Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

ON THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. 63
ing the uncontrovertible tradition of these poems,
they can clearlj' be traced. Now this is a period
wlien that country enjoyed no advantages for a
composition of this kind, which it may not be sup-
posed to have enjoyed in as great, if not in a greater
degree, a thousand years before. To suppose that
two or three hundred years ago, wlien we well know
the Highlands to have been in a state of gross ig-
norance and barbarity, there should have arisen in
that country a poet, of such exquisite genius, and
of such deep knowledge of mankind, and of his-
tory, as to divest himself of the ideas and manners
of his own age, and to give us a just and natural
picture of a state of society ancienter by a thou-
sand years ; one who could support this counter-
feited antiquity through such a large collection of
poems, without the least inconsistency; and who,
possessed of all this genius and art, had at the
same time the self-denial of concealing himself,
and of ascribing his own works to an antiquated
bard, without the imposture being detected; is a
supposition that transcends all bounds of credibi-
lity.
There are, besides, two other circumstances to be
attended to, still of greater weight, if possible,
against this hypothesis. One is, the total absence
of religious ideas from this work ; for which the
Translator has, in his Preface, given a very probable
account, on the footing of its being the work of
Ossian. The druidical superstition was, in the
days of Ossian, on the point of its final extinction;
and for particular reasons odious to the family of
Fingal; whilst the Christian faith was not yet es-
tablished. But had it been the work of one to whom
the ideas of Christianity were familiar from his in-
fancy, and who had superadded to them also the
bigoted superstition of a dark age and country, it
is impossible but in some passage or other the
traces of them would have appear d. The other
circumstance is, the entire silence which reigns
: with respect to allthegreat clans or families which
' are now established in the Highlands. The origin
: of these several clans is known to be very ancient ;