had, therefore, no title to
threaten him, and no claim to his submission. We
know there are poetical precedents of great au-
thority, for fictions felly as extravagant; and if
Homer be forgiven for makincj Diomed attack and
wound in battle the gods whom that chief h:in-
self worshipped, Ossian surely is pardonable for
making his hero superior to the god of a foreign
territory.*
* The scene of this encounter of Flnj;al with the spirit of
I^oda is laid in Ini^tore, or the islands of Orkney; and in
tht description of JFingal's landing there, it is said, " A
*' rock bend, along the coast with all its echoing wood. On
" the top is the circle of Loda, with the mossy stone of
'* power." In confirmation of Ossian's topography, it is
proper to acquaint the reader, that in these islands, as I have
been well informed, there are many pillars and circles of
stones still remaining, known by the name of the stones and
circles of Loda, or Loden; to which some degree of super-
stitious regard IS annexed to this day. These islands, until
the year 1468, made a part of the Danish dominions. Their
ancient language, of which there are yet some remains among
the natives, is called the Norse; and is a diaieot, not of the
Cfltic, but of the Scandinavian tongue. The mannCiS arid
L 2