Ossian Collection > Essay on the authenticity of the poems of Ossian

OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 1«
ded, indeed, from the g-races of poetry, but
these must be employed only to adorn real
events and characters, or to embellish the
descriptions of external nature. Fictitious
circumstances were altogether denied to him.
The bard was, in fact, more properly a his-
torian than a poet. The occurrences of or-
dinary life, however well adapted to certain
kinds of poetical composition, belonged not
to his department.
Still, however, it may be remarked, that
these Poems occasionally furnish many in-
teresting views of the manners and mode of
living which prevailed in that period of so-
ciety, to which they relate. It would be
amusing, and perhaps instructive, to collect
those scattered traits, and to form from them
a more precise picture of the state of so-
ciety, in those ages, than has hitherto been
exhibited. This, however, cannot be advan-
tageously done till the whole of the originals
are before the public. The translations, even
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