Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

THE ^RA OF OSSIAN. 11
nation fell into the last degree of ignorance of
their rites and ceremonies.
It is no matter of wonder, then, that Fingal and
his son Ossian disliked the Druids, who were the
declared enemies to their succession in the supreme
magistracy. It is a singular case, it must be al-
lowed, that there are no traces of religion in the
poems ascribed to Ossian, as the poetical compo-
sitions of other nations are so closely connected
with their mythology. But gods are not necessary,
when the poet has genius. It is hard to account
for it to those who are not made acquainted with
the manner of the old Scottish bards. That race
of men carried their notions of martial honour to
an extravagant pitch. Any aid given their heroes
in battle, was thought to derogate from their fame ;
and the bards immediately transferred the glory of
the action to him who had given that aid.
Had the poet brought down gods, as often as
Homer has done, to assist his heroes, his work
had not consisted of eulogiums on men, but of
hymns to superior beings. Those who write in
the Gaelic language seldom mention religion in
their profane poetry ; and when they professedly
write of religion, they never mix, with their com-
positions, the actions of their heroes. This custom
alone, even though the religion of the Druids had
not been previously extinguished, may, in some
measure, excuse the Author's silence concerning
the religion of ancient times.
To allege that a nation is void of all religion,
would betray ignorance of the history of mankind.
Tlie traditions of their fathers, and their own ob-
servaiions on the works of nature, together with
that superstition which is inlierent in the liuman
frame, have, in all ages, raised in the minds of
men some idea of a superior being. Hence it is,
that in the darkest times, and amongst the most
barbarous nations, the very populace themselves
had some faint notion, at least, of a divinity. The
Indians, who worship no God, believe that he
exists. It would be doing injustice to the Author
of these Poems, to think, that he had not opened