Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

ON THE POEMS OF OSSIAX. C5
glows, and kindles the fancy; a heart that is full,
and pours itself forth. Ossian did not write, like
modern poets, to please readers and critics. He -
sung from the love of poetry and song. His de-
light was to think of the heroes among whom he
had flourished ; to recal the affecting incidents of
his life : to dwell upon his past wars, and loves,
and friendships : till, as he expresses it himself,
" the^^ comes a voice to Ossian and awakes his soul.
It is the voice of years that are gone ; they roll be-
fore me with all their deeds;" and under this true
poetic inspiration, giving vent to his genius, no
wonder we should so often hear, and acknowledge,
in his strains, the powerful and ever-pleasing voice
of nature.
Arte, natura potentior omni. —
Est Deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo.
It is necessary here to observe, that the beauties
of Ossian's writings cannot be felt by those who
have given them only a single or hasty perusal.
His manner is so difierent from that of the poets to
whom we are most accustomed ; his style is so con-
cise, and so much crowded with imagery; the mind
is kept at such a stretch in accompanying the au-
thor; that an ordinary reader is at first apt to be
dazzled and fatigued, rather than pleased. His
Poems require to be taken up at intervals, and to
be frequently reviewed ; and then it is impossible
but his beauties must open to every reader who is
capable of sensibility. Those who have the highest
degree of it will relish them the most.
• As Homer is, of all the great poets, Ihe one whose
manner, and whose times, come the nearest to Os-
sian's, we are naturally led to run a parallel in
some instances between the Greek and Celtic bard.
For though Homer lived more than a thousand
years before Ossian, it is not from the age of the
world, but from the state of society, that we are to
judge of resembling times. The Greek has, in se-
veral points, a manifest superiority. He introduces
a greater variety of incidents ; he possesses a larger